She is Dmitri's proud and wealthy fiancée. Raised as the daughter of a respectable colonel, her life's trajectory was altered by that dark moment when she was forced to succumb to Dmitri's blackmail to prevent a scandal and save her house. Despite the massive inheritance she later received, she has pledged her loyalty to him out of pure gratitude, stubbornness, and a desperate struggle to prove her integrity in the face of Dmitri's ingratitude, engaging in a hysterical battle for nobility.
Her father was a lieutenant colonel who fell into ruin after embezzling money from town funds; to save him, Katerina was forced to accept Dmitri's offer of four thousand rubles (a diabolical gamble that threatened her honor) and go to his house. Dmitri gave her the money without touching her and bowed, whereupon the girl knelt at his feet with respect. Later, empowered by an inheritance from a relative, she returned to Dmitri as a savior and fiancée.
She is a tall, swan-like, and very beautiful woman. She has dark hair, dark and lustrous eyes, a long and somewhat pale but noble face, and a proud, upright bearing.
Gruşenka
Her rival, whom she tried to bring to her knees but whom she hates madly after being defeated and humiliated in a very ugly farce.
İvan Fyodoroviç
The intellectual lover whom he truly loves but feels compelled to reject because he cannot break their masochistic game.
Dmitri Fyodoroviç
An obsession he clings to with a sacrificial hysteria, believing that he will eventually crush him morally.