Plyushkin in the poem "Dead Souls": analysis of the hero, image and characteristics. Heroes of "Dead Souls" - Plyushkin (briefly) What Plyushkin looked like in the poem Dead Souls


One of the most striking characters of Gogol, a literary hero, whose name has long become a household name, a character that is remembered by everyone who read "Dead Souls" - the landowner Stepan Plyushkin. His memorable figure closes the gallery of images of the landlords presented by Gogol in the poem. Plyushkin, who gave his name even to an official disease (Plyushkin's syndrome, or pathological hoarding), is in fact a very rich man who has led a vast economy to complete decline, and a huge number of serfs to poverty and a miserable existence.

This fifth and last companion of Chichikov is a vivid example of how dead the human soul can be. Therefore, the title of the poem is very symbolic: it not only directly indicates that we are talking about "dead souls" - as the dead serfs were called, but also about the miserable, devoid of human qualities, devastated souls of landowners and officials.

Characteristics of the hero

("Plyushkin", artist Alexander Agin, 1846-47)

The reader's acquaintance with the landowner Plyushkin Gogol begins with a description of the surroundings of the estate. Everything testifies to desolation, insufficient funding and the absence of a firm hand from the owner: dilapidated houses with leaky roofs and windows without glass. The sad landscape is enlivened by the master's garden, although neglected, but described in much more positive colors: clean, tidy, filled with air, with a "correct marble sparkling column." However, Plyushkin's dwelling again inspires melancholy, around desolation, despondency and mountains of useless, but extremely necessary rubbish for the old man.

Being the richest landowner in the province (the number of serfs reached 1000), Plyushkin lived in extreme poverty, eating leftovers and dried breadcrumbs, which did not cause him the slightest discomfort. He was extremely suspicious, everyone around seemed to him insidious and unreliable, even his own children. Only the passion for hoarding was important for Plyushkin, he collected everything on the street that came to hand and dragged it into the house.

("Chichikov at Plushkin", artist Alexander Agin, 1846-47)

Unlike other characters, Plyushkin's life story is given in full. The author introduces the reader to a young landowner, talking about a good family, a beloved wife and three children. Neighbors even came to the zealous owner in order to learn from him. But the wife died, the eldest daughter ran away with the military, the son joined the army, which his father did not approve of, and the youngest daughter also died. And gradually the respected landowner turned into a man whose whole life is subject to hoarding for the sake of the very process of accumulation. All other human feelings, which were not distinguished even earlier by brightness, died out in him completely.

Interestingly, some professors of psychiatry have mentioned that Gogol very clearly and at the same time artistically described a typical case of senile dementia. Others, for example, psychiatrist Ya.F. Kaplan, deny this possibility, saying that Plyushkin's psychopathological features do not show through to a sufficient degree, and Gogol simply illuminated the state of old age that he met everywhere.

The image of the hero in the work

Stepan Plyushkin himself is described as a creature dressed in unkempt rags, resembling a woman from afar, but the stubble on his face nevertheless made it clear that the main character is a representative of the stronger sex. With the general amorphousness of this figure, the writer draws attention to individual features of the faces: a protruding chin, a hooked nose, no teeth, eyes expressing suspicion.

Gogol - the great master of the word - shows us with bright strokes a gradual, but irreversible change in the human personality. The man, in whose eyes the mind shone in previous years, gradually turns into a miserable miser who has lost all the best feelings and emotions. The main goal of the writer is to show how terrible the coming old age can be, how small human weaknesses can turn into pathological features under certain life circumstances.

If the writer wanted to simply portray a pathological miser, he would not go into the details of his youth, a description of the circumstances that led to the current state. The author himself tells us that Stepan Plyushkin is the future of a fiery youth in old age, that unsightly portrait, seeing which, a young man would jump back in horror.

("Peasants near Plushkin", artist Alexander Agin, 1846-47)

However, Gogol leaves a small chance for this hero too: when the writer conceived the third volume of the work, he planned to leave Plyushkin - the only one of all the landowners he met Chichikov - in an updated, morally revived form. Describing the appearance of the landowner, Nikolai Vasilyevich singles out the old man's eyes separately: "the little eyes have not yet gone out and ran from under high-growing eyebrows like mice ...". And the eyes, as you know, are the mirror of the human soul. In addition, Plyushkin, who seems to have lost all human feelings, suddenly decides to give Chichikov a gold watch. True, this impulse immediately goes out, and the old man decides to enter the clock in the donation, so that after death at least someone will remember him with a kind word.

Thus, if Stepan Plyushkin had not lost his wife, his life could have turned out quite well, and the onset of old age would not have turned into such a deplorable existence. The image of Plyushkin completes the gallery of portraits of degraded landlords and very accurately describes the lowest level that a person can slide into in his lonely old age.

Plan
1. The history of writing the poem "Dead Souls".
2. The main task that N.V. Gogol when writing a poem.
3. Stepan Plyushkin as one of the representatives of the landlord class.
4. Appearance, life and customs of Stepan Plyushkin.
5. The reasons for the moral decay of the hero.
6. Conclusion.

The famous poem by N.V. Gogol's Dead Souls was written in 1835. It was during this period that such a direction as realism gained particular popularity in literature, the main goal of which was a truthful and reliable depiction of reality through a generalization of the typical features of a person, society and life in general.

Throughout the entire career of N.V. Gogol was interested in the inner world of man, his development and formation. When writing the poem "Dead Souls", the writer set as his main task the opportunity to comprehensively show the negative features of the landlord class. A striking example of such a generalization is the image of Stepan Plyushkin.

Plyushkin does not appear in the poem immediately, this is the last landowner whom Chichikov pays a visit to during his journey. However, for the first time, Chichikov learns briefly about his way of life and character in passing during his conversation with Nozdryov and Sobakevich. As it turned out, Stepan Plyushkin is a landowner who is already over sixty, the owner of a large estate and more than a thousand serfs. The hero is distinguished by particular stinginess, greed and a mania for accumulation, but even such an impartial characterization did not stop Chichikov and he decides to get to know him.

Chichikov meets the hero in his estate, which was in decline and devastation. The main house was no exception: all the rooms in it were locked, except for two, and the hero lived in one of them. It seemed that in this room Plyushkin folded everything that caught his eye, any little thing that he subsequently did not use anyway: these were broken things, broken dishes, small pieces of paper, in a word - unnecessary rubbish to anyone.

Plushkin's appearance was as untidy as his house. It was clear that the clothes had long since fallen into disrepair, and the hero himself looked clearly older than his years. But it wasn't always like this... More recently, Stepan Plyushkin lived a measured, calm life surrounded by his wife and children in his native estate. Everything changed overnight ... Suddenly, the wife dies, the daughter marries an officer and runs away from her home, the son leaves to serve in the regiment. Loneliness, longing and despair took possession of this man. All that, on which, it would seem, his world rested, collapsed. The hero lost heart, but the last straw was the death of his outlet - the youngest daughter. Life is divided into "before" and "after". If quite recently Plyushkin lived only for the well-being of his family, now he sees his main goal only in the senseless filling of warehouses, barns, rooms of the house, in the moral outliving of himself ... he goes crazy. Avarice and greed, developing every day, finally broke the thin and previously strained thread of relations with children, who, as a result, were deprived of his blessing and financial support. This shows the special cruelty of the hero in relation to loved ones. Plyushkin loses his human face. After all, it is no coincidence that Chichikov, in the first minutes of meeting the hero, sees a sexless creature in front of him, which he takes for an elderly woman - a housekeeper. And only after a few minutes of reflection, he realizes that in front of him is still a man.

But why is it exactly like this: moral exhaustion, a ruined estate, a mania for hoarding? Perhaps, by doing so, the hero was only trying to fill his inner world, his emotional devastation, but this initial passion eventually grew into a destructive addiction, which at the root, from the inside, outlived the hero. But he just lacked love, friendship, compassion and simple human happiness ...

Now it is impossible to say with complete certainty what the hero would be like if he had a beloved family, the opportunity to communicate with children and loved ones, because Stepan Plyushkina N.V. Gogol portrayed it this way: a hero who “lives an aimless life, vegetates”, being, in the words of the author of the poem himself, “a hole in humanity”. However, in spite of everything, in the soul of the hero, those human feelings still remained that were unknown to other landowners who visited Chichikov. First, it is a feeling of gratitude. Plyushkin is the only one of the heroes who considered it right to express gratitude to Chichikov for buying "dead souls". Secondly, he is not alien to a reverent attitude to the past and to the life that he now lacked so much: what inner enthusiasm ran across his face at the mere mention of his old friend! All this suggests that the flame of life has not yet gone out in the soul of the hero, it exists and it is glimmering!

Stepan Plyushkin, of course, causes pity. It is this image that makes you think about how important it is to have close people in your life who will always be there: both in moments of joy and in moments of sadness, who will support, lend a hand and stay close. But at the same time, it is important to remember that in any situation it is necessary to remain human and not lose your moral character! It is necessary to live, because life is given to everyone in order to leave a memorable mark behind!

In N.V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" all the characters have their own special portrait characteristics. One of the most important characters is Stepan Plyushkin. His image personifies stinginess, and his surname has become a household name. What is the portrait of Plyushkin in the poem "Dead Souls".

Portrait characteristic of Plushkin

Plyushkin is one of the main characters in the poem Dead Souls. Unlike other heroes, Gogol describes in detail the way of life, the history of life, and the events that led him to his current state. In the work, he appears last, after Manilov, Sobakevich and Korobochka. In comparison with other characters, he launched himself a lot: he appeared before Chichikov in rags, with such an untidy appearance that Chichikov for a long time could not understand whether he was a man or a woman. It would seem that a rich landowner with several villages and a thousand serfs should look presentable and correspond to his status. However, Plyushkin is more like a beggar who wants to give alms.

Plyushkin's appearance shocks even Chichikov, who has seen many different people of different social status. This is how Plyushkin's appearance is described: “He happened to see a lot of all kinds of people […] but he had never seen such a person before…” (Chichikov's impression of Plyushkin). His face was the most ordinary, thin, unshaven and completely nondescript. The nose was hooked and several teeth were missing. In addition to the repulsive appearance, Plyushkin's clothes were old and shabby, at the mere glance of which a feeling of disgust appeared: for yuft *, which goes to boots; behind, instead of two, four floors dangled, from which cotton paper climbed in flakes. He also had something tied around his neck that could not be made out: whether it was a stocking, a garter, or an underbelly, but not a tie ... "

Plushkin's character

Plyushkin is a controversial figure. He is rich, but lives like the poorest of the peasants. His house is full of food, but he does not eat it, leaving it to rot in the cellars. When meeting with him, it is difficult to determine his gender. There is not an iota of compassion in this man. His serfs are dying of hunger and unbearable living conditions. Plushkin, having the opportunity to help them, does not make any efforts. His character is absurd, he constantly argues with the peasants and other landlords. With all this, he is very religious and God-fearing.

However, he did not always have such a bad character. During his youth he had a beloved wife and three children. At some point in his life, a turning point occurred: his wife died, and his son and daughter left their father's house of their own free will. The fire went out in Plyushkin's soul, he began to fill his life with things, forgetting about people.

Plushkin - a dead soul

The title of the poem is very symbolic. “Dead souls” here are not only dead serfs, but also officials and the landowners themselves. Plyushkin is a typical representative of his class. This is a negative character who is difficult to sympathize with. Not noticing anything around, this person seeks only accumulation. Its bins are full of food that could feed the entire village, but all these gifts of nature only rot, spreading a fetid smell around.

And if N.V. Gogol often describes other landowners in a satirical vein, then the author has neither irony nor sarcasm left to describe the portrait of Plyushkin. This man is so hopeless that nothing can change him. Plyushkin is really a “dead soul”.

This article will help schoolchildren write an essay on the topic “Portrait of Plyushkin in the poem“ Dead Souls ”. This text reveals the character traits of the character, and also describes in detail the external characteristics of Stepan Plyushkin.

Artwork test

The gallery of "dead souls" ends in the poem by Plyushkin. The origins of this image are found in the comedies of Plautus, Moliere, in the prose of Balzac. However, at the same time, Gogol's hero is a product of Russian life. “In the midst of general waste and ruin ... in the company of the Petukhovs, Khlobuevs, Chichikovs and Manilovs ... a suspicious and intelligent person ... involuntarily had to seize fear for his well-being. And so stinginess naturally becomes the mania into which his frightened suspiciousness develops ... Plyushkin is a Russian miser, a miser from fear for the future, in the organization of which the Russian person is so helpless, ”the pre-revolutionary critic notes.

The main features of Plyushkin are stinginess, greed, a thirst for hoarding and enrichment, alertness and suspicion. These features are masterfully conveyed in the portrait of the hero, in the landscape, in the description of the situation and in the dialogues.

Plyushkin's appearance is very expressive. “His face was nothing special; it was almost the same as that of many thin old men, only one chin protruded very far forward, so that he had to cover it with a handkerchief every time so as not to spit; little eyes had not yet gone out and were running from under high-growing eyebrows, like mice, when, sticking their pointed muzzles out of dark holes, alert ears and blinking their noses, they look out for a cat hiding somewhere ... ”Plyushkin’s outfit is noteworthy - greasy and a torn dressing gown, rags wrapped around his neck ... S. Shevyrev admired this portrait. “Plyushkin is seen so vividly by us, as if we recall him in the painting by Albert Dürer in the Doria Gallery ...”, the critic wrote.

Small moving eyes, similar to mice, testify to Plyushkin's alertness and suspicion, generated by fear for his property. His rags resemble the clothes of a beggar, but in no way a landowner who has more than a thousand souls.

The motif of poverty continues to develop in the description of the landowner's village. In all village buildings, “some special dilapidation” is noticeable, the huts are made of old and dark logs, the roofs look like a sieve, there are no glasses in the windows. The house of Plyushkin himself looks like "some kind of decrepit invalid." In some places it is one storey, in some places it is two, there is green mold on the fence and gates, a “naked stucco lattice” can be seen through the decrepit walls, only two of the windows are open, the rest are crowded or clogged. The “beggarly look” here metaphorically conveys the spiritual poverty of the hero, the severe limitation of his worldview by a pathological passion for hoarding.

Behind the house stretches a garden, just as overgrown and decayed, which, however, is "quite picturesque in its picturesque desolation." “Green clouds and irregular quivering domes lay on the celestial horizon connected tops of trees that had grown in freedom. A colossal white birch trunk ... rose from this green thicket and rounded in the air, like ... a sparkling marble column ... Green thickets, illuminated by the sun, diverged in places ... "A dazzling white, marble birch trunk, green thickets, bright, the sparkling sun - in terms of the brightness of its colors and the presence of lighting effects, this landscape contrasts with the description of the interior decoration of the landowner's house, recreating the atmosphere of lifelessness, death, and the grave.

Entering Plyushkin's house, Chichikov immediately finds himself in darkness. “He stepped into the dark, wide passage, from which a cold blew, as from a cellar. From the passage he got into a room, also dark, slightly illuminated by light coming out from under a wide crack at the bottom of the door. Further, Gogol develops the motif of death, lifelessness outlined here. In another room of the landowner (where Chichikov ends up) there is a broken chair, “a clock with a stopped pendulum, to which the spider has already attached its web”; a chandelier in a canvas bag, thanks to a layer of dust, looks like "a silk cocoon in which a worm sits." On the walls, Pavel Ivanovich notices several paintings, but their plots are quite definite - a battle with screaming soldiers and drowning horses, a still life with a "duck hanging head down."

In the corner of the room a huge pile of old rubbish is piled on the floor, through the huge layer of dust Chichikov notices there a piece of a wooden shovel and an old boot sole. This picture is symbolic. According to I.P. Zolotussky, Plyushkin's heap is "a tombstone above the ideal of a materialist." The researcher notes that whenever Chichikov meets with any of the landowners, he makes an "examination of his ideals." Plyushkin in this case "represents" a state, wealth. In fact, this is the most important thing that Chichikov strives for. It is financial independence that opens the way for him to comfort, happiness, prosperity, etc. All this is inextricably merged in the mind of Pavel Ivanovich with home, family, family ties, "heirs", respect in society.

Plyushkin, on the other hand, makes the reverse path in the poem. The hero seems to reveal to us the reverse side of the Chichikov ideal - we see that the landowner's house is completely neglected, he has no family, he has severed all friendly and family ties, and there is not a hint of respect in the reviews of other landowners about him.

But once Plyushkin was a thrifty owner, he was married, and "a neighbor stopped by to dine with him" and learn from him about the housekeeping. And everything was no worse for him than for others: “a friendly and talkative hostess”, famous for her hospitality, two pretty daughters, “blonde and fresh, like roses”, a son, a “broken boy”, and even a French teacher. But his “good mistress” and his youngest daughter died, the eldest ran away with the headquarters captain, “it was time for his son to serve,” and Plyushkin was left alone. Gogol carefully traces this process of the disintegration of the human personality, the development in the hero of his pathological passion.

The lonely life of the landowner, widowhood, “gray hair in coarse hair”, dryness and rationalism of character (“human feelings ... were not deep in him”) - all this gave “full food to stinginess”. Indulging his vice, Plyushkin gradually ruined his entire household. So, his hay and bread rotted, flour in the cellars turned into stone, canvases and fabrics "turned into dust."

Plyushkin's passion for hoarding became truly pathological: every day he walked the streets of his village and collected everything that came to hand: an old sole, a woman's rag, an iron nail, a clay shard. What was not in the landowner's yard: "barrels, crossed, tubs, lagoons, jugs with stigmas and without stigmas, sworn brothers, baskets ...". “If someone looked into his working yard, where it was prepared for a supply of all kinds of wood and utensils that had never been used, it would have seemed to him that he had already ended up in Moscow on a wood chip yard, where quick mothers-in-law and mother-in-law go every day. ..make their economic supplies...”, writes Gogol.

Obeying the thirst for profit and enrichment, the hero gradually lost all human feelings: he ceased to be interested in the life of his children and grandchildren, quarreled with his neighbors, and drove away all the guests.

The character of the hero in the poem is entirely consistent with his speech. As V.V. Litvinov notes, Plyushkin’s speech is “one continuous grumbling”: complaints about others - relatives, peasants and scolding with his courtyards.

In the scene of buying and selling dead souls, Plyushkin, like Sobakevich, begins to bargain with Chichikov. However, if Sobakevich, not caring about the moral side of the issue, probably guesses the essence of Chichikov's scam, then Plyushkin does not even think about it. Hearing that it is possible to get "profit", the landowner seems to forget about everything: he "expected", "his hands trembled", he "took money from Chichikov in both hands and carried them to the bureau with the same caution, as if would carry some liquid, every minute afraid to spill it. Thus, the moral side of the issue leaves him by itself - it simply fades under the pressure of the "surging feelings" of the hero.

It is these "feelings" that bring the landowner out of the category of "indifferent". Belinsky considered Plyushkin a "comic face", ugly and disgusting, denying him the significance of feelings. However, in the context of the author's creative idea, presented in the poem of the hero's life story, this character seems to be the most difficult among Gogol's landowners. It was Plyushkin (together with Chichikov), according to Gogol's plan, who was supposed to appear morally revived in the third volume of the poem.

A brief description of Plyushkin in the work "Dead Souls" is a realistic description of the old landowner, his character and lifestyle. The fact is that this character is presented by the author in an unusual manner for him - without humor.

Stepan Plyushkin - one of the landowners in the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". This is one of the most significant and deep characters not only of the mentioned work, but of all Russian literature as a whole.

For the first time, the hero appears in the sixth chapter, when he comes to the landowner to buy "dead souls" from him.

The image and characteristics of Plyushkin in the poem "Dead Souls"

The landowner is distinguished by incredible stinginess and malevolence.

The hero symbolizes the spiritual collapse of a strong man, drowned in the vice of boundless stinginess, bordering on harshness: a huge amount of food is stored in the barns of the landowner, which no one is allowed to take, as a result of which the peasants go hungry, and stocks disappear as unnecessary.

Plyushkin is rich enough, on his account - a whole thousand serfs. However, despite this, the old man lives like a beggar, eating bread and dressing in rags.

The symbolism of the surname

Like most characters in Gogol's works, Plyushkin's surname is symbolic. With the help of contrasting or synonymizing the surname in relation to the character of the corresponding character, the author reveals certain features of this personality.

The meaning of Plyushkin's surname symbolizes an unusually stingy and greedy person, whose goal is to accumulate material wealth without a specific purpose for their use. As a result, the collected wealth is not spent anywhere or is used in minimal quantities.

It is noteworthy that Plyushkin's name is practically never found in the text of the work. In this way, the author shows the callousness, detachment of the hero, the absence of even a hint of humanity in him.

The fact that the landowner's name is Stepan can be learned from his words about his daughter, whom he calls by her patronymic. By the way, ordinary peasants from other estates did not know such a surname at all, calling the landowner by the nickname “patched”.

Plushkin family

This character is the only one of all the landowners who has a fairly detailed biography. The story of the hero's life is very sad.

In the plot narrative, Plyushkin appears before us as a completely lonely person leading a hermit's lifestyle. The wife who inspired him to display the best human qualities and made his life meaningful, left this world long ago.

In marriage, they had three children, the upbringing of which the father was very reverent and with great love. During the years of family happiness, Plyushkin was not at all like his present self. At that time, he often called guests to the house, knew how to enjoy life, had a reputation as an open and friendly person.

Of course, Plyushkin was always very economical, but his stinginess always had reasonable limits and was not so reckless. His clothes, although they did not shine with novelty, nevertheless looked neat, without a single patch.

After the death of his wife, the hero changed a lot: he became extremely distrustful and very stingy. The last straw that hardened Plyushkin's temper was new problems in the family: the son lost a large amount in cards, the eldest daughter ran away from home, and the youngest died.

Surprisingly, nevertheless, glimmers of light sometimes illuminate the dark nooks and crannies of the dead soul of the landowner. Having sold Chichikov's "souls" and reflecting on the issue of drawing up a bill of sale, Plyushkin recalls his school friend. At that moment, a faint reflection of feeling appeared on the old man's "wooden face".

This fleeting manifestation of life, according to the author, speaks of the possibility of reviving the soul of the hero, in which, as if at dusk, the dark and light sides mixed with each other.

Description of the portrait and the first impression of Plyushkin

When meeting with Plyushkin, Chichikov at first mistakes him for a housekeeper.

After a conversation with the landowner, the main character realizes with horror that he was mistaken.

In his opinion, the old man is more like a beggar than a rich owner of the estate.

His whole appearance is as follows: a long chin covered with a handkerchief; small, colorless, mobile eyes; dirty, patched dressing gown, - says that the hero is completely out of touch with life.

Appearance and condition of the costume

Plyushkin's face is strongly elongated and at the same time it is distinguished by excessive thinness. The landowner never shaves, and his beard has become like a comb for horses. Plyushkin had no teeth at all.

The hero’s clothes can hardly be called such, they look more like old rags - the robe looks so worn and untidy. At the time of the story, the landowner is about 60 years old.

The character, demeanor and speech of the landowner

Plyushkin is a man with a difficult character. Probably, the negative features that so clearly manifested themselves in him by old age also took place in previous years, but their bright appearance was smoothed out by family well-being.

But after the death of his wife and daughter, Plyushkin finally broke away from life, became impoverished spiritually, and began to treat everyone with suspicion and hostility. The landowner experienced such an attitude not only towards strangers, but also towards relatives.

By the age of 60, Plyushkin had become very unpleasant due to his difficult nature. The people around him began to avoid him, his friends visited him less and less, and then completely stopped all communication with him.

Plyushkin's speech is jerky, concise, caustic, loaded with colloquial expressions, for example: “Ditka, byut, ehva !, the actor, already, has puffed up.”

The landowner is able to notice any little things and even the most insignificant mistakes and shortcomings. In this regard, he often finds fault with people, expressing his remarks with shouting and swearing.

Plyushkin is not capable of good deeds, he has become insensitive, distrustful and cruel. He does not even care about the fate of his own children, and the old man in every possible way suppresses his daughter's attempts to establish relations with him. In his opinion, the daughter and son-in-law are trying to get close to him in order to get material benefits from him.

It is noteworthy that Plyushkin absolutely does not understand the true consequences of his actions. He actually imagines himself to be a caring landowner, although, in fact, he is a tyrant, an incredible miser and a miser, a rude and grouchy old man who destroys the fate of the people around him.

Favorite activities

Joy in Plyushkin's life consists of only two things - constant scandals and the accumulation of material wealth.

The landowner likes to spend time all alone. He sees no point in hosting or acting as such. For him, this is just a waste of time that can be spent on more useful activities.

Despite large financial savings, the landowner leads an ascetic life, denying literally everything not only to relatives, servants and peasants, but also to himself.

Another favorite pastime of Plyushkin is to grumble and show shame. He believes that the stocks that are stored in his barns are not enough, there is not enough land and even not enough hay. In fact, the situation is quite the opposite - there is plenty of land, and the amount of reserves is so huge that they deteriorate right in storage.

Plyushkin loves to make scandals for any reason, even if it is an insignificant trifle. The landowner is always dissatisfied with something and demonstrates it in the most rude and unsightly form. A picky old man is very hard to please.

Attitude to the economy

Plyushkin is a rich but very stingy landowner. However, despite the huge reserves, it seems to him that they are not enough. As a result, a huge number of unused products become unusable without leaving the storage.

Having at his disposal a large fortune, including 1000 serfs, Plyushkin eats breadcrumbs and wears rags - in a word, he lives like a beggar. The landowner has not been keeping track of what is happening in his household for many years, but at the same time he does not forget to control the amount of liquor in the decanter.

Plushkin's life goals

In short, the landowner does not have a specific goal in life. Plyushkin is completely absorbed in the process of accumulating material resources without a specific purpose for their use.

House and room interior

Plyushkin's estate reflects the spiritual desolation of the character himself. The buildings in the villages are very old, dilapidated, the roofs have long since worn out, the windows are clogged with rags. Ruin and emptiness reigns all around. Even the churches look lifeless.

The estate seems to be falling apart, which indicates the loss of the hero from real life: instead of the main things, empty and meaningless tasks are in the center of his attention. It is not for nothing that this character is practically devoid of a name, patronymic - it is as if he does not exist.

Plyushkin's estate is striking in its appearance - the building is in a terrible, dilapidated state. From the street, the house looks like an abandoned building in which no one has lived for a long time. It is very uncomfortable inside the building - it is cold and dark all around. Natural lighting enters only one room - the owner's room.

The whole house is littered with junk, which is becoming more and more every year - Plyushkin never throws away broken or unnecessary things, because he thinks that they can still come in handy.

The landlord's office is also in complete disarray. The view of the room embodies real chaos. Here is a chair that cannot be repaired, as well as a clock that has stopped a long time ago. In the corner of the room there is a landfill - in a shapeless pile you can see an old shoe and a broken shovel.

Attitude towards others

Plyushkin is a picky, scandalous person. Even the most insignificant reason is enough for him to start a quarrel. The hero shows his dissatisfaction in the most unsightly way, descending to rudeness and insults.

The landowner himself is completely sure that he is behaving caringly and kindly, but people simply do not notice and do not appreciate this, because they are biased towards him.

Probably due to the fact that his son once lost at cards and did not return home, Plyushkin treats officers with prejudice, considering them all to be spendthrifts and gamblers.

Plyushkin's attitude towards the peasants

Plyushkin treats the peasants cruelly and irresponsibly. The appearance, clothes and dwellings of serfs look almost the same as those of the owner. They themselves go half-starved, skinny, exhausted. From time to time, escapes happen among the peasants - existence as a serf Plyushkin looks less attractive than life on the run.

The landowner speaks negatively about his serfs - in his opinion, they are all loafers and loafers. In fact, the peasants work honestly and diligently. It seems to Plyushkin that the serfs are robbing him, and that they are doing their job very badly.

But in reality, things are different: the landowner intimidated his peasants so much that, despite the cold and hunger, they in no case dare to take anything from the master's storage.

Did Plyushkin sell "Dead Souls" to Chichikov

The landowner sells about two hundred "souls" to the main character. This number exceeds the number of "peasants" that Chichikov purchased from other sellers. In this, Plyushkin's desire for profit and hoarding can be traced. When entering into a deal, the hero understands perfectly well what it is and how much profit he can get for it.

Quote characteristic of Plushkin

Plushkin's age “… I live in my seventh decade!…”
First impression “... For a long time he could not recognize what gender the figure was: a woman or a man. The dress on her was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman's hood, on her head a cap, which village yard women wear, only one voice seemed to him somewhat hoarse for a woman ... "

“... Oh, woman! Oh, No! […] Of course, baba! ... "(Chichikov about the appearance of P.)

“... From the keys hanging from her belt and from the fact that she scolded the peasant with rather obnoxious words, Chichikov concluded that this must be the housekeeper ...”

Appearance “... it was more like a housekeeper than a housekeeper: […] his entire chin with the lower part of his cheek looked like an iron wire comb, which is used to clean horses in a stable ...”

“... he [Chichikov] has never seen anything like this. His face was nothing special; it was almost the same as that of many thin old men, only one chin protruded very far forward, so that he had to cover it with a handkerchief every time so as not to spit; small eyes had not yet gone out and were running from under high-growing eyebrows like mice ... "

“... Plyushkin muttered something through his lips, because there were no teeth ...”

Cloth “... Much more remarkable was his outfit: no means and efforts could have got to the bottom of what his dressing gown was concocted from: the sleeves and upper floors were so greasy and shiny that they looked like yuft *, which goes on boots; behind, instead of two, four floors dangled, from which cotton paper climbed in flakes. He also had something tied around his neck that could not be made out: whether it was a stocking, a garter, or an underbelly, but not a tie ... "

“... if Chichikov had met him, so dressed up, somewhere at the church doors, he would probably have given him a copper penny. But before him stood not a beggar, before him stood a landowner ... "

Personality

and character

“... he has eight hundred souls, but he lives and dine worse than my shepherd! ...”

“... A scammer […] Such a miser as it is difficult to imagine. In prison, the convicts live better than he: he starved all the people to death ... ”(Sobakevich about P.)

“... human feelings, which were not deep in him anyway, became shallow every minute, and every day something was lost in this worn-out ruin ...”

“… miser Plyushkin […] what feeds people badly? ... "(Chichikov)

“... I don’t even advise you to know the way to this dog! Sobakevich said. “It’s more excusable to go to some obscene place than to him ...”

“... does not like officers due to a strange prejudice, as if all military gamblers and motishes ...”

“... Every year the windows in his house pretended to be, finally only two remained ...”

“... every year […] his small glance turned to the pieces of paper and feathers that he collected in his room...”

"... this is a demon, not a man ..." (opinion of buyers about P.)

"... the word "virtue" and "rare properties of the soul" can be successfully replaced by the words "economy" and "order" ... "(Chichikov about P.)

Plushkin's house “... This strange castle looked like some kind of decrepit invalid, long, unreasonably long ...”

“... a house that now seemed even sadder. Green mold has already covered the shabby wood on the fence and gates…”

“... The walls of the house slitted bare stucco grating in places and, apparently, suffered a lot from all sorts of bad weather, rains, whirlwinds and autumn changes. Of the windows, only two were open, the rest were covered with shutters or even boarded up ... "

“... my kitchen is low, nasty, and the pipe has completely collapsed: you start to heat, you will still make a fire ...”

Plushkin's room “... he finally found himself in the light and was struck by the resulting disorder. It seemed as if the floors were being washed in the house and all the furniture was piled up here for a while ... ”(Chichikov’s impression)

“... It would have been impossible to say that a living being lived in this room, if the old, worn cap that lay on the table did not announce its presence ...”

Village

and Plyushkin's estate

“... He noticed some special dilapidation on all the village buildings: the log on the huts was dark and old; many roofs blew through like a sieve; on others there was only a ridge at the top and poles on the sides in the form of ribs ... "

“... The windows in the huts were without glass, others were plugged with a rag or zipun; balconies under the roofs with railings […] squinted and turned black, not even picturesquely…”

“... A crowd of buildings: human, barns, cellars, apparently dilapidated, filled the courtyard; near them, to the right and to the left, gates to other courtyards were visible. Everything said that farming here had once flowed on a vast scale, and everything looked cloudy now. Nothing was noticeable to enliven the picture: no doors opening, no people coming out from somewhere, no living troubles and worries at home! ... "

Plyushkin's peasants “... Meanwhile, income was collected on the farm as before: the peasant had to bring the same amount of quitrent, every woman was taxed with the same bringing of nuts; the weaver had to weave the same number of sets of canvas - all this fell into the storerooms, and everything became rotten and torn, and he himself finally turned into some kind of torn on humanity ... "

“... After all, my people are either a thief or a swindler: they will rob me in such a way that there will be nothing to hang a caftan on ...” (P. about his peasants)

Plushkin

about the past

“... But there was a time when he was only a thrifty owner! he was married and a family man, and a neighbor came to him to dine, listen and learn from him housekeeping and wise stinginess ... "

“... The owner himself appeared at the table in a frock coat, although somewhat worn, but neat, the elbows were in order: there was no patch anywhere ...” (Plyushkin in the past)

"... two pretty daughters […] son, broken boy..."

"... the good mistress died ..." (about Plyushkin's wife)

Plushkin's greed “... Plyushkin became more restless and, like all widowers, more suspicious and stingy. […] In the owner, stinginess became more noticeable [...] Finally, the last daughter […] died, and the old man found himself alone as the guardian, keeper and owner of his wealth ... "

“... Why would Plyushkin, it would seem, need such a death of such products? in his whole life he would not have had to use them even on two such estates that he had - but even this seemed to him not enough ... "

“... hay and bread rotted, stacks and haystacks turned into clean manure, even plant cabbage on them, flour in the cellars turned into stone, and it was necessary to chop it, it was terrible to touch cloth, canvas and household materials: they turned into dust. He already forgot how much he had what ... "

Conclusion

The image of Plyushkin and the characteristics of his essence serve as a good example of how much a person can sink morally and physically. It is no coincidence that the author calls this hero "a hole in humanity."

Plyushkin is not interested in the spiritual development of his personality; he is indifferent to his own inner world. The landowner is characterized by pettiness, stinginess and a complete absence of deep feelings. He has no shame, no conscience, no sympathy.

Plyushkin's name has become a household name. It denotes pathological greed, pettiness and stinginess. In the modern world, the so-called "Plyushkin syndrome" is quite common and characterizes those people who strive for the aimless accumulation of material resources.

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