Characteristics of Plyushkin's attitude towards Chichikov. Essay “Chichikov’s visit to Plyushkin

1. Compositional structure.
2. Storyline.
3. “Dead” soul of Plyushkin.
4. Analysis of the episode.
5. Symbolic image"dead" souls.

The plot composition of N. V. Gogol’s poem “ Dead Souls"is constructed in such a way that here one can consider three ideological lines or directions, logically connected and intertwined parts. The first reveals the life of landowners, the second - city officials, and the third - Chichikov himself. Each of the directions, manifesting itself, contributes to a deeper manifestation of the other two lines.

The action of the poem begins with the arrival of a new person in provincial town NN. The plot begins. Immediately in the first chapter, Chichikov meets almost all the characters in the poem. In the second chapter, the movement of the plot appears, which occurs with the main character, who goes on a trip to the surrounding villages for his own needs. Chichikov ends up visiting first one or another landowner, and is seen interesting feature. It’s as if the author deliberately arranges his heroes so that everyone new character even more “vulgar than the other.” Plyushkin is the last one, Chichikov has to communicate in this series, which means that we can assume that it is he who has the most anti-human essence. Chichikov returns to the city, and a colorful picture of the life of city officials unfolds before the reader. These people have long forgotten the meaning of words such as “honesty”, “justice”, “decency”. The positions they hold fully allow them to lead a prosperous and idle life, in which there is no room for awareness of public duty or compassion for their neighbors. Gogol does not try to specifically focus attention on the very social elite of the city’s residents, however, fleeting sketches, quick conversations - and the reader already knows everything about these people. Here, for example, is a general who, at first glance, seems like a good person, but “... was sketched out in him in some kind of picture disorder... self-sacrifice, generosity in decisive moments, courage, intelligence - and on top of all this - a fair amount of a mixture of selfishness, ambition, pride and petty personal sensitivity.”

The dominant role in the plot of the work is given to Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. And it is he, his character traits, his life that come under the author’s close attention. Gogol is interested in this new variety of people that appeared in what was then Russia. Capital is their only aspiration, and for the sake of it they are ready to deceive, demean, and flatter. That is, “Dead Souls” is nothing more than a way to consider and understand pressing problems as deeply as possible public life Russia at that time. Of course, the plot is structured in such a way that the main place in the poem is occupied by the image of landowners and officials, but Gogol is not limited to only describing reality, he seeks to make the reader think about how tragic and hopeless the life of the common people is.

Plyushkin turns out to be the last in the gallery of landowners passing before the reader's eyes. Chichikov accidentally learned about this landowner from Soba-kevich, who gave a rather unfavorable recommendation to his neighbor on the estate. In the past, Plyushkin was an experienced, hardworking and enterprising person. He was not deprived of intelligence and worldly ingenuity: “Everything flowed briskly and happened at a measured pace: the mills moved,
felting mills, cloth factories, carpentry machines, spinning mills; everywhere the keen eye of the owner entered into everything and, like a hardworking spider, ran busily, but efficiently, along all ends of his economic web.” However, everything soon went wrong. The wife died. Plyushkin, who became a widower, became more suspicious and stingy. Then she ran away with the captain eldest daughter, the son chose military service instead of civil service, and was excommunicated from home. Youngest daughter died. The family fell apart. Plyushkin turned out to be the only custodian of all wealth.

The absence of family and friends led to an even greater aggravation of this man's suspicion and stinginess. Gradually he sinks lower and lower until he turns into “some kind of hole in humanity.” Even a thriving economy is gradually falling apart: “... he became more unyielding to the buyers who came to take away his economic products; the buyers haggled and haggled and finally abandoned him altogether, saying that he was a demon and not a man; hay and bread rotted, luggage and haystacks turned into pure manure, even if you planted cabbage in them, flour in the cellars turned to stone... it was scary to touch cloth, linens and household materials: they turned to dust.” He placed a curse on all the surviving children, which further aggravated his loneliness.

It was in such a disastrous state that Chichikov saw him. In the first moments of meeting main character For a long time he could not understand who was in front of him: a woman or a man. A sexless creature in an old dirty robe was mistaken by Chichikov for the housekeeper. However, afterwards the main character was very surprised and shocked to learn that the owner of the house was standing in front of him. The author, describing Plyushkin’s wealth, immediately talks about how a previously thrifty man starves his peasants, and even himself, wears all sorts of rags instead of clothes, while food disappears in his pantries and basements, bread and cloth spoil. Moreover, the stinginess of the landowner leads to the fact that the entire master's house is littered with all sorts of rubbish, since while walking along the street, Plyushkin collects any objects and things forgotten or left unattended by the serfs, brings them into the house and dumps them in a heap.

In a conversation with Chichikov, the owner complains about his life, complaining about the serfs who rob him. It is they who are responsible for such a plight of the landowner. Plyushkin, owning a thousand souls, cellars and barns full of all kinds of food, tries to treat Chichikov to a dried moldy Easter cake left over from his daughter’s arrival, to give him a suspicious liquid to drink, which was once a tincture. In his descriptions of Plyushkin, Gogol tries to prove to the reader that similar story The life of a landowner is not an accident, but the course of events is predetermined. Moreover, what is in the foreground here is not so much the personal tragedy of the protagonist as the prevailing conditions of social existence. Plyushkin happily agrees to a deal with the visiting gentleman, especially since he bears all the expenses for paperwork. The landowner does not even think about why the guest needs “dead” souls. Greed takes over the owner so much that he has no time to think. The owner's main concern is how to save the paper that is required for a letter to the chairman. Even the spaces between lines and words make him regret: “... began to write, putting out letters similar to musical notes, constantly holding his nimble hand, which was scattering all over the paper, sparingly molding line after line and not without regret thinking that there would still be a lot of blank space left.” During the conversation, the main character learns that Plyushkin also has runaway serfs, who also lead him into ruin, since he has to pay for them in the audit.

Chichikov offers the owner to make another deal. A vigorous trade is taking place. Plyushkin’s hands are shaking with excitement. The owner does not want to give up two kopecks, only in order to receive the money and quickly hide it in one of the bureau drawers. After completing the transaction, Plyushkin carefully counts the banknotes several times and carefully puts them away so that he will never take them out again. The painful desire for hoarding takes over the landowner so much that he is no longer able to part with the treasures that have fallen into his hands, even if his life or the well-being of his loved ones depends on it. However, human feelings have not yet completely abandoned the landowner. At some point, he even contemplates whether to give Chichikov a watch for his generosity, but a noble impulse
passes quickly. Plyushkin again plunges into the abyss of stinginess and loneliness. After the departure of a random gentleman, the old man slowly walks around his storerooms, checking the watchmen, “who stood on all corners, pounding the empty barrel with wooden spatulas.” Plyushkin's day ended as usual: "... looked into the kitchen... ate a fair amount of cabbage soup and porridge and, having scolded everyone to the last for theft and bad behavior, returned to his room."

The image of Plyushkin, brilliantly created by Gogdl, most clearly shows readers the callousness and deadness of his soul, of everything that is human in a person. Here all the vulgarity and baseness of the serf landowner is manifested as clearly as possible. The question inevitably arises: who does the writer call “dead” souls: poor dead peasants or officials and landowners who control life in Russian districts.

In the work, Plyushkin completes a kind of portrait gallery of landowners. His image shows one of the varieties of spiritual death. The description of the living conditions of this hero testifies to the main qualities of character. Stepan Plyushkin owns more than a thousand souls, but his farm is experiencing complete stagnation and extreme disrepair: “the logs on the huts were dark”; the roofs “were leaking like a sieve”; the fence is “broken”; the castle looked like a “decrepit invalid”; “mold has already covered the dilapidated wood on the fence and gate.”
Plyushkin's estate resembled an “extinct place.” The tragedy of general desolation and extinction is emphasized by the abandoned garden. It is located “behind the house,” symbolizing the hero’s past, in which he had a “living” life - a friendly wife, children, frequent guests in a hospitable home. After the death of his wife, some of the worries passed to Plyushkin, and he became more restless and stingier. Then he cursed his daughter and son, and when she died last daughter, the old man became the guardian of his wealth. But this wealth was worse than poverty. It accumulated without purpose, not finding not only reasonable, but also no use. Plyushkin has sunk to the extreme in senseless hoarding. Once upon a time Plyushkin was a simple thrifty owner. The thirst for enrichment at the expense of the peasants under his control turned him into a miser and isolated him from society. Plyushkin broke off all relations with friends, and then with relatives, guided by the considerations that friendship and family ties entail material costs. Surrounded by things, he does not experience loneliness and the need to communicate with the outside world. Plyushkin considers the peasants parasites and swindlers, lazy people and thieves, and starves them. His serfs are dying “like flies”, fleeing from starvation, they flee from the landowner’s estate. Plyushkin complains that the peasants, from idleness and gluttony, “have taken up the habit of cracking food,” but he himself has nothing to eat.
In the buying and selling scene dead souls expressively reveals itself main feature the hero is stinginess brought to the point of absurdity, crossing all boundaries.
First of all, Plyushkin’s reaction to Chichikov’s proposal attracts attention. With joy, the landowner is speechless for a moment. Greed has so permeated his brain that he is afraid of missing out on the opportunity to get rich.
about the brain that he is afraid of missing out on the opportunity to get rich. Gogol uses an interesting metaphor: “the joy that so instantly appeared on his wooden face passed just as instantly...” The metaphor “wooden face” defines the essence of Plyushkin. There are no normal people left in his soul human feelings. Plyushkin, how wooden block, he doesn’t love anyone, he doesn’t regret at all. He can only experience something for a moment, in in this case- joy from good deal.
Soon the landowner's usual fear and concern return to him, because the deed of sale will entail some expenses. Plyushkin is not able to survive this.
The author emphasizes the discrepancy between the hero's words and his own behavior. The following arises comic situation: Plyushkin begins to be indignant at the greed of officials who take bribes: “The clerks are so unscrupulous! Before, it used to be that you would get away with half a piece of copper and a sack of flour, but now send a whole cart of cereals, and add a red piece of paper, such love of money! “And the landowner himself is greedy to the last extreme. From the scene of the purchase and sale of “dead souls” one can learn new examples of his stinginess. So, Plyushkin for all the servants: both young and old, “had only boots, which were supposed to be in the entryway.” Or another example. The owner wants to treat Chichikov to a liqueur that used to contain “boogers and all sorts of rubbish,” and the liqueur was placed in a decanter that “was covered in dust, like a sweatshirt.” The grotesque helps to evoke a feeling of disgust and condemnation towards Plyushkin.

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In Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" all the characters have collective and typical traits. Each of the landowners whom Chichikov visits with his strange request for the purchase and sale of “dead souls” personifies one of characteristic images landowners of Gogol's modernity. Gogol’s poem in terms of describing the characters of landowners is interesting primarily because Nikolai Vasilyevich was a foreigner in relation to Russian people, Ukrainian society was closer to him, so Gogol was able to notice specific features character and behavior of certain types of people.

Plyushkin's age and appearance

One of the landowners whom Chichikov visits is Plyushkin. Before the moment of personal acquaintance, Chichikov already knew something about this landowner - mainly it was information about his stinginess. Chichikov knew that thanks to this trait, Plyushkin’s serfs were “dying like flies,” and those who did not die were running away from him.

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In Chichikov's eyes, Plyushkin became important candidate– he had the opportunity to buy up a lot of “dead souls”.

However, Chichikov was not ready to see Plyushkin’s estate and get to know him personally - the picture that opened before him plunged him into bewilderment, Plyushkin himself also did not stand out from the general background.

To his horror, Chichikov realized that the person he mistook for the housekeeper was in fact not the housekeeper, but the landowner Plyushkin himself. Plyushkin could have been mistaken for anyone, but not for the richest landowner in the district: he was extremely skinny, his face was slightly elongated and just as terribly skinny as his body. His eyes were small size and unusually lively for an old man. The chin was very long. His appearance was complemented by a toothless mouth.

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Plyushkin's clothes were absolutely not like clothes; they could hardly even be called that. Plyushkin paid absolutely no attention to his suit - he was worn out to such an extent that his clothes began to look like rags. It was quite possible for Plyushkin to be mistaken for a tramp.

Natural aging processes were also added to this appearance - at the time of the story, Plyushkin was about 60 years old.

The problem of the name and the meaning of the surname

Plyushkin's name never appears in the text; it is likely that this was done deliberately. In this way, Gogol emphasizes Plyushkin’s detachment, the callousness of his character and the lack of a humanistic principle in the landowner.

There is, however, a point in the text that can help reveal the name Plyushkin. The landowner from time to time calls his daughter by her patronymic - Stepanovna, this fact gives the right to say that Plyushkin was called Stepan.

It is unlikely that this character's name was chosen as a specific symbol. Translated from Greek, Stepan means “crown, diadem” and indicates a permanent attribute of the goddess Hera. It is unlikely that this information was decisive when choosing a name, which cannot be said about the hero’s surname.

In Russian, the word “plyushkin” is used to nominate a person distinguished by stinginess and a mania for accumulating raw materials and material resources without any purpose.

Marital status of Plyushkin

At the time of the story, Plyushkin is a lonely person leading an ascetic lifestyle. Already for a long time he is widowed. Once upon a time, Plyushkin’s life was different - his wife brought the meaning of life into Plyushkin’s being, she stimulated the emergence of positive qualities in him, contributed to the emergence of humanistic qualities. They had three children in their marriage - two girls and a boy.

At that time, Plyushkin was not at all like a petty miser. He happily received guests and was a sociable and open person.

Plyushkin was never a spender, but his stinginess had its reasonable limits. His clothes were not new - he usually wore a frock coat, it was noticeably worn, but looked very decent, there wasn’t even a single patch on it.

Reasons for character change

After the death of his wife, Plyushkin completely succumbed to his grief and apathy. Most likely, he did not have a predisposition to communicate with children, he was of little interest and fascination with the process of education, so the motivation to live and be reborn for the sake of children did not work for him.

Later, he begins to develop a conflict with his older children - as a result, they, tired of constant grumbling and deprivation, leave their father’s house without his permission. The daughter gets married without Plyushkin’s blessing, and the son starts marriage military service. Such freedom became the reason for Plyushkin’s anger - he curses his children. The son was categorical towards his father - he completely broke off contact with him. The daughter still did not abandon her father, despite this attitude towards her family, she visits the old man from time to time and brings her children to him. Plyushkin does not like to bother with his grandchildren and perceives their meetings extremely coolly.

Plyushkin's youngest daughter died as a child.

Thus, Plyushkin remained alone in his big manor.

Plyushkin's estate

Plyushkin was considered the richest landowner in the district, but Chichikov, who came to his estate, thought it was a joke - Plyushkin’s estate was in a dilapidated state - repairs had not been made to the house for many years. Moss could be seen on the wooden elements of the house, the windows in the house were boarded up - it seemed that no one actually lived here.

Plyushkin's house was huge, now it was empty - Plyushkin lived alone in the whole house. Because of its desolation, the house resembled old castle.

The inside of the house was not much different from appearance. Since most of the windows in the house were boarded up, the house was incredibly dark and it was difficult to see anything. The only place where he penetrated sunlight– these are Plyushkin’s personal rooms.

An incredible mess reigned in Plyushkin's room. It seems that the place has never been cleaned - everything was covered in cobwebs and dust. Broken things were lying everywhere, which Plyushkin did not dare to throw away, because he thought that he might still need them.

The garbage was also not thrown away anywhere, but was piled right there in the room. Plyushkin's desk was no exception - important papers and documents lay mixed in with trash.

Behind Plyushkin's house there is a huge garden. Like everything else in the estate, it is in disrepair. No one has looked after the trees for a long time, the garden is overgrown with weeds and small bushes that are entwined with hops, but even in this form the garden is beautiful, it stands out sharply against the background of deserted houses and dilapidated buildings.

Features of Plyushkin's relationship with serfs

Plyushkin is far from the ideal of a landowner; he behaves rudely and cruelly with his serfs. Sobakevich, talking about his attitude towards serfs, claims that Plyushkin starves his subjects, which significantly increases the mortality rate among serfs. The appearance of Plyushkin’s serfs becomes confirmation of these words - they are excessively thin, immeasurably skinny.

It is not surprising that many serfs run away from Plyushkin - life on the run is more attractive.

Sometimes Plyushkin pretends to take care of his serfs - he goes into the kitchen and checks whether they are eating well. However, he does this for a reason - while undergoing food quality control, Plyushkin manages to eat to his heart’s content. Of course, this trick was not hidden from the peasants and became a reason for discussion.

Plyushkin always accuses his serfs of theft and fraud - he believes that the peasants are always trying to rob him. But the situation looks completely different - Plyushkin has intimidated his peasants so much that they are afraid to take at least something for themselves without the knowledge of the landowner.

The tragedy of the situation is also created by the fact that Plyushkin’s warehouses are overflowing with food, almost all of it becomes unusable and is then thrown away. Of course, Plyushkin could give the surplus to his serfs, thereby improving their living conditions and raising his authority in their eyes, but greed takes over - it’s easier for him to throw away unsuitable things than to do a good deed.

Characteristics of personal qualities

In his old age, Plyushkin became an unpleasant type due to his quarrelsome character. People began to avoid him, neighbors and friends began to visit less and less, and then they stopped communicating with him altogether.

After the death of his wife, Plyushkin preferred a solitary way of life. He believed that guests always cause harm - instead of doing something truly useful, you have to spend time in empty conversations.

By the way, this position of Plyushkin did not bring the desired results - his estate steadily fell into disrepair until it finally took on the appearance of an abandoned village.

There are only two joys in the life of the old man Plyushkin - scandals and the accumulation of finances and raw materials. Sincerely speaking, he gives himself wholeheartedly to both one and the other.

Plyushkin surprisingly has the talent to notice any little things and even the most insignificant flaws. In other words, he is overly picky about people. He is unable to express his comments calmly - he mainly shouts and scolds his servants.

Plyushkin is not capable of doing anything good. He's callous and Cruel person. He is indifferent to the fate of his children - he has lost contact with his son, and his daughter periodically tries to reconcile, but the old man stops these attempts. He believes that they have a selfish goal - his daughter and son-in-law want to enrich themselves at his expense.

Thus, Plyushkin is the most terrible landowner who lives specific purpose. In general, he is endowed with negative character traits. The landowner himself does not realize the true results of his actions - he seriously thinks that he is a caring landowner. In fact, he is a tyrant, ruining and destroying the destinies of people.

Plyushkin in the poem “Dead Souls”: analysis of the hero, image and characteristics

Dead Souls, where the main character decided to buy the souls of dead peasants from landowners, we meet in different ways landowners of that time. There are five of them, and each one’s soul has long since died. It was Plyushkin, the last of the landowners, where Chichikov came for the souls. Plyushkina in poem Dead we will present souls in our essay.

Plyushkin, characterization of the hero

Considering Plyushkin and making his characterization according to plan, we see not only his description, general image, but also his attitude towards serfs, his family, as well as his attitude towards his estate.

The surname Plyushkin was not chosen by Gogol by chance, because the writer often resorted to symbolic names. Likewise, the surname Plyushkin can be applied to those who are greedy and stingy in life. These people save not for the sake of a good life, but for the sake of saving. They save aimlessly, which is why the lives of such people are aimless. This is exactly what the fifth landowner of the work Plyushkin is with his further characteristics.

So, in Gogol’s work we met Plyushkin, who previously, even if he was a rich landowner and an exemplary family man, then after the death of his wife his life changed. Children left such a father. For all his wealth, he does not want to help them. Having good savings, Plyushkin does not invest his money in anything. He just saves, and he really likes this process.

When Chichikov sees Plyushkin for the first time, he confuses the owner with the housekeeper. He was so poorly dressed that he could have been confused with a beggar at the church. And here we understand that the scumbag feels sorry for spending his money not only on children, but also on himself. Plyushkin is not worried about the estate, which has long been impoverished and stands dilapidated. He continues to save and is happy with everything.

Plyushkin is constantly making himself poor. Despite the stock being plentiful and disappearing, he says he doesn't have enough food. And then we again see his greed, because he does not give out a single crumb from his warehouses to the serfs.

Speaking about his attitude towards serfs, he is very cruel. His serfs, like himself, are dressed like beggars, always hungry and skinny. Despite their hard work, he calls them lazy and accuses them of stealing, although they never took even a crumb without the master’s permission.

Plyushkin with his whole appearance and unfriendly meeting puzzled Chichikov to such an extent that he immediately could not figure out where to start the conversation. In order to win over the gloomy old man and gain benefit for himself, he decides to try to influence him with such a flowery speech, which would combine respect for the owner, and the courtesy of Chichikov himself and his ability to dress his thoughts in a decent manner. cultured person book form.

The initial version was outlined by Chichikov as follows: “Having heard a lot about the virtue and rare properties of the soul (of the owner), ... I considered it my duty to personally pay tribute.” This option was instantly rejected, as it was too much. Chichikov replaces the moral and psychological nature of his “introduction” with an economic one (this is both more specific and closer to the point) and says that “having heard a lot about his economy and rare management of estates, ... he considered it a duty to get acquainted and personally pay his respects.”

When Plyushkin shows irritation from the very first words and begins to complain about his poverty, Chichikov deftly turns the conversation towards his goal: “However, they told me that you have more than a thousand souls.”

And Plyushkin’s next bilious remark, where he involuntarily touched upon the fever that was killing off his men, i.e., precisely the topic that interests the guest, Chichikov skillfully picks up and again leads directly to what he needs, but outwardly combines it with expression of participation: “Tell me! and starved a lot?” Chichikov is in a hurry to find out the number and cannot hide his joy at the upcoming profit. Hence: a stream of interrogative sentences: “How many in number... No... Really? A hundred and twenty?”

The businessman in him began to speak, and Chichikov forgot even about expressing condolences. However, he soon comes to his senses and decides to combine an expression of condolences with a practical matter, stating all this respectfully, even somewhat bookishly: “For your pleasure, I am ready to take a loss.” “This is how we will do it: we will make a deed of sale on them.” “Being motivated by participation..., I am ready to give.” “I suddenly understood your character. So, why not give me...”

It is not for nothing that Gogol twice here speaks of Chichikov like this: “he expressed his readiness.” Once Chichikov even literally repeats Plyushkin’s words: “I’ll fasten the buckle for two kopecks, if you please.” Thus, observations of the speech of Chichikov, as well as other main characters of the poem, convince us of the enormous skill that Gogol possessed in depicting characters by means of their individual speech characteristics.

Linguistic characterization is a brilliant means of revealing not only central characters, but also the minor characters of the poem. Gogol masters the art of linguistic characterization to such perfection that he minor characters are endowed with exclusively expressive, distinctive speech that is unique to them.