The image of the mayor in the comedy "The Inspector General" stands out from the rest. A. A. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky (that was his name) remains in the reader's memory for a long time. The plot begins with a phrase that is said by this hero. This phrase has already become winged. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, addressing the audience, said that he wanted to give unpleasant news. And he pronounces the famous phrase: "The auditor is coming to us."
The main features of the image of Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky
The author, making comments for the actors, very vividly and in detail reveals the image of a city man in the comedy "The Examiner". He describes this hero as a serious person, clever in his own way, experienced in various life situations, cunning, and a bribe taker, but behaving respectably. His face has hard features. The description given by the author, as well as the very name of this character, help readers to discover for themselves the image of a city man in The Examiner.
External solidity and internal viciousness
From the very first pages it becomes clear to us that, despite the outward solidity and the role played by him as “an official in a high rank,” this person is completely different from what he is trying to be. The image of a city man in The Inspector General, as the plot of the work develops, becomes more and more clear. He gradually acquires a final understanding.
Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky in his city is a beneficent chapter who advocates for its inhabitants. In fact, he is a sovereign who allows himself any actions and lawlessness solely for reasons of selfishness and personal gain. However, with all the inflated authority, the landlord in the "Examiner" - a person absolutely not respected. Neither the townspeople nor his subordinates value him.
City clean-up activities
The result of his activities is the complete decline of the county town. No service works honestly here. The mayor sees all this, but does not want to do anything. And only the news that the auditor arrived, forces him to call all his subordinates in order to restore order. True, one can limit oneself only to his visibility. The advice he gives to his subordinates on eliminating various deficiencies in the services suggests that the city mayor is a typical bureaucrat. He cares only about the external impression, and the internal state of a particular service does not bother him.
Let us turn to a concrete example. Attention exclusively to the external side of the question is found in the hero of interest to us, in particular, in the instruction that he gives to the school superintendent Luka Lukic. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky does not seek to take control of the methodological training of teachers and the content of the lessons, but draws attention only to the external behavior of the teachers, that is, to their "strange deeds." Obviously, the mayor was in schools. For example, speaking of one teacher grimacing in the classroom, Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky himself makes a grimace, imitating him. About the other, a teacher of history, the mayor directly says: "I just listened to him ..."
However, despite the fact that Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky attended the lessons, he was not at all interested in their content. Yes, and the mayor knows very superficially. He cannot remember their last names. About one, he says that he is the one who "has a fat face", about the other - that he is the "historical part".
The ignorance of the city man, his attitude to life
The mayor, holding a fairly high position, is essentially an uneducated person, and at the same time he is also rude. He has many vices and evil inclinations that he is not going to fight, since he is sincerely convinced that this is normal. His essence, as a person, reveals the rule of faith in life, which he received in childhood. The mayor believes that for happiness, ranks and money are needed, and for their acquisition - cringing, embezzlement and bribery.
The mayor as a collective portrait of an official
Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky is a collective portrait of an official of his time. His image has absorbed many of the flaws inherent in a public servant. Flattery and envy, reverence and worship, lie and greed, swagger and pomp - all these features characterize the image of a city man in the comedy "The Examiner". You can continue this list for a long time.
Perhaps the denouement of the play is a worthy ending for this hero. The characterization of the mayor in the comedy "The Examiner" is not very flattering in the finale. At the end of the work, he appears as a stupid and fooled man. He managed to circle around his finger some “visiting rogue from Petersburg”.
The relevance of the image of a city man
The image of a city man in the comedy "The Inspector General" reveals to us the essence of the officialdom of that time. And not only that, because why hide, all these qualities are inherent in many statesmen of our time. And we can only be pleased in this whole story by the belief that someday, on the "virtuous path" of these city officials, their "inspector" will surely appear.