as "full-figured" with "trustful eyes". She has a confident manner and a reputation for liberalism. She was educated in an institute for women (women were not easily allowed to study at university) where she was looked upon unfavourably because of her views. Both mother and daughter were later placed under surveillance in their country place. Natalia thinks that by befriending Razumov, she will stay faithful to the spirit of her brother, as he had described Razumov in his letters as possessing a "lofty, unstained and solitary" existence. She is suspicious of the circumstances of Haldin's capture, as she thinks he would have had an escape plan. Peter Ivanovitch: The bombastic leader of the revolutionaries, Ivanovitch served in the Guards when he was young. He is very popular in Russia but lives in Geneva sponsored by Madame de S— and constantly flatters her. In his autobiography, he recounts how he was imprisoned in Russia and made a dramatic escape to the Pacific coast with the help of a woman. He is considered a revolutionary feminist but regularly mistreats Tekla and is a profligate author of numerous books. In the end, Peter Ivanovitch is portrayed as ineffectual, having allowed not one but two informers in his circle. When Madame de S— dies, she leaves none of her fortune to Peter Ivanovitch, who marries a peasant girl and moves back to Russia, but he is still deeply admired by his believers. Peter Ivanovitch is mainly based on Mikhail Bakunin, while his feminist theories seem inspired from Fyodor Dostoevsky (in his "Notes from the Underground" (1864), part 2, chapter 1, there is a reference to this name). Also in Tolstoi's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (1886) there is a character with the same name, referred since the first page. Actually there was a Russian ambassador for the US, from 1817 to 1822, named Pyotr Ivanovich Poletika (1778–1849). Sophia Antonovna: The right hand of Peter Ivanovitch, Antonovna is an old revolutionary who is held in high regard because she is being trusted by Peter Ivanovitch with carrying out "certain most important things". She is the daughter of a clever but unlucky artisan, who was brutally exploited by his masters and died at fifty. She, therefore, became a revolutionary despite her youth. She is quick to see that Razumov is not particularly impressed with them. Razumov views her as "the true spirit of destructive revolution" because