Allegory: The Last Judgment
The play may be read as an allegory of the Last Judgment. The townspeople and civil officials are plagued by their own vices and are entranced by the Antichrist in the form of Khlestakov. They woo him, serve their own ends, and are caught off-guard when the real Christ arrives to judge them. According to this reading, Gogol exhorts his audience to pick up on the moral message implicit within the comedy and to confront to their own immorality.
Symbol: Mayor's Sword
The Mayor complains of his sword, "My sword's scratched all over. That damned shopkeeper Abdulin knows very well the mayor's sword's in poor condition and still he doesn't send me a new one" (230). A sword is a symbol of power, justice, and nobility, so the fact that the Mayor has one (due to his position) that it is scratched, grungy, and impotent indicates that the Mayor does not actually have legitimate power, nor does he rule well.
Motif: Eating and Drinking
Khlestakov is incessantly talking about food, eating food, referring to people in terms of food, reminiscing about food, and so on. He is an excessive gourmand, deriving pleasure from eating and stuffing himself to the brim. He eats even when he does not like the food, works himself into a tizzy when he cannot have it, and uses food imagery as part of his bragging about his fancy life. This obsession can be explained psychologically, as with a Freudian oral fixation issue; at the very least, it allows us to see how debauched and dedicated to base pleasures Khlestakov is.
Symbol: Sugar and Wine
The shopkeepers come to Khlestakov with their petitions and offerings of sugar loaves and wine. Khelestakov initially refuses what he sees as bribed, but he later capitulates. As the notes in the Penguin Classics version of the play explain, "Sweet foods such as honey and sugar were heavily taxed and were a great luxury. They were often given as bribes" (328). Thus, these items are not merely food, and they certainly would not have been viewed as such by Gogol's contemporary audiences. Rather, these items are symbols of luxury, bribery, self-interest, and gluttony.
Symbol: Cabbage
In yet another example of food symbolism, cabbage is an important textual signifier. The Warden of Charities remarks that there is a strong stench of cabbage wafting down the corridors of the charity hospital, and Gogol disliked the food enough to also excoriate it in Diary of a Madman. Cabbage was one of the most ubiquitous foods in Russian cuisine, and it was often associated with the lower classes because it was the most basic item in their households. For the Warden to complain of the smell suggests that he is actually worried about the hospital seeming derelict, rundown, and, frankly, trashy.
