Plyushkin dead souls the problem of materialism. Plyushkin - characterization of the hero of the poem "Dead Souls

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The image of Plyushkin from Gogol's poem " Dead Souls”is described in an unusual manner for the author - basically, Gogol widely uses elements of humor to characterize his heroes. For Plyushkin, there was no humor left - a realistic description of the stingy landowner and the consequences of his activities - that's what Nikolai Vasilyevich offers.

The symbolism of the surname

Gogol did not neglect symbolism in his works. Very often the names and surnames of the heroes of his works are symbolic. With the help of opposition to the characteristics of the hero or synonymy, they contribute to the disclosure of certain characteristics of the character.

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

The word "plyushkin" means a person who is distinguished by extraordinary stinginess and greed. The purpose of his life becomes the accumulation of a certain state (both in the form of finance, and in the form of products or raw materials) without a specific goal.

In other words, he saves in order to save. The accumulated good, as a rule, does not come true anywhere and is used with minimal expense.

This designation is fully consistent with the description of Plushkin.

Appearance and condition of the costume

Plyushkin is endowed with effeminate features in the poem. He has an elongated and unnecessarily thin face. Plyushkin did not have distinctive facial features. Nikolai Vasilievich claims that his face was not much different from the faces of other old people with emaciated faces.

hallmark Plyushkin's appearance had an exorbitantly long chin. The landowner had to cover him with a handkerchief so as not to spit. The image was complemented by small eyes. They had not yet lost their liveliness and looked like small animals. Plyushkin never shaved, his overgrown beard did not look the most attractive way and resembled a comb for horses.

Plyushkin had not a single tooth.

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

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

Plushkin's family and his past

Plyushkin was not always such a person when he was young, his appearance and character were absolutely different from the current ones.

A few years ago Plyushkin was not alone. He was a man who was quite happily married. His wife definitely had a positive influence on the landowner. After the birth of the children, Plyushkin's life also pleasantly changed, but this did not last long - soon his wife died, leaving Plyushkin three children - two girls and a boy.

Plyushkin hardly survived the loss of his wife, it was difficult for him to cope with the blues, so he moved more and more away from his usual rhythm of life.

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the poem by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol "Dead Souls".

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

Personality characteristic

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

Plyushkin was seized with anxiety - his concern and anxiety had long passed an acceptable measure and became a certain obsessive thought. After the death of his wife and daughter, he finally became callous in soul - the concepts of sympathy and love for others are alien to him.

This trend is observed not only in relation to strangers in the related plan of people, but also to the closest relatives.

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

It is impossible to find those who want to make friends with Plyushkin - everyone eschews the eccentric old man.

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

Despite significant financial reserves, Plyushkin lives very poorly - he is sorry to spend money not only on his relatives and friends, but also on himself - his clothes have long turned into rags, the house is leaky, but Plyushkin sees no point in improving something - his and so everything suits.

Plyushkin loves to complain and show off. It seems to him that he has only little - and he does not have enough food, and there is too little land, and even an extra tuft of hay cannot be found on the farm. In fact, everything is different - its food supplies are so large that they become unusable right in storage.

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

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

Plushkin's estate

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

His large estate not much different from an abandoned place. The gates and the fence along the garden were utterly worn out - in some places the fence collapsed, and no one was in a hurry to close up the holes that had formed.

On the territory of his village there used to be two churches, but now they are in disrepair.
Plyushkin's house is in a terrible state - probably it has not been repaired for many years. From the street, the house looks like a non-residential one - the windows in the estate were boarded up, only a few were opened. In some places, mold appeared, the tree was overgrown with moss.

Inside the house does not look better - the house is always dark and cold. The only room in which natural light penetrates is Plyushkin's room.

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

Plyushkin's office is also in chaos and disorder. Here is a broken chair that can no longer be repaired, a clock that does not work. In the corner of the room is a dump - what lies in a pile is difficult to make out. From the general heap stands out the sole from old shoes and a broken shovel handle.

It seems that the rooms were never cleaned - there was cobwebs and dust everywhere. Plyushkin's desk was also out of order - there were papers mixed with rubbish.

Attitude towards serfs

Plyushkin owns a large number of serfs - about 1000 people. Of course, caring for and correcting the work of so many people require certain strengths and skills. However, there is no need to talk about the positive achievements of Plyushkin's activities.

Plyushkin treats his peasants uncomfortably and cruelly. They differ little in appearance from their master - their clothes are torn, their houses are dilapidated, and the people themselves are immensely thin and hungry. From time to time, one of Plyushkin's serfs decides to escape, because the life of a fugitive becomes more attractive than that of Plyushkin's serf. Plyushkin sells about 200 "dead souls" to Chichikov - this is the number of people who died and serfs who fled from him in a few years. Compared with " dead souls The rest of the landlords, the number of peasants sold to Chichikov looks terrifying.

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the story of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol "The Overcoat".

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

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

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

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

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

The gallery of "dead souls" ends in the poem by Plyushkin. origins this image we find in the comedies of Plautus, Moliere, in the prose of Balzac. However, at the same time, Gogol's hero is a product of Russian life. “In the midst of general waste and ruin ... in the company of the Petukhovs, Khlobuevs, Chichikovs and Manilovs ... a suspicious and intelligent person ... involuntarily had to seize fear for his well-being. And so stinginess naturally becomes the mania into which his frightened suspiciousness develops ... Plyushkin is a Russian miser, a miser from fear for the future, in the organization of which the Russian person is so helpless, ”the pre-revolutionary critic notes.

The main features of Plyushkin are stinginess, greed, a thirst for hoarding and enrichment, alertness and suspicion. These features are masterfully conveyed in the portrait of the hero, in the landscape, in the description of the situation and in the dialogues.

Plyushkin's appearance is very expressive. “His face was nothing special; it was almost the same as that of many thin old men, only one chin protruded very far forward, so that he had to cover it with a handkerchief every time so as not to spit; little eyes had not yet gone out and were running from under high-growing eyebrows, like mice, when, sticking their pointed muzzles out of dark holes, alert ears and blinking their noses, they look out for a cat hiding somewhere ... ”Plyushkin’s outfit is noteworthy - greasy and a torn dressing gown, rags wrapped around his neck ... S. Shevyrev admired this portrait. “Plyushkin is seen so vividly by us, as if we recall him in the painting by Albert Dürer in the Doria Gallery ...”, the critic wrote.

Small moving eyes, similar to mice, testify to Plyushkin's alertness and suspicion, generated by fear for his property. His rags resemble the clothes of a beggar, but in no way a landowner who has more than a thousand souls.

The motif of poverty continues to develop in the description of the landowner's village. In all village buildings, “some special dilapidation” is noticeable, the huts are made of old and dark logs, the roofs look like a sieve, there are no glasses in the windows. The house of Plyushkin himself looks like "some kind of decrepit invalid." In some places it is one storey, in some places it is two, there is green mold on the fence and gates, a “naked stucco lattice” can be seen through the decrepit walls, only two of the windows are open, the rest are crowded or clogged. The “beggarly look” here metaphorically conveys the spiritual poverty of the hero, the severe limitation of his worldview by a pathological passion for hoarding.

Behind the house stretches a garden, just as overgrown and decayed, which, however, is "quite picturesque in its picturesque desolation." “Green clouds and irregular quivering domes lay on the celestial horizon connected tops of trees that had grown in freedom. A colossal white birch trunk ... rose from this green thicket and circled in the air, like ... a sparkling marble column ... Green thickets, illuminated by the sun, diverged in places ... "A dazzling white, marble birch trunk, green thickets, bright, the sparkling sun - in terms of the brightness of its colors and the presence of lighting effects, this landscape contrasts with the description interior decoration landowner's house, recreating the atmosphere of lifelessness, death, grave.

Upon entering Plyushkin's house, Chichikov immediately finds himself in darkness. “He stepped into the dark, wide passage, from which a cold blew, as from a cellar. From the passage he got into a room, also dark, slightly illuminated by light coming out from under a wide crack at the bottom of the door. Further, Gogol develops the motif of death, lifelessness outlined here. In another room of the landowner (where Chichikov ends up) there is a broken chair, “a clock with a stopped pendulum, to which the spider has already attached its web”; a chandelier in a canvas bag, thanks to a layer of dust, looks like "a silk cocoon in which a worm sits." On the walls, Pavel Ivanovich notices several paintings, but their plots are quite definite - a battle with screaming soldiers and drowning horses, a still life with a "duck hanging head down."

In the corner of the room, on the floor, there is a huge heap of old rubbish piled up; through a huge layer of dust, Chichikov notices there a piece of a wooden shovel and an old boot sole. This picture is symbolic. According to I.P. Zolotussky, Plyushkin's heap is "a tombstone above the ideal of a materialist." The researcher notes that whenever Chichikov meets with any of the landowners, he makes an "examination of his ideals." Plyushkin in this case "represents" a state, wealth. In fact, this is the most important thing that Chichikov strives for. It is financial independence that opens the way for him to comfort, happiness, prosperity, etc. All this is inextricably merged in the mind of Pavel Ivanovich with home, family, family ties, "heirs", respect in society.

Plyushkin, on the other hand, makes the reverse path in the poem. The hero seems to open to us reverse side Chichikov's ideal - we see that the landlord's house is completely neglected, he has no family, he has severed all friendly and family ties, there is not even a hint of respect in the reviews of other landlords.

But once Plyushkin was a thrifty owner, he was married, and "a neighbor stopped by to dine with him" and learn from him about the housekeeping. And everything was no worse for him than for others: “a friendly and talkative hostess”, famous for her hospitality, two pretty daughters, “blonde and fresh, like roses”, a son, a “broken boy”, and even a French teacher. But the "good mistress" of him and youngest daughter died, the eldest ran away with the headquarters captain, “the time has come for the son to serve,” and Plyushkin was left alone. Gogol carefully traces this process of disintegration human personality, the development in the hero of his pathological passion.

The lonely life of a landowner, widowhood, “gray hair in coarse hair”, dryness and rationalism of character (“ human feelings...were not deep in it") - all this gave "satiated food for stinginess." Indulging his vice, Plyushkin gradually ruined his entire household. So, his hay and bread rotted, flour in the cellars turned into stone, canvases and fabrics "turned into dust."

Plyushkin's passion for hoarding became truly pathological: every day he walked the streets of his village and collected everything that came to hand: an old sole, a woman's rag, an iron nail, a clay shard. What was not in the landowner's yard: "barrels, crossed, tubs, lagoons, jugs with stigmas and without stigmas, sworn brothers, baskets ...". “If someone looked into his working yard, where it was prepared for a supply of all kinds of wood and utensils that had never been used, it would have seemed to him that he had already ended up in Moscow on a wood chip yard, where quick mothers-in-law and mother-in-law go every day. ..make their economic supplies...”, writes Gogol.

Obeying the thirst for profit and enrichment, the hero gradually lost all human feelings: he ceased to be interested in the life of his children and grandchildren, quarreled with his neighbors, and drove away all the guests.

The character of the hero in the poem is entirely consistent with his speech. As V.V. Litvinov notes, Plyushkin’s speech is “one continuous grumbling”: complaints about others - relatives, peasants and scolding with his courtyards.

In the scene buying and selling dead shower Plyushkin, like Sobakevich, begins to bargain with Chichikov. However, if Sobakevich, not caring about the moral side of the issue, probably guesses the essence of Chichikov's scam, then Plyushkin does not even think about it. Hearing that it is possible to get "profit", the landowner seems to forget about everything: he "expected", "his hands trembled", he "took money from Chichikov in both hands and carried them to the bureau with the same caution, as if would carry some liquid, every minute afraid to spill it. Thus, moral side the question leaves him by itself - it simply fades under the pressure of the "surging feelings" of the hero.

It is these "feelings" that bring the landowner out of the category of "indifferent". Belinsky considered Plyushkin a "comic face", ugly and disgusting, denying him the significance of feelings. However, in the context of the author's creative intention, presented in the poem life history hero, this character seems to be the most difficult among the Gogol landowners. It was Plyushkin (together with Chichikov), according to Gogol's plan, who was supposed to appear morally revived in the third volume of the poem.

The image of Plyushkin is the final in a series of images of landowners. N.V. Gogol left this landowner to the very end for a reason. The landlords are presented in the sequence "one more vulgar than the other", from which we can conclude that Plyushkin is the most vulgar, base and greedy person.

If we recall what this character used to be, it becomes clear that he was a good landowner who know how to run a business. Neighbors came to him to learn his wise stinginess. His economy prospered, and Plyushkin himself was an excellent family man. His stinginess gained significant momentum over the years, and as a result, he became a terrible miser that even his entire household was in a ruined state. He spared money for absolutely everything. Perhaps, in this way, the death of his wife was reflected in him.

When Chichikov came to Plyushkin, he was shocked by what he saw. All the buildings were in an insignificant state, no one followed them and had not done repairs for a long time. The peasants on Plyushkin's farm were dying like flies, he didn't think about anyone at all. His soul died, and his thoughts were occupied with hoarding. One thing is not clear - why does he need so much money? To whom will he leave all his savings? He cursed his son, and he does not want to help his daughter, who needs help. Plyushkin sank to such an extent that he did not even need his own children.

He is lonely, no one cares about him, and he does not need anyone. He drags all sorts of junk into the house and Chichikov sees that Plyushkin's house is littered with unnecessary and useless rubbish. Plyushkin lived a worthless life. His stinginess drove him to the extreme. His mind seems to be clouded, he does not even realize why he saves money and why he saves so much on everything. The character does not even look like a landowner, but like a beggar. Plyushkin is sincerely sorry, but he himself is to blame for the life to which he brought himself.

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

This fifth and last companion of Chichikov is a prime example how dead it can be human soul. Therefore, the title of the poem is very symbolic: not only directly indicates that we are talking O " dead souls"- as they called the dead serfs, but also about the miserable, deprived human qualities, devastated little souls of landowners and officials.

Characteristics of the hero

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

The reader's acquaintance with the landowner Plyushkin Gogol begins with a description of the surroundings of the estate. Everything testifies to desolation, insufficient funding and the absence of a firm hand from the owner: dilapidated houses with leaky roofs and windows without glass. The sad landscape is enlivened by the master's garden, although neglected, but described in much more positive colors: clean, tidy, filled with air, with a "correct marble sparkling column." However, Plyushkin's dwelling again inspires melancholy, around desolation, despondency and mountains of useless, but extremely necessary rubbish for the old man.

Being the richest landowner in the province (the number of serfs reached 1000), Plyushkin lived in extreme poverty, eating leftovers and dried breadcrumbs, which did not cause him the slightest discomfort. He was extremely suspicious, everyone around seemed to him insidious and unreliable, even his own children. Only the passion for hoarding was important for Plyushkin, he collected everything on the street that came to hand and dragged it into the house.

("Chichikov at Plushkin", artist Alexander Agin, 1846-47)

Unlike other characters, Plyushkin's life story is given in full. The author introduces the reader to a young landowner, talking about a good family, a beloved wife and three children. Neighbors even came to the zealous owner in order to learn from him. But the wife died eldest daughter ran away with the military, the son joined the army, which his father did not approve of, and the youngest daughter also died. And gradually the respected landowner turned into a man whose whole life is subject to hoarding for the sake of the very process of accumulation. All other human feelings, which were not distinguished even earlier by brightness, died out in him completely.

Interestingly, some professors of psychiatry mentioned that Gogol very clearly and at the same time artistically described typical case senile dementia. Others, for example, psychiatrist Ya.F. Kaplan, deny this possibility, saying that Plyushkin's psychopathological features do not show through to a sufficient degree, and Gogol simply illuminated the state of old age that he met everywhere.

The image of the hero in the work

Stepan Plyushkin himself is described as a creature dressed in unkempt rags, resembling a woman from afar, but the stubble on his face nevertheless made it clear that the main character is a representative of the stronger sex. With the general amorphousness of this figure, the writer draws attention to individual features of the faces: a protruding chin, a hooked nose, no teeth, eyes expressing suspicion.

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

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

("Peasants near Plushkin", artist Alexander Agin, 1846-47)

However, Gogol leaves a small chance for this hero too: when the writer conceived the third volume of the work, he planned to leave Plyushkin - the only one of all the landowners he met Chichikov - in an updated, morally revived form. Describing the appearance of the landowner, Nikolai Vasilyevich singles out the old man's eyes separately: "the little eyes have not yet gone out and ran from under high-growing eyebrows like mice ...". And the eyes, as you know, are the mirror of the human soul. In addition, Plyushkin, who seems to have lost all human feelings, suddenly decides to give Chichikov a gold watch. True, this impulse immediately goes out, and the old man decides to enter the clock in the donation, so that after death at least someone will remember him with a kind word.

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

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Among all the landlords, the image of Plyushkin is the most unassuming and repulsive. This is perhaps the only one of all the landowners in whose personality one can find at least one small positive quality seems like a feat.

Personality characteristics of Plushkin

The reader gets acquainted with Stepan Plyushkin during his advanced age. Unfortunately, nothing is known about his character in his youth and the reasons for the formation of certain qualities, so readers and researchers have no choice but to take the features of his personality for granted, without particularly going into the details of the formation of his character.

A distinctive feature of Plyushkin is his extraordinary greed and stinginess. This characterization of him applies not only to the peasants, but also to his closest relatives and even himself personally.

Plyushkin is a very rich man, but he lives as if he has nothing but what he is wearing.

Dear readers! On our website you can view the table, which is described in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls"

Such an opinion about Plyushkin is not only Chichikov, who visited this landowner, but also everyone around him. Sobakevich speaks extremely disapprovingly of this landowner and does not even try to hide his irritation and disapproval of his personality: “I don’t even advise you to know the way to this dog! Sobakevich said. “It’s more excusable to go to some obscene place than to him.”

Plyushkin is biased towards officers - he believes that they are all dishonest people who spend all their money at the card table and live on lies and deceit. The older, the more restless and suspicious Plyushkin becomes: he is looking for a catch and deceit in everything, which greatly complicates communication with him.

Plyushkin's life is meaningless - he does most of his deeds and actions "because it is necessary", he has no purpose in life, as a result, his life becomes more and more like existence and expectation of death.

Stepan Plyushkin is an extremely inhospitable person, he does not like to communicate with other people, and guests annoy him, even if they come on business. He does not hide such an attitude and directly speaks about this to Chichikov, who has arrived at his estate, as if arguing that he is not happy with his arrival.

Plushkin's appearance

Plushkin has an unusual repulsive appearance. This state of affairs is not connected with his physical data, as, for example, in the case of Sobakevich. His unpleasant appearance has led to ignorance of certain hygiene procedures and a general indifference to his appearance. When Chichikov first saw Plyushkin, for a long time was perplexed after what he saw, because "he had never seen such a thing." Outwardly, Plyushkin resembled something between a man and a woman. He was very thin, his face had no distinctive features - it was as thin as his body.

We invite readers to familiarize themselves with the poem by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol "Dead Souls"

The chin stood out especially on the face - it was very pointed and wrapped up so much that from time to time I had to wipe it, because during the conversation Plyushkin spat on his chin. His eyebrows were set high on his face, and his eyes were unreasonably small, like hunted animals. Plyushkin shaved very rarely - his chin "with the lower part of his cheek looked like a comb made of iron wire, which is used to clean horses in the stable."

Plushkin's clothes also want to be better. First of all, she does not correspond to his gender aspect - it is difficult to determine whether she is male or female by her appearance. The condition of these clothes is simply horrendous - they look like tatters of a uniformly dirty color.

In general, Plyushkin's costume is difficult to divide into elements - it seems like a solid piece of rags: “no means and efforts could have got to the bottom of what his dressing gown was concocted from: the sleeves and upper floors were so greasy and glossy that they looked like yuft*, which goes on boots; behind, instead of two, four floors dangled, from which cotton paper climbed in flakes. He also had something tied around his neck that could not be made out: whether it was a stocking, a garter, or an underbelly, but not a tie.

Family and tragic changes in personal life

The image of Plyushkin is one of those images about whose family and past we know the most (we can only guess about the past of other landowners and their families from hints). Apparently, Plyushkin was never particularly humane and cheerful, but family life unusually transformed this man. Most likely, Plyushkin's wife had a great influence on him and kept him within limits. However, this state of affairs did not last forever - after the death of his wife, the negative qualities of Plyushkin's character began to develop rapidly - and he became an absolutely negative person. After the death of his wife, Plyushkin left three children - a son and two daughters. Youngest daughter dies very young. Plyushkin's relationship with other children did not work out - soon both children leave parental home. Daughter - Alexandra - marries without the blessing of her father, and the son runs away to the army. Plyushkin loses all connection with his son, perhaps he is no longer alive.

Plyushkin periodically communicates with his daughter Alexandra, but it is impossible to call this full-fledged communication - Plyushkin hostilely and inhospitably accepts his daughter and her children, although he forgave her for such an impious act. In general, “human feelings, which were not deep in him anyway, became shallow every minute, and every day something was lost in this worn-out ruin” and he remained in splendid isolation not only in his big house, but also in society in in general.

Plushkin's estate

Based on such a description of Plyushkin's appearance and character, waiting for a well-equipped estate is an empty business. And in practice, this is proven once again. Plyushkin feels sorry for the material for the repair of buildings and the construction of peasant houses, so all his buildings look like dull ruins.

In general, Plyushkin's estate is vast and large - many serfs live in the village, but their life cannot be called full-fledged. At the time when Plyushkin's farm was flourishing, there were two churches in the village, but at the time of the story, both of them are inactive and are in disrepair.

When Plyushkin's wife was alive, Plyushkin's farm prospered - the peasants worked hard and brought significant income. After the death of his wife, everything stopped - the peasants, out of habit, are engaged in the cultivation of various crops, but they do not come true anywhere and therefore rot.

Plushkin's house

Plyushkin's house is in the same dismal state as everything else on the landowner's estate. His house used to be bright and beautiful. There used to be frequent guests here, and the house was full of fun, but over time the house became more and more dilapidated and desolated. “This strange castle looked like some kind of decrepit invalid, long, unreasonably long. In some places it was one story, in other places it was two; on the dark roof, which did not reliably protect his old age everywhere, two belvederes * stuck out, one against the other, both already shaky, devoid of the paint that once covered them.

The house has not been renovated for a long time - natural phenomena and time have significantly destroyed its structure and noticeably worsened general state.

All the windows in Plyushkin's house are closed and the light penetrates only two windows - the study and the bedroom of Plyushkin himself.

The condition inside the house is not much different from appearance- due to the darkness, Chichikov was unable to examine the details in detail, but general impression it was not rosy - Plyushkin's house resembled an uninhabited house.

Plyushkin's office is in disarray, all things are mixed with garbage. Old things, even if they were faulty and could hardly be repaired, are still not thrown away, but are stored in the corners of the room.

The garden and its meaning in the poem

The only cheerful place in Plyushkin's estate is the garden. Located behind the house, it personifies the greatness and power of nature. Like all things in Plyushkin's estate, no one takes care of the garden and it gradually fell into disrepair, but it still looks majestic and beautiful: “green clouds and irregular quivering domes lay on the sky horizon connected tops of trees that had grown in freedom. A colossal white birch trunk, devoid of a top broken off by a storm or a thunderstorm, rose from this green thicket and rounded in the air, like a regular marble sparkling column; its oblique pointed break, with which it ended upward instead of a capital, darkened on its snowy whiteness, like a hat or a black bird.

Attitude towards peasants and the state of peasant houses

At Plushkin largest number serfs, in comparison with all other landowners - about a thousand. Plyushkin has an extremely negative attitude towards the peasants, regardless of their attitude and the quality of their work. Plyushkin believes that the serfs constantly rob him and therefore he is very skeptical and picky about all his savings. He so intimidated his peasants that they are afraid to take anything without asking, even if these are things necessary for life: “After all, my people are either a thief or a swindler: they will rob me in such a way that there will be nothing to hang a caftan on.” In Plyushkin's warehouses, most of the food is lost and then simply thrown away: "hay and bread rotted, stacks and stacks turned into clean manure, flour in the cellars turned into stone, it was terrible to touch the cloth, canvas and household materials: they turned into dust", but peasants cannot use even slightly spoiled products.