Ideological and artistic originality of the play M. Ideological originality of the play M

In the history of Russian culture there are many names known throughout the world. Among them, the name of M. Gorky occupies a worthy place. As an artist, he enriched world literature new themes, plots, conflicts and images. Among Gorky’s works, the play “At the Lower Depths” occupies a special place. The writer showed in it the life of outcasts, people who have severed ties with society and are completely rejected by it. In my opinion, it is very interesting that the age-old philosophical debate about man is conducted not by sophisticated representatives of the intelligentsia, but by people from the lowest levels of life, barefoot and undressed, hungry and deprived of all rights. They discuss spiritual, social and ethical problems, which in the play have acquired extreme depth and intensity. The inhabitants of the shelter are not indifferent to the problems of good and evil, freedom, conscience, honor, happiness, life and death. All this interests them in connection with even more important issue: what is a person, why does he appear on earth, what is the meaning of his life? I think that it is in acute collision ideas, one should look for the originality of the play “At the Bottom”.
Disputes, passionate and emotional discussion of issues that concern a person, allow us to make a fairly accurate conclusion about his character, about those traits that are usually hidden. Like alive real people the gloomy fatalist and skeptic Bubnov, the wanderer-comforter Luke, the preacher of truth and the greatness of man Satin and others appear before us. Behind each of them there is a whole system of moral and aesthetic views. Apparently, they did not know or read Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky - real contradictions real life force them to painfully search for an explanation for the situation in which they find themselves.
The play sharply compares the images of the characters, their thoughts, feelings and experiences. Sharp dialogues capture the reader's attention, creating an atmosphere of tension and conflict. Gorky uses bright, succinct words to express the main idea - about the purpose of Man.
The concept of “man” is revealed in the writer’s work different faces, even in those works where, as in the play “At the Bottom,” attention is focused on dark sides life. Characteristic feature The play is that the hymn to Man sounds especially loudly in it, as if in contrast to the terrible living conditions, poverty and hopelessness.
The literature of previous years, depicting “little” people, humiliated and insulted, expressed deep compassion for them. But when people stop being “small,” pity for them is not enough. It seems to me that the image of the wanderer-comforter Luke was introduced partly in order to emphasize this idea. To this day, the image of this “apostle of comforting lies” causes heated debate. Who is he - positive hero or negative, does he pity people or is indifferent to them, strives to heal them with consolations or pursues other goals? I agree with B. Bialik’s point of view that in the very formulation of the question there is an error, “a lack of understanding of the entire complexity and depth of Gorky’s play. The point is not whether Luke pities people (of course he does), and whether he wants to help them with his consolations (of course he does), but how he understands people, how he evaluates a person.”
On the one hand, Luka sees a person in every inhabitant of the shelter. But at the same time, such pity implies powerlessness to change anything in life. Luke's consolations support the illusions that the characters in the play live by, trying to isolate themselves from the surrounding abomination. And the effect of Luke’s “fairy tales” is somewhat reminiscent of drugs: they do not cure an illness, but allow a person to reduce pain for a while and feel better.
Satin feels and understands all this. I think that is why he says: “He (Luke)... acted on me like acid on an old and dirty coin...”. Satin’s famous monologue: “Man! It's great! It sounds... proud! Human! We must respect the person! Don’t feel sorry... don’t humiliate him with pity, you need to respect him!” - is a reaction to Luke’s worldview. Gorky contrasts consoling and reconciling lies with faith in free man who only needs the truth, no matter how harsh it may be.
Thus, the ideological and artistic originality of M. Gorky’s play “At the Depths” is determined by ideological problems. On their basis, the plot is built and the author’s position is expressed. Portraying Russian reality in extremely harsh tones, which breaks people, causing them grief and suffering, Gorky persistently “collected small, rare crumbs of everything that could be called unusual - kind, selfless, beautiful,” and sought to reveal in the soul of the most “destroyed” person the undestroyed inclinations or remnants of humanity. The work of M. Gorky is full of love for man and pain for him, for all his humiliation. And at the same time, the writer expresses faith in a happy future for humanity.

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 movements: his polemic with the idealistic philosophy of Vl. Solovyova.

2. Social and philosophical issues.

Depicting the “bottom,” Gorky shows society in miniature.

All the inhabitants of the shelter are former “formers”. Actor, Ash, Nastya, Natasha, Kleshch strive to break free from the bottom of life, but they feel complete powerlessness before the constipation of this prison, which gives rise to a feeling of hopelessness in the characters (Actor is the death of the soul, Kleshch is trying to achieve the truth only for himself). IN love affair are being implemented social contradictions(Ashes - Kostylev - Vasilisa; Baron - Nastya).

Philosophical issues are reflected in the heroes’ disputes 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. Ideas

Luke boils down to the thesis: “A person can do anything, if only he wants to.”

Satin continues Luke's ideas, but believes that a person does not need

Feel sorry, but teach how to use freedom.

Satin's correctness is confirmed by the plot of the play. The very course of events refutes Luka’s philosophy: the death of the actor, Vaska Pepel’s exile to Siberia, Anna’s death and general indifference to this event. Luke's departure indicates his defeat. The characters’ ideas do not always correspond to the position they occupy. If Luke’s views are in harmony with his way of life, then Satin’s ideas are in conflict with his existence - this is the specificity philosophical drama. Words about 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 Lower Depths” continues the traditions of Chekhov:

A) Many storylines,

B) Lyrical subtext, “undercurrents” (prison

A song reflecting a state of hopelessness; Nastya’s sighs), c) Speech characteristics (Luka - “hagiographic” language, 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").

Truth and lies... Two opposite poles, connected by an unbreakable thread. What is more necessary for a person? It's strange to ask such a question. After all, from childhood we are instilled with the concept of truth as positive quality, and about lies as negative....

In the recent past, Satin, “a representative of true humanism,” was contrasted with Luke, who was assigned the role of a supporter of “false humanism,” although Lunacharsky in his article “M. Gorky” brought together the sermons of Luke and Satin....

At the heart of Maxim Gorky’s play “At the Depths” (1902) is a dispute about Man and his capabilities. The action of the work takes place in the Kostylevs' shelter - a place located outside the world of people. Almost all the inhabitants of the shelter recognize their situation as abnormal:...

It's good when you read a book or theatrical performance leaves a mark on the soul. And if it, this trace, is bright, we think about what meaning this work has for us, what it gives us. Many years have passed since the creation of Gorky's plays...

The time and circumstances of life that gave rise to the social “bottom” prompted Gorky to turn to a new topic for him. In Kazan, in Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and St. Petersburg, the writer saw disadvantaged people, outcasts from society, tramps thrown into basements...

Describing life in the basements of Kitai-Gorod, Maxim Gorky fully justified his pseudonym: the play is permeated with bitterness and hopelessness real destinies inhabitants of the shelter. At the very bottom of society, the contradictions between the working class and the bourgeoisie, the lower classes, who could not live in the old way, and the upper classes, who could not change the existing system, are clearly visible. The author polemicizes with the idealistic philosophy of Vl. Solovyov, revealing to the reader the cruel and brutal reality of desperate and degenerate people. According to Gorky, sugary consolations and empty hopes cannot help them: they need practical measures that none of the philosophers removed from life can offer.

The nochlezhka is a society of that time in miniature: all its prisoners are sentenced by difficult and sometimes simply tragic life circumstances to indefinite penal servitude of poverty. All of them are “former” actors or artisans, striving to break free, but buried alive in dark dungeons. Each of them in their own way is powerless to return to normal life. The image of the Actor, for example, symbolizes the death of the soul. The tick is an egoist, incapable of comprehending his own wrong: he cannot get out alone, but he does not want to go free with someone, but only in unity is he found full strength of people.

The play “At the Lower Depths” continues the tradition Chekhov theater. It has many storylines, a lyrical leitmotif and speech characteristics (Luke relies on folk wisdom in proverbs and sayings, Satin operates scientific terms and academic vocabulary).

Philosophical issues are expressed in the heroes' disputes about man, the categories of evil and good, about truth and humanism. The catalyst for these polylogues is the image of Luke, who preaches maxims like “A person can do anything - if only he wants to.” Satin supports Luke’s ideas, but does not talk about pity for people, but that they need to be taught to use freedom. Both of them understand and see: a person is humiliated, but they want to “elevate” him in different ways. On the issue of truth, Luke and Satin defend opposing points of view. Luke preaches and uses lies for salvation, and Satin, on the contrary, considers the truth to be saving, but a bitter and disgusting mixture for the improvement of society.

The course of events refutes Luka's utopian philosophy: the actor commits suicide, Anna dies in an atmosphere of general indifference, Vaska Pepla is exiled to Siberia. The preacher leaves, leaving behind him deceived people with vain expectations. The specificity of philosophical drama lies in the fact that Satin’s ideas (fair views defended by the author himself) are at odds with his way of life, that is, he is just the voice of the writer, a shell for thought as the basis of the work. The hero himself is secondary, what he says is important. The ideal of man is blurred in a monologue about a proud man, it is abstract and has no logical connection to Satin: no one should be equal to him, but his passionate speech in defense of human dignity is an exemplary idea that everyone must take into arms against lies.

In the history of Russian culture there are many names known throughout the world. Among them, the name of M. Gorky occupies a worthy place. As an artist, he enriched world literature with new themes, plots, conflicts and images. Among Gorky’s works, the play “At the Lower Depths” occupies a special place. The writer showed in it the life of outcasts, people who have severed ties with society and are completely rejected by it. In my opinion, it is very interesting that the age-old philosophical debate about man is conducted not by sophisticated representatives of the intelligentsia, but by people from the lowest levels of life, barefoot and undressed, hungry and deprived of all rights. They discuss spiritual, social and ethical problems, which in the play have acquired extreme depth and intensity. The inhabitants of the shelter are not indifferent to the problems of good and evil, freedom, conscience, honor, happiness, life and death. All this interests them in connection with an even more important problem: what is a person, why does he appear on earth, what is the meaning of his life? I think that it is precisely in the acute clash of ideas that one should look for the originality of the play “At the Bottom.”
Disputes, passionate and emotional discussion of issues that concern a person, allow us to make a fairly accurate conclusion about his character, about those traits that are usually hidden. The gloomy fatalist and skeptic Bubnov, the wanderer-comforter Luke, the preacher of truth and the greatness of man Satin and others appear before us as living, real people. Behind each of them there is a whole system of moral and aesthetic views. Apparently, they did not know or read Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky - the real contradictions of real life force them to painfully search for an explanation for the situation in which they find themselves.
The play sharply compares the images of the characters, their thoughts, feelings and experiences. Sharp dialogues capture the reader's attention, creating an atmosphere of tension and conflict. Gorky uses bright, succinct words to express the main idea - about the purpose of Man.
The concept of “man” reveals different facets in the writer’s work, even in those works where, as in the play “At the Bottom,” attention is focused on the dark sides of life. A characteristic feature of the play is that the hymn to Man sounds especially loudly in it, as if in contrast to the terrible living conditions, poverty and hopelessness.
The literature of previous years, depicting “little” people, humiliated and insulted, expressed deep compassion for them. But when people stop being “small,” pity for them is not enough. It seems to me that the image of the wanderer-comforter Luke was introduced partly in order to emphasize this idea. To this day, the image of this “apostle of comforting lies” causes heated debate. Who is he - a positive hero or a negative one, does he pity people or is indifferent to them, strives to heal them with consolations or pursues other goals? I agree with B. Bialik’s point of view that in the very formulation of the question there is an error, “a lack of understanding of the entire complexity and depth of Gorky’s play. The point is not whether Luke pities people (of course he does), and whether he wants to help them with his consolations (of course he does), but how he understands people, how he evaluates a person.”
On the one hand, Luka sees a person in every inhabitant of the shelter. But at the same time, such pity implies powerlessness to change anything in life. Luke's consolations support the illusions that the characters in the play live by, trying to isolate themselves from the surrounding abomination. And the effect of Luke’s “fairy tales” is somewhat reminiscent of drugs: they do not cure an illness, but allow a person to reduce pain for a while and feel better.
Satin feels and understands all this. I think that is why he says: “He (Luke)... acted on me like acid on an old and dirty coin...”. Satin’s famous monologue: “Man! It's great! It sounds... proud! Human! We must respect the person! Don’t feel sorry... don’t humiliate him with pity, you need to respect him!” - is a reaction to Luke’s worldview. Gorky contrasts the consoling and reconciling lie with faith in a free Man, who needs only the truth, no matter how harsh it may be.
Thus, the ideological and artistic originality of M. Gorky’s play “At the Depths” is determined by ideological problems. On their basis, the plot is built and the author’s position is expressed. Portraying Russian reality in extremely harsh tones, which breaks people, causing them grief and suffering, Gorky persistently “collected small, rare crumbs of everything that could be called unusual - kind, selfless, beautiful,” and sought to reveal in the soul of the most “destroyed” person the undestroyed inclinations or remnants of humanity. The work of M. Gorky is full of love for man and pain for him, for all his humiliation. And at the same time, the writer expresses faith in a happy future for humanity.

Artistic features of “At the Bottom”