The author's attitude towards Plyushkin. Heroes of “Dead Souls” - Plyushkin (briefly)

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The image of Plyushkin from Gogol’s poem “ Dead Souls"is described in a manner unusual for the author - basically, Gogol widely uses elements of humor to characterize his characters. There is no humor left for Plyushkin - a realistic description of a stingy landowner and the consequences of his activities - this is what Nikolai Vasilyevich offers.

Symbolism of the surname

Gogol did not neglect symbolism in his works. Very often the names and surnames of the heroes of his works are symbolic. By contrasting the characteristics of the hero or synonymy, they help reveal certain characteristics of the character.

Basically, revealing symbolism does not require specific knowledge - the answer always lies on the surface. The same trend is observed in the case of Plyushkin.

The word “Plyushkin” means a person distinguished by extraordinary stinginess and greed. The goal of his life becomes the accumulation of a certain wealth (both in the form of finances and in the form of products or raw materials) without a specific goal.

In other words, he saves for the sake of saving. The accumulated goods, as a rule, are not sold anywhere and are used with minimal expenditure.

This designation fully corresponds to Plyushkin’s description.

Appearance and condition of the suit

Plyushkin is endowed with effeminate features in the poem. He has a long and overly thin face. Plyushkin did not have distinctive facial features. Nikolai Vasilyevich claims that his face was not much different from the faces of other old men with emaciated faces.

Distinctive feature Plyushkin's appearance had an excessively long chin. The landowner had to cover him with a handkerchief so as not to spit on him. The image was complemented by small eyes. They had not yet lost their liveliness and looked like small animals. Plyushkin never shaved; his growing beard did not look the most attractive and resembled a horse comb.

Plyushkin had no teeth.

Plyushkin's suit wants to look better. To be honest, it is impossible to call his clothes a suit - they have such a worn and strange look that they resemble the rags of a tramp. Usually Plyushkin is dressed in an incomprehensible dress, similar to a woman's hood. His hat was also borrowed from a woman’s wardrobe - it was a classic cap of courtyard women.

The condition of the suit was simply terrible. When Chichikov saw Plyushkin for the first time, he could not determine his gender for a long time - Plyushkin by his behavior and appearance very much like a housekeeper. After the identity of the strange housekeeper was established, Chichikov came to the conclusion that Plyushkin did not look like a landowner at all - if he were near the church, he could easily be mistaken for a beggar.

Plyushkin's family and his past

Plyushkin was not always such a person; when he was young, his appearance and character were completely different from those of today.

Several years ago Plyushkin was not alone. He was a man living quite happily in marriage. His wife definitely had a positive influence on the landowner. After the birth of children, Plyushkin’s life also pleasantly transformed, but this did not last long - soon his wife died, leaving Plyushkin with three children - two girls and a boy.

Plyushkin had a hard time coping with the loss of his wife, it was difficult for him to cope with the blues, so he moved more and more away from his usual rhythm of life.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”.

A picky and quarrelsome character contributed to the final discord - eldest daughter and the son left his father's house without his father's blessing. The youngest daughter died some time later. The eldest daughter, despite her father’s difficult character, tries to maintain a relationship with him and even brings his children to stay with him. Contact with my son was lost long ago. The old man does not know how his fate turned out and whether he is alive.

Personality characteristics

Plyushkin - man complex nature. It is likely that certain inclinations for the development of certain qualities were laid down in him earlier, but under the influence family life and personal well-being, they did not acquire such a characteristic appearance.

Plyushkin was overcome by anxiety - his care and concern had long gone beyond the acceptable limit and became some kind of obsessive thought. After the death of his wife and daughter, he finally became hardened in soul - the concepts of sympathy and love for his neighbors are alien to him.

This tendency is observed not only in relation to people who are strangers in terms of kinship, but also to close relatives.

The landowner leads a solitary life, he hardly communicates with his neighbors, he has no friends. Plyushkin likes to spend time alone, he is seduced by the ascetic way of life, the arrival of guests is associated with something unpleasant for him. He doesn’t understand why people visit each other and considers it a waste of time - many useful things can be done during this time period.

It is impossible to find anyone who wants to make friends with Plyushkin - everyone shuns the eccentric old man.

Plyushkin lives without a specific goal in life. Because of his stinginess and pettiness, he was able to accumulate significant capital, but does not plan to somehow use the accumulated money and raw materials - Plyushkin likes the process of accumulation itself.

Despite significant financial reserves, Plyushkin lives very poorly - he regrets spending money not only on his family and friends, but also on himself - his clothes have long since turned into rags, the house is leaky, but Plyushkin sees no point in improving anything - his and so everything suits me.

Plyushkin loves to complain and be poor. It seems to him that he doesn’t have enough of everything - he doesn’t have enough food, there’s too little land, and he can’t even find an extra tuft of hay on the farm. In reality, everything is different - its food reserves are so large that they become unusable right in the storage facilities.

The second thing in life that brings pleasure to Plyushkin’s life is quarrels and scandals - he is always dissatisfied with something and likes to express his dissatisfaction in the most unsightly form. Plyushkin is too picky and impossible to please.

Plyushkin himself does not notice his shortcomings; he believes that in fact everyone treats him with bias and cannot appreciate his kindness and care.

Plyushkin's estate

No matter how much Plyushkin complained about his busyness with the estate, it is worth admitting that as a landowner Plyushkin was not the best and most talented.

His large estate is not much different from an abandoned place. The gates and the fence along the garden were extremely thin - in some places the fence had collapsed, and no one was in a hurry to fill the resulting holes.

There used to be two churches on the territory of his village, but now they are in disrepair.
Plyushkin's house is located in terrible condition– it probably hasn’t been repaired for many years. From the street, the house looked uninhabited - the windows in the estate were boarded up, only a few could be opened. Mold appeared in some places and the tree was overgrown with moss.

The inside of the house doesn't look any better - it's always dark and cold. The only room into which natural light penetrates is Plyushkin’s room.

The whole house is like a garbage dump - Plyushkin never throws anything away. He thinks that these things may still be useful to him.

In Plyushkin's office there is also chaos and disorder. There is a broken chair that can no longer be repaired, a clock that doesn’t work. There is a dump in the corner of the room - it is difficult to make out what is in the pile. What stands out from the general pile is a sole from an old shoe and a broken shovel handle.

It seemed like the rooms had never been cleaned - there were cobwebs and dust everywhere. There was also no order on Plyushkin's desk - papers lay mixed with garbage there.

Attitude towards serfs

Plyushkin is in possession of big number serfs - about 1000 people. Of course, caring for and adjusting the work of so many people requires certain strength and skills. However, there is no need to talk about the positive achievements of Plyushkin’s activities.

Plyushkin treats his peasants unkindly and cruelly. They are not much different in appearance from their owner - their clothes are torn, their houses are dilapidated, and the people themselves are immensely skinny and hungry. From time to time, one of Plyushkin’s serfs decides to escape, because the life of a fugitive becomes more attractive than that of the serf Plyushkin. Plyushkin sells Chichikov about 200 “dead souls” - this is the number of people who died and serfs who escaped from him over several years. Compared with " dead souls"The rest of the landowners, the number of peasants sold to Chichikov looks terrifying.

We invite you to read the story “The Overcoat” by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.

Peasant houses look even worse than a landowner's estate. In the village it is impossible to find a single house with a whole roof - rain and snow freely penetrate into the home. There are no windows in the houses either - the holes in the windows are filled with rags or old clothes.

Plyushkin speaks extremely disapprovingly of his serfs - in his eyes they are lazy and slackers, but in fact this is slander - Plyushkin's serfs work hard and honestly. They sow grain, grind flour, dry fish, make fabrics, and make various household items from wood, in particular dishes.

According to Plyushkin, his serfs are the most thieving and inept - they do everything somehow, without diligence, and, moreover, they constantly rob their master. In fact, everything is not so: Plyushkin intimidated his peasants so much that they are ready to die from cold and hunger, but will not take anything from their landowner’s warehouses.

Thus, the image of Plyushkin embodied the qualities of a greedy and stingy person. Plyushkin is incapable of feeling affection for people or at least sympathy - he is absolutely hostile to everyone. He considers himself a good master, but in reality this is self-deception. Plyushkin does not care about his serfs, he starves them, undeservedly accuses them of theft and laziness.

Characteristics of Plyushkin in the poem “Dead Souls”: description of appearance and character

One of the most bright characters Gogol, literary hero, whose name has long become a household name, a character who is remembered by everyone who read “Dead Souls” - landowner Stepan Plyushkin. His memorable figure closes the gallery of images of landowners presented by Gogol in the poem. Plyushkin, who even gave his name to the official disease (Plyushkin syndrome, or pathological hoarding), is essentially a very rich man who led a vast economy to complete decline, and a huge number of serfs to poverty and a miserable existence.

This fifth and final companion of Chichikov is a shining example how deadened the human soul can become. Therefore, the title of the poem is very symbolic: it not only directly indicates that we're talking about about “dead souls” - as dead serfs were called, but also about the pitiful, deprived human qualities, the devastated souls of landowners and officials.

Characteristics of the hero

("Plyushkin", artist Alexander Agin, 1846-47)

Gogol begins the reader’s acquaintance with the landowner Plyushkin with a description of the surroundings of the estate. Everything indicates desolation, insufficient funding and the absence of a strong hand of the owner: dilapidated houses with leaky roofs and windows without glass. The sad landscape is enlivened by the owner's garden, although neglected, but described in much more positive colors: clean, tidy, filled with air, with a “regular sparkling marble column.” However, Plyushkin’s home again evokes melancholy, around there is desolation, despondency and mountains of useless, but extremely necessary for the old man, rubbish.

Being the richest landowner in the province (the number of serfs reached 1000), Plyushkin lived in extreme poverty, eating scraps and dried crackers, which did not cause him the slightest discomfort. He was extremely suspicious; everyone around him seemed treacherous and unreliable, even his own children. Only the passion for hoarding was important for Plyushkin; he collected everything he could get his hands on on the street and dragged it into the house.

("Chichikov at Plyushkin's", artist Alexander Agin, 1846-47)

Unlike other characters, Plyushkin's life story is given in full. The author introduces the reader to a young landowner, talking about a good family, his beloved wife and three children. Neighbors even came to the zealous owner to learn from him. But my wife died eldest daughter ran away with a military man, her son joined the army, which his father did not approve of, but youngest daughter also died. And gradually the respected landowner turned into a man whose whole life was subordinated to accumulation for the sake of the accumulation process itself. All other human feelings, which had not previously been bright, faded away in him completely.

It is interesting that some professors of psychiatry mentioned that Gogol very clearly and at the same time artistically described a typical case of senile dementia. Others, for example, psychiatrist Ya.F. Kaplan, deny this possibility, saying that psychopathological traits do not appear sufficiently in Plyushkin, and Gogol simply illuminated the state of old age, which he encountered everywhere.

The image of the hero in the work

Stepan Plyushkin himself is described as a creature dressed in unkempt rags, looking like a woman from afar, but the stubble on his face still made it clear that the main character was a representative of the stronger sex. Given the general amorphousness of this figure, the writer focuses attention on individual facial features: a protruding chin, a hooked nose, lack of teeth, eyes expressing suspicion.

Gogol - Great master words - with bright strokes shows us a gradual but irreversible change human personality. A person, in whose eyes intelligence shone in previous years, gradually turns into a pitiful miser who has lost all his best feelings and emotions. the main objective writer - to show how terrible the coming old age can be, how small human weaknesses can turn into pathological traits under certain life circumstances.

If the writer simply wanted to portray a pathological miser, he would not go into details of his youth, a description of the circumstances that led to his current state. The author himself tells us that Stepan Plyushkin is the future of the fiery young man in old age, that unsightly portrait, upon seeing which the young man would recoil in horror.

("Peasants at Plyushkin's", artist Alexander Agin, 1846-47)

However, Gogol leaves a small chance for this hero: when the writer conceived the third volume of the work, he planned to leave Plyushkin - the only landowner Chichikov met - in an updated, morally revived form. Describing the landowner’s appearance, Nikolai Vasilyevich separately singles out the old man’s eyes: “the little eyes had not yet gone out and ran from under his high eyebrows, like mice...”. And the eyes, as we know, are the mirror of the human soul. In addition, Plyushkin, seemingly having lost all human feelings, suddenly decides to give Chichikov a gold watch. True, this impulse immediately fades away, and the old man decides to include the watch in the deed of gift, so that after death at least someone will remember him with a kind word.

Thus, if Stepan Plyushkin had not lost his wife, his life could have turned out quite well, and his old age would not have turned into such a deplorable existence. The image of Plyushkin completes the gallery of portraits of degraded landowners and very accurately describes the lowest level to which a person can slide in his lonely old age.

In the famous poem “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol, the characters of people are clearly presented using the example of landowners. Their features show all the weaknesses that a person may have. One of these pronounced weaknesses is stinginess and greed. These two features form the basis of Plyushkin’s image.

Plyushkin is portrayed as a landowner who has neglected not only himself, but the entire village. His stinginess left its mark on everything, including the furnishings of the house. When Chichikov found himself in Plyushkin’s room, it seemed to him that it was uninhabited. There was a large layer of dust on everything, there were broken objects, small pieces of paper written on them - everything had an unkempt appearance. And in the very corner of the room there was a large pile of garbage. And this pile perfectly reflects Plyushkin’s character. He put everything he came across there, any little thing that he then didn’t use anyway. This is how all misers behave - the heap reflects the fact that they accumulate various rubbish just so that they simply have it. So they feel richer materially because such people do not enrich their inner world, cluttering it with unnecessary things and thoughts.

Plyushkin’s stinginess was not always so visible: he had a family that restrained these character traits. When he was left alone, he had no one to take care of, to try to somehow develop his character, and only one goal appeared for him - to accumulate as much as possible. Stingy people don’t care what they save - everything is not enough for them, stinginess becomes more and more, and they no longer look at what they save. Thus, stingy people try to fill the lack of human feelings - love, friendship, understanding. Because when Plyushkin remembered his friend from his youth, the expression on his face changed - he was able to feel the emotions that he had in childhood and youth. But no one wants to communicate with such people, there is nothing to talk about with them, and therefore they become more and more greedy.

Perhaps if Plyushkin had someone close to him who would not talk to him about money, but would try to develop his inner world, then he would not be so greedy and stingy. Because when his daughter came to him, the conversation still returned to money. It turns out that Plyushkin was not interested in anyone as a person, and because of this he becomes indifferent to the feelings of others and values ​​only material things. If there was a person with him who would strive to help him, to improve his character, then Plyushkin would be a kind and fair landowner.

Option 2

A year ago he was a completely different person. Very happy and kind. He had a wonderful loving family, wife and kids. Plyushkin was a wonderful friend and comrade. His estate flourished, he managed it well. The workers had great respect for their employer. But his wife suddenly dies of illness. And this crippled the main character. His wife was for him main support and muse. After all, she inspired Plyushkin to work. But he gathered his strength into a strong male fist, he still somehow stayed afloat. After some time, his beloved daughter runs away from her parents' house. And with whom, with an officer, Plyushkin hated the army to death. And this is the next blow to the heart of the main character. And the son refuses civil service and goes to serve in the regiment.

Plyushkin completely gives up, but finishes him off with the death of his beloved youngest daughter. And his existence is over, he has lost the meaning of life, all his loved ones have died and betrayed him. If before he worked for the benefit of his family, now Plyushkin is going crazy. Now he has directed all his forces in one direction, collecting all the goods and making warehouses. He no longer needs his workers, I work and do well. He doesn't pay any attention to them.

When Chichikov drove around Plyushkin's estate, he was horrified by how everything was slowly disintegrating and fading. A rickety fence, the houses are about to fall. But these people who lived there resigned themselves to such a life, and Plyushkin collects tribute from them in linen and bread. People are impoverished, and Plyushkin collects goods under his roof and does not use them in any way. People watched with tears in their eyes as it all disappeared and lay like a dead weight. They lost respect for their owner, but they still worked for him. But some could not stand such mockery of themselves and about eighty people ran away from such a landowner. Plyushkin didn’t even bother looking for them, since he didn’t care about what was happening around him. His main goal is to take possession of good, and as much as possible.

Gogol described his hero as death, since whatever falls into the hands of the landowner is immediately buried in darkness. Because of his indifference and indifference, the estate turned into a huge dump of goods. The landfill belongs to only one person. But people hope that after Plyushkin’s death his daughter and son will return to their native nest. They will put the estate on its feet, and life will flow with a new stream.

Essay Characteristics of Plyushkin Grade 9

In Gogol's work "Dead Souls" there is a very interesting character, his name is Plyushkin Stepan. Unfortunately, people like him often come across in life.

And so this is not an old, tall man at all. He is dressed in a rather unique way; if you don’t look closely, you might think that he is an elderly woman. Stepan is a rich landowner, he has a huge estate, many souls, but at first glance at the environment around him, you might think that the man is in cramped circumstances. There is terrible devastation around, the clothes of both the master himself and his servants should have been changed to new ones long ago. Despite the rich harvests and crowded barns, he eats breadcrumbs, what can we say about the servants who die of hunger like flies.

Plyushkin was not always so greedy and stingy. With his wife, he simply tried to save, but after her death, every year he became more and more suspicious, greed and hoarding took possession of him more and more. Now Stepan not only saved, but also saved money and did not spend it even on necessary needs. For him, children ceased to exist, and grandchildren, only the goal of profit moved him. Trying to save more, he simply fell out of life. He no longer understood why he was saving and for what. As he gets older, he becomes more and more indifferent to people. He doesn’t give money to his daughter or son; there is some kind of cruelty in him towards his own children. Stepan not only became petty and an insignificant person, but lost his self-esteem and subsequently the respect of his neighbors and his peasants.

There are things that he does not care about at all, although they are the ones that require primary attention, but he strictly monitors the decanter with liqueur. Plyushkin has not lived for a long time, but lives out his life in terrible despondency and the desire to profit even more. True, there are still glimpses of humanity. Having sold dead souls, he expressed a desire to help the buyer draw up a bill of sale, was this awakened kindness or an understanding that he was not the only one engaged in enrichment?

How important it is when tragedies happen in life to have someone nearby. He supported me not only financially, but also morally. Many, fixated on their grief, like Plyushkin, begin to degrade. Stepan Plyushkin should be pitied, not despised and condemned.

Meeting with Plyushkin

In the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol “Dead Souls” in the 6th chapter main character arrives at the estate of Stepan Plyushkin. The author says that he used to be curious about exploring an unfamiliar place and its owners. This time he arrives indifferently. At the same time, the writer describes in detail everything that the character sees.

All the village buildings were dilapidated: the roofs were leaky, the windows were without glass. Then Chichikov saw two rural churches, which were empty and worn out. Next comes the manor house. Outwardly, he is old and weather-beaten. Only two windows were open, and the rest were closed or boarded up. In the text we learn that there was a terrible mess inside, it felt cold, as if from a cellar. It is known that a house is a reflection of its owner. From the description of the estate it follows that Plyushkin is an old man, which is also proven by his words about being in his seventh decade. In addition, Gogol tells us about the stinginess of the landowner. He collects absolutely everything he sees and puts it in one pile. On the way to Plyushkin, Chichikov learned about the nickname “patched.” In one word, the people described the appearance of the landowner and his entire household.

At first glance he looks poor and pitiful, but main character knows that this person has more than a thousand souls. He was a thin old man with a protruding chin. He has small eyes and high eyebrows. The look seems suspicious and restless. Dressed in greasy and torn clothes. We also learn about his past. It turned out that he changed dramatically after the death of his wife.

When Chichikov finally decided to talk about the deal, the landowner showed us his soul. He reproaches the peasants for absolutely everything, and also does not trust them. Every year people run away from him. There is a lot of food rotting in Plyushkin’s barns, which he does not give to anyone. He believes that the peasants are gluttonous. He goes to them to eat, under the guise of caring. In addition, he is hypocritical, as evidenced by his words about his good nature.

The poem is not only about buying the souls of dead peasants, but also about making the reader see the souls of these people. Each of them is already dead mentally. Using the example of Plyushkin, Gogol shows stinginess, inhospitality, pettiness, insignificance, hypocrisy and greed. The landowner did not even give any money to his own children who needed his help, despite having huge reserves. With such people it is impossible to find mutual language. He is ready to give even what is no longer there, for the sake of profit alone.

Sample 5

In the poem “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol, a whole gallery of landowners passes in front of us. It ends with Plyushkin.

Stepan Plyushkin is fundamentally different from other landowners. The character of the hero is given in development. Using his example, Gogol shows how man gradually became “a hole in humanity.”

Chichikov meets with Plyushkin on his estate, where everything is in disrepair. The manor's house looks like a grave crypt. Only the garden reminds of life, which is sharply contrasted with the ugly life of the landowner. Plyushkin's estate smells of mold, rot, and death.

At the first meeting of Chichikov with Plyushkin, it is not clear who is in front of him, in any case, he does not look like a landowner - some kind of figure. The landowner's appearance is such that if Chichikov had seen him near the church, he would have taken him for a beggar. It’s dark in Plyushkin’s house and it feels cold. All the rooms are locked, except for two; the landowner lived in one of them. There is chaos everywhere, mountains of garbage. Life has stopped here - this is symbolized by the stopped clock.

But it was not always so. The author shows how Plyushkin gradually degraded to such a state. Once he was a good owner, had a family, communicated with neighbors. But his wife died, the children left home, and he was left alone. He was overcome by melancholy and despair. Plyushkin becomes stingy, petty and suspicious. He does not feel the need to communicate with anyone, even with his own children and grandchildren. Sees everyone as an enemy.

Plyushkin is a slave to things. He drags everything into the house. It senselessly fills warehouses and barns, where everything then rots. Countless wealth is wasted. Plyushkin considers peasants to be parasites and thieves. They live poorly in his village and are starving. As a result of such a life, the peasants die or flee from the estate.

Chichikov's proposal regarding dead souls amazed Plyushkin. He's happy about this deal. Chichikov purchased from Plyushkin not only dead people, but also fugitives at a low price and was in good spirits.

The image of this landowner evokes sadness. Everything human in man has been destroyed. Plyushkin's soul was deadened by greed. In the person of Plyushkin, Gogol depicted spiritual degradation brought to the last line.

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In the face of the hero " Dead souls“Plyushkina was brought out by Gogol as a psychopathic miser. He pointed out in this pitiful old man the terrible consequences of the passion to “acquire” without a goal - when acquisition itself becomes the goal, when the meaning of life is lost. In “Dead Souls” it is shown how, from a reasonable, practical person needed for the state and family, Plyushkin turns into a “growth” on humanity, into some kind of negative value, into a “hole”... To do this, he only had to lose his meaning life. Before, he worked for the family. His ideal of life was the same as that of Chichikov - and Plyushkin was happy when a noisy, joyful family greeted him returning home to rest. Then life deceived him - he remained a lonely, angry old man, for whom all people seemed to be thieves, liars, robbers. A certain inclination towards callousness increased over the years, his heart became harder, his previously clear economic eye dimmed - and Plyushkin lost the ability to distinguish between large and small in the household, necessary from unnecessary - he directed all his attention, all his vigilance to the household, to the storerooms, glaciers... He stopped engaging in large-scale grain farming, and bread, the main basis of his wealth, rotted in barns for years. But Plyushkin collected all sorts of junk in his office, even stole buckets and other things from his own men... He lost hundreds, thousands, because he did not want to give up a penny or a ruble. Plyushkin had completely lost his mind, and his soul, which had never been distinguished by greatness, was completely crushed and vulgarized. Plyushkin became a slave to his passion, a pitiful miser, walking in rags, living from hand to mouth. Unsociable, gloomy, he lived out his unnecessary life, tearing even his parental feelings for his children out of his heart. (Cm. , .)

Plyushkin. Drawing by Kukryniksy

Plyushkin can be compared with “ stingy knight“, with the only difference that in Pushkin “avarice” is presented in a tragic light, in Gogol in a comic light. Pushkin showed what gold did to a valiant man, a great man, - Gogol in “Dead Souls” showed how a penny perverted an ordinary, “average man”...

Going for the souls of dead peasants, the main character of the poem “Dead Souls” did not even imagine with what bright personalities get acquainted In all the variety of characters in the work, the miser and miser Stepan Plyushkin stands out. The rest of the rich people in the literary work are shown statically, but this landowner has his own life story.

History of creation

The idea that formed the basis of the work belongs to. One day, the great Russian writer told Nikolai Gogol the story of fraud, which he heard during his exile in Chisinau. In the Moldovan city of Bendery last years Only people of military ranks died; ordinary mortals were in no hurry to go to the next world. The strange phenomenon was explained simply - hundreds of fugitive peasants from the center of Russia flocked to Bessarabia at the beginning of the 19th century, and during the investigation it turned out that the “passport data” of the dead was appropriated by the fugitives.

Gogol considered the idea brilliant and, after thinking about it, came up with a plot in which the main actor became an enterprising man who enriched himself by selling “dead souls” to the board of trustees. The idea seemed interesting to him because it opened up the opportunity to create an epic work, to show the whole of Mother Russia through a scattering of characters, which the writer had long dreamed of.

Work on the poem began in 1835. While most Nikolai Vasilyevich spent years abroad, trying to forget the scandal that erupted after the production of the play “The Inspector General”. According to the plan, the plot was supposed to take three volumes, and in general the work was defined as comic and humorous.

However, neither one nor the other was destined to come true. The poem turned out to be gloomy, exposing all the vices of the country. The author burned the manuscript of the second book, but never started the third. Of course, in Moscow they flatly refused to print literary work, but the critic Vissarion Belinsky volunteered to help the writer, having bothered the St. Petersburg censors.

A miracle happened - the poem was allowed to be published, only on the condition that the title would have a small addition to divert eyes from the raised serious problems: “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.” In this form, in 1842, the poem went to the reader. New work Gogol again found himself at the epicenter of a scandal, because landowners and officials clearly saw their images in him.

Gogol had a brilliant idea - first he showed the shortcomings of Russian life, then he planned to describe ways to resurrect “dead souls.” Some researchers associate the idea of ​​the poem with “ Divine Comedy": the first volume is “hell”, the second is “purgatory”, and the third is “heaven”.

It is assumed that Plyushkin was supposed to transform from a greedy old man into a wanderer-benefactor who tries in every possible way to help the poor. But Nikolai Gogol was never able to convincingly describe the ways of people’s rebirth, which he himself admitted after burning the manuscript.

Image and character

The image of a half-crazy landowner in the work is the most striking of all who meet on the path of the main character Chichikov. It is Plyushkin who the writer gives the most full description, even looking into the character's past. This is a lonely widower who cursed his daughter who left with her lover and his son who lost at cards.

Periodically, the daughter and grandchildren visit the old man, but receive no help from him - only indifference. An educated and intelligent man in his youth eventually turned into a “worn-out wreck”, a grouch and a money-grubber. bad character, becoming a laughing stock even for the servants.

The work contains detailed description Plyushkin's appearance. He walked around the house in a decrepit robe (“...which was not only embarrassing to look at, but even embarrassing”), and came to the table in a worn, but quite neat frock coat without a single patch. At the first meeting, Chichikov could not understand who was in front of him, a woman or a man: a creature of indeterminate gender was moving around the house, and the buyer of dead souls mistook him for the housekeeper.

The character's stinginess is on the verge of insanity. There are 800 serf souls in his possessions, the barns are full of rotting food. But Plyushkin does not allow his hungry peasants to touch the products, and with resellers he is unyielding “like a devil,” so the traders stopped coming for goods. In his own bedroom, a man carefully folds the feathers and pieces of paper he found, and in the corner of one of the rooms there is a pile of “goods” picked up on the street.

Life goals come down to accumulating wealth - this problem often acts as an argument for writing essays on the Unified State Exam. The meaning of the image lies in the fact that Nikolai Vasilyevich tried to show how painful stinginess kills the bright and strong personality.

Increase goodness - favorite hobby Plyushkin, as evidenced by even the change in speech. At first, the old curmudgeon greets Chichikov warily, clarifying that “there is no use in visiting.” But, having learned the purpose of the visit, the dissatisfied grumbling gives way to undisguised joy, and the main character of the poem turns into a “father”, a “benefactor”.

The miser's vocabulary includes a whole dictionary of swear words and expressions, from “fool” and “robber” to “the devil will get you” and “scum.” The landowner, who has lived all his life among peasants, has a speech full of common folk words.

Plyushkin's house resembles a medieval castle, but battered by time: there are cracks in the walls, some of the windows are boarded up so that no one sees the wealth hidden in the home. Gogol managed to combine the character traits and image of the hero with his house with the phrase:

“All this was dumped into storerooms, and everything became rotten and a hole, and he himself finally turned into some kind of hole in humanity.”

Film adaptations

Gogol's work has been staged in Russian cinema five times. Based on the story, two cartoons were also created: “The Adventures of Chichikov. Manilov" and "The Adventures of Chichikov. Nozdrev."

"Dead Souls" (1909)

In the era of the formation of cinema, Pyotr Chardynin undertook to capture on film Chichikov’s adventures. A silent short film with a stripped-down Gogolian plot was filmed at a railway club. And since the experiments in cinema were just beginning, the film turned out to be unsuccessful due to incorrectly selected lighting. He played the role of the stingy Plyushkin theater actor Adolf Georgievsky.

"Dead Souls" (1960)

The film-play staged by the Moscow Art Theater was directed by Leonid Trauberg. A year after the premiere, the film received the Critics' Prize at the Monte Carlo Festival.

The film starred Vladimir Belokurov (Chichikov), (Nozdryov), (Korobochka) and even (a modest role of a waiter, the actor was not even included in the credits). And Plyushkin was brilliantly played by Boris Petker.

"Dead Souls" (1969)

Another television performance conceived by director Alexander Belinsky. According to film fans, this film adaptation is the best film production of the imperishable work.

The film also features prominent actors of Soviet cinema: (Nozdrev), (Manilov), Igor Gorbachev (Chichikov). The role of Plyushkin went to Alexander Sokolov.

"Dead Souls" (1984)

The five-episode series, directed by Mikhail Shveitser, was shown on central television.

He reincarnated as a greedy landowner.

“The Case of Dead Souls” (2005)

The latest film work for today, which represents fantasy on famous works Gogol - “The Inspector General”, “Notes of a Madman”, “Dead Souls”. I decided to please the viewer with such an unusual mix, collecting on film set the color of modern cinema.

They appear on the screen in the role of Nozdryov, in the image of Chichikov, who made an excellent wife of the governor. The audience also admires the acting - the actor is called Plyushkin in the film.

• The meaning of the character's name contains a motive of self-denial. Gogol created a paradoxical metaphor: a ruddy bun - a symbol of wealth, satiety, joyful contentment - is contrasted with a “moldy cracker”, for which the colors of life have long faded.
• The surname Plyushkin has become a household name. This is what they call those who are overly frugal, maniacally greedy people. In addition, the passion for storing old, useless things is a typical behavior of people with a mental disorder, medically called “Plyushkin syndrome.”

Quotes

“After all, the devil knows, maybe he’s just a braggart, like all these little money-makers: he’ll lie, he’ll lie to talk and drink tea, and then he’ll leave!”

“I’m living in my seventies!”

“Plyushkin muttered something through his lips, because he had no teeth.”

“If Chichikov had met him, dressed up like that, somewhere at the church door, he would probably have given him a copper penny. But standing before him was not a beggar, standing before him was a landowner.”

“I don’t even advise you to know the way to this dog! - said Sobakevich. “It’s more excusable to go to some obscene place than to go to him.”

“But there was a time when he was just a thrifty owner! He was married and a family man, and a neighbor stopped by to have dinner with him, listen and learn from him about housekeeping and wise stinginess.”