Are there dead souls in the poem? Souls “dead” and “alive” in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”

The greatest work Russian literature is a poem Gogol's Dead souls. It talks about two classes of people: dead souls-peasants and living souls are their owners. But as it turns out later, the landowners have even deader souls than the peasants. So let's start in order.

The main character goes to different people for purchase dead souls. Manilov becomes the first.

At first he looks to us very well-mannered, educated and intelligent. But this is only the first impression. For example, there is a book on his table, all dusty. But in fact, this man is an empty talker, he is dreamy and not very smart.

The second was a trip to Korobochka. This old lady is very old and stupid. She trades with peasants as if they were some kind of commodity. She is only interested in profit and nothing more.

Chichikov meets Nozdryov next. At first glance, this is a rather cheerful and sweet man. But his only activity is wasting money. He is one of those people who like to spoil things for those around him.

The fourth was Sobakevich. He is very big, like a bear. He does everything for his own interests. He doesn't care what happens around him.

And the last in the gallery of landowners was Plyushkin. He was once a very hardworking man. But after the death of his wife, he became very stingy. There is a lot of goods collected in his house, but he spends nothing, but collects everything.

So, Gogol in this poem says that the life of landowners can be even more meaningless than the life of peasants. After all, they are not interested in anything other than money. In fact, I feel very sorry for people who put money above everything else.

Effective preparation for the Unified State Exam (all subjects) - start preparing

Updated: 2017-06-16

Attention!
If you notice an error or typo, highlight the text and click Ctrl+Enter.
By doing so, you will provide invaluable benefit to the project and other readers.

Thank you for your attention.

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Municipal educational institution

Literature abstract on the topic:

“Souls dead and alive in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

Novocherkassk

1. The history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls”

2. Souls dead and alive in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

2.1 The purpose of Chichikov’s life. Father's Testament

2.2 What are “dead souls”?

2.3 Who are the “dead souls” in the poem?

2.4 Who are the “living souls” in the poem?

3. The second volume of “Dead Souls” - a crisis in Gogol’s work

4. Journey to meaning

References

1. The history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls”

There are writers who easily and freely come up with plots for their works. Gogol was not one of them. He was painfully inventive in his plots. WITH the greatest work he was given the idea of ​​each work. He always needed an external push to inspire his imagination. Contemporaries tell us with what greedy interest Gogol listened to various everyday stories, jokes picked up on the street, there were also fables. I listened professionally, like a writer, remembering every characteristic detail. Years passed, and some of these accidentally heard stories came to life in his works. For Gogol, P.V. later recalled. Annenkov, “nothing was wasted.”

Gogol, as is known, owed the plot of “Dead Souls” to A.S. Pushkin, who had long encouraged him to write a great epic work. Pushkin told Gogol the story of the adventures of a certain adventurer who bought up dead peasants from landowners in order to pawn them as if they were alive in the Guardian Council and receive a hefty loan for them.

But how did Pushkin know the plot that he gave to Gogol?

History of fraudulent tricks with dead souls could have become known to Pushkin during his exile in Chisinau. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, here, to the south of Russia, to Bessarabia, from different ends Tens of thousands of peasants fled the country, fleeing from paying arrears and various levies. Local authorities created obstacles to the resettlement of these peasants. They were pursued. But all measures were in vain. Fleeing from their pursuers, fugitive peasants often took the names of deceased serfs. They say that during Pushkin’s stay in exile in Chisinau, rumors spread throughout Bessarabia that the city of Bendery was immortal, and the population of this city was called “immortal society.” For many years, not a single death was recorded there. An investigation has begun. It turned out that in Bendery it was accepted as a rule: the dead “should not be excluded from society,” and their names should be given to the fugitive peasants who arrived here. Pushkin visited Bendery more than once, and he was very interested in this story.

Most likely, it was she who became the seed of the plot, which was retold by the poet to Gogol almost a decade and a half after the Chisinau exile.

It should be noted that Chichikov’s idea was by no means such a rarity in life itself. Fraud with “revision souls” was a fairly common thing in those days. It is safe to assume that not only one specific incident formed the basis of Gogol’s plan.

The core of the plot of Dead Souls was Chichikov’s adventure. It only seemed incredible and anecdotal, but in fact it was reliable in all the smallest details. Feudal reality created a very favorable conditions for such adventures.

By decree of 1718, the so-called household census was replaced by a capitation census. From now on, all male serfs, “from the oldest to the very last child,” were subject to taxation. Dead souls (dead or runaway peasants) became a burden for landowners who naturally dreamed of getting rid of it. And this created a psychological precondition for all kinds of fraud. For some, dead souls were a burden, others felt the need for them, hoping to benefit from fraudulent transactions. This is precisely what Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov hoped for. But the most interesting thing is that Chichikov’s fantastic deal was carried out in perfect accordance with the paragraphs of the law.

Many stories are based on Gogol's works- an absurd anecdote, an exceptional case, an emergency. And the more anecdotal and extraordinary the outer shell of the plot seems, the brighter, more reliable, more typical it appears before us real picture life. Here is one of the peculiar features of the art of a talented writer.

Gogol began working on Dead Souls in mid-1835, that is, even earlier than on The Inspector General. On October 7, 1835, he informed Pushkin that he had written three chapters of Dead Souls. But new thing has not yet captured Nikolai Vasilyevich. He wants to write a comedy. And only after “The Inspector General,” already abroad, Gogol really took up “Dead Souls.”

In the fall of 1839, circumstances forced Gogol to travel to his homeland and, accordingly, take a forced break from work. Eight months later, Gogol decided to return to Italy to speed up work on the book. In October 1841, he came to Russia again with the intention of publishing his work - the result of six years of hard work.

In December the final patches were completed and final version The manuscript was submitted for consideration by the Moscow Censorship Committee. Here “Dead Souls” met with a clearly hostile attitude. As soon as Golokhvastov, who chaired the meeting of the censorship committee, heard the name “Dead Souls,” he shouted: “No, I will never allow this: the soul can be immortal - there cannot be a dead soul - the author is arming himself against immortality!”

It was explained to Golokhvastova that we're talking about about the revision souls, but he became even more furious: “This certainly cannot be allowed... this means against serfdom!” Here the committee members chimed in: “Chichikov’s enterprise is already a criminal offense!”

When one of the censors tried to explain that the author did not justify Chichikov, they shouted from all sides: “Yes, he does not, but now he has exposed him, and others will follow the example and buy dead souls...”

Gogol was eventually forced to withdraw the manuscript and decided to send it to St. Petersburg.

In December 1841, Belinsky visited Moscow. Gogol turned to him with a request to take the manuscript with him to St. Petersburg and facilitate its speedy passage through the St. Petersburg censorship authorities. The critic willingly agreed to carry out this assignment and on May 21, 1842, with some censorship corrections, “The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls” was published.

The plot of “Dead Souls” consists of three externally closed, but internally very interconnected links: landowners, city officials and the biography of Chichikov. Each of these links helps to more thoroughly and deeply reveal the ideological and artistic design Gogol.

2. Souls dead and alive in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls"

2.1 The purpose of Chichikov’s life. Father's Testament

This is what V.G. wrote. Sakhnovsky in his book “About the performance “Dead Souls”:

“...It is known that Chichikov was not too fat, not too thin; that, according to some, he even resembled Napoleon, that he had the remarkable ability to talk to everyone as an expert on what he pleasantly talked about. Chichikov's goal in communication was to make the most favorable impression, to win over and inspire confidence. It is also known that Pavel Ivanovich has a special charm, with which he overcame two disasters that would have knocked someone else down forever. But the main thing that characterizes Chichikov is his passionate attraction to acquisitions. To become, as they say, “a man of weight in society,” being a “man of rank,” without clan or tribe, who rushes about like “some kind of barge among the fierce waves,” is Chichikov’s main task. To get yourself a strong place in life, regardless of anyone’s or any interests, public or private, - that’s what it’s all about end-to-end effect Chichikova.

And everything that smacked of wealth and contentment made an impression on him that was incomprehensible to himself, Gogol writes about him. His father’s instruction – “take care and save a penny” – served him well. He was not possessed by stinginess or stinginess. No, he imagined a life ahead with all sorts of prosperity: carriages, a well-appointed house, delicious dinners.

“You will do everything and ruin everything in the world with a penny,” his father bequeathed to Pavel Ivanovich. He learned this for the rest of his life. “He showed unheard-of self-sacrifice, patience and limitation of needs.” This is what Gogol wrote in his Biography of Chichikov (Chapter XI).

...Chichikov comes to poison. There is an evil that is rolling across Rus', like Chichikov in a troika. What kind of evil is this? It is revealed in everyone in their own way. Each of those with whom he does business has his own reaction to Chichikov’s poison. Chichikov leads one line, but he has new role with each actor.

...Chichikov, Nozdryov, Sobakevich and other heroes of “Dead Souls” are not characters, but types. In these types, Gogol collected and generalized many similar characters, revealing in all of them a common life-social structure...”

2.2 What are “dead souls”?

The primary meaning of the expression “dead souls” is this: these are dead peasants who are still on the audit lists. Without such a very specific meaning, the plot of the poem would be impossible. After all, Chichikov’s strange enterprise lies in the fact that he buys dead peasants who were listed alive in the audit lists. And that this is legally feasible: it is enough just to draw up a list of peasants and formalize the purchase and sale accordingly, as if the subject of the transaction were living people. Gogol shows with his own eyes that the law of purchase and sale of living goods rules in Russia, and that this situation is natural and normal.

In 1842, the poem “Dead Souls” was published. Gogol had many problems with censorship: from the title to the content of the work. The censors didn’t like the fact that the title, firstly, updated social problem fraud with documents, and secondly, concepts that are opposite from a religious point of view are combined. Gogol flatly refused to change the name. The writer’s idea is truly amazing: Gogol wanted, like Dante, to describe the whole world as Russia seemed to be, to show both the positive and negative traits, to depict the indescribable beauty of nature and the mystery of the Russian soul. All this is conveyed through various artistic means, and the language of the story itself is light and figurative. No wonder Nabokov said that only one letter separates Gogol from the comic to the cosmic. The concepts of “dead living souls” are mixed in the text of the story, as if in the Oblonskys’ house. The paradox is that only dead peasants have a living soul in “Dead Souls”!

Landowners

In the story, Gogol draws portraits of people contemporary to him, creates certain types. After all, if you take a closer look at each character, study his home and family, habits and inclinations, then they will have practically nothing in common. For example, Manilov loved lengthy thoughts, loved to show off a little (as evidenced by the episode with the children, when Manilov, under Chichikov, asked his sons various questions from school curriculum). Behind his external attractiveness and politeness there was nothing but senseless daydreaming, stupidity and imitation. He was not at all interested in everyday trifles, and he even gave away the dead peasants for free.

Nastasya Filippovna Korobochka knew literally everyone and everything that happened on her small estate. She remembered by heart not only the names of the peasants, but also the causes of their death, and on her farm she had complete order. The enterprising housewife tried to provide, in addition to the purchased souls, flour, honey, lard - in a word, everything that was produced in the village under her strict leadership.

Sobakevich put a price on every dead soul, but he escorted Chichikov to the government chamber. He seems to be the most businesslike and responsible landowner among all the characters. His complete opposite turns out to be Nozdryov, whose meaning in life comes down to gambling and drinking. Even children cannot keep the master at home: his soul constantly requires more and more new entertainment.

The last landowner from whom Chichikov bought souls was Plyushkin. In the past, this man was a good owner and family man, but due to unfortunate circumstances, he turned into something asexual, formless and inhuman. After the death of his beloved wife, his stinginess and suspicion gained unlimited power over Plyushkin, turning him into a slave of these base qualities.

Lack of authentic life

What do all these landowners have in common?

What unites them with the mayor, who received the order for nothing, with the postmaster, police chief and other officials who take advantage of their official position, and whose goal in life is only their own enrichment? The answer is very simple: lack of desire to live. None of the characters feel any positive emotions, doesn't really think about the sublime. All these dead souls are driven by animal instincts and consumerism. There is no internal originality in landowners and officials, they are all just dummies, just copies of copies, they do not stand out from the general background, they are not exceptional individuals. Everything high in this world is vulgarized and lowered: no one admires the beauty of nature, which the author so vividly describes, no one falls in love, no one accomplishes feats, no one overthrows the king. In the new, corrupt world, there is no longer room for the exclusive romantic personality. There is no love here as such: parents don’t love children, men don’t love women - people just take advantage of each other. So Manilov needs children as a source of pride, with the help of which he can increase his weight in his own eyes and in the eyes of others, Plyushkin doesn’t even want to know his daughter, who ran away from home when she was young, and Nozdryov doesn’t care whether he has children or not.

The worst thing is not even this, but the fact that idleness reigns in this world. At the same time, you can be very active and active person, but at the same time mess around. Any actions and words of the characters are devoid of internal spiritual filling, devoid of a higher purpose. The soul here is dead because it no longer asks for spiritual food.

The question may arise: why does Chichikov buy only dead souls? The answer to this, of course, is simple: he doesn’t need any extra peasants, and he will sell the documents for the dead. But will such an answer be complete? Here the author subtly shows that the world is alive and dead soul do not intersect and cannot intersect anymore. But the “living” souls are now in the world of the dead, and the “dead” have come to the world of the living. At the same time, the souls of the dead and the living in Gogol’s poem are inextricably linked.

Are there living souls in the poem “Dead Souls”? Of course there is. Their roles are played by deceased peasants, to whom various qualities and characteristics are attributed. One drank, another beat his wife, but this one was hard-working, and this one had strange nicknames. These characters come to life both in Chichikov’s imagination and in the reader’s imagination. And now we, together with the main character, imagine the leisure time of these people.

Hope for the best

The world depicted by Gogol in the poem is completely depressing, and the work would be too gloomy if not for the subtly depicted landscapes and beauties of Rus'. That's where the lyrics are, that's where the life is! One gets the feeling that in a space devoid of living beings (that is, people), life has been preserved. And again, the opposition based on the living-dead principle is actualized here, which turns into a paradox. In the final chapter of the poem, Rus' is compared to a dashing troika that rushes along the road into the distance. “Dead Souls,” despite its general satirical nature, ends with inspiring lines that sound enthusiastic faith in the people.

The characteristics of the main character and the landowners, a description of their common qualities will be useful to 9th grade students when preparing for an essay on the topic “ Dead Alive souls" based on Gogol's poem.

Work test

A short essay-discussion on literature on the topic: Peasant Rus' in the poem “Dead Souls” for grade 9. The image of the people in the poem

When we hear a mention of Gogol’s “Dead Souls,” the “acquirer” Chichikov and the galaxy of vicious landowners trailing behind him involuntarily appear before our eyes. And this is a correct association, because these images were the most frequent topics for reflection; it is not for nothing that the poem is called “Dead Souls.” But how many people have tried to find on what pages Gogol hid living souls, bright images in which the author’s hope for the future of Russia is felt? Are they there at all? Maybe the writer saved these heroes for two other volumes, which he was never able to finish? And, in the end, do these “living souls” exist at all, or is there only evil hidden in us, inherited from those very landowners?

I want to immediately dispel doubts: Gogol has living souls in store for the inquisitive reader! You just have to look carefully at the text. The writer only mentions them in passing, either not wanting to show these images ahead of time, or strictly observing the concept of the work, according to which there were only supposed to be dead souls. We see these images on the pages of the “revision tales” that Sobakevich wrote about his dead peasants in the hope of selling them at a higher price. Stepan Probka was listed as “a hero who would be fit for the guard,” Maxim Telyatnikov was “a miracle, not a shoemaker,” Eremey Sorokoplekhin was the one who “brought five hundred rubles per rent.” Also, some of Plyushkin’s runaway peasants were awarded mini-biographies. For example, Abakum Fyrov, a free barge hauler, pulling his weight “to one endless song, like Rus'.” All these people flash only once; few people even stop at their names upon first reading, but it is with the help of their stories that Gogol creates an even greater contrast between the “dead and the living” in the poem. It turns out to be a double oxymoron: on the one hand, living people are presented in the poem as “dead,” hopeless, vulgar, and people who have passed on to another world seem to us more “alive” and brighter. Is this not a hint that Gogol sees only decline in the country, where worthy people, the foundation on which the state stands, “go into the ground,” and “dead” landowners continue to get rich and profit from honest workers?

The writer expresses his idea that all the greatness of the country rests not on the vile landowners, who do not bring any benefit to the Fatherland, but, on the contrary, only breed its poverty, going crazy and destroying their serfs. All the author’s hope lies with the Russian people, ordinary people, who are oppressed and offended in every possible way, but who do not give up, truly loving their country and with their own efforts paving the right path for the “three bird”.

It is difficult to understand who is truly a “dead soul” and who is not, because in Gogol this is not so clear and is understood after repeated reading. “A real book cannot be read at all—it can only be re-read,” Nabokov said, and this is certainly true about “Dead Souls.” There are many unresolved questions in this poem, but also the same number of answers given by the author about what our country and the people in it are, who is the great evil on Russia’s path to prosperity, and who, not knowing the greatness of their everyday small deeds, is all still leads her to prosperity and success.

- the main work of N.V. Gogol. He worked on it from 1836 to 1852, but was never able to finish it. More precisely, the writer’s original plan was to show Rus' “from one side.” He showed it - in the first volume. And then I realized that black paint alone is not enough. He remembered how to build " Divine Comedy"Dante, where after "Hell" comes "Purgatory", and then "Paradise". So our classic wanted to “highlight” his poem in the second volume. But it was not possible to do this. Gogol was not satisfied with what he had written and burned the second volume. Drafts have survived, from which it is difficult to judge the entire volume.

That is why at school only the first volume is studied as a completely finished work. This is probably correct. To talk about the writer’s ideas and plans that were not realized means to regret missed opportunities. It is better to write and talk about what has been written and implemented.

Gogol was a deeply religious man - this is well known from the memoirs of his contemporaries. And it was necessary to decide to give the work such a “blasphemous” name - “Dead Souls”. No wonder the censor who was reading the book was immediately indignant and protested - they say that souls are immortal - that’s what they teach christian religion, such a work must under no circumstances be published. Gogol had to make concessions and make a “double” title - “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.” It turned out to be a name for some kind of adventure novel.

The content of the first volume is not difficult to retell - the “scoundrel” and “acquirer” Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov goes to visit the landowners and offers them to buy the souls of dead peasants. The reactions are different: some are surprised (), some even try to bargain (Korobochka), some offer to “play for souls” (Nozdryov), some praise their dead peasants as if they had not died at all (Sobakevich).

By the way, it is Sobakevich’s praise that convinces us, the readers, that Gogol saw living souls behind the dead souls. No one ever dies if he leaves behind a good memory, if those living use the products of his hands. The carriage maker Mikheev, the shoemaker Stepan Probka and others rise from the pages of the poem as if alive. And although Chichikov imagines them alive, and we know his nature, it’s all the same - the dead, at least for a short time, seem to change places with the living.

When Chichikov looks through the “revision tales” (as the lists of dead peasants are called), he accidentally discovers that he was deceived - along with the names of the dead peasants, the names of runaway peasants were entered. It is clear that no one will run away from a good life. This means that the conditions in which the peasants were then were incredibly difficult. After all, our serfdom- this is the same slavery, only called differently. And fugitives cannot be considered dead. They died to their old life in an attempt to find a new, free life.

It would seem that none of the landowners could be considered living souls. The author himself admitted that he placed the heroes on the principle of degradation, increasingly deeper moral and spiritual fall. And in fact, there is a huge gap between Manilov and Plyushkin. The first is refined, courteous, although in character he has no character, and Plyushkin has even lost his human appearance. Let us remember that at first Chichikov even mistakes him for the housekeeper. Plyushkin’s own peasants don’t think anything of him. If his daughter, Alexandra Stepanovna, had not been mentioned in the poem, we probably would not have known his name.

And yet it cannot be said that Plyushkin is deader than all the other characters. Let us ask ourselves: what is known about the past of each of the landowners? Almost nothing, just a few expressive details. And Plyushkin’s past is told in great detail. He didn’t change out of the blue, everything happened gradually. Plyushkin slipped from reasonable economic stinginess to pettiness and greed. Thus, this landowner is shown to have changed for the worse. But the main thing is change! After all, Manilov, for example, has not changed at all for many years, just like Nozdryov. And if no changes occur to a person, then you can give up on this person - there is no benefit or harm from him.

Gogol probably reasoned as follows: if a person has changed for the worse, then why not be reborn again, for a new, honest and rich life? In the third volume of Dead Souls, the writer planned to bring Plyushkin to spiritual rebirth. To be honest, it’s hard to believe in this. But we don’t know the whole plan, so we don’t have the right to judge Gogol.

Finally, in the last lyrical digression of the first volume, a grandiose image of Rus' appears, like a “three bird”. And again, it doesn’t matter at all that Chichikov’s chaise is rushing off into this unknown distance, and we know who he is. The lyrical pressure and mood distracts us from both Chichikov and his “dark” deeds. Living soul Russia is what occupies Gogol’s imagination.

What happens? Is it possible to answer the question in the title of this essay in the affirmative? Can! After the first reading of the poem, it is difficult to give such an affirmative answer. This is because the first reading is always rough, approximate, incomplete. As the writer Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote a long essay about Gogol, once put it, “a real book cannot be read at all - it can only be re-read.” And it's true!

Living souls among dead souls are a rarity in Gogol. But they exist! And the expression “dead souls” should not be taken too literally. There are those who are spiritually dead, but who are still alive in the physical sense. There are many of them both then and now. And there are those who left us and went to another world, but their light still comes to us for many years. It doesn't matter what a person did during his lifetime. He was useful, he was necessary, he gave goodness and light to those around him. And for this reason alone he is worthy of the grateful memory of posterity.

From the collection of P.N. Malofeeva