...or The Inspector General by Nicolay Gogol
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1. Some brief biographical details about Gogol
2. Some brief details about the geographical, social and political context the play was written in
3. Some brief details about the play itself; plot, themes, character, performances.
The Government Inspector or The Inspector General
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Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol 31 March 1809 – 4 March 1852 (aged 42), was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist. Gogol was born in the Ukrainian Cossack village of Sorochyntsi. As a child, Gogol helped stage Ukrainian-language plays in his uncle's home theatre. In 1820 Gogol went to a school of higher art in Nizhyn and remained there until 1828. It was there that he began writing. Early in his career Gogol was best known for his short stories.
Context
The play is a comedy of errors, making fun of human greed, stupidity and the policitcal corruption of Imperial Russia.
Details on the play
The Government Inspector, also known as The Inspector General, is a satirical play by the Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the play was revised for an 1842 edition.
Plot
A small town in Russia is run by the Mayor and some dodgy officers. They learn that a secret inspector is coming to investigate them and start to panic and rush round trying to cover up all the bad things they have done. A visitor to the town raises suspicion and the Mayor and the officers think that he is the inspector. The visitor takes advantage of this and takes all sorts of money to make his stay more comfortable. The villagers want him to sack the Mayor and he takes more money off them and says he will do it. He leaves town with his money very quickly and the Mayor thinks he is ok to carry on with his crimes, but then gets a message that the real Inspector wants to see him.
Characters
The Mayor, Khlestakov, Commissioner of Health, Director of Education, Magistrate, The Doctor, The Postmaster, Bobchinsky, Dobchinsky, Anna, Marya, Osip, Constable, Superintendent, Avdotya, Waiter, Abdulin, Mishka, Shopkeepers, Women and Ensemble.
Themes
Through researching about the play I found out that there are 6 themes in it and they are: deception, individual vs society, corruption, human nature, fear, stereotypes, reality vs fantasy.
Performances
1949: a Hollywood musical comedy version was released of 'The Government Inspector', starring Danny Kaye.
2009/2010: The Carnegie Mellon School Of Drama presented a new modern adaptation of the play.
2010: Vivid Theatre Company preformed a version of the play which toured the North East of England.
2011 (earlier this year): London's Young Vic Theatre presented a new adapted version of 'The Government Inspector'.
(tried to do it as brief as i could sorry if it isnt)
The Government inspector:
ReplyDelete'The Government inspector' wrote by Nikolai Gogol later translated into the inspector general. Nikolai Gogol was from Velikie Sorochintsy in the Ukraine. Whilst in education his friends thought of him as very odd and gave him the name 'the mysterious dwarf'. The play first premiered at the Alexandrisky theater in St.Petersburg.
The main concept of the play is mistaken identity, a young servant is given a job as a high ranking official in the town. Gogol is commenting off the Russian government at the time and the corruption at the time. Strangely enough the Tsar (Nicolas the first) enjoyed the script and demanded a production.
Two main roles are that of the Mayor and Hlestakov both are male. The Mayor is a spoken part and is designed to between the ages of 40-60 as is, Hlestakov however he is between the ages of 20-30. The plot is about mistaken identity a young servant is given a high jobs within the towns government as a inspector (hence the name) after fearing the appearance of the real inspector. He makes the most of the situation by taking bribes and proposing the the governor's daughter, however he never meets the the real inspector as he vanishes before he arrive. Gogol takes care to make sure the audience know the true message, the play's slogan is "If your face is crooked, don't blame the mirror"
http://www.enotes.com/government-inspector/
http://www.stageagent.com/Shows/View/2809#
I'll try and do it in my own words with taking any.
ReplyDeleteBasically Nicolai Gogol was born in 1809 and died in 1852, his birth place was the Ukrain. While he was still in education people thought he was very odd and gave him the nickname 'the mysterious dwarf'. The big theme of the play is identity.
Nicolai Gogol wrote the famous play "The Government Inspector" the play was first published in 1836 the play is a "comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the extensive political corruption of Imperial Russia."
The play is basically about some corrupt officials in a small town and one day they hear an investigator is coming to inspect them but they mistake the inspector for another person and this takes up the majority of the play.
The two main roles are the Mayor and Hlestakov(both boys). The major is between 40 and 60 and Hlestakov is between 20 and 30.
Nikolay Gogol was a Great novelist, dramatist, satirist, founder of the so-called critical realism in Russian literature. Born in Sorochintsi, Ukraine, and grew up on his parents' country estate. His real surname was Ianovskii, but the writer's grandfather had taken the name 'Gogol' to claim a noble Cossack ancestry. Gogol's father was an educated and gifted man, who wrote plays, poems, and sketches in Ukrainian.
ReplyDeleteThe Government Inspector is set in a small russian village and ridicules the extensive bureaucracy of the Russian government under the tsar as a thoroughly corrupt system. Universal themes of human corruption and the folly of self-deception are explored through this drama of Russian life. The governor's famous line, as he turns to address the audience directly, ‘‘What are you laughing at? You are laughing at yourselves,’’ illustrates this theme, which is summed up in the play's epigraph, ‘‘If your face is crooked, don't blame the mirror.’’
The plot of The Government Inspector hinges on a case of mistaken identity, when a lowly impoverished young civil servant from Saint Petersburg, Hlestakov, is mistaken by the members of a small provincial town for a high-ranking government inspector. The town's governor, as well as the leading government officials, fear the consequences of a visit by a government inspector, should he observe the extent of their corruption. Hlestakov makes the most of this misconception, weaving elaborate tales of his life as a high-ranking government official and accepting generous bribes from the town officials. After insincerely proposing to the governor's daughter, Hlestakov flees before his true identity is discovered. The townspeople do not discover their mistake until after he is long gone and moments before the announcement of the arrival of the real government inspector.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.enotes.com/government-inspector
well what can I say that hasn't already been said XD
ReplyDeleteI'll make it short to minimize everybody's boredom from reading the same thing repeatedly.
The play is a satire of imperial Russia, criticizing political corruption.
Gogol was born 1809 and died 1852 (age 43).
probably due to my considerably lacking knowledge of all things historical, I don't know much about Imperial Russia but i believe they where involved in a civil war at the time and where also fighting in the "Caucasian war"? though I'm not sure what that was.
(It's a late response, I know, but I have already done this task in my book, not long after it was set.)
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