Sobakevich - characterization of the hero of the novel "Dead Souls". "Dead Souls". Sobakevich Sobakevich first impression of the hero
Among the string of characters depicted by Gogol’s masterful hand, the image of Sobakevich in the poem “Dead Souls” is particularly textured.
It is materially tangible in all its rough, bulky, but strong and reliable materiality.
Sobakevich is a bright detail in the overall grandiose canvas of landowner Russia in the first half of the 19th century, created by the great Russian writer.
Portrait of Sobakevich
The first impression of Sobakevich is that he is a medium-sized bear. His face seems to have been cut out with an ax by several awkward blows.
He is clumsy and will definitely step on his interlocutor’s foot. His name is Mikhail Semenovich, which also emphasizes his bearish nature.
He has a thorough character and is straightforward and rude in his conclusions. His wife is a tall lady with a face like a cucumber.
Gogol did not specifically indicate Sobakevich’s age. He appears to be between 40 and 50 years old. At the time when Gogol was working on the poem, he was just over 30. At that age, even forty-year-olds seem almost old.
Consequently, Gogol assumed Sobakevich’s age to be no more than forty years. The entire fifth chapter of the poem is dedicated to this character.
Life goals
Sobakevich’s goal is to simply live. His soul is somewhere far away, like Koshcheevo’s egg. And it is clear that Sobakevich loves to reign supreme. He wants everything to be his way, even if it is wrong.
Progress and Sobakevich are two incompatible things. Gogol notes in a lyrical digression that it would be better for people like Sobakevich to be landowners. Because if they come to power, then woe will befall the country and especially the officials who will fall under their power, because officials can be “cracked” without harm to themselves, but peasants cannot, because in this case you lose your earnings.
Favorite activities
Landowner Sobakevich loves to eat. He does this as thoroughly as he does everything he does: from serving a whole pig to the table. After eating he likes to sleep.
Obviously, judging by the description of his estate, where, as Gogol noted, the architect’s plan fought with the will of the customer, Sobakevich loves to build.
Of course, like everyone else then (and not only then), he loves money very much. Saving money is his favorite pastime, just like his.
But according to Chichikov, money gives social status, even some kind of greatness, but from Sobakevich’s point of view, money again gives stability, strength, which he so strives for.
Sobakevich's estate and his attitude to the farm
The interior of Mikhail Semenovich’s estate matches the owner to such an extent that every piece of furniture seems to say: “I, too, Sobakevich.”
His entire economy is well organized, the main emphasis is not on petty decoration, but on direct benefit, durability, and thoroughness.
He didn’t need windows - he boarded them up, he needed a window - he cut it out where it was needed, of a completely different size. Appearance is not important to Sobakevich - only benefits.
He cares about his peasants. After all, in order for peasants to generate income, they must live in strong buildings and eat well. Their houses are made without frills, but even the barns are built from full-weight logs.
The behavior and speech of the landowner
A bear, a perfect bear, Chichikov became convinced as he continued to communicate with Sobakevich. Still, he stepped on his foot.
It is difficult for him to move his neck, so he looks somewhat down and to the side, however, he quickly understands the essence of what is happening.
His speech is brief, there is not a trace of Manilov’s beauty in it, he speaks only to the essence of the issue. Sobakevich treats everything modern with contempt: “here, there used to be people!”
He even talks about himself with disdain, believing that his father was healthier and stronger than himself. Sobakevich pronounces a whole ode about his dead peasants.
Sobakevich’s attitude to Chichikov’s proposal
Sobakevich perceived the proposal to sell dead souls as if it were an ordinary thing. Interrupting the cautious approaches of Chichikov, who began about the “good of the state,” he immediately moved on to discussing the price. In the poem this produces a comic effect.
Attitude towards those around Sobakevich
This phrase of his speaks volumes about Sobakevich’s attitude towards his acquaintances: “there is only one prosecutor in the province who is a good person, and even that one is a pig.” Even his governor is a fraud, and everyone around him is a Christ-seller.
However, he is on good terms with his men, does not offend them in vain and will always support them in strengthening their farm.
Sobakevich is characterized by the belief that everything was better before: people were healthier and even animals were larger. There is a noticeable trace of the myth of the Golden Age, characteristic of people of all times and peoples.
What brings him closer to the people is his dislike for everything foreign, his contempt for liberal ideas and progress.
Conclusion
While Gogol clearly condemns Plyushkin, he does not have a clearly negative attitude towards Sobakevich. Somewhere, behind tons of humor and irony, the author's sympathy is visible. Perhaps, in the image of Sobakevich there is pure humor, without that piercing tragedy that the reader feels in such characters as Plyushkin or Manilov.
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When we talk about aristocrats, what often appears in our imagination is a fit, slender, handsome young man. When it comes to landowners, we are always lost, because in literature we often see two types of such heroes. The former try to imitate aristocrats and are used mainly in comic situations, since imitation is more like a caricature of aristocratic life. The latter are masculine-looking, rude and not much different from peasants.
In N.V. Gogol’s story “Dead Souls” the reader has a unique opportunity to analyze different types of landowners. One of the most colorful of them is Sobakevich.
Appearance of Sobakevich
Mikhailo Semenovich Sobakevich is one of the landowners to whom Chichikov turns with a request to sell dead souls. Sobakevich's age varies between 40-50 years.
"Bear! perfect bear! You need such a strange rapprochement: he was even called Mikhail Semenovich” - this is the first impression of this man.
His face is round and rather unattractive in appearance, resembling a pumpkin. “The complexion had a red-hot, hot complexion, the kind you get on a copper coin.”
His facial features were unpleasant, as if hewn with an ax - rough. His face never expressed any emotion - it seemed that he had no soul.
He also had a bearish gait - every now and then he would step on someone’s feet. It is true that at times his movements were not without dexterity.
Mikhailo Semenych has unique health - in his entire life he has never been sick, he has never even had a boil. Sobakevich himself thinks that this is not good - someday he will have to pay for it.
Sobakevich family
Sobakevich’s family is small and is limited to his wife Feodulia Ivanovna. She is as simple and a woman as her husband. Aristocratic habits are alien to her. The author does not say anything directly about the relationship between the spouses, but the fact that they address each other as “darling” indicates a family idyll in their personal lives.
The story also contains references to Sobakevich's late father. According to the recollections of other heroes, he was even larger and stronger than his son and could walk against a bear alone.
The image and characteristics of Sobakevich
Mikhailo Semenovich is an unpleasant looking person. In communication with him, this impression is partially confirmed. This is a rude person, he has no sense of tact.
The image of Sobakevich is devoid of romanticism and tenderness. He is very straightforward - a typical entrepreneur. It's rare to surprise him. He calmly discusses with Chichikov the possibility of purchasing dead souls as if it were the purchase of bread.
“You needed souls, so I’m selling them to you,” he says calmly.
The images of money and thrift are firmly attached to the image of Sobakevich - he strives for material gain. On the contrary, the concepts of cultural development are completely alien to him. He doesn't strive to get an education. He believes that he has a great understanding of people and can immediately tell everything about a person.
Sobakevich does not like to stand on ceremony with people and speaks extremely disapprovingly of all his acquaintances. He easily finds flaws in everyone. He calls all the landowners of the county “swindlers.” He says that among all the noble people of the district, only one is worthy - the prosecutor, but at the same time adds that if you look carefully, then he is also a “pig”.
We invite you to get acquainted with the poem by N.V. Gogol “Dead Souls”
The measure of a good life for Sobakevich is the quality of dinners. He loves to eat well. Russian cuisine is preferable for him; he does not accept culinary innovations, considers them stupidity and nonsense. Mikhailo Semenovich is sure that only he has food of good quality - the cooks of all the other landowners, and even the governor himself, prepare food from poor quality products. And some of them are prepared from such that the cook throws it in the trash.
Sobakevich's attitude towards the peasants
Sobakevich loves to take part in all work, along with the peasants. He takes care of them. Because he believes that employees who are treated well work better and more diligently.
When selling his “dead souls,” Sobakevich praises his serfs with might and main. He talks about their talents and sincerely regrets that he lost such good workers.
Sobakevich does not want to be left in the cold, so he asks Chichikov for a deposit for his peasants. It is difficult to say exactly how many “souls” were sold. It is certainly known that there were more than twenty of them (Sobakevich asks for a deposit of 50 rubles, stipulating the price for each at 2.5 rubles).
Sobakevich's estate and house
Sobakevich does not like sophistication and decoration. In buildings he values reliability and strength. The well in his yard was made of thick logs, “of which mills are usually built.” The buildings of all peasants are similar to a manor's house: neatly built and without a single decoration.
E.V. Amelina
The main features of Sobakevich are intelligence, efficiency, practical acumen, but at the same time he is characterized by tight-fistedness, some kind of ponderous stability in his views, character, and lifestyle. These features are already noticeable in the portrait of the hero, who looks like a “medium-sized” bear. And his name is Mikhail Semenovich.
In Sobakevich’s portrait we can feel the grotesque motive of the hero’s rapprochement with an animal, with a thing. Thus, Gogol emphasizes the limited interests of the landowner in the world of material life.
Gogol also reveals the qualities of the hero through landscape, interior and dialogues. It is characteristic that the motif of heroism reappears here, “playing the role of a positive ideological pole in the poem.” This motif reflected Gogol’s dream of Russian heroism, which, according to the writer, lies not only in physical strength, but also in the “countless wealth of the Russian spirit.” However, in the image of Sobakevich, the “wealth of the Russian spirit” is suppressed by the world of material life. The landowner is concerned only with preserving his wealth and the abundance of the table. Most of all, he loves to eat well and tasty, not recognizing foreign diets. Here Gogol debunks gluttony, one of the human vices that Orthodoxy fights.
Sobakevich is insightful in his own way, endowed with a sober view of things. Sobakevich's intelligence, his insight and, at the same time, the “wildness”, unsociability, and unsociability of the landowner are manifested in his speech. Sobakevich expresses himself very clearly, concisely, without excessive “prettiness” or floridity. When discussing acquaintances, the landowner may swear and use “strong words.” The image of Sobakevich in the poem is static: readers are not presented with the hero’s life story, or any of his spiritual changes. However, the character that appears before us is lively and multifaceted.
"All the heroes of works of Russian literature": School curriculum: Dictionary-reference book
The name itself, played out many times by the narrator, indicates the powerful “animal-likeness” of the hero, his bear-dog features. All this connects Sobakevich with the type of rude landowner Taras Skotinin from Fonvizin’s “Minor.” However, this connection is more external than internal; The author's attitude towards the hero is much more complicated here.
In Sobakevich’s house there are hanging paintings depicting entirely “well done” Greek heroic commanders of the early 1820s, whose images seem to have been copied from himself. This is Mavrocordato in red trousers and with glasses on his nose, Colocotroni and others, all with thick thighs and incredible mustaches. (Obviously, in order to emphasize their power, a “Georgian” one was inserted among the “Greek” portraits - the image of a skinny Bagration.) The Greek heroine Bobelina is also endowed with magnificent thickness - her leg is wider than the torso of some dandy. “Greek” images, sometimes in parody, sometimes in earnest, constantly appear on the pages of “Dead Souls” and run through the entire plot space of Gogol’s poem, which was initially likened to Homer’s “Iliad.” These images echo and rhyme with the central “Roman” image of Virgil, who leads Dante through the circles of Hell - and, pointing to the ancient ideal of plastic harmony, they clearly highlight the imperfection of modern life.
But for all his “heaviness” and rudeness, Sobakevich is unusually expressive. The fact that natural power and efficiency seemed to become heavy in him and turned into dull inertia is more a misfortune than a fault of the hero.
If Manilov lives completely outside of time, if time in Korobochka’s world has slowed down terribly, like her hissing wall clock, and tipped over into the past (as indicated by Kutuzov’s portrait), and Nozdryov lives only in each given second, then Sobakevich is registered in modern times, in 1820 's (the era of Greek heroes). Unlike all the previous characters and in full agreement with the narrator, Sobakevich - precisely because he himself is endowed with excess, truly heroic strength - sees how crushed, how weakened his current life is. During the bargaining, he remarks: “However, even then: what kind of people are these? flies, not people,” are much worse than dead people.
The more God has built into a personality, the more terrible the gap between its purpose and real state. But the greater the chances for the revival and transformation of the soul. Sobakevich is the first in a series of types outlined by Gogol who is directly correlated with one of the characters in the 2nd volume, where the heroes are depicted, although by no means ideal, but still cleared of many of their passions. Sobakevich’s thriftiness, the “Greek” portraits on the walls, the “Greek” name of his wife (Feoduliya Ivanovna) will rhyme in the Greek name and social type of the zealous landowner Kostanzhoglo. And the connection between Sobakevich’s name - Mikhailo Ivanovich - and the “humanoid” bears from Russian fairy tales roots his image in the ideal space of folklore, softening the “animal” associations. But at the same time, the “negative” properties of Sobakevich’s zealous soul seem to be projected onto the image of the stingy Plyushkin, condensed in him to the last degree.
B.V. Sokolov
In the rough draft of the final chapter of either the first or second volume of the poem, Gogol defines him this way: “... the rogue Sobakevich, not at all noble in spirit and feelings, however, did not ruin the peasants, did not allow them to be either drunkards or loiterers " The image of Sobakevich reflected, in particular, M. Pogodin. The characterization of Sobakevich as a kulak, in all likelihood, goes back to Gogol’s quarrel with Pogodin, when the latter refused to hand over the previously agreed upon author’s reprints of the story “Rome.” As M. Shchepkin recalled, Gogol admitted to him: ““Oh, you don’t know what it means to deal with a fist!” - “So why are you contacting him?” – I picked up. - “Because I owe him six thousand rubles in banknotes: so he’s pressing. I hate being published in magazines - no, he snatched this article from me! So, how did he print it? He didn’t even let me correct it, even in proofreading. Why this is so, he alone knows.” Well, I thought, that’s because it’s so because he won’t be able to do it any other way: it’s his (Pogodin’s) nature to do everything, as they say, a blunder.” Also, in Sobakevich, all the objects in the house and on the estate seem to have been cut out with an ax, one might say, a blunder, with concern only for their functional purpose, without any concern for grace.
Belinsky, in the article “Answer to the Muscovite” (1847), noted: “Sobakevich is the antipode of Manilov: he is rude, uncouth, a glutton, a rogue and a fist; but the huts of his men were built, although clumsily, but firmly, from good timber, and it seems that his men lived well in them. Let us assume that the reason for this is not humanity, but calculation, but a calculation that presupposes common sense, a calculation that, unfortunately, sometimes does not happen among people with a European education, who send their men around the world on the basis of a rational economy. The advantage is again negative, but if it had not been in Sobakevich, Sobakevich would have been even worse: therefore, he is better with this negative advantage.”
The characterization of Sobakevich as a “fist” is purely negative. We find confirmation of this in Gogol’s letter to A. Danilevsky dated October 29, 1848: “Life in Moscow has now become much more expensive. A barely single person can now live with just three thousand, but a married man can hardly manage without 8 thousand—I mean, a married man who would lead the most confident life and observe the strictest economy in everything. Almost all of my friends are sitting without money, in upset circumstances, and can’t figure out how to fix them. With money there are only fists, scoundrels, and all sorts of grabbers. This made both society and life in Moscow somehow noticeably more boring...” A. Galkin noticed the deep connection between Sobakevich and Korobochka at the level of their names and patronymics, Mikhailo Semenovich and Nastasya Petrovna, like a bear and a she-bear from a folk tale. This connection emphasizes the rudeness, uncouthness, in a cultural sense, of both characters, and at the same time - their acumen, thoroughness, and to some extent - their closeness to the people, to the same peasants, in tastes and habits.
From Nozdrev, Chichikov ends up with Sobakevich. As usual, Gogol first introduces the reader to the character’s abode. This is typical of Gogol’s manner in general and is motivated by the negotiations of 1 Chichikov, who must carefully examine the economy and immediately realize with whom he is dealing. Chichikov notices that the village, house, peasant huts and other buildings, right down to the well, are strong and heavy.
Everything looked awkward. There was no symmetry in the house, although the struggle between the architect and the owner for the beauty of the house was visible. Of course, the owner won, and the house looked ugly. The wooden huts of the peasants were also strong, but again ugly and sad: “... there were no brick walls, carved patterns and other devices...”. In a word, there was a clumsy, rough heaviness in everything that Chichikov saw. The owner himself, who seemed to Chichikov “very similar to a medium-sized bear,” matched the manor buildings. Nature thought a little about the figure and face of Mikhaila Semenovich: she “simply chopped from all over the shoulder, grabbed with an ax once - the nose came out, grabbed another - the lips came out, picked out the eyes with a large drill and, without scraping, let it into the light...”. In a word, a beast-like man came out, looking like both a bear and a dog.
"Dead Souls". Sobakevich. Artist P. Boklevsky
At the same time, the description of the situation convinces us that Sobakevich is a strong owner, that his peasants are well-fed, clothed and shod. Sobakevich is guided by monetary calculations. Mikhailo Semenovich is not stupid at all. Before Chichikov had time to evasively and vaguely hint at his negotiations, Sobakevich immediately asked: “Do you need dead souls?” And then the famous bargaining took place. It was all about the price. ridicule.
So, Sobakevich’s passion is calculation, money. Here he does not think about whether he commits or does not commit a crime. Sobakevich's prudence makes him businesslike, but ponderous, clumsy and rude. An intelligent man, he turned into an inert, dull, clumsy “bear”, sitting almost forever in his strong, but ugly, unkind estate-den.
Sobakevich had the makings. He is not indifferent to modern events, to what is happening in the world. In Sobakevich’s living room, as Chichikov examined, there were paintings that depicted “well done” - “Greek commanders”, and not from some ancient times, but fighters for the independence of Greece in the 1820s. Sobakevich understands well that contemporary Russian life was grinding him down, while both the peasants and he himself are no longer such powerful people as their fathers were. Today's peasants, argues Sobakevich, “are not people, but flies.” To the assumption of the Chairman of the Chamber that he, Mikhailo Semenovich, like his father once, could knock down a bear, he replies: “No, I won’t.” All the makings, great health and remaining remarkable strength of Sobakevich are wasted in a remote outback. There is no space where they could turn around.
In the heroic body the soul dies, spiritually motionless, heavy and inert. It is not for nothing that Sobakevich is a fierce opponent of education and science: “They interpret it as enlightenment, enlightenment, but this enlightenment is bullshit!” Instead of saturating the soul with the fruits of reason and feeling, Sobakevich devours a side of lamb and threatens to eat a pig, a goose, and a ram. A soul without spiritual food sooner or later dies, even if the mortal body and womb receive several dishes. He needs money to satisfy the exorbitant carnal capabilities of his powerful organism. Sobakevich's body lives at the expense of his soul, which is doomed to death. His guilt is incommensurable with the guilt of Manilov, Korobochka and Nozdryov. Gogol did not need to denounce Sobakevich with the author’s word: the pictures he painted are quite eloquent, especially since Sobakevich, like Nozdryov, is a bright, catchy character, ridiculing and exposing himself.
1 Negotiation - commercial transaction, trade.
2 Kirchen - smoothly hewn.
A landowner with a massive figure, similar to a bear, appears fourth in the gallery of characters. The image and characterization of Sobakevich in the poem “Dead Souls” (with quotes) allows us to more clearly imagine a gentleman from the Russian hinterland, strong in figure, but spiritually devastated.
Landowner of city N
Sobakevich is an older man. He is well over 40. Taking care of his estate, he is satisfied with the conditions of the “outback”, abandoned inland from even the unknown city of N. He belongs in the outback. But it’s not hard to find bears like him in human form in Moscow. The master is in good health. He "never got sick." Moreover, Sobakevich is afraid of this situation. It seems to him that some terrible, severe illness awaits him ahead. He says about himself:
“...even if my throat hurts, if I have a sore throat or a boil...”
But good health protects a man from illness.
Hero's appearance
From the first to the last feature of his appearance, Sobakevich resembles a bear: his figure, the set of his eyes, the chopped lines of his face, his gait. Character's appearance features:
“...round, wide, like Moldavian pumpkins” face;
“... wide, like the Vyatka squat horses...” back;
“...his legs, like cast-iron pedestals that are placed on sidewalks...”;
“...didn’t use any small tools.”
The master did not need files or gimlets. A not very sharp ax was enough:
“she grabbed it with an ax once and her nose came out, she grabbed it another time and her lips came out, she picked out her eyes with a large drill and, without scraping them, let her into the light...”.
The classic tries to stand or sit the character straight, but he doesn’t succeed:
“...I didn’t move my neck at all...”
The bear, the landowner, was sitting, looking from under his brows not at his interlocutor, but at where his gaze fell.
Mikhailo Semenovich does not see those walking nearby. More often they avoid him
“...knowing the habit...of stepping on feet...”
Sobakevich is a small, “medium-sized” bear. His father was much larger. There is a breed in a person, heredity, Russian heroism. But if you look into history, how strong in spirit the Russian giants were. They loved Rus' and its people with all their souls. What's left of them? Only external resemblance. The landowner has bearish taste. How the gentleman is dressed:
“tailcoat... bear color”;
“the sleeves (of a camisole, shirt or jacket) are long”;
“knickers (pants or trousers) are long.”
The author interestingly describes Sobakevich’s complexion: “... red-hot, like what happens on a copper coin.” A tall, healthy man with a purple face, how could one not recoil, frightened by such a thing! Besides this, there are no movements or emotions in the face. It is stone and frozen in one position.
The character of the landowner
Sobakevich is very different in character. He then curls up into a ball, like a fist, ready to strike, then becomes eloquent and quick. It all depends on the situation around him.
He shows his “dog-like disposition” when he speaks about the residents of the city. All of him are deceivers:
“...a swindler sits on a swindler and drives the swindler around.”
Rude in comparing people. According to the landowner,
“...there is a decent person: the prosecutor; and that one... is a pig.”
Mikhail Semenovich is straightforward, he does not try to conduct unnecessary discussions with Chichikov about a strange request - the purchase of dead souls. Without preamble or surprise, he immediately proceeds to bidding. The landowner says little, strictly and artlessly:
“You needed souls, and I’m selling them to you...”
By bargaining, the master shows his thoroughness; he slowly gives up rubles and kopecks, appreciating the smallest penny. It is impossible not to notice that there is cunning and resourcefulness in the character, for this he receives from Chichikov the epithet “beast”. A cheat and a scoundrel will not pass by the benefits.
Landowner in communication with his wife
The figure of Feodulia Ivanovna’s wife is opposite in appearance. This is a thin tall woman. The author compares it to a palm tree. It is impossible to imagine the image without a smile: a palm tree in a cap with ribbons. The hostess is like a “smooth goose”, like
"...to the actresses representing the queens."
Gogol claims that Sobakevich’s wife is a good housewife. She surrounded her husband with care, the main task was to feed him. If you count how much time is allocated during the day for food, then there is almost no time left for other things. The dinner Chichikov attended was a typical meal for the family. It is impossible to list everything that the master ate.
“Everything fell into a lump in my stomach...”
The beginning of the meal is “half a side of lamb”, it would seem that cheesecakes and drinks will follow, but no. Eaten
“... a turkey the size of a calf, stuffed with all sorts of goodness...”
Sobakevich recognizes only Russian cuisine. He doesn’t accept French, and it’s hard to imagine how a “bear” is trying to stuff a frog’s leg or an oyster into his mouth. Sobakevich is consistent when it comes to food, just like at an auction, he finishes his food to the end. At lunch with city officials:
“having spotted from a distance a sturgeon lying to the side on a large dish... in a little over a quarter of an hour he reached it all, so that... only one tail remained from the product of nature...”.
This attitude towards food is the essence of the character’s character. A well-fed master does not become kinder, a smile or other feelings do not appear on his face.
Attitude towards peasants
The landowner strives to create conditions of strength for the peasants. He participates in the life of the farm, understands that the better the men work, the stronger his estate. Sobakevich knows everyone living and dead. There is pride in the owner's words:
“What a people! Just gold..."
The landowner's list is detailed and accurate. There is all the information about the sold soul:
“...craft, title, years and family fortune...”.
Sobakevich remembers how the man treated wine, the behavior of a peasant.
Sobakevich is a landowner who differs from other residents of the district of the city N that Chichikov met. But this is only an external difference. Vice, stinginess and indifference are firmly embedded in the character. The soul becomes callous and dies; it is unknown whether anyone will buy his soul in the future.
