NON-AFRICAN DRAMA NIKOLAI GOGOL: The Government inspector Compare and contrast Hlestakov and the Mayor.

Answer Details

Hlestakov and the Mayor, Anton Antonovich, are the two poles around which Gogol's comedy turns. They are opposites in station and temperament, yet they mirror each other in vanity and dishonesty, and it is the meeting of these two frauds that produces the play's satire.

Points of contrast.

• Rank and experience. The Mayor is a seasoned, middle-aged provincial official who has governed the town for years and boasts of outwitting three previous governors. Hlestakov is a young, low-ranking clerk from St. Petersburg, inexperienced and irresponsible.
• Cunning versus foolishness. The Mayor is genuinely shrewd; he calculates, manages bribes and stage-manages the town for inspection. Hlestakov is a scatter-brained wastrel who lies from empty vanity rather than design and hardly understands his own good fortune.
• Motive. The Mayor's dishonesty is deliberate and self-serving, aimed at protecting his position and enriching himself. Hlestakov's dishonesty is impulsive and childish, driven by hunger, gambling debts and a hollow craving to appear grand.
• The reversal. The Mayor, for all his cunning, is finally the greater fool, undone by the empty-headed clerk he tried to bribe and flatter. The clever man is duped by the fool.

Points of comparison.

• Vanity. Both are ruled by pride. The Mayor dreams of a general's sash and a mansion in the capital; Hlestakov boasts of Parisian soup, famous friends and running whole ministries. Each is intoxicated by the illusion of greatness.
• Dishonesty. Both live by deceit. The Mayor extorts and covers up; Hlestakov cheats and lies. Neither has any moral scruple about taking what is not his.
• Opportunism. Each seizes the moment. The Mayor exploits his office; Hlestakov exploits the officials' terror, accepting "loans" from everyone in sight.
• Self-deception. Both are blinded by what they wish to believe: the Mayor that his fortune is secured through Marya's marriage, Hlestakov that he truly is the great man he pretends to be.

Conclusion. Gogol pairs a crafty official with a foolish impostor to show that they are moral kin. Their contrast in rank and cleverness makes the comedy, but their shared vanity and corruption make the satire, and the Mayor's downfall at the hands of Hlestakov exposes how a rotten society is at last cheated by the very emptiness it worships.