The role of compositional inserts in the poem “Dead Souls. Composition of the poem by N.V.

Subject: Dead Souls

Questions and answers to N. V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” (No. 1)

ATTENTION! This text has several options. Links are after the text

Why do you think A. S. Pushkin, after listening to the first chapters of “Dead Souls” (Gogol himself read these chapters to him), exclaimed: “God, how sad our Russia is”?
How can you explain the title of the poem?
What features unite the characters depicted by N.V. Gogol?

They are united by a lack of high motives, indifference to the fate of the homeland and people, selfishness, narrowness of interests, gross selfishness, dulling of all human feelings, mental squalor and limitations.

These vices are typical: they are inherent in both landowners and city officials, although they manifest themselves in different forms. Self-interest, bribery, the desire not to serve, but to please, envy, baiting each other, gossip, slander - these are the characteristic features of the bureaucracy. And the landowners, and officials, and the “acquirer” Chichikov are dead souls who own and dispose of living souls.

What is more important: the common features of landowners and officials or their individual differences? Why do you think so?
Is it a coincidence that the city officials depicted by Gogol in “Dead Souls” are similar to the characters in “The Inspector General”?
How did Chichikov prepare for his life's field? What did his father punish him?

How does this instruction differ from the “testament” of Father Molchalin? Since childhood, Chichikov showed the abilities of a dishonest “business” person: he knew how to make a favorable impression, please those on whom he depended, make a profitable deal, and having achieved his goal, betray, turn away from the person he deceived (remember his school speculations, attitude towards the teacher; then “ way up" in the office). For the rest of his life he remembered his father’s advice, more than anything else in the world, to take care of a penny, which “will never betray you.” The father’s order to Chichikov is very reminiscent of the “will” of Molchalin’s father: both taught their sons to adapt to life using dishonest means, but time has made its own amendments to the parental instructions: if Molchalin Sr. put connections and favor of the right people above all else, then Chichikov’s father during the period capitalization of Russia believed that the surest way to succeed in life is money.

How is the gallery of landowner freaks built? What is the sequence of the story about each of them? In fact, the chapters devoted to landowners are built according to the same plan. Do you consider this an advantage or disadvantage of the work? Why?
What role does “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” play in “Dead Souls”? Why was it banned by censorship?
How does the poem reveal the theme of the people? Do you think Gogol would agree with Nekrasov’s words:

More to the Russian people

No limits have been set.

Is there a wide path before him?

Name the main themes of lyrical digressions in “Dead Souls”. What is their role in revealing the ideological content of the work?

Lyrical digressions expand the scope of the narrative. They reveal the image of the author - a patriot who believes in the great future of his homeland, in its people. The writer’s subtle observation, wit, and civic courage are revealed in lyrical digressions. Their topics are very diverse: about thick and thin (Chapter I), about the weakness of the Russian person (Chapter II), about the hidden meaning of the image of Chichikov (Chapter XI), about the author’s attitude to life in youth, adulthood and old age (Chapter . VI), about the attitude of readers towards the novelist and satirical writer (Chapter VII).

A special place in revealing the ideological content of the poem is occupied by the author’s reflections on the fate of the runaway peasants Plyushkin and “Rus-troika”, which affirm the writer’s faith in the future of Russia.

What elements of the poem’s composition can you name after reading the first chapter?

Already in the first chapter we find two elements of composition - exposition and outset. The exposition presents a description of the city, an introduction to provincial officials, some neighboring landowners, and, of course, the reader’s acquaintance with Chichikov himself. Chichikov's acquaintance with the landowners and agreement to pay them visits is already the beginning of the plot action.

What helped you find the line between exposition and plot?

In practice, there is no boundary between exposition and plot. Both of these compositional elements are closely fused with each other. As happens in many literary works, when the same episodes introduce the reader to the setting of the future action and at the same time outline its starting points.

One of the researchers of Gogol’s work claims that the writer’s details are “soldered into the plot.” As an example, the wheel is given, which the men talk about at the very beginning. It would seem like nothing. You immediately forget about it. But the wheel fails Chichikov on the road. The researcher claims that when the wheel appears for the second time, we can talk about the Wheel of Fortune, known from mythology. Is he right?

The researcher is right. “Dead Souls” is a kind of transformation of a picaresque adventure novel, the dynamics of plot development in which was based on the idea of the vicissitudes of Fortune (fate). The Wheel of Fortune failed Chichikov more than once in his enterprises both before and after his main adventure with the “negotiations” of dead souls.

Name the landowners who gave Chichikov the opportunity to carry out his “negotiation”. Tell us about who interested you most. Gogol himself will help you. Use the plan according to which the writer created these images: a description of the estate and house, a portrait, a dialogue about the sale of dead souls, parting with the hero.

Chichikov was given the opportunity to carry out his “negotiation” by Manilov, Korobochka, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. It’s hard to say who might interest me the most - all the landowners, like artistic images, are bright, colorful, and meaningful stories can be written about all of them. Let's take, for example, Korobochka, which Chichikov ends up with by chance. The interesting thing is that she is the only female landowner. There is an opinion, spread by some researchers, that the development of agriculture on the estates was delayed because many of them were in the hands of women, usually widows or unmarried daughters. Basically, ladies who did not have education and experience either entrusted management to hired persons or clerks, or through their inept actions led the estate to ruin. The poorly educated Korobochka ran the household herself and was quite successful. In her district, she could not be called a small estate, because she owned eighty male souls.

Arriving at night, Chichikov was able to notice that “just by the barking of a dog... one could assume that the village was decent.” The furnishings of the room were old: the walls were hung with paintings of some birds, old small mirrors with dark frames in the form of curled leaves between the wallpaper. Behind every mirror there was either a letter, or an old deck of cards, or a stocking. There was a wall clock with flowers painted on the dial. The bed that the maid prepared for Chichikov, with fluffed feather beds, was also distinguished by its solidity and ancient taste. She was so high that he had to stand on a chair to climb onto her, and then she sank under him almost to the floor. In the morning he noticed that not only paintings with birds hung on the wall, but also a portrait of Kutuzov. From the window, the guest saw something similar to a chicken coop with a huge number of birds and all sorts of domestic animals, “a pig and his family appeared right there.” Behind it stretched spacious vegetable gardens with cabbage, onions, potatoes and other household vegetables. In the garden there were apple trees and other fruit trees, covered with nets from sparrows and magpies. “For the same reason, several effigies were built on long poles with outstretched arms; one of them was wearing the cap of the hostess herself.” Behind the vegetable gardens were peasant huts, which showed the contentment of the inhabitants, “for they were properly maintained: the worn-out planks on the roofs were replaced everywhere with new ones; the gates were not askew anywhere,” there were new carts, or even two, in the barns.

Korobochka herself had the typical appearance of a landowner mother who holds her head somewhat to one side, constantly complains about the crop failure, but puts money in colorful bags - one in rubles, in another fifty rubles, in the third quarters - and arranges them according to chest of drawers.

In the dialogue about the sale of dead souls, Korobochka is depicted sharply satirically: on the one hand, Gogol emphasizes her religiosity and fear of evil spirits, on the other hand, her economic and trading savvy, reaching the extreme stupidity. Like Sobakevich, she remembers the deceased peasant workers with kindness. And even the persuasion that Chichikov exempts Nastasya Petrovna from paying taxes for the audit souls (the losses from this greatly upset her) does not convince her that these souls are worth nothing and do not have any material benefit.

In the dialogue, Korobochka shows herself to be a good expert on the price situation for natural products - honey, hemp, etc. and persistently offers them instead of dead souls, the prices of which are unknown to her.

The comic effect is created by the situations Chichikov sets up that evoke Korobochka’s mystical fear, for example, the proposal to use the dead instead of scarecrows in the garden and the desire to see the devil (“The power of the godfather is with us! What passions are you talking about!” said the old woman, crossing herself.” , “The damn landowner was incredibly frightened”). She gives in, frightened by Chichikov’s “abuses” and hoping that he will become her buyer in the future (“don’t forget about contracts”). Chichikov agreed to everything just to get rid of her now. Korobochka's persistence psychologically exhausts Pavel Ivanovich. With all his ability to behave, adapting to his interlocutor, as discussed in this chapter, he has to really “sweat” to conclude an agreement with her on “negotiation”.

Korobochka’s speech is interesting. It combines folk expressions, which speaks of her constant communication with the serfs (hog, tea, the assailant, sip some tea, addresses father, my father, etc.) and expressions from the Holy Scriptures.

When parting with the owner of the estate, Gogol, through the mouth of Chichikov, usually gives a final characteristic, aphoristically and aptly expressed. The box is called club-headed. However, Gogol expands this generalization and thus typifies her image. “How great is the abyss that separates her from her sister, inaccessibly fenced by the walls of an aristocratic house with fragrant cast-iron staircases, shining copper, mahogany and carpets, yawning over an unread book in anticipation of a witty social visit, where she will have the opportunity to show off her intellect and express well-established thoughts that, according to the laws of fashion, occupy the city for a whole week, thoughts not about what is happening in her house and on her estates, confused and upset due to ignorance of economic affairs, but about what political revolution is being prepared in France, what direction fashionable Catholicism has taken.” Gogol, as if reassuring his hero and urging him not to be angry with Korobochka, notes in passing: “he is a different and respectable man, and even a statesman, but in reality he turns out to be a perfect Korobochka.”

Select a chapter dedicated to one of the landowners and explain the role landscape descriptions play in it.

Landscape descriptions in the chapters about landowners indicate the condition of the estate, as well as the character and habits of the owner. In the answer to the previous question, we talked about Korobochka’s management style - unpretentious, not following fashion, but solid and strong for an estate with an average number of souls, generating a certain income thanks to the practical savvy of the hostess. The landscape on Manilov's estate is of a romantic nature: a stone house with two floors on the Jura, the slope of the mountain was covered with trimmed turf, two or three flower beds with lilac and yellow acacia bushes scattered in English, five or six birches, a gazebo with a characteristic the inscription “Temple of Solitary Reflection”, a pond covered with greenery, “which... is not unusual in the English gardens of Russian landowners.” Below there are about two hundred log huts, which, for a reason still unknown to us, Chichikov began to count. This landscape corresponds to the dreamy mood of Manilov and his wife, and also suggests that they were not involved in farming.

Gogol's poem is written in a very bright language, rich in various artistic techniques. Find epithets in one of the chapters (of your choice) and try to characterize them. They can be close to folklore, they can be metaphorical, they can be hyperbolic.

For example, the epithet non-existent replaces dead. Manilov, trying to express himself as nobly as possible, when Chichikov offered to set a price for him, refused to take the money, citing the fact that they had, in some way, ceased to exist. This extended epithet produces a comical impression. The expanded epithet for the word “negotiation” also sounds comical and even grotesque - it does not correspond to civil regulations and further types of Russia. So Manilov asks flowerily, softly defining what is an adventure. But the “education” and “most pleasant” impression that the guest makes make him believe that formalizing the purchase of dead souls will not harm future Russians. The word “sacred” sounds blasphemous as an epithet to the word “duty” in the mouth of Chichikov in the context of his machinations.

Remember the two comparisons in the poem: man was as annoying as a fly, and people died like flies. Remember what these comparisons were related to. What is the difference between their content and the nature of the use of comparison?

The image of a fly is repeatedly used as a comparison in Dead Souls. Thus, in the first chapter, the writer compares officials in black tailcoats with heaps of flies scurrying around refined sugar during the hot July summer. Reflecting on Chichikov’s adaptability to the characters of his interlocutors, Gogol draws a portrait of an official, the ruler of the chancellery, who sits as important as Prometheus among his subordinates, but behaves like a fly in front of his superiors. The comparison of Prometheus and a fly speaks of adaptability as a quality of Russian bureaucracy. If in the first two cases the comparison is of a comic nature, then the expression “people are dying like flies,” which characterizes the state of affairs on Plyushkin’s estate, already emphasizes the tragic situation of the Russian serf peasantry, who are completely dependent on “dead souls” landowners and officials governing Russia.

Remember the examples of hyperbole that you remembered while reading. Could you distinguish hyperboles from Gogol's works from hyperboles in the works of other writers? What could help you with this?

Each writer has his own manner of using figurative and expressive means, including hyperbolism. The chapter about Plyushkin, for example, is built on hyperbole. The image of a heap located in a landowner's house and collected from rubbish picked up on the road is hyperbolic. The appearance of the old man, whom Chichikov takes either for the housekeeper or for the housekeeper, is hyperbolically comical. Here hyperbole merges with the grotesque in the aspect of combining the ugly with the funny and gives the description an element of tragedy.

M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin often used hyperboles. We are familiar with his tales. In them, hyperbole takes on a fantastic connotation. The generals who find themselves on a desert island are so unadapted to life that they do not know how bread is made; they think that rolls grow on trees. Fantastic is the hyperbolic submission of a man who, while free, allows himself to be exploited and even tied with a rope so that he does not run away.

Try to create a dictionary of the most typical words and expressions of Nozdryov or Manilov, Sobakevich or Korobochka. What, besides the words characteristic of each of them, could be placed in it?

Manilov's dictionary may include words characteristic of him that add a “sugariness” and cloyingness to his behavior, such as do me a favor, I humbly ask, let me not allow this, darling, most kind, courteous and pleasant person, most worthy, spiritual pleasure, name day of the heart, the occasion brought happiness, kind (appeal to the clerk), etc. Manilov often repeats the word education, brilliant education, which he values in his interlocutor or in the people he speaks about, clearly exaggerating its level due to the feeling of his own lack of education. No other characters in the poem talk about education or being educated. Thus, the neutral word used by Manilov somewhat deepens the characteristics of his image.

The poem “Dead Souls” is a lyric epic work. This is its shortest definition. Until now, you have read and listened to poems that were written in verse, their lyric-epic character was obvious to you and, probably, did not raise doubts. However, the lyrical and epic principles merge in many prose works. You divide the elements of epic and lyrical in Gogol’s poem.

Chichikov’s arrival in the provincial town, the plot associated with visiting landowners with the aim of buying “dead souls”, the unmasking of the hero, the hero’s backstory are the epic elements of the work. The author's digressions and Chichikov's reasoning about the peasants, “Eh, Russian people! He doesn’t like to die his own death!”, about “two travelers and two writers, youth and old age”, about “Rus'-troika”, etc., of which there are many in “Dead Souls”, give the work a lyrical beginning.

V. G. Belinsky called such reflections of the writer “humane subjectivity.”

Compare the lyrical digressions of Pushkin’s novel and Gogol’s poem. What brings them together and what sets them apart?

They are brought together by a patriotic feeling: love for the country, reflections on its future and present, although the themes of the lyrical digressions of both Pushkin and Gogol are different. At the same time, Gogol’s digressions, in comparison with Pushkin’s, introduce civic pathos, although, like Pushkin’s, the poem contains reflections and memories of youth. In “Eugene Onegin” there are also lyrical passages about art, customs of social life, etc.

In lyrical digressions, the Author himself talks about his views, thoughts and feelings. In this case, can we consider that there are two main characters in “Dead Souls”: the Author and Chichikov? Try to justify your answer.

The main character of the poem “Dead Souls” is Chichikov. The epic aspects of the work and the development of the storyline are associated with it. At the same time, some literary scholars classify the Author as a hero. There are reasons for this, because he actively expresses his position in monologues, which are lyrical digressions and reflections. In a lyrical work, the image of the Author can merge with the image of the lyrical hero.

Bulgakov in the list of characters (poster) indicated the following characters: The first in the play; Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich; Secretary of the Board of Trustees; Sex in a tavern; Governor; Governor's wife; Governor's daughter Chairman Ivan Grigoryevich; Postmaster Ivan Andreevich; Prosecutor Antipator Zakharyevich; Gendarmerie Colonel Ilya Ilyich; Anna Grigorievna; Sofya Ivanovna; McDonald Karlovich; Sysoy Pafnutievich; Parsley; Selifan; Plyushkin, landowner; Sobakevich Mikhail Semenovich, landowner; Manilov, landowner; Nozdryov, landowner; Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna, landowner... How do you explain the sequence of appearance of these characters in the list of characters?

The First comes to the fore as a commentator, holding together the action of the play. Next comes Chichikov, the main character of the play, and the Secretary of the Board of Trustees, whose role is very significant, since he unwittingly gave the idea for Chichikov’s adventure, and therefore suggested the plot of the poem to Gogol, and the plot of the play to Bulgakov . Then the heroes are divided into city officials, their wives, and the inhabitants of the city. They form a special group in the poster as persons who determine the life of the Russian province. At the same time, it is interesting to note that some characters of Gogol’s poem, who are only mentioned in the text, receive their own voice and some function in the play, for example, MacDonald Karlovich and Sysoy Pafnutievich, reminiscent of the famous Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky. Another significant group of characters, following the group of city dwellers, are the landowners with whom Chichikov conspired to buy and sell dead souls. It was the city group, embodying the administrative system of Russia, that created the conditions for the implementation of Chichikov’s adventure.

In total, there are 32 characters in the comedy. Which of them (look again at the poster) came from the pages of Gogol’s poem and which Bulgakov introduced additionally?

Additionally, the First in the performance was introduced. From the poem by N.V. Gogol, Chichikov, landowners, officials, and servants came into the play. A number of minor characters, whose presence is only mentioned in the poem, are included in the poster and given specific names, which is explained by the laws of the process of staging a prose work and transforming it into a play. So, the governor’s daughter, Sysoy Paf-nutievich, and McDonald Karlovich, about whom Gogol says that “had never been heard of,” get their roles.

Which chapters of Gogol's poem were used to create the Prologue? What role does “Prologue” play in the composition of a comedy?

To create the text of the “Prologue”, an episode from Chapter XI was used (Chichikov’s conversation with the secretary and giving a bribe). The compositional role of this dialogue is very important: Bulgakov brings out in the “Prologue” the birth of Chichikov’s plan to get rich by acquiring the souls of dead peasants that exist only on paper. This beginning allows the screenwriter to dynamically build the plot of the play based on the implementation of this plan. For Gogol, it is important to gradually reveal the biography and development of the personality of his hero, therefore the episode of the emergence of a criminal plot is given in the context of Chichikov’s prehistory, included in the composition of the poem after the completion of the adventure. Thus, the “Prologue” in Bulgakov’s play can be considered an exposition.

Compare the first act of Bulgakov's comedy with the text of Gogol's poem. What chapters are used in it?

The first act is composed of the following chapters. Firstly, a brief description of Chichikov’s first visit to the governor (Chapter I) is staged, from where the viewer learns about the latter’s passion for tulle embroidery, about “velvet” roads and about the invitation “to come to him that same day for a house party " From the same chapter, the play included Chichikov’s introduction to the governor’s wife, his acquaintance with landowners and officials. Some biographical information that could have been reported to the governor was transferred into the first act of Bulgakov’s play from Chapter XI of the poem with emotional exaggerations about his honesty before the law and people (chapters about meetings with landowners). The presentation of the governor's daughter, which takes place in the first act of the play, took place in Gogol's work in Chapter XVIII. The first act also includes visits to landowners and scenes of trading in dead souls (Manilov, Sobakevich). The First's monologue gives an idea of Gogol's lyrical digressions and his thoughts about his homeland. His final remarks about the landowners transfer the author's characteristics into the play.

The sequence of Chichikov's visits to the landowners in Bulgakov's play is disrupted compared to Gogol's text. First, planned meetings are depicted, which brings them closer to their first acquaintances at the governor's party.

Prepare a report about one of the landowners, using the text of the comedy. Outline the similarities and differences with the characters in Gogol’s poem.

Everyone will choose a character for their message individually. The differences in the portrayal of landowners in the play and poem are explained by the features of the dramatic work that Bulgakov created based on Gogol’s prose text. The characterization of the character will be compiled by you on the basis of his dialogues with Chichikov, remarks and some comments of the First. The poem contains quite a lot of author's descriptions of both the landowner himself and the environment in which he is depicted.

Prepare a report about Chichikov as the main character of the comedy. Try to outline, at least in the most general terms, what the hero of a comedy has lost and gained in comparison with the hero of an epic.

When preparing this message, you should also rely on knowledge of the specifics of the dramatic work. Chichikov's backstory is not given in its entirety, like Gogol's, but was scattered in the First's remarks and in the scene with the secretary of the guardianship council. There is a description of the hero's appearance and details of his life. And this, undoubtedly, impoverishes the idea of Chichikov, but enhances in the eyes of the viewer the entertaining nature of the play, its comedic character, as well as the comedy of the image of the main character.

What is the role of the First in the play? Why, in your opinion, did Bulgakov introduce this character into the comedy?

The role of the First is commentary. Bulgakov was going to make him the host of the play. In a letter to V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, the playwright expressed the idea that “the play will become more significant... if the Reader, having opened the performance, leads it in direct and lively movement along with the rest of the characters, that is, takes part not only in reading, but also in action." This idea did not find support from the director, and as the premiere was being prepared, the role of the First was reduced and relegated to the background.

So, according to Bulgakov’s plan, in the finale of the comedy, when Chichikov, robbed completely by the gendarmerie colonel and police chief, again drove around Russia, the First tries to awaken the sympathetic attitude of the audience towards themselves, towards the usual fate in our fatherland of a poet persecuted by his contemporaries .

What favorite techniques of the satirical writer were fully preserved when dramatizing the poem? What did Bulgakov add from the playwright’s own arsenal?

Bulgakov treats Gogol’s text with care and retains the techniques of the satirical writer in the play, for example, the contrast between Korobochka’s religiosity, her constant fear of mystical forces, and her persistent fear of making a mistake when selling dead souls. She does not understand that she is committing a blasphemous act, thereby demonstrating her stupidity. However, she (and this is funny) is characterized by a romantic fantasy. She says that Chichikov broke into her house and forced her to sell the dead. The introduction of the scene of her interrogation with the chairman contributes to the strengthening of the grotesque image of Korobochka.

Bulgakov added a new ending to the plot, a completely unexpected outcome. Real meaning is given to the phantasmic goric event. A new governor-general is appointed to the city. Chichikov is arrested. Threatening him with Siberia, the police chief and the gendarme colonel in the “arrest room” fleece him like a stick, take a bribe from him of thirty thousand (“Here it’s all together - both ours, and the colonel, and the governor general”) and they let him go. The satirical power in exposing Chichikov and the provincial rulers increases dramatically, as they say, doubling. The viewer is convinced that if such an adventurer and swindler as Chichikov is being robbed completely in the city of N., then both Sobakevich and Chichikov are right when they say about the city rulers “the swindler sits on the swindler and drives the swindler on.”

How are the lyrical digressions of the poem used in comedy?

The lyrical digressions of the poem, naturally, are significantly shortened and included in the speeches of the First, as well as in some statements of the hero himself. These are digressions about the road, about youth and old age, which are heard both before and after Chichikov’s visit to Plyushkin’s estate. The story about Captain Kopeikin is interestingly presented in the comedy. It is narrated by the postmaster, who fails to convey the ordeals that Kopeikin experienced in his troubles. And suddenly the real Kopeikin appears, who turned out to be a magistrate and brought a dispatch about the appointment of a new governor-general. The prosecutor dies.

How are landscapes, interiors, and portraits from Gogol’s text used in the comedy?

In the stage directions, in the dialogue between Manilov and Chichikov, in which chairs should the dear guest sit. Portraits of heroes and the interior appear in the comments of the First, especially before the dialogues in the estates of Plyushkin and Sobakevich. Interesting remarks are heard in the remarks about the changes in Plyushkin’s face when he recalls his joint years of study with the chairman of the chamber. First: “The evening dawn is spreading and a ray falls on Plyushkin’s face” - some bright glimpse of humanity appeared. And the First’s remark: “Oh, a pale reflection of feeling. But the miser’s face, following the moment, the feelings that slid across it, became even more insensitive and vulgar.”

Prepare a reading in person from one of the comedy episodes. Participants can give their comments on the depicted episode after the performance.

The scene of the acquisition of dead souls from Manilov is clearly readable. The conversation is conducted in a good-natured manner. Everyone wants to be liked. Chichikov speaks insinuatingly, Manilov tensely tries to insert learned words into his speech, for example, “negotiation”, instead of “deal”, “purchase”.

Compile a short dictionary of the language of one of the characters in the comedy. You can also create dictionaries of two characters and then compare them. If you worked on creating such dictionaries while studying Gogol’s poem, then compare them.

Dictionary of Mikhail Semenovich Sobakevich: fool, robbers, dog, pig, gentle face, robber, Gog and Magog, swindler, sellers of Christ, steamed turnips (reviews about people); bargain, skimp, real price, deposit, etc. Material from the site

Describe the stage directions in one of the comedy acts.

Act two. The stage directions for paintings five, six and seven briefly sketch the situation in front of the houses of Plyushkin, Nozdrev, and Korobochka, the situation corresponding to the characters and mood of the owners of the house. Neglected, rotten, filled with rubbish - these are the epithets that characterize the condition of Plyushkin’s house and estate. In Nozdryov's house, the interior indicates the owner's riotous character - a saber on the wall, two guns and a portrait of Suvorov. A candle, a lamp, a samovar, a stormy twilight - the situation in which Chichikov finds himself at Korobochka’s.

Theater lovers can prepare a story about the fate of the comedy “Dead Souls” on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater.

The history of the production of “Dead Souls” on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater was complex and caused Mikhail Afanasyevich a lot of mental suffering. When he entered the theater after Stalin’s phone call, he was offered to stage “Dead Souls” and take part in the production of the play. By that time, 160 staging options had already been proposed. None of them satisfied Bulgakov, and he stated that “Dead Souls” could not be staged, a new dramatic work had to be created. They agreed with him and instructed him to do this work. In May 1930 he made the first sketches. He had an idea to show Gogol himself dictating a poem in Rome. However, this idea was immediately rejected. On October 31, the first reading of the dramatization took place in the presence of V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. The famous director generally approved of the comedy, but Bulgakov failed to introduce into the play the image of an equal character, somewhat reminiscent of the author. He was considered a reasoner, a commentator, interfering with the development of the action. Bulgakov insisted. It seemed to him that the First would play a positive role, especially in the scene with Plyushkin, and even wanted to introduce him into the action. An attempt was made to implement this idea, but Kachalov, who was entrusted with the role of the First, was unable to cope with it. I had to take her outside the performance. In addition, director Sakhnovsky oriented the actors towards the grotesque-tragic Gogol, towards a symbolic solution to the theme in the spirit of Vs. Meyerhol, yes, which did not suit Bulgakov. From February 1931, K. S. Stanislavsky became involved in the work on the play, and the play began to acquire realistic features. However, Stanislavsky also refused the role of the First. In the process of long, exhausting rehearsals, the concept of the staging changed: Stanislavsky had his own vision of “Dead Souls,” and he staged them differently than Bulgakov would have liked.

In a letter to P.S. Popov, he describes the creative process of working on “Dead Souls”: “And I smashed the entire poem to stones. Literally to pieces. In the Prologue, the action takes place in a tavern in St. Petersburg or Moscow, where the Secretary of the Board of Trustees accidentally gave Chichikov the idea of buying and mortgaging the dead (look at Vol. I, Chapter XI). Chichikov went to buy things and not at all in the same order as in the poem. In the tenth scene, called “cameral” in the rehearsal sheets, an interrogation of Selifan, Petrushka, Korobochka and Nozdryov takes place, a story about Captain Kopeikin, which is why the prosecutor dies. Chichikov is arrested, put in prison and released (by the police chief and gendarmerie colonel), having robbed him completely. He is leaving".

Vladimir Ivanovich was furious. There was a great battle, but still in this form the play went into work, which lasted about two years.

Bulgakov agreed with many of Stanislavsky’s decisions and even admired them, which he wrote to Konstantin Sergeevich about. Thus, he was fascinated by the judgment about Manilov: “You can’t say anything to him, ask him anything - he’ll stick right away.”

As Stanislavsky worked on the play, the stage action increased. The role of the First fell out, some scenes were shortened, other scenes were changed. A theatrical version of comedy arose. The premiere took place on November 28, 1932. Such famous actors as Toporkov, Moskvin, Tarkhanov, Leonidov, Kedrov took part in it. It went through hundreds of performances and became a classic of Russian dramatic art.

As V.V. Petelin, a modern researcher of the life and work of M.A. Bulgakov, writes, “Bulgakov created an independent work, bright, scenic, many actors enthusiastically devoted themselves to the game, because, as they said, the roles were “playable”, there were individual scenes, there were mass ones, where dozens of actors and actresses were employed... So the theater celebrated its success. And at the same time, in the play “everything is from Gogol, not a single word of someone else,” Bulgakov himself asserted more than once, and researchers only confirmed the truth of his words.”

Carefully read fragments from Gogol’s “Dead Souls”. Decide what is in front of you: comparisons or metaphors, and try to prove that you are right: “The noise from the feathers was great and sounded as if several carts with brushwood were passing through a forest littered with a quarter of an arshin of withered leaves”; “Chichikov saw in his hands a decanter, which was covered in dust, like in a foo-fiction.” V. Kataev claims that these are metaphors. Is he right?

The question is complex, since, after all, a metaphor can be considered an undifferentiated comparison in which both members are easily seen. Here they are connected by the conjunctions “as if”, “as”, which is typical for comparisons. They can be considered metaphorical comparisons due to the fact that Gogol gave the compared images extreme expressiveness and visibility.

For what reason or set of reasons did Gogol call “Dead Souls” a poem? Why did he sometimes call the same “Dead Souls” a novel in his letters?

“Dead Souls” is called a poem due to the strong lyrical element inherent in this work that accompanies the plot action: interpolated reasoning and lyrical digressions. There are many sad and at the same time dreamily lyrical thoughts about the future of Russia, about its talented people, worthy of a different fate and suffering from stupid and mediocre landowners and officials who control their fate. At the same time, the variety of problems posed in “Dead Souls”, the wide coverage of Russian reality, expressed in the creation of vivid pictures of city and local life, allows us to consider this work a novel.

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As for the composition of the work, it is extremely simple and expressive. It has three links.

First: five portrait chapters (2 - 6), in which all types of landowners available at that time are given; second - counties and officials (chapters 1, 7 - 10); the third is chapter 11, in which the background story of the main character. The first chapter describes Chichikov’s arrival in the city and his acquaintance with officials and surrounding landowners.

Five portrait chapters dedicated to Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich and Plyushkin describe Chichikov’s visits to landowners’ estates with the aim of purchasing “dead souls.” In the next four chapters - the hassle of processing “purchases”, excitement and gossip in the city about Chichikov and his enterprise, the death of the prosecutor, who was frightened by the rumors about Chichikov. The eleventh chapter concludes the first volume.

In the second volume, which has not reached us in full, there is much more tragedy and dynamism. Chichikov continues to pay visits to landowners. New characters are introduced. At the same time, events take place leading to the rebirth of the main character.

Compositionally, the poem consists of three outwardly not closed, but internally interconnected circles - landowners, the city, the hero's biography - united by the image of the road, plot-related by Chichikov's scam.

“... It was not in jest that Gogol called his novel a “poem” and that he did not mean a comic poem by it. It was not the author who told us this, but his book. We do not see anything humorous or funny in it; In not a single word of the author did we notice an intention to make the reader laugh: everything is serious, calm, true and deep... Do not forget that this book is only an exposition, an introduction to the poem, that the author promises two more such large books in which we will meet again with Chichikov and we will see new faces in which Russia will express itself from its other side...” (“V.G. Belinsky about Gogol”, OGIZ, State Publishing House of Fiction, Moscow, 1949).

V.V. Gippius writes that Gogol built his poem on two levels: psychological and historical.

The main task is to bring out as many characters as possible who are attached to the landowner environment. “But the significance of Gogol’s heroes outgrows their initial social characteristics. Manilovshchina, Nozdrevshchina, Chichikovshchina received... the meaning of large typical generalizations. And this was not only a later historical reinterpretation; the generalized nature of the images is provided for in the author's plan. Gogol reminds us of this about almost each of his heroes.” (V.V. Gippius, “From Pushkin to Blok”, publishing house “Nauka”, Moscow-Leningrad, 1966, p. 127).

On the other hand, each Gogol image is historical because it is marked by the features of its era. Long-lasting images are supplemented by newly emerging ones (Chichikov). The images from “Dead Souls” have acquired long-lasting historical significance.

The novel remains inevitably within the framework of the depiction of individual people and events. There is no place in the novel for the image of the people and the country.

The genre of the novel did not accommodate Gogol’s tasks. “Based on these tasks (which were not canceled, but included an in-depth depiction of real life), it was necessary to create a special genre - a large epic form, broader than the novel. Gogol calls “Dead Souls” a poem - by no means in jest, as hostile criticism said; It’s no coincidence that on the cover of Dead Souls, drawn by Gogol himself, the word poem is highlighted in especially large letters.” (V.V. Gippius, “From Pushkin to Blok”, publishing house “Nauka”, Moscow-Leningrad, 1966).

There was innovative courage in the fact that Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem. Calling his work a poem, Gogol was guided by his following judgment: “a novel does not take the whole life, but a significant incident in life.” Gogol imagined the epic differently. It “encompasses in some features, but the entire era of time, among which the hero acted with the way of thoughts, beliefs and even confessions that humanity made at that time...” “...Such phenomena appeared from time to time among many peoples. Many of them, although written in prose, can nevertheless be considered poetic creations.” (P. Antopolsky, article “Dead Souls”, poem by N.V. Gogol”, Gogol N.V., “Dead Souls”, Moscow, Higher School, 1980, p. 6).

A poem is a work about significant phenomena in the state or in life. It implies historicity and heroism of the content, legendary, pathetic.

“Gogol conceived Dead Souls as a historical poem. With great consistency, he attributed the time of action of the first volume at least twenty years ago, to the middle of the reign of Alexander the First, to the era after the Patriotic War of 1812.

Gogol directly states: “However, we must remember that all this happened shortly after the glorious expulsion of the French.” That is why, in the minds of officials and ordinary people of the provincial city, Napoleon is still alive (he died in 1821) and can threaten to land from St. Helena. That is why the true story or fairy tale about the unfortunate one-armed and one-legged veteran - the captain of the victorious Russian army, who took Paris in 1814, has such a vivid effect on the postmaster's listeners. That is why one of the heroes of the second volume (on which Gogol... worked much later), General Betrishchev, completely emerged from the epic of the twelfth year and is full of memories of it. And if Chichikov invented some mythical story of the generals of the twelfth year for Tentetnikov, then this circumstance is grist for Gogol’s historical mill.” (Introductory article by P. Antopolsky, “Dead Souls”, Moscow, Higher School, 1980, p. 7). This is on the one hand.

On the other hand, it was impossible to call “Dead Souls” anything other than a poem. Because the name itself betrays its lyrical-epic essence; soul is a poetic concept.

The genre of “Dead Souls” has become a unique form of raising everyday life material to the level of poetic generalization. The principles of artistic typification used by Gogol create an ideological and philosophical situation when reality is realized exclusively in the context of a global ethical doctrine. In this regard, the title of the poem plays a special role. After the appearance of Dead Souls, fierce controversy broke out. The author was reproached for encroaching on sacred categories and attacking the foundations of faith. The title of the poem is based on the use of an oxymoron; the social characteristics of the characters correlate with their spiritual and biological state. A specific image is considered not only in the aspect of moral and ethical antinomies, but also within the framework of the dominant existential-philosophical concept (life-death). It is this thematic collision that determines the specific perspective of the author’s vision of the problems.

Gogol defines the genre of “Dead Souls” already in the title of the work, which is explained by the author’s desire to precede the reader’s perception with a hint of the lyrical epic of the artistic world. “Poem” indicates a special type of narrative in which the lyrical element largely prevails over the epic scale. The structure of Gogol's text represents an organic synthesis of lyrical digressions and plot events. The image of the narrator plays a special role in the story. He is present in all scenes, comments, evaluates what is happening, expresses ardent indignation or sincere sympathy.” (“The originality of the narrative style in the poem “Dead Souls”, gramata.ru).

In “Dead Souls” two worlds are artistically embodied: the “real” world and the “ideal” world. The “real” world is the world of Plyushkin, Nozdryov, Manilov, Korobochka - a world that reflects the Russian reality of Gogol’s time. According to the laws of the epic, Gogol creates a picture of life, most tightly covering reality. He shows as many characters as possible. To show Rus', the artist distances himself from current events and is busy creating a reliable world.

This is a scary, ugly world, a world of inverted values and ideals. In this world the soul can be dead. In this world, spiritual guidelines are upside down, its laws are immoral. This world is a picture of the modern world, in which there are caricature masks of contemporaries, and hyperbolic ones, and bringing what is happening to the point of absurdity...

The “ideal” world is built in accordance with the criteria by which the author judges himself and his life. This is a world of true spiritual values and high ideals. For this world, the human soul is immortal, for it is the embodiment of the Divine in man.

“The “ideal” world is the world of spirituality, the spiritual world of man. There is no Plyushkin and Sobakevich in it, there cannot be Nozdryov and Korobochka. There are souls in it - immortal human souls. He is perfect in every sense of the word. And therefore this world cannot be recreated epically. The spiritual world describes a different kind of literature - lyrics. That is why Gogol defines the genre of the work as lyric-epic, calling “Dead Souls” a poem.” (Monakhova O.P., Malkhazova M.V., Russian literature of the 19th century, part 1, Moscow, 1995, p. 155).

The entire composition of the huge work, the composition of all volumes of “Dead Souls” was suggested to Gogol immortally by Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, where the first volume is hell and the kingdom of dead souls, the second volume is purgatory and the third is heaven.

In the composition of Dead Souls, inserted short stories and lyrical digressions are of great importance. Particularly important is “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin,” which seems to be outside the plot, but shows the peak of the death of the human soul.

The exposition of “Dead Souls” is moved to the end of the poem - to the eleventh chapter, which is almost the beginning of the poem, showing the main character - Chichikov.

“Chichikov is conceived as a hero who faces an upcoming rebirth. The way of motivating this very possibility leads us to something new for the 19th century. sides of Gogol's artistic thinking. Villain in educational literature of the 18th century. retained the right to our sympathies and to our faith in his possible rebirth, since at the basis of his personality lay a kind Nature, but perverted by society. The romantic villain redeemed himself by the enormity of his crimes; the greatness of his soul ensured him the sympathy of the reader. Ultimately, he could end up as an angel gone astray, or even a sword in the hands of heavenly justice. Gogol's hero has hope for revival because he has reached the limit of evil in its extreme - low, petty and ridiculous - manifestations. Comparison of Chichikov and the robber, Chichikov and Napoleon,

Chichikov and the Antichrist makes the former a comic figure, removes from him the halo of literary nobility (in parallel runs the parodic theme of Chichikov’s attachment to “noble” service, “noble” treatment, etc.). Evil is given not only in its pure form, but also in its insignificant forms. This is already the extreme and most hopeless evil, according to Gogol. And precisely in its hopelessness lies the possibility of an equally complete and absolute revival. This concept is organically connected with Christianity and forms one of the foundations of the artistic world of Dead Souls. This makes Chichikov similar to Dostoevsky’s heroes. (Yu.M. Lotman, “Pushkin and “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin.” On the history of the design and composition of “Dead Souls”, gogol.ru).

“Gogol loves Rus', knows and guesses it with his creative feeling better than many: we see this at every step. The depiction of the very shortcomings of the people, even if we take it in moral and practical terms, leads him to deep reflections about the nature of the Russian person, about his abilities and especially upbringing, on which all his happiness and power depend. Read Chichikov’s thoughts about dead and fugitive souls (on pp. 261 - 264): after laughing, you will deeply think about how a Russian person, standing at the lowest level of social life, grows, develops, is educated and lives in this world.

May readers also not think that we recognize Gogol’s talent as one-sided, capable of contemplating only the negative half of human and Russian life: oh! Of course, we do not think so, and everything that has been said before would contradict such a statement. If in this first volume of his poem comic humor prevailed, and we see Russian life and Russian people mostly on their negative side, then it does not in any way follow that Gogol’s imagination could not rise to the full scope of all aspects of Russian life. He himself promises to further present to us all the untold wealth of the Russian spirit (page 430), and we are confident in advance that he will gloriously keep his word. Moreover, in this part, where the very content, characters and subject of the action carried him away into laughter and irony, he felt the need to make up for the lack of the other half of life, and therefore, in frequent digressions, in vivid notes thrown occasionally, he gave us a presentiment of the other half. side of Russian life, which over time will be revealed in its entirety. Who doesn’t remember episodes about the apt word of a Russian man and the nickname he gives, about the endless Russian song rushing from sea to sea about the wide expanse of our land, and, finally, about the swaggering troika, about this bird-troika that he could have invented only a Russian person and who inspired Gogol with a hot page and a wonderful image for the rapid flight of our glorious Russia? All these lyrical episodes, especially the last one, seem to present us with glances cast forward, or a premonition of the future, which should develop enormously in the work and depict the fullness of our spirit and our life.” (Stepan Shevyrev, “The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls”, poem by N.V. Gogol).

Stepan Shevyrev also writes that a complete answer to the question of why Gogol called his work a poem can be given if the work is completed.

“Now the meaning of the word: poem seems to us twofold: if you look at the work from the side of fantasy, which participates in it, then you can accept it in a real poetic, even lofty sense; - but if you look at the comic humor that predominates in the content of the first part, then involuntarily, because of the word: poem, a deep, significant irony will appear, and you will say internally: “shouldn’t we add to the title: “Poem of our time”?” (Stepan Shevyrev, “The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls”, poem by N.V. Gogol).

The soul must not be dead. And the resurrection of the soul is from the realm of poetry. Therefore, the planned work in three volumes of Gogol’s “Dead Souls” is a poem; This is not a matter of joke or irony. Another thing is that the plan was not completed: the reader saw neither purgatory nor heaven, but only the hell of Russian reality.

The genre uniqueness of “Dead Souls” is still controversial. What is this - a poem, a novel, a moral narrative? In any case, this is a great work about the significant.

Each of the heroes of the poem - Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich, Plyushkin, Chichikov - in itself does not represent anything valuable. But Gogol managed to give them a generalized character and at the same time create a general picture of contemporary Russia. The title of the poem is symbolic and ambiguous. Dead souls are not only those who ended their earthly existence, not only the peasants whom Chichikov bought, but also the landowners and provincial officials themselves, whom the reader meets on the pages of the poem. The words "dead souls" are used in the story in many shades and meanings. The happily living Sobakevich has a deader soul than the serfs whom he sells to Chichikov and who exist only in memory and on paper, and Chichikov himself is a new type of hero, an entrepreneur, in whom the features of the emerging bourgeoisie are embodied.

The chosen plot gave Gogol “complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and bring out a wide variety of characters.” The poem has a huge number of characters, all social strata of serf Russia are represented: the acquirer Chichikov, officials of the provincial city and capital, representatives of the highest nobility, landowners and serfs. A significant place in the ideological and compositional structure of the work is occupied by lyrical digressions, in which the author touches on the most pressing social issues, and inserted episodes, which is characteristic of the poem as a literary genre.

The composition of “Dead Souls” serves to reveal each of the characters displayed in the overall picture. The author found an original and surprisingly simple compositional structure, which gave him the greatest opportunities for depicting life phenomena, and for combining the narrative and lyrical principles, and for poeticizing Russia.

The relationship of parts in “Dead Souls” is strictly thought out and subject to creative intent. The first chapter of the poem can be defined as a kind of introduction. The action has not yet begun, and the author only outlines his characters. In the first chapter, the author introduces us to the peculiarities of the life of the provincial city, with city officials, landowners Manilov, Nozdrev and Sobakevich, as well as with the central character of the work - Chichikov, who begins to make profitable acquaintances and is preparing for active actions, and his faithful companions - Petrushka and Selifan. The same chapter describes two men talking about the wheel of Chichikov’s chaise, a young man dressed in a suit “with attempts at fashion,” a nimble tavern servant and another “small people.” And although the action has not yet begun, the reader begins to guess that Chichikov came to the provincial town with some secret intentions, which become clear later.

The meaning of Chichikov’s enterprise was as follows. Once every 10-15 years, the treasury conducted a census of the serf population. Between censuses (“revision tales”), landowners were assigned a set number of serfs (revision) souls (only men were indicated in the census). Naturally, the peasants died, but according to documents, officially, they were considered alive until the next census. The landowners paid an annual tax for the serfs, including for the dead. “Listen, mother,” Chichikov explains to Korobochka, “just think carefully: you’re going bankrupt. Pay tax for him (the deceased) as for a living person.” Chichikov acquires dead peasants in order to pawn them as if they were alive in the Guardian Council and receive a decent amount of money.

A few days after arriving in the provincial town, Chichikov goes on a journey: he visits the estates of Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich, Plyushkin and acquires “dead souls” from them. Showing Chichikov's criminal combinations, the author creates unforgettable images of landowners: the empty dreamer Manilov, the stingy Korobochka, the incorrigible liar Nozdryov, the greedy Sobakevich and the degenerate Plyushkin. The action takes an unexpected turn when, heading to Sobakevich, Chichikov ends up with Korobochka.

The sequence of events makes a lot of sense and is dictated by the development of the plot: the writer sought to reveal in his characters the increasing loss of human qualities, the death of their souls. As Gogol himself said: “My heroes follow one after another, one more vulgar than the other.” Thus, in Manilov, who begins a series of landowner characters, the human element has not yet completely died, as evidenced by his “strivings” towards spiritual life, but his aspirations are gradually dying out. The thrifty Korobochka no longer has even a hint of spiritual life; everything for her is subordinated to the desire to sell the products of her natural economy at a profit. Nozdryov completely lacks any moral and moral principles. There is very little humanity left in Sobakevich and everything that is bestial and cruel is clearly manifested. The series of expressive images of landowners is completed by Plyushkin, a person on the verge of mental collapse. The images of landowners created by Gogol are typical people for their time and environment. They could have become decent individuals, but the fact that they are the owners of serf souls deprived them of their humanity. For them, serfs are not people, but things.

The image of landowner Rus' is replaced by the image of the provincial city. The author introduces us to the world of officials involved in public administration. In the chapters devoted to the city, the picture of noble Russia expands and the impression of its deadness deepens. Depicting the world of officials, Gogol first shows their funny sides, and then makes the reader think about the laws reigning in this world. All the officials who pass before the reader’s mind’s eye turn out to be people without the slightest concept of honor and duty; they are bound by mutual patronage and mutual responsibility. Their life, like the life of the landowners, is meaningless.

Chichikov's return to the city and the registration of the deed of sale is the culmination of the plot. The officials congratulate him on acquiring the serfs. But Nozdryov and Korobochka reveal the tricks of the “most respectable Pavel Ivanovich,” and general amusement gives way to confusion. The denouement comes: Chichikov hastily leaves the city. The picture of Chichikov's exposure is drawn with humor, acquiring a pronounced incriminating character. The author, with undisguised irony, talks about the gossip and rumors that arose in the provincial city in connection with the exposure of the “millionaire.” The officials, overwhelmed by anxiety and panic, unwittingly discover their dark illegal affairs.

“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” occupies a special place in the novel. It is plot-related to the poem and is of great importance for revealing the ideological and artistic meaning of the work. “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” gave Gogol the opportunity to transport the reader to St. Petersburg, create an image of the city, introduce the theme of 1812 into the narrative and tell the story of the fate of the war hero, Captain Kopeikin, while exposing the bureaucratic arbitrariness and arbitrariness of the authorities, the injustice of the existing system. In “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” the author raises the question that luxury turns a person away from morality.

The place of the “Tale...” is determined by the development of the plot. When ridiculous rumors about Chichikov began to spread throughout the city, officials, alarmed by the appointment of a new governor and the possibility of their exposure, gathered together to clarify the situation and protect themselves from the inevitable “reproaches.” It is no coincidence that the story about Captain Kopeikin is told on behalf of the postmaster. As head of the postal department, he may have read newspapers and magazines and could have gleaned a lot of information about life in the capital. He loved to “show off” in front of his listeners, to show off his education. The postmaster tells the story of Captain Kopeikin at the moment of the greatest commotion that gripped the provincial city. “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” is another confirmation that the serfdom system is in decline, and new forces, albeit spontaneously, are already preparing to embark on the path of fighting social evil and injustice. The story of Kopeikin, as it were, completes the picture of statehood and shows that arbitrariness reigns not only among officials, but also in the higher strata, right up to the minister and the tsar.

In the eleventh chapter, which concludes the work, the author shows how Chichikov’s enterprise ended, talks about his origin, talks about how his character was formed, and his views on life were developed. Penetrating into the spiritual recesses of his hero, Gogol presents to the reader everything that “eludes and hides from the light,” reveals “intimate thoughts that a person does not entrust to anyone,” and before us is a scoundrel who is rarely visited by human feelings.

On the first pages of the poem, the author himself describes him somehow vaguely: “... not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat, nor too thin.” Provincial officials and landowners, whose characters the following chapters of the poem are devoted to, characterize Chichikov as “well-intentioned,” “efficient,” “learned,” “the most kind and courteous person.” Based on this, one gets the impression that we have before us the personification of the “ideal of a decent person.”

The entire plot of the poem is structured as an exposure of Chichikov, since the center of the story is a scam involving the purchase and sale of “dead souls.” In the system of images of the poem, Chichikov stands somewhat apart. He plays the role of a landowner traveling to fulfill his needs, and is one by origin, but has very little connection with the lordly local life. Every time he appears before us in a new guise and always achieves his goal. In the world of such people, friendship and love are not valued. They are characterized by extraordinary persistence, will, energy, perseverance, practical calculation and tireless activity; a vile and terrible force is hidden in them.

Understanding the danger posed by people like Chichikov, Gogol openly ridicules his hero and reveals his insignificance. Gogol's satire becomes a kind of weapon with which the writer exposes Chichikov's “dead soul”; suggests that such people, despite their tenacious mind and adaptability, are doomed to death. And Gogol’s laughter, which helps him expose the world of self-interest, evil and deception, was suggested to him by the people. It was in the souls of the people that hatred towards the oppressors, towards the “masters of life” grew and became stronger over many years. And only laughter helped him survive in a monstrous world, without losing optimism and love of life.

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.

Why did Gogol call his work a poem? The definition of the genre became clear to the writer only at the last moment, since, while still working on the poem, Gogol called it either a poem or a novel. To understand the features of the genre of the poem “Dead Souls,” you can compare this work with the “Divine Comedy” of Dante, a poet of the Renaissance. Its influence is felt in Gogol's poem. The Divine Comedy consists of three parts. In the first part, the shadow of the ancient Roman poet Virgil appears to the lyrical hero, which accompanies him to hell. They go all circles, before their eyes - making a gallery of sinners. The fantastic nature of the plot does not prevent Dante from revealing the theme of his homeland - Italy, and its fate. In fact, Gogol planned to show the same circles of hell, but hell in Russia. It is not for nothing that the title of the poem “Dead Souls” ideologically echoes the title of the first part of Dante’s poem “The Divine Comedy,” which is called “Hell.”

Gogol, along with satirical negation, 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.

So, let's go for the hero of the poem "Dead Souls" Chichikov to NN. From the very first pages of the work, we feel the fascination of the plot, since the reader cannot assume that after Chichikov’s meeting with Manilov there will be meetings with Sobakevich and Nozdrev. The reader cannot guess the end of the poem, because all its characters are drawn according to the principle of gradation - one is worse than the other. For example, Manilov, if considered as a separate image, cannot be perceived as a positive hero (on his table there is a book open on the same page, and his politeness is feigned: “Let us not allow this to you”), but in comparison with Plyushkin Manilov even wins in many ways. However, Gogol put the image of Korobochka in the center of attention, since she is a kind of unified beginning of all the characters. According to Gogol, this is a symbol of the “box man”, which contains the idea of an insatiable thirst for hoarding.

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” this theme is intertwined with the theme of serfdom.

“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” occupies a special place in the poem. It is plot-related to the poem, but is of great importance for revealing the ideological content of the work. The form of the tale gives the story a vital character - it denounces the government. The world of “dead souls” in the poem is contrasted with the lyrical image of folk Russia, which Gogol writes about with love and admiration.

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 along? “So, we settled on what Gogol depicts in his work. He depicts the social disease of society, but it should also be said about 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 accurately 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.

He comes out to Chichikov in a greasy robe, some kind of 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. Pushkin admired so much: “Not a single writer has yet had this gift to expose the vulgarity of life so clearly, to be able to outline in such force the vulgarity of a vulgar person, so that all that trifle , which escapes the eye, would flash large in the eyes of everyone.”

The main theme of the poem is the fate of Russia: its past, present and future. In the first volume, Gogol revealed the theme of the past of the Motherland. The second and third volumes he conceived were supposed to tell about the present and future of Russia. This idea can be compared with the second and third parts of Dante's Divine Comedy: “Purgatory” and “Paradise”. However, these plans were not destined to come true: the second volume turned out to be unsuccessful in concept, and the third was never written. Therefore, Chichikov’s trip remained a trip into the unknown. Gogol was at a loss, thinking about the future of Russia: “Rus, where are you going? Give an answer! Doesn't give an answer."

The inserted elements in the composition of the poem are the author's digressions, biographies of Plyushkin and Chichikov, the parable about Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich, the story about Captain Kopeikin. They can serve as a kind of commentary on the events of the plot, create a social background, slow down the narrative at an interesting point, which helps keep the reader in suspense; they set up a complex system of associations, which is important for understanding the deep content of the characters and plot. The poem is constructed like a bizarre pattern or mosaic, “a collection of motley chapters.” Some compositional similarity is revealed with Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin” (there is a similar role of inserts and “texts within the text”). This is also due to the special genre nature of both works (a novel in verse and a poem in prose).

Author's digressions. They can be grouped based on different criteria. On the one hand, they stand out as satirical, actually lyrical (in the first person, “about the author”) and rhetorical-pathetic (about Russia, about the crooked road of humanity, etc.). On the other hand, among them there are those directly related to the plot and those not related to it. Sometimes digressions contrast with their “surroundings” in the text, and this contrast is emphasized (see the beginning of the 7th chapter, after the inspired lyrical digression about the fate of the poet - “let's see what Chichikov is doing”). In the first half of the work, satirical digressions predominate, in the second - elegiac and pathetic (they already partially create the mood that should have been present in the second and third volumes; they are often written in rhythmic prose, replete with syntactic repetitions and parallels, thanks to which they come even closer together in style with poetic speech). The last few digressions are lyrical meditations on the theme of Russia, the final image is the troika, the symbol of Russia.

The role of the hero's biography. Of all the characters, only Chichikov and Plyushkin have a biography: this is a sign of greater authorial “trust”; these characters should have “moved on” to the next two volumes (evidence of this has been preserved in Gogol’s draft notes and letters). They “have a past” in the poem and, therefore, have a future. Their images are more voluminous, more “human” than the others. In general, the presence of a biography is a sign of the main character or special authorial attention.

It is necessary to retell the biography, highlighting the main motives, and also show how the author’s voice comments on all this (a didactic appeal to the young man after the story of Plyushkin, an appeal to the readers before and after the story of Chichikov).

A special place in Chichikov’s biography.

1. Pay attention to its place in the composition. It is given only at the end of the poem, as a conclusion, generalization, clarification of the psychological and social roots of Chichikovism. What should have been at the beginning of the poem is here at the end, as in Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin” the “introduction” (“I sing to my young friend...”) is given only at the end of the penultimate chapter. In both cases, there is some sense of unusualness and irrationality of this compositional technique. In principle, none of the researchers explained why it is located at the end. In this one can also see Gogol’s parody technique - parodying the composition of a romantic work in which the hero is a “mysterious stranger”, and only at the end the veil of secrecy over his past is lifted: sometimes it is a terrible secret, a fatal curse, etc.; sometimes even after this the reader does not really learn anything, the feeling of mystery remains. In principle, this is how the composition of the novel is structured. Hero of our time". Gogol may have an element of parody of this kind, especially since immediately before this biography there is another compositional digression - about why the writer chose a “scoundrel” as his hero. This digression is clearly polemical in nature: the author ironically notes that the hero familiar to the reader must certainly please the ladies, and Chichikov’s “plumpness and middle age” will “do a lot of harm” to him in the eyes of the ladies.

2. The author addresses the reader, talking about the need to part with the hero for a while - “a virtuous man” and “hide the scoundrel.” After a detailed biography of Chichikov (in the guise of a rogue and immoral “scoundrel”), there follows a rhetorical didactic discussion about whether “there is some part of Chichikov in us too” and how important it is to think about it.

3. What moral lesson is being taught? In the biography of Chichikov, the motif of money, important for Russian literature, is easily revealed. The father’s will “take care of the penny above all else” (makes one recall Molchalin’s famous monologue “My father bequeathed to me...”), an analogy can be drawn between these characters;

in criticism, the perception of Chichikov as the literary “son” of Molchalin is known). But in Molchalin the motive of the ranks is more actualized, and here money is of greater importance. Gogol notices a new social symptom that distinguishes the capitalist era from the feudal one: “He (Chichikov) was not interested in ranks...”;

“Acquisition is the fault of everything...”

The life story of Chichikov, his “exploits” and “miracles” - all this is, as it were, “anti-life,” “a distorting mirror of the hagiographic genre.” It is significant that Chichikov fails in all his large enterprises, this is emphasized. The feeling of the futility of his attempts intensifies, but at the same time this gives Chichikov a chance to later become a positive hero. But for now, with each new collapse, it hardens even more, its “scope” becomes even more cynical, and its “scope” becomes steeper.

4. The “penny” motif in Chichikov’s biography refers to the name Kopeikin. It turns out that Chichikov is not a noble robber, like Kopeikin, but a “scoundrel”, a man of “penny”, the embodiment of concrete everyday and social evil, and not the abstract, book-romantic, poeticized in the romantic tradition. But the evil of Chichikovism can be overcome by repentance; the hero will have to cleanse himself. The images of these two heroes are compositionally mirrored: the plot of “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” is the transformation of an honest citizen and patriot into a robber; The plot with the participation of Chichikov, conceived by Gogol, is a solution to the question of how to “hide the scoundrel”, force him to cleanse himself, become an honest person, with whom, perhaps, the revival of Russia will even be connected (and through it, fateful changes on the scale of all humanity).

5. In the final scene, Chichikov, riding in a troika, gradually loses his own “Chichikov” outlines and, as it were, “dissolves” in the image of a “troika bird”: this is no longer Chichikov, but a generalized symbolic image of a Russian, which he was supposed to correspond to in the following volumes a generalized symbolic image of Russia itself.

When considering this topic, re-read “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” especially carefully. You can find a very detailed and constructive analysis of it (on a broad literary, historical and cultural background) in the collection of articles by Yu. M. Lotman “At the School of the Poetic Word”, section “Gogol”.