Why are there no Dead Souls in the first volume? goodies? How can one determine the essence of the metaphysical process occurring with the heroes of the poem? (correlate the answer with the title of the poem). Who, from Gogol’s point of view, is responsible for the process of impoverishment and death of the Russian people: the state, social system, power, nobility, people?

The images most widely represented on the pages of the poem are contemporary to the author landowners. This is what it is" dead souls"poems. Gogol showed them in order of increasing moral degradation.

In Korobochka, Gogol presents us with a different type of Russian landowner. Thrifty, hospitable, hospitable, she suddenly becomes a “clubhead” in the scene sales of the dead shower, for fear of selling out. This is the type of person with his own mind.

In Nozdryov, Gogol showed a different form of decomposition of the nobility. The writer shows us two essences of Nozdryov: first, he is an open, daring, direct face. But then you have to be convinced that Nozdryov’s sociability is an indifferent familiarity with everyone he meets and crosses, his liveliness is an inability to concentrate on any serious subject or matter, his energy is a waste of energy in revelries and debauchery. His main passion, in the words of the writer himself, is “to spoil your neighbor, sometimes for no reason at all.”

Sobakevich is akin to Korobochka. He, like her, is a hoarder. Only, unlike Korobochka, he is a smart and cunning hoarder. He manages to deceive Chichikov himself. Sobakevich is rude, cynical, uncouth; No wonder he is compared to an animal (a bear). By this Gogol emphasizes the degree of savagery of man, the degree of death of his soul.

This gallery ends with " dead souls""a hole in humanity" - Plyushkin. It's eternal in classical literature image of a stingy person. Plyushkin is an extreme degree of economic, social and moral decay of the human personality.

Provincial officials also join the gallery of landowners who are essentially “dead souls.” Who can we call living souls in the poem, and do they even exist? Perhaps Gogol did not intend to contrast the suffocating atmosphere of life of officials and landowners with the life of the peasantry.

However, the image of the nobles, the masters of the country in the countryside and in the city, significantly predominates in this single and motley picture. Landowners and officials are brought to the fore by Gogol because his book is an indictment, and the accusation falls precisely on them, the owners of the country, and, therefore, those who are responsible for its condition.

There were references to positive images Gogol included ideal landowners in the following volumes of Dead Souls. But this link is empty, since it appeals to non-existent evidence. There are no further volumes of the poem, no one has read them and no one knows what would have been there. We know only scattered and more or less rough scraps of the second volume, written at another time by another Gogol. And what exactly Gogol wanted to put in the second or third volume when he created the first volume, we don’t know, just as we don’t know what kind of “thunder of other speeches” (the seventh chapter), and what kind of valiant husband and “wonderful Russian maiden” "(chapter eleven) should have appeared in these volumes, and what would have been their moral and social character.

In the second volume of the poem, the image of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, by the will of the author, was supposed to take the path of moral resurrection. The artificiality of the plan is already visible in the fact that virtuous ideas are instilled in Chichikov by the tax farmer Murazov, of whose own integrity the author was unable to convince the reader. However, powerful artistic power The first volume makes itself felt in places here: Chichikov can suddenly reveal his predatory face of a hoarder. True, Gogol did not paint an ideal picture of the life of the transformed Chichikov, but, unfortunately, artistic trend the second volume of Dead Souls led precisely to a similar picture (the third volume was also supposed to be where it probably should have been presented in full).

The meaning of the title of the poem is illuminated with new light. Having shown “dead souls,” Gogol is looking for “living souls.”

The people are presented in the poem as allegorical, but tangible in every element Russian life a beginning pointing to the truth of the existence of the Motherland, asserting that as long as there is hope, living souls are undead.

Why can each of the landowners be called a “Dead Soul” Gogol. Write it yourself, or leave a link))) Thank you in advance) and received the best answer

Answer from Liudmila Sharukhia[guru]
Before the reader passes a gallery of living but soulless heroes, people with dead soul. These are the landowners Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich, Plyushkin, and officials provincial town N, and serfs. This is the swindler Chichikov, who carries out his brilliant scam on the pages of the work.
In his poem, Gogol gives a detailed portrait of landowner Russia. His work can be called an encyclopedia of Russian landowners, he worked out their types and characters in such detail.
Chichikov begins his journey with a visit to the landowner Manilov. This hero is sweetly pleasant, he is gentle and affectionate with his guest and can give a false impression even before dead soul. But Gogol emphasizes the emptiness and insignificance of Manilov. Having caught on to any topic, Manilov’s thoughts float into the distance, into abstract thoughts. think about real life, and even more so, this hero is not capable of making any decisions. Everything in this character's life has been replaced by refined formulas. Manilov's world is a world of false idyll, the path to death.
The inner world of Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka is empty and shallow. The callousness of this landowner is reflected in her pettiness. The only thing that worries Korobochka is the price of hemp and honey. All she can remember about her late husband is that he loved to have a girl scratch his heels. This especially manifests her isolation from people, complete indifference and dullness.
The third landowner from whom Chichikov is trying to buy dead souls is Nozdryov. This is a dashing 35-year-old “talker, carouser, reckless driver.” Nozdryov lies continuously and bullies everyone indiscriminately. He is very passionate, ready to “take a shit” best friend without any purpose. Nozdryov’s entire behavior is explained by his dominant quality: “nimbleness and liveliness of character.” This landowner does not think or plan anything, he simply does not know the limits in anything.
Mikhailo Semenych Sobakevich is the fourth “seller” of dead souls. The very name and appearance of this hero (reminiscent of a “medium-sized bear”, his tailcoat is of a “completely bearish” color, he steps at random, his complexion is “red-hot, hot”) indicate the power of his nature.
Sobakevich is a type of Russian kulak, a strong, calculating owner. Talking with Chichikov, he busily moves on to the essence of the question: “Do you need dead souls? “The main thing for Sobakevich is the price; everything else doesn’t interest him. He bargains competently, praises his goods (all souls are “like a vigorous nut”) and even manages to deceive Chichikov (slips him “ female soul" – Elizaveta Sparrow). Stepan Plyushkin personifies complete death human soul. It seems to me that in the image of Plyushkin the author shows the death of a bright and strong personality, consumed by the passion of stinginess.

Reply from Merry<3 [newbie]
essay-reasoning: “What is common between Manilov and Nozdryov”?

Reply from Lena Kuzmina[active]
From the poem “Dead Souls” it is clear that not a single landowner even thinks about the spiritual. As Sobakevich put it, there is only one decent person in the city, and even that one is a pig.

For those who haven’t read it, but have heard something, I’ll immediately explain that Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol called “Dead Souls” a poem himself. And as they say, all questions to the author. This is instead of an epigraph. Further - according to the text.

The classic analysis of the poem "Dead Souls" does not assume the presence of positive heroes. All heroes are negative. The only "positive" thing is laughter. I do not agree with this position of comrades and gentlemen professors. What is it? Made based on, again, classic illustrations for the text? Are you laughing?

If you carefully look at the classic illustrations of any Soviet edition of Dead Souls, then, indeed, each character in them is ugly in its own way. But! There is no need to replace true lines, portraits and descriptions with pictures of tendentious artists.

In fact, the landowner Sobakevich can be considered a positive hero. Remember how Gogol gives it to us! Chichikov comes to Sobakevich after several visits to other landowners. And everywhere his attention is focused on the quality of what he sees. This is a patriarchal way of life. There is no stinginess of Plyushkin here. Nozdryov's follies. Empty dreams of Manilov.

Sobakevich lives “as our fathers did.” He doesn’t go to the city too much, not because he’s wild. And for the reason that the owner is strong. He must and monitors what is being done in the fields, in the forge, in the workshops, in the cellar. He was not used to relying entirely on clerks. And does he even have a salesman?

Sobakevich is a good manager. Otherwise, why are his peasants all seemingly strong and stately, and not frail and sick? This means that he sees the urgent needs of peasant families and satisfies them even too much, but at the same time he himself is portly and rich. He was able to solve the most difficult management problem: to appropriate the results of other people's labor, but at the same time not to ruin his serfs.

Sobakevich is a patriot. Pay attention to the portraits of the Sobakevichs on the wall. They show people in military uniform who served the Fatherland. And did Sobakevich himself evade military service? Russia rested on strong men like Sobakevich and his peasants.

Sobakevich is an enlightened landowner. Remember, he tells Chichikov the story of one of his peasants, whom he even sent to Moscow to trade? And he brought him 500 rubles to pay for the quitrent. At that time this was crazy money. A good serf could be purchased for 100 rubles. A good estate cost about ten thousand rubles.

Sobakevich speaks negatively about almost everyone whom Chichikov lists during lunch. The only exception is the prosecutor. And he, according to Sobakevich, is a decent pig. Isn't that right? Can a bad character scold other bad characters with the word “fraud”?

In the end, remember how the bargaining goes between Chichikov and Sobakevich. Yes, Sobakevich is not an angel. But he is a landowner. He must be able to bargain. He does it. But after some time, when he had already “saved face,” he lowers the price to a level acceptable for Chichikov. That is, Sobakevich is not devoid of nobility of soul.

The main work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, undoubtedly, was the poem “Dead Souls”, the first volume of which was written in 1842. The poem was written mostly abroad, where Gogol went after the unsuccessful premiere of The Government Inspector, but the author still talks about Russia, its present and future. According to the original plan, the work should have consisted of three volumes. The first volume described Russian reality, with all its unrest that was happening in society and in ruling circles, the second volume proposed ways of revival, and the third - a society, perhaps a utopian heavenly tomorrow, which should ultimately reign on Russian soil. But the writer was never able to fully cope with his task, so the second volume of “Dead Souls” was burned twice by its creator. It never came to the third.

But the first volume was saved and published. Against the background of the scam of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov (the purchase of dead peasants, but still listed as alive according to the revision tale), Gogol masterfully depicts the diverse Russian life of different segments of the population and shows the negative sides of the rulers. At the same time, the full depth of the main theme of the work was revealed. The concepts of “dead” and “living” in the poem gradually move from their true lexical meaning to a symbolic one. The landowners and officials of the city of N are representatives of the so-called “dead souls” who have long stopped in their spiritual development, and Chichikov is a typical “living soul”, a person who must lead Russia on the path of revival.

Gogol's Chichikov is a very unusual image, personifying a great force that conquers all evil. Throughout the first volume, he is constantly on the road. His home, unlike the “dead” landowners, is the road. The road leads to a bright future and symbolizes life. Already at the very beginning of the poem, Gogol gives a description of his main character:

In the chaise sat a gentleman, not handsome, but not bad-looking either, neither too fat nor too thin; One cannot say that he is old, but not that he is young.

The author describes his hero not as a person, but as a mystical creature without certain external data. The reader should not be distracted by Chichikov's appearance, so as not to miss the main thing - his mission. Pavel Ivanovich’s scam is not carried out for the sake of money, as it might seem at first glance. This is a kind of test that ultimately shows whether the souls of the landowners are “dead” or whether there is hope for their resurrection.

In the person of one hero, Nikolai Vasilyevich represents the Russia of the future, and the Russia of the present is shown in the faces of many landowners and officials. This suggests that one single Chichikov is much more “alive” than all the Manilovs, Nozdrevs and Sobakeviches combined.

Chichikov had a very difficult life. He was left without parents early and was forced to enter an independent adult life. He had to make his way through with the help of his manners and courtesy, since the main character did not have any special talents. Since childhood, he was very attentive and diligent, so he remembered his father’s order for the rest of his life:

...and most of all, take care of your penny, a penny will ruin everything.

Pavel Ivanovich obediently fulfills his father’s will and the meaning of his life becomes “folding a penny.” Gogol portrays him as a very mysterious person, because secrecy is the main quality of a swindler:

The newcomer, it seemed, avoided talking much about himself, and if he did speak, it was in some commonplaces and with noticeable modesty.

But, like any living person, Chichikov is characterized by various emotional manifestations, for example, a feeling of fear. Probably only Nozdryov sees the true essence of his guest, since he himself is not sinless. “You are a big swindler, let me tell you this out of friendship. If I were your boss, I would hang you from the first tree,” Nozdryov reports with great enthusiasm. Chichikov ruined his career due to excessive greed, but mistakes and omissions do not frighten the hero. The loss of a lucrative position only gives him strength to commit new scams. He was always an outstanding and never cheerful person. He had enormous professional experience accumulated over a long period of service, and in particular, an excellent knowledge of human souls. A brilliant idea about buying dead peasants came to the hero precisely in a moment of despondency, because the deal promised to be very profitable.

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov has an excellent understanding of human characters, and it is not difficult for him to find an individual approach to everyone. For example, with Manilov he is cultured and courteous, but with Nozdryov he is rude and unceremonious. He combines the traits of each interlocutor and skillfully uses them at the right moment. The only obstacle in Chichikov’s plan was the “club-headed” Korobochka, who came to the city to find out how much dead souls “walk” now. It is she who casts a shadow on our adventurer, and after her the whole city finds out that the visiting gentleman has deceived everyone. Meanness will always be punished by retaliatory meanness. It is completely natural that Chichikov is defeated. Because of his greed, he could not predict such a sad ending, because he was smart, and meeting stupidity was not part of his plans. As it turned out, the hero’s good manners, iron grip and prudence cannot always predict his possible consequences, because in a huge country it is often impossible to understand who is who. The beginning of the bourgeois era helped Chichikov acquire qualities different from the landowners.

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is a man of new times, possessing both professional and adventurous qualities. Although Chichikov is called a nice fellow, the word “businessman” in his case still has a negative character. This is why the main character evokes mixed feelings in us: on the one hand, he is a good person, smart and optimistic, but on the other hand, his passion is money, which forces the hero to live dishonestly.

The compositional basis of Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” is Chichikov’s travels through the cities and provinces of Russia. According to the author’s plan, the reader is invited to “travel all over Rus' with the hero and bring out many different characters.” In the first volume of Dead Souls, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol introduces the reader to a number of characters who represent the “dark kingdom”, familiar from the plays of A. N. Ostrovsky. The types created by the writer are relevant to this day, and many proper names have become common nouns over time, although recently they are used less and less in colloquial speech. Below is a description of the characters in the poem. In Dead Souls, the main characters are landowners and the main adventurer, whose adventures form the basis of the plot.

Chichikov, the main character of Dead Souls, travels around Russia, buying documents for dead peasants who, according to the auditor’s book, are still listed as alive. In the first chapters of the work, the author tries in every possible way to emphasize that Chichikov was a completely ordinary, unremarkable person. Knowing how to find an approach to every person, Chichikov was able to achieve favor, respect and recognition in any society he encountered without any problems. Pavel Ivanovich is ready to do anything to achieve his goal: he lies, impersonates another person, flatters, takes advantage of other people. But at the same time, he seems to readers to be an absolutely charming person!

Gogol masterfully showed the multifaceted human personality, which combines depravity and the desire for virtue.

Another hero of Gogol’s “Dead Souls” is Manilov. Chichikov comes to him first. Manilov gives the impression of a carefree person who does not care about worldly problems. Manilov found a wife to match himself - the same dreamy young lady. Servants took care of the house, and teachers came to their two children, Themistoclus and Alcidus. It was difficult to determine Manilov’s character: Gogol himself says that in the first minute one might think “what an amazing person!”, a little later one might be disappointed in the hero, and after another minute one would become convinced that they couldn’t say anything about Manilov at all. There are no desires in it, no life itself. The landowner spends his time in abstract thoughts, completely ignoring everyday problems. Manilov easily gave the dead souls to Chichikov without asking about the legal details.

If we continue the list of characters in the story, then the next one will be Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna, an old lonely widow who lives in a small village. Chichikov came to her by accident: the coachman Selifan lost his way and turned onto the wrong road. The hero was forced to stop for the night. External attributes were an indicator of the landowner’s internal state: everything in her house was done efficiently and firmly, but nevertheless there were a lot of flies everywhere. Korobochka was a real entrepreneur, because she was used to seeing in every person only a potential buyer. Nastasya Petrovna was remembered by the reader for the fact that she did not agree to the deal. Chichikov persuaded the landowner and promised to give her several blue papers for petitions, but until he agreed next time to definitely order flour, honey and lard from Korobochka, Pavel Ivanovich did not receive several dozen dead souls.

Next on the list was Nozdryov- a carouser, a liar and a merry fellow, a playmaker. The meaning of his life was entertainment; even two children could not keep the landowner at home for more than a few days. Nozdryov often got into various situations, but thanks to his innate talent for finding a way out of any situation, he always got away with it. Nozdryov communicated easily with people, even with those with whom he managed to quarrel; after a while he communicated as if with old friends. However, many tried not to have anything in common with Nozdryov: the landowner hundreds of times came up with various fables about others, telling them at balls and dinner parties. It seemed that Nozdryov was not at all bothered by the fact that he often lost his property at cards - he certainly wanted to win back. The image of Nozdryov is very important for characterizing other heroes of the poem, in particular Chichikov. After all, Nozdryov was the only person with whom Chichikov did not make a deal and indeed did not want to meet with him anymore. Pavel Ivanovich barely managed to escape from Nozdryov, but Chichikov could not even imagine under what circumstances he would see this man again.

Sobakevich was the fourth seller of dead souls. In his appearance and behavior he resembled a bear, even the interior of his house and household utensils were huge, inappropriate and bulky. From the very beginning, the author focuses on Sobakevich’s thriftiness and prudence. It was he who first suggested that Chichikov buy documents for the peasants. Chichikov was surprised by this turn of events, but did not argue. The landowner was also remembered for raising prices on the peasants, despite the fact that the latter were long dead. He talked about their professional skills or personal qualities, trying to sell documents at a higher price than Chichikov offered.

Surprisingly, this particular hero has a much greater chance of spiritual rebirth, because Sobakevich sees how small people have become, how insignificant they are in their aspirations.

This list of characteristics of the heroes of “Dead Souls” shows the most important characters for understanding the plot, but do not forget about coachman Selifane, and about servant of Pavel Ivanovich, and about good-natured landowner Plyushkin. Being a master of words, Gogol created very vivid portraits of heroes and their types, which is why all the descriptions of the heroes of Dead Souls are so easily remembered and immediately recognizable.

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