Marmeladov, Semyon Zakharovich

Former civil servant; husband to Katerina Ivanovna and father to Sonya

Description: He was a fairly solidly built man of over fifty, of medium height, with greying hair and a marked bald patch. His face, bloated from continuous drinking, was of a yellow, even perhaps greenish, tinge, with puffy eyelids, from under which gleamed tiny but spirited reddish eyes. But there was something very odd about him: he had a light in his eyes that seemed to express a passion for life, indicating perhaps the presence of both thought and intelligence, but combined possibly with streak of insanity. He was wearing an utterly decrepit black tailcoat, with all its buttons missing apart from one, which was clinging on for dear life and which he kept buttoned, evidently to retain a measure of respectability.

A crumpled, filthy and drink-stained shirt front protruded from his yellow cotton waistcoat. His face was clean-shaven, in the civil-service style, but it was so long since he had last had a shave that a thick bluish-grey stubble was already beginning to show. And, indeed, there was something respectable and formal about his manner as well. But he was clearly in an agitated frame of mind, ruffling up his hair and sometimes dejectedly holding his head in both hands, leaning his ragged elbows on the stained, greasy table.

Pronunciation

Part One

Chapter 2

Introduced in the tavern, where he recites a monologue to Raskolnikov for 12 pages while he drinks a pitcher of vodka, bought with money begged from his daughter, Sonya. He relates his sad tale, speaking in a ‘grandiloquent’ style and peppers his monologue with many references to the New Testament.

His tale would bring a tear to a glass eye. Raskolnikov barely gets a word in. The only responses come from the barkeep and the other customers, who have clearly heard this story many times.

He heads home after three days’ drinking and sleeping on a hay barge, with Raskolnikov tagging along. His reception from his wife is as expected. He takes pleasure in being scolded and dragged by his hair, evidently from feeling that he deserves such treatment. He’s a nice guy, beaten down by alcoholism and poverty.