Life and customs of provincial Russia (based on Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General”). Question: Write an essay for N.V.’s comedy
The period of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s creativity coincided with the dark era of Nicholas I. After the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, all dissidents were brutally persecuted by the authorities. Describing reality, N.V. Gogol creates brilliant, full of life realities literary works. The theme of his work is all layers of Russian society - using the example of the morals and everyday life of a small county town. Gogol wrote that in The Inspector General he finally decided to gather together all that was bad in Russian society, which he saw and laughed at everything at once. Gogol made the officials of an ordinary district town the heroes of the comedy. Thanks to a seemingly simple plot device (a minor official passing by is mistaken for an auditor), the author vividly and colorfully describes the types and characters, their habits - in general, a description of Russia in miniature - a city from which you can ride for three years, but so You can’t get to any state. “There is a tavern on the streets, uncleanliness!” Near the ancient fence, which is located near the shoemaker, “all kinds of rubbish were piled on forty carts.” Even the church, which is located at a charitable institution, for the construction of which money was allocated five years ago, began to be built, but then burned down, and it still stands. How is life for the “merchants” and “citizens”? Here some are robbed, some are flogged by an official, some are beaten due to Derzhimorda’s hard work. In prisons, prisoners are not fed, hospitals are dirty, and the sick “all get better like flies.” Having learned that the arrival of the auditor is coming, officials immediately try to restore at least some order in the city.
Their actions come down to window dressing, to observing only external decency (removing the hunting arapnik that was hanging in the presence, cleaning and clearing only the street along which the arriving inspector will travel). “As for the internal order... I can’t say anything... There is no person who does not have some sins behind him. This is how God himself arranged it,” says the mayor. Gogol shows the reader that life in a particular city directly depends on the attitude of officials towards their service. Those who, by virtue of their duty, are called upon to resist violations of the law and take care of the welfare of the townspeople, are mired in bribery, drunkenness, gambling and gossip. The mayor proudly declares: “I have been living in the service for thirty years! He deceived three governors! “The judge is not far behind him: “I tell you frankly that I take bribes... With greyhound puppies. This... is a different matter.” Even the postmaster was ridiculed by Gogol.
When he is given instructions to lightly open all the letters, he naively admits: “I do this not so much out of precaution, but more out of curiosity: I love to know what’s new in the world.” All the images created by Gogol in the comedy “The Inspector General” embody typical features, characteristic of officials from Nikolaev Russia. Vulgar, two-faced, poorly educated - the most “educated” of the comedy characters is Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin. He has read as many as five or six books in his entire life, so he is considered the most “well-read” and “somewhat free-thinking.” Unscrupulousness, self-interest, various abuses of official position - these are the morals of the district officials. It’s interesting that embezzlement, bribery, robbery of the population are all terrible social vices- are shown by Gogol as everyday and even natural phenomena.
The comedy "The Inspector General", written by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in 1835 and staged for the first time in 1836, reflected contemporary writer reality - Russia first half of the 19th century century. On stage the comedy was performed with great success: the events described in it were so realistic and the features of the main characters. They say that Nicholas I, after watching the play, forced his ministers to attend the performance of The Inspector General. And critics characterized the comedy as “filled with life’s truth.” At the same time, thanks to The Inspector General, Gogol had many enemies. “The author invented some kind of Russia and some kind of city in it, into which he dumped all the abominations that you only occasionally find on the surface of real Russia: he accumulated so much trickery, meanness, ignorance.” But I think that such negative assessments only confirm the genius of the literary work and testify to the depth and extreme accuracy (which not everyone likes) of the life phenomena shown.
So, before us is a provincial town. Or rather, Gogol’s contemporary Russia in miniature. What is she?
Public places where domesticated geese and goslings “scurry about” in the hallway underfoot. The assessor, from whom he always “gives back a little vodka.” Hospitals, along the corridors of which “there is such cabbage that you only need to take care of your nose.”
There is “tavern, uncleanliness” on the streets. Near the old fence, “all kinds of rubbish were piled on forty carts.”
The private bailiff “cannot be used in the case” because he is dead drunk. “They’ve already poured out two buckets of water, and I still haven’t sobered up.” The quarterly steals silver spoons into his boots.
What about the townspeople? Some were flogged without any guilt, some were beaten by Derzhimorda.
Such is the depressing life of a district town. And the blame for its ugliness, in my opinion, lies with the district officials. After all, it was their attitude to their duties that brought the city to this state. But officials have no time to serve for the good of the state. They spend their time at endless dinners, drinking parties, card games, and spend their efforts on vulgar conversations and stupid gossip.
In the comedy "The Inspector General" there is no character who would consider the bribery thriving in the town to be a vice. On the contrary, bribery, embezzlement, and theft of residents are perceived by officials, that is, people in public service, as a completely ordinary, even routine part of life. And how could it be otherwise if the main bribe-taker is the mayor himself?! It’s not for nothing that he self-confidently declares: “I’ve been living in the service for thirty years... I’ve deceived swindlers after swindlers, swindlers and swindlers such that they’re ready to rob the whole world, I’ve tricked them at random.”
Maybe that’s why the mayor, having learned that the quarterly “stole” a “piece of cloth” from the merchant, considers it his duty to only lightly reproach him: “Look! You’re not taking it according to rank!” And he, apparently, treats the judge’s “open” confession about bribery quite calmly: “Well, what does it matter if you take bribes like greyhound puppies? But you don’t believe in God..."
What other features are endowed with comedy characters? Immediately noticeable low level their education and insignificance of interests.
Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin, who has mastered five or six books in his entire life, is considered the most “well-read.” Postmaster Shpekin “death loves to find out what’s new in the world.” But he gets information about news from other people's letters, not considering it shameful to open them. The mayor's wife and daughter are hunting only for suitors, fresh gossip and new outfits.
But the main feature that Gogol noticed that is inherent in officials is, perhaps, reverence for rank. What, other than the desire to please the higher authorities, could make the mayor, who was skilled in official intrigues (“He deceived three governors!..”), see in Khlestakov, quite young man, pathetic “elistratishka”, “wittle” and “dummy”,
a formidable auditor? It is the fear of the capital inspector (and, as you know, even a thief’s cap will burn) that overshadows the mayor’s mind so much that the mayor accepts the pile of fables in the speeches of the tipsy Khlestakov at face value: “It’s curious to look into my hallway when I haven’t woken up yet: the counts and the princes mill about and buzz there like bumblebees,” “I’ll be promoted to field marshal tomorrow,” and so on.
It is characteristic that at first the mayor seeks to give the capital’s auditor a bribe (“Well, thank God, he took the money. Things seem to be going well now”), and then treat him to dinner, not skimping on wine. There is no doubt that similar actions against inspectors were taken almost throughout Nikolaev Russia.
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“Life in a county town before the arrival of the auditor”
One of the first works of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was the comedy “The Inspector General,” where he brought to the stage a whole gallery of Russian types. The comedy is not a slander against the writer’s contemporary life, but a reflection of it. The epigraph to the comedy confirms this: “There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked.”
The work shows life in the county town after receiving news of the arrival of the auditor. This news frightened the officials, as they were afraid of losing their lucrative positions. Of course, there were reasons for this. So what were they? What was life like in the city before Khlestakov’s arrival?
At first glance, life in the city is favorable and decorous, but under this mask of favorableness and hypocrisy lies all the ugliness of the obscene Russian bureaucracy.
The main reason for the main characters’ concerns was the chaos that was happening everywhere: the church at the charitable institution, for which the sum was allocated five years ago, had not even begun to be built. “In these two weeks, the non-commissioned officer’s wife was flogged! The prisoners were not given provisions! There's a tavern on the streets, it's unclean! “- says the mayor himself. The Derzhimord policeman, for the sake of order, puts flashlights under everyone’s eyes – both those who are right and those who are guilty. And look at the soldiers? “This crappy garrison will only wear a uniform on top of the shirt, and nothing underneath.”
The “fathers” of the district town were bribe-takers and slackers, they were busy only with satisfying their desires and whims; they were not at all interested in the life of the city.
The judge only goes after hares and keeps dogs in public places. He allows the watchmen to breed geese with little goslings in the front hall of the county court, and the assessor smells as if he had just come out of a distillery. And the behavior of judge Ammos Fedorovich himself is reprehensible: “I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but with what bribes? Greyhound puppies,” we hear from him.
There was no less chaos in the hospital. Not only do they not use expensive medicines here, even the doctor here doesn’t speak a word of Russian. “A simple man: if he dies, he will die anyway; if he recovers, then he will recover,” argues Artemy Filippovich.
The local postmaster does absolutely nothing. Because of this, everything is in great disrepair, parcels are delayed. Instead of working, he shamelessly prints out and reads letters: “I love to know what’s new in the world.”
But the mayor is the worst of all. A bribe is his main weapon. Before the arrival of the auditor, he not only did not care about the townspeople subordinate to his authority, he robbed merchants and spent government money on his own needs.
But why are all the officials of the city “n”, although they are afraid of the arrival of the auditor, still not fulfilling their duties? It seems to me that this happens because the people of this city believe that there is no such person who cannot be bribed, including the auditor.
Gogol wrote about his work: “I decided to collect everything bad that I knew and laugh at it at once - this is the origin of “The Inspector General.” The writer was an honest artist, he showed the true life of Russia, harsh and dramatic, and this is his merit.
Write an essay on the comedy N.V. Gogol's "The Inspector General" on the topic "Morals of officials of a county town"
Answers:
The district town, depicted by N.V. Gogol in the comedy “The Government Inspector”, is a town in the wilderness provincial Russia. “Even if you gallop from here for three years, you won’t reach any state.” Life in the town is calm and is disturbed only by some local troubles: women got into a fight at the market, a fight broke out outside the city, and a policeman who went there “for the sake of order” returned dead drunk. The city is dirty, as soon as they put up a monument or just a fence somewhere, they will immediately pile up “forty cartloads worth of all kinds of rubbish” around. It is not being improved because officials are stealing the money allocated for this. The mayor warns that the church, for which money was allocated five years ago, “began to be built, but burned down.” He is afraid that someone, “forgotten, will foolishly say that it never began.” Garrison soldiers wander around dressed out of uniform, the police indiscriminately “put lights under the eyes of everyone: both the right and the wrong.” Why has this situation developed in the city? Local authorities - officials - care only about their own well-being. Hence theft, and bribes, and unjust trials. They are outwardly friends with each other, but in reality they envy each other and slander each other on the sly. It’s not only ladies who gossip, who try to outdo others with their outfits and “subtlety of address.” The main gossips of the city are the landowners Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky. They tirelessly spread new gossip around the city. Everyone knows everything about everyone: who goes to someone else’s wife, who lost how much at cards, who sent the Governor what as a gift. And many complain about grievances to Khlestakov, seeing in him an auditor and a defender, and Zemlyanika is ready to write a denunciation about the free-thinking of the school superintendent and the sins of his colleagues. From the complaints of the residents, it is clear to Khlestakov that those who do not have power and money in this city must endure both extortions and humiliation. The locksmith's husband was illegally taken into the army because others paid him off. The non-commissioned officer was not flogged according to the law. Merchants are put under arrest and dragged by the beard if they have given little money and gifts to the Mayor. If there is an unjust and selfish government in the city, then what kind of order can there be in it? Arbitrariness and lawlessness reign in it, and this was the case throughout Russia. Realizing this, Nicholas I was outraged by Gogol's play. After all, in the comedy “The Inspector General” the life of the county town was reflected in the life of the entire state; they paid off
The work of one of the most extraordinary literary talents - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol - occurred in the dark era of Nicholas I. These were the 30s XIX century, when reaction reigned in Russia after the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, all dissenters were persecuted, the best people were persecuted. Describing contemporary reality, N.V. Gogol creates literary works that are brilliant in their depth and reflect life. The writer’s field of view includes not only provincial officials and landowners. The whole of Russia becomes the theme of his work - using the example of the morals and life of a small county town.
Gogol wrote about the idea of his wonderful comedy “The Inspector General”: “In “The Inspector General” I decided to collect in one pile everything bad in Russia that I knew then... and laugh at everything at once.” Gogol made the officials of the district town the heroes of the comedy. Thanks to a seemingly simple plot device (a passing petty official is mistaken for an auditor), the author fully reveals the characters' characters, their morals and habits.
What is Russia like in miniature - a city from which “even if you ride for three years, you won’t reach any state”? “There are taverns on the streets, uncleanliness! “Near the old fence, “which is near the shoemaker, ...all sorts of rubbish are piled on forty carts.” A church at a charitable institution, “for which a sum was allocated five years ago, ... began to be built, but burned down”... And how do the “merchants” and “citizens” live? Some were robbed, some were flogged, some had bruises on their cheekbones from Derzhimorda’s zeal; the prisoners are not fed, the hospitals stink, and the sick “are all recovering like flies.”
Having learned about the upcoming visit of the state inspector, city officials immediately try to restore order in their city. But what do their efforts amount to? To maintain external decency (removing a hunting rifle that was hanging in the presence, cleaning the street along which the auditor will travel). “As for the internal regulations and what Andrei Ivanovich calls sins in his letter, I cannot say anything. Yes, and it’s strange to say: there is no person who does not have some sins behind him. This is how God himself arranged it,” says the mayor.
Thus, Gogol shows that everyday life provincial town determined by the attitude of officials towards their service. We see that those who, by virtue of their public duty, are called upon to resist lawlessness and take care of the welfare of the townspeople, are mired in bribery, drinking, card games and gossip. The mayor, for example, proudly announces: “I have been living in the service for thirty years! He deceived three governors! “The judge echoes him: “I tell you frankly that I take bribes, but with what bribes? Greyhound puppies. This is a completely different matter.” The postmaster, having listened to the instructions (“to print out every letter a little”), naively admits: “I know, I know, you don’t teach this, I do this not so much out of precaution, but more out of curiosity: I love to know what’s new in the world.” .
All the images of officials created by Gogol in the comedy “The Inspector General” embody typical features characteristic of civil servants of Nikolaev Russia.
