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'''''The Government Inspector''''', also known as '''''The Inspector General''''' ({{lang-rus|links=no|Ревизор|Revizor}}, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, [[Nikolai Gogol]].<ref name="brittanica">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Nikolay Gogol|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/237143/Nikolay-Vasilyevich-Gogol|access-date=31 December 2010|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> Originally published in 1836, the play was revised for an 1842 edition. Based upon an [[anecdote]] allegedly recounted to Gogol by [[Alexander Pushkin|Pushkin]],<ref name="Ehre">{{cite book |title= Notes for the Theater of Nikolay Gogol |last= Ehre |first= Milton |year= 1980 |publisher= University of Chicago Press |isbn= 0-226-30066-8}}</ref> the play is a comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the [[political corruption]] of contemporary [[Russian Empire|Russia]].
The dream-like scenes of the play, often mirroring each other, whirl in the endless vertigo of self-deception around the main character, '''Khlestakov''' (rendered in some English translations as '''Hlestakov'''), who personifies irresponsibility, light-mindedness, and absence of measure. "He is full of meaningless movement and meaningless fermentation incarnate, on a foundation of placidly ambitious inferiority" (D. S. Mirsky). The publication of the play led to a great outcry in the reactionary press. It took the personal intervention of [[Nicholas I of Russia|Tsar Nicholas I]] to have the play staged, with [[Mikhail Shchepkin]] taking the role of the Mayor. Nicholas I was personally present at the play's premiere on the stage of the [[Alexandrinsky Theatre]] in St. Petersburg on April 19, 1836, concluding that "there is nothing sinister in the comedy, as it is only a cheerful mockery of bad provincial officials."<ref>[https://aif.ru/culture/theater/ochen_nervnyy_vecher_kak_nikolay_i_i_gogol_postanovku_revizora_smotreli Очень нервный вечер. Как Николай I и Гоголь постановку «Ревизора» смотрели]</ref>
According to [[D. S. Mirsky]], ''The Government Inspector'' "is not only supreme in character and dialogue – it is one of the few Russian plays constructed with unerring art from beginning to end. The great originality of its plan consisted in the absence of all [[Romantic interest|love interest]] and of sympathetic characters. The latter feature was deeply resented by Gogol's enemies, and as a satire the play gained immensely from it. There is not a wrong word or intonation from beginning to end, and the comic tension is of a quality that even Gogol did not always have at his beck and call."<ref>[[D. S. Mirsky]]. ''A History of Russian Literature''. Northwestern University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-8101-1679-0}}. p. 161. ([[Public Domain]]).</ref> In 2014, the play was ranked by [[The Daily Telegraph|''The Telegraph'']] as one of the 15 greatest ever written.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10631419/Best-plays-of-all-time.html|title=Best plays of all time|date=2014-04-28|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=2020-04-14|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref>
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[[File: The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol.jpg|thumb|upright|A stamp depicting "The Government Inspector", from the souvenir sheet of Russia devoted to the 200th birth anniversary of Nikolai Gogol, 2009]]
The corrupt officials of a small Russian town, headed by the Mayor, react with panic to the news that an incognito inspector will soon be arriving in their town to investigate them. The flurry of activity to cover up their considerable misdeeds is interrupted by the report that a suspicious person had arrived two weeks previously from [[Saint Petersburg]] and is staying at the inn. That person, however, is not an inspector; it is Ivan Alexandreyevich Khlestakov
They learned that Khlestakov has not been paying for the hotel, just charging to the bill. Moreover, his original travel destination was [[Saratov Governorate]], but for some unknown reason he has been staying in this town for a long time. Therefore, the Mayor and his crooked cronies are immediately certain that this upper-class twit is the dreaded inspector. For quite some time, however, Khlestakov does not even realize that he has been mistaken for someone else. Meanwhile, he enjoys the officials' terrified deference and moves in as a guest in the Mayor's house. He also demands and receives massive "loans" from the Mayor and all of his associates. He also flirts outrageously with the Mayor's wife and daughter.
Sick and tired of the Mayor's ludicrous demands for bribes, the town's Jewish and [[Old Believers|Old Believer]] merchants arrive, begging Khlestakov to have him dismissed from his post. Stunned at the Mayor's rapacious corruption, Khlestakov states that he deserves to be exiled in chains to Siberia.
Terrified that he is now undone, the Mayor pleads with Khlestakov not to have him arrested, only to learn that the latter has become engaged to his daughter. Khlestakov then announces that he is returning to Saint Petersburg, having been persuaded by his valet Osip that it is too dangerous to continue the charade any longer.
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After Khlestakov and Osip depart on a coach driven by the village's fastest horses, the Mayor's friends all arrive to congratulate him. Certain that he now has the upper hand, he summons the merchants, boasting of his daughter's engagement and vowing to squeeze them for every [[kopeck]] they are worth. However, the Postmaster suddenly arrives carrying an intercepted letter which reveals Khlestakov's true identity – and his mocking opinion of them all.
The Mayor, after years of bamboozling
==Meyerhold's interpretation==
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* ''[[A City Upside Down|Eine Stadt steht kopf]]'', or ''A City Upside Down'' (1932), a German film directed by [[Gustaf Gründgens]]
* ''[[Revizor (film)|Revizor]]'' (1933), a Czech film directed by [[Martin Frič]], starring [[Vlasta Burian]]
* ''[[Police Chief Antek
* ''[[The Inspector General (1949 film)|The Inspector General]]'' (1949), a Hollywood [[musical comedy]] starring [[Danny Kaye]]. The film bears only passing resemblance to the original play. Kaye's version sets the story in Napoleon's empire, instead of Russia, and the main character presented to be the ersatz [[inspector general]] is not a haughty young government bureaucrat, but a down-and-out illiterate, run out of a gypsy's travelling medicine show for not being greedy and deceptive enough.
* ''[[Afsar (1950 film)|Afsar]]'' (1950), a [[Bollywood]] musical comedy directed by [[Chetan Anand (director)|Chetan Anand]]
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* ''[[Calzonzin Inspector]]'' (1974), a Mexican film directed and co-written by [[Alfonso Arau]], using the political cartoonist/writer [[Rius]]'s characters.
* ''Reviisori'' (1975), a Finnish straight adaptation.
* ''[[Incognito from St. Petersburg]]'' (1977),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.in70mm.com/library/process/sovscope/index.htm|title=Sovscope 70|author=Johnson, Jeffry L|work=Sovscope|access-date=15 May 2008}}</ref> a
* ''[[De Boezemvriend (film)|De Boezemvriend]]'' ("The Bosom Friend") (1982), a Dutch film starring [[André van Duin]]. A musical comedy which is not so much an adaptation of Gogol's work, but a remake of ''The Inspector General.'' An itinerant dentist in the French-occupied Netherlands is taken for a French tax inspector.
* ''[[Inspector (1996 film)|Revizor]]'' (1996), a Russian version with [[Nikita Mikhalkov]] playing the Mayor.
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{{Gutenberg|no=3735|name=The Inspector-General}} English translation by [[Thomas Seltzer (translator)|Thomas Seltzer]]
* {{librivox book | title=The Inspector-General | author=Nikolai Vasilievich GOGOL}}
* {{IMDb title|
* {{IMDb title|
{{Nikolai Gogol}}
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