Reaction to Chichikov's proposals. “The theme of “dead souls” in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” Manilov’s attitude towards the sale of souls

In this article we will describe the image of landowners created by Gogol in the poem “Dead Souls”. The table we have compiled will help you remember the information. We will sequentially talk about the five heroes presented by the author in this work.

The image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol is briefly described in the following table.

landowner	Characteristic	Attitude towards asking for a sale dead souls
Manilov	Vulgar and empty. For two years, a book with a bookmark on one page has been lying in his office. His speech is sweet and cloying.	I was surprised. He thinks that this is illegal, but he cannot refuse such a pleasant person. Gives it to peasants for free. At the same time, he does not know how many souls he has.
Box	She knows the value of money, is practical and economical. Stingy, stupid, club-headed, hoarding landowner.	He wants to know what Chichikov’s souls are for. The number of deaths is known exactly (18 people). He looks at dead souls as if they were hemp or lard: they might come in handy on the farm.
Nozdryov	He is considered a good friend, but is always ready to play a trick on his friend. Kutila, card player, "broken fellow." When talking, he constantly jumps from subject to subject and uses swear words.	It would seem that it was easiest for Chichikov to get them from this landowner, but he was the only one who left him with nothing.
Sobakevich	Uncouth, clumsy, rude, unable to express feelings. A tough, evil serf owner who never misses a profit.	The smartest of all landowners. He immediately saw through the guest and made a deal to his advantage.
Plyushkin	Once upon a time he had a family, children, and he himself was a thrifty owner. But the death of the mistress turned this man into a miser. He became, like many widowers, stingy and suspicious.	I was amazed and delighted by his offer, since there would be income. He agreed to sell the souls for 30 kopecks (78 souls in total).

Gogol's portrayal of landowners

In the works of Nikolai Vasilyevich, one of the main themes is the landowner class in Russia, as well as the ruling class (nobility), its role in the life of society and its fate.

The main method used by Gogol to portray various characters is satire. The process of gradual degeneration of the landowner class was reflected in the heroes created by his pen. Nikolai Vasilyevich reveals shortcomings and vices. Gogol's satire is colored by irony, which helped this writer speak directly about what was impossible to talk about openly under censorship conditions. At the same time, Nikolai Vasilyevich’s laughter seems good-natured to us, but he does not spare anyone. Each phrase has a subtext, a hidden, deep meaning. Irony is generally a characteristic element of Gogol's satire. It is present not only in the speech of the author himself, but also in the speech of the heroes.

Irony is one of the essential features of Gogol’s poetics; it adds greater realism to the narrative and becomes a means of analyzing the surrounding reality.

Compositional structure of the poem

The images of landowners in the poem, the largest work of this author, are presented in the most multifaceted and complete way. It is constructed as the story of the adventures of the official Chichikov, who buys up “dead souls.” The composition of the poem allowed the author to tell about different villages and the owners living in them. Almost half of the first volume (five out of eleven chapters) is devoted to the characteristics of different types of landowners in Russia. Nikolai Vasilyevich created five portraits that are not similar to each other, but each of them at the same time contains features that are typical of a Russian serf owner. Acquaintance with them begins with Manilov and ends with Plyushkin. This construction is not accidental. There is a logic to this sequence: the process of impoverishment of a person’s personality deepens from one image to another, it increasingly unfolds as a terrible picture of the collapse of serf society.

Meeting Manilov

Manilov - representing the image of landowners in the poem "Dead Souls". The table only briefly describes it. Let us introduce you closer to this hero. The character of Manilov, which is described in the first chapter, is already manifested in the surname itself. The story about this hero begins with an image of the village of Manilovka, which is capable of “luring” few people with its location. The author describes with irony the master's courtyard, created as an imitation with a pond, bushes and the inscription “Temple of Solitary Reflection.” External details help the writer create the image of the landowners in the poem "Dead Souls".

Manilov: character of the hero

The author, speaking about Manilov, exclaims that only God knows what kind of character this man had. By nature he is kind, courteous, polite, but all this takes on ugly, exaggerated forms in his image. sentimental and beautiful to the point of cloying. The relationships between people seem festive and idyllic to him. Various relationships, in general, are one of the details that create the image of the landowners in the poem “Dead Souls”. Manilov did not know life at all; reality was replaced by empty fantasy. This hero loved to dream and reflect, sometimes even about things useful to the peasants. However, his ideas were far from the needs of life. He did not know about the real needs of the serfs and never even thought about them. Manilov considers himself a bearer of culture. He was considered the most educated man in the army. Nikolai Vasilyevich speaks ironically about the house of this landowner, in which there was always “something missing,” as well as about his sugary relationship with his wife.

Chichikov's conversation with Manilov about buying dead souls

In an episode of a conversation about buying dead souls, Manilov is compared to an overly smart minister. Gogol's irony here intrudes, as if accidentally, into a forbidden area. Such a comparison means that the minister is not so different from Manilov, and “Manilovism” is a typical phenomenon of the vulgar bureaucratic world.

Box

Let us describe another image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls”. The table has already briefly introduced you to Korobochka. We learn about her in the third chapter of the poem. Gogol classifies this heroine as one of the small landowners who complain about losses and crop failures and always keep their heads somewhat to one side, while collecting money little by little into bags placed in the chest of drawers. This money is obtained by selling the most different products subsistence farming. Korobochka's interests and horizons are completely focused on her estate. Her entire life and economy are patriarchal in nature.

How did Korobochka react to Chichikov’s proposal?

The landowner realized that trading in dead souls was profitable, and after much persuasion she agreed to sell them. The author, describing the image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” (Korobochka and other heroes), is ironic. For a long time, the “club-headed” one cannot figure out what exactly is required of her, which infuriates Chichikov. After that, she bargains with him for a long time, afraid of making a mistake.

Nozdryov

In the image of Nozdryov in the fifth chapter, Gogol depicts a completely different form of decomposition of the nobility. This hero is a man of what is called a “jack of all trades.” In his very face there was something daring, direct, open. He is also characterized by a “breadth of nature.” According to the ironic remark of Nikolai Vasilyevich, Nozdryov is a “historical man”, since not a single meeting that he managed to attend was ever complete without stories. He loses a lot of money at cards with a light heart, beats a simpleton at a fair and immediately “squanders everything.” This hero is an utter liar and a reckless braggart, a true master of “casting bullets.” He behaves defiantly everywhere, if not aggressively. This character’s speech is replete with swear words, and he has a passion for “spoiling his neighbor.” Gogol created in Russian literature a new socio-psychological type of the so-called Nozdrevism. In many ways, the image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” is innovative. A brief image of the following heroes is described below.

Sobakevich

The author’s satire in the image of Sobakevich, whom we meet in the fifth chapter, takes on a more accusatory character. This character bears little resemblance to previous landowners. This is a tight-fisted, cunning tradesman, a “kulak landowner.” He is alien to the violent extravagance of Nozdryov, the dreamy complacency of Manilov, as well as the hoarding of Korobochka. Sobakevich has an iron grip, he is taciturn, he is on his own mind. There are few people who could deceive him. Everything about this landowner is strong and durable. In all the everyday objects surrounding him, Gogol finds a reflection of the character traits of this person. Everything surprisingly resembles the hero himself in his house. Each thing, as the author notes, seemed to say that she was “also Sobakevich.”

Nikolai Vasilyevich portrays a figure that amazes with its rudeness. This man seemed to Chichikov to look like a bear. Sobakevich is a cynic who is not ashamed of moral ugliness in others or in himself. He is far from enlightened. This is a die-hard serf owner who only cares about his own peasants. It is interesting that, except for this hero, no one understood the true essence of the “scoundrel” Chichikov, but Sobakevich perfectly understood the essence of the proposal, reflecting the spirit of the times: everything can be sold and bought, the maximum benefit should be obtained. This is the generalized image of the landowners in the poem of the work, however, it is not limited to the depiction of only these characters. We present to you the next landowner.

Plyushkin

The sixth chapter is dedicated to Plyushkin. On it, the characteristics of the landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” are completed. The name of this hero has become a household word, denoting moral degradation and stinginess. This image is the last degree of degeneration of the landowner class. Gogol begins his acquaintance with the character, as usual, with a description of the estate and village of the landowner. At the same time, a “particular disrepair” was noticeable on all buildings. Nikolai Vasilyevich describes a picture of the ruin of a once rich serf owner. Its cause is not idleness and extravagance, but the painful stinginess of the owner. Gogol calls this landowner “a hole in humanity.” Its very appearance is characteristic - it is a sexless creature resembling a housekeeper. This character no longer causes laughter, only bitter disappointment.

Conclusion

The image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” (the table is presented above) is revealed by the author in many ways. The five characters that Gogol created in the work depict the diverse state of this class. Plyushkin, Sobakevich, Nozdrev, Korobochka, Manilov - different shapes one phenomenon - spiritual, social and economic decline. The characteristics of landowners in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" prove this.

When starting to work on the poem “Dead Souls,” Gogol set himself the goal of “showing at least one side of all of Rus'.” The poem is based on a plot about the adventures of Chichikov, an official who buys “dead souls.” This composition allowed the author to talk about various landowners and their villages, which Chichikov visits in order to complete his deal. According to Gogol, heroes follow us, “one more vulgar than the other.” We get to know each of the landowners only during the time (usually no more than one day) that Chichikov spends with him. But Gogol chooses such a method of depiction, based on a combination of typical features with individual characteristics, which allows us to get an idea not only of one of the characters, but also of the whole layer of Russian landowners embodied in this hero.

A very important role is assigned to Chichikov. To achieve his goal - buying “dead souls” - an adventurer-swindler cannot limit himself to a superficial look at people: he needs to know all the subtleties of the psychological appearance of the landowner with whom he is about to conclude a very strange deal. After all, the landowner can give consent to it only if Chichikov manages to persuade him by pressing the necessary levers. In each case they will be different, since the people with whom Chichikov has to deal are different. And in each chapter Chichikov himself changes somewhat, trying to somehow resemble the given landowner: in his manner of behavior, speech, and expressed ideas. This is a sure way to win over a person, force him to agree not only to a strange, but, in fact, a criminal deal, and therefore to become an accomplice in the crime. That is why Chichikov is trying so hard to hide his true motives, providing each of the landowners, as an explanation of the reasons for his interest in “dead souls,” with what this particular person can understand most clearly.

Thus, Chichikov in the poem is not just a swindler, his role is more important: the author needs him as a powerful tool in order to test other characters, show their essence hidden from prying eyes, and reveal their main features. This is exactly what we see in Chapter 2, dedicated to Chichikov’s visit to the village of Manilov. The image of all landowners is based on the same microplot. His “spring” is the actions of Chichikov, the buyer of “dead souls”. The indispensable participants in each of five such microplots are two characters: Chichikov and the landowner to whom he comes, in this case it is Chichikov and Manilov.

In each of the five chapters dedicated to landowners, the author constructs the story as a sequential change of episodes: entry into the estate, meeting, refreshment, Chichikov’s offer to sell him “dead souls,” departure. These are not ordinary plot episodes: it is not the events themselves that are of interest to the author, but the opportunity to show the objective world surrounding the landowners, in which the personality of each of them is most fully reflected; not only to provide information about the content of the conversation between Chichikov and the landowner, but to show in the manner of communication of each of the characters what carries both typical and individual features.

The scene of the purchase and sale of “dead souls”, which I will analyze, occupies a central place in the chapters about each of the landowners. Before this, the reader, together with Chichikov, can already form a certain idea of ​​​​the landowner with whom the swindler is talking. It is on the basis of this impression that Chichikov builds a conversation about “dead souls”. Therefore, his success depends entirely on how faithfully and completely he, and therefore the readers, managed to understand this human type with its individual characteristics.

What do we manage to learn about Manilov before Chichikov begins the most important thing for him - the conversation about “dead souls”?

The chapter about Manilov begins with a description of his estate. The landscape is designed in gray-blue tones and everything, even the gray day when Chichikov visits Manilov, sets us up for a meeting with a very boring - “gray” - man: “the village of Manilov could lure few.” Gogol writes about Manilov himself: “He was a so-so person, neither this nor that; neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.” A whole series of phraseological units are used here, as if strung on top of each other, which together allow us to draw a conclusion about how empty Manilov’s inner world really is, devoid, as the author says, of some kind of inner “enthusiasm.”

The portrait of the landowner also testifies to this. Manilov at first seems like a very pleasant person: amiable, hospitable and moderately selfless. “He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes" But it is not for nothing that the author notes that in Manilov’s “pleasantness” “too much sugar was given; in his techniques and turns there was something ingratiating favor and acquaintance.” Such sweetness also creeps into his family relationships with his wife and children. It is not for nothing that the sensitive Chichikov, immediately tuned in to Manilov’s wave, begins to admire his pretty wife and quite ordinary children, whose “partially Greek” names clearly betray the father’s pretension and his constant desire to “work for the viewer.”

The same applies to everything else. Thus, Manilov’s claim to elegance and enlightenment and its complete failure are shown through the details of the interior of his room. There is beautiful furniture here - and right there are two unfinished armchairs covered with matting; a dandy candlestick - and next to it “some kind of just a copper invalid, lame, curled up to one side and covered in grease.” All readers of Dead Souls, of course, also remember the book in Manilov’s office, “bookmarked on page fourteen, which he had been reading for two years.”

Manilov’s famous politeness also turns out to be just an empty form without content: after all, this quality, which should facilitate and make people’s communication more pleasant, in Manilov develops into its opposite. Just look at the scene when Chichikov is forced to stand in front of the door to the living room for several minutes, as he strives to outdo the owner in polite treatment, letting him go ahead, and as a result, they both “entered the door sideways and somewhat squeezed each other.” Thus, in a particular case, the author’s remark is realized that in the first minute one can only say about Manilov: “What a pleasant and a kind person!”, then “you won’t say anything, and the third time you’ll say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away; If you don’t leave, you will feel mortal boredom.”

But Manilov himself considers himself a cultured, educated, well-mannered person. This is how it seems to him not only Chichikov, who is clearly trying with all his might to please the tastes of the owner, but also all the people around him. This is very clear from the conversation with Chichikov about city officials. Both of them vied with each other in praising them, calling everyone wonderful, “nice,” “loving” people, without caring at all whether this corresponds to the truth. For Chichikov, this is a cunning move that helps to win over Manilov (in the chapter about Sobakevich, he will give very unflattering characteristics to the same officials, indulging the owner’s taste). Manilov generally presents relationships between people in the spirit of idyllic pastorals. After all, life in his perception is complete, perfect harmony. This is what Chichikov wants to “play” on, intending to conclude his strange deal with Manilov.

But there are other trump cards in his deck that make it easy to “beat” the beautiful landowner. Manilov not only lives in an illusory world: the process of fantasy itself gives him true pleasure. Hence his love for beautiful phrase and in general to any kind of posing - exactly as shown in the scene of the purchase and sale of “dead souls”, he reacts to Chichikov’s proposal. But the most important thing is that Manilov simply cannot do anything other than empty dreams - after all, one cannot, in fact, assume that knocking out a pipe and lining up piles of ashes in “beautiful rows” is a worthy occupation for an enlightened landowner. He is a sentimental dreamer, completely incapable of action. It is not for nothing that his surname has become a common noun expressing the corresponding concept - “Manilovism”.

Idleness and idleness entered the flesh and blood of this hero and became an integral part of his nature. Sentimental and idyllic ideas about the world, dreams in which he is immersed most of his time, lead to the fact that his economy goes “somehow by itself”, without much participation on his part, and gradually falls apart. Everything on the estate is run by a rogue clerk, and the owner doesn’t even know how many peasants have died since the last census. To answer this question from Chichikov, the owner of the estate has to turn to the clerk, but it turns out that there are many dead, but “nobody counted them.” And only at Chichikov’s urgent request is the clerk given the order to count them and draw up a “detailed register.”

But the further course of the pleasant conversation plunges Manilov into complete amazement. To the completely logical question of why an outsider is so interested in the affairs of his estate, Manilov receives a shocking answer: Chichikov is ready to buy peasants, but “not exactly peasants,” but dead ones! It must be admitted that not only such an impractical person as Manilov, but also anyone else, may be discouraged by such a proposal. However, Chichikov, having mastered his excitement, immediately clarifies:

“I propose to acquire the dead, which, however, would be listed as living according to the audit.”

This clarification already allows us to guess a lot. Sobakevich, for example, did not need any explanation at all - he immediately grasped the essence of the illegal transaction. But to Manilov, who does not understand anything about the usual matters for a landowner, this does not mean anything, and his amazement goes beyond all boundaries:

“Manilov immediately dropped his pipe and pipe on the floor and, as he opened his mouth, remained with his mouth open for several minutes.”

Chichikov pauses and begins the attack. His calculation is accurate: having already well understood who he is dealing with, the swindler knows that Manilov will not allow anyone to think that he, an enlightened, educated landowner, is not able to grasp the essence of the conversation. Having made sure that in front of him is not a madman, but the same “brilliantly educated” person that he considers Chichikov to be, the owner of the house wants to “not fall face down in the mud,” as they say. But how can one respond to such a truly crazy proposal?

“Manilov was completely at a loss. He felt that he needed to do something, to propose a question, and what question - the devil knows.” In the end, he remains “in his repertoire”: “Will this negotiation be inconsistent with civil regulations and further views of Russia?” he asks, showing an ostentatious interest in state affairs. However, it must be said that he is generally the only landowner who, in a conversation with Chichikov about “dead souls,” remembers the law and the interests of the country. True, in his mouth these arguments take on an absurd character, especially since upon hearing Chichikov’s answer: “Oh! For mercy, not at all,” Manilov completely calms down.

But Chichikov’s cunning calculation, based on a subtle understanding of the internal impulses of the interlocutor’s actions, even exceeded all expectations. Manilov, who believes that the only form of human connection is sensitive, tender friendship and heartfelt affection, cannot miss the opportunity to show generosity and selflessness towards his new friend Chichikov. He is ready not to sell, but to give him such an unusual, but for some reason necessary “item” to his friend.

This turn of events was unexpected even for Chichikov, and for the first time during the entire scene he slightly revealed his true face:

“No matter how sedate and reasonable he was, he almost even made a leap like a goat, which, as we know, is done only in the strongest impulses of joy.”

Even Manilov noticed this impulse and “looked at him in some bewilderment.” But Chichikov, immediately coming to his senses, again takes everything into his own hands: he just needs to properly express his gratitude and gratitude, and the owner is already “all confused and blushing,” in turn assuring that “he would like to prove with something his heartfelt attraction, magnetism of the soul." But here a dissonant note breaks into the long series of pleasantries: it turns out that for him “dead souls are in some way complete rubbish.”

It is not for nothing that Gogol, a deeply and sincerely religious man, puts this blasphemous phrase into Manilov’s mouth. Indeed, in the person of Manilov we see a parody of the enlightened Russian landowner, in whose consciousness cultural phenomena and universal human values ​​are vulgarized. Some of his external attractiveness in comparison with other landowners is only an appearance, a mirage. In his soul he is as dead as they are.

“It’s not rubbish at all,” Chichikov quickly retorts, not at all embarrassed by the fact that he is going to profit from the death of people, human troubles and suffering. Moreover, he is already ready to describe his troubles and sufferings, which he allegedly endured because “he kept the truth, that he was clear in his conscience, that he gave his hand to both a helpless widow and a miserable orphan!” Well, here Chichikov clearly got carried away, almost like Manilov. The reader learns about why he really experienced “persecution” and how he helped others only in the last chapter, but it is clearly not appropriate for him, the organizer of this immoral scam, to talk about conscience.

But all this does not bother Manilov at all. Having seen Chichikov off, he again indulges in his favorite and only “business”: thinking about the “well-being of a friendly life”, about how “nice it would be to live with a friend on the bank of some river.” His dreams take him further and further away from reality, where a fraudster walks freely around Russia, who, taking advantage of the gullibility and promiscuity of people, the lack of desire and ability to deal with the affairs of people like Manilov, is ready to deceive not only them, but also “cheat” state treasury.

The whole scene looks very comical, but it is “laughter through tears.” No wonder Gogol compares Manilov with an overly smart minister:

“...Manilov, having made some movement of his head, looked very significantly into Chichikov’s face, showing in all the features of his face and in his compressed lips such a deep expression, which, perhaps, had never been seen on a human face, except in some some too smart minister, and even then at the moment of the most puzzling matter.”

Here the author's irony invades the forbidden sphere - the highest echelons of power. This could only mean that another minister is the personification of the highest state power- is not so different from Manilov and that “Manilovism” is a typical property of this world. It’s scary if something goes bankrupt under the rule of careless landowners Agriculture, the basis of the Russian economy of the 19th century, can be captured by such dishonest, immoral businessmen of the new era as the “scoundrel-acquirer” Chichikov. But it’s even worse if, with the connivance of the authorities, who are only concerned about their external form, about their reputation, all power in the country passes to people like Chichikov. And Gogol addresses this formidable warning not only to his contemporaries, but also to us, people of the 21st century. Let us be attentive to the writer’s word and try, without falling into Manilovism, to notice in time and remove our today’s Chichikovs away from the affairs of

The author called “Dead Souls” a poem and thereby emphasized the significance of his creation. The poem is a lyrical-epic work of significant volume, distinguished by its depth of content and wide coverage of events. This definition is still controversial. With the publication of Gogol's satirical works, the critical direction in Russian realistic literature is strengthened. Gogol's realism is more saturated with accusatory, flagellating force - this distinguishes him from his predecessors and contemporaries.

Gogol's artistic method was called critical realism. The writer's favorite technique is hyperbole - an exorbitant exaggeration that enhances the impression. Gogol found that the plot of “Dead Souls,” suggested by Pushkin, was good because it gave complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and create a wide variety of characters. The author arranged the chapters about landowners, to whom more than half of the first volume is devoted, in a strictly thought-out order: the wasteful dreamer Manilov is replaced by the thrifty Korobochka; she is opposed by the ruined landowner, the rascal Nozdryov; then again a turn to the economic landowner-kulak Sobakevich; The gallery of serf owners is closed by the miser Plyushkin, who embodies the extreme degree of moral decline of the landowner class.

Reading “Dead Souls”, we notice that the writer repeats the same techniques in depicting landowners: he gives a description of the village, the manor’s house, the appearance of the landowner. The following is a story about that. How did certain people react to Chichikov’s proposal to sell dead souls? The author shows Chichikov's attitude towards each of the landowners, depicts the scene of the purchase and sale of dead souls. This coincidence is not accidental. A monotonous closed circle of techniques allows the artist to flaunt conservatism, the backwardness of provincial life, the isolation and limitations of the landowners, and to emphasize stagnation and dying.

We learn about the “very courteous and courteous landowner Manilov” in the first chapter. Depicting his appearance, the author highlights his eyes - sweet as sugar. The new acquaintance was crazy about Chichikov, “she shook his hand for a long time and asked him convincingly to honor him by coming to the village.”

Looking for Manilovka. Chichikov confuses the name when asking the men about the village of Zamanilovka. The writer plays on this word: “The village of Manilovka could not lure many with its location.” And then it starts detailed description landowner's estate. “The manor’s house stood alone on the south... open to all the winds...” On the slope of the mountain “two or three flower beds with lilac and yellow acacia bushes were scattered in English;... a gazebo with a flat green dome, wooden blue columns and the inscription “Temple of Solitary Reflection” , lower down is a pond covered with greenery...” And finally, the “gray log huts” of the men. The owner himself looks behind all this - the Russian landowner, nobleman Manilov.

The dullness of the appearance of the Manilov estate is complemented by a landscape sketch: a “pine forest darkening to the side with a dull bluish color” and a completely uncertain day: “either clear, or gloomy, but some kind of light gray color.” Dreary, bare, colorless. Gogol exhaustively revealed that such a Manilovka could lure few people. Gogol completes the portrait of Manilov in an ironic manner: “His facial features were not devoid of pleasantness.” But this pleasantness seemed to have “too much sugar in it.” Sugar is a detail indicating sweetness. And then a devastating description: “There is a kind of people known by the name: so-so people, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.”

Manilov’s character is expressed in a special manner of speaking, in a storm of words, in the use of the most delicate turns of phrase: “let’s not allow this,” “no really. Sorry, I won’t allow such a pleasant and educated guest to pass behind me.” Manilov’s beautiful spirit and his ignorance of people are revealed in his assessment of city officials as “most respectable and most amiable” people. Step by step, Gogol inexorably exposes the vulgarity of this man, irony is constantly replaced by satire: “There is Russian cabbage soup on the table, but from the heart,” the children, Alcides and Themistoclus, are named after ancient Greek commanders as a sign of the education of their parents. Mrs. Manilova is worthy of her husband. Her life is devoted to sweet lisping, bourgeois surprises (a beaded toothpick case), languid long kisses, and housekeeping is a low occupation for her. “Manilova is so well brought up,” Gogol quips.

And Manilov lacks economic savvy: “When the clerk said: “It would be nice, master, to do this and that,” “Yes, not bad,” he usually answered.” Manilov did not manage the farm, did not know his peasants well, and everything was falling into disrepair, but he dreamed of an underground passage, of a stone bridge across a pond, which two women forded, and with trading shops on both sides of it. Gaze the writer enters Manilov's house, where the same disorder and lack of taste reigns. Some rooms are unfurnished; two armchairs in the owner's office are covered with matting. There are piles of ash in the office, on the windowsill there is a book open on page 14 for two years - the only evidence of the owner’s work in the office.

Manilov shows “concern for the future views of Russia.” The writer characterizes him as an empty phrase-monger: where does he care about Russia if he cannot restore order in his own household. Chichikov easily manages to convince his friend of the legality of the transaction, and Manilov, as an impractical and unbusinesslike landowner, gives Chichikov dead souls and takes on the costs of drawing up the deed of sale.

Manilov is tearfully complacent, devoid of living thoughts and real feelings. He himself is a “dead soul”, doomed to destruction just like the entire autocratic-serf system of Russia. Manilovs are harmful and socially dangerous. What are the consequences for economic development countries can be expected from Manila management!

The landowner Korobochka is thrifty, “gains little money little by little,” lives secluded in her estate, as if in a box, and her homeliness over time develops into hoarding. Narrow-mindedness and stupidity complete the character of the “club-headed” landowner, who is distrustful of everything new in life. The qualities inherent in Korobochka are typical not only among the provincial nobility.

Following Korobochka in Gogol's gallery of freaks is Nozdryov. Unlike Manilov, he is restless, nimble, lively, but his energy is wasted on trifles in a cheating card game, in petty dirty tricks of lies. With irony, Gogol calls him “in some respects a historical person, because wherever Nozdryov was, there were stories,” that is, without a scandal. The author gives him what he deserves through the mouth of Chichikov: “Nozdryov is a man of rubbish!” He squandered everything, abandoned his estate and settled at the fair in a gaming house. Emphasizing the vitality of the Nozdrevs in Russian reality, Gogol exclaims: “Nozdrev will not be removed from the world for a long time.”

The hoarding characteristic of Korobochka turned into genuine kulaks among the practical landowner Sobakevich. He looks at the serfs only as labor force and, even though he has built huts for the peasants that were wonderfully cut down, he skins them to pieces. He transferred some peasants to the monetary-tire system, which was beneficial to the landowner.

The image of Sobakevich was created in Gogol’s favorite hyperbolic manner. His portrait, in which the comparison with a bear is given, the situation in the house, the harshness of his reviews, his behavior at dinner - everything emphasizes the animal essence of the landowner. Sobakevich quickly saw through Chichikov’s idea, realized the benefits and charged a hundred rubles per head. The tight-fisted landowner sold off the dead souls for his own benefit, and even deceived Chichikov by slipping him one female person. “Fist, fist, and a beast to boot!” - this is how Chichikov characterizes him.

Seeing Plyushkin for the first time, Chichikov “for a long time could not recognize what gender the figure was: a woman or a man. The dress she was wearing was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman’s hood, on her head was a cap worn by village courtyard women, only her voice seemed somewhat hoarse for a woman: “Oh, woman! - he thought to himself and immediately added: - Oh, no! Of course, woman! It could never have occurred to Chichikov that he was a Russian gentleman, a landowner, the owner of serf souls.

The passion for accumulation disfigured Plyushkin beyond recognition; he hoards only for the sake of hoarding. He starved the peasants to death, and they “are dying like flies” (80 souls in three years). He himself lives from hand to mouth and dresses like a beggar.

According to Gogol’s apt words, Plyushkin has turned into some kind of hole in humanity. In an era of growing monetary relations, Plyushkin’s household is run in the old fashioned way, based on corvee labor, the owner collects food and things, senselessly accumulates for the sake of accumulation. He ruined the peasants, ruining them with backbreaking work. Plyushkin saved, and everything he collected rotted, everything turned into “pure manure.” A landowner like Plyushkin cannot be the support of the state and move its economy and culture forward. And the writer sadly exclaims: “And a person could condescend to such insignificance, pettiness, and disgustingness! Could have changed so much! And does this seem true? Everything seems to be true, anything can happen to a person.”

Gogol endowed each landowner with original, specific features. Whatever the hero, he is a unique personality. But at the same time, his heroes retain generic, social characteristics: low cultural level, lack of intellectual demands, desire for enrichment, cruelty in treatment of serfs, moral uncleanliness, lack of an elementary concept of patriotism. These moral monsters, as Gogol shows, are generated by feudal reality and reveal the essence of feudal relations based on the oppression and exploitation of the peasantry.

Gogol's work stunned, first of all, the ruling circles and landowners. The ideological defenders of serfdom argued that the nobility was the best part of the Russian population, passionate patriots, the support of the state. Gogol dispelled this myth with his images. Herzen said that the landowners “pass before us without masks, without embellishment, flatterers and gluttons, obsequious slaves of power and ruthless tyrants of their enemies, drinking the life and blood of the people... “Dead Souls” shocked all of Russia.”

Conversation between Chichikov and Manilov (analysis of episode 2 of chapter 2 of N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”).

N.V. Gogol worked on one of the main works of his life, the poem “Dead Souls,” at first without much enthusiasm. Perhaps she just didn’t grab it right away. Perhaps because the plot was found not by the writer himself, but by Pushkin.

The plot was based entirely real event, a real gamble with the purchase of “dead souls”. The fact is that it was beneficial both to the landowners, for whom dead peasants were a burden, and, naturally, to the buyer himself. In Gogol's poem, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov brought to life a similar fraud. Arriving in the provincial town of NN, he immediately began to act. Firstly, he visited all the major local officials, visited places where “the most noble, pleasant” and, most importantly, the right people. At one of these dinners, Chichikov met Manilov, who failed to invite his new friend to visit.

So, Chichikov is the first to visit Manilovka. How does he see her? Gray, ordinary, the appearance of which was enlivened only by two women, “who, having picked up their dresses picturesquely and tucked themselves on all sides, wandered knee-deep in the pond,” and who, as it turned out, were quarreling.”

Manilov, who greeted Chichikov with a smile and talked with him later on the same note, brightens up the picture a little. Which has too much light gray in it. Before and during dinner, the interlocutors carry on a rather empty conversation about the governor, “a most respectable and most amiable man,” about the vice-governor, also “nice” and “very worthy,” about the police chief’s wife, “a most amiable woman,” and so on in the same spirit.

All these conversations have a sweet and sugary tone, which comes, naturally, from the owner of the estate - Manilov. His very appearance speaks of this: his face had “an expression that was not only sweet, but even cloying, similar to that potion that a clever secular doctor sweetened mercilessly, imagining to please the patient with it.” He also wants to please his guest, and in this endeavor he greatly “overdoes it.” Well, of course, he thinks Chichikov highly educated person, who “has a high art of expressing himself,” in the words of Manilov himself.

In this empty chatter “about nothing,” the reader discovers Manilov through his speech.

If we talk about Chichikov, he is distinguished by extraordinary patience and the ability to adapt to a person. Later we are convinced that the hero varies his communication style depending on the character of the interlocutor. Therefore, Manilov’s impression from the conversation with Chichikov can be described by the words: “you feel some kind of spiritual pleasure.”

But we know that Pavel Ivanovich did not come to Manilovka for a “pleasant conversation.” He needs dead souls, which is what he starts talking about after lunch in Manilov’s office. Gradually, step by step, he finds out the number of dead peasants. It is interesting that Manilov, at first, without suspicion, without even thinking, helps Chichikov in this, but suddenly asks the question: “For what reasons do you need this?”

This is where the fun begins. Chichikov blushed from the “tension to express something.” The swindler and swindler, speaking about his desire to buy peasants, became isolated and did not finish his speech. Despite all his skill in such matters, he gives in to the expression on Manilov’s face, which sincerely does not understand what he is talking about.

The behavior of Manilov and Chichikov is truly comical. The first one dropped the receiver and remained with his mouth open for several minutes; both fixed their eyes on each other; Chichikov was even more sedate than usual, which forced Manilov to refuse the proposal about the guest’s madness; Finally, Manilov couldn’t think of anything else but to let the smoke out of his mouth in a thin stream.

Chichikov brings Manilov out of such a confused state, again with the help of his business acumen. He pulled himself together and explained to the landowner in more detail what and how, not forgetting to clarify that this commercial transaction did not violate the law. And Chichikov did not lie: the whole story of the purchase of dead souls was told by the writer in full accordance with the legislation in force at that time. It’s not for nothing that Pavel Ivanovich says that he “is accustomed to not deviating from civil laws in anything.” Chichikov's fantastic deal was carried out in full accordance with the paragraphs of the law.

As soon as our hero mentioned the legality of this enterprise, Manilov forgot about the essence of the purchase. For him, the guest’s idea is just a “fantastic wish”, which he, Manilov, fulfills. And what an honor it is for him! “He would definitely like to prove with something the attraction of the heart, the magnetism of the soul.” Besides, “dead souls are, in some ways, complete rubbish.”

But this whole performance is not over yet, it’s too early to lower the curtain. Chichikov would not be Chichikov if he had not expressed gratitude to Manilov. “Not without feeling and expression,” he delivered his speech. He, a man without family and tribe, always subject to persecution and trials, is now saved. And he didn’t forget to shed a tear. This was enough: “Manilov was completely moved.”

This was the outcome of Manilov’s conversation with Chichikov. This was Pavel Ivanovich's first success in buying up dead souls. The success of the deal was due to Manilov’s character, striving for the high and noble in everything.

Chichikov no longer had to meet with such landowners. Manilov is the first in the gallery of landowners created by Gogol. Despite all his good manners and ability to deal with guests, we can say with confidence: this is vulgarity, which is revealed when looking inside the hero. Vulgarity, ever increasing from landowner to landowner.

0 people have viewed this page. Register or log in and find out how many people from your school have already copied this essay.

Purchase and sale of dead souls Manilov

Having lived in the city of NN for a week, Chichikov decided to move his visits out of town and visit his new acquaintance, the landowner Manilov. The coachman Selifan harnessed the horses, and Chichikov's chaise rushed along the road.

Having reached the place, Chichikov saw a rather large village. In the features and location of the estate, two character traits of the owners were discernible at the same time: their claims to educated sophistication - and extreme impracticality. The manor house had flower beds and a pond arranged in the English style. But the flower beds were unkempt, the pond was overgrown with greenery, and the house itself was located on a hill exposed to all the winds. Among the trees one could see a gazebo with blue columns and the inscription: “Temple of Solitary Reflection.”

The owner of the estate ran out onto the porch and, showering pleasantries, greeted the guest. Manilov was one of the people about whom the proverb says: neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan. His face was quite pleasant, but this pleasantness was too laced with sugar; there was something ingratiating in his techniques and turns. He did not have any strong passions or hobbies, but he loved to spend time in fantastic dreams, which he never tried to put into practice. Manilov hardly did any housekeeping, relying on the clerk, but, looking at his overgrown pond, he often dreamed about how good it would be to build an underground passage from the house or to build a stone bridge across the pond with merchant shops. In Manilov's office there was always a book with a bookmark on page fourteen, which he had been constantly reading for two years. His wife, who was brought up in a boarding school where the three main subjects were French, playing the piano and knitting purses, was also a match for Manilov.

The hero of “Dead Souls” Manilov. Artist A. Laptev

As usual, Manilov went out of his way to please Chichikov. He did not agree to walk through the door ahead of him, called the meeting with him “the name day of the heart” and “exemplary happiness,” and assured that he would gladly give half of his fortune to have part of the advantages that his guest has. Manilov first of all asked how Chichikov liked the provincial officials - and he himself admired their extraordinary talents.

Chichikov was invited to the table. Manilov’s two sons, 8 and 6 years old, who bore the ancient names Themistoclus and Alcides, were also present at dinner.

After lunch, Chichikov said that he would like to talk with Manilov about an important matter. They both went into the study, where the owner of the house, according to fashionable custom, lit a pipe. A little worried and even looking back for some reason, Chichikov asked Manilov how many of his peasants had died since the last tax audit. Manilov himself did not know this, but he called the clerk and sent him to make a list of the deceased.

Chichikov explained that he would like to buy these dead souls. Hearing such a strange desire, Manilov dropped the pipe from his mouth and remained motionless for some time, gazing at his interlocutor. Then he cautiously inquired whether a deal with dead souls would not be in accordance with civil regulations and further developments in Russia?

Chichikov assured that no, and pointed out that the treasury would even receive benefits from this in the form of legal duties. The calmed down Manilov, due to his courtesy, could not refuse the guest. Having agreed with him to buy the dead, Chichikov hurried with his departure, asking for directions to the neighboring landowner Sobakevich.

Manilov stood on the porch for a long time, following the retreating chaise with his eyes. Returning to the room, with a pipe in his mouth, he indulged in plans to build a house with such a high belvedere that he could even see Moscow from there, drink tea there in the evening in the open air and talk about pleasant subjects. Manilov dreamed that he would invite Chichikov to these tea parties, and the sovereign, having learned about such friendship, would grant them generals.

Analysis of the scene of buying and selling “dead souls”. Dialogue between Chichikov and Korobochka

Let's move on to the analysis of the climactic episode of the chapter— scenes of buying and selling “dead souls.” The dialogue between Chichikov and Korobochka should be heard in the classroom. It’s good if students who have been prepared in advance read it in their faces. This is a highly comic scene. Based on the dialogue between Korobochka and Chichikov, we can conclude that it is in this scene that the landowner’s character is revealed most fully, revealing not only her petty frugality and efficiency, but also her stupidity, greed, and serfdom beliefs. Korobochka trades with the same practicality in the products of her estate and the peasants, considering them as ordinary goods, like honey, lard, bird feathers, and most of all afraid of selling things out: “I gave up the living ones. ", etc.

Commenting on this episode, let us simultaneously draw attention to a characteristic device of Gogol’s style - the motif of the machine gun, emphasizing the spiritual misery of the landowner, her inability to think independently: “Really, I don’t know, because I’ve never sold dead people before”; “The only thing that bothers me is that they are already dead”; “Really, my father, it has never happened before that they sold me dead people,” etc. An extremely important point in working on the image of Korobochka is the question of the typicality of her character. Gogol did not at all want to present the image of Korobochka as a typical phenomenon of purely provincial life. This is eloquently evidenced by Korobochka’s comparisons with “a different and respectable and statesmanlike man,” who “no matter how hard he gets into his head, nothing can overpower him,” as well as with an aristocratic lady from a high-society St. Petersburg drawing room. Each of these comparisons is aimed at the very top of the social pyramid of the landowner-bureaucratic society and highlights the scale of Gogol’s generalization.

DEAD SOULS

SUBJECT:"These insignificant people." Images of landowners in “Dead Souls”

Having looked at the poem from the perspective of modern literary criticism, we will try to comprehend its innermost meaning with schoolchildren, adding interpretations that are new to the school to the traditional path. Following Gogol's plan - and his heroes go along the road "hell - purgatory - heaven", let's try to look at the world that was before him.

Considering himself a prophet, Gogol sincerely believed that it was he who should point out to humanity its sins and help get rid of them.

• So what sins entangled our heroes?
• What evil do they preach?

To answer these questions, you can conduct a lesson “These insignificant people” using a group form of work.

The class is divided into 5 groups(by the number of chapters devoted to the description of landowners) and, as part of educational research, looks for parallels between Gogol’s heroes and Dante’s “Divine Comedy”.

The landscape of Manilov's estate fully corresponds to the description of the first circle of hell - Limbo: in Dante: a green hill with a castle - and Manilov's house on a hill; twilight illumination of Limbo - and for Gogol it’s day. either clear or gloomy, but some kind of light gray color”; the pagans living in Limbo - and the bizarre Greco-Roman names of Manilov's children.

Students may notice that there is a lot of smoke in Manilov’s house, since the owner constantly smokes a pipe, and the description of his office includes piles of ash. And smoke and ash are associated with demonism. This means that the devil has already entered the hero’s soul and it requires cleansing.

When Chichikov leaves, Manilov draws his attention to the clouds, trying to distract the guest from completing his planned journey. But even as one descends into the underworld, the darkness grows! However, already in the scene of purchase and sale, the author’s hope for the resurrection of even the most lost and “trashy” soul is heard in Chichikov’s words. Manilov claims that dead souls are an insignificant commodity, and Chichikov objects and defends the dead, speaking about them: “Not very rubbish!” "

There is an assumption that Chichikov’s visit to Korobochka’s house is a visit to the second circle of hell. Dante describes it this way: “Moaning, the circle of Shadows rushed, driven by an undefeatable blizzard.” In Gogol’s words, “the darkness was such that you could poke out your eyes.” And Korobochka confirms: “It’s such a turmoil and a blizzard.”

Where does the blizzard come from during a thunderstorm? In the underworld, everything is possible, and Dante’s third circle of hell was generally the circle of rain. Korobochka's home resembles the Witch's cave: mirrors, a deck of cards, paintings with birds. These objects are difficult to see, because the room is twilight, and Chichikov’s eyes are sticking together. In the buying and selling scene, Korobochka does not scold his deceased peasants, like Manilov, but expresses the hope that the dead “will somehow be needed on the farm just in case.” Thus, Gogol’s innermost thought begins to acquire more distinct contours. The idea of ​​resurrection is also embedded in the name of Korobochka - Anastasia - “resurrected”.

The third circle of hell is gluttony (gluttony). Therefore, it is no coincidence that Chichikov ends up in a tavern from Korobochka. In this case, an analysis of the episode “In the tavern” is appropriate. “The Fat Old Woman” continues the theme of Korobochka.

The whole story with Nozdryov corresponds to the fourth circle of hell, where stingy and wasteful souls are tormented. And Nozdryov, a reckless reveler, stupidly squandering his fortune, is a wasteful person. His passion for playing checkers emphasizes his gambling, and he invites the guest to play. The barking of dogs is an important detail in the episodes in the chapter about Nozdryov. Nozdryov's dogs are associated with the hellish dog Cerberus, fulfilling his mission.

The transaction scene can be interpreted this way. If in the previous chapters the methods of saving the soul are depicted allegorically, then Nozdryov’s method is a dishonest deal, swindle, deception, an attempt to get into the kingdom of heaven undeservedly, like a king.

Antibogatyr Sobakevich is also ready for resurrection. In the buying and selling scene, he seems to resurrect his dead peasants with praise. The “method of revival” here is not fraud, like Nozdryov’s, and not digging out of the ground, like Korobochka’s, but the desire for virtue and valor. Analysis of the episode will allow us to conclude that the salvation of the soul comes at a cost - it is bought with life, full of work and selflessness. Therefore, the owner “signs out” everyone “with the meaning of commendable qualities.”

Next comes the “heroic” parallel. The exploits of Russian heroes and the “exploits” of Sobakevich. Sobakevich is a hero at the table. When analyzing the episode “Lunch at Sobakevich’s,” you can pay attention to the exposure of such a human vice as gluttony. Once again this sin appears in close-up in the poem: Gogol considered it especially grave.

Plyushkin is the last, fifth in the gallery of landowners. We know that Gogol wanted to make Plyushkin, like Chichikov, a character in the second volume, to lead him to moral regeneration. That is why the author tells us in detail about the past of Stepan Plyushkin, drawing the story of the impoverishment of the human soul.

What method of saving the soul is proposed by Plyushkin? He found it right away, but didn’t understand it. Stepan Plyushkin saves things, lifting everything in his path, but we need to lift souls, save them. After all, the main idea of ​​“dead souls” is the idea of ​​the spiritual resurrection of fallen man, “resurrection”, the revival of his soul. Plyushkin says goodbye to Chichikov: “God bless you!” “Plyushkin is ready for rebirth, he just needs to remember that it is not things that need to be raised, but the soul.

After the groups' presentations, the following questions can be discussed:

All landowners, as we have seen, are not alike; each of them has a certain individuality. What brings them together?

Why does Chichikov begin his journey with a visit to Manilov, and end it with a visit to Plyushkin?

Chapter 4 contains Gogol’s thoughts about Nozdrev. For what purpose were they introduced by the writer? What's bothering him?

Why does the chapter about Plyushkin begin with a lyrical digression?

Plyushkin is not deader, but more alive than others, is that true?

Manilov lives among the flowering lilac bushes, therefore, in May. The box is harvested at this time, which means in September. It’s summer in Plyushkin, the heat all around is unbearable (only it’s cold in the house), and in the provincial town it’s winter. Why is that? Chichikov comes to Korobochka when there is a blizzard in the yard, and the pig in the yard is eating watermelon rinds. Is this a coincidence?

Each landowner lives, as it were, in his own closed world. Fences, wattle fence, gates, “thick wooden bars,” the boundaries of the estate, the barrier - everything closes the life of the heroes, cutting it off from the outside world. Here the wind blows, the sky, the sun blows, peace and comfort reign, there is a kind of drowsiness, stillness, everything is dead here. Everything stopped. Everyone has their own time of year. This means that there is no reality of time inside these circle worlds. Thus, the heroes of the poem live, adapting time to themselves. The heroes are static, that is, dead. But each of them can save their soul if they want.

In human communicative activity, such speech acts as rumors, gossip, talk, gossip, gossip occupy a special place, and in a work of art they can become a plot-forming element.

Explanatory dictionaries define the speech actions of hearing, rumor and talk crosswise one through the other. Thus, in Ozhegov’s dictionary the following definitions are given: “a rumor is rumor, news about someone or something, usually not confirmed by anything”; “Rumor is rumors, rumors,” and rumors are conversations, rumors, gossip.” According to Dahl’s description, rumor is “rumor, news, talk among the people, fame, publicity”, “rumor is talk, rumor, popular rumors or walking news.” At the same time, the definitions of rumors, rumors and rumors do not contain a positive or negative assessment, while gossip and gossip are clearly assessed as negative: “gossip is a rumor about something based on inaccurate or obviously incorrect information”, “gossip is idle discussions , empty talk, gossip” (Ozhegov’s dictionary), “gossip is a visible condemnation” (Dahl’s dictionary).

However, all of the above collective speech acts have not only general, but also specific qualities, have different goals and motives for distribution, and are characterized by a specific area of ​​functioning. A detailed description of such speech actions as rumors, rumors and gossip is given in the work of G. E. Kreidlin and M. V. Samokhin.

Considering the word rumor to be the dominant synonymous series, the authors identify the following distinctive properties in the phenomenon described by this word.

1) Rumors usually consist of a series of individual statements, not true, but plausible.

2) Participants in the speech act of hearing are, as a rule, not two people, but a group of people.

3) Each rumor has its own story of birth, life and death.

4) In the process of functioning within a given society, rumors always carry out partial ordering of people, dividing them into “informed” and “ignorant”, and an informed person has a higher social status.

5) The verbal communicative behavior of the person telling the rumor has distinct characteristics and can be characterized as the behavior of a conspirator. Both the text of the rumor and the way it is told testify to mystery, understatement.

6) Hearing reproduction also has a number of distinctive non-verbal features. A specific facial expression appears on the face of the person telling the rumor. The speech of a person who reproduces hearing is characterized by a special timbre, tonality and phonation. The narrator's posture is closed, his head is usually tilted towards the interlocutor, his eyes look with interest at the listener.

7) Hearing is not just the dissemination of information in society from one person to another. This is a communicative process, the purpose of which is to form a collective, although not necessarily exactly unified, opinion about the current situation, to identify a general attitude towards the situation and its participants, and sometimes to determine a certain program of possible collective actions. People, being in an uncertain situation, unite with the goal of understanding this situation and giving it a reasonable interpretation. Rumors cannot be viewed as a social pathology. The generation and spread of rumors is not a disease, but rather a means of protecting members of society from instability and lack of information.

Rumors are by their nature ambivalent. On the one hand, rumors can generate movement and chaos, on the other hand, they bring order and harmony to the world, reducing the entropy existing in society. Thanks to rumors, a certain part of society members receives the missing information, and as a result, intra-group agreement arises and a system of group values ​​and assessments is formed.

Spreaders of rumors are specific individuals, although not always well-known. A rumor can include both true and false information. Rumors have the ability to become overgrown with details and are metaphorically associated with a snowball.

The properties most clearly indicated by the authors can be traced in the description of rumors that Gogol gives in the poem “Dead Souls.” The rumors, the source of which was Nozdryov's exposure of Chichikov's strange commerce, were, in the end, the reason for Chichikov's flight from the city of N.

Speaking about the history of the origin of these rumors, it should be noted that even before Nozdryov’s appearance at the governor’s ball, the ground for their occurrence was already prepared by two circumstances.

The first circumstance is a premonition that gripped Chichikov after his conversation with Nozdryov about buying dead souls. Chichikov scolded himself for talking to him about the matter, acting carelessly, for the matter was not at all of the kind to be entrusted to Nozdryov: “Nozdryov can lie, add, spread the devil knows what, some other gossip will come out - not good, not good.” " Indeed, Chichikov’s purchases became the subject of conversation, “talk, opinions, reasoning” began, and a rumor spread throughout the city that Chichikov was nothing more or less than a millionaire. However, this first rumor, contrary to Chichikov’s fears, was favorable and resulted in increased interest in him on the part of residents of the city N (“Residents of the city are already<...>they fell in love with Chichikov, and now, after such rumors, they fell in love even more deeply"), but, on the other hand, it caused rivalry between the ladies.

The second circumstance is Chichikov’s behavior at the governor’s ball. The neglect he showed to the local ladies, almost unintentionally, unexpectedly deprived him of the favor of the city's residents and even restored the agreement between the ladies that was directed against Chichikov. The ladies began to talk about Chichikov in the most unfavorable way, and their indignation grew. The negative attitude towards him further increased with the appearance of Nozdryov, who reported that Chichikov had purchased dead souls. Thus, the sign of the attitude towards Chichikov has finally changed from positive to negative, and at the same time the intensity of interest in him increases sharply. After the scandal at the ball, the city was completely in revolt and everything was in disarray.

The method of spreading rumors and the behavior of their distributors are described very clearly by Gogol in the scene of the meeting of two ladies, simply pleasant and pleasant in all respects. Gogol notes the particular impatience of a city resident, who rushed out of the house with extraordinary haste early in the morning, even earlier than the time appointed for visits. Just a pleasant lady was carrying “the news she had just heard and felt an irresistible urge to tell it as soon as possible.” However, she did not immediately succeed in this, since the conversation immediately took a different direction. The second attempt was also interrupted by the mistress of the house, who was, as Gogol writes, so inhuman that she again stopped her friend, whose “words, like hawks, were ready to set off in pursuit one after another.” Finally, the guest, already in despair, managed to convey the information received from Korobochka about Chichikov’s purchase of dead souls.

Gogol further defines the role of each lady in the process of spreading rumors, namely, a simply pleasant lady can only convey information, albeit with inevitable additions, but is not able to make any “smart guess.” On the contrary, a lady, pleasant in all respects, draws a completely unexpected conclusion from the information received. Buying dead souls, in her opinion, is just a cover for taking away the governor’s daughter.

At this climactic moment, Gogol concentrates his attention not on the speaking lady, that is, not on the interpreter of hearing, but on the lady who perceives: she has completely turned into hearing. Her ears stretched out of their own accord, and she began to look like a hunter, who, waiting for the game, turned into one “frozen moment.”

Having convinced each other of what they had only assumed before, the ladies each went in their own direction to riot the city. They managed to complete this undertaking in just over half an hour. Among the residents, “there was talk, talk, talk, and the whole city started talking about dead souls and the governor’s daughter, about Chichikov and dead souls, and everything that was there rose up. Like a whirlwind, the hitherto dormant city shot up.” At the same time, in the city talk there suddenly appeared two completely opposite opinions and two opposite parties were formed: male and female. The men's party paid attention to the dead souls, the women's party focused exclusively on the kidnapping of the governor's daughter. So, one and the same rumor gave rise to two completely different versions of its interpretation, in full accordance with the different orientations of the interests of both parties, since a person perceives from the information received only what interests him and what he is able to understand.

As a result, a Gogolian paradoxical situation arose. In fact, Nozdryov’s truthful words about Chichikov’s purchase of dead souls led the ladies’ party to a completely fantastic conclusion, but it was precisely this unexpected and unusual interpretation of the information received that took on a very definite form in the ladies’ party. In this party, Gogol notes, there was incomparably more order and prudence. Everything for them soon took on clear and obvious forms, was explained, cleared, in a word, a final picture emerged, which was finally delivered to the governor’s own ears.

On the contrary, in the men's party, which paid attention to the purchase of dead souls, i.e., what was actually happening, there was far from the same order as in the women's party. According to Gogol’s description, “everything about them was somehow callous, uncouth, wrong, worthless, discordant, and not good.” Gogol sees the basis for this bustle, confusion, confusion and untidiness in thoughts in the nature of men, full of continuous doubts and eternal fear. This fear, stemming from the consciousness of one’s own sins, caused general anxiety, which intensified further in connection with the appointment of a new governor-general. Everyone suddenly found sins in themselves that never even existed. Fear gave rumors about Chichikov's commerce a new direction. In the word “dead souls” they began to suspect allusions to the sick who died in significant numbers in hospitals, to the suddenly buried bodies of state-owned peasants, as well as allusions to the story of the Solvychegodsk merchants, about whom rumors were also circulating around the city.

At the same time, two papers came to the governor, one about the maker of counterfeit notes, the other about the escaped robber. It also turned out that no one knows who Chichikov really is, and whether he is an official sent to conduct a secret investigation. Gogol shows that fear spreads among officials like a contagious disease: the inspector of the medical board suddenly turned pale, the chairman turned pale and lost weight, and the inspector lost weight, and the prosecutor lost weight, and some Semyon Ivanovich, who was never identified by his last name, even lost weight.

It is known that rumors have the ability to grow into details. But here, in the case of an unclear, unformed version of the men's party, a rather different picture is observed - rumors are layered one on top of the other, as a result of which the uncertainty of the situation further increases. A meeting with the police chief, at which dubious versions were put forward about Chichikov as Captain Kopeikin or Napoleon in disguise, did not clarify the situation, and officials were still forced to wonder whether Chichikov was the kind of person who needed to be captured, or whether he was the kind of person who he can grab it himself.

On the contrary, in the women's party the version, although unconfirmed by anything, was determined immediately and did not change, but only grew, like a snowball, with unconfirmed details.

Gogol explains the reason for the spread of these fantastic rumors as follows: “At another time and under other circumstances, such rumors might not have attracted any attention, but the city of N has not received any news at all for a long time,” i.e. time in a situation of stability and monotony of life. Man is structured in such a way, the author explains, that “no matter how the news goes, as long as it is news, he will certainly tell it to another mortal, if only just to say: “Look what a lie they spread!” - and another mortal will bow his ear with pleasure...”

As already noted, when a rumor spreads, a communicative interaction takes place in which attention is focused on the person receiving the message, i.e., the listener. Therefore, the person who perceives the hearing “bows his ear” or, as a simply pleasant lady does, “stretches out his ears,” and the hearing is delivered “into the governor’s own ears.”

A characteristic feature of rumors is also the high speed of their spread and comprehensiveness. Rumors are usually started, disseminated, that is, they are, as it were, released, and they sweep through society, capturing it like a force of nature. As we have seen, the ladies managed to revolt the city “in a little over half an hour.” The city, which had not received any news until then and therefore was dormant, shot up, as Gogol put it, like a whirlwind! Rumors lured out of their homes even those residents who had long stopped making any acquaintances. Many carriages were found on the streets, and it turned out that the city was crowded, large and populated as it should be.

Rumors spread, in turn, arouse rumors, that is, interpretations of this rumor, its interpretation and discussion, cf.:

“Ever since rumors of his millionaire spread,<...>in many living rooms they began to say that, of course, Chichikov is not the first handsome man, but he is what a man should be”;

“Many explanations and corrections were added to all this, as rumors penetrated into the most remote alleys”;

“They started talking about all this even in houses where they had never even seen or known Chichikov, and there were additions and even greater explanations.”

“We thought and thought, talked and talked, and finally decided that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to question Nozdryov carefully.”

When describing the excitement that arose in the city, Gogol also uses words derived from the root sense with negative value, indicating the absence of any sense in the actions of its inhabitants, which was a consequence of the uncertainty of the situation and general confusion.

Compare: “The ladies vying with each other began to tell him [the prosecutor] all the events, told about the purchase of dead souls, about the intention to take away the governor’s daughter and confused him completely”;

“In the town talk there suddenly appeared two completely opposite opinions”;

“...there is confusion in the head, turmoil, confusion, untidiness in thoughts”;

“The male party, the most stupid, paid attention to the dead souls”;

“Previous conclusions and guesses were completely confused”;

“In the council that assembled this time, the absence of that necessary thing, which the common people call proper,” was very noticeable.”

In addition, Gogol, using the word talk, creates an accurate visual image of the process of disseminating information: “In a word, talk, talk, talk went on, and the whole city started talking..” This three-time repeated “talk” is associated, it seems to us, with circles spreading around water from a source hidden beneath its surface. One must assume that with Chichikov’s departure this movement will gradually die down, and the city will again fall asleep in anticipation of new news.

Rumors spreading in the city, as a rule, unite its residents to develop a common opinion about the current circumstances. The emergence of an extraordinary situation naturally gives rise to a defensive reaction in society and, when necessary, forces the formation of a common plan of action. However, rumors have not only a unifying, but also destructive force. IN county town N rumors, rumors and opinions left “noticeable traces” in the faces of officials and affected the prosecutor to such an extent that, upon arriving home, he suddenly died.

Chichikov, who was the reason for the rumor, received its final version from the same person who first spread this rumor at the governor’s ball. Nozdryov, thus, became both the source of the original version and the conductor of the latest version, which was formed as a result of the addition of incredible details and stunned Chichikov with its fantastic nature.

Thus, the circle closed, and Chichikov, pushed out of this circle by rumors and rumors unfavorable to him, was forced to stop his business and hastily leave the city.

As for Gogol’s other works, in them rumors, rumors, and gossip, although they play a certain role, are not always as noticeable as in “Dead Souls.”

In Gogol's stories, information is spread orally through rumors in society (and in St. Petersburg also through newspapers), and rumors have the meaning of a conversation, reasoning or explanation not directly related to the interpretation of rumors. Wed:

“But the intoxicated artist did not hear these rumors.” ("Portrait").

“The artist was flattered to hear such rumors about himself.” ("Portrait").

“Whether it was just human opinion, ridiculous superstitious rumors, or deliberately spread rumors - this remains unknown.” ("Portrait").

“Suddenly rumors spread throughout St. Petersburg that a dead man in the form of an official began to appear at night near the Kalinkin Bridge and far away.” (“Overcoat”).

“Even our head of department simply won’t write like that, although he says that he studied at a university somewhere.” ("Diary of a Madman").

“But who is this head who aroused such unfavorable rumors and speeches about himself?” (“May Night or the Drowned Woman”).

“Meanwhile, rumors spread everywhere that the daughter of one of the richest centurions,<>I returned one day from a walk, all beaten up.” (“Viy”).

“When rumors about this reached Kyiv and the theologian Khalyava finally heard about such a fate for the philosopher Khoma, he gave himself over to thought for a whole hour.” (“Viy”).

“Excuse me, I can’t understand what you want to talk about.” ("Nose").

“And so they already say that a lot of inconsistencies and false rumors are being published.” ("Nose")

“Then a rumor spread that Major Kovalev’s nose was walking not on Nevsky Prospect, but in the Tauride Garden.” ("Nose").

“Meanwhile, rumors about this extraordinary incident spread throughout the capital, and, as usual, not without special additions.” ("Nose").

In the story “The Nose,” Gogol explains the interest that the public showed in rumors concerning a nose walking around the city. Firstly, after experiments on the effects of magnetism, minds were tuned to everything unusual, and secondly, those visitors to social events who loved to make the ladies laugh, but whose supply of news at that time was completely depleted, were extremely happy about all these incidents.

The same characteristics of rumors that were noted above appear here: high speed of spread, inevitable additions and the desire to be the first to report the news. (Cf. also in “The Night Before Christmas”: “Everyone vied with each other to tell the beauty something new.”)

Another property of rumors noted by the authors is that rumors are spread almost exclusively by women (in accordance with the saying “Where there is duck, there is trouble”), and a man should not believe them, much less spread them. We find confirmation of this opinion in Gogol’s stories of the “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” series. Wed:

“Perhaps these very cunning and cleverness of hers were the reason that in some places old women began to say that Solokha was definitely a witch. It happened that while the old women were talking about this, some cow herder came.” ("Christmas Eve").

“You never know what women and stupid people won’t tell.” (“May Night or the Drowned Woman”).

“The old women invented that from that time on, all the drowned women went out into the master’s garden on a moonlit night to bask in the month.” (“May Night or the Drowned Woman”).

“Trust the women!<>Sleep well; don’t think about these women’s inventions!” (“May Night or the Drowned Woman”).

It is noteworthy that in “Evenings...” and “Mirgorod” Gogol, when reproducing any rumor, most often uses impersonal constructions such as “they say that”, “they tell that”, especially in cases when we are talking about legends. For example:

“A long time ago they said something terrible about this house.” (“May Night or the Drowned Woman”).

“They say in the village that she is not related to him at all.” (“May Night or the Drowned Woman”).

“They say,” began Ivan Ivanovich, “that three kings declared war on our king.”

“Although it was rumored that he got married, this is a complete lie.”

(“The story of how Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich quarreled”).

“They say he was born so scary. Listen, Mr. Danilo, how scary they say.” (“Terrible revenge”).

I heard that the Poles want to build some kind of fortress. They say they were all ready to sell themselves to Satan for money. (“Terrible revenge”).

Have you heard what people say? Yesterday the volost clerk passed by late in the evening, and just behold, a pig’s snout stuck out through the dormer window and grunted so hard that it gave him a chill (“Sorochinskaya Fair”).

The last three examples also reveal a characteristic orientation towards the function of hearing.

In “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich Quarreled”

A rumor spread about a quarrel between two friends united the residents of Mirgorod in order to reconcile them. But this general positive desire encountered opposition from the gossip Agafya Fedoseevna. Gossip, as a type of rumor, by definition carries negative content that discredits a person, and in the story its effect turned out to be destructive: “the damned woman did what Ivan Nikiforovich did not want to hear about Ivan Ivanovich.”

The only story by Gogol where hearing plays a plot-forming role is “Sorochinskaya Fair”. The entire plot of the story is based on the legend of the red scroll. A deliberately spread rumor about her appearance at the fair quickly spread to all corners and became the cause of general fear, but at the same time forced Cherevik to agree to his daughter’s wedding.

Thus, rumor directed towards a specific goal has great impact, and its influence can be both negatively destructive and positively unifying.

The author called “Dead Souls” a poem and thereby emphasized the significance of his creation. The poem is a lyrical-epic work of significant volume, distinguished by its depth of content and wide coverage of events. This definition is still controversial. With the publication of Gogol's satirical works, the critical direction in Russian realistic literature is strengthened. Gogol's realism is more saturated with accusatory, flagellating force - this distinguishes him from his predecessors and contemporaries.

Artistic method

Gogol was called critical realism. The writer's favorite technique is hyperbole - an exorbitant exaggeration that enhances the impression. Gogol found that the plot of “Dead Souls,” suggested by Pushkin, was good because it gave complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and create many different characters. The author arranged the chapters about landowners, to whom more than half of the first volume is devoted, in a strictly thought-out order: the wasteful dreamer Manilov is replaced by the thrifty Korobochka; she is opposed by the ruined landowner, the rascal Nozdryov; then again a turn to the economic landowner-kulak Sobakevich; The gallery of serf owners is closed by the miser Plyushkin, who embodies the extreme degree of moral decline of the landowner class.

Reading "Dead Souls", we notice that the writer repeats the same techniques in depicting landowners: he gives a description of the village, the manor's house, the appearance of the landowner. The following is a story about that. How did certain people react to Chichikov’s proposal to sell dead souls? The author shows Chichikov's attitude towards each of the landowners, depicts the scene of the purchase and sale of dead souls. This coincidence is not accidental. A monotonous closed circle of techniques allows the artist to flaunt conservatism, the backwardness of provincial life, the isolation and limitations of the landowners, and to emphasize stagnation and dying.

We learn about the “very courteous and courteous landowner Manilov” in the first chapter. Depicting his appearance, the author highlights his eyes - sweet as sugar. The new acquaintance was crazy about Chichikov, “she shook his hand for a long time and asked him convincingly to honor him by coming to the village.”

Looking for Manilovka. Chichikov confuses the name when asking the men about the village of Zamanilovka. The writer plays on this word: “The village of Manilovka could not lure many with its location.” And then a detailed description of the landowner’s estate begins. “The manor’s house stood alone on the south... open to all the winds...” On the sloping mountain “two or three flower beds with lilac and yellow acacia bushes were scattered in English;... a gazebo with a flat green dome, wooden blue columns and the inscription “Temple of Solitary Reflection” , lower down is a pond covered with greenery...” And finally, the “gray log huts” of the men. The owner himself looks behind all this - the Russian landowner, nobleman Manilov.

The dullness of the appearance of the Manilov estate is complemented by a landscape sketch: a “pine forest darkening to the side with a dull bluish color” and a completely uncertain day: “either clear, or gloomy, but some kind of light gray color.” Dreary, bare, colorless. Gogol exhaustively revealed that such a Manilovka could lure few people. Gogol completes the portrait of Manilov in an ironic manner: “His facial features were not without pleasantness.” But this pleasantness seemed to have “too much sugar in it.” Sugar is a detail indicating sweetness. And then a devastating description: “There is a kind of people known by the name: so-so people, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.”

Manilov’s character is expressed in a special manner of speaking, in a storm of words, in the use of the most delicate turns of phrase: “let me not allow you to do this,” “no, excuse me, I will not allow such a pleasant and educated guest to pass behind me.” Manilov’s beautiful spirit and his ignorance of people are revealed in his assessment of city officials as “most respectable and most amiable” people. Step by step, Gogol inexorably exposes the vulgarity of this man, irony is constantly replaced by satire: “There is Russian cabbage soup on the table, but from the heart,” the children, Alcides and Themistoclus, are named after ancient Greek commanders as a sign of the education of their parents. Mrs. Manilova is worthy of her husband. Her life is devoted to sweet lisping, bourgeois surprises (a beaded toothpick case), languid long kisses, and housekeeping is a low occupation for her. “Manilova is so well brought up,” Gogol quips.

And Manilov lacks economic savvy: “When the clerk said: “It would be nice, master, to do this and that,” “Yes, not bad,” he usually answered.” Manilov did not manage the farm, did not know his peasants well, and everything was falling into disrepair, but he dreamed of an underground passage, of a stone bridge across a pond, which two women forded, and with trading shops on both sides of it. The writer's gaze penetrates Manilov's house, where the same disorder and lack of taste reigns. Some rooms are unfurnished; two armchairs in the owner's office are covered with matting. There are piles of ash in the office, on the windowsill there is a book open on page 14 for two years - the only evidence of the owner’s work in the office.

Manilov shows "concern for the future views of Russia." The writer characterizes him as an empty phrase-monger: where does he care about Russia if he cannot restore order in his own household. Chichikov easily manages to convince his friend of the legality of the transaction, and Manilov, as an impractical and unbusinesslike landowner, gives Chichikov dead souls and takes on the costs of drawing up the deed of sale.

Manilov is tearfully complacent, devoid of living thoughts and real feelings. He himself is a “dead soul”, doomed to destruction just like the entire autocratic-serf system of Russia. Manilovs are harmful and socially dangerous. What consequences for the economic development of the country can be expected from Manilov’s management!

The landowner Korobochka is thrifty, “gains a little money little by little,” lives secluded in her estate, as if in a box, and her homeliness over time develops into hoarding. Narrow-mindedness and stupidity complete the character of the “club-headed” landowner, who is distrustful of everything new in life. The qualities inherent in Korobochka are typical not only among the provincial nobility.

Following Korobochka in Gogol's gallery of freaks is Nozdryov. Unlike Manilov, he is restless, nimble, lively, but his energy is wasted on trifles in a cheating card game, in petty dirty tricks of lies. With irony, Gogol calls him “in some respects a historical person, because wherever Nozdryov was, there were stories,” that is, without a scandal. The author gives him what he deserves through the mouth of Chichikov: “Nozdryov is a man of rubbish!” He squandered everything, abandoned his estate and settled at the fair in a gaming house. Emphasizing the vitality of the Nozdrevs in Russian reality, Gogol exclaims: “Nozdrev will not be removed from the world for a long time.”

The hoarding characteristic of Korobochka turned into genuine kulaks among the practical landowner Sobakevich. He looks at the serfs only as labor force and, even though he has built huts for the peasants that were wonderfully cut down, he skins them to pieces. He transferred some peasants to the monetary-tire system, which was beneficial to the landowner.

The image of Sobakevich was created in Gogol’s favorite hyperbolic manner. His portrait, in which the comparison with a bear is given, the situation in the house, the harshness of his reviews, his behavior at dinner - everything emphasizes the animal essence of the landowner. Sobakevich quickly saw through Chichikov’s idea, realized the benefits and charged a hundred rubles per head. The tight-fisted landowner sold off the dead souls for his own benefit, and even deceived Chichikov by slipping him one female person. “Fist, fist, and a beast to boot!” - this is how Chichikov characterizes him.

Seeing Plyushkin for the first time, Chichikov “for a long time could not recognize what gender the figure was: a woman or a man. The dress she was wearing was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman’s hood, on her head was a cap worn by village courtyard women, only her voice seemed to him somewhat hoarse for women: "Oh, woman! - he thought to himself and immediately added: - Oh, no! Of course, woman!” It never occurred to Chichikov that this was a Russian gentleman, a landowner, the owner of serf souls.

The passion for accumulation disfigured Plyushkin beyond recognition; he hoards only for the sake of hoarding. He starved the peasants to death, and they are “dying like flies” (80 souls in three years). He himself lives from hand to mouth and dresses like a beggar.

According to Gogol’s apt words, Plyushkin has turned into some kind of hole in humanity. In an era of growing monetary relations, Plyushkin’s household is run in the old fashioned way, based on corvee labor, the owner collects food and things, senselessly accumulates for the sake of accumulation. He ruined the peasants, ruining them with backbreaking work. Plyushkin saved, and everything he collected rotted, everything turned into “pure manure.” A landowner like Plyushkin cannot be the support of the state and move its economy and culture forward. And the writer sadly exclaims: “And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, disgusting! He could change so much! And does this look like the truth? Everything looks like the truth, anything can happen to a person.”

Gogol endowed each landowner with original, specific features. Whatever the hero, he is a unique personality. But at the same time, his heroes retain generic, social characteristics: low cultural level, lack of intellectual demands, desire for enrichment, cruelty in treatment of serfs, moral uncleanliness, lack of an elementary concept of patriotism. These moral monsters, as Gogol shows, are generated by feudal reality and reveal the essence of feudal relations based on the oppression and exploitation of the peasantry.

Gogol's work stunned, first of all, the ruling circles and landowners. The ideological defenders of serfdom argued that the nobility was the best part of the Russian population, passionate patriots, the support of the state. Gogol dispelled this myth with his images. Herzen said that the landowners “pass before us without masks, without embellishment, flatterers and gluttons, obsequious slaves of power and ruthless tyrants of their enemies, drinking the life and blood of the people... “Dead Souls” shocked all of Russia.”