The temptation motif in the short prose of N.V. Gogol

Abstract

One of the major themes in Gogol’s works is the penetration of infernal forces into human life. Unlike his first cycles of stories («Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka», «Mirgorod») with its rather pagan way of conceiving this theme (tribal curse, spells, folk-beliefs), his next cycle, «Petersburg Tales», can already be characterized by the correlation with the Christian system of values. One of the key motifs of the cycle is the temptation motif. With few exceptions, characters yield to temptation and choose the way of sin. In most cases the author’s positive ideal remains «offscreen»; it is only implied and not realized. The very essence of Gogol’s tragic world perception is in this impossibility to incarnate the positive concept.