Analysis of Gogol's story "Portrait", a creative study of the mission of art. The story “Portrait” in the research of Russian literary scholars

student of class 10 "b" Lavrenova Tatyana

teacher G.K. Krivosheeva

N.V. Gogol once said: “There is hardly the highest of pleasures as the pleasure of creating.” And I, in turn, would like to add: reading the fruits of his creativity is also a pleasure. How much soul, how much truth, how much strength, how much emotion this man put into his works! That is why they arouse great interest.

In his work, N.V. Gogol revealed many problems, very important and relevant, positive and negative. We see deception, embezzlement, bribery; we are faced with life's difficulties; we find out the fate of little people; we understand what can happen if the dream does not coincide with reality; we see how creative people interact with society. But the writer pays great attention to human vices and ridiculing them.

In the story “Portrait” we meet a young artist who is distinguished by his uniqueness, originality, originality and appreciates real art. N.V. Gogol makes us understand that creativity occupied even more space in the life of the young artist than everyday life: “Chartkov entered his antechamber, unbearably cold, as is always the case with artists, which, however, they do not notice.” He lived through art, embodying bold, unusual ideas in his paintings, and did not set out to make money from it, although he lived very poorly. While there is still nothing vicious in Chartkov’s fate, the author respects the artist’s great desire to create new, deep and meaningful works. But then something happens that no one would wish on a talented creator. We see how Chartkov’s fate changes after the portrait of a strange moneylender appears in his life. The motive of devilish temptation played a key role here. And this is where one of the main human vices manifests itself in our artist - the desire to become endlessly rich and the desire to become famous. The problem of the rich, who dream of becoming even wealthier, and the poor. Dreaming of wealth, eternal. And people have been dreaming of becoming famous for centuries. To make an impression, to attract attention, to feel superior and better than others - these are the goals of people striving for fame. Main character, of course, gets rich, but the price of wealth and fame is talent, lost irretrievably. Chartkov realizes this very late, and until the very end his life is a complete misfortune.

The work of N.V. Gogol is an integral part of literature, huge and irreplaceable. His works are filled with deep meaning, they are interesting to read, but not easy. Why isn't it easy? Due to the large number of thoughts that require attention and understanding. N.V. Gogol very brightly, boldly, shows us in detail different types people, social relationships, attitudes to business. Reading his works, you are convinced that creativity was truly his highest pleasure.

Gogol's story "Portrait" is a work he wrote under the impression of life in St. Petersburg. The gloomy northern city inspired the writer to create outstanding works, many of which continue to delight modern readers. IN mystical history about the devilish image of the old moneylender concluded deep meaning. Unfortunately, this article will only outline its summary. “Portrait” (Gogol named this work in honor of an unusual object appearing in the story) amazes with its fascinating plot. Only the main points of its development will be conveyed below.

Purchasing a portrait

This exciting story begins with the purchase of an antique canvas. A brief summary cannot convey all its nuances. “Portrait” (Gogol N.V.) tells about young artist Chertkov, who, unexpectedly for himself, acquires a work by an unknown painter in the shop. It depicts an old man dressed in Asian attire, with a bronzed face from tanning and unusually lively eyes. The young man lives very poorly, always owes rent, but does not strive for easy money, but wants to reveal his talent through persistent and painstaking work. However, a strange portrait disturbs his soul all night young artist sees nightmares: he imagines a scary old man leaving the frame and counting the gold ducats before his eyes.

New life

Gogol's story "Portrait" is mystical in nature. In the morning, the young man unexpectedly discovers a bundle of gold coins in his possession, after which he repays all his debts, moves from Vasilyevsky Island to Nevsky Prospekt and begins new life. At first he wants to devote himself entirely to art, but, carried away by all sorts of temptations, he quickly forgets about it. Chertkov acquires fashionable outfits, orders an article about himself in a newspaper and finds rich customers. They know nothing about creativity, but they pay generously, so the young man begins to draw beautiful trinkets and quickly becomes rich.

Retribution for Apostasy

N.V. Gogol talks about the inevitable retribution for abandoning one’s destiny. "Portrait" is the story of a man who betrayed high art. Having become rich, Chertkov quickly loses his former youthful vivacity. He becomes a fashionable painter, gains weight in society, but at the same time completely loses his talent. One day the Academy of Arts invites him to evaluate the work of a painter, long years trained in Italy. Seeing this work, Chertkov is amazed at its harmony and perfection. He returns home and tries to write something similar himself. However, the artist’s calloused hand no longer obeys him, and he soon becomes convinced that his talent has dried up. Then Chertkov is overcome by insane envy and anger. He devotes the rest of his life to buying up all outstanding paintings at auctions and mercilessly destroying them. The artist dies in a seizure another madness, and in his dying delirium he sees the living eyes of a mysterious old man everywhere.

Moneylender

Now you know what the first part of your story is about. Its summary tells about the fate of the mad artist. “Portrait” (N.V. Gogol knows how to captivate the reader) also has a second part. It describes the history of the creation of the mysterious image.

A portrait of an old man is being sold at auction. Buyers argue for a long time about the price, and in the end there are only two rich contenders. Suddenly, a modestly dressed man of about thirty-five interrupts the auction and begins to talk about the history of this portrait. Many years ago in Kolomna (a suburb of St. Petersburg) there lived a strange moneylender. He had an outstanding appearance: tall, bronze skin color and sharp facial features. In addition, he was unusually rich and lent money to the most famous residents of the capital. However, his gold did not bring happiness to anyone. A young man who sought to devote himself to serving society, after joint dealings with a moneylender, turned into an inhuman official. A young man passionately in love, having taken a loan from a strange old man, became insanely jealous and almost killed his wife. Residents of Kolomna were afraid of the moneylender and never borrowed from him...

great artist

Was an avid fan visual arts N.V. Gogol. “Portrait” is the fruit of the writer’s reflections on the role of creativity in the life of every person. Further in the work we're talking about about a simple and honest painter who managed to achieve recognition from others through his hard work and outstanding talent. One day, a moneylender approached him with a request to paint his portrait. The artist happily responded to this proposal, but while working on the canvas he felt a strong disgust for what was happening. He tried to stop, then the old man fell to his knees in front of him and revealed his secret: he was preparing for death and wanted his essence to be embodied in a portrait. The artist leaves the moneylender's house in horror, and the next day finds out that he has died. The image of the old man has since been kept in the painter’s house.

Devil's instigation

Amazing events are described in the work. Its brief content tells about the vicious influence of the mystical image on others. “Portrait” (Gogol created this story in two editions) tells that everyone who kept it close to themselves was subjected to devilish temptations. The honest artist suddenly began to envy his student and tried to beat him in a competition to design a new church. Only through long monastic service was he able to atone for his guilt before God and create a truly great work - the painting “The Nativity of Jesus.” The other owners of the portrait also experienced the power of its negative impact. At the end of the story, the repentant artist bequeathed to his son to find the image of the moneylender and destroy it. The descendant of the great painter was the narrator of this exciting story. The listeners, captivated by his story, did not notice how the item of desperate bargaining disappeared from the wall. This ends the story written by N.V. Gogol. The portrait mysteriously disappeared and may have been stolen.

Heroes of the story

So who can be called the main character of the story that Gogol wrote (“Portrait”)? The plot of the work makes it possible to appoint the artist Chertkov to this role. After all, at the center of the story is the story of his apostasy and moral collapse. But regarding the role that the characters play in constructing the work as a whole, its main character is the moneylender. It is about the desire of the devilish force to subjugate art with the help of gold that Gogol reflects in his story. “Portrait”, the meaning of which is enclosed by the author in a bright and expressive form, also tells about the secret power of money over human soul, and about high creativity, which can become an instrument of evil in vicious hands.

And, of course, we must not forget about the role of the city of St. Petersburg in the work. Only here, according to Gogol, ancient paintings come to life, demonic moneylenders weave their networks and suddenly disappear dangerous portraits. Tempting and majestic, poor and rich, beautiful and deceptive, the city of Petersburg can also be considered a full-fledged hero of the story.

“Portrait” of Gogol N.V.

Gogol wrote the story "Portrait" in 1835; in 1842 he partially reworked it. Such a work - revised, but preserving the same plot and stylistic basis - in the science of literature is usually called an edition. When opening modern reprints of Gogol’s prose, you and I usually read the second edition of “Portrait,” that is, the 1842 version; We will analyze it.

So, who should be considered the hero of this story? The artist Chartkov? Demonic loan shark? Or perhaps the hero here is the fantastic city of St. Petersburg itself, in which the action takes place? Let's try to figure it out.

Judging by the external outline of events, by the plot of the work, then at the center of the story, undoubtedly, is the artist Andrei Petrovich Chartkov, his fate, his downfall. The very name of the hero hints in advance that he is under the power of evil spells fraught with devilry. And this is not at all contradicted by the fact that at the beginning of the story Chartkov is depicted with undisguised authorial sympathy, his gift is undoubted, his sincerity is obvious.

Moreover, remember exactly how Evil, which the Usurer personifies, first invades Chartkov’s life? The artist uses his last two kopecks to buy in an art shop on Shchukin's yard vintage portrait“in large, once magnificent frames”; the portrait depicts “an old man with a bronze-colored face, cheekbones, stunted,” but endowed with “non-northern strength.” So, the artist gives the money needed for food for a work of art. He does nothing wrong; he is faithful to art; his previous life is blameless and deeply moral. But from the second part of the story we learn that all the owners of the ill-fated painting became its victims. This means that having bought it, the artist is doomed to share their fate. Chartkov’s only “guilt” lies only in the fact that he was unable to resist the devilish obsession, which approached him at a dangerous distance and sucked him into himself like a quagmire. Waking up in the morning after a repeated nightmare (an old moneylender emerges from the frames of a portrait, counting his chervonets), Chartkov discovers a bundle with 1000 chervonets. His soul seems to be split into two: a true artist, dreaming of three years of calm and selfless work, and a twenty-year-old youth, who loves to party and is prone to fashionable flamboyance of colors, are arguing in him. Worldly passion wins; the artist in him begins to die.

In Gogol’s picture of the world, this is what usually happens: a heavenly calling seems to attract demonic forces; the power of gold, opposing the power of creativity, encroaches on human soul, and in order to resist this power, you need to have a special strength and a special, ascetic personality. Otherwise, evil will win; an artist who succumbs to everyday temptation will not only ruin his talent, but will also turn into a servant dark forces. This means he is an enemy of art.

Chartkov's transition to a new quality is depicted as a betrayal, a betrayal, a religious fall. Having moved to luxury apartments on Nevsky Prospekt, he painted the first “fashionable” portrait in his life. After several sessions, moving further and further away from fidelity to the original, he transfers the embellished features of young Lise, who has already experienced a passion for balls, onto his old sketch. This sketch depicted the mythological heroine Psyche; translated into Russian, Psyche means Soul. Thus, it turns out that the artist remakes and sells his Soul for the sake of success and money; he seems to be placing it under a false image. Moreover, the name of his first model, Lise, reminds the reader of Karamzin’s “Poor Liza.” And, as you well know, Karamzin’s Liza served in Russian literature as a symbol of perishing naturalness.

Gradually, Chartkov becomes one of the “moving stone coffins with a dead man instead of a heart.” He condemns Michelangelo, and here Gogol again uses the same technique significant name. After all, Chartkov denies the work of the artist, in whose name the image of a shining angel is “encrypted”. And the reader gradually becomes imbued with the idea that Chartkov himself has turned into a fallen angel. No wonder, after meeting with a former classmate at the Academy, who chose the opposite path in life and art, he spent many years in Italy, his homeland European painting, and created a great final picture, Chartkov is desperately trying to create a portrait of the Fallen Angel. That is, a portrait of his soul, the fallen Psyche. But he even lost technique - having become an enemy of harmony, he simply forgot how to draw...

But his own face becomes a portrait, artistically his fall, evidence of the loss of his soul. “Blame against the world” sounds in the features of his face; from a creator endowed with a heavenly gift, he turns into a satanic destroyer of masterpieces: Chartkov spends all the gold received as if in exchange for sold talent on buying greatest creations European genius - and destroys them, just as he destroyed and disfigured himself...

Does this mean that evil is omnipotent? That it is impossible to resist it, since the world is structured in such a way that the purest and brightest, that is, art, attracts, attracts to itself the darkest, the most evil? No, that doesn't mean it. Although the world, as Gogol portrays it, is indeed distorted and unfairly arranged; having bought scary picture, Chartkov must inevitably lose his way. Evil is irremovable. However, it is not omnipotent. It is impossible to avoid temptation, but the finale, the denouement of the drama may be completely different; here Gogol's heroes are free in their choice. The story about the fate of Chartkov is shaded by the history of the artist who created during the time of Catherine Great portrait Moneylender; it is told in the second part by the son of the portrait painter. He lived in the same place where Chartkov later lived - on the outskirts of St. Petersburg; both knew what envy was (Chartkov - towards a fellow student at the Academy, the portrait painter - towards his own student, who received an order to paint a rich church); both stumbled and became dependent on the devil's spell. But the portrait painter finds the only possible way out of this situation, the only reliable shelter from evil - a monastery. Here he creates the painting “The Nativity of Jesus”. The personal fate of the portrait painter, his soul, is saved. Despite the fact that evil as such cannot be defeated: at the end of the story, everyone notices that the mysterious Portrait has disappeared and, therefore, the temptation embodied in it will continue its terrible march through the world.

Thus, judging by the external outline of events, the main character of the story turns out to be Chartkov. But if we talk about the role that the characters play in constructing the story as a whole, then the center of the author’s attention is undoubtedly the Moneylender. The fabulously rich lender lived in the era of Catherine the Great, that is, long before Chartkov was born; his animated image, the devilish Portrait, retains its monstrous power even after the death of the painter.

Who is this Moneylender? No one knows where the “Asian” with the incomprehensibly terrible complexion came from; It is not known exactly whether he was Indian, Greek or Persian. The money he lent, it would seem, favorable conditions, had the ability to rise to exorbitant percentages; in addition, the Moneylender offered clients certain secret conditions that made the hair of the debtors “stand on end.” Anyone who borrowed from him, even for good purposes, ended badly.

An attentive reader of Gogol knows: the theme of the Antichrist constantly sounds in his works. Sometimes seriously and mystically, as in the early stories, especially in “Terrible Revenge,” sometimes mockingly, as in “ Dead souls" Gogol's ideas about the Antichrist are akin to some popular beliefs: this enemy of Christ cannot come into the world until the end of time, when the laws of nature created by God are finally weakened. But for the time being, the Antichrist can be embodied, as it were, partially, in individual people, testing his strength and preparing for the last battle for earthly history. The Moneylender is such a “trial” incarnation of the Antichrist. It is not for nothing that in the first edition of the story “Portrait” the Moneylender bore the name Petromikhali: Peter the Great called himself Peter Mikhailov, whom folk beliefs identified with the Antichrist... He is not yet omnipotent, and therefore seeks to extend his earthly days and continue his dirty work after death - with the help of great art.

Three themes are inextricably linked with the image of the Moneylender, which particularly worried Gogol while working on the cycle “ Petersburg stories": the incomprehensible, secret power of gold over the human soul; art, which is intended to be a “hint of the divine,” but can also become an instrument of evil; the desire of devilish forces to subjugate art at the price of gold. But all these themes are condensed into one key image, emerging both from the pages of “Portrait” and from the pages of other St. Petersburg stories. This is an image of the dual, majestic and dangerous, rich and poor, deceptive and beautiful city of St. Petersburg. And from the point of view of the concept of the “Petersburg stories”, from the point of view of the cycle as an artistic whole, the main character of “Portrait” should be considered Petersburg itself.

Only here, in this fantastic city, on the gloomy outskirts of Kolomna, can the fabulous luxury of the Moneylender bloom in false color; only here can the transition from the conscientious poverty of creativity into the dead luxury of the salon, the transfer from Vasilyevsky Island to Nevsky Prospekt, be instantaneously accomplished; only here at night demonic portraits come to life, real chervonets fall out of the frame, and dangerous portraits suddenly disappear from auction... St. Petersburg in Gogol’s image is similar to the negative of another great and at the same time bright city, Rome; it is from there, from the Italian South to the cold and gloomy North, that Chartkov’s former classmate returns with his final picture; It was precisely before his son’s departure to Italy that the gray-haired, “almost divine old man,” the author of the ill-fated Portrait, bequeathed to find the painting and “destroy” it. And with it comes evil.

Gogol called his story "Portrait". Is it because the portrait of the moneylender played a fatal role in the fate of his heroes, the artists, whose fates are compared in two parts of the story? Or because the author wanted to give a portrait of his contemporary society and talented person who perishes or is saved in spite of hostile circumstances and the humiliating properties of nature? Or is this a portrait of art and the soul of the writer himself, trying to escape the temptation of success and prosperity and cleanse the soul with high service to art?

Probably, in this strange story by Gogol there is a social, moral, and aesthetic meaning, there are reflections on what a person, society, and art are. Modernity and eternity are intertwined here so inextricably that the phenomena real life of the Russian capital of the 30s of the 19th century are linked with biblical reflections on good and evil, on their endless struggle in the human soul.

We first meet the artist Chartkov at that moment in his life when, with youthful ardor, he admires the genius of Raphael, Michelangelo, Correggio and despises handicrafts that replace art for the average person. Seeing a strange portrait of an old man with piercing eyes in the shop, Chartkov is ready to give his last two kopecks for it. Poverty did not take away his ability to see the beauty of life and work with passion on his sketches. He reaches out to the light and does not want to turn art into an anatomical theater and expose the “disgusting person” with a knife-brush. He rejects artists whose “nature itself... seems low and dirty,” so that “there is nothing illuminating in it.” However, Chartkov, according to his painting teacher, is talented, but impatient and prone to worldly pleasures and vanity. And as soon as the money, miraculously falling from the portrait frame, gives Chartkov the opportunity to lead an absent-minded social life, enjoy prosperity, wealth and fame, and not art, become his idol. Chartkov owes his success to the fact that, while drawing a portrait socialite, which turned out to be bad for him, he was able to rely on a disinterested work of talent - a drawing of Psyche, in which one could feel the dream of an ideal being. But the ideal was not alive, and only by connecting with the impressions of real life did it become attractive, and real life acquired the significance of the ideal. However, Chartkov lied, giving the insignificant girl the appearance of Psyche. Having flattered for the sake of success, he betrayed the purity of art. And Chartkov’s talent began to leave him and betrayed him. “Whoever has talent within himself must have a purer soul than anyone else,” says the father to his son in the second part of the story. This is an almost verbatim repetition of Mozart’s words in Pushkin’s tragedy “Mozart and Salieri”: “Genius and villainy are two incompatible things.” But for Pushkin, goodness is in the nature of genius. Gogol writes a story that the artist, like all people, is subject to the temptation of evil, but destroys himself and his talent more terribly and quickly than ordinary people. Talent that is not realized in true art, talent that has parted with goodness, becomes destructive for the individual.

Chartkov, who has given up truth to beauty for the sake of success, ceases to feel life in its multicolor, variability, and trembling. His portraits console customers, but do not live; they do not reveal, but hide personality, nature. And despite the fame of a fashionable painter, Chartkov feels that he has nothing to do with real art. Wonderful picture artist, who perfected himself in Italy, caused a shock in Chartkov. Probably, in the outline of this picture Gogol gives a generalized image famous painting Karl Bryullov’s “The Last Day of Pompeii”, a direct review of which is published as an article in the second part of the collection “Arabesques”.

But the shock Chartkov experienced from beautiful picture, does not awaken him to a new life, because for this he must give up the pursuit of wealth and fame, kill the evil in himself. Chartkov chooses a different path: he begins to expel talented art from the world, buy and cut magnificent canvases, and kill goodness. And this path leads him to madness and death.

What was the reason for this terrible transformation: a person’s weakness in the face of temptations or the mystical witchcraft of the portrait of a moneylender, whose scorching gaze absorbed all the evil of the world? Gogol answers this question in two ways. A real explanation of Chartkov’s fate is just as possible as a mystical one. The dream that leads Chartkov to gold may be both the fulfillment of his subconscious desires and the aggression of evil spirits, which is mentioned whenever the portrait of a usurer is discussed. The words “devil”, “devil”, “darkness”, “demon” turn out to be the speech frame of the portrait in the story.

Pushkin in “The Queen of Spades” essentially refutes the mystical interpretation of events; Gogol does not deny it.

The story, written by Gogol in the year of the appearance and general success of The Queen of Spades, is a response and objection to Pushkin. Evil affects not only Chartkov, who is subject to the temptations of success, but also the father of the artist B., who painted a portrait of a moneylender who resembled the devil and who himself became an evil spirit. And “a strong character, an honest, straightforward person,” having painted a portrait of evil, feels “incomprehensible anxiety,” disgust for life and envy for the success of his talented students.

The artist who touched evil, who painted the eyes of the moneylender, which “looked demonically crushing,” can no longer paint good; his brush is driven by an “unclean feeling,” and in the picture intended for the temple, “there is no holiness in the faces.”

All people associated with a moneylender in real life die, betraying the best qualities of their nature. The artist who reproduced evil expanded its influence. The portrait of a moneylender robs people of the joy of life and awakens “such melancholy... just as if I wanted to stab someone to death.” Stylistically, this combination “exactly as if” is typical. Of course, “exactly” is used in the sense of “how” to avoid tautology. At the same time, the combination of “exactly” and “as if” conveys Gogol’s characteristic manner of detailed realistic description and gives a certain illusory, fantastic quality to the meaning of events. This manner was observed in Pushkin. Let us recall the description of Hermann’s vision in Chapter V of “The Queen of Spades”:“He woke up at night: the moon illuminated his room. He looked at his watch: it was a quarter to three. His sleep passed; he sat up on the bed and thought about the funeral of the old countess... A minute later he heard the door in the front room being unlocked. Hermann thought that his orderly, drunk as usual, was returning from a night walk. But he heard an unfamiliar gait: someone was walking, quietly shuffling their shoes. The door opened and a woman in a white dress entered. Hermann mistook her for his old nurse and wondered what could have brought her to such a time. But the white woman, gliding, suddenly found herself in front of him - and Hermann recognized the countess! The distinctness of Hermann’s everyday consciousness does not seem to exclude the possibility of vision, but the ghost appears and speaks. The ghost itself is given stylistically in the same contradiction: “shuffling shoes” and “slipping.”

In Pushkin's vision of Hermann, a separation of the soul from the real existence of man was discovered. Gogol has a scene of alarming and strange dream Chartkov is illuminated, as in Pushkin, by the moon, the “goddess of secrets,” as she is called on the pages of Eugene Onegin: “Is it the light of the month, carrying with it the delirium of dreams and clothing everything in other images, opposite have a positive day, or that something else was the reason for this, only he suddenly, for some unknown reason, felt afraid to sit alone in the room.” Gogol explains to the reader what the light of the moon brings with it. Instead of a certain clarity of Pushkin’s phrases, syntactically spare and precise, there appears a swing created by the abundance participial phrases, introductory constructions, impersonal sentences. The specificity of the description of actions, as in Pushkin, is preserved, but it is subordinated to a more frank disclosure of the hero’s feelings: “The sound of footsteps was heard throughout the room, which finally became closer and closer to the screens. The poor artist's heart began to pound faster. With a deep breath of fear, he expected that the old man was about to look at him from behind the screen.”

Gogol describes a dream that is so similar to reality that Chartkov thinks he is waking up, but then it turns out that he seemed to have woken up, woke up in a dream. The infinity of this dream, which haunts the artist, has the character of an obsession. Pushkin, in Hermann’s vision, shows how conscience mysteriously appears in the hero’s soul, interrupted by the desire to win. Gogol writes a scene that reveals to the reader how the artist is possessed by evil.

The juxtaposition of the first and second parts in Gogol’s “Portrait” is intended to convince the reader that evil can take possession of any person, regardless of his moral nature. The artist, whose fate is traced in the second part, is similar in his height of spirit and manner of work to Alexander Ivanov, with whom Gogol became such close friends in Rome and who painted the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” hoping for the awakening of good in the light of genuine truth. Constantly painting Gogol, Ivanov made him first one, then another, then the third character in the picture, but in the end he assigned him a place in the figure closest to Christ. However, location does not determine the spiritual height of a figure. On the contrary, the manifestation of genuine good turns the “nearest” into a shadow, which is embarrassedly covered in a cloak with a hood. This was the verdict pronounced by Alexander Ivanov on Gogol. Is he fair?

In his works, Gogol really wants to take on the mission of a biblical prophet. Seeing the self-interest, insignificance, and “earthliness” of people, the writer is indignant and lectures.

The artist, the father of the narrator of the second part B., atoning for the evil he committed by painting a portrait of a moneylender, goes to a monastery, becomes a hermit and reaches that spiritual height that allows him to paint the Nativity of Jesus. But the ascent to goodness, which requires severe sacrifices from a person, is recognized in the story not as a manifestation of nature, but as its suppression. The devil or God reigns, according to Gogol, in the soul of a person whose nature is open to both good and evil. It is not for nothing that the abbot, struck by the “extraordinary holiness of the figures” in the painting of the Nativity of Jesus, says to the artist: “No, it is impossible for a person, with the help of human art alone, to produce such a picture: a holy, higher power guided your brush, and the blessing of heaven rested on your work.” Inversions and archaisms, characteristic of church speech, are characteristic not only of the rector. The instruction that the artist gives to his twenty-year-old son, encouraged by the joyful hope of traveling to Italy, is designed in the tones of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount both in style and in meaning: “Your path is pure, do not stray from it... Talent is the most precious gift of God - do not destroy his".

Gogol’s hymn to art is colored religiously: “The hint of a divine, heavenly paradise is contained for man in art, and for that alone it is already above all... Sacrifice everything to him and love him with all your passion, not a passion breathing earthly lust, but quiet heavenly passion; Without it, a person does not have the power to rise from the earth and cannot give wonderful sounds of calm. For to calm and reconcile everyone, a lofty creation of art descends into the world.” This is aesthetic program Gogol, colored by the idea of religious service and the affirmation of the artist as a sacred person. The ponderous solemnity of Gogol’s style in this teaching from father to son turns out to be a plastic expression of the writer’s conviction that man is sinful by nature, that his ascent up the stairs of purgatory is painful and difficult. As in The Queen of Spades, Dante is mentioned in The Portrait. The Empress says that “Dante could not find a corner in his republican homeland; that true geniuses arise during the splendor and power of sovereigns and states, and not during ugly political phenomena and republican terrorism, which have not yet given the world a single poet.”

It is characteristic that for Pushkin, Dante’s thoughts about the integrity of the human soul, which is not capable of containing “two immovable ideas,” and about man’s devotion to his homeland (“other people’s bread is bitter...”) are important. For Gogol, Dante’s idea of atonement for sin through purification and the artist’s homelessness in his homeland turns out to be more important if a firm, monarchical order is not established in it. However, in the actual practice of his works, Gogol deviates from this program. The story “Portrait” does not bring reassurance, showing how all people, regardless of their character traits and the height of their convictions, are susceptible to evil. Gogol, having remade the ending of the story, takes away the hope of eradicating evil. In the first edition, the image of the moneylender mysteriously evaporated from the canvas, leaving the canvas blank. In the final text of the story, the portrait of the moneylender disappears: evil again began to roam the world.

Questions and tasks

1. What connects the stories " Queen of Spades"Pushkin and Gogol's "Portrait"?

2. What is the difference between the attitudes of Pushkin and Gogol towards people?

3. Does the second part of the story “Portrait” refutes or confirms the idea of the omnipotence of evil?

4. What explains the stylistic difference between the works of Pushkin and Gogol?

5. Consider reproductions from the paintings “The Last Day of Pompeii” by K. Bryullov and “The Appearance of Christ to the People” by A. Ivanov. What brings these paintings together and what distinguishes them?

Works by N.V. Gogol. St. Petersburg, 1900. T. 9. P. 132. 228

Belinsky V. G. Full collection op. M., 1953. T. 1. P. 303.

Moreover, remember exactly how Evil, which the Usurer personifies, first invades Chartkov’s life? The artist uses his last two kopecks to buy an old portrait “in large, once magnificent frames” in an art shop on Shchukin Yard; the portrait depicts “an old man with a bronze-colored face, cheekbones, stunted,” but endowed with “non-northern strength.” So, the artist gives the money needed for food for a work of art. He does nothing wrong; he is faithful to art; his previous life is blameless and deeply moral. But from the second part of the story we learn that all the owners of the ill-fated painting became its victims. This means that having bought it, the artist is doomed to share their fate. Chartkov’s only “guilt” lies only in the fact that he was unable to resist the devilish obsession, which approached him at a dangerous distance and sucked him into himself like a quagmire. Waking up in the morning after a repeated nightmare (an old moneylender emerges from the frames of a portrait, counting his chervonets), Chartkov discovers a bundle with 1000 chervonets. His soul seems to be split into two: a true artist, dreaming of three years of calm and selfless work, and a twenty-year-old youth, who loves to party and is prone to fashionable flamboyance of colors, are arguing in him. Worldly passion wins; the artist in him begins to die.

In Gogol’s picture of the world, this is what usually happens: a heavenly calling seems to attract demonic forces; the power of gold, opposing the power of creativity, encroaches on the human soul, and in order to resist this power, you need to have a special strength and a special, ascetic personality. Otherwise, evil will win; an artist who succumbs to everyday temptation will not only ruin his talent, but will also turn into a servant of dark forces. This means he is an enemy of art.

Gradually, Chartkov becomes one of the “moving stone coffins with a dead man instead of a heart.” He condemns Michelangelo, and here Gogol again uses the same technique of a significant name. After all, Chartkov denies the work of the artist, in whose name the image of a shining angel is “encrypted”. And the reader gradually becomes imbued with the idea that Chartkov himself has turned into a fallen angel. It is not without reason that, after meeting with a former classmate at the Academy, who chose the opposite path in life and art, spent many years in Italy, the birthplace of European painting, and created a great final painting, Chartkov is desperately trying to create a portrait of the Fallen Angel. That is, a portrait of his soul, the fallen Psyche. But he even lost technique - having become an enemy of harmony, he simply forgot how to draw...

But his own face becomes a portrait, an artistic image of his fall, evidence of the loss of his soul. “Blame against the world” sounds in the features of his face; from a creator endowed with a heavenly gift, he turns into a satanic destroyer of masterpieces: Chartkov spends all the gold received as if in exchange for sold talent on buying up the greatest creations of European genius - and destroys them, just as he destroyed and disfigured himself...

Does this mean that evil is omnipotent? That it is impossible to resist it, since the world is structured in such a way that the purest and brightest, that is, art, attracts, attracts to itself the darkest, the most evil? No, that doesn't mean it. Although the world, as Gogol portrays it, is indeed distorted and unfairly arranged; Having bought a terrible picture, Chartkov must inevitably go astray. Evil is irremovable. However, it is not omnipotent. It is impossible to avoid temptation, but the finale, the denouement of the drama may be completely different; here Gogol's heroes are free in their choice. The story about the fate of Chartkov is shaded by the story of the artist who created a portrait of the Moneylender during the time of Catherine the Great; it is told in the second part by the son of the portrait painter. He lived in the same place where Chartkov later lived - on the outskirts of St. Petersburg; both knew what envy was (Chartkov - towards a fellow student at the Academy, the portrait painter - towards his own student, who received an order to paint a rich church); both stumbled and became dependent on the devil's spell. But the portrait painter finds the only possible way out of this situation, the only reliable shelter from evil - a monastery. Here he creates the painting “The Nativity of Jesus”. The personal fate of the portrait painter, his soul, is saved. Despite the fact that evil as such cannot be defeated: at the end of the story, everyone notices that the mysterious Portrait has disappeared and, therefore, the temptation embodied in it will continue its terrible march through the world.

Who is this Moneylender? No one knows where the “Asian” with the incomprehensibly terrible complexion came from; It is not known exactly whether he was Indian, Greek or Persian. The money he lent, seemingly on favorable terms, had the ability to rise to exorbitant interest rates; in addition, the Moneylender offered clients certain secret conditions that made the hair of the debtors “stand on end.” Anyone who borrowed from him, even for good purposes, ended badly.

An attentive reader of Gogol knows: the theme of the Antichrist constantly sounds in his works. Sometimes seriously and mystically, as in the early stories, especially in “Terrible Revenge,” sometimes mockingly, as in “Dead Souls.” Gogol's ideas about the Antichrist are akin to some popular beliefs: this enemy of Christ cannot come into the world until the end of time, when the laws of nature created by God are finally weakened. But for the time being, the Antichrist can be embodied, as it were, partially, in individual people, testing his strength and preparing for the last battle for earthly history. The Moneylender is such a “trial” incarnation of the Antichrist. It is not for nothing that in the first edition of the story “Portrait” the Moneylender bore the name Petromikhali: Peter the Great called himself Peter Mikhailov, whom popular beliefs identified with the Antichrist... He is not yet omnipotent, and therefore seeks to extend his earthly days and continue his menial work after death - with with the help of great art.

The image of the Moneylender is inextricably linked with three themes that especially worried Gogol while working on the cycle of “Petersburg stories”: the incomprehensible, secret power of gold over the human soul; art, which is intended to be a “hint of the divine,” but can also become an instrument of evil; the desire of devilish forces to subjugate art at the price of gold. But all these themes are condensed into one key image, emerging both from the pages of “Portrait” and from the pages of other St. Petersburg stories. This is an image of the dual, majestic and dangerous, rich and poor, deceptive and beautiful city of St. Petersburg. And from the point of view of the concept of the “Petersburg stories”, from the point of view of the cycle as an artistic whole, the main character of “Portrait” should be considered Petersburg itself.