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N.V. Gogol "The Government Inspector": description, characters, comedy analysis

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol - life and work

“I am considered a riddle for everyone, no one will solve me completely”, - this is how the most modest and, perhaps, the most mysterious classic of the 19th century spoke about himself. An exposer of social vices, a brilliant satirist, the author of the greatest works of Russian literature, a man whose name is still borne by the streets and educational institutions - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.

The future writer was born on April 1, 1809 in the Poltava province. He became the third child in the family - the previous two were born dead. As a child, Gogol lived in the village, at the age of 12 he entered the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences. He studied poorly, being actively interested only in drawing and Russian literature, but he had an excellent memory, which helped him prepare for exams in just a few days.

Having moved to St. Petersburg in 1828, Nikolai faced financial problems, so he tried himself in different directions: he tried to become an actor, an official, and was engaged in literature. Under a pseudonym, he published the romantic idyll "Hanz Kühelgarten", but because of the flurry of criticism that hit the work, he personally bought the entire print run from the stores and burned it.

Influence of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin

Gogol read Pushkin since childhood, and when he arrived in the capital, he managed to get to know him personally. “Here is real gaiety, sincere ease, without affectation, without stiffness. And in some places what poetry! .. ", - the poet said about his new friend, whom they met in 1831. He appreciated Nikolai's talent and offered him some ideas for works.

For example, Alexander Sergeevich sketched out a plan for a comedy about a man mistaken in the provinces for a metropolitan official - this is how the “Inspector General” appeared. And the most famous work of Gogol - "Dead Souls" - had a similar history of creation. As the author later admitted, after presenting the idea of the work, Pushkin said that “Such a plot of Dead Souls is good for Gogol in that it gives complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and bring out many different characters.”

The mystical component of the image of Gogol

As mentioned above, a very large number of secrets, myths and conjectures are associated with the name of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Starting with the story of the writer's "turned in a coffin" skull, ending with Bulgakov's treatment of drug addiction through the nightly arrival of the already dead Gogol - by collecting all the existing legends, you can get a thick book.

We, most likely, will not be able to establish the authenticity of all these legends, moreover, we do not know exactly how the great writer died in 1852. Exhaustion and loss of strength, lethargic sleep, unintentional poisoning by doctors - and these are just a few versions of the author's death.

"Inspector"

Gogol decided to "collect everything bad in Russia into one heap" - this is how the comedy turned out, which has become a classic of Russian literature - "The Inspector General". The plot is known to everyone: the officials of a provincial town mistake a passing young man for an inspector from the capital. The whole plot is built on this, the vices of society and officials are exposed and ridiculed. Critical reviews of Belinsky and Herzen fixed a diatribe, satirical meaning to the comedy.

The composition of The Inspector General is circular, with a unity of place, time and action typical of a work of classicism. Nevertheless, Gogol allowed himself to deviate from the dogmas of classicism and did not make “talking” names for the main characters.

The system of characters in The Inspector General is also funny. So Gogol tries to cover all aspects of public life as much as possible, presenting his heroes in various fields. Power, police, education, healthcare, post office - we get a very broad view of the state structure of Russia.

It is important to understand that the time of the “Inspector General” is immediate modernity at the time of writing, that is, the events take place around 1831. Everything that we see in comedy is the quintessence of the human vices of that society. Theft, lies, hypocrisy, fear, bribery - everyone got what they deserved.

The most valuable thing in the "Inspector" is its relevance, topicality, modern significance. Gogol got to the point by pointing out the eternal problems and flaws of Russian society and ridiculing those negative qualities that every person can find in himself.

"Inspector" on stage

The first production of Gogol's work took place at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. A full hall gathered for the premiere, and representatives of the authorities were also present: the emperor and officials. The performance was successful - Nicholas I laughed and clapped a lot, and leaving the box, he said: "Well, play! Everyone got it, but I got it more than anyone! ”

But despite the contentment of the emperor, Gogol was in despair - it seemed to him that there were many shortcomings in the acting game, and the audience appreciated with laughter not those moments where it was necessary to laugh. Nikolai Vasilievich took the release of several critical reviews as persecution, but throughout the 19th century, The Inspector General appeared on the stage over and over again, becoming the main production of many theaters for a long time.

In the 20th century, the creation of director Vsevolod Meyerhold became a very important production of The Government Inspector. He combined the text of six editions of the play. The appearance of the actors corresponded to their description in the work, so he showed on stage not just images, but “people from life”. The symbolism and realism of the depiction made the play an "exaggerated mirror" of the world of old Russia.

“Viy”, “Souls”, “Marriage”, “Players”, “May Night”, “Mother”, “The Night Before Christmas” and, of course, “The Inspector General” - a huge number of productions are still going on in theaters all over the country based on the works of Gogol.

The writer highly appreciated the role of theater in the life of society. He believed that the theater should enlighten and teach the people. At first it seems that this is the approach of the authors of the times of classicism, when the educational function was assigned to literature and dramaturgy. Gogol believed that the play "must be seen with one's own eyes", that is, to rethink the classics, making it relevant. They did not understand him, or rather, he could only feel how to do it, but he could not explain. Hence, in particular, the dissatisfaction with the first production of The Inspector General.

Gogol places

During his not very long life, Gogol left a mark in many places. Monuments to him were erected in St. Petersburg, Dnieper, Volgograd, Kyiv, Poltava, and many other cities. Also, a monument to the writer can be seen on Nikitsky Boulevard, in Moscow, in the house where the author spent the last years of his life. In 2008, a three-meter sculpture of the writer was installed in Mirgorod, surrounded by the characters of his works.

One of the most famous places in Moscow bearing the name of the playwright is the Gogol Center. Reorganized by Kirill Serebrennikov, the Moscow Drama Theater. Gogol, the center collects all the trends of world art, holds performances by directors from all over the world, provides an opportunity to attend lectures, discussions, concerts. "Territory of freedom" - this is how its leaders call their creation. The Gogol Center collects under its roof a huge theatrical video archive, screens films that have not been released in Russian cinemas, and the discussion club provides an opportunity to discuss the most pressing issues in the field of art.

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

There is also an assumption that it goes back to the stories about the business trip of P.P. Svinin to Bessarabia in.

It is known that while working on the play, Gogol repeatedly wrote to A. S. Pushkin about the progress of its writing, sometimes wanting to quit it, but Pushkin insistently asked him not to stop working on The Inspector General.

Characters

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

Plot

Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, a young man with no fixed occupation, who rose to the rank of collegiate registrar, follows from St. Petersburg to Saratov, with his servant Osip. He finds himself passing through a small county town. Khlestakov lost at cards and was left without money.

Just at that time, all the town authorities, mired in bribes and embezzlement of public funds, starting with the mayor Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, were waiting in fear for the arrival of the auditor from St. Petersburg. The city landowners Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, having accidentally learned about the appearance of the defaulter Khlestakov in the hotel, report to the mayor about the arrival of the incognito from St. Petersburg to the city.

A commotion begins. All officials and officials fussily rush to cover up their sins, but Anton Antonovich quickly comes to his senses and understands that he himself needs to bow to the auditor. Meanwhile, Khlestakov, hungry and unsettled, in the cheapest hotel room, ponders where to get food.

The appearance of the mayor in Khlestakov's room is an unpleasant surprise for him. At first, he thinks that the owner of the hotel denounced him as an insolvent guest. The mayor himself is frankly shy, believing that he is talking to an important metropolitan official who has come on a secret mission. The mayor, thinking that Khlestakov is an auditor, offers him bribe. Khlestakov, thinking that the mayor is a kind-hearted and decent citizen, accepts from him on loan. “I gave him instead of two hundred and four hundred,” the mayor rejoices. However, he decides to pretend to be a fool in order to get more information about Khlestakov. “He wants to be considered incognito,” the mayor thinks to himself. - “Well, let’s let us Turus go too, we’ll pretend that we don’t know at all what kind of person he is.” But Khlestakov, with his inherent naivete, behaves so directly that the mayor is left with nothing, without losing his conviction, however, that Khlestakov is a “thin thing” and “you need to be careful with him.” Then the mayor has a plan to get Khlestakov drunk, and he offers to inspect the charitable institutions of the city. Khlestakov agrees.

Further, the action continues in the mayor's house. Khlestakov, fairly tipsy, seeing the ladies - Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna - decides to "splurge". Showing off in front of them, he tells fables about his important position in St. Petersburg, and, most interestingly, he himself believes in them. He ascribes to himself literary and musical works, which, due to "uncommon lightness in thoughts", allegedly, "in one evening, it seems, he wrote, amazed everyone." And he is not even embarrassed when Marya Antonovna practically convicts him of a lie. But soon the language refuses to serve the rather tipsy metropolitan guest, and Khlestakov, with the help of the mayor, goes to "rest."

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

The mayor and his entourage take a breath of relief. First of all, he decides to “pepper” the merchants who went to complain about him to Khlestakov. He swaggers over them and calls them last words, but as soon as the merchants promised a rich treat for the engagement (and later for the wedding) of Marya Antonovna and Khlestakov, the mayor forgave them all.

The mayor gathers a full house of guests to announce publicly about Khlestakov's engagement to Marya Antonovna. Anna Andreevna, convinced that she had become related to the big metropolitan authorities, was completely delighted. But then the unexpected happens. The postmaster of the local branch (at the request of the mayor) opened Khlestakov's letter and from it it is clear that incognito turned out to be a swindler and a thief. The deceived mayor has not yet managed to recover from such a blow when the next news arrives. An official from St. Petersburg, who is staying at a hotel, demands him to come to him. It all ends with a silent scene...

Productions

The Inspector General was first staged on the stage of the Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater on April 19, 1836. The first performance of The Inspector General in Moscow took place on May 25, 1836 on the stage of the Maly Theatre.

Nicholas I himself attended the St. Petersburg premiere. The emperor liked the production very much, moreover, according to critics, the positive perception of the crowning special risky comedy subsequently had a beneficial effect on the censorship fate of Gogol's work. Gogol's comedy was initially banned, but after an appeal received the highest permission to be staged on the Russian stage.

Gogol was disappointed by the public talk and the unsuccessful St. Petersburg production of the comedy and refused to take part in the preparation of the Moscow premiere. At the Maly Theater, the leading actors of the troupe were invited to stage The Inspector General: Shchepkin (mayor), Lensky (Khlestakov), Orlov (Osip), Potanchikov (postmaster). Despite the absence of the author and the complete indifference of the theater management to the premiere production, the performance was a huge success.

The comedy "Inspector General" did not leave the stages of theaters in Russia, both during the Soviet era and in modern history, is one of the most popular productions and is a success with the audience.

Notable productions

Screen adaptations

"Inspector" - director Vladimir Petrov
"Incognito from Petersburg" - director Leonid Gaidai
"Inspector (film-play)" - director Valentin Pluchek
"Inspector" - directed by Sergei Gazarov

Artistic Features

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

The relief image of the image of city officials and, above all, the mayor, complements the satirical meaning of the comedy. The tradition of bribing and deceiving an official is completely natural and inevitable. Both the lower classes and the top officials of the city do not think of any other outcome than how to bribe the auditor with a bribe. The district nameless town becomes a generalization of the whole of Russia, which, under the threat of revision, reveals the true side of the character of the main characters.

Critics also noted the features of the image of Khlestakov. An upstart and a dummy, the young man easily deceives the highly experienced mayor. The well-known writer Merezhkovsky traced the mystical beginning in comedy. The inspector, as an otherworldly figure, comes for the soul of the mayor, repaying for sins. “The main power of the devil is the ability to seem not what he is,” this is how Khlestakov’s ability to mislead about his true origin is explained.

Cultural influence

Comedy had a significant impact on Russian literature in general and dramaturgy in particular. Gogol's contemporaries noted her innovative style, depth of generalization and convexity of images. Immediately after the first readings and publications, Gogol's work was admired by Pushkin, Belinsky, Annenkov, Herzen, Shchepkin.

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

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

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

Gogol himself spoke of his work in this way

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

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

The comedy The Inspector General was included in the literary school curriculum back in the days of the USSR and to this day remains the key work of Russian classical literature of the 19th century, mandatory for study at school.

Notes

Works by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol
poems	Ganz Küchelgarten · Dead Souls
Tales and stories	« Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka » (Sorochinsky Fair · Evening on the eve of Ivan Kupala · May night, or drowned woman · Missing charter · Christmas Eve · Terrible revenge · Ivan Fedorovich Shponka and his aunt · haunted place) · « Mirgorod "(Old-world landowners · Taras Bulba · Viy · The story of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich) · « Petersburg stories " (Nevsky Avenue · Nose · Portrait · Overcoat · Diary of a Madman) · Stroller
Dramaturgy	Marriage · Auditor · Players · business man morning · Litigation · Lakeyskaya · excerpt · Theatrical tour after the presentation of a new comedy
Publicism	Woman · "Boris Godunov", a poem by Pushkin · About Kozlov's poetry · Sculpture, painting and music · About the Middle Ages · On Teaching World History · A look at the composition of Little Russia · A few words about Pushkin · About the architecture of the present time · Al-Mamun · Life · Schlozer, Miller and Herder · About Little Russian songs · Thoughts on geography · The last day of Pompeii · On the movement of peoples at the end of the 5th century · On the Movement of Journal Literature in 1834 and 1835 · Petersburg Notes of 1836 · Reviews from Sovremennik · Reviews not included in the "contemporary" · Review for "Moskvityanin" (Morning Dawn) · About Sovremennik · Selected places from correspondence with friends · About estates in the state · Author's confession · Reflections on the Divine Liturgy
Lost and excerpts	Vladimir of the third degree · Rome · Nights at the villa · Alfred · Hetman · "Terrible boar" (Little Russian story) · Excerpts on unknown plays · Sketches of a drama plan from Ukrainian history ·

About the first production of The Inspector General in St. Petersburg - page No. 1/1

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About the first production of The Inspector General in St. Petersburg

The comedy surprised the actors during the first reading by its author. "What is it? Is this a comedy? listeners whispered to each other. It seemed to the participants of the performance difficult and incomprehensible. The actor of the Alexandria Theater Grigoriev wrote: "... this play is still like some kind of mystery for all of us." Being present at the rehearsals, Gogol saw the confusion in which the actors were: they were embarrassed by the unusual characters of the play - officials, the absence of a love affair, the language of comedy. However, neither most of the actors nor the theater inspector Khrapovitsky attached due importance to the author's advice and ignored his instructions. Gogol subsequently wrote that "the costumes for most of the play were very poor and caricatured." The only actor Sosnitsky, who played the Governor, suited Gogol. He really captivated the audience in this role. Gogol also hoped for the actor Afanasiev, who played Osip and who, according to the writer, showed "attention to words." The performance of the brilliant vaudeville actor N. Dyur in the role of Khlestakov failed. Instead of Khlestakov's lively, psychologically complex nature, Dur brought a vaudeville varmint and heliporter onto the stage. By the way, this interpretation of the role became widespread in the 19th century.

The actors did not appreciate the public content of the play and did not guess it. And yet, despite the fact that only two of the actors satisfied Gogol, The Inspector General made a stunning impression on the audience. And the day of the first production, April 19, 1836, became a great day for the Russian theater. This premiere was attended by the tsar, who was pleased with the performance: “The play is very funny, only an unbearable curse on the nobles, officials, merchants,” he assessed the performance. One of the chroniclers wrote about the performance: “The success was colossal. The audience laughed till they dropped and was very pleased with the performance. The emperor, leaving, said: "Everyone got here, but most of all I."

How did it happen that with such an assessment, the play saw the light of day? It is assumed that before passing the censorship committee, it was read and approved by Nicholas 1, who at first did not understand all the enormous power that exposed her, just as neither the actors nor the theater management understood this at first. Most likely, Nikolai believed that Gogol laughed at the provincial towns, their life, which he himself despised from his height. He did not understand the true meaning of the "Inspector General".

Bewilderment seized the first spectators. P.V. writes about this. Annenkov: "... intense attention, convulsive, intensified following of all the shades of the play, sometimes dead silence showed that the thing that was happening on the stage passionately captured the hearts of the audience." Perplexity degenerated into indignation, especially increased in the 5th act. The general verdict was terrible: "This is an impossibility, slander and farce."

Literature:

Voitolovskaya E.L. Comedy NV Gogol's "Inspector". A comment. L .: Education, 1971.

Card 2

About staging the play in Moscow

After the premiere at the Alexaidriysky Theater, Gogol's mood changed: he sent the play to the Moscow actors. In a letter to the actor Shchepkin, he asked "out of friendship" to him "to take over the whole matter of staging The Inspector General", and Shchepkin himself was offered to take on the role of the mayor.

Gogol was asked to come to Moscow and start rehearsals, but this did not happen. However, he corresponded with Shchepkin, shared his thoughts on the production.

He asks that the role of Khlestakov not be played "with ordinary farces, as they play braggarts and theatrical rake."

On May 25, 1836, The Inspector General premiered at the Maly Theater. Only part of the audience got into the hall, as the administration announced the performance as a subscription and thereby limited access to the performance to the general public. He was hit by aristocrats from secular living rooms, unable to appreciate the comedy.

According to the critic Nadezhdin, all the actors essentially did not understand Gogol's intention: they had to play "without any increase", that is, "simply, truly, quietly, good-naturedly." And they wanted to be funny. Nadezhdin highlights the game of Shchepkin, who “did not enhance, did not parody, but still represented the mayor, was not one” with “the sharpness of the mayor, he should not have felt so constrained, forced ...”

Shchepkin was not satisfied with either the acting of the actors or his own. In a letter to Gogol, he tried to explain why the public remained indifferent to comedy. “... One acquaintance,” he wrote, “amusingly explained this reason to me:“ Have mercy, he says, how could it be better to accept it, when half of the public is taking, and half is giving.

Subsequent performances were successful. The play became a topic of general conversation. Each time, Shchepkin played the mayor more and more enthusiastically, becoming the leading figure in the play. One of the reviewers wrote about his game this way: “... Shchepkin conducted his entire role with such perfection, which can only be expected from an actor. It seems that Gogol wrote off his mayor from him, and he did not fulfill the role written by Gogol. The actor was well acquainted with people like the mayor, a former serf, he hated both power and serfdom, organically associated with it.

In 1838, V.G. Belinsky published an article comparing the performance of two actors, Shchepkin and Sosnitsky. In it, he bypassed the analysis of the game of the St. Petersburg actor, preferring Shchepkin's talent. “What animation, what simplicity, naturalness, grace! Everything is so true, deeply true ... The actor understood the poet: both of them do not want to make either caricatures, or satires, or even epigrams; but they want to show a phenomenon of real life, a characteristic, typical phenomenon.

From this and another article by Belinsky, it is clear that thanks to Shchepkin and the common understanding of the play by the entire troupe, the production of The Inspector General in Moscow became a great social event that played an important role in the history of Russian theater.

There is no doubt that Gogol also made changes to the text of the play thanks to the play of the actors.

Literature:

Voitolovskaya E.L. Comedy NV Gogol's "Inspector". A comment. L .: Education, 1971.

Comedy NV Gogol's "Inspector".

QUIZ

1) What proverb did Gogol take as an epigraph to The Inspector General?

a) simplicity is enough for every wise man;

b) there is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked;

c) do not sit in your sleigh.

2) Which of the characters in The Inspector General took bribes with greyhound puppies?

a) Lyapkin-Tyapkin;

b) Khlopov;

c) Strawberry.

3) What is the hallmark of Khlestakov?

a) frivolity;

b) cunning;

c) cowardice.

4) What measure against the auditor Gorodnichiy considers the most reliable?

a) flattery and gratification;

b) a bribe.

5) Which of the characters in The Inspector General says about himself that he has “uncommon lightness in his thoughts”?

a) Bobchinsky;

b) postmaster;

c) Khlestakov.

6) Who says this? “I go to balls every day. There we had our own whist: the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the French envoy, the English and German envoy, and myself. And you will get so tired playing that it just doesn’t look like anything. ”

7) Who is talking about this? *... you see, you need to show yourself in every city! It would really be good to have something worthwhile, otherwise it’s just a simple lady!

8) Who writes to whom? “I hasten to inform you ... that my condition was very sad, but, trusting in the mercy of God, for two pickles especially and half a portion of caviar, a ruble twenty-five kopecks ...”

9) Who writes to whom? “I hasten to notify you ... what miracles are happening to me ... Everyone lends me ... The originals are terrible. You would die of laughter...

10) Who dreams: “... some two extraordinary rats. Really, I have never seen such things: black, unnatural size!

Card

The image of St. Petersburg in the comedy "The Government Inspector"

The image of St. Petersburg constantly appears in the comedy. Khlestakov arrives from St. Petersburg, which attracts county ladies. In the climactic scene of lies, the hero talks about the Petersburg of his dreams. At the same time, he blurts out, and we learn about St. Petersburg of small employees living in extreme poverty.

Let's get acquainted with an excerpt from V. Nabokov's article “Nikolai Gogol. State Ghost.

“Oh, Petersburg! - Khlestakov exclaims, - what a life, right! You may think that I am only copying (as it really is), no, the head of the department is on a friendly footing with me ... they even wanted to do it as a collegiate assessor, yes, I think why. And the watchman was still flying on the stairs behind me with a brush: "Let me, Ivan Alexandrovich, I'll clean your boots, they say."

Later we learn that the watchman is called Mikheev and drinks bitter.

Further, according to Khlestakov, as soon as he goes out somewhere, the soldiers jump out of the guardhouse and make a gun, and the officer, who is very familiar to him, says: “Well, brother, we completely mistook you for the commander in chief”

When Khlestakov talks about his bohemian and literary connections, an imp appears, playing the role of Pushkin: “With Pushkin on a friendly footing. I used to often say to him: “Well, brother Pushkin?” - “Yes, brother,” he answers, it happened, “because somehow everything ...” Great original.

And while Khlestakov rushes on in the ecstasy of fiction, a whole swarm of important people flies onto the stage, humming, crowding and pushing each other: ministers, counts, princes, generals, secret advisers, even the shadow of the king himself and "couriers, couriers ... 35 one thousand couriers,” and then they all disappear at once in drunken hiccups; but not earlier than through the gap in Khlestakov’s monologue, among all this pack of gilded ghosts in the dream of ambassadors, for one dangerous moment, a real figure will appear ... the poor official’s shabby cook, Mavrushka, who helps him take off his thin overcoat (the same one that Gogol then immortalize as an integral part of an official in general).

The image of St. Petersburg also appears in Osip's monologue, from which the reader will learn the reasons why Khlestakov is not promoted: instead of going to office, he walks along the avenue, goes to theaters. So you can really believe the words of Khlestakov: "I only go into the department for two minutes ...".

"To pick flowers of pleasure" is the goal of Khlestakov's life. He dreams of balls, of acquaintances with foreign envoys, ministers. For all his superficiality, Khlestakov gives the names of writers who were obviously well-known during his stay in St. Petersburg. Petersburg is the dream of all city officials and their wives. The mayor dreams of the rank of general, which he will receive in St. Petersburg. His wife Anna Andreevna - that "our house was the first in the capital."

But most importantly, the theme of retribution is connected with the image of St. Petersburg: they are waiting for an auditor from there. In the first scene of the first act, the mayor says: "The inspector from St. Petersburg, incognito." In act 5, the last appearance of the gendarme, “who arrived at the nominal command (that is, the king) from St. Petersburg ...”. With this image, Gogol connected the idea of justice of power.

Literature:

According to the book: Lectures on Russian literature. T. 1. M.: Ed. Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 1998, pp. 64-65.

Gogol's friends had to work hard to get permission for the first production of The Government Inspector. To do this, they enlisted the support of the emperor himself. Finally permission was granted. On April 19, 1836, the comedy was presented on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, and a month later - in Moscow, at the Maly Theater, where the famous Russian actor played the role of the mayor Mikhail Semyonovich Shchepkin. Gogol joked that Shchepkin in his "Inspector General" could play at least ten roles in a row.

The premiere drew a full house. The fires in the huge chandeliers burned brightly, orders and diamonds shone in the boxes, young people were noisy in the gallery - students, young officials, artists. The tsar and the heir to the throne settled down in the imperial box. Imperceptibly, the agitated author crept into his place.

The performance was a success. The emperor personally thanked the actors. But all this did not please Gogol: upset by the shortcomings of acting, the shortcomings of his own text and the reaction of the public, who, as it seemed to him, was laughing at the wrong thing, he fled the theater. The painful impressions were aggravated by the individual critical reviews that appeared in the press, which Gogol took as outright persecution. “Everyone is against me,” he complained to Shchepkin. “The elderly and respectable officials are shouting that nothing is sacred to me ... The police are against me, the merchants are against me, the writers are against me.” Confused and offended, the writer did not notice that all the progressive people of society were striving to get into the performance based on The Inspector General, and the publication of the text of the play became a real event in the cultural life of Russia. Throughout the 19th century the play never left the stage.

In the XX century. one of the most striking and unconventional productions of The Inspector General on the Russian stage was offered by a well-known innovative director Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold. For the performance, he selected actors whose appearance corresponded to the characters of the play as much as possible and did not require makeup. Thus, he brought to the stage not just Gogol's images, but "people from life." The only place where Meyerhold retreated from the realism of the theatrical depiction was the “silent” stage: instead of people, soulless puppets appeared before the public, symbolizing the horror of the internal “inhumanity” of Gogol’s characters. material from the site

And in the XXI century. with an innovative performance based on Gogol's immortal comedy, the audience was surprised by a team of actors from Italy led by a famous director Matthias Langhoff. In the performance of this troupe, The Inspector General turned into a play about bureaucracy, corruption and fear of exposure. As the main scenery, the director used a strange construction, consisting of an unimaginable number of walls, doors, corridors, stairs, nooks and crannies, some of which can rotate around their axis. Collection of county officials of the 19th century, dressed in fashion 60-70 -X years of the XX century., resembles a gathering of the Italian mafia. Merchants in good-quality suits and dark glasses are talking on mobile phones and writing checks to Khlestakov, special signals of the escort of the authorities’ cars are pouring in, tenths with brooms enter the hall, the mayor’s wife performs a dance with ribbons, a live dog runs around the stage, and in the finale of the play two huge furry rats... All these innovations are designed to emphasize the modern sound of the play, its obvious connection with today's life. It is no coincidence that at the press conference the director and actors unanimously stated that the Russian comedy, depicting a county town of the 19th century, is relevant for today's Italy. For in Italy, as in many other countries, there are Khlestakovs and governors, and, of course, fear of the auditor.

If you don’t remember when the comedy The Government Inspector came out, or you seem to remember, but have forgotten now, or if you don’t think it’s worth loading your head with this, then we hasten to remind (or inform) you that Gogol began to read his creation in January 1836. Yes, in those days, writers did not directly carry the texts of their manuscripts to publishers, but first they read them to their friends, at evening parties in the homes of famous writers. So. Gogol read The Government Inspector at a party with Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky. According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, he read superbly. Calm down, simple. He acted out the whole play himself. And yet he never laughed. And only when the listeners could not help laughing did he grin slyly. It can be assumed that this was the brightest and most faithful performance of The Inspector General, because it was the author's. All other productions were attempts to understand Gogol, to get closer to him. And no one, probably, has succeeded in this to the fullest. And it all started then, during the life of the writer.

Premiere

At first, Gogol and his friends for a very long time could not get permission to stage The Inspector General. Zhukovsky convinced the tsar that "there is nothing unreliable in comedy, that it is only a cheerful mockery of bad provincial officials."

Finally, permission was given, and on April 19, 1836, the premiere of the performance took place on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater.
The king was dissatisfied with the performance. It was only during the performance that he began to understand the true meaning of comedy. They say that, leaving the box, he said: “Well, the little piece! Everyone got it, but I got it the most.”
But it is reliably known that Gogol was also very dissatisfied with the production. Many years later he wrote: “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 the fact that they did not understand me. I wanted to get away from everything." Gogol seems to have been the only one who took the first production as a failure.
After the performance, he was “in an irritated state of mind”: “Oh my God! Well, if two scolded, well, God bless them, otherwise everything, everything ... "
This was not true, although there were people who hated Gogol. So, Count Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy said at a crowded meeting that Gogol was “an enemy of Russia and that he should be sent in shackles to Siberia.” It was precisely such statements that the writer endured especially hard. "Enemy of Russia" - is it about him? Not surprisingly, soon after the premiere, Gogol went abroad, refusing to stage the play in Moscow, despite the persuasion of M. Shchepkin.
The reaction to the "Inspector" was very different. But at the same time, she was perplexed by most viewers. The confession of the actor Pyotr Grigoriev, who played the role of judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin, has been preserved: “... this play is still like some kind of mystery for all of us. At the first performance, they laughed loudly and a lot, supporting them firmly - it will be necessary to wait for 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 once or twice ".
But for us now it is much more important to understand why the performance caused such a negative reaction from Gogol himself. Moreover, his reviews of what he saw were preserved. Before the start of the production, the writer repeatedly warned: “Most of all, one must be careful not to fall into a caricature. Nothing should be exaggerated or trivial even in the last roles.
Creating the images of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, Gogol imagined them performed by Shchepkin and Ryazantsev, famous comic actors of that era. The play turned out to be a caricature. “Already before the start of the performance,” he says, “seeing them in costume, I gasped. These two little men, in their essence rather tidy, plump, with decently smoothed hair, found themselves in some awkward, tall gray wigs, tousled, unkempt, disheveled, with huge shirt-fronts pulled out; and on the stage they turned out to be ugly to such an extent that it was simply unbearable.
The role of Khlestakov, which the playwright considered the main one, “disappeared”. The actor was reminiscent of "vaudeville naughty people who came to us to turn around from the Parisian theaters." He played the traditional rogue.
Only Gogol liked the performance of the mayor.
The author was dissatisfied with the costumes of most of the participants in the performance. Despite his requests, not a single rehearsal was held in costume.
Gogol was upset by the "silent scene". “She didn’t come out at all. The curtain closes at some vague moment, and the play seems to be not over.
But the main reason for Gogol's dissatisfaction was not even the farcical nature of the performance - the desire to make the audience laugh - but the fact that, with the caricature manner of the game, those sitting in the hall perceived what was happening on stage without applying to themselves, since the characters were exaggeratedly funny. Meanwhile, Gogol's plan was designed just for the opposite perception: to involve the viewer in the performance, to make it feel that the city depicted in the comedy does not exist somewhere far away, but to one degree or another anywhere in Russia. Gogol addresses everyone and everyone. This is the enormous social significance of The Inspector General. This is the meaning of the famous remark of the mayor: “What are you laughing at? Laugh at yourself!" - addressed specifically to the audience, because no one is laughing on the stage at this time.

Staging in Moscow

In Moscow, the first performance was to take place at the Bolshoi Theatre, but under the pretext of repairs, the performance was given the next day at the Maly. The reason, no doubt, was that the Moscow directorate, which could not help hearing rumors about the gossip that the comedy aroused in St. moreover, to give in a subscription, sold out mainly among the "public of the highest tone." Naturally, the "Inspector General" "did not occupy, did not touch, only slightly laughed" the spectators sitting in the boxes of the benoir and mezzanine. An article appeared in the Molva magazine, telling about the first performance of the comedy in Moscow - "the play, showered with applause in places, did not excite a word or a sound when the curtain was lowered, as opposed to the St. Petersburg production."

Shchepkin, who played the mayor, wrote to Sosnitsky in St. Petersburg that at first he was surprised by the reception given by the public, but one acquaintance explained why the performance did not cause the same noisy reaction as it did in St. Petersburg: “Have mercy, she says, how could she have been better to accept when half of the public is taking and half is giving? The fact of the matter is that in Moscow, without emphasizing vaudeville and farcical moments, the theater brought to the fore its ideological and accusatory content.
Two years after the first performance, Belinsky wrote: "The whole play is going great." The first place, in his opinion, belongs to M. Shchepkin: “What animation, what simplicity, naturalness, elegance! Everything is so true, deeply true ... The actor understood the poet: both of them do not want to make either caricatures, or satires, or even epigrams; but they want to show a phenomenon of real life, a characteristic, typical phenomenon. Noting with praise all the performers up to Mishka, the mayor's servant, the critic condemned only Lensky, who played Khlestakov unbearably badly. Lensky, like Dyur - Petersburg Khlestakov - was a vaudeville actor.
It is known that Gogol, dissatisfied with the performers of the role of Khlestakov, fully accepted the Moscow actor in this role. In the future, he was one of the most remarkable performers of this role in Moscow.

"Inspector" at the Meyerhold Theater

In 1926, The Inspector General was held at the Meyerhold State Theatre. It was a very interesting performance. Meyerhold did an enormous amount of preparatory work. He saw the difficulty of this play in that it is mainly based on the actor, and not on the director. He sees his task in creating such an environment in which it would be easy for the actors to play. “It is necessary to equip the stage in such a way that it is easy to play on it,” the director writes. Meyerhold analyzed the previous productions, revealed their advantages and disadvantages. He concluded that "it is necessary to try to keep the impetuousness of vaudeville and still leave a serious performance." At the same time, it was necessary to "play the text so that it does not load the performance for a large number of hours."
Meyerhold says that in comedy there is a unity of place: the action takes place in the mayor's house, but there is one scene that, as it were, falls out of this unity - the scene in the hotel. The director finds an interesting solution: he transfers this episode to a separate platform, which opens to the eyes of the audience at the right moment, and then disappears. Meyerhold sets up the stage in an original way: “…the venue… will be sloping, rather steeply sloping. It will be difficult to walk. And the furniture will stand a little askew, leaning towards the audience.”
He selects actors very interestingly, the real appearance of people should correspond to the vision of the characters by the director, so that the need for makeup disappears. In this way, realistic images are achieved. Characters should not be comical.
Meyerhold pays much attention to the dressing of Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna, he shows the closet with their dresses to the public, which no one has done before, although Gogol pays attention to this in his play.
Osip is a young man. "He reasoned wisely, he reasoned like an old man, but he was young." Meyerhold also makes him a thief, because when a person is not fed, all that remains is to steal.
The director dresses Khlestakov in a bad Petersburg tailcoat, makes him bald to emphasize his insignificance. “They always make Khlestakov a cupid. By the way, all women love bald people. Khlestakov is devoid of any education and obscene. Meyerhold saw in him a cunning person: "This is a principled hoaxer and adventurer."
Marya Antonovna is no longer so naive, she adopts the depraved behavior of her mother, who instructs the mayor's horns, and tries to behave in the same way. They are competitors. The mayor also appears bald, "twitchy." He is henpecked and spends all his money on his wife and daughter.
To translate his ideas on stage, Meyerhold paid great attention to working with actors. They needed to understand the nature of the characters they were supposed to play.
After watching the performance, one of the Moscow critics said that Meyerhold "staged The Inspector General, taking into account Gogol's words that it depicts not the people who are represented on the stage, but our passions ...". The director himself believes that this critic obviously did not pay attention to another letter from Gogol to Shchepkin, in which the writer speaks of the accusatory nature of the play. Meyerhold, in his innovative staging, just strengthens the accusatory tendency, makes the play more realistic, although he himself admits that he did not carry this trend to the end.
In Meyerhold's production, all the characters have their own biography, which was not the case in previous productions of The Inspector General, they become real people, not just images. Critics scolded the director, saying that this was a profanity, a warped Gogol.
But the most important thing is that Meyerhold puts the judgment of history. According to him, the characters are rotten from the very beginning, so the essence of the silent scene is that they cannot help but petrify. Gogol said that a silent scene should last 2-3 minutes. This is impossible to do, and Meyerhold used mannequins in a silent scene, which produced a terrifying effect. Instead of people, soulless dolls appeared before the audience. The public did not agree with the criticism. According to Meyerhold himself, the theater was full when this comedy was on. The audience claimed that the performance turned out to be very cheerful, dynamic, cinematic.

Performances of the Maly Theater
In 1938, the Maly Theater showed a staged comedy. The newspaper "Pravda" wrote: "Inspector" in the new production captivates the audience, as if it were a completely new performance ... What is really new in the production of the Academic Maly Theater? This is just the complete absence of "academicism", liveliness, dynamism, sharpness of the game, its inspiration, wonderful coherence. The Inspector General has become younger in the new production. The Inspector General turned out to be necessary to us not only as a historical play, but as a brilliant satirical picture of morals.
Another, even more convincing and new solution was the production in the same Maly in 1949, which did not leave the stage for several seasons.
It is interesting that in these two different productions the main roles were played by the same actor -. In 1938, it was the role of Khlestakov, and in 1949 - the mayor. In both ways, he was great.

By the way, one of the best performers of the role of Khlestakov in the entire history of the performance was Mikhail Chekhov. His game was brilliant, he knew how to captivate the audience so that the audience felt and experienced with him. “Chekhov’s Khlestakov is not only a dandy, an anemone, a poseur, a ladies’ man, a lover of the sweet life, he is also a rag man, a miserable and dependent face, a half-destitute, disenfranchised official on the last rung of the state ladder. Look into his eyes in the scene of hunger - this is a hunted animal, something in it is puppy, orphan. And in the scene of lies, suddenly losing control of himself, with what longing he speaks about the cook Mavrushka and the fourth floor ... And what a unanimous reaction the viewer had to all these changes in the shades of Chekhov's game. In his game, the actor followed the author's remarks, but at the same time he was looking for the possibility of a new interpretation of the comedy. He played at the Moscow Art Theater in a performance in 1922. This was the first performance of Russian classics that Stanislavsky staged in the post-October years.

Since then, there have been many other productions of the play. And in recent years it has been staged no less actively than before. But I constantly get the feeling that today we are not going to the “Inspector General”. And we have no desire to hear Gogol. And we are interested in what this or that director did with Gogol. And then ... We enthusiastically criticize and discuss how obscene this or that production was, and again and again we ask ourselves the same question: what is the director who takes on the classics entitled to? There is no single answer here and cannot be. So, we will continue to walk and look. Thankfully there is a large selection. Read our monthly reviews of Gogol's performances and go to the THEATER!

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