Description of living souls in the poem dead souls. "Dead Souls" in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls. Lack of real life

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Municipal educational institution

Literature abstract on the topic:

“Dead and living souls in the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls"

Novocherkassk

1. The history of the creation of the poem "Dead Souls"

2. Dead and living souls in the poem by N.V. Gogol "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 the work of Gogol

4. Journey to Meaning

Bibliography

1. The history of the creation of the poem "Dead Souls"

There are writers who easily and freely invent the plots of their writings. Gogol was not one of them. He was painfully uninventive on plots. With the greatest difficulty, the idea of ​​each work was given to him. He always needed an external push to inspire his imagination. Contemporaries tell how eagerly Gogol listened to various everyday stories, anecdotes picked up on the street, and there were also fables. I listened professionally, like a writer, memorizing every characteristic detail. Years passed, and another of these accidentally heard stories came to life in his works. For Gogol, P.V. Annenkov, "nothing was wasted."

The plot of "Dead Souls" Gogol, as you know, was obliged 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 dead peasants from the landlords in order to pledge them, as if they were alive, in the Board of Trustees and receive a hefty loan against them.

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

The history of fraudulent tricks with dead souls could become known to Pushkin during his exile in Kishinev. 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 fees. Local authorities obstructed the resettlement of these peasants. They were pursued. But all measures were in vain. Fleeing from pursuers, fugitive peasants often took the names of dead serfs. They say that during Pushkin's stay in Chisinau exile, a rumor spread throughout Bessarabia that the city of Bendery was immortal, and the population of this city was called "an immortal society." No deaths have been recorded there for many years. An investigation has begun. It turned out that in Bendery it was accepted as a rule: the dead "do 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 grain of the plot, which, almost a decade and a half after the Kishinev exile, was retold by the poet Gogol.

It should be noted that Chichikov's idea was by no means such a rarity in life itself. Frauds with "revision souls" were a fairly common thing in those days. It can be safely assumed that not only one specific case formed the basis of Gogol's design.

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. Serfdom reality created very favorable conditions for such adventures.

By decree of 1718, the so-called household census was replaced by a poll. From now on, all male serfs, "from the oldest to the very last baby", were subject to taxation. Dead souls (dead or fugitive peasants) became a burden for the landlords, who naturally dreamed of getting rid of it. And this created a psychological prerequisite for all kinds of fraud. Some dead souls were a burden, others felt the need for them, hoping to benefit from fraudulent transactions. It was precisely on this that Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov relied. 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 Gogol's works are based on an absurd anecdote, an exceptional case, an emergency. And the more anecdotal and extreme the outer shell of the plot seems, the brighter, more reliable, more typical the real picture of life appears before us. Here is one of the peculiar features of the art of a talented writer.

Gogol began working on Dead Souls in the middle of 1835, that is, even earlier than on The Inspector General. On October 7, 1835, he tells Pushkin that he wrote three chapters of Dead Souls. But the new thing has not yet captured Nikolai Vasilyevich. He wants to write comedy. And only after the "Inspector General", already abroad, Gogol really takes on "Dead Souls".

In the autumn of 1839, circumstances forced Gogol to make a trip 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 again comes to Russia with the intention of publishing his work - the result of six years of hard work.

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

Golokhvastov was explained that they were talking about revision souls, but he became even more furious: “This can’t be allowed even more… it means against serfdom!” Then the members of the committee picked up: "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 doesn’t justify him, but he put him out now, and others will go to take an example and buy dead souls ...”

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

In December 1841, Belinsky was visiting Moscow. Gogol turned to him with a request to take the manuscript with him to St. Petersburg and assist in its speedy passage through the St. Petersburg censorship authorities. The critic willingly agreed to fulfill this order, and on May 21, 1842, with some censorship corrections, The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls went out of print.

The plot of "Dead Souls" consists of three externally closed, but internally very interconnected links: landowners, city officials and Chichikov's biography. Each of these links helps to reveal Gogol's ideological and artistic conception in more detail and depth.

2. Dead and living souls in the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls"

2.1 The purpose of Chichikov's life. father's testament

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

“... It is known that Chichikov was not too fat, not too thin; that, according to some, he even looked like Napoleon, that he possessed the remarkable ability to talk to everyone as an expert on what he talked pleasantly about. Chichikov's goal in communication was to make the most favorable impression, to win over and inspire confidence in himself. It is also known that Pavel Ivanovich has a special charm, with which he overcame two catastrophes that would have knocked someone else down forever. But the main thing that characterizes Chichikov is his passionate desire for acquisition. To become, as they say, “a person with weight in society”, being a “person of dignity”, without a clan or tribe, who rushes like “some kind of barque among the ferocious waves” - this is Chichikov’s main task. To get a solid place in life for oneself, regardless of anyone's or any interest, public or private - this is what Chichikov's end-to-end action is.

And everything that did not respond with wealth and contentment made an impression on him, incomprehensible to himself, - Gogol writes about him. His father's admonition - "take care and save a penny" - went to him for the future. He was not possessed by stinginess or stinginess. No, he imagined a life ahead of him with all sorts of prosperity: carriages, a house perfectly arranged, delicious dinners.

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

... Chichikov comes to poison. There is evil that rolls across Russia, like Chichikov on a troika. What is this evil? It is revealed in each in its own way. Each of those with whom he conducts 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, revealing in all of them a common life and social way of life ... "

2.2 What are "dead souls"?

The primary meaning of the expression "dead souls" is as follows: these are dead peasants who are still on the revision 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 arrange the purchase and sale accordingly, as if the subject of the transaction are living people. Gogol shows with his own eyes that in Russia the law of the sale of living goods rules, and that such a situation is natural and normal.

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

True, one may recall that Chichikov does not buy living people, that the subject of his deal are the peasants who have died. However, Gogol's irony hides 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, observing the same formal and legal norms. Only at the same time, Chichikov expects to give a much lower price - well, as if for a product of lower quality, stale or spoiled.

"Dead Souls" - this capacious Gogol formula begins to fill with its deep, changing meaning. That is the conventional designation of the deceased, the phrase, behind which there is no person. Then this formula comes to life - and real peasants stand behind it, whom the landlord has the power to sell or buy, specific people.

The ambiguity of meaning is already hidden in Gogol's phrase itself. If Gogol wanted to emphasize a single meaning, then he would most likely take the expression "revision soul". But the writer deliberately put in the title of the poem the phrase unusual, bold, not found in everyday speech.

2.3 Who are the "dead souls" in the poem?

“Dead Souls” - this title carries something terrifying in itself ... Not revisionists - dead souls, but all these Nozdrevs, Manilovs and others - these are dead souls and we meet them at every step, ”wrote Herzen.

In this meaning, the expression "dead souls" is no longer addressed to the peasants - living and dead - but to the masters of life, landowners and officials. And its meaning is metaphorical, figurative. After all, physically, financially, “all these Nozdrevs, Manilovs and others” exist and for the most part flourish. What can be more certain than the bear-like Sobakevich? Or Nozdryov, about whom it is said: “He was like blood with milk; health seemed to spurt from his face. But physical existence is not yet human life. Vegetative existence is far from true 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, passions. Remember what is said about Manilov? “You won’t expect any lively or even arrogant words from him, which you can hear from almost anyone if you touch the subject that bullies him. Everyone has his own, but Manilov had nothing. Most hobbies or passions cannot be called high or noble. But Manilov did not have such passion either. He didn't have anything at all. And the main impression that Manilov made on his interlocutor was a feeling of uncertainty and "mortal boredom."

Other characters - landowners and officials - are far from being so impassive. For example, Nozdrev 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", setting in motion a wide variety of passions: greed, ambition, curiosity, and so on.

So, in this respect, "dead souls" are dead in different ways, to different degrees and, so to speak, in different doses. But in another respect they are dead in the same way, 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 its nature animate and spiritual? Can't live, shouldn't exist. But it exists.

A certain form remains from life, from a person - a shell, which, however, regularly sends vital functions. And here another meaning of Gogol's image of "dead souls" is revealed to us: the revision dead souls, that is, the conventional designation of dead peasants. Revision dead souls are concrete, reviving faces of peasants who are treated as if they were not people. And the dead in spirit - 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 leaves no hope of finding such people who would carry the beginning of a new life and rebirth. The goals that Gogol and his hero set for themselves are diametrically opposed in this respect. Chichikov is interested in dead souls in the literal and figurative sense of the word - dead souls of the revision and people who are dead in spirit. And Gogol is looking for a living soul in which a spark of humanity and justice burns.

2.4 Who are the "living souls" in the poem?

The "dead souls" of the poem are opposed to the "living" people - 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 stupidity and savagery that were the result of serfdom. Such are Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyay, the serf girl Pelageya, who did not distinguish between right and left, Plyushkin's Proshka and Mavra, beaten to the extreme. But even in this social depression, Gogol saw the living soul of the “brisk people” and the quickness of the Yaroslavl peasant. He speaks with admiration and love of the ability of the people, courage and prowess, endurance and thirst for freedom. Fortress hero, carpenter Cork "would fit into the guard." He walked with an ax in his belt and boots on his shoulders all over the provinces. The carriage maker Mikhey created carriages of extraordinary strength and beauty. The stove maker Milushkin could put a stove in any house. Talented shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov - "what pricks with an awl, then boots, that boots, then thanks." And Yeremey Sorokoplekhin “brought five hundred rubles a quitrent!” Here is Plyushkin's fugitive serf Abakum Fyrov. His soul could not stand the yoke of bondage, he was drawn to the wide expanse of the Volga, he "walks noisily and cheerfully on the grain pier, having contracted with merchants." But it is not easy for him to walk with barge haulers, "dragling a strap under one endless song, like Russia." In the songs of barge haulers, Gogol heard an expression of longing and the desire of the people for a different life, for a wonderful future. Behind the bark of lack of spirituality, callousness, carrion, the living forces of people's life are fighting - and here and there they make their way to the surface in the living Russian word, in the fun of barge haulers, in the movement of Russia-troika - the key to the future revival of the motherland.

An ardent faith in the hidden until the time, but the immense strength of the whole people, love for the motherland, allowed Gogol to brilliantly foresee its great future.

3. The second volume of "Dead Souls" - a crisis in the work of Gogol

"Dead souls," Herzen testifies, "shook the whole of Russia." He himself, having read them in 1842, wrote in his diary: "... an amazing book, a bitter reproach of modern Russia, but not hopeless."

Severnaya Pchela, a newspaper published at the expense of the III Department of the personal office of Nicholas I, accused Gogol of depicting some special world of scoundrels that never existed and could not exist. Critics criticized the writer for a one-sided depiction of reality.

But the landowners betrayed themselves. A contemporary of Gogol, the poet Yazykov, wrote to his relatives from Moscow: “Gogol receives news from everywhere that he is strongly scolded by Russian landowners; here is clear proof that their portraits were written off by him correctly and that the originals were hurt to the quick! Such is the talent! Many before Gogol described the life of the Russian nobility, but no one angered him as much as he did.

Violent controversy boiled over Dead Souls. They solved, in the words of Belinsky, "a question as much literary as social." The famous critic, however, very sensitively caught the dangers that awaited Gogol in the future, when he fulfilled his promises to continue Dead Souls and show Russia already "from the other side." Gogol did not understand that his poem was finished, that "all Russia" was outlined, and that another work would turn out (if it turned out).

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

Work on the second volume was slow, and the further, the more difficult. In July 1845, Gogol burned what he had written. Here is how Gogol himself explained a year later why the second volume was burned: “Bringing out several excellent characters that reveal the high nobility of our breed will lead to nothing. It will arouse only one empty pride and boasting ... No, there is a time when it is impossible to direct society or even the whole generation to the beautiful in another way, until you show the full depth of real abomination; there is a time when one should not even talk about the lofty and beautiful, without immediately showing clearly ... the ways and roads to it. The last circumstance was little and poorly developed in the second volume, and it should be almost the main thing; and therefore he was burned ... "

Gogol, thus, saw the collapse of his plan as a whole. It seems to him at that time that in the first volume of Dead Souls he depicted not the real types of landlords 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. It was a rejection of the former Gogol, which caused indignation both of the writer's close friends and of all progressive Russia.

In order to more fully understand Gogol's spiritual drama, one must also take into account 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 - in France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Prussia - with a revolutionary explosion in 1848. Gogol perceives them as general chaos, the triumph of a blind, destructive element.

Messages from Russia brought Gogol into even more confusion. Peasant unrest, the aggravation of the political struggle increase the confusion of the writer. Fears for the future of Russia inspire Gogol with the idea of ​​the need to save 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 nationwide unity and prosperity. Was he able to overcome the crisis, and to what extent did this crisis affect Gogol the artist? Would the work see the light of day better than The Inspector General or Dead Souls?

The contents of the second volume can only be judged by the surviving drafts and the stories of the memoirists. N. G. Chernyshevsky’s review is known: “In the surviving passages there are a lot of such pages that should be ranked among the best that Gogol has ever given us, which delight with their artistic merit and, more importantly, truthfulness and strength. ..”

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

4. Journey to Meaning

Each subsequent era in a new way opens up classical creations and such facets in them, which are in one way or another consonant with its own problems. Contemporaries wrote about "Dead Souls" that they "woke up Russia" and "awakened in us the consciousness of ourselves." And now the Manilovs and Plyushkins, Nozdrevs and Chichikovs have not yet died out in the world. They, of course, became different than they were in those days, but they did not lose their essence. Each new generation discovered in Gogol's images new generalizations that prompted reflection on the most essential phenomena of life.

Such is the fate of great works of art, they outlive their creators and their era, overcome national borders and become the eternal companions of mankind.

"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 understanding of it exhausted. Reading "Dead Souls", you absorb the noble moral ideas that every brilliant work of art carries in yourself, and imperceptibly for yourself you become both purer and more beautiful.

In Gogol's time, the word "invention" was often used in literary criticism and art history. Now we refer this word to products of technical, engineering thought, but before it also meant artistic, 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 recall 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: it does not need to meet anyone, you do not need to move at all. You can go after the literary hero, and make in your imagination the path that he went through. All you need is time, a book, and a 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, a secret solved, 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

goldeneye dead soul chichikov

1. Mann Yu. "Courage of invention" - 2nd ed., Supplementary - M .: Det. lit., 1989. 142 p.

2. Mashinsky S. "Dead Souls" by Gogol "- 2nd ed., Supplemented - M .: Khudozh. Lit., 1980. 117 p.

3. Chernyshevsky N.G. Essays on the Gogol period of Russian literature.- Full. Sobr. cit., v.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" - Poln. coll. 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:

“Dead and living souls in the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls"

Novocherkassk

1. The history of the creation of the poem "Dead Souls"

2. Dead and living souls in the poem by N.V. Gogol "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 the work of Gogol

4. Journey to Meaning

Bibliography

1. The history of the creation of the poem "Dead Souls"

There are writers who easily and freely invent the plots of their writings. Gogol was not one of them. He was painfully uninventive on plots. With the greatest difficulty, the idea of ​​each work was given to him. He always needed an external push to inspire his imagination. Contemporaries tell how eagerly Gogol listened to various everyday stories, anecdotes picked up on the street, and there were also fables. I listened professionally, like a writer, memorizing every characteristic detail. Years passed, and another of these accidentally heard stories came to life in his works. For Gogol, P.V. Annenkov, "nothing was wasted."

The plot of "Dead Souls" Gogol, as you know, was obliged 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 dead peasants from the landlords in order to pledge them, as if they were alive, in the Board of Trustees and receive a hefty loan against them.

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

The history of fraudulent tricks with dead souls could become known to Pushkin during his exile in Kishinev. 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 fees. Local authorities obstructed the resettlement of these peasants. They were pursued. But all measures were in vain. Fleeing from pursuers, fugitive peasants often took the names of dead serfs. They say that during Pushkin's stay in Chisinau exile, a rumor spread throughout Bessarabia that the city of Bendery was immortal, and the population of this city was called "an immortal society." No deaths have been recorded there for many years. An investigation has begun. It turned out that in Bendery it was accepted as a rule: the dead "do 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 grain of the plot, which, almost a decade and a half after the Kishinev exile, was retold by the poet Gogol.

It should be noted that Chichikov's idea was by no means such a rarity in life itself. Frauds with "revision souls" were a fairly common thing in those days. It can be safely assumed that not only one specific case formed the basis of Gogol's design.

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. Serfdom reality created very favorable conditions for such adventures.

By decree of 1718, the so-called household census was replaced by a poll. From now on, all male serfs, "from the oldest to the very last baby", were subject to taxation. Dead souls (dead or fugitive peasants) became a burden for the landlords, who naturally dreamed of getting rid of it. And this created a psychological prerequisite for all kinds of fraud. Some dead souls were a burden, others felt the need for them, hoping to benefit from fraudulent transactions. It was precisely on this that Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov relied. 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 Gogol's works are based on an absurd anecdote, an exceptional case, an emergency. And the more anecdotal and extreme the outer shell of the plot seems, the brighter, more reliable, more typical the real picture of life appears before us. Here is one of the peculiar features of the art of a talented writer.

Gogol began working on Dead Souls in the middle of 1835, that is, even earlier than on The Inspector General. On October 7, 1835, he tells Pushkin that he wrote three chapters of Dead Souls. But the new thing has not yet captured Nikolai Vasilyevich. He wants to write comedy. And only after the "Inspector General", already abroad, Gogol really takes on "Dead Souls".

In the autumn of 1839, circumstances forced Gogol to make a trip 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 again comes to Russia with the intention of publishing his work - the result of six years of hard work.

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

Golokhvastov was explained that they were talking about revision souls, but he became even more furious: “This can’t be allowed even more… it means against serfdom!” Then the members of the committee picked up: "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 doesn’t justify him, but he put him out now, and others will go to take an example and buy dead souls ...”

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

In December 1841, Belinsky was visiting Moscow. Gogol turned to him with a request to take the manuscript with him to St. Petersburg and assist in its speedy passage through the St. Petersburg censorship authorities. The critic willingly agreed to fulfill this order, and on May 21, 1842, with some censorship corrections, The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls went out of print.

The plot of "Dead Souls" consists of three externally closed, but internally very interconnected links: landowners, city officials and Chichikov's biography. Each of these links helps to reveal Gogol's ideological and artistic conception in more detail and depth.

2. Dead and living souls in the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls"

2.1 The purpose of Chichikov's life. father's testament

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

“... It is known that Chichikov was not too fat, not too thin; that, according to some, he even looked like Napoleon, that he possessed the remarkable ability to talk to everyone as an expert on what he talked pleasantly about. Chichikov's goal in communication was to make the most favorable impression, to win over and inspire confidence in himself. It is also known that Pavel Ivanovich has a special charm, with which he overcame two catastrophes that would have knocked someone else down forever. But the main thing that characterizes Chichikov is his passionate desire for acquisition. To become, as they say, “a person with weight in society”, being a “person of dignity”, without a clan or tribe, who rushes like “some kind of barque among the ferocious waves” - this is Chichikov’s main task. To get a solid place in life for oneself, regardless of anyone's or any interest, public or private - this is what Chichikov's end-to-end action is.

And everything that did not respond with wealth and contentment made an impression on him, incomprehensible to himself, - Gogol writes about him. His father's admonition - "take care and save a penny" - went to him for the future. He was not possessed by stinginess or stinginess. No, he imagined a life ahead of him with all sorts of prosperity: carriages, a house perfectly arranged, delicious dinners.

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

... Chichikov comes to poison. There is evil that rolls across Russia, like Chichikov on a troika. What is this evil? It is revealed in each in its own way. Each of those with whom he conducts 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, revealing in all of them a common life and social way of life ... "

2.2 What are "dead souls"?

The primary meaning of the expression "dead souls" is as follows: these are dead peasants who are still on the revision 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 arrange the purchase and sale accordingly, as if the subject of the transaction are living people. Gogol shows with his own eyes that in Russia the law of the sale of living goods rules, and that such a 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 already 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, reflecting the author's intention of the first volume of the poem "Dead Souls".

There is an opinion that Gogol decided 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 portray the rebirth 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, the chief of police, the prosecutor, and many others. All of these are static characters. They have always been what we see them now. “Nozdryov at thirty-five was just as perfect as at eighteen and twenty.” Gogol does not show any internal development of the landlords and residents of the city, 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 the landlords and officials with malicious irony, shows them funny, but at the same time very scary. After all, these are not people, but only a pale, ugly likeness of people. There is nothing human left in them. The deadly fossil of souls, absolute lack of spirituality is hidden both behind the measured life of the landowners and the convulsive activity of the city. Gogol wrote about the city of "Dead Souls": "The idea of ​​the city. Arising to the highest degree. Emptiness. Empty talk... Death strikes the untouched world. Meanwhile, the dead insensibility of life must appear to the reader 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 that which distinguishes a living person from a dead person. In the episode of the prosecutor’s death, those around him guessed that he “had definitely a soul” only when “only a soulless body” was left of him. But do all the characters in the real world of "Dead Souls" really have a dead soul? No, not everyone.

Of the "indigenous inhabitants" of the real world of the poem, paradoxically and strangely enough, only Plyushkin's soul is not quite dead yet. In literary criticism, there is an opinion that Chichikov visits the 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 referring first of all to the structure of the chapter devoted to Plyushkin and to the means of creating Plyushkin's character.

The chapter on Plyushkin begins with a lyrical digression, which was not the case when describing any landowner. A lyrical digression immediately sets the readers up 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 of them in Chapter VI), he expresses his bitterness from the realization of the extent 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 used to be like and how his soul gradually hardened and hardened. In the story of Plyushkin, we see a life tragedy. Therefore, the question arises whether the current state of Plyushkin is a degradation of the personality itself, or is it the result of a cruel fate? At the mention of a school friend, Plyushkin's face "slid some kind of warm ray, expressed not a feeling, but some kind of pale reflection of a feeling." So, 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 high-growing 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 the Plyushkin estate alone. Of all the landowners, only Plyushkin delivers 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 due to 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 to meet.

The second hero of the real world of the poem, who has a soul, is Chichikov. It is in Chichikovo that the unpredictability and inexhaustibility of a living soul is most strongly shown, even if God knows how rich, albeit impoverished, 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 an apostle who survived a spiritual upheaval. According to Gogol, Chichikov was 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 tell about the dead peasants, putting his thoughts into his mouth. It is Chichikov who resurrects the former heroes of the Russian land in the poem.

The images of the dead peasants in the poem are ideal. Gogol emphasizes in them fabulous, heroic features. All the biographies of the dead peasants are determined by the motive of movement passing through each of them (“Tea, all the provinces came with an ax in your belt ... Somewhere now your fast legs carry you? ... And you move yourself 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 before the reader in lyrical digressions, is the exact opposite of the real world. In an ideal world there are no Manilovs, Sobakeviches, Nozdrevs, prosecutors; there are no 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. Immortal human souls live in an ideal world. First of all, it is the soul of the narrator himself. Precisely because the narrator lives according to the laws of an ideal world and that he has an ideal in his heart, he can notice all the vileness and vulgarity of the real world. The narrator is heartbroken 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 the Chichikovskaya chaise becomes a symbol of the ever-living soul of the Russian people. It is the immortality of this soul that gives 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 wake up from a deadly sleep. This is the task of the first volume. Describing the terrible reality, Gogol draws 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 a revolution in the soul of a Russian person, he could not revive dead souls. This was the creative tragedy of Gogol, which grew into the tragedy of his whole life.

The purpose of the trip to the provincial cities of the enterprising Chichikov is to buy census souls, who are still on the lists of the living, but already dead. Dead and living souls in Gogol's poem take on a new meaning. The classic by the very title of the work makes one think about the life of people, the value and materiality of human existence.

Audit soul

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

As soon as an official, a bureaucrat, was born, crimes based on documents began. "Paper" little souls are skillfully contrived in order to enrich themselves. Even from audit lists they manage to find a benefit. Chichikov is a bright representative of such people. He planned to give the dead men to another world for the living, to raise his social position with their help, to appear in the world as a rich landowner with a large number of souls. And what they are, dead or no longer, no one will know.

Dead masters of life

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

From the human image, only the form, the shell remains. The landowners fulfill their physiological needs: they eat, sleep, roam. There is no thing that a living person should do. There is no development, movement, desire to benefit others.

Literary critics argued with the position of the author. Some tried to prove the vitality of the characters by the presence of a passion that only the living can have. Greed, greed, rudeness, cunning - negative qualities confirm the lack of spirituality, but not the deadness of the representatives of the landowners.

Most agreed with the classic. The landowners are lined up in ascending order of degradation: from the initial stage (Manilov) to the complete collapse of the personality (Plyushkin).

Living images

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

PRISONER

Open the dungeon for me
Give me the shine of the day
black eyed girl,
Black-maned horse.
I am young beauty
First kiss sweetly
Then I'll jump on a horse
In the steppe, like the wind, I will fly away.

But the prison window is high
The door is heavy with a lock;
Black eyed far away
In his magnificent chamber;
Good horse in a green field
Without a bridle, alone, at will
Jumping, cheerful and playful,
Tail spreading in the wind ...

I am alone - there is no consolation:
The walls are bare all around
Dimly shining lamp beam
Dying fire;
Only heard: behind the doors
With sonorous steps
Walks in the silence of the night
Unanswered sentry.

Ticket number 6Composition of the novel "A Hero of Our Time"

The novel was created in 1838-1840. The novel was based on Caucasian memoirs obtained in another reference to the Caucasus (1837). The theme is an image of the fate of a contemporary. The novel is devoid of chronological order. The plot and the 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 draw 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 application for his “immense forces”. The novel consists of five parts, the action in which takes place at different times, 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 of his main character. V. G. Belinsky called such a composition of the novel “five paintings inserted into one frame”.
If we consider the causal-temporal sequence of the action of the novel (plot), we will see it as follows: A young officer goes on business to the Caucasus. 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 is faced with a "water society". An intrigue ensues, leading to a duel. For participation in the 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 of Bela.)
“Once it happened (Pechorin) to live for two weeks in a Cossack village.” Here the hero tests in practice the theory of predestination, fate. At the risk of his life, he disarms a drunken Cossack who had killed a man shortly before. (The story "The Fatalist")
Having survived a lot, having lost faith in everything, Pechorin sets off to travel and dies on the road. (The story "Maxim Maksimych".)
In an effort to reveal the inner world of the hero, the author refuses the event-based order of presentation. The plot of the novel breaks the chronological course of events. The stories are arranged in the following order: “Bela”, “Maxim Maksimych”, “Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist”.
This construction of the novel allows the reader to gradually acquaint the reader with the hero, with 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 all day hunting; everyone will get cold, tired - but nothing to him. And another time he sits in his room, the wind smells, he assures that he has caught a cold; the shutter will knock, he will shudder and turn pale; and with me he went to the boar one on one ... "
In "Maxim Maksimych" Pechorin is described by a passing officer, a man who, in terms of his cultural level, is close to Pechorin. Here we see a rather detailed portrait with some psychological remarks. The portrait occupies one and a half pages of text. Here the author drew a 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 a deep constant sadness. Because of their half-lowered eyelashes, they shone with some kind of phosphorescent brilliance... It was not a reflection of the heat of the soul or a playful imagination: it was a brilliance like the brilliance of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold...” The portrait is so eloquent that we have before us rises a visible image of a man who has gone through a lot and is devastated.
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 with Taman, where, while still quite young, the hero is going through 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 properties were formed: “... such was my fate from 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 ... ”
On 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 destiny in life a few hours before a possible death is the culmination not only of the story “Princess Mary”, but of 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 "The Fatalist" bears the stamp of Lermontov's philosophical reflections on fate. His hero is painfully looking for an answer to the question: is it possible to change fate? He is testing his fate. Nobody ordered him to disarm the killer, and it's none of his business at all. But he wants to check if anything depends on the person? If today he is destined to stay alive, then he will remain alive. And nothing can change this predestination. Therefore, he goes on 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. On the whole, A Hero of Our Time is a socio-psychological novel. However, the parts of which it consists, in accordance with the socio-psychological tasks facing the author, gravitate towards the most diverse genres. So, "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” the 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 number 7Moral problems in the novel "A Hero of Our Time"

The novel "A Hero of Our Time" is the first realistic novel in the history of Russian literature with a deep philosophical content. In the preface to the novel, Lermontov writes that his novel is a portrait of "not 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 preserve faith in the future, to find the strength in oneself 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 the real ways of fighting and serving the truth.
The vast majority of thinking people in the 30s of the 19th century were precisely those who did not manage or did not yet have time to acquire 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 the good, faith in its coming triumph. The dominant type of the epoch was that type of human personality known in the history of Russian social thought under the bitter name of the superfluous man.
Pechorin belongs entirely 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 background of the people around him with his originality. He knows how to critically approach any event, to any person. It gives clear and accurate characteristics to people. He quickly and correctly understood Grushnitsky, Princess Mary, Dr. Werner. Pechorin is bold, has great endurance and willpower. He is the only one who rushes into the hut, where the killer Vulich is sitting with a pistol, ready to kill the first one who enters him. He does not show his excitement when he stands under Grushnitsky's pistol.
Pechorin is an officer. He serves, but is not served. 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 prevent them from doing so.
Pechorin has an active soul, requiring will, movement. He prefers an inactive life to expose his forehead to Chechen bullets, looking for oblivion in risky adventures, changing places, but all this is just an attempt to somehow dissipate, to forget about the vast 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 inner warehouse, in the cruel coldness of his merciless aphorisms, speaks for itself. And it is not for nothing that the hero often repeats that “he is not capable of great sacrifices for the good of mankind,” that he is used 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 considers 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 an invariable split spirit, the seal 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 him,” Pechorin says.
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 to real 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 own destiny and his only judge. Before his conscience, he constantly reports, he analyzes his actions, trying to penetrate into the sources of "good and evil."
With the life story of Pechorin, Lermontov shows that the path of individualism is contrary to human nature, its needs.
A person begins to acquire true joys and a true fullness of life only where relations between people are built according to the laws of goodness, nobility, justice, and humanism.

Ticket number 8Features of the genre and composition of the poem "Dead Souls"

Gogol had long dreamed of writing a work "in which all of Russia would appear." It 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." Such a name reduced the true meaning of this work, translated into the field 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 calls it either a poem or a novel. To understand the features of the genre of the poem "Dead Souls", you can compare this work with the "Divine Comedy" by Dante, a poet of the Renaissance. Her 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 fantasy of the plot does not prevent Dante from revealing the theme of his homeland Italy, her fate. In fact, Gogol conceived to show the same circles of hell, but the hell of Russia. No wonder 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 denial, introduces an element of glorifying, creative image of Russia. This image is associated with a "high lyrical movement", which in the poem sometimes replaces the comic narrative.

A significant place in the poem "Dead Souls" is occupied by lyrical digressions and inserted episodes, which is typical for the poem as a literary genre. In them, Gogol deals with 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 contrasted here with the gloomy pictures of Russian life.

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

From the very first pages of the work, we feel the fascination of the plot, since the reader cannot assume that after the meeting of Chichikov with Manilov there will be meetings with Sobakevich and Nozdrev. The reader cannot guess about the end of the poem either, because all its characters are drawn 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 the table he has a book open on the same page, and his courtesy is feigned: "Let me not allow you to do this>>), but in comparison with Plyushkin, Manilov even wins in many respects.However, Gogol put the image of the Box in the center of attention, since it is a kind of single beginning of all characters.According to Gogol, this is the symbol of the "box man", which contains the idea of ​​an irrepressible thirst for hoarding.

The theme of exposing bureaucracy runs through all of Gogol's work: it stands out both in the Mirgorod collection 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 opposed by the lyrical image of people's Russia, about which Gogol writes with love and admiration.

Behind the terrible world of landlord and bureaucratic Russia, Gogol felt the soul of the Russian people, which he expressed in the image of a rapidly rushing forward troika, embodying the forces of Russia: So, we settled on what Gogol depicts in his work. He portrays the social disease of society, but we should also dwell on how Gogol manages to do this.

First, Gogol uses the techniques of social typification. In the image of 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), they 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 a detail. Gogol can be called a "genius of detail", so accurately sometimes the details reflect the character and inner world of the character. What is worth, for example, the description of the estate and the house of Manilov! When Chichikov drove into the Manilov estate, he drew attention to the overgrown English pond, to the rickety arbor, to the dirt and desolation, to the wallpaper in Manilov’s room, either gray or blue, to two chairs covered with matting, which the hands never reached at the owner. All these and many other details bring us to the main characterization made by the author himself: "Neither this nor that, but the devil knows what it is!" Let's remember Plyushkin, this "hole in humanity", who even lost his gender.

He goes out to Chichikov in a greasy dressing gown, some unthinkable scarf on his head, everywhere desolation, dirt, dilapidation. Plyushkin extreme degree of degradation. And all this is conveyed through a 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 vividly, to be able to outline the vulgarity of a vulgar person in such force that all that trifle, which escapes from the eyes, would have flashed 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 the motherland. The second and third volumes he conceived were 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 was 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 rushing to? Give me an answer! Doesn't give an answer."

Ticket number 9Souls dead and alive. Dead Souls

Who are the "dead souls" in the poem?

“Dead Souls” - this title carries something terrifying in itself ... Not revisionists - dead souls, but all these Nozdrevs, Manilovs and others - these are dead souls and we meet them at every step, ”wrote Herzen.

In this meaning, the expression "dead souls" is no longer addressed to the peasants - living and dead - but to the masters of life, landowners and officials. And its meaning is metaphorical, figurative. After all, physically, financially, “all these Nozdrevs, Manilovs and others” exist and for the most part flourish. What can be more certain than the bear-like Sobakevich? Or Nozdryov, about whom it is said: “He was like blood with milk; health seemed to spurt from his face. But physical existence is not yet human life. Vegetative existence is far from true 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, passions. Remember what is said about Manilov? “You won’t expect any lively or even arrogant words from him, which you can hear from almost anyone if you touch the subject that bullies him. Everyone has his own, but Manilov had nothing. Most hobbies or passions cannot be called high or noble. But Manilov did not have such passion either. He didn't have anything at all. And the main impression that Manilov made on his interlocutor was a feeling of uncertainty and "mortal boredom."

Other characters - landowners and officials - are far from being so impassive. For example, Nozdrev 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", setting in motion a wide variety of passions: greed, ambition, curiosity, and so on.

So, in this respect, "dead souls" are dead in different ways, to different degrees and, so to speak, in different doses. But in another respect they are dead in the same way, 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 its nature animate and spiritual? Can't live, shouldn't exist. But it exists.

A certain form remains from life, from a person - a shell, which, however, regularly sends vital functions. And here another meaning of Gogol's image of "dead souls" is revealed to us: the revision dead souls, that is, the conventional designation of dead peasants. Revision dead souls are concrete, reviving faces of peasants who are treated as if they were not people. And the dead in spirit - 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 leaves no hope of finding such people who would carry the beginning of a new life and rebirth. The goals that Gogol and his hero set for themselves are diametrically opposed in this respect. Chichikov is interested in dead souls in the literal and figurative sense of the word - revisionist dead souls and people who are dead in spirit. And Gogol is looking for a living soul in which a spark of humanity and justice burns.