The role of Rus' in the poem dead souls. Composition on the theme of the Image of Rus' in the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls"

Image of Russia

The great classic who got the idea wanted to show the ideal Russian life in the outback. But the idea has expanded. Gogol could not paint the everyday life of landowners and officials. Perfect Paints receded into the background, and the gray realities came out. This is precisely what can explain Pushkin's mood during the reading of the poem by the author. Sadness and heaviness filled the soul of the poet. Russia appeared before readers of galleries of vices: stinginess, laziness, gluttony. Each image was supplemented by the following character and became collective:

• Dreamy Manilov;
• Stingy Box;
• Rampant Nozdrev;
• Gloomy Sobakevich;
• Greedy Plushkin.

The good-natured romanticism of Manilov becomes the emptiness of a lazy dreamer, careless and stupid. Building unrealistic projectors, sitting in a desolated arbor, is all he can.

Korobochka's thriftiness and practicality reduced her mind to a dull search for profit. She turned into a stupid old woman who does not think about the subject of trade. The main thing is to sell.

Nozdryov's courage is replaced by ignorance, drunkenness and squandering. He boldly lies, is rude and fights, but cowardly runs away from solving real problems.

Bogatyr's becoming Sobakevich became rudeness, the strength of character was transformed into callousness of the soul, and straightforwardness became suspicion.
Plyushkin's frugality grew into immorality. He does not notice people close to him, refuses children and does not rejoice at his grandchildren.
These images form the basis of the satire on serf Rus'. Lifeless Russia is waiting for changes, hoping for new ones. social classes, interesting ideas.

Love for Russia

"Rus, Rus! I see you from my wonderful, beautiful distance, I see you"

The words of the great classic shine through with love for the country. The writer seems to deliberately interrupt the stories about the landowners with lyrical digressions. Discourses about the fate of Russia are pierced by faith in her happy future. The image of a bird - a troika flying into the distance - is a symbol real Russia. She rushes ahead of everyone, they give way to her and shun her, fearing to become an obstacle.

The author perfects every word that characterizes Rus': sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar. The beauty of nature, the rapid riot of colors is opposed to the stagnation of life on the estates of soulless nobles. The industriousness of the peasants, their talent and love of freedom are described with delight. Gogol believes that the Russian peasant is capable of inventing something that will lead the country to new way.

Rus', where are you going?"

But he cannot answer the questions he himself poses. The contradictions of life lead the writer to a dead end. He does not see a solution in the revolution, he does not hope for enlightenment. There are thoughts about a valiant husband and a selfless girl, but the author cannot say exactly who Russia needs. Perhaps the answers were in the continuation of the poem, then why burn it? Gogol left the reader the right to choose the path of development of the motherland. Let everyone reason and build the life of the main characters of the poem. Someone will allow them to be reborn, and someone will refuse them even to continue their chosen mode of existence.

Two souls unite in the image of Russia: the dead and the living. The lively and lively mind of the Russian worker, warrior and hero wins the top. "Die" and become weak and weak-willed lazy, rude and spendthrifts. Let today they still enslave and rule, but a bright future is near, it is already in the air. Gogol believes that the fog will soon dissipate, and a wide road to happiness will open. Rus' will rise again and force all its inhabitants to change.

The theme of Russia, the theme of the people, runs through the entire poem "Dead Souls". Here is what Herzen wrote about this: “Gogol felt, and many others felt with him, behind dead souls living souls." Mercilessly scourging the social order that existed in the country, the writer was confident in the bright future of Russia, in its coming prosperity. The image of Russia does not merge at all with the pictures of the life of the ruling elite of society. On the contrary, he sharply opposes them. Everything is built on sharp contrasts: the isolation of the existence of the owners of serf souls and the boundless expanse of Russia; spiritual poverty of the inhabitants of the estates and wealth creative forces Russian people; immobility, stagnation of the world of boxes, Plyushkins, dogs and the rapid movement of Russia forward. The image of Russia also sharply opposes the image of Chichikov: his personal traits completely alien to the essence of the Russian people. Gogol ardently believed in the great future of Russia. However, he did not clearly imagine the path that was supposed to lead the country to power, glory and prosperity: “Rus, where are you rushing, give me an answer? Doesn't give an answer." The writer did not see real ways overcoming the contradiction between the state of depression of the country and the flourishing of Russia. “Where is he,” wrote Gogol, “whoever mother tongue our Russian soul would be able to tell us this almighty word in advance? Who, knowing all the forces and properties, and all the depths of our nature, in one magical moment could direct us to high life? Gogol could not give a clear answer to this question. And yet he hoped. He hoped that if the conditions for the existence of the Russian peasant changed, then "his lively, troublesome nature" would manifest itself. In Dead Souls, Gogol showed the terrible effect that their dependence on the landowners had on the people. This is precisely the essence of the images of Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minya, the serf servant of Plyushkin Proshka, the girl Pelageya, who could not distinguish “where is the right, where is the left”. All these characters of the poem-novel are in a depressed, servile state. The power of boxes and Plyushkins determines the spiritual underdevelopment of serfs. Petrushka and Selifan are distinguished by the same spiritual poverty. Petrushka "even had a noble motivation for enlightenment, that is, reading books," in which he was attracted "not by what he read about, but rather by the reading itself, or, rather, the process of reading itself, which always comes out of letters some word that sometimes the devil knows what it means. Unlike the silent Petrushka, the talkative Selifan is prone to lengthy discussions, but they are distinguished by an absolute limitation of interests. In the images of Petrushka and Selifan, inertia and immobility are revealed, the cause of which is serfdom. However, the people for Gogol is not at all reduced to Petrushka and Selifan, to Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyay. The writer highly appreciated the natural talent of the Russian peasant, his lively mind, sharp powers of observation. "It expresses itself strongly Russian people! - wrote Gogol in the fifth chapter of the poem, - and if he rewards someone with a word, then it will go to his family and offspring, he will drag him with him to the service, and to retire, and to St. Petersburg, and to the ends of the world ... "Word , speech, language, from the point of view of Gogol, extremely clearly reflect the character of the people. Speaking about the peculiarities of Russian speech, Gogol noted the amazing accuracy and energy inherent in the Russian people and embodied in the Russian word.

The pinnacle of N.V. Gogol's work is the poem "Dead Souls", in which the great Russian writer truthfully depicts the life of Russia in the 30s of the XIX century. Why did Gogol call his work a poem? Usually, a poem means a large poetic work with a narrative or lyrical plot. However, before us prose work in the genre of travel novel.

The fact is that the writer's intention was not fully realized: the second part of the book was partially preserved, and the third was never written. The finished work, according to the author's intention, was to be correlated with " Divine Comedy» Dante. The three parts of "Dead Souls" were supposed to correspond to the three parts of Dante's poem: "Hell", "Purgatory", "Paradise". In the first part, the circles of Russian hell are presented, and in other parts the reader should have seen the moral purification of Chichikov and other heroes.

Gogol hoped that with his poem he would really help the "resurrection" of the Russian people. Such a task required a special form of expression. Indeed, already some fragments of the first volume are endowed with high epic content. So, the troika, in which Chichikov leaves the city of NN, imperceptibly transforms into a “bird troika”, and then becomes a metaphor for all of Rus'. The author, together with the reader, seems to take off high above the ground and from there contemplate everything that happens. After the mustiness of the ossified way of life movement, space, a feeling of air appear in the poem.

At the same time, the movement itself is called "God's miracle", and the rushing Rus' is referred to as "inspired by God." The strength of the movement is growing, and the writer exclaims: “Oh, horses, horses, what horses! Are whirlwinds sitting in your manes? Does a sensitive ear burn in every vein of yours? .. ”Rus, where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and, looking sideways, step aside and give it way to other peoples and states.

Now it becomes clear why Chichikov acts as a "lover of fast driving." It was he who, according to Gogol's plan, was supposed to next book to be spiritually reborn, to merge in soul with Russia. In general, the idea of ​​“traveling all over Rus' with the hero and bringing out a wide variety of characters” made it possible for the writer to build the composition of the poem in a special way. Gogol shows all the social strata of Russia: officials, serf-owners and ordinary Russian people.

The image of the simple Russian people is inextricably linked in the poem with the image of the Motherland. The Russian peasants are in the position of slaves. Lords can sell, exchange them; how a simple commodity is valued by a Russian peasant. Landowners do not see serfs in people. The box says to Chichikov: “Perhaps I will give you a girl, she knows the way from me, just look! don’t bring her, the merchants have already brought one from me.” The hostess is afraid of losing part of her household, not thinking at all about human soul. Even dead peasant becomes an object of purchase and sale, a means of profit. The Russian people are dying of hunger, epidemics, and the arbitrariness of the landowners.

The writer figuratively speaks of the downtroddenness of the people: “The police captain, even though he doesn’t go himself, but only send one cap to his place, then this cap alone will drive the peasants to their very place of residence.”

Ingenuity and resourcefulness are emphasized in the image of Yeremey Sorokoplekhin, who "traded in Moscow, brought five hundred rubles each dues." The gentlemen themselves recognize the efficiency of ordinary peasants: “Send him even to Kamchatka, give only warm mittens, he will clap his hands, an ax in his hands, and went to cut himself a new hut.” Love for the working people, the peasant breadwinner is heard in every author's word. Gogol writes with great tenderness about the "agile Yaroslavl peasant" who gathered the Russian troika, about the "brisk people", "brisk Russian mind".

The so-called central world. He imperceptibly merges into the narrative at the very beginning of the poem, but her story line does not often come into contact with him. At first, it is almost invisible, but then, along with the development of the plot, the description of this world is revealed. At the end of the first volume, the description turns into a hymn to all Rus'. Gogol figuratively compares Rus' "with a lively and unbeatable troika" rushing forward.

Russian people are remarkably able to use wealth vernacular. “The Russian people are expressing themselves strongly!” - Gogol exclaims, saying that there is no word in other languages, "which would be so bold, smart, would break out from under the very heart, would boil and tremble so vividly, like a well-spoken Russian word."

However, all the talents and virtues of the simple Russian people greatly shade it. plight. “Oh, the Russian people! He does not like to die a natural death! - Chichikov argues, looking through the endless lists of dead peasants. The truthful and bleak present of the Russian peasants was painted by Gogol in his unforgettable poem.

But the great realist writer was always sure that life in Russia would change. It will become brighter and happier. N. A. Nekrasov spoke about Gogol: “He preaches love Hostile word denial."

How true patriot of his country, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol passionately desired to see the Russian people happy, with annihilating laughter scourged contemporary Russia in his wonderful work. He denied feudal Rus' with its " dead souls”And expressed the hope that the future of the beloved Motherland is not for the landowners or the “knights of a penny”, but for the keeper of unprecedented opportunities - the great Russian people.

We hope you remember the summary of the work. We offer you an analysis of this image, which gives the key to understanding the entire poem.

The work is artistic research public life, modern writer, its root problems. The main place in the compositional relation is occupied by the image of two worlds - the landowner's and the bureaucrat's. However, it tragic fate people is the ideological core of the work.

The writer, mercilessly scourging the social order that existed in the country, was firmly convinced that a glorious future was prepared for the Russian land. He believed in her coming prosperity. In Nikolai Vasilyevich this conviction arose from a living feeling of a huge creativity, which lurks in the bowels of the Russian people.

The image of Rus' in the poem "Dead Souls" is presented as the personification of that great thing that the people are only capable of, that important historical deed that, as the author believed, his compatriots could accomplish. The image of Russia rises above all the images and pictures drawn in the work. It is fanned with the love of the author, who dedicated his life, his work to serving home country.

Describing the image of Rus' in the poem "Dead Souls" briefly, it is necessary to say a few words about the "masters of life". After all, Gogol did not accidentally introduce them into his work.

Rebuking the "masters of life"

Gogol passionately believed that Russia was destined for a better future. Therefore, in his work, he denounces those people who fettered the development of the creative potential of the people, the nation with rusty chains. Nikolai Vasilievich mercilessly debunks the nobles, the "masters of life." The images he created testify that people like Chichikov, Plyushkin, Sobakevich, Manilov are not capable of creating spiritual values. They are consumers, devoid of creative energy. The landowners, excluded from the sphere of living life, useful activity, are carriers of inertia and stagnation. Chichikov, who launched his adventure, does not suffer from inertia. Nevertheless, the activity of this hero is not aimed at a good cause, but at achieving selfish goals. He is alienated from the interests of the state. All these heroes are opposed to the image of Rus' in the work "Dead Souls".

Progress approval

The forms of life that all of the above characters affirm are in stark contrast to the needs and demands historical development countries. To illustrate this idea, the author draws a majestic image of Rus' in the poem "Dead Souls". This country, according to Gogol, has tremendous power. The image of Rus' in the novel "Dead Souls" is the personification of the main idea of ​​the poem, which is to deny social stagnation, social enslavement, to affirm progress.

Opinion on the poem by V. G. Belinsky

The well-known critic V. G. Belinsky emphasized that the contradiction between the deep substantial beginning of Russian life and its public forms- this is the main idea of ​​\u200b\u200bDead Souls. The critic understood the phrase "substantial principle" as the rich talent of the people, their eternal desire for freedom. Nikolai Vasilyevich firmly believed that great historical achievements were ahead of his native country. Aspiration to the future, takeoff vital energy- all this embodies the image of Rus' in the poem "Dead Souls". The country rushes into the vast distance, like a trio bird. Other states and peoples shy away from her, looking askance, and give her way.

Pictures of native nature

The lyrical statements of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol are filled with high pathos. He speaks of Rus' with admiration. Gogol paints pictures one by one native nature, which rush before the traveler, on fast horses rushing along the autumn road.

It is not by chance that the author contrasts the image of Rus' in the poem "Dead Souls" with the stagnation of the landowners. Chapter 11 is very important for understanding this image. It depicts Rus', which is rapidly moving forward. This expresses the author's faith in the future of his country, his people.

Reflections on the Russian people

Some of the most insightful pages are lyrical reflections Gogol about the energetic, lively character of a hardworking nation. They are warmed by the flame of patriotism. Nikolai Vasilyevich was well aware that creative talents and the inventive mind of the Russian people will become a mighty force only when their compatriots are free.

Gogol, drawing revelry on the pier, rises to chanting folk life. The living power of the Russian people is also emphasized in the desire of the peasants to get rid of oppression. The flight from the landlords, the murder of the assessor Drobyakin, the people's ironic mockery of the "orders" are manifestations of protest that are mentioned in the poem, albeit briefly, but persistently. singing national character and the Russian people, Nikolai Vasilievich never stoops to vanity.

The characters representing Rus' are quite diverse. This is Pelageya, a young girl, and nameless, runaway or deceased, workers of Plyushkin and Sobakevich, who do not act in the poem, but are only mentioned in passing. A whole gallery of characters passes before the reader. All of them represent the multicolored image of Russia.

Mastery, natural ingenuity, a wide range of soul, sensitivity to a well-aimed, striking word, heroic prowess - in all this, as well as in many other things, Nikolai Vasilyevich manifests true soul Russian people. According to Gogol, the sharpness and strength of his mind were reflected in the accuracy and briskness of the Russian word. Nikolai Vasilievich writes about this in the fifth chapter. The integrity and depth of the people's feeling resulted in the sincerity of the Russian song, which the author mentions in the eleventh chapter. In chapter seven, Gogol says that generosity and breadth of soul affected the unrestrained fun with which folk holidays are held.

Evaluation of the poem by Herzen

The patriotic pathos of "Dead Souls" was highly appreciated by Herzen. He rightly noted that this work is an amazing book. Herzen wrote that this was "a bitter reproach of modern Rus'," but not hopeless.

The contradictions reflected in the poem

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol ardently believed that a great future awaited Russia. Nevertheless, the writer clearly imagined the path along which the country was moving towards prosperity, glory and power. He asks: "Rus, where are you going?" However, there is no answer. Nikolai Vasilievich did not see the ways to overcome the contradiction that had formed between the heyday of Russia, the rise of its national genius and the state of depression of the state. Gogol cannot find someone who would be able to direct Russia forward, to aspire to a high life. And this reveals the contradictions inherent in the writer.

What was V.G. concerned about? Belinsky

Gogol in his denunciation reflected the protest of the people against the existing at that time feudal system. His scourging satire grew out of this soil. It was directed against bureaucratic rulers, owners of serf souls, "knights" of profit. However, the writer who pinned big hopes for education, did not come to the conclusion about the expediency of the revolutionary struggle. In addition, the work contains statements about a husband who is gifted with divine valor, as well as about a selfless and generous Russian girl. In other words, a religious motive arises in it. who was very interested in the image of Rus' in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls", was seriously concerned about these places in the work.

"Dead Souls" - a revolutionary work

Nikolai Vasilyevich wrote the second volume of his novel while experiencing a deep spiritual crisis. In the life of Russia during this period, tendencies characteristic of bourgeois development began to appear. The writer wholeheartedly hated the so-called realm of dead souls. However, Gogol peered with horror at the face of the bourgeois West. Capitalism frightened the writer. He could not accept the idea of ​​socialism, opposed the revolutionary struggle. However, possessing a powerful gift, Nikolai Vasilyevich created, in fact, a revolutionary work.

Gogol is a patriot

The lyrical pages dedicated to Russia, the Russian people are perhaps the best in "Dead Souls". Chernyshevsky, speaking of the high patriotism of Nikolai Vasilyevich, wrote that Gogol considered himself a man who should serve the fatherland, and not art. The image of Rus' in the poem "Dead Souls" indicates that the future of the country really worried the writer. Of course, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is a true patriot.

Interest in Gogol's work unabated to this day. Probably the reason is that Gogol was able to most fully show the character traits of a Russian person, and the beauty of Russia. In the article “What, finally, is the essence of Russian poetry and what is its peculiarity,” begun even before “Dead Souls,” Gogol wrote: “Our poetry has nowhere fully expressed the Russian person to us, not in the form in which he should be, not in the reality in which he is. Here is outlined the problem that Gogol was going to solve in Dead Souls.

In the poem Gogol draws two opposite worlds: on the one hand, the real Russia is shown with its injustice, money-grubbing and robbery, on the other - perfect image future fair and great Russia. This image is mainly represented in digressions and thoughts of the writer himself. "Dead Souls" begins with a depiction of city life, sketches of pictures of the city and a description of bureaucratic society. Five chapters of the poem are devoted to the image of officials, five - to the landowners and one - to the biography of Chichikov. As a result, recreated overall picture Russia with a huge number actors different positions and states that Gogol snatches out of the general mass, because in addition to officials and landowners, Gogol also describes other urban and rural residents - petty bourgeois, servants, peasants. All this adds up to a complex panorama of the life of Russia, its present.

Typical representatives of this present in the poem are the mismanaged landowner, the petty, "cudgel-headed" Korobochka, the careless life-burner Nozdryov, the stingy Sobakevich and the miser Plyushkin. Gogol with malicious irony shows the spiritual emptiness and narrow-mindedness, stupidity and acquisitiveness of these degenerate landowners-soul-owners. These people have so little humanity left that they can be fully called "holes in humanity." The world of "Dead Souls" is terrible, disgusting and immoral. This is a world devoid of spiritual values. Landlords, residents provincial city not the only representatives. Peasants also live in this world.

But Gogol is by no means inclined to idealize them. Let us recall the beginning of the poem, when Chichikov entered the city. Two peasants, examining the britzka, determined that one wheel was out of order and Chichikov would not go far.

Gogol did not hide the fact that the peasants were standing near the tavern. Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyay, the serf Manilova, who asks for work, and goes to drink himself, are shown as stupid in the poem. The girl Pelageya does not know how to distinguish where the right is, where the left is.

Pro-shka and Mavra are downtrodden and intimidated. Gogol does not blame them, but rather laughs good-naturedly at them. Describing the coachman Selifan and the lackey Petrushka - Chichikov's yard servants, the author shows kindness and understanding. Petrushka is seized with a passion for reading, although he is more attracted not by what he reads, but by the process of reading itself, as it is from the letters "some word always comes out, which sometimes the devil knows what it means." We do not see high spirituality and morality in Selifan and Petrushka, but they already differ from Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minya. Revealing the image of Selifan, Gogol shows the soul of the Russian peasant and tries to understand this soul.

Let us recall what he says about the meaning of scratching the back of the head among the Russian people: “What did this scratching mean? and what does it mean anyway? Is it annoyance that the meeting planned for tomorrow with his brother did not work out ...

or has a hearty sweetheart already begun in a new place ... Or is it simply a pity to leave a warm place in a people's kitchen under a sheepskin coat, in order to drag again through rain and sleet and all sorts of road misfortunes? Spokesperson for an ideal future Russia is Russia, described in digressions. The people are also represented here.

Let this people consist of "dead souls", but it has a lively and lively mind, it is a people "full of the creative abilities of the soul ...". It was among such a people that a “troika bird” could appear, which is easily controlled by a coachman. This, for example, is a smart Yaroslavl man who “with one ax and a chisel” made a miracle crew. Chichikov bought him and other dead peasants.

Rewriting them, he draws them in his imagination earthly life: “My fathers, how many of you are stuffed here! what have you, my hearts, been doing in your lifetime?” dead peasants in the poem are opposed to living peasants with their poor inner world. They are endowed with fabulous, heroic features. Selling the carpenter Stepan, the landowner Sobakevich describes him this way: “After all, what a force it was! If he had served in the guards, God knows what they would have given him, three arshins and a verst in height. image of the people in Gogol's poem gradually develops into the image of Russia.

Here, too, one can see the opposition of the real Russia to the ideal future Russia. At the beginning of the eleventh chapter, Gogol gives a description of Russia: “Rus! Rus! I see you ... "and" What a strange, and alluring, and bearing, and wonderful in the word: the road! But these two lyrical digressions are torn apart by the phrases: “Hold it, hold it, you fool!” Chichikov shouted to Selifan.

“Here I am with your broadsword! shouted a courier with a arshin mustache galloping towards. “You don’t see, goblin tear your soul: a state-owned carriage” In lyrical digressions, the author refers to the “immense expanse”, “mighty space” of the Russian land. IN last chapter poems by Chichikov's chaise, the Russian troika turns into symbolic image Russia, rapidly rushing into the unknown distance. Gogol, being a patriot, believes in a bright and happy future for the Motherland. Gogol's Russia in the future is a great and powerful country.