Summary
Act IV
Scene 1
The Mayor and the notable officials gather together in the Mayor’s house, deciding how to approach the government inspector. A bribe is proposed, then one-on-one meetings behind closed doors. The men argue over who is to go first, then jump up in fright when they hear noise from Khlestakov’s room.
Scene 2
Khlestakov enters the recently vacated room, marveling at how well he slept yet how sweaty he is from the covers. He muses that he can have a good time here, especially with the Mayor’s daughter and his wife.
Scene 3
The Judge enters nervously and introduces himself. Khlestakov invites him to sit. The Judge is holding money and feels like it is burning him. He tries to brag about what he does here, but accidentally drops the money and thinks he is done for.
Khlestakov asks if he can borrow that money, and the Judge says that of course he can. Relief fills him as he stands and urges Khlestakov to not think of paying him back. On his way out, he feels like he has been saved.
Scene 4
The Postmaster enters and presents himself. Khlestakov impresses him because he does not seem like a snob.
Khlestakov wonders if he could borrow a bit of money, and the Postmaster readily and happily lets him.
After the Postmaster leaves, Khlestakov smiles that he seems like a decent chap.
Scene 5
The Inspector of Schools is next; he is trembling and shy. Khlestakov offers him a cigar and he drops it in fright. Khlestakov laughs that he does not seem to be a connoisseur of cigars, but as for himself, he favors both cigars and women. He asks the Inspector if he prefers blondes or brunettes. The Inspector stammers that he does not think of such matters, but Khlestakov continues to tease him.
After a minute or two of this, Khlestakov asks if he might borrow a bit of money since he ran out of cash. The Inspector agrees and runs out the door, relieved that his schools might not be inspected now.
Scene 6
The Warden of Charities enters and exchanges pleasantries with Khlestakov, but eagerly begins to offer his critique of his fellow officials. He explains that the Postmaster does not do anything and parcels are always delayed; the Judge spends all his time hunting and has no morals; Dobchinsky is having an affair with the Judge’s wife; the Inspector of Schools fills students’ heads with radical ideas.
He pauses and asks if Khlestakov would like this in writing. Khlestakov assents, saying that he would love to have something to read when he is bored. He smiles that what the Warden has told him is quite amusing.
On the Warden’s way out, Khlestakov again asks to borrow money, which the Warden happily assents to.
Scene 7
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky enter. Khlestakov asks them for money, but they cannot raise much from their two pockets.
Dobchinsky asks Khlestakov’s advice on a matter: his son was born before he was married, but he wants him to be made legitimate. He brags that his son is gifted and talented. Khlestakov replies that he’ll put in a word with… someone. Bobchinsky then asks if he will tell people in St. Petersburg—maybe even the Tsar—all about him. Khlestakov gamely agrees.
Scene 8
Once he is alone again, Khlestakov muses that he seems to have been mistaken for a man from the ministry. After all, he admits, he did embellish some things yesterday.
Scene 9
Osip comes to speak with Khlestakov and tells him that they had better leave soon. It is too dangerous to stay since someone else might show up, and his father will be angry if he is not back soon. Khlestakov sighs and agrees reluctantly, but he asks Osip to mail a letter first with all the gossip of the town, which can be used by Tryapichkin in one of his newspapers.
Osip goes out to mail the letter and orders one of the fanciest troikas (carriages) for his master.
Suddenly, a noise grows louder outside. Osip tells his master that it is the shopkeepers, clamoring to appeal to Khlestakov as the government inspector. Khlestakov opens the window and takes one of the petitions, marveling at the extravagant title he has been given.
Scene 10
Khlestakov lets the shopkeepers in, and they clamor to tell him that they are here to protest their harsh treatment at the hands of the Mayor. They claim he is ruining them by forcing soldiers on them, telling them they’re heathens, stealing things from their shops, and locking them up if they protest. They offer Khlestakov sugar and wine, but he sniffs that he does not take bribes. However, he adds, he might need to borrow some money. They gratefully give him more than he asks for, and they push the wine and sugar on him anyway. Outside, more loud voices are heard, and Khlestakov orders two women to be allowed in.
Scene 11
The Sergeant’s Widow and Locksmith’s Wife bow down before Khlestakov and beg for his help. The Locksmith’s Wife complains about the Mayor having her husband sent off the army when it wasn’t his turn. The Sergeant’s Wife says she was flogged because the police thought she was fighting in the marketplace, but she was not.
Khlestakov says he will try to help them, but he looks outside at the mounting petitions and sighs that there are too many of them and he is sick of them.
Osip yells and clears them all out.
Scene 12
Marya Antonova enters the room, looking for her mother. Instead, she encounters Khlestakov, and he begins to flirt with her excessively. Marya laughs and says she’d like to write down some of these verses. Khlestakov brags that he knows a lot of poetry.
He then bursts out that he loves her, but she nervously says that she does not know anything about love. Khlestakov moves closer and tries to kiss her. She huffs that she is not some country girl. He drops to his knees and begs her to love him.
Scene 13
Anna enters the room and asks what is going on. She orders Marya to leave the room, which the girl does in a burst of tears.
Khlestakov thinks to himself that Anna is also a “tasty dish” (285), and directs his flirtations toward her. He says he is in love with her: he does not care that she is a married woman, and he must have her hand.
Scene 14
Marya runs in, aghast at the scene of Khlestakov kneeling before her mother. Anna rebukes her for acting like a child. Khlestakov grabs Marya’s hand and says it is she whom he loves, and he wants to marry her.
Scene 15
The Mayor enters, complaining vociferously about the shopkeepers and proclaiming to Khlestakov that they are all lying. Anna interrupts him and tells him the good news about Marya marrying Khlestakov. The Mayor is shocked but eventually mellows into being pleased. He gives them his blessing.
Scene 16
Khlestakov and Osip prepare to leave town. Khlestakov lies and says he is just going to visit his rich uncle and will be back the next day. The Mayor cheerfully lets him borrow some money for travel.
Khlestakov waves goodbye; he and Osip depart.
Act V
Scene 1
The Mayor exults to Anna how they will be “flying high” (291) now because of the marriage. He then orders a constable to fetch all the shopkeepers, complaining of them as “stinking Jews” (291).
As they are waiting for the shopkeepers, the Mayor and Anna talk about the new life they will have in St. Petersburg. The Mayor wants to be a general. Anna warns him to not be coarse in his manners among all the refined people.
Scene 2
The shopkeepers arrive and the Mayor strongly rebukes them. They quiver before him and apologize.
The Mayor sniffs that he does not hold grudges, but they must watch their step around him; he is marrying his daughter to someone powerful.
Scene 3
The Judge, the Warden of Charities, and Rastakovsky arrive; they give the Mayor, Anna, and Marya their congratulations on their good fortune.
Scene 4
Korobkin and his wife come to the Mayor, Anna, and Marya to offer their congratulations.
Scene 5
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky are next, also offering their congratulations and wishing a healthy baby for Marya.
Scene 6
The Inspector of Schools and his wife come to offer their congratulations.
The Mayor orders Mishka to bring chairs for everyone.
Scene 7
The Chief of Police and Constables come to offer their congratulations. The Mayor and Anna brag about how the proposal occurred, but Anna bothers Marya by telling the story as if she were the one who was proposed to.
The group of civil servants toasts the Mayor, with some of them privately begrudging that the Mayor seems to have all the luck and that he is just a “puffed up” figure (299).
Scene 8
The Postmaster rushes in abruptly, holding an open letter. He declares that the government inspector is not a government inspector at all, and he just found out from this letter.
Amid the shocked reactions, the Postmaster explains that he eventually opened the letter after agonizing about whether or not to do it. It was from Khlestakov to a friend, Tryapichkin, who lived in St. Petersburg. In the letter, Khlestakov laughs that this town has taken him for a government general and he is being feted here and flirting with the Mayor’s wife and daughter. He says these people are all freaks and that Tryapichkin would die with laughter.
The Mayor is indignant, especially when he hears that Khlestakov called him “as stupid as a mule” (301). Korobkin grabs the letter and reads the insults about each of the people Khlestakov encountered.
The Mayor rues that he is ruined. He feels like an old man, and he has been duped. He especially loathes the idea that they will be written about and will be laughingstocks. The Warden of Charities cries that this is the work of the Devil, while the Judge points the finger at Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky. The crowd begins to roar and surround the two men, who meekly say that they did not start anything.
Last Scene
A gendarme enters and announces that the official from St. Petersburg has arrived; he is in the inn and requires their presence immediately.
This announcement is met with a wave of shock pulsing through all of the figures present. They change positions and ossify as if into stone.
Mute Scene
The Mayor is like a pillar with his hands outstretched and thrown back. Anna and Marya strain to reach him. The Postmaster looks like a question mark, turned toward the audience. The Inspector is bewildered. Three ladies look sarcastically at the Mayor and family. The Warden appears to be listening to something. The Judge has widespread arms and seems as if he were about to announce that they are in trouble. Korobkin winks at the audience and looks contemptuously at the Mayor. Their mouths agape, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky reach for each other. The rest of the group simply stands still.
They maintain this position for a minute and a half.
Analysis
Khlestakov continues to enjoy his visit in the town, ending up with a great deal of money in his pocket, a faux-engagement, a full belly, and smug amusement at having been mistaken for someone else. The civil servants are, however, out their money and their pride; Anna will not get to live a glitzy St. Petersburg life; the Mayor will not get to be a general. When the Postmaster finds Khlestakov’s letter to his friend and exposes the truth, the Mayor rues that some writer will turn their mishaps into a comedy, which is a hilarious reference to The Government Inspector itself.
Gogol solicits the audience’s laughter throughout these two acts, but, to the fascination of many audiences and critics, he chooses to end the play in a stunning mute tableau. He was so famously committed to it being staged properly that he turned his back on Russia in disgust and left the country to avoid having the deal with the problematic stagings of the play. What is this mute scene, then? Why was it so important to Gogol? What is its message?
Gogol called the mute scene “the final scene of life” and “simply a mute painting.” Some critics see it as a representation of The Last Judgment, an anti-iconostasis, or even a commentary on reading itself. Judith Robey explicates the various theories regarding this mute scene, beginning by explaining that Gogol was very, very serious about his comedy and often attacked vaudeville and melodrama, the popular theatrical genres of the day, in order to assert that theater should be used for higher purposes. Gogol wanted his mute scene to be read pictorially and “to set it apart from the rest of the play and draw attention to its impact on the audience.” Robey sees it as a corollary to a famous painting that fascinated Gogol: The Last Day of Briulov (1834), a scene of the destruction of Pompeii. Gogol’s remarks on the painting “focus on the painting as a dramatic, universalized, metaphoric image of humanity on the brink of a disaster—an image he connects to his own image of Russia in the midst of a spiritual crisis.”
The stage directions of the mute scene are similar to the expressions, positions, and gestures of the figures in Briulov’s work. Briulov’s fleeing people are frozen in fear, stone-like in their despair. Both are reactions to crises and demonstrative of moral messages, showing unity and a “synthesis of particulars” though one is a tragedy and one is a comedy. Robey concludes that Gogol uses Briulov’s model to create “an image of a municipality that as metamorphosed into a community during a catastrophic event, and invoking the concept of sobornost by presenting details within the scope of a single large idea and preserving the identity of the characters, even as they become part of a harmonious whole.”
Finally, Robey suggests that the mute scene also emphasizes the role of the audience. As they stare at the tableau (if it is done properly, of course), the audience members will begin to feel “uncomfortable and self-conscious” and “are reminded that they are looking at a parodic image of themselves onstage, both by the play’s epigraph (‘Don’t blame the mirror if the mug is crooked’) and by the mayor’s line shortly before the denouement, ‘Why are you laughing? You’re laughing at yourselves!’” The audience should feel that this is a wakeup call—that a moral message is being imparted to them.
