Morality

The ill effects of less than stellar morals is one of the driving themes in this collection of short stories by Nikolai Gogol. The sins of lust and greed are main themes in the first short story, "St. John's Eve." In this story, the martyred young boy slain for gold is sheathed in white, symbolic of purity and goodness. In "Night Before Christmas" Gogol references the vanity of the townspeople with a special focus on the very vain town beauty, Oksana. Oksana is humbled when she fears the man she loves is missing. In "The Terrible Vengeance," lust and murder are the sins of Katerina's evil father. He lusts after his own daughter and murders his entire family.

In "Viy," loss of faith is the backdrop of this story. The young philosopher Khoma is destroyed by a witch. His friend concludes that the witch did not kill him...