The Government Inspector, also known as The Inspector General, is a satirical play by the Russian and Ukrainian dramatist and novelist Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the play was revised for an 1842 edition. Based upon an anecdote allegedly recounted to Gogol by Pushkin, the play is a comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the extensive political corruption of Imperial Russia. According to D. S. Mirsky, the play "is not only supreme in character and dialogue - it is one of the few Russian plays constructed with unerring art from beginning to end. The great...