Poem by N. V. Gogol “ Dead Souls” - greatest work world literature. In the necrosis of the souls of the characters - landowners, officials, Chichikov - the writer sees the tragic mortification of mankind, the dull movement of history in a vicious circle.
The plot of "Dead Souls" (the sequence of Chichikov's meetings with the landowners) reflects Gogol's ideas about the possible degrees of human degradation. In fact, if Manilov still retains some attractiveness in himself, then Plyushkin, who closes the gallery of feudal landowners, has already been openly called "a hole in humanity."
Creating images of Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich, Plyushkin, the writer resorts to general methods of realistic typification (image of a village, master's house, a portrait of the owner, an office, a conversation about city officials and dead souls). If necessary, a biography of the character is also given.
The image of Manilov depicts the type of an idle, dreamer, “romantic” loafer. The landowner's economy is in complete decline. “The manor’s house stood on a jura, that is, on a hill, open to all the winds, whatever it takes to blow ...” The housekeeper steals, “stupidly and uselessly preparing in the kitchen”, “empty in the pantry”, “unclean and drunken servants” . Meanwhile, a "gazebo with a flat green dome, wooden blue columns and the inscription: "Temple of Solitary Reflection" has been erected. Manilov's dreams are absurd and absurd. “Sometimes ... he talked about how good it would be if all of a sudden to lead an underground passage from the house or build a stone bridge across the pond ...” Gogol shows that Manilov is gone and empty, he has no real spiritual interests. “In his office there was always some kind of book, bookmarked on the fourteenth page, which he had been constantly reading for two years.” vulgarity family life(relationship with his wife, education of Alcides and Themistoclus), sugary sweetness of speech (“May day”, “name day of the heart”) confirm the insight portrait characteristics character. “In the first minute of a conversation with him, you cannot but say: “What a pleasant and a kind person!” In the next minute of the conversation you will not say anything, but in the third you will say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away if you don’t move away, you will feel mortal boredom.” Gogol with stunning artistic power shows the deadness of Manilov, the worthlessness of his life. Behind external attractiveness lies spiritual emptiness.
The image of the hoarder Korobochka is already devoid of those “attractive” features that distinguish Manilov. And again we have a type in front of us - “one of those mothers, small landowners who ... little by little collect money in motley bags placed in drawers of chests of drawers”. Korobochka's interests are entirely focused on the household. “Strong-headed” and “club-headed” Nastasya Petrovna is afraid to sell cheap, selling “dead souls” to Chichikov. Curious is the "silent scene" that occurs in this chapter. We find similar scenes in almost all chapters showing the conclusion of a deal between Chichikov and another landowner. It's special artistic technique, a kind of temporary stoppage of the action, which makes it possible to show with special convexity the spiritual emptiness of Pavel Ivanovich and his interlocutors. At the end of the third chapter, Gogol talks about the typical image of Korobochka, about the insignificant difference between her and another aristocratic lady.
The gallery of the dead shower continues in Nozdrev's poem. Like other landowners, he is internally empty, age does not concern him: “Nozdryov at thirty-five years old was the same perfect as he was at eighteen and twenty: a hunter for a walk.” The portrait of a dashing reveler is satirical and sarcastic at the same time. “He was of medium height, a very well-built fellow with full ruddy cheeks ... Health seemed to be squirting from his face.” However, Chichikov notices that one of Nozdryov's sideburns was smaller and not as thick as the other (the result of another fight). Passion for lies and card game largely explains the fact that not a single meeting, where Nozdryov was present, could do without “history”. The landowner's life is absolutely soulless. In the study “there were no traces of what happens in studies, that is, books or paper; only a saber and two guns hung...” Of course, Nozdryov's household was ruined. Even lunch consists of dishes that are burnt or, on the contrary, not cooked.
Chichikov's attempt to buy dead souls from Nozdrev - fatal mistake. It is Nozdryov who blabs a secret at the governor's ball. The arrival in the city of Korobochka, who wished to find out “how much dead souls go”, confirms the words of the dashing “talker”.
The image of Nozdrev is no less typical than the image of Manilov or Korobochka. Gogol writes: “Nozdryov will not leave the world for a long time. He is everywhere between us and, perhaps, only walks in a different caftan; but people are frivolously impenetrable, and a person in a different caftan seems to them a different person.
The typification techniques listed above are used by Gogol and for artistic perception image of Sobakevich. Descriptions of the village and the landowner's household testify to a certain prosperity. “The yard was surrounded by a strong and excessively thick wooden lattice. The landowner, it seemed, was fussing a lot about strength ... The village huts of the peasants were also cut down marvelously ... everything was fitted tightly and as it should.
Describing the appearance of Sobakevich, Gogol resorts to zoological analogy: he compares the landowner with a bear. Sobakevich is a glutton. In his judgments about food, he rises to a kind of “gastronomic” pathos: “When I have pork - put the whole pig on the table, lamb - drag the whole ram, goose - the whole goose!” However, 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 dead souls, perfectly knows business and human qualities their peasants.
The ultimate degree of human decline is captured by Gogol in the image of the richest landowner of the province (more than a thousand serfs) Plyushkin. The biography of the character allows you to trace the path from the "thrifty" owner to the half-crazy miser. “But there was a time when he ... was married and a family man, and a neighbor stopped by to dine with him ... two pretty daughters came out to meet him ... a son ran out ... The owner himself appeared at the table in a frock coat ... But kind the hostess died, some of the keys, and with them minor worries passed to him. Plyushkin became more restless and, like all widowers, more suspicious and stingy. Soon the family completely breaks up, and unprecedented pettiness and suspicion develop in Plyushkin. “... He himself finally turned into some kind of hole in humanity.” So, by no means social conditions led the landowner to the last frontier of moral decline. Before us is a tragedy (precisely a tragedy!) of loneliness, growing into a nightmarish picture of lonely old age.
In the village of Plyushkina, Chichikov notices "some special dilapidation." Entering the house, Chichikov sees a strange heap of furniture and some street rubbish. Plyushkin lives worse than "the last shepherd of Sobakevich", although he is not poor. Gogol's words sound warning: “And to what insignificance, pettiness, disgustingness a person could descend! He could have changed so much!.. Everything can happen to a person.”
Thus, the landowners in "Dead Souls" are united common features: idleness, vulgarity, spiritual emptiness. However, Gogol would not have been a great writer if he had limited himself to a “social” explanation of the reasons for the spiritual failure of the characters. He does indeed create "typical characters in typical circumstances," but "circumstances" can also be found in the conditions of a person's inner, mental life. I repeat that Plyushkin's downfall is not directly connected with his position as a landowner. Can't the loss of a family break even the most strong man, a representative of any class or estate?! In a word, Gogol's realism also includes the deepest psychologism. This is what makes the poem interesting to the modern reader.
world of the dead souls is contrasted in the work with ineradicable faith in the “mysterious” Russian people, in its inexhaustible moral potential. At the end of the poem, an image of an endless road and a troika bird rushing forward appears. In her indomitable movement, the writer sees the great destiny of Russia, spiritual resurrection humanity.
Landowners in Gogol's Dead Souls
The author called “Dead Souls” a poem and thus emphasized the significance of his creation. The poem is a significant lyric-epic work, distinguished by the depth of content and a wide coverage of events. This definition (poem) is still controversial.
With the release satirical works Gogol in Russian realistic literature strengthening the critical direction. Gogol's realism is more saturated with accusatory, scourging power - this distinguishes him from his predecessors and contemporaries. artistic method Gogol was named critical realism. What is new in Gogol is the sharpening of the main character traits of the hero, the writer's favorite technique is hyperbole - an exorbitant exaggeration that enhances the impression. Gogol found that the plot of "Dead Souls", prompted by Pushkin, is good in that it gives complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and create a wide variety of characters.
According to Herzen, Gogol turned “to the local nobility and paraded this unknown people, who kept backstage far from roads and big cities. Thanks to Gogol, we finally saw them ... without masks, without embellishment.
The chapters on landowners, to whom more than half of the first volume is devoted, are arranged by the author in a strictly thought-out order: the wasteful dreamer Manilov is replaced by the thrifty Korobochka; she is opposed to the ruined landowner, the swindler Nozdryov; then again turn to the economic landowner-kulak Sobakevich; The gallery of feudal lords is closed by the miser Plyushkin, who embodies the extreme degree of the fall of the landlord class.
Reading "Dead Souls", we notice that the writer repeats the same techniques in depicting landowners: he gives a description of the village, the manor's house, the appearance of the landowner. Further there is a story about how they reacted to Chichikov's proposal to selling dead shower those or other people. Then Chichikov's attitude to each of the landowners is depicted and a scene appears buying and selling dead shower. Such a coincidence is not accidental. The monotonous vicious circle of techniques allowed the artist to flaunt conservatism, backwardness provincial life, isolation and narrow-mindedness of the landowners, emphasize stagnation and dying.
We learn about the “very courteous and courteous landowner Manilov” in the first chapter, where the author depicts his appearance, especially his eyes - sweet as sugar. The new acquaintance was crazy about Chichikov, "for a long time shook his hand and asked him convincingly to honor him with his arrival in the village." Looking for Manilovka, Chichikov confused the name and asked the peasants about the village of Zamanilovka. The writer plays with this word: “The village of Manilovka could not lure many with its location.” And then it starts detailed description landowner's estate. “The manor's house stood alone in the dur... open to all winds...” On the slope of the mountain, “two or three flower beds were scattered in English style with lilac and yellow acacia bushes; ... a gazebo with a flat green dome, wooden blue columns and the inscription “Temple of Solitary Reflection”, below a pond covered with greenery ...” And finally, the “gray log huts” of the peasants. Behind all this, the owner himself peeps - the Russian landowner, the nobleman Manilov. Mismanaged, the house was set up unsuccessfully, with a claim to European fashion, but devoid of elementary taste. This landowner has more than two hundred peasant huts.
The dullness of the appearance of the Manilov estate complements landscape sketch: darkening to the side “dull bluish color Pine forest” and a completely indefinite day: “neither clear, nor gloomy, but of some kind light gray". Sad, bare, colorless. Gogol exhaustively revealed that such a Manilovka could lure few.
The portrait of Manilov is completed by Gogol in an ironic manner: "His features were not devoid of pleasantness." But in this pleasantness, it seemed, "too much was transferred to sugar." Sugar is a detail that indicates sweetness. And then a devastating characterization of the author himself: “There is a kind of people known by the name: people are so-so, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.”
Manilov is deprived of economic intelligence. “When the clerk said: “It would be nice, sir, to do this and that,” “Yes, not bad,” he usually answered. Manilov did not run a household, he did not know his peasants well, and everything fell into decay, but he dreamed of an underground passage, of a stone bridge across a pond, which two women forded, and with trading shops on both sides of it.
The writer's gaze penetrates Manilov's house, where the same carelessness and lack of taste reigned. Some rooms were unfurnished, two armchairs in the master's office were upholstered in matting. There were piles of ashes on the windowsill in the office, the book, open on the 14th page for two years already, is the only evidence of the work of the owner in the office.
Mrs. Manilova is worthy of her husband. Her life is devoted to sugary lisping, philistine surprises (a beaded case for a toothpick), languid long kisses, and household chores are a low occupation for her. “Manilova is so well brought up,” Gogol quipped.
Manilov's character is expressed in a special manner of speaking, in a storm of words, in the use of the most delicate turns of speech: let you not allow this, no, excuse me, I will not allow such a pleasant and educated guest to pass behind. Manilov's good-heartedness, his ignorance of people is revealed in the assessment of city officials as people "most respected and most amiable." Step by step, Gogol inexorably denounces vulgarity vulgar person, irony is constantly replaced by satire: “Russian cabbage soup is on the table, but from pure heart”, the children - Alkid and Themistoclus, are named after the ancient Greek commanders as a sign of the education of their parents.
During a conversation about the sale of dead souls, it turned out that many peasants had already died (probably, they had a hard time living with Manilov). At first, Manilov cannot understand the essence of Chichikov's undertaking. “He felt that he needed to do something, to propose a question, and what question - the devil knows. He finally ended by exhaling smoke again, but not through the mouth, but through the nasal nostrils. Manilov shows "concern for further views of Russia." The writer characterizes him as an empty phrase-monger: where does he care about Russia if he cannot put things in order in his own economy.
Chichikov easily manages to convince his friend of the legitimacy of the transaction, and Manilov, as an impractical, unbusinesslike landowner, gives Chichikov dead shower and bears the cost of registration of the bill of sale.
Manilov is tearfully complacent, devoid of living thoughts and real feelings. He himself is a "dead soul", doomed to perish in the same way as the entire autocratic-feudal system of Russia. The Manilovs are harmful, socially dangerous. What are the consequences for economic development countries can be expected from Manilov's management!
The landowner Korobochka is thrifty, “gaining little by little money”, lives closed in her estate, as if in a box, and her thriftiness eventually develops into hoarding. Limitation and stupidity complete the character of the "cudgel-headed" landowner, who is distrustful of everything new in life. The qualities inherent in Korobochka are typical not only among the provincial nobility.
Korobochka is followed by Nozdryov in Gogol's gallery of freaks. Unlike Manilov, he is restless, nimble, lively, but his energy is wasted on trifles in a cheating card game, in petty dirty tricks lies. With irony, Gogol calls him “in some respects a historical person, because wherever Nozdryov was, he could not do without stories,” that is, without scandal. The author rewards him with what he deserves through the mouth of Chichikov: “Nozdrev is a man - rubbish!” He squandered everything, abandoned the estate and settled at the fair in the gaming house. Emphasizing the vitality of the nostrils in Russian reality, Gogol exclaims: “Nozdrev will not be out of the world for a long time yet.”
With the practical landowner Sobakevich, the hoarding peculiar to Korobochka turned into genuine kulaks. He looks at the serfs only as labor force and, even though he set up huts for peasants, marvelously cut down, he will tear off three skins from them. Some of the peasants he transferred to a monetary system of quitrent, which was beneficial to the landowner. The image of Sobakevich was created in Gogol's favorite hyperbolic manner. His portrait, in which a comparison with a bear is given, the situation in the house, the sharpness of the comments, the behavior at dinner - the animal essence of the landowner is emphasized in everything.
Sobakevich quickly figured out Chichikov's idea, realized the benefits and broke a hundred rubles per capita. The tight-fisted landowner sold the dead souls for his own benefit, and even cheated Chichikov by slipping him one female person. “A fist, a fist, and a beast to boot!” - this is how Chichikov characterizes him. Sobakevich adapts to capitalist conditions of life.
When he first saw Plyushkin, Chichikov “for a long time could not recognize what gender the figure was: a woman or a man. Her dress was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman's hood, on her head a cap worn by village yard women, only her voice seemed to him somewhat hoarse for a woman: “Oh, woman! he thought to himself, and immediately added: “Oh, no!” “Of course, baba!” Chichikov could not even imagine that this was a Russian master, a landowner, the owner of serf souls. The passion for accumulation unrecognizably disfigured Plyushkin; he saves only for the sake of hoarding... He starved the peasants, and they "are dying like flies" (80 souls in three years). He himself lives from hand to mouth, dresses like a beggar. (According to Gogol's apt words, Plyushkin has turned into some kind of hole in humanity.) In the era of the growth of monetary relations, Plyushkin's economy is conducted in the old fashioned way, based on corvee labor, the owner collects food and things, senselessly accumulates for the sake of accumulation. Ruined the peasants, ruining them with overwork. Plyushkin saved up, and everything he collected rotted, everything turned into “clean manure*.” Plunder people's labor the author exposes in the chapter on Plyushkin even with greater force than in the chapter on Nozdryov. Such a landowner as Plyushkin cannot be the backbone of the state, move forward its economy and culture. And the writer sadly exclaims: “And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, vileness! Could have changed! And does it look like it's true? Everything looks like the truth, everything can happen to a person.
Gogol endowed each landowner with original, specific features. Whatever the hero, then a unique personality. But at the same time, his heroes retain ancestral, social signs: low cultural level, lack of intellectual inquiries, desire for enrichment, cruelty in the treatment of serfs, moral uncleanliness, lack of an elementary 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 the landlords. The ideological defenders of serfdom argued that the nobility - the best part population of Russia, passionate patriots, the backbone of the state. Gogol dispelled this myth with images of landowners. Herzen said that the landlords “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.
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N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is the greatest work of world literature. In the necrosis of the souls of the characters - landowners, officials, Chichikov - the writer sees the tragic mortification of humanity, the dull movement of history in a vicious circle.
The plot of "Dead Souls" (the sequence of Chichikov's meetings with the landowners) reflects Gogol's ideas about the possible degrees of human degradation. In fact, if Manilov still retains some attractiveness in himself, then Plyushkin, who closes the gallery of feudal landowners, has already been openly called "a hole in humanity."
Creating images of Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich, Plyushkin, the writer resorts to general methods of realistic typification (image of a village, a manor house, a portrait of the owner, an office, talking about city officials and dead souls). If necessary, a biography of the character is also given.
The image of Manilov captures the type of idle, dreamer, "romantic" loafer. The landowner's economy is in complete decline. “The manor’s house stood on a jura, that is, on a hill, open to all the winds, whatever it takes to blow ...” The housekeeper steals, “stupidly and uselessly preparing in the kitchen”, “empty in the pantry”, “unclean and drunken servants” . Meanwhile, a "gazebo with a flat green dome, wooden blue columns and the inscription: "Temple of Solitary Reflection" has been erected. Manilov's dreams are absurd and absurd. “Sometimes ... he talked about how good it would be if all of a sudden to lead an underground passage from the house or build a stone bridge across the pond ...” Gogol shows that Manilov is gone and empty, he has no real spiritual interests. “In his office there was always some kind of book, bookmarked on the fourteenth page, which he had been constantly reading for two years.” The vulgarity of family life (relationship with his wife, the upbringing of Alcides and Themistoclus), the sugary sweetness of speech (“May day”, “name day of the heart”) confirm the insight of the character’s portraiture. “In the first minute of a conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person!” In the next minute of the conversation you will not say anything, but in the third you will say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away if you don’t move away, you will feel mortal boredom.” Gogol, with amazing artistic power, shows the deadness of Manilov, the worthlessness of his life. Behind external attractiveness lies spiritual emptiness.
The image of the hoarder Korobochka is already devoid of those “attractive” features that distinguish Manilov. And again we have a type in front of us - “one of those mothers, small landowners who ... little by little collect money in motley bags placed in drawers of chests of drawers”. Korobochka's interests are entirely focused on the household. “Strong-headed” and “club-headed” Nastasya Petrovna is afraid to sell cheap, selling “dead souls” to Chichikov. Curious is the "silent scene" that occurs in this chapter. We find similar scenes in almost all chapters showing the conclusion of a deal between Chichikov and another landowner. This is a special artistic technique, a kind of temporary stoppage of the action, which makes it possible to show the spiritual emptiness of Pavel Ivanovich and his interlocutors with particular convexity. At the end of the third chapter, Gogol talks about the typical image of Korobochka, about the insignificant difference between her and another aristocratic lady.
The gallery of dead souls is continued in Nozdrev's poem. Like other landowners, he is internally empty, age does not concern him: “Nozdryov at thirty-five years old was the same perfect as he was at eighteen and twenty: a hunter for a walk.” The portrait of a dashing reveler is satirical and sarcastic at the same time. “He was of medium height, a very well-built fellow with full ruddy cheeks ... Health seemed to be squirting from his face.” However, Chichikov notices that one of Nozdryov's sideburns was smaller and not as thick as the other (the result of another fight). Passion for lies and card games largely explains the fact that not a single meeting, where Nozdryov was present, could do without “history”. The landowner's life is absolutely soulless. In the study “there were no traces of what happens in studies, that is, books or paper; only a saber and two guns hung...” Of course, Nozdryov's household was ruined. Even lunch consists of dishes that are burnt or, on the contrary, not cooked.
Chichikov's attempt to buy dead souls from Nozdrev is a fatal mistake. It is Nozdryov who blabs a secret at the governor's ball. The arrival in the city of Korobochka, who wished to find out “how much dead souls go”, confirms the words of the dashing “talker”.
The image of Nozdrev is no less typical than the image of Manilov or Korobochka. Gogol writes: “Nozdryov will not leave the world for a long time. He is everywhere between us and, perhaps, only walks in a different caftan; but people are frivolously impenetrable, and a person in a different caftan seems to them a different person.
The typification techniques listed above are also used by Gogol for the artistic perception of the image of Sobakevich. Descriptions of the village and the landowner's household testify to a certain prosperity. “The yard was surrounded by a strong and excessively thick wooden lattice. The landowner, it seemed, was fussing a lot about strength ... The village huts of the peasants were also cut down marvelously ... everything was fitted tightly and as it should.
Describing the appearance of Sobakevich, Gogol resorts to zoological analogy: he compares the landowner with a bear. Sobakevich is a glutton. In his judgments about food, he rises to a kind of “gastronomic” pathos: “When I have pork - put the whole pig on the table, lamb - drag the whole ram, goose - the whole goose!” However, 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, profitably sells dead souls to Chichikov, knows perfectly well the business and human qualities of his peasants.
The ultimate degree of human decline is captured by Gogol in the image of the richest landowner of the province (more than a thousand serfs) Plyushkin. The biography of the character allows you to trace the path from the "thrifty" owner to the half-crazy miser. “But there was a time when he ... was married and a family man, and a neighbor stopped by to dine with him ... two pretty daughters came out to meet him ... a son ran out ... The owner himself appeared at the table in a frock coat ... But kind the hostess died, some of the keys, and with them minor worries passed to him. Plyushkin became more restless and, like all widowers, more suspicious and stingy. Soon the family completely breaks up, and unprecedented pettiness and suspicion develop in Plyushkin. “... He himself finally turned into some kind of hole in humanity.” So, it was by no means social conditions that led the landowner to the last frontier of moral decline. Before us is a tragedy (precisely a tragedy!) of loneliness, growing into a nightmarish picture of lonely old age.
In the village of Plyushkina, Chichikov notices "some special dilapidation." Entering the house, Chichikov sees a strange heap of furniture and some street rubbish. Plyushkin lives worse than "the last shepherd of Sobakevich", although he is not poor. Gogol's words sound warning: “And to what insignificance, pettiness, disgustingness a person could descend! He could have changed so much!.. Everything can happen to a person.”
Thus, the landowners in "Dead Souls" are united by common features: idleness, vulgarity, spiritual emptiness. However, Gogol would not have been a great writer if he had limited himself to a “social” explanation of the reasons for the spiritual failure of the characters. He does indeed create "typical characters in typical circumstances," but "circumstances" can also be found in the conditions of a person's inner, mental life. I repeat that Plyushkin's downfall is not directly connected with his position as a landowner. Can't the loss of a family break even the strongest person, a representative of any class or estate?! In a word, Gogol's realism also includes the deepest psychologism. This is what makes the poem interesting to the modern reader.
The world of dead souls is opposed in the work by an ineradicable faith in the “mysterious” Russian people, in its inexhaustible moral potential. At the end of the poem, an image of an endless road and a troika bird rushing forward appears. In her indomitable movement, the writer sees the great destiny of Russia, the spiritual resurrection of mankind.
In the image of Manilov, Gogol begins the gallery of landowners. Before us there are typical characters. In each portrait created by Gogol, according to him, "the features of those who consider themselves better than others" are collected. Already in the description of the village and the estate of Manilov, the essence of his character is revealed. The house is located on a very unfavorable place open to all winds. The village makes a miserable impression, since Manilov does not take care of the household at all. Pretentiousness, sweetness are revealed not only in the portrait of Manilov, not only in his manners, but also in the fact that he calls the rickety arbor "the temple of solitary reflection", and gives the children the names of heroes Ancient Greece. The essence of Manilov's character is complete idleness. Lying on the couch, he indulges in dreams, fruitless and fantastic, which he will never be able to realize, since any work, any activity is alien to him. His peasants live in poverty, disorder reigns in the house, and he dreams of how good it would be to build a stone bridge across the pond or lead an underground passage from the house. He speaks favorably of all, all of whom are most preferable and most amiable. But not because he loves people and has an interest in them, but because he likes to live carefree and comfortable. About Manilov, the author says: "There is a kind of people known by the name: people are so-so, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan, according to the proverb." Thus, the author makes it clear that the image of Manilov is typical for his time. It is from the combination of such qualities that the concept of "Manilovism" comes.
The next image in the gallery of landlords is the image of the Box. If Manilov is a wasteful landowner, whose inactivity leads to complete ruin, then Korobochka can be called a hoarder, since hoarding is her passion. She owns a subsistence economy and trades in everything that is available in it: lard, bird feathers, serfs. Everything in her house is arranged in the old fashioned way. She neatly stores her belongings and saves money by putting them in bags. Everything works for her. In the same chapter, the author great attention pays attention to Chichikov's behavior, focusing on the fact that Chichikov behaves with Korobochka in a simpler, more cheeky manner than with Manilov. This phenomenon is typical of Russian reality, and, proving this, the author gives lyrical digression about the transformation of Prometheus into a fly. The nature of the Box is especially clearly revealed in the scene of sale. She is very afraid of selling cheap and even makes an assumption, which she herself is afraid of: “what if the dead ones will come in handy for her on the farm?”, And again the author emphasizes the typicality of this image: “Another and respectable, and statesman, even a person, but in reality it turns out a perfect Box” . It turns out that Korobochka's stupidity, her "club-headedness" is not such a rare occurrence.
Next in the gallery of landowners - Nozdrev. A carouser, a gambler, a drunkard, a liar and a brawler - that's a brief description of Nozdryova. This is a man, as the author writes, who had a passion "to spoil his neighbor, and for no reason at all." Gogol claims that the Nozdryovs are typical of Russian society: "The Nozdryovs will not leave the world for a long time. They are everywhere between us..." Nozdryov's disorderly nature is also reflected in the interior of his rooms. Part of the house is being repaired, the furniture is arranged somehow, but the owner does not care much about all this. He shows the guests the stable, in which there are two mares, a stallion and a goat. Then he boasts of a wolf cub, whom he keeps at home for no reason. Dinner at Nozdryov's was poorly prepared, but alcohol was plentiful. An attempt to buy dead souls almost ends tragically for Chichikov. Together with dead souls Nozdryov wants to sell him a stallion or a hurdy-gurdy, and then offers to play checkers on dead peasants. When Chichikov is outraged by the dishonest game, Nozdryov calls the servants to beat the intractable guest. Only the appearance of the police captain saves Chichikov.
The image of Sobakevich occupies a worthy place in the gallery of landowners. "A fist! Yes, and a beast to boot" - Chichikov gave him such a description. Sobakevich is undoubtedly a landowner-hoarder. His village is large and well-organized. All buildings, though clumsy, are strong to the extreme. Sobakevich himself reminded Chichikov medium size bear - big, clumsy. In the portrait of Sobakevich, there is no description of the eyes at all, which, as you know, are the mirror of the soul. Gogol wants to show that Sobakevich is so rude, uncouth, that in his body "there was no soul at all." Everything in Sobakevich's rooms is as clumsy and large as he is. The table, the armchair, the chairs, and even the thrush in the cage seemed to say: "And I, too, Sobakevich." Sobakevich takes Chichikov's request calmly, but demands 100 rubles for each dead soul, and even praises his goods like a merchant. Speaking about the typicality of such an image, Gogol emphasizes that people like Sobakevich are found everywhere - in the provinces and in the capital. After all, the point is not in appearance, but in the nature of a person: "no, whoever is a fist cannot straighten into a palm." Rough and uncouth Sobakevich is the lord over his peasants. And if such a person could rise higher and give him more power? How much trouble could he do! After all, he adheres to a strictly defined opinion about people: "A scammer sits on a scammer and drives a scammer."
Plyushkin is the last in the gallery of landowners. Gogol assigns this place to him, since Plyushkin is the result of the idle life of a person who lives off the labor of others. "This landowner has more than a thousand souls," but he looks like the last beggar. He became a parody of a person, and Chichikov does not even immediately understand who is standing in front of him - "a man or a woman." But there were times when Plyushkin was a thrifty, wealthy owner. But an insatiable passion for gain, for acquisition leads him to total collapse: he lost a real idea of \u200b\u200bobjects, stopped distinguishing the necessary from the unnecessary. He destroys grain, flour, cloth, but saves a piece of stale Easter cake, which his daughter brought a long time ago. On the example of Plyushkin, the author shows us the collapse human personality. A pile of rubbish in the middle of the room symbolizes Plyushkin's life. This is what he has become, this is what the spiritual death of a person means.
Plyushkin considers the peasants to be thieves and swindlers, starving them. After all, the mind has long ceased to guide his actions. Even to the only close person, to his daughter, Plyushkin has no paternal affection.
So consistently, from hero to hero, Gogol reveals one of the most tragic sides Russian reality. He shows how under the influence of serfdom the human element perishes in man. "My heroes follow one after another, one more vulgar than the other." That is why it is fair to assume that, giving the title to his poem, the author had in mind not the souls of dead peasants, but the dead souls of landowners. Indeed, in each image one of the varieties of spiritual death is revealed. Each of the images is no exception, since their moral ugliness is formed social order, social environment. These images reflect signs of spiritual degeneration. local nobility and human vices.
He described the most diverse types of landowners who lived in contemporary Russia. At the same time, he tried to clearly show their way of life, customs and vices. All landowners are depicted satirically, forming a kind of art gallery. Arriving in the city of NN, main character met many new people. All of them, for the most part, were either prosperous landowners or influential officials, since Chichikov had a plan to make a big fortune. He described five families most colorfully, therefore, it is by their characteristics that we can judge the people with whom the hero dealt.
This is, first of all, the good-natured and "sweet as sugar" landowner Manilov. Everything about him seems perfect, from the way he carries himself to the sugary tone. In fact, behind this mask is a boring and lazy person who has little interest in his household. For two years he has been reading the same book, on the same page. The servants drink, the housekeeper steals, the kitchen cooks carelessly. He himself does not know who works for him and for how long. Against the background of this decline, the gazebo called: "The Temple of Solitary Reflection" looks rather strange. Chichikov's request to sell "dead souls" seems to him illegal, but he is not able to refuse such a "nice" person, so he easily gives him a list of peasants for free.
Having been in Manilovka, the main character goes to Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka. This is an elderly widow living in a small village and regularly running her household. The box has many advantages. She was skillful and organized, her economy, although not rich, is prospering, the peasants are educated and focused on results. By nature, the hostess is thrifty and thrifty, but at the same time stingy, stupid and stupid. Selling "dead souls" to Chichikov, she worries all the time so as not to sell too cheap. Nastasya Petrovna knows all her peasants by name, which is why she does not keep a list. In total, eighteen peasants died with her. She sold them to the guest like bacon, honey or cereal.
Immediately after Korobochka, the hero visited the reckless Nozdryov. This is a young widower of about thirty or five who loved cheerful and noisy companies. Outwardly, he is well built, full of health and looks younger than his age. The economy is badly managed, since there is not a day at home, he has little interest in children, and even less in peasants. The only thing he always has in excellent condition is the kennel, as he is an avid hunter. In fact, he was a "historical" person, since not a single meeting could do without his intervention. He liked to lie, use swear words and spoke abruptly, not bringing a single topic to the end. At first, Chichikov thought that it would be easy to bargain for the "souls" of the peasants from him, but then he was mistaken. Nozdryov is the only landowner who left him with nothing and, in addition, nearly beat him.
From Nozdryov, the Gogol businessman went to Sobakevich - a man resembling a bear with his clumsiness and massiveness. The village in which he lived was huge and the house awkward. But at the same time, Sobakevich is a good business executive. All his houses and huts are built of solid wood. Knowing his peasants well and being a quick-witted merchant, he immediately guesses why Chichikov came and makes a deal for his own benefit. Was at Sobakevich's and back side. As a serf-owner, he was rather rude, uncouth and cruel. This character is incapable of expressing emotional experiences and will never miss his benefits.
The landowner Plyushkin seemed the strangest to Chichikov, according to appearance which it was difficult to determine to which class he belongs. He looked like an old, grouchy housekeeper with shifty eyes and a cap on his head. The men among themselves called the owner "Patched". In fact, Plyushkin was very rich. Thousands of peasants worked for him, his house once prospered, and after the death of his wife fell into disrepair. He was always a thrifty landowner, but over time he turned into a real miser who saved up all unnecessary rubbish, walked in rags and ate only breadcrumbs. He sincerely rejoiced at Chichikov's offer as an opportunity to earn an extra penny.
So colorfully the writer described five images of landowners, exposing five stages of human degradation and hardening of the soul. From Manilov to Plyushkin, we observe a picture of the gradual extinction of the human in man. Both in the image of Chichikov buying up "dead souls" and in the description of the landlords, the author most likely expressed anxiety and worries about the future of the country and humanity as a whole.
