Composition on the topic “The theme of“ dead souls ”in N.V. Gogol’s poem“ Dead souls ”.

Plan for writing:
1.Introduction. a) The history of the creation of the work
b) What are dead souls? In whom did the writer see the living force of the Russian nation?
2. The main part.
a) Who is Chichikov? “Who is he? So you're a scoundrel?"
b) Image, portrait, speech characteristic, a description of the dwelling and household, the attitude of the landowners towards people and to the proposal of Chichikov: Manilov, whose facial features were not “devoid of pleasantness”, Korobochki, “strong-browed women”, “historical man” Nozdryov, Sobakevich’s strong fist and Plyushkin, who is called “hole on humanity."
c) Why are the landowners "dead souls"?
d) The image of the peasants and the people in the poem
e) “And how wonderful it is, this road!” - an image of the road. City image.
E) The image of officials, "thick and thin"
H) N.V. Gogol's depiction of Russia
3. Why did Gogol call his work that way? How did "Dead Souls" shock the whole of Russia?

Gogol dreamed of a great epic work dedicated to Russia, which led him to the concept of "Dead Souls". Work on the piece began in 1835. Pushkin predicted the plot of the work, believing that Rus' would be shown in the poem "from one side", that is, from its negative side. In the end, Gogol showed all the good that was hidden in Russian life.
Gogol made the human soul in the poem the main subject of the image in its individual and national manifestation. Gogol convinces the reader that the souls of landowners, officials and businessmen are "dead" or are in the stage of "mortification". And the author saw folk in the Russian people. In the center of the plot are 5 heroes, the description of which in the poem Gogol gives in order. So Chichikov comes to the landlords with only one purpose, in order to buy "dead souls". The gallery of images opens with the dreamer and mismanaged Manilov, who is replaced by the "club-headed" Korobochka, the reckless swindler Nozdrev, the tight-fisted Sobakevich, and Plyushkin completes this gallery - "a hole in humanity", fallen into a deadly sleep.
And who is in Chichikov's novel? In childhood, this hero developed such qualities of character as achieving goals, a manner of pleasing, finding benefits for himself, and spiritual meanness. From childhood, he remembers that it is necessary to “save a penny”, to make capital. He is a bad comrade, pleases the teachers, does everything for the sake of profit. His official activity began with the Treasury, where he entered after graduating from college: “He got an insignificant place, a salary of thirty or forty rubles.” He tries in every possible way to please the clerk, calls him papa, kissed him on the hand, takes care of his daughter. “The stern clerk began to bother for him,” Chichikov was promoted, he stopped calling the clerk papa, forgot about the wedding with his daughter. Chichikov understood from this that success in life is easier and faster, the faster a person is freed from the principles of morality, honor, etc. When Chichikov participated in the commission for the construction of a government building, he received solid acquisitions and income. But when a new boss came who declared war on bribes, Chichikov had to look for new job. Chichikov enters the trust of the authorities, receives a new rank. Through fraud, he gets a half-million fortune. Chichikov did not reconcile with his accomplice, and he wrote a denunciation against him, depriving Chichikov of everything he had earned. After the failure, he started everything from scratch, the idea comes to him about a deal with " dead souls».
“Who is he? So you're a scoundrel?" Gogol calls Chichikov not a scoundrel, but an acquirer. Chichikov is an acquirer who stakes on capital, Chichikov is a hero of modern times.
For each of the landowners depicted in the poem, Gogol presents one specific feature that characterizes an aimless existence, and constitutes a general portrait of the landowner estate in serf Russia.
Manilov is the first landowner to whom Chichikov came. Chichikov searched for the estate for a long time: “the manor’s house stood alone in the south ...”, “two or three flower beds with bushes of lilacs and yellow acacias ...” “The day was either clear or gloomy, but some kind of light gray color. Manilov is very friendly, joyfully meets Chichikov. Manilov's character can be expressed through the lines: "everyone has his own enthusiasm, but Manilov did not have it", "his facial features are not devoid of pleasantness." He does not take care of the household, "the farm went by itself." He conceives a lot of ideas and plans, but does not implement them, reads a book for two years with a bookmark on the same page. In the living room he has "beautiful furniture, upholstered in smart silk fabric, which, it is true, was very expensive." Manilov has a wife with a good upbringing, two sons: Themistoclus and Alkid. At Chichikov's offer to buy from him the peasants who died after the last census (revision tales), Manilov "just opened his mouth and remained with his mouth open for several minutes." Manilov gives away dead souls for free and remains convinced that he has rendered Chichikov an invaluable service. After Chichikov's departure, Manilov imagines a future friendship with Chichikov, comes to the point in his thoughts that the tsar favors them with the rank of general for strong friendship.
Chichikov then goes to the estate of Sobakevich, but due to heavy rain the coachman goes astray. Chichikov ends up in the nearby estate of Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka. Chichikov enters the room, which is “hung with old striped wallpaper; pictures with some birds; between the windows there were small antique mirrors with dark frames in the form of curled leaves, behind every mirror there was either a letter or an old deck of cards, or a stocking. The box is an economic hospitable, hospitable landowner. She collects money in colorful pouches, which she keeps sewn up in a chest of drawers, which also contains linen, dresses and strings. Chichikov stays with her to spend the night, and in the morning she offers to sell him dead souls. In response, she offers to buy hemp or honey from her. Chichikov manages to buy from her dead souls. She cannot understand why he needs such a purchase, she is afraid to sell too cheap. “Well, the woman seems to be strong-browed”, “club-headed”. At Korobochka, the men wear interesting and strange surnames Disrespect-Trough, Wheel Ivan and others.
Chichikov, having a good appetite, stops at a tavern, where Nozdryov soon arrives. Nozdryov was “of medium height, a very well-built fellow with full ruddy cheeks, teeth as white as snow, and sideburns as black as pitch. He was fresh as blood and milk; health seemed to spurt from his face. “We have met many such people. They are called broken little ones. Nozdryov, one might say, is a historical person, because, wherever he was, history could not be dispensed with everywhere. Nozdryov tells Chichikov about the fair where he lost money, lies, says that he drank 17 bottles of champagne. Then Nozdrev invites Chichikov to visit him. Nozdryov liked to exchange things, to lose money. In his name, Nozdrev shows Chichikov a stallion, a kennel, a pond in which there is a big fish, "real" Turkish daggers, with the brand of master Sibiryakov. Chichikov, starting a business conversation, sets out his request, explaining that he needs dead souls for a successful marriage. Nozdryov wants to give him non-existent peasants, but Chichikov refuses. Then Nozdryov invites him to play cards, cheats, Chichikov stops the game, Nozdryov starts a fight, he is arrested by the police officer, Chichikov "sat down in the britzka and ordered Selifan to drive the horses at full speed."
The fourth landowner is Sobakevich, who in many ways resembles Korobochka. He is a hoarder, but he is very prudent and cunning. His house is wooden, built with the taste of the owner. The yard is surrounded by a lattice, in the stables, barns, full-weight and thick logs were used. The village huts were well made, even the well was made of oak. It was immediately obvious that Sobakevich was a good owner who loved order: “Everything was stubborn”, “in some kind of strong and clumsy order. In the room, "everything is solid, clumsy to the highest degree, and bore some strange resemblance to the owner." Sobakevich himself "is very similar to a medium-sized bear." During dinner, Sobakevich eats a lot, talks about his neighbor Plyushkin, who has many peasants, a very stingy man. Hearing Chichikov's offer, Sobakevich immediately starts bargaining. He promises to sell souls for 100 rubles apiece, explaining that his peasants were real craftsmen, for example, the carpenter Stepan Cork, the carriage maker Mikheev, and the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov. To himself, Chichikov calls Sobakevich a "fist", and says out loud that the qualities of the peasants are not important, because they are dead. As a result, they converge on three rubles.
The last image of the gallery of landlords is Plyushkin, whose house can be called a "decrepit invalid", whose walls suffered all the bad weather, the garden was overgrown and "was quite picturesque in its picturesque devastation." Seeing Plyushkin, Chichikov at first does not understand "this is a man or a woman." Plyushkin is dressed “in an indefinite dress, on his head is a cap, a dressing gown. Plyushkin used to have children, he was widowed, his son left for the city, the eldest got married and left, and the youngest died. Loneliness gave birth to stinginess in Plyushkin. “Hay and bread rotted, stacks and stacks turned into clean manure, flour in the cellars turned into stone ...” Learning that Chichikov wants to buy dead souls from him, he immediately sells him the runaway peasants. Plyushkin receives the money, hides it where it will lie until his death, he will never use it. Plyushkin is glad that Chichikov is leaving without even drinking tea, hiding treats, making sure not a crumb is lost.
Landlords can be considered "dead souls" because they are depicted in the poem as a force devoid of patriotic feelings and aspirations. Representatives of the ruling strata - this is the "dead souls". From Manilov the Dreamer to Plyushkin's "hole in the body of mankind", the fall of the representatives of the landowning classes is shown.
At that time, the peasants made up the majority of the population, so Gogol pays special attention to this, since in his work he showed Russia in the context of its shortcomings. The text does not describe the peasants themselves, but judging by the description of their dwellings, we can judge their life. At Manilov's, "gray log huts darkened up and down." At Korobochka, “peasant huts, which, although they were built scattered and not enclosed in regular streets, but, according to a remark made by Chichikov, showed the contentment of the inhabitants”, “the gates did not squint anywhere”, “in the peasant covered sheds he noticed a spare almost new cart, and where are two. At Sobakevich's wooden huts the peasants were also cut down marvelously: there were no brick walls, carved patterns and other tricks, but everything was fitted tightly, as it should. At Plyushkin, “the log in the huts was dark and old; many roofs blew through like a sieve; on others there was only a ridge at the top and poles on the sides in the form of ribs”, “the windows in the huts were without glass, others were plugged with a rag or zipun”.
In the poem, the description of the peasants who are alive and who are remembered deserves special attention. For example, Sobakevich remembers each of his peasants by name, remembers who did what; two peasants who showed Chichikov the way to Manilovka; a peasant who drags “a thick log, like an indefatigable ant, to his hut”; two women who, having picked up their dresses, were walking up to their knees in the pond, dragging a tattered log by two wooden nags. There are many such examples, they show the sweeping nature of the Russian people.
In the poem, the image of the city is shown through the images of officials, because the life of the city depends on who is in power. The image of the provincial city is a characteristic of the owners of estates.
Speaking about the image of the road in the poem, one can cite lines from the text: “What a strange and alluring and bearing and wonderful in the word: road! and how wonderful this road itself is!”, “Our earthly, sometimes boring road”, “What twisted, deaf, narrow, impassable, drifting roads mankind has chosen, striving to achieve eternal truth!”, “And, looking askance, other peoples and states step aside and give it way.
The road in the poem is a journey through time, Chichikov's life experience, the author's creative experience, the spiritual revival of heroes, salvation, hope and the future of Russia.
The image of officials is central to the poem. Gogol focuses on characterizing the general portrait of "thick and thin" officials. They continue to be inactive, doing their own thing. Bribery is still considered absolutely normal. The author emphasizes the main thing: anti-people and anti-state activities of officials. Both landlords and officials embody social evil, the highest degree of which is manifested in The Tale of Captain Kopeikin (Kopeikin is a hero of the war of 1812, an invalid without an arm and leg).
In the depiction of Russia, Gogol showed himself as a realist writer. He is far from idealizing the enslaved peasantry, but in his lyrical digressions, in the episodes of the poem, Gogol conveys the idea of ​​the mental and moral superiority of the Russian people over those who control their fate. Throughout the narrative, images of peasants appear in the poem, arguing about the "wheel" and "Zamanilovka", Selifan, Petrushka, "who reads a lot and indiscriminately" and others.
The first volume of "Dead Souls" ends with the question of the future of Russia: "Rus, where are you rushing to?" This question is addressed to the “troika bird”, which in Gogol is a symbol of Russian life. Gogol believes in the future of Russia: “The bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and, squinting, other peoples and states step aside and give it the way.
Gogol gives the name "Dead Souls" not by chance. The author creates, new type narrative, merging two opposite elements of his work into one: laughter and tears, satire and lyrics. Everyone knows the words of Herzen that "Dead Souls" shocked "the whole of Russia." The meaning of the shock was revealed by Belinsky. He explained this by the fact that the disputes about the book were of a literary and social nature. In 1845, the writer burns the manuscript of the second volume of his poem. Influenced by Belinsky's letter in 1848, Gogol set to work on Dead Souls, but this manuscript was also burned. Not knowing how to save Russia, the writer, nevertheless, fulfilled the duty of an artist and citizen of his country. Chernyshevsky said: “For a long time there has not been a writer in the world who would be so necessary for his people, as Gogol is for Russia.”

Suggested by Pushkin plot of "Dead Souls" was attractive to Gogol, as it gave him the opportunity, together with their hero, the future Chichikov, to “ride” all over Russia and show “all of Rus'”. Social issues"Dead Souls" is integrated by the problem of the spiritual state, or rather, the lack of spirituality of the "modern" and, above all, "Russian man". In his letters, Gogol explains that it is not the province at all, and not a few ugly landowners, and not what is attributed to them, that is the subject of Dead Souls, that the real and only subject of their author's "art" is "man and the soul of man", moreover " modern man' and the 'current state' of his 'soul'.

Poem "Dead Souls"- realistic work. Principles artistic realism were formulated by Gogol in a digression about two types of writers. The writer refers his work to the critical direction. Its historical limitations are obvious, which is expressed in the fact that for Gogol the “fertile grain” of Russian life was hidden not in the social, democratic tendencies of the development of “reality”, but in the national specificity of the spiritual “nature” of the Russian person. Gogol wrote during the crisis of serfdom in Russia. Depicting landowners and officials, Gogol took advantage of a satirical description, social typification, as well as a general critical orientation. The author pays great attention to descriptions of nature, estates, houses, interiors, portrait details. Through satirical descriptions, the author characterizes the characters, paying attention to details. Various plans are correlated: a lyrical digression about a trio bird and a description of a trip along bad Russian roads.

The poem goes back to the traditions of the ancient epic, where a holistic being was recreated in all contradictions. By "poem" the writer meant "a lesser kind of epic ... A prospectus for an educational book of literature for Russian youth. The hero of epics is a private and invisible person, but significant in many respects for observing the human soul. Lyrical digressions, which are elements of the poem, in "Dead Souls" reflect the author's perception of reality. Gogol himself called the work not only a poem, but also a novel, but for this the work lacks a love affair. The poem contains elements of a picaresque, adventure-adventure and social novel.

The plot and composition of the poem

Three compositional links are clearly distinguished: the display of local estates (chapters 2-6), the depiction of the life of the provincial city, provincial officials (chapters 7-10), the story of the life fate of the protagonist of the poem.

The road in all its meanings is the compositional core of the narrative, combining its spatial coordinates (the Russian provincial city) with the temporal ones (the movement of the britzka) into a symbol of “all Rus'” and its path from feudal death to a great future.

The image of Chichikov and its ideological and compositional role influence the plot of the poem. The poem is stylized as a description of the journey, separate fragments of the life of Rus' are combined into a whole. If we consider the role of the image, then it lies in the characterization of the entrepreneur-adventurer. As follows from the biography of the hero, he uses for his own purposes either the position of an official, or the mythical position of a landowner. The composition of the poem is built on the principle of "confined spaces": the estates of landowners, the city.

The self-title of the poem is also symbolic - "Dead Souls". Its literal meaning, connected with the plot, is not only the dead peasants deleted from the audit lists, referred to in the language of official documents as “souls”. In addition, these are the dead souls of the owners of the living and dead peasants heavenly souls, concealing the possibility of their awakening.

The theme of the motherland and the people in the poem

Gogol says that the peasants for the most part are ignorant, downtrodden and limited: the yard girl Korobochka has no idea where the right is, where the left; Petrushka and Selifan are stupid and lazy; Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minai are only capable of arguing whether Chichikov's chaise will reach Moscow and Kazan. However, Gogol puts forward the idea that the Russian people have talents and Creative skills: in a lyrical digression about the Russian language, in a digression about a troika bird, in a characterization of the "efficient Yaroslavl peasant."

The "Lesson to the Tsars" was taught by the author of "Dead Souls" "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" The time of its action is precisely indicated: "six years after the French." This is the time of the height of the Alexander reaction, the time of Arakcheev and the birth of the Decembrist movement. Captain Kopeikin is one of the participants in the war of 1812, whom the reaction that followed turned him from a defender of the Fatherland into a robber chieftain. The Tale of Captain Kopeikin recalls the threat of a revolutionary "rebellion" in Russia. In lyrical digressions about Rus' and the troika bird, Gogol expresses his attitude towards the future of Russia. "Rus, where are you going?" This question is addressed not to the "proud horse" - the symbol of Russian statehood, but to the "troika bird" - the symbol of the national element of Russian life, its future and world-historical self-determination.

Determining the main idea of ​​the poem "Dead Souls" is not entirely simple. This is explained, first of all, by the fact that we now have only a small part of this work - only the first part, and separate scattered pieces of the second - something that was not destroyed by Gogol himself. So judge everything ideological content work we do not have the opportunity. And then the position of the critic is hampered by the fact that he has at his disposal the interpretations that he gave " Dead Souls” the author himself, and the promises that he wanted to fulfill at the end of the poem, but did not have time. By Gogol's own admission, at first he himself wrote without any serious goals. Pushkin gave him a plot grateful for his talent; Gogol was carried away by the comedy of those provisions that were easily woven into this plot - and began to write a “caricature”, “without defining a detailed plan for himself, without giving himself an account of what the hero himself should be like. I simply thought, - says Gogol, - that the ridiculous project, the execution of which Chichikov is busy with, will lead me to various faces and characters. It's free, pure artistic creativity and helped Gogol create the best pages of the first part of "Dead Souls" - those pages that caused Pushkin to exclaim: "Lord! how sad is Rus'. This exclamation struck Gogol - he saw that something large, ideologically meaningful could come out of the "prank" of his pen, from his playful, frivolous work. And so, encouraged by Pushkin, he decided to show in "Dead Souls" "from one side of Russia", that is, more fully than in "The Inspector General", to depict the negative aspects of Russian life.

The deeper Gogol went into his work, the weaker Pushkin's influence became; the more independent Gogol's attitude to his work became, the more complex, artificial, and tendentious his plans became. First of all, he was imbued with the idea of ​​expanding the limits of what was depicted - he wanted to show Russia not “from one side”, but in its entirety - evil and good, concluded in her life; then he began to think about a "plan" for his already begun work - he asked himself "anxious questions about the" purpose "and" meaning "of his work. And then the poem "Dead Souls" in his imagination grew into three parts. He probably later saw in it an allegorical meaning. According to his idea, the three parts of Dead Souls should, in their finished form, correspond to the three parts of The Divine Comedy by Dante: the first part, dedicated to depicting only evil, should have corresponded to Hell; the second part, where evil was not so disgusting, where a gap begins in the soul of the hero, where some positive types are already being deduced - would correspond to "Purgatory", - and, finally, in the final third part, Gogol wanted to present in the apotheosis all that good that was in the soul of the "Russian man" - this part had to correspond to "Paradise". Thus, that artificial, cumbersome construction of Dead Souls appeared, that cunning systematization of material that Gogol could not cope with.

But, besides this thoughtful composition, Gogol was also prevented from creating freely by a moral tendency. All the growing concerns about his "spiritual business", about the purification of his heart, had a detrimental effect on his work. And so, “Dead Souls” gradually turned into some kind of “sewer pipe”, where he poured their imaginary and real "vices". "My heroes are therefore close to the soul, he says, because they are from the soul - all my recent works are the history of my own soul." He himself admitted that when the desire to get rid of various spiritual vices intensified in him, he “began to endow his heroes, in addition to their own “nasty things” - with their own. And, according to him, it helped him to become better himself ...

So, Gogol himself gives us three interpretations of the idea of ​​"Dead Souls" - 1) its beginning (the first part) - a simple image of peculiar faces and characters taken from Russian life. Characteristic, which unites almost all the heroes of the first part - bleak vulgarity, complete unconsciousness of life, misunderstanding of its goals and meaning: from "this side" he presented "Russian society", 2) the work "Dead Souls" was supposed to cover all of Russia, - all evil and the good that is in it. In such a broad interpretation of Russian reality, Gogol saw "service" to his homeland - and 3) this work was supposed to serve him personally, in the matter of his spiritual self-improvement. He looked at himself as a “moralist” who would not only point out to fellow citizens the evil that certain vicious figures bring into life, but also draw those ideals that would save the homeland.

The idea of ​​"Dead Souls" from the point of view of criticism and the reader

It is easy to understand that now this author’s idea is not entirely clear to the reader of Dead Souls: he has before his eyes only the first part of the poem, in which only random promises flash that in the future the story will take on a different character, to the personal “spiritual affair The writer doesn't care about the reader. Therefore, it was necessary to judge the work, leaving the author's intentions, without delving into his soul. And so, modern and subsequent criticism, contrary to Gogol, itself determined the idea of ​​the work. As earlier in The Inspector General, so in Dead Souls, the author’s desire to point out the disgrace of Russian life, which, on the one hand, depended on serfdom, on the other hand, on the system of government in Russia, was seen. Thus, the idea of ​​"Dead Souls" was recognized by the majority as accusatory, the author is ranked among the noble satirists who boldly castigate the evil of modern reality. In a word, the same thing happened that happened before with The Inspector General: 1) the author had one idea, and the results of his work led to conclusions that he did not want at all, did not expect ... 2) both regarding the "Inspector General" and With regard to Dead Souls, we have to establish the idea of ​​the work not only without the help of the author, but even against his wishes: we must see in this work a picture of the negative aspects of Russian life, and in this picture, in its illumination, see the great public sense works.

The main work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is not only in terms of the scale and depth of artistic generalizations. For this author, working on it has become a long process of writing and human self-knowledge. The analysis of "Dead Souls" will be presented in this article.

Gogol noticed after the publication of the first volume that the main subject of his work was not at all ugly landowners and not the province, but a "secret" that was suddenly to be revealed to readers in subsequent volumes.

"The Pale Beginning" of a Grand Design

Searching for a genre, changing the idea, working on the text of the first two volumes, as well as thinking about the third - these are fragments of a grandiose "construction" carried out by Nikolai Vasilyevich only partially. When analyzing "Dead Souls", it should be understood that the first volume is only a part in which the outlines of the whole are outlined. This is the "pale beginning" of labor, according to the definition of the writer himself. No wonder Nikolai Vasilievich compared it with a porch, hastily attached to the "palace" by the provincial architect.

How did the idea for the piece come about?

Features of the composition and plot, the originality of the genre are associated with the deepening and development of the original idea of ​​"Dead Souls". Pushkin stood at the origins of the work. As Nikolai Vasilievich said, the poet advised him to take on a large essay and even suggested a plot from which he himself wanted to create "something like a poem." However, it was not so much the plot itself as the "thought" contained in it that was Pushkin's "hint" to Gogol. Were well known to the future author of the poem real stories, which are based on scams with the so-called "dead souls". In the youthful years of Gogol, one of such cases occurred in Mirgorod.

"Dead Souls" in Gogol's Russia

"Dead souls" - who died, but continued to be listed as alive until the next "revision tale". Only after it they were officially considered dead. It was after the landlords stopped paying for them - a special tax. Peasants that existed on paper could be mortgaged, donated or sold, which scammers sometimes used, seducing landowners not only with the opportunity to get rid of serfs that did not bring income, but also to receive money for them.

The buyer of "dead souls" at the same time became the owner of a very real state. The adventure of the protagonist of the work, Chichikov, is a consequence of the "most inspired thought" that dawned on him - the Board of Trustees will give 200 rubles for each serf.

An adventurous picaresque novel

The basis for the so-called adventurous picaresque novel was given by the "joke" with "dead souls". This type of novel has always been very popular, because it was interesting. Gogol's older contemporaries created works in this genre (V. T. Narezhny, F. V. Bulgarin, and others). Their novels, despite the rather low artistic level, were a great success.

Modification of the genre of adventure-picaresque novel in the process of work

The genre model of the work we are interested in is precisely an adventurous and picaresque novel, as the analysis of "Dead Souls" shows. She, however, greatly changed in the process of the writer's work on this creation. Evidence of this, for example, is the author's designation "poem", which appeared after the general plan and main idea corrected by Gogol ("Dead Souls").

Analysis of the work reveals the following interesting features. "All Rus' will appear in it" - Gogol's thesis, which not only emphasized the scale of the idea of ​​"Dead Souls" in comparison with the initial desire "at least from one side" to show Russia, but at the same time meant a radical revision of the genre model chosen earlier. The framework of the traditional adventurous and picaresque novel became tight for Nikolai Vasilyevich, since he could not contain the wealth of the new idea. Chichikov's "odyssey" has become only one of the ways of seeing Russia.

The adventurous picaresque novel, having lost its leading role in Dead Souls, remained at the same time a genre shell for the epic and moralistic tendencies of the poem.

Features of the image of Chichikov

One of the tricks that is used in this genre is the mystery of the origin of the hero. Main character in the first chapters he was either a man from the common people, or a foundling, and at the end of the work, having overcome life's obstacles, he suddenly turned out to be the son of wealthy parents, received an inheritance. Nikolai Vasilievich resolutely refused such a template.

Analyzing the poem "Dead Souls", it should certainly be noted that Chichikov is a man of the "middle". The author himself says about him that he is "not bad looking", but not handsome, not too thin, but not too fat, not very old and not very young. The life story of this adventurer is hidden from the reader up to the final, eleventh chapter. You will be convinced of this by carefully reading "Dead Souls". Analysis by chapters reveals the fact that the author tells the background only in the eleventh. Deciding to do this, Gogol begins by emphasizing the "vulgarity", the mediocrity of his hero. He writes about how "modest" and "dark" his origins are. Nikolai Vasilievich again rejects extremes in defining his character (not a scoundrel, but not a hero either), but he dwells on Chichikov's main quality - this is an "acquirer", "owner".

Chichikov - "average" person

Thus, there is nothing unusual in this hero - this is the so-called "average" person, in whom Gogol strengthened a trait that is characteristic of many people. Nikolai Vasilyevich sees in his passion for profit, which replaced everything else, in the pursuit of the ghost of an easy and beautiful life, a manifestation of "human poverty", poverty and spiritual interests - all that many people so carefully hide. Analysis of "Dead Souls" shows that Gogol needed a biography of the hero not so much to reveal the "secret" of his life at the end of the work, but to remind readers that this is not an exceptional person, but quite ordinary. Anyone can discover in himself some "part of Chichikov."

"Positive" heroes of the work

In adventurous picaresque novels, the traditional plot "spring" is the persecution of the main character by malicious, greedy and vicious people. Against their background, the rogue who fought for his own rights seemed almost a "perfect model." As a rule, he was helped by compassionate and virtuous people who naively expressed the ideals of the author.

However, no one pursues Chichikov in the first volume of the work. Also, there are no characters in the novel who could at least to some extent be followers of the writer's point of view. Analyzing the work "Dead Souls", we can notice that only in the second volume "positive" characters appear: the landowner Kostanzhoglo, the farmer Murazov, the governor, who is irreconcilable to the abuses of various officials. But even these characters, unusual for Nikolai Vasilyevich, are very far from novel templates.

What interests Nikolai Vasilyevich in the first place?

Far-fetched, artificial were the plots of many works written in the genre of an adventurous picaresque novel. At the same time, the emphasis was on adventures, the “adventures” of rogue heroes. And Nikolai Vasilievich is not interested in the adventures of the protagonist in themselves, not in their "material" result (Chichikov eventually got a fortune by fraudulent means), but in their moral and social content, which allowed the author to make roguery a "mirror" reflecting modern Russia in Dead Souls. Analysis shows that this is a country of landowners who sell "air" (that is, dead peasants), as well as officials who assist the swindler, instead of hindering him. The plot of this work has a huge semantic potential - various layers of other meanings - symbolic and philosophical - are superimposed on its real basis. It is very interesting to analyze the landowners ("Dead Souls"). Each of the five characters is very symbolic - Nikolai Vasilievich uses the grotesque in their depiction.

Plot slowdown

Gogol deliberately slows down the movement of the plot, accompanying each event detailed descriptions the material world in which the characters live, as well as their appearance, reasoning about their not only the dynamics, but also the significance loses the adventurous and picaresque plot. Each event of the work causes an "avalanche" of the author's assessments and judgments, details, facts. The action of the novel, contrary to the requirements of this genre, almost completely stops in the last chapters. This can be seen by independently analyzing Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". For the development of the action, only two events of all the others, which occur from the seventh to the eleventh chapter, are important. This is the departure from the city of Chichikov and the execution of the bill of sale.

Requirements for readers

Nikolai Vasilyevich is very demanding of readers - he wants them to penetrate into the very essence of phenomena, and not to skim over their surface, to ponder hidden meaning works "Dead Souls". It should be analyzed very carefully. It is necessary to see behind the "objective" or informative meaning of the author's words not an explicit, but the most important meaning is a symbolic-generalized one. Just as necessary as Pushkin in "Eugene Onegin" is the co-creation of readers by the author of "Dead Souls". It is important to note that the artistic effect of Gogol's prose is created not by what is told or portrayed, but by how it is done. You will be convinced of this by once analyzing the work "Dead Souls". The word is a subtle instrument, which Gogol mastered to perfection.

Nikolai Vasilyevich emphasized that the writer, addressing people, must take into account the fear and uncertainty that live in those who commit bad deeds. Both approval and reproach should carry the word "lyrical poet". Reasoning about the dual nature of the phenomena of life is a favorite topic of the author of the work that interests us.

Such brief analysis("Dead Souls"). Much can be said about Gogol's work. We have highlighted only the main points. It is also interesting to dwell on the images of the landowners and the author. You can do this yourself, based on our analysis.

Dead Souls is a poem for the ages. The plasticity of the depicted reality, the comical nature of situations and the artistic skill of N.V. Gogol paint the image of Russia not only of the past, but also of the future. Grotesque satirical reality in harmony with patriotic notes create an unforgettable melody of life that resounds through the centuries.

Collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov goes to distant provinces to buy serfs. However, he is not interested in people, but only the names of the dead. This is necessary to submit the list to the Board of Trustees, which "promises" a lot of money. A nobleman with so many peasants had all the doors open. To implement his plan, he pays visits to the landowners and officials of the city of NN. All of them reveal their selfish disposition, so the hero manages to get what he wants. He also plans a profitable marriage. However, the result is deplorable: the hero is forced to flee, as his plans become well known thanks to the landowner Korobochka.

History of creation

N.V. Gogol considered A.S. Pushkin by his teacher, who “given” a story about the adventures of Chichikov to a grateful student. The poet was sure that only Nikolai Vasilievich, who had a unique talent from God, was able to realize this “idea”.

The writer loved Italy, Rome. In the land of the great Dante, he began work on a book involving a three-part composition in 1835. The poem was supposed to be similar to Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting the hero's immersion in hell, his wanderings in purgatory and the resurrection of his soul in paradise.

The creative process continued for six years. The idea of ​​a grandiose picture, depicting not only "all of Rus'" present, but also the future, revealed "the incalculable riches of the Russian spirit." In February 1837, Pushkin dies, whose “sacred testament” for Gogol is “Dead Souls”: “Not a single line was written without me imagining him before me.” The first volume was completed in the summer of 1841, but did not immediately find its reader. The censors were outraged by The Tale of Captain Kopeikin, and the title was perplexing. I had to make concessions, starting the headline with the intriguing phrase "The Adventures of Chichikov." Therefore, the book was published only in 1842.

Some time later, Gogol writes the second volume, but, dissatisfied with the result, burns it.

The meaning of the name

The title of the work causes conflicting interpretations. The used oxymoron technique gives rise to numerous questions that you want to get answers as soon as possible. The title is symbolic and ambiguous, so the “secret” is not revealed to everyone.

In the literal sense, "dead souls" are representatives of the common people who have gone to another world, but are still listed as their masters. Gradually, the concept is being rethought. The "form" seems to "come to life": real serfs, with their habits and shortcomings, appear before the reader's eyes.

Characteristics of the main characters

1. Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov - "gentleman of the middle hand." Somewhat cloying manners in dealing with people are not without sophistication. Educated, neat and delicate. “Not handsome, but not bad-looking, not ... fat, nor .... thin…”. Prudent and careful. He collects unnecessary knickknacks in his chest: maybe it will come in handy! Seeking profit in everything. The creation of the worst sides of an enterprising and energetic person of a new type, opposed to landowners and officials. We wrote about it in more detail in the essay "".
2. Manilov - "knight of the void." Blond "sweet" talker "with blue eyes". The poverty of thought, the avoidance of real difficulties, he covers up with a beautiful-hearted phrase. It lacks living aspirations and any interests. His faithful companions are fruitless fantasy and thoughtless chatter.
3. The box is "club-headed". Vulgar, stupid, stingy and stingy nature. She fenced herself off from everything around, shutting herself in her estate - the “box”. Turned into a stupid and greedy woman. Limited, stubborn and unspiritual.
4. Nozdrev is a "historical man". He can easily lie what he pleases and deceive anyone. Empty, absurd. Thinks of himself as a broad kind. However, the actions expose the careless, chaotically weak-willed and at the same time arrogant, shameless "tyrant". Record holder for getting into tricky and ridiculous situations.
5. Sobakevich is a "patriot of the Russian stomach." Outwardly, it resembles a bear: clumsy and indefatigable. Totally incapable of understanding the most elementary things. A special type of "drive" that can quickly adapt to the new requirements of our time. Interested in nothing but housekeeping. we described in the essay of the same name.
6. Plyushkin - "a hole in humanity." A creature of unknown gender. bright pattern moral fall, completely lost its natural appearance. The only character (except Chichikov) who has a biography that "reflects" the gradual process of personality degradation. Complete nothingness. Plyushkin's maniacal hoarding "results" into "cosmic" proportions. And the more this passion seizes him, the less of a person remains in him. We analyzed his image in detail in the essay. .

Genre and composition

Initially, the work was born as an adventurous - picaresque novel. But the breadth of the events described and the historical truthfulness, as if "compressed" among themselves, gave rise to "talk about" the realistic method. Making accurate remarks, inserting philosophical reasoning, referring to different generations, Gogol saturates "his offspring" digressions. One cannot but agree with the opinion that the creation of Nikolai Vasilyevich is a comedy, since it actively uses the techniques of irony, humor and satire, which most fully reflect the absurdity and arbitrariness of the "squadron of flies that dominate Rus'."

The composition is circular: the britzka, which entered the city of NN at the beginning of the story, leaves it after all the vicissitudes that happened to the hero. Episodes are woven into this “ring”, without which the integrity of the poem is violated. The first chapter describes the provincial city NN and local officials. From the second to the sixth chapters, the author introduces readers to the estates of Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. Seventh - tenth chapters - satirical image officials, registration of completed transactions. The string of these events ends with a ball, where Nozdrev "narrates" about Chichikov's scam. The reaction of society to his statement is unambiguous - gossip, which, like a snowball, is overgrown with fables that have found refraction, including in the short story ("The Tale of Captain Kopeikin") and the parable (about Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich). The introduction of these episodes makes it possible to emphasize that the fate of the motherland directly depends on the people living in it. It is impossible to look indifferently at the outrages that are happening around. Certain forms of protest are brewing in the country. The eleventh chapter is a biography of the hero forming the plot, explaining what he was guided by when performing this or that act.

The connecting thread of the composition is the image of the road (you can learn more about this by reading the essay “ » ), symbolizing the path that the state “under the modest name of Rus” passes in its development.

Why does Chichikov need dead souls?

Chichikov is not only cunning, but also pragmatic. His sophisticated mind is ready to “make candy” out of nothing. Not having sufficient capital, he, being a good psychologist, having gone through a good life school, mastering the art of “flattering everyone” and fulfilling his father’s precept “save a penny”, starts a great speculation. It consists in a simple deception of "those in power" in order to "warm their hands", in other words, to help out a huge amount of money, thereby providing for themselves and their future family, which Pavel Ivanovich dreamed of.

The names of the dead peasants bought for a pittance were recorded in a document that Chichikov could take to the Treasury Chamber under the guise of a pledge in order to obtain a loan. He would pawn the serfs like a brooch in a pawnshop, and could re-pawn them all his life, since none of the officials checked the physical condition of people. For this money, the businessman would have bought both real workers and an estate, and would have lived on a grand scale, taking advantage of the favor of the nobles, because the wealth of the landowner was measured by the representatives of the nobility in the number of souls (peasants were then called “souls” in noble slang). In addition, Gogol's hero hoped to win trust in society and profitably marry a rich heiress.

main idea

Hymn to the motherland and people distinguishing feature whose industriousness sounds on the pages of the poem. Masters of golden hands became famous for their inventions, their creativity. The Russian peasant is always "rich in invention." But there are those citizens who hinder the development of the country. These are vicious officials, ignorant and inactive landowners and swindlers like Chichikov. For their own good, the good of Russia and the world, they must embark on the path of correction, realizing the ugliness of their inner world. To do this, Gogol mercilessly ridicules them throughout the entire first volume, however, in the subsequent parts of the work, the author intended to show the resurrection of the spirit of these people using the protagonist as an example. Perhaps he felt the falsity of subsequent chapters, lost faith that his dream was feasible, so he burned it along with the second part of Dead Souls.

Nevertheless, the author showed that the main wealth of the country is the broad soul of the people. It is no coincidence that this word is placed in the title. The writer believed that the revival of Russia would begin with the revival human souls, pure, unstained by any sins, selfless. Not just believing in the free future of the country, but making a lot of efforts on this swift road to happiness. "Rus, where are you going?" This question runs like a refrain throughout the book and emphasizes the main thing: the country must live in constant movement towards the best, advanced, progressive. Only on this path "other peoples and states give it way." We wrote a separate essay about the path of Russia: ?

Why did Gogol burn the second volume of Dead Souls?

At some point, the thought of the messiah begins to dominate in the mind of the writer, allowing him to "foresee" the revival of Chichikov and even Plyushkin. The progressive "transformation" of a person into a "dead man" Gogol hopes to reverse. But, faced with reality, the author is deeply disappointed: the heroes and their destinies come out from under the pen far-fetched, lifeless. Did not work out. The impending crisis in worldview became the reason for the destruction of the second book.

In the surviving passages from the second volume, it is clearly seen that the writer depicts Chichikov not in the process of repentance, but in flight towards the abyss. He still succeeds in adventures, dresses in a devilish red coat and breaks the law. His exposure does not bode well, because in his reaction the reader will not see a sudden insight or a paint of shame. He does not even believe in the possibility of the existence of such fragments at least ever. Gogol did not want to sacrifice artistic truth even for the sake of realizing his own idea.

Issues

1. Thorns on the way of the development of the Motherland is the main problem in the poem "Dead Souls", which the author was worried about. These include bribery and embezzlement of officials, infantilism and inactivity of the nobility, ignorance and poverty of the peasants. The writer sought to make his contribution to the prosperity of Russia, condemning and ridiculing vices, educating new generations of people. For example, Gogol despised doxology as a cover for the emptiness and idleness of existence. The life of a citizen should be useful for society, and most of the heroes of the poem are frankly harmful.
2. Moral problems. He considers the absence of moral norms among the representatives of the ruling class as the result of their ugly passion for hoarding. The landowners are ready to shake the soul out of the peasant for the sake of profit. Also, the problem of selfishness comes to the fore: the nobles, like officials, think only about their own interests, the homeland for them is an empty weightless word. High society does not care about the common people, they just use them for their own purposes.
3. Crisis of humanism. People are sold like animals, lost at cards like things, pawned like jewelry. Slavery is legal and is not considered something immoral or unnatural. Gogol covered the problem of serfdom in Russia globally, showing both sides of the coin: the mentality of a serf, inherent in a serf, and the tyranny of the owner, confident in his superiority. All these are the consequences of the tyranny that pervades relationships in all walks of life. It corrupts people and destroys the country.
4. The humanism of the author is manifested in attention to " little man”, a critical exposure of the vices of the state structure. Gogol did not even try to avoid political problems. He described a bureaucracy functioning only on the basis of bribery, nepotism, embezzlement and hypocrisy.
5. Gogol's characters are characterized by the problem of ignorance, moral blindness. Because of it, they do not see their moral squalor and are not able to independently get out of the quagmire of vulgarity that is engulfing them.

What is the originality of the work?

Adventurousness, realistic reality, a sense of the presence of the irrational, philosophical discussions about the earthly good - all this is closely intertwined, creating an "encyclopedic" picture of the first half of XIX centuries.

Gogol achieves this by using various techniques of satire, humor, visual means, numerous details, rich vocabulary, and compositional features.

• Symbolism plays an important role. Falling into the mud "predicts" the future exposure of the main character. The spider weaves its webs to capture the next victim. Like an "unpleasant" insect, Chichikov skillfully conducts his "business", "weaving" the landowners and officials with a noble lie. “sounds” like the pathos of the forward movement of Rus' and affirms human self-improvement.
• We observe the heroes through the prism of "comic" situations, apt author's expressions and characteristics given by other characters, sometimes built on the antithesis: "he was a prominent person" - but only "at a glance".
• The vices of the heroes of "Dead Souls" become a continuation of the positive character traits. For example, Plyushkin's monstrous stinginess is a distortion of former frugality and thriftiness.
• In small lyrical "inserts" - the thoughts of the writer, hard thoughts, anxious "I". In them we feel the highest creative message: to help humanity change for the better.
• The fate of people who create works for the people or not for the sake of "those in power" does not leave Gogol indifferent, because in literature he saw a force capable of "re-educating" society and contributing to its civilized development. The social strata of society, their position in relation to everything national: culture, language, traditions - occupy a serious place in the author's digressions. When it comes to Rus' and its future, through the centuries we hear the confident voice of the “prophet”, predicting the future of the Fatherland, which is not easy, but aspires to a bright dream.
• evoke sadness philosophical reflections about the frailty of being, about the bygone youth and impending old age. That is why the gentle “fatherly” appeal to the youth is so natural, on whose energy, diligence and education depends on what “path” the development of Russia will take.
• The language is truly folk. The forms of colloquial, bookish and written-business speech are harmoniously woven into the fabric of the poem. Rhetorical questions and exclamations, the rhythmic construction of individual phrases, the use of Slavicisms, archaisms, sonorous epithets create a certain structure of speech that sounds solemn, excited and sincere, without a shadow of irony. When describing landowners' estates and their owners, vocabulary is used that is characteristic of everyday speech. The image of the bureaucratic world is saturated with the vocabulary of the depicted environment. we described in the essay of the same name.
• The solemnity of comparisons, high style, combined with original speech, create a sublimely ironic manner of narration that serves to debunk the base, vulgar world of the owners.