The image and characteristics of Manilov in the poem “Dead Souls” by Gogol

• Essays
• On literature
• Gogol
• Portrait of Manilov and his appearance in the poem Dead Souls

Manilov is the first landowner whom Pavel Chichikov visits. This hero opens the gallery of landowners created by Gogol. And each subsequent owner fell lower than the previous one. Thus, Mr. Manilov symbolizes modest vices and qualities that are inherent in many people, from which it is easy to improve. Manilov is overly serene and relaxed. He doesn't worry about anything. These qualities are associated with his laziness, which leads to the decline of the economy on his estate. The hero's serfs deceive their owner, do not work, play cards and drink, and steal. Manilov shows extreme irresponsibility and does not keep records of serfs. In other words, this is an impractical person. Of course, all these traits of his character are reflected in the portrait of the character.

Manilov is not an old man, but not young either. He is in the prime of his strength and energy, but does not use it in the right direction. Something was missing in his house that evening; he constantly forgot something. Manilov made many unrealistic plans and dreams.

His appearance was prominent and very pleasant, but overly cloying and sweet. And the hero’s very manner of conversation was the same. He used excessively many diminutives in his speech, and was very gentle with his wife, with serfs and with his children's teachers.

Manilov had blond hair and pleasant blue eyes. The author emphasizes that there was a lot of cloying in them too. When the hero laughed, he squinted his eyes in such a way that they turned into slits and were not visible. In this act, Nikolai Gogol compares Manilov to a cat that was stroked behind the ear.

A distinctive feature of Manilov's face was his smile. She was very tempting. Mr. Manilov almost always smiled. This habit symbolizes his calm attitude towards life, his constant positive attitude, his gentleness and serene lifestyle.

The landowner was a convinced Westerner, so he wore a European suit, like many landowners wore in those days.

The author emphasizes that Manilov is a person who does not stand out from the environment of other similar landowners. He has absolutely no features, unusual qualities or anything that would make him memorable. This is an empty person who does no harm, but does no good either. This is expressed in his portrait, which has no outstanding features. The author does not spend much time describing the character's appearance, because it is empty and soulless.

The landowner is a dreamer

The reader learns quite a lot about the first resident of the suburb whom Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov visited. He is a retired officer who has been accustomed to smoking a pipe since his army service. He has been married to Lizonka for eight years, with whom he has two sons. Love between spouses resembles true happiness. They bring candy, apples, and nuts to each other, showing concern. They speak in gentle voices. Love, with its excessive sentimentality, resembles a parody. The sons have such names that one cannot help but dwell on them: Alcides and Themistoclus. Parents wanted to make their children stand out from the crowd at least with their names. Manilov presents himself as a Westerner, a man who builds his life in a European manner, but this results in absurdity and nonsense.

The gullibility of the owner of the manor's house leads to deception. The peasants ask to be let go to earn money, but they themselves go for walks and get drunk. The master's naivety leads to destruction. The whole estate is lifeless and miserable. The reader is not surprised by the clerk on the estate - a drunkard and a lazy man. Life in the estate and around it flows according to some unknown laws of its own. The landowner became an association for an entire way of life - “Manilovism”. This is an idle, dreamy attitude towards life without business or action.

Characteristics

Chichikov rode to the village of Manilovka for a very long time, and the road took him not the declared 15, but as much as 30 miles. Pavel Ivanovich was not delighted with what he saw on the estate:

• unkempt and abandoned area;
• a lonely house of masters, which stands on a hill.

Not far from the estate there was a gazebo called the “temple of unity.” Near it there was a pond, completely overgrown with greenery and mud.

The small gray huts amazed Chichikov with their location: there were no trees growing between them. And in general, the whole village conveyed a feeling of emptiness. Pavel explains this by Manilov’s zeal to follow English fashion.

The landowner has pleasant facial features and charm, he easily surrenders to the will of feelings. But behind the mask is hidden the true face, which is callous, soulless and insignificant. He joyfully greets Chichikov and escorts him into the house.

The hero was:

• blond;
• fair-haired;
• cute.

Manilov is quite good-natured. The first impression of the landowner was pleasant, but over time it changed. The man was a terrible conversationalist because he never expressed a personal point of view, but brushed it off with general phrases.

Character appearance

The landowner with the pleasant surname Manilov is not an elderly man, as the author of “middle aged” says. His face is remembered for its excessive sweetness. It reminds the author of sugary sweets and excess sugar.

Character's appearance features:

• blue-eyed;
• blond;
• smiling pleasantly and temptingly.

A man's eyes are often invisible. When Manilov laughs or smiles, closes his eyes and squints. The author compares the landowner to a cat whose ears are scratched. Why such eyes? The answer is simple, it has long been believed that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. The character in the poem has no soul, so there is nothing to reflect.

The landowner's clothes are interesting:

• green “shalon” frock coat;
• warm cap with ears;
• bears in brown cloth.

The absence of thoughts and feelings in appearance is surprisingly incompatible with a pleasant appearance. After communicating with Manilov, it is difficult to remember his face; it blurs and is lost in memory like a cloud.

Communication with Manilov

The character's surname was chosen by the author from the so-called “speaking” ones. The landowner “beckons” with his sweetness, flattery and sycophancy. People quickly get tired of communicating with the landowner. His smile, pleasant at first glance, becomes cloying and boring.

The author suggests distributing communication by minutes:

• 1 minute – nice person;
• 2 minutes - you don’t know what to say;
• 3 minutes – “The devil knows what it is.”

After this, the person moves away from Manilov so as not to fall into terrible sadness and boredom. There are no living words, bright expressions, or enthusiasm in the conversation. Everything is dull, monotonous, unemotional, but, on the other hand, polite and pedantic. Beautiful dialogue does not convey information, it is meaningless and empty.

Character of the hero

It would seem that the landowner’s character is built on his upbringing. He is educated and noble, but this character doesn't really have any character. At what point Manilov stopped developing is unclear. There is a book in the office that the owner has been reading for more than 2 years, and the reading is on one page. The gentleman is very hospitable. He welcomes everyone like a hospitable host. He sees only the good in everyone and simply turns a blind eye to the bad. It becomes more cheerful when the chaise with guests approaches the house, a smile spreads all over the face. More often than not, Manilov is not talkative. He indulges in dreams and talks to himself. Thoughts fly far away, and only God knows what he is thinking about. The most important thing is that thoughts and dreams do not require implementation. They are like smoke, fluttering and melting. A man is simply too lazy to say these thoughts. He likes to create slides of cigarette ash that collapse like sand castles.

What character traits can be considered basic:

• indifference;
• laziness;
• lack of own opinion;
• verbiage.

Perhaps Manilov's soul is not completely dead yet. The master loves his family, but it is difficult to imagine what will happen next, how the life of his children will turn out. How deeply has laziness sunk into the landowner? When his heart hardens completely, won’t he turn into Plyushkin at a certain period? There are many questions, because the author managed to show a real Russian face. Pleasant and intelligent people became boring. They got used to everything revolving around them. They don’t need to do anything, everything was created before them, appears without their labor. The Manilovs can be corrected, but first their desire for life must be awakened.

Hero's Dreams

Manilov has no life goals, since all his activities come down to fantasies. He does not pay attention to the fact that the peasants asked him for leave, and they themselves went to drink. The landowner looked at the pond and did not see how overgrown it was. At this moment, the man imagined how he would build a stone bridge or make an underground passage. Merchants were supposed to trade next to the pond and supply goods for the peasants.

Manilov was not used to bringing something to the end. In his office there was a book with a bookmark on page 14, and for two years the landowner never read it. He dreamed of putting furniture in the living room that would be covered in silk, but there was not enough fabric for two armchairs, so they were decorated with matting.

There was no furniture in some rooms, and Manilov dreamed of how he would furnish them, but did not take any action for this. The landowner was completely fascinated by Chichikov and began to dream about how they would live together in the same house. After saying goodbye, Manilov imagines how he and Pavel Ivanovich will build a big house and come to social evenings, the tsar will make them generals.

Special qualities

The landowner has no name.

Surprisingly, the author does not even give a hint. The children have unusual names, the wife’s name is Lizonka, but the hero has nothing but a last name. This is his first elusiveness. The author says that such people are known under the name: “neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan.” What else can be attributed to special features and characteristics:

Projecting.

Manilov dreams, makes plans that are not destined to come true. It’s hard to imagine them in anyone else’s head: an underground passage, a superstructure for viewing Moscow.

Sentimentality.

Everything evokes tenderness in a man’s soul, and indiscriminately. He doesn't get to the heart of the event. He rejoices in everything he sees. This attitude is surprising. One cannot rejoice at bare forests and scattered houses. “Shchi from the bottom of my heart” makes the attentive reader grin. “May day is the name day of the heart” - it’s difficult to even understand the meaning of the enthusiastic feeling.

The man has many special qualities - beautiful handwriting, neatness, but they only emphasize that Manilov could have been a good person, but everything dissipated and died.

RUSTUTORS

Manilov in the poem “Dead Souls”. Description of the character, quotes from the work.

Chichikov met the landowner Manilov, a man not yet at all elderly, with eyes as sweet as sugar, at the governor’s party and was invited to visit. It turned out, however, that instead of the promised fifteen miles to Manilovka there were actually thirty.

Manilov's house stood on the south, open to all winds; nearby there was a semblance of an English garden and a gazebo with the inscription “Temple of Solitary Reflection,” and next to it “a pond covered with greenery.” Not far away there were more than two hundred “gray” peasant huts without a single tree. The day Chichikov came to Manilov was “some kind of light gray color, which only happens on the old uniforms of garrison soldiers.” In the distance, “the forest darkened with a dull bluish color.”

Manilov - “ neither this nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan

", although "
in appearance he was a distinguished man;
His facial features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to have too much sugar in it; in his techniques and turns there was something ingratiating favor and acquaintance. He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes. In the first minute of a conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person!” The next minute you won’t say anything, and the third you’ll say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away; if you don’t leave, you will feel mortal boredom .”

Everyone, according to Gogol, has his own interest, “enthusiasm” - Manilov “had nothing.” At home he was mostly silent or thinking, but “ what was he thinking about <...> did God know

"
At the same time, he smoked a pipe - a habit from his time in the army, where he was considered “ the most modest, most delicate and educated officer
.” However, some of his dreams are known: to build an underground passage from the house or to build a stone bridge across the pond, on which merchants would sell all sorts of small goods needed by the peasants. But these projects ended with just words. “When a man came to him and, scratching the back of his head with his hand, said: “Master, let me go to work and earn some money,” “Go,” he said, smoking a pipe, and it didn’t even occur to him that the man was going out to drink. " In his office there was always some kind of book laid out on page fourteen, a book that he had been constantly reading for two years; on the windowsills, neat piles of ash knocked out of the pipe, “arranged, not without effort, in very beautiful rows,” indicated a pleasant pastime. There was always something missing in his house: next to the beautiful furniture covered in silk, there were armchairs upholstered in simple matting; in another room there was no furniture at all; in the evening a dandy bronze candlestick was served - and next to it “some kind of simple copper invalid, lame, curled up to one side and covered in grease.” The walls of the office are of an indeterminate color - “blue paint, kind of grey.” The fickleness and uncertainty of Manilov’s character is also reflected in the fact that he will order a lot at a tavern, but will only try everything. The names of his children are also strange - the ancient Greek Themistoclus and Alcides, out of place in the wilderness of the village.

Manilov has been married for eight years, but he and his wife have maintained an idyllic relationship, expressed in the offering of “a piece of apple, or candy, or nut” and placing it in the “mouth” of the spouse; at the same time, the voice was “touchingly tender,” expressing “perfect love.” Birthday surprises (“some kind of beaded case for a toothpick”), languid and long kisses complemented the picture of family happiness. "They were completely happy with each other."

Manilov is not involved in housekeeping, trusting in everything to the clerk, who is lazy and roguish. His wife, not bad-looking, dressed to her liking, taught at the boarding school French, the piano and “knitting purses and other surprises,” did not delve into the household. There was no cooking in the kitchen, the pantry was empty, the housekeeper was a thief, the servants were unscrupulous and drunkards, “the servants sleep mercilessly and hang out the rest of the time.”

Manilov and his wife speak extremely positively about all their acquaintances (the governor is “a most respectable and most amiable person”, the police chief is “a pleasant person”, Chichikov with his visit brought Manilov “pleasure... May day... the name day of the heart”, etc.) .

Manilov’s favorite words are “ in some way”

”, “
some kind of thing
”, words that he scatters in front of Chichikov to express his gratitude for the visit and the “pleasantness” of the treatment.

The logic of Manilov’s reasoning is manifested in the review of Themistoclus’s “wit”: the boy, as soon as he meets a bug or a booger, runs after it - so his father reads him on the diplomatic side.

Chichikov's intention to buy dead souls throws Manilov off balance. “ Manilov was completely at a loss. He felt that he needed to do something, to propose a question, and what question - the devil knows. He finally finished by blowing out smoke again, but not through his mouth, but through his nasal nostrils.

».

The doubt that Chichikov’s proposal plunged Manilov into was formulated in the question of “whether <…> this negotiation <…> will not be in accordance with civil regulations and the future views of Russia,” while Manilov looked very significantly into Chichikov’s face. Having received a negative answer from his interlocutor, Manilov completely calmed down, gave his interlocutor his soul and, embarrassed by Chichikov’s vigorously expressed gratitude, “ expressed that this was nothing at all, that he would definitely like to prove with something the heart’s attraction, the magnetism of the soul

"
Feeling emotional, he told Chichikov his dreams: to live with a guest under the same roof or to philosophize “under the shadow of some elm tree.” After Chichikov’s departure, he, smoking a pipe, began to think “God knows where”: “ He thought about the well-being of a friendly life, about how nice it would be to live with a friend on the bank of some river, then he began to build a bridge across this river , then a huge house with such a high belvedere that you can even see Moscow from there and there you can drink tea in the evening in the open air and talk about some pleasant subjects.
Then <...> that it was as if the sovereign, having learned about their friendship, granted them generals, and then, finally, God knows what it was, which he himself could not make out. Chichikov's strange request suddenly interrupted all his dreams. The thought of her somehow didn’t really simmer in his head. ”

Having met later in the city, Manilov and Chichikov again expressed their feelings so strongly that both their front teeth ached from kissing all day long; Manilov's eyes disappeared completely - he closed them so sweetly. He held Chichikov's hand with both hands for a quarter of an hour and heated it terribly. The compliments he lavished on Chichikov could only have been intended for the girl with whom they were going to dance.

Manilov’s “peasants” are rolled up “into a tube” and tied with a “pink ribbon”; the list is surrounded by a border (this was the work of Manilov’s wife). While they walked to the official places, Manilov supported, almost lifted Chichikov, trying to prevent him from hurting his “legs.” In the presence of Chichikov, there was no reason to fear that Manilov would guess the truth: enchanted by his pompous phrases about virtue, Manilov plunged into the pleasure of a music lover who heard such a subtle note in the singer’s voice, “which even a bird’s throat cannot bear.”

Even when Chichikov came under suspicion, Manilov replied that “he is always ready to vouch for Pavel Ivanovich as for himself, that he would sacrifice all his estate in order to have a hundredth share of Pavel Ivanovich’s qualities, and spoke about him in general in the most flattering terms.” , adding a few thoughts about friendship with already closed eyes.”

Author of the analysis

: V.V. Shaposhnikova

Things around the landowner

All objects surrounding the owner speak of his inability and isolation from reality.

House.

The building stands in the wind, on a hill without trees. There are liquid crowns of birch trees around, which the author calls tops. The symbol of Russia is losing its natural appeal.

Pond.

The surface of the water is not visible. It is overgrown with duckweed and looks more like a swamp.

Alcove.

The name of the master’s resting place is “Temple of Solitary Reflection.” It should be cozy here, but there is not a word about it. A neglected building.

There has been no furniture in one of the rooms for 8 years; the emptiness in the manor’s house is not due to lack of funds, but because of the laziness and mismanagement of the masters.

Landowner Manilov is the only one who did not sell, but gave away dead souls. It is so impractical that it takes on the costs of completing the purchase. But this is the whole essence of the landowner: senseless sycophancy before any person, even a criminal or a scoundrel.

Lifestyle

The hero of the poem was a wealthy landowner; he owned 200 houses in the village. He did not take care of his possessions; they develop without the participation of the owner. This is a consequence of the effect of emptiness in the village.

If we compare Manilov with Sobakevich, we can note that he is not strict with the peasants: he does not punish or starve them. But at the same time, he does not strive to improve their lives. The man is completely indifferent to his possessions and does not occupy himself with them. He does not check the arable land, entrusting this procedure to his assistant.

The landowner cannot name the number of living and dead serfs. He frankly does not understand why Chichikov needs so many dead souls. At the same time, Manilov dreams of living with Pavel Ivanovich on the seashore.

The true owner of the entire farm is the clerk who abuses alcohol . He does not properly supervise the servants who sleep and do nothing. Manilov prefers to lead a wild lifestyle. His favorite pastime is smoking a pipe and constantly soaring in the clouds, imagining various pictures. The landowner is a true dreamer, but his dreams are unrealistic.

Daydreaming has led to the fact that the huts on the farm are gray and are about to fall apart, but Manilov does not think about it. He gives Chichikov dead souls for free, unlike other landowners. This characterizes him as an uncalculating person who wants to curry favor with Chichikov.

The hero cannot be called heartless. He behaves politely and tactfully with everyone.