How do you see Poprishchin’s “madness” depicted in the story? How does it develop and what is it tied to?

The story takes the form of several diary entries. How might you describe the relationship between the form of the story with the content, or plot, of the story?

What role does the setting of the story play? What is the significance of the story being set in Saint Petersburg that would be familiar to Gogol’s contemporaries?