In the work "The Overcoat", the characters are mostly faceless, with the exception of the main character - a titular adviser named Bashmachkin, a man without character, gray, incapable of action. The theme of the "little man" is not new in literature, but in the story it is revealed in a peculiar and deep way. In Gogol's work, the description of the characters is extremely important, because behind every name, every word has a deep inner meaning. For the protagonist, the overcoat is a dream come true, the meaning of life. With her appearance, the hero changes not only externally, but also internally.

Characteristics of the heroes "Overcoat"

main characters

Akaki Bashmachkin	The author describes his appearance as the most unremarkable. Our hero is a little reddish, with a receding hairline, short, has an unhealthy complexion. He has been rewriting documents for so long that no one remembers his age when he was hired. No one even heard the voice of the protagonist of The Overcoat, except for the request: leave him and not offend. These are the words that he utters in cases where the mockery of colleagues interferes with the performance of duties. Bashmachkin lives by work.
Portnoy Petrovich	In the work, information about him is scarce. Petrovich was a serf and was called Grigory. After he was given freedom, they began to call him by his patronymic. He lives in a dirty entrance, on the fourth floor of the same house as Bashmachkin. Often drinks, but does his job well, despite the absence of one eye. The wife constantly scolds the tailor for his addiction to drinking. The sober Petrovich is very intractable in the matter of payment for work, he breaks the price.
significant person	The one who could play a fateful role in the life of Akaky Akakievich, but did not. Bashmachkin turned to him in the hope of helping to find the stolen overcoat. As a very strict person, he drove the poor fellow away, demonstrating his power in front of an acquaintance. The author mentions the rank of general, after which a significant person was completely at a loss how to behave with others. He prefers to remain silent, which is why he was known as a closed person.

Minor characters

Bashmachkin's mother	Mentioned in the story in passing, her name is unknown. Mother was an official, a very good woman - the author simply describes her. At birth, the child cried, and his face took on such an expression, as if he had a presentiment that he would become a titular adviser - the author describes the birth of the central character so ironically.
Bashmachkin's father	The father's name was Akaki, in his honor it was decided to name the son. The only thing known about Akaki's father is that he, like the rest of the male family members, did not wear shoes, but boots, the soles of which he changed three times a year.
Petrovich's wife	A simple woman of no beauty. She wore a cap, not a headscarf. According to the author, nothing more is known about her. Petrovich himself spoke of her disparagingly.
ghost official	Fantastic motifs in Gogol are intertwined with real events. At the end of the story, a ghost is reported that appears in St. Petersburg at the site of the robbery of Bashmachkin. When meeting with a ghost, the Significant Person recognizes our main character. Having taken the overcoat from the general, the ghost calms down and no longer disturbs the city.

The story raises questions of indifference, immorality, poverty, bureaucracy. Petersburg is shown as a cold city ruled by stupidity, disorder and tyranny. The central image of the official Bashmachkin develops in parallel with the image of the overcoat itself. The names of the heroes in the "Overcoat" are practically not called, which gives the described era the effect of facelessness. Gogol treats the characterization of the heroes of the story extremely scrupulously, skillfully, with irony. The work was included in the list of the most "revolutionary" in the literary world thanks to the vision of life by a brilliant writer.

N. V. Gogol was born on April 1, 1809 in Sorochintsy, Poltava region and came from an ancient noble family. This real Russian classic is known throughout the world for his incomparable literary masterpieces. Gogol's story "The Overcoat" is one of them. This work was first published in 1842 in the third volume. Complete collection writings of Nikolai Gogol.

Gogol, "Overcoat". Topic

A. S. Pushkin in " stationmaster"For the first time, the theme of the "little man" was revealed with genuine truthfulness and humanity. Behind him were written the works "Notes of a Madman" and "The Overcoat" by Gogol. The summary of the plot cannot always give a complete picture of the life of a low-ranking official, beaten and humiliated by the state system. After all, at that time it was a very common occurrence.

Gogol's story "The Overcoat" in the image of Akaky Akakievich presented that last facet of the shallowing of God's creation to such an extent that a thing, and the most insignificant thing, for a person becomes a source of inexpressible joy and bitter destruction. At first, Gogol described this image more in a comic or even satirical form, but then pity for his unfortunate hero began to be traced.

"Overcoat", Gogol. Heroes

Speaking about the heroes and characters of this work, I really want to note the fact that they are all described very accurately, in detail and colorfully, each in its own way, starting with the main character himself, and then the hostess of the apartment, the tailor Petrovich and his wife, and ending with chief boss - "significant person". And, what is most interesting, no one causes hostility, but on the contrary, they feel sympathy, acceptance and understanding. This is also the main advantage of the story "The Overcoat" by Gogol, summary which can be read below.

Plot

In the department of St. Petersburg, a titular adviser was in the service. He was very poor, not at all handsome, short, short-sighted, somewhat reddish, bald and with a wrinkled face. His name was Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin. So named his mother after much deliberation in honor of his father.

Akaki's position was quite insignificant, and therefore young officials very often teased him and played pranks on him. In general, this usually happens with those who cannot "bite".

This hero was very zealous and, one might say, did his job with love. He manually copied the papers very beautifully and accurately. For this he was paid a salary of 400 rubles a year.

Petrovich

Further, N.V. Gogol “The Overcoat” fills with that fatal combination of circumstances that tends to disrupt the ordinary and proportionate life of a person. Akaky Akakievich discovers that his overcoat is completely worn out both on the shoulders and on the back, it is already literally seeping through from the holes and has completely fallen into disrepair.

Then he took her to a tailor - a former serf peasant Petrovich, who lived in the neighborhood, who, despite his crooked eye and pockmarked face, knew how to fix things very well. True, after he received a vacation pay, he began to drink heavily, for which his wife, who was also not a beauty, scolded him very much.

However, Petrovich, having carefully examined the old overcoat, said that it was no longer repairable, and a new one had to be bought. The titular adviser failed to persuade him to take up the mending of his clothes.

Dream

It must be said that Akaky Akakievich spoke mainly in some prepositions and particles that did not particularly matter. Very upset, he went out onto the road and from this wandered off in the wrong direction. He understood that he could not do without a new overcoat, and then he began to frantically save and save money on everything.

In the evenings he did not drink tea, did not light candles, seldom gave his linen to the laundress, walked on tiptoe so that his shoes would not wear out at all, and in order not to wear out his clothes, he wore a de-cotton dressing gown. It was not so easy for him to get used to the restrictions, but over time things went smoothly. In the evenings he was starving, but he had spiritual food, the thought of a new overcoat never left his head. Her very existence made his life fuller, Akaki even seemed to marry her and seemed to feel that another person appeared next to him, who began to brighten up his loneliness. He became more determined, he had a gleam in his eyes. But not for a moment did he stop dreaming of a new greatcoat and often went to Petrovich's to talk about cloth, where to buy it and at what price. After him, Akaki always returned home satisfied and in a good mood.

Prize

On this event, a new round of the plot of the story "The Overcoat" by Gogol is being built. We will continue the summary further with a story about an unexpected and happy event for the hero - the director assigns him a bonus of 60 rubles. The department seemed to have guessed that Akakiy still had 20 rubles saved up. And now he can start sewing the long-awaited overcoat. They went with Petrovich to the shops and bought the best cloth and lining. They bought a cat for a collar instead of a marten.

When the overcoat was ready, it was the most solemn day in Akaki's life. Petrovich brought it in the morning, just before going to work in the department. The overcoat was perfect and on time. Akaki was pleased. When he came to the department, everyone suddenly found out about his new overcoat and began to welcome him first, and then even congratulate him. And one official invited everyone to visit him in order to wash Akaki's new clothes, and, coincidentally, to celebrate his name day.

New overcoat

Happy Akaky Akakievich was visiting the busy city streets, admiring himself and the rich people who walked around the city.

For Akaki, this was the biggest party, even though he initially refused to go there. Time flew by very quickly and cheerfully, he ate well, drank wine and champagne, and went home by midnight. He walked back through the deserted streets. He was restless in his soul, as if he had a premonition of trouble.

And suddenly people with mustaches approached him. One of them scared him with his fist. The thieves pulled off the poor official's new overcoat and ran away. Without feeling, he fell into the snow. After some time, he woke up and wandered home, shrinking from the frosty wind and grief.

The next day he showed up for work in an old hood, pale and almost exhausted. Colleagues felt very sorry for him, they even wanted to collect this amount for him, but, having spent money on other things, they collected very little.

Then they advised him to go to the "significant person" to help him with the search for the stolen overcoat and hurried the city bailiffs to investigate the theft. However, during the audience, this “significant person”, out of absurdity, creating his own importance, shouted at him, so much so that he, barely remembering himself, left the office.

Either stress or cold affected Akaky Akakievich so much that he soon became very ill, and then died in a fever.

Upon learning of what had happened, the “significant person” was very alarmed, and his conscience began to completely seize him. He began to think often of the poor titular adviser.

Epilogue

And now the story “The Overcoat” by Gogol, a summary of the main events of which was described above, ends with the fact that from the moment the main character died, Peter was rumored about the ghost of a deceased official who appeared near the Kalinkin Bridge, who allegedly pounces on passers-by and pulls off their coats, coats and coats. And there is no way to calm down the dead man.

And then one day this very “significant person” drove past the bridge, which was attacked by a dead man and tore off his overcoat. More than a ghost never appeared in these places.

The great mystic N.V. Gogol wrote The Overcoat, sometimes without even dividing the line between mysticism and real life. Thanks to this, his epilogue received a moralistic meaning. After the death of his hero, he gives him a few more cheerful and noisy days, as if as a reward for an unremarkable and boring life. This looks like a special move by the author in order to show how the conscience of a “significant person” awakened, and how, after meeting with the dead man, he embarked on the path of repentance and philanthropy.

The famous words of F. Dostoevsky that “ we all came out of Gogol's overcoat"implied that any Russian democratic literature relies mainly on the story N. Gogol « Overcoat". It was in this story that the main literary hero was not the count or the king, but the most ordinary little man, an official, a clerk, unremarkable. In this article, I offer readers summary Gogol story « Overcoat"

N. Gogol Overcoat: Summary.

There lived an official. He served in one of the departments as a clerk. His duties were simply to rewrite the texts. For years he did the same thing - beautifully rewrote. All his concern was - these are beautiful lines. He loved his job in his own way. He even had favorite letters! The official's name was Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin.

I must say that when Akaki was born, it took him a very long time to choose a name. For some reason, all the names came across strange: Khozdazad, Varakhasy, Pavsikahy, etc. They decided not to use such names, but to name the boy in honor of his father - Akakiy. Gogol describes Akaki Akakievich as follows: short, somewhat pockmarked, somewhat reddish, somewhat even blind-sighted, with a slight bald spot on his forehead, with wrinkles on both sides of his cheeks and a complexion that is called hemorrhoidal ". Akaky Akakievich dressed tastelessly and badly. Here is how Gogol described the clothes of the protagonist: “ ... uniform ... not green, but some kind of reddish floury color, to which something sticks all the time ". No one loves or respects Akaky Akakievich. They laugh at him and tease him. Sometimes the jokes of the employees even turned into mockery. But main character did not respond to the sharp attacks of colleagues.

Akaky Akakievich lived very modestly. Saved on everything. He did not allow himself any entertainment. The food was not tasty, but cheap. In principle, the main character of the story was satisfied with everything in life. But over time, a moment came when the old overcoat of Akaky Akakievich completely became useless. She no longer warmed official for writing". By the way, it was this very overcoat that was in recent times a special subject of strong ridicule of colleagues.

The cold forced Akaky Akakievich to go to the familiar tailor Petrovich, who drank a lot and was a former serf. Akaky Akakievich asked Petrovich to repair his old overcoat. But the tailor, seeing how much the fabric had rotted, flatly refused to accept the overcoat for alteration and offered to sew a new one for 150 rubles. I must say that the salary of Akaki Akakievich for the year was 400 rubles. For him, 150 rubles is a very large amount. Therefore, our hero decided to approach Petrovich at a more opportune moment. Akaky Akakievich considered the appropriate moment when Petrovich was tipsy. He tried in every possible way to persuade the tailor, but Petrovich could not persuade even a drunken head. Akaky Akakievich had to come to terms with the situation and start saving money for a new overcoat.

For several years, the official for the letter was able to accumulate only 40 rubles. He set aside every penny, he refused tea and candles in the evenings, he tried to take care of the soles of his shoes, to reduce visits to the laundress. So that linen would not wear out, Akaky Akakievich walked at home in only one dressing gown.

But finally the moment has come when the necessary amount has accumulated. Together with Petrovich, Akaki Akakievich buy fabric for an overcoat. Instead of a silk lining, they bought a calico, and instead of a marten, they bought a cat for a collar. Two weeks later, Petrovich handed a brand new overcoat to Akaky Akakievich. Gogol called this day " solemn afternoon in the life of the protagonist. Petrovich feels the solemnity of the moment no less. He dressed Akaky Akakievich with special feeling, and when he went out into the street, the tailor ran after him to admire the result of his work.

When Akaky Akakiyevich appeared in the department in a new overcoat, almost all his work comrades came running to stare at such significant event. Colleagues began to demand that the new thing " gotta squirt". But Akaky Akakievich in every possible way began to refuse and dissuade this undertaking. Suddenly there was an official among the employees who invited everyone to his place for the sake of such an occasion. Since Akaky Akakievich turned out to be the hero of the occasion, he was forced to go to that evening. But on this holiday, the main character is not comfortable. Even after drinking champagne, Akaki Akakievich tried to quietly leave the party in his honor.

On the way home, Akaky Akakievich is attacked, severely beaten, and his overcoat is stolen. After the incident, the main character went to a private bailiff. Somehow he got accepted. But the bailiff did not open the case and did not start searching for the thieves. The main character came to work extremely upset. Colleagues advised him to turn to a "significant person" for help. Akaky Akakievich heeded the advice and with great difficulty made his way to the general's reception. However, the general decided that such a request of a little man looked familiar and, very indignant, drove Akaky Akakievich out. Finally upset and having lost all hope of returning the expensive overcoat, the protagonist returned home. During this journey, Akaky Akakievich managed to catch a bad cold. The illness made him delirious. In visions, the official of the letter sees Petrovich sewing an overcoat for him and a general who stamps his feet in indignation. So Akaky Akakievich dies. In the department, they learn about his death only when they remember, namely on the 4th day after death.

After these events, rumors began to spread around the city that supposedly a ghost in the form of an official walks around the Kalinkin Bridge area. The dead official is supposedly looking for an overcoat and therefore takes it from every passer-by. The ghost does not look at ranks and titles. Does not look at the cheapness or high cost of overcoats.

The general who treated Akaky Akakievich so cruelly, meanwhile, cooled down and even took pity on the poor fellow. He sent a man to him and received news of his death. The general was upset. But already at dinner with a friend, he forgot about the unfortunate man.

Once the general went to visit a familiar lady. Suddenly he felt that someone grabbed him by the collar of his overcoat. The general turned around and recognized Akaky Akakiyevich in the ghost. The dead official demanded an overcoat from the general. He took it and disappeared.

After this mystical incident, the general changed a lot in relation to people. His arrogance and arrogance have evaporated somewhere, rudeness towards subordinates has disappeared.

It is said that the ghost of the official at the bridge has since disappeared.

Takovo summary story " Overcoat» N. Gogol.

Excellent preparation in the educational process!

History of creation

Gogol, according to the Russian philosopher N. Berdyaev, is "the most mysterious figure in Russian literature." To this day, the writer's works cause controversy. One of these works is the story "The Overcoat".

In the mid-1930s, Gogol heard a joke about an official who had lost his gun. It sounded like this: there lived one poor official, he was a passionate hunter. He saved up for a long time for a gun, which he dreamed about for a long time. His dream came true, but while sailing through the Gulf of Finland, he lost it. Returning home, the official died of frustration.

The first draft of the story was called "The Tale of the Official Stealing the Overcoat." In this version, some anecdotal motifs and comic effects were visible. The official bore the surname Tishkevich. In 1842, Gogol completes the story, changes the name of the hero. The story is being printed, completing the cycle of "Petersburg Tales". This cycle includes the stories: "Nevsky Prospekt", "The Nose", "Portrait", "Carriage", "Notes of a Madman" and "Overcoat". The writer works on the cycle between 1835 and 1842. Combined stories by common place events - Petersburg. Petersburg, however, is not only a scene of action, but also a kind of hero of these stories, in which Gogol draws life in its various manifestations. Usually writers, talking about life in St. Petersburg, covered the life and characters of the capital's society. Gogol was attracted by petty officials, artisans, impoverished artists - "little people". Petersburg was chosen by the writer not by chance, it was this stone city that was especially indifferent and ruthless to " little man". This topic was first discovered by A.S. Pushkin. She becomes the leader in the work of N.V. Gogol.

Genus, genre, creative method

In the story "The Overcoat" the influence of hagiographic literature is visible. It is known that Gogol was an extremely religious person. Of course, he was well acquainted with this genre of church literature. Many researchers wrote about the influence of the life of St. Akakiy of Sinai on the story "The Overcoat", among which are well-known names: V.B. Shklovsky and G.P. Makogonenko. Moreover, in addition to the conspicuous outward similarity of the fates of St. Akaki and the hero Gogol were traced the main common points of plot development: obedience, stoic patience, the ability to endure various kinds of humiliation, then death from injustice and - life after death.

The genre of "The Overcoat" is defined as a story, although its volume does not exceed twenty pages. Its specific name - a story - it received not so much for its volume, but for its enormous semantic richness, which you will not find in any novel. The meaning of the work is revealed only by compositional and stylistic devices with the extreme simplicity of the plot. simple story about a poor official, who invested all his money and soul in a new overcoat, after the theft of which he dies, under the pen of Gogol, it found a mystical denouement, turned into a colorful parable with enormous philosophical overtones. "The Overcoat" is not just a accusatory satirical story, it is a wonderful piece of art, revealing the eternal problems of being, which will not be translated either in life or in literature as long as humanity exists.

Sharply criticizing the ruling system of life, its internal falsity and hypocrisy, Gogol's work suggested the need for a different life, a different social order. "Petersburg Tales" of the great writer, which includes "The Overcoat", is usually attributed to the realistic period of his work. Nevertheless, they can hardly be called realistic. The mournful tale of the stolen overcoat, according to Gogol, "unexpectedly takes on a fantastic ending." The ghost, in which the deceased Akaky Akakievich was recognized, ripped off everyone's overcoat, "without disassembling the rank and title." Thus, the ending of the story turned it into a phantasmagoria.

Subject

The story raises social, ethical, religious and aesthetic problems. Public interpretation emphasized the social side of the "Overcoat". Akaky Akakievich was seen as a typical "little man", a victim of the bureaucratic system and indifference. Emphasizing the typical fate of the "little man", Gogol says that death did not change anything in the department, Bashmachkin's place was simply taken by another official. Thus, the theme of man - the victim of the social system - is brought to its logical end.

An ethical or humanistic interpretation was built on the pitiful moments of The Overcoat, a call for generosity and equality, which was heard in Akaky Akakievich’s weak protest against clerical jokes: “Leave me, why are you offending me?” - in these penetrating words, other words rang out: "I am your brother." Finally, the aesthetic principle, which came to the fore in the works of the 20th century, focused mainly on the form of the story as the focus of its artistic value.

Idea

“Why portray poverty ... and the imperfections of our life, digging people out of life, remote nooks and crannies of the state? ... no, there is a time when otherwise it is impossible to aspire society and even a generation to the beautiful, until you show the full depth of its real abomination" - wrote N.V. Gogol, and in his words lies the key to understanding the story.

The author showed the "depth of abomination" of society through the fate of the protagonist of the story - Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin. His image has two sides. The first is spiritual and physical squalor, which Gogol deliberately emphasizes and brings to the fore. The second is the arbitrariness and heartlessness of others in relation to the main character of the story. The ratio of the first and second determines the humanistic pathos of the work: even such a person as Akaky Akakievich has the right to exist and be treated fairly. Gogol sympathizes with the fate of his hero. And it makes the reader involuntarily think about the attitude to the whole world around, and first of all about the sense of dignity and respect that every person should arouse for himself, regardless of his social and social status. financial situation, but only taking into account his personal qualities and merits.

The nature of the conflict

At the heart of N.V. Gogol lies the conflict between the "little man" and society, a conflict leading to rebellion, to the uprising of the humble. The story "The Overcoat" describes not only an incident from the life of a hero. The whole life of a person appears before us: we are present at his birth, naming him, find out how he served, why he needed an overcoat and, finally, how he died. The life story of the “little man”, his inner world, his feelings and experiences, depicted by Gogol not only in The Overcoat, but also in other stories of the Petersburg Tales cycle, has firmly entered the Russian literature of the 19th century.

Main heroes

The hero of the story is Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, a petty official of one of the St. Petersburg departments, a humiliated and disenfranchised man "short, somewhat pockmarked, somewhat reddish, somewhat even blind-sighted, with a slight bald spot on his forehead, with wrinkles on both sides of his cheeks." The hero of Gogol's story is offended by fate in everything, but he does not grumble: he is already over fifty, he did not go beyond the correspondence of papers, did not rise above the rank of titular adviser (a state official of the 9th class who does not have the right to acquire personal nobility - if he does not born a nobleman) - and yet humble, meek, devoid of ambitious dreams. Bashmachkin has neither family nor friends, he does not go to the theater or visit. All his "spiritual" needs are satisfied by rewriting papers: "It is not enough to say: he served zealously - no, he served with love." No one considers him a person. “Young officials laughed and made fun of him, as long as clerical wit was enough ...” Bashmachkin did not answer a single word to his offenders, did not even stop working and did not make mistakes in the letter. All his life Akaky Akakievich has served in the same place, in the same position; his salary is meager - 400 rubles. a year, the uniform has long been no longer green, but a reddish-flour color; co-workers call an overcoat worn to holes a hood.

Gogol does not hide the limitations, the scarcity of the interests of his hero, tongue-tied. But something else brings to the fore: his meekness, uncomplaining patience. Even the name of the hero carries this meaning: Akaki is humble, gentle, does no harm, innocent. The appearance of the overcoat reveals the hero's spiritual world, for the first time the hero's emotions are depicted, although Gogol does not give the character's direct speech - only a retelling. Akaky Akakievich remains wordless even at a critical moment in his life. The drama of this situation lies in the fact that no one helped Bashmachkin.

An interesting vision of the main character from the famous researcher B.M. Eikhenbaum. He saw in Bashmachkin an image that "served with love", in the rewriting "he saw some kind of diverse and pleasant world of his own", he did not think at all about his dress, about anything else practical, he ate without noticing the taste, did not indulge in any entertainment, in a word, he lived in some kind of his ghostly and strange world, far from reality, was a dreamer in uniform. And it is not for nothing that his spirit, freed from this uniform, so freely and boldly develops its revenge - this is prepared by the whole story, here is its whole essence, its whole whole.

Along with Bashmachkin, the image of the overcoat plays an important role in the story. It is quite comparable with the broad concept of "honor of the uniform", which characterized essential element noble and officer ethics, to the norms of which the authorities under Nicholas I tried to attach raznochintsy and, in general, all officials.

The loss of the overcoat turns out to be not only a material, but also a moral loss for Akaky Akakievich. Indeed, thanks to the new overcoat, Bashmachkin for the first time in the departmental environment felt like a man. The new overcoat is able to save him from frost and illness, but, most importantly, it serves as protection for him from ridicule and humiliation from his colleagues. With the loss of his overcoat, Akaki Akakievich lost the meaning of life.

Plot and composition

“The plot of The Overcoat is extremely simple. The poor little official makes an important decision and orders a new overcoat. While sewing it, it turns into a dream of his life. On the very first evening when he puts it on, thieves take off his overcoat on a dark street. The official dies of grief, and his ghost roams the city. That’s the whole plot, but, of course, the real plot (as always with Gogol) is in the style, in the internal structure of this ... anecdote, ”V.V. retold the plot of Gogol’s story. Nabokov.

Hopeless need surrounds Akaky Akakievich, but he does not see the tragedy of his situation, as he is busy with business. Bashmachkin is not burdened by his poverty, because he does not know another life. And when he has a dream - a new overcoat, he is ready to endure any hardships, if only to bring the implementation of his plans closer. The overcoat becomes a kind of symbol of a happy future, a favorite brainchild, for which Akaki Akakievich is ready to work tirelessly. The author is quite serious when he describes the delight of his hero about the realization of a dream: the overcoat is sewn! Bashmachkin was completely happy. However, with the loss of Bashmachkin's new overcoat, real grief overtakes. And only after death is justice done. Bashmachkin's soul finds peace when he returns his lost thing.

The image of the overcoat is very important in the development of the plot of the work. The plot of the plot is connected with the emergence of the idea to sew a new overcoat or repair the old one. The development of the action - Bashmachkin's trips to the tailor Petrovich, an ascetic existence and dreams of a future overcoat, buying a new dress and visiting name days, on which Akaky Akakievich's overcoat should be "washed". The action culminates in the theft of a new overcoat. And, finally, the denouement lies in Bashmachkin's unsuccessful attempts to return the overcoat; the death of a hero who has caught a cold without an overcoat and yearns for it. The story ends with an epilogue - a fantastic story about the ghost of an official who is looking for his overcoat.

The story of Akaki Akakievich's "posthumous existence" is full of horror and comedy at the same time. In the dead silence of the Petersburg night, he rips off the overcoats from officials, not recognizing the bureaucratic difference in ranks and acting both behind the Kalinkin bridge (that is, in the poor part of the capital) and in the rich part of the city. Only having overtaken the direct culprit of his death, “one significant person”, who, after a friendly bossy party, goes to “one familiar lady Karolina Ivanovna”, and, having torn off the general’s overcoat, the “spirit” of the dead Akaki Akakievich calms down, disappears from St. Petersburg squares and streets . Apparently, "the general's overcoat came to him completely on the shoulder."

Artistic originality

Gogol's composition is not determined by the plot - his plot is always poor, rather - there is no plot, but only one comic (and sometimes not even comical in itself) position is taken, which serves as if only an impetus or reason for developing comic tricks. This story is especially interesting for this kind of analysis, because in it a pure comic tale, with all the methods of language play characteristic of Gogol, is combined with pathetic declamation, which forms, as it were, a second layer. Gogol allows his characters in The Overcoat to speak a little, and, as always with him, their speech is formed in a special way, so that, despite individual differences, it never gives the impression of everyday speech, ”wrote B.M. Eikhenbaum in the article "How Gogol's Overcoat" was made.

The story in "The Overcoat" is in the first person. The narrator knows the life of officials well, expresses his attitude to what is happening in the story through numerous remarks. “What to do! the St. Petersburg climate is to blame, ”he notes about the deplorable appearance of the hero. The climate forces Akaky Akakievich to go all out for the sake of buying a new overcoat, that is, in principle, directly contributes to his death. We can say that this frost is an allegory of Gogol's Petersburg.

All artistic means, which Gogol uses in the story: a portrait, an image of the details of the situation in which the hero lives, the plot of the story - all this shows the inevitability of Bashmachkin's transformation into a "little man".

The very style of narration, when a pure comic tale, built on a play on words, puns, deliberate tongue-tied tongue, is combined with an elevated pathetic recitation, is an effective artistic tool.

The meaning of the work

The great Russian critic V.G. Belinsky said that the task of poetry is "to extract the poetry of life from the prose of life and shake souls with a true image of this life." It is precisely such a writer, a writer who shakes the soul with the image of the most insignificant pictures of human existence in the world, is N.V. Gogol. According to Belinsky, the story "The Overcoat" is "one of Gogol's deepest creations."
Herzen called the "Overcoat" a "colossal work." The enormous influence of the story on the entire development of Russian literature is evidenced by the phrase recorded by the French writer Eugene de Vogüe from the words of "one Russian writer" (as is commonly believed, F.M. Dostoevsky): "We all came out of Gogol's Overcoat."

Gogol's works were repeatedly staged and filmed. One of the last theatrical productions"Overcoat" was undertaken at the Moscow Sovremennik. On the new stage of the theatre, called "Another Stage", intended primarily for staging experimental performances, directed by Valery Fokin, "The Overcoat" was staged.

“Staging Gogol's Overcoat is my old dream. In general, I believe that there are three main works by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol - this is “The Government Inspector”, “ Dead Souls"And" Overcoat ", - said Fokin. I had already staged the first two and dreamed of The Overcoat, but I couldn’t start rehearsing in any way, because I didn’t see the lead actor ... It always seemed to me that Bashmachkin is an unusual creature, not feminine and not male, and someone here had to play something unusual, and really an actor or actress, ”says the director. Fokine's choice fell on Marina Neelova. “During the rehearsal and what was happening in the process of working on the performance, I realized that Neelova is the only actress who could do what I was thinking,” says the director. The play premiered on October 5, 2004. The scenography of the story, the performance skills of the actress M. Neelova were highly appreciated by the audience and the press.

“And here is Gogol again. Again "Contemporary". Once upon a time, Marina Neelova said that sometimes she imagines herself as a white sheet of paper, on which each director is free to depict whatever he wants - even a hieroglyph, even a drawing, even a long catchy phrase. Maybe someone will plant a blot in the heat of the moment. The viewer, who looks at The Overcoat, may imagine that there is no woman named Marina Mstislavovna Neelova in the world at all, that she was completely erased from the drawing paper of the universe with a soft eraser and a completely different creature was drawn instead of her. Gray-haired, thin-haired, causing in anyone who looks at him, both disgusting disgust, and magnetic cravings.

“In this series, Fokine’s “Overcoat”, which opened a new stage, looks like just an academic repertoire line. But only at first glance. Going to the performance, you can safely forget about your previous performances. For Valery Fokin, The Overcoat is not at all where all humanistic Russian literature came from, with its eternal pity for the little man. His "Overcoat" belongs to a completely different, fantastic world. His Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin is not an eternal titular adviser, not a miserable copyist who is unable to change verbs from the first person to the third, he is not even a man, but some strange neuter creature. To create such a fantastic image, the director needed an incredibly flexible and plastic actor, not only physically, but also psychologically. The director found such a universal actor, or rather, an actress, in Marina Neelova. When this clumsy, angular creature with sparse matted tufts of hair on a bald head appears on the stage, the audience unsuccessfully tries to guess at least some familiar features of the brilliant prima Sovremennik in it. In vain. Marina Neelova is not here. It seems that she physically transformed, melted into her hero. Somnambulistic, cautious and at the same time awkward old man's movements and a thin, plaintive, rattling voice. Since there is almost no text in the play (Bashmachkin's few phrases, consisting mainly of prepositions, adverbs and other particles that have absolutely no meaning, serve rather as a speech or even sound characteristic of the character), the role of Marina Neelova practically turns into a pantomime. But the pantomime is truly mesmerizing. Her Bashmachkin settled comfortably in his old giant overcoat, as in a house: he fumbles there with a flashlight, relieves himself, and settles in for the night.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol - one of the world's most famous life stories of the "little man".

The story that happened to Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin begins with a story about his birth and his bizarre name and proceeds to a story about his service as a titular adviser.

Many young officials, chuckling, fix him up, shower him with papers, push him under the arm, and only when he is completely unbearable, he says: “Leave me, why are you offending me?” in a pitiful voice. Akaky Akakiyevich, whose job it is to copy papers, does it with love and, even coming out of his presence and having hastily sipped his own, takes out a jar of ink and copies the papers brought home, and if there are none, he purposely makes a copy for himself from some document with an intricate address. Entertainment, the pleasures of friendship do not exist for him, "having written to his heart's content, he went to bed," with a smile anticipating tomorrow's rewriting.

However, this regularity of life is violated by an unforeseen incident. One morning, after repeated suggestions made by the Petersburg frost, Akaky Akakievich, having studied his greatcoat (so lost in appearance that the department had long called it a bonnet), notices that it is completely transparent on the shoulders and back. He decides to carry her to the tailor Petrovich, whose habits and biography are briefly, but not without detail, outlined. Petrovich examines the hood and declares that nothing can be fixed, but a new overcoat will have to be made. Shocked by the price Petrovich had named, Akaky Akakievich decides that he has chosen a bad time, and comes when, according to calculations, Petrovich is hungover, and therefore more accommodating. But Petrovich stands his ground. Seeing that you can’t do without a new overcoat,

Akaky Akakievich is trying to figure out how to get those eighty rubles for which, in his opinion, Petrovich will get down to business. He decides to reduce the “ordinary costs”: not to drink tea in the evenings, not to light candles, to walk on tiptoe so as not to wear out the soles prematurely, to give the laundry to the laundry less often, and in order not to wear out, stay at home in one dressing gown.

His life changes completely: the dream of an overcoat accompanies him, like a pleasant friend of life. Every month he visits Petrovich to talk about the overcoat. The expected reward for the holiday, against expectations, turns out to be twenty rubles more, and one day Akaky Akakievich and Petrovich go to the shops. And the cloth, and the calico on the lining, and the cat on the collar, and the work of Petrovich - everything turns out to be beyond praise, and, in view of the onset of frost, Akaki Akakievich one day goes to the department in a new overcoat. This event does not go unnoticed, everyone praises the overcoat and demands that Akaky Akakievich set the evening on such an occasion, and only the intervention of a certain official (as if on purpose a birthday man), who called everyone for tea, saves the embarrassed Akaky Akakievich.

After a day that was like a great solemn holiday for him, Akaky Akakiyevich returns home, has a merry dinner, and, having sat idle without work, goes to the official in a distant part of the city. Again everyone praises his overcoat, but soon they turn to whist, dinner, champagne. Forced to do the same, Akaky Akakievich feels unusual joy, but, mindful of the late hour, slowly goes home. Excited at first, he even rushes after some lady (“whose every part of her body was full of unusual movement”), but the deserted streets that soon stretch out inspire him with involuntary fear. In the middle of a huge deserted square, some people with mustaches stop him and take off his overcoat.

The misadventures of Akaky Akakievich begin. He does not find help from a private bailiff. In the presence, where he comes a day later in his old hood, they pity him and even think of making a clubbing, but, having collected a mere trifle, they give advice to go to a significant person, which can contribute to a more successful search for an overcoat. The following describes the methods and customs of a significant person who has become significant only recently, and therefore preoccupied with how to give himself greater significance: “Strictness, severity and - severity,” he usually used to say.

Wanting to impress his friend, whom he had not seen for many years, he cruelly scolds Akaky Akakievich, who, in his opinion, addressed him out of form. Not feeling his legs, he gets to the house and falls down with a strong fever. A few days of unconsciousness and delirium - and Akaky Akakievich dies, which is only found out in the department on the fourth day after the funeral. Soon it becomes known that at night near the Kalinkin bridge a dead man appears, ripping off everyone's overcoat, without disassembling the rank and rank. Someone recognizes Akaki Akakievich in him. The efforts made by the police to catch the dead man are in vain.

At that time, one significant person, who is not alien to compassion, having learned that Bashmachkin died suddenly, remains terribly shocked by this and, in order to have some fun, goes to a friendly party, from where he goes not home, but to the familiar lady Karolina Ivanovna, and, in the midst of terrible weather, he suddenly feels that someone has grabbed him by the collar. In horror, he recognizes Akaky Akakievich, who triumphantly pulls off his overcoat. Pale and frightened, a significant person returns home and no longer scolds his subordinates with severity. The appearance of the dead official has since completely ceased, and the ghost that met a little later the Kolomna guard was already much taller and wore an enormous mustache.

The material was provided by the Internet portal briefly.ru, compiled by E. V. Kharitonova