The Brothers Karamazov: Character and Relationship Map
Full spoilers: this guide includes the murder, Smerdyakov’s confession, Dmitri’s trial, and the epilogue.
Mitya is Dmitri. Alyosha is Alexey. Grushenka is Agrafena Alexandrovna. Once these names settle into place, the larger difficulty in The Brothers Karamazov is following how affection, money, family obligation, and suspicion connect the same people in different ways.
Begin with Fyodor Pavlovitch and his sons, then follow the branches into the servants’ quarters, the monastery, the Snegiryovs’ rented room, and the courtroom. The separate maps keep the family relationships, romantic attachments, and murder case readable at a glance.
Contents
The Karamazov family
Fyodor Pavlovitch has three acknowledged sons from two marriages. Dmitri’s mother is Adelaida Ivanovna; Ivan and Alyosha’s mother is Sofya Ivanovna. Dmitri is therefore their half-brother, while Ivan and Alyosha are full brothers. Smerdyakov grows up in the same household under a rumor that Fyodor is his father.
Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov. The brothers’ father neglects their upbringing while retaining control over money and property. His quarrel with Dmitri concerns Dmitri’s maternal inheritance and their competing pursuit of Grushenka. He is murdered in his house; Smerdyakov later tells Ivan how he killed him and stole the money intended for Grushenka.
Dmitri Fyodorovitch Karamazov — Mitya. The eldest brother, a former army officer, returns to contest his financial affairs with his father. He is engaged to Katerina Ivanovna and passionately attached to Grushenka. His threats, violence, and unexplained spending make him the accused murderer. He strikes Grigory while escaping the garden, but does not kill his father. The jury convicts him, and he receives twenty years’ penal servitude.
Ivan Fyodorovitch Karamazov. The middle brother has lived by tutoring and writing before joining the family in the town. He loves Katerina Ivanovna and debates faith and suffering with Alyosha. Smerdyakov treats their conversations, and Ivan’s departure, as permission to act against Fyodor. Ivan subsequently learns the truth from Smerdyakov and tries to bring it into court while dangerously ill. His sense of responsibility must be distinguished from an explicit order to commit murder, which the novel does not establish.
Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov — Alyosha. The youngest brother is Zossima’s novice and a trusted listener across the rival households. He carries messages for Dmitri and Katerina, becomes close to Grushenka, and brings the schoolboys together around Ilusha. He leaves the monastery at his elder’s direction. His proposed marriage to Lise is later broken off by her; he is neither a priest nor a married man at the close.
Adelaida Ivanovna. Fyodor’s first wife and Dmitri’s mother comes from the Miusov family. She leaves Fyodor for a destitute divinity student and dies in Petersburg. The narrator gives conflicting accounts of her death, so its precise cause remains uncertain.
Sofya Ivanovna. Fyodor’s second wife is the mother of Ivan and Alyosha. An orphan raised under an oppressive guardian, she marries Fyodor hoping to escape her situation and suffers in the marriage. She dies while the boys are young. Alyosha retains a vivid childhood memory of her praying before an icon.
The household and the children’s guardians
Pavel Fyodorovitch Smerdyakov. Fyodor’s cook is Lizaveta’s son, raised by Grigory and Marfa. Town gossip identifies Fyodor as his father; Fyodor denies it. Smerdyakov has epilepsy, knows the household’s routines, and supplies Dmitri with information about the signals used at Fyodor’s window. In his final interview with Ivan, he confesses the murder, hands over the stolen money, and argues that Ivan shares responsibility. He dies by suicide before the trial.
Lizaveta Smerdyastchaya. A homeless woman with almost no speech gives birth to Smerdyakov in the Karamazovs’ bathhouse and dies after the delivery. Her abusive nickname supplies her son’s surname. The story of his conception reaches the reader through local suspicion and gossip.
Grigory Vassilyevitch. Fyodor’s long-serving attendant cares for the neglected children and raises Smerdyakov. He is married to Marfa Ignatyevna. On the murder night he pursues Dmitri, who hits him with a brass pestle. Grigory survives and becomes a prosecution witness. His belief that the door from the house into the garden was open is a consequential point of disputed evidence.
Marfa Ignatyevna. Grigory’s wife shares the work of raising Smerdyakov after losing her own infant. She discovers him after the cellar episode, helps care for him, and finds the injured Grigory on the murder night.
Pyotr Alexandrovitch Miusov. Adelaida’s cousin becomes one of Dmitri’s guardians and places the boy with a cousin in Moscow before returning to Paris. He disputes property rights with the monastery and attends the disastrous family meeting in Zossima’s cell with his young relative Pyotr Kalganov.
Sofya’s former guardian and Yefim Petrovitch Polenov. The unnamed general’s widow who raised Sofya later removes Ivan and Alyosha from Fyodor’s household. After her death, her heir Polenov takes responsibility for their education.
Katerina, Grushenka, and the romantic entanglements
Katerina Ivanovna — Katya. Dmitri helps her when her father’s misuse of regimental funds threatens disgrace. She later offers to marry him, and their engagement becomes bound up with gratitude, pride, and mutual injury. She entrusts him with money to send to her half-sister Agafya in Moscow; his failure to do so helps drive the later crisis. Although she loves Ivan, she continues to defend and reproach Dmitri. At the trial she produces Dmitri’s threatening letter. She also accepts responsibility for Ivan’s plan to help Dmitri escape and nurses Ivan after his collapse.
Agrafena Alexandrovna Svyetlov — Grushenka. Abandoned by a former lover, Grushenka settles in the town under Samsonov’s protection and becomes financially capable in her own right. Fyodor and Dmitri both pursue her. Her former lover’s return brings her to Mokroe, where she finally chooses Dmitri. Her friendship with Alyosha begins in an encounter arranged by Rakitin. After Dmitri’s arrest, she visits him and also takes care of the impoverished Maximov.
Kuzma Kuzmitch Samsonov. An elderly merchant and Grushenka’s protector, formerly her lover, he has helped establish her position in the town. He sends Dmitri on a fruitless journey to the timber buyer Lyagavy when Dmitri comes seeking money. He is not Grushenka’s father.
Mihail Osipovitch Rakitin. A seminarian acquainted with Alyosha, Rakitin moves between the monastery and the town’s households while pursuing his own advancement. Grushenka pays him to bring Alyosha to her. He denies being related to her early in the novel; at the trial she reveals that their mothers were sisters. He is her first cousin, and he testifies against Dmitri.
Mussyalovitch. Grushenka’s Polish former lover, who deserted her and later returns after his wife’s death. At Mokroe, his renewed claim on Grushenka collapses during the confrontation with Dmitri. Grushenka subsequently sends him small amounts of money, without renewing their old attachment.
Vrublevsky. Mussyalovitch’s Polish companion at Mokroe, involved with him in the dishonest card game. He is a separate man from Grushenka’s former lover.
Agafya Ivanovna and Katerina’s relatives. Agafya is Katerina’s older half-sister through their father, Dmitri’s former commanding officer. She prevents their father’s suicide when his financial misconduct is exposed. One of Katerina’s household aunts is Agafya’s maternal aunt, who looked after Katerina in her father’s house after boarding school. The other is the sister of Katerina’s wealthy Moscow benefactress, a general’s widow. That benefactress and Sofya’s former guardian are two different general’s widows.
The Hohlakovs and their visitors
Madame Hohlakov. Lise’s widowed mother is Katerina’s friend and a frequent source of excited news, advice, and speculation. She favors a match between Katerina and Ivan. When Dmitri urgently asks her for money, she recommends gold mining instead of giving him the loan he needs. After the murder, she becomes increasingly interested in Perhotin.
Lise — Madame Hohlakov’s daughter. Alyosha’s childhood friend sends him a love letter, and they agree to marry in the future. She later withdraws that promise but continues to confide in him. She uses a wheelchair during the early action and is able to walk by the later chapters. Her contact with Ivan includes a visit and a letter that he tears up unread; the novel does not establish a mutual romance between them.
Yulia. A servant in the Hohlakov household, often summoned during the family’s flurries of visitors and messages. She helps tend Alyosha’s hand after Ilusha bites him.
Pyotr Ilyitch Perhotin. A young official with whom Dmitri has pawned his pistols. When Dmitri retrieves them, Perhotin notices his bloodstained appearance and newly available money. Alarmed by his behavior, he visits Fenya and Madame Hohlakov to check Dmitri’s story, then goes to the police. He later becomes a welcome visitor to Madame Hohlakov’s house.
Marya Kondratyevna and her mother. Marya is the neighbor who admires Smerdyakov and listens to him playing the guitar. After his hospital stay, she and her mother take him into the cottage where they now live. The narrator mentions a later supposition that Marya and Smerdyakov were engaged, while leaving the arrangement uncertain. She discovers his suicide and seeks Alyosha’s help.
Foma. A former soldier from Dmitri’s regiment who lodges with Marya and her mother before their move. Dmitri uses his room and the adjoining garden as a lookout for visits to Fyodor. Foma does not know the purpose of his watch.
Zossima and the monastery
The elder guides Alyosha personally; the Father Superior governs the monastery. Several monks support Zossima, while Ferapont distrusts both him and the institution of elders.
Father Zossima. Alyosha’s elder and spiritual mentor is a former army officer whose remembered life occupies much of Book VI. At the family meeting he bows before Dmitri, later explaining that he foresees great suffering for him. He sends Alyosha back into life outside the monastery. His death and the rapid development of an odor from his body provoke scandal among those expecting signs of sanctity and deeply unsettle Alyosha.
Father Paissy. A close associate of Zossima who becomes an important guide to Alyosha. He reads the Gospel beside the dead elder and resists the excitement surrounding the body.
Father Iosif. The monastery’s librarian, present at the family meeting and involved in the conversation about Ivan’s article on ecclesiastical courts. He supports Zossima when the reaction to the elder’s death turns hostile.
The Father Superior. The head of the monastery, who hosts the meal disrupted by Fyodor. His office is distinct from Zossima’s position as an elder and from the hermitage warden’s responsibilities.
Father Mihail. The warden of the hermitage, the more secluded part of the monastery where the elder lives. He should not be confused with Mihail, the murderer who confesses to Zossima in the story of his earlier life.
Father Anfim. An elderly monk who accompanied Zossima on travels collecting alms and is present during his final conversations. His similar-sounding name is easily confused with Afanasy, Zossima’s former military servant.
Porfiry. A young novice who attends Zossima. He belongs to the elder’s immediate circle alongside Alyosha.
Father Ferapont. A severe ascetic and opponent of Zossima’s influence. Despite the form of address, he is a monk rather than a priest. He claims to see devils and interprets the disturbance after Zossima’s death as a victory over evil.
The monk from Obdorsk. An unnamed visitor attracted to Ferapont’s austerity. His encounter with Ferapont shows how differently visitors respond to the monastery’s competing religious reputations.
Nastasya and Prohorovna. Two women seeking comfort from Zossima have different troubles. Nastasya grieves for her dead little son Alexey and has left her husband, Nikita, at home; this child is not Alyosha. Prohorovna, a sergeant’s widow, fears for her absent son Vassenka, whose letter announces his return from Siberia.
The people in Zossima’s remembered life
Markel. Zossima’s older brother dies at seventeen, when the future elder is nine. His words during his final illness become a lasting influence on Zossima. The elder’s later sense of a resemblance between Markel and Alyosha is spiritual and emotional, not a family connection.
Afanasy Pavlovitch. Zossima’s military orderly, whom he strikes during his life as an officer. His shame over the beating leads to an apology and helps turn him away from the violence of a duel. Years later they meet again, when Afanasy has a wife, children, and a modest livelihood.
The young woman and her husband. Zossima mistakenly hopes to marry a woman who is already engaged. After she marries a landowner, he provokes the husband into a duel. He faces the man’s shot, refuses to fire back, and apologizes. Neither member of the couple is named.
Mihail — the mysterious visitor. A respected man tells the young Zossima that he murdered a woman fourteen years earlier. He has since married and become a father. With Zossima’s encouragement, he confesses publicly, but most people dismiss the confession as madness. He dies soon afterward. His unnamed victim is a widow who rejected him, a different woman from the one involved in Zossima’s duel.
Pyotr — the wrongly suspected servant. A servant of Mihail’s victim is arrested under suspicion of her murder and dies of fever. This Pyotr belongs to Zossima’s remembered story, separate from the present-day group of Miusov, Kalganov, and Perhotin.
Doctor Eisenschmidt. The doctor who attends Markel during his final illness. He belongs to Zossima’s childhood and is distinct from all three doctors involved in the Karamazov case.
The Snegiryovs and the schoolboys
Dmitri’s public assault on Captain Snegiryov reaches into the schoolroom: the boys mock the captain, Ilusha fights them, and Alyosha initially receives the anger meant for his brother. The later visits to Ilusha’s sickroom gradually bring the boys together.
Captain Nikolay Ilyitch Snegiryov. A discharged infantry captain living in poverty with his wife and three children. Dmitri drags him by the beard in public while Ilusha pleads for his father. The captain initially tramples and rejects the money Katerina offers through Alyosha, feeling that accepting it would dishonor him before his son. He later accepts her help. His fierce love for Ilusha continues through the final illness and funeral.
Arina Petrovna. The captain’s wife and the mother of Varvara, Nina, and Ilusha. Physical illness and mental distress make her dependent on the family’s care. Ilusha is particularly tender toward her; she remains at home during his funeral.
Varvara. One of Ilusha’s two sisters, a student who has returned from Petersburg and taken on much of the household’s work. Her impatience with her father coexists with practical devotion to the family. She has gone back to Petersburg by the later schoolboy chapters.
Nina. Ilusha’s other sister, whose severe pain and impaired mobility restrict her movements. Her quiet affection helps sustain the household. She remains with her mother on the day of the funeral.
Ilusha Snegiryov. The captain’s son is ashamed and furious at his father’s humiliation. He throws stones at schoolmates and bites Alyosha because he is Dmitri’s brother. His friendship with Kolya has already broken down after an act of cruelty toward a dog. During Ilusha’s final illness, Alyosha helps turn former schoolroom enemies into visitors and friends. Ilusha dies shortly after Dmitri’s sentence.
Nikolay Ivanovitch Krassotkin — Kolya. An intelligent, proud schoolboy who wants to impress others with his independence and advanced opinions. He first protects Ilusha, then withdraws his friendship after the incident with Zhutchka; during their estrangement Ilusha stabs him in the leg with a penknife. Kolya eventually returns with the missing dog. His meeting with Alyosha reveals how much he wants the approval he pretends not to need.
Anna Fyodorovna Krassotkin. Kolya’s widowed mother. She worries intensely about him, especially after his dangerous stunt of lying between the railway tracks while a train passes. She is not the mother of Nastya and Kostya, the younger children living in the same house.
Dardanelov. Kolya’s teacher, who hopes to marry Anna Fyodorovna. He is a suitor, not Kolya’s stepfather. Kolya’s mixture of rivalry and respect complicates the teacher’s position in the household.
Smurov. One of the boys first seen throwing stones at Ilusha, later a regular visitor to his sickroom. He admires Kolya and accompanies him on the way to the Snegiryovs.
Kartashov. Another schoolboy, embarrassed when Kolya displays his knowledge in a discussion about the founders of Troy. He joins the group around Ilusha and is present in the final gathering with Alyosha.
Nastya and Kostya. The small daughter and son of a doctor’s wife who rents rooms in the Krassotkins’ house. Kolya looks after them while their mother is away. They are siblings to each other, not to Kolya. The Krassotkins’ servant Agafya and the lodger’s servant Katerina belong to this household, not to Dmitri’s fiancée’s family.
Zhutchka — renamed Perezvon. These are two names for the same dog. Following Smerdyakov’s suggestion, Ilusha gives Zhutchka bread containing a pin and believes the dog has died. Kolya finds the animal alive, keeps it while teaching it tricks, and brings it to Ilusha as Perezvon before revealing its identity. The mastiff puppy bought by the captain is a second dog.
Mokroe, the money search, and the witnesses
Fenya — Fedosya Markovna. Grushenka’s maid tells Dmitri where her mistress has gone and later describes his frightening, bloodstained visit to investigators. She sees his behavior and hears his words; she does not witness Fyodor’s murder. Her grandmother, Matryona, is the cook in the same household.
Widow Morozov. Grushenka’s landlady and a relative of Samsonov. Grushenka lives in a separate wooden lodge within her property near the cathedral square. Morozov is not Grushenka’s mother.
Gorstkin — Lyagavy. A timber dealer connected with negotiations over Fyodor’s property. Samsonov sends Dmitri to him on the pretense that he might advance money, but Dmitri finds him hopelessly drunk. Father Pavel, the priest at Ilyinskoe, helps Dmitri reach the forester’s hut where the dealer is staying. This journey consumes time without solving Dmitri’s money problem.
Trifon Borissovitch. The innkeeper at Mokroe, where Dmitri has spent lavishly with Grushenka before and returns on the murder night. His estimates of the earlier spending help create the impression that Dmitri must have obtained fresh money. He also exposes the Poles’ dishonest card play. He is a different man from Trifonov, the merchant whose financial dealings with Katerina’s father led to her original appeal to Dmitri.
Pyotr Fomitch Kalganov. Miusov’s young relative accompanies him to the monastery and later appears at Mokroe with Maximov. He witnesses the confrontation with the Poles and treats Dmitri sympathetically after the arrest. He is not Miusov’s son.
Maximov — Maximushka. An impoverished landowner who attaches himself to more prosperous company and tells extravagant, unreliable stories. He first appears at the monastery, then accompanies Kalganov and joins the revelry at Mokroe. Afterward Grushenka shelters him. Fyodor’s teasing comparison with “von Sohn” does not make Maximov that other man.
Andrey and Timofey. Two drivers whose journeys should be kept separate. Timofey takes Grushenka to Mokroe on the murder night; Andrey later drives Dmitri there. Akim joins Timofey in finding a hundred-ruble note, which they hand to Trifon Borissovitch. The innkeeper’s contradictory account of returning it damages his credibility at the trial.
Which three thousand rubles?
Money | What happens to it |
Katerina’s 3,000 rubles, entrusted to Dmitri | He is supposed to send it to her half-sister Agafya in Moscow. He spends 1,500 on the earlier visit to Mokroe and secretly keeps the other 1,500 in a pouch worn around his neck. He begins spending that reserve on the murder night. His earlier claim to have spent everything conceals it. |
Fyodor’s separate 3,000 rubles | He sets it aside for Grushenka in a sealed envelope. Smerdyakov steals it after killing him, later gives it to Ivan, and Ivan brings it into court. |
Dmitri’s disputed maternal inheritance | Father and son disagree over their accounts. Dmitri’s demand for money does not settle what Fyodor legally owes him. |
The later escape fund | Ivan leaves Katerina nearly 10,000 rubles and instructions for arranging Dmitri’s escape. This is separate from the stolen money he presents at the trial. |
The prosecution treats Dmitri’s spending as evidence that he robbed his father. The distinction between Katerina’s retained money and Fyodor’s stolen money is therefore central to understanding how the wrong man is convicted.
The murder and the trial
Dmitri goes to his father’s house, sees him through the window, and leaves without killing him. While escaping, he strikes Grigory with the brass pestle he has taken from Grushenka’s kitchen. The blood on Dmitri is Grigory’s. He goes to Mokroe believing he may have killed the old servant, who in fact survives.
Smerdyakov’s final confession supplies the account of what follows. He has staged the first seizure in the cellar and waits for his opportunity. After Dmitri has gone, he gets Fyodor to open the door by claiming that Grushenka has arrived. He kills Fyodor with an iron paperweight, steals the money, and returns to bed. His epilepsy is real: he says that a genuine severe seizure follows the next morning.
Ivan learns the truth during the third of his interviews with Smerdyakov. The first takes place in the hospital after Ivan’s return from Moscow; the next two occur at Marya Kondratyevna’s cottage. Smerdyakov hands him the money during the last visit, on the evening before the trial, and dies by suicide that night. His suicide note does not confess the murder.
The investigators and the court
Mihail Makarovitch Makarov. The police captain who takes part in the proceedings at Mokroe. His familiarity with the town’s society distinguishes his manner from the investigating magistrate’s formal questioning.
Nikolay Parfenovitch Nelyudov. The investigating magistrate who questions Dmitri at Mokroe. His examination of the money, clothes, blood, and sequence of movements helps build the case against him. He is not the judge presiding over the later trial.
Ippolit Kirillovitch. The prosecutor, involved in the preliminary investigation and then the trial. He treats Dmitri’s threats, jealousy, financial desperation, and spending as a coherent history of murder and robbery. His reconstruction wins the jury’s agreement, but it is not the true account of the killing.
Mavriky Mavrikyevitch Schmertsov. The rural police officer who escorts Dmitri away after the decision to hold him. He is distinct from Makarov, the police captain.
Fetyukovitch. The celebrated defense lawyer from Petersburg. He undermines several witnesses and challenges the prosecution’s reconstruction, then offers a fallback argument about how an abusive father should affect the judgment of a son. That hypothetical argument is not Dmitri’s confession. His eloquence fails to secure an acquittal.
The president of the court and the jury. The unnamed president directs the trial and questions witnesses. Twelve jurors decide Dmitri’s guilt and recommend no mercy. The jury includes officials, merchants, peasants, and artisans; the chapter title “The Peasants Stand Firm” does not mean that all twelve are peasants. Nazaryev is one of the merchant jurors, not the foreman who announces the verdict.
The three doctors
Doctor Herzenstube. The older local physician treats people across the town, including the Snegiryovs and Smerdyakov. At the trial he recalls giving the neglected young Dmitri a pound of nuts, a kindness Dmitri later returned to thank him for. He also helps attend Ivan after his collapse.
Doctor Varvinsky. A younger local physician who disputes the other doctors’ interpretation of Dmitri’s behavior in court. Afterward he treats Ivan and allows the feverish Dmitri a separate room in the hospital’s prison division. Dmitri remains under guard there.
The Moscow specialist. An unnamed doctor brought by Katerina to advise on Dmitri’s defense. He also examines Ilusha, Lise, and Ivan. His testimony at the trial conflicts with that of the younger local doctor, Varvinsky.
Why the evidence misleads the court
Person or evidence | What it establishes—and what it does not |
Grigory | He sees Dmitri in the garden and is struck by him. His claim that the door from the house into the garden was already open conflicts with Smerdyakov’s account; it does not prove that Dmitri entered the house and killed Fyodor. |
Fenya and Perhotin | They see Dmitri’s bloodstained, agitated behavior. Perhotin also sees his money and returns the pistols Dmitri has pawned with him. Neither witnesses the murder. |
Trifon Borissovitch and the Mokroe party | They describe Dmitri’s spending and conduct. Their estimates of the earlier expenditure do not prove that he had spent all of Katerina’s money. |
Alyosha | He remembers Dmitri pointing high on his chest in a way that supports the account of the hidden pouch. He did not see the money inside it. |
Ivan | He brings Smerdyakov’s confession and the stolen money before the court. His severe illness and confused self-accusation prevent his intervention from establishing Dmitri’s innocence for the jury. |
Katerina’s letter from Dmitri | A genuine letter, written before the murder, contains a threat to kill Fyodor. It proves that Dmitri wrote the threat, not that he carried it out. |
Smerdyakov | He has confessed privately to Ivan and died before the trial. The court never hears him confess or undergo questioning about that account. |
The stories inside the story
The town narrator. The main narrator is an unnamed chronicler acquainted with the Karamazovs’ town. He identifies himself as a witness to the trial but also acknowledges selecting and rearranging its material. He is not Alyosha. Dialogue, rumor, a witness’s testimony, and the prosecutor’s reconstruction can all reach the reader through his narrative without becoming equally reliable accounts of events.
Alyosha’s account of Zossima. Book VI draws on Alyosha’s later notes, combining the elder’s final conversation with earlier memories and teachings. Zossima’s childhood, military life, and encounter with Mihail occur many years before the central murder story.
The Grand Inquisitor and Christ. These figures belong to the unwritten prose poem Ivan tells Alyosha, set in sixteenth-century Seville. The Inquisitor has Christ arrested and argues that people cannot bear the freedom he offers. Christ answers with a silent kiss; the Inquisitor releases him. Neither figure is a visitor to the Karamazovs’ Russian town.
Richard and the general’s child victim. Richard is the condemned murderer whose religious conversion Ivan recounts from a pamphlet. The boy killed by a general’s dogs belongs to another of Ivan’s accounts of cruelty. These are examples Ivan brings into his argument about suffering, not members of the town’s families.
Ivan’s devil. The shabby gentleman who talks with Ivan appears during his feverish nightmare. He repeats and distorts Ivan’s ideas, becoming a tormenting conversational partner. He should be kept separate from the ordinary visitors in the household and from the Grand Inquisitor in Ivan’s earlier poem.
Places and the order of events
Place | Who or what to connect with it |
Skotoprigonyevsk | The fictional provincial town in which the Karamazovs’ households, the monastery, and the trial are centered. Its name is disclosed late in the novel. |
Fyodor’s house, garden, and servants’ quarters | The household of Fyodor, Grigory, Marfa, and Smerdyakov; the site of Dmitri’s assault on Grigory and Smerdyakov’s murder of Fyodor. |
The monastery and hermitage | Zossima’s circle, Alyosha’s early residence, the family meeting, and the crisis after the elder’s death. |
The Hohlakov house and Katerina’s house | Two separate homes. Lise lives with her mother; Katerina lives with her aunts and later nurses Ivan in her house. |
Grushenka’s lodge on Morozov’s property | Grushenka, Fenya, and the cook Matryona; later also Maximov. Dmitri repeatedly visits while watching for his rivals. |
The Snegiryovs’ rented room in Lake Street | The captain’s family and, during Ilusha’s illness, the gathering of schoolboys. |
Mokroe | The village and inn where Grushenka meets her former lover, Dmitri joins the party, and the investigators question him. It is outside the main town. |
Ilyinskoe, the forester’s hut, and Tchermashnya | Places associated with the timber dealings and Dmitri’s futile money search. Tchermashnya is also Ivan’s announced destination before he changes course. |
Volovya and Moscow | At Volovya, Ivan decides to continue to the railway and travel to Moscow. He is away from the town when his father is killed. |
Marya Kondratyevna’s cottage | Smerdyakov’s home after leaving the hospital, the setting of his last two interviews with Ivan, and the place of his suicide. |
The hospital’s prison division | Dmitri’s guarded accommodation after the verdict. The escape has not happened. |
The churchyard and Ilusha’s stone | Ilusha is buried in the churchyard. Alyosha’s final talk with the boys takes place afterward at the stone where Ilusha and his father used to sit. |
The narrative sometimes returns to an earlier point in the same day. Zossima’s memories also interrupt the present action. This outline separates the main sequence from those changes in narration.
Before the family gathering: the brothers grow up apart; Dmitri meets Katerina, becomes engaged to her, and becomes involved with Grushenka. His first expensive visit to Mokroe precedes the murder-night party.
The monastery meeting and its aftermath: the family quarrel becomes public. Alyosha moves between households, encounters Ilusha and the schoolboys, and hears Ivan’s argument and the Grand Inquisitor poem.
The crisis converges: Zossima dies. Ivan leaves for Moscow. Alyosha’s distress after the elder’s death gives way to his encounter with Grushenka and return to the monastery.
The money search and murder: Dmitri’s search for money overlaps the preceding events. He visits his father’s garden, strikes Grigory, and goes to Mokroe. Smerdyakov kills Fyodor after Dmitri’s departure. The investigation reaches Mokroe and Dmitri is detained.
The weeks before the trial: Dmitri is held; Ivan returns and questions Smerdyakov. Alyosha brings the boys together around the dying Ilusha. On the eve of the trial, Smerdyakov confesses and dies by suicide, while Ivan becomes gravely ill.
Trial and epilogue: Dmitri is convicted. Ivan remains ill, an escape is discussed, and Ilusha dies and is buried. The final scene belongs to Alyosha and the boys.
Names and aliases
A Russian patronymic identifies a person through their father’s given name. “Fyodorovitch” connects Dmitri, Ivan, and Alexey to Fyodor; it is not their surname. Sharing a patronymic does not by itself prove kinship: several unrelated people in the novel are called Ivanovna or Ilyitch. Smerdyakov’s patronymic also cannot settle the rumor of his parentage.
English spellings vary. This guide follows the names in Constance Garnett’s translation, with accents simplified: Miusov and Paissy are the same names printed there as Miüsov and Païssy. The lookup below puts familiar names beside formal forms and separates recurring names that belong to different people.
Name on the page | Person to look for |
Afanasy; Afanasy Pavlovitch | Zossima’s former military orderly. Father Anfim is the monk who travels with Zossima. |
Agafya Ivanovna | Katerina’s older half-sister. Agafya in the Krassotkin house is a servant. |
Agrafena Alexandrovna; Grusha; Grushenka | The woman loved by Dmitri and pursued by Fyodor. Her surname is Svyetlov. |
Alexey Fyodorovitch; Alyosha | The youngest Karamazov brother. Nastasya’s dead little Alexey is another child. |
Anna Fyodorovna | Kolya’s widowed mother. Arina Petrovna is Ilusha’s mother. |
Dmitri Fyodorovitch; Mitya; Mitenka | The eldest Karamazov brother. The driver Ivan addresses as Mitri or Mitya at Volovya is a separate man. |
Fedosya Markovna; Fenya | Grushenka’s maid. |
Fetyukovitch | Dmitri’s defense lawyer from Petersburg. |
Gorstkin; Lyagavy | The drunken timber dealer whom Dmitri visits while seeking money. |
Grigory Vassilyevitch | Fyodor’s servant, Marfa’s husband, and Smerdyakov’s foster parent. |
Ilusha | Captain Snegiryov’s son, the boy around whom the school friends gather. |
Ippolit Kirillovitch | The prosecutor in Dmitri’s case. |
Ivan Fyodorovitch | The middle Karamazov brother. |
Katerina Ivanovna; Katya; Katenka | Dmitri’s fiancée, later his former fiancée, who loves Ivan. The servant Katerina in the Krassotkins’ house is another woman. |
Kolya; Nikolay Ivanovitch Krassotkin | Ilusha’s older school friend. |
Lise | Madame Hohlakov’s daughter and Alyosha’s former fiancée. |
Lizaveta Smerdyastchaya; “Stinking Lizaveta” | Smerdyakov’s mother. The little Lizaveta mentioned by a woman visiting Zossima is a different person. |
Marfa Ignatyevna | Grigory’s wife, who helps raise Smerdyakov. |
Marya Kondratyevna | The woman whose household takes in Smerdyakov after his hospital stay. |
Matryona | The cook in Grushenka’s household and Fenya’s grandmother. |
Maximov; Maximushka | The elderly landowner later supported by Grushenka. |
Mihail, the mysterious visitor | The man who confesses an old murder to Zossima. Father Mihail is the hermitage warden. |
Mihail Makarovitch | Makarov, the police captain. |
Mihail Osipovitch; Rakitin | The seminarian and Grushenka’s cousin. |
Misha | A familiar form used for Rakitin; the young servant Misha in Perhotin’s household is a separate person. |
Nikolay Ilyitch | Captain Snegiryov, Ilusha’s father. |
Nikolay Parfenovitch | Nelyudov, the investigating magistrate. |
Pan Mussyalovitch; Pan Vrublevsky | Grushenka’s former lover and his companion, respectively. “Pan” is a Polish form of address. |
Pavel Fyodorovitch; Smerdyakov | Fyodor’s cook and murderer. Father Pavel at Ilyinskoe is a different man. |
Perezvon; Zhutchka | The same dog, returned by Kolya to Ilusha. |
Prohorovna; Vassenka or Vassya | A worried mother visiting Zossima and her absent son. Prohor, the porter’s substitute at Grushenka’s gate, is unrelated to that episode. |
Pyotr Alexandrovitch | Miusov, Adelaida’s cousin and Dmitri’s guardian. |
Pyotr Fomitch | Kalganov, Miusov’s young relative. |
Pyotr Ilyitch | Perhotin, the official who holds Dmitri’s pistols. |
Samsonov; Kuzma Kuzmitch | Grushenka’s elderly merchant protector. |
Trifon Borissovitch | The Mokroe innkeeper. Trifonov is the merchant involved in Katerina’s father’s financial trouble. |
“Wisp of tow” | A taunt directed at Captain Snegiryov’s beard. |
Zossima | Alyosha’s elder; also commonly spelled Zosima. |
Where the novel leaves them
Dmitri and Grushenka hope to escape together to America. Ivan has devised the plan and left money and instructions with Katerina. Dmitri remains in the hospital’s prison division at the end; the escape plan has not been carried out.
Katerina nurses Ivan after his collapse, and the doctors cannot yet assure his recovery. Her final meeting with Dmitri acknowledges their shared past while recognizing that each now loves someone else. Her attempt to obtain Grushenka’s forgiveness remains unfinished.
Ilusha dies two days after Dmitri is sentenced. Although he had wanted burial beside the large stone associated with his walks with his father, he is buried in the churchyard. Katerina pays for the grave, and she and Lise send flowers.
Alyosha and the boys gather at the stone after the funeral. He asks them to remember Ilusha and the kindness they learned to show him. Alyosha expects to leave town after spending time with his brothers; for the moment, he goes with the boys to the funeral meal.
Sources
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, translated by Constance Garnett. The Lowell Press, New York; Project Gutenberg, ebook 28054. Character maps based on this edition.
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