Why Chichikov caused the death of the prosecutor. Text analysis. The story of the prosecutor. The most important episodes in the image of officials

Officialdom in N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls"

Approximate text of the essay

In tsarist Russia in the 30-40s of the XIX century, not only serfdom, but also a vast bureaucratic bureaucratic apparatus was a real disaster for the people. Called to stand guard over law and order, representatives of the administrative authorities thought only about their own material welfare, robbing the treasury, extorting bribes, mocking people with no rights. Thus, the topic of exposing the bureaucratic world was very relevant for Russian literature. Gogol repeatedly addressed her in such works as The Inspector General, The Overcoat, and Notes of a Madman. She found expression in the poem "Dead Souls", where, starting from the seventh chapter, the bureaucracy is in the center of the author's attention. Despite the absence of detailed and detailed images similar to the heroes of the landowners, the picture of bureaucratic life in Gogol's poem is striking in its breadth.

With two or three masterful strokes, the writer paints wonderful miniature portraits. This is the governor, embroidering on tulle, and the prosecutor with very black thick eyebrows, and the short postmaster, wit and philosopher, and many others. These sketched faces are remembered for their characteristic funny details that are filled with deep meaning. Indeed, why is the head of an entire province characterized as a good-natured person who sometimes embroiders on tulle? Probably because there is nothing to say about him as a leader. From this it is easy to draw a conclusion about how negligent and dishonest the governor is to his official duties, to his civic duty. The same can be said about his subordinates. Gogol makes extensive use of the characterization of the hero by other characters in the poem. For example, when a witness was needed to register the purchase of serfs, Sobakevich tells Chichikov that the prosecutor, as an idle person, is probably sitting at home. But this is one of the most significant officials in the city, who must administer justice, enforce the rule of law. The characterization of the prosecutor in the poem is enhanced by the description of his death and funeral. He did nothing other than mindlessly signing papers, as he left all the decisions to the solicitor, "the world's first grabber." Obviously, the reason for his death was the rumors about the sale of "dead souls", since it was he who was responsible for all the illegal cases in the city. Gogol's bitter irony is heard in reflections about the meaning of the life of the prosecutor: "... why he died, or why he lived, God alone knows." Even Chichikov, looking at the funeral of the prosecutor, involuntarily comes to the conclusion that the only thing that the deceased can remember is his thick black eyebrows.

The writer gives a close-up the typical image of the official Ivan Antonovich Pitcher snout. Taking advantage of his position, he extorts bribes from visitors. It is ridiculous to read how Chichikov put a "piece of paper" in front of Ivan Antonovich, "which he did not notice at all and immediately covered it with a book." But it is sad to know what a hopeless situation Russian citizens have found themselves in, depending on dishonest, greedy people representing the state power. This idea is emphasized by Gogol's comparison of an official of the Civil Chamber with Virgil. At first glance, it is unacceptable. But the nasty official, like the Roman poet in The Divine Comedy, leads Chichikov through all circles of bureaucratic hell. This means that this comparison strengthens the impression of the evil that pervades the entire administrative system of tsarist Russia.

Gogol gives in the poem a peculiar classification of the bureaucracy, dividing the representatives of this class into lower, thin and fat. The writer gives a sarcastic characterization of each of these groups. The lower ones are, according to Gogol's definition, nondescript clerks and secretaries, as a rule, bitter drunkards. By "thin" the author means the middle stratum, and "thick" - this is the provincial nobility, which firmly holds on to their places and deftly derives considerable income from their high position.

Gogol is inexhaustible in his choice of surprisingly accurate and apt comparisons. So, he likens officials to a squadron of flies that swoop down on tidbits of refined sugar. The poem also characterizes the provincial officials in their usual activities: playing cards, drinking, lunches, dinners, gossip Gogol writes that "meanness, completely disinterested, pure meanness" flourishes in the society of these public servants. Their quarrels do not end with a duel, because "they were all civilian officials." They have other methods and means, thanks to which they do dirty tricks to each other, which is more difficult than any duel. There are no significant differences in the way of life of officials, in their actions and views. Gogol portrays this estate as thieves, bribe-takers, loafers and swindlers who are bound to each other by mutual responsibility. That is why the officials feel so uncomfortable when Chichikov's scam was revealed, because each of them remembered their sins. If they try to detain Chichikov for his fraud, then he can accuse them of dishonesty. A comic situation arises when people in power help the swindler in his illegal machinations and are afraid of him.

Gogol in the poem pushes the boundaries of the district town, introducing into it "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin". It tells no longer about local abuses, but about the arbitrariness and lawlessness that are committed by the highest Petersburg officials, that is, the government itself. The contrast between the unheard-of luxury of St. Petersburg and the miserable poverty-stricken position of Kopeikin, who shed blood for his fatherland, lost an arm and a leg, is striking. But, despite his injuries and military merit, this war hero is not even entitled to his pension. A desperate disabled person tries to find help in the capital, but his attempt breaks down on the cold indifference of a high-ranking dignitary. This disgusting image of a soulless St. Petersburg nobleman completes the characterization of the world of officials. All of them, starting with the petty provincial secretary and ending with a representative of the highest administrative authority, are dishonest, mercenary, cruel people, indifferent to the fate of the country and the people. It is to this conclusion that the remarkable poem of N. V. Gogol "Dead Souls" leads the reader.

The landowner Stepan Plyushkin - a cruel serf-owner, stingy, suspicious, distrustful of everyone - does not want to see you in his estate and is not going to treat you even to last year's cake. Plyushkin Petty suspicious Spiritually and physically degenerate Human appearance is lost Slave of things Accumulator Extremely stingy Degraded man

Ivan Antonovich "jug snout" - a subtle official The ability of an official to turn into an eagle or a fly is striking. At his desk Ivan Antonovich is an eagle, and in the chief's office there is a fly. This is a bribe-taker, a bureaucrat, a clever solicitor of all illegal matters. Even Chichikov gave him a bribe, although he was a friend of his boss.

Police chief Alexei Ivanovich What characteristic does N.V. Gogol to the Chief of Police in Chapter 7? How do the townspeople treat him? What the hell does a police chief contribute to this? Why is the phrase “I have grasped my position perfectly” in relation to the chief of police? Artist P. Boklevsky

Conclusion about the image of the chief of police The police chief, "the father and benefactor of the city", must strictly and unswervingly monitor how the laws are being implemented, bring those who violate them to justice, but when he visits the seating yard, he feels here as in his own pantry. "Even though he will take, the merchants say, he will not betray you." In other words, a bribe will hide a crime. By this he acquired love and "perfect nationality".

Conclusion: The prosecutor did nothing but mindlessly signing the papers, since he provided all the decisions to the attorney, "the world's first grabber." Obviously, the reason for his death was rumors about the sale of "dead souls", since it was he who was responsible for all the illegal cases that took place in the city. Gogol's bitter irony is heard in reflections on the meaning of the life of the prosecutor: "... why he died, or why he lived, God alone knows." Even Chichikov, looking at the funeral of the prosecutor, involuntarily comes to the conclusion that the only thing that the deceased can remember is with thick black eyebrows.

Provincial Olympus Conclusions: The governors of the city are unanimous only in their desire to live widely at the expense of "the sums of their dearly beloved fatherland." Officials rob both the state and the petitioners. State embezzlement, bribery, and robbery of the population are common and natural phenomena. No request is considered without a bribe.

Ch. 9 Ladies of the city N Gogol makes fun of the vulgarity, hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness characteristic of provincial ladies. Gossip, empty chatter about city news, heated debates about outfits are combined with claims to taste and education. These women strive to imitate the metropolitan society in the manner of speaking and dressing, blindly copying foreign traditions. Gogol reveals the emptiness of their spiritlessness of the inner world. How does the dialogue between two "nice" ladies characterize?

One said that Chichikov was a doer of state bills, and then he himself added: "or perhaps not a doer"; the other claimed that he was an official of the governor-general's office, and immediately added: but the devil only knows, you can't read it on your forehead. ”Officials Officials. The insignificance of their bureaucratic rule.

Thus, bribes, theft, honor, mutual guarantee are the vices of officials. Officials are cruel and inhuman. Satirically portraying provincial officials, the author strikes a blow at the bureaucratic apparatus of the entire autocratic-serf state and makes it clear that these "keepers of order and law" are as dead souls as the landowners.

It was to the hero of the Prosecutor that Gogol singled out a minor role. We see him in just a few scenes: in the governor's house with Chichikov, at a ball with Nozdrev, the death of the prosecutor. But this role of the Prosecutor shows us its enormous significance: not being able to see a swindler in Chichikov shows us the insignificance of people in power. They almost shouted to the prosecutor that Chichikov was a swindler, that he was buying up dead peasants. But he was thinking it over. And who could have stopped Chichikov? Of course, none other than the prosecutor. But he kept thinking and thinking that he had died of thought. And here the very death of the prosecutor also had to somehow affect the officials. After all, he was constantly with them, playing cards, drinking wine. And suddenly he lies dead, and the officials continue to think only of themselves and their happiness.

In the image of Gogol's prosecutor, we see people who are absolutely not indifferent to the feelings and fears of the people, but precisely who can do nothing. We understand their uselessness and the fact that there will be no one - there will be another the same. This was also the thinking of the officials in Gogol's poem at the time the prosecutor died. They thought who would take the place of the prosecutor, and what fate awaits them under his rule.

In our time, the people described by Gogol have long disappeared. But some similarities can still be found. Therefore, this poem has not yet lost its relevance and teaches us to see the harm done by people who have similar negative character traits.

The role of the prosecutor in Gogol's poem is insignificant. The acquaintance with the hero takes place in the first chapter of the poem at the governor's party. Gogol masterfully draws comical, vivid images, the prosecutor appears before the reader as a man with thick black eyebrows and a constantly winking left eye.

At the Governor's reception, the protagonist Chichikov mentally divides the entire assembled society into thin and fat. Noting that the thin ones are always on the premises of the fat ones, their existence is airy and unreliable. But the fat ones do not occupy indirect places, they firmly hold on to their position, year after year they increase their wealth. The prosecutor belongs to the second group.

After a reception with the governor, Chichikov took turns visiting the officials of the city of N, he attended a dinner with the prosecutor, which, as the author writes, was worth more.

The landowner Sobakevich speaks of the prosecutor as the only decent person among the officials of the city of N, but to tell the truth, even he is a pig.
When making a deal on the purchase of dead souls, the governor asks to send for the prosecutor as a witness "... Send now to the prosecutor, he is an idle person and, probably, sits at home, the solicitor Zolotukha, the first grabber in the world, does everything for him ..."

In the poem, the prosecutor is presented as a lazy and stupid person. Despite the fact that Chichikov's scam was started right in front of his nose, he could not discern a fraud in him and prevent the crime. Even when Nozdryov openly hints to him about buying dead souls, he only twirls his eyebrows and dreams of quickly getting rid of a friendly walk with Nozdryov. After the ladies informed the prosecutor about Chichikov's crime and his attempt to steal the governor's daughter, he stood for a long time blinking his eyes and could not understand anything.

Since the prosecutor was an emotional person (as evidenced by his constantly twitching eye), the case of "dead souls" greatly influenced him and other officials of the city of H, they all emaciated from their experiences. The death of the prosecutor came in his house because of excessive thoughts about the Chichikov case. He thought and thought and died.

The prosecutor is one of the examples of a useless existence, both in life and in his position "... why he died or why he lived, only God knows about this ..."

The image of the prosecutor along with other officials reflects the main idea of \u200b\u200bGogol to show “insignificant people” and all the vices of the Russian state

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Gogol, a contemporary of Pushkin, created his works in the historical conditions prevailing in our country after the unsuccessful performance of the Decembrists in 1825. Thanks to the new socio-political situation, the workers of literature and social thought were faced with tasks that were deeply reflected in the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich. Developing the principles in his work, this author became one of the most significant representatives of this trend in Russian literature. According to Belinsky, it was Gogol who was able to look for the first time directly and boldly at Russian reality.

In this article, we will describe the image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls".

The collective image of officials

Nikolai Vasilyevich's notes relating to the first volume of the novel contain the following remark: "The dead insensibility of life." This, according to the author, is the collective image of officials in the poem. It should be noted the difference in the image of them and the landowners. The landowners in the work are individualized, but the officials, on the contrary, are impersonal. It is possible to compose only a collective portrait of them, from which the postmaster, the police chief, the prosecutor and the governor stand out slightly.

Names and surnames of officials

It should be noted that all the persons who make up the collective image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls" do not have surnames, and names are often called in grotesque and comic contexts, sometimes duplicated (Ivan Antonovich, Ivan Andreevich). Of these, some are highlighted only for a short time, after which they disappear into the crowd of others. The subject of Gogol's satire was not positions and personalities, but social vices, the social environment, which is the main object of the depiction in the poem.

It should be noted the grotesque beginning in the image of Ivan Antonovich, his comic, rude nickname (Pitcher Snout), simultaneously referring to the world of animals and inanimate things. The department is ironically described as "the temple of Themis". This place is important for Gogol. The department is often portrayed in Petersburg stories, in which it appears as an antiworld, a kind of hell in miniature.

The most important episodes in the image of officials

The image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls" can be traced back to the following episodes. This is primarily the governor's "house party" described in the first chapter; then - a ball at the governor's (eighth chapter), as well as breakfast at the chief of police (tenth). On the whole, in the 7-10th chapters, it is the bureaucracy that is highlighted as a psychological and social phenomenon.

Traditional motives in the image of officials

You can find many traditional motives characteristic of Russian satirical comedies in the "bureaucratic" stories of Nikolai Vasilyevich. These techniques and motives date back to Griboyedov and Fonvizin. The officials of the provincial town are also very reminiscent of their "colleagues" from the abuses, arbitrariness, inactivity. Bribery, honor, bureaucracy are social evil, traditionally ridiculed. Suffice it to recall the story described in "The Overcoat" with a "significant person", the fear of the auditor and the desire to bribe him in the work of the same name, and the bribe given to Ivan Antonovich in the 7th chapter of the poem "Dead Souls". The images of the chief of police, "benefactor" and "father", who visited the guest house and the shops, as if they were in his storeroom, are very characteristic; the chairman of the civil chamber, who not only exempted his friends from bribes, but also from the need to pay for the paperwork of his friends; Ivan Antonovich, who did nothing without "gratitude."

Compositional construction of the poem

The poem itself is based on the adventures of an official (Chichikov) who buys up dead souls. This image is impersonal: the author practically does not talk about Chichikov himself.

The first volume of the work, according to Gogol's plan, shows various negative aspects of the life of Russia at that time - both bureaucratic and landlord. The entire provincial society is part of the "dead world".

The exposition is given in the first chapter, in which a portrait of one provincial town is drawn. Everywhere desolation, disorder, dirt, which emphasizes the indifference of local authorities to the needs of residents. Then, after Chichikov visited the landowners, chapters 7 through 10 describe a collective portrait of the bureaucracy of the then Russia. In several episodes, various images of officials are given in the poem "Dead Souls". The chapters show how the author characterizes this social class.

What do officials have in common with landowners?

However, the worst thing is that such officials are no exception. These are typical representatives of the bureaucratic system in Russia. In their midst, venality and bureaucracy reign.

Registration of deeds

Together with Chichikov, who returned to the city, we are transferred to the court chamber, where this hero will have to issue a bill of sale (7th chapter). The characterization of the images of officials in the poem "Dead Souls" is given in this episode very detailed. Ironically, Gogol uses a high symbol - a temple in which the "priests of Themis", impartial and incorruptible, serve. However, first of all, the desolation and dirt in this "temple" are striking. The "unattractive appearance" of Themis is explained by the fact that she receives visitors in a simple way, "in a dressing gown."

However, this simplicity actually turns out to be an outright disregard for the laws. Nobody is going to do business, and the "priests of Themis" (officials) only care about how to take tribute from visitors, that is, bribes. And they really do do well at that.

There is a rush with papers, vanity, but all this serves only one purpose - to confuse the petitioners, so that they cannot do without help, kindly provided for a fee, of course. Chichikov, this rogue and connoisseur of behind-the-scenes affairs, nevertheless had to use her to get into the presence.

He got access to the required person only after he openly offered a bribe to Ivan Antonovich. How much of a legalized phenomenon she has become in the life of the bureaucracy of Russia, we understand when the main character finally gets to the chairman of the chamber, who accepts him as his old friend.

Conversation with the chairman

The heroes, after courteous phrases, get down to business, and here the chairman says that his friends "should not pay". The bribe here, it turns out, is so obligatory that only close friends of officials can do without it.

Another noteworthy detail from the life of the city bureaucracy is revealed in a conversation with the chairman. The analysis of the image of an official in the poem "Dead Souls" is very interesting in this episode. It turns out that even for such an unusual activity, which was described in the judicial chamber, by no means all representatives of this class consider it necessary to go to service. As an "idle person" the prosecutor sits at home. All cases for him are decided by the solicitor, who in the work is called "the first grabber."

Ball at the Governor's

In the scene described by Gogol on (8th chapter) we see a review of dead souls. Gossip and balls become for people a form of poor mental and social life. The image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls", a brief description of which we are compiling, can be supplemented in this episode with the following details. At the level of discussion of fashionable styles and colors of material, officials have ideas about beauty, and solidity is determined by how a person ties a tie and blows his nose. There is not and cannot be real culture, morality here, since the norms of behavior depend entirely on ideas about how it should be. That is why Chichikov was at first received so cordially: he is able to react sensitively to the requests of the given public.

This is, in short, the image of officials in the poem "Dead Souls". We did not describe the summary of the work itself. We hope you remember him. The characteristics presented by us can be supplemented based on the content of the poem. The topic "The image of officials in the poem" Dead Souls "is very interesting. Quotes from the work, which can be found in the text, referring to the chapters indicated by us, will help you complement this characteristic.

The writing

In tsarist Russia in the 30s of the XIX century, not only serfdom, but also an extensive bureaucratic bureaucratic apparatus was a real disaster for the people. Called to stand guard over law and order, representatives of the administrative authorities thought only about their own material welfare, robbing the treasury, extorting bribes, mocking people with no rights. Thus, the topic of exposing the bureaucratic world was very relevant for Russian literature. Gogol repeatedly addressed her in such works as "The Inspector General", "The Overcoat", "Notes of a Madman". She found expression in the poem "Dead Souls", where, starting from the seventh chapter, the bureaucracy is in the center of the author's attention. Despite the absence of detailed and detailed images similar to the heroes of the landowners, the picture of bureaucratic life in Gogol's poem is striking in its breadth.

With two or three masterful strokes, the writer paints wonderful miniature portraits. This is the governor, embroidering on tulle, and the prosecutor with very black thick eyebrows, and the short postmaster, wit and philosopher, and many others. These sketched faces are remembered for their characteristic funny details that are filled with deep meaning. Indeed, why is the head of an entire province characterized as a good-natured person who sometimes embroiders on tulle? Probably because there is nothing to say about him as a leader. From this it is easy to draw a conclusion about how negligent and dishonest the governor is to his official duties, to his civic duty. The same can be said about his subordinates. Gogol makes extensive use of the characterization of the hero by other characters in the poem. For example, when a witness was needed to register the purchase of serfs, Sobakevich tells Chichikov that the prosecutor, as an idle person, is probably sitting at home. But this is one of the most significant officials in the city, who must administer justice, enforce the rule of law. The characterization of the prosecutor in the poem is enhanced by the description of his death and funeral. He did nothing but mindlessly signing papers, as he left all the solutions to the solicitor, "the world's first grabber." Obviously, the reason for his death was rumors about the sale of "dead souls", since it was he who was responsible for all the illegal cases that took place in the city. Gogol's bitter irony is heard in reflections on the meaning of the life of the prosecutor: "... why he died, or why he lived, God alone knows." Even Chichikov, looking at the funeral of the prosecutor, involuntarily comes to the idea that the only thing that the deceased can remember is with thick black eyebrows.

Gogol gives in the poem a peculiar classification of the bureaucracy, dividing the representatives of this class into lower, thin and fat. The writer gives a sarcastic characterization of each of these groups. The lower ones are, according to Gogol's definition, nondescript clerks and secretaries, as a rule, bitter drunkards. By "thin" the author means the middle stratum, and "thick" - this is the provincial nobility, which firmly holds on to their places and deftly extracts considerable income from their high position.

Gogol is inexhaustible in his choice of surprisingly accurate and apt comparisons. So, he likens officials to a squadron of flies that swoop down on tidbits of refined sugar. Provincial officials are also characterized in the poem by their usual activities: playing cards, drinking, lunch, dinner, gossip Gogol writes that "meanness, completely disinterested, pure meanness" is flourishing in the society of these government officials. Their quarrels do not end with a duel, because "they were all civilian officials." They have other methods and means, thanks to which they do dirty tricks to each other, which is more difficult than any duel. There are no significant differences in the way of life of officials, in their actions and views. Gogol portrays this estate as thieves, bribe-takers, loafers and swindlers who are bound to each other by mutual responsibility. That is why the officials feel so uncomfortable when Chichikov's scam was revealed, because each of them remembered their sins. If they try to detain Chichikov for his fraud, then he can accuse them of dishonesty. A comic situation arises when people in power help the swindler in his illegal machinations and are afraid of him.

Gogol in the poem pushes the boundaries of the district town, introducing into it "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin". It tells no longer about local abuses, but about the arbitrariness and lawlessness that are committed by the highest Petersburg officials, that is, the government itself. The contrast between the unheard-of luxury of St. Petersburg and the miserable poverty-stricken position of Kopeikin, who shed blood for his fatherland, lost an arm and a leg, is striking. But, despite his injuries and military merit, this war hero is not even entitled to his pension. A desperate disabled person tries to find help in the capital, but his attempt breaks down on the cold indifference of a high-ranking dignitary. This disgusting image of a soulless St. Petersburg nobleman completes the characterization of the world of officials. All of them, starting with the petty provincial secretary and ending with a representative of the highest administrative authority, are dishonest, mercenary, cruel people, indifferent to the fate of the country and the people. It is to this conclusion that the wonderful poem "Dead Souls" by N. V. Gogol leads the reader.