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“The Overcoat” by Nikolai Gogol is about more than just an overcoat. Do to the depth and complexity of the writing, t can be interpreted in many different ways. Some might say that the story is a harsh social criticism of the life in Petersburg that passes over the little character of Akaky. Or perhaps the story is a criticism of Akaky and his lack of participation in society and how that prevents him from being able to dream beyond his world to a better life. Maybe it is both. But the title is “The Overcoat” and this seemingly simple object holds a great deal of importance to the story. In “The Overcoat” Akaky falls in love with his coat much like Liza fell in love with Erast in “Poor Liza”, and like that relationship Akaky’s ended in death. Through comparison to the earlier genre story of “Poor Liza” and then a psychoanalytical analysis, it can be shown that Akaky is indeed in love with his overcoat.

To look at Akay’s relationship, we must first look at him individually. Akaky is a simple man. He enjoys his work because it is all he knows. He is a hard worker but is underdeveloped socially so he is mocked by co-workers. He travels through life with no cares and no worry. His simplicity is endearing and his contentment is more than most can claim. But it is obvious that Akaky’s simple life is not perfect. He is a hard worker but is underdeveloped socially so he is mocked by co-workers. He has few friends and little contact with others. The only person he ever really communicates with is his landlady.

This is very similar to Liza. She was an honest simple girl from the country who was content with her life. Though we never get the detail that we do in “The Overcoat”, we still feel that Liza is happy with her life. Like Akaky, she works hard and lives simply. She did not have much contact with the larger world but that had more to do with her geographical isolation then her social skills. Her life was not complicated by the larger outside world until she met Erast.

Akaky’s life might have gone on being the same as it always was if it wasn’t for something he was unprepared for: the Russian winter. As he felt the cold pierce him, all Akaky wanted was to survive the winter as he had done every other year with his same coat. But this was not to be. Instead of repairing his old jacket, Akaky is told that he needs to buy a new jacket by the tailor Petrovich. Akaky hates the idea. He does not have the money to buy a new coat, nor does he have the imagination to envision such a lavish venture. However, he eventually is coerced into obtaining the new coat and almost immediately we see a change. He becomes excited about something other than his work. Akaky goes to shop for material and slowly begins to fantasize about his new coat. Every detail that the tailor explains is a new feature for him to love. He longs to have and hold his coat. He is beginning to fall in love. To provide for his love he takes to sacrificing and saving. He does minor things such as not wear his clothes at home and walk lightly on his shoes so as not to wear them down in order to cut costs. These things are irrational and again show how Akaky is being changed by love. Before, Akaky would never have behaved so irrationally. Love has clouded his judgment.

When he finally gets his coat there is another change. Akaky becomes self-conscious for the first time ever (at least in the story). He enjoys walking around in his coat and wears it all the time. He even lies in his house in his coat while he is alone. The Coat gets him invited to a party. This in itself is an interesting point because the coat is not only admired by Akaky, but also his co-workers. It is as if the coat is actually a beautiful woman that everyone else can see. This party then leads Akaky to stay out too late and be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The coat is stolen. When he loses the coat, Akaky must take action and break his routine in order to find his lost love. He talks to people and even asks for help from someone of a much higher rank than he is in order to help find the overcoat. He has changed, but not enough to find his love or win it back. The coat takes Akaky’s innocence and forces him into a world that he is not prepared to deal with. Due to this, Akaky dies because he has lost his love and it has broken his heart.

Liza’s life might have gone on being the same if it had not been for unforseen event; Erast. Erast stumbled across Liza and fell in love with her for her innocence. Liza was not sure at first how to feel about Erast, but they soon became the best of friends with hints of romantic love. Liza cannot see that Erast may be bad for her because she never truly gets to know Erast. Erast eventually takes Liza’s innocence and then is unable to love her as he did before. He leaves and Liza waits. Eventually, Liza changed by love goes to look for Erast. When she finds him with another woman she has not changed enough to win Erast back and she is fated to die.

One final mirror in the two stories is the ghost elements at the end. The simpler “Poor Liza” merely mentions that the voice of Liza may still be heard. Gogol goes much further and actually has the ghost of the dead Akaky accosting those who would not help him. Both ghosts are unable to rest because of the unresolved issues with there lost loves. Akaky’s ghost eventually finds some sort of resolution in stealing the coat of the significant personage, but both ghosts are still wandering, not ready to rest because of the broken hearts they suffered.

Another aspect of the feminine attraction of the coat is the reaction of the coats creator Petrovich. He is so in awe of the coats beauty that he follows his coat and admires it even after he sells it. He is like a proud father handing his daughter over to marriage. He is pleased with the match and wants to make sure both parties are happy. But he also does not want to let go.

A Freudian interpretation of the story would say that the overcoat is more than just an object of Akaky’s affection, but that it is actually a symbolic woman. The overcoat is more than a lover, it helps Akaky move through the Freudian psychosexual development phases.

Freud proposed that we all move through five stages of development. We start with the oral phase which is where the child is gratified with oral habits such as sucking and nursing. Next comes the anal stage in which attention is focused on bowel moments and controlling them. The third stage is the phallic stage in which the penis is a focal point. This leads to castration anxiety in males and phallic envy in females. The fourth stage is the latent stage in which sexuality is repressed for a time. The final stage is the genital phase in which normal sexual behavior is gained. Freud assumed that a person could become stuck in any one of these stages and not develop to the next until issues were resolved. Sexuality in the Freudian theory is a little more general than our normal connotation. Generally it is anything that solicits a pleasurable response.

Akaky begins the story as a typical Freudian anal personality type. He is detail oriented, a diligent worker, and very repressed psycho socially. He is even described as being literally covered in the excrement of society. This Akaky is trapped in the anal stage of development and has not progressed to the genital phase. Until he gets his overcoat. The Russian word used for overcoat is a feminine word. The overcoat engulfs Akaky and surrounds him in warmth. This is a very feminine and maternal power, like being wrapped in a motherly womb and protected from the harmful winter (which is a masculine word in Russian). The overcoat is now a new mother for Akaky, protecting him and facilitating a new birth for him into the world. The jacket is now lover and mother for Akaky which is represents Freud’s theory of the oedipal complex. The oedipal complex is named for the Greek story of Oedipus who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. Freud supposed that children have desires for their mother and harbor feelings of jealousy and resentment for their fathers.

We can see that the overcoat has affected Akaky in the way he behaves. Still timid and afraid, he now enters into a new world of society. He is invited to a party with his co-workers because of the overcoat. He is experiencing a new way of life. While walking in his overcoat he sees a window display of women’s fashion. The significance here is that the bachelor Akaky is noticing women. For the first time in the story he is seen noticing and talking about a female, almost showing arousal and desire.

Though we never really get to see a full progression of Akaky to the genital phase, there are several signs that he is moving that way. Unfortunately this new Akaky violently conflicts with the old Akaky and almost literally causes his world to fall around him. His death is a tragedy, but it is not truly a surprise. It would have been very difficult for Akaky to adjust after loving the comfort and love of his overcoat/mother/lover. Perhaps if the coat had not been stolen Akaky would have moved through the psycho social stages and would have lived a normal well adjusted life…according to Freud at least.