Description of the purchase and sale of Plyushkin's dead souls. Plyushkin's attitude to Chichikov's proposal

“Characteristics of “Dead Souls”” - The location of the landowners in the poem is not accidental. Problematic question. Among the landowners depicted in the poem, one can distinguish the type of kulak. The “living” soul of Chichikov or the “dead” one. Construction of the poem. The history of the creation of the poem. 1829 – publication of the first printed work. Gogol Nikolai Vasilievich (1809-1852).

“Nikolai Gogol Dead Souls” - Dead. In addition to Nikolai, the family had five more children. Mother, Maria Ivanovna Kosyarovskaya (1791-1868), from a landowner family. Parents' house. From 1821 to 1828 he studied at the gymnasium of higher sciences in Nizhyn. Plot. The cultural center of the region was Kibintsy, the estate of D. P. Troshchinsky. Soul. Studies. Completely stopped any activity, died spiritually.

“Landowners in Dead Souls” - Landowners. Plyushkin. Sobakevich. Attitude to housekeeping. Distinctive features. Gogol. Housewife. “Dead” and “living” souls in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”. Box. Manilov. Things. Hero of fairs. Characteristic. Nozdrev. Damn fist. Thrift. Images of landowners.

“Poem Dead Souls” - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol... Letter from Gogol to V.A. Zhukovsky. Tendency to scam. Kulaks. Sobakevich. Characters of the poem. Clubheadedness. Devastator and destroyer of the economy. Boasting. “My heroes follow one after another, one more vulgar than the other.” The scam had strong legal and economic grounds.

“Dead Souls in Illustrations” - XIX century. Computer graphics. Agin's illustrations are not static. Watercolor is a painting technique. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is an absolute genius. The drawings are frankly grotesque. Vanguard. The wheel symbolizes isolation. A wealth of individual traits. Arrival of Chichikov. Dictionary. E.L. Nemirovsky. Natural, but precise, practiced gestures.

“Landowners in the poem “Dead Souls”” - The fear of being deceived and selling cheap forces Korobochka to go to the city. Gallery of landowners. Landowner Sobakevich Mikhail Semenovich. Thank you for your attention. Landowner Manilov. Landowner Nozdryov. N.V. Gogol “Dead Souls”. Manilov's character is fully expressed in his speech. Landowner Stepan Plyushkin. Landowner Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna.

Article menu:

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

Plyushkin's age and appearance

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

We invite you to read it, which reveals the theme of patriotism and love for the Motherland.

In the eyes of Chichikov, Plyushkin became an important candidate - he had the opportunity to buy up many “dead souls.”

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

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

The work of N.V. Gogol reveals the theme of the little man. We invite you to read its summary.

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

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

The problem of the name and the meaning of the surname

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

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

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

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

Marital status of Plyushkin

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

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

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

Reasons for character change

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

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

Plyushkin's youngest daughter died as a child.

Thus, Plyushkin remained alone in his large estate.

Plyushkin's estate

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

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

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

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

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

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

Features of Plyushkin's relationship with serfs

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

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

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

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

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

Characteristics of personal qualities

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The episode “Chichikov at Plyushkin’s” is interesting from an ideological and artistic point of view. The author managed to paint lively, vivid pictures of Chichikov’s meeting with the most repulsive landowner, with “a hole in humanity.”

Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich visited Plyushkin last after Sobakevich. Then the hero-entrepreneur went to the city and in his tavern drew up deeds of sale for all the purchased peasants. Thus, in Chichikov’s “business” this episode is the culmination. The hero has achieved his goal. The revelation will follow later.

In the gallery of portraits of “dead souls”, the image of Plyushkin is also the culmination, because everything negative is concentrated in it.

In the buying and selling scene, Plyushkin’s character is expressively revealed; The main feature of the hero is stinginess, brought to the point of absurdity, crossing all boundaries.

First of all, Plyushkin’s reaction to Chichikov’s proposal attracts attention. With joy, the landowner is speechless for a moment. Greed has so permeated his brain that he is afraid of missing out on the opportunity to get rich. Gogol uses an interesting metaphor: “the joy that so instantly appeared on his wooden face passed away just as instantly...” The metaphor “wooden face” defines the essence of Plyushkin. He had no normal human feelings left in his soul. Plyushkin is like a block of wood, he doesn’t love anyone, he doesn’t regret it at all. He can only experience something for a moment, in this case the joy of a good deal.

Soon the landowner's usual fear and concern return to him, because the deed of sale will entail some expenses. Plyushkin is unable to survive this.

The author emphasizes the discrepancy between the hero's words and his own behavior. The following comic situation arises: Plyushkin begins to be indignant at the greed of officials who take bribes: “The clerks are so unscrupulous! Before, it used to be that you would get away with half a piece of copper and a sack of flour, but now send a whole cart of cereals, and add a red piece of paper, such love of money!” And the landowner himself is greedy to the last extreme. From the scene of the purchase and sale of “dead souls” one can learn new examples of his stinginess. So, at Plyushkin’s for all the servants; for both young and old “there were only boots, which were supposed to be in the entryway.” Or another example. The owner wants to treat Chichikov to a liqueur that used to contain “boogers and all sorts of rubbish,” and the liqueur was placed in a decanter that “was covered in dust, like a sweatshirt.” The grotesque helps to evoke a feeling of disgust and condemnation towards Plyushkin.

The scene also shows Plyushkin's rudeness and suspicion. He scolds the servants. For example, he addresses Proshka: “Fool! Ehwa, you fool! And the master calls Mavra “robber.” Plyushkin suspects everyone of stealing: “After all, my people are either a thief or a swindler: they will steal so much in a day that there will be nothing to hang a caftan on.” Plyushkin deliberately becomes poor in order to “snatch” an extra penny from Chichikov. What is characteristic in this scene is that Plyushkin bargains with Chichikov for a long time. At the same time, his hands tremble and shake with greed, “like mercury.” Gogol finds a very interesting comparison. We clearly understand that Plyushkin has lost his human appearance.

The author in this scene creates another bright comic situation. When we read the dialogue between Mavra and Plyushkin, we immediately notice a discrepancy. After all, the master accuses the servant of stealing a piece of paper. And for this little thing he threatens Mavra with the Last Judgment! When the housekeeper found the paper, Plyushkin had no choice but to accuse Mavra of another sin, of excessive wastefulness: “... you grab a tallow candle, lard is a hot matter: it will burn - yes and no, only a loss, and you bring me a splinter! » There is also an author’s assessment of the character in this scene: “And to what insignificance, pettiness, nastyness a person could condescend! Could have changed so much!” The writer calls on young people to preserve “all human movements” in order to avoid degradation, so as not to turn into Plyushkin and others like him.

This episode revealed all his disgusting qualities in Plyushkin. The author calls the landowner “insensitive” and “vulgar.” For him, he is a “strange phenomenon”, an “old man”. The word "old man" uses a derogatory suffix because Gogol does not accept the hero's lifestyle. He shows us his “numbness”. The second time the “wooden face” metaphor is found is in the vivid comparison of Plyushkin with a drowning man. Stinginess has taken its place in the character’s heart, and there is no longer any hope of saving his soul.

Chichikov in the scene of buying and selling “dead souls” shows cunning, resourcefulness, hypocrisy, and greed. He deftly assured Plyushkin that he wanted to help him because of the old man’s kind soul. Chichikov bought dead and fugitive souls from the miser for next to nothing and took upon himself the costs of the deed of sale. The episode added an additional touch to the portrait of a cunning predator-acquirer.

Thus, the stage is important for the realization of the ideological concept of the entire work. The author poses the problem of human degradation. The image of Plyushkin completes the portrait gallery of landowners, each of whom is spiritually insignificant than the previous one. Plyushkin closes the circuit. He is a terrible example of moral and physical degeneration. The episode plays a big role in revealing the idea of ​​the poem. The author shows that “dead souls” such as Plyushkin, Chichikov and others are ruining Russia.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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