Dead Souls, Where main character decided to buy the souls of dead peasants from the landowners, we meet in different ways landowners of that time. There are five of them, and each one’s soul has long since died. It was Plyushkin, the last of the landowners, where Chichikov came for the souls. Plyushkin in the poem Dead Souls we will present in our essay.
Plyushkin, characterization of the hero
Looking at Plyushkin and characterizing him according to plan, we see not only his description, general image, but also his attitude towards the serfs, his family, as well as his attitude towards his estate.
The surname Plyushkin was not chosen by Gogol by chance, because the writer often resorted to symbolic names. Likewise, the surname Plyushkin can be applied to those who are greedy and stingy in life. These people save not for the sake of a good life, but for the sake of saving. They save aimlessly, which is why the lives of such people are aimless. This is exactly what the fifth landowner of the work Plyushkin is with his further characteristics.
So, in Gogol’s work we met Plyushkin, who previously, although he was a rich landowner and an exemplary family man, after the death of his wife his life changed. The children left such a father. For all his wealth, he does not want to help them. Having good savings, Plyushkin does not invest his money in anything. He just saves, and he really likes this process.
When Chichikov sees Plyushkin for the first time, he confuses the owner with the housekeeper. He was so poorly dressed that he could have been confused with a beggar at the church. And here we understand that the scumbag feels sorry for spending his money not only on children, but also on himself. Plyushkin is not worried about the estate, which has long been impoverished and stands dilapidated. He continues to save and is happy with everything.
Plyushkin is constantly making himself poor. Despite the stock being plentiful and disappearing, he says he doesn't have enough food. And then we see his greed again, because he does not give out a single crumb from his warehouses to the serfs.
Speaking about his attitude towards serfs, he is very cruel. His serfs, like himself, are dressed like beggars, always hungry and skinny. Despite their hard work, he calls them lazy and accuses them of stealing, although they never took even a crumb without the master’s permission.
Plan
1. The history of writing the poem “Dead Souls”.
2. The main task that N.V. set for himself. Gogol when writing a poem.
3. Stepan Plyushkin as one of the representatives of the landowner class.
4. Appearance, life and morals of Stepan Plyushkin.
5. The reasons for the moral decay of the hero.
6. Conclusion.
The famous poem by N.V. Gogol's "" was written in 1835. It was during this period that such a direction as realism gained particular popularity in literature, the main goal of which was a truthful and reliable depiction of reality through generalization typical features person, society and life in general.
Throughout creative path was interested in the inner world of man, his development and formation. His main task When writing the poem “Dead Souls,” the writer made it possible to comprehensively show the negative features of the landowner class. A striking example A similar generalization is the image of Stepan Plyushkin.
Plyushkin does not appear in the poem right away, this last landowner, whom Chichikov visits during his travels. However, for the first time, Chichikov learns brief reviews about his way of life and character in passing while communicating with Nozdryov and Sobakevich. As it turned out, Stepan Plyushkin is a landowner who is already over sixty, the owner of a large estate and more than a thousand serfs. The hero is distinguished by his particular stinginess, greed and mania for accumulation, but even such an unpleasant characteristic did not stop Chichikov and he decided to get to know him.
Meets the hero on his estate, which was in decline and devastation. Was no exception main house: all the rooms in it were locked, except for two, in one of them the hero lived. It seemed that in this room Plyushkin put away everything that caught his eye, any little thing that he later did not use anyway: these were broken things, broken dishes, small pieces of paper, in a word - junk that no one needed.
Plyushkin's appearance was as unkempt as his house. It was clear that the clothes had long since fallen into disrepair, and the hero himself looked clearly older than his years. But it wasn’t always like this... Until recently, Stepan Plyushkin lived a measured, calm life, surrounded by his wife and children on his native estate. Everything changed overnight... Suddenly the wife dies, the daughter marries an officer and runs away from her home, the son goes to serve in the regiment. Loneliness, melancholy and despair took possession of this man. Everything that seemed to support his world collapsed. The hero lost heart, but the last straw was the death of his outlet - his youngest daughter. Life was divided into “before” and “after”. If quite recently Plyushkin lived only for the well-being of his family, now he sees his main goal only in the senseless filling of warehouses, barns, rooms of the house, in the moral annihilation of himself... he is going crazy. The stinginess and greed that developed every day finally broke the thin and previously strained thread of relations with the children, who were ultimately deprived of his blessing and financial support. This reveals the hero’s special cruelty towards loved ones. Plyushkin loses human face. It is no coincidence that in the first minutes of meeting the hero, Chichikov sees in front of him a sexless creature, which he mistakes for an elderly woman - the housekeeper. And only after several minutes of reflection, he realizes that in front of him is still a man.
But why exactly is this so: moral exhaustion, a ruined estate, a mania for hoarding? Perhaps, by doing so, the hero was only trying to fill his inner world, his emotional devastation, but this initial passion over time grew into a destructive addiction, which at the root, from the inside, eliminated the hero. But he just lacked love, friendship, compassion and simple human happiness...
Now it is impossible to say with complete confidence what the hero would be like if he had a beloved family, the opportunity to communicate with children and loved ones, because Stepana Plyushkina N.V. Gogol portrayed exactly this: a hero who “lives an aimless life, vegetates,” being, in the words of the author of the poem, “a hole in humanity.” However, in spite of everything, in the hero’s soul there still remained those human feelings that were unknown to the other landowners whom Chichikov visited. Firstly, there is a feeling of gratitude. Plyushkin is the only one of the heroes who considered it correct to express gratitude to Chichikov for the purchase of “dead souls”. Secondly, he is no stranger to a reverent attitude towards the past and towards the life that he now so lacked: what inner inspiration ran across his face at the mere mention of his old friend! All this suggests that the flame of life has not yet gone out in the hero’s soul, it is there and it is glowing!
Stepan Plyushkin certainly evokes pity. It is this image that makes you think about how important it is to have loved ones in your life who will always be there: both in moments of joy and in moments of sadness, who will support, lend a hand and stay close. But at the same time, it is important to remember that in any situation you must remain human and not lose your moral character! You need to live, since life is given to everyone, in order to leave behind a memorable mark!
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The image of Plyushkin from Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” is described in a manner unusual for the author - basically, Gogol widely uses elements of humor to characterize his characters. There is no humor left for Plyushkin - a realistic description of a stingy landowner and the consequences of his activities - this is what Nikolai Vasilyevich offers.
Symbolism of the surname
Gogol did not neglect symbolism in his works. Very often the names and surnames of the heroes of his works are symbolic. By contrasting the characteristics of the hero or synonymy, they help reveal certain characteristics of the character.
Basically, revealing symbolism does not require specific knowledge - the answer always lies on the surface. The same trend is observed in the case of Plyushkin.
The word “Plyushkin” means a person distinguished by extraordinary stinginess and greed. The goal of his life becomes the accumulation of a certain wealth (both in the form of finances and in the form of products or raw materials) without a specific goal.
In other words, he saves for the sake of saving. The accumulated goods, as a rule, are not sold anywhere and are used with minimum consumption.
This designation fully corresponds to Plyushkin’s description.
Appearance and condition of the suit
Plyushkin is endowed with effeminate features in the poem. He has an oblong and excessive thin face. Plyushkin did not have distinctive facial features. Nikolai Vasilyevich claims that his face was not much different from the faces of other old men with emaciated faces.
Distinctive feature Plyushkin's appearance had an excessively long chin. The landowner had to cover it with a handkerchief to avoid being spat on. The image was complemented by small eyes. They had not yet lost their liveliness and looked like small animals. Plyushkin never shaved; his growing beard did not look the most attractive and resembled a horse comb.
Plyushkin had no teeth.
Plyushkin's suit wants to look better. To be honest, it is impossible to call his clothes a suit - they have such a worn and strange look that they resemble the rags of a tramp. Usually Plyushkin is dressed in an incomprehensible dress, similar to a woman's hood. His hat was also borrowed from a woman’s wardrobe - it was a classic cap of courtyard women.
The condition of the suit was simply terrible. When Chichikov saw Plyushkin for the first time, he could not determine his gender for a long time - Plyushkin by his behavior and appearance very much like a housekeeper. After the identity of the strange housekeeper was established, Chichikov came to the conclusion that Plyushkin did not look like a landowner at all - if he were near the church, he could easily be mistaken for a beggar.
Plyushkin's family and his past
Plyushkin was not always such a person; when he was young, his appearance and character were completely different from those of today.
Several years ago Plyushkin was not alone. He was a man living quite happily in marriage. His wife definitely had a positive influence on the landowner. After the birth of children, Plyushkin’s life also changed pleasantly, but this did not last long - soon his wife died, leaving Plyushkin with three children - two girls and a boy.
Plyushkin had a hard time coping with the loss of his wife, it was difficult for him to cope with the blues, so he moved more and more away from his usual rhythm of life.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”.
A picky and quarrelsome character contributed to the final discord - the eldest daughter and son left their father’s house without their father’s blessing. The youngest daughter died some time later. The eldest daughter, despite her father’s difficult character, tries to maintain a relationship with him and even brings his children to stay with him. Contact with my son was lost long ago. The old man does not know how his fate turned out and whether he is alive.
Personality characteristics
Plyushkin is a man of difficult character. It is likely that certain inclinations for the development of certain qualities were laid down in him earlier, but under the influence family life and personal well-being, they did not acquire such a characteristic appearance.
Plyushkin was overcome by anxiety - his care and concern had long gone beyond the acceptable limit and became some kind of obsessive thought. After the death of his wife and daughter, he finally became hardened in soul - the concepts of sympathy and love for his neighbors are alien to him.
This tendency is observed not only in relation to people who are strangers in terms of kinship, but also to close relatives.
The landowner leads a solitary life, he hardly communicates with his neighbors, he has no friends. Plyushkin likes to spend time alone, he is seduced by the ascetic way of life, the arrival of guests is associated with something unpleasant for him. He doesn’t understand why people visit each other and considers it a waste of time - many useful things can be done during this time period.
It is impossible to find anyone who wants to make friends with Plyushkin - everyone shuns the eccentric old man.
Plyushkin lives without a specific goal in life. Because of his stinginess and pettiness, he was able to accumulate significant capital, but does not plan to somehow use the accumulated money and raw materials - Plyushkin likes the process of accumulation itself.
Despite significant financial reserves, Plyushkin lives very poorly - he regrets spending money not only on his family and friends, but also on himself - his clothes have long since turned into rags, the house is leaky, but Plyushkin sees no point in improving anything - his and so everything suits me.
Plyushkin loves to complain and be poor. It seems to him that he doesn’t have enough of everything - he doesn’t have enough food, there’s too little land, and he can’t even find an extra tuft of hay on the farm. In reality, everything is different - its food reserves are so large that they become unusable right in the storage facilities.
The second thing in life that brings pleasure to Plyushkin’s life is quarrels and scandals - he is always dissatisfied with something and likes to express his dissatisfaction in the most unsightly form. Plyushkin is too picky and impossible to please.
Plyushkin himself does not notice his shortcomings; he believes that in fact everyone treats him with bias and cannot appreciate his kindness and care.
Plyushkin's estate
No matter how much Plyushkin complained about his busyness with the estate, it is worth admitting that as a landowner Plyushkin was not the best and most talented.
His large estate is not much different from an abandoned place. The gates and the fence along the garden were extremely thin - in some places the fence had collapsed, and no one was in a hurry to fill the holes that had formed.
On the territory of his village were there before two churches, but now they are in disrepair.
Plyushkin's house is in terrible condition - it probably hasn't been renovated for many years. From the street, the house looked uninhabited - the windows in the estate were boarded up, only a few could be opened. Mold appeared in some places and the tree was overgrown with moss.
The inside of the house doesn't look any better - it's always dark and cold. The only room into which natural light penetrates is Plyushkin’s room.
The whole house is like a garbage dump - Plyushkin never throws anything away. He thinks that these things may still be useful to him.
In Plyushkin's office there is also chaos and disorder. There is a broken chair here that can no longer be repaired, a clock that doesn’t work. There is a dump in the corner of the room - it is difficult to make out what is in the pile. What stands out from the general heap is the sole from old shoes and a broken shovel handle.
It seemed like the rooms had never been cleaned - there were cobwebs and dust everywhere. There was also no order on Plyushkin's desk - papers lay mixed with garbage there.
Attitude towards serfs
Plyushkin is in possession of big number serfs - about 1000 people. Of course, caring for and adjusting the work of so many people requires certain strength and skills. However, there is no need to talk about the positive achievements of Plyushkin’s activities.
Plyushkin treats his peasants unkindly and cruelly. They are not much different in appearance from their owner - their clothes are torn, their houses are dilapidated, and the people themselves are immensely skinny and hungry. From time to time, one of Plyushkin’s serfs decides to escape, because the life of a fugitive becomes more attractive than that of the serf Plyushkin. Plyushkin sells Chichikov about 200 “dead souls” - this is the number of people who died and serfs who escaped from him over several years. Compared with " dead souls"The rest of the landowners, the number of peasants sold to Chichikov looks terrifying.
We invite you to read the story “The Overcoat” by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.
Peasant houses look even worse than a landowner's estate. In the village it is impossible to find a single house with a whole roof - rain and snow freely penetrate into the home. There are no windows in the houses either - the holes in the windows are filled with rags or old clothes.
Plyushkin speaks extremely disapprovingly of his serfs - in his eyes they are lazy and slackers, but in fact this is slander - Plyushkin's serfs work hard and honestly. They sow grain, grind flour, dry fish, make fabrics, and make various household items from wood, in particular dishes.
According to Plyushkin, his serfs are the most thieving and inept - they do everything somehow, without diligence, and, moreover, they constantly rob their master. In fact, everything is not so: Plyushkin intimidated his peasants so much that they are ready to die from cold and hunger, but will not take anything from storage facilities his landowner.
Thus, the image of Plyushkin embodied the qualities of a greedy and stingy person. Plyushkin is incapable of feeling affection for people or at least sympathy - he is absolutely hostile to everyone. He considers himself a good master, but in reality this is self-deception. Plyushkin does not care about his serfs, he starves them, undeservedly accuses them of theft and laziness.
Characteristics of Plyushkin in the poem “Dead Souls”: description of appearance and character
4.2 (84%) 10 votesCharacteristics of Plyushkin: hero poems are dead souls.
Gallery of landowners presented in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls" ends with the image of Plyushkin. In the scene of meeting Chichikov, the character of the hero is revealed in all its artistic fullness.
The poem reveals such traits of the hero as grumpiness, stinginess, lack of spirituality, suspicion and distrust. He calls the dead peasants “parasites” and grumbles at Mavra, confident that she is deceiving the master. Plyushkin suspects Mavra that she “tampered” his paper. When it turns out that his suspicions are in vain, he begins to grumble, dissatisfied with the rebuff that Mavra gave him. Gogol also emphasizes Plyushkin’s stinginess here. Having found the paper, in order to save money, he asks for a “splinter” instead of a tallow candle. And, having started to write, he scribbles “sparingly line upon line,” regretting that “there will still be a lot of blank space left.” The hero's stinginess acquired hypertrophied features and led his entire house into desolation and chaos. In Plyushkin’s house everything is covered with dust, in his inkwell there is “mouldy liquid and a lot of flies at the bottom.”
Using portrait details, the author reveals to the reader the lack of spirituality of his hero. In passing, Gogol gives us a brief portrait sketch of Plyushkin. We see how “some kind of warm ray”, “a pale reflection of feeling” suddenly flashed on his wooden face. Using an extended comparison, the author here compares this phenomenon with the appearance of a drowning person on the surface of the waters. But the impression remains immediate. Following this, Plyushkin’s face becomes “even more insensitive and even more vulgar.” Here the hero’s lack of spirituality and lack of living life are emphasized. And at the same time, the “pale reflection of feeling” on his face is probably a potential opportunity for spiritual rebirth. It is known that Plyushkin is the only landowner who, together with Chichikov, was supposed to become a character in the third volume of the poem, according to Gogol’s plan. And it’s not for nothing that the author gives us a biography of this hero, and in this passage he notes that Plyushkin had friends at school.
The hero's speech is typical. It is dominated by abusive expressions (“thief”, “fraudster”, “robber”). Plyushkin's intonations contain threats; he is grumpy, irritated, and emotional. His speech contains exclamatory sentences.
Thus, in the poem the character of the hero appears multifaceted, potentially interesting for readers and the author. Gogol's Plyushkin completes the gallery of Russian landowners opened by Manilov. And this order also, according to critics, has a certain meaning. Some researchers believe that the hero represents the last degree of moral decline, while others, analyzing Gogol’s plan (a poem in three volumes), say that the most soulless, “dead” character in the work is Manilov. Plyushkin is a man* capable of moral rebirth. And in this regard we can talk about great importance this scene in the development of the entire author's plan.
Work:
Dead Souls
Stepan Plyushkin is the last “seller” of dead souls. This hero personifies complete mortification human soul. In the image of P., the author shows the death of a bright and strong personality, consumed by the passion of stinginess.
The description of P.'s estate (“he does not grow rich according to God”) depicts the desolation and “cluttering” of the hero’s soul. The entrance is dilapidated, there is a special disrepair everywhere, the roofs are like a sieve, the windows are covered with rags. Everything here is lifeless - even the two churches, which should be the soul of the estate.
P.’s estate seems to be falling apart into details and fragments; even the house - in some places one floor, in others two. This indicates the collapse of the owner’s consciousness, who forgot about the main thing and focused on the tertiary. He no longer knows what is going on in his household, but he strictly monitors the level of liquor in his decanter.
Portrait of P. (either a woman or a man; a long chin covered with a scarf so as not to spit; small, not yet extinguished eyes, running around like mice; a greasy robe; a rag on his neck instead of a scarf) speaks of the hero’s complete “fallout” from the image of a rich landowner and from life in general.
P. has, the only one of all the landowners, quite detailed biography. Before the death of his wife, P. was a zealous and wealthy owner. He carefully raised his children. But with the death of his beloved wife, something broke in him: he became more suspicious and stingier. After troubles with the children (my son lost at cards, eldest daughter ran away, and the youngest died) P.’s soul finally became hardened - “a wolfish hunger of stinginess took possession of him.” But, oddly enough, greed did not take control of the hero’s heart to the last limit. Having sold Chichikov is dead souls, P. wonders who could help him draw up a bill of sale in the city. He remembers that the Chairman was his schoolmate. This memory suddenly revives the hero: “... on this wooden face... expressed... a pale reflection of feeling.” But this is only a momentary glimpse of life, although the author believes that P. is capable of rebirth. At the end of the chapter about P. Gogol describes a twilight landscape in which shadow and light are “completely mixed” - just like in P.’s unfortunate soul.
Chichikov's visit to Plyushkin.
After Sobakevich, Chichikov goes to Plyushkin. The dilapidation and poverty of the estate immediately catches his eye. Despite the fact that the village was large and 800 peasants lived in it, Ch. notes that all the houses were old and rickety, people lived in terrible poverty.
The house was also not very beautiful. Perhaps it used to be a beautiful and rich building, but years passed, no one looked after it, and it fell into complete disrepair.
The owner only used a few rooms, the rest were locked. All but two windows were closed or covered with newspaper. Both the house and the estate fell into complete disrepair.
In the interior, Ch. notices huge piles of rubbish. The owner is so greedy that he picks up every item, and sometimes goes so far as to steal items from his peasants, even ones he doesn’t need at all. All the furniture was old and dilapidated, like the house itself. Unsightly paintings hung on the walls. It was clear that the owner had not bought anything new for a long time.
Plyushkin's appearance was so poor and unkempt that Ch. at first mistook him for the housekeeper. His clothes were very worn, his face seemed to never be able to express any feelings. Ch. says that if he had seen him at the temple, he would certainly have taken him for a beggar. He is surprised and at first cannot believe that this man has 800 souls.
The story told by the author helps us understand P-n’s personality. Gogol writes that earlier P-n was a good and thrifty owner. But his wife died, the children moved away, and he was left alone. The most characteristic P-na is stinginess and greed. He is sincerely glad when he learns about the purchase of Ch-vym’s souls, because he understands that it is very profitable for him. His face even “reflects a faint semblance of feeling.”
PLYUSHKIN is a character in the poem by N.V. Gogol’s “Dead Souls” (first volume, 1842, under the title “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls”; second, volume 1842-1845).
Literary sources of the image of P. are images of misers from Plautus, J.-B. Molière, Shylock W. Shakespeare, Gobsek O. Balzac, Baron A.S. Pushkin, also, obviously, Prince Ramirsky from D.N. Begichev’s novel “Family” Kholmsky", Melmoth the Elder from C.R. Methurin's novel "Melmoth the Wanderer", Baron Baldwin Furenhoff from I.I. Lazhechnikov's novel "The Last Newcomer". The life prototype of P.’s image was probably the historian M.M. Pogodin. Gogol began writing a chapter about P. in the house of Pogodin, famous for his stinginess, near Moscow; Pogodin’s house was surrounded by a garden, which served as a prototype for P.’s garden (cf. A. Fet’s memoirs: “in Pogodin’s office there was unimaginable chaos. Here all kinds of ancient books lay in piles on the floor, not to mention hundreds of manuscripts with works begun, the places of which, as well as banknotes hidden in various books were known only to Pogodin.”) Gogol’s predecessor of P. is the image of Petromikhali (“Portrait”). P.'s surname is a paradoxical metaphor in which self-denial is embedded: the bun - a symbol of contentment, a joyful feast, cheerful excess - is contrasted with P.'s gloomy, decrepit, insensitive, joyless existence. The image of a moldy cracker left over from the Easter cake brought by P.'s daughter is identical to the metaphorical meaning his last name. P.’s portrait is created with the help of hyperbolic details: P. appears as a sexless creature, more like a woman (“The dress she was wearing was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman’s hood, there was a cap on her head...”), Chichikov takes P. for the housekeeper, since she has on her belt P. has the keys, and he scolds the man with “rather obscene words”; “the little eyes had not yet gone out and were running like mice”; “One chin only protruded very far forward, so that he had to cover it with a handkerchief every time so as not to spit.” On the greasy and oily robe, “instead of two, there were four flaps dangling” (a comic doubling characteristic of Gogol); the back, stained with flour, “with a large hole lower down.” The fictitious image (hole, hole) becomes a common noun for the universal human type of miser: P. - “a hole in humanity.” Object world around P. indicates rottenness, decay, dying, decline. Korobochka's thriftiness and Sobakevich's practical prudence in P. turns into the opposite - “into rot and a hole” (“luggage and stacks turned into pure manure, flour into stone; cloth and linens turned into dust). P.'s economy still maintains a grandiose scale: huge storerooms, barns, drying linens, cloth, sheepskins, dried fish, and vegetables. However, the bread rots in the storerooms, green mold covers the fences and gates, the log pavement moves “like piano keys”, dilapidated all around peasant huts , where “many roofs leak like a sieve,” two rural churches were empty. P.’s house is an analogue of the medieval castle of the miser from a Gothic novel (“This strange castle looked like some kind of decrepit invalid…”); it is full of cracks, all the windows, except for the two “low-blind” windows behind which P. lives, are boarded up. The symbol of P.’s “heroic” stinginess, acquisitiveness taken to the extreme limit, is a giant castle in an iron loop on the main gate of P.’s house. The image of P.’s garden, through which the chisel of nature passed, making it a beautiful garden, contrasts with the image of the “decrepit castle "(hell) and is a prototype of P.'s appeal - Gogol's thought to resurrect P. from the dead in the 3rd volume of the poem, hinting at the “Garden of Eden.” On the other hand, in the description of P.’s garden there are metaphors with elements of P.’s real portrait (“thick stubble” of the “gray-haired chapyzhnik”), and “the neglected area of the garden acts as a kind of emblem of a person who left his “spiritual economy” without care, according to Gogol” (E. Smirnova). The deepening of the garden, “yawning like a dark mouth,” also reminds of hell for those whose soul dies alive, which happens to P. From a zealous, exemplary owner, whose mills, fulling mills moved at a measured pace, cloth factories, carpenters worked looms, spinning mills,” P. transforms into a spider. At first, P. is a “hardworking spider”, busily running “at all ends of his economic web,” he is famous for his hospitality and wisdom, his pretty daughters and son, a broken boy who kisses everyone. (Compare with Nozdryov; symbolically Nozdryov is P.’s son, throwing his wealth to the wind.) After the death of his wife, the eldest daughter runs away with the headquarters captain - P. sends her a curse; P. refuses funds to his son, who became a military man and violated the will of his father, and also curses him; buyers, unable to bargain with P., stop buying goods from him. P.'s "spider" essence is evolving. P.’s things are deteriorating, time stops, eternal chaos freezes in P.’s rooms: “It seemed as if the floors were being washed in the house and all the furniture had been piled here for a while. On one table there was even a broken chair, and next to it a clock with a stopped pendulum, to which the spider had already attached a web.” The concrete metonymy of the image of P., separated from him, like a soul from a dead body, is a worn cap on the table. Objects shrink, dry out, turn yellow: a lemon “no bigger than a hazelnut,” two feathers, “dried up, as if in consumption,” “a toothpick, completely yellowed, with which the owner, perhaps, picked his teeth even before the French invaded Moscow.” . A dusty heap in the corner, where P. drags all sorts of rubbish: a piece of wood he found, an old sole, an iron nail, a clay shard, a bucket stolen from a gaping woman - symbolizes the complete degradation of everything human.” In contrast to Pushkin's Baron, P. is depicted not surrounded by piles of chervonets, but against the background of decay that destroyed his wealth. “P.’s stinginess is like the other side of his falling away from people...” (E. Smirnova). Mental capacity P. also declines, reduced to suspicion, insignificant pettiness: he considers the servants to be thieves and swindlers; compiling a list of “dead souls” on a quarter sheet of paper, he laments that it is impossible to separate another eighth, “sparingly molding line after line.” Delighted with Chichikov’s stupidity, P. remembers the hospitality and offers Chichikov a decanter of liqueur “in the dust, like in a sweatshirt” and a cracker from the Easter cake, from which he first orders the mold to be scraped off and the crumbs taken to the chicken coop. P.'s bureau, where he buries Chichikov's money, symbolizes the coffin where, in the depths of inert matter, his soul is buried, a spiritual treasure that died from money-grubbing (cf. the Gospel parable about a talent buried in the ground). Outstanding performers of the role of P. in dramatizations and film adaptations of the poem are L.M. Leonidov (MKhAT, 1932) and I.M. Smoktunovsky (1984). Incident artistic destiny This image was due to the fact that in R.K. Shchedrin’s opera “Dead Souls” (1977), P.’s part was intended for a singer (mezzo-soprano).