Nozdryov, with whom Chichikov is brought together by another “accident,” is the complete opposite of Korobochka, an example of the unbelted, ugly broad Russian nature. Dostoevsky will say about such people later: “If there is no God, then everything is permitted.” For Nozdryov, God is himself, his unlimited whims and desires. He is a prisoner of his own licentious passions. The irrepressible energy, perpetual movement and restlessness of this person are the result of the absence in him of a moral center that holds the personality together. “At that very moment he invited you to go anywhere, even to the ends of the world, to enter into any enterprise you want, to exchange everything you have for everything you want.”
“Nozdryov was in some respects historical person. Not a single meeting he attended was complete without a story. Some kind of story would certainly happen: either the gendarmes would lead him out of the hall by the arm, or his own friends would be forced to push him out.” There are no boundaries for Nozdryov’s desires: “Now I’ll take you to see,” he continued, turning to Chichikov, “the border where my land ends...” “Here is the border!” - said Nozdryov. “Everything you see on this side is all mine, and even on the other side, all this forest that turns blue over there, and everything beyond the forest is all mine...”
Nozdryov's whole life is an endless and limitless saturation of the lowest sensual instincts of human nature. Surrounded by his dogs, Nozdryov is “like a father among the family.” Revelry and drinking, cards and cheating in a card game - this is Nozdryov’s element. The intoxication of lies brings him closer to Khlestakov. But, unlike him, Nozdryov’s lie is not harmless: it always contains a vile desire to “spoil one’s neighbor, sometimes for no reason at all.” When provincial officials, confused by the news of the purchase dead souls, they ask Nozdryov about Chichikov, he instantly composes one lie after another, and so cleverly that it is as if he himself believes in what he has written. Confirming the gossip that Chichikov was going to take away the governor’s daughter, Nozdryov composes such details on this subject that could not be refused: the village was even named after the name where the parish church in which the wedding was supposed to be located was located, namely the village of Trukhmanchevka, priest Father Sidor, who took 75 rubles for the wedding, “and even then
would have agreed if Nozdryov had not intimidated him.”
Running away from Nozdryov, who is making another “story,” Chichikov cannot even comprehend why he went to his estate, why “like a child, like a fool” he trusted him. But it was not by chance that he was seduced by Nozdryov: by nature, Chichikov is also an adventurer, and in order to achieve his selfish goals, he easily transgresses moral laws. Chichikov is no worse than any Nozdryov to deceive, lie, and even shed a tear. “Nozdryov will not be removed from the world for a long time,” says Gogol. “He is everywhere among us and, perhaps, only walks around in a different caftan; but people are frivolously undiscerning, and a person in a different caftan seems to them a different person.”
True to his method of reifying man, Gogol compares the upset and corrupted soul of Nozdryov, and after him modern man in general, with a damaged organ: “The organ played not without pleasure, but in the middle of it, something seemed to happen, for the mazurka ended with the song: “Malburg went on a campaign,” and “Malburg went on a campaign” unexpectedly ended with some long-familiar waltz. Nozdryov had long ago stopped whistling, but there was one pipe in the barrel organ, a very lively one, that did not want to calm down, and for a long time afterwards it whistled alone.” Remarkable, of course, in the upset “organ organs” of the crippled, confused souls of Gogol’s heroes are these “God’s pipes”, which sometimes whistle in them on their own and often confuse such well-thought-out, so logical and impeccably planned scams.
Poem by N.V. Gogol’s “Dead Souls” (1835-1841) belongs to those timeless works of art that lead to large-scale artistic generalizations and raise fundamental problems human life. In the death of the souls of the characters (landowners, officials,...
In the fall of 1835, Gogol began working on the poem “Dead Souls,” the plot of which was suggested to him by Pushkin. Gogol had long dreamed of writing a novel about Russia, and was very grateful to Pushkin for the idea. “In this novel I want to show at least one thing...
Gogol, according to V. G. Belinsky, “was the first to look boldly and directly at Russian reality.” The writer's satire was directed against " general order things,” and not against individuals, bad executors of the law. Predatory money-grubber Chichikov, landowners...
The episode “Chichikov at Plyushkin’s” is interesting from an ideological and artistic point of view. The author managed to draw living, bright pictures Chichikov’s meeting with the most repulsive landowner, with “a hole in humanity.” Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich was the last to visit Plyushkin...
“Well, the woman seems to be strong-minded,” thought Chichikov, N.V. Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” brilliantly reflected the time and people of landowner-serf Russia of the 30s of the 19th century. This was a period when serfdom was collapsing, a crisis was brewing in the system, but the landowners desperately clung to their privileges, which allowed them to live comfortably off the slave labor of forced peasants. The poem is structured in the form of a journey, allowing the author to show the whole of Russia with its troubles and hardships, to identify the cause of the plight of the people and, with the help of satire, to expose the vices of the existing system.
Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is a swindler who decided to make capital by taking advantage of imperfections social order Russia. Traveling through the southern provinces, he tries to buy cheap dead peasants, who have not passed the audit fairy tale (census) and are considered alive, in order to subsequently deposit false documents in the bank and receive money for them, get married profitably, get rich, without bothering yourself with socially useful work. Chichikov meets with the feudal landowners, and here Gogol shows what “disgusting and vile things a person can reach” in the pursuit of money and his own well-being.
After leaving Manilov, Chichikov ends up with Korobochka - a fairly prosperous landowner, a zealous housewife, ready to sell “meat, poultry, hemp and honey,” but who did not refuse trade. dead souls peasants Moreover, the “club-headed” Nastasya Petrovna “decided” that for this she would have to dig up coffins, and this does not stop her. She is ready to do anything to get money. “Do you really want to dig them out of the ground?” Chichikov understood Korobochka’s nature perfectly and spoke to her “with more freedom than with Manilov.” Chichikov does not stand on ceremony.
He needs to continue the work he started, and since he stopped by Korobochka, he needs to conduct business with her. Ivanovich allows himself to shout at the landowner when he is distracted from the matter that interests him. Nastasya is afraid to sell things too cheap, she doesn’t care about everything else. She, “an elderly woman, in some sort of linen cap, put on hastily, with a flannel around her neck, is one of the mothers, small landowners who cry over their losses and keep their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile steal a little money into colorful bags, placed in dresser drawers.” Korobochka is a strong landowner, she lives by subsistence farming, but knows very well the power of money. You are amazed at Nastasya Petrovna’s greed: why does she need money, because she has no children to whom the capital could be transferred, who needed to be brought into the public eye. The pointlessness of Korobochka's hoarding is almost ominous.
She saves money for its own sake, and is not afraid to sell dead peasants - just to get money. This episode has great importance V compositional construction poem "Dead Souls". Gradually, Gogol will show how the thirst for profit, the accumulation of capital by any means, the immense exploitation of the peasants corrode the soul of the landowners themselves. They lose their human appearance, their warmth, turning into “real dead souls.”
Gogol's genius lies in the fact that he saw the emerging capitalist class, showed their blood connection with the serf owners, they have a single nature - the merciless exploitation of man for the sake of their own profit. But Gogol would not have been a true artist if he had not seen for himself and shown his readers the ways of the revival of Russia, therefore, at the end of the first volume of the poem, a bright image of the “three bird” appears - Russia, which will nevertheless overcome all difficulties and will be able to be reborn, stand up on par with other countries. Gogol was not a science fiction writer, he could not predict how soon this would happen, so the image of the “troika” is symbolic. This is almost the author’s dream about a wonderful future for the fatherland. “Rus, where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; The air, torn into pieces, thunders and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and, looking askance, other peoples and states turn aside and give way to it.”
Most landowners, degenerating, suffering, tormenting those around them, live with illusory ideas about reality and themselves. Such a landowner is Nozdryov, who was accidentally met by Chichikov at an inn. He has no idea about human dignity, rules of communication and moral standards. The author calls him a “historical man”, because he constantly finds himself in stories: “...either the gendarmes will lead him out of the hall under his arms, or his own friends will be forced to push him out.” Describing Chichikov as an excellent psychologist who can immediately understand the nature of the person with whom he has to do business, the author shows that Pavel Ivanovich was also mistaken when he relied on Nozdryov in his fraud.
“Well,” thought Chichikov, “I’ll really go to Nozdryov. Why is he worse than others? The same person, and even lost. He is, apparently, willing to do anything, so you can ask him for something for nothing.” If Pavel Ivanovich had not been so greedy, he would have taken a closer look at Nozdryov and realized that it was impossible to do any business with him. He will sell, deceive, spread rumors throughout the area, and even lie “three boxes,” which is basically what happened. Nozdryov imposes on those around him a completely incomprehensible form of communication “Nozdryov in many respects was a multifaceted person, that is, a man of all trades.
The poem “Dead Souls” embodies the image of Russia of the past and future. Satirical grotesque reality with a hint of patriotism allows you to create a plot whose relevance does not lose over the years.
Nozdryov is an empty and absurd person, prone to deception and often lies, while considering his nature to be broad. Thanks to this type of character, the hero quite often becomes a participant in ridiculous situations, and his behavior indicates that he is shameless and combines arrogance with weak-willedness.
Characteristics of the hero
("Nozdryov", artist Alexander Agin, 1846-47)
Nozdryov becomes the third person offered to sell dead Souls, he is a dashing landowner 35 years old. A reckless person, a carouser, a talker - all this is about Nozdryov, he is ready to bully everyone indiscriminately, constantly lies, and is also prone to excitement. This person can play dirty tricks, even on his close friends, and at the same time no personal goals are pursued.
All the features of this strategy of behavior are explained by the character’s personality: he combines agility, agility, one might say that his uncontrollability is adjacent to unconsciousness. Nozdryov is not worth plans and strategies, so all his actions are improvisation, and Nozdryov has no sense of proportion at all.
The author portrayed Nozdryov as a broken guy, and this is precisely what his behavior indicates. Life goes on for Nozdryov today, but he doesn’t think about the next days. This is clearly seen in the example of his game: he often exchanged everything he won for unimportant things, and could immediately lose what he had acquired. It was his energy that made him this way and drove his behavior. You can learn little about Nozdryov in the work; he was a card sharper, and first appeared to the reader in paragraph NN. In general, the hero can be called ridiculous, he is simply ridiculous, is not attentive to statements and does not care about their consequences.
Nozdryov is a bad master; we do not learn about the life of his peasants, since the main interests of the hero are dogs and smoking pipes. It can be played to its full potential, and if it wins, it spends everything on entertainment and revelry. Ego energy pushes to exploits and leads to illogical purchases; the contrast to this behavior is the consistency during agreements with Chichikov, who was able to see the cheating. The image of Nozdryov is formed and constant, he has emotional speech and speaks loudly. The author did not tell the character's backstory and left him unchanged for the entire duration of the poem.
The image of the hero in the work
Nozdryov intercepts Chichikov at the tavern and quarrels with him on the estate: Chichikov does not agree to play for dead souls and buy a stallion with souls as a bonus. By morning, Nozdryov has already forgotten about the differences and proposes a game of souls, this time in checkers, but he gets caught cheating. The heated N. can be calmed down only thanks to the appearance of the police captain, since Nozdryov gave the order to beat Chichikov.
The role of Nozdryov is important for the plot, since he almost killed Chichikov when he shouted loudly “he sells dead souls.” This gave rise to a lot of incredible rumors, and after calling the authorities, Nozdryov confirmed all the rumors. The hero himself goes to Chichikov, talks about the rumors, and makes a proposal regarding the transportation of the governor’s daughter.
The character's confusion is also reflected in his home environment; there are no books or papers in his office, and there are trestles in the middle part of the dining room. The author showed his boundless lies as the other side of the young man's prowess. This is not to say that the hero is completely empty; his enormous energy is simply not directed in the right direction.
What should the image of Nozdryov show?
Nozdryov always takes part in wild fun, drunken revelry and playing cards. He brings entertainment into society and creates scandals. The author called him a historical man, since boasting, inventions and empty chatter are his favorite thing and an integral part of his personality. Chichikov considers Nozdryov a crappy person, because he is arrogant, cheeky and does nasty things to his neighbors. The character shows that a person with a noble appearance and a “star in his chest” can do nasty things like a “simple college registrar.”
Nozdryov, with whom Chichikov is brought together by another “accident,” is the complete opposite of Korobochka, an example of the unbelted, ugly broad Russian nature. Dostoevsky will say about such people later: “If there is no God, then everything is permitted.” For Nozdryov, God is himself, his unlimited whims and desires. He is a prisoner of his own licentious passions. The irrepressible energy, eternal movement and restlessness of this person are the result of the absence in him of a moral center that holds the personality together. “At that very moment he invited you to go anywhere, even to the ends of the world, to enter into any enterprise you want, to exchange everything you have for everything you want.”
“Nozdryov was in some respects a historical person. Not a single meeting he attended was complete without a story. Some kind of story would certainly happen: either the gendarmes would lead him out of the hall by the arm, or his own friends would be forced to push him out.” There are no boundaries for Nozdryov’s desires: “Now I’ll take you to see,” he continued, turning to Chichikov, “the border where my land ends...” “Here is the border!” - said Nozdryov. “Everything you see on this side is all mine, and even on the other side, all this forest that turns blue over there, and everything beyond the forest is all mine...”
Nozdryov's whole life is an endless and limitless saturation of the lowest sensual instincts of human nature. Surrounded by his dogs, Nozdryov is “like a father among the family.” Revelry and drinking, cards and cheating in a card game - this is Nozdryov’s element. The intoxication of lies brings him closer to Khlestakov. But, unlike him, Nozdryov’s lie is not harmless: it always contains a vile desire to “spoil one’s neighbor, sometimes for no reason at all.” When provincial officials, confused by the news of the purchase of dead souls, question Nozdryov about Chichikov, he instantly composes one lie after another, and so cleverly that it is as if he himself believes in what he has written. Confirming the gossip that Chichikov was going to take away the governor’s daughter, Nozdryov composes such details on this subject that could not be refused: the village was even named after the name where the parish church in which the wedding was supposed to be located was located, namely the village of Trukhmanchevka, priest father Sidor, who took 75 rubles for the wedding, “even then would not have agreed if Nozdryov had not intimidated him.”
Running away from Nozdryov, who is making another “story,” Chichikov cannot even comprehend why he went to his estate, why “like a child, like a fool” he trusted him. But it was not by chance that he was seduced by Nozdryov: by nature, Chichikov is also an adventurer, and in order to achieve his selfish goals, he easily transgresses moral laws. Chichikov is no worse than any Nozdryov to deceive, lie, and even shed tears at the same time. “Nozdryov will not be removed from the world for a long time,” says Gogol. “He is everywhere among us and, perhaps, only walks around in a different caftan; but people are frivolously undiscerning, and a person in a different caftan seems to them a different person.”
True to his method of reifying a person, Gogol compares the frustrated and corrupted soul of Nozdryov, and after him of modern man in general, with a damaged organ-organ: “The organ-organ played not without pleasure, but in the middle of it, it seems, something happened, for the mazurka ended with the song: “ Malburg went on a hike,” and “Malburg went on a hike” unexpectedly ended with some long-familiar waltz. Nozdryov had long ago stopped whistling, but there was one pipe in the barrel organ, a very lively one, that just didn’t want to calm down, and for a long time afterwards it whistled alone.” Remarkable, of course, in the upset “organ organs” of the crippled, confused souls of Gogol’s heroes are these “God’s pipes”, which sometimes whistle in them on their own and often confuse such well-thought-out, so logical and impeccably planned scams.
History of creation:
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol worked on the poem “Dead Souls” abroad. The first volume was published in 1841. The writer planned to write a poem in three parts. His task in this work was to show Rossi from the negative side, as he himself said - “from one side.”
This poem shows a separate landowner Chichikov, Russian society, Russian people, economy (economy of landowners).
The title “Dead Souls”, I think, has a double meaning. On the one hand, N.V. Gogol included in the title the souls of the dead peasants, about whom so much is said in the poem. On the other hand, these are the “Dead Souls” of landowners. The writer showed here all the callousness, the emptiness of the soul, the idleness of life, all the ignorance of the landowners.
The story about Captain Kopeikin shows the attitude of officials towards to the common people, the fact that the state does not respect people who gave their health, and in many cases, their lives for it; that the state for which they fought in the War of 1812 does not fulfill its promises, does not care about these people.
There are many episodes in this poem. I think they can even be divided into groups. One group is the episodes of Chichikov’s visits to landowners. I think this group is the most important in the poem. I want to describe, perhaps even comment on, one episode from this group - this is the episode when Chichikov visits the landowner Nozdryov. The action took place in the fourth chapter.
After visiting Korobochka, Chichikov stopped at the tavern for lunch and to give the horses a rest. He asked the owner of the tavern about the landowners, and, as was his custom, Chichikov began asking the owner about her family and life. While he was talking and eating, he heard the sound of the wheels of an approaching carriage. Nozdryov and his companion, son-in-law Mezhuev, got out of the chaise.
Then we went to the office. There they had a disagreement due to our hero’s reluctance to play cards. Before the quarrel, Chichikov offered to buy “dead souls” from Nozdryov. Nozdryov began to set his own conditions, but Chichikov did not accept any of them.
After the conversation, Chichikov was left alone with himself.
The next day they began to play checkers on the condition: if our hero wins, then his soul; if he loses, then “there is no trial.” The author characterizes Nozdryov as follows: “He was of average height, a very well-built fellow, with full pleasant cheeks, teeth white as snow and jet-black sideburns. It was fresh, like blood and salt; health seemed to be dripping from his face.”
Nodryov joined our hero, told about the fair, that he was blown to smithereens there. Then Chichikov, Nozdryov and Mezhuev’s son-in-law went to Nozdryov’s. After dinner, Mezhuev’s son-in-law left. Chichikov and Nozdryov, as usual, began to “cheat.” Chichikov noticed this and became indignant, after which a quarrel ensued and they began waving their hands at each other. Nozdryov called his servants Pavlusha and Porfiry and began shouting to them: “Beat him, beat him!” Chichikov turned pale, his soul “sank to his feet.” And if it weren’t for the police captain, who entered the room to announce to Nozdryov that he was in custody for inflicting a personal insult with rods while drunk on the landowner Maximov; be our hero severely crippled. While the captain was announcing the notice to Nozdryov, Chichikov quickly took his hat, went downstairs, got into the chaise and ordered Selifan to drive the horses at full speed.
I think the theme of this episode was to show and characterize a person who played an important role in the life of our hero. In my opinion,
N.V. Gogol also wanted to show with this episode all the “recklessness” of the young landowners, including Nozdryov. Here the writer showed how young landowners like Nozdryov, and in principle like all landowners, do nothing more than “hang around” at balls and fairs, play cards, drink “ungodly,” think only about themselves and how to be mean to others.
Episode Role:
This episode played big role in the poem, Nozdryov, annoyed with Chichikov when he visited him, betrayed him at the governor’s ball. But Chichikov was saved by the fact that everyone knew Nozdryov as a liar, a hypocrite, a bully, so his words were perceived as “the ravings of a madman,” as a joke, as a lie, whatever, but not as the truth.
While reading this episode, my impressions varied from beginning to end. At the beginning of the episode, the actions were not very interesting for me: this is when Chichikov met Nozdryov, how they were driving to his house. Then I gradually began to be indignant at Nozdryov’s boorish behavior - this is when, after dinner, Chichikov offered to buy “dead souls” from him, and Nozdryov began to wonder why he needed this. All of Chichikov’s attempts to pull the wool over Nozdryov’s ears were thwarted by him. Nozdryov said that Chichikov was a big swindler and that if he were his boss, he would have hanged him from the first tree. While reading, I was outraged by Nozdryov’s behavior towards Chichikov; after all, Chichikov is his guest.
Then exciting actions took place, this is when the next day after Chichikov arrived at Nozdryov’s, they began to play checkers. I have already stated this point. I was worried about the situation that was heating up during the game of checkers; things were heading towards a quarrel, a fight.
There were a lot of things that happened in this episode, but those were the actions that stayed with me.
First, let's look at how the author describes the tavern: “A darkened wooden, narrow, hospitable canopy on carved wooden posts, similar to ancient church candlesticks; the tavern was something like a Russian hut, several in large size, carved patterned cornices made of fresh wood around the windows and under the roof sharply and vividly dazzled its dark walls; there were jugs of flowers painted on the shutters; narrow wooden staircase, wide canopy. The interior of the tavern: a frost-covered samovar, scraped walls, a three-coal cabinet with teapots and cups in the corner, gilded porcelain eggs in front of images hanging on blue and red ribbons, a recently fallen cat, a mirror showing four eyes instead of two, and some kind of face instead flatbread; finally, bunches of fragrant herbs and carnations were stuck near the images, dried to such an extent that those who wanted to smell them only sneezed, and nothing more.”
Let's move on to the description of Nozdryov's household: in the house there were wooden trestles in the middle of the dining room. In the stable there were two mares, one dappled gray, the other a brown stallion, empty stalls; a pond, a water mill, where there was not enough flutter; forge. Nozdryov’s office: “There were no visible traces of books or paper in it, only sabers and two guns hung.” This suggests that Nozdryov was not interested in anything, did not take care of his farm, everything was neglected.
The hero's inner world in this episode:
Let's pay attention to inner world our hero in this episode. Here Chichikov at some points did not know what to answer Nozdryov to his annoying questions. It was in moments like this when Nozdryov asked him: “Why do you need them (dead souls)?”
In this episode, Chichikov, I think, felt awkward because of Nozdryov’s boorish behavior: he is offended by him, since our hero’s pride was affected. After Chichikov quarreled with Nozdryov after dinner because he did not play cards with him, he remained in the most unfavorable mood. The author describes his thoughts and feelings this way: “He was internally annoyed with himself for visiting them and wasting his time. But he scolded himself even more for talking to Nozdryov about the matter, acting carelessly, like a child, like a fool: for the matter was not at all of the kind that should be entrusted to Nozdryov. Nozdryov is a rubbish person, Nozdryov can lie, add, spread rumors and the devil knows what kind of gossip, it’s not good, it’s not good. “I’m just a fool,” he said to himself.”
I think that in this episode Chichikov behaved tolerantly and restrained, despite Nozdryov’s boorish behavior. But this is understandable, because our hero wants to achieve his goal at any cost.
In my opinion, the author wanted to show with this episode that not everything in life is as simple as one would like. That if everything turned out fine with Korobochka, then with Nozdryov everything went very abnormally - in life there are both white and black stripes.
I also think that this episode teaches us that we need to know a person very well, study him carefully before trusting him. After all, what happened with Chichikov: he trusted Nozdryov about the “dead souls,” and Nozdryov betrayed him by telling everyone about this matter.
But I repeat, Chichikov was saved by the fact that everyone considered Nozdryov a liar, no one believed him. Such luck may not happen in life.
