In this lesson, you will look at the structure of the city created by N.V. Gogol in The Inspector General, analyze the characters of its inhabitants, find out how the model of Russian social life is conveyed in The Inspector General, consider the role of non-stage characters in the play, find out what role Nicholas I played in the fate of the Inspector General.
The officials of this city personify all the most important aspects of Russian life:
court - judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin (Fig. 2);
Rice. 2. Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin ()
education - superintendent of schools Luka Lukich Khlopov (Fig. 3);
Rice. 3. Superintendent of Khlopov schools ()
social security - the trustee of charitable institutions Strawberry (Fig. 4);
Rice. 4. Strawberries ()
health care - doctor Gibner;
mail - postmaster Shpekin (Fig. 5);
Rice. 5. Postmaster Shpekin ()
policeman - Derzhimorda (Fig. 6).
Rice. 6. Policeman Derzhimorda ()
This is not quite accurate, not quite correct structure of the county town. A few decades after The Inspector General was printed and staged, Maksheev, the son of the mayor of the county town of Ustyuzhna, in his note pointed out some of Gogol's mistakes. He wrote:
“In a county town there cannot be a trustee of charitable institutions, since there were no charitable institutions themselves.”
But Gogol did not need at all (and Yuri Vladimirovich Mann writes about this very well in his book) to convey the real structure of the county town. For example, in a county town there must certainly be a bailiff, but Gogol does not have one. He does not need it, because there is already a judge. It was important for Gogol to create a model of the world, a model of Russian social life. Therefore, Gogol's city is a prefabricated city.
“In The Inspector General, I decided to put together everything that was bad in Russia, which I then knew. All the injustices that are done in those places and in those cases where justice is most required of a person. And laugh at everything at once."
In the 18th century, a satirical work depicted some separate place where injustices are committed, a certain island of evil. Outside of it, everything was right, everything was good. And good forces intervene and put things in order. For example, how Pravdin in Fonvizin's "Undergrowth" (Fig. 8) takes care of Prostakova's estate.
Rice. 8. D.I. Fonvizin ()
This is not the case with the Inspector. Throughout the vast expanse that is located outside the county town, the rules are still the same. Officials do not expect anything else, except for what they are accustomed to expect, what they are accustomed to seeing.
Yu.V. Mann (Fig. 9) writes very convincingly about what the situation of The Inspector General is and how it is played out by Gogol.
The life of Russian society seemed to Gogol a fragmented life, in which everyone has their own small interests and there is nothing in common. To solve the main problem, you need to find a common feeling that can unite everyone. And Gogol found this common feeling - fear. Fear unites everyone. Fear of a completely unknown, secret auditor.
It has long been noted that there is no positive hero in Gogol's play. He himself will say this 6-7 years after the play was finished, in his other play "Theatrical Journey" after the presentation of a new comedy. This is a great commentary on The Examiner:
"Laughter is the only honest face of comedy."
And about the city it says:
“From everywhere, from different corners of Russia, exceptions to the truth, error and abuse flocked here.”
But the truth itself is not shown in The Inspector General.
Gogol wrote to Pogodin in May 1836:
“The capital is ticklishly offended by the fact that the morals of six provincial officials have been deduced. What would the capital say if its own morals were brought out, even if only slightly?
Satirical plays before The Inspector General could touch on much higher realms. But this does not mean that such higher realms mentioned in the plays meant a greater degree of satire, a greater degree of exposure. Gogol, without encroaching on the highest positions of the Russian bureaucracy, speaks of six provincial officials, and their tricks, in general, are not God knows how dangerous and terrible. The mayor (Fig. 10) is a bribe taker, but is he really that dangerous?
Rice. 10. Mayor ()
The judge takes bribes with greyhound puppies. Strawberry, instead of feeding the sick with oatmeal soup, cooks cabbage for them. It's not about scale, it's about substance. And the essence is precisely this: this is a model of Russian life, nothing else can be. It is important.
It is curious that in 1846, more than ten years after finishing work on the play, Gogol wrote the denouement of The Inspector General.
In 1846, Gogol was completely captured by the idea of spiritual salvation, and not only his own, but also his fellow citizens. It seems to him that he is called to tell his compatriots some very important truth. Do not laugh at them, but tell them something that can guide them on the right path, on the straight path. And here is how he interprets his own play:
“The nameless city is the inner world of a person. Ugly officials are our passions, Khlestakov is our secular conscience. And the real auditor, about whom the gendarme reports, is our true conscience, which, in the face of inexorable death, puts everything in its place.
This is how the city of Gogol's comedy looks like.
Petersburg theme in The Government Inspector
Two people come from St. Petersburg to the county town - Khlestakov and his servant Osip. Each of them speaks of the delights of Petersburg life.
Osip describes life in St. Petersburg as follows:
“Life is subtle and political. Theaters, dogs dance for you and whatever you want. Everything is spoken in subtle delicacy. Haberdashery, damn it, getting around. Everyone says to you: "You." You are tired of walking - you take a cab, you sit yourself like a gentleman. And if you don’t want to pay him, if you please, every house has a through gate. And you will scurry so that no devil will find you.
Khlestakov (Fig. 11) says the following:
“Even you wanted to become a collegiate assessor. And the watchman was still following me up the stairs with a brush: “Excuse me, Ivan Sanych, can I clean your boots?”
I know pretty actresses.
On the table, for example, a watermelon, seven hundred rubles a watermelon. Soup in a saucepan, came straight from Paris on a steamboat.
I'm at balls every day. We had our own whist there: the foreign minister, the French envoy, the German envoy, and myself.
And for sure, it happened, I pass through the department - just an earthquake: everything is shaking, shaking like a leaf.
Rice. 11. Khlestakov ()
"Everything is shaking, shaking like a leaf" - it's the same fear.
The mayor and his wife Anna Andreevna are dreaming about Petersburg. The mayor admits that he is so seduced by life in St. Petersburg:
"There, they say, there are two fish - vendace and smelt."
Anna Andreevna (Fig. 12), of course, it all seems rude. She says:
“I want our house to be the first in St. Petersburg. And so that in my bedroom there was such an ambiance that you could enter only by closing your eyes.
Rice. 12. Wife and daughter of the mayor ()
Pay attention to how Khlestakov shines through and peeps through in their dreams. It is no coincidence that Khlestakov says:
"I'm everywhere! Everywhere…".
In "Dead Souls" Petersburg is given as an alluring center. About Khlestakov it is said "capital thing". Petersburg is a desirable and magical land. It is no coincidence that Bobchinsky (Fig. 13) will ask Khlestakov:
“Here you are, if you see any nobleman, and maybe even the sovereign himself, tell them that Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky lives in such and such a city, and nothing more.”
Rice. 13. Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky ()
This is another very curious motif in Gogol: a person who wants to signify his existence, to leave his mark on the world. Khlestakov is also a small person. He also dreams. And his dreams take the form of unbridled fantasy.
This is how the Petersburg theme highlights the prefabricated city.
Off-stage characters
In each play, not only those characters who enter the stage are very important, but also those whom we call off-stage. That is, they are mentioned, but they do not appear on the stage.
Let's start with the two most important for the composition of this play: Andrei Ivanovich Chmykhov, whose letter is read by the mayor at the beginning of the play, and Tryapichkin, a letter to which Khlestakov writes at the end of the fourth act.
Chmykhov's letter closes the play. Khlestakov's letter to Tryapichkin unleashes the line of the imaginary auditor.
It is curious that Gogol, in addition to fictional characters, mentions very real people, and living ones at that time: Smirdin is a publisher and bookseller, Zagoskin is the author of the novel "Yuri Miloslavsky", and Pushkin (Fig. 14). It is interesting to see how the first (rough) and second editions are combined.
In the Sovremennik Theater, a place with a mention of Pushkin was taken from the first edition, where Khlestakov says:
“With Pushkin on a friendly footing. I come to him, in front of him is a bottle of the best rum. He - clap a glass, clap another and went to write.
Rice. 14. A.S. Pushkin ()
This is not in the final version.
Andrei Mironov, who played the role of Khlestakov in the theater of satire, played this place like this:
“With Pushkin on a friendly footing. I come to him, I say: “Well, brother Pushkin, how is it? “Yeah, it’s kind of…”
In Yuri Vladimirovich Mann, in his wonderful book about Gogol called Works and Days (a very detailed and clever biography of Gogol), several very important pages are devoted to the relationship between Gogol and Pushkin.
The off-stage characters of The Inspector General are no different from those we see on stage. For example, Andrei Ivanovich Chmykhov, whose letter the mayor reads at the beginning of the first act, calls him an amiable godfather, friend and benefactor, a smart man, that is, one who does not like to miss what is directly floating into his hands.
An assessor is mentioned who smells as if he had just left the distillery. True, the assessor has an explanation why he has such a smell. It turns out that his mother hurt him in childhood.
Teachers, one of whom cannot manage without making a grimace, having ascended the pulpit, and the other explains with such fervor that he does not remember himself and breaks chairs.
NicholasIin the fate of the "Inspector"
“If it were not for the high intercession of the sovereign, my play would not have been on the stage for anything, and there were already people who were busy about banning it.”
Rice. 15. Nicholas I ()
From this, it is sometimes concluded that the play "The Inspector General" was initially banned. But it's not. There are no traces of prohibition of censorship in the documents. Moreover, the tsar generally did not like to cancel the decisions of his officials, official bodies, did not like to make exceptions to the laws. Therefore, it was much more difficult to lift the ban than to prevent it.
The Sovereign Emperor (Fig. 15) not only attended the premiere, but also ordered the ministers to watch The Inspector General. The memoirs of contemporaries noted the presence of certain ministers at the performance. The king was twice - at the first and third performances. During the performance, he laughed a lot, applauded, and leaving the box said:
"Well, play! Everyone got it, but I got it more than anyone. ”
At first, fears of censorship were very serious. And then Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky, Vielgorsky began to petition the sovereign for this play, of course, at the request of Gogol. The Inspector General was requested to the Winter Palace, and Count Mikhail Yuryevich Vielgorsky (Fig. 16), who was a member of the committee of the imperial theaters, read this play in the presence of the sovereign.
Rice. 16. M.Yu. Wielgorsky ()
The tsar really liked the stories of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky and the scene of the introduction of officials to Khlestakov. After the end of the reading, the highest permission to play a comedy followed.
This meant that the play was censored, but everyone already knew that the tsar liked the play. It was this that decided the fate of the Inspector General.
It is curious that Gogol did not ask for payment per performance, but a one-time payment. He received two and a half thousand rubles for his play. And later the tsar granted more gifts: rings to some actors and Gogol too.
Why did the tsar so clearly stand up for Gogol's comedy? It is not worth assuming that he did not understand the play. The king was very fond of the theatre. Perhaps he did not want to repeat the story with the play "Woe from Wit", which was banned. The king was very fond of comedies, loved jokes. The following episode is connected with The Inspector General: the tsar sometimes came backstage during the intermission. He saw the actor Petrov, who played the role of Bobchinsky (who speaks in the play "tell the sovereign that there is Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky") and said to him: “Ah, Bobchinsky. Okay, we'll know.". That is, thus supported the text of the play.
Of course, the tsar did not read the deep subtexts of Gogol's play, and did not need to. When the "Dead Souls" appeared, he told one of those close to him that he had already forgotten the "Inspector General".
In addition, the king is always more merciful and tolerant of his subjects. This game was not only loved by Nicholas I, the same was with Molière and Louis, up to Bulgakov and Stalin.
According to some researchers, based on the opinion of contemporaries, the king was also quite contemptuous of many of his officials. Having given Russia into the hands of bureaucrats, he himself treated these bureaucrats with contempt. Therefore, the tsar most likely liked the criticism of officials. If for Nicholas I this was just one of many episodes, then for Gogol it was a very important thing. And he referred to this many times, because for Gogol this is a model of the true relationship between power and the artist: power protects the artist, power listens to the artist, listens to him.
Immediately after Gogol's "Inspector General" appeared without a signature, but everyone knew that this was Prince Tsitsianov, a play called "The Real Inspector". There everything was following Gogol. One character with the surname Rulev was a real auditor and brought everyone to clean water. The mayor was removed from the management of the city for five years. The mayor's daughter fell in love with him, and a wedding was planned. The mayor becomes the image of the real auditor's father-in-law. But, as the history of literature shows us many times, one cannot save oneself by other people's finds. The play suffered a crushing failure and was withdrawn after three performances.
Bibliography
1. Literature. 8th grade. Textbook at 2 o'clock Korovin V.Ya. and others - 8th ed. - M.: Education, 2009.
2. Merkin G.S. Literature. 8th grade. Tutorial in 2 parts. - 9th ed. - M.: 2013.
3. Kritarova Zh.N. Analysis of works of Russian literature. 8th grade. - 2nd ed., corrected. - M.: 2014.
1. Website sobolev.franklang.ru ()
Homework
1. Tell us about the images of provincial officials depicted in the comedy The Inspector General.
2. What model of Russian social life does Gogol present to us in the play?
3. What perception of his play did Gogol come to in 1846, when he wrote the denouement to The Inspector General? What spiritual values did he speak about, in your opinion?
The events of N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General" take place in 1831 in a certain county town. As the mayor said about him, “Yes, from here, even if you ride for three years, you won’t reach any state.” This is an ordinary city, no different from other cities.
There is no order in this city: in hospitals, doctors walk dirty, the sick “look like blacksmiths” and smoke strong tobacco, and the doctors don’t even care about them: “if he dies, he will die like that, if he recovers, then he will recover anyway”, in in the courthouse, watchmen breed geese and dry clothes, the juror is always drunk “he smells like he just left the distillery”, and the judge writes a memorandum so that “Solomon himself will not allow what is true in it, and what not true". In educational institutions, when explaining the material, teachers sometimes make grimaces, sometimes they talk very emotionally, that is, they set a bad example for students. And the streets are dirty "I forgot that near that fence there were forty carts of all sorts of rubbish piled up."
But the life of people in this city is not easy. Especially to merchants whom officials rob in every possible way. The governors take everything that gets into their eyes. And he also "wait completely froze" the merchants. But not only the mayor was unfair to the merchants, but also to many others. For example, the mayor ordered to hand over a married man to the soldiers (and this is not according to the law) and deprive his wife of her husband. Although the man should have taken the tailor's son instead, his (tailor's) parents bribed the mayor. Or a completely innocent person, namely a non-commissioned officer, was flogged, and, moreover, for a mistake they also forced to pay a fine. This is the image of the county town.
And the top of this city, which should be a role model, consists of bribe-takers. For example, the mayor. He is the most important among the officials. City bribe taker and swindler. And also a stupid, low, arrogant and conceited person. He only has only one desire to tidy up everything that his eyes see. By the end of the comedy, he has become more susceptible to deception, and he, who was previously not easily deceived, becomes possible.
Judge Lyapkin - Tyapkin is also a bribe taker, only he takes bribes with greyhounds. He is a freethinker, very significant, a rogue and an atheist.
In N.V. Gogol's comedy The Inspector General, the county town is the prototype of any other town. Gogol was dissatisfied with the authorities for their injustice towards the people and non-compliance with laws, as well as their endless bribes, and created a parody of a modern county town.
Therefore, N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector" is a parody of a modern county town.
They stood in the same poses, In a silent strange silence. Do not describe their feelings in lines, Their thoughts are somewhere in the depths. Everyone has their own thoughts. But everyone is afraid of one thing - That their insidious deeds Now do not hide for anything. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky laments: "Swindler...
The main meaning of the comedy "The Government Inspector" is the merciless exposure of the structure of life, the rules and abuses of the officials of Nikolaev Russia, which is achieved by subtle and deep ridicule of the characters of the comedy. . Gogol's satirical laughter strikes the deduced...
In the comedy The Inspector General, N.V. Gogol, with great accusatory power, exposes the vices of society during the times of Tsarist Russia. In the center of his attention are representatives of the bureaucracy, and the author embodies their images in the characteristic characters of a small county...
The action of the comedy takes place in a certain county town, “from which you can jump for at least three years, you won’t reach any state”, in a ghost town that does not actually exist, but is a typical image of Russian county towns. For travelers...
The plot of the comedy "The Inspector General", as well as the plot of the immortal poem "Dead Souls", was presented to Gogol by A.S. Pushkin. Gogol had long dreamed of writing a comedy about Russia, ridiculing the shortcomings of the bureaucratic system, which are so good...
Gentlemen tourists! Today, an interesting excursion awaits you, during which we will find out how a typical county town of the 19th century lived in Russia. For that, we'll fast forward to N.V. Gogol's "Inspector".
I remind you that the county town is a small provincial town, located "in the middle of nowhere." No wonder Gogol's mayor says about him: "Yes, from here, even if you ride for three years, you will not reach any state."
However, people live here too, there are institutions that “ensure” this life. The city has a court, charitable and educational institutions, a post office, a police station, hotels, and so on. Let's look at all these institutions in order.
Let's start with the county court. Be careful, please, do not stumble - in the front of the watchman "they brought geese with small caterpillars that dart under their feet." Come straight into the presence, but do not pay attention to the arp and all the rubbish laid out here. Now we will talk with the assessor, who will tell us about the work of the court. Although ... no, it seems that today he is not able to do this - "there is such a smell from him, as if he had just left the distillery." Well... well, the work of the court fully illustrates the name of the judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin - everything here is done "bluff".
And let's better turn to charitable institutions. Now we are entering the hospital of this glorious city and on the threshold we meet the district doctor Christian Ivanovich Gibner arm in arm with Mr. Strawberry, the trustee of the charitable institutions of the city. Does the name of the doctor really symbolize the work of the hospital here too: patients mercilessly “die”, and the “sweet” and “naive” Strawberry does not want to notice anything?
Let's ask some of the simple patients. I'm sorry, what? Almost no treatment - "patients are dying like flies"?! Natural ways of healing - “a simple man: if he dies, then he will die anyway; if he recovers, then he will recover as well”?! The doctor "doesn't know a word of Russian"?!
Hmm ... let's visit educational institutions - quietly sneak into one of the classes. Oh, we were lucky, we got to the history lesson! But what is it - God, is it really a fire? Oh, no, don't worry, please, - it was the teacher who went so far as to talk about the exploits of Alexander the Great. Oh, and what kind of face does he have - “he cut such a face as I have never seen before”! It is not for nothing that the superintendent of educational institutions Khlopov (whose surname is derived from the word "khlop" - "serf", slave) is afraid that here "free-thinking thoughts are inspired by youth."
Phew, so many shocks in one day! And let's go to the post office - there should be "peace and quiet, God's grace" here. The postmaster Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin is also sitting at the table. But… what does he do? Opens letters and reads them?! And here’s one he put on his table! What is it - is not going to send it to its destination? Well ... it’s not without reason that the name of this official comes from the word “shpen” - “an obstinate person, across everyone, in the hindrance, an evil mocker.” And if you remember what role this hero played in the finale of The Inspector General, then his speaking surname will sound even louder.
Well, no less telling are the names of the "servants of order" - policemen Derzhimorda, Uvertov, Svistunov, who do not disdain to unfairly detain, beat the inhabitants of the city, give false testimony, and so on. The work of the police station in this city once again indicates the "style" of work of all officials and institutions - illegal, unfair, based on theft, fraud, corruption, injustice.
Confirmation of this is the fate of ordinary residents of the city: an unfortunate non-commissioned officer who was publicly flogged for nothing, a locksmith whose husband was unfairly "taken" into the army, merchants who were mercilessly robbed by the mayor and other officials.
Confirmation of this is the condition of the city streets (you can see for yourself what kind of dirt and devastation reigns here: the buildings have not been repaired for a long time, there is not a single new building in the city, and so on). I no longer risk inviting you to a hotel where, believe me, they will offer you such rooms and such a menu that "even the saints can stand."
Well, gentlemen tourists, I think our opinion is unanimous: life in a county town of the 19th century is like hell for ordinary residents and heaven for officials. After all, they live according to the principle of maximum benefit for their personal pocket, not at all thinking about fulfilling their true duties - caring for the improvement of the city and citizens. It is especially important that there were a great many such cities in Russia, which is why Gogol did not give the name to "his" county town. And it is also important that the laws of the existence of Gogol's officials have been preserved in our time, you yourself have noticed this, haven't you?
Subject lesson - "The image of the county town in the comedy of N.V. Gogol" The Government Inspector "
This lesson is the 2nd in the system of lessons, the previous topic is "Pages of Gogol's Life". Hence, it is a lesson in learning new material. The material is complex, as the whole Gogol is complex in general, and I know from experience how often incorrectly placed accents in the lesson form in the children a stable idea of him as a satirist-cartoonist. This should not be allowed, because. in the 9th grade, "Dead Souls" will be perceived in the same caricature form. It is from The Inspector General that it is necessary to begin to form an idea of Gogol as a writer-philosopher, with religious views. Realizing the importance of this lesson, I tried to build it in such a way that it would guide the perception in the following lessons both on the "Inspector General" and on the work of this writer in general.
The lesson uses the Treasure Hunt technology (working with the Internet), which allows you to develop the ability to work with information, properly organize its search and selection.
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Literature lesson in 8th grade.
Subject lesson - "The image of the county town in the comedy of N.V. Gogol" The Inspector General "
Target - to form an idea of the image of the city as an expression of deep authorial generalizations, reflections on human passions and vices.
Tasks:
To form an understanding of the need for reflection as a condition for the self-development of each person;
To form a reader's culture, developing an idea of the specifics of a dramatic work and the expression of the author's position in it;
Develop analytical skills based on working with the text of a dramatic work;
To form the ability to extract information from various sources: a textbook, the Internet;
Cultivate a value attitude towards the surrounding world (hometown).
Equipment:
Multimedia projector
Presentation for the lesson (Power Point)
Demo table
Handout: printed tables to fill out, sheets with questions,
fragments of the article by N.V. Gogol "Decoupling of the Inspector General"
Forms of work: individual work with sources: textbook, text of a work, collective solution of problematic issues, analytical collective and individual work, individual creative work with subsequent oral defense.
During the classes.
1. Organizational moment.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol…
This name entered the treasury of not only Russian, but also world literature.
One of the most mysterious writers of Russia. I invite you today to a dialogue with this great writer. No, not to a seance, but to a true dialogue, which is possible when we open a book and find ourselves in the artistic world of a work in which the great writer shared with us his most intimate thoughts and experiences and hopes that we will understand him.
So, the comedy "The Inspector". The place of action is the county town. What impression did this city make on you when you read the comedy?
(Answers of children).
It is difficult to express and explain why the image of the city makes such a painful impression. Today in the lesson we will try to figure it out.
Lesson topic: The image of the county town in N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector"
What do you think, for what purpose did N.V. Gogol depict this city, what feelings did he want to evoke in readers?
What strikes us so unpleasantly in this image of the city? What do we mean by "city"?
(Streets, buildings, various institutions, residents of the city: ordinary citizens and those who hold important positions, manage the life of the city, i.e. officials, the head of the city).
What do we see in the Gogol district town? I invite each group to work with the text of the work, consider different aspects of this city and draw conclusions. You have tables to help you with your work.
I suggest that you choose a leader in groups who will coordinate the work and, at the end of the work, will acquaint us with the conclusions.
1 gr. Considers the image of streets, buildings, institutions and writes out quotes from the text, draws a conclusion about the state of the city.
2 gr. Analyzes the images of ordinary residents of this city and answers the question: “How do the townspeople live here?”
3 and 4 gr. He examines the images of officials, also writes down his observations in a table and answers the question: “How do officials relate to their duties?”.
(Work of children in groups). Presentation by group leaders.
So, we saw a very ugly picture and now we can answer the question:
“Why is there a mess in the city, why is it so uncomfortable for ordinary citizens to live in it?”
(Answers of children).
How would you feel if you were in such a city?
What can you say about your hometown? What is he? If you had to portray him, what image would you create?
(children's answers)
What can each of you do to make your city even better, so that everyone in it can live calmly and comfortably? So that no one would say with Khlestakov’s words “What a nasty little town!”
Discuss in groups and give an answer.
We will return from our beautiful city to the county town of Gogol. Let's try to understand the author's thought: for what purpose did Gogol depict this unattractive town?
(children's answers)
Yes, that's right, this is exactly the opinion that develops when, after reading a play, we think about it. But it's not so simple. Especially in such a mysterious writer as Gogol.
Remember how in a work of art we can determine the author's position (title, epigraph, remarks).
Let's turn to the text.
The title is "Inspector". Who is an auditor? (children's answers)
Which epigraph opens the comedy? (children's answers)
"There is nothing to blame on the mirror, if the face is crooked"
The history of the appearance of the epigraph and some other changes in the text can help us get closer to understanding the hidden meaning of the comedy.
For further research, we needed to find information at home and answer some questions.
When was the play first performed?
How did the audience and the king react to her?
During how long did the author work on the comedy, what did he change in the final version?
Children's answers
Nicholas 1 said after the first performance of The Government Inspector: “What a play! Everyone got it, but me more than anyone! In Perm, the police demanded that the performance be stopped, and the mayor in Rostov-on-Don threatened to put the actors in jail. Gogol wrote about the staging of the comedy: “The action produced by it was great and noisy. Everything is against me. The elderly and respectable officials shout that nothing is sacred to me when I dared to speak like that about the people who serve. The police are against me, the merchants are against me…”
The epigraph did not appear immediately, but six years after the release of the comedy. It became Gogol's answer to numerous critics who literally attacked both the play itself and its author. They probably recognized themselves in the heroes of the comedy. After all, Gogol brought to the stage almost all Russian characters. The social vices generated by the feudal system were revealed - bribery, embezzlement, laziness, servility, and many others. Gogol showed them so vividly and convincingly that the comedy acquired the force of a document exposing the existing system.
Gogol added to the silent scene.
The famous one appeared: “Who are you laughing at? Laugh at yourself!"
How do you understand the meaning of the epigraph?
Let's reread the silent scene. Why did Gogol attach such great importance to the finale?
After what happens the numbness of officials?
What were they afraid of? After all, the mayor has seen many auditors in his lifetime.
Who announces the arrival of the auditor?
Look at the poster: is he among the characters?
Why, after such a rejection of his comedy, after insults, abuse, criticism that fell upon him, did Gogol make these changes?
(Answers of children).
And now I have a message for you from the past, from N.V. Gogol. This letter is an excerpt from the article "Reviewer's Denouement", where the writer reveals the secret of his comedy.
(read letter)
So what city did N.V. Gogol depict? (This is our "spiritual" city, in which passions and vices live and prevent this "city" of our soul from being beautiful, cozy, happy). What is Gogol calling us to? (to conduct a “revision” of our soul, i.e. work on our shortcomings, get rid of those qualities that prevent us from being better).
So let's sum it up.
The auditor is our conscience
Unscrupulous officials are our passions, vices.
The city is the soul, the inner world of man.
What is the author asking us to think about?
Write a 5-minute essay "How do I want my soulful city to be?"
(Song of the group "Aquarium" "Under the blue sky...")
D/z:
- Compare "The Government Inspector" with Derzhavin's poems "To Rulers and Judges" and N. Zabolotsky "Do not let your soul be lazy ...". What does The Inspector General have in common with these works?
- Read the article by Y. Mann and draw up a thesis plan.
- Write out remarks characterizing Khlestakov.
Material for the teacher.
Suggesting to the reader and viewer the thought of this trial was one of the main creative tasks of the writer. Therefore, the “silent scene” takes on a broad symbolic meaning, which is why it does not lend itself to any unambiguous interpretation. That is why the interpretation of the “silent scene” is so diverse. It is interpreted as an artistically embodied image of the Last Judgment, before which a person will not be able to justify himself with references to the fact that every smart person “has sins”; draw analogies between the “silent scene” and Karl Bryullov’s painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”, the meaning of which Gogol himself saw in the fact that the artist refers to the situation of a strong “crisis felt by the whole mass” on historical material. A similar crisis is experienced at the moment of shock by the characters of The Inspector General, like the heroes of Bryullov’s painting, when “the whole group, which stopped at the moment of impact and expressed thousands of different feelings,” is captured by the artist at the last moment of earthly existence. Already later, in 1846, in the dramatic passages “The denouement of the Inspector General”, Gogol offered a completely different interpretation of the “silent” scene. “Look closely at this city, which is displayed in the play! - says the First comic actor. “Everyone agrees to a single point that there is no such city in all of Russia ... Well, what if this is our spiritual city and it sits with each of us? .. Whatever you say, but the auditor who is waiting for us at coffin doors. As if you don't know who this auditor is? What to pretend? This auditor is our awakened conscience, which will make us suddenly and at once look with all eyes at ourselves. Nothing will hide before this auditor, because by the Nominal Supreme command he was sent and will announce it when it will not be possible to take even a step back. Suddenly it will open before you, in you, such a monster that a hair will rise from horror. It’s better to revise everything that is in us at the beginning of life, and not at the end of it.”
One way or another, but the appearance of a gendarme, announcing the arrival from St. Petersburg “by personal order” of the already present auditor, “strikes everyone like a thunderbolt,” the author’s remark says. - The sound of amazement unanimously emanates from the ladies' lips; the whole group, suddenly changing position, remains in petrification.
The Silent Scene also has a very important compositional role. At the moment of reading the letter, that which bound the characters throughout the entire stage action, fear, disappears, and the unity of people disintegrates before our eyes. The terrible shock that the news of the arrival of the true auditor produced on everyone again unites people with horror, but this is no longer the unity of living people, but the unity of lifeless fossils. Their muteness and frozen poses show the exhaustion of the heroes in their fruitless pursuit of a mirage. That is why it cannot be said that officials will accept the new auditor in the same way as Khlestakov: their exhaustion in mirage life is too deep and final. This allows us to talk about the final transition of the comic into the tragic in the “silent scene”.
