Which works of Russian classics depict the morals of bureaucracy and in what ways do these works have something in common with Gogol’s “The Inspector General”? (Unified State Examination in Literature). Images of officials in “Dead Souls” In what works are images of officials created?
Relevance of images
In the artistic space of one of Gogol's most famous works, landowners and people in power are connected with each other. Lies, bribery and the desire for profit characterize each of the images of officials in Dead Souls. It’s amazing with what ease and ease the author draws essentially disgusting portraits, and so masterfully that you don’t doubt for a minute the authenticity of each character. Using the example of officials in the poem “Dead Souls,” the most pressing problems of the Russian Empire of the mid-19th century were shown. In addition to serfdom, which hampered natural progress, the real problem was the extensive bureaucratic apparatus, for the maintenance of which huge sums were allocated. People in whose hands power was concentrated worked only to accumulate their own capital and improve their well-being, robbing both the treasury and ordinary people. Many writers of that time addressed the topic of exposing officials: Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Dostoevsky.
Officials in "Dead Souls"
In “Dead Souls” there are no separately described images of civil servants, but nevertheless, the life and characters are shown very accurately. Images of city N officials appear from the first pages of the work. Chichikov, who decided to pay a visit to each of the powerful, gradually introduces the reader to the governor, vice-governor, prosecutor, chairman of the chamber, police chief, postmaster and many others. Chichikov flattered everyone, as a result of which he managed to win over every important person, and all this is shown as a matter of course. In the bureaucratic world, pomp reigned, bordering on vulgarity, inappropriate pathos and farce. Thus, during a regular dinner, the governor’s house was lit up as if for a ball, the decoration was blinding, and the ladies were dressed in their best dresses.
The officials in the provincial town were of two types: the first were subtle and followed the ladies everywhere, trying to charm them with bad French and greasy compliments. Officials of the second type, according to the author, resembled Chichikov himself: neither fat nor thin, with round pockmarked faces and slicked hair, they looked sideways, trying to find an interesting or profitable business for themselves. At the same time, everyone tried to harm each other, to do some kind of meanness, usually this happened because of the ladies, but no one was going to fight over such trifles. But at dinners they pretended that nothing was happening, discussed Moscow News, dogs, Karamzin, delicious dishes and gossiped about officials of other departments.
When characterizing the prosecutor, Gogol combines the high and the low: “he was neither fat nor thin, had Anna on his neck, and it was even rumored that he was introduced to a star; however, he was a great good-natured man and sometimes even embroidered on tulle himself...” Note that nothing is said here about why this man received the award - the Order of St. Anne is given to “those who love truth, piety and fidelity,” and is also awarded for military merit. But no battles or special episodes where piety and loyalty were mentioned are mentioned at all. The main thing is that the prosecutor is engaged in handicrafts, and not in his official duties. Sobakevich speaks unflatteringly about the prosecutor: the prosecutor, they say, is an idle person, so he sits at home, and the lawyer, a well-known grabber, works for him. There is nothing to talk about here - what kind of order can there be if a person who does not understand the issue at all is trying to solve it while an authorized person is embroidering on tulle.
A similar technique is used to describe the postmaster, a serious and silent man, short, but witty and philosopher. Only in this case, various qualitative characteristics are combined into one row: “short”, “but a philosopher”. That is, here growth becomes an allegory for the mental abilities of this person.
The reaction to worries and reforms is also shown very ironically: from new appointments and the number of papers, civil servants are losing weight (“And the chairman lost weight, and the inspector of the medical board lost weight, and the prosecutor lost weight, and some Semyon Ivanovich ... and he lost weight”), but there were and those who courageously kept themselves in their previous form. And meetings, according to Gogol, were only successful when they could go out for a treat or have lunch, but this, of course, is not the fault of the officials, but the mentality of the people.
Gogol in “Dead Souls” depicts officials only at dinners, playing whist or other card games. Only once does the reader see officials at the workplace, when Chichikov came to draw up a bill of sale for the peasants. The department unequivocally hints to Pavel Ivanovich that things will not be done without a bribe, and there is nothing to say about a quick resolution of the issue without a certain amount. This is confirmed by the police chief, who “only has to blink when passing a fish row or a cellar,” and balyks and good wines appear in his hands. No request is considered without a bribe.
Officials in “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin”
The most cruel story is about Captain Kopeikin. A disabled war veteran, in search of truth and help, travels from the Russian hinterland to the capital to ask for an audience with the Tsar himself. Kopeikin’s hopes are dashed by a terrible reality: while cities and villages are in poverty and lacking money, the capital is chic. Meetings with the king and high-ranking officials are constantly postponed. Completely desperate, Captain Kopeikin makes his way into the reception room of a high-ranking official, demanding that his question be immediately put forward for consideration, otherwise he, Kopeikin, will not leave the office. The official assures the veteran that now the assistant will take the latter to the emperor himself, and for a second the reader believes in a happy outcome - he rejoices along with Kopeikin, riding in the chaise, hopes and believes in the best. However, the story ends disappointingly: after this incident, no one met Kopeikin again. This episode is actually frightening, because human life turns out to be an insignificant trifle, the loss of which will not suffer at all to the entire system.
When Chichikov’s scam was revealed, they were in no hurry to arrest Pavel Ivanovich, because they could not understand whether he was the kind of person who needed to be detained, or the kind who would detain everyone and make them guilty. The characteristics of officials in “Dead Souls” can be the words of the author himself that these are people who sit quietly on the sidelines, accumulate capital and arrange their lives at the expense of others. Extravagance, bureaucracy, bribery, nepotism and meanness - this is what characterized the people in power in Russia in the 19th century.
Work test
What works of Russian writers depict the morals of officials and what makes these works similar to N.V. Gogol’s play “The Inspector General”?
Read the text fragment below and complete tasks B1-B7; C1-C2.
Mayor. It is my duty, as the mayor of this city, to ensure that there is no harassment to travelers and all noble people...
Khlestakov (at first he stutters a little, but by the end of the speech he speaks loudly). But what can I do?.. It’s not my fault... I’ll really pay... They’ll send it to me from the village.
Bobchinsky looks out of the door. He is more to blame: he serves me beef as hard as a log; and the soup - God knows what he splashed in there, I had to throw it out the window. He starved me for days on end... The tea is so strange: it stinks of fish, not tea. Why am I... Here's the news!
Mayor (timid). Sorry, it's really not my fault. The beef at my market is always good. They are brought by Kholmogory merchants, people who are sober and of good behavior. I don't know where he gets this from. And if something goes wrong, then... Let me invite you to move with me to another apartment.
Khlestakov. No I do not want to! I know what it means to another apartment: that is, to prison. What right do you have? How dare you?.. Yes, here I am... I serve in St. Petersburg. (Being cheerful.) I, I, I...
Mayor (to the side). Oh my God, so angry! I found out everything, the damned merchants told me everything!
Khlestakov (bravely). Even if you’re here with your whole team, I won’t go! I'm going straight to the minister! (He hits the table with his fist.) What do you? What do you?
Mayor (stretched out and shaking all over). Have mercy, don't destroy! Wife, small children... don’t make a person unhappy.
Khlestakov. No I do not want! Here's another! What do I care? Because you have a wife and children, I have to go to prison, that’s great!
Bobchinsky looks out the door and hides in fear. No, thank you humbly, I don’t want to.
Mayor (shaking). Due to inexperience, by golly due to inexperience. Insufficient wealth... Judge for yourself: the government salary is not enough even for tea and sugar. If there were any bribes, it was very small: something for the table and a couple of dresses. As for the non-commissioned officer's widow, a merchant, whom I allegedly flogged, this is slander, by God, slander. My villains invented this: they are such a people that they are ready to encroach on my life.
Khlestakov. What? I don't care about them. (Thinking.) I don’t know, however, why you are talking about villains and about some non-commissioned officer’s widow... A non-commissioned officer’s wife is completely different, but you don’t dare flog me, you are far from that... Here’s another! Look at you!.. I will pay, I will pay money, but now I don’t have it. The reason I'm sitting here is because I don't have a penny.
Mayor (to the side). Oh, subtle thing! Where did he throw it? what a fog he brought in! Find out who wants it! You don’t know which side to take. Well, just try it at random. (Aloud.) If you definitely need money or anything else, then I am ready to serve right now. My duty is to help those passing by.
Khlestakov. Give me, lend me! I'll pay the innkeeper right now. I would only like two hundred rubles or even less.
Mayor (bringing up papers). Exactly two hundred rubles, although don’t bother counting.
N. V. Gogol “The Inspector General”
Indicate the genre to which N.V. Gogol’s play “The Inspector General” belongs.
Explanation.
N.V. Gogol's play “The Inspector General” belongs to the comedy genre. Let's give a definition.
Comedy is a genre of fiction characterized by a humorous or satirical approach, as well as a type of drama in which the moment of effective conflict or struggle between antagonistic characters is specifically resolved.
Answer: comedy.
Answer: comedy
Name a literary movement that is characterized by an objective depiction of reality and the principles of which were developed by N.V. Gogol in his work.
Explanation.
This literary movement is called realism. Let's give a definition.
Realism is the fundamental method of art and literature. Its basis is the principle of life truth, which guides the artist in his work, striving to give the most complete and true reflection of life and maintaining the greatest life verisimilitude in the depiction of events, people, objects of the material world and nature as they are in reality.
Answer: realism.
Answer: realism
The above scene is structured as a conversation between two characters. What is this form of communication between characters in a work of art called?
Explanation.
This form of communication is called dialogue. Let's give a definition.
Dialogue is a conversation between two or more persons in a work of fiction.
Answer: dialogue.
Answer: dialogue
The fragment uses the author's explanations, comments on the course of the play (“at first he stutters a little, but by the end of the speech he speaks loudly,” etc.). What term are they called?
Explanation.
They are called the term "remark". Let's give a definition.
Directions are explanations with which the playwright precedes or accompanies the course of action in the play. remarks can explain the age, appearance, clothing of the characters, as well as their state of mind, behavior, movements, gestures, intonations. In the stage directions that precede an act, scene, or episode, a designation and sometimes a description of the scene of action or setting is given.
Answer: remark.
Answer: remark|remarks
What technique is used in Khlestakov’s remark about beef “hard, like a log»?
Explanation.
This technique is called comparison. Let's give a definition.
Comparison is a trope in which one object or phenomenon is compared to another according to some characteristic common to them. The purpose of comparison is to identify new, important, advantageous properties for the subject of the statement in the object of comparison.
Answer: comparison.
Answer: comparison
The surname of Khlestakov, as well as the surnames of other characters in the play, contains a certain figurative characteristic. What are these surnames called?
Explanation.
Such surnames are called “speaking” in the literature. Let's give a definition.
“Talking” surnames in literature are surnames that are part of the characteristics of a character in a work of fiction, emphasizing the most striking character trait of the character.
Answer: speakers.
Answer: speaking|speaking surnames|speaking surname
The speech of the characters is emotional and replete with exclamations and questions that do not require an answer. What are their names?
Explanation.
Such questions are called rhetorical. Let's give a definition.
A rhetorical question is a rhetorical figure that is not an answer to a question, but a statement. Essentially, a rhetorical question is a question to which an answer is not required or expected due to its extreme obviousness.
Answer: rhetorical.
Answer: rhetorical|rhetorical|rhetorical question
What role does the above scene play in the development of the plot of the play?
Explanation.
Each of the heroes of the comedy “The Inspector General,” alarmed by the news of a possible audit, behaves in accordance with his character and his actions against the law. The mayor comes to Khlestakov’s tavern, believing that he is an auditor. In the first minutes, both are frightened: the mayor thinks that the newcomer is not happy with the order in the city, and Khlestakov suspects that they want to take him to prison for non-payment of accumulated bills. This scene reveals the essence of two characters: Khlestakov’s cowardice and the mayor’s experienced resourcefulness. The comedy of the first meeting of the mayor and Khlestakov in the tavern is built on a mistake, which provokes fear in the characters, fear so strong that both do not notice obvious contradictions. From this scene begins the comic story of the absurd relationship between officials of the county town and the petty swindler Khlestakov.
Explanation.
The action in The Inspector General dates back to the early 30s of the nineteenth century. All kinds of abuses of power, embezzlement and bribery, arbitrariness and disdain for the people were characteristic, deep-rooted features of the bureaucracy of that time. This is exactly how Gogol shows the rulers of the county town in his comedy.
All officials are drawn by Gogol as if they were alive, each of them is unique. But at the same time, they all create the overall image of the bureaucracy governing the country, revealing the rottenness of the socio-political system of feudal Russia.
The officials from Gogol's "Dead Souls", the officials from Griboyedov's "Woe from Wit", the "servants of the people" of the Soviet era from M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" are very similar to the officials from The Inspector General.
The officials from the novel “The Master and Margarita” are extremely unscrupulous creatures, mired in proprietary interests. Stepan Likhodeev is a degenerate type, drinks, walks around without thinking, and lets dubious artists into variety shows. “Literary officials,” being the authority for “ordinary” writers, true artists, creators, obey directives from above and with one stroke of the pen prohibit creation, without thinking that by depriving them of the opportunity to write, they are depriving a true master of life.
Thus, in Russian literature of both the 19th and 20th centuries, the bureaucracy does not appear in its most favorable color, revealing in its ranks examples of meanness, hypocrisy, and servility.
The main character of N. V. Gogol’s play “The Inspector General” is the district town of N. This is a collective image that includes both the city itself and its inhabitants, their morals, customs, outlook on life, etc.
The work is preceded by an epigraph taken by the playwright from folklore: “There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked.” Thus, the author warns readers that everything he described is the truth, and not fiction or, especially, slander.
Gogol depicts the life of a typical city, of which there were many throughout Russia. It is no coincidence that he does not give it a specific name. The author has in mind a certain city, of which there are many examples. We learn that it is located in the very outback (“from here, even if you ride for three years, you won’t reach any state”). The “set” of officials leading the city is completely typical: a judge, a trustee of charitable institutions, a superintendent of schools, a postmaster. And all this, like a little king, is ruled by the mayor.
The author shows us the life of all spheres of the city, how they are managed. And we understand that everything here is absolutely typical for Russia and is relevant today.
It is important that we get a fairly complete picture of the county town. In our head we have an idea of it as an architectural object. The main action of the play takes place in the mayor's house. In addition, we are transported to the tavern where the imaginary auditor stopped. From the remarks and words of the characters, we get an idea of the meager furnishings in Khlestakov’s room.
In addition, from the characters’ dialogues we learn other information about the city: about the bridge, about the old fence near the shoemaker, about that and near this fence “a lot of rubbish is piled up,” about the booth where pies are sold. We also know that in the city there is a school, government offices, a post office, a hospital, and so on. But all this is in an abandoned and deplorable state, because officials do not care about this at all. They are primarily interested in their own benefit. Based on this, all city management is built.
In addition to the bureaucracy, N. is also inhabited by other classes. The auditor, giving orders, speaks about citizenship, clergy, merchants, and philistines. From the very beginning, we learn that all these classes suffer oppression and insults from officials: “What did you do with the merchant Chernyaev - huh? He gave you two arshins of cloth for your uniform, and you stole the whole thing. Look! You’re not taking it according to rank!”
We get to know representatives of different classes directly. They all come with requests to the “official” Khlestakov. First, the merchants “beat him with their foreheads.” They complain about the mayor, who “inflicts such insults that it is impossible to describe.” It is important that merchants are ready to give bribes, but “everything must be in moderation.”
In addition, a locksmith and a non-commissioned officer’s wife come to Khlestakov. And they also complain about the mayor, who does whatever he wants in the city. And nothing dictates him - neither the law nor his conscience.
Thus, we understand that all residents of the city, regardless of their social and financial status, have one thing in common - the brazen excesses of officials.
We are convinced of them throughout the play. The very first sin of the mayor and his charges is bribery and theft. All officials care only about their pockets, thinking little about the inhabitants of the city. Even at the very beginning of the play, we see how the sick are treated in N., how children are taught, how justice works there. Patients in the city are “dying like flies,” public places are a mess and dirty, school teachers are drunk every day, and so on. We understand that city residents are not considered people - this is just a means to live well and fill your wallet.
But the officials themselves are not happy with life in N. We see that the mayor, like his family, dreams of St. Petersburg. This is where real life is! And Khlestakov, with his fictitious stories, awakens these dreams in Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, makes him hope.
The morals of Russian officials are one of the common themes in literature.
She is one of the central ones in A. S. Griboedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit.” Alexey Stepanovich Molchalin, the secretary of the Moscow “ace”, who received three awards and the rank of assessor, in my opinion, has much in common with the heroes of N.V. Gogol’s play “The Inspector General”: just like the officials of the city of N, who diligently pleased Khlestakov in everything , who was mistaken for an “important person,” Molchalin considered it his task to win the favor of influential and rich people. A readiness for servility and sycophancy is what unites the heroes of these comedies.
A. S. Pushkin’s story “Dubrovsky” clearly shows the morals of the guardians of “order and justice,” representatives of the state administrative system, very similar to the world painted by N. V. Gogol. These are judicial officials, a striking example of which is assessor Shabashkin, a reliable instrument for carrying out the vengeful plans of the landowner Troekurov, a man of such corruption and meanness that even those who use his services abhor him.
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Which works of Russian classics depict the morals of bureaucracy and in what ways do these works have something in common with Gogol’s The Inspector General?
The official was not a new figure in Russian literature, because officialdom is one of the most widespread classes in old Russia. And in Russian literature, legions of officials pass before the reader - from registrars to generals.
This image of a poor official (Molchalin) is presented in the comedy by A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit".
Molchalin is one of the most prominent representatives of Famus society. However, if Famusov, Khlestova and some other characters are living fragments of the “past century,” then Molchalin is a man of the same generation as Chatsky. But, unlike Chatsky, Molchalin is a staunch conservative, his views coincide with Famusov’s worldview. Just like Famusov, Molchalin considers dependence “on others” to be the basic law of life. Molchalin is a typical “average” person both in intelligence and in his ambitions. But he has “his own talent”: he is proud of his qualities - “moderation and accuracy.” Molchalin's worldview and behavior are strictly dictated by his position in the service hierarchy. He is modest and helpful, because “in ranks... small,” he cannot do without “patrons,” even if he has to depend entirely on their will. Molchalin is the antipode of Chatsky not only in his beliefs, but also in the nature of his attitude towards Sophia. Molchalin only skillfully pretends that he loves the girl, although, by his own admission, he does not find “anything enviable” in her. Molchalin is in love “by position”, “at the pleasure of the daughter of such a man” as Famusov, “who feeds and waters, // And sometimes gives rank...” The loss of Sophia’s love does not mean Molchalin’s defeat. Although he made an unforgivable mistake, he managed to get away with it. It is impossible to stop the career of a person like Molchalin - this is the meaning of the author's attitude towards the hero. Chatsky rightly noted in the first act that Molchalin “will reach known degrees,” for “The silent are blissful in the world.”
A completely different image of a poor official was examined by A.S. Pushkin in his “St. Petersburg story” “The Bronze Horseman”. In contrast to Molchalin’s aspirations, the desires of Evgeny, the protagonist of the poem, are modest: he dreams of quiet family happiness, his future is associated with his beloved girl Parasha (remember that Molchalin’s courtship of Sophia is due solely to his desire to obtain a higher rank). Dreaming of simple (“philistine”) human happiness, Evgeniy does not think at all about high ranks; the hero is one of countless officials “without a nickname” who “serve somewhere” without thinking about the meaning of their service. It is important to note that for A.S. For Pushkin, what made Evgeny a “little man” is unacceptable: the isolation of existence in a close circle of family concerns, isolation from his own and historical past. However, despite this, Eugene is not humiliated by Pushkin; on the contrary, he, unlike the “idol on a bronze horse,” is endowed with a heart and soul, which is of great importance for the author of the poem. He is capable of dreaming, grieving, “fearing” for the fate of his beloved, and exhausting himself from torment. When grief bursts into his measured life (the death of Parasha during a flood), he seems to wake up, he wants to find those to blame for the death of his beloved. Eugene blames Peter I, who built the city in this place, for his troubles, and therefore blames the entire state machine, entering into an unequal battle. In this confrontation, Eugene, the “little man,” is defeated: “deafened by the noise” of his own grief, he dies. In the words of G.A. Gukovsky, “with Evgeniy... enters high literature... a tragic hero.” Thus, the tragic aspect of the theme of a poor official unable to resist the state (an insoluble conflict between the individual and the state) was important for Pushkin.
N.V. also addressed the topic of the poor official. Gogol. In his works (“The Overcoat”, “The Inspector General”) he gives his interpretation of the image of a poor official (Bashmachkin, Khlestakov), while if Bashmachkin is close in spirit to Pushkin’s Evgeniy (“The Bronze Horseman”), then Khlestakov is a kind of “successor” to Molchalin Griboedova. Like Molchalin, Khlestakov, the hero of the play “The Inspector General,” has extraordinary adaptability. He easily assumes the role of an important person, realizing that he is being mistaken for another person: he meets the officials, accepts the request, and begins, as befits a “significant person,” to “scold” the owners for nothing, causing them to “shake from fear." Khlestakov is not able to enjoy power over people; he simply repeats what he himself probably experienced more than once in his St. Petersburg department. The unexpected role transforms Khlestakov, making him an intelligent, powerful and strong-willed person. Talking about his studies in St. Petersburg, Khlestakov involuntarily betrays his “desire for honors apart from merit,” which is similar to Molchalin’s attitude towards service: he wants to “take the rewards and have fun.” However, Khlestakov, unlike Molchalin, is much more carefree and flighty; his “lightness” “in thoughts... extraordinary” is created with the help of a large number of exclamations, while the hero of Griboyedov’s play is more cautious. The main idea of N.V. Gogol is that even the imaginary bureaucratic “greatness” can set in motion generally intelligent people, turning them into obedient puppets.
Another aspect of the theme of the poor official is considered by Gogol in his story “The Overcoat”. Its main character, Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, evokes an ambiguous attitude towards himself. On the one hand, the hero cannot but evoke pity and sympathy, but on the other hand, hostility and disgust. Being a man of a narrow-minded, undeveloped mind, Bashmachkin expresses himself “mostly in prepositions, adverbs and particles that absolutely do not have any meaning,” but his main occupation is the tedious rewriting of papers, a task with which the hero is quite satisfied. In the department where he serves, officials “do not show him any respect,” making evil jokes at Bashmachkin’s expense. The main event in his life is the purchase of an overcoat, and when it is stolen from him, Bashmachkin forever loses the meaning of life.
Gogol shows that in bureaucratic St. Petersburg, where “significant persons” rule, coldness and indifference reign to the fate of thousands of shoemakers, forced to eke out a miserable existence, which deprives them of the opportunity to develop spiritually, makes them wretched, slave creatures, “eternal titular advisers.” Thus, the author’s attitude towards the hero is difficult to determine unambiguously: he not only sympathizes with Bashmachkin, but also sneers at his hero (the presence in the text of contemptuous intonations caused by the insignificance of Bashmachkin’s existence).
So, Gogol showed that the spiritual world of a poor official is extremely meager. F.M. Dostoevsky made an important addition to the understanding of the character of the “little man”, for the first time revealing the full complexity of the inner world of this hero. The writer was interested not in the social and everyday, but in the moral and psychological aspect of the theme of the poor official.
Depicting the “humiliated and insulted,” Dostoevsky used the principle of contrast between the external and the internal, between a person’s humiliating social position and his increased self-esteem. Unlike Evgeny (“The Bronze Horseman”) and Bashmachkin (“The Overcoat”), Dostoevsky’s hero Marmeladov is a man with great ambitions. He acutely experiences his undeserved “humiliation,” believing that he is “offended” by life, and therefore demanding more from life than it can give him. The absurdity of Marmeladov’s behavior and mental state unpleasantly strikes Raskolnikov at their first meeting in the tavern: the official behaves proudly and even arrogantly: he looks at visitors “with a tinge of some arrogant disdain, as if at people of lower status and development, with whom he has no business talking” , In Marmeladov, the writer showed the spiritual degradation of “poor officials.” They are incapable of either rebellion or humility. Their pride is so exorbitant that humility is impossible for them. However, their “rebellion” is tragicomic in nature. So for Marmeladov these are drunken rantings, “tavern conversations with various strangers.” This is not Eugene’s fight with the Bronze Horseman and not Bashmachkin’s appearance to a “significant person” after death. Marmeladov is almost proud of his “pigness” (“I am a born beast”), happily telling Raskolnikov that he even drank his wife’s “stockings”, “with rude dignity” reporting that Katerina Ivanovna “tears out his hair.” Marmeladov’s obsessive “self-flagellation” has nothing to do with true humility. Thus, Dostoevsky has a poor official-philosopher, a thinking hero, with a highly developed moral sense, constantly experiencing dissatisfaction with himself, the world and those around him. It is important to note that F.M. Dostoevsky in no way justifies his hero, it is not “the environment that has stuck”, but the man himself is guilty of his actions, for he bears personal responsibility for them. Saltykov-Shchedrin radically changed his attitude towards bureaucracy; in his works, the “little man” becomes a “petty man”, whom Shchedrin ridicules, making him the subject of satire. (Although already in Gogol, bureaucracy began to be depicted in Shchedrin’s tones: for example, in “The Inspector General”). We will focus on Chekhov's “officials”. Interest in the topic of bureaucracy not only did not fade away from Chekhov, but on the contrary, it flared up, reflected in the stories, in his new vision, but also without ignoring past traditions. After all, “...the more inimitable and original the artist, the deeper and more obvious his connection with previous artistic experience.”
