The main characters of the work nose gogol. Analysis of the story "NOS": theme, idea, characteristics of the main characters, impression of the book (Gogol N.V.). Main characters and their characteristics

One of the characteristic features of the skill of N.V. Gogol is the ability to make a masterpiece out of a story or a popular anecdote he heard by chance. A vivid example of such writing ability is the story "The Nose", which caused a lot of controversy among contemporaries and has not lost its relevance to this day.

The work "Nose" was written by N.V. Gogol in 1832-1833, it is included in the collection "Petersburg Tales". The plot of the book is based on a well-known anecdote at the time, translated from French, about a missing nose. Such stories were very popular and had many variants. For the first time, the motif of a nose that interferes with a full life appears in Gogol's unfinished work The Lantern Was Dying in 1832.

This story has undergone many changes over the course of several years, which was due to the comments of the censors, as well as the author's desire to best embody his idea. For example, Gogol changed the ending of The Nose, in one version all the incredible events are explained by the hero's dream.

Initially, the writer wanted to publish his work in the Moscow Observer magazine, but he was refused. A.S., who had already opened his own journal by that time, came to the rescue. Pushkin, and the story "The Nose" was published in Sovremennik in 1836.

Genre and direction

By the time The Nose was published, Gogol had already become famous for his collection Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, where he addresses the theme of mysticism. But if "Evenings ..." for the most part rely on folk superstitions, then in "Petersburg Tales" Nikolai Vasilyevich skillfully intertwines the motives of the supernatural with the depiction of acute social problems. So in the work of Gogol a new direction for Russian literature is formed - fantastic realism.

Why does the author come to this writing method? He is throughout his literary path He heard social dissonances, but, as a writer, he could only identify them in his works, urge the reader to pay attention to them. He saw no way out, and turning to the fantastic allowed him to portray the picture of modernity even more dramatically. Saltykov-Shchedrin, Andrey Bely, M. Bulgakov and other authors will later use the same technique.

The composition of the story

Gogol divides the "Nose" into 3 parts, in a classic way: 1 - exposition and plot, 2 - climax, 3 - denouement, a happy ending for the main character. The plot develops linearly, sequentially, although the logic of certain events is not always explained.

1. The first part includes a description of the characters, a description of their life, as well as the starting point of the entire story. In its structure, it also consists of three blocks: the discovery of the nose - the intention to get rid of it - the release from the burden, which turned out to be false.
2. The second part introduces the reader to Major Kovalev himself. There is also a plot (detection of the loss), development of the action (an attempt to return the nose) and, as a result, the return of the nose.
3. The third part is homogeneous, it is a concise and bright chord that completes the work.

About what?

Description of the story "The Nose" can be reduced to a fairly simple and schematic plot: the loss of the nose - the search - the acquisition. The main thing in this work is its ideological content.

On the morning of March 25, the barber Ivan Yakovlevich discovers the nose of one of his clients, Major Kovalev, in his bread. The discouraged barber hurried to get rid of the evidence, he could not think of anything better than, as if by chance, throwing his nose into the river. Ivan Yakovlevich was already feeling relieved, but a policeman approached him "and what happened next, absolutely nothing is known."

Collegiate assessor Kovalev, waking up, did not find his nose in place. He goes to the Chief Police Officer. He did not find him at home, but on the way he met his nose, which he behaved self-sufficiently and did not want to know his owner. Kovalev is making attempts to reunite with the nose, he wanted to publish an ad in the newspaper, but he is refused everywhere and treated quite rudely. Finally, the fugitive was caught while trying to emigrate and returned to the owner. But the nose was not going to grow to its former place. The major comes to the conclusion that this is a corruption induced by the staff officer Podtochina. He even writes a letter to her, but receives a bewildered answer and realizes that he was mistaken. Two weeks later, Kovalev finds his face in its original form, everything is resolved by itself.

Real and fantastic

Gogol skillfully combines in his story. If, for example, in "The Overcoat" the mystical element appears only at the end of the work, then "The Nose" from the first pages carries the reader into the fairy-tale world of the writer.

Basically, there is nothing special in the reality depicted by Gogol: Petersburg, the life of a barber and state councilor. Even topographic details and exact dates of events correspond to reality. The author dilutes such credibility with one single fantastic element: Major Kovalev's nose escapes. And throughout the work, he develops from a separated part to an independent independent personality, and in the finale everything returns to normal. It is curious that this fact, although it shocks the reader, is woven into the canvas of the work quite organically, because the greatest absurdity lies not so much in the escaped part of the face, but in the attitude towards what happened, in admiration for ranks and aspirations for public opinion. According to the writer, it is more difficult to believe in such cowardice than in the disappearance of the nose.

Main characters and their characteristics

1. Petersburg Gogol's Nose is much more than just a city. This is a separate place with its own laws and realities. People come here to make a career for themselves, and those who have already achieved some success try not to fade in the eyes of others. Everything is possible here, even the nose is able to become independent for a while.
2. Traditional for Gogol little man image represents the character Major Kovalev. For him, it is important how he looks, the loss of his nose leads him to despair. He believes that you can do without an arm or leg, but without a nose - you are not a person, "just take it and throw it out the window." The hero no longer occupies the lowest rank: 8 out of 14 according to the "Table of Ranks", but dreams of a higher rank. However, even being at this level, he already knows with whom he can be arrogant, and with whom he can be modest. Kovalyov is rude to the cab driver, does not stand on ceremony with the barber, but fawns before respected officials and tries not to miss the parties. But he is absolutely discouraged by the meeting with the Nose, which is 3 ranks higher than its owner. What to do with a part of yourself that does not know its place in the physical sense, but perfectly understands its position in society?
3. Nose image bright enough in the story. He surpasses his master: his uniform is more expensive, his rank is more significant. An important difference between them is the behavior in the church: if the Nose prays humbly, then Kovalev stares at beautiful woman thinks about anything, but not about his soul.

Themes of the story

• The subject matter of the story is quite broad. main topic, of course, social inequality. Each hero is in his place in social system. Their behavior and role in society is fully consistent with their position, but this idyll cannot be disturbed. It will be strange if the highest official does not be rude to the titular adviser, and the titular adviser to the groom.
• The theme of the little man in the story is illuminated quite brightly. Major Kovalev, having no special connections, cannot publish an advertisement in the newspaper about the loss of his nose. The victim of the "Table of Ranks" cannot even come close to his property, which turned out to be more noble.
• The theme of spirituality is also present in the work. Kovalev does not have good education, military service allowed him to become a major, the main thing for him is appearance, and not inner world. The nose is opposed to the hero: the fugitive is focused on worship, he is not distracted by the surrounding ladies, unlike the owner. The major is characterized by frivolous behavior: he invites girls to his place and deliberately torments his daughter Podtochina with an imaginary hope.

Problems

• Gogol in "The Nose" reveals the vices concerning both society as a whole and individuals. The main problem of the story is philistinism. Kovalev is proud of his rank, dreams of a brilliant career. He is worried that a facial defect will prevent him from fulfilling his future plans. He values ​​public opinion, and what rumor can go about a man without a nose?
• The problem of immorality is raised in the story. The barber does not seek to return the nose to the owner, to confess his own, perhaps, the fault that he ruined the face. No, he is in a hurry to get rid of the strange object, hoping to go unpunished. And the immorality of Kovalev's behavior speaks for itself.
• Another vice highlighted by Gogol is hypocrisy. The Arrogant Nose does not want to communicate with those who are lower than his rank, like his cowardly master.

The meaning of the work

The main idea of ​​the story is to show all the depravity and cowardice of St. Petersburg society against the contrast of paradoxes. You can consider the loss of the nose as a kind of punishment for Major Kovalev for his sins, but Gogol does not emphasize this, the story is devoid of direct moralizing. The author did not dare to indicate the way how to cure the society, he could only indicate the problems. From here the erroneous idea of ​​the “natural school” will be formed: fix the society, and the problems will stop. Gogol understood: the maximum that he could do to improve the situation was to present the flaws of society in the brightest light. And he succeeded: the reader was blinded, many contemporaries recognized their acquaintances or even themselves, horrified by the insignificance of man.

What does it teach?

In his story The Nose, Gogol depicts the spiritual crisis of a person obsessed with vainglorious desires. Career growth, entertainment, women - that's all that attracts the main character. And this viciousness does not bother Kovalev, he has the right, together with all these aspirations, to be called a man, but without a nose - no. But the image of Major Kovalev is collective, he looks like the writer's contemporaries. The conclusion suggests itself: the position in society dictates the rules of behavior that no one dares to break: neither a small person will show perseverance, nor a high-ranking official will show generosity. About the approach of such a catastrophe that will affect society as a whole and each person individually, N.V. Gogol warns his readers.

Artistic originality

The story "The Nose" uses a very rich writing toolkit. Gogol most widely uses such a means of expression as the grotesque. Firstly, this is the autonomy of the Nose, superior in position to its owner. Secondly, comic exaggeration is typical for depicting the relationship of people of different social levels. Kovalev is afraid to approach the Nose, and Ivan Yakovlevich, with incredible trepidation and excitement, begins to relate to his client after what happened.

Gogol humanizes the nose, but the impersonation technique is also used on an enlarged scale. The nose becomes independent of the owner, almost a full member of society, he was even going to run abroad.

At the syntactic level, Gogol refers to zeugma: “Doctor<…>had fine resinous sideburns, a fresh, healthy doctor's wife. These features help the writer to portray humor and irony in the work.

Criticism

The story "The Nose" caused a wide resonance in the literary environment of the first half of the 19th century. Not all journals agreed to publish the work, blaming N.V. in vulgarity and absurdity written. Chernyshevsky, for example, treated this story as nothing more than a retold anecdote that existed at that time. The first to recognize the merits of the "Nose" was A.S. Pushkin, seeing the farcical nature of creation. The opinion of V.G. was significant. Belinsky, who urged the reading public to pay attention to the fact that such majors Kovalevs in society can be found not just one person, but hundreds, even thousands. S. G. Bocharov saw the greatness of the work in the fact that the author here encouraged the society to look into the eyes of reality. V. Nabokov considered this story one of the brightest images of the motive, which runs through all the work of N.V. Gogol.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

"Nose" often called Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's most enigmatic story. It was written in 1833 for the Moscow Observer magazine, which was edited by the writer's friends. But the editors did not accept the work, calling it dirty and vulgar. This is the first riddle: why did Gogol's friends refuse to publish it? What dirt and vulgarity did they see in this fantastic story? In 1836, Alexander Pushkin persuaded Gogol to publish The Nose in Sovremennik. To do this, the author reworked the text, changing the ending and strengthening the satirical focus.

In the preface to the publication, Pushkin called the story cheerful, original and fantastic, emphasizing that it gave him pleasure. Directly opposite feedback from Alexander Sergeevich is another mystery. After all, Gogol did not radically change the work, the second version did not fundamentally differ from the first.

Many incomprehensible moments can be found in the fantastic plot of the story. There are no clearly defined motives for the flight of the nose, the role of the barber in this story looks strange: why did he show up with a runaway nose, and even in bread? Blurred in the story image of evil, hidden driving motive many deeds, there is no clear reason for punishing Kovalev. The story also ends with a question: why did the nose return to its place without any explanation?

The work clearly spells out some minor details that do not affect the development of events, and more significant facts, characters and the situation are depicted very schematically. Such a “blunder” could be forgiven for a novice author, but Gogol at the time of the creation of the story was already a mature writer. Therefore, the details are important, but what then is their significance? These mysteries have given rise to many different versions among critics.

Most experts rightly classify the work as genre of satire on the modern society where a person is judged not by personal qualities, but by rank. Let us remember how timidly Kovalev speaks with his own nose. After all, he is dressed in a uniform, which shows that in front of the major is an official of a higher rank.

interesting image of the quarter warden. He noticed from a distance that the barber had thrown something into the water, but he only made out the missing part of the body when he put on his glasses. Of course, because the nose was in a brilliant uniform and with a sword, and at the sight of gentlemen, the police are always short-sighted. Therefore, the barber is arrested, after all, someone must answer for the incident. Poor drunkard Ivan Yakovlevich was perfect for the role "switchman".

typical the protagonist Major Kovalev's works. This is a provincial without education, who received his rank in the Caucasus. This detail speaks volumes. Kovalev is smart, energetic, brave, otherwise he would not have curried favor on the front line. He is ambitious, prefers to be called the military rank of "major" rather than civilian - "collegiate assessor". Kovalev aims for vice-governors and dreams of a profitable marriage: “in such a case, when two hundred thousand capital happens for the bride”. But now Kovalev is suffering a lot because he cannot hit on the ladies.

All the major's dreams crumble to dust after the disappearance of the nose, because the face and reputation are lost along with it. At this time, the nose rises up the career ladder above the owner, for which it is obsequiously accepted in society.

The barber wearing a tailcoat is comical. His untidiness (stinking hands, torn buttons, stains on clothes, unshaven) contrasts with a profession designed to make people cleaner and more tidy. Complementing the gallery of humorous characters is a doctor who diagnoses with clicks.

However genre of satirical phantasmagoria only partially reveals the secrets of the story. Critics have long noticed that the work is a kind of cipher, perfectly understandable to Gogol's contemporaries and completely incomprehensible to us. There are several versions of this. One of them: Gogol, in a veiled form, depicted some scandalous incident, well known in his society. This fact explains the refusal of the first publication (the scandal was still fresh), the favor of the famous lover of outrageous Pushkin and the negative assessment of critics.

Some researchers find parallels in the story with well-known popular prints. In the 30s of the 19th century, lubok was considered a "low" genre, especially despised in secular society. Gogol's proximity to folk traditions could well lead the writer to such a peculiar experiment. There are also more exotic versions: the struggle with the author’s own complexes about his appearance, deciphering a popular dream book, etc.

But clear and correct interpretation we have not yet waited for the story "The Nose". "In all this, really, there is something", - Gogol said slyly at the end of the work.

• "The Nose", a summary of the chapters of Gogol's story
• "Portrait", analysis of Gogol's story, composition

Depicting fantastic events, the writer uses specific details. Thus creating the effect of the reality of what is happening.

Collegiate Assessor Kovalev

The image of the protagonist of the story is devoid of mystery. Platon Kuzmich Kovalev is an official who introduces himself as a major. Favorite activities - entertainment, idle walks. The purpose of life is material well-being, career growth, a rich bride. Kovalev tries to look perfect: Fancy Hairstyle, starched collars, shaven face. Outer gloss hides inner emptiness, narcissism, vanity.

tragic event

The pleasant pastime of Platon Kuzmich is interrupted by a strange event that turned his life upside down. One morning, a man discovered the disappearance of his own nose. An integral part of the body was missing - a symbol of decency, morality, prosperity. Kovalev lost the meaning of existence. The attitude of friends has changed, the attention of the female half of humanity has disappeared. The return of the lost nose became a paramount task. The hero is trying in every way to find the loss.

The satirical image of the character speaks of immorality, the scarcity of the spiritual world. Having lost his nose, Kovalev is afraid of losing everything that is dear to him: a high rank, a brilliant appearance, the attention of others.

An insignificant creature, deprived of a soul, a heart, becomes a double of Platon Kuzmich, feels like a full-fledged citizen. Kovalev suffers ridicule, humiliation.

The image of a collegiate assessor is a satirical image of the writer's contemporary society. Respectable appearance, self-confident appearance are considered a guarantee of respect for others.

Known as the author of mystical and fantastic works. But not only mysticism interested Nikolai Vasilyevich. So in many works the author also touches on the theme of the “little” person. But he does it in such a way that satire denounces the structure of society and the disenfranchised position of a person in this society. It is known that for the first time the story "The Nose" was published in 1836. In this article, you can find both the characteristics of the main characters of the work, and its brief retelling. The "nose" is studied at school, so this article will be useful for students to familiarize themselves with.

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History of the creation of the story

Nikolai Vasilyevich sent his new story to the Moscow Observer magazine in 1835, but it was not published, considering it bad and vulgar. Alexander Pushkin had a completely different opinion about Gogol's work, who considered this work fun and fantastic. famous poet persuaded a mystical writer to publish his short work in the magazine "Contemporary".

Despite the fact that there was a lot of editing and censorship, the story was published in 1836. It is known that this work is included in the cycle "Petersburg Tales". "The Nose" became the story that had a fantastic plot and caused different assessments of readers and critics.

main characters

In the work, special attention is paid to the main character. But there are also secondary characters., which also carry the author's intention:

Characteristics of Kovalev

Platon Kuzmich Kovalev - major, whose image for the reader becomes double: the official himself and his nose. The nose soon becomes completely separated from its owner and even achieves a promotion in the service, receiving a rank three ranks higher. The author parody describes not only his travels, but also how Platon Kuzmich found himself without him. So, on his face, where he should have been, there was only a smooth place.

The search leads Kovalev to the fact that he sees him driving around in a rich carriage, and even dressed in a chic uniform. The nose brings to life the dreams of its owner, but Kovalev himself is trying to find the reasons for his condition. He does not understand that all his behavior, dirty and lecherous, has led to the current situation.

Gogol shows that the soul of this man is dead. For Platon Kuzmich, the main thing in life is honoring ranks, promotion and servility to superiors.

One day, at the end of March, a small incident happened in the city on the Neva, which was very strange. In the first chapter Ivan Yakovlevich, barber, waking up very early, he heard the smell of hot bread, which his wife had prepared in the morning. He immediately got up and decided to have breakfast.

But cutting the bread in half, he began to peer at it intently, as something was turning white there. With a knife and fingers, the barber pulled out something solid, and it turned out to be a nose. And he seemed to Ivan Yakovlevich very familiar. Horror seized the barber, and the angry wife began to shout at him. And then Ivan Yakovlevich recognized him. Once, quite recently, it belonged to Kovalev, a collegiate assessor.

At first the barber wanted to wrap it in a cloth, and then he wanted to take it down somewhere. But his wife started screaming and threatening the police again. Ivan Yakovlevich could not understand how he got into the bread, trying to remember yesterday. The thought that he might be accused and taken to the police drove him into a daze and unconsciousness. Finally, he collected his thoughts, dressed and left the house. He wanted to quietly shove it somewhere, but could not seize a moment for this: one of the acquaintances constantly came across.

Only on the Isakievsky bridge was Ivan Yakovlevich able to get rid of him by throwing him into the water. Feeling relieved, he immediately went to have a drink, as he was a drunkard.

In the second chapter The author introduces the reader to the main character. Waking up, the collegiate assessor demanded a mirror. And suddenly, unexpectedly, he saw a completely smooth place instead of a nose. After making sure that there was no nose, he immediately went to the Chief of Police. Kovalyov came to St. Petersburg Manor to advance his career and find a rich bride. When he walked along Nevsky Prospekt, he could not catch a cab in any way, so he tried to cover his face with a handkerchief.

When Kovalev was leaving the confectionery, where he looked at himself in the mirror to make sure that there was no nose, he suddenly saw his nose in uniform jump out of the carriage and run up the stairs.

Kovalev, waiting for his return, saw that he had a rank much higher than his own. And from everything he saw, the stunned Kovalev almost went crazy. He immediately ran after the carriage, which stopped near the cathedral.

Finding your Nose in a church among people praying, Kovalev gathered his courage for a long time to talk to him. But when he delivered his speech, he immediately heard from the Nose in uniform that they were strangers and that he needed to observe the rules of decency. Seeing this state of affairs, the collegiate official decides to go on a newspaper expedition to write a complaint.

But the official who accepted Kovalev's statement that his nose ran away from him could not understand that this was not a person. He repeated all the time that the surname was strange, and how could he disappear. The paper's official refused to place a missing person's ad for Kovalyov, as this would have a negative impact on the paper's reputation.

After the newspaper expedition, the annoyed Kovalev went to a private bailiff. But he was just about to fall asleep after dinner. Therefore, he dryly answered the collegiate official that decent person the nose will not be torn off. Touchy Kovalev went home with nothing.

Only in the evening, tired Kovalev was at home. Ugly seemed to him his own apartment at that moment. And his footman Ivan, who did nothing and just lay and spat at the ceiling, infuriated him. Having beaten the lackey, he sat down in an armchair and began to mentally analyze the incident that had happened to him. Soon he decided that it was the officer Podtochina for the sake of revenge, wanting to marry him to her daughter, she hired some grandmothers.

But suddenly a police official came and said that his nose had been found. He began to tell that he wanted to leave for Riga, but he was intercepted right on the road. He said that the culprit was the barber Ivan Yakovlevich, who is now sitting in the cell. After that, he took out a nose wrapped in some kind of paper. And after the policeman left, Kovalev held it in his hand for a long time, examining him.

But the joy soon passed, as Kovalev realized that he was now somehow needed put in place. He tried to put it in place himself, but his nose wouldn't hold. Then he sent a footman for the doctor, who also lived in this house. But the doctor could not do anything, but only advised to put it in a jar of alcohol and wash it more often. He even offered Kovalev to sell it.

Desperate, the major decides to write a letter to the staff officer to ask him to return to his original position. Alexandra Podtochina answered him immediately, where she did not even understand what was being said and wrote that she was glad to marry her daughter to him, and not leave him with a nose. After reading this message, Kovalev was completely upset, because he could not understand how this happened to him.

In the meantime, rumors about the incident with Kovalev had already begun to spread around the capital. Moreover, there was more and more news about where they saw the Nose walking by itself.

In the third chapter it is told that already on April 7, Kovalev's nose again in an incomprehensible way was in its place. It happened in the morning when the major looked at himself in the mirror. Just at that time, the barber also came. Surprised by the appearance of his nose, he carefully began to shave the collegiate official. After this procedure, the joyful Kovalev went on visits.

Analysis of the story

The nose in Gogol's story has symbolic meaning. He points out that in society even the Nose can exist and even be higher in rank than its owner. But the owner turns out to be an unfortunate person, but he is empty and pompous. He only thinks about women and his career.

1. The disorder of the people.
2. Corrupt practices.

The story "The Nose" is a mysterious work of Nikolai Gogol, since it does not answer the question of how he could return to his place.

The writing

MAYOR KOVALEV - the hero of the story N.V. Gogol "The Nose" (1833-1836). Name M.K. contains a double semantics of the image: on the one hand, a stereotyped and common surname (Ukrainian koval - a blacksmith; cf. the proverb: “the blacksmith of his happiness”), on the other hand, a name and patronymic (Platon Kuzmich), containing at the same time an ironic allusion to the Greek the philosopher Plato and the parodic dissonant middle name of the rustic Kuzma, which, in the tone of M.K. thinks neither of idealism nor of platonic love. His philosophy, like Khlestakov's (and Pirogov's), is "to pluck the flowers of pleasure." M.K. - "Caucasian" collegiate assessor (the rank of the 8th class corresponded to the major in the military table of ranks). In the Caucasus, it was easier to get this rank; there, young titular advisers gathered for the rank. M.K. calls himself a major unreasonably, because by 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, self-love, consciousness of the hierarchical rank as an unshakable life law: “He could forgive everything that was said about himself, but did not apologize in any way if it related to rank or title.” The image of M.K. splits in two: he himself and his Nose. Double M.K. (Nose) is metonymically separated from its carrier. The grotesque adventures of the Nose, as a bodily indicator of M.K.'s ambition, are ironically played up by Gogol in the spirit of an edifying story about justly punished vanity. Moreover, Nos M.K. three ranks higher than M.K. and serves in a different department, which destroys the harmonious world of the hierarchical order in the minds 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 ending 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 blessings 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, 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 persistent Gogol motif of exposure). The portrait of M.K. is a “figure of fiction” (A. Bely), since it is based on the absence of a nose: “He has a completely smooth place instead of a nose!” Only sideburns balance the absence of a nose in a parody: "these sideburns go along the very middle of the cheek and straight up to the nose." M.K. runs to look for his nose, sees him driving around in a carriage: “He was in a uniform embroidered with gold, with a large standing collar; he was wearing suede trousers; at the side of the sword. From the hat with the plume, it could be concluded that he was considered in the rank of state councilor. The Nose prays in the Kazan Cathedral, does not want to talk to M.K., who humbly asks that the Nose return to its rightful place. In search of his own nose M.K. goes to the Chief of Police, then to a newspaper expedition to advertise the loss of his nose, to a private bailiff. Misadventures of M.K. fill the metaphor of the nose with diverse meanings: hints at 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 beggar old women 'with their faces bound and with two holes for their eyes, at which he used to laugh so much'). The search for a vice-governor or an executor's seat, as well as marriage without a nose, is impossible. M.K. decides that his nose was ruined with the help of witchcraft by the staff officer Podtochina, whose daughter he promised to marry, but left his mother and daughter “with a nose”. Finally, the nose brings M.K. a police officer who intercepted his nose at the border on the way to Riga: “And it is strange that I myself at first 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 on the nose, offers to put it in a jar of alcohol and sell it. Rumors about the Nose traveling around St. Petersburg are growing and gathering the curious. The nose with the old pimple (double metonymy) suddenly appears again on the face of M.K. Nose M.K. in the rank of state councilor - turned into a person and separated from M.K. an embodied dream, a 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 the rank. The image of the Nose, therefore, is 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 pervades the image of M.K. and is expressed in the fact that the Nose 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 of the flesh of a merry Petersburg, defiling the day of fasting and the feast of the Annunciation (in the church, M.K. aims to flirt with a thin lady with translucent fingers, but with despair recalls the 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 the image of M.K. is the triumph of vulgarity, the newly acquired nose only emphasizes the loss of a human face, bestowed by God (cf. the images of Pirogov (“Nevsky Prospekt”), Chertokutsky (“Carriage”), Nozdrev). Base passions triumph over Christian values ​​(love, piety, sympathy, compassion): M.K. visits a candy store, admires his nose in the mirror (“there is a nose!”), mocks the military man, whose “nose is no bigger than a waistcoat button”, fusses about a vice-governor’s position, meets the staff officer Podtochina with her daughter (“taking out a snuff box, stuffed his nose in front of them for a very long time from both entrances”), makes his nose to them, and finally buys himself a sash. Western civilization, personified in the image of St. Petersburg - a foggy and fantastic city - corrupts and "deads" the soul of M.K., the pursuit of ranks leads to a "terrible fragmentation" (Gogol) of man and the world. The image of the Nose M.K. Gogol borrowed from the magazine "nosology", L. Stern's novel "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" (V. Vinogradov), as well as from a common 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. Shostakovich's "The Nose" (1928), in which the hero and the plot were embodied (under the influence of V.E. Meyerhold and his production of "The Government Inspector") in the methods of tragic buffoonery.

Lit .: Vinogradov V.V. Naturalistic grotesque (The 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 artistic worlds. M., 1985.