How peasant Rus' is depicted in dead souls. The image of Rus' in the poem "Dead Souls" (briefly)
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1. “Rus' OF THE LANDSCAPE” IN N.V. GOGOL’S POEM “DEAD SOULS”
1.1. The world of landowner Russia in the poem “Dead Souls”
1.2. Satire on landowner Rus' in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”
2.1. Feudal Rus'
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
“Gogol’s prose is at least four-dimensional. He can be compared with his contemporary mathematician Lobachevsky, who blew up the Euclidean world..."
V.V. Nabokov
The relevance of the topic “Landlord Rus'”, “People’s Rus'” in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”” is due to the fact that “Dead Souls” is a monumental work in three volumes, a great “national poem”, in which N. V. Gogol sought to show not only contemporary Russia, but tried to look into its tomorrow, reveal the positive principles of Russian life, and show the Motherland the path to salvation.
Gogol had long dreamed of writing a work “in which all of Rus' would appear.” This was supposed to be a grandiose description of the life and customs of Russia in the first third of the 19th century. Such a work was the poem “Dead Souls,” written in 1842.
Gogol began writing the poem in 1835 on the persistent advice of Pushkin. After many years of wandering around Europe, Gogol settled in Rome, where he devoted himself entirely to working on the poem. He considered its creation as the fulfillment of the oath he gave to Pushkin, as the fulfillment of a writer’s duty to the Motherland.
Pushkin told me: “Describe the world of the human soul,
Where is everyday realism and life's petty comedy,
A tragically conflicted world and meaning, like cheese in a mousetrap;
The fractures of human characters are painfully close and familiar...1
The first edition of the work was called “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.” This name reduced the true meaning of this work and transferred it into the realm of an adventure novel. Gogol did this for censorship reasons, in order for the poem to be published.
Gogol's artistic method was called critical realism. Gogol's realism is more saturated with accusatory, flagellating force - this distinguishes him from his predecessors and contemporaries.
The poem is constructed as a concatenation of chapter cycles; an introductory chapter, six “landowners,” “city chapters,” and finally, the 11th, summing up and finally clarifying who Chichikov is (as we know, Gogol continued the poem with the second volume, which has come down to us in fragments). “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” occupies a special place in the poem. It is plot-related to the poem, but is of great importance for revealing the ideological content of the work. The form of the tale gives the story a vital character: it denounces the government.
The plot of “Dead Souls” (the sequence of Chichikov’s meetings with landowners) reflects Gogol’s ideas about the possible degrees of human degradation. The images of landowners contemporary to the author are most widely represented on the pages of the poem. These are the “dead souls” of the poem. “My heroes follow one after another, one more vulgar than the other,” the writer noted. In fact, if Manilov still retains some attractiveness, then Plyushkin, who closes the gallery of the feudal landowners, is already openly called “a hole in humanity.”
So, let’s go for the hero of the poem “Dead Souls” Chichikov to N.
Purpose of the work: to consider the images of the Russian people and landowners in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”.
Chapter 1. “Rus' OF THE LANDSCAPE” IN N.V. GOGOL’S POEM “DEAD SOULS”
1.1. The world of landowner Russia in the poem “Dead Souls”
“For a long time there has not been a writer in the world who was as important for his people as Gogol is for Russia.”
N.G. Chernyshevsky
Poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls" is the greatest work of world literature. In the death of the souls of the characters - landowners, officials, Chichikov - the writer sees the tragic death of humanity, the sad movement of history in a vicious circle.
The writer gives close-up images of landowners, these masters of Russia, in the poem. Moreover, he depicts not the best enlightened part of the nobility, but those who made up its bulk. Who are these heroes that the great critic spoke about? A very polite Mr. P.I. Chichikov arrives in a certain city. In his appearance we are initially struck by his refined taste, neatness, and good manners. True, we are still just guessing about the purpose of his visit. Chichikov pays visits to local landowners.
The author arranged the chapters about landowners, to whom more than half of the first volume is devoted, in a strictly thought-out order: the wasteful dreamer Manilov is replaced by the thrifty Korobochka; she is opposed by the ruined landowner, the rascal Nozdryov; then again a turn to the economic landowner-kulak Sobakevich; The gallery of serf owners is closed by the miser Plyushkin, who embodies the extreme degree of decline of the landowner class.
Creating the images of Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich, Plyushkin, Gogol resorts to general techniques of realistic typification (image of a village, a manor house, a portrait of the owner, an office, a conversation about city officials). In cases where this is necessary, the biography of the character appears before us .
The location of the landowners in the poem is not accidental. First, together with Chichikov, we find ourselves in Manilov’s estate, which is called the front façade of landowner Russia, and then we successively visit the thrifty, neat “hoarder” Korobochka, and then visit the ruined estate of the familiar, reckless Nozdryov and the thoroughgoing fist of Sobakevich. This desolate journey ends with a picture of the complete disrepair and desolation of the village of Plyushkina. In this sequence we see movement - from better to worse. And this concerns mainly not so much the lordly estates as their inhabitants.
At the first meeting, Manilov makes a pleasant impression of a cultured, delicate person. But already in this cursory description one can hear the famous Gogolian irony. This is evidenced by the book, which was bookmarked on page fourteen for two years, and by the comparison of his eyes with sugar. In the appearance of this hero, a sugary sweetness clearly appears. Manilov's penchant for refined, ornate turns of speech speaks of his desire to seem like an enlightened, highly cultured person. But these external courteous manners cannot hide the emptiness of his soul. All of Manilov’s activities consist of meaningless dreams, stupid and unrealizable projects. This idea is also suggested by the description of his estate, which is Gogol’s most important method of characterizing landowners. Like the owner, so is the estate. Manilov's village is in chaos and ruin. Manilov’s weakness is also emphasized by the fact that the landowner’s housekeeping is handled by a drunkard clerk.
The landowner's economy is in complete decline. “The master’s house stood on the south, that is, on a hill, open to all the winds that might blow.” The housekeeper steals, “it cooks stupidly and uselessly in the kitchen,” “the pantry is empty,” “the servants are unclean and drunkards.” Meanwhile, a “gazebo with a flat green dome, wooden columns and the inscription: “Temple of Solitary Reflection” was erected. Manilov's dreams are absurd and absurd. “Sometimes he talked about how good it would be if suddenly an underground passage was built from the house or a stone bridge was built across the pond.” Gogol shows that Manilov is vulgar and empty, he has no real spiritual interests. “In his office there was always some kind of book, bookmarked on page fourteen, which he had been constantly reading for two years.” The vulgarity of family life (relationships with his wife, raising Alcides and Themistoclus), the sugary sweetness of speech (“May day”, “name day of the heart”) confirm the insightfulness of the portrait characterization of the character: “In the first minute of a conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “how pleasant and good man! " In the next minute of the conversation you won’t say anything, and in the third you’ll say: “The devil knows what this is!” - and you’ll move away; if you don’t move away, you’ll feel mortal boredom. " Gogol with amazing artistic power shows Manilov’s deadness, his worthlessness life...Behind the external attractiveness hides a spiritual emptiness.
Another type of landowner appears before us in the image of Korobochka.
This image is so succinctly described from life:
Darling - darkness, boxy figure.
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Within the boundaries of the Fatherland, the reader knows them:
Trade is the meaning of life, the whole world is a buyer.
Unlike Manilov, she is economical and practical. She knows the value of a penny well. That’s why she’s so afraid of selling herself cheap by selling Chichikov an unusual product. All the arguments of the enterprising businessman are shattered by her indestructible “club-headedness” and greed. This means that, with all her individual characteristics, she is distinguished by the same vulgarity and “dead-heartedness” as Manilov.
At the same time, the image of the hoarder Korobochka is already devoid of those “attractive” features that distinguish Manilov. And again we have a type in front of us - “one of those mothers, small landowners who little by little collect money in colorful bags placed in dresser drawers.” Korobochka's interests are entirely concentrated on farming. “Strong-browed” and “club-headed” Nastasya Petrovna is afraid to sell herself off by selling “dead souls” to Chichikov. The “silent scene” that appears in this chapter is curious. We find similar scenes in almost all chapters showing the conclusion of Chichikov’s deal with another landowner. This allows us to show with particular clarity the spiritual emptiness of Pavel Ivanovich and his interlocutors. At the end of the third chapter, Gogol talks about the typicality of the image of Korobochka, the insignificant difference between her and another aristocratic lady.
The gallery of “dead souls” is continued in Nozdryov’s poem. The image of Nozdryov is no less typical than the image of Manilov or Korobochka. Gogol writes: “Nozdryov will not be removed from the world for a long time. He is everywhere between us and, perhaps, only wears a different caftan; but people are frivolously undiscerning, and a person in a different caftan seems to them a different person.”
Like other landowners, he does not develop internally and does not change depending on age. “Nozdryov at thirty-five was exactly the same as he was at eighteen and twenty: a lover of a walk.”
What indomitable energy, activity, liveliness, swiftness emanates from Nozdryov, this reveler, reckless driver, known in the city as a “historical person”. He is not at all concerned with petty worries about saving money. No, he has a different, opposite passion - thoughtlessly and easily spending money on carousing, card games, and buying unnecessary things. What is the source of his income? It is the same as that of other landowners - serfs who provide their masters with an idle and carefree life.
The passion for lying and playing cards largely explains the fact that not a single meeting where Nozdryov was present was complete without a story. The life of a landowner is absolutely soulless. In the office “there were no visible traces of what happens in offices, that is, books or paper; Only a saber and two guns hung. Of course, Nozdryov's farm is ruined. Even lunch consists of dishes that are burnt, or, on the contrary, not cooked.
The typification techniques listed above are also used by Gogol to describe the image of Sobakevich. In Sobakevich, in contrast to Nozdryov, everything is distinguished by good quality and durability. The village and the landowner's economy indicate a certain prosperity. “The yard was surrounded by a strong and excessively thick wooden lattice. The landowner seemed to be concerned a lot about strength. The village huts of the peasants were also cut down; amazingly, everything was fitted tightly and properly.”
But this does not make a pleasant impression, because Gogol hyperbolically emphasizes the ugliness and absurdity of Sobakevich’s buildings and the furnishings of his house. When describing the appearance of this hero, the writer uses a brilliant artistic technique - he compares Sobakevich with a “medium-sized bear.” This allows the reader not only to visually imagine the appearance of the hero, but also to see his animal essence, the absence of a higher spiritual principle. If Manilov at least tried to master the external manners of an intelligent, humane person, then Sobakevich does not hide his deep contempt for enlightenment, defining it with the word “fuk”. It was the Dogevichs who were the main support of the throne; they killed everything humane and progressive.
The extreme degree of human degradation was captured by Gogol in the image of the richest landowner in the province (more than a thousand serfs) Plyushkin. The character’s biography allows us to trace the path from a “thrifty” owner to a half-crazy miser. “But there was a time when he was married and a family man, and a neighbor stopped by for lunch, two pretty daughters came out and his son ran out. The owner himself came to the table in a frock coat. But the good housewife died, some of the keys, and with them small worries passed to him. Plyushkin became more restless and, like all widowers, more suspicious and stingy.” Soon the family completely fell apart, and unprecedented pettiness and suspicion developed in Plyushkin: “he himself finally turned into some kind of hole in humanity.” So, it was not social conditions that led the landowner to the last point of moral decline. The tragedy of loneliness is playing out before us, developing into a nightmarish picture of lonely old age.
Unhappy widower - pathetic Plyushkin
Cuckoo like a cuckoo
Dragging through year after year in tears.
Yes... the noble family is disappearing!
In the village of Plyushkina, Chichikov notices “some kind of special disrepair.” Entering the house, Chichikov sees a strange pile of furniture and some kind of street trash. Plyushkin is an insignificant slave of his own things. He lives worse than “the last shepherd of Sobakevich.” Countless wealth is wasted. Gogol’s words sound warningly: “And to what insignificance, pettiness, and disgust a person could descend!” He could have changed so much!.. Anything can happen to a person.”
Thus, the landowners in “Dead Souls” are united by common features: inhumanity, idleness, vulgarity, spiritual emptiness. However, Gogol would not, it seems to me, be a great writer if he had not limited himself to only a “social” explanation of the reasons for the spiritual failure of his characters. He really creates “typical characters in typical circumstances,” but “circumstances” can also lie in the conditions of a person’s inner mental life. I repeat that Plyushkin’s fall is not directly related to his position as a landowner. Can’t the loss of a family break even the strongest person, a representative of any class or estate?! In a word, Gogol’s realism also includes the deepest psychologism. This is what makes the poem interesting to the modern reader.
Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich - these heroes are antisocial, their characters are ugly, but each of them, as we became convinced upon closer acquaintance, had at least something positive left.
Gogol typifies the images of Russian landowners, officials and peasants. The only person who stands out from the general picture of Russian life is Chichikov. Revealing his image, the author talks about his origin and the formation of his character. Chichikov is a character whose life story is given in every detail. From the eleventh chapter we learn that Pavlusha belonged to a poor noble family. His father left him an inheritance of half a copper and a covenant to study diligently, please teachers and bosses and, most importantly, to take care and save a penny. Chichikov quickly realized that all lofty concepts only interfere with the achievement of his cherished goal. He makes his way in life through his own efforts, without relying on anyone’s patronage. He builds his well-being at the expense of other people: deception, bribery, embezzlement, fraud at customs - the main character’s tools. No setbacks can break his thirst for profit. And every time he commits unseemly acts, he easily finds excuses for himself.
With each chapter we see more and more new possibilities for Chichikov: with Manilov he is cloyingly amiable, with Korobochka he is petty-insistent and rude, with Nozdryov he is assertive and cowardly, with Sobakevich he bargains insidiously and relentlessly, Plyushkina conquers with his “generosity.”
But let us pay special attention to those moments of the poem where Chichikov does not need to disguise himself and change himself for the sake of adaptation, where he is left alone with himself. While exploring the city of N, our hero “teared off a poster nailed to a post so that when he got home he could read it thoroughly,” and, having read it, “folded it neatly and put it in his little chest, where he used to put everything he came across.” This collection of unnecessary things, careful storage of rubbish vividly resembles Plyushkin’s habits. Chichikov and Manilov are brought together by uncertainty, due to which all assumptions about him turn out to be equally possible. Nozdryov notices that Chichikov is similar to Sobakevich: “no straightforwardness, no sincerity!” Perfect Sobakevich." In Chichikov’s character there is Manilov’s love for phrases, Korobochka’s pettiness, Nozdrev’s narcissism, and the rude tight-fistedness, cold cynicism of Sobakevich, and Plyushkin’s greed. It is easy for Chichikov to turn out to be a mirror of any of these interlocutors, because he has all the qualities that form the basis of their characters. Still, Chichikov differs from his counterparts on the estates, he is a man of the new time, a businessman and acquirer, and has all the necessary qualities: “and pleasantness in turns and actions, and agility in business games,” but he is also a “dead soul,” because he the joy of life is inaccessible.
Chichikov knows how to adapt to any world, even his appearance is such that he will suit any situation: “not handsome, but not bad-looking either,” “not too fat, not too thin,” “middle-aged man” - everything about him is vague , nothing stands out.
The idea of success, enterprise, and practicality overshadow all human motives in him. The “selflessness”, patience and strength of character of the protagonist allow him to constantly be reborn and show enormous energy to achieve his goal.
1.2. Satire on landowner Rus' in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”
"... the brilliant accuracy of his satire was purely instinctive...
his satirical attitude towards Russian life is, without a doubt, explained ... by the nature of his internal development"
N.K. Piksanov2
There is a famous saying relating to Gogol’s work: “laughter through tears.” Gogol's laughter. But Gogol’s laughter is mixed with more than just sadness. It contains anger, rage, and protest. All this, merging into a single whole under the brilliant pen of the master, creates an extraordinary flavor of Gogol’s satire.
The flourishing of realism in Russian prose is usually associated with Gogol and the “Gogolian direction” (a later term of Russian criticism, introduced by N.G. Chernyshevsky). It is characterized by special attention to social issues, depiction (often satirical) of the social vices of Nicholas Russia, careful reproduction of socially and culturally significant details in portraits, interiors, landscapes and other descriptions; addressing themes of St. Petersburg life, depicting the fate of a minor official. Belinsky believed that Gogol’s works reflected the spirit of the “ghostly” reality of Russia at that time. Belinsky emphasized that Gogol’s work cannot be reduced to social satire (as for Gogol himself, he never considered himself a satirist).
Gogol's satire is addressed to the contradictions of reality itself. The degrading classes of society are clearly outlined in different groups of characters: the district nobility, provincial bureaucrats and nobility, entrepreneurs of a new type, courtyards, servants, peasants, metropolitan bureaucrats and nobility. Gogol reveals brilliant artistic skill, finds witty techniques for exposing “anti-heroes”: telling details of the hero’s appearance, correlating him with a certain type of person.
The poem “Dead Souls” is a brilliant satire on feudal Rus'. Satirically depicting landowner-bureaucratic Rus', Gogol fills the work with colossal universal human content. From the first chapter, the road motif appears, and then grows and intensifies. The road, first drawn in a reduced everyday sense, then acquires the meaning of an image-symbol - the path along which Russia rushes towards its great, although unclear, future.
The poem includes pictures of the endless expanses of Russia, the endless steppes, in which there is room for the hero to roam. Satire in Gogol's work is combined with deep lyricism, because this work is not only about six landowners, about a dozen officials, about one acquirer, not even about the nobility, the people, the emerging class of businessmen - this is a work about Russia, about its past, present, future, about its historical purpose.
Continuation
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Let's look at those landowners whom Chichikov visited.
The first such landowner was Manilov. Gogol conveys Chichikov’s impression of Manilov in this way: “God alone could say what kind of character Manilov has. There is a race of people known under the name so-so people, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan, his facial features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to be too much of a touch of sugar.” Manilov is tearfully complacent, devoid of living thoughts and real feelings.
Step by step, Gogol inexorably exposes the vulgarity of a vulgar person, irony is constantly replaced by satire: “There is Russian cabbage soup on the table, but from the heart,” the children, Alcides and Themistoclus, are named after ancient Greek commanders as a sign of the education of their parents.
Manilov selflessly dreams of “the well-being of a friendly life” and makes fantastic plans for future improvements. But this is an empty phrase; His words and actions do not jibe. And we see that in the description of the owners of the estates, their hobbies and interests, the author’s ability to show the lack of spirituality and pettiness of aspirations, the emptiness of the soul with a few details of the situation. From one chapter to another, Gogol's accusatory and satirical pathos increases.
The second estate visited by Chichikov was the Korobochka estate. The qualities inherent in Korobochka are typical not only among the provincial nobility. The hostess, as the author describes her, is an elderly woman, in some kind of sleeping cap, put on hastily, with a flannel around her neck, one of those mothers, small landowners who cry about crop failures, losses and keep their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile gain little by little money into colorful bags... For a very long time our hero had to persuade Nastasya Petrovna to sell him dead souls. At first she was surprised when she heard about the item being purchased, but then she was even afraid to sell it on the price. Wow, what a clubhead! Chichikov concluded for himself...
Pavel Ivanovich also visited Nozdryov. Nozdryov, according to the author, was one of those people who were always talkers, revelers, and prominent people. With irony, Gogol calls him “in some respects a historical person, because wherever Nozdryov was, there were stories,” that is, without a scandal. In addition, this landowner lies and flatters on almost any occasion, question and on any topic, for example, even when playing cards or checkers, he cheats. Nozdrev's character makes it clear that he can promise something, but not do it.
The portrait of a dashing reveler is satirical and sarcastic at the same time. “He was of average height, a very well built fellow with full rosy cheeks. Health seemed to be dripping from his face.” However, Chichikov notices that one of Nozdryov’s sideburns was smaller and not as thick as the other (the result of another fight).
Such was Nozdryov, a reckless nature, a gambler, a reveler. For Nozdryov, any deal is something like a game; there are no moral barriers for him, as, indeed, for all his life’s actions. For example, only the arrival of the police captain to Nozdryov saves Chichikov from physical harm.
The image of Sobakevich was created in Gogol’s favorite hyperbolic manner. Describing Sobakevich's appearance, Gogol resorts to zoological comparison. Sobakevich seemed to Chichikov to be very similar to a medium-sized bear. Nature didn’t play tricks on his face for long; she took an ax to his nose once, took another blow at his lips, picked out his eyes with a large drill and, without scraping them, released him into the light, saying he lives! The furniture in Sobakevich's house is as heavy as the owner. He is gluttonous and can eat a whole sturgeon or a side of lamb at one time. In his judgments about food, Sobakevich rises to a kind of “gastronomic” pathos: “When I have pork, put the whole pig on the table, lamb, bring the whole lamb, goose, the whole goose!” Although slow-witted, he will not miss his goal.
Finally, our hero came to Plyushkin.
Irony and sarcasm in the characterization of Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov and Sobakevich are replaced by a grotesque image of Plyushkin. He is, of course, the most deadened among the “dead souls,” since it was in this hero that Gogol showed the limit of spiritual emptiness. He even outwardly lost his human appearance. Chichikov could not understand what gender this figure was. Seeing some strange figure, Chichikov at first decided that it was the housekeeper, but it turned out to be the owner himself.
Chichikov “for a long time could not recognize what gender the figure was: a woman or a man. The dress she was wearing was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman’s hood, on her head was a cap worn by village courtyard women, only her voice seemed somewhat hoarse for a woman: “Oh, woman!” - he thought to himself and immediately added: “Oh no!” “Of course, woman!” It could never have occurred to Chichikov that he was a Russian gentleman, a landowner, the owner of serf souls.
Chichikov thought if he met Plyushkin on the porch, then... he would give him a copper penny..., although this landowner had more than a thousand peasant souls. His greed is immeasurable. He had accumulated huge reserves, such reserves would be enough for many years of a carefree life, but he, not content with this, walked around his village every day and dragged everything he came across to his home.
Nozdryov’s arrogance and rudeness, his desire to harm his neighbor still did not prevent him from appearing in society and communicating with people. Plyushkin completely isolated himself in his selfish loneliness, cutting himself off from the whole world. He is indifferent to the fate of his children, much less the fate of the peasants dying of hunger. All normal human feelings are completely displaced from Plyushkin’s soul by a passion for hoarding. But if Korobochka and Sobakevich collected the money to strengthen the economy and spent it meaningfully, then Plyushkin’s senile stinginess crossed all limits and turned into its opposite. Busy collecting all sorts of rubbish, such as shards and old soles, he does not notice that his farm is being destroyed.
Thus ended our traveler’s trip to the estates of landowners. Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich, despite the fact that the characters of all of them are far from ideal, each of them has at least something positive. The only exception is, perhaps, Plyushkin, whose image evokes not only laughter and irony, but also disgust. Gogol, thanks to his writing professionalism and skill, as we see from the above, talks about all this in a very interesting satirical form.
Gogol's laughter can be kind and crafty - then extraordinary comparisons and stylistic turns are born, which constitute one of the characteristic features of Gogol's poem. Describing the ball and the governor, Gogol talks about the division of officials into fat and thin, and the thin officials, standing around the ladies in black tailcoats, looked like flies that had sat on refined sugar. It is impossible not to mention very small comparisons, which, like sparkling diamonds, are scattered throughout the poem and create its unique flavor. For example, the face of the governor’s daughter looked like a “just laid egg”; The head of Feoduliya Ivanovna Sobakevich looked like a cucumber, and Sobakevich himself looked more like a pumpkin, from which balalaikas are made in Rus'. When meeting Chichikov, Manilov’s facial expression was like that of a cat whose ears were lightly scratched. Gogol also uses hyperbole, for example, when talking about the Plyushkin toothpick, which was used to pick teeth even before the French invasion. The appearance of the landowners described by Gogol also evokes laughter.
Plyushkin’s appearance, which struck the wicked and hypocrite Chichikov himself (he couldn’t figure out for a long time whether the housekeeper was in front of him or the housekeeper), the “fisherman-beggar” habits that blossomed in Plyushkin’s soul - all this is surprisingly witty and funny, but Plyushkin, it turns out , is capable of causing not only laughter, but also disgust, indignation and protest. This degraded personality, who cannot even be called a personality, ceases to be funny. Is a person who has lost everything human: appearance, soul, heart really funny? Before us is a spider, for which the main thing is to swallow its prey as quickly as possible.
Gogol's laughter is not only angry, satirical, accusatory, there is cheerful and affectionate laughter. It is with a feeling of joyful pride, so to speak, that the writer speaks about the Russian people. This is how the image of a man appears who, like a tireless ant, carries a thick log.
Gogol's laughter seems good-natured, but he spares no one, every phrase has a deep, hidden meaning, subtext. But along with satirical negation, Gogol introduces a glorifying, creative element - the image of Russia. Associated with this image is the “high lyrical movement”, which in the poem at times replaces the comic narrative.
With the publication of Gogol's satirical works, the critical direction in Russian realistic literature is strengthened.
Chapter 2. “PEOPLE’S Rus'” IN N.V. GOGOL’S POEM “DEAD SOULS”
2.1. Feudal Rus'
“Gogol was the first to look boldly at Russian reality”
V.G. Belinsky
The theme of exposing officialdom runs through all of Gogol’s work: it stands out both in the collection “Mirgorod” and in the comedy “The Inspector General”. In the poem “Dead Souls” it is intertwined with the theme of serfdom. The poem depicts feudal Rus', a country in which the entire land with its riches, its people belonged to the ruling noble class - serfs who provide their masters with an idle and carefree life. The tragic fate of the enslaved people is felt especially strongly in the images of serfs. With them Gogol speaks of the dullness and savagery that slavery brings to man. In this light, we must consider the images of Uncle Mitya, the girl Pelageya, who could not distinguish between right and left, Plyushkin’s Proshka and Mavra, downtrodden to the extreme. Social suppression and humiliation were imprinted on Selifan and Petrushka. The latter even had a noble impulse to read books, but he was more attracted not by what he read about, but by the process of reading itself, that some word always comes out of the letters, which sometimes the devil knows what it means.”
Gogol, as if in a mirror, reflected the entire disgusting essence of this noble-bureaucratic system with wild police orders, the morality of the serf-owners and the arbitrariness of the landowners. In this regard, the discussions put into Chichikov’s mouth about serfs and runaway peasants in the seventh chapter of the poem are of deep significance.
Korobochka has a nice village, her yard is full of all sorts of birds, there are “spacious vegetable gardens with cabbage, onions, potatoes,” there are apple trees and other fruit trees.
They live prosperously, in abundance, almost eighty souls,
They eat quite, heartily and sweetly: on the farm there are a lot of apples, pears,
Pigs, cows, geese, turkeys, honey, sponge and hemp,
Horses, laying hens, wheat and rye flour...
Following Korobochka in Gogol's gallery of serf owners is another representative of the landowners - Nozdryov. This is a restless hero, the hero of fairs, drinking parties and the card table. His farm is extremely neglected. Only the kennel is in excellent condition. Among dogs he is like a “dear father”, among a large family. He immediately drinks away the income received from the peasants. This speaks of his moral decline and indifference to people.
Nozdrev's estate helps to better understand both his character and the pitiful situation of his serfs, from whom he beats out everything he can. Therefore, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion about the powerless and miserable position of Nozdryov’s serfs. Unlike Korobochka, Nozdryov is not prone to petty hoarding. His ideal is people who always know how to have fun through life, unencumbered by any worries. In the chapter about Nozdryov there are few details reflecting the life of his serfs, but the description of the landowner itself provides comprehensive information about this, since for Nozdryov serfs and property are equivalent concepts.
Speaking about Plyushkin, Gogol exposes the horrors of serfdom. Gogol reports that Plyushkin is a swindler, he starved all the people to death, and that convicts live better in prison than his serfs. He considered the chapter about him one of the most difficult. After all, Plyushkin not only completes the gallery of landowner “dead souls” - this man carries within himself the most obvious signs of an incurable fatal disease. The fate of Plyushkin's serfs speaks especially impressively about the tragic fate of the Russian people, who are ruled by greedy, greedy, empty, wasteful and insane people. Therefore, Gogol’s poem inevitably makes us think about what a terrible evil serfdom was in Russia for centuries, how it crippled and broke the destinies of people, and hampered the economic and cultural development of the country.
Continuation
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The hoarding characteristic of Korobochka turned into genuine kulaks among the practical landowner Sobakevich. An unbridled passion for enrichment pushes him to cunning, forces him to find more and more new means of profit. This is what forces him to actively apply innovations: he introduces cash rent on his estate. He looks at the serfs only as labor force and, even though he has built huts for the peasants that were wonderfully cut down, he will skin three of them. He transferred some peasants to the monetary-tire system, which was beneficial to the landowner. Sobakevich takes care of his serfs, of course not out of philanthropy, but out of consideration: if you offend a peasant, “it will be worse for you.” Sobakevich (in this he differs from Plyushkin and most other landowners) has a certain economic streak (he does not ruin his own serfs, achieves a certain order in the economy, sells dead souls profitably to Chichikov, knows very well the business and human qualities of his peasants).
Sobakevich is an ardent serf owner who will never miss his profit, even if we are talking about dead peasants. The shameful bargaining over “dead souls” reveals a defining feature of his character - an uncontrollable desire for profit, greed, acquisitiveness. When depicting the image of Sobakevich, the writer widely uses the technique of hyperbolization. Suffice it to recall his monstrous appetite or the portraits of generals with thick legs and “unheard-of mustaches” that decorated his office.
Unlike other landowners, he immediately understood the essence of Chichikov. Sobakevich is a cunning rogue, an arrogant businessman who is difficult to deceive. He evaluates everything around him only from the point of view of his own benefit. His conversation with Chichikov reveals the psychology of a kulak who knows how to force peasants to work for themselves and extract maximum benefit from it.
Gogol endowed each landowner with original, specific features. Whatever the hero, he is a unique personality. But at the same time, his heroes retain generic, social characteristics: low cultural level, lack of intellectual demands, desire for enrichment, cruelty in treatment of serfs, moral uncleanliness, lack of an elementary concept of patriotism. These moral monsters, as Gogol shows, are generated by feudal reality and reveal the essence of feudal relations based on the oppression and exploitation of the peasantry. Gogol's work stunned, first of all, the ruling circles and landowners. The ideological defenders of serfdom argued that the nobility was the best part of the Russian population, passionate patriots, the support of the state. Gogol dispelled this myth with images of landowners. Herzen said that the landowners “pass before us without masks, without embellishment, flatterers and gluttons, obsequious slaves of power and ruthless tyrants of their enemies, drinking the life and blood of the people... “Dead Souls” shocked all of Russia.”
With enormous force, Gogol indicted the serfdom system, the entire way of life, in which Manilovism, Nozdrevism, Plyushkinsky squalor are typical and everyday phenomena of life. The poem shocked all of Russia, as it awakened the self-awareness of the Russian people.
Gogol portrayed the image of the Motherland realistically, but with anger. Serfdom hindered the development of Russia. Deserted villages, dull life, serfdom did not increase the dignity of Russia, did not exalt it, but pulled it into the past. Gogol saw a different Russia in his dreams. The image of the three-bird is a symbol of the power of his homeland. It plays a leading role in world development.
2.2. The fate of the Motherland and people in pictures of Russian life
“My thoughts, my name, my works will belong to Russia”
N.V.Gogol
At the beginning of work on the poem, N.V. Gogol wrote to V.A. Zhukovsky: “What a huge, what an original plot! What a varied bunch! All Rus' will appear in it.” This is how Gogol himself determined the scope of his work - all of Rus'. And the writer was able to show in full both the negative and positive aspects of life in Russia of that era.
The world of “dead souls” in the poem is contrasted with the lyrical image of people’s Russia, which Gogol writes about with love and admiration and faith in the “mysterious” Russian people, in their inexhaustible moral potential. At the same time, Gogol did not intend to contrast the suffocating atmosphere of the life of officials and landowners with the life of the peasantry. On the pages of the poem, the peasants are depicted far from rosy. The footman Petrushka sleeps without undressing and “always carries with him some special smell.” The coachman Selifan is not a fool to drink. But it is precisely for the peasants that Gogol has kind words and a warm intonation when he speaks, for example, about Pyotr Neumyvay-Koryto, Ivan Koleso, Stepan Probka, and the resourceful peasant Eremey Sorokoplekhin. These are all the people whose fate the author thought about and asked the question: “What have you, my dear ones, done in your lifetime? How did you get by?” And Petrushka and Selifan, and two men arguing whether the wheel will reach Moscow, are part of the Russian people. But not the best part. The true image of the people is seen, first of all, in the descriptions of dead peasants. They are admired by the author, Chichikov, and landowners. They are no longer there, but in the memory of the people who knew them, they take on an epic appearance.
“Milushkin, a brickmaker could install a stove in any house. Maxim Telyatnikov, shoemaker: whatever pricks with an awl, then the boots, whatever the boots, then thank you, and even if you put a drunken mouth in your mouth! And Eremey Sorokoplekhin! Yes, that guy alone will stand for everyone, he traded in Moscow, brought one rent for five hundred rubles. After all, this is what kind of people!”, “carriage maker Mikheev! After all, I never made any other carriages other than spring ones.” This is how Sobakevich boasts about his peasants. Chichikov objects that they have already died and are only a “dream”. “Well, no, not a dream! I’ll tell you what kind of person Mikheev was, you won’t find such people: such a machine that he wouldn’t fit into this room... And in his shoulders he had such strength that a horse doesn’t have... "And Pavel Ivanovich himself, looking at the lists of those purchased peasants, as if he sees them in reality, and each man gets “his own character.” “Cork Stepan, carpenter, exemplary sobriety,” he reads and begins to imagine: “Ah! Here he is... here is the hero who would be fit for the guard!” Further thought tells him that Stepan went all over the province with an ax, ate a penny’s worth of bread, and probably brought back a hundred rubles in his belt. Over the course of several pages, we become acquainted with the varied destinies of ordinary people. We see the Russian people, first of all, full of strength, talented, alive, and vigorous.
Behind the terrible world of landowner and bureaucratic Russia, Gogol felt the soul of the Russian people, which he expressed in the image of a quickly rushing forward troika, embodying the forces of Russia: “Aren’t you, Rus', like a brisk, unstoppable troika rushing?” So, we settled on what Gogol depicts in his work. He depicts the social disease of society, but we should also dwell on how Gogol manages to do this. Firstly, Gogol uses social typification techniques. In depicting the gallery of landowners, he skillfully combines the general and the individual. Almost all of his characters are static, they do not develop (except for Plyushkin and Chichikov), and are captured by the author as a result. This technique emphasizes once again that all these Manilovs, Korobochki, Sobakevichs, Plyushkins are dead souls. To characterize his characters, Gogol also uses his favorite technique - characterizing the character through detail. Gogol can be called a “genius of detail,” as sometimes details precisely reflect the character and inner world of a character. What is it worth, for example, the description of Manilov’s estate and house! When Chichikov drove into Manilov's estate, he drew attention to the overgrown English pond, to the rickety gazebo, to the dirt and desolation, to the wallpaper in Manilov's room - either gray or blue, to two chairs covered with matting, which were never reached. the owner's hands. All these and many other details lead us to the main characteristic made by the author himself: “Neither this nor that, but the devil knows what it is!”
Let us remember Plyushkin, this “hole in humanity,” who even lost his gender. The author exposes the theft of people's labor in the chapter about Plyushkin even more forcefully than in the chapter about Nozdrev. A landowner like Plyushkin cannot be the support of the state and move its economy and culture forward. And the writer sadly exclaims: “And a person could condescend to such insignificance, pettiness, and disgustingness! Could have changed so much! And does this seem true? Everything seems to be true, anything can happen to a person.”
Plyushkin comes out to Chichikov in a greasy robe, some incredible scarf on his head, desolation, dirt, disrepair everywhere. Plyushkin is an extreme degree of degradation. And all this is conveyed through detail, through those little things in life that A.S. admired so much. Pushkin: “Not a single writer has yet had this gift of exposing the vulgarity of life so clearly, of being able to outline the vulgarity of a vulgar person with such force, so that all the little things that escape the eye would flash large in the eyes of everyone.”
Gogol gives a decisive “no” to Plyushkin the landowner, Plyushkin the nobleman. After all, it was believed that the Russian state rested on the nobles, on these same Plyushkins. What kind of stronghold is this, what kind of support?! The antisociality of the nobility is a cruel fact, the existence of which horrifies Gogol. Plyushkin, scary as it may be, is a typical phenomenon for Russian society of the mid-19th century. Gogol is a harsh and angry accuser. This is how he appears on the pages of Dead Souls. He writes about a Russian peasant who was sent to Kamchatka, given an ax in his hands, and he would go cut himself a new hut. In these words there is hope and faith in the Russian people, with whose hands the troika bird was made. And “like a brisk, unstoppable troika,” Rus' rushes, “inspired by God,” and “other peoples and states sidestep and make way for it.”
A significant place in the poem “Dead Souls” is occupied by lyrical digressions and inserted episodes, which is characteristic of the poem as a literary genre. In them, Gogol touches on the most pressing Russian social issues. The author's thoughts about the high purpose of man, about the fate of the Motherland and the people are here contrasted with gloomy pictures of Russian life. The main theme of the poem is the fate of Russia: its past, present and future. In the first volume, Gogol revealed the theme of the past of the Motherland. The second and third volumes he conceived were supposed to tell about the present and future of Russia. However, these plans were not destined to come true: the second volume turned out to be unsuccessful in concept, and the third was never written. Therefore, Chichikov’s trip remained a trip into the unknown. Chichikov, along with Selifan and Petrushka, gets into the chaise, and now it has rolled along the potholes of the Russian off-road, and has gone to “write nonsense and game on the sides of the road.” On this journey, the reader will see representatives of various social groups, the peculiarities of their lives, and will see all sides of the many-sided Rus'. On this road, he will always hear Gogol’s laughter, full of amazing love for Russia and its people. But there is at least something bright in Rus' that does not corrode under any circumstances; there are people who constitute the “salt of the earth.” Did Gogol himself, this genius of satire and singer of the beauty of Rus', come from somewhere? Eat! It must be! Gogol believes in this, and therefore at the end of the poem an artistic image of Rus'-troika appears, rushing into a future in which there will be no Nozdrevs or Plyushkins. No, it is no coincidence that at the end of the poem the image of an endless road and a trio of birds rushing forward appears. Gogol was at a loss, thinking about the future of Russia: “Rus, where are you going? Give an answer! Doesn't give an answer." In this indomitable movement one can feel the writer’s confidence in the great destiny of Russia, in the possibility of the spiritual resurrection of humanity.
The writer Gogol, a strict critic, led us along a steep road,
Among the weeds and potholes, depicting the scale of the soul...
History, unfortunately, judged differently. Our country failed to overtake others. And now the Nozdryovs, Chichikovs, Manilovs and Plyushkins live in other ranks and guises... But Rus', the “three bird,” is alive. And we, the residents of Russia, believe that the words of the writer will be prophetic in the future: “Russian movements will rise... and they will see how deeply ingrained into Slavic nature is that which slipped only through the nature of other peoples...”
CONCLUSION
The poem “Dead Souls” in the works of N.V. Gogol occupies a special place. Gogol's global plan is to show all of Russia in cross-section, all its vices and shortcomings. And it is no coincidence that Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem. There is a deep meaning in this definition of the genre of a work. Gogol's brilliant creation shocked all of Russia. “Dead Souls” gives a broad and truthful picture of Russian life in the 20-30s of the last century. The provincial town, where the governor, officials and merchants reign supreme, the landowners' estates where Chichikov visited in search of "dead souls", the fortress village, the capital with its ministers and generals - this is the social background of the poem.
In 1841 the poem was completed, but members of the Moscow censorship committee, to whom he presented the manuscript, were indignant at the contents of the work. The poem was banned. These were difficult days for Gogol. He turned to Belinsky for help, who did everything possible to bypass censorship and publish the poem. Gogol knew how representatives of the ruling classes would react to his work, but considered it his duty to Russia and the people to “show,” at least from one side, all of Rus'.” But after the release of the first volume (1842), work on the second volume (started back in 1840) proceeded especially intensely and painfully.In the summer of 1845, in a difficult mental state, Gogol burned the manuscript of this volume, later explaining his decision precisely by the fact that the “paths and roads” to the ideal, the revival of the human spirit, did not receive sufficiently truthful and convincing expression.
Continuation
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From a historical perspective, Gogol's creativity was revealed gradually, revealing its deeper and deeper levels with the passage of time. All this determined the enormous and ever-increasing role of Gogol in modern world culture.
The composition of the poem allowed the author to talk about different landowners and their villages. Gogol creates five characters, five portraits that are so different from each other, and at the same time, in each of them the typical features of a Russian landowner appear. Our acquaintance begins with Manilov and ends with Plyushkin. This sequence has its own logic: from one landowner to another, the process of impoverishment of the human personality deepens, an ever more terrible picture of the decomposition of feudal society unfolds. From Manilov to Sobakevich the feeling of the deadness of the landowners' souls intensifies.
Gogol shows them in order of increasing moral degradation. At first it is Manilov, courteous, with pleasant facial features; dreamy person. But this is only at first glance. In Korobochka, Gogol presents us with a different type of Russian landowner. Thrifty, hospitable, hospitable, she suddenly becomes a “club-head” in the scene of selling dead souls, afraid of selling herself short. This is the type of person with his own mind. In Nozdryov, Gogol showed a different form of decomposition of the nobility. The writer shows us two essences of Nozdryov: first, he is an open, daring, direct face. But then you have to be convinced that Nozdryov’s sociability is an indifferent familiarity with everyone he meets and crosses, his liveliness is an inability to concentrate on any serious subject or matter, his energy is a waste of energy in revelries and debauchery. Sobakevich is akin to Korobochka. He, like her, is a hoarder. Only, unlike Korobochka, he is a smart and cunning hoarder. He manages to deceive Chichikov himself. This gallery of “dead souls” is completed by Plyushkin’s “hole in humanity.” This is the eternal image of the stingy in classical literature. Plyushkin is an extreme degree of economic, social and moral decay of the human personality. Provincial officials also join the gallery of landowners, who are essentially “dead souls.”
The work of N.V. Gogol is multifaceted and diverse. The writer has the talent to captivate the reader, makes him cry and laugh along with the characters, experience failures and rejoice at successes. He calls on a person to think about the fate of the Motherland, about himself, and exposes the shortcomings of society and every citizen. It was in the poem “Dead Souls” that the author posed the most painful and pressing questions of contemporary life. He clearly showed the decomposition of the serf system, the doom of its representatives.
A couple of centuries flew by headlong,
Our Rus' - Mother gallops in threes
On a difficult road, in heat and snowstorms...
Someone laughs, and someone still cries.
Today we inherited
The same “living” and “dead” souls,
Buying and selling... but only a little
I believe it has gotten a little better!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Butromeev V.P. World history in persons: Modern times: Encyclopedia of a schoolchild. -M.: OLMA-PRESS, 2000.-320c.: ill.
All the masterpieces of world literature in a brief summary. Plots and characters. Russian literature of the 20th century: Encyclopedic edition. - M.: Olimp; 000 "ACT Publishing", 1997. - 896 p.
Ginzburg L.Ya. About a literary hero. L., 1979.
Ginzburg L.Ya. About psychological prose. L., 1971.
Gogol N.V. Dead Souls. /Collected Op. N.V. Gogol. M.: “Goslitizdat”, 1959. 432 p.
Gogol N.V. Stories. Dramatic works. Series "Classics and Contemporaries". Leningrad: “Fiction”, 1983. 327 p.
Gogol N.V. Collected works in 7 volumes. M.: “Fiction”, 1977.
Ermakov I.D. Psychoanalysis of literature, M., NLO, 1999.
Literary heritage. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Book 1. M., 1988.
Nabokov V.V. Lectures on Russian literature. M., 1996.
Piksanov N.K. Gogol N.V. /Article from the “New Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron”, 1911 – 1916. //
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in his famous poem “” shows Rus' in two guises: bureaucratic and peasant. Both are described by the writer very realistically. Both are inextricably linked, because the fate of the common people depends on how officials work. And this is precisely the main problem in the poem. Officials have forgotten about their duties and lead an idle lifestyle. They only care about their own gain and having a good time. The peasants live in complete poverty.
There are not as many images of peasants in the poem as there are landowners and officials. Because it was at the latter that the writer’s satire was directed. And yet, the theme of the common people is an organic part of the poem. The author believes that the fate of the peasants is mainly tragic, because the landowners rip them off to the bone, and the officials do not care about them. However, Gogol does not idealize the peasants; he also applies satire to them. He shows that a simple Russian man is often primitive, undeveloped, and abuses alcohol. But laughter at the peasants is not evil, but rather sad. It is clear that the author sympathizes with the common people. He sees the reason for their difficult fate in centuries-old slavery and the outrages of the ruling class.
Let's look at some images of peasant Rus'. Portraits of Chichikov's people: Selifan and Petrushka are presented relatively fully. The first of them works as a coachman. He loves to drink and talk. But he mainly practices his conversational skills on horseback. The second servant, named Petrushka, serves as a footman. He is passionate as he loves to read. But he just does it randomly, getting carried away by the reading process itself. Parsley is interested in how the letters form words, and not in the meaning of the book. As we can see, Gogol skillfully uses irony in creating the characteristics of these heroes.
Among the episodic images, it is worth noting the men who are discussing whether the wheel of the chaise will be able to roll all the way to Moscow. The images of Miny and Mitya are interesting. These guys absurdly helped the main character to avoid the oncoming carriage. Pelageya, the girl with legs black from dirt, evokes laughter and at the same time sympathy. She can't even tell right from left.
The author's attitude towards the common people in the work is ambivalent. Gogol often reflects in lyrical digressions on the living soul of Russian people. He is confident in her vitality and ability to heal, which means he believes in a bright future.
The author pins his hopes for improving the situation in the state on the people. Because it is a force to be reckoned with. The author proves this idea with the story of Captain Kopeikin. The hero who defended his homeland ended up on the sidelines of life, because in peacetime he was no longer needed. The officials refused to help him, no matter how much he begged. After a while, a band of robbers began to operate in their area, and they said that it was headed by Captain Kopeikin. Using this story, the author warns officials that the patience of the people is not unlimited.
The impetus for writing the poem “” was the author’s inexplicable desire to reveal a description of Rus', to travel with his hero through the cities and provinces of Russia, to expose the triumphant officials and landowners who ruled the lives of serfs. The title of Gogol's poem has a double meaning.
Firstly, it talks about those peasant souls that Chichikov bought to carry out his scam. In those days, the peasants were treated very cruelly. Landowners could not only sell their dead souls, but during their lifetime they could lose them at cards or casinos, exchange them or give them as gifts, like things or objects.
Secondly, all those landowners and officials who are presented to us on the pages of the poem can be classified as dead souls. Their inner world is empty, their soul is callous, and their existence is meaningless. Therefore, we can safely say that such people, whose body is still alive, have long since died.
In his poem, he completely abandons the love plot. He is trying to show all the horror and dirt of life in Russia at that time. And feelings of love are not at all appropriate here. Money obsession and dependence reign in society, which completely absorbs all other qualities of a person.
If you pay attention to the persona of the main character, you can say that Pavel Ivanovich is quite a smart and intelligent person. But all his positive qualities were swallowed up by a huge desire to accumulate more money. And there’s nothing to say about the images of landowners at all. Some are in the clouds and in their dreams, others are growing dumb before our eyes from their greed, others are gossiping and making scandals. And they all share one goal - to accumulate wealth and hide it under the pillow.
The reader's consistent acquaintance with the landowners of the poem is not accidental. N.V. Gogol builds a chain along which we move further and further into the wilds of landowner life. Dreamy Manilov, then stupid Korobochka, after her arrogant Nozdryov. Next is the image of Sobakevich, who looks like a bear, and at the end - the lost Plyushkin, who has completely ceased to be like a person. Complementing the story are the figures of landowners and officials who did whatever they wanted with impunity - messing around, taking bribes, breaking laws.
In parallel with managerial Russia, N.V. Gogol also characterizes folk Rus'. Common peasants, in the images of Uncle Mitya and Uncle Minay, Selifan and Petrusha, are completely indifferent to their lives and destinies. Some like to drink, others loyally serve their owners. And this was the fate of the majority of the population of Russia at that time. There were a few among them who were masters of their craft. This is the carriage maker Mikheev, the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov. But there were very few such people. Therefore, N.V. Gogol greatly yearns for the true Russian soul and believes that it will still be reborn among the people and will prevail over greed and the power of money.
In the poem “Dead Souls” Gogol managed to depict Rus' in all its greatness, but at the same time with all its vices. In creating the work, the writer sought to understand the character of the Russian people, with whom he pinned hopes for a better future for Russia. There are many characters in the poem - various types of Russian landowners living idly in their noble estates, provincial officials, bribe-takers and thieves who have concentrated state power in their hands. Following Chichikov on his journey from one landowner's estate to another, the reader is presented with bleak pictures of the life of the serf peasantry.
The landowners treat the peasants as their slaves and dispose of them as things. Plyushkin's yard boy, thirteen-year-old Proshka, always hungry, who only hears from the master: “stupid as a log,” “fool,” “thief,” “mug,” “here I am with a birch broom for your taste.” “Perhaps I’ll give you a girl,” Korobochka says to Chichikov, “she knows the way, just watch!” Don’t bring it, the merchants have already brought one from me.” The owners of serf souls saw in the peasants only working cattle, suppressed their living soul, and deprived them of the opportunity for development. Over the course of many centuries of serfdom, such traits as drunkenness, insignificance and darkness formed in the Russian people. This is evidenced by the images of the stupid Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai, who cannot separate the horses that are entangled in the lines, the image of the yard girl Pelageya, who does not know where the right is and where the left is, the conversation of two men discussing whether the wheel will reach the Moscow or to Kazan. This is also evidenced by the image of the coachman Selifan, who drunkenly makes lengthy speeches addressed to the horses. But the author does not blame the peasants, but gently ironizes and laughs good-naturedly at them.
Gogol does not idealize the peasants, but makes the reader think about the strength of the people and their darkness. Such characters evoke both laughter and sadness at the same time. These are Chichikov’s servants, the girl Korobochka, the men encountered along the way, as well as the “dead souls” bought by Chichikov that come to life in his imagination. The author’s laughter evokes the “noble impulse for enlightenment” of Chichikov’s servant Petrushka, who is attracted not by the content of the books, but by the reading process itself. According to Gogol, he didn’t care what to read: the adventures of a hero in love, an ABC book, a prayer book, or chemistry.
When Chichikov reflects on the list of peasants he bought, a picture of the life and backbreaking labor of the people, their patience and courage is revealed to us. Copying the acquired “dead souls,” Chichikov imagines their earthly life in his imagination: “My fathers, how many of you are crammed here! What have you, my dear ones, done in your lifetime?” These peasants who died or were oppressed by serfdom are hardworking and talented. The glory of the wonderful carriage maker Mikheev is alive in people's memory even after his death. Even Sobakevich says with involuntary respect that that glorious master “should only work for the sovereign.” Brickmaker Milushkin “could install a stove in any house,” Maxim Telyatnikov sewed beautiful boots. Ingenuity and resourcefulness are emphasized in the image of Eremey Sorokoplekhin, who “traded in Moscow, bringing in one rent for five hundred rubles.”
The author speaks with love and admiration about the hardworking Russian people, about talented craftsmen, about the “efficient Yaroslavl peasant” who brought together the Russian troika, about the “lively people”, “the lively Russian mind”, and with pain in his heart he talks about their destinies. Shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov, who wanted to get his own house and little shop, becomes an alcoholic. The death of Grigory You Can't Get There, who out of melancholy turned into a tavern, and then straight into an ice hole, is absurd and senseless. Unforgettable is the image of Abakum Fyrov, who fell in love with a free life, attached to barge haulers. The fate of Plyushkin's fugitive serfs, who are doomed to spend the rest of their lives on the run, is bitter and humiliating. “Oh, Russian people! He doesn’t like to die his own death!” - Chichikov argues. But the “dead souls” he bought appear before the reader more alive than the landowners and officials who live in conditions that deaden the human soul, in a world of vulgarity and injustice. Against the backdrop of the dead-heartedness of landowners and officials, the lively and lively Russian mind, the people's prowess, and the broad scope of the soul stand out especially clearly. It is these qualities, according to Gogol, that are the basis of the national Russian character.
Gogol sees the mighty power of the people, suppressed, but not killed by serfdom. It is manifested in his ability not to lose heart under any circumstances, in festivities with songs and round dances, in which the national prowess and the scope of the Russian soul are manifested in full. It is also manifested in the talent of Mikheev, Stepan Probka, Milushkin, in the hard work and energy of the Russian person. “Russian people are capable of anything and get used to any climate. Send him to Kamchatka, just give him warm mittens, he claps his hands, an ax in his hands, and goes to cut himself a new hut,” say officials, discussing the resettlement of Chichikov’s peasants to the Kherson province.
By depicting pictures of people's life, Gogol makes readers feel that the suppressed and humiliated Russian people are suppressed, but not broken. The protest of the peasantry against the oppressors is expressed both in the revolt of the peasants of the village of Vshivaya-arrogance and the village of Borovka, who wiped out the zemstvo police in the person of assessor Drobyazhkin, and in an apt Russian word. When Chichikov asked the man he met about Plyushkin, he rewarded this master with the surprisingly accurate word “patched.” “The Russian people are expressing themselves strongly!” - exclaims Gogol, saying that there is no word in other languages, “which would be so sweeping, lively, so bursting out from under the very heart, so seething and vibrant, like a well-spoken Russian word.”
Seeing the difficult life of the peasants, full of poverty and deprivation, Gogol could not help but notice the growing indignation of the people and understood that his patience was not limitless. The writer fervently believed that the life of the people should change; he believed that hardworking and talented people deserve a better life. He hoped that the future of Russia did not belong to the landowners and “knights of a penny,” but to the great Russian people, who harbored unprecedented opportunities, and that is why he ridiculed the contemporary Russia of “dead souls.” It is no coincidence that the poem ends with the symbolic image of a three-bird. It contains the result of many years of Gogol’s thoughts about the fate of Russia, the present and future of its people. After all, it is the people who oppose the world of officials, landowners, and businessmen, like a living soul against a dead one.
All topics in the book “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol. Summary. Features of the poem. Essays":
Summary of the poem “Dead Souls”: Volume one. Chapter first
Features of the poem “Dead Souls”
It was created in the mid-19th century. We all know that this period in the history of the Russian Empire was marked by the end of the era of serfdom. What was next for our country at this time? Nikolai Vasilyevich tried to answer this question in his famous poem.
The work can be perceived ambiguously: at first glance, Rus' appears before us in some kind of caricature of the reality that was inherent in state life. But in fact, the author depicted the fullness of the poetic richness of life in Rus'.
Description of Living Rus' in the poem
Gogol describes Rus' as a long-suffering, poor state, which was exhausted by all previously experienced obstacles and its own greedy people. However, Gogol's Rus' is full of strength and energy that still glimmers in its soul, it is immortal and full of power.
The Russian people are depicted in the poem with great literary skill.
We get acquainted with dispossessed peasants, people without rights, great workers who are forced to endure the oppression of such landowners as Manilov, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. While increasing the wealth of the landowners, they live in need and poverty. The peasants are illiterate and downtrodden, but they are by no means “dead”.
Circumstances forced them to bow their heads, but not completely submit. Gogol describes truly Russian people - hardworking, brave, resilient, who for many years, despite oppression, have preserved their personality and continue to cherish the thirst for freedom. The Russian people in the work are a reflection of their state. He does not put up with the slave situation: some peasants decide to run away from their landowners to the Siberian wilderness and the Volga region.
In the tenth and eleventh chapters, Gogol raises the theme of a peasant revolt - a group of conspirators killed the landowner Drobyazhkin. None of the men at the trial betrayed the killer - this indicated, first of all, that the people had a concept of honor and dignity.
The description of the life of the peasantry brings us the understanding that Rus' in Gogol’s poem is truly alive, full of internal strength! The writer firmly believes that the moment will come when holy and righteous Rus' will throw off such greedy rotten personalities like Plyushkin, Sobakevich and others, and will shine with new lights of honor, justice and freedom.
Gogol's attitude towards Russia
During the period of the creation of the poem "Dead Souls", despite the abolition of serfdom, there was little hope that Rus' would still be resurrected to its former greatness. However, enormous patriotism, love for his people and unshakable faith in the power of Rus' allowed Gogol to realistically describe its great future. In the last lines, Gogol compares Rus' with a three-headed bird flying towards its happiness, to which all other peoples and states give way.
The image of Rus' and the peasants in the poem are the only “living” characters who, being imprisoned by “dead souls,” were still able to resist and continue their struggle for existence and for freedom. The author planned to describe the triumph of free Rus' in more detail in the second volume of his work, which, unfortunately, was never destined to see the world.
