Relevance of images
In the artistic space of one of Gogol's most famous works, landowners and persons in power are interconnected. Lies, bribery and the desire for profit characterize each of the images of officials in Dead Souls. It is amazing with what ease and ease the author draws portraits that are disgusting in fact, and so masterfully that you never doubt the authenticity of each character for a minute. On the example of officials in the poem "Dead Souls" the most pressing problems of the Russian Empire in the middle of the 19th century were shown. In addition to serfdom, which hindered natural progress, the real problem was the extensive bureaucracy, for the maintenance of which huge sums were allocated. The people in whose hands the power was concentrated worked only for the sake of accumulating their own capital and improving their well-being, robbing both the treasury and ordinary people. Many writers of that time addressed the topic of exposing officials: Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Dostoevsky.
Officials in "Dead Souls"
In "Dead Souls" there are no separately prescribed images of civil servants, but nevertheless, life and characters are shown very accurately. Images of officials of the city of N appear from the first pages of the work. Chichikov, who decided to pay a visit to each of the mighty of this world, gradually introduces the reader to the governor, vice-governor, prosecutor, chairman of the chamber, police chief, postmaster and many others. Chichikov flattered everyone, as a result of which he managed to win over every important person, and all this is shown as a matter of course. In the bureaucratic world reigned pomp, bordering on vulgarity, inappropriate pathos and farce. So, during the usual dinner, the governor's house was lit up as if for a ball, the decoration blinded the eyes, and the ladies were dressed in their best dresses.
Officials in the county town were of two types: the first were thin and followed the ladies everywhere, trying to charm them with bad French and greasy compliments. Officials of the second type, according to the author, resembled Chichikov himself: neither fat nor thin, with round, pockmarked faces and slicked hair, they squinted around, trying to find an interesting or profitable business for themselves. At the same time, everyone tried to harm each other, to do some kind of meanness, usually this happened because of the ladies, but no one was going to shoot at such trifles. But at the dinners they pretended nothing was happening, discussed Moskovskiye Vesti, dogs, Karamzin, delicious meals, and gossiped about officials from other departments.
When characterizing the prosecutor, Gogol combines high and low: “he was neither fat nor thin, he had Anna around his neck, and it was even said that he was introduced to a star; however, he was a big good-natured man and even sometimes embroidered on tulle himself ... "Notice that nothing is said here about what this person received the award for - the Order of St. Anne is issued "to those who love truth, piety and fidelity", and is also awarded for military merit. But after all, no battles or special episodes where piety and fidelity would be mentioned are mentioned at all. The main thing is that the prosecutor is engaged in needlework, and not his official duties. Sobakevich speaks unflatteringly about the prosecutor: the prosecutor, they say, is an idle person, therefore he sits at home, and a lawyer, a well-known grabber, works for him. There is nothing to talk about here - what order can there be if a person who is completely ignorant of the issue is trying to solve it while an authorized person is embroidering on tulle.
A similar technique is used to describe the postmaster, a serious and silent person, short but witty and a philosopher. Only in this case, various qualitative characteristics are combined in one row: "short", "but a philosopher." That is, here growth becomes an allegory for the mental abilities of this person.
The reaction to experiences and reforms is also shown very ironically: from new appointments and the number of papers, civil servants are losing weight (“And the chairman lost weight, and the inspector of the medical board lost weight, and the prosecutor lost weight, and some Semyon Ivanovich ... and he lost weight”), but there were and those who courageously kept themselves in their former form. And the meetings, according to Gogol, were successful only when it was possible to have a drink or have lunch, but, of course, it is not the officials who are to blame for this, but the mentality of the people.
Gogol in "Dead Souls" depicts officials only at dinners, playing whist or other card games. Only once does the reader see officials at their workplace, when Chichikov came to draw up a bill of sale for the peasants. In the department, Pavel Ivanovich is unambiguously hinted that things will not be done without a bribe, and there is nothing to say about a quick resolution of the issue without a certain amount. This is also confirmed by the chief of police, who "has only to blink, passing by a fish row or a cellar," and he has balyks and good wines. No request is considered without a bribe.
Officials in The Tale of Captain Kopeikin
The most cruel is the story of Captain Kopeikin. A war invalid, in search of truth and help, travels from the Russian hinterland to the capital to ask for an audience with the tsar himself. Kopeikin's hopes are shattered by a terrible reality: while cities and villages are in poverty and receive less money, the capital is chic. The meeting with the king and high-ranking officials is constantly postponed. Completely desperate, Captain Kopeikin sneaks into the reception room of a high-ranking official, demanding that his question be immediately put under consideration, otherwise he, Kopeikin, will not leave the office anywhere. The official assures the veteran that now the assistant will take the latter to the emperor himself, and for a second the reader believes in a happy outcome - he rejoices along with Kopeikin, riding in a britzka, hopes and believes in the best. However, the story ends disappointingly: after this incident, no one else met Kopeikin. This episode is actually frightening, because human life turns out to be an insignificant trifle, from the loss of which the entire system will not suffer at all.
When Chichikov's scam came to light, they were in no hurry to arrest Pavel Ivanovich, because they could not understand whether he was the kind of person who needed to be detained, or one who himself would detain everyone and make them guilty. The characteristics of officials in "Dead Souls" can be the words of the author himself that these are people who sit quietly on the sidelines, accumulate capital and arrange their lives at the expense of others. Waste, bureaucracy, bribery, nepotism and meanness - this is what characterized the people who were in power in Russia in the 19th century.
Artwork test
Gogol, a contemporary of Pushkin, created his works in the historical conditions that prevailed in our country after the unsuccessful performance of the Decembrists in 1825. Thanks to the new socio-political situation, the figures of literature and social thought faced tasks that were deeply reflected in the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich. Developing principles in his work, this author became one of the most significant representatives of this trend in Russian literature. According to Belinsky, it was Gogol who managed to look directly and boldly at Russian reality for the first time.
In this article we will describe the image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls".
The collective image of officials
In the notes of Nikolai Vasilievich, relating to the first volume of the novel, there is the following remark: "The dead insensibility of life." Such, according to the author, is the collective image of officials in the poem. It should be noted the difference in the image of them and the landowners. The landlords in the work are individualized, but the officials, on the contrary, are impersonal. One can only make a collective portrait of them, from which the postmaster, police chief, prosecutor and governor stand out slightly.
Names and surnames of officials
It should be noted that all the persons who make up the collective image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls" do not have surnames, and the names are often called in grotesque and comic contexts, sometimes duplicated (Ivan Antonovich, Ivan Andreevich). Of these, some come to the fore only for a short time, after which they disappear into the crowd of others. The subject of Gogol's satire was not positions and personalities, but social vices, the social environment, which is the main object of the image in the poem.
It should be noted the grotesque beginning in the image of Ivan Antonovich, his comic, rude nickname (Pitcher Snout), which simultaneously refers to the world of animals and inanimate things. The department is ironically characterized as a "temple of Themis". This place is important for Gogol. The department is often depicted in St. Petersburg novels, in which it appears as an anti-world, a kind of hell in miniature.
The most important episodes in the image of officials
The image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls" can be seen in the following episodes. This is primarily the governor's "house party" described in the first chapter; then - a ball at the governor's (eighth chapter), as well as breakfast at the police chief (tenth). On the whole, in chapters 7-10, bureaucracy as a psychological and social phenomenon comes to the fore.
Traditional motifs in the image of officials
You can find many traditional motifs characteristic of Russian satirical comedies in Nikolai Vasilyevich's "bureaucratic" plots. These techniques and motives go back to Griboyedov and Fonvizin. The officials of the provincial city are also very reminiscent of their "colleagues" from Abuse, arbitrariness, and inaction are characteristic of them. Bribery, servility, bureaucracy - a social evil, traditionally ridiculed. Suffice it to recall the story described in "The Overcoat" with a "significant person", the fear of the auditor and the desire to bribe him in the work of the same name and the bribe that is given to Ivan Antonovich in the 7th chapter of the poem "Dead Souls". Very characteristic are the images of the chief of police, the "philanthropist" and the "father", who visited the guest yard and shops, as if in his pantry; the chairman of the civil chamber, who not only exempted his friends from bribes, but also from having to pay paperwork fees; Ivan Antonovich, who did nothing without "gratitude".
Compositional construction of the poem
The poem itself is based on the adventures of an official (Chichikov), who buys up dead souls. This image is impersonal: the author practically does not talk about Chichikov himself.
The 1st volume of the work, according to Gogol's plan, shows various negative aspects of the life of Russia at that time - both bureaucratic and landlord. The entire provincial society is part of the "dead world".
The exposition is given in the first chapter, in which a portrait of one provincial town is drawn. Everywhere desolation, disorder, dirt, which emphasizes the indifference of local authorities to the needs of residents. Then, after Chichikov visited the landowners, chapters 7 to 10 describe a collective portrait of the bureaucracy of the then Russia. In several episodes, various images of officials in the poem "Dead Souls" are given. By the chapters one can trace how the author characterizes this social class.
What do officials have in common with landlords?
However, the worst thing is that such officials are no exception. These are typical representatives of the bureaucracy system in Russia. Corruption and bureaucracy reign among them.
Registration of bill of sale
Together with Chichikov, who returned to the city, we are transported to the judicial chamber, where this hero will have to draw up a bill of sale (Chapter 7). The characterization of the images of officials in the poem "Dead Souls" is given in this episode in great detail. Ironically, Gogol uses a high symbol - a temple in which the "priests of Themis", impartial and incorruptible, serve. However, the desolation and filth in this "temple" is striking first of all. The “unattractive appearance” of Themis is explained by the fact that she receives visitors in a simple way, “in a dressing gown”.
However, this simplicity actually turns into a frank disregard for the laws. No one is going to do business, and the "priests of Themis" (officials) only care about how to take tribute from visitors, that is, bribes. And they are really good at it.
All around is running around with papers, fuss, but all this serves only one purpose - to confuse the petitioners so that they cannot do without help, kindly provided for a fee, of course. Chichikov, this swindler and connoisseur of behind-the-scenes affairs, nevertheless had to use her to get into the presence.
He gained access to the necessary person only after he openly offered a bribe to Ivan Antonovich. We understand how much a legalized phenomenon it has become in the life of the Russian bureaucracy, when the protagonist finally gets to the chairman of the chamber, who accepts him as his old acquaintance.
Conversation with the chairman
The heroes, after polite phrases, get down to business, and here the chairman says that his friends "should not pay". A bribe here, it turns out, is so obligatory that only close friends of officials can do without it.
Another noteworthy detail from the life of the city bureaucracy emerges in a conversation with the chairman. Very interesting in this episode is the analysis of the image of an official in the poem "Dead Souls". It turns out that even for such an unusual activity, which was described in the judicial chamber, not all representatives of this class consider it necessary to go to the service. As an "idle person" the prosecutor sits at home. All cases are decided for him by the solicitor, who in the work is called "the first grabber."
Governor's ball
In the scene described by Gogol on (Chapter 8), we see a review of dead souls. Gossip and balls become for people a form of miserable mental and social life. The image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls", a brief description of which we are compiling, can be supplemented in this episode with the following details. At the level of discussing fashionable styles and colors of material, officials have ideas about beauty, and solidity is determined by how a person ties a tie and blows his nose. There is not and cannot be here a real culture, morality, since the norms of behavior depend entirely on ideas about how it should be. That is why Chichikov was initially received so cordially: he knows how to respond sensitively to the requests of this public.
Such is the image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls" in brief. We did not describe the summary of the work itself. We hope you remember it. The characterization presented by us can be supplemented based on the content of the poem. The topic "The image of officials in the poem" Dead Souls "" is very interesting. Quotations from the work, which can be found in the text by referring to the chapters we have indicated, will help you complete this description.
« Dead Souls"- one of the brightest works of Russian literature. By the strength and depth of ideas, by
Artistic skill "Dead Souls" are on a par with such masterpieces of Russian classical literature as "Woe from Wit" by Griboedov, "Eugene Onegin" and "The Captain's Daughter" by Pushkin, as well as with the best works of Goncharov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Leskov.
Starting to create "Dead Souls", Gogol wrote to Pushkin that in his work he wants to show "from one side" all of Rus'. "All Rus' will appear in it!" - he also told Zhukovsky. Indeed, Gogol was able to shed light on many aspects of the life of contemporary Russia, to reflect with wide completeness the spiritual and social conflicts in her life.
Undoubtedly, " Dead souls And" were very relevant for their time. Even the title of the publication of the work Gogol had to change, as it irritated the censors. The high political effectiveness of the poem is due to both the sharpness of the ideas and the topicality of the images.
The poem broadly reflects the Nikolaev reactionary era, when any initiative, freethinking were suppressed, the bureaucratic apparatus grew significantly, and a system of denunciations and investigation was in operation.
Dead Souls raises extremely important questions both for its time and for Russia in general: the question of serfs and landowners, of bureaucracy and corruption in all spheres of life.
Depicting Russia contemporary to him, Gogol devoted a significant place to the description: provincial (VII-IX chapters) and capital (“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin”).
Provincial officials are represented in the images of officials of the city N. It is characteristic that they all live as one family: they spend their leisure time together, address each other by name and patronymic (“My dearest friend Ilya Ilyich!”), They are hospitable. Gogol does not even mention their names. On the other hand, officials are bound by mutual responsibility in matters related to the service.
The widespread bribery that reigned in Russia was also reflected in Gogol's work. This motif is very important in the description of life. Officialdom in the poem Dead Souls: the chief of police, despite the fact that he visits the Gostiny Dvor as if in his own pantry, is loved by merchants because he is not proud and courteous; Ivan Antonovich accepts a bribe from Chichikov deftly, competently, for granted.
The motive of bribery also appears in the biography of Chichikov himself, and the episode with a certain generalized petitioner can be considered a digression about bribes.
All officials treat the service as an opportunity to profit at the expense of others, therefore lawlessness, bribery and corruption flourish everywhere, disorder and red tape reign. Good soil for the growth of these vices is bureaucracy. It was under his conditions that Chichikov's scam was possible.
Because of "sins" in the service, all officials are afraid of checking the auditor sent by the government. Chichikov's incomprehensible behavior terrifies the city Officialdom in the poem Dead Souls: “Suddenly both turned pale; fear is more sticky than the plague and is communicated instantly. All of a sudden, they found in themselves such sins that did not even exist. Suddenly, they have assumptions, there are rumors that Chichikov is Napoleon himself, or Captain Kopeikan, going to the auditor. The motif of gossip is typical for describing the life of Russian society in the literature of the 19th century; it is also present in Dead Souls.
The position of an official in society corresponds to his rank: the higher the position, the greater the authority, respect, the more preferable is acquaintance with him. Meanwhile, there are some qualities that are necessary "for this world: both pleasantness in appearance, in turns of speech and deeds, and briskness in deeds ..." Chichikov possessed all this, who knew how to maintain a conversation, present himself favorably to society, unobtrusively show respect, provide service. “In a word, he was a very decent person; therefore he was so well received by the society of the city of N.”
For the most part, officials are not engaged in service, but spend time in entertainment (dinners and balls). Here they indulge in their only "sensible occupation" - playing cards. Playing cards is more characteristic of fat than thin, and this is what they do at the ball. The fathers of the city give themselves up to the game of cards without a trace, show imagination, eloquence, liveliness of mind.
Gogol did not forget to point out the ignorance and stupidity of officials. Saying sarcastically that many of them "were not without education", the author immediately points to the limit of their interests: "Lyudmila" Zhukovsky, Karamzin or "Moscow News"; many did not read anything at all.
Entering into the poem "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin", Gogol introduced a description of the capital's bureaucracy. Just like in a provincial town, officialdom Petersburg is subject to bureaucracy, bribery, servility.
Despite the fact that Gogol introduced officialdom more as a whole, individual images can be distinguished. Thus, the governor, who in his person represents the highest city authority, is shown somewhat in a comical light: he had "Anna around his neck" and, perhaps, was introduced to a star; but, by the way, he was "a great kind man and even sometimes embroidered on tulle himself." He was "neither fat nor thin." And if Manilov says that the governor is "the most respectable and most amiable person", then Sobakevich directly declares that this is "the first robber in the world." It seems that both assessments of the governor's personality are correct and characterize him from different angles.
The prosecutor is an absolutely useless person in the service. In his portrait, Gogol points out one detail: very thick eyebrows and a seemingly conspiratorial winking eye. One gets the impression of dishonesty, uncleanliness, cunning of the prosecutor. Indeed, such qualities are characteristic of court employees, where lawlessness flourishes: the poem mentions two of the many cases when an unjust court was committed (the case of a fight between peasants and the murder of an assessor).
The inspector of the medical board is frightened by the talk about Chichikov no less than the others, since he also has sins: there is no proper care for the sick in the infirmaries, so people die in large numbers. The inspector is not embarrassed by this fact, he is indifferent to the fate of ordinary people, but he is afraid of the auditor, who can punish him and deprive him of his post.
Nothing is said about the postmaster being engaged in postal affairs, which indicates that he does nothing remarkable in the service: just like other officials, he either does nothing, or tries to rob and profit. Gogol mentions only
The fact that the postmaster is engaged in philosophy and makes large extracts from books.
Some lyrical digressions also serve to reveal the images of officials. For example, a satirical digression about fat and thin typifies the images of officials. The author divides men into two types, characterizing them depending on their physical appearance: the thin ones love to court women, and the fat ones, preferring the game of whist to the ladies, know how to “do their business better”, always firmly, invariably occupy reliable places.
Another example: Gogol compares Russian officials with foreigners - "wise men" who know how to treat people of different status and social status in different ways. So, speaking about the veneration of officials and their understanding of subordination, Gogol creates the image of a kind of conditional manager of the office, radically changing outwardly depending on whose society he is in: among subordinates or in front of the boss.
The world represented by Gogol, called " Officialdom in the poem "Dead Souls""very colorful, many-sided. Comic images of officials, brought together, create a picture of the ugly social structure of Russia. And Gogol's creation causes laughter and tears, because even more than a century later, it allows you to recognize familiar situations, faces, characters, fates. Great the talent of Gogol, who so uniquely vividly described reality, pointed out the ulcer of society, which they could not heal even after a century.
Composition: Officialdom in the poem "Dead Souls"
Composition
In tsarist Russia in the 30s of the 19th century, not only serfdom, but also an extensive bureaucratic bureaucratic apparatus was a real disaster for the people. Called to stand guard over law and order, representatives of the administrative authorities thought only of their own material well-being, stealing from the treasury, extorting bribes, mocking people without rights. Thus, the theme of exposing the bureaucratic world was very relevant for Russian literature. Gogol addressed her more than once in such works as The Inspector General, The Overcoat, Notes of a Madman. She found expression in the poem "Dead Souls", where, starting from the seventh chapter, the bureaucracy is in the center of the author's attention. Despite the absence of detailed and detailed images similar to landlord heroes, the picture of bureaucratic life in Gogol's poem is striking in its breadth.
With two or three masterful strokes, the writer draws wonderful miniature portraits. This is the governor, embroidering on tulle, and the prosecutor with very black thick eyebrows, and the short postmaster, wit and philosopher, and many others. These sketchy faces are remembered for their characteristic funny details that are filled with deep meaning. Indeed, why is the head of an entire province characterized as a kind man who sometimes embroiders on tulle? Probably because as a leader there is nothing to say about him. From this it is easy to conclude how negligently and dishonestly the governor treats his official duties, his civic duty. The same can be said about his subordinates. Gogol makes extensive use of the characterization of the hero by other characters in the poem. For example, when a witness was needed to formalize the purchase of serfs, Sobakevich tells Chichikov that the prosecutor, as an idle man, is right at home. But this is one of the most significant officials of the city, who must administer justice, monitor compliance with the law. The description of the prosecutor in the poem is enhanced by the description of his death and funeral. He did nothing but mindlessly sign papers, as he left all decisions to the solicitor, "the first grabber in the world." Obviously, the rumors about the sale of "dead souls" became the cause of his death, since it was he who was responsible for all the illegal deeds that took place in the city. Gogol's bitter irony is heard in reflections on the meaning of the prosecutor's life: "...why he died, or why he lived, only God knows." Even Chichikov, looking at the prosecutor's funeral, involuntarily comes to the conclusion that the only thing the dead man can remember is thick black eyebrows.
A close-up gives the writer a typical image of the official Ivan Antonovich Pitcher snout. Taking advantage of his position, he extorts bribes from visitors. It is ridiculous to read about how Chichikov placed a "paper" in front of Ivan Antonovich, "which he did not notice at all and immediately covered it with a book." But it is sad to realize what a hopeless situation Russian citizens found themselves in, dependent on dishonest, greedy people representing state power. This idea is emphasized by Gogol's comparison of an official of the civil chamber with Virgil. At first glance, it is unacceptable. But the nasty official, like the Roman poet in The Divine Comedy, leads Chichikov through all the circles of bureaucratic hell. So, this comparison reinforces the impression of the evil with which the entire administrative system of tsarist Russia is saturated.
Gogol gives in the poem a peculiar classification of bureaucracy, dividing the representatives of this estate into lower, thin and thick. The writer gives a sarcastic description of each of these groups. The lower are, by Gogol's definition, nondescript clerks and secretaries, as a rule, bitter drunkards. By "thin" the author means the middle stratum, and "thick" is the provincial nobility, who firmly holds on to their places and deftly extracts considerable income from their high position.
Gogol is inexhaustible in his choice of surprisingly accurate and well-aimed comparisons. So, he likens officials to a squadron of flies that swoop down on tidbits of refined sugar. Provincial officials are also characterized in the poem by their usual activities: playing cards, drinking parties, lunches, dinners, gossip Gogol writes that "meanness, completely disinterested, pure meanness" flourishes in the society of these civil servants. Their quarrels do not end in a duel, because "they were all civil servants." They have other methods and means by which they do harm to each other, which is harder than any duel. There are no significant differences in the way of life of officials, in their actions and views. Gogol draws this estate as thieves, bribe-takers, loafers and swindlers who are bound to each other by mutual responsibility. That is why officials feel so uncomfortable when Chichikov's scam was revealed, because each of them remembered his sins. If they try to detain Chichikov for his fraud, then he will be able to accuse them of dishonesty. A comical situation arises when people in power help a swindler in his illegal machinations and are afraid of him.
Gogol in the poem pushes the boundaries of the county town, introducing into it "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin". It no longer tells about local abuses, but about the arbitrariness and lawlessness that the highest St. Petersburg officials, that is, the government itself, are doing. The contrast between the unheard-of luxury of St. Petersburg and the miserable beggarly position of Kopeikin, who shed blood for the fatherland, is striking, and lost an arm and a leg. But, despite the injuries and military merits, this war hero is not even entitled to the pension that is due to him. A desperate invalid tries to find help in the capital, but his attempt is shattered by the cold indifference of a high-ranking dignitary. This disgusting image of a soulless St. Petersburg nobleman completes the characterization of the world of officials. All of them, starting with a petty provincial secretary and ending with a representative of the highest administrative authority, are dishonest, mercenary, cruel people, indifferent to the fate of the country and people. It is to this conclusion that the remarkable poem by N. V. Gogol "Dead Souls" leads the reader.
Officialdom is a special social stratum, a “link” between the people and the authorities. This is a special world that lives according to its own laws, guided by its own moral principles and concepts. The theme of exposing the depravity and limitations of this class is topical at all times. Gogol devoted a number of works to her, using the techniques of satire, humor, and subtle irony.
Arriving in the provincial city of N, Chichikov pays visits to the dignitaries of the city in accordance with the etiquette, which prescribes first to visit the most significant persons. The first in this “list” was the mayor, to whom “the hearts of the citizens trembled in excess of gratitude”, the last was the city architect. Chichikov operates on the principle: "Have no money, have good people to turn to."
What was the provincial city, about the welfare of which the mayor so "took care of"? On the streets - "skinny lighting", and the house of the "father" of the city is like a "bright comet" against the dark sky. In the park, the trees "have taken a bad turn"; in the province - crop failures, high cost, and in a brightly lit house - a ball for officials and their families. What can be said about the people gathered here? - Nothing. Before us are "black tailcoats": no names, no faces. Why are they here? - Show yourself, make the right acquaintances, have a good time.
However, "tailcoats" are heterogeneous. "Fat" (they know how to do things better) and "thin" (people not adapted to life). The “fat” ones buy real estate, writing it down in the name of their wife, while the “thin ones” let everything accumulated “down the wind”.
Chichikov is going to make a bill of sale. The “white house” opens to his gaze, which speaks of the purity of the “souls of the posts located in it”. The image of the priests of Themis is limited to a few characteristics: "wide nape", "a lot of paper". The voices are hoarse among the lower ranks, majestic - among the chiefs. Officials are more or less enlightened people: some read Karamzin, and some "read nothing at all."
Chichikov and Manilov "move" from one table to another: from the simple curiosity of young people to the full swagger and vanity of Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinny snout, creating the appearance of work in order to receive the proper reward. Finally, the chairman of the chamber, shining like the sun, completes the deal, which must be noted, which is carried out with the light hand of the police chief - a "benefactor" in the city, who receives twice as much income as all his predecessors.
The extensive bureaucracy in pre-revolutionary Russia was a real disaster for the people. Therefore, the attention that the satirist writer pays to him is natural, sharply criticizing bribery, cringing, emptiness and vulgarity, a low cultural level, and the unworthy attitude of bureaucrats towards their fellow citizens.
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