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27 pages 54 minutes read

Nikolai Gogol

Diary of a Madman

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1835

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Character Analysis

Aksenty Ivanovich Poprishchin

Aksenty Ivanovich Poprishchin, the so-called “madman” of the title, is a titular councilor, a minor civil servant position in Russia’s bureaucratic government, whose job appears to mostly consist of sharpening the quills of the departmental director. His opinion of himself is in stark contrast to his social position and the manner in which others view him. He can scarcely contain his rage when servants fail to show him the respect he thinks he deserves, and he identifies with the rich noblemen he sees on the street. In reality, Poprishchin is a low-ranking nobleman in society, who is viewed as having no importance.

At several points in the story, Poprishchin mentions that he has spent most of the given day in bed doing nothing. In place of real relationships, his interactions with others are mostly products of fantasy, none more so than the relationship he imagines between himself and the much younger and socially unattainable Sophie. After some evidence from the outside world provides him proof that he is not quite as important as he thinks he is, he always finds a reason to believe a comforting illusion instead, even at the expense of his mental state.

Sophie

Sophie is the director’s daughter, with whom Poprishchin is obsessed. She is a static character meant to represent the typical daughter of an aristocrat; modest, well-mannered, and attractive, but not particularly clever or interesting. Her nondescript personality is intentional and satirizes the aristocracy’s cultivation of appearances over substance. She goes to balls, sews, and is in love with the Kammerjunker, all stereotypical activities for a young woman of her class. The fact that she is in love with a Kammerjunker, an officer who manages the royal household, signals that she is not as high-ranking of an aristocrat as Poprishchin imagines. His exaltation of a middling aristocrat, then, is another comic element and a clue that his perceptions are far removed from reality.

Despite her lack of character depth, Sophie is observant. When Poprishchin encounters her in the director’s office, she drops her handkerchief not as a flirtation, but as an opportunity to humiliate him. Poprishchin’s arms are full of books and documents, and Sophie knows that he will clumsily attempt to retrieve the handkerchief, which he does, falling on his face in the process. Madgie’s letter reveals that Sophie always laughs at Poprishchin and sees him as her father does as little more than a servant.

We know that Poprishchin’s obsession with Sophie cannot be too much of a secret because the section head reprimands Poprishchin for making demonstrations of his affection. Poprishchin learns from Madgie’s letters that Sophie has been going to balls, a typical rite of passage for a young aristocrat, and has fallen in love with a handsome Kammerjunker, a position considerably higher than that of titular councilor. Poprishchin’s perception completely breaks from reality when he learns that Sophie has been privately mocking him and that she will be marrying the Kammerjunker.

The last time Sophie appears in the story is when Poprishchin forces his way into the director’s house and into her room, where she panics at the sight of Poprishchin ranting about their future happiness. Ultimately, readers do not know much about Sophie’s life or personality, and this reflects how little Poprishchin actually knows her.

The Department Director

The director is the head of the department in which Poprishchin works and is far above him in rank, being a genuinely high-ranking aristocrat. Much of Poprishchin’s job appears to consist in sharpening the director’s quills and standing around his study. The extent of their conversation does not go beyond a few brief comments on the weather. Other than that, the director does not seem to pay any attention to Poprishchin or to show any interest in his life.

At first, this does not bother Poprishchin, who believes the director thinks highly of him, using the director’s position to inflate his own sense of importance. However, the director’s complete disinterest in Poprishchin is juxtaposed with Poprishchin’s constant daydreaming about the director and his daughter, Sophie. After Poprishchin learns from Madgie’s letters that he is a source of mockery in the director’s household and that Sophie instead loves a young Kammerjunker, Poprishchin experiences a mental health crisis. He stops showing up to work and does not show any sign of respect to the director when he appears one day at the office. In his diary, he even begins to insult the director as a snob. When given a document to sign as part of his job, Poprishchin signs in the place reserved for the director with the name Ferdinand VIII, Poprishchin’s imagined title as King of Spain

Madgie

Madgie is the name of the director’s and Sophie’s dog. Poprishchin first sees Madgie at the beginning of the story outside of a shop that Sophie enters, and he is surprised to hear Madgie speak with another dog, Fidèle. Outside of the shop, Poprishchin learns that Madgie and Fidèle have been exchanging letters, and he later goes to the house Fidèle lives in so that he could see what information Madgie may have been passing about Sophie.

Madgie is snobbish, making condescending remarks about other dogs she sees outside her house. She also makes a show of her sophistication, true to her breeding in a rich aristocratic household. She quotes from German books and includes French phrases in her letters.

It is unclear whether Poprishchin imagines Madgie and Fidèle’s abilities to speak or whether he really does hear them. While the story makes no secret of his “madness,” Poprishchin does seem to learn things from the two dogs that he otherwise could not know, and he does seem to obtain physical evidence, in the form of letters, of the dog’s language abilities.

Madgie’s perspective is also included to point out the vain nature of human affairs. When the director frets over an honor he is not sure he will get, and rejoices when he comes home with a ribbon, Madgie is confused, as the ribbon has no particular smell and only a slightly salty flavor. When Sophie declares her love for the Kammerjunker, Madgie is again confused, as she finds the human’s face too flat, and his body not at all the right shape, unlike the dog she has fallen for.

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