Gogol was a great destroyer of prohibitions and of romantic illusions. He developed a dark & secretive disposition, marked by a painful self-consciousness and boundless ambition. Equally, he developed a talent for mimicry, which later made him a matchless reader of his own works and induced him to toy with the idea of becoming an actor. He made novels such as: Dead Souls, The Overcoat, Viy, The Nose.