Ashes and Natasha are at the bottom. Social issues of Gorky's play “At the Depths”

June 14 2011

Gorky's play “At the Depths” was written in 1902. Bitter for a long time I couldn’t find an exact title for my work. Initially it was called “Nochlezhka”, then “Without the Sun” and, finally, “At the bottom”.

In Gorky, viewers saw for the first time an unfamiliar world of outcasts. World drama has never known such a harsh, merciless truth about the life of the lower social classes, about their hopeless fate. In the shelter there were people of very different personalities and social status.

A special burden in the drama falls on the conflict, violent clashes heroes on occasions that are significant to them. At the same time, there cannot be in a drama extra people- all heroes must be involved in the conflict. The presence of social tension is already indicated in the title of the play. But we can't talk about what social conflict organizes the drama. This tension is devoid of dynamics; all the heroes’ attempts to escape from the “bottom” are in vain. Perhaps the drama is organized by a love conflict, traditional for many plays. It would seem strange to see such a thing pure feeling in such an atmosphere of dirt and poverty. But Gorky’s heroes do not pay attention to the dirt and stench, they are accustomed to such a life, to each other, and almost do not notice those around them. Each hero exists as if on his own, living his own life. Therefore, at the beginning of the play, everyone present speaks at once, without expecting an answer, weakly reacting to the comments of others. Kvashnya is proud that she free woman, not related by marriage, and this makes Mite angry. He has his dying wife, Nastya, in his arms, fallen woman, is reading " Fatal love", which causes the Baron to laugh ironically. Prostitute Nastya dreams of a bright and pure love, but this only causes laughter from others. The girl is trying to get out of the vicious circle, leave the shelter and start a new one, but these are just her dreams.

But the play does contain a love line. It is created by the relationships between Vasilisa, Vaska Pepel, Kostylev’s wife, the owner himself and Natasha.

The plot of the love story begins when Kosta the Lion appears in the shelter. From a conversation with the inhabitants, it is clear that he is looking for his wife Vasilisa there, who is cheating on him with Vaska Ash. With the advent of Natasha love story begins to develop. For her sake, Vaska leaves Ashes to Vasilisa. As this conflict develops, it becomes clear to us that his relationship with Natasha enriches Vaska and revives him to a new life. Vaska Pepel never had a profession. There are no ideals for him, he does not strive to work, since he lives by theft. However, this person also retains kindness and naivety; he strives for purity and goodness. But Vaska Ash falls into slavery " powerful of the world this." The owner of the shelter, Kostylev, turns out to be an even lower person: he does not give Vasily the money for the stolen watch, believing that Ash already owes him a lot. His wife Vasilisa is also in bondage to her husband, who is twice her age. She is also unhappy, and her love for Vaska Ash is a challenge to family despotism. For the sake of Vasilisa, the thief is ready to commit - to kill Kostylev. Vasilisa was inflamed with terrible hatred for her sister Natalya when she learned about her lover’s betrayal. She is ready to kill her, just to keep Vasily for herself. Climax highest point in the development of the conflict, is fundamentally taken off stage by the author. We do not see how Vasilisa is scalded with boiling water. We learn about this from the noise and screams behind the stage and from the conversations of the night shelters.

Love conflict in the play, of course, is one of the facets of the social conflict. The love line shows that the anti-human conditions of the “bottom” cripple a person, and the most sublime feelings in such conditions lead not to personal enrichment, but to death or hard labor.

Having unleashed a love conflict in such a terrible way, Vasilisa achieves all her goals at once. Takes revenge ex-lover Vaska Peplu and his rival Natasha, gets rid of unloved husband and becomes the sole mistress of the shelter. There is nothing human left in Vasilisa, and this shows us the monstrosity social conditions, in which the inhabitants of the shelter are forced to live.

But a love conflict cannot become the basis dramatic conflict plays, since, unfolding before the eyes of the night shelters, it does not affect them themselves. They do not participate in them, remaining only outside spectators.

The play “At the Bottom” is a deep, ambiguous work, in which the author poses complex philosophical and moral problems. Among them is the problem of truth and lies, true and false compassion, the problem of personality degradation, the problem of human relationships. Revealing last problem, the author cannot help but turn to the theme of love, which even in such inhumane conditions, like life in a flophouse, still exists and forces the characters to do crazy things to prove their feelings.

Life in a shelter, the inhabitants of which are trying to somehow exist, seems unreal and fantastic, because people are initially placed in conditions where nothing normal can happen. “The basement is like a cave. Ceiling – heavy stone vaults, smoked, with crumbling plaster. The light comes from the viewer and, from top to bottom, from the square window on the right side. The right corner is occupied by Ash’s room, fenced off by thin partitions; near the door to this room is Bubnov’s bunk. In the left corner there is a large Russian stove; in the left, stone wall there is a door to the kitchen where Kvashnya, Baron, Nastya live” - this is how the author describes the place of events. Dirt, cramped space, overcrowding, dampness, squalor, men in the same room with women - this is the interior against which the characters’ love unfolds. The wife of the owner of the shelter, Vasilisa, runs on dates with the thief Ash, which causes the constant jealousy of her hypocritical and greedy husband, Ash loves her sister Natasha, and Nastya, who earns her daily bread with the most humiliating craft in the world, dreams of a pure, selfless love. Human feelings have not died even in such terrible conditions: and here there is a place for compassion, empathy, hope and love.

Probably the most significant for the development of the plot of the play is the relationship between Ash and Natasha. Ash, the thief, the son of a thief, sees in the modest and kind Natasha, whom her sister constantly mocks, a symbol of something beautiful, bright, for which it is not a pity to give her life: “Even now, I will accept death! Take a knife, strike against the heart... I’ll die without groaning! Even - with joy, because - from clean hand..." At the same time, Ash does not understand that Vasilisa, a powerful and evil woman, will not give up hers so easily. The first act of the play ends with Vasilisa beating Natasha. Vasilisa tries to persuade Ash to kill her husband, to free her from him, and for this she promises to give him Natasha as his wife. But Natasha herself doesn’t like Pepla, she also lives in dreams: “I think, tomorrow... someone... someone... special will come... Or something will happen... also - unprecedented... I’ve been waiting for a long time... I’m always waiting... And so ... in fact - what can you expect?

Elder Luke persuades Ash to take Natasha from the shelter and go with her to Siberia, which he presents to Ash as an earthly paradise. Ash, trusting Luka, believes that life can be changed, he is ready to do anything for the sake of his love: “I said, I’ll give up stealing! By God, I’ll quit! If I said it, I’ll do it! I’m literate... I’ll work... Do you think my life doesn’t disgust me? But – I feel one thing: we have to live... differently! We need to live better! I have to live like this... so that I can respect myself...” Natasha is also not averse to leaving with Ash, realizing that she has no other choice. But the heroes do not have time: the third act ends with Vasilisa throwing a boiling samovar over her sister, and Ash in this turmoil kills Kostylev with one blow. At the end of the play, we learn that Natasha has disappeared from the hospital, and Ash faces prison. What is further fate These heroes are unknown, but they are unlikely to find their happiness in a world of violence and oppression.

But the fate of another heroine of the play, Nastya, unfortunately, is quite definite. Nastya earns her bread on the street, all the shelters laugh at her, everyone despises her. Nastya goes into dreams, fantasies about great love, which she never had and never will have. She is the only one of the night shelters who reads books, however, these are pulp novels, from which she draws the plots of her fantasies: “By God... it happened! Everything was! He was a student... he was French... his name was Gastoshi... with a black beard... he wore patent leather boots... strike me with thunder in this place! And he loved me so much... he loved me so much!” Only Luka sympathizes with Nastya, saying: “If you believe, you had real love... that means she was!” In that scary world Nastya can only dream, forgetting about the humiliations and insults that she suffers in the real world.

In his play, Gorky shows how tragic are the fates of people who by nature cannot be predators. In the world of profit, they get the role of the victim, and all of them human feelings, including love, are shattered by a terrible reality. But people remain people because they cannot help but suffer, sympathize with each other and love.

The distinctive feature of the play is that most of characters do not play a role in the development of the dramatic intrigue Kostyleva - Natasha - Ashes. If desired, one could simulate a dramatic situation in which all the characters became...

Gorky's play "At the Lower Depths" was written in 1902 for the troupe of the Moscow Art Public Theater. For a long time, Gorky could not find the exact title for the play. Initially it was called “Nochlezhka”, then - “Without the Sun”, and finally -...

The image of Satin leaves a dual feeling, a feeling of contrast between high thoughts, noble aspirations and the general passive existence of the hero. He is superior to everyone in intelligence and strength of character, but still feels comfortable in the Kostylevo shelter...

The dramaturgy of M. Gorky occupies a special place in Russian drama. At the beginning of the 20th century, Gorky turned to the theater and became a successor to the traditions of Russian dramaturgy XIX century. He believed that the main purpose of drama was to depict “man and people”, the influence...

“At the bottom” not only and not so much social drama as much as philosophical. The action of the drama as special literary genre, is tied to a conflict, an acute contradiction between actors, which gives the author the opportunity to short term fully reveal your characters and present them to the reader.
Social conflict is present in the play superficial level in the form of a confrontation between the owners of the shelter, the Kostylevs, and its inhabitants. In addition, each of the heroes who found themselves at the bottom experienced their own conflict with society in the past. Under one roof live the sharper Bubnov, the thief Ash, the former aristocrat Baron, and the market cook Kvashnya. However, in the shelter social differences between them are erased, they all become just people. As Bubnov notes: “... everything faded away, only one naked man remained...”. What makes a person human, what helps and hinders him to live, to gain human dignity - the author of the play “At the Bottom” seeks answers to these questions. Thus, the main subject of depiction in the play is the thoughts and feelings of the night shelters in all their contradictions.
In drama, the main means of depicting the hero’s consciousness, conveying it inner world, as well as expressions author's position monologues and dialogues of the characters become. The inhabitants of the bottom touch upon in their conversations and vividly experience many philosophical questions. The main leitmotif of the play is the problem of faith and unbelief, with which the question of truth and faith is closely intertwined.
The theme of faith and unbelief arises in the play with the arrival of Luke. This character becomes the center of attention of the inhabitants of the shelter because he is strikingly different from all of them. The old man knows how to find the key to everyone with whom he starts a conversation, instill in a person hope, faith in the best, console and reassure. Luke is characterized by speech using pet names, proverbs and sayings, and common vocabulary. He, “affectionate, soft,” reminds Anna of her father. On the night shelters, Luke, as Satin puts it, acts “like acid on an old and dirty coin.”
The faith that Luke awakens in people is expressed differently for each of the inhabitants of the bottom. At first, faith is understood narrowly - as Christian faith, when Luke asks dying Anna to believe that after death she will calm down, the Lord will send her to heaven.
As the plot develops, the word “faith” acquires new meanings. The old man advises the actor, who has lost faith in himself because he “drank his soul away,” to seek treatment for drunkenness and promises to tell him the address of a hospital where drunkards are treated for nothing. Natasha, who doesn’t want to run away from the shelter with Vaska Ashes because she doesn’t trust anyone, Luka asks her not to doubt that Vaska is good guy and loves her very much. Vaska himself advises him to go to Siberia and start a farm there. Above Nastya, who retells romance novels, passing off their plot as real events, he does not laugh, but believes her that she had true love.
Luke’s main motto—“what you believe is what you believe”—can be understood in two ways. On the one hand, it forces people to achieve what they believe in, to strive for what they desire, because their desires exist, are real and can be fulfilled in this life. On the other hand, for most night shelters such a motto is simply “a comforting, reconciling lie.”
The characters of the play are divided depending on their attitude to the concepts of “faith” and “truth”. Because Luka promotes white lies, the Baron calls him a charlatan, Vaska Pepel calls him a “crafty old man” who “tells stories.” Bubnov remains deaf to Luka’s words; he admits that he does not know how to lie: “In my opinion, tell me the whole truth as it is!” Luka warns that the truth can turn out to be a “butt”, and in a dispute with Bubnov and Baron about what the truth is, he says: “It’s true, it’s not always due to a person’s illness... you can’t always cure a soul with the truth...” . Kleshch, who at first glance is the only character who does not lose faith in himself, strives to escape from the shelter at all costs, puts the most hopeless meaning into the word “truth”: “What kind of truth? Where is the truth?.. There is no work... no strength! That’s the truth!.. It’s a devil to live, you can’t live... that’s the truth!..”
Nevertheless, Luke’s words find a warm response in the hearts of most of the heroes, because he explains the failures of their lives by external circumstances and does not see the reason for their failed lives in themselves. According to Luka, having left the shelter, he is going to go “to the crests”, to see what people have discovered there new faith. He believes that people will someday find “what is better”, you just need to help them and respect them. Satin also speaks about respect for people.
Satin protects the old man because he understands that if he lies, it is only out of pity for the inhabitants of the shelter. Satin's thoughts do not completely coincide with Luke's ideas. In his opinion, a “comforting” lie, a “reconciling” lie is necessary and supports those who are weak in soul, and at the same time covers up those who “feed on other people’s juices.” Satin contrasts Luke’s motto with his own motto: “Truth is the god of a free man!”
The author's position in relation to Luke's consolatory sermon cannot be interpreted unambiguously. On the one hand, it cannot be called a lie that Luke shows Ash and Natasha the path to an honest life, consoles Nastya, and convinces Anna of the existence of an afterlife. There is more humanity in his words than in the despair of the Tick or the vulgarity of the Baron. However, Luke’s words are contradicted by the very development of the plot. After sudden disappearance For the old man, everything is not happening as the heroes would like to believe. Vaska Pepel will indeed go to Siberia, but not as a free settler, but as a convict convicted of the murder of Kostylev. Natasha, shocked by her sister's betrayal and the murder of her husband, refuses to believe Vaska. The actor accuses the old man of not leaving the address of the treasured hospital.
The faith that Luke awakened in the souls of the heroes of “At the Bottom” turned out to be fragile and quickly faded away. The inhabitants of the shelter are unable to find the strength to oppose their will to reality, to change the reality around them. The main accusation that the author addresses to the heroes of the play is the accusation of passivity. manages to open one of the characteristic features Russian national character: dissatisfaction with reality, a sharply critical attitude towards it and at the same time a complete unwillingness to do anything to change this reality. Therefore, Luke’s departure turns into a real drama for the inhabitants - the faith that the old man awakened in them is unable to find internal support in their characters.
Luke's philosophical position is most fully expressed in the parable he told to the inhabitants of the shelter. The parable talks about a man who believed in the existence of a righteous land, and this faith helped him live, instilled joy and hope in him. When the visiting scientist convinced him that, according to all his faithful maps and plans, “there is no righteous land anywhere at all,” the man hanged himself. With this parable, Luke expressed the idea that a person cannot be completely deprived of hope, even if it is illusory. In a bizarre way, the plot of the parable is played out in the fourth act of the drama: having lost hope, the Actor hangs himself. The fate of the Actor shows that it is false hope that can lead a person into a loop.
Another interpretation of the question of truth is connected with the image of the Actor, namely the problem of the relationship between truth and fiction. When the Actor tells Natasha about the hospital, he adds a lot to what he heard from Luke: “An excellent hospital... Marble... marble floor! Light... cleanliness, food..." It turns out that for the Actor, faith is an embellished truth, this hero does not separate two concepts, but merges them into one on the border between reality and art. The poem, which the Actor, unexpectedly remembering, quotes, is decisive for the conflict between truth and faith and at the same time contains a possible resolution to this conflict:

Gentlemen! If the truth is holy
The world doesn't know how to find a way,
Honor the madman who inspires
A golden dream for humanity!

The tragic ending of “At the Bottom” shows that the “golden dream” of humanity can sometimes turn into a nightmare. The Actor's suicide is an attempt to change reality, to escape from saving faith into nowhere. For the rest of the inhabitants of the shelter, his attempt seems desperate and absurd, as indicated by Satin’s last remark: “Eh... ruined the song... fool!” On the other hand, the song here can be interpreted as a symbol of the passivity of the characters in the play, their reluctance to change anything during their lives. Then this remark expresses that the death of the Actor completely disrupts the usual course of life of the inhabitants of the shelter, and Satin is the first to feel this. More before the word Luke forces him to deliver a monologue that answers the question of truth: “What is truth? Man, that’s the truth!” Thus, according to the author’s plan, Luke’s “faith” and Satin’s “truth” merge together, affirming the greatness of man and his ability to withstand life’s circumstances, even at the bottom.

In the play, two plot meanings coexist in parallel. The first can be classified as an everyday action, and the second has a philosophical connotation. These two lines develop independently of each other and exist on different planes - external and internal.

External plan

The action takes place in a rooming house, the owner of which is Mikhail Ivanovich Kostylev, a 51-year-old man living with his 26-year-old wife Vasilisa Karlovna.

The author of the play calls the guests of the rooming house “ former people"and classifies them as the lower social strata of society. In addition, poor working people also live here.
The main characters of the play are 40-year-old Actor, Satin and mechanic Andrei Mitrich Kleshch with his 30-year-old wife Anna, 28-year-old thief Vaska Pepel, 24-year-old girl of easy virtue Nastya, 44-year-old Bubnov, 33-year-old Baron, 20-year-old Alyoshka and persons without age indication - hookers Krivoy Zob and Tatarin. Sometimes Vasilisa’s 50-year-old uncle, policeman Medvedev and 40-year-old dumpling saleswoman Kvashnya come into the shelter. They are all in agreement with each other difficult relationship and often quarrel.

Vasilisa loves Vaska and talks to him all the time about the murder of her middle-aged husband. She wants to become a full-fledged housewife. Looking ahead a little, let's say that in the second part of the play, Ash will start a fight with Kostylev and accidentally kill him, after which he will go to prison. Vaska is crazy about 20-year-old Natalya, who is Vasilisa’s sister. Because of jealousy towards Vaska Peplu, Natalya is regularly beaten by the hostess of the shelter.

The actor, who at one time shone on the stages of theaters in the provinces under the name Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky, and Satin constantly drink and play cards. Satin often plays a dishonest game.

Coming from the nobility, the Baron at one time “wasted” his fortune and exists as the most unfortunate inhabitant of the rooming house.

Andrei Mitrich Kleshch works as a plumber in order to constantly buy medicine for his sick wife Anna, who will die at the end of the play, and her husband, who dreamed of a new life, will still remain “at the bottom.”

During another drinking session, a wandering man named Luka enters the lodging house. He begins to tell the guests about their bright future, and promises Anna paradise in heaven. Luka told the Actor that there is a special hospital where drunkards are treated, and advises Natalya and Ash to flee from this place. But when the most urgent need arises for the wanderer’s moral support, he leaves, leaving the inhabitants of the shelter alone with their problems. As a result, the Actor commits suicide. At the end of the play there is a song performed by the characters. Satin, having learned about the death of the Actor, says that he ruined their good song.

Interior plan

The play talks about Satin's worldview and life philosophy Luke, and the lodging house is a generalized symbol of the human race that has reached a dead end, which at the beginning of the 20th century lost faith in God, but did not have time to strengthen itself in own strength. It is for this reason that all the characters in the play look doomed. They don't see tomorrow ahead of them. World development moving towards its sunset. Satin understands this and does not try to give people hope that is not destined to come true. He tells Kleshch about the uselessness of his work. But if we act according to his judgments, then how will people live? According to Mitrich, they will die of hunger. On the other hand, if you work only for food, then why live?

In the play, Satin is portrayed as a radical existentialist who understands that the world is unfair and there is no God. But in contrast to him are the reflections of Luke, whose meaning of life is to show pity for the disadvantaged people. He is even ready to tell a lie, if only the unfortunate would feel at least for a moment easier. Sometimes people need to be given at least some hope in life.

From Luke’s mouth comes a parable about a man looking for a righteous land, and a learned man who points out on a map that there is no such place on Earth. Then the first had no choice but to commit suicide, which the Actor subsequently commits.

Luke is shown in the play not as a simple wanderer, but as a consoling philosopher who talks about living no matter what. A person cannot predict his future. He is destined to go all the way to the end. Satin and Luke have an argument. The first one more often agrees with the second one. After Luka appears in the shelter, Satin begins to talk about the Man, whom he does not pity or console, but speaks openly about the fact that life itself has no meaning. Thus, Satin is trying to encourage this very Man to protest against the usual way of life and gain self-respect. His the main idea– you shouldn’t despair and you need to realize your uniqueness in this universe. “Man – that sounds proud!”