The Government Inspector Themes

The Government Inspector, a play set in a provincial Russian town in the 1830s, satirizes the rampant political corruption of local government officials and petty bureaucrats. The play does so by presenting all the town officials as inept and self-serving. The mayor takes bribes and steals from townspeople without scruple. The judge also takes bribes; the Warden of Charities doesn’t feed charity hospital patients properly or treat them with medicine; and the police are…

In The Government Inspector, Khlestakov and the town officials prioritize their own pleasure over everything else. On one hand, Khlestakov’s pleasure-seeking causes him to neglect his duties, avoid responsibility, and be a wholly ineffectual civil servant. Instead of working, Khlestakov plays card games and gambles his money away. He can’t resist good food, cigars, and women. He even states that the main purpose of life is to “pluck the blossoms of pleasure.” In…

Khlestakov’s mistaken identity as the feared government inspector from St. Petersburg is crucial to the plot and comedy of The Government Inspector. Importantly, Khlestakov never intentionally pretends to be the inspector to deceive the town officials. He isn’t aware that they think he’s a government inspector at all; he simply takes advantage of their eagerness to please him, because he desires other people’s admiration. In fact, the only real deception in the play…