27 pages • 54 minutes read
Nikolai GogolDiary of a Madman
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1835A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Irony
Irony is a mode of discourse that presupposes a double audience. In this definition, one audience understands a surface-level message by what is said, and the other audience understands both the surface-level message, a deeper message, and the fact that the first audience only understands the surface-level message.
In the context of “Diary of a Madman,” Poprishchin serves as the first audience that is unaware of the double meaning, and the reader serves as the second audience that is aware of it and is aware of Poprishchin’s ignorance. Much of the content of Poprishchin’s letters is ironic because the reader understands, from Poprishchin’s narration of events, a different reality than he does and also recognizes that Poprishchin fails to understand this reality. This makes him a comically incompetent figure. He fails to see how ridiculous his pride seems as well as the fantasies he entertains, while the reader is well aware.
Digression
Digression in speech or rhetoric is when one strays off topic, and in the context of a story it is when a narrator provides details that are superfluous to the plot. This happens throughout “Diary of a Madman,” as Poprishchin often gets distracted by whatever he is talking about and inserts needless details. For instance, the story opens with a long digression. After setting up the narration with a “most extraordinary thing” (158) that he is going to talk about, Poprishchin immediately begins talking about mundane events and ideas. As his mental state becomes more impacted, Poprishchin digresses from the main points of the plot with strange conspiracy theories that he seems to invent as he is writing.
These digressions also support Poprishchin’s characterization as an unreliable narrator. The story’s second paragraph establishes that not only does Poprishchin’s mind wander in his thinking, but it also translates to his work: ‘What’s the matter with you, man […]? Sometimes you dash around so wildly and get your work into such a tangle that Satan himself couldn’t sort it out, with small letters where there should be capitals, and no date or number at the top of the page’”(158). Poprishchin regularly references writing styles and pretends to be a sophisticated judge of writing, but his own writing style is unstructured and reflects his erratic thought patterns. These early passages foreshadow his break from reality and provide a frame for the narrative that returns in the final lines when Poprishchin digresses about the wart under the King of France’s nose. While seemingly nonsensical, the final line contains the text’s main point: If one looks closely, one can see the aristocracy’s flaws.
Setting
Setting refers to where the events of a story take place. The events of “Diary of a Madman” take place in Saint Petersburg, which was at the time Russia’s capital and largest city. It is important that the events take place in a real city, and there are real streets and places mentioned. Although the story is fictional, it seems closer to reality by virtue of being set in what would be a familiar setting for contemporary readers.
Point of View
Point of view is the perspective from which a story unfolds. A point of view could be that of an omniscient third-person narrator, several different interior characters included in the action, or anything in between.
“Diary of a Madman” is told entirely through the perspective of Poprishchin in first person, and we see the world from his perspective. We are also able to distinguish from his narration of events the point of view that the rest of the world has on him, so that although we only get one side of the story, we do not trust his perspective.
Point of view is also used in the letter purportedly written by Madgie that displays the world of human affairs from a dog’s perspective. This point of view encourages us to view human ambition as vain.
Related Titles
By Nikolai Gogol
