Description of living souls in the poem Dead Souls. “Dead Souls” in Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls. Lack of authentic life

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Municipal educational institution

Literature abstract on the topic:

“Souls dead and alive in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

Novocherkassk

1. The history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls”

2. Souls dead and alive in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

2.1 The purpose of Chichikov’s life. Father's Testament

2.2 What are “dead souls”?

2.3 Who are the “dead souls” in the poem?

2.4 Who are the “living souls” in the poem?

3. The second volume of “Dead Souls” - a crisis in Gogol’s work

4. Journey to meaning

Bibliography

1. The history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls”

There are writers who easily and freely come up with plots for their works. Gogol was not one of them. He was painfully inventive in his plots. The concept of each work was given to him with the greatest difficulty. He always needed an external push to inspire his imagination. Contemporaries tell us with what greedy interest Gogol listened to various everyday stories, anecdotes picked up on the street, and even fables. I listened professionally, like a writer, remembering every characteristic detail. Years passed, and some of these accidentally heard stories came to life in his works. For Gogol, P.V. later recalled. Annenkov, “nothing was wasted.”

Gogol, as is known, owed the plot of “Dead Souls” to A.S. Pushkin, who had long encouraged him to write a great epic work. Pushkin told Gogol the story of the adventures of a certain adventurer who bought up dead peasants from landowners in order to pawn them as if they were alive in the Guardian Council and receive a hefty loan for them.

But how did Pushkin know the plot that he gave to Gogol?

The history of fraudulent tricks with dead souls could have become known to Pushkin during his exile in Chisinau. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, tens of thousands of peasants fled here, to the south of Russia, to Bessarabia, from different parts of the country, fleeing from paying arrears and various taxes. Local authorities created obstacles to the resettlement of these peasants. They were pursued. But all measures were in vain. Fleeing from their pursuers, fugitive peasants often took the names of deceased serfs. They say that during Pushkin’s stay in exile in Chisinau, rumors spread throughout Bessarabia that the city of Bendery was immortal, and the population of this city was called “immortal society.” For many years, not a single death was recorded there. An investigation has begun. It turned out that in Bendery it was accepted as a rule: the dead “should not be excluded from society,” and their names should be given to the fugitive peasants who arrived here. Pushkin visited Bendery more than once, and he was very interested in this story.

Most likely, it was she who became the seed of the plot, which was retold by the poet to Gogol almost a decade and a half after the Chisinau exile.

It should be noted that Chichikov’s idea was by no means such a rarity in life itself. Fraud with “revision souls” was a fairly common thing in those days. It is safe to assume that not only one specific incident formed the basis of Gogol’s plan.

The core of the plot of Dead Souls was Chichikov’s adventure. It only seemed incredible and anecdotal, but in fact it was reliable in all the smallest details. Feudal reality created very favorable conditions for such adventures.

By a decree of 1718, the so-called household census was replaced by a capitation census. From now on, all male serfs, “from the oldest to the very last child,” were subject to taxation. Dead souls (dead or runaway peasants) became a burden for landowners who naturally dreamed of getting rid of it. And this created a psychological precondition for all kinds of fraud. For some, dead souls were a burden, others felt the need for them, hoping to benefit from fraudulent transactions. This is precisely what Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov hoped for. But the most interesting thing is that Chichikov’s fantastic deal was carried out in perfect accordance with the paragraphs of the law.

The plots of many of Gogol’s works are based on an absurd anecdote, an exceptional case, an emergency. And the more anecdotal and extraordinary the outer shell of the plot seems, the brighter, more reliable, and more typical the real picture of life appears to us. Here is one of the peculiar features of the art of a talented writer.

Gogol began working on Dead Souls in mid-1835, that is, even earlier than on The Inspector General. On October 7, 1835, he informed Pushkin that he had written three chapters of Dead Souls. But the new thing has not yet captured Nikolai Vasilyevich. He wants to write a comedy. And only after “The Inspector General,” already abroad, Gogol really took up “Dead Souls.”

In the fall of 1839, circumstances forced Gogol to travel to his homeland and, accordingly, take a forced break from work. Eight months later, Gogol decided to return to Italy to speed up work on the book. In October 1841, he came to Russia again with the intention of publishing his work - the result of six years of hard work.

In December, the final corrections were completed, and the final version of the manuscript was submitted to the Moscow Censorship Committee for consideration. Here “Dead Souls” met with a clearly hostile attitude. As soon as Golokhvastov, who chaired the meeting of the censorship committee, heard the name “Dead Souls,” he shouted: “No, I will never allow this: the soul can be immortal - there cannot be a dead soul - the author is arming himself against immortality!”

They explained to Golokhvastov that we were talking about revision souls, but he became even more furious: “This certainly cannot be allowed... this means against serfdom!” Here the committee members chimed in: “Chichikov’s enterprise is already a criminal offense!”

When one of the censors tried to explain that the author did not justify Chichikov, they shouted from all sides: “Yes, he does not justify, but now he has exposed him, and others will follow the example and buy dead souls...”

Gogol was eventually forced to withdraw the manuscript and decided to send it to St. Petersburg.

In December 1841, Belinsky visited Moscow. Gogol turned to him with a request to take the manuscript with him to St. Petersburg and facilitate its speedy passage through the St. Petersburg censorship authorities. The critic willingly agreed to carry out this assignment and on May 21, 1842, with some censorship corrections, “The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls” was published.

The plot of “Dead Souls” consists of three externally closed, but internally very interconnected links: landowners, city officials and the biography of Chichikov. Each of these links helps to more thoroughly and deeply reveal Gogol’s ideological and artistic concept.

2. Souls dead and alive in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

2.1 The purpose of Chichikov’s life. Father's Testament

This is what V.G. wrote. Sakhnovsky in his book “About the performance “Dead Souls”:

“...It is known that Chichikov was not too fat, not too thin; that, according to some, he even resembled Napoleon, that he had the remarkable ability to talk to everyone as an expert on what he pleasantly talked about. Chichikov's goal in communication was to make the most favorable impression, to win over and inspire confidence. It is also known that Pavel Ivanovich has a special charm, with which he overcame two disasters that would have knocked someone else down forever. But the main thing that characterizes Chichikov is his passionate attraction to acquisitions. To become, as they say, “a man of weight in society,” being a “man of rank,” without clan or tribe, who rushes about like “some kind of barge among the fierce waves,” is Chichikov’s main task. To get yourself a strong place in life, regardless of anyone’s or any interests, public or private, is where Chichikov’s through-and-through action lies.

And everything that smacked of wealth and contentment made an impression on him that was incomprehensible to himself, Gogol writes about him. His father’s instruction – “take care and save a penny” – served him well. He was not possessed by stinginess or stinginess. No, he imagined a life ahead with all sorts of prosperity: carriages, a well-appointed house, delicious dinners.

“You will do everything and ruin everything in the world with a penny,” his father bequeathed to Pavel Ivanovich. He learned this for the rest of his life. “He showed unheard-of self-sacrifice, patience and limitation of needs.” This is what Gogol wrote in his Biography of Chichikov (Chapter XI).

...Chichikov comes to poison. There is an evil that is rolling across Rus', like Chichikov in a troika. What kind of evil is this? It is revealed in everyone in their own way. Each of those with whom he does business has his own reaction to Chichikov’s poison. Chichikov leads one line, but he has a new role with each character.

...Chichikov, Nozdryov, Sobakevich and other heroes of “Dead Souls” are not characters, but types. In these types, Gogol collected and generalized many similar characters, identifying in all of them a common life and social structure...”

2.2 What are “dead souls”?

The primary meaning of the expression “dead souls” is this: these are dead peasants who are still on the audit lists. Without such a very specific meaning, the plot of the poem would be impossible. After all, Chichikov’s strange enterprise lies in the fact that he buys dead peasants who were listed as alive in the audit lists. And that this is legally feasible: it is enough just to draw up a list of peasants and formalize the purchase and sale accordingly, as if the subject of the transaction were living people. Gogol shows with his own eyes that the law of purchase and sale of living goods rules in Russia, and that this situation is natural and normal.

Consequently, the very factual basis, the very intrigue of the poem, built on the sale of revision souls, was social and accusatory, no matter how the narrative tone of the poem seemed harmless and far from exposure.

True, one can remember that Chichikov does not buy living people, that the subject of his transaction are dead peasants. However, Gogol’s irony is hidden here too. Chichikov buys up the dead in exactly the same way as if he were buying up living peasants, according to the same rules, in compliance with the same formal and legal norms. Only in this case Chichikov expects to give a significantly lower price - well, as if for a product of lower quality, stale or spoiled.

“Dead Souls” - this capacious Gogol formula begins to be filled with its deep, changing meaning. This is a conventional designation for the deceased, a phrase behind which there is no person. Then this formula comes to life - and behind it stand real peasants, whom the landowner has the power to sell or buy, specific people.

The ambiguity of meaning is hidden in Gogol’s phrase itself. If Gogol had wanted to emphasize one single meaning, he would most likely have used the expression “revision soul.” But the writer deliberately included in the title of the poem an unusual, bold phrase that was not found in everyday speech.

2.3 Who are the “dead souls” in the poem?

“Dead souls” - this title carries something terrifying... It’s not the revisionists who are dead souls, but all these Nozdryovs, Manilovs and others - these are dead souls and we meet them at every step,” wrote Herzen.

In this meaning, the expression “dead souls” is no longer addressed to peasants - living and dead - but to the masters of life, landowners and officials. And its meaning is metaphorical, figurative. After all, physically, materially, “all these Nozdryovs, Manilovs and others” exist and, for the most part, are thriving. What could be more certain than the bear-like Sobakevich? Or Nozdryov, about whom it is said: “He was like blood and milk; his health seemed to be dripping from his face.” But physical existence is not yet human life. Vegetative existence is far from real spiritual movements. “Dead souls” in this case mean deadness, lack of spirituality. And this lack of spirituality manifests itself in at least two ways. First of all, it is the absence of any interests or passions. Remember what they say about Manilov? “You won’t get any lively or even arrogant words from him, which you can hear from almost anyone if you touch an object that offends him. Everyone has their own, but Manilov had nothing. Most hobbies or passions cannot be called high or noble. But Manilov did not have such passion. He had nothing of his own at all. And the main impression that Manilov made on his interlocutor was a feeling of uncertainty and “deadly boredom.”

Other characters - landowners and officials - are not nearly as dispassionate. For example, Nozdryov and Plyushkin have their own passions. Chichikov also has his own “enthusiasm” - the enthusiasm of “acquisition”. And many other characters have their own “bullying object”, which sets in motion a wide variety of passions: greed, ambition, curiosity, and so on.

This means that in this regard, “dead souls” are dead in different ways, to different degrees and, so to speak, in different doses. But in another respect they are equally deadly, without distinction or exception.

Dead soul! This phenomenon seems contradictory in itself, composed of mutually exclusive concepts. Can there be a dead soul, a dead person, that is, something that is by nature animate and spiritual? Can't live, shouldn't exist. But it exists.

What remains of life is a certain form, of a person - a shell, which, however, regularly performs vital functions. And here another meaning of the Gogol image of “dead souls” is revealed to us: revision dead souls, that is, a symbol for dead peasants. The revision's dead souls are concrete, reviving faces of peasants who are treated as if they were not people. And the dead in spirit are all these Manilovs, Nozdrevs, landowners and officials, a dead form, a soulless system of human relationships...

All these are facets of one Gogol concept - “dead souls”, artistically realized in his poem. And the facets are not isolated, but make up a single, infinitely deep image.

Following his hero, Chichikov, moving from one place to another, the writer does not give up hope of finding people who would carry within themselves the beginning of a new life and rebirth. The goals that Gogol and his hero set for themselves are directly opposite in this regard. Chichikov is interested in dead souls in the literal and figurative sense of the word - revision dead souls and people dead in spirit. And Gogol is looking for a living soul in which the spark of humanity and justice burns.

2.4 Who are the “living souls” in the poem?

The “dead souls” of the poem are contrasted with the “living” - a talented, hardworking, long-suffering people. With a deep sense of patriotism and faith in the great future of his people, Gogol writes about him. He saw the lack of rights of the peasantry, its humiliated position and the dullness and savagery that were the result of serfdom. Such are Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai, the serf girl Pelageya, who did not distinguish between right and left, Plyushkin’s Proshka and Mavra, downtrodden to the extreme. But even in this social depression, Gogol saw the living soul of the “lively people” and the quickness of the Yaroslavl peasant. He speaks with admiration and love about the people’s ability, courage and daring, endurance and thirst for freedom. Serf hero, carpenter Cork “would be fit for the guard.” He set out with an ax in his belt and boots on his shoulders throughout the province. The carriage maker Mikhei created carriages of extraordinary strength and beauty. Stove maker Milushkin could install a stove in any house. Talented shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov - “whatever the awl stabs, so will the boots; whatever the boots, then thank you.” And Eremey Sorokoplekhin “brought five hundred rubles per quitrent!” Here is Plyushkin’s runaway serf Abakum Fyrov. His soul could not withstand the oppression of captivity, he was drawn to the wide Volga expanse, he “walks noisily and cheerfully on the grain pier, having made a contract with the merchants.” But it’s not easy for him to walk with the barge haulers, “dragging the strap to one endless song, like Rus'.” In the songs of barge haulers, Gogol heard the expression of longing and the people’s desire for a different life, for a wonderful future. Behind the bark of lack of spirituality, callousness, and carrion, the living forces of the people’s life struggle—and here and there they make their way to the surface in the living Russian word, in the joy of the barge haulers, in the movement of the Rus' Troika—the guarantee of the future revival of the homeland.

Ardent faith in the hidden but immense strength of the entire people, love for the homeland, allowed Gogol to brilliantly foresee its great future.

3. The second volume of “Dead Souls” - a crisis in Gogol’s work

“Dead souls,” Herzen testifies, “shocked all of Russia.” He himself, having read them in 1842, wrote in his diary: “...an amazing book, a bitter reproach to modern Rus', but not hopeless.”

“Northern Bee,” a newspaper published with funds from the III Department of the personal chancellery of Nicholas I, accused Gogol of depicting some special world of scoundrels that never existed and could not exist.” Critics criticized the writer for his one-sided portrayal of reality.

But the landowners gave themselves away. Gogol’s contemporary, the poet Yazykov, wrote to his relatives from Moscow: “Gogol receives news from everywhere that Russian landowners are strongly scolding him; here is clear proof that their portraits were copied by him correctly and that the originals touched a nerve! Such is the talent! Many people before Gogol described the life of the Russian nobility, but no one angered him as much as he did.”

Fierce debates began to boil over Dead Souls. They resolved, as Belinsky put it, “a question as much literary as social.” The famous critic, however, very sensitively grasped the dangers that awaited Gogol in the future, while fulfilling his promises to continue “Dead Souls” and show Russia “from the other side.” Gogol did not understand that his poem was finished, that “all Rus'” had been outlined, and that the result (if any) would be another work.

This contradictory idea was formed by Gogol towards the end of his work on the first volume. Then it seemed to the writer that the new idea was not opposed to the first volume, but directly came out of it. Gogol did not yet notice that he was betraying himself, he wanted to correct the vulgar world that he so truthfully painted, and he did not refuse the first volume.

Work on the second volume proceeded slowly, and the further it went, the more difficult it became. In July 1845, Gogol burned what he had written. This is how Gogol himself explained a year later why the second volume was burned: “Bringing out a few wonderful characters who reveal the high nobility of our breed will lead to nothing. It will arouse only empty pride and boasting... No, there is a time when it is impossible to otherwise direct society or even an entire generation towards the beautiful until you show the full depth of real abomination; There are times when you shouldn’t even talk about the lofty and beautiful without immediately showing clearly... the paths and roads to it. The last circumstance was small and poorly developed in the second volume, but it should be perhaps the most important; and that is why he was burned...”

Gogol, thus, saw the collapse of his plan as a whole. It seems to him at this time that in the first volume of Dead Souls he depicted not the actual types of landowners and officials, but his own vices and shortcomings, and that the revival of Russia must begin with the correction of the morality of all people. This was a rejection of the former Gogol, which caused indignation among the writer’s close friends and throughout advanced Russia.

In order to more fully understand Gogol’s spiritual drama, we must also take into account the external influences on him. The writer lived abroad for a long time. There he witnessed serious social upheavals that culminated in a number of European countries - France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Prussia - with the revolutionary explosion of 1848. Gogol perceives them as general chaos, the triumph of a blind, destructive element.

Messages from Russia caused Gogol even greater confusion. Peasant unrest and the aggravation of the political struggle intensify the writer’s confusion. Fears for the future of Russia inspire Gogol with the idea of ​​the need to protect Russia from the contradictions of Western Europe. In search of a way out, he is carried away by the reactionary-patriarchal utopia about the possibility of national unity and prosperity. Was he able to overcome the crisis, and to what extent did this crisis affect Gogol the artist? Would a work better than “The Government Inspector” or “Dead Souls” have seen the light of day?

The contents of the second volume can only be judged from surviving drafts and stories from memoirists. There is a well-known review by N. G. Chernyshevsky: “In the surviving passages there are many such pages that should be ranked among the best that Gogol ever gave us, which delight us with their artistic merit and, more importantly, truthfulness and power. .."

The dispute could have been finally resolved only by the last manuscript, but it is lost to us, apparently forever.

4. Journey to meaning

Each subsequent era reveals in a new way classical creations and facets in them that are, to one degree or another, consonant with its own problems. Contemporaries wrote about “Dead Souls” that they “awakened Rus'” and “awakened in us the consciousness of ourselves.” And now the Manilovs and Plyushkins, the Nozdryovs and the Chichikovs have not yet disappeared from the world. They, of course, became different than they were in those days, but they did not lose their essence. Each new generation discovered new generalizations in Gogol’s images, which prompted reflection on the most significant phenomena of life.

This is the fate of great works of art; they outlive their creators and their era, overcome national boundaries and become eternal companions of humanity.

“Dead Souls” is one of the most read and revered works of Russian classics. No matter how much time separates us from this work, we will never cease to be amazed at its depth, perfection and, probably, we will not consider our idea of ​​it exhausted. Reading “Dead Souls”, you absorb the noble moral ideas that every brilliant work of art carries, and unnoticed by yourself you become purer and more beautiful.

During Gogol’s time, the word “invention” was often used in literary criticism and art history. Now we refer to this word as products of technical and engineering thought, but previously it also meant artistic and literary works. And this word meant the unity of meaning, form and content. After all, in order to say something new, you need invent - to create an artistic whole that has never existed before. Let us remember the words of A.S. Pushkin: “There is the highest courage - the courage of invention.” Learning the secrets of “invention” is a journey that does not involve the usual difficulties: you don’t need to meet anyone, you don’t need to move at all. You can follow a literary hero and follow in your imagination the path he took. All you need is time, a book, and the desire to think about it. But this is also the most difficult journey: one can never say that the goal has been achieved, because behind every understood and meaningful artistic image, solved mystery, a new one arises - even more difficult and fascinating. That is why a work of art is inexhaustible and the journey to its meaning is endless.

Bibliography

gogol is dead the soul of chichikov

1. Mann Y. “The Courage of Invention” - 2nd ed., additional - M.: Det. lit., 1989. 142 p.

2. Mashinsky S. “Dead Souls” by Gogol” - 2nd ed., additional - M.: Khudozh. Lit., 1980. 117 p.

3. Chernyshevsky N.G. Essays on the Gogol period of Russian literature. - Complete. Collection op., vol.3. M., 1947, p. 5-22.

4. www.litra.ru.composition

5. www.moskva.com

6. Belinsky V.G. “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls” - Complete. collection cit., vol. VI. M., 1955, p. 209-222.

7. Belinsky V.G. “A few words about Gogol’s poem...” – Ibid., p. 253-260.

8. Sat. “Gogol in the memoirs of his contemporaries”, S. Mashinsky. M., 1952.

9. Sat. "N.V. Gogol in Russian criticism”, A. Kotova and M. Polyakova, M., 1953.

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Municipal educational institution

Literature abstract on the topic:

“Souls dead and alive in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

Novocherkassk

1. The history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls”

2. Souls dead and alive in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

2.1 The purpose of Chichikov’s life. Father's Testament

2.2 What are “dead souls”?

2.3 Who are the “dead souls” in the poem?

2.4 Who are the “living souls” in the poem?

3. The second volume of “Dead Souls” - a crisis in Gogol’s work

4. Journey to meaning

Bibliography

1. The history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls”

There are writers who easily and freely come up with plots for their works. Gogol was not one of them. He was painfully inventive in his plots. The concept of each work was given to him with the greatest difficulty. He always needed an external push to inspire his imagination. Contemporaries tell us with what greedy interest Gogol listened to various everyday stories, anecdotes picked up on the street, and even fables. I listened professionally, like a writer, remembering every characteristic detail. Years passed, and some of these accidentally heard stories came to life in his works. For Gogol, P.V. later recalled. Annenkov, “nothing was wasted.”

Gogol, as is known, owed the plot of “Dead Souls” to A.S. Pushkin, who had long encouraged him to write a great epic work. Pushkin told Gogol the story of the adventures of a certain adventurer who bought up dead peasants from landowners in order to pawn them as if they were alive in the Guardian Council and receive a hefty loan for them.

But how did Pushkin know the plot that he gave to Gogol?

The history of fraudulent tricks with dead souls could have become known to Pushkin during his exile in Chisinau. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, tens of thousands of peasants fled here, to the south of Russia, to Bessarabia, from different parts of the country, fleeing from paying arrears and various taxes. Local authorities created obstacles to the resettlement of these peasants. They were pursued. But all measures were in vain. Fleeing from their pursuers, fugitive peasants often took the names of deceased serfs. They say that during Pushkin’s stay in exile in Chisinau, rumors spread throughout Bessarabia that the city of Bendery was immortal, and the population of this city was called “immortal society.” For many years, not a single death was recorded there. An investigation has begun. It turned out that in Bendery it was accepted as a rule: the dead “should not be excluded from society,” and their names should be given to the fugitive peasants who arrived here. Pushkin visited Bendery more than once, and he was very interested in this story.

Most likely, it was she who became the seed of the plot, which was retold by the poet to Gogol almost a decade and a half after the Chisinau exile.

It should be noted that Chichikov’s idea was by no means such a rarity in life itself. Fraud with “revision souls” was a fairly common thing in those days. It is safe to assume that not only one specific incident formed the basis of Gogol’s plan.

The core of the plot of Dead Souls was Chichikov’s adventure. It only seemed incredible and anecdotal, but in fact it was reliable in all the smallest details. Feudal reality created very favorable conditions for such adventures.

By a decree of 1718, the so-called household census was replaced by a capitation census. From now on, all male serfs, “from the oldest to the very last child,” were subject to taxation. Dead souls (dead or runaway peasants) became a burden for landowners who naturally dreamed of getting rid of it. And this created a psychological precondition for all kinds of fraud. For some, dead souls were a burden, others felt the need for them, hoping to benefit from fraudulent transactions. This is precisely what Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov hoped for. But the most interesting thing is that Chichikov’s fantastic deal was carried out in perfect accordance with the paragraphs of the law.

The plots of many of Gogol’s works are based on an absurd anecdote, an exceptional case, an emergency. And the more anecdotal and extraordinary the outer shell of the plot seems, the brighter, more reliable, and more typical the real picture of life appears to us. Here is one of the peculiar features of the art of a talented writer.

Gogol began working on Dead Souls in mid-1835, that is, even earlier than on The Inspector General. On October 7, 1835, he informed Pushkin that he had written three chapters of Dead Souls. But the new thing has not yet captured Nikolai Vasilyevich. He wants to write a comedy. And only after “The Inspector General,” already abroad, Gogol really took up “Dead Souls.”

In the fall of 1839, circumstances forced Gogol to travel to his homeland and, accordingly, take a forced break from work. Eight months later, Gogol decided to return to Italy to speed up work on the book. In October 1841, he came to Russia again with the intention of publishing his work - the result of six years of hard work.

In December, the final corrections were completed, and the final version of the manuscript was submitted to the Moscow Censorship Committee for consideration. Here “Dead Souls” met with a clearly hostile attitude. As soon as Golokhvastov, who chaired the meeting of the censorship committee, heard the name “Dead Souls,” he shouted: “No, I will never allow this: the soul can be immortal - there cannot be a dead soul - the author is arming himself against immortality!”

They explained to Golokhvastov that we were talking about revision souls, but he became even more furious: “This certainly cannot be allowed... this means against serfdom!” Here the committee members chimed in: “Chichikov’s enterprise is already a criminal offense!”

When one of the censors tried to explain that the author did not justify Chichikov, they shouted from all sides: “Yes, he does not justify, but now he has exposed him, and others will follow the example and buy dead souls...”

Gogol was eventually forced to withdraw the manuscript and decided to send it to St. Petersburg.

In December 1841, Belinsky visited Moscow. Gogol turned to him with a request to take the manuscript with him to St. Petersburg and facilitate its speedy passage through the St. Petersburg censorship authorities. The critic willingly agreed to carry out this assignment and on May 21, 1842, with some censorship corrections, “The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls” was published.

The plot of “Dead Souls” consists of three externally closed, but internally very interconnected links: landowners, city officials and the biography of Chichikov. Each of these links helps to more thoroughly and deeply reveal Gogol’s ideological and artistic concept.

2. Souls dead and alive in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

2.1 The purpose of Chichikov’s life. Father's Testament

This is what V.G. wrote. Sakhnovsky in his book “About the performance “Dead Souls”:

“...It is known that Chichikov was not too fat, not too thin; that, according to some, he even resembled Napoleon, that he had the remarkable ability to talk to everyone as an expert on what he pleasantly talked about. Chichikov's goal in communication was to make the most favorable impression, to win over and inspire confidence. It is also known that Pavel Ivanovich has a special charm, with which he overcame two disasters that would have knocked someone else down forever. But the main thing that characterizes Chichikov is his passionate attraction to acquisitions. To become, as they say, “a man of weight in society,” being a “man of rank,” without clan or tribe, who rushes about like “some kind of barge among the fierce waves,” is Chichikov’s main task. To get yourself a strong place in life, regardless of anyone’s or any interests, public or private, is where Chichikov’s through-and-through action lies.

And everything that smacked of wealth and contentment made an impression on him that was incomprehensible to himself, Gogol writes about him. His father’s instruction – “take care and save a penny” – served him well. He was not possessed by stinginess or stinginess. No, he imagined a life ahead with all sorts of prosperity: carriages, a well-appointed house, delicious dinners.

“You will do everything and ruin everything in the world with a penny,” his father bequeathed to Pavel Ivanovich. He learned this for the rest of his life. “He showed unheard-of self-sacrifice, patience and limitation of needs.” This is what Gogol wrote in his Biography of Chichikov (Chapter XI).

...Chichikov comes to poison. There is an evil that is rolling across Rus', like Chichikov in a troika. What kind of evil is this? It is revealed in everyone in their own way. Each of those with whom he does business has his own reaction to Chichikov’s poison. Chichikov leads one line, but he has a new role with each character.

...Chichikov, Nozdryov, Sobakevich and other heroes of “Dead Souls” are not characters, but types. In these types, Gogol collected and generalized many similar characters, identifying in all of them a common life and social structure...”

2.2 What are “dead souls”?

The primary meaning of the expression “dead souls” is this: these are dead peasants who are still on the audit lists. Without such a very specific meaning, the plot of the poem would be impossible. After all, Chichikov’s strange enterprise lies in the fact that he buys dead peasants who were listed as alive in the audit lists. And that this is legally feasible: it is enough just to draw up a list of peasants and formalize the purchase and sale accordingly, as if the subject of the transaction were living people. Gogol shows with his own eyes that the law of purchase and sale of living goods rules in Russia, and that this situation is natural and normal.

The theme of living and dead souls is the main one in Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”. We can judge this by the title of the poem, which not only contains a hint at the essence of Chichikov’s scam, but also contains a deeper meaning that reflects the author’s intention of the first volume of the poem “Dead Souls.”

There is an opinion that Gogol planned to create the poem “Dead Souls” by analogy with Dante’s poem “The Divine Comedy”. This determined the proposed three-part composition of the future work. “The Divine Comedy” consists of three parts: “Hell”, “Purgatory” and “Paradise”, which were supposed to correspond to the three volumes of “Dead Souls” conceived by Gogol. In the first volume, Gogol sought to show the terrible Russian reality, to recreate the “hell” of modern life. In the second and third volumes, Gogol wanted to depict the revival of Russia. Gogol saw himself as a writer-preacher who, drawing on... pages of his work, a picture of the revival of Russia, brings it out. crisis.

The artistic space of the first volume of the poem consists of two worlds: the real world, where the main character is Chichikov, and the ideal world of lyrical digressions, where the main character is the narrator.

The real world of Dead Souls is scary and ugly. Its typical representatives are Manilov, Nozdrev, Sobakevich, police chief, prosecutor and many others. These are all static characters. They have always been the way we see them now. “Nozdryov at thirty-five was exactly the same as at eighteen and twenty.” Gogol does not show any internal development of the landowners and city residents, this allows us to conclude that the souls of the heroes of the real world of “Dead Souls” are completely frozen and petrified, that they are dead. Gogol portrays landowners and officials with evil irony, shows them as funny, but at the same time very scary. After all, these are not people, but only a pale, ugly semblance of people. There is nothing human left in them. The dead fossilization of souls, the absolute lack of spirituality, is hidden both behind the measured life of the landowners and behind the convulsive activity of the city. Gogol wrote about the city of Dead Souls: “The idea of ​​a city. Arising to the highest degree. Emptiness. Idle talk... Death strikes an unmoved world. Meanwhile, the reader should imagine the dead insensibility of life even more strongly.”

The life of the city outwardly boils and bubbles. But this life is really just empty vanity. In the real world of Dead Souls, a dead soul is a common occurrence. For this world, the soul is only what distinguishes a living person from a dead person. In the episode of the prosecutor’s death, those around him realized that he “had a real soul” only when all that was left of him was “only a soulless body.” But is it really true that all the characters in the real world of “Dead Souls” have a dead soul? No, not everyone.

Of the “indigenous inhabitants” of the real world of the poem, paradoxically and strangely enough, only Plyushkin has a soul that is not yet completely dead. In literary criticism, there is an opinion that Chichikov visits landowners as they become spiritually impoverished. However, I cannot agree that Plyushkin is “deader” and more terrible than Manilov, Nozdryov and others. On the contrary, the image of Plyushkin is much different from the images of other landowners. I will try to prove this by turning first of all to the structure of the chapter dedicated to Plyushkin and to the means of creating Plyushkin’s character.

The chapter about Plyushkin begins with a lyrical digression, which has not happened in the description of any landowner. A lyrical digression immediately alerts readers to the fact that this chapter is significant and important for the narrator. The narrator does not remain indifferent and indifferent to his hero: in lyrical digressions (there are two in Chapter VI) he expresses his bitterness from the realization of the degree to which a person could sink.

The image of Plyushkin stands out for its dynamism among the static heroes of the real world of the poem. From the narrator we learn what Plyushkin was like before and how his soul gradually coarsened and hardened. In Plyushkin's story we see a life tragedy. Therefore, the question arises, is Plyushkin’s current state a degradation of the personality itself, or is it the result of a cruel fate? At the mention of a school friend, “some kind of warm ray slid across Plyushkin’s face, it was not a feeling that was expressed, but some kind of pale reflection of a feeling.” This means that, after all, Plyushkin’s soul has not yet completely died, which means that there is still something human left in it. Plyushkin’s eyes were also alive, not yet extinguished, “running from under his high eyebrows, like mice.”

Chapter VI contains a detailed description of Plyushkin’s garden, neglected, overgrown and decayed, but alive. The garden is a kind of metaphor for Plyushkin’s soul. There are two churches on Plyushkin’s estate alone. Of all the landowners, only Plyushkin utters an internal monologue after Chichikov’s departure. All these details allow us to conclude that Plyushkin’s soul has not yet completely died. This is probably explained by the fact that in the second or third volume of Dead Souls, according to Gogol, two heroes of the first volume, Chichikov and Plyushkin, were supposed to meet.

The second hero of the real world of the poem, who has a soul, is Chichikov. It is in Chichikov that the unpredictability and inexhaustibility of the living soul is most clearly shown, albeit not God knows how rich, even if it is becoming scarcer, but alive. Chapter XI is devoted to the history of Chichikov’s soul, it shows the development of his character. Chichikov's name is Pavel, this is the name of the apostle who experienced a spiritual revolution. According to Gogol, Chichikov was supposed to be reborn in the second volume of the poem and become an apostle, reviving the souls of the Russian people. Therefore, Gogol trusts Chichikov to talk about the dead peasants, putting his thoughts into his mouth. It is Chichikov who resurrects in the poem the former heroes of the Russian land.

The images of dead peasants in the poem are ideal. Gogol emphasizes the fabulous, heroic features in them. All biographies of dead peasants are determined by the motive of movement passing through each of them (“Tea, all the provinces left with an ax in his belt... Where are your fast legs carrying you now? ... And you are moving from prison to prison...”). It is the dead peasants in “Dead Souls” who have living souls, in contrast to the living people of the poem, whose soul is dead.

The ideal world of “Dead Souls,” which appears to the reader in lyrical digressions, is the complete opposite of the real world. In an ideal world there are no Manilovs, Sobakeviches, Nozdryovs, prosecutors; there are not and cannot be dead souls in it. The ideal world is built in strict accordance with true spiritual values. For the world of lyrical digressions, the soul is immortal, since it is the embodiment of the divine principle in man. In an ideal world, immortal human souls live. First of all, it is the soul of the narrator himself. It is precisely because the narrator lives according to the laws of the ideal world and that he has an ideal in his heart that he can notice all the abomination and vulgarity of the real world. The narrator has a heart for Russia, he believes in its revival. The patriotic pathos of lyrical digressions proves this to us.

At the end of the first volume, the image of Chichikov’s chaise becomes a symbol of the ever-living soul of the Russian people. It is the immortality of this soul that instills in the author faith in the obligatory revival of Russia and the Russian people.

Thus, in the first volume of Dead Souls, Gogol depicts all the shortcomings, all the negative aspects of Russian reality. Gogol shows people what their souls have become. He does this because he passionately loves Russia and hopes for its revival. Gogol wanted people, after reading his poem, to be horrified by their lives and awaken from a deadening sleep. This is the task of the first volume. Describing the terrible reality, Gogol depicts to us in lyrical digressions his ideal of the Russian people, speaks of the living, immortal soul of Russia. In the second and third volumes of his work, Gogol planned to transfer this ideal to real life. But, unfortunately, he was never able to show the revolution in the soul of the Russian people, he was unable to revive dead souls. This was Gogol’s creative tragedy, which grew into the tragedy of his entire life.

The purpose of the trip to the provincial cities of the enterprising Chichikov was to purchase revision souls who were still on the lists of the living, but already dead. Dead and living souls in Gogol's poem take on a new meaning. A classic, the very name of the work makes you think about people’s lives, the value and materiality of human existence.

Revision soul

Gogol's irony hides a huge problem. “Dead Souls” is a capacious phrase that expands with every page. The two words cannot stand together. They are opposite in meaning. How does a soul become dead? The border between the deceased working people and the merchant bursting with health is lost and blurred. Why couldn't they find another name? For example, people (person) without a soul, revision soul, human trafficking? It was possible to hide the essence of the protagonist's deal with the title about the wandering of an official.

As soon as an official, a bureaucrat, was born, crimes based on documents began. “Paper” souls are skillfully sophisticated in order to enrich themselves. Even from audit lists they manage to find benefits. Chichikov is a bright representative of such people. He planned to pass off the men who had died in another world as living ones, to raise his social position with their help, and to appear in the world as a rich landowner with many souls. And no one will know what they are, dead or no longer alive.

Dead masters of life

The figurative meaning of the title of the poem is difficult for the thoughtful reader. Physically, all the landowners look alive and strong. Death and disease do not hover around them. Sobakevich never experienced any illness. Nozdryov drinks more than men, but his body exudes health, and his face is like “blood and milk.” Manilov enjoys the view of nature, flies away, dreaming, above Moscow. Korobochka quickly sells everything her serfs make. Plyushkin drags into the house what he can lift. None of them can be imagined dead. But the author seeks to convey a different meaning. The landowners are dead at heart. The contradiction raises a lot of questions: a living person is a dead essence. What's left of man? Why can’t he be considered ordinary, lively, passionate and active?

All that remains of the human image is the form, the shell. Landowners fulfill their physiological needs: eat, sleep, roam. There is no such thing as what a living person should do. There is no development, movement, desire to benefit others.

Literary scholars argued with the author’s position. Some tried to prove the vitality of the characters by the presence of passion, which can only be found in the living. Greed, greed, rudeness, cunning - negative qualities confirm the lack of spirituality, but not the deadness of the representatives of the landowners.

The majority agreed with the classic. The landowners are arranged in order of increasing degradation: from the initial stage (Manilov) to the complete collapse of personality (Plyushkin).

Living images

Russian men stand out in other ways; they are the living souls in the poem “Dead Souls.” Even the landowners recognize them as living. The serfs did so much good for them that the merchants felt sorry for the dead. Pity, of course, is built on greed: there is no income. They even want to sell the dead at a higher price. Each peasant on Chichikov’s list has his own craft, talent and favorite thing. Gogol believes in the future of Russia with such a people. He hopes that the landowners will begin to transform and be reborn. The troika bird takes Rus' away from slavery and poverty to another world, free, beautiful nature, flight.

PRISONER

Open the prison for me,
Give me the shine of the day
The black-eyed girl
Black-maned horse.
I'm a beauty when I'm younger
First I will kiss you sweetly,
Then I’ll jump on the horse,
I'll fly away to the steppe like the wind.

But the prison window is high,
The door is heavy with a lock;
Black-eyed is far away,
In his magnificent mansion;
Good horse in a green field
Without a bridle, alone, by will
Jumps, cheerful and playful,
Spreading its tail in the wind...

I am alone - there is no joy:
The walls are bare all around,
The ray of the lamp shines dimly
By dying fire;
Only audible: behind the doors
Sound-measured steps
Walks in the silence of the night
Unresponsive sentry.

Ticket No. 6Composition of the novel “A Hero of Our Time”

The novel was created in 1838-1840. The novel is based on Caucasian memories received during 1 exile to the Caucasus (1837). The theme is the depiction of the fate of a contemporary. The novel lacks chronological sequence. The plot and plot of the novel do not coincide.

The main task facing M. Yu. Lermontov when creating the novel “A Hero of Our Time” was to paint the image of his contemporary, “as he understands him and... often met him.” This man is thinking, feeling, talented, but unable to find a worthy use for his “immense powers.” The novel consists of five parts, the action of which takes place at different times and in different places. The characters change, the narrators on whose behalf the story is told change. With the help of this creative technique, the author manages to give a versatile characterization to his main character. V. G. Belinsky called this composition of the novel “five paintings inserted into one frame.”
If we consider the causal-temporal sequence of the novel’s action (plot), we will see it like this: A young officer goes to the Caucasus on business. On the way he stops in Taman. There he meets with smugglers, they rob him and even try to drown him. (The story “Taman”.)
Arriving in Pyatigorsk, the hero encounters a “water society”. An intrigue ensues, which serves as a pretext for a duel. For participating in a duel in which Grushnitsky dies, Pechorin is sent to serve in the fortress. (“Princess Mary.”)
While serving in the fortress, Pechorin persuades Azamat to steal Bela for him. When Azamat brings his sister, Pechorin helps him steal Karagez, Kazbich’s horse. Kazbich kills Bela. (The story “Bela”.)
“Once it happened (Pechorin) to live for two weeks in a Cossack village.” Here the hero tests in practice the theory of predestination and fate. At the risk of his life, he disarms a drunken Cossack, who shortly before killed a man. (The story “Fatalist”.)
Having experienced a lot, having lost faith in everything, Pechorin goes traveling and dies on the road. (The story “Maksim Maksimych”.)
In an effort to reveal the hero's inner world, the author refuses the eventual order of presentation. The plot of the novel disrupts the chronological course of events. The stories are arranged in the following order: “Bela”, “Maksim Maksimych”, “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist”.
This construction of the novel allows us to gradually introduce the reader to the hero and his inner world.
In “Bel” we see Pechorin through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, an old officer. This is a rather superficial description of the character of the hero: “He was a nice guy... just a little strange. After all, for example, in the rain, in the cold, hunting all day; everyone will be cold and tired - but nothing to him. And another time he sits in his room, smells the wind, assures him that he has a cold; the shutter knocks, he shudders and turns pale; and with me he went to the wild boar one on one...”
In “Maxim Maksimych” Pechorin is described by a passing officer, a man who is close to Pechorin in his cultural level. Here we see a fairly detailed portrait with some psychological observations. The portrait takes up one and a half pages of text. Here the author drew the figure, gait, clothes, hands, hair, skin, facial features. He pays special attention to the description of the hero’s eyes: “...they did not laugh when he laughed!.. This is a sign of either an evil disposition or deep constant sadness. Because of their half-lowered eyelashes, they shone with some kind of phosphorescent shine... It was not a reflection of the heat of the soul or the playing imagination: it was a shine, similar to the shine of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold...” The portrait is so eloquent that before us a visible image of a man who has experienced a lot and is devastated appears.
The remaining three stories are told in the first person. The author simply publishes Pechorin's journal, that is, his diaries. In them, the character of the hero is given in development.
The diaries begin in Taman, where the hero, still very young, experiences a romantic adventure. He is full of life, trusting, curious, thirsty for adventure._
In “Princess Mary” we meet a person capable of introspection. Here Pechorin characterizes himself, he explains how his bad qualities were formed: “... this has been my fate since childhood! Everyone read on my face signs of bad qualities that were not there; but they were assumed - and they were born... I became secretive... I became vindictive... I became envious... I learned to hate... I began to deceive... I became a moral cripple...”
The night before the duel, Pechorin asks himself: “Why did I live? for what purpose was I born?... And, it’s true, it existed, and, it’s true, I had a high purpose, because I feel immense strength in my soul...” This is an understanding of one’s purpose in life a few hours before possible death is the culmination of not only the story “Princess Mary”, but also the entire novel “A Hero of Our Time”. In “Princess Mary,” the author, perhaps for the first time in Russian literature, gave the deepest psychological portrait of his hero.
The story “Fatalist” bears the stamp of Lermontov’s philosophical reflection on fate. His hero is painfully searching for the answer to the question: is it possible to change fate? He's testing his luck. No one ordered him to disarm the killer, and it was none of his business. But he wants to check whether anything depends on the person? If today he is destined to remain alive, then he will remain alive. And nothing can change this predestination. Therefore, he undertakes a deadly experiment and remains alive.
Thus, the arrangement of the stories in the novel not in chronological order made it possible for the author to more deeply reveal the personality of his hero. In general, “A Hero of Our Time” is a socio-psychological novel. However, the parts of which it consists, in accordance with the socio-psychological tasks facing the author, gravitate towards a variety of genres. Thus, “Bela” can be called a romantic story, “Maxim Maksimych” - a travel essay, “Taman” - an adventure story, “Princess Mary” - a lyrical diary, “Fatalist” - a philosophical short story.
So, in “A Hero of Our Time,” composition is one of the most active elements in recreating the history of the human soul. The principle of chronological sequence is replaced by the psychological sequence of “recognition” of the hero by the reader.

Ticket No. 7Moral problems in the novel “A Hero of Our Time”

The novel “A Hero of Our Time” is the first realistic novel with deep philosophical content in the history of Russian literature. In the preface to the novel, Lermontov writes that his novel is a portrait “not of one person, but a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation in their full development.”
Pechorin lived in the first years after the defeat of the December uprising. These were difficult years for Russia. The best people were executed, exiled to the Siberian mines, others renounced their free-thinking ideas. In order to maintain faith in the future, to find the strength for active work in the name of the coming triumph of freedom, one had to have a noble heart, one had to be able to see real ways of struggle and serving the truth.
The overwhelming majority of thinking people in the 30s of the 19th century were precisely those who were unable or did not yet have time to gain this clarity of purpose, to give their strength to the struggle, from whom the ingrained order of life took away faith in the expediency of serving good, faith in its future triumph. The dominant type of the era was that type of human personality that is known in the history of Russian social thought under the bitter name of the superfluous person.
Pechorin entirely belongs to this type. Before us is a young twenty-five-year-old man, suffering from his restlessness, in despair asking himself the question: “Why did I live, for what purpose was I born?” Pechorin is not an ordinary representative of the secular aristocracy. He stands out from the people around him with his originality. He knows how to critically approach any event, any person. He gives clear and precise characteristics to people. He quickly and correctly understood Grushnitsky, Princess Mary, and Doctor Werner. Pechorin is brave, has great endurance and willpower. He is the only one who rushes into the hut, where Vulich’s killer sits with a pistol, ready to kill the first one who enters him. He does not reveal his excitement when he stands under Grushnitsky’s pistol.
Pechorin is an officer. He serves, but is not cured. And when he says: “My ambition is suppressed by circumstances,” it is not difficult to understand what he means: many were just making a career in those years, and “circumstances” did not at all prevent them from doing so.
Pechorin has an active soul, requiring will and movement. He prefers to expose his forehead to Chechen bullets over an inactive life, seeking oblivion in risky adventures and changing places, but all this is just an attempt to somehow dissipate, to forget about the huge emptiness that oppresses him. He is haunted by boredom and the consciousness that living like this is hardly “worth the trouble.”
In Pechorin, nothing betrays the presence of any public interests. The spirit of skepticism, disbelief, denial, which is sharply reflected in Pechorin’s entire internal make-up, in the cruel coldness of his merciless aphorisms, speaks for itself. And it is not without reason that the hero often repeats that he is “not capable of making great sacrifices for the good of humanity,” that he is accustomed to “doubting everything.”
The main spring of Pechorin’s actions is individualism. He goes through life without sacrificing anything for others, even for those he loves: he also loves only “for himself,” for his own pleasure. Lermontov reveals Pechorin's individualism and examines not only his psychology, but also the ideological foundations of his life. Pechorin is a true product of his time, a time of search and doubt. He is in constant duality of spirit, the stamp of constant introspection lies on his every step. “There are two people in me: one lives in the full sense of the word, the other thinks and judges it,” says Pechorin.
For Pechorin there are no social ideals. What moral principles does he follow? “Of two friends, one is always the slave of the other,” he says. Hence his inability for true friendship and love. He is a selfish and indifferent person, looking “at the sufferings and joys of others only in relation to himself.” Pechorin considers himself the creator of his destiny and his only judge. He constantly reports to his conscience; he analyzes his actions, trying to penetrate into the origins of “good and evil.”
With the life story of Pechorin, Lermontov shows that the path of individualism is contrary to human nature and its needs.
A person begins to find true joys and true fullness of life only where relations between people are built according to the laws of goodness, nobility, justice, and humanism.

Ticket No. 8Features of the genre and composition of the poem “Dead Souls”

Gogol had long dreamed of writing a work “in which all of Rus' would appear.” This was supposed to be a grandiose description of the life and customs of Russia in the first third of the 19th century. Such a work was the poem “Dead Souls,” written in 1842. The first edition of the work was called “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.” This name reduced the true meaning of this work and transferred it into the realm of an adventure novel. Gogol did this for censorship reasons, in order for the poem to be published.

Why did Gogol call his work a poem? The definition of the genre became clear to the writer only at the last moment, since, while still working on the poem, Gogol called it either a poem or a novel. To understand the features of the genre of the poem "Dead Souls", you can compare this work with the "Divine Comedy" of Dante, a poet of the Renaissance. Its influence is felt in Gogol's poem. The Divine Comedy consists of three parts. In the first part, the shadow of the ancient Roman poet Virgil appears to the poet, which accompanies the lyrical hero to hell, they go through all the circles, a whole gallery of sinners passes before their eyes. The fantastic nature of the plot does not prevent Dante from revealing the theme of his homeland Italy, its fate. In fact, Gogol planned to show the same circles of hell, but hell in Russia. It is not for nothing that the title of the poem “Dead Souls” ideologically echoes the title of the first part of Dante’s poem “The Divine Comedy,” which is called “Hell.” Gogol, along with satirical negation, introduces an element of glorifying, creative image of Russia. Associated with this image is the “high lyrical movement”, which in the poem at times replaces the comic narrative.

A significant place in the poem “Dead Souls” is occupied by lyrical digressions and inserted episodes, which is characteristic of the poem as a literary genre. In them, Gogol touches on the most pressing Russian social issues. The author's thoughts about the high purpose of man, about the fate of the Motherland and the people are here contrasted with gloomy pictures of Russian life.

So, let's go for the hero of the poem "Dead Souls" Chichikov to N.

From the very first pages of the work, we feel the fascination of the plot, since the reader cannot assume that after Chichikov’s meeting with Manilov there will be meetings with Sobakevich and Nozdrev. The reader cannot guess the end of the poem, because all its characters are derived according to the principle of gradation: one is worse than the other. For example, Manilov, if considered as a separate image, cannot be perceived as a positive hero (on his table there is a book open on the same page, and his politeness is feigned: “Let us not allow you to do this >>), but in comparison with Plyushkin, Manilov even wins in many ways. However, Gogol put the image of Korobochka in the center of attention, since she is a kind of unified beginning of all characters. According to Gogol, this is a symbol of the “box man”, which contains the idea of ​​​​an irrepressible thirst for hoarding.

The theme of exposing officialdom runs through all of Gogol’s work: it stands out both in the collection “Mirgorod” and in the comedy “The Inspector General”. In the poem “Dead Souls” it is intertwined with the theme of serfdom. “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” occupies a special place in the poem. It is plot-related to the poem, but is of great importance for revealing the ideological content of the work. The form of the tale gives the story a vital character: it denounces the government.

The world of “dead souls” in the poem is contrasted with the lyrical image of folk Russia, which Gogol writes about with love and admiration.

Behind the terrible world of landowner and bureaucratic Russia, Gogol felt the soul of the Russian people, which he expressed in the image of a quickly rushing forward troika, embodying the forces of Russia: “Aren’t you, Rus', like a brisk, unstoppable troika rushing?” So, we settled on what Gogol depicts in his work. He depicts the social disease of society, but we should also dwell on how Gogol manages to do this.

Firstly, Gogol uses social typification techniques. In depicting the gallery of landowners, he skillfully combines the general and the individual. Almost all of his characters are static, they do not develop (except for Plyushkin and Chichikov), and are captured by the author as a result. This technique emphasizes once again that all these Manilovs, Korobochki, Sobakevichs, Plyushkins are dead souls. To characterize his characters, Gogol also uses his favorite technique of characterizing a character through detail. Gogol can be called a “genius of detail,” as sometimes details accurately reflect the character and inner world of a character. What is it worth, for example, the description of Manilov’s estate and house! When Chichikov drove into Manilov's estate, he drew attention to the overgrown English pond, to the rickety gazebo, to the dirt and desolation, to the wallpaper in Manilov's room, either gray or blue, to two chairs covered with matting, which his hands never reached at the owner's. All these and many other details lead us to the main characteristic made by the author himself: “Neither this nor that, but the devil knows what it is!” Let us remember Plyushkin, this “hole in humanity,” who even lost his gender.

He comes out to Chichikov in a greasy robe, some kind of incredible scarf on his head, desolation, dirt, disrepair everywhere. Plyushkin is an extreme degree of degradation. And all this is conveyed through detail, through those little things in life that A. page Pushkin so admired: “Not a single writer has ever had this gift to expose the vulgarity of life so clearly, to be able to outline in such force the vulgarity of a vulgar person, so that all that little thing, which escapes the eye, would flash large in the eyes of everyone."

The main theme of the poem is the fate of Russia: its past, present and future. In the first volume, Gogol revealed the theme of the past of his homeland. The second and third volumes he conceived were supposed to tell about the present and future of Russia. This idea can be compared with the second and third parts of Dante’s Divine Comedy: “Purgatory” and “Paradise”. However, these plans were not destined to come true: the second volume turned out to be unsuccessful in concept, and the third was never written. Therefore, Chichikov’s trip remained a trip into the unknown.

Gogol was at a loss, thinking about the future of Russia: “Rus, where are you going? Give me an answer! He doesn’t give an answer.”

Ticket No. 9Souls dead and alive. Dead Souls

Who are the “dead souls” in the poem?

“Dead souls” - this title carries something terrifying... It’s not the revisionists who are dead souls, but all these Nozdryovs, Manilovs and others - these are dead souls and we meet them at every step,” wrote Herzen.

In this meaning, the expression “dead souls” is no longer addressed to peasants - living and dead - but to the masters of life, landowners and officials. And its meaning is metaphorical, figurative. After all, physically, materially, “all these Nozdryovs, Manilovs and others” exist and, for the most part, are thriving. What could be more certain than the bear-like Sobakevich? Or Nozdryov, about whom it is said: “He was like blood and milk; his health seemed to be dripping from his face.” But physical existence is not yet human life. Vegetative existence is far from real spiritual movements. “Dead souls” in this case mean deadness, lack of spirituality. And this lack of spirituality manifests itself in at least two ways. First of all, it is the absence of any interests or passions. Remember what they say about Manilov? “You won’t get any lively or even arrogant words from him, which you can hear from almost anyone if you touch an object that offends him. Everyone has their own, but Manilov had nothing. Most hobbies or passions cannot be called high or noble. But Manilov did not have such passion. He had nothing of his own at all. And the main impression that Manilov made on his interlocutor was a feeling of uncertainty and “deadly boredom.”

Other characters - landowners and officials - are not nearly as dispassionate. For example, Nozdryov and Plyushkin have their own passions. Chichikov also has his own “enthusiasm” - the enthusiasm of “acquisition”. And many other characters have their own “bullying object”, which sets in motion a wide variety of passions: greed, ambition, curiosity, and so on.

This means that in this regard, “dead souls” are dead in different ways, to different degrees and, so to speak, in different doses. But in another respect they are equally deadly, without distinction or exception.

Dead soul! This phenomenon seems contradictory in itself, composed of mutually exclusive concepts. Can there be a dead soul, a dead person, that is, something that is by nature animate and spiritual? Can't live, shouldn't exist. But it exists.

What remains of life is a certain form, of a person - a shell, which, however, regularly performs vital functions. And here another meaning of the Gogol image of “dead souls” is revealed to us: revision dead souls, that is, a symbol for dead peasants. The revision's dead souls are concrete, reviving faces of peasants who are treated as if they were not people. And the dead in spirit are all these Manilovs, Nozdrevs, landowners and officials, a dead form, a soulless system of human relationships...

All these are facets of one Gogol concept - “dead souls”, artistically realized in his poem. And the facets are not isolated, but make up a single, infinitely deep image.

Following his hero, Chichikov, moving from one place to another, the writer does not give up hope of finding people who would carry within themselves the beginning of a new life and rebirth. The goals that Gogol and his hero set for themselves are directly opposite in this regard. Chichikov is interested in dead souls in the literal and figurative sense of the word - revision dead souls and people dead in spirit. And Gogol is looking for a living soul in which the spark of humanity and justice burns.