Madame Hohlakov, Lise’s mother

Madame Hohlakov, Lise’s mother, is the object of Mikhail Rakitin’s cynical plan to marry into wealth. Her brief appearance in this episode turns on the contrast between his private calculation and the public humiliation he seeks after she expels him from her house.

Rakitin’s Marriage Scheme

Rakitin tells Dmitri that, while Dmitri has made a fool of himself over three thousand roubles, he intends to secure a hundred and fifty thousand by marrying a widow. He says he is courting Madame Hohlakov and plans, after the marriage, to take her to Petersburg and start a newspaper. His estimate of her is openly condescending: he claims that she had little sense when young and has since lost what little she possessed, but is now sentimental. He treats that sentimentality as the means by which he can win her and obtain the fortune.

Rakitin’s boast is not merely an abstract ambition. He visits Madame Hohlakov every day and tells Dmitri that she is coming round, presenting the courtship as a success in progress. His confidence depends on turning her feelings into a predictable instrument of his own advancement.

Expulsion and Retaliation

The courtship ends abruptly when Madame Hohlakov turns Rakitin out of her house. Dmitri responds with gleeful approval, praising her for expelling him and remarking that Rakitin has already taken his revenge. The reversal exposes the gap between Rakitin’s self-assured account of his plans and his actual loss of access to her.

Rakitin’s retaliation takes the form of a paragraph about Madame Hohlakov in Gossip. Alyosha tells Dmitri about the published attack, linking Rakitin’s earlier ambition to the public injury that follows his rejection. In this episode, Madame Hohlakov’s role is defined by that contest over courtship, money, and reputation: Rakitin regards her as a route to wealth, but her expulsion of him frustrates the plan and provokes his attempt to damage her standing.