PRESENTATION OUTLINE
“The Inspector-General” by Anton Chekhov
Literary Analysis: Comedy
Read each passage. Then, briefly explain why it is humorous or comic.
1. STORYTELLER. And when he’d thought to himself for long enough, he fell into conversation
with the driver of the cart. What did he talk about? About himself, of course. [Exit the
STORYTELLER.]
TRAVELER. I gather you’ve got a new Inspector-General in these parts.
1. The passage is comic because the storyteller lightly pokes fun at the Inspector-General’s egotism and because it is the inspector-general himself who initiates the discovery that he has failed to disguise himself successfully.
2. DRIVER. Oh, no, the new one goes everywhere on the quiet, like. Creeps around like a cat.
Don’t want no one to see him, don’t want no one to know who he is.
2. The passage is humorous because the driver emphasizes the secretive methods of the inspector-general, but it is evident that the official uses these methods in vain.
3. DRIVER. He hops on a train just like anyone else, just like you or me. Then when he gets off,
he don’t go jumping into a cab or nothing fancy. Oh, no. He wraps himself up from head to
toe so you can’t see his face, and he wheezes away like an old dog so no one can recognize his voice.
TRAVELER. Wheezes? That’s not wheezing! That’s the way he talks! So I gather.
3. The passage is dramatically ironic because there is a direct contradiction between the inspector’s belief that his identity is well-hidden and the reality that everyone knows who he is.
4. DRIVER. Fixed himself up a tube behind his desk, he has. Leans down, takes a pull on it, no
one the wiser.
TRAVELER [offended]. How do you know all this, may I ask?
4. The passage is humorous because the inspector-general discovers that even his elaborate attempt to conceal his drinking has failed to fool people.
