The play at the bottom is an analysis of the work. Artistic features "At the bottom

1. Connection with the era.

The drama reflected the contradictions of Russian life on the eve of the first Russian revolution, the contradictions of the capitalist world and Gorky's attitude to contemporary philosophical currents: his polemic with the idealistic philosophy of Vl. Solovyov.

2. Social and philosophical problems.

Depicting the "bottom", Gorky shows society in miniature.
All the inhabitants of the rooming house are in the past “former”. The actor, Ashes, Nastya, Natasha, Kleshch strive to break free from the bottom of life, but they feel their complete powerlessness in front of the constipation of this prison, which gives rise to a feeling of hopelessness in the characters (Actor - the death of the soul, Klesh - trying to achieve the truth only for himself). In a love affair, social contradictions are realized (Ash - Kostylev - Vasilisa; Baron - Nastya).

Philosophical issues are reflected in the disputes of the heroes about man, goodness and truth, which raise the problem of humanism.

A) The problem of man is connected in the play with the image of Luke. Luke's ideas boil down to the thesis: "A man can do anything - if only he wants to." Satin continues the ideas of Luke, but believes that a person should not be pitied, but taught to use freedom.

B) The problem of truth is associated primarily with the image of Sateen and resonates with social issues. The question of a person arises because a person is humiliated (philosophical searches of Gorky's contemporary youth). On the question of truth, Luka and Satin disagree, because they have different ideas about the path that a person should take. Luke is close to the idea of ​​a saving lie (the parable of the righteous land), and Satin calls to open one's eyes to life's contradictions and problems.

Sateen's correctness is confirmed by the plot of the play. The very course of events refutes the philosophy of Luke: the death of the actor, the exile of Vaska Pepel to Siberia, the death of Anna and the general indifference to this event. Luke's departure testifies to his defeat. The ideas of the characters do not always correspond to the position they occupy.

If the views of Luke are in harmony with his way of life, then the ideas of Sateen are in conflict with his existence - this is the specificity of the philosophical drama. The words about the proud man from Satin's monologue actually belong to the author. However, the ideal of man is formulated in the play in an abstract form.

The play "At the Bottom" continues the tradition of Chekhov:

a) Lots of storylines
b) Lyrical subtext, "undercurrents" (a prison song reflecting the state of hopelessness; Nastya's sighs),
c) Speech characteristics (Luke - the language of "hagiography", replete with proverbs and sayings; Satin - learned words and expressions, the meaning of which he does not understand; Baron - poor speech, in which foreign words come across - "merci", "lady").

1. Features of the conflict in the play by M. Gorky "At the Bottom".
2. Gorky's dramatic innovation. Artistic means of creating character in the play "At the bottom".
3. "At the bottom" as a philosophical drama.

"At the Bottom" is one of the best plays by M. Gorky. In the article “On Plays,” he wrote: “It was the result of my almost twenty years of observation of the world of“ former people ”, among which I include not only wanderers, inhabitants of a rooming house, the lumpen proletariat in general, but also some of the intellectuals,“ demagnetized ”, disappointed, insulted and humiliated by failures in life. I realized very early that these people are incurable.” The performance at the Moscow Art Theater was at first banned by censors, but after a stubborn struggle, it was nevertheless released onto the stage. It brought fame to the author and became a real event in the social and cultural life of Russia. The opinion of a contemporary Shchepkina-Kupernik is eloquent: “The real impression of an exploding bomb was made by “At the Bottom”. The spectator was whipped like a whip. "At the bottom" sounded like a real cry for justice. Many did not sleep at night after it ... And this play roared over Russia like a real petrel.

The play struck contemporaries not only with the characters unexpected for the theatre, the tramps thrown out of life by “former people”, with the gloomy and hopeless coloring of the Kostylyov doss house, but also with a bold experiment in dramatic form. Gorky in this play continued the innovative experiments of Chekhov the playwright.

Criticism of social reality, bringing a person to the position of a lumpen who has lost vital connections with his environment, was undoubtedly present in the play. The "horror of life" is felt in the variants of the play's title - "Without the Sun", "Bunkhouse", "At the Bottom of Life". There is social conflict in the play. Thus, the relations between the hosts of the hostel, the Kostylevs, and the hostels are antagonistic. But it is hardly possible to say that it is precisely these relations that determine the dramatic action. Both sides have their own role, which has become familiar, and they perform it monotonously, only from time to time there is a certain tension in their eternal confrontation. Every inhabitant of the rooming house has its own social dramas, for example, Vaska Pepel. His father was a thief, and this determined the fate of his son. But these stories are in the past, behind the scenes. In dramatic action, we have the result. The social conflict is not the main one, despite the impressive statement of social trouble in Russia, the obvious fact of which is the very existence of the Kostylevo rooming house and its inhabitants, thrown out of people's lives. There are also love stories in the play: the love triangle Vasilisa - Ashes - Natasha and the other - Kostylev - Vasilisa - Ashes. The resolution of the love conflict is tragic: Natasha is mutilated, Ash is waiting for hard labor (he killed Kostylev). Only Vasilisa can triumph. She took revenge on Ashes, who had cheated on her, dealt with her rival (crippled her own sister) and freed herself from her hated husband. But the love plot is peripheral in this drama. It does not capture all the characters, they are just outside observers of the drama that has played out.

Apparently, the conflict of the play is not connected with external action, is not directly determined by the social contradictions of life. The exposition is frankly static, all the characters, except for Klesch, resigned themselves to their position. The internal movement in the drama begins with the appearance of Luka in the rooming house. This is the beginning of the conflict. It is Luke - beaten by life, a condescending person - who awakens the consciousness of the overnight stays. It would seem that hopelessly lost people (an actor without a name, an aristocrat without a past, a woman without love, a worker without a job) under the influence of Luka, his interest in everyone, his ability to regret and support, gain hope. They think about the meaning of their life, about the possibility of getting out of the social impasse into which their life has driven them. Thus, the philosophical problems of the play become obvious. The action is driven by a philosophical dispute about a person, his dignity, about truth and lies. Carriers of various ideas about a person - Bubnov, Luka, Satin. But in one way or another, all the characters are involved in the dispute.

It is important to understand Luke's philosophical position. It is complex and contradictory, as is the attitude of the author towards it. Desiring good, he is not able to fight for it. Luke is a type of passive comforter. He does not think about the true state of things, about their objective essence: “What you believe is what it is ...” The main thing, in his opinion, is to treat a person with kindness and compassion. He sincerely wants to help people. And it is hardly possible to call his advice a deliberate lie. Theoretically, it is possible to recover from alcoholism, and finally find true love... The shelters, supported by the compassionate word of Luke, reveal the best sides of their personality. They gain the opportunity, at least for a while, to become people who have a future. But as soon as Luka disappears, they lose their newfound hope. The noble aspirations of the overnight stays, and even Luke himself, do not turn into actions. The overnight shelters do not have enough strength to deal with the difficult circumstances of their lives. Throughout the course of the plot, Luke's position is called into question, and his disappearance at the climax of the action demonstrates the failure of this hero in a collision with real life conflicts. He himself prefers to hide, foreseeing the inevitable dramatic denouement. And in the case of the Actor, the dramatic contradiction turns out to be insoluble, and he commits suicide. The author's point of view is expressed precisely in the plot development. Everything promised by Luke leads to exactly the opposite results. The actor strangled himself, as did the hero of the parable of the righteous land told by Luke. Although Luke spoke in it about the need for hope. The life of the overnight stays returns to its former terrible course.

At the same time, it cannot be said that the play "At the Bottom" unambiguously condemns the comforting position, Luke's lie for salvation, and affirms the merciless truth. This opposition would narrow the philosophical meaning of the play. It is no coincidence that the antagonist of Luka, the truth-seeker Bubnov, smart and vicious, is shown negatively by the author. He speaks the truth, wanting to convict, expose and humiliate a person. In his position there is no place for love for a person and faith in him. Such truth is unacceptable and denied by the author. Gorky is convinced that a person needs love, but only connected with truth. Love and truth that transform life.

According to the author, the very possibility of a humanistic attitude towards a person, faith in the value of the individual, which form the basis of Luke's worldview, awaken the ability to active consciousness. No wonder Satin says: “Old man? He is a clever one! .. He acted on me like acid on an old and dirty coin ... ”In the author’s attitude to Luke, we feel a contradiction: an undoubted rejection of the hero’s philosophy and sympathy for his personality, it is no coincidence that Luke’s speech is so colorful, it is saturated proverbs and sayings, melodic.

The call for a new attitude towards man was voiced in the play, however, among its characters there is no one who could bring it to life. In the famous monologue about a man, Satin, as a reasoning hero, only voices the author's thought.

The play "At the Bottom" is a realistic socio-philosophical drama. Its main subject is the social conflicts of Russian reality and their reflection in the minds of the characters. In the contradictory consciousness of the overnight stays - dissatisfaction with life and inability to change it - some features of the Russian national character were reflected. Of particular importance is philosophical problems - a philosophical dispute about a person. In "At the Bottom" Gorky demonstrated the brilliant art of dialogue, speech ensemble. And although the author did not find the bearer of his positive ideal among the characters of the play, in real life he already saw people with an active life position.

In the article “On Plays”, reflecting on his experience in dramaturgy, Gorky wrote: “A play-drama, comedy is the most difficult form of literature, difficult because it requires that each unit operating in it be characterized both in word and deed on its own, without prompting from side of the author. In the play "At the Bottom" he continued and developed the Chekhov drama tradition. This drama has an "undercurrent": it has two planes - social and philosophical. Just like in Chekhov, the fate of society, the state of the world is the source of dramatic action. The clashes of the characters in the play are more likely in the sphere of differences in worldview, different understanding of the values ​​of life than in the sphere of actions. The process of action is essentially a process of reflection of the characters, which is why the role of speech characteristics, the speech ensemble, is so great in the Gorky play.

The play "At the Bottom" has a happy stage fate, attracting various directors so far. Its versatility, the acuteness of the philosophical problems make it relevant today.

The life of Maxim Gorky is unusual. He devoted himself to creativity, his works are deep in meaning. A significant book of the writer is the play "At the Bottom", written in 1902.

The main problem, which is philosophical, in the work is a dispute about the truth. Each of the characters expresses his point of view, which he likes. All characters have a different worldview, however, the opinion of Satin deserves more attention, who claims that “lie is the religion of slaves and masters ... Truth is the god of a free man.” The hero says that a person should be respected, not pitied. It’s hard to argue with this, because you need to believe in a person’s own strengths, and not show pity. Therefore, a person must rely on himself.

The antipode of satin is Luke, who is a compassionate and kind person. He helps all those who need support. The hero inspires with his lies hope for a bright future, which, as readers see, cannot be in the play. Luka is a sincere and sympathetic person, trying to do everything possible to help others. But the catch is that his goodness is built on lies and deceit, which only paint a world of illusions. And this is not always correct, because a constant lie does not lead to anything good. Of course, “the truth does not always heal the soul,” but the construction of a deceitful world changes a person, weakening his will of character. And it shouldn't be.

Therefore, it is worth realizing that everything depends on the person. Being strong or weak is his choice. And with the decision made, he will have to live on. The best, of course, is the truth. It does not give false thoughts and does not create illusions. Thus, Maxim Gorky wanted to convey to readers that everything depends only on the person: whether he accepts the truth or not.

In the center of the play are people who find themselves on a social "bottom", from which it is extremely difficult to get out, because the characters are not able to make independent decisions, to change their worthless lives in any way. Gorky blames in his work not those who preach the truth (Luke, Satina), but those who cannot find the strength to resist the hardships of life. Such people are considered weak. They do not want to improve, to change something, they are only concerned about the compassion that is shown towards them from other members of the "social bottom".

What is the saddest part of the play? The most terrible and tragic thing is that the heroes are dissatisfied with the reality that surrounds them. They cannot accept the world around them, realize that the life they live is not perfection, this is the bottom, there is nowhere to fall. This is the very depth from which, as Gorky shows, there is no way back, because with such judgments, views, actions, it is difficult to achieve inclusion in society.

Thus, Maxim Gorky thought out every detail well, he endowed the characters with peculiar qualities in order to show that people are weak-willed, weak, and cannot achieve anything by their inaction. Gorky calls to think about how not to be on the "social bottom". Do not give up at the first obstacle that comes, no need to despair. The main thing is to believe in your own strength and go through life boldly!

Brief analysis of the play "At the Bottom"

Maxim Gorky wrote this play in 1902, but he could not immediately decide on the title. "At the Bottom" became the final title of the play. From the very title it becomes clear that we are talking about fallen people who are at the bottom of society and their return to normal life is a big question. People interested in Russian literature may notice the similarity of the meaning of the humiliated people with the works of Dostoevsky, but Gorky reveals this topic even more directly and truthfully.

In this play, the author so truthfully and realistically shows the world of degraded people that you will not find such writing in any other work of the Russian writer. An interesting idea is to place people of different nature and position in society in one rooming house. Each of these people thinks and expects the best from life. The place where these people are located is no better than a basement, but in fact these people are not to blame for their current humiliated position, they are victims of the rules and regime that break a person and lower them to the bottom.

The author does not provide the reader with a detailed description and moments from the biography of the heroes, but a little enough to understand Gorky's main idea. The heroine of the play, Anna, only keeps saying that she has lived all her life in poverty and hunger and walked only in cast-offs. Everyone complains about life and that it is not fair. The author wants to say that if a person has got out of the rut of life, rhythm, then he is no doubt threatened with the fate of being at the "bottom", which entails humiliation and, in the end, death.

The play mentions a lot of words about the essence of a person, about what he should really be and what he is intended for. Such reasoning of the author further creates a contrast between the characters and between normal people and people who have fallen.

The writer in this play is trying to give the reader an understanding that each person is the master of his own destiny and that there are completely different concepts when a person sank to the "bottom" due to circumstances and when a person simply stops fighting for a better life and just goes with the flow . The life situations shown in the play can still happen to any person, so you should never give up.

Artistic features. The driving force of action in Gorky's drama is the struggle of ideas, and, accordingly, the whole range of artistic techniques used by the author emphasizes this. Both the plot of the play and its composition also contribute to the main line of the drama. The play does not have a bright moving storyline. The heroes of the play are disunited, concentrated in different corners of the stage.

The play "At the Bottom" is a cycle of small dramas in which traditional climaxes take place behind the scenes (Kostylev's death, Vasilisa's mockery of Natasha, the Actor's suicide). The author deliberately takes these events out of the viewer's field of vision, thereby emphasizing that the main thing in the play is conversations. Gorky's drama begins with the appearance of Kostylev, the owner of the rooming house. From the conversation of the roomers, it turns out that he is looking for his wife Vasilisa, who is infatuated with Ash. With the advent of Luke, the action begins (the end of the first act). In the fourth act, the denouement comes. Sateen's monologue: “What is truth? The man is the truth! is the highest point of action, the climax of the drama.

Researchers of Gorky's work noted another feature: the playwright uses the so-called "rhyming" episodes. Two dialogues between Nastya and Baron are mirrored. At the beginning of the play, the girl defends herself from the baron's ridicule. After the departure of Luka, the characters seem to change roles: all the stories of the Baron about his former rich life are accompanied by the same remark by Nastya: “It wasn’t!”. The exact semantic rhyme in the play is made up of Luke's parable of the righteous land and the episode about the Actor's suicide. Both fragments coincide verbatim in the final lines: “And then he went home - and hung himself ...” and “Hey ... you! Go...come here! ... There the Actor strangled himself! Such fragments, according to the author, are designed to connect parts of the composition.

The heroes of the play "At the Bottom" are not traditionally divided into main and secondary. Each character has his own story, his own destiny, carries his own semantic load in the work. In the play they are sharply contrasted. The author refers to the antithesis repeatedly. In contrast to the terrible conditions of life, poverty and hopelessness, the hymn to Man sounds loudly.

Gorky always attached great importance to language. And in the play, it is the dialogues that give the action an atmosphere of tension and conflict. The author puts bright, capacious words into the hero's mouth to express the main idea - about the purpose of Man: “There is only man, everything else is the work of his hands and his brain! Human! It's great! It sounds proud! The speech of each character reflected the fate, social origin, level of culture. For example, Luke’s speech is unusually aphoristic: “Where it is warm, there is the homeland”, “There is no order in life, there is no purity”, “... not a single flea is bad: everyone is black, everyone jumps.”

Thus, the artistic originality of Gorky's play "At the Bottom" is:

- posing acute philosophical problems;

- rejection of a bright moving storyline;

- "rhyming" episodes;

- lack of division into main and secondary characters;

Maxim Gorky's play "At the Bottom" is still the most successful drama in his collection of works. She won the favor of the public during the life of the author, the writer himself even described the performances in other books, ironically about his fame. So what is it about this book that has so captivated people?

The play was written in late 1901 - early 1902. This work was not an obsession or a burst of inspiration, as is usually the case with creative people. On the contrary, it was written specifically for the 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 this, 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. Opinions were different. People were delighted or criticized such a controversial creation. She survived the bans and censorship, and until now everyone understands the meaning of the drama in their own way.

The 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 name gives an ambiguous first impression, since there is no specific mention of which day it is. The author allows the reader to express his imagination and guess what his work is about.

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

Genre, direction, composition

The play is written in the genre called "social-philosophical drama". The author touches on such topics and problems. His direction can be described as "critical realism", although some researchers insist on the wording "socialist realism", as 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 sequential and form a single thread of the narrative.

The essence of the work

The essence of the play by Maxim Gorky lies in the image of the bottom and its inhabitants. To show the readers in the characters of the plays of marginals, people humiliated by life and fate, rejected by society and severed their connection with it. Despite the smoldering flame of hope - with no future. They live, argue about love, honesty, truth, justice, but their words are just an empty sound for this world and even for their own destinies.

Everything that happens in the play has only one goal: 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.

Main characters and their characteristics

The inhabitants of the bottom are people with different life principles and beliefs, but they all have one condition in common: 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 locksmith, 40 years. Married to Anna (30 years old), suffering from consumption. Relations with the wife are the main characterizing detail. Klesh'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 with no chance to get out of the rooming house and no prospects for a further successful life.
2. Bubnov- a 45-year-old man. Former owner of a fur workshop. Dissatisfied with the current life, but tries to maintain the potential to return to normal society. Lost possession due to divorce, as documents were issued to his wife. Lives in a rooming house and sews hats.
3. satin- Approximately 40 years old, drinks until he loses his memory and plays cards, where he cheats, than he earns his living. I read many books, which I constantly remind not so much to my neighbors as to myself as a consolation that not everything is lost. He served 5 years in prison for manslaughter during a fight for his sister's honor. Despite his education and an accidental fall, he does not recognize honest ways of existence.
4. Luke- a wanderer at the age of 60 years. Appeared unexpectedly for the inhabitants of the rooming house. He behaves intelligently, consoles and calms everyone around, but as if he came with a specific purpose. He tries to build relationships with everyone by giving advice, which incites even more controversy. The hero of a neutral character, despite his good tone, always wants to doubt the purity of 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 rooming house and start a new life. Several times he was in prison. He has a certain position in this society due to a secret relationship with the married Vasilisa, which everyone knows about. At the beginning of the play, the characters part, and Pepel tries to take care of Natasha in order to take her away from the rooming house, but, in a fight, he kills Kostylev and ends up in prison at the end of the play.
6. Nastya- a young girl, 24 years old. Based on her treatment and conversations, it can be concluded that she works as a call girl. Constantly wants attention to be needed. She has a connection with the Baron, but not the one that she comes up with in her fantasies after reading romance novels. In fact, she tolerates rudeness and disrespect from her boyfriend, while giving him money for alcohol. All her behavior is continuous complaints about life and requests to regret.
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 did not have much significance when accused of embezzlement of state funds, because of which the hero went to prison, remaining a beggar. He has a love relationship with Nastya, but takes them for granted, transfers all his duties to the girl, constantly takes money for drinking.
8. Anna- Klesch'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 rooming house is an unfortunate item of "interior" that makes unnecessary sounds and takes up space. Until her death, she hopes for a manifestation of her husband's love, but dies in a corner from indifference, beatings and humiliation, which may have given rise to the disease.
9. Actor- a man, about 40 years old. Just like all the residents of the rooming house, he always remembers his past life. A kind and fair person, but overly self-pitying. Wants to stop drinking after learning 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 ends his life by suicide.
10. Kostylev- Vasilisa's husband, 54-year-old owner of a rooming house. He perceives people only as walking wallets, likes to remind about debts and assert himself at the expense of the lowlands of his own tenants. He 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 the sounds outside his door. He believes that he should be grateful for the lodging for the night. Vasilisa and her sister Natasha are treated no better than the drunkards who live at his expense. Buys things that Cinder 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. No different from her husband, but hates him with all her heart. She secretly cheats on her husband with Ashes and incites her lover to kill her husband, promising that he will not be sent to prison. And she does not feel any feelings for her sister, except for envy and anger, which is why she gets the most. He is looking for his own benefit in everything.
12. Natasha- Vasilisa's sister, 20 years old. The most "clean" soul of the rooming house. He suffers bullying from Vasilisa and her husband. He cannot trust Ash with his desire to take her away, knowing all the meanness of people. Although she understands that she will disappear. Helps residents selflessly. He is going to meet Vaska in order to leave, but ends up in the hospital after the death of Kostylev and goes missing.
13. Kvashnya- A 40-year-old dumpling vendor who experienced the strength of a husband who beat her for 8 years of marriage. Helps the residents of the rooming house, sometimes tries to put the house in order. He argues with everyone and is no longer going to get married, remembering his 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 because of her addiction to alcohol.
14. Medvedev- uncle of the sisters Vasilisa and Natasha, policeman, 50 years old. Throughout the play, she tries to woo Kvashnya, promising that she will not be like her ex-husband. He knows that his niece is being beaten by his older sister, but does not intervene. He knows about all the machinations of Kostylev, Vasilisa and Pepel. At the end of the play, he marries Kvashnya, begins to drink, for which his wife beats him.
15. Alyoshka- Shoemaker, 20 years old, drinks. He says that he does not need anything, that he is disappointed in life. He drinks out of desperation and plays the harmonica. Due to riot and drinking, he often ends up in the police station.
16. Tatar– also lives in a rooming house, works as a housekeeper. He likes to play cards with Satin and Baron, but always resents their dishonest play. An honest person does not understand crooks. Constantly talks about the laws, honors them. At the end of the play, Crooked Goit hits him and breaks his arm.
17. crooked goiter- another little-known inhabitants of the rooming house, the key keeper. Not as honest as Tatarin. He also likes to pass the time playing cards, calmly treats the cheating of Satin and the Baron, finds excuses for them. He beats Tatarin, breaks his arm, because of which he has a conflict with policeman Medvedev. At the end of the play, he sings a song with the others.

Topics

Despite the seemingly simple plot and the lack of sharp climactic turns, the work is replete with themes that give rise to reflection.

1. Hope Theme stretches throughout the play until the very denouement. She is in the mood of the work, but not once does anyone mention their intention to get out of the rooming house. Hope is present in every dialogue of the inhabitants, but only indirectly. As once each of them hit the bottom, so someday they dream of getting out of there. In everyone there is a small opportunity to return to a past life again, where everyone was happy, although they did not appreciate it.
2. Destiny Theme is also very important in the play. It defines the role of evil fate and its meaning for the heroes. Fate can be in the work that driving force that could not be changed, which brought all the inhabitants together. Or that circumstance, always subject to treason, which had to be overcome in order to be able to achieve great success. From the life 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 below. If one of the tenants tries to make an attempt to change his position and get out of the bottom, he collapses. Perhaps the author wanted to show in this way that they deserved such a fate.
3. Theme of the meaning of life looks rather superficial in the play, but if you think about it, you can understand the reason for such an attitude towards the life of the heroes of the shack. Everyone considers the current state of affairs to be a bottom from which there is no way out: neither down nor, all the more so, up. Heroes, despite different age categories, are disappointed in life. They lost interest in her, and ceased to see any meaning in their own existence, to say nothing of sympathy for each other. They do not aspire to another fate, because they do not represent it. Only alcohol sometimes gives color to the existence, which is why the roommates like 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, about which he reflects through the lips of the characters. If we talk about the truth in the dialogues, then its boundaries are erased, because sometimes the characters say absurd things. However, their words hide secrets and mysteries that are revealed to us in the course of the plot of the work. 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 masks of lies, pretense, because it is 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 affects in the work, because it makes it possible to understand the relationship of the inhabitants. Love in a rooming house, even between spouses, is absolutely absent, and it hardly has the opportunity to appear there. The place itself is filled with hatred. All were united only by a common living space and a sense of the injustice of fate. Indifference is in the air, both for healthy and sick people. Only squabbles, like dogs squabbling, amuse the overnight stays. Along with the interest in life, the colors of emotions and feelings are lost.

Problems

The play is rich in subject matter. Maxim Gorky tried in one work to indicate the moral problems that were relevant at that time, which, however, exist to this day.

1. The first problem is conflict between the inhabitants of the rooming house, not only with each other, but also with life. From the dialogues between the characters, one can understand their relationship. Constant quarrels, differences of opinion, elementary debts lead to eternal skirmishes, which is a mistake in this case. The overnight stays need to learn to live above the same roof in harmony. Mutual assistance will make life easier, 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 by 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 issue is the thorny 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 their share of compassion, and this reduces their suffering. Each person has their 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 which side he is on. Luka acts as an antagonist to Gorky, trying to bring the inhabitants back to life, show the truth and console the suffering.
3. Also in the play rises problem of humanism. More precisely, its absence. Returning again to the relations between the inhabitants, and their relation to themselves, one can consider this problem from two positions. The lack of humanism on the part of the characters towards each other can be seen in the situation with the dying Anna, to whom no one pays attention. During Vasilisa's mockery of her sister Natasha, Nastya's humiliation. There is an opinion that if people are at the bottom, then they do not need any more help, every man for himself. This cruelty to themselves is determined by their current way of life - constant drinking, fights, carrying disappointment and loss of meaning in life. Existence ceases to be the highest value when there is no goal for it.
4. The problem of immorality rises in connection with the lifestyle that residents lead based on their 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 drives 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 exactly the same, regardless of their social and financial status. Everyone is made of flesh and blood, the differences are only in upbringing and character, which give us the opportunity to react differently to the current situations and act on them. Whoever you are, life can change in a moment. Any of us, having lost everything that we had in the past, sinking to the bottom, will lose ourselves. It will no longer make sense to keep yourself within the decency of society, to look and behave appropriately. When a person loses the values ​​set 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. To make him indifferent, bitter, having lost any incentive to exist. Of course, indifferent society will be guilty of many of his troubles, which will only push the falling one. However, the broken poor are often to blame for the fact that they cannot rise, because in their laziness, depravity and indifference to everything, it is still difficult to find the guilty ones.

Gorky's author's position is expressed in Satin's monologue, which shattered 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, because he will continue to feel sorry for himself, and not work in order to get out of the vicious circle of poverty. This is the philosophical meaning of drama. In a dispute about true and false humanism in society, the one who speaks directly and honestly, even at the risk of incurring indignation, wins. Gorky in one of Sateen's monologues connects truth and lies with human freedom. Independence is given only at the cost of comprehending and searching for truth.

Conclusion

Each reader will make their own conclusion. The play "At the Bottom" can help a person understand that in life one should always strive for something, because it gives strength to move on without looking back. Don't stop thinking that nothing will work.

On the example of all the heroes, one can see absolute inaction and disinterest in their own destiny. Regardless of age and gender, they are simply mired in their current position, excused by the fact that it is too late to resist and start all over again. A person must himself have a 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 rooming house believe that a miracle should suddenly fall on them, for their suffering in the basement, which will bring them a new life, as it happens - Luka comes to them, wanting to cheer up all the desperate, help with advice to make life better. But, they forgot that the word did not help the fallen, 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 has intensified precisely because of this work.

Gorky managed to show everyday, ordinary things that surround 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, because 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 well-known things. But Gorky's work was fashionable at that time, the society liked to read his works, attend theater performances based on his works. 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 the popular actions of subsequent years were severely suppressed, and therefore many people were happy to look for minuses in the existing system, as if reinforcing their own conclusions.

The features of the play lie in the way of presenting and presenting the characters' characters, in the harmonious use of descriptions. One of the issues 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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The play "At the Bottom" was conceived by Gorky as one of the four plays in the cycle, showing the life and worldview of people from different walks of life. This is one of the two purposes of creating a work. The deep meaning that the author put into it is an attempt to answer the main questions of human existence: what is a person and whether he will retain his personality, sinking "to the bottom" of moral and social life.

The history of the creation of the play

The first evidence of work on the play dates back to 1900, when Gorky, in a conversation with Stanislavsky, mentions his desire to write scenes from the life of a rooming house. Some sketches appeared at the end of 1901. In a letter to the publisher K. P. Pyatnitsky, to whom the author dedicated the work, Gorky wrote that in the planned play, all the characters, the idea, the motives for the actions are clear to him, and "it will be scary." The final version of the work was ready on July 25, 1902, published in Munich and went on sale at the end of the year.

Things were not so rosy with the production of the play on the stages of Russian theaters - it was practically banned. An exception was made only for the Moscow Art Theater, the other theaters had to receive special permission to stage.

The name of the play changed at least four times in the course of work, and the genre was never determined by the author - the publication read "At the bottom of life: scenes." The shortened and familiar name for everyone today first appeared on the theater poster during the first production at the Moscow Art Theater.

The first performers were the stellar cast of the Moscow Art Academic Theatre: K. Stanislavsky acted as Satin, V. Kachalov as Baron, I. Moskvin as Luka, O. Knipper as Nastya, and M. Andreeva as Natasha.

The main plot of the work

The plot of the play is tied to the relationship of the characters and in an atmosphere of general hatred that reigns in the rooming house. This is the outer canvas of the work. Parallel action explores the depth of a person's fall "to the bottom", the measure of the insignificance of a socially and spiritually descended individual.

The action of the play begins and ends with the storyline of the relationship between two characters: the thief Vaska Ash and the wife of the owner of the rooming house Vasilisa. Ash loves her younger sister Natasha. Vasilisa is jealous, constantly beating her sister. She also has another interest in her lover - she wants to get rid of her husband and pushes Ash to kill. In the course of the play, Pepel really kills Kostylev in a quarrel. In the last act of the play, the guests of the rooming house say that Vaska will have to go to hard labor, but Vasilisa will "get out" anyway. Thus, the action is looped by the destinies of the two heroes, but is far from being limited to them.

The time span of the play is several weeks of early spring. The season is an important part of the play. One of the first names given by the author to the work, "Without the sun." Indeed, spring is all around, a sea of ​​sunlight, and darkness is in the rooming house and in the souls of its inhabitants. Luka, a vagabond, whom Natasha brings one day, became a ray of sunshine for the overnight stays. Luke brings hope for a happy outcome to the hearts of people who have fallen and lost faith in the best. However, at the end of the play, Luka disappears from the rooming house. The characters who trust him lose faith in the best. The play ends with the suicide of one of them - the Actor.

Play analysis

The play describes the life of a Moscow rooming house. The main characters, respectively, were its inhabitants and the owners of the institution. Also, persons related to the life of the institution appear in it: a policeman, who is also the uncle of the hostess of a rooming house, a dumpling seller, loaders.

Satin and Luka

Schuler, the former convict Satin and the vagabond, the wanderer Luke, are carriers of two opposing ideas: the need for compassion for a person, a saving lie out of love for him, and the need to know the truth, as proof of a person’s greatness, as a sign of trust in his fortitude. In order to prove the falsity of the first worldview and the truth of the second, the author built the action of the play.

Other characters

All other characters form the backdrop for this battle of ideas. In addition, they are designed to show, to measure the depth of the fall, to which a person is able to sink. The drunkard Actor and the mortally ill Anna, people who have completely lost faith in their own strength, fall under the power of a wonderful fairy tale into which Luke takes them. They are the most dependent on him. With his departure, they physically cannot live and die. The rest of the inhabitants of the rooming house perceive the appearance and departure of Luke, as the play of a sunny spring ray - he appeared and disappeared.

Nastya, who sells her body "on the boulevard", believes that there is a bright love, and she was in her life. Kleshch, the husband of the dying Anna, believes that he will rise from the bottom and again begin to earn a living by working. The thread that connects him to his working past remains a toolbox. At the end of the play, he is forced to sell them in order to bury his wife. Natasha hopes that Vasilisa will change and stop torturing her. After another beating, after leaving the hospital, she will no longer appear in the rooming house. Vaska Pepel strives to stay with Natalya, but cannot get out of the networks of the imperious Vasilisa. The latter, in turn, is waiting for the death of her husband to untie her hands and give her long-awaited freedom. The Baron lives on with his aristocratic past. The gambler Bubnov, the destroyer of "illusions", the ideologist of misanthropy, believes that "all people are superfluous."

The work was created in conditions when, after the economic crisis of the 90s of the 19th century, factories in Russia stood up, the population was rapidly impoverished, many found themselves at the bottom rung of the social ladder, in the basement. Each of the heroes of the play in the past experienced a fall "to the bottom", social and moral. Now they live in the memory of this, but they cannot rise "into the light": they do not know how, they have no strength, they are ashamed of their insignificance.

main characters

Luke became a light for some. Gorky gave Luka a "speaking" name. It refers both to the image of St. Luke, and to the concept of "deceit". Obviously, the author is trying to show the inconsistency of Luke's ideas about the beneficial value of the Faith for a person. Gorky practically reduces Luke's compassionate humanism to the concept of betrayal - according to the plot of the play, the tramp leaves the rooming house just when those who trusted him need his support.

Satin is a figure designed to voice the worldview of the author. As Gorky wrote, Satin is not quite a suitable character for this, but there is simply no other character with such powerful charisma in the play. Satin is the ideological antipode of Luke: he does not believe in anything, he sees the ruthless essence of life and the situation in which he and the other inhabitants of the rooming house find themselves. Does Satin believe in Man and his power over the power of circumstances and mistakes made? The passionate monologue that he utters while arguing in absentia with the departed Luka leaves a strong, but contradictory impression.

There is also a carrier of the "third" truth in the work - Bubnov. This hero, like Satin, "stands for the truth", only she is somehow very scary in him. He is a misanthrope, but, in fact, a murderer. Only they die not from the knife in his hands, but from the hatred that he harbors for everyone.

The drama of the play increases from act to act. Luke's consoling conversations with those suffering from his compassion and Sateen's rare remarks, which indicate that he is attentively listening to the speeches of the tramp, become the connecting canvas. The culmination of the play is Sateen's monologue, delivered after Luke's departure-flight. Phrases from it are often quoted because they have the appearance of aphorisms; “Everything in a person is everything for a person!”, “Lie is the religion of slaves and masters ... Truth is the god of a free person!”, “Man - it sounds proud!”.

Conclusion

The bitter outcome of the play is the triumph of the freedom of a fallen person to die, disappear, leave, leaving no trace or memories behind. The inhabitants of the rooming house are free from society, moral norms, family and livelihood. By and large, they are free from life.

The play "At the Bottom" has been alive for more than a century and continues to be one of the most powerful works of Russian classics. The play makes one think about the place of faith and love in a person's life, about the nature of truth and lies, about a person's ability to resist moral and social decline.