Dead Souls

The town’s aristocrats and officials are all under stress due to the scandal and the possibility of the governor-general’s arrival. All except the postmaster are implicated in local corruption and bribe taking. The narrator reflects that Russian civil societies tend to be inefficient and full of disputes, and that this gathering is no different: “you’d have thought that there would have been more unanimity and more solidarity. But, despite that, it was utter chaos” (3737).

The men float various theories as to Chichikov’s identity: highwayman, forger, Napoleonic war veteran, or even the emperor Napoleon escaped from exile. The narrator admits that this sounds fantastical, but there was a national obsession with Napoleon, including legends about his return from exile as the Antichrist.

The men decide to ask Nozdryov about Chichikov, an understandable act of desperation. Nozdryov tells elaborate false narratives of his schooldays with Chichikov, a notorious forger. He even implicates himself in the possible kidnapping of the governor’s daughter, and describes the place where the wedding between her and Chichikov would take place. The chief prosecutor is so distraught about this that he dies of a stroke. The narrator insists that a death from fear might seem preposterous, but that such occurrences happen.