- the main work of N.V. Gogol. He worked on it from 1836 to 1852, but was never able to finish it. To be precise, original plan The writer’s goal was to show Rus' “from one side.” He showed it - in the first volume. And then I realized that black paint alone is not enough. He remembered how to build " The Divine Comedy"Dante, where after "Hell" comes "Purgatory", and then "Paradise". So our classic wanted to “highlight” his poem in the second volume. But it was not possible to do this. Gogol was not satisfied with what he had written and burned the second volume. Drafts have survived, from which it is difficult to judge the entire volume.
That is why at school only the first volume is studied as a completely finished work. This is probably correct. To talk about the writer’s ideas and plans that were not realized means to regret missed opportunities. It is better to write and talk about what has been written and implemented.
Gogol was a deeply religious man - this is well known from the memoirs of his contemporaries. And it was necessary to decide to give the work such a “blasphemous” title - “ Dead Souls" No wonder the censor who was reading the book was immediately indignant and protested - they say that souls are immortal - that’s what they teach christian religion, such a work must under no circumstances be published. Gogol had to make concessions and make a “double” title - “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.” It turned out to be a name for some kind of adventure novel.
The content of the first volume is not difficult to retell - the “scoundrel” and “acquirer” Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov goes to visit the landowners and offers them to buy the souls of dead peasants. The reactions are different: some are surprised (), some even try to bargain (Korobochka), some offer to “play for souls” (Nozdryov), some praise their dead peasants as if they had not died at all (Sobakevich).
By the way, it is Sobakevich’s praises that convince us, readers, that for dead souls Gogol saw living souls. No one ever dies if they leave behind good memory, if the living use the products of his hands. The carriage maker Mikheev, the shoemaker Stepan Probka and others rise from the pages of the poem as if alive. And although Chichikov imagines them alive, and we know his nature, it’s all the same - the dead, at least for a short time, seem to change places with the living.
When Chichikov looks through the “revision tales” (as the lists of dead peasants are called), he accidentally discovers that he was deceived - along with the names of the dead peasants, the names of runaway peasants were entered. It is clear that no one will run away from a good life. This means that the conditions in which the peasants were then were incredibly difficult. After all, our serfdom is the same slavery, only called differently. And fugitives cannot be considered dead. They died for old life in an attempt to find a new, free life.
It would seem that none of the landowners could be considered living souls. The author himself admitted that he placed the heroes on the principle of degradation, an ever deeper moral and spiritual decline. And in fact, there is a huge gap between Manilov and Plyushkin. The first is refined, courteous, although in character he has no character, and Plyushkin has even lost his human appearance. Let us remember that at first Chichikov even mistakes him for the housekeeper. Plyushkin’s own peasants don’t think anything of him. If his daughter, Alexandra Stepanovna, had not been mentioned in the poem, we probably would not have known his name.
And yet it cannot be said that Plyushkin is deader than all the other characters. Let us ask ourselves: what is known about the past of each of the landowners? Almost nothing, just a few expressive details. And Plyushkin’s past is told in great detail. He didn’t change out of the blue, everything happened gradually. Plyushkin slipped from reasonable economic stinginess to pettiness and greed. Thus, this landowner is shown to have changed for the worse. But the main thing is change! After all, Manilov, for example, has not changed at all for many years, just like Nozdryov. And if no changes happen to a person, then you can give up on this person - there is no benefit or harm from him.
Gogol probably reasoned as follows: if a person has changed for the worse, then why not be reborn again, for a new, honest and rich life? In the third volume of Dead Souls, the writer planned to lead Plyushkin to spiritual rebirth. To be honest, it’s hard to believe in this. But we don’t know the whole plan, so we don’t have the right to judge Gogol.
Finally, in the last lyrical digression of the first volume, a grandiose image of Rus' appears, like a “three bird”. And again, it doesn’t matter at all that Chichikov’s chaise is rushing off into this unknown distance, and we know who he is. The lyrical pressure and mood distracts us from both Chichikov and his “dark” deeds. The living soul of Russia is what occupies Gogol’s imagination.
What happens? Is it possible to answer the question in the title of this essay in the affirmative? Can! After the first reading of the poem, it is difficult to give such an affirmative answer. This is because the first reading is always rough, approximate, incomplete. As the writer Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote a long essay about Gogol, once put it, “a real book cannot be read at all - it can only be re-read.” And it is true!
Living souls among dead souls are a rarity in Gogol. But they exist! And the expression “dead souls” should not be taken too literally. There are those who are spiritually dead, but who are still alive in the physical sense. There are many of them both then and now. And there are those who left us and went to another world, but their light still comes to us long years. It doesn't matter what a person did during his lifetime. He was useful, he was necessary, he gave goodness and light to those around him. And for this reason alone he is worthy of the grateful memory of posterity.
From the collection of P.N. Malofeeva
Explaining the concept of “Dead Souls,” Gogol wrote that the images of the poem “are not at all portraits of insignificant people; on the contrary, they contain the features of those who consider themselves better than others.” “Dead souls” are representatives of the dominant social strata at that time. The poem is structured as the adventure of the “acquirer” Chichikov, who buys things that are actually dead, but legally alive, i.e. souls not deleted from the audit lists. The central place in the first volume is occupied by five “portrait” chapters. These chapters, constructed according to the same plan, show how different types of serfdom developed on the basis of serfdom and how serfdom in the 20s and 30s years XIX century, due to the growth of capitalist forces, led the landowner class to economic decline. Gogol gives these chapters in a certain order:
The mismanaged landowner Manilov is replaced by the petty Korobochka, the careless waster of life Nozdryov by the tight-fisted Sobakevich. This gallery of landowners is completed by Plyushkin, a miser who brought his estate and peasants to complete ruin. The “portrait” chapters provide a picture of the decline of the landowner class with great expressiveness. Gogol leads us from an idle dreamer living in the world of his dreams, Manilov, to the “club-headed” Korobochka, from her to the reckless spendthrift, liar and cheater Nozdryov, then to the brutalized fist “a hole in humanity” Plyushkin, showing an ever greater moral decline and decomposition. representatives of the landowner world. The poem turns into a brilliant denunciation of serfdom, the class that is the arbiter of the destinies of the state. The gallery of portraits of landowners opens with the image of Manilov
The image of Manilov captures the type of idle dreamer, “romantic” slacker. The landowner's economy is in complete decline. “The master’s house stood on the south, that is, on a hill, open to all the winds that might blow...” The housekeeper steals, “stupidly and uselessly preparing in the kitchen,” “the pantry is empty,” “the servants are unclean and drunkards.” Meanwhile, a “gazebo with a flat green dome, wooden columns and the inscription: “Temple of Solitary Reflection” was erected.” Manilov’s dreams are absurd and absurd. “Sometimes... he talked about how nice it would be if suddenly there was an underground passage from the house or build a stone bridge across the pond..." Gogol shows that Manilov is vulgar and empty, he has no real spiritual interests. "In his office there was always some kind of book, bookmarked on page fourteen, which he had been constantly reading for two years." Gogol with amazing artistic power shows the deadness of Manilov, the worthlessness of his life. Behind the external attractiveness lies a spiritual emptiness.
The image of the hoarder Korobochka is already devoid of those “attractive” features that distinguish Manilov. And again we have a type in front of us - “one of those mothers, small landowners who... little by little collect money into colorful bags placed in dresser drawers.” Korobochka's interests are entirely concentrated on farming. “Strong-browed” and “club-headed” Nastasya Petrovna is afraid to sell herself cheap by selling “dead souls” to Chichikov. The “silent scene” that appears in this chapter is curious. We find similar scenes in almost all chapters showing the conclusion of Chichikov’s deal with another landowner. This allows us to show with particular clarity the spiritual emptiness of Pavel Ivanovich and his interlocutors. At the end of the third chapter, Gogol talks about the typicality of the image of Korobochka, the insignificant difference between her and another aristocratic lady.
Nozdryov continues the gallery of “dead souls” in the poem. Like other landowners, he does not develop internally and does not change depending on age. “Nozdryov at thirty-five was exactly the same as he was at eighteen and twenty: a lover of a walk.” The portrait of a dashing reveler is satirical and sarcastic at the same time. “He was of average height, a very well-built fellow with full rosy cheeks... Health seemed to be dripping from his face.” However, Chichikov notices that one of Nozdryov’s sideburns was smaller and not as thick as the other (the result of another fight). Passion for lies and card game largely explains the fact that not a single meeting where Nozdryov was present was complete without history. The life of a landowner is absolutely soulless. In the office “there were no noticeable traces of what happens in offices, that is, books or papers; only a saber and two guns were hanging...” Of course, Nozdryov’s household was in ruins. Even lunch consists of dishes that are burnt, or, on the contrary, not cooked.
Chichikov's attempt to buy dead souls from Nozdryov - fatal mistake. It is Nozdryov who spills the secret at the governor’s ball. The arrival of Korobochka in the city, who wanted to find out “how much dead souls walk,” confirms the words of the dashing “talker.”
The image of Nozdryov is no less typical than the image of Manilov or Korobochka. Gogol writes: “Nozdryov will not be removed from the world for a long time. He is everywhere among us and, perhaps, only walks around in a different caftan; but people are frivolously undiscerning, and a person in a different caftan seems to them a different person.”
Typification techniques are also used by Gogol to describe the image of Sobakevich. The village and the landowner's economy indicate a certain prosperity. “The yard was surrounded by a strong and excessively thick wooden lattice. The landowner, it seemed, was working a lot about strength... The village huts of the peasants were also cut down amazingly... everything was fitted tightly and properly.” Describing Sobakevich's appearance, Gogol resorts to zoological comparison (comparing a landowner with a bear). In his judgments about food, Sobakevich rises to a kind of “gastronomic” pathos: “When I have pork, put the whole pig on the table, lamb, bring the whole lamb, goose, the whole goose!” However, Sobakevich (in this he differs from Plyushkin and most other landowners) has a certain economic streak (he does not ruin his own serfs, achieves a certain order in the economy, sells profitably Chichikov is dead souls, knows business and human qualities their peasants).
The extreme degree of human degradation was captured by Gogol in the image of the richest landowner in the province (more than a thousand serfs) Plyushkin. The character's biography allows us to trace the path from a "thrifty" owner to a half-crazy miser. “But there was a time when he... was married and a family man, and a neighbor stopped by for dinner... two pretty daughters came out to meet him... his son ran out... The owner himself appeared at the table in a frock coat... But the good hostess died, some of the keys, and with them "Plyushkin became more restless and, like all widowers, more suspicious and stingy." Soon the family completely fell apart, and unprecedented pettiness and suspicion developed in Plyushkin: “... he himself finally turned into some kind of hole in humanity.” So, not at all social conditions led the landowner to the last line of moral decline. The tragedy of loneliness is playing out before us, developing into a nightmarish picture of lonely old age.
In the village of Plyushkina, Chichikov notices “some kind of special disrepair.” Entering the house, Chichikov sees a strange pile of furniture and some kind of street trash. Plyushkin is an insignificant slave of his own things. He lives worse than “the last shepherd of Sobakevich.” Countless riches are wasted in vain... Gogol’s words sound warning: “And to what insignificance, pettiness, nastyness a person could condescend! He could change so much!.. Anything can happen to a person.”
Thus, the landowners in Dead Souls are united common features: inhumanity, idleness, vulgarity, spiritual emptiness.
Officials in the poem are shown satirically. For the author, like the landowners, they are “dead souls.” Symbolic meaning The title of the work also refers to officials. Talking about them, Gogol skillfully displays the individual qualities of the governor, prosecutor, postmaster and others and at the same time creates collective image bureaucracy. They rob both the state and the petitioners. Embezzlement, bribery, robbery of the population are everyday and completely natural phenomena. The police chief “only has to blink when passing a fish row or a cellar” for balyki and excellent wines to appear on his table. No request is considered without a bribe. The chairman of the chamber warns Chichikov: “...don’t give anything to the officials... My friends shouldn’t pay.” Monstrous immorality is revealed in these words of a high-ranking official. He calls everything by its proper name, without even trying to hide the general corruption. All officials use their official position for personal interests. In bureaucratic Russia this has become an unwritten law. There is no significant difference in the actions and views of officials, in their way of life. Gogol creates group portrait people connected by mutual responsibility. When Chichikov’s scam was revealed, the officials were confused and everyone “suddenly found ... sins in themselves.” The tragicomic situation in which the “owners of the city” found themselves was created as a result of their criminal activities.
The entire gallery of images given in the first volume of “Dead Souls” convincingly reveals the internal squalor and the inert, musty appearance of the serf-owners - soul owners. The “dead souls” of the poem are contrasted with the “living” - talented, hardworking, long-suffering people. Gogol saw the lack of rights of the peasantry, its humiliated position and the dullness and savagery that were the result of serfdom. Such are Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai, the serf girl Pelageya, who did not distinguish between right and left, Plyushkin’s Proshka and Mavra, downtrodden to the extreme. But even in this social depression Gogol saw living soul“the lively people” and the quickness of the Yaroslavl peasant. He speaks with admiration and love about the people’s ability, courage and daring, endurance and thirst for freedom. Serf hero, carpenter Cork “would be fit for the guard.” He set out with an ax in his belt and boots on his shoulders throughout the province. The carriage maker Mikhei created carriages of extraordinary strength and beauty. Stove maker Milushkin could install a stove in any house. Talented shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov “whatever pricks with an awl, so will the boots; whatever the boots, then thank you.” And Eremey Sorokoplekhin “brought five hundred rubles per quitrent!” Here is Plyushkin’s runaway serf Abakum Fyrov, his soul could not withstand the oppression of captivity, he was drawn to the wide Volga expanse, he “walks noisily and cheerfully on the grain pier, having made a contract with the merchants.” But it’s not easy for him to walk with the barge haulers, “dragging the strap to one endless song, like Rus'.” In the songs of barge haulers, Gogol heard the expression of longing and the people’s desire for a different life, for a wonderful future. Ardent faith in the hidden but immense strength of the entire people, love for the homeland, allowed Gogol to brilliantly foresee its great future.
How during a thunderstorm the clouds thicken and fill with lead, tension in the atmosphere grows, how in “Dead Souls” the colors gradually darken. Just as detente occurs during a thunderstorm, so in the poem Chichikov’s private history imperceptibly turns into a discussion about the fate of Rus', the “brisk, irresistible troika” which is the main manpower, which is able to fight with carrion and defeat it. In other words - in the words of Herzen - “a daring, full of strength nationality, in which everything is motley, bright, animated, must resist the “dead souls.”
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in his work showed the problems inherent in the society of his time. He does this by describing the characters and lifestyles of the heroes of the poem - the landowners and, of course, Chichikov.
He called the work “Dead Souls” for a reason. Firstly, the name corresponds to what he was doing main character. And he bought the souls of dead peasants from landowners. And secondly, the title reflects spiritual state heroes. Their souls, although they were living people, were dead.
This means that they lacked any desires or aspirations. Most They devoted their time to sheer nonsense and trifles. Manilov's senseless dreaminess, greed, which turned Plyushkin into a kind of creature that has only the outer shell of a person, imitation of the majority of people and the desire to rise in the eyes of others - this is far from a complete list of human vices. And they were characteristic of the majority of society.
Everything was made of some completely inactive individuals, and of others too busy with unnecessary fuss. And at this time, their souls were simply silent, asleep, or, even worse, “died” altogether. People keen on indulging their vices had no time spiritual development and improvement. And why did they need this? They had a good life anyway, they thought.
But, contrary to this deceptive feeling of theirs, they feel neither the desire to truly live, breathing deeply, nor the joy and complete happiness from their existence. Moreover, having lulled or lost the sublimity of feelings, they are all just consumers. They take advantage of both the benefits they receive and the feelings of people. Many of them are driven only by instincts.
How the characters in the work spend their days varies. But, nevertheless, they all have one thing in common - a “dead soul” in a living body. And without a soul it is impossible to live, you can only exist.
An essay on the topic Dead Living Souls based on the poem Dead Souls
The 19th century in Russia was marked by a cultural upsurge and passionate search freedom, universal happiness, the desire to establish justice in society.
Its uniqueness lies in the combination of the traditional Christian-Orthodox vision of the culture of previous centuries with aspirations for a bright tomorrow, where a special place awaits the Russian people.
The heroes of this era are characterized by an eternal search - in the soul, in the world around them - for their own purpose and meaning in life in order to “live according to their conscience.” “Superfluous people”, “little people” are brought to the forefront to show the insignificance of passions or the desire for higher ideals.
The work of N.V. had a significant influence on the culture and literature of that time. Gogol. Gogol's characters are the sum of attractive and disgusting manifestations revealed by many years of observations and the author's sharp analytical mind.
Upon careful study, one can see how their living souls perish in the dead clutches of the far-fetched patterns that they follow in life.
Manilov. A retired officer must smoke a pipe, even if he is bored by this activity, and he amuses himself by arranging the ashes from his pipe in “beautiful rows.”
Must have a house, wife, children. I have to exchange with my wife romantic kisses and with gifts, to educate children in the spirit of future high achievements, as their very names, Themistoclus and Alcides, proclaim.
His thoughts should be elevated, like a bridge across a pond with shops for merchants trading for serfs. And it doesn’t matter that any fantasy, even if it survives to be realized, does not go beyond the first steps. Like armchairs, only some of which are covered with fabric, while the rest are still waiting for finishing.
Nozdryov believes that the landowner is obliged to live in grand style, drink, go out, do obscene things while drunk, play cards, show off, change anything he can get his hands on.
Sobakevich is a tight-fisted man, tightly squeezed with his entire bearish carcass into the template of solidity. The house must be solid, what does symmetry have to do with it? To get yours, you need to thoroughly squeeze whoever you can. Why be ashamed? There are only swindlers and swindlers around.
Plyushkin elevated his template of frugality to the rank of an idol, on whose altar he laid down the mind, soul, life - his own, loved ones and even serfs, whose fruits of labor perish uselessly in cellars and storerooms.
Clear, with a truly stranglehold, we can observe these patterns even now, although almost two hundred years have passed since the publication of the poem.
You can easily find modern manilas with the same fruitless dreams of benefiting the world, beginning with the eternal “if only...”.
Nozdryovs, drinking and terrorizing hotels in Europe, proving to their drinking buddy how bad it is to live in Russia, and punching him in the face if he agrees.
The Plyushkins, who steal whatever they can from garbage dumps and stuff their apartments so that the neighbors go crazy from the stench of their dubious “treasures.”
And, all the same, the troika of Rus' rushes, united from pure thoughts, dead templates and indestructible faith that everything will be fine.
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PRISONER
Open the prison for me,
Give me the shine of the day
The black-eyed girl
Black-maned horse.
I'm a beauty when I'm younger
First I will kiss you sweetly,
Then I’ll jump on the horse,
I’ll fly away to the steppe like the wind.
But the prison window is high,
The door is heavy with a lock;
Black-eyed is far away,
In his magnificent mansion;
Good horse in a green field
Without a bridle, alone, by will
Jumps, cheerful and playful,
Spreading its tail in the wind...
I am alone - there is no consolation:
The walls are bare all around,
The ray of the lamp shines dimly
By dying fire;
Only audible: behind the doors
Sound-measured steps
Walks in the silence of the night
Unresponsive sentry.
Ticket No. 6Composition of the novel “A Hero of Our Time”
The novel was created in 1838-1840. The novel is based on Caucasian memories received during 1 exile to the Caucasus (1837). The theme is the depiction of the fate of a contemporary. The novel lacks chronological sequence. The plot and plot of the novel do not coincide.
The main task facing M. Yu. Lermontov when creating the novel “A Hero of Our Time” was to paint the image of his contemporary, “as he understands him and... often met him.” This man is thinking, feeling, talented, but unable to find a worthy use for his “immense powers.” The novel consists of five parts, in which the action takes place in different time, V different places. The characters change, the narrators on whose behalf the story is told change. With the help of this creative technique, the author manages to give a versatile characterization to his main character. V. G. Belinsky called this composition of the novel “five paintings inserted into one frame.”
If we consider the causal-temporal sequence of the novel’s action (plot), we will see it like this: A young officer goes to the Caucasus on business. On the way he stops in Taman. There he meets with smugglers, they rob him and even try to drown him. (The story “Taman”.)
Arriving in Pyatigorsk, the hero encounters a “water society”. An intrigue ensues, which serves as a pretext for a duel. For participating in a duel in which Grushnitsky dies, Pechorin is sent to serve in the fortress. (“Princess Mary.”)
While serving in the fortress, Pechorin persuades Azamat to steal Bela for him. When Azamat brings his sister, Pechorin helps him steal Karagez, Kazbich’s horse. Kazbich kills Bela. (The story “Bela”.)
“Once it happened (Pechorin) to live for two weeks in a Cossack village.” Here the hero tests in practice the theory of predestination and fate. At the risk of his life, he disarms a drunken Cossack, who shortly before killed a man. (The story “Fatalist”.)
Having experienced a lot, having lost faith in everything, Pechorin goes traveling and dies on the road. (The story “Maksim Maksimych”.)
Striving to reveal inner world hero, the author refuses the event order of presentation. The plot of the novel disrupts the chronological course of events. The stories are arranged in the following order: “Bela”, “Maksim Maksimych”, “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist”.
This construction of the novel allows us to gradually introduce the reader to the hero and his inner world.
In “Bel” we see Pechorin through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, an old officer. This is a rather superficial description of the character of the hero: “He was a nice guy... just a little strange. After all, for example, in the rain, in the cold, hunting all day; everyone will be cold and tired - but nothing to him. And another time he sits in his room, smells the wind, assures him that he has a cold; the shutter knocks, he shudders and turns pale; and with me he went to the wild boar one on one...”
In “Maxim Maksimych” Pechorin is described by a passing officer, a man who is close to Pechorin in his cultural level. Here we see a fairly detailed portrait with some psychological observations. The portrait takes up one and a half pages of text. Here the author drew the figure, gait, clothes, hands, hair, skin, facial features. He pays special attention to the description of the hero’s eyes: “...they didn’t laugh when he laughed!.. This is a sign or evil temper, or deep constant sadness. Because of their half-lowered eyelashes, they shone with some kind of phosphorescent shine... It was not a reflection of the heat of the soul or the playing imagination: it was a shine, similar to the shine of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold...” The portrait is so eloquent that before us a visible image of a man who has experienced a lot and is devastated appears.
The remaining three stories are told in the first person. The author simply publishes Pechorin's journal, that is, his diaries. In them, the character of the hero is given in development.
The diaries begin in Taman, where the hero, still very young, experiences a romantic adventure. He is full of life, trusting, curious, thirsty for adventure._
In “Princess Mary” we meet a person capable of introspection. Here Pechorin characterizes himself, he explains how his bad qualities were formed: “... this has been my fate since childhood! Everyone read on my face signs of bad qualities that were not there; but they were expected - and they were born... I became secretive... I became vindictive... I became envious... I learned to hate... I began to deceive... I became moral cripple...”
The night before the duel, Pechorin asks himself: “Why did I live? for what purpose was I born?... And, it’s true, it existed, and, it’s true, there was a high purpose for me, because I feel immense strength in my soul...” This is an understanding of my purpose in life a few hours before possible death is the culmination of not only the story “Princess Mary”, but also the entire novel “A Hero of Our Time”. In “Princess Mary” the author, perhaps for the first time in Russian literature, gave the deepest psychological picture your hero.
The story “Fatalist” bears the stamp philosophical reflection Lermontov about fate. His hero is painfully searching for the answer to the question: is it possible to change fate? He's testing his luck. No one ordered him to disarm the killer, and it was none of his business. But he wants to check whether anything depends on the person? If today he is destined to remain alive, then he will remain alive. And nothing can change this predestination. Therefore, he undertakes a deadly experiment and remains alive.
Thus, the arrangement of stories in the novel is not chronological order gave the author the opportunity to more deeply reveal the personality of his hero. In general, “A Hero of Our Time” is a socio-psychological novel. However, the parts of which it consists, in accordance with the socio-psychological tasks facing the author, gravitate towards the most different genres. Thus, “Bela” can be called a romantic story, “Maxim Maksimych” - a travel essay, “Taman” - an adventure story, “Princess Mary” - a lyrical diary, “Fatalist” - philosophical novella.
So, in “A Hero of Our Time,” composition is one of the most active elements in recreating the history of the human soul. The principle of chronological sequence is replaced by the psychological sequence of “recognition” of the hero by the reader.
Ticket No. 7Moral problems in the novel “A Hero of Our Time”
The novel “A Hero of Our Time” is the first in the history of Russian literature realistic novel with deep philosophical content. In the preface to the novel, Lermontov writes that his novel is a portrait “not of one person, but a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation in their full development.”
Pechorin lived in the first years after the defeat of the December uprising. These were difficult years for Russia. The best people executed, exiled to Siberian mines, others renounced their free-thinking ideas. In order to maintain faith in the future, to find the strength for active work in the name of the coming triumph of freedom, it was necessary to have noble heart, you had to be able to see real ways struggle and service to the truth.
Overwhelming majority thinking people The 30s of the 19th century were made up of precisely those who were unable or did not yet have time to gain this clarity of purpose, to give their strength to the struggle, from whom the ingrained order of life took away faith in the expediency of serving good, faith in its future triumph. The dominant type of the era was that type human personality, which is known in the history of Russian social thought under the bitter name of the superfluous person.
Pechorin entirely belongs to this type. Before us is a young twenty-five-year-old man, suffering from his restlessness, in despair asking himself the question: “Why did I live, for what purpose was I born?” Pechorin is not an ordinary representative of the secular aristocracy. He stands out from the people around him with his originality. He knows how to critically approach any event, any person. He gives clear and precise characteristics to people. He quickly and correctly understood Grushnitsky, Princess Mary, and Doctor Werner. Pechorin is brave, has great endurance and willpower. He is the only one who rushes into the hut, where Vulich’s killer sits with a pistol, ready to kill the first one who enters him. He does not reveal his excitement when he stands under Grushnitsky’s pistol.
Pechorin is an officer. He serves, but is not curated. And when he says: “My ambition is suppressed by circumstances,” it is not difficult to understand what he means: many were just making a career in those years, and “circumstances” did not at all prevent them from doing so.
Pechorin has an active soul, requiring will and movement. He prefers to expose his forehead to Chechen bullets over an inactive life, seeking oblivion in risky adventures and changing places, but all this is just an attempt to somehow dissipate, to forget about the huge emptiness that oppresses him. He is haunted by boredom and the consciousness that living like this is hardly “worth the trouble.”
In Pechorin, nothing betrays the presence of any public interests. The spirit of skepticism, disbelief, denial, which is sharply reflected in Pechorin’s entire internal make-up, in the cruel coldness of his merciless aphorisms, speaks for itself. And it is not without reason that the hero often repeats that he is “not capable of making great sacrifices for the good of humanity,” that he is accustomed to “doubting everything.”
The main spring of Pechorin’s actions is individualism. He goes through life without sacrificing anything for others, even for those he loves: he also loves only “for himself,” for his own pleasure. Lermontov reveals Pechorin's individualism and examines not only his psychology, but also the ideological foundations of his life. Pechorin is a true product of his time, a time of search and doubt. He is in constant duality of spirit, the stamp of constant introspection lies on his every step. “There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges it,” says Pechorin.
For Pechorin there are no social ideals. What moral principles is he guided? “Of two friends, one is always the slave of the other,” he says. Hence his inability to true friendship and love. He is a selfish and indifferent person, looking “at the sufferings and joys of others only in relation to himself.” Pechorin considers himself the creator of his destiny and his only judge. He constantly reports to his conscience; he analyzes his actions, trying to penetrate into the origins of “good and evil.”
With the life story of Pechorin, Lermontov shows that the path of individualism is contrary to human nature and its needs.
A person begins to find true joys and true fullness of life only where relationships between people are built according to the laws of goodness, nobility, justice, and humanism.
Ticket No. 8Features of the genre and composition of the poem “Dead Souls”
Gogol had long dreamed of writing a work “in which all of Rus' would appear.” This was supposed to be a grandiose description of the life and customs of Russia first thirds of the XIX century. Such a work was the poem “Dead Souls,” written in 1842. The first edition of the work was called “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.” This name reduced the true meaning of this work and transferred it into the realm of an adventure novel. Gogol did this for censorship reasons, in order for the poem to be published.
Why did Gogol call his work a poem? The definition of the genre became clear to the writer only in last moment, since, while still working on the poem, Gogol calls it either a poem or a novel. To understand the features of the genre of the poem "Dead Souls", you can compare this work with the "Divine Comedy" of Dante, a poet of the Renaissance. Its influence is felt in Gogol's poem. The Divine Comedy consists of three parts. In the first part, the shadow of the ancient Roman poet Virgil appears to the poet, which accompanies the lyrical hero to hell, they go through all the circles, a whole gallery of sinners passes before their eyes. The fantastic nature of the plot does not prevent Dante from revealing the theme of his homeland Italy, its fate. In fact, Gogol planned to show the same circles of hell, but hell in Russia. It is not for nothing that the title of the poem “Dead Souls” ideologically echoes the title of the first part of Dante’s poem “The Divine Comedy,” which is called “Hell.” Gogol, along with satirical negation, introduces an element of glorifying, creative image of Russia. Associated with this image is the “high lyrical movement”, which in the poem at times replaces the comic narrative.
A significant place in the poem “Dead Souls” is occupied by lyrical digressions and inserted episodes, which is typical for the poem as literary genre. In them, Gogol touches on the most acute Russian public issues. The author's thoughts about the high purpose of man, about the fate of the Motherland and the people are here contrasted with gloomy pictures of Russian life.
So, let's go for the hero of the poem "Dead Souls" Chichikov to N.
From the very first pages of the work, we feel the fascination of the plot, since the reader cannot assume that after Chichikov’s meeting with Manilov there will be meetings with Sobakevich and Nozdrev. The reader cannot guess the end of the poem, because all its characters are derived according to the principle of gradation: one is worse than the other. For example, Manilov, if considered as a separate image, cannot be perceived as positive hero(on his table there is a book open on the same page, and his politeness is feigned: “Let me not allow you to do this >>), but in comparison with Plyushkin, Manilov even wins in many ways. However, Gogol put the image of Korobochka in the center of attention , since she is a kind of unified beginning of all characters. According to Gogol, this is a symbol of the “box man”, which contains the idea of an insatiable thirst for hoarding.
The theme of exposing officialdom runs through all of Gogol’s work: it stands out both in the collection “Mirgorod” and in the comedy “The Inspector General”. In the poem “Dead Souls” it is intertwined with the theme of serfdom. “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” occupies a special place in the poem. It is plot-related to the poem, but has great importance for disclosure ideological content works. The form of the tale gives the story a vital character: it denounces the government.
The world of “dead souls” is contrasted in the poem lyrical image people's Russia, about which Gogol writes with love and admiration.
Behind scary world of landowner and bureaucratic Russia, Gogol felt the soul of the Russian people, which he expressed in the image of a quickly rushing forward troika, embodying the forces of Russia: “Isn’t it so for you, Rus', that a brisk, unstoppable troika rushes along?” So, we settled on what Gogol depicts in his work. He depicts the social disease of society, but we should also dwell on how Gogol manages to do this.
Firstly, Gogol uses social typification techniques. In depicting the gallery of landowners, he skillfully combines the general and the individual. Almost all of his characters are static, they do not develop (except for Plyushkin and Chichikov), and are captured by the author as a result. This technique emphasizes once again that all these Manilovs, Korobochki, Sobakevichs, Plyushkins are dead souls. To characterize his characters, Gogol also uses his favorite technique of characterizing a character through detail. Gogol can be called a “genius of detail,” as sometimes details precisely reflect the character and inner world of a character. What is it worth, for example, the description of Manilov’s estate and house! When Chichikov drove into Manilov's estate, he drew attention to the overgrown English pond, to the rickety gazebo, to the dirt and desolation, to the wallpaper in Manilov's room, either gray or blue, to two chairs covered with matting, which his hands never reached at the owner's. All these and many other details lead us to the main characteristic made by the author himself: “Neither this nor that, but the devil knows what it is!” Let us remember Plyushkin, this “hole in humanity,” who even lost his gender.
He comes out to Chichikov in a greasy robe, some kind of incredible scarf on his head, desolation, dirt, disrepair everywhere. Plyushkin is an extreme degree of degradation. And all this is conveyed through detail, through those little things in life that A. page Pushkin so admired: “Not a single writer has ever had this gift to expose the vulgarity of life so clearly, to be able to outline vulgarity in such force vulgar person so that all the little things that escape the eyes would flash large into everyone’s eyes.”
main topic The poem is the fate of Russia: its past, present and future. In the first volume, Gogol revealed the theme of the past of his homeland. The second and third volumes he conceived were supposed to tell about the present and future of Russia. This idea can be compared with the second and third parts of Dante’s Divine Comedy: “Purgatory” and “Paradise”. However, these plans were not destined to come true: the second volume turned out to be unsuccessful in concept, and the third was never written. Therefore, Chichikov’s trip remained a trip into the unknown.
Gogol was at a loss, thinking about the future of Russia: “Rus, where are you going? Give me an answer! He doesn’t give an answer.”
Ticket number 9Souls dead and alive. Dead Souls
Who are the “dead souls” in the poem?
“Dead Souls” - this title carries something in itself, terrifying... It’s not the revisionists who are dead souls, but all these Nozdrevs, Manilovs and others - these are dead souls and we meet them at every step,” wrote Herzen.
In this meaning, the expression “dead souls” is no longer addressed to peasants - living and dead - but to the masters of life, landowners and officials. And its meaning is metaphorical, figurative. After all, physically, materially, “all these Nozdryovs, Manilovs and others” exist and, for the most part, are thriving. What could be more certain than the bear-like Sobakevich? Or Nozdryov, about whom it is said: “He was like blood and milk; his health seemed to be dripping from his face.” But physical existence is not yet human life. Vegetative existence is far from real spiritual movements. “Dead souls” in this case mean deadness, lack of spirituality. And this lack of spirituality manifests itself in at least two ways. First of all, it is the absence of any interests or passions. Remember what they say about Manilov? “You won’t get any lively or even arrogant words from him, which you can hear from almost anyone if you touch an object that offends him. Everyone has their own, but Manilov had nothing. Most hobbies or passions cannot be called high or noble. But Manilov did not have such passion. He had nothing of his own at all. And the main impression that Manilov made on his interlocutor was a feeling of uncertainty and “deadly boredom.”
Other characters - landowners and officials - are not nearly as dispassionate. For example, Nozdryov and Plyushkin have their own passions. Chichikov also has his own “enthusiasm” - the enthusiasm of “acquisition”. And many other characters have their own “bullying object”, which sets in motion a wide variety of passions: greed, ambition, curiosity, and so on.
This means that in this regard, “dead souls” are dead in different ways, to different degrees and, so to speak, in different doses. But in another respect they are equally deadly, without distinction or exception.
Dead soul! This phenomenon seems contradictory in itself, composed of mutually exclusive concepts. How can there be a dead soul? dead man, that is, that which is by nature animate and spiritual? Can't live, shouldn't exist. But it exists.
What remains of life is a certain form, of a person - a shell, which, however, regularly performs vital functions. And here another meaning of the Gogol image of “dead souls” is revealed to us: revision dead souls, that is symbol dead peasants. The revision's dead souls are concrete, reviving faces of peasants who are treated as if they were not people. And the dead in spirit are all these Manilovs, Nozdrevs, landowners and officials, a dead form, a soulless system of human relationships...
All these are facets of one Gogol concept - “dead souls”, artistically realized in his poem. And the facets are not isolated, but make up a single, infinitely deep image.
Following his hero, Chichikov, moving from one place to another, the writer does not give up hope of finding people who would carry within themselves the beginning of a new life and rebirth. The goals that Gogol and his hero set for themselves are directly opposite in this regard. Chichikov is interested in dead souls in the literal and figurative sense of the word - revision dead souls and people dead in spirit. And Gogol is looking for a living soul in which the spark of humanity and justice burns.
When publishing Dead Souls, Gogol wanted to design the title page himself. It depicted Chichikov’s carriage, symbolizing the path of Russia, and around there were many human skulls. The publication of this particular title page was very important for Gogol, as well as the fact that his book was published simultaneously with Ivanov’s painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” The theme of life and death, rebirth runs like a red thread through Gogol’s work. Gogol saw his task in correcting and directing human hearts to the true path, and these attempts were made through the theater, in civic activities, teaching and, finally, in creativity.
There is an opinion that Gogol planned to create the poem “Dead Souls” by analogy with Dante’s poem “The Divine Comedy”. This determined the proposed three-part composition of the future work. “The Divine Comedy” consists of three parts: “Hell”, “Purgatory” and “Paradise”, which were supposed to correspond to the three volumes of “Dead Souls” conceived by Gogol. In the first volume, Gogol sought to show the terrible Russian reality, to recreate “hell” modern life. In the second and third volumes, Gogol wanted to depict the revival of Russia. Gogol saw himself as a writer-preacher who, drawing on the pages of his work a picture of the revival of Russia, leads it out of the crisis.
“Dead Souls” is a synthesis of all possible ways of fighting for human souls. The work contains both direct pathos and teachings, and artistic sermon, illustrated with the image of the dead souls themselves - landowners and city officials. Lyrical digressions also give the work the sense of an artistic sermon and sum up the terrible pictures of life and everyday life depicted. Appealing to all humanity as a whole and considering ways spiritual resurrection, animation, Gogol's lyrical digressions indicates that “darkness and evil are embedded not in the social shells of the people, but in the spiritual core” (N. Berdyaev). The subject of the writer’s study is the human souls depicted in scary pictures“unsuitable” life.
The “dead souls” of the poem are contrasted with the “living” - a talented, hardworking, long-suffering people. With a deep sense of patriotism and faith in the great future of his people, Gogol writes about him. He saw the lack of rights of the peasantry, its humiliated position and the dullness and savagery of the peasants that were the result of serfdom. Exactly dead peasants in “Dead Souls” have living souls, in contrast to the living people of the poem, whose souls are dead.
Thus, in the first volume of Dead Souls, Gogol depicts all the shortcomings, all negative sides Russian reality. Gogol shows people what their souls have become. He does this because he passionately loves Russia and hopes for its revival. Gogol wanted people, after reading his poem, to be horrified by their lives and awaken from a deadening sleep. This is the task of the first volume. Describing the terrible reality, Gogol depicts to us in lyrical digressions his ideal of the Russian people, talks about the living, immortal soul Russia. In the second and third volumes of his work, Gogol planned to transfer this ideal to real life. But, unfortunately, he was never able to show the revolution in the soul of the Russian people, he was unable to revive dead souls. This was Gogol’s creative tragedy, which grew into the tragedy of his entire life.
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