Литературный факт (Mar 2020)
The Mayor’s career in “The Government Inspector”. On Nikolai Gogol’s political views
Abstract
The paper is devoted to the study of Nikolai Gogol’s idea of the social and official status of the Mayor, the character of a “head official” in the satirical comedy The Government Inspector. So far Gogol’s view of his character as a raznochinets, a “mean plebeian”, who blemished his rank and position, hasn’t been considered by the scholars. In Gogol’s opinion, Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, who started his career from the lowest position and acquired his rank and title of nobility with “hard service”, nevertheless hasn’t become a true nobleman because of his bribery and corruption. From this perspective, the character of the Mayor helps to better understand the purpose of Gogol’s satire. Both in The Government Inspector and The Gamblers, another Gogol’s play, that has much in common with his most famous comedy, the satire is not aimed at “those in power”, nor the “state machine”, but at all kinds of frauds and swindlers among officials. Critically examining the state administration in Russia, Gogol shows them through the eyes of a high-ranking, responsible official who takes the problem very much to heart. This point of view resonated with that of the Emperor Nicholas I: it took his personal intervention to have the play published and staged. The paper consists of five parts: 1. The Mayor’s career; 2. Character archetypes in The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforivich and The Government Inspector; 3. Characteristic features of an “average official” in Gogol’s works; 4. The Mayor as a liminal character; 5. Gogol’s use of satire. The paper is based on extensive factual material that allows to trace in detail the Mayor’s career and to specify Gogol’s idea of the comedy as a satiric play aimed at obnoxious saboteurs, both nobles and commoners, who subvert the royal power and the state with their unworthy behavior, who are unfit for the positions they occupy and unable to meet the requirements of the supreme authority. The milestones of the Mayor’s career clearly confirm Gogol’s words that “the government consists of us, we climb the career ladder and make up the government”, that “the occupant of the position is to be blamed, and he is our brother”, and that readers and should be able to find with themselves the faults satirized in the comedy. With utmost sincerity and acuteness Gogol advocates healing self and society, extirpation of vices without the hidden agenda of changing political regime. The paper for the first time considers the connection between two scenes (“Anna Andreevna and Maria Antonovna”. “Khlestakov and Rastakovsky”) published in 1841 and the idea of The Government Inspector.
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