Khlestakov is the first of Gogol's artistic discoveries. Compositions

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1. New!

   Reading Gogol's stories, we still remember more than once how an unlucky official in a cap of indefinite shape and in a blue fleece overcoat, with an old collar, stopped in front of the window to look through the whole windows of shops shining with wonderful lights ...

But Khlestakov spoke the pure truth. He provoked the whole cunning game of the Governor and officials not by cunning, but by sincerity. “Let’s let us turuses in too: we’ll pretend as if we don’t even know what kind of person he is,” says Gorodnichiy, believing that he is picking up the challenge. But Khlestakov did not throw any challenge, he simply said and reflexively did what the given minute demanded of him. Fear set the stage for deceit. But Khlestakov's sincerity deceived him. An experienced rogue is unlikely to have fooled Gorodnichiy: he would have guessed it, but the unintentionality of Khlestakov's actions confused him. Something he didn't expect! It is interesting, by the way, that Khlestakov, in contrast to Gorodnichiy and others, has almost no "aside" remarks at all. Such remarks served the playwright to convey the inner speech of the character, his secret intentions. In relation to Khlestakov, this was not required: he has what is on his mind, then on his tongue. In the third and fourth acts, Khlestakov's dizzying transformations begin - imaginary and real.

Khlestakov and Khlestakovism Khlestakov and Khlestakovism What is the mystery of Khlestakov's character? What is the mystery of Khlestakov's character? “Khlestakov is the first of Gogol's artistic discoveries ...” “Khlestakov is the first of Gogol's artistic discoveries ...” Characteristics of the hero. Characteristics of the hero.

Gogol considered Khlestakov to be the central character in the comedy The Inspector General. Aksakov recalled: “Gogol always complained to me that he did not find an actor for this role, that because of this the play loses its meaning and should rather be called “The Governor”, ​​and not “The Government Inspector”. Khlestakov, according to the author, is not the character of the second row, on which the anecdotal plot of the work rests, he is the main person in the comedy. Unfortunately, the character of Khlestakov still remains a mystery to the viewer, who perceives only the external manifestation of the character. The "imaginary auditor" is often seen as a "talented" liar. But the psychological roots of Khlestakov's rampant lies are much deeper and more serious.

The central character of the comedy Khlestakov. He is a typical character, embodies the whole phenomenon, which is called "Khlestakovism". Khlestakov is a “capital thing”, a representative of that noble youth who flooded St. Petersburg offices and departments, with complete disregard for their duties, seeing in the service only an opportunity for a quick career. Even the father of the hero realized that his son could not achieve anything, so he calls him to him. But accustomed to idleness, not wanting to work, Khlestakov declares; “... I cannot live without Petersburg. Why, in fact, should I ruin my life with the peasants? ... "

The main reason for Khlestakov's lies is the desire to present himself from the other side, to become different, because the hero is deeply convinced of his own uninteresting and insignificance. This gives Khlestakov's boasting the painful character of self-affirmation. He exalts himself because he is secretly full of contempt for himself. That bifurcation, which will become the object of artistic research in Dostoevsky's novels, has already been laid down by Gogol in Khlestakov. To become different in your own eyes, even if only for a few moments, is very tempting. Let us recall that even the mayor, who is no longer the clerical "rat" that Khlestakov is, humiliates himself now, intoxicated by the prospect of becoming a general.

His relationships with women are also full of deceit. Not loving anyone, he drags both his daughter and his mother. He does so, proceeding from the sole and main goal of his empty life, which he formulates in this way: “After all, you live on this in order to pluck the flowers of pleasure.” Another striking feature of Khlestakov is a short memory, which, in particular, makes him incapable of complex calculations of greed and gives him those "candor and simplicity" that Gogol reminded the actors of as the main personality traits of the hero. Khlestakov, no doubt, is gifted with a talent for imitation. But what is instantly acquired is just as instantly lost, leaving no trace.

Khlestakov is a rogue, an anemone, but it is curious that his behavior never arouses suspicion. The more fantastic Khlestakov's lies, the more confidence officials have in him. The mayor himself does not find anything reprehensible in his lies. He even sincerely admires Khlestakov, as he sees his ideal in him. The typicality, generalization of the image of Khlestakov as a representative of the contemporary noble and bureaucratic society, Gogol emphasizes in his “Excerpt from a Letter”: “What, if you look at it, really, Khlestakov? A young man, an official, and empty, as they call it, but containing many qualities belonging to people whom the world does not call empty! One of the mysteries of the "Inspector" is why the stupid, simple-minded, outwardly insignificant Khlestakov leads the smart "in his own way" and experienced mayor by the nose? Perhaps the best answer to this question would be the words from Krylov's fable "Razors": They are afraid of people with the mind. And they tolerate fools more willingly ...

The “emptiest” person was mistaken for an important person, because this person was not supposed to be distinguished by a special mind, and “significance” would certainly stand out. Khlestakov could not transform into a smart one, but he very easily let himself be significant. For officials frightened by the news of the arrival of the auditor, this was enough. Gogol had reason to insist that Khlestakov, who embodies the idea of ​​lies, is the protagonist of the comedy The Inspector General. In the perception of the author, Khlestakov "is a phantasmagoric face, which, like a deceitful personified deception, has gone along with the troika to God knows where."

Indeed, Khlestakov can be called a household name. The word "Khlestakovism" stigmatizes any manifestation of arrogance, frivolity, inner emptiness, deceit and worthlessness, the desire to seem more significant and important than you really are. It acquired a broad social and psychological meaning. The image of Khlestakov belongs to the number of deeply found and guessed phenomena of life and retains its accusatory power and accuracy to this day. "Khlestakovism" is a timeless concept.

And really, what is it? It depends on the understanding and imagination of the reader. Perhaps in whether Khlestakov is an ingenuous dreamer or a cunning pretender? Unfortunately, the character of Khlestakov still remains a mystery to the viewer, who perceives only the external manifestation of the character. The "imaginary auditor" is often seen as a "talented" liar. But the psychological roots of Khlestakov's rampant lies are much deeper and more serious.

Boasting and arrogance, combined with the stupidity of provincial officials, help him to remain unexposed. He is agile, which can be seen in the episode of a declaration of love. Instantly "switches" from daughter to wife, and none of them has time to suspect anything. The development of the plot was also influenced by Khlestakov's inability to reason logically, consistently. He used to "go with the flow" and not think about the future. An indicator of this is the absence of his side remarks.

Often he is not able to stop (as during lunch with the mayor). Starting to talk about something, he “lied”, trying to put himself in the most favorable light. Khlestakov has self-esteem (he is afraid of the moralizing of Osip, his servant), but does not disdain to cheat and talk. In his character there are many negative sides society of that time - servility, sycophancy (remember how he humbly asks for dinner!), ignorance ...

Khlestakov is a symbol, a designation of a very specific part of humanity. “The image of Khlestakov is a type of many things scattered in different Russian characters,” Gogol himself writes about him. He ridicules such people, calls for the extermination of "Khlestakovism" - self-affirmation due to his arrogance and resourcefulness. That is why the Petersburg society, which rests on just such people, was indignant. The Russian writer K.A. Fedin said that “Khlestakov absolutely does not need any epithet, because he himself has become an unsurpassed epithet for all sorts of whistlers, bang-rollers, idle talkers ...”

Gogol warned more than once: Khlestakov is the most difficult character in the play. Why? Because, having become the culprit of a general deception, Khlestakov did not deceive anyone. He successfully played the role of the auditor, not only not intending to play it, but not even realizing that he was playing it. Only by the middle of the fourth act vague guesses begin to dawn in Khlestakov's head that he is being mistaken for a "statesman." But it is precisely in unintentionality that Khlestakov's "strength" lies. He says that he did not serve anything in St. Petersburg and is going home to the Saratov province, and the Governor thinks: “Huh? and won't blush! Oh, yes, you need to keep an eye on him ... "," Lies, lies and will not break anywhere! The mayor was not struck by Khlestakov's "lies"; after all, he was preparing for the fact that the "auditor" would play a role, but that at the same time he "would not blush."

But Khlestakov spoke the pure truth. He provoked the whole cunning game of the Governor and officials not by cunning, but by sincerity. “Let’s let us turuses in too: we’ll pretend as if we don’t know what kind of person he is at all,” says Gorodnichiy, believing that he is picking up the challenge. But Khlestakov did not throw any challenge, he simply said and reflexively did what the given minute demanded of him. Fear set the stage for deceit. But Khlestakov's sincerity deceived him. An experienced rogue is unlikely to have fooled Gorodnichiy: he would have guessed it, but the unintentionality of Khlestakov's actions confused him. Something he didn't expect! It is interesting, by the way, that Khlestakov, in contrast to Gorodnichiy and others, has almost no "aside" remarks at all. Such remarks served the playwright to convey the inner speech of the character, his secret intentions. In relation to Khlestakov, this was not required: he has what is on his mind, then on his tongue. In the third and fourth acts, Khlestakov's dizzying transformations, imaginary and real, begin.

The transition from imaginary to real situations is insensitively easy for Khlestakov, like the transition from the “thousand rubles”, which he first requested from Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, to the amount found in the pockets of both friends. “Well, let it be sixty-five rubles. It doesn't matter." "It doesn't matter" because in all cases Khlestakov is equally unintentional; it is all within the given minute. How this minute differs from the previous one, Khlestakov does not ask. More precisely, some changes in his position are striking to him; but he cannot understand what caused them. “I like that you show people passing by everything in the city. Nothing was shown to me in other cities.” This observation alone could suggest that there was some kind of misunderstanding here. But for Khlestakov there are no misunderstandings, because even the simplest analysis of the situation is impossible.

He is like water, taking the form of any vessel. Khlestakov has extraordinary adaptability: the whole system of his feelings, psyche is easily and involuntarily rebuilt under the influence of place and time. But in all cases, even at the moment of the most incredible lies, Khlestakov is sincere. Khlestakov invents with the same sincerity with which he previously spoke the truth, and this again deceives the officials. But this time they accept what was fiction as truth. Gogol wrote in “Forewarning ...”: “Khlestakov, in himself, is an insignificant person ... He even for a very long time but is able to guess why he receives such attention and respect. He felt only pleasantness and pleasure, seeing that they were listening to him, pleasing him, fulfilling everything he wanted, greedily catching everything that he uttered ...

Speaking about the most important feature of Khlestakov, “the desire to show off,” Gogol emphasized: “... an actor for this role must have a very versatile talent that would be able to express different features of a person, and not some constant, the same ones.” “The features of the role of some mayor,” wrote Gogol in “An Excerpt from a Letter ...”, are more motionless and clear.” The image of Khlestakov is inexhaustible, fraught with stunning surprises. However, they are all within the same range.

The image of Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov is one of the most characteristic and remarkable in Gogol's work, "the beloved child of his imagination." It showed the artist's passion for hyperbole, almost grotesque exaggerations, love for depicting "multilateral" characters. And the way of thinking of Ivan Alexandrovich is typical for most of Gogol's heroes: the illogicality, incoherence of his speeches are simply stunning. And, of course, some "devilry", a touch of fantasy is associated with the image of Khlestakov. Well, really, isn't it an obsession: a respectable and experienced mayor takes a "wick" for a "significant person". Moreover, the whole city following him, in a fit of insanity, pays tribute to the "auditor", begs for protection, tries to "appease" this insignificant little man. The plot of the comedy is simple and brilliant.

A special, Gogolian feature in him is the absence on the part of the imaginary auditor of any conscious actions to deceive the officials. He himself gets into an unpredictable situation and behaves in accordance with it. If Khlestakov were a swindler, the depth of the plan would disappear. The main thing here is that the fear-stricken officials deceive themselves ("they flogged themselves"). But in such a situation, a person endowed with very special properties is needed in the place of the auditor. Well no. have mercy. These properties are the most common. Well, for example, the desire to show off, to play a role a little higher than the one that a person is "intended". After all, this is characteristic of each of us "at least for a minute," according to Gogol. The enchanting scene of lies at the reception of the mayor shows this quality of the hero with unprecedented strength.

From an employee who "only rewrites", in a few minutes he grows almost to a "commander in chief" who "goes to the palace every day." Khlestakov is a genius of lies, he is going through his finest hour. The homeric scope stuns those present "thirty-five thousand couriers" rushing at full speed to find the hero, without him there is no one to manage the department. Soldiers at the sight of him "make a gun." Soup in a saucepan is coming to him from Paris. In the blink of an eye, like a fabulous genie, he builds and destroys a whole fantasy world - the dream of the modern mercantile age, where everything is measured in hundreds and thousands of rubles.

Khlestakov’s speech is fragmentary, he starts talking, but jumps on at full speed: “What really? I’m like that! I won’t look at anyone ... I tell everyone:“ I know myself, myself. I am everywhere, everywhere..." But what is it? Everything will be decided, too, like in a fairy tale: "How will you run up the stairs to your fourth floor..." No, no, he has already come to his senses: I forgot that I live in the mezzanine." But now is his time. He is a hero-lover, charming mother and daughter, son-in-law of the mayor. He is a "significant person" who is humbly offered bribes. And with each bribe, Ivan Aleksandrovich noticeably changes. He enters He has already realized himself in a new role, and the hero likes it.If he shyly asks for a loan from the first visitor, justifying himself: "he spent on the road," then he immediately demands from Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky: "Do you have any money?"

And Khlestakov disappears in a special way. This "phantasmagoric face", "like a deceitful personified deceit, was carried away with the troika to God knows where" (Gogol). After all, this is just a mirage, a ghost generated by an unclean conscience and fear. So, what is "Khlestakovism"? This is the embodiment of the desire to play a role higher than the one that is intended for you, but also the embodiment of the emptiness of existence. Nothing raised to the Nth power, "arising before the highest degree emptiness, by amazing expression Gogol. Yes, the image of Khlestakov is beautiful - the great creation of Gogol. He is all inspiration, flight.

It is a collection of many qualities. In him is a small official, and a great dreamer, and a simple-hearted little man, lying with inspiration and happiness. But it is also a symbolic, generalized image of a modern Russian person, "which has become all a lie, without even noticing it." (N.V. Gogol).

Gogol warned against understanding his characters as caricatured and grotesque: "... none of the above persons have lost their human image." And "that's why the heart tremor" of the viewer is even deeper. The writer himself believed that the most difficult and "difficult" in comedy is the image of the one who was mistaken for the auditor. “Khlestakov is an insignificant person in himself ... Never in his life would he have happened to do a thing that could attract someone's attention, but the power of universal fear created a wonderful comic face out of him.” Khlestakov at first does not even realize that he was not accepted for who he is. He lives for the moment and completely surrenders to the “pleasantness” of the new position. And his main quality: the desire to show off, to splurge - is manifested in full measure. He inspiredly composes fables about his situation in St. Petersburg.

According to Gogol's plan, “Khlestakov does not cheat at all; he is not a liar by trade, he himself will forget that he is lying, and he himself almost believes what he says. It begins to seem to Khlestakov that he really did what he describes so eloquently (and he managed the department, and went to the palace, and “with Pushkin on a friendly footing”). A small official, he feels a special pleasure, portraying a strict boss, “scoldling” others. Reveling in unexpected happiness, Khlestakov is not aware of his actions, he has "an extraordinary lightness in his thoughts." He borrows money from officials - and this request, unexpectedly for himself, breaks out of his mouth. His behavior is devoid of any logic, he alternately falls in love with the mayor's wife and daughter and asks for the hand of Marya Antonovna, completely forgetting that he had just declared his love to her mother.

Khlestakov is a brilliant discovery by Gogol. In a pointed form, unreasonable and unreasonable claims are revealed, the desire to appear “a rank higher”, the ability to “shine” with complete mental and spiritual emptiness and frivolity; “microscopic pettiness and gigantic vulgarity” (Belinsky) are features so characteristic of noble and bureaucratic Russia. In the dizzying transformation of a nonentity into a significant "person" the absurdity of social order, the cult of "rank" had an effect. The nature of the existing relations, combined with the fear experienced by officials, makes everyone believe the ridiculous logic of Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky: “Forgive me, if not him! And he doesn’t pay money, and he doesn’t go - who should be if not him? .. By God, he ... He is so observant: he looked at everything ... and even looked into our plates to inquire about what we eat? Therefore, the comedy of the scene in the hotel is so deep, when the mayor is convinced that the visiting official is a “thin thing”, and admires his brilliant game: “Huh? - and will not blush! - the mayor says to the side. - Oh, yes, you need to keep an eye on him. But the whole point is that it is here that Khlestakov ingenuously expresses the whole truth about himself.

The paradoxical nature of the central situation is that universal fear creates something phantasmagoric, creates an imaginary auditor. Khlestakov has nothing to do with traditional comedic rogues and plays the role of an auditor unconsciously. It was, as it were, suggested to him, imposed on him by frightened officials. But it is in this role that Khlestakov is the center of comedy. As a result, under the guise of a powerful auditor, it turns out to be an "icicle", "helicopter", a dummy. In this regard, Yu. V. Mann speaks of the "mirage intrigue" of the Inspector General, which dispelled, turned into nothing the aspirations and expectations of the whole city. Its rulers were deceived by the phantom of their own imagination; using the curious statement of the mayor, one can say that they “flogged themselves”, but at the same time remained impenitent. Here, too, Gogol's comedy is free from edification.

G Ogol often warned his readers against grotesque understanding of his characters. He always reminded that for all the unusualness of the storyline, the heroes of his works were able to retain the features inherent in ordinary people, and the features are common, found everywhere.

The protagonist in ordinary life is a quiet, shy person who has not achieved anything definite in his endeavors. If it weren’t for a chance that turned up by the way, it’s unlikely that at least someone could turn to him Special attention. The fear experienced by the whole city turned him into a different person. So much so that at first the hero himself does not know this.

He is accustomed to living in the present and completely gives himself to a pleasant state of affairs: he is loved, spoken to, flattered. Gradually, his main talent - blowing dust in his eyes - grows and flourishes, begins to manifest itself to the maximum. He makes up stories about his life in St. Petersburg.

He is lying, but at the same time, it seems that the hero does not seem to understand this. He flirts so much that he forgets that he is lying. It already seems to Khlestakov that he really manages the department, travels to palaces all the time and is friends with Pushkin. Gradually, he, a petty official, begins to enjoy portraying the highest rank, those who have always stood above him, could allow him to raise his voice. He feels a certain lightness in his soul. Relaxing, he allows what he dreamed of, what he needed to fly off his tongue: he first asks, and then demands money. His actions are devoid of logic, he is either head over heels in love with the mayor's wife, or his heart is concealed from love for his own daughter, and asks for her hand, forgetting that a minute ago he confessed his mother's feelings.

Khlestakov - the discovery of the writer. In a sharp form, he was able to show huge demands and eternal discontent, the desire to appear richer and more famous with the emptiness of the soul and childish spontaneity.

The paradox of the main situation is that the fear of all the officials of the city gives rise to something fantastic, unreal inspector. Khlestakov has no common features with liars from other well-known comedies - he enters the role of an auditor without hesitation, on a subconscious level. This role was suggested to him by the situation, it was literally imposed by frightened citizens of higher ranks. And that is how the hero becomes the center of the work. As a result, under the formidable auditor is an empty person. Therefore, the researcher Yu. V. Mann declared an unrealistic intrigue, a mirage of this play, which dispelled the desires of an entire county town.