Chichikov the acquirer is the new hero of the era. Chichikov - The new hero of the era. Who is this Chichikov?

Chichikov the Acquirer - the hero of the “new time”
In the poem “ Dead Souls“N.V. Gogol showed us not only the destruction of the old patriarchal noble Russia, but also the need for the emergence of people of a different orientation in life, dexterous and enterprising, such as Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov.

In the image of Chichikov we see “a man of middle age and a cautiously cool character,” he is partly an official and partly a landowner (true, a “Kherson” landowner, but still a nobleman), “not handsome, but not bad-looking either,” “ neither too thick nor too thin.” This image is constantly in development, which is why it is so uncertain; Chichikov is endowed with the ability to adapt to events, characters, circumstances; he is flexible, dexterous, and many-sided.
The father left little Pavlusha as an inheritance half a copper and a covenant to study diligently, please teachers and bosses, avoid friends and most importantly - take care and save a “penny”, for everyone can betray, only
a penny will help and save. Strictly following his father’s advice, Chichikov moved through life and soon realized that the concepts of honor, dignity, moral principles, which the father kept silent about, only interfere with achieving goals.
The desire for acquisition and accumulation was developed in Chichikov from childhood; he sacrificed to it many pleasures that he could use in life. Intelligence and resourcefulness helped the main character make money by deceiving his comrades, bosses, and the state.
Working a lot in early years, enduring infringements and deprivations in life, Chichikov begins his career by deceiving the police officer and his daughter, and then - bribery, embezzlement of government money, and major fraud at customs. His fate was such that he suffered a fiasco every time, but he settled down again and with even greater energy carried out the next fraud, justifying himself by saying that everyone uses their position, “everyone gains” and if he had not taken it, others would have taken it. We understand that in Russia at that time such behavior of officials was natural, but Chichikov differed from everyone else with some incomprehensible caution and prudence. He always approached his “acquisitions” very purposefully, systematically, and slowly. He also carefully thought through the scam with dead souls, which after the purchase he was going to pledge to the board of guardians as if they were alive, and get rich from this business.
When purchasing such an unusual product, Chichikov appears before us as an unrivaled psychologist. He is excellent at communicating with people, using both their strengths and weaknesses for his own purposes. When communicating with officials and landowners, Chichikov behaves completely differently with each of them, skillfully adapting to their characters and social status: sometimes sentimental, sometimes rude, sometimes stubborn and persistent, sometimes flattering and insinuating. With his energy, efficiency, and intelligence, he stands out favorably against the background of sluggish, often stupid landowners who do not have specific goals. However, communicating with scoundrels, swindlers, slackers, fools, this does not make Chichikov more honest, nobler, or more humane. By calling his hero “a swindler of swindlers,” a “scoundrel,” Gogol not only expresses his attitude towards this type of people, but also tries to show us that acquisitiveness is becoming a terrible scourge of society. Dexterous, enterprising, energetic, Chichikov is different from “ dead souls” landowners and officials with whom his business brought him together, but he brings no less evil to the world. We see how vulgarity, inertia, and spiritual poverty are replaced by unscrupulousness, merciless towards people, and militant meanness.
Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov's goal in life was capital, money as a means of giving independence and position in society. Separate service and ranks never interested him, and Chichikov walked towards his only goal, throwing aside moral standards, honor and dignity, internal responsibility to people for the immoral acts he committed.
Gogol was alarmed and worried by the appearance of the Chichikovs in society, since it not only opened the way for even greater predators and scoundrels, but also led to the loss of humanity. In his “Author's Confession,” the writer admitted: “I thought that... lyrical power... would help me portray shortcomings so clearly that the reader would hate them, even if he found them in himself.” However, we see that in our time the Chichikovs find areas of application for their ideas, energy, and selfish plans. Not only reasonable legislation, which stands up for the protection of the people, can fight them, but also each person individually, developing their inner qualities, nurturing their heart and soul.

Gogol, according to V. G. Belinsky, “was the first to look boldly and directly at Russian reality.” The writer's satire was directed against " general order things,” and not against individuals, bad executors of the law. The predatory money-grubber Chichikov, the landowners Manilov and Sobakevich, Nozdryov and Plyushkin, the officials of the provincial city from Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” are terrible in their vulgarity. “One could go crazy,” wrote A. I. Herzen, “at the sight of this menagerie of nobles and officials who wander around in the deepest darkness, buying and selling the “dead souls” of peasants.” The image of Chichikov reflects a new phenomenon in Russian life - the emergence of the bourgeoisie. This is a typical hero of the original capitalist accumulation, a representative of those businessmen who large quantities appeared in Russia in the 30s, when the crisis of the serfdom system sharply emerged.

Chichikov is the son of a poor nobleman, who inherited a “dilapidated house with an insignificant piece of land”, and became a real tradesman in his lifestyle. All his life he remembered and followed his father’s instructions - most of all to take care and save a penny: “You will do everything and you will spend everything with a penny”; to please teachers and bosses, while at the same time blatantly deceiving them in order to get a lucrative position. Already in teenage years the hero learned to evaluate people from the point of view of real benefit for himself, showed resourcefulness, iron restraint and baseness of soul. Through small speculations, he “made increments” to the half ruble donated by his father. “When he had enough money to reach five rubles, he sewed up the bag and began saving it in another.” A bag of money replaced Chichikov's friendship, honor and conscience.

Deciding on a scam with dead souls, he thinks: “And now is a convenient time. We lost at cards, went on a spree and squandered it like it should.” Chichikov’s whole life became a chain of fraudulent machinations and crimes, his slogan was: “if he caught it, he dragged it, if it fell through, don’t ask.” Chichikov shows enormous efforts and inexhaustible ingenuity, and indulges in any scam if they promise success and promise the coveted penny. The hero understands that capital becomes the master of life, that all the power is in the box with which he travels around Russia, buying up dead souls from landowners. Life and the environment taught him that “you can’t take a straight road and that an oblique road is more straight forward.”

Ready to deceive and rob the nobles, Chichikov himself is under the spell of the life of the noble class. Having imagined himself as a Kherson landowner, he sincerely strives to adapt psychologically and everyday life to the nobility, which is expressed in the appearance and habits of the hero.

Chichikov can be called a gentleman in manners and a bourgeois entrepreneur at heart. His bourgeois entrepreneurship still appears in the form that characterizes the period of primitive accumulation. Gogol calls Chichikov a scoundrel, a master, an acquirer. The hero’s meanness lies in the fact that he is ready to profit from the grief and illness of people. The author notes that Chichikov strives to get to those provinces where epidemics and epidemics occurred, since more peasants died there. For the same reason, he is interested in crop failures and famines occurring more often. About the hero’s acquisition, the author writes: “Acquisition is the fault of everything; because of it, deeds were carried out that the world calls not very pure.”

Images of landowners are created by describing the village, manor house and interior, portrait characteristics, attitude to Chichikov’s proposal, description of the purchase and sale process itself; At the same time, Gogol highlights the leading, main character trait of the character. Chichikov is revealed somewhat differently. There is no demonstration here through the attitude towards serfdom, through a description of everyday life. If all landowners, except Plyushkin, are given statically, then Chichikov is given in development, in the process of becoming. Depicting landowners, the writer highlights their defining features, while Chichikov is revealed in many ways.

In order to more clearly illuminate the origin and life development of a new type - Chichikov, and to comprehend his historical place, the writer dwells in detail on his biography, character and psychology. Gogol shows how his ability to adapt to the situation and navigate in any situation developed; Depending on the conditions, Chichikov’s manner and tone of conversation changes. Everywhere he charms, sometimes arouses admiration and always achieves his goal: “You need to know that Chichikov was the most decent person who has ever existed in the world... He never allowed himself an indecent word in his speech and was always offended if he saw in the words of others lack of due respect for rank or title..."

New hero era has many advantages that the landed nobles do not have: some education, energy, enterprise, extraordinary dexterity. Chichikov knows how to find an approach to every person, quickly guessing the character traits of people, accurately identifying their strengths and weaknesses; win over new acquaintances, the appearance of good manners helps the hero gain confidence. In a conversation with Manilov, he looks like Manilov; with Korobochka, Chichikov “spoke... with more freedom than with Manilov, and did not stand on ceremony at all.”

In conversations “with rulers, he very skillfully knew how to flatter everyone. He somehow hinted in passing to the governor that entering his province was like entering paradise, the roads were velvet everywhere... He said something very flattering to the police chief about the city guards...” Constantly changing his appearance, Chichikov carefully hides his fraudulent goals from those around him.

Symbolizing the advent of the era of the bourgeois, the era of dexterous, tenacious, energetic people who profess the morality of acquisition, Chichikov demonstrates perseverance, energy, practicality of mind, and willpower. Gogol writes: “We must do justice to the irresistible force of his character.” In terms of practical ingenuity and resourcefulness, the hero - the “acquirer” stands out strongly among the representatives of the patriarchal landed order, in whom immobility, inertia and deadness have firmly built a nest for themselves.

At the same time, Chichikov also has features in common with landowners - a lack of civic interests and socio-political conservatism. Chichikov does not worship either humility or virtue, but he needs them to achieve his goal. He is calculating and knows how to patiently wait for the right moment. The thirst for profit and the desire to occupy a commanding position in society haunt him. Civil and patriotic feelings are alien to Chichikov; he treats with complete indifference everything that does not concern his personal, selfish interests.

Noble society mistook the swindler and rogue Chichikov for outstanding person. Gogol writes that “the word “millionaire” is to blame for everything, not the millionaire himself, but precisely one word; for in one sound of this word, besides every money bag, there is something that affects both scoundrel people, and neither this nor that, and good people, in a word, it affects everyone.” In Chichikov, bourgeois traits appear with such strength and truthfulness that contemporaries already saw a wide range of public importance this type.

Topic: “Chichikov - the new “hero” of the era.”

Target: learn to build reasoning based on the text from the analysis of the proposed fragment; develop skills in structuring a detailed answer to a proposed question, taking into account the educational task, the ability to use it as an argumentative basis literary text and literary-critical material, do analysis and self-analysis of the work performed, the ability to find errors and improve the work performed; cultivate a sense of decency and attentive attitude towards other people, determination.

Texts for work in the Russian language lesson ( control test according to the 9th grade program).

1 option

1) It is most fair to call him: owner, acquirer. 2) Acquisition is the fault of everything. 3) Because of him, deeds were carried out that the world calls not very pure. 4) True, there is already something repulsive in such a character. 5) But he is wise who does not disdain any character, but, fixing an inquiring gaze on it, probes it to its original causes. 6) Everything quickly turns into a person. 7) And more than once not only a broad passion, but an insignificant passion for something small grew in those born on best feats, made him forget great and holy duties and see great and holy things in insignificant trinkets. 8) Countless, like sea ​​sands, human passions, and all are different from one another, and all of them, low and beautiful, are at first submissive to man and then become his terrible masters. 9) And, perhaps, in this same Chichikov, the passion that attracts him is no longer from him, and in his cold existence lies what will later drive a person to dust and to his knees before the wisdom of heaven. (N.V. Gogol “Dead Souls” chapter 11).

1 option

1. From sentences 7-8, write out a word with an alternating vowel at the root.

2. From sentences 8-9, write down a word whose spelling of the consonant in the prefix depends on the unvoiced consonant sound following the prefix.

4. Explain the placement of the dash in sentence 2.

5. Write the number of a complex sentence with a subordinate clause (sentences 1-4)

6. From sentences 3-6, write down an introductory word.

7. Write down the number of the sentence (from sentences 5-7) containing a separate circumstance.

Key (1 option)

1. grew

2. countless

3. concluded

6. truth (sentence 4)

8. commas when homogeneous members offers.

9. 1,2 - comparative phrase, 3 - SSP, 4 - SSP, 5,6 - isolated agreed definitions expressed by single adjectives

Option 2

1) The method of revealing gradation is Gogol’s conscious attitude. 2) In “Selected Places...” he writes: “My heroes follow one after another, one more vulgar than the other.”

3) In the process of depicting the landowners, the image of the main character, Chichikov, also unfolds before the readers. 4) Landowners and officials, depicted by Gogol, compete in spiritual emasculation. 5) But both of them are clearly superior to Chichikov - the active knight of the “penny”. 6) He is more greedy in his pursuit of acquisitions than Korobochka, who takes seven skins from her serfs, more callous than Sobakevich and more impudent than Nozdryov in the means of enrichment.

7) In the final chapter, which completes the biography of Chichikov, he is finally exposed as a cunning predator, acquirer and entrepreneur of the bourgeois type, a civilized scoundrel, the master of life.

8) Gogol, a keen observer, correctly saw the growth of rapidly developing bourgeois tendencies in the depths of the feudal-serf regime. 9) And these tendencies found in him a merciless accuser, who noticed in them the terrible, enslaving power of money, associated with monstrous speculation, with deliberately fraudulent adventures. (A.I. Revyakin “History of Russian literature of the 19th century.” M. “Enlightenment” 1985)

Option 2

1. From sentences 5-6, write out a word with an alternating vowel at the root.

2. From sentences 3-4, write down a word whose spelling of the consonant in the prefix depends on the voiced consonant sound following the prefix.

3. From sentence 9, write out the passive participle.

5. Write the number of a complex sentence with a subordinate clause (sentences 7-9)

6. Write out an agreed definition from sentences 4-5.

7. Write down the number of the sentence (from sentences 5-6) containing a separate definition.

8. Explain the placement of punctuation marks in sentence 7.

9. Number the punctuation marks in sentence 8 and explain their placement.

10. Choose the correct answer, which describes the characteristics of sentence 9:

1) simple complex sentence

2) compound sentence

3) complex sentence

4) complex sentence with coordinating and subordinating connections

Key (2 option)

1. fighting

2. unfolds

3. related

4. a common application at the end of a sentence

6. outlined by Gogol (4th sentence)

8. 1,2 - participial phrase, 3,4,5 - homogeneous terms

9. 1,2 - common application, 3 - participial phrase

Option 3

1) Remember Chichikov’s traveling box - it’s a poem! 2) This is a poem about acquisition, squeezing out sweat in the name of a million. 3) There is a city poster, torn from a pedestal, and a funeral card, telling his sober mind about the transience of life. 4) The same pile of Plyushkin, only not disheveled, but brought into symmetry, where each item is relevant. 5) Plyushkin’s pile is a cemetery of dead things, Chichikov’s box is a business man’s traveling suitcase.

6) The comic journey ends tragically, and tragedy permeates the final lines of “Dead Souls” about the trio flying into the unknown.

7) Before this ending, Chichikov falls asleep, reassured by his successful escape from the city, and as if in a dream he sees his own childhood, which the author himself talks about.

8) This story about Chichikov’s childhood will then give acceleration to his troika, pick it up as if on wings and carry it to the unknown second volume.

9) In this passage, the contrast is especially felt - the vast Rus' and the “government carriage” - a symbol of soulless, terrible state power. (Zolotussky I. Article “Chichikov is mixed with completely different yeast” “Literature at school”, No. 2, 1999).

Option 3

1. From sentences 4-5, write out a word with an alternating vowel at the root.

2. From sentences 4-5, write down a word whose spelling of the consonant in the prefix depends on the unvoiced consonant sound following the prefix.

3. Write out the passive participle from sentence 3.

4. Explain the placement of the dash in sentence 5.

5. Write the number of the compound sentence (sentences 5-6)

6. Write out homogeneous terms from sentences 2-3.

7. Write down the number of the sentence (from sentences 1-3) containing a separate definition.

8. Explain the placement of punctuation marks in sentence 7.

9. Number the punctuation marks in sentence 9 and explain their placement.

10. Choose the correct answer, which describes the characteristics of sentence 7:

1) simple complex sentence

2) compound sentence

3) complex sentence

4) complex sentence with coordinating and subordinating connections

Key (3 option)

1. dead

2. disheveled

3. torn

4. a dash between the subject and the predicate, expressed by nouns (a compound nominal predicate with a missing connective)

6. acquisition, squeezing out sweat; poster, ticket

8. 1,2 - participial phrase, 2 - homogeneous predicates, 3 - attributive clause

9. 1 and 2 dashes - a common application, 3 commas - homogeneous members

How to check your work.

1. See if the work has an introduction and answer the question: “Does the introduction correspond to the content of the main work, does it prepare you for the perception of the main part of the work?” If not, rebuild the introduction or remove it.

2. See whether the proposed fragment is correctly interpreted, whether all the thoughts and concepts contained in it are worked out and explained.

3. See if the work has a working thesis and whether it corresponds to the interpretation of the fragment.

4. Reread the argument and answer the question: “Does the argument support the working thesis and the interpreted fragment?” If it does not confirm, “frame” it with reflections or replace it (we do similar work with each of the arguments).

5. See whether the work has a final part, whether it echoes the introduction, thesis and interpretation of the fragment, whether it is a logical conclusion from everything said above. If not, rebuild the output.

6. Check whether all sentences and parts of the work are related to each other in meaning and grammatically.

7. Check for errors. If you are in doubt about the spelling of a word, check it in a dictionary or replace it with a synonym. If you can’t analyze the structure of a sentence, rebuild it. Eliminate speech and grammatical errors (“mint” phrases).

Evaluation criteria:

K1. There is an introduction and it correlates with the interpretation of the fragment and the working thesis, corresponds to the content of the main part of the work, and prepares for its perception (1 point).

K2. The proposed fragment is interpreted, all thoughts and concepts contained in it are worked out and explained (2 points).

The fragment is interpreted, but not all concepts are considered and explained (1 point).

The fragment is not interpreted (0 points).

K3. The working thesis corresponds to the interpretation of the fragment (2 points).

There is a working thesis, but it does not correspond to the interpretation of the fragment (1 point).

There is no working thesis (0 points).

K4. The arguments confirm the working thesis and the interpreted fragment (the first three theses are taken into account) (for each correctly selected argument - 3 points; maximum number of points - 9).

K5. The final part echoes the introduction, working thesis and interpretation of the fragment, and is a logical conclusion from everything said above (3 points).

The conclusion logically completes the main part of the work, but it does not correlate with the introduction and thesis (1 point)

There is no conclusion or it does not correspond to the content of the work (0 points).

K6. All sentences and parts of the work are interconnected in meaning and grammatically (3 points).

There is one logical error (2 points).

There are two logical errors (1 point).

More than 2 logical errors were made (0 points).

The maximum number of points is 20.

Scores: 15-20 points - “5”

11-14 points - “4”

9-13 points - “3”

0-8 points - “2”

Board design.

Reverse side (board closed)

Homework:

1 option

Mark the most striking ones in the text of the poem lyrical digressions(chapter 5 (a digression about an aptly spoken Russian word), chapter 7 (about two types of writers; about barge haulers), chapter 11 (about a bird-troika, about the road, about Rus' and its heroes, about the choice of a hero). Which one artistic function do they fulfill?

Option 2

Prepare a message on the topic: “What does Gogol's image roads?

Board in a spread

1 leaf

Fragments from chapter 11 of N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”

1) It is very doubtful that the readers will like the hero we have chosen...a good-natured person is still not taken as a hero...it’s time to finally hide the scoundrel too

2) Who is he regarding moral qualities? That he is not a hero, full of perfection and virtuous, is clear. Who is he? So, a scoundrel? Why a scoundrel, why be so strict with others?

3) But he is wise who does not disdain any character, but, fixing an inquisitive gaze on it, probes it to its original causes.

Central door

Chichikov - the new hero of the era?

Essay-reasoning

Structure:

1. Introductory part

A)+- Introduction

B) Working with a fragment (interpretation of a fragment)

C) A working thesis formulated based on the interpretation of the fragment

2. The main part of the work is an argument with proof or illustration of the working thesis, containing at least 2-3 arguments (link to the text, quotation, partial quotation, partial retelling; link to a literary-critical assessment of the work), confirming the provisions put forward in the thesis.

3. The final part of the work (conclusion from everything said above).

2 doors

A thesis is a statement that briefly states an idea.

Argument - argument, proof.

Lesson progress

1. Recording homework

2. Definition of the learning task

Today we are practicing the skills of composing an argumentative essay in accordance with the educational task that you are asked to solve when completing the task in part C2 of the GIA. The difference is that as an argumentative basis we will use the text of the work and its literary-critical assessment (texts proposed for implementation test work in a Russian language lesson, teaching aids, literary critical materials). Thus, we will continue preparing for the Russian language exam and work on several essay topics that you will be asked to write upon completion of studying the poem “Dead Souls” and the works of N.V. Gogol.

At the end of the lesson, we have to clarify the wording of the lesson topic written on the board.

For today's lesson, you wrote an essay on the topic: “Who is he, this Chichikov?” Using the consultant sheet “How to check your work,” you checked the written work, eliminated errors and evaluated your work in accordance with the evaluation criteria.

3.Working with essays written by students. Who gave themselves a “5” rating? (one work is taken by the teacher for checking, students are divided into pairs, exchange notebooks and check each other’s work with the help of a consultant sheet. All notes and corrections are made in pencil. After checking, a second grade is given. When grading, only the literary component is taken into account in accordance with the proposed criteria). To complete the work - 15 minutes.

4. Analysis of work assessed by the teacher(students’ work, evaluated by classmates, is submitted for control).

5. Working with the proposed sample(the work is analyzed without output).

Who is this Chichikov?

So why is he, according to the author’s definition, a scoundrel? Yes, because he could not cope with one “passion”. This is a passion for acquisition, hoarding, the desire to become the master of life. “Countless, like the sands of the sea, are human passions, and all are different from one another, and all of them, low and beautiful, are at first submissive to man and then become his terrible rulers,” says N.V. Gogol. Chichikov fell under the power of “low” passion and became its slave. And the reason for this is living conditions, time, imposing strict and cruel laws, and God knows what else! N.V. Gogol hinted at the future rebirth of Chichikov and the edifying lesson that his “passion”—acquisitiveness—receives in connection with this. “And, perhaps, in this same Chichikov, the passion that attracts him is no longer from him, and in his cold existence lies what will later drive a person to dust and to his knees before the wisdom of heaven.” But the author’s plan was not destined to come true. Chichikov remained the same Chichikov with whom we parted, leafing through last page poem - a “strange scoundrel” who, however, has something to learn.

Literature in general literary work and every literary hero in particular is a “textbook of life.” So what lessons do we learn by solving Chichikov's riddle? A hero can teach us moderation of accuracy, the ability, if necessary, to curb one’s desires, diplomacy in relationships with people, organization, perseverance and determination. But the most main lesson received while communicating with Chichikov is a lesson in decency. Using the example of our hero’s unseemly actions, we are convinced that the biggest sin is to play with the destinies of people, to step over people on the way to achieving any, even a very “lofty” goal. There is nothing more immoral than the phrase: “The end justifies the means.” Only the goal that is achieved by “moral means” can be justified and will bring good luck and peace of mind to those who achieve it.

6. There is no final part to the work. Let's finish the job together. So what lessons do we learn by solving Chichikov's riddle? (conversation with the class, conclusion read out)

7. Let’s clarify the wording of the topic(it is advisable to quote the word “hero” and remove the question mark).

Who is this Chichikov?

F.M. Dostoevsky argued that every person is a mystery, and it must be solved in order to remain human. And N.V. Gogol continued and developed his thought: “... the wise is the one who does not disdain any character, but, fixing an inquiring gaze on it, probes it to its original causes.” Following the precepts of the classics, we will try to solve the riddle of Chichikov. After all, by “unraveling” another, we become wiser, because everyone, even if not a very “virtuous hero,” has something to learn.

And this is exactly how the author sees his main character, Chichikov. In chapter 11 of the poem “Dead Souls”, starting a detailed description of his character, “searching” for the “original causes” of his “moral qualities”, N.V. Gogol suggests that the “hero” he “chosen” is unlikely to please the reader, clearly calling him a scoundrel. And already finishing the story about him, he urges us not to be “strict” towards him. It seems that the author himself has an ambivalent attitude towards his hero, and for him he is a mystery.

So who is Chichikov? Is he a scoundrel or a “virtuous” person? And if he is a scoundrel, then what is the reason for his meanness? Where is Chichikov's riddle hidden and how to solve it?

I. Zolotussky spoke about Chichikov like this: “... he’s still some kind of strange scoundrel.” By carefully reading the lines of the work, we are convinced of this. Chichikov is a dual nature. He is, one might say, a “reluctant scoundrel,” not devoid of positive qualities.

There is no doubt that Chichikov is a scoundrel. My father’s instructions about the need to please teachers and bosses, to “hang around” with those who are richer and can be useful, to save a penny, which is “more reliable than anything in the world” and can “overwhelm everything” not only “sank deep... into the soul” Pavlushi, but also received creative development. He has succeeded in this matter! Pavlusha not only “saved a penny”, denying himself everything and preparing for a future comfortable life (this is not the biggest sin), but also “stepped over people”, moving towards his intended goal (and this is already a sin, and the one who acts like this you can’t call it anything other than a scoundrel). Let us remember how sophisticatedly he “pumped” money from his classmates, how he “cheated, greatly cheated” his teacher. It should be noted that there was something to cheat him for when he was “in power and authority.” But circumstances changed, and the former beloved student somehow acted basely, refusing to help the one who found himself in a humiliated position and “from whose hand he fed.” And the case of the “insensitive” and “incredible” police officer, under whose command the official Chichikov worked hard. And our hero “attracted” him, “attracted his favor” and “cheated” him, “cheated” him in the most dishonest way, playing on his fatherly feelings. Yes, he didn’t just “cheat”, but also “hooked”! And having crossed this “most difficult threshold,” our hero “easier and more successfully” coped with the multi-level difficulties that arise on the way to his cherished goal, honing the skill of a swindler. He “tried on” various roles, masterfully transformed himself, did not disdain any means, played with people like a cat and a mouse. Well, who is he after that if not a scoundrel! It is no coincidence that A.I. Revyakin calls him a “clever predator”, “a civilized scoundrel”, accuses him of greed (“more greedy in his pursuit of acquisitions than Korobochka”), callousness (“callouser than Sobakevich”), and arrogance (“brazener than Korobochka”). Nozdryov in the means of enrichment"), pronouncing an unconditional verdict of guilty on him: Chichikov surpasses all landowners “in spiritual emasculation.”

But is our hero so monstrously heartless? We would venture to guess that no. It is no coincidence that I. Zolotussky calls him a “strange scoundrel,” N.G. Chernyshevsky claims that Chichikov is “the most difficult character,” and N.V. Gogol, being a brilliant artist and an excellent psychologist, he simply could not create such an unambiguous image and even make him the main character of his “pinnacle” work. Chichikov has a lot of advantages. He, unlike landowners and officials, is unusually active. His ingenuity knows no bounds. Just look at his adventure with buying dead souls and enriching himself due to the inertia and short-sightedness of the landowners, the “inhibition” of the “state-bureaucratic machine”! He's neat. Even doing menial work, he stood out favorably from his colleagues, petty officials. He is sensitive. Let us remember the moment of his meeting with the blonde, the embodiment of purity and innocence. He became lost in thought and forgot about everything around him. And when meeting with an already familiar blonde at the governor’s ball, “Chichikov was so confused that he could not utter a single good words" And in this muteness a share of true experience was “hidden”. Chichikov is a subtle psychologist. The “grain” of this hero is the ability to adapt to people, to guess them. With Manilov he is amiable, with Korobochka he is persistent, with Nozdryov he is assertive, he bargains with Sobakevich as relentlessly as Sobakevich does with him, Plyushkina conquers with his “generosity.” Chichikov is capable of deep reflection. The following passage in the work is interesting for understanding Chichikov’s character. After one of his failures - dismissal from customs for smuggling - Chichikov reflects: “Why me? Why did trouble befall me? Who is yawning in office now? - everyone buys. I didn’t make anyone unhappy: I didn’t rob the widow, I didn’t let anyone go around the world... Why do others prosper and why should I perish like a worm?” And this is true: Chichikov wanted to get rich by “cheating” the state, but at this stage of his life he did not commit dishonorable acts in relation to people. Continuing his thoughts, Chichikov asks himself the question: “And what will my children say later? “Here,” they will say, “father, the brute, didn’t leave us any fortune!” This also characterizes our hero with positive side: his father’s lesson was put to good use (his father, by and large, left him only a covenant, which largely determined him future fate: following the behest of a mismanagement and irresponsible father, Chichikov turned into a swindler and a swindler). And our hero wants to provide his children with a comfortable life. And all the reflections that accompany Chichikov’s actions are a kind of attempt to understand them, to give oneself an account of them. This does not happen with other characters in the poem. They tend to act like beings of a low spiritual organization, almost like animals. Chichikov does not give up when he suffers numerous failures and is returned to his starting position. “Crying won’t help your grief, you have to get things done,” he gives himself an instruction, and again, with a clean slate, he gets down to business and again achieves what he wants. One can envy such determination, organization and perseverance! It should be taken into account that Chichikov had to achieve everything in life on his own, without counting on outside help, and this is very difficult! Let's return to the author's assessment of the moral qualities of his hero. Admiring his ability to endure and limit himself in everything, if necessary, the author says that he is “the most decent person who has ever existed in the world.” And here is another fragment from the work in which the author positively evaluates moral qualities of his hero: “It cannot be said, however, that the nature of our hero was so harsh and callous and his feelings were so dulled that he knew neither pity nor compassion; he felt both, he would even like to help, but only if it did not involve a significant amount... But he had no attachment to money itself for the sake of money; he was not possessed by stinginess and stinginess. No, it was not they who moved him: he imagined a life ahead of him in all comforts, with all sorts of prosperity... So that finally, later, over time, he would definitely taste all this, that’s why the penny was saved, sparingly denied to himself and to others.” And who among us, hand on heart, does not dream of a comfortable and “sweet” life? But not everyone knows how to curb their passions and limit themselves in everything, but Chichikov knew how.

So why is he, according to the author’s definition, a scoundrel? Yes, because he could not cope with one “passion”. This is a passion for acquisition, hoarding, the desire to become the master of life. “Countless, like the sands of the sea, are human passions, and all are different from one another, and all of them, low and beautiful, are at first submissive to man and then become his terrible rulers,” says N.V. Gogol. Chichikov fell under the power of “low” passion and became its slave. And the reason for this is living conditions, time, imposing strict and cruel laws, and God knows what else! N.V. Gogol hinted at the future rebirth of Chichikov and the edifying lesson that his “passion”—acquisitiveness—receives in connection with this. “And, perhaps, in this same Chichikov, the passion that attracts him is no longer from him, and in his cold existence lies what will later bring a person to the dust and to his knees before wisdom

At the literature lesson we got acquainted with the work of N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". This poem gained great popularity. The work has been filmed several times both in the Soviet Union and in modern Russia. Also, the names of the main characters have become symbolic: Plyushkin is a symbol of stinginess and storage of unnecessary things, Sobakevich is an uncouth person, Manilovism is immersion in dreams that have no connection with reality. Some phrases have become catchphrases.

The main character of the poem is Chichikov. Chichikov's portrait is different from other residents of the city. He is not handsome, but not bad-looking, not too fat, not too thin, not old, but not young either. The author classifies him as a “mediocre gentleman.” But still, Chichikov liked everything in his appearance to be noble, because... appearance is one of his main weapons. At first he wore a lingonberry-colored tailcoat, but by the end of the poem he changed it to a jacket European style. This can be explained by the fact that he feels a change in his position in society. His status has grown, so now he needs to look different. He tried to flatter people with high ranks and did not allow rudeness in conversation, but with his equals or with lower ranks he behaved proudly. All the heroes spoke of him as a decent person, even “Sobakevich, who rarely spoke on the good side of anyone,” called him “a very unpleasant person.”

Chichikov's origins are “dark and modest.” It is not known whether he is a nobleman, a pillar or a personal one. He spent his childhood in a small house, without comrades, friends, with a sick father. The father constantly forced his son to learn to read and write, and raised him according to the principle “don’t lie, listen to your elders and carry virtue in your heart.” When the father sent his son to school, he gave him the instruction: “Look, Pavlusha, study, don’t be stupid and don’t hang around, and most of all please the bosses with your teachers. Hang out with those who are richer, so that on occasion they can be useful to you. Better behave in such a way that you will be treated, and most of all, take care and save a penny: this thing is more reliable than anything in the world.” Chichikov followed his father’s instructions and was very successful in this matter. As a result, he grew up to be an egoist whose greed knows no bounds.
At school, he pleased the teacher, as his father instructed, and graduated with good grades. Chichikov also succeeded in commercial affairs. He denied himself everything and sold his comrades their own treats, after which he showed initiative in different ways and began to earn good money from it. For him, a penny became higher than any human relationship. When his former comrades collected money to help a teacher in trouble, Chichikov made the excuse of not having enough and was ready to give only a nickel of silver. Thus began his hoarding policy.

In the service, Chichikov found an approach even to the most unapproachable boss. He has a keen sense of human nature and is a good artist. All this helps in work. I would also like to note his patience. Not everyone is willing to wait that long to achieve their goal, given all the ups and downs that Chichikov experienced. I would like to talk about his service at customs. At the beginning, he pretends that he came to serve with good intentions. His superiors promote him, and then he sets about his true goals. But due to carelessness, he involves his friend in this matter. Afterwards, allowing himself to be stupid, he manages to quarrel with him. And in the end they report each other to their superiors.

Mr. Chichikov, as a new hero of the era, fully reflected a unique phenomenon in Russian life - the emergence of the bourgeoisie. And yet, being a typical hero of the original capitalist system, Chichikov revealed a completely new, revolutionary type in Russian literature, which became immortal. You can meet the “Chichikovs” everywhere: in any country, and in any era.

Universal type of scammer

Can Chichikov be called a hero of his time, like Pechorin? Without a doubt. But, if the image of Chichikov - a rogue and a cunning man - was new to Russian literature, it was not to European literature. IN spanish literature appeared in the second half of the 16th century new genre- a picaresque novel. His heroes, like a distorting mirror, were contrasted with the heroes of the noble " chivalric novels", their sublime deeds and aspirations. The appearance of such a hero is also associated with changes in the production and economic structure of Spain, just as the appearance of the hero Chichikov is associated with the decline of the slave-owning farming system in Russia. And the new hero was fully in keeping with the times, both in Spain and in Russia. This is a scoundrel, a rogue and a swindler who does not disdain meanness and lies to everyone: officials, ordinary people, nobles and scammers like himself.

Common features of scammers in literature

Origin of scammers European literature usually very vague, like the origin of Chichikov, whose parents: “were nobles, but pillar or private - God knows,” and Gogol does not mention his mother at all. There are no remarkable features in their portraits, otherwise they could be identified and revealed. Here is the main character of the poem “Dead Souls” Pavel Ivanovich - the author describes him as neither fish nor fowl: “not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin; I can’t say that I’m old, but I can’t say that I’m too young.” The main motivation for Chichikov’s actions also coincides with the motivation of his colleagues in European literature of the picaresque novel genre: momentary gain and rich life in the future.

You have to laugh at evil

At the very end, Gogol, without hesitation, compares Chichikov with Napoleon, who was kept in prison and then released “from the island of Helena, and now he is making his way to Russia, supposedly Chichikov, but in fact not Chichikov at all.” It is precisely this comparison of the ruler of the world with Chichikov - a swindler, a petty swindler - that is the main innovation of N.V. Gogol. He seems to be telling us that it is in the hands of “chichikovs” of all stripes, in the hands of these small and unscrupulous people that the control of the world is now concentrated. Chichikov absorbed and immediately devalued all the features of the romantic hero.

It is Chichikov who is the symbol of the “new money” so despised at all times. Chichikov is to some extent nouveau riche, but, to his credit, he may well be a collective image of the ancestors of the now respected Rothschilds and Rockefellers. And it’s unlikely that Chichikov ever looked like absolute evil. Because even evil in his image is reduced and turns into a farce.

Chichikov symbolizes the advent of a new time: a time of incredibly dexterous, cunning, resourceful, energetic people, not burdened by the moral code of chivalry, but obsessed with the idea of ​​acquisition and profit. At the same time, Chichikov is a conservative; progress and the needs of humanity are alien to him. People like him always care only about themselves. And in the end, is Chichikov’s type really so far from our modern times? Who knows.

Our article will help you write an essay “Chichikov - a hero of the era” when preparing your homework, will reveal the image of the character and will allow you to better understand the motives of Chichikov’s actions in the light of the historical transition from serfdom to capitalism.

Work test