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Act 4
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Government Inspector, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Corruption and Bureaucracy
Greed, Selfishness, and Pleasure
External Validation
Self-Deception
Summary
Analysis
Scene 1. The mayor and his wife celebrate their daughter’s engagement to Khlestakov, which they expect will also raise them to higher rank and status. The mayor believes he could even become a general. They imagine moving to St. Petersburg, mixing with aristocrats, and enjoying expensive luxuries.
As the mayor and Anna Andreyevna imagine how they’ll benefit from their daughter’s marriage, they reveal their selfishness and greed. They fantasize about holding prestigious titles and showing off to other people, which demonstrates their craving for external validation. Also, their excitement for material luxuries exemplifies their desire for self-indulgent pleasure-seeking. The mayor and his wife’s daydreams are ridiculous because they’re overambitious, but also because they’re based on the false belief that Khlestakov is a preeminent government inspector who actually intends to marry their daughter. Because they can’t see the truth, the mayor and his wife foolishly aspire to greatness, which they don’t deserve.
Active
Themes
Scene 2. The shopkeepers present themselves to the mayor after being summoned by a constable. The mayor curses them and calls them double-dealing crooks for complaining to Khlestakov about him. The shopkeepers accept guilt and entreat the mayor not to ruin them. The mayor won’t bear a grudge but asks to be properly congratulated for his daughter’s marriage.
The mayor’s verbal abuse of the shopkeepers showcases how the mayor abuses his authority to insult and belittle other people. The mayor is an example of not only political corruption but also moral corruption. Moreover, when the mayor demands proper congratulations from the shopkeepers, he exposes his need to receive other people’s admiration so he can feel superior. He also means that he wants more extravagant bribes from them than he normally receives, which exemplifies his selfish greed for materialistic pleasure.
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Themes
Scene 3. The judge, Warden of Charities, and a town citizen named Rastakovsky all congratulate the mayor’s good fortune. They kiss Anna Andreyevna’s and Marya Antonovna’s hands.
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Themes
Scene 4. Three more citizens—Korobkin, Korobkin’s wife, and Lyulyukov—congratulate the mayor, Anna Andreyevna, and Marya Antonovna.
Active
Themes
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Scene 5. From a crowd of well-wishers, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky push their way to the mayor and his family. Talking over each other, they offer their congratulations and wish Marya Antonovna a happy wedding, wealth, and a tiny baby boy.
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Themes
Scene 6. The Inspector of Schools starts to congratulate the mayor, but his wife interrupts him to congratulate Anna Andreyevna effusively.
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Scene 7. The Chief of Police congratulates the mayor. Anna Andreyevna recounts Khlestakov’s proposal as gentlemanly and beautiful, and she recalls compliments he supposedly gave her. The mayor’s guests offer more well wishes to him; however, in asides, the Inspector of Schools, Warden of Charities, and the judge mock the mayor’s aspirations of living in St. Petersburg as a general. Still, they ask the mayor to do them favors once he rises in rank.
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Themes
Scene 8. The postmaster rushes in and declares that Khlestakov isn’t the government inspector at all. The postmaster has opened and read Khlestakov’s letter, fearing that Khlestakov might have reported him to the authorities. In doing so, the postmaster discovered that Khlestakov is a nobody. For proof, the postmaster reads aloud the letter, which exposes Khlestakov’s glee at being treated like royalty by fools, although each town official tries to stop the letter from being read when he hears an insult directed at him. Finally realizing their mistake, the distraught officials remember how much money they lost to Khlestakov.
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Themes
The mayor berates himself for being a fool, feeling like the whole world will know he’s been duped. The mayor particularly dreads that a hack will put them all in a comedy. Furiously, the mayor exclaims, “What are you laughing at? You’re laughing at yourselves, that’s what!” Then the mayor reflects that Khlestakov never really seemed like a government inspector and demands to know who first claimed he was. The officials turn on Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky.
