"Dead Souls" main characters. Positive characters in the poem Dead Souls N.V.

Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna - a widow-landowner, the second "seller" of dead souls to Chichikov. The main feature of her character is trading efficiency. Each person for K. is only a potential buyer.
K.'s inner world reflects her economy. Everything in it is neat and strong: both the house and the yard. It's just that there are a lot of flies everywhere. This detail personifies the frozen, stopped world of the heroine. The hissing clock and the "outdated" portraits on the walls in K.
But such a "fading" is still better than the complete timelessness of Manilov's world. K. at least has a past (husband and everything connected with him). K. has a character: she begins to bargain furiously with Chichikov until she extracts a promise from him, in addition to souls, to buy much more. It is noteworthy that K. remembers all his dead peasants by heart. But K. is dumb: later she will come to the city to find out the price of dead souls, and thereby expose Chichikov. Even the location of the village of K. (away from the main road, away from real life) indicates the impossibility of its correction and revival. In this she is similar to Manilov and occupies one of the lowest places in the "hierarchy" of the heroes of the poem.

Manilov is a sentimental landowner, the first "seller" of dead souls.
Gogol emphasizes the emptiness and insignificance of the hero, covered with a sugary pleasantness of appearance, details of the furnishings of his estate. M.'s house is open to all winds, thin birch tops are visible everywhere, the pond is completely overgrown with duckweed. But the arbor in the garden of M. is pompously named "The Temple of Solitary Reflection." M.'s office is covered with "blue paint like gray", which indicates the lifelessness of the hero, from whom you will not expect a single living word. Clinging to any topic, M.'s thoughts float away into abstract reflections. To think about real life, and even more so to make any decisions, this hero is not capable. Everything in M.'s life: action, time, meaning - are replaced by exquisite verbal formulas. As soon as Chichikov put his strange request for the sale of dead souls in beautiful words, M. immediately calmed down and agreed. Although earlier this proposal seemed wild to him. The world of M. is the world of a false idyll, the path to death. Not without reason, even Chichikov's path to the lost Manilovka is depicted as a road to nowhere. There is nothing negative in M., but there is nothing positive either. He is empty space, nothing. Therefore, this hero cannot count on transfiguration and rebirth: there is nothing to be reborn in him. And therefore M., along with Korobochka, occupies one of the lowest places in the "hierarchy" of the heroes of the poem.

Nozdryov is the third landowner from whom Chichikov is trying to buy dead souls. This is a dashing 35-year-old "talker, reveler, reckless driver." N. constantly lies, bullies everyone indiscriminately; he is very reckless, ready to "shit" his best friend without any purpose. All of N.'s behavior is explained by his dominant quality: "briskness and liveliness of character", i.e. recklessness, bordering on unconsciousness. N. does not think or plan anything; he just doesn't know how to do anything. On the way to Sobakevich, in a tavern, N. intercepts Chichikov and takes him to his estate. There he quarrels to death with Chichikov: he does not agree to play cards for dead souls, and also does not want to buy a stallion of "Arab blood" and get souls in addition. The next morning, forgetting about all the insults, N. persuades Chichikov to play checkers with him for dead souls. Convicted of cheating, N. orders Chichikov to be beaten, and only the appearance of the police captain reassures him. It is N. who will almost destroy Chichikov. Faced with him at the ball, N. shouts out loud: "He trades in dead souls!", which gives rise to a lot of the most incredible rumors. When the officials call on N. to figure everything out, the hero confirms all the rumors at once, not embarrassed by their inconsistency. Later, he comes to Chichikov and talks about all these rumors himself. Instantly forgetting about the offense inflicted on him, he sincerely offers to help Chichikov take away the governor's daughter. The home environment fully reflects the chaotic character of N. At home, everything is stupid: there are goats in the middle of the dining room, there are no books and papers in the office, etc. We can say that N.'s boundless lies are the flip side of Russian prowess, which N. endowed in abundance. N. is not completely empty, it's just that his unbridled energy does not find proper use for himself. With N. in the poem, a series of heroes begins who have retained something alive in themselves. Therefore, in the "hierarchy" of heroes, he occupies a relatively high - third - place.

Plyushkin Stepan is the last "seller" of dead souls. This hero personifies the complete necrosis of the human soul. In the image of P., the author shows the death of a bright and strong personality, absorbed by the passion of stinginess.
The description of P.'s estate ("does not get rich in God") depicts the desolation and "littering" of the hero's soul. The entrance is dilapidated, everywhere there is a special dilapidation, the roofs are like a sieve, the windows are plugged with rags. Everything here is lifeless - even two churches, which should be the soul of the estate.
P.'s estate seems to fall apart into details and fragments; even a house - in some places on one floor, in some places on two. This speaks of the disintegration of the consciousness of the owner, who forgot about the main thing and focused on the third. For a long time he no longer knows what is happening in his household, but he strictly monitors the level of liquor in his decanter.
The portrait of P. (either a woman or a man; a long chin covered with a handkerchief so as not to spit; small eyes that are not yet extinct, running around like mice; a greasy dressing gown; a rag around his neck instead of a scarf) speaks of the hero’s complete “falling out” of image of a rich landowner and from life in general.
P. is the only one of all the landowners, a fairly detailed biography. Before the death of his wife, P. was a diligent and wealthy owner. He raised his children with care. But with the death of his beloved wife, something broke in him: he became more suspicious and meaner. After troubles with the children (the son lost at cards, the eldest daughter ran away, and the youngest died), P.'s soul finally hardened - "the wolf hunger of stinginess took possession of him." But, oddly enough, greed did not take possession of the heart of the hero to the last limit. Having sold dead souls to Chichikov, P. wonders who could help him draw up a bill of sale in the city. He remembers that the Chairman was his school friend. This memory suddenly revives the hero: "... on this wooden face ... expressed ... a pale reflection of feeling." But this is only a momentary glimpse of life, although the author believes that P. is capable of rebirth. At the end of the chapter on P. Gogol, he describes a twilight landscape in which the shadow and the light are "completely mixed" - as in the unfortunate soul of P.

Sobakevich Mikhailo Semenych - landowner, the fourth "seller" of dead souls. The very name and appearance of this hero (reminiscent of a “medium-sized bear”, the tailcoat on him is “completely bearish” in color, steps at random, his complexion is “hot, hot”) indicate his power of his nature.
From the very beginning, the image of S. is associated with the theme of money, housekeeping, and calculation (at the time of entering the village, S. Chichikov dreams of a 200,000-strong dowry). Talking with Chichikov S., not paying attention to Chichikov's evasiveness, he busily moves on to the essence of the question: "Do you need dead souls?" The main thing for S. is the price, everything else does not interest him. With knowledge of the matter, S. bargains, praises his goods (all souls are “like a vigorous nut”) and even manages to cheat Chichikov (slips him a “female soul” - Elizaveta Sparrow). The mental image of S. is reflected in everything that surrounds him. In his house, all "useless" architectural beauties are removed. Huts of peasants were also built without any decorations. In S.'s house, there are paintings on the walls depicting exclusively Greek heroes who look like the owner of the house. The dark-colored speckled thrush and the pot-bellied nut bureau (“perfect bear”) are similar to S. In turn, the hero himself also looks like an object - his legs are like cast-iron pedestals. S. is a type of Russian fist, a strong, prudent owner. Its peasants live well, reliably. The fact that S.'s natural power and efficiency turned into dull inertia is more likely not the fault, but the hero's misfortune. S. lives exclusively in modern times, in the 1820s. From the height of his power, S. sees how the life surrounding him has been crushed. During the bargain, he remarks: “... what kind of people are these? flies, not people”, much worse than the dead. S. occupies one of the highest places in the spiritual "hierarchy" of heroes, because, according to the author, he has many chances for rebirth. By nature, he is endowed with many good qualities, he has a rich potential and a powerful nature. Their realization will be shown in the second volume of the poem - in the image of the landowner Costanjoglo.

Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich is the main character of the poem. He, according to the author, has changed his true purpose, but is still able to purify himself and resurrect his soul.
In the "acquirer" Ch., the author portrayed a new evil for Russia - quiet, average, but enterprising. The averageness of the hero is emphasized by his appearance: he is a “master of the middle hand”, not too fat, not too thin, etc. Ch. is quiet and inconspicuous, round and smooth. Ch.'s soul is like his box - there is a place only for money (following the father's precept "save a penny"). He avoids talking about himself, hiding behind empty book turns. But Ch.'s insignificance is deceptive. It is he and others like him who begin to rule the world. Gogol speaks of such people as Ch.: "terrible and vile force". Vile, because he cares only about his own profit and profit, using all means. It's scary because it's very strong. "Acquirers", according to Gogol, are not able to revive the Fatherland. In the poem, Ch. travels around Russia and stops in the city of NN. There he meets all the important people, and then goes to the estates of the landowners Manilov and Sobakevich, on the way he also gets to Korobochka, Nozdrev and Plyushkin. Ch. sells dead souls among all of them, without explaining the purpose of his purchases. In bargaining, Ch. manifests himself as a great connoisseur of the human soul and as a good psychologist. He finds his own approach to each landowner and almost always achieves his goal. Having bought up the souls, Ch. returns to the city to draw up bills of sale for them. Here, for the first time, he announces that he intends to “take out” the souls he has bought to new lands, to the Kherson province. Gradually, in the city, the name of the hero begins to acquire rumors, at first very flattering for him, and later disastrous (that Ch is a counterfeiter, a fugitive Napoleon and almost the Antichrist). These rumors force the hero to leave the city. Ch. endowed with the most detailed biography. This suggests that there is still a lot of life left in him and that he is able to be reborn (in the second volume of the poem, as Gogol planned)

Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich is a new type of adventurer-acquirer for Russian literature, the protagonist of the poem, who has fallen, betrayed his true destiny, but is able to cleanse himself and resurrect his soul. Many things point to this possibility, including the name of the hero. St. Paul is an apostle who, until his instant, "sudden" repentance and transformation, was one of the most terrible persecutors of Christians. The appeal of St. Pavel happened on the way to Damascus, and the fact that Chichikov is inseparably linked by plot circumstances with the image of the road, the path, is also not accidental. This perspective of moral rebirth sharply distinguishes Ch. from his literary predecessors, the heroes and anti-heroes of European and Russian picaresque novels, from Gilles-Blaise Lesage to Frol Skobeev, Russian Zhilblaz, V. T. Narezhny, and Ivan Vyzhigin, F. V. Bulgarin. It also unexpectedly brings the “negative” Ch. closer to the heroes of sentimental journeys and, in general, to the central figures of the travel novel (beginning with Cervantes' Don Quixote).
The cart of the collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Ch., following his own needs, stops in the city of NN, which is located a little closer to Moscow than to Kazan (that is, in the very heart of Central Russia). After spending two weeks in the city (Chapter 1) and getting to know all the important people, Ch. went to the estates of the local landowners Manilov and Sobakevich - at their invitation. The moment of the plot of the novel is delayed all the time, although some of Ch.'s "peculiarities of behavior" should alert the reader from the very beginning. In the visitor's inquiries about the state of affairs in the province, one senses something more than mere curiosity; when meeting the next landowner, Ch. is first interested in the number of souls, then the position of the estate, and only after that - the name of the interlocutor.
Only at the very end of the 2nd chapter, having strayed almost the whole day in search of Manilovka-Zamanilovka, and then talking with the sweet landowner and his wife, Ch. “opens the cards”, offering to buy from Manilov the dead souls of peasants listed as living according to the audit . Why he needs it, Ch. does not say; but in itself the anecdotal situation of "purchasing" dead souls for their subsequent pledge to the board of trustees - to which Pushkin drew Gogol's attention - was not exceptional.
Having lost his way on his way back from Manilov, Ch. ends up in the estate of the widow-landowner Korobochka (ch. 3); having bargained with her, the next morning he goes further and meets a violent Nozdryov in a tavern, who lures Ch. to him (ch. 4). Here, however, business is not going well; after agreeing to play checkers with the crooked Nozdryov for dead souls, Ch. can barely run away. On the way to Sobakevich (chapter 5), Ch.'s britzka hitches a wagon in which a 16-year-old girl with golden hair and an oval face, tender as an egg in the sun, in the swarthy hands of the housekeeper, rides. While the peasants - Andryushka and Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyay - are unraveling the carriages, Ch., despite all the prudent coolness of his character, dreams of sublime love; however, in the end, his thoughts switch to his favorite topic of 200,000 dowry, and under the impression of these thoughts, Ch. enters the village of Sobakevich. In the end, having acquired the desired “goods” here too, Ch. goes to the stingy landowner Plyushkin, whose people are dying like flies. (He learns about the existence of Plyushkin from Sobakevich.)
Having immediately understood with whom he was dealing, Ch. (ch. 6) assures Plyushkin that he only wants to take on his tax expenses; having acquired here 120 dead souls and adding to them a few fugitive ones, he returns to the city to draw up papers for the purchased peasants.
In chapter 7, he visits a large 3-storey government building, white as chalk ("to depict the purity of the souls of the posts located in it"). The moral description of bureaucracy (Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinnoye Rylo is especially colorful) also closes on the image of Ch. Here he meets Sobakevich, who is sitting at the chairman; Sobakevich almost blurted out, inappropriately mentioning the carriage maker Mikheev sold by Ch., whom the chairman knew. Nevertheless, the hero gets away with everything; in this scene, he announces for the first time that he intends to "take out" the souls he has bought to new lands in the Kherson province.
Everyone goes to a feast to police chief Alexei Ivanovich, who takes more bribes than his predecessors, but is loved by merchants for affectionate treatment and nepotism, and therefore is revered as a "miracle worker". After olive-colored vodka, the chairman expresses a playful idea about the need to marry Ch., and he, having become emotional, reads Werther's message to Charlotte to Sobakevich. (This humorous episode will soon receive an important plot development.) In chapter 8, the name of Ch. for the first time begins to acquire rumors - so far extremely positive and flattering for him. (Through the absurdity of these rumors, Gogol's vast plan for the three-volume poem "Dead Souls" is unexpectedly drawn as a "small epic", a religious and moralistic epic. Residents of the city of NN are discussing the purchase of Ch. new land, they can suddenly become excellent subjects. That is exactly what Gogol intended to do in volumes 2 and 3 with the souls of some of the "scoundrels" of volume 1. With Ch. - first of all.) However, too high allusions are immediately grounded; rumors about Ch. the millionaire make him unusually copular in ladies' society; he even receives an unsigned letter from an aging lady: "No, I shouldn't write to you!"
The scene of the provincial ball (ch. 8) is the climax; after it, events, having taken a new turn, are moving towards a denouement. Ch., admiring the beauty of the 16-year-old governor's daughter, is not kind enough to the ladies who form a "shining garland." Resentment is not forgiven; The ladies who had just found something even Mars and military in Ch.'s face (this comparison would later be echoed in the postmaster's remark that Napoleon did not differ from Ch. in the warehouse of his figure) are now ready in advance for his transformation into a "villain". And when the unrestrained Nozdryov shouts across the hall: “What? did you trade a lot for the dead?” - this, despite Nozdryov's dubious reputation as a liar, decides the "fate" of Ch. Especially since Korobochka arrives in the city that very night and tries to find out if she has not sold cheap with dead souls.
In the morning, the rumors take on an entirely new direction. Before the time accepted in the city of NN for visits, "a simply pleasant lady" (Sofya Ivanovna) comes to "a lady pleasant in all respects" (Anna Grigoryevna); after squabbling over the pattern, the ladies come to the conclusion that Ch. is someone like “Rinald Rinaldina”, a robber from the novel by X. Volpius, and his ultimate goal is to take away the governor’s daughter with the assistance of Nozdryov.
Ch. before the eyes of the reader from the "real" character of the novel turns into the hero of fantastic rumors. To enhance the effect of replacing the hero with a provincial legend about him, Gogol "sends" a three-day cold on Ch., taking him out of the sphere of plot action. Now on the pages of the novel, instead of Ch., his double, a character of rumors, acts. In chapter 10, the rumors come to a head; first comparing Ch. with a rich Jew, then identifying him with a counterfeiter, the inhabitants (and especially officials) gradually turn Ch. into fugitive Napoleons and almost into Antichrists.
Ch. recovers and, having again taken his place in the plot and ousted his “double” from the novel, he will not understand why from now on he is not ordered to be received in the houses of officials, until Nozdryov, who came to his hotel without an invitation, explains, what's the matter. It was decided to leave the city early in the morning. However, having overslept, Ch. also has to wait until the "robber blacksmiths" shoe the horses (ch. 11). And therefore, at the time of departure, he encounters a funeral procession. The prosecutor, unable to withstand the tension of the rumors, died - and then everyone learned that the deceased had not only thick eyebrows and a blinking eye, but also a soul.
While Ch., driven by the coachman Selifan and accompanied by the servant Petrushka, from whom the smell of “living peace” always emanates, is traveling into the unknown, the whole “sour-unpleasant” life of the hero unfolds before the reader. Born into a noble (pillar or personal nobility was Ch.'s parents - unknown) family, from a pigal mother and from a father - a gloomy loser, he retained one memory from childhood - a window “covered with snow”, one feeling - the pain of an edge twisted by his father's fingers ear. Brought to the city on a badass piebald horse by a hunchback coachman, Ch. is shocked by the splendor of the city (almost like Captain Kopeikin by Petersburg). Before parting, the father gives his son the main advice, which has sunk into the soul: “save a penny”, and a few additional ones: please your elders, do not hang out with your comrades.
Ch's entire school life is transformed into continuous accumulation. He sells treats to his comrades, he sews a bullfinch made of wax into bags of 5 rubles each. The teacher, who values ​​obedience most of all, singles out the meek Ch.; he receives a certificate and a book with gold letters, but when later the old teacher is expelled from school and he gets drunk, Ch. will donate only 5 kopecks of silver to help him. Not out of stinginess, but out of indifference and following the father's "covenant".
By that time, the father will die (he did not accumulate, contrary to advice, a “penny”); having sold the dilapidated little house for 1,000 rubles, Ch. would move to the city and begin his official career in the Treasury. Diligence does not help; the marble face of the chief with frequent rowans and potholes is a symbol of callousness. But, having wooed his ugly daughter, Ch. enters into confidence; having received a “gift” from the future father-in-law - a promotion, he immediately forgets about the appointed wedding (“cheated, blew, damn son!”).
Having made money on commissions for the construction of some very capital structure, Ch. loses everything because of the prosecution of bribery that has begun. We have to make a "new quarry" at the customs. For a long time refraining from bribery, Ch. acquires a reputation as an incorruptible official and submits to his superiors a project to capture all smugglers. Having received authority, he enters into an agreement with smugglers and enriches himself with the help of a cunning plan. But again, failure - a secret denunciation of the "accomplice".
Having escaped trial with great difficulty, Ch. for the third time begins his career from scratch in the despicable position of a barrister. It is then that it dawns on him that it is possible to pledge dead souls to the board of trustees as living ones; the village of Pavlovsky in the Kherson province looms before his mind's eye, and Ch. gets down to business.
So the end of the 1st volume of the poem brings the reader back to the very beginning; the last ring of Russian hell closes. But, according to the compositional logic of "Dead Souls", the lower point is aligned with the upper one, the limit of falling is with the beginning of the revival of the personality. The image of Ch. is at the peak of the inverted pyramid of the novel composition; the prospect of the 2nd and 3rd volumes promised him a "purgatory" of Siberian exile - and a complete moral resurrection in the end.
Reflections of this glorious plot future of Ch. are already noticeable in the 1st volume. The point is not only that the author, as if justifying himself to the reader, for which he chose a “scoundrel” as a hero, nevertheless pays tribute to the irresistible strength of his character. The final parable about the "useless", worthless Russian people - the domestic philosopher Kif Mokievich, who devotes his life to solving the question, why is the beast born naked? why doesn't the egg hatch? and about Mokiya Kifovich, a bogatyr-priperten, who does not know where to put his strength, sharply sets off the image of Ch. - the owner, the "acquirer", in whom the energy is still purposeful. Much more important is that Ch., who is ready every minute to think about the “strong woman”, vigorous as a turnip; about 200 thousand dowry - while actually reaching out to young, unspoiled college girls, as if seeing in them his own lost purity of soul and freshness. In the same way, from time to time, the author seems to “forget” about the insignificance of Ch. and surrenders to the power of the lyrical elements, turning the dusty road into a symbol of the all-Russian path to the Khramina, and indirectly likening the britzka to the fiery chariot of the immortal prophet Elijah: “The mighty space surrounds me menacingly Wu! what a sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth! Rus!.."
Nevertheless, in the "acquirer" of Ch., a new evil is revealed, imperceptibly invading the borders of Russia and the whole world - a quiet, average, "enterprising" evil, and the more terrible, the less impressive. Chichikov's "averageness" is emphasized from the very beginning - in the description of his appearance. Before the reader - "Mr. average hand", not too fat, not too thin, not too old, not too young. Ch.'s bright suit is made of lingonberry-colored fabric with a spark; his nose is loud, rattling his pipe when he blows his nose; his appetite is remarkable, allowing him to eat a whole pig with horseradish and sour cream in a road tavern. Ch. himself is quiet and inconspicuous, round and smooth, like his cheeks, always shaved to a satin state; Ch.'s soul is similar to his famous box (in the very middle there is a soap dish: 6-7 narrow partitions for razors, square nooks for a sandbox and inkwell; the most important, hidden drawer of this box is intended for denes):
When officials, after the story told by the postmaster about Captain Kopeikin, agree to compare Ch. with the Antichrist, they involuntarily guess the truth. The "new Antichrist" of the bourgeois world will be like this - inconspicuously affectionate, insinuating, accurate; the role of the "prince of this world" is taken over by the "insignificant worm of this world." This "worm" is capable of eating away the very core of Russian life, so that it itself will not notice how it rots. Hope - for the correctability of human nature. It is no coincidence that the images of most of the heroes of "Dead Souls" (Ch. - in the first place) are created on the principle of an "inside-out glove"; their initially positive qualities were reborn into a self-sustaining passion; sometimes - as in the case of Ch. - a criminal passion. But if you cope with passion, return it to its former boundaries, direct it for the good, the image of the hero himself will completely change, the “glove” will turn inside out to the front side.

Among the variety of interesting characters, an amazing character stands out - Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. The image of Chichikov is unifying and collective, it combines different qualities of landowners. We learn about the origin and formation of his character from the eleventh chapter of the poem. Pavel Ivanovich belonged to a poor noble family. Chichikov's father left him a legacy of half a copper and a covenant to study diligently, to please teachers and bosses, and, most importantly, to save and save a penny. In the will, the father did not say anything about honor, duty and dignity. Chichikov quickly realized that high concepts only hinder the achievement of his cherished goal. Therefore, Pavlusha makes his way in life by his own efforts. At the school, he tried to be a model of obedience, courtesy and respect, was distinguished by exemplary behavior, and evoked commendable reviews from teachers. After graduating, he enters the state chamber, where he pleases the boss with all his might and even takes care of his daughter. Finding yourself in any new environment, in a new environment,
he immediately becomes "his man." He comprehended the “great secret of liking”, with each of the characters he speaks his language, discusses topics close to the interlocutor. The soul is still alive in this hero, but every time, drowning out the pangs of conscience, doing everything for his own benefit and building happiness on the misfortunes of other people ", he kills her. Insult, deceit, bribery, embezzlement, fraud at customs are Chichikov's tools. The hero sees the meaning of life only in acquisition, hoarding. But for Chichikov, money is a means, not an end: he wants well-being, a decent life for himself and his children. From the rest of the characters in Chichikov's poem, he is distinguished by strength of character and determination. Having set himself a certain task, he does not stop at nothing, shows perseverance, perseverance and incredible ingenuity to achieve it.

He is not like the crowd, he is active, active and enterprising. Chichikov is alien to the daydreaming of Manilov and the innocence of Korobochka. He is not greedy, like Plyushkin, but he is not prone to reckless revelry, like Nozdryov. His enterprise is not like the rough businesslike Sobakevich. All this speaks of his clear superiority.

A characteristic feature of Chichikov is the incredible versatility of his nature. Gogol emphasizes that it is not easy to unravel people like Chichikov. Appearing in the provincial town under the guise of a landowner, Chichikov very quickly wins universal sympathy. He knows how to show himself as a man of the world, comprehensively developed and decent. He can carry on any conversation and at the same time speaks "neither loudly nor quietly, but exactly as it should." To each person in which Chichikov is interested, he knows how to find his own special approach. Exhibiting his benevolence towards people, he is only interested in taking advantage of their location. Chichikov very easily "reincarnates", changes his behavior, but never don't forget your goals.

In a conversation with Manilov, he looks almost exactly like Manilov himself: he is just as courteous and sensitive. Chichikov knows perfectly well how to make a strong impression on Manilov, and therefore does not skimp on all sorts of spiritual outpourings. However, when talking with Korobochka, Chichikov does not show any particular gallantry or softness of mind. He quickly guesses the essence of her character and therefore behaves cheekily and unceremoniously. You can’t get through the box with delicacy, and Chichikov, after long attempts to reason with her, “went completely beyond the boundaries of any patience, grabbed the floor in his heart with a chair and promised her the devil.” When meeting with Nozdryov, Chichikov flexibly adapts to his unbridled demeanor. ”Relationships, talking to Chichikov on“ you ”, and he behaves as if they are old bosom buddies. When Nozdryov boasts, Chichikov keeps quiet, as if he does not doubt the veracity of what he heard.

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov

Chichikov is the main character of the poem, he is found in all chapters. It was he who came up with the idea of ​​the scam with dead souls, it was he who travels around Russia, meeting with a variety of characters and getting into a variety of situations.
The characterization of Chichikov is given by the author in the first chapter. His portrait is given very vaguely: “not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin; one cannot say that he is old, but it is not so that he is too young either. Gogol pays more attention to his manners: he made an excellent impression on all the guests at the governor's party, showed himself to be an experienced socialite, keeping up the conversation on a variety of topics, skillfully flattered the governor, police chief, officials and made the most flattering opinion about himself. Gogol himself tells us that he did not take a “virtuous person” as a hero, he immediately stipulates that his hero is a scoundrel.
"Dark and modest is the origin of our hero." The author tells us that his parents were nobles, but pillar or personal - God knows. Chichikov's face did not resemble his parents. As a child, he had no friend or comrade. His father was ill, and the windows of the little “gorenkoka” did not open either in winter or summer. Gogol says about Chichikov: “At the beginning, life looked at him somehow sourly and uncomfortably, through some kind of muddy, snow-covered window ...”
“But in life everything changes quickly and vividly…” Father brought Pavel to the city and instructed him to go to classes. Of the money that his father gave him, he did not spend a penny, but rather made an increment to them. He learned to speculate from childhood. After leaving the school, he immediately set to work and service. With the help of speculation, he was able to get a promotion from the boss. After the arrival of a new boss, Chichikov moved to another city and began to serve at the customs, which was his dream. “From the instructions he got, by the way, one thing: to petition for the placement of several hundred peasants in the board of trustees.” And then the idea came to his mind to turn one little business, which is discussed in the poem.

CHICHIKOV - the hero of N.V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" (first volume 1842, under the census title "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls"; second, volume 1842-1845). In accordance with his leading artistic principle - to expand the image from the name - Gogol gives Ch. a surname formed by simply repeating an indistinct sound combination (chichi), which does not carry any distinct semantic load. The surname, thus, corresponds to the general dominant of the image of Ch., the essence of which is fictitiousness (A. Bely), imaginary, conformism: “not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin, one cannot say that he is old, but not so young either.” In the portrait of Ch., both positive and negative beginnings are equally discarded, all any significant external and internal personality traits are rejected, reduced to zero, leveled. The name and patronymic of Ch. - Pavel Ivanovich, - round and euphonious, but not eccentric, also emphasizes Ch. does not allow himself an indecent word”, “in receptions ... something solid”), adhering to the principle of the “golden mean”. The features of ceremonial delicacy and rough physiology are comically intertwined in Ch. »; on the other hand, he “rubbed his cheeks with soap for a long time, propping them up with his tongue”, “blew his nose extremely loudly”, “his nose sounded like a pipe”, “plucked out two hairs from his nose”. In Ch. Gogol metonymically highlights the nose (compare with Major Kovalev, whose nose was missing): "he stuck his nose forward." Ch.'s nose is “thunderous” (A. Bely), compared with a “rogue-pipe”, quacking too loudly in the orchestra, thereby Gogol introduces an ironic dissonance into the harmonic roundness of Ch.'s face (“full face”, “like a muzzle and a cashmere ”, “Snow-white cheek”), emphasizing the irrepressible energy of the acquirer (“nose in the wind”), to whom fate generously gives clicks on the nose, which is too long. The image of Ch. is multifunctional. Ch. is the center of the so-called "mirage intrigue" (Yu. Mann). Like the knight-errant of a medieval novel or the vagabond of a picaresque novel, Ch. is in constant motion, on the road, he is comparable to Homer's Odysseus. True, unlike a knight who dedicates heroic deeds to the Beautiful Lady, Ch. is a “knight of a penny”, for the sake of the latter, in essence, Ch. and performs his "feats". Ch.'s biography (ch. 11) is a series of preliminary deeds to the main feat of life - buying up dead souls. Ch. seeks to increase a penny out of nothing, so to speak, "out of thin air." While still a schoolboy, Ch. put into circulation half a ruble left to him by his father: “he blinded a bullfinch from wax”, painted it and sold it profitably; resold to hungry classmates a bun or gingerbread, bought ahead of time in the market; I trained a mouse for two months and also sold it profitably. Ch. turned half a tin into five rubles and sewed it into a bag (cf. Korobochka). In the service of Ch. is included in the commission for the construction of a "state-owned very capital structure", which is not built for six years above the foundation. Meanwhile, Ch. is building a house, getting a cook, a couple of horses, buying Dutch shirts, soaps "to make the skin smooth." Caught in fraud, Ch. suffers a fiasco, loses money and well-being, but seems to be reborn from the ashes, becomes a customs official, receives a bribe of half a million from smugglers. A secret denunciation by a partner almost brings Ch. to a criminal court; only with the help of bribes does Ch. manage to escape punishment. Having begun to buy serfs from the landowners, who are listed as living in the "revision tales", Ch. intends to pledge them to the Board of Trustees and break the jackpot on "fufu", as he puts it. The "mirage intrigue" begins to develop as a result of the unheard-of, risky, and ambiguous deal offered by Ch. to the landlords. The scandal that erupted around dead souls, started at the ball at the governor's by Nozdrev and backed up by a frightened Korobochka, develops into a grandiose mystery of the fantastic Russian reality of the Nikolaev time and, more broadly, corresponds to the spirit of the Russian national character, as well as the essence of the historical process, as Gogol understands them, linking and others with incomprehensible and formidable Providence. (Compare Gogol’s words: “Gossip is woven by the devil, not by a person. A person, out of idleness or stupidity, will blurt out a word without meaning; the word will go for a walk and little by little the story will be woven by itself, without the knowledge of everyone. It’s crazy to find its real author and to look for everything in the world is a lie , everything seems to us not what it really is. It is difficult, difficult to live for us, forgetting every minute that our actions will be audited by the One Whom you can’t bribe with anything.") Rinaldo Rinaldini, "armed from head to toe" and extorting dead souls from Korobochka, so that "the whole village has come running, the children are crying, everyone is screaming, no one understands anyone." “The lady is pleasant in all respects” decides that Ch. is buying up dead souls in order to kidnap the governor’s daughter, and Nozdryov is Ch.’s partner, after which “both ladies went each in their own direction to rebel the city.” There were two hostile parties: male and female. The woman claimed that Ch. "decided to kidnap" because he was married and his wife had written a letter to the governor. The men's took Ch. at the same time for the auditor, for Napoleon in disguise, who had fled from the island of St. Helena, for the legless captain Kopeikin, who became the chieftain of a gang of robbers. The inspector of the medical board imagined that the dead souls were patients who died of a fever due to his negligence; the chairman of the civil chamber was frightened that he had become Plyushkin's attorney in decorating the fortress for "dead souls"; officials recalled how recently the Solvychegodsk merchants, having gone on a spree, “departed to death” of the Ustsysol merchants, gave a bribe to the court, after which the court issued a verdict that the Ustsysol merchants “died of intoxication”; in addition, the state peasants killed Drobyazhkin, an assessor of the Zemstvo police, because he "was de lascivious as a cat." The governor immediately received two official papers on the search for a counterfeiter and a robber, both could be Ch. As a result of all these rumors, the prosecutor died. In the 2nd volume, Ch. correlates with the Antichrist, Russia is shaken even more, the word that is launched causes unrest among schismatics (“the Antichrist was born, who does not give rest to the dead, buying up some dead souls. They repented and sinned and, under the guise of catching the Antichrist, killed the non-antichrists”), as well as the riots of the peasants against the landlords and police captains, for “some vagabonds let rumors pass between them that the time is coming that the peasants should be landowners and dress up in tailcoats, and the landowners dress up in Armenians and there will be peasants ".

Another function of Ch.'s image is aesthetic. The image of Ch. is made up of metaphors, painted to varying degrees in epic, then in ironic, then in parodic tones: “a boat among the ferocious waves” of life, “an insignificant worm of this world”, “a blister on the water”. Despite the solidity, degree, bodily tangibility of Ch. (“He was heavy”, “tummy drum”), despite the concern for future descendants and the desire to become an exemplary landowner, the essence of Ch. is mimicry, proteicity, the ability to take the form of any vessel. Ch. changes faces depending on the situation and the interlocutor, often becoming like the landowner with whom he bargains: with Manilov, Ch. is sweet-tongued and helpful, his speech is like sugar syrup; with Korobochka he keeps himself simpler and even promises her the devil, becoming furious at her "club-headedness", with Sobakevich Ch. is stingy and stingy, the same "fist" as So-bakevich himself, both of them see each other as swindlers; with Nozdryov, Ch. keeps in a familiar way, on “you”, explaining the reasons for the purchase in the style of Nozdryov himself: “Oh, how curious: he would like to feel all sorts of rubbish with his hand, and even smell it!” Finally, in profile, Ch. “very much lends to the portrait of Napoleon,” for he “also cannot be said to be too fat, but not so thin either.” Gogol's "mirror" motif is inextricably linked with this feature of Ch.'s image. Ch., like a mirror, absorbs the other heroes of Dead Souls, contains in embryo all the essential spiritual properties of these characters. Just like Korobochka, who collected separately tselkovki, fifty dollars, and quarters in colorful bags, Ch. sews five rubles into a bag. Like Manilov, Ch. is a beautiful-hearted dreamer, when, on the road, seeing the pretty, “like a fresh egg,” face of the governor’s daughter, he begins to dream of marriage and two hundred thousand dowry, and at the governor’s ball he almost falls in love: “it is clear that the Chichikovs are several minutes in life turn into poets. Like Plyushkin, Ch. collects all sorts of rubbish in a casket: a poster torn from a pole, a used ticket, etc. Ch.'s casket is a female hypostasis of the image. A. Bely calls her "wife" Ch. (cf. Bash-machkin's overcoat - his wife, who turned out to be a "one-night lover"), where the heart is "a small hidden money box, which was put forward imperceptibly from the side of the box." It contains the secret of the soul of Ch., so to speak, a "double bottom". The casket corresponds to the image of the Box (A. Bitov), ​​which lifts the veil over the secret of Ch. Another aspect of the image of Ch. is his chaise. According to A. Bely, horses are the abilities of Ch., especially the dappled - “crafty” horse, symbolizing the fraud of Ch. , "why the move of the triple is a side move." Horse-workers with a root bay and a harness coat of color are horse-workers, which inspires Gogol with hope for the resurrection of Ch. .

The ethical function of the image of Ch. According to Gogol, Ch. is an unrighteous acquirer (“Acquisition is the fault of everything”, ch. 11). Ch.'s scam itself stems from the "case of Peter", it was he who introduced the revision of the serfs, laying the foundation for the bureaucratization of Russia. Ch. is a Westerner (D. Merezhkovsky), and Gogol debunks the European cult of money. The latter determines the ethical relativism of Ch.: being a schoolboy, he “pleases” the teacher, who puts “arrogant and recalcitrant” students on their knees and starves them; Ch., on the other hand, sits motionless on the bench, hands the teacher three rounds with a bell, and takes off his hat three times; when the teacher is expelled from the school, “arrogant and recalcitrant” collect money to help him, Ch. gives “a nickel of silver, which his comrades immediately threw away, saying: “Oh, you lived!” ”The teacher, having learned about the betrayal of his beloved student - Ch., said: “He cheated, he cheated a lot ...” Ch. commits the second betrayal when he begins his career as an acquirer: he promises to marry the daughter of his boss, the insurer, even if that old maid with a pockmarked face, but as soon as the innovator knocks out Ch. the place too clerk in another office, Ch. sends his chest home and moves out of the clerk's apartment. "Fucked up, blew up, damn son!" - angry povytchik. Such actions of Ch. allow D.S. Merezhkovsky and V.V. Nabokov to bring Ch. closer to the devil. “Ch. is just a low-paid agent of the devil, an infernal traveling salesman: “our Mr. Ch.”, as one might call this good-natured, well-fed, but inwardly trembling representative in the joint-stock company Satan and Co. The vulgarity that Ch. personifies is one of the main distinguishing properties of the devil ... ”(Nabokov). The essence of Khlestakov and Ch. is “the eternal middle, neither this nor that - perfect vulgarity, two modern Russian faces, two hypostases of eternal and universal evil - a line” (Merezhkovsky). How illusory the power of money is is evidenced by the periodic falls and financial collapses of Ch., the constant risk of going to jail, wandering around cities and villages, the scandalous publicity of the secret of Ch. Gogol emphasizes the parodic contrast between the heroic entrepreneurial energy of Ch. , thank God, a lot died out ...”), and an insignificant result: the indispensable fiasco of Ch. that Ch., like other heroes, was, according to Gogol’s plan, to be resurrected in the third volume of the poem, which would be built similarly to the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (“Hell”, “Purgatory”, “Paradise”, where the part corresponds to that) . Ch. himself, in addition, would act as a savior. From here, his name corresponds to the name of the Apostle Paul, who “acquires” Jews and Gentiles in order to bring them to Christ (cf.: “Being free from everyone, I made myself a slave to everyone in order to gain more” (1 Cor. 9:19). Marked by A. Goldenberg). Like the Apostle Paul, Ch. had to turn from a sinner into a righteous man and a teacher of the faith at the moment of a sudden crisis. In the meantime, Ch.'s chaise gets bogged down in the mud, falls, "as if into a hole" (E. Smirnova), plunges into hell, where "estates are the circles of Dante's hell; the owner of each is more dead than the previous one” (A. Bely). On the contrary, the “souls” acquired by Ch. appear alive, embody the talent and creative spirit of the Russian people, are opposed to Ch., Plyushkin, Sobakevich (G.A. Gukovsky), forming two opposite Russias. Thus, Ch., like Christ descended into hell, frees dead souls and leads them out of oblivion. The “dead”, though bodily alive, unrighteous Russia of landowners and officials, according to Gogol’s utopia, must reunite with righteous peasant Russia, where Ch.

The biographical function of the image Ch. Gogol endows him with his passions, for example, love for boots: “In the other corner, between the door and the window, boots lined up in a row: some are not quite new, others are completely new, varnished ankle boots and sleeping boots” (2nd vol. , 1st ch.). (See the memoirs of A. Arnoldi.) Ch., like Gogol, is an eternal bachelor, a tumbleweed, living in hotels, with strangers, dreaming of becoming a house owner and landowner. Just like Gogol, Ch. is characterized by a universalism of interests, albeit in a reduced, parodic form: “whether it was a question of a horse factory, he spoke about a horse factory; whether they talked about good dogs, and here he reported very sensible remarks and did not miss a game in a game of billiards; whether they talked about virtue, and he talked about virtue very well, even with tears in his eyes ... ". Finally, Gogol often redirects the author's lyrical digressions to the consciousness of Ch., identifying his ideology with the ideology of the hero.

Positive characters in the poem Dead Souls by N.V. Gogol

For those who have not read, but heard something, I will immediately explain that Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol called "Dead Souls" a poem himself. And what is called, all questions to the author. This is instead of an epigraph. Further - in the text.

The classic analysis of the poem "Dead Souls" does not imply the presence of positive characters. All characters are negative. The only "positive" is laughter. I do not agree with this position of comrades and professors. What is it? Made on the basis of again the classic illustrations to the text? Are you laughing?

If you carefully look at the classic illustrations of any Soviet edition of "Dead Souls", then, indeed, each character on them is ugly in its own way. But! There is no need to substitute pictures of tendentious artists for true lines, portraits and descriptions.

In fact, the landowner Sobakevich can be considered a positive hero. Remember how Gogol gives it to us! Chichikov comes to Sobakevich after several visits to other landowners. And everywhere his attention is focused on the quality of what he sees. This is a patriarchal order. There is no stingy Plyushkin here. The recklessness of Nozdryov. Manilov's empty dreams.

Sobakevich lives "as the fathers did." He does not go to the city too much, not because he is wild. And for the reason that the owner is strong. He must and monitors what is done in the fields, in the forge, in the workshops, in the cellar. He was not accustomed to completely and completely rely on clerks. And does he have a clerk at all?

Sobakevich is a good manager. Otherwise, why are his peasants all strong and stately, and not frail and sick? This means that he sees the urgent needs of peasant families and satisfies them even too much, but at the same time he is burly and rich. He was able to solve the most difficult managerial problem: to appropriate other people's results of labor, but at the same time not to ruin his serfs.

Sobakevich is a patriot. Pay attention to the portraits of the Sobakevichs on the wall. On them are people in military uniform who served the Fatherland. And did Sobakevich himself evade military service? It was on such strong peasants as Sobakevich and his peasants that Russia was kept.

Sobakevich is an enlightened landowner. Remember, he tells Chichikov the story of one of his peasants, whom he even let go to Moscow to trade? And he brought him 500 rubles as dues. At the time, that was crazy money. A good serf could be purchased for 100 rubles. A good estate cost about ten thousand rubles.

Sobakevich speaks negatively of almost everyone whom Chichikov lists during dinner. The only exception is the prosecutor. And he, according to Sobakevich, is a decent pig. Isn't it true? Is it possible for a negative hero to scold other negative heroes with the word "swindler"?

In the end, remember how the bargaining between Chichikov and Sobakevich goes. Yes, Sobakevich is not an angel. But he is a landowner. He must be able to bargain. He does it. But after some time, when he had already "saved face", he reduced the price to an acceptable level for Chichikov. That is, Sobakevich is not devoid of the nobility of the soul.

Dead Souls is a poem for the ages. The plasticity of the depicted reality, the comical nature of situations and the artistic skill of N.V. Gogol paint the image of Russia not only of the past, but also of the future. Grotesque satirical reality in harmony with patriotic notes create an unforgettable melody of life that resounds through the centuries.

Collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov goes to distant provinces to buy serfs. However, he is not interested in people, but only the names of the dead. This is necessary to submit the list to the Board of Trustees, which "promises" a lot of money. A nobleman with so many peasants had all the doors open. To implement his plan, he pays visits to the landowners and officials of the city of NN. All of them reveal their selfish disposition, so the hero manages to get what he wants. He also plans a profitable marriage. However, the result is deplorable: the hero is forced to flee, as his plans become well known thanks to the landowner Korobochka.

History of creation

N.V. Gogol considered A.S. Pushkin by his teacher, who “given” a story about the adventures of Chichikov to a grateful student. The poet was sure that only Nikolai Vasilievich, who had a unique talent from God, was able to realize this “idea”.

The writer loved Italy, Rome. In the land of the great Dante, he began work on a book involving a three-part composition in 1835. The poem was supposed to be similar to Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting the hero's immersion in hell, his wanderings in purgatory and the resurrection of his soul in paradise.

The creative process continued for six years. The idea of ​​a grandiose picture, depicting not only "all of Rus'" present, but also the future, revealed "the incalculable riches of the Russian spirit." In February 1837, Pushkin dies, whose “sacred testament” for Gogol is “Dead Souls”: “Not a single line was written without me imagining him before me.” The first volume was completed in the summer of 1841, but did not immediately find its reader. The censors were outraged by The Tale of Captain Kopeikin, and the title was perplexing. I had to make concessions, starting the headline with the intriguing phrase "The Adventures of Chichikov." Therefore, the book was published only in 1842.

Some time later, Gogol writes the second volume, but, dissatisfied with the result, burns it.

The meaning of the name

The title of the work causes conflicting interpretations. The used oxymoron technique gives rise to numerous questions that you want to get answers as soon as possible. The title is symbolic and ambiguous, so the “secret” is not revealed to everyone.

In the literal sense, "dead souls" are representatives of the common people who have gone to another world, but are still listed as their masters. Gradually, the concept is being rethought. The "form" seems to "come to life": real serfs, with their habits and shortcomings, appear before the reader's eyes.

Characteristics of the main characters

1. Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov - "gentleman of the middle hand." Somewhat cloying manners in dealing with people are not without sophistication. Educated, neat and delicate. “Not handsome, but not bad-looking, not ... fat, nor .... thin…”. Prudent and careful. He collects unnecessary knickknacks in his chest: maybe it will come in handy! Seeking profit in everything. The creation of the worst sides of an enterprising and energetic person of a new type, opposed to landowners and officials. We wrote about it in more detail in the essay "".
2. Manilov - "knight of the void." Blond "sweet" talker "with blue eyes". The poverty of thought, the avoidance of real difficulties, he covers up with a beautiful-hearted phrase. It lacks living aspirations and any interests. His faithful companions are fruitless fantasy and thoughtless chatter.
3. The box is "club-headed". Vulgar, stupid, stingy and stingy nature. She fenced herself off from everything around, shutting herself in her estate - the “box”. Turned into a stupid and greedy woman. Limited, stubborn and unspiritual.
4. Nozdrev is a "historical man". He can easily lie what he pleases and deceive anyone. Empty, absurd. Thinks of himself as a broad kind. However, the actions expose the careless, chaotically weak-willed and at the same time arrogant, shameless "tyrant". Record holder for getting into tricky and ridiculous situations.
5. Sobakevich is a "patriot of the Russian stomach." Outwardly, it resembles a bear: clumsy and indefatigable. Totally incapable of understanding the most elementary things. A special type of "drive" that can quickly adapt to the new requirements of our time. Interested in nothing but housekeeping. we described in the essay of the same name.
6. Plyushkin - "a hole in humanity." A creature of unknown gender. A vivid example of a moral fall that has completely lost its natural appearance. The only character (except Chichikov) who has a biography that "reflects" the gradual process of personality degradation. Complete nothingness. Plyushkin's maniacal hoarding "results" into "cosmic" proportions. And the more this passion seizes him, the less of a person remains in him. We analyzed his image in detail in the essay. .

Genre and composition

Initially, the work was born as an adventurous - picaresque novel. But the breadth of the events described and the historical truthfulness, as if "compressed" among themselves, gave rise to "talk about" the realistic method. Making accurate remarks, inserting philosophical reasoning, referring to different generations, Gogol saturated "his offspring" with lyrical digressions. One cannot but agree with the opinion that the creation of Nikolai Vasilyevich is a comedy, since it actively uses the techniques of irony, humor and satire, which most fully reflect the absurdity and arbitrariness of the "squadron of flies that dominate Rus'."

The composition is circular: the britzka, which entered the city of NN at the beginning of the story, leaves it after all the vicissitudes that happened to the hero. Episodes are woven into this “ring”, without which the integrity of the poem is violated. The first chapter describes the provincial city NN and local officials. From the second to the sixth chapters, the author introduces readers to the estates of Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. The seventh - tenth chapters - a satirical image of officials, the execution of completed transactions. The string of these events ends with a ball, where Nozdrev "narrates" about Chichikov's scam. The reaction of society to his statement is unambiguous - gossip, which, like a snowball, is overgrown with fables that have found refraction, including in the short story ("The Tale of Captain Kopeikin") and the parable (about Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich). The introduction of these episodes makes it possible to emphasize that the fate of the motherland directly depends on the people living in it. It is impossible to look indifferently at the outrages that are happening around. Certain forms of protest are brewing in the country. The eleventh chapter is a biography of the hero forming the plot, explaining what he was guided by when performing this or that act.

The connecting thread of the composition is the image of the road (you can learn more about this by reading the essay “ » ), symbolizing the path that the state “under the modest name of Rus” passes in its development.

Why does Chichikov need dead souls?

Chichikov is not only cunning, but also pragmatic. His sophisticated mind is ready to “make candy” out of nothing. Not having sufficient capital, he, being a good psychologist, having gone through a good life school, mastering the art of “flattering everyone” and fulfilling his father’s precept “save a penny”, starts a great speculation. It consists in a simple deception of "those in power" in order to "warm their hands", in other words, to help out a huge amount of money, thereby providing for themselves and their future family, which Pavel Ivanovich dreamed of.

The names of the dead peasants bought for a pittance were recorded in a document that Chichikov could take to the Treasury Chamber under the guise of a pledge in order to obtain a loan. He would pawn the serfs like a brooch in a pawnshop, and could re-pawn them all his life, since none of the officials checked the physical condition of people. For this money, the businessman would have bought both real workers and an estate, and would have lived on a grand scale, taking advantage of the favor of the nobles, because the wealth of the landowner was measured by the representatives of the nobility in the number of souls (peasants were then called “souls” in noble slang). In addition, Gogol's hero hoped to win trust in society and profitably marry a rich heiress.

main idea

A hymn to the motherland and people, the hallmark of which is diligence, sounds on the pages of the poem. Masters of golden hands became famous for their inventions, their creativity. The Russian peasant is always "rich in invention." But there are those citizens who hinder the development of the country. These are vicious officials, ignorant and inactive landowners and swindlers like Chichikov. For their own good, the good of Russia and the world, they must take the path of correction, realizing the ugliness of their inner world. To do this, Gogol mercilessly ridicules them throughout the entire first volume, however, in the subsequent parts of the work, the author intended to show the resurrection of the spirit of these people using the protagonist as an example. Perhaps he felt the falsity of subsequent chapters, lost faith that his dream was feasible, so he burned it along with the second part of Dead Souls.

Nevertheless, the author showed that the main wealth of the country is the broad soul of the people. It is no coincidence that this word is placed in the title. The writer believed that the revival of Russia would begin with the revival of human souls, pure, unstained by any sins, selfless. Not just believing in the free future of the country, but making a lot of efforts on this swift road to happiness. "Rus, where are you going?" This question runs like a refrain throughout the book and emphasizes the main thing: the country must live in constant movement towards the best, advanced, progressive. Only on this path "other peoples and states give it way." We wrote a separate essay about the path of Russia: ?

Why did Gogol burn the second volume of Dead Souls?

At some point, the thought of the messiah begins to dominate in the mind of the writer, allowing him to "foresee" the revival of Chichikov and even Plyushkin. The progressive "transformation" of a person into a "dead man" Gogol hopes to reverse. But, faced with reality, the author is deeply disappointed: the heroes and their destinies come out from under the pen far-fetched, lifeless. Did not work out. The impending crisis in worldview became the reason for the destruction of the second book.

In the surviving passages from the second volume, it is clearly seen that the writer depicts Chichikov not in the process of repentance, but in flight towards the abyss. He still succeeds in adventures, dresses in a devilish red coat and breaks the law. His exposure does not bode well, because in his reaction the reader will not see a sudden insight or a paint of shame. He does not even believe in the possibility of the existence of such fragments at least ever. Gogol did not want to sacrifice artistic truth even for the sake of realizing his own idea.

Issues

1. Thorns on the way of the development of the Motherland is the main problem in the poem "Dead Souls", which the author was worried about. These include bribery and embezzlement of officials, infantilism and inactivity of the nobility, ignorance and poverty of the peasants. The writer sought to make his contribution to the prosperity of Russia, condemning and ridiculing vices, educating new generations of people. For example, Gogol despised doxology as a cover for the emptiness and idleness of existence. The life of a citizen should be useful for society, and most of the heroes of the poem are frankly harmful.
2. Moral problems. He considers the absence of moral norms among the representatives of the ruling class as the result of their ugly passion for hoarding. The landowners are ready to shake the soul out of the peasant for the sake of profit. Also, the problem of selfishness comes to the fore: the nobles, like officials, think only about their own interests, the homeland for them is an empty weightless word. High society does not care about the common people, they just use them for their own purposes.
3. Crisis of humanism. People are sold like animals, lost at cards like things, pawned like jewelry. Slavery is legal and is not considered something immoral or unnatural. Gogol covered the problem of serfdom in Russia globally, showing both sides of the coin: the mentality of a serf, inherent in a serf, and the tyranny of the owner, confident in his superiority. All these are the consequences of the tyranny that pervades relationships in all walks of life. It corrupts people and destroys the country.
4. The author's humanism is manifested in attention to the "little man", a critical exposure of the vices of the state system. Gogol did not even try to avoid political problems. He described a bureaucracy functioning only on the basis of bribery, nepotism, embezzlement and hypocrisy.
5. Gogol's characters are characterized by the problem of ignorance, moral blindness. Because of it, they do not see their moral squalor and are not able to independently get out of the quagmire of vulgarity that is engulfing them.

What is the originality of the work?

Adventurism, realistic reality, a sense of the presence of the irrational, philosophical discussions about earthly good - all this is closely intertwined, creating an "encyclopedic" picture of the first half of the 19th century.

Gogol achieves this by using various techniques of satire, humor, visual means, numerous details, rich vocabulary, and compositional features.

• Symbolism plays an important role. Falling into the mud "predicts" the future exposure of the main character. The spider weaves its webs to capture the next victim. Like an "unpleasant" insect, Chichikov skillfully conducts his "business", "weaving" the landowners and officials with a noble lie. “sounds” like the pathos of the forward movement of Rus' and affirms human self-improvement.
• We observe the heroes through the prism of "comic" situations, apt author's expressions and characteristics given by other characters, sometimes built on the antithesis: "he was a prominent person" - but only "at a glance".
• The vices of the heroes of "Dead Souls" become a continuation of the positive character traits. For example, Plyushkin's monstrous stinginess is a distortion of former frugality and thriftiness.
• In small lyrical "inserts" - the thoughts of the writer, hard thoughts, anxious "I". In them we feel the highest creative message: to help humanity change for the better.
• The fate of people who create works for the people or not for the sake of "those in power" does not leave Gogol indifferent, because in literature he saw a force capable of "re-educating" society and contributing to its civilized development. The social strata of society, their position in relation to everything national: culture, language, traditions - occupy a serious place in the author's digressions. When it comes to Rus' and its future, through the centuries we hear the confident voice of the “prophet”, predicting the future of the Fatherland, which is not easy, but aspires to a bright dream.
• Philosophical reflections on the frailty of being, on the bygone youth and impending old age, evoke sadness. That is why the gentle “fatherly” appeal to the youth is so natural, on whose energy, diligence and education depends on what “path” the development of Russia will take.
• The language is truly folk. The forms of colloquial, bookish and written-business speech are harmoniously woven into the fabric of the poem. Rhetorical questions and exclamations, the rhythmic construction of individual phrases, the use of Slavicisms, archaisms, sonorous epithets create a certain structure of speech that sounds solemn, excited and sincere, without a shadow of irony. When describing landowners' estates and their owners, vocabulary is used that is characteristic of everyday speech. The image of the bureaucratic world is saturated with the vocabulary of the depicted environment. we described in the essay of the same name.
• The solemnity of comparisons, high style, combined with original speech, create a sublimely ironic manner of narration that serves to debunk the base, vulgar world of the owners.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Article menu:

Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is not without a significant number of acting characters. All heroes according to their significance and time interval of action in the poem can be divided into three categories: main, secondary and tertiary.

The main characters of "Dead Souls"

As a rule, in poems the number of main characters is small. The same trend is observed in the work of Gogol.

Chichikov
The image of Chichikov is undoubtedly the key in the poem. It is thanks to this image that the episodes of the story are connected.

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is distinguished by his dishonesty and hypocrisy. His desire to enrich himself fraudulently discourages.

On the one hand, the reasons for such behavior can be explained by the pressure of society and the priorities operating in it - a rich and dishonest person is more honored than an honest and decent poor person. Since no one wants to drag out their existence in poverty, the financial issue and the problem of improving their material resources are always relevant and often border on the norms of morality and integrity, which many are ready to cross.

The same situation happened with Chichikov. He, being a simple person by origin, was actually deprived of the opportunity to make his fortune in an honest way, so he solved the problem that arose with the help of ingenuity, ingenuity and deceit. The sting of "dead souls" as an idea is a hymn to his mind, but at the same time exposes the dishonest nature of the hero.

Manilov
Manilov became the first landowner to whom Chichikov came to buy souls. The image of this landowner is ambiguous. On the one hand, he creates a pleasant impression - Manilov is a pleasant and well-mannered person, but we immediately note that he is apathetic and lazy.

Manilov is a person who always adapts to circumstances and never expresses his real opinion on this or that matter - Manilov takes the most favorable side.

box
The image of this landowner, perhaps, is perceived as a whole as positive and pleasant. Korobochka is not smart, she is a stupid and, to some extent, uneducated woman, but at the same time she was able to successfully realize herself as a landowner, which greatly elevates her perception as a whole.

The box is too simple - to some extent, its habits and habits resemble the lifestyle of peasants, which does not impress Chichikov, who aspires to aristocrats and life in high society, but allows Korobochka to live quite happily and quite successfully develop his economy.

Nozdrev
Nozdryov, to whom Chichikov comes, after Korobochka, is perceived quite differently. And this is not surprising: it seems that Nozdryov could not fully realize himself in any field of activity. Nozdrev is a bad father who neglects communication with children and their upbringing. He is a bad landowner - Nozdryov does not take care of his estate, but only spends all his money. Nozdryov's life is the life of a man who prefers drinking, festivities, cards, women and dogs.

Sobakevich
This landowner is controversial. On the one hand, he is a rude, masculine person, but on the other hand, this simplicity allows him to live quite successfully - all the buildings on his estate, including the houses of the peasants, are made to last - you will not find anything leaky anywhere, his peasants are full and quite satisfied . Sobakevich himself often works together with the peasants on an equal footing and does not see anything unusual in this.

Plushkin
The image of this landowner, perhaps, is perceived as the most negative - he is a stingy and angry old man. Plyushkin outwardly looks like a beggar, since his clothes are incredibly leaky, his house looks like ruins, as well as the houses of his peasants.

Plyushkin lives extraordinarily economically, but he does it not because there is a need for it, but because of a feeling of greed - he is ready to throw away the spoiled thing, but just not to use it for good. That is why fabric and products rot in his warehouses, but at the same time his serfs go head and ragged.

Minor Heroes

There are also not many secondary characters in Gogol's story. In fact, all of them can be described as significant figures in the county, whose activities are not related to the landownership.

Governor and his family
This is perhaps one of the most significant people in the county. In theory, he should be insightful, intelligent and reasonable. However, in practice, everything turned out not quite so. The governor was a kind and pleasant man, but he did not differ in foresight.

His wife was also a nice woman, but her excessive coquetry spoiled the whole picture. The governor's daughter was a typical cutesy girl, although outwardly she was very different from the generally accepted standard - the girl was not full, as was customary, but was slender and sweet.

What is true, due to her age, she was too naive and gullible.

Prosecutor
The image of the prosecutor defies significant description. According to Sobakevich, he was the only decent person, although, to be completely honest, he was still a “pig”. Sobakevich does not explain this characterization in any way, which makes it difficult to understand his image. In addition, we know that the prosecutor was a very impressionable person - when Chichikov's deception was revealed, due to excessive excitement, he dies.

Chairman of the Chamber
Ivan Grigoryevich, who was the chairman of the chamber, was a nice and well-mannered man.

Chichikov noted that he was very educated, unlike most of the significant people of the county. However, his education does not always make a person wise and far-sighted.

This happened in the case of the chairman of the chamber, who could easily quote works of literature, but at the same time could not discern Chichikov's deceit and even helped him draw up documents for dead souls.

Chief of Police
Aleksey Ivanovich, who was acting as chief of police, seemed to have grown accustomed to his work. Gogol says that he was able to ideally comprehend all the subtleties of the work and it was already difficult to imagine him in any other position. Alexey Ivanovich comes to any shop as if to his home and can take whatever his heart desires. Despite such arrogant behavior, he did not cause indignation among the townspeople - Alexei Ivanovich knows how to successfully get out of the situation and smooth out the unpleasant impression of extortion. So, for example, he invites guests for tea, play checkers or watch a trotter.

We suggest following in Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's poem "Dead Souls".

Such proposals are not made by the chief of police spontaneously - Alexei Ivanovich knows how to find a weak spot in a person and uses this knowledge. So, for example, having learned that the merchant has a passion for card games, he immediately invites the merchant to the game.

Episodic and third-rate heroes of the poem

Selifan
Selifan is Chichikov's coachman. Like most ordinary people, he is an uneducated and stupid person. Selifan faithfully serves his master. Typical of all serfs, he likes to drink and is often distracted.

Parsley
Petrushka is the second serf subordinate to Chichikov. He serves as a footman. Parsley loves to read books, however, he does not understand much of what he read, but this does not prevent him from enjoying the process itself. Parsley often neglects the rules of hygiene and therefore it emits an incomprehensible smell.

Mizhuev
Mizhuev is Nozdrev's son-in-law. Mizhuev is not distinguished by prudence. At its core, he is a harmless person, but he loves to drink very much, which significantly spoils his image.

Feodulia Ivanovna
Feodulia Ivanovna - Sobakevich's wife. She is a simple woman and with her habits resembles a peasant woman. Although, it cannot be said that the behavior of aristocrats is completely alien to her - some elements are still present in her arsenal.

We offer you to get acquainted with the poem by Nikolai Gogol "Dead Souls"

Thus, in the poem, Gogol presents the reader with a wide system of images. And, although most of them are collective images and in their structure are an image of the characteristic types of individuals in society, they still arouse the interest of the reader.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Hosted at http://www.allbest.ru/

Dead Souls characters

Chichikov is the main character of the poem, he is found in all chapters. It was he who came up with the idea of ​​the scam with dead souls, it was he who travels around Russia, meeting with a variety of characters and getting into a variety of situations.

The characterization of Chichikov is given by the author in the first chapter. His portrait is given very indefinitely: “not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin, one cannot say that he is old, but not so that he is too young. Gogol pays more attention to his manners: he made an excellent impression on all the guests at the governor's party, showed himself to be an experienced socialite, keeping up the conversation on a variety of topics, skillfully flattered the governor, police chief, officials and made the most flattering opinion about himself. Gogol himself tells us that he did not take a “virtuous person” as a hero, he immediately stipulates that his hero is a scoundrel.

"Dark and modest is the origin of our hero." The author tells us that his parents were nobles, but pillar or personal - God knows. Chichikov's face did not resemble his parents. As a child, he had no friend or comrade. His father was ill, and the windows of the little “gorenkoka” did not open either in winter or summer. Gogol says about Chichikov: “Life at the beginning looked at him somehow sourly and uncomfortably, through some kind of muddy, snow-covered window ...”.

“But in life everything changes quickly and vividly…” Father brought Pavel to the city and instructed him to go to classes. Of the money that his father gave him, he did not spend a penny, but rather made an increment to them.

He learned to speculate from childhood. After leaving the school, he immediately set to work and service. With the help of speculation, he was able to get a promotion from the boss.

After the arrival of a new boss, Chichikov moved to another city and began to serve at the customs, which was his dream. “From the instructions he got, by the way, one thing: to petition for the placement of several hundred peasants in the board of trustees.” And then the idea came to his mind to turn one little business, which is discussed in the poem.

The image of the landowner Korobochka in the poem "Dead Souls".

The third chapter of the poem is devoted to the image of the Box, which Gogol refers to the number of those "small landowners who complain about crop failures, losses and hold their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile they are gaining a little money in motley bags placed in chests of drawers!" (or Korobochka are in some way antipodes: Manilov’s vulgarity is hidden behind high phases, behind arguments about the good of the Motherland, while Korobochka’s spiritual scarcity appears in its natural form. Korobochka does not pretend to high culture: very unpretentious simplicity is emphasized in its entire appearance. This emphasized by Gogol in the appearance of the heroine: he points to her shabby and unattractive appearance. This simplicity reveals itself in relations with people. The main goal of her life is to consolidate her wealth, incessant accumulation. It is no coincidence that Chichikov sees traces of skillful management throughout the estate. This feature reveals her inner insignificance. She has no feelings other than the desire to acquire and benefit. Confirmation is the situation with "dead souls." Korobochka trades peasants with the same efficiency with which she sells other items of her household. For her, there is no difference between an animate and inanimate being In Chichikov's proposal, only one thing scares her: the prospect of missing something, not taking what can be obtained for "dead souls." The box is not going to give them to Chichikov on the cheap. Gogol awarded her with the epithet "cudgel-headed"). This money comes from the sale of a wide variety of nat products. household

Korobochka understood the benefits of trading and after much persuasion agrees to sell such an unusual product as dead souls.

The image of the hoarder Korobochka is already devoid of those “attractive” features that distinguish Manilov. And again we have a type in front of us - “one of those mothers, small landowners who ... little by little collect money in motley bags placed in drawers of chests of drawers”. Korobochka's interests are entirely focused on the household. “Strong-headed” and “club-headed” Nastasya Petrovna is afraid to sell cheap, selling dead souls to Chichikov. The “silent scene” that occurs in this chapter is curious. We find similar scenes in almost all chapters showing the conclusion of a deal between Chichikov and another landowner.

This is a special artistic technique, a kind of temporary stoppage of the action: it allows with a special salience to show the spiritual emptiness of Pavel Ivanovich and his interlocutors. At the end of the third chapter, Gogol talks about the typical image of Korobochka, the insignificance of the difference between her and another aristocratic lady.

The landowner Korobochka is thrifty, “gaining little by little money”, lives closed in her estate, as if in a box, and her thriftiness eventually develops into hoarding. Limitation and stupidity complete the character of the "cudgel-headed" landowner, who is distrustful of everything new in life. The qualities inherent in Korobochka are typical not only among the provincial nobility.

She owns a subsistence economy and trades in everything that is available in it: lard, bird feathers, serfs. Everything in her house is arranged in the old fashioned way. She neatly stores her belongings and saves money by putting them in bags. Everything works for her.

In the same chapter, the author pays great attention to Chichikov's behavior, focusing on the fact that Chichikov with Korobochka behaves more simply, more cheekily than with Manilov. This phenomenon is typical of Russian reality, and, proving this, the author gives a lyrical digression about the transformation of Prometheus into a fly. The nature of the Box is especially clearly revealed in the scene of sale. She is very afraid of selling cheap and even makes an assumption, which she herself is frightened of: "what if the dead will come in handy in her household?" And again, the author emphasizes the typicality of this image: "Another and respectable, and even a statesman, but in reality it turns out to be a perfect Box." It turns out that Korobochka's stupidity, her "club-headedness" is not such a rare occurrence.

Manilov is a sentimental landowner, the first "seller" of dead souls. Gogol emphasizes the emptiness and insignificance of the hero, covered with a sugary pleasantness of appearance, details of the furnishings of his estate. M.'s house is open to all winds, thin birch tops are visible everywhere, the pond is completely overgrown with duckweed. But the arbor in the garden of M. is pompously named "The Temple of Solitary Reflection." M.'s office is covered with "blue paint like gray", which indicates the lifelessness of the hero, from whom you will not expect a single living word. Clinging to any topic, M.'s thoughts float away into abstract reflections. To think about real life, and even more so to make any decisions, this hero is not capable. Everything in M.'s life: action, time, meaning - are replaced by exquisite verbal formulas. As soon as Chichikov put his strange request for the sale of dead souls in beautiful words, M. immediately calmed down and agreed. Although earlier this proposal seemed wild to him. M.'s world is a world of false idyll, a path to death. Not without reason, even Chichikov's path to the lost Manilovka is depicted as a road to nowhere. There is nothing negative in M., but there is nothing positive either. He is empty space, nothing. Therefore, this hero cannot count on transfiguration and rebirth: there is nothing to be reborn in him. And therefore M., along with Korobochka, occupies one of the lowest places in the "hierarchy" of the heroes of the poem.

This man is a bit like Chichikov himself. "God alone could tell what kind of character M. There is a kind of people known by the name: neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan. His features were not devoid of pleasantness, but in this pleasantness, it seemed , too much sugar." M. considers himself well-mannered, educated, noble. But let's take a look at his office. We see heaps of ashes, a dusty book, which has been open for the second year on the 14th page, something is always missing in the house, only part of the furniture is upholstered in silk fabric, and two armchairs are upholstered in matting. M.'s weak will is also emphasized by the fact that the landowner's housekeeping is handled by a drunken clerk.

M. is a dreamer, and his dreams are completely divorced from reality. He dreams of "how good it would be if all of a sudden to lead an underground passage from the house or build a stone bridge across the pond." G. emphasizes the inactivity and social uselessness of the landowner, but does not deprive him of human qualities. M. is a family man, loves his wife and children, sincerely rejoices at the arrival of a guest, tries in every possible way to please him and make him pleasant.

Nozdryov is the third landowner from whom Chichikov is trying to buy dead souls. This is a dashing 35-year-old "talker, reveler, reckless driver." N. constantly lies, bullies everyone indiscriminately, he is very reckless, ready to "shat" his best friend without any purpose.

All of N.'s behavior is explained by his dominant quality: "briskness and liveliness of character", that is, unrestraint, bordering on unconsciousness. N. does not think or plan anything, he simply does not know the measure in anything. On the way to Sobakevich, in a tavern, N. intercepts Chichikov and takes him to his estate.

There he quarrels to death with Chichikov: he does not agree to play cards for dead souls, and also does not want to buy a stallion of "Arab blood" and get souls in addition.

The next morning, forgetting about all the insults, N. persuades Chichikov to play checkers with him for dead souls. Convicted of cheating, N. orders Chichikov to be beaten, and only the appearance of the police captain reassures him. It is N. who will almost destroy Chichikov.

Faced with him at the ball, N. shouts out loud: "He trades in dead souls!", which gives rise to a lot of the most incredible rumors. When the officials call on N. to figure everything out, the hero confirms all the rumors at once, not embarrassed by their inconsistency. Later, he comes to Chichikov and talks about all these rumors himself. Instantly forgetting about the offense inflicted on him, he sincerely offers to help Chichikov take away the governor's daughter. The home environment fully reflects the chaotic character of N. At home everything is stupid: there are goats in the middle of the dining room, there are no books and papers in the office, etc.

We can say that N.'s boundless lie is the flip side of Russian prowess, which N. is endowed with in abundance. N. is not completely empty, it's just that his unbridled energy does not find proper use for himself. With N. in the poem, a series of heroes begins who have retained something alive in themselves. Therefore, in the "hierarchy" of heroes, he occupies a relatively high - third - place.

Plyushkin Stepan is the last "seller" of dead souls. This hero personifies the complete necrosis of the human soul. In the image of P., the author shows the death of a bright and strong personality, absorbed by the passion of stinginess. The description of P.'s estate ("does not get rich in God") depicts the desolation and "littering" of the hero's soul. The entrance is dilapidated, everywhere there is a special dilapidation, the roofs are like a sieve, the windows are plugged with rags. Everything here is lifeless - even two churches, which should be the soul of the estate.

P.'s estate seems to fall apart into details and fragments, even the house - in some places one floor, in other places two. This speaks of the disintegration of the consciousness of the owner, who forgot about the main thing and focused on the third. For a long time he no longer knows what is happening in his household, but he strictly monitors the level of liquor in his decanter.

The portrait of P. (whether a woman or a man, a long chin covered with a handkerchief so as not to spit, small eyes that are not yet extinct, running around like mice, a greasy dressing gown, a rag around his neck instead of a handkerchief) speaks of the hero’s complete “falling out” of image of a rich landowner and from life in general.

P. is the only one of all the landowners, a fairly detailed biography. Before the death of his wife, P. was a diligent and wealthy owner. He raised his children with care. But with the death of his beloved wife, something broke in him: he became more suspicious and meaner. After troubles with the children (the son lost at cards, the eldest daughter ran away, and the youngest died), P.'s soul finally hardened - "the wolf hunger of stinginess took possession of him." But, oddly enough, greed did not take possession of the heart of the hero to the last limit. Having sold dead souls to Chichikov, P. wonders who could help him draw up a bill of sale in the city. He remembers that the Chairman was his school friend.

This memory suddenly revives the hero: "... on this wooden face ... expressed ... a pale reflection of feeling." But this is only a momentary glimpse of life, although the author believes that P. is capable of rebirth. At the end of the chapter on P. Gogol, he describes a twilight landscape in which the shadow and the light are "completely mixed" - as in the unfortunate soul of P.

Sobakevich Mikhailo Semenych - landowner, the fourth "seller" of dead souls. The very name and appearance of this hero (reminiscent of a “medium-sized bear”, the tailcoat on him is “completely bearish” in color, steps at random, his complexion is “hot, hot”) indicate his power of his nature. From the very beginning, the image of S. is associated with the theme of money, housekeeping, and calculation (at the time of entering the village, S. Chichikov dreams of a 200,000-strong dowry). Talking with Chichikov S., not paying attention to the evasiveness of Chichikov, he busily moves on to the essence of the question: "Do you need dead souls?" literary poem artistic

The main thing for S. is the price, everything else does not interest him. With knowledge of the matter, S. bargains, praises his goods (all souls are “like a vigorous nut”) and even manages to cheat Chichikov (slips him a “female soul” - Elizaveta Sparrow). The mental image of S. is reflected in everything that surrounds him. In his house, all "useless" architectural beauties are removed. Huts of peasants were also built without any decorations. In S.'s house, there are paintings on the walls depicting exclusively Greek heroes who look like the owner of the house. The dark-colored speckled thrush and the pot-bellied nut bureau (“perfect bear”) are similar to S. In turn, the hero himself also looks like an object - his legs are like cast-iron pedestals. S. is a type of Russian fist, a strong, prudent owner. Its peasants live well, reliably. The fact that S.'s natural power and efficiency turned into dull inertia is more likely not the fault, but the hero's misfortune. S. lives exclusively in modern times, in the 1820s. From the height of his power, S. sees how the life surrounding him has been crushed. During the bargain, he remarks: “... what kind of people are these? flies, not people”, much worse than the dead. S. occupies one of the highest places in the spiritual "hierarchy" of heroes, because, according to the author, he has many chances for rebirth. By nature, he is endowed with many good qualities, he has a rich potential and a powerful nature. Their realization will be shown in the second volume of the poem - in the image of the landowner Costanjoglo.

Hosted on Allbest.ru

...

Similar Documents

Features of the domestic environment as a characteristic of the landowners from the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls": Manilov, Korobochki, Nozdrev, Sobakevich, Plyushkin. Distinctive features of these estates, specificity depending on the characters of the owners described by Gogol.

term paper, added 03/26/2011


The main philosophical problem of the poem "Dead Souls" is the problem of life and death in the human soul. The principle of constructing images of landowners in the work. The ratio of life and death in the image of the landowner Korobochka, the degree of her closeness to spiritual rebirth.

abstract, added 12/08/2010


Pavel Chichikov - the main character of N. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". Type of adventurer-acquirer; the embodiment of a new evil for Russia - quiet, average, but enterprising. The origin and formation of the character of the hero; manners, speech, clothing, spiritual basis.

presentation, added 12/12/2013


The idea and sources of the poem "Dead Souls". Its genre originality, features of the plot and composition. Gogol's poem as a critical depiction of life and customs of the 19th century. The image of Chichikov and the landowners in the work. Lyrical digressions and their ideological content.

term paper, added 05/24/2016


Artistic originality of Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". Description of the extraordinary history of the writing of the poem. The concept of "poetic" in "Dead Souls", which is not limited to direct lyricism and the author's intervention in the narrative. The image of the author in the poem.

control work, added 10/16/2010


The history of the creation of the poem "Dead Souls". The purpose of Chichikov's life, the testament of his father. The primary meaning of the expression "dead souls". The second volume of "Dead Souls" as a crisis in Gogol's work. "Dead Souls" as one of the most read, revered works of Russian classics.

abstract, added 02/09/2011


Composition of the second chapter of the poem "Dead Souls". Description of Chichikov's servants. Characteristics of the landowner Manilov. The attitude of the author to the hero. Comparison of Manilov with a "too smart minister", landowner's leisure. Composition of the fifth chapter. Characteristics of M.S. Sobakevich.

presentation, added 05/15/2015


Folklore origins of the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". The use of the pastoral word and the Baroque style in the work. Disclosure of the theme of Russian heroism, song poetics, the elements of proverbs, the image of Russian Shrovetide. Analysis of the story about Captain Kopeikin.

abstract, added 06/05/2011


Pushkin-Gogol period of Russian literature. The influence of the situation in Russia on Gogol's political views. The history of the creation of the poem "Dead Souls". Formation of its plot. Symbolic space in Gogol's Dead Souls. Display of 1812 in the poem.

thesis, added 03.12.2012


Sick and topical issues of life. Decomposition of the fortress system, the doom of its representatives. The image of the main character of the story is Chichikov. The presence of an abyss of alienation between the common people and the ruling classes.