Generous, noble-minded and strong willed, Varvara Petrovna prides herself on her patronage of artistic and charitable causes. She is «a classic kind of woman, a female Maecenas, who acted strictly out of the highest considerations». But she is also extremely demanding and unforgiving, and is almost terrifying to Stepan Trofimovich when he inadvertently fails her or humiliates her in some way. Pyotr Stepanovich, on his arrival in the town, is quick to take advantage of her resentment towards his father.
Varvara Petrovna almost worships her son Nikolai Vsevolodovich, but there are indications that she is aware that there is something deeply wrong. She tries to ignore this however, and Pyotr Stepanovich is able to further ingratiate himself by subtly presenting her son’s inexplicable behaviour in a favourable light.
Nikolai Vsevolodovich Stavrogin is the central character of the novel. He is handsome, strong, fearless, intelligent and refined, but at the same time, according to the narrator, there is something repellent about him. Socially he is self-assured and courteous, but his general demeanour is described as «stern, pensive and apparently distracted.» Other characters are fascinated by Stavrogin, especially the younger Verkhovensky, who envisions him as the figurehead of the revolution he is attempting to spark. Shatov, on the other hand, once looked up to him as a potentially great leader who could inspire Russia to a Christian regeneration. Disillusioned, he now sees him as «an idle, footloose son of a landowner», a man who has lost the distinction between good and evil. According to Shatov, Stavrogin is driven by «a passion for inflicting torment», not merely for the pleasure of harming others, but to torment his own conscience and wallow in the sensation of «moral carnality». In an originally censored chapter (included as «At Tikhon’s» in modern editions), Stavrogin himself defines the rule of his life thus: «that I neither know nor feel good and evil and that I have not only lost any sense of it, but that there is neither good nor evil… and that it is just a prejudice». In a written confession given to the monk Tikhon he tells of a number of crimes, including raping and driving to suicide a girl of only 11 years. He describes in detail the profound inner pleasure he experiences when he becomes conscious of himself in shameful situations, particularly in moments of committing a crime.
When in Petersburg Stavrogin had secretly married the mentally and physically disabled Marya Lebyadkina. He shows signs of caring for her, but ultimately becomes complicit in her murder. The extent to which he himself is responsible for the murder is unclear, but he is aware that it is being plotted and does nothing to prevent it. In a letter to Darya Pavlovna near the end of the novel, he affirms that he is guilty in his own conscience for the death of his wife.
Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky is the son of Stepan Trofimovich and the principal driving force of the mayhem that ultimately engulfs the town. The father and son are a representation of the aetiological connection Dostoevsky perceived between the liberal idealists of the 1840s and the nihilistic revolutionaries of the 1860s. The character of Pyotr Stepanovich was inspired by the revolutionary Sergey Nechayev, in particular the methods described in his manifesto Catechism of a Revolutionary. In the Catechism revolutionaries are encouraged to «aid the growth of calamity and every evil, which must at last exhaust the patience of the people and force them into a general uprising.» Verkhovensky’s murder of Shatov in the novel was based on the Nechayevites’ murder of Ivanov.
Pyotr Stepanovich claims to be connected to the central committee of a vast, organized conspiracy to overthrow the government and establish socialism. He manages to convince his small group of co-conspirators that they are just one revolutionary cell among many, and that their part in the scheme will help set off a nationwide revolt. Pyotr Stepanovich is enamored of Stavrogin, and he tries desperately, through a combination of ensnarement and persuasion, to recruit him to the cause. The revolution he envisages will ultimately require a despotic leader, and he thinks that Stavrogin’s strong will, personal charisma and «unusual aptitude for crime» are the necessary qualities for such a leader.
Pyotr Verkhovensky, according to Stavrogin, is «an enthusiast». At every opportunity he uses his prodigious verbal abilities to sow discord and manipulate people for his own political ends. His greatest success is with the Governor’s wife, and he manages to gain an extraordinary influence over her and her social circle. This influence, in conjunction with constant undermining of authority figures like his father and the Governor, is ruthlessly exploited to bring about a breakdown of standards in society.
Ivan Pavlovich Shatov is the son of Varvara Stavrogina’s deceased valet. When he was a child she took him and his sister Darya Pavlovna under her protection, and they received tutoring from Stepan Trofimovich. At university Shatov had socialist convictions and was expelled following an incident. He travelled abroad as a tutor with a merchant’s family, but the employment came to an end when he married the family’s governess who had been dismissed for ‘freethinking’. Having no money and not recognizing the ties of marriage, they parted almost immediately. He wandered Europe alone before eventually returning to Russia.
By the time of the events in the novel Shatov has completely rejected his former convictions and become a passionate defender of Russia’s Christian heritage. Shatov’s reformed ideas resemble those of the contemporary philosophy Pochvennichestvo (roughly: «return to the soil»), with which Dostoevsky was sympathetic. Like the broader Slavophile movement, Pochvennichestvo asserted the paramount importance of Slavic traditions in Russia, as opposed to cultural influences originating in Western Europe, and particularly emphasized the unique mission of the Russian Orthodox Church. Shatov goes further by describing that mission as universal rather than merely Russian. Generally awkward, gloomy and taciturn, Shatov becomes emotional and loquacious when aroused by an affront to his convictions. In the chapter ‘Night’ he engages in a heated discussion with Stavrogin about God, Russia and morality. As a younger man Shatov had idolized Stavrogin, but having seen through him and guessed the secret of his marriage, he seeks to tear down the idol in a withering critique. Stavrogin, though affected, is certainly not withered, and answers by drawing attention to the inadequacy of Shatov’s own faith, something Shatov himself recognizes.
Shatov’s relationship with Pyotr Verkhovensky is one of mutual hatred. Verkhovensky conceives the idea of having the group murder him as a traitor to the cause, thereby binding them closer together by the blood they have shed.
Alexei Nilych Kirillov is an engineer who lives in the same house as Shatov. He also has a connection to Verkhovensky’s revolutionary society, but of a very unusual kind: he is determined to kill himself and has agreed to do it at a time when it can be of use to the society’s aims.
Like Shatov, Kirillov has been deeply influenced by Stavrogin, but in a diametrically opposed way. While inspiring Shatov with the ecstatic image of the Russian Christ, Stavrogin was simultaneously encouraging Kirillov toward the logical extremes of atheism — the absolute supremacy of the human will. «If God does not exist» according to Kirillov, «then all will is mine, and I am obliged to proclaim self-will.» This proclamation must take the form of the act of killing himself, with the sole motive being annihilation of mankind’s fear of death, a fear implicit in their belief in God. He believes that this purposeful act, by demonstrating the transcendence of this fear, will initiate the new era of the Man-God, when there is no God other than the human will.
Despite the apparent grandiosity of the idea, Kirillov is a reclusive, deeply humble, almost selfless person who has become obsessed with making himself a sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. Pyotr Stepanovich tells him: «You haven’t consumed the idea but you… have been consumed by the idea, and so you won’t be able to relinquish it.» The motives are of no interest to Pyotr Stepanovich, but he recognizes the sincerity of Kirillov’s intention and incorporates it into his plans as a means of deflecting attention from the conspiracy.
Other characters
Lizaveta Nikolaevna Tushina (Liza) is a lively, beautiful, intelligent and wealthy young woman. She is the daughter of Varvara Petrovna’s friend Praskovya, and is another former pupil of Stepan Trofimovich. She has become ambiguously involved with Stavrogin after their encounter in Switzerland and seems to oscillate between deep love and profound hatred for him. She is resentful and suspicious of Dasha’s strange intimacy with him, and is extremely anxious to understand the nature of his connection to Marya Lebyadkina during the time when the marriage is still a secret. Liza becomes engaged to her cousin Mavriky Nikolaevich, but remains fixated on Stavrogin even after he openly acknowledges his marriage.
Darya Pavlovna (Dasha) is Shatov’s sister, the protégé of Varvara Petrovna, and for a short time the fiancée of Stepan Trofimovich. She is the reluctant confidant and «nurse» of Stavrogin.
Marya Timofeevna Lebyadkina is married to Nikolai Stavrogin. Though childlike, mentally unstable and confused, she frequently demonstrates a deeper insight into what is going on, and has many of the attributes of a «holy fool». According to Frank, Marya represents «Dostoevsky’s vision of the primitive religious sensibility of the Russian people», and the false
