The Nose: Character List

Major Kovalyov

A supercilious collegiate assessor who awakens one morning to find that his nose is missing. For Kovalyov, his lack of nose is a threat to both his professional reputation and his identity as a human. He feels he cannot be seen without his nose and carries around a handkerchief to cover his face. A snobbish social climber, Kovalyov is baffled and shocked when his nose becomes a higher-ranking official than he is.

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Ivan Yakovlevich

A barber who finds Major Kovalyov’s nose in his bread one morning. Ivan is Kovalyov’s barber who shaves him twice a week. A calm and unemotional man, Ivan doesn’t react with anger when Kovalyov makes derogatory comments about the smell of Ivan’s hands.

The Nose

The nose that goes missing from Major Kovalyov’s face. The nose operates as an inanimate object, which Ivan can dispose of and a police officer can recover and hand back to Kovalyov, but it also exists as a sentient being who has the ability to dress itself in gentleman’s clothes and secure a passport. It seems to have ambitions beyond living on Kovalyov’s face, including getting a high-ranking job as a state councilor and traveling abroad.

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The Narrator

A first-person presence that sometimes interjects to give the reader background information or assert their own opinions on the absurdity of the story. The narrator does not seem to be Nikolai Gogol, as they remark that they can’t understand what sort of author would want to write such a ridiculous and useless story. However, the narrator also comes across at times as self-aware and tongue-in-cheek—they seem to be in on the joke, so perhaps they are Gogol after all.

Mrs. Podtochina

An important friend of Major Kovalyov’s. Mrs. Podtochina is married to a field officer, a respected military position. She has a young daughter whom she hopes to marry off to Kovalyov, although the latter is a philanderer and has no intentions of proposing, lest he find another extremely rich girl. Kovalyov believes for a time that Mrs. Podtochina stole his nose using black magic to punish him for refusing her daughter, but he soon realizes that she is not the culprit after all.

Praskovya Osipovna

Ivan Yakovlevich’s abrasive and unforgiving wife, who threatens to call the police on him if he doesn’t dispose of the nose. Praskovya Osipovna is exhausted by her husband because he is an alcoholic. However, despite the strain in their relationship, he seems to view her as a fine woman.

The Newspaper Clerk

A sympathetic clerk working at the newspaper in which Kovalyov hopes to place an advertisement about his missing nose. The clerk hesitates to post the ad, because the newspaper was recently sued for libel due to an ad that initially seemed innocent but turned out to be a satirical jab at a government worker.

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