Dead Souls Study Guide

Dead Souls, by Nikolai Gogol, is a satirical examination of 1800's Russian nobility and society. The work is often called Gogol's greatest work. It is also considered a Russian prose poem. In post-Napoleonic Russia, landowners owned serfs, who worked the land. A man's wealth was not only determined by the amount of land he had, but also by the number of souls he owned. Tchitchikov, the protagonist, and proclaimed hero of the story decides to purchase dead souls in order to become rich. Because a census is taken every year, he can buy the souls cheaper and then claim the dead souls as his own. The novel follows the exploits of Tchitchikov as he travels throughout the Russian countryside in the quest to buy souls from wealthy landowners. (read more)