There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked.
Folk proverb
Summary
Basic characters:
Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor.
Anna Andreevna, his wife.
Marya Antonovna, his daughter.
Luka Lukich Khlopov, superintendent of schools.
Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin, judge.
Artemy Filippovich Strawberry, trustee of charitable institutions.
Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin, postmaster.
Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky and Pyotr Ivanovich Dobchinsky, city landowners.
Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, an official from St. Petersburg.
Osip, his servant.
Stepan Ilyich Ukhovertov, private bailiff.
Svistunov, Pugovitsyn, Derzhimorda, policemen.
Guests and guests, merchants, townspeople, petitioners.
ACT 1
Room in the mayor's house
Phenomenon 1
Officials learn “very unpleasant news” from the mayor: an auditor is coming to the city, incognito, with a “secret order.” The mayor reads out a letter that he received from Andrei Ivanovich Chmykhov, in which he notifies him of the appearance of an official with an order to inspect the entire province and especially their district: “Since I know that you, like everyone else, have sins, because you he’s a smart man and you don’t like to miss what’s floating in your hands...” (stopping), well, there are people here... “then I advise you to take precautions...” According to the judge’s assumptions, the auditor was specially sent to find out if there was treason in the city before the war.
The mayor is perplexed: “There is treason in the district town!” He strongly advises officials to create a semblance of order in the institutions under their authority, “so that everything is decent.” Thus, in the hospital, clean caps should be put on the sick, and the names of diseases should be written above each bed in Latin, and “pet geese with small goslings” that the guards kept should be removed from the court’s waiting room. As for the judge’s workplace, it is bad that he “has all sorts of rubbish dried in his very presence and a hunting arapka right above the cabinet with papers.” The assessor “smells as if he had just come out of a distillery.”
The mayor reproaches officials for bribery: Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin takes greyhound puppies. He says that these are not bribes at all, but “if someone’s fur coat costs five hundred rubles, and his wife’s shawl...”. The mayor turns to Luka Lukich and advises him to pay attention to the teachers. In the gymnasium, the behavior of teachers is more than undignified, since they allow themselves to make faces at their students. “...If he (the teacher) makes such a face to a student, then it’s nothing... but judge for yourself, if he does this to a visitor, it can be very bad.” The history teacher “explains with such fervor that he doesn’t remember himself.”
Phenomenon 2
According to the postmaster, the auditor's visit to their city could be due to an imminent war with the Turks. The mayor turns to him with a request: “...couldn’t you, for our common benefit, print out every letter that arrives at your post office, incoming and outgoing, you know, a little and read it: does it contain any kind of report?” or just correspondence.” Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin admits that he doesn’t need to be taught this: “...I love to death to know what’s new in the world.” He even kept one letter from the lieutenant. The judge says: “You will get it someday for this.” For the mayor, “this is a family matter.”
Phenomenon 3
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky vied with each other to talk about the “emergency incident.” Bobchinsky speaks of a young man whom they met in a tavern, “not bad-looking, in a private dress, walking around the room like that, and in his face there’s this kind of reasoning... physiognomy... actions, and here (twirls his hand near his forehead) a lot, a lot of things.” They learned that this was Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, who had been living at the hotel for a week now, without paying any money to the owner. Bobchinsky notes that “the official about whom you deigned to receive a notification is an auditor.” The mayor is in a panic, because “in these two weeks the non-commissioned officer’s wife was carved out! The prisoners were not given provisions! There is a tavern on the streets, uncleanness! He intends to visit the person passing by and is glad that he is young, since “you’re more likely to sniff out a young person.” Officials rush to their departments. The judge is confident that no one will look at any of his papers, because “Solomon himself will not decide what is true and what is not true.”
Phenomenon 4
The quarterly receives an order from the mayor to sweep the streets clean. The mayor asks him where Prokhorov is and finds out that he is drunk. Bobchinsky intends to follow the mayor to a meeting with the auditor. In response to the mayor’s remark that the two of them would not fit on the droshky, he says: “I’ll run after the droshky with a cockerel. I just wish I could look through a little crack in the door..."
Phenomenon 5
The mayor, in a conversation with the private bailiff, continues to give orders: “hastily sweep up the old fence near the shoemaker, and put up a straw pole so that it looks like the layout. The more it breaks, the more it means the activity of the city governor,” the auditor’s questions should be answered that “everyone is happy,” that the church “began to be built, but burned down,” “don’t let the soldiers out into the street without anything.”
Phenomenon 6
The mayor's wife and daughter appear, eager to find out everything about the auditor. For this purpose, Anna Andreevna sends the maid Avdotya after the mayor's droshky.
ACT 2
Hotel room
Phenomenon 1
Osip, Khlestakov’s servant, is lying on the master’s bed, and he talks aloud about how he and the master left St. Petersburg two months ago, the master squandered all his money on the road, because he lived in grand style and lost at cards, and “now he sits and he turned his tail up and didn’t get excited.” Osip likes life in St. Petersburg, “a subtle and political life,” where there is “haberdashery treatment,” “everyone says ‘you’ to you.” As for his master, as soon as he received money from his father, he “went on a spree,” lives stupidly, “doesn’t do business.”
Phenomenon 2
Khlestakov arrives and sends Osip to the owner for dinner. He reminds them that they have been living without pay for three weeks and the owner threatened to complain about them.
Phenomenon 3
Hungry Khlestakov is alone. He complains that he spent so much time in Penza in vain. “What a nasty little town!”
Phenomenon 4
Khlestakov orders the tavern servant to demand lunch on credit from the owner, since he cannot be hungry.
Phenomenon 5
Khlestakov is wondering whether to sell some of his clothes, but decides that “it would be better to come home in a St. Petersburg suit” and it would be nice to come in a carriage, “to drive up like a devil to some landowner neighbor under the porch, with lanterns, and Osip in the back, put him in livery.” The feeling of hunger haunts me.
Phenomenon 6
Finally, the inn servant appears with lunch, which includes soup and roast. Khlestakov expresses his dissatisfaction, but eats everything.
Phenomenon 7
Khlestakov’s servant informs him that the mayor wants to see him, who came to the hotel specifically for this purpose. Khlestakov is scared because he thinks that the innkeeper has complained about him.
Phenomenon 8
The mayor and Dobchinsky enter. The mayor says that his duties include taking care of those passing by. Khlestakov justifies himself: “It’s not my fault... I’ll really pay... They’ll send it to me from the village.” Throughout the entire phenomenon, Bobchinsky eavesdrops on their conversation, peeking out from behind the door from time to time. The mayor invites Khlestakov to move to another apartment. He thinks that they intend to put him in prison. The mayor asks him: “Have mercy, don’t destroy!” Khlestakov does not understand what his interlocutor is telling him. Hearing that he offers to lend money, Khlestakov immediately agrees: “I would only like two hundred rubles or even less,” and the mayor quietly “screwed” him four hundred rubles instead of two hundred. According to the mayor, visiting travelers is a common thing for him. The mayor reasons: “He wants to be considered incognito. Okay, let’s let the Turuses in too: let’s pretend as if we don’t even know what kind of person he is.” Khlestakov informs the mayor and Dobchinsky that he is going “to the Saratov province, to his own village,” as his father demands him. But they don’t believe him. Khlestakov says that he cannot live without St. Petersburg, his soul “longs for enlightenment.” The mayor, under the pretext that the room in the tavern is not suitable for such an “enlightened guest,” invites Khlestakov to live in his house.
Phenomenon 9
Khlestakov asks the tavern servant for the bill, but the mayor tells him: “Get out, they’ll send it to you.”
Phenomenon 10
The mayor invites Khlestakov to visit city institutions so that he can make sure that they are in order. The mayor gives Dobchinsky two notes: one for his wife, and the other for Strawberry.
ACT 3
Room in the mayor's house
Phenomenon 1
The mayor's wife and daughter are waiting for news. Looking out the window, they notice Dobchinsky.
Phenomenon 2
Dobchinsky gives Anna Andreevna a note from her husband and retells to the ladies everything that happened in the tavern, characterizing the appearance of the young guest, who is not dark-haired, not blond, but “more of a chantret, and his eyes are so quick, like animals, they even lead to embarrassment.” The mayor's wife gives the necessary orders around the house and sends the coachman Sidor to the merchant Abdulin for wine.
Phenomenon 3
The mayor's wife and daughter decide in which toilets they will meet the guest.
Phenomenon 4
Osip brings the owner's suitcase. The mayor’s servant asks him: “...will there be a general soon?” In response to this, he says that Khlestakov is “a general, but only from the other side.” Hungry Osip asks Mishka to bring him food, and does not refuse the “simple dish” - cabbage soup, porridge and pies.
Phenomenon 5
Khlestakov and the mayor appear surrounded by officials. Khlestakov likes that in this city “they show passers-by everything in the city.” He was very pleased with the breakfast that was offered to him in the hospital, since “you live to pick flowers of pleasure.” The patients “are all recovering like flies.
The patient will not have time to enter the infirmary before he is already healthy; and not so much with medications, but with honesty and order.” The mayor assures that he cares about order. Hearing this, Strawberry quietly calls him a slacker. To Khlestakov’s question whether there are card establishments in the city, the mayor answers in the negative, swearing that he has never played. The superintendent of the schools quietly remarks: “You scoundrel, he donated a hundred rubles yesterday.” According to Khlestakov, “sometimes it’s very tempting to play.”
Phenomenon 6
Khlestakov meets the wife and daughter of the mayor, praises life in St. Petersburg, where the head of the department is “on friendly terms” with him, where they wanted to “make him a collegiate assessor.” Officials stand in the presence of Khlestakov. He asks them to sit down, because he doesn’t like “ceremonies.” Then Khlestakov continues to lie, and it seems that there is no limit to this. According to him, once he was “even mistaken for the commander-in-chief.” He is familiar with the environment of actors and writers; he is “on friendly terms with Pushkin” and calls him “a great original.” Khlestakov boasts that he wrote “The Marriage of Figaro”, “Robert the Devil”, “Norma”, and also “Yuri Miloslavsky”. When the mayor's daughter notices that last piece belongs to Zagoskin, Khlestakov agrees, adding: “... but there is another “Yuri Miloslavsky”, so that one is mine.” He admits that “literature exists”, that his “house is the first in St. Petersburg”, and at balls they deliver “a watermelon for seven hundred rubles”, “soup in a saucepan came straight from Paris on the boat”, that in his hall there are “counts” and the princes are jostling and buzzing,” the minister himself comes to him and once he managed the department. The mayor invites Khlestakov to rest.
Phenomenon 7
Officials have very different opinions about Khlestakov. Bobchinsky says that “he had never been in the presence of such an important person in his life” and “almost died of fear.” Dobminsky thinks that Khlestakov is “almost a general.” It’s “terribly simple” for a trustee of charitable institutions.
Phenomenon 8
The mayor’s wife and daughter call Khlestakov “pleasant” and “cutie,” “a metropolitan little thing,” and emphasize his “subtle manner.” Everyone wants to be noticed by Khlestakov.
Phenomenon 9
The mayor is frightened, although he understands that Khlestakov “leaned a little.” Anna Andreevna sees the guest as an “educated, secular, high-class person.” The mayor blames his wife for treating Khlestakov “as freely as if with some Dobchinsky.”
Phenomenon 10
Anna Andreevna calls Osip to ask him about Khlestakov. The servant says that his master “usually has what rank”, that he “loves order”, “so that everything is in order”, that “he likes to be received well, to have a good meal.” For his revelations, Osip receives from the mayor “a couple of rubles for tea,” and then another “for bagels.”
Phenomenon 11
Two policemen, Svistunov and Derzhimorda, appear in front of the mayor, who, by order of the mayor, stand on the porch and make sure that no one goes to Khlestakov.
ACT 4
Room in the mayor's house
Phenomenon 1
In full regalia and uniforms, the judge, the trustee of charitable institutions, the postmaster, the superintendent of schools, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky enter cautiously, almost on tiptoe. According to the trustee of charitable institutions, “you need to introduce yourself one by one, and between four eyes and that... as it should be - so that even the ears don’t hear. This is how it’s done in a well-ordered society!” Every official wants to give Khlestakov a bribe. They decide who will go first. When they suggested it to the superintendent of schools, he objected: “I can’t, I can’t, gentlemen. I... was brought up in such a way that if someone of a higher rank spoke to me, I simply don’t have a soul, and my tongue is stuck in the mud.” Everyone pesters the judge.
Phenomenon 2
Khlestakov admits to himself that he “likes it better if people please; out of pure heart, and not just out of interest.” He “likes this life.”
Phenomenon 3
A judge appears in front of Khlestakov. Khlestakov asks how long he has been in this position and whether it is profitable to be a judge. “And the money is in the fist, and the fist is all on fire.” When Lyapkin-Tyapkin drops the banknotes on the floor, he trembles all over, as he is sure that punishment will follow, but Khlestakov invites the judge to “loan” them. Ammos Fedorovich does this “with great pleasure,” considering that “it is such an honor.” Khlestakov notes that “the judge is a good person.”
Phenomenon 4
Postmaster Ivan Kuzmich, who came next to introduce himself, only agrees with Khlestakov, who talks about a very pleasant city and that “you can live happily in a small town.” Khlestakov asks for a “three hundred ruble loan.” The postmaster is confident that there are no comments regarding the postal business. Khlestakov notes that the postmaster is “helpful.”
Phenomenon 5
Khlestakov offers the superintendent of the schools, Luka Lukich, who was trembling with fear, a cigar, and then asks which women he likes better - brunettes or blondes. Luka Lukic became timid. Khlestakov says “that there is definitely something in his eyes that inspires timidity,” and then asks for “a loan of three hundred rubles.” The superintendent of the schools hands the money to Khlestakov and hastily leaves the room.
Phenomenon 6
Khlestakov remembered the trustee of charitable institutions, Artemy Filippovich Zemlyanika, because there he was “very well treated to breakfast,” which he was pleased with. Khlestakov asks him: “...as if yesterday you were a little shorter?..” Strawberry responds that “it very well may be,” and after that he begins to report on city officials: “the local postmaster does absolutely nothing,” the judge behavior of the most reprehensible type,” and “the superintendent of the local school... is worse than a Jacobin.” Khlestakov asks him for “four hundred rubles.”
Phenomenon 7
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky enter, and Khlestakov immediately asks them to “loan a thousand rubles.” Having heard about such a sum, both were confused. They had sixty-five rubles for such a distinguished guest. Dobchinsky asks that his son be recognized as legitimate, and Bobchinsky wants Khlestakov, at the right opportunity, to tell “various nobles: senators and admirals,” and also “if the sovereign has to,” that “Petr Ivanovich Bobchinsky lives in such and such a city.” .
Phenomenon 8
It becomes obvious to Khlestakov that in the city he was mistaken for an important government official. He decides to describe this, in his opinion, funny incident in a letter to his friend Tryapichkin, who writes articles - “let him click them well.” And then he counts the money.
Phenomenon 9
Khlestakov's servant, suspecting something was wrong, advises him to get out of the city as quickly as possible. Khlestakov agrees, writes a letter to Tryapichkin, and then gives it to Osip. The voices of merchants and the voice of Derzhimorda are heard. Khlestakov is interested in what is happening and tells Osip that visitors should be allowed to see him.
Phenomenon 10
Merchants came to Khlestakov with a carload of wine and sugar loaves to tell him about the mayor who “commits insults that cannot be described. We're completely exhausted by standing, you can even climb into the noose. He doesn’t act by his actions.” The merchants are forced to endure his antics: he brings everything he likes from the shop, expects gifts from them on name days twice a year, “and if you try to contradict him, he will send a whole regiment to your house to billet.” Khlestakov says that he does not take bribes, but asks to borrow money. They give him five hundred rubles. The merchants leave, a woman's voice is heard.
Phenomenon 11
The locksmith appears with the claim that her husband was not selected as a soldier in turn, since those who were supposed to go instead of him made an offering, and besides, “according to the law it is impossible: he is married.” The non-commissioned officer’s wife demands justice and financial compensation, since she was flogged for no reason: “Our women got into a fight in the market, but the police didn’t come in time, and they grabbed me.” Khlestakov promises his help. Approaching the window and seeing “hands with requests,” he says that he no longer intends to listen to anyone.
Phenomenon 12
Khlestakov sorts things out with the mayor's daughter, who fears that he will laugh at her provincialism. In response to this, she hears vows and assurances of love. Khlestakov kisses her on the shoulder, kneels down and asks for forgiveness for his action.
Phenomenon 13
The mayor's wife came in and chased her daughter away. Finding himself in such a situation, Khlestakov kneels in front of her and again swears his love to her: “My life is in the balance. If you do not crown my constant love, then I am unworthy of earthly existence. With a flame in my chest I ask for your hand.” Anna Andreevna notes that she is married, to which Khlestakov objects to her that “for love there is no difference.”
Phenomenon 14
The mayor's daughter runs in with tears in her eyes and sees Khlestakov at her mother's feet. She reprimands her, since her appearance is not at the right time. Khlestakov grabs the mayor's daughter by the hand and asks her mother for her blessing. According to Anna Andreevna, she “is unworthy of such happiness.”
Phenomenon 15
The mayor arrives and begs Khlestakov not to take into account everything that the merchants and townspeople have said about him. Anna Andreevna stops him, saying that Khlestakov intends to ask for the hand of their daughter. The mayor and his wife call their daughter, who is immediately blessed.
Phenomenon 16
Khlestakov is getting ready to go on the road. The mayor asks him what day the wedding is scheduled for. He says that he needs to go “for one day to visit his uncle - a rich old man; and back tomorrow.” Taking more money from the mayor, Khlestakov leaves the city.
ACTION 5
Room in the mayor's house
Phenomenon 1
The mayor and his wife indulge in dreams about the future of their daughter and about their move to St. Petersburg, where “you can get a big rank.” The mayor intends to “get into the generals,” and Anna Andreevna fears for her husband: “... sometimes you utter such a word that good society you will never hear."
Phenomenon 2
The merchants learn about the engagement of the mayor's daughter to Khlestakov. Fearing reprisals, the merchants are forced to obey.
Phenomenon 3-6
The officials congratulate the mayor, who imagines himself to be an important person.
Phenomenon 7
The judge is interested in “how it all started, the gradual progress of everything, that is, the case.” The mayor's wife replies that Khlestakov proposed out of respect for her “rare qualities.” The daughter intervenes in the conversation: “Oh, mummy! because he told me this.” The mayor reports that Khlestakov left for only one day. Anton Antonovich and Anna Andreevna arrogantly announce their future plans, about moving to St. Petersburg and receiving the rank of general for the mayor. The mayor promises to help officials as needed, although his wife believes that “not every small fry should be protected.”
Phenomenon 8
The postmaster enters with a letter from Khlestakov, which he intended to send to Tryapichkin, but “an unnatural force prompted” him to open it. The postmaster reads it aloud. The truth about Khlestakov is revealed, whose return is not possible, since by order of the mayor, the best horses were given to him. Khlestakov characterizes city officials as follows: “the mayor is as stupid as a gray gelding”, “the postmaster... is a scoundrel, drinks bitter”, “the overseer of the charitable establishment Strawberry is a perfect pig in a yarmulke”, “the superintendent of the schools is rotten through with onions”, “judge Lyapkin- Tyapkin is extremely bad manners.” Having heard how Khlestakov speaks about each of the officials, the guests laugh, to which the mayor remarks: “Why are you laughing? “You’re laughing at yourself!..” Everyone decides that Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky are to blame for what happened, “city gossips, damned liars,” “short-tailed magpies,” “cursed dirty guys,” “caps,” “short-bellied morels,” who started the rumor, that Khlestakov is an auditor.
The last phenomenon
The gendarme appears and announces that a real inspector has arrived.
HISTORY OF CREATION
⦁ 1835 completion of work on the play. The basis is the story of A.S. Pushkin, how in Orenburg he was mistaken for an official who had come from St. Petersburg for an audit.
⦁ 1836 premiere of the comedy in St. Petersburg.
⦁ 1842 - final edition, taking into account shortcomings.
ISSUES
Moral and moral (servility, desire to get a better job, veneration, lies, arrogance, lack of human dignity, insignificance of interests, superstition and gossip);
⦁ lawlessness. bribery and embezzlement...
COMPOSITION AND STORY
There are two conflicts in the play: external (between Khlestakov and officials) and internal (bureaucratic elite and the people).
The composition is circular (the beginning and end coincide with the reading of the letter and the message about the arrival of the auditor) and unusual, since it does not have a traditional exposition. From the very first phrase of the mayor, the plot begins.
The beginning
The mayor's message about the imminent arrival of the auditor. The engine of action in the comedy is the officials' fear of the inspector.
Developments
Officials are trying to bribe the imaginary auditor with bribes.
Climax
Exposing the imaginary auditor: reading a letter from Khlestakov addressed to his friend Tryapichkin, which was brought to the mayor by postmaster Shpekin.
Denouement
The gendarme announces the arrival of the real auditor. The finale of the comedy is a silent scene: the characters are in petrified poses, a symbol of the moral retribution of officials for their actions.
IDEATORICAL AND THEMATIC CONTENT
⦁ Topics: social (the life of the county town and its inhabitants) and moral (many of the actions of the characters are ugly because their environment is immoral).
⦁ Idea: true human values are replaced by ideas about rank. Officialdom is the embodiment of hypocrisy, duplicity, vulgarity, envy, bribery
and ignorance.
GENRE ORIGINALITY
⦁ “The Inspector General” is a socio-political, public comedy directed against
shortcomings of society (a broad picture of the bureaucratic-bureaucratic rule of feudal Russia in the 1830s.
⦁ The district city is the image of any city of “all Rus'” (the main strata of the population are depicted: citizenship, officials, merchants, city landowners, mayor).
⦁ Each character symbolizes certain human qualities
ART MEDIA
⦁ “Talking” names: Khlestakov, Lyapkin-Tyapkin, Derzhimorda.
⦁ Alogism: “Well, what does it matter if you take bribes with greyhound puppies? But you don’t believe in God.”
Act one
Room in the mayor's house
Phenomenon 1
The mayor informs all the assembled officials of the very unpleasant news that an auditor is coming to their city, and incognito. For all officials, the arrival of the auditor is extremely unpleasant. Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin assumes that Russia wants to wage war, so an auditor is sent to find out if there is any treason.
Mayor Anton Antonovich is very ironic about this assumption: their county town not at all borderline, from it “even if you gallop for three years, you won’t reach any state.” He advises bringing a semblance of order everywhere.
So, in charitable institutions, in a hospital, for example, clean caps can be put on the sick so that they do not look like blacksmiths, as usual. It would be better if there were fewer sick people overall.
Artemy Filippovich agrees with such measures. He says that his and Dr. Gibner’s principle of healing is “the closer to nature, the better,” because “a simple person: if he dies, he will die anyway, if he recovers, he will recover anyway,” so they do not use expensive medicines.
He advises the judge to pay attention to public places: there the watchmen brought in geese with small goslings, and the judge himself hung a hunting arap. The mayor will not talk about “internal orders”: after all, God himself arranged it this way, he explains, so that every person has sins.
The judge objects: sins are different. For example, he openly says that he takes bribes, but these are bribes with greyhound puppies. Ammos Fedorovich and Anton Antonovich are trying to prove to each other that each of them is less sinful.
Regarding schools, the mayor suggests to Luka Lukich that the teacher does not make faces at tall visitors and does not break chairs when he talks about Alexander the Great.
Phenomenon 2
The postmaster fears that the arrival of the auditor foreshadows war with the Turks. Anton Antonovich says that this is not for the Turks, but it will be bad for them. He asks the postmaster to check every letter that arrives at the post office. The postmaster readily agrees: for him, reading other people's letters is a common practice.
Phenomenon 3
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, out of breath, enter and say that the inspector has already arrived: this is Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, he is traveling from St. Petersburg to the Saratov province, he is staying at a tavern, where he has been living for the second week. He doesn’t pay the owner any money and looks at everything very carefully.
The mayor is horrified: there is dirt in the city, the prisoners are not given provisions, and in these two weeks the non-commissioned officer’s widow was flogged! He sends officials to take care of departments, and he himself is going to pay a visit to the visiting auditor.
Phenomenon 4
Anton Antonovich orders the policeman to sweep the streets clean, and blames him for taking “out of order”: so, the merchant Chernyaev gave him two arshins of cloth for his uniform, and he stole the whole thing.
Phenomenon 5
The mayor gives the order to demolish the old fence and answer questions about the church that it was not stolen in parts, but burned down. The mayor says that he has sinned in many ways and asks God to “get away with it as soon as possible.” Then he will light a candle that no one has ever lit: from each merchant he will rip off three pounds of wax.
The mayor rides with Dobchinsky. Bobchineky doesn’t fit on the droshky, but is going to run behind the droshky like a cockerel.
Phenomenon 6
The mayor's wife and daughter are burning with curiosity: what is the auditor like? Anna Andreevna wants to find out everything herself.
Act two
Hotel room
Phenomenon 1
Osip lies on the master's bed and talks to himself. From his monologue it becomes clear that he and the master left St. Petersburg two months ago, that the master “squandered” all his money, and now he “sits with his tail twisted.”
Phenomenon 2
Osip's owner always demands the best lunch. In St. Petersburg, as soon as he received money from his father, he immediately went on a drinking spree - he rode a cab, went to the theaters.
Phenomenon 3
Khlestakov sends his servant to the owner for dinner, but he refuses to go, since they have not paid for three weeks.
Phenomenon 4
Khlestakov speaks to the tavern servant in an ingratiating tone and asks him to persuade the owner to send him lunch, promising to pay later.
Phenomenon 5
Khlestakov dreams of defeating the provincial landowners with his St. Petersburg manners. It would be nice to ride up “like a devil” in a carriage to a neighboring landowner, to dress Osip in livery...
Phenomenon 6
The tavern servant brings Khlestakov lunch. He is dissatisfied: there is neither fish nor cutlets (he saw how two short men ate all this), but he eats everything.
Phenomenon 7
Osip tells Khlestakov that the mayor has arrived and wants to meet with him. Khlestakov is confused.
Phenomenon 8
Khlestakov and Anton Antonovich begin to make excuses to each other. Khlestakov promises that he will pay for the hotel, scolds the owner who serves him bad food.
The mayor offers to move to another apartment, Khlestakov refuses: he thinks that we are talking about a prison. He threatens to complain to the minister.
The mayor asks for mercy, because he has “a wife and small children.” His salary is not enough even for tea and sugar, and if there were any bribes, they were minimal, and the fact that the non-commissioned officer’s widow was flogged was an invention of his enemies.
Khlestakov asks Anton Antonovich for a loan of two hundred rubles. The mayor gives him four hundred and invites him to stay with him.
Khlestakov finally stops worrying and thinks that he is being received so warmly. The mayor is sure that Khlestakov wants to be considered an “incognito”, so he lies that he is going to his father in the village.
Phenomenon 9
A tavern servant arrives with a bill, and the mayor throws him out, promising to send him money.
Phenomenon 10
Anton Antonovich invites Khlestakov to inspect the city and make sure that order reigns everywhere. He sends Dobchinsky to his wife with a note in which he asks to prepare a room for the auditor.
Act three
Room in Anton Antonovich's house
Phenomenon 1
The mayor's wife and daughter are sitting by the window, waiting for news, planning what to wear for the arrival of the auditor.
Phenomenon 2
Anna Andreevna reproaches Dobchinsky for coming so late and asks him about the auditor.
Phenomenon 3
The mayor's wife and daughter are preparing to receive the auditor and preening themselves.
Phenomenon 4
Osip enters. He asks for food, but they don’t give it to him, explaining that all the dishes are simple, and he, as the auditor’s servant, will not eat such a thing. Osip agrees to any food.
Phenomenon 5
Khlestakov is treated to breakfast in the hospital. He asks the mayor about card establishments, but he replies that there are none in the city.
Phenomenon 6
Anton Antonovich brings the guest home. Khlestakov, who drank at breakfast, talks about his life in St. Petersburg. He hopes his listeners don't think he's just "rewriting."
He only goes into the department for a few minutes to give instructions, and there “the writing official, a kind of rat, with only a pen - tr, tr... went to write.”
At some point, Khlestakov forgets himself and says how he flies into his fourth floor, throws an overcoat to Mavrushka... But he immediately corrects himself: he forgot that he lives on the mezzanine. He has the richest and most famous house in St. Petersburg, soup in a saucepan is brought to him from Paris by steamship.
He, Khlestakov, is on friendly terms with Pushkin, and he himself composes in his spare time, gives luxurious balls and dinners, runs a department, often visits the palace, he will soon be made a field marshal.
Phenomenon 7
Officials are shaking with fear. The mayor invites the guest to rest. Officials are confident that if at least half of what Khlestakov said is true, then they have something to fear.
Phenomenon 8
The mayor's wife and daughter discuss Khlestakov. Each of them is sure that it was the guest who liked it.
Phenomenon 9
Anton Antonovich is very scared and is thinking about what to do to get away with it.
Phenomenon 10
Everyone asks Osip about his master. The servant says that Khlestakov loves order. The mayor gives Osip money. Anton Antonovich places Svistunov and Derzhimorda at the porch so that they won’t let anyone in to see Khlestakov.
Act four
Room in the mayor's house
Phenomenon 1
Strawberry, Lyapkin-Tyapkin, Luka Lukich, the postmaster, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky enter on tiptoe. The judge orders everyone in a military manner. Strawberry says they should “do something.”
You need to give money one by one. Find out who will go first. Strawberry persuades Lyapkin-Tyapkin, who says “not a word, Cicero rolled off his tongue.”
Phenomenon 2
Khlestakov says how pleased he is that he is given a warm welcome here.
Phenomenon 3-7
Lyapkin-Tyapkin, trembling with fear, gives Khlestakov money. He agrees to borrow them, and the happy judge leaves. The postmaster appears. Khlestakov says how much he likes the city and borrows money.
Luka Lukic introduces himself, trembling with fear. Khlestakov offers him a cigar, he is afraid: should he take it or not? Khlestakov encourages, Khlopov lights a cigarette from the wrong end.
Khlestakov asks which ladies he likes best - blondes or brunettes. Khlopov replies that he cannot know. Khlestakov, like everyone else, takes money from him.
Strawberry appears and reminds Khlestakov that he was treated to a meal at his establishment. Khlestakov thanks Strawberry for yesterday's breakfast. He informs the “auditor” about the other officials. He is not going to give money. But the hero asks for a loan, and he gives.
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky come to Khlestakov. He demands money from them. Dobchinsky asks St. Petersburg to work to have his son recognized as legitimate, and Bobchinsky asks to at least tell the sovereign about his existence.
Phenomenon 8
Khlestakov understands that he is considered an important official in the city, and writes about this to his friend Tryapichkin.
Phenomenon 9
Osip says that the master needs to leave the city. Petitioners come to the young man.
Phenomenon 10
The merchants denounce the mayor, who is taking away their best goods, and give Khlestakov money.
Phenomenon 11
The widow of a non-commissioned officer who was flogged demands justice. The locksmith, whose husband was taken out of line to become a soldier because he did not pay a bribe on time, also complains. Khlestakov promises to help them.
Phenomenon 12-15
Khlestakov confesses his love to Marya Antonovna. The mayor's wife enters and drives her daughter away. Khlestakov tells Anna Andreevna that he is in love with her, but is forced to marry her daughter, since Anna Andreevna is married.
Khlestakov asks for Marya Antonovna's hand in marriage. The mayor joyfully blesses the young.
Phenomenon 16
Khlestakov takes money from Anton Antonovich and leaves the city, explaining his departure by the need to discuss the wedding with his father.
Act five
Room in the mayor's house O
Phenomenon 1
Anton Antonovich asks Anna Andreevna where they will now live - here or in St. Petersburg. Of course, in St. Petersburg, the wife answers, how can you stay here! The mayor sees himself as a general. Anna Andreevna imagines her future home in the capital.
Phenomenon 2-7
Anton Antonovich informs the merchants about his daughter's engagement to the auditor and threatens to punish them for their complaints. The merchants admit guilt. Anton Antonovich arranges a reception and tells the guests about moving to the capital and possibly receiving the rank of general. Officials ask not to forget them and, if possible, to provide patronage. The mayor graciously agrees.
Phenomenon 8
The postmaster appears and reads aloud Khlestakov’s opened letter to Tryapichkin, from which it becomes clear that he is not an auditor.
The mayor is shocked. The letter speaks about each of the officials. About the mayor, Khlestakov wrote that he was “stupid, like a gray gelding,” about Strawberry, that he was “a pig in a yarmulke.”
Luka Lukich is “rotten through with onions,” the judge is “very bad manners,” the postmaster is “drinking bitter.” The mayor scolds himself. Officials are looking for the culprit in the incident and decide that it is Bobchineky and Dobchinsky who spread the rumor about Khlestakov.
The last phenomenon
The gendarme enters and announces the arrival of a real inspector. A silent scene follows: everyone stands in frozen poses, “petrified.”
CHARACTERISTICS OF KHLESTAKOV
⦁ a petty St. Petersburg official who lost at cards;
⦁ speaks and acts without any consideration, hopes for chance;
⦁ lies and believes his own lies;
⦁ strives to make an impression;
⦁ Khlestakovism is a concept meaning spiritual emptiness, selfishness, opportunism, ability to show off, immaturity, stupidity and selfishness
CHARACTERISTICS OF SKVOZNIK-DMUKHANOVSKY
⦁ mayor
⦁ does not keep order, steals from the treasury, takes bribes, etc.
⦁ experienced bribe-taker, “a swindler on swindlers”
⦁ self-confident, rude and despotic: “Here I am them, the rascals...”
⦁ ingratiatingly respectful before superiors
⦁ the goal of his aspirations is “over time... to become a general”
⦁ could not recognize Khlestakov’s lies
⦁ Khlestakov about the hero: “stupid as a gray gelding”
Very summary(in a nutshell)
A petty official from St. Petersburg, Khlestakov, finds himself without money in a hotel in a small town. At this time, the Mayor of this town, Anton Antonovich, convenes important persons of the city and announces to them that he has learned that an auditor from St. Petersburg is coming to the city. Local landowners, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky, seeing Khlestakov, decide that this is the auditor. The Mayor immediately goes to him, gives him a bribe and brings him home, where the table is already set. Khlestakov gets drunk and comes up with different stories about what he is like big man in St. Petersburg. In the morning, Khlestakov realizes that he was mistaken for an important person and, taking advantage of this, takes bribes from everyone, and also begins to trail the wife and daughter of the Governor. In the end, he proposes to the mayor’s daughter, but immediately leaves, as he realizes that the mistake may soon be revealed. Before this, he writes a letter to his friend, colorfully describing how stupid everyone is in this city. Meanwhile, the Mayor and his wife dream of how they will live in St. Petersburg, but then the postmaster Shpekin comes and shows Khlestakov’s letter, which he opened. After reading it, everyone starts accusing each other of bungling. Then a gendarme comes in and announces that an official has arrived from St. Petersburg and demands the Mayor to come to him. It all ends with a silent scene.
Retelling plan
1. The mayor reports the imminent arrival of the auditor.
2. Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky report the arrival of the auditor.
3. Khlestakov’s predicament. The mayor's arrival to him.
4. The mayor gives the “auditor” money and takes it to his house.
5. The mayor’s wife and daughter communicate with Khlestakov, who enthusiastically lies about his high position in society.
6. Officials petition for the fulfillment of their requests. Khlestakov takes money from them.
7. Khlestakov writes a letter to his friend Tryapichkin about everything that happened.
8. The “auditor” receives merchants and “borrows” money from them.
9. Khlestakov proposes to the mayor’s daughter Maria Antonovna and leaves.
10. The mayor's dreams of happy life thanks to the advantageous marriage of his daughter.
11. The postmaster brings Khlestakov’s revealing letter.
12. A message about the arrival of a real auditor sounds.
Retelling
Action 1
A room in the mayor's house. The mayor informs those present (trustee of charitable institutions Zemlyanika, superintendent of schools Khlopov, judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin, private bailiff Ukhovertov, doctor Gibner): “An auditor is coming to see us.” He learned about this from a letter from his relative. The officials are worried and scared. The mayor gives several orders. He orders Strawberry to put clean caps on the patients, he orders the judge to remove the arapnik from the wall in his office and feed the assistant onions so that he does not smell of vodka. Khlopov is ordered to do something with the teachers, because one is showing faces, and the other is telling the lesson with such passion that it seems that he is about to catch fire. The mayor hints to the postmaster that it would be a good idea to read letters at the post office in order to find some kind of denunciation or free-thinking thoughts. The postmaster reports that he reads anyway because it is very interesting to him.
Two landowners, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky, run in. Interrupting each other, they tell what they saw in the tavern young man, an official who does not pay for accommodation and has no intention of moving out. And if so, then he is not afraid of anything, because he is the auditor. The mayor is frightened: after all, the auditor could see how things really are in the city. He hastily orders the main streets to be swept, soldiers posted for show, and orders for them to praise their service if asked. If the auditor becomes interested in the construction of the church, then he must be told that the church was built, but it burned down.
The mayor hastily gets ready to go to the tavern.
Act 2
Osip, Khlestakov’s servant, lies on the bed in the room and remembers how his master spent all the money. Now they cannot get to their village and are forced to starve. Khlestakov arrives and begins to scold Osip for lying on the bed. Then he asks him to go to the buffet and bring lunch. Osip refuses: the owner of the tavern said that he will not feed him until Khlestakov pays. Khlestakov complains about hunger, remembers how he lost all his money, and is now forced to sit in this small town. The servant nevertheless brought him soup and roast. Khlestakov eats and scolds the food because it is tasteless. Osip comes and reports that the mayor has arrived and wants to see Khlestakov. The young man gets scared, he thinks that it was the innkeeper who complained about him.
The mayor and Dobchinsky enter. For several moments, Khlestakov and the mayor look at each other in silence. Both are afraid. The mayor says that he came to see how people are kept in the tavern, and invites Khlestakov to take another, better room. But Khlestakov thinks that they are going to send him to prison. At first he almost cries, but then he begins to brave himself and bangs his fist on the table. The mayor understands that an important official from St. Petersburg is angry and wants to make amends. He gives Khlestakov two hundred rubles. Khlestakov calms down. He says that he served in St. Petersburg, but did not receive high ranks and is now going to his village to visit his father. The mayor thinks that the auditor is deceiving him, because he wants to maintain his “incognito”. The mayor invites him to his house. Khlestakov agrees.
The mayor invites the “auditor” to go and see charitable institutions and schools, writes a letter to his wife so that she will arrange everything for the guest’s arrival.
Act 3
Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna are waiting at home for the mayor to return. They are eager to hear the news. Dobchinsky comes and says that the auditor is a young man, but as smart as an old man. Anna Andreevna orders a room to be prepared for an important guest. Dobchinsky leaves. Women discuss what dresses to wear. Osip arrives with Khlestakov’s suitcase. He meets a servant who helps him carry his suitcase.
The governor, Zemlyanika, Khlopov, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky bring Khlestakov. He praises everything and says that in other cities they didn’t show him anything. The mayor declares that it is the mayor’s duty to maintain order, wants to show himself at his best in front of the auditor, and even reports that they don’t play cards in the city.
Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna come down, Khlestakov begins to show off in front of them. First he announces that he serves as a simple official, then he begins to lie, and in such a way that he no longer understands that he is lying. He says that he was once mistaken for the commander-in-chief; he was asked to serve as a minister; he was promoted to field marshal... He writes that he lives in the largest and most beautiful house in St. Petersburg, every day he gives balls, which are attended by the most influential people countries. For lunch he is served soup straight from Paris, watermelon for seven hundred rubles. Khlestakov even blurted out that he was a famous writer, “on friendly terms with Pushkin,” and wrote many famous works (“Yuri Miloslavsky”). Those around him listen and become more and more afraid: after all, even if part of what the auditor says is true, he is a very important bird.
The officials disperse, and Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna discuss the guest. Osip arrives. The mayor, his wife and daughter begin to ask him about the owner. Osip understands that the more he lies, the better he will be fed, so he says that his master really important person. The mayor gives him money. Then he orders two policemen to stand on the porch and not let anyone outside, especially merchants and petitioners.
Act 4
The next day, officials come to the mayor's house. Everyone wants to see the auditor and pay their respects to him, but everyone is afraid to go first. Khlestakov comes out. He states that he really likes the hospitality of his hosts. The officials go to Khlestakov one by one, and he asks everyone to borrow money. In fact, the officials are glad that they were able to bribe such an important person.
Khlestakov begins to understand that everyone takes him for some important official. He writes a letter to his journalist friend in which he talks about his adventures. He knows that his friend will ridicule the officials in his newspaper. Osip convinces Khlestakov to leave the city immediately, otherwise a person may appear for whom Khlestakov is mistaken, and then the deception will be revealed.
Merchants come and complain about the mayor, saying that he is terribly oppressing them, robbing them, and there is no reduction against him. They hope that the auditor will help them. Khlestakov is outraged by the mayor’s impudence. The merchants give him five hundred rubles “for his help.”
Marya Antonovna appears. Khlestakov begins to show off in front of her, says compliments, sits down next to her, kisses her on the shoulder. Marya Antonovna is flirting. Anna Andreevna arrives and drives her daughter away. Khlestakov appears in front of her. He says that he will go crazy from love. Then Marya Antonovna appears again and sees Khlestakov on his knees. Anna Andreevna is angry with her daughter for interfering. But then Khlestakov asks Anna Andreevna to “bless eternal love"him with Marya Antonovna.
The mayor enters. He makes excuses for the merchants before the auditor and begs him not to believe a single word they say. When he finds out that Khlestakov is asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage, at first he doesn’t believe his luck, but then he blesses her. Khlestakov says that he needs to go to his uncle for a while. Everyone says goodbye to him, and the mayor gives him more money and better horses.
Action 5
The mayor orders to call the merchants who complained about him, and while he waits, he dreams of how he will live now. He is going to leave the post of mayor, become a general, command the army, so that he will have a lot of medals and money. Merchants arrive. He starts scolding them. The frightened merchants vow never to complain about him again.
Various guests arrive, among them city officials. Everyone congratulates the bride. The guests ask how the engagement was arranged so quickly. Anna Andreevna already feels like a general. The officials congratulate the mayor, flatter him, and say all sorts of nasty things to themselves.
The postmaster arrives. He holds a letter in his hand and says that Khlestakov is not an important official at all. The mayor does not believe him. But the postmaster reads the letter, from which it becomes clear who Khlestakov really is and how they were all deceived: he “borrowed” money from everyone, and ridiculed everyone in a letter to a journalist friend. The mayor curses himself. He has been in the service for thirty years, no one could deceive him, and here a petty official has him wrapped around his little finger?! A gendarme enters. He reports that a certain official from St. Petersburg is staying at the hotel and immediately demands the mayor to come to him. Everyone understands that this is the real auditor. Silent scene. The characters freeze in different poses. Many of them are happy about the mayor’s misfortune.
The author of the play “The Inspector General” is Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Date of creation - 1835. The famous work is written in a satirical vein, one of its artistic features there is a lack of positive heroes among the characters; all of them, to one degree or another, exhibit worst traits human character, and all relationships are resolved through bribes.
Briefly about the work
There is a widespread opinion that the plot of “The Inspector General” was briefly suggested to the author by A.S. Pushkin. Even if it's not entirely true , it was with the great poet that Gogol consulted in the process of writing a work. When it was published, few saw beyond the hilarious comedy deep meaning and an allusion to the life of all of Russia.
The summary says that a rake comes to a certain small town, who, by coincidence, is mistaken for an auditor. The young man is trying to make the most of the situation. And he completely succeeds.
Thanks to the talented style, fascinating plot and instructive meaning, the work is taught in the 8th grade of the school.
The play is not very voluminous, but to read it completely, you will have to spend the amount of time that modern students do not always have. In this case, you can check online retelling of the work “The Inspector General”, briefly by action. The detailed description of events presented below will not only help in filling out reader's diary or writing an essay, but also, perhaps, motivates to read full version plays.
“The Inspector” is divided into several chapters or parts in terms of phenomena and actions. Since each passage is important for a complete understanding of the plot, the events occurring in each unit of the composition will be described below.
Act one
The story begins in the mayor's house:
Act two
Act three
And again the plot unfolds in the mayor’s house:
Act four
Events in the mayor’s house continue to develop:
Act five
Events take place in a room in the mayor’s house:
Analysis of the play's ending
A silent scene is how the play “The Inspector General” ends. All the horror that unscrupulous officials experienced during Khlestakov’s stay intensifies after the discovery of the deception. But these are minor things compared to the fact that now all this will have to be experienced again.
The mayor, who had just been so happy about his daughter’s supposed wedding, threw back his head from the new trouble that had struck. Strawberry, bowing his head, thought about further actions. The judge was speechless, and Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky rushed to each other and froze on the way.
It was this technique that left behind a feeling of a strong ending. It is unknown how future affairs in the city will develop. But in this scene the whole comedy of the situation reaches its limit.
Influence of the work
Performances began to be staged based on the play, and the government, which at that time was represented by Emperor Nicholas I, proposed changing the ending of the story. IN new version everyone is stupid and greedy officials should have been punished, and the story was limited to an incident in an unknown provincial town, without spreading its topicality to the whole of Russia. However, at the same time, the satirical nature of the plot was lost, and the idea almost did not catch on, although several performances were still staged.
Productions based on the original play were successful not only in N.V. Gogol’s homeland, but throughout the world. To this day, many people gather for performances based on this story.
Surprisingly, even after two centuries, the story remains relevant. Its plot is both interesting to analyze and easy to read. Of course, the characters depicted in it are grotesque, but they perfectly reflect the sad reality. The immortal work will be relevant at any time, while there are still scoundrels who know how to take advantage of the current situation, and power, problem solver bribes. This idea can be understood when reading the work in abbreviation, but the whole atmosphere of events in the city will be conveyed full text plays.
