“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin”: folklore sources and meaning.

1. The place that “The Tale...” occupies in the poem.
2. Social problems.
3. Motives of folk legends.

“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin,” at a superficial glance, may seem like an alien element in N. V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.” In fact, what does it have to do with the fate of the main character? Why does the author devote such a significant place to “The Tale...”? The postmaster, out of the blue, imagined that Chichikov and Kopeikin were the same person: but the rest of the provincial officials resolutely rejected such an absurd assumption. And the difference between these two characters is not only that Kopeikin is disabled, but Chichikov has both arms and legs in place. Kopeikin becomes a robber solely out of despair, since he has no other way to get everything he needs to support his life; Chichikov consciously strives for wealth, not disdaining any dubious machinations that could bring him closer to his goal.

But despite the huge difference in the fate of these two people, the story of Captain Kopeikin largely explains, oddly enough, the motives of Chichikov’s behavior. The situation of the serfs is, of course, difficult. But the position of a free person, if he has neither connections nor money, can also turn out to be truly terrible. In “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin,” Gogol shows the disdain of the state, represented by its representatives, for ordinary people who gave everything to this state. The chief general advises a man with one arm and one leg: “...Try to help yourself for now, look for the means yourself.” Kopeikin perceives these mocking words as a guide to action - almost like an order from the high command: “When the general says that I should look for the means to help myself, well... I... will find the means!”

Gogol shows the enormous wealth stratification of society: an officer who became disabled in the war waged by his country has only fifty rubles in his pocket, while even the doorman of the general-in-chief “looks like a generalissimo,” not to mention the luxury in which he is drowning his master. Yes, such a striking contrast, of course, should have shocked Kopeikin. The hero imagines how he “will take some kind of herring, a pickled cucumber, and two pennies’ worth of bread,” in the windows of restaurants he sees “cutlets with truffles,” and in stores - salmon, cherries, watermelon, but the miserable disabled person cannot afford all this , but soon there will be nothing left for bread.

Hence the sharpness with which Kopeikin demands from the nobleman a final decision on his issue. Kopeikin has nothing to lose - he is even glad that the general-in-chief ordered him to be expelled from St. Petersburg at public expense: “... at least there is no need to pay for the passes, thanks for that.”

So, we see that human life and blood mean nothing in the eyes of most influential officials, both military and civil. Money is something that can, to a certain extent, give a person confidence in the future. It is no coincidence that the main instruction Chichikov received from his father was the advice to “save a penny”, which “will not betray you, no matter what trouble you are in,” with which “you will do everything and ruin everything.” How many unfortunate people in Mother Rus' meekly endure insults, and all because there is no money that would provide these people with relative independence. Captain Kopeikin becomes a robber when, in fact, he no longer has any other choice - except perhaps starvation. Of course, we can say that Kopeikin’s choice makes him an outlaw. But why should he respect a law that did not protect his human rights? Thus, in “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” Gogol shows the origins of that legal nihilism, the finished product of which is Chichikov. Outwardly, this well-intentioned official tries to emphasize his respect for ranks and legal norms, because in such behavior he sees the guarantee of his well-being. But the old proverb “The law is what the drawbar is: where you turn, that’s where you come out”, undoubtedly, perfectly reflects the essence of Chichikov’s legal concepts, and not only he himself is to blame for this, but also the society in which the hero grew up and was formed. In fact, was Captain Kopeikin the only one who stomped around in the reception rooms of high-ranking officials to no avail? The indifference of the state in the person of the general-in-chief turns an honest officer into a robber. Chichikov hopes that, having amassed a decent fortune, albeit fraudulently, over time he can become a worthy and respected member of society...

It is known that initially Gogol did not end the story about Kopeikin with the fact that the captain became the chieftain of a bandit gang. Kopeikin released in peace everyone who was going about their business, confiscating only government, that is, state property - money, provisions. Kopeikin's detachment consisted of fugitive soldiers: there is no doubt that they, too, had to suffer in their lifetime from both commanders and landowners. Thus, Kopeikin was presented in the original version of the poem as a folk hero, whose image echoes the images of Stenka Razin and Emelyan Pugachev. After some time, Kopeikin went abroad - just like Dubrovsky in Pushkin’s story of the same name - and from there he sent a letter to the emperor asking him not to persecute the people from his gang who remained in Russia. However, Gogol had to cut this continuation of “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” due to censorship requirements. Nevertheless, around the figure of Kopeikin, the aura of a “noble robber” remained - a man offended by fate and people in power, but not broken or resigned.

“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” is an inserted episode in the poem “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol, through which the author introduces into the work the theme of the relationship between the “little man” and the supreme power. Captain Kopeikin “after the campaign of the twelfth year... was sent along with the wounded...”. Left disabled after the war (“his arm and leg were torn off”), the captain was left without a livelihood. Having devoted many years of his life to serving the Motherland, Kopeikin was no longer needed even by his own family: “I visited my father’s home, my father said: “I have nothing to feed you, I... can barely get bread myself.” The soldier is ready to work, but cannot: “only his hand is... his left.” His last hope remains in the sovereign, in his “royal mercy.” Arriving in St. Petersburg, he goes to a reception with a nobleman, who reassures Kopeikin and asks him to come one of these days. This nobleman is the very personification of power and wealth. With undisguised irony, N.V. Gogol describes the house in which the general lives: “A hut... a peasant's hut: glass in the windows... mirrors half-length, so that the vases and everything else in the rooms seem to be on the outside. .. precious marbles on the walls, metal haberdashery, some kind of handle on the doors, so you need... to run ahead to a small shop, and buy soap for a penny, and first rub your hands with it for two hours, and then you will decide to grab it , - in a word: the varnishes on everything are like that - in some way, it’s crazy.”

And how they “respect” a noble official! “Everything that was in the hallway, of course, at that very moment, in order, awaits, trembles, awaits a decision, in some way, fate.” But the whole point is that the general is indifferent to the fate of the people who turn to him for help. He cannot understand Kopeikin, who is already starving and survives on herring or pickled cucumbers and bread. Hungry, Kopeikin decides to “get through by storm at all costs” and, having waited for the nobleman, dares to be “rude”: “But, Your Excellency, I can’t wait.... As you wish, Your Excellency, ... I won’t get off.” from the place until you give a resolution,” as a result of which the angry general sends him home “at public expense.”

The postmaster says that where Kopeikin went is unknown, but for some time now “a gang of robbers appeared in the Ryazan forests, and the ataman of this gang was ... none other...” He fails to tell the story finish, but the reader guesses that the leader of this gang was Captain Kopeikin. Surely it consists of poor peasants who rob the rich on the roads.

Can Kopeikin be blamed for this? I think no. After all, he asked for help from government officials, but they refused him, caring only about their own interests, with pleasure, and sometimes bypassing the law, helping only their own kind (Chichikov, for example).

The Russian people are patient and can endure the most difficult trials, but if pushed to the extreme, they are capable of much! Proof of this can be the case described by the author in the ninth chapter of the poem, when the men killed the assessor Drobyazhkin.

N.V. Gogol planned to show all the dark sides of Russian life in the first volume of Dead Souls. One of these “dark sides” is the arbitrariness and callousness of government officials. The worst thing is that we still encounter similar things to this day, and the bureaucracy of modern Russian officials has become the talk of the town.

“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” is one of the parts of N.V. Gogol’s work “Dead Souls”, namely the tenth chapter, and is a story by one of the heroes of this work about a certain soldier named Kopeikin. The postmaster came up with this story to explain to the frightened officials of the provincial town of N who Chichikov was, where he came from and for what purpose he bought dead souls. This is the story of a soldier who lost an arm and a leg in the war for his fatherland, but found himself unnecessary to his country, which led him to become the leader of a gang of robbers.

The main idea of ​​this story is that indifference and ruthlessness sometimes know no bounds. The postmaster, telling the story of a poor soldier who gave everything to his homeland, but in return could not receive even the minimum allowance, wants to attract attention to himself and show off his education and richness of style. The officials, listening to this tragic story, do not feel the slightest sympathy for the unfortunate captain.

Read more about the summary of chapter 10 of Gogol's Dead Souls - The Tale of Captain Kopeikin

The story begins from the moment when officials, frightened and upset, come to the governor’s house to decide who Chichikov really is and why he was buying up dead souls. All officials are very afraid of audits, because each of them has dirty deeds behind them, and they would really not like inspectors to come to the city. After all, then they risk losing their positions, and perhaps even their freedom.

Taking advantage of the general confusion, the postmaster, who considered himself a very extraordinary person, offers the officials his version of who Chichikov could be. All the officials listen with interest, and the postmaster, enjoying everyone’s attention, tells the story.

The postmaster, abundantly peppering his speech with various florid turns of phrase and sayings, says that during the war between Russia and Napoleon, a certain captain Kopeikin was seriously wounded, as a result of which he lost an arm and a leg.

Having gone to his father's house, the soldier met with an unhappy reception from his father, who refused to feed him, since “he could barely get his own bread.” No assistance was provided to war invalids, so Kopeikin himself decided to get to St. Petersburg and there ask for mercy from the Tsar.

Arriving in St. Petersburg, Kopeikin settled in the cheapest tavern and the next day went to the general-in-chief.

The postmaster talks about what a rich reception room this nobleman has, what a respectable doorman stands at the door, what important petitioners visit him, how stately and proud he himself is. City N officials listen to the story with respect and curiosity.

Having waited for the general to leave, the captain began to ask for support, since he had lost his health in the war for the fatherland. The chief general reassured him, saying that the royal favor would not abandon the heroes of the war, but since there was no order yet, he needed to wait.

Joyful and happy, the soldier decided that his fate would soon be decided in his favor, and that evening he went on a spree. He went to a restaurant, to the theater, and even tried to court a woman he met of a certain behavior, but he came to his senses in time and decided to first wait for the promised pension.

Several days passed and still no money. The postmaster talks colorfully about all the temptations of St. Petersburg, about exquisite dishes that are inaccessible to Kopeikin, but tease his eyes through the window.

The captain comes to the nobleman again and again, and meanwhile the money is melting away. And from the nobleman he only hears the word “tomorrow.” Kopeikin is almost starving, so, in despair, he decides to go to the general-in-chief again. The nobleman greets him very coldly and says that while the sovereign deigns to be abroad, the matter cannot be resolved.

Disappointed and offended, Kopeikin shouts that until there is an order about the pension, he will not leave his place. To which the general invites him to go to his home and wait for a decision there.

The unfortunate captain, in despair, forgets himself and demands a pension. Offended by this insolence, the general-in-chief proposes to send the captain “at public expense.” And after that no one else heard about the fate of the unfortunate soldier.

Soon after these events, a gang of robbers appeared in the Bryansk forests, and Captain Kopeikin, according to rumors, was their leader.

According to the postmaster, Chichikov was none other than Captain Kopeikin.

Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" tells the story of Chichikov's scam, the petty intrigues and sweet lies of this low man. And suddenly the reader comes to “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin.” It would seem that this story has nothing to do with the action of the poem. And the action of the poem takes place in the provincial town of NN and on nearby landowner estates, and the action of “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” takes place in St. Petersburg. But there is undoubtedly a connection.

The postmaster tells this story to the officials at the moment when they decide who Chichikov is. He talks with a clear desire to convince them that Chichikov is Kopeikin. This is the most visible thread connecting “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” with the action of the poem. If you remove this story from the work, then it would seem that nothing will change. But it was not for nothing that Gogol introduced this story into his poem.

The reader is momentarily distracted from the narrative, and one impression is replaced by another. Gogol breaks the connection of events, the story of the purchase and sale of “dead souls” is broken, but at the end of the story you understand that the writer continued the main theme of the poem about the frozen, deadened human soul. At this point the theme became clearer and more vivid.

Captain Kopeikin was a participant in the war of one thousand eight hundred and twelve, lost an arm and a leg in that war, and arrived in St. Petersburg to beg for a pension for himself. This is what Gogol’s Petersburg is like: “Well, you can imagine: someone like that, that is, Captain Kopeikin, suddenly found himself in the capital, which, so to speak, does not exist in the world! Suddenly in front of him is a light, so to speak, a certain field of life, a fabulous Scheherazade... the bridges hang there like a devil, you can imagine, without any, that is, touch - in a word, Semiramis...” He got a job in an inexpensive tavern, since he had very little money to live on, and decided that he would go to a noble nobleman for a reception. Here Gogol, with his characteristic brilliance, tells and in a grotesque manner ridicules the luxury and wealth of the highest ranks: “... some kind of handle on the door, so you need, you know, to run ahead to a small shop, and buy a penny worth of soap, and first scrub for two hours their hands, and then he decided to grab hold of it...” or again: “a man’s hut, you know: glass in the windows, mirrors set one and a half deep, so that the vases and everything else in the rooms seem to be on the outside, precious marbles on the walls! ah, metal haberdashery..."

That’s where Kopeikin got to the reception and even received hope for a solution to his case: “... without a doubt, you will be properly rewarded; for there has not yet been an example in Russia where a person who brought, relatively speaking, services to the fatherland, was left without charity! But with each arrival his hope faded, until he himself was expelled from the city. Kopeikin, a disabled war veteran, knocks on the thresholds of a high commission, asking for a pension, and never receives it. The captain was faced with the stupid indifference of officials, with indifference to his fate. These “dead souls” do not want to see in him a person who suffered in the war, patient, unpretentious and honest: “No, he doesn’t accept, come tomorrow!” Driven to despair, Kopeikin decides: “When the general tells me to look for the means to help myself... okay, I’ll find the means!” Less than two months had passed when a gang of robbers appeared in the Ryazan forests “and the ataman of this gang, my sir, was none other” - it is not difficult to guess that this was Captain Kopeikin. With the help of this story, Gogol, as if through a magnifying glass, showed us the cruelty and callousness of those in power, the latter’s reluctance to see the pain and sorrows of the common people, and revealed to us the rotten essence of the bureaucracy.

Bibliography

To prepare this work, materials were used from the site http://sochok.by.ru/

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“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” occupies a special place in the poem. It is plot-related to the poem, but is of great importance for revealing the ideological content of the work. The form of the tale gives the story a vital character: it denounces the government.

According to the postmaster, Chichikov is none other than Captain Kopeikin. It is known that the defenders of the Fatherland, who suffered in the war of liberation with the French, received a meager pension. This is probably typical for Russia and the present time, which once again shows the immortality of great works, their timeless significance. So, Kopeikin, whose arm and leg were torn off, is dying of hunger. He somehow got to the capital, “took refuge in the Revel tavern for a ruble a day” and is trying to achieve justice in the high commission. But noble officials are always and everywhere the same - they are soulless creatures. Attempts to achieve justice are pointless, the captain is expelled from Moscow so as not to annoy “busy” people. Kopeikin is bitter, where he went is unknown, but a new gang of robbers has appeared in the Ryazan forests...

Gogol is true to himself: the high style of “skaz” is replaced by outright satire. The postmaster interrupted the story in bewilderment, since Chichikov’s arms and legs were intact. He slapped himself on the forehead and called himself “veal.” A new version is being put forward: Chichikov is Napoleon in disguise.

The world of “dead souls” in the poem is contrasted with the lyrical image of folk Russia, which Gogol writes about with love and admiration.

Behind the terrible world of landowner and bureaucratic Russia, Gogol felt the soul of the Russian people, which he expressed in the image of a quickly rushing forward troika, embodying the forces of Russia: “Aren’t you, Rus', like a brisk, unstoppable troika rushing along?”

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 past of the Motherland. The second and third volumes he conceived were supposed 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 turned out to be 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 going? Give an answer! Doesn’t give an answer.” The system of characters in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"