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Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol

Auditor

© Children's Literature Publishing House. Series design, 2003

© V. A. Voropaev. Introductory article, 2003

© I. A. Vinogradov, V. A. Voropaev. Comments, 2003

* * *

© V. Britvin. Illustrations, 2003

What did Gogol laugh at? On the spiritual meaning of the comedy “The Inspector General”

Be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves. For whoever hears the word and does not do it is like a man looking at the natural features of his face in a mirror. He looked at himself, walked away, and immediately forgot what he was like.

Jacob 1, 22-24

My heart hurts when I see how people are mistaken. They talk about virtue, about God, and yet do nothing.

From Gogol's letter to his mother. 1833

“The Inspector General” is the best Russian comedy. Both in reading and in stage performance she is always interesting. Therefore, it is generally difficult to talk about any failure of The Inspector General. But, on the other hand, it is difficult to create a real Gogol performance, to make those sitting in the hall laugh with bitter Gogol laughter. As a rule, something fundamental, deep, on which the entire meaning of the play is based, eludes the actor or the viewer. The premiere of the comedy, which took place on April 19, 1836 on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, according to contemporaries, had colossal<…>success. The mayor was played by Ivan Sosnitsky, Khlestakov Nikolai Dur - the best actors of that time. “The general attention of the audience, applause, heartfelt and unanimous laughter, the author’s challenge

“,” recalled Prince Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky, “there was no shortage of anything.”

Even Gogol's most ardent admirers did not fully understand the meaning and significance of the comedy; the majority of the public perceived it as a farce. Memoirist Pavel Vasilievich Annenkov noticed the unusual reaction of the audience: “Even after the first act, bewilderment was written on all faces (the audience was select in the full sense of the word), as if no one knew how to think about the picture that had just been presented. This bewilderment then grew with each act. As if finding comfort in the mere assumption that a farce was being given, the majority of the audience, knocked out of all theatrical expectations and habits, settled on this assumption with unshakable determination. However, in this farce there were features and phenomena filled with such vital truth that twice<…>there was general laughter. Something completely different happened in the fourth act: laughter still flew from time to time from one end of the hall to the other, but it was a kind of timid laughter that immediately disappeared; there was almost no applause; but intense attention, convulsive, intense following of all the shades of the play, sometimes dead silence showed that what was happening on stage passionately captured the hearts of the audience.”

The play was perceived by the public in different ways. Many saw it as a caricature of Russian bureaucracy, and its author as a rebel. According to Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov, there were people who hated Gogol from the very appearance of The Inspector General. Thus, Count Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy (nicknamed the American) said at a crowded meeting that Gogol was “an enemy of Russia and that he should be sent in chains to Siberia.” Censor Alexander Vasilyevich Nikitenko wrote in his diary on April 28, 1836: “Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General” caused a lot of noise. They give it incessantly - almost every day.<…>Many believe that the government is in vain in approving this play, in which it is so cruelly condemned.”

Meanwhile, it is reliably known that the comedy was allowed to be staged (and therefore published) due to the highest resolution. Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich read the comedy in manuscript and approved; according to another version, “The Inspector General” was read to the king in the palace. On April 29, 1836, Gogol wrote to Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin: “If it were not for the high intercession of the Sovereign, my play would never have been on stage, and there were already people trying to ban it.” The Emperor not only attended the premiere himself, but also ordered the ministers to watch The Inspector General. During the performance he clapped and laughed a lot, and when leaving the box he said: “Well, a play! Everyone got it, and I got it more than everyone else!”

Gogol hoped to meet the support of the tsar and was not mistaken. Soon after staging the comedy, he answered his ill-wishers in “Theatrical Travel”: “The magnanimous government saw deeper than you with its high intelligence the purpose of the writer.”

In striking contrast to the seemingly undoubted success of the play, Gogol’s bitter confession sounds: “The Inspector General” has been played - and my soul is so vague, so strange... I expected, I knew in advance how things would go, and for all that, the feeling is sad and annoying - a burden has enveloped me. My creation seemed disgusting to me, wild and as if not mine at all” (“Excerpt from a letter written by the author shortly after the first presentation of “The Inspector General” to a certain writer”).

Gogol's dissatisfaction with the premiere and the rumors around it (“everyone is against me”) was so great that, despite the persistent requests of Pushkin and Shchepkin, he refused his intended participation in the production of the play in Moscow and soon went abroad. Many years later, Gogol wrote to Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky: “The performance of The Inspector General made a painful impression on me. I was angry both at the audience, who did not understand me, and at myself, who was to blame for not understanding me. I wanted to get away from everything."

Comic in "The Inspector General"

Gogol was, it seems, the only one who perceived the first production of The Government Inspector as a failure. What is the matter here that did not satisfy the author? Partly, the discrepancy between the old vaudeville techniques in the design of the performance and the completely new spirit of the play, which did not fit into the framework of an ordinary comedy. Gogol persistently warns: “You need to be most careful not to fall into caricature. There should be nothing exaggerated or trivial even in the last roles” (“Warning for those who would like to play “The Inspector General” properly”).

When creating the images of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, Gogol imagined them “in the skin” (as he put it) of Shchepkin and Vasily Ryazantsev, famous comic actors of that era. In the play, in his words, “it was just a caricature.” “Already before the start of the performance,” he shares his impressions, “when I saw them in costume, I gasped. These two little men, in their essence quite neat, plump, with decently smoothed hair, found themselves in some awkward, tall gray wigs, disheveled, unkempt, disheveled, with huge shirtfronts pulled out; but on stage they turned out to be such antics that it was simply unbearable.”

Meanwhile, Gogol’s main goal is the complete naturalness of the characters and the verisimilitude of what is happening on stage. “The less an actor thinks about making people laugh and being funny, the more funny the role he takes will be revealed. The funny will be revealed by itself precisely in the seriousness with which each of the characters depicted in the comedy is busy with his work.”

An example of such a “natural” manner of performance is the reading of “The Inspector General” by Gogol himself. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, who was once present at such a reading, says: “Gogol... struck me with his extreme simplicity and restraint of manner, with some important and at the same time naive sincerity, which seemed not to care whether there were listeners here and what they thought. It seemed that Gogol was only concerned with how to delve into the subject, which was new to him, and how to more accurately convey his own impression. The effect was extraordinary - especially in comic, humorous places; it was impossible not to laugh - a good, healthy laugh; and the creator of all this fun continued, not embarrassed by the general gaiety and, as if inwardly marveling at it, to immerse himself more and more in the matter itself - and only occasionally, on the lips and around the eyes, the master’s sly smile trembled slightly. With what bewilderment, with what amazement Gogol uttered the mayor’s famous phrase about two rats (at the very beginning of the play): “They came, sniffed and went away!” He even looked around us slowly, as if asking for an explanation for such an amazing incident. It was only then that I realized how completely incorrect, superficial, and with what desire only to quickly make people laugh, “The Inspector General” is usually played on stage.

While working on the play, Gogol mercilessly expelled from it all elements of external comedy. According to Gogol, the funny is hidden everywhere, even in the most ordinary details of everyday life. Gogol's laughter is the contrast between what the hero says and how he says it. In the first act, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky are arguing about which of them should start telling the news.

« Bobchinsky (interrupting). We arrive with Pyotr Ivanovich at the hotel...

Dobchinsky (interrupting). Eh, let me, Pyotr Ivanovich, I’ll tell you.

Bobchinsky. Eh, no, let me... let me, let me... you don’t even have such a syllable...

Dobchinsky. And you will get confused and not remember everything.

Bobchinsky. I remember, by God, I remember. Don't bother me, let me tell you, don't bother me! Tell me, gentlemen, please don’t let Pyotr Ivanovich interfere.”

This comic scene should not only make you laugh. It is very important for the heroes which of them will tell the story. Their whole life consists of spreading all kinds of gossip and rumors. And suddenly the two received the same news. This is a tragedy. They are arguing over a matter. Bobchinsky must be told everything, nothing should be missed. Otherwise, Dobchinsky will supplement.

« Bobchinsky. Excuse me, excuse me: I’ll start in order... So, as you can see, I ran to Korobkin. And not finding Korobkin at home, he turned to Rastakovsky, and not finding Rastakovsky, he went to Ivan Kuzmich to tell him the news you had received, and going from there, he met with Pyotr Ivanovich...

Dobchinsky (interrupting). Near the booth where pies are sold.”

This is a very important detail. And Bobchinsky agrees: “Near the booth where pies are sold.”

Why, let us ask again, was Gogol dissatisfied with the premiere? The main reason was not even the farcical nature of the performance - the desire to make the audience laugh - but the fact that with the caricature style of the play, those sitting in the audience perceived what was happening on stage without applying it to themselves, since the characters were exaggeratedly funny. Meanwhile, Gogol’s plan was designed for precisely the opposite perception: to involve the viewer in the performance, to make them feel that the city depicted in the comedy exists not just somewhere, but to one degree or another in any place in Russia, and the passions and vices of officials exist in the soul of each of us. Gogol appeals to everyone. This is the enormous social significance of The Inspector General. This is the meaning of the mayor’s famous remark: “Why are you laughing? You’re laughing at yourself!” – facing the hall (precisely the hall, since no one is laughing on stage at this time). The epigraph also indicates this: “There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked.” In a kind of theatrical commentary on the play - “Theatrical Travel” and “The Denouement of The Inspector General” - where the audience and actors discuss the comedy, Gogol seems to be trying to destroy the wall separating the stage and the auditorium.

In The Inspector General, Gogol made his contemporaries laugh at what they were accustomed to and what they had ceased to notice (emphasis mine. – V.V.). But most importantly, they are accustomed to carelessness in spiritual life. The audience laughs at the heroes who die spiritually. Let us turn to examples from the play that show such death.

The mayor sincerely believes that “there is no person who does not have some sins behind him. This is already arranged this way by God Himself, and the Voltaireans are in vain speaking against it.” To which Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin objects: “What do you think, Anton Antonovich, are sins? Sins are different from sins. I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but with what bribes? Greyhound puppies. This is a completely different matter."

The judge is sure that bribes with greyhound puppies cannot be considered bribes, “but, for example, if someone’s fur coat costs five hundred rubles, and his wife’s shawl...”. Here the mayor, understanding the hint, retorts: “But you don’t believe in God; you never go to church; but at least I am firm in my faith and go to church every Sunday. And you... Oh, I know you: if you start talking about the creation of the world, your hair will just stand on end.” To which Ammos Fedorovich replies: “But I got there on my own, with my own mind.”

Gogol is the best commentator on his works. In “Forewarning...” he notes about the judge: “He is not even a hunter of committing lies, but he has a great passion for hunting with dogs... He is preoccupied with himself and his mind, and is an atheist only because in this field there is room for him to prove himself.”

The mayor believes that he is firm in his faith. The more sincerely he expresses this, the funnier it is. Going to Khlestakov, he gives orders to his subordinates: “Yes, if they ask why a church was not built at a charitable institution, for which the amount was allocated five years ago, then do not forget to say that it began to be built, but burned down. I submitted a report about this. Otherwise, perhaps someone, having forgotten himself, will foolishly say that it never began.”

Explaining the image of the mayor, Gogol says: “He feels that he is sinful; he goes to church, he even thinks that he is firm in his faith, he even thinks about repenting someday later. But the temptation of everything that floats into one’s hands is great, and the blessings of life are tempting, and to grab everything without missing anything has become, as it were, just a habit for him.”

And so, going to the imaginary auditor, the mayor laments: “I’m a sinner, a sinner in many ways... Just grant, God, that I get away with it as quickly as possible, and then I’ll put a candle that no one has ever put up: I’ll put a merchant’s hand on every beast.” deliver three pounds of wax." We see that the mayor has fallen, as it were, into a vicious circle of his sinfulness: in his repentant thoughts, the sprouts of new sins arise unnoticed by him (the merchants will pay for the candle, not he).

Just as the mayor does not feel the sinfulness of his actions, because he does everything according to an old habit, so do the other heroes of The Inspector General. For example, postmaster Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin opens other people's letters solely out of curiosity: “... I love to death to know what is new in the world. Let me tell you, this is a very interesting read. You will read another letter with pleasure - this is how various passages are described... and what edification... better than in the Moskovskie Vedomosti!

The judge remarks to him: “Look, you will get it someday for this.” Shpekin exclaims with childish naivety: “Oh, fathers!” It doesn’t even occur to him that he is doing something illegal. Gogol explains: “The postmaster is a simple-minded person to the point of naivety, looking at life as a collection of interesting stories to pass the time, which he reads in printed letters. There’s nothing left for the actor to do except be as simple-minded as possible.”

Innocence, curiosity, the habitual doing of any untruth, the free-thinking of officials with the appearance of Khlestakov, that is, according to their concepts of an auditor, are suddenly replaced for a moment by an attack of fear inherent in criminals expecting severe retribution. The same inveterate freethinker Ammos Fedorovich, standing before Khlestakov, says to himself: “Lord God! I don't know where I'm sitting. Like hot coals beneath you.” And the mayor, in the same position, asks for mercy: “Do not destroy! Wife, small children... don’t make a person unhappy.” And further: “Because of inexperience, by God, because of inexperience. Insufficient wealth... Judge for yourself: the government salary is not enough even for tea and sugar.”

Gogol was especially dissatisfied with the way Khlestakov was played. “The main role was gone,” he writes, “that’s what I thought. Dur didn’t understand one bit what Khlestakov was.” Khlestakov is not just a dreamer. He himself does not know what he is saying and what he will say in the next moment. It’s as if someone sitting in him speaks for him, tempting through him all the characters in the play. Isn’t this the father of lies himself, that is, the devil?” It seems that Gogol had this exactly in mind. The heroes of the play, in response to these temptations, without noticing it themselves, reveal themselves in all their sinfulness.

Tempted by the evil one, Khlestakov himself seemed to acquire the features of a demon. On May 16 (New Style), 1844, Gogol wrote to S. T. Aksakov: “All this excitement and mental struggle of yours is nothing more than the work of our common friend, known to everyone, namely the devil. But don't lose sight of the fact that he is a clicker and is all about puffery.<…>You hit this beast in the face and don’t be embarrassed by anything. He is like a petty official who has entered the city as if for an investigation. It will throw dust at everyone, scatter it, and shout. All he has to do is become a little cowardly and move back - then he will start to show courage. And as soon as you step on him, he will tuck his tail between his legs. We ourselves make a giant out of him... A proverb is never in vain, but a proverb says: The devil boasted of taking over the whole world, but God did not give him power over even a pig.”1
This proverb refers to the Gospel episode when the Lord allowed the demons who had left the Gadarene demoniac to enter the herd of pigs (see: Mark 5:1-13).

This is how Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov is seen in this description.

The characters in the play feel a sense of fear more and more, as evidenced by the lines and the author’s remarks. (stretched out and trembling all over). This fear seems to spread to the hall. After all, in the hall sat those who were afraid of auditors, but only real ones - the sovereign's. Meanwhile, Gogol, knowing this, called on them, in general Christians, to the fear of God, to the cleansing of their conscience, which no auditor, not even the Last Judgment, would be afraid of. Officials, as if blinded by fear, cannot see Khlestakov’s real face. They always look at their feet, and not at the sky. In “The Rule of Living in the World,” Gogol explained the reason for such fear: “... everything is exaggerated in our eyes and frightens us. Because we keep our eyes down and don’t want to raise them up. For if they were raised up for a few minutes, they would see above all only God and the light emanating from Him, illuminating everything in its present form, and then they themselves would laugh at their own blindness.”

The meaning of the epigraph and the “Silent Scene”

Regarding the epigraph that appeared later, in the 1842 edition, let’s say that this popular proverb means the Gospel by a mirror, which Gogol’s contemporaries, who spiritually belonged to the Orthodox Church, knew very well and could even support the understanding of this proverb, for example, with Krylov’s famous fable “ Mirror and Monkey." Here the Monkey, looking in the mirror, addresses the Bear:

“Look,” he says, “my dear godfather!
What kind of face is that there?
What antics and jumps she has!
I would hang myself from boredom
If only she was even a little like her.
But, admit it, there is
Of my gossips, there are five or six such crooks;
I can even count them on my fingers.” -
“Why should a gossip consider working,
Isn’t it better to turn on yourself, godfather?” -
Mishka answered her.
But Mishenka’s advice was wasted.

Bishop Varnava (Belyaev), in his major work “Fundamentals of the Art of Holiness” (1920s), connects the meaning of this fable with attacks on the Gospel, and this was exactly the meaning (among others) for Krylov. The spiritual idea of ​​the Gospel as a mirror has long and firmly existed in the Orthodox consciousness. So, for example, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, one of Gogol’s favorite writers, whose works he re-read more than once, says: “Christians! As a mirror is to the sons of this age, so may the Gospel and the immaculate life of Christ be for us. They look in the mirror and correct their bodies and cleanse the blemishes on their faces.<…>Let us, therefore, offer this pure mirror before our spiritual eyes and look into it: is our life consistent with the life of Christ?”

The holy righteous John of Kronstadt, in his diaries published under the title “My Life in Christ,” remarks to “those who do not read the Gospel”: “Are you pure, holy and perfect, without reading the Gospel, and you do not need to look into this mirror? Or are you very ugly mentally and are afraid of your ugliness?..”

In Gogol’s extracts from the holy fathers and teachers of the Church we find the following entry: “Those who want to cleanse and whiten their faces usually look in the mirror. Christian! Your mirror is the Lord's commandments; if you put them in front of you and look at them closely, they will reveal to you all the spots, all the blackness, all the ugliness of your soul.”

It is noteworthy that Gogol also addressed this image in his letters. So, on December 20 (New Style), 1844, he wrote to Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin from Frankfurt: “... always keep a book on your table that would serve you as a spiritual mirror”; and a week later - to Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova: “Look also at yourself. For this, have a spiritual mirror on the table, that is, some book that your soul can look into...”

As you know, a Christian will be judged according to the gospel law. In “The Inspector General’s Denouement,” Gogol puts into the mouth of the First Comic Actor the idea that on the day of the Last Judgment we will all find ourselves with “crooked faces”: “... let us look at ourselves at least somewhat through the eyes of the One who will call all people to a confrontation, before with which even the best of us, don’t forget this, will lower their eyes to the ground in shame, and let’s see if any of us then has the courage to ask: “Is my face crooked?” 2
Here Gogol, in particular, responds to the writer M. N. Zagoskin (Khlestakov presents his historical novel “Yuri Miloslavsky, or the Russians in 1612” as his own work), who was especially indignant against the epigraph, saying: “But where am I?” Is your face crooked?

It is known that Gogol never parted with the Gospel. “You can’t invent anything higher than what is already in the Gospel,” he said. “How many times has humanity recoiled from it and how many times has it turned back?”

It is impossible, of course, to create any other “mirror” similar to the Gospel. But just as every Christian is obliged to live according to the Gospel commandments, imitating Christ (to the best of his human strength), so Gogol the playwright, according to his talent, arranges his mirror on the stage. Any of the spectators could turn out to be Krylov's Monkey. However, it turned out that this viewer saw “five or six gossips,” but not himself. Gogol later spoke about the same thing in his address to readers in “Dead Souls”: “You will even laugh heartily at Chichikov, maybe even praise the author... And you will add: “But I must agree, there are strange and funny people in some provinces.” , and quite a few scoundrels at that!” And which of you, full of Christian humility... will deepen this difficult question into your own soul: “Isn’t there some part of Chichikov in me too?” Yes, no matter how it is!”

The mayor’s response: “Why are you laughing? You’re laughing at yourself!” - which, like the epigraph, appeared in 1842, also has its parallel in “Dead Souls”. In the tenth chapter, reflecting on the mistakes and delusions of all mankind, the author notes: “The current generation now sees everything clearly, marvels at the errors, laughs at the foolishness of its ancestors, not in vain that... a piercing finger is directed from everywhere at it, at the current generation; but the current generation laughs and arrogantly, proudly begins a series of new errors, which posterity will also laugh at later.”

The main idea of ​​“The Inspector General” is the idea of ​​inevitable spiritual retribution, which every person should expect. Gogol, dissatisfied with the way “The Inspector General” was staged and how the audience perceived it, tried to reveal this idea in “The Denouement of The Inspector General.”

“Take a close look at this city that is depicted in the play! - says Gogol through the mouth of the First Comic Actor. – Everyone agrees that there is no such city in all of Russia...<…>Well, what if this is our spiritual city and it sits with each of us?<…>Whatever you say, the inspector who waits for us at the door of the coffin is terrible. As if you don’t know who this auditor is? Why pretend? This auditor is our awakened conscience, which will force us to suddenly and at once look at ourselves with all our eyes. Nothing can be hidden from this inspector, because he was sent by the Named Supreme Command and will be announced when it is no longer possible to take a step back. Suddenly, such a monster will be revealed to you, within you, that your hair will stand up in horror. It’s better to revise everything that is in us at the beginning of life, and not at the end of it.”

We are talking here about the Last Judgment. And now the final scene of “The Inspector General” becomes clear. It is a symbolic picture of the Last Judgment. The appearance of the gendarme, announcing the arrival from St. Petersburg “by personal order” of the current inspector, has a stunning effect on the heroes of the play. Gogol's remark: “The spoken words strike everyone like thunder. The sound of amazement unanimously emanates from the ladies' lips; the whole group, suddenly changing position, remains petrified" ( italics mine. – V.V.).

Gogol attached exceptional importance to this “silent scene”. He defines its duration as one and a half minutes, and in “Excerpt from a Letter...” he even talks about two or three minutes of “petrification” of the heroes. Each of the characters, with their whole figure, seems to show that he can no longer change anything in his fate, even lift a finger - he is in front of the Judge. According to Gogol’s plan, at this moment there should be silence in the hall of general reflection.

In “Dénouement,” Gogol did not offer a new interpretation of “The Inspector General,” as is sometimes thought, but only revealed its main idea. On November 2 (NS), 1846, he wrote to Ivan Sosnitsky from Nice: “Pay your attention to the last scene of The Inspector General.” Think about it, think about it again. From the final play, “The Denouement of The Inspector General,” you will understand why I am so concerned about this last scene and why it is so important to me that it has its full effect. I am sure that you will look at The Inspector General with different eyes after this conclusion, which, for many reasons, could not be given to me then and is only possible now.”

From these words it follows that “Dénouement” did not give new meaning to the “silent scene”, but only clarified its meaning. Indeed, at the time of the creation of “The Inspector General” in “Petersburg Notes of 1836” Gogol’s lines appear that directly precede “The Denouement”: “Lent is calm and formidable. A voice seems to be heard: “Stop, Christian; look back at your life.”

However, Gogol’s interpretation of the district city as a “spiritual city”, and its officials as the embodiment of the passions rampant in it, made in the spirit of the patristic tradition, came as a surprise to his contemporaries and caused rejection. Shchepkin, who was destined for the role of the First Comic Actor, after reading the new play, refused to play in it. On May 22, 1847, he wrote to Gogol: “... until now I have studied all the heroes of The Inspector General as living people... Don’t give me any hints that these are not officials, but our passions; no, I don’t want such a remake: these are people, real living people, among whom I grew up and almost grew old.<…>You have gathered several people from the whole world into one gathering place, into one group, with these people at the age of ten I became completely related, and you want to take them away from me.”

Meanwhile, Gogol’s intention did not at all imply the goal of making some kind of allegory out of “living people” - full-blooded artistic images. The author only revealed the main idea of ​​the comedy, without which it looks like a simple denunciation of morals. “The Inspector General” is “The Inspector General,” Gogol answered Shchepkin around July 10 (New Style), 1847, “and application to oneself is an indispensable thing that every viewer must do from everything, even not “The Inspector General,” but which it would be more appropriate for him to do about “The Inspector General.”

In the second edition of the ending of “Dénouement,” Gogol clarifies his thought. Here the First Comic Actor (Michal Mihalcz), in response to the doubts of one of the characters that his proposed interpretation of the play corresponds to the author’s intention, says: “The author, even if he had this thought, would have acted badly if he had revealed it clearly . The comedy would then turn into an allegory, and some pale moralizing sermon could emerge from it. No, his job was to depict simply the horror of material unrest not in an ideal city, but in one on earth...<…>His job is to portray this darkness so strongly that everyone feels that they need to fight with it, so that it makes the viewer tremble - and the horror of the riots penetrates him through and through. That's what he should have done. And this is our job to give a moral lesson. We, thank God, are not children. I thought about what kind of moral lesson I could draw for myself, and I attacked the one that I have now told you.”

And further, to the questions of those around him, why was he the only one who brought out such a distant moral teaching, according to their concepts, Michal Mihalch answers: “First of all, why do you know that I was the only one who brought out this moral teaching? And secondly, why do you consider it distant? I think, on the contrary, our own soul is closest to us. I had my soul in my mind then, I was thinking about myself, and that’s why I came up with this moral teaching. If others had had this in mind before themselves, they would probably have drawn the same moral teaching that I have drawn. But does each of us approach a writer’s work, like a bee to a flower, in order to extract from it what we need? No, we are looking for moral teaching in everything others, and not for yourself. We are ready to advocate and protect the entire society, carefully valuing the morality of others and forgetting about our own. After all, we love to laugh at others, not at ourselves..."

It is impossible not to notice that these reflections of the main character of “Dénouement” not only do not contradict the content of “The Inspector General,” but correspond exactly to it. Moreover, the thoughts expressed here are organic to Gogol’s entire work.

The idea of ​​the Last Judgment should have been developed in “Dead Souls”, since it really follows from the content of the poem. One of the rough sketches (obviously for the third volume) directly paints a picture of the Last Judgment: “Why didn’t you remember Me, that I look at you, that I am yours? Why did you expect rewards and attention and encouragement from people, and not from Me? What business would it then be for you to pay attention to how an earthly landowner will spend your money when you have a Heavenly Landowner? Who knows what would have ended if you had reached the end without being afraid? You would surprise with the greatness of your character, you would finally gain the upper hand and force amazement; you would leave your name as an eternal monument to valor, and streams of tears would fall, streams of tears would fall for you, and like a whirlwind you would scatter the flame of goodness in the hearts.” The manager lowered his head, ashamed, and did not know where to go. And after him, many officials and noble, wonderful people, who began to serve and then abandoned their careers, sadly hung their heads.” Note that the theme of the Last Judgment permeates all of Gogol’s work. 3
Let us remember, for example, that in the story “The Night Before Christmas” the demon harbored a grudge against the blacksmith Vakula because he depicted St. Peter in the church on the day of the Last Judgment, expelling an evil spirit from hell.

And this corresponded to his spiritual life, his desire for monasticism. And a monk is a person who has left the world, preparing himself to answer at the judgment of Christ. Gogol remained a writer and, as it were, a monk in the world. In his writings he shows that it is not man who is bad, but the sin operating within him. Orthodox monasticism has always maintained the same thing. Gogol believed in the power of the artistic word, which can show the path to moral rebirth. It was with this faith that he created The Inspector General.

There is little that can so subtly, accurately and acutely reflect the tragedy of an unsightly reality better than its demonstration in a comedic light. Judging by the reaction that followed, Gogol succeeded perfectly in his play “The Inspector General.” The author himself repeatedly noted that he sought to collect and generally convey all possible vices characteristic of his contemporaries, especially in bureaucratic society, in order to laugh at them heartily. According to surviving evidence, the writer had an almost physical need to create a bright satirical comedy. For this reason, Gogol interrupted work on Dead Souls. It is believed that the plot for the work was suggested to the author by Pushkin. At that time, anecdotal stories of someone being mistaken for an inspector in various places were quite common. The first version of Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General” came out from the writer’s pen literally two months later. In 1836 he presented the play to the public. The result was mixed. The writers received it quite enthusiastically, and high society, having clearly sensed the essence, received it irritably, declaring the story pure fiction. But the production was not banned, and Gogol corrected it until 1842. This is the version available today.

“The Inspector General” is a clearly social comedy, satirical, created in compliance with the basic canons of the genre. It captivates readers with a clear, consistent development of events, the comedy of which increases with each action, reaching its highest degree in the 8th scene of the 5th act. The ending remains open and, at the same time, quite sufficient, implying a completely different story. The author interrupts his story about the extraordinary events that took place in one provincial town with a silent scene that allows you to better feel the absurdity of everything that is happening. Of course, the actions and characters of the heroes are somewhat exaggerated, but this was done deliberately. After all, the task assigned to the writer must be completed in full. And in “The Inspector General” the goal of demonstrating the vices and degradation of personality is definitely achieved. Unfortunately, the shortcomings ridiculed by Gogol have not outlived their usefulness to this day. Only some have acquired modern forms and names (for example, corruption). Therefore, the relevance of the work does not need proof.

On our website you can read the summary online, read “The Inspector General” in full or download it freely.

Gogol began work on the play in the fall. It is traditionally believed that the plot was suggested to him by A.S. Pushkin. This is confirmed by the memoirs of the Russian writer V.A. Sollogub: “Pushkin met Gogol and told him about an incident that happened in the city of Ustyuzhna, Novgorod province - about some passing gentleman who pretended to be a ministry official and robbed all the city residents.”

There is also an assumption that it goes back to the stories about P. P. Svinin’s business trip to Bessarabia in.

It is known that while working on the play, Gogol repeatedly wrote to A.S. Pushkin about the progress of its writing, sometimes wanting to quit it, but Pushkin persistently asked him not to stop working on “The Inspector General.”

Characters

• Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor.
• Anna Andreevna, his wife.
• Marya Antonovna, his daughter.
• Luka Lukich Khlopov, superintendent of schools.
• Wife his.
• Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin, judge.
• Artemy Filippovich Strawberry, trustee of charitable institutions.
• Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin, postmaster.
• Pyotr Ivanovich Dobchinsky, Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky- city landowners.
• Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, an official from St. Petersburg.
• Osip, his servant.
• Christian Ivanovich Gibner, district doctor.
• Fedor Ivanovich Lyulyukov, Ivan Lazarevich Rastakovsky, Stepan Ivanovich Korobkin- retired officials, honorary persons in the city.
• Stepan Ilyich Ukhovertov, private bailiff.
• Svistunov, Pugovitsyn, Derzhimorda- police officers.
• Abdulin, merchant.
• Fevronya Petrovna Poshlepkina, locksmith.
• Non-commissioned officer's wife.
• bear, servant of the mayor.
• Servant tavern
• Guests, merchants, townspeople, petitioners

Plot

Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, a young man with no specific occupation, who has risen to the rank of collegiate registrar, follows from St. Petersburg to Saratov, with his servant Osip. He finds himself passing through a small county town. Khlestakov lost at cards and was left without money.

Just at this time, the entire city government, mired in bribes and embezzlement, starting with the mayor Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, is waiting in fear for the arrival of the auditor from St. Petersburg. City landowners Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, having accidentally learned about the appearance of the defaulter Khlestakov at the hotel, report to the mayor about his arrival incognito from St. Petersburg to the city.

A commotion begins. All officials and officials fussily rush to cover up their sins, but Anton Antonovich quickly comes to his senses and understands that he himself needs to bow to the auditor. Meanwhile, Khlestakov, hungry and unsettled, in the cheapest hotel room, ponders where to get food.

The appearance of the mayor in Khlestakov’s room is an unpleasant surprise for him. At first, he thinks that the hotel owner denounced him as an insolvent guest. The mayor himself is openly timid, believing that he is talking to an important metropolitan official who has arrived on a secret mission. The mayor, thinking that Khlestakov is an auditor, offers him bribe. Khlestakov, thinking that the mayor is a kind-hearted and decent citizen, accepts from him on loan. “I ended up giving him two hundred and four hundred instead,” the mayor rejoices. Nevertheless, he decides to pretend to be a fool in order to extract more information about Khlestakov. “He wants to be considered incognito,” the mayor thinks to himself. - “Okay, let’s let us Turuses in and pretend that we don’t know what kind of person he is.” But Khlestakov, with his inherent naivety, behaves so directly that the mayor is left with nothing, without losing the conviction, however, that Khlestakov is a “subtle little thing” and “you need to be careful with him.” Then the mayor comes up with a plan to get Khlestakov drunk, and he offers to inspect the charitable institutions of the city. Khlestakov agrees.

Then the action continues in the mayor's house. A fairly tipsy Khlestakov, seeing the ladies - Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna - decides to “show off.” Showing off in front of them, he tells tales about his important position in St. Petersburg, and, what is most interesting, he himself believes in them. He attributes to himself literary and musical works, which, due to the “extraordinary lightness of his thoughts,” allegedly “wrote in one evening, it seems, and amazed everyone.” And he’s not even embarrassed when Marya Antonovna practically catches him in a lie. But soon the tongue refuses to serve the rather tipsy capital guest, and Khlestakov, with the help of the mayor, goes to “rest.”

The next day he remembers nothing, and wakes up not as a “field marshal”, but as a college registrar. Meanwhile, city officials “on a military footing” line up to give a bribe to Khlestakov, and he, thinking that he is borrowing, accepts money from everyone, including Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, who, it would seem, have no need to bribe the auditor. And he even begs for money, citing a “strange incident” that “I completely spent money on the road.” Having sent the last guest away, he manages to look after Anton Antonovich’s wife and daughter. And, although they have known each other for only one day, he asks for the hand of the mayor’s daughter and receives the consent of his parents. Next, petitioners break through to Khlestakov, who “attack the mayor” and want to pay him in kind (wine and sugar). Only then does Khlestakov realize that he was given bribes, and he flatly refuses, but if he had been offered a loan, he would have taken it. However, Khlestakov’s servant Osip, being much smarter than his master, understands that both kind and money are still bribes, and takes everything from the merchants, citing the fact that “even a rope will come in handy on the road.” Osip strongly recommends that Khlestakov quickly get out of the city before the deception is revealed. Khlestakov leaves, finally sending his friend a letter from the local post office.

The mayor and his entourage take a breath of relief. First of all, he decides to “give some pepper” to the merchants who went to complain about him to Khlestakov. He swaggers over them and calls them names, but as soon as the merchants promised a rich treat for the engagement (and later for the wedding) of Marya Antonovna and Khlestakov, the mayor forgave them all.

The mayor gathers a full house of guests to publicly announce Khlestakov’s engagement to Marya Antonovna. Anna Andreevna, convinced that she has become related to the big capital authorities, is completely delighted. But then the unexpected happens. The postmaster of the local branch (at the request of the mayor) opened Khlestakov’s letter and it is clear from it that incognito he turned out to be a swindler and a thief. The deceived mayor has not yet had time to recover from such a blow when the next news arrives. An official from St. Petersburg staying at the hotel demands him to come to him. It all ends with a silent scene...

Productions

"The Inspector General" was first staged on the stage of the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater on April 19, 1836. The first performance of "The Inspector General" in Moscow took place on May 25, 1836 on the stage of the Maly Theater.

Nicholas I himself was present at the St. Petersburg premiere. The Emperor really liked the production; moreover, according to critics, the positive perception of the crowned special risky comedy subsequently had a beneficial effect on the censorship fate of Gogol’s work. Gogol's comedy was initially banned, but after an appeal it received the highest permission to be staged on the Russian stage.

Gogol was disappointed by public opinion and the unsuccessful St. Petersburg production of the comedy and refused to take part in the preparation of the Moscow premiere. At the Maly Theater, the leading actors of the troupe were invited to stage “The Inspector General”: Shchepkin (mayor), Lensky (Khlestakov), Orlov (Osip), Potanchikov (postmaster). Despite the absence of the author and the complete indifference of the theater management to the premiere production, the performance was a huge success.

The comedy “The Inspector General” did not leave the stages of Russian theaters both during the USSR and in modern history. It is one of the most popular productions and enjoys success with the audience.

Notable productions

Film adaptations

• “The Inspector General” - director Vladimir Petrov
• “Incognito from St. Petersburg” - director Leonid Gaidai
• “The Inspector General (film-play)” - director Valentin Pluchek
• “The Inspector General” - director Sergei Gazarov

Artistic Features

Before Gogol, in the tradition of Russian literature, in those works that could be called the forerunner of Russian satire of the 19th century (for example, Fonvizin’s “The Minor”), it was typical to depict both negative and positive heroes. In the comedy “The Inspector General” there are actually no positive characters. They are not even outside the scene and outside the plot.

The relief depiction of the image of city officials and, above all, the mayor, complements the satirical meaning of the comedy. The tradition of bribery and deception of an official is completely natural and inevitable. Both the lower classes and the top of the city’s bureaucratic class cannot imagine any other outcome other than bribing the auditor with a bribe. A nameless district town becomes a generalization of all of Russia, which, under the threat of revision, reveals the true side of the character of the main characters.

Critics also noted the peculiarities of Khlestakov’s image. An upstart and a dummy, the young man easily deceives the experienced mayor. The famous writer Merezhkovsky traced the mystical origins in comedy. The auditor, like an otherworldly figure, comes for the mayor’s soul, repaying for sins. “The main strength of the devil is the ability to appear to be something other than what he is,” this explains Khlestakov’s ability to mislead about his true origin.

Cultural influence

Comedy had a significant influence on Russian literature in general and drama in particular. Gogol's contemporaries noted her innovative style, depth of generalization and prominence of images. Gogol's work was immediately admired by Pushkin, Belinsky, Annenkov, Herzen, and Shchepkin after its first readings and publications.

Some of us also saw “The Inspector General” on stage then. Everyone was delighted, like all the young people of that time. We repeated by heart […] whole scenes, long conversations from there. At home or at a party, we often had to enter into heated debates with various elderly (and sometimes, to shame, not even elderly) people who were indignant at the new idol of youth and assured that Gogol had no nature, that these were all his own inventions and caricatures that there are no such people in the world at all, and if there are, then there are much fewer of them in the whole city than here in one comedy. The fights were hot, prolonged, to the point of sweat on the face and palms, to sparkling eyes and dull beginnings of hatred or contempt, but the old men could not change a single feature in us, and our fanatical adoration of Gogol only grew more and more.

The first classical critical analysis of The Inspector General was written by Vissarion Belinsky and was published in 1840. The critic noted the continuity of Gogol's satire, which originates in the works of Fonvizin and Moliere. The mayor Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky and Khlestakov are not carriers of abstract vices, but the living embodiment of the moral decay of Russian society as a whole.

In The Inspector General there are no better scenes, because there are no worse ones, but all are excellent, as necessary parts, artistically forming a single whole, rounded out by internal content, and not by external form, and therefore representing a special and closed world in itself.

Gogol himself spoke about his work like this:

In “The Inspector General,” I decided to put together everything bad in Russia that I knew then, all the injustices that are being done in those places and in those cases where justice is most required from a person, and at one time laugh at everything.”

Phrases from the comedy became catchphrases, and the names of the characters became common nouns in the Russian language.

The comedy The Inspector General was included in the literary school curriculum back in Soviet times and to this day remains a key work of Russian classical literature of the 19th century, mandatory for study in school.

see also

Links

• Inspector at the library of Maxim Moshkov
• Yu. V. Mann. Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General". M.: Artist. lit., 1966

Notes

“The Inspector General” is an immortal comedy by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. From the moment it was written, people did not stop reading it and performing it on stage, because the problems that the author revealed in the work will never lose their relevance and will resonate in the hearts of viewers and readers at all times.

Work on the work began in 1835. According to legend, wanting to write a comedy, but not finding a story worthy of this genre, Gogol turned to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin for help in the hope that he would suggest a suitable plot. And so it happened, Pushkin shared an “anecdote” that happened either to himself or to an official he knew: a man who came to a certain city on his own business was mistaken by local authorities for an auditor who had arrived on a secret mission to monitor, find out, and report. Pushkin, who admired the writer’s talent, was confident that Gogol would cope with the task even better than him, he really looked forward to the release of the comedy and supported Nikolai Vasilyevich in every possible way, especially when he was thinking of abandoning the work he had begun.

For the first time, the comedy was read by the author himself at an evening hosted by Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky in the presence of several acquaintances and friends (including Pushkin). In the same year, The Inspector General was staged at the Alexandrinsky Theater. The play outraged and alarmed with its “unreliability”; it could have been banned. It was only thanks to Zhukovsky’s petition and patronage that it was decided to leave the work alone.

At the same time, Gogol himself was dissatisfied with the first production. He decided that neither the actors nor the public perceived The Inspector General correctly. This was followed by several explanatory articles by the writer, giving important instructions to those who really want to delve into the essence of comedy, correctly understand the characters, and play them on stage.

Work on “The Inspector General” continued until 1842: after numerous edits were made, it acquired the form in which it has come down to us.

Genre and direction

“The Inspector General” is a comedy where the subject of the story is the life of Russian officials. This is a satire on the morals and practices established among people belonging to this circle. The author skillfully uses comic elements in his work, providing them with both plot twists and turns and a system of characters. He cruelly ridicules the current state of society, either openly ironizing about events that illustrate reality, or covertly laughing at them.

Gogol worked in the direction of realism, the main principle of which was to show “a typical hero in typical circumstances.” This, on the one hand, made it easier for the writer to choose the topic of the work: it was enough to think about what issues are pressing for society at the moment. On the other hand, this presented him with the difficult task of describing reality in such a way that the reader recognized it and himself in it, believed the word of the author, and, immersed in the atmosphere of disharmony of reality, realized the need for change.

About what?

The action takes place in a county town, which naturally has no name, thereby symbolizing any city, and therefore Russia as a whole. Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky - the mayor - receives a letter that talks about an auditor who can come to the city incognito at any moment with an inspection. The news literally puts all residents who have anything to do with the bureaucratic service on their ears. Without thinking twice, the frightened townspeople themselves find a candidate for the role of an important official from St. Petersburg and try in every possible way to flatter him, to please the high-ranking official so that he will be lenient towards their sins. The comedy of the situation is added by the fact that Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, who made such an impression on those around him, does not realize until the last minute why everyone is behaving so courteously towards him, and only at the very end begins to suspect that he was mistaken for someone else, throughout apparently an important person.

Woven into the overall narrative is a love conflict, also played out in a farcical manner and built on the fact that the young ladies participating in it, each pursuing their own benefit, try to prevent each other from achieving it, and at the same time the instigator cannot choose one of the two. I'll give.

Main characters and their characteristics

Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov

This is a petty official from St. Petersburg, returning home to his parents and mired in debt. “The most difficult role is the one who is mistaken by the frightened city for an auditor,” - this is what Gogol writes about Khlestakov in one of the articles in the appendix to the play. An empty and insignificant person by nature, Khlestakov wraps a whole city of rogues and swindlers around his finger. His main assistant in this is the general fear that gripped the officials who are mired in official “sins”. They themselves create an incredible image of the all-powerful auditor from St. Petersburg - a formidable man who decides other people's destinies, the first of the first in the whole country, as well as a metropolitan thing, a star in any circle. But you need to be able to support such a legend. Khlestakov copes with this task brilliantly, turning every passage thrown in his direction into a fascinating story, so brazenly ridiculous that it is difficult to believe that the cunning people of the city of N could not see through his deception. The secret of the “auditor” is that his lies are pure and naive to the extreme. The hero is incredibly sincere in his lies; he practically believes what he is telling. This is probably the first time he has received such overwhelming attention. They really listen to him, listen to his every word, which makes Ivan completely delighted. He feels that this is his moment of triumph: whatever he says now will be received with admiration. His imagination takes flight. He doesn't realize what's really going on here. Stupidity and bragging do not allow him to objectively assess the real state of affairs and realize that these mutual delights cannot continue for long. He is ready to linger in the city, taking advantage of the imaginary goodwill and generosity of the townspeople, not realizing that the deception will soon be revealed, and then the rage of the officials who have been fooled will know no bounds.

Being a loving young man, Khlestakov drags himself after two attractive young ladies at once, not knowing who to choose, the mayor’s daughter or his wife, and throws himself first on his knees in front of one, then in front of the other, which wins the hearts of both.

In the end, gradually beginning to guess that everyone present was mistaking him for someone else, Khlestakov, surprised by this incident, but without losing his good spirits, writes to his friend, the writer Tryapichkin, about what happened to him, and offers to make fun of his new acquaintances in the appropriate article. He joyfully describes the vices of those who graciously accepted him, those whom he managed to rob fairly (accepting exclusively on loans), those whose heads he gloriously turned with his stories.

Khlestakov is “a lying, personified deception” and at the same time this empty, insignificant character “contains a collection of many of those qualities that are not found in insignificant people,” which is why this role is all the more difficult. You can find another description of the character and image of Khlestakov in essay format.

Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor

“Rogue of the first category” (Belinsky)

Anton Antonovich is a smart person and knows how to manage things. He could have been a good mayor if he had not cared primarily about his pocket. Having deftly settled in his place, he carefully looks at every opportunity to grab something somewhere and never misses his chance. In the city he is considered a swindler and a bad manager, but it becomes clear to the reader that he earned such fame not because he is angry or ruthless by nature (he is not at all like that), but because he put his own interests much higher than those of others. Moreover, if you find the right approach to him, you can enlist his support.

The mayor is not mistaken about himself and does not hide in a private conversation that he himself knows everything about his sins. He considers himself a devout person, for he goes to church every Sunday. It can be assumed that he is not alien to some repentance, but he still puts his weaknesses above it. At the same time, he treats his wife and daughter with reverence; he cannot be reproached with indifference.

When the inspector arrives, the mayor is more frightened by the surprise than by the inspection itself. He suspects that if you properly prepare the city and the right people for the meeting of an important guest, and also take into account the official from St. Petersburg himself, then you can successfully arrange the business and even win something for yourself here. Feeling that Khlestakov is being influenced and is in a good mood, Anton Antonovich calms down, and, of course, there is no limit to his joy, pride and the flight of his imagination when the opportunity arises to become related to such a person. The mayor dreams of a prominent position in St. Petersburg, of a successful match for his daughter, the situation is under his control and turns out as well as possible, when suddenly it turns out that Khlestakov is just a dummy, and a real auditor has already shown up on the doorstep. It is for him that this blow becomes the most difficult: he loses more than others, and he will receive it much more severely. You can find an essay describing the character and image of the mayor in The Inspector General.

Anna Andreevna and Maria Antonovna

The main female characters of the comedy. These ladies are the wife and daughter of the mayor. They are extremely curious, like all bored young ladies, hunters of all city gossip, as well as big flirts, they love it when others are carried away by them.

Khlestakov, who appears so unexpectedly, becomes wonderful entertainment for them. He brings news from the capital's high society, tells many amazing and entertaining stories, and most importantly, shows interest in each of them. Mother and daughter are trying in every possible way to woo the delightful dandy from St. Petersburg, and, in the end, he wooes Maria Antonovna, which her parents are very happy about. Everyone begins to make rosy plans for the future. The women do not realize that the wedding is not included in his plans, and in the end both, like all residents of the city, find themselves broke.

Osip

Khlestakov's servant is not stupid and cunning. He understands the situation much faster than his owner and, realizing that things are not going well, advises the owner to leave the city as soon as possible.

Osip understands well what his owner needs, to always take care of his well-being. Khlestakov himself clearly does not know how to do this, which means that without his servant he will be lost. Osip also understands this, so sometimes he allows himself to behave familiarly with his owner, is rude to him, and behaves independently.

Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky

They are city landowners. Both are short, round, “extremely similar to each other.” These two friends are talkers and liars, the two main town gossips. It is they who mistake Khlestakov for an auditor, thereby misleading all other officials.

Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky give the impression of being funny and good-natured gentlemen, but in reality they are stupid and, in essence, just empty talkers.

Other officials

Each official of city N is remarkable in some way, but nevertheless, they primarily constitute the overall picture of the bureaucratic world and are of interest in the aggregate. They, as we will see later, have all the vices of people occupying important positions. Moreover, they do not hide it, and sometimes they are even proud of their actions. Having an ally in the person of the mayor, the judge, the trustee of charitable institutions, the superintendent of schools and others freely do any arbitrariness that comes to their mind, without fear of reprisal.

The announcement of the arrival of the auditor terrifies everyone, but such “sharks” of the bureaucratic world quickly recover from the first shock and easily come to the simplest solution to their problem - bribing the terrible, but probably just as dishonest auditor as they are. Delighted by the success of their plan, the officials lose their vigilance and composure and find themselves completely defeated at the moment when it turns out that the Khlestakov they had favored is a nobody, but a real high-ranking official from St. Petersburg is already in the city. The image of the city N is described.

Themes

1. Political topics: arbitrariness, nepotism and embezzlement in government structures. The author's field of view comes to the provincial town of N. The absence of a name and any territorial indications immediately suggests that this is a collective image. The reader immediately becomes acquainted with a number of officials living there, since they are the ones of interest in this work. These are all people who completely abuse power and use official duties only for their own interests. The life of the officials of the city of N has been established for a long time, everything goes on as usual, nothing violates the order they created, the foundation of which was laid by the mayor himself, until a real threat of trial and reprisal for their arbitrariness appears, which is about to fall on them in the person of the auditor. We talked about this topic in more detail.
2. Social topics. Along the way, the comedy touches on theme of universal human stupidity, manifesting itself differently in different representatives of the human race. So, the reader sees how this vice leads some of the play's heroes into various curious situations: Khlestakov, inspired by the opportunity once in his life to become what he would like to be, does not notice that his legend is written with a pitchfork on the water and he is about to be exposed ; The mayor, at first frightened to the core, and then faced with the temptation to go out into public in St. Petersburg itself, is lost in a world of fantasies about a new life and turns out to be unprepared for the denouement of this extraordinary story.

Problems

The comedy is aimed at ridiculing specific vices of people with high positions in the service. Residents of the city do not disdain either bribery or embezzlement; they deceive ordinary people and rob them. Selfishness and arbitrariness are the eternal problems of officials, so “The Inspector General” remains a relevant and topical play at all times.

Gogol touches not only on the problems of a particular class. He finds vices in every resident of the city. For example, in noble women we clearly see greed, hypocrisy, deceit, vulgarity and a tendency to betray. In ordinary townspeople, the author finds slavish dependence on masters, plebeian narrow-mindedness, a willingness to grovel and fawn for immediate gain. The reader can see all sides of the coin: where tyranny reigns, there is no less shameful slavery. People resign themselves to this attitude towards themselves, they are satisfied with such a life. This is where unjust power derives its strength.

Meaning

The meaning of the comedy is laid down by Gogol in the folk proverb he chose as the epigraph: “There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked.” In his work, the writer talks about the pressing problems of his country of the contemporary period, although more and more new readers (each in his own era) find them topical and relevant. Not everyone greets comedy with understanding, not everyone is ready to admit the existence of a problem, but they are inclined to blame the people around them, circumstances, life as such for the imperfection of the world - just not themselves. The author sees this pattern in his compatriots and, wanting to fight it using methods available to him, writes “The Inspector General” in the hope that those who read it will try to change something in themselves (and, perhaps, in the world around them) in order to prevent troubles and outrages on their own, but by all possible means to stop the triumphant path of dishonor in the professional environment.

There are no positive characters in the play, which can be interpreted as a literal expression of the author’s main idea: everyone is to blame for everyone else. There are no people who would not take a humiliating part in riots and riots. Everyone contributes to injustice. Not only officials are to blame, but also merchants who give bribes and rob people, and ordinary people who are always drunk and live in bestial conditions on their own initiative. Not only greedy, ignorant and hypocritical men are vicious, but also deceitful, vulgar and stupid ladies. Before criticizing someone, you need to start with yourself, reducing the vicious circle by at least one link. This is the main idea of ​​The Inspector General.

Criticism

The writing of “The Inspector General” resulted in a wide public outcry. The audience received the comedy ambiguously: reviews were both enthusiastic and indignant. Criticism took opposing positions in assessing the work.

Many of Gogol's contemporaries sought to analyze the comedy and draw some conclusion regarding its value for Russian and world literature. Some found it rude and harmful to read. So, F.V. Bulgarin, a representative of the official press and Pushkin’s personal enemy, wrote that “The Inspector General” is a slander against Russian reality, that if such morals exist, it is not in our country, that Gogol depicted a Little Russian or Belarusian city and such an ugly one that it is not clear how he can stay on the globe.

O.I. Senkovsky noted the writer’s talent and believed that Gogol had finally found his genre and should improve in it, but the comedy itself was not so well received by the critic. Senkovsky considered it to be the author’s mistake to mix in his work something good and pleasant with the amount of dirt and baseness that the reader ultimately encounters. The critic also noted that the premise on which the entire conflict rests is unconvincing: such seasoned scoundrels as the officials of the city of N could not be so gullible and allow themselves to be led into this fateful delusion.

There was a different opinion regarding Gogol's comedy. K.S. Aksakov stated that those who criticize “The Inspector General” did not understand its poetics and should read the text more carefully. Like a true artist, Gogol hid his real feelings behind ridicule and satire, but in reality his soul ached for Russia, in which all the characters in the comedy actually have a place.

It is interesting that in his article “The Inspector General” Comedy, Op. N. Gogol" P.A. Vyazemsky, in turn, noted the complete success of the stage production. Recalling the accusations of implausibility against the comedy, he wrote about the psychological causes of the phenomena described by the author as more significant, but was also ready to admit that what happened was possible from all other points of view. An important note in the article is the episode about attacks on the characters: “They say that in Gogol’s comedy not a single smart person is visible; not true: the author is smart.”

V.G. himself Belinsky praised The Inspector General. Oddly enough, he wrote a lot about Gogol’s comedy in the article “Woe from Wit.” The critic carefully examined both the plot and some of the characters of the comedy, as well as its essence. Speaking about the genius of the author and praising his work, he admitted that everything in The Inspector General is excellent.

It is impossible not to mention critical articles about the comedy of the author himself. Gogol wrote five explanatory articles for his work, as he believed that it was misunderstood by actors, spectators, and readers. He really wanted the public to see in The Inspector General exactly what he showed, so that they would perceive him in a certain way. In his articles, the writer gave instructions to the actors on how to play their roles, revealed the essence of some episodes and scenes, as well as the general essence of the entire work. He paid special attention to the silent scene, because he considered it incredibly important, the most important. I would especially like to mention the “Theatrical tour after the presentation of a new comedy.” This article is unusual in its form: it is written in the form of a play. The audience who have just watched the performance, as well as the author of the comedy, are talking among themselves. It contains some clarifications regarding the meaning of the work, but the main thing is Gogol’s responses to criticism of his work.

Ultimately, the play became an important and integral part of Russian literature and culture.

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