The diary entries begin with the dates on which the entries are recorded. Poprishchin can go a few days in a row writing in his diary before he takes a break of a few weeks. In this way, it is clear that certain ideas retain their importance in spite of time lapses and the situations that spur him to write continuously. The time between the beginning of the story and the time where he begins entertaining the idea that he might be the king of Spain is just over two months. Toward the end of the story, the disturbance caused by Sophie’s real thoughts and desires has not lost its sting for Poprishchin, as a month passes and he still cannot bring himself to terms with this information. The dates, finally, become clear markers of Poprishchin’s perception breaking from reality, as he no longer records real dates and instead uses nonsensical ones, as if he no longer even has a grip on the ordinary passage of time.

The use of street names and house names places the story in the real world. Gogol uses places that would have been recognizable to his contemporaries. Nevsky Prospect, on which Poprishchin sees the emperor pass in his carriage toward the end of the story, was and continues to be Saint Petersburg’s main boulevard.