Associated characters are dead souls. The main characters of "Dead Souls"

compositional basis Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" is Chichikov's journey through the cities and provinces of Russia. According to the author's intention, the reader is invited to "travel the whole of Russia with the hero and bring out a wide variety of characters." In the first volume of Dead Souls, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol introduces the reader to a number of characters that represent " dark kingdom”, familiar from the plays of A. N. Ostrovsky. The types created by the writer are relevant to this day, and many proper names eventually became common nouns, although in recent times in colloquial speech are used less and less. Below is a description of the heroes of the poem. In "Dead Souls" the main characters are the landlords and the main adventurer, whose adventures are the basis of the plot.

Chichikov, main character"Dead Souls", travels around Russia, buying documents for the dead peasants, who, according to the audit book, are still considered alive. In the first chapters of the work, the author tries in every possible way to emphasize that Chichikov was a completely ordinary, unremarkable person. Knowing how to find an approach to every person, Chichikov, without any problems, was able to achieve location, respect and recognition in any society that he had to face. Pavel Ivanovich is ready for anything to achieve his goal: he lies, impersonates another person, flatters, uses other people. But at the same time, he seems to readers to be a completely charming person!

Another hero of the work "Dead Souls" by Gogol is Manilov. Chichikov comes to him first. Manilov gives the impression of a carefree person who does not care about worldly problems. Manilov found his wife to match - the same dreamy young lady. Servants took care of the house, and teachers come to their two children, Themistoclus and Alkid. It was difficult to determine the character of Manilov: Gogol himself says that in the first minute you might think “what an amazing person!”, A little later, you will be disappointed in the hero, and after another minute you will be convinced that they can’t say anything about Manilov at all. It has no desires, no life itself. The landowner spends his time in abstract thoughts, completely ignoring everyday problems. Manilov easily gave the dead souls to Chichikov without asking about the legal details.

If we continue the list of heroes of the story, then the next will be Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna, an old lonely widow who lives in a small village. Chichikov came to her by chance: the coachman Selifan lost his way and turned onto the wrong road. The hero was forced to stop for the night. External attributes were an indicator internal state landowners: everything in her house was done sensibly, firmly, but nevertheless there were a lot of flies everywhere. Korobochka was a real entrepreneur, because in every person she was used to seeing only a potential buyer. Nastasya Petrovna was remembered by the reader for the fact that she did not agree to the deal in any way. Chichikov persuaded the landowner and promised to give her several blue papers for petitions, but until he agreed to order flour, honey and lard from Korobochka next time, Pavel Ivanovich did not receive several dozen dead souls.

Next on the list was Nozdryov- a reveler, a liar and a merry fellow, a playboy. The meaning of his life was entertainment, even two children could not keep the landowner at home for more than a few days. Nozdryov often got into various stories, but thanks to his innate talent to find a way out of any situation, he always got out of the water dry. Nozdryov communicated easily with people, even with those with whom he managed to quarrel, after a while he talked like with old friends. However, many tried not to have anything in common with Nozdryov: the landowner invented various fables about others hundreds of times, telling them at balls and dinner parties. It seemed that Nozdryov was not at all worried about the fact that he often lost his property in cards - he certainly wanted to win back. The image of Nozdryov is very important for characterizing other heroes of the poem, in particular Chichikov. After all, Nozdryov was the only person with whom Chichikov did not make a deal and, in general, did not want to meet with him anymore. Pavel Ivanovich barely managed to escape from Nozdryov, but Chichikov could not even imagine under what circumstances he would see this man again.

Sobakevich was the fourth seller of dead souls. his appearance and in behavior he resembled a bear, even the interior of his house and household utensils were huge, out of place and cumbersome. From the very beginning, the author focuses on Sobakevich's thriftiness and prudence. It was he who first offered Chichikov to buy documents for the peasants. Chichikov was surprised by this course of events, but did not argue. The landowner was also remembered for the fact that he filled the price of the peasants, despite the fact that the latter were long dead. He talked about their professional skills or personal qualities, trying to sell documents at a higher price than Chichikov offered.

Surprisingly, it is this hero who is much more likely to spiritual rebirth, after all, Sobakevich sees how small people have become, how insignificant they are in their aspirations.

This list of characteristics of the heroes of "Dead Souls" contains the most important characters for understanding the plot, but do not forget about coachman Selifane, and about Pavel Ivanovich's servant, and about good-natured landowner Plushkin. Being a master of words, Gogol created very vivid portraits of heroes and their types, which is why all descriptions of the heroes of Dead Souls are so easy to remember and immediately recognizable.

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All the heroes of the poem can be divided into groups: landowners, common people (serfs and servants), officers, city officials. The first two groups are so interdependent, so merged into a kind of dialectical unity, that it is simply impossible to characterize them separately from each other.

Among the surnames of the landowners in "Dead Souls", those surnames that originated from the names of animals primarily attract attention. There are quite a few of them: Sobakevich, Bobrov, Svinin, Blokhin. The author closely acquaints the reader with some landowners, others are only mentioned in passing in the text. The surnames of the landowners are mostly dissonant: Konopatiev, Trepakin, Kharpakin, Pleshakov, Soapy. But there are exceptions: Pochitaev, Cheprakov-Colonel. Such surnames already inspire respect by sound, and there is hope that these are really smart and virtuous people, unlike other half-humans, half-beasts. Naming the landlords, the author uses sound recording. So the hero Sobakevich would not have acquired such heaviness and solidity if he had the surname Sobakin or Psov, although in meaning this is almost the same thing. Another solidity to the character of Sobakevich is added by his attitude towards the peasants, the way they are indicated in his notes given to Chichikov. Let us turn to the text of the work: “He (Chichikov) ran through it (the note) with his eyes and marveled at the accuracy and accuracy: not only was the craft, rank, years and family condition spelled out in detail, but even in the margins there were special marks about behavior, sobriety, - in a word , it was a pleasure to look." These serfs - the carriage maker Mikheev, the carpenter Stepan Cork, the brick maker Milushkin, the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov, Yeremey Sorokoplekhin - and after their death are dear to the owner as good workers and honest people. Sobakevich, despite the fact that "it seemed that this body did not have a soul at all, or he had one, but not at all where it should be, but, like an immortal koshchey, somewhere beyond the mountains and covered with such a thick shell, that everything that tossed and turned at the bottom of it did not produce any kind of shock on the surface, "despite this, Sobakevich is a good host.

Fortress Boxes have nicknames: Pyotr Savelyev Disrespect-Trough, Cow Brick, Wheel Ivan. "The landowner did not keep any notes or lists, but knew almost everyone by heart." She is also a very zealous mistress, but she is not so much interested in serfs as in the amount of hemp, lard and honey that she can sell. Korobochka truly has speaking surname. She surprisingly suits a woman "older in years, in some kind of sleeping cap, put on hastily, with a flannel around her neck", one of those "mothers, small landowners who cry for crop failures, losses and hold their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile gain a little money in multicolored bags placed in the drawers of chests of drawers.

The author characterizes Manilov as a person "without his enthusiasm." His surname consists mainly of sonorous sounds that sound soft without making too much noise. It is also consonant with the word "beckon". Manilov is constantly attracted by some fantastic projectors, and, "deceived" by his fantasies, he does absolutely nothing in life.

Nozdryov, on the contrary, with his last name alone gives the impression of a man in whom there is too much of everything, like too many noisy vowels in his last name. In contrast to Nozdryov, the author portrayed his son-in-law, Mizhuev, who is one of those people who “before you have time to open your mouth, they are already ready to argue and, it seems, will never agree to something that is clearly contrary to their way of thinking, that they will never call a stupid intelligent, and that in particular they will not agree to dance to someone else's tune; but it will always end up with gentleness in their character, that they will agree precisely to what they rejected, they will call the stupid smart and then go to dance as well as possible to someone else's tune, - in a word , they will start with a satin stitch, and end with a reptile. " Without Mizhuev, Nozdryov's character would not play like that with all its facets.

The image of Plyushkin in the poem is one of the most interesting. If the images of other landowners are given without background, they are what they are in their essence, then Plyushkin was once a different person, " frugal owner! was married and a family man, and a neighbor came to dine with him, listen and learn from him housekeeping and wise stinginess. "But his wife died, one of his daughters died, and the remaining daughter ran away with a passing officer. Plyushkin is not so much a comic hero as a tragic one And the tragedy of this image is grotesquely emphasized by the funny, ridiculous last name, in which there is something from that kolach that his daughter Alexandra Stepanovna brought to Plyushkin for Easter along with a new dressing gown, and which he dried into breadcrumbs and served to rare guests for many years. Plyushkin's stinginess is brought to the point of absurdity, he is reduced to a "hole in humanity", and it is in this image that Gogol's "laughter through tears" is felt most strongly. Plyushkin deeply despises his serfs. He covenanted Mavr and Proshka to his servants, scolds them mercilessly and for the most part just like that, not really.

The author is deeply sympathetic to ordinary Russian people, servants, serfs. He describes them with good humor, for example, the scene in which Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyay are trying to make the stubborn horses walk. The author calls them not Mitrofan and Dimitri, but Mityai and Minyai, and before the reader's mind's eye appear "a lean and long uncle Mityai with a red beard" and "Uncle Minyai, a broad-shouldered peasant with a beard black as coal and a belly similar to that gigantic samovar. In which sbiten is brewed for the entire vegetative market." The coachman Chichikov Selifan, that's why he was named full name, which claims to be a kind of education, which he pours out all without a trace on the horses entrusted to his care. The footman Chichikov Petrushka with his special smell, which follows him everywhere, also causes a good-natured smile of the author and reader. There is not a trace of that evil irony that accompanies the descriptions of the landlords.

Full of lyricism, the author's reasoning put into Chichikov's mouth about the life and death of those he bought " dead souls". Chichikov fantasizes and sees how Stepan Cork "perched ... for more profit under the church dome, or maybe he dragged himself to the cross and, slipping, from there, from the crossbar, flopped to the ground, and only some standing near ... Uncle Mikhey, scratched. With a hand in the back of the head, he said: "Oh, Vanya, you've been hurt!" - and he himself, tied with a rope, climbed "into his place. It is no coincidence that Stepan Cork is called Vanya here. It's just that this name contains all the naivety, generosity, breadth of soul and recklessness of the simple Russian people.

The third group of heroes can be conditionally designated as officers. Basically, these are friends and acquaintances of the landowner Nozdrev. In a sense, Nozdrev himself also belongs to this group. In addition to him, one can name such revelers and bullies as staff captain Kisses, Khvostyrev, lieutenant Kuvshinnikov. These are real Russian surnames, but in this case they ambiguously indicate such features of their owners as a constant desire to drink wine and something stronger, and not in mugs, but preferably in jugs, the ability to tail curl around the first skirt that comes across and distribute kisses right and left . Nozdryov tells about all these exploits with great enthusiasm, who himself is the bearer of all the above qualities. It should be added here also the cheating card game. In this light, N.V. Gogol portrays the representatives of the great Russian army, quartered in the provincial city, which to some extent represents the whole of vast Russia.

And last group persons presented in the first volume of the poem can be designated as officials, from the lowest to the governor and his retinue. In the same group we will include the female population of the provincial town of NN, about which a lot is also said in the poem.

The reader learns the names of officials somehow in passing, from their conversations with each other, for them the rank becomes more important than the name and surname, as if it sticks to the skin. Among them, the central ones are the governor, the prosecutor, the gendarme colonel, the chairman of the chamber, the police chief, the postmaster. These people seem to have no soul at all, even somewhere far away, like Sobakevich's. They live for their own pleasure, under the guise of rank, their life is strictly regulated by the size of the rank and the amount of bribes that they are given for the work that they are required to perform by position. The author tests these sleeping officials with the appearance of Chichikov with his " dead souls". And officials, voluntarily or involuntarily, must show who is capable of what. And they turned out to be capable of a lot, especially in the field of conjectures about the personality of Chichikov himself and his strange enterprise. had the most effect on the poor prosecutor. They affected him to such an extent that, having come home, he began to think, think, and suddenly, as they say, he died for no reason at all. Whether he was paralyzed or something else, he just sat and slammed back from his chair ... Then only with condolences did they find out that the deceased had, for sure, a soul, although he, due to his modesty, never showed it. never showed.

Ladies from the high society of the provincial city of NN helped the officials a lot to raise such a big commotion. Ladies occupy a special place in the anthroponymic system of Dead Souls. The author, as he himself admits, does not dare to write about ladies. “It’s even strange, the pen doesn’t rise at all, as if some kind of lead is sitting in it. livelier paint and more of them on the palette, but we only have to say a couple of words about appearance and about what is more surface. The ladies of the city of NN were what they call presentable ... As for how to behave, keep the tone, maintain etiquette, a lot of the most subtle propriety, and especially observe the ode in the very last trifles, in this they were ahead of even the ladies of St. Petersburg and Moscow ... Visiting a card, whether it was written even on a deuce of clubs or an ace of diamonds, but the thing was very sacred. "The author does not give names to ladies, and at the same time explains the reason as follows:" It is dangerous to call a fictitious surname. Whatever name you think up, it will certainly be found in some corner of our state, the blessing is great, someone who wears it will certainly be angry not with the stomach, but with death ... Call it by rank - God forbid, and that is more dangerous. Now all the ranks and estates are so irritated in our country that everything that is in a printed book already seems to them a person: such is the arrangement in the air. It is enough to say only that there is a stupid person in one city, this is already a person; suddenly a gentleman of respectable appearance jumps out and shouts: “After all, I am also a man, therefore, I am also stupid,” in a word, he will instantly realize what the matter is. This is how a lady pleasant in all respects and just a pleasant lady appear in the poem - delightful in expressiveness collective female images. From a conversation between two ladies, the reader will later learn that one of them is called Sofya Ivanovna, and the other Anna Grigorievna. But this does not really matter, because, whatever you call them, they will still remain a lady pleasant in all respects and just a pleasant lady. It contributes additional element generalizations in the author's description of the characters. The lady pleasant in all respects "acquired this name in a legal way, for, as if, she did not regret anything that she became amiable in the last degree, although, of course, wow, what a nimble agility crept through courtesy female character! and although sometimes in every pleasant word she stuck out, wow, what a pin! and God forbid, what was seething in the heart against the one that would have crawled somehow and somehow into the first. But all this was clothed with the most subtle secularism that only happens in a provincial city. "" The other lady ... did not have that versatility and character, and therefore we will call her: just a pleasant lady. "It was these ladies who laid the foundation for loud scandal about dead souls, Chichikov and the kidnapping of the governor's daughter. A few words must be said about the latter. She is nothing more and nothing less than a governor's daughter. Chichikov says about her: “A glorious grandmother! The good thing is that she is now only, apparently, released from some boarding school or institute, that, as they say, there is still nothing womanish in her. That is, exactly what they have the most unpleasant. She is now like a child, everything in her is simple, she will say what she likes, laugh where she wants to laugh. Anything can be done from her, she can be a miracle, or rubbish can come out ... ". The governor's daughter is untouched virgin lands, (tabula rasa), so her name is youth and innocence, and it doesn’t matter at all whether her name is Katya or Masha. After the ball at which she called universal hatred on the ladies' side, the author calls her "poor blonde". Almost "poor sheep".

When Chichikov goes to the judicial chamber to process the purchase of "dead" souls, he encounters the world of petty officials: Fedosey Fedoseevich, Ivan Grigorievich, Ivan Antonovich the pitcher snout. "Themis just what it is, in a negligee and a dressing gown received guests." "Ivan Antonovich, it seemed, was already well over forty years old, his hair was black, thick; the entire middle of his face protruded forward and went into his nose - in a word, it was that face that is called in the hostel a jug snout." In addition to this detail, there is nothing remarkable about the officials, except that their desire to get a bigger bribe, but this does not surprise anyone in officials.

In the tenth chapter of the first volume, the postmaster tells the story of Captain Kopeikin, calling it a whole poem in some way.

Yu. M. Lotman in his article "Pushkin and the Tale of Captain Kopeikin" finds prototypes of Captain Kopeikin. This is a hero folk songs thief Kopeikin, whose prototype was a certain Kopeknikov, an invalid Patriotic war 1812 Arakcheev refused to help him, after which he became, as they said, a robber. This is Fedor Orlov - real face, a man who was disabled in the same war. Lotman believes that "the synthesis and parodic refinement of these images give rise to the 'hero of a penny' Chichikov."

Smirnova-Chikina, in her comments on the poem "Dead Souls", considers Kopeikin as the only one conceived by Gogol positive character the first part of his work. The author writes that Gogol wanted to do this in order to "justify her<поэмы>genre, therefore, the narrator-postmaster prefaces the story with the words that "however, if you tell it, it will turn out to be a whole poem that is entertaining for some writer in some way." In addition, the author pays attention to the role of contrasts considered in my work. Smirnova-Chikina draws attention to how Gogol contrasts the wealth of St. Petersburg, the luxury of its streets with the poverty of Kopeikin.

"The Tale ..." appears in the poem at the moment when high society city ​​N, having gathered together, wonders who Chichikov really is. Many assumptions are made - both a robber, and a counterfeiter, and Napoleon ... Although the postmaster's idea that Chichikov and Kopeikin are the same person was rejected, we can see a parallel between their images. It can be noticed, at least by paying attention to the role played by the word "penny" in the story of Chichikov's life. Even as a child, his father, instructing him, said: "... take care and save a penny most of all, this thing is most reliable, as it turns out," he was only versed in the advice to save a penny, but he himself saved up a little, "but Chichikovo turned out to be" a great mind from the practical side." Thus, we see that Chichikov and Kopeikin have the same image - a penny.

The name Chichikov cannot be found in any dictionary. And this surname itself does not lend itself to any analysis either from the side of emotional content, or from the side of style or origin. Surname is incomprehensible. It does not carry any hints of solidity or humiliation, it does not mean anything. But that is precisely why N.V. Gogol gives such a surname to the protagonist, who is "not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin; one cannot say that he is old, but not so much that he is too young" . Chichikov is neither this nor that, however, this hero cannot be called an empty place either. Here is how the author characterizes his behavior in society: “Whatever the conversation was, he always knew how to support it: whether it was about a horse farm, he talked about a horse farm; whether they talked about good dogs, and here he reported very sensible remarks; whether they interpreted it with regard to the investigation carried out by the Treasury, he showed that he was not unfamiliar with judicial tricks; whether there was a discussion about the billiard game - and in the billiard game he did not miss; whether they talked about virtue, and he talked about virtue very well, even with tears in his eyes; about making hot wine, and he knew the use of hot wine; about customs overseers and officials, and he judged them as if he himself were both an official and an overseer ... He spoke neither loudly nor quietly, but exactly as it should. "The life story of the protagonist included in the poem explains a lot about " dead souls, but alive soul the hero remains as if hidden behind all his unseemly deeds. His thoughts, which the author reveals, show that Chichikov is not a stupid person and not without a conscience. But still, it is difficult to guess whether he will improve, as he promised, or whether he will continue on his difficult and unrighteous path. The author did not have time to write about it.

Poem in prose "Dead Souls" - central work in the work of one of the most original and colorful Russian writers - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.

Gogol as a mirror of the Russian landownership

In the work "Dead Souls" the main characters are representatives of one of the three main strata of Russian society in the first half of the nineteenth century - landowners. The other two classes - the bureaucracy and the peasantry - are shown somewhat schematically, without the special colors inherent in Gogol's language, but the landowners ... In this work you can see their different colors, characters and habits. Each of them represents a human weakness, even vice, human of this estate (according to the author's observations): low education, limitedness, greed, arbitrariness. Let's take a closer look at them.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Dead Souls. main characters

There is no need to retell the plot of the poem in prose here, since this would require a separate article. Let's just say that a certain person by the name of Chichikov, in modern times a real fine fellow - resourceful, inventive, with original thinking, extremely sociable and, most importantly, absolutely unprincipled - decides to buy from the landlords " dead Souls” in order to use them as a mortgage against which you can buy a real village with living peasants made of flesh and blood.

To implement his plan, Chichikov travels around the landlords and buys the "dead" peasants from them (surnames entered in tax returns). He is eventually unmasked and escapes NN City in a carriage being carried away by the "Three Bird".

If we discuss who the main characters of the poem "Dead Souls" are, then collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov will certainly top their list.

Images of landlords

The second number I would like to mention the landowner Manilov - a sentimental, grandiloquent, empty, but harmless man. He quietly dreams, sitting in his estate, looks at life through and makes unrealizable plans for the future. And although Manilov does not cause much sympathy, he is still not the most unpleasant character in the poem Dead Souls. The main characters that appear before the reader further are much less harmless.

Korobochka is an elderly and narrow-minded woman. However, he knows his business well and holds the income from his small estate firmly in his wrinkled hands. She sells souls to Chichikov for fifteen rubles, and the only thing that confuses her in this strange deal is the price. The landowner is worried, as if not to sell too cheap.

Continuing the list under the conditional name "Dead Souls - the main characters", it is worth mentioning the gambler and reveler Nozdrev. He lives widely, cheerfully and noisily. Such a life rarely fits into the generally accepted framework, therefore it is under court.

Following Nozdryov, we get acquainted with the rude and stubborn Sobakevich, "a fist and a beast", but now he would be called a "strong business executive."

And closes the row of sellers of "dead souls" painfully stingy Plyushkin. This landowner was so dominated by his passion for frugality that he practically lost his human appearance, in any case, at first glance it is impossible to determine his gender and social affiliation - it's just some kind of figure in tatters.

In addition to them, Nikolai Vasilievich mentions representatives of other classes: officials and their wives, peasants, military men, but it is the landowners in the work Dead Souls that are the main characters. Pretty soon it becomes clear that it is their souls that are dead, and not for the first year, and it is on them that the writer and his sharp pen are aimed.

The image of Chichikov "Dead Souls"

Chichikov is outwardly neat, loves cleanliness, dressed in a good fashionable suit, always carefully shaved; always on it clean linen and fashion clothes"brown and reddish shades with a spark" or "the color of Navarino smoke with fire." But Chichikov's outward neatness, cleanliness, strikingly contrasts with the hero's inner dirt and dishonesty. In the image of Chichikov, the author emphasized typical features predator, scoundrel and accumulator. In the eleventh chapter, the author talks in detail about life path hero from birth to the moment when he took up the acquisition of dead souls. How was the character of Chichikov formed? What vital interests, formed under the influence of the external environment, guided his behavior?
Even as a child, his father taught him: “... most of all please teachers and bosses ... communicate with those who are richer so that in some cases they will be useful to you, and most of all take care of a penny, this thing is the most useful in the world ... You will do everything and break through the world a penny." These father's advice formed the basis of Chichikov's relationship with people since school years. While still in school, he achieved good relationship teachers, successfully accumulated money. Service in various institutions developed his natural abilities - a practical mind, ingenuity, hypocrisy, patience, the ability to "understand the spirit of the boss", to find a weak spot in a person's soul and the ability to influence him for selfish reasons. Chichikov directed all his skills to achieve the desired enrichment. He knew how to bewitch both the provincial town and estates. Chichikov knows how to find an approach to someone, clearly calculating his every step and adapting to the character of the landowner. The reader notices the difference in the manner of his communication with each of the landowners.
Gogol satirically exposes his hero "scoundrel", a representative of those predators, of which there were many in the 30s XIX years Art., when the bourgeois-capitalist forces had already begun to develop within the framework of the feudal-serf order.

Image of Manilov

The image of Manilov opens the gallery of landowners. He reminds a little of Chichikov with his "sweet" neatness and refinement of clothes and movements. Her life is empty and worthless. Even the names of his sons Manilov gives exceptional - Themistoclus and Alkid. The landowner spends his life in complete inactivity. He has moved away from any work, he does not even read anything. Manilov decorates his idleness with groundless dreams and "projects" that do not make sense. Instead of a real feeling, Manilov has a “pleasant smile”, sweet courtesy; instead of thought, meaningless judgments; instead of activity, empty dreams.
Concerning main goal Chichikov's visit, Manilov does not even know how many peasants have died, and shows complete indifference to this.

Box Image

Nastasia Petrovna Korobochka appears before us as a parody of a person, the embodiment of the same spiritual emptiness as Manilov. A small landowner (owns 80 souls), she is a housewife, but her worldview is extremely limited. The author emphasizes her stupidity, lack of education, superstition, craving for profit. You can't always trust first impressions. Chichikov is deceived by the outward simplicity of Korobochka, naive patriarchal speech, which indicates that she has always lived in the village, among the peasants, has not received any education, and in the city she happens to sole purpose: Find out about the prices of some products. Chichikov calls Korobochka a "clubhead," but this landowner is no more stupid than he; like him, she never misses her advantage. She knows well what is being done in her household, at what price and what products are sold, how many serfs she has, who is called and how many died when.

Image of Nozdrev

The type of "living dead" is Nozdrev. This is the complete opposite of both Manilov and Korobochka. He has "an irrepressible liveliness and militancy of character". He is a reveler, a swindler and a liar. Even without understanding the essence of Chichikov's scam, he recognizes him as a swindler. Nozdryov completely abandoned his farm, only the kennel is well maintained, since he loves hunting.

The image of Sobakevich

Sobakevich - a new step moral decline person. He is an adherent of the old feudal forms of farming, is hostile to the city and education, ardently strives for profit. The thirst for enrichment pushes him to dishonest deeds. This landowner knows how to run a household. Wealth provides him with self-confidence, makes him independent in his judgments. He knows well how the other landowners and top officials in the province have grown rich, and he deeply neglects them. Sobakevich, in addition to the corvée, also applies the monetary system. His serfs die because of the inhuman conditions of existence, as he behaves cruelly with them, despite their talents and abilities. And his peasants are really talented: the skillful carriage-maker Mikheev, the carpenter Stepan Cork, the tsegelnik Milushkin, the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov and others.
Chichikov's request to sell "dead souls" does not surprise Sobakevich, since he is convinced that money can be made from everything. The author emphasizes the broad generalizing meaning of this image.

Plushkin's image

“A hole in humanity,” Plyushkin is the exact opposite of Sobakevich. He has lost his human likeness so much that Chichikov at first considers him a housekeeper. Undoubtedly, he has income, and considerable: over a thousand souls of serfs, full barns of all kinds of goods. However, his extreme avarice turns the wealth earned for him by the hard work of the serfs into dust and rot. Is there anything dear to him in life? Plyushkin forgot why he lives in the world. His serfs suffer from the stinginess of the owner and "die like flies." According to Sobakevich, he starved all people to death. Everything human died in him; it is in the full understanding of the "dead soul". This landlord has no human qualities, even his father's things are more dear to him than the people whom he considers thieves and swindlers. In the image of Plyushkin, with special force and satirical aggravation, the shameful desire for accumulation at any cost, born of society, is embodied.
It is no coincidence that Gogol, in the image of Plyushkin, completes the gallery of landowners. The author shows what can happen to each of them. Gogol is offended by the mockery of man as the likeness of God. He says: “And could a person come to such insignificance, pettiness, vileness? Could it have changed! and does it look like it's true? Everything seems to be true, everything can happen to a person ... ".