Grigory's wife and the prudent woman of Fyodor Pavlovitch's servants' lodge. She has obeyed Grigory for most of their married life, though she is cleverer in worldly matters and once wanted them to leave and open a shop. Her silence, thrift, and daily labor help hold the Karamazov household's lower world together.
The household relies on Marfa's cooking when Smerdyakov's fits keep him from work, underlining her plain usefulness in the servants' quarters.
V-VII. “It’s Always Worth While Speaking To A Clever Man”
On the day Ivan leaves, Smerdyakov collapses in an epileptic fit on the cellar stairs, and Marfa, out in the yard, knows his scream at once. With him laid up and Grigory down with lumbago, she takes over the cooking and draws her master's scorn for the watery soup and dried-up fowl.
VIII-IV. In The Dark
That night Marfa gives Grigory his secret herbal remedy, rubbing his aching back and then drinking the bitter leftover herself with a prayer. Unused to strong drink, she sinks into so dead a sleep that she never stirs when Grigory rises and goes out toward the garden.
IX-II. The Alarm
Marfa wakes from Smerdyakov's epileptic scream, realizes Grigory is missing, and finds him wounded in the garden. Her alarm brings the neighbors and authorities into the Karamazov house.
XI-VIII. The Third And Last Interview With Smerdyakov
Smerdyakov says he feared Marfa might wake before he completed his plan, because her room and habits made her one of the few immediate obstacles in the servants' lodge.
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