Characteristics of Lyapkin-Tyapkin based on quotes from The Inspector General

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the topical quotes of The Inspector General, everyone can find for themselves the well-known facets of personality, which the talent of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol turned into a real masterpiece of world literature. In the article, we will consider this using the example of one of the heroes of the comedy, district judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin.

The thorny path of the "Auditor"

Many works of Nikolai Vasilievich, including "Dead Souls" and "Inspector General", during the life of Gogol himself met with conflicting reviews of contemporaries. The topicality and causticity of his writings determined their thorny path on the way to the public. The Inspector General's quotes quickly spread throughout both capitals and were especially fond of the provincial residents of the provinces.

Gogol was accused of a lack of humility and pride, but he himself saw himself as a prophet to some extent, feeling the mysterious power of his style and wanting to use his talent for the benefit of society.

And bring Lyapkin-Tyapkin here!.

The image of the county judge has become a household name. He is knownto us by the well-known phrase: "And bring Lyapkin-Tyapkin here!" Quotations from The Inspector General have truly enriched Russian speech, filling it with those incomparable thoughts and the brightest characters of the past era, which we can easily find with you even now. Such judges were a frequent occurrence in large cities, but they especially tyrannized the rural district. There their outrage met no barriers.

City N, in which the events of the comedy unfold, is a collective image of provincial towns, where power was in the hands of such juggernauts as Anton Antonovich and others like him. The satrap sat on the satrap, and the common people groaned under the yoke of a bunch of tyrants, having no defenders, because the heavenly court was far away, and the earthly court was not on the side of truth. Lyapkin-Tyapkin is a collective image that paints us a portrait of a provincial official.

Portrait of Lyapkin-Tyapkin

"… Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin‑Tyapkin, judge … collegiate assessor …" - the hero appears to us. But what does Gogol himself write about him?

Lyapkin-Tyapkin, a judge, a man who has read five or six books, and therefore somewhat freethinking. The hunter is great at guessing, and therefore he gives weight to his every word. The person representing him must always keep a significant mine in his face. He speaks in a bass with an oblong drawl, wheezing and glanders - like an old clock that hisses first, and then beats.

© N. V. Gogol

In this description, the author presents a very comical image to the reader's attention. Behind a pompous posture"hoarse and glanders" in fact there is nothing that inspires thought. This is one of those fake personalities that are so kind to Gogol's pen. Live people and live characters are guessed in them. Somewhere they are, of course, grotesque, but no less realistic.

"Judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin is extremely mauvais ton…". Characteristics of the hero

Passionate hunter, burnout and dishonest rogue. However, Ammos Fedorovich confidently declares:

Sins to sins - strife. I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but why bribes? Greyhound puppies. This is a completely different matter.

A bribe by greyhound puppies in his understanding is not the same as a monetary bribe. This is another bright touch, very aptly and subtly showing us the character of a person. Much more Lyapkin-Tyapkin cares about dogs and hunting, but he obviously presents his direct duties vaguely.

I've been sitting on the judge's chair for fifteen years, but when I look at the memorandum - ah! I just wave my hand. Solomon himself will not decide what is true and what is not true in it.

The down-to-earth mind and artlessness of thinking shine through in Lyapkin-Tyapkin from everywhere, although the appearance of the judge, his manner of unhurried speech, "free-thinking" give importance to this figure. This alogism of appearance and nature gives sharpness and expressiveness to the image. The surname Lyapkin-Tyapkin shows the true state of affairs in court, that everything is done through a stump-deck, tyap-blunder.

But even in the worldly sense, Lyapkin-Tyapkin was not distinguished by prominent piety. Persistent rumors circulated around the city that he often visited the wife of the landowner Dobchinsky.

… as soon as this Dobchinsky leaves the house somewhere, he [Lyapkin-Tyapkin] is already sitting there with his wife… And deliberately look at the children: not one of them looks like Dobchinsky, but that’s all even a little girl, like a spitting image of a judge…

A bit of history

The court in Russia and then experienced hard times. Especially this problem concerned the provinces, and quotes from the comedy "The Inspector General" reflected this on paper with a well-aimed shot. Two centuries later, they come to mind when even today we have to see similar Lyapkins-Tyapkins.

A person received the position of a judge, elected by the assembly of the nobility for a period of three years.

"From the eight hundred and sixteenth he was elected for a three-year term by the will of the nobility and continued his position until now."

On paper, the judge and assessors decided minor criminal and civil cases. In fact, as we see from the quotations from The Inspector General, Gogol showed the entire inconsistency of the judicial system in the provinces. Lyapkin-Tyapkin turned the court into a real inn. When talking with him, the mayor notices:

In your front hall, where petitioners usually go, the watchmen brought domestic geese with little goslings … It, of course, is commendable for everyone to start a household, and why shouldn’t the watchman start it? Only, you know, it’s indecent in such a place … it’s bad that you have all sorts of rubbish drying up in your very presence and a hunting rapnik right above the cabinet with papers …"

When the neighboring landowners started a lawsuit, Lyapkin-Tyapkin did not hesitate to use it.

…and now I have the luxury of baiting hares on the lands of both.

And the persecution caused serious damage to agriculture, as crops suffered. In the subtext of this episode, we read the complete autocracy of officials who, like watchdogs, poison the people like hares.

Being on friendly terms with the mayor, Lyapkin-Tyapkin proudly declares his regalia:

For three three years presented to Vladimir of the fourth degree with the approval of the authorities.

Needless to say, the award did not find its hero.

"Auditor" abroad

Everyone's favorite quotes from The Inspector General added to the rich arsenal of Russian speech, but Gogol's immortal creation was well known abroad even then, and remains beloved to this day. Nikolai Vasilyevich spent about ten years abroad, traveling around Europe. It was this significant period that gave us the finished version of Dead Souls and The Overcoat. The first foreign productions of The Inspector General were played back in the mid-nineteenth century in Paris, Prague, and later in Berlin, Dresden, London, and the list goes on.

Lyapkins-Tyapkins of our days

So, we studied the portrait of the judge on the characterization with quotes. The Inspector General, of course, is a comedy, but you want to cry from such a comedy when you realize that all this is not a farce, but sarcastic examples of mediocre local authorities, bribery and embezzlement. These malicious crops always grow in abundance onfertile ground of disorder and lack of control. When preventive measures in the form of reforms are not carried out in a country on time, then problem areas appear on the body of society with purulent abscesses, requiring surgical intervention. Gogol painted this picture, and we can observe the same picture today. Speaking names and surnames, immortal quotes from the works of Nikolai Vasilyevich gave us living images that everyone can meet on their way.