An illustrated companion

The Brothers
Karamazov


A novel in four parts and an epilogue

by

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

In the translation of Constance Garnett

The text of the London edition
1912


The people you remember. The moments that remain.
Written for readers who have finished · full-book spoilers

This illustrated book is written for readers who have finished the novel. You have set your place part-way through, so scenes from later chapters are folded away and each person is described as you first meet them.

Study of the white-bearded elder Zossima resting his hand on the bowed head of the young Alyosha, both in dark robes.
Father Zosima blesses AlyoshaAI-generated study after Boris Grigoriev’s illustration.

Of the House of Karamazov

Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov


The youngest, by Sofya. A novice at the monastery and the one the narrator calls his hero. Everyone confides in him.

The youngest son, by Sofya, and the narrator’s declared hero. A novice at the monastery whom everybody trusts.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk I, ch. 4.

Named
1,404
Chapters
73 of 96
Forms
3

Called

Alexey FyodorovitchFormal · 113

AlexeyNeutral · 50

AlyoshaFamiliar · 1241


Fyodorovitch — child of Fyodor

More about Alyosha: connections & chapters →
Back to contents ↑
Study of Katerina bowing low at the left, with Dmitri in uniform at the right, in a room with a tall mirror and curtained window.
Katerina Ivanovna and Dmitri KaramazovAI-generated study after Boris Grigoriev’s illustration.

Of the House of Karamazov

Dmitri Fyodorovitch Karamazov


The eldest, by Adelaïda. An ex-officer: reckless, generous, loud. Owed money by his father, engaged to Katerina, ruined by Grushenka. Convicted of a murder he did not commit.

The eldest son, by the first wife. Passed from relative to relative, now an ex-officer who believes his father owes him his mother’s money.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk I, ch. 2.

Named
1,294
Chapters
73 of 96
Forms
4

Called

Dmitri FyodorovitchFormal · 170

DmitriNeutral · 210

MityaFamiliar · 911

MityenkaTender · 3


Fyodorovitch — child of Fyodor

More about Dmitri: connections & chapters →
Back to contents ↑
Alyosha and Dmitri sit apart beneath a luminous tree, with village roofs and a crescent moon beyond.
Boris Grigoriev · The Confession of an Ardent Heart1916–1932 · Historical illustration · Source & credits ↗Private collection · Reproduced in Sotheby’s, 2007

A scene remembered · Bk III, ch. 3

The confession of a passionate heart


In the garden, Dmitri pours out his heart to Alyosha. Poetry gives way to confession: his longing for beauty, his shame, and the story of the two women between whom his life is divided.

Look closely
The luminous tree fills the space between the brothers; their dark figures sit apart beneath it.
Why it matters
Dmitri trusts Alyosha with the contradictions that others will later flatten into a story of guilt. The confession continues through the next two chapters.
Read the scene →
Back to contents ↑

The scene “The confession of a passionate heart” is folded away: it comes from Bk III, ch. 3, past your place.

Study of Ivan and Smerdyakov at a wooden gate beneath the moon: one man turns through the gate while the other stands beside the fence.
Ivan Karamazov and SmerdyakovAI-generated study after Boris Grigoriev’s illustration.

Of the House of Karamazov

Ivan Fyodorovitch Karamazov


The second son, by Sofya. A cold intellectual who argues that without God everything is permitted — then meets a man who acted on it.

The second son, by Sofya. Raised on charity, a gifted writer and a sceptic; nobody can quite explain why he has come to stay with his father.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk I, ch. 3.

Named
714
Chapters
54 of 96
Forms
2

Called

Ivan FyodorovitchFormal · 59

IvanNeutral · 655


Fyodorovitch — child of Fyodor

More about Ivan: connections & chapters →
Back to contents ↑
Study of Grushenka with centre-parted brown hair, dark expressive eyes and flushed cheeks, wearing a blue garment patterned with orange spirals.
Agrafena (Grushenka)AI-generated study after Boris Grigoriev’s illustration.

Of the Town · The Women

Agrafena Alexandrovna Svyetlov


Agrafena Alexandrovna. Brought to town by the merchant Samsonov at eighteen and kept by him since. Courted by father and son at once — which is what sets the murder in motion.

Agrafena Alexandrovna. Kept for years by an old merchant, and the woman both Dmitri and his father are pursuing.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk III, ch. 5.

Named
420
Chapters
48 of 96
Forms
3

Called

Agrafena AlexandrovnaFormal · 39

GrushaFamiliar · 18

GrushenkaTender · 363


Alexandrovna — child of Alexander

More about Grushenka: connections & chapters →
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A crowded celebration with musicians and two performers dressed as bears tumbling on the floor.
Boris Grigoriev · Delirium1916–1932 · Historical illustration · Source & credits ↗Private collection · Reproduced in Sotheby’s, 2007

A scene remembered · Bk VIII, ch. 8

Delirium


At Mokroye, the revelry grows feverish. Two girls dressed as bears tumble before the crowd while Dmitri and Grushenka imagine a life together. Before the night is over, the officers arrive to arrest him.

Look closely
The tumbling bear costumes and crowded faces turn the celebration into a scene of almost uncontainable motion.
Why it matters
Dmitri and Grushenka briefly imagine a future together. The arrest interrupts that possibility, turning a night of release into the beginning of his trial.
Read the scene →
Back to contents ↑

The scene “Delirium” is folded away: it comes from Bk VIII, ch. 8, past your place.

A drawn study of Smerdyakov seated by a wooden door, turning his sharp, wary face over the shoulder of a heavy olive coat.
Pavel SmerdyakovAI-generated study after Boris Grigoriev’s illustration.

Of the House of Karamazov

Pavel Smerdyakov


The household’s cook, epileptic and contemptuous. Born to Lizaveta in the garden; the town assumes Fyodor is the father. He listened to Ivan more carefully than Ivan did.

The household’s cook, raised by Grigory and trained in Moscow. Silent, fastidious about his clothes, contemptuous — and subject to fits.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk III, ch. 6.

Named
372
Chapters
38 of 96
Forms
2

Called

Pavel FyodorovitchFormal · 1

SmerdyakovDistanced · 371


Fyodorovitch — child of Fyodor

More about Smerdyakov: connections & chapters →
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Smerdyakov plays a guitar beside Marya Kondratyevna on a garden bench; Alyosha stands at the edge.
Boris Grigoriev · Smerdyakov with a Guitar1916–1932 · Historical illustration · Source & credits ↗Private collection · Reproduced in Sotheby’s, 2007

A scene remembered · Bk V, ch. 2

Smerdyakov with a guitar


Searching for Dmitri, Alyosha overhears Smerdyakov singing to Marya Kondratyevna. The cook’s talk is full of resentment and disdain. When Alyosha interrupts, he learns where to look for Ivan.

Look closely
Follow the guitar toward Marya on the bench, then notice Alyosha standing just outside their conversation.
Why it matters
The servant at the edge of the family has a voice of his own. His resentment matters long before the brothers understand how closely he has been listening.
Read the scene →
Back to contents ↑

The scene “Smerdyakov with a guitar” is folded away: it comes from Bk V, ch. 2, past your place.

Study of a balding Fyodor in a grey dressing gown, seated amid mirrors, chairs and houseplants.
Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov in his roomAI-generated study after Boris Grigoriev’s illustration.

Of the House of Karamazov

Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov


The father. A buffoon and a sensualist who forgot his children entirely, then competed with his eldest son for the same woman. Murdered in his own house.

The father. A landowner, buffoon and sensualist who made money, married twice, and forgot all three of his sons.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk I, ch. 1.

Named
298
Chapters
52 of 96
Forms
1

Called

Fyodor PavlovitchFormal · 298


Pavlovitch — child of Pavel

More about Fyodor: connections & chapters →
Back to contents ↑
The Karamazov household gathers around a large samovar in a crowded red interior.
Boris Grigoriev · Drinking Cognac1916–1932 · Historical illustration · Source & credits ↗Private collection · Reproduced in Sotheby’s, 2007

A scene remembered · Bk III, ch. 8

Over the brandy


At the family table, Fyodor turns the conversation toward God and immortality. Ivan denies what Alyosha affirms. Drink loosens the father’s tongue, and his mockery of the past wounds the sons in front of him.

Look closely
The huge samovar crowds the table, while faces and bodies pull the gathering in different directions.
Why it matters
Questions about belief are already questions about how these people treat one another. The family’s cruelty gives the argument its force.
Read the scene →
Back to contents ↑

The scene “Over the brandy” is folded away: it comes from Bk III, ch. 8, past your place.

Study of Katerina Ivanovna, eyes lowered, in a fringed headscarf and a blue coat, before a red building with barred windows.
Katerina IvanovnaAI-generated study after Boris Grigoriev’s illustration.

Of the Town · The Women

Katerina Ivanovna Verhovtsev


Proud and rich. Engaged to Dmitri out of gratitude for a humiliation she never forgave, while in love with Ivan. Her letter destroys Dmitri at the trial.

A proud colonel’s daughter. Dmitri tells how he once saved her family’s honour in a way that humiliated her; she became his fiancée.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk III, ch. 4.

Named
287
Chapters
42 of 96
Forms
3

Called

Katerina IvanovnaFormal · 199

KaterinaNeutral · 13

KatyaFamiliar · 75


Ivanovna — child of Ivan

More about Katerina: connections & chapters →
Back to contents ↑
Katerina and Grushenka sit on a striped sofa while Alyosha stands quietly behind them.
Boris Grigoriev · Both Together1916–1932 · Historical illustration · Source & credits ↗Private collection · Reproduced in Sotheby’s, 2007

A scene remembered · Bk III, ch. 10

Both together


Alyosha finds Katerina and Grushenka together. An apparent reconciliation turns into an exchange of humiliations: a hand kissed, a kiss withheld, and Dmitri’s future hanging between them.

Look closely
The women occupy the sofa while Alyosha stands behind: he can witness the contest, but cannot prevent it.
Why it matters
What begins as generous courtesy exposes wounded pride. Alyosha sees how quickly the wish to be loved becomes the wish to humiliate.
Read the scene →
Back to contents ↑

The scene “Both together” is folded away: it comes from Bk III, ch. 10, past your place.

Study of the white-bearded elder Zossima resting his hand on the bowed head of the young Alyosha, both in dark robes.
Father Zosima blesses AlyoshaAI-generated study after Boris Grigoriev’s illustration.

Of the Monastery

Father Zossima


The elder, and Alyosha’s teacher. His answer to Ivan is that every one of us is responsible to all men for everything. He sends Alyosha out into the world.

The elder of the monastery, sought out by crowds for his counsel. Alyosha’s teacher.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk I, ch. 5.

Named
100
Chapters
27 of 96
Forms
2

Called

ZossimaDistanced · 10

Father ZossimaNeutral · 90

More about Zossima: connections & chapters →
Back to contents ↑
Alyosha stands beside Captain Snegiryov, who holds his fingers to his mouth, with the town behind them.
Boris Grigoriev · Alyosha and Captain Snegiryov1916–1932 · Historical illustration · Source & credits ↗Private collection · Reproduced in Sotheby’s, 2007

A scene remembered · Bk IV, ch. 7

Alyosha and Captain Snegiryov


Out in the open air, the captain tells Alyosha how Dmitri’s cruelty humiliated him before his son. Two hundred roubles seem to promise a new life for the family—until wounded pride makes him stamp the notes into the earth.

Look closely
The captain’s fingers rise to his mouth; beside him, Alyosha’s lowered eyes make the encounter unusually intimate.
Why it matters
The money could rescue the household, but accepting it feels like another humiliation. Alyosha has to learn that help must leave room for dignity.
Read the scene →
Back to contents ↑

The scene “Alyosha and Captain Snegiryov” is folded away: it comes from Bk IV, ch. 7, past your place.

Study of barefoot Lizaveta seated on a rustic fence in a pale dress, with a thatched shed and a birch tree nearby.
The Reeking LizavetaAI-generated study after Boris Grigoriev’s illustration.

Of the Town

Lizaveta Smerdyastchaya


Lizaveta Smerdyastchaya — a mute, homeless girl of the town. She climbed into the Karamazov garden to give birth and died doing it. Smerdyakov takes his name from her.

Lizaveta Smerdyastchaya — a mute, homeless girl of the town who slept wherever she lay down. She climbed into the Karamazov garden to give birth and died there.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk III, ch. 2.

Named
19
Chapters
8 of 96
Forms
2

Called

Lizaveta SmerdyastchayaDistanced · 2

LizavetaNeutral · 17

More about Lizaveta: connections & chapters →
Back to contents ↑

Boris Grigoriev · A companion in pictures

The story, remembered through its images

A blessing, a humiliation, a promise overheard. These illustrations lead us back to the moments that bind the Karamazovs together. Follow five movements through the novel, or pause with a single picture. The notes discuss the whole story, including its ending.

Movement I

A town, a house, a childhood

Before the crime, there is a world to remember: familiar streets, neglected children, and the rooms in which a family learns to live apart.

A panorama of the town. The magazine supplies this title but does not establish a single character in the small crowd.

“A fine, warm and clear day…”

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 25

Begin outside the house


The town is more than a backdrop. Visits, errands and overheard stories carry the Karamazovs’ private troubles into public life. This panorama lets us begin at that wider scale. Its published title gives us a warm, clear day, not a securely identified episode.

Looking closely
The row of houses stands above a line of trees; small figures occupy the open ground below.
Remember this
Keep the town in view: the family’s most private quarrels will eventually be repeated, interpreted and judged by others.
People, passage & artwork source
A mother holds her child in a shaft of sunlight. Alyosha remembers Sofya from his early childhood.

Alyosha’s memory of his mother

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 05

The memory that remains


Alyosha loses his mother before his fourth birthday, yet one evening stays with him: sunlight, an icon, and her arms holding him close in prayer. Long before he enters the monastery, love and fear are already joined in his earliest surviving memory.

Looking closely
A diagonal shaft of sunlight crosses the room toward the mother and child gathered beneath the bright window.
Remember this
Alyosha’s tenderness has a history. His faith begins here as something felt and remembered, before it becomes an argument.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 05 is folded away: it comes from Bk I, ch. 4, past your place.

Fyodor seated in a dressing gown, surrounded by mirrors, chairs and houseplants.

Fyodor Pavlovitch in his room

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 29

The father in his own rooms


Fyodor Pavlovitch can accumulate money while neglecting the people who depend on him. His household combines comfort with disorder, affection with mockery. This portrait gives the family’s disruptive centre a domestic setting: the father is at home, but his sons have never found much shelter there.

Looking closely
Tall mirrors fill the wall behind the seated figure; pale chairs and houseplants crowd the edges of his room.
Remember this
The inheritance dispute is also a dispute about fatherhood: what does a parent owe beyond the money he keeps?
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 29 is folded away: it comes from Bk I, ch. 1, past your place.

The magazine names this scene “Katya the schoolgirl.” That title does not establish that this is Katerina Ivanovna, so no such link is made.

Katya the schoolgirl

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 19

An interlude beyond the family


Two young figures and a small animal interrupt the succession of troubled interiors. The published title names Katya the schoolgirl, but does not securely place this scene in a chapter. We leave that connection open, rather than turn a shared first name into Katerina Ivanovna’s biography.

Looking closely
Two figures in patterned dresses stand beside a wooden fence, with a small brown animal crossing the grass.
Remember this
The title is established; the episode is not. Let the image widen the world without supplying a story we cannot verify.
People, passage & artwork source

Movement II

Love entangled with pride

Money can look like rescue, gratitude like devotion, and tenderness like a contest. Remember what each person wants the other to acknowledge.

A small portrait of Katerina in a hat, with her gaze lowered.

Katerina Ivanovna

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗
A generated study of this plate · AI
AI-generated study after illustration 13, Katerina Ivanovna. Not by Grigoriev.
AI-generated, not by Grigoriev — made from the small collage extract above, and not a restoration of it. Enlarged about eight times: every fine detail of the face, the headscarf, the barred windows and the brickwork is generated. Do not use it to identify the scene.

Illustration 13

Katerina, before the testimony


Katerina is not merely the woman Dmitri leaves. Her attachment carries the memory of a desperate appeal, an unexpected gift, and a debt she cannot treat as settled. Read this quiet portrait beside her history: generosity and wounded pride will repeatedly change places.

Looking closely
Her eyes turn downward beneath the brim of a pale hat; the small portrait holds her apart from any scene.
Remember this
Katerina’s later decisions grow from this unresolved debt. To help Dmitri can also mean insisting that he needs her.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 13 is folded away: it comes from Bk III, ch. 4, past your place.

Katerina bows low before Dmitri. Gratitude and humiliation become inseparable in their history.

Katerina Ivanovna and Dmitri

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗
A generated study of this scene · AI
AI-generated study after illustration 6, Katerina Ivanovna and Dmitri. Not by Grigoriev.
AI-generated, not by Grigoriev — made from the museum’s reproduction of this illustration, and not a restoration of it. Redrawn in coloured pencil from the museum’s reproduction, keeping the two figures, their poses, the mirror and the window; the hatching and the warm paper are the generator’s. Do not use it to identify the scene.

Illustration 06

The gift and the bow


Katerina comes to Dmitri for money to save her father from disgrace. Dmitri has imagined exploiting her desperation, but instead gives her the money and lets her go. Her bow of gratitude becomes a memory neither can escape: an act of help already burdened by humiliation.

Looking closely
Katerina bends almost to the floor while Dmitri remains upright; an empty chair separates their bodies in the pale room.
Remember this
Remember the bow when Katerina enters the courtroom. What began in private will be told again before strangers.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 06 is folded away: it comes from Bk III, ch. 4, past your place.

A close portrait of Agrafena Alexandrovna, known throughout the novel as Grushenka.

Grushenka

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 16

Grushenka, beyond the rivalry


Father and son treat Grushenka as the answer to their desires. Her own story is less convenient: an old abandonment, years of resentment, and a capacity for unexpected kindness. When Alyosha comes to her in grief, the supposed temptation becomes an encounter of mutual compassion.

Looking closely
The face nearly fills the sheet; dark eyes and a tightly held mouth leave little space for setting or spectacle.
Remember this
Grushenka is not simply the prize in a quarrel. The encounter with Alyosha changes how both characters see themselves.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 16 is folded away: it comes from Bk VII, ch. 3, past your place.

Katerina and Grushenka on the sofa, with Alyosha behind them. A larger reproduction is already shown among the homepage scenes.

Both together

Boris Grigoriev · Larger supplied reproduction

Open image ↗

Illustration 17

The kiss that is withheld


Katerina welcomes Grushenka as though an understanding between them could settle Dmitri’s future. She kisses her rival’s hand. Grushenka offers to return the gesture, then refuses. Alyosha watches an apparent reconciliation become a humiliation: the contest is now about who has power to wound.

Looking closely
The two women share a striped sofa but turn differently toward one another; Alyosha stands small behind them.
Remember this
The missing kiss matters more than the polite words. A small gesture exposes the struggle beneath their apparent intimacy.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 17 is folded away: it comes from Bk III, ch. 10, past your place.

Movement III

What tenderness must survive

Alyosha carries the elder’s teaching into drawing rooms and sickrooms. These images belong together through that trial of care, not because they illustrate a single day.

The elder rests his hand on Alyosha’s bowed head.

Zossima blesses Alyosha

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 01

A blessing, and a sending out


Zossima gives Alyosha affection, but not permission to withdraw from everyone else. In their last conversations he urges him to seek Dmitri and attend to the suffering ahead. The blessing is a beginning of responsibility: what Alyosha receives in the cell must become care outside it.

Looking closely
The elder’s large hand rests on the bowed head; the gold cross hangs immediately above their point of contact.
Remember this
Zossima’s influence survives less as a doctrine Alyosha repeats than as a way of approaching people who need him.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 01 is folded away: it comes from Bk VI, ch. 1, past your place.

Alyosha visits the Hohlakov household; the collage preserves only part of the room.

At the Hohlakovs

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 04

Care in an ordinary room


At the Hohlakovs’, talk of miracles and family scandal meets the smaller urgency of Alyosha’s injured finger. Lise interrupts the conversation to have it washed and dressed. The household gives his journey another scale: beside the great questions, there is someone immediately in need of care.

Looking closely
Alyosha’s dark robe interrupts the pale patterned interior; the window and crowded table draw attention to the domestic setting.
Remember this
This is related reading, not a claim that the crop depicts the wound. Small acts of care anchor the visit.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 04 is folded away: it comes from Bk IV, ch. 4, past your place.

Lise in profile. The published discussion connects this likeness to the actress Lydia Koreneva.

Lise Hohlakov

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 12

Lise’s changing voice


Lise can tease Alyosha, worry over his pain, and listen closely as he describes another family’s humiliation. Their childhood friendship briefly opens toward a shared future. Keep that capacity for fellow feeling beside this profile; it makes her later wish to hurt herself and others more troubling.

Looking closely
The profile turns toward the left edge; a blue ribbon gathers the curls behind the sharply outlined cheek.
Remember this
Do not reduce Lise to her later cruelty. Her earlier concern for suffering people is part of the same character.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 12 is folded away: it comes from Bk V, ch. 1, past your place.

Alyosha stands beside the elder’s body in a spare, grey interior.

Alyosha at Zossima’s coffin

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 03

When the miracle does not come


After Zossima’s death, visitors expect his body to affirm his holiness. Instead, its decay becomes a scandal. Alyosha grieves not only for his teacher but at the delight others take in his humiliation. Faith must survive without the reassuring sign that the crowd has demanded.

Looking closely
The body and the standing mourner are separated by bare grey space; the red coffin supplies the strongest colour.
Remember this
This loss tests Alyosha’s expectations of goodness. The elder’s death does not spare him the difficulty of living his teaching.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 03 is folded away: it comes from Bk VII, ch. 1, past your place.

The published composition is titled “The Little Demon [Lise Hohlakov and Alyosha].” This collage includes only a portion of it; Alyosha is outside the visible crop.

The little demon

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 24

A room turned inward


Later, Lise rejects the future she imagined with Alyosha and speaks of wanting destruction rather than happiness. He listens, but cannot simply soothe her distress away. The published composition includes both of them; this collage preserves only her side, making the room feel more solitary still.

Looking closely
Lise sits low beside a table beneath a large window; the other listener falls outside this partial reproduction.
Remember this
Her distress resists a tidy explanation. The scene asks what compassionate attention can do when it cannot immediately heal.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 24 is folded away: it comes from Bk XI, ch. 3, past your place.

Movement IV

At the door, at the window

The house narrows into thresholds: a servant who knows the signals, a father waiting for a visitor, a son preparing to leave. What remains unsaid begins to matter.

The original composition behind the approved study: Smerdyakov seated beside a wooden door, looking back over his shoulder.

Pavel Smerdyakov

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 36

The listener in the household


Smerdyakov is raised by Grigory and Marfa and serves in Fyodor’s house, where his skill as a cook does not protect him from contempt. His reserve encourages others to underestimate him. Keep him in view: the man at the edge of family conversation is listening closely.

Looking closely
Seated beside a tall wooden door, Smerdyakov turns his head back toward us while his body remains facing away.
Remember this
Smerdyakov’s knowledge of the household matters. The people who dismiss him repeatedly entrust him with their secrets and desires.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 36 is folded away: it comes from Bk III, ch. 6, past your place.

A moonlit house and garden. The title records Fyodor’s expectation of Grushenka.

“What if Grushenka comes today…”

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗
A generated study of this plate · AI
AI-generated study after illustration 2, “What if Grushenka comes today…”. Not by Grigoriev.
AI-generated, not by Grigoriev — made from the small collage extract above, and not a restoration of it. The extract already has the house, the crescent moon, the sunflowers and the old woman at the fence; the study sharpens them and adds the carpentry, the lit windows, the flowers and the texture of oil paint. Do not use it to identify the scene.

Illustration 02

The visitor who never arrives


Fyodor’s expectation of Grushenka reorganises the household. He waits, questions Smerdyakov, and arranges secret signals for her arrival. Dmitri is watching too. The moonlit house belongs to that atmosphere of anticipation, where an imagined visit can govern the actions of people who have not met.

Looking closely
A crescent moon hangs above the timber house; the fence and small foreground figures keep us outside its rooms.
Remember this
Grushenka’s absence is active in the plot. Father and son make dangerous decisions around what they imagine she will do.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 02 is folded away: it comes from Bk V, ch. 6, past your place.

Fyodor, wearing a red cap, looks out beneath an arched window.

Fyodor Pavlovitch at the window

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 35

A face at the window


In the garden, Dmitri watches his father and cannot decide whether Grushenka is inside. He knocks the agreed signal. Fyodor opens the window in eager expectation, while Dmitri remains hidden. The moment brings desire and hatred face to face, without yet telling the whole story of the murder.

Looking closely
An open shutter and arched frame surround Fyodor’s face; the red head covering stands out against the dark exterior.
Remember this
Dmitri’s violent feeling is not proof of the murder. The novel makes us distinguish an impulse from an act.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 35 is folded away: it comes from Bk VIII, ch. 4, past your place.

Published as “For a while a very obscure one [Ivan and Smerdyakov].” Their conversation surrounds Ivan’s departure.

Ivan and Smerdyakov at the gate

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 26

What does leaving mean?


At the gate, Smerdyakov presses Ivan about leaving and describes how exposed the household may become. Ivan resents the suggestion that they understand each other without speaking plainly. Their conversation leaves an unanswered question behind him: can departing become a way of refusing to know?

Looking closely
The two figures stand apart against the wooden gate; the blue evening light leaves little warmth between them.
Remember this
Ivan hears more than he wants to acknowledge. Later, he must revisit both the words and his own decision to leave.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 26 is folded away: it comes from Bk V, ch. 6, past your place.

Movement V

A night of joy, a public judgment

The company at Mokroye gathers around desire and entertainment; the courtroom gathers around competing accounts. In both rooms, look at who watches and who must perform.

Grushenka and the company gathered at the inn, beneath the hanging lamp.

The party in Mokroye

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 07

Everyone is watching Grushenka


Dmitri reaches Mokroye to find Grushenka with the former lover whose return has unsettled her. Cards, money and awkward politeness fill the room before that reunion collapses. This gathering is a turning point for her, not simply another extravagant evening in Dmitri’s pursuit.

Looking closely
Grushenka occupies the foreground beneath the hanging lamp; the men behind her form a close, watchful company.
Remember this
Grushenka must judge the man she has remembered for years against the man who has actually returned to her.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 07 is folded away: it comes from Bk VIII, ch. 7, past your place.

The performers dressed as bears at Mokroye. The larger supplied version remains in the homepage’s scene sequence.

Delirium

Boris Grigoriev · Larger supplied reproduction

Open image ↗

Illustration 27

Joy on the edge of disaster


The party spills into songs and dancing; two girls perform dressed as bears. During the same night, Grushenka and Dmitri finally acknowledge their love. What feels like a beginning is interrupted by officials arriving to arrest him. The revelry and the catastrophe occupy the same room.

Looking closely
One bear-costumed performer stands while another sprawls beside an overturned chair; musicians and spectators press close behind them.
Remember this
The chapter’s delirium holds both happiness and dread. Their declaration of love does not cancel the violence outside the celebration.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 27 is folded away: it comes from Bk VIII, ch. 8, past your place.

Published as “Interrogation of Katerina.” She stands before the court during Dmitri’s trial.

Katerina’s testimony

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

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Illustration 30

A private debt becomes evidence


Katerina first tells the court how Dmitri helped her father, exposing her own humiliation to defend him. Later she produces his threatening letter. The testimony turns their intimate history into public evidence, while generosity, anger and the wish to protect Ivan pull her in different directions.

Looking closely
A solitary woman faces the long green-covered table; the seated officials and raised enclosure make the room feel divided.
Remember this
Remember the earlier bow. Katerina must now tell strangers what it meant, and her account can change Dmitri’s fate.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 30 is folded away: it comes from Bk XII, ch. 5, past your place.

A study of the faces of the men who will judge Dmitri. No individual juror is assigned a name.

The jury

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

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Illustration 10

Who gets to decide the story?


By the end of the trial, Dmitri’s life has been arranged into rival explanations. The jurors must decide which account to believe, and they convict him of the murder. These unnamed faces return the question to ordinary people: how easily can a persuasive story be mistaken for truth?

Looking closely
Heads fill two uneven rows, each with a different angle and expression; no single face commands the whole group.
Remember this
The verdict closes the trial, not the question of responsibility. Legal guilt and the novel’s moral reckoning are not identical.
People, passage & artwork source

Illustration 10 is folded away: it comes from Bk XII, ch. 14, past your place.

Pictures still awaiting their place

These 15 extracts are part of the same supplied collage, but their subjects have not been securely identified. They remain here as an illustrated appendix, not as scenes assigned a place in the story.

Inspect the 15 unconfirmed illustrations
Probably Alyosha with Zossima. The figures resemble their other portraits, but this particular composition has not been matched to a caption.

Two monks

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗
A generated study of this plate · AI
AI-generated study after illustration 8, Two monks. Not by Grigoriev.
AI-generated, not by Grigoriev — made from the small collage extract above, and not a restoration of it. It extends the picture beyond the extract: the monastery gate, the monk walking away, the benches and the building at the right are generated, not seen. Do not use it to identify the scene.

Illustration 08

Two monks

Probable match · not confirmed

Probably Alyosha with Zossima. The figures resemble their other portraits, but this particular composition has not been matched to a caption.

Three women stand beside a fence with the town beyond. Their identities are not established.

Three women outdoors

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 09

Three women outdoors

Not yet identified

Three women stand beside a fence with the town beyond. Their identities are not established.

A group sits around a table in a room with red curtains. The exact episode remains unverified.

Men around a table

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗
A generated study of this plate · AI
AI-generated study after illustration 11, Men around a table. Not by Grigoriev.
AI-generated, not by Grigoriev — made from the small collage extract above, and not a restoration of it. The sunset, the town and river beyond the curtains, the cracked window, the rug and the signature are added, and the mask-like faces are repainted as realistic ones. Do not use it to identify the scene.

Illustration 11

Men around a table

Not yet identified

A group sits around a table in a room with red curtains. The exact episode remains unverified.

Probably Fyodor Pavlovitch awaiting a visitor. The identification is a visual inference, not a verified catalogue title.

A man leaning toward a window

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 14

A man leaning toward a window

Probable match · not confirmed

Probably Fyodor Pavlovitch awaiting a visitor. The identification is a visual inference, not a verified catalogue title.

Probably Zossima bowing before Dmitri during the family’s visit. A caption for this exact image has not yet been verified.

A bow in the monastery

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗
A generated study of this plate · AI
AI-generated study after illustration 15, A bow in the monastery. Not by Grigoriev.
AI-generated, not by Grigoriev — made from the small collage extract above, and not a restoration of it. The icon, candle, books, rugs and the snowy view through the window are added or elaborated, and every face is repainted. Do not use it to identify the scene.

Illustration 15

A bow in the monastery

Probable match · not confirmed

Probably Zossima bowing before Dmitri during the family’s visit. A caption for this exact image has not yet been verified.

A bare-legged figure sits beside a pale object. The small reproduction does not support a confident character or scene identification.

A seated figure in red and white

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 18

A seated figure in red and white

Not yet identified

A bare-legged figure sits beside a pale object. The small reproduction does not support a confident character or scene identification.

Probably Alyosha and Rakitin. A dark-robed figure and a man in a grey coat stand among the trees; the precise episode is unverified.

Two men on a monastery path

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗
A generated study of this plate · AI
AI-generated study after illustration 20, Two men on a monastery path. Not by Grigoriev.
AI-generated, not by Grigoriev — made from the small collage extract above, and not a restoration of it. The church domes and bell tower, the detail of the painted saints and the texture of the trees are generated; the faces are repainted. Do not use it to identify the scene.

Illustration 20

Two men on a monastery path

Probable match · not confirmed

Probably Alyosha and Rakitin. A dark-robed figure and a man in a grey coat stand among the trees; the precise episode is unverified.

A prone figure lies among trees under a blue night sky. The subject has not been confirmed.

A figure on the earth at night

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 21

A figure on the earth at night

Not yet identified

A prone figure lies among trees under a blue night sky. The subject has not been confirmed.

Possibly Alyosha visiting the Snegiryov household. The figures and room suggest the episode, but no matching caption has been found.

A visit to a crowded room

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 22

A visit to a crowded room

Probable match · not confirmed

Possibly Alyosha visiting the Snegiryov household. The figures and room suggest the episode, but no matching caption has been found.

Two tightly framed faces. Neither identity can be established from this reproduction alone.

Two studies of faces

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 23

Two studies of faces

Not yet identified

Two tightly framed faces. Neither identity can be established from this reproduction alone.

Probably the monastery meal following the family meeting. This was separated from the Smerdyakov portrait touching its right edge in the collage.

A meal with the monks

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 28

A meal with the monks

Probable match · not confirmed

Probably the monastery meal following the family meeting. This was separated from the Smerdyakov portrait touching its right edge in the collage.

An old man with a long white beard sits with his hands folded; a younger man stands behind his chair. First read as Grigory and Marfa, but enlarged the standing figure looks like a man. Samsonov with his son (VIII.1) is another possibility. Neither is confirmed.

An old man seated, a younger man behind

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 31

An old man seated, a younger man behind

Not yet identified

An old man with a long white beard sits with his hands folded; a younger man stands behind his chair. First read as Grigory and Marfa, but enlarged the standing figure looks like a man. Samsonov with his son (VIII.1) is another possibility. Neither is confirmed.

A figure stands beneath a sign reading “Tea, Sugar.” The place and person remain unidentified.

Outside a tea-and-sugar shop

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗
A generated study of this plate · AI
AI-generated study after illustration 32, Outside a tea-and-sugar shop. Not by Grigoriev.
AI-generated, not by Grigoriev — made from the small collage extract above, and not a restoration of it. The legible shop signs, the lamp post, the church skyline and a realistic face — in place of Grigoriev’s mask-like one — are all generated. Do not use it to identify the scene.

Illustration 32

Outside a tea-and-sugar shop

Not yet identified

A figure stands beneath a sign reading “Tea, Sugar.” The place and person remain unidentified.

A window, a pale head and a samovar emerge from the dark room. The episode is not securely identified.

A dim interior

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 33

A dim interior

Not yet identified

A window, a pale head and a samovar emerge from the dark room. The episode is not securely identified.

A hanging coat and a small window in a dim interior. This is not the magazine’s separately published “Ivan in his father’s house.”

An interior with a hanging coat

Boris Grigoriev · Extract from the supplied collage

Open image ↗

Illustration 34

An interior with a hanging coat

Not yet identified

A hanging coat and a small window in a dim interior. This is not the magazine’s separately published “Ivan in his father’s house.”

The rest of the company

More lives in the novel

No separate portrait in this selection. Their stories still belong here.

Of the Schoolboys

Kolya Krassotkin


Thirteen — “fourteen in a fortnight”, he insists — brilliant and insufferable, repeating borrowed nihilism he half understands. An Ivan who can still be reached.

A widow’s only son, the boldest boy in his class, and the terror of his mother’s nerves.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk X, ch. 1.

Named
278
Chapters
10 of 96
Forms
2

Called

KrassotkinDistanced · 68

KolyaFamiliar · 210

More about Kolya →

Of the Monastery

Mihail Rakitin


A seminarist on the make and Grushenka’s cousin. Explains everyone by their motives, takes twenty-five roubles to bring the grieving Alyosha to her, and turns up at the trial with a theory.

A seminarist and Alyosha’s friend — clever, ambitious, and quick to explain everyone by their lowest motive.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk II, ch. 7.

Named
198
Chapters
24 of 96
Forms
1

Called

RakitinDistanced · 198

More about Rakitin →

Of the Town

Grigory Kutuzov


Fyodor’s servant for decades, and the man who actually raised the sons. He is struck down with a pestle on the night of the murder, and his evidence that the garden door stood open is the most damning at the trial.

Fyodor’s old servant — gloomy, obstinate and honest — who looked after each of the boys when their father would not.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk I, ch. 2.

Named
192
Chapters
31 of 96
Forms
2

Called

Grigory VassilyevitchFormal · 29

GrigoryNeutral · 163


Vassilyevitch — child of Vassily

More about Grigory →

Of the Schoolboys

Ilusha Snegiryov


A schoolboy who bit Alyosha’s finger because his father had been dragged through the street by the beard. He dies at nine, and the novel ends at his funeral.

A small, sick schoolboy of about nine who fights a whole gang of boys alone — and bites Alyosha’s finger.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk IV, ch. 3.

Named
166
Chapters
12 of 96
Forms
1

Called

IlushaFamiliar · 166

More about Ilusha →

Of the Town · The Women

Lise Hohlakov


Madame Hohlakov’s daughter. Fourteen, an invalid, engaged to Alyosha — and privately telling him she dreams of destruction.

Madame Hohlakov’s daughter, fourteen and unable to walk — quick, mischievous, and fond of Alyosha.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk II, ch. 3.

Named
144
Chapters
12 of 96
Forms
1

Called

LiseNeutral · 144

More about Lise →

Of the Town

Pyotr Perhotin


The young official holding Dmitri’s pistols as a pledge. Alarmed by his bloodstained hands and sudden money, he follows the trail that brings the authorities to Mokroye.

Pyotr Ilyitch Perhotin, the young official with whom Dmitri has pawned his pistols.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk VIII, ch. 5.

Named
119
Chapters
13 of 96
Forms
2

Called

Pyotr IlyitchFormal · 91

PerhotinDistanced · 28


Ilyitch — child of Ilya

More about Perhotin →

Of the Court

Nikolay Parfenovitch


The young investigating lawyer. With the prosecutor, he questions Dmitri at Mokroye, turning the night’s confused events into the case against him.

Nikolay Parfenovitch, the young investigating lawyer, two months out from Petersburg.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk IX, ch. 2.

Named
103
Chapters
10 of 96
Forms
1

Called

Nikolay ParfenovitchFormal · 103


Parfenovitch — child of Parfen

More about Nikolay P. →

Of the Town · The Women

Madame Hohlakov


A wealthy widow of enthusiasms, comic and useless. Lise’s mother — and the one who sends Dmitri chasing gold-mines when he needs three thousand roubles.

A rich, excitable widow who has brought her invalid daughter to see the elder.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk II, ch. 3.

Named
94
Chapters
29 of 96
Forms
2

Called

HohlakovDistanced · 1

Madame HohlakovNeutral · 93

More about Hohlakov →

Of the Monastery

Father Paissy


A monk close to Father Zossima. He reads the Gospel over the elder’s body and remains a steady presence when the monastery’s reverence turns to doubt.

A learned monk of the hermitage, in delicate health, close to the elder.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk II, ch. 2.

Named
73
Chapters
13 of 96
Forms
2

Called

Father PaïssyNeutral · 72

PaïssyNeutral · 1

More about Paissy →

Of the Town

Kuzma Samsonov


The old merchant who keeps Grushenka. Dying, and amused enough by Dmitri’s desperation to send him on a wild errand.

An old, rich, ailing merchant who has been Grushenka’s protector for years.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk VII, ch. 3.

Named
66
Chapters
13 of 96
Forms
3

Called

Kuzma KuzmitchFormal · 20

SamsonovDistanced · 45

Kuzma SamsonovNeutral · 1


Kuzmitch — child of Kuzma

More about Samsonov →

Of the Town

Maximov


An elderly hanger-on, eager for company and a place at the table. After the revels at Mokroye, Grushenka takes him into her care.

A small elderly landowner with a honeyed lisp who attaches himself to the Karamazov party at the monastery.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk II, ch. 1.

Named
64
Chapters
11 of 96
Forms
1

Called

MaximovDistanced · 64

More about Maximov →

Of the Town

Marfa Ignatyevna


Grigory’s wife, and the other half of the household that brought up the boys their father ignored.

Grigory’s wife, and the other half of the household that brought up the boys their father ignored.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk III, ch. 1.

Named
57
Chapters
15 of 96
Forms
2

Called

Marfa IgnatyevnaFormal · 30

MarfaNeutral · 27


Ignatyevna — child of Ignat

More about Marfa →

Of the Schoolboys

Smurov


One of the boys who stoned Ilusha, and the one who told Alyosha about him. Later Kolya’s devoted go-between.

One of the schoolboys throwing stones at Ilusha.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk IV, ch. 3.

Named
55
Chapters
6 of 96
Forms
1

Called

SmurovDistanced · 55

More about Smurov →

Of the Court

Fetyukovitch


The celebrated defence counsel from Petersburg. He dismantles the evidence piece by piece — and loses.

The celebrated defence lawyer, brought from Petersburg for the trial.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk XII, ch. 1.

Named
55
Chapters
12 of 96
Forms
1

Called

FetyukovitchDistanced · 55

More about Fetyukovitch →

Of the Court

Ippolit Kirillovitch


The prosecutor, consumptive and giving the speech of his life. His psychology of Dmitri is persuasive, and wrong.

The town’s deputy prosecutor, called from a game of whist on the night of the alarm.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk IX, ch. 2.

Named
41
Chapters
14 of 96
Forms
1

Called

Ippolit KirillovitchFormal · 41


Kirillovitch — child of Kirill

More about Prosecutor →

Of the Court

Trifon Borissovitch


The innkeeper at Mokroye. He welcomes Dmitri’s extravagant spending, then becomes a witness to the money and revelry of that last night.

Trifon Borissovitch, the innkeeper at Mokroe, who remembers Dmitri’s last visit well.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk VIII, ch. 6.

Named
39
Chapters
10 of 96
Forms
1

Called

Trifon BorissovitchFormal · 39


Borissovitch — child of Boris

More about Trifon B. →

Of the Monastery

Father Ferapont


The rival ascetic — fasting, visions, and hostility to the elders. Piety as spite, set beside Zossima’s piety as love.

An old ascetic monk — fasting, silence, visions of devils — and an open enemy of the elders.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk IV, ch. 1.

Named
34
Chapters
3 of 96
Forms
2

Called

FerapontDistanced · 2

Father FerapontNeutral · 32

More about Ferapont →

Of the Schoolboys

Captain Snegiryov


Ilusha’s father. Destitute, and humiliated in front of his son by Dmitri. He tramples the money that would save his family because his boy is watching.

Ilusha’s father, a destitute former captain who plays the buffoon to cover his shame.

Not yet met at your place in the book: first appears in Bk IV, ch. 6.

Named
22
Chapters
8 of 96
Forms
1

Called

SnegiryovDistanced · 22

More about Snegiryov →

Explore the text

Open the chapter index, memorable passages & mention counts

Begin with a memory

The complete novel →
349,367Words
96Chapters
12Books
27Characters
179Ties

Find a character in the text

Mention counts with aliases resolved — Dmitri, Mitya, Mitka and Dmitri Fyodorovitch counted as one person. Overlapping names are claimed longest-first, so nothing is double-counted.

The novel, book by book

Fyodor Dostoyevsky · 1880 · Constance Garnett’s translation · 1912