Essay Questions

To what extent does Gogol's story conform to the expectations of the Sentimental movement?

Sentimental novels were defined by their ability to elicit an emotional reaction within the reader. They are characterized by melodramatic fluctuations in emotion, between panic and sympathy, and the plots are typically ordered around these fluctuations. The effect was supposed to promote a growth in reader empathy. The reaction of Piskaryov, for instance, in his dramatic suicide is one that pushes emotionality to its dramatic limit: he is the romantic protagonist that typifies the Sentimental novel and the catalyst for his suicide functions as a metatextual response to sentimentality. Piskaryov ultimately kills himself over a fiction: the dream of a woman.

How do the themes of realism and romanticism play out in the text?

The two protagonists are embodiments of the generic division between realism and romanticism; the first, a painter, embodies the romantic lifestyle - he indulges in dreams and artful fantasies. In contrast, Lieutenant Pirogov is a realist - he is shrewd and cynical. But by pairing these two characters within the text as they both pursue a woman to unsatisfying ends, Gogol questions the divisions we place on these genres - both are artificial constructions and both have limited real-world usage.

How might we explore portrayals of women within the text?

In both stories the woman acts simply as a fantasy - something that both Prospekt and Piskaryov project onto, and function as pure plot devises. Indeed, this is a truly homosocial story: even in the description of the streets the narrator focuses on the appearances of mustaches and how they match the common fashions. The women then act in a neoplatonic sense - as idealized objects that fail to meet the unrealistic platonic expectations that are set on them, resulting in the failed romantic endevors of both protagonists.

How does Nikolai Gogol explore masculinity?

Both protagonists, despite their ideological differences, are emblems of fragile masculinities. Piskaryov is consumed by his fantasies - absorbed in opium-inflicted dreams - purely because his ideals for womanhood are undermined by the realization that the woman he is pursuing is a sex worker. In contrast, Pirogov represents a cold and unmoving masculinity - one that is taken less by fantasy, but is consumed with the cynicism of contemporary news media and fattening luxuries symbolized by the puff pastries at the end of the story.

How does Nikolai Gogol present the setting of Nevsky Prospeky?

Setting is essential throughout the story, indeed the title of the work itself is named after the St. Petersburg high street. We might say that the setting is almost a character in and of itself, and perhaps the main antagonist. As Gogol concludes the story: "Nevsky Prospekt deceives at all hours of the day, but the worst time of all is at night... when the devil himself is abroad, kindling the street-lamps with one purpose only: to show everything in a false light". This is a compelling quote that uses the hyperbole of the devil metaphor to emphasis the crookedness and falseness of the kitsch street - the story is one of distinct ambivalence, and this is expressed primarily through the setting.