CHARACTERS

      ARKÁDY SERGÉICH ISLÁEV (Arkásha), a wealthy landowner, thirty-six

      NATÁLYA PETRÓVNA (Natásha), his wife, twenty-nine

      KÓLYA, their son, ten

      VÉRA ALEXÁNDROVNA (Vérochka), their ward, seventeen

      ÁNNA SEMYÓNOVNA ISLÁEVA, Islaev’s mother, fifty-eight

      LIZAVÉTA BOGDÁNOVNA (Líza), her companion, thirty-seven

      ADÁM IVÁNOVICH SCHÁAF, a German tutor, forty-five

      MIKHÁIL ALEXÁNDROVICH RAKÍTIN (Michel), a friend of the house, thirty

      ALEXÉI NIKOLÁEVICH BELYÁEV, a student, Kolya’s Russian teacher, twenty-one

      AFANÁSY IVÁNOVICH BOLSHINTSÓV, a neighbor, forty-eight

      IGNÁTY ILYÍCH SHPIGÉLSKY, a doctor, forty

      MATVÉI, a servant, forty

      KÁTYA, a maid, twenty

      The action takes place on Islaev’s estate in the early 1840s. A day passes between Acts One and Two, Two and Three, and Four and Five.