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The image of Petersburg in the story "Overcoat". N. V. Gogol, "Overcoat"

NV Gogol, perhaps, is the most mysterious writer of the 19th century. His works of mystical content are sometimes fascinatingly interesting, sometimes frightening. Even in realistic novels and stories, the writer skillfully weaves a fantastic element. A striking example of such a combination are the St. Petersburg novels. It will not be wrong to say that the central image in them is the image of Petersburg. In the story "Overcoat" the writer describes in detail the streets of this city, its inhabitants. In his interpretation of this city, Gogol draws close to Dostoevsky's tradition, exposing all the negative aspects of Petersburg.

NV Gogol "Overcoat": the protagonist, the content

The main character of the story is Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin. He titular adviser, hammered and zashuganny chiefs and colleagues. Gogol elaborates on how Bashmachkin was born, how he was chosen by his name. Since the father was Akaky, then the son will be to them. Parents knew in advance that a titular counselor would come out of it. This predetermination is emphasized by the fact that Akaky Akakievich is a small man who can not influence his life or other people in any way. Above him cruelly bullied colleagues, pour on his head of paper, and he can not say anything.

The main theme of the story "Overcoat" is the replacement of everything spiritual in man with material. Even the name of the hero indicates this. Akaki Akakievich is obsessed with repairing his greatcoat, but the tailor refuses him. Then the hero decides to save money for a new one. And now his dream came true. In the new overcoat, he was finally noticed, even invited to a visit to one chief of staff. Finally, Akaky Akakyevitch felt full. But on his way back from him, his new robe was torn off. At this moment it seemed to him that they were not removing clothes, but part of him. A heartbroken hero decides to go to the "big face", but he yells at him. After this incident, Bashmachkin's health deteriorates, he sees strange visions. As a result, the hero dies. And on the streets of the city roaming ghost, which rips the greatcoat with passers-by.

Petersburg in the story

The image of St. Petersburg in the story "The Overcoat" is very significant not only for understanding the work itself, but also for understanding the design of the entire cycle of "Petersburg stories". The city on the pages of the story is phantasmagoric and unnatural. It resembles a ghost town. In such a situation, a full life of people is impossible, only an aimless and useless existence is possible. Gogol describes the entrances and houses of St. Petersburg, especially stops in detail on a strange, pungent smell. The image of St. Petersburg in the story "Overcoat" is close to what it is represented in the novel "Crime and Punishment". Dostoevsky also writes about the "stench" characteristic of Peter. However, Dostoevsky does not have a mystical element in his description.

City hostility motive

From the very beginning, there is a feeling that the city wants to expel people, it rejects them. But not all. Suffer in the first place such as Akaki Akakievich. The enemy of all officials with a scanty salary is the Petersburg frost. The cold in the story symbolizes also the space of death, above all spiritual. After all, neither the people surrounding Bashmachkin, nor he himself has any other interests, except as things.

The city landscape is described in detail, when Bashmachkin goes to the tailor to fix his overcoat. Parade rich porches contrast with the smelly, dirty black steps of poor houses. The hero himself is lost in a crowded Petersburg, he does not have his own face. From this point of view, it is important to have a portrait description of the protagonist, which is given at the very beginning of the story. He is not tall and not low, his face is not thin and not fat, that is, the author does not mention anything concrete, thus showing that the hero does not possess any distinguishing features, he is faceless, because of this he practically does not cause sympathy.

Live Petersburg

Incarnation is another method, which NV Gogol resorts to. "Overcoat" is considered by right the central story in the cycle, because it is here (as in the "Nevsky Prospekt") the city as if becomes the main character. After the death of the hero, "St. Petersburg was left without Akakievich." But surprisingly, no one noticed this. A creature that no one needed was missing.

But in the city, in relation to which Gogol uses the same words as to a living being, people, not collars, overcoats, coats, go around. The motif of the essence is important for all the stories of this cycle.

Function of the city landscape in the story

The image of St. Petersburg for the first time appears on the pages of Gogol's prose in the story "The Night Before Christmas". From the very beginning the city became a space opposed to Ukraine, and to be more precise, to Dikanka. Already here Petersburg is a living city, staring at the hero with fiery eyes of houses. During the years of his life in St. Petersburg, Gogol increasingly began to distinguish between the splendor and beauty of the palaces inhumanity, greed and predatory nature of the people who inhabit it.

The main idea of the story "Overcoat" is closely connected with the description of the city's landscape. Gogol exposed the social contrasts of this city, raised the theme of humiliated and insulted, suffering disenfranchised people. The anecdote about the poor official he heard from his acquaintances, the story heavily sank into the writer's soul, and he decided to create a work in which all his compassion was reflected in a small man, such as Bashmachkin.

Author's assessment in the story

Despite all the compassion, Gogol's story "The Overcoat" is ironic. The author makes his hero miserable. After all, he is not just kind, calm, soft and spineless, he is pathetic. He can not oppose anything to his colleagues, he is afraid of his superiors. In addition, he also can not do anything, except how to rewrite. The higher position - to rewrite, making corrections, - Akaky Akakievich does not like, he rejects it. This Gogol shows that the hero himself does not particularly strive to get out of his humiliated state. With obvious sarcasm, the author talks about how Bashmachkin is possessed by the idea of acquiring a greatcoat, as if this is not a thing, but the goal of his whole life. What kind of life is this, in which the main idea is to buy an overcoat?

Spirituality in the story

Perhaps this is the main motive, to which all the threads of the narrative, including the image of Petersburg, are reduced. In the story "Overcoat", the spirituality of the protagonist is clearly and clearly manifested. He can not even speak normally, he speaks with some pretexts and interjections, which emphasizes the absence of reason and soul in him. He is so absorbed in the idea of acquiring a greatcoat that she becomes his idol. Co-workers Akaky Akakievich cruel, not able to compassion. The authorities revel in their power and are ready to break anyone for their disobedience. And in place of Bashmachkin a new titular counselor is being set up, of which Gogol speaks only that his handwriting is higher and more inclined.

conclusions

Thus, Gogol's story "Overcoat" is a vivid example of a grotesque phantasmagoric work with a fantastic element. And mysticism is connected not only with the appearance at the end of the work of the ghost, but also by the city itself, which rejects people, it is hostile. Petersburg in the story "Overcoat" is designed to show the author's assessment, and also helps to understand the main idea of the work. It is through the description of the urban landscape that the reader understands all the cruelty, inhumanity, soullessness of the environment in which there are such miserable people as Akaky Akievich Bashmachkin.

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