The structure of the main character’s image in N.V. Gogol’s novel “The Overcoat”

Abstract

The article considers some artistic features of the image of the main character of the story “The Overcoat”. Gogol’s novel in a peculiar way transforms the event series of the source text – “The Life of Acacius of Sinai”, fragmenting the biography of the character, reducing it to essential episodes of his life. Special attention is paid in the article to the onomapoetics of the text, clarifying its additional semantic meanings. The space-time relations in the text are metaphorized, Bashmachkin’s personal space is initially closed, the character is closed from him. The turning point in the narrative is the acquisition of a greatcoat, which turns out to be a guide to the world of passions and feelings for the personage. He discovers the outside world, the embodiment of which is St. Petersburg, and as the character learns about the surrounding space, he is approaching his death. The article presents the main moments of the main character’s transformation – from external to deeply personal, which could not help him establish himself in the world.