The main characters of the story are Gogol's nose. Analysis of the story “NOSE”: theme, idea, characteristics of the main characters, impression of the book (Gogol N
Composition
MAJOR KOVALEV - the hero of the story by N.V. Gogol's "Nose" (1833-1836). Name M.K. contains a double semantics of the image: on the one hand, a stereotyped and common surname (Ukrainian koval - blacksmith; cf. the saying: “smith of his own happiness”), on the other, a first and patronymic (Platon Kuzmich), containing at the same time an ironic allusion to the Greek the philosopher Plato and the parodic dissonant patronymic of the simple-minded Kuzma, which is in the tones of M.K. does not think about idealism or platonic love. His philosophy, like that of Khlestakov (and Pirogov), is “plucking flowers of pleasure.” M.K. is a “Caucasian” collegiate assessor (the rank of 8th class corresponded to major in the military table of ranks). In the Caucasus, it was easier to obtain this rank; young titular advisers flocked there to obtain the rank. M.K. calls himself a major unreasonably, because according to the decree of Catherine II of November 15, 1793, civilians do not have the right to call themselves military ranks. Consequently, the essence of the image of M.K. is ambition, pride, consciousness of hierarchical rank as an unshakable law of life: “He could forgive everything that was said about himself, but he did not forgive in any way if it related to rank or title.” Image of M.K. splits into two: himself and his Nose. Double M.K. (The nose) is metonymically separated from its wearer. The grotesque adventures of the Nose, as a physical indicator of M.K.’s ambition, are ironically played out by Gogol in the spirit of an edifying story about justly punished vanity. Moreover, Nose M.K. three ranks higher than M.K. and serves in another department, which destroys the harmonious world of hierarchical order in the mind of M.K. The mysterious and mystical forces of life throw a simple everyday creature, occupied exclusively with vulgar, material problems, into a whirlwind of cruel trials that end in nothing (S. Bocharov). M.K. falls into the center of the so-called “mirage intrigue” (Yu. Mann), “comes into conflict with his own nose” (G. Gukovsky). All the benefits of life for M.K. depend on the outcome of this struggle. Barber M.K. Ivan Yakovlevich discovers his nose baked in bread, finds out whose nose it is, and tries to get rid of it by throwing it into the Neva. M.K. himself finds himself without a nose, looking in the mirror (a stable Gogolian motive of exposure). The portrait of M.K. is a “figure of fiction” (A. Bely), since it is based on the absence of a nose: “Instead of a nose, he has a completely smooth place!” Parodically, the absence of a nose is balanced only by sideburns: “these sideburns go along the very middle of the cheek and directly reach the nose.” M.K. runs to look for his nose, sees him driving around in a carriage: “He was in a uniform, embroidered in gold, with a large stand-up collar; he was wearing suede trousers; there is a sword at his side. Judging by his plumed hat, one could conclude that he was considered to be in the rank of state councilor.” Nose prays in the Kazan Cathedral, does not want to talk to M.K., who humbly asks that Nose return to his rightful place. In search of his own nose M.K. goes to the chief police chief, then on a newspaper expedition to advertise his missing nose, to a private bailiff. The misadventures of M.K. fill the metaphor of the nose with diverse meanings: allusions to the debauchery of M.K. (“If he met some pretty girl, he gave her a secret order, adding: “You ask, darling, Major Kovalev’s apartment”), in connection with possible syphilis 241 (M.K. sees “sisters in misfortune” in the church ": a row of beggarly old women "with blindfolded faces and two holes for the eyes, at which he had laughed so much before"). The search for a vice-governor or executor's position, as well as marriage without a nose, is impossible. M.K. decides that his nose was spoiled with the help of witchcraft by headquarters officer Podtochina, whose daughter he promised to marry, but left mother and daughter “with a nose.” Finally, the nose brings M.K. police official who caught his nose at the border on the way to Riga: “And the strange thing is that I myself initially mistook him for a gentleman. But, fortunately, I had glasses with me, and I immediately saw that it was a nose.” The doctor refuses to sew the nose back on and offers to put it in a jar of alcohol and sell it. Rumors around Nose traveling around St. Petersburg are growing and attracting curious people. The nose with the same pimple (double metonymy) suddenly appears again on M.K.’s face. Nose M.K. in the rank of state councilor - turned into a person and separated from M.K. a dream come true, the conceivable limit of his secret ambitious desires, which explains the claims of M.K. to a vice-governor's position that does not correspond to his rank. The image of the Nose is thus identical to other tragicomic Gogol personifications of the social inferiority of the characters: Bashmachkin’s overcoat, the crown of the Spanish king Poprishchin. Social grotesque permeates the image of M.K. and is expressed in the fact that Nos is at the same time an impostor and at the same time can occupy a responsible post no worse than others (G.A. Gukovsky). Nose M.K. disappears on March 25 - on the Annunciation, on Friday (the day of the crucifixion). M.K. dissolute, he is the flesh and blood of merry Petersburg, desecrating the day of fasting and the feast of the Annunciation (in church M.K. aims to flirt with a thin lady with translucent fingers, but with despair remembers his missing nose). The mystical loss of the nose and the suffering associated with it are forgotten by M. K. immediately, as soon as the nose returns to its place. The meaning of M.K.’s image is the triumph of vulgarity, the newfound nose only emphasizes the loss human face, given by God (cf. images of Pirogov (“Nevsky Prospekt”), Chertokutsky (“Carriage”), Nozdrev). Base passions triumph over Christian values (love, piety, sympathy, compassion): M.K. stops by a candy store, admires his nose in the mirror (“there’s a nose!”), mocks a military man whose “nose is no bigger than a vest button,” fusses over the vice-governor’s position, meets staff officer Podtochina and her daughter (“having taken out his snuff box, I filled my nose in front of them for quite a long time from both entrances"), makes their nose, and finally buys himself an order ribbon. Western civilization, personified in the image of St. Petersburg - a foggy and fantastic city - corrupts and “deadens” the soul of M.K., the pursuit of ranks leads to a “terrible fragmentation” (Gogol) of man and the world. Image of Nose M.K. Gogol borrowed from magazine “nosology”, L. Stern’s novel “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman” (V. Vinogradov), as well as from the general hobby in the 20-30s. XIX"Sw. natural philosophical and mystical teachings, including physiognomic ones (cf. the popular teachings of Lavater, Gald’s phrenology, the physiognomic section of J. Boehme’s “Aurora”). Based on Gogol's story, an opera by D.D. was written. Shostakovich’s “The Nose” (1928), in which the hero and plot were embodied (under the influence of V.E. Meyerhold and his production of “The Inspector General”) in the techniques of tragic buffoonery.
Lit.: Vinogradov V.V. Naturalistic grotesque (Plot and composition of the story “The Nose”) // Vinogradov V.V. Selected works: Poetics of Russian literature. M., 1976; Ulyanov N. Arabesque or Apocalypse? // New magazine. 1959, LVII; Bocharov S.G. The mystery of the “Nose” and the mystery of the face // Bocharov S.G. ABOUT art worlds. M., 1985.
Characters of N.V. Gogol’s story “The Nose” and a short review. and got the best answer
Answer from Maxim Zulikov[guru]
Well, the nose and Gogol himself
Answer from Artem Zavadsky[guru]
Collegiate assessor Kovalev - a careerist who, for greater importance, calls himself a major - suddenly wakes up in the morning without a nose. Where the nose used to be is a completely smooth place. “Devil knows what, what rubbish! - he exclaims, spitting. “At least there was something instead of a nose, otherwise nothing!..” He goes to the chief police chief to report the loss, but on the way he unexpectedly meets his own nose in an embroidered gold uniform, a state councilor’s hat and a sword. Nose jumps into the carriage and heads to the Kazan Cathedral, where he prays devoutly. The amazed Kovalev follows him. Timidly, the collegiate assessor asks the nose to return, but he, with all the importance inherent in a conversation with a junior rank, declares that he does not understand what is being said and eludes the owner.
Kovalev goes to the newspaper to advertise his missing nose, but they refuse him, fearing that such a scandalous advertisement will damage the publication’s reputation. Kovalev rushes to the private bailiff, but he, being out of sorts, only declares that a decent man’s nose won’t be torn off if he doesn’t hang around God knows where.
Heartbroken, Kovalev returns home, and then an unexpected joy occurs: a police official suddenly enters and brings in his nose wrapped in a piece of paper. According to him, the nose was intercepted on the way to Riga with a false passport. Kovalev rejoices immensely, but prematurely: the nose does not want to stick to its rightful place, and even the invited doctor cannot help. Only many days later, in the morning, the nose again appears on the face of its owner, just as inexplicably as it disappeared. And Kovalev’s life returns to normal.
Answer from Eee-eh! Great, mighty[guru]
The nose in the story symbolizes meaningless external decency, an image that, as it turns out, can well exist without any inner personality. And moreover, it turns out that an ordinary collegiate assessor has this image that is three ranks higher than the person himself, and flaunts in the uniform of a state councilor, and even with a sword. On the contrary, the unfortunate owner of the nose, having lost such an important detail of his appearance, turns out to be completely lost, because without a nose “... you will not appear in an official institution, in secular society, you will not walk along Nevsky Prospekt.” For Kovalev, who above all else in life strives for a successful career, this is a tragedy. In “The Nose,” Gogol strives to show the image of an empty and pompous person who loves external showiness, chasing high status and the favor of higher ranks. He ridicules a society in which high position and rank are valued much more than the individual who possesses them.
Theme of the story: the fantastic and the real in depicting St. Petersburg reality with the help of satire.
The idea of the story: to force people to feel the vulgarity that surrounds them, since vulgarity has only one thought about itself, because it is unreasonable and limited and will not see or understand anything around except itself.
Characteristics of the main characters:
Kovalev is a collegiate assessor, “a man neither evil nor good,” all his thoughts are fixated on his own personality. This personality is invisible and he tries to embellish it. He talks about his acquaintances with influential people. Very preoccupied with worries about his appearance. How to stir up this person? Just put it in a marital status.
Ivan Yakovlevich, a barber, like every Russian artisan, “was a terrible drunkard,” unkempt.
The discovery of Kovalev's nose, which he shaved twice a week, left him numb with horror. He was neither alive nor dead. I had a hard time getting rid of my nose.
Impression of the book: at first it seems that this story is a joke. But there is some truth in every joke. Gossip, pettiness, arrogance - all this is vulgarity. Vulgarity has no kindness, nothing noble. Fantastic details enhance the satirical portrayal of St. Petersburg society and individual representatives, such as Major Kovalev.
Updated: 2017-10-24
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The story “The Nose” by N.V. Gogol was written in 1832 - 1833. The work was first published in 1836 in the Sovremennik magazine. The story is one of the brightest satirical absurdist works of Russian literature.
Main characters
Platon Kuzmich Kovalev- “major”, collegiate assessor who served in the Caucasus. Always made sure that he appearance was flawless. Kovalev came to St. Petersburg in order to get a vice-governor’s or “exegutor’s” position; he wanted to marry a rich bride.
Ivan Yakovlevich - “ barber", "terrible drunkard" and "great cynic", always went unshaven, looked unkempt.
Chapter 1
“On March 25th, an unusually strange incident happened in St. Petersburg.” The barber Ivan Yakovlevich finds in fresh bread the nose of the collegiate assessor Kovalev, whom he shaved on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Ivan Yakovlevich tries to quietly throw away the find, but the man is constantly interfered with. In desperation, the barber heads to St. Isaac's Bridge and throws the rag with his nose into the Neva. Rejoicing at the solution to the problem, the barber suddenly notices the quartermaster at the end of the bridge and the hero is detained.
Chapter 2
Waking up in the morning, the collegiate assessor Kovalev, wanting to look at the pimple that had popped up on his nose, discovers instead of his nose an absolutely smooth place. Kovalev immediately goes to the chief of police. On the way, near one of the houses, the hero notices a carriage, from which a gentleman in uniform jumps out and runs up the stairs. In amazement, Kovalev realizes that it was his nose. Two minutes later the nose came out in a “uniform embroidered with gold” with a sword at his side. “From the plumed hat one could conclude that he was considered to be in the rank of state councilor.” Nose got into the carriage and left for the Kazan Cathedral. Following the nose, Kovalev also enters the cathedral and sees how the nose “prayed with an expression of the greatest piety.” Kovalev delicately turned to the nose, trying to persuade him to return to his place, but the nose pretended that he did not understand what he was talking about, in the end saying that he was “on his own.”
In desperation, Kovalev decides to submit an advertisement about the missing nose to the newspaper, but he is refused, since such an article “may cause the newspaper to lose its reputation.” Wanting to somehow cheer up the distressed Kovalev, an official working at the newspaper invites him to smell “tobacco.” Indignant, the hero went to a private bailiff. The private bailiff received Kovalev quite dryly, saying “that a decent person’s nose won’t be torn off and that there are many majors in the world who don’t even have underwear in decent condition and hang around all sorts of obscene places.”
Kovalev decides that “staff officer Podtochina” is to blame for what happened, who wanted to marry the hero to her daughter. According to the assessor, she “hired some witch-women for this.” Kovalev writes a threatening letter to Podtochina, but upon receiving an answer, he understands that she has nothing to do with the missing nose.
Suddenly, a police official, who at the beginning of the work was standing at the end of the Isakievsky Bridge, comes to Kovalev and says that the hero’s nose has been found: “he was intercepted almost on the road. He was already boarding a stagecoach and wanted to leave for Riga.” The official brought it with him. Kovalev is very happy with the find, but all his attempts to “put the nose in its place” are unsuccessful. The doctor, who considered that it was better to leave everything as it is, does not help Kovalev either. Rumors quickly spread throughout St. Petersburg that the assessor's nose was seen in different parts of the city.
Chapter 3
On April 7, Kovalev’s nose somehow appeared back in its place. Now Ivan Yakovlevich shaves the man with extreme care, trying not to touch his nose. “And after that, Major Kovalev was always seen in good humor, smiling, pursuing absolutely all the pretty ladies.”
“This is what happened in the northern capital of our vast state! Now, only by considering everything, we see that there is a lot of implausibility in it.” However, “whatever you say, such incidents do happen in the world; rarely, but they happen."
Conclusion
In the story “The Nose,” Gogol sharply ridicules the shortcomings of his contemporary society, for which such types of people as the collegiate assessor Kovalev were typical. The fact that Kovalev loses his nose in the plot of the story is not accidental - by this the author emphasizes the spiritual and mental poverty of the hero, for whom his appearance was his only advantage.
A brief retelling of Gogol’s “The Nose” will be of interest to schoolchildren, students and all connoisseurs of Russian literature.
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>Characteristics of heroes
Characteristics of the main characters
The main character of the story, a sloppy barber. This is an ordinary Russian artisan who was a terrible drunkard and slob. Although he shaved other people's chins every day, he always left his own unshaven. He did not wear a frock coat, as expected, but had a piebald tailcoat with a shiny collar, the buttons of which barely hung on threads.
The main character of the story, a collegiate assessor. He preferred to call himself major. The author classifies this character as an idle parasite and careerist who often strolls along Nevsky. He is akin to such characters as Lieutenant Pirogov or Khlestakov, who sought to get the maximum pleasure from life without making any effort. He even came to St. Petersburg for a profitable marriage and a higher rank.
The nose that Kovalev lost. He wore an expensive uniform, trousers and a sword. He had the rank of state councilor. He got hold of a fake passport and wanted to leave for Riga, but an alert policeman grabbed it and took it to its owner, Kovalev. At first it did not return to its place, but on the morning of April 7, just as mysteriously as it had disappeared, it returned to its place on the face.
Quarter Overseer
The policeman was of noble appearance, wore sideburns, a hat and a sword. It was he who noticed how Ivan Yakovlevich threw something from the bridge into the river. Then he caught his nose when he was about to leave for Riga with a false passport.
Gray-haired official
An official accepting advertisements for a newspaper. He refused to publish Kovalev’s announcement about his missing nose, as it could damage the newspaper.
Private bailiff
He loved sugar and paper money. He refused to deal with the case of Kovalev’s missing nose, since he liked to sleep after lunch.
Doctor
He couldn’t get Kovalev’s nose back onto his face, and then tried to buy it back from the owner.