The Double is set in Saint Petersburg. At the time of the novel, Saint Petersburg was the capital city of Russia and the home to the country’s cultural elite. Saint Petersburg functions as the epicenter of the Russian world in a cultural and political sense. The elite social class of Saint Petersburg is the elite of Russian society. Golyadkin is from another province of the country, making him an outsider in Saint Petersburg, someone who has struggled to acclimatize to the social mentality of the capital city. This relationship is echoed in the double’s life story: He is also from a more provincial part of the country. While he inherited a considerable sum of money from his aunt, it did not last long after arriving in the capital. These outsider relationships with the cultural capital of 19th-century Russia bond Golyadkin and his double; in his double’s sad story, he finds a hitherto unknown capacity for sympathy. To Golyadkin, Saint Petersburg represents a form of cultural elitism that is both enviable and unknowable. He wishes to enter this society, but he remains an outsider, even being forcefully removed and taken to a psychiatric hospital at the novel’s close.

Within the city itself, the weather is in a constant state of aggression.