There is no reason to blame the mirror if the face is crooked.
Folk proverb
Characters
Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor.
Anna Andreevna, his wife.
Marya Antonovna, his daughter.
Luka Lukich Khlopov, the superintendent of schools.
His wife.
Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin, judge.
Artemy Filippovich Strawberry, trustee of charitable institutions.
Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin, postmaster.
Pyotr Ivanovich Dobchinsky, Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky, urban landlords.
Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov, an official from St. Petersburg.
Osip, his servant.
Christian Ivanovich Gibner, the county doctor.
Fedor Andreevich Lyulyukov, Ivan Lazarevich Rastakovsky, Stepan Ivanovich Korobkin,retired officials, people of honor in the city.
Stepan Ilyich Ukhovertov, private bailiff.
Svistunov, Pugovitsyn, Derzhimorda, policemen.
Abdulin, merchant.
Fevronya Petrovna Poshlyopkina, locksmith.
Non-commissioned officer's wife.
bear, the mayor's servant.
Tavern servant.
Guests and guests, merchants, burghers, petitioners.
Characters and costumes
Notes to Messrs. Actors
Governor, already aged in the service and a very intelligent person in his own way. Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably; rather serious; somewhat even reasonable; speaks neither loudly nor softly, neither more nor less. His every word is significant. His facial features are coarse and harsh, like anyone who has begun a heavy service from the lower ranks. The transition from fear to joy, from baseness to arrogance is quite quick, as in a person with roughly developed inclinations of the soul. He is dressed, as usual, in his uniform with buttonholes and boots with spurs. His hair is cropped and gray.
Anna Andreevna, his wife, a provincial coquette, not quite old yet, brought up half on novels and albums, half on troubles in her pantry and girl's. She is very curious and shows vanity on occasion. Sometimes it takes power over a husband just because he is not able to answer her; but this power extends only to trifles and consists in reprimands and ridicule. She changes into different dresses four times during the play.
Khlestakov, a young man of about twenty-three, thin, thin; somewhat silly and, as they say, without a king in his head, - one of those people who are called empty in the offices. Speaks and acts without any consideration. He is unable to stop constant attention on any thought. His speech is abrupt, and the words fly out of his mouth completely unexpectedly. The more the person fulfilling this role shows sincerity and simplicity, the more he will benefit. Dressed in fashion.
Osip, the servant, is such as servants of several elderly years usually are. He speaks earnestly, looks somewhat downward, is reasonable and loves to read lectures for his master to himself. His voice is always almost even, in conversation with the master takes on a stern, abrupt and somewhat even rude expression. He is smarter than his master and therefore more likely to guess, but does not like to talk a lot and is a cheat in silence. His suit is a gray or blue shabby coat.
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, both are short, short, very curious; are extremely similar to each other; both with small abdomens; both speak quickly and help tremendously with gestures and hands. Dobchinsky is a little taller and more serious than Bobchinsky, but Bobchinsky is more cheeky and lively than Dobchinsky.
Lyapkin-Tyapkin, a judge, a person who has read five or six books, and therefore somewhat free-thinking. The hunter is big on guesswork, and therefore gives weight to every word. The person who represents him must always keep a significant face in his face. He speaks in bass with an elongated stretch, wheezing and glanders - like an old clock that first hiss and then chimes.
Strawberry, the trustee of charitable institutions, a very fat, clumsy and clumsy person, but with all that a sneak and a rogue. Very helpful and fussy.
Postmaster, an innocent person to the point of naivety.
Other roles are self-explanatory. Their originals are almost always before our eyes.
Gentlemen, the actors should especially pay attention to the last scene. The last spoken word must produce an electrical shock at all at once, suddenly. The whole group must change position in a flash. The sound of amazement should burst from all women at once, as if from one breast. Failure to comply with these notes may cause the entire effect to disappear.
Action one
A room in the mayor's house.
Phenomenon I
Governor, trustee of charitable institutions, superintendent of schools, judge, private bailiff, doctor, two quarter.
Governor. I invited you, gentlemen, in order to tell you the unpleasant news: an auditor is coming to us.
Ammos Fedorovich... How is the auditor?
Artemy Filippovich. How is the auditor?
Governor. Inspector from St. Petersburg incognito. And also with a secret prescription.
Ammos Fedorovich. Here are the ones on!
Artemy Filippovich. There was no concern, so go ahead!
Luka Lukich. Lord God! also with a secret prescription!
Governor. I seemed to have a presentiment: today I dreamed all night of some two extraordinary rats. Indeed, I have never seen such: black, unnatural size! came, smelled - and walked away. Here I will read you a letter which I received from Andrei Ivanovich Chmykhov, whom you, Artemy Filippovich, know. Here is what he writes: “My dear friend, godfather and benefactor (mutters in an undertone, glancing over quickly) ...and notify you. " AND! here: “I hasten, by the way, to notify you that an official has arrived with an order to inspect the entire province and especially our district (raises his finger significantly). I learned this from the most reliable people, although he presents himself as a private person. Since I know that you, like everyone else, have sins, because you are an intelligent person and do not like to miss what floats into your hands ... " (stopping) well, here are your own ... "then I advise you to take precautions, for he can come at any hour, unless he has already arrived and does not live somewhere incognito ... Yesterday I ..." Well, then family matters started: "... sister Anna Kirilovna came to us with her husband; Ivan Kirilovich has grown very fat and is still playing the violin ... ”- and so on, and so on. So that's the circumstance!
Ammos Fedorovich. Yes, the circumstance is ... extraordinary, just extraordinary. Something for good reason.
Luka Lukich. Why, Anton Antonovich, why is this? Why do we need an auditor?
Governor. What for! So, apparently, fate! (Sighing.) Until now, thanks be to God, we were approaching other cities; now it's our turn.
Ammos Fedorovich. I think, Anton Antonovich, that there is a subtle and more political reason here. This means this: Russia ... yes ... wants to wage war, and the ministry, you see, sent an official to find out if there was treason.
Governor. Where did you have enough! Another smart man! Treason in the county town! What is he, borderline, or what? Yes from here, even if you ride for three years, you won't get to any state.
Ammos Fedorovich. No, I’ll tell you, you are not that ... you are not ... The bosses have subtle types: for nothing that they are far away, but they shake their heads.
Governor. Whether or not it shoots, but I warned you, gentlemen. Look, in my part I have made some orders, I advise you too. Especially you, Artemy Filippovich! Undoubtedly, a passing official will first of all want to inspect the godly establishments under your control - and therefore you will make everything decent: the caps would be clean, and the sick would not look like blacksmiths, as they usually go home.
Artemy Filippovich. Well, that's nothing. The caps, perhaps, can be worn and clean.
Governor. Yes, and over each bed, too, write in Latin or in whatever language ... that's up to you, Christian Ivanovich, - any disease: when someone gets sick, which day and date ... It's not good that you have sick people smoking such strong tobacco, that you always sneeze when you walk in. And it would be better if there were fewer of them: they would immediately be attributed to bad eye or to the non-art of a doctor.
Artemy Filippovich. ABOUT! As for healing, Christian Ivanovich and I took our own measures: the closer to nature, the better - we do not use expensive medicines. A simple man: if he dies, he will die anyway; if he gets well, he will get well. And it would be difficult for Christian Ivanovich to explain himself to them: he does not know a word in Russian.
Christian Ivanovich makes a sound that is somewhat similar to a letter and and somewhat on e.
Governor. I would also advise you, Ammos Fedorovich, to pay attention to public places. In your front hall, where petitioners usually come, the watchmen brought in domestic geese with little goslings, which dart about underfoot. It is, of course, commendable for everyone to start a household, and why shouldn't the watchman start it? only, you know, in such a place it is indecent ... I wanted to notice it to you before, but somehow I forgot everything.
Ammos Fedorovich. But today I will have them all taken to the kitchen. If you want, come to dinner.
Governor. Besides, it’s bad that you have all kinds of rubbish drying up in your very presence and over the very closet with papers a hunting arapnik. I know you like hunting, but it's better to accept it for a while, and then, as the inspector passes, perhaps you can hang him again. Also your assessor ... he, of course, is a well-versed person, but he smells like he’s just come out of a distillery, this is also not good. I wanted to tell you about this for a long time, but I don't remember, I was amused by something. There is against this remedy, if it really is, as he says, it has a natural smell: you can advise him to eat onions, or garlic, or something else. In this case, Christian Ivanovich can help with various medicines.
Christian Ivanovich makes the same sound.
Ammos Fedorovich. No, it is no longer possible to drive this out: he says that his mother hurt him in childhood, and since then he gives off a little vodka from him.
Governor. Yes, I just noticed you. As for the internal order and what Andrei Ivanovich calls "sins" in his letter, I cannot say anything. And it’s strange to say: there is no person who does not have any sins behind him. This is already so arranged by God himself, and the Volterians in vain speak against this.
Ammos Fedorovich. What do you think, Anton Antonovich, are sins? Sin to sin - strife. I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but why bribes? Greyhound puppies. This is a completely different matter.
Governor. Well, puppies or whatever - all bribes.
Ammos Fedorovich. Well, no, Anton Antonovich. But, for example, if someone has a fur coat worth five hundred rubles, and a shawl for his wife ...
Governor. Well, what if you take bribes for greyhound puppies? But you don't believe in God; you never go to church; and I, by at least, is firm in the faith and every Sunday I go to church. And you ... Oh, I know you: if you start talking about the creation of the world, your hair just stands on end.
Ammos Fedorovich. Why, I did it by myself, with my own mind.
Governor. Well, otherwise a lot of intelligence is worse than it would be at all. However, I just mentioned the county court; and to tell the truth, hardly anyone will ever look there: this is such an enviable place, God himself protects it. But for you, Luka Lukic, as the caretaker of educational institutions, you need to take care especially about the teachers. They are people, of course, scientists and were brought up in different colleges, but they have very strange deeds, naturally inseparable from their academic rank. One of them, for example, this one, which has a fat face ... I don't remember his last name, he just can't do without making a grimace, ascending to the pulpit, that's how (makes a grimace) and then he will begin to iron his beard with the hand from under the tie. Of course, if he makes a face like this to a student, then it’s still nothing: maybe it’s there and it’s necessary, I cannot judge about it; but you judge for yourself, if he does it to the visitor, it can be very bad: Mr. Auditor or someone else who can take it personally. From this the devil knows what can happen.
Luka Lukich. What am I really to do with him? I've already told him several times. Just the other day, when our leader entered the classroom, he made a face such as I have never seen before. He made it from kind heart, and me a reprimand: why are free-thinking thoughts instilled in youth.
Governor. The same thing I must tell you about the history teacher. He is a learned head - it can be seen, and he has picked up the darkness of information, but only explains with such fervor that he does not remember himself. I once listened to him: well, while I was talking about the Assyrians and Babylonians - nothing else, but how I got to Alexander the Great, I can't tell you what happened to him. I thought it was a fire, by God! I ran away from the pulpit and that there was strength to grab the chair on the floor. It is, of course, Alexander the Great hero, but why break chairs? from this loss to the treasury.
Luka Lukich. Yes, he's hot! I have already noticed this to him several times ... He says: "As you wish, I will not spare life for science."
Governor. Yes, this is the already inexplicable law of fate: an intelligent person - either a drunkard, or will make such a face that at least take out the saints.
Luka Lukich. God forbid to serve on the scientific side! You are afraid of everything: everyone gets in the way, everyone wants to show that he is also an intelligent person.
Governor. That would be nothing - damn incognito! Suddenly he will look: “Ah, you are here, my dear! And who, say, is the judge here? " - "Lyapkin-Tyapkin". - “And bring Lyapkin-Tyapkin here! And who is the trustee of charitable institutions? " - "Strawberry". - "And serve Strawberries here!" That's what's wrong!
Phenomenon II
The same and the postmaster.
Postmaster. Explain, gentlemen, what, what kind of official is going?
Governor. Haven't you heard?
Postmaster. I heard from Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky. He just came to my post office.
Governor. Well? What do you think about this?
Postmaster. What do I think? there will be a war with the Turks.
Ammos Fedorovich. In one word! I thought the same myself.
Governor. Yes, both of them hit the sky with a finger!
Postmaster. Really, the war with the Turks. It's all a Frenchman crap.
Governor. What a war with the Turks! It will just be bad for us, not the Turks. This is already known: I have a letter.
Postmaster. And if so, then there will be no war with the Turks.
Governor. Well, how are you, Ivan Kuzmich?
Postmaster. What am I? How are you, Anton Antonovich?
Governor. What am I? There is no fear, but just a little ... The merchants and citizenship confuses me. They say that I was a good match for them, but I swear to God, if I took it from another, then, really, without any hatred. I even think (takes his arm and takes him aside) I even wonder if there was any denunciation against me. Why is there really an auditor for us? Listen, Ivan Kuzmich, could you, for our common benefit, every letter that arrives at your post office, incoming and outgoing, you know, print out a little and read it: is it contained some kind of report or just correspondence? If not, then you can seal again; however, you can even give away the printed letter.
Postmaster. I know, I know ... Don't teach this, I do this not so much as a precaution, but more out of curiosity: I love to know death what is new in the world. I'll tell you that this is an interesting reading. You will read another letter with pleasure - this is how different passages are described ... and what edification ... better than in Moskovskiye Vedomosti!
Governor. Well, tell me, have you read anything about some official from St. Petersburg?
Postmaster. No, there is nothing about Petersburg, but a lot is said about Kostroma and Saratov. It is a pity, however, that you do not read the letters: there are wonderful places. Just recently, a lieutenant wrote to a friend and described the ball in the most playful ... very, very good: "My life, dear friend, flows, he says, in empyrean countries: there are a lot of young ladies, the music is playing, the standard jumps ..." - with great, with great feeling described. I kept it with me on purpose. Want to read it?
Governor. Well, now is not the time. So do your mercy, Ivan Kuzmich: if you get a complaint or a report in case you come across a complaint, then delay it without any reasoning.
Postmaster. With great pleasure.
Ammos Fedorovich. See, you will get it someday.
Postmaster. Ah, priests!
Governor. Nothing, nothing. It's another matter if you made something public out of this, but this is a family matter.
Ammos Fedorovich. Yes, a bad thing has started! And I, I confess, was on my way to you, Anton Antonovich, in order to regale you with a little dog. A sister to the dog you know. After all, you heard that Cheptovich and Varkhovinsky started a lawsuit, and now I have a luxury: hounding hares on the lands of both of them.
Governor. Fathers, your hares are no longer dear to me: I have the damned incognito sitting in my head. So you are waiting for the door to open and - shast ...
Phenomenon III
The same Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, both enter breathless.
Bobchinsky. Emergency!
Dobchinsky. Unexpected news!
Everything... What, what is it?
Dobchinsky. An unforeseen thing: we arrive at the hotel ...
Bobchinsky (interrupting). We come with Pyotr Ivanovich to the hotel ...
Dobchinsky (interrupting). Eh, excuse me, Pyotr Ivanovich, I'll tell you.
Bobchinsky. Eh, no, excuse me, I ... excuse me, excuse me ... you really don't have such a syllable ...
Dobchinsky. And you will go astray and do 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, do you kindly so that Pyotr Ivanovich does not interfere.
Governor. Say, for God's sake, what is it? My heart is out of place. Sit down, gentlemen! Take the chairs! Pyotr Ivanovich, here's a chair.
Everyone sits down around both Petrov Ivanovichs.
Well, what, what is it?
Bobchinsky. Excuse me, excuse me: I'm all in order. As soon as I had the pleasure of leaving you after you deigned to be embarrassed by the letter you received, yes, sir, then I ran in ... please don't interrupt, Pyotr Ivanovich! I already know everything, everything, everything, sir. So, if you please see, I ran to Korobkin's. Instead of finding Korobkin at home, he turned to Rastakovsky, and not finding Rastakovsky, went to Ivan Kuzmich to tell him the news you received, yes, walking from there, I met with Pyotr Ivanovich ...
Dobchinsky (interrupting). Near the booth where the pies are sold.
Bobchinsky. Near the booth where the pies are sold. Yes, having met with Pyotr Ivanovich, and I say to him: "Have you heard about the news that Anton Antonovich received from a reliable letter?" And Pyotr Ivanovich already heard about this from your housekeeper Avdotya, who, I don't know, was sent for something to Philip Antonovich Pochechuev.
Dobchinsky (interrupting). Over a keg for French vodka.
Bobchinsky (removing his hands). Over a keg for French vodka. So we went with Pyotr Ivanovich to Pochechuev ... Oh, you, Pyotr Ivanovich ... don't interrupt, please, don't interrupt! .. Let's go to Pochechuev, but on the road Pyotr Ivanovich says: "Let's go," he says, "to the tavern. In my stomach ... I haven't eaten anything since the morning, so stomach concussion ... "- yes, in the stomach of Pyotr Ivanovich ..." And in the tavern, - he says, - now they brought fresh salmon, so we'll have a snack " ... We were just at the hotel, when suddenly a young man ...
Dobchinsky (interrupting). Not bad-looking, in a particular dress.
Bobchinsky. Not bad-looking, in a particular dress, walks that way around the room, and in her face there is a kind of reasoning ... physiognomy ... actions, and here (twirls his hand near his forehead) many, many things. As if I had a presentiment and say to Pyotr Ivanovich: "There is something here for a reason, sir." Yes. And Pyotr Ivanovich had already blinked his finger and called the innkeeper, the innkeeper Vlas: his wife gave birth to him three weeks ago, and such a steadfast boy, like his father, will maintain the inn. Calling Vlas, Pyotr Ivanovich and ask him on the sly: "Who, he says, is this young man?" - and Vlas replies to this: “This”, - says ... Eh, don't interrupt, Pyotr Ivanovich, please don't interrupt; you won't tell, by God you won't tell: you whisper, I know, you have one tooth in your mouth with a whistle ... “This, he says, is a young man, an official, - yes, - traveling from Petersburg, but by his last name, says Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, but he is going, he says, to the Saratov province and, he says, certifies himself strangely: he has been living for another week, does not go from the tavern, takes everything into account and does not want to pay a dime. " As he told me this, and so above and enlightened me. "Eh!" - I say to Pyotr Ivanovich ...
Dobchinsky. No, Pyotr Ivanovich, I said: "eh!"
Bobchinsky. First you said, and then I said. “Eh! - Pyotr Ivanovich and I said. - And why should he sit here when his road lies in the Saratov province? Yes, sir. But he is this official.
Governor. Who, what official?
Bobchinsky. The official, the one about whom you were pleased to receive a notice, is an auditor.
Governor (in fear). What are you, the Lord be with you! It's not him.
Dobchinsky. Is he! and does not pay money and does not travel. Who would be if not him? And the road is registered in Saratov.
Bobchinsky. He, he, by God he ... So observant: he looked at everything. I saw that Pyotr Ivanovich and I were eating salmon - more because Pyotr Ivanovich about his stomach ... yes, so he looked into our plates. I was filled with fear.
Governor. Lord, have mercy on us sinners! Where does he live there?
Dobchinsky. In the fifth room, under the stairs.
Bobchinsky. In the same issue where the passing officers fought last year.
Governor. How long has he been here?
Dobchinsky. And two weeks already. Came to Vasily Egyptian.
Governor. Two weeks! (To the side.) Fathers, matchmakers! Endure, holy saints! During these two weeks a non-commissioned officer's wife was carved! The prisoners were not given provisions! There is a tavern on the streets, filth! A shame! reproach! (Grabs his head.)
Artemy Filippovich. Well, Anton Antonovich? - parade to the hotel.
Ammos Fedorovich. No no! Put your head forward, clergy, merchants; here in the book "Acts of John the Freemason" ...
Governor. No no; let me myself. There were difficult cases in life, went, and even received thanks. Perhaps God will endure now. (Turning to Bobchinsky.) You say he's a young man?
Bobchinsky. Young, about twenty-three or four years old.
Governor. So much the better: you will soon get a taste of the young. The trouble is, if the old devil, and the young one is all above. You, gentlemen, get ready for your part, and I will go on my own, or at least with Pyotr Ivanovich, privately, for a walk, to visit, whether the passing people are in trouble. Hey, Svistunov!
Svistunov. Anything?
Governor. Go now for the private bailiff; or not, I need you. Tell someone there to have a private bailiff as soon as possible, and come here.
The quarter runs in a hurry.
Artemy Filippovich. Let's go, let's go, Ammos Fedorovich! In fact, trouble can happen.
Ammos Fedorovich. Why should you be afraid? Clean caps put on the sick, and the ends in the water.
Artemy Filippovich. What caps! The patients were ordered to give gabersup, but I have such cabbage along all the corridors that take care only of my nose.
Ammos Fedorovich. And I am at peace on this score. Indeed, who will go to the county court? And even if he looks into some paper, he will not be happy with life. I've been sitting in the judge's chair for fifteen years now, but when I look into the memo - ah! I just wave my hand. Solomon himself will not allow what is true and what is not true in it.
The judge, the trustee of charitable institutions, the superintendent of schools and the postmaster leave and in the doorway encounter a returning quarter.
Comedy by N. V. Gogol "The Inspector General"
Artificiality humiliates and vulgarizes everything that it touches ...
D.I.Pisarev
In critics, Gogol's comedy The Inspector General is usually called the best social comedy of its time. Created on the basis of the deepest insight into the essence of social phenomena, the comedy "The Inspector General" has played an important role in the development of social consciousness. High realism closely merged in The Inspector General with satire, satire - with the embodiment of social ideas. Explaining the meaning of The Inspector General, Gogol pointed to the role of laughter: "I am sorry that no one noticed the honest person who was in my play ... This is an honest, noble face - there was laughter." The writer set himself the goal of "laughing strongly" at what is "worthy of the ridicule of the universal," for Gogol saw in laughter a powerful means of influencing society.
Gogol's close friend, Aksakov, wrote that "modern Russian life does not provide material for comedy." To which Gogol replied: "Comedy is hidden everywhere ... living among him, we do not see it, but ... if the artist transfers it to art, to the stage, then we ourselves will roll with laughter."
The peculiarity of Gogol's laughter lies primarily in the fact that the subject for the comic is not the cheats of any hero, but herself modern life in her comically ugly manifestations.
The plot of "The Inspector General" is based on a typical comedic discrepancy: a person is not mistaken for who he really is. But unlike their predecessors. Gogol resolves this situation in a new way.
Khlestakov does not impersonate anyone. The officials were deceived by Khlestakov's sincerity. An experienced rogue would hardly lead the mayor, who "swindled out of swindlers." It was the unintentional nature of Khlestakov's actions that confused the mayor.
In the "Inspector" there are no external impulses for the development of action. Paradoxically, the main impetus for the development of comedy is the fear of officials. The feeling of fear unites the city, torn apart by internal contradictions, into a single organism. The same feeling of fear makes all the inhabitants of the city almost brothers. It turns out that it is not kinship of souls, not common interests, but only fear that can unite these people.
What was happening brought out in people their true ugly and funny face, caused laughter at them, at their life, which was the life of all of Russia. "You are laughing at yourself" - this is addressed to the laughing audience.
Gogol laughs at both the entire district town as a whole, and at its individual inhabitants, at their social vices. Lawlessness, embezzlement, bribery, selfish motives instead of concern for the public good - all this is shown in "The Inspector General" in the form of those generally recognized forms of life, outside of which the rulers cannot imagine their existence.
The funny is also revealed in the seriousness with which each of the characters in the comedy treats his work. All of them are busy with their own business as the greatest task of all life. The reader, on the other hand, can see the insignificance and emptiness of their worries. Thus, Gogol clearly shows the contrast of fussy external activity and internal ossification.
"The Inspector General" is a comedy of characters. Gogol's humor is psychological. Laughing at the characters of The Inspector General, we, in the words of Gogol, laugh not at their "crooked nose, but at their crooked soul." The comic in Gogol is almost entirely devoted to the depiction of types. Hence the rejection of farce, cartoons. The author himself wrote: "Most of all, one must be careful not to fall into a caricature."
So, giving hasty orders to receive the inspector, the mayor confuses the words: "Let everyone take it down the street — damn it, down the street! —A broomstick ..." A minute later he wants to put on a paper case instead of a hat. The note received by Anna Andreevna from her husband contains a funny confusion: "I don't understand anything, what is the use of pickles and caviar?" The quarter officials, whom the mayor points to a piece of paper lying on the floor, "run and take it off, pushing each other in a hurry ". Congratulating Anna Andreevna on the "betrothal" of their daughter, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky "come up at the same time and face their heads." These are, perhaps, all such scenes and details. And we see that these funny "clinging" are rather accompanying tones to
the main motive. They characterize the atmosphere of haste, confusion, fear. Gogol's comic, as a rule, follows from the characters of the characters.
The author, as well as the readers, also laughs "at the inconsistencies in the characters of people and their position in society, at the discrepancy between what the characters think and what they say, between the behavior of people and their opinions. So, for example, officials with their wives who came to congratulate the mayor and Anna Andreevna with the beautiful party of their daughter, flattered in the eyes, but silently speak of the mayor very unflattering: “Not fate, father, fate is a turkey; merits have led to that. (Aside.) Such (?) Happiness always creeps into your mouth. "
Denouncing everything bad, Gogol believed in the triumph of justice, which will triumph as soon as people realize the fatality of the "bad", and in order to realize it, Gogol ridicules everything despicable, insignificant. Laughter helps him to realize this task. Not that laughter that is generated by temporary irritability or bad character, not that light laughter that serves for idle entertainment, but that which "all flies out of the light nature of man", at the bottom of which lies "his ever-gushing spring."
It is generally accepted that the "Inspector" does not contain a single positive character... But what if, in fact, the officials are not bad, but simply turned negative towards us? What caused Khlestakov's lies and the mayor's lie? Why hasn't the state defeated corruption yet? Why did Gogol, in order to describe the problem of bribery, choose the genre of comedy and place the action in a small town? Get acquainted with the experience of carefully reading the play "The Inspector General".
Relationships - corruption (see figure 2)
Figure: 2. Illustration for the "Inspector" ()
Humor (see fig. 3)
Figure: 3. Illustration for the "Inspector" ()
It is amazing that two people who seem to be opposites (the mayor and Khlestakov) turn out to be very similar upon close examination.
Both are afraid of their bosses, each his own. Both are always ready to humiliate the one who depends on them. This can be seen, for example, in the attitude of Khlestakov to the servant in the tavern:
Khlestakov. How dare you fool!
Osip. Yes so; all the same, even though I go, none of this will happen. The owner said that he would not give any more lunch.
Khlestakov. How dare he not give? What nonsense!
Osip. “Also, he says, I will go to the governor; for the third week the master hasn't been making money. You are with the master, he says, are swindlers, and your master is a rogue. We, he says, have seen such scoundrels and scoundrels. "
Khlestakov. And you're really glad, brute, to tell me all this now.
N.V. Gogol. "Inspector"
Khlestakov's dreams also show how he treats people. Both of these characters are dreamy. In Khlestakov's work, this can be seen more clearly:
It’s a pity that Joachim didn’t rent a carriage, but it would be good, damn it, to come home in a carriage, drive up like a devil to some neighbor-landowner under the porch with lanterns, and dress Osip in livery. As if, I imagine, everyone was alarmed: "Who is, what is?" And the footman enters (stretching himself out and introducing the footman): "Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov from Petersburg, would you like to receive it?"
N.V. Gogol. "Inspector"
And the mayor dreams of how he will go to Petersburg and become a high-ranking person there, that is, the reader sees empty daydreaming:
Governor. Well. In St. Petersburg; but it would be good here too. What, after all, I think, already to hell with the city administration, eh, Anna Andreevna?
Anna Andreevna. Naturally, what a municipality!
Governor. After all, as you think, Anna Andreevna, now you can get a big rank, because he is a fellow with all the ministers and goes to the palace, so he can do such a production that in time you will get into generals. What do you think, Anna Andreevna: can I get into generals?
Anna Andreevna. Still would! Sure you may.
Governor. A. damn it, it's nice to be a general! The cavalry will be hung over your shoulder. And which cavalry is better, Anna Andreevna, red or blue?
Anna Andreevna. Of course, blue is better.
N.V. Gogol. "Inspector"
Both heroes lie. In Russian, the concepts "Lie" and "lie"clearly delineated . Khlestakov is lying. He does it selflessly, just to embellish his life, to show how wonderful he is, in order to create an interesting situation at a certain moment. He enjoys the moment itself:
Khlestakov. I know pretty actresses. I, too, are all kinds of vaudeville ... I often see writers. With Pushkin on a friendly footing. Sometimes I often say to him: "Well, brother Pushkin?" - "Yes, brother," he answered, it happened, "because somehow everything ..." Great original.
Anna Andreevna. Is that what you write? How pleasant it must be for a writer! You, right, and put in magazines?
Khlestakov . Yes, and put it in magazines. However, there are many of mine: The Marriage of Figaro, Robert the Devil, Norma. I don't even remember the names. And all by chance: I didn't want to write, but the theatrical management says: "Please, brother, write something." I think to myself: "Perhaps, if you please, brother!" And then in one evening, it seems, he wrote everything, amazed everyone. I have an extraordinary lightness in my thoughts. All this that was under the name of Baron Brambeus, "Frigate of Hope" and "Moscow Telegraph" ... I wrote all this.
N.V. Gogol. "Inspector"
But there is not so much negative in this lie, the reader develops an attitude towards his lie as something composed. And to lie is to mislead on purpose, for some benefit. This is the difference between the concepts "Lie" and "lie".
As an example, consider the poem by I.L. Selvinsky (see fig. 4):
I can lie, but I do not know how to lie.
I do not consider lying to be a crime ...
Lies do not know loops and networks:
It is the lot of poets and children.
It's a completely different matter, brothers, a lie,
Since ancient times hated by everyone ...
Try to split it into links
She is cunning: "I am the worldview!"I.L. Selvinsky. "Lying"
Another common feature of these two characters is the desire to belong to a certain group of people, that is, to seek their dignity in belonging to a certain group. Khlestakov, for example, is proud not of his knowledge and skills, but of the fact that he is a member of some group, even if all this is invented.
People with such character traits often go to work and thus achieve something in life. There is nothing wrong with this - such a character trait can be processed into both a positive and a negative part of nature (how fear can turn into courage, and maybe into cowardice). For example, such people can go to a criminal gang, also become a part of something. Thus, a person with a high sense of another person (empathy) can become "Mother Teresa" and feel sorry for the disadvantaged, or he can become a deceiver. In this case, the deep property of nature, he will use the same thing.
The bottom line is that the property of belonging to something, the desire to be part of the system, which is observed in the heroes of The Inspector General, is not negative or positive. If there were no such people, then society would not be sustainable. Any society is a composite, it has both creative people who want to be independent and have a certain freedom, and those who want to belong to a group, structure and gladly perform some function in it.
Composite - composite material, an artificially created inhomogeneous solid material consisting of two or more components with a clear interface between them.
Reading the dialogue between Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky and Khlestakov, the reader may wonder: how is such a situation even possible?
Khlestakov (stutters a little at first, but speaks loudly towards the end of the speech). But what can you do? It's not my fault ... I really will pay ... I will be sent from the village.
Bobchinsky looks out of the door.
He is more to blame: he serves me the beef as hard as a log; and the soup - he God knows what he threw in there, I had to throw it out the window. He starves me all day long ... The tea is so strange, it stinks of fish, not tea. Why am I ... Here's the news!
Governor (shy). Sorry, I really am not to blame. In the market, my beef is always good. Kholmogory merchants bring them, people are sober and good behavior. I don’t know where he gets it from. And if something goes wrong, then ... Let me suggest that you move with me to another apartment.
Khlestakov . No I do not want to! I know what it means to another apartment: that is, to prison. What right do you have? But how dare you? .. But here I am ... I serve in St. Petersburg. (Cheers up.) I, I, I ...
N.V. Gogol. "Inspector"
Khlestakov is clearly afraid of something, and the mayor, an experienced person, cannot understand what is the matter. Why is that? The governor is seized by an idea that arose out of fear, and fear makes the brain concentrate on something to avoid the danger it fears. The mayor has an idea, one might say, a theory. And he adjusts all the information under this theory, and rejects everything that does not fit this theory. Khlestakov clearly says that he is afraid that he will be sent to prison, that he will be taken somewhere. He feels depressed, and the mayor does not notice all this, because he is already seized by the idea: an inspector has arrived.
The reader believes what is happening, although it all seems strange, because it is grotesque.
Grotesque - a kind of artistic imagery that comically or tragicomically generalizes and sharpens life relationships through a bizarre and contrasting combination of the real and the fantastic, plausibility and caricature, hyperbole and alogism.
The comic nature of the whole situation lies precisely in the fact that this cannot be, as well as a city in which all officials are the same as Gogol introduced to us. Nevertheless, the reader believes what is portrayed, because it is possible to believe that, for example, that a person can be captured by an idea and discards everything that convinces him otherwise. There are many such examples in the literature. The famous French writer said that the rational has no entry into the field of the irrational: if a person is captured by some kind of emotion, it is very difficult for him to prove the opposite.
And then Khlestakov was captured by the idea. Although he is a stupid empty person, he knows how to feel the situation. He really starts to believe what he says. Such people are very capable deceivers. People feel deception by facial expressions, by intonations, by expression, when they do not believe that a person himself believes in what he says. Khlestakov is an inertialess person. At first, he thinks how bad he will be without food, and when they bring him food, he begins to be indignant that there are only two dishes:
Khlestakov (one). It is bad, however, if he gives nothing at all. I want to, as I have never wanted.
Khlestakov . Well, master, master ... I don't care about your master! What is there?
Servant . Soup and roast.
Khlestakov . How, just two dishes?
Servant . Only with.
Khlestakov . What nonsense! I don't accept that. You tell him: what it really is! .. This is not enough.
N.V. Gogol. "Inspector"
Such lack of inertia can also be called shamelessness. He has no inner judge, so he almost believes that he will give this money, he says that he is borrowing. And then it becomes easy for him. He, of course, understands that he will not give anything to anyone, but at that moment he accepted such a mask and easily plays the chosen role. Such people easily borrow, they are easily given, because it is difficult not to believe in their sincerity.
The theme of corruption and bribery runs through the entire work.
Critics who write about The Inspector General often say that this is a common disaster in Russia. But this phenomenon exists not only in our country. It is present wherever a person in power is faced with people who have money, but do not have power. A person who has money thinks how to solve a problem for him. He used to buy, pay for some things. And when he needs a service, he thinks he can buy it too. And the official makes the decision based on his own principles. When he sits in one place for a long time, connections arise, and then corruption. The phenomenon of corruption is ubiquitous, it is very difficult to eradicate it. It is difficult to create a model of a state in which such a phenomenon would not exist.
Imagine a small town in which everything seems to be well thought out. There is a division of powers: there is a mayor, there is a judge. It would seem that one by one they could follow. But in a small town everyone quickly gets to know each other, negotiates, and all these branches of power "stick together". It turns out that the city has one power, the power is monopolized. Not by the state, but by people. But they are a reflection, there is a part of this state. And they have not yet figured out how to deal with it.
The main problem is that a person who remains in power for a long time changes, but at the same time he gains experience. Management experience. Only funny, grotesque forms of management are shown in the comedy. But, for sure, if you remove everyone and install new ones, then after a while you will be able to observe a similar situation. The problem lies in this, and not in the fact that there are officials who are bad, and if they are removed and others installed, then everything will be fine. We need to look for other solutions, which is what humanity is doing.
In Russia there was such a statesman A.D. Menshikov (see Fig. 5). Everyone, including Peter I, knew that he was taking bribes, but the tsar did not take any action against him, because he did a lot.
Some facts from the biography of A.D. Menshikov:
- Russian statesman and military leader, closest associate and favorite of Peter I, generalissimo, admiral, first St. Petersburg governor-general, president of the Military Collegium.
- After the death of Peter I, he contributed to the accession of Catherine I, became the de facto ruler of Russia (1725-1727).
- On September 8, 1727, he was disgraced, deprived of property, titles and awards, then he was exiled with his family to Siberia, where he died a year and a half later.
Another such example is Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord (1754-1838) (see Fig. 6). Napoleon knew perfectly well that his minister took bribes, but at the same time he held him in this post for a very long time. It was beneficial for Napoleon to keep this man, and Talleyrand knew it.
Figure: 6. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord ()
Check out the facts from his biography:
- Prince of Beneventsky, French politician and diplomat, who served as foreign minister under three regimes, from the Directory to the government of Louis Philippe. Renowned master of political intrigue.
- 1788-1791 - Bishop of Autun.
- 1790 - President of the French National Assembly.
- 1799 - 1815 - Minister of Foreign Affairs of France.
- July 9 - September 26, 1815 - Prime Minister of France.
It is interesting that Gogol chose just such a genre of work - comedy. Moreover, he even promised Pushkin that it would be funny "To hell"that laughter is the protagonist:
“Please, give me some story, at least some, funny or unfunny, but Russian is purely anecdote. The hand is shaking to write a comedy meanwhile. Do me mercy, give me a plot, the spirit will be a five-act comedy, and I swear it will be funnier than hell. For God's sake. My mind and stomach are both starving. "
From a letter to N.V. Gogol A.S. Pushkin
Nicholas I, after reading the play, said that everyone got it, especially him.
Laughter as a mechanism of human interaction is a very irrational, but at the same time, a group thing. You can laugh alone with yourself, but laughing is possible only in company. It is very important to distinguish between laughter and ridicule.
People are very fond of joking, but they are afraid to seem funny. Taunt lowers status, which is why they are so afraid of it. Therefore, human leaders are usually serious and don't joke too much. They can mock, but not joke, not cause laughter. Mockery humiliates, and laughter unites, although in form it cannot be distinguished.
People value a sense of humor very much. Everyone wants to have friends with this very feeling. It is easy to resolve conflicts with someone who has a sense of humor. For example, two people of the same status reached for the last piece of cake and collided. They start to grin and laugh out of the awkward situation.
It becomes funny in the work because the reader observes situations that seem to be impossible, but, reading, begins to believe in them. So, for example, dad tries to scare in early childhood child, and he laughs or gets scared and immediately hugs dad, hiding from fear. This contradiction is present all the time. This is a mirror image of fear, and we resolve it with laughter. Gogol used this tool when writing The Inspector General.
Note that the permissible objects of laughter vary from culture to culture:
CM. Eisenstein (2002, pp. 427-429) wrote that what brought him to Mexico was the ability of the Mexicans - the "carriers of living life" - to laugh about death. This country, according to him, knew how to laugh in a childlike way at what leads to convulsions of fear of the country and the nation aging, decaying, not convinced of the vitality of their origins and the life-affirming inexhaustible juices of their national sources.
A. Kozintsev. "Man and Laughter"
This is a very interesting approach.
What is allowed to laugh at now is not a permanent thing, it will continue to change.
It cannot be argued that there is absolutely bad people... Sometimes people show us their negative side by getting into a certain situation. Gogol created just such a situation in which everyone is turned by their negative sides to the viewer.
It is necessary to distinguish between laughter and ridicule. That is why Gogol said: “Who are you laughing at? You laugh at yourself "because laughing is cruel.
The Inspector's text leaves room for speculation. The intonations of the characters, who and how said something, where who stood - all this can be thought out. But this is typical for a story or a novel, and here the play was originally written. Therefore, it is imperative to watch the play, and then read.
The Inspector General is an immortal comedy by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. From the moment of its writing, they did not stop reading and staging it on stage, because the problems that the author revealed in the work will never lose their relevance and will find a response 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 him or to an official he knew: a person who came to a city on his own business was mistaken by the local authorities for an inspector who had arrived on a secret mission to track, find out, report. Admiring the talent of the writer, Pushkin was sure that Gogol would cope with the task even better than him, he was looking forward to the release of the comedy and in every possible way supported Nikolai Vasilyevich, 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 with 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 angered and alarmed with its "unreliability", it could be banned. It was only thanks to the petition and patronage of Zhukovsky 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 had taken The Inspector General correctly. This was followed by several explanatory articles by the writer, giving important instructions to those who really want to grasp the essence of comedy, correctly understand the characters, and play them on stage.
Work on the "Inspector General" continued until 1842: after numerous corrections, 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 mores and orders established among people belonging to this circle. The author skillfully uses elements of the comic in his work, supplying them with both plot twists and turns and a system of characters. He cruelly ridicules the current state of society, then openly ironic about events that illustrate reality, then 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 burning for society at the moment. On the other hand, this posed a difficult task for him to describe reality in such a way that the reader would recognize it and himself in it, believe the author's word and himself, plunging into 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, which says about the auditor, who can come to the city incognito with a check at any moment. The news literally puts on the ears of all residents who have anything to do with the civil service. Without thinking twice, the frightened townspeople themselves find a contender for the role of an important official from St. Petersburg and in every possible way try to flatter him, to appease a high-ranking person, so that he will condescend to their sins. The comic nature of the situation is added by the fact that Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, who made such an impression on others, until the last minute does not guess why everyone behaves with him so courteously, and only at the very end begins to suspect that he was mistaken for someone else, throughout the appearance of an important person.
A love conflict is also woven into the canvas of the general narrative, 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 reaching it, and the instigator at the same time cannot choose one of the two I will.
The main characters and their characteristics
Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov
This is a minor official from St. Petersburg, returning home to his parents and mired in debt. “The role of the one who is taken by the frightened city for the auditor is more difficult for everyone,” Gogol writes about Khlestakov in one of the articles attached to the play. An empty and insignificant person by nature, Khlestakov turns around his finger a whole city of rogues and swindlers. The main assistant to him in this becomes the general fear that gripped the officials mired in official "sins". They themselves create an incredible image of an omnipotent auditor from St. Petersburg - a formidable person who decides other people's destinies, the first of the first in the whole country, as well as a metropolitan thing, a star of any circle. But such a legend must be able to support. Khlestakov brilliantly copes with this task, unrolling every passage thrown in his direction to an exciting story so impudently absurd that it is hard to believe that the cunning city 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 in 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 absolutely delighted. He feels that this is the moment of his triumph: whatever he says now, everything will be greeted with admiration. His fantasy takes flight. He is not aware of what is really going on here. Stupidity and bragging do not allow him to objectively assess the real state of affairs and realize that these mutual enthusiasm cannot last long. He is ready to stay in the city, taking advantage of the imaginary benevolence and generosity of the townspeople, not realizing that the deception will soon be revealed, and then there will be no limit to the fury of the officials circled around the finger.
Being a loving young man, Khlestakov drags right after two attractive young ladies, not knowing whom to choose, whether the mayor's daughter or his wife, and rushes in front of one or the other on his knees, which wins the hearts of both.
In the end, gradually starting to guess that all those present take him for someone else, Khlestakov, surprised by this incident, but without losing courage, writes to his friend, the writer Tryapichkin, about what happened to him, and offers to ridicule his new acquaintances in the relevant article. He joyfully paints the vices of those who accepted him complacently, those whom he managed to rob (taking only loans), those who gloriously turned their heads with their stories.
Khlestakov is a "deceitful, personified deception" and at the same time this empty, insignificant character "contains a collection of many of those qualities that are found not behind insignificant people," which is why this role is more difficult than everyone else. You can find another description of the character and image of Khlestakov in the format of an essay.
Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor
"Dodger of the first category" (Belinsky)
Anton Antonovich is not a stupid person and knows how to manage affairs. He could have been a good mayor if he hadn't been primarily concerned about his pocket. Deftly settling in his seat, he carefully looks at every opportunity to grab something somewhere and never misses his chance. In the city he is considered a fraud 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 interests much higher than those of others. Moreover, if you find the right approach to him, you can enlist his support.
The governor 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 man, for he goes to church every Sunday. It can be assumed that some repentance is not alien to him, but he still puts his weaknesses above him. At the same time, he is anxious about his wife and daughter, he cannot be reproached with indifference.
In the arrival of the auditor, the mayor is rather frightened by the surprise than by the check itself. He suspects that if the city is properly prepared and the right people to the meeting of an important guest, as well as to take the official from St. Petersburg into circulation, then you can successfully arrange a business and even win something for yourself here. Feeling that Khlestakov succumbs to influence and comes into 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 intermarry with such a person. The governor dreams of a prominent position in St. Petersburg, of a successful game for his daughter, the situation is under his control and turns out as well as possible, when it suddenly turns out that Khlestakov is just a dummy, and a real auditor has already appeared on the threshold. It is for him that this blow becomes the most difficult: he loses more than others, and will get him 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 comedy. These ladies are the wife and daughter of the mayor. They are extremely curious, like all bored young ladies, hunters for all city gossip, as well as big coquettes, they love to be carried away by others.
Khlestakov, who appeared so unexpectedly, becomes a wonderful entertainment for them. He brings news from the high society of the capital, tells many amazing and amusing stories, and most importantly shows interest in each of them. Mother and daughter are trying in every possible way to achieve the location of an adorable dandy from St. Petersburg, and, in the end, he wooed Maria Antonovna, which her parents are very happy about. Everyone is starting to make bright plans for the future. Women do not realize that the wedding is not included in his plans, and in the end both, as, indeed, all residents of the city, find themselves at a broken trough.
Osip
Khlestakov's servant is not stupid and cunning. He understands the situation much faster than his master 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 disappear. Osip also understands this, so sometimes he allows himself to behave familiarly with the owner, is rude to him, behaves independently.
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky
They are city landlords. Both are short, round, "extremely similar to each other." These two friends are talkers and liars, the two main city gossips. It is they who take Khlestakov for an auditor, than they mislead all the other officials.
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky give the impression of funny and good-natured gentlemen, but in fact they are stupid and, in essence, are just windbag.
Other officials
Each official of the city N is remarkable in some way, but nevertheless, they first of all make up the general picture of the bureaucratic world and are of interest in the aggregate. They, as we will see later, have all the vices of people in important positions. Moreover, they do not hide it, and sometimes they are even proud of their actions. Having in the person of the mayor's ally, 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 reprisals.
The announcement of the arrival of the inspector horrifies 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 a terrible, but probably the same as they are dishonest inspector. Overjoyed by the success of their plan, officials lose their vigilance and composure and find themselves crushed on their heads at the moment when it turns out that Khlestakov, whom they care about, is no one, and a real high-ranking official from St. Petersburg is already in the city. The image of the city N is described.
Topics
- Political themes: arbitrariness, nepotism and embezzlement in government... A provincial town N falls into the author's field of vision. The absence of a name and any territorial indications immediately suggests that this is a collective image. The reader immediately gets acquainted with a number of officials living there, since it is they who are of interest in this work. These are all people who completely abuse power and use their official duties only in their own interests. The life of the officials of the city of N has developed 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 there is a real threat of court and punishment for their arbitrariness, which is about to fall on them represented by the auditor. we talked about this topic in more detail.
- Social topics... Along the way, the comedy touched on the topic of universal stupidity, which manifests itself in different ways in different representatives of the human race. So, the reader sees how this vice leads some of the characters of the play into various curious situations: Khlestakov, inspired by the opportunity to become what he would like to be once in his life, does not notice that his legend has been written with a pitchfork in 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 to the people in Petersburg itself, is lost in the world of fantasies about a new life and turns out to be unprepared for the denouement of this extraordinary story.
Problems
The comedy aims to ridicule the specific vices of people who have a high position in the service. Residents of the city do not disdain either bribery or embezzlement, they deceive ordinary inhabitants, rob them. Self-interest and arbitrariness are the eternal problems of officials, therefore "The Inspector General" at all times remains a relevant and topical play.
Gogol touches on not only the problems of a separate class. He finds vices in every inhabitant of the city. For example, in noble women, we clearly see greed, hypocrisy, deceit, vulgarity and a tendency to betrayal. In ordinary townspeople, the author finds slavish dependence on masters, plebeian narrow-mindedness, a willingness to grovel and fawn for the sake of momentary gain. The reader can discern all sides of the coin: where tyranny reigns, there is no less shameful slavery. People accept this attitude towards themselves, they are satisfied with such a life. This is where unjust power draws its strength.
Meaning
The meaning of the comedy is laid down by Gogol in the folk proverb he chose as an epigraph: "There is no reason to blame the mirror if the face is crooked." In his work, the writer speaks about the pressing problems of his country of his contemporary period, although more and more new readers (each in his own era) find them topical and relevant. Not everyone meets the comedy with understanding, not everyone is ready to admit the existence of a problem, but is inclined to blame the imperfection of the world around people, circumstances, life as such - just not himself. The author sees this pattern in his compatriots and, wishing to fight it with the methods available to him, writes The Inspector General in the hope that those who have read it will try to change something in themselves (and, perhaps, in the world around them) in order to avoid trouble and excesses on their own, but by all possible means to stop the triumphant path of dishonor in the professional environment.
In the play no goodies, which can be interpreted as a literal expression of the main author's thought: everyone is to blame for everyone. There are no people who would not take a humiliating part in atrocities and riots. Everyone is doing their bit for injustice. Not only officials are to blame, but also merchants who give bribes and rob the people, and ordinary people who are always drinking and living in bestial conditions on their own initiative. Not only greedy, ignorant and hypocritical men are vicious, but 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 \u200b\u200bthe "Inspector".
Criticism
The writing of The Inspector General entailed a wide public response... The audience perceived the comedy ambiguously: the reviews were both enthusiastic and outraged. Criticism took opposite positions in assessing the work.
Many of Gogol's contemporaries strove to analyze comedy and draw any conclusion about 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 a personal enemy of Pushkin, wrote that The Inspector General is a slander against Russian reality, that if there are such customs, it is not in our country, that Gogol portrayed a Little Russian or Belarusian city and so ugly that it is not clear how he can stay on the globe.
O.I. Senkovsky noted the talent of the writer, believed that Gogol had finally found his own genre and should improve in it, but the comedy itself was not so complacently received by the critic. Senkovsky considered it a mistake of the author to mix something good and pleasant in his work with the amount of dirt and meanness that the reader eventually encounters. The critic also noted that the plot on which the whole conflict rests is unconvincing: such hardened scoundrels as officials of the city of N could not be so gullible and let themselves be led into this fateful delusion.
There was a different opinion regarding Gogol's comedy. K.S. Aksakov stated that those who scold "The Inspector General" did not understand his poetics and should read the text more carefully. As a true artist, Gogol hid his real feelings behind ridicule and satire, in reality, his soul was rooting for Russia, in which there is actually a place for all the characters of the comedy.
It is interesting that in his article "The Inspector General" a comedy, Op. N. Gogol "P.A. Vyazemsky, in turn, noted the complete success of the stage production. Recalling accusations of implausibility against comedy, he wrote about the psychological causes of the phenomena described by the author as more significant, but he was also ready to admit that what happened was possible from all other points of view. An important note in the article is an episode about attacks towards the characters: “They say that in Gogol's comedy not a single smart person is visible; not true: the author is clever. "
V.G. Belinsky praised the "Inspector". Oddly enough, he wrote a lot about Gogol's comedy in the article "Woe from Wit." The critic carefully considered both the plot and some of the characters in the comedy, and its essence. Talking 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 the critical articles about the comedy of the author himself. Gogol wrote five explanatory articles to his work, as he considered that it was misunderstood by actors, spectators, and readers. He really wanted the audience to see in The Inspector General exactly what he showed, so that they perceive it in a certain way. In his articles, the writer gave instructions to the actors on how to play roles, revealed the essence of some episodes and scenes, as well as the general one - the entire work. He paid special attention to the silent scene, because he considered it incredibly important, the most important. Separately, I would like to mention "Theatrical patrol 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 has just watched the show, 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 answers to criticism of his work.
Ultimately, the play became an important and integral part of Russian literature and culture.
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Description
Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General" is one of the best works Russian literature, relevant today. The audiobook, dubbed by the announcer P. Vasilevsky, tells about the customs of the county town, the residents of which learned that an inspector should come incognito to them, and they are ready to "recognize" him in every stranger who comes to the city.
The mayor Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky receives a letter from the godfather, in which he informs that an official from St. Petersburg will visit their district with the instruction to inspect the order in the district cities incognito. On this occasion, the mayor gathers his subordinates, the city leadership, so that they do not fall face down in the mud in front of the inspector. According to his advice, one can judge in what depressing state the affairs in the city are kept: domestic geese in public places, treating patients without drugs, a dry assessor and a curious postmaster who opens other people's letters for entertainment. Nevertheless, Anton Antonovich is trying to put a polish on the city, not at all caring about the real state of affairs.
Meanwhile, the landowners Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, agitated by the expected arrival of the inspector, have already found a "inspector" - a young official from St. Petersburg who has been living in a hotel for two weeks, does not pay for a room and does not move out. This completely normal behavior seems suspicious to the frightened officials. The message of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky further increased the excitement among the nobility, which hastily gathered and went to the hotel.
The young official Khlestakov is in reality a gambler, a freak and a boozer who has spent all his money on entertainment and now not only cannot pay for the room, but also has no money to feed. The owner of the tavern understands this, too, who forbade feeding such a guest and threatens to complain about the debtor to the governor. Therefore, when the mayor comes to his room to introduce himself to the "inspector", Khlestakov thinks that he has come to put the defaulter in prison. A not very smart young man behaves in a conversation with the mayor naively and directly, but this only strengthens the mayor in the confidence that he is in front of him "incognito" and "a subtle thing."
Khlestakov only eventually realizes that he is being mistaken for the wrong person, and decides to take advantage of the situation in order to live for his own pleasure. However, special efforts for this young man not required, because the officials of the county town have already invented the whole legend for him.
But "The Inspector General" is not a comedy of intrigue, where the whole action is based on deception and secret passages of the heroes. This play was created by N.V. Gogol as a comedy of characters, where the main comic effect is based on descriptions of the mores of the Russian province. The whole action of the comedy is based on the characters of the heroes.
What makes Gogol's play unique is the absence of positive characters in it. Each of his characters, if not a cheat, then a bribe-taker, if not a embezzler, then a loafer, a swindler, a crook. The writer sharply and vividly showed his contemporaries the society in which they, without noticing it, lived. Until now, Gogol's satire finds a response in the hearts of readers, because the customs of officials have not changed so much over a couple of hundred years.
Since its release in 1835, Gogol's comedy has acquired special love from readers, who immediately “pulled” it into quotes that are still in use today. “Big ship - a great voyage!”, “And bring Lyapkin-Tyapkin here!”, “Who are you laughing at? You are laughing at yourself! " - these and other well-known expressions came into our speech from the immortal comedy of Gogol. Therefore, knowledge of such a play is a necessary component of the upbringing of any educated person.
To feel all the variety depicted by N.V. Gogol of characters, to feel all the comic situations of the play, it is best to listen to this audiobook performed by Pyotr Vasilevsky. This announcer with all the fullness of his feelings conveys the nature and temperament of each character with his voice, reads clearly, measuredly, making precise intonation pauses. Where else but in a play intended for theatrical performance, that is, for listening, the skill of the announcer best serves to better understanding it.