Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol wrote the poem "Dead souls" in the early nineteenth century, this period was marked by the emergence of a new class in society – entrepreneurs. In the center of the work, the main hero, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, who became the personification of a new social class. The title of the work fully reveals the image of Chichikov, the hero of that time: the man who was buying "dead souls" of peasants, and he unfortunately had the same soul. Pavel Chichikov in the poem became a way for early-stage entrepreneurs who have just started their activities in Russia.

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov was born from a noble but poor family. Since childhood, he did not drive nor a friendship with someone, but before you start studying, he heard from his father the Council, which largely influenced the future of the hero: "don't be silly, not poveznica, please the boss, keep company with those who are richer, do not treat and do not patchevi anyone, take care and save a penny." During the training period Chichikov was still without friends, but it is not at all bothered. It was at this time began to think a business: getting a treat, young man hid him, and then sold; trained the mouse to sell it more expensive, not sparing the time spent on learning animal tricks. Chichikov was studying hard, getting good grades and fulfilling all the requirements of the authorities. But later, when his teacher needed help, Chichikov never even thought to give him any assistance. According to the act can be described character, as aloof from friendship and warm feelings, including the feeling of gratitude.

Went to the service, Chichikov once it becomes successful. And that's when he pulled his first Scam, which however failed. However, befell failure did not stop the hero, and he has done a promotion. This will subsequently contribute to collusion with smugglers and a profit of 400 thousand rubles. But an easy life usually does not last long and after a quarrel with a partner, to Chichikov write a denunciation. Thanks to its own skills, the hero escapes prison and even manages to save some money, but the greed and the enrichment becomes only more, especially in the hope of the return of a carefree wonderful life. His arrival in the city of N did not cause any suspicion, Chichikov quickly found common language with local and loved almost everyone. He started buying the dead souls of peasants and could have avoided exposure if you hadn't made a couple of errors: told Nozdreva of his business and bought peasants from the Box.

All the actions of the main character constantly telling him "dead" soul, depravity, selfishness and immorality of his character. The constant hypocrisy and greed say that Chichikov nothing was sacred. However, in between these qualities slip and positive sides of the character: the hero thought about his family and even showed interest in the Governor's daughter.

In the second part of the poem can clearly be seen, as Gogol tries to "clean up" your character. Despite the many negative qualities, a story about the hero being with some hope. This suggests that the author wanted to show that even "dead" souls there is still room for fine feelings. Thus, we can conclude that the soul of Chichikov could become "live" if the hero is self aware of its own nothingness of being and character flaws.