The only moment in the novel when Sophia Antonovna becomes unreliable is when she claims, in the last words of the novel, that Peter Ivanovich is a remarkable man. Here she becomes another woman deceived by the Great Feminist. Romance is crucial. Razumov is trapped in his lies by General T after Haldin implicates him, and he's trapped as well by his feelings of guilt. His love for Natalia frees him in the end to live with Tekla the Samaritan.
Romance also motivates the otherwise unimaginative narrator.
He is clearly in love with Natalia, though he can barely admit this to himself. His solution is to match the other attractive character, Razumov, with Natalia, and his failure to accomplish this may explain his great bitterness at the end. Their role is greater than in any other Conrad work. As in Secret Agent , women stand behind all the revolutionary activities of the men, supporting them. But here women are presented, almost without irony, as redeeming figures.