Creative history of the comedy auditor. Gogol's "situation of the auditor

The history of the creation of Gogol's "Inspector General" begins in the 1830s. During this period, the author worked on the poem "Dead Souls", and in the process of prescribing the exaggerated features of Russian reality, he had the idea to display these features in a comedy; "the hand trembles to write ... a comedy." Earlier, Gogol had already made a successful debut in this genre with the play "Marriage", in which both the comic techniques characteristic of the author and the realistic orientation characteristic of subsequent works have already been outlined. In 1835, he wrote to Pushkin: "Do me a favor, give me a plot, the spirit will be a comedy of five acts and, I swear, it will be funnier than the devil."

The plot suggested by Pushkin

The story proposed by Pushkin to Gogol as a plot actually happened to the publisher of the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski P.P. Svinin in Bessarabia: in one of the county towns he was mistaken for a government official. There was a similar case with Pushkin himself: he was mistaken for an auditor in Nizhny Novgorod, where he went to collect material on the Pugachev rebellion. In a word, it was the same “purely Russian anecdote” that Gogol needed to realize his plan.

Work on the play took only two months - October and November 1835. In January 1836, the author read the finished comedy at the evening at V. Zhukovsky's in the presence of many famous writers, including Pushkin, who suggested the idea. Almost everyone present was delighted with the play. However, the history of the "Inspector" was still far from over.

“In The Inspector General, 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 everything” - this is how Gogol spoke about his play; it was precisely such a purpose that he saw for her - a merciless mockery, purifying satire, a tool to combat the abominations and injustices that reign in society. However, almost no one, even among his fellow writers, saw in The Inspector General anything more than a solid, high-quality "situation comedy". The play was allowed to be staged far from immediately, and only after V. Zhukovsky personally had to convince the emperor of the trustworthiness of the comedy.

The first premiere of "The Inspector"

The first edition of the play premiered in 1836 at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. Gogol was disappointed with the production: the actors either did not understand the satirical direction of the comedy, or were afraid to act in accordance with it; the performance turned out to be too vaudeville, primitive comic. Only I.I. Sosnitsky, who played the role of the Governor, managed to convey the author's intention, to bring satirical notes into the image. However, performed even in such a form, very far from the author's desire, the comedy caused a stormy and ambiguous reaction. The “tops” of society, denounced by Gogol, nevertheless felt ridicule; the comedy was declared "an impossibility, a slander and a farce"; according to unconfirmed reports, Nicholas I himself, who was present at the premiere, said: “Well, what a play!

Everyone got it, but I got it the most.” Even if these words were not actually said, it well reflects how the public perceived Gogol's bold creation.

And, nevertheless, the autocrat liked the play: the risky comedy was allowed for further productions. Taking into account his own observations of the game, as well as the comments of the actors, the author repeatedly made changes to the text; the creation of the play "The Inspector General" by Gogol in its final version continued for many years after the first production. The last edition of the play dates back to 1842 - this is the version that is known to the modern reader.

Author's commentary on comedy

The long and difficult history of the creation of the comedy The Inspector General is inseparable from Gogol's numerous articles and comments on his play. The misunderstanding of the idea by the public and the actors forced him to write again and again in an attempt to clarify his idea: in 1842, after staging the comedy in its final edition, he publishes “Forewarning for those who would like to play the “Inspector General” properly, then “Theatrical tour after the presentation of the new comedy", later, in 1856 - "The denouement of the Inspector General".

Conclusion

As you can see, the history of the creation of the play "The Inspector General" indicates that the writing of this work was not so easy for the author, taking away a lot of both his strength and time. And, nevertheless, comedy has found its connoisseurs among enlightened and thinking people. The Government Inspector received very high marks from many leading critics; so, V. Belinsky writes in his article: “There are no best scenes in The Inspector General, because there are no worse ones, but all are excellent, like necessary parts, artistically forming a single whole ...” . A similar opinion was shared by many other representatives of an enlightened society, despite the stream of criticism against the comedy and the author himself. To date, the play "The Inspector General" occupies a well-deserved place among the masterpieces of Russian classical literature and is a brilliant example of social satire.

Artwork test

In a letter to Pushkin dated October 7, 1835, Gogol writes: “Do yourself a favour, give some plot, at least some, funny or not funny, but a Russian purely anecdote. The hand is trembling to write a comedy in the meantime. And a few lines later, finishing the letter, Gogol repeats the request: "Do me a favor, give me a plot, the spirit will be a comedy of five acts, and, I swear, it will be funnier than the devil." The content of this letter shows that Gogol was already thinking about a future comedy and, perhaps, made sketches for it. Pushkin, returning to St. Petersburg from Mikhailovsky on October 23, one of the next few days told Gogol the plot of a possible comedy, in which an imaginary auditor appeared. Thus, October 1835 should be considered the beginning of Gogol's active work on The Inspector General.

Nevertheless, it is wrong to believe that the merit of the appearance of the plot with the imaginary auditor belongs exclusively to Pushkin. Firstly, by the time The Inspector General was written, there were works with a similar plot: “Provincial Actors” (1835) by A.F. Veltman and "A Visitor from the Capital, or Turmoil in a County Town" (1827) by G.F. Kvitki-Osnovyanenko. In addition, this kind of joke or prank occurred in real life, and the false personality situation itself has always been popular. And yet, the close creative relationship between the two great Russian writers in the first half of the 1830s bore rich fruit. Communication with Pushkin, of course, inspired Gogol, perhaps that is why the comedy was completed in December 1835.

The premiere of The Inspector General took place on April 19, 1836 at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. The leading roles were played by the best actors of that time: Ivan Sosnitsky (Mayor) and Nikolai Dur (Khlestakov). The play received the highest approval at the premiere, Nicholas I and his heir were present at the theater. The emperor laughed a lot and expressed his opinion like this: “What a play! Everyone got it, but me more than anyone! Gogol, on the other hand, was disappointed, because, as it seemed to him, the actors did not understand their roles, they did not understand the idea of ​​​​the work itself well enough. Gogol especially did not like the performance of the role of Khlestakov: in his opinion, Khlestakov was played as one of the "vaudeville jesters". In the future, the author repeatedly explained his comedy both in the play “Theatrical tour after the presentation of a new comedy” (1836-1842), specially written for this, and in a kind of instruction to the actors “Forewarning for those who would like to play the “Inspector General” properly” ( 1846), and in an explanation of the finale of the comedy - "The denouement of the Inspector" (1846). The examples given vividly characterize Gogol as a caring, demanding artist, who has a high responsibility to "say the word of truth", as Gogol himself declares in the poem "Dead Souls".

The genre of The Inspector General as a public comedy was determined thanks to a deeply thought-out social plot. Gogol expressed his general idea in a well-known statement: “In The Government Inspector, I decided to put together all the bad things in Russia that 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 at one time laugh at everything ”(“Author's Confession”, 1847). Gogol chose a county town as the scene of action, the structure of power in which is easily projected onto any other city in Russia, and the mores of the inhabitants are projected onto the entire population of the country. The focus of the satirical image was on officials abusing their position. At the same time, the criminal behavior of the city's bureaucracy is depicted with such persuasiveness that even the thought of their exclusivity does not even arise - this happens everywhere, the differences are only in the scale of abuses and the nature of their manifestation.

The image of the county town is a collective one. In addition to officials, it consists of portraits of urban landowners, merchants, philistines, and servants. Women's images play an important role in depicting urban customs. The plot of The Inspector General is formed by the themes of a provincial Russian city, bureaucracy and citizenship.

The plot is based on two situations: a county town living its usual life (the protagonist in this plot situation is a mayor), and a county town in which a petty Petersburg official, an imaginary auditor (it was called a “mirage” situation or “situation delusions”, and the main character in it is Khlestakov). The conflict in comedy does not arise as a result of the collision of these situations - the conflict is that they reflect, albeit in different ways, the unrighteous attitude of people towards life, duty, duties, their criminal or immoral behavior. The problematics of the work is formed as the conflict is revealed in the plot of the comedy. In The Inspector General there are two planes of problems - social and moral. Social problems are manifested in the depiction of social crimes and violations, moral - moral vices and shortcomings. The peculiarity of the social and moral layers of the work can be expressed as follows: what is a crime in social life is a sin in moral life.

Composition

Let's remember when the comedy "Inspector General" was written: the gloomy era of Nicholas I, there is a system of denunciations and investigations, frequent visits by inspectors "incognito" are common. Gogol himself defined the idea of ​​the work as follows: “In The Inspector General, I decided to put together everything that was bad in Russia, which I then knew ... and at one time laugh at everything.” The Inspector General became a comedy, where truly Russian characters were brought to the stage, social vices were revealed. Bribery, embezzlement, extortion, widespread among government officials, were shown with such force and persuasiveness by Gogol that his "Inspector General" acquired the force of a historical document. So, before us is a county town, from where “if you ride for three years, you won’t reach any state.” In this city, which the writer once called "the prefabricated city of the entire dark side," there is everything - like in a small state. Here and justice, and education, and the post office, and health care, and a kind of social security (in the person of the trustee of charitable institutions) and, of course, the police. Gogol's city is a "pyramid": on top of it, like a little king, the mayor sits. The city has its own beau monde, and its own ladies' society, and its own public opinion, and its own news providers in the person of the landowners Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky. And below, under the heel of officials and policemen, the life of the common people flows.

The city lives an unprecedentedly intense life, it is excited by an extraordinary event. This event is the expectation, acceptance and farewell of the auditor. All the characters of the comedy are placed in relation to the auditor.

The concern of the alarmed authorities is aimed at observing external propriety, external decency. None of the recommendations that the mayor gives to officials about precautionary measures in connection with the expectation of the auditor does not relate to the essence of the case entrusted to them: it is only about taking measures to maintain good manners.
Gogol emphasizes that the main and only morality of the ruling regime was only outward decency: any disease, any ulcer can be "in a boot - and no one will see." Only one thing is important: to put on clean caps for all diseases and ulcers. Indifference, contempt for people, for human lives and suffering underlie such morality. If decency dictates that there should be fewer patients in the hospital, let them "get well like flies."

The rulers of the city do not even think about the inner essence of affairs: the “order”, in which robbery and violence flourishes, will not be subjected to any revision. Both the mayor and officials know for sure what needs to be done in connection with the arrival of the auditor. It is necessary to give bribes, appease, splurge.

City officials hastily make some external improvements (such as removing a rapnik hanging in the presence, or cleaning the street along which the auditor will go). “As for the internal order,” the mayor explains, “and what Andrei Ivanovich calls sins in the letter, I can’t say anything. Yes, and it is strange to say: there is no person who does not have any sins behind him. It's just the way God designed it."

Gogol's "auditor's situation" reveals the whole depth of a person's nature, the whole structure of his feelings. In extraordinary circumstances, when, in the words of the mayor, "it is a matter of a person's life," each character is revealed deeply.

So, the mayor is a person “created by circumstances”, the embodiment of common sense, dexterity, cunning calculation in all matters, in all scams and frauds. According to Gogol, he is "most of all concerned with not missing what floats into his hands." The city is entrusted to him, and he disposes of it with full authority, heading a whole "corporation of various service thieves and robbers." He considers bribery a completely natural phenomenon, limited only by the rank and social position of the bribe-taker. "Look! You don’t take it according to order!” - he says to the quarterly.

Not disdaining anything, the mayor prefers, however, to hide large sums: he calmly pockets the money allocated for the construction of the church, presenting a report that it "began to be built, but burned down." Disdainful of the people, "merchants and citizenship", he behaves completely differently with the "auditor" Khlestakov, fawning over him, trying to win his favor. At the same time, the mayor reveals extraordinary “diplomatic abilities”: servile to the “state person”, he deftly “screws” Khlestakov instead of two hundred rubles four hundred, and then solder him at breakfast in order to find out the truth.
Bound by mutual responsibility, city officials are unique in their individual characteristics. For example, Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin is known for his “Voltairianism”. In his entire life he has read five or six books, and “for this reason he is somewhat free-thinking,” he allows himself to be independent even with the mayor. He sums up his “ideological justification” for his bribery: “I openly tell everyone that I take bribes, but with what? .. greyhound puppies. It's a completely different matter."

Strawberry, a trustee of charitable institutions, is also interesting. He is cynical about the case entrusted to him, despises the poor people, not at all embarrassed by the remarks of the mayor about the shortcomings in the hospital: “The closer to nature, the better, we don’t use expensive medicines. A simple man: if he dies, he will die anyway; If he recovers, then he will recover.” In these words, there is cruelty, and indifference to the fate of people, and a ready excuse for the fact that he simply robs the sick. According to Gogol, Strawberry is "a fat man, but a thin rogue."
The caretaker of the schools, Luka Lukich Khlopov, is the embodiment of complete spiritual insignificance, timidity and humility. In his character, features typical of the Nikolaev bureaucracy are expressed: constant trepidation and fear at the same name of the authorities. He himself admits this: “Someone higher in one rank speaks to me, I just don’t have a soul, and my tongue is stuck in the mud.”
Another official is the postmaster Shpekin, who draws his ideas about the world from other people's letters, which he opens. However, his vocabulary is still poor. Here, for example, is a passage from a letter that seems especially beautiful to him: “My life, dear friend, flows ... in the empyrean: there are many young ladies, music plays, the standard jumps ...”.
Each of the images created by Gogol is original and individual, but together they create the image of the bureaucracy as an apparatus that controls the country. And now all these provincial officials fully reveal themselves to the imaginary auditor.
Khlestakov - the brilliant discovery of Gogol. It has a desire to appear "a higher rank" and the ability to "shine among their own kind with complete mental and spiritual emptiness." According to V. G. Belinsky, “microscopic pettiness and gigantic vulgarity” are features that express the essence of “Khlestakovism” and are characteristic of the Russian bureaucracy of that time.

Khlestakov at the beginning does not even guess who they take him for. He lives in the present moment and gives himself entirely to the "pleasantness" of the new situation. And his main quality - the desire to show off, to splurge - is manifested in full measure. He inspiredly composes fables about his situation in St. Petersburg. As conceived by Gogol, Khlestakov “is not a liar by trade; he himself will forget that he is lying, and he himself almost believes what he says. A small official, he feels a special pleasure, portraying a strict boss, “scoldling” others.

Everything that Khlestakov tells about Petersburg high society, all the pictures of a brilliant life that he unfolds - everything corresponds to the most cherished dreams and aspirations of the mayor, strawberry, Shpekin, Dobchinsky, their ideas about "real" life. Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov is the very soul of all the bureaucratic servility of Nicholas I and the ideal of a person in this society.

Thus, Khlestakovism is the reverse side of a social system based on bribes, embezzlement, servility, its inevitable consequence.
At the end of the comedy, the famous silent scene, Gogol's thought about the coming retribution, the hope for the triumph of justice and law in the face of a real auditor is expressed.
Gogol hopes that the voice of satire, the power of ridicule, the nobility of humor will be able to make people out of the mayor and the mob. The seemingly evil lines of his comedy were dictated by love for Russia and faith in it. Laughing at the negative phenomena of life, Gogol makes the reader think about them, understand the reasons, all the horror of these phenomena and try to get rid of them. That is why Gogol's works are relevant to this day.

In\"Auditor \" Gogol skillfully combines\"truth \" and\"anger \", that is, realism and bold, merciless criticism of reality. With the help of laughter, merciless satire, Gogol denounces such vices of Russian reality as servility, corruption, arbitrariness of the authorities, ignorance and poor education. In the\"Theatrical tour \" Gogol wrote that in modern drama action is driven not by love, but by money capital and\"electricity rank \". \"Electricity rank \" and gave rise to a tragicomic situation of general fear of a false auditor.

In the comedy \"Inspector\" a whole \"corporation of various service thieves and robbers\" is presented, blissfully existing in the county town N.
When describing the world of bribe takers and embezzlers, Gogol used a number of artistic techniques that enhance the characteristics of the characters.

Having opened the very first page of the comedy and found out that, for example, the surname of a private bailiff is Ukhovertov, and the district doctor is Gibner, we get, in general, a fairly complete picture of these characters and the author's attitude towards them. In addition, Gogol gave critical characteristics of each of the main characters. These characteristics help to better understand the essence of each character. Mayor: \"Although a bribe-taker, but behaves very respectably\", Anna Andreevna:\"Raised half on novels and albums, half on chores in her pantry and maiden\", Khlestakov:\"Without a king in my head. She speaks and acts without any consideration. Osip: \"Servant, such as servants of a few elderly years are usually\", Lyapkin-Tyapkin:\"A person who has read five or six books, and therefore is somewhat free-thinking\", Postmaster:\"A simple-minded person to the point of naivety \".
Bright portrait characteristics are also given in Khlestakov's letters to his friend in St. Petersburg. So, speaking of Strawberries, Khlestakov calls the trustee of charitable institutions\"a perfect pig in a yarmulke \".

The main literary device used by N.V. Gogol in the comic depiction of an official is hyperbole. As an example of the application of this technique, the author can also name Christian Ivanovich Gibner, who is not even able to communicate with his patients due to complete ignorance of the Russian language, and Ammos Fedorovich with the postmaster, who decided that the arrival of the auditor foreshadows the coming war. At first, the plot of the comedy itself is hyperbolic, but as the action develops, starting with the scene of Khlestakov's story about his life in St. Petersburg, the hyperbole is replaced by the grotesque. Blinded by fear for their future officials and clutching at Khlestakov like a straw, the city merchants and the townsfolk are not able to appreciate the absurdity of what is happening, and the absurdities pile up one on top of the other: here is the non-commissioned officer who\"whipped herself\", and Bobchinsky, asking to bring to the attention of His Imperial Majesty that\"Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky lives in such and such a city\", etc.

The climax and the denouement immediately following it come abruptly, cruelly. Khlestakov's letter gives such a simple and even banal explanation that at that moment it seems to Gorodnichy, for example, much more implausible than all Khlestakov's fantasies. A few words should be said about the image of the Governor. Apparently, he will have to pay for the sins of his circle as a whole. Of course, he himself is not an angel, but the blow is so strong that the Governor has something like an epiphany: \"I don't see anything: I see some kind of pig snouts instead of faces, but nothing more...\"
Further, Gogol uses a technique that has become so popular in our time: The governor, breaking the principle of the so-called "fourth wall", addresses directly to the hall: "What are you laughing at? Laughing at yourself \". With this remark, Gogol shows that the action of the comedy actually goes far beyond the theater stage, is transferred from the county town to the vast expanses. After all, it was not for nothing that some literary critics saw in this comedy an allegory for the life of the whole country. There is even a legend that Nicholas I, after watching the play, said: "Everyone got it, but most of all I! \"

A silent scene: the inhabitants of a provincial town, mired in bribes, drunkenness, and gossip, stand as if struck by thunder. But here comes a cleansing thunderstorm that will wash away dirt, punish vice and reward virtue. In this scene, Gogol reflected his belief in the justice of the highest authority, thereby scourging, in the words of Nekrasov,\"little thieves for the pleasure of big ones \". I must say that the pathos of the silent scene does not fit with the general spirit of this brilliant comedy.

After the production, the comedy caused a flurry of criticism, since in it Gogol broke all the canons of dramaturgy. But the main dissatisfaction of the critics was drawn to the lack of a good character in the comedy. In response to this, Gogol wrote in the\"Theatrical road \": \"...I'm sorry that no one noticed the honest face that was in my play. This honest, noble face was-laughter\".

There is nothing to blame on the mirror,
when the face is crooked.

Popular proverb.

Characters

Characters and costumes

Notes for gentlemen actors

Mayor, already aged in the service and a very intelligent person in his own way. Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably; quite serious; somewhat even a reasoner; speaks neither loudly nor softly, neither more nor less. His every word is significant. His features are rough and hard, like those of anyone who has begun his service from the lower ranks. The transition from fear to joy, from rudeness to arrogance is quite quick, like a person with a roughly developed inclination of the soul. He is dressed, as usual, in his uniform with buttonholes and boots with spurs. His hair is short, with grey.

Anna Andreevna, his wife, a provincial coquette, not yet quite old, brought up half on novels and albums, half on chores in her pantry and girl's. Very curious and on occasion shows vanity. Sometimes she takes power over her husband only because he does not find what to answer her; but this power extends only to trifles and consists only in reprimands and ridicule. She changes into different dresses four times throughout the play.

Khlestakov, a young man of about twenty-three, thin, thin; somewhat stupid and, as they say, without a king in his head - one of those people who are called empty in the offices. He speaks and acts without any thought. He is unable to stop the constant focus on any thought. His speech is abrupt, and words fly out of his mouth quite unexpectedly. The more the person who plays this role shows sincerity and simplicity, the more he will benefit. Dressed in fashion.

Osip, the servant, is the way servants of a few older years usually are. He speaks earnestly, looks down a little, is a reasoner, and likes to lecture himself for his master. His voice is always almost even, in conversation with the master it takes on a stern, abrupt and even somewhat rude expression. He is smarter than his master and therefore guesses more quickly, but he does not like to talk much and is a rogue in silence. His costume is a gray or blue shabby frock coat.

Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, both short, short, very curious; extremely similar to each other; both with small bellies; both speak in a patter and help tremendously with gestures and hands. Dobchinsky is a little taller and more serious than Bobchinsky, but Bobchinsky is bolder and livelier than Dobchinsky.

Lyapkin-Tyapkin, a judge, a man who has read five or six books and is therefore somewhat freethinking. The hunter is great at guessing, and therefore he gives weight to his every word. The person representing him must always keep a significant mine in his face. He speaks in a bass with an oblong drawl, wheezing and glanders - like an old clock that hisses first and then strikes.

Strawberry, the trustee of charitable institutions, is a very fat, clumsy and clumsy person, but for all that he is a sly and a rogue. Very helpful and fussy.

Postmaster, a simple-minded person to the point of naivety.

Other roles do not require special explanation. Their originals are almost always in front of your eyes.

Gentlemen actors especially should pay attention to the last scene. The last spoken word should produce an electrical shock on everyone at once, all of a sudden. The whole group must change position in the blink of an eye. The sound of astonishment should break out from all women at once, as if from one breast. From non-observance of these remarks, the whole effect may disappear.

Gogol's element is laughter, through which he looks at life both in the stories and in the poem "Dead Souls", however, it was in the dramatic works ("The Government Inspector", "Marriage", "Players") that the comic nature of Gogol's genius came to light especially fully. In the best comedy The Inspector General, the artistic world of Gogol the comedian appears original, integral, animated by the clear moral position of the author.

Since working on The Inspector General, the writer has thought a lot about the deep spiritual conditioning of laughter. According to Gogol, the "high" laughter of a true writer has nothing in common with the "low" laughter generated by light impressions, quick witticisms, puns, or caricatured grimaces. "High" laughter comes "straight from the heart", its source is the dazzling brilliance of the mind, endowing laughter with ethical and pedagogical functions. The meaning of such laughter is to ridicule the "hidden vice" and maintain "lofty feelings".

In the writings that have become literary companions of The Inspector General ("Excerpt from a letter written by the author after the first presentation of The Inspector General to one writer", "Theatrical tour after the presentation of a new comedy", "Decoupling of the Inspector General"), Gogol, diverting accusations of unprincipled comedy, comprehended his laughter as “high”, connecting the sharpness of criticism with a high moral task that opened up to the writer and inspired him. Already in The Inspector General, he wanted to appear before the public not only as a comic writer, but also as a preacher and teacher. The meaning of comedy is that in it Gogol laughs and teaches at the same time. In Theatrical Journey, the playwright emphasized that the only “honest, noble face” in The Inspector General is precisely laughter, and specified: “... that laughter that all emanates from the bright nature of man, emanates from it because at the bottom its eternally beating spring is enclosed, which deepens the subject, makes something that would slip through brightly come out, without the penetrating power of which the trifle and emptiness of life would not frighten a person like that.

The comic in a literary work is always based on the fact that the writer selects in life itself what is imperfect, low, vicious and contradictory. The writer discovers a “hidden vice” in the discrepancy between the external form and the internal content of life phenomena and events, in the characters and behavior of people. Laughter is the writer's reaction to comic contradictions that objectively exist in reality or created in a literary work. Laughing at social and human shortcomings, the comic writer establishes his own scale of values. In the light of his ideals, the imperfection or depravity of those phenomena and people who seem or pretend to seem to be exemplary, noble or virtuous is revealed. Behind the "high" laughter lies an ideal that allows you to give an accurate assessment of what is depicted. In "high" comedy, the "negative" pole must be balanced by the "positive". The negative is associated with laughter, the positive - with other types of evaluation: indignation, preaching, protection of genuine moral and social values.

In the "accusatory" comedies created by Gogol's predecessors, the presence of a "positive" pole was mandatory. The viewer found him on the stage, the reader - in the text, since among the characters, along with "negative" characters, there were always "positive" characters. The author's position was reflected in their relationships, in the characters' monologues, which directly expressed the author's point of view, and was supported by off-stage characters.

The most famous Russian comedies - "Undergrowth" by D.I. Fonvizin and "Woe from Wit" by A.S. Griboyedov - have all the signs of a "high" comedy. The "positive" characters in "Undergrowth" are Starodum, Pravdin and Milon. Chatsky is also a character expressing the author's ideals, despite the fact that he is by no means a “perfect model”. Chatsky's moral position is supported by non-stage characters (Skalozub's brother, Prince Fyodor, nephew of Princess Tugoukhovskaya). The presence of "positive" characters clearly indicated to readers what was due and what was deserving of condemnation. Conflicts in the comedies of Gogol's predecessors arose as a result of a clash between vicious people and those who, according to the authors, could be considered an example to follow - honest, fair, truthful people.

The Inspector General is an innovative work, which differs in many respects from comedyography that preceded and is contemporary with Gogol. The main difference is that in comedy there is no "positive" pole, "positive" characters expressing the author's ideas about what officials should be like, there are no reasoning heroes, "mouthpieces" of the author's ideas. The writer's ideals are expressed by other means. In essence, Gogol, having conceived a work that was supposed to have a direct moral impact on the public, abandoned the forms of expression of the author's position traditional for public, "accusatory" comedies.

Spectators and readers cannot find direct author's indications of what “exemplary” officials should be, and there are no hints of the existence of any other moral way of life than the one depicted in the play. It can be said that all Gogol's characters are of the same "color", created from a similar "material", and line up in one chain. The officials depicted in The Inspector General represent one social type - these are people who do not correspond to the "important places" they occupy. Moreover, none of them ever even thought about the question of what an official should be like, how one should perform his duties.

The “greatness” of “the sins committed by everyone” is different. Indeed, if we compare, for example, the curious postmaster Shpekin with the obliging and fussy trustee of charitable establishments Strawberry, then it is quite obvious that the “sin” of the postmaster is reading other people’s letters (“death loves to know what is new in the world”) - it seems more lighter than the cynicism of an official who, on duty, must take care of the sick and the elderly, but not only does not show official zeal, but is generally devoid of signs of philanthropy (“A simple man: if he dies, then he will die; if he recovers, then he will recover anyway "). As Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin thoughtfully remarked to the mayor’s words that “there is no person who does not have any sins behind him”, “sins are different for sins. I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but why bribes? Greyhound puppies. It's a completely different matter." However, the writer is not interested in the scale of the county officials' sins. From his point of view, the life of each of them is fraught with a comic contradiction: between what an official should be and who these people really are. Comic "harmony" is achieved by the fact that there is no character in the play who would not even be ideal, but simply a "normal" official.

Depicting officials, Gogol uses the method of realistic typification: the general, characteristic of all officials, is manifested in the individual. The characters of Gogol's comedy have unique human qualities inherent only to them.

The appearance of the mayor Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky is unique: he is shown as “a very intelligent person in his own way”, it is not without reason that all district officials, with the exception of the “somewhat free-thinking” judge, are attentive to his remarks about the disorder in the city. He is observant, accurate in his rough opinions and assessments, cunning and prudent, although he seems simple-minded. The mayor is a bribe taker and embezzler, confident in his right to use administrative power for his own interests. But, as he noted, parrying the judge’s attack, “he is firm in faith” and every Sunday he goes to church. The city for him is a family estate, and the colorful police officers Svistunov, Pugovitsyn and Derzhimorda do not so much keep order as they act as servants of the mayor. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, despite his mistake with Khlestakov, is a far-sighted and insightful person who deftly uses the peculiarity of the Russian bureaucracy: since there is no official without sin, it means that anyone, even if he is a governor, even a “capital thing”, can be “buyed” or “deceived ".

Most of the events in the comedy take place in the mayor’s house: it is here that it turns out who is holding “under the heel” of the luminary of the county bureaucracy - wife Anna Andreevna and daughter Marya Antonovna. After all, many of the "sins" of the mayor are the result of their whims. In addition, it is their frivolous relationship with Khlestakov that reinforces the comedy of his position, gives rise to completely ridiculous dreams of a general's rank and service in St. Petersburg. In "Remarks for gentlemen of the actors", preceding the text of the comedy, Gogol indicated that the mayor began "heavy service from the lower ranks." This is an important detail: after all, the "electricity" of the rank not only exalted Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, but also ruined him, making him a man "with roughly developed inclinations of the soul." Note that this is a comic version of Pushkin's captain Mironov, the straightforward and honest commandant of the Belogorsk fortress ("The Captain's Daughter"). The mayor is the exact opposite of Captain Mironov. If in the hero of Pushkin a person is above the rank, then in Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, on the contrary, bureaucratic arrogance kills the human.

There are bright individual traits in Lyapkin-Tyapkin and Strawberry. The judge is a county "philosopher" who has "read five or six" books and loves to talk about the creation of the world. 11 rand, from his words, according to the mayor, "the hair just rises on end" - probably not only because he is a "Voltarian", does not believe in God, allows himself to argue with Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, but also simply because of the absurdity and the absurdity of his "philosophizing". As the wise mayor subtly remarked, "well, otherwise a lot of intelligence is worse than it would not exist at all." The trustee of charitable institutions stands out among other officials with a penchant for flattery and denunciation. Probably not for the first time he did what he did during the "audience" with Khlestakov: violating the mutual responsibility of officials, Zemlyanika said that the postmaster "does absolutely nothing", the judge - "reprehensible behavior", the superintendent of schools - "worse than a Jacobin ". Strawberry, perhaps, is a truly terrible person, a werewolf official: he not only starves people in his charitable institutions and does not treat them (“we do not use expensive medicines”), but also destroys human reputations, interfering with truth with lies and slander . Luka Lukich Khlopov, superintendent of schools, is an impenetrably stupid and cowardly person, an example of a learned serf who looks into the mouth of any boss. “God forbid to serve in the scientific part! Khlopov complains. “You are afraid of everything: everyone gets in the way, everyone wants to show that he is also an intelligent person.”

The individualization of comic characters is one of the basic principles of Gogol the comedian. In each of them he finds a comic, "hidden vice", worthy of ridicule. However, regardless of their individual qualities, each official is a variant of "universal evasion" from true service to the tsar and the Fatherland, which should be the duty and honor of a nobleman. At the same time, it must be remembered that the socially typical in the characters of The Inspector General is only a part of their human appearance. Individual shortcomings become a form of manifestation of universal human vices in each Gogol character. The meaning of the depicted characters is much larger than their social position: they represent not only the county bureaucracy or the Russian bureaucracy, but also “a person in general” with his imperfections, who easily forgets about his duties as a citizen of heavenly and earthly citizenship.

Having created one social type of an official (such an official either steals, or takes bribes, or simply does nothing at all), the playwright supplemented it with a moral-psychological typification. Each of the characters has features of a certain moral and psychological type: it is easy to see in the mayor an imperious hypocrite who knows for sure what his benefit is; in Lyapkin-Tyapkin - a "philosopher" - a grumbler who loves to demonstrate his learning, but flaunts only his lazy, clumsy mind; in Strawberry - an earphone and a flatterer, covering up his "sins" with other people's "sins"; in the postmaster, who “treats” officials with a letter from Khlestakov, a curious, lover of peeping through a keyhole ... And of course, the imaginary “auditor” Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov himself is the embodiment of thoughtless lies, an easy attitude to life and widespread human weakness - to ascribe to oneself other people's affairs and other people's glory. This is a "labardan" man, that is, a mixture of stupidity, nonsense and nonsense, which pretend to be taken for intelligence, meaning and order. “I am everywhere, everywhere,” Khlestakov says about himself and is not mistaken: as Gogol noted, “everyone, even for a minute, if not for a few minutes, has been or is being made by Khlestakov, but, naturally, he just does not want to admit it ... ".

All characters are purely comic characters. Gogol does not portray them as some kind of extraordinary people - he is interested in what is found everywhere and what ordinary, everyday life consists of. Many secondary characters reinforce the impression that the playwright portrays quite ordinary people, no taller than "ordinary height." The second spectator in "Theatrical Journey" in response to the remark of the First spectator "... Do such people really exist? And meanwhile, they are not exactly villains, ”he remarked:“ Not at all, they are not villains at all. They are exactly what the proverb says: "Not a bad soul, but just a rogue." The situation itself, caused by the self-deception of officials, is exceptional - it stirred them up, pulled them out of the usual order of life, only enlarging, in the words of Gogol, "the vulgarity of a vulgar person." The officials' self-deception caused a chain reaction in the city, making both the merchants and the locksmith with the non-commissioned officer, offended by the mayor, accomplices in the comic action. A special role in the comedy was played by two characters who are called "city landowners" in the list of actors - the "poster" of the comedy: Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky. Each of them is a simple doubling of the other (their images are created according to the principle: two people - one character). They were the first to report the strange young man they saw at the inn. These insignificant people (“gossipers of the city, damned liars”) caused a commotion with the imaginary “auditor”, purely comical persons who led the county bribe-takers and embezzlers to a tragic denouement.

The comedy in The Government Inspector, unlike the pre-Gogol comedies, is consistent and all-encompassing. To reveal the comic in the public environment, in the characters of district officials and landowners, in the imaginary "auditor" Khlestakov - such is the principle of the author of the comedy.

The comic character in The Inspector General is revealed in three comedic situations. The first is a situation of fear caused by the received message about the imminent arrival of an auditor from St. Petersburg, the second is a situation of deafness and blindness of officials who suddenly ceased to understand the meaning of the words that Khlestakov uttered. They misinterpret them, they don't hear or see the obvious. The third situation is the situation of substitution: Khlestakov was mistaken for an auditor, the true auditor was replaced by an imaginary one. All three comedy situations are so closely interconnected that the absence of even one of them could destroy the comic effect of the play.

The main source of the comic in The Inspector General is fear, which literally paralyzes county officials, turning them from imperious tyrants into fussy, ingratiating people, from bribe takers into bribe givers. It is fear that deprives them of their reason, makes them deaf and blind, of course, not literally, but figuratively. They hear what Khlestakov says, how he lies improbably and every now and then “tricks”, but the true meaning of what was said does not reach them: after all, according to officials, in the mouth of a “significant person” even the most impudent and fantastic lie turns into truth. Instead of shaking with laughter, listening to stories about a watermelon "at seven hundred rubles", about "thirty-five thousand one couriers" galloping through the streets of St. Petersburg in order to invite Khlestakov "to manage the department", about how "in one evening" he wrote all the works of Baron Brambeus (O.I. Senkovsky), and the story "Frigate" Nadezhda "" (A.A. Bestuzheva) and even the magazine "Moscow Telegraph", "the mayor and others are shaking with fear", encouraging the intoxicated Khlestakov “to get excited more,” that is, to carry complete nonsense: “I am everywhere, everywhere. I go to the palace every day. Tomorrow they will make me into the field march ... ". Even during the first meeting with Khlestakov, the mayor saw, but did not “recognize” in him a complete insignificance. Both fear and the deafness and blindness caused by it became the soil on which a situation of substitution arose, which determined the “ghostly” nature of the conflict and the comedic plot of The Government Inspector.

Gogol used in The Inspector General all the possibilities of situational comedy available to a comedian. Three main comedy situations, each of which can be found in almost any comedy, in Gogol's play convince the reader with the whole "mass" of the comic that everything that happens on the stage is rigidly determined. “... Comedy should tie itself together, with all its mass, into one big, common knot,” Gogol noted in Theatrical Traveling.

There are many farcical situations in The Inspector General, which show the stupidity and inappropriate fussiness of county officials, as well as the frivolity and carelessness of Khlestakov. These situations are designed for 100% comic effect: they cause laughter, regardless of the meaning of what is happening. For example, feverishly giving the last orders before a trip to Khlestakov, the mayor "instead of a hat wants to put on a paper case." In Apparitions XII-XIV of the fourth act, Khlestakov, who had just declared his love to Marya Antonovna and was kneeling before her, as soon as she left, expelled by her mother, "rushes to her knees" and asks for a hand ... from the mayor's wife, and then, suddenly caught running in, Marya Antonovna, asks "mother" to bless them with Marya Antonovna "constant love." The lightning-fast change of events caused by Khlestakov's unpredictability ends with the transformation of "His Excellency" into a groom.

The comic homogeneity of The Inspector General determines two of the most important features of the work. Firstly, there is no reason to consider Gogol's laughter only "exposing", scourging vices. Gogol saw "cleansing", didactic and preaching functions in "high" laughter. The meaning of laughter for the writer is richer than criticism, denial or scourging: after all, laughing, he not only showed the vices of people and the imperfection of the Russian bureaucracy, but also took the first, most necessary step towards their deliverance.

In Gogol's laughter there is a huge "positive" potential, if only because those whom Gogol laughs at are not humiliated, but, on the contrary, are exalted by his laughter. The comic characters portrayed by the writer are not at all ugly human mutations. For him, these are, first of all, people, with their shortcomings and vices, "black ones", those who especially need the word of truth. They are blinded by power and impunity, they are used to believing that the life they lead is the real life. For Gogol, these are people who have lost their way, blinded, never knowing about their "high" social and human destiny. One can explain the main motive of Gogol's laughter in The Inspector General and in the works that followed it, including Dead Souls, as follows: only when they see themselves in the mirror of laughter, people are able to experience spiritual shock, think about new life truths, about the meaning of their "high" earthly and heavenly "citizenship".

Secondly, Gogol's consistent comedy leads to an almost limitless semantic expansion of comedy. It is not the individual shortcomings of individual people whose life offends the moral sense of the writer and causes him bitterness and anxiety for the desecrated “title” of a person, but the whole system of relations between people, that is ridiculed. Gogol's "geography" is not limited to a county town, lost somewhere in the Russian outback. The county town, as the writer himself noted, is a “prefabricated city”, a symbol of Russian and general disorder and delusion. The county town, so absurdly deceived in Khlestakov, is a fragment of a huge mirror, in which, according to the author, the Russian nobility, the Russian people in general, should look at themselves.

Gogol's laughter is a kind of "magnifying glass", with which you can see in people what they themselves either do not notice or want to hide. In ordinary life, the "distortion" of a person, camouflaged by a position or rank, is not always obvious. The “mirror” of comedy shows the true essence of a person, makes visible real-life flaws. The mirror reflection of life is no worse than life itself, in which people's faces have turned into "crooked faces." This is what the epigraph to The Inspector General reminds of.

The comedy uses Gogol's favorite technique - the synecdoche. Having shown the "visible" part of the world of the Russian bureaucracy, having laughed at the unlucky "fathers" of the county town, the writer pointed to a hypothetical whole, that is, to the shortcomings of the entire Russian bureaucracy and to universal human vices. The self-deception of officials of the county town, due to specific reasons, primarily the natural fear of retribution for what they have done, is part of the general self-deception that makes people worship false idols, forgetting about true life values.

The artistic effect of Gogol's comedy is determined by the fact that the real world "participates" in its creation - Russian reality, Russian people who have forgotten about their duty to the country, about the importance of the place they occupy, the world shown in the "mirror" of laughter, and the ideal world, created by the height of the author's moral ideal. The author's ideal is expressed not in a head-on collision of "negative" (more precisely, denied) characters with "positive" (ideal, exemplary) characters, but in the entire "mass" of comedy, that is, in its plot, composition, in the variety of meanings contained in each comic character, in every scene of the work.

The originality of the plot and composition of The Inspector General is determined by the nature of the conflict. It is due to the situation of self-deception of officials: they take what they wish for reality. Allegedly recognized, exposed by them official - "incognito" from St. Petersburg - makes them act as if they were a real auditor. The resulting comic contradiction makes the conflict ghostly, non-existent. After all, only if Khlestakov was actually an auditor, the behavior of officials would be quite justified, and the conflict would be a completely ordinary clash of interests between the auditor and the “audited”, whose fate completely depends on their dexterity and ability to “splurge” .

Khlestakov is a mirage that arose because “fear has big eyes”, since it was the fear of being taken by surprise, not having time to hide the “disorder” in the city, that led to the emergence of a comic contradiction, an imaginary conflict. However, Khlestakov's appearance is quite concrete, from the very beginning (the second act) his true essence is clear to the reader or viewer: he is just a petty Petersburg official who lost at cards and therefore got stuck in the backwoods of the county. Only “uncommon lightness in thoughts” helps Khlestakov not to lose heart in absolutely hopeless circumstances, out of habit hoping for “maybe”. He is passing through the city, but it seems to the officials that he came precisely for their sake. As soon as Gogol replaced the real auditor with an imaginary one, the real conflict became also an imaginary conflict, a ghostly one.

The unusualness of the comedy is not so much that Gogol found a completely new plot move, but in the reality of everything that happens. Each of the characters seems to be in its place, conscientiously playing its role. The county town has turned into a kind of stage platform, on which a completely “natural” play is played, striking in its plausibility. The script and the list of actors are known in advance, the only question is how the "actors"-officials will cope with their "roles" in the future "performance".

In fact, one can appreciate the acting skills of each of them. The main character, the real "genius" of the county bureaucratic scene, is the mayor Anton Ivanovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, who successfully played his "role" three times in the past ("he deceived three governors"), the rest of the officials - who is better, who is worse - also cope with their roles , although the mayor sometimes has to prompt them, “prompt”, as if reminiscent of the text of the “play”. Almost the entire first act is like a "dress rehearsal" carried out in a hurry. It was immediately followed by an unplanned "performance". After the beginning of the action - the message of the mayor - a very dynamic exposition follows. It presents not only each of the "fathers" of the city, but also the county town itself, which they consider their fiefdom. Officials are convinced of their right to commit lawlessness, take bribes, rob merchants, starve the sick, rob the treasury, read other people's letters. The fussy Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, who rushed to the "secret" meeting and alarmed everyone with a message about a strange young man they found in the hotel, hurried to push the "curtain" aside.

The mayor and officials try to “throw dust in the eyes” of an imaginary important person and tremble in front of her, sometimes losing the power of speech, not only out of fear of possible punishment, but also because one must tremble before any superiors (this is determined by the role of “audited”). They give bribes to Khlestakov when he asks for a "favor", because they should be given in this case, while usually they receive bribes. The mayor is amiable and helpful, but this is just an integral part of his "role" of the caring "father" of the city. In a word, everything goes like clockwork with the officials.

Even Khlestakov easily enters the role of an important person: he meets officials, accepts petitions, and begins, as befits a "significant person", for no reason to "scold" the owners, forcing them to "shake with fear." Khlestakov is incapable of enjoying power over people, he simply repeats what he himself probably experienced more than once in his St. Petersburg department. An unexpected role transforms Khlestakov, elevating him above everyone, making him a smart, powerful and strong-willed person, and a mayor who really possesses these qualities, again in full accordance with his “role”, for a while turns into a “rag”, “icicle” , complete nothingness. The comic metamorphosis is provoked by the "electricity" of the rank. All the actors - both county officials who have real power, and Khlestakov, the "cog" of the St. Petersburg bureaucratic system - seem to be struck by a powerful discharge of current generated by the Table of Ranks, which replaced a person with a rank. Even an imaginary bureaucratic "value" is capable of leading the movement of generally intelligent people, making obedient puppets out of them.

Readers and viewers of the comedy are well aware that a substitution took place that determined the behavior of officials until the fifth act, before the appearance of the postmaster Shpekin with Khlestakov's letter. The participants in the “performance” are unequal, since Khlestakov almost immediately guessed that he was confused with someone. But the role of "significant person" is so well known to him that he brilliantly coped with it. Officials, fettered both by unfeigned and by the fear set by them according to the "scenario", do not notice the blatant inconsistencies in the behavior of the imaginary auditor.

The Inspector General is an unusual comedy, since comic situations do not exhaust the meaning of what is happening. Three dramatic plots coexist in the play. One of them - a comedic one - was realized in the second, third, fourth and at the beginning of the fifth act: the imaginary (Khlestakov) became a magnitude (auditor) in the eyes of officials. The plot of the comedy plot is not in the first, but in the second act - this is the first conversation between the mayor and Khlestakov, where they are both sincere and both are mistaken. Khlestakov, in the words of an observant mayor, "nondescript, short, it seems like he would have crushed him with a fingernail." However, from the very beginning, the imaginary auditor in the eyes of the frightened "mayor of the local city" turns into a gigantic figure: Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky "becomes shy", listening to Khlestakov's "threats" "stretching out and trembling with his whole body." The mayor is sincerely mistaken and behaves as one should behave with the auditor, although he sees that he is a nonentity. Khlestakov enthusiastically “whips”, putting on the appearance of a “significant person”, but at the same time he speaks the real truth (“I am going to the Saratov province, to my own village”). The mayor, contrary to common sense, takes the words of Khlestakov as a lie: “Nicely tied a knot! Lies, lies - and it will not break anywhere!

At the end of the fourth act, to the mutual satisfaction of Khlestakov and the officials, who are still unaware of their deceit, the imaginary "auditor" is carried away from the city by the fastest three, but his shadow remains in the fifth act. The mayor himself begins to "whipping", dreaming of a career in St. Petersburg. It seems to him that he received “what a rich prize” - “with what a devil they intermarried!” With the help of his future son-in-law, Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky hopes to “hit a big rank, because he is a friend of all ministers and goes to the palace.” The comic contradiction at the beginning of the fifth act reaches its peak.

The climax of the comedy plot is the scene of the triumph of the mayor, who behaves as if he had already received the rank of general. He became above all, ascended above the county bureaucrats. And the higher he ascends in his dreams, taking what he wishes for reality, the more painful it is for him to fall when the postmaster "in a hurry" brings a printed letter - Khlestakov the writer, a scribbler appears on the stage, and the scribbler of the mayor cannot stand the spirit: for him they are worse than the devil . It is the position of the mayor that is especially comical, but it also has a tragic connotation. The unlucky hero of the comedy himself considers what happened as God's punishment: "Well, truly, if God wants to punish, he will first take away the mind." Add to this: and deprive irony and hearing.

In Khlestakov's letter, everyone finds even more "unpleasant news" than in the letter of Andrei Ivanovich Chmykhov, read by the mayor at the beginning of the play: the auditor turned out to be imaginary, "helicopter", "icicle", "rag". Reading the letter is the denouement of the comedy. Everything fell into place - the deceived side both laughs and is indignant, fearing publicity and, which is especially insulting, laughter: after all, as the mayor noted, now “you will go into a laughing stock - there will be a clicker, a paper maraca, they will insert you into a comedy. That's what's embarrassing! Chin, the title will not spare, and they will all bare their teeth and clap their hands. The mayor is most of all not saddened by his human humiliation, but outraged by the possible insult to his "rank, title." There is a bitter comic connotation in his indignation: a person who has soiled his rank and title falls upon the “clickers”, “paper-scrapers”, identifying himself with the rank and therefore considering himself closed to criticism.

Laughter in the fifth act becomes universal: after all, every official wants to laugh at others, recognizing the accuracy of Khlestakov's assessments. Laughing at each other, savoring the jabs and slaps given in the letter by the exposed "auditor", the officials laugh at themselves. The stage laughs - the auditorium laughs. The famous remark of the mayor - “What are you laughing at? - You are laughing at yourself!.. Oh, you!.. "- addressed both to those present on the stage and to the audience. Only Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky does not laugh: he is the most injured person in this whole story. It seems that with the reading of the letter and the clarification of the truth, the circle has closed, the comedic plot has been exhausted. But after all, the whole first act is not yet a comedy, although there are many comic incongruities in the behavior and words of the participants in the meeting with the mayor, in the appearance of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky and in the hasty gathering of the mayor.

Two other plots - dramatic and tragic - are outlined, but not fully implemented. The first words of the mayor: “I invited you, gentlemen, in order to tell you the unpleasant news: an auditor is coming to us”, supplemented by clarifications that this auditor is coming from St. Petersburg (and not from the province), incognito (secretly, without publicity), “ and also with a secret order, ”caused a serious commotion. The task that arose before the county officials is quite serious, but doable: “take precautions”, how to prepare for a meeting with a formidable “incognito”: to cover up, patch up something in the city - maybe it will blow over. The plot of the action is dramatic, vital: the terrible auditor will not fall like snow on his head, the ritual of receiving the auditor and swindling him could be realized. There is no inspector in the first act yet, but there is a plot: the officials woke up from their hibernation, began to fuss. There is no hint of a possible substitution, only the fear that they might not be in time worries officials, especially the mayor: “So you are waiting for the door to open and - walk ...”

So, in the first act, the contours of the future drama are outlined, in which a favorable outcome of the audit could depend only on the officials. The message of the mayor about the letter he received and the possible arrival of the auditor is the basis for the emergence of a dramatic conflict, quite common in any situation associated with the sudden arrival of the authorities. From the second act to the finale of the play, a comedic plot unfolds. In the comedy, as in a mirror, the real world of bureaucratic bureaucracy was reflected. In laughter, this world, shown from the inside, revealed its usual features: falsehood, show-off, hypocrisy, flattery and the omnipotence of the rank. Hurrying to the hotel where the unknown visitor from St. Petersburg was staying, the mayor hurried into the comedic "behind the mirror", into the world of false, but quite plausible ranks and relations between people.

If the action in The Inspector General had ended with the reading of Khlestakov's letter, Gogol would have accurately realized the "thought" of the work suggested to him by Pushkin. But the writer went further, completing the play with “The Last Appearance” and “A Silent Scene”: the finale of “The Inspector General” brought the heroes out of the “mirror room”, in which laughter reigned, reminding them that their self-deception did not allow them to “take precautions”, dulled their vigilance . In the finale, a third plot is planned - a tragic one. The suddenly appeared gendarme announces the arrival of not an imaginary, but a genuine auditor, terrible for officials not with his “incognito”, but with the clarity of the task set before him by the tsar himself. Each word of the gendarme is like a blow of fate, this is a prophecy about the imminent retribution of officials - both for sins and for carelessness: “An official who arrived by personal order from St. Petersburg demands you to himself this very hour. He stayed at a hotel." The fears of the mayor, expressed in the first act, came true: “That would be nothing, - damned incognito! Suddenly he looks: “Ah, you are here, my dears! And who, say, is the judge here? - Lyapkin-Tyapkin. - “And bring Lyapkin-Tyapkin here! And who is the trustee of charitable institutions? - "Strawberry". - “And bring Strawberries here!” That's bad!" The appearance of the gendarme is the imposition of a new action, the beginning of the tragedy, which is taken out of the stage by the author. A new, serious "play", in which everyone will not be laughing, should, according to Gogol, not be played in the theater, but be accomplished in life itself.

Her three plots begin with messages: a dramatic one - with a message from the mayor, a comic one - with a message from Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, a tragic one - with a message from a gendarme. But only the comic ghost plot is fully developed. In a dramatic plot that remained unrealized, Gogol discovered comic potential, demonstrating not only the absurdity of the behavior of fooled officials, but also the absurdity of the action itself, in which the roles are pre-scheduled: both the auditor and the auditees diligently throw dust in each other's eyes. The possibility of embodying the author's ideal is outlined in the finale of the comedy: the last and most important emphasis is made by Gogol on the inevitability of punishment.

The play ends with the "petrification" scene. This is a sudden stop of the action, which from that moment could turn from a comedy, ending with the exposure of Khlestakov, into a tragedy. Everything happened suddenly, suddenly. The worst happened: not a hypothetical, but a real danger hung over the officials. "Silent scene" - the moment of truth for officials. They are made to “petrify” by a terrible guess about imminent retribution. Gogol the moralist asserts in the finale of The Inspector General the idea of ​​the inevitability of the trial of bribe-takers and embezzlers of public funds who have forgotten their official and human duty. This court, according to the writer, should be carried out by personal command, that is, by the will of the king himself.

In the finale of the comedy "Undergrowth" by D.I. Fovizina, Starodum says, pointing to Mitrofanushka: "Here they are, worthy fruits of malevolence!" In Gogol's comedy there is no one who even remotely resembled Starodum. The “silent scene” is the pointing finger of the author himself, this is the “moral” of the play, expressed not by the words of the “positive” hero, but by means of composition. The gendarme is a messenger from that ideal world created by Gogol's imagination. In this world, the monarch not only punishes, but also corrects his subjects, wants not only to teach them a lesson, but also to teach them. The pointing finger of Gogol the moralist is also turned towards the emperor, not without reason that Nicholas I remarked, leaving the box after the performance on April 19, 1836: “Well, a play! Everyone got it, but I - more than anyone! ” Gogol did not flatter the emperor. Directly pointing out where retribution should come from, the writer, in essence, "taunted" him, confident in his right to preach, teach and instruct, including the king himself. Already in 1835, when the first edition of the comedy was being created, Gogol was firmly convinced that his laughter was laughter inspired by a high moral ideal, and not the laughter of a scoff or an indifferent critic of social and human vices.

Gogol's belief in the triumph of justice, in the moral effect of his play can be assessed as a kind of social and moral utopia generated by his enlightening illusions. But if it were not for these illusions, there would be no "Inspector General". In it, the comic and laughter turned out to be in the foreground, but behind them stands Gogol's belief that evil is punishable, and the punishment itself is carried out in the name of liberating people from the ghostly power of the rank, from the "bestial", in the name of their spiritual enlightenment. “Having seen his shortcomings and errors, a person suddenly becomes higher than himself,” the writer emphasized. “There is no evil that cannot be corrected, but you need to see what exactly the evil consists of.” The arrival of the auditor is not a “duty” event at all. The inspector is important not as a specific character, but as a symbol. It is, as it were, the hand of an autocrat, just and merciless to iniquity, reaching out to the backwaters of the county.

In The Denouement of The Inspector General, written in 1846, Gogol emphasized the possibility of a broader interpretation of the comedy's finale. The inspector is “our awakened conscience”, sent “by the Nominal Supreme Command”, by the will of God, reminding a person of his “high heavenly citizenship”: “Whatever you say, but the inspector 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. ... Suddenly it will open before you, in you, such a monster that a hair will rise from horror. Of course, this interpretation is only one of the possible interpretations of the comedy's symbolically ambiguous finale, which, according to the author's intention, should affect both the mind and the soul of viewers and readers.