Inspector history of creation. History of creation and analysis of the comedy "The Inspector General" by N.V. Gogol

Work on “The Inspector General” was connected with Gogol’s plan to create a truly modern comedy, about the possibility of the existence of which on Russian soil all sorts of doubts were expressed (although comedy as a genre, naturally, existed). Thus, in “Moskovsky Vestnik” for 1827, an article by S. Shevyrev was published about V. Golovin’s comedy “Writers among themselves,” which proved that modern life does not contain comic elements (and therefore the critic advised to shift the center of gravity to history) . Also, P. Vyazemsky, in his article “On Our Old Comedy” (1833), explained why Russian life is not conducive to comedy: “I’ll start with the fact that it seems that there is no dramatic quality in the Russian mind. It must be assumed that our morals are not dramatic. We have almost no public life : We are either homebodies, or we act in the field of service. On both stages we are not very accessible to the persecution of comedians...” Like Shevyrev, Vyazemsky also saw a way out in historical comedy. In this context, the background to Gogol’s dispute with S. T. Aksakov in July 1832 in Moscow becomes clearer. In response to Aksakov’s remark that “we have nothing to write about, that everything in the world is so monotonous, decent and empty,” Gogol looked at his interlocutor “somehow significantly and said” that “this is not true, that the comedy lies in everywhere,” but “living in the midst of it, we do not see it.”

After the plot was transferred by Pushkin to Gogol in 1835, Nikolai Vasilyevich began work on “The Inspector General”. The first version of the comedy was written quite quickly, as evidenced by Gogol’s letter to Pogodin, dated December 6, 1835, in which the writer talks about the completion of the first two draft editions of The Inspector General.

Researcher A. S. Dolinin in “Scientific Notes of the Leningrad State. ped. in-ta” still expresses doubt that Gogol could have done such a huge and painstaking work in a month and a half, because, according to him, the writer “honed” his works for quite a long time. Dolinin believes that Pushkin conveyed the plot to Gogol much earlier, perhaps in the first years of acquaintance. The story about Svinin simply remained in the writer’s memory, and he decided to implement the plot when the idea came to write the latest comedy.

And yet, most researchers of the history of literature believe that Gogol always wrote rough drafts quite quickly, but it took much more time to “perfect” them.

Voitolovskaya believes that a connection has been established between Pushkin’s idea of ​​the plot and Gogol’s “The Inspector General,” although the exact date of the start of work on the comedy is not clear.

The first version of “The Inspector General” was significantly reworked, as a result of which the comedy acquired a more holistic structure. But even after the second edition, the writer again made a number of changes, after which the play was finally sent to print and sent to the theater censor. But even after receiving permission for the theatrical production, which was given on March 2, Gogol did not stop improving his “The Inspector General”. The latest corrections were accepted by theater censors just a few days before the comedy hit the stage.

During the creation of The Inspector General, Gogol did not feel the difficulties that could accompany the writer’s work on a large work. The images that run through the entire play were formed immediately; already in the first edition we observe all the key events, all the main characters with their distinctive features. Therefore, the complexity of the creative process was not at all in the search for storylines, but in a more vivid and accurate disclosure of the characters’ characters.

Nikolai Vasilyevich attached great importance to this work, because this is precisely what can explain the fact that he continued to work on the text even after the first edition of the play. When Pogodin asked Gogol about publishing the second edition of The Inspector General, the writer replied that he needed to wait a little, since he began to redo some scenes, which, in his opinion, were executed carelessly. First of all, the scenes of the meeting of officials with Khlestakov at the beginning of the fourth act were corrected; they became more natural and energetic. After these changes, the second edition of the comedy was published in 1841, but Gogol understands that his work on The Inspector General is not yet finished. And in the fall of 1842, the writer again polished the entire play. All this is the process of artistic processing by the author of his work, as a result of which the expressiveness of every detail is noticeable. There were very few scenes in the comedy that Gogol did not redo, trying to achieve depth of images and speech. Only the sixth edition of The Inspector General became final.

2. The comedy “The Inspector General” and the social reality of Russia in the 1830s. Features of the “prefabricated city” image.

The city in which the comedy takes place is fictional, but it looks incredibly typical. Dozens of such cities were scattered throughout Russia. “Yes, even if you jump from here for three years, you won’t reach any state” - this is how the author characterizes this city through the lips of his character. The setting of the comedy looks like a small state. It seems to have everything necessary for a decent life for citizens: a court, educational institutions, post office, police, health care and social security institutions. But what a deplorable state they are in! Bribes are taken in court. The sick are treated haphazardly, and instead of maintaining order, the police are rampant. And the most amazing thing is that the entire administrative and financial mechanism, budgetary institutions and so on works quite well. This city is far from the worst in Russia. Gogol, as you know, had to repeatedly justify himself about his great comedy. The author argued that the setting of the comedy is “a collective city of the entire dark side,” that is, a gathering of all-Russian abomination, shown only to eradicate the vices of society. But every ordinary viewer and every person in power understood perfectly well that the city, depicted with such force and vividness in “The Inspector General,” is nothing more than an image of Nicholas Russia. In this sense, Gogol's comedy became not only a satirical, but a cultural phenomenon that has retained its significance to this day. The appearance of the comedy “The Inspector General” in 1836 acquired social significance not only because the author criticized and ridiculed the vices and shortcomings of Tsarist Russia, but also because with his comedy the writer urged viewers and readers to look into their souls and think about universal human values. In the comedy “The Inspector General,” the author chooses a small provincial town as the setting, from which “even if you ride for three years, you won’t reach any state.” N.V. Gogol makes city officials and the “phantasmagoric face”, Khlestakov, the heroes of the play. The author's genius allowed him, using the example of a small island of life, to reveal those features and conflicts that characterized the social development of the whole historical era . He managed to create enormous social and moral range. The small town in the play captures all the characteristic features of social relations of that time. The main conflict on which the comedy is based is the deep contradiction between what city officials do and ideas about the public good and the interests of city residents. Lawlessness, embezzlement, bribery - all this is depicted in “The Inspector General” not as individual vices of individual officials, but as generally accepted “standards of life”, outside of which those in power cannot imagine their existence. Readers and viewers never doubt for a minute that somewhere life takes place according to different laws. All the norms of relations between people in the city of “The Inspector General” look in the play as ubiquitous. Gogol is interested not only in the social vices of society, but also in its moral and spiritual state. In “The Inspector General,” the author painted a terrible picture of the internal disunity of people who are able to unite only temporarily under the influence of a common feeling of fear. In life, people are driven by arrogance, swagger, servility, the desire to take a more advantageous place, to get a better job. People have lost the idea of ​​the true meaning of life. It should be noted that Gogol’s work has not lost its significance. Today we see the same evils in our society.

The “prefabricated city” is torn by contradictions: it has its own oppressors and the oppressed, its offenders and the offended, people with varying degrees of official misconduct and sins. Gogol does not hide or smooth over anything. But along with this, as if on top of all individual concerns, a single “citywide” concern invades the city, a single experience, brought to life and heated to the limit by emergency circumstances - the “auditor’s situation.”

But even against the background of works that depicted the life of the entire city, “The Inspector General” reveals important differences. Gogol's city is consistently hierarchical. Its structure is strictly pyramidal: “citizenship”, “merchants”, above - officials, city landowners and, finally, military. the head of everything is the mayor. The female half has not been forgotten, also divided by rank: the mayor’s family is highest, then the wives and daughters of officials, like the daughters of Lyapkin-Tyapkin, from whom the mayor’s daughter should not take an example; finally, below: the non-commissioned officer, locksmith Poshlepkina, carved by mistake... Only two people stand outside the city: Khlestakov and his servant Osip.

Features of dramatic conflict. True and imaginary conflict. Yu.V. Mann about the “mirage” intrigue.

Lesson objectives:

• To acquaint students with the history of comedy.
• consolidate knowledge about the dramatic genre of literature.
• explain the nature of Gogol's laughter.
• cultivate interest in the works of the writer.
• develop presentation creation skills.
• develop expressive reading skills and text analysis.

Equipment: Multimedia projector, theater masks, posters, illustrations for the play, textbook, portrait of N.V. Gogol.

During the classes

1. The teacher's word about Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General". The history of comedy.
2. About the comedy genre.
3. Literary commentary (working with terms).
4. Composition of the play.
5. Commented reading of the poster, “Notes for Gentlemen Actors.”
6. Checking homework.
7. The nature of Gogol's humor. Laughter is “the only honest, noble face in comedy.”
8. Homework (compiling a table).

The progress of the lesson is projected on the screen.

Teacher's word:

1. In the 30s years XIX century, Gogol seriously thinks about the future of Russian comedy.

The writer believes that comedy will fulfill its purpose only when the idea of ​​the work is revealed in the system of images, in the composition, in the plot, and not in direct verbal edifications, with the punishment of vices in front of the audience.

Gogol turned to Pushkin: “Do me a favor, give me some kind of story, at least some kind, funny or unfunny, but a purely Russian joke. My hand is trembling to write a comedy in the meantime.”

In response to Gogol's request, Pushkin told him a story about an imaginary auditor, about a funny mistake that entailed the most unexpected consequences. Based on this story, Gogol wrote his comedy “The Inspector General.” The writer worked on the text of the comedy for 17 years. The story was typical for its time. It is known that in Bessarabia, the publisher of the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, Svinin, was mistaken for an auditor. In the city of Ustyuzhna, at the other end of Russia, a certain gentleman, posing as an auditor, robbed the entire city. There were other similar stories told by Gogol's contemporaries. The fact that Pushkin's anecdote turned out to be so characteristic of Russian life made it especially attractive to Gogol. He wrote in “Petersburg Notes of 1836”: “For God’s sake, give us Russian characters, give us ourselves, our rogues, our eccentrics on their stage, for everyone’s laughter!” The plot of the comedy is based on the commotion among officials, their desire to hide their “sins” from the auditor. The hero of the comedy was the mass of bureaucrats. Gogol ridiculed dark sides Russian reality: arbitrariness of power, bribery, ignorance, rudeness, embezzlement.

The comedy also ridiculed the everyday side of life of the city's inhabitants: the insignificance of interests, hypocrisy and lies, vulgarity, arrogance, superstition and gossip. At the center of the comedy is a person who is least capable of leading intrigues and games. It is not the hero who leads the action, but the action that leads the hero.

2. Performing creative groups : (students select the material independently).

Comedy genre was thought by Gogol as a genre social comedy, touching on the most fundamental issues of people's and social life. From this point of view, Pushkin's anecdote was very suitable for Gogol. After all, the characters in the story about the pseudo-auditor are not private people, but government officials. Events associated with them inevitably involve many people: both those in power and those under power. The anecdote told by Pushkin easily lent itself to such an artistic development, in which it became the basis of a truly social comedy. Gogol wrote in “The Author's Confession”: “In “The Inspector General” I decided to collect in one pile everything bad in Russia that I knew then, all the injustices that are done in those places and in those cases where justice is most required from a person, and laugh at everything at once.”

Gogol was accused of distorting reality. But that was not the case. The events depicted in the comedy took place in St. Petersburg, and in Kazan, and in Siberia, and in Saratov, and in Penza. Khlestakov was everywhere, everywhere.

The Inspector General was completed by Gogol on December 4, 1835. Completed in the first edition, then there were more alterations. In April 1936, the comedy was staged. Few true connoisseurs - educated and honest people - were delighted. The majority did not understand the comedy and reacted to it with hostility.

“Everyone is against me...” Gogol complained in a letter to the famous actor Shchepkin. “The police are against me, the merchants are against me, the writers are against me.” And a few days later, in a letter to the historian M.P. After a while, he bitterly notes: “And what would be accepted by enlightened people with loud laughter and sympathy, is what the bile of ignorance outrages; and this is general ignorance..."

After the production of The Inspector General on stage, Gogol is full of gloomy thoughts. He was not entirely satisfied with the acting. He is depressed by the general misunderstanding. In these circumstances it is difficult for him to write, it is difficult for him to live. He decides to go abroad, to Italy. Reporting this to Pogodin. He writes with pain: “A modern writer, a comic writer, a writer of morals should be away from his homeland.” The Prophet has no glory in the Fatherland.” But as soon as he leaves his homeland, the thought of her great love to her with new strength and poignancy arises in him: “Now there is a foreign land in front of me, a foreign land around me, but in my heart is Rus', not nasty Rus', but only beautiful Rus'.”

3. Literary commentary.(teacher speaking)

In order to understand the work “The Inspector General,” we will talk about what are the features of a literary work intended for the theater, for production on stage (this work is called play).

In the stage directions, explanations for the directors of the play and actors, it is reported which characters are participating in the play, what their age is, appearance, position, what kind of family relationships they are connected with (these author’s remarks are called posters); the location of the action is indicated (a room in the mayor’s house), it is indicated what the hero of the play is doing and how he pronounces the words of the role (“looking around”, “to the side”).

Gogol was very attentive to his reader. With comments on the play, he sought to help perceive the comedy .

4. Composition of the play:

The action in the play develops through the following stages:

Definitions on screen. (write in notebook)

• Exposition- the action of the play, depicting the characters and positions of the characters before the action begins.
• The beginning– an event from which the active development of an action begins.

Development of the play's action.

• Climax- the moment of highest tension in the play.
• Denouement– an event that completes an action.

As students analyze the play, they work on these concepts.

In terms of volume, the play cannot be large, since it is designed for stage performance (lasting 2-4 hours). Therefore, the plays depict the most significant events, which develop quickly, energetically, colliding actors who are fighting, hidden or overt.

5. Reading the poster and notes for actors.

Notes for gentlemen actors give a detailed description of the characters.

After reading the list of characters, we will find that there is no auditor there. Does the title character turn out to be an off-stage character?

We will answer this question during the comedy analysis.

6. Checking homework.

Students make a presentation (theater poster) and hand in illustrations for the play.

7. The nature of Gogol's laughter.

Laughter is the only “honest, noble face in comedy.”

Creative group performing.

Gogol ridiculed the dark sides of Russian reality: the arbitrariness of the authorities, bribery, embezzlement. ignorance, rudeness. And the exposure of negative heroes has long been in comedy not through a noble face, but through the actions, actions, and dialogues of themselves. Negative heroes Gogol themselves expose themselves in the eyes of the viewer.”

But... the heroes of N.V. Gogol is exposed not with the help of morality and teachings, but through ridicule. “Vice is struck here only by laughter.” (Gogol).

The author chose a tall, noble laughter, because he was deeply convinced that “even those who are not afraid of anything are afraid of laughter.” With faith in the healing power of laughter, he created his comedy.

Teacher's final words: What is depicted is a mirror in which Gogol shows society to society.

The fear of exposure is the driving force of the plot.

8. Homework.

1. Prepare a message. Characteristics of one of the heroes.

Table “Image Characteristics”

2. How do you understand the epigraph: “There’s no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked”?

Answer the question in writing.

It is traditionally believed that the plot was suggested to him by A.S. Pushkin. This is confirmed by the memoirs of the Russian writer Vladimir Sollogub: “Pushkin met Gogol and told him about an incident that happened in the city of Ustyuzhna, Novgorod province - about some passing gentleman who pretended to be a ministry official and robbed all the city residents.”

There is also an assumption that it goes back to the stories about Pavel Svinin’s business trip to Bessarabia in. A year before the debut of The Inspector General, a book on the same topic was published satirical novel A. F. Veltman “Furious Roland”. Even earlier, the comedy “A Visitor from the Capital, or Turmoil in a County Town,” written by G. F. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko in 1827, began to circulate in manuscript.

While working on the play, Gogol repeatedly wrote to A.S. Pushkin about the progress of its writing, sometimes wanting to quit it, but Pushkin persistently asked him not to stop working on “The Inspector General.”

Pushkin and Zhukovsky were in complete admiration, but many did not see or did not want to see, behind the classical screen of a typical “comedy of errors” plot, a public farce in which the whole of Russia was designated behind a provincial town.

I. I. Panaev. "Literary Memoirs"

Gogol himself spoke about his work like this:

In “The Inspector General,” I decided to put together everything bad in Russia that I knew then, all the injustices that are being done in those places and in those cases where justice is most required from a person, and at one time laugh at everything.

The stage fate of the play did not develop immediately. It was possible to obtain permission for the production only after Zhukovsky managed to convince the emperor personally that “there is nothing unreliable in the comedy, that it is only a cheerful mockery of bad provincial officials,” and the play was allowed to be staged.

The second edition of the play dates back to 1842.

Characters

• Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor
• Anna Andreevna, his wife
• Marya Antonovna, his daughter
• Luka Lukich Khlopov, superintendent of schools.
• Wife his.
• Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin, judge.
• Artemy Filippovich Strawberry, trustee of charitable institutions.
• Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin, postmaster.
• Pyotr Ivanovich Dobchinsky, Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky- city landowners.
• Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, an official from St. Petersburg.
• Osip, his servant.
• Christian Ivanovich Gibner, district doctor.
• Fedor Ivanovich Lyulyukov, Ivan Lazarevich Rastakovsky, Stepan Ivanovich Korobkin- retired officials, honorary persons in the city.
• Stepan Ilyich Ukhovertov, private bailiff.
• Svistunov, Pugovitsyn, Derzhimorda- police officers.
• Abdulin, merchant.
• Fevronya Petrovna Poshlepkina, locksmith.
• Non-commissioned officer's wife.
• bear, servant of the mayor.
• Servant tavern
• Guests and guests, merchants, townspeople, petitioners

Plot

Action 1

Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, a petty low-ranking official (college registrar, the lowest rank in the Table of Ranks), travels from St. Petersburg to Saratov with his servant Osip. He finds himself passing through a small county town. Khlestakov loses at cards and is left without money.

Just at this time, the entire city government, mired in bribes and embezzlement, starting with the mayor Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, from a letter received by the mayor, learns about the arrival of an incognito auditor from St. Petersburg, and awaits his arrival in fear. City landowners Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, having accidentally learned about the appearance of the defaulter Khlestakov at the hotel, decide that this is the auditor, and report him to the mayor. A commotion begins. All officials and officials fussily rush to cover up their sins, Anton Antonovich himself is at a loss for some time, but quickly comes to his senses and understands that he himself needs to go to bow to the auditor.

Act 2

Meanwhile, the hungry Khlestakov, settled in the cheapest hotel room, is wondering where to get food. He begs for a lunch of soup and roast from the inn servant, and having received what he wants, he expresses displeasure with the quantity and quality of the dishes. The appearance of the mayor in Khlestakov’s room is an unpleasant surprise for him. At first, he thinks that the hotel owner denounced him as an insolvent guest. The mayor himself is openly timid, believing that he is talking to an important metropolitan official who has arrived on a secret mission to audit the state of affairs in the city. The mayor, thinking that Khlestakov is an auditor, offers him bribe. Khlestakov, thinking that the mayor is a kind-hearted and decent citizen, accepts from him on loan. “I ended up giving him two hundred and four hundred instead,” the mayor rejoices. Nevertheless, he decides to pretend to be a fool in order to extract more information about Khlestakov. “He wants to be considered incognito,” the mayor thinks to himself. - “Okay, let’s let us Turuses in and pretend that we don’t know what kind of person he is.” But Khlestakov, with his inherent naivety, behaves so directly that the mayor is left with nothing, without losing the conviction, however, that Khlestakov is a “subtle little thing” and “you need to keep your eyes open with him.” Then the mayor comes up with a plan to get Khlestakov drunk, and he offers to inspect the charitable institutions of the city. Khlestakov agrees.

Act 3

Then the action continues in the mayor's house. A fairly tipsy Khlestakov, seeing the ladies - Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna - decides to “show off.” Showing off in front of them, he tells tales about his important position in St. Petersburg, and, what is most interesting, he himself believes in them. He attributes to himself literary and musical works, which, due to the “extraordinary lightness of his thoughts,” allegedly “wrote in one evening, it seems, and amazed everyone.” And he’s not even embarrassed when Marya Antonovna practically catches him in a lie. But soon the tongue refuses to serve the rather tipsy capital guest, and Khlestakov, with the help of the mayor, goes to “rest.”

Act 4

The next day, Khlestakov does not remember anything; he wakes up not as a “field marshal”, but as a collegiate registrar. Meanwhile, city officials “on a military footing” line up to give a bribe to Khlestakov, and he, thinking that he is borrowing (and being sure that when he reaches his village, he will repay all his debts), accepts money from everyone, including Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, who, it would seem, have no reason to bribe the auditor. Khlestakov even begs for money himself, citing a “strange incident” that “he completely spent money on the road.” Next, petitioners break through to Khlestakov, who “attack the mayor” and want to pay him in kind (wine and sugar). Only then does Khlestakov realize that he was given bribes, and he flatly refuses, but if he had been offered a loan, he would have taken it. However, Khlestakov’s servant Osip, being much smarter than his master, understands that both kind and money are still bribes, and takes everything from the merchants, citing the fact that “even a rope will come in handy on the road.” Having sent the last guest away, he manages to look after Anton Antonovich’s wife and daughter. And, although they have known each other for only one day, he asks for the hand of the mayor’s daughter and receives the consent of his parents. Osip strongly recommends that Khlestakov quickly get out of the city before the deception is revealed. Khlestakov leaves, finally sending his friend Tryapichkin a letter from the local post office.

Action 5

The mayor and his entourage take a breath of relief. First of all, the mayor decides to “give some pepper” to the merchants who went to complain about him to Khlestakov. He swaggers over them and calls them names last words, but as soon as the merchants promised a rich treat for the engagement (and later for the wedding) of Marya Antonovna and Khlestakov, the mayor forgave them all. He gathers a full house of guests to publicly announce Khlestakov’s engagement to Marya Antonovna. Anna Andreevna, convinced that she has become related to the big capital authorities, is completely delighted. But then the unexpected happens. The postmaster of the local branch, on his own initiative, opened Khlestakov’s letter and from it it is clear that incognito he turned out to be a fraudster and a thief. The deceived mayor has not yet had time to recover from such a blow when the next news arrives. An official from St. Petersburg staying at the hotel demands him to come to him. It all ends with a silent scene...

Productions

The first performances were in the first edition of 1836. The profession of a theater director did not yet exist; productions were handled by the directorate of the Imperial Theaters and the author himself, but the interpretation of the role still depended most of all on the performers.

Premieres

• April 19, 1836 - Alexandrinsky Theater: Mayor- Sosnitsky, Anna Andreevna- Sosnitskaya, Marya Antonovna- Asenkova, Lyapkin-Tyapkin - Grigoriev 1st, Strawberry - Tolchenov, Bobchinsky- Martynov, Khlestakov- Dur, Osip- Afanasiev, Poshlyopkina- Guseva.

See picture: N.V. Gogol at the rehearsal of “The Inspector General” at the Alexandrinsky Theater. Drawing by P. A. Karatygin. 1836 (the year 1835 is indicated incorrectly in the figure) - art. Why are you laughing?...

Nicholas I himself was present at the St. Petersburg premiere. After the premiere of “The Inspector General,” the emperor said: “What a play! Everyone got it, and I got it more than anyone else!” Khlestakov was played by Nikolai Osipovich Dur. The Emperor really liked the production; moreover, according to critics, the positive perception of the crowned special risky comedy subsequently had a beneficial effect on the censorship fate of Gogol’s work. Gogol's comedy was initially banned, but after an appeal it received the highest permission to be staged on the Russian stage.

From the diary of A. I. Khrapovitsky (inspector of the repertoire of the Russian drama troupe):

For the first time "The Inspector General". An original comedy in 5 acts written by N.V. Gogol. The Emperor and his heir suddenly deigned to be present and were extremely pleased, laughing with all their hearts. The play is very funny, just an intolerable curse on the nobles, officials and merchants. All the actors, especially Sosnitsky, played superbly. Sosnitsky and Dur were called. (“Russian Antiquity”, 1879, No. 2 and “Materials” by Shenrock, III, p. 31.

Gogol was disappointed by public opinion and the unsuccessful St. Petersburg production of the comedy and refused to take part in the preparation of the Moscow premiere. The author was especially dissatisfied with the performer leading role. After the premiere in St. Petersburg, Gogol wrote:

“Dur didn’t understand one bit what Khlestakov was. Khlestakov became something like... a whole line of vaudeville rascals...".

• May 25, 1836 - Maly Theater (In Moscow, the first performance was supposed to take place at the Bolshoi Theater, but under the pretext of repairs, the performance was given the next day in the Maly): Mayor- Shchepkin, Khlestakov- Lensky, Osip- Orlov, Shpekin- Potanchikov, Anna Andreevna- Lvova-Sinetskaya, Marya Antonovna- Samarina, Lyapkin-Tyapkin- P. Stepanov, Strawberries- M. Rumyanov, Dobchinsky- Shumsky and Bobchinsky- Nikiforov.

Before the Moscow premiere, Gogol wrote to Shchepkin:

Petersburg, May 10, 1836. I forgot to tell you, dear Mikhail Semenovich, some preliminary remarks about “The Inspector General.” Firstly, you must certainly, out of friendship for me, take upon yourself the entire task of staging it. I don’t know any of your actors, what kind and what each of them is good at. But you can know this better than anyone else. You yourself, without a doubt, must take on the role of mayor, otherwise it will disappear without you. There is an even more difficult role in the entire play - the role of Khlestakov. I don't know if you will choose an artist for it. God forbid [if] it is played with ordinary farces, as boasters and theatrical hangers play. He is simply stupid, he chatters only because he sees that they are willing to listen to him; he’s lying because he had a hearty breakfast and drank some decent wine. He is fidgety only when he approaches the ladies. The scene in which he cheats deserves special attention. Every word of his, that is, a phrase or utterance, is an impromptu completely unexpected and therefore must be expressed abruptly. It should not be overlooked that by the end of this scene it begins to unravel little by little. But he should not at all sway in his chair; he should only blush and express himself even more unexpectedly and, the further, louder and louder. I am very afraid for this role. It was performed poorly here too, because it requires decisive talent.

Despite the absence of the author and the complete indifference of the theater management to the premiere production, the performance was a huge success. According to P. Kovalevsky, M. S. Shchepkin, playing the Mayor, “knew how to find one or two almost tragic notes in his role. Thus, the words: “Don’t destroy, wife, children ...”, he pronounced “with tears and the most an unhappy expression on his face... And this rogue becomes pitiful for a minute.”

However, the magazine "Rumor" described the Moscow premiere as follows:

“The play, showered with applause in places, did not excite either a word or a sound when the curtain fell, in contrast to the St. Petersburg production.”

Gogol wrote to M. S. Shchepkin after both premieres of the comedy: “The action produced by it [the play “The Inspector General”] was large and noisy. Everything is against me. Elderly and respectable officials shout that nothing is sacred to me when I dared to speak like that about serving people. The police are against me, the merchants are against me, the writers are against me... Now I see what it means to be a comic writer. The slightest sign of truth - and not just one person, but entire classes rebel against you” (Collected works, vol. 6, 1950, p. 232).

Productions in the Russian Empire

Resumes: until 1870 at the Alexandrinsky Theater and until 1882 at the Maly Theater the play was performed in its original edition, later in the 1842 edition. Among the performers of individual roles in different years:

April 14, 1860 - “The Inspector General” was staged by a circle of writers in St. Petersburg in favor of the “Society for Benefiting Needy Writers and Scientists.” This production is especially interesting because it involved not professional actors, but professional writers. And the interpretation of the images in their performance certainly deserves a special interest. The theater encyclopedia partially names the performers: Gorodnichy - Pisemsky, Khlestakov - P. Weinberg, Shpekin - Dostoevsky, Abdulin - F. Koni (Ostrovsky was supposed to play, but due to illness F.A. Koni was urgently brought in), honorary persons of the city and police officers - D. V. Grigorovich, N. A. Nekrasov, I. I. Panaev, I. S. Turgenev, etc.).

Unfortunately, information about this production remains extremely scarce. But we managed to find something. The performer of the role of Khlestakov P. Weinberg recalled:

"... the just beginning writer Snitkin, who gained some fame in the light humorous press under the pseudonym of Ammos Shishkin, agrees to play the quarterly (and alas! he died as a victim of this performance, because he caught a cold during it and caught a fever); the role of the mayor is taken by a famous artist, Irina Semyonovna Koni (formerly Sandunova); all other roles are distributed among members of the public.<…>

• People's Theater at the Polytechnic Exhibition in Moscow (1872),
• Korsh Theater (1882, Gorodnichy - Pisarev, Khlestakov - Dalmatov), ​​etc. Among the performers of multiple revivals at the Korsh Theater: Mayor- V. N. Davydov, A. M. Yakovlev, B. S. Borisov, Khlestakov- N.V. Svetlov, L.M. Leonidov, N.M. Radin, A.I. Charin.

There are many productions on the provincial stage.

From the first foreign productions

• Paris - Port Saint-Martin (1853), Evre Theater (1898), Réjean Theater (1907), Champs-Elysees Theater (1925), Atelier Theater (1948); Leipzig Theater (1857)
• Berlin - Court Theater (1895), "Schiller Theater" (1902, 1908), German. theater (1907, 1950. 1952);
• Prague - Temporary Theater (1865), National Theater(1937), Realistic Theater (1951)
• Belgrade - Royal Theater (1870, 1889), Krakow Theater (1870);
• Vienna - Burgtheater (1887, 1894), Josephstadttheater (1904), Free Theater (1907), Scala Theater (1951). "Volksteater" (1957);
• Brussels - “Nouveau Theater” (1897), Royal Theater (1899);
• Dresden - Court Theater (1897), Swedish Theater, Helsingfors (1903);
• London - Stage Theater (1906), Barnes Theater (1926);
• Warsaw Philharmonic (1907)

• Leningrad Academic Drama Theater - 1918 ( Mayor- Uralov, Khlestakov- Gorin-Goryainov and Vivien, Osip- Sudbinin), 1920; 1927 (dir. N. Petrov; Mayor- Malyutin), 1936 (dir. Sushkevich, art director Akimov; Khlestakov- Babochkin, Osip- Cherkasov), 1952 (dir. Vivien; Mayor- Tolubeev, Khlestakov- Freundlich).

• Theater named after MGSPS (1924, directed by V. M. Bebutov; Gorodnichy - I. N. Pevtsov, Khlestakov - St. L. Kuznetsov);

• December 9 GosTiM - production by Meyerhold, Khlestakov- Erast Garin and Sergey Martinson. In other roles: Mayor- P.I. Starkovsky, Anna Andreevna- Z. N. Reich, Marya Antonovna- M.I. Babanova, Judge- M.V. Karabanov, Khlopov- A. V. Loginov, Strawberries- V. F. Zaichikov, Postmaster- M. G. Mukhin, Dobchinsky- N.K. Mologin, Bobchinsky- S. V. Kozikov, Gibner- A. A. Temerin, Osip- S. S. Fadeev, Locksmith- N. I. Tverdinskaya, Non-commissioned officer- M. F. Sukhanova, Khlopova- E. A. Tyapkina.

The performance was staged in an extraordinary way in many ways:

The inserts were borrowed not only from the original editions of the play, but also from other works by Gogol. So in Khlestakov’s first monologue a story about card game from “The Players,” and in the lying scene, his story about the beauty of the countess who fell in love with him (taken from the early editions of the play) was joined by Kochkarev’s remark from “Marriage”: “And the nose! I don't know what kind of nose this is! The whiteness of the face is simply dazzling. Alabaster! And not everyone can compare with alabaster. So she has this... and that... A fair amount of calico! This phrase was interpreted in the play as a bold compliment to the mayor. The image of the Visiting Officer was introduced - a kind of constant companion-double of Khlestakov, who accompanied her throughout the entire performance. The monologues of the characters were translated into stories addressed to listeners not provided for in the text of the play. So, the Visiting Officer listens to Khlestakov’s monologues, and the laughing scrubber in the hotel listens to Osip’s stories about life in St. Petersburg. This scene, as planned by the director, ended with the vocal duet “Young, handsome, busy with love...”. Among the other introductory characters was the “Blue Hussar” - Anna Andreevna’s admirer, a cadet in love with Marya Antonovna, military and civilian admirers of the mayor, a detective, a courier, policeman Knut, borrowed from the early editions of “The Inspector General,” the Pogonyaevs’ spouses and the Matsapur couple. The images of Avdotya and Parashka, servants in the mayor's house, were expanded.

From the article “Why are you laughing? You laugh at yourself,” author A. M. Voronov:

“The Inspector General” by V. E. Meyerhold, which was released in 1926 on the stage of GOSTIM, was completely considered an irrational-mystical spectacle (it is no coincidence that K. S. Stanislavsky, after watching the performance, noted that Meyerhold “made Hoffman out of Gogol”). First of all, this decision was related to the interpretation of the central role. Erast Garin, like Mikhail Chekhov, played Khlestakov, first of all, as a brilliant actor, who changed many masks throughout the performance. However, behind these endless transformations there was neither his face nor the slightest sign of a living human soul- just cold emptiness.<…>The mayor and his retinue were overtaken not just by the news of the arrival of a real auditor, but by the blow of Rock, which flashed for a moment like lightning. So great was this horror in the face of the opening abyss that the heroes of Meyerhold's play petrified in their very literally this word - in the finale it was not the actors who appeared on the stage, but their life-size dolls."

See photo: Scene from the play “The Inspector General” by GosTIM. Directed by V. E. Meyerhold. Photo by M. S. Nappelbaum. 1926 - Why are you laughing?...

Such an extraordinary production served as a reason for jokes: for example, in the book “Funny Projects” Mikhail Zoshchenko wrote:

“The principle of perpetual motion is close to being resolved. For this noble purpose, we can use Gogol’s rotation in his grave regarding the production of his “The Inspector General” by our brilliant contemporary.”

There is an obvious allusion to Meyerhold’s production in the film 12 chairs Leonid Gaidai: the avant-garde “The Government Inspector” is being staged at the Columbus Theater, in which critics and spectators are trying to discern the “deep meaning” (in the original novel The twelve Chairs The theater staged an avant-garde version of Gogol's play "Marriage").

• Collective and State Farm Theater of the Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee (1934, directed by P. P. Gaideburov).

• Theater named after Vakhtangov (1939, dir. Zahava, art. Williams; Mayor- A. Goryunov, Khlestakov- R. Simonov, Anna Andreevna- E. G. Alekseeva, Marya Antonovna G. Pashkova.

• 1951 - Central Theater of the Soviet Army (dir. A. D. Popov, art director N. A. Shifrin; Mayor- B. A. Sitko, Khlestakov- A. A. Popov, Osip- N. A. Konstantinov).

• - BDT im. G. A. Tovstonogov - production by Tovstonogov, Khlestakov- Oleg Basilashvili

• - Moscow Theater of Satire - production by Valentin Pluchek, Khlestakov- Andrey Mironov, mayor- Anatoly Papanov

• - Moscow Sovremennik Theater, staged by Valery Fokin, mayor- Valentin Gaft, Khlestakov- Vasily Mishchenko.

• - Studio Theater in the South-West, staged by Valery Belyakovich, Khlestakov- Victor Avilov, mayor- Sergey Belyakovich.

• 1985 - Maly Theatre, production: Vitaly Solomin (also in the role of Khlestakov) and Evgeny Vesnik (also in the role of the mayor).

Productions in the Russian Federation

• - Theater on Pokrovka, director Artsybashev Sergey Nikolaevich
• - “Khlestakov” Moscow Drama Theater named after. K. S. Stanislavsky, director Vladimir Mirzoev, Khlestakov - Maxim Sukhanov.

The “county town” in the scenery of Pavel Kaplevich turns out to be an ordinary prison with bunk beds covered with government-issued quilts. The spirit of extremism and criminality hovers in all the characters of the play, finding its hypertrophied expression precisely in Khlestakov, for whom the entire adventure in the county town is exactly the last stop on the way to the underworld. When the time comes to leave the “hospitable barracks,” Khlestakov does not leave himself. He, suddenly limp and exhausted, is placed on a garbage bag and taken away by Osip (Vladimir Korenev), who, thanks to his white robe and oriental headdress, evokes strong associations with the Eternal Jew. The devil has done his job - the devil no longer needs to stay in this gray, dirty and spit-stained world, where nothing sacred has long been left."

• Theater named after Vakhtangov, production by Rimas Tuminas, mayor- Sergey Makovetsky, Khlestakov- Oleg Makarov.
• Alexandrinsky Theater, production by Valery Fokin, Khlestakov- Alexey Devotchenko; Based on Meyerhold's 1926 production.
• Maly Theater - production by Yu. M. Solomin, V. E. Fedorov, Mayor- A. S. Potapov, Khlestakov- D. N. Solodovnik, S. V. Potapov.
• Theater named after Mayakovsky, production by Sergei Artsibashev, mayor- Alexander Lazarev, Khlestakov- Sergey Udovik.
• Omsk State Theater of Puppets, Actors, Masks “Harlequin” staged by Marina Glukhovskaya.

All modern productions of the comedy “The Inspector General” emphasize its relevance to new times. Almost two centuries have passed since the play was written, but everything suggests that this Gogol work about an ordinary incident that happened in a Russian provincial town will not leave the stage of Russian theaters for a long time, where everything noted by Gogol still flourishes: embezzlement, bribery, veneration , indifference, ruthlessness, dirt, provincial boredom and increasing centralization - a pyramid of power, a vertical - when any metropolitan scoundrel passing by is perceived as an almighty big boss. And the image of Khlestakov itself always corresponds to the spirit of the times.

Film adaptations

Artistic Features

Before Gogol, in the tradition of Russian literature, in those works that could be called the forerunner of Russian satire of the 19th century (for example, Fonvizin’s “The Minor”), it was typical to depict both negative and positive heroes. In the comedy “The Inspector General” there are actually no positive characters. They are not even outside the scene and outside the plot.

The relief depiction of the image of city officials and, above all, the mayor, complements the satirical meaning of the comedy. The tradition of bribery and deception of an official is completely natural and inevitable. Both the lower classes and the top of the city’s bureaucratic class cannot imagine any other outcome other than bribing the auditor with a bribe. A nameless district town becomes a generalization of all of Russia, which, under the threat of revision, reveals the true side of the character of the main characters.

Critics also noted the peculiarities of Khlestakov’s image. An upstart and a dummy, the young man easily deceives the experienced mayor. The famous writer Merezhkovsky traced the mystical origins in comedy. The auditor, like an otherworldly figure, comes for the mayor’s soul, repaying for sins. " Main strength the devil is the ability to appear to be something other than what he is,” this explains Khlestakov’s ability to mislead about his true origin.

The authorities' struggle with the satirical nature of the play

The play was not officially banned. But Nicholas I decided to fight comedy in his own way. Immediately after the premiere of Gogol’s “The Inspector General,” on the imperial initiative, a play was ordered to be written on the same plot but with a different ending: all government embezzlers should be punished, which would certainly weaken the satirical sound of “The Inspector General.” Who was chosen to author the new “real” “Inspector”? for a long time was not advertised. Already on July 14, 1836 in St. Petersburg and August 27 in Moscow (already at the opening of the 1836/1837 season!) premiere performances comedy "The Real Inspector". The author's name did not appear either on the posters or in the printed publication, published in the same 1836. After some time, references appeared that the author was “a certain Prince Tsitsianov.” Only in 1985 was a book published by R. S. Akhverdyan, in which, on the basis of archival documents, the authorship of D. I. Tsitsianov is proven. Apart from those mentioned, no further mentions of the production of Tsitsianov’s play are known.

Cultural influence

Russian postage stamp dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of N.V. Gogol, 2009

Comedy had a significant influence on Russian literature in general and drama in particular. Gogol's contemporaries noted her innovative style, depth of generalization and prominence of images. Gogol's work was immediately admired by Pushkin, Belinsky, Annenkov, Herzen, and Shchepkin after its first readings and publications.

Some of us also saw “The Inspector General” on stage then. Everyone was delighted, like all the young people of that time. We repeated by heart […] whole scenes, long conversations from there. At home or at a party, we often had to enter into heated debates with various elderly (and sometimes, to shame, not even elderly) people who were indignant at the new idol of youth and assured that Gogol had no nature, that these were all his own inventions and caricatures that there are no such people in the world at all, and if there are, then there are much fewer of them in the whole city than here in one comedy. The fights were hot, prolonged, to the point of sweat on the face and palms, to sparkling eyes and dull beginnings of hatred or contempt, but the old men could not change a single feature in us, and our fanatical adoration of Gogol only grew more and more.

The first classical critical analysis of The Inspector General was written by Vissarion Belinsky and was published in 1840. The critic noted the continuity of Gogol's satire, which originates in the works of Fonvizin and Moliere. Mayor Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky and Khlestakov are not carriers of abstract vices, but the living embodiment of moral decay Russian society generally.

In The Inspector General there are no better scenes, because there are no worse ones, but all are excellent, as necessary parts, artistically forming a single whole, rounded out by internal content, and not by external form, and therefore representing a special and closed world in itself.

Phrases from the comedy became catchphrases, and the names of the characters became common nouns in the Russian language.

The comedy “The Inspector General” was included in the literary school curriculum back in Soviet times and to this day remains a key work of Russian literature. classical literature XIX century, compulsory for study in school.

see also

Literature

• D. L. Talnikov. New revision of “The Inspector General”: experience in literary and scenic study of theatrical production. M.-L., Gosizdat, 1927.
• Yu. V. Mann. Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General". M.: Artist. lit., 1966
• Nazirov R. G. The plot of “The Inspector General” in a historical context // Belskie prostory. - 2005. - No. 3. - P. 110-117.

Links

• Inspector at the library of Maxim Moshkov

Notes

1. “The Inspector General” in the assessment of contemporaries link from November 1
2. V. V. Gippius, “Literary communication between Gogol and Pushkin.” Scientific notes of Perm State University, Department of Social Sciences, vol. 2, 1931, pp. 63-77 link dated November 1
3. Akutin Yu. M. Alexander Veltman and his novel “The Wanderer” // Veltman A. Novels and stories. - M.: Nauka, 1978. - (Literary monuments).
4. Akutin Yu. M. Prose of Alexander Veltman // Veltman A. Wanderer. - M.: Soviet Russia, 1979.
5. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol
6. Passion for “The Inspector General”
7. “The Inspector General” is a satire on feudal Rus'. link from November 1
8. School program
9. Nikolai I. Gogol. “The Inspector General” Anastasia Kasumova / St. Petersburg Literary Magazine No. 32 2003 link dated November 1
10. Theater encyclopedia
11. Gogol.ru
12. Theater encyclopedia
13. Weinberg Petr Isaevich. Literary performances. Comments
14. Weinberg Petr Isaevich. Literary performances
15. Moscow Art Theater named after Chekhov
16. Adding news
17. Mikhail Chekhov - Khlestakov (Notes on the margins of “The Inspector General”)
18. "The Inspector General" by Meyerhold
19. Why are you laughing?..., author A. M. Voronov
20. M. Zoshchenko, N. Radlov - Fun projects - Perpetuum Gogol
21. Why are you laughing?...
22. Gli anni ruggenti (1962)
23. Yu. V. Mann “N. V. Gogol. Life and creativity" link from November 1

Draft editions of The Inspector General

Gogol the Inspector General comedy drama

As you know, Nikolai Vasilyevich worked painstakingly on the text of “The Inspector General” for approximately 17 years. Approximately a year before own death the writer read the proofs of volume IV of the Complete Collection of his own works, where both preliminary editions of his comedy and printed versions of “The Inspector General” were published, and, reaching one of the very final remarks of the fourth act of this work, he made some very significant changes.

The most recent edition of The Inspector General is considered to be the text published in the first collection in 1842, which included all the corrections that Gogol made after this edition. The final edition of Volume IV of the Complete Works of N.V. Gogol included corrections that had not been read until that time. It also included corrections made by Gogol for the Second Collected Works, which was prepared in 1851.

In total, Gogol wrote two incomplete versions of the comedy, two editions - the first and second. During N.V. Gogol’s lifetime, three editions of “The Inspector General” were published:

1. First edition. "Inspector". Comedy in five acts, op. N.V. Gogol. St. Petersburg, 1836.

2. Second, corrected, with attachments. "The Inspector General", comedy in five acts, op. N. Gogol. St. Petersburg, 1841.

3. Third edition. Op. Nikolai Gogol, vol. IV. St. Petersburg, 1842, pp. 1-216, “Inspector” and applications. .

The foundation of the text of the comedy and its appendices already in the fourth edition, which was published in 1855, was the proofs corrected by the playwright himself in 1851.

As Voitolovskaya notes, Gogol worked especially hard on the auditor at the end of 1835 and at the beginning of 1836. After six months of diligent work on the drafts, the text of the work was written, which was published in the first edition of The Inspector General.

Creating a comedy that has never been seen in Russia, depicting something that was of a topical nature, Nikolai Vasilyevich, without regret, removes from “The Inspector General” everything that, in his opinion, interferes with the implementation of a large and serious plan. The playwright chose to build a comedy without unnecessary and banal love intrigue, without external and carefree comedy. He sought to free comedy from theatrical stereotypes, from the usual tradition of a love plot.

Thus, the following places were excluded from the “Auditor”:

1. The mayor’s dream about dogs “with inhuman muzzles.” .

2. The mayor’s thoughts about the teacher who teaches rhetoric.

3. The place where Khlestakov talks about how, together with the director of the school, he was chasing “a pretty girl.” .

First and second editions of The Inspector General

Gogol had to make several cuts in the stage and printed texts of the comedy. This was dictated by the requirements of the theater stage: limited time for the performance, as well as the desire to convey all the tension in the development of the plot.

On July 26, 1841, censorship permission was received for the second edition of the work. Already in the fall, as the author of “The Inspector General” himself wanted, the comedy went on sale. Gogol nevertheless made a number of amendments to the second edition, mainly concerning the beginning of the fourth act of The Inspector General. For example, in the first scene of this action, the scene where Khlestakov is alone was replaced with a scene of officials talking about how best to bribe Khlestakov. Without this lively, comic scene, where the characters of officials are drawn so clearly and truthfully, it is very difficult to imagine a comedy.

After the first performance of The Inspector General, Gogol realized that there was still a lot to change. These same changes were included in the second edition. In “Excerpt from a Letter...” Nikolai Vasilyevich wrote: “Now, it seems, it came out a little stronger, at least more natural and more to the point.” .

If we talk about the “Excerpt from the Letter...” itself, then N. S. Tikhonravov, one of the most prominent historians of Russian literature, questions both the addressee of the letter, Pushkin, and the date of its writing, May 25, 1836. Archaeographer Tikhonravov believes that the drafts of “Excerpt ...” were written by Gogol abroad at the same time when the writer, in 1841, was preparing the second edition of “The Inspector General”. To prove his version, he emphasizes that “Excerpt...” was written on paper marked London. . Tikhonravov also points out that some of the drafts of the letter are similar to Gogol’s letter to Shchepkin, written on May 10, 1836, which means they could have been written earlier than the rest.

V.V. Gippius and V.L. Komarovich believed that Tikhonravov was able to prove the dubiousness of the playwright’s story about the reason and date of writing “Excerpt ...”, and also managed to convince them that this letter was written no other way than at the beginning 1841 in Italy, when Nikolai Vasilyevich wrote additions to the comedy.

A.G. Gukasova, in her work “Excerpt from a letter written by the author shortly after the first presentation of “The Inspector General” to a writer,” expressed disagreement with Tikhonravov’s point of view in 1957. She believes that the historian’s radical and incorrect evidence not only allows calling Gogol a fictionalist, but also indicates a “breakdown in relations” between Gogol and Pushkin. . Gukasova, having analyzed all of Gogol’s letters to Alexander Sergeevich, as well as their statements about each other, came to the conclusion that in the most difficult moments the playwright turned specifically to Pushkin, therefore “Excerpt ...” is addressed specifically to him. The letter was written precisely on May 25, 1836, as Gogol indicated, and in 1841 he only gave it the appearance that was necessary for publication.

Tikhonravov criticizes N. Ya. Pokopovich, the editor of “The Works of Nikolai Gogol,” since, in his opinion, he changed the author’s text, changed the language and style of the playwright. Here Tikhonravov is supported by V.V. Gippius and V.L. Komarovich, who carefully studied all the corrections Gogol made on a copy of the comedy in the printed edition of 1836.

E. I. Prokhorov justifies Prokopovich’s work, citing a number of convincing arguments not in favor of Tikhonravov’s point of view, considering the 1842 edition to be the main source of the text of “The Inspector General”. .

Gogol’s element is laughter, through which he looks at life both in his stories and in the poem “ Dead Souls“, however, it was in his dramatic works (“The Inspector General,” “Marriage,” “Players”) that the comic nature of Gogol’s genius was revealed especially fully. IN 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 soul”; its source is the dazzling brilliance of the mind, which endows laughter with ethical and pedagogical functions. The meaning of such laughter is to ridicule the “hidden vice” and maintain “elevated feelings.”

In the works that became literary companions to The Inspector General (“Excerpt from a letter written by the author after the first performance of The Inspector General to one writer,” “Theatrical tour after the presentation of a new comedy,” “The denouement of The Inspector General”), Gogol, deflecting accusations of the lack of ideas of comedy, interpreted his laughter as “high,” combining the severity of criticism with a high moral task that was revealed 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 the comedy is that in it Gogol laughs and teaches at the same time. IN " Theater crossing“The playwright emphasized that the only “honest, noble face” in “The Inspector General” is precisely laughter, and clarified: “... that laughter that all flies out of the bright nature of a person flies out of it because at the bottom of it lies the eternally beating its spring, which deepens the subject, makes to appear brightly what would have slipped through, without the penetrating power of which the triviality and emptiness of life would not frighten a person so much.”

The comedy in a literary work is always based on the fact that the writer selects what is imperfect, base, vicious and contradictory in life itself. The writer discovers a “hidden vice” in the discrepancy between the external form and internal content of life’s 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 are created in a literary work. By laughing at social and human shortcomings, a 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 appear exemplary, noble or virtuous is revealed. Behind the “high” laughter lies an ideal that allows one to give an accurate assessment of what is being depicted. In “high” comedy, the “negative” pole must be balanced by the “positive”. Negative is associated with laughter, positive - with other types of assessment: indignation, preaching, defense 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 it on stage, the reader - in the text, since among the characters, along with the “negative” ones, there were always “positive” characters. Author's position was reflected in their relationships, in the monologues of the characters, which directly expressed the author’s point of view, and was supported by off-stage characters.

The most famous Russian comedies - “The Minor” by D.I. Fonvizin and “Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboyedov - have all the signs of “high” comedy. The “positive” characters in “The Minor” are Starodum, Pravdin and Milon. Chatsky is also a character who expresses the author’s ideals, despite the fact that he is by no means a “model of perfection.” Chatsky's moral position is supported by off-stage characters (Skalozub's brother, Prince Fyodor, nephew of Princess Tugoukhovskaya). The presence of “positive” characters clearly indicated to readers what was proper and what deserved 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 role models - honest, fair, truthful people.

“The Inspector General” is an innovative work, differing in many ways from the comedy that preceded and contemporary 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, there are no heroes-reasoners, “mouthpieces” of the author’s ideas. The writer's ideals are expressed through other means. Essentially, Gogol, having conceived a work that was supposed to have a direct moral impact on the public, abandoned the traditional forms of expressing the author’s position for social, “accusatory” comedies.

Spectators and readers cannot find direct authorial instructions about what “exemplary” officials should be, and there are no hints at the existence of any other moral way of life than the one depicted in the play. We can say that all Gogol’s characters are of the same “color”, created from 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 those “ important places" which they occupy. Moreover, not one of them ever even thought about the question of what kind of official should be, how to carry out his duties.

The “greatness” of the “sins committed by each” is different. In fact, if we compare, for example, the curious postmaster Shpekin with the helpful and fussy trustee of charitable institutions Zemlyanika, then it is quite obvious that the postmaster’s “sin” - reading other people’s letters (“I love to death to know what is new in the world”) - seems more easier than the cynicism of an official, who, as part of his duty, must take care of the sick and 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 in response to the mayor’s words that “there is no person who does not have some sins behind him,” “sins are different from sins. I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but with what bribes? Greyhound puppies. This is a completely different matter." However, the writer is not interested in the scale of the sins of county officials. 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 actually are. Comic “harmony” is achieved by the fact that in the play there is no character 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 the district officials, with the exception of the “somewhat free-thinking” judge, are attentive to his comments about the disorders in the city. He is observant, accurate in his rough opinions and assessments, cunning and calculating, although he seems simple-minded. The mayor is a bribe-taker and embezzler, confident in his right to use administrative power for personal interests. But, as he noted, parrying the judge’s attack, “he is firm in his faith” and goes to church every Sunday. For him, the city is a family patrimony, and the colorful policemen 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 takes advantage of the peculiarity of the Russian bureaucracy: since there is no official without sin, it means that anyone, even a governor, even a “metropolitan little thing,” can be “bought” or “deceived” "

Most of the events in the comedy take place in the mayor's house: here it becomes clear who is keeping the luminary of the district bureaucracy under his thumb - wife Anna Andreevna and daughter Marya Antonovna. After all, many of the mayor’s “sins” are a consequence of their whims. In addition, it is their frivolous relationship with Khlestakov that enhances the comedy of his position and gives rise to completely ridiculous dreams of the rank of general and service in St. Petersburg. In “Notes for Gentlemen Actors,” preceding the text of the comedy, Gogol indicated that the mayor began “hard service from the lower ranks.” This is an important detail: after all, the “electricity” of the rank not only elevated Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, but also ruined him, making him a man “with crudely 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 complete opposite of Captain Mironov. If in Pushkin’s hero a person is above rank, then in Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, on the contrary, bureaucratic arrogance kills humanity.

Bright personality traits there are in Lyapkino-Tyapkino and Zemlyanika. The judge is a district “philosopher” who has “read five or six” books and loves to speculate about the creation of the world. 11 rand, from his words, according to the mayor, “the hair just stands on end” - probably not only because he is a “Walterian”, 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 noted, “well, otherwise a lot of intelligence is worse than not having it at all.” The trustee of charitable institutions stands out among other officials due to his penchant for gossip and denunciation. Probably not the first time he acted as during the “audience” with Khlestakov: violating the mutual responsibility of officials, Zemlyanika reported that the postmaster “does absolutely nothing,” the judge - “behavior is reprehensible,” the superintendent of schools - “worse than a Jacobin " Strawberry is, perhaps, a truly terrible person, a werewolf official: he not only starves people in his charitable institutions and does not treat them (“we don’t use expensive medicines”), but also ruins people’s reputations, mixing the truth with lies and slander . Luka Lukich Khlopov, superintendent of schools, is an incredibly stupid and cowardly person, an example of a learned serf who looks into the mouth of any boss. “God forbid that I serve in an academic capacity! - Khlopov complains. “You’re afraid of everything: everyone gets in the way, you want to show everyone that he is also an intelligent person.”

Individualization of comic characters is one of the main principles of Gogol the comedian. In each of them he finds something comic, a “hidden vice” worthy of ridicule. However, regardless of their individual qualities, each official is a variant of “general deviation” from true service to the Tsar and the Fatherland, which should be the duty and matter of honor of a nobleman. At the same time, it must be remembered that the socially typical in the heroes of The Inspector General is only 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 district bureaucracy or the Russian bureaucracy, but also “man 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 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 traits of a certain moral and psychological type: in the mayor it is easy to see an imperious hypocrite who knows exactly what his benefit is; in Lyapkin-Tyapkin - a grumpy “philosopher” 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, “treating” officials with a letter from Khlestakov, a curious person who likes to peep through the keyhole... And of course, the imaginary “auditor” himself, Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, is the embodiment of thoughtless lies, an easy attitude to life and widespread human weakness - to take credit for other people’s affairs and someone else's glory. This is a “labardan” man, that is, a mixture of stupidity, nonsense and nonsense that pretends to be accepted as intelligence, meaning and order. “I am everywhere, everywhere,” Khlestakov says about himself, and he is not mistaken: as Gogol noted, “everyone, at least for a minute, if not for several minutes, was or is becoming Khlestakov, but, naturally, he just doesn’t want to admit it... "

All the characters are purely comic characters. Gogol does not portray them as some kind of extraordinary people - he is interested in them in what is found everywhere and what ordinary, everyday life. Many minor characters reinforce the impression that the playwright portrays quite ordinary people, no higher than “ordinary height.” The second spectator in “Theater Travel” in response to the First Spectator’s remark “... Do such people really exist? And yet they are not exactly villains,” he noted: “Not at all, they are not villains at all. They are exactly what the proverb says: “They are not bad at heart, but simply a rogue.” The situation itself, caused by the self-deception of officials, is exceptional - it stirred them up, tore them out of the usual order of life, only enlarging, in Gogol’s words, “the vulgarity of a vulgar person.” The self-deception of officials caused a chain reaction in the city, making both the merchants and the mechanic and non-commissioned officer, offended by the mayor, accomplices in the comic action. A special role in the comedy was played by two characters who in the list of characters - the “poster” of the comedy - are called “city landowners”: 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 something strange young man, whom they saw at the hotel. These insignificant people (“city gossips, damned liars”) caused a commotion with the imaginary “auditor”, purely comical persons who led the district bribers and embezzlers to a tragic denouement.

The comedy in The Government Inspector, unlike pre-Gogol comedies, is consistent and comprehensive. Bring out the comic in public environment, in the characters of district officials and landowners, in the imaginary “auditor” Khlestakov - this is the principle of the author of the comedy.

The comic nature of the characters in The Inspector General is revealed in three comedic situations. The first is a situation of fear caused by the message received 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 pronounces. They interpret them incorrectly, do not hear and do not see the obvious. The third situation is a situation of substitution: Khlestakov was mistaken for an auditor, the true auditor was replaced by an imaginary one. All three comedic situations are so closely interconnected that the absence of at least one of them could destroy the comic effect of the play.

The main source of comedy in The Inspector General is fear, which literally paralyzes district officials, transforming them from powerful tyrants into fussy, ingratiating people, from bribe-takers into bribe-givers. It is fear that deprives them of reason, makes them deaf and blind, of course, not literally, but figuratively. They hear what Khlestakov says, how he lies implausibly and every now and then “falsifies”, but the true meaning of what is said does not reach them: after all, according to officials, in the mouth of a “significant person” even the most blatant and fantastic lie turns into the truth. Instead of shaking with laughter, listening to stories about a watermelon “worth seven hundred rubles”, about “thirty-five thousand couriers alone” galloping along 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 “get more excited,” that is, talk complete nonsense: “I’m everywhere, everywhere. I go to the palace every day. Tomorrow I will be promoted to field marshal..." Even during the first meeting with Khlestakov, the mayor saw, but did not “recognize” his complete insignificance. Both fear and the deafness and blindness it caused became the basis on which the situation of substitution arose, which determined the “ghostly” nature of the conflict and the comedic plot of “The Inspector General.”

Gogol used in The Inspector General all the possibilities of situational comedy available to a comedian. Three main comedic situations, each of which can be found in almost any comedy, in Gogol’s play convince the reader with the entire “mass” of the comic in the strict conditionality of everything that happens on stage. “... Comedy must knit itself, with its entire mass, into one big, common knot,” Gogol noted in “Theater Road”.

In "The Inspector General" there are many farcical situations in which the stupidity and inappropriate fussiness of district officials, as well as the frivolity and carelessness of Khlestakov, are shown. These situations are designed for a 100% comic effect: they cause laughter, regardless of the meaning of what is happening. For example, feverishly giving the last orders before going to Khlestakov, the mayor “wants to put on a paper case instead of a hat.” In scenes 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, driven out by her mother, “throws himself on his knees” and asks for the hand... of the mayor’s wife, and then, suddenly caught Marya Antonovna ran in and asked “mama” to bless him and Marya Antonovna with “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 as “accusatory”, castigating vices. In “high” laughter Gogol saw “cleansing”, didactic and preaching functions. The meaning of laughter for a writer is richer than criticism, denial or castigation: after all, laughing, he not only showed the vices of people and the imperfections of the Russian bureaucracy, but also took the first, most necessary step towards their deliverance.

Gogol’s laughter has enormous “positive” potential, if only because those at whom Gogol laughs are not humiliated, but, on the contrary, elevated by his laughter. The comic characters depicted by the writer are not at all ugly mutations of people. For him, these are, first of all, people, with their shortcomings and vices, “dark ones,” those who especially need the word of truth. They are blinded by power and impunity, accustomed to believing that the life they lead is the real life. For Gogol, these are people who are lost, blind, never aware of their “high” social and human destiny. This is how we can explain the main motive of Gogol’s laughter in “The Inspector General” and in the works that followed it, including “ Dead souls": only by seeing themselves in the mirror of laughter, people are able to experience mental shock, think about new truths of life, about the meaning of their “high” earthly and heavenly “citizenship.”

Secondly, Gogol’s consistent comicism leads to an almost limitless semantic expansion of comedy. What is ridiculed is not the individual shortcomings of individual people, whose lives offend the writer’s moral sense and causes in him bitterness and anxiety for the person’s desecrated “title,” but the entire system of relations between people. Gogol’s “geography” is not limited to a district town, lost somewhere in the Russian outback. The district city, as the writer himself noted, is a “prefabricated city,” a symbol of Russian and general disorder and error. The district town, so absurdly deceived in Khlestakov, is a fragment of a huge mirror, into 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 either don’t notice to themselves or want to hide. In ordinary life, a person’s “curvature,” camouflaged by position or rank, is not always obvious. The “mirror” of comedy shows the true essence of a person and makes real existing shortcomings visible. The mirror image of life is no worse than life itself, in which people’s faces have turned into “crooked faces.” The epigraph to “The Inspector General” reminds us of this.

The comedy uses Gogol's favorite technique - synecdoche. Having shown the “visible” part of the world of the Russian bureaucracy, laughing at the unlucky “fathers” of the district 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 forces people to worship false idols, forgetting about the true values ​​of life.

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 their duty to the country, the importance of the place they occupy, the world revealed 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, negated) characters with “positive” (ideal, exemplary) characters, but by 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 want for reality. The supposedly recognized and exposed official - “incognito” from St. Petersburg - forces them to act as if there was a real auditor in front of them. The comic contradiction that arises makes the conflict illusory and non-existent. After all, only if Khlestakov were actually an auditor, the behavior of officials would be completely justified, and the conflict would be a completely ordinary clash of interests between the auditor and the “audited”, whose fate depends entirely on their dexterity and ability to “show off” .

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 St. Petersburg official who lost at cards and is therefore stuck in the provincial outback. Only “extraordinary ease of thought” 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 also became an imaginary, illusory conflict.

The unusualness of the comedy lies not so much in the fact that Gogol found a completely new plot device, but in the reality of everything that happens. Each of the characters seems to be in its place, conscientiously playing its role. The district town has turned into a kind of stage stage, on which a completely “natural” play is performed, striking in its verisimilitude. The script and the list of characters 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 in the past successfully played his “role” three times (“he deceived three governors”), the rest of the officials - some better, some 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 looks like a “dress rehearsal”, carried out in a hurry. It was immediately followed by an unplanned “performance”. After the beginning of the action - the mayor's message - a very dynamic exposition follows. It presents not only each of the “fathers” of the city, but also county town, which they consider their patrimony. 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 “curtain” was quickly pushed aside by the fussy Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, who rushed to the “secret” meeting and alarmed everyone with the message about the strange young man they discovered in the hotel.

The mayor and officials try to “show off” an imaginary important person and are in awe of her, sometimes losing the power of speech not only for fear of possible punishment, but also because one must be in awe of any superiors (this is determined by the role of the “audited”). They give bribes to Khlestakov when he asks for a “favor”, because they must be given in this case, whereas usually they receive bribes. The mayor is kind and helpful, but this is just an integral part of his “role” as a caring “father” of the city. In short, everything is going according to plan for the officials.

Even Khlestakov easily assumes the role of an important person: he gets acquainted with officials, accepts petitions, and begins, as befits a “significant person,” to “scold” the owners for nothing, causing them to “shake with fear.” Khlestakov is not able to enjoy 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 else, making him an intelligent, powerful and strong-willed person, and the mayor, who actually possesses these qualities, again in full accordance with his “role”, temporarily turns into a “rag”, “icicle” , complete nonentity. The comic metamorphosis is provoked by the “electricity” of the rank. All the characters - both the district 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 that was generated by the Table of Ranks, which replaced a person with a rank. Even the imaginary bureaucratic “greatness” is capable of bringing generally intelligent people into the movement, turning them into obedient puppets.

Readers and viewers of the comedy understand perfectly well that a substitution has occurred that determined the behavior of officials until the fifth act, before the appearance of postmaster Shpekin with Khlestakov’s letter. The participants in the “performance” have unequal rights, since Khlestakov almost immediately realized that he had been confused with someone. But the role of a “significant person” is so well known to him that he coped with it brilliantly. Officials, shackled by both real and scripted fear, do not notice the glaring inconsistencies in the behavior of the imaginary auditor.

“The Inspector General” is an unusual comedy, since the meaning of what is happening is not exhausted by comic situations. Three dramatic plots coexist in the play. One of them - comedic - 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 beginning 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, according to the observant mayor, “is nondescript, short, it seems he could crush 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 timid,” 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 an auditor, although he sees that in front of him is a nonentity. Khlestakov enthusiastically “lashes”, putting on the appearance of a “significant person”, but at the same time he speaks the absolute truth (“I’m going to the Saratov province, to my own village”). Khlestakov’s words, mayor, in spite of common sense, takes it for a lie: “Nicely tied the knot! He lies, he lies, and he never stops!”

At the end of the fourth act, to the mutual satisfaction of Khlestakov and the officials, who are still unaware of their deception, the imaginary “auditor” is carried away from the city by the fastest troika, but his shadow remains in the fifth act. The mayor himself begins to “whip”, dreaming of a St. Petersburg career. It seems to him that he received “what a rich prize” - “what a devil they became related to!” With the help of his future son-in-law, Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky hopes to “get into high rank, because he is friends with all the ministers and goes to the palace.” The comic contradiction at the beginning of the fifth act reaches particular acuteness.

The climax of the comedy plot is the triumphal scene of the mayor, who behaves as if he had already received the rank of general. He became higher than everyone, ascended above the district bureaucratic brethren. And the higher he rises in his dreams, wishful thinking, the more painfully he falls when the postmaster “hurriedly” brings a printed letter - Khlestakov the writer, a scribbler, appears on the stage, and the mayor cannot stand the scribbler: for him they worse than the devil. It is the position of the mayor that is especially comical, but it also has a tragic undertone. The unlucky hero of the comedy himself views what happened as God’s punishment: “Now, truly, if God wants to punish, he will first take away his reason.” Let's add to this: irony will also deprive you of your hearing.

In Khlestakov’s letter, everyone discovers even more “unpleasant news” than in the letter from Andrei Ivanovich Chmykhov, read by the mayor at the beginning of the play: the auditor turned out to be an 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, what is especially offensive, laughter: after all, as the mayor noted, now “if you become a laughing stock, there will be a clicker, a paper maker, who will insert you into a comedy. That's what's offensive! Rank and title will not be spared, and everyone will bare their teeth and clap their hands.” The mayor is most of all not saddened by his human humiliation, but indignant at the possible insult to his “rank, title.” There is a bitter comic shade to his indignation: a person who has sullied his rank and rank attacks the “clickers” and “paper scrappers”, 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 pokes and slaps that the exposed “auditor” gives in a letter, officials laugh at themselves. The scene is laughing - laughing auditorium. The mayor’s famous remark is “Why are you laughing? “Laughing at yourself!.. Oh, you!..” - addressed both to those present on stage and to the audience. Only Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky is not laughing: he is the most injured person in this whole story. It seems that with reading the letter and finding out the truth, the circle has closed, the comedy plot has been exhausted. But the entire first act is not yet a comedy, although there are many comic incongruities in the behavior and words of the participants in the mayor’s meeting, in the appearance of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, and in the mayor’s hasty preparations.

Two other plots - dramatic and tragic - are planned, but not fully realized. The first words of the mayor: “I invited you, gentlemen, in order to tell you very unpleasant news: an auditor is coming to us,” supplemented by clarifications that this inspector 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 facing the district officials is quite serious, but doable: “take precautions,” prepare properly for a meeting with the formidable “incognito”: cover up, patch up something in the city - maybe it will blow through. The plot of the action is dramatic, life-like: the terrible auditor will not fall out of the blue, the ritual of receiving the auditor and defrauding him could be realized. There is no auditor in the first act yet, but there is a plot: the officials have awakened from their hibernation and are fussing about. There is no hint of a possible substitution, only the fear that they may not make it in time worries the officials, especially the mayor: “You just wait for the door to open and go…”

So, in the first act the contours of the future drama are outlined, in which the favorable outcome of the audit could depend only on the officials. The mayor's message about the letter he received and the possible arrival of the auditor is the basis for the emergence of a dramatic conflict, which is quite common in any situation associated with the sudden arrival of the authorities. From the second act to the finale of the play, a comedy plot unfolds. The comedy reflected the real world of official bureaucracy as if in a mirror. In laughter, this world, shown from the inside out, revealed its usual features: falsehood, window dressing, hypocrisy, flattery and the omnipotence of rank. Hastening 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 relationships between people.

If the action in The Government Inspector 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, ending the play with “The Last Appearance” and “Silent Scene”: the ending of “The Inspector General” brought the heroes out of the “looking glass” in which laughter reigned, reminding them that their self-deception did not allow them to “take precautions” and dulled their vigilance . In the finale, a third plot is planned - tragic. A gendarme who suddenly appears announces the arrival of not an imaginary, but a real auditor, terrible for officials not because of his “incognito”, but because of the clarity of the task set before him by the tsar himself. Every 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: “The official who arrived by personal order from St. Petersburg demands you to come to him this very hour. He was staying at a hotel." The mayor’s fears expressed in the first act came true: “That would be nothing - damned incognito! Suddenly he’ll look in: “Oh, you’re here, my dears! And who, say, is the judge here? - “Lyapkin-Tyapkin”. - “And bring Lyapkin-Tyapkin here! Who is the trustee of charitable institutions?” - “Strawberry”. - “And serve strawberries here!” That’s what’s bad!” The appearance of the gendarme is the imposition of a new action, the beginning of a tragedy that the author takes beyond the stage. A new, serious “play”, in which no one will be laughing, should, according to Gogol, not be played in the theater, but take place in life itself.

Her three plots begin with messages: the dramatic - with the message of the mayor, the comic - with the message of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, the tragic - with the message of the 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 were pre-determined: 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 placed by Gogol on the inevitability of punishment.

The play ends with the “petrification” scene. This is a sudden stop to the action, which from that moment could turn from comedic, ending with the exposure of Khlestakov, into tragic. Everything happened suddenly, unexpectedly. The worst happened: the officials were no longer in hypothetical, but in real danger. The “silent scene” is the moment of truth for officials. They are made to “petrify” by a terrible guess about imminent retribution. Gogol the moralist affirms in the finale of The Inspector General the idea of ​​the inevitability of the trial of bribe-takers and embezzlers who have forgotten about their official and human duty. This trial, according to the writer’s conviction, must be carried out according to a personal command, that is, according to the will of the king himself.

In the finale of the comedy “The Minor” by D.I. Fovizin, Starodum says, pointing to Mitrofanushka: “Here they are, the worthy fruits of evil!” There is no one in Gogol's comedy who even remotely resembles Starodum. The “silent scene” is the pointing finger of the author himself, this is the “moral” of the play, expressed not in the words of a “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; he 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; it is not for nothing that Nicholas I remarked, leaving the box after the performance on April 19, 1836: “Well, a play! Everyone got it, and I got it more than everyone else!” Gogol did not flatter the emperor. Having directly indicated where retribution should come from, the writer essentially “insolently” 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 created, Gogol was firmly convinced that his laughter was laughter inspired by a high moral ideal, and not the laughter of a scoffer or an indifferent critic of social and human vices.

Gogol's faith in the triumph of justice and in the moral effect of his play can be assessed as a kind of social and moral utopia generated by his enlightenment illusions. But if there were no these illusions, there would be no “Inspector General”. In it, comedy and laughter are in the foreground, but behind them stands Gogol’s belief that evil is punishable, and punishment itself is carried out in the name of liberating people from the illusory power of rank, from “bestial”, in the name of their spiritual enlightenment. “Having seen his shortcomings and mistakes, 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 is.” The arrival of the auditor is not at all a “duty” event. The Inspector is important not as a specific character, but as a symbol. It’s like the hand of an autocrat, fair and merciless to lawlessness, reaching out to the provincial backwater.

In “The Inspector General's Denouement,” written in 1846, Gogol emphasized the possibility of a broader interpretation of the comedy's ending. The auditor is “our awakened conscience,” sent “by the Named Supreme Command,” by the will of God, reminding man of his “high heavenly citizenship”: “Whatever you say, the auditor who is waiting for us at the door of the tomb is terrible. As if you don’t know who this auditor is? Why pretend? This auditor is our awakened conscience, which will force us to suddenly and at once look at ourselves with all our eyes. Nothing can be hidden from this auditor. ...Suddenly such a monster will be revealed to you, within you, that your hair will stand up in horror.” Of course, this interpretation is only one of the possible interpretations of the symbolically polysemantic ending of the comedy, which, according to the author’s plan, should influence both the mind and soul of viewers and readers.