Gallery of human types based on the poem Dead Souls (Gogol N.)

GALLERY OF LANDSCAPE IMAGES

IN THE POEM BY N.V. GOGOL "DEAD SOULS"

Lesson objectives: to reveal the peculiarities of the system of images of landowners in the poem "Dead Souls"; to reveal the inner logic of creating images of the local nobility; check the level of formation of the skill of analyzing a literary character; to involve students in research work.

Methodical techniques: repetition of known information about the characters of the local nobility in the form of a quiz, posing a question for discussion, creating a problematic situation, conversation with elements of research work, student messages.

Equipment: reproductions of portraits of landowners of the work, presentation "Portrait of Gogol", a map of Chichikov's travel, statements of critics

"Not a shadow of good, not a single bright thought,

not a single human feeling in them "

"Gogol showed the ordinariness of an ordinary person"

"Gogol leads Chichikov through the line

truly Russian people, each of whom

epic figure. And Manilov and Sobakevich,

and Plyushkin - they all came from the world of a fairy tale "

(P. Weil, A. Genis)

Epigraph: "Dead souls ... all these Nozdryovs, Manilovs and all the others"

During the classes.

I. Organizational moment. Announcement of the topic and objectives of the lesson.

The central place in the first volume of Dead Souls is occupied by five “portrait chapters” (from the second to the sixth). Each of them is dedicated to a specific human type. Gogol gives these chapters in a definite order, which is by no means arbitrary. Chichikov's visit to Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin is usually understood as the story of the adventures of the "acquirer" who buys the dead, in fact, but legally alive, that is, souls not deleted from the revision lists. Meanwhile, a feature of Gogol's works is the diversity of the text and the images created. Gogol's text is similar to an archaeological excavation: the wider and deeper the field of research, the more visual a person's life becomes, the more detailed and comprehensive the information received is.

II. Quiz "Know the character" (students read out the cards prepared by the teacher in advance with the description of the landowners; you need to put the card with the description in the pocket with the image of the character in question).Simultaneously, an individual game "Lotto" according to the same principle.

1. “He was of medium height, a very well-built fellow with full ruddy cheeks, teeth as white as snow, and pitch-black sideburns. He was fresh as blood and milk; health seemed to sprinkle from his face " (Nozdryov)

2. “... small eyes had not yet gone out and were running from under the high-grown eyebrows, like mice, when, sticking out their sharp muzzles from dark holes, alert ears and blinking a mustache, they were looking out for where the cat or the mischievous boy was hiding, and smell suspiciously the very air " (Plyushkin)

3. Of the people "known by the name: people are so-so, neither this nor that, not in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan ..." (Manilov)

4. “The complexion had a red-hot, hot, which is the case on a copper penny ... the strongest and marvelous image ...” (Sobakevich)

5. “... human feelings, which were not deep in him anyway, were shallowing every minute, and every day something was lost in this worn-out ruin” (Plyushkin)

6. “... was in some respects a historical person. Not a single meeting he attended was complete without history ” (Nozdryov)

7. “In sight he was a prominent person; his facial features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to have been too transferred to sugar ... " (Manilov)

8. “He thought about the prosperity of a friendly life, about how nice it would be to live with a friend on the bank of some river, then a bridge was built across this river, then a huge house” (Manilov)

9. “... no means and efforts would have been able to get to the bottom of what his dressing gown was concocted: the sleeves and upper floors were so greasy and shiny that they looked like leather, which goes to boots ...” (Plyushkin)

10. “There was always some book in his office, bookmarked on page fourteen, which he had been reading constantly for two years” (Manilov)

11. “... most of all was tobacco. He was in different things: in caps and in a tobacco holder, and, finally, he was just a heap on the table. On both windows there were also slides of ash knocked out of the tube, arranged not without effort in very beautiful rows ” (Manilov)

12. “... led them to his office, in which, however, there were no visible traces of what happens in the offices, that is, books or paper; there were only sabers and two guns - one for three hundred, and the other for eight hundred rubles ... After that, the organ appeared to the guests. " (Nozdryov)

13. "It would have been impossible to say that a living creature lived in this room if it had not been announced by an old, worn cap lying on the table." (Plyushkin)

14. “The table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the heaviest and most restless nature, - in short, every object, every chair seemed to say:“ And I am _________ too! ” or "And I also look a lot like _________!" " (Sobakevich)

What character characteristics did not appear in the quiz? (Boxes)

III. Box's monologue (performed by a student)

- I am an old columnar noblewoman, a landowner. I have, father, a decent estate, a courtyard full of all kinds of domestic creatures: turkeys, chickens, roosters, and boletus. And what kind of gardens I have, sir, forgive God for a braggart: there are cabbage, and turnips, and onions, and beets ... And beyond the garden, opposite the pork shed, are the huts of my peasants, I have eighty souls. I trade in hemp and bacon, and peasants, if God will send. That's true Chichikov offered to sell the dead peasants. I, frankly, got confused and began to bargain, and suddenly - I’ll be cheap (I’ve not sold the dead yet).

IV. Analytical question.

Why does Chichikov need dead souls?

V. The word of the teacher.

The names of Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdryov. Sobakevich, Plyushkina, perhaps, are among the most famous among all the names of the heroes of classical Russian literature. Some of them have long acquired a generalizing meaning and have become household names. But what do these names mean? What considerations was the writer guided by when thinking about the "naming" of the heroes of the poem?

Vi. Student message "What do the names of landowners mean in the poem" Dead Souls " (students listen to the message against the background of the presentation "Portrait Gallery of Gogol")

- The literary names of the heroes of Dead Souls can be called secretive. They are ambiguous, because the naming of the hero can be realized by Gogol himself at different "sections" of the text. To understand the name, it is necessary to establish its internal connection with the image, and the image itself - with the context of the work. Surname Manilovformed from the dialect word beckoning (the same manikha, beckoner, beckoner), meaning: “one who promises, but deceives; the one who fancies; deceiver ". A distinctive feature of Manilov is the uncertainty of his character. The first impression turns out to be deceiving, "inviting". Landowner Box as a homely mistress personifies materialism, hoarding. Her surname, equivalent to a nickname, is associated with a box, which can be identified as a symbol of prosperity and wealth. The last name of the next character - Nozdryov- associated with the word nostril, about which the adjective nostril is formed in the meaning of "with small holes, porous." In dialects there is an adjective nostril - "full of holes, holes". All this is perceived by us as a hint at the moral inferiority of the landowner. Surname Sobakevich associated with the word dog, although Mikhail Semenovich himself seems to Chichikov "very similar to the average size of a bear." The final, final stage of the death of the soul, decay, decomposition of all truly human is Plyushkin, crushed, flattened by life. Surname Plyushkinassociated with the word bun in the meaning of "small bun", which is made by squeezing, making the dough flat, is indirectly associated with change, crushing, crushing of the spiritual principle in a person. The indirect association of the name Plyushkin with the verb to flop (sya) “heavy, hard to sit down, to fall” is not excluded, as a symbol of the hero's spiritual fall.

Vii. Teacher's word. Statement of the problematic question.

What unites all the landowners depicted by Gogol? Before you are the statements of contemporary critics.

1) some believe that "there is not a shadow of good, not a single bright thought, not a single human feeling in them" ();

2) others argue that Gogol's heroes are not virtuous, and not vicious, they are "ordinary". "Average" people, but recreated with a unique Gogolian "brightness, strength and size"; they are vulgar, but, according to these critics, in the first half of the 19th century the word “vulgar” meant “ordinary” - Gogol showed “the ordinariness of an ordinary person” ();

3) still others believe that “Gogol guides Chichikov through the line of truly Russian people, each of whom is an epic figure. And Manilov, and Sobakevich, and Korobochka, and Plyushkin - they all came from the world of a fairy tale. It is easy to recognize them as Koshchei the Immortal or Baba Yaga. Majestic in their passions and vices, these epic heroes represent Russia as a fabulous, wonderful, absurd country "()

Which of these opinions is closer to your perception of the poem and why? (The opinions of the guys are different. Some prove the traditional point of view. Others cite the following evidence: "I think that these are ordinary people who live now. Plyushkin and Korobochka are stingy to varying degrees; Manilov and Nozdryov are dreamers who do not know how to make their dream come true. reality, so they lie in order to elevate themselves in society. And Sobakevich is a person who thinks only of himself and his own benefit. "" I agree with the opinions of Weil and Genis, because I also see fabulous images in Gogol landowners: Plyushkin - Koschey the Immortal ; Korobochka - Baba Yaga; Sobakevich - A Bear who came out of a Russian fairy tale; Manilov - Cat Bayun, luring others into a sleepy kingdom; Nozdrev is an epic Nightingale - a robber ")

Indeed, the names of Gogol's heroes, like fairy-tale characters, have become household names. Just like the heroes of fairy tales, the landowners of Gogol are simple and understandable to the reader, who seem to return to childhood when they read about the evil Koschey or the awkward Mikhail Potapych. As in fairy tales, the setting in the heroes' homes also plays an important role. For example, the house of Korobochka, in which there are medicines and decoctions, in our imagination immediately becomes the hut of Baba Yaga, and the house of Plyushkin with its musty, damp, dusty - the palace of Koshchei the Immortal, etc.

On the other hand, speaking of the typical character of Gogol's characters, let us recall the characters in Pushkin's novel Eugene Onegin.

VIII. An expressive reading by a prepared student of an excerpt from the novel "Eugene Onegin" ( chapter five,XXV -XXVIII)

In the morning the Larins' house is a guest

The whole is full; whole families

Neighbors gathered in carts,

In wagons, in carts and in sleighs

In the front there is a crush, anxiety;

Meeting new faces in the living room

Lai mosek, smacking girls,

Noise, laughter, crush on the doorstep,

Bows, shuffling guests,

Nurse cry and cry of children.

With his burly wife

Fat Trifles arrived;

Gvozdin, excellent master,

Owner of beggar men;

Skotinins, a gray-haired couple,

With children of all ages, counting

Thirty to two years old;

County frantik Petushkov,

My cousin brother, Buyanov,

In fluff, in a cap with a visor

(As you, of course, know him),

And the retired landowner Flyanov,

Heavy gossip, old rogue

With the family of Panfil Kharlikov

Monsieur Triquet also arrived,

Wit, recently from Tambov,

With glasses and a red wig ...

And here from the near posad

Ripe young ladies idol,

County mothers joy,

The company commander arrived;

Came in ... Oh, news, but what!

The music will be regimental!

The Colonel sent her himself.

What a joy: there will be a ball!

Girls jump in advance;

But the food was served. Chetoy

They go to the table hand with hand.

IX. Teacher's word

One of the features of Gogol's talent is that "passion to know everything", that "desire to know a person", which makes him look for people of all classes and notice something interesting from everyone. " We learn about this from Gogol's letter to K. The ability to "catch the soul of a person" was a genuine discovery of the writer. The researchers of Gogol's language note that the work on the word was carried out by the writer with the utmost exertion of all mental forces, since in addition to the subject itself, the author's image was always occupied by the word denoting this subject. Gogol was distinguished by his ability to "turn" a word so as to extract the maximum artistic effect from it. To show that even the most, at first glance, insignificant images of the work carry a huge semantic load, let us turn to the topic "Description of food and its role in the poem" Dead Souls ".

X. Performance by the student with the message "Description of food and its role in the poem" Dead Souls "

- From the first pages of the poem he makes it clear that he devotes a considerable place in the work to the images of food. The writer is used to treating food with respect, but still sharply separates satiety from gluttony. The main character, traveling from landlord to landowner, first of all finds himself at the table. The owners consider it their duty to treat Chichikov with something amazing, whether it be "cabbage soup from a pure heart" by Manilov, or "pancakes" by Korobochka, or "wonderful balyk" by Nozdryov, or "ram's side" by Sobakevich, or "rusks of cake "At Plyushkin's. Business conversations are preceded by a feast. The author constructs the narrative in such a way that each "edible" detail he selects reflects a character trait of the landowner with whom Gogol's hero dines. So, based on the bread crumbs left from evening to morning on the tablecloth in Nozdryov's dining room, he concludes that the owner of the house is careless. And this, in turn, prompts Chichikov to think: should the fellow behave and tell the owner directly about the goal, or is it better not to persist in his own way. This philistine tactic of the hero - to judge by the treat - is easily transferred to the vision of the world and people. In the tavern, the old woman tries to apply Chichikov's method of “guessing” people: “Manilov will be more delicate than Sobakevich: he orders to cook chicken at once, and asks for veal; if there is a lamb liver, then he will ask for a lamb liver, but Sobakevich will ask one thing, but then he will eat everything, even demand a supplement for the same price. The landlords are depicted in the same way. Plyushkin's food is a measure of human qualities: “You can find out where a person is good at any place: he doesn't eat, he is full”. And Sobakevich even divides people into provincial and metropolitan residents with the help of Chichikov's "philosophy." Some, in his opinion, "will add half a lamb side with porridge, having ate a cheesecake on a plate," while others eat "some cutlets with truffles." In the provinces, Sobakevich suggests, the scale is different: what is small in the capital grows here to extraordinary sizes. And, indeed, the reader sees that the vulgarity of the heroes is doubled.

XI. Teacher's word

So, it is no coincidence that Gogol's frequent use of images of food is not accidental. Traditional for all world literature, they become for the heroes of "Dead Souls" a measure of human qualities, and for the author of the poem - a means of depicting the spiritual emptiness of characters engaged only in satisfying animal needs and therefore deserving to be called "pig's snouts" to a much greater extent than people.

What vices do each of the landowners personify? (Manilov - empty daydreaming; Korobochka - club-headedness; Nozdrev - unbridled character; Sobakevich - greed, passion for acquisitiveness (desire for profit); Plyushkin - "a hole in humanity")

XII. Examining Chichikov's travel map (creative work of students)

Why is the image of Russian landowners presented to us in this order? At first glance, this is dictated by purely external circumstances. Chichikov meets Manilov and Sobakevich at a party with the governor. Chichikov first went to Manilov, and from Manilov to Sobakevich, but in a thunderstorm he got lost and got to Korobochka. Then on the way he stopped at a tavern to "have a bite" and unexpectedly met Nozdryov. From Nozdryov I finally got to Sobakevich. When he learned from Sobakevich that Plyushkin, the owner of eight hundred souls of serfs who were dying like flies, lived five miles away, Chichikov went to this landowner.

XIII. Problem statement

But in the order in which Gogol introduces the landowners to his readers, there is another, deep inner meaning. Which one? Listen to several points of view on exactly this sequence of the arrangement of landowners in the text of the poem "Dead Souls".

The traditional point of view of literary critics: the landowners are located according to the degree of their degradation (Manilov still has everything - a family, children, furniture (although the features of desolation have already been outlined - “two armchairs were just covered with matting,” etc.); Plyushkin had all this, but lost over the years)

The modern point of view: the landowners are conditionally divided into accumulators and wastefuls: Manilov is a wasteful; Box - drive; Nozdrev is a wasteer; Sobakevich - storage device; Plyushkin - "a hole in humanity" (a wasteful from accumulation, an accumulator from waste)

Yuri Mann's point of view: the landowners are located in the text of the poem according to the degree of revival of their souls (note the fact that, describing Manilov, Gogol draws our attention to the things around him. Manilov has no inner world, his soul has died. , only Plyushkin, as the author notes, has "living eyes", and it is known that eyes are the mirror of the soul, therefore, only Plyushkin is capable of reviving the soul)

XIV. Study of the characteristics of characters - landowners (student message)

- In Gogol, the contrast between the living and the dead, the death of the living is often indicated precisely by the description of the eyes. In "Dead Souls" in the portrait of the characters, the eyes are either not indicated in any way (since they are simply superfluous), or their lack of spirituality is emphasized. So, Manilov “had eyes as sweet as sugar”, in relation to Sobakevich’s eyes, the tool that nature used for this case was noted: “I picked my eyes with a big drill” (like in a wooden doll!) About Plyushkin’s eyes it is said: “The little eyes have not yet gone out and they ran from under the high-grown eyebrows, like mice, when, sticking their sharp muzzles out of the dark holes, their ears alert and blinking with a mustache, they look out for a cat or a mischievous boy hiding somewhere, and smell suspiciously the very air.

XV. An impromptu dialogue with Plyushkin (a scene prepared by students)

- How are you, Mr. Plyushkin?

- I'm poor, gentlemen. The robbers enter into ruin. At least Proshka, a kind of thief. All around the costs.

- But once you were an excellent owner, neighbors came to you to learn wise stinginess, reasonable frugality. Factories worked, machines, spinning mills, plows, scythes. The hostess was friendly and famous for her hospitality.

- Yes, it was all. Not now the mistress died, the eldest daughter jumped out to marry. The son left. The youngest daughter died. I was left alone.

XVI. Problematic question

Which of the characters in the poem has a biography? (Plyushkin and Chichikov)

Whoever has a past will have a future. Who is capable of rebirth? If we remember that Dead Souls was conceived by analogy with Dante's Divine Comedy - in three parts: the first part is Hell, the second part is Purgatory, and the third part is Paradise, then the idea is thus not limited himself to the image of "hell", "the vulgarity of a vulgar person", its limit - in the salvation of this very "vulgar person". Chichikov's biography (as well as Plyushkin's) is the story of the “fall of the soul”; but if the soul “fell”, it means that it was once pure, it means that its revival is possible - through repentance. What is needed for repentance, for the purification of the soul? Inner self, inner voice. Only Plyushkin (to a lesser extent) and Chichikov (to a greater extent) also have the right to a spiritual life, to “feelings” and “thoughts”. "With some vague feeling he looked at the houses ..."; "It was unpleasant, vague in his heart ..."; “Some terrible feeling, incomprehensible to him, took possession of him,” Gogol captures moments of “introspection” (inner voice) in his hero. Moreover, there are often cases when the inner voice of Chichikov passes into the author's voice or merges with it in the famous poetic digressions. But this is the topic of our next conversation ...

XVII. Homework: to write out excerpts from lyrical digressions from the text of the poem. What are they about?

LITERATURE

Native speech. 1991 Voropaev Souls: Who Are They? About the title of the poem / Russian speech, 2002, No. 3 Gukovsky Gogol. - M., 1959 Kozhinov Gogol. - M., 1995 Poetics of Gogol. - M., 1978

Manilov Instead of a real feeling - Manilov has a "pleasant smile", cloying courtesy and a sensitive phrase; instead of thought - incoherent, stupid reflections, instead of activity - or empty dreams, or such results of his "work" as "heaps of ash knocked out of a pipe, arranged not without effort in very beautiful rows." Portrait Characteristic Farmstead Attitude towards housekeeping Attitude towards housekeeping Lifestyle

Portrait “There was a prominent man: his features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to have been too much transferred to sugar; there was something ingratiating and acquaintance in his methods and turns. He smiled temptingly, was blond, with blue eyes.

Characteristics Enthusiastic naivety and daydreaming, carelessness of the "disinterested philosopher", sophistication, stupidity, lack of independence and fearfulness. Gogol gives the surname to his hero "the speaker" - from the words "lure, lure, deceive." Two traits in the character of Manilov are especially highlighted by the author - worthlessness and corny, senseless daydreaming. Manilov has no living interests. He is not involved in the economy, he can not even say if his peasants have died since the last revision.

Manor Manilov's mismanagement and impracticality is clearly illustrated by the furnishings of the rooms in his house, where next to the fine furniture there were two armchairs “covered with matting”, “a dandy candlestick made of dark bronze with three antique graces” stood on the table, and next to them stood "Some kind of just a brass invalid, lame, curled up on the side and covered in fat."

Way of life Manilov spends his life in complete idleness. He has abandoned all work, does not even read anything: for two years in his office there is a book, all laid on the same page 14. Manilov brightens up his idleness with groundless dreams and meaningless "projects", such as the construction of an underground passage from a house, a stone bridge over a pond ...

Box "Dubinnogolovaya" The box is the embodiment of the traditions that have developed among the provincial small landowners who conduct subsistence farming. She is a representative of the outgoing, dying Russia, and there is no life in herself, since she is turned not to the future, but to the past. Portrait Characteristic Homestead Attitude towards housekeeping Attitude towards housekeeping Lifestyle

Characteristic “... One of those mothers, small landowners who cry for crop failures, losses and keep their heads a little to one side, and meanwhile they are gaining a little money in variegated bags placed on the drawers of the chest of drawers. In one bag they take all the rubles, in the other half a ruble, in the third quarter, although it looks like there is nothing in the chest of drawers except linen and night jackets ... the old woman is thrifty ... ”. A typical small landowner - the owner of 80 serf souls. The box is a homely mistress.

Lifestyle Korobochka's mental horizons are extremely limited. Gogol emphasizes her stupidity, ignorance, superstition, indicates that her behavior is guided by self-interest, a passion for profit. She is very afraid to “sell too cheap”. Everything "new and unprecedented" scares her.

Nozdryov On the whole, Nozdryov is an unpleasant person, since the concepts of honor, conscience, human dignity are completely absent from him. The energy of Nozdryov turned into a scandalous bustle, aimless and destructive. Portrait Characteristic Farmstead Attitude towards housekeeping Attitude towards housekeeping Lifestyle

The Manor “There was no preparation in the house to receive them. In the middle of the dining room stood wooden goats, and two peasants, standing on them, whitewashed the walls ... First of all, they went to inspect the stable, where they saw two mares ... Then Nozdryov showed the empty stalls, where there were also good horses before ... Nozdryov led them to his study, in which, however, there were no noticeable traces of what happens in the study, that is, books or paper; only a saber and two guns were hanging. "

Lifestyle He plays cards dishonestly, is always ready to go “anywhere, even for a light, enter whatever enterprise you want, change everything that is, for whatever you want”. It is natural that all this does not lead Nozdryov to enrichment, but, on the contrary, ruins him.

Sobakevich The author emphasizes the greed, narrowness of interests, inertia of the landowner. The strength and strength of Sobakevich lead to stiffness, clumsiness, immobility. Portrait Characteristic Farmstead Attitude towards housekeeping Attitude towards housekeeping Lifestyle

The portrait "A healthy and strong man", whom nature "cut from the whole shoulder"; very similar to "medium-sized bear"; “... it seemed that this body did not have a soul at all, or he had it, but not at all where it should be, but, like an immortal koshchei, somewhere beyond the mountains, and covered with such a thick shell that everything, whatever was tossing and turning at the bottom of it did not produce absolutely any shock on the surface ”.

Manor “Chichikov once again looked around the room, and everything in it was solid, awkward to the highest degree and bore some strange resemblance to the owner of the house himself; in the corner of the living room stood a big-bellied walnut bureau on preposterous four legs, a perfect bear. The table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the heaviest and most restless nature - in a word, every object, every chair seemed to say: "And I am Sobakevich too!" or "And I am also very similar to Sobakevich"

Plyushkin The author exclaims: “And to what insignificance, pettiness, disgusting man could condescend! Could have changed so much! And it looks like the truth? Everything looks like the truth, everything can happen to a person. The current fiery youth would have jumped back in horror if they had shown him his portrait in old age. " Portrait Characteristic Manor Lifestyle

Portrait “For a long time he [Chichikov] could not recognize what gender the figure was: a woman or a man. Her dress was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman's bonnet, on her head was a cap, which is worn by village courtyard women, only one voice seemed to him somewhat husky for a woman ... "" ... little eyes had not yet gone out and were running from under high-raised eyebrows, like mice, when sticking out sharp little muzzles from dark holes, ears alert and blinking with a mustache, they look out if a cat or a mischievous boy is hiding, and smell suspiciously the very air ... "

Characteristics There are no human feelings in Plyushkin, not even paternal ones. Things are dearer to him than people, in whom he sees only scammers and thieves. The senseless avarice that reigns in Plyushkin's soul generates in him distrust and hostility to everything around him, cruelty and injustice towards serfs.

The Manor The house was in disorder: "... it seemed as if the floors were being washed and all the furniture was piled here for a while ..." An expressive description of the village of Plyushkina, with its completely dilapidated log pavement, with "particular dilapidation" village huts, with huge treasures of rotten bread, with a manor house, which looked like some kind of "decrepit invalid". Everything has come to a complete decline, the peasants are “dying, kg :; flies ”, dozens are on the run.

Lifestyle The author confronts two epochs of Plyushkin's life: when “everything flowed alive” and when he turned into a “hole in humanity”. Following the changes in Plyushkin's life, one cannot fail to notice that the "mortification" of the soul begins with the poverty of feelings. It seems that humanity is not available to Plyushkin. If we did not know that Plyushkin was once a kind family man, a reasonable owner and even an affable person, the image created by Gogol could have caused rather a grin. The told story of Plyushkin's life makes this image more tragic than comic. Using the technique of contrast, Gogol forces the reader to compare the human and the ugly-ugly within one life.

Gallery has several meanings. Like the very title of Gogol's poem, in this topic the word is used figuratively. The gallery of landowners in Dead Souls is a long series of characters, described according to a general, close plan.

First character

You can arrange landowners in the form of a photographic exhibition of portraits. Another image is against the background of nature. In any gallery, the visitor will find common features of the display of the hero. You can try to create portraits of landowners yourself.

Manilov smiles pleasantly, but his eyes are filled with sweetness. They have no thoughts or ideas. The character resembles a cat basking in the sun. Nearby there is a table on which heaps of ash, knocked out of a pipe, are arranged in beautiful rows. The landowner tries to lure the viewer, attract with his dreaminess, deceive. There is no living man around, signs of mismanagement are everywhere. Fine furniture stands next to armchairs covered with mat. A "dandy candlestick" made of bronze next to the "brazen invalid". Someone from the courtyard is sleeping in the background. Images of dreams soar above: a stone bridge, an underground passage.

Backwater life

In the next portrait, the female image is the landowner Korobochka. The woman is guided by the past of the country, so she is dressed in the clothes of the old, bygone classes: a cap with ruffles, a cloak, a flannel shawl instead of a scarf. The housewife is sitting at a table with a samovar. She wants to pretend to be a hospitable hostess, on the table is a stack of pancakes and jars of jam. Around the walls there are a bunch of different objects of unknown purpose and useful. A half-open mouth makes a woman unattractive, dullness and stupidity are visible in facial features. But one feels that the landowner is cunning and selfish. In the background there is a chest of drawers where bags of money are hidden.

Energetic rudeness

Brawler Nozdryov appears in the next portrait. He smiles, his mustache curled like a hussar, his beard and sideburns glowing. The landlord is fresh and healthy, but one senses that he is cheerful and drunk. You can imagine the good fellow at the ball, at the card table, in the circle of bottles and glasses. Another option is in his house, where there are "wooden goats" and the men whitewash the wall. In the background there is an empty stable or a great kennel.

Clumsy bear

A strong healthy hero of average height is the next portrait of the gallery. His gaze is cold and heavy. He sits at the table with a huge platter of calf leg, or piglet, or sturgeon. The clothes fit baggy, their color is like the fur of a bear. The landowner looks sullenly. Around is large massive furniture, similar to the owner. Predatory look and huge legs. On the walls there are paintings with heroic figures of characters in history. There is nothing reminiscent of enlightenment: books, magazines, or interesting designer jewelry. Everything is simple and as if cut down with an ax.

Insignificant pettiness

The last picture in the gallery is a portrait of Plyushkin. A dirty, dry, pointed-nosed man wrapped in unknown rags that resemble clothes. At first glance, it is impossible to determine his gender, age and status. The landowner looks like a courtyard woman in a woman's hood. There is a huge bunch of keys on the belt. The eyes in the portrait are so small that they are almost invisible behind the eyebrows. The face resembles mice looking out of dark holes, alert and predatory, looking for something to profit from. There is a mess around, heaps of rubbish, dust and objects picked up on the roads. Everything is ugly and ugly.

I really liked this piece. One of the few that I read avidly. A classic, satirical in some places, but at the same time such a deep work will not leave anyone indifferent.

Nikolai Vasilievich wrote this poem in order to show Russia "from one side". As Gogol himself wrote: “In my work I wanted to expose mainly those higher properties of Russian nature, which are not yet appreciated by everyone fairly, and mainly those low ones that are still not sufficiently ridiculed and amazed by everyone.”

I believe that every landowner whom Chichikov visited was deader in soul than the previous one.

First, Chichikov comes to Manilov. Manilov is a sugary sweet person. He loves to dream, but his dreams are dead, like his soul.

All his desires are never fulfilled, because he himself does not put any effort into this. For me, this is an empty person who has no determination and willpower.

Then Chichikov visits Korobochka, an elderly landowner. This is a very thrifty woman, always afraid to sell too cheap. As Chichikov himself calls her:

"Club-headed", "thick-headed old woman".

This is also a dead soul, because there is only one thing on Nastasya Petrovna's mind: money.

In the city of NN Nozdrev is not trusted by any person. Therefore, when he told people that Chichikov bought dead souls from him, no one believed him.

The next landowner who sheltered Chichikov was Sobakevich. The landowner's village speaks for itself. In Sobakevich's household, all the houses and huts were strong, but awkward.

Even in his house, all the furniture looks like him, she seems to shout: "I and I look like Sobakevich!" Money, calculation made him a rude and tough man. Chichikov gives him the definition of "fist".

And this is also a dead soul in a living body.

The last landowner was Plyushkin. He turned his entire household into trash. He collects, but basically he just put all the trash in the house and turned everything into chaos. This is a very stingy person, but fate made him so, because his wife died and he had to live alone.

It seems to me that Plyushkin is not a dead soul, he just could not pull himself together when he lost all the joy in life.

The poem Dead Souls presents a whole gallery of human types. Gogol took a certain character trait and created a hero. He did not want to show someone specific, on the contrary: Nikolai Vasilyevich wanted us to see Russia from “one side”, change our attitude to what is happening in the world and so that we understand who actually has “dead souls”.

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In the poem Dead Souls N.V. Gogol sets himself the goal not so much to reveal the essence of the main character's scam, but to show a wide panorama of the life of Russia, the character of the Russian person, the further destiny of Russian society. therefore travel formproviding the writer with just such an opportunity is most convenient for storytelling.

The hero, Pavel Ivanoviҹ Chichikov, arrives in the city of N, where he makes profitable acquaintances, including with the landowners, on whom the implementation of his criminal plan depends, and receives invitations from them to visit their estates. This is the first chapter, which is a kind of introduction. And then five chapters follow, in which the writer depicts Chichikov's visits to the landowners who personify the noble estate of Russia, the "masters of life."

Drawing the characters of the heroes, the author seeks to prove to the reader that they are typical for Russian society of that time. As a realist writer, Gogol creates typical characters, but at the same time he knows how to find and highlight the unique character of the character, revealing his inner content. Another aspect of the author's intention show the mortification of the soul, therefore, the writer describes in detail their everyday life, the estate, the interior, the way of life. Finally, an important role in the characterization of the characters is played by the scene of the sale of dead souls, since in it not only the image of the hero, but also the absurdity of the world in which each of them lives, is revealed even deeper.

Manilov, the first character in the gallery is a parody of the hero of sentimental novels. In the pleasantness of his face, Keresur was transferred to sugar, you will not expect any ... living word from him ... he expresses himself in sugary, amiable phrases. The arrival of Chichikov, according to him, is May day ... the name day of the heart. Sweetness, sentimentality are the essence of the character of the beautiful-minded thrower Manilov, who spends his life in idleness and inaction... His estate is uncomfortable, the economy went somehow by itself, he does not know the state of affairs in his estate, all his methods are one more absurd than the other. He was amazed at Chichikov's proposal, but beautiful phrases about the legality of the deal quickly reassured him. The things surrounding Manilov testify to his inability, detachment from life, indifference to reality: the manor house stands on the Jura, “open to all winds”; Manilov spends time in a gazebo with the inscription "Temple of Solitary Reflection", where he comes up with various fantastic projects, for example, to lead an underground passage from the house or build a stone bridge across a pond. For two years in a row there has been a book in Manilov's office with a bookmark on page 14; ash is scattered in caps, a tobacco holder, slides of ash knocked out of a pipe are neatly placed on the table and windows - this is precisely what Manilov's leisure time is. Manilov, immersed in tempting reflections, never travels to the fields, and meanwhile the peasants get drunk, not a single tree is near the gray huts of the village of Manilov - "only one log"; the economy goes by itself; housekeeper steals, servants sleep and hang. The family relationship between Manilov and his wife is parodic and sentimental. The heroes carry sweets and tidbits to each other with the words: "Razin, darling, your mouth, I'll put this piece for you." But, maybe, to someone such love seems sincere. Manilov's portrait is built on the principle of forcing enthusiasm and hospitality to an extreme excess, turning into a negative quality. He did no good to anyone and lived on trifles. He did not know life, reality was replaced by empty fantasies.

TO Koroboke Chigikov accidentally gets lost on the way to Sobakevi. This is also a generalized image, and her surname clearly expresses the essence of the heroine's character - hoarding. Korobochka's pettiness, her limited interestsworries about her own economy is emphasized by the bird-animal surroundings around her: neighbors-landowners Bobrov, Svinin; "There were no numbers of turkeys and chickens ...". The things in Korobochka's house, on the one hand, reflect her naive idea of \u200b\u200blush beauty, on the other, her desire to surround herself with all sorts of things. She has a strong, well-groomed farm, she treats Chichikov with delicious dishes, thinking that he is a buyer, deciding to appease him. But the essence of the deal proposed by Chichikov is beyond her understanding, her limited, wretched mind. "Dubin-headed" Koroboka is only afraid that she will not be deceived in price, and for a long time cannot figure out for herself, by loaning Chichikov "bones and graves". At first, Korobochka thinks that Chichikov intends to dig the dead out of the ground. She is going to palm off Chichikov with hemp and honey instead of "dead souls", the prices for which she knows, but for the "souls" Korobochka says: "I'd better wait a little longer, maybe merchants will come in large numbers, but I'll apply to prices. Korobochka decides to sell the “souls” out of fear and out of superstition, for Chichikov promised her the devil and almost cursed (“Yes, perish and roundabout your whole village!”) Only Chichikov's promise to buy food from her calmed her down. But it calmed, as it turned out, not for long: after all, it was Koroboҹka who later came to the city to find out, "now let's eat dead souls." Korobochka is a generalized image of thrifty, and consequently, living in contentment, widows-landowners, who are hard of thinking, but who know how not to miss their profit.

Meeting with Nozdrev also random, on the way to the inn. Nozdryov returns from the fair and enthusiastically brags about how they drank there and how much he lost. Such people, as the author again summarizes, are reputed to be broken-hearted, they will soon get to know everyone. But whoever got close to him, he most likely pissed off everyone: he spread gossip, upset a wedding or a trade deal, but at the same time Nozdryov did not feel any guilt behind himself. Nozdryov's main passion is “to screw up your neighbor”.His way of life is entertainment, play, fun, aimless activity, willingness to do whatever he pleases, with no moral principles. He lies and cheats, his appearance always portends a scandal. The author ironically calls Nozdryov a historical human. He suggests turning the deal with Chichikov into a bargain, then into a game, as a result Chichikov was almost beaten. Chigikov bitterly regretted that he had contacted Nozdryov, all the more that Nozdryov later spread rumors throughout the city about the hero's unprecedented deals. Nozdryov is restless, mischievous, violent, ready at any moment without any reason to do something unforeseen and inexplicable for no reason.

After a whole series of accidents, Chigikov finally reached Sobakeviҹa... This landowner, according to the author's definition, is similar to an average-sized bear, just as clumsy and clumsy. Rudeness and clumsiness are the essence of Sobakevich's portrait. He is a tough owner, and everything in his house is just as massive and different. The treat is simple, in the Russian way, but plentiful. And he does not go into the essence of Chichikov's proposal, immediately breaking the unheard-of price, as he immediately realized that Chikikov was pursuing some profit in buying dead souls. He praises his peasants as if they were real people. Sobakevich scolds everyone, sees all scoundrels and swindlers in all. The governor is "the first robber in the world", "he will kill for a penny." The whole city - "the swindler sits on the swindler and drives the swindler ... there is only one decent person there: the prosecutor, and even that, if you tell the truth, is a pig." The animal nature of Sobakevich displayed bestial cruelty and cunning.

Completes this gallery Plyushkin, the only hero about whom the history of his degradation is known. Once he was just a thrifty owner, who had a family and a house full of asha. But as time went on, the wife and the younger daughter died, the older daughter ran away with the officer, and the owner was left alone as a watchman, keeper and owner of his wealth. The avarice and suspicion that developed in him annihilated all human feelings, and a strange creature appears in front of Chichikov, and even the sex cannot be guessed at once. He is stingy to the extreme saves every piece of paper, feather or wax. But at the same time, his bread and hay disappear, food rotting, and he himself does not remember how much he had, only making sure that no one drank the remains of the tincture from the decanter in a thief. Plyushkin has lost the idea of \u200b\u200bthe real value of things and is an absurd miser, a hole in mankind. Gogol thinks such degradation is quite real. Plyushkin's evolution from a once-living person to the most disgusting appearance of a dead soul culmination and completion of the gallery of images of landowners . Plyushkin is a living dead man, a man-hater.

Thus, Gogol, over several chapters, gives typical portraits of landowners, summarizing in them what sounds in the title of the poem: moral emptiness and mortification of the soul, inability to work for the good of society, aimlessness and uselessness of existence. And in fact, Chichikov is a mirror image of the dead souls of landowners with whom he contacts and concludes deals.