Vince Lanese IC230 September 14, 2013 “The Overcoat”
In Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” our main character is Akakiy Akakievitch Bashmatchkin
who is a poor man that works for the Russian government as a clerk and is picked on by his
employees for his poor conditioned overcoat. Another character is Petrovich who is
Bashmatchkin’s tailor for his new coat; he also is a heavy drinker and only has one eye. A third
character is Petrovich’s wife who is not pleasant to look at and is referred to by Petovich as “a
low female and a German” when they fight. Bashmatchkin’s landlady is another character who
offers him advice when losing the coat to talk with another character the police chief who instead
of helping just questions him about his whereabouts. The final character is the prominent
personage who is suggested to Bashmatchkin by a coworker and all he really does is belittle
Bashmatchkin and tells him how he has approached everything wrong.
