The meaning of the title of the work Dead Souls. The meaning and internal content in the title of the poem N

In the title of N.V. Gogol’s poem “ Dead Souls” reflected main idea works. If you take the title of the poem literally, you can see that it contains the essence of Chichikov’s scam: Chichikov bought the souls of dead peasants.
But in fact, the title contains more deep meaning, reflecting author's intention the first volume of “Dead Souls”. There is an opinion that Gogol planned to create “Dead Souls” by analogy with “ Divine Comedy”Dante, which consists of three parts: “Hell”, “Purgatory”, “Paradise”. The three volumes conceived by N.V. Gogol had to correspond to them. In the first volume, N.V. Gogol wanted to show the terrible Russian reality, to recreate “hell” modern life, in the second and third volumes - the spiritual rise of Russia.
In himself, N.V. Gogol saw a writer-preacher who, painting a picture of the revival of Russia, leads it out of the crisis. When publishing “Dead Souls” N.V. Gogol himself drew title page. He drew a stroller, which symbolizes Russia's movement forward, and around it there are skulls, which symbolize the dead souls of living people. It was very important for Gogol that the book be published with this title page.
The world of “Dead Souls” is divided into two worlds: the real world, where the main character is Chichikov, and the ideal world of lyrical digressions, in which main character- N.V. Gogol himself.
Manilov, Sobakevich, Nozdrev, prosecutor - these are typical representatives real world. Throughout the entire poem, their character does not change: for example, “Nozdryov at thirty-five years old was the same as at eighteen and twenty.” The author constantly emphasizes the callousness and soullessness of his heroes. Sobakevich “had no soul at all, or he had it, but not at all where it should be, but, like immortal Koshchei, somewhere behind the mountains and is covered with such a thick shell that everything that moved at the bottom did not produce any shock on the surface.” All the officials in the city have the same frozen souls without the slightest development. N.V. Gogol describes officials with evil irony.
At first we see that life in the city is in full swing, but in reality it is just a meaningless bustle. In the real world of the poem, a dead soul is a common occurrence. For these people, the soul is only what distinguishes a living person from a dead one. After the death of the prosecutor, everyone realized that he “had a real soul” only when all that was left of him was “only a soulless body.”
The title of the poem is a symbol of life in the district town of N. and county town K, in turn, symbolizes all of Russia. N.V. Gogol wants to show that Russia is in crisis, that the souls of people have petrified and died.
In an ideal world, there is a living soul of the narrator, and therefore it is N.V. Gogol who can notice all the baseness of life in a fallen city. In one of the lyrical digressions, the souls of the peasants come to life when Chichikov, reading the list of the dead, resurrects them in his imagination. N.V. Gogol contrasts these living souls of peasant-heroes from the ideal world with real peasants, completely stupid and weak, such as Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai.
In the real world of “Dead Souls” there are only two heroes who have a truly living soul, these are Chichikov and Plyushkin.
Plyushkin's image differs from the images of other residents of the city. In the poem, Gogol singles out the chapter with Plyushkin, it is located exactly in the middle. The chapter begins and ends with lyrical digressions, which has never happened when describing other landowners. This shows that the chapter is really important. You could say this chapter is completely out of the ordinary. general plan. When Chichikov came to other officials to buy dead souls, everything was the same: Chichikov looked at the house, then bought peasants, had dinner and left. But the chapter with Plyushkin seems to interrupt this monotonous chain. Only one resident of the city, Plyushkin, shows the story of his life, that is, before us is not just a man with a frozen soul, but we see how he reached such a state. Plyushkin's story is the tragedy of his life. Gradually, with each blow of fate, his soul hardened. But did his soul die completely? At the mention of the name of his comrade, Plyushkin’s face “slipped some warm ray, it was not a feeling that was expressed, but some kind of pale reflection of a feeling.” This means that there is something alive left in Plyushkin, that his soul has not frozen, has not ossified at all. Plyushkin’s eyes were also alive. The sixth chapter contains detailed description Plyushkin's garden, overgrown, neglected, but still alive. The garden is a kind of metaphor for Plyushkin’s soul. Only Plyushkin has two churches on his estate. Of all the landowners, only Plyushkin pronounces an accusatory monologue after Chichikov’s departure. All this allows us to conclude that Plyushkin’s soul has not completely petrified.
The second hero of the real world, having living soul, is Chichikov. His name is Paul, and this is the name of the apostle who experienced a spiritual revolution. So Chichikov in the second volume was supposed to become an apostle, revive the souls of people, guide them on the true path. And already in the first volume there is a hint of this. Gogol trusts Chichikov to tell about former heroes and thus, as it were, resurrect the peasants.
The ideal world of “Dead Souls,” which appears to readers in lyrical digressions, is the complete opposite of the real world. In an ideal world there are not and cannot be dead souls, since there are no Manilovs, Sobakevichs, or prosecutors. For the world of lyrical digressions, the soul is immortal, since it is the embodiment of the divine principle of man.
Thus, in the first volume of “Dead Souls” N.V. Gogol depicts everything negative sides Russian reality. The writer reveals to people that their souls have become dead, and, pointing out the vices of people, thereby brings their souls back to life.

“Dead Souls” can safely be called Gogol’s most important and final work. The writer worked on his creation for many years, from 1835 to 1842. Initially, the writer wanted to build his work following the example of Dante's Divine Comedy. In the first volume, Gogol wanted to describe hell, in the second - purgatory, in the third - paradise for Russia and the heroes of the poem. Over time, the concept of “Dead Souls” changed, and the title of the poem also changed. But the combination “dead souls” was always present in it. I think that Gogol put a lot of meaning into these words, they are very important for understanding the work.

So, why Dead Souls? The first answer that comes to mind is because it relates to the plot of the book. Business man And big swindler Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov travels around Russia and buys dead audit souls. He does this, allegedly, in order to take the peasants to the Kherson province and start farming there. But in fact, Chichikov wants to receive money for souls, pawning them in the guardianship council, and live happily.

With all his energy, the hero gets down to business: “having crossed himself according to Russian custom, he began to execute.” In search of dead peasant souls, Chichikov traveled through the villages of Russian landowners. Reading the description of these landowners, we gradually understand that these people are the real “dead souls”. What is the most kind, very educated and liberal Manilov worth! This landowner spends all his time in empty reasoning and dreams. In real life, he turns out to be completely helpless and worthless. Manilov is not interested real life, action replaces words for him. This is a completely empty person, vegetating in fruitless dreams.

The landowner Korobochka, whom Chichikov accidentally stopped by, is just as empty and dead. For this landowner, any person is, first of all, a potential buyer. She can only talk about buying and selling, and even about her late husband. Korobochka's inner world has long stopped and frozen. This is evidenced by the hissing clock, and the “outdated” portraits on the walls, as well as the flies that simply filled Korobochka’s entire house.

Nozdrev, Sobakevich, Plyushkin... All these landowners have long ceased to live a spiritual life, their soul has died or is on the way to complete death. It is not for nothing that the author compares the landowners to animals: Sobakevich looks like a medium-sized bear, Korobochka is depicted surrounded by birds. And Plyushkin doesn’t look like anyone or anything at all: he appears before Chichikov as a sexless creature, without age and social status.

Spiritual life is replaced by gluttony among landowners. Korobochka is a hospitable housewife who loves to eat herself. She treats Chichikov to “mushrooms, pies, quick-witted cookies, shanishkas, spinning bars, pancakes, flatbreads...” Dashing Nozdryov likes to drink more than eat. This, in my opinion, is quite consistent with his broad and daring nature.

The biggest glutton in the poem is, of course, Sobakevich. His strong, “wooden” nature requires cheesecakes the size of a plate, a side of lamb with porridge, a nine-pound sturgeon, and so on.

Plyushkin has reached such a stage of mortification that he almost no longer needs food. Keeping enormous wealth, he eats scraps and treats Chichikov to the same.

Following the movements of Pavel Ivanovich, we discover more and more “dead souls”. Chichikov appears in the houses of prominent officials of the city of N; after purchasing peasants, he begins to go to various authorities, formalizing his acquisitions. And what? We understand that among officials almost all are “dead souls.” Their deadness is especially clearly visible in the ball scene. There's not one here human face. Hats, tailcoats, uniforms, ribbons, and muslins are swirling everywhere.

Indeed, officials are even more dead than landowners. This is a “corporation of corporate thieves and robbers”, taking bribes, messing around and profiting from the needs of petitioners. None mental interests it does not appear among officials. Gogol ironically remarks about the interests of these people: “some have read Karamzin, some have read Moskovskie Vedomosti, some have not even read anything at all...”

It is interesting that, serving soulless masters, serfs begin to lose themselves, their souls. An example is the black-footed girl Korobochka, and Chichikov’s servant - coachman Selifan, and the peasants Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai.

It is important to note that Gogol considered the soul to be the most important thing in a person. It is the soul that is divine beginning in each of us. The soul can be lost, it can be sold, it can be lost...Then the person becomes dead, regardless of the life of his body. A person with a “dead” soul does not bring any benefit either to the people around him or to his fatherland. Moreover, he can harm, destroy, destroy, because he does not feel anything. But, according to Gogol, the soul can be reborn.

Thus, calling his work “Dead Souls,” the author, in my opinion, meant primarily living people who had lost their souls and died while still alive. Such people are useless and even dangerous. The soul is the divine part of human nature. Therefore, according to Gogol, we need to fight for it.

/ / / What is the meaning of the title of Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”?

The poem "" was created by N.V. Gogol for a long time. He spent about seven years writing this text. At first, the author’s ideas were to create something similar to the “Divine Comedy”. Gogol wanted to depict three worlds - hell, purgatory and heaven, which were triumphant in Russia at that time. But, over time, the plot constantly changed, and a beautiful poem appeared before us, which passed through the years and centuries.

The phrase “dead souls” was constantly present in the author’s thoughts, and therefore became the name of the whole creative work. Why did you name your poem that way? I immediately have several answers to this question.

Firstly, reading the meaning of the poem, we learn that the main character, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, came up with an unusually cunning plan, during which he bought dead peasant souls from landowners and then received a monetary reward for them. It is for this reason that the author could call his poem “Dead Souls.”

Reading carefully the lines of the work, I get acquainted with the personalities of the landowners who inhabited one of the Russian cities. And what do I see! These people are internally dead, although, in fact, they are still alive. Their souls have long since faded away and become extinct. The landowners and landowners were so carried away by the process of collecting and accumulating wealth that they completely forgot about any human qualities and habits.

The landowner could only talk about selling goods. In her village, she raised birds, sold honey, flour and other products, so there was always tasty and satisfying food on her table. The inner world of this woman had long ago frozen and stopped, just as the ancient clock in her house did.

The landowner was always flying in his dreams. He had a sharp tongue, fantasized a lot, but, in fact, never did anything.

He was the biggest glutton among the other landowners. He loved to eat, and the food portions were quite decent.

The landowner was so greedy and stingy that he didn’t even spend money on food. He ate strange scraps, although he kept considerable wealth.

While traveling around the city of NN, Pavel Ivanovich met with many officials who were just as dead as the landowners presented above. The author does not describe their personalities, because they are empty. The main principles of the work of officials are theft, bribery and idleness. Such people have no form, they live their lives in vain and do not bring any benefit.

It turns out that in the poem “Dead Souls” I came across several images that fit the title of the work. And it seems to me that by the concept of “dead souls,” the author meant precisely living people who had long since died inside, lost their souls and all humanity. For N.V. Gogol inner world and the soul is the most important thing in a person. This is what you need to cherish and protect within yourself.

WHAT'S THE POINT
GOGOL'S POEM "DEAD SOULS".

Poem "The Dead"
souls" was written at a time when
Russia was dominated by serfdom.
The landowners controlled their peasants,
like things or livestock, they could buy and
sell them. Landowner's wealth
determined by the number of peasants who
belonged to him. In about 10
For years, the state carried out a census of “souls.”
According to the census lists, landowners paid
taxes for peasants. If in between
two revisions the peasant died, the landowner
still paid for him as if he were alive, until
new census.

One day A.S.
Pushkin told Gogol about one rogue official,
who bought for next to nothing from landowners
dead souls listed as alive.
After this, the official became very rich.
The plot greatly interested Gogol. He
decided to draw a picture of a serf
Russia, show what was happening in it
the process of disintegration of the landowner economy.
Gogol decided to write his poem in three
volumes in which it would be necessary to show all
Rus' is not “on one side”, but comprehensively.
He sought to portray not only
negative feudal landowners, but
find some positive ones among them. But because V
Russia at that time had no positive
landowners, the second volume of the poem was not published.

Box -
housewife, but with a narrow mental
outlook. She sees nothing but
kopecks and two-kopecks. Ruined
landowner-spendthrift Nozdryov, capable of "Lower"
the whole farm in a few days.

Shown and
Sobakevich is a kulak landowner who is very
far from enlightenment, from advanced ideas
society. For the sake of profit he is capable of
trickery, forgery, deception. He even
manages to sell Chichikov instead of a man
woman.

The limit is
moral failure is Plyushkin - "the hole
on humanity." He is sorry to waste his
good not only for others, but also for yourself. He
does not have lunch, dresses in torn clothes. TO
he harbors distrust and hostility towards people,
shows cruelty and injustice towards
peasants. His fatherly feelings died out in him,
things for him more expensive than people. "And before