Notes from Underground and The Gambler characters

Also known as The Underground Man

Appears from the start

The unnamed narrator of Notes from Underground, a retired forty-year-old civil servant living in St Petersburg. Hyperconscious, spiteful, and contradictory, he addresses an imagined audience while attacking both rational theories of human progress and his own inability to act or connect with others.

First appears in chapter 13

A former school acquaintance of the Underground Man who now has a modest circle of friends. The narrator visits him uninvited and forces his way into a farewell dinner being organized for Zverkov.

First appears in chapter 13

A confident former schoolmate about to leave St Petersburg for a military posting. Admired by the other men at his farewell dinner, he represents the social ease and conventional success that provoke the Underground Man's envy and resentment.

First appears in chapter 13

One of Zverkov's companions at the farewell dinner. Directly hostile to the uninvited Underground Man, he responds to the narrator's provocations with open contempt.

First appears in chapter 13

A former classmate attending Zverkov's dinner. He is less openly combative than Ferfichkin but shares the group's dismissive view of the Underground Man's behavior.

First appears in chapter 16

A young sex worker whom the Underground Man meets after the disastrous dinner. Quiet and perceptive, she listens as he describes the emotional degradation of her circumstances and responds to the possibility of a different life.

First appears in chapter 19

The Underground Man's elderly servant, whom he resents for his composure and independence. Their petty struggle over wages becomes another arena in which the narrator tries and fails to establish authority.

First appears in chapter 22

The narrator of The Gambler, a young Russian employed as tutor in a General's household at a German spa. Intelligent but impulsive, he is intensely devoted to Polina and drawn to the risk and emotional extremity of roulette.

First appears in chapter 22

The General's proud and enigmatic stepdaughter, whom Alexei loves. She alternately confides in him, commands him, and tests his devotion while remaining entangled in the household's financial and romantic tensions.

First appears in chapter 22

A Russian former army officer living beyond his means at the spa. Burdened by debt, he expects an inheritance from his wealthy aunt and hopes to marry the fashionable Mademoiselle Blanche.

Also known as Mademoiselle Blanche

First appears in chapter 22

A glamorous Frenchwoman traveling with her mother. She encourages the General's courtship while his expected inheritance appears secure and is attentive to the financial standing of everyone around her.

Also known as Des Grieux

First appears in chapter 22

A polished French creditor attached to the General's party. He has substantial financial leverage over the family, and Alexei suspects that Polina's troubled interest in him is connected to that dependence.

First appears in chapter 22

An English gentleman and acquaintance of the General's family. Reserved, observant, and financially independent, he treats both Alexei and Polina with a steadiness absent from the rest of the household.

Also known as Grandmother, La Grandissime

First appears in chapter 30

The General's wealthy, formidable aunt, whose death the family has been anticipating for an inheritance. Instead, she arrives at the spa alive, sharp-minded, and determined to inspect both her relatives and the celebrated roulette tables for herself.