Who is Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov in Dead Souls?

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is the central character of Nikolay Gogol's satirical novel, Dead Souls. He is a landless, social-climbing former civil servant who embarks on a scheme to acquire wealth.1

In the picaresque narrative, Chichikov travels across Russia to purchase "dead souls"—serfs who have died but remain on the tax rolls until the next census. By buying these names, he relieves landowners of their tax burden while intending to mortgage the dead serfs as if they were living assets to secure funds for his own estate.1

Chichikov is characterized by his ability to charm influential landowners, though he keeps his true motives hidden. His fraudulent activities eventually lead to rumors, his arrest, and his eventual departure from town after his lawyer successfully maneuvers to have the charges dropped.1