The daughter of Marmeladov, a drunken former civil servant. To feed the little children of her stepmother, Katerina Ivanovna, who is dying of tuberculosis, and to combat her father's misery, she was forced to begin selling her body on the streets (the 'Yellow Ticket'). Although she has defiled her body, she has kept her soul, her purity, and her faith in God astonishingly clean. In this wretched world, instead of rebelling, committing suicide, or becoming desensitized through madness, she considers it a virtue by the light of the Bible to submit and live her fate by suffering. She is the one who listens to Raskolnikov's confession, does not fear him, but on the contrary, pities him and convinces him that he must cleanse his crime by paying penance. Finally, by coming to exile with Raskolnikov, she establishes a bond of compassion between the prisoners and Raskolnikov, and revives the sick man's soul.
Having lost her mother at an early age, she shared the entire burden of the household after her father's second marriage to Katerina Ivanovna, a woman full of sorrow and unhappiness. Unable to find an opportunity for any formal education, she tried to support the family by sewing, but failures eventually forced her into prostitution following the cruel insinuation of Katerina Ivanovna during a moment of crisis.
She carries cheap clothing or an umbrella that is out of fashion, yet bears the traces of street life typical of this life; it is not showy. Even if her hat has flowers or feathers, the childlike innocence on her face and the contrast are striking. Thin, pale, petite, appearing about eighteen; although she cannot be called beautiful, she is a girl with lovely, luminous, innocent blue eyes that deeply draw a person in.
Pyotr Petroviç Lujin
A symbol of the evil power that wishes to humiliate her.
Rodion Romanoviç Raskolnikov
Her love, confidant, and eternal companion whom she believes she will lead to salvation.
Katerina İvanovna Marmeladova
The centerpiece of her mercy, whom she treats as a mother and for whom she bears the entire burden.