Gorky at the bottom what genre. Creative history of the play “At the Lower Depths”

Goals:

• Introduce students to the stage fate of the play "At the Lower Depths".
• Introduce the characters of the play into the setting and world.
• Determine the main conflict of the work - the clash of views and life positions of the inhabitants of the bottom.
• Show the tense atmosphere of the Kostylev flophouse with its endless disputes and quarrels; find out the reasons for the disunity of people at the bottom.
• Help schoolchildren understand the meaning of the author's remarks.

During the classes

I. Teacher's opening speech.

The greatest writers of the 19th century (A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, L.N. Tolstoy) acted as prose writers, playwrights, and publicists. The work of M. Gorky is also characterized by multi-genres. He entered literature with romantic and realistic stories. At the end of the 90s published the novel "Foma Gordeev", in which he reproduced a broad picture of Russian life, showing representatives of various social strata. In the early 900s he turned to drama and for several years acted as a playwright.

“The play, drama, comedy is the most difficult form of literature,” said M. Gorky.

At that time, the Moscow Art Theater enjoyed enormous popularity, opening a new page in the history of Russian theatrical art with its innovative productions of Chekhov's plays. In the winter of 1900, Gorky visited this theater for the first time; in the spring of the same year, while staying in Yalta visiting Chekhov, Gorky met artists who captivated him with the idea of ​​​​creating a play for them. The result of this acquaintance was the play "The Bourgeois" (1901) and the plays that followed it: "At the Lower Depths" (1902), "Summer Residents" (1904), "Children of the Sun" and "Barbarians" (1905)

Let us remember what is unique about drama as a type of literature (a student’s performance accompanied by a computer presentation).

1) Drama is for stage performances.

3) The text consists of monologues and dialogues actors.

4) The play is divided into actions (acts) and pictures (scenes).

5) During the break between actions, a certain amount of time may pass (a day, two, a month, six months:), and the location of the action may change.

6) The entire life process is not depicted in the drama; it goes on, as it were, behind the scenes; the author snatches from the flow of time the most significant, from his point of view, moments, and focuses the attention of the audience on them.

7) A special burden in the play falls on conflict- an acute clash between the heroes over a very significant issue. At the same time, there cannot be (extra) heroes in a drama - all heroes must be included in the conflict.

8) A dramatic work is preceded by poster- list of characters.

Gorky’s first plays showed that an innovative playwright had come to literature.

The content and issues of the plays were unusual, as were their characters - the revolutionary-minded proletarian, the inhabitants of the flophouse, and the conflict. Gorky acted as the creator of a new type of drama.

From the cycle of Gorky's dramatic works, the play "At the Depth" stands out for its depth of thought and perfection of construction. “It was the result of my almost 20-year observations of the world of “former people,” to which I include not only wanderers, shelter dwellers and the “lumpen proletariat” in general, but also some of the intellectuals - “demagnetized,” disappointed, offended and humiliated by failures in life. I realized very early that these people were incurable,” wrote Gorky. He talked a lot and willingly about the tramps, their lives, the people who served as prototypes for this or that character.

Gorky worked hard and purposefully on the play “At the Lower Depths”. Even the list of titles that he successively gave to the play shows both the intensity of his search and even partly his direction:

• "Without Sun"
• "Nochlezhka"
• "In the lodging house"
• "Bottom"
• "At the bottom of life"
• "At the bottom"

Why "At the Bottom"? (The author did not highlight the location of the action - “night shelter”, not the nature of the conditions - “without sun”, “bottom”, not even the social position - “at the bottom of life”. The final name combines all these names with the new one. where how, A what's happening at the bottom" (what?):souls. Unlike the original names, which highlight the tragic situation of the tramps, the latest name is more capacious and polysemantic.)

The play received its final name on the theater poster of the Moscow Art Theater, on the stage of which the play premiered.

Already after the first reading of the play by Gorky himself at the apartment of the writer L. Andreev, it was clear that it would become an event. The censors did not allow the play to be presented for a long time. She erased the text, mutilated it, but still, yielding to public pressure, she allowed it to be played exclusively in Moscow and only to one Art Theater. The authorities considered the play boring and were sure of the failure of the performance, where on the stage instead of “beautiful life” there was dirt, darkness and poor, embittered people (sharps, tramps, prostitutes). The production, carried out by directors Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, was a stunning success. The author was called more than 20 times!

Poster for the play "At the Bottom".

So, December 1902. Moscow Art Theater. First performance of the play.

There are many prominent writers, artists, artists, public figures, and famous critics in the public. Starring the most beloved, most prominent artists of the Moscow Art Theater: Stanislavsky (Satin), Moskvin (Luka), Kachalov (Baron), Knipper-Chekhova (Nastya), Luzhsky (Bubnov). The curtain opens...

II. A re-enactment of the beginning of the play prepared by class students.

III. Conversation.

Where did the viewer end up? When and where does the play take place? (In the shelter at the beginning of spring, in the morning.)

How is the scene of action depicted in the stage directions for Act 1, depicting the setting of the shelter? (The basement looks like a cave. There is dirt, soot, rags everywhere...)

- How are the characters positioned on stage?(Everywhere along the walls there are bunks. Thin partitions fence off Ash’s room. Apart from Kvashnya, Baron, Nastya, who live in the kitchen, no one has their own corner. Everything is on display in front of each other. A secluded place is only on the stove and behind the chintz canopy separating others the bed of dying Anna (by this she is already, as it were, separated from life.)

- How is the stage lit?(The light reaches the shelters from the basement window, as if looking for people among the basement inhabitants.)

- Why does the author describe the shelter in such detail in the stage directions preceding Act 1? Why is the remark so lengthy?(The playwright emphasizes the extreme poverty of the current existence of the “former”, the wretchedness of the human shelter.)

- The tragedy of the existence of the shelters and the depth of human fall are helped to feel by the remarks that give an idea of ​​the sounds of the shelter. What does the viewer hear?

Anna moans

Fidgeting and hysterically coughs Actor

Loud growls Satin

Fiercely jingles keys and creaks filing the tick

The Baron slurps, chewing black bread:

- What is the atmosphere of the shelter?(Noise, swearing. Endless arguments, quarrels. Hell, bitterness:)

- Why do quarrels arise so often?(Everyone lives in this basement as he wants. Everyone is preoccupied with their own problems. The characters don’t seem to hear each other. Words sound from different corners. Everyone present speaks at once, without waiting for an answer, weakly reacting to other people’s remarks, but everyone, almost not listening to others, he talks about his own things. Complete separation of people who find themselves under one roof.)

- Stability, the extreme nature of mutual alienation are conveyed in the form polylogue. What remarks emphasize the continuity of such “communication”, the feeling of time passing in a vicious circle, without beginning or end?

The curtain opens and the viewer hears the Baron's voice: "Further!". This is the first line of the play! It “creates a feeling of the inevitable passage of time, flowing in a vicious circle without beginning or end ". (B.A.Bialik. Gorky the playwright.)

Growls, without scaring anyone, Satin, who overslept after next intoxication.

Kvashnya continues conversation started behind the scenes with Kleshch, constantly shutting himself off from his terminally ill wife.

Baron habitually mocks Nastya, absorbing another shocker.

Actor is boring repeats the same thing: “My body is poisoned by alcohol: It’s harmful for me: breathing dust:

Anna begs for it to stop lasts "Every single day:".

Bubnov interrupts Satin: “I heard: a hundred times!"

Satin seems to sum it up: “: all our words are tired! I heard each of them: probably a thousand times:"

- In a stream of fragmentary remarks and altercations, words that have a symbolic sound are heard.

Bubnov: “And the threads are rotten:” - twice, while doing furrier business.

He’s talking about Nastya’s situation: “You’re superfluous everywhere: and all the people on earth are superfluous:”

What do these seemingly random remarks reveal?

(Phrases said on a specific occasion reveal the imaginary connections of the people gathered in the shelter, the “superfluity” of the unfortunate people).

IV. Teacher's word.

Already the first readers of the play “At the Lower Depths” drew attention not only to the novelty of its content, but also to the novelty of its form. Chekhov responded about the play as follows: “It is new and undoubtedly good.”

What is unusual about the form of the play “At the Lower Depths”? In what ways does Gorky deviate from the rules for creating dramatic works known to us from the plays we have read earlier?

2.No traditional plot: it unfolds not so much in “external” events as in dialogues (disputes), polylogues- they determine the development of the conflict.

3.In the play no main or secondary characters- everyone is important.

Let's look at the list of characters - poster.

V. Working with the play poster.

Why are the heroes presented differently: some by their first name and patronymic, others by their nickname or last name?

Why are Kostylev and Kleshch presented differently? (The list shows a certain hierarchy of the “bottom”. There are also “masters of life” here, however, they are not so different from the inhabitants of the shelter).

People in society are valued differently. A representative of any class, gender and age can find himself at the “bottom” of life. What do they have in common? (They are all renegades. All "former".)

VI. Mini quiz.

Remember which of the characters in the play was

• an official in the treasury chamber?
• guard at the dacha?
• telegraph operator?
• a mechanic?
• a furrier?
• an artist?

VII. Conversation.

How did these people get here? What brought them to the shelter? What is the backstory of each character?

Satin hit rock bottom after serving time in prison for murder (Act 1).

The Baron went bankrupt. Served in the treasury chamber, squandered money; for embezzlement of government money he went to prison, then ended up in a shelter (Act 4).

Kleshch lost his job, although he was an “honest worker” and “worked from an early age” (Act 1).

The actor once had a sonorous surname - Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky, but was not in the leading roles (he says that he played a gravedigger in Hamlet), he lived in poverty; He began to drink, seeing no way out, - he became an alcoholic, “drank away his soul” (Act 2). Weak at heart. The tick resists - the result is the same.

Fate Ashes predetermined already at birth: “I have been a thief since childhood.” "Son of a thief." There is no other way (act 2).

Which hero talks more about his fall than others? (Baron. Each stage of his life is marked by a certain costume. These disguises symbolize the gradual decline in social status.)

What reasons bring people to the “bottom”? (People are brought to the “bottom” by both subjective (laziness, meanness, dishonesty, weak character) and objective, social reasons (the life of society is poisoned, distorted).

What are the night shelters talking about? (What every person thinks about.)

Honor and conscience Faith in one’s strength, in one’s talent

People of the “bottom” are not villains, not monsters, not scoundrels. They are the same people as us, they just live in different conditions. This amazed the first viewers of the play and shocks new readers.

The characters talk and argue a lot. Their conversations are the subject of depiction in the play. The clash of ideas, life views, and the struggle of worldviews determine the main conflict of the play. This is typical for the genre philosophical dramas .

VIII. Homework.

Answer the following questions in writing:

1. One of the characters in the play, Satin, in a remark that concludes the second act, likens the night shelters to the dead: “Dead men don’t hear! Dead men don’t feel: Shout: roar: dead men don’t hear!..”
2. Can we say that the first act is conversations in "the kingdom of the dead" (G.D. Gachev)?
3. Or is the researcher right who believed that “Luke, having gone down into the basement, came not to the desert, but to people" (I.K. Kuzmichev), and before the arrival of Luke retained, to one degree or another, living human traits?

Every playwright dreams of creating a play that would appeal not only to contemporaries, but also to future generations. Only a work that carries some meaning, teaches something, reveals the unpleasant sides of society, and solves problems can remain relevant for many decades. The play “At the Bottom” belongs to such works.

History of drama writing

Maxim Gorky's work “At the Depths” was published in 1902. It was written specifically for the troupe of the Moscow Art Public Theater. This play has a very difficult fate: it has survived bans and censorship, and for so many years debates about its ideological content and artistic originality have not ceased. The drama was praised and criticized, but no one was indifferent to it. The creation of the play “At the Bottom” was labor-intensive; the writer began work on it in 1900, and finished it only two years later.

Gorky paid attention to dramaturgy at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was then that he shared with Stanislavsky his idea to create a tramp play, in which there would be about two dozen characters. The author himself did not know what would come of it; he did not count on great success; he characterized his work as unsuccessful, with a weak plot, and outdated.

The main characters of the drama

The history of the creation of the play “At the Bottom” is quite prosaic. Maxim Gorky wanted to talk about his observations of the lower world. The writer included among the “former people” not only the inhabitants of the shelters, proletarians and wanderers, but also representatives of the intelligentsia who were disillusioned with life and suffered failures. There were also real prototypes of the main characters.

Thus, the history of the creation of the play “At the Lower Depths” tells that the writer created the image of Bubnov by combining the characters of a tramp he knew and his intellectual teacher. copied from the artist Kolosovsky-Sokolovsky, and the image of Nastya was borrowed from the stories of Claudia Gross.

Fight against censorship

It took a lot of time to get permission to stage the play. The author defended every line of the characters, every line of his creation. In the end, permission was given, but only for the Art Theater. The history of the creation of the play “At the Lower Depths” was not easy, Gorky himself did not believe in his success, and the authorities allowed the production, hoping for a resounding failure. But everything turned out exactly the opposite: the play was a resounding success, a huge number of publications in newspapers were devoted to it, the author was repeatedly called to the stage, giving him a standing ovation.

The history of the creation of the play “At the Lower Depths” is notable for the fact that Gorky did not immediately decide on its name. The drama had already been written, but the author had not decided what to call it. Among the well-known options were the following: “Without the sun”, “In a shelter”, “At the bottom of life”, “Nochlezhka”, “Bottom”. Only in the 90s of the twentieth century was a play called “At the Depths” staged in one of the Moscow theaters. Be that as it may, the drama was well received by the audience not only in Russia, but also abroad. In 1903, the play premiered in Berlin. The drama was performed 300 times in a row, indicating unprecedented success.

I am the connection of worlds that exist everywhere,
I am an extreme degree of substance;
I am the center of the living
The trait is the initial of the deity;
My body is crumbling into dust,
I command thunder with my mind.
I am a king - I am a slave - I am a worm - I am a god!
G. R. Derzhavin

The genre of the play “At the Lower Depths” (1902) is a drama, while its genre originality was manifested in the close interweaving of social and philosophical content.

The play depicts the life of “former people” (tramps, thieves, tramps, etc.), and this is the theme of the social content of this work. Gorky begins the play by describing the shelter in the first remark: “A basement like a cave. The ceiling is heavy, stone vaults, smoked, with crumbling plaster. One window under the ceiling" (I). And people live in these conditions! The playwright shows in detail the different roommates from Kostylev’s establishment. The main characters in the play have a short biography, from which one can judge what kind of people got to the “bottom” of life. These are former criminals who served various terms in prison (Satin, Baron), heavy drunks (Aktor, Bubnov), a petty thief (Ashes), a bankrupt artisan (Kleshch), a girl of easy virtue (Nastya), etc. Therefore, all night shelters are people of a certain type; they are usually called “the dregs of society.”

Describing “former people,” Gorky shows that they have no opportunity to rise from the “bottom.” This idea is revealed especially clearly in the image of the Tick. He is a craftsman, a good mechanic, but he ended up in a shelter together with his sick wife. Klesh explains the catastrophic turn in his fate by the fact that he went bankrupt due to Anna’s illness, which, by the way, he himself brought to illness with beatings. He proudly and decisively declares to the night shelters that they are not his comrades: they are slackers and drunkards, and he is an honest worker. Turning to Ash, Mite says: “Do you think I won’t break out of here? I’ll get out...” (I). Kleshch never manages to fulfill his cherished dream: formally because Anna needs money for her funeral, and he sells his plumbing tools; essentially because Mite wants well-being only for himself. In the last act of the play, he still lives in the same shelter. He no longer thinks about a decent life and, together with other tramps, sits back, drinks, plays cards, completely resigned to his fate. This is how Gorky shows the hopelessness of life, the desperate situation of people at the “bottom”.

The social idea of ​​the play is that people at the “bottom” live in inhumane conditions, and a society that allows the existence of such shelters is unjust and inhumane. Thus, Gorky’s play expresses a reproach to the modern state structure of Russia. The playwright, realizing that the homeless shelters are largely to blame for their plight, still sympathizes with them and does not make negative heroes out of the “former people”.

The only definitely negative characters in Gorky are the owners of the shelter. Kostylev, of course, is far from being the real “masters of life,” but this “owner” is a merciless bloodsucker who does not hesitate to “throw in some money” (I), that is, to increase the cost of living in a rooming house. He needs the money, as he himself explains, to buy oil for the lamp, and then the lamp in front of his icons will be unquenchable. Despite his piety, Kostylev does not hesitate to offend Natasha, reproaching her with a piece of bread. Matching the owner of the shelter is his wife Vasilisa, a vicious and evil woman. Feeling that her lover Vaska Pepel has lost interest in her charms and has fallen in love with Natasha, she decides to take revenge on her hated husband, the traitor Vaska, and her happy rival-sister at once. Vasilisa persuades her lover to kill her husband, promising both money and consent to marry Natalya, but Ash quickly understands the cunning of the annoying mistress. Both Kostylev and Vasilisa, as Gorky portrays them, are hypocrites who are ready to cross any moral and legal laws for the sake of profit. The social conflict in the play arises precisely between the guests and the owners of the shelter. True, Gorky does not sharpen this conflict, since the night shelters have completely resigned themselves to their fate.

The play presents desperate characters, crushed by life's circumstances. Is it possible to help them? How to support them? What do they need - sympathy and consolation or truth? And what is the truth? Thus, in the play “At the Lower Depths”, in connection with the social content, a philosophical theme arises about truth and lies-consolation, which begins to actively unfold in the second act, after the appearance of the wanderer Luke in the shelter. This old man completely disinterestedly helps the homeless shelters with advice, but not everyone. He, for example, does not seek to console Satin, because he understands: this man does not need anyone’s sympathy. Luke has no soul-saving conversations with the Baron, since the Baron is a stupid and empty person, it is useless to waste mental strength on him. Giving advice, the old man is not embarrassed when some heroes accept his sympathy with gratitude (Anna, Actor), and others with condescending irony (Ashes, Bubnov, Kleshch).

However, in reality it turns out that Luka only helps dying Anna with his consolations, calming her down before her death. His simple-minded kindness and consolation cannot help the rest of the characters. Luka tells the Actor about a hospital for alcoholics, where everyone is treated for free. He lured the weak-willed drunkard with a beautiful dream of a quick cure, that’s all he could do, and the Actor hanged himself. Having overheard Ash's conversation with Vasilisa, the old man tries to dissuade the guy from making an attempt on Kostylev's life. Vasily, according to Luka, must tear Natasha out of the Kostylev family and go with her to Siberia, and there begin the new, honest life he dreams of. But Luka’s good advice cannot stop the tragic events: Vasily accidentally, but still kills Kostylev, after Vasilisa cruelly cripples Natalya out of jealousy.

In the play, almost every character expresses his opinion on the philosophical problem of truth and lies-consolation. Having led the Actor to suicide, and the love story of Vaska Ash to a tragic ending, Gorky apparently expresses his negative attitude towards Luka’s consolation. However, in the play, the old man’s philosophical position is supported by serious arguments: Luke, seeing during his travels only the poverty and grief of the common people, generally lost faith in the truth. He tells a real-life case when the truth drives a person who believed in a righteous land to suicide (III). The truth, according to Luke, is what you like, what you consider right and fair. For example, to Ash’s tricky question whether there is a God, the old man replies: “If you believe, there is, if you don’t believe, there is no... What you believe in, that is...” (II). When Nastya once again talks about her beautiful love and none of the shelters believe her, she screams with tears in her voice: “I don’t want it anymore! I won’t say... If they don’t believe... if they laugh...” But Luka calms her down: “... nothing... don’t be angry! I know... I believe. Your truth, not theirs... If you believe, you had true love... that means you had it! Was!" (III).

Bubnov also talks about the truth: “But I... I don’t know how to lie! For what? In my opinion, tell the whole truth as it is! Why be ashamed? (III). Such truth does not help a person live, but only crushes and humiliates him. A convincing illustration of this truth is a small episode that emerges from the conversation between Kvashnya and the shoemaker Alyosha at the end of the fourth act. Kvashnya beats his roommate, former police officer Medvedev, under hot hand. She does this easily, especially because she probably never gets back: after all, Medvedev loves her and, moreover, is afraid that she will drive him away if he behaves like her first husband. Alyoshka “for fun” told the whole neighborhood the truth about how Kvashnya “pulled” her roommate by the hair. Now all his acquaintances make fun of the respectable Medvedev, a former policeman, and he is offended by such “fame”; out of shame, he “started drinking” (IV). This is the result of the truth that Bubnov preaches.

Raising the problem of truth and lies-consolation, Gorky, of course, wanted to express his own opinion on this philosophical issue. It is generally accepted that the author’s point of view is voiced by Satin, as the most suitable hero of the play for this role. This refers to the famous monologue about the Man from the last act: “What is truth? Man - that's the truth! (...) We must respect the person! Don't feel sorry... don't humiliate him with pity... you must respect him! (...) Lies are the religion of slaves and masters... Truth is the god of a free man!” (IV). This is a high truth that supports a person and inspires him in the fight against life’s obstacles. This is the kind of truth, according to Gorky, that people need. In other words, Satin’s monologue about Man expresses the idea of ​​the philosophical content of the play.

The playwright himself did not define the genre of his work, but simply called “At the Bottom” a play. Where should this play be classified as a comedy, drama or tragedy? Drama, like comedy, shows the private life of the heroes, but, unlike comedy, it does not ridicule the morals of the heroes, but puts them in conflicting relationships with the life around them. Drama, like tragedy, depicts acute social or moral contradictions, but, unlike tragedy, it avoids showing exceptional heroes. In the play “At the Lower Depths,” Gorky does not ridicule anything; on the contrary, the Actor dies in the finale. However, the Actor is not at all like a tragic hero who is ready to assert his ideological beliefs and moral principles even at the cost of his own life (like Katerina Kabanova from A.N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”): the cause of the death of Gorky’s character is weakness of character and inability to withstand life’s difficulties . Therefore, according to genre criteria, the play “At the Lower Depths” is a drama.

To summarize the above, it can be noted that the drama “At the Bottom” is a wonderful work of art, where two problems are posed and intertwined - the problem of social justice in the Russian society of the author’s time and the “eternal” philosophical problem of truth and lies-consolation. The convincingness of Gorky's solution to these problems can be explained by the fact that the playwright does not give an unambiguous answer to the questions posed.

On the one hand, the author shows how difficult it is to rise from the “bottom” of society. The story of Kleshch confirms that it is necessary to change the social conditions that gave rise to the shelter; Only together, and not alone, can the poor achieve a decent life. But, on the other hand, the homeless shelters, corrupted by idleness and begging, themselves do not want to work to get out of the shelter. Moreover, Satin and Baron even glorify idleness and anarchism.

Gorky, by his own admission, planned to expose in the drama “At the Lower Depths” the idea of ​​beautiful-hearted, lulling lies of consolation and Luka, the main propagandist of the idea of ​​consolation. But the image of the extraordinary wanderer in the play turned out to be very complex and, contrary to the author’s intention, very attractive. In a word, there was no unambiguous exposure of Luka, as Gorky himself wrote about in his article “On Plays” (1933). More recently, Satin’s phrase (one should not feel sorry for a person, but respect it) was understood literally: pity humiliates a person. But modern society seems to be moving away from such straightforward judgments and recognizing not only the truth of Satin, but also the truth of Luke: weak, defenseless people can and even should be pitied, that is, sympathize with and help them. There is nothing shameful or offensive for a person in such an attitude.

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Gorky defined the play “At the Lower Depths” as a socio-philosophical drama in which the main ones are the conflict of people with the outside world and internal conflict. One of the original titles of the play is “At the Bottom of Life,” but the writer shortened it, thereby expanding its meaning: the characters of the play are not only at the bottom of life, but also at the bottom of their own feelings and thoughts, each of them has to fight not only with circumstances , but also with yourself.

First we are introduced to social conflict. The author depicts Kostylev’s doss house for us: “A basement that looks like a cave. The ceiling is heavy, stone vaults, smoked, with crumbling plaster... Everywhere along the walls there are bunks... In the middle of the bunkhouse there is a large table, two benches, a stool, everything is unpainted and dirty » -it looks more like a prison; it’s not for nothing that its inhabitants sing the prison song “The Sun Rises and Sets.” As the play progresses, we learn about the events that led people to such a life. For example, Bubnov was married in the past, “the wife got in touch with the master” and decided to “overcome” her husband; as a result, Bubnov almost committed a crime himself, but “came to his senses in time” and left. Satin served time in prison for the murder of a “scoundrel” and now, like almost all the inhabitants of the flophouse, he drinks, plays cards, and steals. The baron came from a noble family, he “studied,” “married,” “served,” and “wasted government money.” The fates of all the heroes are different and at the same time surprisingly similar: they were at the bottom of their lives, hardships and suffering brought them here. This portrayal of the lives of the poorest sections of society is the social essence of the drama. drama conflict truth play

However, the main, philosophical question of the work is different. What is better, more saving for a person: truth or compassion?

The society of night shelters described by Gorky can be called insensitive truth-seekers. “In my opinion, tell the whole truth as it is! Why be shy?” Bubnov asserts, and the Baron behaves boorishly towards Nastya, convicting her of lying in front of everyone when she talks about her “true love”: “Do you think this is true? This is all from the book “Fatal Love”. Heroes like Anna, Nastya, and Akter are trusting, dreamy, and easily wounded by the bitter truth. They yearn for compassionate kindness, but find little sympathy from the “truth of fact” advocates. Like a ray of light, Luke appears in their joyless life. He consoles everyone, respects every person (“not a single flea is bad, all are black”), believes that a person can do anything if he wants. This faith in man is expressed in a story about two escaped convicts, the main idea of ​​which is that it is not violence or prison that can save a person and teach goodness - “A person can teach goodness...” The elder’s words that “The truth is not always true for the soul.” you will cure...”, meet resistance from many of the characters in the play. The opinion of Satin especially disagrees with this point of view. He says: “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters... Truth is the god of a free man!” As an illustration of these ideas, we are told the parable of the righteous land. In it, a “man” with his belief in the existence of a righteous land and a “scientist” who refutes this dream with his maps and numbers collide with each other. Here, it would seem, lies the key to unraveling the ideological contradiction of the play “At the Bottom”: if reality does not allow a person to maintain self-esteem, then let the “truth about man” be replaced by “the truth of man,” that is, “holy faith.” After all, the naked truth that the night shelters heard from each other before the appearance of Elder Luke is of no value. It is not clear what is more in their words - a thirst for truth or a desire to humiliate and insult a person. But you also cannot live by illusions alone; we see this in the example of the Actor. Luke gave him hope for the opportunity to start a new life and return to work. The actor even “completioned” and exalted the elder’s advice about going to a hospital for alcoholics: “An excellent hospital... Marble... marble floor! Light...cleanliness, food...all for free! And marble floor, yes!” , but never did anything to implement this trip, he just continued to dream and eventually hanged himself.

The uniqueness of Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” lies precisely in its truthfulness, starting with the description of the shelter and ending with the unresolved dispute about what is better for a person: to live in false hope or to bring down the bitter, evil truth on everyone. The value of these two points of view seems to be tested on all the characters throughout the play, but this dispute never receives a final answer. Everyone decides it for themselves.

Those who are weak at heart... and those who live on other people's juices need lies... some are supported by it, others hide behind it... And who is his own master... who is independent and does not eat someone else's things - why does he need lies?

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Maxim Gorky's play "At the Lower Depths" is still the most successful drama in the collection of his works. She won the favor of the public during the author’s lifetime; the writer himself even described the performances in other books, ironizing about his fame. So why did this work captivate people so much?

The play was written at the end of 1901 - beginning of 1902. This work was not an obsession or a gust of inspiration, as is usually the case with creative people. On the contrary, it was written specifically for a troupe of actors from the Moscow Art Theater, created to enrich the culture of all classes of society. Gorky could not imagine what would come of it, but he realized the desired idea of ​​​​creating a play about tramps, where about two dozen characters would be present.

The fate of Gorky's play cannot be called the final and irrevocable triumph of his creative genius. There were different opinions. People were delighted or criticized such a controversial creation. It survived bans and censorship, and to this day everyone understands the meaning of the drama in their own way.

Meaning of the name

The meaning of the title of the play “At the Bottom” personifies the social position of all the characters in the work. The title gives an ambiguous first impression, since there is no specific mention of what day we are talking about. The author gives the reader the opportunity to use his imagination and guess what his work is about.

Today, many literary scholars agree that the author meant that his heroes are at the bottom of life in the social, financial and moral sense. This is the meaning of the name.

Genre, direction, composition

The play is written in a genre called “social and philosophical drama.” The author touches on precisely such topics and problems. His direction can be designated as “critical realism,” although some researchers insist on the formulation “socialist realism,” since the writer focused the public’s attention on social injustice and the eternal conflict between the poor and the rich. Thus, his work took on an ideological connotation, because at that time the confrontation between the nobility and the common people in Russia was only heating up.

The composition of the work is linear, since all actions are chronologically consistent and form a single thread of the narrative.

The essence of the work

The essence of Maxim Gorky's play lies in the depiction of the bottom and its inhabitants. Show readers in the play's characters the marginalized, people humiliated by life and fate, rejected by society and who have broken ties with it. Despite the smoldering flame of hope - having no future. They live, argue about love, honesty, truth, justice, but their words are just empty words for this world and even for their own destinies.

Everything that happens in the play has only one purpose: to show the clash of philosophical views and positions, as well as to illustrate the dramas of outcast people to whom no one lends a helping hand.

The main characters and their characteristics

The inhabitants of the bottom are people with different life principles and beliefs, but they are all united by one condition: they are mired in poverty, which gradually deprives them of dignity, hope and self-confidence. She corrupts them, dooming the victims to certain death.

1. Mite– works as a mechanic, 40 years old. Married to Anna (30 years old), who suffers from consumption. The relationship with his wife is the main characterizing detail. Kleshch's complete indifference to her well-being, frequent beatings and humiliation speak of his cruelty and callousness. After Anna's death, the man was forced to sell his work tools in order to bury her. And only the lack of work unsettled him a little. Fate leaves the hero without a chance to get out of the shelter and without prospects for a further successful life.
2. Bubnov- a 45-year-old man. Previously the owner of a fur workshop. He is dissatisfied with his current life, but tries to maintain his potential to return to normal society. Lost possession due to divorce, as the documents were issued in the name of his wife. Lives in a shelter and sews hats.
3. Satin- about 40 years old, drinks until he loses his memory and plays cards where he cheats for a living. I read a lot of books, which I constantly remind not so much of my neighbors as of myself as a consolation that all is not lost. Served 5 years in prison for manslaughter committed during a fight over his sister's honor. Despite his education and occasional fall, he does not recognize honest ways of living.
4. Luke- a wanderer aged 60 years. He appeared unexpectedly for the residents of the shelter. He behaves intelligently, consoles and calms everyone around, but as if he came with a specific purpose. He tries to improve relations with everyone by giving advice, which incites even more disputes. A hero of a neutral character, despite his kind tone, always makes one want to doubt the purity of his intentions. According to his stories, it can be assumed that he served time in prison, but escaped from there.
5. Ash– name is Vasily, 28 years old. He constantly steals, but, despite the dishonest way of earning money, he has his own philosophical point of view, like everyone else. He wants to get out of the shelter and start a new life. He was imprisoned several times. He has a certain position in this society due to his secret relationship with the married Vasilisa, which everyone knows about. At the beginning of the play, the heroes separate, and Ash tries to look after Natasha in order to take her away from the shelter, but in a fight he kills Kostylev and goes to prison at the end of the play.
6. Nastya– young girl, 24 years old. Based on her treatment and conversations, we can conclude that she works as a call girl. Constantly wants attention, to be needed. She has a connection with the Baron, but not the one she comes up with in her fantasies after reading romance novels. In fact, she endures rudeness and disrespect from her boyfriend, while giving him money for alcohol. All her behavior is continuous complaints about life and requests to be sorry.
7. Baron– 33 years old, drinks, but due to unfortunate circumstances. He constantly reminds of his noble roots, which once helped him become a wealthy official, but were not of particular significance when accused of embezzlement of public funds, which is why the hero went to prison, remaining a beggar. He has a love relationship with Nastya, but takes them for granted, transfers all his responsibilities to the girl, and constantly takes money for drinking.
8. Anna– Kleshch’s wife, 30 years old, suffers from consumption. At the beginning of the play he is in a dying state, but does not live to the end. For all the heroes, the flophouse is an unsuccessful piece of “interior”, making unnecessary sounds and taking up space. Until her death she hopes for a manifestation of her husband’s love, but dies in the corner from indifference, beatings and humiliation, which may have given rise to the disease.
9. Actor– male, approximately 40 years old. Just like all the residents of the shelter, he always remembers his past life. A kind and fair person, but excessively sorry for himself. He wants to stop drinking, having learned from Luke about a hospital for alcoholics in some city. He begins to save money, but, not having time to find out the location of the hospital before the wanderer leaves, the hero despairs and commits suicide.
10. Kostylev– Vasilisa’s husband, a 54-year-old shelter owner. He perceives people only as walking wallets, loves to remind people of debts and assert himself at the expense of the baseness of his own residents. Tries to hide his true attitude behind a mask of kindness. He suspects his wife of cheating with Ash, which is why he constantly listens to sounds outside his door. He believes that he should be grateful for the overnight stay. Vasilisa and her sister Natasha are treated no better than the drunkards who live at his expense. Buys things that Ash steals, but hides it. Due to his own stupidity, he dies at the hands of Ash in a fight.
11. Vasilisa Karpovna - Kostylev's wife, 26 years old. She is no different from her husband, but she hates him with all her heart. She secretly cheats on her husband with Ash and persuades her lover to kill her husband, promising that he will not be sent to prison. And he doesn’t feel any feelings towards his sister except envy and malice, which is why she gets the worst of it. Looks for benefit in everything.
12. Natasha– Vasilisa’s sister, 20 years old. The “purest” soul of the shelter. Endures bullying from Vasilisa and her husband. She cannot trust Ash with his desire to take her away, knowing all the meanness of people. Although she herself understands that she will be lost. Helps residents selflessly. He is going to meet Vaska halfway to leave, but he ends up in the hospital after Kostylev’s death and goes missing.
13. Kvashnya– a 40-year-old dumpling seller who experienced the power of her husband, who beat her during 8 years of marriage. Helps the residents of the shelter, sometimes trying to put the house in order. She argues with everyone and is not going to get married anymore, remembering her late tyrant husband. Over the course of the play, their relationship with Medvedev develops. At the very end, Kvashnya marries a policeman, whom she herself begins to beat due to her addiction to alcohol.
14. Medvedev- uncle of sisters Vasilisa and Natasha, policeman, 50 years old. Throughout the entire play, she tries to woo Kvashnya, promising that she will not be like her ex-husband. She knows that her niece is being beaten by her older sister, but does not intervene. Knows about all the machinations of Kostylev, Vasilisa and Ash. At the end of the play, he marries Kvashnya and begins to drink, for which his wife beats him.
15. Alyoshka- shoemaker, 20 years old, drinks. He says that he doesn’t need anything, that he is disappointed in life. He drinks out of despair and plays the harmonica. Due to riotous behavior and drunkenness, he often ends up in the police station.
16. Tatar- also lives in a shelter, works as a housekeeper. He loves to play cards with Satin and Baron, but is always indignant at their dishonest play. An honest person does not understand swindlers. Constantly talks about laws and honors them. At the end of the play, Crooked Craw hits him and breaks his arm.
17. Crooked Goiter- another little-known inhabitant of the shelter, the housekeeper. Not as honest as Tatar. He also likes to pass the time playing cards, is calm about the cheating of Satin and Baron, and finds excuses for them. He beats Tatarin and breaks his arm, which causes him to have a conflict with policeman Medvedev. At the end of the play he sings a song with the others.

Themes

Despite the seemingly fairly simple plot and the absence of sharp climactic turns, the work is replete with themes that provide food for thought.

1. Theme of hope stretches through the entire play until the very denouement. She hovers in the mood of the work, but not once does anyone mention her intention to get out of the shelter. Hope is present in every dialogue of the inhabitants, but only indirectly. Just as each of them once fell to the bottom, so someday they dream of getting out of there. In everyone there glimmers a small opportunity to return again to a past life, where everyone was happy, although they did not appreciate it.
2. Fate theme is also quite important in the play. It defines the role of evil fate and its meaning for the heroes. Fate can be the driving force in a work that could not be changed, that brought all the inhabitants together. Or that circumstance, always subject to change, which had to be overcome in order to be able to achieve great success. From the lives of the inhabitants, one can understand that they have accepted their fate and are trying to change it only in the opposite direction, believing that they have nowhere to fall lower. If one of the residents tries to make an attempt to change their position and get out of the bottom, they collapse. Perhaps the author wanted to show in this way that they deserved such a fate.
3. Theme of the meaning of life looks quite superficial in the play, but if you think about it, you can understand the reason for such an attitude towards the life of the shack’s heroes. Everyone considers the current state of affairs to be the bottom from which there is no way out: neither down, nor, especially, up. The characters, despite different age categories, are disappointed in life. They lost interest in her, and stopped seeing any meaning in their own existence, let alone sympathy for each other. They do not strive for another fate because they cannot imagine it. Only alcohol sometimes adds color to existence, which is why sleepovers love to drink.
4. Theme of truth and lies in the play is the main idea of ​​the author. This topic is a philosophical question in Gorky’s work, which he reflects on through the lips of the characters. If we talk about truth in dialogues, then its boundaries are erased, because sometimes the characters say absurd things. However, their words contain secrets and mysteries that are revealed to us as the plot of the work progresses. The author raises this topic in the play, as he considers the truth as a way to save the inhabitants. Show the heroes the real state of affairs, opening their eyes to the world and to their own lives, which they lose every day in the hut? Or hide the truth under the guise of lies and pretense, because it’s easier for them? Everyone chooses the answer independently, but the author makes it clear that he likes the first option.
5. Theme of love and feelings touches in the work because it makes it possible to understand the relationships between the inhabitants. There is absolutely no love in a shelter, even between spouses, and it is unlikely to have the opportunity to appear there. The place itself seems to be saturated with hatred. All were united only by a common living space and a sense of injustice of fate. There is indifference in the air, both towards healthy and sick people. Only squabbles, like dogs squabbling, amuse the night shelters. Along with interest in life, the colors of emotions and feelings are lost.

Problems

The play has a rich range of issues. Maxim Gorky tried in one work to indicate the moral problems that were relevant at that time, which, however, still exist to this day.

1. The first problem is conflict between the inhabitants of the shelter, not only with each other, but also with life. From the dialogues between the characters you can understand their relationship. Constant quarrels, differences of opinion, basic debts lead to eternal squabbles, which is a mistake in this case. The homeless shelters need to learn to live under one roof in harmony. Mutual assistance will make life easier and change the general atmosphere. The problem of social conflict is the destruction of any society. The poor are united by a common problem, but instead of solving it, they create new ones through common efforts. The conflict with life lies in the lack of an adequate perception of it. Former people are offended by life, which is why they do not take further steps towards creating a different future and simply go with the flow.
2. Another problem can be identified as a pressing question: “ Truth or Compassion?. The author creates a reason for reflection: to show the heroes the realities of life or to sympathize with such a fate? In the drama, someone suffers from physical or psychological abuse, and someone dies in agony, but receives his share of compassion, and this reduces his suffering. Each person has his own view of the current situation, and we react based on our feelings. The writer, in Satin’s monologue and the disappearance of the wanderer, made it clear whose side he was on. Luka acts as Gorky's antagonist, trying to bring the inhabitants back to life, show the truth and console the suffering.
3. Also raised in the play problem of humanism. More precisely, its absence. Returning again to the relationship between the inhabitants, and their relationship to themselves, we can consider this problem from two positions. The lack of humanity on the part of the heroes towards each other can be seen in the situation with the dying Anna, to which no one pays attention. During Vasilisa’s bullying of her sister Natasha and Nastya’s humiliation. An opinion is emerging that if people are at the bottom, then they don’t need any more help, it’s every man for himself. This cruelty to themselves is determined by their current lifestyle - constant drinking, fights, which carry disappointment and loss of meaning in life. Existence ceases to be the highest value when there is no goal towards it.
4. The problem of immorality rises in connection with the lifestyle that residents lead based on social location. Nastya's work as a call girl, playing cards for money, drinking alcohol with the ensuing consequences in the form of fights and being taken to the police, theft - all these are the consequences of poverty. The author shows this behavior as a typical phenomenon for people who find themselves at the bottom of society.

The meaning of the play

The idea of ​​Gorky's play is that all people are absolutely the same, regardless of their social and financial status. Everyone consists of flesh and blood, the differences lie only in upbringing and character, which give us the opportunity to react differently to current situations and act based on them. No matter who you are, life can change in an instant. Any of us, having lost everything we had in the past, having sunk to the bottom, will lose ourselves. There will no longer be any point in keeping oneself within the bounds of social decency, looking appropriate and behaving appropriately. When a person loses the values ​​​​established by others, he becomes confused and falls out of reality, as happened with the heroes.

The main idea is that life can break any person. Make him indifferent, bitter, having lost any incentive to exist. Of course, an indifferent society will be to blame for many of his troubles, which will only push the falling one. However, the broken poor are often themselves to blame for the fact that they cannot rise up, because it is difficult to find someone to blame for their laziness, depravity and indifference to everything.

Gorky's author's position is expressed in Satin's monologue, which scatters into aphorisms. “Man – sounds proud!” - he exclaims. The writer wants to show how to treat people in order to appeal to their dignity and strength. Endless regret without concrete practical steps will only harm the poor man, because he will continue to feel sorry for himself rather than work to get out of the vicious circle of poverty. This is the philosophical meaning of drama. In the debate about true and false humanism in society, the winner is the one who speaks directly and honestly, even at the risk of incurring indignation. Gorky in one of Satin’s monologues connects truth and lies with human freedom. Independence comes only at the cost of comprehension and search for truth.

Conclusion

Each reader will draw his own conclusion. The play “At the Bottom” can help a person understand that in life it is always worth striving for something, because it gives strength to move on without looking back. Don't stop thinking that nothing will work out.

Using the example of all the heroes, one can see absolute inaction and disinterest in their own fate. Regardless of age and gender, they are simply mired in their current situation, making the excuse that it is too late to resist and start all over again. A person himself must have the desire to change his future, and in case of any failure, do not blame life, do not be offended by it, but gain experience by experiencing the problem. The inhabitants of the shelter believe that suddenly, for their suffering in the basement, a miracle should fall on them that will bring them a new life, as it happens - Luka appears to them, wanting to cheer up all the despairing, help with advice to make life better. But they forgot that words cannot help the fallen man; he extended his hand to them, but no one took it. And everyone is just waiting for action from anyone, but not from themselves.

Criticism

It cannot be said that before the birth of his legendary play, Gorky did not have any popularity in society. But, it can be emphasized that interest in him increased precisely because of this work.

Gorky managed to show everyday, everyday things surrounding dirty, uneducated people from a new angle. He knew what he was writing about, since he himself had experience in achieving his position in society; after all, he was from the common people and an orphan. There is no exact explanation why the works of Maxim Gorky were so popular and made such a strong impression on the public, because he was not an innovator of any genre, writing about all known things. But Gorky’s work was fashionable at that time, society liked to read his works and attend theatrical performances based on his creations. It can be assumed that the degree of social tension in Russia was rising, and many were dissatisfied with the established order in the country. The monarchy had exhausted itself, and popular actions in subsequent years were harshly suppressed, and therefore many people gladly looked for disadvantages in the existing system, as if reinforcing their own conclusions.

The peculiarities of the play lie in the way of presentation and presentation of the characters' characters, in the harmonious use of descriptions. One of the problems raised in the work is the individuality of each hero and his struggle for it. Artistic tropes and stylistic figures very accurately depict the living conditions of the characters, because the author saw all these details personally.

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