Gogol came from a family of humble means and was short of money throughout
his life. His personal experience is undoubtedly reflected in his fictional works,
in the experience of his characters. If we highlight in Gogolʼs art three main
stages, i.e., Gogol of The Evenings and Mirgorod, Gogol of the early Petersburg
Tales, and Gogol after that, primarily Gogol of The Inspector General and The
Dead Souls, we can find different approaches to the interpretation and the use of
the image of money and wealth, of the evolution of this interpretation, and of
some common elements. If we take into account a number of examples we can
find a clear correlation: money and material values in Gogol are a persistent
attribute of the demonic.