Essay Questions

How does Gogol use the characters Chartkov and Craven man to develop the theme of wealth and poverty in The Portrait?

According to Gogol, happiness might not be based on money but it is essential for survival. With money, everything is fine because one is able to achieve the basic needs. Besides love, money is essential in marriage and creditors should leave the couples alone. However, Gogol notes that wealth can be the genesis of problems. Money can do a great deal for the family because it helps the couples to afford basics, but money has its demerits. Money is the genesis of covetousness, envy, resentment and spinelessness. Chartkov is poor and therefore, he does not have the ability of being creative. Being poor is a bad thing because it results to emotional instability as witnessed in Chartkov who is spiritually unstable. On the other hand, the rich are crazy and money makes them greedy and disrespectful to the poor. The Craven Man has a lot of wealth but he is not able to cope with it because he is finally destroyed.

Give two examples of the literary device metaphor used by Nikolai Gogol in The Portrait.

The first metaphor that manifests itself in The Portrait is the calamitous art, which is critical in the life of every actor. The author uses calamitous art in the story to mean lose of courage between the two main characters. The second metaphor used by the author is the malignant envy, which is dominant in the character Chartkov. The malignant envy is metaphorically mean end of life. Chartkov is envious and his envy leads him to his grave.

Explain how Gogol uses the devilish phenomenon to bring out the imagery of the painter.

The person painted on the portrait has bizarre eyes and does not seem to be human because he is described as devilish who entices people. The old painter shapes the malevolence and he is sure that his ally intends to burn that portrait because it depicts evil spirits. The author writes, “the very Devil!” And his friend is sure that “it is not without cause that he wishes to burn that portrait. Devil take it, there's something horrible about it!” This imagery helps the reader to form a visual image of the portrait and this appeals the sense of sight to him.