Characteristics of the heroes from the work Gogol dead souls. Speech characteristics of heroes in the poem by N.V.
The poem in prose "Dead Souls" is the central work in the work of one of the most original and colorful Russian writers - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.
Gogol as a mirror of the Russian landownership
In the work "Dead Souls" the main characters are representatives of one of the three main strata of Russian society in the first half of the nineteenth century - landowners. The other two classes - the bureaucracy and the peasantry - are shown somewhat schematically, without the special colors inherent in Gogol's language, but the landowners ... In this work you can see their different colors, characters and habits. Each of them represents some kind of human weakness, even a vice inherent in people of this class (according to the author's observations): low education, narrow-mindedness, greed, arbitrariness. Let's take a closer look at them.
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Dead Souls. Main characters
There is no need to retell the plot of the poem in prose here, since this would require a separate article. Let's just say that a certain person by the name of Chichikov, in modern times a real fine fellow - resourceful, inventive, with original thinking, extremely sociable and, most importantly, absolutely unprincipled - decides to buy "dead souls" from the landowners in order to use them as mortgage, under which you can buy a real village with living peasants of flesh and blood.
To carry out his plan, Chichikov travels around the landlords and buys the "dead" peasants from them (surnames entered in tax returns). He is eventually unmasked and escapes NN City in a carriage being carried away by the "Three Bird".
If we discuss who the main characters of the poem "Dead Souls" are, then collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov will certainly top their list.
Images of landowners
The second number I would like to mention the landowner Manilov - a sentimental, grandiloquent, empty, but harmless man. He quietly dreams, sitting in his estate, looks at life through and makes unrealizable plans for the future. And although Manilov does not cause much sympathy, he is still not the most unpleasant character in the poem Dead Souls. The main characters that appear before the reader further are much less harmless.
Korobochka is an elderly and narrow-minded woman. However, he knows his business well and holds the income from his small estate firmly in his wrinkled hands. She sells souls to Chichikov for fifteen rubles, and the only thing that confuses her in this strange deal is the price. The landowner is worried, as if not to sell too cheap.
Continuing the list under the conditional name "Dead Souls - the main characters", it is worth mentioning the gambler and reveler Nozdrev. He lives widely, cheerfully and noisily. Such a life rarely fits into the generally accepted framework, therefore it is under court.
Following Nozdryov, we get acquainted with the rude and stubborn Sobakevich, “a fist and a beast”, but now he would be called a “strong business executive”.
And closes the row of sellers of "dead souls" painfully stingy Plyushkin. This landowner was so dominated by his passion for thrift that he practically lost his human appearance, in any case, at first glance it is impossible to determine his gender and social affiliation - it's just some kind of figure in tatters.
In addition to them, Nikolai Vasilyevich mentions representatives of other classes: officials and their wives, peasants, military men, but it is the landowners in the work Dead Souls that are the main characters. Pretty soon it becomes clear that it is their souls that are dead, and not for the first year, and it is on them that the writer and his sharp pen are aimed.
The protagonist of the work, a former official, and now a schemer. He owns the idea of a scam with the dead souls of peasants. This character is present in all chapters. He travels all the time in Russia, gets acquainted with wealthy landowners and officials, enters into their confidence, and then tries to pull off all sorts of frauds.
One of the heroes of the poem, a sentimental landowner, the first "seller" of dead souls in provincial city NN. The hero's surname comes from the verbs "to beckon" and "to lure". Chichikov meets Manilov at the governor's reception and quickly finds him mutual language perhaps because of the similarity of characters. Manilov also likes to speak "sweetly", he even has some kind of "sugar" eyes. About people like them they usually say "neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan."
The widow-landowner from the work, the second "saleswoman" of dead souls. By nature, she is a self-serving little bastard who sees a potential buyer in everyone. Chichikov quickly noticed the commercial efficiency and stupidity of this landowner. Despite the fact that she skillfully manages the household and manages to benefit from each harvest, the idea of \u200b\u200bbuying "dead souls" did not seem strange to her.
The broken 35-year-old landowner from the work, the third "seller" of the souls of the dead peasants. Chichikov meets this character already in the first chapter at the reception of the prosecutor. Later, he runs into him in a tavern and he invites Chichikov to visit him. The estate of Nozdryov fully reflects the absurd nature of the owner. There are no books and papers in the office, there are goats in the dining room, the food is not tasty, something is burnt, something is too salty.
One of the characters in the work, the fourth "seller" of dead souls. The appearance of this hero is the best match to his character. This is a large, slightly angular and clumsy landowner with a "bulldog" grip, similar to "a medium-sized bear."
The character of the poem, the fifth and last "seller" of dead souls. He is the personification of complete necrosis. human soul. This character died bright personality consumed by avarice. Despite Sobakevich's persuasion not to go to him, Chichikov nevertheless decided to visit this landowner, since it is known that he has a high mortality rate for peasants.
parsley
A minor character, Chichikov's lackey. He was about thirty years old, with a stern look, large lips and nose. He wore clothes from the master's shoulder, was silent. He liked to read books, but he did not like the plot of the book, but simply the process of reading. He was untidy, slept in clothes.
Selifan
Secondary character, coachman Chichikov. He was short, liked to drink, previously served in customs.
Governor
A minor character, the main one in the city of NN, a big good-natured man with awards, arranged balls.
Lieutenant Governor
A minor character, one of the inhabitants of the city of NN.
Prosecutor
A minor character, one of the inhabitants of the city of NN. He was a serious and silent person, had thick black eyebrows and a slightly winking left eye, he liked to play cards. After the scandal with Chichikov, he suddenly died from mental suffering.
Chairman of the Chamber
A minor character, one of the inhabitants of the city of NN. A sensible and amiable man, he knew everyone in the city.
/S.P. Shevyrev (1806-1864). The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls. Poem by N. Gogol. Article one/
Let us carefully go through the gallery of these strange persons who live their special, full life in the world where Chichikov performs his exploits. We will not violate the order in which they are depicted. Let's start with Manilov, assuming that the author himself starts with him not without reason. Almost a thousand faces are brought together in this one face. Manilov represents a lot of people living inside Russia, which can be said together with the author: people are so-so, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan. If you want, they generally good people, but empty; they praise everything and everyone, but their praise is of no use. They live in the village, they don’t do housework, but they look at everything with a calm and kind look and, smoking a pipe (a pipe is their inevitable attribute), indulge in idle dreams, like how to build a pond across a pond. a stone bridge and set up shops on it. The kindness of their soul is reflected in their family tenderness: they love to kiss, but that's all. The emptiness of their sweet and sugary life echoes with pampering in children and bad upbringing. Their dreamy inaction was reflected in their entire economy; look at their villages: they will all be like Manilov. Gray, log huts, no greenery anywhere; everywhere there is only one log; a pond in the middle; two women with a nonsense in which two crayfish and a roach are entangled, and a plucked rooster with a head gouged to the brain (yes, such people in the village must certainly have a plucked rooster) - these are the necessary external signs of their rural life, to which even and the day is light gray, because in sunlight such a picture would not be so entertaining. There is always some kind of defect in their house, and with furniture upholstered in smart material, there will certainly be two armchairs covered with canvas. In every business question, they always turn to their clerk, even if they happen to sell something from rural products.<…>
box— this is a completely different matter! This is the type of active landowner; she lives entirely in her household; she knows nothing else. On the face of it, you will call her a krokhoborka, looking at how she collects fifty dollars and quarters in different bags, but, looking at her more closely, you will do justice to her activities and involuntarily say that she is a minister in her business, no matter where. Look how neat she is everywhere. The contentment of the inhabitants can be seen in the peasant huts; the gate did not squint anywhere; the old tes on the roofs have been replaced everywhere with new ones. Look at her rich chicken coop! Her rooster is not the same as in Manilov's village - a dandy rooster. The whole bird, as you can see, has already been so accustomed to the caring mistress, it seems to be one family with her and comes close to the windows of her house; that's why at Korobochka's there could only be a not entirely courteous meeting between the Indian rooster and Chichikov's guest. Her housekeeping is going well: it seems that there is only Fetinya in the house, and look what kind of cookies! and what a huge down jacket took the weary Chichikov into its depths! "And what a wonderful memory Nastasya Petrovna has!" How she, without any note, told Chichikov by heart the names of all her extinct peasants! You have noticed that the peasants of Korobochka differ from other landowner peasants by some unusual nicknames: do you know why this is?
The box is on her mind: what she has is hers, then hers is strong; and the men are also marked with special names, as a bird is marked with careful owners so that it does not run away. That is why it was so difficult for Chichikov to settle things with her: although she loves to sell and sells any household product, she looks at dead souls in the same way as she looks at lard, hemp or honey, believing that they are in the household may be needed. She tortured Chichikov to the sweat of her face with her difficulties, referring all the time to the fact that the goods were new, strange, unprecedented. She could only be frightened by the devil, because Korobochka must be superstitious. But it’s a disaster if she happens to sell some of her goods at a low price: it’s as if her conscience is not calm - and therefore it’s no wonder that, having sold dead souls and then thinking about them, she galloped into the city in her travel watermelon stuffed with cotton pillows, bread , rolls, kokurki, pretzels and other things, then galloped up to find out for sure how much dead souls go and whether she had missed, God save, selling them, maybe at a bargain price.
On high road, in some wooden, darkened tavern, met Chichikov Nozdreva, whom he met back in the city: where can you meet such a person, if not in such a tavern? There are quite a few Nozdrevs, the author notes: true, at any Russian fair, the most insignificant, you will certainly meet at least one Nozdrev, and at another, more important - of course, several such Nozdrevs. The author says that this type of people in Rus' is known under the name broken small: epithets also go to him: careless, eccentric, jumbled, braggart, bully, bully, liar, rubbish man, rakalia, and so on. From the third time they tell a friend - You; at fairs they buy everything that comes into their heads, such as: collars, smoking candles, a dress for a nanny, a stallion, raisins, a silver washstand, Dutch linen, grain flour, tobacco, pistols, herring, paintings, a grinding tool - in a word , in their purchases there is the same jumble as in their head. In their village they like to boast and lie without mercy, and call everything that does not belong to them theirs. Do not trust their words, tell them to their face that they are talking nonsense: they are not offended. They have a great passion to show everything in their village, although there is nothing to look at, and to boast to everyone: this passion shows cordiality - a trait of the Russian people - and vanity, another trait, also dear to us.
Nozdryovs are great hunters of change. Nothing will sit still for them, and everything should also revolve around them, as in their head. Friendly tenderness and curses flow from their tongues at the same time, interfering in the stream of obscene words. God save them from their dinner and from any shortness with them! In the game, they brazenly cheat - and are ready to fight if they notice it. They have a special passion for dogs - and the kennel is in great order: does this not come from some kind of sympathy? for in the character of the Nozdryovs there is something truly canine. Nothing can be done with them: that is why at first it seems even strange how Chichikov, such an intelligent and business-like fellow, who recognized a person from the first time, who he was and how to talk to him, decided to enter into relations with Nozdryov. Such a blunder, which Chichikov later himself repented of, can, however, be explained from two Russian proverbs that there is enough simplicity in every wise man and that a Russian person is strong in hindsight. But Chichikov paid the price afterwards; without Nozdryov, who would have stirred up the city so much and caused all the turmoil at the ball, which caused such an important upheaval in the affairs of Chichikov?
But Nozdryov must give way to a huge type Sobakevich. <…>
It sometimes happens in nature that the appearance of a person is deceiving, and under a strange monstrous image you meet a kind soul and a soft heart. But in Sobakevich, the external perfectly, exactly, corresponds to the internal. His outer image was imprinted on all his words, actions and on everything that surrounds him. His awkward house, full-weight and thick logs used for the stable, barn and kitchen; dense huts of peasants, cut down marvelously; a well, lined with strong oak, fit for a ship structure; in the rooms there are portraits with thick thighs and endless mustaches, the Greek heroine Bobelina with a leg in her torso, a pot-bellied walnut bureau on absurd four legs; a dark-colored blackbird—in a word, everything surrounding Sobakevich looks like him and can sing in chorus together with the table, armchairs, and chairs: and we are all Sobakevich!
Take a look at his dinner: every dish will repeat the same thing to you. This colossal nanny, consisting of a sheep's stomach stuffed with buckwheat, brains and legs; cheesecakes are larger than plates; a turkey the size of a calf, stuffed with who knows what - how all these dishes look like the owner himself!<…>
Talk to Sobakevich: all the calculated dishes will burp in every word that comes out of his mouth. In all his speeches, all the abomination of his physical and moral nature responds. He cuts everything and everyone, just as merciless nature chopped him off: his whole city is fools, robbers, swindlers, and even the most decent people in his dictionary mean the same thing with pigs. Of course, you have not forgotten Fonvizin's Skotinin: if not native, then at least Godfather Sobakevich, but one cannot but add that the godson outdid his father.
“Sobakevich’s soul seemed to be closed in such a thick shell that everything that tossed and turned at the bottom of it did not produce any shock on the surface,” says the author. So the body mastered everything in him, clouded the whole person and already became incapable of expressing spiritual movements.
His gluttonous nature was also indicated in his greed for money. The mind operates in it, but only to the extent that it is necessary to cheat and make money. Sobakevich is exactly like Caliban 1, in which one evil trick remained from the mind. But in his ingenuity he is more ridiculous than Caliban. How skillfully he screwed Elizaveta Sparrow into the list of male souls, and how cunningly he began to poke a small fish with a fork, having first eaten a whole sturgeon, and played hungry innocence! It was difficult to deal with Sobakevich, because he was a man-fist; his tight nature loves to haggle; but on the other hand, having managed the matter, it was possible to remain calm, for Sobakevich is a solid and firm man and will stand up for himself.
The gallery of faces with whom Chichikov does his business is concluded by a miser Plushkin. The author notes that such a phenomenon rarely comes across in Rus', where everything likes to turn around rather than shrink. Here, just like with other landowners, Plyushkin's village and his house outwardly depict for us the character and soul of the owner himself. The log in the huts is dark and old; the roofs bleed through like a sieve, the windows in the huts without glass, plugged up with a rag or zipun, the church, with yellowish walls, stained and cracked. The house looks like a decrepit invalid, the windows in it are lined with shutters or boarded up; on one of them, a triangle of blue sugar paper darkens. Decaying buildings around, dead carefree silence, gates always locked tightly, and a giant castle hanging on an iron hinge - all this prepares us for a meeting with the owner himself and serves as a sad living attribute of his soul shut up alive. You rest from these sad, painful impressions in the rich picture of the garden, although overgrown and decayed, but picturesque in its desolation: here you are treated for a moment by the poet’s wonderful sympathy for nature, which all lives under his warm gaze on her, but meanwhile in the depths In this wild and hot picture, you seem to be looking into the story of the life of the owner himself, in which the soul has also died out, like nature in the wilderness of this garden.
Go up to Plushkin's house; everything here will tell you about him before you see him. Heaped furniture, a broken chair, on the table a clock with a stopped pendulum, to which a spider has attached its web; a bureau lined with mother-of-pearl mosaics, which had already fallen out in places and left behind only yellowish grooves filled with glue; on the bureau there is a pile of small papers written in small pieces, a lemon, all dried up, a broken arm of the chair, a glass with some kind of liquid and three flies, covered with a letter, a piece of sealing wax, a piece of a rag raised somewhere, two feathers stained with ink, dried up, as in consumption , a toothpick, completely yellowed, with which the owner, perhaps, picked his teeth even before the French invasion of Moscow ... Further, the paintings on the walls, blackened with time, a chandelier in a canvas bag, which from the dust has become like a silk cocoon in which a worm sits, a heap of various rubbish in the corner, from which protruded a broken piece of a wooden shovel and an old boot sole - and only one sign of a living being in the whole house, a worn cap lying on the table ... you already know the man himself!
But here he is himself, looking from a distance like his old housekeeper, with an unshaven chin that protrudes very far forward and resembles an iron-wire comb used to clean horses in a stable, with gray eyes that, like mice, run from under highly grown eyebrows ... Plyushkin is seen so vividly by us, as if we recall him in Albert Dürer's painting in the Doria 2 gallery ... Having depicted a face, the poet enters inside it, reveals to you all the dark folds of this hardened soul, tells the psychological metamorphosis of this person: how stinginess, having once made a nest in his soul, little by little extended its possessions in it and, having conquered everything, devastated all his feelings, turned a person into an animal that, by some instinct, drags into its hole everything that would be for him. nothing came across on the road - an old sole, a woman's rag, an iron nail, a clay shard, an officer's spur, a bucket left by a woman.
Every feeling almost imperceptibly glides across this callous, petrified face... Everything dies, rots and collapses near Plyushkin... No wonder that Chichikov could find in him such a large number of dead and runaway souls, which suddenly multiplied his fantastic population so significantly.
These are the faces with which Chichikov puts his plan into action. All of them, in addition to special properties that belong to each one, have one more feature common to all: hospitality, this Russian cordiality to the guest, which lives in them and seems to be held by the instinct of the people. It is remarkable that even in Plyushkin this natural feeling was preserved, despite the fact that it is completely contrary to his stinginess: and he considered it necessary to treat Chichikov with tea and ordered the samovar to be put on, but fortunately for him, the guest himself, who realized the matter, refused to treat .
In one of his articles, Belinsky remarks that "the author" dead souls“He doesn’t speak anywhere himself, he only makes his heroes speak in accordance with their characters. He expresses the sensitive Manilov in the language of a person educated in the petty-bourgeois taste, and Nozdryov in the language historical man...". The speech of Gogol's heroes is psychologically motivated, conditioned by characters, lifestyle, type of thinking, situation.
So, in Manilov, the dominant features are sentimentality, daydreaming, complacency, excessive sensitivity. These qualities of the hero are unusually accurately conveyed in his speech, gracefully ornate, courteous, “delicate”, “sweet”: “observe delicacy in your actions”, “magnetism of the soul”, “name day of the heart”, “spiritual pleasure”, “ such a guy”, “most respected and most gracious person”, “I don’t have high art express myself”, “the chance gave me happiness”.
Manilov gravitates toward bookish-sentimental phrases, in the speech of this character we feel Gogol's parody of the language of sentimental stories: "Open up, darling, your mouth, I'll put this piece for you." So he turns to his wife. Manilov and Chichikov are no less "gracious": "they honored us with their visit", "let me ask you to sit in these armchairs."
One of the main features of the speech of the landowner, according to V. V. Litvinov, "its vagueness, confusion, uncertainty." Starting a phrase, Manilov seems to be under the impression of his own words and cannot clearly finish it.
Characteristic and speech manner of the hero. Manilov speaks quietly, insinuatingly, slowly, with a smile, sometimes closing his eyes, "like a cat that has been slightly tickled behind the ears with a finger." At the same time, his facial expression becomes “not only sweet, but even cloying, similar to the potion that the clever secular doctor sweetened mercilessly.”
In Manilov's speech, his claims to "education", "culture" are also noticeable. Discussing the sale of dead souls with Pavel Ivanovich, he asks him a high-flown and ornate question about the legality of this "enterprise". Manilov is very worried "whether this negotiation will be inconsistent with civil regulations and further types of Russia." At the same time, he shows “in all the features of his face and in compressed lips such a deep expression, which, perhaps, was not seen on human face, except perhaps with some too smart minister, and even then at the moment of the most puzzling case.
Characteristic in the poem is the speech of Korobochka, a simple, patriarchal mother landowner. The box is completely uneducated, ignorant. In her speech, colloquialism constantly slips: “something”, “theirs”, “manenko”, “tea”, “so hot”, “you bend down the zabranki”.
The box is not only simple and patriarchal, but fearful and stupid. All these qualities of the heroine are manifested in her dialogue with Chichikov. Fearing deceit, some kind of trick, Korobochka is in no hurry to agree to the sale of dead souls, believing that they may "somehow be needed in the household." And only Chichikov's lies about the conduct of government contracts had an effect on her.
Gogol also depicts Korobochka's inner speech, in which the landowner's vital and everyday sharpness is conveyed, the very trait that helps her gain "little by little money in motley bags." “It would be nice,” Korobochka thought meanwhile to herself, “if he took flour and cattle from me for the treasury. You need to appease him: there is still dough left from yesterday evening, so go tell Fetinya to bake pancakes ... "
Nozdrev's speech is unusually colorful in Dead Souls. As Belinsky noted, "Nozdryov speaks the language of a historical person, a hero of fairs, taverns, drinking parties, fights and gambling tricks."
The speech of the hero is very colorful and varied. It contains both “ugly Frenchized jargon of an army-restaurant style” (“bezeshki”, “clicot-matradura”, “burdashka”, “scandalous”), and expressions of card jargon (“banchishka”, “galbik”, “password”, “break the bank”, “play with a doublet”), and the terms of dog breeding (“face”, “sideways ribs”, “breasty”), and a lot of swear words: “svintus”, rascal”, “you’ll get a bald trait”, “fetyuk” , “beast”, “you are such a cattle breeder”, “zhidomor”, “scoundrel”, “death do not like such thaws”.
In his speeches, the hero is prone to "improvisation": often he himself does not know what he can come up with in the next minute. So, he tells Chichikov that he drank "seventeen bottles of champagne" at dinner. Showing the guests the estate, he leads them to a pond, where, according to him, there is a fish of such size that two people can hardly pull it out. Moreover, Nozdryov's lie has no apparent reason. He lies "for a red word", wanting to impress others.
Nozdryov is characterized by familiarity: with any person he quickly switches to “you”, “affectionately” calls the interlocutor “svintus”, “cattle breeder”, “fetyuk”, “scoundrel”. The landowner is "straightforward": in response to Chichikov's request for dead souls, he tells him that he is a "big swindler" and should be hanged "on the first tree." However, after that, Nozdryov, with the same "ardor and interest," continues his "friendly conversation."
Sobakevich's speech is striking in its simplicity, brevity, and accuracy. The landowner lives alone and unsociable, he is skeptical in his own way, has a practical mind, a sober view of things. Therefore, in his assessments of those around him, the landowner is often rude, in his speech there are swear words and expressions. Thus, characterizing city officials, he calls them "swindlers" and "Christ sellers." The governor, but in his opinion, is “the first robber in the world”, the chairman is a “fool”, the prosecutor is a “pig”.
As V.V. Litvinov notes, Sobakevich immediately grasps the essence of the conversation, the hero is not easily confused, he is logical and consistent in the dispute. So, arguing the price requested for dead souls, he reminds Chichikov that "this kind of purchase ... is not always permissible."
Characteristically, Sobakevich is also capable of a great, inspired speech, if the subject of conversation is interesting to him. So, talking about gastronomy, he discovers knowledge of German and French diets, "hunger cures." Sobakevich's speech becomes emotional, figurative, vivid even when he talks about the merits of dead peasants. “Another swindler will deceive you, sell you rubbish, not souls; but I have a vigorous nut”, “I’ll bet my head if you find such a man anywhere”, “Maxim Telyatnikov, shoemaker: whatever pierces with an awl, then boots, and that boots, then thank you.” Describing his "goods", the landowner himself is carried away by his own speech, acquires a "lynx" and a "gift of words."
Gogol also depicts Sobakevich's inner speech, his thoughts. So, noting Chichikov's "stubbornness", the landowner remarks to himself: "You can't knock him down, he's stubborn!"
The last of the landowners in the poem is Plyushkin. This is an old miser, suspicious and wary, always dissatisfied with something. The very visit of Chichikov infuriates him. Not in the least embarrassed by Pavel Ivanovich, Plyushkin tells him that "a visit is of little use." At the beginning of Chichikov's visit, the landowner speaks to him warily and irritably. Plyushkin does not know what the guest's intentions are, and just in case he warns Chichikov's "possible encroachments", remembering his nephew beggar.
However, in the middle of the conversation, the situation changes dramatically. Plyushkin understands what the essence of Chichikov's request is, and becomes indescribably delighted. All his intonations change. Irritation is replaced by frank joy, alertness - by confidential intonations. Plyushkin, who saw no use in visiting, calls Chichikov "father" and "benefactor". Touched, the landowner recalls the "gentlemen" and "hierarchs".
However, Plyushkin does not remain in such complacency for long. Not finding blank paper to make a bill of sale, he again turns into a grouchy, quarrelsome curmudgeon. All his anger he brings down on the yard. Many abusive expressions appear in his speech: “what a mug”, “fool”, “fool”, “robber”, “swindler”, “swindler”, “devils will bake you”, “thieves”, “unscrupulous parasites”. Present in the lexicon of the landowner and colloquial speech: “bayut”, “boats”, “hefty jackpot”, “tea”, “ehwa”, “stuffed”, “already”.
Gogol also presents Plyushkin's inner speech to us, exposing the suspicion and incredulity of the landowner. Chichikov’s generosity seems incredible to Plyushkin, and he thinks to himself: “After all, the devil knows, maybe he’s just a braggart, like all these little moths: he’ll tell lies, lie, to talk and drink tea, and then he’ll leave!”
Chichikov's speech, like Manilov's, is unusually elegant, florid, full of book turns: "an insignificant worm of this world", "I had the honor to cover your deuce." Pavel Ivanovich has "excellent manners", he can support any conversation - about a horse farm, and about dogs, and about judicial tricks, and about a game of billiards, and about making hot wine. He talks especially well about virtue, "even with tears in his eyes." The very conversational manner of Chichikov is also characteristic: "He spoke neither loudly nor quietly, but exactly as he should."
It is worth noting the special maneuverability and mobility of the hero's speech. Communicating with people, Pavel Ivanovich skillfully adapts to each of the interlocutors. With Manilov, he speaks floridly, significantly, uses "vague paraphrases and sensitive maxims." “Yes, indeed, what did I not tolerate? like a bar
amid the ferocious waves... What persecutions, what persecutions he did not experience, what grief he did not taste, but for keeping the truth, for being pure in his conscience, for giving a hand to a helpless widow and a miserable orphan! wiped away a tear with a handkerchief.
With Korobochka, Chichikov becomes a kind patriarchal landowner. "All the will of God, mother!" - Pavel Ivanovich profoundly declares in response to the lamentations of the landowner about the numerous deaths among the peasants. However, realizing very soon how stupid and ignorant Korobochka is, he is no longer particularly on ceremony with her: “Yes, perish and go around with your whole village”, “like some, without saying a bad word, mongrel that lies in the hay: and she does not eat herself, and does not give to others.
In the chapter on Korobochka, Chichikov's inner speech appears for the first time. Chichikov's thoughts here convey his dissatisfaction with the situation, irritation, but at the same time the arrogance, rudeness of the hero: "Well, the woman seems to be strong-headed!" I've been sweating, you damned old woman!"
WITH Nozdrev Chichikov speaks simply and concisely, "trying to get on a familiar foot." He understands perfectly well that thoughtful phrases and colorful epithets are useless here. However, a conversation with the landowner does not lead to anything: instead of a successful deal, Chichikov finds himself embroiled in a scandal, which stops only due to the appearance of the police captain.
With Sobakevich, Chichikov at first sticks to his usual manner of speaking. Then he somewhat reduces his "eloquence". Moreover, in the intonations of Pavel Ivanovich, while observing all external decorum, one feels impatience and irritation. So, wanting to convince Sobakevich of the complete uselessness of the subject of bargaining, Chichikov declares: “It’s strange to me right: it seems that some kind of theatrical performance or a comedy, otherwise I can’t explain to myself ... You seem to be a rather smart person, you have knowledge of education.
The same feeling of irritation is present in the thoughts of the hero. Here, Pavel Ivanovich is not shy about "more definite" statements, outright abuse. "Why, really," Chichikov thought to himself, "does he take me for a fool, or something?" In another place we read: “Well, damn him,” Chichikov thought to himself, “I’ll add fifty dollars for him, the dog, for nuts!”
In a conversation with Plyushkin, Chichikov returns to his usual courtesy and grandiloquence of statements. Pavel Ivanovich declares to the landowner that "having heard about his savings and the rare management of estates, he considered it a duty to get acquainted and personally pay his respects." He calls Plyushkin "a respectable, kind old man." Pavel Ivanovich maintains this tone throughout the entire conversation with the landowner.
In his thoughts, Chichikov discards "all ceremonies", his inner speech is far from bookish and rather primitive. Plyushkin is unfriendly, inhospitable towards Pavel Ivanovich. The landowner does not invite him to dine, arguing that his kitchen is “low, bad, and the pipe has completely collapsed, you start to heat it, you’ll make another fire.” “Wow, how it is! Chichikov thought to himself. “It’s good that I intercepted a cheesecake from Sobakevich, and a chunk of a lamb side.” Asking Plyushkin about selling runaway souls, Pavel Ivanovich first refers to his friend, although he buys them for himself. “No, we won’t even let our friend sniff it,” Chichikov said to himself ... “Here one can clearly feel the joy of the hero from a successful “deal”.
Thus, the speech of the heroes, along with the landscape, portrait, interior, serves in the poem "Dead Souls" as a means of creating integrity and completeness of images.
The main characters of the poem "Dead Souls" personify the society of past centuries.
"Dead Souls" main characters
The figurative system of the poem is built in accordance with three main plot and compositional links: landlord, bureaucratic Russia and the image of Chichikov.
The main character of "Dead Souls" Chichikov. This is a former official (retired collegiate adviser), and now a schemer: he is engaged in buying up the so-called "dead souls" (written information about the peasants who have died since the last revision) to mortgage them as if they were alive, in order to take a loan from a bank and gain weight in society. He dresses smartly, looks after himself and, after a long and dusty Russian road, manages to look as if only from a tailor and a barber. His name has become a household name for people - crafty careerists, sycophants, money-grubbers, outwardly "pretty", "decent and worthy"
Manilov A pleasant but boring and lazy middle-aged man. Little takes care of his estate. There are 200 peasant huts in his village. The peasants of Manilov are lazy, like the owner himself. Manilov likes to sit in his office and dream all day, smoking a pipe. A romantic and sensitive man who loves his family.
box- old widow She is a good housewife, thrifty and thrifty, a stupid and suspicious old woman. There are only 80 souls in her village. The peasants of Korobochka are working regularly, and the economy is well established. Huts and buildings in the estate Boxes are whole and strong. Korobochka sells goods produced by her peasants. This is “one of those mothers, small landowners who cry for crop failures, losses and keep their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile they are gaining a little money in motley bags placed in drawers of chests of drawers.” The watercolor portrait of Korobochka represents a good-natured old woman of small stature, in a cap and bonnet, in funny knitted shoes. The round, soft figure of Nastasya Petrovna, with some kind of rag tied around her neck, surprisingly resembles a tightly stuffed sack or bag - an important attribute of a homely landowner.
Nozdryov— A young widower, 35 years old. Lively, cheerful and noisy. Likes to have fun and drink. Cannot stay at home for more than one day. Little is engaged in his estate and peasants. Does not take care of his two children. Keeps a whole pack of dogs and loves them more than his children.
Sobakevich- Prosperous landowner 40-50 years old. Married. It looks like a bear. Healthy and strong. Clumsy, rude and direct. Thoroughly takes care of his estate. His peasants' huts are strong and reliable. Likes to eat well.
Plushkin- Wealthy landowner. He has about 1000 souls. He has many dead and runaway souls. Plyushkin lives like a beggar: he walks in rags and eats breadcrumbs. He doesn't throw anything away. Its peasants live in old, dilapidated houses. He overcharges and doesn't sell goods to merchants, so goods rot in storerooms.
