Portrait of a hero in one of the “Petersburg Tales” by N.V. Gogol (“The Overcoat”)

Portrait in literature is one of the means artistic characteristics, consisting in what the writer reveals typical character his heroes and expresses his ideological attitude to them through the image of the characters’ appearance: their figure, face, clothing, movements, gestures and manners.

Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin - the hero of the story by N.V. Gogol's "The Overcoat".

Akaki Akakievich served as a copyist, and it should be noted that this position is at the very bottom of the social hierarchical ladder, the position is the simplest and absolutely uncreative. In the rewriting, and only in it, “he saw his own diverse and nice world"Even at home, getting up from the table, he would take out a jar of ink and rewrite papers brought from the department. He did not indulge in other entertainment; his interests were meager and limited.

It is also worth mentioning the life of Akaki Akakievich. “Coming home, he immediately sat down at the table, quickly slurped up his cabbage soup and ate a piece of beef with onions, not noticing their taste at all, ate it all with flies and everything that God had sent at that time. Noticing that my stomach started to swell, I got up from the table..." One gets the impression of a stupid person, completely invisible.

“The young officials laughed and made jokes at him, as much as their clerical wit was enough... But Akaki Akakievich did not answer a single word to this, as if no one was in front of him...” Indeed, he was an absolutely good-natured person; in response to all the jokes and humiliations of his colleagues, he only asked in sincere surprise: “Leave me alone, why are you offending me?”

Another detail characterizing the portrait of the hero is his speech. Akaki Akakievich's speech was incoherent and confusing. "Akaky Akakievich explained for the most part prepositions, adverbs and, finally, particles that absolutely do not have any meaning...” His insignificant speech shows how insignificant its owner was.

Outwardly, this man looks stupid, and humbly endures the bullying of officials. He is “short, somewhat pockmarked, somewhat reddish, even somewhat blind in appearance, with a small bald spot on his forehead, with wrinkles on both sides of his cheeks.” The portrait of Akaki Akakievich seems unfinished and incomplete.

Probably, such characteristics gave rise to critics calling Akaki Akakievich either a “complete idiot,” or V. Markovich comparing him with the image of the holy martyr Akaki.

The death of Akaki Akakievich did not change anything in the department, which once again emphasizes the typicality of the fate of the “little man.”

The interior of one of the landowners' estates depicted by the writer in the poem " Dead Souls"(estate of Stepan Plyushkin)

Stepan Plyushkin concludes in “ Dead souls» gallery of landowners.

Interior (from French - internal) - description interior decoration premises, characterizing the era, country, social status their owner, his artistic, aesthetic and social tastes.

The description of Plyushkin’s interior probably needs to start from the moment when Chichikov was just approaching his house. “He noticed some special disrepair in all the village buildings...” These include houses without windows, empty, cracked rural churches, and overgrown gardens. It was not for nothing that I gave a description of the village in which Plyushkin lived, because the owner’s house itself “seemed even sadder to Chichikov now.”

“Green mold has already covered the dilapidated wood on the fence and gate. A crowd of buildings: human buildings, barns, cellars, apparently dilapidated, filled the courtyard; near them, to the right and left, gates to other courtyards were visible. Everything said that there had once been a vast economy here, and everything now looked gloomy,” - this is exactly how Chichikov saw Plyushkin’s house.

The entire description of the appearance of this estate is imbued with melancholy, it is not only terrible appearance home, but also the appearance of the owner of this estate. And it’s hardly possible to call this home an estate.

It was not for nothing that Chichikov first mistook the owner of the house for the housekeeper, Plyushkin’s nature had already lost its appearance to such an extent.

Everything described by Chichikov is truly depressing; it feels like there is not a single living soul in this house. The abandoned appearance of this house speaks of its owner, of his mental decay, which we will see later. But we can immediately say that only a lost person can live in such conditions.

Everything resembles a gloomy crypt in which the owner of the house buried himself alive.

The interior of the house looks no better. In the room, barely illuminated by light, one can see disorder, a pile of furniture, “on one table there was even a broken chair, and next to it a clock with a stopped pendulum, to which a spider had already attached a web.” “There was a lot of stuff lying around,” probably these words alone say a lot.

Indeed, most of the things were absolutely unnecessary, broken, musty, yellowed with age. Plyushkin is absolutely indifferent to his home; everything is overgrown with mold, cobwebs and dust.

All things are disordered and devoid of their own direct meaning, like Plyushkin’s life itself. He is a hostage to his home, while Plyushkin himself, it seems to me, does not suffer from the inferiority of his existence.

Plyushkin’s thrift and stinginess grew into something more, buyers stopped bargaining with him, “hay and bread rotted, warehouses and stacks turned into pure manure, even if you grew cabbage on them, flour in the basements turned to stone...”. Plyushkin paid attention to this, he was more worried about “where the feather or sealing wax lay.”

So his home turned into a cemetery of unnecessary things, and I will assume that Plyushkin himself felt comfortable with this.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol- a great Russian writer who is known to readers for the fact that his images turned out to be very realistic. “Yes, that’s exactly what it looks like in life!” - a fan of the writer, enthusiastic about the work, might think. Many critics reproached Gogol for the fact that his works are endowed with a spirit of pessimism, saying that not everything is so sad in our society, although Nikolai Vasilyevich argued:

“I have never painted a portrait, in the sense of a simple copy. I created a portrait, but I created it out of consideration, not imagination. The more things I took into account, the more accurate my creation came out.”

Therefore, we can say with confidence that Gogol’s “portraits” turned out to be very natural.

The story "The Overcoat"

One of Nikolai Vasilyevich’s St. Petersburg stories, which went on sale in 1843. In short, then the main essence“The Overcoat” is that all people are equal regardless of their location in society and rank. Gogol paid attention in this story to Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, a little man who is not remarkable either in appearance or in his character. This is how the writer describes Bashmachkin:

“He even looks somewhat blind, with a small bald spot on his forehead, with wrinkles on both sides of his cheeks and what is called a hemorrhoidal complexion.”

We can say that at first the reader will have a disgust for the main character, with whom Nikolai Vasilyevich introduces us. But then negative feelings are replaced by pity, because Akakiy Akakievich is a simple man who wouldn’t even hurt a fly, but his position at work leaves much to be desired: colleagues are constantly trying to somehow hurt and offend this hardworking man who sees the meaning of life only in copying papers: “having written to his heart’s content, he went to bed, smilingly anticipating tomorrow’s rewriting” - from this quote one can judge how boring and monotonous Bashmachkin’s life is.

But unexpectedly the hackneyed everyday life of Akaki Akakievich changes when he discovers that his overcoat has become unusable. He never had the money to buy a new one, so the hero goes to Petrovich, a tailor, who quotes an exorbitant price for repairing clothes. Akakiy does not lose hope that he will still be able to negotiate, and therefore he is ready to go around and boringly bother the tailor every day.

The hero received a salary, which turned out to be quite large by his standards. With all the money, Akaki decides to buy expensive fabric, from which Petrovich makes a very beautiful overcoat. Thanks to the new update, Akaki is almost the soul of the party: he even almost began to court the lady. But when his brand new overcoat was taken off him on the street, life returned to normal: everyone offends Bashmachkin, the bailiffs drive him away.

The hero dies without ever finding his overcoat, and from the fact that the department learns about his death only almost a week later, one can judge what attitude everyone had towards this little man.

The work “The Overcoat” is very similar in meaning to Chekhov’s “Man in a Case”. Gogol is trying to tell us that if you give even the slightest self-confidence to a person, even with the help of a seemingly ordinary thing, then he can become significant in society. But having lost its “case”, the confidence of Gogol’s hero dies, because he did not have a solid core inside.

Nikolai Vasilyevich also shows his readers a hypocritical society that judges by clothes: if a person is dressed expensively and tastefully, then he is an excellent conversationalist and a good friend.

Unfortunately, life is often unfair to people. Some can live carefree and prosperous lives without making the slightest effort, while others are forced to work hard to provide themselves with the bare necessities. It is about people of the second type that are told in the story by N.V. Gogol's "The Overcoat". Its main character, Akaki Akakievich Bashmachnikov, is a typical small, insignificant person in this life.

The basis of the story and a brief history of creation

Tale by N.V. Gogol's "The Overcoat" is based on an anecdote that circulated in clerical circles. Its essence was this: once upon a time there lived a poor official. He had a special passion for hunting, and the thought of buying a good gun was his most cherished dream. One day he decided to make his dream come true - he saved up money and bought the gun he wanted, but on his first hunt the official suffered a setback: his gun got caught in the bushes and sank. No matter how hard the official tried, he was unable to catch the weapon. Frustrated, he returned home empty-handed. After this, the blues attacked him - he was too sorry for the gun, and the official fell ill with a fever. His friends decided to help and gave him a new gun, which contributed to the recovery of their friend. However, the memory of losing your purchase is still for a long time drove the official into deathly pallor.

The comic basis of the work prompts the reader to perceive the comic reality of the story. And indeed, despite the rather unattractive plot, the plot of the story is distinguished by many funny and sometimes ridiculous life situations.

The story of the birth of the main character and the choice of name

A certain amount of irony and farce accompanied the main character of Gogol's story from birth. According to the author, this trend began from the very birth of the hero. Main mountain born on March 23. The issue with the godparents had already been resolved. Godfather The boy was to become the serving head of the Senate, Ivan Ivanovich Eroshkin, and the mother was the officer’s wife, Arina Semyonovna Belobryushkova. The godparents were chosen in accordance with the requirements of the religion - they were respectable people. When the time came to baptize the child, his mother was faced with an insurmountable obstacle - choosing a name for her newborn.

All possible options from the calendar puzzled her: Mokkiy, Sessions, Khozdazat. Further searches led to the names Triphilius, Dula, Varakhasiy. “This is the punishment, what are all the names; “I really have never heard of such things,” says the woman. The next attempt was no less successful - they offered names to choose from: Pavsikahiy and Vakhtisy, which also did not impress. The woman decides that there are no other options, she needs to name her son after his father because “this is his fate.” That is why the newborn boy was named Akaki. The boy was successfully baptized, and the child began to cry “as if he had a presentiment that there would be a titular councilor.”

You can follow life and fate in the story of the same name by N.V. Gogol.

His last name was Bashmachnikov. Gogol points out that everything here is prosaic - the surname comes from the word shoe, but neither Akaki himself nor his immediate relatives have anything to do with this.

Appearance of Akaki Akakievich

Some time passed, and Akaki became a grown man. We don’t know how his childhood and growing up went. A detailed acquaintance with Akaki Akakievich occurs already during his adult life. At the time of the development of the main actions of the novel, he is over fifty.

Akaki’s appearance is not particularly distinctive or memorable: “short, somewhat pockmarked, somewhat reddish, somewhat blind in appearance, with a small bald spot on his forehead, with wrinkles on both sides of his cheeks and a complexion that is called hemorrhoidal.”

Gogol calls the “St. Petersburg climate” the reason for such premature old age. This phrase also has a double meaning - on the one hand, it can be perceived as direct meaning, indicating the difficulty of adapting the body to certain climatic conditions and, as a result, the impact on appearance and health. On the other hand, this phrase can be taken in an ironic sense.

Life in St. Petersburg was not easy and carefree, especially for a person of insignificant social and financially, which is exactly what Bashmachnikov was. Significant competition and high demands in work, the specific attitude of people towards their personality - all this had an extremely negative impact on people. It is precisely this context-characteristic of society that implies the irony of the phrase.

Akaki's clothes want to be better - his uniform has long lost its color, his collars were always very short, so his neck seemed prohibitively long. His clothes were never perfectly clean. There was always something attached to his suit. Basically it was a string or a piece of hay.

However, Akakiy was not embarrassed by this state of affairs. He wanted his things to serve him for as long as possible.

Occupation and service of Akaki Akakievich

Akaki Bashmachnikov was a lonely man. He had no relatives or friends. He also did not have his own housing - he rented an apartment in the poorest part of the city. Bashmachnikov worked as a titular adviser in the department “in order to avoid any troubles, it is better to call the department in question one department.” Akaki Akakievich’s job consists of copying papers. His salary is 400 rubles, and a bonus is added to this amount - mostly 45-50 rubles, and sometimes even 60.

Akaki Akakievich has been serving in one place for a very long time, so long that no one can remember exactly when he started serving. Bashmachnikov never changed his workplace: “No matter how many directors and various bosses changed, he was always seen in the same place, in the same position, in the same position.”

The lack of promotion does not cause resentment in Akaki. He likes his job. When Bashmachnikov is given the opportunity to get promoted, he neglects it. The fact is that Akaki Akakievich can only reproduce text verbatim, any, even the most minor changes cause him insurmountable difficulties: “No, better let me rewrite something.” Since then they left it to be rewritten forever.” Akakiy Akakievich finds an inexplicable charm in this activity; he always starts his work with pleasure. Gogol argues that it is not enough to say that Bashmachnikov zealously does his work, he truly loves it. When he is busy rewriting, a feeling of pleasure freezes on his face. Bashmashnikov has beautiful, neat handwriting, he meticulously rewrites documents and never makes mistakes. He is also always at work. His colleagues cannot remember a moment when Bashmachnikov was not at work.

Leisure time Bashmachnikov

Akaki Akakievich does not care about his leisure time. He was used to spending his evenings at home. His favorite hobby– rewriting papers, he always takes some of the work home with him. If it happened that all his work was done at the workplace, he still took some paper for copying just like that, and not because of the need for service.

All his colleagues are trying to go out somewhere and have fun, but such pastime does not arouse interest in Bashmachnikov, quiet, quiet life, focused on rewriting papers, suits him absolutely. Every evening he falls asleep with happy thoughts about tomorrow's work day and about new documents that require rewriting.

The attitude of others towards Bashmachnikov

Oddly enough, despite all his diligence in work and diligent fulfillment of his duties, Bashmachnikov does not bother good attitude in relation to oneself.

His work colleagues laughed at him and made fun of him all the time. They discussed rumors about his seventy-year-old owner and that she was beating Akaki Akakievich.

His superiors didn't appreciate him either. The management treated him with despotism and indignation, although he, like no one else, did his job efficiently.

The watchmen did not have any sympathy or respect for him. They didn’t pay attention to him “didn’t even look at him, as if a simple fly had flown through the waiting room.” And they did not get up when he appeared, as was customary.

Bashmachnikov humbly endures all ridicule and insults. And only sometimes he pitifully exclaims: “Leave me alone, why are you offending me?” - and in these penetrating words other words rang: “I am your brother.” However, everything remains in its place, the attitude towards it does not change. A certain amount of compassion is shown among his colleagues after Bashmachnikov’s overcoat was stolen; they even try to raise money for him to buy a new one, but they are unable to raise the necessary amount.

Characteristics of Akaki Akakievich

Akaki Akakievich Bashmachnikov did not have a strong character. He was a gentle and good-natured man, he did not know how to stand up for himself - neither give physical nor moral resistance. With his appearance he evokes pity, and his manner of speaking and the plasticity of his movements only strengthen this situation.

Bashmachnikov has a quiet and calm temperament - his voice is also subject to this description. He speaks measuredly and quietly, without eloquence. It is difficult for Akaki Akakievich to express his thoughts clearly; he is constantly confused and confused in his story. Akaki Akakievich spoke mostly in prepositions, adverbs and, finally, particles that absolutely have no meaning.

Bashmachnikov has a sense of shame. He never uses obscene language or rude words in his speech. Bashmachnikov is not used to being the center of attention, so he feels awkward when attention is paid to him and becomes shy.

The personality of Akaki Akakievich is not of interest. He is a small fry, the loss of which is difficult to notice.
In addition, he is extremely unlucky. He always becomes a victim of throwing garbage out of the window, so his suit is always dirty, and you can find the remains of thrown food or garbage on it.

The overcoat and its role in Bashmachnikov’s life

Bashmachnikov always treated his things with special trepidation. The point here was not that he was a pedant or a man of exceptional purity, but that his life consisted of significant expenses, and the cost of clothing was too burdensome. Akakiy Akakievich urgently needed to update his wardrobe: “It was necessary to get new trousers, pay the shoemaker an old debt for attaching new heads to the old boots, and he had to order three shirts from the seamstress, and two pieces of that underwear that is indecent to name in a printed style.”

Bashmachnikova's overcoat was in terrible condition she “also served as an object of ridicule for officials; They even took away the noble name of the overcoat and called it a hood.” The collar of the overcoat was constantly being cut off into patches, it seemed that the entire overcoat already consisted of patches, and the collar was terribly small.

The material of the overcoat had become threadbare and, due to age, was unraveling from any action on it. Finally, the moment came when it was no longer possible to fix the overcoat, “the cloth was so worn out that it was see-through, and the lining was unraveling.”

Bashmachnikov goes to the master, in the hope that he will fix it outerwear, but a miracle does not happen - the master flatly refuses to do anything and claims that it cannot be corrected in any way.

Bashmachnikov has no choice but to save up for a new overcoat. He draws up an action plan: “it will be necessary to reduce ordinary costs, at least for one year: banish drinking tea in the evenings, do not light candles in the evenings.” Such measures were not enough to save money, he decides to walk down the street extremely carefully so as not to wear out his shoes, resort to the services of a laundress less often, and even go hungry. “He fed spiritually, carrying in his thoughts the eternal idea of ​​a future overcoat.” Accumulating money for a new overcoat became the goal of Bashmachnikov’s entire life. Finally, the dream came true and Akaki Akakievich accumulated the necessary 80 rubles.

The purchase of an overcoat became an event in Bashmachnikov’s entire life - he carefully hung it up, admired the strong fabric and warm lining for a long time, and even “pulled out, for comparison, his old hood, which had completely fallen apart.” After purchasing a new overcoat, Bashmachnikov was amazingly transformed: “he became livelier, stronger in character, like a man who had set a goal for himself.” Such a seemingly petty event revealed a new Akaki Akakievich to the world. He is able to laugh and joke cheerfully, enjoy life and even sit back. His colleagues are forcing him to do the unthinkable - to go out into public in evening time. Bashmachnikov agrees. Night city, which he has not seen for many years, seems to him a fabulous place - Akaki is full of admiration. A sudden event changes everything - he gets lost in the night streets and becomes a victim of robbers. The robbers took away his most precious possession - his new overcoat. Discouraged by this event, Bashmachnikov turns to the police, but finds no support, and the attempts of his colleagues to help also do not lead to the desired result. In the hope of a successful turn of events, Akaki Akakievich turns to some significant person, but even here he is refused.

Death of Akaki Akakievich

Completely upset, Akakiy Akakievich falls into the blues and is overcome by a fever. The humid climate of the city only contributes to the development of the disease and aggravation of its condition.

Perhaps for the first time in his life, he does not go to work. He is in a semi-fainting state and endlessly swears in his delirium, plunging everyone into horror with his condition. Bashmachnikov dies.

There was nothing left after him - all his things were in terrible condition and were of no value.

His death went unnoticed by anyone - he was too small and insignificant a person in this life.

However, after his death, strange things begin to happen in the city. A certain ghost of Bashmachnikov walks the streets. One day it happened "no one significant person” to go not his usual route, suddenly someone stops him: “he noticed a man of small stature, in an old, worn uniform, and not without horror recognized him as Akaki Akakievich. The official’s face was as pale as snow and looked completely dead.” The ghost of the dead man forces him to take off his overcoat and leaves. After this incident, dramatic changes occur with the official; he ceases to be rude and prejudiced towards his subordinates, and becomes humane.

Analysis of the image of Bashmachnikov by critics and contemporaries of Gogol

Dmitry Chizhevsky, a literary critic and scientific figure in the field of literature, drew attention to the fact that N.V. Gogol’s story became the reason for the appearance in literature of a number of works about “ little man“, unable to change his life and therefore suffers from pressure all his life environment and circumstances.

Chizhevsky became one of those researchers who debunked the postulate about the bureaucratic component of the story.

D.N. Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky, analyzing the image of Bashmachnikov, argued that Gogol raised in the story important topic and drew people’s attention to the fact that “there are a legion of such Bashmachnikovs.”

A different path of research was taken by scientists and critics belonging geographically to Western world. They considered the story from the point of view of Hoffmann's theory. So, for example, Yu. V. Mann, drew attention to how rudely and inhumanly a person’s dreams are sometimes broken into reality: “Transcendental aspiration was reduced to an elementary need, but a vital need, not excessive, urgently necessary, integral in the poor, homeless life of Akaki Akakievich and, moreover, suffering the same inevitable collapse that the dreams of an artist or composer suffered.”

Analysis of the image of Akaki Akakievich and the story “The Overcoat” from the point of view of religion

N.V. Gogol was a deeply religious person, so a completely logical explanation, from the point of view of the critic Apollo Grigoriev and Boris Zaitsev, is the need for analysis from the point of view of religion.

In the vision of these critics, Gogol's story is not humorous story, and a parable similar in essence Bible stories. At its core is the story of the degradation of God's creation - man. Tailor Petrovich, at the same time, appears in Gogol’s story in the role of a demon, a devil. “In the image of Akaki Akakievich, the poet outlined the last facet of the shallowness of God’s creation to the extent that a thing, and the most insignificant thing, becomes for a person a source of boundless joy and destroying grief, to the point that the overcoat becomes a tragic fatum in the life of a creature created in the image and in the likeness of the Eternal" (Apollo Grigoriev).

At the same time, researchers draw attention to the fact that the name of the main character is exclusively symbolic and corresponds to his essence - in translation, the name Akaki means “innocent, good-natured.” In addition, the name of the main character is essentially an allusion to the work of John Climacus, “The Ladder.” The main character of this work, Akaki Sinai, a saint revered by Christians, also becomes the subject of ridicule, like Bashmachnikov.

Thus, main character stories by N.V. Gogol's Akaki Akakievich Bashmachnikov is a classic example of an image later called the “little man.” He is not able to stand up for himself, his life is devoid of joys and aspirations. He is ready to perform mechanical work and find joy and admiration in this. Bashmachnikov is ready to be content with so little that his joy over such a worthless life seems something from the category of absurdity and indecency. However, this image is capable of transformation - small successes significantly transform Bashmachnikov, he reveals to people, and to himself, new facets of his personality, he realizes that his life before the changes was not as ideal as he wanted to believe. At the same time, Akakiy Akakievich’s feeling of suspiciousness and weakness does not go away - when faced with new troubles, he does not try to resist them - blues and disappointment lead him to death.

The image and characteristics of Akaki Akakievich in the story “The Overcoat”: description of appearance and character, portrait in quotes

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In Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s story “The Overcoat,” the main character is Akaki Akakievich, a minor official. The man Akaki Akakievich is very modest, even downtrodden, everyone makes fun of him and mocks him. He cannot defend himself, because Akaki Akakievich’s character is too soft; those around him see this, so they behave this way towards him. Only in rare moments does he lose his temper and ask not to be mocked, but this looks more like a pitiful groan than strength of character.

Nikolai Vasilyevich in his story feels sorry for Bashmachkin and urges that you should not make fun of a person just because he is soft by nature. Akakiy Akakievich’s old overcoat is leaky, but due to his service he is obliged to wear it and he decides to save money to sew a new one. Bashmachkin has to give up a lot, he remains hungry in the evenings, takes things to the laundry less often and saves the soles so that he doesn’t have to buy things ahead of time. Akaki Akakievich’s goal is to sew a new overcoat; Gogol even writes that he has become more cheerful and brave, and has a twinkle in his eyes.

Akaki Akakievich quickly gets used to a modest life and lives only with the thought of his new overcoat. The day has come when Bashmachkin puts on a new overcoat and goes to the department, where everyone notices the new attire of the titular adviser. There was even a celebration on this occasion, at which everyone continued to make fun of Akaki Akakievich.

Bashmachkin, inspired by the new thing, enjoys his appearance, but the happiness did not last long. On the way home, thieves take off Akaki Akakievich's overcoat. Wherever he turned, no one wanted to help him; when he contacted the police, they said that I couldn’t do anything. Then Bashmachkin goes to a “significant person” and he completely kicks him out of his house.

In connection with these events, Akakiy Akakievich falls ill and dies; no one even noticed the disappearance of a man whom no one needed. Only a ghost makes everyone shudder. After the ghost takes off the overcoat from the “significant person,” he thinks about it and begins to address people better.

Option 2

Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin is the main character of the work.

Akaki Akakievich is a man of about fifty, bald, wrinkled, short in stature, with reddish hair and poor eyesight.

The writer presents him in the image of an inconspicuous and ordinary civil servant who does not have the right to receive nobility, serving as a petty copyist of documents in one of the departments. His colleagues don’t even remember how Akaki Akakievich got this position, which does not require basic ingenuity and intelligence.

The hero unquestioningly carries out the instructions of his superiors and will not think about anything else. Entrusting him with other tasks, in which there is a need for thoughtful study, plunges Akaki Akakievich into great excitement and anxiety. At one point, he even refuses the proposed promotion, because he is not confident in his own abilities and is timid.

In addition, Akaki Akakievich is tongue-tied and is able to express himself only in adverbs and prepositions.

The events of the story unfold around the protagonist's long-standing dream of a new overcoat. Akakiy Akakievich’s old clothes are worn out to holes, have a reddish-floury color and can no longer be repaired or repaired.

Akaki Akakievich decides to sew a new overcoat and for this he begins to save on literally everything, just to collect the amount necessary for this. The man practically does not eat, does not use dark time day candles, does not send dirty laundry to the wash.

And finally, the official’s dream comes true; he acquires a new uniform with a warm lining and a fur collar. On this occasion, Akaki Akakievich’s colleagues, who constantly teased him because of his leaky overcoat, are organizing a small buffet. Bashmachkin is happy and cannot hide the contented sparkle in his eyes.

Unfortunately, that same evening Akakiy Akakievich loses his new clothes after being robbed by hooligans. Having turned to a passerby, the police, and even an influential person for help with a request to find the loss, Bashmachkin is faced with indifference and rudeness. Forced to wear a shabby overcoat again, Akaki Akakievich catches a severe cold and dies.

However, the story does not end there; the main character appears in the form of a ghost who wanders around the bridge at night and takes overcoats from passing people. One day, the ghost of Bashmachkin meets an influential person who refused to help him and deprives him of expensive clothes. After this incident, a significant person changes his worldview, becomes more attentive and hospitable to others.

Essay Characteristics and image of Akaki Akakievich

Tale by N.V. Gogol's "The Overcoat" was written in 1842. The main character of the work is Bashmachkin Akaki Akakievich.

A quiet and modest, unremarkable person, Akaki Bashmachkin lived very modestly, if not poorly. Years of hard and diligent work yielded an unenviable result: the hero of the story received the rank of titular councilor. The salary he received was so small that the official barely had enough for food. The clothes he wore had long since lost their original appearance. It was impossible to even tell what color it was when it was new.

The hero's mental abilities were insignificant. For many years he was engaged in rewriting documents, he could not do anything else and did not want anything else. Once, when he was offered a minor promotion, Bashmachkin refused it. He did his work with great diligence and diligence. Work that would require the use of mental abilities frightened him.

Akaki Akakievich was a lonely person in life. He lived in rented housing with his landlady. At work he was also lonely: no friends, no acquaintances. He was not respected either among his colleagues or his superiors. His plight financial situation made him stand out from everyone else. And it served as a reason for endless ridicule from colleagues.

Bashmachkin received the most sophisticated ridicule and bullying from his young colleagues. Not only were they amused by the appearance of the hero, they came up with all sorts of ridiculous stories. And this was also a reason for bullying. Akaki Akakievich endured all this in silence. And only when it became completely unbearable for him, he asked his colleagues to stop ridiculing.

The only joyful event in the hero’s life was the day when he could afford to sew a new overcoat. The old overcoat was very worn out and no longer protected against the cold St. Petersburg climate. But Bashmachkin’s happiness did not last long. On the very first day, when he put on a new thing, it was taken from him on the street. Akakiy Akakievich turned to the bailiff for help, and after him to a high-ranking official. The bailiff did nothing to help, and the “high” official was rude to him and kicked him out. On the way home, the hero of the story caught a severe cold and fell ill. He died soon after.

Akaki Akakievich

Akakiy Akakievich Bashmachkin is the main character of N.V. Gogol’s story “The Overcoat”, a poor titular councilor in the department of St. Petersburg. He was a lonely official, humiliated by fate and those around him, but at the same time possessing a heart and feelings. His surroundings are full of cruel and heartless people who often insult him, making him seem insignificant and spiritually poor. According to Gogol’s description, Bashmachnikov is a poor, inconspicuous and ordinary person. No one even remembers how he got hired. Outwardly, he is a short man, slightly reddish and slightly blind, with a bald spot on his forehead and wrinkles on his cheeks. He is assigned the role of document copyist, which he does with great pleasure. In fact, he unquestioningly follows the instructions of his superiors and does not have to think much about anything. His work does not require even basic intelligence. And when he is offered some task with meaning, he begins to get very worried. Once he was offered a small promotion, but he refused it due to timidity and lack of self-confidence.

The spiritual life of this hero is also limited. I order a new overcoat, he is not looking for luxury, but just wants to protect himself from the cold and show up for work in the appropriate uniform. From the moment he turned to the tailor Petrovich, thoughts about a new overcoat became the meaning of his existence. Now he ate less, drank less tea, did not burn candles in the evenings, did not take laundry to the laundress, and therefore wore the same robe at home. And all this in order to save money for an overcoat. Even his face began to glow from these thoughts, and a sparkle appeared in his eyes. With the advent of an overcoat with a warm lining and a fur collar, Bashmachnikov was completely transformed. His colleagues even organized a celebration in honor of this. Unfortunately, this was the only day when the hero wore his new clothes. That same evening, robbers attacked him and took off his overcoat. When Akakiy Akakievich turned to the watchman for help, he just waved him off. The private bailiff did the same, and he went to see him the next day.

But, perhaps, the worst thing was done by the one who was called a “significant person” behind his back. If earlier he had been on friendly terms with this person, now he occupied a high position and tried to seem as “significant” as possible. With all the sternness in his face and voice, he scolded Akaki Akakievich and was rude to him. That same day, Bashmachnikov froze outside in his old, threadbare overcoat and caught a cold. A few days later he died, but began to appear as a ghost at the bridge and take overcoats from passers-by. One evening he attacked a high-ranking official he knew and also pulled off his overcoat. Since then, the “significant person” has not been rude to anyone. And the dead man stopped appearing at the bridge. The events occurring in the story show that the hero did not wish harm to anyone and was worthy person, however, due to his weak character, he led a “small” and worthless life.