Minor Characters

Afnasy Ivanovitch Totsky

A wealthy landowner, he brings up Nastasya and makes her his lover. Later, he gets bored of her and offers her to Ganya, through General Yepanchin, for a large sum of money.

Ivan Fyodorovitch Yepanchin

A middle-aged general, he is a shrewd man of the world who has accumulated wealth through enterprise. He is proud of his wife and children but tries to flirt with Nastasya.

Alexandra

The twenty-five year old, eldest daughter of General Yepanchin, she is charming, sensible and talented. However, she is not as lucky as her sisters to get proposed to by an eligible bachelor.

Adelaida

The twenty-three year old, second daughter of General Yepanchin, she is good-looking and artistic. She captivates the heart of Prince S. who proposes to marry her.

General Ivolgin

The head of the Ivolgin family, he is a drunkard who talks about imaginary episodes of his life. He is a burden and an embarrassment to his family.

Nina Alexandrovna

The wife of General Ivolgin and the mother of Ganya, Kolya and Varya, she is kind, sensible and dignified.

Gavrila Ardalionovitch (Ganya)

The eldest son of general Ivolgin and Nina Alexandrovna, he looks good but acts greedy. He agrees to marry Nastasya Philippovna because of the wealth she would bring after marriage. He also desires to marry Aglaya to acquire wealth and position.

Kolya

The youngest child of General Ivolgin, he is kind, friendly and helpful. He is in good terms with all the major characters in the novel and remains his fatherÂ’s companion till the end.

Sister of Ganya and Kolya, she is sensible and shrewd. She marries Ptitsyn to better her position in society. She gets friendly with the Yepanchin girls with a view to fix a match between Aglaya and Ganya.

Ivan Petrovitch Ptitsyn

A cultured and sensible business man, he is a friend of Ganya and well wisher of Prince Myshkin. He marries Varya and allows the Ivolgin family to stay in his house.

Madam Terentyev

A short-tempered woman, she is General IvolginÂ’s mistress and HippolitÂ’s mother.

Hippolit Terentyev

Son of Madam Terentyev and friend of Kolya, he is the eighteen year old consumptive who indulges in self-pity to attract attention. He keeps talking about his death but lives on till the end of the novel.

Ferdyshchenko

A boarder of the Ivolgins, he is friendly and gregarious.

Lukyan Timofeyitch Lebedyev

A retired Civil servant and a widower, he is cunning and greedy though scholarly. He irritates everyone through his eccentric ways. A former friend of Rogozin, he rents out his house to Prince Myshkin.

Vera Lebedyev

The innocent and charming daughter of Lebedyev, she is kind and helpful.

Keller

The boxer friend of Rogozin, he writes a satirical pamphlet on the Prince but later, tries to protect him.

Yevgeny Pavlovitch Radomsky

A wealthy and handsome bachelor, he admires Aglaya and desires to marry her. A sensible man and a good conversationalist, he becomes a friend of Myshkin.

Prince S

A wealthy and influential young man, he woos Adelaida and marries her.

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