Characteristic of Plyushkin: the hero of the poem, dead souls.
The gallery of landowners presented in the poem by N.V. Gogol " Dead Souls”, Ends with the image of Plyushkin. In the scene of acquaintance with Chichikov, the character of the hero is revealed with all the artistic fullness.
The poem reveals such features of the hero as grumbling, stinginess, lack of spirituality, suspicion and distrust. He calls the dead peasants "parasites", grumbles at Mavra, confident that she is deceiving the master. Plyushkin suspects Mavra of “shaving” his paper. When it turns out that his suspicions are in vain, he begins to grumble, dissatisfied with the rebuff that Mavra gave him. Gogol also emphasizes here Plyushkin's stinginess. Finding paper, in order to save money, he requires a "splinter" instead of a tallow candle. And, starting to write, he sculpts "sparingly line by line", regretting that "there is still a lot of blank space left." The avarice of the hero acquired hypertrophied features, brought his whole house to desolation and chaos. Everything in Plyushkin's house is covered with dust, in his inkwell there is "a moldy liquid and a lot of flies at the bottom."
Using portrait details, the author reveals to the reader the lack of spirituality of his hero. In passing, Gogol gives us a short portrait sketch of Plyushkin. We see how on his wooden face suddenly flashed "some kind of warm ray", "a pale reflection of feeling." Using a detailed comparison, the author here compares this phenomenon with the appearance of a drowning man on the surface of the waters. But the impression remains instant. Following this, Plyushkin's face becomes "even more insensitive and even more vulgar." It emphasizes the lack of spirituality of the hero, the absence of living life in him. And at the same time, the "pale reflection of feelings" on his face is probably a potential opportunity for spiritual rebirth. It is known that Plyushkin is the only landowner who, together with Chichikov, was supposed to become a character in the third volume of the poem, according to Gogol's plan. And it's not for nothing that the author gives us a biography of this hero, and in this passage he notes that Plyushkin had friends at school.
The speech of the hero is characteristic. It is dominated by abusive expressions ("thief", "swindler", "robber"). Threats sound in Plyushkin's intonations, he is grumpy, irritated, emotional. There are exclamation points in his speech.
Thus, in the poem, the character of the hero appears multifaceted, potentially interesting for readers and the author. Plyushkin near Gogol completes the gallery of Russian landowners opened by Manilov. And this sequence also, according to critics, has a certain meaning. Some researchers believe that the hero represents the last degree of moral decline, while others, analyzing Gogol's plan (the poem in three volumes), say that the most soulless, "deathly" character in the work is Manilov. Plyushkin, on the other hand, is a man * capable of moral revival. And in this regard, we can talk about the great importance of this scene in the development of the entire author's intention.
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- Plyushkin's characteristic
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Gogol calls his character a hole in the whole of humanity, and after getting acquainted with the image of Plyushkin, the reader understands this characteristic. The landowner, his philosophy, lifestyle, moral portrait cannot leave a person indifferent. Everything in him outrages - the refusal to take care of his children, narrow-mindedness, moral ugliness, vulgar, humiliating habits.
Appearance
We first meet Plyushkin when he swears with the driver in the courtyard of his own house. Chichikov takes this man for a "woman", so only an old housekeeper can look like this. After learning that a creature in a long, greasy clothes with holes is the owner of the estate, Chichikov freezes for a while, trying to come to his senses and find the right tone. The landowner lost his human appearance, lost the remnants of a man's appearance - the “dress” that peeped out from under his outer garment was clearly feminine, a piece of clothing was wrapped around his neck, and a cap on his head.
The eyes of our character Gogol describes in an extremely allegorical way: they, like two mice, could be seen from under the eyebrows, watching the interlocutor vigilantly and inseparably. In a painful struggle with everyone around him, Plyushkin was accustomed not to relax for a second: courtyards, neighbors, guests - everyone, in his opinion, tried to take something away, "steal", rob the master's yard. It was this conviction that made his look unpleasantly suspicious, repulsive. Greed in relation to himself affected the figure, appearance, health of the landowner: a thin, even dry, stooped, unkempt, toothless old man, who in his thrift had gone to an unhealthy extreme. He does not evoke pity, only disgust and understanding of the boundless human stupidity, terrifying madness.
Life and habits
Plyushkin is not famous for his hospitality, it is extremely important for him that the guest leaves the house as soon as possible. Having huge reserves of food, fabrics, leather, furs, dishes and much more, the landowner brings his house to an extreme degree of desolation, sinks himself and forces his peasants to vegetate in poverty. He is a master at swearing, slander and deception. Every day humiliating his courtyards with suspicion of theft and embezzlement, he humiliates himself, emphasizes his own tyranny and stupidity.
The character's speech and manner speaks of his unwillingness to put up with the presence of other people in his environment, perhaps a complete hermitage would be a salvation for such a type. The heavy temper and the impossibility of living with such an owner confirms the fact that Plyushkin's peasants not only die like flies, but also flee from the landowner.
He sold more than seventy fugitive souls (in addition to the dead) to Chichikov. Even the skilful swindler and chameleon Pavel Ivanovich cannot find the right manner in communication, since in front of him is a person who is clearly degraded (when he meets at the church, he would certainly give alms to such a creature), with a sharp, absurd character. What was Plyushkin's proposal to treat a guest with a stale gingerbread or an old tincture in which insects were swimming? The picture is complemented by the disgusting habit of the landowner to collect all garbage and things forgotten by the peasants in the village. “The fisherman went out hunting” - so they said in the village, when he moved down the street in search of “profit”.
This quote suggests that the peasants were accustomed to the disgusting manner of "gathering" the landowner, ridiculed him and openly despised him. The habit of bringing into your home what others have thrown away, lost (garbage, rubbish, rags) characterizes the character as a person who has reached the highest degree of degradation that defies understanding and justification. Is it an attempt to fill the inner emptiness or mental illness - is there any difference if other people suffer from this ?!
Plyushkin's past
Oddly enough, just a few years ago Plyushkin was a completely adequate person: a father of three children, a husband, an economical and competent owner. Neighbors visited him, learned the art of managing an estate, respected the authority of the owner. The landowner's wife was hospitable and smart, helped to run a huge household, kept the house in order, she was respected by the peasants. After the death of his wife, the widower became tight-fisted, quarreled with everyone in the district, merchants stopped visiting him. One of the daughters died, the other ran away with the officer, and the son, in defiance of his father, went to the city not for civil service, but for a regiment. These events became an excuse to deny children any material assistance, their father became a stingy, liar and misanthropist.
The gallery of "dead souls" ends in the poem by Plyushkin. Origins this image found in the comedies of Plautus, Moliere, in the prose of Balzac. However, at the same time, Gogol's hero is a product of Russian life. “In the midst of general prodigality and ruin ... in the society of the Petukhovs, Khlobuevs, Chichikovs and Manilovs ... a suspicious and intelligent person ... involuntarily had to embrace fear for his well-being. And so avarice naturally becomes the mania into which his frightened suspiciousness develops ... Plyushkin is a Russian miser, a miser from fear for the future, in the structure of which the Russian person is so helpless, "notes the pre-revolutionary critic.
The main features of Plyushkin are stinginess, greed, thirst for hoarding and enrichment, alertness and suspicion. These features are masterfully conveyed in the portrait of the hero, in the landscape, in the description of the situation and in the dialogues.
Plyushkin's appearance is very expressive. “His face was nothing special; it was almost the same as that of many thin old people, one chin only protruded very far forward, so that he had to cover it with a handkerchief every time so as not to spit; the little eyes had not yet gone out and were running from under the high-grown eyebrows, like mice, when, sticking out their sharp muzzles from the dark holes, their ears alert and blinking their noses, they were looking out for a cat hiding somewhere ... ”Plyushkin's outfit is remarkable - greasy and a torn robe, rags fastened around his neck ... S. Shevyrev admired this portrait. "We see Plyushkin so vividly, as if we recall him in a painting by Albert Durer in the Doria Gallery ...", wrote the critic.
Small running eyes, similar to mice, indicate the alertness and suspicion of Plyushkin, generated by fear for his property. His rags resemble the clothes of a beggar, but not a landowner with more than a thousand souls.
The motive of poverty continues to develop in the description of the landowner's village. In all the village buildings one can see "some kind of special dilapidation", the huts are made of old and dark logs, the roofs look like a sieve, there are no glass in the windows. The house of Plyushkin himself looks like "some decrepit invalid". In some places it is one floor, in other places it is two, on the fence and gates - green mold, through decrepit walls you can see "naked plaster lattice", from the windows only two are open, the rest are overcrowded or hammered. The "beggarly appearance" here metaphorically conveys the hero's spiritual poverty, the rigid limitation of his worldview by a pathological passion for hoarding.
Behind the house stretches a garden, just as overgrown and decayed, which, however, "is quite picturesque in its picturesque desolation." “Green clouds and irregular quivering domes lay on the celestial horizon the connected tops of trees that had grown free. The colossal white trunk of a birch ... rose from this green thicket and swirled in the air like ... a sparkling marble column ... In places the green thickets, illuminated by the sun, diverged ... "Dazzling white, marble birch trunk, green thickets, bright, the sparkling sun - in terms of the brightness of its colors and the presence of light effects, this landscape contrasts with the description of the interior decoration of a manor house, which recreates the atmosphere of lifelessness, death, grave.
Entering Plyushkin's house, Chichikov immediately falls into darkness. “He stepped into a dark, wide entrance, from which a cold blew, as if from a cellar. From the vestibule he entered a room, also dark, slightly illuminated by the light coming out from under the wide gap at the bottom of the door. " Further, Gogol develops the motive of death, lifelessness outlined here. In another room of the landowner (where Chichikov ends up) - a broken chair, "a clock with a stopped pendulum, to which the spider has already attached its web"; a chandelier in a canvas bag, thanks to a layer of dust, looks like "a silk cocoon in which a worm sits." On the walls, Pavel Ivanovich notices several paintings, but their plots are quite definite - a battle with screaming soldiers and drowning horses, a still life with a duck hanging head down.
A huge pile of old rubbish is piled on the floor in the corner of the room; through a huge layer of dust Chichikov notices there a piece of a wooden shovel and an old boot sole. This picture is symbolic. According to IP Zolotussky, Plyushkin's pile is "a tombstone over the ideal of a materialist." The researcher notes that whenever Chichikov meets with any of the landowners, he makes a "survey of his ideals." Plyushkin in this case "represents" a state, wealth. In fact, this is the most important thing that Chichikov strives for. It is monetary independence that opens the way for him to comfort, happiness, well-being, etc. All this is inextricably fused in the mind of Pavel Ivanovich with home, family, kinship, "heirs", respect in society.
Plyushkin makes the return journey in the poem. The hero seems to reveal to us the reverse side of Chichikov's ideal - we see that the landlord's house is completely neglected, he has no family, he has severed all friendly and family ties, there is not even a hint of respect in the reviews of other landowners.
But Plyushkin was once a thrifty owner, he was married, and “a neighbor came to dine with him” and learn from him about farming. And everything was no worse for him than the others: "a friendly and talkative hostess" famous for hospitality, two pretty daughters, "blond and fresh as roses", a son, a "smart boy", and even a French teacher. But his "good mistress" and his youngest daughter died, the eldest ran away with the head-captain, "it was time for the son to go to work," and Plyushkin was left alone. Gogol closely traces this decay process human personality, the development in the hero of his pathological passion.
The lonely life of a landowner, widowhood, "gray hair in coarse hair", dryness and rationalism of character ("human feelings ... were not deep in him") - all this gave "well-fed food for stinginess." Indulging his vice, Plyushkin gradually ruined his entire economy. So, his hay and bread rotted, flour in the cellars turned to stone, canvases and materials “turned to dust”.
Plyushkin's passion for hoarding became truly pathological: every day he walked the streets of his village and collected everything that came to hand: an old sole, a woman's rag, an iron nail, a clay shard. What was not in the yard of the landowner: "barrels, intersections, tubs, lagoons, jugs with stigmas and without stigmas, brothers, baskets ...". “If someone would drop by to see him in the workers' yard, where a supply of all kinds of wood and utensils that had never been used had been prepared, it would have seemed to him that he had not ended up in Moscow at the woodchip yard, where quick mother-in-law and mother-in-law go every day. ..to make our own household stocks ... ", - writes Gogol.
Submitting to the thirst for profit and enrichment, the hero gradually lost all human feelings: he ceased to be interested in the life of his children and grandchildren, quarreled with his neighbors, and discouraged all guests.
The character of the hero in the poem is fully consistent with his speech. As V. V. Litvinov notes, Plyushkin's speech is "one continuous grumbling": complaints about others - about relatives, peasants and abuse with his servants.
In the scene of the sale and purchase of dead souls, Plyushkin, like Sobakevich, begins to bargain with Chichikov. However, if Sobakevich, not caring about the moral side of the issue, probably guesses the essence of Chichikov's scam, then Plyushkin does not even think about it. Hearing that it is possible to make a “profit,” the landowner seems to forget about everything: he “expected,” “his hands trembled,” he “took money from Chichikov in both hands and carried it to the bureau with the same caution, as if would carry some liquid, every minute afraid to unleash it. " Thus, the moral side of the issue leaves him by itself - it simply fades under the pressure of the hero's "surging feelings".
It is these “feelings” that take the landowner out of the category of “indifferent”. Belinsky considered Plyushkin a "comic face," disgusting and disgusting, denying him the significance of his feelings. However, in the context of the author's creative intention, presented in the poem of the hero's life history, this character seems to be the most difficult among Gogol's landowners. It was Plyushkin (together with Chichikov), according to Gogol's plan, who was supposed to appear morally revived in the third volume of the poem.
At the end of the gallery of persons with whom Chichikov concludes deals, the landowner Plyushkin - "a hole in humanity." Gogol notes that such a phenomenon is rare in Russia, where everything loves to turn around rather than shrink. Acquaintance with this hero is preceded by a landscape, the details of which reveal the hero's soul. Dilapidated wooden buildings, dark old logs on huts, roofs resembling a sieve, windows without glass, stuffed with rags, reveal Plyushkin as a bad owner with a dead soul. But the picture of the garden, although deaf and deaf, creates a different impression. When describing him, Gogol used more joyful and light colors - trees, "the correct marble sparkling column", "air", "cleanliness", "neatness" ... And through all this the life of the owner himself can be seen, whose soul has died out, like nature in the wilderness this garden. In Plyushkin's house, too, everything speaks of the spiritual decay of his personality: heaped furniture, a broken chair, a dried-up lemon, a piece of rag, a toothpick ... And he himself looks like an old housekeeper, only gray eyes, like mice, run from under high-grown eyebrows ... Everything dies, rots and collapses around Plyushkin. The story of the transformation of an intelligent person into a "hole in humanity", which the author introduces to us, leaves an indelible impression. The extreme degree of human fall is captured by Gogol in the image of the richest landowner of the province (more than a thousand serfs) Plyushkin. Plyushkin's portrait bears an indelible imprint of the hero's life practice, his attitude to the world; it clearly indicates the erasure of the human personality, its mortification. To an outsider's gaze, Plyushkin appears to be an extremely amorphous and indefinite creature. The only purpose of his life is the accumulation of things. As a result, he does not distinguish between the important, the necessary from the little things, the useful from the unimportant. Everything that comes to his hand is of interest. Plyushkin becomes a slave to things. The thirst for hoarding pushes him on the path of all kinds of restrictions. But he himself does not experience any unpleasant sensations from this. Unlike other landowners, the story of his life is given in full. She reveals the origins of his passion. The more the thirst for hoarding becomes, the more insignificant his life becomes. At a certain stage of degradation, Plyushkin ceases to feel the need to communicate with people. The character's biography allows you to trace the path from the "thrifty" owner to the half-mad curmudgeon. “Previously, he was a good, zealous owner, even the neighbors went to him to learn how to manage. But his wife died, the eldest daughter married a military man, the son began to make a career in the army (Plyushkin was extremely hostile to the military), soon the youngest daughter also died, and he was left alone and became the guardian of his wealth. But this wealth was worse than poverty. It was accumulated without a purpose, not finding not only reasonable, but also no use. He began to perceive his children as robbers of his property, not experiencing any joy when meeting them. As a result, he found himself completely alone. Plyushkin in senseless hoarding has sunk to an extreme degree. As a result, the moral degradation of the personality began, which made a “hole in humanity” out of a good master, a sickly curmudgeon who collects all kinds of rubbish, be it an old bucket, a piece of paper or a pen. This comparison indicates the pettiness, suspicion, greed of the hero. As a mouse drags everything it finds into its hole, so Plyushkin walked the streets of his village and picked up all kinds of rubbish: an old sole, a shard, a nail, a rag. He dragged all this into the house and piled it up. The landlord's room was striking in its wretchedness and disorder. Dirty or yellowed from time to time things and little things were piled everywhere. Plyushkin turned into a kind of asexual creature. The tragedy of loneliness is playing out before us, growing into a nightmarish picture of lonely old age. To an outsider's gaze, Plyushkin appears to be an extremely amorphous and indefinite creature. “While he (Chichikov) was examining all the strange decoration, the side door opened, and the same housekeeper that he had met in the yard came in. But then he saw that it was more a housekeeper than a housekeeper; housekeeper, by at least, does not shave his beard, but this one, on the contrary, shaved, and, it seemed, quite rarely, because his entire chin with the lower part of the cheek resembled a comb made of iron wire, which is used to clean horses in the stable ”. With all the general amorphousness of Plyushkin's appearance, some sharp features appear in his portrait. The whole Plyushkin is in this combination of formlessness and sharply distinguished features. “His face did not represent anything special,” “one chin only protruded very far forward, so he had to cover it with a handkerchief every time so as not to spit; small eyes had not yet gone out and were running from under the high-grown eyebrows, like mice, when, sticking out their sharp muzzles from the dark holes, pricking their ears and blinking their mustache, they look out for a cat or a mischievous boy hiding somewhere, and smell suspiciously the very air " ... Small shifty eyes, diligently looking out for everything around, perfectly characterize both petty greed and alertness of Plyushkin. But with special attention, when drawing Plyushkin's portrait, the writer dwells on the hero's costume. “Much more remarkable was his attire: no means and efforts could have been able to get to the bottom of what his dressing gown was concocted: the sleeves and upper floors were so greasy and shiny that they looked like a leather jacket that looks like boots; back and instead of two, four floors dangled, from which cotton paper clung in flakes. He also had something tied around his neck that could not be made out: whether it was a stocking, a garter, or a belly, but not a tie. " This description vividly reveals the most important feature of Plyushkin - his all-consuming stinginess, although nothing is said about this quality in the description of the portrait.
Having seen Plyushkin for the first time, Chichikov “for a long time could not recognize what gender the figure was: a woman or a man. Her dress was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman's bonnet, on her head was a cap worn by village courtyard women, only her voice seemed to him somewhat husky for a woman: “Oh, woman! - he thought to himself and immediately added: "Oh, no!" "Of course a woman!" Chichikov could not even imagine that this was a Russian master, landowner, owner of serf souls. The passion for accumulation disfigured Plyushkin beyond recognition; he saves only for the sake of hoarding ... He starved the peasants to death, and they "die like flies" (80 souls in three years). He himself lives from hand to mouth, dresses like a beggar. With a terrible half-madman's face, he declares that "the people are painfully gluttonous with him, out of idleness he has made a habit of cracking." About 70 peasants from Plyushkin fled, became people outside the law, unable to endure a hungry life. His courtyards run barefoot until late winter, since the stingy Plyushkin has one pair of boots for everyone, and even then they are put on only when the courtyards enter the hallway of the manor house. He considers peasants to be parasites and thieves, harbors hatred for them and sees in them beings of a lower order. Already the appearance of the village speaks of the hopeless share of the serfs. The deep decline of the entire serf lifestyle is most clearly expressed in the image of Plyushkin.
Plyushkin and others like him slowed down the economic development of Russia: "On the vast territory of Plyushkin's estate (and he has about 1000 souls), economic life came to a standstill: mills, felting machines, cloth factories, carpentry machines, spinning mills stopped moving; hay and bread rotted, luggage and haystacks were turned into pure manure, flour turned into stone, the cloths, canvases and household materials were scary to touch. Meanwhile, the household was collecting income as before, the peasant was still carrying the quitrent, the woman was carrying the canvas. it became rot and dust. " In the village of Plyushkina, Chichikov notices "some particular dilapidation." Entering the house, Chichikov sees a strange heap of furniture and some kind of street trash. Plyushkin is an insignificant slave to his own things. He lives worse than "Sobakevich's last shepherd." Countless riches are wasted. Gogol's words sound like a warning: "And to what insignificance, pettiness, disgusting man could condescend! He could have changed so much! .. Anything can become with a man." Plyushkin folded pieces of paper, pieces, sealing wax, etc. A detail in the interior is symbolic: "a clock with a stopped pendulum". And so Plyushkin's life froze, stopped, lost connections with the outside world.
Plyushkin begins to resent the greed of officials who take bribes: “The officers are so shameless! Before, you used to get off with half a copper and a sack of flour, but now send a whole cart of cereals, and add a red piece of paper, such a love of money! " And the landowner himself is greedy to the last extreme. In the scene of the sale and purchase of dead souls, the main feature hero - avarice, brought to the point of absurdity, has crossed all boundaries. First of all, attention is drawn to Plyushkin's reaction to Chichikov's proposal. With joy, the landowner is for a moment speechless. Greed has permeated his brain so much that he is afraid to miss the opportunity to get rich. He had no normal human feelings in his soul. Plyushkin is like a wooden block, he does not love anyone, does not regret at all. He can only experience something for a moment, in this case - the joy of a profitable deal. Chichikov quickly finds mutual language with Plyushkin. Only one thing worries the "patched" master: as if during the execution of the deed of the fortress not to incur losses. Soon the fear and anxiety, habitual for him, returned to the landowner, because the fortress of sale would entail some expenses. This he is not able to survive.
From the scene of the sale and purchase of "dead souls", you can learn new examples of his stinginess. So, Plyushkin had for the entire courtyard: both for the little ones and for the old ones, "there were only boots that should have been in the entryway." Or another example. The owner wants to treat Chichikov with a liqueur, in which there used to be "boogers and all sorts of rubbish," and the liqueur was placed in a decanter, which "was covered in dust, like in a sweatshirt." He scolds the servants. For example, he addresses Proshka: “Fool! Eh wa, you fool! " And the master calls Mavra a "robber." Plyushkin suspects everyone of theft: "After all, I have a people or a thief, or a swindler: they will be wrapped up so much a day that there will be nothing to hang the caftan on." Plyushkin deliberately pauses in order to "snatch" an extra penny from Chichikov. It is characteristic in this scene that Plyushkin has been bargaining with Chichikov for a long time. At the same time, his hands tremble with greed and shake, "like mercury." Gogol finds a very interesting comparison, testifying to the complete power of money over Plyushkin. The author's assessment of the character is merciless: “And to what insignificance, pettiness, disgusting man could condescend! I could have changed so much! " The writer urges young people to preserve "all human movements" in order to avoid degradation, so as not to turn into Plyushkin and others like him.
The description of the life and manners of the hero reveals all his disgusting qualities. In the heart of the character, avarice took all the place, and there is no longer any hope for the salvation of his soul. The deep decline of the entire serf system of life in Russia was most realistically reflected in the image of Plyushkin.
Plyushkin's image is important for implementation ideological concept the whole work. The author in the poem raises the problem of human degradation. The hero completes the portrait gallery of landowners, each of whom is spiritually insignificant than the previous one. Plyushkin completes the circuit. He is a terrible example of moral and physical degeneration. The author claims that "dead souls" such as Plyushkin and others are ruining Russia.
Plan
1. The history of writing the poem "Dead Souls".
2. The main task that N.V. Gogol while writing a poem.
3. Stepan Plyushkin as one of the representatives of the landlord class.
4. Appearance, way of life and customs of Stepan Plyushkin.
5. The reasons for the moral decay of the hero.
6. Conclusion.
The famous poem by N.V. Gogol's Dead Souls was written in 1835. It was during this period that such a direction as realism gained particular popularity in literature, the main goal of which was a truthful and reliable depiction of reality through generalization. typical features person, society and life in general.
Throughout creative path N.V. Gogol was interested in the inner world of man, his development and formation. His main task when writing the poem "Dead Souls" the writer set the opportunity to comprehensively show the negative features of the landlord class. A striking example of such a generalization is the image of Stepan Plyushkin.
Plyushkin does not appear in the poem right away, this is the last landowner to whom Chichikov pays a visit during his trip. However, for the first time, Chichikov learns brief reviews about his way of life and character in passing during his conversation with Nozdrev and Sobakevich. As it turned out, Stepan Plyushkin is a landowner who is already over sixty, the owner of a large estate and more than a thousand serfs. The hero is distinguished by special stinginess, greed and mania for accumulation, but even such an impartial characterization did not stop Chichikov and he decides to get to know him.
Chichikov meets the hero at his estate, which was in decline and devastation. The main house was no exception: all the rooms in it were locked, except for two, in one of them the hero lived. It seemed that in this room Plyushkin was putting everything that came into his sight, any little thing that he did not use later anyway: these were broken things, broken dishes, small pieces of paper, in a word - unnecessary trash.
Plyushkin's appearance was as unkempt as his house. It was evident that the clothes had long ago fallen into disrepair, and the hero himself looked clearly older than his years. But this was not always the case ... More recently, Stepan Plyushkin lived a measured, calm life surrounded by his wife and children in his native estate. Everything changed overnight ... Suddenly, his wife dies, the daughter marries an officer and escapes from home, son - goes to serve in the regiment. Loneliness, melancholy and despair took possession of this man. Everything that seemed to hold his world collapsed. The hero lost heart, but the last straw was the death of his outlet - his youngest daughter. Life was divided into "before" and "after". If not long ago Plyushkin lived only for the welfare of his family, now he sees his main goal only in the senseless filling of warehouses, barns, rooms of the house, in the moral elimination of himself ... he is going crazy. The stinginess and greed that were developing every day finally broke the thin and so tense thread of relations with children, which were ultimately deprived of his blessing and monetary support. This shows the special cruelty of the hero in relation to close people. Plyushkin loses his human face. After all, it is no coincidence that in the first minutes of his acquaintance with the hero, Chichikov sees a sexless creature in front of him, which he takes for an elderly woman - a housekeeper. And only after a few minutes of reflection, he realizes that in front of him is still a man.
But why is it so: moral exhaustion, a collapsed estate, a mania for hoarding? Perhaps in this way the hero was only trying to fill his inner world, his emotional devastation, but this initial hobby over time grew into a destructive addiction, which at the root, from the inside outlived the hero. But he just lacked love, friendship, compassion and simple human happiness ...
Now it is impossible to say with complete certainty what the hero would be like if he had a beloved family, the opportunity to communicate with children and loved ones, because Stepana Plyushkina N.V. Gogol portrayed just this: a hero who "lives a purposeless life, vegetates", being, in the words of the author of the poem, "a hole in humanity." However, in spite of everything in the soul of the hero there were still those human feelings that were unknown to other landowners who were visited by Chichikov. First, there is a sense of gratitude. Plyushkin is the only one of the heroes who thought it right to express gratitude to Chichikov for the purchase of “dead souls”. Secondly, he is not alien to the reverent attitude to the past and to the life that he now lacked so much: what inner inspiration ran through his face at the mere mention of his old friend! All this suggests that the flame of life has not yet extinguished in the hero's soul, he is and he is glowing!
Stepan Plyushkin is certainly a pity. It is this image that makes you think about how important it is to have close people in your life who will always be there: both in moments of joy and in moments of sadness, who will support, reach out and stay there. But at the same time, it is important to remember that in any situation it is necessary to remain human and not lose your moral character! You need to live, because life is given to everyone in order to leave behind a memorable mark!