What human vices does N.V. expose? Gogol in the comedy "The Inspector General"? To help students

Composition

The comedy “The Inspector General,” written in 1836, dealt a crushing blow to the entire administrative and bureaucratic system of Tsarist Russia in the 30s of the 19th century. The author exposed to general ridicule not individual isolated cases, but typical manifestations of the state apparatus. It would seem, what does the sleepy patriarchal life of a provincial provincial town, which the mayor sincerely considers his home and manages as the owner, have to do with the centralized bureaucratic system? Here the postmaster prints out and reads other people's letters instead of novels, without seeing anything reprehensible in this. From the mayor’s hasty remarks to his subordinates about establishing order in the institutions under their jurisdiction, we can easily draw a conclusion about how things are in the hospital, court, schools, and post office. The patients look a lot like blacksmiths and smoke strong tobacco; No one is treating them. Everything in court is complicated, and geese roam freely under the feet of visitors. Lawlessness and arbitrariness reign everywhere.

But this unknown provincial town appears in the comedy as a state in miniature, in which, like a drop of water, all the abuses and vices of bureaucratic Russia are reflected. The traits that characterize city officials are also typical of representatives of other classes. All of them are distinguished by dishonesty, vulgarity, squalor mental interests, extremely low cultural level. After all, in comedy there is not a single honest hero from any class. There is a social stratification of people here, some of whom occupy important government positions and use their power to improve their own well-being. At the top of this social pyramid is the bureaucracy. Theft, bribery, embezzlement - these typical vices of bureaucracy are castigated by Gogol with his merciless laughter. The city's elite are disgusting. But the people under their control do not inspire sympathy either. The merchants oppressed by the mayor, hating him, try to appease him with gifts, and at the first opportunity they write a complaint against him to Khlestakov, whom everyone takes for an important St. Petersburg dignitary. Provincial landowners Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky are slackers and gossips, insignificant and vulgar people. At first glance, the innocently flogged non-commissioned officer evokes sympathy. But what she only wants to get monetary compensation for the insult suffered, makes her funny and pitiful.

In such offended people without rights as the mechanic and the serf servant Osip, the tavern floor worker, there is a complete lack of self-esteem and the ability to be indignant at their slavish position. These characters are brought out in the play in order to more noticeably highlight the consequences of the unseemly actions of the ruling officials, to show how the lower class suffers from their tyranny. The evils of bureaucracy are not invented by the author. They were taken by Gogol from life itself. It is known that Emperor Nicholas I himself acted as Gogol’s postmaster, who read Pushkin’s letters to his wife. The scandalous story of the theft of the commission for the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is very reminiscent of the act of the mayor, who embezzled government money allocated for the construction of the church. These facts, taken from real life, emphasize the typicality of the negative phenomena that the satirist exposes in his comedy. Gogol's play highlighted all the typical vices of Russian bureaucracy, which were embodied in individual images mayor and his entourage.

The main person of the city appears in the comedy as the first among the swindlers, who even, in his own words, “deceived three governors.” Occupying the most significant post in the city, he is completely devoid of a sense of duty, and this is precisely what should be the most required quality an official of this rank. But the mayor does not think about the good of the homeland and the people, but cares about his own material well-being, robbing merchants, extorting bribes, committing arbitrariness and lawlessness against the people under his control. At the end of the play, this cunning and dexterous rascal finds himself in the stupid and unusual role of the deceived, becoming pitiful and funny. Gogol uses brilliant here artistic technique, putting into the mouth of the mayor a remark addressed to auditorium: “Why are you laughing? Are you laughing at yourself!..” This emphasizes the prevalence of this type in Tsarist Russia. This means that in the image of the mayor, the playwright concentrated the most disgusting features of a state administrator, on whose arbitrariness the fate of many people depended. The mayor is given in the comedy in his typical environment. In each of the officials, the author especially highlights one defining feature, which helps to recreate a diverse picture of the bureaucratic world. For example, the author ironically calls Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin a “freethinker,” explaining this by the fact that he read 5 books. This small detail characterizes the general low level of bureaucracy and the poverty of its intellectual interests. In trustee charitable institutions Strawberry is a sycophant, a sneaker and an informer. These are also very typical phenomena, common among bureaucrats.

Thus, the writer in his comedy exposes all the main vices of the ruling bureaucracy of Russia: dishonesty, dishonest attitude to service, bribery, embezzlement, arbitrariness, lawlessness, sycophancy, lack of culture. But the satirist also condemned such negative traits of the oppressed classes as greed, lack of self-esteem, vulgarity, and ignorance. Gogol's comedy remains relevant today, making us think about the causes of many negative phenomena in modern life.

The main character of the comedy N.V. Gogol's "The Inspector General" began to laugh. Gogol began work on his work in 1835. A little later, two premieres of the comedy took place in Moscow and St. Petersburg. And work on the text of the comedy continued until 1842.

By creating the comedy “The Inspector General,” Gogol wanted not only to expose the bureaucracy with the help of laughter. He dreamed that “The Inspector General” would force officials to change. It was for this purpose that Gogol portrayed all officials in a comic form. The writer believed that ridiculing negative traits characters should have a positive impact on the reader and viewer of The Inspector General. A person, having discovered these vices in himself, had to strive to correct them.

Analyzing contemporary literature, Gogol came to the conclusion that a new type of comedy was needed. He was convinced that comedy based on love conflict had outlived its usefulness. In the 30s of the 19th century, a social comedy was needed, in which important social issues. Therefore, in The Inspector General there is almost no love line. And that’s why there is no positive hero in The Inspector General. Gogol believed that a positive hero would distract attention from the main thing and attract attention to himself. And therefore the writer called the only positive hero laughter from his work. He believed that laughter and the funny have a cleansing function.

Almost everything in The Inspector General is comical. The very situation of the work is comical: the officials of the county town are terribly afraid of the auditor and mistake another person for him - Khlestakov. At the same time, they are trying to present their city in at its best, hide the crimes and abuses committed. All these negative phenomena are revealed already in the first scenes of the comedy. Mayor Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky gives orders to officials. We read about uncollected garbage, about an unfinished church, about a district police officer hastily putting things in order in the city, about Judge Tyapkin-Lyapkin taking bribes with greyhound puppies, about drunken assessors. The postmaster reads other people's letters, there is not enough medicine in hospitals, the reception is conducted by a German who does not know the Russian language at all, etc. Therefore, fearing reprisals, all officials show miracles of ingenuity in comedy.

Gogol took a new approach to developing the plot of his comedy. He attached particular importance to the plot, which at once, in a single knot, was supposed to connect all the events. The comedy also ends unusually - with a silent scene. This scene helps us understand ideological meaning works. For Gogol, the denouement does not end the comedy, but is at the same time a new beginning. This means that the action returns to normal, the triumph of law in Russia is impossible. Although at the end of the comedy a real auditor appears on stage.

Gogol’s innovation in “The Inspector General” was also the fact that “Notes for Gentlemen Actors” were written for it, which helped to understand the meaning of the heroes of the comedy.

Gogol believed that comedy should be folk, touching on the problems of our time. The meaning of “The Inspector General” is clarified by its epigraph: “There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked.” Gogol himself explains the idea of ​​the comedy this way: “I wanted to collect all the bad things in one pile and laugh at everything at once.” In his work, the writer managed, with the help of laughter, to expose bureaucratic arbitrariness and raise problems state power, legal proceedings, education, medicine. No wonder Nicholas I, after watching his comedy, said: “Everyone got it. And most of all for me.”

“The Inspector General” is one of the best Russian comedies. N.V. Gogol made his contemporaries laugh at what they were used to and what they stopped noticing. And today the comedy created by the great Russian writer, while continuing to sound modern, points the way to moral revival.

A series: School library (Children's literature)

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Given introductory fragment books The Inspector General (N.V. Gogol, 1836) provided by our book partner - the company liters.

© Children's Literature Publishing House. Series design, 2003

© V. A. Voropaev. Introductory article, 2003

© I. A. Vinogradov, V. A. Voropaev. Comments, 2003

© V. Britvin. Illustrations, 2003

What did Gogol laugh at? ABOUT spiritual sense comedy "The Inspector General"

Be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves. For whoever hears the word and does not do it is like a man looking at the natural features of his face in a mirror. He looked at himself, walked away, and immediately forgot what he was like.

My heart hurts when I see how people are mistaken. They talk about virtue, about God, and yet do nothing.

“The Inspector General” is the best Russian comedy. Both in reading and in stage performance she is always interesting. Therefore, it is generally difficult to talk about any failure of The Inspector General. But, on the other hand, it is difficult to create a real Gogol performance, to make those sitting in the hall laugh with bitter Gogol laughter. As a rule, something fundamental, deep, on which the entire meaning of the play is based, eludes the actor or the viewer.

The premiere of the comedy took place on April 19, 1836 Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, according to contemporaries, had colossal success. The mayor was played by Ivan Sosnitsky, Khlestakov Nikolai Dur - best actors that time. “The general attention of the audience, applause, heartfelt and unanimous laughter, the author’s challenge<…>“,” recalled Prince Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky, “there was no shortage of anything.”

But this success almost immediately began to seem somehow strange. Incomprehensible feelings gripped both the artists and the audience. Characteristic is the confession of actor Pyotr Grigoriev, who played the role of judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin: “... this play is still like some kind of mystery for all of us. At the first performance they laughed loudly and a lot, they supported us strongly - we will have to wait to see how everyone will appreciate it over time, but for our brother, the actor, she is such a new work that we may not yet be able to appreciate it just once or twice "

Even Gogol's most ardent admirers did not fully understand the meaning and significance of the comedy; the majority of the public perceived it as a farce. Memoirist Pavel Vasilyevich Annenkov noticed the unusual reaction of the audience: “Even after the first act, bewilderment was written on all faces (the audience was select in the full sense of the word), as if no one knew how to think about the picture that had just been presented. This bewilderment then grew with each act. As if finding comfort in the mere assumption that a farce was being given, the majority of the audience, knocked out of all theatrical expectations and habits, settled on this assumption with unshakable determination. However, in this farce there were features and phenomena filled with such vital truth that twice<…>there was general laughter. Something completely different happened in the fourth act: laughter still flew from time to time from one end of the hall to the other, but it was a kind of timid laughter that immediately disappeared; there was almost no applause; but intense attention, convulsive, intense following of all the shades of the play, sometimes dead silence showed that what was happening on stage passionately captured the hearts of the audience.”

The play was perceived by the public in different ways. Many saw it as a caricature of Russian bureaucracy, and its author as a rebel. According to Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov, there were people who hated Gogol from the very appearance of The Inspector General. Thus, Count Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy (nicknamed the American) said at a crowded meeting that Gogol was “an enemy of Russia and that he should be sent in chains to Siberia.” Censor Alexander Vasilyevich Nikitenko wrote in his diary on April 28, 1836: “Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General” caused a lot of noise. They give it incessantly - almost every day.<…>Many believe that the government is in vain in approving this play, in which it is so cruelly condemned.”

Meanwhile, it is reliably known that the comedy was allowed to be staged (and therefore published) due to highest resolution. Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich read the comedy in manuscript and approved; according to another version, “The Inspector General” was read to the king in the palace. On April 29, 1836, Gogol wrote to Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin: “If it were not for the high intercession of the Sovereign, my play would never have been on stage, and there were already people trying to ban it.” The Emperor not only attended the premiere himself, but also ordered the ministers to watch The Inspector General. During the performance he clapped and laughed a lot, and when leaving the box he said: “Well, a play! Everyone got it, and I got it more than everyone else!”

Gogol hoped to meet the support of the tsar and was not mistaken. Soon after staging the comedy, he answered his ill-wishers in “Theatrical Travel”: “The magnanimous government saw deeper than you with its high intelligence the purpose of the writer.”

In striking contrast to the seemingly undoubted success of the play, Gogol’s bitter confession sounds: “The Inspector General” has been played - and my soul is so vague, so strange... I expected, I knew in advance how things would go, and for all that, the feeling is sad and annoying - a burden has enveloped me. My creation seemed disgusting to me, wild and as if not mine at all” (“Excerpt from a letter written by the author shortly after the first presentation of “The Inspector General” to a certain writer”).

Gogol's dissatisfaction with the premiere and the rumors around it (“everyone is against me”) was so great that, despite the persistent requests of Pushkin and Shchepkin, he refused his intended participation in the production of the play in Moscow and soon went abroad. Many years later, Gogol wrote to Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky: “The performance of The Inspector General made a painful impression on me. I was angry both at the audience, who did not understand me, and at myself, who was to blame for not understanding me. I wanted to get away from everything."

Comic in "The Inspector General"

Gogol was, it seems, the only one who perceived the first production of The Government Inspector as a failure. What is the matter here that did not satisfy the author? Partly, the discrepancy between the old vaudeville techniques in the design of the performance and the completely new spirit of the play, which did not fit into the framework of an ordinary comedy. Gogol persistently warns: “You need to be most careful not to fall into caricature. Nothing should be exaggerated or trivial even in latest roles” (“A warning for those who would like to play “The Inspector General” properly).

When creating the images of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, Gogol imagined them “in the skin” (as he put it) of Shchepkin and Vasily Ryazantsev, famous comic actors of that era. In the play, in his words, “it was just a caricature.” “Already before the start of the performance,” he shares his impressions, “when I saw them in costume, I gasped. These two little men, in their essence quite neat, plump, with decently smoothed hair, found themselves in some awkward, tall gray wigs, disheveled, unkempt, disheveled, with huge shirtfronts pulled out; but on stage they turned out to be such antics that it was simply unbearable.”

Meanwhile, Gogol’s main goal is the complete naturalness of the characters and the verisimilitude of what is happening on stage. “The less an actor thinks about making people laugh and being funny, the more funny the role he takes will be revealed. The funny will be revealed by itself precisely in the seriousness with which each of the characters depicted in the comedy is busy with his work.”

An example of such a “natural” manner of performance is the reading of “The Inspector General” by Gogol himself. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, who was once present at such a reading, says: “Gogol... struck me with his extreme simplicity and restraint of manner, with some important and at the same time naive sincerity, which seemed not to care whether there were listeners here and what they thought. It seemed that Gogol was only concerned with how to delve into the subject, which was new to him, and how to more accurately convey his own impression. The effect was extraordinary - especially in comic, humorous places; it was impossible not to laugh - a good, healthy laugh; and the creator of all this fun continued, not embarrassed by the general gaiety and, as if inwardly marveling at it, to immerse himself more and more in the matter itself - and only occasionally, on the lips and around the eyes, the master’s sly smile trembled slightly. With what bewilderment, with what amazement Gogol uttered the mayor’s famous phrase about two rats (at the very beginning of the play): “They came, sniffed and went away!” He even looked around us slowly, as if asking for an explanation for such an amazing incident. It was only then that I realized how completely incorrect, superficial, and with what desire only to quickly make people laugh, “The Inspector General” is usually played on stage.

While working on the play, Gogol mercilessly expelled from it all elements of external comedy. According to Gogol, the funny is hidden everywhere, even in the most ordinary details of everyday life. Gogol's laughter is the contrast between what the hero says and how he says it. In the first act, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky are arguing about which of them should start telling the news.

« Bobchinsky (interrupting). We arrive with Pyotr Ivanovich at the hotel...

Dobchinsky (interrupting). Eh, let me, Pyotr Ivanovich, I’ll tell you.

Bobchinsky. Eh, no, let me... let me, let me... you don’t even have such a syllable...

Dobchinsky. And you will get confused and not remember everything.

Bobchinsky. I remember, by God, I remember. Don't bother me, let me tell you, don't bother me! Tell me, gentlemen, please don’t let Pyotr Ivanovich interfere.”

This comic scene should not only make you laugh. It is very important for the heroes which of them will tell the story. Their whole life consists of spreading all kinds of gossip and rumors. And suddenly the two received the same news. This is a tragedy. They are arguing over a matter. Bobchinsky must be told everything, nothing should be missed. Otherwise, Dobchinsky will supplement.

« Bobchinsky. Excuse me, excuse me: I’ll start in order... So, as you can see, I ran to Korobkin. And not finding Korobkin at home, he turned to Rastakovsky, and not finding Rastakovsky, he went to Ivan Kuzmich to tell him the news you had received, and going from there, he met with Pyotr Ivanovich...

Dobchinsky (interrupting). Near the booth where pies are sold.”

This is a very important detail. And Bobchinsky agrees: “Near the booth where pies are sold.”

Why, let us ask again, was Gogol dissatisfied with the premiere? main reason was not even in the farcical nature of the performance - the desire to make the audience laugh - but in the fact that, with a caricatured manner of acting, those sitting in the hall perceived what was happening on stage without applying it to themselves, since the characters were exaggeratedly funny. Meanwhile, Gogol’s plan was designed for precisely the opposite perception: to involve the viewer in the performance, to make them feel that the city depicted in the comedy exists not just somewhere, but to one degree or another in any place in Russia, and the passions and vices of officials exist in the soul of each of us. Gogol appeals to everyone. This is where the enormous public importance"Inspector". This is the meaning of the mayor’s famous remark: “Why are you laughing? You’re laughing at yourself!” – facing the hall (precisely the hall, since no one is laughing on stage at this time). The epigraph also indicates this: “There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked.” In a kind of theatrical commentary on the play - “Theatrical Travel” and “The Denouement of The Inspector General” - where the audience and actors discuss the comedy, Gogol seems to be trying to destroy the wall separating the stage and the auditorium.

In The Inspector General, Gogol made his contemporaries laugh at what they were accustomed to and what they had ceased to notice (emphasis mine. – V.V.). But most importantly, they are accustomed to carelessness in spiritual life. The audience laughs at the heroes who die spiritually. Let us turn to examples from the play that show such death.

The mayor sincerely believes that “there is no person who does not have some sins behind him. This is already arranged this way by God Himself, and the Voltaireans are in vain speaking against it.” To which Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin objects: “What do you think, Anton Antonovich, are sins? Sins and sins are different. I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but with what bribes? Greyhound puppies. This is a completely different matter."

The judge is sure that bribes with greyhound puppies cannot be considered bribes, “but, for example, if someone’s fur coat costs five hundred rubles, and his wife’s shawl...”. Here the mayor, understanding the hint, retorts: “But you don’t believe in God; you never go to church; but at least I am firm in my faith and go to church every Sunday. And you... Oh, I know you: if you start talking about the creation of the world, your hair will just stand on end.” To which Ammos Fedorovich replies: “But I got there on my own, with my own mind.”

Gogol is the best commentator on his works. In “Forewarning...” he notes about the judge: “He is not even a hunter of committing lies, but he has a great passion for hunting with dogs... He is preoccupied with himself and his mind, and is an atheist only because in this field there is room for him to prove himself.”

The mayor believes that he is firm in his faith. The more sincerely he expresses this, the funnier it is. Going to Khlestakov, he gives orders to his subordinates: “Yes, if they ask why a church was not built at a charitable institution, for which the amount was allocated five years ago, then do not forget to say that it began to be built, but burned down. I submitted a report about this. Otherwise, perhaps someone, having forgotten himself, will foolishly say that it never began.”

Explaining the image of the mayor, Gogol says: “He feels that he is sinful; he goes to church, he even thinks that he is firm in his faith, he even thinks about repenting someday later. But the temptation of everything that floats into one’s hands is great, and the blessings of life are tempting, and to grab everything without missing anything has become, as it were, just a habit for him.”

And so, going to the imaginary auditor, the mayor laments: “I’m a sinner, a sinner in many ways... Just grant, God, that I get away with it as quickly as possible, and then I’ll put a candle that no one has ever put up: I’ll put a merchant’s hand on every beast.” deliver three pounds of wax.” We see that the mayor has fallen, as it were, into a vicious circle of his sinfulness: in his repentant thoughts, the sprouts of new sins arise unnoticed by him (the merchants will pay for the candle, not he).

Just as the mayor does not feel the sinfulness of his actions, because he does everything according to an old habit, so do the other heroes of The Inspector General. For example, postmaster Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin opens other people's letters solely out of curiosity: “... I love to death to know what is new in the world. Let me tell you, this is a very interesting read. You will read another letter with pleasure - this is how various passages are described... and what edification... better than in the Moskovskie Vedomosti!

The judge remarks to him: “Look, you will get it someday for this.” Shpekin exclaims with childish naivety: “Oh, priests!” It doesn’t even occur to him that he is doing something illegal. Gogol explains: “The postmaster is a simple-minded to the point of naivety, looking at life as a meeting interesting stories to pass the time, which he reads in printed letters. There’s nothing left for the actor to do except be as simple-minded as possible.”

Innocence, curiosity, the habitual doing of any untruth, the free-thinking of officials with the appearance of Khlestakov, that is, according to their concepts of an auditor, are suddenly replaced for a moment by an attack of fear inherent in criminals expecting severe retribution. The same inveterate freethinker Ammos Fedorovich, standing before Khlestakov, says to himself: “Lord God! I don't know where I'm sitting. Like hot coals beneath you.” And the mayor, in the same position, asks for mercy: “Do not destroy! Wife, small children... don’t make a person unhappy.” And further: “Because of inexperience, by God, because of inexperience. Insufficient wealth... Judge for yourself: the government salary is not enough even for tea and sugar.”

Gogol was especially dissatisfied with the way Khlestakov was played. " the main role disappeared,” he writes, “that’s what I thought.” Dur didn’t understand one bit what Khlestakov was.” Khlestakov is not just a dreamer. He himself does not know what he is saying and what he will say in the next moment. It’s as if someone sitting in him speaks for him, tempting through him all the characters in the play. Isn’t this the father of lies himself, that is, the devil?” It seems that Gogol had this exactly in mind. The heroes of the play, in response to these temptations, without noticing it themselves, reveal themselves in all their sinfulness.

Tempted by the evil one, Khlestakov himself seemed to acquire the features of a demon. On May 16 (New Style), 1844, Gogol wrote to S. T. Aksakov: “All this excitement and mental struggle of yours is nothing more than the work of our common friend, known to everyone, namely the devil. But don't lose sight of the fact that he is a clicker and is all about puffery.<…>You hit this beast in the face and don’t be embarrassed by anything. He is like a petty official who has entered the city as if for an investigation. It will throw dust at everyone, scatter it, and shout. All he has to do is become a little cowardly and move back - then he will start to show courage. And as soon as you step on him, he will tuck his tail between his legs. We ourselves make a giant out of him... A proverb is never in vain, but a proverb says: The devil boasted of taking over the whole world, but God did not give him power over even a pig.”. This is how Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov is seen in this description.

The characters in the play feel a sense of fear more and more, as evidenced by the lines and the author’s remarks. (stretched out and trembling all over). This fear seems to spread to the hall. After all, in the hall sat those who were afraid of auditors, but only real ones - the sovereign's. Meanwhile, Gogol, knowing this, called on them, in general Christians, to the fear of God, to the cleansing of their conscience, which no auditor, not even the Last Judgment, would be afraid of. Officials, as if blinded by fear, cannot see Khlestakov’s real face. They always look at their feet, and not at the sky. In “The Rule of Living in the World,” Gogol explained the reason for such fear: “... everything is exaggerated in our eyes and frightens us. Because we keep our eyes down and don’t want to raise them up. For if they were raised up for a few minutes, they would see above all only God and the light emanating from Him, illuminating everything in its present form, and then they themselves would laugh at their own blindness.”

The meaning of the epigraph and the “Silent Scene”

Regarding the epigraph that appeared later, in the 1842 edition, let’s say that this folk proverb By the mirror he means the Gospel, as Gogol’s contemporaries, who spiritually belonged to Orthodox Church, knew very well and could even reinforce the understanding of this proverb, for example, with Krylov’s famous fable “The Mirror and the Monkey.” Here the Monkey, looking in the mirror, addresses the Bear:

“Look,” he says, “my dear godfather!

What kind of face is that there?

What antics and jumps she has!

I would hang myself from boredom

If only she was even a little like her.

But, admit it, there is

Of my gossips, there are five or six such crooks;

I can even count them on my fingers.” -

Isn’t it better to turn on yourself, godfather?” -

Mishka answered her.

But Mishenka’s advice was wasted.

Bishop Varnava (Belyaev), in his major work “Fundamentals of the Art of Holiness” (1920s), connects the meaning of this fable with attacks on the Gospel, and this was exactly the meaning (among others) for Krylov. The spiritual idea of ​​the Gospel as a mirror has long and firmly existed in the Orthodox consciousness. So, for example, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, one of Gogol’s favorite writers, whose works he re-read more than once, says: “Christians! As a mirror is to the sons of this age, so may the Gospel and the immaculate life of Christ be for us. They look in the mirror and correct their bodies and cleanse the blemishes on their faces.<…>Let us, therefore, offer this pure mirror before our spiritual eyes and look into it: is our life consistent with the life of Christ?”

The holy righteous John of Kronstadt, in his diaries published under the title “My Life in Christ,” remarks to “those who do not read the Gospel”: “Are you pure, holy and perfect, without reading the Gospel, and you do not need to look into this mirror? Or are you very ugly mentally and are afraid of your ugliness?..”

In Gogol’s extracts from the holy fathers and teachers of the Church we find the following entry: “Those who want to cleanse and whiten their faces usually look in the mirror. Christian! Your mirror is the Lord's commandments; if you put them in front of you and look at them closely, they will reveal to you all the spots, all the blackness, all the ugliness of your soul.”

It is noteworthy that Gogol also addressed this image in his letters. So, on December 20 (New Style), 1844, he wrote to Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin from Frankfurt: “... always keep a book on your table that would serve you as a spiritual mirror”; and a week later - to Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova: “Look also at yourself. For this, have a spiritual mirror on the table, that is, some book that your soul can look into...”

As you know, a Christian will be judged according to the gospel law. In “The Inspector General’s Denouement,” Gogol puts into the mouth of the First Comic Actor the idea that on the day Last Judgment we will all find ourselves with “crooked faces”: “... let us look at least a little at ourselves through the eyes of the One who will call all the people to a confrontation, before whom even the best of us, do not forget this, will lower their eyes to the ground in shame, and Let's see if any of us will have the courage to ask: “Is my face crooked?”

It is known that Gogol never parted with the Gospel. “You can’t invent anything higher than what is already in the Gospel,” he said. “How many times has humanity recoiled from it and how many times has it turned back?”

It is impossible, of course, to create any other “mirror” similar to the Gospel. But just as every Christian is obliged to live according to the Gospel commandments, imitating Christ (to the extent of his human strength), so Gogol the playwright, according to his talent, arranges his mirror on the stage. Any of the spectators could turn out to be Krylov's Monkey. However, it turned out that this viewer saw “five or six gossips,” but not himself. Gogol later spoke about the same thing in his address to readers in “ Dead souls": "You will even laugh heartily at Chichikov, maybe even praise the author... And you will add: “But I must agree, there are strange and funny people in some provinces, and quite a few scoundrels at that!” And which of you, full of Christian humility... will deepen this difficult question into your own soul: “Isn’t there some part of Chichikov in me too?” Yes, no matter how it is!”

The mayor’s response: “Why are you laughing? You’re laughing at yourself!” - which, like the epigraph, appeared in 1842, also has its parallel in “Dead Souls”. In the tenth chapter, reflecting on the mistakes and delusions of all mankind, the author notes: “The current generation now sees everything clearly, marvels at the errors, laughs at the foolishness of its ancestors, not in vain that... a piercing finger is directed from everywhere at it, at the current generation; but the current generation laughs and arrogantly, proudly begins a series of new errors, which posterity will also laugh at later.”

main idea“The Inspector General” is the idea of ​​inevitable spiritual retribution that every person should expect. Gogol, dissatisfied with the way “The Inspector General” was staged and how the audience perceived it, tried to reveal this idea in “The Denouement of The Inspector General.”

“Take a close look at this city that is depicted in the play! - says Gogol through the mouth of the First Comic Actor. – Everyone agrees that there is no such city in all of Russia...<…>Well, what if this is our spiritual city and it sits with each of us?<…>Whatever you say, the inspector who waits for us at the door of the coffin 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 inspector, because he was sent by the Named Supreme Command and will be announced when it is no longer possible to take a step back. Suddenly, such a monster will be revealed to you, within you, that your hair will stand up in horror. It’s better to revise everything that is in us at the beginning of life, and not at the end of it.”

We are talking here about the Last Judgment. And now the final scene of “The Inspector General” becomes clear. It is a symbolic picture of the Last Judgment. The appearance of the gendarme, announcing the arrival from St. Petersburg “by personal order” of the current inspector, has a stunning effect on the heroes of the play. Gogol's remark: “The spoken words strike everyone like thunder. The sound of amazement unanimously emanates from the ladies' lips; the whole group, suddenly changing position, remains petrified" ( italics mine. – V.V.).

Gogol attached exceptional importance to this “silent scene”. He defines its duration as one and a half minutes, and in “Excerpt from a Letter...” he even talks about two or three minutes of “petrification” of the heroes. Each of the characters, with their whole figure, seems to show that he can no longer change anything in his fate, even lift a finger - he is in front of the Judge. According to Gogol’s plan, at this moment there should be silence in the hall of general reflection.

In “Dénouement,” Gogol did not offer a new interpretation of “The Inspector General,” as is sometimes thought, but only exposed it main idea. On November 2 (NS), 1846, he wrote to Ivan Sosnitsky from Nice: “Pay your attention to the last scene of The Inspector General.” Think about it, think about it again. From the final play, “The Inspector General’s Denouement,” you will understand why I am so concerned about this last scene and why it is so important to me that it has its full effect. I am sure that you will look at The Inspector General with different eyes after this conclusion, which, for many reasons, could not be given to me then and is only possible now.”

From these words it follows that “Dénouement” did not give new meaning to the “silent scene”, but only clarified its meaning. Indeed, at the time of the creation of “The Inspector General” in “Petersburg Notes of 1836” Gogol’s lines appear that directly precede “Dénouement”: “Calm and menacing Lent. A voice seems to be heard: “Stop, Christian; look back at your life.”

However, Gogol’s interpretation of the district city as a “spiritual city”, and its officials as the embodiment of the passions rampant in it, made in the spirit of the patristic tradition, came as a surprise to his contemporaries and caused rejection. Shchepkin, who was destined for the role of the First Comic Actor, read new play, refused to play in it. On May 22, 1847, he wrote to Gogol: “... until now I have studied all the heroes of The Inspector General as living people... Don’t give me any hints that these are not officials, but our passions; no, I don’t want such a remake: these are people, real living people, among whom I grew up and almost grew old.<…>You have gathered several people from the whole world into one gathering place, into one group, with these people at the age of ten I became completely related, and you want to take them away from me.”

Meanwhile, Gogol’s intention did not at all imply the goal of making “living people” - full-blooded artistic images- some kind of allegory. The author only revealed the main idea of ​​the comedy, without which it looks like a simple denunciation of morals. “The Inspector General” is “The Inspector General,” Gogol answered Shchepkin around July 10 (New Style), 1847, “and application to oneself is an indispensable thing that every viewer must do from everything, even not “The Inspector General,” but which it would be more appropriate for him to do about “The Inspector General.”

In the second edition of the ending of “Dénouement,” Gogol clarifies his thought. Here the First Comic Actor (Michal Mihalcz) responds to the doubts of one of the characters that his proposed interpretation of the play answers author's intention, says: “The author, even if he had this thought, would have acted badly if he had revealed it clearly. The comedy would then turn into an allegory, and some pale moralizing sermon could emerge from it. No, his job was simply to depict the horror of material unrest, not ideal city, but in the one on earth...<…>His job is to portray this darkness so strongly that everyone feels that they need to fight with it, so that it makes the viewer tremble - and the horror of the riots penetrates him through and through. That's what he should have done. And this is our job to give a moral lesson. We, thank God, are not children. I thought about what kind of moral lesson I could draw for myself, and I attacked the one that I have now told you.”

And further, to the questions of those around him, why was he the only one who brought out such a distant moral teaching, according to their concepts, Michal Mihalch answers: “First of all, why do you know that I was the only one who brought out this moral teaching? And secondly, why do you consider it distant? I think, on the contrary, our own soul is closest to us. I had my soul in my mind then, I was thinking about myself, and that’s why I came up with this moral teaching. If others had had this in mind before themselves, they would probably have drawn the same moral teaching that I have drawn. But does each of us approach a writer’s work, like a bee to a flower, in order to extract from it what we need? No, we are looking for moral teaching in everything. others, and not for yourself. We are ready to advocate and protect the entire society, carefully valuing the morality of others and forgetting about our own. After all, we love to laugh at others, not at ourselves..."

It is impossible not to notice that these reflections of the main actor“Denominations” not only do not contradict the content of “The Inspector General,” but correspond exactly to it. Moreover, the thoughts expressed here are organic to Gogol’s entire work.

The idea of ​​the Last Judgment should have been developed in “Dead Souls”, since it really follows from the content of the poem. One of the rough sketches (obviously for the third volume) directly paints a picture of the Last Judgment: “Why didn’t you remember Me, that I look at you, that I am yours? Why did you expect rewards and attention and encouragement from people, and not from Me? What business would it then be for you to pay attention to how an earthly landowner will spend your money when you have a Heavenly Landowner? Who knows what would have ended if you had reached the end without being afraid? You would surprise with the greatness of your character, you would finally take over and force amazement; would you leave the name like eternal monument valor, and they would shed streams of tears, streams of tears for you, and like a whirlwind you would scatter the flame of goodness in the hearts.” The manager lowered his head, ashamed, and did not know where to go. And many officials and nobles followed him, wonderful people those who began to serve and then abandoned the field hung their heads sadly.” Let us note that the theme of the Last Judgment permeates all of Gogol’s work, and this corresponded to his spiritual life, his desire for monasticism. And a monk is a person who has left the world, preparing himself to answer at the judgment of Christ. Gogol remained a writer and, as it were, a monk in the world. In his writings he shows that it is not man who is bad, but the sin operating within him. Orthodox monasticism has always maintained the same thing. Gogol believed in strength artistic word, which can point the way to moral revival. It was with this faith that he created The Inspector General.

Essays on literature: Exposing the vices of bureaucracy in N. V. Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General”

In the comedy “The Inspector General” N.V. Gogol with great accusatory force exposes the vices of society during the times of Tsarist Russia. The focus of his attention is on representatives of the bureaucracy, and the author embodies their images in typical characters a small county town where the main events take place. Let's take a closer look at them.

The main person in the city is the mayor, an elderly man with rough and tough features. “Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably.” However, Anton Antonovich allows such behavior only in relation to the bourgeoisie; in front of his superiors, he acts as a diligent servant, benefactor, sycophant and sycophant.

The trustee of charitable institutions, Zemlyanika, is no less colorful. He not only robs his unfortunate charges, but also understands the essence of medical care in a very unique way: “A simple man: if he dies, he will die anyway; if he recovers, then he will recover.” It is characteristic that the doctor in the district is a German, Gibner, who absolutely does not understand the Russian language, and therefore is simply not able to treat people.

Gogol awards the local judge “Lyapkin-Tyapkin” with a wonderful “speaking” surname. It immediately becomes clear that he is doing things poorly. Ammos Fedorovich is only interested in hunting and, taking bribes with greyhound puppies, considers himself a highly moral person. His indifference to official affairs and duties is so great that the district court is gradually turning into a kind of farm - right in the front hall the guards keep domestic geese.

The private bailiff, called upon to maintain order, rather commits outrages himself. For him, punishing an innocent person without understanding is a common thing.

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

Thus, the author clearly shows that local officials are mired in bribery and arbitrariness. The moral of these people is this: “There is no person who does not have some sins behind him. This is already arranged this way by God himself...” The ability not to miss something that floats into their hands is, in their opinion, a manifestation of intelligence and enterprise.

The work of N.V. Gogol, in my opinion, is not so much comical as it is filled with tragedy, because, reading it, you begin to understand: a society in which there are so many degenerate leaders, corrupted by idleness and impunity, has no future.

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Exposing the vices of officialdom in N. V. Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General”

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Exposing the vices of bureaucracy in the comedy “The Inspector General”.

Goals:

develop text analysis skills, character characteristics, expressive reading skills; consolidate knowledge literary terms related to the dramatic genre of literature, develop the ability to use them Creative skills students.

Methodical techniques:

Commented reading Characteristics Expressive reading Compiling a table Work in groups

Equipment:

Computer

Projector

SD "Russian Literature" Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius.

Epigraph:

A world-class work that reveals life modern man to the very depths.

...the good-natured swindlers from The Inspector General.

Vladimir Nabokov

"A collection city of the entire dark side"

During the classes

We continue to study creativity. In today's lesson we will look at what vices of bureaucracy Nikolai Vasilyevich exposes in his work “The Inspector General”. Let us remember what satire is, which Gogol mastered perfectly.

What was the homework assignment?

Let's check your homework

Teacher's word.

advised reading the play simply, but with a good understanding of the essence, the main line of its internal development. You and I will follow his advice, based on his statement that “ The best way To understand a play is to follow: how the conflict arises and develops in it, for what and between whom is the struggle being waged, which groups are fighting and in the name of what? What role does each character play in this struggle, what is his behavior?” therefore, we must not just read and comment on the play, but follow the development of the dramatic conflict. When characterizing the characters, you should pay attention to the author’s own comments, speaking names characters, their speech characteristics, as well as off-stage characters.

A) expressive reading 1 phenomenon 1 action.

3. New topic.

Conversation.

Usually, when reading a work, we, the readers, pay attention to the time and place of action. What can be said about the time and place of action in a comedy?

The county town is remote from the centers. The mayor remarks: “Yes, even if you jump from here for three years, you won’t reach any state.” (1 action, 1 phenomenon)

Time period: 1831. This can be determined from the words of the judge. He says that he has been sitting as a judge for 15 years), and in the scene with Khlestakov he reports: “Since 816, he was elected to a three-year service at the will of the nobility and continued his position until this time” - (act 4, episode 3).

In the comedy “The Inspector General”, officials, city landowners, townspeople, police officers, merchants and serfs pass before the readers and spectators... Gogol depicted a small county town with its characteristic features of life: arbitrariness local authorities, the lack of necessary control over order in the city, the ignorance of its inhabitants, dirt, and disrepair.

B) consideration of the table “Officials of the county city”:

In "Notes for Gentlemen Actors" attention is not paid to all the characters. Why?

Why does Gogol characterize Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky together?

What technique did Gogol use to characterize the heroes? (irony and satire)

Let's look at the dictionary, what do we call irony? What is satire? Humor?

Humor, -a, m. 1. understanding of the comic, the ability to see and show a funny, condescending and mocking attitude towards something.

2. in art: a depiction of something in a funny, comic form.

3. mocking, playful speech.\\adjective humorous, oh, oh.

Irony - subtle, hidden mockery.

Satire, -y, w. 1. A work of art that sharply and mercilessly exposes the negative phenomena of reality.

2. Accusatory, flagellating ridicule

\\adjective satirical, - oh, oh. S. genre, S. style

Is “The Inspector General” a humorous, satirical, or ironic work? Why?

Getting acquainted with fragments from the film “Incognito from St. Petersburg”

5Phenomenon 1 action, 2 action 8 phenomenon

Conversation on textbook issues.

Which official is most concerned about the arrival of the auditor and why?

The mayor, because he has many sins. Many people were offended by him, he oppressed many.

How do officials address the mayor? Is it only the mayor’s position that sets him apart from others?

Obsequiously, because he is higher in rank and vindictive, he can take revenge.

Tell us about the order in the city and the orders that the mayor gave. How do you evaluate these orders?

Orders that are aimed at superficially hiding disorder. in fact, problems and disorders do not disappear anywhere.

Why has the Mayor gotten away with everything so far?

Because he is a swindler among swindlers, he has deceived three governors, he knows how to take advantage of his connections, where he will give a bribe.

How does Gogol convey the hypocritical goodwill of the Governor during a conversation with officials? Why does he talk to them this way?

Because he depends on them for this moment, afraid that they will tell everything to the auditor

What measures are officials trying to take before the auditor arrives?

(They talk about clean caps for the sick, and about tearing down the fence on the main square, and about sweeping the streets along which the inspector will pass, that is, all efforts are directed not at actually correcting the shortcomings and omissions with which the life of the city is full, but at a kind of varnishing reality).

For what purpose does the mayor decide to go to the hotel?

(Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky’s foresight and ingenuity more than once allowed him to safely survive various “difficult cases”2, and even receive gratitude at the same time. He acted deliberately and prudently: if an official-auditor hides his name and position, if he wants to remain incognito, then a ceremonial meeting would mean that he was recognized, and this is unlikely to please the St. Petersburg guest.

Appearing at the hotel, as a caring owner of the city, to find out whether “passing people are in trouble,” the mayor not only does not violate the auditor’s incognito status, but also appears before him under the most favorable circumstances - caring for the convenience and well-being of the townspeople and random travelers.

A visit to the hotel creates very convenient conditions for the mayor to find out about the visitor and get to know him without outside witnesses.)

Development of dramatic conflict

From the beginning of the comedy, fear becomes a full-fledged participant in the play, growing from action to action and finding its maximum expression in the silent scene. In the apt expression of Yu. Mann, “The Inspector General” is a whole sea of ​​fear.”

Exercise

What reasons for fear does every official have? Find as many different kinds of manifestations of fear as possible in the characters’ remarks and in the author’s remarks.

Examples:

Mayor. Fathers, your hares are not dear to me now: the damned incognito sits in my head. You just wait for the door to open and walk away...

Bobchinsky. ...so he looked into our plate. I was filled with fear.

Luka Lukic. I must admit, I was brought up in such a way that if anyone of a higher rank spoke to me, I simply don’t have a soul, and my tongue is stuck in the mud.

Amos Fedorovich. Well, it's over - gone! Gone!

Mayor (approaching and shaking his whole body, trying to speak out). And va-va-va-va -... wa-.

Group work

Try to put yourself in the shoes of these heroes in this difficult situation. Comment on the behavior of the characters during the dialogue. Let's fill out the table. (action 2, phenomenon 8)

Gorodnichy Group

Khlestakov Group

Why doesn’t Khlestakov speak to himself? What does this mean?

This suggests that Khlestakov is not playing. He's actually afraid and doesn't really understand what's going on around him. He is a stupid, empty person.

Explain why the Mayor, who “has lived in the service for thirty years,” whom “not a single merchant or contractor could deceive,” who “deceived swindlers, swindlers and swindlers such that they were ready to rob the whole world, cheated at the bait,” who “deceived three governors,” was himself deceived about Khlestakov, who “simply didn’t look like half a finger” like an auditor?

With what intention did the officials gather at the mayor’s house the next day?

What details indicate that bribes are common among officials? (action 4, phenomenon 1)

(Officials are looking for the best form of presentation to the “auditor” and strive to find the best way to give a bribe to a distinguished guest. They have no doubt that a bribe must be given, the only question is how best to slip it in and how much to give. The purpose of bribes is very practical: to protect, protect your department from audits and protect yourself. All officials join in the mayor’s active attempts to “neutralize” the auditor. Officials are convinced that it is necessary to “slip” a bribe to the auditor, as is done in a “well-ordered society,” that is, “between the four eyes... so that the ears don’t hear...”, says Artemy Filippovich (1st phenomenon, 4th action ).)

Re-read the 1st and 2nd phenomena of Act 5 and pay attention to the behavior of the mayor .

(The mayor’s behavior is reminiscent of Khlestakov’s behavior in moments of lying. He is in a state of complacency, calm, triumph. He perceives everything that happened as a “rich prize”, fully deserved by him, his efforts and efforts. Reveling in the new position of the father-in-law of a major St. Petersburg official, the mayor makes rosy plans future... He notifies the whole city that “he’s marrying off his daughter, not just to some common man, and for something that has never happened in the world, that can do everything, everything, everything, everything!”)

What aspects of character are revealed in the mayor in the scene with the merchants? (2nd phenomenon 5th action). What's funny about the situation?

(Rigidity, hatred towards people of the lower class. His speech speaks about this: “What, samovar makers, arshinniks, should complain? Archpluts, proto-beasts, sea swindlers! Complain? What? Did you take a lot? The mayor boasts of his nobility, and he himself participates in the plunder of the treasury along with the merchants, scolds worse than a cab driver, and throws out threats like a gendarme.)

“The arrival of the merchants,” writes Belinsky, “intensifies the excitement of the mayor’s rough passions: from animal joy he turns into animal malice... he recounts his blessings to Abdulina, that is, he recalls the cases where they robbed the treasury together...”

In the scene of the conversation between the mayor and the merchants, the wolf law of the world of swindlers is expressed.

What underlies relationships in the bureaucratic world?

(Contempt for inferiors and servility to higher officials is the basis of the Russian bureaucratic machine. This is legalized government system created and shaped the psychology of the official. How was it possible to talk about the true dignity of a person if rank meant everything!)

in his book “Gogol and the Theater” he wrote that Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, an experienced campaigner, “inherited from his father and from the world around him next rule faith and life: in life you need to be happy, and for this you need money and ranks, and to acquire them - bribery, embezzlement, sycophancy and obsequiousness before the authorities, nobility and wealth, and bestial rudeness before the lower ones"

Lesson summary

Let us once again list what vices of bureaucracy he exposes in his comedy:

bribery embezzlement sycophancy and obsequiousness before the authorities, nobility and wealth bestial rudeness before inferiors arbitrariness arbitrariness impunity fraud servility phantasmagoria

Consolidation

Test simulator No. 10 (SD)

Gorodnichy Group

Khlestakov Group

Characteristics of the heroes of the comedy “The Inspector General”

Evils of bureaucracy

exposed in the comedy "The Inspector General"

· bribery

· embezzlement

· kowtowing and subservience to authorities, nobility and wealth

bestial rudeness in front of inferiors

· arbitrariness

· arbitrariness

impunity

· fraud

· servility