Manilov's favorite expression is dead souls. The image and characteristics of Manilov in the poem Dead Souls of Gogol essay

Manilov - the first of the landowners who was visited by Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, main character Gogol's novel-poem Dead Souls. The order of visits is not accidental in this work - the descriptions of the landlords are arranged according to the degree of their degradation, from the least to the highest. Therefore, in the image of Manilov, we will see some positive features.

The surname of the landowner is also symbolic. It is formed from the word "beckon". His sweet speech, attractive appearance and manners attract people and create a pleasant environment for communication. It is like a bright candy wrapper, inside of which, however, there is nothing. This is also noted by Gogol himself: "... a person is so-so, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan."

We analyze the image

The owner of Manilovka was distinguished by his pleasant appearance and amazing benevolence towards other people, whether it was a teacher of his children or a serf. For everyone, he found good and pleasant words, he tried to please and please everyone. It was not in his nature to criticize anyone.

Unlike Sobakevich, he did not consider the local governor a robber from the high road, but believed that he was "the most gracious person." The policeman, in Manilov's understanding, is not at all a swindler, but a very pleasant person. He never said a bad word about anyone. As we can see, the superficiality of this character's judgments does not allow him to objectively perceive other people.

Manilov served in the army, where his army comrades described him as the most delicate and educated officer.

After eight years of marriage, he continued to have tender feelings for his wife, affectionately called her Lizanka, and all the time tried to pamper her with something. He had two sons with more than strange names- Themistoclus and Alcides. As if with these pretentious names Manilov wants to stand out, to declare his exclusivity.

Most of the time, the owner of two hundred peasant households was in dreams and daydreams. For this “important” occupation, there was a special gazebo on the estate with the pompous name “Temple of Solitary Reflection”. Manilov's rich imagination "boldly" transformed the surrounding reality. A bridge was mentally built across the pond, on which merchants briskly traded in all kinds of goods, or a belvedere was erected over the master's house of such a height that one could see Moscow, or an underground passage was dug (however, our dreamer does not specify the purpose of the underground passage).

Dreams brought Manilov to such a distance that real life turned out to be in the background. The whole household was entrusted to the clerk, but Manilov did not delve into anything, but only indulged in fantasies, smoked his pipe all the time and did nothing. Even the book in his office was bookmarked for two years on the same 14th page. The peasants, to match the master, also became lazy, the pond was overgrown with greenery, the housekeeper was stealing, the clerk grew ill and did not get up before 9 o'clock in the morning. But nothing could disturb the measured flow of the comfortable and idle life of the good-natured landowner.

Manilov turned out to be such an impressionable person that in response to Chichikov's request to sell dead Souls, dropped the receiver and froze in amazement with open mouth. But in the end, he came to his senses and demonstrated a friendly disposition and disinterestedness - he gave away dead souls completely free of charge, which completely touched Chichikov. In a conversation with a friend, Manilov demonstrated complete detachment from economic affairs - he could not even name the number of dead peasants, not to mention their names and surnames.

Manilovshchina

The term "Manilovism" arose precisely on the basis of the features of this hero of the novel "Dead Souls". This is a way of life characterized by detachment from reality, idleness, frivolity, "hovering in the clouds", inaction. People like Manilov spend their time in empty dreams, which they are in no hurry to put into practice. They are grotesquely sugary, have no own opinion, strive to please everyone, think superficially and unrealistically.

They care more about the impression they make than about real development soul and character. Such individuals are pleasant in communication and complacent, but otherwise completely useless for society. Many literary scholars believe that in the image of Manilov, Gogol tried to portray Nicholas I.

Let's generalize the image by grouping the positive and negative features of Manilov

Positive traits

Compassionate and helpful

Hospitable

Polite

Educated

Positive

Selfless

Keeps with everyone on an equal footing, not arrogant

Sincerely loves his family - wife and children

Poetry perceives life

Negative qualities

Tendency to ignore problems

Idleness

carelessness

Inner emptiness

Mismanagement

Lack of own opinion

Idle talk and ornate syllable

A penchant for empty fantasies

spinelessness

Indifference to other people's problems (the death rate of peasants is high on his estate)

Inaction

Excessive need for approval (desire to please everyone)

toadying

Insincerity

Superficiality of judgments

Excessive cloying, sweetness in communication

Excessive gullibility

Infantilism

Lack of leadership qualities and inner core

Lack of understanding of the purpose and meaning of one's life

The gallery of landlords in the poem "Dead Souls" opens with the image of Manilov. This is the first character to whom Chichikov addresses with a request for dead souls Oh. What determines the "primacy" of Manilov? Gogol is known to say that his characters follow each other more vulgarly. It turns out that Manilov in the poem represents the first, smallest, degree of moral degradation. However modern researchers interpret the order of appearance of the landlords in "Dead Souls" in a different sense, putting in correspondence the first volume of Gogol's poem of the first part " Divine Comedy» Dante ("Hell").

In addition, as Yu. Mann notes, Manilov's primacy is also determined by the personality traits of the hero. The dreaminess and romanticism of Manilov already at the very beginning of the poem create a sharp contrast to Chichikov's immoral adventure.

There is another reason here as well. According to I.P. Zolotussky, “every time Chichikov meets with one of the landowners, he makes an inspection of his ideals. Manilov is family life, woman, children ... ". This "part" of Chichikov's ideal is exactly the best thing in the hero's "grossly material" dream of contentment and comfort. Therefore, the story of Chichikov's adventures begins precisely with Manilov.

This image in the poem is static - no internal changes occur with the hero throughout the entire narrative. The main qualities of Manilov are sentimentality, daydreaming, excessive complacency, courtesy and courtesy. This is what is visible, what lies on the surface. It is these features that are emphasized in the description of the appearance of the hero. Manilov “was a prominent person, his features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness, it seemed, was too much transferred to sugar; in his manners and turns there was something ingratiating himself with favors and acquaintances. He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes.

However, Gogol goes on to describe inner peace Manilov, and the first impression of the “pleasantness” of the landowner is removed from the reader. “In the first minute of a conversation with him, you can’t help but say:“ What a pleasant and kind person"The next minute you won't say anything, and the third minute you'll say: 'The devil knows what it is!' - and move away if you don’t move away, you will feel mortal boredom. You will not expect any lively or even arrogant word from him, which you can hear from almost anyone if you touch the subject that torments him. With a bit of irony, the author lists the traditional "interests" of landowners: passion for greyhounds, music, gourmet food, promotion. Manilov, on the other hand, is not interested in anything in life, he has no "enthusiasm". He speaks very little, he often thinks and reflects, but about what - "does God ... know." Thus, several more characteristic properties of this landowner are clearly distinguished - uncertainty, indifference to everything, inertia and infantilism of life perception. “There is a kind of people,” writes Gogol, “known under the name: people are so-so, neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan ...” Manilov belongs to this type of people.

The writer emphasizes the “unformality, vagueness” of the hero’s inner world with a characteristic landscape. So, the weather on the day when Chichikov arrived at Manilov was extremely uncertain: “The day was either clear or gloomy, but of some kind of light gray color, which happens only on the old uniforms of garrison soldiers ...”

In the description of the master's estate, new features of Manilov are revealed to us. Here we already see a person who claims to be "educated", "cultural", "aristocratic", but Gogol does not leave readers with any illusions on this score: all the attempts of the hero to appear as an educated and refined aristocrat are vulgar and absurd. So, Manilov’s house stands “alone in the south, that is, on a hill open to all winds”, but the mountain on which the estate stands is “clothed with trimmed turf”, on it “two or three flower beds are scattered in English with bushes of lilacs and yellow acacias." Nearby you can see a gazebo "with wooden blue columns" and the inscription "Temple of solitary reflection." And next to the “temple” is an overgrown pond covered with greenery, along which, “picturously picking up dresses and tucking in from all sides,” two women wander, dragging a tattered nonsense behind them. In these scenes, Gogol's parody of sentimental stories and novels is guessed.

The same claims to "education" can be seen in the ancient Greek names that Manilov awarded his children - Alkid and Themistoklus. However, the superficial education of the landowner here turned into outright stupidity: even Chichikov, hearing these names, experienced some surprise, it is easy to imagine the reaction of the local residents.

However ancient Greek names here is not only a striking characterization of Manilov. "Alkid" and "Themistoclus" set the theme of history in the poem, the motive of heroism, which is present throughout the story. Thus, the name "Themistoclus" reminds us of Themistocles, statesman and a general from Athens, who won brilliant victories in battles with the Persians. The life of the commander was very stormy, eventful, full of significant events (against the background of this heroic theme, Manilov's inaction and passivity become even more noticeable).

Manilov's "incompleteness of nature" (nature seems to have stopped at the "pleasant" appearance of the hero, "not reporting" his character, temperament, love of life) is also reflected in the description of his home environment.

In everything, Manilov has an incompleteness that creates disharmony. A number of interior details testify to the propensity of the hero to luxury and sophistication, but in this tendency itself there is still the same incompleteness, the impossibility of completing the matter. In Manilov's drawing room there is "beautiful furniture upholstered in smart silk fabric", which is "very expensive", but it is missing for two armchairs, and the armchairs are "simply upholstered with matting". In the evening, “a dandy candlestick made of dark bronze with three antique graces” is served on the table, and next to it is placed “a simple copper invalid, lame, curled up on the side and covered in fat ...”. For two years now, the hero has been reading the same book, reaching only the fourteenth page.

All the activities of the landowner are meaningless and absurd, just like his dreams. So, having seen off Chichikov, he dreams of huge house"with such a high belvedere that you can even see Moscow from there." But the culmination of Manilov's image is "heaps of ash knocked out of a pipe, arranged, not without diligence, in very beautiful rows." Like all "noble gentlemen", Manilov smokes a pipe. Therefore, in his office there is a kind of "cult of tobacco", which is poured into caps, and into a tabernacle, and "just a bunch on the table." Thus, Gogol emphasizes that Manilov's "passing time" is completely useless, meaningless. Moreover, this senselessness is noticeable even when comparing the hero with the rest of the landowners. It's hard for us to imagine similar occupation(placement of ash slides in beautiful rows) Sobakevich or Korobochka.

The speech of the hero, "delicate", ornate, fully corresponds to his inner appearance. Discussing with Chichikov the sale of dead souls, he wonders if this negotiation will not be inconsistent with civil regulations and further types of Russia. However, Pavel Ivanovich, who added two or three book turns to the conversation, manages to convince him of the perfect legitimacy of this transaction - Manilov gives Chichikov the dead peasants and even takes over the registration of the bill of sale.

Thus, the portrait of the hero, his speech, landscape, interior, environment, details of life reveal the essence of Manilov's character. Upon closer examination, the illusory nature of his "positive" qualities - sensitivity and sentimentality - becomes noticeable. “His feeling is surprisingly small and insignificant, and no matter how much he squanders it, it doesn’t make anyone feel warm or cold. His courtesy is at the service of everyone, as is his benevolence, but not because he really has such loving soul, but because they cost him nothing - it's just a manner ... His feelings are not real, but only their fiction, ”wrote the pre-revolutionary researcher of Gogol.

Thus, Manilov does not evaluate people in terms of the criteria of good and evil. Surrounding people simply fall into the general atmosphere of complacency and dreaminess. In essence, Manilov is indifferent to life itself.

Summary of the lesson on the poem by N. V. Gogol "Dead Souls".

(grade 9)

Topic: “Everyone has his own, but Manilov had nothing”

Target: analyze the image of the landowner Manilov.

Tasks:

identify techniques for describing the nature of the landowner, the internal logic of creating an image;

to teach the ability to determine the principles of typification of social phenomena;

engage students in research work.

Lesson structure:

1 . organizational stage.

2. Checking homework.

3. Theme announcementand lesson objectives.

4. Work in notebooks.

5. Summing up the lesson.

6. Homework.

During the classes

1. Organizational stage.

1. Preparing students for work in the classroom.

2. Mutual greetings between teacher and students.

3. Visual control of readiness for the lesson.

2. Checking homework.

3. Theme announcement and lesson objectives.

One of the features of N. V. Gogol's talent is that "passion to know everything", that "desire to know a person", which makes him look for people of all classes and notice something interesting in everyone.

So, the purpose of today's lesson is to analyze the image of the landowner Manilov.

In the poem “Dead Souls” N.V. Gogol wrote: “It is much easier to portray characters big size: there, just throw paints from all over on the canvas ... and the portrait is ready; but all these gentlemen, of whom there are many in the world, who look very similar to each other, but meanwhile, as you look closely, you will see many of the most elusive features - these gentlemen are terribly difficult for portraits.

Guys, tell me, please, when is the first meeting with Manilov?(The meeting with Manilov takes place already in the first chapter) .

What impression can you make of Manilov before meeting him?

4. Work in notebooks.

Now we will make a table in which we will write down quotes from the text and your observations. We will fill it in during the discussion.

Criterion

Manilov

Appearance

Character

Features of demeanor and speech

Relationships with others

Description of the estate

The result of the transaction

- Appearance of Manilov.

In the description of Manilov's portrait there is a capacious phrase: "... revealing in his face an expression not only sweet, but even cloying ..."

AT portrait characteristic Manilov, the author emphasizes that he is a prominent person, but only "at a glance"; his facial features are not devoid of pleasantness, “but this pleasantness is somehow sugary, “sugar”; manners "ingratiating", smile "tempting", "blond, with blue eyes". The first impression is that Manilov is a kind, pleasant person, then some kind of uncertainty is felt, it is even suggested by the author: "neither this nor that ...".

- The character of Manilov.

With the first phrase, Gogol emphasizes the absence of anything definite in Manilov: “Everyone has his own enthusiasm<...>... in a word, everyone has his own, but Manilov had nothing. The character of this person, as it were, merges with the tone of a gray, boring, lifeless landscape.

- Features of behavior and speech.

In the expression of Manilov's face during conversation, in speech, in the choice of words, in the manners and intonations of the voice, the author notes the same exaggerated sensitivity, sentimentality, and most importantly - mental limitation, emptyness, helplessness of thought. Manilov is trying to conduct an elevated conversation, to understand life facts. He talks a lot, uses meaningless words, cannot complete phrases, instead of them - gestures that replace the statement. All this speaks of the absence of content in Manilov's thought, of his stupidity.

- Relationships with others.

The owner and his wife talked to each other in a sugary-sentimental way: “Open your mouth, darling, I’ll put this piece for you.” Manilov expresses himself extremely elegantly and in a bookish way: “This, right, brought pleasure, May day, name day of the heart ...”. Every person in Manilov is kind, courteous, sweet, pleasant, intelligent, educated, well-read and worthy, but not because it really is, but because Manilov does not understand anything in people. The names of Manilov's children - Alkid and Themistoclus - are clearly given to the pagan ancient past, ancient times before the birth of Christ.

The comic scene at the door to the living room characterizes Manilov as too amiable, intrusive. Again, the hero feels "sugary sweetness".

- Description of the estate.

The description of the village and the estate characterizes the landowner as lazy and mismanaged: the house was “open to all winds”, the pond in the estate was covered with greenery. The author ironically notes that this is "not a novelty in the English gardens of Russian landowners." The birches here are "small-leaved, thin," around the manor's house are scattered "gray log cabins” and “nowhere between them is a growing tree or some kind of greenery ...”. The arbor with a flat green dome and blue columns was called the Temple of Solitary Reflection. Life in the house and in the entire estate seemed to have stopped: the bookmark on page 14 remained in the book, two armchairs were not ready and were covered with matting.

- Outcome of the transaction.

He is confused and helpless before Chichikov's offer to sell dead souls. Gogol conveys this well, describing the facial expressions and gestures of the hero. It is surprising that, not knowing the person (Chichikov), Manilov immediately trusts him and tries in every possible way to serve him, to prove his "heartfelt desire" ... After that, he does not think about his act, but indulges in joyful reflections, which gave the guest a little pleasure. Again we see the spinelessness and stupidity of Manilov, which manifests itself not only in deeds, but also in his thoughts.So, the ability to convince gave Chichikov the first results and he achieved his goal, and without spending any savings.

5. Summing up the lesson.

What is the main thing in Manilow? What detail in the description of the hero is predominant?(The theme of sugar and sweetness, the author, by his comparisons, ensures that the reader has a feeling close to physical disgust.)

- What is hidden behind Manilov's smile? How does the author characterize the hero?(A pleasant Manilov smile for everyone is a sign of deep indifference to everything around; such people are not capable of experiencing anger, sorrow, joy.)

- With the help of what details does Gogol give a comic coloring to the images of his characters?(an integral part of Gogol's portrait drawing are postures, clothes, movements, gestures, facial expressions. With their help, the writer enhances the comic coloring of the images, reveals the true essence of the hero.)

What is distinguishing feature Manilov?(His main psychological trait is the desire to please everyone and always.)

What do the names of Manilov's children emphasize?

What conclusions does the author lead readers to?( Manilov is a calm observer of everything that happens; bribe-takers, thieves, embezzlers of public funds - all the most respectable people for him. Manilov is an indefinite person, there are no living human desires in him. This is a dead soul, a “so-so, neither this nor that” person.)

Conclusion. Instead of a real feeling, Manilov has a “pleasant smile”, sugary courtesy and sensitive phrases; instead of thought - some kind of incoherent, stupid reflections, instead of activity - either empty dreams, or such results of “labor”, as “hills of ash knocked out of a pipe, arranged not without diligence in very beautiful rows.

6. Homework

Work:

Dead Souls

Gogol emphasizes the emptiness and insignificance of the hero, covered with a sugary pleasantness of appearance, details of the furnishings of his estate. M.'s house is open to all winds, thin birch tops are visible everywhere, the pond is completely overgrown with duckweed. But the arbor in the garden of M. is pompously named "The Temple of Solitary Reflection." M.'s office is covered with "blue paint like gray", which indicates the lifelessness of the hero, from whom you will not expect a single living word. Clinging to any topic, M.'s thoughts float away into abstract reflections. To think about real life, and even more so, this hero is not capable of making any decisions. Everything in M.'s life: action, time, meaning - are replaced by exquisite verbal formulas. It was only necessary for Chichikov to clothe his strange request for the sale of dead souls in beautiful words, and M. immediately calmed down and agreed. Although earlier this proposal seemed wild to him. The world of M. is the world of a false idyll, the path to death. Not without reason, even Chichikov's path to the lost Manilovka is depicted as a road to nowhere. There is nothing negative in M., but there is nothing positive either. He is empty space, nothing. Therefore, this hero cannot count on transfiguration and rebirth: there is nothing to be reborn in him. And therefore M., along with Korobochka, occupies one of the lowest places in the "hierarchy" of the heroes of the poem.

This man is a bit like Chichikov himself. "God alone could tell what kind of character M. There is a kind of people known by the name: neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan. His features were not devoid of pleasantness, but in this pleasantness, it seemed , too much sugar."

M. considers himself well-mannered, educated, noble. But let's take a look at his office. We see heaps of ashes, a dusty book, which has been open for the second year on the 14th page. something is always missing in the house, only part of the furniture is upholstered in silk fabric, and two armchairs are upholstered in matting. M.'s weak will is also emphasized by the fact that the landowner's housekeeping is handled by a drunken clerk.

M. is a dreamer, and his dreams are completely divorced from reality. He dreams of "how good it would be if all of a sudden to lead an underground passage from the house or build a stone bridge across the pond." G. emphasizes the inactivity and social uselessness of the landowner, but does not deprive him of human qualities. M. is a family man, loves his wife and children, sincerely rejoices at the arrival of a guest, tries in every possible way to please him and make him pleasant.

MANILOV - a character in N.V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" (the first volume of 1842 under the qualification, called "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls"; second, volume 1842-1845). meaningful name M. (from the verb "to beckon", "to lure") is played ironically by Gogol, parodying laziness, fruitless daydreaming, projecting, sentimentality. Possible literary sources the image of M. - characters in the works of N.M. Karamzin, for example, Erast from the story " Poor Lisa". The historical prototype, according to Likhachev, could be Tsar Nicholas I, who reveals a relationship with type M. The image of M. dynamically unfolds from the proverb: a person is neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan. The things surrounding M. testify to his incapacity, isolation from life, indifference to reality: the master's house stands at a southeast, "open to all winds"; M. spends time in a gazebo with the inscription "Temple of solitude reflection", where he comes up with different ideas. fantastic projects, for example, to conduct an underground passage from the house or build a stone bridge across the pond; in the office of M. for two years in a row there is a book with a bookmark on the 14th page; ashes are scattered in caps, a tobacco case, mounds of ash knocked out of a pipe are neatly placed on the table and windows, which is M. M.’s leisure, immersed in tempting thoughts, never leaves for the fields, and meanwhile the peasants get drunk, near the gray huts of the village of M. not a single tree - "only one log"; the economy goes somehow by itself; the housekeeper steals, M.'s servants sleep and hang out. The portrait of M. is built on the principle of quantitative injection good quality(enthusiasm, sympathy, hospitality) to extreme excess, turning into the opposite, negative quality: "His features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness, it seemed, was too much transferred to sugar"; in the face of M. “the expression is not only sweet, but even cloying, similar to the mixture that the dexterous secular doctor sweetened mercilessly ...”; “In the first minute of a conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person!” You won’t say anything on the next one, but on the third one you will say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and you will move away ... ”The love of M. and his wife is parodic and sentimental. After eight years of marriage, they still give each other candy and tidbits with the words: "Open up, darling, your mouth, I'll put this piece for you." They love surprises: they prepare a “beaded toothpick case” or a knitted wallet as a gift. The refined delicacy and cordiality of M. is expressed in absurd forms of irrepressible delight: “schi, but from a pure heart”, “May day, name day of the heart”; officials, according to M., are entirely the most respectable and most amiable people. The image of M. personifies a universal phenomenon - "Manilovism", that is, a tendency to create chimeras, pseudo-philosophizing. M. dreams of a neighbor with whom one could talk “about courtesy, about good treatment, follow some kind of science that would stir up the soul in this way, would give, so to speak, a kind of guy ...”, philosophize “under the shade of an elm” ( Gogol's parody of the abstractness of German idealism). Generalization, abstractness, indifference to details are the properties of M.'s worldview. In his barren idealism, M. is the antipode of the materialist, practical and Russophile Sobakevich. M. is a Westerner, gravitates toward an enlightened European way of life. M.'s wife studied French in a boarding school, plays the piano, and M.'s children - Themistoclus and Alkid - receive home education; their names, in addition, embody the heroic claims of M. (Alkid is the second name of Hercules; Themistocles is the leader of the Athenian democracy), however, the alogism of the name Themistoklus (Greek name - ending "yus" Latin) ridicules the beginnings of the formation of a semi-European Russian nobility. The effect of Gogol's alogism (ugliness that violates the decent norm of the subject line) emphasizes the decadence of "Manilovism": at dinner, a dandy candlestick with three antique graces is placed on the table at M. and next to it is "a copper invalid, lame ... all in fat"; in the living room - "beautiful furniture, upholstered in smart silk fabric" - and two armchairs upholstered in matting. The estate of M is the first circle of Dante's hell, where Chichikov descends, the first stage of the "deadness" of the soul (M. still retains sympathy for people), which, according to Gogol, consists in the absence of any kind of "enthusiasm". The figure of M. is immersed in a dull atmosphere, sustained in twilight-ash and gray tones, creating a “feeling of the strange ephemerality of the depicted” (V. Markovich). Comparison of M. with the "too smart minister" indicates a ghostly ephemerality and projection of the highest state power, whose typical features are vulgar sweetness and hypocrisy (S. Mashinsky). In the staging of the poem, carried out by the Moscow Art Theater (1932), the role of M. was played by M.N. Kedrov.

Manilov is a character in N.V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". The name Manilov (from the verb "beckon", "lure") is played ironically by Gogol. It parodies laziness, fruitless daydreaming, projecting, sentimentality.

(The historical prototype, according to Likhachev D., could be Tsar Nicholas I, who reveals a relationship with the Manilov type.)

Manilov is a sentimental landowner, the first "seller" of dead souls.

The image of Manilov dynamically unfolds from the proverb: a person is neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.

1) The character of the hero is not defined, we cannot catch it.

“God alone could tell what kind of character Manilov had. There is a kind of people known by the name: neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.

Manilov's weak will is also emphasized by the fact that the landowner's housekeeping is handled by a drunken clerk.

Generalization, abstractness, indifference to details are the properties of Manilov's worldview.

In his fruitless idealism, Manilov is the antipode of the materialist, practical and Russophile Sobakevich

Manilov is a dreamer, and his dreams are completely divorced from reality. "How nice it would be if all of a sudden an underground passage was made from the house or a stone bridge built across the pond."

The landowner was only engaged in projecting: he dreamed, but these projects are not realized.

At first he seems like a nice person, but then it becomes deadly boring with him, because he has no opinion of his own and can only smile and say banal cloying phrases.

There are no living desires in Manilov, that force of life that moves a person, makes him perform some actions. In this sense, Manilov is a dead soul, "not this, not that."

He is so typical, gray, uncharacteristic that he does not even have certain inclinations towards anything, there is no name and patronymic.

2) appearance - In Manilov’s face, “the expression is not only sweet, but even cloying, similar to the potion that the clever secular doctor sweetened mercilessly ...”;

Negative quality: “His facial features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to be too sugary”;

Manilov himself is an outwardly pleasant person, but this is if you do not communicate with him: there is nothing to talk about with him, he is a boring interlocutor.

3) education - Manilov considers himself well-mannered, educated, noble.

But in Manilov's office for two years in a row there is a book with a bookmark on the 14th page.

He shows "beautiful soul" in everything, liveliness of manners and amiable chirping in conversation.

Clinging to any topic, Manilov's thoughts float away into the distance, into abstract reflections.

The refined delicacy and cordiality of Manilov is expressed in absurd forms of indefatigable delight: “schi, but from a pure heart”, “May day, name day of the heart”; officials, according to Manilov, are entirely the most respectable and most amiable people.

In Manilov, the most common words in speech are: “dear”, “let me”, and indefinite pronouns and adverbs: some, that, some, that way ...

These words give a shade of uncertainty to everything that Manilov says, create a feeling of semantic futility of speech: Manilov dreams of a neighbor with whom one could talk “about courtesy, about good treatment, follow some kind of science”, “as it would be in the very in fact, it would be good if we could live that way together, under the same roof, or philosophize under the shade of some elm tree.

To think about real life, and even more so to make any decisions, this hero is not capable. Everything in Manilov's life: action, time, meaning - are replaced by exquisite verbal formulas.

Manilov is a Westerner, gravitates towards an enlightened European way of life. Manilov's wife studied French in a boarding school, plays the piano, and Manilov's children, Themistoclus and Alkid, receive home education;

Comparison of Manilov with a "too smart minister" points to the ghostly ephemerality and projecting of the highest state power, the typical features of which are vulgar sweetness and hypocrisy.

Claims for sophistication, education, refinement of taste further emphasize the inner simplicity of the inhabitants of the estate. In essence, this is a decoration that covers poverty.

4) qualities: positive - enthusiasm, sympathy (Manilov still retains sympathy for people), hospitality.

Human Manilov is a family man, loves his wife and children, sincerely rejoices at the arrival of a guest, tries in every possible way to please him and make him pleasant.

And he has a sweet relationship with his wife. The love of Manilov and his wife is parodic and sentimental

Manilov was mismanaged, the business "went somehow by itself." The mismanagement of Manilov is revealed to us even on the way to the estate: everything is lifeless, pitiful, petty.

Manilov is impractical - he takes on the bill of sale and does not understand the benefits dead sales shower. He allows the peasants to drink instead of working, his clerk does not know his business and, like the landowner, does not know how and does not want to manage the household.

Manilov is a boring interlocutor, from him "you will not expect any lively or even arrogant word" that, after talking with him, "you will feel mortal boredom."

Manilov is a landowner who is completely indifferent to the fate of the peasants.

Gogol emphasizes the inactivity and social uselessness of the landowner: the economy somehow goes on by itself; the housekeeper steals, M.'s servants sleep and hang out...

5) The things surrounding Manilov testify to his unsuitability, isolation from life, indifference to reality:

Manilov's house is open to all winds, thin tops of birch trees are visible everywhere, the pond is completely overgrown with duckweed, but the arbor in Manilov's garden is pompously called the "Temple of Solitary Reflection".

The master's house stands on the south; at the gray huts of the village of Manilov there is not a single tree - “only one log”;

The seal of grayness, scarcity, uncertainty of color lies on everything that surrounds Manilov: a gray day, gray huts.

In the house of the owners, too, everything is untidy, dull: the wife's silk hood pale color, the walls of the office are painted with “some kind of blue paint, like gray” ..., a “feeling of the strange ephemerality of the depicted” is created

The situation always characterizes the hero in relief. In Gogol, this technique is brought to a satirical sharpening: his characters are immersed in the world of things, their appearance is exhausted by things.

The M estate is the first circle of Dante's hell, where Chichikov descends, the first stage of the "deadness" of the soul (still sympathy for people is still preserved), which, according to Gogol, consists in the absence of any kind of "enthusiasm".

The Manilov estate is the front facade of landlord Russia.

6) Manilov's leisure time is:

Manilov spends time in a gazebo with the inscription "Temple of Solitary Reflection", where he comes up with various fantastic projects (for example, to build an underground passage from the house or build a stone bridge across the pond); in Manilov's office for two years in a row there is a book with a bookmark on the 14th page; ashes are scattered in caps, a tobacco case, heaps of ash knocked out of a pipe are neatly placed on the table and windows, immersed in tempting reflections, he never leaves for the fields, and meanwhile the peasants get drunk ...

Conclusion.

Gogol emphasizes the emptiness and insignificance of the hero, covered with a sugary pleasantness of appearance, details of the furnishings of his estate.

There is nothing negative in Manilov, but there is nothing positive either.

He is empty space, nothing.

Therefore, this hero cannot count on transfiguration and rebirth: there is nothing to be reborn in him.

Manilov's world is a world of false idyll, a path to death.

Not without reason, even Chichikov's path to the lost Manilovka is depicted as a road to nowhere.

And therefore, Manilov, along with Korobochka, occupies one of the lowest places in the "hierarchy" of the heroes of the poem.

The image of Manilov personifies a universal phenomenon - "Manilovism", that is, a tendency to create chimeras, pseudo-philosophizing.