The author called "Dead Souls" a poem and emphasized the significance of his creation. The poem is a lyric-epic work of considerable volume, distinguished by the depth of content and a wide coverage of events. This definition is still controversial. With the publication of Gogol's satirical works, a critical trend is being strengthened in Russian realistic literature. Gogol's realism is more saturated with accusatory, scourging power - this distinguishes him from his predecessors and contemporaries.
Gogol's artistic method was called critical realism. The writer's favorite technique is hyperbole - exorbitant exaggeration that enhances the impression. Gogol found that the plot of "Dead Souls", prompted by Pushkin, is good because it gives complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and create a variety of very diverse characters. The chapters on landowners, to whom more than half of the first volume is devoted, are arranged by the author in a strictly thought-out order: the wasteful dreamer Manilov is replaced by the thrifty Korobochka; she is opposed to the ruined landowner, the swindler Nozdryov; then again turn to the economic landowner-kulak Sobakevich; The gallery of feudal lords is closed by the miser Plyushkin, who embodies the extreme degree of the moral decline of the landlord class.
Reading "Dead Souls", we notice that the writer repeats the same techniques in depicting the landowners: he gives a description of the village, the manor's house, the appearance of the landowner. Next comes the story. how certain people reacted to Chichikov's proposal to sell dead souls. The author shows Chichikov's attitude to each of the landlords, depicts the scene of the sale of dead souls. Such a coincidence is not accidental. The monotonous vicious circle of techniques allows the artist to flaunt conservatism, the backwardness of provincial life, the isolation and narrow-mindedness of the landowners, to emphasize stagnation and dying.
We will learn about the "very courteous and courteous landowner Manilov" in the first chapter. Depicting his appearance, the author highlights his eyes - sweet as sugar. The new acquaintance was crazy about Chichikov, "shaked his hand for a long time and asked convincingly to honor him with his arrival in the village."
Looking for Manilovka. Chichikov confuses the name, asking the peasants about the village of Zamanilovka. The writer plays on this word: "The village of Manilovka could not lure many with its location." And then a detailed description of the landowner's estate begins. “The manor’s house stood alone at a brisk ... open to all winds ...” On the slope of the mountain, “two or three flower beds with lilac bushes and yellow acacias were scattered in English; ... a gazebo with a flat green dome, wooden blue columns and the inscription “Temple of Solitary Reflection” , lower, a pond covered with greenery ... ”And finally, the“ gray log huts ”of the peasants. Behind all this, the owner himself peeps - the Russian landowner, the nobleman Manilov.
The dullness of the view of the Manilov estate is complemented by a landscape sketch: a “pine forest darkening to the side with a dull bluish color” and a completely indefinite day: “neither clear, nor gloomy, but some kind of light gray color.” Sad, bare, colorless. Gogol exhaustively revealed that such a Manilovka could lure few. Gogol completes the portrait of Manilov in an ironic manner: "His features were not devoid of pleasantness." But in this pleasantness, it seemed, "too much was transferred to sugar." Sugar is a detail that indicates sweetness. And then a devastating description: “There is a kind of people known by the name: people are so-so, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.”
The character of Manilov is expressed in a special manner of speaking, in a storm of words, in the use of the most delicate turns of speech: “let you not allow this”, “no. I'm sorry, I won't let such a pleasant and educated guest pass behind. Manilov's good-heartedness, his ignorance of people is revealed in the assessment of city officials as people "most respected and most amiable." Step by step, Gogol inexorably denounces the vulgarity of this man, constantly replacing irony with satire: “Russian cabbage soup is on the table, but from the bottom of my heart,” the children, Alkid and Themistoklus, are named after ancient Greek commanders as a sign of their parents’ education. Mrs. Manilova is worthy of her husband. Her life is devoted to sugary lisping, philistine surprises (a beaded case for a toothpick), languid long kisses, and household chores are a low occupation for her. “Manilova is so well brought up,” Gogol quipped.
And Manilov is deprived of economic intelligence: “When the clerk said: “It would be nice, gentleman, to do this and that,” “Yes, not bad,” he usually answered. Manilov did not run a household, he did not know his peasants well, and everything fell into decay, but he dreamed of an underground passage, of a stone bridge across a pond, which two women forded, and with trading shops on both sides of it. The writer's gaze penetrates Manilov's house, where the same carelessness and lack of taste reign. Some rooms are unfurnished, two armchairs in the master's office are upholstered in matting. There is a pile of ashes in the office, on the windowsill - a book open on the 14th page for two years already - the only evidence of the work of the owner in the office.
Manilov shows "concern for further views of Russia." The writer characterizes him as an empty phrase-monger: where does he care about Russia if he cannot put things in order in his own economy. Chichikov easily manages to convince his friend of the legitimacy of the transaction, and Manilov, as an impractical, unbusinesslike landowner, gives Chichikov dead souls and bears the costs of formalizing the bill of sale.
Manilov is tearfully complacent, devoid of living thoughts and real feelings. He himself is a "dead soul", doomed to death in the same way as the entire autocratic-feudal system of Russia. The Manilovs are harmful, socially dangerous. What consequences for the economic development of the country can be expected from Manilov's management!
The landowner Korobochka is thrifty, “gaining a little money”, lives closed in her estate, as if in a box, and her housekeeping eventually develops into hoarding. Limitation and stupidity complete the character of the “cudgel-headed” landowner, who is distrustful of everything new in life. The qualities inherent in Korobochka are typical not only among the provincial nobility.
Korobochka is followed by Nozdryov in Gogol's gallery of freaks. Unlike Manilov, he is restless, nimble, lively, but his energy is wasted on trifles in a cheating card game, in petty dirty tricks of lies. With irony, Gogol calls him "in some respects a historical person, because wherever Nozdryov was, he could not do without stories," that is, without scandal. The author rewards him according to his merits through the lips of Chichikov: “Nozdryov is a man - rubbish!” He squandered everything, abandoned the estate and settled at the fair in the gaming house. Emphasizing the vitality of the nostrils in Russian reality, Gogol exclaims: "Nozdrev will not be out of the world for a long time yet."
With the practical landowner Sobakevich, the hoarding peculiar to Korobochka turned into genuine kulaks. He regards the serfs only as a labor force, and even though he has set up huts for peasants, marvelously cut down, he pulls three skins from them. Some of the peasants he transferred to a monetary system of quitrent, which was beneficial to the landowner.
The image of Sobakevich was created in Gogol's favorite hyperbolic manner. His portrait, in which a comparison with a bear is given, the situation in the house, the sharpness of the comments, the behavior at dinner - the animal essence of the landowner is emphasized in everything. Sobakevich quickly figured out Chichikov's idea, realized the benefits and broke a hundred rubles per capita. The tight-fisted landowner sold the dead souls for his own benefit, and even cheated Chichikov by slipping him one female person. “A fist, a fist, and a beast to boot!” - this is how Chichikov characterizes him.
When he first saw Plyushkin, Chichikov “for a long time could not recognize what gender the figure was: a woman or a man. Her dress was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman's hood, on her head was a cap worn by village yard women, only her voice seemed to him somewhat hoarse for a woman: “Oh, a woman! he thought to himself, and immediately added: “Oh, no! Of course, baba! Chichikov could not even imagine that this was a Russian master, a landowner, the owner of serf souls.
The passion for accumulation unrecognizably disfigured Plyushkin; he saves only for the sake of saving. He starved the peasants to death, and they "are dying like flies" (80 souls in three years). He himself lives from hand to mouth, dresses like a beggar.
According to the apt word of Gogol, Plyushkin turned into some kind of hole in humanity. In the era of the growth of monetary relations, Plyushkin's economy is conducted in the old fashioned way, based on corvee labor, the owner collects food and things, senselessly accumulates for the sake of accumulation. Ruined the peasants, ruining them with overwork. Plyushkin saved up, and everything he collected rotted, everything turned into "clean manure." Such a landowner as Plyushkin cannot be the backbone of the state, move forward its economy and culture. And the writer sadly exclaims: “And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, disgust! Could have changed! And does it look like it's true? Everything looks like the truth, everything can happen to a person.
Gogol endowed each landowner with original, specific features. Whatever the hero, then a unique personality. But at the same time, his heroes retain generic, social characteristics: a low cultural level, lack of intellectual inquiries, the desire for enrichment, cruelty in the treatment of serfs, moral uncleanliness, and the absence of an elementary concept of patriotism. These moral monsters, as Gogol shows, are generated by feudal reality and reveal the essence of feudal relations based on the oppression and exploitation of the peasantry.
Gogol's work stunned, first of all, the ruling circles and the landowners. The ideological defenders of serfdom argued that the nobility is the best part of the population of Russia, passionate patriots, the backbone of the state. Gogol dispelled this myth with his images. Herzen said that the landlords “pass before us without masks, without embellishment, flatterers and gluttons, obsequious slaves of power and ruthless tyrants of their enemies, drinking the life and blood of the people ...“ Dead Souls ”shocked all of Russia.”
N.V. Gogol worked on one of the main works of his life, the poem "Dead Souls", at first without much enthusiasm. Maybe she just didn't grab him right away. Perhaps because the plot was found not by the writer himself, but by Pushkin.
The plot was based on a very real event, a real adventure with the purchase of "dead souls". The fact is that it was beneficial both to the landowners, for whom the dead peasants were a burden, and, of course, to the buyer himself. In Gogol's poem, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov carried out such a machination. Arriving in the provincial town of NN, he immediately began to act. Firstly, he visited all the major local officials, visited places where “the most noble, pleasant” and, most importantly, the right people gather. At one of these dinners, Chichikov meets Manilov, who did not fail to invite his new friend to visit.
So, the first Chichikov visits Manilovka. How does he see her? Gray, ordinary, the appearance of which was enlivened only by two women, "who, picturesquely picking up their dresses and tucking them from all sides, wandered knee-deep in the pond," and who, as it turned out, were squabbling.
Manilov, who greeted Chichikov with a smile and talked to him later on the same note, brightens up the picture a little. In which there is too much light gray. Before dinner and at dinner, the interlocutors carry on a rather empty conversation about the governor, "the most respectable and most gracious person", about the vice-governor, also "nice" and "very worthy", about the police chief's wife, "the most beloved woman" and so on in the same spirit.
All these conversations have a sugary-sugary tone, which comes, of course, from the owner of the estate - Manilov. His very appearance speaks of this: his face had "an expression not only sweet, but even cloying, similar to the potion that the dexterous secular doctor sweetened mercilessly, imagining to please the patient with it." He, too, wants to please his guest, and in this endeavor he goes too far. Well, still, he considers Chichikov a highly educated person who “has a high art of expressing himself,” in the words of Manilov himself.
In this empty chatter "about nothing" the reader discovers Manilov through his speech.
If we talk about Chichikov, then he is distinguished by extraordinary patience and the ability to adapt to a person. Later, we see that the hero varies his style of communication depending on the nature of the interlocutor. Therefore, Manilov's impression of the conversation with Chichikov can be described by the words: "you feel some, in some way, spiritual pleasure."
But we know that Pavel Ivanovich did not come to Manilovka for a "pleasant conversation". He needs dead souls, which he starts talking about after dinner already in Manilov's office. Gradually, step by step, he finds out the number of dead peasants. It is interesting that at first Manilov, without suspicion, without even thinking, helps Chichikov in this, but suddenly asks himself the question: “And for what reasons do you need this?”
This is where the fun begins. Chichikov blushed from "the tension to express something." The swindler and swindler, speaking of his desire to buy the peasants, closed himself off and did not finish his speech. Despite all his dexterity in such matters, he gives in to the expression on Manilov's face, which sincerely does not understand what is at stake.
The behavior of Manilov and Chichikov is truly comical. The first dropped the pipe and remained there with his mouth open for several minutes; both fixed their eyes on each other; Chichikov was even more sedate than usual, which forced Manilov to refuse the offer of the guest's madness; finally, Manilov did not think of anything else how to blow smoke out of his mouth in a thin stream.
Chichikov brings Manilov out of such a confused state, again with the help of his business acumen. He pulled himself together and more extensively explained to the landowner what and how, not forgetting to clarify that this commercial transaction did not violate the law. And Chichikov did not lie: the whole story of the purchase of dead souls was told by the writer in full accordance with the legislation in force at that time. It is not in vain that Pavel Ivanovich says that he is "accustomed to not deviating from civil laws in any way." Chichikov's fantastic deal was carried out in full accordance with the paragraphs of the law.
As soon as our hero mentioned the legality of this enterprise, Manilov forgot about the essence of the purchase. For him, the guest's idea is just a "fantastic desire", which he fulfills, Manilov. What an honor for him! “He would certainly like to prove by something the attraction of the heart, the magnetism of the soul.” Plus, "dead souls are kind of complete trash."
But this whole performance is not over yet, it is too early to lower the curtain. Chichikov would not be Chichikov if he did not express his gratitude to Manilov. “Not without feeling and expression,” he delivered his speech. He, a man without family or tribe, eternally subjected to persecution and trials, is now saved. And don't forget to shed a tear. That was enough: "Manilov was completely moved."
Such was the outcome of Manilov's conversation with Chichikov. This was Pavel Ivanovich's first success in buying up dead souls. The success of the deal was due to Manilov's temperament, striving for the high and noble in everything.
Chichikov no longer had to meet with such landowners. Manilov is the first in the gallery of landowners created by Gogol. Despite all his upbringing, the ability to deal with guests, we can say with confidence: this is a vulgarity that is revealed when looking inside the hero. Vulgarity, ever growing from landowner to landowner.
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After living in the city of NN for a week, Chichikov decided to postpone his visits outside the city and visit his new acquaintance, the landowner Manilov. The coachman Selifan harnessed his horses, and Chichikov's chaise sped along the road.
Having reached the place, Chichikov saw a fairly large village. In the features and location of the estate, two character traits of the owners were guessed at the same time: their claims to educated sophistication - and extreme impracticality. The manor's house had flower beds and a pond arranged in the English manner. But the flowerbeds were untidy, the pond was overgrown with greenery, and the house itself was on a hill open to all winds. Among the trees was an arbor with blue columns and the inscription: "Temple of Solitary Reflection."
The owner of the estate ran out onto the porch and, scattering in courtesies, greeted the guest. Manilov was one of the people about whom the proverb says: neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan. His face was pleasant enough, but this pleasantness was too sugary; there was something ingratiating in his manners and turns. He did not sin with any strong passions and hobbies, but he liked to spend time in fantastic dreams, which he never tried to put into practice. Manilov almost did not take care of the household, relying on the clerk, but, looking at his overgrown pond, he often dreamed about how it would be nice to lead an underground passage from the house or build a stone bridge with merchant shops across the pond. In Manilov's office there was always a book, bookmarked on the fourteenth page, which he had been constantly reading for two years. To match Manilov was his wife, brought up in a boarding school, where the three main subjects were French, playing the piano and knitting purses.
The hero of "Dead Souls" Manilov. Artist A. Laptev
As usual, Manilov went out of his way to please Chichikov. He did not agree to go through the door ahead of him, called the meeting with him "name days of the heart" and "exemplary happiness", assured that he would gladly give half of his fortune in order to have some of the virtues that his guest has. Manilov first of all asked how Chichikov liked the provincial officials - and he himself admired their extraordinary talents.
Chichikov was invited to the table. The dinner was also attended by two sons of Manilov, 8 and 6 years old, who bore the ancient names Themistoclus and Alkid.
After dinner, Chichikov said that he would like to talk to Manilov about an important matter. Both of them went into the study, where the owner of the house, in fashionable custom, lit his pipe. A little worried, and even looking back for some reason, Chichikov asked Manilov how many peasants had died since the last tax audit. Manilov himself did not know this, but called the clerk and sent him to make a list of names of the deceased.
Chichikov explained that he would like to buy these dead souls. Hearing such a strange desire, Manilov dropped the pipe from his mouth and remained motionless for some time, gazing at his interlocutor. Then he cautiously inquired whether a deal with dead souls would be inconsistent with civil regulations and further views of Russia?
Chichikov assured that it was not, and pointed out that the treasury would even benefit from this in the form of legal duties. Reassured Manilov, by his courtesy, could not refuse the guest. Having agreed with him on the purchase of the dead, Chichikov hurried to leave, asking for directions to the neighboring landowner Sobakevich.
Manilov stood for a long time on the porch, following the retreating britzka with his eyes. Returning to the room, with a pipe in his mouth, he indulged in plans to build a house with such a high belvedere that one could even see Moscow from there, drink tea there in the open air in the evening and talk about pleasant subjects. Manilov dreamed that he would invite Chichikov to these tea parties, and the sovereign, having learned about such friendship, would grant them generals.
Let's move on to the analysis of the climactic episode of the chapter- scenes of buying and selling "dead souls". The dialogue between Chichikov and Korobochka should be heard in the class. It’s good if pre-prepared students read it in faces. This is a supremely comic scene. Based on the dialogue between Korobochka and Chichikov, it can be concluded that it is in this scene that the character of the landowner is revealed to the fullest, revealing not only her petty frugality, efficiency, but also stupidity, greed, and serf-owning convictions. The box, with equal practicality, trades in the products of its estate and peasants, considering them as ordinary goods, like honey, lard, bird feathers, and most of all afraid of selling them cheap: “I lost the living ones. ", etc.
Commenting on this episode, let us pay attention in passing to the characteristic device of Gogol's style - the motive of the automaton, emphasizing the spiritual squalor of the landowner, her inability to think independently: “Really, I don’t know, because I have never sold the dead yet”; “The only thing that bothers me is that they are already dead”; “Really, my father, it has never happened to sell the dead to me,” etc. An extremely important point in working on the image of the Box is the question of the typicality of its character. Gogol did not at all want to present the image of the Box as a typical phenomenon of purely provincial life. This is eloquently evidenced by Korobochka’s comparisons with “another and respectable and statesman person”, who “as soon as he nailed something into his head, you can’t overpower him with anything”, as well as with an aristocratic lady from a high-society St. Petersburg living room. Each of these comparisons is aimed at the very top of the social pyramid of the landlord-bureaucratic society and sets off the scale of Gogol's generalization.
Looking at the poem from the standpoint of modern literary criticism, we will try to comprehend its innermost meaning with schoolchildren, adding new interpretations for the school to the traditional path. Following Gogol's plan - and his heroes go the way "hell - purgatory - paradise" - let's try to look at the world that was before him.
Considering himself a prophet, Gogol sincerely believed that it was he who should point out to mankind its sins and help get rid of them.
To answer these questions, you can conduct a lesson "These insignificant people"using a group form of work.
The class is divided into 5 groups(according to the number of chapters devoted to the description of the landowners) and within the framework of an educational study, he is looking for parallels between the heroes of Gogol and the Divine Comedy by Dante.
The landscape of the Manilov estate fully corresponds to the description of the first circle of hell - Limba: at Dante: a green hill with a castle - and Manilov's house on a hill; twilight illumination of Limbo - and Gogol's day. not that clear, not that gloomy, but some kind of light gray color "; pagans living in Limba - and bizarre Greco-Roman names of Manilov's children.
Students may notice that there is a lot of smoke in Manilov's house, as the owner continuously smokes a pipe, and in the description of his office there are piles of ash. And smoke and ash are associated with devilry. This means that the devil has already moved into the soul of the hero and it requires purification.
When Chichikov leaves, Manilov draws his attention to the clouds, trying to distract the guest from completing his planned trip. But after all, even as you plunge into the underworld, the darkness grows! However, already in the scene of sale and purchase, in the words of Chichikov, the author’s hope for the resurrection of even the most lost and “cheesy” soul sounds. Manilov argues that dead souls are an insignificant commodity, while Chichikov objects and defends the dead, speaking of them: “Don’t be very rubbish! "
There is an assumption that Chichikov's visit to Korobochka's house is a visit to the second circle of hell. Dante describes it this way: “Moaning, the circle of Shadows rushed, driven by an undefended blizzard.” In Gogol - "the darkness was such, even gouge out the eye." And Korobochka confirms: "It's such a turmoil and blizzard."
Where does the blizzard come from during a thunderstorm? Everything is possible in the underworld, and Dante's third circle of hell was generally a circle of rain. Korobochka's dwelling resembles the Witch's cave: mirrors, a deck of cards, paintings with birds. These objects are difficult to see, because the room is twilight, and Chichikov's eyes stick together. In the sale and purchase scene, Korobochka does not scold his deceased peasants, like Manilov, but expresses the hope that the dead “will somehow be needed on the farm somehow.” Thus, Gogol's innermost thought begins to take on more distinct contours. The idea of resurrection is also embedded in Korobochka's name - Anastasia - "resurrected".
The third circle of hell is gluttony (gluttony). Therefore, it is no accident that Chichikov ends up in a tavern from Korobochka. In this case, the analysis of the episode "In the tavern" is appropriate. "Fat old woman" continues the theme of the Box.
The whole story with Nozdryov corresponds to the fourth circle of hell, where stingy and wasteful souls are tormented. And Nozdryov, the reckless reveler, stupidly squandering his fortune, is the spendthrift. His passion for playing checkers emphasizes his gambling, he invites the guest to play. The barking of dogs is an important detail in the episodes of the chapter on Nozdryov. The dogs of Nozdryov are associated with the hellish dog Cerberus, who is on his mission.
The transaction scene can be interpreted in this way. If in the previous chapters the methods of saving the soul are depicted allegorically, then the Nozdrev method is a dishonest deal, swindle, deceit, an attempt to get into the kingdom of heaven undeservedly, like a king.
Antibogatyr Sobakevich is also ready for the resurrection. In the scene of purchase and sale, he, as it were, resurrects his dead peasants with praise. "The method of revival" here is not fraud, like Nozdryov's, and not digging out of the ground, like Korobochka's, but the pursuit of virtue and valor. An analysis of the episode will allow us to conclude that the salvation of the soul is expensive - it is bought by a life full of work and selflessness. Therefore, the owner and "writes out" all "with the meaning of commendable qualities."
Next comes the parallel " heroic " . The exploits of Russian heroes and the "exploits" of Sobakevich. Sobakevich is a hero at the table. When analyzing the episode "Dinner at Sobakevich's", one can pay attention to the denunciation of such a human vice as gluttony. Again this sin rises in close-up in the poem: Gogol considered it especially grave.
Plyushkin is the last, fifth in the gallery of landowners. We know that Gogol wanted to make Plyushkin, like Chichikov, a character in the second volume, to lead him to a moral rebirth. That is why the author tells us in detail about the past of Stepan Plyushkin, drawing the story of the impoverishment of the human soul.
What is the way to save the soul "is offered" by Plyushkin? He found it immediately, but did not understand. Stepan Plyushkin saves things, lifting everything in his path, but you have to lift souls, save them. After all, the main idea of "dead souls" is the idea of the spiritual resurrection of a fallen person, "resurrection", the revival of his soul. Plyushkin says goodbye to Chichikov: “God bless you! Plyushkin is ready for rebirth, he only needs to remember that it is not things that need to be raised, but the soul.
After the presentations of the groups, the following questions can be discussed:
All landowners, as we have seen, are not similar to each other, each of them is a certain individuality. What brings them together?
Why does Chichikov begin his journey with a visit to Manilov and end it with a visit to Plyushkin?
Chapter 4 contains Gogol's reflections on Nozdryov. For what purpose are they introduced by the writer? What worries him?
Why does the chapter on Plyushkin begin with a lyrical digression?
Plyushkin is not deader, but more alive than others, is that so?
Manilov lives among flowering lilac bushes, therefore, in May. The box at this time harvests, which means in September. At Plyushkin it is summer, the heat is unbearable all around (only it is cold in the house), and in the provincial town it is winter. Why is that? Chichikov comes to Korobochka when there is a blizzard in the yard, and the pig is eating watermelon peels in the yard. Is it by chance?
Each landowner lives, as it were, in his own closed world. Fences, fences, gates, "thick wooden bars", the boundaries of the estate, the barrier - everything closes the life of the heroes, cuts it off from the outside world. Here the wind blows, its sky, the sun, peace and comfort reign, here there is some kind of drowsiness, immobility, Everything here is dead. Everything stopped. Everyone has their own time of year. This means that there is no reality of time inside these worlds-circles. Thus, the heroes of the poem live, adapting time to themselves. Heroes are static, i.e. dead. But each of them can save his soul if he wants to.
In this article we will describe the image of landowners created by Gogol in the poem "Dead Souls". The table compiled by us will help you remember the information. We will sequentially talk about the five heroes presented by the author in this work.
The image of the landlords in the poem "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol is briefly described in the following table.
| landowner | Characteristic | Attitude towards the request for the sale of dead souls |
| Manilov | Dirty and empty. For two years a book with a bookmark on one page has been lying in his office. Sweet and luscious is his speech. | Surprised. He thinks that this is illegal, but he cannot refuse such a pleasant person. Gives free peasants. At the same time, he does not know how many souls he has. |
| box | Knows the value of money, practical and economic. Stingy, stupid, cudgel-headed, landowner-accumulator. | He wants to know what Chichikov's souls are for. The number of dead knows exactly (18 people). He looks at dead souls as if they were hemp or lard: they will suddenly come in handy in the household. |
| Nozdrev | It is considered a good friend, but is always ready to harm a friend. Kutila, card player, "broken fellow." When talking, he constantly jumps from subject to subject, uses abuse. | It would seem that it was easiest for Chichikov to get them from this landowner, but he is the only one who left him with nothing. |
| Sobakevich | Uncouth, clumsy, rude, unable to express feelings. A tough, vicious serf-owner who never misses a profit. | The smartest of all landowners. Immediately saw through the guest, made a deal for the benefit of himself. |
| Plushkin | Once he had a family, children, and he himself was a thrifty owner. But the death of the mistress turned this man into a miser. He became, like many widowers, stingy and suspicious. | I was amazed and delighted by his proposal, since there would be income. He agreed to sell the souls for 30 kopecks (78 souls in total). |
In the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich, one of the main topics is the theme of the landlord class in Russia, as well as the ruling class (nobility), its role in society and its fate.
The main method used by Gogol when depicting various characters is satire. The process of gradual degeneration of the landlord class was reflected in the heroes created by his pen. Nikolai Vasilievich reveals shortcomings and vices. Gogol's satire is colored with irony, which helped this writer to speak directly about what was impossible to speak openly under censorship conditions. At the same time, the laughter of Nikolai Vasilyevich seems to us good-natured, but he does not spare anyone. Each phrase has a subtext, a hidden, deep meaning. Irony in general is a characteristic element of Gogol's satire. It is present not only in the speech of the author himself, but also in the speech of the characters.
Irony is one of the essential features of Gogol's poetics, it gives more realism to the narrative, it becomes a means of analyzing the surrounding reality.
The images of the landowners in the poem, the largest work of this author, are given in the most multifaceted and complete way. It is built as the story of the adventures of the official Chichikov, who buys up "dead souls". The composition of the poem allowed the author to tell about different villages and the owners living in them. Almost half of the first volume (five of the eleven chapters) is devoted to characterizing different types of landowners in Russia. Nikolai Vasilievich created five portraits that are not similar to each other, but at the same time, each of them contains features that are typical of a Russian serf-owner. Acquaintance with them begins with Manilov and ends with Plyushkin. Such a construction is not accidental. This sequence has its own logic: the process of impoverishment of a person's personality deepens from one image to another, it unfolds more and more like a terrible picture of the disintegration of a feudal society.
Manilov - representing the image of the landowners in the poem "Dead Souls". The table only briefly describes it. Let's get to know this character better. The character of Manilov, which is described in the first chapter, is already manifested in the surname itself. The story about this hero begins with the image of the village of Manilovka, a few able to "lure" with its location. The author describes with irony the manor's courtyard, created as an imitation with a pond, bushes and the inscription "Temple of solitary reflection". External details help the writer to create the image of the landlords in the poem "Dead Souls".
The author, speaking of Manilov, exclaims that only God knows what kind of character this man had. By nature, he is kind, courteous, polite, but all this takes ugly, exaggerated forms in his image. sentimental and splendid to the point of cloying. Festive and idyllic seem to him the relationship between people. Various relationships, in general, are one of the details that create the image of landlords in the poem "Dead Souls". Manilov did not know life at all, reality was replaced by an empty fantasy with him. This hero loved to dream and reflect, sometimes even about things useful for the peasants. However, his ideas were far from the needs of life. He did not know about the real needs of the serfs and never even thought about them. Manilov considers himself a bearer of culture. He was considered the most educated person in the army. Nikolai Vasilyevich speaks ironically about the house of this landowner, in which "something was always missing", as well as about his sugary relationship with his wife.
Manilov in the episode of the conversation about buying dead souls is compared with an overly smart minister. Gogol's irony here intrudes, as if by accident, into a forbidden area. Such a comparison means that the minister differs not so much from Manilov, and "Manilovism" is a typical phenomenon of the vulgar bureaucratic world.
Let's describe one more image of landowners in the poem "Dead Souls". The table has already briefly introduced you to the Box. We learn about it in the third chapter of the poem. Gogol refers this heroine to the number of small landowners who complain about losses and crop failures and always keep their heads somewhat to one side, while gaining money little by little in the bags placed in the chest of drawers. This money is obtained through the sale of a variety of subsistence products. Korobochka's interests and horizons are completely focused on her estate. Her entire life and economy are patriarchal in nature.
The landowner realized that the trade in dead souls was profitable, and after much persuasion agreed to sell them. The author, describing the image of the landlords in the poem "Dead Souls" (Korobochka and other heroes), is ironic. For a long time, the "clubhead" cannot figure out what exactly is required of her, which infuriates Chichikov. After that, she bargains with him for a long time, fearing to miscalculate.
In the image of Nozdryov in the fifth chapter, Gogol draws a completely different form of decomposition of the nobility. This hero is a man, as they say, "of all trades." There was something remote, direct, open in his very face. Characteristic for him is also the "breadth of nature." According to the ironic remark of Nikolai Vasilyevich, Nozdrev is a "historical person", since not a single meeting that he managed to attend was ever complete without stories. He loses a lot of money at cards with a light heart, beats a simpleton at a fair and immediately "squanders" everything. This hero is an utter liar and a reckless braggart, a real master of "pouring bullets". He behaves defiantly everywhere, if not aggressively. The speech of this character is replete with swear words, and at the same time he has a passion to "shame on his neighbor." Gogol created in Russian literature a new socio-psychological type of the so-called Nozdrevshchina. In many ways, the image of the landlords in the poem "Dead Souls" is innovative. A brief image of the following heroes is described below.
The satire of the author in the image of Sobakevich, with whom we get acquainted in the fifth chapter, acquires a more accusatory character. This character bears little resemblance to previous landowners. This is a fisted, cunning merchant, a "landowner-fist". He is alien to the violent extravagance of Nozdryov, the dreamy complacency of Manilov, and also the hoarding of Korobochka. Sobakevich has an iron grip, he is laconic, he is on his mind. There are few people who could deceive him. Everything about this landowner is strong and durable. In all household items surrounding him, Gogol reflects the features of the character of this person. Everything surprisingly resembles the hero himself in his house. Each thing, as the author notes, seemed to say that she was "also Sobakevich."
Nikolai Vasilyevich depicts a figure that strikes with rudeness. This man seemed to Chichikov like a bear. Sobakevich is a cynic who is not ashamed of moral ugliness either in others or in himself. He is far from enlightened. This is a stubborn feudal lord who only cares about his own peasants. It is interesting that, except for this hero, no one understood the true essence of the "scoundrel" Chichikov, and Sobakevich perfectly understood the essence of the proposal, which reflects the spirit of the times: everything can be sold and bought, you should benefit as much as possible. Such is the generalized image of the landowners in the poem of the work, however, it is not limited to the image of only these characters. We present you the next landowner.
The sixth chapter is devoted to Plyushkin. On it, the characteristics of the landowners in the poem "Dead Souls" are completed. The name of this hero has become a household name, denoting moral degradation and stinginess. This image is the last degree of degeneration of the landlord class. Gogol begins his acquaintance with the character, as usual, with a description of the estate and village of the landowner. At the same time, "special dilapidation" was noticeable on all buildings. Nikolai Vasilievich describes a picture of the ruin of a once rich serf-owner. Its cause is not idleness and extravagance, but the painful stinginess of the owner. Gogol calls this landowner "a hole in humanity." Its appearance itself is characteristic - it is a sexless creature resembling a housekeeper. This character no longer causes laughter, only bitter disappointment.
The image of the landowners in the poem "Dead Souls" (the table is presented above) is revealed by the author in many ways. The five characters that Gogol created in the work depict the versatile state of this class. Plyushkin, Sobakevich, Nozdrev, Korobochka, Manilov - different forms of one phenomenon - spiritual, social and economic decline. The characteristics of the landlords in Gogol's Dead Souls prove this.
Composition on the topic “The theme of“ dead souls ”in N.V. Gogol’s poem“ Dead souls ”.
Plan for writing:
1.Introduction. a) The history of the creation of the work
b) What are dead souls? In whom did the writer see the living force of the Russian nation?
2. The main part.
a) Who is Chichikov? “Who is he? So you're a scoundrel?"
b) The image, portrait, speech characteristic, description of the dwelling and economy, attitude towards people and to Chichikov's proposal of the landowners: Manilov, whose facial features were not “devoid of pleasantness”, Korobochki, “strong-browed women”, “historical man” Nozdrev, strong fist Sobakevich and Plyushkin, who is called "a hole in humanity."
c) Why are the landowners "dead souls"?
d) The image of the peasants and the people in the poem
e) “And how wonderful it is, this road!” - an image of the road. City image.
E) The image of officials, "thick and thin"
H) N.V. Gogol's depiction of Russia
3. Why did Gogol call his work that way? How did "Dead Souls" shock the whole of Russia?
Gogol dreamed of a great epic work dedicated to Russia, which led him to the concept of "Dead Souls". Work on the piece began in 1835. Pushkin predicted the plot of the work, believing that Rus' would be shown in the poem "from one side", that is, from its negative side. In the end, Gogol showed all the good that was hidden in Russian life.
Gogol made the human soul in the poem the main subject of the image in its individual and national manifestation. Gogol convinces the reader that the souls of landowners, officials and businessmen are "dead" or are in the stage of "mortification". And the author saw folk in the Russian people. In the center of the plot are 5 heroes, the description of which in the poem Gogol gives in order. So Chichikov comes to the landlords with only one purpose, in order to buy "dead souls". The gallery of images opens with the dreamer and mismanaged Manilov, who is replaced by the "club-headed" Korobochka, the reckless swindler Nozdrev, the tight-fisted Sobakevich, and Plyushkin completes this gallery - "a hole in humanity", fallen into a deadly sleep.
And who is in Chichikov's novel? In childhood, this hero developed such qualities of character as achieving goals, a manner of pleasing, finding benefits for himself, and spiritual meanness. From childhood, he remembers that it is necessary to “save a penny”, to make capital. He is a bad comrade, pleases the teachers, does everything for the sake of profit. His official activity began with the Treasury, where he entered after graduating from college: “He got an insignificant place, a salary of thirty or forty rubles.” He tries in every possible way to please the clerk, calls him papa, kissed him on the hand, takes care of his daughter. “The stern clerk began to bother for him,” Chichikov was promoted, he stopped calling the clerk papa, forgot about the wedding with his daughter. Chichikov understood from this that success in life is easier and faster, the faster a person is freed from the principles of morality, honor, etc. When Chichikov participated in the commission for the construction of a government building, he received solid acquisitions and income. But when a new boss came in who declared war on bribes, Chichikov had to look for a new job. Chichikov enters the trust of the authorities, receives a new rank. Through fraud, he gets a half-million fortune. Chichikov did not reconcile with his accomplice, and he wrote a denunciation against him, depriving Chichikov of everything he had earned. After the failure, he started everything from scratch, the idea of a deal with "dead souls" comes to him.
“Who is he? So you're a scoundrel?" Gogol calls Chichikov not a scoundrel, but an acquirer. Chichikov is an acquirer who stakes on capital, Chichikov is a hero of modern times.
For each of the landowners depicted in the poem, Gogol presents one specific feature that characterizes an aimless existence, and constitutes a general portrait of the landowner estate in serf Russia.
Manilov is the first landowner to whom Chichikov came. Chichikov searched for the estate for a long time: “the manor’s house stood alone in the south ...”, “two or three flower beds with bushes of lilacs and yellow acacias ...” “The day was either clear or gloomy, but some kind of light gray color. Manilov is very friendly, joyfully meets Chichikov. Manilov's character can be expressed through the lines: "everyone has his own enthusiasm, but Manilov did not have it", "his facial features are not devoid of pleasantness." He does not take care of the household, "the farm went by itself." He conceives a lot of ideas and plans, but does not implement them, reads a book for two years with a bookmark on the same page. In the living room he has "beautiful furniture, upholstered in smart silk fabric, which, it is true, was very expensive." Manilov has a wife with a good upbringing, two sons: Themistoclus and Alkid. At Chichikov's offer to buy from him the peasants who died after the last census (revision tales), Manilov "just opened his mouth and remained with his mouth open for several minutes." Manilov gives away dead souls for free and remains convinced that he has rendered Chichikov an invaluable service. After Chichikov's departure, Manilov imagines a future friendship with Chichikov, comes to the point in his thoughts that the tsar favors them with the rank of general for strong friendship.
Chichikov then goes to the estate of Sobakevich, but due to heavy rain the coachman goes astray. Chichikov ends up in the nearby estate of Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka. Chichikov enters the room, which is “hung with old striped wallpaper; pictures with some birds; between the windows there were small antique mirrors with dark frames in the form of curled leaves, behind every mirror there was either a letter or an old deck of cards, or a stocking. The box is an economic hospitable, hospitable landowner. She collects money in colorful pouches, which she keeps sewn up in a chest of drawers, which also contains linen, dresses and strings. Chichikov stays with her to spend the night, and in the morning she offers to sell him dead souls. In response, she offers to buy hemp or honey from her. Chichikov manages to buy dead souls from her. She cannot understand why he needs such a purchase, she is afraid to sell too cheap. “Well, the woman seems to be strong-browed”, “club-headed”. At Korobochka, the men have interesting and strange surnames Disrespect-Koryto, Koleso Ivan and others.
Chichikov, having a good appetite, stops at a tavern, where Nozdryov soon arrives. Nozdryov was “of medium height, a very well-built fellow with full ruddy cheeks, teeth as white as snow, and sideburns as black as pitch. He was fresh as blood and milk; health seemed to spurt from his face. “We have met many such people. They are called broken little ones. Nozdryov, one might say, is a historical person, because, wherever he was, history could not be dispensed with everywhere. Nozdryov tells Chichikov about the fair where he lost money, lies, says that he drank 17 bottles of champagne. Then Nozdrev invites Chichikov to visit him. Nozdryov liked to exchange things, to lose money. In his name, Nozdrev shows Chichikov a stallion, a kennel, a pond in which there is a big fish, "real" Turkish daggers, with the brand of master Sibiryakov. Chichikov, starting a business conversation, sets out his request, explaining that he needs dead souls for a successful marriage. Nozdryov wants to give him non-existent peasants, but Chichikov refuses. Then Nozdryov invites him to play cards, cheats, Chichikov stops the game, Nozdryov starts a fight, he is arrested by the police officer, Chichikov "sat down in the britzka and ordered Selifan to drive the horses at full speed."
The fourth landowner is Sobakevich, who in many ways resembles Korobochka. He is a hoarder, but he is very prudent and cunning. His house is wooden, built with the taste of the owner. The yard is surrounded by a lattice, in the stables, barns, full-weight and thick logs were used. The village huts were well made, even the well was made of oak. It was immediately obvious that Sobakevich was a good owner who loved order: “Everything was stubborn”, “in some kind of strong and clumsy order. In the room, "everything is solid, clumsy to the highest degree, and bore some strange resemblance to the owner." Sobakevich himself "is very similar to a medium-sized bear." During dinner, Sobakevich eats a lot, talks about his neighbor Plyushkin, who has many peasants, a very stingy man. Hearing Chichikov's offer, Sobakevich immediately starts bargaining. He promises to sell souls for 100 rubles apiece, explaining that his peasants were real craftsmen, for example, the carpenter Stepan Cork, the carriage maker Mikheev, and the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov. To himself, Chichikov calls Sobakevich a "fist", and says out loud that the qualities of the peasants are not important, because they are dead. As a result, they converge on three rubles.
The last image of the gallery of landlords is Plyushkin, whose house can be called a "decrepit invalid", whose walls suffered all the bad weather, the garden was overgrown and "was quite picturesque in its picturesque devastation." Seeing Plyushkin, Chichikov at first does not understand "this is a man or a woman." Plyushkin is dressed “in an indefinite dress, on his head is a cap, a dressing gown. Plyushkin used to have children, he was widowed, his son left for the city, the eldest got married and left, and the youngest died. Loneliness gave birth to stinginess in Plyushkin. “Hay and bread rotted, stacks and stacks turned into clean manure, flour in the cellars turned into stone ...” Learning that Chichikov wants to buy dead souls from him, he immediately sells him the runaway peasants. Plyushkin receives the money, hides it where it will lie until his death, he will never use it. Plyushkin is glad that Chichikov is leaving without even drinking tea, hiding treats, making sure not a crumb is lost.
Landlords can be considered "dead souls" because they are depicted in the poem as a force devoid of patriotic feelings and aspirations. Representatives of the ruling strata - this is the "dead souls". From Manilov the Dreamer to Plyushkin's "hole in the body of mankind", the fall of the representatives of the landowning classes is shown.
At that time, the peasants made up the majority of the population, so Gogol pays special attention to this, since in his work he showed Russia in the context of its shortcomings. The text does not describe the peasants themselves, but judging by the description of their dwellings, we can judge their life. At Manilov's, "gray log huts darkened up and down." At Korobochka, “peasant huts, which, although they were built scattered and not enclosed in regular streets, but, according to a remark made by Chichikov, showed the contentment of the inhabitants”, “the gates did not squint anywhere”, “in the peasant covered sheds he noticed a spare almost new cart, and where are two. At Sobakevich, "the wooden huts of the peasants were also cut down marvelously: there were no brick walls, carved patterns and other tricks, but everything was fitted tightly, as it should." At Plyushkin, “the log in 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 plugged with a rag or zipun”.
In the poem, the description of the peasants who are alive and who are remembered deserves special attention. For example, Sobakevich remembers each of his peasants by name, remembers who did what; two peasants who showed Chichikov the way to Manilovka; a peasant who drags “a thick log, like an indefatigable ant, to his hut”; two women who, having picked up their dresses, were walking up to their knees in the pond, dragging a tattered log by two wooden nags. There are many such examples, they show the sweeping nature of the Russian people.
In the poem, the image of the city is shown through the images of officials, because the life of the city depends on who is in power. The image of the provincial city is a characteristic of the owners of estates.
Speaking about the image of the road in the poem, one can cite lines from the text: “What a strange and alluring and bearing and wonderful in the word: road! and how wonderful this road itself is!”, “Our earthly, sometimes boring road”, “What twisted, deaf, narrow, impassable, drifting roads mankind has chosen, striving to achieve eternal truth!”, “And, looking askance, other peoples and states step aside and give it way.
The road in the poem is a journey through time, Chichikov's life experience, the author's creative experience, the spiritual revival of heroes, salvation, hope and the future of Russia.
The image of officials is central to the poem. Gogol focuses on characterizing the general portrait of "thick and thin" officials. They continue to be inactive, doing their own thing. Bribery is still considered absolutely normal. The author emphasizes the main thing: anti-people and anti-state activities of officials. Both landlords and officials embody social evil, the highest degree of which is manifested in The Tale of Captain Kopeikin (Kopeikin is a hero of the war of 1812, an invalid without an arm and leg).
In the depiction of Russia, Gogol showed himself as a realist writer. He is far from idealizing the enslaved peasantry, but in his lyrical digressions, in the episodes of the poem, Gogol conveys the idea of the mental and moral superiority of the Russian people over those who control their fate. Throughout the narrative, images of peasants appear in the poem, arguing about the "wheel" and "Zamanilovka", Selifan, Petrushka, "who reads a lot and indiscriminately" and others.
The first volume of "Dead Souls" ends with the question of the future of Russia: "Rus, where are you rushing to?" This question is addressed to the “troika bird”, which in Gogol is a symbol of Russian life. Gogol believes in the future of Russia: “The bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and, squinting, other peoples and states step aside and give it the way.
Gogol gives the name "Dead Souls" not by chance. The author creates a new type of narration, merging two opposite elements of his work into one: laughter and tears, satire and lyrics. Everyone knows the words of Herzen that "Dead Souls" shocked "the whole of Russia." The meaning of the shock was revealed by Belinsky. He explained this by the fact that the disputes about the book were of a literary and social nature. In 1845, the writer burns the manuscript of the second volume of his poem. Influenced by Belinsky's letter in 1848, Gogol set to work on Dead Souls, but this manuscript was also burned. Not knowing how to save Russia, the writer, nevertheless, fulfilled the duty of an artist and citizen of his country. Chernyshevsky said: “For a long time there has not been a writer in the world who would be so necessary for his people, as Gogol is for Russia.”
Starting work on the poem "Dead Souls", Gogol set himself the goal of "showing at least one side of all Rus'." The poem is built on the basis of a plot about the adventures of Chichikov, an official who buys up "dead souls". Such a composition allowed the author to talk about different landowners and their villages, which Chichikov visits in order to make his deal. According to Gogol, heroes follow us, "one more vulgar than the other." We get to know each of the landowners only during the time (as a rule, no more than one day) that Chichikov spends with him. But Gogol chooses such a way of depicting, based on a combination of typical features with individual characteristics, which allows you to get an idea not only about one of the characters, but also about the whole layer of Russian landowners embodied in this hero.
Chichikov plays a very important role in this. An adventurer-swindler, in order to achieve his goal - buying "dead souls" - cannot be limited to a superficial look at people: he needs to know all the subtleties of the psychological appearance of the landowner with whom he is to conclude a very strange deal. After all, the landowner can give consent to it only if Chichikov succeeds in persuading him by pressing the necessary levers. In each case, they will be different, because the people with whom Chichikov has to deal are different. And in each chapter, Chichikov himself changes somewhat, trying to somehow resemble the given landowner: in his manner of behavior, speech, expressed ideas. This is a sure way to win over a person, make him go not only to a strange, but, in fact, a criminal deal, which means becoming an accomplice in crime. That is why Chichikov is trying so hard to hide his true motives, providing each of the landowners as an explanation for the reasons for his interest in "dead souls" that this particular person can be most understandable.
Thus, Chichikov in the poem is not just a swindler, his role is more important: the author needs him as a powerful tool in order to test other characters, show their essence hidden from prying eyes, and reveal their main features. This is exactly what we see in Chapter 2, devoted to Chichikov's visit to the village of Manilov. The image of all landowners is based on the same microplot. His "spring" is the actions of Chichikov, the buyer of "dead souls". Indispensable participants in each of the five such microplots are two characters: Chichikov and the landowner to whom he comes, in this case, these are Chichikov and Manilov.
In each of the five chapters devoted to the landlords, the author builds the story as a successive change of episodes: entry into the estate, meeting, refreshment, Chichikov's offer to sell him "dead souls", departure. These are not ordinary plot episodes: it is not the events themselves that are of interest to the author, but the opportunity to show that objective world surrounding the landlords, in which the personality of each of them is most fully reflected; not only to give information about the content of the conversation between Chichikov and the landowner, but to show in the manner of communication of each of the characters that which carries both typical and individual traits.
The scene of the sale and purchase of "dead souls", which I will analyze, occupies a central place in the chapters on each of the landowners. Before her, the reader, together with Chichikov, can already form a certain idea of the landowner with whom the swindler is talking. It is on the basis of this impression that Chichikov builds a conversation about "dead souls." Therefore, his success entirely depends on how truly and fully he, and therefore the readers, managed to understand this human type with its individual characteristics.
What do we manage to learn about Manilov before Chichikov proceeds to the most important thing for him - a conversation about "dead souls"?
The chapter on Manilov begins with a description of his estate. The landscape is designed in gray-blue tones and everything, even a gray day, when Chichikov visits Manilov, sets us up for a meeting with a very boring - "gray" - person: "the village of Manilov could lure a few." Gogol writes about Manilov himself as follows: “He was a so-so man, neither this nor that; neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan. A number of phraseological units are used here, as if strung on top of each other, which all together allow us to conclude how empty Manilov's inner world is in reality, devoid, as the author says, of some kind of internal "enthusiasm".
This is also evidenced by the portrait of the landowner. Manilov at first seems like the most pleasant person: kind, hospitable and moderately disinterested. "He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes." But the author notices not in vain that Manilov's "pleasantness" was "too much transferred to sugar; in his manners and turns there was something ingratiating himself with location and acquaintance. Such sweetness also slips into his family relations with his wife and children. It is not for nothing that the sensitive Chichikov immediately, having tuned in to Manilov’s wave, begins to admire his pretty wife and quite ordinary children, whose “partially Greek” names clearly betray his father’s claim and his constant desire to “work for the viewer”.
The same is true for everything else. So, Manilov's claim to elegance and enlightenment and its complete failure is shown through the details of the interior of his room. There is beautiful furniture here - and right there are two unfinished chairs covered with matting; a dandy candlestick - and next to it "some just a copper invalid, lame, curled up on the side and covered in fat." All readers of Dead Souls, of course, also remember the book in Manilov's office, "marked on the fourteenth page, which he had been reading for two years."
Manilov's famous politeness also turns out to be just an empty form without content: after all, this quality, which should facilitate and make people's communication pleasant, in Manilov develops into its opposite. What is the scene when Chichikov is forced to stand in front of the doors to the living room for several minutes, as he seeks to outdo the owner in polite manner, letting him go ahead, and as a result, they both "entered the door sideways and squeezed each other a little." So, in a particular case, the author’s remark is realized that in the first minute one can only say about Manilov: “What a pleasant and kind person!” - and move away if you don’t move away, you will feel mortal boredom.”
But Manilov himself considers himself a cultured, educated, well-mannered person. This is how he sees not only Chichikov, clearly trying with all his might to please the tastes of the owner, but also all the people around him. This is very clearly seen from the conversation with Chichikov about city officials. Both of them vied with each other to praise them, calling everyone beautiful, "nice", "most kind" people, not at all caring about whether this corresponds to the truth. For Chichikov, this is a cunning move that helps win over Manilov (in the chapter on Sobakevich, he will give very unflattering characteristics to the same officials, indulging the taste of the owner). Manilov generally represents the relationship between people in the spirit of idyllic pastorals. After all, life in his perception is a complete, perfect harmony. This is what Chichikov wants to "play" on, intending to conclude his strange deal with Manilov.
But there are other trump cards in his deck, allowing you to easily "beat" the beautiful-hearted landowner. Manilov does not just live in an illusory world: the very process of fantasizing gives him real pleasure. Hence his love for a beautiful phrase and, in general, for any kind of posing - exactly as shown in the scene of the sale of "dead souls", he reacts to Chichikov's proposal. But the most important thing is that, apart from empty dreams, Manilov simply cannot do anything - after all, one cannot, in fact, consider that knocking out pipes and lining up piles of ashes in “beautiful rows” is a worthy occupation for an enlightened landowner. He is a sentimental dreamer, completely incapable of action. No wonder his surname has become a household word expressing the corresponding concept - "Manilovism".
Idleness and idleness entered the flesh and blood of this hero and became an integral part of his nature. Sentimentally idyllic ideas about the world, dreams in which he is immersed most of his time, lead to the fact that his economy goes “somehow by itself”, without much participation on his part, and gradually falls apart. Everything on the estate is run by a fraudulent clerk, and the owner does not even know how many peasants have died since the last census. To answer this question of Chichikov, the owner of the estate has to turn to the clerk, but it turns out that there are many dead, but "no one counted them." And only at the urgent request of Chichikov, the clerk is given an order to re-read them and draw up a “detailed register”.
But the further course of the pleasant conversation plunges Manilov into complete amazement. To a completely logical question why an outsider is so interested in the affairs of his estate, Manilov receives a shocking answer: Chichikov is ready to buy peasants, but “not exactly peasants,” but dead ones! It must be admitted that not only such an impractical person as Manilova, but also any other person, such a proposal can discourage. However, Chichikov, having coped with his excitement, immediately clarifies:
"I suppose to acquire the dead, which, however, would be listed as alive according to the revision."
This clarification already allows us to guess a lot. Sobakevich, for example, did not need any explanation at all - he immediately grasped the essence of the illegal transaction. But to Manilov, who does not understand anything even in the usual affairs for a landowner, this does not mean anything, and his amazement goes beyond all boundaries:
“Manilov immediately dropped the chibouk with his pipe on the floor, and as he opened his mouth, he remained with his mouth open for several minutes.”
Chichikov pauses and begins the offensive. His calculation is accurate: having already well understood with whom he is dealing, the swindler knows that Manilov will not allow anyone to think that he, an enlightened, educated landowner, is not able to catch the essence of the conversation. Convinced that he is not insane, but still the same “brilliantly educated” person, as he reveres Chichikov, the owner of the house wants to “not fall face down”, as they say. But what can be said about such a really crazy proposal?
“Manilov was completely at a loss. He felt that he needed to do something, to propose a question, and what question - the devil knows. In the end, he remains “in his repertoire”: “Won't this negotiation be inconsistent with civil regulations and further views of Russia?” he asks, showing a ostentatious interest in state affairs. However, it must be said that he is generally the only one of the landowners who, in a conversation with Chichikov about "dead souls", recalls the law and the interests of the country. True, in his mouth these arguments take on an absurd character, especially since, upon hearing Chichikov's answer: “Oh! pardon, not at all, ”Manilov completely calms down.
But Chichikov's cunning calculation, based on a subtle understanding of the internal impulses of the interlocutor's actions, even exceeded all expectations. Manilov, who believes that the only form of human connection is sensitive, tender friendship and cordial affection, cannot miss the opportunity to show generosity and disinterestedness towards his new friend Chichikov. He is ready not to sell, but to give him such an unusual, but for some reason necessary “object” to a friend.
Such a turn of events was unexpected even for Chichikov, and for the first time during the whole scene he slightly revealed his true face:
“No matter how sedate and reasonable he was, he almost even made a jump after the model of a goat, which, as you know, is done only in the strongest outbursts of joy.”
Even Manilov noticed this impulse and "looked at him in some bewilderment." But Chichikov, immediately recollecting himself, again takes everything into his own hands: all he has to do is express his gratitude and gratitude properly, and the host is already "all confused, blushed," in turn assuring that "I would like to prove something cordial attraction, magnetism of the soul. But here a dissonant note breaks into a long series of courtesies: it turns out that for him "dead souls are in some way perfect rubbish."
It is not for nothing that Gogol, a man of deep and sincere faith, puts this blasphemous phrase into Manilov's mouth. Indeed, in the person of Manilov, we see a parody of an enlightened Russian landowner, in whose mind the phenomena of culture and universal values are vulgarized. Some of his external attractiveness in comparison with other landowners is only an appearance, a mirage. In his heart he is as dead as they are.
“It’s not very rubbish,” Chichikov vividly retorts, not at all embarrassed by the fact that he is going to cash in on the death of people, human misfortunes and suffering. Moreover, he is already ready to describe his troubles and sufferings, which he allegedly endured for “that he kept the truth, that he was pure in his conscience, that he gave a hand to both a helpless widow and a miserable orphan!” Well, here Chichikov was clearly skidded, almost like Manilov. About what he really experienced “persecution” and how he helped others, the reader will learn only in the last chapter, but he, the organizer of this immoral scam, clearly does not need to talk about conscience.
But all this does not bother Manilov in the least. After seeing Chichikov off, he again indulges in his beloved and only "business": thinking about the "well-being of a friendly life", about how "it would be nice to live with a friend on the banks of some river." Dreams take him further and further away from reality, where a swindler roams freely around Russia, who, taking advantage of the gullibility and promiscuity of people, the lack of desire and ability to deal with the affairs of people like Manilov, is ready to deceive not only them, but also "cheat" state treasury.
The whole scene looks very comical, but it's "laughter through tears." No wonder Gogol compares Manilov with a too smart minister:
“... Manilov, making a slight movement of his head, looked very significantly into Chichikov’s face, showing in all the features of his face and in compressed lips such a deep expression, which, perhaps, was not seen on a human face, except for some some too smart minister, and even then at the moment of the most puzzling case.
Here the author's irony invades the forbidden sphere - the highest echelons of power. This could only mean that a different minister - the personification of the highest state power - is not so different from Manilov and that "Manilovism" is a typical property of this world. It is terrible if agriculture, which is ruined under the rule of negligent landowners, the basis of the Russian economy of the 19th century, can be seized by such dishonest, immoral businessmen of the new era as the “scoundrel acquirer” Chichikov. But it is even worse if, with the connivance of the authorities, who care only about the external form, about their reputation, all power in the country will pass to people like Chichikov. And Gogol addresses this formidable warning not only to his contemporaries, but also to us, people of the 21st century. Let us be attentive to the word of the writer and try, without falling into Manilovism, in time to notice and remove away from the affairs of our today's Chichikovs
During the time of buying up dead souls, Chichikov traveled to many estates and met various landowners. Each of them reacted in their own way to the unusual offer of the protagonist to buy up dead souls. So what was the reaction to Chichikov's proposal from the side of the main characters of the poem?
Manilov is the first character that Chichikov meets during his journey. This man constantly builds many unrealistic plans, indulges in idle idleness and does not even know how many peasants have died from him. Chichikov's proposal surprised him a lot. For a long time he could not understand why this pleasant gentleman needed "dead souls." When he realized that this was not a joke, he agreed to give them away for free. In order to seem smart in the eyes of the interlocutor, he is the only one of the landowners to clarify whether this transaction is legal.
“Strong-headed” and “club-headed,” as its author dubbed it, Nastasya Korobochka is the only woman among the landowners whom Chichikov meets. She is a true entrepreneur and businesswoman. What is Korobochka's reaction to Chichikov's proposal?
Although she was surprised, but, as befits a smart and brisk salesman who does not hesitate to sell anything to anyone, she is also ready to sell dead souls. She is not at all surprised by the hero's proposal. The only thing that worries her is how not to sell too cheap. The landowner does not even immediately agree to a deal, but wants to go to the city to find out how much "dead souls" are now.
Nozdrev is a brawler and brawler who has no moral principles. Having two children, he does not care about them at all and does not pay attention to them. He loves the dogs and the wolf cub that live in his house more than his own offspring. What is Nozdrev's reaction to Chichikov's proposal? Unlike Korobochka and Manilov, he was not at all surprised. In this proposal, he saw only an opportunity to profitably spend time. He suggested that Chichikov play for "dead souls", and if he wins, he takes them for free. As a result, they almost got into a fight, and Chichikov barely managed to escape. Nozdryov is the only landowner in the work from whom Chichikov could not buy serfs.
Sobakevich is a rude and uncouth hero who looks like a bear with his appearance. However, he turned out to be not as stupid as Chichikov would have liked. What is Sobakevich's reaction to Chichikov's proposal?
As soon as Chichikov hinted at the desire to help the landowner in getting rid of the ballast in the form of "dead souls", Sobakevich immediately began to bargain, and announced such a high price that it was Chichikov's turn to be surprised. Gogol describes the bidding scene of two businessmen with the highest degree of irony, because Sobakevich, in order to praise his “goods”, declares that his souls are much better than those of other landowners.
Plyushkin is the last of the heroes whom Chichikov meets. This miser and miser starves his serfs, although in his bins no one needs food and things to rot. He accumulates his wealth not for any purpose, but for the very process of accumulation. Many years ago he was a decent and respected landowner who adored his wife and children. But after the death of his wife and the departure of children from the house, he lost the remnants of noble feelings, and the spark went out in his eyes. Hearing Chichikov's proposal, the old man was very happy, realizing that good money could be obtained for people who no longer existed. Why Chichikov was engaged in such a strange business did not interest him, since he did not pay attention to anything other than profit.
