The shopkeepers are a section of the town’s population who seem to be denied a voice. They appear chiefly through disparaging comments made by the Mayor, who believes that they are responsible for the imminent arrival of the government inspector. The shopkeepers represent a resentment directed at a ruling class, but one which does not wholly demand a revolution in society. Instead, their complaints are as minor and as personal as the corruption itself.

For the Mayor, the shopkeepers represent something else entirely. He views them as a perpetual annoyance, a living, breathing embodiment of the way in which he is unfairly persecuted. The Mayor’s attitude toward the shopkeepers is a symbol of his own delusion. He views himself as someone who is morally above the tiresome, fussy shopkeepers. In his view, they should mind their own business rather than reach out to the government and threaten to bring his corruption to light. The way the Mayor speaks about the shopkeepers represents this inherent contradiction: He acknowledges his own immorality and corruption, but views their attitude toward him as somehow worse. They become the focal point for all his paranoia and resentment, even if he accepts that he is corrupt.