The work of N.V. Gogol " Dead Souls"has rightfully earned recognition throughout world literature. In it, the author vividly presents us with a whole gallery of psychological portraits. Gogol reveals the characters of people by depicting their words and actions.

The writer reveals the human essence of his heroes using the example of the landowners of the district town of N. It is here that he comes main character poems by Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov to realize his plan - buying up dead audit souls.

Chichikov visits the landowners in a certain sequence. It is no coincidence that the first on his path is the landowner Manilov. There is nothing special about Manilov, he is, as they say, “neither fish nor fowl.” Everything about him is barren, vague, even the features of his face lack concreteness.

The first impression of pleasantness that Manilov made on Chichikov turns out to be deceptive: “This pleasantness seemed to have too much sugar in it. In the first minute of conversation with him you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person! The next minute you won’t say anything, and the third you’ll say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away; If you don’t leave, you will feel mortal boredom.”

Things, interior, Manilov’s home, description of the estate characterize its owner. In words, this landowner loves his family and peasants, but in reality he does not care about them at all. Against the background of the general disorder of the estate, Manilov indulges in sweet dreams in the “temple of solitary reflection.” His pleasantness is nothing more than a mask that covers spiritual emptiness. Idle daydreaming with apparent culture allows us to classify Manilov as an “idle unshakable” who gives nothing to society.

Next on Chichikov's path is the collegiate secretary Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka. She's completely caught up in petty things vital interests and hoarding. Korobochka's indifference combined with stupidity looks funny and absurd. Even in the sale of dead souls, she is afraid of being deceived, of being cheap: “... I’d better wait a little, maybe the merchants will come, but I’ll adjust the prices.”

Everything in this landowner’s house is like a box. And the very name of the heroine - Korobochka - conveys her essence: limitations and narrow interests. In a word, this is the heroine - “club-headed,” as Chichikov himself called her.

In search of the landowner Sobakevich, Chichikov ends up in Nozdryov’s house. Nozdryov is the complete opposite of the stingy Korobochka. This is a reckless nature, a player, a reveler. He is endowed with an amazing ability to lie unnecessarily, cheat at cards, change for anything and lose everything. All his activities have no purpose, his whole life is pure revelry: “Nozdryov was in some respects a historical person. Not a single meeting where he attended was complete without a story.”

At first glance, Nozdryov may seem alive, active person, but in fact it turns out to be empty. But there is one feature in both him and Korobochka that unites these people, different in nature. Just as the old woman hoards her wealth senselessly and uselessly, Nozdryov squanders his fortune just as senselessly and uselessly.

Next Chichikov gets to Sobakevich. In contrast to Nozdryov, who is on friendly terms with everyone, Sobakevich seems to Chichikov to be like “a average size bear" with characteristic feature- scold everyone and everything. Sobakevich is a strong master, a “kulak”, suspicious and gloomy, going ahead. He doesn't trust anyone. This is clearly evidenced by the episode in which Chichikov and Sobakevich transfer money and lists of dead souls into each other’s hands.

Everything that surrounded Sobakevich “was solid, clumsy to the highest degree and bore some strange resemblance to the owner of the house himself... Every chair, every object seemed to say: “And I, too, Sobakevich!” It seems to me that at his core Sobakevich is a petty, insignificant, clumsy person with inner desire stepping on everyone's toes.

And the last one on Chichikov’s path is the landowner Plyushkin, whose stinginess is taken to the extreme, to the last line of human degradation. He is “a hole in humanity”, representing the complete disintegration of personality. Having met Plyushkin, Chichikov could not even think that he had met the owner of the estate; at first he mistakes him for the housekeeper.

Plyushkin's once rich economy is completely falling apart. This hero has eight hundred souls, his storerooms and barns are bursting with goods, but because of greed and senseless accumulation, all this wealth turned to dust: “...hay and bread rotted, storehouses and stacks turned into pure manure, even if you spread it on them cabbage, flour in the cellars turned into stone, and it was necessary to chop it; it was scary to touch cloth, linens and household materials: they turned to dust.”

Plyushkin’s peasants are “dying like flies”; dozens of them are on the run. But in the past he was known as a thrifty and enterprising landowner. But after the death of his wife, Plyushkin’s suspicion and stinginess intensified to highest degree. The passion for hoarding even killed his love for children. As a result, having lost his human appearance, Plyushkin becomes like a beggar, a man without gender and without gender.

The images of landowners in “Dead Souls” show all the horror and absurdity of what is happening in Gogol’s contemporary Russia. After all, under serfdom, such Plyushkins, Manilovs, Sobakeviches receive all the rights to the same living people and do with them whatever they want.

In his poem, the writer considers all types of Russian landowners, but does not find one with whom the future of the country could be linked. In my opinion, Gogol in his poem very vividly described all the soullessness of the landowner Russia of his time.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol begins the so-called gallery of landowners with the landowner Manilov. It is to him that the main character goes first. The reader immediately notices the pretentious manners and sweetness of this man’s speech, although outwardly he is quite attractive. The meaning of Manilov’s whole life is fantastic dreams. He likes to lie on the sofa or sit in a rickety gazebo, dreaming of an underground passage. He is not at all concerned about the peasants suffering from the carelessness of this landowner. Manilov is a flatterer, in his words everyone in the city is “most kind.” As it turned out, the image of Manilov was so typical of that time that the concept of Manilovism arose.

Next in the gallery, Korobochka appears before the reader. Her life is an eternal hoarding. She is stingy and even stupid, since Chichikov has to spend both time and nerves to get her to sell dead peasants. This image also turned out to be typical of Russian landowners of those times.

Nozdryov - an avid gambler and drunkard, brawler and reveler - calls himself a friend of Chichikov. Hot-tempered, boastful, this landowner is disorderly in character, which is reflected even in his home. There is some kind of chaos going on in the house, the owner himself keeps a real wolf cub, and there is also a goat in the stable. Nozdryov at first refuses to sell the peasants to Chichikov, and then plays checkers with him for dead souls. Of course, this cannot be done without cheating on the part of the owner. Chichikov, who is outraged by this, is saved from Nozdryov’s reprisal only by a visit from the police captain.

Sobakevich appears before the readers as a huge, clumsy landowner, rude and uncouth. The drive is also visible in it, just like in the Box. He speaks extremely unflatteringly about the townspeople, but praises his peasants. He is surprisingly calm about Chichikov’s request to buy peasants from him. Sobakevich himself is shown as a sort of ruler over the peasants.

The last landowner is Plyushkin. If in the person of Manilov the reader sees the process of an idle life, then Plyushkin is its result. This landowner is extremely rich, he has more than a thousand souls, but he lives in a dilapidated dwelling, dressed like a beggar. At heart he is also a hoarder, and this trait led him to lose his real perception of things. He is ready to save (and thereby spoil) food, just so as not to waste it. And the reader, studying the description of his dirty room, sees before himself the spiritual death of a man - something to which the rest of the landowners are slowly but surely moving.

Images of landowners in the poem Dead Souls

Gogol, this excellent writer, very well described and showed the real essence of all rich people, mainly landowners. This is especially clearly expressed in his poem “Dead Souls”. It is in this work of Gogol that it is clearly visible what people are not capable of for the sake of easy wealth. Landowners at that time in the nineteenth century in Russia played a very important role in the life of peasants and society in general. How many people have suffered because of the unimportant whims of these, oddly enough, illiterate people.

The landowners in Gogol's poem are shown with all the nakedness of their morals - real, not hypocritical. Landowners are people who profited from ordinary and poor people for their own benefit. For the peasants, it was like slavery, because they received neither money nor land, only kicks and reproaches, if not worse. The landowners were the head of the fortress, so this makes them even worse.

Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" shows how one landowner decided to make his wealth even greater, and therefore began to use even dead people, or rather, their name and age, supposedly they actually exist, and are in his krepatstva, that is, in his service on the estate. None of the auditors in general could have known whether those people were alive or not - but the landowner received incredible benefits for this.

Gogol shows how insignificant people can be, and it doesn’t matter whether they are landowners or not. In this work, the landowners decided to profit even from dead souls people who have already left this world. But even they were not left alone; even here they decided to gain some benefit for themselves.

That is why Gogol could not sleep peacefully until he showed the real essence of all landowners, who are not real rich people, but those who profit from everything they can.

Several interesting essays

• Essay Death of Oblomov

  Goncharov, Ivan Alexandrovich, the greatest Russian critic and writer who became famous thanks to his works

• The image and characterization of Yuri Zhivago in Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago essay

  Yuri Zhivago is the main character of everyone famous novel Pasternak. He has quite successful career and a prosperous life. He works as a doctor and also has a wife, Antonina. Yuri is stepbrother Efgraf.

• Essay based on Shevandronova’s painting On the terrace, grade 8 (description)

  Irina Vasilievna Shevandrova’s painting “On the Terrace,” like most of her paintings, is inspired by childhood and youth. After all, even during her lifetime, Irina Shevandrova was called a children's artist.

• The image of Moscow in the novel Eugene Onegin by Pushkin essay

  The storyline of the work includes a description of the city, which occupies a special place both in the life of the heroes of the novel in verse and in the life of the poet.

• Can reality give birth to a dream? Final essay

  It all depends on perspective. It is true that dreams are nothing more than desires that serve the prominent ego in each of us and distract us from our relationship with the whole world. However, on the other hand, dreams can inspire a person

landowner	Appearance	Manor	Characteristic	Attitude to Chichikov's request
Manilov	The man is not yet old, his eyes are as sweet as sugar. But there was too much sugar. In the first minute of a conversation with him you’ll say what a nice person he is, a minute later you won’t say anything, and in the third minute you’ll think: “The devil knows what this is!”	The master's house stands on a hill, open to all winds. The economy is in complete decline. The housekeeper steals, there is always something missing in the house. Cooking in the kitchen is a mess. The servants are drunkards. Against the backdrop of all this decline, the gazebo with the name “Temple of Solitary Reflection” looks strange. The Manilov couple love to kiss, give each other cute trinkets (a toothpick in a case), but at the same time they absolutely do not care about home improvement.	About people like Manilov, Gogol says: “The man is so-so, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.” The man is empty and vulgar. For two years now, there has been a book in his office with a bookmark on page 14, which he constantly reads. Dreams are fruitless. Speech is sugary and sweet (name day of the heart)	I was surprised. He understands that this request is illegal, but cannot refuse such a pleasant person. He agrees to give the peasants away for free. He doesn’t even know how many souls he has died.
Box	An elderly woman, wearing a cap, with a flannel around her neck.	A small house, the wallpaper in the house is old, the mirrors are antique. Nothing is lost on the farm, as evidenced by the net on the fruit trees and the cap on the scarecrow. She taught everyone to be orderly. The yard is full of birds, the garden is well-kept. Although the peasant huts were built randomly, they show the contentment of the inhabitants and are properly maintained. Korobochka knows everything about her peasants, does not keep any notes and remembers the names of the dead by heart.	Economical and practical, she knows the value of a penny. Club-headed, clueless, stingy. This is the image of a landowner-hoarder.	He wonders why Chichikov needs this. Afraid of selling out. Knows exactly how many peasants died (18 souls). He looks at dead souls the same way as he looks at lard or hemp: in case they come in handy on the farm.
Nozdryov	Fresh, “like blood and milk,” radiant with health. Average height, well built. At thirty-five he looks the same as he did at eighteen.	A stable with two horses. The kennel is in excellent condition, where Nozdryov feels like the father of a family. There are no usual things in the office: books, paper. And hanging there is a saber, two guns, a barrel organ, pipes, and daggers. The lands are unkempt. The farming went on by itself, since the main concern of the hero was hunting and fairs - there was no time for farming. The repairs in the house are not completed, the stalls are empty, the barrel organ is faulty, the chaise is lost. The situation of the serfs, from whom he extracts everything he can, is deplorable.	Gogol calls Nozdryov a “historical” person, because not a single meeting at which Nozdryov appeared was complete without “history.” He is reputed to be a good friend, but is always ready to play a dirty trick on his friend. “A broken fellow,” a reckless reveler, a card player, loves to lie, spends money thoughtlessly. Rudeness, blatant lies, and recklessness are reflected in his fragmentary speech. When talking, he constantly jumps from one subject to another, uses swear words: “you’re an ass for this,” “such rubbish.”	From him, a reckless reveler, it seemed that it was easiest to get dead souls, and yet he was the only one who left Chichikov with nothing.
Sobakevich	Looks like a bear. Bear-colored tailcoat. The complexion is reddened and hot.	Big village, awkward house. The stable, barn, and kitchen were built from massive logs. The portraits that hang in the rooms depict heroes with “thick thighs and incredible mustaches.” A walnut bureau on four legs looks ridiculous. Sobakevich’s farm developed according to the principle “it’s not cut well, but it’s sewn tightly”, it’s solid and strong. And he doesn’t ruin his peasants: his peasants live in miraculously built huts, in which everything was fitted tightly and properly. Excellent knowledge of business and human qualities their peasants.	Kulak, rude, clumsy, uncouth, incapable of expressing emotional experiences. An evil, tough serf owner will never miss his profit.	Of all the landowners with whom Chichikov dealt, Sobakevich is the most savvy. He immediately understood what the dead souls were for, quickly saw through the guest’s intentions and made a deal to his advantage.
Plyushkin	It was difficult to determine whether it was a man or a woman. Looks like an old key holder. Gray eyes quickly ran from under fused eyebrows. There is a cap on the head. The face is wrinkled, like that of an old man. The chin protruded far forward; there were no teeth. On the neck is either a scarf or a stocking. The men call Plyushkin “Patched”.	Dilapidated buildings, old dark logs on the peasants' huts, holes in the roofs, windows without glass. He walked the streets, picking up everything he came across and dragging it into the house. The house is full of furniture and junk. The once prosperous farm became unprofitable due to pathological stinginess, brought to the point of wastefulness (hay and bread rotted, flour in the basement turned to stone).	Once upon a time, Plyushkin was simply a thrifty owner; he had a family and children. The hero also met with his neighbors. The turning point in the transformation of a cultured landowner into a miser was the death of the owner. Plyushkin, like all widowers, became suspicious and stingy. And it turns, as Gogol says, into “a hole in humanity.”	The offer amazed and delighted me because there would be income. He agreed to sell 78 souls for 30 kopecks.

• Landowner Portrait Characteristics Estate Attitude to farming Lifestyle Result Manilov Handsome blond with blue eyes. At the same time, his appearance “seemed to have too much sugar in it.” Too ingratiating look and behavior Too enthusiastic and refined dreamer who does not feel any curiosity about his farm or anything earthly (he doesn’t even know whether his peasants have died since the last revision). At the same time, his dreaminess is absolutely [...]
• Compositionally, the poem “Dead Souls” consists of three externally closed, but internally interconnected circles. landowners, a city, a biography of Chichikov, united by the image of a road, plot-related by the main character’s scam. But the middle link - the life of the city - itself consists, as it were, of narrowing circles gravitating towards the center; This graphic image provincial hierarchy. It is interesting that in this hierarchical pyramid the governor, embroidering on tulle, looks like a puppet figure. True life boils in the civil […]
• Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is one of the most brilliant authors of our vast Motherland. In his works, he always spoke about painful issues, about how His Rus' lived in His time. And he does it so well! This man really loved Russia, seeing what our country really is - unhappy, deceptive, lost, but at the same time - dear. Nikolai Vasilyevich in the poem “Dead Souls” gives a social profile of the Rus' of that time. Describes landownership in all colors, reveals all the nuances and characters. Among […]
• The work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol fell on the dark era of Nicholas I. It was the 30s. XIX century, when reaction reigned in Russia after the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, all dissenters were persecuted, best people were persecuted. Describing the reality of his time, N.V. Gogol creates the poem “Dead Souls”, which is brilliant in its depth of reflection of life. The basis of “Dead Souls” is that the book is a reflection not of individual features of reality and characters, but of the reality of Russia as a whole. Myself […]
• In Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" the way of life and morals of the feudal landowners is very correctly noted and described. Drawing images of landowners: Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin, the author recreated a generalized picture of the life of serf Russia, where arbitrariness reigned, the economy was in decline, and the individual underwent moral degradation. After writing and publishing the poem, Gogol said: ““Dead Souls” made a lot of noise, a lot of murmur, touched many people with mockery, truth, and caricature, touched […]
• Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol noted that the main theme of “Dead Souls” was contemporary Russia. The author believed that “there is no other way to direct society or even an entire generation towards the beautiful until you show the full depth of its real abomination.” That is why the poem presents a satire on landed nobility, bureaucracy and others social groups. The composition of the work is subordinated to this task of the author. The image of Chichikov traveling around the country in search of the necessary connections and wealth allows N.V. Gogol […]
• Chichikov, having met landowners in the city, received an invitation from each of them to visit the estate. The gallery of owners of “dead souls” is opened by Manilov. The author at the very beginning of the chapter gives a description of this character. His appearance initially made him very pleasant experience, then - bewilderment, and in the third minute “... you say: “The devil knows what it is!” and move away..." The sweetness and sentimentality highlighted in the portrait of Manilov constitute the essence of his idle lifestyle. He is constantly talking about something [...]
• French traveler, author famous book"Russia in 1839" The Marquis de Kestin wrote: “Russia is ruled by a class of officials who occupy administrative positions straight from school... each of these gentlemen becomes a nobleman, having received a cross in his buttonhole... Upstarts are among those in power, and they use their power as befits upstarts.” The Tsar himself admitted with bewilderment that it was not he, the All-Russian autocrat, who ruled his empire, but the head appointed by him. Provincial town [...]
• In his famous address to the “bird-troika”, Gogol did not forget the master to whom the troika owes its existence: “It seems that not a cunning, it seems, road projectile, not grabbed by an iron screw, but hastily, alive, with one ax and a chisel, the Yaroslavl equipped and assembled you a quick guy." There is another hero in the poem about swindlers, parasites, owners of living and dead souls. Gogol's unnamed hero is a serf slave. In “Dead Souls” Gogol composed such a dithyramb for the Russian serf people, with such direct clarity […]
• N.V. Gogol conceived the first part of the poem “Dead Souls” as a work that reveals the social vices of society. In this regard, he was looking for a plot that was not simple fact of life, but one that would make it possible to expose the hidden phenomena of reality. In this sense, the plot proposed by A. S. Pushkin suited Gogol perfectly. The idea of ​​“travelling all over Rus' with the hero” gave the author the opportunity to show the life of the entire country. And since Gogol described it in such a way “so that all the little things that elude […]
• In the fall of 1835, Gogol began working on “Dead Souls,” the plot of which, like the plot of “The Inspector General,” was suggested to him by Pushkin. “In this novel I want to show, although from one side, all of Rus',” he writes to Pushkin. Explaining the concept of “Dead Souls,” Gogol wrote that the images of the poem are “in no way portraits of insignificant people; on the contrary, they contain the features of those who consider themselves better than others.” Explaining the choice of the hero, the author says: “Because it’s time, finally, give rest to the poor to a virtuous person, because […]
• It should be noted that the episode of the crews’ collision is divided into two micro-themes. One of them is the appearance of a crowd of onlookers and “helpers” from a neighboring village, the other is Chichikov’s thoughts caused by his meeting with a young stranger. Both of these themes have both an external, superficial layer that directly concerns the characters of the poem, and a deep layer that brings to the scale of the author’s thoughts about Russia and its people. So, the collision occurs suddenly when Chichikov silently curses Nozdryov, thinking that […]
• Chichikov met Nozdrev earlier, at one of the receptions in the city of NN, but the meeting in the tavern is the first serious acquaintance of both Chichikov and the reader with him. We understand what type of people Nozdryov belongs to, first seeing his behavior in the tavern, his story about the fair, and then reading the author’s direct description of this “broken fellow,” “ historical person”, who has a “passion to spoil his neighbor, sometimes for no reason at all.” We know Chichikov as a completely different person – [...]
• Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is one of the greatest and at the same time mysterious works XIX century The genre definition of “poem,” which then unambiguously meant a lyric-epic work written in poetic form and predominantly romantic, was perceived differently by Gogol’s contemporaries. Some found it mocking, while others saw hidden irony in this definition. Shevyrev wrote that “the meaning of the word “poem” seems to us twofold... because of the word “poem” a deep, significant […]
• At the literature lesson we got acquainted with the work of N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". This poem gained great popularity. The work was repeatedly filmed both in the Soviet Union and in modern Russia. Also, the names of the main characters have become symbolic: Plyushkin is a symbol of stinginess and storage of unnecessary things, Sobakevich is an uncouth person, Manilovism is immersion in dreams that have no connection with reality. Some phrases have become catchphrases. The main character of the poem is Chichikov. […]
• What is an image literary hero? Chichikov is a great hero, classic work, created by a genius, a hero who embodied the result of the author’s observations and reflections on life, people, and their actions. An image that has absorbed typical features, and therefore has long gone beyond the scope of the work itself. His name became a household name for people - nosy careerists, sycophants, money-grubbers, outwardly “pleasant,” “decent and worthy.” Moreover, some readers' assessment of Chichikov is not so clear. Comprehension […]
• Gogol was always attracted by everything eternal and unshakable. By analogy with " Divine Comedy"For Dante, he decides to create a work in three volumes, where the past, present and future of Russia could be shown. The author even designates the genre of the work in an unusual way - a poem, since different fragments of life are collected in one artistic whole. The composition of the poem, which is built on the principle of concentric circles , allows Gogol to trace Chichikov’s movement through the provincial town of N, the estates of landowners and all of Russia […]
• "At the hotel gates provincial town NN a rather beautiful spring chaise drove in... In the chaise sat a gentleman, not handsome, but not bad-looking either, neither too fat nor too thin; One cannot say that he is old, but not that he is too young. His entry made absolutely no noise in the city and was not accompanied by anything special.” This is how our hero, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, appears in the city. Let us, following the author, get to know the city. Everything tells us that this is a typical provincial [...]
• Plyushkin is the image of a moldy cracker left over from Easter cake. Only he has a life story; Gogol portrays all other landowners statically. These heroes seem to have no past that would be in any way different from their present and explain something about it. Plyushkin's character is much more complex characters other landowners represented in Dead Souls. Traits of manic stinginess are combined in Plyushkin with morbid suspicion and distrust of people. Preserving an old sole, a clay shard, [...]
• The poem "Dead Souls" reflects social phenomena and the conflicts that characterized Russian life in the 30s and early 40s. XIX century It very accurately notes and describes the way of life and customs of that time. Drawing images of landowners: Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin, the author recreated a generalized picture of the life of serf Russia, where arbitrariness reigned, the economy was in decline, and the individual suffered moral degradation, regardless of whether she was a slave owner or [... ]

1. Most interesting place in the poem there are chapters dedicated to five landowners.
2. The image of Manilov.
3. Image of the Box.
4. The image of Sobakevich.
5. Image of Nozdryov!
6. The image of Plyushkin.
7. The role of images of landowners in the novel.

The most interesting place in I. V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” is the chapters dedicated to five landowners: Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. It is easy to notice that the chapters are arranged in a special sequence: from the least to the greatest degree of degradation of the characters.

The surname of the landowner Manilov is derived from the verb “to beckon.” The main features of this character are daydreaming, sentimentality and laziness. Gogol characterizes his hero as follows: “... a so-so person, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.” Manilov's house is located on the Jurassic, which is blown by all the winds, which speaks of his frivolity and inability to think realistically. The landowner loves to indulge in his dreams in the gazebo, on which there is an inscription: “Temple of Solitary Reflection.” This is the only secluded place for Manilov, where he can calmly fantasize about some completely unrealistic projects. But, as it seems to him, dig an underground passage from the house or build stone bridge across the pond - these are completely normal ideas. Housekeeping is not Manilov’s thing. Everything is going wrong on his estate, and the hero doesn’t even care about it.

Gogol says that Manilov’s hospitality and good looks are too cloying: “In the first minute of conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person!” The next time... you won’t say anything, and the third time you’ll say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away!..” This is manifested not only in the manners of the landowner, but also in his relationship with his wife. They lisp with each other all the time, and this greatly amuses the author.

The image of this hero has become one of the key ones for literature. From him came the name of such a phenomenon as “Manilovism”, which means the unnaturalness of a person.

Another no less striking character in the story is the landowner Korobochka. Her surname was chosen by Gogol not by chance. By nature, the landowner is immensely economical and superstitious. Korobochka is the type of woman who can cry about a bad harvest, but still always saves a pretty penny for herself. Her chest of drawers, in addition to all sorts of nonsense, is filled with bags of money. Korobochka is very petty, she only cares about housekeeping, and in it she sees the meaning of life. Gogol gives her entourage “animal” surnames: Bobrov and Svinin, which once again emphasizes that the heroine is passionate only about her estate. The author highlights his cudgel-headedness among other “advantages” of his character. Korobochka demonstrates this quality in a situation when Chichikov tries to negotiate with her about the sale of “dead souls.” The heroine thinks that her interlocutor is going to dig up dead peasants from the graves. She is in no hurry to sell her “wealth”, but instead tries to slip hemp and honey. Korobochka agrees to Chichikov's proposal only after he mentions the devil.

The next landowner whom Chichikov visited was Sobakevich. His image was composed by N.V. Gogol from everything big: big boots, cheesecakes “much larger than a plate,” “a turkey the size of a calf.” Even this character’s health is heroic. Thanks to such descriptions, the author achieves a comic effect. By parading the great exploits of the heroes, Gogol thereby emphasizes the true essence of Sobakevich himself, whose main qualities can be called rudeness and clumsiness. All the objects in the house are as bulky and clumsy as their owner: a table, chairs, a wooden bureau - everything seems to shout: “And I, too, are Sobakevich!” In his opinion, everyone around is liars and the last scammers. He doesn't care at all human soul, the interest for Sobakevich is only in money.

From all of the above, we can conclude that Sobakevich is one of the most “dead souls” of the poem. There is nothing spiritual for him. The only things valuable to this hero are money and things. He is only interested in “earthly” matters.

Most bright character, in my opinion, is Nozdryov. This is the image of an inveterate reveler. The author is ironic about his character, speaking of him as a “historical” person. In relation to his hero, Gogol uses figurative meaning this word. Nozdryov’s “historicism” lies in the fact that he always ends up in some kind of story: he either gets drunk at a buffet, or mercilessly lies about the horse he allegedly acquired. Like any rake, he adores women. But most main feature Nozdryov’s character is a great desire to “mess up one’s neighbor.” Not once did he commit vile acts. For example, he told fictitious stories, disrupted a wedding, upset a trade deal, etc. But the most outstanding thing about his character is that after all his tricks, without a twinge of conscience, he continued to consider himself a comrade of the victim.

According to tradition, in the poem the furnishings in the house of each landowner correspond to the character of its owner. So Nozdryov’s home is imbued with the spirit of excitement and boasting. According to Nozdryov himself, in his domain there was once “a fish of such size that two people could hardly pull it out.” Its walls are haphazardly covered in paint, as the men whitewash them. His office, instead of books and papers, is filled with weapons. Nozdryov likes to exchange some things for others, not because of money or some other material interest, but simply because he is fascinated by this process. Since all kinds of tricks are main passion character, it is not difficult for him to fool Chichikov, whom Nozdryov gets drunk and tries to deceive when playing checkers.

What else can be said about Nozdrev? His description will tell everything much better: “...he sometimes returned home with only his sideburns, and then quite runny. But his healthy and full cheeks were so well created and contained so much plant power that his sideburns soon grew back, even better than before.”

And the final image in the gallery of Russian “dead souls” is a landowner named Plyushkin. As you know, in the poem all the names are speaking. Only "Plyushkin" is given in figurative meaning. It looks more like a completely dried out cracker rather than a bun. The image of the landowner Plyushkin is very sloppy. Gogol mentions his double chin, which has to be constantly covered, as well as about a greasy robe, which evokes nothing but disgust in the reader. The author gives his hero a very succinct definition: “a hole in humanity.” This character is a symbol of the decadent mood and decay of all living things. And again the house speaks for its owner: the bread in the storerooms is rotting, the gates and fences are covered with mold, and the roofs in the huts are completely leaky. Gogol adds short story about the fate of his hero, whose wife first died, and after that his daughter ran away with the headquarters captain. These events became for Plyushkin last moments real life. After this, time stopped for the hero.

All images of N.V. Gogol are very bright and unique in their own way. But there is one main idea, which unites them. Author showing illustrative examples degradation of humanity, urges readers not to become " dead soul”, and always remain “alive”.

The most interesting place in I. V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” is the chapters dedicated to five landowners: Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. It is easy to notice that the chapters are arranged in a special sequence: from the least to the greatest degree of degradation of the characters. The surname of the landowner Manilov is derived from the verb “to lure.”

The main features of this character are daydreaming, sentimentality and laziness. Gogol characterizes his hero as follows: “...a so-so person, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.” Manilov's house is located on the Jurassic, which is blown by all the winds, which speaks of his frivolity and inability to think realistically. The landowner loves to indulge in his dreams in the gazebo, on which there is an inscription: “Temple of solitary reflection.” This is the only secluded place for Manilov, where he can calmly fantasize about some completely unrealistic projects. But, as it seems to him, digging an underground passage from the house or building a stone bridge across a pond are completely normal ideas. Running a household is not Manilov’s thing.

Everything is going wrong on his estate, and the hero doesn’t even care about it. Gogol says that Manilov’s hospitality and good looks are too cloying: “In the first minute of conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person!” To the next one. You won’t say anything, but the third time you’ll say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away!..” This is manifested not only in the manners of the landowner, but also in his relationship with his wife. They lisp with each other all the time, and this greatly amuses the author. The image of this hero has become one of the key ones for literature. From him came the name of such a phenomenon as “Manilovism,” which means the unnaturalness of a person. Another no less striking character in the story is the landowner Korobochka. Her surname was chosen by Gogol not by chance.

By nature, the landowner is immensely economical and superstitious. Korobochka is the type of woman who can cry about a bad harvest, but still always saves a pretty penny for herself. Her chest of drawers, in addition to all sorts of nonsense, is filled with bags of money. Korobochka is very petty, she only cares about housekeeping, and in it she sees the meaning of life. Gogol gives her entourage “animal” surnames: Bobrov and Svinin, which once again emphasizes that the heroine is passionate only about her estate. The author highlights his cudgel-headedness among other “advantages” of his character. Korobochka demonstrates this quality in a situation when Chichikov tries to negotiate with her about the sale of “dead souls”. The heroine thinks that her interlocutor is going to dig up dead peasants from the graves. She is in no hurry to sell her “wealth”, but instead tries to slip hemp and honey. Korobochka agrees to Chichikov's proposal only after he mentions the devil.

The next landowner whom Chichikov visited was Sobakevich. His image was composed by N.V. Gogol from everything big: big boots, cheesecakes “much larger than a plate,” “a turkey the size of a calf.” Even this character’s health is heroic. Thanks to such descriptions, the author achieves a comic effect. By parading the great exploits of the heroes, Gogol thereby emphasizes the true essence of Sobakevich himself, whose main qualities can be called rudeness and clumsiness. All the objects in the house are as bulky and clumsy as their owner: a table, chairs, a wooden bureau - everything seems to shout: “And I, too, are Sobakevich!” In his opinion, everyone around is liars and the last scammers. The human soul is not at all important to him; Sobakevich’s interest lies only in money. From all of the above, we can conclude that Sobakevich is one of the most “dead souls” of the poem.

There is nothing spiritual for him. The only things valuable to this hero are money and things. He is only interested in “earthly” matters. The most striking character, in my opinion, is Nozdryov. This is the image of an inveterate reveler. The author is ironic about his character, speaking of him as a “historical” person. In relation to his hero, Gogol uses the figurative meaning of this word. Nozdrev’s “historicism” lies in the fact that he always ends up in some kind of story: he either gets drunk at a buffet, or mercilessly lies about the horse he allegedly acquired. Like any rake, he adores women. But the most important feature of Nozdryov’s character is the great desire to “spoil one’s neighbor.”

Not once did he commit vile acts. For example, he told fictitious stories, disrupted a wedding, upset a trade deal, etc. But the most outstanding thing about his character is that after all his tricks, without a twinge of conscience, he continued to consider himself a comrade of the victim. According to tradition, in the poem the furnishings in the house of each landowner correspond to the character of its owner. So Nozdryov’s home is imbued with the spirit of excitement and boasting. According to Nozdrev himself, in his domain there was once “a fish of such size that two people could hardly pull it out.” Its walls are haphazardly covered in paint, as the men whitewash them. His office, instead of books and papers, is filled with weapons.

Nozdryov likes to exchange some things for others, not because of money or some other material interest, but simply because he is fascinated by this process. Since all sorts of tricks are the main passion of the character, it is not difficult for him to fool Chichikov, whom Nozdryov gets drunk and tries to deceive when playing checkers. What else can be said about Nozdrev? His description will tell everything much better: “...he would sometimes return home with only his sideburns, and then quite runny. But his healthy and full cheeks were so well created and contained so much plant power that his sideburns soon grew back, even better than before.”

And the final image in the gallery of Russian “dead souls” is a landowner named Plyushkin. As you know, in the poem all the names are speaking. Only “Plyushkin” is given in a figurative meaning. It looks more like a completely dried out cracker rather than a bun. The image of the landowner Plyushkin is very sloppy. Gogol mentions his double chin, which he has to constantly cover, as well as his greasy robe, which evokes nothing but disgust in the reader. The author gives his hero a very succinct definition: “a hole in humanity.” This character is a symbol of the decadent mood and decay of all living things. And again the house speaks for its owner: the bread in the storerooms is rotting, the gates and fences are covered with mold, and the roofs in the huts are completely leaky. Gogol adds a short story about the fate of his hero, whose wife first died, and after that his daughter ran away with the headquarters captain. These events became the last moments of real life for Plyushkin. After this, time stopped for the hero.

All images of N.V. Gogol are very bright and unique in their own way. But there is one main idea that unites them. The author, showing clear examples of the degradation of humanity, urges readers not to become a “dead soul,” but to always remain “alive.”

(1 ratings, average: 5.00 out of 5)