Throughout Love & Society in 19^th century Russian Literature, we got to analyze the theme of lovesickness. In discussion of the symptoms of lovesickness, in Gogol’s Nevsky Prospect, Piskarev succumbs to illness as he fails to accept the truth about his idealized lover. His story shows how this love becomes disruptive and leads Piskarev to take away his own life after not being able to cope with his emotions.

In Gogol’s Nevsky Prospect, Piskarev, a naïve artist of St. Petersburg, falls in love with a woman that resembles “a perfect Perugino Bianca.” (Gogol, 251), a painting that depicts a gorgeous woman, painted by the Italian Pietro Perugino. He idealizes his beloved so much that he forgets about the reality that surrounds him. “Abandoning everything, forgetting everything, he sat with a crushed, hopeless look, filled only with his dream. He did not think of eating anything; without any interest, without any life, his eyes gazed out the window” (Gogol, 262). Since the woman consumes his mind and is intangible, his feeling intensifies his desire to be next to her. Lovesickness derives from the intense emotions that a person can feel of the beloved one. As these powerful feelings are rejected or suppressed, they can become detrimental both mentally and physically. In fact, when a person is in love, he or she feels ecstatic and euphoric, especially when that person thinks about the beloved one, like how our pupils enlarge when we see something that really interests us. This is something that we don’t have control over it. When the beloved one is away or out of reach from the beloved, the infatuated lover begins to feel sad and lifeless. These emotions put pressure on the person’s in love mental health because of their overthinking. This is shown by the person’s physical presentation since he or she may not have taken care of themselves, as they were too busy to think about the beloved one.

Moreover, Piskarev is so infatuated with this woman that he starts dreaming about her: “God, what a dream! And why wake up? why not wait one more moment: she surely would have appeared again!” (Gogol, 261). He becomes so obsessed with her figure that he tries to sleep as much as he can, disrupting his sleep schedule. The fact that the events were only a dream and that he didn’t actually talk to her made Piskarev crave for more. In this case, too, we can see how the character’s mental predisposition reflects on his physical health. Indeed, his desire to see her, whether in reality or dream, compelled him to take a drug so he can experience more of his visions and reach his happiness. Since these emotions are so intense, the person may feel completely off, therefore, not thinking clearly and doing what is possible to get the joy desired. This may lead to a mental instability that will be showed by the body: if feeling stressed, the person might eat to skip meals totally, or if overthinking, the person may not be able to sleep, and the dark circles under the eyes will show that. This view on the brain function under the influence of love is beneficial because it provides strong proof that lovesickness can become an illness if these emotions impair the brain from making the right decision. Also, it explains why people will do everything they can to stay by the beloved’s side. They won’t stop until they’re able to reach for what they look for; otherwise, they will feel useless, not good enough, or disappointing.

Accordingly to the expectations of the infatuated, Piskarev continued to idealize his beloved: “God, what divine features! The loveliest brow, of a dazzling whiteness, was overshadowed by beautiful, agate-like hair. They were curly, those wondrous tresses, some of which fell from under her hat onto her cheek, touched with a fine, fresh color called up by the cool of the evening. Her lips were locked on a whole swarm of the loveliest reveries.” (Gogol, 253). He describes her in every detail, giving a harmonious and solemn vibe, just like describing a sacred figure. Benect Carey, supports the idea that idealizing the beloved one can create a strong base for a long-term relationship: “As psychologists have demonstrated in several studies, newly smitten lovers often idealize their partner, magnifying the other’s virtues and explaining away their flaws”. (“The Brain in Love”, 402) He states that to create a longer-term relationship we should overlook one’s flaws, so to fully commit to a relationship and allow to take risks. This suggest that people by doing this will be able to go through conflicts, doubts, and solution, with the effort to learn more about each other. Based on the evidence from the text, I’m of two minds about Carey’s claim that idealizing the beloved one is the key for a strong relationship. On the one hand I agree that idealizing will lead us to learn more about each other, without making the relationship dull. On the other hand, I’m not sure if idealizing the beloved one is healthy because by doing so, expectations might not be met and lead the two lovers to resent each other. Piskarev is madly in love with his “perfect Perugino Bianca” (251), that he constantly lives in his world view. He completely refuses to listen to the others and do as his heart says. Usually, we consider many characteristics of a person before deciding whether or not they are the right one, such as age, interests, future outlook, personality, and so on, because if we are untrue to ourselves, we may end up in a toxic relationship which is difficult to escape from. Piskarev completely forgot of the basics and went head over heels with this infatuation. Indeed, his craving turns into an absolute obsession, which negatively affected his mental health, and consequently, his physical state.

Lastly, after finally realizing the true nature of her idealized beloved one and a sequence of indignant moments and rejection, he couldn’t bear the emotional pain anymore: “His reason was clouded: stupidly, aimlessly, seeing, hearing, feeling nothing, he wandered about for the whole day. No one could say whether he slept anywhere or not; only the next day, following some stupid instinct, did he come to his apartment, pale, dreadful-looking, his hair disheveled, with signs of madness on his face.” (Gogol, 266). All the intense and powerful feelings that Piskarev had and his idealized figure of her shattered after a few horrible and shocking words: “And I just woke up. They brought me back at seven in the morning. I was completely drunk,’ she added with a smile.” (Gogol, 265). Piskaerv was thrown into reality abruptly, and his delicate and emotional personality couldn’t handle it. In fact, not long after his encounter with the lady, he takes his life. Other readers may argue that they would have done the same thing if they were in his situation at that time: the expectations of womenof that time, made him believe that such a wonderful woman would be pure and marriageable, but she resulted to be something completely different so he decided to not face the problem and take his life. However, I believe he could have taken a different path. By taking his life, he only showed that he wasn’t mature enough to understand and assimilate the situation. In other words, he revealed to be a coward. Piskarev could have done two things: the first one is to try to seduce her until she understands his intention continually, or he could have just walked away and try to express his feelings with art, as the artist he is. Love is indeed an emotional roller coaster, but I believe that people should face their fears and fully commit to their intentions. In short, in a relationship, you should give your fullest, stay true to what you are, or avoid starting it if unable to bear with the emotional and physical pain that the experience may provide.

In conclusion, lovesickness derives from many outside factors and develops in a psychological illness expressed by one’s physical health. Piskarev’s story is one of the many examples of how idealization of the beloved one affects someone both psychologically and physically. Therefore, love can be considered to be a drug. No one can help when lovesick since it is something that one has control over it. This means that both the lovers should be conscious of the possible obstacles that they will face, be open-minded to accept each other’s ideologies, and promote open discussion for a relationship to succeed.

Work cited:

– Gogolʹ, Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich, Richard Pevear, and Larissa Volokhonsky. The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol. Vintage, 1999. Print.

– Carey Benedict, “The Brain in Love”