The name of the mayor in the comedy is the auditor. The image and characteristics of the Governor in the comedy “The Inspector General” by Gogol with quotes from the text
Mayor. "Inspector". Quote characteristic
Author's description
"...The mayor, already aged in the service and a very intelligent person in his own way. Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably; he is quite serious; he is even somewhat reasoning; he speaks neither loudly nor quietly, neither more nor less. His every word is significant "His facial features are coarse and hard, like those of anyone who began hard service from the lower ranks. The transition from fear to joy, from baseness to arrogance is quite rapid, like a person with roughly developed inclinations of the soul. He is dressed, as usual, in his uniform with buttonholes and boots with spurs. His hair is cropped and streaked with gray..." (N.V. Gogol, "Notes for Gentlemen Actors")
Quote characteristic
Name - Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky: "...Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor..."
Appearance: "...bring a sword and a new hat from there..." "...Oh, you thick-nosed one!.."
Age: He has been serving as an official for 30 years, that is, he is, apparently, about 50 years old: “...I have been in the service for thirty years...”
Attitude to service: he performs his duties poorly and offends citizens: “... There has never been such a mayor, sir. He inflicts such insults that it is impossible to describe...”
Experienced scammer. He knows how to deceive even the most cunning people: “...I have been in the service for thirty years; not a single merchant or contractor could deceive; I deceived swindlers upon swindlers, swindlers and swindlers such that they are ready to rob the whole world, I tricked three governors. deceived!.. What about the governors! (waved his hand) there is nothing to say about the governors..." "...Really? Oh, what a fraud he is! "... Yes, he’s just a robber!..”
Attitude of officials. He makes money wherever he can, which is why he is considered a smart person among officials: “...Because I know that you, like everyone else, have sins, because you are a smart person and you don’t like to miss what comes your way.. "
Foolish man. Even the foolish Khlestakov comes to this opinion: “...First of all, the mayor is as stupid as a gray gelding” (Khlestakov’s opinion) “...like me, an old fool? Survived, a stupid sheep, out of my mind!..” (the mayor about to myself) “...Oh, what a blockhead indeed!..” (wife about the mayor)
Greedy, insatiable: “...No, you see, all this is not enough for him - hey! He’ll come to the shop and whatever he gets, he’ll take everything. The cloth sees the thing, says: “Eh, dear, this is a good cloth: take it to him.” me." Well, you carry on, and in the piece there will be almost fifty arshins..."
He takes bribes from merchants and other citizens: “...The merchants and citizenship confuse me. They say that they had a hard time with me, but I, by God, if I took it from someone else, then, really, without any hatred...” ...It was necessary to take the son of a tailor, he was a drunkard, and his parents gave him a rich gift, so he joined the son of the merchant Panteleeva, and Panteleeva also sent three pieces of canvas to his wife; so he came to me..."
Works carelessly. Does not maintain order and cleanliness in the city. He cleans the city only for the inspector: "...The prisoners were not given provisions! There is a tavern on the streets, uncleanliness! Shame! disgrace!.." "... they should sweep the entire street that goes to the tavern, and sweep it clean"
Steals money from the treasury. He stole money to build a church. He is going to explain to the auditor that the church was built, but burned down: “...Yes, if they ask why a church was not built at a charitable institution, for which five years ago there was an allocation
If the amount is new, 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..." (the church, apparently, did not begin to be built)
Breaks laws. So, for example, he takes into soldiers those who are not supposed to go into the army: “... Yes, he ordered my husband to shave his forehead to become a soldier, and the line didn’t fall on us, such a swindler! And by law it’s impossible: he’s married... "
A slacker, but at the same time he knows how to “describe”, talk beautifully about what he supposedly does: “... Eka, a slacker...” “... how he describes! God gave such a gift!..” The mayor is always makes promises, but does not fulfill them: "...You, Antosha, are always ready to promise..."
Oppresses people of low class. He offends merchants, threatens and blackmails them. The merchants of the city of N are ready to “climb into the noose” from his “insult”: “...Don’t destroy, sir! be: just at least get into the noose..." "...Hey! And if you try to contradict, he will bring a whole regiment to your house to billet. And if anything happens, he orders you to lock the doors. “I won’t,” he says, “ - he says, - subjecting to corporal punishment or torture - this, he says, is prohibited by law, but here you are, my dear, eating herring!
A simple man who came from the bottom: “...you are a simple man, you have never seen decent people...” “...Only I, really, am afraid for you: sometimes you utter a word that you would never hear in good society ..." (wife about the mayor)
He knows how to behave importantly: "...After all, he has importance, the evil one would not take him, enough..."
The purpose of life. He dreams of being a general, although he doesn’t deserve this title at all: “...He’ll throw something out when he actually becomes a general! Now, for whom the generalship is as fitting as a saddle for a cow! Well, brother, no, that’s still a long way off. There are better people than you, but they are still not generals..."
He goes to church every Sunday: “...Oh, oh, ho, ho, oh! I’m sinful, sinful in many ways...” “...you, like everyone else, have sins...” “... you never go to church; but at least I am firm in my faith and go to church every Sunday..."
He likes to play cards, like other officials of the city of N: “...And yesterday, the scoundrel, he bet me a hundred rubles...” (Luka Lukich about the mayor playing cards)
Marital status: has a wife and children. Apparently, in addition to his adult daughter Marya, he also has younger children. As you know, at the end of the play, Marya becomes Khlestakov’s bride: “...Anna Andreevna, his wife...” “... Marya Antonovna, his daughter...” “.. Have mercy, don’t destroy! Wife, small children don't make a person unhappy..."
He treats his wife tenderly, in his letters he calls her “darling”: “...I hasten to notify you, darling, that my condition was very sad...” “... Kissing, darling, your hand, I remain yours: Anton SkvoznikDmukhanovsky ..."
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Quoted description of the mayor from the comedy “The Inspector General” by N. Gogol
The mayor - Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsy - is one of the central and most striking figures in N. V. Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General”.
This is how the author describes Anton Antonovich: “The mayor, already old in the service and a very intelligent person in his own way. Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably; quite serious; a few are even resonant; speaks neither loudly nor quietly, neither more nor less. His every word is significant. His facial features are coarse and hard, like those of anyone who began his service from the lower ranks. The transition from fear to joy, from rudeness to arrogance is quite rapid, as in a person with crudely developed inclinations of the soul. He is dressed, as usual, in his uniform with buttonholes and boots with spurs. His hair is cropped and streaked with gray.”
A uniform with buttonholes should show the reader that this is, indeed, a respectable man, who, according to his rank, is supposed to look decent, who is not used to having his orders questioned. But how the Mayor transforms when he meets the “auditor”. He begins to stutter and servile, and experiences a panicky fear of him: “Governor (trembling). Due to inexperience, by golly due to inexperience. Insufficient wealth... Judge for yourself: the government salary is not enough even for tea and sugar. If there were any bribes, it was very small: something for the table and a couple of dresses. As for the non-commissioned officer's widow, a merchant, whom I allegedly flogged, this is slander, by God, slander. My villains invented this; These are the kind of people who are ready to make an attempt on my life.”
Gorodnichy has a very “talking” surname - Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsy. According to Dahl's dictionary, a drafter is “a cunning, keen-minded, insightful person, a trickster, a swindler, an experienced trickster and a sneaker.” We see this from the first lines of the play - the Mayor will never miss what comes into his hands, and even takes bribes with “greyhound puppies”. In appearance, he is a decent city leader who attends church, has a decent family and cares about the city’s residents. In fact, he oppresses merchants, squanders the treasury and flogs people.
The second part of Gorodnichy’s surname also reveals his character. According to Dahl, “dmukhan” is “pompousness, pride, arrogance, arrogance, swagger.” In fact, one cannot take away Anton Antonovich’s arrogance and swagger. What delight he expresses when he learns that his daughter is marrying a minister: “I myself, mother, am a decent person. However, really, just think about it, Anna Andreevna, what kind of birds you and I have become now! Eh, Anna Andreevna? High flying, damn it! Wait, now I’ll give all these hunters the time to submit requests and denunciations.”
Rudeness, stupidity and ignorance are the main character traits of the Governor. He didn’t even come up with anything more or less plausible, expressing to Khlestakov his curious and absurd version of some events: “The merchants there complained to your Excellency. I assure you on my honor that half of what they say is not true. They themselves deceive and measure the people. The non-commissioned officer lied to you, saying that I had flogged her; She's lying, by God, she's lying. She flogged herself."
At the end of the play, the reader feels a little sorry for the Governor, who was so mistaken in Khlestakov. It’s sad to see the collapse of the dream of Gorodnichy, who dreamed of a house in St. Petersburg and blue ribbons. Although he received a completely fair punishment, and he is worried mainly because he did not recognize the “scoundrel” in Khlestakov, although he himself is a rogue of rogues. Moreover, he is offended that “look, look, the whole world, all of Christianity, everyone, look how the mayor has been fooled! Fool him, fool him, the old scoundrel! (Threatens himself with his fist.) Oh, you fat nose! Mistaken an icicle or a rag for important person! There he is now singing bells all over the road! Will spread the story around the world. Not only will you become a laughing stock - there will be a clicker, a paper maker, who will insert you into the comedy. That's what's offensive! Rank and title will not be spared, and everyone will bare their teeth and clap their hands. Why are you laughing? “You’re laughing at yourself!” - he says sacramentally at the end of the play.
The mayor is a collective image of an official of that era. His traits: veneration, sycophancy, arrogance, flattery, envy. For which he pays at the end of the play: “The mayor is in the middle in the form of a pillar, with outstretched arms and his head thrown back.” Silent stage... Curtain!
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The character of the mayor in Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General"
The mayor, Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsy, is portrayed quite vividly in the comedy. He is one of the central figures, and it is around him and Khlestakov that the main action develops. The remaining characters are given in half-sketches. We only know their surnames and status, otherwise, these are people very similar to the mayor, because they are like birds of a feather, they live in the same county town, where “even if you ride for three years, you won’t reach any state.” Yes, they are not so important, otherwise they would overshadow all the “splendor” of the Governor’s figure.
We come across a lot of “speaking” surnames in Gogol. This technique is everywhere in his works. The mayor was no exception. Let's see what his last name tells us about his character. According to Dahl's dictionary, a drafter is “a cunning, keen-minded, insightful person, a trickster, a swindler, an experienced trickster and a sneaker.” But this is obvious. From the first lines of the work, we learn that the Mayor will never miss what floats into his hands, and he does not hesitate to take bribes, even with greyhound puppies. His caution also speaks of vigilance or perspicacity. In society, this is a decent head of the city who constantly goes to church, has a prosperous family and stands up for his residents. But let’s not forget that the drafter is also a swindler, and therefore he also oppresses merchants, and wastes government money, and flogs the people. There is also a second part of the surname. Let's open Dahl again and read that dmukhan is “pompousness, pride, arrogance. arrogance, swagger." And, indeed, Anton Antonovich has a lot of arrogance and swagger. How happy he was when he learned that his daughter was marrying not just anyone, but a minister: “I myself, mother, am a decent person. However, really, just think about it, Anna Andreevna, what kind of birds you and I have become now! huh, Anna Andreevna? High flying, damn it! Wait, now I’ll give all these hunters the time to submit requests and denunciations.” This is our mayor.
However, let’s see how the author himself describes Anton Antonovich to us in the author’s remarks “for gentlemen actors”. “The mayor, already old in the service and a very intelligent person in his own way. Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably; quite serious; a few are even resonant; speaks neither loudly nor quietly, neither more nor less. His every word is significant. His facial features are coarse and hard, like those of anyone who began his service from the lower ranks. The transition from fear to joy, from rudeness to arrogance is quite rapid, as in a person with crudely developed inclinations of the soul. He is dressed, as usual, in his uniform with buttonholes and boots with spurs. His hair is cropped and streaked with gray.” Everything in these remarks is important; they allow us to understand how Gogol himself wanted to portray the hero, as opposed to how we, the readers, see him. Just as his last name can tell us a lot about the mayor, so appearance can add touches to a portrait. The uniform with buttonholes tells us that this is, indeed, a respectable person who does not like his orders to be discussed. In his town, he is the king and God, respectively, and must look appropriate. But how interesting it is to observe his transformation when meeting with the so-called incognito auditor. The mayor begins to stutter and servile, and can even give a bribe if he so chooses. But veneration of rank was in use at that time, however, for the mayor it reaches its highest limit, he experiences such panic fear: “Governor (trembling). Due to inexperience, by golly due to inexperience. Insufficient wealth... Judge for yourself: the government salary is not enough even for tea and sugar. If there were any bribes, it was very small: something for the table and a couple of dresses. As for the non-commissioned officer's widow, a merchant, whom I allegedly flogged, this is slander, by God, slander. My villains invented this; These are the kind of people who are ready to make an attempt on my life.”
The mayor is also rude, Gogol also tells us about this. Despite the high position he holds, he is an uneducated person, there are many bad inclinations and vices in his soul, but he does not try to eradicate them, because he believes that this is how it should be. Stupidity and ignorance are the traits that dominate the character of the Governor. Even his assurances that he serves honestly and impeccably are completely laced with white thread, and lies scream from every window. He doesn’t even have the intelligence to come up with something plausible in the face of the formidable Khlestakov, although before that he very deliberately warned his officials about the approaching danger: “The merchants there complained to your Excellency. I assure you on my honor that half of what they say is not true. They themselves deceive and measure the people. The non-commissioned officer lied to you, saying that I had flogged her; She's lying, by God, she's lying. She flogged herself." These are the kind of oddities you encounter in a county town.
But, of course, just as there are only good or only bad people in the world, so book characters cannot be only positive or only negative. Although this can hardly be said about the characters in The Inspector General. But nevertheless, for some reason we feel sorry for the Governor at the end, who was so cruelly deceived in Khlestakov. In general, it turns out that in comedy there is not a single positive hero, with the exception of Osip, Khlestakov’s servant, who, however, is also a drunkard and a rogue. We are sad to see the collapse of the dream of the Governor, who dreamed of blue ribbons and a house in St. Petersburg. Maybe he didn’t deserve such a fate, maybe his little sins weren’t so terrible. But, I think, this punishment is quite fair, for we understand that the Governor will never reform, and it is unlikely that the incident with the auditor will serve as a lesson to him. And he is upset, first of all, because he did not recognize the rogue in Khlestakov; he himself is the rogue of rogues. Moreover, it’s a shame that “look, look, the whole world, all of Christianity, everyone, look how the mayor has been fooled! Fool him, fool him, the old scoundrel! (Threatens himself with his fist.) Oh, you fat nose! He took an icicle and a rag for an important person! There he is now singing bells all over the road! Will spread the story around the world. Not only will you become a laughing stock - there will be a clicker, a paper maker, who will insert you into the comedy. That's what's offensive! Rank and title will not be spared, and everyone will bare their teeth and clap their hands. Why are you laughing? “You’re laughing at yourself!” he says sacramentally at the end.
But indeed, the character of the Governor is a collective portrait of all the officials of that time. He absorbed all the shortcomings: servility, veneration, envy, arrogance, flattery. This list can go on for a long time. The mayor becomes a kind of “hero of our time,” which is why he is written out so clearly, which is why his character is so clearly manifested, especially in crisis situations, and the entire life of the mayor throughout “The Inspector General” is a crisis. And Anton Antonovich is not used to such crisis situations, apparently due to weakness of character. That is why there is an electrical effect at the end. It is doubtful that the mayor will be able to come to an agreement with a real official. After all, all his life he has been deceiving the same rogues as himself, and the rules of the game of another world are inaccessible to him. And therefore the arrival of an official from St. Petersburg for Anton Antonovich is like God’s punishment. And there is no escape from this except to obey. But knowing the character of the mayor, we can safely say that he will still make an attempt to appease the new auditor, without thinking about the fact that for a bribe “you can go to prison,” he does not see beyond his own nose, and he pays for this in the finale: “The mayor in the middle in the form of a pillar, with outstretched arms and head thrown back." Silent stage... Curtain!
The mayor, Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsy, is portrayed quite vividly in the comedy. He is one of the central figures, and it is around him and Khlestakov that the main action develops. The remaining characters are given in half-sketches. We only know their surnames and status, otherwise, these are people very similar to the mayor, because they are like birds of a feather, they live in the same county town, where “even if you ride for three years, you won’t reach any state.” Yes, they are not so important, otherwise they would overshadow all the “splendor” of the Governor’s figure.
We come across a lot of “speaking” surnames in Gogol. This technique is everywhere in his works. The mayor was no exception. Let's see what his last name tells us about his character. According to Dahl's dictionary, a drafter is “a cunning, keen-minded, insightful person, a trickster, a swindler, an experienced trickster and a sneaker.” But this is obvious. From the first lines of the work, we learn that the Mayor will never miss what floats into his hands, and he does not hesitate to take bribes, even with greyhound puppies. His caution also speaks of vigilance or perspicacity. In society, this is a decent head of the city who constantly goes to church, has a prosperous family and stands up for his residents. But let’s not forget that the drafter is also a swindler, and therefore he also oppresses merchants, and wastes government money, and flogs the people. There is also a second part of the surname. Let's open Dahl again and read that dmukhan is “pompousness, pride, arrogance. arrogance, swagger." And, indeed, Anton Antonovich has a lot of arrogance and swagger. How happy he was when he learned that his daughter was marrying not just anyone, but a minister: “I myself, mother, am a decent person. However, really, just think about it, Anna Andreevna, what kind of birds you and I have become now! huh, Anna Andreevna? High flying, damn it! Wait, now I’ll give all these hunters the time to submit requests and denunciations.” This is our mayor.
However, let’s see how the author himself describes Anton Antonovich to us in the author’s remarks “for gentlemen actors”. “The mayor, already old in the service and a very intelligent person in his own way. Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably; quite serious; a few are even resonant; speaks neither loudly nor quietly, neither more nor less. His every word is significant. His facial features are coarse and hard, like those of anyone who began his service from the lower ranks. The transition from fear to joy, from rudeness to arrogance is quite rapid, as in a person with crudely developed inclinations of the soul. He is dressed, as usual, in his uniform with buttonholes and boots with spurs. His hair is cropped and streaked with gray.” Everything in these remarks is important; they allow us to understand how Gogol himself wanted to portray the hero, as opposed to how we, the readers, see him. Just as his last name can tell us a lot about a mayor, his appearance can add touches to a portrait. The uniform with buttonholes tells us that this is, indeed, a respectable person who does not like his orders to be discussed. In his town, he is the king and God, respectively, and must look appropriate. But how interesting it is to observe his transformation when meeting with the so-called incognito auditor. The mayor begins to stutter and servile, and can even give a bribe if he so chooses. But veneration of rank was in use at that time, however, for the mayor it reaches its highest limit, he experiences such panic fear: “Governor (trembling). Due to inexperience, by golly due to inexperience. Insufficient wealth... Judge for yourself: the government salary is not enough even for tea and sugar. If there were any bribes, it was very small: something for the table and a couple of dresses. As for the non-commissioned officer's widow, a merchant, whom I allegedly flogged, this is slander, by God, slander. My villains invented this; These are the kind of people who are ready to make an attempt on my life.”
The mayor is also rude, Gogol also tells us about this. Despite the high position he holds, he is an uneducated person, there are many bad inclinations and vices in his soul, but he does not try to eradicate them, because he believes that this is how it should be. Stupidity and ignorance are the traits that dominate the character of the Governor. Even his assurances that he serves honestly and impeccably are completely laced with white thread, and lies scream from every window. He doesn’t even have the intelligence to come up with something plausible in the face of the formidable Khlestakov, although before that he very deliberately warned his officials about the approaching danger: “The merchants there complained to your Excellency. I assure you on my honor that half of what they say is not true. They themselves deceive and measure the people. The non-commissioned officer lied to you, saying that I had flogged her; She's lying, by God, she's lying. She flogged herself." These are the kind of oddities you encounter in a county town.
But, of course, just as there are only good or only bad people in the world, book heroes cannot be only positive or only negative. Although this can hardly be said about the characters in The Inspector General. But nevertheless, for some reason we feel sorry for the Governor at the end, who was so cruelly deceived in Khlestakov. In general, it turns out that there is not a single positive hero in the comedy, with the exception of Osip, Khlestakov’s servant, who, however, is also a drunkard and a rogue. We are sad to see the collapse of the dream of the Governor, who dreamed of blue ribbons and a house in St. Petersburg. Maybe he didn’t deserve such a fate, maybe his little sins weren’t so terrible. But, I think, this punishment is quite fair, for we understand that the Governor will never reform, and it is unlikely that the incident with the auditor will serve as a lesson to him. And he is upset, first of all, because he did not recognize the rogue in Khlestakov; he himself is the rogue of rogues. Moreover, it’s a shame that “look, look, the whole world, all of Christianity, everyone, look how the mayor has been fooled! Fool him, fool him, the old scoundrel! (Threatens himself with his fist.) Oh, you fat nose! He took an icicle and a rag for an important person! There he is now singing bells all over the road! Will spread the story around the world. Not only will you become a laughing stock - there will be a clicker, a paper maker, who will insert you into the comedy. That's what's offensive! Rank and title will not be spared, and everyone will bare their teeth and clap their hands. Why are you laughing? “You’re laughing at yourself!” he says sacramentally at the end.
But indeed, the character of the Governor is a collective portrait of all the officials of that time. He absorbed all the shortcomings: servility, veneration, envy, arrogance, flattery. This list can go on for a long time. The mayor becomes a kind of “hero of our time,” which is why he is written out so clearly, which is why his character is so clearly manifested, especially in crisis situations, and the entire life of the mayor throughout “The Inspector General” is a crisis. And Anton Antonovich is not used to such crisis situations, apparently due to weakness of character. That is why there is an electrical effect at the end. It is doubtful that the mayor will be able to come to an agreement with a real official. After all, all his life he has been deceiving the same rogues as himself, and the rules of the game of another world are inaccessible to him. And therefore the arrival of an official from St. Petersburg for Anton Antonovich is like God’s punishment. And there is no escape from this except to obey. But knowing the character of the mayor, we can safely say that he will still make an attempt to appease the new auditor, without thinking about the fact that for a bribe “you can go to prison,” he does not see beyond his own nose, and he pays for this in the finale: “The mayor in the middle in the form of a pillar, with outstretched arms and head thrown back." Silent stage... Curtain!
/V.G. Belinsky about Gogol/
The basis of "The Inspector General" is the same idea as in "The Quarrel of Ivan Ivanovich with Ivan Nikiforovich": in both works the poet expressed the idea of negating life, the idea of illusoryness, which received, under his artistic chisel, its objective reality. The difference between them is not in the main idea, but in the moments of life captured by the poet, in individuals and positions characters. In the second work we see emptiness, devoid of all activity; in The Inspector General there is an emptiness filled with the activity of petty passions and petty egoism.<...>
So exactly, why do we need to know the details of the mayor’s life before the comedy begins? It is clear even without the fact that in childhood he was educated on copper money, played knucklebones, ran through the streets, and as he began to gain insight, he received lessons from his father in worldly wisdom, that is, in the art of warming up his hands and burying his ends in water . Deprived in his youth of any religious, moral and social education, he inherited from his father and from the world around him the following rule of faith and life: in life one must be happy, and for this one needs money and rank, and to acquire them - bribery, embezzlement , sycophancy and subservience to authorities, nobility and wealth, deceit and bestial rudeness to those inferior to oneself. Simple philosophy! But note that in him this is not debauchery, but his moral development, his highest concept of his objective duties: he is a husband, therefore, is obliged to decently support his wife; he is the father, therefore, must give a good dowry for his daughter in order to provide her with a good match and, thereby arranging her well-being, fulfill the sacred duty of the father. He knows that his means to achieve this goal are sinful before God, but he knows this abstractly, with his head, not with his heart, and he justifies himself with the simple rule of all vulgar people: “I’m not the first, I’m not the last, everyone does this.” This practical rule of life is so deeply rooted in him that it has become a rule of morality; he would have considered himself an upstart, a proud, proud man if, even though he had forgotten himself, he had behaved honestly during the week.<...>
Our mayor was not a lively person by nature, and therefore “everyone does this” was too sufficient an argument to calm his calloused conscience; This argument was joined by another, even stronger for a rude and base soul: “wife, children, the government salary does not go towards tea and sugar.” Here's the whole Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky before the comedy begins.<...>The end of “The Inspector General” was again made by the poet not arbitrarily, but due to the most reasonable necessity: he wanted to show us Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky all as he is, and we saw him all as he is. But here lies another, no less important and deep reason that comes from the essence of the play.<...>
“Fear has big eyes,” says a wise Russian proverb: is it surprising that a stupid boy, a tavern dandy who had squandered on the road, was mistaken by the mayor for an auditor? Deep idea! It was not a formidable reality, but a ghost, a phantom, or, better to say, a shadow from the fear of a guilty conscience, that was supposed to punish the man of ghosts. Gogol's mayor is not a caricature, not a comic farce, not an exaggerated reality, and at the same time not at all a fool, but, in his own way, very, very clever man, who is very active in his field, knows how to deftly get down to business - steal and bury the ends in water, slip a bribe and appease a person who is dangerous to him. His attacks on Khlestakov, in the second act, sample clerk diplomacy.
So, the end of the comedy should take place where the mayor learns that he was punished by a ghost and that he still faces punishment from reality, or at least new troubles and losses in order to evade punishment from reality. And therefore the arrival of the gendarme with the news of the arrival of the true auditor perfectly ends the play and conveys to it all the completeness and all the independence of a special world closed in itself.<...>
Many find the mayor’s mistake in mistaking Khlestakov for an auditor to be a terrible stretch and a farce, especially since the mayor is, in his own way, a very smart man, that is, a rogue of the first category. A strange opinion, or, better to say, a strange blindness that does not allow one to see the obvious! The reason for this is that every person has two visions - the physical, which only has access to external evidence, and the spiritual, which penetrates internal evidence as a necessity arising from the essence of the idea. Now, when a person has only physical vision, and he looks at internal evidence, then it is natural that the mayor’s mistake seems to him a stretch and a farce.
Imagine a thief-official like you know the venerable Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky: in his dream he saw two extraordinary rats, the likes of which he had never seen - black, of unnatural size - they came, sniffed and walked away. The importance of this dream for subsequent events has already been very correctly noted by someone. In fact, pay all your attention to it: it reveals the chain of ghosts that make up the reality of comedy. For a person with such an education as our mayor, dreams are the mystical side of life, and the more incoherent and meaningless they are, the greater and more mysterious their meaning for him. If, after this dream, nothing important had happened, he might have forgotten it; but, as luck would have it, the next day he receives a notification from a friend that “an official has set off incognito from St. Petersburg with a secret order to revise everything related to civil administration in the province.” Sleep in hand! Superstition further intimidates an already frightened conscience; conscience strengthens superstition.
Pay special attention to the words “incognito” and “with secret instructions.” Petersburg is a mysterious country for our mayor, a fantastic world whose forms he cannot and cannot imagine. Innovations in the legal sphere, threatening criminal trial and exile for bribery and embezzlement, further aggravate the fantastic side of St. Petersburg for him. He is already asking his imagination how the inspector will arrive, what he will pretend to be and what bullets he will cast in order to find out the truth. There is talk from an honest company about this subject. The dog judge, who takes bribes with greyhound puppies and therefore is not afraid of the court, who has read five or six books in his time and is therefore somewhat freethinking, finds a reason for sending an auditor worthy of his thoughtfulness and erudition, saying that “Russia wants to wage war, and That’s why the ministry deliberately sends an official to find out if there is any treason.” The mayor realized the absurdity of this assumption and answered: “Where is our county town? If it were on the border, it would still be possible to guess somehow, otherwise it’s standing God knows where - in the wilderness... From here you can jump for at least three years, to no state.” you won't get there." Therefore, he advises his colleagues to be careful and be prepared for the arrival of the auditor; arms himself against the thought of sins, that is, bribes, saying that “there is no person who does not have some sins behind him,” that “this is already arranged this way by God himself,” and that “the Voltaireans are in vain speaking against this”; there follows a small squabble with the judge about the meaning of bribes; continuation of advice; murmur against the damned incognito. “Suddenly he’ll look in: ah! you’re here, my dears! And who, say, is the judge here? - Tyapkin-Lyapkin. - And bring Tyapkin-Lyapkin here! And who is the trustee of charitable institutions? - Strawberry. - And bring Strawberry here! That’s what’s bad !"...
It's really bad! A naive postmaster enters, who loves to print out other people's letters in the hope of finding in them "various passages... edifying even... better than in the Moskovskiye Vedomosti." find out if it contains some kind of report or just correspondence." What depth is in the image! Do you think that the phrase “or just correspondence” is nonsense or a farce on the part of the poet: no, this is the mayor’s inability to express himself, how soon he even a little leaves the native spheres of his life. And this is the language of all the characters in the comedy! The naive postmaster, not understanding what’s going on, says that he does it anyway. “I’m glad you’re doing this,” the rogue mayor answers the simpleton - to the postmaster, “this is good in life,” and seeing that you won’t get much out of the way with him, he bluntly asks him to deliver any news to him, and simply delay the complaint or report. The judge treats him to a dog, but he replies that he now I have no time for dogs and hares: “All I can hear in my ears is the damned incognito; You just expect that the doors will suddenly open and someone will walk in..."
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