The most comical episode in "The Inspector General" The most comical episode in "The Inspector General" N.V. Gogol (review of the episode). preferably the last one when he arrives
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Essay “What kind of person is the Mayor?”
The life of the city of N did not change from year to year, auditors came and left, but the city remained the same... Charitable institutions are like taverns in which patients smoke tobacco and do not know what they are sick with and how to treat them. In public places, geese with little goslings scurry about underfoot, a belt whip hangs above the filing cabinet, and the assessor smells as if he came out of a distillery. In educational institutions, a teacher, entering the department, makes a grimace, another, talking about Alexander the Great, breaks chairs on the floor. At the post office, the postmaster, out of curiosity, prints out and reads other people's letters. The streets are not swept, and on one of them there is forty cartloads of rubbish piled up. Oh, there are so many more “attractions” of this amazing city.
The head of the city was Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky. This is a man who has already aged in the service, he is experienced, not stupid in his own way, he knows the ropes and the layout of important matters. He loves to give moralizing speeches, his every word is significant, he does not beat around the bush. Before those of lower rank, he shows himself to be an important person, who is considered significant even in St. Petersburg. He is always ready to talk, deceive, play any role, he likes power over people, and is capable of fraud for the sake of profit. The mayor quickly moves from fear to joy, from baseness to arrogance, which makes his role comic. He is a bribe-taker, but he behaves respectably; quite serious; speaks neither loudly, nor quietly, nor little.
But then one day the Mayor receives a letter saying that an inspector from St. Petersburg is coming to the city, incognito, with a secret order. And in this not happy situation, the head of the city did not forget to tell his “dream in hand” about two terrible rats. Thus, he makes it clear that he has very well developed intuition. After this, the fuss begins, everyone needs to cover up their sins as quickly as possible. The mayor gathers a trustee at his home charitable institutions, a school superintendent, a judge, a private bailiff, a doctor and two police officers. He gives everyone instructions on what and how to do, what and where to clean, sweep, and so on. Each one does his best, and together they try to bring the city to a “normal state” in a few hours. Again, we see a comical situation when several years were not enough to put the city in order, but the auditor arrives, and everyone starts running, fussing, oohing and aahing. But let's return to the mayor's house, where the out of breath landowners come running and vying with each other to report that a hundred
A young man has been living in the tavern for two weeks, he is dressed like a metropolitan, he is going to the Saratov province, he does not pay money and looks into all the plates. The mayor decides to personally go to the tavern, look at this inspector and find out everything as soon as possible...
The scene of the first meeting between the mayor and Khlestakov takes on a comical situation when the interlocutors talk about different things. Khlestakov thinks that they want to take him to prison because he does not pay for housing and food, and the mayor thinks that the people have already complained about him, and this auditor is very indignant at the disorder that is happening in the city. Khlestakov stutters at first, but then speaks loudly, and the mayor becomes more and more timid and trembles, but, without being confused, invites the auditor to live at his home. Khlestakov agrees, thinking that they treat him this way because of his metropolitan suit and demeanor. The mayor is very pleased, because now he can follow every step of this official, gain his trust and give a bribe.
Legacy of N.V. Gogol cannot be imagined without the comedy "The Inspector General", in which great writer carried out a public execution by laughing at officials who were embezzlers, bribe-takers, and sycophants. As a satirist, Gogol gives special great importance namely comedy. Its strength is laughter, which scourges many sides. public life. No writer has had the gift of showing so clearly the vulgarity of life, the vulgarity of every person. Driving force in "The Inspector General" is not love affair, but the state of society. The plot of the comedy is based on the commotion among officials awaiting the auditor and their desire to hide their affairs from him.
The comedy also ridiculed the everyday side of life of the city's inhabitants: mustiness and vulgarity, insignificance of interests, hypocrisy and lies, arrogance and gossip. The comedy is already emphasized by the surnames acting heroes: Khlestakov, Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, Tyapkin-Lyapkin, Ukhovertov, Poshlepkina, etc. The most comical thing, perhaps, is that one “empty” person is trying to deceive others who are just as “empty.” It's about about the imaginary auditor - Khlestakov. The image of Khlestakov is written with exceptional artistic power and breadth of typical generalization. According to Gogol’s definition, Khlestakov is “one of those people who are called empty in the offices. He speaks and acts without any consideration.” Khlestakov himself does not know what he will say in the next minute; “Everything in it is a surprise and a surprise” for himself. He is comical in his desire to appear better than he is. For this, Khlestakov uses lies: “He lies with feeling; his eyes express the pleasure he received from this.”
But the most important one, characteristic Khlestakov - the desire to play a role at least one inch higher than the one assigned to him.
The action in “The Inspector General” dates back to the early 30s of the century before last. Gogol very accurately depicts life and people at that time and gives them a general diagnosis. The satirist's penetrating gaze penetrates everywhere and nowhere does he find anything good. All the images in the play are comical and absurd.
So, the daughter and wife of the mayor look very funny in an attempt to recapture Khlestakov from each other:
“Anna Andreevna.<. ..>However, he really liked me: I noticed that he kept looking at me.
Marya Antonovna. Oh, mamma, he was looking at me!”
The inseparable couple Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky are comical. Bobchinsky dreams of one thing: “I humbly ask you, when you go to St. Petersburg, tell all the different nobles there: senators and admirals, that, your Excellency or Excellency, Peter Ivanovich Bobchinsky lives in such and such a city. Just say: Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky lives.” And Dobchinsky is talking about something else - to see his eldest son under his last name: “That is, it just says so, but he was born to me as completely as if in marriage, and all this, as it should, I then completed legally - with the bonds of marriage - sir . So, if you please, I want him now to be completely, that is, my legitimate son, sir, and to be called like me: Dobchinsky, sir.”
The whole essence of the play is that everyone wants something impossible: the mayor sees Khlestakov as his future son-in-law and dreams of living in St. Petersburg; Tyapkin-Lyapkin dreams that judicial matters will be resolved on their own; Anna Andreevna dreams of young lover etc. All attempts by the characters to look significant make the reader laugh.
Gogol painted in The Inspector General the world of provincial officials of one of the cities of Russia. In essence, the play revealed everyday life provincial Russia. Each image, without losing its individual character, represents a typical phenomenon of that time - early XIX century. And we still laugh at the heroes of The Inspector General, comparing them with their contemporaries.
In 1836, the comedy N.V. Gogol's "The Inspector General" appeared on stage for the first time Alexandrinsky Theater. Russian society was confused, bewilderment was reflected on the face of every spectator after watching the play: everyone found “The Inspector General” something unexpected, not previously known.
In “The Inspector General,” Gogol skillfully combines “truth” and “anger,” that is, realism and bold, merciless criticism of reality. With the help of laughter and mocking satire, Gogol exposes such vices of Russian reality as veneration, corruption, arbitrariness of the authorities, ignorance and bad education. In “Theatrical Travel” Gogol wrote: “Now the drama is more strongly tied to the desire to get a profitable place... Don’t they now have more power, money capital, a profitable marriage than love?”
The comedy “The Inspector General” presents a whole “corporation of various official thieves and robbers” blissfully existing in the provincial town of N.
When describing the world of bribe-takers and embezzlers, Gogol used a number of artistic techniques that enhance the characteristics of the characters.
Gogol gave critical characteristics of each of the main characters. These characteristics help to better understand the essence of each character. Mayor: “Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably”; Anna Andreevna: “Raised half on novels and albums, half on chores in her pantry and maid’s room”; Khlestakov: “Without a king in my head. He speaks and acts without any consideration”, Osip: “A servant, such as servants who are several years old usually are”; Lyapkin-Tyapkin: “A person who has read five or six books is therefore somewhat freethinking”; Postmaster: “A man who is simple-minded to the point of naivety.”
Bright portrait characteristics are also given in Khlestakov’s letter to his friend in St. Petersburg. So, speaking about Strawberry, Khlestakov calls the trustee of charitable institutions “a complete pig in a yarmulke.”
Main literary device, which N.V. Gogol uses in his comic portrayal of an official, is a hyperbole. The city merchants and ordinary people, blinded by fear for their future and clutching at Khlestakov like a straw, are unable to appreciate the absurdity of what is happening. Absurdities are piled on top of each other: here is the non-commissioned officer who “flogged herself”, and Bobchinsky, asking to be brought to his attention Imperial Majesty, that “Peter Ivanovich Bobchinsky lives in such and such a city,” etc.
The climax and the denouement that immediately follows it come sharply and cruelly. Khlestakov’s letter gives such a simple and even banal explanation of everything that happened that at this moment it looks to the mayor, for example, much more implausible than all Khlestakov’s fantasies. A few words should be said about the image of the mayor. Apparently, he will have to pay for the sins of everyone around him. Of course, he himself is not an angel, but the blow is so strong that the mayor has something like an epiphany: “I don’t see anything: I see some pig snouts instead of faces, but nothing else...”
Next, Gogol uses a technique that has become so popular in our time: the mayor, breaking the principle of the so-called fourth wall, addresses the audience directly: “Why are you laughing? You’re laughing at yourself.” With this remark, Gogol shows that the action of the comedy actually goes far beyond the theater stage, is transferred from county town to the vast expanses of Russia. There is even a legend that Nicholas I, after watching the play, said: “Everyone got it, but I got it most of all!”
A silent scene: the inhabitants of a provincial town stand as if struck by thunder, mired in bribes, drunkenness, and gossip. But here comes a cleansing thunderstorm that will wash away the dirt, punish vice and reward virtue. In this scene, Gogol reflected his faith in the justice of the higher authorities, thereby castigating, as Nekrasov put it, “little thieves for the pleasure of big ones.” It must be said that the pathos of the silent scene does not fit with the general spirit of this brilliant comedy.
1 Plot suggested by A.S. Pushkin.
3 Artistic techniques of satirical comedy.
4 Instructions N.V. Gogol for actors.
5 The public's reaction to the comedy and the tragedy of the writer's fate in Russia.
Comic in the work of N.V. Gogol’s “The Inspector General” is due to the fact that the entire plot was born from a “purely Russian anecdote”, at the request of the writer proposed to him by A.S.
Pushkin. Funny story about how a visitor is mistakenly mistaken for an auditor, they try to hide existing official abuses and appease their superiors, allows you to show in color and detail all the shortcomings of society.
In the article “The Author's Confession” (1847) N.V. Gogol formulated his plan as follows: “In The Inspector General, I decided to collect in one pile everything bad in Russia that I knew then, all the injustices that are done in those places and in those cases where justice is most required from a person, and laugh at everything at once.”
Having laughed off during the performance, the viewer was subsequently forced to seriously think about the fact that all the characters in the comedy resemble many real-life officials, landowners, merchants, police officers, and provincial ladies. Among the heroes of The Inspector General there are no outright villains, scoundrels, or irreconcilable enemies.
In general, they are “hospitable and good-natured people.” Everyone knows about the “weaknesses” and abuses of others, but no one considers it necessary to fight it. Yes, the mayor constantly demands donations from merchants, but he turns a blind eye to the fact that merchants supply low-quality goods for state needs. The judge considers cases of “slip-ups” and takes advantage of the benefits that the disputing parties can offer him, and also has a relationship with the wife of a local landowner. But no one will interfere in this. Problems of hospitals and educational institutions no one cares, you can teach and treat at any chance. Everyone knows about the violations, and everyone is silent. “Minor” abuses are considered the norm, and those who commit them are considered worthy members of society. The same mayor “although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably.”
From this it is clear that the comedy “The Inspector General” is satirical. Satire creates a largely conventional image, which is achieved through hyperbolization and grotesquery.
A striking example hyperbolization is Khlestakov’s monologue in the sixth scene of the third act. As Khlestakov realizes that he can get away with any lie, he becomes softened by tasty food and universal veneration, he gives free rein to unbridled imagination, ascribes to himself the authorship of all the works he has ever heard of, draws pictures of how he managed an entire department, and almost imagined that he should be promoted to field marshal, but slipped and was sent to rest from breakfast.
Techniques satirical grotesque allowed N.V. Gogol to create bright artistic images. In “Notes for Gentlemen Actors,” the author writes that the judge “speaks in a deep voice, with an elongated drawl, wheezing and gulping, like an ancient clock that first hisses and then strikes.” In Khlestakov’s letter to Tryapichkin it is said that the mayor is “stupid as a gray gelding”, and Strawberry is “a perfect pig in a yarmulke.”
It is impossible not to note the “talking” names characteristic of Russian classical comedy: the already mentioned judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin, who performs his duties at random, the doctor Gibner, whose patients “recover like flies,” the policeman Derzhimorda, who indiscriminately distributes blows to the right and to blame.
As a person familiar with the stage since childhood, N.V. Gogol gave very important instructions for the actors playing in The Inspector General. “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 persons depicted in the comedy is busy with his work.”
These recommendations, unfortunately, were not taken into account in the production of the Saratov Youth Theater. Khlestakov, performed by A. Kuzin, almost grunted while eating soup in a hotel, loudly banging his spoon on the plate; in the presence of the mayor and his wife, he was lying on the stage in an embrace with Marya Antonovna, which looked absurd. The audience laughed, but, in my opinion, this was a clear overuse of comic techniques on the verge of clownery, going against the way N.V. intended to play the roles. Gogol.
The idea of the comedy “The Inspector General”, the purpose of its creation, is not at all for the amusement and entertainment of the public. N.V. Gogol assessed his work this way: “Through the laughter, which had never before appeared in me with such force, the reader heard sadness. I myself felt that my laughter was not what it was before.”
The censors did not notice anything reprehensible in the comedy, and it was allowed to be staged. However, the audience, who recognized themselves in the heroes of the work, were deeply offended by the author. They came to the conclusion that “The Inspector” undermines the authority of the authorities, insults and defames employees.
The tragedy of the comedy “The Inspector General” lies not only in the fact that “moderate disorder” in Russia was and remains a common occurrence, but also in the fact that a large part of society took up arms against the author as an exposer of shortcomings. N.V. Gogol wrote about the situation of the satirical writer in Russia: “It’s sad when you see what a pitiful state our writer is in. Everything is against him, and there is no side with any equal strength for him.”
Nevertheless, the comedy “The Inspector General” has enjoyed continued popularity since its first publication in 1836 to the present day. It is still relevant today, since the vices of society that are ridiculed in it are ineradicable. The audience continues to laugh at themselves, but life goes on as before.
Updated: 2017-12-08
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The genre of The Inspector General is a comedy, in which Gogol develops traditions social comedy, laid down by Fonvizin and Griboyedov and supported by other Russian comedians. "Inspector" is satirical comedy, in which social and moral vices are sharply and caustically ridiculed Russian society and the state-bureaucratic structure of power. IN art world“The Inspector General” did not have room for a positive or lofty hero, unlike the great comedies of Fonvizin and Griboyedov. The honest and noble hero of the comedy, as the author himself noted, was laughter, causing righteous denunciation and angry denial of the unworthy and base. It is also noteworthy that there is no love conflict in the comedy - this indicates Gogol’s rejection of established traditions, his principled position not to deviate from reality: firstly, in the light of social conflict, all people are equal, and secondly, in the distorted world of the “Inspector General” there is no love, there is only a parody of it.
To create satirical portraits of officials, Gogol uses various techniques, the leading of which is the grotesque. Exaggeration negative qualities and the behavior of officials goes beyond what is recognizable in ordinary life; the heroes are perceived as dolls, thanks to which for the viewer (reader) it is not the personal qualities of the heroes that come to the fore, but their vices. This technique characterizes the originality of the humanism of Gogol’s satire: his satire is not aimed at a person, but at exposing vice and sin in a person. In other words, Gogol attacks not a certain person Lyapkin-Tyapkin, but stupid complacency, insensitivity, selfishness, which are shown without any condescension, inevitable when depicting the personal character of the hero.
The action in comedy is characterized by fussiness, turmoil, and vaudeville. Everything in comedy happens quickly, stupidly, and absurdly. For example, hearing Khlestakov’s steps (the opening scene of the fourth act), the officials rush to the doors in fear, but cannot all leave at once, they interfere with each other. Similar comedic effects are characteristic of the entire play. Nevertheless, Gogol resorted to comic situations not only to cause simple, thoughtless laughter. The writer actively uses farce in action (farce is a comedy genre and at the same time it is a type of comic laughter based on the creation of external effects). So, in the first act, the mayor, getting ready to go to Khlestakov’s hotel, in a hurry, instead of a hat, puts a paper case on his head. In the second act, Bobchinsky, eavesdropping on the mayor’s conversation with Khlestakov, got so carried away that he simply lay down with his whole body on the door separating them, and it fell off its hinges, and the unlucky hero, along with the door, flew into the middle of the room and broke his nose in the fall. Of course, Gogol does not introduce these scenes with the aim of simply making people laugh: the comedian makes visible two forces, driving development plot action - the fear of the mayor and the curiosity of the townspeople, especially Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky.
The author's laughter contains sarcasm and irony; humorous intonations slip through to a lesser extent. In addition to the grotesque, the play uses hyperbole and elements of fantasy. A striking example of hyperbole (in in this case quantitative metaphor) are details from Khlestakov’s story about his balls: for dessert they serve watermelon “for seven hundred rubles,” and soup arrives by boat “directly from Paris.” Watermelon and soup are the usual food of the petty official Khlestakov, and since he is not accepted in high society and his imagination is poor, in order to impress his listeners, he incredibly exaggerates the cost of the watermelon, and “delivers” the soup from afar. The element of fantasy is manifested, for example, in the “thirty-five thousand couriers” sent through the streets of St. Petersburg to his home with a request to head the department.
The most important means of comedy in the play is the technique of “ speaking names", which during the development of Russian comedy late XVIII- the beginning of the 19th century underwent significant changes. In accordance with the classic tradition, Fonvizin in “The Minor” gives the character a name that fully corresponds main characteristic image and his role in comedy: Starodum, Prostakova, Skotinin, Pravdin, etc. Griboedov in “Woe from Wit” already uses quite a lot complex system speaking names, where heroes are named not only by one leading character trait (for example, Molchalin or Famusov), but also visual, evaluative, and associative names are introduced. Gogol's system of speaking names is extremely diverse. Here is the clarity of the Griboyedov surnames (compare Khlestova and Khlestakov), and their associativity (Zagoretsky - Poshlepkina), and the emphasized pairing (G. N. and G. D . in Griboyedov, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky in Gogol). Despite the somewhat simple names of the police officers, they are given to the characters in order to describe in detail the activities of the police department in the city: for example, Svistunov keeps order, Pugovitsyn is with the authorities, Derzhimorda is suitable for cordoning off and protecting, and the private bailiff Ukhovertov is busy with “edification” and “education” » population. The names of retired officials (Lyulyukov, Korobkin, Rastakovsky), reflecting them, are also interesting former image behavior in service. The names of officials require separate comments: the name of the judge is formed from the combination “blunder-blunder”, but he is so ridiculous that the basis of the name becomes the confused “blunder-blunder”. The curious surname Strawberry contains a contradiction between the name and behavior of a person, which causes special hostility towards this character, and the collision of the name Christian and the surname Gibner of the district doctor clearly expresses the author’s idea of the death that his activity brings.
The effective means of comedy in the play is the speech of the characters. First of all, a satirical characteristic of officials is their general speech portrait, consisting of vernacular, abusive words and soulless bureaucratic bureaucracy. The speech of the remaining characters accurately conveys their social status, character traits, as well as their inherent manner of expression. Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky speak hastily, chaotically, interrupting each other; the speech of the locksmith Poshlyopkina is heavy and angry; The merchants speak flatteringly and obsequiously. In the speech of the characters there is a large share of illogicality and absurdity of statements; the speech of the mayor’s wife and city landowners is replete with them. To Russian speech culture The mayor’s phrase that the non-commissioned officer’s wife “flogged herself” will forever be remembered. Gogol also uses such a technique as changing stable (phraseological) expressions, for example, Strawberry tells Khlestakov that his “sick people, like flies, get better.”
The innovation of Gogol the playwright was expressed in the fact that he combined two traditional type Comedy: sitcom and character comedy. In a comedy of characters, the comic is based on the depiction of the funny characters of the heroes, their shortcomings, vices, passions, and unworthy morals. This, apparently, was what the comedy “The Inspector General” was supposed to be at first, but with the introduction of a “mirage” situation, that is, with a change in direction in the development of the plot, it also becomes a sitcom, where funny things arise on the basis of different plot situations.
