From my days of the university, I learned that Hohol was immersed in folklore from a young age, something not everyone has the opportunity to experience. His stories often mock women, like this one. Let me explain!

Mykola Hohol likely relied on a very familiar motif from the lower Eastern culture to lead us into a love adventure. According to Asian beliefs, or rather, from Indian civilization, lunar eclipses are often explained as a demon swallowing the moon. The moon has always been associated with the beauty of the female body: A full moon could represent pregnancy, or the physiological maturation of a woman, things that were difficult to explain in Hohol's time. Therefore, the devil represents the desires of all the villagers. Why did the men flock to Solokha's house? Why did Oksana, despite being in love with Vakula (whom wasn't actually handsome, just strong), still demand such a high dowry (if not an impossible one)? And why did Vakula force the devil to take him to the capital citadel (even though that's unlikely to happen in a single day)?

If you can answer at least these three questions, I believe you'll have a good laugh after watching the whole film.

>>1
Nice comment, Cynir, though that's the first time I've seen Gogol's name spelled Hohol. :) I don't think that's really being done in English yet (not even on Wikipedia). Maybe because he never wrote in Ukrainian. But maybe you're just ahead of the curve. There's some discussion about it on Reddit here.