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H gogol overcoat analysis. Gogol, "The Overcoat": analysis of the work

The story "The Overcoat" is one of the best works the most mysterious (according to the Russian writer Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich. A story about life " little man"Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, a simple copyist of one of the many offices county town, leads the reader to deep reflections on the meaning of life.

"Leave me alone..."

Gogol's "Overcoat" requires a thoughtful approach. Akaki Bashmachnikov is not just a "small" person, he is defiantly insignificant, emphatically detached from life. He has no desires, with his whole appearance he seems to be saying to others: "I beg you to leave me alone." The younger officials make fun of Akaky Akakievich, although not maliciously, but still insultingly. Gather around and compete in wit. Sometimes they hurt, then Bashmachnikov will raise his head and say: "Why are you like that?". In the text of the narration, it is present to feel it and offers Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. "The Overcoat" (the analysis of this short story may be longer than itself) includes complex psychological interweaving.

Thoughts and aspirations

Akaki's only passion was his work. He copied documents neatly, cleanly, with love. Arriving home and having had some dinner, Bashmachnikov began to walk around the room, time dragged on slowly for him, but he was not burdened by this. Akaki sat down and wrote all evening. Then he went to bed, thinking about the documents that were to be rewritten the next day. These thoughts made him happy. Paper, pen and ink made up the meaning of the life of the "little man", who was well over fifty. Only such a writer as Gogol could describe the thoughts and aspirations of Akaky Akakievich. "The Overcoat" is analyzed with great difficulty, because a small story contains so many psychological collisions that it would be enough for a whole novel.

Salary and a new overcoat

The salary of Akaki Akakievich was 36 rubles a month, this money was barely enough to pay for housing and food. When frost hit Petersburg, Bashmachnikov found himself in a difficult situation. His clothes were worn to holes, they no longer saved from the cold. The overcoat was frayed on the shoulders and back, the sleeves were torn at the elbows. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol skillfully describes the whole drama of the situation. "The Overcoat", the theme of which goes beyond the usual narrative, makes you think about a lot. Akaky Akakievich went to the tailor to mend his clothes, but he said that "it is impossible to repair", a new overcoat is needed. And he named the price - 80 rubles. The money for Bashmachnikov is huge, which he did not have at all. I had to save heavily in order to save the required amount.

After some time, the office gave the bonus to officials. Akaky Akakievich got 20 rubles. Together with the salary received, a sufficient amount was collected. He went to the tailor. And here accurate literary definitions the whole drama of the situation is revealed, which only a writer like Gogol can do. "The Overcoat" (an analysis of this story cannot be done without being imbued with the misfortune of a person who is deprived of the opportunity to simply take and buy a coat for himself) touches to the core.

Death of the "little man"

The new overcoat turned out to be a feast for the eyes - thick cloth, a cat collar, copper buttons, all this even somehow raised Bashmachnikov above his hopeless life. He straightened up, began to smile, felt like a man. Colleagues vied with each other touting the renovation, and invited Akaky Akakievich to a party. After her, the hero of the day went home, striding along the icy pavement, even hit on a woman passing by, and when he turned off Nevsky Prospekt, two men approached him, intimidated him and took off his overcoat. All the next week, Akaki Akakievich went to the police station, hoping that they would find a new thing. Then he developed a fever. The "little man" is dead. So ended the life of his character Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. "The Overcoat", the analysis of this story can be done endlessly, constantly opens up new facets to us.

The entire progress of the task can be divided into several sub-items:

It is necessary to recall the content of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's story "The Overcoat".
Try to understand what the author wants to convey to his reader.
Go directly to the search for the main artistic idea of the story "The Overcoat".

So let's get started.

Let's remember the plot

The main character is Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, an ordinary working man, of whom there are a great many. He didn't have many friends, neither did he have a wife or children. He lived only for his work, and although the work is not solid, it consisted of a simple rewriting of texts, for Akaki it was everything. Even at the end labor day main character took the papers home and continued to copy. For a very long time, Akaki collected money to purchase a new overcoat, with the thought that this purchase would change the attitude of others and colleagues towards him. And finally, having accumulated a large amount, the hero buys the desired thing, but, unfortunately, his happiness did not last long. Returning home late at night, the hero was robbed. Together with the overcoat, the meaning of Akaky Akakievich’s life also disappeared, because he could not earn another one. Returning home already without an overcoat, the hero froze, which subsequently led to his death.

Displaying the topic

It can be seen from the content that the theme of the little man is touched upon in the work. A person on whom nothing depends. He is like a cog in a huge mechanism, without which the mechanism will not stop its work. No one will even notice his disappearance. Nobody needs him and is not interesting, although he tries his best to attract attention to himself, all his labors remain in vain.

The main artistic idea of the work

Gogol shows that only appearance person. Personal qualities and the inner world are of no interest to anyone. The main thing is what kind of "overcoat" you have. For Nikolai Vasilyevich himself, your rank does not matter, he does not look at whether your overcoat is new or old. What matters to him is what's inside. spiritual world hero. This is precisely the main artistic idea works.

Petersburg stories appeared in the darkest time.

IN AND. Lenin, describing this era, noted:

“Fortified Russia is packed and immobile. An insignificant minority of nobles protests, powerless without the support of the people. But the best people from the nobles helped wake the people.

Sam N.V. Gogol never called the cycle of these stories "Petersburg Tales", so the name is purely business. This cycle also includes the story "The Overcoat", which, in my opinion, is the most significant of all the others here.

Its importance, significance and meaningfulness in comparison with other works is increased by the theme touched upon in The Overcoat: a small man.

Brute force, the lawlessness of those in power reigned and dominated the fates and lives of little people. Among these people was Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin.

A “little man” like our hero and many others, it seems, should fight for a normal attitude towards them, but they do not have enough strength, either physical, moral, or spiritual.

Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin is a victim who is not only under the yoke of the world around him and his own powerlessness, but who does not understand the tragedy of his life situation. This is a spiritually "erased" person. The author sympathizes with the little man and demands attention to this problem.

Akaky Akakievich is so inconspicuous, insignificant in his position, that none of his colleagues remembers "when and at what time" he entered the service. You can even talk about him vaguely, which, by the way, is what N.V. Gogol: "He served in one department."

Or maybe by this he wanted to emphasize that this incident could happen in any department, workplace. To say that there are a lot of people like Bashmachkin, but no one notices them.
What is the image of the main character? I think that the image has two sides.

The first side is the spiritual and physical failure of the character. He does not even try to achieve more, so at the beginning we do not feel sorry for him, we understand how miserable he is. It is impossible to live without a perspective, while not realizing oneself as a person. It is impossible to see the meaning of life only in rewriting papers, but to consider the purchase of an overcoat as the goal, the meaning. The idea of acquiring it makes his life more meaningful, fills it. In my opinion, this is brought to the fore in order to show the personality of Akaky Akakievich.

The second side is the heartless and unfair attitude of others towards Akaky Akakievich. Look at how others relate to Bashmachkin: they laugh at him, mock him. He thought that by purchasing an overcoat, he would look more noble, but this did not happen. Shortly after the purchase, misfortune "unbearably fell" on the downtrodden official. “Some people with mustaches” took away his barely bought overcoat. Together with her, Akaki Akakievich loses the only joy in life. His life becomes sad and lonely again. For the first time, trying to achieve justice, he goes to a "significant person" to tell him about his grief. But again he is ignored, rejected, exposed to ridicule. Nobody wanted to help him Hard time, no one supported. And he died, died of loss, grief.

N.V. Gogol, within the framework of the image of one "little man", shows terrible truth life. The humiliated "little people" died and suffered not only on the pages of numerous works covering this problem, but also in reality. However the world to their suffering, humiliation and death remained deaf, how indifferent remains to the death of Bashmachkin cold, how winter night, arrogant Petersburg.

Can one small work revolutionize literature? Yes, Russian literature knows such a precedent. This is the story of N.V. Gogol's "Overcoat". The work was very popular with contemporaries, caused a lot of controversy, and the Gogol trend developed among Russian writers until the middle of the 20th century. What is this great book? About this in our article.

The book is part of a cycle of works written in the 1830s-1840s. and united by a common name - "Petersburg Tales". The story of Gogol's "Overcoat" goes back to an anecdote about a poor official who had a great passion for hunting. Despite the small salary, the ardent fan set a goal for himself: by all means buy a Lepage gun, one of the best at that time. The official denied himself everything in order to save money, and finally, he bought the coveted trophy and went to the Gulf of Finland to shoot birds.

The hunter sailed away in a boat, was about to take aim - but did not find a gun. It probably fell out of the boat, but how remains a mystery. The hero of the story himself admitted that he was a kind of oblivion when he was looking forward to the treasured prey. Returning home, he fell ill with a fever. Fortunately, everything ended well. The ill official was saved by his colleagues by buying him a new gun of the same kind. This story inspired the author to create the story "The Overcoat".

Genre and direction

N.V. Gogol is one of the most prominent representatives critical realism in Russian literature. With his prose, the writer sets a special direction, sarcastically called by the critic F. Bulgarin "Natural School". This literary vector is characterized by an appeal to acute social topics relating to poverty, morality, and class relationships. Here, the image of the “little man”, which has become traditional for writers of the 19th century, is being actively developed.

A narrower direction, characteristic of Petersburg Tales, is fantastic realism. This technique allows the author to influence the reader in the most effective and original way. It is expressed in a mixture of fiction and reality: the real in the story "The Overcoat" is a social problem tsarist Russia(poverty, crime, inequality), and the fantastic is the ghost of Akaky Akakievich, who robs passers-by. Dostoevsky, Bulgakov and many other followers of this direction turned to the mystical principle.

The genre of the story allows Gogol to succinctly, but brightly enough, highlight several storylines, identify many relevant social topics and even include the motive of the supernatural in your work.

Composition

The composition of "The Overcoat" is linear, you can designate an introduction and an epilogue.

The story begins with a kind of writer's discourse about the city, which is an integral part of all "Petersburg Tales". This is followed by a biography of the protagonist, which is typical for the authors " natural school". It was believed that these data help to better reveal the image and explain the motivation for certain actions.
Exposition - a description of the situation and position of the hero.
The plot occurs at the moment when Akaki Akakievich decides to acquire a new overcoat, this intention continues to move the plot until the climax - a happy acquisition.
The second part is devoted to the search for the overcoat and the exposure of senior officials.
The epilogue, where the ghost appears, loops this part: first, the thieves go after Bashmachkin, then the policeman goes after the ghost. Or perhaps a thief?

About what?

One poor official Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, in view of severe frosts Finally, he dares to buy himself a new overcoat. The hero denies himself everything, saves on food, tries to walk more carefully on the pavement so as not to change the soles once again. By the right time, he manages to accumulate the required amount, soon the desired overcoat is ready.

But the joy of possession does not last long: on the same evening, when Bashmachkin was returning home after a gala dinner, the robbers took away the object of his happiness from the poor official. The hero tries to fight for his overcoat, he goes through several instances: from a private person to a significant person, but no one cares about his loss, no one is going to look for robbers. After a visit to the general, who turned out to be a rude and arrogant person, Akaky Akakievich fell ill with a fever and soon died.

But the story "accepts a fantastic ending." The spirit of Akaky Akakievich wanders around St. Petersburg, who wants to take revenge on his offenders, and, mainly, he is looking for significant person. One evening, the ghost catches the arrogant general and takes his overcoat from him, on which he calms down.

Main characters and their characteristics

The protagonist of the story - Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin. From the moment of birth, it was clear that a difficult, unhappy life awaited him. This was predicted by the midwife, and the baby himself, when he was born, “cried and made such a grimace, as if he had a presentiment that there would be a titular adviser.” This is the so-called "little man", but his character is contradictory and goes through certain stages of development.
The image of the overcoat works to reveal the potential of this, at first glance, a modest character. Dear heart the new thing makes the hero obsessed, like an idol she controls him. The little official shows such perseverance and activity that he never showed during his lifetime, and after his death he decides on revenge and keeps Petersburg in fear.
The role of the overcoat in Gogol's story is difficult to overestimate. Her image develops in parallel with the main character: a holey overcoat is a modest person, a new one is an enterprising and happy Bashmachkin, a general's is an almighty spirit, terrifying.
Petersburg image presented in a completely different way. This is not a pompous capital with smart carriages and flourishing front doors, but a cruel city with its fierce winters, unhealthy climate, dirty stairs and dark alleys.

Themes

The life of a little man main topic story "The Overcoat", so it is presented quite vividly. Bashmachkin does not have a strong character or special talents; higher-ranking officials allow themselves to be manipulated, ignored, or scolded. And the poor hero only wants to regain what is his by right, but to important persons and big world not up to the problems of a small person.
The opposition of the real and the fantastic makes it possible to show the versatility of Bashmachkin's image. In harsh reality, he will never reach out to the selfish and cruel hearts of those in power, but becoming a powerful spirit, he can at least avenge his offense.
The theme of the story is immorality. People are valued not for their skill, but for their rank, a significant person is by no means an exemplary family man, he is cold towards his children and is looking for entertainment on the side. He allows himself to be an arrogant tyrant, forcing those who are lower in rank to grovel.
The satirical nature of the story and the absurdity of the situations allow Gogol to most expressively point out social vices. For example, no one is going to look for the missing overcoat, but there is a decree to catch the ghost. This is how the author denounces the inactivity of the St. Petersburg police.

Issues

The problematics of the story "The Overcoat" is very wide. Here Gogol raises questions concerning both society and inner peace person.

The main problem of the story is humanism, or rather, its absence. All the characters in the story are cowardly and selfish, they are not capable of empathy. Even Akaky Akakievich has no spiritual purpose in life, does not seek to read or be interested in art. They are driven only by the material component of being. Bashmachkin does not recognize himself as a victim in the Christian sense. He has completely adapted to his miserable existence, the character does not know forgiveness and is only capable of revenge. The hero cannot even find peace after death until he fulfills his base plan.
Indifference. Colleagues are indifferent to Bashmachkin's grief, and a significant person is trying by all means known to him to drown out all manifestations of humanity in himself.
The problem of poverty is touched upon by Gogol. A man who performs his duties exemplarily and diligently does not have the opportunity to update his wardrobe as needed, while careless flatterers and dandies are successfully promoted, have luxurious dinners and arrange evenings.
The problem of social inequality is covered in the story. The general treats the titular councilor like a flea that he can crush. Bashmachkin becomes shy in front of him, loses the power of speech, and a significant person, not wanting to lose his appearance in the eyes of his colleagues, humiliates the poor petitioner in every possible way. Thus, he shows his power and superiority.

What is the meaning of the story?

The idea of Gogol's "Overcoat" is to point out sharp social problems, relevant in Imperial Russia. With the help of a fantastic component, the author shows the hopelessness of the situation: a small person is weak in front of the mighty of the world of this, they will never respond to his request, and even kick him out of his office. Gogol, of course, does not approve of revenge, but in the story "The Overcoat" is the only way to reach the stone hearts of high-ranking officials. It seems to them that only the spirit is higher than them, and they will agree to listen only to those who surpass them. Having become a ghost, Bashmachkin occupies just this necessary position, so he manages to influence the arrogant tyrants. This is the main idea of the work.

The meaning of Gogol's "Overcoat" is in the search for justice, but the situation seems hopeless, because justice is possible only when referring to the supernatural.

What does it teach?

Gogol's "Overcoat" was written almost two centuries ago, but remains relevant to this day. The author makes you think not only about social inequality, the problem of poverty, but also about your own spiritual qualities. The story "The Overcoat" teaches empathy, the writer urges not to turn away from a person who is in a difficult situation and asks for help.

To achieve his authorial goals, Gogol changes the ending of the original anecdote, which became the basis for the work. If in that story the colleagues collected the amount sufficient to buy a new gun, then Bashmachkin's colleagues practically did nothing to help a comrade in trouble. He himself died fighting for his rights.

Criticism

In Russian literature, the story "The Overcoat" played a huge role: thanks to this work, a whole trend arose - the "natural school". This work became a symbol of the new art, and this was confirmed by the journal "Physiology of Petersburg", where many young writers came up with their own versions of the image of a poor official.

Critics recognized Gogol's skill, and "The Overcoat" was considered a worthy work, but the controversy was mainly conducted around the Gogol direction, opened by this particular story. For example, V.G. Belinsky called the book "one of Gogol's deepest creations", but he considered the "natural school" to be a hopeless direction, and K. Aksakov refused Dostoevsky (who also started with the "natural school"), the author of "Poor People", the title of artist.

Not only Russian critics were aware of the role of the "Overcoat" in literature. The French reviewer E. Vogüe belongs famous saying"We all came out of Gogol's greatcoat." In 1885, he wrote an article about Dostoevsky, where he spoke about the origins of the writer's work.

Later, Chernyshevsky accused Gogol of excessive sentimentality, deliberate pity for Bashmachkin. Apollon Grigoriev in his criticism opposed true art Gogol's method satirical image reality.

The story made a great impression not only on the writer's contemporaries. V. Nabokov in his article "The Apotheosis of the Mask" analyzes creative method Gogol, its features, advantages and disadvantages. Nabokov believes that "The Overcoat" was created for "a reader with creative imagination”, and for the most complete understanding of the work, it is necessary to get acquainted with it in the original language, because Gogol’s work is “a phenomenon of language, not ideas.”

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, who left a mystical mark in Russian literature, for many writers of the 19th century became the ancestor critical realism. It was not by chance that catchphrase Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky in an interview with a French journalist: “We all came out of their Gogol overcoat.” The writer meant the attitude towards the “little man”, which manifested itself very clearly in the story. Later, this type of hero will become the main one in Russian literature.

The "Overcoat", which was included in the cycle of "Petersburg Tales", in the initial editions was of a humorous nature, because it appeared thanks to an anecdote. Gogol, according to the memoirs of P. V. Annenkov, "listened to the comments, descriptions, anecdotes ... and, it happened, used them."

One day he heard a clerical anecdote about a poor official who was an avid hunter and saved up enough money to buy a good gun, saving on everything and working hard in his position. When he first went hunting for ducks on a boat, the gun caught on thick reeds and drowned. He could not find him and, returning home, came down with a fever. Comrades, having learned about this, bought him a new gun, which brought him back to life, but later he recalled this incident with a deathly pallor on his face. Everyone laughed at the anecdote, but Gogol left in thought: it was on that evening that the idea of a future story was born in his head.

Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, the main character of the story "The Overcoat", from birth, when his mother, rejecting all the names on the calendar as too exotic, gave him the name of his father, and at baptism he cried and made such a grimace, “as if he felt that there would be a titular adviser”, and all my life, dutifully enduring the coldly despotic treatment of superiors, bullying colleagues and poverty, "knew how to be satisfied with his lot". No change in his order of life was already possible.

Suddenly, fate gives a chance to change your life - to sew a new overcoat. So the central event of the story is the acquisition and loss of the overcoat. At first, a conversation with an angry tailor, who claims that it is impossible to repair an old overcoat, plunges Akaky Akakievich into complete confusion. In order to raise money for a new coat, Bashmachkin has to not drink tea in the evenings, not light candles, and walk almost on tiptoe to keep his soles. All these restrictions cause terrible inconvenience at first.

But as soon as the hero imagined a new overcoat, he became a different person. Changes are striking: Bashmachkin "become more alive, firmer in character, like a man who has set himself a goal". The irony of the author is understandable: the goal, because of which the official has changed, is too insignificant.

The appearance of the long-awaited overcoat - "most solemn day" in the life of a hero. Bashmachkin is embarrassed by the general attention of his colleagues, but still accepts the offer to celebrate the new thing. The habitual way of life is broken, the behavior of the hero changes. It turns out that he is able to laugh merrily and not write any papers after dinner.

Since Bashmachkin has not left the house in the evenings for a long time, Petersburg seems beautiful to him. This city is fantastic already because it appeared "from the darkness of the forests, from the swamp of blat", but it was Gogol who turned it into a phantasmagoric city - a place where something out of the ordinary is possible. The hero of The Overcoat, lost in the night Petersburg, becomes a victim of a robbery. A shock for him is the appeal to the police authorities, the attempts of colleagues to arrange a clubbing, but the most serious test is the meeting with "significant person", after which Bashmachkin dies.

The author emphasizes how terrible and tragic the helplessness of the "little man" in St. Petersburg is. Just as terrible is the retribution, reinforced by the intervention evil spirits. The ghost that appeared after the death of Bashmachkin in the wasteland, reminiscent of a former titular adviser, tore "from all shoulders, without disassembling the rank and title of all overcoats". This went on until "significant person" did not end up in the ill-fated wasteland and the dead man did not grab him. That's when the ghost said: “... I need your overcoat! ... You didn’t bother about mine - now give yours!”

This incident changed the once important official: he became less arrogant. And the appearance of the dead official stopped: “It can be seen that the general’s overcoat fell on his shoulders”. For Gogol, it is not the appearance of a ghost that becomes fantastic, but the manifestation of conscience even in such a person as "significant person".

"The Overcoat" develops the theme of the "little man", outlined by Karamzin in "Poor Lisa" and revealed by Pushkin in. But Gogol sees the cause of evil not in people, but in the structure of life, where not everyone has privileges.