The Government Inspector

In 1835 Gogol began writing the comedy "The Government Inspector". In early 1936, the play was premiered in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But Gogol continued to make adjustments in the text of the work until 1842, when the final version was completed.

"The Government Inspector" is a quite innovative play. Gogol for the first time created a social comedy with no love line. Courtship of the Inspector for Anna Andreevna and Maria Antonovna is rather a parody of high feelings. There is also no positive character in the comedy. When a writer was accused of this, he replied that the main positive hero of "The Government Inspector" is laughter. The composition is unusual, because there is no traditional display. From the first sentence the mayor begins the plot exposition. Final dumb scene surprised many theater critics. Earlier no one used this technique in drama.

In the play, Gogol raised essences of Russian life: government, medicine, court, education, post office, police, merchants. In "The Government Inspector" a lot of unsightly features of modern life such as bribery and neglect of duty, embezzlement, ambition and passion for gossip, envy and squealing, boast and stupidity, petty vindictiveness. "The Government Inspector" is a real mirror of the Russian society.