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The city governor is one of 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 evenings and introduces him to his wife and daughter. The stupid governor, like all the other officials, understands too late who Chichikov is. The swindler Chichikov safely leaves the city with ready-made documents for “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 blinking eyes. 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 quotation image and characterization of the postmaster in the poem “Dead Souls”: 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 provincial town 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 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
« Dead souls"is one of the brightest works of Russian literature. According to the strength and depth of ideas, according to
The artistic mastery of “Dead Souls” is on a par with such masterpieces of Russian classical literature, like “Woe from Wit” by Griboyedov, “Eugene Onegin” and “ Captain's daughter» Pushkin, as well as the best works Goncharov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Leskov.
When starting to create “Dead Souls,” Gogol wrote to Pushkin that in his work he wanted to show “from one side” all of Rus'. “All Rus' will appear in it!” - he also told Zhukovsky. Indeed, Gogol was able to illuminate many aspects of the life of contemporary Russia, to reflect with wide completeness the spiritual and social conflicts in her life.
Undoubtedly, " Dead Souls And" were very relevant for their time. Gogol even had to change the title when publishing the work, as it irritated the censors. The high political effectiveness of the poem is due to both the sharpness of the ideas and the topicality of the images.
The poem widely reflected the Nikolaev reactionary era, when all initiative and freethinking were suppressed, the bureaucratic apparatus grew significantly, and a system of denunciations and investigations was in place.
IN " Dead souls» delivered extremely important issues both for its time and for Russia in general: the question of serfs and landowners, of bureaucracy and corruption in all spheres of life.
Depicting contemporary Russia, Gogol devoted significant place description: provincial (VII-IX chapters) and capital (“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin”).
Provincial officials are represented in the images of officials of the city of N. It is characteristic that they all live as one family: they spend their leisure time together, address each other by name and patronymic (“My dear friend Ilya Ilyich!”), and are hospitable. Gogol doesn't even mention their last names. On the other hand, officials are bound by mutual responsibility in matters related to their service.
The widespread bribery that reigned in Russia was also reflected in Gogol’s work. This motive is very important in the description of life Officials in poem Dead souls: the police chief, despite the fact that he visits the Gostiny Dvor as if it were his own storeroom, enjoys the love of the merchants because he is not proud and courteous; Ivan Antonovich accepts a bribe from Chichikov deftly, with knowledge of the matter, as a matter of course.
The motive of bribery also appears in the biography of Chichikov himself, and the episode with a certain generalized petitioner can be considered a digression on bribes.
All officials treat service as an opportunity to make money at someone else’s expense, which is why lawlessness, bribery and corruption flourish everywhere, disorder and red tape reign. Bureaucracy is a good breeding ground for these vices. It was in his conditions that Chichikov’s scam was possible.
Because of their “sins” in their service, all officials are afraid of being checked by an auditor sent by the government. Chichikov's incomprehensible behavior terrifies the city Officialdom in the poem Dead Souls: “Suddenly both of them turned pale; fear is more sticky than the plague and is communicated instantly. “Everyone suddenly found sins in themselves that didn’t even exist.” Suddenly they have assumptions, there are rumors that Chichikov is Napoleon himself, or Captain Kopeikan, an auditor. The motive of gossip is typical for describing the life of Russian society in XIX literature century, he is also present in “Dead Souls”.
The position of an official in society corresponds to his rank: the higher the position, the greater the authority, respect, and the preferable it is to get to know him. Meanwhile, there are some qualities necessary “for this world: pleasantness in appearance, in turns of speech and actions, and agility in business...” All of this was possessed by Chichikov, who knew how to carry on a conversation, present himself favorably to society, unobtrusively show respect, provide a service. “In a word, he was a very decent person; That’s why it was so well received by the society of the city of N.”
Officials generally do not engage in service, but spend their time in entertainment (dinners and balls). Here they indulge in their only “good occupation” - playing cards. Playing cards is more common for fat people than for thin people, and that’s what they do at the ball. The city fathers devote themselves to playing cards without reserve, showing imagination, eloquence, and liveliness of mind.
Gogol did not forget to point out the ignorance and stupidity of officials. Saying sarcastically that many of them “were not without education,” the author immediately points out the limits of their interests: “Lyudmila” by Zhukovsky, Karamzin or “Moscow News”; many didn’t read anything at all.
Having introduced “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” into the poem, Gogol also introduced a description of the capital’s officials. Just like in a provincial town, Bureaucracy Petersburg is subject to bureaucracy, bribery, and veneration of rank.
Despite the fact that Gogol presented Bureaucracy more as one whole, individual images can also be distinguished. Thus, the governor, representing in his person the highest city power, is shown in a somewhat comic light: he had “Anna around his neck” and, perhaps, was presented to the star; but, however, he was “a great good-natured man and sometimes even embroidered on tulle himself.” He was “neither fat nor thin.” And if Manilov says that the governor is “the most respectable and most amiable person,” then Sobakevich directly declares that he is “the first robber in the world.” It seems that both assessments of the governor’s personality are correct and characterize him from different sides.
The prosecutor is an absolutely useless person in the service. In his portrait, Gogol points out one detail: very thick eyebrows and a seemingly conspiratorial winking eye. One gets the impression of dishonesty, uncleanliness, and cunning of the prosecutor. Indeed, such qualities are characteristic of court officials, where lawlessness flourishes: the poem mentions two of the many cases where an unjust trial was committed (the case of a fight between peasants and the murder of an assessor).
The inspector of the medical board is frightened by conversations about Chichikov no less than others, since he also has sins: in the infirmaries there is no proper care for the sick, therefore large quantities people are dying. The inspector is not embarrassed by this fact, he is indifferent to fate ordinary people, but he is afraid of the auditor, who can punish him and deprive him of his position.
Nothing is said about the postmaster’s occupation of postal affairs, which indicates that he does not do anything remarkable in his service: just like other officials, he is either inactive or trying to loot and profit. Gogol mentions only
The fact that the postmaster is engaged in philosophy and makes large extracts from books.
Some of them also serve to reveal the images of officials lyrical digressions. For example, a satirical digression about fat and thin typifies the images of officials. The author divides men into two kinds, characterizing them depending on their physical appearance: thin men love to look after women, and fat men, preferring to play whist over ladies, know how to “manage their affairs better” and always firmly and invariably occupy reliable places.
Another example: Gogol compares Russian officials with foreigners - “wise men” who know how to treat people of different status and social status differently. Thus, speaking about the veneration of officials and their understanding of subordination, Gogol creates the image of a kind of conditional manager of the office, radically changing in appearance depending on whose company he is in: among subordinates or in front of his boss.
The world presented by Gogol, called " Officialdom in the poem “Dead Souls”"very colorful, many-sided. Comic images of officials, collected together, create a picture of the ugly social structure of Russia. Gogol’s creation evokes both laughter and tears, because even after more than a century, it allows you to recognize familiar situations, faces, characters, destinies. Great Gogol’s talent, so uniquely vividly, accurately described reality, pointed out the ulcer of society, which they could not heal even a century later.
Composition: Officialdom in the poem “Dead Souls”
Before going to the landowners, Chichikov spent some time in the city of NN. Here he had the opportunity to meet officials and learn about their way of life. N.V. Gogol called his poem “Dead Souls” not because Chichikov wanted to pull off a scam to buy up the “dead” peasant souls. This name is due to the fact that the writer wanted to draw attention to landowners and officials, whose souls had long since died.
Officials in the city are presented as a selection. Both the governor and the prosecutor - they are all spiritually impersonal people. Chichikov, when he approached the officials, immediately learned that in order to achieve something from them, he had to pay a bribe. Otherwise, you can't hope for anything. Officials must help people; this is their main responsibility. However, this is not important to them, they do not care about people, they only think about personal gain.
The wives of officials do not work anywhere, and do not do anything at all. They only think about having a good time, and their husbands fully support them in this. Chichikov was even in the same house where officials were meeting. They played cards from three o'clock in the afternoon until two o'clock in the morning. This is what people whose job it is to help people and resolve serious issues do.
They do not develop in any way, and except card games they are not interested in anything. They, like the landowners, have long been impoverished in soul. Other people's problems are alien to them; they have “dead souls.” Officials do not hesitate to rob not only the population, but also the state. They feel their impunity and this situation resembles our country now. Therefore, Gogol’s work is more relevant than ever.
Composition
In Tsarist Russia of the 30s of the 19th century, a real disaster for the people was not only serfdom, but also an extensive bureaucratic bureaucracy. Called to guard law and order, representatives of the administrative authorities thought only about their own material well-being, stealing from the treasury, extorting bribes, and mocking powerless people. Thus, the topic of exposing the bureaucratic world was very relevant for Russian literature. Gogol addressed it more than once in such works as “The Inspector General,” “The Overcoat,” and “Notes of a Madman.” It also found expression in the poem “Dead Souls,” where, starting from the seventh chapter, bureaucracy is the focus of the author’s attention. Despite the absence of detailed and detailed images similar to the landowner heroes, the picture of bureaucratic life in Gogol’s poem is striking in its breadth.
With two or three masterful strokes, the writer draws wonderful miniature portraits. This is the governor, embroidering on tulle, and the prosecutor with very black thick eyebrows, and the short postmaster, a wit and philosopher, and many others. These sketchy faces are memorable because of their characteristic funny details, which are filled with deep meaning. In fact, why is the head of an entire province characterized as a good-natured man who sometimes embroiders on tulle? Probably because there is nothing to say about him as a leader. From here it is easy to draw a conclusion about how negligently and unconscionably the governor treats his job responsibilities, to civic duty. The same can be said about his subordinates. Gogol widely uses in the poem the technique of characterizing the hero by other characters. For example, when a witness was needed to formalize the purchase of serfs, Sobakevich tells Chichikov that the prosecutor, as an idle person, is probably sitting at home. But this is one of the most significant officials of the city, who must administer justice and ensure compliance with the law. The characterization of the prosecutor in the poem is enhanced by the description of his death and funeral. He did nothing but mindlessly sign papers, as he left all decisions to the solicitor, “the first grabber in the world.” Obviously, the cause of his death was rumors about the sale of “dead souls,” since it was he who was responsible for all the illegal affairs that took place in the city. Bitter Gogolian irony is heard in thoughts about the meaning of the prosecutor’s life: “...why he died, or why he lived, only God knows.” Even Chichikov, looking at the prosecutor’s funeral, involuntarily comes to the conclusion that the only thing the deceased can be remembered for is his thick black eyebrows.
The writer gives a close-up of a typical image of the official Ivan Antonovich, the Jug Snout. Taking advantage of his position, he extorts bribes from visitors. It’s funny to read about how Chichikov put a “piece of paper” in front of Ivan Antonovich, “which he did not notice at all and immediately covered with a book.” But it’s sad to realize what a hopeless situation we found ourselves in Russian citizens dependent on dishonest, self-interested people representing state power. This idea is emphasized by Gogol’s comparison of the civil chamber official with Virgil. At first glance, it is unacceptable. But the nasty official, like the Roman poet in " Divine Comedy", leads Chichikov through all the circles of bureaucratic hell. This means that this comparison strengthens the impression of the evil that permeates the entire administrative system of tsarist Russia.
Gogol gives in the poem a unique classification of officials, dividing representatives of this class into lower, thin and fat. The writer gives a sarcastic characterization of each of these groups. The lowest ones, according to Gogol's definition, are nondescript clerks and secretaries, as a rule, bitter drunkards. By “thin” the author means the middle stratum, and the “thick” are the provincial nobility, which firmly holds on to their places and deftly extracts considerable income from their high position.
Gogol is inexhaustible in choosing surprisingly accurate and apt comparisons. Thus, he likens officials to a squadron of flies that swoop down on tasty morsels of refined sugar. Provincial officials are also characterized in the poem by their usual activities: playing cards, drinking, lunches, dinners, gossip. Gogol writes that in the society of these civil servants, “meanness, completely disinterested, pure meanness” flourishes. Their quarrels do not end in a duel, because “they were all civil officials.” They have other methods and means through which they play dirty tricks on each other, which can be more difficult than any duel. There are no significant differences in the way of life of officials, in their actions and views. Gogol portrays this class as thieves, bribe-takers, slackers and swindlers who are bound together by mutual responsibility. That’s why the officials felt so uncomfortable when Chichikov’s scam was revealed, because each of them remembered their sins. If they try to detain Chichikov for his fraud, then he too will be able to accuse them of dishonesty. A comical situation arises when people in power help a swindler in his illegal machinations and are afraid of him.
Gogol pushes the boundaries in the poem county town, introducing “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” into it. It no longer talks about local abuses, but about the arbitrariness and lawlessness that is committed by the highest St. Petersburg officials, that is, the government itself. The contrast between the unheard-of luxury of St. Petersburg and the pitiful beggarly position of Kopeikin, who shed blood for his fatherland and lost an arm and a leg, is striking. But, despite his injuries and military merits, this war hero does not even have the right to the pension due to him. A desperate disabled person tries to find help in the capital, but his attempt is dashed by the cold indifference of a high-ranking official. This disgusting image of a soulless St. Petersburg nobleman completes the characterization of the world of officials. All of them, starting with the petty provincial secretary and ending with the representative of the highest administrative power, are dishonest, selfish, cruel people, indifferent to the fate of the country and the people. It is to this conclusion that N. V. Gogol’s wonderful poem “Dead Souls” leads the reader.
The officials depicted in “Dead Souls” are strong because of their mutual responsibility. They feel a commonality of their interests and the need to defend themselves together when necessary. They have the characteristics of a special class in a class society. They are the third force, the average one, the average majority that actually governs the country. Provincial society is alien to the concept of civil and public duties, for them a position is only a means of personal pleasure and well-being, a source of income. Among them there is bribery, servility to higher officials, and a complete lack of intelligence. The bureaucracy has rallied into a corporation of embezzlers and robbers. Gogol wrote in his diary about provincial society: “The ideal of the city is emptiness. Gossip that has gone beyond limits.” Among officials, “meanness, completely disinterested, pure meanness” flourishes. Officials for the most part are uneducated, empty people, living according to a pattern, who give up in the new everyday situation.
The abuses of officials are most often ridiculous, insignificant and absurd. “You take things inappropriately” - that’s what is considered a sin in this world. But it is the “vulgarity of everything as a whole,” and not the size of the criminal acts that horrifies readers. “A stunning mud of little things,” as Gogol writes in the poem, has swallowed up modern man.
The bureaucracy in “Dead Souls” is not only “flesh of the flesh” of a soulless, ugly society; it is also the foundation on which this society rests. While provincial society considers Chichikov a millionaire and a “Kherson landowner,” the officials treat the newcomer accordingly. Since the governor “gave the go-ahead,” then any official will immediately fill out the necessary papers for Chichikov; Of course, not for free: after all, nothing can erase the initial habit of taking bribes from a Russian official. And Gogol, with short but unusually expressive strokes, painted a portrait of Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinnoye Rylo, who can safely be called a symbol of Russian bureaucracy. He appears in the seventh chapter of the poem and speaks only a few words. Ivan Antonovich is essentially not even a person, but a soulless “cog” of the state machine. And other officials are no better.
What is the value of a prosecutor, who has nothing but thick eyebrows...
When Chichikov’s scam was revealed, the officials were confused and suddenly “found ... sins in themselves.” Gogol laughs evilly at how bureaucrats in power, mired in criminal activities, help the swindler in his dirty machinations, fearing their exposure.
IN to the greatest extent The lack of spirituality of the state machine is shown by Gogol in “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin.” Faced with the bureaucratic mechanism, the war hero turns not even into a speck of dust, he turns into nothing. And in in this case The captain’s fate is unjustly decided not by the provincial semi-literate Ivan Antonovich, but by a metropolitan nobleman of the highest rank, a member of the Tsar himself! But even here, at the highest state level, simple to an honest man, even the hero has nothing to hope for understanding and participation. It is no coincidence that when the poem passed censorship, it was “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” that was mercilessly cut by the censors. Moreover, Gogol was forced to rewrite it almost anew, significantly softening the tone and smoothing out sharp corners. As a result, little remains of “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” that was originally intended by the author.
Gogol's city is symbolic, " prefabricated city all dark side", and bureaucracy is an integral part of it.