Analysis of Gogol’s work “The Nose. Real and fantastic in Gogol's story The Nose. Nikolai Gogol, Nose: analysis of the story, main meaning Analysis of Gogol’s nose briefly about the main thing

Platon Kuzmich Kovalev is a collegiate assessor from N.V. Gogol’s story “The Nose”. He preferred to call himself major. The author classifies this character as an idle parasite and careerist who often strolls along Nevsky. He is akin to such characters as Lieutenant Pirogov or Khlestakov, who sought to get the maximum pleasure from life without making any effort. He even came to St. Petersburg for a profitable marriage and a higher rank. By creating a portrait of this character, the author emphasized his arrogant complacency and vanity. Outwardly, he always tries to look perfect, wears starched and spotlessly clean collars, has sideburns like those of provincial surveyors or architects, and regularly visits the barber.

He demonstrates his entire stature while facing Nevsky, and his nose is a kind of landmark for him. It is also a symbol of piety and integrity. By depriving him of his nose, the author questions his moral virtues. Even a private bailiff notes that a decent person’s nose will not be torn off. In relation to the female sex, Major Kovalev had a weakness, was often distracted by beauties and flirted with many society ladies. The disappearance of Kovalev’s nose could also be associated with the loss of a human face in pursuit of dubious pleasures.

The history of the creation of “The Nose” is a satirical absurdist story written by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in 1832-1833. This work is often called the most mysterious story. In 1835, the Moscow Observer magazine refused to publish Gogol’s story, calling it “bad, vulgar and trivial.” But, unlike “The Moscow Observer,” Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin believed that there was “so much unexpected, fantastic, funny and original” in the work that he persuaded the author to publish the story in the Sovremennik magazine in 1836.

(Gogol and Nose. Caricature) The story “The Nose” was subjected to severe and repeated criticism, as a result a number of details in the work were redone by the author: for example, the meeting of Major Kovalev with the Nose was moved from the Kazan Cathedral to Gostiny Dvor, and the ending of the story was changed several times.

Brilliant grotesque This is one of N.V.’s favorite literary devices. Gogol. But if in early works it was used to create an atmosphere of mystery and mystery in the narrative, then in a later period it turned into a way of satirically reflecting the surrounding reality. The story Nose is a clear confirmation of this. The inexplicable and strange disappearance of the nose from Major Kovalev’s face and his incredible independent existence separately from his owner suggest the unnaturalness of the order in which a high status in society means much more than the person himself. In this state of affairs, any inanimate object can suddenly acquire significance and weight if it acquires the proper rank. This is the main problem of the story Nose.

Theme of the work So what is the meaning of such an incredible plot? The main theme of Gogol's story Nose is the character's loss of a piece of himself. This probably happens under the influence of evil spirits. The organizing role in the plot is given to the motive of persecution, although Gogol does not indicate the specific embodiment of supernatural power. The mystery captivates readers literally from the first sentence of the work, it is constantly reminded of it, it reaches its climax... but there is no solution even in the finale. Covered in the darkness of the unknown is not only the mysterious separation of the nose from the body, but also how he could exist independently, and even in the status of a high-ranking official. Thus, the real and the fantastic in Gogol's story Nose are intertwined in the most unimaginable way.

Characteristics of the main character The main character of the work is a desperate careerist, ready to do anything for a promotion. He managed to receive the rank of collegiate assessor without an exam, thanks to his service in the Caucasus. Kovalev’s cherished goal is to marry profitably and become a high-ranking official. In the meantime, in order to give himself more weight and significance, he everywhere calls himself not a collegiate assessor, but a major, knowing about the superiority of military ranks over civilian ones. “He could forgive everything that was said about himself, but he did not forgive in any way if it related to rank or title,” the author writes about his hero

N.V. Gogol’s wonderful story “The Nose” consists of three parts and tells about the amazing events that happened to the collegiate assessor Kovalev... Contents On the twenty-fifth of March, the St. Petersburg barber Ivan Yakovlevich discovers his nose in freshly baked bread. Ivan Yakovlevich is surprised to learn that the nose belongs to one of his clients, the collegiate assessor Kovalev. The barber tries to get rid of the nose: he throws it away, but they constantly point out to him that he dropped something. With great difficulty, Ivan Yakovlevich manages to throw his nose off the bridge into the Neva.

It seems that it was not for nothing that Gogol made the setting of the story Nose Petersburg. In his opinion, only here the indicated events could have happened, only in St. Petersburg they do not see the man himself behind the rank. Gogol brought the situation to the point of absurdity - the nose turned out to be a fifth-class official, and those around him, despite the obviousness of his inhuman nature, behave with him as with a normal person, in accordance with his status. (Kovalev and Nos)

Meanwhile, the collegiate assessor wakes up and can’t find his nose. He is shocked. Covering his face with a handkerchief, Kovalev goes out into the street. He is very upset by what happened, since now he will not be able to appear in society, and besides, he has many acquaintances of ladies, some of whom he would not mind pursuing. Suddenly he meets his own nose, dressed in a uniform and trousers, the nose gets into the carriage. Kovalev hurries to follow his nose and ends up in the cathedral. (The nose comes out of the carriage)

The nose behaves as befits a significant person with the rank of state councilor: he makes visits, prays in the Kazan Cathedral with an expression of the greatest piety, visits the department, and plans to leave for Riga using someone else’s passport. Nobody cares where he came from. Everyone sees him not only as a person, but also as an important official. It is interesting that Kovalev himself, despite his efforts to expose him, approaches him with fear in the Kazan Cathedral and generally treats him as a person.

The grotesque in the story also lies in surprise and, one might say, absurdity. From the very first line of the work we see a clear indication of the date: March 25th - this does not immediately imply any fiction. And then there’s the missing nose. There was some kind of sharp deformation of everyday life, bringing it to complete unreality. The absurdity lies in the equally dramatic change in the size of the nose. If on the first pages he is discovered by the barber Ivan Yakovlevich in a pie (that is, he has a size quite corresponding to a human nose), then at the moment when Major Kovalev first sees him, the nose is dressed in a uniform, suede trousers, a hat and even has a himself a sword - which means he is the height of an ordinary man. (Missing nose)

The last appearance of the nose in the story - and it is small again. The quarterly brings it wrapped in a piece of paper. It didn’t matter to Gogol why the nose suddenly grew to human size, and it didn’t matter why it shrank again. The central point of the story is precisely the period when the nose was perceived as a normal person

The plot of the story is conventional, the idea itself is absurd, but this is precisely what Gogol’s grotesque consists of and, despite this, is quite realistic. Chernyshevsky said that true realism is possible only by depicting life in the forms of life itself.

Gogol unusually expanded the boundaries of convention and showed that this convention remarkably serves the knowledge of life. If in this absurd society everything is determined by rank, then why can’t this fantastically absurd organization of life be reproduced in a fantastic plot? Gogol shows that it is not only possible, but also quite advisable. And thus the forms of art ultimately reflect the forms of life.

Hints from a brilliant author In Gogol's story there are many satirical subtleties, transparent hints at the realities of his contemporary time. For example, in the first half of the 19th century, glasses were considered an anomaly, giving the appearance of an officer or official some inferiority. In order to wear this accessory, special permission was required. If the heroes of the work strictly followed the instructions and corresponded to the form, then the Nose in the Uniform acquired for them the importance of a significant person. But as soon as the police chief logged out of the system, broke the strictness of his uniform and put on glasses, he immediately noticed that in front of him was just a nose - a part of the body, useless without its owner. This is how the real and the fantastic intertwine in Gogol’s story The Nose. No wonder the author’s contemporaries were engrossed in this extraordinary work.

Literary excursion The barber, who found his nose in baked bread, lives on Voznesensky Prospect, and gets rid of it on St. Isaac's Bridge. Major Kovalev's apartment is located on Sadovaya Street. The conversation between the major and the nose takes place in the Kazan Cathedral. A flower waterfall of ladies pours down the sidewalk of Nevsky from the Policeman to the Anichkin Bridge. Dancing chairs danced on Konyushennaya Street. According to Kovalev, it is on the Voskresensky Bridge that traders sell peeled oranges. Students of the Surgical Academy ran to the Tauride Garden to look at the nose. The major buys his medal ribbon at Gostiny Dvor. The “twin nose” of the St. Petersburg version is located on Andreevsky Spusk in Kyiv. The literary lantern “Nose” is installed on the street. Gogol in Brest.

Kovalev’s nose was installed in 1995 on the facade of house No. 11 on Voznesensky Prospekt, St. Petersburg)

"Nose" often called the most mysterious story by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. It was written in 1833 for the Moscow Observer magazine, which was edited by the writer’s friends. But the editors did not accept the work, calling it dirty and vulgar. This is the first mystery: why did Gogol’s friends refuse to publish it? What dirt and vulgarity did they see in this fantastic plot? In 1836, Alexander Pushkin persuaded Gogol to publish “The Nose” in Sovremennik. To do this, the author reworked the text, changing the ending and strengthening the satirical focus.

In the preface to the publication, Pushkin called the story cheerful, original and fantastic, emphasizing that it gave him pleasure. The exact opposite review from Alexander Sergeevich is another mystery. After all, Gogol did not radically change the work; the second version was not fundamentally different from the first.

Many incomprehensible moments can be found in the fantastic plot of the story. There are no clearly defined motives for the runaway nose; the role of the barber in this story looks strange: why exactly did he show up with a runaway nose, and even in the bread? The story is blurry image of evil, hidden driver motive many actions, there is no clear reason for punishing Kovalev. The story also ends with a question: why did the nose return to its place without any explanation?

The work clearly spells out some minor details that do not affect the development of events, and the more significant facts, characters and settings are depicted very schematically. Such a “failure” could be forgiven for a novice author, but Gogol was already a mature writer at the time of writing the story. Therefore, details are important, but what is their significance then? These mysteries have given rise to many different versions among critics.

Most experts rightly classify the work as satire genre to modern society, where a person is judged not by personal qualities, but by rank. Let us remember how timidly Kovalev talks to his own nose. After all, he is dressed in a uniform, which shows that in front of the major is an official of a higher rank.

Interesting image of a quarterly overseer. He noticed from afar that the barber had thrown something into the water, but he only saw the missing part of the body when he put on his glasses. Of course, because the nose was in a shiny uniform and with a sword, and at the sight of gentlemen, the police are always short-sighted. That's why the barber was arrested; someone has to answer for the incident. Poor drunkard Ivan Yakovlevich was ideal for the role "switchman".

Typical main character works by Major Kovalev. This is a provincial without education who received his rank in the Caucasus. This detail says a lot. Kovalev is smart, energetic, brave, otherwise he would not have earned his place on the front line. He is ambitious, prefers to be called by the military rank of "major" rather than by the civilian rank - "college assessor". Kovalev aims to become a vice-governor and dreams of a profitable marriage: “in this case, when the bride gets two hundred thousand in capital”. But now Kovalev is suffering greatly because he cannot hit on the ladies.

All the major’s dreams crumble to dust after the disappearance of his nose, because along with it his face and reputation are lost. At this time, the nose rises up the career ladder above the owner, for which he is obsequiously accepted in society.

The barber wearing a tailcoat is comical. His untidiness (smelly hands, torn buttons, stains on clothes, unshavenness) contrasts with a profession designed to make people cleaner and neater. The gallery of humorous characters is completed by a doctor who performs diagnostics with clicks.

However genre of satirical phantasmagoria only partially reveals the secrets of the story. Critics have long noticed that the work is a kind of code, perfectly understandable to Gogol’s contemporaries and completely incomprehensible to us. There are several versions about this. One of them: Gogol in a veiled form depicted a certain scandalous incident that was well known in his society. This fact explains the refusal of the first publication (the scandal was still fresh), the favor of the famous lover of shocking Pushkin and the negative assessment of critics.

Some researchers find parallels in the story with well-known popular print stories. In the 30s of the 19th century, lubok was considered a “low” genre, especially despised in secular society. Gogol's closeness to folk traditions could well have led the writer to such a unique experiment. There are also more exotic versions: the struggle with the author’s own complexes about his appearance, deciphering a popular dream book, etc.

But we have not yet received a clear and correct interpretation of the story “The Nose”. “There really is something in all this”“, - Gogol slyly declared at the end of the work.

• “The Nose”, a summary of the chapters of Gogol’s story
• “Portrait”, analysis of Gogol’s story, essay

Theme of the story: the fantastic and the real in depicting St. Petersburg reality with the help of satire.

The idea of ​​the story: to force people to feel the vulgarity that surrounds them, since vulgarity has only one thought about itself, because it is unreasonable and limited and will not see or understand anything around except itself.

Characteristics of the main characters:

Kovalev is a collegiate assessor, “a man neither evil nor good,” all his thoughts are fixated on his own personality. This personality is invisible and he tries to embellish it. He talks about his acquaintances with influential people. Very preoccupied with worries about his appearance. How to stir up this person? Just put it in a marital status.

Ivan Yakovlevich, a barber, like every Russian artisan, “was a terrible drunkard,” unkempt.

The discovery of Kovalev's nose, which he shaved twice a week, left him numb with horror. He was neither alive nor dead. I had a hard time getting rid of my nose.

Impression of the book: at first it seems that this story is a joke. But there is some truth in every joke. Gossip, pettiness, arrogance - all this is vulgarity. Vulgarity has no kindness, nothing noble. Fantastic details enhance the satirical portrayal of St. Petersburg society and individual representatives, such as Major Kovalev.

Updated: 2017-10-24

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