To work on his main work - the poem “Dead Souls” - N.V. Gogol began in 1835 and did not stop until his death. He set himself the task of showing backward, feudal Russia with all its vices and shortcomings. A big role in this was played by the author’s masterfully created images of representatives of the nobility, who made up the main social class in the country. The description of the villages of Manilov, Korobochka, Sobakevich, Nozdryov, Plyushkin allows us to understand how different, but at the same time typical, spiritually poor were the people who were the main support of power. This is despite the fact that each of the presented landowners considered himself the best among the rest.

The role of the interior

Gogol builds the five chapters of the first volume, dedicated to landowners, according to one principle. He characterizes each owner through a description of his appearance, his manner of behavior with the guest - Chichikov - and relatives. The author talks about how life was organized on the estate, which is manifested through the attitude towards the peasants, the entire estate and their own home. As a result, a generalized picture emerges of how the “best” representatives of serf Russia lived in the first half of the 19th century.

The first is a description of the village of Manilov - a very sweet and friendly landowner, at first glance.

Long road

The path to the estate leaves a not very pleasant impression. When meeting in the city, the landowner who invited Chichikov to visit noted that he lived about fifteen miles from here. However, all sixteen and even more had already passed, and the road seemed to have no end. Two men who met indicated that after a mile there would be a turn, and there would be Manilovka. But this didn’t resemble the truth either, and Chichikov concluded for himself that the owner, as was often the case, had reduced the distance by half in the conversation. Perhaps in order to lure - let's remember the landowner's name.

Finally, an estate appeared ahead.

Unusual location

The first thing that caught my eye was the two-story manor house, which was built on a hill - “on the Jurassic,” as the author points out. It is with him that we should begin the description of the village of Manilov in the poem “Dead Souls”.

It seemed that the lonely house was being blown from all sides by the winds that only happened in these places. The hillside on which the building stood was covered with trimmed turf.

The incongruous location of the house was complemented by flower beds with bushes and lilacs, laid out in the English style. Stunted birch trees grew nearby - no more than five or six - and there was a gazebo with the name, funny for these places, “Temple of Solitary Reflection.” The unattractive picture was completed by a small pond, which, however, was not uncommon on the estates of landowners who were fond of the English style.

Absurdity and impracticality - this is the first impression of the landowner's farm.

Description of the village of Manilova

“Dead Souls” continues the story about a series of miserable, gray peasant huts - Chichikov counted at least two hundred of them. They were located lengthwise and crosswise at the foot of the hill and consisted of only logs. Between the huts the guest did not see any trees or other greenery, which made the village not at all attractive. In the distance it was somehow dullly dark. This is the description of the village of Manilov.

“Dead Souls” contains a subjective assessment of what Chichikov saw. With Manilov, everything seemed to him somehow gray and incomprehensible, even “the day was either clear or gloomy.” Only two swearing women dragging crayfish and roach across the pond, and a rooster with tattered wings crowing at the top of his lungs, somewhat enlivened the picture.

Meeting with the owner

A description of the village of Manilov from “Dead Souls” will be incomplete without meeting the owner himself. He stood on the porch and, recognizing the guest, immediately broke into the most cheerful smile. Even at their first meeting in the city, Manilov struck Chichikov with the fact that there seemed to be a lot of sugar in his appearance. Now the first impression has only intensified.

In fact, the landowner at first appeared to be a very kind and pleasant person, but after a minute this impression completely changed, and now the thought arose: “The devil knows what this is!” Manilov's further behavior, excessively ingratiating and built on the desire to please, fully confirms this. The owner kissed his guest as if they had been friends for a century. Then he invited him into the house, trying in every possible way to show respect for him by not wanting to enter the door before Chichikov.

Interior furnishings

The description of the village of Manilov from the poem “Dead Souls” evokes a feeling of absurdity in everything, including the decoration of the manor’s house. Let's start with the fact that next to the expensive and even elegant furniture that stood in the living room, there was a pair of armchairs, which at one time there was not enough fabric to cover. And for several years now, the owner has warned the guest every time that they are not ready yet. In another room there was no furniture at all for the eighth year - since Manilov’s marriage. In the same way, at dinner, they could put on the table next to a luxurious bronze candlestick, made in the antique style, and some kind of “disabled person” made of copper, all covered in fat. But no one at home is interested in this

The owner's office looked just as funny. It was, again, of an incomprehensible gray-blue color - something similar to what the author had already mentioned when giving a general description of the village of Manilov at the beginning of the chapter. A book with a bookmark on the same page lay on the table for two years - no one had ever read it. But tobacco was spread throughout the room, and on the window sills there were rows of piles made from the ash that remained in the pipe. In general, dreaming and smoking were the main and, moreover, favorite pastimes of the landowner, who was not at all interested in his possessions.

Meet the family

Manilov's wife is similar to himself. Eight years of marriage changed little in the relationship between the spouses: they still treated each other with a piece of apple or interrupted their classes to capture a kiss. Manilova received a good upbringing, which taught her everything that was necessary to be happy: to speak French, play the piano and embroider some unusual case with beads to surprise her husband. And it didn’t matter that the cooking in the kitchen was poor, there was no stock in the pantries, the housekeeper stole a lot, and the servants slept more and more. The pride of the couple was their sons, who were called strange and promised to show great abilities in the future.

Description of the village of Manilova: the situation of the peasants

From all that has been said above, one conclusion already suggests itself: everything on the estate went somehow like this, in its own way and without any intervention from the owner. This idea is confirmed when Chichikov starts talking about peasants. It turns out that Manilov has no idea how many souls he has died recently. His clerk cannot give an answer either. He only notes that there is a lot, with which the landowner immediately agrees. However, the word “many” does not surprise the reader: the description of the village of Manilov and the conditions in which his serfs lived make it clear that for an estate in which the landowner does not care about the peasants at all, this is a common thing.

As a result, an unattractive image of the chapter's protagonist emerges. It never occurred to the uneconomical dreamer to go out into the fields, find out what the people who depended on him needed, or even simply count how many of them he had. Moreover, the author adds that the man could easily deceive Manilov. He allegedly asked for time off to work part-time, but he calmly went to drink, and no one cared. In addition, all the servants, including the clerk and the housekeeper, were dishonest, which did not bother either Manilov or his wife at all.

conclusions

The description of the village of Manilova is completed with quotes: “there is a race of people... neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan nor in the village of Selifan... Manilova should join them.” In a way that, at first glance, does no harm to anyone. He loves everyone - even the most inveterate swindler is an excellent person. Sometimes he dreams of how to set up shops for peasants, but these “projects” are very far from reality and will never be translated into reality. Hence the general understanding of “Manilovism” as a social phenomenon - a tendency towards pseudo-philosophy, the absence of any benefit from existence. And this is where the degradation begins, and then the collapse of the human personality, which Gogol draws attention to when describing the village of Manilov.

“Dead souls” thus become a verdict on a society in which the best representatives of the local nobility are like Manilov. After all, the rest will turn out to be even worse.

Among the characters in Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls,” Chichikov occupies a special place. Being the central (from the point of view of plot and composition) figure of the poem, this hero remains a mystery to everyone until the last chapter of the first volume - not only to the officials of the city of NN but also to the reader. The hero's past is unknown (his biography is given not at the beginning of the story, but only in the eleventh chapter), just as the goals of his stay in the city of NN are unknown. In addition, the author deprives Pavel Ivanovich of his originality, memorable features, and his own “face.” Against the background of bright, extremely individualized images of landowners, the figure of Chichikov looks colorless, vague, elusive. The absence of an individual principle is also revealed in the hero’s speech behavior - not having his own “face,” he does not have his own “voice.”

It is facelessness and colorlessness that allow Chichikov to transform beyond recognition when the “interests of the case” require it. An excellent psychologist and a brilliant imitator, he knows how to become like his interlocutor with magical artistry. In every situation, he says what they would like to hear from him, which can be in his favor.

With Manilov, Pavel Ivanovich is cloyingly amiable, pompous (“...I am dumb before the law”) and flattering. With Korobochka he is patronizingly affectionate and patriarchally pious (“Everything is God’s will, mother...”), but he behaves freely with her, “does not stand on ceremony.” Instead of flowery phrases, colloquial and sometimes rude expressions now come from a hundred mouths (“it’s not worth a damn,” “to hell with you”).

Communication with the arrogant and unceremonious Nozdrev is torment for Chichikov, because Pavel Ivanovich does not tolerate “familiar treatment” (“...unless the person... is of too high a rank”). However, he does not even think of interrupting his dialogue with the landowner: he is rich, which means there is the prospect of a profitable deal ahead. Following his proven method, Chichikov strives with all his might to become like Nozdryov. He addresses him as “you”, adopts his familiar manners and boorish top.

It is much easier for Chichikov to find a common language with Sobakevich - after all, both are united by zealous service to the “penny”. Even Plyushkin, who had long ago lost contact with the outside world and forgotten the elementary norms of politeness, was able to win over Pavel Ivanovich. For this landowner, Chichikov plays the role of an impractical and generous idiot - a “motishka”, ready to save a casual acquaintance from having to pay for dead peasants at his own loss.

Who is Chichikov? What kind of person is he? Among the many fantastic versions about Chichikov put forward by officials of the city of NN. The version about the Antichrist deserves special attention. The Antichrist of the New Testament “Revelation” precedes the onset of the Last Judgment and appears at the end of time. Why exactly does Chichikov become a sign of the “last times” in Gogol, a symbol of the coming catastrophe?

From Gogol’s point of view, the evil personified in Chichikov (“passion for acquisition”) is the main evil of our time. Everyday and insignificant evil is more terrible than literary and majestic evil, Gogol shows. Gogol wants to understand the psychological nature of the new phenomenon. This is served by the biography of Chichikov, which explains the genesis of the character depicted in the poem. The dull, sad childhood of the hero - without comrades, without dreams, without parental love - predetermined much in the future fate of the hero. Having deeply internalized the parental instructions (“... take care and save a penny”), Pavlusha Chichikov develops energy, will and perseverance, with which he strives for his only goal in life - wealth. At first, his actions are naive and straightforward: Pavlusha slavishly pleases the teacher and becomes his favorite. Having matured, Chichikov manipulates people with much greater skill, but the results of his efforts are now more significant. Promising to marry his boss’s daughter, Chichikov gets himself a job as a police officer. While serving at customs, Pavel Ivanovich convinces his superiors of his incorruptibility, and then makes a huge fortune from a large consignment of smuggled goods. The biography of Gogol’s “acquirer” is marked by a strange pattern: Chichikov’s brilliant victories turn out to be zero every time. The process of enrichment turns into something valuable, self-sufficient - after all, it is always a process without a result.

At the same time, Chichikov’s biography makes us remember sinners who overcame their sinfulness and subsequently became holy ascetics. It was assumed that in the next volumes of the poem the awakening of the hero’s soul and his spiritual resurrection would occur. The author said that it is no coincidence that the evils of time are so concentrated and intensified in Chichikov - the resurrection of the “hero of the time” should be the beginning of the resurrection of the entire society.

"Dead souls" of cities and villages.

In Russian literature, the theme of travel, the theme of the road, appears very often. You can name such works as “Dead Souls” by Gogol or “Hero of Our Time” by Lermontov. This motif was often used as a plot-forming motif. However, sometimes it itself is one of the central themes, the purpose of which is to describe the life of Russia in a certain period of time. A striking example of this is the poem “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. In this work, one of the main tasks for Gogol was to portray the life of Russia as completely as possible. Considering what a huge layer of society is shown by Gogol in the first volume, despite the fact that, according to his plan, there should have been three volumes, Gogol was really close to fulfilling his intention and showing the whole life of Russia in full. The author concentrated his main attention on depicting noble life. Moreover, in accordance with the author’s plan, the first volume should have shown all the worst aspects of noble life, depicted the life of the provincial city of NN and such colorful figures of landowners as Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin. In general, in “Dead Souls” Gogol uses the plot scheme of the “pictorial novel” that arose in Western Europe during the Renaissance. This plot scheme is formed through the journey of the main character - a rogue, during which the sins of ordinary people are revealed. Using this scheme, Gogol filled it with new meaning.

The poem begins with a description of the provincial city. It should be noted that Gogol’s task included depicting the entire provincial Russia using the example of a single city. Therefore, the author constantly mentions the typicality of this city and its life. The story about the city begins with a description of the hotel into which Chichikov moved. The room where he settled was “of a certain kind, for the hotel was also of a certain kind, that is, exactly the same as there are hotels in provincial cities, where for two rubles a day travelers get a quiet room with cockroaches peeking out like prunes from all corners, and the door to the next room, always filled with a chest of drawers, where the neighbor, a silent and calm person, but extremely curious, is interested in knowing about all the details of the passer-by. What follows is a description of the city itself, which “was in no way inferior to other provincial cities: the yellow paint on the stone houses was very striking and the gray paint on the wooden ones was modestly dark. The houses were one, two and one and a half floors, with an eternal mezzanine, very beautiful, in the opinion of the provincial architects.” Then Gogol, with his characteristic humor, describes many other details inherent in the provincial city. Following this, Gogol describes the strong cities, which form a hierarchical ladder, at the beginning of which stands the governor, who was “like Chichikov, neither thick nor thin in appearance.” Such a parallel with Chichikov does not look very flattering for the head of the city. Then Gogol lists all the fathers of the city: the vice-governor, the prosecutor, the chairman of the chamber, the police chief, etc. There were so many of them that it was “somewhat difficult to remember all the powerful of this world.”

City society is shown most fully at the governor's ball. All layers of noble society are represented here. However, the main two, according to Gogol, are “thin” and “thick, or the same as Chichikov, that is, not too thick, but not thin either.” Moreover, “fat people know how to manage their affairs in this world better than thin ones.” And the fact that body volume is shown by the author as the main criterion of well-being makes the image of the nobility down to earth. This impression is especially strengthened after Gogol’s description of the “fat” conversations about the horse farm, about good dogs, “concerning the investigation carried out by the state chamber,” “about the billiard game.” However, there was also talk about virtue, which rather speaks of the hypocrisy of society, especially considering that Chichikov speaks best about virtue, “even with tears in his eyes.” And the fact that the “fat” society has sins behind it becomes clear later, when a rumor spread throughout the city that Chichikov came to the city to check. This caused a great stir, and the prosecutor even died of excitement, although he is the person responsible for maintaining the law in the city. But, of course, the main place in the first volume of the poem “Dead Souls” is occupied by a description of the life of a landowner. Here it should be noted that the description of the life of landowners is closely related to the main theme of the work - the depiction of the impoverishment of the human soul. And the five landowners shown by Gogol are vivid examples of such impoverishment. Moreover, they are presented in descending order of their living, human qualities.

The first of the landowners depicted by Gogol was Manilov. The story about him begins with a description of his estate. “The manor’s house stood alone on the south, that is, on a hill open to all the winds that might blow...” Next comes a description of the village: “At the foot of this hill, and partly along the slope itself, gray log huts darkened length and breadth. ..” In the entire appearance of the estate and the village one can see some kind of thoughtlessness and disorder, as, in fact, in the interior of the manor’s house. Life in Manilovka seemed to have stopped, as evidenced by the book in the owner’s office, “bookmarked on page fourteen, which he had been reading for two years.” The owner himself is quite consistent with the atmosphere in the estate. Gogol especially emphasizes that from Manilov “you won’t get any living or even arrogant words...” His soul seems to be sleeping, but he is at the initial stage of the impoverishment of his soul, he has not yet turned into a scoundrel.

Then Korobochka is shown, “one of those mothers, small landowners who cry about crop failures, losses and keep their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile they gradually collect money in colorful bags placed in dresser drawers.” The entire “spiritual world” of Korobochka is focused on the household. She lives in it both figuratively and literally, since her garden begins right next to the landowner’s house. She is so focused on the housework that it is very difficult for her to switch to anything else. Gogol even calls her “club-headed.” The next person Chichikov met was Nozdryov. Gogol gives him an unequivocal characterization, classifying him among people “who have a passion to spoil their neighbor, sometimes for no reason at all.” His reaction to Chichikov’s proposal is interesting. He, not at all embarrassed by the unusualness of Chichikov’s proposal, tried to benefit from it.

The fourth landowner was Sobakevich, whom Gogol compares to a bear. This comparison occurs both because of the external similarity and because of the symbolic meaning that Gogol puts into this name. This comparison corresponds to Gogol’s characterization of Sobakevich - “fist”. And everything in his estate corresponds to him: the peasant huts, built to last, and the master’s buildings, cut down from centuries-old trees. And in fact, “every object, every chair seemed to say: “And I, too, Sobakevich!” or “And I also look very much like Sobakevich!” He reacted to Chichikov's proposal in a businesslike manner, starting to bargain, which surprised even Chichikov.

Sobakevich is an example of almost complete mental impoverishment. “It seemed that this body had no soul at all, or it had one, but not at all where it should be, but like the immortal Koshchei, somewhere behind the mountains and covered with such a thick shell that everything that moved at the bottom it did not produce absolutely any shock on the surface.”

Talking about Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev and Sobakevich, Gogol describes typical images, which he emphasizes more than once. The image of Plyushkin is not a typical image, but Gogol needed it in order to show to what extent the impoverishment of the soul could reach, he needed to show the result of this process. Plyushkin is a living corpse, without a spiritual world, a soul. Only once “some kind of warm ray suddenly slid across this wooden face, it was not a feeling that was expressed, but some pale reflection of a feeling, a phenomenon similar to the unexpected appearance of a drowning person on the surface of the waters,” however, “the appearance was the last.” And “Plyushkin’s face, following the feeling that instantly slid across it, became even more insensitive and vulgar.”

The people in the first volume of Dead Souls are represented mainly only by Selifan and Petrushka and several episodic heroes who, like the nobles, also do not correspond to Gogol’s ideal. Although in general the image of the people is shown in the author’s digressions as something brighter and wiser.

5. The estate as a means of characterizing Plyushkin

The last person Chichikov visited was Plyushkin. The guest immediately noticed some kind of disrepair in all the buildings: the logs on the huts were old and darkened, there were holes in the roofs, the windows were without glass or covered with rags, the balconies under the roofs were askew and blackened. Behind the huts were huge stacks of grain, clearly stagnant for a long time, the color of which resembled poorly burnt brick; All sorts of rubbish grew on their tops, and bushes clung to the side. From behind the grain deposits, two rural churches could be seen: “an empty wooden and a stone one, with yellow walls, stained, cracked” (p. 448). The disabled man's manor's house looked like an excessively long castle, in some places one floor high, in others two stories high, on the dark roof of which two belvederes protruded. The walls were cracked, “and, as you can see, they suffered a lot from all sorts of bad weather, rain, whirlwinds and autumn changes” (p. 448). Of all the windows, only two were open, the rest were covered with shutters or even boarded up; on one of the open windows there was a dark “pasted triangle of blue sugar paper” (p. 448). The wood on the fence and gate was covered with green mold, a crowd of buildings filled the courtyard, and gates to other courtyards were visible near them to the right and left; “everything indicated that farming had once taken place here on a large scale” (p. 449). But today everything looked very cloudy and dull. Nothing enlivened the picture, only the main gates were open and only because a man with a cart drove in; at other times they were locked tightly - a lock hung in an iron loop.

Behind the house stretched an old, vast garden, which turned into a field and was “overgrown and dead” (p. 448), but it was the only thing that enlivened this village. In it, the trees grew freely, “the white colossal trunk of a birch, devoid of a top, rose from this green thicket and rounded in the air, like a regular sparkling marble column” (p. 449); the hops, which were suppressing the bushes of elderberry, rowan and hazel below, ran up and entwined the broken birch, and from there began to cling to the tops of other trees, “tying them in rings.”

their thin, tenacious hooks, easily shaken by the air” (p. 449). In places the green thickets diverged and revealed an unlit recess, “yawning like a dark mouth” (p. 449); it was cast in shadow, and in its dark depths a running narrow path, collapsed railings, a swaying gazebo, a hollow, decrepit willow trunk, a gray-haired chapberry and a young maple branch, “stretching out its green paw-leaves from the side” (p. 449) were barely glimpsed. . To the side, at the very edge of the garden, several tall aspens “raised huge crow’s nests to their tremulous tops” (p. 449). Other aspens had some branches hanging down with withered leaves. In a word, everything was good, but as happens only when nature “passes with its final cut, lightens the heavy masses, gives wonderful warmth to everything that was created in the cold of measured cleanliness and neatness (p. 449).

The description of the village and the estate of this owner is imbued with melancholy. The windows are without glass, covered with rags, dark and old logs, drafty roofs... The manor's house looks like a huge grave crypt where a person is buried alive. Only a lushly growing garden reminds of life, of beauty, sharply contrasted with the ugly life of the landowner. It seems that life has left this village.

When Chichikov entered the house, he saw “dark, wide entryways, from which a cold air blew in, as if from a cellar” (p. 449). From there he entered a room, also dark, slightly illuminated by light that came from under a wide crack that was located at the bottom of the door. When they entered this door, light finally appeared, and Chichikov was amazed by what he saw: it seemed that “the floors were being washed in the house and all the furniture had been piled here for a while” (p. 449). There was a broken chair on the table, next to it there was a clock with a stopped pendulum, entwined with cobwebs; there was a cabinet with antique silver right there. Decanters and Chinese porcelain. On the bureau, “lined with mosaics, which in some places had already fallen out and left behind only yellow grooves filled with glue” (p. 450), lay a whole lot of things: a bunch of scribbled pieces of paper covered with a green marble press, some kind of old book bound in leather , a dried lemon, the size of a nut, a broken armchair handle, a glass “with some kind of liquid and three flies” (p. 450), covered with a letter, a piece of rag, two feathers in ink, a toothpick from a hundred years ago, “which the owner may have , was picking his teeth even before the French invasion of Moscow” (p. 450). Several paintings were hanged stupidly on the walls: “a long yellowed engraving of some battle, with huge drums, shouting soldiers in three-cornered hats and drowning horses” (p. 450), without glass, inserted into a mahogany frame with “thin bronze strips and bronze circles in the corners” (p. 450). In a row with them there was a picture, occupying half the wall, all blackened, painted with oil paints, on which there were flowers, fruits, a cut watermelon, a boar's face and a duck hanging upside down. From the middle of the ceiling hung a chandelier in a canvas bag, which from the dust became like “a silk cocoon in which a worm sits” (p. 450). In the corner of the room, everything that was “unworthy to lie on tables” was piled on a heap (p. 450); it was difficult to say what exactly was in it, because there was so much dust there that “the hands of everyone who touched it became like gloves” (p. 450). All that could be seen was a broken piece of a wooden shovel and an old boot sole, which protruded most noticeably from there. There was no way to say that a living creature lived in this room if it weren’t for “the old, worn cap lying on the table” (p. 450).

The accumulation of things, material values ​​becomes the only goal of Plyushkin's life. He is a slave of things, not their master. The insatiable passion of acquisition led to the fact that he lost a real understanding of objects, ceasing to distinguish useful things from unnecessary rubbish. With such an internal depreciation of the objective world, the insignificant, insignificant, insignificant inevitably acquires special attractiveness, on which he focuses his attention. The goods accumulated by Plyushkin brought him neither happiness nor even peace. Constant fear for his property turns his life into a living hell and brings him to the brink of mental collapse. Plyushkin rots grain and bread, and he himself shakes over a small piece of Easter cake and a bottle of tincture, on which he made a mark so that no one would drink it by stealing. The thirst for accumulation pushes him onto the path of all kinds of self-restraint. The fear of missing out on something forces Plyushkin with tireless energy to collect all sorts of rubbish, all sorts of nonsense, everything that has long ceased to serve the vital needs of a person. Plyushkin turns into a devoted slave of things, a slave of his passion. Surrounded by things, he does not experience loneliness and the need to communicate with the outside world. This is a living dead man, a misanthrope who has turned into a “tear on humanity.”

We are once again convinced that Gogol is one of the most amazing and original masters of artistic expression, and “Dead Souls” is a unique work in which, by describing the external and internal appearance of the estate, the character of the person living in it is fully revealed.

The poem “Dead Souls” interested many scientific researchers, such as Yu.V. Mann, E.S. Smirnova-Chikina, M.B. Khrapchenko and others. But there were also critics who paid attention specifically to the topic of describing the estate in the poem - this is A.I. Beletsky and O. Skobelskaya. But until now this topic has not been fully covered in the literature, which determines the relevance of its research.

Each landowner has similar and different character traits with other landowners. Gogol identifies in each hero the most distinctive feature, which is expressed in the everyday environment. For Manilov it is impracticality, vulgarity and dreaminess, for Korobochka it is “club-headedness”, fussiness and in the world of low things, for Nozdryov it is abundant energy that is directed in the wrong direction, sudden mood swings, for Sobakevich it is cunning, clumsiness, for Plyushkin it is stinginess and greed.

From hero to hero, Gogol exposes the criminal life of the landowners. The images are given on the principle of ever deeper spiritual impoverishment and moral decline. In Dead Souls, Gogol flaunts all human shortcomings. Despite the fact that there is a considerable amount of humor in the work, “Dead Souls” can be called “laughter through tears.” The author reproaches people for forgetting about eternal values ​​in the struggle for power and money. Only the outer shell is alive in them, and the souls are dead. Not only the people themselves are to blame for this, but also the society in which they live, which, in turn, also leaves its mark.

So, the poem “Dead Souls” is very relevant to this day, because, unfortunately, the modern world is not very different from the one described in the poem, and such human traits as stupidity and stinginess have not yet been eradicated among the people .

List of used literature

1. Gogol N.V. Dead Souls // Collection. op. – M.: State. art publishing house lit., 1952. – P. 403 – 565.

2. Beletsky A.I. In the workshop of a word artist // Beletsky A.I. In the artist's studio words: Sat. Art. – M.: Higher. school, 1989. – P. 3 – 111.

3. Gus M. Living Russia and “Dead Souls”. – M.: Sov. writer, 1981. – 334 p.

4. Mann Yu.V. Gogol's poetics. – 2nd ed., add. – M.: Artist. lit., 1978. – P. 274 – 353.

5. Mashinsky S.I. “Dead Souls” N.V. Gogol. – M.: Artist. lit., 1966. – 141 p.

6. Skobelskaya O. Russian estate world // World literature. and culture in educational institutions of Ukraine. – 2002. – No. 4. – P. 37 – 39.

7. Smirnova E.A. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". – L: Nauka, 1987. – 198 p.

8. Smirnova – Chikina E.S. Poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". A comment. – L: Education, 1974. – 316 p.

9. Khrapchenko M.B. Nikolai Gogol: Literary path. The greatness of the writer. – M.: Sovremennik, 1984. – P. 348 – 509.

Motives. The "selflessness", patience and strength of character of the protagonist allow him to constantly be reborn and show enormous energy to achieve his goal. 1.2. Satire on landowner Rus' in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” “... the brilliant accuracy of his satire was purely instinctive... his satirical attitude towards Russian life, no doubt, is explained... by his character...

G. N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” in school study. M., “Enlightenment”; 1982. Abstract The main topic of the study is determining the role of everyday and portrait details in creating images of landowners in N. V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”. The purpose of this work was to study Gogol’s method of characterizing heroes and social structure through details. The details of the characters' everyday life were fascinating...

Nest", "War and Peace", "The Cherry Orchard". It is also important that the main character of the novel opens up a whole gallery of "superfluous people" in Russian literature: Pechorin, Rudin, Oblomov. Analyzing the novel "Eugene Onegin", Belinsky pointed out , that at the beginning of the 19th century the educated nobility was the class “in which the progress of Russian society was almost exclusively expressed,” and that in “Onegin” Pushkin “decided...

Behind everything “no matter what is done in Rus',” for everything down to the last detail “has become unusually dear and close” to him. He devotes most of his time and energy to working on the poem “Dead Souls,” which will become the main result, the pinnacle of his work. Gogol himself admitted that there was a personal motive in his work: duty to the memory of Pushkin. “I must continue the great work I began, which took me to write...

manor houses

manor houses

As you have probably already noticed, most treasure hunters are drawn to unknown and ancient lands. Areas with a rich history especially attract them. Ancient markets, ship anchorages, merchant stops, etc. Ancient houses, both simple peasants and wealthy nobles, are of great value to diggers. We have already talked in another article about why house hunting is interesting and profitable. But not every house can boast of an abundance of finds. Some have already been visited by dozens of seekers and everything has been emptied, while others have no trace of any valuables. If you start your search in the house of a poor peasant, then you are unlikely to be able to find anything more than utensils, of which they also did not have many. Therefore, when choosing a house to search, you need to have information about who lived in it.

Particularly popular among treasure hunters who like to search in houses are manor houses.

An excellent place for finds is the manor's house.

As a rule, this is the estate of wealthy landowners, which was located separately, near the village. It was arranged this way because only peasants lived in the villages. Rich nobles did not want to locate their houses in poor surroundings and created their own settlements, called villages. In the 19th century, villages received a new name and began to be marked on maps as " manor houses". Most of these manor houses bore the same name as the village next to which they were located.

By the 19th century, own manor houses It was not only the nobles who became After the abolition of serfdom, merchants, townspeople and wealthy peasants began to buy them out. They also built new houses. As a rule, a manor house is not a single building. A huge number of different premises were erected next to it. Stables, mills, small churches, servants' houses, etc.

Taking all this into account, we can conclude that the manorial houses were very rich.

Ruins of a manor house in Tarasovka

The nobles loved to live well, so they used only good dishes and household items. In addition, it was not uncommon for treasures to be buried in courtyards and houses, because money had to be stored somewhere. From all this it follows that manor houses are an excellent place to conduct searches.

If you are the discoverer of such a house, then rest assured that you will be well rewarded. But more often than not, all these houses have already been seen by dozens of treasure hunters back in the war era. Although, according to many experienced seekers and historians, on the lands of our vast country, there are still many manor houses that are not marked on maps or are rarely mentioned. So, arm yourself with information, research the area and talk to the local people. After all, all the information you receive may turn out to be invaluable and lead you to a great treasure.

The description of the estate and farm of Nozdryov, the third landowner to whom the main character Chichikov ends up, is one of the important details characterizing the image of the district landowner.

The writer presents Nozdryov's estate as a huge area of ​​fields, a pond, stables, and workshops. There are no images of peasant huts, the manor house and other buildings on the estate in the work.

The landowner does not take care of the affairs of his estate, because he has a clerk, whom he calls a scoundrel and constantly scolds.

The main attraction of the Nozdrevsky estate is the stables, which at the time of description are half empty, since the owner let down several good horses, and retained only two mares in the form of a brown and dappled gray, as well as an unsightly bay stallion. In addition to a small herd used only for riding, a goat is housed in the stables according to ancient traditions.

Nozdryov is proud of another pet in his household, a wolf cub, kept tied with a rope and fed only food in the form of raw meat, since the owner wants to see his bestial nature in the future.

In addition to the above-mentioned pets, Nozdryov owns a huge kennel, which includes dogs of different breeds and varieties, which the landowner loves immensely, not even thinking about his own children.

On the territory of Nozdryov’s estate there are also blacksmith shops, a water mill, which is in a broken state, as well as an abandoned pond, in which, according to the boastful owner, there are species of valuable fish of enormous size.

Depicting Nozdryov’s field lands, which the owner walks around with the main character, the writer describes them in an unkempt state, located in a swampy area and in disgusting, wild mud, combined with hummocks.

When considering the home environment, which is a direct reflection of the chaotic character of the owner, the writer describes the confusion of the arrangement of furniture and interior items, pointing to the building materials in the middle of the dining room, the absence of books and papers in the office, Nozdreva’s obvious passion for hunting, expressed in a huge number of various types of weapons, including sabers, guns, Turkish daggers. The most remarkable thing in the house, according to the main character, is the presence of a barrel organ, repeating the essence of the owner’s nature.

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