“Dead Souls” is the pinnacle of Gogol’s creativity, and at the same time his last word as an artist. Gogol worked on his poem for seventeen years (from 1835 to 1852). Initially conceived, according to contemporaries, as a predominantly comic work, the poem, gradually deepening, turned into a broad accusatory picture of serfdom. RF.
Moving with Chichikov from landowner to landowner, the reader seems to sink deeper and deeper into the “stunning mud” of vulgarity, pettiness, and depravity. The negative traits gradually thicken, and the gallery of landowners, beginning with the comic Manilov, is concluded by Plyushkin, who is not so much funny as disgusting.
The main subject of the image for Gogol was the noblewoman RF, but in the depths of the picture - in Chichikov’s reflections on the list of fugitives and in the author’s digressions - the people’s Rus' appeared, full of daring and courage, with “sweeping” words and “sweeping” will.
The theme of the people is one of the central themes of the poem. In addressing this topic, Gogol departs from the traditional approach and identifies two aspects in its understanding. On the one hand, this is an ironic and sometimes satirical depiction of the life of a people, and a real people at that. Gogol emphasizes the stupidity, ignorance, laziness, and drunkenness characteristic of the Russian peasant. On the other hand, this is an image of the deep foundations of the Russian character. Gogol notes the inexhaustible diligence of the Russian peasant, intelligence and ingenuity, and heroic strength. The Russian man is a jack of all trades. And it is no coincidence that Gogol draws attention to the rebellious qualities of serfs - this proves that an uncontrollable desire for freedom lives in Russian people. It is also noteworthy that the dead peasants appear before us as living people, because after death their deeds remained.
Images of serfs occupy a significant place in “Dead Souls”. Some of them run through the entire work, while others are mentioned by the author only in connection with individual events and scenes. The footman Petrushka and the coachman Selifan, Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai, Proshka and the girl Pelageya, who “doesn’t know where the right is and where the left” are depicted in a humorous way. The spiritual world of these downtrodden people is narrow. Their actions cause bitter laughter. Drunk Selifan makes lengthy speeches addressed to the horses. Petrushka, reading books, watches how some words are formed from individual letters, not at all interested in the content of what he read: “If they turned him up to chemistry, he wouldn’t refuse it either.” The clueless Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai cannot separate horses that are entangled in the lines.
XIX century - truly the century of the heyday of Russian classical literature, the century that gave birth to such titans as Pushkin and Lermontov, Turgenev and Dostoevsky... This list can be continued further, but we will focus on the name of the great Russian writer - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, a writer, according to V . G. Belinsky, who continued the development of Russian literary thought after the death of A. S. Pushkin.
Gogol, who dreamed of creating a work “in which all of Rus' would appear,” realized his intention by writing the poem “Dead Souls.”
The title of the work, at first glance, means Chichikov’s scam - the purchase of such a human soul; they are evil, greedy, careless, corrupt.
And serfs, on the contrary, are alive, even if we are talking about dead (in the physical, biological sense) people. They are the best representatives of the Russian people, they personify the truth, the people's truth, because... they all come from the people.
To confirm our thought, let us turn to the text of “Dead Souls”.
In many chapters of the poem, a description of the peasants is given (from the very beginning, where the men standing at the tavern discuss “whether this wheel will get to Moscow... or not”), but the most vivid images of the serfs are presented in the fifth chapter, during the bargaining between Chichikov and Sobakevich.
Sobakevich, wanting to exact the highest price for his “soul,” talks about dead peasants: “... For example, coachmaker Mikheev! After all, he never made any other carriages except spring ones. And it’s not like Moscow work happens, that on one part is so strong, it will cover it and cover it with varnish!”
And he is not alone - he is followed by a whole series of bright, real, living images: Cork Stepan, a carpenter, a man of enormous strength, Milushkin, a brickmaker who “could put a stove in any house,” Maxim Telyatnikov, a shoemaker, Eremey Sorokoplekhin, who brought "a quitrent of five hundred rubles."
This list continues in the seventh chapter, when Chichikov examines the notes of Plyushkin and Sobakevich: “When he [Chichikov] then looked at these leaves, at the men who, for sure, were once men, worked, plowed, drank, drove, deceived the bar , or maybe they were simply good men, then some strange feeling, incomprehensible to him, took possession of him, as if each of the notes had some special character, and through this it was as if the men themselves received their own character.. "
It was as if the men came to life, thanks to the details: “Only Fedotov wrote: “the father is unknown”..., another - “a good carpenter”, a third - “he understands the business and does not take drunken drinks”, etc.
Even on Chichikov they had a softening effect: “he was touched in spirit and, sighing, said: “My fathers, how many of you are crammed here!”
Running through the names and surnames, Chichikov involuntarily imagined them alive, or rather, they themselves were “resurrected” thanks to their reality and “liveness.” And then a string of truly popular characters ran before the reader’s eyes: Pyotr Savelyev Don’t-respect-the-trough, Grigory You-don’t-get-there, Eremey Karyakin, Nikita Volokita, Abakum Fyrov and many, many others.
Chichikov reflected on their fate: how he lived, how he died (“Eh, the Russian people! They don’t like to die their own death!... Did you have a bad time at Plyushkin’s or did you just, of your own volition, walk through the forests and beat up passers-by?... ")
Even in this fragment one can hear the people's melancholy, the people's longing for freedom, the downtroddenness, the doom of the Russian peasant to bondage or running and robbery.
In lyrical digressions, Gogol creates an image of a truly living people's soul. The author admires the daring, generosity, talent and intelligence of the Russian people.
We shouldn’t forget about Selifan and Petrushka, Chichikov’s servants: the fragments of the poem where they are present are imbued with deep sympathy along with the point: this is Selifan’s “conversation” with the horses, lovingly nicknamed Assessor and Bay, and a joint visit to the tavern and sleep after drinking, and much more. They also embarked on the path of death, because... they serve the master, lie to him and are not averse to drinking,
Peasants whose lot is poverty, hunger, overwork, disease; and landowners using serfdom - this is the reality of the mid-19th century.
It is worth mentioning the author’s admiration not only for the characters of the people, but also for the liveliness and brightness of the words of ordinary people. Gogol lovingly says that the “three bird” flying across the vast expanses of the Russian land “could only have been born among a lively people.” The image of the “Russian troika”, which acquires symbolic meaning, is inextricably linked by the author with the images of the “efficient Yaroslavl peasant”, who with one ax and a chisel made a strong carriage, and the coachman, perched “on God knows what” and dashingly driving the troika. After all, it is only thanks to such people that Rus' rushes forward, striking the beholder of this miracle. It is Russia, like the “irresistible troika”, forcing “other peoples and states” to give it way, and not the Russia of the Manilovs, Sobakeviches and Plyushkins that is Gogol’s ideal.
Showing the truly valuable qualities of the soul through the example of ordinary people, Gogol appeals to readers to preserve “all-human movements” from their youth.
In general, “Dead Souls” is a work about the contrast and unpredictability of Russian reality (the very name of the poem is an oxymoron). The work contains both a reproach to people and admiration for Russia. Gogol wrote about this in Chapter XI of Dead Souls. The writer claims that along with “dead people” in Russia there is a place for heroes, because every title, every position requires heroism. The Russian people, “full of the creative abilities of the soul,” have a heroic mission.
However, this mission, according to Gogol, in the times described in the poem is practically impossible, since there is a possibility of manifestation of heroism, but the morally shattered Russian people do not see them behind something superficial and unimportant. This is the plot insert of the poem about Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich. However, the author believes that if the people open their eyes to their omissions, to their “dead souls,” then Russia will finally fulfill its heroic mission. And this Renaissance must begin with the common people.
Thus, Gogol shows in the poem “Dead Souls” unforgettable images of the simple Russian serf peasantry, forgotten, but spiritually alive, gifted and talented.
Other writers will continue Gogol’s tradition in describing the people: Leskov, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Nekrasov, Tolstoy and others.
And, despite the ugliness of reality and the peasantry, Gogol believes in the revival of the Russian nation, in the spiritual unity of the country, which stretches for many miles. And the basis of this revival is people who come from the people, pure and bright images, contrasted in “Dead Souls” with the callousness and fossilization of the bureaucratic-landlord machine of Tsarist Russia, based on backward serfdom.
N.V. Gogol constantly sends the reader to the images of those who create everything in Rus': hemp, houses, ponds. The images of peasants in “Dead Souls” stand behind the majestic fantastic bird troika. It owes its origin to the skillful hands of craftsmen from the people.
Sarcasm and sympathy
The words of the great classic about the people reveal different moods. The author laughs and cries. He feels sorry and offended for those who have become dull and savage from their miserable existence. Gogol shows the result of slavery. A person loses what is given to him by nature and turns into a doll without thoughts and life. Such characters include the following representatives of the peasantry:
- Uncle Mityai;
- Girl Pelageya;
- Proshka;
- Mavra.
There is sarcasm in the lines about each of these characters. Pelageya does not know the directions (right, left), Plyushkin’s serfs (Mavra and Proshka) are terribly beaten down. The same attitude towards the men serving the main character. Parsley once loved to read and connect letters into words. Now he is a degenerate drunkard, a lazy man and a slob.
Sympathy always stands next to sarcasm. Selivan talks with animals, in them he found true friends who are able to listen and support.
There are scenes that combine humor with sarcasm. They, according to some literary scholars, expose the “idiocy” of the peasants. The most striking of these scenes is the meeting of two crews. The men could not share Chichikov's chaise, which collided with the governor's daughter. Pavel Ivanovich manages to immerse himself in dreams and thoughts about a woman, while stupid peasants push the carriages in different directions.
Dead but alive
The author's description of the scenes of trading of dead souls is puzzling. The stupid serfs on the estates begin to look worse and funnier than the deceased craftsmen offered as a commodity. What characteristics are selected by landowners - sellers for those who served them faithfully:
- Carpenter Stepan. 3 arshins in height, heroic strength. He could have been given the highest rank in the guard. Stepan dies, falling from the bell tower.
- Carriage master Micah. His spring carriages were beautiful and durable. The beauty of the work performed, according to the author, is extraordinary.
- Shoemaker Maxim. The peasant learned the skill from a German. He failed to maintain his craft. He started using rotten raw materials, drank it and died.
- Furnace master Milushkin. The stove maker could install the stove in any room, firmly and soundly.
Some peasants in the poem “Dead Souls” do not have exact information about their profession, but their labor brought the landowners a good rent. Eremey Sorokoplekhin, for example, 500 rubles. Behind each is talent, health and hard work.
Gogol sympathizes with the common people, who contain such a mass of lazy people.
Lists of men
Chichikov studies the lists of serfs he acquired from the landowners of the provincial town. Leaves covered with letters come to life. Folk characters appear before your eyes. They work hard, then drink while sitting in taverns. The Rus-troika rushes past them. The horse-drawn wagon was made by “an efficient Yaroslavl man.” He worked with an ax and a chisel, but the crew turned out to be breathtaking. The drivers drive in such a way that it is unclear what they are sitting on. There is so much spirit in the serfs who rush across Rus', not afraid of the night, nor the wind, nor the cold. They are not asked when and where to take the owner, they clearly carry out their assignments, turning those who lead them into soulless, cruel people.
XIX century - truly the century of the heyday of Russian classical literature, the century that gave birth to such titans as Pushkin and Lermontov, Turgenev and Dostoevsky... This list can be continued further, but we will focus on the name of the great Russian writer - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, a writer, according to V.G. . Belinsky, who continued the development of Russian literary thought after the death of A. S. Pushkin.
Gogol, who dreamed of creating a work “in which all of Rus' would appear,” realized his intention by writing the poem “Dead Souls.”
The title of the work, at first glance, means Chichikov’s scam - the purchase of such a human soul; they are evil, greedy, careless, corrupt.
And serfs, on the contrary, are alive, even if we are talking about dead (in the physical, biological sense) people. They are the best representatives of the Russian people, they personify the truth, the people's truth, because... they all come from the people.
To confirm our thought, let us turn to the text of “Dead Souls”.
In many chapters of the poem, a description of the peasants is given (from the very beginning, where the men standing at the tavern discuss “will this wheel get to Moscow... this wheel... or not”), but the most vivid images of the serfs are presented in the fifth chapter, during the bargaining between Chichikov and Sobakevich .
Sobakevich, wanting to exact the highest price for his “soul,” talks about dead peasants: “... For example, the carriage maker Mikheev! After all, he never made any other carriages other than spring ones. And it’s not like Moscow work happens, that one part “It’s so durable, it’ll cut itself and cover it with varnish!”
And he is not alone - he is followed by a whole series of bright, real, living images: Cork Stepan, a carpenter, a man of enormous strength, Milushkin, a brickmaker who “could put a stove in any house,” Maxim Telyatnikov, a shoemaker, Eremey Sorokoplekhin, who brought “A quitrent of five hundred rubles.”
This list continues in the seventh chapter, when Chichikov examines the notes of Plyushkin and Sobakevich: “When he [Chichikov] then looked at these leaves, at the men who, for sure, were once men, worked, plowed, drank, drove, cheated the bar , or maybe they were simply good men, then some strange feeling, incomprehensible to him, took possession of him. Each of the notes seemed to have some special character. And through this, it was as if the men themselves received their own character...”
It was as if the men came to life, thanks to the details: “Only Fedotov wrote: “father is unknown”..., another - “a good carpenter”, a third - “he understands the business and does not take drunken drinks”, etc.
They even had a softening effect on Chichikov: “he was touched in spirit and... sighing, he said: “My fathers, how many of you are crammed here!”
Running through the names and surnames, Chichikov involuntarily imagined them alive, or rather, they themselves were “resurrected” thanks to their reality and “liveness.” And then a string of truly popular characters ran before the reader’s eyes: Pyotr Savelyev Don’t-respect-the-trough, Grigory You-don’t-get-there, Eremey Karyakin, Nikita Volokita, Abakum Fyrov and many, many others.
Chichikov reflected on their fate: how he lived, how he died (“Eh, the Russian people! They don’t like to die their own death!.. Did you have a bad time at Plyushkin’s or do you just, of your own accord, walk through the forests and kill passers-by?..." )
Even in this fragment one can hear the people's melancholy, the people's longing for freedom, the downtroddenness, the doom of the Russian peasant to bondage or running and robbery.
In lyrical digressions, Gogol creates an image of a truly living people's soul. The author admires the daring, generosity, talent and intelligence of the Russian people.
We shouldn’t forget about Selifan and Petrushka, Chichikov’s servants: the fragments of the poem where they are present are imbued with deep sympathy along with the point: this is Selifan’s “conversation” with the horses, lovingly nicknamed Assessor and Bay, and a joint visit to the tavern and sleep after drinking, and much more. They also embarked on the path of death, because... they serve the master, lie to him and are not averse to drinking,
Peasants whose lot is poverty, hunger, overwork, disease; and landowners using serfdom - this is the reality of the mid-19th century.
It is worth mentioning the author’s admiration not only for the characters of the people, but also for the liveliness and brightness of the words of ordinary people. Gogol lovingly says that the “three bird” flying across the vast expanses of the Russian land “could only be born to a lively people.” The image of the “Russian troika”, which acquires symbolic meaning, is inextricably linked by the author with the images of the “efficient Yaroslavl peasant”, who with one ax and a chisel made a strong carriage, and the coachman, who perched himself “on God knows what” and dashingly driving the troika. After all, it is only thanks to such people that Rus' rushes forward, striking the beholder of this miracle. It is Russia, like the “irresistible troika”, forcing “other peoples and states” to give it way, and not the Russia of the Manilovs, Sobakeviches and Plyushkins that is Gogol’s ideal.
Showing the truly valuable qualities of the soul through the example of ordinary people, Gogol appeals to readers to preserve “all-human movements” from their youth.
In general, “Dead Souls” is a work about the contrast and unpredictability of Russian reality (the very name of the poem is an oxymoron). The work contains both a reproach to people and admiration for Russia. Gogol wrote about this in Chapter XI of Dead Souls. The writer claims that along with “dead people” in Russia there is a place for heroes, because every title, every position requires heroism. The Russian people, “full of the creative abilities of the soul,” have a heroic mission.
However, this mission, according to Gogol, in the times described in the poem is practically impossible, since there is a possibility of manifestation of heroism, but the morally shattered Russian people do not see them behind something superficial and unimportant. This is the plot insert of the poem about Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich. However, the author believes that if the people open their eyes to their omissions, to their “dead souls,” then Russia will finally fulfill its heroic mission. And this Renaissance must begin with the common people.
Thus, Gogol shows in the poem “Dead Souls” unforgettable images of the simple Russian serf peasantry, forgotten, but spiritually alive, gifted and talented.
Other writers will continue Gogol’s tradition in describing the people: Leskov, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Nekrasov, Tolstoy and others.
And, despite the ugliness of reality and the peasantry, Gogol believes in the revival of the Russian nation, in the spiritual unity of the country, which stretches for many miles. And the basis of this revival is people who come from the people, pure and bright images, contrasted in “Dead Souls” with the callousness and fossilization of the bureaucratic-landlord machine of Tsarist Russia, based on backward serfdom.
CHICHIKOV
Genre originality of the poem
CHATSKY AND REPETILOV
The original title of the comedy was “Woe to Wit.” In the language of Griboedov, Pushkin, and the Decembrists, “mind is free-thinking, independence of judgment, free-thinking.”
“The fate of smart people, my dear, is to spend most of their lives with fools, and what an abyss of them we have!” - Griboyedov wrote to Begichev. The comedy shows the clash of the “present century” and the “past century.” The comedy reflected not only the life and customs of Moscow and “the times of Ochakov and the conquest of the Crimea,” but also the movement of progressive noble thought. The image of Chatsky shows the idea of an active creative mind and free human feeling. Chatsky’s love of freedom was formed under the same conditions as those of the Decembrists. After a long absence, Chatsky returns to Moscow and comes to Famusov’s house. He finds that everything and everyone here has changed. He changed too. Smart and educated, able to love, witty and eloquent, honest and active. The hero finds himself in the “Famus society”, where veneration, careerism, flattery, stupidity, idle talk, and arrogance reign. Chatsky did not want to obey the laws of this society and paid for it. He was declared crazy. But Chatsky is a strong personality. He is “a man of action, only such a person can become a real winner, even if he is the only “warrior in the field”... Yes, Famus society is afraid of Chatsky: after all, he burst into the silence of society like a whirlwind; with wild joy, loud and uncontrollable laughter, and passionate indignation, he disrupted their existence. And although Chatsky is powerless now, I believe that his time will come. We perceive Chatsky as a hero, despite the fact that he leaves both Famusov’s house and Moscow.
The complete opposite of Chatsky is Repetilov. The “soul” of noble society, a jester, a gossip, a windbag, who, in order to keep up with fashion, wormed his way into the circle of some pseudo-liberal talkers. He appears at Famusov's when the ball ends and the guests begin to leave. Repetilov “runs from the porch, falls as fast as he can and hastily recovers.” The meeting with Chatsky made him happy. Repetilov understands that he is “pathetic, ridiculous, ignorant, fool.” However, like many young people, he signed up for the “most secret union.” But when Chatsky asked what they were doing, Repetilov said: “We’re making noise, brother, we’re making noise.” The matter has not yet matured, but there are the smartest people around. Repetilov creates the appearance of activity, but all of it is meaningless and empty. And although he was the only one who doubted Chatsky’s madness, he chickened out in front of everyone, covered his ears and stepped aside. He is not a hero, he is the appearance of a hero, a parody of a hero. Repetilov wants to be the center of attention, but his words and deeds are worthless. And the proof of this is his last words: “Where should we direct the path now... Take us somewhere.”
Chatsky speaks out in the play against the “past century” and its ideas: against the permissiveness of the feudal landowners, who can, at their whim, separate the children of peasants from their parents, exchange serfs for greyhounds; against the immorality of the Moscow nobility, which was accustomed to evaluate people by rank and money. Moreover, Chatsky stands alone against this numerous camp. He is convinced that money and position in society cannot be measures of human personality. Chatsky believes that honor and dignity should be the main values in a noble society. He expresses his views fearlessly, but is forced out of this environment, slandered, called crazy. The Chatskys' time has not yet come. But he found himself alone only in Famusov’s house. Outside of it, Chatsky has like-minded people, and the victory of the “present century” will come later, but certainly.
In order to more fully and from all sides reflect the features of the historical period presented in the comedy, Griboedov introduces Repetilov into the play “Woe from Wit”. This hero appears on stage in the last act, but he significantly expands the reader’s already existing understanding of the political situation in Russia at that time. Repetilov is a caricatured double of Chatsky, who is only able to repeat his words, but cannot comprehend them. Repetilov’s task is to gain weight in aristocratic society. Chatsky’s task is to expose and correct this society.
CHICHIKOV
The poem “Dead Souls” occupies a special place in Gogol’s work. The writer considered this work to be the main work of his life, the spiritual testament of Pushkin, who suggested to him the basis of the plot. In the poem, the author reflected the way of life and morals of different layers of society - peasants, landowners, officials. The images in the poem, according to the author, “are not at all portraits of insignificant people; on the contrary, they contain the features of those who consider themselves better than others.” The poem shows landowners, owners of serf souls, “masters” of life, in close-up. Gogol consistently, from hero to hero, reveals their characters and shows the insignificance of their existence. Starting with Manilov and ending with Plyushkin, the author intensifies his satire and exposes the criminal world of landowner-bureaucratic Russia.
The main character of the work, Chichikov, remains a mystery to everyone until the last chapter of the first volume: both for officials of the city of N and for readers. The author reveals the inner world of Pavel Ivanovich in scenes of his meetings with landowners. Gogol draws attention to the fact that Chichikov is constantly changing and almost copies the behavior of his interlocutors. Talking about Chichikov’s meeting with Korobochka, Gogol says that in Russia a person talks differently to the owners of two hundred, three hundred, five hundred souls: “... even if you reach a million, there will be all shades.”
Chichikov has studied people well, knows how to find a benefit in any situation, and always says what they would like to hear from him. So, with Manilov, Chichikov is pompous, amiable and flattering. He talks to Korobochka without any special ceremony, and his vocabulary is in tune with the style of the hostess. Communication with the arrogant liar Nozdryov is not easy, since Pavel Ivanovich does not tolerate familiar treatment, “...unless the person is of too high a rank.” However, hoping for a profitable deal, he does not leave Nozdryov’s estate until the last moment and tries to become like him: he addresses himself as “you,” adopts a boorish tone, and behaves familiarly. The image of Sobakevich, personifying the thoroughness of a landowner's life, immediately prompts Pavel Ivanovich to conduct as thorough a conversation as possible about dead souls. Chichikov manages to win over the “hole in the human body” - Plyushkin, who has long lost contact with the outside world and forgotten the norms of politeness. To do this, it was enough for him to play the role of a “motishka”, ready, at a loss to himself, to save a casual acquaintance from the need to pay taxes for dead peasants.
It is not difficult for Chichikov to change his appearance, because he has all the qualities that form the basis of the characters of the depicted landowners. This is confirmed by the episodes in the poem where Chichikov is left alone with himself and does not need to adapt to those around him. While examining the city of N, Pavel Ivanovich “teared off a poster nailed to a post so that when he came home, he could read it thoroughly,” and after reading it, “he folded it neatly and put it in his little chest, where he used to put everything he came across.” This is reminiscent of the habits of Plyushkin, who collected and stored various kinds of rags and toothpicks. The colorlessness and uncertainty that accompany Chichikov until the last pages of the first volume of the poem make him similar to Manilov. That is why officials of the provincial city are making ridiculous guesses, trying to establish the true identity of the hero. Chichikova's love for neatly and pedantically arranging everything in his little chest brings him closer to Korobochka. Nozdryov notices that Chichikov looks like Sobakevich. All this suggests that in the character of the main character, as in a mirror, the traits of all landowners were reflected: Manilov’s love for meaningless conversations and “noble” gestures, and Korobochka’s pettiness, and Nozdryov’s narcissism, and Sobakevich’s rudeness, and Plyushkin’s hoarding.
And at the same time, Chichikov differs sharply from the landowners shown in the first chapters of the poem. He has a different psychology than Manilov, Sobakevich, Nozdryov and other landowners. He is characterized by extraordinary energy, business acumen, and determination, although morally he does not rise at all above the owners of serf souls. Many years of bureaucratic activity left a noticeable imprint on his demeanor and speech. Evidence of this is the warm welcome given to him in the provincial “high society”. Among officials and landowners, he is a new person, an acquirer who will replace the Manilovs, Nozdrevs, Sobakeviches and Plyushkins.
Chichikov's soul, just like the souls of landowners and officials, became dead. The “brilliant joy of life” is inaccessible to him; he is almost completely devoid of human feelings. In order to achieve his practical goals, he pacified his blood, which “played strongly.”
Gogol sought to understand the psychological nature of Chichikov as a new phenomenon, and for this, in the last chapter of the poem he talks about his life. Chichikov's biography explains the formation of the character revealed in the poem. The hero's childhood was dull and joyless, without friends and maternal affection, with constant reproaches from his sick father, and could not but affect his future fate. His father left him an inheritance of half a copper and a covenant to study diligently, please teachers and bosses, and, most importantly, save a penny. Pavlusha learned his father’s instructions well and directed all his energy towards achieving his cherished goal - wealth. He quickly realized that all lofty concepts only interfere with the achievement of his goal, and began to make his own way. At first, he acted childishly straightforwardly - he pleased the teacher in every possible way and thanks to this he became his favorite. As he grew up, he realized that you can find a special approach to each person, and began to achieve more significant success. Promising to marry the daughter of his boss, he received a position as a military officer. While serving at customs, he managed to convince his superiors of his integrity, and later established contacts with smugglers and made a huge fortune. All of Chichikov’s brilliant victories ultimately ended in failure, but no failures could break his thirst for profit.
However, the author notes that in Chichikov, unlike Plyushkin, “there was no attachment to money for the sake of money, he was not possessed by miserliness and stinginess. No, it was not they who moved him - he imagined life ahead in all its pleasures, so that finally later, over time, he would certainly taste all this, that’s why the penny was saved.” Gogol notes that the main character of the poem is the only character capable of manifesting the movements of the soul. “Apparently the Chichikovs also turn into poets for a few minutes,” says the author, when his hero stops “as if stunned by a blow” in front of the governor’s young daughter. And it was precisely this “human” movement of the soul that led to the failure of his promising venture. According to the author, sincerity, sincerity and selflessness are the most dangerous qualities in a world where cynicism, lies and profit reign. The fact that Gogol transferred his hero to the second volume of the poem suggests that he believed in his spiritual revival. In the second volume of the poem, the writer planned to spiritually “cleanse” Chichikov and put him on the path of spiritual resurrection. The resurrection of the “hero of the time,” according to him, was supposed to be the beginning of the resurrection of the entire society. But, unfortunately, the second volume of “Dead Souls” was burned, and the third was not written, so we can only guess how Chichikov’s moral revival took place.
Images of peasants in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"
In the poem “Dead Souls” Gogol managed to depict Rus' in all its greatness, but at the same time with all its vices. In creating the work, the writer sought to understand the character of the Russian people, with whom he pinned hopes for a better future for Russia. There are many characters in the poem - various types of Russian landowners living idly in their noble estates, provincial officials, bribe-takers and thieves who have concentrated state power in their hands. Following Chichikov on his journey from one landowner's estate to another, the reader is presented with bleak pictures of the life of the serf peasantry.
The landowners treat the peasants as their slaves and dispose of them as if they were things. Plyushkin's yard boy, thirteen-year-old Proshka, always hungry, who only hears from the master: “stupid as a log,” “fool,” “thief,” “mug,” “here I am with a birch broom for your taste.” “Perhaps I’ll give you a girl,” Korobochka says to Chichikov, “she knows the way, just watch!” Don’t bring it, the merchants have already brought one from me.” The owners of the serf souls saw in the peasants only working cattle, suppressed their living soul, and deprived them of the opportunity for development. Over the course of many centuries of serfdom, such traits as drunkenness, insignificance and darkness formed in the Russian people. This is evidenced by the images of the stupid Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai, who cannot separate the horses that are entangled in the lines, the image of the yard girl Pelageya, who does not know where the right is and where the left is, the conversation of two men discussing whether the wheel will reach the Moscow or to Kazan. This is also evidenced by the image of the coachman Selifan, who drunkenly makes lengthy speeches addressed to the horses. But the author does not blame the peasants, but gently ironizes and laughs good-naturedly at them.
Gogol does not idealize the peasants, but makes the reader think about the strength of the people and their darkness. Such characters evoke both laughter and sadness at the same time. These are Chichikov’s servants, the girl Korobochka, the men encountered along the way, as well as the “dead souls” bought by Chichikov that come to life in his imagination. The author’s laughter evokes the “noble impulse for enlightenment” of Chichikov’s servant Petrushka, who is attracted not by the content of the books, but by the reading process itself. According to Gogol, he didn’t care what to read: the adventures of a hero in love, an ABC book, a prayer book, or chemistry.
When Chichikov reflects on the list of peasants he bought, a picture of the life and backbreaking labor of the people, their patience and courage is revealed to us. Copying the acquired “dead souls,” Chichikov imagines their earthly life in his imagination: “My fathers, how many of you are crammed here! What have you, my dear ones, done in your lifetime?” These peasants who died or were oppressed by serfdom are hardworking and talented. The glory of the wonderful carriage maker Mikheev is alive in people's memory even after his death. Even Sobakevich says with involuntary respect that that glorious master “should only work for the sovereign.” Brickmaker Milushkin “could install a stove in any house,” Maxim Telyatnikov sewed beautiful boots. Ingenuity and resourcefulness are emphasized in the image of Eremey Sorokoplekhin, who “traded in Moscow, bringing in one rent for five hundred rubles.”
The author speaks with love and admiration about the hardworking Russian people, about talented craftsmen, about the “efficient Yaroslavl peasant” who brought together the Russian troika, about the “lively people”, “the lively Russian mind”, and with pain in his heart he talks about their destinies. Shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov, who wanted to get his own house and little shop, becomes an alcoholic. The death of Grigory You Can't Get There, who out of melancholy turned into a tavern, and then straight into an ice hole, is absurd and senseless. Unforgettable is the image of Abakum Fyrov, who fell in love with a free life, attached to barge haulers. The fate of Plyushkin's fugitive serfs, who are doomed to spend the rest of their lives on the run, is bitter and humiliating. “Oh, Russian people! He doesn’t like to die his own death!” - Chichikov argues. But the “dead souls” he bought appear before the reader more alive than the landowners and officials who live in conditions that deaden the human soul, in a world of vulgarity and injustice. Against the backdrop of the dead-heartedness of landowners and officials, the lively and lively Russian mind, the people's prowess, and the broad scope of the soul stand out especially clearly. It is these qualities, according to Gogol, that are the basis of the national Russian character.
Gogol sees the mighty power of the people, suppressed, but not killed by serfdom. It is manifested in his ability not to lose heart under any circumstances, in festivities with songs and round dances, in which folk prowess and the scope of the Russian soul are manifested in full. It is also manifested in the talent of Mikheev, Stepan Probka, Milushkin, in the hard work and energy of the Russian person. “Russian people are capable of anything and get used to any climate. Send him to Kamchatka, just give him warm mittens, he claps his hands, an ax in his hands, and goes to cut himself a new hut,” say officials, discussing the resettlement of Chichikov’s peasants to the Kherson province.
By depicting pictures of people's life, Gogol makes readers feel that the suppressed and humiliated Russian people are suppressed, but not broken. The protest of the peasantry against the oppressors is expressed both in the revolt of the peasants of the village of Vshivaya-arrogance and the village of Borovka, who wiped out the zemstvo police in the person of assessor Drobyazhkin, and in an apt Russian word. When Chichikov asked the man he met about Plyushkin, he rewarded this master with the surprisingly accurate word “patched.” “The Russian people are expressing themselves strongly!” - exclaims Gogol, saying that there is no word in other languages, “which would be so sweeping, lively, so bursting out from under the very heart, so seething and vibrant, like a well-spoken Russian word.”
Seeing the difficult life of the peasants, full of poverty and deprivation, Gogol could not help but notice the growing indignation of the people and understood that his patience was not limitless. The writer fervently believed that the life of the people should change; he believed that hardworking and talented people deserve a better life. He hoped that the future of Russia did not belong to the landowners and “knights of a penny,” but to the great Russian people, who harbored unprecedented opportunities, and that is why he ridiculed the contemporary Russia of “dead souls.” It is no coincidence that the poem ends with the symbolic image of a three-bird. It contains the result of many years of Gogol’s thoughts about the fate of Russia, the present and future of its people. After all, it is the people who oppose the world of officials, landowners, and businessmen, like a living soul against a dead one.
Genre originality of the poem
The concept of the work was extremely complex. It did not fit into the framework of generally accepted genres in the literature of that time and required a rethinking of views on life, on Rus', on people. It was necessary to find new ways to express the idea artistically. The usual framework of genres for the embodiment of the author’s thoughts was cramped, because N.V. Gogol was looking for new forms for plotting and developing the plot.
At the beginning of work on the work in letters to N.V. Gogol often uses the word “novel”. In 1836, Gogol writes: “... the thing that I am sitting and working on now, and which I have been thinking about for a long time, and which I will think about for a long time, is not like either a story or a novel, it is long, long...” And nevertheless, subsequently the idea of his new work N.V. Gogol decided to embody it in the genre of poems. The writer's contemporaries were puzzled by his decision, since at that time, in the literature of the 19th century, poems written in poetic form enjoyed great success. The main focus of it was on a strong and proud personality who, in the conditions of modern society, faced a tragic fate.
Gogol's decision had a deeper meaning. Having conceived of creating a collective image of his homeland, he was able to highlight the properties inherent in different genres and harmoniously combine them under one definition of “poem”. “Dead Souls” contains features of a picaresque novel, a lyric poem, a socio-psychological novel, a story, and a satirical work. At first impression, “Dead Souls” is more of a novel. This is evidenced by the system of vividly and detailed characters. But Leo Tolstoy, having familiarized himself with the work, said: “Take Gogol’s Dead Souls. What is this? Neither a novel nor a story. Something completely original."
The poem is based on a narrative about Russian life, in the center of attention is the personality of Russia, covered from all sides. Chichikov, the hero of Dead Souls, is an unremarkable person, and it was precisely such a person, according to Gogol, who was the hero of his time, an acquirer who managed to vulgarize everything, even the very idea of evil. Chichikov's travels throughout Rus' turned out to be the most convenient form for the design of artistic material. This form is original and interesting mainly because it is not only Chichikov who travels in the work, whose adventures are the connecting element of the plot. The author travels around Russia with his hero. He meets with representatives of various social strata and, combining them into one whole, creates a rich gallery of character portraits.
Sketches of road landscapes, travel scenes, various historical, geographical and other information help Gogol present to the reader a complete picture of Russian life in those years. Taking Chichikov along Russian roads, the author shows the reader a huge range of Russian life in all its manifestations: landowners, officials, peasants, estates, taverns, nature and much more. Exploring the particular, Gogol draws conclusions about the whole, paints a terrible picture of the morals of contemporary Russia and, most importantly, explores the soul of the people.
The life of Russia at that time, the reality familiar to the writer, is depicted in the poem from the “satirical side,” which was new and unusual for Russian literature of the 19th century. And therefore, starting with the genre of the traditional adventure novel, N.V. Gogol, following an increasingly expanding plan, goes beyond the scope of the novel, the traditional story, and the poem, and as a result creates a large-scale lyric-epic work. The epic beginning in it is represented by the adventures of Chichikov and is connected with the plot. The lyrical principle, the presence of which becomes more and more significant as events unfold, is expressed in the author’s lyrical digressions. Overall, “Dead Souls” is a large-scale epic work that will amaze readers for a long time with its depth of analysis of Russian character and surprisingly accurate prediction of the future of Russia.