The role of love in the life of the heroes of St. Petersburg stories. Analysis of the story Nevsky Prospekt by Gogol essay

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N.V.Gogol

Born on March 20 (April 1, n.s.) in the town of Velikiye Sorochintsy, Mirgorod district, Poltava province, in the family of a poor landowner. My childhood years were spent on my parents’ estate Vasilyevka, near the village of Dikanka, a land of legends, beliefs, and historical stories. His father, Vasily Afanasyevich, a passionate admirer of art, a theater lover, and the author of poetry and witty comedies, played a certain role in the upbringing of the future writer. After home education, Gogol spent two years at the Poltava district school, then entered the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences, created like the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum for children of the provincial nobility. Here he learned to play the violin, studied painting, played in plays, playing comic roles. Thinking about his future, he focuses on justice, dreaming of “stopping injustice.”

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House in Vasilyevka Maria Ivanovna Gogol Vasily Afanasyevich Gogol-Yanovsky

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After graduating from the Nezhin gymnasium in June 1828, he went to St. Petersburg in December with the hope of starting wide-ranging activities. It was not possible to get a job; the first literary attempts were unsuccessful. Disappointed, in the summer of 1829 he went abroad, but soon returned. In November 1829 he received the position of a minor official. The gray bureaucratic life was brightened up by painting classes in the evening classes of the Academy of Arts. In addition, literature powerfully attracted me. Nezhin. The building of the Historical and Philological Institute of Prince Bezborodko (Gymnasium of Higher Sciences of Prince Bezborodko, where N.V. Gogol studied). Mid-19th century

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In 1830, Gogol’s first story “Basavryuk” appeared in the journal “Otechestvennye zapiski”, which was later revised into the story “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala”. In December, Delvig's almanac "Northern Flowers" published a chapter from the historical novel "Hetman". Gogol became close to Delvig, Zhukovsky, Pushkin, friendship with whom had great importance for the development of social views and literary talent of the young Gogol. Pushkin introduced him into his circle, where Krylov, Vyazemsky, Odoevsky, the artist Bryullov were, and gave him plots for “The Inspector General” and “ Dead souls" “When I was creating,” Gogol testified, “I saw only Pushkin in front of me... His eternal and immutable word was dear to me.” N.V. Gogol, V.A. Zhukovsky and A.S. Pushkin in Tsarskoe Selo. Painting by P. Geller. 1880.

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The works of N.V. Gogol occupy a special place in Russian literature. Our research focuses on the role of the part in work of art, and in particular in the works of N.V. Gogol. Gogol actively used this artistic technique in his works. “Nevsky Prospekt” is a story by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Part of the Petersburg Tales series. Written in 1833-1834. First published in the book “Arabesques. Various works of N. Gogol”, part 2, St. Petersburg, 1835. The idea of ​​“Nevsky Prospekt” dates back to 1831, when Gogol made several unfinished sketches depicting the landscape of St. Petersburg. Two sketches have survived: “A terrible hand. A story from a book called: moonlight in a broken attic window" and "The lantern was dying...". Both sketches, dating back to 1831-1833, are associated with the design of Nevsky Prospekt.

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Nevsky Avenue

The main theme of the story is the life of St. Petersburg and the fate of the “little man” in big city with its social contrasts, causing discord between ideas about the ideal and reality. Along with the main theme, the themes of people's indifference, the replacement of spirituality with mercantile interests, the corruption of love, and the harmful effects of drugs on humans are revealed. This story defines the main themes and problems of the collection. Nevsky Prospekt appears as a symbol of the whole of St. Petersburg - a city of contrasts. Therefore, the author describes it at different times of the same day. There are no faces here, there are only remarkable details of appearance - hats, mustaches, sideburns. Against the background of this description, also using the principle of contrast, the writer reveals the fate of the artist Piskarev and Lieutenant Pirogov. The author raises the problem of the coexistence of beauty and ugliness. Piskarev is a man of art, by origin from the people, his life is serving the beautiful, but he is far from reality and from everything earthly. Pirogov is a different person. The main thing for him is personal success, career, money, and he uses all means to achieve this goal. His only attachment is his rank. In this clash in Gogol, beauty is defeated and dies.

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Saint Petersburg

The theme of St. Petersburg in the works of writers of the 19th century is by no means last place. A city built contrary to all laws of nature, by the will of only one person; a city created in unprecedented times short term, like in a fairy tale; a city that has become the embodiment of various human contradictions, a symbol of the eternal struggle between prosperity and poverty, splendor and ugliness - this is how St. Petersburg appears to us in the works of A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, and many writers of the so-called natural school.

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The location of the work is St. Petersburg. But for a writer this is not just a geographical space. He created a vivid image-symbol of the city, both real and illusory, fantastic. The city depersonalizes people, distorts their good qualities, highlights their bad ones, and changes their appearance beyond recognition. Here Gogol’s portrait details predominate, which the writer uses when depicting St. Petersburg. A person, losing his individuality, merges with a faceless multitude of people just like him. Suffice it to say that “You will find here the only sideburns, worn with extraordinary and amazing art under a tie, sideburns velvet, satin, black, like sable or coal... wonderful mustaches, impossible to depict with any pen, no brush... Thousands of varieties of hats, dresses , scarves... Here you will meet such waists as you have never even dreamed of: thin, narrow waists, no thicker than a bottle neck... a smile..." and we get a comprehensive picture of the motley St. Petersburg crowd. Nevsky Prospect - the front part of the city - represents the whole of St. Petersburg. The city exists as if by itself, it is a state within a state - and here the part crowds out the whole. With the help of the details of the portrait in Nevsky Prospekt, the writer gave, as it were, a screensaver for the entire cycle of “St. Petersburg stories.”

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The universal artistic device that the writer uses in most of his text when depicting St. Petersburg is synecdoche. Replacement of the whole by its part.

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The assessment of St. Petersburg has always been ambiguous: hatred and love were intertwined. It was here that the most outstanding figures of Russia strove when they were young; here they turned into wonderful writers, critics, and publicists. In St. Petersburg their ambitious dreams came true. But on the other hand, here they had to endure humiliation and poverty; the city seemed to suck people into a swamp - a swamp of vulgarity, stupidity, ostentatious luxury, behind which extreme poverty was often hidden, and the center of this swamp, the heart of St. Petersburg, was the famous Nevsky Prospekt.

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N.V. Gogol in the story “Nevsky Prospect” wrote: “There is nothing better than Nevsky Prospect, at least in St. Petersburg; for him he is everything.” St. Petersburg appears before the reader not just as a capital, a grandiose metropolis with magnificent palaces, beautiful streets and the Neva, “dressed in granite,” but as a living giant, with its own face, its own character, its own special habits and whims. And the people who walk along Nevsky Prospekt in the hundreds throughout the day are also bearers of the most diverse characters. “Creator! What strange characters one meets on Nevsky Prospekt!”

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Nevsky Avenue

But despite the huge number of people passing along the avenue at any time, there is still no feeling of community or integrity created between them. The only thing that unites them is the meeting place, Nevsky Prospekt. It’s as if “some demon chopped up the whole world into many different pieces and mixed all these pieces together without meaning, to no avail.”

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The description of Nevsky Prospect at the beginning of the story is an exposition. The unexpected exclamation of Lieutenant Pirogov addressed to Piskarev, their dialogue and following the beautiful strangers is the beginning of the action with two contrasting endings. The story also ends with a description of Nevsky Prospekt and the author’s reasoning about it, which is a compositional device that contains both a generalization and a conclusion that reveals the idea of ​​the story.

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The author begins the story with solemnly upbeat phrases about Nevsky Prospekt and notes that this is “the universal communication of St. Petersburg,” a place where you can get “true news” better than in the address calendar or in the information service, this is a place for walking, this is an “exhibition everyone best works person." At the same time, Nevsky Prospect is a mirror of the capital, which reflects its life, it is the personification of the whole of St. Petersburg with its striking contrasts. Literary scholars believe that the description of Nevsky Prospekt at the beginning of the story represents a kind of “physiological” sketch of St. Petersburg. Its depiction at different times of the day allows the author to characterize the social structure of the city. First of all, he singles out ordinary working people, on whom all life rests, and for them Nevsky Prospekt is not a goal, “it serves only as a means.” Ordinary people are opposed to the nobility, for whom Nevsky Prospect is the goal - this is a place where one can show oneself. The story about the “pedagogical” Nevsky Prospekt with “tutors of all nations” and their students, as well as about nobles and officials walking along the avenue, is permeated with irony.

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The description of the avenue is given in a realistic manner, at the same time, the story about the changes on Nevsky is preceded by the phrase: “What a fast phantasmagoria is happening on it in just one day.” The illusory, deceptive nature of the evening Nevsky Prospekt is explained not only by twilight, the bizarre light of lanterns and lamps, but also by the action of an unconscious, mysterious force influencing a person: “At this time, some kind of goal is felt, or, better, something similar to a goal that something extremely unaccountable; Everyone’s steps speed up and generally become very uneven. Long shadows flicker along the walls of the pavement and almost reach the Police Bridge with their heads.” Thus, fantasy and the demon motif are included in the description of Nevsky Prospect.

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Gogol does not have portrait details as such. The appearance of the heroes is not described - the details of the portrait and clothing are given as a defining feature of the hero. Clothing indicates a person’s place in society and replaces his personal characteristics

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Piskarev

The portrait of Piskarev is also made up of details of clothing - “a young man in a tailcoat and cloak.” Gogol does not show us the hero’s appearance, there is only a sign, a detail that in no way distinguishes him from hundreds of similar young people. One of the main characters of the work is a modest, shy artist. He lives in his own little world and rarely comes out. In Nevsky Prospekt his characterization is contrasted with that of Lieutenant Pirogov. By nature, Piskarev was “shy, timid, but in his soul he carried sparks of feeling, ready to turn into flame at the right opportunity.” This happens when on Nevsky Prospekt Piskarev meets a pretty brunette with whom he will soon be disappointed. But his love does not fade away like a candle, but rather inflates to such an extent that Piskarev becomes insane. His actions are rash, he begins to take opium, stops communicating with the outside world, and eventually dies. It seemed that in such a small work as “Nevsky Prospekt” it was impossible to fully reveal the image of a person, but Gogol still shows us the main weakness of man - love.

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A huge topic was devoted to the love of Piskarev and his “beloved”. Gogol showed this situation very interestingly. After all, only through the eyes of the artist do we see the portrait, the bright appearance, he draws the image of “his subject, which struck him so much.” She appears before us in all her beauty, her image is outlined by the details of the portrait. “...about her, with the dark hair. And what eyes! God, what eyes! The whole position, the contours, and the setting of the face are miracles. ... The most beautiful forehead was dazzlingly white and covered with hair as beautiful as agate. They curled, these wonderful curls, and part of them, falling from under the hat, touched the cheek, touched by a thin fresh blush that appeared from the evening cold. Her lips were closed with a whole swarm of the most charming dreams... her harmonious lips"

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The hero’s experiences and actions are explained, it would seem, by his psychological state, but they can also be perceived as the actions of a demon: “...The beauty looked around, and it seemed to him as if a light smile flashed on her lips. He trembled all over and couldn’t believe his eyes<...>The sidewalk rushed under him, carriages with galloping horses seemed motionless, the bridge stretched and broke on its arch, the house stood with its roof down, the booth was falling towards him, and the sentry's halberd, along with the golden words of the sign and painted scissors, seemed to shine on his very eyelash eye. And all this was accomplished by one glance, one turn of the pretty head. Without hearing, without seeing, without heeding, he rushed along the light tracks of beautiful legs...”

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“Nevsky Prospekt” paints a fairly broad picture of St. Petersburg and provides a multifaceted artistic and demographic analysis of the capital. But multilateral does not mean complete. If the writer had limited himself to pictures of a moving avenue, images of the “bottom”, the life of unknown artists, poor artisans and fattening officers, the picture of the capital would still have been narrowed. There is clearly a lack of depiction of life at the top. And the writer, obviously, decided to fill this gap by introducing into the narrative a picture of the hero’s dream. In Piskarev’s dream, everything is plausible, despite the appearance of a plebeian artist at a social ball, bordering on a miracle, and the transformation of a woman of dubious behavior into the queen of the ball. If we remove the ball scene from the story, omitting the final phrase: “He raised his eyes: in front of him stood a candlestick with fire...” this scene can be taken either as an independent story (short story), or, in extreme cases, as a fragment of a realistic work.

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Gogol was not very concerned about ensuring that all the details accurately conveyed the psychological authenticity of the dream. Here, for example, is how he portrayed young careerists, participants in the ball: “They were filled with such nobility, they spoke and were silent with such dignity, they could not say anything superfluous, they joked so majestically, they smiled so respectfully, they wore sideburns so excellently, they knew how to show great hands. The description of the multiple actions or states of the characters is more appropriate in the author’s description: in a dream it is impossible to see that the characters did not want to say anything unnecessary or were joking majestically. It was important for the writer to briefly characterize the young representatives of secular society, and not to reproduce in a realistic manner the details of Piskarev’s dream. Therefore, he unwittingly exposed the conventionality of the description.

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The content of Piskarev’s dream is a ball. The writer had the opportunity to draw a romantic beauty in a different situation. But he fluently talks about Piskarev’s many dreams, even snatches two from them, in which the artist’s beloved woman becomes the mistress of a village house, and then his wife, but only paints in detail the scene of a ball in high society. Balls were an important structural element of noble life. Writers were attracted by the opportunity to show a lot of people in a free environment, in their friendly and loving communication, in complex relationships with each other.

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Pirogov

The portrait of Pirogov is not presented at all in the story, his image is revealed through the society to which he belongs: “But before we say who Lieutenant Pirogov was, it doesn’t hurt to tell something about the society to which Pirogov belonged,” and nevertheless, Gogol singles out the lieutenant from the crowd “But Lieutenant Pirogov had many talents that actually belonged to him,” Pirogov’s talents also do not reveal to us the personality of the hero, the author shows the reader how ordinary and typical the image of Pirogov is. For Pirogov, the main thing in life is prosperity, the opportunity to take a warmer place under the sun. This is the axis around which all Pirogov’s thoughts and desires revolve. He is least inclined to “torment” himself with solving complex life problems. Absorbed by the desire to live easily and freely, Pirogov does not feel any need for this. He prefers to enjoy the pleasures of life rather than reflect on what is not directly related to them. the living embodiment of vulgarity, pies, is interested only in what is or has become fashionable, has become, to one degree or another, the norm of behavior of the “selected” public. Like a magnet, secular society attracts him to itself; In absolutely everything he strives to be like its representatives. And he does all this because these “hobbies” are a sign of “good” tone, “refined life.” Gogol brilliantly depicts the substitution of rank for a person. The lack of positive qualities not only does not interfere, but rather helps Pirogov’s self-confidence. In relationships with people on whom he does not depend, Pirogov does not particularly make it difficult for himself to choose a form of address. Unlike Piskarev, who is characterized by a pure and noble attitude towards women, Pirogov is a rude cynic.

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For Pirogov, love is just an interesting adventure, an “affair” that you can brag about to your friends. The lieutenant, not at all embarrassed, rather vulgarly looks after the wife of the artisan Schiller and is sure that “his courtesy and brilliant rank give him full right to her attention.” He doesn't bother himself at all with thoughts about life problems, strives for pleasure. The test of Pirogov’s honor and dignity was the “section” to which Schiller subjected him. Quickly forgetting his insult, he discovered a complete lack of human dignity: “he spent the evening with pleasure and distinguished himself so much in the mazurka that he delighted not only the ladies, but even the gentlemen.”

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Schiller, tinsmith

Images of German craftsmen - tinsmith master Schiller, shoemaker Hoffmann, carpenter Kunz - complement the social picture of St. Petersburg. Schiller is the embodiment of commercialism. Accumulating money is the goal of this artisan’s life, therefore strict calculation, limiting himself in everything, suppressing sincere human feelings determine his behavior. At the same time, jealousy awakens a sense of dignity in Schiller, and he, while drunk, not thinking about the consequences at that moment, together with his friends, flogged Pirogov.

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The lieutenant takes risks and ends up losing, but for him this is nothing unusual, much less tragic. He easily copes with the “anger and indignation” that has gripped him, and this does not happen without the influence of Nevsky Prospect: “A cool evening forced him to walk a little along Nevsky Prospect; By nine o'clock he had calmed down...” But another character - a hero in a cloak and tails - follows the example of his friend and, just like him, loses. However, for him - alone and a stranger in the northern capital - this loss becomes fatal. “Shy, timid, but in his soul he carried sparks of feelings that were ready to turn into flames on occasion,” the artist Piskarev trusts Nevsky Prospect all his life, while Pirogov, seemingly risking everything, loses nothing. For him it’s a game, but for Piskarev it’s life. A person who has a keen sense of the world cannot suddenly become callous and rude, stop believing the world, and forget about the disappointment that the famous avenue brought him.

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The images of Pirogov and Piskarev are associated with opposing moral principles in the characters’ characters. The comic image of Pirogov is contrasted with the tragic image of Piskarev. “Piskarev and Pirogov - what a contrast! Both of them began on the same day, at the same hour, the pursuit of their beauties, and how different were the consequences of these pursuits for both of them! Oh, what meaning is hidden in this contrast! And what an effect this contrast produces!” - wrote V.G. Belinsky.

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A parallel story about two heroes, opposite in character and fate, helps the reader better understand the inconsistency of Nevsky Prospect itself. The comical situation in which Lieutenant Pirogov found himself is contrasted with the tragic fate of poor Piskarev. In the same way, the comic vulgarity of the morning prospectus is combined with the evening, tragic vulgarity, with deception, because “he lies at all times, this Nevsky Prospekt, but most of all when the night falls on him in a condensed mass...”. N.V. Gogol presents us with Nevsky Prospekt as a small flame dancing before our eyes, beckoning us and luring us into dangerous nets. It is difficult for any person to survive the trials that befell Piskarev, especially for an artist. The author writes: “Indeed, pity never takes possession of us so strongly as at the sight of beauty touched by the corrupting breath of depravity.” For the artist, the meeting with Nevsky Prospekt and its inhabitants became the reason for the collapse of all hopes; it literally devastated his soul. Not seeing the beauty of the world means not wanting to live, and when beauty turns into nothing before your eyes, you involuntarily ask the question: if this is all a mirage and a ghost, then what is real? And Nevsky Prospekt with its eternal mystery and eternal deception remains real.

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Throughout the story, the motif of the demon appeared, and in the finale of the work it manifests itself openly: the source of lies and falsehood of the incomprehensible game with the destinies of people, according to the author, is the demon: “Oh, don’t believe this Nevsky Prospect!<...>Everything is a deception, everything is a dream, everything is not what it seems!<...>He lies at all times, this Nevsky Prospekt, but most of all, when the night falls like a condensed mass on him and separates the white and fawn walls of the houses, when the whole city turns into thunder and brilliance, myriads of carriages fall from the bridges, postilions shout and jump on horses and when the demon himself lights the lamps only to show everything in an unreal form.”

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Tatyana Alekseevna KALGANOVA (1941) - Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies and Retraining of Workers public education Moscow region; author of many works on methods of teaching literature at school.

Study of the story by N.V. Gogol's "Nevsky Prospekt" in 10th grade

Work materials for teachers

From the history of the creation of the story

“Nevsky Prospekt” was first published in the collection “Arabesques” (1835), which was highly appreciated by V.G. Belinsky. Gogol began working on the story during the creation of “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” (around 1831). His notebook contains sketches of “Nevsky Prospekt” along with rough notes of “The Night Before Christmas” and “Portrait”.

Gogol's stories "Nevsky Prospekt", "Notes of a Madman", "Portrait" (1835), "The Nose" (1836), "The Overcoat" (1842) belong to the cycle of St. Petersburg stories. The writer himself did not combine them into a special cycle. All of them were written at different times, do not have a common narrator or fictional publisher, but entered Russian literature and culture as an artistic whole, as a cycle. This happened because the stories are united by a common theme (life of St. Petersburg), problems (reflection social contradictions), the similarity of the main character (“little man”), the integrity of the author’s position (satirical exposure of the vices of people and society).

Subject of the story

The main theme of the story is the life of St. Petersburg and the fate of the “little man” in the big city with its social contrasts, causing a discord between ideas about the ideal and reality. Along with the main theme, the themes of people's indifference, the replacement of spirituality with mercantile interests, the corruption of love, and the harmful effects of drugs on humans are revealed.

Plot and composition of the story

They become clear during the conversation. Sample questions.

What role does the description of Nevsky Prospect play at the beginning of the story?

What moment is the beginning of the action?

What is the fate of Piskarev?

What is the fate of Pirogov?

What role does the description of Nevsky Prospect play in the ending of the story?

Gogol combines in the story the image of general, typical aspects of life in a big city with the fate of individual heroes. The general picture of life in St. Petersburg is revealed in the description of Nevsky Prospect, as well as in the author’s generalizations throughout the narrative. Thus, the fate of the hero is given in the general movement of the life of the city.

The description of Nevsky Prospect at the beginning of the story is an exposition. The unexpected exclamation of Lieutenant Pirogov addressed to Piskarev, their dialogue and following the beautiful strangers is the beginning of the action with two contrasting endings. The story also ends with a description of Nevsky Prospekt and the author’s reasoning about it, which is a compositional device that contains both a generalization and a conclusion that reveals the idea of ​​the story.

Description of Nevsky Prospekt

Considered during the conversation. Sample questions.

What role does Nevsky Prospekt play in the life of the city, and how does the author feel about it?

How are the social contrasts and disunity of the city residents shown?

How is the discrepancy between the ostentatious side of the life of the noble class and its true essence revealed? What qualities of people does the author ridicule?

How does the demon motif arise in the description of the evening Nevsky Prospect at the beginning of the story? How is it continued in the subsequent narrative?

How are the descriptions of Nevsky Prospekt at the beginning of the story and at the end connected?

The author begins the story with solemnly upbeat phrases about Nevsky Prospekt and notes that this is “the universal communication of St. Petersburg,” a place where you can get “true news” better than in the address calendar or in the information service, this is a place for walking, this is an “exhibition all the best works of man." At the same time, Nevsky Prospect is a mirror of the capital, which reflects its life, it is the personification of the whole of St. Petersburg with its striking contrasts.

Literary scholars believe that the description of Nevsky Prospekt at the beginning of the story represents a kind of “physiological” sketch of St. Petersburg. Its depiction at different times of the day allows the author to characterize the social structure of the city. First of all, he singles out ordinary working people, on whom all life rests, and for them Nevsky Prospekt is not a goal, “it serves only as a means.”

Ordinary people are opposed to the nobility, for whom Nevsky Prospect is the goal - this is a place where one can show oneself. The story about the “pedagogical” Nevsky Prospekt with “tutors of all nations” and their students, as well as about nobles and officials walking along the avenue, is permeated with irony.

Showing the falsehood of Nevsky Prospect, the seamy side of life hidden behind its ceremonial appearance, its tragic side, exposing the emptiness of the inner world of those walking along it, their hypocrisy, the author uses ironic pathos. This is emphasized by the fact that instead of people, the details of their appearance or clothing act: “Here you will meet a wonderful mustache, impossible to depict with any pen or brush.”<...>Thousands of varieties of hats, dresses, scarves<...>Here you will find such waists as you have never even dreamed of.<...>And what kind of long sleeves you will find.”

The description of the avenue is given in a realistic manner, at the same time, the story about the changes on Nevsky is preceded by the phrase: “What a fast phantasmagoria is happening on it in just one day.” The illusory, deceptive nature of the evening Nevsky Prospect is explained not only by twilight, the bizarre light of lanterns and lamps, but also by the action of an unconscious, mysterious force influencing a person: “At this time, some kind of goal is felt, or, better, something similar to a goal that something extremely unaccountable; Everyone’s steps speed up and generally become very uneven. Long shadows flicker along the walls of the pavement and almost reach the Police Bridge with their heads.” Thus, fantasy and the demon motif are included in the description of Nevsky Prospect.

The hero’s experiences and actions are explained, it would seem, by his psychological state, but they can also be perceived as the actions of a demon: “...The beauty looked around, and it seemed to him as if a light smile flashed on her lips. He trembled all over and couldn’t believe his eyes<...>The sidewalk rushed under him, carriages with galloping horses seemed motionless, the bridge stretched and broke on its arch, the house stood with its roof down, the booth was falling towards him, and the sentry's halberd, along with the golden words of the sign and painted scissors, seemed to shine on his very eyelash eye. And all this was accomplished by one glance, one turn of the pretty head. Without hearing, without seeing, without heeding, he rushed along the light tracks of beautiful legs...”

Piskarev’s fantastic dream can also be explained in two ways: “The extraordinary diversity of faces led him into complete confusion; it seemed to him that some demon had chopped up the whole world into many different pieces and mixed all these pieces together without meaning, to no avail.”

At the end of the story, the motive of the demon is revealed openly: the source of lies and falsehood of the incomprehensible game with the destinies of people, according to the author, is the demon: “Oh, don’t believe this Nevsky Prospect!<...>Everything is a deception, everything is a dream, everything is not what it seems!<...>He lies at all times, this Nevsky Prospekt, but most of all, when the night falls like a condensed mass on him and separates the white and fawn walls of the houses, when the whole city turns into thunder and brilliance, myriads of carriages fall from the bridges, postilions shout and jump on horses and when the demon himself lights the lamps only to show everything in an unreal form.”

Artist Piskarev

Sample questions for conversation.

Why did Piskarev follow the girl? How does the author convey his feeling?

Who was the girl? Why did Piskarev escape from the “disgusting shelter”?

How it changes appearance girls?

Why did Piskarev choose real life over illusions? Could illusions replace real life for him?

How did Piskarev die, why was he wrong in his crazy act?

Piskarev is a young man, an artist, belongs to people of art, and this is his unusualness. The author says that he belongs to the “class” of artists, to a “strange class,” thereby emphasizing the typicality of the hero.

Like other young artists of St. Petersburg, the author characterizes Piskarev as a poor man, living in a small room, content with what he has, but striving for wealth. This is a “quiet, timid, modest, childishly simple-minded person who carried within himself a spark of talent, which, perhaps, over time flared up widely and brightly,” a person. The hero's surname emphasizes his ordinariness and recalls the type of “little man” in literature.

Piskarev believes in the harmony of goodness and beauty, pure, sincere love, and lofty ideals. He followed the stranger only because he saw in her the ideal of beauty and purity; she reminded him of Perugin’s Bianca. But the beautiful stranger turned out to be a prostitute, and Piskarev tragically experiences the collapse of his ideals. The charm of beauty and innocence turned out to be a deception. Ruthless reality destroyed his dreams, and the artist fled from the disgusting shelter where he was brought by a seventeen-year-old beauty, whose beauty, which had not had time to fade from debauchery, was not combined with a smile filled with “some kind of pathetic impudence,” all she said was “ stupid and vulgar<...>It’s as if the person’s mind leaves along with his integrity.”

The author, sharing Piskarev’s shocked feeling, writes with bitterness: “...A woman, this beauty of the world, the crown of creation, turned into some strange ambiguous creature, where she, along with the purity of her soul, lost everything feminine and disgustingly appropriated to herself the grasp and impudence of a man and has already ceased to be that weak, that beautiful and so different from us being.”

Piskarev is unable to bear the fact that the beauty of a woman giving to the world new life, can be a subject of trade, because it is a desecration of beauty, love and humanity. He was overcome by a feeling of “tearing pity,” the author notes and explains: “In fact, pity never takes possession of us so strongly as at the sight of beauty touched by the corrupting breath of depravity. Even if ugliness were friends with him, but beauty, tender beauty... it merges only with purity and purity in our thoughts.”

Being under strong psychological stress, Piskarev has a dream in which his beauty appears as a society lady, trying to explain her visit to the shelter with her secret. The dream inspired Piskarev with hope, which was destroyed by the cruel and vulgar side of life: “The desired image appeared to him almost every day, always in a position opposite to reality, because his thoughts were completely pure, like the thoughts of a child.” Therefore, he tries artificially, by taking the drug, to go into the world of dreams and illusions. However, dreams and illusions cannot replace real life.

The dream of quiet happiness in a village house, of a modest life provided for by one’s own labor, is rejected by the fallen beauty. “How can you! - she interrupted her speech with an expression of some kind of contempt. “I’m not a laundress or a seamstress to do the work.” Assessing the situation, the author says: “These words expressed all the low, despicable life, a life full of emptiness and idleness, faithful companions depravity." And further, in the author’s thoughts about the beauty, the demon’s motif again arises: “... She was thrown with laughter into its abyss by some terrible will of a hellish spirit, eager to destroy the harmony of life.” During the time that the artist did not see the girl, she changed for the worse - sleepless nights of debauchery and drunkenness were reflected on her face.

The poor artist could not survive, as the author puts it, “the eternal conflict between dreams and reality.” He could not stand the confrontation with harsh reality; the drug completely destroyed his psyche, depriving him of the opportunity to do work and resist fate. Piskarev commits suicide. He is wrong in this crazy act: the Christian religion considers life the greatest good, and suicide a great sin. Also, from the point of view of secular morality, taking one’s life is unacceptable - this is a passive form of resolving life’s contradictions, for an active person can always find a way out of the most difficult, seemingly insoluble situations.

Lieutenant Pirogov

Sample questions for conversation.

Why did Pirogov follow the blonde?

Where did Pirogov end up after the beauty, who did she turn out to be?

Why is Pirogov courting a married lady?

What is ridiculed in the image of Schiller?

How does Pirogov's story end?

What is being ridiculed in the image of Pirogov, and how does the author do it?

What is the meaning of comparing the images of Piskarev and Pirogov?

The author says about Lieutenant Pirogov that officers like him constitute “some kind of middle class of society in St. Petersburg,” thereby emphasizing the typical character of the hero. Talking about these officers, the author, of course, characterizes Pirogov.

In their circle they are considered educated people because they know how to entertain women, they like to talk about literature: “they praise Bulgarin, Pushkin and Grech and speak with contempt and witty barbs about A.A. Orlov,” that is, they put Pushkin and Bulgarin on a par, the author ironically notes. They go to the theater to show themselves. Their life goal- “to gain the rank of colonel”, to achieve a secure position. They usually “marry a merchant’s daughter who can play the piano, with a hundred thousand or so in cash and a bunch of big-haired relatives.”

Characterizing Pirogov, the author talks about his talents, in fact, reveals such of his traits as careerism, narrow-mindedness, arrogance, self-confident vulgarity, and the desire to imitate what is in fashion among a select public.

For Pirogov, love is just an interesting adventure, an “affair” that you can brag about to your friends. The lieutenant, not at all embarrassed, rather vulgarly looks after the wife of the artisan Schiller and is sure that “his courtesy and brilliant rank give him full right to her attention.” He does not bother himself at all with thoughts about life's problems, he strives for pleasure.

The test of Pirogov’s honor and dignity was the “section” to which Schiller subjected him. Quickly forgetting his insult, he discovered a complete lack of human dignity: “he spent the evening with pleasure and distinguished himself so much in the mazurka that he delighted not only the ladies, but even the gentlemen.”

The images of Pirogov and Piskarev are associated with opposing moral principles in the characters’ characters. The comic image of Pirogov is contrasted with the tragic image of Piskarev. “Piskarev and Pirogov - what a contrast! Both of them began on the same day, at the same hour, the pursuit of their beauties, and how different were the consequences of these pursuits for both of them! Oh, what meaning is hidden in this contrast! And what an effect this contrast produces!” - wrote V.G. Belinsky.

Schiller, tinsmith

Images of German craftsmen - tinsmith master Schiller, shoemaker Hoffmann, carpenter Kunz - complement the social picture of St. Petersburg. Schiller is the embodiment of commercialism. Accumulating money is the goal of this artisan’s life, therefore strict calculation, limiting himself in everything, suppressing sincere human feelings determine his behavior. At the same time, jealousy awakens a sense of dignity in Schiller, and he, while drunk, not thinking about the consequences at that moment, together with his friends, flogged Pirogov.

In the draft version, the hero's surname was Palitrin.

This refers to a painting by the artist Perugino (1446–1524), Raphael’s teacher.

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Life in St. Petersburg left a deep imprint on the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Being impressed by Northern Palmyra, the writer dedicated several works to it, among which was the story “Nevsky Prospekt”. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the literary analysis of the work, which will be useful in preparing for a literature lesson in the 10th grade.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing– 1834.

History of creation– Life in St. Petersburg had a great influence on the young writer, who wrote several stories dedicated to the northern capital. Among them was the story “Nevsky Prospekt”.

Subject- Life of St. Petersburg and the fate of the “little man” in the big city.

Composition- The composition of the work is presented in such a way that the life of the entire city is revealed in the best possible way through the description of Nevsky Prospekt. The compositional structure of the story is as follows: the beginning (a meeting of two friends), the development of events (the artist tries to save a fallen woman, and the lieutenant starts an affair with a married lady), the climax (the fallen woman refuses to marry the artist, the lieutenant is beaten by the husband of his passion), the denouement ( the violated honor of the lieutenant, the death of the artist).

Genre- A story.

Direction– Social-critical realism.

History of creation

In 1831, the writer had an idea to write a story, the central character of which would be the amazing, majestic and very controversial St. Petersburg. Gogol made several sketches describing the city, which always deeply worried him. The writer loved to take long walks along the cobbled streets of St. Petersburg, observing the life of the northern capital and the morals of its inhabitants. He absorbed and memorized random conversations and everyday scenes, which later became part of his work.

Work on Nevsky Prospekt was completed in October 1834, and a month later, having successfully survived criticism and censorship, the story was published in the literary collection Arabesques.

This work is considered one of the cycle of St. Petersburg stories by Nikolai Vasilyevich, in which he surprisingly subtly described the many-sided life of Northern Palmyra, including its darkest sides.

The meaning of the story's title is that the famous Nevsky Prospect has always been considered the very heart of St. Petersburg, its personification. Thus, through the prism of relationships between people, this avenue, so beautiful in appearance, reflects the life of the entire city.

Subject

The central theme of the work- the fate of a “little man” in a big city, with its pronounced social contrasts, causing in people an internal conflict between ideas about the ideal and the harsh reality of life.

The writer reveals himself moral issues. Thus, a seventeen-year-old girl with whom the artist falls in love, despite his young age, is already deeply mired in the abyss of vice. She contemptuously rejects Piskarev’s proposal to change her life and become an exemplary wife; she is simply not interested. Lieutenant Pirogov is not embarrassed by the married status of the charming blonde. Without a drop of embarrassment, he is ready to seduce a young woman to satisfy his own whim.

Using the example of the artist Piskarev, the author fully reveals the theme of loneliness. Living in a large, crowded city, surrounded by thousands of people, the young man is left alone with his own problems. Unable to cope with mental anguish, he comes to the cowardly conclusion - to voluntarily die. And even those around him learn about his death only a few days later, and no one comes to the funeral. Indifference to one's neighbors acquires catastrophic proportions; a person ceases to be a value.

Subtle, romantic natures, desperately seeking ideals, are unable to cope with frightening realities Everyday life. Often, behind a beautiful appearance, an ugly soul is hidden, and the purest intentions are broken by falsehood and indifference. This is how the author conveys the main the idea of ​​your work- an inevitable and for many tragic contradiction between illusions and reality, a clash of a living, trembling soul with the destructive power of deception.

Composition

Carrying out an analysis of the work in the story “Nevsky Prospekt”, one should note its somewhat unusual compositional structure. Gogol reveals the general picture of the life of St. Petersburg, with all its vices, passions and temptations, in his description of Nevsky Prospect, as well as in the author’s generalizations during the narrative. The fates of the main characters in the story are viewed through the prism of the general movement of city life.

Nikolai Vasilyevich attaches great importance to a thorough description of Nevsky Prospekt, using various artistic media. Its image at different times of the day allows the author to make a very accurate description social structure throughout the northern capital.

The composition of the story is very traditional and consists of successive parts:

• plot- a meeting of two friends, each of whom chooses his own path in life, the search for a personal “ideal”;
• developments represents the parallel development of two storylines: the artist is trying to save the “fallen angel”, while the lieutenant is in full swing after a married woman;
• climax also represented by two events: the artist’s proposal of marriage to a fallen woman and her refusal, as well as the flogging of the lieutenant by the husband of his passion;
• denouement- the desecrated honor of Lieutenant Pirogov and the deserted funeral of the young artist Piskarev;
• epilogue- a description of Nevsky Prospekt, in which everything is ephemeral and untrue.

Genre

Gogol's work "Nevsky Prospekt" is written in the genre of a story. Because the main idea the work is accusatory, then we can say that the story belongs to the literary movement called social-critical realism.

Work test

Rating analysis

Average rating: 4.5. Total ratings received: 304.

The first of the St. Petersburg stories opens with the theme of Nevsky Prospect. Its pages dedicated to the main street of the city act as a prologue to the entire cycle. N.V. Gogol affectionately calls this avenue the beauty of the capital. But this beauty is very deceptive and brought happiness to few people. Here we see a kind of ironic hymn to Nevsky Prospekt, which is simply an exhibition of human prosperity in life, where “it smells like a party,” where “greed and self-interest” flourish and a quick “phantasmagoria occurs in just one day.” The capital of noble Russia, the reflection of which is Nevsky Prospekt, with outside- an exhibition of luxury, fashionable splendor and pomp, dazzling a poor dreamer like Piskarev. But behind the shiny façade of the noble monarchy lies a deep social decline. The brilliance and beauty, the captivating intoxication and bustle of metropolitan life is a deception, under the cover of which lies the perversion of all human values, passions and concepts - this is the final conclusion of the satirical author.

It is no coincidence that the story opens with a description of Nevsky Prospect and the entire motley line of people of different ages and conditions that change along it. The panorama of Nevsky Prospekt, pictures of his life at different hours - from morning to evening - allow N.V. Gogol to give a kind of physiological “cross-section” of St. Petersburg. The handsome prospect amazes the imagination with thousands of varieties of “hats, dresses, scarves”, thousands of “incomprehensible characters”. The multicolored colors of a walking or hurrying crowd reflect, as in a mirror, the life of the entire huge city. However, the beauty of the noisy avenue is illusory and deceptive. In the morning there “smells of hot bread” and “beggars gather at the doors of the pastry shops.” A dray driver drags the “poor man’s red coffin.” In the evening, “the watchman... climbs... to light the lantern” and the houses begin to “flicker with a deceptive light.” If daylight dims the character of the avenue, if the people flashing along it during the day overshadow the city’s own appearance, then in the evening it is on its own: “it comes to life and begins to move.” People are not so noticeable at dusk and at night - their shadows are more visible: “long shadows flicker along the walls and pavement and almost reach the Police Bridge with their heads.”

N.V. Gogol presents the image of St. Petersburg through the eyes of local artists: “land of snow”, “everything is wet, smooth, smooth, gray, foggy”, “quiet art”, “small room”, “bare walls”, “beggar old woman” , “dust”, “walls stained with paints, with an open window through which the pale Neva and poor fishermen in red shirts flash,” “grey, muddy coloring”...

And the artists themselves are not like the Italian ones, who are proud and ardent, like Italy itself. These are St. Petersburg painters - meek, shy. For Piskarev there is no magical light of the night Nevsky Prospect. His path is illuminated by the deceptive light of a lonely street lamp. N.V. Gogol characterizes the room where Piskarev ends up as “a disgusting shelter, where pathetic debauchery, generated by the tawdry education and terrible crowdedness of the capital, founded his home.” There is an “unpleasant disorder, ... bare walls and windows” covered with gray cobwebs. The inhabitants of this dwelling amaze with the “wear and tear” of their faces.

The city itself turns into mystical visions in his experiences, which confirms the absurdity of the world, which has lost its meaning, which has lost the spiritual vertical that organizes it. “The sidewalk rushed under him, the carriages with galloping horses seemed motionless, the bridge stretched and broke on its arch, the house stood with its roof down, the booth was falling towards it...” The city seemed to be alive. It is as if he is gradually absorbing an artist who is losing touch with a real, measured, dreamless life.

“Oh, don’t believe this Nevsky Prospect! I always wrap myself tightly in my cloak and try not to look at all the objects I meet. Everything is a deception, everything is a dream, everything is not what it seems!.. everything breathes deception. He lies at any time, this Nevsky Prospekt, but most of all when the night falls like a condensed mass on him and separates the white and fawn walls of the houses, when the whole city turns into thunder and shine, myriads of carriages fall from the bridges, postilions scream and jump on horses, and when the demon himself lights the lamps just to show everything not in its real form,” exclaims N.V. Gogol. This phrase can be considered the leitmotif of all St. Petersburg stories. The picture of everyday life on Nevsky Prospekt is not only the place where the story of Piskarev and Pirogov developed. It serves as a kind of introduction to all the stories and allows the writer from the very beginning to highlight the central theme of St. Petersburg for the entire cycle, which is closely related to the theme of the present and future of Russia. V. Belinsky wrote: “Piskarev and Pirogov - what a contrast!.. Oh, what meaning is hidden in this contrast! And what an effect this contrast produces! Piskarev and Pirogov, one in the grave, the other satisfied and happy, even after unsuccessful red tape and terrible beatings! Such is Petersburg, the city of “crosses and stars”: the best perish, the vulgar and limited prosper.

The heroes here exist on the border of the real and the fantastic: life with a strong dream - and death in the end; inability to fight for a dream - and a calm continuation of later life; life with an idea - or without it; desired – and actual.

Both Piskarev and Pirogov are trying to make different in purpose, but essentially identical flights to what they want and fall - from a greater or lesser height. But from above - “everything is not what it seems”: the one who was mistaken for an ideal beauty turned out to be a girl of easy virtue, the one about whom one immediately thought badly turned out to be an ordinary woman.

The idea of ​​the story “Nevsky Prospekt” lies in the eternal conflict between dreams and reality. It's amazing how incomprehensibly fate plays with people.

Nevsky Prospekt is not just a place where the action takes place, it is a hero who changes his appearance at different times of the day. A comparison of the initial and final parts of the story “Nevsky Prospekt” makes you think about this: if the “beautiful street” of the capital, which “makes up everything” for St. Petersburg, “lies at all times,” what then is the whole city? The time of twilight plays a special role in the writer’s St. Petersburg works. It is in the uncertain and tempting light of the lamps that everything is somehow distorted or, conversely, acquires its true qualities. When defining Gogol's city with adjectives, the ones most often used are those associated with its mirage: mysterious, unstable, variable, changing, doubling, unsteady, deceptive, and so on. This demonic image personifies the spirit of St. Petersburg by N.V. Gogol.

Analysis of the concept of beauty in the story “Nevsky Prospekt”

2.1 St. Petersburg as an image of beauty in the story "Nevsky Prospekt"

St. Petersburg has always inspired and encouraged writers. Pushkin admired his beauty; “I love you Peter’s creation”, as well as many writers of that time. The image of St. Petersburg is ambiguous; it usually appears majestic, beautiful, but cold and sometimes cruel. It was in St. Petersburg that many prominent figures of Russia wanted to go. It was St. Petersburg that was the concentration of outstanding talents and minds.

How does Gogol feel about the city?

The story begins with a description of Nevsky Prospect: “There is nothing better than Nevsky Prospect, at least in St. Petersburg; for him he is everything. Why does this street not shine - the beauty of our capital! I know that not one of its pale and bureaucratic residents would trade Nevsky Prospect for all the benefits. Not only those who are twenty-five years old, have a beautiful mustache and a wonderfully tailored frock coat, but even those who have white hairs popping out on their chin and whose head is smooth as a silver dish, are delighted with Nevsky Prospect. And the ladies! Oh, ladies enjoy Nevsky Prospect even more. And who doesn’t like it? As soon as you step onto Nevsky Prospekt, it already smells like a festivities. Even if you had some necessary, necessary work to do, once you get to it, you will probably forget about any work. Here is the only place where people are shown not out of necessity, where they have not been driven by necessity and the mercantile interest that embraces the whole of St. Petersburg. It seems that a person met on Nevsky Prospect is less selfish than in Morskaya, Gorokhovaya, Liteinaya, Meshchanskaya and other streets, where greed and self-interest and need are expressed in those walking and flying in carriages and droshky. Nevsky Prospekt is the universal communication of St. Petersburg. Here, a resident of the St. Petersburg or Vyborg part, who has not visited his friend on Peski or at the Moscow outpost for several years, can be sure that he will certainly meet him. No address calendar or reference place will deliver such reliable news as Nevsky Prospekt. Almighty Nevsky Prospekt! The only entertainment of the poor during the St. Petersburg festivities! How clean its sidewalks are swept, and, God, how many feet have left their traces on it! And the clumsy dirty boot of a retired soldier, under the weight of which the very granite seems to crack, and the miniature, light as smoke, shoe of a young lady, turning her head to the shining windows of the store, like a sunflower to the sun, and the rattling saber of a hopeful ensign, conducting there is a sharp scratch on it - everything takes out on it the power of strength or the power of weakness. What a rapid phantasmagoria takes place on it in just one day! How many changes will he endure in one day!” [N.V.Gogol. Stories. M - 1949. P.3]

Gogol's Petersburg is not just a capital, it is a majestic metropolis with magnificent palaces and streets and the Neva.

Of course, the beauty of the city is enchanting, because the third part of the story is devoted to the description of the city, and in particular Nevsky Prospect. We can agree with O. Fomin [O. Fomin. Secret symbolism in Nevsky Prospekt. Traditional sketch // Bronze Age electronic version. http://www.vekovka.h1.ru/bv/bv23/23fomin.htm] that the “compositional division”, the narrative fabric of “Nevsky Prospekt” falls into three parts. The first part is the actual description of Nevsky Prospect, the second is the story of Piskarev’s unhappy love for a beautiful stranger, and, finally, the third is the “dragging” of Lieutenant Pirogov for a stupid German woman. Moreover, the first part seems to split into a prologue and an epilogue, in which the “image of the author” and the notorious landscape are given.

When we say “landscape” in relation to the description of life on Nevsky Prospekt, we still admit a certain inaccuracy. The landscape here in some way develops into a “portrait”. Nevsky Prospekt for Gogol is a living being, essentially hostile to man, but also not devoid of a certain ambivalence. If in Goethe Mephistopheles, wishing evil to a person, brings him good (which, by the way, is partly connected with the medieval comic interpretation of the devil), then in Gogol we can observe the opposite “substitution”: Nevsky Prospect, while openly positive, is covertly negative. The elements on which the “cosmopsychology” of St. Petersburg is based are water and stone (earth).”

Yes, Petersburg is a living character, a majestic, beautiful, but deceptive character. Its beauty drives many people crazy; people who come to St. Petersburg are faced not only with its beauty, but also with its cruel essence. They had to endure humiliation and poverty; the city seemed to suck people into a swamp of lies, vulgarity, stupidity, ostentatious luxury, behind which extreme poverty was often hidden.

Thus, the beauty of St. Petersburg is deceptive and illusory. All the vanity is tinsel, everything is unreal: “Thousands of varieties of hats, dresses, scarves, colorful, light, to which sometimes the affection of their owners remains for two whole days, will blind anyone on Nevsky Prospect. It seems as if a whole sea of ​​moths has suddenly risen from the stems and is agitated in a brilliant cloud over the black male beetles. Here you will meet such waists as you have never even dreamed of: thin, narrow waists, no thicker than the neck of a bottle, when you meet them, you will respectfully step aside, so as not to somehow carelessly push with an impolite elbow; timidity and fear will take possession of your heart, lest somehow even your careless breathing break the most beautiful work of nature and art. And what kind of ladies' sleeves you will see on Nevsky Prospekt! Oh, how lovely! They are somewhat similar to two balloons, so that the lady would suddenly rise into the air if the man did not support her; because it is as easy and pleasant to lift a lady into the air as a glass filled with champagne is brought to your mouth. Nowhere do people bow as nobly and naturally when they meet each other as on Nevsky Prospekt. Here you will meet the only smile, a smile that is the height of art, sometimes such that you can melt with pleasure, sometimes such that you suddenly see yourself lower than the grass and lower your head, sometimes such that you feel taller than the Admiralty Spitz and raise it up. Here you will find people talking about a concert or the weather with extraordinary nobility and feeling. self-esteem. Here you will meet a thousand incomprehensible characters and phenomena.” [N.V.Gogol. Stories. M - 1949. P.4] V this description there is an ironic subtext. Luxury, falsehood and vanity are shown.

The beauty of Nevsky is distorted, one can agree with Fomin, who wrote the following:

“Water vapors and fogs distort and pervert reality. The element of water, as certainly associated with lunar symbolism, gives rise to oneiric phantasms that preserve their dead. “New Left” (in this case, by “left” we mean not so much a political orientation as an initial metaphysical attitude) philosopher Gaston Bachelard notes: “...literary suicide is imbued with amazing ease by the imagination of death. It brings into order the images of death "Water is the fatherland of living nymphs as much as of the dead. It is the true matter of death in the “highest degree feminine." Water is an element that receives and gives birth to ghosts. The most famous "ghost cities" are London and St. Petersburg. Water in “Nevsky Prospekt” is “lower waters,” the substance of the lower astral world, the world of plurality of feelings and illusions, while the earth is the bearer of the inertia of the rationalistically defined and boredom (“it’s boring to live in the world, gentlemen!”). Nevsky Prospect serves as a carrier of the fantastic. And Gogol’s fantastic, as a rule, is hostile to man. Later, Gogol evolves to remove the medium of the fantastic (Yu. Mann) and “Nevsky Prospekt” just captures the intermediate stage of this transition. The fantastic is evil, “illusory,” nocturnal, aquatic and tragic. The everyday is human, "real", day-to-day, earthly and comic. This opposition excludes the Divine as such. Infernal forces and man are contrasted.

In Nevsky Prospekt the illusory (for all its negative connotations) is beautiful. This stems from the original romantic attitude. But the fear of the illusory and the triumph of Pirogov over Piskarev is an inoculation against romanticism, its overcoming. The euphonically similar surnames of the characters indicate their certain relationship. Piskarev and Pirogov are “divine twins”, endlessly exchanging elements of traditional archetypal functions. This is a world where good does not exist (both in the humanistic and Orthodox understanding of the word).” [Fomin O. Secret symbolism in Nevsky Prospekt. Traditional sketch // Bronze Age electronic version. http://www.vekovka.h1.ru/bv/bv23/23fomin.htm]

Beauty is deceptive, beauty is illusory, it attracts and destroys people, it destroys the main character of the story. It turns out that only scoundrels like Pirogov can survive in this greatness. In the last lines of the story, Gogol says that one cannot trust the beauty of Nevsky: “Oh, don’t believe this Nevsky Prospect! I always wrap myself tightly in my cloak when I walk along it, and try not to look at all the objects I meet. Everything is a deception, everything is a dream, everything is not what it seems! Do you think that this gentleman, who walks around in a well-tailored frock coat, is very rich? Nothing happened: he consists entirely of his frock coat. Do you imagine that these two fat men, stopping in front of a church under construction, are judging its architecture? Not at all: they talk about how strangely two crows sat opposite each other. Do you think that this enthusiast, waving his arms, is talking about how his wife threw a ball out of the window at an officer completely unfamiliar to him? Not at all, he's talking about Lafayette. You think that these ladies... but trust the ladies least of all. Look less into store windows: the trinkets displayed in them are beautiful, but they smell like an awful lot of banknotes. But God forbid you look under the ladies’ hats! No matter how the beauty’s cloak flutters in the distance, I will never follow her to be curious. Further, for God's sake, further from the lantern! and quickly, as quickly as possible, pass by. It will be a blessing if you get away with him pouring his stinking oil all over your smart frock coat. But except for the lantern, everything breathes deception. He lies at all times, this Nevsky Prospekt, but most of all when the night falls like a condensed mass on him and separates the white and fawn walls of the houses, when the whole city turns into thunder and brilliance, myriads of carriages fall from the bridges, postilions scream and jump on horses and when the demon himself lights the lamps just to show everything not in its real form.” [N.V.Gogol. Stories. M - 1949. P.3]

Thus, we can say that the concept of beauty in the image of Nevsky Prospect is unique. Beauty does not save, but destroys. Beauty, which should carry positive motives, carries lies and deception. In general, Nevsky Prospekt is just a beautiful face of a strange, fantastic, half-crazy city.