Images of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls. Essays Unites all landowners

Sections: Literature

1. Summarize students' knowledge about landowners poems, to identify what is typical in them, what unites them into the gallery of dead souls, modern meaning such concepts as “Manilovschina”, “Nozdrevschina” and others;
2. Show the educational meaning of the poem;
3. Continue to develop the ability to convincingly defend your own opinion.

Equipment:

1. Portrait of N.V. Gogol.
2. Portraits of landowners.
3. Critics' statements.

Forms of work. Different models of joint activities are presented: collective, group, individual.

Indeed, each of us
no matter how good a person he is,
if he examines himself with that impartiality,
with which he delves into others, -
then he will certainly find it in himself,
in more or less degree,
many of the elements of many of Gogol's heroes.

V.G. Belinsky

During the classes

I. Organizational moment.

II. Work on the topic:

The topic of today's lesson is “Gallery of images of landowners in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”. The word “gallery” in a figurative meaning means “a long row, a string of types,” which means that the goal of our lesson is to find what is common to N.V. Gogol’s landowners, to answer the question of why they are united in one gallery of types, although Each of the landowners Chichikov meets has his own, sharply defined individuality. We are also familiar with the concept of “type”. A type is an image containing character traits any group of people. When using the word “type,” we mean that property of a character that allows us to see many familiar people in him. This has a direct bearing on the heroes of Dead Souls.

V.G. Belinsky wrote: “Indeed, each of us, no matter how good a person he is, if he delves into with the impartiality with which he delves into others, he will certainly find in himself, to a greater or lesser extent, many of the elements many of Gogol’s heroes.”

Thus, the heroes of N.V. Gogol have, on the one hand, universal significance, on the other hand, they are landowners of a certain era and representatives of broad strata of feudal Russia.

1. So, what, in your opinion, unites all the landowners depicted by N.V. Gogol? (Students' answers)

2. You presented different opinions on what unites landowners. Information about the techniques that Gogol uses to reveal the images of landowners will help deepen your knowledge.

All portraits of landowners are given in chapters arranged in a certain order. What is the point of this arrangement of chapters?

Manilov
Box
Nozdryov
Sobakevich
Plyushkin

Do negative qualities gradually increase in the characters? Or are they, the heroes, presented to the reader according to the principle of contrast? Sentimental Manilov is the grounded Korobochka, the collector Korobochka is the spender Nozdryov, the fist Sobakevich and the hole in humanity Plyushkin:

Manilov – Korobochka
Box – Nozdryov
Sobakevich – Plyushkin

Sample answer: Gogol gives these chapters in a certain order. The economicless landowner Manilov (Chapter 2) is replaced by the dreamy hoarder Korobochka (Chapter 3), the careless playmaker Nozdryov (Chapter 4) is replaced by the tight-fisted Sobakevich (Chapter 5). This gallery is completed by Plyushkin, a miser who brought his estate and peasants to complete ruin. Even the strong farms of Korobochka and Sobakevich are in fact unviable, since such forms of farming have already become obsolete.

The “portrait chapters” show even more clearly the picture of the moral decline of the landowner class. From the idle dreamer living in the world of his dreams Manilov to the club-headed Korobochka, from her to the reckless spendthrift, liar and cheater Nozdryov, then to the hardened fist Sobakevich and, finally, to Plyushkin, who has lost all moral qualities (“a hole in humanity”), Gogol leads us , showing an increasing moral decline and decomposition of representatives of the landowner world.

3. We found out how composition helps to understand the characters’ characters and their spiritual declaration.

4. But the speech of the heroes also perfectly characterizes the landowners. Gogol uses speech characterization as a method of sharpening characters.

Answer from pre-prepared students: Gogol has a multi-layered characterization of his heroes: through his things, through his attitude towards people, through his own speech. Manilov's speech is striking in its emptiness of content. Here is one of the samples of his speech: “Of course, it would be a different matter if the neighborhood were good, if, for example, there was a person with whom in some way you could talk about courtesy, about good treatment, follow some kind of science so that it would stir the soul, it would, so to speak, give the guy something…”. Manilov's speech is similar to himself. The same sweet, vague, meaningless.

Korobochka’s speech is primitive in content and form, full of words and phrases of rural vernacular: theirs, underwear, nothing, manenko, how it was to sleep, sip some tea, hide your taunts, butter up the assessor. Characteristic is the cordial “father,” “my father,” with which she addresses Chichikov like a hospitable hostess. Her speech is characterized by intonations of complaint and uncertainty, natural in an old-world landowner who feels that living conditions are changing.

Nozdryov's speech, like himself, is characterized by swiftness and uncontrollability. His words run after each other, without any obligatory connection, without any logic: “... Lieutenant Kuvshinnikov... Oh, brother, what a lovely man!... This, brother, will go to galbik, and to banchishka, and to everything you want . Eh, Chichikov, why should you come? Really, you're a sucker for this, you cattle breeder! Kiss me, soul, death I love you!...”

Nozdryov’s words are without internal censorship - like himself, without internal control.

Sobakevich's speech presents a sharp contrast to the speech of Manilov and Nozdryov. Sobakevich says “how he chops.” His remarks are laconic, his words and expressions are frankly rude. He does not tolerate verbosity, vague phrases, or inaccuracy in expressions. In response to Chichikov’s long speech about “non-existent” souls, Sobakevich, “without the slightest surprise, as if they were talking about bread,” asked: “Do you need dead souls? If you please, I’m ready to sell.”

Plyushkin's speech resembles continuous grumbling. With the exception of those cases when Plyushkin expresses his joy over an unexpected successful deal and a few more remarks imbued with human feelings, his speech is continuous complaints: complaints about poverty, about servants, about runaways, about relatives. His speech is peppered with swear words: what a face, he’s as stupid as a tree; fool, swindler, scoundrel, robbers; The devils will get you, you shameless parasites. At the same time, when speaking about inanimate objects, Plyushkin often uses diminutive and affectionate nouns: liqueur, decanter, glass, money, register. It is quite natural that the language of a landowner, who has been communicating with peasants for many years, is full of colloquial words and expressions: they beat, hefty fig, stuffed, poditka, ehva, I’ll take it down already.

5. So we have seen how composition and speech characteristic help Gogol to deeper reveal the characters’ characters, to show their complete impoverishment of soul. And taking into account what has already been said, let’s return to the question with which we began the lesson: what unites the landowners depicted by Gogol? I hope your initial opinions have also deepened.

Sample answer: They appeared before the reader as merchants with peasants. The fact that they trade not real, but dead souls does not soften the severity of the scenes depicted by Gogol. On the contrary, it increases this severity. It turns out that all landowners, including such “nice” ones as Manilov, are ready not only to trade people, but also to make very dubious deals.

All of them are representatives of a class that occupies a high, leading role in society. They must be educated, enlightened, active, intelligent people and care about the interests of society.

In fact, we are faced with ignorant, narrow-minded ordinary people, whose lives are spent in empty chatter or empty activity (complete lack of spirituality, lack of high motives, dulling of all human feelings, lack of socially useful activities). They are all dead souls.

6. This is our conclusion. How did critics answer this question? Critics are divided on this issue. Some believe that “not a shadow of goodness, not a single bright thought, not a single human feeling is in them.” ( G.A.Gukovsky. Gogol's realism. 1959.)

Others argue that Gogol's heroes are neither virtuous nor vicious. These are “ordinary”, “average” people, but recreated with a unique – Gogol’s – “brightness, strength and size”; they are vulgar, but, according to these critics, in the first half of the 19th century the word “vulgar” meant “ordinary”; Gogol showed “the ordinariness of an ordinary person.”

(V.V. Kozhinov. Gogol's poem. 1995)

“Gogol takes Chichikov through the gauntlet of truly Russian people, each of whom is an epic figure. And Manilov, and Sobakevich, and Korobochka, and Plyushkin - they all came from the world of fairy tales. It is easy to recognize them as Koshchei the Immortal or Baba Yaga. ...Majestic in their passions and vices...these epic heroes represent Rus' as a fabulous, wonderful, absurd country. Madness replaces common sense and sober calculation. There is no norm here - only exceptions. Here every little thing is important and mysterious.” (P.L. Weil, A.A. Genis. Native speech. 1991)

Student responses: “I think these are ordinary people who still live today. Plyushkin and Korobochka are stingy to varying degrees; Manilov and Nozdrev are dreamers who do not know how to make their dreams come true, so they lie to elevate themselves in society. And Sobakevich is a person who thinks only about himself and his own benefit.”

“I agree with the opinion of Weil and Genis, because I also see fairy-tale images in Gogol’s landowners: Plyushkin - Koschey the Immortal; Box – Baba Yaga; Sobakevich - Bear, who came out of a Russian fairy tale; Manilov - the cat Bayun, luring him into his sleepy kingdom; Nozdryov is the epic Nightingale the Robber. The names of Gogol's heroes, like fairy-tale characters, have become household names. Just like the heroes of fairy tales, Gogol's landowners are simple and understandable to the reader, who seems to be returning to childhood when reading about the evil Koshchei or the clumsy Mikhail Potapych. As in fairy tales, the environment in the characters’ homes also plays an important role. For example, Korobochka’s house, which contains potions and decoctions, in our imagination immediately becomes Baba Yaga’s hut, and Plyushkin’s house, with its mustiness, dampness, and dust, becomes the palace of Kashchei the Immortal.”

(Students prepared the answer to this question as a homework assignment.

Answers that coincided with the traditional point of view are not presented here).

7. Gogol himself also speaks about the typicality of his heroes in lyrical digressions. (Speech by a previously prepared student)

8. The fact that Gogol’s characters are typical of that time is confirmed by Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”. Let us remember the scene of the guests arriving at Tatyana Larina’s name day:

With his portly wife
Fat Pustyakov arrived;
Gvozdin, an excellent owner,
Owner of poor men;
The Skotinins, the gray-haired couple,
With children of all ages, counting
From thirty to two years;
District dandy Petushkov,
My cousin, Buyanov,
In down, in a cap with a visor
(As you know him, of course)
And retired lieutenant Flyanov,
Heavy gossip, old rogue,
Glutton, bribe-taker and buffoon.

How are Gogol's heroes similar to the characters in Pushkin's novel? ( Students' answersc)

9. But it turns out that in modern society such types of people as the heroes of N.V. Gogol are alive. What is the modern meaning of the images of landowners “Dead Souls”? (Students' answers)

III. Final words from the teacher.

So, guys, today in class there was a conversation about the typicality of Gogol’s heroes for that time and for ours, it’s not for nothing that the epigraph is the words of V.G. Belinsky. Your opinions are divided, and rightly so: as many people, as many opinions.

I wish you were not like these heroes.

Unlike Nozdryov, Sobakevich cannot be considered a person with his head in the clouds. This hero stands firmly on the ground, does not indulge himself with illusions, soberly evaluates people and life, knows how to act and achieve what he wants. Given the character of his life, Gogol is in everything...

Poem by N.V. Gogol “ Dead Souls” (1835-1841) belongs to those timeless works of art that lead to large-scale artistic generalizations and raise fundamental problems of human life. In the death of the souls of the characters (landowners, officials,...

Every time has its own heroes. They determine his face, character, principles, ethical guidelines. With the advent of “Dead Souls,” a new hero entered Russian literature, unlike his predecessors. The elusive, slippery is felt in the description of his appearance....

The episode “Chichikov at Plyushkin’s” is interesting from an ideological and artistic point of view. The author managed to paint lively, vivid pictures of Chichikov’s meeting with the most repulsive landowner, with “a hole in humanity.” Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich was the last to visit Plyushkin...

"Dead Souls" is a novel called a poem. A permanent resident of all anthologies on Russian literature. A work of classics that is as topical and relevant today as it was a century and a half ago. "Try to remember the plot in detail...

The “abundance” of lyrical digressions in such important, perhaps central, works of two writers - Pushkin and Gogol - is explained by both many common features and some differences. Let's try to trace these similarities and differences and understand the place of lyrical...

In this article we will describe the image of landowners created by Gogol in the poem “Dead Souls”. The table we have compiled will help you remember the information. We will sequentially talk about the five heroes presented by the author in this work.

The image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol is briefly described in the following table.

landowner	Characteristic	Attitude towards the request for the sale of dead souls
Manilov	Vulgar and empty. For two years, a book with a bookmark on one page has been lying in his office. His speech is sweet and cloying.	I was surprised. He thinks that this is illegal, but he cannot refuse such a pleasant person. Gives it to peasants for free. At the same time, he does not know how many souls he has.
Box	She knows the value of money, is practical and economical. Stingy, stupid, club-headed, hoarding landowner.	He wants to know what Chichikov’s souls are for. The number of deaths is known exactly (18 people). He looks at dead souls as if they were hemp or lard: they might come in handy on the farm.
Nozdryov	He is considered a good friend, but is always ready to play a trick on his friend. Kutila, card player, "broken fellow." When talking, he constantly jumps from subject to subject and uses swear words.	It would seem that it was easiest for Chichikov to get them from this landowner, but he was the only one who left him with nothing.
Sobakevich	Uncouth, clumsy, rude, unable to express feelings. A tough, evil serf owner who never misses a profit.	The smartest of all landowners. He immediately saw through the guest and made a deal to his advantage.
Plyushkin	Once upon a time he had a family, children, and he himself was a thrifty owner. But the death of the mistress turned this man into a miser. He became, like many widowers, stingy and suspicious.	I was amazed and delighted by his offer, since there would be income. He agreed to sell the souls for 30 kopecks (78 souls in total).

Gogol's portrayal of landowners

In the works of Nikolai Vasilyevich, one of the main themes is the landowner class in Russia, as well as the ruling class (nobility), its role in the life of society and its fate.

The main method used by Gogol to portray various characters is satire. The process of gradual degeneration of the landowner class was reflected in the heroes created by his pen. Nikolai Vasilyevich reveals shortcomings and vices. Gogol's satire is colored by irony, which helped this writer speak directly about what was impossible to talk about openly under censorship conditions. At the same time, Nikolai Vasilyevich’s laughter seems good-natured to us, but he does not spare anyone. Each phrase has a subtext, a hidden, deep meaning. Irony is generally a characteristic element of Gogol's satire. It is present not only in the speech of the author himself, but also in the speech of the heroes.

Irony is one of the essential features of Gogol’s poetics; it adds greater realism to the narrative and becomes a means of analyzing the surrounding reality.

Compositional structure of the poem

The images of landowners in the poem, the largest work of this author, are presented in the most multifaceted and complete way. It is constructed as the story of the adventures of the official Chichikov, who buys up “dead souls.” The composition of the poem allowed the author to tell about different villages and the owners living in them. Almost half of the first volume (five of eleven chapters) is devoted to characterization different types landowners in Russia. Nikolai Vasilyevich created five portraits, not similar friends on each other, however, in each of them at the same time there are features that are typical of the Russian serf owner. Acquaintance with them begins with Manilov and ends with Plyushkin. This construction is not accidental. There is a logic to this sequence: the process of impoverishment of a person’s personality deepens from one image to another, it increasingly unfolds as a terrible picture of the collapse of serf society.

Meeting Manilov

Manilov - representing the image of landowners in the poem "Dead Souls". The table only briefly describes it. Let us introduce you closer to this hero. The character of Manilov, which is described in the first chapter, is already manifested in the surname itself. The story about this hero begins with an image of the village of Manilovka, which is capable of “luring” few people with its location. The author describes with irony the master's courtyard, created as an imitation with a pond, bushes and the inscription “Temple of Solitary Reflection.” External details help the writer create the image of the landowners in the poem "Dead Souls".

Manilov: character of the hero

The author, speaking about Manilov, exclaims that only God knows what kind of character this man had. By nature he is kind, courteous, polite, but all this takes on ugly, exaggerated forms in his image. sentimental and beautiful to the point of cloying. The relationships between people seem festive and idyllic to him. Various relationships, in general, are one of the details that create the image of the landowners in the poem “Dead Souls”. Manilov did not know life at all; reality was replaced by empty fantasy. This hero loved to dream and reflect, sometimes even about things useful to the peasants. However, his ideas were far from the needs of life. He did not know about the real needs of the serfs and never even thought about them. Manilov considers himself a bearer of culture. He was considered the most educated man in the army. Nikolai Vasilyevich speaks ironically about the house of this landowner, in which there was always “something missing,” as well as about his sugary relationship with his wife.

Chichikov's conversation with Manilov about buying dead souls

In an episode of a conversation about buying dead souls, Manilov is compared to an overly smart minister. Gogol's irony here intrudes, as if accidentally, into a forbidden area. Such a comparison means that the minister is not so different from Manilov, and “Manilovism” is a typical phenomenon of the vulgar bureaucratic world.

Box

Let us describe another image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls”. The table has already briefly introduced you to Korobochka. We learn about her in the third chapter of the poem. Gogol classifies this heroine as one of the small landowners who complain about losses and crop failures and always keep their heads somewhat to one side, while collecting money little by little into bags placed in the chest of drawers. This money is obtained by selling a variety of subsistence products. Korobochka's interests and horizons are completely focused on her estate. Her entire life and economy are patriarchal in nature.

How did Korobochka react to Chichikov’s proposal?

The landowner realized that trading in dead souls was profitable, and after much persuasion she agreed to sell them. The author, describing the image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” (Korobochka and other heroes), is ironic. For a long time, the “club-headed” one cannot figure out what exactly is required of her, which infuriates Chichikov. After that, she bargains with him for a long time, afraid of making a mistake.

Nozdryov

In the image of Nozdryov in the fifth chapter, Gogol depicts a completely different form of decomposition of the nobility. This hero is a man of what is called a “jack of all trades.” In his very face there was something daring, direct, open. He is also characterized by a “breadth of nature.” According to the ironic remark of Nikolai Vasilyevich, Nozdryov is a “historical man”, since not a single meeting that he managed to attend was ever complete without stories. He loses a lot of money at cards with a light heart, beats a simpleton at a fair and immediately “squanders everything.” This hero is an utter liar and a reckless braggart, a true master of “casting bullets.” He behaves defiantly everywhere, if not aggressively. This character’s speech is replete with swear words, and he has a passion for “spoiling his neighbor.” Gogol created in Russian literature a new socio-psychological type of the so-called Nozdrevism. In many ways, the image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” is innovative. A brief image of the following heroes is described below.

Sobakevich

The author’s satire in the image of Sobakevich, whom we meet in the fifth chapter, takes on a more accusatory character. This character bears little resemblance to previous landowners. This is a tight-fisted, cunning tradesman, a “kulak landowner.” He is alien to the violent extravagance of Nozdryov, the dreamy complacency of Manilov, as well as Korobochka’s hoarding. Sobakevich has an iron grip, he is taciturn, he is on his own mind. There are few people who could deceive him. Everything about this landowner is strong and durable. In all the everyday objects surrounding him, Gogol finds a reflection of the character traits of this person. Everything surprisingly resembles the hero himself in his house. Each thing, as the author notes, seemed to say that she was “also Sobakevich.”

Nikolai Vasilyevich portrays a figure that amazes with its rudeness. This man seemed to Chichikov to look like a bear. Sobakevich is a cynic who is not ashamed of moral ugliness in others or in himself. He is far from enlightened. This is a die-hard serf owner who only cares about his own peasants. It is interesting that, except for this hero, no one understood the true essence of the “scoundrel” Chichikov, but Sobakevich perfectly understood the essence of the proposal, reflecting the spirit of the times: everything can be sold and bought, the maximum benefit should be obtained. This is the generalized image of the landowners in the poem of the work, however, it is not limited to the depiction of only these characters. We present to you the next landowner.

Plyushkin

The sixth chapter is dedicated to Plyushkin. On it, the characteristics of the landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” are completed. The name of this hero has become a household word, denoting moral degradation and stinginess. This image is the last degree of degeneration of the landowner class. Gogol begins his acquaintance with the character, as usual, with a description of the estate and village of the landowner. At the same time, a “particular disrepair” was noticeable on all buildings. Nikolai Vasilyevich describes a picture of the ruin of a once rich serf owner. Its cause is not idleness and extravagance, but the painful stinginess of the owner. Gogol calls this landowner “a hole in humanity.” Its very appearance is characteristic - it is a sexless creature resembling a housekeeper. This character no longer causes laughter, only bitter disappointment.

Conclusion

The image of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls” (the table is presented above) is revealed by the author in many ways. The five characters that Gogol created in the work depict the diverse state of this class. Plyushkin, Sobakevich, Nozdrev, Korobochka, Manilov - different shapes one phenomenon - spiritual, social and economic decline. The characteristics of landowners in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" prove this.

Gogol reveals the characters of people by depicting their words and actions.
The writer reveals the human essence of his heroes using the example of the landowners of the district town of N. It is there that the main character of the poem, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, comes to realize his plan - buying up dead audit souls.

Chichikov visits the landowners in a certain sequence. It is no coincidence that the first on his path is the landowner Manilov. There is nothing special about Manilov, he is, as they say, “neither fish nor fowl.” Everything about him is sterile, vague, even the features of his face lack concreteness.
The first impression of pleasantness that Manilov made on Chichikov turns out to be deceptive: “This pleasantness seemed to have too much sugar in it. In the first minute of a conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person!” The next minute you won’t say anything, and the third you’ll say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away; If you don’t leave, you will feel mortal boredom.”

Things, interior, Manilov’s home, description of the estate characterize its owner. In words, this landowner loves his family and peasants, but in reality he does not care about them at all. Against the background of the general disorder of the estate, Manilov indulges in sweet dreams in the “temple of solitary reflection.” His pleasantness is nothing more than a mask that covers spiritual emptiness. Idle daydreaming with apparent culture allows us to classify Manilov as an “idle unshakable” who gives nothing to society.

Next on Chichikov's path is the collegiate secretary Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka. She is completely mired in petty interests in life and hoarding. Korobochka's indifference combined with stupidity looks funny and absurd. Even in the sale of dead souls, she is afraid of being deceived, of being cheap: “... I’d better wait a little, maybe the merchants will come, but I’ll adjust the prices.”

Everything in this landowner’s house is like a box. And the very name of the heroine - Korobochka - conveys her essence: limitations and narrow interests. In a word, this is the heroine - “club-headed,” as Chichikov himself called her.

In search of the landowner Sobakevich, Chichikov ends up in Nozdryov’s house. Nozdryov is the complete opposite of the stingy Korobochka. This is a reckless nature, a player, a reveler. He is endowed with an amazing ability to lie unnecessarily, cheat at cards, change for anything and lose everything. All his activities have no purpose, his whole life is pure revelry: “Nozdryov was in some respects a historical person. Not a single meeting where he attended was complete without a story.”

At first glance, Nozdryov may seem like a lively, active person, but in fact he turns out to be empty. But there is one feature in both him and Korobochka that unites these people, different in nature. Just as the old woman hoards her wealth senselessly and uselessly, Nozdryov squanders his fortune just as senselessly and uselessly.

Next Chichikov gets to Sobakevich. In contrast to Nozdryov, who is on friendly terms with everyone, Sobakevich seems to Chichikov to be like “a medium-sized bear” with characteristic feature- scold everyone and everything. Sobakevich is a strong master, a “kulak”, suspicious and gloomy, going ahead. He doesn't trust anyone. This is clearly evidenced by the episode in which Chichikov and Sobakevich transfer money and lists of dead souls into each other’s hands.

Everything that surrounded Sobakevich “was solid, clumsy to the highest degree and had some strange resemblance to the owner of the house himself... Every chair, every object seemed to say: “And I, too, Sobakevich!” It seems to me that, at his core, Sobakevich is a petty, insignificant, clumsy person with an inner desire to step on everyone’s toes.

And the last one on Chichikov’s path is the landowner Plyushkin, whose stinginess is taken to the extreme, to the last line of human degradation. He is “a hole in humanity”, representing the complete disintegration of personality. Having met Plyushkin, Chichikov could not even think that he had met the owner of the estate; at first he mistakes him for the housekeeper.

Plyushkin's once rich economy is completely falling apart. This hero has eight hundred souls, his storerooms and barns are bursting with goods, but because of greed and senseless accumulation, all this wealth turned to dust: “... the hay and bread rotted, the storehouses and stacks turned into pure manure, no matter what you spread on them.” cabbage, flour in the cellars turned into stone, and it was necessary to chop it; it was scary to touch cloth, linens and household materials: they turned to dust.”
Plyushkin’s peasants are “dying like flies”; dozens of them are on the run. But in the past he was known as a thrifty and enterprising landowner. But after the death of his wife, Plyushkin’s suspicion and stinginess intensified to the highest degree. The passion for hoarding even killed his love for children. As a result, having lost his human appearance, Plyushkin becomes like a beggar, a man without gender and without gender.

The images of landowners in “Dead Souls” show all the horror and absurdity of what is happening in Gogol’s contemporary Russia. After all, under serfdom, such Plyushkins, Manilovs, Sobakeviches receive all the rights to the same living people and do with them whatever they want.
In his poem, the writer considers all types of Russian landowners, but does not find one with whom the future of the country could be linked. In my opinion, Gogol in his poem very vividly described all the soullessness

GALLERY OF IMAGES OF LAND OWNERS

IN N. V. GOGOL’S POEM “DEAD SOULS”

Lesson objectives: reveal the features of the system of images of landowners in the poem “Dead Souls”; identify the internal logic of creating images of the local nobility; check the level of development of the skill of analyzing a literary character; involve students in research work.

Methodical techniques: repetition of known information about the characters of the landed nobility in the form of a quiz, posing a question for discussion, creating a problem situation, conversation with elements research work, student messages.

Equipment: reproductions of portraits of landowners, presentation of “Gogol’s Portrait Vernissage”, map of Chichikov’s travels, statements by critics

“Not a shadow of goodness, not a single bright thought,

there is not a single human feeling in them"

“Gogol showed the ordinariness of an ordinary person”

“Gogol puts Chichikov through the gauntlet

truly Russian people, each of whom

epic figure. And Manilov and Sobakevich,

and Plyushkin - they all came from the world of fairy tales"

(P. Weil, A. Genis)

Epigraph: “Dead souls... all these Nozdryovs, Manilovs and all the others”

During the classes.

I. Organizing time. Announcing the topic and objectives of the lesson.

The central place in the first volume of Dead Souls is occupied by five “portrait chapters” (from the second to the sixth). Each of them is dedicated to a specific human type. Gogol gives these chapters in a certain order, which is not at all arbitrary. Chichikov’s visit to Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich and Plyushkin is usually understood as the story of the adventures of an “acquirer” who buys souls that are actually dead, but legally alive, that is, not deleted from the audit lists. Meanwhile, a feature of Gogol’s works is the versatility of the text and created images. Gogol’s text is like an archaeological excavation: the wider and deeper the field of research, the more visual a person’s life becomes, the more detailed and comprehensive the information received.

II. Quiz "Recognize the character" (students read cards prepared in advance by the teacher with a description of the landowners; they need to put the card with the description in the pocket with the image of the character in question). At the same time, an individual Lotto game follows the same principle.

1. “He was of average height, a very well-built fellow with full rosy cheeks, teeth white as snow and jet-black sideburns. It was fresh, like blood and milk; health seemed to be dripping from his face.” (Nozdrev)

2. “...the little eyes had not yet gone out and ran from under the high eyebrows, like mice, when, sticking their sharp muzzles out of the dark holes, pricking their ears and blinking their whiskers, they look out to see if a cat or a naughty boy is hiding somewhere, and sniff the very air suspiciously” (Plyushkin)

3. Of the people “known by the name: so-so people, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan...” (Manilov)

4. “The complexion had a red-hot, hot complexion, the kind that appears on a copper coin... the strongest and most wonderfully polished image...” (Sobakevich)

5. “... human feelings, which were not deep in him anyway, became shallow every minute, and every day something was lost in this worn-out ruin” (Plyushkin)

6. “...was in some respects a historical person. Not a single meeting he attended was complete without a story.” (Nozdrev)

7. “He looked like a distinguished man; His facial features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to have too much sugar in it...” (Manilov)

8. “He thought about the well-being of a friendly life, about how nice it would be to live with a friend on the bank of some river, then he began to build a bridge across this river, then a huge house.” (Manilov)

9. “... by no means or effort could it be possible to get to the bottom of what his robe was made of: the sleeves and upper flaps were so greasy and shiny that they looked like yuft, the kind that goes into boots...” (Plyushkin)

10. “In his office there was always some kind of book, bookmarked on page fourteen, which he had been constantly reading for two years.” (Manilov)

11. “...most of all there was tobacco. It was in different things: in caps and in a tobacco box, and, finally, it was simply poured into a heap on the table. On both windows there were also piles of ash knocked out of the pipe, arranged, not without effort, in very beautiful rows.” (Manilov)

12. “... took them to his office, in which, however, there were no visible traces of what happens in offices, that is, books or paper; There were only sabers and two guns hanging - one worth three hundred, and the other eight hundred rubles... After that, a barrel organ appeared to the guests.” (Nozdrev)

13. “It would have been impossible to say that there was a living creature living in this room if its presence had not been announced by the old, worn cap lying on the table.” (Plyushkin)

14. “The table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the heaviest and most restless quality - in a word, every object, every chair seemed to say: “And I, too, _________!” or “And I also look a lot like _________!” (Sobakevich)

Which character's characteristics didn't appear in the quiz? (Boxes)

III. Korobochka's monologue (performed by a student)

- I'm old noblewoman, landowner. I have, father, a decent estate, a courtyard full of all kinds of domestic animals: turkeys, chickens, roosters, and boars. And what kind of gardens I have, sir, God forgive the boaster: I have cabbage, turnips, onions, and beets... And behind the garden, opposite the pig stable, are the huts of my peasants, I have eighty of them. I sell hemp and lard, and peasants, if God sends. It’s true that Chichikov offered to sell the dead peasants. I’ll tell you straight, I was confused and started haggling, in case I made it cheaper (I haven’t sold dead ones yet).

IV. Analytical question.

Why does Chichikov need dead souls?

V. The teacher's word.

The names of Manilov, Korobochki, Nozdryov. Sobakevich, Plyushkina, perhaps, are among the most famous among all the names of heroes of classical Russian literature. Some of them have long acquired a general meaning and become household names. But what do these names mean? What considerations guided the writer when thinking about the “naming” of the heroes of the poem?

VI. Student message “What do the names of landowners mean in the poem “Dead Souls” (students listen to the message against the background of the presentation “Gogol’s Portrait Gallery”)

- Literary names The heroes of Dead Souls can be called hidden talkers. They are ambiguous, because the naming of the hero can be realized by Gogol himself at different “slices” of the text. To understand the name, it is necessary to establish its internal connection with the image, and the image itself with the context of the work. Surname Manilov formed from the dialect word manila (the same as maniha, beckoner, beckoner), meaning: “one who promises, but deceives; the one who wonders; deceiver." A distinctive feature of Manilov is the uncertainty of his character. The first impression turns out to be deceiving, “alluring.” landowner Box as a housewife personifies materialism and hoarding. Her surname, equivalent to a nickname, is associated with the box, which can be identified as a symbol of prosperity and wealth. Next character's last name: Nozdreva- is associated with the word nostril, which forms the adjective nostril in the meaning “with small holes, porous.” In dialects there is an adjective nozdryavy - “full of wells, holes.” All this is perceived by us as a hint of the moral inferiority of the landowner. Surname Sobakevich is associated with the word dog, although Mikhail Semenovich himself seems to Chichikov “very similar to a medium-sized bear.” The final, final stage of the death of the soul, the decay, the decomposition of everything truly human is represented by Plyushkin, crushed, flattened by life. Surname Plyushkin, associated with the word bun in the meaning of “small bun”, which is made by squeezing, making the dough flat, is indirectly associated with a change, crushing, flattening of the spiritual principle in a person. An indirect association of Plyushkin’s surname with the verb flop (sit) “heavy, hard to sit down, fall” is also possible, as a symbol of the hero’s spiritual fall.

VII. Teacher's word. Statement of a problematic question.

What unites all the landowners depicted by Gogol? Here are the statements of modern critics.

1) some believe that “there is not a shadow of goodness, not a single bright thought, not a single human feeling in them” ();

2) others argue that Gogol’s heroes are neither virtuous nor vicious, they are “ordinary”. “average” people, but recreated with a unique Gogolian “brightness, strength and largeness”; they are vulgar, but, according to these critics, in the first half of the 19th century the word “vulgar” meant “ordinary” - Gogol showed “the ordinariness of an ordinary person” ();

3) still others believe that “Gogol takes Chichikov through the gauntlet of truly Russian people, each of whom is an epic figure. And Manilov, and Sobakevich, and Korobochka, and Plyushkin - they all came from the world of fairy tales. It is easy to recognize them as Koshchei the Immortal or Baba Yaga. Majestic in their passions and vices, these epic heroes represent Rus' as a fabulous, wonderful, absurd country" ()

Which of these opinions is closer to your perception of the poem and why? (The opinions of the guys are different. Some prove the traditional point of view. Others provide the following evidence: “I think that these are ordinary people who live now. Plyushkin and Korobochka are stingy to varying degrees; Manilov and Nozdryov are dreamers who do not know how to make their dreams come true reality, so they lie in order to elevate themselves in society. And Sobakevich is a person who thinks only about himself and his own benefit." "I agree with the opinions of Weil and Genis, because I also see fairy-tale images in Gogol's landowners: Plyushkin - Koschey the Immortal ; Korobochka - Baba Yaga; Sobakevich - The Bear who came out of a Russian fairy tale; Manilov - Bayun the Cat, luring those around him into a sleepy kingdom; Nozdryov - this is the epic Nightingale - the robber")

Indeed, the names of Gogol's heroes, like fairy-tale characters, have become household names. Just like the heroes of fairy tales, Gogol's landowners are simple and understandable to the reader, who seem to return to childhood when reading about the evil Koshchei or the clumsy Mikhail Potapych. As in fairy tales, the environment in the characters’ homes also plays an important role. For example, Korobochka’s house, in which there are potions and decoctions, immediately becomes Baba Yaga’s hut in our imagination, and Plyushkin’s house, with its mustiness, dampness, dust, becomes the palace of Koshchei the Immortal, etc.

On the other hand, speaking about the typicality of Gogol’s heroes, let’s remember the characters in Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”.

VIII. Expressive reading by a prepared student of an excerpt from the novel “Eugene Onegin” ( chapter five,XXV –XXVIII)

In the morning the Larins' house is visited by guests

All full; whole families

The neighbors gathered in carts,

In wagons, chaises and sleighs

There is a hustle and bustle in the front hall;

Meeting new faces in the living room,

Barking mosek, smacking girls,

Noise, laughter, crush at the threshold,

Bows, shuffling guests,

The nurses cry and the children cry.

With his portly wife

Fat Pustyakov arrived;

Gvozdin, an excellent owner,

Owner of poor men;

The Skotinins, the gray-haired couple,

With children of all ages, counting

From thirty to two years;

District dandy Petushkov,

My cousin, Buyanov,

In down, in a cap with a visor

(As you know him, of course)

And the retired landowner Flyanov,

Heavy gossip, old rogue,

With the family of Panfil Kharlikov

Monsieur Triquet also arrived,

Witty, recently from Tambov,

With glasses and a red wig...

And from a nearby village

The idol of mature young ladies,

A joy for county mothers,

The company commander arrived;

Entered... Oh, what news!

There will be regimental music!

The colonel himself sent it.

What joy: there will be a ball!

The girls jump in advance;

But food was served. Couple

They go to the table hand in hand.

IX. Teacher's word

One of the features of Gogol’s talent is that “passion to know everything,” that “desire to know a person,” which makes him look for people of all classes and notice something interesting in everyone.” We learn about this from Gogol’s letter to. The ability to “catch a person’s soul” was a genuine discovery of the writer. Researchers of Gogol's language note that the writer worked on the word with the utmost effort of all his mental strength, since in addition to the subject of the image itself, the author was always interested in the word denoting this subject. Gogol was distinguished by his ability to “turn” a word in such a way as to extract the maximum artistic effect from it. To show that even the most, at first glance, insignificant images of the work carry a huge semantic load, let us turn to the topic “Description of food and its role in the poem “Dead Souls.”

X. Student’s presentation with the message “Description of food and its role in the poem “Dead Souls”

- From the first pages of the poem he makes it clear that he assigns a significant place to images of food in the work. The writer is accustomed to treating food with respect, but still sharply separates satiety from gluttony. Main character When traveling from landowner to landowner, the first thing he does is find himself at the table. The owners consider it their duty to treat Chichikov to something amazing, be it “cabbage soup from the heart” from Manilov, or “blini” from Korobochka, or “wonderful balyk” from Nozdryov, or “side of lamb” from Sobakevich, or “rusk from Easter cake” "at Plyushkin's. Business conversations are preceded by a feast. The author constructs the narrative in such a way that every “edible” detail he highlights reflects the character trait of the landowner with whom Gogol’s hero is dining. So, from the bread crumbs left from evening to morning on the tablecloth in Nozdryov’s dining room, he concludes that the owner of the house is careless. And this, in turn, prompts Chichikov to think: should he behave like a friend and directly tell the owner about the goal, or is it better not to stubbornly insist on his own. This philistine tactic of the hero - to judge by the treat - is easily transferred to the vision of the world and people. In the tavern, the old woman tries to use Chichikov’s method of “guessing” people: “Manilov will be more delicate than Sobakevich: he will order the chicken to be cooked immediately, and he will also ask for the veal; if there is lamb liver, then he will ask for lamb liver, and Sobakevich will only ask for something, but he will eat it all, and even demand a supplement for the same price.” Landowners are depicted in the same way. For Plyushkin, food is a measure of human qualities: “You can recognize a person who is in good company anywhere: he doesn’t even eat, but he’s full.” And Sobakevich even divides people into provincial and metropolitan residents with the help of Chichikov’s “philosophy”. Some, in his opinion, “will eat half a side of lamb with porridge, having a cheesecake on a plate,” while others eat “some kind of cutlets with truffles.” In the provinces, Sobakevich suggests, the scale is different: what is small in the capital, here grows to extraordinary proportions. And, indeed, the reader sees that the vulgarity of the heroes doubles.

XI. Teacher's word

So, it is no coincidence that Gogol turned so often to images of food. Traditional for all world literature, they become for the heroes of “Dead Souls” a measure of human qualities, and for the author of the poem - a means of depicting the spiritual emptiness of characters engaged only in satisfying animal needs and therefore worthy of being called “pig snouts” to a much greater extent than people.

What vices do each of the landowners personify? (Manilov - empty daydreaming; Korobochka - cudgel-headedness; Nozdryov - unbridled character; Sobakevich - greed, passion for acquisitiveness (desire for profit); Plyushkin - “a hole in humanity”)

XII. Looking at Chichikov's travel map (creative work of students)

Why is the image of Russian landowners presented to us in such a sequence? At first glance, this is dictated by purely external circumstances. Chichikov meets Manilov and Sobakevich at the governor's party. Chichikov first went to Manilov, and from Manilov to Sobakevich, but during a thunderstorm he got lost and ended up with Korobochka. Then, on the way, he stopped at a tavern for a “snack” and unexpectedly met Nozdryov. From Nozdryov I finally got to Sobakevich. When he learned from Sobakevich that Plyushkin, the owner of eight hundred souls of serfs who were dying “like flies,” lived five miles away, Chichikov went to this landowner.

XIII. Statement of a problematic question

But in the order in which Gogol introduces readers to the landowners, there is another, deep inner meaning. Which? Listen to several points of view on exactly this sequence of arrangement of landowners in the text of the poem “Dead Souls”.

The traditional point of view of literary scholars: landowners are arranged according to the degree of their degradation (Manilov still has everything - a family, children, furniture (although the features of desolation have already been outlined - “two chairs stood covered with just matting”, etc.); Plyushkin had all this, but lost over the years)

Modern point of view: landowners are divided conditionally into hoarders and spendthrifts: Manilov is a spendthrift; Box – storage; Nozdryov is a spendthrift; Sobakevich – storage device; Plyushkin - “a hole in humanity” (a spendthrift from hoarding, a hoarder from wastefulness)

Y. Mann's point of view: landowners are located in the text of the poem according to the degree of revival of their soul (pay attention to the fact that, when describing Manilov, Gogol draws our attention to the things surrounding him. Manilov has no inner world, his soul has died. And yet , only Plyushkin, as the author notes, has “living eyes,” and it is known that the eyes are the mirror of the soul, therefore, only Plyushkin is capable of reviving the soul)

XIV. Study of the characteristics of the characters - landowners (student's message)

- In Gogol, the contrast between the living and the dead, the death of the living is often indicated precisely by the description of the eyes. In Dead Souls, in the portrait of the characters, the eyes are either not indicated in any way (since they are simply unnecessary), or their lack of spirituality is emphasized. Thus, Manilov “had eyes as sweet as sugar”; in relation to Sobakevich’s eyes, the weapon that nature used for this case is noted: “she picked her eyes with a large drill” (like in a wooden doll!) About Plyushkin’s eyes it is said: “The little eyes have not yet gone out and they ran from under their high eyebrows, like mice, when, sticking out their sharp muzzles from dark holes, pricking their ears and blinking their whiskers, they look out to see if a cat or a naughty boy is hiding somewhere, and sniff the very air suspiciously.”

XV. Improvised dialogue with Plyushkin (skit prepared by students)

- How do you live, Mr. Plyushkin?

- I'm getting poorer, gentlemen. The robbers are leading to ruin. At least Proshka, such a thief. There are costs all around.

- But once you were an excellent owner, your neighbors came to you to learn wise stinginess, reasonable frugality. Factories were working, machines, spinning mills, plows, scythes. The hostess was friendly and famous for her hospitality.

- Yes, all this happened. Not now the mistress died, the eldest daughter got married. The son left. The youngest daughter died. I was left alone.

XVI. Problematic question

Which of the characters in the poem has a biography? (Plyushkin and Chichikov)

He who has a past will also have a future. Who is capable of rebirth? If we remember that “Dead Souls” was conceived by analogy with Dante’s “Divine Comedy” - in three parts: the first part is “Hell”, the second part is “Purgatory”, the third part is “Paradise”, then the plan, therefore, is not limited to the depiction of “hell”, “the vulgarity of a vulgar person”, its limit lies in the salvation of this very “vulgar person”. The biography of Chichikov (as well as Plyushkin) is the story of the “fall of the soul”; but if the soul “fell”, it means that it was once pure, which means that its revival is possible - through repentance. What is necessary for repentance and cleansing of the soul? Inner self, inner voice. Only Plyushkin (to a lesser extent) and Chichikov (to a greater extent) also have the right to mental life, to “feelings” and “thoughts”. “With some vague feeling he looked at the houses...”; “there was an unpleasant, vague feeling in his heart...”; “Some terrible feeling, incomprehensible to him, took possession of him,” Gogol records moments of “introspection” (inner voice) in his hero. Moreover, there are frequent cases when Chichikov’s inner voice turns into the author’s voice or merges with it in famous poetic digressions. But this is the topic of our next conversation...

XVII. Homework: write out excerpts from lyrical digressions from the text of the poem. What are they about?

LITERATURE

Native speech. 1991 Voropaev souls: who are they? About the title of the poem / Russian speech, 2002, No. 3 Gukovsky Gogol. – M., 1959 Kozhinov Gogol. – M., 1995 Poetics of Gogol. – M., 1978