Ivan Dmitrich Chervyakov is a low-level government clerk operating within the strict and sprawling Russian bureaucracy of the late 19th century. He is highly sensitive about his social standing and eager to fit into polite society. His sense of self-worth is entirely dependent on the approval of his administrative superiors. When he accidentally sneezes on a high-ranking official at the theater, he descends into a spiral of extreme anxiety.

General Brizzhalov is a high-ranking government official working in a different department than Chervyakov. He initially appears as a mild-mannered authority figure who brushes off the clerk's sneeze as a minor, inconsequential event. As he attempts to go about his business and hear from actual petitioners, he grows increasingly frustrated by unwanted interruptions. He embodies the powerful upper class of the Russian bureaucracy.

Chervyakov's Wife is a practical woman who advises her husband on how to handle his social blunder. While she initially shows alarm at the news of the sneeze, she calms down upon learning the official is not in her husband's direct chain of command. She encourages him to formalize his apology in person, reflecting a shared conditioning to fear and respect the bureaucratic elite.