Female images in Gogol's poem dead souls. "Dead Souls" main characters

"Inspector" and " Dead Souls"- perhaps the most outstanding works not only in Gogol, but throughout Russian literature. Both of these masterpieces show the main types of people of that time. Each character of the writer is individual, each has its own character. And, of course, Gogol in his work did not ignore female images.

Not a small role in the poem "Dead Souls" is played by the description female half humanity. Shown here are a "typical", very economic, landowner, and a young coquette, and two pleasant ladies, ready to turn any news into an urban rumor in an instant.

The only female landowner in Dead Souls is Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka. She is one of the "small landowners who complain about crop failures, losses and keep their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile they collect little money in motley bags placed in drawers of a chest of drawers!" Korobochka has a “pretty village”, a yard full of all kinds of birds, there are “spacious vegetable gardens with cabbage, onions, potatoes, beets and other household vegetables”, there are “apple trees and other fruit trees”.

The box does not claim to high culture: a very unpretentious simplicity stands out in her appearance. This is emphasized by Gogol in the appearance of the heroine: he points to her shabby and unattractive appearance. This simplicity reveals itself in relationships with people. The main goal of the life of the landowner is the strengthening of her wealth, incessant accumulation.

The box does not see anything further than "its nose". Everything “new” and “unprecedented” frightens her. The only thing that worries the heroine is the price of hemp and honey. It seems that she, apart from the desire to acquire and benefit, has no feelings. Confirmation is the situation with "dead souls". Korobochka sells peasants with the same efficiency with which he sells other items of his household. For her, there is no difference between an animate and an inanimate being. In Chichikov’s proposal, only one thing scares the scumbag: the prospect of missing something, not taking what can be obtained for “dead souls”.

The box is a stupid, "club-headed" and greedy landowner. Little is left of her female form. A small house and a large courtyard of the Box symbolizes her inner world- neat, strong, “inhabited” by flies, which in Gogol always accompany a frozen, stopped, internally dead world hero.

In addition to Korobochka, the daughter of the Governor is present in the poem. Her portrait can form in the reader only after the ball scene. This girl is a secular lady, and Chichikov is unable to carry on a conversation with her.

Also in the novel there is a description of "secular" ladies, whose main occupation is the dissolution of various gossip. It is these "ladies are pleasant in all respects" and "just nice ladies" that become main reason the collapse of Chichikov. It is the completely groundless rumors spread by them, accepted by everyone as the truth and giving rise to new, even more absurd, hypotheses that fundamentally undermine Chichikov's authority. And the “nice” ladies did it all out of “nothing to do” by accidentally jumping to this conversation after an argument about a pattern. They personify in the poem the "capital" secular ladies, who, although they differ in financial condition and position in society, but in terms of craving for washing bones and spreading rumors, they are absolutely no different from their provincial "sisters".

The play "The Government Inspector" also features female characters. This is the wife and daughter of the mayor, typical provincial coquettes. The meaning of their life is the endless change of outfits, and the range of interests is limited to reading tabloid novels and collecting low-grade poems in albums.

Anna Andreevna is the mayor's wife. She first appears in the first act of the play. Here she is very emotional, her speech is full of exclamatory and interrogative sentences. Anna Andreevna constantly yells at her daughter and even makes her wear a blue dress just because she herself wants to wear a fawn one. Thus, the mother competes with her daughter, wants to prove to her that she is the best.

Anna Andreevna flirts in front of Khlestakov, not embarrassed by her husband, and then also declares that the guest liked her. And when the hero proposes to her, he replies: "But let me tell you: I'm in a way ... I'm married." Thus, before us is an overgrown secular coquette, the main thing for which is the position in society. The mayor's wife is already dreaming of life in St. Petersburg after Khlestakov proposes to her daughter.

Marya Antonovna is the mayor's daughter. This is a young coquette, very similar to her mother. But still, she is not averse to arguing with her mother. Marya Antonovna has a taste and unwillingness to be like others. For example, the scene where the mother tells her to wear a blue dress: “Fie, mama, blue! I don't like it at all." And why? Yes, because all the young girls in the city go in blue dresses.

In addition, this girl is quite well-read. So, in a conversation with Khlestakov, when he mentions that he wrote "Yuri Miloslavsky", Marya Antonovna says that this is the work of "Mr. Zagoskin."

The heroine never says too much, more often she is silent. She really liked Khlestakov, and she thinks that he also paid attention to her. When Ivan Alexandrovich explains himself to Marya Antonovna, she does not believe him, thinks that he is mocking her, and asks her to write poems in her album instead of these unnecessary conversations. Probably, her feelings suffered the most because of Khlestakov's deceit.

So, in "Dead Souls" and "The Inspector General" Gogol, through secondary female images, makes projections on the manners of the capital. And in both works there are images of secular ladies. All of them are very similar - their emptiness and commonness. Is that in the "Inspector" they are spelled out more clearly and clearly. In "Dead Souls" there is a unique image of the landowner Korobochka, which has no analogies not only in "The Government Inspector", but in general in Russian literature.

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And N. V. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector", and his famous poem"Dead Souls" - first of all, public works. Them the main objective- to show the whole truth of Russian life, to bring out everything "that is every minute before the eyes and that indifferent eyes do not see." Gogol spoke more than once about artificiality love affair in such works, therefore, in the "Inspector", and in "Dead Souls" love line very weakly expressed. Consequently, the author needs female images not as the heroines of novels, but as another way of expressing the main idea of ​​the works. Korobochka, the wives of landowners, the governor's daughter, the lady is simply pleasant and pleasant in all respects, the wives of officials in "Dead Souls", just like Anna Andreevna, Marya Antonovna and secondary female characters(a locksmith and non-commissioned officer's wife) in "The Government Inspector" - caricature female figures, carrying, according to the author himself, "the idea of ​​emptiness."

In the poem "Dead Souls", several groups of female images can be distinguished according to their place in figurative system. The only independent image is the image of Korobochka - a landowner, a secretary from Kolleya. The box is thrifty, "gains little by little money in motley bags", lives closed in his estate and, in accordance with his name, is surrounded by all kinds of drawers, boxes and chests of drawers, where all sorts of goods are stored, which, perhaps, will never be useful in the household . Limitation, half-wittedness, indecision complete the character of the "club-headed" landowner, who is distrustful of everything new in life. “Is it really that big a gulf that separates her [Box] from her sister?” - asks Gogol. Here it turns out that both of them are empty and worthless. But the worst thing is that the image of Korobochka, like all the images in Gogol's work, is typical, that sometimes even a "statesman" in fact turns out to be a perfect Korobochka.

Another group of images in "Dead Souls" are the wives of the landowners, who complement the images of their spouses. Lizanka Manilova is similar in appearance and character to her husband. She is just as pretendingly polite, just as she does not do housework, since these are “kitchen items”, and she was brought up well, that is, in a boarding school, where “three main subjects form the basis of human virtues:” French, playing the piano and the actual economic part, that is, "knitting purses and other surprises."

Sobakevich's wife, Feodulia Ivanovna, is opposed to her husband in appearance, although her gravity is somewhat akin to her husband's clumsiness.

The only female image among the landlords, which carries some kind of positive beginning, is the image dead wife Plushkin. During her lifetime, she was a "friendly and talkative" hostess and was famous for her hospitality. Housekeeping was going well under her, "everything flowed quickly and was accomplished at a measured pace," and Plyushkin was a pleasant person, in whose eyes "mind was visible." But with her death, everything in the estate changed, the widower became stingy, launched his household, and soon he himself turned into "some kind of hole in humanity."

AT separate group one can single out the images of officials. These images are typified, which is constantly emphasized, even the lady is pleasant in all respects and just a pleasant lady is not named (we learn their names only from their replicas). Speaking about the ladies of the city of NN, Gogol highlights a number of features that are characteristic of the entire beautiful half of the bureaucracy. All of them strive to be like metropolitan aristocrats, dress in fashion, although sometimes among chic outfits some kind of "cap unseen by the earth" flashes by. Each lady is confident in her irresistibility and strives to show the best that she has. Another important feature of the inhabitants of the city of NN is stubbornness: “if an inner conviction was felt,” then it was not possible to inspire the lady with anything else. Ideal sorority is a lady pleasant in all respects, since she makes “every movement” with taste, loves poetry and knows how to “dreamyly” hold her head.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" was conceived as a large-scale picture of everything Russian society. The character traits of the main characters of "Dead Souls" are presented by the writer in such a way that each estate of Russia of the 19th century is reflected in them. In his work, Gogol frankly ridicules the venality of the bureaucracy, the ignorance of the landowners. Only the first volume of the work was published: from the second volume, destroyed by Gogol himself, only a few chapters remained in drafts.

Characteristics of the heroes "Dead Souls"

main characters

Minor characters

In the poem "Dead Souls" the heroes are endowed with bright features inherent in the landlord and bureaucratic class in Russia. The table shows short description characteristics of heroes, which will allow qualitative analysis works.

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Creativity N.V. Gogol occupies a special place in Russian literature. No one else could describe in such a lively and humorous manner the widest panorama of Russian life. Of course, first of all, the artist is interested in shortcomings, he does not feel sorry for his homeland, but shows all its injuries, everything bad that is in Everyday life. The satirist's pen serves to denounce officials and landowners, and mocks their vices.

In his works, Gogol does not pay much attention to female images. The writer does not consider it necessary to depict separately the shortcomings of men and women, he only gives big picture desolation reigning in the cities and villages of Russia. However, on the other hand, they prompt the reader to think deeper about the reasons for desolation, add color to the description and dynamics to the actions.

One of the most famous works of Gogol is the play "The Government Inspector". This work seems to be a kind of prologue to the monumental poem "Dead Souls", the work of the whole life of the writer. In The Inspector General, the sting of satire is directed against the life and customs of a remote town, against the greed and arbitrariness of county officials.

"Dead Souls" is a work of a much larger scale. In it, all of Russia appeared before the readers' court. Gogol does not feel sorry for her, but caustically sneers at her shortcomings, believing that this treatment will be beneficial, that in the future the motherland will definitely get rid of dirt and vulgarity. The idea of ​​"Dead Souls" is a continuation of "The Government Inspector". It does not just show the life and customs of the officials of the county town. Now Gogol is exposing both the landlords and the officials, and he is scourge of glaring shortcomings on a much larger scale. The "dead" souls of all Russia pass before the eyes of readers.

One of the main functions performed by female images in both works is the formation of ideas about certain social and socio-psychological types. Most a prime example this is the image of the landowner Korobochka. She is described by Gogol as a terrible person for her stinginess and stupidity, who is more like a machine than a person. Her feature- the desire to get as much as possible more money, and she is not interested in whether the buyer needs the goods or not. The box is stingy and thrifty, nothing will be lost in its economy, which, in general, is commendable. But main feature her character is hidden in her "talking" surname: this is an impenetrable, limited and stupid old woman. If some idea came to her mind, then it is impossible to convince her, all reasonable arguments "bounce off her like a rubber ball off the wall." Even the imperturbable Chichikov becomes furious, trying to prove to her the undoubted benefits of selling the peasants. But she firmly took it into her head that Chichikov wanted to cheat her, and cracking this nut, this box is extremely difficult even for the hardened businessman Chichikov. In Korobochka, Gogol embodied all the limited thinking of Russian landowners, it became a symbol of the abyss in which Russian landed nobility completely lost the ability to think sensibly.

In order to show a picture of life and the depth of the decline of morals in provincial city N. the author introduces images of urban gossips. Their exaggerated and fictitious stories about Chichikov's adventures, mixed with discussions about fashion, do not arouse in the reader anything but a feeling of disgust. Vivid images simply a pleasant lady and a lady pleasant in all respects characterize the city and the province from a very unfavorable side, emphasizing the plane of their thinking.

Because of the gossip spread by these ladies, the shortcomings of dishonest officials were revealed. And this is not the only example of how female images help Gogol to show the real picture life, the real situation.

Outwardly, there is nothing interesting in Anna Andreevna, the wife of the mayor in the Inspector General: a fussy, curious chatterbox, the reader immediately gets the impression that she has a wind in her head. However, it is worth taking a look at it. After all, the author in his "Remarks for Messrs. Actors" characterizes her as a woman intelligent in her own way and even having some power over her husband. This is an interesting representative of the provincial society. Thanks to her, the image of the mayor becomes more prominent, acquires additional meaning, and the reader gets a clear idea of ​​the lifestyle and problems of county ladies.

Not very different from mother and Marya Antonovna. She is very similar to her, but much less active, this is not a double of an energetic official, but only her shadow. Marya Antonovna wants with all her might to seem significant, but her behavior betrays her: outfits occupy the most space in a girl’s heart, she pays attention primarily to Khlestakov’s “suit”, and not to its owner. The image of Marya Antonovna characterizes the city from a bad side, because if young people are busy only with themselves and "suits", then society has no future.

The images of the mayor's wife and daughter brilliantly reveal the author's intention, illustrate his idea: the bureaucracy and society of the county town are thoroughly rotten. Women's images help to reveal the author's intention in "Dead Souls". Deadness is also manifested in Korobochka, who is always painstakingly collecting a pretty penny and is afraid to make a mistake when making a deal, and in the wives of landowners.

In addition, the wives of Manilov and Sobakevich help the author to discover male images more fully and in detail, to emphasize any features of the character. Each of them is, as it were, a copy of their spouse. For example, Sobakevich's wife, having entered the room, sat down and did not even think to start a conversation, which confirms the rudeness and ignorance of the owner. Manilova is more interesting. Her manners and habits exactly repeat the manners and habits of her husband, we recognize the same cloying expression in her face, she, like Manilov himself, has not yet left the world of dreams. But at the same time there are hints of her independence; Gogol reminisces about her studies at the boarding school, about her playing the piano. Thus, Manilova separates from her husband, acquires her own features, the author hints that her fate could have turned out differently if she had not met Manilov. However, the images of the wives of the landlords are not independent, they only enrich the images of the landowners themselves.

The image of the governor's daughter is extremely important in this aspect. Although she does not utter a single word in the entire poem, with her help the reader discovers Chichikov's amazing character traits. Meeting with charming girl awakens tender feelings in Chichikov's soul, this rogue suddenly begins to think about love and marriage, about the future of youth. Despite the fact that this obsession will soon subside like a haze, this moment is very important, here the reader meets a vague hint of a possible spiritual rebirth of the hero. Compared to the image of the mayor's daughter in The Inspector General, the image of the governor's daughter carries a fundamentally different semantic load.

In principle, the female images of the "Inspector" do not play important role to understand the main idea of ​​the work. But their importance is also great. After all, women are not officials, which means that Gogol's satire is not directed directly at them, their function is to emphasize the general degradation of the county town. Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna set off the shortcomings of officials. Their stupidity and overly high self-conceit bring under the blinding light of satire the same shortcomings of officials, hidden under the mask of integrity and diligence.

In "Dead Souls" female images, on the contrary, are versatile. They are much more complex, more developed than in the "Inspector". None of them can be unequivocally characterized. But one thing is certain: female images allow the reader to understand the work more deeply, their presence enlivens the narrative, and often makes the reader smile.

In general, Gogol's female images, not being the main ones, characterize in detail and accurately the mores of the bureaucracy. interesting and versatile show the life of the landlords, more fully and deeply reveal the most main image in the writer's work - the image of the motherland, Russia. Through the description of such women, Gogol leads the reader to think about her fate, about the fate of his compatriots, and proves that Russia's shortcomings are not her fault, but a misfortune. And behind all this lies the great love of the author, the hope for her moral revival.

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Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is not devoid of a significant amount acting characters. All heroes according to their significance and time interval of action in the poem can be divided into three categories: main, secondary and tertiary.

The main characters of "Dead Souls"

As a rule, in poems the number of main characters is small. The same trend is observed in the work of Gogol.

Chichikov
The image of Chichikov is undoubtedly the key in the poem. It is thanks to this image that the episodes of the story are connected.

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is distinguished by his dishonesty and hypocrisy. His desire to enrich himself fraudulently discourages.

On the one hand, the reasons for such behavior can be explained by the pressure of society and the priorities operating in it - a rich and dishonest person is more honored than an honest and decent poor person. Since no one wants to drag out their existence in poverty, the financial issue and the problem of improving their material resources are always relevant and often border on the norms of morality and integrity, which many are ready to cross.

The same situation happened with Chichikov. He, being common man by origin, he was actually deprived of the opportunity to make his fortune in an honest way, so he solved the problem that arose with the help of ingenuity, ingenuity and deceit. Scoop " dead souls” as an idea is a hymn to his mind, but at the same time exposes the dishonest nature of the hero.

Manilov
Manilov became the first landowner to whom Chichikov came to buy souls. The image of this landowner is ambiguous. On the one hand, he creates pleasant impression– Manilov is pleasant and well-mannered person, but we immediately note that he is apathetic and lazy.

Manilov is a person who always adapts to circumstances and never expresses his real opinion on this or that matter - Manilov takes the most favorable side.

box
The image of this landowner, perhaps, is perceived as a whole as positive and pleasant. Korobochka is not smart, she is a stupid and, to some extent, uneducated woman, but at the same time she was able to successfully realize herself as a landowner, which greatly elevates her perception as a whole.

The box is too simple - to some extent, its habits and habits resemble the lifestyle of peasants, which does not impress those who aspire to aristocrats and life in high society Chichikov, but allows Korobochka to live quite happily and quite successfully develop her household.

Nozdrev
Nozdryov, to whom Chichikov comes, after Korobochka, is perceived quite differently. And this is not surprising: it seems that Nozdryov could not fully realize himself in any field of activity. Nozdrev is a bad father who neglects communication with children and their upbringing. He is a bad landowner - Nozdryov does not take care of his estate, but only spends all his money. Nozdryov's life is the life of a man who prefers drinking, festivities, cards, women and dogs.

Sobakevich
This landowner is controversial. On the one hand, he is a rude, masculine person, but on the other hand, this simplicity allows him to live quite successfully - all the buildings on his estate, including the houses of the peasants, are made to last - you will not find anything leaky anywhere, his peasants are full and quite satisfied . Sobakevich himself often works together with the peasants on an equal footing and does not see anything unusual in this.

Plushkin
The image of this landowner is perhaps perceived as the most negative - he is stingy and angry old man. Plyushkin outwardly looks like a beggar, since his clothes are incredibly leaky, his house looks like ruins, as well as the houses of his peasants.

Plyushkin lives extraordinarily economically, but he does it not because there is a need for it, but because of a feeling of greed - he is ready to throw away the spoiled thing, but just not to use it for good. That is why fabric and products rot in his warehouses, but at the same time his serfs go head and ragged.

Minor Heroes

Minor Heroes there is also not much in Gogol's story. In fact, all of them can be described as significant figures in the county, whose activities are not related to the landownership.

Governor and his family
This is perhaps one of the most important people in the county. In theory, he should be insightful, intelligent and reasonable. However, in practice, everything turned out not quite so. The governor was a kind and pleasant man, but he did not differ in foresight.

His wife was also a nice woman, but her excessive coquetry spoiled the whole picture. The governor's daughter was a typical cutesy girl, although outwardly she was very different from the generally accepted standard - the girl was not full, as was customary, but was slender and sweet.

What is true, due to her age, she was too naive and gullible.

prosecutor
The image of the prosecutor defies significant description. According to Sobakevich, he was the only decent person, although, to be completely honest, he was still a “pig”. Sobakevich does not explain this characterization in any way, which makes it difficult to understand his image. In addition, we know that the prosecutor was a very impressionable person - when Chichikov's deception was revealed, due to excessive excitement, he dies.

Chairman of the Chamber
Ivan Grigoryevich, who was the chairman of the chamber, was a nice and well-mannered man.

Chichikov noted that he was very educated, unlike most of the significant people of the county. However, his education does not always make a person wise and far-sighted.

This happened in the case of the chairman of the chamber, who could easily quote works of literature, but at the same time could not discern Chichikov's deceit and even helped him draw up documents for dead souls.

Chief of Police
Aleksey Ivanovich, who was acting as chief of police, seemed to have grown accustomed to his work. Gogol says that he was able to ideally comprehend all the subtleties of the work and it was already difficult to imagine him in any other position. Alexey Ivanovich comes to any shop as if to his home and can take whatever his heart desires. Despite such arrogant behavior, he did not cause indignation among the townspeople - Alexei Ivanovich knows how to successfully get out of the situation and smooth out the unpleasant impression of extortion. So, for example, he invites guests for tea, play checkers or watch a trotter.

We suggest following in Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's poem "Dead Souls".

Such proposals are not made by the chief of police spontaneously - Alexei Ivanovich knows how to find in a person weakness and use this knowledge. So, for example, having learned that the merchant has a passion for card games, then immediately invites the merchant to the game.

Episodic and third-rate heroes of the poem

Selifan
Selifan is Chichikov's coachman. Like most ordinary people He is an uneducated and stupid person. Selifan faithfully serves his master. Typical of all serfs, he likes to drink and is often distracted.

Parsley
Petrushka is the second serf subordinate to Chichikov. He serves as a footman. Parsley loves to read books, however, he does not understand much of what he read, but this does not prevent him from enjoying the process itself. Parsley often neglects the rules of hygiene and therefore it emits an incomprehensible smell.

Mizhuev
Mizhuev is Nozdrev's son-in-law. Mizhuev is not distinguished by prudence. At its core, he is a harmless person, but he loves to drink very much, which significantly spoils his image.

Feodulia Ivanovna
Feodulia Ivanovna - Sobakevich's wife. She is simple woman and with its habits resembles a peasant woman. Although, it cannot be said that the behavior of aristocrats is completely alien to her - some elements are still present in her arsenal.

We offer you to get acquainted with the poem by Nikolai Gogol "Dead Souls"

Thus, in the poem, Gogol presents the reader with a wide system of images. And although most of them are collective images and in their structure are an image characteristic types individuals in society, still arouse the interest of the reader.

Characteristics of the heroes of the poem "Dead Souls": a list of characters