Plushkin are dead. Plushkin (Dead Souls)

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In Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" all the characters have the features of collectiveness and typicality. Each of the landowners whom Chichikov visits with his strange request for the sale and purchase of "dead souls" personifies one of the characteristic images of the landowners of Gogol's modernity. Gogol's poem in terms of describing the characters of the landlords is interesting primarily because Nikolai Vasilyevich was a foreigner in relation to the Russian people, Ukrainian society was closer to him, so Gogol was able to notice the specific character traits and behavior of certain types of people.

Age and appearance of Plushkin

One of the landowners visited by Chichikov is Plyushkin. Until the moment of personal acquaintance, Chichikov already knew something about this landowner - basically it was information on the subject of his stinginess. Chichikov knew that thanks to this trait, Plyushkin's serfs "die like flies", and those who did not die run away from him.

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In the eyes of Chichikov, Plyushkin became an important candidate - he had the opportunity to buy up a lot of "dead souls".

However, Chichikov was not ready to see Plyushkin's estate and get to know him personally - the picture that opened before him plunged him into bewilderment, Plyushkin himself also did not stand out from the general background.

To his horror, Chichikov realized that the person he took for the housekeeper was in fact not the housekeeper, but the landowner Plyushkin himself. Plyushkin could have been taken for anyone, but not for the richest landowner in the district: he was unreasonably thin, his face was slightly elongated and just as terribly thin as his body. His eyes were small and unusually lively for an old man. The chin was very long. His appearance was complemented by a toothless mouth.

In the work of N.V. Gogol, the theme of the little man is revealed. We invite you to read its summary.

Plushkin's clothes were absolutely not like clothes, it could hardly even be called that. Plyushkin absolutely did not pay attention to his costume - he was worn out to such an extent that his clothes looked like rags. Plyushkin could well have been mistaken for a tramp.

Natural senile processes were added to this appearance - at the time of the story, Plyushkin was about 60 years old.

The problem of the name and the meaning of the surname

Plyushkin's name is never found in the text, it is likely that this was done intentionally. In this way, Gogol emphasizes Plyushkin's detachment, the callousness of his character and the lack of a humanistic principle in the landowner.

In the text, however, there is a point that can help reveal the name of Plyushkin. The landowner from time to time calls his daughter by her patronymic - Stepanovna, this fact gives the right to say that Plyushkin's name was Stepan.

It is unlikely that the name of this character is chosen as a specific symbol. Translated from Greek, Stepan means “crown, diadem” and indicates a constant attribute of the goddess Hera. It is unlikely that this information was decisive in choosing a name, which cannot be said about the hero's surname.

In Russian, the word "plyushkin" is used to nominate a person who is characterized by stinginess and a mania for accumulating raw materials and material base without any purpose.

Marital status of Plushkin

At the time of the story, Plyushkin is a lonely person leading an ascetic lifestyle. He has been a widow for a long time. Once upon a time, Plyushkin's life was different - his wife brought the meaning of life into Plyushkin's being, she stimulated the appearance of positive qualities in him, contributed to the emergence of humanistic qualities. In their marriage, three children were born - two girls and a boy.

At that time, Plyushkin was not at all like a petty miser. He gladly received guests, was a sociable and open person.

Plyushkin was never a spender, but his stinginess had its reasonable limits. His clothes were not new - he usually wore a frock coat, he was noticeably worn, but he looked very decent, he did not even have a single patch on him.

Reasons for changing character

After the death of his wife, Plyushkin completely succumbed to his grief and apathy. Most likely, he did not have a predisposition to communicate with children, he was little interested and fascinated by the process of education, so the motivation to live and be reborn for the sake of children did not work for him.

In the future, he begins to develop a conflict with older children - as a result, they, tired of constant grumbling and deprivation, leave their father's house without his permission. The daughter marries without Plyushkin's blessing, and the son enters military service. Such liberty became the cause of Plyushkin's anger - he curses his children. The son was categorical towards his father - he completely cut off contact with him. The daughter still did not abandon her father, despite such an attitude towards her relatives, she visits the old man from time to time and brings her children to him. Plyushkin does not like to mess with his grandchildren and takes their meetings extremely cool.

Plyushkin's youngest daughter died as a child.

Thus, Plyushkin was left alone in his large estate.

Plushkin's estate

Plyushkin was considered the richest landowner in the county, but Chichikov, who came to his estate, thought it was a joke - Plyushkin's estate was in a dilapidated state - the house had not been renovated for many years. Moss could be seen on the wooden elements of the house, the windows in the house were boarded up - it seemed that no one really lived here.

Plyushkin's house was huge, now it was empty - Plyushkin lived alone in the whole house. Because of its desolation, the house resembled an old castle.

Inside the house was not much different from the outside. Since most of the windows in the house were boarded up, the house was incredibly dark and it was difficult to see anything. The only place where sunlight penetrated was Plyushkin's private rooms.

An incredible mess reigned in Plyushkin's room. It seems that it has never been cleaned - everything was covered in cobwebs and dust. Broken things lay everywhere, which Plyushkin did not dare to throw away, as he thought he might still need them.

Garbage also was not thrown anywhere, but was piled up right there in the room. Plyushkin's desk was no exception - important papers and documents lay mixed with garbage here.

A huge garden grows behind Plyushkin's house. Like everything in the estate, it is in disrepair. No one has cared for the trees for a long time, the garden is overgrown with weeds and small bushes, which are covered with hops, but even in this form the garden is beautiful, it stands out sharply against the background of deserted houses and dilapidated buildings.

Features of Plyushkin's relationship with the serfs

Plyushkin is far from the ideal of a landowner; he behaves rudely and cruelly with his serfs. Sobakevich, talking about his attitude towards serfs, claims that Plyushkin starves his subjects, which significantly increases the death rate among serfs. The appearance of Plyushkin's serfs becomes a confirmation of these words - they are unnecessarily thin, immensely thin.

Not surprisingly, many serfs run away from Plyushkin - life on the run is more attractive.

Sometimes Plyushkin pretends to take care of his serfs - he goes into the kitchen and checks whether they are eating well. However, he does this for a reason - while the control over the quality of food passes, Plyushkin manages to eat heartily. Of course, this trick did not hide from the peasants and became an occasion for discussion.

Plyushkin constantly accuses his serfs of theft and fraud - he believes that the peasants are always trying to rob him. But the situation looks completely different - Plyushkin intimidated his peasants so much that they are afraid to take at least something for themselves without the knowledge of the landowner.

The tragedy of the situation is also created by the fact that Plyushkin's warehouse is bursting with food, almost all of it becomes unusable and then thrown away. Of course, Plyushkin could give the surplus to his serfs, thereby improving living conditions and raising his authority in their eyes, but greed takes over - it is easier for him to throw away unusable things than to do a good deed.

Characteristics of personal qualities

In his old age, Plyushkin became an unpleasant type because of his quarrelsome nature. People began to avoid him, neighbors and friends began to visit less and less often, and then they completely stopped communicating with him.

After the death of his wife, Plyushkin preferred a solitary way of life. He believed that guests are always harmful - instead of doing something really useful, you have to spend time in empty conversations.

By the way, such a position of Plyushkin did not bring the desired results - his estate confidently fell into disrepair until it finally took on the appearance of an abandoned village.

There are only two joys in the life of the old Plyushkin - scandals and the accumulation of finances and raw materials. Sincerely speaking, he gives himself to one and the other with his soul.

Plyushkin surprisingly has the talent to notice any little things and even the most insignificant flaws. In other words, he is overly picky about people. He is unable to express his remarks calmly - basically he shouts and scolds his servants.

Plyushkin is incapable of doing something good. He is a callous and cruel person. He is indifferent to the fate of his children - he lost contact with his son, while his daughter periodically tries to reconcile, but the old man stops these attempts. He believes that they have a selfish goal - the daughter and son-in-law want to get rich at his expense.

Thus, Plyushkin is a most terrible landowner who lives for a definite purpose. In general, he is endowed with negative character traits. The landowner himself does not realize the true results of his actions - he seriously thinks that he is a caring landowner. In fact, he is a tyrant, destroying and destroying the fate of people.

Plyushkin in the poem "Dead Souls": analysis of the hero, image and characteristics

In N.V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" all the characters have their own special portrait characteristics. One of the most important characters is Stepan Plyushkin. His image personifies stinginess, and his surname has become a household name. What is the portrait of Plyushkin in the poem "Dead Souls".

Portrait characteristic of Plushkin

Plyushkin is one of the main characters in the poem Dead Souls. Unlike other heroes, Gogol describes in detail the way of life, the history of life, and the events that led him to his current state. In the work, he appears last, after Manilov, Sobakevich and Korobochka. In comparison with other characters, he launched himself a lot: he appeared before Chichikov in rags, with such an untidy appearance that Chichikov for a long time could not understand whether he was a man or a woman. It would seem that a rich landowner with several villages and a thousand serfs should look presentable and correspond to his status. However, Plyushkin is more like a beggar who wants to give alms.

Plyushkin's appearance shocks even Chichikov, who has seen many different people of different social status. This is how Plyushkin's appearance is described: “He happened to see a lot of all kinds of people […] but he had never seen such a person before…” (Chichikov's impression of Plyushkin). His face was the most ordinary, thin, unshaven and completely nondescript. The nose was hooked and several teeth were missing. In addition to the repulsive appearance, Plyushkin's clothes were old and shabby, at the mere glance of which a feeling of disgust appeared: for yuft *, which goes to 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 ... "

Plushkin's character

Plyushkin is a controversial figure. He is rich, but lives like the poorest of the peasants. His house is full of food, but he does not eat it, leaving it to rot in the cellars. When meeting with him, it is difficult to determine his gender. There is not an iota of compassion in this man. His serfs are dying of hunger and unbearable living conditions. Plyushkin, having the opportunity to help them, does not make any efforts. His character is absurd, he constantly argues with the peasants and other landlords. With all this, he is very religious and God-fearing.

However, he did not always have such a bad character. During his youth he had a beloved wife and three children. At some point in his life, a turning point occurred: his wife died, and his son and daughter left their father's house of their own free will. The fire went out in Plyushkin's soul, he began to fill his life with things, forgetting about people.

Plushkin - a dead soul

The title of the poem is very symbolic. “Dead souls” here are not only dead serfs, but also officials and the landowners themselves. Plyushkin is a typical representative of his class. This is a negative character who is difficult to sympathize with. Not noticing anything around, this person seeks only accumulation. Its bins are full of food that could feed the entire village, but all these gifts of nature only rot, spreading a fetid smell around.

And if N.V. Gogol often describes other landowners in a satirical vein, then the author has neither irony nor sarcasm left to describe the portrait of Plyushkin. This man is so hopeless that nothing can change him. Plyushkin is really a “dead soul”.

This article will help schoolchildren write an essay on the topic “Portrait of Plyushkin in the poem“ Dead Souls ”. This text reveals the character traits of the character, and also describes in detail the external characteristics of Stepan Plyushkin.

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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.

A distinctive feature of Plyushkin's appearance was 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, in his behavior and appearance, was very reminiscent of 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 - the eldest daughter and son left their father's house without the blessing of their father. 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

Plyushkin is a difficult person. 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 the permissible measure and became some kind of 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 is 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 the "dead souls" of the other landowners, 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

Plushkin (Dead Souls) Plushkin, drawing by P. M. Boklevsky

Stepan Plushkin- one of the characters in N.V. Gogol's poem Dead Souls.

The landowner S. Plyushkin, with whom Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov meets and conducts commercial negotiations on the purchase of serfs "dead souls", is displayed by the author in chapter six the first volume of his poem. The meeting of the protagonist with Plyushkin is preceded by a description of the devastated village and the dilapidated family estate of Plyushkin: he noticed some special dilapidation(i.e. Chichikov) on all wooden buildings: the log on the huts was dark and old; many roofs blew through like a sieve: on others there was only a ridge at the top and poles on the sides in the form of ribs ... The windows in the huts were without glass, others were stopped up with a rag or zipun ... Parts of the master's house began to show out ... This strange castle stroked like some kind of decrepit invalid, long, unreasonably long... The walls of the house slitted bare stucco bars in places... Of the windows, only two were open, the rest were covered with shutters or even boarded up... Green mold had already covered the fence and the gate. Some revival was brought to this sad picture by the “merry garden” - old, overgrown and decayed, leaving behind the estate somewhere in the field.

When the owner of this whole estate, which has fallen into complete decline, appears, Chichikov initially takes him for an old housekeeper - he was dressed so outlandishly, dirty and poorly: Listen, mother, - he said, leaving the britzka - What is the master? ... When the misunderstanding was cleared up, the writer gives a description of the appearance of his unusual hero: his face was nothing special and looked like other thin old people. Only the chin protruded very far forward, and the attention was drawn to the small eyes that ran like mice from under high eyebrows. Much more remarkable was his attire: 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 shiny that they looked like yuft, which is used for boots; behind, instead of two, four floors dangled, from which cotton paper climbed in flakes. There was also something tied around the neck that could not be made out: whether it was a stocking, a garter, or an underbelly, but not a tie.

According to some researchers of the work of N.V. Gogol, the image of this half-mad landowner-hoarder is the most striking and successful in the description of Chichikov's "business partners" in the poem "Dead Souls" and was of the greatest interest to the writer himself. In literary criticism, this unusual character of N.V. Gogol was perceived as a kind of standard of hoarding, greed and penny. The writer himself is undoubtedly also interested in the history of the transformation of this, in his youth, an educated and intelligent person into a walking laughing stock even for his own peasants and into a sick, insidious person who refused to support and participate in the fate of his own daughters, son and grandchildren. Describing the manic greed of his hero, Gogol reports: ... he still walked every day through the streets of his village, looked under the bridges, under the crossbars and everything that came across to him: an old sole, a woman's rag, an iron nail, a clay shard - he dragged everything to himself and put it in the pile that Chichikov noticed in the corner of the room ... after him there was no need to sweep the street: it happened to a passing officer to lose his spur, this spur instantly went into a well-known pile: if a woman ... forgot a bucket, he dragged the bucket away.

In the Russian colloquial language and in the literary tradition, the name "Plyushkin" has become a household name for petty, stingy people, seized with a passion for hoarding unnecessary, and sometimes completely useless things. His behavior, described in the poem by N.V. Gogol, is the most typical manifestation of such a mental illness (mental disorder) as pathological hoarding. In foreign medical literature, a special term has even been introduced - "Plyushkin's syndrome" (see. (Cybulska E."Senile Squalor: Plyushkin's not Diogenes Syndrome". Psychiatric Bulletin.1998;22:319-320).).

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See what "Plyushkin (Dead Souls)" is in other dictionaries:

This article is about the poem by N. V. Gogol. For film adaptations of the work, see Dead Souls (film). Dead souls ... Wikipedia

Dead souls (first volume) Title page of the first edition Author: Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol Genre: Poem (novel, novel poem, prose poem) Original language: Russian ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Dead Souls (film). Dead Souls Genre ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Dead Souls (film). Dead Souls Genre Comedy Director Pyotr Chardynin Producer A. A. Khanzhonkov ... Wikipedia

In the poem "Dead Souls" N. Gogol depicted a gallery of Russian landowners. Each of them embodies negative moral qualities. Moreover, the new hero turns out to be more terrible than the previous one, and we become witnesses to what extreme the impoverishment of the human soul can reach. The image of Plyushkin closes the series. In the poem "Dead Souls", according to the apt definition of the author, he acts as a "hole in humanity."

First impression

"Patched" - such a definition is given to the master by one of the peasants, from whom Chichikov asked the way to Plyushkin. And it is fully justified, one has only to look at this representative of the local nobility. Let's get to know him better.

Having passed through a large village, striking in wretchedness and poverty, Chichikov found himself at the master's house. This one looked a little like a place where people live. The garden was just as neglected, although the number and nature of the buildings indicated that there had once been a strong, prosperous economy here. With such a description of the master's estate, Plyushkin's characterization begins in the poem "Dead Souls".

Acquaintance with the landlord

Having entered the yard, Chichikov noticed how someone - either a man or a woman - was arguing with the driver. The hero decided that it was the housekeeper and asked if the owner was at home. Surprised by the appearance of a stranger here, this “certain creature” escorted the guest into the house. Once in the bright room, Chichikov was amazed at the disorder that reigned in it. It looked like the rubbish from all over the area had been dumped here. Plyushkin really collected on the street everything that came to hand: a bucket forgotten by a peasant, and fragments of a broken crock, and a feather that no one needed. Looking closely at the housekeeper, the hero found a man in it and was completely stunned to find out that this was the owner. After that, the author of the work “Dead Souls” passes to the image of the landowner.

Gogol draws a portrait of Plyushkin like this: he was dressed in a worn, tattered and dirty dressing gown, which was decorated with some kind of rag around his neck. Her eyes were constantly moving, as if looking for something. This testified to the suspicion and constant alertness of the hero. In general, if Chichikov did not know that one of the richest landowners in the province was standing in front of him, he would have taken him for a beggar. In fact, the first feeling that this person evokes in the reader is pity, bordering on contempt.

Life story

The image of Plyushkin in the poem "Dead Souls" differs from others in that he is the only landowner with a biography. In the old days, he had a family, often received guests. He was considered a thrifty owner, who had plenty of everything. Then the wife died. Soon the eldest daughter ran away with an officer, and the son entered the regiment instead of service. Plyushkin deprived both of his children of his blessing and money, and every day he became more stingy. In the end, he focused on one of his wealth, and after the death of his youngest daughter, all his former feelings finally gave way to greed and suspicion. Bread rotted in his barns, and to his own grandchildren (over time, he forgave his daughter and took her in), he regretted even the usual gift. This is how Gogol portrays this hero in the poem "Dead Souls". The image of Plyushkin is complemented by a bargaining scene.

good deal

When Chichikov began the conversation, Plyushkin was annoyed at how difficult it was to receive guests these days: he had already had dinner himself, and it was costly to heat the stove. However, the guest immediately got down to business and found out that the landowner would have a hundred and twenty souls unaccounted for. He offered to sell them and said that he would bear all the costs. Hearing that it was possible to benefit from the no longer existing peasants, Plyushkin, who began to bargain, did not delve into the details and ask how legal it was. Having received the money, he carefully took it to the bureau and, pleased with the successful deal, even decided to treat Chichikov with breadcrumbs left over from the Easter cake brought by his daughter, and a glass of liquor. The image of Plyushkin in the poem "Dead Souls" is completed by the message that the owner wanted to give a gold watch to the guest who pleased him. However, he immediately changed his mind and decided to enter them in the donation, so that Chichikov would remember him with a kind word after his death.

conclusions

The image of Plyushkin in the poem "Dead Souls" was very significant for Gogol. His plans were to leave in the third volume of all the landowners one of them, but already morally reborn. Several details indicate that this is possible. First, the living eyes of the hero: remember that they are often called the mirror of the soul. Secondly, Plyushkin is the only one of all the landowners who thought about gratitude. Others also took money for dead peasants, but took it for granted. It is also important that at the mention of an old comrade, a ray suddenly ran across the face of the landowner. Hence the conclusion: if the hero's life had turned out differently, he would have remained a thrifty owner, a good friend and a family man. However, the death of his wife, the actions of the children gradually turned the hero into that “hole in humanity”, as he appeared in the 6th chapter of the book “Dead Souls”.

Plushkin's characterization is a reminder to readers of the consequences that life's mistakes can lead to.