Captain Kopeikin. Captain kopeikin characterization and image in the poem dead souls Captain kopeikin in dead souls briefly

The story "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" by Gogol is an insert episode in the poem Dead Souls. It is worth noting that this story is not connected with the main storyline of the poem, and is an independent work, thanks to which the author managed to reveal the soullessness of the bureaucratic apparatus.

For better preparation for the literature lesson, we recommend reading the online summary of The Tale of Captain Kopeikin. Also, the retelling will be useful for the reader's diary.

Main characters

Captain Kopeikin- a brave soldier, a participant in the battles with the Napoleonic army, an invalid, persistent and savvy man.

Other characters

Postmaster- a storyteller who tells the officials the story of Captain Kopeikin.

General-in-chief- the head of the temporary commission, a dry, businesslike person.

City officials gather at the governor's house to decide at a meeting who Chichikov really is and why he needs dead souls. The postmaster puts forward an interesting hypothesis, according to which Chichikov is none other than Captain Kopeikin, and takes up a fascinating story about this man.

Captain Kopeikin happened to take part in the campaign of 1812, and in one of the battles he "torn off his arm and leg." He is well aware that “it would be necessary to work, only his hand, you see, is left”, and it is also impossible to remain dependent on the old father - he himself barely makes ends meet.

The crippled soldier decides to go to Petersburg, "to bother with the authorities, if there will be any help." The city on the Neva impresses Kopeikin to the depths of his soul with its beauty, but renting a corner in the capital is very expensive, and he understands that "there is nothing to live on."

The soldier learns that "there is no higher authority now in the capital", and he needs to turn to the temporary commission for help. In a beautiful mansion, where the authorities receive petitioners, a lot of people gather - like beans on a plate. After waiting four hours, Kopeikin finally gets the opportunity to tell the chief general about his misfortune. He sees that “a man on a piece of wood and an empty right sleeve is fastened to his uniform” and offers to appear after a few days.

There is no limit to Kopeikin's joy - "well, he thinks the job is done." In high spirits, he goes to have dinner and "drink a glass of vodka", and in the evening he goes to the theater - "in a word, he drank at full speed."

A few days later, the soldier again comes to the head of the commission. He recalls his petition, but he cannot resolve his issue "without the permission of the higher authorities." It is necessary to wait for the arrival of Mr. Minister from abroad, because only then the commission will receive clear instructions regarding the wounded in the war. The chief gives some money to the soldier so that he can hold out in the capital, but he did not count on such a meager amount.

Kopeikin leaves the department in a depressed mood, feeling "like a poodle that the cook has poured over with water." He is running out of money, there is nothing to live on, and there are an incredible number of temptations in the big city. Every time, passing by a trendy restaurant or a delicatessen shop, he experiences the strongest torment - "drooling, but he wait."

Out of bitter hopelessness, Kopeikin comes to the commission for the third time. He insistently demands a solution to his question, to which the general advises to wait for the arrival of the minister. An enraged Kopeikin raises a real rebellion in the department, and the chief is forced to “resort, so to speak, to strict measures” - the soldier is sent to his place of residence.

Accompanied by a courier, Kopeikin is taken away in an unknown direction. On the way, the unfortunate cripple thinks about how to earn a piece of bread for himself, since the sovereign and the fatherland no longer need him.

The news about Captain Kopeikin could have sunk into oblivion, if two months later rumors had not spread in the district about the appearance of a band of robbers, whose chieftain was the main character ...

Conclusion

At the center of Gogol's work is the relationship between the "little man" and the soulless bureaucratic machine that has crippled many destinies. Wanting to live honestly and receive a well-deserved pension, the hero is forced to embark on a criminal path so as not to die of hunger.

After reading the brief retelling of The Tale of Captain Kopeikin, we recommend that you read Gogol's work in full.

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“After the campaign of the twelfth year, my sir,” the postmaster began, despite the fact that not one sir, but six of them were sitting in the room, “after the campaign of the twelfth year, Captain Kopeikin was sent along with the wounded. Under Red, or under Leipzig, just, you can imagine, his arm and leg were torn off. Well, at that time, no, you know, such orders had yet been made about the wounded; this kind of disabled capital had already been wound up, you can imagine, in some way much later. Captain Kopeikin sees: he needs to work, only his hand, you understand, is left. He was about to visit his father; his father says: "I have nothing to feed you, I, you can imagine, I can barely get bread myself." Here is my captain Kopeikin decided to go, my sir, to Petersburg, to ask the sovereign if there would be some kind of royal mercy: “what, de, so and so, in a certain way, so to speak, he sacrificed his life, shed his blood ...” Well, how - something there, you know, with convoys or state-owned wagons - in a word, my sir, he somehow dragged himself to Petersburg. Well, you can imagine: some kind of, that is, Captain Kopeikin suddenly found himself in the capital, which, so to speak, is not like it in the world! Suddenly there is a light in front of him, so to speak, a certain field of life, the fabulous Scheherazade. Suddenly some sort of, you can imagine, Nevsky Prospekt, or there, you know, some kind of Gorokhovaya, damn it! or there some kind of Foundry; there is some kind of spitz in the air; bridges hang there like a devil, you can imagine, without any, that is, touch, - in a word, Semiramis, sir, and it’s full! I came across to rent an apartment, only all this bites terribly: curtains, curtains, such devilry, you understand, carpets - Persia as a whole; with your foot, so to speak, you trample on capital. Well, simply, that is, you walk down the street, and your nose can hear that it smells of thousands; and my captain Kopeikin's entire banknotes, you understand, consist of some ten bruises. Well, somehow I took shelter in a Revel tavern for a ruble a day; lunch - cabbage soup, a piece of beaten beef. He sees: there is nothing to live on. Asked where to go. They say that there is, in a certain way, a higher commission, a board, you understand, something like that, and the chief is General-in-Chief such and such. And the sovereign, you need to know, was not yet in the capital at that time; the troops, you can imagine, had not yet returned from Paris, everything was abroad. My Kopeikin, who got up early, scratched his beard with his left hand, because paying the barber would be, in a way, a bill, pulled on his uniform and on his piece of wood, you can imagine, went to the boss himself, to the nobleman. I asked about the apartment. "Get out," they say, pointing to the house on the Palace Embankment. The hut, you understand, is a peasant’s: glass in the windows, you can imagine, one and a half full length mirrors, so that the vases and everything that is there in the rooms seem to be outside - you could, in a way, get it from the street with your hand; precious marbles on the walls, metal haberdashery, some kind of handle at the door, so you need, you know, run ahead to a petty shop, and buy soap for a penny, and rub your hands with it for about two hours, and then you already decide to grab it - in a word: varnishes on everything are like that - in some way, the mind is bewildered. One porter is already looking like a generalissimo: a gilded mace, a count's physiognomy, like some fat pug of some sort; batiste collars, canals!.. My Kopeikin somehow got up with his piece of wood into the waiting room, pressed himself into a corner there so as not to nudge him with his elbow, you can imagine, some kind of America or India - gilded, you understand, a kind of porcelain vase. Well, of course, that he insisted there a lot, because, you can imagine, he came back at a time when the general, in a way, barely got out of bed and the valet, perhaps, brought him some kind of silver tub for different, you know, such washings. My Kopeikin is waiting for four hours, when the adjutant finally enters, or there is another official on duty. "The general, he says, will now go to the waiting room." And in the waiting room, people are like beans on a plate. All this is not that our brother is a serf, all of the fourth or fifth grade, colonels, but in some places even thick pasta glitters on the epaulette - the generals, in a word, are like that. Suddenly, in the room, you understand, a barely perceptible fuss swept through, like some thin ether. It was heard here and there: "shu, shu", and finally there was a terrible silence. The nobleman enters. Well ... you can imagine: a statesman! In the face, so to speak ... well, in accordance with the rank, you understand ... with a high rank ... such an expression, you understand. Everything that was in the front, of course, at that very moment, waiting, trembling, waiting for a decision, in some way, fate. A minister, or a nobleman, goes up to one, to another: "Why are you? Why are you? What do you want? What is your business?" Finally, my sir, to Kopeikin. Kopeikin, gathering his courage: "So and so, Your Excellency: shed blood, lost, in some way, an arm and a leg, I can’t work, I dare to ask for royal mercy." The minister sees: a man on a piece of wood and an empty right sleeve fastened to his uniform: "All right, he says, visit one of these days." My Kopeikin comes out almost delighted: one thing is that he was awarded an audience, so to speak, with a first-class nobleman; and the other thing is that now, at last, a decision will be made, in some way, about the pension. In the spirit, you know, like that, jumping up and down the sidewalk. I went to the Palkinsky tavern to drink a glass of vodka, dined, my sir, in London, ordered a cutlet with capers, asked for poulard with various Finterleys; he asked for a bottle of wine, in the evening he went to the theater - in a word, you understand, he drank. On the pavement, he sees some kind of slender Englishwoman walking like a swan, you can imagine, something like that. My Kopeikin - the blood, you know, broke out in him - ran after her on his piece of wood, swipe-sweep followed - "no, I thought, let me later, when I get a pension, now I'm too much at odds." Here, my sir, in some three or four days my Kopeikin appears again to the minister, he waited for the exit. "So and so, he says, he came, he says, to hear the order of your excellency for obsessed diseases and for wounds ...", - and the like, you understand, in official style. The nobleman, you can imagine, immediately recognized him: “Ah, he says, it’s good, he says, this time I can’t tell you anything more than that you will need to wait for the arrival of the sovereign; then, no doubt, orders will be made about the wounded , and without monarchs, so to speak, the will, I can’t do anything.” Bow, you understand, and - farewell. Kopeikin, you can imagine, came out in the most uncertain position. He was already thinking that tomorrow they would give him money like that: "On you, my dear, drink and be merry"; but instead he was ordered to wait, and the time was not appointed. Here he came out of the porch like an owl, like a poodle, you understand, whom the cook poured water over: and his tail between his legs, and his ears hung. “Well, no,” he thinks to himself, “I’ll go another time, I’ll explain that I’m eating the last piece, don’t help, I must die, in some way, from hunger.” In a word, he comes, my sir, again to the Palace Embankment; they say: "It is impossible, does not accept, come tomorrow." The next day - the same; and the doorman just doesn't want to look at him. And meanwhile, he has only one of the bruises, you know, in his pocket. He used to eat cabbage soup, a piece of beef, and now in a shop he will take some herring or pickled cucumber and bread for two pennies - in a word, the poor fellow is starving, but meanwhile the appetite is simply wolfish. He passes by some kind of restaurant - a cook there, you can imagine, a foreigner, a Frenchman of some kind with an open physiognomy, Dutch linen on him, an apron as white as snow, a fenserve works there, some cutlets with truffles - in a word, rassupe - a delicacy such that it would simply eat itself, that is, from appetite. Will it pass by the Milyutian shops, there, in a certain way, looks out of the window, some kind of salmon, cherries - five rubles each, a huge watermelon, a kind of stagecoach, leaned out of the window and, so to speak, looking for a fool who would pay a hundred rubles - in a word, at every step there is such a temptation, saliva flows, and meanwhile he hears everything "tomorrow". So you can imagine what his position is: here, on the one hand, so to speak, salmon and watermelon, and on the other, they all bring him the same dish: "tomorrow." Finally, the poor fellow became, in a way, unbearable, he decided to climb through by storm at all costs, you understand. I waited at the entrance to see if some other petitioner would pass, and there with some general, you understand, he slipped with his piece of wood into the waiting room. The grandee, as usual, comes out: "Why are you? Why are you? Ah!" he says, seeing Kopeikin, "after all, I have already announced to you that you should expect a decision." - "Forgive me, Your Excellency, I do not have, so to speak, a piece of bread ..." - "What to do? I can do nothing for you; try to help yourself for the time being, look for the means yourself." "But, Your Excellency, you yourself can, in a certain way, judge what means I can find without having either an arm or a leg." “But,” says the dignitary, “you must agree: I cannot support you, in some way, at my own expense; I have many wounded, they all have an equal right ... Arm yourself with patience. The sovereign will come, I can give you my word of honor that his royal grace will not leave you." - "But, Your Excellency, I can't wait," says Kopeikin, and speaks, in some respects, rudely. The nobleman, you understand, was already annoyed. In fact: here from all sides the generals are waiting for decisions, orders; affairs, so to speak, important, state, demanding self-speedy execution - a minute of omission can be important - and then an obsessive devil attached himself to the side. "Sorry, he says, I have no time ... I have things more important than yours waiting for me." Reminds in a way, in a subtle way, that it's time to finally get out. And my Kopeikin, hunger, you know, spurred him on: "As you wish, Your Excellency, he says, I will not leave my place until you give a resolution." Well ... you can imagine: answering in this way to a nobleman, who only needs a word - and so the tarts flew up, so that the devil will not find you ... Here, if an official, one rank less, tells our brother, like that, so and rudeness. Well, and there is the size, what size: the general-in-chief and some captain Kopeikin! Ninety rubles and zero! The general, you understand, nothing more, as soon as he looked, and the look is a firearm: there is no soul anymore - it has already gone to the heels. And my Kopeikin, you can imagine, from a place, stands rooted to the spot. "What are you?" - says the general and took him, as they say, in the shoulder blades. However, to tell the truth, he was still rather merciful: another would have frightened him so that for three days the street would have turned upside down after that, and he only said: “Very well, he says, if it is dear to you to live here and you decision of your fate, so I will send you to the state account. Call the courier! escort him to your place of residence! " And the courier is already there, you understand, and is standing: some three-arshin peasant, with his hands, you can imagine, by nature arranged for coachmen - in a word, a dentist of sorts ... Here he, a servant of God, was seized, my sir, but in cart, with a courier. "Well, - Kopeikin thinks, - at least you don't have to pay runs, thanks for that too." Here he is, my sir, riding a courier, yes, riding a courier, in a certain way, so to speak, he argues to himself: "When the general says that I should look for means to help myself, - well, he says, I, he says, facilities!" Well, as soon as he was delivered to the place and where exactly they were brought, none of this is known. So, you understand, and the rumors about Captain Kopeikin have sunk into the river of oblivion, into some sort of oblivion, as the poets call it. But, excuse me, gentlemen, this is where, one might say, the thread, the plot of the novel, begins. So, where Kopeikin went is unknown; but two months had not passed, you can imagine, when a gang of robbers appeared in the Ryazan forests, and the ataman of this gang was, my sir, no one else ... "

* (Fenzerv - spicy sauce; here: cook.)

Just let me, Ivan Apdreevich, - the police chief said suddenly, interrupting him, - after all, Captain Kopeikin, you yourself said, without an arm and a leg, but Chichikov ...

Here the postmaster cried out and slapped his forehead with all his might, calling himself publicly in front of everyone a veal. He could not understand how such a circumstance did not come to him at the very beginning of the story, and he confessed that the saying was absolutely true: "A Russian man is strong in hindsight." However, a minute later he immediately began to cunning and tried to wriggle out, saying that, however, in England the mechanics were very improved, which can be seen from the newspapers, how one invented wooden legs in such a way that at one touch of an inconspicuous spring, these legs of a person were carried away God knows what places, so that after that it was impossible to find him anywhere.

But everyone doubted very much that Chichikov was Captain Kopeikin, and they found that the postmaster had already gone too far. However, they, for their part, also did not lose face and, induced by the postmaster's witty guess, wandered almost further. Of the many ingenious assumptions of its kind, there was finally one thing - it’s even strange to say: is it not Chichikov Napoleon in disguise, that the Englishman has long been jealous that, they say, Russia is so great and vast that even several times there were cartoons where Russian depicted talking to an Englishman. The Englishman is standing and holding a dog on a rope behind, and under the dog Napoleon is understood: "Look, they say, if something is wrong, then I will release this dog on you now!" - and now they may have released him from the island of Helena, and now he is sneaking into Russia, as if Chichikov, but in fact not Chichikov at all.

Of course, the officials did not believe this, but, however, they became thoughtful and, considering this matter, each to himself, found that Chichikov's face, if he turns and becomes sideways, is very handy for a portrait of Napoleon. The police chief, who served in the campaign of the twelfth year and personally saw Napoleon, also could not help confessing that he would in no way be taller than Chichikov, and that Napoleon, too, could not be said to be too fat, but not so thin either. Perhaps some readers will call all this incredible; the author, too, to please them, would be ready to call all this incredible; but, unfortunately, everything happened exactly as it is told, and all the more amazing that the city was not in the wilderness, but, on the contrary, not far from both capitals. However, it must be remembered that all this took place shortly after the glorious expulsion of the French. At this time, all our landowners, officials, merchants, inmates and every literate and even illiterate people became, at least for eight whole years, sworn politicians. Moskovskiye Vedomosti and Son of the Fatherland were read mercilessly and reached the last reader in bits that were not fit for any use. Instead of questions: "How much, father, did you sell a measure of oats? How did you use yesterday's powder?" - they said: "And what do they write in the newspapers, have they let Napoleon out of the island again?" The merchants were greatly afraid of this, for they completely believed the prediction of one prophet, who had been sitting in prison for three years already; the prophet came from nowhere in bast shoes and an unsheathed sheepskin coat, terribly reeking of rotten fish, and announced that Napoleon was the Antichrist and kept on a stone chain, behind six walls and seven seas, but after that he would break the chain and take possession of the whole world. The prophet, for the prediction, got, as it should be, into prison, but nevertheless he did his job and completely embarrassed the merchants. For a long time, during even the most profitable transactions, the merchants, going to the tavern to wash them down with tea, talked about the Antichrist. Many of the officials and the noble nobility also involuntarily thought about this and, infected with mysticism, which, as you know, was then in great fashion, saw in each letter from which the word "Napoleon" was composed some special meaning; many even discovered apocalyptic figures in it * . So, there is nothing surprising that officials involuntarily thought about this point; soon, however, they caught on, noticing that their imagination was already too trotting and that all this was not right. They thought, thought, explained, and finally decided that it would not be a bad thing to ask Nozdryov a good deal more. Since he was the first to bring up the story of dead souls and was, as they say, in some kind of close relationship with Chichikov, therefore, without a doubt, he knows some of the circumstances of his life, then try what Nozdryov says.

* (Apocalyptic figures - that is, the mystical number 666, which in the "Apocalypse" denoted the name of the Antichrist.)

Strange people, these gentlemen officials, and behind them all other titles: after all, they knew very well that Nozdryov was a liar, that he could not be trusted in a single word, not in the trifle itself, and yet they resorted to him. Come and get along with the man! does not believe in God, but believes that if the bridge of the nose itches, then he will certainly die; let the creation of a poet pass by, clear as day, all imbued with harmony and the lofty wisdom of simplicity, and rush exactly where some daring confuses, twists, breaks, twists nature, and it will get better for him, and he will begin to shout: "Here it is Here is the true knowledge of the mysteries of the heart!" All his life he does not put a penny on doctors, but ends up turning to a woman who heals with whispers and spitting, or, even better, he himself invents some kind of dekocht out of God knows what rubbish, which, God knows why, will be imagined to him as a means against his illness. Of course, the gentlemen of the officials can be partly excused by their really difficult situation. A drowning man, they say, grabs even a small chip, and at that time he has no reason to think that a fly can ride on a chip, and in it the weight is almost four pounds, if not even as much as five; but no thought comes to his mind at that time, and he grabs a piece of wood. And so our gentlemen finally seized on Nozdryov. The police chief at the same moment wrote a note to him to welcome him to the evening, and the quarterly, in over-the-knee boots, with an attractive blush on his cheeks, ran at that very moment, holding his sword, rushing to Nozdryov's apartment. Nozdryov was busy with important business; for four whole days he did not leave the room, did not let anyone in, and received dinner at the window - in a word, he even grew thin and turned green. The case required great care: it consisted in picking up from several dozen dozen cards of the same waist, but with the most accurate mark, which one could rely on as a true friend. There was still work to do for at least two weeks; during all this time, Porfiry had to clean the navel of the Medelyan puppy with a special brush and wash it three times a day in soap. Nozdryov was very angry that his solitude was disturbed; first of all, he sent the district to hell, but when he read in the note of the mayor that a fortune might happen, because some newcomer was expected for the evening, he relented at that very moment, hastily locked the room with a key, dressed haphazardly and went to them. Nozdryov's testimonies, testimonies and assumptions presented such a sharp contrast to those of gentlemen of the officials that even their last guesses were confused. This was decidedly a man for whom there was no doubt at all; and how much shakyness and timidity in their assumptions was noticeable, so much firmness and confidence in him. He answered all the points without even a hint, announced that Chichikov had bought several thousand worth of dead souls and that he himself had sold it to him, because he saw no reason why not to sell it; to the question whether he was a spy and whether he was trying to find out something, Nozdryov answered that he was a spy, that even at the school where he studied with him, he was called a fiscal, and what kind of comrades, including him , they tampered with him a little, so that later he had to put two hundred and forty leeches to one temple - that is, he wanted to say forty, but two hundred showed up somehow by itself. When asked if he was a counterfeit banknote maker, he replied that he was, and on this occasion he told an anecdote about Chichikov’s extraordinary dexterity: how, having learned that there were two million counterfeit banknotes in his house, they sealed his house and put a guard on each door had two soldiers, and how Chichikov changed them all in one night, so that the next day, when the seals were removed, they saw that they were all real banknotes. To the question whether Chichikov really intended to take away the governor's daughter and whether it was true that he himself undertook to help and participate in this matter, Nozdryov replied that he helped and that if it weren't for him, nothing would have happened - then he caught himself , seeing that he had lied in vain and could thus invite trouble on himself, but he could no longer hold his tongue. However, it was difficult, because such interesting details presented themselves that it was impossible to refuse: even the name of the village was named after the parish church in which it was supposed to get married, namely the village of Trukhmachevka, priest - father Sidor, for the wedding - seventy-five rubles, and he would not have agreed if he had not frightened him, promising to inform him that he had married the storekeeper Mikhail to his godfather, that he had even given up his carriage and prepared alternate horses at all stations. The details reached the point where he was already beginning to call the coachmen by their names. They tried to hint at Napoleon, but they themselves were not glad that they tried, because Nozdryov carried such nonsense, which not only had no semblance of truth, but even simply had no semblance to anything, so that the officials, sighing, all walked away away; only the chief of police listened for a long time, wondering if there would be at least something further, but finally he waved his hand, saying: “The devil knows what! And everyone agreed that no matter how you fight with a bull, you won’t get all the milk from him. And the officials were left in an even worse position than they were before, and the matter was decided by the fact that they could not find out what Chichikov was. And it turned out to be clear what kind of creature a person is: he is wise, smart and intelligent in everything that concerns others, and not himself; what prudent, firm advice he will provide in difficult situations of life! the crowd shouts. “What an unshakable character!” And if some kind of misfortune struck this quick head and happened to be placed in difficult situations of life, where did the character go, the unshakable husband was completely confused, and a miserable coward, an insignificant, weak child, came out of him, or simply fetyuk, as Nozdrev calls it.

"Dead Souls". Hood. A. Laptev

All these rumors, opinions and rumors, for some unknown reason, had the greatest 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. They cried out, as usual, clasping their hands: "Oh, my God!" - they sent for a doctor to draw blood, but they saw that the prosecutor was already one soulless body. Then only with condolences did they learn that the deceased had, for sure, a soul, although, due to his modesty, he never showed it. Meanwhile, the appearance of death was just as terrifying in small things as it is terrifying in a great man: the one who not so long ago walked, moved, played whist, signed various papers and was so often seen between officials with his thick eyebrows and blinking eye, now lying on the table, the left eye no longer blinked at all, but one eyebrow was still raised with some sort of questioning expression. What the deceased asked, why he died or why he lived, only God knows about this.

But this, however, is inconsistent! it doesn't agree with anything! it is impossible that the officials could scare themselves like that; create such nonsense, so far from the truth, when even a child can see what the matter is! Many readers will say so and reproach the author for inconsistencies or call the poor officials fools, because a person is generous with the word "fool" and is ready to serve them twenty times a day to his neighbor. It is enough to have one stupid party out of ten to be recognized as a fool by nine good ones. It is easy for readers to judge, looking from their quiet corner and top, from where the entire horizon is open to everything that is happening below, where only a close object is visible to a person. And in the world annals of mankind there are many whole centuries, which, it would seem, were crossed out and destroyed as unnecessary. Many errors have taken place in the world, which it would seem that even a child would not do now. What crooked, deaf, narrow, impassable, drifting roads humanity has chosen, striving to reach the eternal truth, while the whole straight path was open before it, similar to the path leading to the magnificent temple appointed by the king to the palaces! It is wider and more luxurious than all other paths, illuminated by the sun and illuminated by lights all night, but people flowed past it in the dead darkness. And how many times already induced by the meaning descending from heaven, they knew how to stagger back and stray to the side, they knew how in broad daylight to fall again into impenetrable backwoods, they knew how to throw a blind fog into each other’s eyes again and, dragging after the marsh lights, they still knew how get to the abyss, so that later they ask each other with horror: where is the exit, where is the road? Now the current generation sees everything clearly, marvels at the delusions, laughs at the foolishness of its ancestors, it is not in vain that this chronicle is scribbled with heavenly fire, that every letter screams in it, that a piercing finger is directed from everywhere at him, at him, at the current generation; but the current generation laughs and arrogantly, proudly begins a series of new delusions, which will also be laughed at by descendants later.

Chichikov knew absolutely nothing about all this. As if on purpose, at that time he got a slight cold - a flux and a slight inflammation in the throat, in the distribution of which the climate of many of our provincial cities is extremely generous. In order not to stop, God save, somehow life without descendants, he decided better to sit in a room for three days. During these days he constantly gargled milk with figs, which he then ate, and wore a small pillow of chamomile and camphor tied to his cheek. Wishing to occupy his time with something, he made several new and detailed lists of all the peasants who had bought himself, even read some volume of the Duchess of Lavalier * found in a suitcase, reviewed various objects and notes in the casket, re-read something and another time and all this bored him greatly. He could not understand at all what it meant that not a single city official had come to visit him at least once to check on his health, whereas until recently the droshky stood in front of the hotel - now the postmaster's, now the prosecutor's, then the chairman's. He just shrugged his shoulders as he paced the room. At last he felt better and was glad, God knows how, when he saw the opportunity to go out into the fresh air. Without delay, he immediately set to the toilet, unlocked his box, poured hot water into a glass, took out a brush and soap, and settled down to shave, which, however, was long overdue and time, because, having felt his beard with his hand and looked in the mirror, he already said: "Ek what forests went to write!" And in fact, the forests are not forests, but rather dense sowing poured out all over the cheek and chin. Having shaved off, he began to dress quickly and quickly, so that he almost jumped out of his trousers. At last he was dressed, sprinkled with cologne, and, bundled up warmly, he got out into the street, bandaging his cheek as a precaution. His exit, like any recovered person, was like a festive one. Everything that came across to him took on the appearance of a laugh: both the houses and the peasants passing by, quite serious, however, some of whom had already managed to drive his brother in the ear. He intended to make his first visit to the governor. On the way, many thoughts came to his mind; the blonde was spinning in his head, his imagination even began to play pranks a little, and he himself began to joke a little and laugh at himself. In this spirit, he found himself in front of the governor's entrance. He was already in the hallway hastily throwing off his overcoat, when the porter struck him with completely unexpected words:

* ("Duchess Lavaliere" - a novel by the French writer S.-F. Genlis (1746-1830).)

Not ordered to take!

How, what are you, you, apparently, did not recognize me? Take a good look at your face! Chichikov told him.

How not to recognize, because I don’t see you for the first time, ”said the porter. - Yes, it’s just you alone and it’s not ordered to let in, everyone else is allowed.

Here's to you! from what? Why?

Such an order, apparently, follows, - said the porter and added the word: "yes" to it. After that, he stood in front of him completely at ease, without retaining that affectionate air with which he had previously hurried to take off his overcoat. It seemed that he was thinking, looking at him: "Hey! if the bars are chasing you from the porch, then you, apparently, are so-so, some kind of riff-raff!"

"Unclear!" Chichikov thought to himself and immediately went to the chairman of the chamber, but the chairman of the chamber was so embarrassed when he saw him that he could not connect two words, and uttered such rubbish that even they both felt ashamed. Leaving him, no matter how hard Chichikov tried to explain on the way and find out what the chairman meant and what his words could refer to, he could not understand anything. Then he went to the others: to the police chief, to the vice-governor, to the postmaster, but everyone either did not receive him, or received him in such a strange way, they carried on such a forced and incomprehensible conversation, they were so confused, and such stupidity came out of everything that he doubted his health their brain. I tried to go to someone else to find out at least the reason, and did not get any reason. Like half asleep, he wandered aimlessly around the city, not being able to decide whether he had lost his mind, whether the officials had lost their heads, whether all this was being done in a dream, or in reality, nonsense cleaner than a dream was brewed. Late already, almost at dusk, he returned to his hotel, from which he left in such a good mood, and out of boredom ordered tea to be served to him. Thoughtful and in some kind of senseless discussion about the strangeness of his position, he began to pour tea, when suddenly the door of his room opened and Nozdryov appeared in an unexpected way.

Here says the proverb: "For a friend, seven miles is not a village!" he said, taking off his cap. - I pass by, I see a light in the window, let me think to myself, I’ll go in, right, I’m not sleeping. A! it’s good that you have tea on the table, I’ll drink a cup with pleasure: today at dinner I overate all sorts of rubbish, I feel that fuss is already beginning in the stomach. Tell me to fill the pipe! Where is your pipe?

Why, I don't smoke pipes,' said Chichikov dryly.

Empty like I don't know you're a chicken. Hey! What, I mean, is your man's name? Hey, Vakhramey, listen!

Yes, not Vakhramei, but Petrushka.

How? Yes, you had Vakhramey before.

I didn't have any Vahramei.

Yes, exactly, this is from Derebin Vakhramei. Imagine how happy Derebin is: his aunt quarreled with her son for marrying a serf, and now she has written down all the estate to him. I think to myself, if only I could have such an aunt for further! What are you, brother, so far away from everyone, do not go anywhere? Of course, I know that you are sometimes busy with scientific subjects, that you like to read (why Nozdryov concluded that our hero is engaged in scientific subjects and loves to read, we admit that we cannot say this, and Chichikov even less). Ah, brother Chichikov, if only you could see... surely there would be food for your satirical mind (why Chichikov had a satirical mind is also unknown). Imagine, brother, they were playing uphill at the merchant Likhachev's, that's where the laughter was! Perependev, who was with me: "Here, he says, if it were Chichikov now, he would surely be! .." (meanwhile, Chichikov had never known any Perependev from his childhood). But admit it, brother, you really did meanly to me then, remember how they played checkers, because I won ... Yes, brother, you just screwed me. But, god knows, I can't get angry. The other day with the chairman ... Oh, yes! I must tell you that everyone in the city is against you; they think that you are making fake papers, stuck to me, but I am for you a mountain, told them that I studied with you and knew my father; well, there’s nothing to say, he poured a decent bullet into them.

Am I making fake papers? cried Chichikov, rising from his chair.

Why did you, however, frighten them so? - continued Nozdrev. - They, the devil knows, went crazy with fear: they dressed you up as robbers and spies ... And the prosecutor died of fright, tomorrow there will be a burial. You will not? They, to tell the truth, are afraid of the new governor-general, so that something will not work out because of you; and I have such an opinion about the governor-general that if he raises his nose and puts on airs, then he will definitely not do anything with the nobility. The nobility demands cordiality, doesn't it? Of course, you can hide in your office and not give a single ball, but what about that? After all, you won't gain anything by doing this. But you, however, Chichikov, started a risky business.

What is a risky business? Chichikov asked uneasily.

Yes, take away the governor's daughter. I confess, I was waiting for this, by God, I was waiting! For the first time, as soon as I saw you together at the ball, well, I think to myself, Chichikov, it’s true, not without reason ... However, you shouldn’t have made such a choice, I don’t find anything good in her. And there is one, a relative of Bikusov, his sister's daughter, so that's a girl! we can say: miracle calico!

What are you, what are you confusing? How to take away the governor's daughter, what are you? said Chichikov, bulging his eyes.

Well, that's enough, brother, what a secretive person! I confess that I came to you with this: if you please, I am ready to help you. So be it: I will hold the crown for you, the carriage and variable horses will be mine, only with the agreement: you must lend me three thousand. Need, brother, at least slaughter!

In the course of all Nozdryov's chatter, Chichikov rubbed his eyes several times, wanting to make sure that he was not hearing all this in a dream. The maker of counterfeit banknotes, the abduction of the governor's daughter, the death of the prosecutor, which he allegedly caused, the arrival of the governor-general - all this brought a decent fright to him. “Well, if it comes to that,” he thought to himself, “there’s nothing more to delay, we need to get out of here as soon as possible.”

He tried to sell Nozdryov as soon as possible, summoned Selifan to him at the same hour and ordered him to be ready at dawn, so that tomorrow at six o'clock in the morning he would definitely leave the city, so that everything would be reviewed, the britzka would be greased, and so on and so forth. Selifan said: "I'm listening, Pavel Ivanovich!" - and stopped, however, for some time at the door, without moving from his place. The master immediately ordered Petrushka to pull out the suitcase from under the bed, which was already covered with a fair amount of dust, and began to pack with it, indiscriminately, stockings, shirts, washed and unwashed linen, shoe lasts, a calendar ... All this fit in any way; he wanted to be sure to be ready in the evening, so that there could be no delay the next day. Selifan, after standing for two minutes at the door, finally very slowly left the room. Slowly, as slowly as one can imagine, he descended the stairs, making footprints with his wet boots on the battered steps descending, and for a long time scratched the back of his head with his hand. What did this scratching mean? and what does it mean anyway? Is it annoyance that the meeting planned for the next day with his brother in an unsightly sheepskin coat, girded with a sash, somewhere in the Tsar's tavern, somewhere in the Tsar's tavern, has not succeeded, or what kind of sweetheart has already begun in a new place, and you have to leave the evening standing at the gate and political holding on to white pens at the hour when twilight is pressing down on the city, a fellow in a red shirt is strumming a balalaika in front of the servants of the yard and weaving quiet speeches by the raznochinny spent people? Or is it just a pity to leave the already warmed place in the people's kitchen under a sheepskin coat, near the stove, giving cabbage soup with a city soft pie, in order to drag again through the rain, and slush, and all sorts of road misfortunes? God knows, don't guess. Scratching in the back of the head means many different things among the Russian people.

"The Tale of Captain Kopeikin"

Censored edition

“After the campaign of the twelfth year, my sir,” the postmaster began, despite the fact that not one sir, but six were sitting in the room, “after the campaign of the twelfth year, Captain Kopeikin was sent along with the wounded. like hell, he was in the guardhouses and under arrest, he tasted everything. Whether near Krasny or near Leipzig, you can only imagine, his arm and leg were torn off. Well, then they had not yet had time to make any, you know, such orders about the wounded;

this kind of disabled capital was already brought in, you can imagine, in some way after. Captain Kopeikin sees: he would have to work, only his hand, you understand, is left. I went home to my father, my father says: "I have nothing to feed you, I - you can imagine - I can barely get bread myself." Here my captain Kopeikin decided to go, my sir, to

Petersburg, to fuss with the authorities, would there be any help ...

Somehow, you know, with convoys or state-owned wagons - in a word, my sir, he somehow dragged himself to Petersburg. Well, you can imagine: some kind of, that is, Captain Kopeikin suddenly found himself in the capital, which, so to speak, is not like it in the world! Suddenly there is a light in front of him, relatively to say, a certain field of life, a fabulous Scheherazade, you know, a sort of.

Suddenly, some sort of, you can imagine, Nevsky Prospekt, or there, you know, some kind of Gorokhovaya, damn it, or some kind of Foundry there; there is some kind of spitz in the air; bridges hang there like a devil, you can imagine, without any, that is, touch, - in a word, Semiramis, sir, and it’s full! I was about to rent an apartment, only all this bites terribly: curtains, curtains, such devilry, you understand carpets - Persia, my sir, such ... in a word, relatively, so to speak, you trample on capital with your foot. We walk along the street, and already the nose hears that it smells of thousands; and the whole bank of banknotes will wash Captain Kopeikin, you understand, out of some ten bruises and silver, a trifle. Well, you can’t buy villages for this, that is, you can buy it, maybe if you put in forty thousand, but you need to borrow forty thousand from the French king. Well, somehow I took shelter in a Reval tavern for a ruble a day; dinner - cabbage soup, a piece of beaten beef ... He sees: there is nothing to heal. Asked where to go. Well, where to turn? Saying: there are no higher authorities now in the capital, all this, you say, in Paris, the troops did not return, but there are, say the temporary commission. Try it, maybe there's something there. “I’ll go to the commission,” says Kopeikin, and I’ll say: this way and that, I shed, in a way, blood, relatively to say, I sacrificed my life. Here, my sir, getting up early, he scratched his beard with his left hand, because paying the barber is, in a way, a bill, pulled on his uniform and on his piece of wood, you can imagine, he went to the commission. He asked where the chief lived. There, they say, the house on the embankment: the hut, you know, the peasants:

glass in the windows, you can imagine, one and a half full mirrors, marbles, varnishes, my sir ... in a word, the mind is clouded! Some kind of metal handle by the door is a comfort of the first kind, so first, you understand, you need to run into a shop, and buy soap for a penny, but for about two hours, in a way, rub your hands with it, and after that, how can you take it .

One porter on the porch, with a mace: a kind of count's physiognomy, cambric collars, like some fat fat pug... imagine some

America or India - a kind of gilded, relatively speaking, porcelain vase. Well, of course, he insisted there to his heart's content, because he came back at a time when the boss, in a way, barely got out of bed and the valet brought him some kind of silver tub for various, you know, such washings. My Kopeikin was waiting for four hours, when the officer on duty came in and said: "Now the chief will leave." And in the room there is already an epaulette and an exelbant, to the people - like beans on a plate. Finally, my sir, the boss comes out. Well... you can imagine: boss! in the face, so to speak ... well, in accordance with the rank, you understand ... with the rank ... such an expression, you understand. Throughout the capital behavior; goes to one, to another: "Why are you, why are you, what do you want, what is your business?" Finally, my sir, to Kopeikin. Kopeikin: “So and so, he says, he shed blood, lost, in a way, an arm and a leg, I can’t work, I dare to ask if there will be any assistance, any such orders regarding, so to speak, remuneration, pension, whatever, you understand." The chief sees: a man on a piece of wood and an empty right sleeve fastened to his uniform. "Well, he says, come visit one of these days!"

My Kopeikin is delighted: well, he thinks the job is done. In the spirit, you can imagine, jumping up and down the pavement like that; I went to the Palkinsky tavern to drink a glass of vodka, dined, my sir, in London, ordered myself to be served a cutlet with capers, poulard with various Finterleys, asked for a bottle of wine, went to the theater in the evening - in a word, drank at the top of my shoulder, so to speak. On the pavement, he sees some kind of slender Englishwoman walking like a swan, you can imagine, something like that. My Kopeikin - the blood, you know, broke out - ran after her on his piece of wood: swipe, swipe after -

"Yes, pet, I thought, to hell with red tape for a while, even after, when I get a pension, now I'm too much at odds." Meanwhile, he squandered, please note, in one day almost half the money! Three or four days later, op appears, my sir, to the commission, to the boss. "He came, he says, to find out: this way and that, through obsessed diseases and behind wounds ... shed, in a way, blood ..." - and the like, you know, in official style. “But what,” says the chief, “first of all, I must tell you that we can’t do anything about your case without the permission of the higher authorities. You yourself see what time it is now. Military operations, relatively so to speak, have not yet completely ended. the arrival of Mr. Minister, be patient. Then be sure - you will not be abandoned. And if you have nothing to live on, so here you are, he says, as much as I can ... "Well, you see, I gave him - of course, a little, but with moderation it would stretch to further permits there. But my Kopeikin did not want that. He already thought that tomorrow they would give him a thousandth of some kind of kush:

to you, my dear, drink and be merry; but instead wait. And, you see, he has an Englishwoman in his head, and soups, and all sorts of cutlets. So he came out of the porch like an owl, like a poodle, which the cook poured water over, - and his tail between his legs, and his ears hung down. Life in Petersburg had already taken him apart, he had already tried something. And here, the devil knows how, you know, no sweets. , the appetite is just wolf.

He passes by some kind of restaurant: the cook there, you can imagine, a foreigner, a Frenchman of some sort with an open physiognomy, Dutch linen on him, an apron, the whiteness of which, in a way, is equal to the snow, works some kind of fepzeri, cutlets with truffles, - in a word, rassupe is a delicacy such that it would simply eat itself, that is, from appetite.

Will it pass by the Milyutinsky shops, there looks out of the window, in a certain way, some kind of salmon, cherries - five rubles each, a huge watermelon, a kind of stagecoach, leaned out of the window and, so to speak, looking for a fool who would pay a hundred rubles - in a word , at every step, the temptation, so to speak, salivating, and he wait. So imagine his situation here, on the one hand, so to speak, salmon and watermelon, and on the other hand, they bring him a bitter dish called "tomorrow." "Well, he thinks, how they want for themselves, but I will go, he says, I will raise the entire commission, I will say to all the bosses: as you wish." And in fact: an importunate person, such a Nayan, there is no sense, you understand, in the head, but there are a lot of lynxes. He comes to the commission:

"Well, they say, why else? After all, you've already been told." - "Yes, he says, I can’t, he says, get along somehow. I need, he says, to eat a cutlet, a bottle of French wine, to entertain myself too, to the theatre, you understand." - "Well, - say the boss, - excuse me. There is, so to speak, in a certain way, patience on this account. You have been given funds for subsistence for the time being, until a resolution is issued, and, without an opinion, you will be rewarded , as it should be: for there has not yet been an example in Russia where a person who, relatively speaking, services to the fatherland, was left without contempt. In this case, look for your own means, try to help yourself." But Kopeikin is mine, you can imagine, and it doesn’t blow in your mustache.

These words to him are like peas to the wall. The noise raised such, fluffed everyone! all these secretaries there, he began to chip and nail them all: yes, he says, then he says! yes you, says it, says! Yes, you, he says, do not know your duties! Yes, you, he says, are law-sellers, he says! Spanked everyone. There, you understand, some official turned up from some even completely foreign department - he, my sir, and his! Riot raised such. What do you want to do with such a devil? The chief sees: it is necessary to resort, relatively so to speak, to strict measures. “Well, he says, if you don’t want to be content with what they give you, and expect calmly, in some way, here in the capital the decision of your fate, then I will escort you to your place of residence. Call, he says, a courier, escort him to your place of residence !" And the courier is already there, you know, standing outside the door:

some three-foot-long man, with his hands, you can imagine, by nature arranged for coachmen - in a word, a dentist of sorts ... Here he is, a servant of God, in a cart and with a courier. Well, Kopeikin thinks, at least you don't have to pay for runs, thanks for that too. He rides, my sir, on a courier, and while riding on a courier, in a certain way, so to speak, he argues to himself: I, he says, will find the means! Well, how they brought him to the place and where exactly they brought him, nothing of this is known. So, you understand, and the rumors about Captain Kopeikin have sunk into the river of oblivion, into some sort of oblivion, as the poets call it. But excuse me, gentlemen, this is where, one might say, the thread of the plot of the novel begins. So, where Kopeikin went is unknown; but two months had not passed, you can imagine, when a gang of robbers appeared in the Ryazan forests, and the ataman of this gang was, my sir, no one else ... "

Nikolai Gogol - The Tale of Captain Kopeikin, read text

The Tale of Captain Kopeikin summary

The story about the captain is introduced by the author unexpectedly for the reader. It is akin to a joke that one of the characters wanted to tell. She appears when officials are trying to unravel the mystery of Chichikov's presence in their city. And it was the postmaster, inspired by what was happening, who shouted out that Chichikov was Captain Kopeikin. Then the author tells a story that introduces us to the life of Kopeikin.

If we stop at the story about Captain Kopeikin in, then the essence of the plot will be as follows.

Kopeikin was a soldier who fought for his Motherland in the war against the French. There he loses a leg and an arm, becoming disabled. And now, at the end of the war, the soldier returns home, to where he was no longer needed. Even the parents cannot accept it, since they themselves have nothing to eat. A soldier would be happy to earn money, but there is no way. So he goes to the sovereign, so that he allocates funds for his maintenance. Further, the author describes how the soldier toiled in the general's waiting room, waiting for the mercy of the king. At first, it seemed to Kopeikin that a decision had been made in his favor, but when he visited the reception the next day, he realized that there would be no help. The general only advises to go to the village and wait for a decision there. That's how the soldier was brought to the village at public expense. Then we learn that a gang of robbers began to operate in the forests, while the chieftain was none other than ... Further, we can only guess that it was Kopeikin who led the robbers. Continuing to read, we did not see the sympathy of officials, they did not have indignation about the bureaucracy. They only doubted that Chichikov was the same Kopeikin.

The role of the Tale of Captain Kopeikin

Now I would like to dwell on the role of the story in the poem Dead Souls. As you can see, the author almost at the very end makes an insert about the captain, when we have already met their heroes, their rotten souls, the slavish position of the peasants, the harmful essence of officials, and we also met the acquirer Chichikov.

It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that The Tale of Captain Kopeikin is a kind of mystery within Dead Souls. Underneath it is felt by everyone. The first feeling that the reader experiences when meeting her is a feeling of bewilderment: why did Gogol need this rather lengthy and, apparently, in no way connected with the main action of the poem, the “joke” told by the unlucky postmaster? Is it really only to show the absurdity of the assumption that Chichikov is “no one else but Captain Kopeikin”?

Usually, researchers consider the Tale as an “inserted novella” needed by the author to denounce the city authorities, and explain its inclusion in Dead Souls by Gogol’s desire to expand the social and geographical scope of the poem, to give the image of “all Rus'” the necessary completeness. “... The story of Captain Kopeikin<...>outwardly almost unrelated to the main storyline of the poem, writes S. O. Mashinsky in his commentary. - Compositionally, it looks like an insert novel.<...>The story, as it were, crowns the whole terrible picture of the local-bureaucratic-police Russia, painted in Dead Souls. The embodiment of arbitrariness and injustice is not only the provincial government, but also the metropolitan bureaucracy, the government itself. According to Yu.V. Mann, one of the artistic functions of the Tale is “interrupting the “provincial” plan with the Petersburg, capital ones, including the higher metropolitan spheres of Russian life in the plot of the poem” .

This view of the Tale is generally accepted and traditional. In the interpretation of E. N. Kupreyanova, the idea of it as one of Gogol's "St. Petersburg stories" is brought to its logical end. The story, the researcher believes, “was written as an independent work and only then was inserted into Dead Souls” . However, with such an “autonomous” interpretation, the main question remains unanswered: what is the artistic motivation for including the Tale in the poem? In addition, the "provincial" plan is "interrupted" in the "Dead Souls" by the capital constantly. It costs nothing for Gogol to compare the thoughtful expression on Manilov’s face with the expression that can be found “unless on some too smart minister”, to remark in passing that some “even a statesman, but in reality it turns out a perfect Korobochka”, from the Korobochka go to her "sister" - an aristocrat, and from the ladies of the city of NN to the ladies of St. Petersburg, etc. and so on.

Emphasizing the satirical nature of the Tale, its critical orientation towards the “tops”, researchers usually refer to the fact that it was banned by censorship (this, in fact, largely owes its reputation as a sharply accusatory work). It is generally accepted that under the pressure of censorship, Gogol was forced to muffle the satirical accents of the Tale, weaken its political tendency and sharpness - “throw away all the generals”, make the image of Kopeikin less attractive, etc. At the same time, one can come across the assertion that the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee "demanded to make significant corrections" to the Tale. “At the request of censorship,” writes E. S. Smirnova-Chikina, “the image of a heroic officer, a rebel-robber was replaced by the image of an impudent brawler ...” .

This, however, was not entirely the case. The censor A. V. Nikitenko in a letter dated April 1, 1842, informed Gogol: “The episode of Kopeikin turned out to be completely impossible to miss - no one’s power could protect him from his death, and you yourself, of course, will agree that I had nothing to do here” . In the censored copy of the manuscript, the text of the Tale is crossed out from beginning to end in red ink. Censorship banned the whole story, and no one made demands to remake it to the author.

Gogol, as you know, attached exceptional importance to the Tale and perceived its ban as an irreparable blow. “They threw away a whole episode of Kopeikin from me, which is very necessary for me, even more than they think (the censors. - V.V.). I decided not to give it away in any way, ”he informed N. Ya. Prokopovich on April 9, 1842. From Gogol's letters it is clear that the Tale was important to him not at all for what the St. Petersburg censors attached importance to. The writer does not hesitate to remake all the alleged "reprehensible" passages that might cause displeasure of the censors. Explaining in a letter to A. V. Nikitenko dated April 10, 1842, the need for Kopeikin in the poem, Gogol appeals to the artistic instinct of the censor. “... I confess that the destruction of Kopeikin confused me a lot. This is one of the best places. And I can't do anything to patch up the hole that is visible in my poem. You yourself, gifted with aesthetic taste<...>You can see that this piece is necessary, not to connect events, but in order to distract the reader for a moment, so that one impression can be replaced by another, and whoever is an artist in his soul will understand that without him a strong hole remains. It occurred to me that perhaps the censorship was afraid of the generals. I remade Kopeikin, I threw out everything, even the minister, even the word "excellency". In St. Petersburg, in the absence of all, only one temporary commission remains. I emphasized the character of Kopeikin more strongly, so that now it is clear that he himself is the cause of his actions, and not the lack of compassion in others. The head of the commission even treats him very well. In a word, everything is now in such a form that no strict censorship, in my opinion, can find reprehensible in any respect” (XII, 54-55).

Trying to reveal the socio-political content of the Tale, the researchers see in it a denunciation of the entire state machine of Russia up to the highest government spheres and the Tsar himself. Not to mention the fact that such an ideological position was simply unthinkable for Gogol, the Tale stubbornly "resists" such an interpretation.

As has been noted more than once in the literature, Gogol's image of Captain Kopeikin goes back to a folklore source - folk robber songs about the thief Kopeikin. Gogol's interest and love for folk songwriting is well known. In the aesthetics of the writer, the song is one of the three sources of originality of Russian poetry, from which Russian poets should draw inspiration. In "Petersburg Notes of 1836", calling for the creation of a Russian national theater, the depiction of characters in their "nationally poured out form", Gogol expressed his opinion about the creative use of folk traditions in opera and ballet. “Guided by subtle intelligibility, the ballet creator can take from them (folk, national dances. - V.V.) as much as he wants to determine the characters of his dancing heroes. It goes without saying that, having grasped the first element in them, he can develop it and fly incomparably higher than his original, just as a musical genius creates an entire poem from a simple song heard on the street” (VIII, 185).

"The Tale of Captain Kopeikin", literally growing out of a song, was the embodiment of this Gogol's thought. Guessing the "element of character" in the song, the writer, in his own words, "develops it and flies incomparably higher than his original." Here is one of the songs of the cycle about the robber Kopeikin.

The thief Kopeikin is going

On the glorious at the mouth of Karastan.

In the evening, the thief Kopeikin, he went to bed,

By midnight the thief Kopeikin was rising,

He washed himself with morning dew,

He wiped himself with a taffeta handkerchief,

On the east side, he prayed to God.

“Get up, brothers of love!

It’s not good for me, brothers, I had a dream:

As if I, a good fellow, walk along the edge of the sea,

I stumbled with my right foot

For a big tree, for a buckthorn.

Isn't it you, crusher, who crushed me:

Sorrow-woe dries and destroys good fellow!

You rush, rush, brothers, into light boats,

Row, kids, don't be shy,

Under the same mountains, under the Serpents!

Not a fierce snake hissed here,

The plot of the robber song about Kopeikin was recorded in several versions. As is usually the case in folk art, all known samples help to understand the general nature of the work. The central motif of this song cycle is the prophetic dream of Ataman Kopeikin. Here is another version of this dream, foreshadowing the death of the hero.

As if I walked along the end of the blue sea;

How blue the sea all stirred up,

Everything mixed with the yellow sand;

I stumbled with my left foot,

He grabbed a small tree with his hand,

For a small tree, for a buckthorn,

For the very top:

The top of the buckthorn broke off,

The ataman of the robbers Kopeikin, as he is depicted in the folk song tradition, "stumbled with his foot, grabbed a large tree with his hand." This symbolic detail painted in tragic tones is the main distinguishing feature of this folklore image.

Gogol uses the poetic symbolism of the song in describing the appearance of his hero: "his arm and leg were torn off." Creating a portrait of Captain Kopeikin, the writer gives only this detail, which connects the character of the poem with his folklore prototype. It should also be emphasized that in folk art, tearing off someone's arm and leg is revered as a "joke" or "pampering." Gogol's Kopeikin does not at all evoke a compassionate attitude towards him. This face is by no means passive, not passive. Captain Kopeikin is, first of all, a daring robber. In 1834, in the article “A Look at the Compilation of Little Russia,” Gogol wrote about the desperate Zaporozhye Cossacks, “who had nothing to lose, for whom life is a penny, whose violent will could not tolerate laws and authorities<...>This society retained all those features with which they paint a gang of robbers...” (VIII, 46–48).

Created according to the laws of tale poetics (orientation to a living colloquial language, direct appeal to the audience, the use of common expressions and narrative techniques), Gogol's Tale also requires an appropriate reading. Its skaz form is also clearly manifested in the merging of the folk-poetic, folklore beginning with the real-event, concrete-historical. The folk rumor about the robber Kopeikin, which goes deep into folk poetry, is no less important for understanding the aesthetic nature of the Tale than the chronological attachment of the image to a certain era - the campaign of 1812.

In the presentation of the postmaster, the story of Captain Kopeikin is least of all a retelling of a real incident. Reality here is refracted through the consciousness of the hero-narrator, who embodies, according to Gogol, the peculiarities of folk, national thinking. Historical events of state, nationwide significance have always given rise to all kinds of oral stories and legends among the people. At the same time, traditional epic images were especially actively rethought creatively and adapted to new historical conditions.

So, let's turn to the content of the story. The postmaster’s story about Captain Kopeikin is interrupted by the words of the police chief: “Just allow me, Ivan Andreevich, because Captain Kopeikin, you yourself said, without an arm and leg, but Chichikov has ...” To this reasonable remark, the postmaster “clapped his hand on his forehead with all his might , calling himself publicly in front of everyone veal. He could not understand how such a circumstance had not come to him at the very beginning of the story, and he confessed that the saying was absolutely true: a Russian man is strong in his hindsight” (VI, 205).

Other characters in the poem are endowed with “radical Russian virtue” - a back, “reckless”, repentant mind, but above all Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov himself. Gogol had his own special attitude to this proverb. Usually it is used in the sense of "he caught it, but it's too late" and the fortress is regarded in hindsight as a vice or a disadvantage. In the Explanatory Dictionary of V. Dahl we find: “The Rusak is strong in the back (rear mind)”; "Smart, but backwards"; "In hindsight, quick-witted." In his “Proverbs of the Russian people” we read: “Everyone is smart: who is first, who is after”; “You can’t fix things with hindsight”; “If only I had that mind in advance that comes after.” But Gogol knew another interpretation of this proverb. So, the well-known collector of Russian folklore of the first half of the 19th century, I. M. Snegirev, saw in it an expression of the mindset characteristic of the Russian people: “That a Russian can catch on and come to his senses even after a mistake, his own proverb says about it:“ A Russian is strong in hindsight. ; “So in the Russian proverbs proper, the mindset characteristic of the people, the way of judgment, the peculiarity of the view are expressed.<...>Their fundamental basis is centuries-old, hereditary experience, this back mind, which is strong Russian ... ".

Gogol showed a constant interest in the writings of Snegirev, which helped him to better understand the essence of the national spirit. For example, in the article “What, finally, is the essence of Russian poetry ...” - this peculiar aesthetic manifesto of Gogol - the nationality of Krylov is explained by the special national-original mindset of the great fabulist. In the fable, writes Gogol, Krylov "knew how to become a people's poet. This is our strong Russian head, the same mind that is akin to the mind of our proverbs, the same mind that makes a Russian person strong, the mind of conclusions, the so-called hindsight” (VI, 392).

Gogol's article on Russian poetry was necessary for him, as he himself admitted in a letter to P. A. Pletnev in 1846, "in explaining the elements of a Russian person." In Gogol's reflections on the fate of his native people, its present and historical future, "the hindsight or the mind of final conclusions, which the Russian person is predominantly endowed with over others," is that fundamental "property of Russian nature" that distinguishes Russians from other peoples. With this property of the national mind, which is akin to the mind of folk proverbs, "who knew how to draw such great conclusions from their poor, insignificant time<...>and which speak only of what enormous conclusions the present-day Russian man can draw from the present wide time, in which the results of all centuries are marked ”(VI, 408), Gogol connected the high destiny of Russia.

When the witty guesses and quick-witted assumptions of officials about who Chichikov is (here both the “millionaire”, and the “forgery banknote maker”, and Captain Kopeikin) reach the ridiculous - Chichikov is declared to be Napoleon in disguise - the author, as it were, takes under protection their heroes. “And in the world annals of mankind there are many whole centuries, which, it would seem, were crossed out and destroyed as unnecessary. Many errors have taken place in the world, which it would seem that even a child would not make now ”(VI, 210). The principle of opposing "one's own" and "alien", clearly tangible from the first to the last page of "Dead Souls", is sustained by the author in opposing the Russian hindsight to the mistakes and delusions of all mankind. The possibilities inherent in this "proverb" property of the Russian mind were to be revealed, according to Gogol, in subsequent volumes of the poem.

The ideological and compositional role of this saying in Gogol's conception helps to understand the meaning of The Tale of Captain Kopeikin, without which the author could not imagine the poem.

The story exists in three main editions. The second is considered canonical, uncensored, which is printed in the text of the poem in all modern editions. The original edition differs from the subsequent ones primarily in its finale, which tells about the robbery adventures of Kopeikin, his flight abroad and a letter from there to the Sovereign explaining the motives of his actions. In two other versions of the Tale, Gogol limited himself to only a hint that Captain Kopeikin became the chieftain of a gang of robbers. Perhaps the writer anticipated censorship difficulties. But censorship, I think, was the reason for the rejection of the first edition. In its original form, the Tale, although it clarified the main idea of the author, nevertheless did not fully correspond to the ideological and artistic design of the poem.

In all three known editions of the Tale, immediately after explaining who Captain Kopeikin is, there follows an indication of the main circumstance that forced Kopeikin to earn money for himself: “Well, then, no, you know, such orders had yet been made about the wounded; this kind of disabled capital was already brought in, you can imagine, in a certain way, much later” (VI, 200). Thus, the disabled capital, which provided for the wounded, was established, but only after Captain Kopeikin himself found funds for himself. Moreover, as follows from the original wording, he takes these funds from the “public pocket”. The gang of robbers, led by Kopeikin, is at war exclusively with the treasury. “There is no passage on the roads, and all this, in fact, is, so to speak, aimed at only state-owned. If a traveler for some reason of his own - well, they will only ask: “why?” - and go on your way. And as soon as some kind of state-owned fodder, provisions or money - in a word, everything that bears, so to speak, the name of the treasury - there is no descent! (VI, 829).

Seeing the "omission" with Kopeikin, the Sovereign "issued the strictest order to form a committee solely in order to improve the lot of everyone, that is, the wounded ..." (VI, 830). The highest state authorities in Russia, and first of all the Sovereign himself, are capable, according to Gogol, of drawing the right conclusions, making a wise, fair decision, but only not immediately, but "after". The wounded were provided for as in no other “enlightened states”, but only when the thunder had already struck ... Captain Kopeikin went into the robbers not because of the callousness of high government officials, but because of the fact that this is already the case in Rus' everything is arranged, everyone is strong in hindsight, starting with the postmaster and Chichikov and ending with the Sovereign.

Preparing a manuscript for publication, Gogol focuses primarily on the “mistake” itself, and not on its “correction”. Rejecting the finale of the original edition, he retained the meaning of the Tale he needed, but changed the emphasis in it. In the final version, the fortress in hindsight, in accordance with the artistic concept of the first volume, is presented in its negative, ironically reduced form. The ability of a Russian person to draw the necessary conclusions and correct himself after a mistake, according to Gogol, should have been fully realized in subsequent volumes.

The general idea of the poem was affected by Gogol's involvement in folk philosophy. Popular wisdom is ambiguous. The proverb lives its real, authentic life not in collections, but in living folk speech. Its meaning may change depending on the situation in which it is used. The truly folk character of Gogol's poem lies not in the fact that it contains an abundance of proverbs, but in the fact that the author uses them in accordance with their existence among the people. The writer's assessment of this or that "property of Russian nature" entirely depends on the specific situation in which this "property" manifests itself. The author's irony is directed not at the property itself, but at its real existence.

Thus, there is no reason to believe that, having remade the Tale, Gogol made some significant concessions to censorship. There is no doubt that he did not seek to present his hero only as a victim of injustice. If a “significant person” (minister, general, boss) is to blame for anything before Captain Kopeikin, it is only because, as Gogol said on another occasion, he failed to “understand thoroughly his nature and his circumstances.” One of the distinguishing features of the writer's poetics is the sharp certainty of the characters. The actions and external actions of Gogol's heroes, the circumstances in which they find themselves, are only an external expression of their inner essence, properties of nature, character traits. When Gogol wrote to P. A. Pletnev on April 10, 1842, that he “signified Kopeikin’s character more strongly, so that now it is clear that he himself is the cause of everything and that he was treated well” (these words are almost literally repeated in the quoted letter A V. Nikitenko), he did not mean a radical reworking of the image for the sake of censorship requirements, but the strengthening of those character traits of his hero that were in him from the beginning.

The image of Captain Kopeikin, which, like other Gogol images, has become a household name, has firmly entered Russian literature and journalism. In the nature of its comprehension, two traditions have developed: one in the work of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and F.M. Dostoevsky, the other in the liberal press. In the Shchedrin cycle “Cultural People” (1876), Kopeikin appears as a limited landowner from Zalupsk: “It is not for nothing that my friend, Captain Kopeikin, writes: “Don’t go to Zalupsk! we, brother, now have so many lean and burnt divorced - our entire cultural club has been defiled! F. M. Dostoevsky also interprets Gogol's image in a sharply negative spirit. In the "Diary of a Writer" for 1881, Kopeikin appears as a prototype of modern "pocket industrialists". “... A lot of captains Kopeikin divorced terribly, in countless modifications<...>And yet they sharpen their teeth for the treasury and for the public domain.

On the other hand, there was a different tradition in the liberal press - "a sympathetic attitude towards the Gogol hero as a person fighting for his well-being with an indifferent bureaucracy indifferent to his needs." It is noteworthy that writers so dissimilar in their ideological orientation, like Saltykov-Shchedrin and Dostoevsky, who, moreover, adhered to different artistic manners, interpret the image of Gogol's captain Kopeikin in the same negative way. It would be wrong to explain the position of the writers by the fact that their artistic interpretation was based on the censored version of the Tale, that Shchedrin and Dostoevsky did not know its original version, which, according to the general opinion of the researchers, is the most socially acute. Back in 1857, N. G. Chernyshevsky, in a review of the posthumous Collected Works and Letters of Gogol, published by P. A. Kulish, completely reprinted the ending of the Tale, published at that time, for the first time, concluding it with the following words: “Yes, be that as it may, but great mind and lofty nature was the one who first introduced us to us in our present form ... ".

The point, apparently, is something else. Shchedrin and Dostoevsky felt in Gogol's Kopeikin those nuances and features of his character that eluded others, and, as happened more than once in their work, "straightened" the image, sharpened its features. The possibility of such an interpretation of the image of Captain Kopeikin lies, of course, in himself.

So, “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin”, told by the postmaster, clearly demonstrating the proverb “A Russian man is strong in hindsight”, naturally and organically introduced it into the narrative. With an unexpected change in the narrative manner, Gogol makes the reader seem to stumble on this episode, to keep his attention on it, thereby making it clear that it is here that the key to understanding the poem is.

Gogol's way of creating characters and paintings in this case echoes the words of L. N. Tolstoy, who also highly appreciated Russian proverbs, and, in particular, the collections of I. M. Snegirev. Tolstoy intended to write a story using the proverb as its grain. He talks about this, for example, in the essay “Who should learn to write from whom, our peasant children or our peasant children?”: “For a long time, reading a collection of Snegirev’s proverbs has been one of my favorites - not activities, but pleasures. For each proverb, I see faces from the people and their collisions in the sense of the proverb. Among the unrealizable dreams, I always imagined a number of either stories or pictures written in proverbs.

The artistic originality of The Tale of Captain Kopeikin, which, in the words of the postmaster, is "in some way a whole poem", helps to clarify the aesthetic nature of "Dead Souls". Creating his creation - a truly folk and deeply national poem - Gogol relied on the traditions of folk poetic culture.