“ALL Rus'” IN N. V. GOGOL’S POEM “DEAD SOULS”
The plot of the poem " Dead Souls“was, as you know, suggested to Gogol by Pushkin. He attracted writers with the opportunity to travel all over Russia with his hero and bring out a wide variety of characters. The reader of Gogol’s poem sees a whole gallery of images of landowners, officials, and peasants. All of Russia is revealed by Gogol in this work.
The self-title of the poem is already somewhat unusual. It seems to me that it has two meanings, two plans. The first is associated with the designation of the revision soul, the serf peasant. It is sold, bartered, given as a gift, lost at cards or checkers - in a word, they treat it in the same way as with a thing or an animal. The title of the poem accurately reflects the cruelty and callousness of Russian reality.
However, Gogol’s concept of “dead souls” refers not only to serfs. After all, deadness is also manifested in the absence of reasonable human interests, in the emptiness and insignificance of activities and aspirations. It is known that the body is subject to death, but the soul, on the contrary, is immortal. In this sense, the definition of “dead soul” expresses extreme lack of spirituality, the complete loss of everything high by a person.
IN " Dead souls"there is no usual for novels love story. In my opinion, Gogol deliberately refuses it. Revealing the ugliness of contemporary Russian life, he shows that not Love, not high feelings, but vulgar calculation, monetary gain turn out to be the main incentives for the behavior of the “dead souls” of the landowner and bureaucratic world.
Let's take a closer look at Chichikov, with whom we are traveling around Russia. By nature, he is by no means an ordinary person, endowed with ingenuity, enterprise and intelligence. The trouble, however, is that everything positive traits his nature is subordinated to the achievement of one mercantile goal - “to save money.” Herself surrounding reality, the laws of which Chichikov learned well from an early age, contributes to the shrinking of a person.
An even more depressing impression is made by the Delicacy with the landowners with whom Chichikov meets in order to carry out his conceived plan for Enrichment. The life of the sugary and helpful Manilov passes in empty and fruitless dreams, while the economy is falling apart. The box is stupid and limited, which does not prevent it, however, from remembering its benefit under any circumstances. Nozdrev - insignificant person, brawler and gossip. Sobakevich is cunning and greedy, a kind of bear in human form. Finally, Plyushkin represents a completely complete type of living dead, who has already completely lost everything human.
In the order in which Gogol introduces the reader to the landowners, there is a deep inner meaning. The writer strives to reveal in his heroes an increasing degree of loss of personal dignity, human degradation, and the death of his soul. There is still something human in Manilov, which manifests itself at least in helpless impulses towards spiritual life: there are books in his house. The strong-headed Korobochka does not even have a hint of spirituality. The impudent mischievous Nozdryov, unscrupulous in his thoughts and actions, completely lacks the principles of morality. In Sobakevich, some kind of primitive, bestial principle clearly emerges. And at the end of Chichikov’s route a landowner appears before us, in which human personality has reached the limit of spiritual impoverishment and is on the verge of collapse. This is Plyushkin.
The image of landowner Rus' is replaced in the poem about provincial town. Gogol introduces readers to the world of officials dealing with affairs government controlled. There is a governor in the poem about whom nothing bad seems to be said. It is known that he embroiders on tulle, knits purses, walks with a lapdog in his arms or with a piece of candy paper. This, however, is quite enough to understand: he is nothing in the provincial administration. The prosecutor, who should be a zealot for the law, is in fact a slacker, a drunkard and a glutton. The figure of the police chief is very colorful, shown as a clever robber who goes into other people's storerooms as if into his own pocket. Officials of lower rank are also equal to the fathers of the city. Let us remember, for example, the arrogant extortionist and bribe-taker Ivan Antonovich!.. In Gogol, all officials turn out to be people without the slightest concept of duty, honor and legality, bound by mutual responsibility and mutual patronage. And this is not only the case with provincial and provincial officials. "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" shows us the capital's officials high level. But they are just as indifferent to the needs specific person, are equally indifferent to legality and justice.
There is another Russia in Gogol’s poem - people’s Russia. But even in his depiction of peasants, Gogol is far from idealizing them. What are Selifan and Petrushka, Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai worth, for example! The men appearing on the pages of the poem are ridiculously helpless and stupid. They are clumsy, spiritually undeveloped, indifferent to their fate. When you see them, you feel bitter and upset for the person. The definition of “dead souls” also fully applies to them, as to landowners and officials.
A contemporary of A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol created his works in those historical conditions, which took shape in Russia after the unsuccessful first revolutionary uprising - the Decembrist uprising in 1825. Addressing in works the most important historical problems of his time, the writer went further along the path of realism, which was discovered by Pushkin and Griboedov. V. G. Belinsky wrote: “Gogol was the first to look boldly and directly at Russian reality.”
N.V. Gogol was endowed with the gift of extraordinary observation; the smallest details did not escape his attention. Making his intimate observations of a person and the reality around him, analyzing them, the writer ends up moving from isolated real features to creating a holistic portrait of modernity.
The generalization to which Gogol's artistic thought always gravitated towards it, gets it in “Dead Souls” new uniform. “In this novel I want to show... all of Rus',” he wrote in a letter to Pushkin.
N.V. Gogol hated serfdom, therefore, in the poem “Dead Souls” he angrily denounces serfdom, which leads to the impoverishment of the country, to its economic and cultural backwardness, to the extinction of the peasantry.
“Dead Souls” is a poem about Russia. The author successfully chose the plot and managed to realize his plan. The concept of “dead souls” is refracted in a variety of ways in the poem, constantly moving from one semantic plane to another (dead souls - like dead serfs and like spiritually dead landowners and officials). However, with the concept of necrosis human soul the hope for a fervently desired revival is connected. Therefore, we can say that the author’s main concern and concern was precisely living Russia.
The hero of the poem, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, visited many places, saw the endless Russian expanses, met with officials, landowners and peasants. He sees wretched peasant Rus' with rickety huts. And the estates of the landowners are not very tidy. Plyushkin has a lot of everything, but goods and bread perish without benefit to people, the owner and the state. Manilov is mismanaged, carefree, his estate is abandoned. Nozdryov is a gambler and a drunkard, his farm is in complete disrepair and is of no benefit to anyone. But the tsarist autocracy rests on these landowners. Is the support strong? Are the people happy? Is this state rich?
In the poem, the world of oppressors - “dead souls” - is contrasted with the long-suffering Russian people, poor, but full hidden life And internal forces Rus.
The homeland is, first of all, the people. N.V. Gogol depicted ordinary Russian people with great skill in the poem. From the very first lines of the work we see two men at the door of a tavern. They came to drown centuries-old grief in wine, they still do not know what to do, how to change their lives, but they have already developed hatred for the oppressors. Reading the poem, we get acquainted with the serfs of the landowners Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich, Plyushkin. These are powerless people, but all of them, living and dead, appear before us as great workers. These serfs with their labor created wealth for the landowners, only they themselves live in poverty and die like flies. They are illiterate and downtrodden, they are not trying to do anything to improve their lives. Chichikov's servant Petrushka, the coachman Selifan, Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai, Proshka, the girl Pelageya, who “does not know where the right is and where the left is” - all of them are powerless, humiliated, and have reached the point of stupefaction. Narrow spiritual world these people. Their actions cause bitter laughter. Petrushka, reading a book, then watches how words are formed from individual letters; Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai cannot separate the horses that are entangled in the lines; Plyushkin's Proshka and Mavra are packed to the extreme.
A property of Gogol’s mental makeup, the quality of his psychology and intellect was the perception of “all the enormously rushing life through visible to the world laughter and invisible, unknown to him tears,” wrote F. M. Dostoevsky. But through these “tears”, in this social depression, Gogol saw living soul“the lively people” and the quickness of the Yaroslavl peasant. He spoke with admiration and love about the abilities of the people, their courage, prowess, hard work, endurance, and thirst for freedom.
“Russian people are capable of anything and will get used to any climate. Send him to live in Kamchatka, just give him warm mittens, he claps his hands, an ax in his hands, and goes to cut himself a new hut.”
The serf hero, carpenter Probka, “would be fit for the guard.” He set out with an ax in his belt and boots on his shoulders throughout the province. Carriage maker Mityai created carriages of extraordinary strength and beauty. Stove maker Milushkin could install a stove in any house.
Talented shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov - “whatever pricks with an awl, then the boots, then thank you.”
Eremey Skoroplekhin brought five hundred rubles per quitrent! However, “... there is no life for the Russian people, all the Germans are in the way, and the Russian landowners are tearing their skin off.”
Serfs are shown to be good workers, they carry out every task with enthusiasm, and with the same enthusiasm they devote themselves to having fun.
Gogol valued the people’s natural talent, lively mind, and keen observation: “How apt is everything that has come out of the depths of Russia... the lively Russian mind, which does not reach into its pocket for a word, does not sit on it like a hen, but slams it right in like a passport, for eternal wear."
Gogol saw in the Russian word, in Russian speech, a reflection of the character of his people.
The poem shows peasants who do not put up with their slave status and flee from the landowners to the outskirts of Russia.
Abakum Fyrov, unable to withstand the oppression of captivity from the landowner Plyushkin, flees to the wide Volga expanse. He “walks noisily and cheerfully on the grain pier, having made contracts with the merchants.” But it’s not easy for him to walk with the barge haulers, “dragging the strap to one endless song, like Rus'.” In the songs of the barge haulers, Gogol heard an expression of the people’s longing and desire for a different life, for a wonderful future: “It is still a mystery,” Gogol wrote, “this immense revelry, which is heard in our songs, rushes somewhere past life and the song itself, as if burning with the desire for a better homeland, for which man has been yearning since the day of his creation.”
The theme of peasant revolt appears in chapters nine and ten. The peasants of the village Vshivaya Spes, Borovki and Zadirailovo killed assessor Drobyazhkin. The trial chamber hushed up the case, since Drobyazhkin is dead, let it be in favor of the living. But the murderer was not found among the men; the men did not hand over anyone.
Captain Kopeikin was crippled in the war. He could not work and went to St. Petersburg to seek help for himself, but the nobleman told him to wait, and when Kopeikin tired of him, he rudely replied: “Look for a means of living,” and even threatened to call the police chief. And the captain went to look for funds in the dense forests, among a gang of robbers.
Trouble in the serf state. Rus' “from the other side” is full of hidden life and inner strength, and it is unknown how the “revelry of the broad life” of the people will turn out... The indifferent eyes of landowners and rulers, busy with their petty interests, alien to love for the motherland, brushing off patriots with advice, do not see this “look for your own means”...
Well, Russia will find the means to move its poor, homeless life spread over the widest expanses. Gogol does not know what means these will be, but he sincerely believes in the strength of the Russian people and the great future of Russia: “Rus! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you, open, deserted and even everything in you;... but what incomprehensible... force attracts you to you? Why is your sad... song heard and heard? What does this vast expanse prophesy? Isn’t it here, in you, that a boundless thought will be born, when you yourself are endless? Shouldn’t a hero be here when there are places where he can turn around and walk?”
Ardent faith in the hidden but immense strength of his people, love for his homeland allowed Gogol to imagine its great and wonderful future. IN lyrical digressions he paints Rus' in symbolic image“the unstoppable bird-three”, embodying the power of the inexhaustible forces of the Motherland. The poem ends with a thought about Russia: “Rus, where are you rushing, give me the answer? Doesn't give an answer. The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; the air thunders and becomes torn by the wind; “everything that is on earth flies past, and, looking askance, other peoples and states step aside and give way to it.”
"Gogol was the first to look boldly at Russian reality"
V.G. Belinsky
The theme of exposing officialdom runs through all of Gogol’s work: it stands out both in the collection “Mirgorod” and in the comedy “The Inspector General”. In the poem "Dead Souls" it is intertwined with the theme of serfdom. The poem depicts feudal Rus', a country in which the entire land with its riches, its people belonged to the ruling noble class - serfs who provide their masters with an idle and carefree life. The tragic fate of the enslaved people is felt especially strongly in the images of serfs. With them Gogol speaks of the dullness and savagery that slavery brings to man. In this light, we must consider the images of Uncle Mitya, the girl Pelageya, who could not distinguish between right and left, Plyushkin’s Proshka and Mavra, downtrodden to the extreme. Social suppression and humiliation were imprinted on Selifan and Petrushka. The latter even had a noble impulse to read books, but he was more attracted not by what he read about, but by the process of reading itself, that some word always comes out of the letters, which sometimes the devil knows what it means.”
Gogol, as if in a mirror, reflected the entire disgusting essence of this noble-bureaucratic system with wild police orders, the morality of the serf-owners and the arbitrariness of the landowners. In this regard deep meaning have put into Chichikov's mouth discussions about serfs and runaway peasants in the seventh chapter of the poem.
Korobochka has a nice village, her yard is full of all kinds of birds, there are “spacious vegetable gardens with cabbage, onions, potatoes,” there are apple trees and other fruit trees.
They live prosperously, in abundance, almost eighty souls,
They eat quite, heartily and sweetly: on the farm there are a lot of apples, pears,
Pigs, cows, geese, turkeys, honey, sponge and hemp,
Horses, laying hens, wheat and rye flour...
Following Korobochka in Gogol's gallery of serf owners is another representative of the landowners - Nozdryov. This is a restless hero, the hero of fairs, drinking parties and the card table. His farm is extremely neglected. Only the kennel is in excellent condition. Among dogs he is like a “dear father”, among a large family. He immediately drinks away the income received from the peasants. This speaks of his moral decline and indifference to people.
Nozdrev's estate helps to better understand both his character and the pitiful situation of his serfs, from whom he beats out everything he can. Therefore, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion about the powerless and miserable position of Nozdryov’s serfs. Unlike Korobochka, Nozdryov is not prone to petty hoarding. His ideal is people who always know how to have fun through life, unencumbered by any worries. In the chapter about Nozdryov there are few details reflecting the life of his serfs, but the description of the landowner itself provides comprehensive information about this, since for Nozdryov serfs and property are equivalent concepts.
Speaking about Plyushkin, Gogol exposes the horrors of serfdom. Gogol reports that Plyushkin is a swindler, he starved all the people to death, and that convicts live better in prison than his serfs. He considered the chapter about him one of the most difficult. After all, Plyushkin not only completes the gallery of landowner “dead souls” - this man carries within himself the most obvious signs incurable fatal disease. The fate of Plyushkin's serfs speaks especially impressively about the tragic fate of the Russian people, who are ruled by greedy, greedy, empty, wasteful and insane people. That's why Gogol's poem inevitably makes you think about what a terrible evil Russia has been for centuries serfdom, how it crippled and broke the destinies of people, slowed down the economic and cultural development countries.
The hoarding characteristic of Korobochka turned into genuine kulaks among the practical landowner Sobakevich. An unbridled passion for enrichment pushes him to cunning, forces him to find more and more new means of profit. This is what forces him to actively apply innovations: he introduces cash rent on his estate. He looks at serfs only as labor and, even though he had built huts for the peasants that were amazingly cut down, he would rip off three of their skins. He transferred some peasants to the monetary-tire system, which was beneficial to the landowner. Sobakevich takes care of his serfs, of course not out of philanthropy, but out of consideration: if you offend a peasant, “it will be worse for you.” Sobakevich (in this he differs from Plyushkin and most other landowners) has a certain economic streak (he does not ruin his own serfs, achieves a certain order in the economy, sells profitably Chichikov is dead souls, knows business and human qualities their peasants).
Sobakevich is an ardent serf owner who will never miss his profit, even if we're talking about about dead peasants. The shameful bargaining over “dead souls” reveals a defining feature of his character - an uncontrollable desire for profit, greed, acquisitiveness. When depicting the image of Sobakevich, the writer widely uses the technique of hyperbolization. Suffice it to recall his monstrous appetite or the portraits of generals with thick legs and “unheard-of mustaches” that decorated his office.
Unlike other landowners, he immediately understood the essence of Chichikov. Sobakevich is a cunning rogue, an arrogant businessman who is difficult to deceive. He evaluates everything around him only from the point of view of his own benefit. His conversation with Chichikov reveals the psychology of a kulak who knows how to force peasants to work for themselves and extract maximum benefit from it.
Gogol endowed each landowner with original, specific features. Whatever the hero, he is a unique personality. But at the same time, his heroes retain their ancestral, social signs: short cultural level, lack of intellectual demands, desire for enrichment, cruelty in treatment of serfs, moral uncleanliness, lack of a basic concept of patriotism. These moral monsters, as Gogol shows, are generated by feudal reality and reveal the essence of feudal relations based on the oppression and exploitation of the peasantry. Gogol's work stunned, first of all, the ruling circles and landowners. Ideological defenders of serfdom argued that the nobility best part population of Russia, passionate patriots, support of the state. Gogol dispelled this myth with images of landowners. Herzen said that the landowners “pass before us without masks, without embellishment, flatterers and gluttons, obsequious slaves of power and ruthless tyrants of their enemies, life drinkers and the blood of the people... "Dead Souls" shocked all of Russia."
With enormous force, Gogol indicted the serfdom system, the entire way of life, in which Manilovism, Nozdrevism, Plyushkinsky squalor are typical and everyday phenomena of life. The poem shocked all of Russia, as it awakened the self-awareness of the Russian people.
Gogol portrayed the image of the Motherland realistically, but with anger. Serfdom hindered the development of Russia. Deserted villages, dull life, serfdom did not increase the dignity of Russia, did not exalt it, but pulled it into the past. Gogol saw a different Russia in his dreams. The image of the three-bird is a symbol of the power of his homeland. It plays a leading role in world development.
It was created in the middle of the 19th century. We all know that this period in history Russian Empire marked the end of the era of serfdom. What was next for our country at this time? I tried to answer this question in my famous poem Nikolay Vasilievich.
The work can be perceived ambiguously: at first glance, Rus' appears before us in some caricature of the reality that was inherent in state life. But in fact, the author depicted the fullness of the poetic richness of life in Rus'.
Description of Living Rus' in the poem
Gogol describes Rus' as a long-suffering, poor state, which was exhausted by all previously experienced obstacles and its own greedy people. However, Gogol's Rus' is full of strength and energy that still glimmers in its soul, it is immortal and full of power.
With big writing skills The poem depicts the Russian people.
We get acquainted with dispossessed peasants, people without rights, great workers who are forced to endure the oppression of such landowners as Manilov, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. While increasing the wealth of the landowners, they live in need and poverty. The peasants are illiterate and downtrodden, but they are by no means “dead.”
Circumstances forced them to bow their heads, but not completely submit. Gogol describes truly Russian people - hardworking, brave, resilient, who for many years, despite oppression, have preserved their personality and continue to cherish the thirst for freedom. The Russian people in the work are a reflection of their state. He does not put up with the slave situation: some peasants decide to run away from their landowners to the Siberian wilderness and the Volga region.
In the tenth and eleventh chapters, Gogol raises the theme of a peasant revolt - a group of conspirators killed the landowner Drobyazhkin. None of the men court hearing did not betray the killer - this indicated, first of all, that the people had a concept of honor and dignity.
The description of the life of the peasantry brings us the understanding that Rus' in Gogol’s poem is truly alive, full of internal strength! The writer firmly believes that the moment will come when holy and righteous Rus' will throw off such greedy rotten personalities like Plyushkin, Sobakevich and others, and will shine with new lights of honor, justice and freedom.
Gogol's attitude towards Russia
During the period of creation of the poem "Dead Souls", despite the abolition of serfdom, there was little hope that Rus' would still be resurrected to its former greatness. However, enormous patriotism, love for his people and unshakable faith in the power of Rus' allowed Gogol to realistically describe its great future. In the last lines, Gogol compares Rus' with a three-headed bird flying towards its happiness, to which all other peoples and states give way.
The image of Rus' and the peasants in the poem are the only “living” characters who, being imprisoned by “dead souls,” were still able to resist and continue their struggle for existence and for freedom. The author planned to describe the triumph of free Rus' in more detail in the second volume of his work, which, unfortunately, was never destined to see the world.
We hope you remember the summary of the work. We offer you an analysis of this image, which provides the key to understanding the entire poem.
The work is artistic research public life, contemporary writer, its root problems. The main place in compositional terms is occupied by the image of two worlds - the landowner and the bureaucrat. However, it is precisely tragic fate people is the ideological core of the work.
The writer, mercilessly castigating the existing social order in the country, was firmly convinced that the Russian land was destined for a glorious future. He believed in its future blossoming. For Nikolai Vasilyevich, this conviction arose from a living feeling of the enormous creative potential, which lurks in the depths of the Russian people.
The image of Rus' in the poem “Dead Souls” is presented as the personification of the great things that the people are capable of, that important historical deed that the author believed his compatriots could accomplish. The image of Russia rises above all the images and pictures drawn in the work. It is covered with the love of the author, who dedicated his life and his work to serving home country.
Briefly characterizing the image of Rus' in the poem “Dead Souls,” it is necessary to say a few words about the “masters of life.” After all, it was not by chance that Gogol introduced them into his work.
Denouncing the "masters of life"
Gogol passionately believed that Russia had a better future. Therefore, in his work he denounces those people who have shackled with rusty chains the development of the creative potential of the people, the nation. Nikolai Vasilyevich mercilessly debunks the nobles, the “masters of life.” The images he created indicate that people like Chichikov, Plyushkin, Sobakevich, Manilov are not capable of creating spiritual values. They are consumers devoid of creative energy. Landowners, excluded from the sphere of living life and useful activity, are the bearers of inertia and stagnation. Chichikov, who launched his adventure, does not suffer from inertia. Nevertheless, the activity of this hero is not aimed at a good cause, but at achieving selfish goals. He is alienated from the interests of the state. All these heroes are contrasted with the image of Rus' in the work “Dead Souls”.
Validation of progress
The forms of life that all of the above characters claim sharply contradict the needs and demands of historical development countries. To illustrate this idea, the author draws a majestic image of Rus' in the poem “Dead Souls.” This country, according to Gogol, has enormous power. The image of Rus' in the novel “Dead Souls” is the personification of the main idea of the poem, which is the denial of social stagnation, social enslavement, and the affirmation of progress.
Opinion about the poem by V. G. Belinsky
The famous critic V. G. Belinsky emphasized that the contradiction between the deep substantial beginning of Russian life and its social forms- this is the main idea of “Dead Souls”. The critic understood by the phrase “substantial beginning” the rich talent of the people, their eternal desire for freedom. Nikolai Vasilyevich firmly believed that great historical achievements were ahead of his native country. Focus on the future, take off vital energy- all this embodies the image of Rus' in the poem “Dead Souls”. The country is rushing into the vast distance, like a bird-three. Other states and peoples shun her, looking askance, and give her way.
Pictures of native nature
The lyrical statements of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol are filled with high pathos. He speaks of Rus' with admiration. Gogol paints pictures one after another native nature, which rush in front of the traveler, racing on fast horses along the autumn road.
It is no coincidence that the author contrasts the image of Rus' in the poem “Dead Souls” with the stagnation of the landowners. Chapter 11 is very important for understanding this image. It depicts Rus', which is rapidly moving forward. This expresses the author’s faith in the future of his country, his people.
Reflections on the Russian people
Some of the most insightful pages include lyrical reflections Gogol about the energetic, lively character of a hardworking nation. They are warmed by the flame of patriotism. Nikolai Vasilyevich was well aware that the creative talents and inventive mind of the Russian people would become a powerful force only when his compatriots were free.
Gogol, depicting revelry on the pier, rises to chant folk life. Living force The Russian people are also emphasized in the desire of the peasants to get rid of oppression. Flight from the landowners, the murder of assessor Drobyakin, the people’s ironic mockery of the “orders” are manifestations of protest that are mentioned in the poem, albeit briefly, but persistently. Chanting national character and the Russian people, Nikolai Vasilyevich, never stoop to vanity.
The characters representing Rus' are quite diverse. This includes Pelageya, a young girl, and the nameless, runaway or deceased workers of Plyushkin and Sobakevich, who do not act in the poem, but are only mentioned in passing. A whole gallery of characters passes before the reader. All of them represent a multi-colored image of Russia.
Mastery, natural ingenuity, wide scope of soul, sensitivity to a well-aimed, striking word, heroic prowess - in all this, as well as in many other things, Nikolai Vasilyevich reveals the true soul of the Russian people. The sharpness and strength of his mind were reflected, according to Gogol, in the accuracy and vivacity of the Russian word. Nikolai Vasilyevich writes about this in the fifth chapter. The integrity and depth of folk feeling resulted in the sincerity of the Russian song, which the author mentions in the eleventh chapter. In chapter seven, Gogol says that generosity and breadth of soul were reflected in the unbridled joy with which folk holidays are held.
Herzen's assessment of the poem
The patriotic pathos of Dead Souls was highly appreciated by Herzen. He is with with good reason noted that this work - amazing book. Herzen wrote that this is “a bitter reproach of modern Rus',” but not hopeless.
Contradictions reflected in the poem
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol fervently believed that a great future awaited Russia. Nevertheless, the writer clearly imagined the path along which the country was moving towards prosperity, glory and power. He asks: “Rus, where are you going?” However, there is no answer. Nikolai Vasilyevich did not see any way to overcome the contradiction that had arisen between the flourishing of Russia, the rise of its national genius and the state of oppression of the state. Gogol cannot find someone who could guide Russia forward, direct it into high life. And this reveals the contradictions inherent in the writer.
What was V.G. concerned about? Belinsky
Gogol in his denunciation reflected the protest of the people against the existing at that time serfdom. His flagellating satire grew precisely from this soil. It was directed against bureaucratic rulers, owners of serf souls, and “knights” of profit. However, the writer who put big hopes for enlightenment, did not come to the conclusion about the advisability of the revolutionary struggle. In addition, the work contains statements about a husband who is gifted with divine virtues, as well as about a selfless and generous Russian maiden. In other words, it arises religious motive. who was very interested in the image of Rus' in Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”, was seriously concerned about these parts of the work.
"Dead Souls" - a revolutionary work
Nikolai Vasilyevich wrote the second volume of his novel while experiencing a deep spiritual crisis. In the life of Russia during this period, tendencies characteristic of bourgeois development began to appear. The writer hated with all his heart the so-called kingdom of the dead shower. However, Gogol also peered with horror at the appearance of the bourgeois West. Capitalism scared the writer. He was unable to accept the idea of socialism and opposed the revolutionary struggle. However, possessing a powerful gift, Nikolai Vasilyevich created, in fact, a revolutionary work.
Gogol is a patriot
The lyrical pages dedicated to Russia and the Russian people are, perhaps, the best in Dead Souls. Chernyshevsky, speaking about the high patriotism of Nikolai Vasilyevich, wrote that Gogol considered himself a person who should serve the fatherland, and not art. The image of Rus' in the poem “Dead Souls” indicates that the future of the country really worried the writer. Of course, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is a true patriot.
