English Lit Essay Plan
This got me 92% in the exam!
keywords: corrupt society, didactic play, satire, farcical, contemporary, avant-garde, sycophantic,
microcosm, mimesis, construct (character), discordance
method: direct antithesis
themes: bureaucracy, corruption, lies and deception, fear and misunderstanding
main points
• animals and food
o cabbage
§ WoC “stench of cabbage”
§ What cabbageheads
§ Osip “cabbage soup”
o she’s quite a tasty morsel herself
o swine – M, Lady Guest, WoC, K, filthy
o rats – K
o flies
• direct address
• semantic field of religion - M
o There’s no such thing as a man with no sins on his conscience.
o odd little sins
o At least I am a devout, church-going man
• superficial values – ‘has he got a moustache?’
• money – His Lordship’s been throwing his money about on the road’
• corruption
o have no qualms about it
• ooh it’s maddening
• eyes like a hawk
• spits
• asides –
• hypocrite – personage
o you haven’t got the authority
• humour – will come along and stick us all in a comedy
Thesis
a) This scene in The Government Inspector occurs just before/after ___, where … which contribute
to the portrayal of the corrupt society.
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b) The Government Inspector is a didactic play in the form of a satirical comedy which presents the
corruption of human nature at its zenith in a fictional provincial town in rural Imperial Russia. The
play acts as Gogol’s proxy for the contemporary audience, i.e. members of the bureaucracy in
Imperial Russia to compare their foibles and flaws to those of the characters on stage, who are
depicted in everyday life situations.
The epigraph demonstrates/reinforces the mimetic function of the text, as they suggest that the
audience should consider and reflect the events of the text.
Quotes
“There’s no such thing as a man with no sins on his conscience. That’s the way God Himself
arranged things”. On surface value, this is a true statement, as mankind has imperfections and
everyone is subject to fallible mistakes. However, the Mayor uses this as a justification for
downplaying the seriousness of his actions. The usage of “God”, who was seen as the highest level
of purity to justify his actions proves to the audience of the Mayor’s institutionalism and
acceptance of corruption and places emphasis on the idiocracy of Mayor.
Cabbage
Cabbage is used as a symbol throughout the play. The Warden of Charities suggests that “there’s
such a stench of cabbage wafting down the corridors you have to hold your breath!” This olfactory
imagery connotates the semantic field of dirt and rottenness, which has also been placed with great
emphasis during the play.
“What a bunch of cabbageheads!”
“all the patients have been recovering like flies”
“I dreamt the whole night about two extraordinary rats.” “huge black brutes! They came in, sniffed
around – and went away again.”
Opening Scene
Final Scene
It could be interpreted that since all the characters do not reflect on their grave mistake of
misidentifying Khlestakov, they do not learn their lesson. Instead, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky
become their scapegoats; they are verbally abused and called “a pair of lunatics”. However, the
arrival of the Gendarme and his message that the true government inspector has appeared hints
that the characters will now face punishment for their misdeeds which have been uncovered to the
audience throughout the play. This was an integral lesson for the contemporary audience of Gogol’s
time since the majority of them were members of the bureaucracy. Hence, the nature of the play’s
© 2024 Leia Zhu
All rights reserved
ending suggests that eventually, all truths will be uncovered. Additionally, the Mayor exclaims
“What are you laughing at? You’re laughing at yourselves, that’s what!” This avant-garde technique
used by Gogol is the climax of the play as the power dynamics between the audience and stage
characters shift. The direct address of ‘you’ forces the contemporary audience to reflect on
whether their foibles and flaws are correlated to the people they were laughing and mocking at just
before; it is a confrontation of the audience to reconsider their Imperial Russian society.
It could be interpreted that since all the characters do not reflect on their grave mistake of
misidentifying Khlestakov’s identity, they do not learn their lesson. Instead, Bobchinsky and
Dobchinsky are subjected to verbal abuse and become scapegoats for the town officials, and
dehumanised by being referred to as “toadstools”. However, the presence of the Gendarme and his
message of the true government inspector’s appearance hints that the town officials will now face
punishment for their misdeeds, which were gradually uncovered to the audience. This was an
integral lesson for the contemporary audience of Gogol’s time, as most of the audience were
members of the bureaucracy. Hence, the nature of the play’s ending suggests that eventually, all
truths will be uncovered.
© 2024 Leia Zhu
All rights reserved
