Diary of a Madman by Nikolai Gogol revolves around the life and experience of protagonist character Aksenty Ivanovich Poprishchin, a low-level clerk who describes his thoughts through diary entries. Gogol uses the diary entries to show the gradual development into the madness of Poprishchin and how the harsh Russian environment contributed to his worsened condition. When writing the Diary of a Madman , Gogol limit himself to using the first-person while exploring the progress of clerk Poprishchin's madness and the reason behind his mad nature. Gogol uses the character and position of Poprishchin to critique a society divided by class where social standings are the determinant of individual worthiness in Russia. Daily frustrations of Poprishchin make him withdraw from the reality of the world and enter into an imaginative world where he hears dogs speak and read letters like human beings. Poprishchin also fantasizes about his goals, positions, and relationship with Sophie, his boss's daughter. The Diary of a Madman is best understood by literally analyzing the plot, writing style, literary devices, and themes against Gogol's background and European culture.
When writing Diary of a Madman, Gogol structure the plot into four sections showing the transition of Poprishchin from an upright person until his total loss of humanity. The plot begins at rising actions where Poprishchin gets possessed with Sophie and decides to get to know her by stealing her dog's letters and reading them. It was while reading these letters that Poprishchin realizes Sophie is engaged and Marrying someone handsome and prominent ( Gogol, 2016) . Poprishchin feels rejected, and he began losing touch with reality. The next plot in the book is the crisis and turning point of Poprishchin. After reading the paper that Spain lacks a king since there is no heir to the throne, he imagines himself as the king. He stops going to work and sees himself signing work papers as "Ferdinand VIII; an indicator that he is completely losing his sanity (Gogol, 2016). The next phase of the plot is the falling action where Gogol show total confusion of Poprishchin as he sees China and Spain is one thing. Poprishchin believes he has been escorted to Spain, which is similar to China, which brings the diary's climax. The last scene is the resolution or denouncement where Poprishchin ends up in a dustbin, tortured, and beaten. He starts calling mommy to save him. At the end of the diary, Poprishchin goes completely crazy, and the Gogol leaves the readers with suspense about whether he got someone to save him from his madness.
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Gogol's style of writing contributes to the success of the book. The book is written in the first person in the form of a diary, making it possible to give a first-hand account of Poprishchin madness. Also, diary writing has appealed to the audience's logic and reasoning as they try to understand the gradual change in the psychological well-being of Poprishchin and how he slowly slides into madness. The form of writing further makes Gogol possible to make Poprishchin believe he is the lost heir of Spain thrown, believed to be China. Slowly, Poprishchin loses touch with reality, and due to his low position as a clerk, he elevates into a lofty role. The act shows the actions of a person amid mental collapse. Gogol also uses the discovery of Poprishchin of canine contact to write a fascinating story. Poprishchin's mental state shows that he has fully intercepted canines communication heard at Nevsky Avenue and can communicate with dogs ( Gogol, 2016 ). The act shows how Poprishchin is being drawn away from humanity and is losing his sanity. Despite been a companion, servant of a man, and stay with men most of the time, he no longer understands human communication.
Although the book was written in the 1800s, Gogol adopted a modern ring to them. He writes about a culture that lacked industrial and urban attributes accounting for major themes and contemporary fiction styles. In the Diary of Madman, Gogol shows how a man gets alienated from a society supposed to offer support. Like other European authors of the 19th century, Gogol developed a modernistic approach to the narrative style. Gogol gives an in-depth understanding of alienation by exploring the effect it has on the consciousness of Poprishchin. Gogol's style and technique avoid the comfort of a realistic plot. Gogol plunges readers into the world of fantasies and hallucination, which are treated as "real." However, Gogol uses a gentle style compared to modern European writers to show how sanity can dissolve under social pressures. Through this style and technique, Gogol explores the major themes of social class and status and alienation/isolation. Like other Russian writers of the 19th century, Gogol uses dramatic writing to criticize social status possession, which leads to alienation and later insanity of the poor ( Billington, 2010). The writing style adopts an even modernistic approach, exploring alienation's sociological lens and reveals greater truths about high ranks, respect, and recognition.
Gogol has applied literary devices of symbolism and metaphor to portray Russian culture and society. Dogs or canines are used to compare cannibalistic members of his village to animals. The diary symbolized the corrupt government ruled by only the high class while the low class is left to sink into poverty and insanity. During Industrial Revolution, social systems in Europe countries system was archaic, based on injustice, and run by corrupt leaders (Lu, 1990; Marcu-Rementov, 2020 ). The narrator claim he heard two dogs Madgie and Fidele talking, Gogol changes the direction and brings the audience to the saner ground showing that industrialization has increased such occurrences. Through the use of juxtaposition and powerful image, Gogol manages to portray the entire world where "China is Spain," according to Poprishchin. Gogol uses "diary" as a fine metaphor to tell the story of the protagonist character Poprishchin and the life he lives. Through this metaphor, Gogol manages to present the development stages of madness in Poprishchin in a dramatic manner. Also, the fine metaphor allows Gogol to use a tone characterized by pity and humor.
The Diary of a Madman presents several themes reflecting cultural history and the broader context of European society in the 1800s. Gogol writes this dramatic diary to explore the theme of social class and status as presented by character Poprishchin and the boss and his family, among them, Sophie. Before he lost his sanity, Poprishchin spends much of his time writing a diary of his position and experience in his job and resents his peers for their social standing. Most of the time, Poprishchin commented on other people's status in society as he travels in town or at work. When writing the story, Gogol wanted to use Poprishchin to show the danger of obsession with other social classes and how it could lead to the insanity of several Russians ( Brintlinger & Vinitsky, 2015 ). Gogol shows several instances where Poprishchin tries to fix his class. For example, Poprishchin manager once commented that he is over forty years and he needs to get smart about his career. "take a look" at himself, as he is "a zero, nothing more" ( Gogol, 2016 ). Instead of taking the criticism seriously, Poprishchin asserts that the manager is envious of his position and has a better social status claiming he is a "nobleman" and "can earn rank" since he has a better reputation than the manager. Throughout the story, Poprishchin assesses every person he meets and everything through the lens of social status.
The book is a good depiction of obsession with Russian social status in the 19th century, where the individual's status determined respect among societal members. Gogol uses this character of Poprishchin to explore money and the madness of class ambition in Russian culture during the industrial revolution ( Brintlinger & Vinitsky, 2015). Almost everyone was obsessed with class status as those from the lower class were perceived to be lesser than themselves and less happy. Poprishchin judges and comments on everything around him like diet and living conditions based on class. He also criticizes the class of his superiors when he comments that his director's book contains "learning" that his "kind" cannot come closer to" ( Gogol, 2016) . The entire social and work life of Poprishchin is dominated by his possession of status and social class, which eventually led to his sanity. Gogol shows how class and social status subverts Poprishchin's life and affect his career and health. Due to high corruption in European systems and pseudo-democratic institutions, poor people were left to sink into insanity without getting any help from a corrupt political regime (Marcu-Rementov, 2020). The story reflects how life was in the 1800s in Asia and Europe, where people were obsessed with money and social class. According to Porter (2011), a serf was the major unit of Russian wealth, and official ranks and titles indicated the level of social class and power in the 1800s. As Europe became industrialized, the social class structure became less stable, and money was slowly becoming a vital maker of status and social power, increasing obsession (Porter, 2011). Several Russians lost their mental stability during the Industrial Revolution. They focused on getting a higher social class and status.
Isolation or alienation is the other important theme portrayed in the Diary of a Madman by Gogol. Isolation is seen through Aksenty Ivanovich Poprishchin, a judgemental clerk who dislikes almost all his work colleagues and fixates on his low social status. Ivanovich communicates with his inner self and records it in his daily diary, and he is reserved and rarely interacts with people. Ivanovich's judgemental nature and inability to talk with others make it impossible to connect with others in society. He seeks to stay alone, an isolated nature that leads to his deteriorating sanity, making him think he is the lost heir of Spain throne. Gogol's isolated nature makes him unable to connect with his colleagues and usually scorns them. Poprishchin label the section chief as a "cursed stork" and the treasurer as "stingy and authoritarian" ( Gogol, 2016). Poprishchin does not have any positive comments about his peers, and he goes further to judge remote passers-by. Gogol shows how difficult it was for Poprishchin to start even a small conversation with his director as his tongue failed him. He cannot talk to the girl he loves, Sophie; he only communicates his feeling in a diary ( Gogol, 2016). Poprishchin has hidden his feelings from the world, and his isolation driven by a mad fixation on social status drives him into total madness. Gogol uses Poprishchin's experience to explore the reality of Russian culture and society in the 19th century, where individuals from the low class were disconnected from fellow citizens of the high class (Billington, 2010). Russian society was divided on class, and those individuals like Poprishchin who failed to find ways to connect got alienated, leading to a mental condition. The isolation becomes too much for him to bear, and he starts imagining that even his mother has isolated him. He images seeing his mother sees his mother "sitting" by a window and exclaims that there is "no place for him." (Gogol, 2016). Isolation is a powerful force in Gogol's story that drove Poprishchin to the depth of insanity.
In summary, the Diary of Madman by Gogol is an accurate representation of Russian society in the 19th century. Gogol's selection of the plot, style of writing, and themes enable him to intertwine his writing background and broader culture and context of Russia to write a dramatic and educative story in the form of a diary. Character Poprishchin represents broader Russian society in the 1800s, where several people lost insanity while pursuing money and social class. Society was divided into a social status structure, making it impossible for individuals like Poprishchin to survive. Poprishchin could not talk and express his feelings, which made him isolated, and he later lost his sanity. In the last phase of the diary, Poprishchin completely loses contact with reality, where he shows China is Spain.
References
Billington, J. (2010). The icon and axe: An interpretative history of Russian culture . Vintage.
Brintlinger, A., & Vinitsky, I. (Eds.). (2015). Madness and the mad in Russian culture . University of Toronto Press.
Gogol, N. (2016). The Mantle and Other Stories . Xist Publishing.
Lu, X. (1990). Diary of a madman and other stories . University of Hawaii Press.
Marcu-Rementov, I. (2020). The Comic in the Works of Gogol and Caragiale. Învăţământ, Cercetare, Creaţie , 6 (1), 181-187.
Porter, J. E. (2011). Money and Mad Ambition: Economies of Russian Literature 1830-1850 (Doctoral dissertation, UC Berkeley).
