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The nose

Kovalyov’s nose operates throughout the story as a symbol of rank and status. At first, it appears in the narrative as a device that sniffs out Ivan Yakovlevich’s inferior station. Kovalyov’s rude comment about the stench of Ivan’s hands shows that Kovalyov considers his barber to be of a lower rank. However, the nose soon departs from and outpaces its owner. When Kovalyov attempts to speak with his nose and convince it to return to him, the nose responds with derogatory comments about Kovalyov’s inferior rank. Additionally, Kovalyov is distressed at the thought of being seen without his nose, as he feels his lack of nose casts doubt on his professional reputation and hinders his ability to court attractive and wealthy women. In this sense, Kovalyov’s nose—or lack of it—becomes a symbol of his perceived status. The nose also represents Kovalyov’s desire to climb the social ladder while simultaneously exposing the absurd nature of the ranking system as a whole. It is ridiculous that a literal nose could be promoted to state councilor long before its human owner, but the fact that the nose has surpassed Kovalyov shows how meaningless and phony these ranks truly are.

Along with being a symbol of status, the nose is also a symbol of Kovalyov’s lack of true identity. The nose is one of the most prominent features on a person’s face, and can be a crucial identifying factor. In fact, Ivan Yakovlevich immediately recognizes the nose he finds in his bread as Kovalyov’s. However, the loss of his nose throws Kovalyov’s identity into question. We see that he has no real interest in his own person beyond his physical appearance or how he is perceived by others; he has created an identity for himself that is entirely dependent on his status. Without his nose, Kovalyov’s reputation and status could be thrown into question. He only wants his nose back so that he can return to his comfortable and respected rank in society, and he never attempts to learn to live without his nose or define himself beyond it. In fact, by the end of the story, when Kovalyov reacquires his nose, he has not changed at all as a person.

The nose also takes on a subtle sexual connotation when Kovalyov associates with young and beautiful women. Kovalyov realizes that he cannot possibly attract the attentions of a lovely girl at church without his nose—a most prominent and important body part. It can be argued that Gogol was making a humorous phallic reference, comparing Kovalyov’s nose with his penis or manhood in general. This interpretation adds another layer to Kovalyov’s belief that Mrs. Podtochina is behind his missing nose. Mrs. Podtochina is pushing for Kovalyov to propose to her daughter and thus commit to one woman, meaning that Kovalyov would have to give up his virile manhood and settle down. He believes that Mrs. Podtochina has cursed his “nose” as punishment for refusing to marry her daughter. It also adds an extra layer of humor to a moment in the story’s final part, when Kovalyov takes pleasure in noting that a nearby soldier’s nose is much smaller than his own.

Kovalyov’s handkerchief and clothes

Kovalyov uses his handkerchief to cover his missing nose, so that onlookers will not notice this defect. However, his handkerchief also serves as a metaphor—it not only covers his literal missing nose, but also his symbolic lack of true power or prestige. Kovalyov’s social rank is an upper-class position that had recently been created when Peter the Great established the Table of Ranks. These new positions allowed many Russians to move into the middle and upper classes and enjoy a higher quality of life, but since the rankings were contrived, many of the positions gained a reputation for being bureaucratic, unproductive, and even pointless. While Kovalyov imagines that his position holds great importance, and often behaves in a pompous and condescending manner, in reality he has a fake job and a fake status. Just as Kovalyov’s fine uniform shows off his rank to those he meets (and hides the true ineffectual and useless nature of his job), so does his handkerchief keep his missing nose secret, thereby keeping the truth of his impotence hidden from onlookers.

Kovalyov’s handkerchief does not stand alone as the only meaningful item of clothing in “The Nose”—it is an important part of the greater symbol of clothing as a tool of illusion. The story includes descriptions of several items of clothing (and other fashion accessories, such as facial hair) like livery, white dresses, buttons, scruffy old trousers, frock coats, plumed hats, and gold-embroidered uniforms, all of which are symbols of different levels of class. While clothing is commonly used and seen as a sign of wealth or status in many cultures, a closer inspection reveals how absurd it is that the details of your coat buttons or the color of your uniform deeply affects how you are perceived and treated by society at large. Gogol plays with this absurdity, mocking how much importance Kovalyov gives to his appearance and the appearance of others. In fact, he is practically submissive to his own nose when he realizes that his nose is wearing the clothing of a higher-ranking official. This behavior is humorous and silly, but it also shows the extent of influence that illusions of status have on our actions and self-perception.

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