The images of officials in the poem are dead souls. Essay Images of officials in the poem “Dead Souls”

Officials are a special social stratum, a “link” between the people and the authorities. This is a special world, living by its own laws, guided by its own moral principles and concepts. The topic of exposing the depravity and limitations of this class is topical at all times. Gogol dedicated a number of works to her, using the techniques of satire, humor, and subtle irony.

Arriving in the provincial town of N, Chichikov pays visits to the city's dignitaries in accordance with etiquette, which prescribes visiting the most significant persons first. The first on this “list” was the mayor, to whom “the hearts of the citizens trembled with an abundance of gratitude,” and the last was the city architect. Chichikov acts on the principle: “Don’t have money, have good people to work with.”

What was the provincial city like, about whose welfare the mayor was so “concerned”? There is “bad lighting” on the streets, and the house of the “father” of the city is like a “bright comet” against the background of the dark sky. In the park the trees “became ill”; in the province - crop failures, high prices, and in a brightly lit house - a ball for officials and their families. What can you say about the people gathered here? - Nothing. Before us are “black tailcoats”: no names, no faces. Why are they here? – Show yourself, make the right contacts, have a good time.

However, “tailcoats” are not uniform. “Thick” (they know how to manage things better) and “thin” (people who are not adapted to life). “Fat” people buy real estate, registering it in their wife’s name, while “thin” people let everything they have accumulated go down the drain.

Chichikov is going to make a deed of sale. The “white house” opens to his gaze, which speaks of the purity of the “souls of the positions located in it.” The image of the priests of Themis is limited to a few characteristics: “wide necks”, “lots of paper”. The voices are hoarse among the lower ranks, majestic among the bosses. The officials are more or less enlightened people: some have read Karamzin, and some “have not read anything at all.”

Chichikov and Manilov “move” from one table to another: from the simple curiosity of youth - to Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinny’s snout, full of arrogance and vanity, creating the appearance of work in order to receive the due reward. Finally, the chairman of the chamber, shining like the sun, completes the deal, which should be noted, which is carried out with the light hand of the police chief - a “benefactor” in the city, receiving twice as much income as all his predecessors.

The extensive bureaucratic apparatus in pre-revolutionary Russia was a true disaster for the people. Therefore, it is natural that the satirical writer pays attention to him, sharply criticizing bribery, sycophancy, emptiness and vulgarity, low cultural level, and the unworthy attitude of bureaucrats towards their fellow citizens.

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The city governor is one of the minor characters in the poem "Dead Souls". Like other officials of the city of N, the governor is delighted with the charming swindler Chichikov, invites him to his evening and introduces him to his wife and daughter. The stupid governor, like all other officials, realizes too late who Chichikov is. The swindler Chichikov safely leaves the city with ready-made documents for the “dead souls”.

Vice-Governor “...with the Vice-Governor and the Chairman of the Chamber, who were still only state councilors...” “...And the Vice-Governor, isn’t it, what a nice person?..” (Manilov about him) “...Very, very worthy a man,” answered Chichikov...” “... He and the vice-governor are Goga and Magog!...” (Sobakevich says that the vice-governor and the governor are robbers)

The prosecutor is one of the officials of the city of N in the poem “Dead Souls” by Gogol. The main features of the prosecutor's appearance are his thick eyebrows and his blinking eye. According to Sobakevich, among all the officials the prosecutor is the only decent person, but he is still a “pig.” When Chichikov's scam is revealed, the prosecutor is so worried that he suddenly dies.

The postmaster is one of the officials of the city of N in the poem “Dead Souls”. This article presents a quotation image and characteristics of the postmaster in the poem “Dead Souls”: a description of the appearance and character of the hero
The chairman of the chamber is one of the officials of the city N in the poem "Dead Souls". Ivan Grigorievich is a rather nice, amiable, but rather stupid person. Chichikov easily deceives both the chairman and other officials. The stupid chairman of the chamber does not suspect Chichikov’s scam and even helps himself draw up documents for the “dead souls.”

Police chief Alexey Ivanovich is one of the officials of the provincial city N in the poem “Dead Souls”. Sometimes this character is mistakenly called "police chief". But, according to the text of “Dead Souls,” the hero’s position is called “police chief.” This article presents a quotation image and characteristics of the police chief in the poem “Dead Souls”: a description of the appearance and character of the hero.
Inspector of the medical board “...he even came to pay respects to the inspector of the medical board...” “... Inspector of the medical board, he is also an idle person and, probably, at home, if he didn’t go somewhere to play cards...” (Sobakevich about him) “... Inspector the doctor's office suddenly turned pale; he imagined God knows what: didn’t the word “dead souls” mean sick people who died in significant numbers in hospitals and other places from epidemic fever, against which no proper measures were taken, and that Chichikov was not sent ... "

City mayor “...Then I was […] at a snack after mass, given by the city mayor, which was also worth lunch...” “Nozdryov […] read in the mayor’s note that there might be a profit, because they were expecting some newcomer for the evening...” (the mayor hopes to profit)

Gendarme Colonel “...the Gendarme Colonel said that he was a learned man...” (Colonel about Chichikov)

Manager of state-owned factories “...then he was […] with the head of state-owned factories..”
City architect “...he even came to pay respects […] to the city architect

Poem "Dead Souls"

Depiction of the world of officials in the poem by N.V., Gogol “Dead Souls”

The society of officials of the provincial city is outlined by N.V. Gogol in the poem “Dead Souls” is sharply critical. Researchers have noted that Gogol’s images of officials are impersonal, devoid of individuality (unlike the images of landowners), their names are often repeated (Ivan Antonovich, Ivan Ivanovich), but their surnames are not indicated at all. Only the governor, prosecutor, police chief and postmaster are described in more detail by the author.

The officials of the provincial city are not very smart and educated. With caustic irony, Gogol speaks about the enlightenment of city officials: “some have read Karamzin, some have read Moskovskie Vedomosti, some have not even read anything at all.” The speech of these characters in the poem is nothing more than a mechanical repetition of words, symbolizing their slow-wittedness. All of them could not recognize a swindler in Chichikov, considering him a millionaire, a Kherson landowner, and then Captain Kopeikin, a spy, Napoleon, a maker of counterfeit notes, and even the Antichrist.

These people are far from everything Russian and national: “you won’t hear a single decent Russian word” from them, but they will “endow you with French, German, and English words in such quantities that you won’t even want...”. High society worships everything foreign, forgetting its original traditions and customs. The interest of these people in national culture is limited to the construction of a “hut in Russian taste” at their dacha.

This is a society in which idleness and idleness flourish. Thus, when registering a transaction for the sale and purchase of serfs, witnesses were required. “Send now to the prosecutor,” notes Sobakevich, “he is an idle man and probably sits at home: the lawyer Zolotukha, the greatest grabber in the world, does everything for him. An inspector of the medical board, he is also an idle man and, probably, at home, if he has not gone somewhere to play cards...” The rest of the officials are no less idle. According to Sobakevich, “there are many here who are closer, Trukhachevsky, Begushkin, they are all burdening the land for nothing.”

Robbery, deception, and bribes reign in the world of officials. These people strive to live well “at the expense of the sums of their dearly beloved fatherland.” Bribes are commonplace in the world of the provincial city. The department is ironically called by the writer “the temple of Themis.” Thus, the chairman of the chamber advises Chichikov: “...don’t give anything to officials... My friends shouldn’t pay.” From this statement we can conclude that these people regularly extort money. Describing the execution of the deal by his hero, Gogol notes: “Chichikov had to pay very little. Even the chairman gave an order to take only half of the duty money from him, and the other, unknown how, was attributed to the account of some other petitioner.” This remark reveals to us the lawlessness that reigns in “public places.” It is interesting that in the original edition this place in the poem was accompanied by the author’s remark: “This has always been the case in the world since ancient times. A rich person doesn't need to pay anything, he just needs to be rich. They will give him a glorious place, and let him use it, and the money will remain in the box; Only those who have nothing to pay pay.”

Describing the governor's party, Gogol talks about two types of officials: “fat” and “thin.” The existence of the former is “too easy, airy and completely unreliable.” The latter “never occupy indirect places, but all are direct, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly... they won’t fly off.” “Thin” in the author’s view are dandies and dandies hanging around the ladies. They are often prone to extravagance: “for three years, the thin one does not have a single soul left that is not pawned in a pawnshop.” Fat people are sometimes not very attractive, but they are “thorough and practical”, “the true pillars of society”: “having served God and the sovereign,” they leave the service and become famous Russian bars, landowners. The author's satire is obvious in this description: Gogol perfectly understands what this “official service” was like, which brought a person “universal respect.”

Both the first and second types are illustrated by Gogol with images of city officials. Here is the first official of the city - the governor. This is an idle man. His only advantage comes down to his ability to embroider different patterns on tulle. Here is the chief of police, “the father and benefactor of the city,” running the merchant shops in his own way. The police chief “only has to blink when passing a fish row or a cellar,” and he is immediately presented with balyks and expensive wine. At the same time, the police terrify the entire people. When a rumor appears in society about a possible revolt of Chichikov’s men, the police chief notes that in order to prevent this rebellion, “there is the power of the captain-police officer, that the captain-police officer, even though he doesn’t go himself, but only went to his place with his cap, then one cap will drive the peasants to their very place of residence.” These are “fat” officials. But the writer describes their “subtle” brothers no less critically, including, for example, Ivan Antonovich, who received a bribe from Chichikov.

The writer emphasizes in the poem that arbitrariness and lawlessness reign in Russia not only at the level of a provincial city, but also at the level of state power. Gogol speaks about this in the story of Captain Kopeikin, a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, who became disabled and went to the capital to ask for help. He tried to get himself a pension, but his case was not crowned with success: an angry minister, under escort, expelled him from St. Petersburg.

Thus, Gogol’s officials are deceitful, selfish, calculating, soulless, and prone to fraud. Civic duty, patriotism, public interests - these concepts are alien to NN city officials. According to the author, “these guardians of order and law” are the same “dead souls” as the landowners in the poem. The pinnacle of Gogol’s satirical exposure is the picture of the general confusion that gripped city society when rumors spread about Chichikov’s purchase of “dead souls.” Here the officials were confused, and everyone “suddenly found ... sins in themselves.” “In a word, there was talk and talk and the whole city started talking about dead souls and the governor’s daughter, about Chichikov and dead souls, about the governor’s daughter and Chichikov, and everything that was there rose up. Like a whirlwind, the hitherto dormant city was thrown up like a whirlwind!” The writer uses the technique of hyperbole here. The possibility of government checks in connection with Chichikov’s scam frightened city officials so much that panic began among them, “the city was completely in revolt, everything was in ferment...”. This story ended with the death of the prosecutor, the main “guardian of the law,” and those around him only realized after his death that he had a “soul.” And this episode is symbolic in many ways. This is the author's call to heroes, a reminder of God's judgment for all life's deeds.

As the researchers note, “in Gogol’s depiction of the world of officials one can detect many traditional motifs of Russian satirical comedies. These motives go back to Fonvizin and Griboyedov. Red tape, bureaucracy, veneration, bribery... are traditionally ridiculed social evils. However, Gogol’s depiction techniques are different; they are close to the satirical techniques of Saltykov-Shchedrin.” According to Herzen’s precise remark, “with laughter on his lips,” the writer “without pity penetrates into the innermost folds of the unclean, evil bureaucratic soul. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is a terrible confession of modern Russia."

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The motive of rejection of the modern way of life can be seen quite clearly in all of Gogol’s works. This is “Taras Bulba” together with “Old World Landowners”, where Gogol turns to romanticism as a method in order to, in contrast with the past, show all the pettiness and emptiness of present life. These are the St. Petersburg stories, where this motive is so obvious and strong that there is even special meaning in writing about it. These are, finally, the main (according to many) works of Gogol - Dead Souls and The Inspector General. There, modern life is personified by the bureaucratic class. This is what our conversation will be about.

In The Inspector General, officials are the main characters on whom all of Gogol's satire is focused. In “Dead Souls” it’s a little different. Despite the fact that the poem mainly focuses its attention on landowners, and not on officials, starting from the seventh chapter, they begin to play an important role in the work, which must be understood if we want to comprehend the entire complex meaning of the work.

Let’s start, perhaps, with “The Inspector General,” since this work was written by Gogol while writing the first volume of “Dead Souls,” and understanding the image of officials in “The Inspector General” helps to understand the image of officials in “Dead Souls.” The miracle and genius of the comedy, in my opinion, lies in the fact that Gogol portrayed the image of each individual landowner in such a way that he does not lose his individuality, but, at the same time, represents himself as part of this class, unloved by Gogol.

Each official has his own distinctive features and characteristics. Anton Antonovich, for example, does not miss what “floats into his hands”, he is cunning, he loves to embezzle government money, as happened with the church under construction. He is one of the main persons of the philosophy that Nikolai Vasilyevich denies. It appears from time to time in his phrases in conversations with other officials.

The mayor is a swindler, a bribe-taker, who is afraid of only one thing - his superiors. That's why he was so distraught when he learned about the arrival of the auditor. The fear of punishment clouded his and other officials' reason. So much so that they mistook Khlestakov, a petty liar, for a significant person.

Other “city fathers” do not lag behind the mayor. Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin is a fan of hound hunting. He takes bribes exclusively with greyhound puppies. Among other officials he is known as a freethinker, since he “read five or six books” (one senses Gogol’s irony). He is less afraid than others, because he is calm that no one will look into his court. Artemy Filippovich Zemlyanika is a “pig in a yarmulke,” a trustee of charitable institutions who keeps a German doctor who does not understand anything in Russian.

Alogisms in general are often found in the work. Strawberry ultimately betrays all his comrades to Khlestakov, exposing his nature. Luka Lukich Khlopov is an extremely stupid and empty person. He is a trustee of educational institutions and is always complaining about teachers. Finally, postmaster Shpekin, who spends his leisure time opening other people's letters and reading them. Ultimately, this “feature” of his reveals Khlestakov.

Moreover, Shpekin does not even understand that he is committing a bad act, but is only afraid of the fact that he is opening letters from high-ranking people. Despite the differences between these people, they are all part of a single whole. They are all slackers and do not care at all about the people entrusted to them. And if you leave out all the comedy, it becomes really scary.

As for Gogol’s poem, the officials are given the first chapter, as well as all the following after the 7th. Despite the absence of detailed and detailed images similar to the landowner heroes, the picture of bureaucratic life is strikingly accurate and expressive. He depicts this reality in an amazingly lapidary way, applying only certain “strokes”, like an embroidering governor and prosecutor, about whom nothing can be said other than his eyebrows. Another thing is also noteworthy.

Nikolai Vasilyevich in the poem carries out a certain classification of officials. In particular, in the first chapter, when describing the ball, there are “thin” and “thick”. Accordingly, the “fat” ones are the elite, already in years, settled down, benefiting from their position, and the “thin” ones are young, impulsive people. Chapter 7 describes the office, where there are the so-called “lower” ones - clerks, whose only occupation is to eavesdrop on different stories.

Sobakevich gives the officials a rather vicious but accurate description: “The swindler sits on the swindler and drives the swindler around.” All officials mess around, cheat, steal, offend the weak and tremble before the strong. All of them are a faceless mass, similar to “a squadron of flies that swoop down on the tasty morsels of refined sugar.”

Their behavior after the revelation of Chichikov’s scam and their attitude towards him in general are noteworthy. Chichikov, a master of communication, managed to win over each of them through flattery. And then, when his plan was revealed because of Nozdryov, the officials at first did not believe it, and then began to fear for themselves and their place. So much so that the prosecutor dies. After which it is discovered that he has a soul. Gogol's irony, as always, is felt.

But you really feel uneasy when you read “the story of Captain Kopeikin.” Her casual style of presentation is in direct contrast to her message. A person who has bled for his fatherland cannot receive help. Even the most basic. And this is to blame for the officials - the most diverse. Starting from the provincial secretary to the highest St. Petersburg dignitary. All of them are cold towards the misfortune of others and the fate of their state.

Summing up the above, we understand that the bureaucracy in both personifies everything that Nikolai Vasilyevich is struggling with. Namely, the aimlessness of existence, stupidity, spiritual emptiness and lawlessness in relation to people. This is precisely what explains their faceless images.

The gallery of “dead souls” in Gogol’s poem is continued by the images of officials of the city of N. The author depicts them as a single faceless mass, mired in bribes and corruption: “But let the devil get into the habit of turning up at your hand every day, so that you don’t want to take it, and he himself pokes.” These features are clearly manifested in the seventh chapter, in which Chichikov comes to draw up a bill of sale to the civil chamber. The image of the official Ivan Antonovich “jug snout” is colorful, but, first of all, this chapter created a generalized image of middle-class Russian bureaucracy.
Sobakevich gives officials an evil but very accurate description: “The swindler sits on the swindler and drives the swindler.” Officials mess around, cheat, steal, offend the weak and tremble before the strong.
It is noteworthy that with the news of the appointment of a new governor-general (tenth chapter), the inspector of the medical board thinks feverishly about the patients who died in significant numbers from fever, against which proper measures were not taken. The chairman of the chamber turns pale at the thought that he has made a deed of sale for dead peasant souls. And the prosecutor actually came home and suddenly died. What sins were behind his soul that he was so afraid?
Gogol shows us that the life of officials is empty and meaningless. They are simply air smokers who have wasted their precious lives on meanness and fraud.