In the immortal comedy N.V. Gogol's "Inspector General", in addition to the destroying characteristics of the morals and aspirations of provincial officials, landowners and ordinary residents, satirical image the main character of this play is the false auditor Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov.

The phenomenon of this character lies in the fact that, without understanding and not realizing the situation, Khlestakov, nevertheless, plays the role of an inspector in front of the officials of the district town so brilliantly that it begins to seem as if he was really born to be a "state person", an official of "the highest hands ”, although upon closer examination his figure turns out to be empty and ordinary.

The arrival of Khlestakov falls on the owners of the county like snow on their heads and, as always happens when meeting a "tall" person, the opinion of officials about him is not formed from what they could actually see with their own eyes, taking a closer look at Khlestakov, but from their own ideas about the qualities of a dignitary sent with a special mission. Their confidence in the authenticity of the "auditor" is based on the fact that Khlestakov is cunning and cunning, and in his hands is the well-being of all district officials and landowners. The fact that he is an ordinary windbag and an actor, they simply could not even imagine.

It seems to me that one should not judge Khlestakov as a person capable of any direct evil or intentional intrigues. In fact, he is not at all dangerous to others and can only harm a fly. However, the behavior of Khlestakov expected by the district officials (this is exactly how, in their opinion, an inspector from the capital should behave) prevents them from seeing in this person anything other than what they are determined to find in him.

To understand the image and character of Khlestakov, it is very important that he lives and thinks in one moment, not conforming to either the past or the future. But it is precisely this quality that helps him to adapt so masterfully to the present moment, to play this or that role with the grace of a sophisticated actor.

The “remarks for the gentlemen of the actors” at the beginning of the play also help to understand the character of Khlestakov. In them, Gogol briefly but very accurately made it clear what exactly, in his opinion, should be hidden behind the image of Khlestakov - “ young man about twenty-three years old ... somewhat silly and, as they say, without a king in his head - one of those people who are called the wildest in the offices. " From the “remarks” we learn that Khlestakov “speaks and acts without any consideration ... he is not able to stop constant attention on any thought. His speech is abrupt, and the words fly out of his mouth completely unexpectedly. " However, the "remark" about the hero ends with a very valuable and accurate indication for the actor: "the more the actor performing this role shows candor and simplicity, the more he will win" - this character is sustained with brilliant skill and precision throughout the entire play.

how literary characterKhlestakov is a collective type of frivolous and superficially educated young man, an adventurer and an actor all rolled into one. In the speech of the hero, we now and then hear fashionable and vulgar French phrases, literary clichés used to the place and out of place, which clog the speech. All this does not contribute to Khlestakov's authority in the eyes of the reader and viewer, and only emphasizes the spiritual and moral emptiness of his nature.

Placing such a bright and at the same time typical character in his brilliant comedy, Gogol achieved that the name of Khlestakov became a household name, and the word derived from him - "Khlestakovism" - began to denote unrestrained and shameless boasting, lies, posturing combined with mental and mental poverty.

The great Gogol, writing his "Inspector General", hardly guessed how relevant his comedy would be after centuries. In the characters described in it, we still recognize our friends, famous people and, possibly, ourselves. Khlestakov - main character and one of the most powerful images created by the author. This is not an individual, but a whole phenomenon in society. In this article we will tell you what Khlestakovism is.

Khlestakov and Khlestakovshchina

The hero of Gogol's "Inspector General" Khlestakov is by no means an exception to the rule and not a separate character. The author himself says that every person, at least for a minute in his life, turns into Khlestakov. That is why such a concept as Khlestakovism arose, which characterizes certain behavior and specific traits of many people.

Khlestakov is a product of a soulless bureaucratic system that has lost its morality and spiritual values. Therefore, in other representatives of this system, the same qualities and the same hypocrisy are clearly visible. As Khlestakov deceives everyone around, so they behave with each other and with him. Through his image, Gogol describes the vice of society and a widespread phenomenon that is called Khlestakovism.

What is Khlestakovism? (Based on Nikolai Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General") The appearance of the comedy "The Inspector General" in 1836 caused an uplifted, exciting feeling in society. This spring gave the audience a meeting with a real masterpiece. More than 160 years have passed since then, but the comedy "The Inspector General" has not lost its relevance and sound today. You don't have to look far for examples. Let us recall the negative heroes of the popular "police" TV series than the heroes of Gogol, who only became more cold-blooded and cruel. Gogol himself noted that Khlestakov is the most difficult character in the play. In the recommendations for the actor who played this role, Gogol reveals the character of this character in depth. Khlestakov performed all his feats in the district town absolutely unintentionally. Khlestakov can be compared with a ballet dancer moving through the space of the play, he revives the course of the entire action, acts as a real engine of the plot development of the comedy. Khlestakov brilliantly played the role of auditor before the district officials, only by the middle of the fourth act he began to understand that he was being mistaken for a somewhat "statesman". What the false auditor feels like it seems to be nothing. Khlestakov's behavior amazes all officials of the district town. In their opinion, the auditor is very cunning and resourceful and you need to keep your eye on him. Characteristically, it never occurred to anyone that Khlestakov was just a desperate liar. In each of the situations that arise, he behaves like a brilliant actor. One can imagine how difficult it was for a theatrical actor who first played the role of Khlestakov, an actor playing an auditor. Khlestakov should not be regarded as an evil or cruel person. By itself, he is completely harmless, and those around him can make anything out of him, even incognito from St. Petersburg, and even with a secret prescription, even an insignificant metropolitan official. The peculiarity of Khlestakov's character, or rather the lack of character, lies in the fact that he has practically no memory of the past and thinking about the future. Khlestakov is focused on the present minute, and within this minute is able to achieve the highest artistry. He easily and even with some grace changes his appearance. Among the district officials entirely copied from nature, this completely fictional character makes an unforgettable impression. Probably, we can say that for the uyezd officials such a terrible event as the arrival of the inspector from the capital looked like a kind of eerie but interesting holiday. Khlestakov is terrifying to them and arouses their admiration for the fact that he does not look at all like a person capable of cruelly punishing the guilty. Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol knew the life of the petty Petersburg bureaucracy well, "which allowed him to give in the image of Khlestakov an exaggerated and collective type of superficially educated fanfare. Khlestakov gladly uses for the sake of beauty the syllables picked up from someone and poorly understood French words, cliches of the then fiction... At the same time, there are vulgar expressions in Khlestakov's speech. Gogol made Khlestakov's remarks abrupt, this character is spiritually poor and completely unable to stop his attention on anything. Gogol's contemporary Apollon Grigoriev described this character "Khlestakov, like a soap bubble, inflates under the influence of favorable circumstances, grows in his own eyes and the eyes of officials, becomes bolder and bolder in bragging ..." The influence of the comedy "The Inspector General" on Russian society was enormous ... The surname Khlestakov began to be used as a common noun. And they began to call Khlestakovism any unrestrained phrase-mongering, lies, shameless boasting combined with extreme frivolity. Gogol managed to penetrate the very depths of the Russian national character, having fished out the image of the false auditor Khlestakov from there. According to the author of the immortal comedy, every Russian person becomes Khlestakov at least for a minute, regardless of his social status, age, education and so on.

IN famous work N.V. Gogol (summary), a lot of human vices are concentrated, which the author makes fun of many times. He even distorts reality somewhat, drawing attention to the injustice and conniving attitude of local officials. How many deceivers, thieves and liars are among them! But almost all of these negative traits concentrated in Khlestakov. And it's not for nothing that this surname has become a household name.

Khlestakov is a hero who happened to be at the right time and in the right place. He goes to the Saratov province to his father, where he is accidentally mistaken for an auditor. He, for some time not understanding the reasons for the respectful attitude of officials towards him, takes advantage of his position and begins to borrow large sums. Having guessed that he is not accepted for who he really is, he begins to really use this opportunity and, accordingly, gets used to the role. He adapts to the most different and unexpected situations, putting on alternately masks of one or the other hero. He himself is an absolutely empty person, absolutely deprived and uneducated. He is wasteful: he loses money at cards, and also has a lot of debt. Moreover, when they refuse to feed him in the tavern, he is absolutely sincerely surprised, believing that everything should be given free of charge. At the moment when Khlestakov is mistaken for an auditor, he absolutely mindlessly disposes of money.

Khlestakov is a rather cowardly and weak-tempered person. Not having settled with the owner of the hotel, he is terribly afraid of punishment for his offense. Besides, the protagonist works "The Inspector General" is a terrible liar. He tells the officials about his friendship with Pushkin, lies that he loves literature and writes poetry with great pleasure. Especially his tendency to lie is manifested in communication with women. He openly flirts with the mayor's daughter and his wife. He does not skimp on compliments and pompous words "How I wish, madam, to be your handkerchief to hug your lily neck ...".

Khlestakov likes it when people curry favor with him, they are afraid of him, they please him in everything. "I love hospitality, and I, I confess, like it more if I am pleased with my heart, and not just out of interest ...".

After analyzing the main character traits of the main character of the work of N.V. Gogol's "The Inspector General", one can come to the conclusion that "Khlestakovism" is a whole set of negative qualities, including an irresponsible attitude to money, cowardice, stupidity, immorality, a tendency to lie and boast. It is not for nothing that this surname in modern world became a household name. How many such "Khlestakovs" surround us today.

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The concept of Khlestakovism came to us from the immortal comedy of N.V. Gogol's "The Inspector General", which was written in 1835. The author himself spoke about his comedy like this: “In The Inspector General, I decided to collect everything bad in Russia ... and laugh at everything at once”. The central character of the play by N.V. Gogol called Khlestakov. So who is he, Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, and why did his surname begin to be used as a common noun?

N.V. Gogol managed to create a collective and somewhat exaggerated image of a vulgar and worthless little man. Once passing through the county town, Khlestakov is played at cards and is left penniless. City officials take him for an auditor from St. Petersburg. At first Khlestakov is surprised by their behavior, but then, having entered the role, he begins to consider himself " significant person". Under the influence of circumstances, he grows in his own eyes, so he lies more and more boldly (the author uses the grotesque technique to create the image of the hero). From a collegiate registrar who simply rewrites papers, he in a matter of minutes grows almost to a "field marshal" who "goes to the palace every day" and "with Pushkin on a friendly footing." At a reception at the mayor's, his boasting takes on truly fantastic proportions: “thirty-five thousand couriers alone” are looking for him in the streets, because there is no one else to manage the department, “soup in a saucepan came from Paris right on the ship” to him, and in his hall “ counts and princes are hustling. " Khlestakov speaks and acts without any consideration. His speech is intermittent and vulgar.

One gets the impression that the words fly out of his mouth completely unexpectedly. This is one of those people who are called the empty ones, a soap bubble that inflates to incredible sizes, and then bursts overnight, as if it never existed. (This is how the author himself characterizes Khlestakov “for the gentlemen of the actors”).

Since then, they began to scornfully call impudent, unrestrained, deceitfully frivolous boasting, Khlestakovism. Khlestakovs have always been, at all times. But only after the release of "The Inspector General" did this phenomenon get a name and got into dictionaries. In the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language, edited by Ozhegov, we read: "Khlestakovism - shameless, unrestrained boasting." So what is the essence of this vice? This phenomenon is persistent and very many-sided. Khlestakovism is stupidity, spiritual emptiness, primitiveness, opportunism. Such people love to show off, want to seem more significant than they really are. These are boasters, braggart and fanfare. Probably, we are all sometimes Khlestakov, because we want so much to seem more significant, to grow in our own eyes. Gogol wrote: "Everyone, even for a minute ... was or is being made Khlestakov ... In a word, rarely will anyone not be them at least once in their life ..."

Comedy N.V. Gogol's "The Inspector General" had a tremendous impact on Russian society at that time. More than a century and a half have passed since then, and the Khlestakovs still exist today, this concept has not become archaism, which means that the comedy of the great writer is relevant today.