Briefly about the poem dead souls. Dead Souls

The main work created by Gogol is Dead Souls. He wrote it for 17 long years, often rethinking and rewriting chapters, changing characters. Only over the first volume worked 6 years. The idea to write such a work was suggested to him by Pushkin. Alexander Sergeevich himself wanted to use this plot, but decided that Gogol would do it better. And so it happened.

The title of the poem reflects the process of selling dead serfs, as well as the truly "dead" souls of the soulless, immoral landowners who were engaged in such a sale in order to enrich themselves.

The main theme of the work is the immorality that reigned in Russia in the 30s of the 19th century and the vices emanating from it. The author has covered this topic very broadly and deeply.

The plot of the work is that Chichikov travels around Russia in order to buy up "dead souls" in order to get rich on this later. This plot allowed the author to widely show the whole life of Russia from the inside, as it is.

The composition of the poem consists of 11 published chapters of the first volume and a few more surviving chapters of the second volume. These chapters are united by the image of the main character Chichikov. Gogol completed the second volume shortly before his death. But only a few chapters remained from him, which have come down to us. There are different opinions about where the manuscript went. Some literary scholars say that he burned it himself, while others say that he gave it to his acquaintances writers, who subsequently lost it. But we won't know for sure. He never wrote the third volume.

The first chapter introduces us to the main character Chichikov and the inhabitants of the city. Chapters 2-6 are devoted to landowners, a description of their way of life and way of life, their customs. Reading these chapters, we get acquainted with the portraits of landowners, which the author portrayed so subtly in a satirical way. But the next 4 chapters are devoted to the ugly way of life of officials. Bribery, tyranny and other vices characteristic of most officials flourish here.

The poem is written in the style of realism, although it also has romantic notes: a beautiful description of nature, philosophical reflections, lyrical digressions. So, at the end of the work, the author reflects on the future of Russia, on its strength and power.

Gogol, using the suggested idea, developed the plot. For him, the cases of "dead souls" were well known. He heard a lot about such scams, because in Russia of that time the purchase and sale of the dead, but according to official documents, registered serfs was a common thing. The population census was carried out every 10 years, and during these 10 years the dead serfs were given, sold, pawned in order to get rich.

At first, the author thought of writing his work as a satirical novel, but then he realized that it was impossible to fit into the novel everything that he wanted to write about, that is, the whole ins and outs of the life of Russia. Gogol changes the genre of the work to a poem. He intended to write a poem in 3 volumes, in the likeness of Dante's poem. And although many literary critics call "Dead Souls" a novel, it is customary to call the work a poem, exactly as the author intended.

Option 2

N.V. Gogol is one of the unique and mysterious writers of the 19th century. The scale of his work has amazed readers for several centuries. The originality of the writer is manifested in all his works. The truth about the Russian reality of the nineteenth century is one of the leading themes of his creations.

One of the most brilliant works of N.V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is considered. Seventeen years of work of the creator was not in vain. A subtle psychologist of human souls in the images of the heroes of his poem recreated the real history of that time. The title itself contains a deep philosophical meaning of what the writer intended. Dead souls - whether those dead people who were collected by the main character, or is it Chichikov himself with his entourage.

The plot is unusual and at the same time simple. The collegiate adviser Chichikov buys dead, but still listed serfs from the landowners, dreaming of getting rich on this. Each party to the transaction benefits from this. One sells air, the other buys it. The author shrouded in mystery the origin of the protagonist, his age until the last 11 chapters, in which the secret of the adviser Chichikov is revealed. The writer deliberately in the development of the storyline does not focus on the past of the hero. For Gogol, he did not differ in anything remarkable, an “average” little man. Revealing the secret of Chichikov's birth, the writer wants to emphasize the mediocrity of his hero.

The theme prompted by the writer A.S. Pushkin is the reality of that time. Fraud, cynicism, the desire for profit by any means - exposes Gogol in his creation.

Compositionally, the poem consists of the first volume and several chapters of the second volume. Bright lyrical digressions complement the atmosphere of Russian life. Six portraits are painted before the reader's eyes by the word artist Gogol. In full color, Chichikov, Sobakevich, Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Plyushkin appear before the eyes. With undisguised humor, the writer describes his characters: tyranny, stupidity, prudence - their main character traits. 11 chapters of the poem reveals the whole inner essence of the society of that time. The literary genre of the work is amazing - a poem (as the author himself called it). But the absence of poetic rhyme, the structure would rather resemble a novel. Gogol called his creation a poem because of the large number of digressions of a lyrical nature, the philosophical reflections of the author. Until now, the monologue about the Russian troika, which traces the present and future of Russia, is admirable.

The relevance of the work has not dried up to this day. Aren't there people now who want to get wealth out of nothing? And what about the Manilovs who dream but do nothing for this? Stupid and stingy Boxes? Undoubtedly there are, they are nearby and you just have to take a good look, you will meet Gogol's heroes in our days. This is where the immortality of N.V. Gogol's creation called "Dead Souls" is manifested.

Dead Soul Analysis

The poem “Dead Souls” is one of the most significant works of N.V. Gogol. The author spent 17 years writing it. Initially, the work was conceived as a comic, but the further the development of the storyline progressed, the more logical the transition to realism seemed. After its publication, the poem became the subject of general controversy and raised a commotion in the literary community. Throughout the work, the theme of the present and future of Russia is traced, which was very exciting for the author himself. It is transmitted in Chichikov's relationship with the same charlatans and swindlers.

Gogol loved his country and his people very much. He described ordinary Russian people who would lead Russia into a brighter future. But the question of estates that are becoming obsolete, their souls are rotten and degraded, also remains open. Hence the name of the poem, which, in addition to its direct meaning, also has a figurative one. Dead souls are peasants who have departed to another world, but continue to be listed behind the estate. Gogol also calls nobles and landowners “dead souls”, who hinder the development of the country, have no interests and live out their lives, morally decaying. Such were Manilov, Korobochka, Sobakevich, Plyushkin and others. We begin to get acquainted with these characters from the second chapter, when the collegiate councilor Chichikov leaves the city of NN and begins his journey through the nearby villages. There he meets the landowners, who are the collective images of the nobility of Gogol's time.

Each chapter is dedicated to a separate master. The chapters are structured logically and sequentially, as if each of them is a separate story. Those that describe the landlords have a similar composition, which allows you to visually compare the images. Despite the logically built sequence, the author uses alogisms and absurdity to convey the characters' characters. Also in the poem there are lyrical digressions and short stories that do not relate to the main plot, but help to more fully understand the idea of ​​the whole work.

The work itself is more like a story or a novel, but Gogol calls it an epic poem. It has a ring composition, but it has a certain originality. Thus, the last 11 chapter can be an informal beginning of the work and also its formal end. The action in the poem begins with Chichikov's entry into the city of NN and ends when he leaves the city.

Russian character ... How many legends and stories go about him. Are there many such people, are they Russian or not? I think that there are not very many such people and that even people of other nationalities can be called a person with a Russian character

Every year, in the summer, I go to the village to my grandmother. I spend all summer there. It's very good there. I have many friends there. And most of all I love spending time with my horse.

Plan

1. Introduction

2. The meaning of the name "Dead Souls"

3. Genre and essence of the poem

4. Heroes and images

5. Composition of the work

6. Conclusion

In May 1842, the printed edition "Dead Souls" was published, authored by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. From the very first days of its existence, the work interested readers, being not just a poem, but a reflection of all of Russia. Although initially the author wanted to show the country only “from one side”. After writing the first volume, Gogol had a burning desire to further and deeper reveal the essence of the work, but, unfortunately, the second volume was partially burned, and the third was not written at all. The idea of ​​creating a poem came to Nikolai Vasilyevich after a conversation with the great Russian poet A. S. Pushkin on the topic of fraud with dead souls somewhere in Pskov. Initially, Pushkin himself wanted to take on the job, but "gave" the idea to the young talent.

The meaning of the name "Dead Souls" is multifaceted and multi-level. As you read deeper and deeper, the author's intent becomes clear. With the existence of serfdom, the dead peasants were “excluded from their list of the living” only once every four years during the revision tale. Until that moment, they were considered alive and unscrupulous owners or other officials took advantage of this, selling or buying them for their own selfish purposes. It is these peasants who are the "dead souls" in the first chapters. Further, the author introduces us to officials and landowners, who are precisely engaged in the movement of non-existent serfs. Their greed, inhumanity and greed speak of the callousness of their soul, or even its absence. This is who the real "dead souls" are.

With the literary genre of this unique work, too, not everything is so simple. Prior to writing "Dead Souls", Gogol positioned the work as an adventurous - picaresque or social novel. But in the process of work, much has changed, and the writer realized that a love affair is not at all what he wanted to show his contemporaries and descendants. During the publication of the first volume, the author insisted that the work be framed as a poem. The desire of Nikolai Vasilievich was quite reasonable.

Firstly, it was planned to write two more volumes, in which the theme of the work would be revealed from the other side. And secondly, multiple digressions of a lyrical nature also indicate this literary genre. Gogol himself explained this by the fact that the events in the poem unfold around one main character, on the path of which various difficulties and events are encountered that reflect the essence of this time.

The basis of this poem was the brainchild of Dante Alighieri "The Divine Comedy". The path of the main character Chichikov had to go through hell, purgatory and paradise, growing new shoots of a good person in his mutilated soul. The social system and way of life of the people plays a significant role in the formation of the personality of each individual hero. The situation in the country as a whole, in a single city or estate, and the attitude of a person to this social life are an expression of the vicious sides of the individual. No wonder the author believed that the soul dies mainly from the circumstances and conditions of life.

Earlier in his works, Gogol revealed the life of the Russian people in only one particular locality. In Dead Souls, the entire Russian land and the life of various segments of the population are covered - from serfs to the prosecutor. From the province to the capital, the problems that worried the people were closely related and clearly, but rather sharply outlined by the author. Unpunished corruption, theft, cruelty and ruin were the main of those problems. But, despite all this, the Russian people did not stop believing in a bright future, standing out against a gray background with their sublimity and nobility of purpose. Perhaps that is why the poem has acquired such significance and popularity, which has survived to this day.

The positive characters of "Dead Souls" can be counted on the fingers. This is the writer himself and the landowner Costanjoglo. Having scientific knowledge, the landowner differed from other heroes of the poem in his prudence, responsibility, and the logical nature of his deeds. Having fallen under his influence, Chichikov begins to look closely at his actions, comprehend them and take the first steps towards a positive correction. The image of the writer himself, as the hero of the work, is represented by a man who is tragically rooting for his country.

Corruption and unrest reigning everywhere mercilessly wound him to the very heart and involuntarily make him deeply feel the responsibility for the misdeeds committed by others. The images of the rest of the characters are negative and appear in the plot as their moral decline. All officials and landowners are negative personalities. They are driven by greed. All their actions and thoughts are justified only by absurdity and insanity, and are absolutely not amenable to logical explanation.

The author draws attention to the fact that each specific hero describes not the person himself, but the human type in general. For example, about Korobochka, the author writes "... one of those ...". It is a kind of collective image, symbolizing a box, like a vessel full of greed and hoarding of someone else's good. And about Manilov it is said that he "...belongs to people so-so ...".

In each chapter, Gogol pays special attention not only to dialogues, but also to the colorful description of rural landscapes, the furnishings of houses and estates, as well as the portrait characteristics of the hero. The image of Stepan Plyushkin turned out to be especially bright and memorable. “... Oh, woman! Oh, No!...". The first impressions about this landowner did not give a clear answer to what gender he was, "... the dress she wore was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman's hood, on her head was a cap worn by village yard women ...". The character of the landowner was quite bright, despite his stinginess, greed and slovenliness. Surrounding people described him as a miser, a swindler, a dog in which "... human feelings, which were not deep in him anyway, were shallow every minute ...". Despite the fact that Plyushkin is manifested by the highest steppe of degradation and slovenliness, and Chichikov is full of absurd greed, the author presents them to us as people capable of better changes.

Despite the high level of literary significance, the plot of the work is quite simple. This is the use of those very dead peasant souls for their own ignoble purposes. For example, a visiting official, Chichikov, bought them in order to pawn non-existent workers and get a rather large amount for them. The composition of the poem is divided into three parts, each of which contains a certain number of chapters. The first compositional part of "Dead Souls" shows the landowner types that existed during the time of N. Gogol's work. Manilov, Nozdrev, Korobochka, Sobakevich and Plyushkin are represented in their image.

The appearance in the city of Chichikov and his trips to the estates are also described in detail. The first link at first seems to be empty movements of the protagonist from one estate to another. But in fact, this is a kind of peculiar preparation of the reader for the denouement of the poem. More energetic and interesting events follow in the plot. Making "purchases" of souls and talk about the cases carried out by Chichikov and the prosecutor. In addition, the main character finds time to get carried away by the daughter of the governor. At the end of this link, the prosecutor is waiting for death, as he cannot stand the reproach of conscience before his actions.

The last chapter of the first volume is the last link and the beginning of the next work of the writer. In the part of the second volume that has come down to us, deeper and more tragic experiences are revealed about the resale of the unfortunate souls of dead peasants. The plot can still be called unexpected and completely incomprehensible. The appearance of the protagonist comes from nowhere and he also leaves for nowhere. The obscurity of his actions point more to the theme of characters than to the large-scale misfortune of the country.

With his poem, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol not only exposes officials, showing us their callousness, putrefaction and hypocrisy, but also draws attention to the fact that each of us can grow a grain of cruelty and indifference in our souls. "But is there any part of Chichikov in me? ...". With these words, the author warns the reader, forcing him to listen to his inner world and eradicate the existing depravity in it.

The author in his work paid great attention to the theme of love for one's Motherland, respect for work, humanity, both in general and for each separately. Volumes of "Dead Souls" were supposed to identify the past, present and future of the country. But unfortunately the third volume was not written. Perhaps, in this way, the writer gives a chance to create the future on his own?

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is one of the most mysterious writers of the 19th century. His life and work is full of mysticism and secrets. Our article will help to qualitatively prepare for a literature lesson, for the exam, test tasks, creative work on the poem. When analyzing Gogol's work "Dead Souls" in the 9th grade, it is important to rely on additional material in order to get acquainted with the history of creation, issues, and figure out what artistic means the author uses. In "Dead Souls" the analysis is specific due to the content scale and compositional features of the work.

Brief analysis

Year of writing– 1835 -1842 The first volume was published in 1842.

History of creation- the idea of ​​the plot was suggested to Gogol by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. The author has been working on the poem for about 17 years.

Topic- the customs and life of landlords in Russia in the 30s of the 19th century, a gallery of human vices.

Composition- 11 chapters of the first volume, united by the image of the main character - Chichikov. Several chapters of the second volume that survived and were found and published.

Direction- realism. There are also romantic features in the poem, but they are secondary.

History of creation

Nikolai Vasilievich wrote his immortal brainchild for about 17 years. He considered this work the most important mission in his life. The history of the creation of "Dead Souls" is full of gaps and mysteries, as well as mystical coincidences. In the process of working on the work, the author fell seriously ill, being on the verge of death, he was suddenly miraculously healed. Gogol took this fact as a sign from above, which gave him a chance to finish his main work.

The idea of ​​"Dead Souls" and the very fact of their existence as a social phenomenon was suggested to Gogol by Pushkin. It was Alexander Sergeevich, according to the author, who gave him the idea to write a large-scale work that could reveal the whole essence of the Russian soul. The poem was conceived as a work in three volumes. The first volume (published in 1842) was conceived as a collection of human vices, the second one made it possible for the heroes to realize their mistakes, and in the third volume they change and find the way to a right life.

While in work, the work was corrected many times by the author, its main idea, characters, plot changed, only the essence was preserved: the problematics and plan of the work. Gogol finished the second volume of Dead Souls shortly before his death, but according to some reports, he himself destroyed this book. According to other sources, it was given by the author to Tolstoy or someone close to him, and then lost. There is an opinion that this manuscript is still kept by the descendants of the high society of Gogol's entourage and will someday be found. The author did not have time to write the third volume, but there is information about its intended content from reliable sources, the future book, its idea and general characteristics, were discussed in literary circles.

Topic

The meaning of the name“Dead Souls” is twofold: this phenomenon itself is the sale of dead serf souls, rewriting them and transferring them to another owner and the image of people like Plyushkin, Manilov, Sobakevich - their souls are dead, the characters are deeply soulless, vulgar and immoral.

main topic"Dead Souls" - the vices and customs of society, the life of a Russian person in the 1830s of the 19th century. The problems that the author raises in the poem are as old as the world, but they are shown and revealed in the way that is characteristic of a researcher of human characters and souls: subtly and on a grand scale.

Main character- Chichikov buys from the landowners long-dead, but still registered serfs, who he needs only on paper. In this way, he plans to get rich by getting paid for them in the board of trustees. The interaction and cooperation of Chichikov with the same swindlers and charlatans, like himself, becomes the central theme of the poem. The desire to get rich in all possible ways is characteristic not only of Chichikov, but also of many heroes of the poem - this is the disease of the century. What Gogol's poem teaches is between the lines of the book - Russian people are characterized by adventurism and craving for "light bread".

The conclusion is unequivocal: the most correct way is to live according to the laws, in harmony with conscience and heart.

Composition

The poem consists of the complete first volume and several surviving chapters of the second volume. The composition is subordinated to the main goal - to reveal a picture of Russian life, contemporary to the author, to create a gallery of typical characters. The poem consists of 11 chapters, full of lyrical digressions, philosophical reasoning and wonderful descriptions of nature.

All this from time to time breaks through the main plot and gives the work a unique lyricism. The work ends with a colorful lyrical reflection on the future of Russia, its strength and power.

Initially, the book was conceived as a satirical work, this influenced the overall composition. In the first chapter, the author introduces the reader to the inhabitants of the city, with the main character - Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. From the second to the sixth chapters, the author gives a portrait description of the landowners, their unique way of life, a kaleidoscope of quirks and customs. The next four chapters describe the life of bureaucracy: bribery, arbitrariness and tyranny, gossip, the way of life of a typical Russian city.

main characters

Genre

To define the genre of "Dead Souls", you need to turn to history. Gogol himself defined it as a "poem", although the structure and scale of the narrative are close to the story and the novel. A prose work is called a poem because of its lyricism: a large number of lyrical digressions, remarks and comments of the author. It is also worth considering that Gogol drew a parallel between his brainchild and Pushkin's poem "Eugene Onegin": the latter is considered a novel in verse, and "Dead Souls" - on the contrary, a poem in prose.

The author emphasizes the equivalence of the epic and lyrical in his work. Critics have a different opinion about the genre features of the poem. For example, V. G. Belinsky called the work a novel and it is customary to reckon with this opinion, since it is quite justified. But according to tradition, Gogol's work is called a poem.

Artwork test

Analysis Rating

Average rating: 4.7. Total ratings received: 3875.

Frame from the film "Dead Souls" (1984)

Volume One

The proposed history, as will become clear from what follows, took place somewhat shortly after the "glorious expulsion of the French." A collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov arrives in the provincial town of NN (he is not old and not too young, not fat and not thin, rather pleasant and somewhat rounded in appearance) and settles in a hotel. He makes a lot of questions to the tavern servant - both regarding the owner and income of the tavern, and revealing the solidity of it: about city officials, the most significant landowners, asks about the state of the region and whether there were "what diseases in their province, epidemic fevers" and other similar adversity.

Having gone on visits, the visitor discovers extraordinary activity (visiting everyone, from the governor to the inspector of the medical board) and courtesy, for he knows how to say something pleasant to everyone. He speaks about himself somehow vaguely (that he “experienced a lot in his lifetime, endured in the service for the truth, had many enemies who even attempted on his life,” and now he is looking for a place to live). At the governor's house party, he manages to gain general favor and, among other things, make acquaintance with the landowners Manilov and Sobakevich. In the following days, he dines with the chief of police (where he meets the landowner Nozdryov), visits the chairman of the chamber and the vice-governor, the farmer and the prosecutor, and goes to the Manilov estate (which, however, is preceded by a fair author's digression, where, justifying his love for detail, the author certifies in detail Petrushka, the visitor's servant: his passion for "the process of reading itself" and the ability to carry with him a special smell, "responding somewhat to residential peace").

Having traveled, against the promised, not fifteen, but all thirty miles, Chichikov finds himself in Manilovka, in the arms of an affectionate owner. Manilov's house, standing on a jig, surrounded by several English-style flower beds and a gazebo with the inscription "Temple of Solitary Reflection", could characterize the owner, who was "neither this nor that", not weighed down by any passions, only unnecessarily cloying. After Manilov's confessions that Chichikov's visit was "a May day, a name day of the heart", and a dinner in the company of the hostess and two sons, Themistoclus and Alkid, Chichikov discovers the reason for his arrival: he would like to acquire peasants who have died, but have not yet been declared as such in the revision help, having issued everything in a legal way, as if on the living (“the law - I am dumb before the law”). The first fright and bewilderment are replaced by the perfect disposition of the kind host, and, having made a deal, Chichikov departs for Sobakevich, and Manilov indulges in dreams of Chichikov's life in the neighborhood across the river, of the construction of a bridge, of a house with such a belvedere that Moscow is visible from there, and of their friendship, having learned about which the sovereign would grant them generals. Chichikov's coachman Selifan, much favored by Manilov's yard people, in conversations with his horses misses the right turn and, at the sound of a downpour, knocks the master over into the mud. In the dark, they find lodging for the night at Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka, a somewhat timid landowner, with whom Chichikov also begins to trade dead souls in the morning. Explaining that he himself would now pay taxes for them, cursing the old woman’s stupidity, promising to buy both hemp and lard, but another time, Chichikov buys souls from her for fifteen rubles, receives a detailed list of them (in which Peter Savelyev is especially struck. Disrespect -Trough) and, having eaten an unleavened egg pie, pancakes, pies and other things, departs, leaving the hostess in great concern as to whether she had sold too cheap.

Having driven out onto the main road to the tavern, Chichikov stops for a bite to eat, which the author provides with a lengthy discourse on the properties of the appetite of middle-class gentlemen. Here Nozdryov meets him, returning from the fair in the britzka of his son-in-law Mizhuev, for he lost everything with his horses and even the watch chain. Describing the charms of the fair, the drinking qualities of dragoon officers, a certain Kuvshinnikov, a great lover of "to use about strawberries" and, finally, presenting a puppy, "a real muzzle", Nozdryov takes Chichikov (thinking to get hold of here too) to himself, taking away his reluctant son-in-law. Having described Nozdryov, “in some respects a historical person” (for wherever he was, there was history), his possessions, the unpretentiousness of dinner with an abundance, however, drinks of dubious quality, the author sends his son-in-law to his wife (Nozdryov admonishes him with abuse and a word “fetyuk”), and Chichikova is forced to turn to her subject; but he can neither beg nor buy souls: Nozdryov offers to exchange them, take them in addition to the stallion or make a bet in a card game, finally scolds, quarrels, and they part for the night. Persuasion resumes in the morning, and, having agreed to play checkers, Chichikov notices that Nozdryov is shamelessly cheating. Chichikov, whom the owner and the servants are already trying to beat, manages to escape due to the appearance of the police captain, who announces that Nozdryov is on trial. On the road, Chichikov's carriage collides with a certain carriage, and while the onlookers who come running are breeding tangled horses, Chichikov admires the sixteen-year-old young lady, indulges in reasoning about her and dreams of family life. A visit to Sobakevich in his strong, like himself, estate is accompanied by a thorough dinner, a discussion of city officials, who, according to the owner, are all swindlers (one prosecutor is a decent person, “and even that one, to tell the truth, is a pig”), and is crowned with an interesting guest deal. Not at all frightened by the strangeness of the object, Sobakevich bargains, characterizes the favorable qualities of each serf, provides Chichikov with a detailed list and forces him to give a deposit.

Chichikov’s path to the neighboring landowner Plyushkin, mentioned by Sobakevich, is interrupted by a conversation with a peasant who gave Plyushkin an apt, but not too printed nickname, and the author’s lyrical reflection on his former love for unfamiliar places and now appeared indifference. Plyushkin, this "hole in humanity", Chichikov at first takes for a housekeeper or a beggar, whose place is on the porch. His most important feature is his amazing stinginess, and he even carries the old sole of his boot into a heap heaped in the master's chambers. Having shown the profitability of his proposal (namely, that he would take over the taxes for the dead and runaway peasants), Chichikov fully succeeds in his enterprise and, refusing tea with rusk, provided with a letter to the chairman of the chamber, departs in the most cheerful mood.

While Chichikov is sleeping in the hotel, the author reflects with sadness on the meanness of the objects he paints. Meanwhile, the satisfied Chichikov, waking up, composes merchant's fortresses, studies the lists of acquired peasants, reflects on their alleged fate, and finally goes to the civil chamber in order to conclude the case as soon as possible. Manilov, met at the gates of the hotel, accompanies him. Then follows a description of the public office, Chichikov's first ordeals and a bribe to a certain jug snout, until he enters the chairman's apartment, where, by the way, he also finds Sobakevich. The chairman agrees to be Plyushkin's attorney, and at the same time speeds up other transactions. The acquisition of Chichikov is being discussed, with land or for withdrawal he bought peasants and in what places. Having found out that they were sent to the Kherson province, having discussed the properties of the sold peasants (here the chairman remembered that the coachman Mikheev seemed to have died, but Sobakevich assured that he was still alive and "has become healthier than before"), they finish with champagne, go to the chief of police, "father and a philanthropist in the city” (whose habits are immediately outlined), where they drink to the health of the new Kherson landowner, become completely excited, force Chichikov to stay and attempt to marry him.

Chichikov's purchases make a splash in the city, a rumor is circulating that he is a millionaire. Ladies are crazy about him. Several times trying to describe the ladies, the author becomes shy and retreats. On the eve of the governor's ball, Chichikov even receives a love letter, though unsigned. Having used, as usual, a lot of time on the toilet and being satisfied with the result, Chichikov goes to the ball, where he passes from one embrace to another. The ladies, among whom he is trying to find the sender of the letter, even quarrel, challenging his attention. But when the governor's wife approaches him, he forgets everything, because she is accompanied by her daughter ("Institute, just released"), a sixteen-year-old blonde, whose carriage he encountered on the road. He loses the favor of the ladies, because he starts a conversation with a fascinating blonde, scandalously neglecting the rest. To complete the trouble, Nozdryov appears and loudly asks if Chichikov has bought a lot of the dead. And although Nozdryov is obviously drunk and the embarrassed society is gradually distracted, Chichikov is not given a whist or the subsequent dinner, and he leaves upset.

At this time, a tarantass with the landowner Korobochka enters the city, whose growing anxiety forced her to come in order to find out, nevertheless, at what price dead souls. The next morning, this news becomes the property of a certain pleasant lady, and she hurries to tell it to another, pleasant in all respects, the story is overgrown with amazing details (Chichikov, armed to the teeth, breaks into Korobochka in the dead of midnight, demands souls that have died, inspires terrible fear - “ the whole village has come running, the children are crying, everyone is screaming. Her friend concludes from the fact that the dead souls are only a cover, and Chichikov wants to take away the governor's daughter. After discussing the details of this enterprise, Nozdryov's undoubted participation in it and the qualities of the governor's daughter, both ladies dedicate the prosecutor to everything and set off to rebel the city.

In a short time, the city seethes, to which is added the news of the appointment of a new governor-general, as well as information about the papers received: about the fake banknote maker who showed up in the province, and about the robber who fled from legal persecution. Trying to understand who Chichikov is, they recall that he was certified very vaguely and even spoke about those who attempted on his life. The postmaster's statement that Chichikov, in his opinion, is Captain Kopeikin, who took up arms against the injustice of the world and became a robber, is rejected, since it follows from the entertaining postmaster's story that the captain is missing an arm and leg, and Chichikov is whole. An assumption arises whether Chichikov is Napoleon in disguise, and many begin to find a certain similarity, especially in profile. Questions from Korobochka, Manilov, and Sobakevich did not yield any results, and Nozdryov only multiplied the confusion by announcing that Chichikov was definitely a spy, a maker of forged banknotes, and had an undoubted intention to take away the governor's daughter, in which Nozdryov undertook to help him (each of the versions was accompanied by detailed details up to the name priest who took up the wedding). All these rumors have a tremendous effect on the prosecutor, he has a stroke, and he dies.

Chichikov himself, sitting in a hotel with a slight cold, is surprised that none of the officials visits him. Finally, having gone on visits, he discovers that they do not receive him at the governor's, and in other places they fearfully shun him. Nozdryov, having visited him at the hotel, among the general noise made by him, partly clarifies the situation, announcing that he agrees to facilitate the kidnapping of the governor's daughter. The next day, Chichikov hurriedly leaves, but is stopped by a funeral procession and forced to contemplate the whole world of bureaucracy flowing behind the coffin of the prosecutor Brichka leaves the city, and the open spaces on both sides of it evoke sad and encouraging thoughts about Russia, the road, and then only sad about their chosen hero. Concluding that it’s time for the virtuous hero to give rest, but, on the contrary, to hide the scoundrel, the author sets out the life story of Pavel Ivanovich, his childhood, training in classes where he already showed a practical mind, his relationship with his comrades and teacher, his service later in the state chamber, some kind of commission for the construction of a government building, where for the first time he gave vent to some of his weaknesses, his subsequent departure to other, not so profitable places, transfer to the customs service, where, showing honesty and incorruptibility almost unnatural, he made a lot of money in collusion with smugglers, went bankrupt, but dodged the criminal court, although he was forced to resign. He became an attorney and, during the fuss about the pledge of the peasants, he put together a plan in his head, began to go around the expanses of Russia, so that, having bought dead souls and pawned them in the treasury as living, get money, buy, perhaps, a village and ensure future offspring.

Having again complained about the properties of his hero’s nature and partly justified him, having found him the name of “owner, acquirer”, the author is distracted by the urged running of horses, the similarity of the flying troika with rushing Russia and the ringing of the bell completes the first volume.

Volume two

It opens with a description of the nature that makes up the estate of Andrei Ivanovich Tentetnikov, whom the author calls "the smoker of the sky." The story of the stupidity of his pastime is followed by the story of a life inspired by hopes at the very beginning, overshadowed by the pettiness of service and troubles afterwards; he retires, intending to improve the estate, reads books, takes care of the peasant, but without experience, sometimes just human, this does not give the expected results, the peasant is idle, Tentetnikov gives up. He breaks off acquaintances with his neighbors, offended by the treatment of General Betrishchev, stops visiting him, although he cannot forget his daughter Ulinka. In a word, without someone who would tell him an invigorating “forward!”, He completely turns sour.

Chichikov comes to him, apologizing for a breakdown in the carriage, curiosity and a desire to pay respect. Having won the favor of the owner with his amazing ability to adapt to anyone, Chichikov, having lived with him for a while, goes to the general, to whom he spins a story about a absurd uncle and, as usual, begs for the dead. On the laughing general, the poem fails, and we find Chichikov heading for Colonel Koshkarev. Against expectation, he gets to Pyotr Petrovich Rooster, whom at first he finds completely naked, carried away by the hunt for sturgeon. At the Rooster, having nothing to get hold of, for the estate is mortgaged, he only overeats terribly, gets acquainted with the bored landowner Platonov and, having incited him to travel together in Russia, goes to Konstantin Fedorovich Kostanzhoglo, married to Platonov's sister. He talks about the ways of managing, by which he increased the income from the estate dozens of times, and Chichikov is terribly inspired.

Very promptly, he visits Colonel Koshkarev, who has divided his village into committees, expeditions and departments and has arranged a perfect paper production in the mortgaged estate, as it turns out. Returning, he listens to the curses of the bilious Costanjoglo to factories and manufactories that corrupt the peasant, to the peasant’s absurd desire to enlighten, and to his neighbor Khlobuev, who has run a hefty estate and is now lowering it for nothing. Having experienced tenderness and even a craving for honest work, after listening to the story of the farmer Murazov, who made forty millions in an impeccable way, Chichikov the next day, accompanied by Kostanzhoglo and Platonov, goes to Khlobuev, observes the unrest and debauchery of his household in the neighborhood of a governess for children, dressed in fashion wife and other traces of ridiculous luxury. Having borrowed money from Kostanzhoglo and Platonov, he gives a deposit for the estate, intending to buy it, and goes to the Platonov estate, where he meets his brother Vasily, who effectively manages the economy. Then he suddenly appears at their neighbor Lenitsyn, clearly a rogue, wins his sympathy with his skillfully tickling a child and receives dead souls.

After many seizures in the manuscript, Chichikov is found already in the city at a fair, where he buys fabric of a lingonberry color so dear to him with a spark. He runs into Khlobuev, whom, apparently, he cheated, either depriving him, or almost depriving him of his inheritance by some kind of forgery. Khlobuev, who missed him, is taken away by Murazov, who convinces Khlobuev of the need to work and determines for him to raise funds for the church. Meanwhile, denunciations are being found against Chichikov both about forgery and about dead souls. The tailor brings a new coat. Suddenly, a gendarme appears, dragging smart Chichikov to the governor-general, "angry as anger itself." Here all his atrocities become apparent, and he, kissing the general's boot, plunges into the prison. In a dark closet, tearing his hair and coat tails, mourning the loss of a box of papers, Murazov finds Chichikov, awakens in him with simple virtuous words the desire to live honestly and goes to soften the governor general. At that time, officials who want to harm their wise superiors and receive a bribe from Chichikov deliver him a box, kidnap an important witness and write many denunciations in order to completely confuse the matter. Unrest breaks out in the province itself, greatly worrying the governor-general. However, Murazov knows how to feel the sensitive strings of his soul and give him the right advice, with which the Governor-General, having released Chichikov, is already going to use it, as "the manuscript breaks off."

retold