Bureaucracy, Corruption & Deception
Gogal 's famous play about government bureaucracy, coruption and deception. A satirical account of Russion Government and society. "The Inspector" Bureaucracy, Corruption and Deception-- How Gogol using satire, ridicules the bureaucracy of the Russian government through scenes of corruption, deception and self-deception.
The Mayor’s famous line, as he turns to address the audience directly, “What are you laughing at? You are laughing at yourselves,” (p. 120) illustrates this theme, which is summed up in the play’s epigraph, “It is no use to blame the looking-glass if your face is awry.” Nicholas I, exiting the theater after a performance of The Government Inspector remarked: “Everyone has got his due, I most of all.” (Nabokov p. 41)
The Government Inspector is a satirical Russian comedy based on a case of mistaken identity. The setting is a typical small town in provincial Russia, in the 1830s. The town’s Mayor has called together the town’s leading officials—including the Judge, the Schools Inspector, the Charities Commissioner, the town Doctor, and the Police Superintendent—to inform them that a government inspector is due to arrive “incognito” from Saint Petersburg. This inspector has “secret orders” to inspect the local government and administration of the town. The Mayor, in a panic, instructs his officials to quickly cover up the many “little failings” of the local town authorities. The brothers Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, the town gossips, rush in to inform the Mayor and his officials that they have seen the government inspector staying at a local inn. Who they have seen is Hlestakov, a lowly, young, impoverished civil servant from Saint Petersburg, who they mistake for the high-ranking government inspector. Hlestakov, soon realizes that the town officials have mistaken him to be a person of importance. He makes the most of this misconception, weaving elaborate tales of his life as a high-ranking government official and accepts generous bribes
The Mayor’s famous line, as he turns to address the audience directly, “What are you laughing at? You are laughing at yourselves,” (p. 120) illustrates this theme, which is summed up in the play’s epigraph, “It is no use to blame the looking-glass if your face is awry.” Nicholas I, exiting the theater after a performance of The Government Inspector remarked: “Everyone has got his due, I most of all.” (Nabokov p. 41)
The Government Inspector is a satirical Russian comedy based on a case of mistaken identity. The setting is a typical small town in provincial Russia, in the 1830s. The town’s Mayor has called together the town’s leading officials—including the Judge, the Schools Inspector, the Charities Commissioner, the town Doctor, and the Police Superintendent—to inform them that a government inspector is due to arrive “incognito” from Saint Petersburg. This inspector has “secret orders” to inspect the local government and administration of the town. The Mayor, in a panic, instructs his officials to quickly cover up the many “little failings” of the local town authorities. The brothers Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, the town gossips, rush in to inform the Mayor and his officials that they have seen the government inspector staying at a local inn. Who they have seen is Hlestakov, a lowly, young, impoverished civil servant from Saint Petersburg, who they mistake for the high-ranking government inspector. Hlestakov, soon realizes that the town officials have mistaken him to be a person of importance. He makes the most of this misconception, weaving elaborate tales of his life as a high-ranking government official and accepts generous bribes
Cited: Gogol, Nikolay, The Government Inspector and Other Plays. London: Chatto & Windus, 1926 ------------------------------------------------- Nabokov, Vladimir, Gogol. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989 ------------------------------------------------- Subtelny, O. Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000 -------------------------------------------------