“The Inspector General” is a comedy in five acts, written by N.V. Gogol in 1835. It tells how in a county town a random passer-by is mistaken for an inspector from the capital. There is a version according to which the plot of the comedy “The Government Inspector” was suggested to Gogol by Pushkin. There is also a story from Gogol’s friend, A.S. Danilevsky, about how they pretended to be auditors on the way to St. Petersburg, and were received with great honor everywhere.
In order to form your impression of the comedy, you can read “The Inspector General” in a summary of actions and phenomena on our website.
Main characters
Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov is an “official” (as city residents believe) from St. Petersburg. A nondescript young man of 23, dressed fashionably and somewhat rustic. He is interested in card games, loves a rich life and strives to “show himself.”
Osip is Khlestakov’s servant, already aged. A roguish man. He considers himself smarter than the master and loves to teach him.
The mayor is an elderly arrogant man, a bribe-taker.
Anna Andreevna is the mayor’s wife, a provincial coquette. Very curious and vain. He competes with his daughter for the attention of gentlemen.
Marya Antonovna is the daughter of the mayor, a naive provincial girl.
Act Five: Exposure
Anton Antonovich and Anna Andreevna dream of moving to St. Petersburg: he will become a general, and she will become the owner of a salon.
The mayor calls on the merchants and threatens to put them in prison for complaining about him to his new son-in-law. The rumor about the wedding of Khlestakov and Marya Antonovna spreads throughout the city, everyone goes to congratulate. All high society gathers, everyone discusses the future and prospects of the mayor’s family.
Out of breath, the postmaster runs in and reports that the official whom they mistook for an auditor is in fact not an auditor at all. General confusion begins. Shpekin opened the letter sent by Khlestakov, and it amazed him with its content. The letter is read aloud.
All the officials were insulted in the letter, and the mayor’s family was simply disgraced. The guests laugh.
Suddenly a gendarme runs in. An official who has arrived from St. Petersburg urgently demands the mayor to come to him.
Other characters
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky are two urban landowners extremely similar to each other, they talk a lot and always walk together.
Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin is a judge, considers himself enlightened, but in reality he has read only a few books.
Artemy Filippovich Strawberry is a trustee of charitable institutions, a swindler and a rogue.
Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin is a postmaster and is naively simple-minded.
Luka Lukich Khlopov – superintendent of schools.
Act two: Meeting Khlestakov
In a small room in a hotel, the servant Osip grumbles to himself about his master: they were robbed on the way, there is no money even for food, but the master asks for the best room and the most luxurious dinner, for the sake of bragging. “It would be good if there really was something worthwhile, otherwise he’s a simple little elistratishka,” - from these lines we learn that Khlestakov has the lowest rank.
Khlestakov enters and sends Osip to ask the owner for lunch. Khlestakov even comes up with the idea of selling his pants so that he can have at least some money, at least for food or for travel to Saratov, in order to escape without paying. The servant, saying: “This is the last time until you pay,” brings him the most crappy dinner.
The mayor arrives with the landowners. The frightened “auditor”, who believes that they have come to arrest him for non-payment, decides to complain that the food he is being fed is disgusting, that he cannot be paid for this. Anton Antonovich, convinced that this is a real inspector, not only pays his bill, but also takes Khlestakov to live in his house and offers to inspect various city establishments. Immediately he quietly asks Dobchinsky to warn his wife Anna Andreevna and the trustee of charitable institutions, Zemlyanika, about this.
Summary
Act one
Happens in one of the rooms of the mayor's house
Phenomenon I
The mayor gathers officials and tells them “unpleasant news” - an auditor will soon arrive in the city with a “secret order”. Everyone is excited, Ammos Fedorovich even suggests that there will soon be a war, and an auditor has been sent to find out if there are traitors in the city. But the mayor rejects this assumption: from their city, “even if you ride for three years, you won’t reach any state,” what kind of treason is there? He gives orders, listing all the problem areas of the city - the sick need to be changed into clean clothes and it is advisable to reduce their number. Take the geese bred there by the guards from public places and remove the “hunting arap” from the papers. It can be returned when the auditor leaves.
The assessor always “smells of vodka,” and they also advise eliminating this, for example, by eating onions. Educational institutions whose teachers have “very strange actions, naturally inseparable from an academic title” also require attention: one makes faces at students, another breaks furniture... As for the “minor sins” of officials, the mayor has nothing against it: “that’s just the way it is.” arranged by God himself.” The judge is the calmest of all; he justifies himself by saying that he takes only “greyhound puppies,” and this is much better than rubles or a fur coat.
Phenomenon II
The postmaster enters. He, too, has already heard about the arrival of an auditor in the city, and is sure that all this is happening for a reason, but because the war with the Turks is approaching. “It’s the Frenchman who’s crap,” he says. The mayor convinces the postmaster that there will be no war, and then shares his experiences with him. He is “confused by the merchants and citizens,” who do not like him - if there were no denunciation against him. The mayor asks him to print out and read the letters he brings, he agrees, adding that he already reads other people’s letters - out of curiosity.
Scene III
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky enter, out of breath. They had just seen the expected auditor at the hotel. This is a young man, “of good appearance, in a private dress,” he “walks around the room like that, and there’s a kind of reasoning in his face...”. This young man has been living in a tavern for two weeks now, does not pay money and does not move out. Everyone unanimously decides that this is none other than the auditor. The mayor was extremely excited - many unpleasant incidents occurred during these two weeks: “the non-commissioned officer’s wife was flogged! The prisoners were not given provisions! There is a tavern on the streets, uncleanness! He decides to urgently go to the hotel and demands a bailiff, the officials disperse to their institutions.
Phenomenon IV
The mayor remains alone in his room.
The mayor demands a droshky (a two-seater horse-drawn carriage), a new hat and a sword. Bobchinsky tags along behind him, he is ready to run after the droshky “cockerel, cockerel”, just to look “through the crack” at the inspector. The mayor orders the policeman to sweep clean the entire street leading to the tavern.
Phenomenon V
Finally a private bailiff appears. The mayor hurriedly gives out instructions for the improvement of the city: to put a tall policeman on the bridge for beauty, to sweep away (break) the old fence, because “the more destruction, the more it means the activity of the city governor.” And if anyone asks why the church was not built, the answer is that it began to be built, but burned down. Already at the door he gives the order not to let half-naked soldiers out into the street.
Scene VI
The mayor's wife and daughter run in and they quarrel. Anna Andreevna tells her daughter to immediately run after the droshky, take a peek, find out everything, and especially what color the inspector’s eyes are, and come back this very minute.
Act two
Small room in a hotel.
Phenomenon I
Osip lies on the master’s bed and is angry with the master, who “wasted” all the money in cards. And now for the second month they have not been able to get home from St. Petersburg. Osip wants to eat, but they won’t lend him money anymore. In general, he really liked St. Petersburg: everything is “delicate,” life is “subtle and political.” Only the master didn’t do business there either, but spent all the money from his father. “Really, it’s better in the village: at least there’s no publicity, and there’s less concern,” says Osip.
Phenomenon II
Khlestakov enters and scolds Osip for lying on the bed again. Then he hesitantly demands (almost asks) the servant to come downstairs for lunch. Osip refuses, saying that they will no longer be given a loan, but then agrees to go down and call the owner to Khlestakov.
Scene III
Khlestakov alone. He talks to himself about how he wants to eat. What kind of “bad town” has he found himself in? Here, even in the shops, they don’t give out loans. And it’s all the fault of the infantry captain, who robbed him at cards. And yet Khlestakov would like to fight him again.
Phenomenon IV
The tavern servant enters. Khlestakov curries favor with him, persuades him to bring lunch and “reason” with the owner: that guy may not eat for a day, but for Khlestakov, as a master, this is in no way possible.
Phenomenon V
Khlestakov ponders what he should do if they don’t bring lunch. "Ugh! I even feel sick, I’m so hungry.” Then he begins to dream of how he will return home in St. Petersburg clothes and introduce himself as an official from St. Petersburg.
Scene VI
Lunch is brought, it is not good and consists of only two courses. Khlestakov is dissatisfied, but eats everything. The servant tells him that this is the last time - the owner will not allow him to lend anymore.
Scene VII
Osip reports that the mayor wants to see Khlestakov. Khlestakov is scared: what if the innkeeper has already managed to complain and is now being taken to prison?
Scene VIII
The mayor and Dobchinsky enter. Khlestakov and the mayor look at each other in fear for some time. Then the mayor explains that he came to see how Khlestakov lives, because his duty is to make sure that those who come are happy. Khlestakov is scared, he makes an excuse that he will pay everything, “they will send it to him from the village.” Then he declares that the innkeeper himself is to blame, he feeds him poorly, and threatens to go to the minister. The mayor, in turn, is frightened, promises to sort it out and asks him not to destroy him - he has a wife and children. He calls Khlestakov to another, better apartment, but Khlestakov, thinking that they are going to take him to prison, refuses. The mayor offers him money to pay the innkeeper, Khlestakov willingly takes it, and the mayor manages to slip him four hundred rubles instead of the required two hundred. Khlestakov’s attitude towards the mayor changes: “I see you are a noble man.” He agrees to go live with the mayor. The mayor decides that the auditor wants to remain incognito, and that one needs to keep an eye out for him.
Scene IX
A tavern servant arrives with a bill, and the mayor throws him out, promising to send him money.
Event X
Khlestakov, the mayor and Dobchinsky are going to inspect city institutions, and Khlestakov categorically refuses to inspect prisons, but a charitable institution attracts his attention. The mayor sends Dobchinsky with a note to his wife so that she gets ready to receive the guest, and to Zemlyanika, who is in charge of charitable institutions. Dobchinsky opens the door from Khlestakov’s room, preparing to leave. Bobchinsky overhears from outside - he flies to the floor and breaks his nose. Osip, meanwhile, was ordered to take Khlestakov’s things to the mayor.
Act three
First Act Room
Phenomenon I
The mayor's wife and daughter are waiting for news standing at the window. Finally Dobchinsky appears.
Phenomenon II
Anna Andreevna reproaches Dobchinsky for coming so late and asks him about the auditor. Dobchinsky gives the note and emphasizes that he was the first (with Bobchinsky) to “discover” that this is a real auditor.
Scene III
The mayor's wife and daughter are preparing to receive the auditor and preening themselves. The rivalry between them is noticeable - each tries to ensure that the other wears a dress that does not suit her.
Phenomenon IV
Osip enters with a suitcase on his head. He is accompanied by the mayor's servant. Osip asks for food, but they do not give it to him, explaining that all the dishes are simple, and he, as the auditor’s servant, will not eat such a thing. Osip agrees to any food.
Phenomenon V
The guards open both sides of the doors. Khlestakov enters: followed by the mayor, then the trustee of charitable institutions, the superintendent of schools, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky with a plaster on his nose.
Khlestakov talks with the mayor. He is very pleased with how everything is organized in the city - he was well fed and shown “good establishments.” This was not the case in other cities. The mayor replies that this is because in other cities city governors are more concerned about their own benefit, but here they care more about how to please their superiors. Khlestakov is interested in where he could play cards. The mayor swears that he himself does not even pick up cards, although just yesterday he “deposited” a hundred rubles from an official.
Scene VI
Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna enter. The mayor introduces them to Khlestakov.
Lunch begins. At dinner, Khlestakov boasts: in St. Petersburg he is the most important person, everyone knows him. He is “on friendly terms” with Pushkin himself, and he himself wrote many good things, for example, “Yuri Miloslavsky”. The mayor's daughter remembers that this work has a different author, but she is pulled back. Every day Khlestakov was in the palace and at balls, and once he even managed a department. “Your Excellency” is written on the packages, foreign ambassadors play whist with him, and a watermelon is served on the table for seven hundred rubles. In the hallway, waiting for his awakening, there are usually “counts and princes milling about”...
The mayor and others respectfully listen to Khlestakov’s boasts, and then accompany him to rest.
Scene VII
The rest discuss Khlestakov and agree that he is a very important person. Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky argue that Khlestakov is probably a general himself, or even a generalissimo. Then the officials disperse, and Zemlyanika tells Luk Lukich that for some reason he is scared. “Well, how can he sleep it off and let a report arrive in St. Petersburg?”
Scene VIII
The mayor's wife and daughter argue about who Khlestakov looked at more during breakfast.
Scene IX
The mayor enters on tiptoe. He is no longer glad that he gave the guest drink: even if half of what Khlestakov said is true, the mayor will not be happy. Anna Andreevna is sure that everything will be fine, because Khlestakov is “an educated, secular, person of the highest tone.” The mayor is surprised: how has Khlestakov already achieved so much in such years? “Everything has turned out wonderfully in the world now: even if the people were already prominent, otherwise they are thin, thin - how do you recognize them, who they are?”
Event X
Osip enters. Everyone runs to him, wondering if Khlestakov is sleeping. The mayor asks what the master pays most attention to. He gives Osip money for tea and bagels. The mayor’s wife and daughter are interested in “which eyes” Khlestakov likes best. Then everyone disperses, the mayor orders the quarterly guards not to let strangers into the house, especially with requests.
Act four
The same room in the mayor's house
Phenomenon I
Officials enter cautiously, almost on tiptoe, as well as Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky, in full dress and uniform. They all gathered to give Khlestakov a bribe, but they can’t figure out how best to arrange it. In the end, a decision is made to enter one by one and speak face to face: “You need to introduce yourself one by one, and between four eyes and that... as it should be - so that even the ears don’t hear. This is how things are done in a well-ordered society!”
Phenomenon II
Khlestakov comes out with sleepy eyes. He slept well and is happy with the way he is received here: he loves the hospitality. In addition, Khlestakov noted that the mayor’s daughter is “very pretty,” and her mother is such that “it would still be possible...”. He likes this life.
Apparitions III-VII
Ammos Fedorovich comes in, drops the money and is very frightened by this. Khlestakov, seeing the banknotes, asks to give him a loan. The judge willingly gives the money and leaves. Then the postmaster, Luka Lukic, and Zemlyanika enter in succession. Khlestakov asks everyone for a loan and receives certain amounts. The last to appear are Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, from whom Khlestakov directly demands money. They don’t have much: between them there are only sixty-five rubles. Khlestakov takes it, saying that “it’s all the same.” Dobchinsky has a request to the auditor: to recognize his son as legitimate. Khlestakov promises to help. Bobchinsky’s request is even simpler: that Khlestakov, when he goes to St. Petersburg, would tell everyone there, including the sovereign, that “Peter Ivanovich Bobchinsky lives in such and such a city.”
Scene VIII
Khlestakov alone. He begins to realize that he is being mistaken for a “statesman,” and writes a letter about this to his friend, a journalist, so that he can make fun of the officials.
Scene IX
Osip persuades Khlestakov to leave as soon as possible. He agrees. At this time, noise is heard from the street: the merchants came with petitions, but the policeman did not let them in. Khlestakov orders to receive everyone.
Event X
The merchants bring wine and sugar loaves to Khlestakov. They ask to intercede for them - the mayor really oppresses the merchants, deceives and robs. Khlestakov promises to sort it out and takes money from the merchants; He does not disdain the silver tray, and Osip takes the remaining gifts, right down to the rope: “and the rope will come in handy on the road.”
Scene XI
Women, a mechanic and a non-commissioned officer come to Khlestakov. They also complain about the mayor: he whipped the non-commissioned officer for no reason. “Go, I’ll give orders!” says Khlestakov, but the requests tire him, and he tells Osip not to let anyone in anymore.
Scene XII
Khlestakov talks to Marya Antonovna and kisses her. She fears that the visitor is simply laughing at her, a “provincial girl.” Khlestakov convinces that he has fallen in love with her and, to prove it, kneels.
Scene XIII
Anna Andreevna enters. Seeing Khlestakov on his knees, she becomes indignant and drives her daughter away. Khlestakov decides that “she is also very good” and again throws himself on his knees. He assures Anna Andreevna of eternal love and even goes so far as to ask for her hand, not paying attention to the fact that she is already married: “For love there is no difference... We will retire under the shadow of the streams... Your hand, I ask for your hand!”
Scene XIV
The mayor’s daughter runs in, seeing Khlestakov on his knees, and screams: “Oh, what a passage!” Khlestakov, in order to avoid a scandal, asks Anna Andreevna for her daughter’s hand in marriage.
Apparition XV
The out of breath mayor appears and begins to convince Khlestakov not to trust the merchants: they are deceiving the people, and the non-commissioned officer “flogged herself.” Anna Andreevna interrupts the mayor with good news. The mayor is beside himself with joy and blesses Khlestakov and Marya Antonovna.
Scene XVI
Osip reports that the horses are ready, and Khlestakov is in a hurry to leave. He tells the mayor that he is going to see a rich old man and promises to return back tomorrow. In parting, he kisses Marya Antonovna’s hand and once again asks the mayor for a loan.
Act five
Same room
Phenomenon I
Mayor, Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna.
The mayor's family rejoices, imagining a rich life in St. Petersburg. Anna Andreevna wants her “to have the first house in the capital and so that... there was such an aroma in the room, so that you couldn’t enter and you just had to close your eyes that way.”
Appearances II-VII
Everyone congratulates the mayor. He scolds the merchants for daring to complain. Now he has become an important person, and the merchants will not get off so easily - everyone must bring rich gifts to the wedding. The officials ask the mayor not to forget them in St. Petersburg, he promises, but Anna Andreevna is dissatisfied: there her husband will not have time to think about “all the small fry.”
Scene VIII
The postmaster appears with a printed letter in his hands. He tells amazing news - Khlestakov, who was mistaken for an auditor, was not one at all. The postmaster reads Khlestakov’s letter to a literary friend: “First of all, the mayor is stupid, like a gray gelding...”
Here the mayor interrupts the postmaster: this cannot be written there. The postmaster gives him the letter, then what is written goes from hand to hand, and everyone reads the unpleasant truth about themselves. The postmaster drinks bitter, Strawberry looks like a “pig in a yarmulke,” the superintendent of schools smells of onions, and the judge is “in the strongest degree bad manners.” “But by the way,” Khlestakov concludes the letter, “the people are hospitable and good-natured.”
Everyone is angry, especially the mayor, who is afraid that he will be placed in some kind of comedy. “What are you laughing at? You laugh at yourself,” he says. But Khlestakov can no longer be caught up: he was given the best horses. They begin to find out how it was possible to mistake “this helipad” for an auditor - it’s only because God took away his mind. Everyone blames Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, because it was they who brought the news about the auditor.
The last phenomenon
A gendarme enters: an official who has arrived from St. Petersburg is staying at the hotel and demands everyone to come to him.
Silent scene.
Act Three: Excellent Reception
The mayor's wife and daughter, Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna, have been waiting for Anton Antonovich for an hour now so that he can explain what happened, who came and why he ran away from home so quickly? Dobchinsky came running instead of the mayor. He said that a young official had arrived and would be with them soon. To all questions, satisfying women's curiosity, he praised Khlestakov as a very handsome, businesslike, educated man. The women are already fascinated and start getting dressed.
Meanwhile, Khlestakov himself is taken to all establishments, treated, fed, and shown the best places. He is pleased with everything and never ceases to praise the city and the mayor.
Anton Antonovich introduces Khlestakov to his family. The St. Petersburg official finally begins to understand who he was mistaken for, and in front of the ladies he shows himself doubly: he says that in the capital they take him for the commander-in-chief, they address him as “your excellency” and he is on friendly terms with Pushkin. Society believes all this and is finally convinced that he is an auditor. Everyone is delighted, and Marya Antonovna is sure that all evening Khlestakov only looked at her. Anna Antonovna tries to dispel her last doubts through Osip, but does not learn anything new.
Khlestakov falls asleep. The mayor demands that the police guard the house and not allow anyone outside, especially merchants.
