Gogol's poem Dead Souls. The originality of the genre

Questions and answers to N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" (No. 1)

ATTENTION! This text has several options. Links are after the text

Why do you think A. S. Pushkin, after listening to the first chapters of Dead Souls (Gogol himself read these chapters to him), exclaimed: “God, how sad our Russia is”?
How can you explain the title of the poem?
What features unite the characters depicted by N.V. Gogol?

They are united by the absence of lofty motives, indifference to the fate of the motherland and people, greed, narrowness of interests, gross egoism, dullness of all human feelings, mental squalor and narrow-mindedness.

These vices are typical: they are inherent in both landowners and city officials, although they manifest themselves in different form. Greed, bribery, the desire not to serve, but to serve, envy, intrigue each other, gossip, slander - these are the characteristic features of the bureaucracy. Both the landlords, and the officials, and the “purchaser” Chichikov are dead souls who own and dispose of living souls.

What is more important: common features of landlords and officials or their individual differences? Why do you think so?
Is the similarity depicted by Gogol in " Dead souls» city officials and characters of the "Inspector"?
How did Chichikov prepare for his career in life? What did his father tell him?

How does this instruction differ from Father Molchalin's "testament"? From childhood, Chichikov showed the abilities of a dishonest "business" person: he knew how to make a favorable impression, please those on whom he depended, make a good deal, and having achieved his own, betray, turn away from the person he had deceived (recall his school speculations, attitude towards the teacher; then " way up" in the office). For the rest of his life, he remembered his father's advice, above all else in the world, to save a penny that "never betrays." Father's order to Chichikov is very reminiscent of Father Molchalin's "testament": both taught their sons to adapt to life using dishonorable means, but time made its own amendments to parental instructions: if Molchalin Sr. above all put the connections and favor of the right people, then Chichikov's father during capitalization of Russia believed that the surest means to succeed in life is money.

How is the gallery of freak landowners built? What is the sequence of the story about each of them? In fact, the chapters devoted to the landowners are built according to one plan. Do you consider this an advantage or a disadvantage of the work? Why?
What role does The Tale of Captain Kopeikin play in Dead Souls? Why was she banned by censorship?
How is the theme of the people revealed in the poem? In your opinion, would Gogol agree with Nekrasov's words:

More Russian people

Limits are not set.

Before him is a wide path?

What are the main themes of lyrical digressions in "Dead Souls". What is their role in disclosure ideological content works?

Lyrical digressions push the boundaries of the narrative. They reveal the image of the author - a patriot who believes in the great future of his homeland, in its people. In lyrical digressions, subtle observation, wit, civil courage of the writer are manifested. Their themes are very diverse: about thick and thin (ch. I), about the weakness of the Russian person (ch. II), about the hidden meaning of the image of Chichikov (ch. XI), about the author's attitude to life in youth, adulthood and old age (ch. . VI), on the attitude of readers to the novelist and satirist writer (chap. VII).

A special place in the disclosure of the ideological content of the poem is occupied by the author's reflections on the fate of the runaway peasants Plyushkin and Rus-Troika, which affirm the writer's faith in the future of Russia.

What elements of the composition of the poem can you name after reading the first chapter?

Already in the first chapter we find two elements of composition - exposition and plot. The exposition presents a description of the city, acquaintance with the provincial officials, some of the surrounding landowners, of course, the reader's acquaintance with Chichikov himself. Chichikov's acquaintance with the landowners and his agreement to pay them visits is already the beginning of plot action.

What helped you find the line between exposure and setting?

In practice, there is no boundary between exposition and plot. Both of these composite element closely merged with each other. As happens in many literary works, when the same episodes introduce the reader into the situation of the future action and at the same time outline its starting points.

One of the researchers of Gogol's work claims that the writer's details are "soldered into the plot." As an example, the wheel is given, which the men talk about at the very beginning. It would seem, a trifle. You immediately forget about it. But the wheel brings Chichikov on the road. The researcher claims that at the second appearance of the wheel, one can talk about the wheel of Fortune known from mythology. Is he right?

Rights researcher. "Dead Souls" is a kind of transformation of a picaresque adventure novel, the dynamics of the development of the plot in which was built on the idea of the vicissitudes of Fortune (fate). The Wheel of Fortune failed Chichikov more than once in his undertakings, both before and after his main adventure with the "negotions" of dead souls.

Name the landlords who gave Chichikov the opportunity to carry out his "negotion". Tell us about the one that interests you the most. Gogol himself will help you. Use the plan according to which the writer created these images: a description of the estate and house, a portrait, a dialogue about selling dead shower, parting with the hero.

Chichikov was given the opportunity to carry out his “negotiation” by Manilov, Korobochka, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. It is difficult to say who can interest me most of all - all the landlords are bright, colorful, as artistic images, and meaningful stories can be made about all of them. Let's take, for example, the Box, to which Chichikov lands by accident. It is interesting that she is the only woman landowner. There is an opinion, spread by some researchers, that the development Agriculture in the estates it was delayed because many of them were in the hands of women, as a rule, widows or unmarried daughters. Basically, ladies who did not have education and experience either entrusted management to hired persons or clerks, or, with their inept actions, led the estate to ruin. The poorly educated Korobochka ran the household herself and quite successfully. In her district, she could not be called a small estate, because she owned eighty male souls.

Arriving at night, Chichikov was able to notice that "already one barking dog ... it could be assumed that the village was decent." The furnishings of the room were old-fashioned: the walls were hung with paintings of some kind of birds, old little mirrors with dark frames in the form of curled leaves between the wallpaper. Behind every mirror was either a letter, or an old deck of cards, or a stocking. There was a wall clock with painted flowers on the dial. The bed, which the maid prepared for Chichikov, with a fluffed up feather bed, was also distinguished by its solidity and ancient taste. She was so tall that he had to stand on a chair to climb on her, and then she sank under him almost to the floor. In the morning he noticed that not only paintings with birds, but also a portrait of Kutuzov hung on the wall. From the window, the guest saw something similar to a chicken coop with huge amount birds and every domestic creature, "a pig with a family found himself right there." Behind him stretched spacious vegetable gardens with cabbage, onions, potatoes and other household vegetables. In the garden there were apple trees and other fruit trees, covered with nets from sparrows and magpies. “For the same reason, several chu-chels were built on long poles with outstretched arms; one of them was wearing a cap of the hostess herself. Behind the gardens were peasant huts, which showed the contentment of the inhabitants, “because they were properly maintained: the worn-out board on the roofs was everywhere replaced by a new one; the gates did not squint anywhere, ”in the sheds there were new carts, or even two.

Korobochka herself had the typical look of a landowning mother, who keeps her head somewhat to one side, constantly complains about the crop failure, but puts the money in mottled bags - one whole, another fifty dollars, the third quarters - and lays them out on chest of drawers.

In the dialogue about the sale of dead souls, Ko-robochka is depicted sharply satirically: on the one hand, Gogol emphasizes her religiosity, fear of evil spirits, on the other, her economic and commercial intelligence, reaching extreme stupidity. Like Sobakevich, she kindly remembers the dead peasant workers. And even the persuasion that Chichikov releases Nastasya Petrovna from paying dues for revision souls (the losses from this greatly upset her) do not convince her that these souls are worthless and do not have any material benefit.

In the dialogue, the Box shows itself a good connoisseur prices for natural products - honey, hemp, etc., and persistently offers them instead of dead souls, the prices of which are unknown to her.

The comic effect is created by situations substituted by Chichikov that cause the mystical fear of Korobochka, for example, by the suggestion to use the dead instead of scarecrows in the garden and the wish to see the devil (“The power of the godmother is with us! What passions you speak!” - said the old woman, crossing herself " , "The devil landowner was unusually frightened"). She gives in, frightened by Chichikov's "zabranki" and hoping that he will become her buyer in the future ("do not forget about contracts"). Chichikov agreed to everything, just to get rid of her now. Korobochka's stubbornness is psychologically exhausting Pavel Ivanovich. With all his ability to behave, adapting to the interlocutor, as discussed in this chapter, he has to thoroughly “sweat” in order to conclude an agreement on “negotiation” with her.

Interesting speech Korobochka. It combines folk expressions, which speaks of her constant communication with serfs (boar, tea, oiler, take a sip of tea, appeals father, my father, etc.) and expressions from the Holy Scriptures.

When parting with the owner of the estate, Gogol, through the mouth of Chichikov, usually gives a final description, aphoristically and aptly expressed. The box is called clubhead. However, Gogol expands this generalization and thus typifies her image. “Is there really a big abyss separating her from her sister, inaccessibly fenced by the walls of an aristocratic house with fragrant cast-iron stairs, shining copper, mahogany and carpets, yawning over an unfinished book in anticipation of a witty-smart social visit, where she will have a field to show off her mind and express vindicated thoughts that, according to the laws of fashion, occupy the city for a whole week, thoughts not about what is happening in her house and on her estates, confused and upset due to ignorance of economic affairs, but about about what kind of political upheaval is being prepared in France, what direction fashionable Catholicism has taken. Gogol, as if reassuring his hero and urging him not to be angry with Korobochka, remarks along the way: “a different and respectable, and even statesman man, but in reality the perfect Korobochka comes out.”

Choose a chapter about one of the landowners and explain the role landscape descriptions play in it.

The landscape descriptions in the chapters on the landlords testify to the condition of the estate, as well as to the character and habits of the owner. In answer to the previous question, we talked about Korobochka's style of managing Korobochka - unpretentious, not following fashion, but solid and strong for an estate with an average number of souls, which brings a certain income thanks to the practical ingenuity of the hostess. The landscape on the Manilov estate has a romantic character: a two-story stone house in the south, the slope of the mountain was dressed with trimmed turf, two or three flower beds scattered in English with lilac bushes and yellow acacias, five or six birches, a gazebo with a characteristic the inscription "Temple of Solitary Reflection", a pond covered with greenery, "which ... is not a wonder in the English gardens of Russian landowners." Downstairs there were about two hundred log huts, which, for some reason as yet unknown to us, Chichikov began to count. This landscape corresponds to the dreamy mood of Manilov and his wife, and also indicates that they were not engaged in farming.

Gogol's poem is written in a very bright, rich variety of artistic techniques language. Find epithets in one of the chapters (of your choice) and try to characterize them. They can be close to folklore, they can be metaphorical, they can be hyperbolic.

For example, the epithet non-existent replaces the dead. Manilov, trying to express himself as nobly as possible, when Chichikov offered to set a price for him, refused to take the money, citing the fact that they, in some way, had ended their existence. This extended epithet produces a comic impression. A detailed epithet for the word "negotion" also sounds comical and even grotesque - it does not correspond to civil regulations and further types of Russia. Manilov asks so vivatoly, softeningly defining what is a gamble. But the “education” and the “most pleasant” impression that the guest makes make him believe that the registration of the purchase of dead souls will not harm the further views of Russia. The word "sacred" sounds blasphemous as an epithet to the word "duty" in the mouth of Chichikov in the context of his machinations.

Remember two comparisons in the poem: a man was importunate like a fly, and people died like flies. Remember what these comparisons were connected with. What is the difference between their content, the nature of the use of comparison?

The image of a fly as a comparison is repeatedly used in Dead Souls. So, in the first chapter, the writer compares officials in black tailcoats with heaps of flies rushing around the refined sugar during the hot July summer. Reflecting on Chichikov's adaptability to the characters of his interlocutors, Gogol draws a portrait of an official, the ruler of the office, who among his subordinates sits importantly like Prometheus, and behaves like a fly in front of his superiors. Comparison of Prometheus and a fly speaks of adaptation as a quality of Russian bureaucracy. If in the first two cases the comparison is comic in nature, then the expression “people are dying like flies”, which characterizes the state of affairs in the Plyushkin estate, already emphasizes the tragic situation of the Russian serf peasantry, which is completely dependent on “dead souls” landlords and officials who govern Russia.

Remember the examples of hyperbolas that you remember while reading. Could you distinguish the hyperbolas in Gogol's works from the hyperbolas in the works of other writers? What could help you with this?

Each writer has his own way of using figurative and expressive means, including hyperbole. The chapter on Plyushkin, for example, is built on hyperbole. A hyperbolic image of a heap located in a landowner's house and collected from rubbish picked up on the road. Hyperbolically comical is the appearance of the old man, whom Chichikov takes either for the housekeeper, or for the housekeeper. Here, hyperbole merges with the grotesque in the aspect of combining the ugly with the funny and gives the description an element of the tragic.

Hyperbolas were often used by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. We are familiar with his stories. In them, hyperbole acquires a fantastic connotation. The generals, who find themselves on a desert island, are so unadapted to life that they do not know how bread is made, they think that rolls grow on trees. Fantastic is the hyperbolic obedience of the peasant, who, being free, allows himself to be exploited and even tied with a rope so that he does not run away.

Try to create a dictionary of the most typical words and expressions of Nozdrev or Manilov, Sobakevich or Korobochka. What, besides the words characteristic of each of them, could be placed in it?

Manilov's dictionary may include words characteristic of him, giving "sugarness" and cloying to his behavior, such as do me a favor, I beg you most humbly, let you not allow this, darling, most kind, courteous and pleasant person, worthy, spiritual pleasure, name day of the heart, the case brought happiness, kind (appeal to the clerk), etc. Manilov often repeats the word education, a brilliant education, which he appreciates in an interlocutor or in the people of whom he speaks, clearly exaggerating his level due to the feeling of his own lack of education. None of the other characters in the poem talk about education and education. So the neutral word used by Manilov somewhat deepens the characterization of his image.

The poem "Dead Souls" is a lyrical epic work. Such is her shortest definition. Until now, you have read and listened to poems that were written in verse, their lyrical epic character was obvious to you and, probably, did not cause doubts. However, the lyrical and epic beginnings merge in many prose works. You share the elements of the epic and the lyrical in Gogol's poem.

Chichikov's arrival in the provincial town, the plot associated with visiting the landowners in order to buy "dead souls", exposing the hero, the background of the hero - epic elements works. Author's digressions and Chichikov's reasoning about the peasants, “Oh, the Russian people! He doesn’t like to die a natural death!”, About “two travelers and two writers, youth and old age”, about “Rus-troika” and others, of which there are many in Dead Souls, give the work a lyrical beginning.

V. G. Belinsky called such reflections of the writer "humane subjectivity."

Compare the lyrical digressions of Pushkin's novel and Gogol's poem. What brings them together and what makes them different?

It brings together a patriotic feeling: love for the country, reflections on its future and present, although the themes of lyrical digressions of both Pushkin and Gogol are different. At the same time, Gogol's digressions, in comparison with Pushkin's, introduce civic pathos, although, like Pushkin's, there are reflections-memories of youth in the poem. In "Eugene Onegin" there are also lyrical passages about art, customs secular life and so on.

In lyrical digressions, the Author himself tells about his views, thoughts and feelings. In this case, can we assume that there are two main characters in Dead Souls: the Author and Chichikov? Try to justify your answer.

Main character poem "Dead Souls" - Chichikov. The epic aspects of the work, the development of the plot line are associated with it. At the same time, some literary critics refer to the heroes and Avto-ra. There are reasons for this, because he actively expresses his position in monologues, which are lyrical digressions and reflections. IN lyrical work the image of the Author can merge with the image of the lyrical hero.

Bulgakov in the list of characters (billboard) indicated the following heroes: The first in the play; Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich; Secretary of the Board of Trustees; Sex in a tavern; Governor; Governor; Governor's daughter Chairman Ivan Grigoryevich; Postmaster Ivan Andreevich; Prosecutor Antipator Zakharyevich; Gendarme Colonel Ilya Ilyich; Anna Grigorievna; Sofia Ivanovna; McDonald Karlovich; Sysoi Pafnutevich; Parsley; Selifan; Plyushkin, landowner; Sobakevich Mikhail Semenovich, landowner; Manilov, landowner; Nozdrev, landowner; Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna, landowner... How do you explain the order in which these characters appear in the list of characters?

In the first place comes the First as a commentator, fastening the action of the play. This is followed by Chichikov, the main character of the play, and the Secretary of the Board of Trustees, whose role is very significant, since he unwittingly gave the idea for Chichikov's adventure, and therefore, suggested Gogol the plot of the poem, and Bulgakov - the plot of the play . Then the heroes are divided into city officials, their wives, inhabitants of the city. They make up in the poster special group as the face of life Russian province. At the same time, it is interesting to note that some characters of Gogol's poem, which are only mentioned in the text, receive their voice and some function in the play, for example, McDonald Karlovich and Sysoi Pafnutevich, reminiscent of the famous Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky. Another significant group of characters, following the group of city dwellers, are the landowners with whom Chichikov conspired about buying and selling dead shower. It was the city group, embodying the administrative system of Russia, that created the conditions for the implementation of Chichikov's adventure.

There are 32 characters in total in the comedy. Which of them (look again at the poster) came from the pages of Gogol's poem and whom did Bulgakov introduce additionally?

Additionally introduced the First in the spectacle. From the poem by N.V. Gogol, Chichikov, landowners, officials, servants came to the play. Row secondary characters, whose presence in the poem is only mentioned, are included in the poster and named with specific names, which is explained by the laws of the staging process prose work and trans-creating it into a play. So, the governor's daughter, and Sysoy Pafnutevich, and Makdonald Karlovich, about whom Gogol says that they "have never been heard of" get their roles.

What chapters of Gogol's poem are used to create the "Prologue"? What role does the "Prologue" play in the composition of the comedy?

To create the text of the Prologue, an episode from Chapter XI (Chichikov's conversation with the secretary and giving a bribe) was used. The compositional role of this dialogue is very important: Bulgakov brings into the Prologue the birth of Chichikov's plan to get rich by acquiring the souls of dead peasants that exist only on paper. Such a beginning allows the screenwriter to dynamically build the plot of the play based on the implementation of this plan. For Gogol, it is important to gradually reveal the biography and the formation of the personality of his hero, therefore, the episode of the emergence of a criminal plan is given in the context of Chichikov's background, which was included in the composition of the poem after the end of the adventure. Thus, the "Prologue" in Bulgakov's play can be considered an exposition.

Compare the first act of Bulgakov's comedy with the text of Gogol's poem. What chapters are used in it?

The first act is composed of the following chapters. First, staged short description Chichikov's first visit to the governor (Chapter I), from where the viewer learns about the latter's addiction to embroidering on tulle, about "velvet" roads and about the invitation "to come to him on the same day to a house party." From the same chapter, the play included Chichikov's introduction to the governor's wife, acquaintance with the landowners and officials. Some biographical information that could be reported to the governor passed into the first act of Bulgakov's play from the eleventh chapter of the poem with emotional exaggerations about his honesty before the law and people (chapters about meetings with landowners). The presentation of the governor's daughter, which takes place in the first act of the play, took place in Gogol's XVIII chapter. The first act also includes visits to the landowners and scenes of trading in dead souls (Manilov, Sobakevich). The monologue of the First gives an idea of Gogol's lyrical digressions, his reflections on his homeland. His final remarks about the landlords transfer the author's characteristics into the play.

The sequence of Chichikov's visits to the landlords in Bulgakov's play is broken in comparison with Gogol's text. First, the planned meetings are shown, which brings them closer to the first acquaintances at the governor's party.

Prepare a report about one of the landowners using the text of the comedy. Mark the similarities and differences with the characters of Gogol's poem.

Everyone will choose a character for their message individually. The differences in the depiction of landowners in the play and the poem are explained by the peculiarities of the dramatic work that Bulgakov created on the basis of Gogol's prose text. The characterization of the character will be compiled by you on the basis of his dialogues with Chichikov, remarks and some comments of the First. The poem contains quite a lot of author's descriptions of both the landowner himself and the environment in which he is depicted.

Prepare a message about Chichikov as the main character of the comedy. Try at least in the most in general terms to indicate what the hero of the comedy has lost and gained in comparison with the hero of the poem.

When preparing this message, one should also rely on knowledge of the specifics of a dramatic work. Chichikov's backstory is not given in its entirety, as in Gogol's, but it turned out to be scattered in the lines of the First and in the scene with the secretary of the board of trustees. A description of the appearance of the hero falls out, the details of his life. And this, undoubtedly, impoverishes the idea of Chichikov, but in the eyes of the viewer it enhances the play's amusement, its comedic character, as well as the comedic image of the protagonist.

What is the role of the First in the play? Why, in your opinion, did Bulgakov introduce this character into comedy?

The role of the First is commentary. Bulgakov was going to make him the host of the play. In a letter to V. I. Nemirovich-chu-Danchenko, the playwright expressed the idea that “the play will become more significant ... if the Reader, having opened the play, leads it in a direct and lively movement along with the rest of the characters, that is, he takes part not only in reading, but also in action. This idea did not find support from the director, and as the premiere was being prepared, the role of the First was reduced and was relegated to the background.

So, according to Bulgakov’s plan, in the finale of the comedy, when Chichikov, robbed completely by a gendarmerie colonel and police chief, again drove around Russia, the First tries to awaken the sympathetic attitude of the audience to themselves, to the usual fate in our fatherland, persecuted by contemporaries of the poet .

What favorite techniques of the satirist writer were fully preserved when the poem was staged? What did Bulgakov add from his own arsenal as a playwright?

Bulgakov carefully treats Gogol's text and retains in the play the techniques of a satirist writer, for example, the contrast between Korobochka's religiosity, her constant fear of mystical forces, and her stubborn fear of not losing when selling dead souls. She does not understand that she is committing a blasphemous act, which demonstrates her stupidity. However, she (and this is funny) is characterized by a romantic fantasy. She says that Chichikov broke into her house and forced her to sell the dead. Strengthening the gro-tesque in the image of Korobochka is facilitated by the introduced scene of her interrogation at the chairman.

Bulgakov added a new ending to the plot, a completely unexpected denouement. Real meaning is given to the phantasmagoric event. A new governor-general is appointed to the city. Chichikov is arrested. Threatening him with Siberia, the lieutenant-master and the gendarmerie colonel in the “arrest room” rip him off like sticky, take from him a bribe of thirty thousand (“Here it’s all together - both ours, and the colonel, and the governor-general”) and let him go. The satirical force in exposing Chichikov and the provincial rulers dramatically increases, as they say, by a factor of two. The viewer is convinced that if such an adventurer and swindler as Chichikov is robbed to the skin in the city of N., then both Sobakevich and Chichikov are right when they say about the city rulers "a swindler sits on a swindler and drives a swindler."

How are the lyrical digressions of the poem used in comedy?

The lyrical digressions of the poem, of course, are significantly reduced and included in the speeches of the First, as well as in some statements of the hero himself. These are digressions about the road, about youth and old age, which sound both before and after Chichikov's visit to Plyushkin's estate. The story of Captain Kopeikin is interestingly presented in the comedy. It is told by the postmaster, who fails to convey those we-tarstvos that Kopeikin experienced in his troubles. And suddenly the real Kopeikin appears, who turned out to be a courier officer and brought a dispatch about the appointment of a new governor-general. The prosecutor dies.

How are landscapes, interiors, and portraits from Gogol's text used in the comedy?

In the remarks, in the dialogue between Manilov and Chichikov, in which chairs to sit dear guest. The portraits of the heroes and the interior appear in the comments of the First, especially before the dialogues in the estates of Plyushkin and Sobakevich. Interesting remarks sound in the remarks about the changes in Plyushkin's face when he recalls the years of study together with the chairman of the chamber. First: "Spills evening dawn and the beam falls on Plyushkin's face" - there was some kind of bright glimpse of the human. And the remark of the First: “Oh, the pale reflection of feeling. But the miser's face, following the moment that feelings slipped on it, became even more insensitive and vulgar.

Prepare a reading in the faces of one of the comedy episodes. Participants can give their comments on the pictured episode after the performance.

The scene of the acquisition of dead souls from Manilov is expressively read. The conversation is carried on in a beautiful manner. Everyone wants to be liked. Chichikov speaks insinuatingly, Manilov is trying hard to insert learned words into his speech, for example, "negotiation" instead of "deal", "purchase".

Make a short dictionary of the language of one of the comedy characters. You can also create dictionaries of two heroes, then to compare them. If you worked on the creation of such dictionaries while studying Gogol's poem, then compare them.

Dictionary of Mikhail Semenovich Sobakevich: fool, robbers, dog, pig, affectionate face, robber, Gog and Magog, swindler, Christ-sellers, steamed turnip(reviews about people); haggle, stingy, real price, earnest money, etc. material from the site

Describe the remarks in one of the comedy acts.

Act two. Remarks to the fifth, sixth and seventh scenes briefly depict the setting in front of the houses of Plyushkin, Nozdrev, Korobochka, the setting corresponding to the characters and mood of the owners of the house. Rundown, rotten, full of rubbish are epithets that characterize the state of Plyushkin's house and estate. In Nozdrev's house, the interior indicates the owner's riotous nature - a saber on the wall, two guns and a portrait of Suvorov. A candle, a lamp, a samovar, stormy twilight - the situation in which Chichikov finds himself at Korobochka.

Theater lovers can prepare a story about the fate of the comedy "Dead Souls" on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater.

The history of staging "Dead Souls" on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater was complex and brought Mikhail Afanasyevich a lot of mental suffering. When he is after phone call Stalin entered the theater, he was offered to stage "Dead Souls" and take part in the production of the play. By that time, 160 options for staging had already been proposed. None of them satisfied Bulgakov, and he declared that "Dead Souls" could not be staged, a new dramatic work had to be created. They agreed with him and instructed to carry out this work. In May 1930, he makes the first sketches. He had a plan to show Gogol himself, dictating a poem in Rome. However, this idea was immediately rejected. On October 31, the first reading of the dramatization took place in the presence of V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. The famous director generally approved of the comedy, but Bulgakov failed to introduce into the performance the image of an equal character, somewhat reminiscent of the author. He was considered a reasoner, a commentator, interfering with the development of the action. Bulgakov insisted. It seemed to him that the First would play a positive role, especially in the scene with Plushkin, and even wanted to put him into action. An attempt was made to implement this idea, but Kachalov, who was entrusted with the role of the First, could not cope with it. I had to take her out of the show. In addition, the director Sakhnovsky oriented the actors towards the grotesque-tragic Gogol, towards a symbolic solution of the theme in the spirit of Vs. Meyerhold, yes, which did not suit Bulgakov. From February 1931, K. S. Stanislavsky joined the work on the performance, and the performance began to acquire realistic features. However, Stanislavsky also refused the role of the First. In the process of long, exhausting rehearsals, the idea of the staging changed: Stanislavsky had his own vision of Dead Souls, and he staged them differently than Bulgakov would have liked.

In a letter to P. S. Popov, he describes creative process work on " Dead souls":" And I smashed the whole poem to the stones. Literally to shreds. In the Prologue, the action takes place in a tavern in St. Petersburg or Moscow, where the Secretary of the Board of Trustees accidentally gave Chichikov the idea to buy and pawn the dead (look at Vol. I, Ch. XI). Chichikov went to buy, and not at all in the same order as in the poem. In the tenth scene, called “cameral” in the rehearsal sheets, there is an interrogation of Selifan, Petrushka, Korobochka and Nozdryov, a story about Captain Kopeikin, why the prosecutor dies. Chichikov is arrested, imprisoned and released (police chief and gendarmerie colonel), robbed clean. He is leaving".

Vladimir Ivanovich was furious. There was a great battle, but nevertheless, in this form, the play went into work, which lasted about two years.

Bulgakov agreed with many decisions of Stanislavsky and even admired them, about which he wrote to Konstantin Sergeevich. So, he was fascinated by the judgment about Manilov: “You can’t say anything to him, ask about anything - right now it’s stuck-no.”

In the process of Stanislavsky's work on the play, the stage action grew. The role of the First dropped out, some were cut, other scenes were changed. A theatrical version of comedy arose. The premiere took place on November 28, 1932. It was attended by such famous actors, like Toporkov, Moskvin, Tarkhanov, Leonidov, Kedrov. He withstood hundreds of performances, became a classic of Russian dramatic art.

As a modern researcher of the life and work of M. A. Bulgakov V. V. Petelin writes, “Bulgakov created an independent work, bright, scenic, many actors enthusiastically gave themselves to the game, because, as they said, the roles were "playable", there were indie-vidual scenes, there were massive ones, where dozens of actors and actresses were employed ... So the theater celebrated its success. And at the same time, in the play, “everything is from Gogol, not a single word of someone else,” Bulgakov himself claimed more than once, and the researchers only confirmed the truth of his words.

Carefully read the fragments from Gogol's "Dead Souls". Decide what is in front of you: comparisons or metaphors, and try to prove your case: “The noise from the feathers was great and looked like several carts with brushwood were passing through a forest littered with a quarter of an arshin with withered leaves”; "Chichikov saw in his hands a decanter, which was covered in dust, as if in a fu-fake." V. Kataev claims that these are metaphors. Is he right?

The question is complicated, since, nevertheless, an undivided comparison can be considered a metaphor, in which both terms are easily seen. Here they are connected by conjunctions “as if”, “as”, which is typical for comparisons. They can be considered metaphorical comparisons due to the fact that Gogol gave the compared images extraordinary expressiveness and visibility.

For what reason or combination of reasons did Gogol call "Dead Souls" a poem? Why did he sometimes call the same "Dead Souls" a novel in his letters?

"Dead Souls" is called a poem due to the strong lyrical element inherent in this work, which accompanies the plot action: insert reasoning and lyrical digressions. There are many sad and at the same time dreamily lyrical thoughts about the future of Russia, about its talented people, worthy of a different fate and suffering from stupid and mediocre landowners and officials who control its fate. At the same time, the variety of problems posed in Dead Souls, the wide coverage of Russian reality, expressed in the creation bright pictures city and local life, allows us to consider this work a novel.

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Dead Souls, Inspector General, St. Petersburg Tales, 3-4 stories from spiritual prose, Taras Bulba.

Dead Souls

The idea for the work came about in 1835. In terms of design, A. S. Pushkin helps him, he tells Gogol the plot. At the same time, Gogol made the first sketches of an adventurous satirical novel in which the author tried to show, at least from one side, but all of Rus'. Gradually in creative mind the writer developed a plan for a three-volume essay modeled on " Divine Comedy» Dante. Gogol dedicates 6 years of his life to the first volume of Souls. He was very demanding of himself and redid what he had written dozens of times. He once wrote to V. A. Zhukovsky: “My creation is enormously great and its end will not be soon.” The first volume of the poem was published in May 1842 under the title Chichikov's Adventures or Dead Souls.

"Dead Souls" is a work of a complex genre structure; elements of different genres can be distinguished in it:

Elements of an adventurous picaresque novel. The main character is Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a rogue, a rogue, an anti-hero. There are elements of such a novel here. The adventurous journey of the hero of the entrepreneur across Rus' with the aim of acquiring the souls of dead peasants becomes, as it were, an occasion for creating a satirical canvas, the landlord and bureaucratic life of Russia in the first third of the 19th century.

The work has elements of a traditional novel. The novel beginning of "Dead Souls" is associated primarily with the image of Chichikov. If in the first 6 chapters it is only a compositionally connecting image, then in the subsequent ones its role is comparable to the role of the hero of a traditional novel. Hints of love affair.

epic elements. Gogol in the author's confession wrote that he strove to ensure that in "Dead Souls" the whole Russian person appeared, as if involuntarily, with all the variety of riches and gifts, and with all the many shortcomings that are in him. Such a comprehensive problematic is akin to the tasks of an epic.

In the work there are also inserted elements peculiar to the genre. The short story "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" and the parable "About Kif Mukeviech and Muk Kifeevich".

However, the Dead Souls genre is a poem. What makes it a poem?

The equal coexistence of the epic and lyrical beginnings, differing both in their ideological orientation and in language, the goal of the epic part of "Dead Souls" is a satirical exposure of the vices of Russian life. The subject of her image is dead souls, that is, spiritually dead Russian people. The lyrical part of "Dead Souls" creates the image of an author who believes in the inexhaustible possibilities of the talented Russian people, the great future of their Fatherland. Researchers believe that it is thanks to the image of the author that Dead Souls is neither a story, nor a novel, nor an epic, but a poem.

Composition "Dead Souls".

The ratio of parts in the poem is strictly thought out by the author and is subject to the general creative plan. The first chapter of the poem is a kind of introduction, the author introduces readers to the main characters - this is Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, his constant companions: Petrushka and Selifan. And here he introduces us to the Landowners: Manilov, Nozdrev and Sobakevich. Here is a sketch of the society of provincial officials.

Chapters two through six are devoted to the landowners, that is, the masters of life.

In chapters 7-10, the provincial society, city leaders, petty officials and ladies are drawn, they are divided into 2 groups: simple and pleasant and pleasant in all respects. All these images pass before the mind's eye of the reader.

Chapter 11 gives a biography of Chichikov, not a clean businessman. The final lines of "Dead Souls" are dedicated to the dearly beloved Motherland. Gogol sings of lyrical power towards Russia.

A significant place in the ideological and compositional structure is occupied by insert episodes, in which he deals with the most acute, most important social issues. The question of the high appointment of a person, it concerns the question of the fate of the Motherland and the people - all these reflections are contrasted with the gloomy pictures of Russian life. Extra-plot reflections, scenes, paintings are organically included. In the first chapter, Gogol, as if in passing, sketches a portrait of fat and thin officials. In the 3rd chapter, a portrait of the office official is given, in the 9th chapter, Gogol talks about the incident that happened in the village of "Lousy Pride", in the 10th chapter, "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" is obsessed. Extra-plot insert episodes, portrait sketches and scenes help to illuminate the life of various social strata of Russia, Russia of the 19th century; Dead Souls reflects all of Rus' with its good and evil.

Images of landowners

Carrying out his scam with revision souls, he travels around the provincial town of NN and visits: Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. Their images are revealed primarily in the so-called portrait chapters: from the 2nd to the 6th. Introducing us to the landlords, Gogol resorts to almost the same plot scheme, first the estate and the village are described, then the landscape, then the details of the estate life and architecture, the author is attentive to the master's house, a household detail. The direct representation of this or that hero includes a portrait, a description of clothes, a speech characteristic. In addition, the author introduces us to the household, servants, and describes in detail the dinner with which the guest is served. The central place is occupied by the discussion of Chichikov's proposal on buying dead shower. The question arises: why the images of the landowners are arranged in such a sequence. According to the most common version, which has existed since the time of Belinsky: Chichikov visits the landowners on the principle of gradual degradation.

The first is Manilov. The name is to lure or lure. Here Gogol ironically plays up laziness, ethereal daydreaming, projecting and parodic sentimentality. The image of Manilov dynamically develops from the proverb: "A person is neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan nor in the village of Selifan." The things that surround Manilov testify to his complete indifference to reality. Our hero spends time in the gazebo, where he comes up with the most fantastic projects. There has been a book in the office for 2 years, but he considers himself a well-read person. He never goes to the fields, but meanwhile his peasants get drunk, the economy goes on somehow by itself. The housekeeper steals, the servants sleep. The portrait is built on the principle of forcing enthusiasm, hospitality, reaching an extreme excess and turning into negative qualities.

They bring each other sweets, tidbits.

Officials, according to Manilov, are entirely the most respectable and most amiable people. The image of Manilov reflects a whole phenomenon - Manilovism - this is a tendency to create chimeras, to pseudo-philosophizing.

The second lady is the Box. Metaphorical. She reflects the essence of her nature: thrifty, distrustful, fearful, dull-witted, superstitious. Hoarding - she loves to save, just save not in the name of something. Clubhead - calls her Chichikov. She is afraid to sell cheap, she wants to wait, so as not to incur a loss somehow. The box at first Chichikov is going to dig up the dead. She still decides to sell her souls to Chichikov, but out of fear and superstition, because he cursed her. The image captures the image of club-headed stubbornness.

Nozdrev.

Broken small - reveler. He is a historical person, because every time he gets into some kind of story: he gets drunk in a buffet to a brutal state, or he kept a horse of a blue color. Nozdryov is eager for the female sex, but main passion- to spoil the female sex. He upset a wedding, a trade deal, but still considered a friend of the one he shat. Things around him are identical to his boastful nature: instead of books, sabers and daggers. He is devoid of inner content, therefore he is dead, he changes anything: guns, dogs, horses, barrel organ, not for profit, but for the sake of the process itself. Nozdryov's food also expresses an absolutely reckless spirit: something burned, not cooked: go ahead, it would be hot.

Nozdrev is impulsive and angry. Going to beat Chichikov. He was the first to betray Chichikov's secret at the governor's ball, after which he sat on the floor and began to grab the dancers by the floor.

Sobakevich

His heroic power is distinguished. He performs feats at the dinner table. He is distinguished by good health. His image is a parody of the appearance and deeds of fabulous heroes; rudeness and clumsiness are the essence of his portrait. Nature, creating his face, chopped from all over his shoulder. Things around repeat the heavy and solid body of the owner: a strong asymmetric house, a table, armchairs, chairs - everyone spoke, and I, too, Sobakevich. He sees scoundrels and swindlers in all, the governor, in his opinion: the first robber in the world, will slaughter the whole city for a penny: a swindler sits on a swindler and drives a scammer, there is only a prosecutor, but a pig in his soul.

Sobakevich is a kulak man, he expresses a universal passion for the heavy, earthly, carnal. The strength and will of Sobakevich are devoid of an ideal.

Plushkin

The name is associated with the image of a moldy cracker left over from the Easter cake brought by her daughter. The portrait was created using hyperbole. Chichikov takes him for a housekeeper, for a sexless creature. One chin protruded forward. The universal type of miser: a hole in humanity. Object world around Plyushkin testifies to rottenness, laziness, dying and decline. Huts seep through like a sieve, expressive and exemplary owner Plyushkin transforms into a spider, after the death of his wife, the eldest daughter runs away with the captain. He curses his son, who has become a military man. Things decay, time stops. Mental faculties decline, are reduced to suspicion, to insignificant pettiness, he considers all servants to be thieves and swindlers, list of the dead shower.

As conceived by N.V. Gogol, the theme of the poem was to be all of contemporary Russia. By the conflict of the first volume of Dead Souls, the writer took two types of contradictions inherent in the Russian society of the first half of XIX century: between the imaginary content and real insignificance of the ruling strata of society and between the spiritual forces of the people and their enslavers.
Indeed, "Dead Souls" can be called an encyclopedic study of all the pressing problems of that time: the state of the landowners' households, the moral character of the landlord and bureaucratic nobility, their relationship with the people, the fate of the people and the motherland. “... What a huge, what an original story! What a varied bunch! All Rus' will appear in it,” Gogol wrote to Zhukovsky about his poem. Naturally, such a multifaceted plot determined a peculiar composition.
First of all, the construction of the poem is distinguished by clarity and clarity: all parts are interconnected by the plot-forming hero Chichikov, who travels with the goal of getting a “million”. This is an energetic businessman looking for profitable connections, entering into numerous acquaintances, which allows the writer to depict reality in all its facets, to capture socio-economic, family-household, moral-legal and cultural-moral relations in feudal Russia.
In the first chapter, expositional, introductory, the author gives a general description of the provincial provincial city and introduces readers to the main characters of the poem.
The next five chapters are devoted to the depiction of landlords in their own family life, in their estates. Gogol skillfully reflected in the composition the isolation of the landowners, their isolation from public life (Korobochka had not even heard of Sobakevich and Manilov). The content of all these five chapters is built on one general principle: appearance estates, the state of the economy, the manor's house and its interior decoration, the characteristics of the landowner and his relationship with Chichikov. In this way, Gogol draws a whole gallery of landlords, in their totality recreating the general picture of serf society.
The satirical orientation of the poem is manifested in the very sequence of presentation of the landowners, starting with Manilov and ending with Plyushkin, who has already "turned into a hole in humanity." Gogol showed a terrible degradation human soul, the spiritual and moral fall of the feudal lord.
But the brightest realistic manner and the satirical pathos of the writer manifested itself in the creation of images of Russian landowners. Gogol highlights the moral and psychological essence of the hero, his negative traits and typical signs, such as, for example, the beautiful-hearted daydreaming and complete misunderstanding of life in Manilov; impudent lies and bluntness in Nozdryov; kulaks and misanthropy in Sobakevich, etc.
The breadth of generalization of images is organically combined with their clearly marked individuality, vital tangibility, which is achieved through an exaggerated concretization of their typical features, a sharp outline of moral features and their individualization by sharpening techniques is reinforced by the outline of the appearance of the characters.
Behind the portraits of the landowners, written out close-up, in the poem follows satirical image life of the provincial officials, which is a socio-political
power of the nobility. It is remarkable that Gogol chooses the entire provincial city as the subject of his image, creates collective image provincial bureaucrat.
In the process of depicting landowners and officials, the image of the main character of the story, Chichikov, gradually unfolds before readers. Only in the final, eleventh chapter, Gogol reveals his life in all details and finally exposes his hero as a clever bourgeois predator, a swindler, a civilized scoundrel. This approach is due to the author's desire to more fully expose Chichikov as a socio-political type, expressing a new, still maturing, but already quite viable and quite strong phenomenon - capital. That is why his character is shown in development, in collisions with many different obstacles that arise in his path. It is remarkable that all the other characters in Dead Souls appear before the reader psychologically already established, that is, without development and internal contradictions (the exception to some extent is Plyushkin, who is given a descriptive background). Such a static character emphasizes the stagnation of life and the whole way of life of the landowners and helps to focus on the features of their characters.
Through the whole poem Gogol in parallel storylines landowners, officials and Chichikov continuously conducts another one - related to the image of the people. With the composition of the poem, the writer all the time persistently reminds of the presence of an abyss of alienation between the common people and the ruling classes.
Throughout the poem, the affirmation of the people as goodie merges with the glorification of the motherland, with the author's expression of his patriotic and civil judgments. These judgments are scattered throughout the work in the form of heartfelt lyrical digressions. So, in the 5th chapter, Gogol glorifies "the lively and lively Russian mind", his extraordinary ability for verbal expressiveness. In the 6th chapter, he makes an impassioned appeal to the reader to preserve truly human feelings in himself until the end of his life. The 7th chapter deals with the role of writers, about their various “destinies”. The 8th shows the disunity of the provincial nobility and the people. The last, 11th chapter, ends with an enthusiastic hymn to the Motherland, to its wonderful future.
As can be seen from chapter to chapter, the themes of lyrical digressions become more and more social significance, and the working people appear before the reader in a steadily increasing progression of their merits (references to the dead and runaway peasants of Sobakevich and Plyushkin).
Thus, Gogol achieves in the composition of the poem that continuously increasing tension, which, together with the increasing drama of the action, makes Dead Souls exceptionally entertaining.
In the composition of the poem, one should especially emphasize the image of the road passing through the whole work, with the help of which the writer expresses hatred for stagnation and striving forward, ardent love for native nature. This image enhances the emotionality and dynamism of the entire poem.
Gogol's amazing skill in arranging the plot was reflected in the fact that many of the most diverse introductory episodes and author's digressions, caused by the desire to recreate the reality of that time wider and deeper, are strictly subordinated to the embodiment of certain ideas of the writer. Such authorial digressions as about thick and thin, about “the passion of a Russian person to know someone who was at least one rank higher than him”, about “gentlemen of a big hand and gentlemen of an average hand”, about the wide typicality of the images of Nozdrev, Korobochka, Sobakevich, Plyushkin, constitute the necessary social background for the disclosure of the main ideas of the poem. In many of the author's digressions, Gogol somehow touched on the metropolitan theme, but in the utmost satirical nakedness this "dangerous" theme sounded in the poem "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" included in the composition, told by the provincial postmaster. In its inner meaning, in its idea, this inserted short story is an important element in the ideological and artistic sense of Gogol's poem. She gave the author the opportunity to include in the poem the theme of the heroic year 1812 and thereby even more sharply set off the heartlessness and arbitrariness of the supreme power, the cowardice and insignificance of the provincial nobility. "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" on a short time distracts the reader from the musty world of the Plyushkins and officials of the provincial city, but this change of impressions creates a certain artistic effect and helps to more clearly understand the idea of the work, its satirical orientation.
The composition of the poem not only superbly develops the plot, which is based on Chichikov's fantastic adventure, but also allows Gogol to recreate the entire reality of Nicholas Rus' with the help of extra-plot episodes. All of the above convincingly proves that the composition of the poem is distinguished by a high degree of artistic skill.

A significant place in the poem "Dead Souls" is occupied by lyrical digressions and inserted episodes, which is typical for the poem as literary genre. In them, Gogol deals with the most pressing Russian social issues. The author's thoughts about the high purpose of man, about the fate of the Motherland and the people are contrasted here with the gloomy pictures of Russian life.

Why did Gogol call his work a poem? The definition of the genre became clear to the writer only at the last moment, since, while still working on the poem, Gogol calls it either a poem or a novel. To understand the features of the genre of the poem "Dead Souls", you can compare this work with the "Divine Comedy" by Dante, a poet of the Renaissance. Her influence is felt in Gogol's poem. The Divine Comedy consists of three parts. In the first part to lyrical hero is the shadow of the ancient Roman poet Virgil, which accompanies him to hell. They go through all the circles before their eyes - making a gallery of sinners. The fantasy of the plot does not prevent Dante from revealing the theme of his homeland - Italy, her fate. In fact, Gogol conceived to show the same circles of hell, but the hell of Russia. No wonder the title of the poem "Dead Souls" ideologically echoes the title of the first part of Dante's poem "The Divine Comedy", which is called "Hell".

Gogol, along with satirical denial, introduces an element glorifying, creative - the image of Russia. This image is associated with a "high lyrical movement", which in the poem sometimes replaces the comic narrative.

So, let's go for the hero of the poem "Dead Souls" Chichikov in NN. From the very first pages of the work, we feel the fascination of the plot, since the reader cannot assume that after the meeting of Chichikov with Manilov there will be meetings with Sobakevich and Nozdrev. The reader cannot guess about the end of the poem either, because all its characters are drawn according to the principle of gradation - one is worse than the other. For example, Manilov, if considered as a separate image, cannot be perceived as a positive hero (on the table he has a book open on the same page, and his courtesy is feigned: “Let me not allow you to do this”), but in comparison with Plyushkin Manilov even wins in many respects. However, Gogol put the image of the Box in the center of attention, since it is a kind of single beginning of all the characters. According to Gogol, this is a symbol of the “box man”, which contains the idea of an irrepressible thirst for hoarding.

The theme of exposing bureaucracy runs through all of Gogol's work: it stands out both in the Mirgorod collection and in the comedy The Inspector General. In the poem "Dead Souls" this theme is intertwined with the theme of serfdom.

A special place in the poem is occupied by The Tale of Captain Kopeykin. It is plot-related to the poem, but has great importance to reveal the ideological content of the work. The form of the tale gives the story vital character- she denounces the government. The world of "dead souls" in the poem is opposed lyrical image people's Russia about which Gogol writes with love and admiration.

Behind scary world landlord and bureaucratic Russia, Gogol felt the soul of the Russian people, which he expressed in the image of a rapidly rushing forward troika, embodying the forces of Russia: "So, we settled on what Gogol depicts in his work. He depicts the social disease of society, but it should also be said about how Gogol manages to do this.

First, Gogol uses the techniques of social typification. In the image of the gallery of landowners, he skillfully combines the general and the individual. Almost all of his characters are static, they do not develop (except for Plyushkin and Chichikov), they are captured by the author as a result. This technique emphasizes once again that all these manilovs, boxes, dogs, Plyushkins are dead souls. To characterize his characters, Gogol also uses his favorite technique - the characterization of a character through a detail. Gogol can be called a "genius of detail", so precisely sometimes the details reflect the character and inner world character. What is worth, for example, the description of the estate and the house of Manilov! When Chichikov drove into the Manilov estate, he drew attention to the overgrown English pond, to the rickety gazebo, to the dirt and desolation, to the wallpaper in Manilov's room - either gray or blue, to two chairs covered with matting, which they never reach owner's hands. All these and many other details lead us to main characteristic, made by the author himself: "Neither this nor that, but the devil knows what it is!" Let's remember Plyushkin, this "hole in humanity", who even lost his gender.

He goes out to Chichikov in a greasy dressing gown, some unthinkable scarf on his head, everywhere desolation, dirt, dilapidation. Plushkin - an extreme degree of degradation. And all this is conveyed through detail, through those little things in life that A. S. Pushkin so admired: , which escapes the eyes, would flash large in the eyes of everyone.

The main theme of the poem is the fate of Russia: its past, present and future. In the first volume, Gogol revealed the theme of the Motherland's past. The second and third volumes he conceived were to tell about the present and future of Russia. This idea can be compared with the second and third parts of Dante's Divine Comedy: "Purgatory" and "Paradise". However, these plans were not destined to come true: the second volume was unsuccessful in concept, and the third was never written. Therefore, Chichikov's trip remained a trip into the unknown. Gogol was at a loss, thinking about the future of Russia: “Rus, where are you rushing to? Give an answer! Doesn't give an answer."

The poem "Dead Souls" by Gogol is full of extra-plot elements. In this work, there are many lyrical digressions and, in addition, there are inserted short stories. They are concentrated at the end of "Dead Souls" and help to reveal the ideological and artistic intent author.

"The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" is located in the tenth chapter of the work. It tells about the fate of a simple man, brought to a desperate situation by the indifference of the authorities, on the verge of life and death. This "work within a work" develops the theme " little man”, which was also embodied in the story “The Overcoat”.

The hero of the novel, Captain Kopeikin, participated in the military campaign of 1812. He courageously and boldly fought for the Motherland, received many awards. But in the war, Kopeikin lost his leg and arm and became disabled. In his village, he could not exist, because he could not work. How else can you live in the countryside? Using your last chance, Kopeikin decides to go to St. Petersburg and ask the sovereign for "royal mercy."

Gogol shows how the common man is absorbed and suppressed Big city. He draws out all the vitality, all the energy, and then throws it away as unnecessary. At first, Kopeikin was bewitched by St. Petersburg - everywhere luxury, bright lights and colors: "a certain field of life, fabulous Scheherazade." Everywhere "smells" of wealth, thousands and millions. Against this background, the plight of the "little man" Kopeikin is even more clearly visible. The hero has several tens of rubles in reserve. You need to live on them until the pension is “procured”.

Kopeikin immediately gets down to business. He is trying to get through to an appointment with the general-in-chief, who is authorized to decide questions about pensions. But it was not there. Kopeikin cannot even get an appointment with this high official. Gogol writes: "One porter is already looking like a generalissimo ..." What can we say about the rest of the employees and officials! The author shows that "higher officials" are absolutely indifferent to the fate of ordinary people. These are some idols, gods who live their own, "unearthly" life: "... statesman! In the face, so to speak ... well, in accordance with the title, you understand ... with a high rank ... such an expression, you understand.

What does this nobleman care about the existence of mere mortals! It is interesting that such indifference in "significant persons" is supported by all the rest, those who depend on these "gods". The writer shows that all the petitioners bowed down before the general-in-chief, trembled, as if they saw not only the emperor, but the Lord God himself.

The nobleman gave Kopeikin hope. Inspired, the hero believed that life is beautiful and that justice exists. But it was not there! There were no real cases. The official forgot about the hero as soon as he took his eyes off him. His last phrase was: “I can do nothing for you; try to help yourself for the time being, look for the means yourself.

Desperate and disappointed in everything holy, Kopeikin finally decides to take fate into his own hands. The postmaster, who told the whole story about Kopeikin, hints at the end that Kopeikin has become a robber. Now he himself thinks about his life, not relying on anyone.

"The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" carries a great ideological and artistic load in "Dead Souls". It is no coincidence that this inserted short story is located in the tenth chapter of the work. It is known that in recent chapters poems (from the seventh to the tenth) characterize bureaucratic Russia. Officials are shown by Gogol as the same "dead souls" as the landowners. These are some robots the walking Dead who have nothing sacred left behind their souls. But the deadening of bureaucracy occurs, according to Gogol, not because all this bad people. The system itself is dead, which depersonalizes everyone who enters it. This is precisely what bureaucratic Rus' is terrible for. The highest expression of the consequences of social evil is, it seems to me, the fate of Captain Kopeikin.

This short story expresses Gogol's warning Russian authorities. The writer shows that if there are no cardinal reforms from above, they will start from below. The fact that Kopeikin goes into the woods and becomes a robber is a symbol of the fact that the people can "take their fate into their own hands" and raise uprisings, and maybe a revolution.

It is interesting that the names of Kopeikin and Chichikov converge in the poem. The postmaster believed that Chichikov was probably the captain himself. It seems to me that such parallels are not accidental. According to Gogol, Chichikov is a robber, this is an evil that threatens Russia. But how do people turn into Chichikovs? How do they become soulless money-grubbers, not noticing anything but their own goals? Maybe the writer shows that people do not become Chichikovs from a good life? Just as Kopeikin was left alone with his pressing problems, so Chichikov was left to the mercy of fate by his parents, who did not give him spiritual guidance, but set him up only for the material. It turns out that Gogol is trying to understand his hero, the essence of his nature, the reasons that this nature was formed.

"The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" is one of the most important links in the poem "Dead Souls". It contains the resolution of many issues, characterizes many images, reveals the essence of many phenomena and author's thoughts.