Previous. Khlestakov and the mayor: comparative characteristics Khlestakov and the mayor comparative characteristics table

It would seem difficult to imagine more different heroes than
Khlestakov and the mayor in N.V. Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General”. A bunch of
their differences from each other are immediately striking. In my own way
social status, the heroes are far removed from each other and
in the normal course of events they should not occur at all. Mayor
- a man “aged in service”, he began his career
from the lower ranks and all his life, hard but steadily rose through
career ladder until he took the main position in the district
city. Anton Antonovich firmly established himself in this post, tidied up
the whole town is in control and no one is going to do it anytime soon
give up power. Khlestakov, on the contrary, has a small rank, “elis-
a simple waste,” in the words of his servant Osip, and even then he failed
stay in one of the St. Petersburg offices and, after walking
with his father's money, he is forced to return to the village.
The characters' characters are quite consistent with their position. Mayor
behaves respectably, his speech is leisurely and serious, his words
significant. He is an experienced man, he knows how to portray an honest and simple-minded man
campaigner, so you won’t immediately guess that it’s big
rogue The mayor is cunning and calculating; he does not deal with ordinary people.
stands on ceremony, but can, if necessary, look polite. Khlestakov
but he is an “empty” person, “without a king in his head,” he is absolutely
does not think about the consequences of his words and thoughts. Khlestakov is driven by
primitive thirst for pleasure, which he reports completely
openly: “After all, you live to pick flowers of pleasure.”
Gogol emphasized that his hero is not at all a clever swindler,
but just an extremely frivolous young man.
The appearance of the characters is also quite consistent with their personalities.
The respectable mayor has a short haircut and is dressed in a uniform, and Khlestakov
spends his last money on a fashionable hairstyle and “particular
dress,” just to throw dust in the eyes of the neighboring landowners.
In a word, at first glance the heroes are completely different in social
position, both in character and in appearance. And still
something unites them, otherwise Khlestakov would not have been able to settle on
rights of a dear guest in the mayor's house and for some time it was as if
change places with the "city father". There is, of course, a specific
the reason for this turn of events is the “unpleasant news” that
that an auditor from St. Petersburg should secretly come to the city. However
Khlestakov looks so little like an important official that the experienced
The mayor should have seen through it right away. No route from St. Petersburg
into the village, neither the capital's costume could be introduced for a long time
the mayor is misled. The reason for the long-standing misunderstanding
lies elsewhere.
Let's remember how the heroes behave when they first meet. They are both
tremble with fear of each other, and fear, as we know, has “eyes
great." What causes mutual fear between Khlestakov and the mayor?
Khlestakov never thought in advance about responsibility for
your actions. In St. Petersburg, he was engaged not in service, but in entertainment,
spent his father's money in a week and then sent Osip
sell a new tailcoat at a flea market. On the way home Khlestakov
lost completely at cards and by the time he met with the mayor he had already
the second week I lived in a hotel on credit. Naturally he was scared
arrival of an important person, because he decided that he was being arrested and sent
to jail.
The reasons for the mayor’s fear are much more serious. Already from the first
action comedy it becomes clear to us that a high position
for Anton Antonovich - a means of illegal enrichment.
The mayor shamelessly takes bribes, robs merchants, commits arbitrariness,
embezzles government money and does not care about execution
service, but about concealing their crimes. The rest are a match for the boss
officials in the city: a judge dealing primarily
hunting, trustee of hospitals where people recover “like flies”,
a postmaster who reads other people's letters out of curiosity... Such subordinates
only add fear, and do not calm the mayor.
As a result, general fear gives rise to a completely absurd situation:
Khlestakov begins to babble some fantastic nonsense
about their significance, and the officials, led by the mayor, play along
him, imagining that they managed to escape from the auditor. They even rejoice
when Khlestakov, becoming more and more impudent, takes bribes from them. Khlestakov himself
poorly understands why the mayor and officials are creeping
in front of him, the townspeople make some petitions, so
even Osip is forced to notice to the owner that, apparently, he was mistaken for
someone else's. Having listened to the advice of a clever servant, Khlestakov
leaves the city, and manages to blithely propose
daughter of the mayor and receive the blessing of her parents. Like
the type of behavior received the name after the publication of the comedy
"Khlestakovism". It is curious that the mayor also becomes infected with “Khlestakovism”
": having seen off his future son-in-law, this experienced campaigner suddenly
begins to fantasize about the rank of general, orders, secular
life in St. Petersburg is no worse than Khlestakov. The more devastating it is
the mayor's unexpected discovery that Khlestakov was not
auditor, but “icicle”, “rag”.
So, we are convinced that, despite the obvious differences between the heroes
in social status and character, they are united by fear of
punishment for dishonest acts. Gorodnichy and Khlestakov makes
their selfishness, reluctance to work conscientiously, habit
live at the expense of others. Gogol emphasizes that such types are not
the exception, but the rule. Mayor, Khlestakov and all the other heroes
comedies only submit to those unjust orders that
reign in Russia. They are accustomed to living by deception and therefore they themselves often
find themselves deceived. It wasn’t Khlestakov who outwitted and scared
mayor and officials, and they themselves were confused in their own
fears and lies.

Khlestakov and Gorodnichy are the two main characters of the comedy, very bright images that have a lot in common. Gogol concentrated the main features of the era in their characters.

The main quality that unites the heroes is that they are both scammers. Both, old and young, are carriers of typical negative traits and even their names are considered common nouns today. Both love power, they like it when people fawn on them. Both are selfish, do not want to work honestly and want to live at the expense of others.

Mayor Skoznik-Dmukhanovsky at least worked and achieved the position

in his declining years. He is much smarter than the false auditor - “he deceived three governors!” And the fool Khlestakov is accustomed to living in idleness, idleness, drunkenness and laziness: “Without a king in his head, he speaks and acts without any consideration.” Born a nobleman, he has every opportunity for self-improvement and education, but prefers to lead a riotous lifestyle: “After all, you live to pick flowers of pleasure.”

Khlestakov was unable to hold on to the smallest official position, squandered his father’s money and was forced to return to the village. Unlike the Mayor, who from the very bottom rose to a high position in 30 years. Anton Antonovich dresses in a uniform and cuts his hair short. And Khlestakov, on the contrary, spends his last money on a special dress and a fashionable hairstyle. But in their dreams of a better life, they are similar - they dream of the admiration of others.

It was the fear of punishment for misdeeds that both characters experienced in front of each other at the time of their first meeting that did not allow the heroes to see the true essence of their interlocutor. Khlestakov feared that he would be sent to prison for debts, and Gorodnichy was afraid of punishment for illegal activities.

The worst thing is that such characters are not the exception, but the rule in bureaucratic life. They are used to living by deception, which is why it turned out to be so easy to deceive them.

Other works on this topic:

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Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General" was a resounding success among the democratically minded public and sharp rejection by those who saw themselves in the characters.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol managed to create truthful images of almost real-life heroes. The brightest in the gallery of comedy images are Gorodnichy and Khlestakov. Despite the age difference, they are very similar. Both are scammers. But if Skvoznik-Dukhanovsky is wise with experience, an inveterate bribe-taker and embezzler, then Khlestakov is one of the young and early. Despite his young age, he had already managed to corrupt his soul with idleness, drunkenness and a real hatred of work. Khlestakov is perhaps worse than the mayor. Tom had to achieve everything in life himself. In his old age, he rose to the rank of mayor and now wants to get the greatest benefit from his service.

Khlestakov is a nobleman by birth, the path to education and service for the good of the fatherland is open to him, but he preferred an idle and riotous life. In a small work, Gogol was able to bring out typical characters that for many years became common names for bribe-takers, slackers and liars. It is not for nothing that this creation of Gogol is called immortal.

Feeling. This spring gave the audience a meeting with a real masterpiece. More than 160 years have passed since then, but the comedy “The Inspector General” has not lost its relevance and its sound today. You don't have to look far for examples. Let's remember the negative heroes of popular "police" TV series - what about Gogol's heroes, who only became more cold-blooded and cruel?

Gogol himself noted that Khlestakov is the most difficult character in the play. In his recommendations for the actor who played this role, Gogol reveals the character of this character quite deeply. Khlestakov accomplished all his exploits in the district town completely unintentionally. Khlestakov can be compared to a ballet dancer - moving through the space of the play, he enlivens the course of the entire action and acts as a real engine for the plot development of the comedy. Khlestakov brilliantly played the role of an auditor in front of district officials, only by the middle of the fourth act he began to understand that he was being taken for a somewhat “statesman.” How does the false auditor feel about this? It seems nothing.

Khlestakov’s behavior amazes all officials of the district city. In their opinion, the auditor is very cunning and resourceful and you need to keep an eye out for him. It is characteristic that it never occurred to anyone that Khlestakov was simply a desperate liar. IN
In each of the situations created, he behaves like a brilliant actor. One can imagine how difficult it was for the theater actor who played the role of Khlestakov for the first time - an actor playing an auditor.
Khlestakov should not be regarded as an evil or cruel person. By himself, he is completely harmless, and those around him can make anything out of him: even an incognito person from St. Petersburg, and even with a secret order, or even an insignificant metropolitan official. The uniqueness of Khlestakov’s character, or rather, lack of character, lies in the fact that he has virtually no memory of the past and no thought about the future. Khlestakov is focused on the present moment, and within this minute he is able to achieve the highest artistry. He changes his appearance with ease and even some grace. Among district officials entirely drawn from life, this completely fictional character makes an unforgettable impression. We can probably say that for county officials such a terrible event as the arrival of an auditor from the capital was like a kind of holiday: creepy, but interesting. Khlestakov is scary to them and arouses their admiration simply because he does not look at all like a person capable of cruelly punishing the guilty.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol knew well the life of petty St. Petersburg officials, which allowed him to give an exaggerated and collective type of superficially educated fanfare in the image of Khlestakov. Khlestakov gladly uses, for the sake of the beauty of the style, poorly understood French words picked up from someone, cliches of the fiction of that time. At the same time, vulgar expressions are also found in Khlestakov’s speech. Gogol made Khlestakov’s remarks abrupt: this character is spiritually poor and completely unable to focus his attention on anything. Gogol's contemporary Apollo Grigoriev gave a characterization of this character: “Khlestakov, like a soap bubble, inflates under the influence of favorable circumstances, grows in his own eyes and the eyes of officials, becomes bolder and bolder in boasting...”

The influence of the comedy "The Inspector General" on Russian society was enormous. The surname Khlestakov began to be used as a common noun. And Khlestakovism began to be called any unrestrained phrase-mongering, lies, shameless boasting combined with extreme frivolity. Gogol managed to penetrate into the very depths of the Russian national character, extracting from there the image of the false inspector - Khlestakov. According to the author of the immortal comedy, every Russian person becomes Khlestakov at least for a minute, regardless of his social status, age, education, and so on. In my opinion, overcoming Khlestakovism in oneself can be considered one of the main ways of self-improvement for each of us.

The mayor gives the last instructions: “... hastily sweep away the old fence... and put up a straw pole so that it looks like the layout,” remove the garbage, which “is piled on forty carts,” and most importantly, if the visiting official asks: “Are you satisfied?” is it?”, answer: “We are happy with everything, your honor.” At the same time, he himself exclaims: “What a nasty city this is!”

But the most unpleasant thing is that the auditor must come incognito, that is, every new person in the city can be suspected. The choice falls on the first visitor who comes across, who checks into a local hotel. Before Khlestakov appears on stage, we learn everything about him from his servant Osip. This is a collegiate registrar (“a simple Elistra-Tishka”), who ran away from St. Petersburg for two months: “I squandered some expensive money, my dear, now he sits with his tail curled and doesn’t get excited.” Having checked into the hotel, Khlestakov had already managed to taste the “delights” of local life. Therefore, he cannot understand what kind of delegation led by the mayor came to him. As a result, “both look at each other in fright for several minutes, their eyes bulging.” Khlestakov and the mayor are deathly afraid of each other - this is evidenced by the remarks: “timid”, “brave”, “stretched out and trembling with the whole body”, etc.
But how everything changes when Khlestakov finally realizes what is happening! He calls on all his uncontrollable imagination to help and tries to make the most of the current situation. He happily accepts bribes, hypocritically pretending that he is taking a “loan.” He charms the mayor’s wife and daughter, who are so stupid that they easily fall for this bait: “Oh, how nice!” - says one, “Oh, cutie!” - exclaims another.
Khlestakov lies so inspiredly that he almost begins to believe in his own inventions. Officials, trembling with fear of the “formidable auditor,” do not even think about whether this could actually happen.

Khlestakov proposes to Marya Antonovna (the mayor cannot even believe in such happiness). However, the horses are ready, and the happy groom is about to leave: “For one minute only... for one day to visit my uncle - a rich old man; and back tomorrow.”
Khlestakov leaves, and then it turns out that it was not the auditor at all. Moreover, it turns out in the usual way for local morals: the postmaster, as usual, opened Khlestakov’s letter. After reading the letter, from which the officials learned what Khlestakov really thought about them, after searching for the culprits of everything that happened, what should have happened happened: a real auditor arrived.

The comedy ends with a silent scene. And for some reason it seems that at that moment not only the heroes of the play froze - all of Russia froze before the crushing truth thrown in its face by the brilliant Master.

Comparative Khlestakov and the mayor

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General" was a resounding success among the democratically minded public and sharp rejection by those who saw themselves in the characters.

very similar. Both are scammers. But if Skvoznik-Dukhanovsky is wise with experience, an inveterate bribe-taker and embezzler, then Khlestakov is one of the young and early. Despite his young age, he had already managed to corrupt his soul with idleness, drunkenness and a real hatred of work. Khlestakov is perhaps worse than the mayor. Tom had to achieve everything in life himself. In his old age, he rose to the rank of mayor and now wants to get the greatest benefit from his service.

characters who for many years became household names for bribe-takers, slackers and liars. It is not for nothing that this creation of Gogol is called immortal.

The appearance of the comedy "The Inspector General" in 1836 caused an uplifting and exciting feeling in society. This spring gave the audience a meeting with a real masterpiece. More than 160 years have passed since then, but the comedy “The Inspector General” has not lost its relevance and its sound today. You don't have to look far for examples. Let's remember the negative heroes of popular "police" TV series - what about Gogol's heroes, who only became more cold-blooded and cruel?

All his exploits in the district town were completely unintentional. Khlestakov can be compared to a ballet dancer - moving through the space of the play, he enlivens the course of the entire action and acts as a real engine for the plot development of the comedy. Khlestakov brilliantly played the role of an auditor in front of district officials, only by the middle of the fourth act he began to understand that he was being taken for a somewhat “statesman.” How does the false auditor feel about this? It seems nothing.

just a desperate liar. In each of the situations that arise, he behaves like a brilliant actor. One can imagine how difficult it was for the theater actor who played the role of Khlestakov for the first time - an actor playing an auditor.

Khlestakov should not be regarded as an evil or cruel person. By himself, he is completely harmless, and those around him can make anything out of him: even an incognito person from St. Petersburg, and even with a secret order, or even an insignificant metropolitan official. The uniqueness of Khlestakov’s character, or rather, lack of character, lies in the fact that he has virtually no memory of the past and no thought about the future. Khlestakov is focused on the present moment, and within this minute he is able to achieve the highest artistry. He changes his appearance with ease and even some grace. Among district officials entirely drawn from life, this completely fictional character makes an unforgettable impression. We can probably say that for county officials such a terrible event as the arrival of an auditor from the capital was like a kind of holiday: creepy, but interesting. Khlestakov is scary to them and arouses their admiration simply because he does not look at all like a person capable of cruelly punishing the guilty.

“... hastily sweep away the old fence... and put up a straw pole so that it looks like the layout,” remove the garbage, which “is piled on forty carts,” and most importantly, if a visiting official asks: “Are you satisfied?”, answer : “Everyone is happy, your honor.” At the same time, he himself exclaims: “What a nasty city this is!”

local hotel. Before Khlestakov appears on stage, we learn everything about him from his servant Osip. This is a collegiate registrar (“a simple Elistra-Tishka”), who ran away from St. Petersburg for the second month: “He squandered some expensive money, my dear, now he sits with his tail curled and doesn’t get excited.” Having checked into the hotel, Khlestakov had already managed to taste the “delights” of local life. Therefore, he cannot understand what kind of delegation led by the mayor came to him. As a result, “both look at each other in fright for several minutes, their eyes bulging.” Khlestakov and the mayor are deathly afraid of each other - this is evidenced by the remarks: “timid”, “brave”, “stretched out and trembling with the whole body”, etc.

But how everything changes when Khlestakov finally realizes what is happening! He calls on all his uncontrollable imagination to help and tries to make the most of the current situation. He happily accepts bribes, hypocritically pretending that he is taking a “loan.” He charms the mayor’s wife and daughter, who are so stupid that they easily fall for this bait: “Oh, how nice!” - says one, “Oh, cutie!” - exclaims another.

Khlestakov lies so inspiredly that he almost begins to believe in his own inventions. Officials, trembling with fear of the “formidable auditor,” do not even think about whether this could actually happen.

Khlestakov leaves, and then it turns out that it was not the auditor at all. Moreover, it turns out in the usual way for local morals: the postmaster, as usual, opened Khlestakov’s letter. After reading the letter, from which the officials learned what Khlestakov really thought about them, after searching for the culprits of everything that happened, what should have happened happened: a real auditor arrived.

I liked Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General” because in it the author managed to create a consistent image of Khlestakov, an integral character, the main features of which I find in myself. In my opinion, Khlestakov is sharply different from all other comedy characters. All the characters except Khlestakov have much more similarities than differences, and Khlestakov is the “black sheep” among them.
Frankness, risk-taking, insane optimism and constant exposure to pleasant delusions are the qualities that distinguish him from others. It is not difficult for me to explain the motives for Khlestakov’s actions. The character of the Governor remains an insoluble mystery for me. The mayor is a personality diametrically opposed to me, and therefore I can put forward a variety of hypotheses regarding the motives of his actions.
Khlestakov is an unusually brave man. He is not in awe of higher officials. He takes risks playing cards and loses all his money. In his extraordinary simplicity, he tells everyone about his passion for playing cards, without fear of looking stupid and undignified. In his insane courage, possessed by a passionate feeling, he declares his love to a married woman, the Mayor’s wife, despising all the conventions invented by people; just as boldly, carried away by a new fleeting feeling, he kisses and hugs her daughter, offering her his hand and heart. Only in the fourth act does Khlestakov begin to realize that those around him mistook him for a government official, but even after that he is in no hurry to flee the city, without fear of being exposed, because with all the strength of his soul he does not want to part with his pleasant delusion that everything these people helped him from the bottom of their hearts, lent him money and fed him because of their good nature. He is also brave at the end of the play, when he dreams of publishing in print everything he thinks about high-ranking officials, and is not afraid to arouse their rage.
The reason for Khlestakov’s courage is his boundless optimism. He unshakably believes that happiness awaits him ahead, that good luck and pure pleasure will always fall upon him. Having lost all his money at cards and received a loan, he again dreams of playing cards with the same captain who left him penniless. He always consoles himself with the hope of success and does not want to guess about the failures that must befall him. After all, logic says: “Since the captain left me penniless, then he plays, therefore, better than me, and it is unreasonable to play with him again.” But Khlestakov does not listen to the voice of logic.
That is why Khlestakov is the embodiment of stupidity. All his thoughts and beliefs are erroneous and have nothing to do with harsh reality. Indulging himself with pleasant delusions, deceiving himself is one of his strongest passions. High officials tremble before him, they are afraid of him, but he does not notice it. They feed him and lend him money, but he still has no idea that he has been mistaken for a statesman, and thinks that they are all the kindest people, feeding and pleasing him “from the bottom of their hearts, and not just out of interest.” (Act four, scene two). Khlestakov's stupidity and his complete ignorance of people are so great that almost until the end of the play he does not realize that everyone mistook him for an inspector. Out of his good nature, he wants to enjoy life himself and also give pleasure to other people, but he mistakenly considers the people around him to be similar to him. And the people around us are actually constrained by conventions and moral prohibitions. For Khlestakov, the word “impossible” does not exist, but for them this word is of great importance. But even when Marya Antonovna makes it clear that she does not intend to allow herself to be hugged and kissed, does not intend to give him pleasure, and, therefore, she is not like him, Khlestakov still consoles himself with the erroneous thought that she can make him happy.
It would be a mistake to consider Khlestakov a callous person, indifferent to the suffering of other people. He has a kind, compassionate heart, and therefore it pains him to hear about the suffering of people when he cannot do anything to help these suffering people. They mistakenly took him for an auditor and came to ask him to punish their offenders and oppressors. But in fact, he had no power, and he could not help them in any way - he had no authority to send the villain Gorodnichy either to prison or to Siberia. That's what upset him. That’s why, hearing about people’s grief, he shouts: “We’re tired, damn it! Don’t let me in, Osip.” He, of course, feels sorry for himself and avoids grief, but he also feels sorry for other people. I think that Khlestakov would listen to all of them and help them if he actually had great state power, and would experience great pleasure at the same time, then he would boast about his exploits, telling all the pretty women about how he helped the oppressed and took revenge on them offenders, restoring justice, thereby earning great glory and gratitude among these offended.
Frankness, talkativeness, simplicity and extraordinary truthfulness also sharply distinguish Khlestakov from Gorodnichy. Khlestakov has almost nothing to hide, because, wanting to enjoy himself, he is always happy to give pleasure to other people. His optimism, which has grown to a painful state, makes him unshakably believe that in the future he will definitely get rich, win back at cards and be able to return all the money that these good people lent him. In my opinion, he feels a deep sense of gratitude to them for helping him out in difficult times, and intends to return all this money to them as soon as he has the opportunity. That is why he so persistently tries to refuse gifts, calling these gifts the word “bribe,” and that is why he asks to lend him money, intending to immediately repay the debts as soon as such an opportunity arises. I almost completely agree with the characterization of Khlestakov given by Gogol: “Having no desire to deceive, he himself forgets that he is lying. It already seems to him that he really did all this. Khlestakov is not being fooled at all; he is not a liar by trade; he himself forgets that he is lying, and already almost believes what he says.” In my opinion, Khlestakov lies only to himself, but not to other people. He says what he thinks, but he is sincerely mistaken. Since, with the help of his friend Tryapichkin, he dreams of revealing all his thoughts and observations in the press, it means that he does not want to have secrets from people. In his stories, Khlestakov perhaps exaggerated something a little, but basically there is no reason to consider him a liar and not to believe him. If such an intelligent person as the Mayor could mistake him for an auditor, then why, strictly speaking, could not ordinary soldiers mistake him for the commander-in-chief? I think they could very well. Being so sharply different from other people, Khlestakov, of course, attracts everyone's attention, and there is nothing implausible in the fact that the boss could invite him to dinner. It is quite possible that it has become fashionable to constantly make fun of and mock Khlestakov, saying to him “your excellency,” because Khlestakov is always pleased when people around him laugh, even if they laugh at him. Perhaps he even intended to marry Marya Antonovna at the moment when he proposed his hand and heart to her, but the next day he changed his mind, because he fell even more deeply in love with another woman, who seemed even more beautiful to him. He could love a hundred women with all his heart, and it is not his fault that Russian customs and prejudices prohibit polygamy.
Khlestakov is also distinguished from all other people by the fact that he is bored of living the way other people live, and no amount of money can make him happy. To be happy, he needs extraordinary adventures. He needs something so extraordinary to happen to him that has never happened to any other person, so that he can then tell everyone about this extraordinary adventure and lead his listeners into extreme surprise and amazement. Surprising people, creating a sensation is also one of his passions.
Water and stone, ice and fire are not as different from each other as Khlestakov and Gorodnichy. I don't know if there is any similarity between them at all. In contrast to Khlestakov, Gorodnichy is a very cowardly person, he trembles all the time with fear of the authorities, fearing most of all that his vile deeds will become known. A bribe-taker and embezzler, he fears legal punishment for dishonest performance of his duties.
In contrast to Khlestakov, Gorodnichy is a pessimist. Even when Khlestakov proposes to his daughter, for a long time he cannot believe in the happiness of becoming related to a higher government official.
The mayor is smart in his own way. He is observant and knows people, and therefore people are at his mercy. He steals and breaks the law himself, and allows others to break the law. If Khlestakov is mistaken in thinking well of people, then the Mayor has no such illusions and knows that most officials strive only for personal enrichment, that they are all thieves and bribe-takers, cruel and ruthless people like him. The mayor is mistaken only in that supposedly there is no person who does not have some sins behind him. If the Governor plays cards, he plays only with a weaker player: he won a hundred rubles from Luka Lukich. The mayor is smart, since not a single merchant, not a single contractor could fool him. Why did the Governor make a mistake when he mistook Khlestakov for an auditor? Yes, only because Khlestakov is so different from Gorodnichy that Gorodnichy could not even imagine that people like Khlestakov could exist in the real world. The mayor will not be able to understand how one can be so bold as not to be timid in front of the authorities; will not be able to understand how one can despise money so much as to risk playing cards for money without knowing the player, and lose all the money at cards to the last penny; will not be able to understand how one can be so stupid as to believe that the world is full of kind rich people who will selflessly help you in trouble, feed you the best dishes from their table and lend you money when you are left penniless, having lost all the money at cards; will not be able to understand how a person can be bored with an unlimited amount of money; will not be able to understand how one can live and never lie; will not be able to understand how pleasant it can be to make people laugh, to be the reason for their laughter. In contrast to Khlestakov, Gorodnichy is a cruel and ruthless person. Compassion for another person is completely absent in him; for example, he does not feel at all sorry for a poor person who is not willing to be treated with expensive medicines for free. But this is not the only contrast between Khlestakov and Gorodnichy. If Khlestakov likes it when people laugh, and he wants his friend Tryapichkin to “die laughing,” then for Gorodnichy to become the cause of everyone’s laughter is a tragedy. That is why I am sure that the Governor is a very evil person. A kind person would laugh at himself wholeheartedly along with those around him, having learned what a stupid mistake he made by mistaking the “helicopter” for an auditor. He is saddened by the thought that some “bugomaraka” will write a comedy about him that will bring a lot of joy to people. A good person, on the contrary, would be glad that a comedy would be written about him, which would bring so much laughter and fun to all of humanity. That is why I have great doubts about Gogol Gorodnichy’s assessment that he supposedly “has no malicious desire to oppress,” but “only has a desire to take away everything that his eyes can see.”
In contrast to Khlestakov, Gorodnichy is a liar by profession. He lies that he did not flog the non-commissioned officer's widow; lies that he does not take bribes, that he is hospitable and does not have this vice - flattery; lies that he never plays cards, considers it an unworthy activity, does not even know how to play them, after which Khlestakov again reveals his straightforward truthfulness, and, defending this game from the attacks of the Governor, says that sometimes it is very tempting for him to play . In contrast to Khlestakov, Gorodnichy is afraid of sensation. Not only does he not crave fame, but he is afraid that some writer will write the whole truth about him as it is. If Khlestakov can tell absolutely everything about himself, then for Gorodnichy it is deadly if people find out about him even an insignificant part of the vile deeds that he committed.
So, I absolutely cannot find anything similar between Khlestakov and Gorodnichy. Since Khlestakov is very stupid, it would seem that due to his stupidity he cannot bring any benefit to people, and this, it would seem, is his similarity with the Governor. But taking revenge on the villain - isn’t this a great useful thing? But it was precisely because of his stupidity, without wanting it, that Khlestakov took revenge on this scoundrel Gorodnichy for the tears of the beaten non-commissioned officer’s widow, and for the tears of the robbed merchants, and for all the other meanness of this liar and scoundrel. After all, Khlestakov still thinks about Gorodnichny that he is a good-natured person and, probably, laughs at himself with all his heart, recognizing himself in the comedy that Tryapichkin wrote. The fate of all liars is in the lake of fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The more the Mayor is punished, the better! Only terrible torment can probably turn him into a good person, and the theory of non-resistance to evil through violence is an erroneous theory. Evil must be avenged.
What can save Khlestakov from his only shortcoming - enormous stupidity? Only ascetic effort on oneself, only voluntary renunciation of any pleasures, only voluntary crucifixion of all one’s lusts and passions. But does Khlestakov need to torture himself voluntarily, forbidding himself to do what he wants, and forcing himself to do what he doesn’t want, even in the name of getting rid of his stupidity? After all, Khlestakov is sinless, he has never offended a single innocent person. So will it be fair if he suffers, even if he tortures himself voluntarily? Even today I find it difficult to answer this question.

2002 Vladimir Fomin,
student