Nikolai Gogol’s comedy “The Examiner” is a truly great work of Russian literature. However, Gogol did not want to give us reason for sadness, but on the contrary, the entire “Inspector General” was saturated with comic and self-irony. Each character of the comedy is a separate picture, a print of greed, stinginess, embezzlement, laziness. One of these characters is an official Strawberry. We’ll talk more about him today.
Strawberry is a senior official, trustee of charitable institutions in the city of N. It is his duty to check hospitals, shelters, schools and other similar institutions for compliance. The author gives the official a rather clear description: fat, slow, slow down, one might say. However, he is such only when the matter does not concern his personal interests. Should something happen that clearly affects his wallet or stomach, the seemingly cute fat girl turns into a dodgy snake that can get out of any situation, mislead and cheat. And Strawberries immediately reveals the wonders of prudence and meanness, he is able to please almost everyone, if it is beneficial to him. It is clear that he clearly knows what he wants from life, and life shows him how to succeed in his business.
Gogol calls him “a pig in a yarmulke” (a yarmulka - it was such a hat at that time). And Strawberry calls himself a “counselor of the yard”, which means that a person has a civil rank of 7th grade. Throughout the play, an official with a smart look right and left gives advice on improving the premises, however, as soon as we read through these tips, we understand that they are completely useless or, moreover, pointless. It is clear that he does this only in order to blow fog, hopes to fool a young and stupid inspector from the capital
When the imaginary inspector conducts an inspection of hospitals, Strawberries are only concerned about the cleanliness of the caps on the doctors, as well as the neatness of the patients. In fact, everyone walks along the corridors in dirty robes and clothes, the smell of tobacco is everywhere. Moreover, further on in the text it is clear that there have been no medicines in hospitals for a long time, but this doesn’t worry much for Strawberries. He believes that if a person has good immunity, then he will recover, medications are not needed. In addition, he reports to Khlestakov that in his clinics people eat healthy food, but in reality there is one cabbage for each meal.
And against the background of all this decline and slovenliness, our hero twists and lies so skillfully that the inspector really gets the impression that the hospitals have complete order. Strawberries, not without pride, declare that he loves his work and is conscientious about its implementation, for which he receives the highest praise from his superiors. His own play was amazingly played, Khlestakov didn’t suspect anything, which made Strawberry extremely enthusiastic and truly confident in his innocence and excellent managerial qualities.
However, success intoxicates him, in an attempt to get even more laurels from the leadership, Strawberry begins with giblets to give Khlestakov all the other officials. He begins to reveal all the “secrets” of his “colleagues” from other areas of the city that he knew. He begins to cherish the dream of a higher bureaucratic post for himself and is already making plans for the survival of those who prevent him from moving up the career ladder. Gogol here says about him with such a proverb: "To have such a friend, the enemy is not necessary." Strawberries are ready to put anyone under attack, even those with whom he was friends and worked side by side for several years.
Among the motives that guided Strawberries, there is one positive at first glance - the hero needs to take care of his five children, feed a large family, and there should always be money in his pocket. However, we see that the hero is selfish, arrogant and cruel. He takes bribes at every opportunity, whether he needs it or not, for him this is a common thing. He steals money and bribes judges to avoid trial. And when he sees an official of a lower rank, he treats him like an insect that does not deserve any respect or attention from him. Therefore, we can conclude that he does not steal because he and his family need money so much, he just likes to do it.
In the image of Strawberries, Gogol shows us the resourcefulness, meanness, greed of officials. Strawberries are so “overplayed” in their omnipotence that they become indifferent to the fate of people, he is ready to betray and leave anyone for his own benefit.
