Collection of essays: Officials of the city of NN in the poem by N.V. Gogol “ Dead Souls”
The theme of bureaucracy, bureaucratic arbitrariness and lawlessness runs through the entire work of N.V. Gogol. Images of officials are found in romantic stories"Evenings on a farm near Dikanka", in realistic works"Mirgorod" and stories about St. Petersburg. The comedy "The Inspector General" is dedicated to bureaucracy.
IN " Dead souls“This theme is intertwined with the theme of serfdom. The guardians of order are in many ways akin to the landowners. Gogol draws the attention of readers to this already in the first chapter of the work. Talking about thin and fat gentlemen, the author of the poem comes to the conclusion: “Finally, the fat man, having served God and the sovereign, having earned universal respect, leaves the service... and becomes a landowner, a glorious Russian gentleman, a hospitable man, and lives and lives well...” The work gives an evil satire on robber officials and on the “hospitable” Russian bar.
So, the officials in the poem are shown satirically. For the author, they, like the landowners, are “dead souls.” The symbolic meaning of the title of the work also applies to officials. Talking about them, Gogol skillfully reflects the individual qualities of the governor, prosecutor, postmaster and others and at the same time creates collective image bureaucracy.
While still in the city, before his trip to the noble estates, Chichikov pays visits to city officials. This allows the author to introduce officials to the reader and draw their expressive portraits. Here is one of them - a portrait of the governor: like Chichikov, he “was neither fat nor thin, had Anna on his neck, and it was even rumored that he had been introduced to a star; however, he was a great good-natured man and even sometimes embroidered on tulle himself...” Gogol combines “high” and “low” in his characterization: “star” and embroidery. It turns out that the governor was nominated for an award not for his services to the Fatherland, but for his ability to embroider. With the help of subtle irony, the author exposes the idleness of one of the most important persons in the city.
Gogol uses the same technique of inconsistency when describing the postmaster, “a short man, but a wit and a philosopher.” The author deliberately violates logic: he connects the incompatible in the characterization of the hero. After all, “short” is distinctive feature a person’s appearance, and “philosopher” is an assessment of his mental abilities. The adversarial conjunction “but” in this phrase strengthens the alogism: despite his short stature, the hero is a philosopher. Words in strange proximity take on a different meaning. The word "short" means no longer accepted appearance, but refers to the inner life of a person. It is in this way that Gogol exposes the low demands of the official. The postmaster, it turns out, has only one strong passion in his life. This is not a service, but a game of cards. Only at the playing table does the “grandiose” mental principle in the character manifest itself: “... having taken the cards in his hands, he immediately expressed a thinking physiognomy on his face, covered his upper lip with his lower lip and maintained this position throughout the entire game.”
By visiting important persons of the city together with Chichikov, the reader is convinced that they do not burden themselves with concerns about government affairs. Officials live idly, devoting all their time to dinner parties and playing cards. For example, Chichikov went “...to lunch with the police chief, where from three o’clock in the afternoon they sat down to whist and played until two o’clock in the morning.” When registering the purchase of serfs, witnesses were required. “Send now to the prosecutor,” says Sobakevich, “he is a man he’s idle and probably sits at home: the solicitor does everything for him.”
With irony, bordering on sarcasm, the author shows the level of culture and education of provincial officials. They were “... more or less enlightened people: some read Karamzin, some Moskovskie Vedomosti, some even read nothing at all.” The topic of conversation at social events is a clear indication of the spiritual poverty and narrow outlook of civil servants. They talk about horses, dogs, talk about playing billiards and “making hot wine.” Often at parties they gossip about the tricks of judges and “customs overseers and officials.”
In the society of officials, “meanness, completely disinterested, pure meanness” flourishes. Ladies quarrel, and their husbands quarrel. “There was no duel, of course, between them, because they were all civil officials, but on the other hand, each tried to harm the other wherever possible, which, as we know, is sometimes more difficult than any duel.”
Gogol shows the immorality of officials even through the description of the public places where they serve. “On the square there is a large three-story stone house, all white as chalk...” The author ironically explains: “... white as chalk, probably to depict the purity of the souls of the positions housed in it.” These “pure souls” want only one thing: to live widely at the expense of “the sums of their dearly beloved fatherland.”
Officials rob both the state and the petitioners. Embezzlement, bribery, robbery of the population are everyday and completely natural phenomena. The police chief “only has to blink when passing a fish row or a cellar,” as balyks and excellent wines appear on his table. Not a single request is considered without a bribe. The chairman of the chamber warns Chichikov: “... you don’t give anything to the officials... My friends should not pay". Monstrous immorality is revealed in these words of a high-ranking official. He calls everything by its proper name, without even trying to hide his general corruption. All officials use their official position for personal interests. In bureaucratic Russia this has become an unwritten law.
There is no significant difference in the actions and views of officials, in their way of life. Gogol creates a group portrait of people connected with each other mutual guarantee. When Chichikov’s scam was revealed, the officials were confused and everyone “suddenly found ... sins in themselves.” Hence their indecision: is Chichikov the kind of person “who needs to be detained and captured as ill-intentioned, or is he the kind of person who can seize and detain them all himself?” as ill-intentioned." The tragicomic situation in which the “owners of the city” found themselves was created as a result of their criminal activities.
Gogol angrily and mercilessly ridicules officials. He cannot tolerate arbitrariness and lawlessness. By showing people in power as crooks, the author makes the reader horrified and think about true human destiny.
Motive for rejection modern image life is quite clearly visible in all of Gogol’s works. This is “Taras Bulba” together with “Old World Landowners”, where Gogol turns to romanticism as a method in order to show all the pettiness and emptiness in contrast with the past present life. These are the St. Petersburg stories, where this motive is so obvious and strong that there is even special meaning in writing about it. These are, finally, the main (according to many) works of Gogol - Dead Souls and The Inspector General. There modern life personifies the bureaucratic class. This is what our conversation will be about.
In the Auditor, officials are the main ones characters, on which all of Gogol’s satire is focused. In “Dead Souls” it’s a little different. Despite the fact that the poem mainly focuses its attention on landowners, and not on officials, starting from the seventh chapter, they begin to play an important role in the work, which must be understood if we want to comprehend the entire complex meaning of the work.
Let’s start, perhaps, with “The Inspector General,” since this work was written by Gogol while writing the first volume of “Dead Souls,” and understanding the image of officials in “The Inspector General” helps to understand the image of officials in “Dead Souls.” The miracle and genius of the comedy, in my opinion, lies in the fact that Gogol portrayed the image of each individual landowner in such a way that he does not lose his individuality, but, at the same time, represents himself as part of this class, unloved by Gogol.
Each official has his own distinctive features and features. Anton Antonovich, for example, does not miss what “floats into his hands”, he is cunning, he loves to embezzle government money, as happened with the church under construction. He is one of the main persons of the philosophy that Nikolai Vasilyevich denies. It appears from time to time in his phrases in conversations with other officials.
The mayor is a swindler, a bribe-taker, who is afraid of only one thing - his superiors. That's why he was so distraught when he learned about the arrival of the auditor. The fear of punishment clouded his and other officials' reason. So much so that they mistook Khlestakov, a petty liar, for a significant person.
Other “city fathers” do not lag behind the mayor. Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin is a fan of hound hunting. He takes bribes exclusively with greyhound puppies. Among other officials he is known as a freethinker, since he “read five or six books” (one senses Gogol’s irony). He is less afraid than others, because he is calm that no one will look into his court. Artemy Filippovich Zemlyanika is a “pig in a yarmulke,” a trustee of charitable institutions who keeps a German doctor who does not understand anything in Russian.
Alogisms in general are often found in the work. Strawberry ultimately betrays all his comrades to Khlestakov, exposing his nature. Luka Lukich Khlopov is an extremely stupid and empty person. Is a trustee educational institutions and always complains about teachers. Finally, postmaster Shpekin, who spends his leisure time opening other people's letters and reading them. Ultimately, this “feature” of his reveals Khlestakov.
Moreover, Shpekin does not even understand that he is committing a bad act, but is only afraid of the fact that he is opening letters from high-ranking people. Despite the differences between these people, they are all part of a single whole. They are all slackers and do not care at all about the people entrusted to them. And if you leave out all the comedy, it becomes really scary.
As for Gogol’s poem, the officials are given the first chapter, as well as all the following after the 7th. Despite the absence of detailed and detailed images similar to the landowner heroes, the picture of bureaucratic life is strikingly accurate and expressive. He depicts this reality in an amazingly lapidary way, applying only certain “strokes”, like an embroidering governor and prosecutor, about whom nothing can be said other than his eyebrows. Another thing is also noteworthy.
Nikolai Vasilyevich in the poem carries out a certain classification of officials. In particular, in the first chapter, when describing the ball, there are “thin” and “thick”. Accordingly, the “fat” ones are the elite, already in years, settled down, benefiting from their position, and the “thin” ones are young, impulsive people. Chapter 7 describes the office, where there are the so-called “lower” ones - clerks, whose only occupation is to eavesdrop on different stories.
Sobakevich gives the officials a rather vicious but accurate description: “The swindler sits on the swindler and drives the swindler around.” All officials mess around, cheat, steal, offend the weak and tremble before the strong. All of them are a faceless mass, similar to “a squadron of flies that swoop down on the tasty morsels of refined sugar.”
Their behavior after the revelation of Chichikov’s scam and their attitude towards him in general are noteworthy. Chichikov, a master of communication, managed to win over each of them through flattery. And then, when his plan was revealed because of Nozdryov, the officials at first did not believe it, and then began to fear for themselves and their place. So much so that the prosecutor dies. After which it is discovered that he has a soul. Gogol's irony, as always, is felt.
But you really feel uneasy when you read “the story of Captain Kopeikin.” Her casual style of presentation is in direct contrast to her message. A person who has bled for his fatherland cannot receive help. Even the most basic. And this is to blame for the officials - the most diverse. Starting from provincial secretary, ending with the highest St. Petersburg dignitary. All of them are cold towards the misfortune of others and the fate of their state.
Summing up the above, we understand that the bureaucracy in both personifies everything that Nikolai Vasilyevich is struggling with. Namely, the aimlessness of existence, stupidity, spiritual emptiness and lawlessness in relation to people. This is precisely what explains their faceless images.
In “Dead Souls” the theme of serfdom is intertwined with the theme of bureaucracy, bureaucratic arbitrariness and lawlessness. The guardians of order in the poem are in many ways related to the landowners. Gogol draws the attention of readers to this already in the first chapter of “Dead Souls”. Talking about thin and fat gentlemen, the author of the poem comes to the conclusion: “Finally, the fat man, having served God and the sovereign, having earned universal respect, leaves the service... and becomes a landowner, a glorious Russian gentleman, a hospitable man, and lives and lives well...” This is evil a satire on robber officials and the “hospitable” Russian bar.
Both the owners of the estates and the provincial officials are at the lowest level of culture and education. Manilov, as we remember, has had the same book open on page fourteen for two years now. The officials “were also more or less enlightened people: some read Karamzin, some Moskovskie Vedomosti, some didn’t even read anything at all.”
Landowners and officials do not burden themselves with concerns about state affairs. The concept of civic duty is alien to both. Both of them live idly.
In the notes to the first volume of Dead Souls, Gogol wrote: “The idea of the city. Emptiness that has arisen to the highest degree. Idle talk. Gossip that has gone beyond limits... All this arose from idleness and took on the expression of the most ridiculous..."
When registering the purchase of serfs, witnesses were required. “Send now to the prosecutor,” says Sobakevich, “he is an idle man and probably sits at home: the lawyer Zolotukha, the greatest grabber in the world, does everything for him. An inspector of the medical board, he is also an idle man and, probably, at home, if he has not gone somewhere to play cards ... "
In the society of officials, “meanness, completely disinterested, pure meanness” flourishes. The ladies quarrel, and their husbands quarrel: “Of course, there was no duel between them, because they were all civil officials, but one tried to harm the other wherever possible, which, as we know, is sometimes harder than any duel.”
The city’s leaders 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. Embezzlement, bribery, robbery of the population are everyday and completely natural phenomena. The police chief “only has to blink when passing a fish row or a cellar” for balychki and excellent wines to appear on his table. No request is considered without a bribe. The chairman of the chamber warns Chichikov: “...don’t give anything to the officials... My friends shouldn’t pay.” The only exception is for friends (but Chichikov still, just in case, did not break the unwritten law and gave a bribe to Ivan Antonovich).
The police keep the city in constant fear. When society began to talk about a possible revolt of Chichikov’s men, the police chief noted that “in the disgust of it (the rebellion) there is the power of the police captain, that the police captain, although he did not go himself, but only sent his own cap to take his place, but one cap will drive the peasants to their very place of residence.”
There is no significant difference in the actions and views of officials, in their way of life. Gogol creates, as it were, a group portrait of people connected by mutual responsibility.
When Chichikov’s scam was revealed, the officials were confused, and everyone “suddenly found ... sins in themselves.” Hence their indecision: is Chichikov the kind of person “who needs to be detained and captured as ill-intentioned, or is he the kind of person who can himself seize and detain them all as ill-intentioned.” The tragic situation in which the “owners of the city” found themselves was created as a result of their criminal activities. Gogol laughs, laughs evilly and mercilessly. People in power help the fraudster in his dirty, criminal machinations and are afraid of him.
It is not only the authorities who commit arbitrariness and lawlessness provincial town, but also senior officials, the government itself. With “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin,” Gogol also touched on this very dangerous topic.
Hero and Disabled Patriotic War In 1812, Captain Kopeikin goes to the capital to ask for help. He is struck by the luxury of St. Petersburg, the splendor of the chambers and the cold indifference of the dignitary to the estate of a disabled person. The captain's persistent, legitimate requests for help were unsuccessful. The angry nobleman expelled him from St. Petersburg.
With the image of a soulless dignitary depicted in “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin,” Gogol completes his characterization of the world of officials. All of them, starting from Ivan Antonovich “jug snout”, a minor official of a provincial town, and ending with a nobleman, reveal the same pattern: swindlers, soulless people are guarding the rule of law.
The ending of “The Tale...” is significant. Captain Kopeikin did not put up with cruelty and insult. “A gang of robbers appeared in the Ryazan forests, and the ataman of this gang, my sir, was none other...”, like Captain Kopeikin.
With “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin,” Gogol reminded dignitaries of the anger of the oppressed people, of the possibility of open action against the authorities.
“Oh,” you say, after reading about the life of the city of NN, “don’t we ourselves know that there is a lot of despicable and stupid things in life! Why is the author showing us this again?” However, I think Gogol wanted to show this “despicable and stupid” not with the aim of irritating the reader. He wanted to correct a person, make life better. And he believed that only by reflecting, as in a mirror, all social and human vices can one fight them. I believe that the brilliant poem “Dead Souls” - the best for that confirmation.
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To the question Generalized characteristics city officials in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" given by the author Neuropathologist the best answer is Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna is a widow-landowner, the second “saleswoman” of dead souls to Chichikov. Main feature her character is commercial businesslike. For K., every person is only a potential buyer.
Manilov is a sentimental landowner, the first “seller” of dead souls.
Gogol emphasizes the emptiness and insignificance of the hero, covered by the sugary pleasantness of his appearance and the details of the furnishings of his estate. M.'s house is open to all winds, the thin tops of birches are visible everywhere, the pond is completely overgrown with duckweed. But the gazebo in M.’s garden is pompously named “Temple of Solitary Reflection.” M.’s office is covered with “blue paint, sort of grey,” which indicates the lifelessness of the hero, from whom you won’t get a single living word.
Nozdryov is the third landowner from whom Chichikov is trying to buy dead souls. This is a dashing 35-year-old “talker, carouser, reckless driver.” N. lies constantly, bullies everyone indiscriminately; he is very passionate, ready to “take a shit” on his best friend without any purpose. N.’s entire behavior is explained by his dominant quality: “nimbleness and liveliness of character,” that is, unrestrainedness bordering on unconsciousness. N. doesn’t think or plan anything; he simply does not know the limits in anything.
Stepan Plyushkin is the last “seller” of dead souls. This hero personifies complete mortification human soul. In the image of P. the author shows the death of the bright and strong personality, consumed by the passion of stinginess.
The description of P.'s estate (“he does not grow rich according to God”) depicts the desolation and “cluttering” of the hero’s soul. The entrance is dilapidated, there is a special disrepair everywhere, the roofs are like a sieve, the windows are covered with rags. Everything here is lifeless - even the two churches, which should be the soul of the estate
Sobakevich Mikhailo Semenych is a landowner, the fourth “seller” of dead souls. The very name and appearance of this hero (reminiscent of a “medium-sized bear”, his tailcoat is of a “completely bearish” color, he steps at random, his complexion is “red-hot, hot”) indicate the power of his nature.
Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich - main character poems. He, according to the author, has betrayed his true purpose, but is still able to be cleansed and resurrected in soul.
In the “acquirer” of Ch., the author portrayed a new evil for Russia - quiet, average, but enterprising. The average character of the hero is emphasized by his appearance: he is an “average gentleman”, not too fat, not too thin, etc. Ch. is quiet and inconspicuous, round and smooth. Ch.'s soul is like his box - there is a place there only for money (following his father's commandment to “save a penny”). He avoids talking about himself, hiding behind empty book phrases. But Ch.’s insignificance is deceptive. It is he and others like him who begin to rule the world. Gogol speaks of people like Ch.: “terrible and vile force.” She is vile because she cares only about her own benefit and profit, using all means. And it’s scary because it’s very strong. “Acquirers,” according to Gogol, are not capable of reviving the Fatherland. In the poem, Ch. travels around Russia and stops in the city of NN. There he meets all the important people, and then goes to the estates of the landowners Manilov and Sobakevich, along the way he also ends up with Korobochka, Nozdryov and Plyushkin. Ch. sells dead souls to all of them, without explaining the purpose of his purchases. In bargaining, Ch. reveals himself as a great expert on the human soul and as a good psychologist. He finds his own approach to each landowner and almost always achieves his goal. Having bought up the souls, Ch. returns to the city to draw up deeds of sale for them. Here he announces for the first time that he intends to “take out” the purchased souls to new lands, to the Kherson province. Gradually, in the city, the hero’s name begins to become surrounded by rumors, at first very flattering for him, and later destructive (that Ch is a counterfeiter, a fugitive Napoleon and almost the Antichrist). These rumors force the hero to leave the city. Ch. is endowed with the most detailed biography. This speaks of
The officials depicted in “Dead Souls” are strong because of their mutual responsibility. They feel a commonality of their interests and the need to defend themselves together when necessary. They have the characteristics of a special class in a class society. They are the third force, the average one, the average majority that actually governs the country. The concept of civil and public responsibilities is alien to provincial society; for them, a position is only a means of personal pleasure and well-being, a source of income. Among them there is bribery, servility to higher officials, complete absence intelligence. The bureaucracy has rallied into a corporation of embezzlers and robbers. Gogol wrote in his diary about provincial society: “The ideal of the city is emptiness. Gossip that has gone beyond limits.” Among officials, “meanness, completely disinterested, pure meanness” flourishes. Officials for the most part are uneducated, empty people, living according to a pattern, who give up in the new everyday situation.
The abuses of officials are most often ridiculous, insignificant and absurd. “You take things inappropriately” - that’s what is considered a sin in this world. But it is the “vulgarity of everything as a whole,” and not the size of the criminal acts that horrifies readers. “A stunning mud of little things,” as Gogol writes in the poem, has swallowed up modern man.
The bureaucracy in “Dead Souls” is not only “flesh of the flesh” of a soulless, ugly society; it is also the foundation on which this society rests. Bye provincial society considers Chichikov a millionaire and a “Kherson landowner,” then the officials treat the newcomer accordingly. Since the governor “gave the go-ahead,” then any official will immediately fill out the necessary papers for Chichikov; Of course, not for free: after all, nothing can erase the initial habit of taking bribes from a Russian official. And Gogol, with short but unusually expressive strokes, painted a portrait of Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinnoye Rylo, who can safely be called a symbol of Russian bureaucracy. He appears in the seventh chapter of the poem and speaks only a few words. Ivan Antonovich is essentially not even a person, but a soulless “cog” of the state machine. And other officials are no better.
What is the value of a prosecutor, who has nothing but thick eyebrows...
When Chichikov’s scam was revealed, the officials were confused and suddenly “found ... sins in themselves.” Gogol laughs angrily at how bureaucrats in positions of power, mired in criminal activity, help the swindler in his dirty machinations, fearing their exposure.
To the greatest extent, the lack of spirituality of the state machine is shown by Gogol in “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin.” Faced with the bureaucratic mechanism, the war hero turns not even into a speck of dust, he turns into nothing. And in in this case The captain’s fate is unjustly decided not by the provincial semi-literate Ivan Antonovich, but by a metropolitan nobleman of the highest rank, a member of the Tsar himself! But even here, at the highest state level, simple to an honest man, even the hero has nothing to hope for understanding and participation. It is no coincidence that when the poem passed censorship, it was “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” that was mercilessly cut by the censors. Moreover, Gogol was forced to rewrite it almost anew, significantly softening the tonality and smoothing out the rough edges. As a result, little remains of “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” that was originally intended by the author.
Gogol’s city is a symbolic, “collective city of all dark side", and bureaucracy is an integral part of it.
