Why did Chichikov buy dead souls? All the fault of incidents in the legislation

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Why did Chichikov buy dead souls from landowners

In order to understand what the actions of the main character were, the reader should familiarize himself with the original source - N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". From it it will become clear why Chichikov bought up dead souls. But sometimes there is not enough time for reading, but somehow you need to write an essay. Well, of course, it's hard to sing like a Basque. Therefore, instead of conveying the rich language palette of Gogol, I will limit myself to a simple retelling. It's a pity, because what are the lyrical digressions in "Dead Souls" worth - you read and seem to see picturesque paintings. Well, the intrigued reader will read the work at his leisure, right? And I will continue.

What is the intrigue

The key intrigue on which Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" was built was the possibility of obtaining a loan - money paid by the Board of Trustees. At the same time, serfs belonging to the landowner acted as collateral. The events described by Gogol could have taken place almost two hundred years ago, so it would be appropriate to inform the reader of somecircumstances of Russian life of that era. And at the same time mention the position of the protagonist in society. Ultimately, we intend to look into the question of why Chichikov bought up dead souls.

How it all started

At the end of 1718, Peter I issued a decree on the census of the male population. Since office equipment in those days was primitive, the time allotted for the execution of the royal decree was not enough. Instead of one year, three whole years were spent, and then three more years to conduct an “audit” - checking the accuracy of the compiled lists, called “fairy tales”. Before the abolition of serfdom, ten such "revisions" were carried out, the years of their implementation are known. And here there is one curious moment - the time interval in which the events described in the poem could take place. By indirect signs, it can be judged that the action develops in the first third of the 18th century. And already the Patriotic War of 1812 was not only over, but even slightly forgotten.

Casus of the era

Even before we figured out why Chichikov was buying up dead souls, we know that he bought only men and only “for withdrawal”, that is, he had the intention of resettling them in another province. It is also known that in 1833 a decree was issued according to which it was not allowed to “separate families”. Consequently, the adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov fall on the period of time between the "revisions" of 1815 and 1833. So, one of the circumstances of Russian life of that era is the following incident: the dead peasants were conditionallywere considered alive, and a tax was levied on them from the landowner until the next census of the population - “audit”.

Tax liabilities

Together with the acquired peasants, Pavel Ivanovich also assumed tax obligations, which looks like a complete loss. It would seem that there is no logical explanation for such actions, and at first it is not clear why Chichikov was buying up dead souls. But there were still some nuances in the then legislation that allowed the main character to build a fraudulent scheme to receive money. At that time, the state exercised supervision over the landowners' farms in order to prevent a decrease in their number and prevent unprofitability. After all, the state needed to receive taxes and recruits. If the owner died without leaving adult (capable) heirs, or the management was conducted improperly, guardianship could be assigned to such estates.

Guardian advice

At the Moscow and St. Petersburg Orphanages, Imperial Boards of Trustees were established. Their tasks included the maintenance of noble land ownership, if only it did not cease to exist. Ruined estates could be auctioned off to a we althier owner. Or the landowner could receive an interest-bearing loan for the restoration of the economy on the security of land and peasants. Such loans were issued by trustee councils, whose main source of income was precisely the funds received from auctions. In case of untimely payment of interest or failure to repay the loan at the appointed timethe estate was alienated in favor of a credit institution and sold at auction. This "wheel" could rotate for a long time, but the enterprising Chichikov figured out how to ride it for his own benefit.

Fraud

He, in fact, wanted to get a loan secured by serf souls, but since he did not have any, he decided to buy them. At the same time, he intended to buy cheap peasants “by papers” who died, but were legally considered alive. Of course, Chichikov did not intend to continue to pay the poll tax, interest on the loan, and even more so to repay the loan. It would have been impossible to pull off his scam with obtaining a pledge if Chichikov had only fictitious peasants, but at the same time there was no land. It would be expensive to buy land in the same province as the peasants. In addition, it would be too noticeable that there are actually no serfs. Therefore, the wise Pavel Ivanovich decided to buy inexpensive land in the uninhabited Kherson province, and to bring the peasants to it. Everything agrees on the papers, but no one will check, which means they will give a loan.