The plan of dead souls summary. Essay “The General Concept of “Dead Souls”

Gogol, thinking long and hard about the purpose of his creation, came to the conclusion that his goal was to show all of Rus' with its inherent contradictory features, the true Russian man in all his fullness, with versatility national characters and features. The writer wanted to reveal to us all the hidden corners of the Russian soul, the shortcomings and hidden virtues of the Russian person, surrounded by an everyday web of little things, deeds and events, that eat away from the inside. Gogol, thinking about his future work, even begins to feel missionary power in himself: he burns with the desire to help his fatherland by awakening the “dead”, sleeping soul of the Russian person with the best medicine - cleansing laughter. The poem was intended as a revealing, saving remedy for the “dormant” Russia; Gogol believed that this was his duty, his opportunity to be as useful through his writing as any simple civil servant is useful to the fatherland. Nikolai Vasilyevich intended to create a grandiose, comprehensive work, consisting of three interconnected and flowing from one another parts. They symbolized Russia’s unique path from “ lethargic sleep” to awareness, awakening, purification and rapid moral self-development.

Thus, we can say that the concept of the poem “Dead Souls” was extremely broad in its coverage of characters, characters, ideas, events and phenomena of complex Russian life.

The poem “Dead Souls” seems contradictory already in terms of the genre of work designated by the author. After all, as we know from the definition, a poem is a genre of literature distinguished by its poetic form. It turns out that Gogol pushes the existing genre boundaries and creates, as we now call it, a prose poem. Why did this happen? The answer lies in another contradiction: reflecting on his creation, the writer firmly held on to the idea of ​​​​creating an incredibly large-scale, universal work, wanted to liken it, equate it with an epic, drawing an analogy between such huge works as Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and Homer’s poems. And the implementation of all these thoughts in prose was possible only thanks to numerous lyrical digressions throughout the narrative, reminding the reader of the grandeur of the plan, of its further development along an as yet unknown but great path.

And finally, one of the main plot and compositional contradictions is the possibility of the very realization of all Gogol’s ideas. The writer literally dreamed of creating a work that would have the strongest impact on all readers. In it, he wanted to clearly and accurately show the degradation, stagnation, awakening and formation on the true path of vicious Russian souls. However, he did not want to simply present to the world the artistic ideal that arose in his head. On the contrary, with all his strength and genius, he tried to draw a living person, as if standing next to us, tangible and really existing. The writer wanted to literally embody a person, to breathe a living spirit into him. And this tragically contradicted the actual implementation: such a task turned out to be not only beyond Gogol’s strength, but also beyond the time allotted to the creator himself.

The contradiction in this phrase is obvious: after all, this is a literary oxymoron (the same are, for example, “living corpse”, “sad joy”, etc.). But, turning to the poem itself, we discover other meanings.

Firstly, “dead souls” are simply dead serfs, the “hunt” for whom is Chichikov’s main task to achieve his personal well-being.

But here, and this is secondly, another meaning is revealed, more important for the ideological component of the work. “Dead souls” are the “rotten”, vicious souls of that landowner and bureaucratic circle in which Chichikov moves. These souls have forgotten what it is real life, full of pure, noble feelings and adherence to human duty. Purely outwardly, all these people seem to be alive, they talk, walk, eat, etc. But their inner content, their spiritual filling, is dead, it will either sink into oblivion forever, or with great effort and suffering it can be reborn.

Thirdly, there is another hidden meaning of the phrase. It represents a religious and philosophical idea. According to Christian teaching, the soul of a person cannot be dead by definition, it is always alive, only the body can die.

It turns out that Gogol strengthens the meaning of rebirth, renewal of the “dirty” soul, likening it to simple human flesh.

Thus, we can say that even such a short and succinct title of the poem helps the writer convey and reveal a huge variety of ideas and themes displayed in the work.

The religious and moral quest of the writer is directly related to the plan “ Dead souls" We can say that the entire work is built on religious, moral and philosophical ideas.

Nikolai Vasilyevich sought to show in the poem the rebirth of “sinners” into “righteous people”. He closely connected the moral re-education and self-education of the protagonist with Christian dogma. After all, to live as a Christian means to live according to the divine commandments, the observance of which reflects the best traits of a person. To believe in one God, to be respectful, not to envy, not to steal or steal, to be respectful and generally essentially righteous - this is the religious and moral ideal that Gogol wanted to embody in his work. He believed that transformation of a thoroughly vicious person was still possible through laughter at oneself, purifying suffering, and then acceptance of following the truth. Moreover, the writer believed that such an example of the transformation of a Russian person, and soon of all of Russia, could serve as a “beacon” for other nations and even for the whole world. It is quite possible that he dreamed of an unattainable ideal - a worldwide, universal revival from the abyss of sins and the establishment of righteousness.

Gogol closely connected his searches with the idea of ​​the poem, literally weaving the entire “outline” of the work from these thoughts.

The poem shows the characters of many landowners, describes their life, passions, and morals. But only two people have a backstory, a story about their past. These are Plyushkin and Chichikov.

The fact is that such personalities as Korobochka, Manilov, Sobakevich, Nozdryov and others are shown vividly, “in all their glory” and very believably, we can fully formulate our impression of them and predict their future fate. These characters are representatives of the “stagnation” of human essence, they are who they are, with all their vices and imperfections, and they will no longer be different.

As for Chichikov and Plyushkin, here one of the facets of the writer’s great plan is revealed. These two heroes, according to the author, are still capable of developing and renewing their souls. Therefore, both Plyushkin and Chichikov have a biography. Gogol wanted to take the reader along the entire line of their lives, to show full picture the formation of their character, and then the transformation and new formation of characters in subsequent volumes. After all, in fact, you cannot understand the whole essence of a person until you get acquainted with his entire history, with all his life’s ups and downs, and Gogol was well aware of this.

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Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

Lesson 2. Poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls". The concept, history of creation, features of the genre and composition, the meaning of the title of the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls".

Goals: To familiarize students with the concept, history of creation, features of the genre and composition,the meaning of the title of the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"; develop the ability to construct an answer to a question about a work of art based on theoretical and literary knowledge; improve skills of analytical work with prose text; analytical skills;promote aesthetic and moral education students; cultivate a culture of reading perception.

Equipment : textbook, text of the poem “Dead Souls”, portraits of the writer by F.A. Moller (1840,1841), A.A. Ivanova (1841), exhibition of books, illustrative material on the topic of the lesson.

Lesson type: lesson - analysis work of art

Predicted results: students know theoretical-literary definitions genre features poems, oh concept, history of creation, features of the genre and composition, the meaning of the title of the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"., participate in the conversation, develop their point of view on the work of art in accordance with author's position And historical era.

Lesson progress

I. Organizational stage

II. Updating of reference knowledge

Conversation “Remembering what we have learned”

What can you say about the work of N.V. Gogol, based on the works with which you are familiar?

What was the name of the beekeeper on whose behalf the story is told in “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”?

In which theater was the comedy “The Inspector General” first staged?

Who owns the words spoken after the first performance of The Inspector General: “What a play!” Everyone got it, and I got it the most!”

III. Motivation educational activities

Not a single work of Russian literature has given rise to such contradictory interpretations as Dead Souls. And in the whirlwind of guesswork, bewilderment, ridicule and outright mockery that arose immediately after the publication of the book (1842) and resulted in a series of fierce discussions on the pages of the Russian press, in secular drawing rooms and literary salons, perhaps the ill-fated the word "poem".

Informing Gogol in the fall of 1842 about the impression that “Dead Souls” made in Moscow society, K. S. Aksakov wrote: “Some say that “Dead Souls” is a poem, that they understand the meaning of this name; others see this as mockery, completely in the spirit of Gogol: here you go, squabble over this word.” “The dignity of a work of art is great when it can elude any one-sided glance,” Herzen wrote about Dead Souls.

It must be admitted that clarity on this issue has not been achieved to this day. This work is a feasible contribution to the discussion artistic nature Gogol's work. The word “poem” with which its title begins partly clarifies the point of view from which this work will be considered here, but the book was written, of course, not with the purpose of proving that “Dead Souls” is a poem and not something else. something else. For this, first of all, the range of meanings that the word

Gogol deliberately structured his work with the expectation of long-term “peering” into it and only gradual comprehension. “...the book took a long time to write: it takes time to look at it for a long time,” he declared in 1843 (XII, 144). And in 1845 he argued that the subject of “Dead Souls” is “still a mystery”, which “not a single soul of the readers has guessed” (XII, 504). Therefore, when starting to read Dead Souls, you need to know how to read them. The school, frontal, so to speak, reading ignores Gogol’s warning; it deals only with what is said “in plain text,” and therefore the full depth of the book’s poetic originality is not fully revealed. On the other hand, the approach to " Dead souls” as a “book with a secret” opens the way to subjectivity, sometimes leading to anecdotal results. Even such a brilliant study as Andrei Bely’s book “Gogol’s Mastery,” published in 1934 and not free from vulgar sociological simplifications, is guilty of subjectivism. However, it contains a thesis that seems key for the student of Dead Souls:

“Analyzing the plot of “Dead Souls” means: bypassing the fiction of the plot, feeling the little things that have absorbed both the plot and the plot<...>There is no plot outside of the details in “Dead Souls”: it must be squeezed out of them; it is necessary to study the counterpoint of all the strokes that make up the picture of the first volume.” In other words: the main thing in the content of the poem does not coincide with what appears to be the main thing in the plot. The latter only serves as an excuse to express something immeasurably more important. But one must be able to recognize this important thing in the figurative fabric of the work, where it is hidden under the guise of “little things.”

Let's try to understand the uniqueness creative individuality Gogol, let's try to touch one of the most original monuments of Russian and world literature.

IV . Working on the lesson topic

Practical work with portraits of N.V. Gogol (posted on the board)

Teacher: Let's pay attention to the portraits of N.V. Gogol. What special things did you notice, what properties of the human soul can you tell when looking at these portraits? Compare your impressions with the memories of contemporaries about N.V.’s appearance. Gogol. (Handout)

Gogol’s appearance was then completely different and unfavorable for him: the crest on his head, smoothly trimmed temples, shaved mustache and chin, large and tightly starched collars gave a completely different physiognomy to his face: it seemed to us that there was something Ukrainian and roguish about him . Gogol's dress had a noticeable pretension to panache. I remember that he was wearing a motley light vest with a large chain. (S.T. Aksakov. The story of my acquaintance with Gogol)

2. Listening to messages about the concept, history of creation, features of the genre and composition, the meaning of the title of the poem by N.V. Gogol’s “Dead Souls.” (Students write theses)

a) The idea, the history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls”.

Every artist has a creation that he considers the main work of his life, into which he has invested his most cherished, innermost thoughts, his whole heart.

For Gogol, “Dead Souls” became such a work of life. His biography as a writer lasted 23 years, 17 of them were spent working on the poem. Gogol's development proceeded unusually quickly and intensively: only 3-4 years passed between the first cycle of his stories “Evenings on a Farm...” and “Dead Souls”.

Work on the poem began in mid-1835. On October 7, 1835, the writer informed Pushkin (as is known, Gogol owes the idea of ​​the poem to Pushkin, who had long urged him to write a great epic work) that 3 chapters have already been written. But the thing did not capture Gogol then.

He really took up “Dead Souls” after “The Inspector General,” abroad, in Italy. He rewrites the chapters again, endlessly reworks the pages.

The poem was conceived as a work consisting of 3 parts (similar to “ Divine Comedy"Dante). The heroes, therefore, had to go through hell, purgatory, and heaven. These three hypostases corresponded to the three parts of “Dead Souls”.

The first volume seemed to Gogol “a porch to a palace of unprecedented beauty.” The whole meaning of his work is in the words from the 2nd volume: “Where is the one who, in the native language of our Russian soul, could tell us this almighty word: forward?.., who... could direct us to a higher life ? “With one magical wave” one could destroy a terrible obsession and help Russia “wake up” - these words are often found in Gogol’s letters.

He was inspired by the desire to overcome the evil that filled modern life, to transform his heroes, to give readers a path to ascent to good. He hoped that it was possible to raise Russia without bloody upheavals, without breaking public order, only by the moral improvement of man.

That is why he sought to evoke disgust for vulgarity and worthlessness in the 1st volume, and then to show living virtuous people so that they could become role models. Then a miracle will happen. But the miracle did not happen.The second volume did not work out, Go-gol never got around to the third.

Having started work on the poem, he was convinced that it should play some kind of role. special role in the destinies of Russia and thereby glorify the author. In June 1836, he wrote to Zhukovsky: “If I complete this creation the way it needs to be accomplished, then... what a huge, what an original plot! What a varied bunch! All Rus' will appear in it! This will be my first decent thing that will bear my name.”

Gogol is so passionate about his new work that everything written previously seems like a trifle to him. (And these are “Evenings on a Farm...”, “Mirgorod”, “Petersburg Tales” and “The Inspector General”.)

b) About the genre of “Dead Souls”.

The enormous artistic experience acquired while working on “Evenings...”, “Mirgorod”, “Petersburg Tales” and “The Inspector General” gave him the opportunity to create a brilliant poem.

In a letter to Pushkin from abroad, Gogol said that “the plot stretched out into a very long novel.” At the same time, another word pops up - “poem”; already in November 1836 he tells Zhukovsky: “Every morning... I wrote 3 pages into my poem.” In another letter: “The thing... doesn’t look like a story or a novel, it’s long, long, in several volumes, its name is DEAD SOULS - that’s all you have to find out about it for now.” Later Gogol he says with increasing conviction that this is precisely a POEM, but not in the traditional meaning of the word.

It is known that Gogol developed the theory of new genres in the “Training Book of Literature for Russian Youth.” In it, in addition to the epic and the novel, both the most important species narrative literature, he identified a “lesser kind of epic” (the middle ground between the novel and the epic).

The main features of this SMALL EPIC are the depiction of the spiritual world of a private person, the story of his adventures, which make it possible to reveal a picture of the mores of the time, and the writer’s ability to draw a “statistically captured picture of the shortcomings, abuses, and vices” of the era. This phrase emphasizes the most important feature of the “lesser kind of epic” - its accusatory orientation. Subsequently, Gogol insisted that his work was precisely a POEM.

Leo Tolstoy’s words are well known: “...everyone great artist must create his own forms. If the content of a work of art can be infinitely varied, then so can its form.” And about the “form” of “Dead Souls” Tolstoy said: “What is this? Neither a novel nor a story. Something completely original."

Indeed, “Dead Souls” formed a unique genre structure, previously unknown in either Russian or world literature.

By December 1841, volume 1 of the book was ready for printing and submitted to the Moscow Censorship Committee, where it met with hostility. Gogol took the book and sent it to St. Petersburg, where, thanks to the efforts of friends, after long delays, demands for amendments to 36 places and “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin”, in addition, to change the name, the censorship allowed the book to be printed.

The title “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls” was proposed. On May 21, 1842, the poem was published.

c) About the history of the 2nd volume.

Why did Gogol burn volume 2? Moreover, he did this twice: in 1845 and 1852. It is probably impossible to give an exact answer to this question. One thing is clear - this was not the decision of a madman. A convincing and comprehensive prophetic word did not work out, as Gogol believed; positive heroes were not given to him due to personal imperfection.

Therefore, he refused not only to continue working, but also to live (he refused to take food and medicine).

d) About the plot.

The core of the plot of Dead Souls is Chichikov’s adventure. It only seemed incredible, but in fact it was reliable in all the smallest details. Reality itself created the conditions for such adventures. Dead peasants, for whom the landowner had to pay taxes to the treasury, were a burden for him. Naturally, the landowners dreamed of getting rid of dead souls. While these “souls” were a burden to some, others sought to benefit through fraudulent transactions. Pawn them to the Board of Trustees at interest. In this way, it was possible to obtain a cash loan to purchase land and become a landowner. This scam was not invented by Gogol, but taken from life.

e) Composition.

The composition of the poem is unusual. The narrative is structured as the story of Chichikov's adventures. This made it possible to travel with the hero “all the corners and crannies of the Russian province.” Chichikov is at the center of the plot and all events. The images of the landowners are compositionally almost unrelated to each other: they do not communicate with each other, each is revealed mainly in their relationship with Chichikov. Nevertheless, the poem cannot be considered as a cycle of short stories. It is enough to put any chapter out of place, and the composition is shaken.

We get to know city officials more thoroughly after the chapters devoted to landowners. And this process of personality degradation is completed by Chichikov - dexterous, cunning, resourceful; he seemed to Gogol the most terrible. This is the brief meaning of the composition “Dead Souls”.

But “Dead Souls” is not a novel, but a poem or a novel-poem. This is determined both by the composition and the emotional, lyrical tonality of the work. There are no main and minor characters in the ordinary meaning of these words. The character who speaks a few words plays an equally important role in the structure of the work. In Dead Souls, almost every character is a hero who cannot be avoided.

For example, in Chapter 1 we meet two men who begin to talk about whether the wheel of Chichikov’s chaise will reach Moscow or Kazan. They don't care about the newcomer. It won’t make it to Kazan, one reasoned, but perhaps it will make it to Moscow, replies another.

Therefore, the provincial town is located not far from Moscow! But the most important thing is that our hero’s carriage has only just entered the city, and sagacious men are wondering how far it will go from here. The text is filled with similar scenes and characters, and this creates a certain emotional atmosphere.

Let the reader not expect adventurous adventures from the heroes; the stories told will be everyday and ordinary.

Already at the beginning of the poem, we feel Gogol’s ironic smile towards the reader who is waiting for a romantic, mysterious beginning.

The narrative begins without the exposition traditional for Russian prose of the 30s and 40s of the 19th century - businesslike and energetic: we do not know how Chichikov came to the idea of ​​​​buying dead souls, we also do not know his past life (all this is discussed in the last, Chapter 11).

Such a narrative was important for Gogol - most of the characters in the poem are static, which means it was necessary to strengthen the internal dynamics of the plot. (This is the explanation for why the main character's story is given at the end of Volume 1.)

f) The meaning of the title of the poem

The title of the work “Dead Souls” has many meanings. Gogol, as you know, conceived a three-part work by analogy with Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. The first volume is Hell, that is, the abode of dead souls.

Secondly, the plot of the work is connected with this. In the 19th century, dead peasants were called “dead souls.” In the poem, Chichikov buys documents for deceased peasants, and then sells them to the guardianship council. Dead souls were listed as alive in the documents, and Chichikov received a considerable sum for this.

Thirdly, the title emphasizes an acute social problem. The fact is that at that time there were a great many sellers and buyers of dead souls; this was not controlled or punished by the authorities. The treasury was emptying, and enterprising swindlers were making a fortune for themselves. The censorship strongly recommended that Gogol change the title of the poem to “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls,” shifting the emphasis to Chichikov’s personality rather than to an acute social problem.

Perhaps Chichikov’s idea will seem strange to some, but it all comes down to the fact that there is no difference between the dead and the living. Both are for sale. Both dead peasants and landowners who agreed to sell documents for a certain reward. A person completely loses his human outline and becomes a commodity, and his entire essence is reduced to a piece of paper that indicates whether you are alive or not. It turns out that the soul turns out to be mortal, which contradicts the main postulate of Christianity. The world is becoming soulless, devoid of religion and any moral and ethical guidelines. Such a world is described epically. The lyrical component lies in the description of nature and the spiritual world.

3. Conversation to identify the primary perception of the read work.

Which pages of Dead Souls made you laugh, and which made you bitter?

Which of the heroes of Dead Souls seems harmless to you and who is the most terrible?

Who did you sympathize with while reading the poem? What questions did you have while reading?

4. Collective work on compiling the table “Composition of the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

“Composition of the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

V . Reflection. Summing up the lesson

Teacher's summary word

The enormous artistic experience acquired while working on “Evenings...”, “Mirgorod”, “Petersburg Tales” and “The Inspector General” gave N.V. the opportunity. Gogol to create a brilliant poem. In a letter to Pushkin from abroad

VI . Homework.

2. Prepare quotation material for the images of Manilov and Korobochka.

The ideological concept and construction of the poem.

In his “Author's Confession,” Gogol indicates that Pushkin gave him the idea to write “Dead Souls.” “He had been urging me for a long time to begin writing a large work, and finally, once, after I had read one small image of a small scene, but which, however, struck him more than anything else I had read before, he said to me: “How with with this ability to guess a person and with a few features they suddenly make him appear as if he were alive, with this ability not to begin a large essay.

This is just a sin!..”, and, in conclusion, he gave me his own plot, from which he wanted to make something like a poem himself and which, according to him, he would not give to anyone else. This was the plot of “Dead Souls”... Pushkin found that the plot of “Dead Souls” was good for me because it gave me complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and bring out many different characters.”

Gogol followed Pushkin’s advice, quickly got to work and in a letter dated October 7, 1835, informed him: “I began to write Dead Souls.” The plot is spread out over a long novel and, it seems, will be very funny... In this novel I want to show at least from one side the whole of Rus'.”

However, in the process of work, Gogol planned to give not one, but three volumes, in which it would be possible to show Rus' not “from one side,” but comprehensively. The second and third volumes of “Dead Souls” were, according to the author, supposed to bring out positive characters along with the negative ones and show the moral revival of the “scoundrel-acquirer” Chichikov.

Such breadth of the plot and the richness of the work with lyrical passages, allowing the writer to reveal in a variety of ways his attitude to the depicted, inspired Gogol with the idea of ​​calling “Dead Souls” not a novel, but a poem.

But Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls, and he did not begin the third.

The reason for the failure was that Gogol was looking for positive heroes in the world of “dead souls” - representatives of the dominant social strata at that time, and not in the popular, democratic camp.

Belinsky, back in 1842, predicted the inevitability of Gogol’s failure in implementing such a plan. “Much, too much has been promised, so much that there is nowhere to get what to fulfill the promise, because it is not yet in the world,” he wrote.

The chapters of the second volume of Dead Souls that have reached us confirm the validity of Belinsky’s thoughts. In these chapters there are brilliantly written images akin to the landowners of the first volume (Petr Petrovich Petukh, Khlobuev, etc.), but goodies(the virtuous governor-general, the ideal landowner Kostanzhoglo and the tax farmer Murazov, who made over forty million “in the most impeccable way”) are clearly not typical, not vitally convincing.

The idea of ​​“travelling all over Rus' with the hero and bringing out many different characters” predetermined the composition of the poem. It is structured as the story of the adventures of the “acquirer” Chichikov, who buys souls that are actually dead, but legally alive, that is, not crossed out from the audit lists.

Images of officials

The central place in the first volume is occupied by five “portrait” chapters (from the second to the sixth). These chapters, constructed according to the same plan, show how, on the basis of serfdom, different types serf owners and how serfdom in the 20-30s of the 19th century, due to the growth of capitalist forces, it led the landowner class to economic and moral decline. Gogol gives these chapters in a certain order. The economicless landowner Manilov (Chapter II) is replaced by the petty hoarder Korobochka (Chapter III), the careless waster of life Nozdryov (Chapter IV) is replaced by the tight-fisted Sobakevich (Chapter V). This gallery of landowners is completed by Plyushkin, a miser who brought his estate and peasants to complete ruin.

A picture of the economic collapse of corvée, subsistence farming on the estates of Manilov, Nozdryov and Plyushkin, it is drawn vividly and convincingly. But even the seemingly strong farms of Korobochka and Sobakevich are in fact unviable, since such forms of farming have already become obsolete.

The “portrait” chapters present a picture of the moral decline of the landowner class with even greater expressiveness. From an idle dreamer living in the world of his dreams, Manilov to the “club-headed” Korobochka, from her to the reckless spendthrift, liar and cheater Nozdryov, then to the brutalized fist Sobakevich and, finally, to the one who has lost all moral qualities - “a hole in humanity” - Gogol leads us to Plyushkin, showing the increasing moral decline and corruption of representatives

Thus, the poem turns into a brilliant denunciation of serfdom as a socio-economic system that naturally gives rise to cultural and economic backwardness while being the arbiter of the destinies of the state. This ideological orientation of the poem is revealed primarily in the system of its images.

The gallery of portraits of landowners opens with the image of Manilov. “In appearance he was a distinguished man; His facial features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to have too much sugar in it; in his techniques and turns there was something ingratiating favor and acquaintance. He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes.” Previously, he “served in the army, where he was considered the most modest, most delicate and most educated officer.” Living on the estate, he "sometimes comes to the city... to see educated people."

Compared to the inhabitants of the city and estates, he seems to be “a very courteous and courteous landowner,” who bears some imprint of a “semi-enlightened” environment.

However, revealing Manilov’s inner appearance, his character, talking about his attitude to the household and his pastime, drawing Manilov’s reception of Chichikov, Gogol shows the complete emptiness and worthlessness of this “existent”.

The writer emphasizes two main features in Manilov’s character - his worthlessness and sugary, meaningless daydreaming. Manilov had no living interests.

He did not take care of the housekeeping”, entrusting it entirely to the clerk. He could not even tell Chichikov whether his peasants had died since the last inspection. His house “stood alone on the jura, that is, an elevation open to all the winds that might blow.” Instead of the shady garden that usually surrounded the manor’s house, Manilov had only “five or six birches in small clumps here and there raising their small-leafed thin tops,” and nowhere in his village was there “a growing tree or any greenery.”

Manilov’s mismanagement and impracticality is clearly evidenced by the furnishings of the rooms of his house, where next to beautiful furniture stood two armchairs, “covered simply with matting”; “a dandy candlestick made of dark bronze with three antique graces” stood on the table, and next to it was placed “some kind of simple copper invalid, lame, curled to one side and covered in fat.”

It is no wonder that such an “owner” has “a rather empty pantry,” the clerk and housekeeper are thieves, the servants are “unclean and drunkards,” and “the whole household sleeps mercilessly and hangs out the rest of the time.”

The very title of Nikolai Gogol’s famous poem “Dead Souls” already contains the main concept and idea of ​​this work. Judging superficially, the title reveals the content of the scam and Chichikov’s very personality - he was already buying souls dead peasants. But in order to embrace everything philosophical meaning Gogol's ideas, you need to look deeper than the literal interpretation of the title and even what is happening in the poem.

The meaning of the name "Dead Souls"

The title “Dead Souls” contains a much more important and deeper meaning than that expressed by the author in the first volume of the work. It has been said for a long time that Gogol originally planned to write this poem by analogy with Dante’s famous and immortal “Divine Comedy”, and as you know, it consisted of three parts - “Hell”, “Purgatory” and “Paradise”. It was to them that the three volumes of Gogol’s poem should have corresponded.

In the first volume of his most famous poem, the author intended to show the hell of Russian reality, the terrifying and truly terrifying truth about life of that time, and in the second and third volumes - the rise of spiritual culture and life in Russia. To some extent, the title of the work is a symbol of the life of the district town of N., and the city itself is a symbol of the whole of Russia, and thus the author indicates that his home country is in a terrible state, and the saddest and most terrible thing is that this is due to the fact that the souls of people are gradually growing cold, hardening and dying.

The history of the creation of Dead Souls

Nikolai Gogol began writing the poem “Dead Souls” in 1835 and continued to work on it until the end of his life. At the very beginning, the writer most likely singled out for himself the funny side of the novel and created the plot of Dead Souls, both for long piece. There is an opinion that Gogol borrowed the main idea of ​​the poem from A.S. Pushkin, since it was this poet who was first heard true story about “dead souls” in the city of Bendery. Gogol worked on the novel not only in his homeland, but also in Switzerland, Italy and France. The first volume of “Dead Souls” was completed in 1842, and in May it was already published under the title “The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls.”

Subsequently, while working on the novel, Gogol’s original plan expanded significantly, and it was then that the analogy with the three parts of The Divine Comedy appeared. Gogol intended that his heroes go through a kind of circles of hell and purgatory, so that at the end of the poem they would rise spiritually and be reborn. The author never managed to realize his idea; only the first part of the poem was written in full. It is known that Gogol began work on the second volume of the poem in 1840, and by 1845 he already had several options for continuing the poem ready. Unfortunately, it was this year that the author independently destroyed the second volume of the work; he irrevocably burned the second part of “Dead Souls”, being dissatisfied with what he had written. The exact reason for this act of the writer is still unknown. There are draft manuscripts of four chapters of the second volume, which were discovered after Gogol's papers were opened.

Thus, it becomes clear that the central category and at the same time the main idea of ​​Gogol’s poem is the soul, the presence of which makes a person complete and real. This is precisely the main theme of the work, and Gogol tries to point out the value of the soul using the example of soulless and callous heroes who represent a special social class Russia. In his immortal and brilliant work, Gogol simultaneously raises the topic of the crisis in Russia and shows what this is directly related to. The author talks about the fact that the soul is the nature of man, without which there is no meaning in life, without which life becomes dead, and that it is thanks to it that salvation can be found.

The title of N. V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” reflects main idea works. If you take the title of the poem literally, you can see that it contains the essence of Chichikov’s scam: Chichikov bought the souls of dead peasants.

But in fact, the title contains a deeper meaning, reflecting the author's intention of the first volume of Dead Souls. There is an opinion that Gogol intended to create “Dead Souls” by analogy with Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, which consists of three parts: “Hell”, “Purgatory”, “Paradise”. The three volumes conceived by N.V. Gogol had to correspond to them. In the first volume, N.V. Gogol wanted to show the terrible Russian reality, to recreate “hell” modern life, in the second and third volumes - the spiritual rise of Russia.

In himself, N.V. Gogol saw a writer-preacher who, painting a picture of the revival of Russia, leads it out of the crisis. When publishing “Dead Souls” N.V. Gogol himself drew front page. He drew a stroller, which symbolizes Russia's movement forward, and around it there are skulls, which symbolize the dead souls of living people. It was very important for Gogol that the book be published with this title page.

The world of “Dead Souls” is divided into two worlds: the real world, where the main thing is character- Chichikov and the ideal world lyrical digressions, in which main character- N.V. Gogol himself.

Manilov, Sobakevich, Nozdrev, prosecutor - these are typical representatives real world. Throughout the entire poem, their character does not change: for example, “Nozdryov at thirty-five was the same as at eighteen and twenty.” The author constantly emphasizes the callousness and soullessness of his heroes. Sobakevich “had no soul at all, or he had it, but not at all where it should be, but, like the immortal Koshchei, somewhere behind the mountains and covered with such a thick shell that everything that moved at the bottom did not produced absolutely no shock on the surface." All the officials in the city have the same frozen souls without the slightest development. N.V. Gogol describes officials with evil irony.

At first we see that life in the city is in full swing, but in reality it is just meaningless bustle. In the real world of the poem, a dead soul is a common occurrence. For these people, the soul is only what distinguishes a living person from a dead one. After the death of the prosecutor, everyone realized that he “had a real soul” only when all that was left of him was “only a soulless body.”

The title of the poem is a symbol of life in the district town of N. and county town K, in turn, symbolizes all of Russia. N.V. Gogol wants to show that Russia is in crisis, that the souls of people have petrified and died.

In an ideal world, there is a living soul of the narrator, and therefore it is N.V. Gogol who can notice all the baseness of life in a fallen city. In one of the lyrical digressions, the souls of the peasants come to life when Chichikov, reading the list of the dead, resurrects them in his imagination. N.V. Gogol contrasts these living souls of peasant-heroes from the ideal world with real peasants, completely stupid and weak, such as Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai.

In the real world of “Dead Souls” there are only two heroes who have a truly living soul, these are Chichikov and Plyushkin.

Plyushkin's image differs from the images of other residents of the city. In the poem, Gogol singles out the chapter with Plyushkin, it is located exactly in the middle. The chapter begins and ends with lyrical digressions, which has never happened when describing other landowners. This shows that the chapter is really important. You could say this chapter is completely out of the ordinary. general plan. When Chichikov came to other officials for shopping dead shower, everything was the same: Chichikov looked at the house, then bought peasants, had dinner and left. But the chapter with Plyushkin seems to interrupt this monotonous chain. Only one resident of the city, Plyushkin, shows the story of his life, that is, before us is not just a man with a frozen soul, but we see how he reached such a state. Plyushkin's story is the tragedy of his life. Gradually, with each blow of fate, his soul hardened. But did his soul die completely? At the mention of the name of his comrade, “some kind of warm ray slid across Plyushkin’s face, it was not a feeling that was expressed, but some kind of pale reflection of a feeling.” This means that there is something alive left in Plyushkin, that his soul has not frozen, has not ossified at all. Plyushkin’s eyes were also alive. The sixth chapter contains detailed description Plyushkin's garden, overgrown, neglected, but still alive. The garden is a kind of metaphor for Plyushkin’s soul. Only Plyushkin has two churches on his estate. Of all the landowners, only Plyushkin pronounces an accusatory monologue after Chichikov’s departure. All this allows us to conclude that Plyushkin’s soul has not completely petrified.

The second hero of the real world, having living soul, is Chichikov. His name is Paul, and this is the name of the apostle who experienced a spiritual revolution. So Chichikov in the second volume was supposed to become an apostle, revive the souls of people, guide them on the true path. And already in the first volume there is a hint of this. Gogol trusts Chichikov to tell about former heroes and thus, as it were, resurrect the peasants.

The ideal world of “Dead Souls,” which appears to readers in lyrical digressions, is the complete opposite of the real world. In an ideal world there are not and cannot be dead souls, since there are no Manilovs, Sobakevichs, or prosecutors. For the world of lyrical digressions, the soul is immortal, since it is the embodiment of the divine principle of man.

Thus, in the first volume of “Dead Souls” N.V. Gogol depicts everything negative aspects Russian reality. The writer reveals to people that their souls have become dead, and, pointing out the vices of people, thereby brings their souls back to life.

The title of Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" has many meanings. There is no doubt that the poem was influenced by Dante's Divine Comedy. The title "Dead Souls" ideologically echoes the title of the first part of Dante's poem - "Hell".

WITH " dead souls“The plot of the work itself is connected: Chichikov buys up the “souls” of dead peasants in order to, having drawn up a bill of sale, pledge the purchased peasants as living ones to the guardianship council and receive a tidy sum for them.

The social orientation of the work is associated with the concept of “dead soul”. Chichikov's idea is ordinary and fantastic at the same time. It is common because the purchase of peasants was an everyday matter, but fantastic because those who, according to Chichikov, “remained with only one sound that is not tangible with the senses,” are sold and bought.” No one is outraged by this deal; the most distrustful are only slightly surprised. “It has never happened before to sell... dead people. I would have given up the living ones, so I gave two girls to the archpriest for a hundred rubles each,” says Korobochka. In reality, a person becomes a commodity, where paper replaces people.

The content of the concept of “dead soul” is gradually changing. Abakum Dyrov, Stepan Probka, coachman Mikhey and other dead peasants bought by Chichikov are not perceived as “dead souls”: they are shown as bright, original, talented people. This cannot be attributed to their owners, who turn out to be “dead souls” in the true sense of the word.

But “dead souls” are not only landowners and officials: they are “unresponsive dead inhabitants”, terrible “with the motionless coldness of their souls and the barren desert of their hearts.” Any person can turn into Manilov and Sobakevich if “an insignificant passion for something small” grows in him, forcing him “to forget great and holy duties and see great and holy things in insignificant trinkets.” “Nozdryov will not leave the world for a long time. He’s everywhere between us and maybe he’s just wearing a different caftan.” It is no coincidence that the portrait of each landowner is accompanied by a psychological commentary that reveals its universal meaning. In the eleventh chapter, Gogol invites the reader not just to laugh at Chichikov and other characters, but to “deepen this difficult question inside one’s own soul: “Isn’t there some part of Chichikov in me too?” Thus, the title of the poem turns out to be very capacious and multifaceted.

For the “ideal” world, the soul is immortal, for it is the embodiment of the divine principle in man.