CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov:
Rodya, Rodenka, and Rodka.
Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikov:
The main character who is alternately called
Rodya's sister, alternately called Dounia.
Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikov:
Semyon Zakharovitch Marmeladov:
conversation with Raskolnikov.
Katerina Ivanovna:
Rodya's mother.
A drunkard who figures prominently in a bar
The wife of Marmeladov.
Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladov:
Marmeladov's daughter and devoted step-daughter
of Katerina Ivanovna, who prostitutes herself and later falls in love with
Raskolnikov. Also called Sonia.
Arkady Ivanovitch Svidrigaïlov:
Petersburg.
Marfa Petrovna:
needed money.
Dounia's former employer who arrives in St.
Svidrigaïlov's wife who dies and leaves Dounia a bundle of
Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin:
A rich man who thinks he can buy happiness for
Dounia, his love. His name, comically, means "puddle."
Dimitri Prokofitch Razhumikin:
Dounia.
Raskolnikov's best friend and guardian of
Andrei Semyonovitch Lebeziatnikov:
Marmeladovs and a liberal.
Porfiry Petrovich:
Alyona Ivanovna:
The overseeing police officer on Raskolnikov's case.
The moneylender who Raskolnikov murders.
Lizaveta Ivanovna:
The simple-minded sister of Alyona and a friend of Sonya.
Praskovya Pavlovna:
Nastasya:
A tenant in the same building as the
Raskolnikov's complaining landlady who is owed back-rent.
Praskovya's servant and a friend of Raskolnikov.
Amalia Fyodorovna:
at a dinner party.
Kapernaumov:
The Marmeladov's landlady who causes a big scandalous fight
Sonia's landlady.
Zossimov A friend of Razhumikin and a doctor who cared for Raskolnikov.
Nikodim Fomitch:
Zametov:
Chief of the police.
A clerk in the police station and a friend of
Razhumikin. Raskolnikov’s friend.
Ilya Petrovitch:
A police official.
Nikolay and Dimitri:
The painters, one of whom admits to the crime.
The Structure of Russian Names
Traditional Russian names come in three parts. These are the given name,
patronymic, and family name. For instance, the full name of the great Russian
novelist Dostoevsky is Fyodor (given name) Mikhailovich (patronymic) Dostoevsky
(family name).
The patronymic is based on the first name of a person's father, adding either a
masculine (-ovich –ivich -ich -evich) or feminine (-ovna -ov -ova) ending.
Thus siblings (with the same father) will have the same patronymic.
One good example from Russian literature is the example, Dostoevsky's antihero
of Crime and Punishment, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, would be politely
addressed as Rodion Romanovich, not Mr. Raskolnikov.