The play is a prosaic genre, the most difficult for reader's perception. The essence of the dialogue is forgotten quickly, as are the details of the events. Over the centuries, language has changed, and conversations of past centuries have become increasingly difficult to understand. That is why, in preparation for the lesson, it is important to use a brief summary of the action drama. It will help to concentrate on the ideological and thematic subtleties of the work, which we described in detail in the analysis of the “Examiner”.
First action
The elderly and arrogant city manager Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky gathers county town officials in his house and tells them the terrible news - the auditor will arrive in the near future. The opinion that this is due to the impending war is immediately swept away, and the mayor, worried about the state of his subordinates, issues orders. He worries that the hospitals are in poor condition, and recommends that Artemy Filippovich Zemlyanik, the head of the charitable places, dress the patients clean and clean up. He also draws attention to the fact that the judge constantly smells of vodka, and the judge has geese running in the hall. The mayor is excited - bribery and embezzlement flourish in the city.
Postmaster Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin joins the city council. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky wonders if it is possible to get acquainted with the contents of the letters - the mayor is worried that the auditor could be in the city because of the denunciation. The postmaster, with all his simplicity, replies that he has been doing this for a long time, out of pure interest.
The landowners run into the house of the mayor - these are Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, they are incredibly similar to each other and everywhere appear together. The landowners vied to report that a suspicious young man was in the tavern: he did not pay bills and looked at everyone at plates. Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky assure the mayor that this guest is the auditor.
The mayor in a hurry orders to sweep the street that leads to the tavern, puts on his uniform and sets off to visit the intruder.
Anna Andreyevna, the wife of the mayor, and his daughter, Maria Antonovna, enter the room. Anna Andreevna, following her husband, sends Baba Avdotya to the tavern - she is eager to find out everything related to the arrival of the auditor. Most of all, she is interested in the appearance of the visitor: what are his mustaches and eyes.
Action two
The named auditor turns out to be a young sloven who spends all his money on gambling. Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov, along with his servant Osip, found himself in the city without any intention, passing from St. Petersburg, where he finally went bankrupt. Now he should go to his parents' home to improve his affairs.
Osip is dissatisfied with his master: Khlestakov had played enough cards before that he had nothing to pay for food. Ivan Alexandrovich asks Osip to go down to the inn and ask for a meal on credit, but the servant says that the landlord is against and urgently asks for payment. To this, the eccentric Khlestakov screaming sends Osip for the innkeeper.
Osip returns, bringing with him a tavern servant. He informs Khlestakov that the innkeeper is ready to inform the mayor, and that he will not receive any free lunch. Khlestakov is annoyed; he lost his savings in Penza to the infantry captain. Ivan Alexandrovich insists that Osip still try to persuade the innkeeper himself.
And yet Khlestakov gets the desired dinner, but according to the innkeeper, this was the last time. Ivan Alexandrovich complains of poor food: the meat is too hard, and feathers are floating in the soup. Osip brings news to his master: the mayor himself wants to see him. This scares the young deadbeat incredibly, Khlestakov thinks he will go to jail.
Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky enters the room with the confidence that the auditor is in front of him. Khlestakov stutters in fear and screams that he will write a complaint. The mayor believes that the young auditor is talking about a complaint about the condition of the city. The guest continues: he has absolutely no money left. Scruznik-Dmukhanovsky perceives this as a direct request for a bribe. He invites Khlestakov to his house, handing him four hundred rubles.
Khlestakov calls the innkeeper, now he can finally get even with his debts. But the mayor immediately takes Khlestakov to look at the city institutions. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky writes to his wife a note in which he asks to prepare the house for the arrival of the auditor.
Action Three
Dobchinsky returns to the house of the mayor with a letter. Anna Andreyevna, in anticipation of her arrival, chooses a dress with her daughter. Dobchinsky reports that the auditor, although not in fact a general, has truly general importance. A servant Osip comes into the house and from the threshold asks to finally feed him.
The mayor also returns with the "auditor" after a trip to various institutions. Khlestakov wonders if it is possible to play cards in this city. Sluzhnik-Dmukhanovsky is frankly lost, feeling a catch, he says that he is trying not to waste time on such classes. Ivan drinks and boasts: he lies about his acquaintance with Pushkin, about his own compositions. The imaginary auditor talks about the crowds in his reception officials, about his erection in the field marshals.
Having drunk pretty, Khlestakov falls asleep. The whole house shares its impressions: Anna Andreevna is worried about whom the auditor often turned his eyes to, the mayor is puzzled, he calls Derzhimorda and Svistunova to protect the entrance from merchants and others - because they can come to complain to the visiting auditor.
The mayor with his retinue fawning in front of Osip. He realizes the absurdity of the situation, but does not hesitate to take advantage of his pleasant position. He talks about the statics and severity of his master-auditor, raising fear and awe on the city man and his family. Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, according to an old habit, gives a servant a bribe.
Action four
All the governors of the county town gather at Khlestakov’s bedroom. They are discussing a plan to give a bribe to the auditor so as not to break the law.
Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin was the first to decide to enter Khlestakov’s room: he was terribly worried, clutching banknotes in his fist. During a conversation with the "auditor" he drops them, but Khlestakov is not lost and immediately asks to give him this money on loan. The same thing happens with the following: Shpekin gives three hundred rubles, the school superintendent happily hands the same amount. Strawberries are trying to convey Lyapkin-Tyapkin and Shpekin to those who are objectionable to him - and he coughs out four hundred rubles. The landowners Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky find with them only sixty-five rubles.
Khlestakov is happy. He is surprised at what is happening and decides to write to his journalist friend in St. Petersburg to beat this curiosity in a feuilleton or a humorous story.
Osip enters the room and begs his master to leave the city as soon as possible, because this masquerade can end at any moment. Khlestakov agrees, but first asks the servant to take the letter to the post office.
Derzhimorda is trying to restrain the influx of merchants and petitioners who want to pay a visit to the auditor. Khlestakov orders to let people in. In response to complaints about the mayor, he assures that he will put in a word, and again takes a “loan”.
After the petitions that Osip interrupted, Khlestakov is met by the mayor's daughter Marya Antonovna - he will kneel before her and confesses his feelings. Anna Andreyevna becomes a witness to this scene, she reproaches her daughter, and she runs away in tears. Khlestakov is not at all embarrassed; he immediately makes a similar confession to Anna Andreevna.
Maria Antonovna returns, and Khlestakov asks Anna Andreevna for blessing - he wants to marry the daughter of a city manager. At this time, Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky himself came running, he wants to explain to the auditor that all the petitioners are brazenly lying, but he is being harassed by news of matchmaking. The mayor immediately agrees. Khlestakov hastily leaves on the pretext that he urgently needs to visit his uncle.
Action five
The mayor and his wife are already sharing the skin of an unkilled bear, because the inspector will soon become their relative. Anna Andreyevna plans to build a large estate in St. Petersburg, and merchants come to the city manager and apologize for such untimely denunciations.
The whole city nobility arrives at the estate of the mayor: everyone congratulates Anna Andreevna and her husband. Everyone experiences incredible happiness and relief - they successfully got rid of the audit, and how! The landowners Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, in a fit of tenderness, kissing the hands of Anna Andreevna and her daughter, even beat their foreheads.
The general joy is destroyed by the running postmaster. He annoyedly reports that Khlestakov is not an auditor. Shpekin printed a letter that an imaginary official sent to his friend in Petersburg. All those gathered read a message where each of them is described in such a way that the mayor immediately involuntarily enrages - the letter is filled with venomous characteristics of the official circle of the city. Scruznik-Dmukhanovsky threatens to destroy all the writers that so dirty the paper.
A gendarme enters the house and informs the town manager that a real auditor is waiting for him at the hotel. This news amazes everyone present, no one can utter a word, frozen in various poses. The play ends with this silent scene.
