The city in the work The Inspector. The district town and its inhabitants (based on the comedy N
A short essay-discussion on literature on the topic: County town in Gogol's play The Inspector General. The city and its inhabitants. Image of the city N
City N in the comedy “The Inspector General” occupies far from last place. This is a universal collective image of the county town of that time. Gogol combined in him all those vicious and annoying traits that can easily be found in any provincial town in Russia to this day: nepotism, embezzlement, bribery, ignorance, hypocrisy, etc. It is precisely such a place that serves as an ideal haven for Khlestakovism.
Where is the district town N in the comedy “The Inspector General”? Gogol even determined where the fictional abode of vices could be located. It is located somewhere in the Volga region between Penza and Saratov. We learn this by reading about Khlestakov’s return to his native place: he is traveling from St. Petersburg through Penza to the Saratov province.
District town N is a small, quiet town: “I like the town here. Of course, it’s not that crowded – so what? After all, this is not the capital.” Maybe that’s why it was so easy to hide the lawlessness and arbitrariness of officials there, who were very frightened by the arrival of the auditor. Because they don’t keep order, these places are dirty and littered: “Oh, my God! I forgot that near that fence there were forty carts of all sorts of rubbish piled up. What a nasty city this is!”
Looking together with careless officials into all the hidden corners of the city, we understand that they have something to fear: if the auditor sees such desolation, they will all have a hard time. For example, in a city prison, prisoners are not fed at all, and law enforcement officers are no different from those they are persecuting. We remember the story of the widow of a non-commissioned officer who was flogged just like that: “... Take it out, holy saints! 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! A shame! Blame!..”
The city also has government institutions: a school, a hospital, a court, etc. But none of this really works, since officials do not fulfill their duties in relation to the objects entrusted to them. Therefore, life in this place is not sweet for everyone, because, as you know, the fish rots from the head: following the officials, the entire city of N has degraded and sank. It is dirty and uncomfortable, bribery, theft and deception reign everywhere, and people have nothing to hope for, so just as the city rulers don’t need any trial or investigation to trample on any disobedient citizen.
In the image of the city of N, I think, Gogol wanted to depict not only the morals and customs of the outback, but also the whole of Russia, ruined and disgraced by dishonest officials, terribly unsettled and ignorant. However, the author, as a deeply religious person, still gave us hope for the correction of this biblical Sodom: a real auditor still came.
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City N and its inhabitants.
One of the most expressive, impressive images of Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General” is, of course, the image of the city N.
The reader gets to know him almost from the first pages famous work. From the dialogue of those frightened by the imminent arrival of an official, a small provincial town appears in all its glory: Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin, the local postmaster, who opens other people’s correspondence without any remorse and reads it with pleasure, seems to blow up the city authorities with his news.
We can safely say that in small work Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol manages to brilliantly show all layers of society: the people, the merchants, the bureaucrats. “The Inspector General” reflects the main areas of life: trade, social, spiritual.
From the very first pages of the play we learn about the dirt that has not been removed from the city streets for many years. Particular attention is paid to the huge puddle in the central square, which is impossible to pass through in bad weather. However, the Mayor is convinced that the deplorable state of the city is not his fault, but that the same townspeople are to blame. “What a nasty city this is! Just put up some kind of monument somewhere or just a fence - God knows where they’ll come from and they’ll do all sorts of crap!”
It turns out that officials had previously highlighted these shortcomings, but did not consider it necessary to put everything listed above in order. They suddenly begin to care about the comfort of the townspeople only after the news of the arrival of the auditor.
And what morals reign in this amazing town! People. who represent the state, turn the lives of city residents into survival rather.
The reader learns with horror about the order in the local hospital. Here, sick people walk around in scary gray caps, and few people actually think about curing them. As Strawberry put it, “...the closer to nature, the better - we don’t use expensive medicines. The man is simple: if he dies, he will die anyway; if he recovers, then he will recover.”
The teaching also amazes with the “flight of imagination”. One of the teachers “makes scary faces,” another talks with such inspiration about things that have happened “for a long time.” days gone by“that his students are simply afraid of him: “He is a learned head - this is obvious, and he has picked up a ton of information, but he only explains with such fervor that he does not remember himself. I listened to him once: well, for now I talked about the Assyrians and Babylonians - nothing yet, but when I got to Alexander the Great, I cannot tell you what happened to him. I thought it was a fire, by God! He ran away from the pulpit and slammed his chair on the floor with all his might. Of course, Alexander the Great is a hero, but why break the chairs? This is a loss to the treasury."
What is justice like? Law and order certainly reign here! However, from the wishes expressed by the Governor, the reader can learn that here, too, things are far from best picture. Bribery, condoning illegal actions - all this does not decorate the city of N.
I even feel sorry for the inhabitants of this town, but they, in my opinion, are so accustomed to this way of life that they cannot imagine their existence without such wonderful “little things” as bribery, flattery, laziness, stupidity of the commanding officials...
Gogol wrote this work in the first half of the 19th century, but how recognizable some of its scenes are now! Russia is certainly changing for the better, but some features of city life, it seems to me, are far from being corrected...
28. Topic: THE IMAGE OF THE CITY AND THE THEME OF OFFICIALS IN N. V. GOGOL’S COMEDY “THE AUDITOR”
Lesson objectives:
· educational: analyze how the district town of Russia was seen in the first half of the 19th century, its inhabitants and officials, determine the role of the district town in the history of Russia, correlate life basis the play "The Inspector General" and its general meaning in the depiction of officials;
· developing: practice analysis skills dramatic work, develop the ability to select quotes, develop the communicative competence of students, develop the ability to independently work with historical material and literary text;
· educational: to educate a thoughtful viewer, reader, to form a stable moral position, to form aesthetic perception through the means of literature.
Lesson type: lesson on analysis of a work of art.
Lesson format: lesson-travel.
Methods and techniques: partially search (teacher’s word, heuristic conversation with subsequent conclusion, work on the text - selection of quotes illustrating statements, vocabulary work).
Forms of work: frontal, group, individual.
Equipment: presentation “District town in the comedy “The Inspector General”
In “The Inspector General” I decided to put together everything bad in Russia that I knew then...
DURING THE CLASSES:
1. Organizing time
2. Teacher's opening speech. Introducing the topic and objectives of the lesson
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So, let's go!
3. Lexical meaning of the phrase “county town”
Gogol city N is a district town. First, let's find out what a “county town” is.
(County- the lowest administrative, judicial and financial unit in Russian Empire, as well as in the RSFSR in the first years after October revolution. As a result of administrative reform in 1927, counties were transformed into districts. Included the city and the volosts attached to it. It was governed by a princely governor, and from the beginning of the 17th century by a voivode, who performed military, administrative and judicial functions).
4. Geographical position
We found out what the county town is to which we are about to travel. Now we need to determine where this city is located. Russia is so big, where exactly should we go?
(The town is located far from the capital, in the depths of Russia. Khlestakov travels from St. Petersburg to the Saratov province through Penza, the second month from St. Petersburg).
The city has no name. Why?
(An unnamed city in some imaginary, symbolic center of the state. The location is “everywhere - nowhere.” “Yes, even if you jump for 3 years... you won’t get to any state,” says Gorodnichy. The city is conventional, faceless. But social model city life is given in detail).
5. Hotel and tavern
So we arrived in the city. Where will we stay? That's right, at the hotel. Let's see how the city hotel looks like.
(Room under the stairs, bedbugs and a two-course meal).
6. City streets
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So the first institution is
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS (Hospital) ,
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– Describe Artemy Filippovich Strawberry, using the statements of Strawberry himself.
Artemy Filippovich Strawberry– trustee charitable institutions. He, speaking modern language, responsible for hospitals, shelters. Funds are stolen, he himself admits: “They ordered to give habersup to the sick, but I have such cabbage running through all the corridors that you just have to take care of your nose.” His patients “all get better like flies.” Hospitals are dirty. “Make sure everything is decent: the caps are clean, and the sick don’t look like blacksmiths,” “they smoke such strong tobacco that you always sneeze when you walk in.” Dr. Gibner “doesn’t know a word of Russian, but he “heals” people. Strawberry admits: “We don’t use expensive medicines. The man is simple: if he dies, he will die anyway; If he gets well, he’ll get well.” Strawberry is given instructions to put clean caps on the sick, “to write over each bed in Latin or some other language... any illness, when someone got sick, what day or date.”
Fine. Important government agency- This
PUBLIC PLACES (Court).
Let's go there.
– Who runs the court? (Ammos Fedorovich Tyapkin-Lyapkin). Let's characterize it.
Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin- judge. The mayor calls him smart person, because he read five or six books. The mayor’s remarks about the public places: “In your front hall, where petitioners usually come, the guards have kept domestic geese with little goslings that are scurrying around under your feet.” “You have all sorts of rubbish being dried in your very presence, and right next to the cupboard with papers there is a hunting rag... He (the assessor) smells as if he had just come out of a distillery.” Confession of Ammos Fedorovich “I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but with what bribes? Greyhound puppies” suggests that a bribe is the norm for city officials, only everyone takes what they need. The judge doesn’t understand anything about his work: “I’ve been sitting on the judge’s chair for fifteen years, but when I look at the memorandum - ah! I’ll just wave my hand. Solomon himself will not decide what is true and what is not true in it.” Strawberry informs on Lyapkin-Tyapkin: “The judge... only goes after hares...” The assessor “smells as if he just came out of a distillery.”
One of the tasks of the state is to provide the population with education. Let's go to
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION (District School).
https://pandia.ru/text/77/494/images/image009_4.gif" alt=" Signature: Slide 8" align="left" width="80" height="32 src=">Кто заведует почтой города N? (Иван Кузьмич Шпекин) Как он выполняет свои обязанности.!}
- postmaster. He “does absolutely nothing: everything is in great disrepair: parcels are delayed...”. The postmaster does not even hide the fact that he opens and reads letters, he does not see this as a crime. He does this “out of curiosity: I love death to find out what’s new in the world. Let me tell you, this is a very interesting read. You will read another letter with pleasure...” He keeps interesting letters for himself. It's not only good time, this is also the fulfillment of the instructions of the mayor, who advises reading the letters. “Listen, Ivan Kuzmich, could you, for our common benefit, print out every letter that arrives at your post office, incoming and outgoing, you know, a little bit and read it: does it contain some kind of report or just correspondence... "
What other government agency in the city of N have we not described? That's right, that's
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
Each county town had a police department. It was supposed to ensure order in the city. What did the N city police do?
Police. We learn that policeman Prokhorov is dead drunk and sleeping at the station. The playbill gives the names of three police officers: Derzhimorda, Svistunov, Pugovitsyn. The very names themselves tell how they restore order in the city. The mayor gives orders regarding Pugovitsyn: “Quarterly Pugovitsyn...he tall, so let it stand on the bridge for improvement.” Regarding Derzhimorda, he remarks to a private bailiff: “Yes, tell Derzhimorda not to give too much free rein to his fists; For the sake of order, he puts lights under everyone’s eyes: both the right and the wrong.” Next, Derzhimorda stands at the door of the “auditor” Khlestakov and does not let the townspeople in to see him. The town's police are completely subordinate to the mayor and, it seems, act not according to the laws of the state, but at the whim of the main official of the city.
The soldiers are also subordinate to the mayor and the police. How do they look? “Don’t let the soldiers go without everything: this crappy garnish will only put on a uniform over the shirt, and nothing underneath.” So, it was as if we had visited many corners of the city N and met the officials of this city - the people who are responsible for the improvement of the city and the smooth functioning of all organizations.
All these institutions were subordinate to the head of the city, as they said in the 19th century, the mayor. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky is an interesting personality. But we'll talk about it in the next lesson.
https://pandia.ru/text/77/494/images/image012_4.gif" alt=" Signature: Slide 11" align="left" width="85" height="33 src=">– Какие еще стороны российской действительности представлены в комедии? (Помещики, купцы, мещане).!}
Even merchants have a hard life, let alone the poor people. Merchants and citizenship “We tolerate insults completely in vain...”. The merchants complain about the mayor, although together with him they steal the city treasury. “Let’s just wait, he’s completely exhausted, you can even get into a noose” “we always follow the order: what should be on the dresses of his wife and daughter.”
“He ordered my husband to shave his forehead as a soldier... According to the law, it’s impossible: he’s married.” Non-commissioned officer “Vysek” “couldn’t sit for two days”
How do people live in the county town?
9. Evidence from contemporaries (student message)
If you carefully read the comedy, you probably noticed that both Khlestakov and Gorodnichy used the same epithet in describing the city. Which? (bad). What does it mean? Choose synonyms (ugly, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting...).
How can a city exist with such blatant disgrace?
Maybe Wigel is right in his letter to Zagoskin: “The author invented some kind of Russia and some kind of city in it, into which he dumped all the abominations that occasionally appear on the surface real Russia find…"
Contemporary Nikitenko provides information about the life of district towns in his Diary. For example, he talks about the city of Ostrogozhsk, where on the streets there were more dogs, than people and who “literally drowned in the mud. Its unpaved streets became impassable: pedestrians floundered among them, as if in a mess, and ox carts got stuck.”
In the district cities of the Ryazan province, bribery and arbitrariness flourished. The authorities knew how to cleverly throw dust in the eyes of higher officials. Just as Gogol’s mayor did. The appearance of construction was immediately created in the city: vacant lots were beautiful fences with the designation of the numbers of houses supposedly under construction, which there was no one and no money to build... It turned out, for example, the news that at that time, along such and such a highway, a high-ranking person was supposed to pass. The bridge barely held there. Entire villages flocked to repair it. The bridge was erected to perfection. A person passed by and praised him, and the bridge, following the honor bestowed upon him, immediately collapsed.”
Kazan police chief Paul tortured completely innocent people. Not only common people, but even minor officials were subjected to this fate.
The inspector, who arrived in Penza unexpectedly in the evening, ordered himself to be taken to the embankment. “Which embankment?” asked the cab driver. “Which one? Do you have a lot of them? After all, there is only one,” answered the auditor. “Yes, there is none!” - exclaimed the cabman. It turned out that on paper the embankment had been under construction for two years already and that several tens of thousands of rubles had been spent on it, but it had never even begun.
10. Generalization
For what purpose did Gogol depict such a nasty town in his comedy?
We call the city in which we live and were born our home. It is with this place that we pin our hopes for the future, so we want our city to be beautiful, clean, and cozy.
But when talking about our love for the city, we should notice not only beauty and cleanliness. They often talk about negative phenomena. And for what? (By portraying this, they want the situation to change for the better).
Only by noticing the strengths and weaknesses of our city can we make it better. That is why famous writers raised problems associated with the life of small towns scattered throughout our vast homeland, explored the morals prevailing in these towns, and examined the people living there.
They say that Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General" is immortal. Is it possible to agree with such a statement? Don't we meet in modern Russia phenomena, similar topics that Gogol described? Aren't you participating in environmental landings, cleaning up hometown from garbage? Have all the people who were negligent in their duties disappeared? Do you always complete the assigned tasks yourself?
11. Final word.
But dusk had already fallen on the city. Where to go in the provinces at a time like this?
Let's follow the example of Khlestakov, who agreed to the proposal of the faithful Osip to leave here as quickly as possible, say goodbye to the town and its inhabitants, take a courier troika, straighten out the road...
Hey, you strays! - the coachman will shout and in one minute he will leave behind the pavement, and the barrier, and the nasty little town, so similar to any district town in N.
12. Homework
Characterize the Mayor according to plan:
1) Appearance(“Notes for gentlemen actors”)
3) History of the mayor (biographical facts)
4) Attitude towards service
5) Meeting with the “auditor”
7) Speech characteristics
Characteristics of the district town in N.V. Gogol’s comedy “The Inspector General”.
The mayor and district officials as bribe-takers, careerists, people violating their official duty, low people.
Place and time of action in Gogol's comedy.
b. The grabber and bribe-taker mayor is a model for all lower ranks.
V. Measures taken by officials to hide abuses from the auditor.
d. Laughter is the only honest and noble face comedies.
3. Typical nature of the paintings depicted by Gogol.
Everyone here got it, and most of all me.
Nikolai 1.
The pinnacle of Gogol’s dramatic creativity is the comedy “The Inspector General,” written in 1836. This is an example of Russian social comedy, exposing vices government system Russia. The action in it takes place in one of the county towns, located on the way between provincial cities Penza and Saratov, from which “even if you gallop for three years, you won’t reach any state.” The action takes place in the 30s of the last century, during the reign of Nicholas 1. During his reign, abuses among officials were monstrous. Nothing was done without a bribe. It got to the point that the Minister of Justice himself gave bribes to officials when he had litigation.
The officials of the district town, led by the mayor Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, personify power and law in the city where the comedy takes place. What's going on in the city on the eve of the auditor's arrival? The city streets are not clear, there is “tavern, uncleanness” on the sidewalks. Citizens take out garbage to the fences. The church, for the construction of which funds were allocated, did not begin to be built: the mayor appropriated the money for himself. There is confusion in the court cases. Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin believes that the biblical sage Solomon himself would not have been able to understand the court papers. At the courthouse, the watchmen started a goose farm. And the judge, an avid hunter, uses the room to dry animal skins. The symbol of judicial justice is the arapnik, which hangs in the most visible place. The assessor is apparently a lover of alcohol, because it smells like a distillery. The judge himself considers himself an intelligent person, because he has read three books. The judge takes bribes with greyhound puppies, without even considering it an official crime. And everyone in the city gives and takes bribes. This is the norm of relations between officials and petitioners.
The trustee of charitable institutions, the sweet tooth, the glutton Strawberry, abuses his official position. In hospitals, patients are fed only cabbage, although they need dietary food. The German doctor Gibner does not understand a word of Russian. He does not prescribe medications to his patients, relying entirely on nature: if the patient is destined to recover, he will recover even without expensive drugs. Patients in the hospital look more like blacksmiths in greasy aprons than patients in clean hospital clothes with white caps.
Schools care little about the education of youth. And who will educate worthy young citizens when the superintendent of schools, Khlopov, is a timid person who does not have his own opinion?
The exhibition of officials is completed by Postmaster Shpekin, an empty-headed man and a passionate lover of news. Shpekin prints out other people's letters out of curiosity and reads them as if they were free interesting novels. However, when reading letters, he checks “whether it contains any report or correspondence.”
The mayor, by the nature of his service, should suppress all abuses. He, on the contrary, is a swindler among all swindlers. A notorious bribe-taker, embezzler, arrogant swindler and ignoramus, he stands as an example for lower officials. The mayor, of course, knows that his behavior is criminal. But he justifies himself: “Everyone does it.” Really, fair man a rarity in this environment. The mayor was born of this environment and was raised by it. He takes large bribes: a fur coat for himself, a shawl for his wife. Merchants are obliged to bring the best provisions to his kitchen. Using his power, the mayor subjects the non-commissioned officer’s wife to corporal punishment. Prisoners are not given provisions for two weeks. There is no order in the city; half-drunk police officers administer justice with their fists. The mayor is not only funny, but also scary. After all, he dreams of becoming related to the false inspector Khlestakov and becoming a general in St. Petersburg. In a general's uniform he would have become even more terrifying. Mistaking the “dummy” Khlestakov for an auditor, officials seek to hide their sins and
Pay off a city official with bribes. They are convinced that St. Petersburg officials also take bribes. The habits of auditors from St. Petersburg - imaginary and true - are known. The almighty bribe will do its job.
Officials of the district town mistook the rogue “fice” for an important person. They offered him bribes and rejoiced at the fact that they themselves would be deceived. The arrival of a real auditor strikes them like a thunderclap. Frozen in silent poses, they cause laughter. Gogol laughingly inflicted a public execution on a gang of thieves and embezzlers.
The outrages depicted by Gogol were typical of Russian life. This is evidenced by documents and statements of Gogol’s contemporaries.
"The Inspector General" was conceived as social comedy(and not family life), therefore the events depicted are considered on the scale of the city (and not one house).
A city is always a multidimensional, multi-valued symbol. This is a kind of closed space, fenced off from the environment, small world, which can reflect Big world and be its symbol. In Gogol - Dikanka (in in this case, not a city, but a village, but the symbolic functions are the same), Mirgorod ( telling name), phantasmagoric Petersburg and now - a county town without a name. So, a city is a closed mythologized space with its own clear internal structure and internal laws. Social structure Gogol's cities - simplest scheme, a pyramid with the top - the mayor, then - his family, then - officials, landowners, merchants, townspeople, artisans and other residents of the city. A city is a symbol of any large social hierarchical structure (state, the whole world). In accordance with this, we can talk about following values image of a “prefabricated” (Gogol) city.
1. Collective image provincial Russian city. Peculiarity of the image: Gogol did not strive to convey the facts extremely accurately; he rather conveys “not the facts, but the very spirit of reality” (V. G. Belinsky). Example: in the nomenclature of officials there is no such necessary character as the mayor, because the figure of the mayor, who embodies an abstract idea - the highest power in the city, is sufficient. So, this is a mythologized image of a provincial Russian city. There are memories of how in one provincial town the mayor took the image of Gogol’s mayor personally and was very offended.
2. The phantasmagorical nature of the city. There is something phantasmagorical about the city, starting with the uncertainty of its location on the map of Russia (“Even if you ride from here for three years, you won’t get to any state”). Obviously, such characters could not meet in real life. We can say that this is a provincial Russian city, but in a distorted mirror of grotesque and satire. (How does the meaning of the epigraph to the play relate to this?) One can also say that this is a ghost town, the embodiment of “our ghostly reality” (V.G. Belinsky), a city that is not on the map and at the same time a purely Russian city.
3. The Russian State in miniature. One can view the city in The Government Inspector at the same time as a grotesque caricature of a bureaucratic state. Many understood the meaning of comedy this way. Emperor Nicholas I responded to the play: “What a play! Everyone got it, and I got it the most.” However, from the text of a separate play “ Theater crossing...» (you need to re-read it) it follows that such an interpretation is quite groundless. In the play, the audience discusses among themselves Gogol's comedy "The Inspector General" that they just watched in the theater. Those who claimed that this was a dangerous, unreliable comedy were, in essence, narrow-minded people.
4. Interpretation in the spirit of a religious and philosophical parable. This interpretation is proposed by Gogol himself in another, separate play - “The Denouement of the Inspector General,” written for a benefit performance by M. Shchepkin. This time the characters are actors, the main one is the First Comic Actor, he delivers a large didactic monologue addressed to the audience. The monologue says that the city is our soul, officials are disastrous passions, the auditor is conscience, and Khlestakov is an imaginary, “fickle, secular” conscience. Thus, the plot is understood in an allegorical sense, in the spirit of a parable. City as a symbol inner world human - is in the Christian tradition.
It is known that this interpretation was not to the taste of Shchepkin, who wrote to Gogol that he wanted to see satirical images of officials on stage, and not “some kind of passions” (“After me, at least remake them into goats,” he adds).
5. Characters personifying the city. This is first of all the Mayor, and then the officials. They are to a large extent the “face of the city,” that is, the city in the play is shown as the result of the activities of the mayor and other officials. Unlike the Mayor, officials are more primitive. When depicting them, Gogol uses simpler techniques (one is connected to the other). Mayor and Khlestakov - as it were volumetric figures, and officials are flat, they can also be likened to masks or dolls. Each of them has its own characteristic comic detail in the portrait, demeanor, habits, etc. (for example, Lyapkin-Tyapkin stands out because he likes to take bribes with greyhound puppies, the “distinctive feature” of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky is that they are almost the same ). Character, in principle, boils down to these small features (“sins,” as Gorodnichy puts it). Play a certain role funny surnames officials, mostly they sound simply absurd, but some are also talking - for example, Dr. Gibner, the Derzhimord policeman. It is noteworthy that officials, as a rule, appear on stage all together and act together, speaking in turn. This applies to the first scene (waiting for the auditor), to the bribe scene and to the scene of reading the letter.
Waiting for the auditor. In this scene, pay attention to the grotesquely comic reports of officials about what is happening in the institutions under their jurisdiction. Quote in your essays what you find especially funny. This is the overall exposition of the plot, or " general situation", as Yu.V. Mann calls it.
Bribe scene. Pay attention to the crudely comic move: all the officials slip bribes to Khlestakov, but the first official is embarrassed to do this, the next one does it more boldly, then Khlestakov himself asks to borrow money (“I spent a lot on the way ...”), and they are waiting. One more point: Strawberry, before saying goodbye to Khlestakov, denounces the rest of the officials.
Letter reading scene. A crudely comic move. The letter contains the “biting” characteristics given by Khlestakov to each of the officials. The officials (starting with the Postmaster) read this letter aloud one by one. Each of them passes this letter to the other when it comes to himself: no one wants to read about themselves, but everyone is happy to read about others.