The governor in the poem Dead Souls characterization, image essay

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• Governor in the poem Dead Souls

The image of officials is almost completely described by Sobakevich when Chichikov comes to him. The landowner calls the governor and his entourage Goga and Magoga and further characterizes everyone as, in short, unworthy people. Of course, Chichikov understands this situation and the truthfulness of Sobakevich, who, being a efficient owner, understands how city officials earn money and even quite rightly accuses them of parasites and other vices.

However, Chichikov will never denounce city officials and the governor in particular. He makes friends with the governor and he reciprocates with great pleasure, introducing him to his own daughter and wife. Sympathy even arises between the governor’s young daughter and Chichikov, and the governor may even suggest a profitable marriage.

After all, the governor in the poem is a simple swindler who is deceived by a more skillful swindler. He tempts him and the governor turns out to be tempted. By the way, if we take into account the mystical side of the poem, where Chichikov can be interpreted as an image of Satan or another infernal entity of high rank, then the governor and city officials as a whole can be considered as low-rated servants of the evil one, peculiar devils who lead their people along the path of suffering and are greedy for petty things pleasures.

On the other hand, closer to the naturalistic interpretation of the work, the governor simply represents a portrait of a typical official. And not an official of Gogol’s time, but an official in Russia in general. If you look at the current state of affairs, it will not be difficult to find such “governors” who are looking for entertainment, are bound by guarantees with other officials and blissfully take bribes.

Also, the governor in the poem, of course, also refers to dead souls, creatures that have long lost their human appearance. Chichikov also collects these souls in a unique way, only he does not buy them, but attracts them with attention and his own charm, which again hints to us at the image of the evil seducer. Only then will the governor wake up from this obsession, like a sleeper who woke up from sleep and, like the others, will begin to expose the visiting swindler.

However, what is this reproof? He cheats better than me - that’s the governor’s entire claim and nothing more. Before us is an image of a lack of morality and distorted moral guidelines, which, sadly, are characteristic of many people.

Image of the Governor

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol begins the story about the governor from the seventh chapter of the poem “Dead Souls”. This character is considered a supporting hero, so just a few paragraphs describe the person who is the head of the city of N.

The main plot line is revealed at the moment when Mr. Chichikov acquires dead peasants for next to nothing, increasing the documentary value as for living ones. He is proud that he purchased four hundred souls for his estate in the Kherson province. The charming swindler attracted the attention of the governor so much that he reverently treated the gentleman and invited him to his social reception with great pleasure. At the ball, Chichikov had the honor of personally meeting the governor’s wife and daughter. The governor himself is quite stupid, so he does not immediately recognize Chichikov’s true face. As soon as the crime is revealed, local authorities try in every possible way to help the swindler “get away with it”, because They are worried that higher authorities will find out about their tricks and are afraid of reprisals. At the moment the deception is revealed, the criminal resolves documentary issues and promptly travels to other cities to acquire several hundred more Dead Souls and get rich.

During the period of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many writers raised the issue of arbitrariness of government officials in their works. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in his work describes the theme of impunity and the brutal revelry of local authorities. He gave an ironic description of the society of that time, using the expressions “thin” and “thick”. By “thin” the writer meant the middle stratum of society. The “fat” were people of high society who held tightly to their place and, thanks to their position, lined their pockets. They received considerable benefits by robbing their own state and poor people.

Gogol describes the Governor as “neither thin nor fat, with Anna on his neck. It was rumored that he was introduced to the star and embroidered on tulle...” The author specifically mentioned receiving the award and the governor's hobbies in one sentence. This means that the head of the city received the order not for services to the fatherland, but for embroidering tulle. Thanks to deep irony, Nikolai Vasilyevich points out to the reader the inaction of the appointed person in a large city. Mr. Chichikov skillfully bends under the Governor, so the narrow-minded Governor presents the swindler as an honest and important person, pointing out his good intentions. Once again the writer shows a sarcastic grin towards the hero, revealing to the reader his stupidity.

It is not difficult to notice that the character in the poem is the subject of the writer’s ironic ridicule. The hero's kind infantility becomes terrible selfishness for his family. In the work of N.V. Gogol reveals reality and reveals the rotten side of the entire social system of that period.

The history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls” was suggested to N.V. Gogol by A.S. Pushkin, who told the writer a story about how in one of the cities of the Moldavian Republic of Bendery, not a single death of ordinary people was registered for several years. And all because the names of dead peasants were given to runaway serfs from the central regions.

Officials in "Dead Souls"

In “Dead Souls” there are no separately described images of civil servants, but nevertheless, the life and characters are shown very accurately. Images of city N officials appear from the first pages of the work. Chichikov, who decided to pay a visit to each of the powerful, gradually introduces the reader to the governor, vice-governor, prosecutor, chairman of the chamber, police chief, postmaster and many others. Chichikov flattered everyone, as a result of which he managed to win over every important person, and all this is shown as a matter of course. In the bureaucratic world, pomp reigned, bordering on vulgarity, inappropriate pathos and farce. Thus, during a regular dinner, the governor’s house was lit up as if for a ball, the decoration was blinding, and the ladies were dressed in their best dresses.

The officials in the provincial town were of two types: the first were subtle and followed the ladies everywhere, trying to charm them with bad French and greasy compliments. Officials of the second type, according to the author, resembled Chichikov himself: neither fat nor thin, with round pockmarked faces and slicked hair, they looked sideways, trying to find an interesting or profitable business for themselves. At the same time, everyone tried to harm each other, to do some kind of meanness, usually this happened because of the ladies, but no one was going to fight over such trifles. But at dinners they pretended that nothing was happening, discussed Moscow News, dogs, Karamzin, delicious dishes and gossiped about officials of other departments.

When characterizing the prosecutor, Gogol combines the high and the low: “he was neither fat nor thin, had Anna on his neck, and it was even rumored that he was introduced to a star; however, he was a great good-natured man and sometimes even embroidered tulle himself...” Note that nothing is said here about why this man received the award - the Order of St. Anne is given to “those who love truth, piety and fidelity,” and is also awarded for military merit. But no battles or special episodes where piety and loyalty were mentioned are mentioned at all. The main thing is that the prosecutor is engaged in handicrafts, and not in his official duties. Sobakevich speaks unflatteringly about the prosecutor: the prosecutor, they say, is an idle person, so he sits at home, and the lawyer, a well-known grabber, works for him. There is nothing to talk about here - what kind of order can there be if a person who does not understand the issue at all is trying to solve it while an authorized person is embroidering on tulle.

A similar technique is used to describe the postmaster, a serious and silent man, short, but witty and philosopher. Only in this case, various qualitative characteristics are combined into one row: “short”, “but a philosopher”. That is, here growth becomes an allegory for the mental abilities of this person.

The reaction to worries and reforms is also shown very ironically: from new appointments and the number of papers, civil servants are losing weight (“And the chairman lost weight, and the inspector of the medical board lost weight, and the prosecutor lost weight, and some Semyon Ivanovich ... and he lost weight”), but there were and those who courageously kept themselves in their previous form. And meetings, according to Gogol, were only successful when they could go out for a treat or have lunch, but this, of course, is not the fault of the officials, but the mentality of the people.

Gogol in “Dead Souls” depicts officials only at dinners, playing whist or other card games. Only once does the reader see officials at the workplace, when Chichikov came to draw up a bill of sale for the peasants. The department unequivocally hints to Pavel Ivanovich that things will not be done without a bribe, and there is nothing to say about a quick resolution of the issue without a certain amount. This is confirmed by the police chief, who “only has to blink when passing a fish row or a cellar,” and balyks and good wines appear in his hands. No request is considered without a bribe.

Essay: Characteristics of the governor in the poem “Dead Souls” with quotes and table (N.V. Gogol)

One of the minor characters in the poem by N.V. Gogol’s “Dead Souls” is the governor of the city N. Before us is a bright representative of the bureaucracy, who immerses us in the world of his class and makes it clear why Chichikov’s scam was a success. With the help of this image, the reader grasps the historical context and is imbued with the problems of noble Russia, mired in greed, twinning, infantilism and mutual responsibility of the bureaucracy.

According to the author himself, the governor was not much different from the main character Chichikov:

“Neither fat nor thin, he had Anna around his neck, and it was even rumored that he was introduced to a star...” Many of us cannot understand the phrase “Anna on the neck” - this is what people called the Order of St. Anne of the 2nd degree.

In the poem “Dead Souls,” Gogol deliberately does not give detailed characteristics of officials, leaving them faceless and not assigning any individuality to their images. However, the governor is still distinguished from the general series by some original properties. A distinctive feature of the hero, for example, is the ability to embroider on tulle. He belongs to the class of important officials, which means that he has a significant income, which allows him to take up an expensive hobby. But the main reason for mentioning this seemingly insignificant detail is that the author emphasizes the inactivity and infantilism of a top-echelon official. People remembered him only for his tulle embroidery, and not for his activity in the field of management. After such references, the reader involuntarily begins to feel that the governor is taking someone else’s place. The author condescendingly calls him “a great good-natured man” and “a most pleasant person,” as if hinting that this is not enough for effective work in such an important position.

Like other officials, the governor is primitive, simple-minded and prone to theft. He is ready to be nice and adapt to the situation, but when it comes down to it, his true meanness is revealed. Sobakevich, for example, openly calls the governor a robber: “He and even the vice-governor are Goga and Magog!” to his daughter. That is why the hero is so hospitable and pleasant in communicating with Chichikov: he invited him to the ball, spent time with him, and introduced him to everyone. Only calculation makes a person worthy of respect in his eyes. The governor in the poem “Dead Souls” is a simple swindler who is deceived by a more experienced and skillful swindler - Pavel Ivanovich. However, even he admits the inappropriateness of luxurious balls in such a poor province:

There are poor harvests in the province, high prices, so they pay for balls! What a thing: they were discharged into women's rags! It’s unheard of for someone to swindle a thousand rubles on herself! But at the expense of peasant dues or, even worse, at the expense of our brother’s conscience...”

However, Chichikov shamelessly lies to his friend, talking about the velvet roads. And the governor accepts this flattery with a smile, without even noticing the catch. This speaks of the hero’s unscrupulousness and narrow-mindedness.

The governor, like his colleagues, did not notice anything strange in his proposal. He generally turns a blind eye to matters; he is much more interested in balls and embroidery. However, this collective image represents the entire bureaucracy, which holds its positions only formally, but in reality is burdened with much more important activities - an endless celebration of life at public expense. The author showed that the ruling elite of the district scale resembles a crowd of thieves and deceivers who are no different from each other. The characterization of the governor of the city N in the poem “Dead Souls” became proof of this.

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