The Government Inspector

3 hrs. 2 min.

Classics

Language Russian

Author Nikolai Gogol

Narrator Pyotr Vasilevsky

Description

In one district town they learned about the arrival of an inspector. The officials were so frightened that fear made them blind, and in every random visitor they were ready to see an instrument of punishment. The comic twist of the situation is that an error occurs, and another man is taken for the inspector. They try to bribe him, please him, and deceive him. But the result is the opposite. The officials deceive themselves: their lying, shamelessness, and hypocrisy are reflected back at them in the mirror of the young careless man—and come back to them.

The real inspector appears suddenly—like conscience. And here there are no words. A silent scene: human meanness is caught off guard. The officials would have been glad to fall through the ground, but there is no such possibility.

All characters are depicted vividly. Flattery and bribery are not merely mocked—they’re shown in an exaggerated form, causing an inner rejection.

This is a comedy about human passions and desires that sooner or later will be put on trial before the court of conscience. And what will happen then? After all, conscience—like the real inspector in the comedy—is incorruptible.