The Kreutzer Sonata characters

First appears in chapter 3

A solitary, agitated passenger who enters a railway-carriage discussion about marriage and identifies himself as a man who killed his wife. He asks the unnamed narrator to hear the history behind that public fact. His long account is shaped by shame, jealousy, rigid ideas about sexuality, and an effort to explain conduct he now views with horror.

Appears from the start

The quiet fellow traveler who listens after the other passengers leave and records Pozdnyshev's confession. He offers little judgment, serving mainly as the audience for the man's increasingly personal account.

Appears from the start

A confident passenger who argues that affection and personal choice should govern marriage. Her disagreement with an older merchant helps turn a casual railway conversation into a debate over love, divorce, authority, and the unequal standards applied to husbands and wives.

Appears from the start

An elderly merchant traveling in the same carriage. He defends patriarchal marriage and obedience, provoking the argument that first draws Pozdnyshev into the conversation.

Appears from the start

A lawyer among the railway passengers who joins the opening discussion of marriage and divorce. His questions help expose the deep disagreement between the merchant's traditional rules and the woman passenger's emphasis on love.

First appears in chapter 10

The young woman Pozdnyshev courts and marries after deciding that her beauty and family background make her a suitable wife. At this point in his account she is known only through his limited, self-critical recollection of their courtship and early expectations.

First appears in chapter 16

A fashionable violinist who becomes acquainted with Pozdnyshev's household. His musical skill makes him a natural partner for Pozdnyshev's wife, an able pianist, and Pozdnyshev is unsettled by the ease with which the two musicians work together.