# Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin — The Inspector General character guide

> Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin in The Inspector General by Nikolai Gogol.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Ivan Kuzmich, Shpekin

**First appearance:** 0004-scene-i

## Snapshot

The postmaster whose cheerful habit of reading the town's mail makes him the unofficial archivist of everyone's secrets and indiscretions.

## Who they are

Shpekin runs the post office with a smile and a pair of scissors, opening letters less from malice than from an insatiable itch to know what everyone is doing. He is a gossip's gossip, the man who knows which official is writing to whom and what they are foolish enough to put on paper. His casual violation of privacy makes him a quiet menace to the town's already fragile discretion, and the letters he cannot resist reading will prove more dangerous than any inspector.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inspector_general_se/characters/shpekin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inspector_general_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_inspector_general_se/characters