The main idea of ​​the auditor. Ideological and artistic originality of the comedy N

Idea design and features of the composition.

In The Inspector General, - Gogol later recalled, I decided to collect in one heap everything that was bad in Russia, which I then knew, all the injustices that are done in those places and in those cases where justice is most required of a person, and for one laugh at everything at once.

This plan of Gogol found a brilliant implementation in his comedy, defining its genre as socio-political comedy. The driving spring in The Inspector General is not a love affair, not private life events, but social order phenomena. The plot of the comedy is based on a commotion among the officials who are waiting for the auditor, and their desire to hide their "sins" from him. Thus, such a compositional feature of the comedy was determined as the absence of a central character in it; such a hero in the "Inspector" was, in the words of Belinsky, "a corporation of various official thieves and robbers," the bureaucratic mass.

This bureaucracy is given, first of all, in his official activity, which, of course, entailed the inclusion in the play of the images of the merchant class and the bourgeoisie.

The Inspector General is a broad picture of the bureaucratic and bureaucratic rule of feudal Russia in the 1930s.

The ingenious writer Gogol, painting this picture, managed to write each image included in it in such a way that, without losing his individual originality, at the same time he is a typical phenomenon of the life of that time.

The comedy also ridicules the everyday life of the inhabitants of the city: mustiness and vulgarity, insignificance of interests, hypocrisy and lies, swagger, a complete lack of human dignity, superstition and gossip.

This everyday life of provincial Russia of that time is also revealed in the images of the landowners Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, the wife and daughter of the mayor, in the images of merchants and bourgeois women.

Images of officials

The action in The Inspector General dates back to the early 1930s. All sorts of abuses of power, embezzlement and bribery, arbitrariness and disdain for the people were characteristic, ingrained features of the then bureaucracy. This is exactly how Gogol shows the rulers of the county town in his comedy.

At the head of them is the mayor. He is not stupid: he judges more sensibly than his colleagues about the reasons for sending an auditor to them;

The mayor is a convinced bribe-taker: “This is how God himself arranged it, and the Voltaires speak against it in vain.” He is an embezzler: he constantly embezzles state money.

The goal of his aspirations is "over time ... to get into the generals." Why does he need it? “According to the concept of our mayor,” Belinsky says, “to be a general means to see humiliation and meanness from the lower ones in front of you, to persecute all non-generals with your swagger and arrogance.” These traits are still evident in him today. In dealing with subordinates, in relation to the population of the city, he is self-confident, rude and despotic: “And whoever is dissatisfied, then after the ladies of such displeasure ...”; "Here I am them, canals ..."; “What, samovar makers, yardsticks ...” Such rude shouts and abuse are characteristic of the mayor.

But otherwise he keeps himself in front of his superiors. In a conversation with Khlestakov, whom he mistook for an auditor, the mayor tries to show himself as an executive official, speaks ingratiatingly respectfully, filling his speech with expressions accepted in the official circle: “In other cities, I dare to report to you, city governors and officials care more about their own there is a benefit; and here, it can be said, there is no other thought than to earn the attention of the authorities with diligence and vigilance.

The second most important person in the city is Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin. Unlike other officials, he is a representative of the elected authorities: "elected as a judge by the will of the nobility." Therefore, he keeps freer with the mayor, allows himself to challenge him. He is regarded in the city as a "freethinker" and an educated man, having read five or six books. Officials speak of him as an eloquent speaker: “You have no word,” Strawberry tells him, “Cicero 1 flew off his tongue.” Taking a great interest in hunting, the judge takes bribes with greyhound puppies. He does not deal with cases at all, and the court is a complete mess.

The trustee of charitable establishments Strawberry - "a fat man, but a thin rogue." In the hospital under his jurisdiction, the sick are dying like flies; the doctor "does not know a word of Russian." On occasion, Strawberry is ready to denounce his colleagues. Introducing himself to Khlestakov, he slanders both the postmaster, and the judge, and the superintendent of schools.

Shy, frightened, mute is Khlopov, the superintendent of schools, the only one among the officials who is not a nobleman.

Postmaster Shpekin is opening letters. His speech is poor in thoughts and words.

All officials are drawn by Gogol, as if alive, each of them is unique. But at the same time, they all create the total image of the bureaucracy that governs the country, reveal the rottenness of the socio-political system of feudal Russia,

With a devastating laugh, Gogol scourged the bureaucracy of tsarist Russia: the officials' complete lack of understanding of their duty, their bureaucracy, bribery and embezzlement, sycophancy, low cultural level.

Khlestakov

This whole world of provincial officials and townsfolk sets into motion and exposes itself with its speeches and deeds in anticipation of the auditor and after the arrival of the imaginary auditor - Khlestakov.

The image of Khlestakov is written with exceptional artistic power and breadth of typical generalization. According to Gogol's definition, Khlestakov is “one of those people who are called empty in the offices. He speaks and acts without any thought. Khlestakov himself does not know what he will say the next minute; "It's all a surprise and a surprise" for himself. “He lies with feeling; in his eyes is expressed the pleasure he received from this. But the most basic, characteristic feature of Khlestakov is "the desire to play a role at least one inch higher than the one assigned to him." This is the essence of "Khlestakovism", it gives the image of Khlestakov a broad typicality, a huge generalizing power.

Osip

Among the heroes of The Inspector General, drawn sharply satirically, Osip occupies a special place. Gogol shows a serf courtyard, although spoiled by life “under the lords” and the city, but still retaining the positive features of the Russian peasant: sobriety of mind, national ingenuity, the ability to see through his master, all his emptiness: “... he does not deal with business: instead in order to take office, and he goes for a walk around the prefecture, playing cards.

The nationality of comedy and the typicality of its images

The Inspector General is a truly folk comedy. Its nationality lies primarily in its ideological content. The comedy is permeated with the deepest hatred of the writer for the bureaucratic-bureaucratic system that prevailed in Russia of his time, for the big and small "holders". Gogol shows the bureaucracy as an anti-people power.

The culmination of the comedy "The Inspector General" is complex and still remains the subject of discussion among researchers. The fact is that it is not so easy to determine the traditional places of exposition, tie-ins, climaxes and denouements. Meanwhile, understanding the structure of the work is directly related to the penetration into the author's intention and his idea.

Each action of the comedy is distinguished by a peculiar compositional device. In the first act, three compositional elements stand out: the plot in the report of the mayor about the auditor, the combination of exposure and the development of the conflict in the conversation of the mayor with officials, and the introduction of the situation of the imaginary auditor - the arrival of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky. It should be noted a subtle psychological detail in this scene: only those who were not employed in the bureaucratic service could come to mind that the twenty-three-year-old fidgety little man was an important metropolitan official. In the second act, the significance of the key scene - the meeting of the mayor and Khlestakov - lies in the fact that the absurd mistake of the city landowners received the status of reality, being confirmed by the mayor, that is, the authorities. The central plot episode of the third act is Khlestakov's reception in the mayor's house, his unbridled boasting and lies, causing horror in the heads of officials. This is aptly summarized by the mayor: “Well, what if at least one half of what he said is true?” The key compositional feature of the fourth act is repetitive scenes, that is, the main principle of the action structure is the repetition of the same situation, but in each subsequent situation other characters are involved, thanks to this technique, a gallery of urban types is presented in the fourth act.

The close interdependence of the composition and the idea of ​​The Inspector General is most clearly revealed in the following. The plot of the comedy is connected by three messages about the auditor, and each of them receives a corresponding response, the first two - from officials, the third - from all the townspeople. When the mayor in the first phrase of the play announces the auditor, the officials exclaim:

Ammos Fedorovich. How is the auditor?

Artemy Filippovich. How is the auditor?

In the fifth act, in the midst of the triumph of some heroes and the envy of others, the postmaster appears with a printed letter from Khlestakov:

Postmaster. Amazing stuff, gentlemen! The person we took for the auditor was not the auditor.

This time, the news stunned everyone present:

All. Why not an auditor?

Messages and two symmetrical exclamations (“How is the auditor?” and “How not the auditor?”) form a kind of “plot frame”. Gogol's idea in this part of the plot is that a person, no matter how criminal he may be, is always given the opportunity to improve. The first message about the arrival of the auditor means a warning to the person so that he comes to his senses and realizes his guilt. From further events it is clear that the officials do not intend to change their behavior, on the contrary, they are going to deceive the auditor, and when they mistake Khlestakov for him, they give him bribes, thus trying to bribe. The news of the catastrophic mistake with Khlestakov means the exposure of the officials, after which they must repent. However, officials evade repentance: first, in the scene of reading a letter, they want to hear bad words from him about someone else, but not about themselves, thus showing their readiness to always shift the blame from themselves to anyone else; then follows the monologue of the mayor, who loudly admits his guilt, but not in what he did, but in the fact that he made a mistake, "taking an icicle, a rag for an important person."

And finally, the search and persecution of the guilty began - Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky. None of the officials pleaded guilty or repented, and even Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky alternately address the mistake to each other:

Dobchinsky. Uh, no, Pyotr Ivanovich, you're the first to...

Bobchinsky. And here it is not; you were the first.

And only when not a single person pleaded guilty does the gendarme appear and deafen everyone with the news of the arrival of the real auditor. The answer to the news is a silent scene - retribution, which the people themselves called upon themselves, who did not use the opportunity to admit their guilt and repent of it.

Gogol chooses as an epigraph to the comedy a Russian folk proverb: "There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked." The author chose this epigraph so that the reader and the viewer would not only perceive satire against others, but also take a closer look at themselves: are there any particles of these heroes and their vices in me?

02.12.2016 - 17:53

Define the term "plot". What are the main stages in the development of the plot of N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector".

Plot - this is a system of events in a work of art, presented in a certain connection, revealing the characters of the characters and the attitude of the writer to the depicted life phenomena; the sequential course of events that constitutes the content of a work of art.

“I wanted to put together everything bad in Russia and at one time ... laugh at everything,” wrote N.V. Gogol. Let's try to analyze the plot-compositional structure of the work.

The originality of the author was already in the fact that the exposition in the comedy follows after the plot. The plot of the play is the first phrase of Gorodnichiy: "... the auditor is coming to us." And only after that we plunge into the atmosphere of life in the county town, find out what orders are established there, what local officials do. We will learn here some details: about how the guests of charitable institutions are kept, what procedures the judge has established "in government places", what happens in educational institutions.

Further, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky appear in the comedy and bring news of the mysterious guest of the tavern. Here Gogol uses the image of messenger-heroes, traditional for comedies. From nothing they create the image of the auditor. And this is where confusion begins among the officials, fear arises.

Events of the third act. Khlestakov begins to guess that he is being mistaken for an important state person, and begins to play this role very naturally. This is followed by the scene of the visit of the imaginary auditor by local officials - he takes money from everyone. The scene of bribes contains a crudely comic move. The first visitor, the judge, is still embarrassed to offer Khlestakov money: he does it clumsily, with fear. However, Khlestakov resolves the tense situation by asking for a loan. And then he borrows from each of the officials, and the amounts increase from visit to visit. Then follows the scene of courtship of Khlestakov for the daughter and wife of Gorodnichiy. He is wooing Marya Antonovna. This scene contains a parody of a love affair.

In the fifth act - the climax in the development of real intrigue - is the scene of Khlestakov's exposure. The mayor triumphs: he not only managed to hide his affairs from the auditor, but almost became related to him. However, his triumph is overshadowed by the arrival of the postmaster with a letter that reveals the true state of affairs.

The scene of reading Khlestakov's letter is the culmination of a real conflict and at the same time the denouement of a "mirage" intrigue. This is followed by the appearance of a gendarme, who announces the arrival of a real auditor. This scene represents the denouement in the real conflict of the play. Thus, the plot action returns to where it began.

Gogol's Silent Scene has received various interpretations by critics. One of her interpretations: finally, a real auditor has arrived and the city is waiting for a real fair punishment. Another version: the arrived official is associated with heavenly punishment, which all the actors of the comedy are afraid of.

What human vices does N.V. Gogol in the comedy "The Government Inspector"?

In the comedy "The Government Inspector" N.V. Gogol with great accusatory power exposes the vices of society in the times of tsarist Russia: bribery, embezzlement, servility. The focus is on officials from a small county town.

The main person in the city is the mayor. In relation to the townspeople, he is rude and unfair; in front of his superiors, he acts as a diligent servant, sycophant and sycophant.

The image of the trustee of the charitable establishments of Strawberry is colorful. He robs his unfortunate wards, does not heal them: “A simple man: if he dies, then he will die anyway, if he recovers, then he will recover anyway.” The doctor in the county is the German Gibner, who does not understand the Russian language, so he cannot treat people.

The local judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin conducts the case in a blunder. He is so indifferent to business affairs that the county court has turned into a kind of farm, right in the front of the watchman they keep geese. Taking bribes with greyhound puppies, Lyapkin-Tyapkin considers himself a highly moral person.

Postmaster Shpekin is not only a fool, but also a scoundrel. He opens and reads other people's letters, leaving the most interesting ones for his collection.

Thus, the author clearly showed that the local bureaucracy was mired in arbitrariness. The ability not to miss what floats into their own hands is, in their opinion, an indicator of intelligence and enterprise. The work of N.V. Gogol is not only comical, but also full of tragedy.

Theme, idea, problems of N.V. Gogol's "Inspector".

The appearance in 1836 of the comedy The Inspector General was a significant event in the public life of the 19th century. The author not only criticized and ridiculed the vices of tsarist Russia, but also called on viewers and readers to look into their souls, to think about universal human values. Gogol called his comedy a play that "raises public abuses." The epigraph “There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked” emphasizes the problematics of the play, generalizing the accusatory meaning of “The Government Inspector”. “Everyone got it here, and most of all to me,” Nicholas I himself once said.

The theme of the comedy "The Government Inspector" can be defined by the words of N.V. Gogol: “In The Government Inspector, I decided to put together everything that was bad in Russia, which I then knew, all the injustices that are being done in those places and in those cases where justice is most required of a person, and at one time laugh at everyone." That is, in short, the theme is an image of a typical Russian county town, where - officials and famous figures mostly behave inappropriately (for example, they take bribes) and only with the arrival of a high-ranking official do they begin to cover up their sins. The main idea of ​​"The Government Inspector" is the idea of ​​the inevitable spiritual retribution that every person should expect. The main one can be illustrated with a quote: "There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked."

Main problems:
- veneration;

Corrupt practices;

Moral impoverishment.

In the play, Gogol painted a terrible picture: most people in life are guided by material gain. People have lost the idea of ​​the true meaning of life. You can sin, you just need to regularly, like a mayor, attend church. Officials are trying in every possible way to cover up their actions. So, Lyapkin-Tyapkin takes bribes with greyhound puppies and says that "this is a completely different matter." In hospitals, people "recover like flies," and so on.

True human values ​​are being replaced by notions of rank. So, the superintendent of schools, Khlopov, says that he “has no soul, and his tongue is stuck in the mud,” if he talks to someone of a higher rank. Reverent fear of the "rank" makes the officials believe in all the lies that Khlestakov presents to them.

The comedy shows the life of a typical Russia. The world drawn by Gogol reflects the whole of Russia: courts, public education, hospitals, post office, police.

2 conflicts are given: external (between Khlestakov and officials) and internal (between the bureaucratic elite and the people). This deep conflict determines the main content of the play.

1. Expand the concepts of "satire" and "grotesque" on the example of N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector". Determine their role in the work.

Satire- a kind of comic, merciless, annihilating ridicule, criticism of reality, a person, a phenomenon.

Gogol saw laughter as a powerful means of influencing society. He cruelly ridicules all the vices of officials, shows the true face of bureaucratic Russia and thereby tries to change something.

For example, Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin has read five or six books in his entire life and "for this reason he is somewhat free-thinking." The "education" of the judge allows him to stay independent with the mayor. The trustee of charitable institutions, Strawberry, "a fat man, but a thin rogue", brazenly robs the sick, whom, on the contrary, he should have taken care of. However, he does not bother himself: “A simple man, if he dies, then he will die anyway; If he recovers, then he will recover.”

Grotesque- the ultimate exaggeration, based on a bizarre combination of fantastic and real.

For example, an ordinary official comes to the province, and they take him for an auditor from the capital, and even give bribes. Using the techniques of the grotesque, ironically over the heroes, Gogol shows that officials are, in fact, worthless, stupid, envious, and sometimes cowardly people, ready to go even to betray their colleagues, if it is a career (Zemlyanika tells Khlestakov about the misdeeds of almost all officials in the city to get away with it himself).

Explain the meaning of the silent scene in the finale of N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector".

The finale of N.V. Gogol's play "The Government Inspector" is an unusual and surprising phenomenon in Russian dramaturgy. The so-called silent scene, which ends the comedy, follows after the gendarme announced the arrival of a real auditor in the city. The shocked officials froze in anticipation of the inevitable reprisal. The mayor stands like a pillar in the middle of the stage; the postmaster became "a question mark addressed to the audience"; the judge sat down almost to the ground and seemed to want to say: “Here you are, grandmother, and St. George's day! “Who is amazed, who is amazed, who is gloating - all the officials make up a very picturesque and expressive group. On the theatrical stage, the city of spiritual poverty, baseness, stupidity and human pity froze, a picture of poverty, senselessness and ugliness, generated by the police-bureaucratic regime of the Nikolaev era, froze.

The last silent scene appears to the viewer as a real mirror. As planned by Gogol, it seems to me that the entire auditorium sees itself in this frozen scene. It is no coincidence that during the first performances there was indeed a mirror on the stage. N.V. Gogol himself said that the silent scene expresses the idea of ​​“law”, upon the onset of which everything “turned pale and shook”. That is, the finale of the comedy is the thought of the coming retribution.

Reveal the meaning of the epigraph to the comedy by N.V. Gogol's "Inspector": "There is nothing to blame on the mirror, if the face is crooked." (Folk proverb).

The epigraph reflects the main idea of ​​the whole comedy. Officials are well aware that they are not fulfilling their official duties, they know that all affairs are in a neglected state. The plot is based on a commotion among officials, which rises in the city after the news of the arrival of the auditor. Discussing the measures to be taken actually becomes a real self-exposure. But officials direct their efforts not to eliminate the shortcomings with which the life of the city is full, but to disguise them. Moreover, recommendations are distributed by the most important official - the mayor. It is he who must keep order in the city, for its improvement. From the monologues of this character, the viewer understands that he is very well aware of the state of affairs in all departments, but does nothing to eradicate the unrest. He himself takes bribes and condones others in this. The last silent scene appears to the viewer as a real mirror. As planned by Gogol, it seems to me that the entire auditorium sees itself in this frozen scene. It is no coincidence that during the first performances of the play there was indeed a mirror on the stage.

N. V. Gogol is considered the greatest satirist of Russian literature. All the images he created were topical and sharp in his time, and some of them remain relevant today. The comedy "The Inspector General" became the standard of satire and one of the main creations of the writer. This immortal and universally recognizable work greatly influenced the entire Russian literature. The wise Litrekon studied this comedy in detail, therefore he advises you to read the analysis of the text, which indicates the main and basic things you need to know about Gogol's creation.

Interesting facts about the creation of the "Inspector" have been preserved:

1. Design. The idea for the play was given to Gogol by A. S. Pushkin, who told how in the city of Ustyuzhna Platon Volkov pretended to be an official of the third department and robbed many townspeople. There was even a police report about this event, but the case was closed. Maybe this inspired the writer to satire.
2. The purpose of the play "The Inspector". Gogol said that he collected in this comedy all the worst that is in Russia in order to subject it to cruel ridicule.
3. stage fate the play was not easy, the noble audience greeted her with hostility. All the annals included a comment by Emperor Nicholas I after the premiere: “Everyone got it, but I got it the most.” However, the tsar himself, oddly enough, liked the comedy, and he advised all his ministers to go to see it. It is also interesting that many agreed with him, although they considered the play a “stupid farce,” as one of them, E. F. Kankrin, said.
4. Prototypes. It is believed that Nicholas the First himself became the prototype of the mayor. The prototype of Khlestakov was the St. Petersburg journalist Pavel Svinin, a pathological liar. Nothing is known about other real prototypes.

Direction, genre

The Inspector General is an example of Russian realism. Despite the strong grotesqueness, the comedy aims to reflect the real life of the people of that time. The characters are fully consistent with the environment.

The genre of the work is a social comedy of a satirical orientation. Everyday images are deliberately brought to the point of absurdity, and the narrative is seasoned with cruel ridicule of the vices of society.

Meaning of title and ending

The name "Auditor" - denotes the source of fear of officials - the inspector "from above", who came to control the work of local authorities and report on it to the right place. It is fear that sets the comedy plot in motion and guides the actions of all the characters.

The name of the comedy best emphasizes the feature that Gogol condemned the most - the fear of responsibility and punishment.

In addition, the name emphasizes the symbolism and meaning of the comedy finale - a real auditor has arrived, and all officials are threatened with real exposure. This is exactly what the author wanted. The arrival of the inspector became the everyday embodiment of the religious concept - the Day of Judgment. Gogol was a religious man and often wove biblical motifs into the canvas of his work.

Composition and conflict

In his comedy, Gogol changes the traditional structure of the play.

1. The plot begins immediately with the plot, when the mayor informs his subordinates about the threat of the auditor, which triggers the main conflict - the false auditor who arrived and the high society of the city N.
2. The exposition, on the other hand, comes after the end, at the moment when the city authorities are discussing the situation in the city.
3. Further, the play follows the classical scheme with a culmination in the scene of Khlestakov's boasting, a denouement at the moment of reading a letter revealing the truth, and, finally, the finale - a silent scene that went down in history.

The composition of the "Inspector" is circular. Here is what the literary critic V. G. Nazirov wrote about her:

The gendarme's announcement of a real inspector rounds off the composition, and this return "to square one" symbolizes the immobility of the system, in which forward movement is replaced by rotation in a vicious circle: the system is forever slipping.

essence

The mayor of a small provincial town, Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, learns about the imminent arrival of the auditor from St. Petersburg. Having gathered the people responsible for city services, he begins to frantically prepare for the check, however, local landowners - Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky, report a mysterious young man from St. Petersburg who has been in the city for a very long time. The frightened town authorities conclude that it is this traveler who is the auditor from the capital.

In fact, the mysterious young man is an ordinary petty official Ivan Khlestakov, who squandered all the money. He was not able to pay for the services at the tavern where he was staying, so he hesitated to leave. In an effort to avoid punishment and achieve their goals, the most influential people of the city surround the passing Khlyshch with honor and attention. As a result, Khlestakov, having received numerous bribes and gifts, as well as promising to marry the mayor's daughter, leaves.

While preparing for the wedding, the mayor receives a letter from Khlestakov to a friend from a curious postmaster, in which the whole truth about the self-deception of the city authorities is revealed. At this moment, Anton Antonovich is summoned to his office by a real auditor who has finished checking the city.

Main characters and their characteristics

1. Ivan Khlestakov- a representative of the younger generation of idle and stupid nobility. Inept fool. An idle gambler and a coward. Lives for today, striving to satisfy only the lowest human needs. He has a huge ego and a frivolous immoral character, therefore he easily agrees to an adventure and deceives officials with pleasure. As the author himself wrote in remarks for the actor playing the auditor: "It is all surprise and surprise."
2. mayor Anton Antonovich Skovoznik-Dmukhanovsky is a dishonest official. He established his absolute power in the city. Ruthlessly tyrannizes those below him and grovels before those above him. Ignorant, rude and cowardly. Quite cunning, in the past has repeatedly avoided punishment, has extensive connections.
3. Maria Antonovna Daughter of Anton Antonovich An empty, unremarkable girl. Ignorant, vain and superficial. Dreams of a full-fledged social life in the capital. He easily succumbs to the courtship and lies of Khlestakov. For the sake of wealth and honors, she is ready for any marriage.
4. Wife of Antonovich Antonovich is no longer a young woman. She differs from her daughter only in age. Infantile, ambitious and stupid. Also succumbs to the charms of Khlestakov. It is distinguished by greed, arrogance and love of gossip.
5. Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin- city judge Stupid and ignorant tyrant. Taking bribes with greyhound puppies.
6. Artemy Filippovich strawberries- Trustee of charitable institutions. A rogue and a scoundrel. For the sake of his survival, he did not disdain to tell Khlestakov about the sins of his colleagues.
7. Luka Lukic Khlopov- superintendent of schools A cowardly, irresponsible and pathetic person.
8. Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin- postmaster. Out of pure curiosity, he abuses his powers and opens other people's letters.
9. Christian Ivanovich Gibner- doctor. A German who does not know Russian.
10. Peter Dobchinsky and Peter Bobchinsky- landowners. They look like twin brothers. Talkative, fussy and stupid people. Gossips.

Gogol uses speaking surnames very actively. With their help, the writer mockingly characterizes the activities of the characters and the traits of their characters.

Table of officials in the "Inspector":

Themes

The theme of the play "The Inspector General" is relevant to this day.

1. city ​​theme. The provincial town is presented as a deaf and nondescript outback, inhabited by wild and slovenly people. Citizens live in an atmosphere of hatred for the authorities and each other. At the same time, they are too stupid and passive to do anything, and can only rely on the mercy of the auditor. The top of the city considers its outback insignificant and strives with all its heart to the capital.
2. Law. The law in the city is shamelessly trampled by all sections of society. Officials are guided only by their own will. Even those who come to Khlestakov to ask for deliverance from the oppression of corrupt officials do not hesitate to give him large bribes and gifts themselves.
3. World of bureaucracy. Officials are presented as a bunch of self-satisfied petty tyrants. They openly break the law and take it for granted. At the same time, each official is ready to sell another official with giblets, if this will help him avoid responsibility. Mutual envy is hidden under the mask of benevolence.
4. Mores of the city. Relations between the townspeople are built on hypocrisy, fear and secret contempt. This is demonstrated in the scene when the auditor received the inhabitants of the city and listened to their complaints. Then the merchants began to “drown” the officials and complain about the local authorities, which they had been sponsoring with bribes all this time, and the officials completely fell upon each other, just to save themselves.

Problems

Social and moral vices play a major role in the book. Gogol created a whole kaleidoscope of problems in Russian society that were relevant in his day and remain topical to this day:

• Non-initiative and servile Russia. The writer emphasized the ubiquity of what was shown in the comedy. He was very worried about the fate of the country, which was ruled by people like those whom he depicted in his work. But the most basic problem was the passivity and humility of the people, who not only endured lawlessness and injustice, but also actively participated in all this. If overnight the townspeople were understood to be in places with officials, they would continue to do the same: steal and burn life.
• Bribes. Gogol sharply negatively outlines corruption in the Russian Empire, depicting bribe-takers as narrow-minded and rude people, indifferent to the fate of the country. It is no coincidence that almost all officials are depicted in the body, so the writer denounces their selfishness and greed: they appropriate all the country's wealth for themselves, are already bursting with it, but cannot stop consuming.
• Lie. The atmosphere of universal lies is well shown, when a person himself begins to believe in what he invented, and convinces others of this. In the bureaucratic environment, it is customary to be hypocritical and not speak frankly. So, at the slightest danger, officials who previously only praised each other begin to sharply criticize their colleagues. But the lie also shows on a more global level: the peripheral leaders mistook the frivolous fanfaron Khlestakov for the auditor, because they had the same opinion about all the officials from the center and were ready to deceive them. They understood that the efficiency and power of the top are just as ostentatious as their diligence and responsibility.
• embezzlement. The boundless cynicism of officials is shown. The embezzlement of funds has reached such a scale that people are dying without receiving the most basic medical care.
• Ignorance. All thieving officials are presented as extremely uneducated people. They don't understand management at all. An excellent example is the activity of Lyapkin-Tyapkin. The judge does not know how to work at all and does not know the laws.
• Frivolity. None of the characters wants to be held accountable for their actions. No one wants to work long and hard and improve themselves. Everyone wants to take the easy way and get everything without doing anything. The consequences are the last thing the heroes care about.
• veneration. Officials instead of work only satisfy their ambitions and try to keep their positions. Cruelly, tyrannizing and suppressing the weak, they are ready to humiliate themselves before strong and powerful people.

main idea

The injustice in our lives comes from stupid, greedy, dishonest and power-hungry nonentities who live for today and think only of themselves. These are truly miserable individuals who will inevitably destroy themselves and all of Russia. While the country is ruled by mayors, interested only in themselves and their success, they will block all initiatives from the center and sabotage any project. Interestingly, irresponsible officials are not isolated cases; they are a direct consequence of tyranny. The king does not obey the laws and can reward and execute arbitrarily, which means that it is safer for the subject to do nothing, because the slave does not answer for anything: he has no free will, and there is no responsibility. This conclusion is the meaning of The Inspector General, namely: autocracy corrupts the nation, under its influence people become only slaves who are alien to the ideals of civic prowess and honor. The tsar himself brought Russia to the position of the city of H, so the country needs a change of government.

Gogol wanted to ridicule the vices that do not allow our country to develop, which make the life of a rich, in fact, people poor and slavish. The main idea of ​​the author is to show how not to do it, and also to teach people to objectively evaluate their own and other people's actions, without smoothing corners and not agreeing to compromises with conscience.

The meaning of the silent scene in the finale fully reveals the author's intention: sooner or later all thieving officials will answer for their vices before the highest and incorruptible court. In the image of a real auditor, the highest justice of the heavenly court is guessed, which will not have mercy on sinners. They will also have to answer before the court of history, which ruthlessly lynch the memory of those who were unworthy of their descendants.

What does it teach?

This comedy is about how not to live. She teaches us that theft, careerism and lies are the lot of pathetic and stupid people. Nikolai Gogol ridicules petty-bourgeois greed and pettiness. Each of us, after reading, must conclude: what will such an irresponsible attitude towards everything and everyone lead to? According to the author, to the inevitability of a response to justice.

Also, the writer in The Inspector General says that once having stepped on a slippery path, a person will no longer be able to get off it, and sooner or later the punishment will overtake him. Such is the moral of the play, dictated by an open but expressive ending.

Criticism

The comedy was negatively received by conservative sections of society. But she was glorified by such prominent critics as Belinsky and Aksakov, and was warmly received by the public:

“This comedy was a complete success on the stage: the general attention of the audience, applause, heartfelt and unanimous laughter, the challenge of the author after the first two performances, the greed of the public for subsequent performances and, most importantly, her lively echo, which was heard afterwards in widespread conversations, did not what was not lacking (P. A. Vyazemsky)

The reviewers singled out the artistic features of the play "The Government Inspector" and the originality of the comedy:

“... Let's move on to the “Inspector”. Here, first of all, it is necessary to welcome in its author a new comic writer, with whom Russian literature can truly be congratulated. Mr. Gogol's first experience suddenly revealed in him an extraordinary gift for comics, and also such a comic that promises to put him among the most excellent writers of this kind.<…>"(O. I. Senkovsky)

“... I have already read The Inspector General; I have read it four times, and therefore I say that those who call this play coarse and flat have not understood it. Gogol is a true poet; for in the comic and the ludicrous there is also poetry. (K.S. Aksakov)

“There are no better scenes in The Inspector General, because there are no worse ones, but all are excellent, like necessary parts, artistically forming a single whole, rounded by internal content, and not by external form, and therefore representing a special and closed world in itself .. "(V. G. Belinsky)

Even Tsar Nicholas I positively assessed the play. Here is an excerpt from a contemporary memoir:

He was the first to apply Gogol's satire to real people. In one province, his carriage overturned on a bad road. Recovering from bruises, the emperor arranged a review of the local bureaucratic elite and said: “Where did I see these faces?” When the officials reached the proper concussion, the sovereign remembered: “Ah, in Gogol’s comedy The Inspector General!”

However, reactionary criticism, which always attacked Gogol, found a reason to slander here too:

Later literary scholars carefully studied the text and described the meaning of the play and those moments in it that seemed controversial to readers:

A. L. Slonimsky wrote:

“How could it happen that such an experienced serviceman as a mayor mistook an icicle, a rag for an important person? Such a misunderstanding is possible only where blind servility prevails and it never occurs to anyone to doubt the words of the "bosses"

R. G. Nazirov wrote:

In Khlestakov, an exaggeration of political irresponsibility, typical of the Nikolaev rococo, is given, and in the mayor, an exaggeration of readiness for "surprises" is given.

The relevance of the "Inspector" has not faded in our days. Many expressions from it became winged, and the names of the characters became common nouns.

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

Work on the piece 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 a “joke” that happened either to himself or to a familiar official: a person who came to a certain city on business was mistaken by local authorities for an auditor who arrived with a secret assignment to trace, 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 supported Nikolai Vasilyevich in every possible way, especially when he was thinking of quitting the work he had begun.

For the first time, the comedy was read by the author himself at the evening at Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky's in the presence of several acquaintances and friends (including Pushkin). In the same year, The Inspector General was staged at the Alexandrinsky Theatre. The play outraged and alerted with its "unreliability", it could be banned. Only thanks to the petition and patronage of Zhukovsky, 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 received The Inspector General correctly. This was followed by several explanatory articles by the writer, giving important guidance to those who really want to delve into the essence of comedy, correctly understand the characters, and play them on stage.

Work on the "Inspector General" continued until 1842: after making numerous edits, 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 the Russian bureaucracy. This is a satire on the manners 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 the system of characters. He cruelly ridicules the current state of society, either openly ironically about the events that illustrate reality, or veiledly 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 recognizes it and himself in it, believes the author’s word, and himself, plunging into the atmosphere of disharmony of reality, realizes the need for change.

About what?

The action takes place in a county town, which naturally has no name, thus symbolizing any city, and therefore Russia as a whole. Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky - the mayor - receives a letter that says about the auditor, who at any moment can come to the city incognito with a check. The news literally puts on the ears of all residents who have anything to do with bureaucratic 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 the high-ranking person, so that he will condescendingly treat their sins. The comicality of the situation is added by the fact that Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, who made such an impression on those around him, does not guess until the last minute why everyone is behaving so courteously with him, and only at the very end begins to suspect that he was mistaken for some other, all over apparently important person.

A love conflict is also woven into the outline 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 achieving it, and at the same time the instigator cannot choose one of two ladies.

Main characters and their characteristics

Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov

This is a petty 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 the most difficult of all,” Gogol writes about Khlestakov in one of the articles in the appendix to the play. An empty and insignificant person by nature, Khlestakov circles a whole city of rogues and swindlers around his finger. The main assistant to him in this is the general fear that has seized the officials who are mired in official “sins”. They themselves create an incredible image of the almighty 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 the metropolitan thing, a star of any circle. But such a legend must be able to support. Khlestakov brilliantly copes with this task, turning every passage thrown in his direction into a fascinating story, so impudently ridiculous that it is hard to believe that the cunning people of the city of N could not figure out his deceit. 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 tells. This is probably the first time he has received such overwhelming attention. They really listen to him, listen to his every word, which leads Ivan to complete delight. He feels that this is the moment of his triumph: whatever he says now, everything will be received with admiration. His fantasy takes flight. He doesn't realize what's really going on here. Stupidity and bragging do not allow him to objectively assess the real state of affairs and realize that these mutual admirations cannot continue for a long time. He is ready to stay in the city, taking advantage of the imaginary benevolence and generosity of the townspeople, not realizing that the deceit will soon be revealed, and then the fury of the officials circled around the finger will not have a limit.

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

In the end, gradually beginning to guess that all those gathered take him for someone else, Khlestakov, surprised at such an occasion, 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 decently rob (accepting exclusively on loan), those whom he gloriously turned their heads with his 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 not found in insignificant people,” which is why this role is all the more difficult. You can find another description of the character and image of Khlestakov in the format of an essay.

Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor

"The rogue of the first category" (Belinsky)

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

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

In the arrival of the auditor, the mayor is more likely to be frightened by surprise than by the inspection itself. He suspects that if you properly prepare the city and the right people for the meeting of an important guest, and also take into circulation the official from St. Petersburg, then you can successfully arrange a business and even win something for yourself here. Feeling that Khlestakov is succumbing to influence and coming into a good mood, Anton Antonovich calms down, and, of course, there is no limit to his joy, pride and flight of his imagination when it becomes possible to intermarry with such a person. The mayor dreams of a prominent position in St. Petersburg, of a successful party 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 he will get it unlike more severely. You can find an essay that describes the character and image of the mayor in the "Inspector General".

Anna Andreevna and Maria Antonovna

The main female characters of the comedy. These ladies are the mayor's wife and daughter. They are extremely curious, like all bored young ladies, hunters of all city gossip, as well as big coquettes, love when others are passionate about them.

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 a delightful dandy from St. Petersburg, and, in the end, he woo 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 well as all the inhabitants of the city, end up with nothing.

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 master to leave the city as soon as possible.

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

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 chief gossips of the city. It is they who take Khlestakov for an auditor, which misleads all other officials.

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

Other officials

Each official of 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 shall 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 an ally in the person of the mayor, the judge, the trustee of charitable institutions, the superintendent of schools and others freely do any arbitrariness that comes to their mind, without fear of reprisal.

The announcement of the auditor's arrival 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 dishonest auditor. Delighted by the success of their plan, the officials lose their vigilance and composure and are completely defeated at the moment when it turns out that Khlestakov, whom they have treated kindly, is nobody, and a real high-ranking person from St. Petersburg is already in the city. The image of the city N is described.

Themes

1. Political themes: arbitrariness, nepotism and embezzlement in power structures. The provincial city 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 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 basis of which was laid by the mayor himself, until there is a real threat of trial and reprisal for their arbitrariness, which is about to fall on them by the auditor. we talked about this topic in more detail.
2. social theme. Along the way in the comedy affected the topic of human stupidity, manifesting itself in different ways in different representatives of the human race. So, the reader sees how this vice leads some of the heroes of the play into various curious situations: Khlestakov, inspired by the opportunity to become who he would like to be once in his life, does not notice that his legend is written with a pitchfork on the water and he is about to be exposed ; the mayor, at first frightened to the core, and then confronted with the temptation to go out among the people in St. Petersburg itself, is lost in the world of fantasies about a new life and is unprepared for the denouement of this extraordinary story.

Problems

The comedy is aimed at ridiculing 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, so the "Inspector General" at all times remains a relevant and topical play.

Gogol touches not only on the problems of an individual 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 the masters, plebeian narrow-mindedness, a willingness to crawl and fawn for the sake of momentary gain. The reader can see all sides of the coin: where tyranny reigns, there is no less shameful slavery. People put up with such an attitude towards themselves, they are satisfied with such a life. In this unjust power draws strength.

Meaning

The meaning of the comedy was laid down by Gogol in the folk proverb chosen by him as an epigraph: "There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked." In his work, the writer talks about the pressing problems of his country of his contemporary period, although more and more 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 they are inclined to blame the people around them, circumstances, life as such, but not themselves, for the imperfection of the world. 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 read it will try to change something in themselves (and, perhaps, in the world around them) in order to prevent trouble and outrages on their own, but by all possible means to stop the triumphant path of dishonor in a professional environment.

There are no positive characters in the play, which can be interpreted as a literal expression of the author's main idea: everyone is to blame for everyone. There are no people who would not take a humiliating part in atrocities and riots. Everyone contributes to injustice. Not only officials are to blame, but also merchants who give bribes and rob the people, and ordinary people who always get drunk and live 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 ​​the "Inspector".

Criticism

The writing of The Inspector General caused a wide public outcry. The audience took the comedy ambiguously: reviews followed both enthusiastic and indignant. Criticism took opposite positions in evaluating the work.

Many of Gogol's contemporaries sought to analyze the comedy and draw some 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 of Russian reality, that if such morals exist, it is not in our country, that Gogol portrayed a Little Russian or Belarusian city and so nasty that it is not clear how can he hold onto the globe.

O.I. Senkovsky noted the talent of the writer, believed that Gogol had finally found his genre and should improve in it, but the comedy itself was not so complacently received by the critic. Senkovsky considered the author's mistake to mix something good, 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 entire conflict rests is unconvincing: such seasoned scoundrels as officials of the city of N could not be so gullible and allow themselves to be led into this fateful delusion.

There was a different opinion regarding Gogol's comedy. K.S. Aksakov stated that those who scolded 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 mockery and satire, but in reality his soul was rooting for Russia, in which, in fact, there is a place for all comedy characters.

Interestingly, 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 had happened was possible from all other points of view. An important note in the article is the episode about the attacks on the characters: “They say that not a single intelligent person is seen in Gogol's comedy; not true: the author is smart.

V.G. himself Belinsky highly appreciated The Inspector General. Oddly enough, he wrote a lot about Gogol's comedy in the article "Woe from Wit." The critic carefully examined both the plot and some of the characters of the comedy, and its essence. Speaking about the genius of the author and praising his work, he admitted that everything in The Inspector General was excellent.

It is impossible not to mention 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 public to see in The Inspector General exactly what he showed, to 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 - of the whole 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 tour after the presentation of a new comedy." This article is unusual in its form: it is written in the form of a play. The spectators who have just watched the performance, as well as the author of the comedy, are talking to each other. 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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