The appearance of the box of dead souls. Dead souls characterization of the image box Nastasya Petrovna

An elderly landowner living in the vicinity of the city of N is a colorful and recognizable character. Life goals widow, who manages her own estate, to get in every possible way as possible more money. Therefore, the old woman sells dead souls without hesitation. The only thing that worries the lady is whether she has sold too cheap.

History of creation

For the first time, the landowner Korobochka appears in the work " Dead Souls" in the third chapter. The old woman does not occupy a central place in the work, while the author has invested in the resulting image a large number of contempt.

However, at negative attitude to the character, Gogol recognized the household talents of the landowner:

“The collegiate registrar Korobochka, who did not read any books except the Book of Hours, and even then with a sin in half, without learning any fine arts, except perhaps for fortune-telling on cards, she knew how, however, to fill chests and boxes with rubles.

The late analysis of "Dead Souls", where Nastasya Korobochka appears in all its splendor, inspired writers to build various theories. For example, he claims that Gogol's work correlates with the creation of the Odyssey.

In this version, the old landowner is an analogue ancient greek character Circe. The Greek woman poisoned her husband and established a strict order in her own possessions. The same behavior is characteristic of Nastasya Korobochka, who, for all her outward stupidity, is shown to be a real skilled housewife. However, no evidence similar to Bykov's conclusions has been found.

First published in 1842, the work still does not lose its relevance. Based on the novel-poem, films are regularly shot, performances are staged and operas are created.

"Dead Souls"

Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka is a landowner who leads a relatively secluded life. The biography of an elderly lady is not filled with bright events. Nastasya Petrovna married a collegiate secretary at an early age, and after years stable marriage widowed. A woman runs a household located between the estates and.

In Gogol's work, Nastasya Petrovna appears at the moment when Chichikov - main character novel - goes astray and is forced to look for a place to sleep. Active Nastasya Petrovna, despite stable income, concerned about one's own financial condition, therefore, tries to sell a variety of products to guests.

The inner state of a woman is reflected in her appearance. The fussy landowner does not pay attention and time to the wardrobe. At the first meeting with Chichikov, the heroine does not strive to make a good impression. Doesn't waste time on clothes Box and after:

“She was better dressed than yesterday - in a dark dress and no longer in a sleeping cap, but there was still something imposed on her neck.”

The main activity of Nastasya Petrovna is her own household. Despite constant complaints, the landowner skillfully leads the peasants. The woman grows a variety of vegetables and fruits, the yard is full of poultry. The life of the peasants of Korobochka is subject to a strict routine. People either work in the fields or sell their own goods to neighboring estates: honey, flour, meat, feathers.

A caring hostess takes care of the smallest details. Stuffed animals were installed in the landowner's fields to scare away crows, and spare carts were hidden in the sheds so that the harvest would not stop even in an emergency.

Korobochka's house, like the farm, is contained in strict order. A small estate is guarded by a pack of dogs, every breakdown is immediately corrected. However, the petty Korobochka looks after both her own estate and the village. Unlike her neighbors, the landowner takes care of the huts of the peasants.

With such a correct and thoughtful approach to housekeeping, Nastasya Petrovna is no different mental faculties. An elderly woman is petty, selfish and obsessed with thoughts of constant deception from acquaintances and strangers. Similar traits in character complicate communication with the landowner:

“... one of those mothers, small landowners who cry for crop failures, losses and hold their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile they are gaining a little money in motley bags placed in drawers of chests of drawers ...”

What is a woman's favorite pastime besides counting? own state, - Card reading. At the same time, Korobochka believes in God and claims that the devil met because of the cards.

After the first communication with Chichikov, the old woman worries about whether she sold too cheap dead souls. Such a thought does not leave the landowner, and she, having abandoned her own affairs, goes to the city to find out how much the goods actually cost.

The old woman's questions lead to the spread of rumors, which acquire new incredible details and bring the situation to the point of absurdity.

Screen adaptations

Transferred to film in 1960 theatrical production"Dead Souls" 1932. The film was directed by Leonid Trauberg. The artists of the Moscow Art Theater embodied the idea of ​​Gogol. academic theater them. . The role of the Box went to the actress.

Eight years later, in 1968, director Alexander Belinsky turned to the classic story. The screen adaptation was aired as part of the Theater on Screen project. The role of the colorful Box was played by the actress Claudia Fadeeva.

In 1984, the Dead Souls series was released, based on the first volume of Gogol's work of the same name. The plot of the film is as close as possible to the original source. The role of the landowner was played by an actress.

In 2005, the premiere of The Case of Dead Souls took place on the NTV channel. The series also touches on the creation of the same name by Gogol, and several other works of the author. Critics did not appreciate the work of the director and spoke negatively. The role of the Box got the actress.

• The name of the heroine in the work of Gogol has a hidden meaning. Researchers of the writer's work claim that the character has become a kind of trap (or a box from which one cannot get out) for Chichikov.

Illustration for Gogol's book "Dead Souls"

• The protagonist bought 18 souls from the landowner for 15 rubles.
• Unlike other characters, the elderly landowner remembers the names of the dead peasants by heart.
• The lack of development of the heroine Gogol displayed with the help of flies. Despite the cleanliness of the house, insects constantly fly around the characters, personifying stagnation and lack of development.
• Perhaps Korobochka is suffering from a serious psychological illness. Nothing is wasted in the household of the landowner, not even the hissing clock and the ancient unknown portraits. Psychologists call this phenomenon pathological hoarding.

Quotes

“My such an inexperienced widow’s business! I’d better wait a little while, perhaps merchants will come in large numbers, but I’ll try on prices. ”

“Honest to God, the product is so strange, completely unprecedented!”

“Last week, my blacksmith burned down, such a skilled blacksmith knew locksmith skills.”

“Ah, so you are a buyer! What a pity, really, that I sold honey to merchants so cheaply, but you, my father, would surely buy it from me.

The poem "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol invites its readers to plunge into a huge variety of completely different and unlike characters. One of the most striking and important characters is the landowner Korobochka, her image is revealed in the third chapter of the work.

The first meeting of the protagonist of the poem, Chichikov, and Korobochka happens quite by accident, when Pavel Ivanovich loses his way to Sobakevich due to bad weather. Chichikov arrives at Korobochka's estate, in a village away from the main road, and stays with her for the night, and this is how they get to know each other.

She was an elderly woman, in shabby clothes, completely devoting her life to the household that she runs on her estate. Despite having only 80 peasant souls, her estate boasts a good condition: strong and well-groomed houses, strong and healthy men.

Korobochka lives by selling products produced on her estate, such as honey and hemp. She earns quite a lot on this, she tries to profit from everything, she has enough for a comfortable life, nevertheless, the landowner likes to complain about life, show down and underestimate her wealth. The box is mercenary, greedy, stingy, because it did not feed the guest from the road., distrustful and shows excessive suspicion towards people. Nevertheless, Korobochka, in her prosperous household, shows hospitality when she gives Chichikov clean clothes, launders dirty ones, sends a girl to scratch his heel and fluff up a pillow.

The landowner Korobochka collects and stores rubbish, her whole life is a continuous hoarding, mustiness reigns in her estate. Also, the interior of her house seems to Chichikov quite old-fashioned, as if he had frozen somewhere in time. Nastasya Petrovna believes in both God and the devil, sometimes she guesses on cards. When Chichikov wakes up, he sees a lot of flies, which once again emphasizes old age. Little is known about Korobochka's family, that she is a widow and has no children. In the process of communicating with the landowner, Chichikov begins to lose his temper, he wants to leave her estate as soon as possible in order to get rid of her.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol calls the landowner an oakhead, because after selling dead souls to Pavel Ivanovich, she goes to the city to find out the true price in order to find out if she was deceived.

In general, representing one of the most vivid images, Nastasya Petrovna is an ordinary and simple landowner.

Option 2

The poem is presented in the form of a trip of the main character across Russia, where she is shown with all her hardships and problems. The author showed motherland with all its hardships, revealed the cause of the plight of the Russian people and, with the help of satire, exposed the flaws of the existing system. We see how Chichikov, making a trip to the southern provinces, wants to cheaply buy up dead serfs in order to get rich fraudulently and not work.

He visits various landowners, among whom Korobochka stands out especially, who is a wealthy landowner, ready to trade in whatever her heart desires, including dead peasants.

The stupid Nastasya Petrovna thinks that she will need to dig up the dead from the graves, and this does not stop her. She intends to do everything in order to only receive a reward. Chichikov, from the first minute, understanding the nature of the woman, immediately began to talk with her more freely than with Manilov. He even yelled at her when Korobochka listened to him distractedly. After all, one thing revolves in her thoughts, so as not to give away the dead cheaply, and the rest did not bother at all.

Korobochka is a powerful lady, she lives by subsistence farming, and at the same time understands how money is obtained. The intellect of its development wishes to leave the best. She can tell how to protect trees with ripe fruits from birds, but why this had to be done, she cannot explain. All of her appearance to say that she is not only stupid, but also sloppy. In addition, it is full of superstitions. The box believes in fortune-telling and all the evil spirits that may appear in the house after midnight. Yes, and in her speech slip different words, human religious.

Her whole house is like a box in which there are many old things. When you look at her, you are surprised how greedy Nastasya Petrovna is. She does not have her own children, and there are no relatives to whom all affairs and property can be transferred, and who had to be introduced to society. And still, she wants more and more capital.

Box's useless hoarding is almost ominous. She saves money for their own sake, is not even afraid to put the dead on sale - just so as not to miscalculate. All her coins are laid out in different colorful bags, which she takes out and counts them every day. Her circle of interests is also small. Basically, she communicates only with those people with whom she consults on matters of conducting trade.

Slowly, Gogol will lead us to how the desire to get rich, the accumulation of capital by any means, the endless exploitation of the peasants kill the soul of the landowners. They lose their human form. In the image of Korobochka, he showed new features of capitalist society.

Composition about the landowner Korobochka

Gogol's poem can be read on the most different levels, the author has invested many different semantic layers in his creation. If you look at Korobochka superficially, then we have a satire on stupidity and a patriarchal way of life, a parody of the limited personality and excessive practicality, a heroine who surprises with her own simplicity.

Gogol emphasizes the simplicity of Korobochka in her speech, which is full of simple and even primitive expressions and, as it were, naively naked. Only children or poorly educated people can speak like that without any hesitation. The landowner is not distinguished by an exalted mind, but she has quite valuable practical knowledge, these details are also noted, for example, nets that preserve fruit trees.

Thus, Gogol describes the figure of a mundane people, common people no romanticism. These people can actually be absurd and rude, sit and argue where the wheel will roll, know how to buy and sell more profitably. This people does not represent anything other than their own little world and is not going to get out of there, mired in the swamp of a banal and primitive existence.

If you look at Korobochka in the context of the symbolic series that the author offers, then this heroine appears as a kind of mystical figure that personifies such mystical heroes like Baba Yaga. A trip to Korobochka is associated for Chichikov with images of death and afterlife experience. Before his arrival, he falls into the ground (an image of a burial), when he wakes up, flies sit on his face (like on a corpse), and if you follow the text, Gogol gives similar hints in almost every phrase.

The box, like a magical old woman from Russian fairy tales, lives in the outskirts and is associated with otherworldly forces. In such a reading, lamentations, omens in which she believes (guessing on cards, for example) and interior details (for example, fortune-telling cards) receive a completely new reading and become peculiar attributes of a sorceress.

Also, Korobochka is the only female landowner and her figure stands out from the general outline of the landowners, making her image more interesting and unique.

Introduction

§one. The principle of constructing images of landowners in the poem

§2. Box Image

§3. Artistic detail as a means

character characteristics

§4. Korobochka and Chichikov.

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

The poem "Dead Souls" was created by N.V. Gogol for about 17 years. Its plot was suggested by A.S. Pushkin. Gogol began working on the poem in the autumn of 1835, and on May 21, 1842 Dead Souls appeared in print. The publication of Gogol's poem caused a fierce controversy: some admired it, others saw it as a slander on modern Russia and "a special world of rascals". Gogol worked on the continuation of the poem until the end of his life, writing the second volume (which was later burned) and planning to create a third volume.

As conceived by the writer, the poem was supposed to depict not only contemporary Russia with all its problems and shortcomings (serfdom, bureaucratic system, loss spirituality, illusion, etc.), but also the basis on which the country could be reborn in a new socio-economic situation. The poem "Dead Souls" was supposed to be an artistic search for a "living soul" - the type of person who could become the owner new Russia.

Gogol based the composition of the poem on the architectonics of " Divine Comedy» Dante - the hero's journey, accompanied by a guide (the poet Virgil), first through the circles of hell, then, through purgatory, through the spheres of paradise. In this journey, the lyrical hero of the poem met the souls of people burdened with sins (in the circles of hell) and marked with grace (in paradise). Dante's poem was a gallery of types of people embodied in artistic images famous characters of mythology and history. Gogol also wanted to create a large-scale work that would reflect not only the present of Russia, but also its future. “... What a huge, original plot ... All Russia will appear in it! ..” - Gogol wrote to Zhukovsky. But for the writer it was important to depict not the external side of the life of Russia, but its "soul" - internal state human spirituality. Following Dante, he created a gallery of types of people from different strata of the population and classes (landlords, officials, peasants, metropolitan society), in which both psychological, estate, and spiritual traits were reflected in a generalized form. Each of the characters in the poem is both a typical character and a brightly individualized one, with their own peculiarities of behavior and speech, attitude to the world and moral values. Gogol's skill was manifested in the fact that his poem "Dead Souls" is not just a gallery of types of people, it is a collection of "souls", among which the author is looking for a living one capable of further development.

Gogol was going to write a work consisting of three volumes (in accordance with the architectonics of Dante's "Divine Comedy"): "hell" of Russia, "purgatory" and "paradise" (the future). When the first volume was published, the controversy that flared up around the work, especially negative assessments, shocked the writer, he went abroad and began work on the second volume. But the work was very hard: Gogol's views on life, art, religion changed; he experienced a spiritual crisis; friendly ties were severed with Belinsky, who sharply criticized worldview position writer, expressed in "Selected passages from correspondence with friends." The practically written second volume was burned in a moment of spiritual crisis, then restored, and nine days before his death, the writer again set fire to the white manuscript of the poem. The third volume remained only in the form of an idea.

For Gogol - a deeply religious person and an original writer - the most important thing was the spirituality of a person, his moral basis, and not just the external social circumstances in which Russia was contemporary to him. He perceived both Russia and its fate as a son, hard experiencing everything that he observed in reality. Russia's withdrawal from spiritual crisis Gogol saw not in economic and social transformations, but in the revival of morality, the cultivation of true values, including Christian ones, in the souls of people. Therefore, the assessment that the work received in democratically minded criticism and which for a long time determined the perception of the first volume of the novel - critical image Russian reality, the “hell” of feudal Russia, does not exhaust either the idea, the plot, or the poetics of the poem. Thus, the problem of the philosophical and spiritual content of the work and the definition of the main philosophical conflict in the images of "Dead Souls" arises.

The purpose of our work is to analyze one of the images of the poem from the point of view of the main philosophical conflict of the poem - the landowner Korobochka.

The main research method is a literary analysis of the episode of the meeting between Chichikov and Korobochka. as well as the analysis and interpretation of artistic details.

§one. The principle of constructing images of landowners in the poem

Home philosophical problem poem "Dead Souls" is the problem of life and death in the human soul. This is indicated by the very name - "dead souls", which reflects not only the meaning of Chichikov's adventure - the purchase of "dead", i.e. existing only on paper, in revision tales, peasants - but also, in a broader, generalized sense, the degree of deadness of the soul of each of the characters in the poem. The main conflict - life and death - is localized in the area of ​​the inner, spiritual plane. And then the composition of the first volume of the poem is divided into three parts, which form a ring composition: Chichikov's arrival in the county town and communication with officials - a journey from landowner to landowner "of his own need" - return to the city, scandal and departure from the city. Thus, the central motive that organizes the entire work is the motive of travel. wanderings. Wandering like plot basis The work is characteristic of Russian literature and reflects the idea of ​​searching for a high meaning, truth, continuing the tradition of “walking” in ancient Russian literature.

Chichikov travels through the Russian outback, through county towns and estates in search of "dead" souls, and the author accompanying the hero is in search of a "living" soul. Therefore, the gallery of landowners, appearing before the reader in the first volume, is a natural sequence human types, among which the author is looking for someone who is able to become the real master of the new Russia and revive it economically, without destroying morality and spirituality. The sequence in which the landowners appear before us is built on two grounds: on the one hand, the degree of deadness of the soul (in other words, is the soul of a person alive) and sinfulness (let's not forget about the "circles of hell", where souls are located according to the severity of their sins) ; on the other hand, the opportunity to be reborn, to acquire vitality, which is understood by Gogol as spirituality.

In the sequence of images of the landlords, these two lines are combined and create a double structure: each next character is in a lower "circle", the degree of his sin is heavier, death in his soul more and more replaces life, and at the same time - each next character is closer to rebirth, because , according to Christian philosophy, the lower a person fell, the heavier his sin, the greater his suffering, the closer he is to salvation. The correctness of this interpretation is confirmed by the fact that, firstly, each subsequent landowner has more and more detailed history previous life (and if a person has a past, then a future is also possible), and secondly, in excerpts from the burnt second volume and sketches for the third, it is known that Gogol was preparing a revival for two characters - the scoundrel Chichikov and the “hole in humanity” Plyushkin, those. those who are in the first volume at the very bottom of the spiritual "hell".

Therefore, we will consider the image of the landowner Korobochka from several positions:

How do life and death relate in the soul of a character?

What is the “sin” of Korobochka, and why is it located between Manilov and Nozdryov?

How close is she to a revival?

§2. Box Image

Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka is a landowner, the widow of a collegiate secretary, a very economical and thrifty elderly woman. Her village is not large, but everything in it is in order, the economy is flourishing and, apparently, brings a good income. Korobochka compares favorably with Manilov: she knows all her peasants (“... she didn’t keep any notes or lists, but knew almost all of them by heart”), speaks of them as good workers("all the glorious people, all the workers"), she is engaged in housekeeping - "she fixed her eyes on the housekeeper", "little by little she all moved into economic life." Judging by the fact that when she asks Chichikov who he is, she lists those people with whom she constantly communicates: assessor, merchants, archpriest, her circle of contacts is small and is connected mainly with economic affairs - trade and payment of state taxes.

Apparently, she rarely travels to the city and does not communicate with her neighbors, because when asked about Manilov, he replies that there is no such landowner, and calls the old noble families, which are more appropriate in the classic comedy of the 18th century - Bobrov, Kanapatiev, Pleshakov, Kharpakin. In the same row is the surname Svinin, which draws a direct parallel with Fonvizin's comedy "Undergrowth" (mother and uncle of Mitrofanushka - Svinin).

Korobochka's behavior, her address to the guest as "father", the desire to serve (Chichikov called himself a nobleman), treat, arrange for the night as best as possible - all this specific traits images provincial landowners v works of the XVIII century. Mrs. Prostakova behaves in the same way when she finds out that Starodum is a nobleman and accepted at court.

Korobochka, it would seem, is pious, in her speeches there are constantly sayings and expressions characteristic of a believer: “The power of the cross is with us!”, “It is clear that God sent him as a punishment,” but there is no special faith in it. When Chichikov persuades her to sell dead peasants, promising a benefit, then she agrees and begins to "calculate" the benefit. The confidant of Korobochka is the son of the archpriest, who serves in the city.

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov gets to the landowner Korobochka at an odd hour, having lost his way, and even rolled out in the mud when falling from the britzka. The horses, driven by the not entirely sober coachman Selifan, literally crash into the fence of her house.

The image of the Box is very interesting. Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka gives shelter to belated travelers, since Chichikov presents himself as a nobleman, which makes a favorable impression on the landowning widow. Let's take a quick look at Chichikov's visit to Korobochka and brief description Boxes.

Characteristics of the landowner

The strong and tidy Korobochka farm is located in a secluded place, far from the main roads, so life on the estate looks frozen. The essential details that emphasize the frozen world of the heroine and the very image of the Box are a huge number of flies and hissing, like snakes, Wall Clock.

The landowner living in the wilderness is cordial, hospitable and caring. She, despite two in the morning, offers Chichikov food, rubbing his back after a fall, and even scratching his heels before going to bed, as was done before by the late master.

But Chichikov, whose eyes are already sticking together from the desire to sleep, as if they had been doused with honey, gratefully refuses everything.

Caring Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka is manifested in the fact that she gives the servant the task of cleaning and drying all the dirty clothes of the guest. After that, Chichikov literally falls into a huge lush feather bed, and wakes up in the morning from the invasion of flies, one of which even manages to get into his nose.

Chichikov amazes the landowner with his proposal to selling dead peasant souls. Nastasya Petrovna is at a loss and does not understand all the benefits of the offer made to her, because before that she had to trade only in honey, flour, hemp, bird feathers, but not in any way dead serfs.

Chichikov in his heart mentally calls her "strong-headed" and "cudgel-headed."

Some more details of the image of the landowner Korobochka

The image of Korobochka is also revealed in the fact that, after a fair bargain, the collegiate secretary's widow finally agrees to the deal and treats Chichikov with all kinds of dishes: mushrooms, pies, pancakes. The pancakes are so delicious that Pavel Ivanovich eats them three at a time.

After such a warm welcome, Chichikov sits in his britzka and leaves with the thought that Korobochka is a born entrepreneur, trying with all his might to anyone and everyone to profitably sell their products and earn as much money as possible. To then carefully lay them out in bags and hide them in a chest of drawers. Here is the image of the Box.

Chichikov also visited other landowners of the city No., including such characters from "Dead Souls" as Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Manilov. Check out their characteristics to get a complete impression of

Among the landowners visited by the protagonist of Gogol's poem, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, in search of his unusual acquisition, there was one woman.

The image and characteristics of the Box in the poem "Dead Souls" allow us to imagine how they lived in the deep, hidden territories of Russia of the past, way of life and traditions.

The image of the heroine

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov came to the landowner Korobochka by accident. He lost his way when he tried to visit Sobakevich's estate. Terrible bad weather forced the traveler to ask for an overnight stay in an unfamiliar estate. The rank of a woman is a collegiate secretary. She is a widow living on her estate. There is some autobiographical information about the woman. It is not known if she has children, but it is certain that her sister lives in Moscow. Korobochka is going to her after Chichikov's departure. The old landowner maintains a small household: about 80 souls of peasants. The author describes the hostess and the peasants living in the village.

What is special about the character of the heroine:

The ability to save. A small landowner puts the money into bags, puts them in a chest of drawers.

Stealth. Nastasya Petrovna does not talk about her wealth. She pleads, trying to arouse pity. But the purpose of this feeling is to raise the price of the product offered.

Courage. The landowner confidently goes to court with requests to solve her problems.

The box sells what its peasants are busy with: honey, feathers, hemp, lard. The woman is not surprised by the desire of the guest to buy the souls of people who have gone to the afterlife. She is afraid to sell cheap. Faith and unbelief intertwined in the landowner. And two opposite feelings connected so tightly that it is difficult to determine where the line is. She believes in God and the devil. The landowner lays out the cards after the prayer.

Household of Nastasya Petrovna

A lonely woman manages better than the men encountered in the poem. The description of the village does not frighten, like in Plyushkin, it does not surprise, like in Manilov. The gentlemen's house is neat. It is small but strong. Dogs greet guests with barks and warn their owners. The author describes the houses of the peasants:

• huts are strong;
• scattered scattered;
• are constantly being repaired (the worn-out tes is changed to a new one);
• strong gate;
• spare carts.

Korobochka looks after her house and the huts of the peasants. In the estate, everyone is busy with business, there are no those who wander between the houses. The landowner knows exactly when, for which holiday bacon, hemp, flour or cereals will be ready. Despite her narrow-minded mind, the seeming stupidity of Nastasya Petrovna is businesslike and lively, aimed at profit.

village peasants

Chichikov examines the peasants with interest. These are strong living men and women. There are several characters in the village. Each in a special way complements the image of the hostess.

The maid Fetinya masterfully fluffs the feather beds, making them so cozy that the guest slept longer than usual.

The yard peasant woman opened the gate at night, not being afraid of uninvited guests. She has hoarse voice and a strong figure, hidden under the coat.

The yard girl Pelageya shows Chichikov the way back. She runs barefoot, which makes her feet covered in mud and look like boots. The girl is uneducated, and for her there is not even an understanding of right, left. She shows with her hands where the cart should go.

Dead Souls

The peasants who sell Korobochka have amazing nicknames. Some of them complement the characteristics of a person, others are simply invented by the people. All the nicknames are in the memory of the hostess, she sighs and regretfully lists them to the guest. The most unusual:

• Disrespect-Trough;
• cow brick;
• Wheel Ivan.

The box takes pity on everyone. The skillful blacksmith burned down like coal on a drunk. All were nice workers, it is difficult to add them to the list of Chichikov's nameless purchase. Dead souls Boxes are the most alive.

character image

There is a lot of typical stuff in the description of the Box. The author believes that there are many such women in Russia. They don't evoke sympathy. Gogol called the woman "club-headed", but in her there is no difference from the stiff, educated aristocrats. Korobochka's frugality does not evoke affection; on the contrary, everything in her household is modest. Money settles in bags, but does not bring novelty to life. Around the landowner a huge number of flies. They personify stagnation in the soul of the hostess, in the world around her.

The landowner Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka cannot be changed. She chose the path of hoarding, which does not make sense. The life of the estate takes place away from real feelings and events.