The character is a box of dead souls. The image of the Box in the poem "Dead Souls

Among the landowners visited by the protagonist of Gogol's poem, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, in search of his unusual acquisition, there was one woman.

The image and characteristics of the Box in the poem "Dead Souls" allow us to imagine how they lived in the deep, hidden territories of Russia of the past, way of life and traditions.

The image of the heroine

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov came to the landowner Korobochka by chance. He lost his way when he tried to visit Sobakevich's estate. Terrible bad weather forced the traveler to ask for an overnight stay in an unfamiliar estate. The rank of a woman is a collegiate secretary. She is a widow living on her estate. There is some autobiographical information about the woman. It is not known if she has children, but it is certain that her sister lives in Moscow. Korobochka is going to her after Chichikov's departure. The old landowner maintains a small household: about 80 souls of peasants. The author describes the hostess and the peasants living in the village.

What is special about the character of the heroine:

The ability to save. A small landowner puts the money into bags, puts them in a chest of drawers.

Stealth. Nastasya Petrovna does not talk about her wealth. She pleads, trying to arouse pity. But the purpose of this feeling is to raise the price of the product offered.

Courage. The landowner confidently goes to court with requests to solve her problems.

The box sells what its peasants are busy with: honey, feathers, hemp, lard. The woman is not surprised by the desire of the guest to buy the souls of people who have gone to the afterlife. She is afraid to sell cheap. Faith and unbelief intertwined in the landowner. Moreover, two opposite feelings are connected so tightly that it is difficult to determine where the line is. She believes in God and the devil. The landowner lays out the cards after the prayer.

Household of Nastasya Petrovna

A lonely woman manages better than the men encountered in the poem. The description of the village does not frighten, like in Plyushkin, it does not surprise, like in Manilov. The gentlemen's house is neat. It is small but strong. Dogs greet guests with barks and warn their owners. The author describes the houses of the peasants:

• huts are strong;
• scattered scattered;
• are constantly being repaired (the worn-out tes is changed to a new one);
• strong gate;
• spare carts.

Korobochka looks after her house and the huts of the peasants. In the estate, everyone is busy with business, there are no those who wander between the houses. The landowner knows exactly when, for which holiday bacon, hemp, flour or cereals will be ready. Despite her narrow-minded mind, the seeming stupidity of Nastasya Petrovna is businesslike and lively, aimed at profit.

village peasants

Chichikov examines the peasants with interest. These are strong living men and women. There are several characters in the village. Each in a special way complements the image of the hostess.

The maid Fetinya masterfully fluffs the feather beds, making them so cozy that the guest slept longer than usual.

The yard peasant woman opened the gate at night, not being afraid of uninvited guests. She has a hoarse voice and a strong figure, hidden under the coat.

The yard girl Pelageya shows Chichikov the way back. She runs barefoot, which makes her feet covered in mud and look like boots. The girl is uneducated, and for her there is not even an understanding of right, left. She shows with her hands where the cart should go.

Dead Souls

The peasants who sell Korobochka have amazing nicknames. Some of them complement the characteristics of a person, others are simply invented by the people. All the nicknames are in the memory of the hostess, she sighs and regretfully lists them to the guest. The most unusual:

• Disrespect-Trough;
• cow brick;
• Wheel Ivan.

The box takes pity on everyone. The skillful blacksmith burned down like coal on a drunk. All were nice workers, it is difficult to add them to the list of Chichikov's nameless purchase. Dead souls Boxes are the most alive.

character image

There is a lot of typical stuff in the description of the Box. The author believes that there are many such women in Rus'. They don't evoke sympathy. Gogol called the woman "club-headed", but in her there is no difference from the stiff, educated aristocrats. Korobochka's frugality does not evoke affection; on the contrary, everything in her household is modest. Money settles in bags, but does not bring novelty to life. Around the landowner a huge number of flies. They personify stagnation in the soul of the hostess, in the world around her.

The landowner Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka cannot be changed. She chose the path of hoarding, which does not make sense. The life of the estate takes place away from real feelings and events.

Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna - widow-landowner, collegiate secretary; the second (after Manilov and before Nozdrev) "seller" of dead souls. Chichikov comes to her (ch. 3) by chance: the drunken coachman Selifan misses many turns on his way back from Manilov. The "darkness" of the night, the thunderous atmosphere accompanying the visit to Nastasya Petrovna, the frighteningly serpentine hissing of the wall clock, K.'s constant memories of her dead husband, Chichikov's confession (already in the morning) that on the third day she had been dreaming of the "cursed" devil - All this makes the reader wary. But Chichikov's morning meeting with K. completely deceives the reader's expectations, separates her image from the fabulously fantastic background, completely dissolves it in everyday life. The main positive quality of K., which has become her negative and all-consuming passion, also works for the “experience” of the image: commercial efficiency. Each person for her is, first of all, and only, a potential buyer.

K.'s small house and large yard, symbolically reflecting her inner world, are neat and strong; new tess on the roofs; the gate did not squint anywhere; feather bed - up to the ceiling; flies are everywhere, which in Gogol always accompany the frozen, stopped, internally dead modern world. The limiting lag, slowing down of time in the space of K. is also indicated by a hissing clock like a snake, and portraits on the walls “in striped wallpaper”: Kutuzov and an old man with red cuffs, which were worn under Tsar Pavel Petrovich. Only in the 2nd volume will the era of the generals of 1812 come to life - General Betrishchev seems to come off one of the portraits hanging on the walls of many characters in the 1st volume. But so far, the “general’s portraits”, clearly left over from K.’s late husband, indicate only that the story ended for her in 1812 (Meanwhile, the action of the poem is timed to the time between the seventh and eighth “revisions”, i.e., censuses , in 1815 and 1835 - and is easily localized between 1820, the beginning of the Greek uprising, and 1823, the death of Napoleon.)

However, the "fading" of time in the world of K. is still better than the complete timelessness of Manilov's world; at least she has a past; some, albeit funny, hint at a biography (there was a husband who could not fall asleep without scratching his heels). K. has character; slightly embarrassed by Chichikov’s offer to sell the dead (“Do you really want to dig them out of the ground?”), immediately begins to bargain (“After all, I have never sold the dead”) and does not stop until Chichikov, in anger, promises her the devil , and then promises to buy not only the dead, but also other "products" under government contracts. K. - again unlike Manilov - remembers his dead peasants by heart. K. is dumb: in the end she will come to the city to make inquiries about how much the dead souls are now going, and thereby completely ruin Chichikov's reputation, already shaken. However, even this stupidity with its certainty is better than Manilov's emptiness - neither smart nor stupid, neither good nor evil.

Nevertheless, the very location of the village of K. (away from the main road, on a side branch of life) indicates its "hopelessness", the "futility" of any hopes for its possible correction and revival. In this she is similar to Manilov - and occupies one of the lowest places in the "hierarchy" of the heroes of the poem.

We meet Korobochka in the 3rd chapter of Gogol's novel-poem Dead Souls. She is the second in a row to whom Chichikov pays a visit. In fact, Chichikov drove into her estate by accident - the coachman got drunk, "walked up", as the author himself characterizes this event, and lost his way. Therefore, instead of Sobakevich, the main character meets the landowner Korobochka.

Consider the image of the Box in detail

She is a woman of respectable years, a widow, in the past a "collegiate secretary." She lives alone on her estate and is completely absorbed in housekeeping. Most likely, she does not have her own children, since Gogol mentions in the description of the character that all her “trash” accumulated during her life will go to some great-niece.

It looks old-fashioned and a little ridiculous, “in a cap”, “flannel”, “something is imposed on the neck”.

Korobochka, unlike Manilov, successfully manages the household herself. Through the eyes of Chichikov, we see that the houses in her village are strong, the serfs are “heavy” (strong), there are many guard dogs, which indicates that this is a “decent village”. The yard is full of poultry, and vegetable gardens stretch behind the fence - cabbage, beets, onions, potatoes. There are also fruit trees, carefully covered with nets from voracious magpies and sparrows. For the same purpose, stuffed animals were also installed. Gogol ironically remarks that one of the effigies was wearing the cap of the hostess herself.

The houses of the peasants were maintained and updated - Chichikov saw a new board on the roofs, the gates stood straight everywhere, carts stood in some yards. That is, the master's care is visible everywhere. In total, Korobochka had 80 serfs, 18 died, about which the hostess greatly laments - they were good workers.

Korobochka does not allow serfs to be lazy - Chichikov's featherbed was fluffed up masterfully, in the morning, when he returns to the living room where he spent the night, everything is already tidied up; the table is bursting with baking.

The fact that the landowner is in order and everything is under her personal control, we see from the dialogue about the purchase of dead souls - she remembers all the dead peasants by their first and last names, she does not even keep any records.

Despite the fact that Korobochka is very fond of complaining about how bad things are, her estate also had surpluses that were sold to merchants and dealers. From the dialogue with Chichikov, we learn that the landowner sells honey, hemp, feathers, meat, flour, cereals, lard. She knows how to bargain, she sells a pood of honey at a very expensive price, as much as 12 rubles, which Chichikov is very surprised at.

Nastasya Petrovna is thrifty and even a little stingy. Despite the fact that things are going well on the estate, the situation in the house is very modest, the wallpaper is old, the clock is creaky. Despite the polite treatment and hospitality, Korobochka did not offer the guest to have dinner, referring to the late time. And in the morning he offers Chichikov only tea, albeit with fruit tincture. Only feeling the benefit - when Chichikov promised to buy "household products" from her - Korobochka decided to appease him and ordered him to bake a pie and pancakes. And also set the table with different pastries.

Gogol writes that her dress "will not burn down and will not be worn out by itself." Complaining about poverty and crop failures, she, nevertheless, saves money in "variegated bags" that she stuffs into chest of drawers. All coins are carefully sorted - "solid coins, fifty dollars, quarters" are laid out separately in bags. In everything, the old landowner is trying to find a benefit - noticing Chichikov's stamped paper, she asks him "to give a leaf."

The box is pious and superstitious. In a thunderstorm, he puts a candle in front of the icon and prays; gets scared when Chichikov mentions the devil in a conversation.

She is not too smart and a little suspicious, she is very afraid of miscalculating and selling too cheap. She doubts the deal with Chichikov and does not want to sell dead souls to him, even though she has to pay for them as if they were alive. He naively thinks that other merchants can come and offer a better price. This deal completely exhausted Chichikov, and in the process of negotiations, he calls Korobochka mentally and aloud "strong-headed", "cudgel-headed", "pooch in the hay" and "damned old woman".

The image of Korobochka is interesting in that it is a fairly common type in Russia during Gogol's time. Its main features - stubbornness, stupidity and narrow-mindedness, were also inherent in real personalities - some officials and civil servants. The author writes about such people that you seem to see a respectable and stately person, but in reality it turns out to be a “perfect box”. Arguments and arguments bounce off them like a "rubber" ball.

The description of the landowner ends with a reflection on the topic, is it possible to believe that Korobochka is at the very bottom of the "ladder of" human perfection "? Gogol compares her to an aristocratic sister who lives in a rich and refined house, who reads books, attends social events, and her thoughts are occupied by "fashionable Catholicism" and political upheavals in France, rather than economic affairs. The author does not give a specific answer to this question; the reader himself must answer it.

Let's summarize the main characteristics of the image of the Box

Household

Has business acumen

Practical

Thrifty

petty

hypocritical

suspicious

Limited

Only cares about his own benefit

Obsessed with hoarding

Religious but no real spirituality

superstitious

The symbolism of the surname of the landowner

Symbolism is an important artistic tool in the hands of a writer. In Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" all the names of the landowners are symbolic. Our heroine is no exception. A box is a diminutive derivative of the word "box", that is, an inanimate object. So in the image of the Box there are few living features, it is turned to the past, there is no real life in it, development - personal, spiritual. A real "dead soul".

People store various things in a box - just like the Box is absorbed in hoarding solely for the sake of money itself, it does not have any global goal for which this money can be spent. She just puts them in bags.

Well, the walls of the box are solid, like the mind of the Box. She is stupid and limited.

As for the diminutive suffix, the author, perhaps, wanted to show the harmlessness and some kind of comic character.

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The image of the landowner Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka successfully complements the collage of characteristic types of landowners. It cannot be said that she is endowed with negative qualities, but she cannot be ranked among pleasant personalities either.

Despite the complexity of her personality, against the background of all the other landowners, she looks like one of the most attractive in terms of housekeeping and attitude towards serfs.

Personality characteristic

We do not know what Korobochka was like in her youth; in the story, Gogol is limited to an episodic description of her character at a certain time slice, bypassing the entire process of its formation.

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The box is noticeably distinguished by frugality and a penchant for order. In her estate, everything is in good order - however, the things used both in everyday life and in the interior of the landowner are not new, but this does not bother the old woman. With particular pleasure, she complains about everything in the world - bad harvests, lack of money, although, in fact, everything is not so deplorable: “one of those mothers, small landowners who cry for crop failures, losses and keep their heads somewhat In this way, little by little, money is collected in motley bags placed in drawers of chests of drawers.

Nastasya Petrovna is not distinguished by an extraordinary mind - the aristocrats surrounding her consider her a stupid old woman. This is true - Korobochka is really a stupid and uneducated woman. The landowner is distrustful of everything new - first of all, in the actions of people, she seeks to see some kind of catch - in this way she "saves" herself from trouble in the future.

The box is notable for its special stubbornness, it refers to those people who “as soon as you hack something into your head, you can’t overpower him with anything; no matter how you present him with arguments, clear as day, everything bounces off him, like a rubber ball bounces off a wall.

Nastasya Petrovna is a controversial nature - on the one hand, she is attached to religion (believes in the existence of God and the devil, prays and is baptized), but at the same time she does not neglect fortune telling on cards, which is not encouraged by religion.

Family

It is difficult to say something about the Korobochka family - Gogol provides too little information on this matter. It is reliably known that Nastasya Petrovna was married, but her husband died and at the time of the story she is a widow. It is likely that she has children, most likely, in view of the age of the landowner and the absence of Chichikov's memories of the presence of children in the house, they are already adults and live separately. Their names, age and gender are not specified in the text. The only mention of them is found together with the mention of Korobochka's sister, who lives in Moscow: "my sister brought warm boots for children from there: such a durable product, it is still worn."

Manor Boxes

The manor and Korobochka's house - oddly enough, among all the houses of landlords, it looks like one of the most attractive. It should be clarified that such an assessment does not concern the aesthetic appearance, but the state of the estate. The village of Korobochki is notable for its well-maintained houses and buildings: dilapidated elements of peasant houses were replaced with new ones, the gates to the estate were also repaired. Houses and buildings do not look as massive as those of Sobakevich, but they are not of particular aesthetic value either. Korobochka owns about 80 serfs.

This number is noticeably inferior to the rich landowners of the county, such as Plyushkina, but this does not significantly affect the income of the estate. Chichikov was pleasantly surprised by the state of the village: "You have a good village, mother."

Korobochka's household also pleasantly surprises with its diversity and well-groomedness. The box successfully sells vegetables and fruits. She has “gardens with cabbage, onions, potatoes, beets and other household vegetables. Apple trees and other fruit trees were scattered here and there in the garden.

You can also observe a variety of grown cereals. In addition, Korobochka is confidently engaged in animal husbandry - she also has various birds (“There were no number of turkeys and chickens; a rooster walked between them” and pigs. Korobochka is engaged in beekeeping and grows hemp for sale for the production of ropes and ropes.

Box House

The House of the Box is not distinguished by pomp or grace. The house is guarded by a pack of dogs that react violently to all strangers, so, for example, when Chichikov arrived, the dogs "filled with all possible voices." It is small in size, its windows overlook the courtyard, so it is impossible to admire the view from the window. The roof of the house is wooden, Chichikov, who came to Korobochka in the rain, noted that raindrops were loudly knocking on his roof. A barrel was placed near the drain, in which rainwater was collected.

Since Chichikov arrived at the Korobochki estate in the evening, and also in bad weather, it was impossible to find out about the nuances of the appearance of the landowner's house.

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The inside of the house was not attractive. The wallpaper there was old, however, like all the furniture. Pictures hung on the walls - “the pictures were not all birds: between them hung a portrait of Kutuzov and some old man painted in oils with red cuffs on his uniform, as they sewed under Pavel Petrovich.” The decor was complemented by mirrors, “with dark frames in the form of curled leaves”, behind which were placed all sorts of necessary little things in the form of a letter or a stocking. The watches made a special impression - they also did not differ in novelty, and the sounds made by them were similar to the hissing of snakes. The clock struck no less unpleasantly: "as if someone were beating a broken pot with a stick."

Attitude towards peasants

The number of Korobochka's serfs is not so great - about 80 people. The lady knows them all by name. Korobochka is always actively engaged in the affairs of her estate and takes a direct part in all the works. It is impossible to find descriptions of the attitude towards the peasants in the text, but the way the landowner describes her dead souls suggests that Korobochka does not have a bad attitude towards serfs.

Since the last census, she has accumulated 18 "dead souls". According to the landowner, they were good people, they regularly did their job and worked hard. The box is sincerely sorry that they died. Especially Koval, who burned down the other day from alcohol - he was a good worker.

In appearance, the peasants of Korobochka are also noticeably different - all the men whom Chichikov managed to see were of a strong physique, stocky and endowed with exorbitant strength.

The image of Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka is one of the most attractive and controversial. On the one hand, she is a caring mistress of her estate. Korobochka, to the best of reason, takes care of her peasants. All the buildings on her estate, although not new, have been qualitatively repaired, and the fortresses do not look downtrodden. On the other hand, the old woman does not have the most pleasant character - she is stupid and limited, likes to constantly complain, which tires her interlocutor.

Introduction

§1. The principle of constructing images of landowners in the poem

§2. Box Image

§3. Artistic detail as a means

character characteristics

§4. Korobochka and Chichikov.

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

The poem "Dead Souls" was created by N.V. Gogol for about 17 years. Its plot was suggested by A.S. Pushkin. Gogol began working on the poem in the autumn of 1835, and on May 21, 1842 Dead Souls appeared in print. The publication of Gogol's poem caused a fierce controversy: some admired it, others saw it as a slander on modern Russia and "a special world of scoundrels." Gogol worked on the continuation of the poem until the end of his life, writing the second volume (which was later burned) and planning to create a third volume.

As conceived by the writer, the poem should have depicted not only contemporary Russia with all its problems and shortcomings (serfdom, bureaucratic system, loss of spirituality, illusory nature, etc.), but also the basis on which the country could be reborn in a new social - economic situation. The poem "Dead Souls" was supposed to be an artistic search for a "living soul" - the type of person who could become the master of the new Russia.

Gogol based the composition of the poem on the architectonics of Dante's Divine Comedy - the hero's journey, accompanied by a guide (the poet Virgil), first through the circles of hell, then, through purgatory, through the spheres of paradise. In this journey, the lyrical hero of the poem met the souls of people burdened with sins (in the circles of hell) and marked with grace (in paradise). Dante's poem was a gallery of types of people embodied in the artistic images of famous characters in mythology and history. Gogol also wanted to create a large-scale work that would reflect not only the present of Russia, but also its future. “... What a huge, original plot ... All Rus' will appear in it! ..” - Gogol wrote to Zhukovsky. But for the writer it was important to depict not the external side of the life of Russia, but its "soul" - the inner state of human spirituality. Following Dante, he created a gallery of types of people from different strata of the population and classes (landlords, officials, peasants, metropolitan society), in which both psychological, estate, and spiritual traits were reflected in a generalized form. Each of the characters in the poem is at the same time both a typical and a brightly individualized character, with their own peculiarities of behavior and speech, attitude to the world and moral values. Gogol's skill was manifested in the fact that his poem "Dead Souls" is not just a gallery of types of people, it is a collection of "souls", among which the author is looking for a living one capable of further development.

Gogol was going to write a work consisting of three volumes (in accordance with the architectonics of Dante's "Divine Comedy"): "hell" of Russia, "purgatory" and "paradise" (the future). When the first volume was published, the controversy that flared up around the work, especially negative assessments, shocked the writer, he went abroad and began work on the second volume. But the work was very hard: Gogol's views on life, art, religion changed; he experienced a spiritual crisis; friendly ties with Belinsky were severed, who in a sharp tone criticized the worldview position of the writer, expressed in Selected passages from correspondence with friends. The practically written second volume was burned in a moment of spiritual crisis, then restored, and nine days before his death, the writer again set fire to the white manuscript of the poem. The third volume remained only in the form of an idea.

For Gogol - a deeply religious person and an original writer - the most important thing was the spirituality of a person, his moral basis, and not just the external social circumstances in which Russia was contemporary to him. He perceived both Rus' and its fate as a son, hard experiencing everything that he observed in reality. Gogol saw Russia's way out of the spiritual crisis not in economic and social transformations, but in the revival of morality, the cultivation of true values, including Christian ones, in the souls of people. Therefore, the assessment that the work received in democratically minded criticism and which for a long time determined the perception of the first volume of the novel - a critical image of Russian reality, the "hell" of serf-owning Russia - does not exhaust either the idea, the plot, or the poetics of the poem. Thus, the problem of the philosophical and spiritual content of the work and the definition of the main philosophical conflict in the images of "Dead Souls" arises.

The purpose of our work is to analyze one of the images of the poem from the point of view of the main philosophical conflict of the poem - the landowner Korobochka.

The main research method is a literary analysis of the episode of the meeting between Chichikov and Korobochka. as well as the analysis and interpretation of artistic details.

§1. The principle of constructing images of landowners in the poem

The main philosophical problem of the poem "Dead Souls" is the problem of life and death in the human soul. This is indicated by the very name - "dead souls", which reflects not only the meaning of Chichikov's adventure - the purchase of "dead", i.e. existing only on paper, in revision tales, peasants - but also, in a broader, generalized sense, the degree of deadness of the soul of each of the characters in the poem. The main conflict - life and death - is localized in the area of ​​the inner, spiritual plane. And then the composition of the first volume of the poem is divided into three parts, which form a ring composition: Chichikov's arrival in the county town and communication with officials - a journey from landowner to landowner "of his own need" - return to the city, scandal and departure from the city. Thus, the central motive that organizes the entire work is the motive of travel. wanderings. Wandering as the plot basis of the work is characteristic of Russian literature and reflects the idea of ​​searching for a high meaning, truth, continuing the tradition of “walking” in ancient Russian literature.

Chichikov travels through the Russian outback, through county towns and estates in search of "dead" souls, and the author accompanying the hero is in search of a "living" soul. Therefore, the gallery of landlords, presented to the reader in the first volume, is a regular series of human types, among which the author is looking for someone who is able to become the real master of the new Russia and revive it economically, without destroying morality and spirituality. The sequence in which the landowners appear before us is built on two grounds: on the one hand, the degree of deadness of the soul (in other words, is the soul of a person alive) and sinfulness (let's not forget about the "circles of hell", where souls are located according to the severity of their sins) ; on the other hand, the opportunity to be reborn, to acquire vitality, which is understood by Gogol as spirituality.

In the sequence of images of the landlords, these two lines are combined and create a double structure: each next character is in a lower "circle", the degree of his sin is heavier, death in his soul more and more replaces life, and at the same time - each next character is closer to rebirth, because , according to Christian philosophy, the lower a person fell, the heavier his sin, the greater his suffering, the closer he is to salvation. The correctness of this interpretation is confirmed by the fact that, firstly, each subsequent landowner has an increasingly detailed history of his previous life (and if a person has a past, then a future is also possible), and secondly, in excerpts from the burnt second volume and sketches for the third, it is known that Gogol was preparing a revival for two characters - the scoundrel Chichikov and Plyushkin, “a hole in humanity”, i.e. those who are in the first volume at the very bottom of the spiritual "hell".

Therefore, we will consider the image of the landowner Korobochka from several positions:

How do life and death relate in the soul of a character?

What is the “sin” of Korobochka, and why is it located between Manilov and Nozdryov?

How close is she to a revival?

§2. Box Image

Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka is a landowner, the widow of a collegiate secretary, a very economical and thrifty elderly woman. Her village is not large, but everything in it is in order, the economy is flourishing and, apparently, brings a good income. Korobochka compares favorably with Manilov: she knows all her peasants (“... she didn’t keep any notes or lists, but knew almost all of them by heart”), speaks of them as good workers (“all the nice people, all the workers”), she is engaged in housekeeping - “she fixed her eyes on the housekeeper”, “little by little she all moved into economic life”. Judging by the fact that when she asks Chichikov who he is, she lists those people with whom she constantly communicates: assessor, merchants, archpriest, her circle of contacts is small and is connected mainly with economic affairs - trade and payment of state taxes.

Apparently, she rarely travels to the city and does not communicate with her neighbors, because when asked about Manilov, he answers that there is no such landowner, and he names old noble families that are more appropriate in the classic comedy of the 18th century - Bobrov, Kanapatiev, Pleshakov, Kharpakin. In the same row is the surname Svinin, which draws a direct parallel with Fonvizin's comedy "Undergrowth" (mother and uncle of Mitrofanushka - Svinin).

The behavior of Korobochka, her address to the guest as “father”, the desire to serve (Chichikov called himself a nobleman), to treat, arrange for the night as best as possible - all these are characteristic features of the images of provincial landowners in the works of the 18th century. Mrs. Prostakova behaves in the same way when she finds out that Starodum is a nobleman and accepted at court.

Korobochka, it would seem, is pious, in her speeches there are constantly sayings and expressions characteristic of a believer: “The power of the cross is with us!”, “It is clear that God sent him as a punishment,” but there is no special faith in it. When Chichikov persuades her to sell the dead peasants, promising a profit, she agrees and begins to "calculate" the profit. The confidant of Korobochka is the son of the archpriest, who serves in the city.

The only entertainment of the landowner, when she is not busy with household chores, is fortune-telling on cards - “I thought it was for the night to guess on the cards after prayer ...”. And she spends her evenings with a maid.

The portrait of Korobochka is not as detailed as the portraits of other landowners and is, as it were, stretched out: at first, Chichikov hears the "hoarse woman's voice" of the old maid; then “again some woman, younger than the former, but very similar to her”; when he was escorted into the rooms and he had time to look around, the lady came in - "an elderly woman, in some kind of sleeping cap, put on hastily, with a flannel around her neck, ...". The author emphasizes the old age of Korobochka, then Chichikov to himself directly calls her an old woman. The appearance of the hostess in the morning does not change much - only the sleeping cap disappears: “She was dressed better than yesterday, in a dark dress ( widow!) and no longer in a sleeping cap ( but on the head, apparently, there was still a cap - daytime), but there was still something imposed on the neck "( end fashion XVIII century - fichu, i.e. a small scarf that partially covered the neckline and the ends of which were removed into the neckline of the dress).

The author's characterization, which follows the portrait of the hostess, on the one hand emphasizes the typical nature of the character, on the other hand, gives an exhaustive description: “one of those mothers, small landowners who cry for crop failures ( it is with words about crop failure and bad times that the business conversation between Korobochka and Chichikov begins), losses and keep his head a little to one side, but meanwhile they are gaining a little money in motley bags placed in drawers of chests of drawers. All the coins are taken into one bag, fifty dollars into another, quarters into the third, although it seems as if there is nothing in the chest of drawers except linen, and night blouses, and cotton hanks, and a ripped coat, which then turns into a dress, if the old will somehow burn out during the baking of holiday cakes with all sorts of spinners, or it will wear out by itself. But the dress will not burn and will not be worn out by itself; thrifty old woman ... ". Korobochka is exactly like that, so Chichikov immediately does not stand on ceremony and gets down to business.

An important role in understanding the image of the landowner is played by the description of the estate and the decoration of the rooms in the house. This is one of the methods of characterization that Gogol uses in Dead Souls: the image of all landowners is made up of the same set of descriptions and artistic details - the estate, rooms, interior details or significant objects, an indispensable feast (in one form or another - from a full dinner , like Sobakevich’s, before Plyushkin’s offer of Easter cake and wine), the manners and behavior of the owner during and after business negotiations, attitude towards an unusual transaction, etc.

Korobochka's estate is distinguished by its strength and contentment, it is immediately clear that she is a good hostess. The courtyard, on which the windows of the room look out, is filled with birds and "every domestic creature"; further on, vegetable gardens with “household vegetables” are visible; fruit trees are covered with nets from birds, stuffed animals on poles are also visible - “one of them was wearing the cap of the hostess herself”. Peasant huts also show the prosperity of their inhabitants. In a word, Korobochka's economy is clearly prosperous and brings sufficient profit. And the village itself is not small - eighty souls.

The description of the estate is divided into two parts - at night, in the rain, and during the day. The first description is scarce, motivated by the fact that Chichikov drives up in the dark, during heavy rain. But in this part of the text there is also an artistic detail, which, in our opinion, is essential for further narration - the mention of the external villa of the house: “stopped<бричка>in front of a small house, which was difficult to see through the darkness. Only one half of it was illuminated by the light coming from the windows; there was still a puddle in front of the house, which was directly hit by the same light. Chichikova also encounters the barking of dogs, which indicates that "the village was decent." The windows of the house are a kind of eyes, and the eyes, as you know, are the mirror of the soul. Therefore, the fact that Chichikov drives up to the house in the dark, only one window is lit and the light from it falls into a puddle, most likely speaks of the scarcity of inner life, of focusing on one side of it, of the earthiness of the aspirations of the owners of this house.

The "daytime" description, as mentioned earlier, emphasizes precisely this one-sidedness of Korobochka's inner life - the focus only on economic activity, prudence and thrift.

In a brief description of the rooms, first of all, the antiquity of their decoration is noted: “the room was hung with old striped wallpaper; pictures with some birds; between the windows there are small antique mirrors with dark frames in the form of curled leaves; behind every mirror there was either a letter, or an old pack of cards, or a stocking; wall clock with painted flowers on the dial…”. In this description, two features are clearly distinguished - linguistic and artistic. First, the synonyms "old", "old" and "old" are used; secondly, the set of objects that catch Chichikov's eye during a brief inspection also indicates that the people living in such rooms are more turned to the past than to the present. It is important that flowers are mentioned here several times (on the clock face, leaves on the frames of the mirrors) and birds. If we recall the history of the interior, we can find out that such a “design” is typical of the Rococo era, i.e. for the second half of the 18th century.

Further in the episode, the description of the room is supplemented by one more detail that confirms the “old age” of Korobochka’s life: Chichikov discovers two portraits on the wall in the morning - Kutuzov and “some old man with red cuffs on his uniform, as they sewed under Pavel Petrovich

In a conversation about the purchase of "dead" souls, the whole essence and character of the Box is revealed. At first, she cannot understand what Chichikov wants from her - the dead peasants have no economic value, therefore they cannot be sold. When she realizes that the deal can be beneficial for her, then bewilderment is replaced by another - the desire to get the maximum benefit from the sale: after all, if someone wants to buy the dead, therefore, they are worth something and are the subject of bargaining. That is, dead souls become for her on a par with hemp, honey, flour and lard. But she has already sold everything else (as we know, quite profitably), and this business is new and unknown to her. The desire not to sell too cheap works: “I began to be very afraid that this bidder would somehow cheat on her”, “I am afraid at first, so as not to somehow incur a loss. Maybe you, my father, are deceiving me, but they… they are somehow worth more”, “I’ll wait a little, maybe merchants will come in large numbers, but I’ll apply to prices”, “somehow they will be needed on the farm in case ...”. With her obstinacy, she infuriates Chichikov, who was counting on an easy consent. This is where the epithet arises, which expresses the essence of not only Korobochka, but the whole type of such people - “club-headed”. The author explains that neither the rank nor the position in society are the cause of such a property, “clubhead” is a very common phenomenon: “a different and respectable, and even statesman man. but in fact it turns out a perfect box. As soon as you hack something into a baby's head, you can't overpower him with anything; no matter how many arguments you present to him, clear as day, everything bounces off him, like a rubber ball bounces off a wall.

Korobochka agrees when Chichikov offers her another deal that is understandable to her - government contracts, that is, a state supply order, which was well paid and was beneficial for the landowner with its stability.

The author ends the auction episode with a generalized discussion about the prevalence of this type of people: “Does Korobochka really stand so low on the endless ladder of human perfection? How great is the abyss that separates her from her sister, inaccessibly fenced by the walls of an aristocratic house with fragrant cast-iron stairs, shining copper, mahogany and carpets, yawning over an unfinished book in anticipation of a witty secular visit, where she will have a field to show off her mind and express her outspoken thoughts that, according to the laws of fashion, occupy the city for a whole week, thoughts not about what is happening in her house and on her estates, confused and upset due to ignorance of economic affairs, but about what political upheaval is being prepared in France, what direction fashionable Catholicism has taken ". A comparison of the economic, thrifty and practical Korobochka with a worthless secular lady makes one wonder what is the "sin" of the Korobochka, is it only her "clubhead"?

Thus, we have several grounds for determining the meaning of the image of the Box - an indication of its "club-headedness", i.e. stuck on one thought, inability and inability to consider the situation from different angles, limited thinking; comparison with the habitually confirmed life of a secular lady; the clear dominance of the past in everything related to the cultural components of human life, embodied in fashion, interior design, speech and etiquette in relation to other people.

Is it a coincidence that Chichikov gets to Korobochka after wandering along a dirty and dark road, at night, during the rain? It can be assumed that these details metaphorically reflect the nature of the image - the lack of spirituality (darkness, rare reflections of light from the window) and aimlessness - in spiritual and moral terms - of its existence (a confusing road, by the way, the girl who escorts Chichikov to the main road confuses right and left). Then the logical answer to the question about the "sin" of the landowner will be the absence of the life of the soul, the existence of which has collapsed to one point - the distant past, when the dead husband was still alive, who loved to scratch his heels before going to bed. The clock that hardly strikes the appointed hour, the flies that wake Chichikov in the morning, the intricacies of the roads to the estate, the absence of external contacts with the world - all this confirms our point of view.

Thus, the Box embodies such a state of mind in which life collapses to a single point and remains somewhere far behind, in the past. Therefore, the author emphasizes that Korobochka is an old woman. And no future is possible for it, therefore, to be reborn, i.e. unfold life to the fullness of being, she is not destined.

The reason for this lies in the initially unspiritual life of a woman in Russia, in her traditional position, but not social, but psychological. Comparison with a secular lady and details about how Korobochka spends her “free time” (fortune-telling on cards, household chores) reflect the absence of any intellectual, cultural, spiritual life. Further in the poem, the reader will meet with an explanation of the reasons for this state of a woman and her soul in Chichikov’s monologue after meeting with a beautiful stranger, when the hero discusses what happens to a pure and simple girl and how “rubbish” turns out of her.

The “clubhead” of Korobochka also gets the exact meaning: it is not excessive practicality or commercialism, but the limitedness of the mind, which is determined by a single thought or belief and is a consequence of the general limitedness of life. And it is the “club-headed” Korobochka, who never left the thought of a possible deception on the part of Chichikov and who comes to the city to ask “how much the dead souls are now”, becomes one of the reasons for the collapse of the hero’s adventure and his rapid flight from the city.

Why does Chichikov get to Korobochka after Manilov and before meeting Nozdrev? As mentioned earlier, the sequence of images of landowners is built along two lines. The first one is descending: the degree of “sin” in each subsequent case is becoming more and more difficult, the responsibility for the state of the soul increasingly lies with the person himself. The second is ascending: how possible is it for the character to resurrect life and “resurrect” the soul?

Manilov lives quite “openly - he appears in the city, attends evenings and meetings, communicates, but his life is like a sentimental novel, which means it is illusory: he is very similar in appearance, reasoning, and attitude towards people of the hero of sentimental and romantic works, fashionable at the beginning of the 19th century. One can guess about his past - a good education, a short public service, resignation, marriage and life with his family on the estate. Manilov does not understand that his existence is not connected with reality, therefore, he cannot realize that his life is not going the way it should. If we draw a parallel with Dante's Divine Comedy, then it is more like sinners of the first circle, whose sin is that they are unbaptized babies or pagans. But the possibility of rebirth is also closed to him for the same reason: his life is an illusion, and he does not realize it.

The box is too immersed in the material world. If Manilov is entirely in fantasies, then she is in the prose of life, and intellectual, spiritual life is reduced to habitual prayers and the same habitual piety. The fixation on the material, on the benefit, the one-sidedness of her life is worse than Manilov's fantasies.

Could Korobochka's life have turned out differently? Yes and no. The influence of the surrounding world, society, circumstances left their mark on her, made her inner world the way it is. But there was still a way out - sincere faith in God. As we will see later, it is true Christian morality, from Gogol's point of view, that is the saving force that keeps a person from spiritual fall and spiritual death. Therefore, the image of Korobochka cannot be considered a satirical image - one-sidedness, “club-headedness” no longer evokes laughter, but sad reflections: “But why, among unthinking, cheerful, careless minutes, another wonderful stream will suddenly sweep by itself: laughter has not yet had time to completely escape from the face , but already became different among the same people, and already a different light lit up the face ... "

A further meeting with Nozdryov - a swindler, a brawler and a rogue - shows that dishonor, a readiness to do nasty things to one's neighbor, sometimes for no reason at all, and excessive activity that has no purpose can be worse than the one-sidedness of life. In this regard, Nozdrev is a kind of antipode of Korobochka: instead of the one-sidedness of life - excessive dispersion, instead of servility - contempt for any conventions, up to the violation of elementary norms of human relations and behavior. Gogol himself said: "... One after another, my heroes follow one more vulgar than the other." Vulgarity is a spiritual fall, and the degree of vulgarity in life is the degree of the triumph of death over life in the human soul.

So, the image of Korobochka reflects a common, from the point of view of the author, type of people who limit their lives to only one sphere, who “rest their foreheads” on one thing and do not see, and most importantly, do not want to see, anything that exists apart from the subject of their attention. Gogol chooses the material sphere - taking care of the economy. The box achieves in this area a sufficient level for a woman, a widow, who has to manage a decent-sized estate. But her life is so concentrated on this that she has no other interests and cannot have any. Therefore, her real life remains in the past, and the present, and even more so the future, is not life. but only existence.

§3. Artistic detail as a means of characterization

In addition to the above artistic details, in the episode there are indications of objects that are also important for understanding the image of the Box.

An important detail is the clock: “... the wall clock came to beat. The hissing was immediately followed by wheezing, and finally, straining with all their strength, they struck two hours with such a sound, as if someone were pounding a broken pot with a stick, after which the pendulum went again calmly clicking right and left. Watches are always a symbol of time and the future. Inhibition, again a certain old age of hours (and hence time) in Korobochka's house, emphasizes the same inhibition of life.

In addition to the clock, time is also represented in Korobochka's speech. She does not use calendar dates to designate dates, but is guided by church folk holidays (Christmas time, Philip's fast), characteristic of folk speech. This testifies not so much to the closeness of the landowner's way of life to the folk, but to her lack of education.

There are two interesting artistic details that relate to the parts of the Box's toilet: a cap on a scarecrow and a stocking behind a mirror. if the first characterizes it from the point of view of only a practical orientation and the likeness of a person (after all, a scarecrow should depict a person), then the role of the second detail is unclear. It can be assumed, judging by the series "letter" - "old deck of cards" - "stocking", that this is some kind of entertainment or girlish fortune-telling, which also confirms that Korobochka's life is in the past.

The description of the courtyard and the description of the room begin with the mention of birds (chickens and turkeys in the yard, “some” birds in the paintings, “indirect clouds” of magpies and sparrows), and additionally characterizes the essence of the mistress of the estate - her soul is down to earth, practicality is the main measure of values .

In Korobochka's speech, there are not only colloquial and folk expressions, but also words characteristic of the past era - "advantageous".

On the whole, it can be said that the artistic detail in Gogol's poem is a means of characterizing the character, adding nuances or implicitly indicating the essential features of the image.

§4. Korobochka and Chichikov

Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is structured in such a way that upon careful, thoughtful reading, you understand that those characters that Chichikov meets - officials and landowners, are connected with the hero not only by the storyline. Firstly, the history of Chichikov himself is placed at the very end of the first volume, which means that he must also obey the laws of the construction of the poem - ascending and descending lines. Secondly, Chichikov has an amazing property - to immediately choose exactly that manner of behavior and that motivation for the offer to sell "dead" souls that are most suitable for the interlocutor. Is it only a natural skill, a property of his character? As we can see from the life story of Chichikov, this feature was inherent in him from the very beginning, almost from childhood - he always guessed the weak point of a person and the possibility of a “loophole in the soul”. In our opinion, this is due to that in the hero in a concentrated form there are all these officials and landlords, whom he deftly deceives, using them as a means to achieve personal goals. And this idea is most confirmed in the episode of the meeting with Korobochka.

Why is it in this part of the poem, when agreement with the “club-headed” landowner is reached, that the author gives a detailed description of Chichikov’s travel box, and in such a way that the reader looks over his shoulder and sees something secret? After all, we meet with a description of other things of the hero already in the first chapter.

If we imagine that this box is a kind of house (each character in the poem must have a house, from which, in fact, the characterization begins), and Gogol’s house, its appearance and interior decoration symbolize the state of a person’s soul, his whole essence, then then Chichikov's casket characterizes him as a man with a double and even a triple bottom.

The first tier is what everyone sees: a smart interlocutor who is able to support the desired topic, a respectable person who is both businesslike and able to spend time in a varied and decent way. The same is in the box - in the upper drawer, which is removed, “in the very middle there is a soap dish, behind the soap dish there are six or seven narrow partitions for razors; then square nooks for a sandbox and an inkwell, with a boat hollowed out between them for pens, sealing wax, and everything that is more authentic; then all sorts of partitions with lids and without lids for what is shorter, filled with business, funeral, theater and other tickets, which were folded as a keepsake.

The second layer of Chichikov's personality is a businessman, prudent and dexterous buyer of "dead souls". And in the box - "there was a space occupied by piles of papers in a sheet."

And finally, what is hidden in the very depths and unknown to most people who have dealt with the hero is the main goal of the hero’s life, his dream of money and what this money gives in life - well-being, honor, respect: “then followed a hidden a money box that slides out discreetly from the side of the box. He was always so hastily advanced and moved at the same moment by the owner that it is probably impossible to say how much money was there. Here it is, the true essence of the hero - profit, income, on which his future depends.

The fact that this description is located precisely in the chapter devoted to Korobochka emphasizes an important idea: Chichikov is also a little Korobochka, as, indeed, are Manilov, and Nozdrev, and Sobakevich, and Plyushkin. That's why he understands people so well, that's why he knows how to adapt, adapt to another person, because he himself is a little that person.

Conclusion

The image of the Box is one of the gallery of human types presented in Gogol's poem Dead Souls. The author uses various means of creating an image: direct characterization and generalization to a common type, artistic details included in the description of the estate, interior, appearance and behavior of the character. An important characteristic is the character's reaction to Chichikov's offer to sell "dead" souls. The behavior of the character reveals the true human essence, because the opportunity to make a profit without spending almost anything is important for landowners.

The box appears to the reader as a limited, stupid old woman whose interests concern only the economy and making a profit. There is nothing in it that leaves signs of spiritual life: no true faith, no interests, no aspirations. The only thing that worries her in a conversation with Chichikov is not to sell too cheap, although the subject of bargaining is unusual and even at first frightens and perplexes her. But the reason for this is for the most part the very system of education and the position of women in society.

Thus, Korobochka is one of the types of landowners and human types that make up the image of Russia contemporary to Gogol.

List of used literature

1. Gogol N.V. Collected Works in eight volumes. - (Library "Ogonyok": domestic classics) - V.5. "Dead Souls". Volume one. - M., 1984.

2. Kirsanova R.M. Costume in Russian artistic culture of the 18th - first half of the 20th centuries: Experience of the encyclopedia / Ed. T.G. Morozova, V.D. Sinyukova. - M., 1995. - P.115

3. Razumikhin A. "Dead Souls" Experience of modern reading//Literature (Appendix to "The First of September"). - No. 13 (532). – April 1-7, 2004.

See Kirsanova R.M. Costume in Russian artistic culture of the 18th - first half of the 20th centuries: Experience of the encyclopedia / Ed. T.G. Morozova, V.D. Sinyukova. - M., 1995. - P.115

Motley - fabric from the remnants of yarn of various kinds, homespun cloth (Kirsanova)

Salop - outerwear made of fur and rich fabrics, out of fashion by 1830; the name "salopnitsa" has an additional connotation of "old-fashioned" (Kirsanova). Apparently, for this purpose, Gogol mentions the coat as an indispensable attribute of such landowners.

Pryazhetsy - a filling that was laid out directly on a baking cake or pancake, in a different way, baked.