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Major Kovalyov is a collegiate assessor, a high-status position in imperial Russia’s Table of Ranks, who wakes up one morning to find that his nose is missing. The lack of nose horrifies Kovalyov, as he immediately recognizes that it will have a negative impact on his professional and social reputation. One of Kovalyov’s most explicit concerns is that people of his rank shouldn’t be seen in public without their noses, showing how much importance he places on his physical appearance and visible status symbols.

Kovalyov is characterized as a supercilious and egotistical man. He is rude to his barber, Ivan Yakovlevich, shamelessly insulting Ivan by telling him that his hands stink. This comment clarifies the class and status difference between Kovalyov and Ivan. While Kovalyov is clean and well-kept, Ivan’s clothes are stained, and according to Kovalyov, his hands smell. It’s unclear whether Kovalyov consciously means to wound Ivan when he makes these comments, or if he simply lacks politeness and thoughtfulness when speaking to those he considers lower than himself. Kovalyov also enjoys showing off his rank to people other than Ivan. He calls himself a major, despite not being in the military, because the rank of major in the military is the same as the rank of collegiate assessor in the government. He attempts to use this impressive title to solicit random women for sex. Kovalyov is a philanderer who enjoys chasing women but is hesitant to commit to anyone unless they are extremely rich. He plays with the affections of Mrs. Podtochina’s daughter, which causes the two women to assume that he will soon propose, even though he has no intention of doing so. All in all, Kovalyov is a snobbish, self-centered, and relatively unlikable character.

However, his snobbishness seems to derive in most part from his insecurity. Kovalyov has built his identity and behavior entirely on his rank and social status, and his only goals in life—becoming a vice governor and marrying rich—are both centered on a desperate urge to increase his class and social standing. He spirals when his reputation is threatened by his missing nose, because it negatively affects his outward appearance but also because his nose has somehow outranked him by becoming a state councilor. Kovalyov has no self-identity beyond his appearance, his status, and how he is perceived by others. At first, Kovalyov questions how a man of his rank could possibly be expected to live without a nose, but he soon begins to wonder whether he can even be considered a human being anymore. Without his nose, he is empty, barely even a man. In this sense, his lack of nose becomes not just a crisis of reputation but also an existential crisis. However, once Kovalyov regains his nose, he returns to his life as normal, as if nothing has happened. Nothing about his experience changes him or his mindset; he continues to be haughty and self-important, placing all his self-worth on his status and appearance. Although he briefly must encounter the uncomfortable truths of his life—including his sham rank—Kovalyov is mostly a static character, as he does not exit the story having grown or changed.

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