The article reveals the role of the figure of Apollon Grigoriev as a character in the story of Fet «Cactus» in the appearance of the image of Fedor Protasov from Tolstoy’s drama «The Living Corpse». The features of the title character of «Cactus», dating back to the figure of Grigoriev, are gypsy motifs, and, in particular, his mood for the most subtle metaphysicalerotic contemplations, including a sense of gypsy Stesha. All this resembles the elements of the image of Tolstoy’s Protasov.