The Mayor is the head of governance in the town, the central figure in all the corrupt schemes which are taking place, and the leading character in the play. As the protagonist, he embodies the delusion and the corruption which the play explores, to the extent that the other characters—equally corrupt, equally delusional—look to him for guidance when their crimes are in danger of being exposed.

In this respect, the Mayor shows his capacity for leadership. He is the head of the community, so he dispenses advice on how they should cope with the imminent arrival of the government inspector. Unfortunately, his solution is to be even more corrupt. He makes efforts to hide the town’s corruption while seeking out the supposed government inspector, paying for his food, and then inviting him into his house. His charm offensive has an agenda, as he wants to make Khlestakov more sympathetic to him. Through his actions, the Mayor demonstrates the extent to which he embodies this small-town corruption.

While the Mayor insists that everyone in society is just as corrupt as he is, he cannot help but feel paranoid. Everything that goes wrong for him, he suggests, is due to the malicious band of shopkeepers who are striving to keep him from making his money.