Table of character traits of the poem Dead Souls. Analysis of "Dead Souls". Analysis of the work "Dead Souls" by Gogol

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Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is not without a significant amount acting characters. All heroes, according to their significance and the time period 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 tendency is observed in Gogol’s work.

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

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is distinguished by his dishonesty and hypocrisy. His desire to get rich by deception is discouraging.

On the one hand, the reasons for this behavior can be explained by the pressure of society and the priorities operating in it - a rich and dishonest person is more respected than an honest and decent poor person. Since no one wants to eke out their existence in poverty, the financial question and the problem of improving their material resources is always relevant and often borders 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, he 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 deception. The stinginess 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 let us 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 is, perhaps, generally perceived 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 significantly elevates her perception as a whole.

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

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

Sobakevich
This landowner is controversial. On the one hand, he is a rude, manly person, but on the other hand, this simplicity allows him to live quite successfully - all the buildings on his estate, including the peasants' houses, are made to last - you won't find anything leaky anywhere, his peasants are well-fed and quite happy . Sobakevich himself often works together with peasants as equals and does not see anything unusual in this.

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

Plyushkin lives unusually frugally, but he does this not because there is a need for it, but because of a feeling of greed - he is ready to throw away a spoiled thing, but not to use it for good. That is why fabric and food rot in its warehouses, but at the same time its serfs walk around with their heads and tatters.

Minor characters

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

The Governor and his family
This is perhaps one of the most significant people in the county. In theory, he should be insightful, smart and reasonable. However, in practice everything turned out to be not quite so. The governor was a kind and pleasant man, but he was not distinguished by his 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 in appearance she was very different from the generally accepted standard - the girl was not plump, as was customary, but was slender and cute.

That it was true that, 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 characteristic 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 discovered, due to excessive excitement, he dies.

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

Chichikov noted that he was very educated, unlike most significant people in the district. 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 deception and even helped him draw up documents for dead souls.

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

We suggest following in Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”.

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

Episodic and tertiary 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 absent-minded.

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

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

Feodulia Ivanovna
Feodulia Ivanovna is Sobakevich’s wife. She is a simple woman and in 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 invite you to read Nikolai Gogol’s poem “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 images characteristic types individuals in society still arouse the reader's interest.

Characteristics of the heroes of the poem “Dead Souls”: list of characters

Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna is a widow-landowner, the second “saleswoman” of dead souls to Chichikov. The main feature of her character is commercial efficiency. For K., every person is only a potential buyer.
K.'s inner world reflects her household. 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’s house speak about this.
But such “fading” is still better than the complete timelessness of Manilov’s world. At least K. has a past (husband and everything connected with him). K. has character: she begins to frantically bargain with Chichikov until she extracts from him a promise to buy many other things in addition to souls. It is noteworthy that K. remembers all his dead peasants by heart. But K. is stupid: 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 K. (aside 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 by the sugary pleasantness of his appearance and the details of the furnishings of his estate. M.'s house is open to all winds, the sparse tops of birch trees are visible everywhere, the pond is completely overgrown with duckweed. But the gazebo in M.’s garden is pompously named “Temple of Solitary Reflection.” M.’s office is covered with “blue paint, sort of grey,” which indicates the lifelessness of the hero, from whom you won’t get a single living word. Having caught on to any topic, M.’s thoughts float into the distance, into abstract thoughts. This hero is not capable of thinking about real life, much less making any decisions. Everything in M.'s life: action, time, meaning - has been replaced by sophisticated verbal formulas. Chichikov had only to put his strange request for the sale of dead souls into beautiful words, and M. immediately calmed down and agreed. Although before this proposal seemed wild to him. M.’s world is a world of false idyll, the path to death. It is not for nothing that even Chichikov’s path to the lost Manilovka is depicted as a path to nowhere. There is nothing negative in M., but there is nothing positive either. He is an empty place, nothing. Therefore, this hero cannot count on transformation 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, carouser, reckless driver.” N. lies constantly, bullies everyone indiscriminately; he is very passionate, ready to “take a shit” on his best friend without any purpose. All of N.’s behavior is explained by his dominant quality: “nimbleness and liveliness of character,” i.e. unrestrained, bordering on unconsciousness. N. doesn’t think or plan anything; he simply does not know the limits in anything. On the way to Sobakevich, in the 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 receive souls in addition. The next morning, forgetting about all the grievances, N. persuades Chichikov to play checkers with him for dead souls. Caught in cheating, N. orders Chichikov to be beaten, and only the appearance of the police captain calms him down. It is N. who almost destroys Chichikov. Confronted with him at the ball, N. shouts out loud: “he sells dead souls!”, which gives rise to a lot of the most incredible rumors. When officials call on N. to sort things out, the hero confirms all the rumors at once, without being embarrassed by their inconsistency. Later he comes to Chichikov and himself talks about all these rumors. Instantly forgetting about the insult he had caused, he sincerely offers to help Chichikov take away the governor’s daughter. The home environment fully reflects N.’s chaotic character. Everything at home is stupid: there are goats in the middle of the dining room, there are no books or papers in the office, etc. We can say that N.’s boundless lies are the other side of the Russian prowess with which N. endowed in abundance. N. is not completely empty, it’s just that his unbridled energy does not find proper use. With N. in the poem begins a series of heroes who have retained something alive in themselves. Therefore, in the “hierarchy” of heroes, he occupies a relatively high – third – place.

Stepan Plyushkin is the last “seller” of dead souls. This hero personifies complete mortification human soul. In the image of P., the author shows the death of a bright and strong personality, consumed by the passion of stinginess.
The description of P.'s estate (“he does not grow rich according to God”) depicts the desolation and “cluttering” of the hero’s soul. The entrance is dilapidated, there is a special disrepair everywhere, the roofs are like a sieve, the windows are covered with rags. Everything here is lifeless - even the two churches, which should be the soul of the estate.
P.’s estate seems to be falling apart into details and fragments; even the house - in some places one floor, in others two. This indicates the collapse of the owner’s consciousness, who forgot about the main thing and focused on the tertiary. He no longer knows what is going on in his household, but he strictly monitors the level of liquor in his decanter.
Portrait of P. (either a woman or a man; a long chin covered with a scarf so as not to spit; small, not yet extinguished eyes, running around like mice; a greasy robe; a rag on his neck instead of a scarf) speaks of the hero’s complete “fallout” from the image of a rich landowner and from life in general.
P., alone of all the landowners, has a fairly detailed biography. Before the death of his wife, P. was a zealous and wealthy owner. He carefully raised his children. But with the death of his beloved wife, something broke in him: he became more suspicious and stingier. After troubles with the children (the son lost at cards, the eldest daughter ran away, and the youngest died), P.’s soul finally became hardened - “a wolfish hunger of stinginess took possession of him.” But, oddly enough, greed did not take control of the hero’s heart to the last limit. Having sold Chichikov is dead souls, P. wonders who could help him draw up a bill of sale in the city. He recalls that the Chairman was his schoolmate. 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 about P. Gogol describes a twilight landscape in which shadow and light are “completely mixed” - just like in P.’s unfortunate soul.

Sobakevich Mikhailo Semenych is a landowner, the fourth “seller” of dead souls. The very name and appearance of this hero (reminiscent of “ average size bear”, the tailcoat on him is “completely bearish” in color, he steps at random, his complexion is “red-hot, hot”) indicate his power of his nature.
From the very beginning, S.’s image is associated with the theme of money, thriftiness, and calculation (at the moment of entering the village, S. Chichikov dreams of a 200,000-dollar dowry). Talking with Chichikov S., not paying attention to Chichikov’s evasiveness, 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. S. bargains with skill, praises his goods (all souls are “like a vigorous nut”) and even manages to deceive Chichikov (slips him “ female soul" – Elizaveta Sparrow). S.'s spiritual appearance is reflected in everything that surrounds him. In his house, all “useless” architectural beauties have been removed. The peasants' huts 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 blackbird with speckles and the pot-bellied walnut bureau (“perfect bear”) are also 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 kulak, a strong, prudent master. Its peasants live well and reliably. The fact that S.’s natural strength and efficiency turned into dull inertia is rather not the hero’s fault, but rather the hero’s misfortune. S. lives exclusively in modern times, in the 1820s. From the height of his power, S. sees how the life around him has been crushed. During the bargaining, he remarks: “...what kind of people are these? flies, not people,” are much worse than dead people. 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 rich potential and a powerful nature. Their implementation will be shown in the second volume of the poem - in the image of the landowner Kostanzhoglo.

Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich is the main character of the poem. He, according to the author, has betrayed his true destiny, but is still able to be cleansed and resurrected in soul.
In the “acquirer” of Ch., the author portrayed a new evil for Russia - quiet, average, but enterprising. The average character of the hero is emphasized by his appearance: he is an “average gentleman”, 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 there only for money (following his father's commandment to “save a penny”). He avoids talking about himself, hiding behind empty book phrases. But Ch.’s insignificance is deceptive. It is he and others like him who begin to rule the world. Gogol speaks of people like Ch.: “terrible and vile force.” She is vile because she cares only about her own benefit and profit, using all means. And it’s scary because it’s very strong. “Acquirers,” according to Gogol, are not capable of reviving 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, along the way he also ends up with Korobochka, Nozdryov and Plyushkin. Ch. sells dead souls to all of them, without explaining the purpose of his purchases. In bargaining, Ch. reveals himself as a great expert on 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 deeds of sale for them. Here he announces for the first time that he intends to “take out” the purchased souls to new lands, to the Kherson province. Gradually, in the city, the hero’s name begins to become surrounded by rumors, at first very flattering for him, and later destructive (that Ch is a counterfeiter, a fugitive Napoleon and almost the Antichrist). These rumors force the hero to leave the city. Ch. is endowed with the most detailed biography. This suggests that there is still a lot of life left in him and that he is capable of being 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 main character of the poem, fallen, betrayed by his true destiny, but capable of purification and resurrection in his soul. This possibility is indicated by many things, including the name of the hero. St. Paul is an apostle who, before his instant, “sudden” repentance and transfiguration, was one of the most terrible persecutors of Christians. Conversion of St. Paul happened on the way to Damascus, and the fact that Chichikov, by plot circumstances, is inseparably connected with the image of the road, the path, is also not accidental. This prospect of moral revival sharply distinguishes Ch. from his literary predecessors - the heroes and anti-heroes of European and Russian picaresque novels, from Gilles-Blaze Lesage to Frol Skobeev, "Russian Gilblaz", V. T. Narezhny, Ivan Vyzhigin F. V. Bulgarin. It unexpectedly brings the “negative” Ch. closer both to the heroes of sentimental travels, and in general to the central figures of the travel novel (starting with Cervantes’ “Don Quixote”).
The chaise of collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Ch., following his needs, stops in the city of NN, which is located a little closer to Moscow than to Kazan (i.e., in the very core of Central Russia). After spending two weeks in the city (chapter 1) and meeting all the important people, Ch. goes to the estates of local landowners Manilov and Sobakevich - at their invitation. The moment of the beginning of the novel’s plot is constantly delayed, although some of Ch.’s “features of behavior” should alert the reader from the very beginning. In the visitor’s questions about the state of affairs in the province, one senses something more than simple curiosity; When meeting another 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 wandered almost the whole day in search of Manilovka-Zamanilovka, and then talked with the sweet landowner and his wife, Ch. “opens his cards”, offering to buy from Manilova dead the souls of peasants listed as alive according to the audit. Ch. does not say why he needs this; But in itself, the anecdotal situation of “purchasing” dead souls for their subsequent pawning to the guardianship council - to which Pushkin drew Gogol’s attention - was not exceptional.
Having gotten lost on the way back from Manilov, Ch. ends up on the estate of the widow-landowner Korobochka (chapter 3); Having bargained with her, the next morning he goes further and meets the violent Nozdryov in the tavern, who lures Ch. to his place (chapter 4). However, here the trade business is not going well; Having agreed to play checkers with the roguish Nozdryov for dead souls, Ch. barely gets away with it. On the way to Sobakevich (chapter 5), Ch.'s chaise hooks up with a cart in which rides a 16-year-old girl with golden hair and an oval face, gentle as an egg in the sun in the dark hands of the housekeeper. While the men - Andryushka and Uncle Mityai with Uncle Minyai - are unraveling the carriages, Ch., despite all the cautious coolness of his character, dreams of sublime love; however, in the end, his thoughts switch to his favorite topic about the 200 thousand dowry, and under the impression of these thoughts, Ch. enters Sobakevich’s village. Having finally 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.)
Immediately realizing who he was dealing with, Ch. (chapter 6) assures Plyushkin that he just wants to take on his tax costs; Having acquired 120 dead souls here and adding several runaways to them, he returns to the city to draw up papers for the purchased peasants.
In Chapter 7, he visits a large 3-story government house, white as chalk (“to depict the purity of the souls of the positions housed in it”). The moral description of the bureaucracy (Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinnoye Rylo is especially colorful) also revolves around the image of Ch. Here he meets Sobakevich, sitting with the chairman; Sobakevich almost let it slip, inappropriately mentioning the carriage maker Mikheev, whom the chairman knew, who had been sold to Ch. Nevertheless, the hero gets away with everything; in this scene, he first announces that he intends to “take out” the purchased souls to new lands in the Kherson province.
Everyone goes to a party with police chief Alexei Ivanovich, who takes more bribes than his predecessors, but is loved by merchants for his affectionate treatment and nepotism, and therefore is revered as a “miracle worker.” After olive-colored vodka, the chairman expresses a playful thought about the need to marry Ch., and he, becoming emotional, reads Werther’s message to Charlotte to Sobakevich. (This humorous episode will soon receive important plot development.) In chapter 8, Ch.’s name begins to become surrounded by rumors for the first time - so far exclusively positive and flattering for him. (Through the absurdity of these rumors, Gogol’s extensive plan for the three-volume poem “Dead Souls” as a “small epic”, a religious-moralistic epic, unexpectedly emerges. Residents of the city of NN discuss the purchase of Ch. and speak of the peasants he acquired in this way: they are now scoundrels, but having moved to a new land, they can suddenly become excellent subjects. This is exactly what Gogol intended to do in the 2nd and 3rd volumes with the souls of some of the “scoundrels” of the 1st volume. - first of all.) However, too high hints are immediately grounded; rumors about the millionaire make him unusually popular 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 (chapter 8) is the climax; after it, events, having taken a new turn, move towards a denouement. Ch., admired by the beauty of the 16-year-old governor’s daughter, is not kind enough to the ladies who form a “brilliant garland.” The offense is not forgiven; Having just found in Ch.’s face something even Marsian and military (this comparison will later be echoed in the postmaster’s remark that Napoleon’s figure is no different from Ch.) the ladies are now ready in advance for his transformation into a “villain.” And when the unrestrained Nozdryov shouts across the hall: “What? did you sell a lot of dead people? - this, despite the dubious reputation of Nozdryov the liar, decides the “fate” of Ch. Moreover, that same night Korobochka arrives in the city and tries to find out if she was cheap with the dead souls.
The next morning the rumors take a completely new direction. Before the time customary for visits in the city of NN, “just a pleasant lady” (Sofya Ivanovna) comes to “a lady pleasant in all respects” (Anna Grigorievna); after arguing over the pattern, the ladies come to the conclusion that Ch. is someone like “Rinald Rinaldin,” the robber from the novel by X. Volpius, and his ultimate goal is to take away the governor’s daughter with the assistance of Nozdryov.
Before the reader’s eyes, Ch. turns from a “real” character in the novel into a hero of fantastic rumors. To enhance the effect of replacing the hero with a provincial legend about him, Gogol “sends” a three-day cold to Ch., removing him from the sphere of plot action. Now on the pages of the novel, instead of Ch., his double, the character of rumors, acts. In Chapter 10, the rumors reach their climax; to begin with, comparing Ch. with a rich Jew, then identifying him with a counterfeiter, residents (and especially officials) gradually turn Ch. into a fugitive Napoleon and almost an Antichrist.
Ch. recovers and, having again taken his place in the plot and displacing his “double” outside the novel, 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. The decision was made to leave the city early in the morning. However, having overslept, Ch. must also wait until the “blacksmith-robbers” shoe the horses (chapter 11). And therefore, at the moment of departure, he is faced with funeral procession. The prosecutor, unable to withstand the strain of 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, rides into the unknown, the whole “sour and unpleasant” life of the hero unfolds before the reader. Born into a noble family (Ch.'s parents had official or personal nobility - it is unknown) to a mother who was a grandiose and from a father who was a gloomy loser, he retained one memory from childhood - a “snow-covered” window, one feeling - the pain of an edge twisted by his father’s fingers ear. Brought to the city by a hunchbacked coachman on a fly pinto horse, Ch. is shocked by the city's splendor (almost like Captain Kopeikin by St. Petersburg). Before separation, the father gives his son the main advice that sank the topic into his soul: “save a penny,” and several additional ones: please your elders, don’t mix with your comrades.
All school life Ch. turns into continuous accumulation. He sells treats to his comrades, a bullfinch molded from wax, and sews them into bags for 5 rubles. The teacher, who values ​​obedience most of all, singles out the meek Ch.; he receives a certificate and a book with golden letters, but when later the old teacher is kicked out of school and he gets drunk, Ch. donates only 5 kopecks of silver to help him. Not out of stinginess, but out of indifference and following his father’s “covenant.”
By that time, the father will die (who, contrary to advice, did not save “a penny”); Having sold a dilapidated house for 1000 rubles, Ch. will move to the city and begin an official career in the treasury chamber. Diligence does not help; the boss’s marble face with frequent rowan ridges and potholes is a symbol of callousness. But, having wooed his ugly daughter, Ch. gains confidence; having received a “gift” from his future father-in-law - a promotion, he immediately forgets about the appointed wedding (“he cheated, he cheated, you damn son!”).
Having made money from a commission for the construction of some very capital structure, Ch. loses everything due to the beginning of the persecution of bribery. We have to do " new quarry", at customs. For a long time refraining from bribery, Ch. acquires a reputation as an incorruptible official and presents to his superiors a project to capture all the smugglers. Having received authority, he enters into an agreement with smugglers and, with the help of a cunning plan, enriches himself. But again failure - the secret denunciation of the “accomplice”.
Having avoided trial with great difficulty, Ch. begins his career for the third time with a clean slate in the despicable position of a sworn attorney. It is then that it dawns on him that it is possible to place dead souls in the guardianship council as living ones; the village of Pavlovskoye in the Kherson province looms before his mental gaze, and Ch. gets down to business.
So the end of the 1st volume of the poem returns the reader to the very beginning; The last ring of Russian hell is closing. But, according to the compositional logic of “Dead Souls”, the lowest point is combined with the top, the limit of the fall is with the beginning of the revival of the individual. 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 the “purgatory” of Siberian exile - and a complete moral resurrection as a result.
Glimpses of this glorious plot future of Ch. are noticeable already in the 1st volume. The point is not only that the author, as if justifying himself to the reader for why he chose a “scoundrel” as a hero, nevertheless pays tribute to the irresistible strength of his character. The final parable about “useless”, worthless Russian people - the domestic philosopher Kief Mokievich, who puts his life into solving the question of why the beast will be born naked? Why doesn't the egg hatch? and about Mokiya Kifovich, a hesitant hero who does not know what to do with his strength, sharply sets off the image of Ch. - the owner, the “acquirer”, in whom the energy is still purposeful. It is much more important that Ch., ready to think every minute about the “strong woman”, vigorous as a turnip; about a 200 thousand dowry - at the same time, he actually reaches out to young, unspoiled college girls, as if seeing in them his own lost purity of soul and freshness. In the same way, the author from time to time seems to “forget” about the insignificance of Ch. and surrenders to the power of the lyrical element, turning the dusty road into a symbol of the all-Russian path to the “Temple”, and indirectly likening the chariot to the fiery chariot of the immortal prophet Elijah: “The mighty space envelops me terribly Uh! what a sparkling, wonderful, unknown distance to the earth! Rus!.."
Nevertheless, in the “acquirer” Ch. a new evil has been revealed, imperceptibly invading the borders of Russia and the whole world - a quiet, average, “enterprising” evil, and the more terrible it is, the less impressive it is. Chichikov's “averageness” is emphasized from the very beginning - in the description of his appearance. Before the reader is a “mediocre gentleman”, not too fat, not too thin, not too old, not too young. Ch.'s suit is bright - made of lingonberry-colored fabric with a sparkle; his nose is loud, rattling like a trumpet when he blows his nose; His appetite is remarkable, allowing him to eat a whole pig with horseradish and sour cream at 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 like his famous box (in the very middle there is a soap dish: 6-7 narrow partitions for razors, square nooks for a sandbox and an inkwell; the most important, hidden drawer of this box is intended for money).:
When the officials, after the story about Captain Kopeikin told by the postmaster, agree to compare Ch. with the Antichrist, they involuntarily guess the truth. The “new Antichrist” of the bourgeois world will be like this - imperceptibly affectionate, insinuating, neat; 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 is for the reformability of human nature. It is no coincidence that the images of most of the heroes of “Dead Souls” (Ch. - first of all) are created according to the “inverted glove” principle; their initially positive qualities have degenerated into a self-sufficient passion; sometimes - as in the case of Ch. - a criminal passion. But if you control passion, return it to its previous boundaries, and direct it for good, the image of the hero himself will completely change, the “glove” will turn from the 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 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 an inheritance of half a copper and a covenant to study diligently, please teachers and bosses and, most importantly, take care and save a penny. In his will, the father said nothing about honor, duty and dignity. Chichikov quickly realized that lofty concepts only interfere with achieving his cherished goal. Therefore, Pavlusha makes her way in life through her own efforts. At school he tried to be a model of obedience, politeness and respect, was distinguished by exemplary behavior, and received praise from teachers. After finishing his studies, he enters the government chamber, where he does his best to please the boss and even takes care of his daughter. Finding yourself in any new situation, in a new environment,
he immediately becomes “one of our own.” He has comprehended the “great secret of being liked,” he speaks with each of the characters in his language, discusses topics close to the interlocutor. The soul is still alive in this hero, but each 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, deception, bribery, embezzlement, fraud at customs - the hero sees the meaning of life only in acquisition, accumulation. But for Chichikov, money is a means, not a goal: he wants well-being, a decent life for himself. What distinguishes his children from the rest of the characters in the poem is his strength of character and determination. Having set himself a certain task, he stops at nothing and shows perseverance, perseverance and incredible ingenuity to achieve it.

He is not like the crowd, he is active, active and enterprising. Manilov's dreaminess and Korobochka's innocence are alien to Chichikov. He is not greedy, like Plyushkin, but also not prone to careless revelry, like Nozdryov. His entrepreneurial spirit is not like Sobakevich’s rude efficiency. All this speaks of his obvious superiority.

A characteristic feature of Chichikov is the incredible versatility of his nature. Gogol emphasizes that people like Chichikov are not easy to unravel. Appearing in the provincial town under the guise of a landowner, Chichikov very quickly wins everyone's sympathy. He knows how to show himself as a secular, comprehensively developed and decent person. He can carry on any conversation and at the same time speaks “neither loudly nor quietly, but absolutely as it should.” He knows how to find his own special approach to each person in whom Chichikov is interested. Flaunting his goodwill towards people, he is only interested in taking advantage of their location. Chichikov very easily “reincarnates”, changes his behavior, but never. does not forget about his goals.

In a conversation with Manilov, he looks almost exactly like Manilov himself: he is just as courteous and sensitive. Chichikov knows very well how to make a strong impression on Manilov, and therefore does not skimp on all kinds of emotional outpourings. However, when talking with Korobochka, Chichikov does not show any particular gallantry or spiritual gentleness. He quickly unravels the essence of her character and therefore behaves cheekily and unceremoniously. You can’t get over the box with delicacy, and Chichikov, after long attempts to reason with her, “completely went beyond the boundaries of all patience, slammed the chair on the floor in his heart and promised her the devil.” When meeting with Nozdrev Chichikov flexibly adapts to his unbridled behavior. Nozdryov recognizes only “friendly” relations, speaks to Chichikov on a first-name basis, and he behaves as if they were old bosom buddies. When Nozdryov boasts, Chichikov remains silent, as if he has no doubt about the veracity of what he heard.

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov

Chichikov is the main character of the poem; he appears in all chapters. It was he who came up with the idea of ​​a scam with dead souls, it was he who travels around Russia, meeting with the most different characters and getting into a variety of situations.
The characteristics of Chichikov are 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 not 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, maintaining a conversation on a variety of topics, skillfully flattered the governor, the police chief, and officials and formed the most flattering opinion of himself. Gogol himself tells us that he did not take a “virtuous man” as his hero; he immediately stipulates that his hero is a scoundrel.
"Dark and humble origins of our hero." The author tells us that his parents were nobles, but whether they were nobles or private - God knows. Chichikov's face did not resemble his parents. As a child, he had neither a friend nor a comrade. His father was ill, and the windows of the small little house did not open in winter or summer. Gogol says about Chichikov: “At the beginning, life looked at him somehow sourly and unpleasantly, through some cloudy window covered with snow...”
“But in life everything changes quickly and vividly...” Father brought Pavel to the city and instructed him to go to classes. Of the money his father gave him, he did not spend a penny, but rather added to it. He learned to speculate from childhood. Having left school, he immediately got down to business and service. Through speculation, he was able to get his boss to give him a promotion. After the arrival of the new boss, Chichikov moved to another city and began serving at customs, which was his dream. “Of the assignments, he received, by the way, one thing: to arrange for the inclusion of several hundred peasants in the guardianship council.” And then the idea came to his mind to carry out one little business, which is discussed in the poem.

CHICHIKOV is the hero of N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” (first volume, 1842, under the censored title “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls”; second, volume 1842-1845). According to your leader artistic principle - 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 image of Ch., the essence of which is fictitiousness (A. Bely), imaginaryness, conformism: “not handsome, but not of a bad appearance, neither too fat, nor too thin, one cannot say that he is old, however, it’s not that he’s too young.” In Ch.’s portrait, both positive and negative principles are equally discarded, all any significant external and internal personality traits are rejected, reduced to zero, leveled out. The name and patronymic of Ch. - Pavel Ivanovich, - round and euphonious, but not eccentric, also emphasizes Ch.’s desire to merge with the environment, to be moderately noticeable (“a lingonberry-colored tailcoat with a spark”), at the same time similar to others (“never does not allow himself an indecent word”, “in his techniques... something solid”), adhering to the principle of the “golden mean”. Ch.’s appearance comically intertwines the features of ceremonial delicacy and rough physiology: “knew how to flatter everyone,” “entered sideways,” “sat obliquely,” “answered by bowing his head,” “put a carnation in his nose,” “brought a snuff-box with violets at the bottom.” "; on the other hand, “he rubbed his cheeks with soap for a long time, propping them with his tongue,” “he blew his nose extremely loudly,” “his nose sounded like a trumpet,” “he plucked two hairs from his nose.” In Ch. Gogol metonymically highlights his nose (cf. Major Kovalev, whose nose disappeared): “stuck his nose forward.” Ch.’s nose is “thunderous” (A. Bely), compared to a “rogue trumpet”, quacking too loudly in the orchestra, thereby Gogol introduces ironic dissonance into the harmonious roundness of Ch.’s face (“full face”, “like a little face and a little cashew” ", "snow-white cheek"), emphasizing the irrepressible energy of the acquirer ("nose in the wind"), to whom fate generously distributes clicks on the nose, which is too long. Ch.'s image is multifunctional. Ch. is the center of the so-called “mirage intrigue” (Yu. Mann). Like the knight errant of a medieval novel or the tramp of a picaresque novel, Ch. is in constant motion, on the road, he is comparable to Homer’s Odysseus. True, unlike the 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. performs his “exploits”. Ch.'s biography (chapter 11) is a series of preliminary acts 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 the half ruble left to him by his father: “he molded a bullfinch out of wax,” painted it and sold it at a profit; resold to hungry classmates a bun or gingerbread bought ahead of time at the market; I trained a mouse for two months and also sold it at a profit. Ch. turned half a ruble into five rubles and sewed it into a bag (cf. Korobochka). In his service, Ch. is a member of the commission for the construction of a “very capital state-owned structure,” which is not built above the foundation for six years. Meanwhile, Ch. builds a house, gets a cook, a couple of horses, buys Dutch shirts, and soap “to make the skin smooth.” Convicted of fraud, Ch. suffers a fiasco, loses his money and prosperity, but seems to be reborn from the ashes, becomes a customs official, and receives a bribe of half a million from smugglers. The secret denunciation of his partner almost brings Ch. to a criminal court; Only with the help of bribes does Ch. manage to escape punishment. Having begun to buy from the landowners the serfs who appear in the “revision tales” as living ones, Ch. intends to pawn them on the Guardian Council and hit the jackpot for “fufu,” as he puts it. A “mirage intrigue” begins to develop due to the unheard of, the riskiness and ambiguity of the deal offered by Ch. to the landowners. The scandal that erupted around dead souls, started at the governor’s ball by Nozdryov and reinforced by the frightened Korobochka, develops into a grandiose mystery of the fantastic Russian reality of Nicholas’s 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, connecting the and another with an incomprehensible and formidable Providence. (Compare Gogol’s words: “gossip is woven by the devil, not by man. A person, out of idleness or stupidity, blurts out a word without meaning, the word goes for a walk and little by little the story will weave itself, without the knowledge of everyone. It’s crazy to find the real author of it and it’s all deception in the world , everything seems to us not what it really is. It is difficult, difficult for us to live, forgetting at every moment that our actions will be audited by the One Who cannot be bribed with anything.") Further, Ch. in the retelling of “the simply pleasant lady” appears as a robber. Rinaldo Rinaldini, “armed from head to toe” and extorting dead souls from Korobochka, so that “the whole village came running, the children were crying, everyone was screaming, no one understood 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 set off each in their own direction to riot the city.” Two hostile parties emerged: male and female. The woman claimed that Ch. “decided to kidnap” because he was married and his wife wrote a letter to the governor. The men's room mistook Ch. at the same time for an auditor, for a disguised Napoleon who had escaped 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 fever as a result of his negligence; the chairman of the civil chamber was frightened that he became Plyushkin’s attorney in registering the fortress for “dead souls”; officials remembered how recently the Solvychegodsk merchants, having gone on a spree, “went to death” of the Ust-Sysolsk merchants, gave a bribe to the court, after which the court issued a verdict that the Ust-Sysolsk merchants “died from intoxication”; In addition, state-owned peasants killed the assessor of the zemstvo police, Drobyazhkin, because he “was as lascivious as a cat.” The governor at once received two government papers about the search for a counterfeiter and a robber, both of whom could turn out to be Ch. As a result of all these rumors, the prosecutor died. In the 2nd volume, Ch. is associated with the Antichrist, Rus' is shaking even more, the released word causes unrest among schismatics (“An 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 non-Antichrists"), as well as muzhik riots against landowners and police captains, for "some vagabonds passed rumors among them that a time was coming, that men should be landowners and dress up in tailcoats, and landowners should dress up in army coats and be men "

Another function of Ch.’s image is aesthetic. Ch.'s image is made up of metaphors, colored to varying degrees in epic, ironic, or parody tones: “a barge among the fierce waves” of life, “an insignificant worm of this world,” “a blister on the water.” Despite the solidity, sedateness, and physical tangibility of Ch. (“he was heavy,” “the tummy is a drum”), despite the concern for future descendants and the desire to become an exemplary landowner, the essence of Ch. is mimicry, proteanness, and the ability to take the shape of any vessel. Ch. changes faces depending on the situation and the interlocutor, often becoming the likeness of the landowner with whom he is bargaining: with Manilov, Ch. is sweet-voiced and helpful, his speech is like sugar syrup; with Korobochka he behaves more simply and even promises her the devil, becoming enraged by her “club-headedness”; with Sobakevich, Ch. is tight-fisted and stingy, the same “fist” as Sobakevich himself, they both see each other as swindlers; With Nozdryov, Ch. behaves in a familiar manner, on a first-name basis, explaining the reasons for the purchase in the style of Nozdryov himself: “Oh, how curious: he would like to touch all sorts of rubbish with his hand, and even smell it!” Finally, in profile Ch. “really looks like a portrait of Napoleon,” because 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” and contains in embryo all the essential spiritual properties of these characters. Just like Korobochka, who collected separate rubles, fifty rubles, and quarter rubles into colorful bags, Ch. sews five rubles into a bag. Like Manilov, Ch. is a beautiful-hearted dreamer, when, having seen on the road the pretty face of the governor’s daughter, “like a fresh egg,” he begins to dream of marriage and a two hundred thousand dowry, and at the governor’s ball he almost falls in love: “apparently, the Chichikovs are several minutes in life they turn into poets.” Like Plyushkin, Ch. collects all sorts of rubbish in a box: a poster torn from a pole, a used ticket, etc. Ch.’s box is the female hypostasis of the image. A. Bely calls her Ch.’s “wife” (cf. Bash-Machkin’s overcoat - his wife, who turned out to be a “lover for one night”), where the heart is “a small hidden box for money that pulled out imperceptibly from the side of the box.” It contains the secret of Ch.’s soul, a “double bottom,” so to speak. The box correlates with the image of the Box (A. Bitov), ​​which lifts the veil over the secret of Ch. Another hypostasis of the image of Ch. is his chaise. According to A. Bely, horses represent Ch.’s abilities, especially the forelock - a “cunning” horse, symbolizing Ch.’s fraud. , “why the three’s move is a lateral move.” The root bay and brown brown color are working horses, which inspires Gogol with hope for the resurrection of Ch. “from the dead”, corresponds to his ideal of directing the rushing Rus'-troika along the main Christian path, along which European countries that have deviated from the path should follow Russia .

The ethical function of the image of Ch. According to Gogol, Ch. is an unrighteous acquirer (“Acquisition is the fault of everything,” Chapter 11). Ch.’s scam itself stems from the “case of Peter”; it was he who introduced the audit of serfs, marking the beginning of the bureaucratization of Russia. Ch. is a Westerner (D. Merezhkovsky), and Gogol debunks the European cult of money. The latter determines Ch.’s ethical relativism: as a schoolboy, he “pleases” the teacher, who brings “arrogant and disobedient” students to their knees and starves them; Ch., on the contrary, sits on the bench without moving, hands the teacher his three-piece hat with a ringing bell, and takes off his hat three times; when the teacher is expelled from the school, the “arrogant and rebellious” collect money to help him, Ch. gives “a nickel of silver, which his comrades immediately threw away, saying: “Oh, you vein!”” The teacher, having learned about the betrayal of his beloved student - Ch., said: “He cheated, he cheated me 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 police officer, even if she is an old maid with a pockmarked face, but as soon as the police officer knocks out Ch.’s place too a police officer in another office, Ch. sends his chest home and moves out of the police officer’s apartment. “He cheated, he cheated, you damn son!” - the police officer was angry. Such actions by Ch. allow D.S. Merezhkovsky and V.V. Nabokov to bring Ch. closer to the devil. “Ch. is just a lowly paid agent of the devil, a hellish traveling salesman: “our Mr. Ch.”, as they might call joint stock company“Satan and Co.” of this good-natured, well-fed, but internally trembling representative. The vulgarity that Ch. personifies is one of the main distinctive properties the devil..." (Nabokov). The essence of Khlestakov and Ch. is “the eternal middle, neither this nor that - complete vulgarity, two modern Russian faces, two hypostases of eternal and universal evil - a trait” (Merezhkovsky). How illusory the power of money is is evidenced by Ch.'s periodic falls and financial collapses, the constant risk of going to jail, wanderings around cities and villages, and the scandalous publicity of Ch.'s secrets. Gogol emphasizes the parodic contrast between the heroic entrepreneurial energy of Ch., who strives to build capital on corpses ("To the People , thank God, quite a few died out..."), and an insignificant result: the inevitable fiasco of Ch. (Compare the words of Murazov: "if only with such will and perseverance, but for a good deed!".) The soteriological function (of salvation) is that that Ch., like other heroes, was supposed to, according to Gogol’s plan, be resurrected in the third volume of the poem, which would be structured similarly to Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” (“Hell”, “Purgatory”, “Paradise”, where the part corresponds to that) . Ch. himself, in addition, would act as a savior. Hence his name corresponds with 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). Noted by A. Gol-denberg). Like the Apostle Paul, Ch., at a moment of sudden crisis, had to turn from a sinner into a righteous man and teacher of the faith. In the meantime, Ch.’s chaise gets deeper and deeper into the mud, falls “as if into a hole” (E. Smirnova), plunges into hell, where “the 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, and are contrasted with Ch., Plyushkin, Sobakevich (G.A. Gukovsky), forming two opposite Russias. Thus, Ch., like Christ who descended into hell, frees dead souls and brings them out of oblivion. The “dead”, although physically alive, unrighteous Russia of landowners and officials, according to Gogol’s utopia, must be reunited with righteous peasant Russia, where Ch.

The biographical function of the image Ch. Gogol endows him with his own passions, for example, a love for boots: “In another corner, between the door and the window, boots were lined up in a row: some not quite new, others quite new, patent leather ankle boots and sleeping ones” (2nd vol. , 1st chapter). (See A. Arnoldi's memoirs.) Ch., like Gogol, - eternal bachelor, a tumbleweed, living in hotels, with strangers, dreaming of becoming a householder and landowner. Just like Gogol, Ch. is characterized by a universalism of interests, albeit in a reduced, parodic form: “whether we were talking about a horse factory, he talked about a horse factory; they were talking about good dogs, and here he made very practical comments and did not miss in the billiard game; did they talk 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 Ch.’s consciousness, identifying his ideology with the ideology of the hero.

Gogol himself defined the genre works of the Dead souls (1842) as a poem. . There is a direct reference to the Pushkin tradition here, because and the plot itself was suggested by Pushkin shortly before his death.

Therefore, a contrast arises: if Eugene Onegin is a novel in verse, then Dead Souls is, accordingly, a poem in prose. Dead Souls is constructed according to a similar scheme; the text contains lyrical digressions, although the work itself is epic.

Gogol's Dead Souls Genre

Thus, it can be said that Gogol correctly defined the genre: the merging of lyricism and epic is what produces a poem. If it weren't for lyrical digressions, there would have been a novel based on strong Pushkin traditions.

Dead souls also have traits of sentimentalism. This is a travel novel. Although Chichikov’s trip does not have any sentimental motives, the fact itself is important. The poem ends symbolically: like Chatsky in Woe from Wit, Chichikov travels along the road away from the city, he strives towards a new life.

The poem can also be called following European tradition, a picaresque novel: the main character here is a conman who deceives everyone he meets. His scam is to buy more peasants and thus get free land from the state.

But he is not going to become a full-fledged landowner, so he does not need peasants as workers. Because of this, he buys so-called landowners from other landowners. dead souls (according to the poll tax law, each soul was taxed until death was reported. Landowners often did not report the death of their peasants), thus helping both themselves and the sellers.

Dead souls: characteristics of heroes

As for the heroes of the poem, Gogol set himself the task of depicting the three main Russian classes: landowners, peasants and officials. Particular attention is paid to the landowners from whom Chichikov buys up dead souls: Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Plyushkin and Sobakevich.

The officials in this poem are quite similar to landowners. A very expressive character is the provincial prosecutor, who dies of shock after learning about Chichikov’s scam. So it turns out that he also knew how to feel. But in general, according to Gogol, officials only know how to take bribes.

Peasants are episodic characters, there are very few of them in the poem: serfs of landowners, random people they meet... Peasants are a mystery. Chichikov thinks for a long time about the Russian people, fantasizes, looking at the long list of dead souls.

And finally, the main character, Chichikov, does not fully belong to any of the classes. In his image, Gogol creates fundamentally new type The hero is the owner-acquirer, whose main goal is to accumulate more funds.

/S.P. Shevyrev (1806-1864). The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls. Poem by N. Gogol. Article one/

Let's carefully go through the gallery of these strange persons who live their own special, full life in the world where Chichikov performs his exploits. We will not disturb the order in which they are depicted. Let's start with Manilov, assuming that it is not without reason that the author himself begins with him. Almost thousands of faces are brought together in this one person. Manilov represents a lot of people living inside Russia, about whom we can say together with the author: people are so-so, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan. If you want, they are generally good people, but empty; They praise everyone and everything, but their praises are of no use. They live in the village, don’t do housework, but look at everything with a calm and kind look and, smoking a pipe (a pipe is an inevitable attribute of theirs), indulge in idle dreams like how to build a stone bridge across a pond and set up shops on it. The kindness of their soul is reflected in their family tenderness: they love to kiss, but that’s all. The emptiness of their sweet and cloying life echoes the pampering of children and bad upbringing. Their dreamy inaction affected their entire economy; look at their villages: they will all look like Manilov. Gray log huts, no greenery anywhere; there is only one log everywhere; pond in the middle; two women with a nonsense in which two crayfish and a roach are entangled, and a plucked rooster with its head gouged to the brain (yes, in such people in the village even the rooster must certainly be plucked) - these are the necessary external signs of their rural life, to which even and the day is light gray, because in sunlight such a picture would not be so interesting. There is always some kind of deficiency in their house, and with furniture upholstered in smart material, there will certainly be two chairs covered in canvas. With any business issue, they always turn to their clerk, even if they happened to sell some of the rural products.<…>

Box- this is a completely different matter! This is the type of active landowner-housewife; she lives entirely on her own farm; she knows nothing else. In appearance, you will call her a penny-pincher, looking at how she collects fifty dollars and quarters in different bags, but, looking at her more closely, you will give justice to her activities and involuntarily say that she is a minister of all sorts in her business. Look how orderly she is everywhere. The contentment of the inhabitants is visible in the peasant huts; the gates were not askew anywhere; The old boards on the roofs have been replaced with new ones everywhere. Look at her rich chicken coop! Her rooster is not like Manilov’s in the village - it’s a dandy rooster. All the birds, as you can see, have been so accustomed to the caring housewife, they seem to form one family with her and come close to the windows of her house; That’s why at Korobochka’s a not entirely polite meeting could take place between the Indian rooster and the guest Chichikov. Housekeeping her everything goes full hand: It seems that Fetinya is the only one in the house, and look at those cookies! and what a huge down jacket took the tired Chichikov into its depths! - And what a wonderful memory Nastasya Petrovna has! How she, without any note, told Chichikov by heart the names of all her extinct men! Have you noticed that the men of Korobochka differ from other landowner men by some unusual nicknames: do you know why this is?

The box is on her mind: she already has what is hers, then firmly hers; and the men are also marked with special names, just as a bird is marked by careful owners so that it does not run away. That is why it was so difficult for Chichikov to settle matters with her: although she loves to sell and sells every household product, she also looks at dead souls in the same way as lard, for hemp or honey, believing that they too might be needed on the farm. She tormented Chichikov to the point of sweat with her difficulties, all citing the fact that the product was new, strange, unprecedented. She could only be frightened by the devil, because Korobochka must be superstitious. But it’s a disaster if she happens to sell some of her goods cheap: it’s as if her conscience is not at peace - and therefore it’s no wonder that, having sold dead souls and then thinking about them, she galloped into town in her travel watermelon, stuffed with chintz pillows and bread , rolls, kokurki, pretzels and other things, she galloped up then to find out for sure how much dead souls are walking around and whether, God forbid, she missed the mark by selling them, perhaps for a fraction of the price.

On the high road, in some wooden, darkened tavern, I met Chichikov Nozdreva, whom I met back in the city: where can I meet such a person, if not in such a tavern? There are quite a few Nozdrevs, the author notes: however, at every Russian fair, even the most insignificant, you will certainly meet at least one Nozdrev, and at another, more important one, of course, several such Nozdrevs. The author says that this type of people in our Rus' is known under the name broken little one: epithets also go to him: careless, eccentric, jumbled, braggart, bully, bully, liar, rubbish person, scoundrel, etc. The third time they tell their friend - You; at fairs they buy everything that comes into their head, such as, for example: clamps, smoking candles, a dress for a nanny, a stallion, raisins, a silver washstand, Dutch linen, fine flour, tobacco, pistols, herrings, paintings, a sharpening tool - in a word , their purchases are as jumbled as their heads. In their villages, they love to brag and lie without mercy, and call everything theirs that does not belong to them. Don’t trust their words, tell them to their faces that they are talking nonsense: they are not offended. They have a great passion to show everything in their village, although there is nothing to look at, and to boast to everyone: this passion shows cordiality - a trait of the Russian people - and vanity, another trait, also dear to us.

The Nozdryovs are big hunters of change. Nothing sits still for them, and everything must revolve around them as well as in their heads. Friendly endearments and curses flow from their tongues at the same time, getting mixed up in a stream of obscene words. God forbid from their dinner and from any shortness with them! In the game they brazenly cheat - and are ready to fight if you notice it to them. They have a special passion for dogs - and the kennel yard is in great order: doesn’t this come from some kind of sympathy? for there is something truly canine in the Nozdrevs’ character. It is impossible to get along with them in any way: that is why at first it even seems strange that Chichikov, such an intelligent and businesslike fellow, who recognized the person from the first time, who he was and how to speak to him, decided to enter into relations with Nozdryov. Such a mistake, for which Chichikov himself later repented, can, however, be explained by two Russian proverbs: that simplicity is enough for every wise man and that a Russian man is strong in hindsight. But Chichikov paid the price later; without Nozdryov, who would have so alarmed the city and caused all the turmoil at the ball, which caused such an important revolution in Chichikov’s affairs?

But Nozdryov must give way to a huge type Sobakevich. <…>

It sometimes happens in nature that a person’s appearance is deceiving and under a strange monstrous image you meet a kind soul and a soft heart. But in Sobakevich, the external perfectly, exactly, corresponds to the internal. His outer image is imprinted on all his words, actions and everything that surrounds him. His awkward house, full-weight and thick logs used for stables, barns and kitchens; the dense huts of the peasants, marvelously cut down; a well lined with strong oak, suitable for a ship's structure; in the rooms there are portraits with thick thighs and endless mustaches, the Greek heroine Bobelina with a leg in her torso, a pot-bellied walnut bureau on the most absurd four legs; a blackbird of a dark color - in a word, everything surrounding Sobakevich looks like him and can, together with the table, armchairs, chairs, sing in chorus: and we are all Sobakevich!

Look at his dinner: every dish will repeat the same thing to you. This colossal nanny, consisting of a mutton stomach stuffed with buckwheat porridge, brains and legs; cheesecakes are larger than a plate; a turkey the size of a calf, stuffed with God knows what - how similar all these dishes are to the owner himself!<…>

Talk to Sobakevich: all the calculated dishes will be regurgitated in every word that comes out of his mouth. All his speeches echo the entire abomination of his physical and moral nature. He cuts down everything and everyone, just as he himself was cut down by the merciless nature: his whole city is fools, robbers, swindlers, and even the most decent people in his dictionary they mean the same thing as pigs. You, of course, have not forgotten Fonvizinsky Skotinin: if he is not native, then, according to at least, godfather to Sobakevich, but one cannot help but add that the godson outdid his father.

“Sobakevich’s soul seemed to be covered with such a thick shell that whatever was tossing and turning at the bottom of it did not produce absolutely any shock on the surface,” says the author. So the body overpowered everything in him, covered the whole person and became incapable of expressing emotional movements.

His gluttonous nature also manifested itself in his greed for money. The mind operates in him, but only to the extent that he needs to cheat and make money. Sobakevich is exactly like Caliban 1, in whom only evil cunning remains from his mind. But in his inventiveness he is funnier than Caliban. How skillfully he screwed Elizabeth Sparrow into the list of male souls and how cunningly he began to poke a small fish with a fork, having first eaten a whole sturgeon, and played out the hungry innocence! It was difficult to get things done with Sobakevich, because he is a fist man; his tough nature loves to bargain; but once the matter was settled, it was possible to remain calm, for Sobakevich was a respectable and firm man and would stand up for himself.

The gallery of persons with whom Chichikov does his business is concluded by a miser Plyushkin. The author notes that such a phenomenon rarely occurs in Rus', where everything likes to unfold rather than shrink. Here, just like with other landowners, Plyushkin’s village and his house depict to us outwardly the character and soul of the owner himself. The logs on the huts are dark and old; the roofs are leaky like a sieve, the windows in the huts are without glass, covered with a rag or a zipun, the church, with its yellow walls, is stained and cracked. The house looks like a decrepit invalid; its windows are shuttered or boarded up; on one of them there is a dark triangle made of blue sugar paper. Decaying buildings all around, dead, carefree silence, gates always locked tightly, and a giant castle hanging on an iron loop - all this prepares us for a meeting with the owner himself and serves as a sad living attribute of his soul shut up alive. You take a break from these sad, heavy impressions in a rich picture of a garden, although overgrown and decayed, but picturesque in its desolation: here you are treated for a moment by the poet’s wonderful sympathy for nature, which all lives under his warm gaze on her, and yet in the depths In this wild and hot picture, you seem to be peering into the story of the life of the owner himself, in whom the soul has just died out, like nature in the wilderness of this garden.

Go to Plyushkin's house; everything here will tell you about him before you see him. Piled up furniture, a broken chair, on the table a clock with a stopped pendulum, to which a spider had attached its web; a bureau lined with mother-of-pearl mosaic, which in some places has already fallen out and left behind only yellow grooves filled with glue; on the bureau there are a bunch of finely written pieces of paper, a lemon, all dried up, a broken armchair, a glass with some liquid and three flies, covered with a letter, a piece of sealing wax, a piece of a rag picked up somewhere, two feathers, stained with ink, dried out, as if in consumption , a toothpick, completely yellowed, with which the owner, perhaps, picked his teeth even before the French invasion of Moscow... Further, paintings on the walls, blackened by time, a chandelier in a canvas bag, the dust made it look like a silk cocoon in which a worm sits, a pile of various rubbish in the corner, from where a broken piece of a wooden shovel and an old boot sole protruded, and the only sign of a living creature in the whole house, a worn cap lying on the table... How here Plyushkin is seen in every object, and how wonderful it is in this awkward pile you already recognize the man himself!

But here he is, looking from a distance like his old housekeeper, with an unshaven chin that protrudes very far forward and resembles a comb made of iron wire, such as is used to clean horses in a stable, with gray eyes that scurry from under the high eyebrows... Plyushkin appears to us so vividly, as if we recall him in a painting by Albert Durer in the Doria 2 gallery... Having depicted a face, the poet goes inside it, exposes to you all the dark folds of this hardened soul, tells the psychological metamorphosis of this man: how avarice, having once made a nest in his soul, little by little extended its possessions in it and, having conquered everything, devastated all his feelings, turned a person into an animal which, by some instinct, drags into its hole everything that would suit him. nothing came across on the road - an old sole, a woman’s rag, an iron nail, a clay shard, an officer’s spur, a bucket left by a woman.

Every feeling almost imperceptibly slides over this callous, petrified face... Everything dies, rots and collapses around Plyushkin... It is no wonder that Chichikov could find such a large number of dead and fugitive souls from him, which suddenly multiplied his fantastic population so significantly.

These are the people with whom Chichikov puts his plan into action. All of them, in addition to the special properties that actually belong to each, have one more feature common to all: hospitality, this Russian cordiality towards the guest, which lives in them and persists as if it were a national instinct. It is remarkable that even in Plyushkin this natural feeling was preserved, despite the fact that it was completely contrary to his stinginess: and he considered it necessary to treat Chichikov to tea and ordered the samovar to be put on, but to his happiness, the guest himself, having realized the matter, refused the treat .

In one of his articles, Belinsky notes that “the author of Dead Souls does not speak himself anywhere, he only makes his heroes speak in accordance with their characters. He expresses the sensitive Manilov in the language of a person educated in philistine taste, and Nozdryov in the language of a historical person. ..” The speech of Gogol’s heroes is psychologically motivated, determined by their characters, lifestyle, type of thinking, and situation.

Thus, in Manilov the dominant features are sentimentality, daydreaming, complacency, and excessive sensitivity. These qualities of the hero are extraordinarily accurately conveyed in his speech, elegantly florid, courteous, “delicate”, “sweetly sweet”: “observe delicacy in your actions”, “magnetism of the soul”, “name day of the heart”, “spiritual pleasure”, “ such a guy”, “a most respectable and most amiable person”, “I don’t have the high art of expressing myself”, “chance brought me happiness.”

Manilov gravitates toward bookish, sentimental phrases; in the speech of this character we feel Gogol’s parody of the language of sentimental stories: “Open your mouth, darling, I’ll put this piece in for you.” This is how he addresses his wife. Manilov is no less “kind” with Chichikov: “you honored us with your visit,” “let me ask you to sit in these chairs.”

One of the main features of the landowner’s speech, as V.V. Litvinov noted, is “its vagueness, confusion, and uncertainty.” Starting a phrase, Manilov seems to be under the impression of his own words and cannot clearly finish it.

The hero’s speech style is also characteristic. Manilov speaks quietly, ingratiatingly, slowly, with a smile, sometimes closing his eyes, “like a cat whose ears have been lightly tickled with a finger.” At the same time, the expression on his face becomes “not only sweet, but even cloying, similar to that mixture that the clever secular doctor sweetened mercilessly.”

In Manilov’s speech, his claims to “education” and “culture” are also noticeable. Discussing the sale of dead souls with Pavel Ivanovich, he asks him a pompous and florid question about the legality of this “enterprise.” Manilov is very concerned about “whether this negotiation will not be in accordance with civil regulations and future views of Russia.” At the same time, he shows “in all the features of his face and in his compressed lips such a deep expression, which, perhaps, has never been seen in human face, unless from some too smart minister, and then at the moment of the most puzzling matter.”

The speech of Korobochka, a simple, patriarchal landowner mother, is also characteristic in the poem. The box is completely uneducated and ignorant. In her speech, colloquialisms constantly slip through: “something”, “theirs”, “manenko”, “tea”, “so hot”, “you’re putting up a fight.”

The box is not only simple and patriarchal, but timid and stupid. All these qualities of the heroine are manifested in her dialogue with Chichikov. Fearing deception, some kind of catch, Korobochka is in no hurry to agree to the sale of dead souls, believing that they might “somehow be needed on the farm.” And only Chichikov’s lies about running government contracts had an effect on her.

Gogol also depicts Korobochka’s inner speech, which conveys the landowner’s everyday intelligence, the very trait that helps her collect “little by little money into colorful bags.” “It would be nice,” Korobochka thought to herself, “if he took flour and cattle from my treasury. We need to appease him: there is still some dough left from last night, so go tell Fetinya to make some pancakes...”

Nozd-rev’s speech in “Dead Souls” is unusually colorful. As Belinsky noted, “Nozdryov speaks in the language of a historical man, a hero of fairs, taverns, drinking bouts, fights and gambling tricks.”

The hero's speech is very colorful and varied. It contains both “ugly Frenchized army-restaurant jargon” (“bezeshki”, “clique-matradura”, “burdashka”, “scandalous”), and expressions of card jargon (“banchishka”, “galbik”, “parole”, “break the bank”, “play with a doublet”), and dog breeding terms (“face”, “barrel ribs”, “busty”), and many swear expressions: “svintus”, rascal”, “you’ll get a bald devil”, “fetyuk” , “bestial”, “you’re such a cattle breeder”, “Jewish”, “scoundrel”, “death I don’t like such meltdowns”.

In his speeches, the hero is prone to “improvisation”: often he himself does not know what he can come up with in the next minute. So, he tells Chichikov that at dinner he drank “seventeen bottles of champagne.” Showing the guests the estate, he leads them to a pond where, according to him, there is a fish of such size that two people can hardly pull it out. Moreover, Nozdryov’s lie does not have any apparent reason. He lies “for the sake of words,” wanting to amaze those around him.

Nozdryov is characterized by familiarity: with any person he quickly becomes familiar, “affectionately” calling the interlocutor “sweetheart”, “cattle breeder”, “fetyuk”, “scoundrel”. The landowner is “straightforward”: in response to Chichikov’s request for dead souls, he tells him that he “ big swindler” and it should be hung “on the first tree.” However, after this, Nozdryov, with the same “ardor and interest,” continues the “friendly conversation.”

Sobakevich’s speech is striking in its simplicity, brevity, and accuracy. The landowner lives alone and unsociable; he is skeptical in his own way, has a practical mind, and a sober view of things. Therefore, in his assessments of those around him, the landowner is often rude; his speech contains swear words and expressions. Thus, characterizing city officials, he calls them “swindlers” and “Christ-sellers.” The governor, in his opinion, is “the first robber in the world”, the chairman is a “fool”, the prosecutor is a “pig”.

As V.V. Litvinov notes, Sobakevich immediately grasps the essence of the conversation, the hero is not easily confused, he is logical and consistent in the argument. So, arguing for the price requested for dead souls, he reminds Chichikov that “this kind of purchase... is not always permissible.”

It is characteristic that Sobakevich is capable of a large, inspired speech if the subject of conversation is interesting to him. So, talking about gastronomy, he reveals knowledge of German and French diets, “hunger cure.” Sobakevich’s speech becomes emotional, figurative, and vivid when he talks about the merits of dead peasants. “Another swindler will deceive you, sell you rubbish, not souls; and I have a real nut”, “I’ll lay my head down if you can find such a guy anywhere”, “Maxim Telyatnikov, shoemaker: whatever pricks with an awl, then boots, whatever boots, then thank you.” Describing his “product”, the landowner himself is carried away by his own speech, acquires “trot” and “the gift of speech”.

Gogol also depicts Sobakevich’s inner speech and his thoughts. So, noting Chichikov’s “perseverance,” the landowner remarks to himself: “You can’t knock him down, he’s stubborn!”

The last of the landowners to appear in the poem is Plyushkin. This is an old curmudgeon, suspicious and wary, always dissatisfied with something. Chichikov's visit itself infuriates him. Not at all embarrassed by Pavel Ivanovich, Plyushkin tells him that “being a guest is of little use.” At the beginning of Chichikov's visit, the landowner talks to him warily and irritably. Plyushkin does not know what the guest’s intentions are, and just in case, he warns Chichikov’s “possible attempts”, remembering his beggar-nephew.

However, in the middle of the conversation the situation changes dramatically. Plyushkin understands the essence of Chichikov’s request and becomes indescribably delighted. All his intonations change. Irritation gives way to outright joy, wariness to confidential intonations. Plyushkin, who saw no use in visiting, calls Chichikov “father” and “benefactor.” Touched, the landowner remembers the “lords” and “saints”.

However, Plyushkin does not remain in such complacency for long. Unable to find clean paper to complete the deed of sale, he turns back into a grumpy, grumpy miser. He unleashes all his anger on the servants. Many swear expressions appear in his speech: “what a face”, “fool”, “fool”, “robber”, “swindler”, “rascal”, “the devils will get you”, “thieves”, “shameless parasites”. The landowner’s vocabulary also includes the following colloquialisms: “bayut”, “boogers”, “hefty jackpot”, “tea”, “ehwa”, “stuffed up”, “already”.

Gogol also presents us with Plyushkin’s inner speech, revealing the landowner’s suspicion and mistrust. Chichikov’s generosity seems incredible to Plyushkin, and he thinks to himself: “The devil knows, maybe he’s just a braggart, like all these money-makers: he’ll lie, he’ll lie to talk and drink tea, and then he’ll leave!”

Chichikov's speech, like Manilov's, is unusually elegant, florid, full of bookish phrases: “an insignificant worm of this world,” “I had the honor to cover your deuce.” Pavel Ivanovich has “excellent manners”; he can carry on any conversation - about a horse farm, and about dogs, and about refereeing tricks, and about playing billiards, and about making hot wine. He talks especially well about virtue, “even with tears in his eyes.” Chichikov’s conversational style itself is also characteristic: “He spoke neither loudly nor quietly, but absolutely as he should.”

It is worth noting the hero’s special maneuverability and mobility of speech. When communicating with people, Pavel Ivanovich masterfully adapts to each of his interlocutors. With Manilov, he speaks floridly, significantly, uses “vague periphrases and sensitive maxims.” “And really, what didn’t I suffer? like a barge

among the fierce waves... What persecution, what persecution he did not experience, what grief he did not taste, but for the fact that he observed the truth, that he was clear in his conscience, that he gave his hand to a helpless widow and a wretched orphan!.. - Even he is here! wiped away a tear that rolled out with a handkerchief.”

With Korobochka, Chichikov becomes a kind patriarchal landowner. “Everything is God’s will, mother!” - Pavel Ivanovich states thoughtfully in response to the landowner’s complaints about the numerous deaths among the peasants. However, having realized very soon how stupid and ignorant Korobochka is, he no longer stands on ceremony with her: “get lost and begone with your whole village,” “like some, not to say a bad word, mongrel lying in the hay: and She doesn’t eat it herself, and she doesn’t give it to others.”

In the chapter about Korobochka, Chichikov’s inner speech appears for the first time. Chichikov’s thoughts here convey his dissatisfaction with the situation, irritation, but at the same time the unceremoniousness and rudeness of the hero: “Well, the woman seems to be strong-headed!”, “Eck, what a clubhead!... Go and have fun with her! she broke into a sweat, the damned old woman!”

Chichikov speaks simply and laconically with Nozdryov, “trying to get on familiar footing.” He understands perfectly well that there is no need for thoughtful phrases and colorful epithets here. However, the conversation with the landowner leads nowhere: instead of a successful deal, Chichikov finds himself drawn into a scandal, which ends only thanks to the appearance of the police captain.

With Sobakevich, Chichikov at first adheres to his usual manner of conversation. Then he somewhat reduces his “eloquence.” Moreover, in Pavel Ivanovich’s intonations, while observing all external decency, one can feel impatience and irritation. So, wanting to convince Sobakevich of the complete uselessness of the subject of bargaining, Chichikov declares: “It’s strange to me, right: it seems that some kind of thing is happening between us.” theatrical performance or a comedy, otherwise I can’t explain it to myself... You seem to be a pretty smart person, you have information about education.”

The same feeling of irritation is present in the hero’s thoughts. Here Pavel Ivanovich is no longer shy about “more definite” statements and outright abuse. “What, really,” Chichikov thought to himself, “does he take me for a fool?” Elsewhere we read: “Well, damn him,” Chichikov thought to himself, “I’ll give him half a dime, for the dog’s nuts!”

In a conversation with Plyushkin, Chichikov returns to his usual courtesy and pompous statements. Pavel Ivanovich declares to the landowner that “having heard about his economy and rare management of his estates, he considered it his duty to make his acquaintance and personally pay his respects.” He calls Plyushkin “a venerable, kind old man.” Pavel Ivanovich maintains this tone throughout his conversation with the landowner.

In his thoughts, Chichikov discards “all ceremonies”; his inner speech is far from bookish and quite primitive. Plyushkin is unfriendly and inhospitable towards Pavel Ivanovich. The landowner does not invite him to dinner, citing the fact that his kitchen is “low, very nasty, and the chimney has completely fallen apart, if you start heating it, you’ll start a fire.” “Look there it is! - Chichikov thought to himself. “It’s good that I grabbed a cheesecake and a piece of lamb side from Sobakevich.” Asking Plyushkin about the sale of runaway souls, Pavel Ivanovich first refers to his friend, although he buys them for himself. “No, we won’t even let our friend smell this,” Chichikov said to himself...” Here the hero’s joy from a successful “deal” is clearly felt.

Thus, the speech of the heroes, along with the landscape, portrait, and interior, serves in the poem “Dead Souls” as a means of creating integrity and completeness of the images.