Where in the comedy is the denouement in the play the auditor. The plot of the comedy "Inspector

some scenes fourth act the author did not include in printed editions. Among them is the phenomenon VIII, in which the doctor of charitable institutions Gibner manages not to give a bribe to Khlestakov. Why was such a plot excluded by the author?
As you know, Dr. Gibner did not participate in the fourth act, the judge, Zemlyanika, the postmaster, Luka Lukich, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky stood in a “semicircle” and agreed on how to behave with Khlestakov, how to “slip” him money.

If you read in the faces of all Khlestakov's meetings with officials who came to him one at a time, you can see how Khlestakov becomes impudent from scene to scene. To Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky, he directly, without prefaces about the “strange incident” that happened on the road, turns to the question: “Do you have any money? .. Loan a thousand rubles,” but agrees to 65 rubles and sends them out.

The scene with Dr. Gibner was supposed to follow, but Gogol removed it from the printed edition. Why? Dr. Gibner, who does not understand Russian, was not prepared for this meeting by frightened officials, and was not present at the mayor's house either. All his phrases are given in German, they show respect for the visiting auditor, but not fear, he does not “shake his body”, does not feel “on hot coals”, like a judge and postmaster, does not hold prepared money in his fist. Dr. Gibner behaves calmly with a person who is "authorized by power", and Khlestakov cannot shout to him, like Strawberry: "Hey you! As you?" Khlestakov is forced to politely thank the doctor for the cigar (Gibner didn’t have any money: “No money ... no money. Sehen Sie!”)

Gogol removes this scene not only because the words of Dr. Gibner require translation on stage, but most importantly because in this scene, compared to the previous ones, Khlestakov behaves in a completely different way. This violates Khlestakov's line of conduct and the content of the subsequent monologue: “There are many officials here. It seems to me, however, that they take me for a statesman. That's right, I let them dust yesterday. What a fool! I’ll write about everything in St. Petersburg to Tryapichkin ... "

Where is the twist in comedy?

Although the third act of the comedy The Inspector General is the culmination, the tension in the development of the action does not subside, as mentioned above, it only slows down somewhat in the first events (Khlestakov's meetings with officials and merchants).

In subsequent phenomena, Khlestakov appears in new role- passionately in love with both Anna Andreevna and her daughter Marya Antonovna, to whom he offers his hand and heart. The emptiness and frivolity of the hero are especially evident in these scenes. The news that the horses are ready makes the groom say goodbye to his new relatives: "for one day to his uncle, and tomorrow back."

The last fifth act finds the mayor in a state of complacency and, most importantly, triumph. In appearance I, his secret dreams, his views on life and his position as a mayor are especially clearly revealed. Now he will live in St. Petersburg and, thanks to his son-in-law, who "goes to the palace every day," he will become a general. He invites officials with their wives and other guests to his house to tell them that he is not giving his daughter away for common man, “and for something that has never happened before, that can do everything, everything, everything, everything!”.

And the mayor, like Khlestakov, seeks to play a role higher than that in reality - he already feels like a general and has no doubts about the realization of his dream. The mayor “indulges in violent joy,” writes Gogol in the already cited article “Forewarning for those who would like to play The Inspector General properly,” at the mere thought of how his life will now fly, how he will distribute places, demand at the stations horses and make them wait in the front of the mayors, put on airs, set the tone. And at this moment of the triumph of the mayor and his wife, the denouement of the comedy comes (phenomenon VIII) - the postmaster rushes in with a printed letter and announces to all those gathered that the official, whom everyone took for the auditor, was not the auditor. The mayor and all the officials present cannot recover from surprise. The officials, headed by the mayor, were not deceived, but deceived themselves, mistaking an "icicle, a rag" with a Petersburg physiognomy and in a particular dress for an auditor. It turned out that each of the officials "screwed" him three or four hundred rubles. “How is it, in fact, we blundered so much?” the judge asks. “Killed, killed, completely killed,” the mayor says in despair.

How much malice and what fury is felt in the words addressed by the mayor to himself (this is also emphasized by the author's remarks): he beats himself on the forehead, in the hearts, in a frenzy, threatens himself with his fist, knocks his feet on the floor with anger. He blames himself for mistaking the “helicopter”, “icicle” for an auditor: “... he deceived scammers over scammers, swindlers and rogues such that they are ready to rob the whole world, hooked on a hook. He deceived three governors!..” “What are you laughing at? - You are laughing at yourself!.. ”- this famous remark of the mayor is turned to the hall, to the seated audience.

He does not blame Khlestakov, he blames himself and those who were the first to spread the rumor about the auditor who had already arrived in the city. The culprits were discovered - these are Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, "city gossips, damned liars." Everyone surrounds them, scolding and reproaching. At this moment, a gendarme appears (he does not even appear on the poster among actors) and informs the bewildered present about the arrival of the auditor by personal order from St. Petersburg. This sudden announcement becomes for everyone, especially for the mayor, akin to a thunderclap, and his situation becomes "truly tragic." The words of the gendarme complete the action of the comedy, and "the whole group, suddenly changing position, remains petrified" (author's note). What follows is a silent scene.

How Gogol himself read comedy

April 1 marked the 205th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Gogol. His "Inspector General" was read and read in all schools of the country. Another thing is that not everyone sees (or wants to see) in the play those meanings that were the most important for Gogol. Do you know that there is also the "Revizor's Denouement"? Who did the author himself consider the chief auditor? Or why did he compare the play with the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii"? If not, then our story is for you.

Bribes with greyhound puppies, a non-commissioned officer who flogged herself, "brother Pushkin, ... a great original" - many expressions from Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General" live in the Russian language for almost two centuries. The play at one time was deservedly pulled apart for quotes. On the stage, The Inspector General was staged in different ways, sometimes hilariously funny. Emperor Nicholas I attended the premiere in St. Petersburg, laughed out loud and, according to contemporaries, concluded: “What a play! Everyone got it, but me more than anyone! From that moment began her triumphal procession through the stages different theaters Russia. The play was played and watched with pleasure. Was dissatisfied, not counting a number of officials, perhaps, only the author. Very displeased.

Triumph and denouement

Gogol wrote The Inspector General in 1835-1836, it was the heyday of his work. The idea, as you know, was suggested to him by Pushkin, who heard about a similar case and himself fell into a similar story, which amused him. Censorship at first reacted strictly to the new opus famous writer, but then gave the play a go. Her contemporaries fell in love with her, although much in her seemed strange to them. In a decent comedy, after all, there should be positive hero, but in the "Inspector", whatever one may say, it is not. Any self-respecting play had to start with a plot and have a clear ending. And in The Inspector General, the action unfolds literally right off the bat: “I invited you, gentlemen, in order to inform you bad news: the auditor is coming to us, ”and nothing more. But there are two denouements: the first - when they read Khlestakov's letter, the second - when they find out about the real auditor. Besides, since we are talking about the county town, all the proper officials should be represented in it, and in the "Inspector" there is not even a police officer. But there is, for example, a strange character - a trustee of charitable institutions ... What does all this mean? What did the author want to say?

It is not so easy to answer this question. It would be easy if Gogol wrote only the play and left no explanations for it. Then everything would be on the surface, a great comedy would come out. But he also wrote Theatrical tour"," A warning for those who would like to play the "Inspector General" properly, "he voiced a number of comments in letters to the actor Mikhail Shchepkin and other persons ... And, finally, ten years after the "Inspector General" itself (and the play was managed during this time play in many theaters in Russia), he created a work that completely confused everyone. It is called “Decoupling of the Inspector General”, and has been preserved in two author's editions. And it's worth getting into.

Real Auditor

But first you need to pay attention to one thesis that is often heard in relation to this writer. The thesis that there were, as it were, two different Gogol. The first became the author, for example, "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka" and "Inspector", the second - "Selected passages from correspondence with friends." The second one, moreover, threw the continuation into the fire. dead souls” and starved himself to death, as a result of which he descended into the grave ahead of time. Perhaps this thesis is partly true. Early and late Gogol at first glance they really seem different people. The first is extremely cheerful, the second is thoughtful and very religious. But such changes happen with ordinary people What can we say about geniuses. Most likely, there were no “two Gogols” after all. And there was one - very smart, thin, looking man. who asked himself very important questions. And if the mature Gogol rethought his own earlier play, then he had full right. So what did he say about The Inspector General?

As if responding to the reproaches of critics, Gogol, ten years later, took up the interpretation of his author's intention. The author of the comedy put the following words into the mouth of the First comic actor, the hero of the “Decoupling of the Inspector General”, by which the artist Mikhail Shchepkin was understood:
“Look closely at this city, which is displayed in the play: everyone agrees to a single point that there is no such city in all of Russia, it has not been heard that where we have officials, every single one of these freaks; at least two, at least three are honest, but here not a single one. In a word, there is no such city. Is not it? Well, what if this is our spiritual city, and it sits with each of us? No, let's look at ourselves not through the eyes of a secular person - after all, it's not a secular person who will pronounce judgment on us - let's look at least a little at ourselves through the eyes of the One Who will call all people to face-to-face confrontation, before Whom the best of us, do not forget this, they will lower their eyes from shame to the ground, and let's see if any of us then have the courage to ask: “But is my face crooked?”

In other words, Gogol offered readers a symbolic understanding of his play. Of course, other readings are also possible. For example, this: "Inspector" - it's just very funny comedy, in fact, a comedy of the absurd, because each hero here speaks about his own, the characters do not hear each other, hence the comic effect. Or: The Inspector General is a comedy social character, because here are derived different types people to be found in society. But still ... Mature Gogol insisted that the Inspector General had more deep meaning. Officials are human passions that tear apart, ruin the city - the human soul. Khlestakov is a false, “secular,” as Gogol said, conscience. Any of our passions is able to “negotiate” with her, to give a bribe so that she turns a blind eye to inappropriate actions. well and real auditor, which appears at the end of the play, is the true conscience, which was pushed into the far corner of the soul so as not to interfere with life. And which, with the inevitability of catastrophe, will appear at the very last moment of our life, when nothing can be changed:
“Whatever you say, but the auditor who is waiting for us at the door of the coffin is terrible. As if you don't know who this auditor is? What to pretend? This auditor is our awakened conscience, which will make us suddenly and at once look with all eyes at ourselves. Nothing will hide before this auditor, because by the Nominal Supreme command he was sent and will be announced about him when even a step cannot be taken back. Suddenly it will open before you, in you, such a monster that a hair will rise from horror. It’s better to make an audit of everything that is in us at the beginning of life, and not at the end of it ”(“ The denouement of the Inspector General ”).

Apocalypse

From a Christian point of view, Gogol is absolutely right. In addition, the Gospel calls when it speaks of the need for repentance, a change of heart and mind. For the sake of this change and the salvation of each person, Christ ascends to Calvary, dies and rises again. The apostle Paul writes about the same thing when he reminds you: You were bought with a price, and calls to remain slaves of Christ, and not slaves of people or passions. Yes, all this requires a huge inner work. But it is necessary to do it, and it is better not to pull until last moment life. Otherwise ... a silent scene will happen, as in "The Government Inspector". And nothing can be changed.

By the way, Gogol compared his play with Karl Bryullov's painting The Last Day of Pompeii. This is a work-catastrophe, which captures the inhabitants of the city a moment before death. On Bryullov's canvas, unfortunate people are trying to escape from the red-hot lava of the volcano - but it is impossible to escape from it. Their faces express horror, they are paralyzed with fear. They can't go anywhere, they can't change anything. And although Pompeii at that moment was probably overflowing with thunder and screams, Bryullov also captured a kind of silent scene, like Gogol. That is the apocalypse.

Laughter and more...

But here the question arises: does the author of The Inspector General give any answer to his thoughts and interpretations? What is a poor man to do, torn by passions, who has convicted himself of taking bribes to the "auditor", that is, of dealing with his own conscience? Actually, yes, Gogol has an answer. And he is the same as always with this author: you need to laugh at yourself. Gogol's laughter is not only a valuable characteristic that is used in school essays. It is also a universal recipe for saving the soul. In the same place, in the “Decoupling of the Inspector General”, there are these words: “I swear, our soulful city is worth thinking about it, as a good sovereign thinks about his state. Nobly and sternly, as he drives out the covetous from his land, let us drive out our mental covetous! There is a means, there is a scourge that can drive them out. Laughter, my noble compatriots! Laughter, which all our low passions are so afraid of! Laughter designed to laugh at everything that shames true beauty person. Let's return laughter to its true meaning!<…>In the same way that we laughed at the abomination in another person, let us laugh magnanimously at our own abomination, whichever we find in ourselves! ("Decoupling of the Inspector").

Gogol calls to laugh at one's own passions. This does not mean - to become frivolous in relation to them. This means not giving them the importance they can count on. important officials in the county town. And don't serve them. And then... these officials will simply lose power in the city. Ridiculed for their deeds, they will no longer be able to conclude a single deal, they will be discredited. This means that there is no place for fear of the "auditor" in human soul: after all, what is there to be afraid of when passions are disarmed? Such is the author's method.

Perhaps, after such a reading of The Inspector General, someone will shrug their shoulders, become indignant and say: “Of course, it is Alexander the Macedonian hero, but why break the chairs?” Well, the reader has every right to do so. Mikhail Shchepkin, who was among the first to play in The Inspector General, also, by the way, did not agree with Gogol. And even in our time this play is often staged as simply very good comedy. However, Gogol decided differently for himself. And the author always has his own deep vision and the right to interpretation.

"Inspector"

A comedy in five acts by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809-1852), written in 1835-1836. In the county town N familiar life- accepting bribes and dodging the performance of duties - different officials live. The comedy begins with the arrival in the city of an adventurer named Khlestakov, whom everyone takes for the capital's auditor. Further action shows how easy it is to negotiate with the "verifying authority" and what this leads to.

In the most common reading, The Inspector General is a satire on Russian reality, and the county town N is a symbolic designation for all of Russia.

The play premiered in May 1836 in Alexandrinsky theater Petersburg, the performance was attended by Emperor Nicholas I. In the same month, The Inspector General was presented to the Moscow public by the Maly Theater, where great actor Mikhail Schepkin.

Alla Mitrofanova

"RESOLUTION OF THE AUDITOR",

a dramatic sketch, which is a kind of afterword to The Inspector General. First published: Gogol N. V. Works. T. 5. M., 1856. The second edition of R. R. was published: Gogol N. V. Works. 10th ed. T. 6. M.; SPb., 1896.

Gogol intended to include R. R. in the proposed cheap edition of The Government Inspector for the benefit of the poor. On October 12/24, 1846, he wrote to S.P. Shevyrev: The Inspector General should be printed in its entirety, with the conclusion that the viewer himself did not think of deducing. The title should be: “Inspector with Decoupling. A comedy in five acts, with a conclusion. Op. N. Gogol. The fourth edition, supplemented, for the benefit of the poor. On October 21 (November 2), 1846, Gogol reported the same to Countess A. M. Vielgorskaya: “In St. Petersburg and Moscow, The Inspector General will be played in a new form, with the addition of its ending or conclusion, to the benefit of our first two comic actors . By the day of the performance, the piece will be printed as a separate book with the addition of its hitherto unknown ending. It will be sold for the benefit of the poor and may be sold at in large numbers, therefore, to bring significant power. However, R. R. was not allowed by theatrical censorship, and the publication did not take place. In 1847, Gogol created the second edition of the R. R., but during the life of the playwright, it was never staged.

M. S. Shchepkin, in whose benefit Gogol originally intended to put R. R., after reading the play, wrote on May 22, 1847 to Gogol: , because until now I have studied all the heroes of The Inspector General as living people; I have seen so many acquaintances, so dear, I have become so accustomed to Gorodnichiy, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky during the ten years of our rapprochement that to take them away from me and everyone in general would be a shameless action. What will you replace them with? Leave them to me as they are. I love them, I love them with all their weaknesses, like all people in general. Do not give me any hints that these are not officials, but our passions; no, I don't want this alteration: these are people, real living people, between whom I grew up and almost grew old. You see, what an old acquaintance. You have gathered several individuals from the whole world into one gathering place, into one group, I have become completely related to these people, and you want to take them away from me. No, I won't give them to you! I will not give as long as I exist. After me, remake at least into goats; but until then I will not give you Derzhimorda, because he is dear to me. Here main reason my silence, and now how did it all come out? - I don't know the right; maybe all this is nonsense, a lie, but all this has already been expressed; Well, so be it!” Around 10 July A.D. Art. 1847 Gogol replied to M. S. Shchepkin: “Your letter, kindest Mikhail Semenovich, is so convincing and eloquent that if I really wanted to take away the mayor, Bobchinsky and other heroes from you, with whom, you say, you got used to relatives by blood, then even then I would return them all to you again, perhaps even with the addition of an extra friend. But the thing is, you seem to misunderstand last letter my. I just wanted to read The Inspector General so that Bobchinsky would become even more Bobchinsky, Khlestakov Khlestakov, and in a word - everything that he should be. I understood the alteration only in relation to the play that concludes The Inspector General. Do you understand this? In this piece, I managed so awkwardly that the viewer must certainly conclude that I want to make an allegory from The Inspector General. I don't mean that. The “Inspector” is the “Inspector”, and application to oneself is an indispensable thing that every spectator must do from everything, even not from the “Inspector”, but which is more fitting for him to do about the “Inspector”. That's what had to be proved about the words: "Do I have a crooked face?" Now everything remains the same. And the sheep are safe, and the wolves are full. Allegory is allegory, and "Inspector" - "Inspector". It is strange, however, that our meeting did not succeed. Once in my life I had a desire to read The Inspector General properly, I felt that I would have read it really well - and I did not succeed. Apparently, God does not tell me to do theater. Take note of one remark regarding the mayor. The beginning of the first act is somewhat chilly. Do not forget also: the mayor has a certain ironic expression in moments of annoyance itself, as, for example, in the words: “So, apparently, it is necessary. So far they have been approaching other cities; Now it's our turn." In the second act, in a conversation with Khlestakov, much more game in the face. There are completely different expressions of sarcasm here. However, this is more palpable in the latest edition printed in the Collected Works.

In R. R. Gogol, through the mouth of the First comic actor (M. S. Shchepkin), he stated: “Look closely at this city, which is displayed in the play! Everyone agrees to a single point that there is no such city in all of Russia: it has not been heard that where we have officials, every single one of them are such freaks: at least two, at least three are honest, but here there is not a single one. In a word, there is no such city. Is not it? Well, what if this is our spiritual city and it sits with each of us? No, let's look at ourselves not through the eyes of a secular person - after all, it's not a secular person who will pronounce judgment on us - let's look at least a little at ourselves through the eyes of the One Who will call all the people to face-to-face confrontation, before whom the best of us, do not forget this, they will lower their eyes from shame to the ground, and let's see if any of us then have the courage to ask: “But is my face crooked?” So that he would not be so afraid of his own curvature, as he was not afraid of the curvature of all these officials, whom I have just seen in a play!.. Those things that are given to us in order to remember them forever should not be old: they should be accepted as news, as if we only hear them for the first time, no matter who pronounces them to us, - there is nothing to look at the face of the one who says them. No ... not about our beauty should be discussed, but about the fact that our life, which we are accustomed to consider as a comedy, would not end in such a tragedy as this comedy that we just played did not end. Say what you like, but the auditor who is waiting for us at the door of the coffin is terrible. As if you don't know who this auditor is? What to pretend? This auditor is our awakened conscience, which will make us suddenly and at once look with all eyes at ourselves. Nothing will hide before this auditor, because by the Nominal Supreme command he was sent and will be announced about him when even a step cannot be taken back. Suddenly it will open before you, in you, such a monster that a hair will rise from horror. Well, it is better to revise everything that is in us at the beginning of life, and not at the end of it. In place of empty rantings about ourselves and boasting of ourselves, let us now visit our ugly spiritual city, which is several times worse than any other city - in which our passions run amok, like ugly officials, stealing the treasury of our own soul! At the beginning of life, take an auditor and with him, hand in hand, look over everything that is in us, a real auditor, not a fake one, not Khlestakov! Khlestakov - clicker, Khlestakov - windy secular conscience, corrupt, deceptive conscience; Khlestakov will be bribed just by our passions that live in our soul. With Khlestakov arm in arm you will not see anything in our spiritual city. See how every official with him in a conversation deftly twisted and justified himself, came out almost a saint. Do you think that every passion of ours is not more cunning than any rogue official, and not only passion, even some empty, vulgar habit? He will turn around and justify himself so cleverly before us that you will still consider it a virtue and even boast to your brother and say to him: “Look, what a wonderful city I have, how everything is tidy and clean in it!” Our passions are hypocrites, I tell you, hypocrites, because he dealt with them. No, with a windy secular conscience you can’t discern anything in yourself: they will fool her herself, and she will fool them, like Khlestakov officials, and then disappear herself, so that you won’t find a trace of her. You will remain like a fool of a mayor who has already swooped in who knows where - and climbed into the generals, and probably began to announce what would be the first in the capital, and began to promise places to others - and then he suddenly saw that he had been deceived and fooled around by a boy, a skygazer, helipad, in which there was no likeness with a real auditor ... Not with Khlestakov, but with a real auditor, let's look at ourselves! I swear, our sincere city is worth thinking about it, as a good sovereign thinks about his state! Nobly and sternly, as he drives out the covetous from his land, let us drive out our mental covetous! There is a means, there is a scourge that can drive them out. Laughter, my noble compatriots! Laughter, which all our low passions are so afraid of! Laughter, which is created to laugh at everything that dishonors the true beauty of man. Let's return laughter to its true meaning! Let us take it away from those who turned it into a frivolous secular blasphemy over everything, not analyzing either good or bad! In the same way that we laughed at the abomination in another person, let us laugh magnanimously at our own abomination, whichever we find in ourselves! Not just this comedy, but everything that appears from the pen of any writer who laughs at the vicious and base, we will take it directly at our own expense, no matter how it was written on us personally: you will find everything in yourself , if only you sink into your soul not with Khlestakov, but with a real and incorruptible auditor ... Compatriots! because I also have Russian blood in my veins, just like you. Look: I'm crying! Comic actor, I used to make you laugh, now I'm crying. Let me feel that my career is just as honest as that of any of you, that I serve my land just as all of you serve, that I am not empty, some buffoon created for fun empty people, but an honest official of God's great state also aroused laughter in you - not the dissolute one with which a person laughs in the light of a person who is born from the idle emptiness of idle time, but laughter born from love for a person. Together we will prove to the whole world that in the Russian land everything, from small to large, strives to serve the same, Whom everything should serve, everything on the whole earth, rushes there ... up, to the Supreme eternal beauty!

Under the influence of criticism from M. S. Shchepkin and his other friends, R. R. Gogol redid this finale in the second edition. There, the First Comic Actor specifically commented on the final silent scene of The Inspector General: “It seemed to me that this is my soulful city, that the last scene represents last scene life, when conscience will suddenly make you look at yourself with all your eyes and be afraid of yourself. It seemed to me that this real auditor, about whom one announcement at the end of the comedy inspires such horror, is our real conscience, which meets us at the door of the coffin.

The reasons why R. R. did not receive permission from theatrical censorship were stated in November 1846 by A. M. Gedeonov in a letter to P. A. Pletnev: any kind of approval of the artists - by the artists themselves, and even more so weddings on stage, in this respect, she cannot be admitted to the performance. On November 21, 1846, Pletnev informed Gogol: “Your play“ The Examiner’s Denouement ”was missed, but only for printing, and not for presentation, because, according to the rules of our directorate, artists do not have the right to crown their comrade on stage ... "

Shortly before his death, on November 5, 1851, Gogol read R. to Moscow actors in the house of A.P. Tolstoy, whose performance in the play did not satisfy him. I. S. Turgenev, who was present at the reading, recalled: “Gogol ... announced that he was dissatisfied with the performance of the actors in The Inspector General, that they had “lost their tone” and that he was ready to read the whole play to them from beginning to end ... Gogol read excellently ... It seemed that Gogol's only concern is how to delve into a subject that is 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 culprit of all this fun continued, not embarrassed by the general cheerfulness and as if inwardly choking on it, more and more immersed in the matter itself, and only occasionally, on the lips and near the eyes, the craftsman's sly smile trembled almost perceptibly. With what bewilderment, with what amazement, Gogol uttered the famous phrase of the mayor about two rats (at the very beginning of the play): “They came, sniffed and went away.” He even looked at us slowly, as if asking for an explanation for such an amazing occurrence. It was only then that I realized how completely wrong, superficially, with what desire to make you laugh as soon as possible, The Inspector General is usually played on the stage. Gogol tried to make it clear to those present that R.'s task is much deeper than to make him laugh, that the play is primarily aimed at encouraging the public to self-criticism. That's why he read seriously the funniest passages, but because of that he only increased the comic effect. There are few actors capable of revealing the inner tragedy in Gogol's laughter.