Character Clues

Character Analysis

Social Status

Social status is everything in the world of "The Overcoat." It determines where you live, whether you have friends, how much money you have, and can even alter your personality. It's easiest to see this through the two main characters in the story, Akaky and the prominent personage.

Akaky is a low-ranking official, something the narrator makes clear before mentioning what Akaky looks like or how old he is. We know this before we even know his name. That's how important it is. His social status also determines how everyone around him treats him. The narrator says: "No respect was shown him in the department. The janitor not only did not rise from his seat when he passed, but never even glanced at him, as if only a fly had flown through the reception-room" (6). The janitor isn't even an official, and he knows that Akaky isn't somebody worth paying attention to. It's almost like he's not even human.

On the other hand, there is the prominent personage. His position is so important that it's all we know about him. Unlike Akaky, he doesn't get a name; his position defines him. Even though he wasn't always a prominent personage, it seems like it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. The prominent personage tries to mold himself into what he thinks a prominent personage should be. The narrator says:

If he chanced to be with his equals, he was still a very nice kind of man—a very good fellow in many respects, and not stupid: but just the moment that he happened to be in the society of people but one rank lower than himself, he was simply incomprehensible; he became silent; and his situation aroused sympathy, the more so, as he felt himself that he might have made an incomparably better use of the time. (89)

Just as Akaky is isolated from society because of his low rank, the prominent personage is isolated from society because of his high one. Instead of doing other things, he has to focus on fulfilling the role that his social status has put upon him. That's pretty lame.

Names

It's kind of strange that almost no one has names in "The Overcoat," isn't it? Almost everybody has names that are simply indicators of their rank. There is the prominent personage, the captain, the superintendent, even the landlady. So for most of the characters, their characterization is pretty obvious. Their name is who they are.

But then we have Akaky and Petrovich. Akaky's name gives him a level of characterization that goes beyond his position. He's not just a low-ranking official, but he's also funny because his name sounds like poop. He's moral because he's named after a saint, and he's gentle and meek.

The only conundrum here is Petrovich. Why does he get a name? Is it because he's not an official at all, so you can't define him by his rank? Is it because there's more to him than just being a tailor? Or is it because he chose his name himself after being freed from serfdom? What do you think?

Speech

Just as there are few characters with names, there are few characters who actually speak in "The Overcoat." Even when they do speak it only reinforces what we are ready know about these characters.

How would you imagine a nervous, meek, low-ranking man would speak? Quietly, right? Barely making a sound. You're not far off. The narrator says:

"A! I... to you, Petrovich, this"—It must be known that Akaky Akakievich expressed himself chiefly by prepositions, adverbs, and by such scraps of phrases as had no meaning whatever. But if the matter was a very difficult one, then he had a habit of never completing his sentences; so that quite frequently, having begun his phrase with the words, "This, in fact, is quite..." there was no more of it, and he forgot himself, thinking that he had already finished it. (27)

Not only does Akaky speak in a soft voice…his speech is barely existent. It's almost as if he doesn't want to talk too much, since he knows he's just a low-ranking official and nobody thinks he's important.

Then there is the prominent personage. He's a whole different story. You can probably guess how someone who is trying to frighten other people and seem even more important than he is might sound. In one passage, we get to hear the prominent personage in the middle of one of his rants. He says:

"What, what, what!" said the important personage. "Where did you get such courage? Where did you get such ideas? What impudence towards their chiefs and superiors has spread among the young generation!" (95)

It sounds like the prominent personage is screaming and yelling. We wouldn't be surprised if he's shoved a couple of people during this diatribe, either. Both his and Akaky's styles of speech don't really teach us anything new, but they do help us to get a handle on their personalities in such a short story.