Pavel Ivanovitch Chichikov—Nozdrev relationship

Paul Ivanovitch Chichikov and Nozdrev’s relationship moves from claimed friendship to open enmity through a repeated collision between Chichikov’s guarded business and Nozdrev’s reckless speech. Nozdrev first obstructs the proposed sale of dead serfs, then threatens violence, and finally announces the transaction at a public ball. The disclosure does not by itself establish what Chichikov’s scheme means, but it gives a strange private bargain a public audience—and turns their personal antagonism into a source of civic suspicion.

Familiarity and the Proposed Deal

Chichikov’s first dealings with the provincial officials show the manner in which he tries to establish himself: he visits the Governor and a long list of municipal dignitaries, flattering each in turn and accepting invitations to social gatherings. That circuit provides the world in which his dealings with Nozdrev will become dangerous. Chichikov’s request is specific: he asks whether Nozdrev has a large number of dead serfs still listed in the revision rolls and proposes that Nozdrev transfer them to him. The request makes the relationship a matter of business, but the transaction depends on Chichikov’s ability to keep its unusual nature from becoming public knowledge.

Nozdrev’s familiarity with Chichikov does not make the negotiation easy. During their dispute, he calls Chichikov a cowardly, uncivil acquaintance, says there is no frankness or sincerity in him, and compares him to Sobakevitch. Chichikov answers that refusing to play cards is no fault and urges Nozdrev to sell the souls rather than hesitate over what Chichikov calls rubbish. Nozdrev responds by declaring that he had been about to give them away, but will now refuse even for three kingdoms; he also orders his servant to give Chichikov’s horses hay instead of oats. The quarrel converts a proposed bargain into a personal affront, with Nozdrev’s refusal now expressly bound to his contempt for the buyer.

From Quarrel to Threatened Violence

The conflict grows physical when Chichikov refuses to continue a game that he considers dishonestly played. Nozdrev challenges him to state the refusal plainly; Chichikov does so, raising his hands toward his face as the dispute heats up. Nozdrev raises a fist, but Chichikov catches and restrains his whirling arms. The confrontation briefly shifts from an argument about cards to a struggle for control, while Nozdrev calls for his servants, Porphyri and Pavlushka.

Chichikov releases Nozdrev when the servants arrive, both because he does not want them to witness the scene and because he sees no point in holding his host any longer. The release does not calm Nozdrev. Accusing Chichikov of refusing to finish the game because he is losing, Nozdrev grabs the cherrywood shank of his pipe and orders the servants to thrash him. Chichikov turns pale and cannot speak; the chair he takes up in self-defence is wrested from him, and he is left trying to parry the pipe. The narrator likens Nozdrev’s headlong advance to a reckless military assault, while the threatened victim becomes a panicked fortress. The intervention of an arriving visitor interrupts the attack before Nozdrev’s threats can be carried through.

The Public Disclosure

At a later gathering, Nozdrev encounters Chichikov in the ballroom while the Governor has detained him to arbitrate a discussion between two ladies. Nozdrev is in an elevated state and is leading the Public Prosecutor by the arm. Chichikov sees him approaching and wants to get away, but the Governor’s request prevents an easy retreat. Nozdrev calls him a landowner from Kherson and asks whether he has been trading in departed souls; turning to the Governor, he announces loudly that Chichikov traffics in dead peasants.

Nozdrev couples the disclosure with insults and theatrical claims of friendship. He tells the company that Chichikov asked him to sell his dead souls and declares that he would hang him if he could. He also boasts that, if asked whether he loved his father or Chichikov more, he would have answered Chichikov. The contradiction is characteristic of their damaged relationship: Nozdrev claims extravagant intimacy even as he humiliates and threatens the man he calls a friend. His effort to force kisses on Chichikov adds a physical, grotesque counterpoint to the accusation, but the business he has named is what holds the room’s attention.

Rumor, Suspicion, and Consequences

The company edges away from Nozdrev and ignores his further babbling, yet his loud reference to the purchase of dead souls has already reached the room. The guests are struck by the novelty of the idea; some women exchange knowing winks and sarcastic smiles. Nozdrev is widely known as a liar, so his outburst is not treated as reliable testimony. Still, the possibility that his story could plant doubt unsettles Chichikov. He tries to resume enjoying himself and plays whist, but makes mistakes that surprise the President of the Local Council, who had regarded him as a careful player. Nozdrev’s words therefore have an effect beyond the moment of disclosure, even before anyone can verify them.

The rumor travels through social connections. Two ladies recount the dead-soul purchase and add the claim that Chichikov intends to abduct the Governor’s daughter; after they leave to spread the story, the town is stirred within half an hour. The men’s faction concentrates on the dead souls, while the women’s faction develops the abduction allegation into competing, elaborate accounts. Nozdrev’s disclosure is not the sole origin of every rumor, but it gives the dead-soul transaction an audience and helps trigger the town’s increasingly confused response.

When officials later seek information, the testimony does not resolve the matter. Manilov praises Chichikov without explaining the transaction. Sobakevitch says that the souls he sold had been alive, while disclaiming responsibility for what happened afterward. The officials also question the servants: Petrushka offers little beyond the smell of his living quarters, and Selifan says his master had served in government and at Customs. The inquiry leaves Chichikov’s identity uncertain, and the officials debate whether he should be detained or might himself detain them for their lack of respectability. Much later, information about the purchase of dead souls resurfaces among the evidence assembled against Chichikov alongside questions about wills and customs contraband. The novel thus makes Nozdrev’s betrayal consequential not because his word settles the truth, but because an unstable, compromised relationship releases private information into a network already primed to turn rumor into investigation.