Though Gogol’s The Nose is quite tragic about a man who loses his nose, I find this very comical. I cannot help but compare his work to Kafka’s Metamorphosis. When Ivan Jakovlevitch discovers a nose in his bread, not only does he freak out, so does his wife. They are much more believable in showing expressions of shock and disgust than Gregor does after his metamorphosis. However, this is somewhat dramatic because it is just a nose. I have dissected parts of cows, frogs, sharks, and rodents before so I do not find a nose that repulsive. When Jakovlevitch makes the decision to throw the nose in the river, I had to stifle my laughter. The image of a nose falling into water just seems funny.
Ooh, nose. Scary.
Similarly, Kovaloff’s reaction to his missing nose is believable. Since he regards himself highly, he covers his face with a handkerchief. He seems to feel that a part of his status has been stripped away due to not having a nose therefore, urging himself to hide behind a piece of cloth. However, his runaway nose is not what I expected. I imagined a little nose running away with legs, sort of like a cartoon. Instead, we are presented with an actual person who is presented lavishly, donning a social status higher than that of Kovaloff’s. I can sense his jealousy towards his own nose! I am somewhat disappointed that there is not a tiny nose running about but this is understandable because it is an opera. It would be quite hard to have just a nose moving around. The nose then dismisses Kovaloff in a snobby manner. How ironic, right? Later, Kovaloff turns to advertising a large reward for his missing…nose. It is reasonable how the official refuses Kovaloff’s post but hilarious how he offers snuff as what comes off as a gift of pity; Kovaloff does not even have a nose!
Eventually, Kovaloff gives up his womanizing ways and settles to marry Madame Alexandra Podtotchina’s daughter after his futile attempts to set his nose back into place. I feel like he cares more about how the women in his society view him rather than losing the sense of smell. He is ashamed that he does not assume the same amount of power that he had held before. Luckily for him, he wakes up with his nose once again. Right away, he calls off the engagement and reverts back to his old philanderer ways. This aggravates me because he appears to have learned nothing from his whole experience without a nose. Usually, after a drastic event, characters would show growth and appreciation from whatever it is that they have gone through. Kovaloff clearly does not which makes a part of me wish that he stayed nose-less until he has learned his lesson that people are not completely defined by social status.
What a rotten egg Kovaloff is…
I thought you brought up some really good points, especially how losing his nose symbolized losing a part of his status and how Kovaloff felt ashamed and embarrassed. I definitely agree with your point at the end about how Kovaloff was a huge rotten egg! He was a womanizer, as well as selfish and haughty. I really wish he learned something from his experience of losing his nose, but nope he’s still the same womanizing jerk. I felt really bad for Madame Alexandra Podtotchina’s daughter for getting rejected by him. I would have liked the ending much better if Kovaloff became a better person and was rewarded with his nose.
Like you, I thought the story was somewhat comical. You have a good point when you compare The Nose with Metamorphosis, since I never even thought of comparing those two works until I read this. I also thought the nose would be a normal sized nose so I was quite confused when I read that it was wearing the clothes of a high-ranked official, until I realized that it was a human-sized nose. It’s a shame that he didn’t learn anything after he got his nose back. His personality before and after was as if he never even lost his nose in the first place.