The thought at the bottom is bitter. The ideological originality of the play M

/ / / What is the meaning of Maxim Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths”?

Maxim Gorky's play "" can be safely classified as a work of philosophical orientation, because it raises problems that are inherent both to the entire society as a whole and to an individual person. With this work, Gorky tried to convey to us his life position, which was reflected in the main characters of the play.

One of the main, system-forming images of the play was the old man. With his arrival, everything “spinned” in a new way. The residents of the shelter received a ghostly hope of rising from the bottom. Luke gave them compassion, pity, the words that everyone wanted to hear. But as shown further events, this “sweet lie” became fatal for many.

I believe that only dying Anna needed all this untruth. For all my short life she knew neither joy nor peace. The girl dies at the age of thirty, crushed by her difficult fate. The residents of the shelter have turned their backs on her and do not want to interfere in the affairs of death. Only Anna was the only one who required some kind of support and pity, which she found in the form of Luka.

We learn about an even more tragic life story when we get acquainted with the image of the Actor. He was a former theater servant, but after quitting his job, he slid to the very bottom of his life. The actor turned into a heavy drunkard. In alcohol he found solace and an explanation for all his failures. The actor was so weak morally that it was easier for him to continue drinking than to try to rise from the bottom of his life. With the appearance of Luka, he learns about a hospital for people suffering from alcoholism, and that treatment there is provided free of charge. Inspired by this news, the Actor does not drink alcohol for the whole day, during which he manages to earn a few coins, which he is very proud of. His hopes will collapse the moment he finds out that there is no hospital. The actor commits suicide. Having taken his own life, he still did not understand that it was not a matter of the hospital, you just need to believe in yourself and your strength.

For Ashes, Luke “drew” new world And new life in Siberia. He advises going there with Natasha. Of course, these words inspire Ash. At the end of the work, Ash ends up in Siberia, but only in the status of a convict. I think that after returning from hard labor, he is unlikely to be able to live a new life.

The only one who emerged victorious in this intricacy human destinies, was the wife of the owner of the shelter Vasilisa. With the help of Ash, she solved a lot of her problems in one go. Having persuaded the latter to kill her husband, it was for this crime that Ash was sent to hard labor, Vasilisa got rid of her hated husband, took revenge on her lover Ash and her rival Natalya. After this, she becomes the sole owner of the shelter.

No less exciting was the fate of Satin. The amazing thing is that this man sank to the bottom of his life own initiative. His life position was to do nothing. Passivity and apathy towards everything have become very convenient for Satin, and he does not want to leave it. Luke tried to show him the other, active side of life. Satin agrees with this. But all changes occur only in words; in reality, the dreams are opposed by the character of the hero, with whom, unfortunately, he does not want to fight.

Summing up his play, Maxim Gorky shows us the passivity and apathy that disgust him in life. He does not advise looking for a solution to your problems in a bottle. Only real actions you can overcome even the most difficult life situations, find a way out of a hopeless situation. In addition, “sweet lies” can give an erroneous idea of what is happening, which, as a rule, leads to serious consequences. In my opinion, each of us should listen to these tips of the great writer and follow them in our lives.

A notable phenomenon of Russian literature at the beginning of the 20th century was Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths”. What explained its exceptional success? A strong impression on the viewer was made by the combination of an extremely realistic depiction of people who have reached the last degree of squalor, despair and lawlessness, with the glorification of Man and his truth. For the first time, a hitherto unseen world of thieves, tramps, cheaters, that is, people who had sunk to the “bottom” of life, appeared before the eyes of the public. And in it, as in an overturned mirror, was reflected the world from which these people were cast down. Gorky's play was imbued with a protest against the social unrest of capitalist society and a passionate call for a just and peaceful life. “Freedom at any cost is its spiritual essence,” this is how K. S. Stanislavsky defined the idea of the play, who staged it on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater.
The gloomy life of the Kostylevo doss house is depicted by Gorky as the embodiment of social evil. The fate of the inhabitants of the “bottom” is a formidable indictment against the unjust social order. The people living in this cave-like basement are victims of an ugly and cruel order, in which a person ceases to be a person, turning into a powerless creature, doomed to drag out a miserable existence. The inhabitants of the "bottom" are thrown out of normal life due to the wolf laws that reign in society. Man is left to his own devices. If he stumbles, gets out of line, then he faces inevitable moral, and often physical death. Lack of faith in justice forced Satin to independently take revenge on the scoundrel who killed his sister. This revenge led him to prison, which determined him future fate. Bubnov is forced to leave home, leaving the workshop to his wife and her lover, since he did not hope for protection from representatives of the law. Of course, the people who find themselves in Kostylevo's overnight shelter are not at all ideal. They make mistakes, do stupid things, but they do not deserve to be thrown to the bottom of life by society without providing any support. Vaska Pepel, the son of a thief, born in prison, is doomed to follow in the footsteps of his parent, because no other path has been ordered for him. The hard work and perseverance of Kleshch, who did not want to accept the fate of a homeless shelter, did not help him rise from the “bottom” of life.
Turning to the depiction of the life of the urban lower classes, the playwright touched upon current problem modernity: what is the way out of this situation, what is the salvation of the people of the “bottom”? According to Gorky himself, the main question of the play is what is better: truth or compassion? Is it necessary to use lies like Luke? Will the passive-compassionate humanism of a comforting lie be healing for the inhabitants of the shelter? Its bearer, pitying and comforting people, is the wanderer Luke in the play. He sincerely sympathizes with the victims of life, humiliated and insulted people, selflessly strives to alleviate their suffering and help them. To Dying Anna he promises after death life in paradise, where she will rest from earthly suffering. The old man advises Ash and Natasha to start a new life in the golden country of Siberia. He tells the actor about a free hospital for alcoholics, the address of which he has forgotten, but will definitely remember, giving this drunken person hope of returning to his former life.
Luke's position is the idea of compassion for man, the idea of a sublime deception that allows man to bear the burden" low truths" found on his thorny path. Luke himself formulates his position. Turning to Ash, he says: “...why do you really need it?.. Think about it, maybe it’s just for you.” Then he talks about the “righteous land.” Luka doesn’t believe in her, he knows that she doesn’t exist. He is too short-sighted to see this land that Satine foresees. Luke is ready to welcome any idea if it can console a person, alleviate his suffering even for a minute. He does not think about the consequences of a lie that will sooner or later be revealed. Trying to protect a person, Luka at the same time does not believe in him, for him all people are insignificant, weak, pathetic, in need of consolation: “I don’t care! I respect swindlers too, in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: they’re all black, everyone is jumping."
Thus, the main feature of Luke's ideology is the feature of slavery. And in this, Luka is similar to Kostylev, the philosophy of patience echoes the philosophy of oppression, the point of view of a slave - with the point of view of the owner, Gorky puts this thought into the mouth of Satin: “Whoever is weak in soul and who lives on other people’s juices, those need a lie... Some people need it.” supports, others hide behind her... And who is his own master, who is independent and does not take someone else’s - why does he need lies?” Luke's humanism is based on passive compassion, which, while bringing momentary relief, deepens the gap between a person's dream of happiness and his real hopeless situation. The Actor, who learned that the old man had lied and that there was no hospital, which means there was no hope for the future, could not bear this breakup. There is only one way out - suicide. Instead of happy life in Siberia, which Luka promised Ash, he ends up in hard labor for the murder of Kostylev. This means that Luke’s comforting lies only worsen the situation of the outcasts.
Luke's lies lead the night shelters into a world of illusions that deprives them last bit of strength to fight social evil, social injustice, because of which Kostylev’s shelters exist. The antipode of Luke - Satin verbally refutes the philosophy of comforting lies: “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters,” “Truth is god free man"He believes in man, in his ability to withstand the truth, no matter how bitter it may be. “Man is the truth,” says the hero. Unlike Luke, Satin is demanding of man and believes that man can do anything, since everything depends from his deeds and ideas. He does not need consolation with lies generated by pity. To feel sorry for a person means to humiliate him with disbelief in his ability to achieve his happiness, it means to seek support in all types of deception and lies that replace the missing will to live. Under the dark and gloomy in the vaults of the doss house, among the pitiful, unfortunate, homeless tramps, words about Man, about his calling, strength and beauty sound like a solemn hymn: “Man - this is the truth! Everything is in man, everything is for man! Only man exists, everything else is the work of his hands and brain! Human! It's great! It sounds... proud!"
Man himself is the creator of his own destiny, hidden within him are the forces with the help of which he is able to overcome the most severe hardships, the treachery of fate, the injustice of the world, his own mistakes and the social ills of society. Pity and compassion are wonderful qualities that are very necessary for all of us, but only a truthful, adequate understanding of one’s mistakes and capabilities can give a person a chance to overcome his evil lot and become truly free and happy.

Drama as a type of literature requires the obligatory production of a work on stage. At the same time, orientation towards stage interpretation, at first glance, limits the playwright in the means of expressing his position. He cannot directly address the reader, express his attitude towards his own heroes. Author's position expressed in stage directions, in the development of the action of the play, in monologues and dialogues of the characters. The duration of the action is also limited, because the performance cannot last long.

In 1902, thanks to innovative productions based on the plays of A.P. Chekhov, Maxim Gorky became interested in the Moscow Art Theater. He wrote to Chekhov that it was “impossible not to love the theater; not to work for it is a crime.” However, the first plays - “The Bourgeois” (1901) and “At the Lower Depths” (1902) - showed that Gorky was not just an innovative playwright, but also the creator of a new type of social drama . Critics call his dramatic works debate plays. The fact is that a special burden in the play falls on dramatic conflict – sharp collision heroes. It is the conflict that drives the plot, forcing the viewer to closely follow its development. In Gorky, the leading role is played by ideological conflicts, a sharp contrast between the social, philosophical and aesthetic views of the characters.

Subject of the image in M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom" the consciousness of people who find themselves at "day of life" as a result of deep processes in society at the beginning of the twentieth century. Analysis of the play shows that social conflict develops on several levels. Firstly, the confrontation between the hostel owners, Kostylev, and the inhabitants - powerless night shelters. Secondly, each of the shelters experienced a personal social conflict in their past, because of which they found themselves in such a pitiful situation.

Satin ended up in the Kostylevs' doss house after prison, having committed murder "scoundrel" because of my own sister. Mite, who has worked as a mechanic all his life, lost his job. Bubnov ran away from home "out of harm's way" so as not to accidentally kill his wife and her lover. Actor, who previously had the sonorous pseudonym Sverchkov-Zadunaisky, drank himself to death, finding himself unclaimed.

The fate of a thief Vaska Ashes was predetermined from birth, because he, being the son of a thief, himself became the same. Tells everyone in more detail about the stages of his fall Baron: his life passed as if in a dream, he studied at a noble institute, served in the treasury chamber, where he squandered public money, for which he was arrested for two weeks.
Is there some more love conflict: appearance in a shelter Natasha, Vasilisa's 20-year-old sister, forces Vaska Pepla to abandon his mistress Vasilisa, the wife of the owner of the shelter, 54-year-old Kostylev, for which she subsequently takes cruel revenge on both her and him.

The turning point is the emergence wanderer Luke. This "passportless tramp" I am sure that a person is, first of all, worthy of pity, and now he is trying to console everyone, including the inhabitants of the shelter. Dying of consumption Anna the old man convinces not to be afraid of death: only it will bring her the long-awaited peace that the poor woman has never known. To the Actor who has drunk himself out of despair, Luka gives hope for healing in a free hospital for alcoholics. He advises Vaska Pepl to start a new life with his beloved Natasha in Siberia.

At the same time, Luke does not say anything about himself: the reader knows little about him, only that “They crushed it a lot, that’s why it’s soft...”. However, the name Luke evokes an association with the evil one, with the concept of “disguise,” that is, “to deceive, lie.” And the author’s attitude towards him is ambiguous: it is expressed in the development of the plot. When Luka disappears under very unpleasant circumstances (at the moment when Kostylev is killed and Vasilisa scalds Natasha with boiling water), then events unfold in a completely different way than Luka predicted. Ash actually ends up in Siberia, but not of his own free will, but as a convict, allegedly for the murder of Kostylev. The actor learns that there is no free hospital where he can be treated for alcoholism, and, not believing in his own strength, he repeats the fate of the hero of Luke’s parable about the righteous land - he hangs himself in a vacant lot.

It is the fate of the Actor that becomes the key issue in assessing criticism. For a long time it was believed that Luke preaches a “comforting lie” that makes a person give up the fight, which means it only brings harm. Allegedly, the hero gave everyone false hope. But he didn’t promise to raise them from the bottom of life, he demonstrated them own capabilities, showed that there is a way out, and it depends only on the person what it will be.

Therefore, Gorky brings the main accusation not to Luka, but to the heroes who are not able to find the strength to oppose their will to harsh reality. Thus, he reveals one of the most important features of our national character– dissatisfaction with reality, a critical attitude towards it, but at the same time the inability to somehow change this reality for the better.

Another hero, Satin, continues the author’s thoughts. In the last act, as if continuing a conversation with the old man, he pronounces his famous monologue, in which the most famous phrase becomes: “Man – that sounds proud!”.

Yes, this phrase sounds optimistic, but people still find themselves at the “bottom” of life not only due to external circumstances, but also due to their weakness and lack of faith. And M. Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” even after a hundred extra years still relevant.

1. The history of the appearance of M. Gorky’s play “At the Depths”.
2. Innovation of the play.
3. general characteristics residents of the shelter.
4. Luke's position.
5. Contrasting the ideas of two heroes - Luke and Satin.

Man is free... he pays for everything himself: for faith, for disbelief, for love, for intelligence. A person pays for everything himself and therefore he is free!..
M. Gorky

The play “At the Lower Depths” by M. Gorky is one of the most striking and dramatic works writer. The play was first shown on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater in 1902. The play had biggest success V theatrical life that time. Over time, it was staged in other theaters in Russia and Western Europe. The main problems of M. Gorky’s creativity in the early 1900s are shown in the play “At the Depths”. Here the writer again, as in early works, addresses the world of the outcasts, although it views them a little differently.

What is the innovation of M. Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths”? The theme of the human “bottom” itself is not new in literature, and the novelty of this play lies not in the theme itself, but in its new solution. M. Gorky, depicting the suffering of people at the bottom, exposes the bourgeois-property world and shows the whole society in miniature. The writer’s position towards tramps has also changed; he is already trying to look into their destinies and understand the essence of existence, to reveal social psychology. Describing scary pictures the lives of the inhabitants of the shelter, M. Gorky at the same time shows the powerful strength of these people, which is capable of resisting the social conditions that influence a person and disfigure him. The heroes of the play “At the Bottom” are trying to figure it out and understand what the reasons and meaning of the fate that is prescribed for them are. They argue about the truth, about simple human happiness and, most importantly, about the individual himself, about his place in this world. Each character in the play has his own opinion and his own answer to these questions.

People living in the shelter with absolutely different characters, of different origins and ages, but they are all brought together by one fate. And they perceive their position just as differently. Mortally ill Anna and Tatar came to terms with their situation. The only thing the Baron can do is useless ridicule of the people of the “bottom” like him. Nastya is angry, the thief Vaska Pepel is rebelling, Luka is trying to console all the inhabitants of the shelter, and Satin philosophizes a lot, but does absolutely nothing to somehow realize his ideals in life. Tick worries more than anyone about his fate; he constantly dreams of one day breaking out of the captivity of the shelter and starting to live by honest work.

But one of the most important disputes in the play “At the Lower Depths” is between two residents of the shelter - between Luka and Satin.

For Luke himself, all people are selfish, pathetic, worthless, and they only need consolation in their lives. Luke's role is precisely that of a comforter for all the inhabitants of the shelter. For Luke himself there is great amount There are as many truths as there are people in the world. He tells the residents of the shelter various stories: about extraordinary love, about the righteous land “in that, they say, land - special people inhabit... good people! They respect each other... - they help,” he talks to Anna about have a wonderful life in the next world “... and you will be at peace... you will no longer need to be afraid of anything! Silence...". The elder informs the actor about a free hospital where alcoholics are cured: “... nowadays they are treating for drunkenness,... They are treating them for free, brother... this is the kind of hospital that was set up... so that, therefore, they can be treated for nothing...”. But such lies from Luke did not help the residents of the shelter, but on the contrary, only harmed them. Thus, the Actor, who for a moment believed in Luke’s fairy tale about an extraordinary hospital, very soon realized what his fictitious stories were worth. And it’s not for nothing that the Actor quotes P. J. Beranger:

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!

These poems by Beranger from the lips of the Actor sound like a mockery of illusions. He does not want to live in a fictional world and as a result commits suicide. As a result, it turns out that all of Luke’s sermons do not improve a person’s life, but, on the contrary, only push him to the edge. Gradually, life itself and harsh reality expose all of Luke’s comforting lies. In M. Gorky's play, Luke's position is contrasted with Satin's monologue. He calls for every person to open their eyes to life problems and saw the real reality, and not the fictitious one that Luke offers. According to Satin, “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters... Truth is the god of a free man!” But all the characters in this play are absolutely not like free people. These people are losers, they are stupid, they are those “who are weak in soul... and who live on other people’s juices - those who need lies... some are supported by it, others hide behind it... And who is their own master... ... whoever is independent and does not eat other people’s things, why does he need lies?..” But it gradually becomes clear that there is no one in the play who could become his own master.

Satin speaks out against Luke, against his sermons - patience and consolation: “I can’t get it out of my head... this old man!.. Don’t offend a person! And if I was offended once and for the rest of my life at once! What should I do? Forgive? Nothing. No one..." Satin argues that you should not humiliate a person with pity for him, you just need to respect him. For Satin, a person “is not you, not me, not them... no! It's you, me, them, the old man, Napoleon, Mohammed... in one! This one is huge!... A man!... It sounds... proud! We must respect the person! Don’t feel sorry... don’t humiliate him with pity... you must respect him!”

In the play “At the Lower Depths” M. Gorky tried to show how different social conditions life, the incompatible contradictions of reality can push every person “to the bottom.” M. Gorky sees a way out of this situation only in a decisive and merciless struggle against all these living conditions.

Just one fact clearly reveals that this scheme is close - the presence and important role in the play of the unsympathetic, truth-seeking Bubnov, denied by the author.

Conflict of compassion, love-pity, condescending to human weaknesses, and the ruthless truth is the focus of the drama "".

The inconsistency of the heroes, especially Luke, was part of the author's plan, since it belonged to the artistic object itself - the personality of the hero, the philosopher-comforter.

And literary critics were able to provide considerable service to the actors, proving that if you play incorrectly

Luka as positive hero, then it is wrong to see him as a notorious charlatan or scoundrel.

Luka is a man of ideas, and he is driven by it in his actions. And yet, Luke’s attitude towards people is completely direct and is dictated not by an “idea”, but by a complex set of feelings, where interest in life, the desire to understand everyone and respond to their pain, and the ability to admire a person and feel sorry for him are mixed. In other words, his behavior by intention is subjectively motivated by the Good.

But sincerely wanting good, the hero does not achieve his goal. Furthermore, he achieves the opposite, and it is precisely through such a discrepancy that the artist reveals the powerlessness of his good, his ideas about good. Therefore, the more boldly the playwright shows Luke’s subjective kindness, the deeper the falsity of his ideas emerges.

All the inconsistency is laid bare before us weak good, love-pity, based on lies, on the one hand, and a narrowly understood truth (Bubnov) - on the other. The “image of the author,” that is, the arrangement, connections of figures, their mutual illumination, expresses creative confidence in the possibility of a different love of humanity - love that has united with truth and thereby become strong and actively transformative.

The play “At the Bottom” is illuminated by the artist’s confidence that the truth is within man’s reach, and is full of hope for a new type of personality, for goodness that does not rely on the crutches of lies and does not forgive evil - for active and strong humanity.

Gorky did not write the play about tramps. The world of the flophouse, despite all the seeming naturalness of life, is still very conventional. There is no smell of physiology there.

The heroes of “At the Bottom” speak unnaturally and implausibly a lot. This was noted by L. Tolstoy: “Their conversations are incorrect, exaggerated”... Not only Luka, Satin, but also Bubnov, Kleshch, even the relatively silent Tatar seem to compete in maxims and disputes regarding how and why to live. The point here is not so much the hopelessness of the fate of the characters, their social and human decay, but rather artistic technique: Maxim Gorky’s play reflected reality in the form of a philosophical rather than an everyday drama.

Here, by the way, main reason her long life in the theater on different stages of the world.

Damned questions: why is a person alive? what is truth? what is ? - a furious cry breaks from the lips of the inhabitants of the shelter...

Following others Soviet theaters“Contemporary” destroys the school concept of Luke’s “consolation” that developed in the 30s and sharply contrasts him with Satin.

The wanderer Luke, performed by Igor Kvasha, is the ideological and moral center of the performance. From him come direct threads into our modernity... The hero I. Kvasha embodies tradition folk morality, enshrined in stable ideals and customs of behavior in the face of human misfortune, meanness, and decay. It can be said without exaggeration that Russia is behind Luka, he is its vital, inalienable part.

Those who are “at the bottom” have dropped out of Russia. In that spiritual meaning dramas.

The social status of Luka and, say, Bubnov are not much different: both are poor. The degree of spirituality varies. To preserve the human in oneself, no matter what, to withstand cruel circumstances - this is what, in essence, Luke teaches not so much with words, but with the very fact of his existence.

All this was written by Gorky and staged by Sovremennik. The heroes of “At the Bottom” are crushed not only by life, but also by their own established lack of faith. From one, the other does not necessarily follow. Of course, living conditions must be changed in order to give people a new opportunity to get closer to themselves - this is the highest meaning of the revolution. However, not everyone will take advantage of this new opportunity.

Being human is the most difficult thing in the world. Its success equally depends on external life, and from ourselves.

The central images of the play, each in their own way, carry this simple and eternal thought.

The actor dies a man. His suicide is not a gesture of despair, but a conscious choice. He was the first to break the chain, the first to ruin the song.

It seems that it’s Satin’s turn.

Satin is a handsome figure. Evstigneev’s hero even drinks more talented and smarter than the rest. His chronic failures in the card field are completely incomprehensible to the viewer. Such a sharper will often not be beaten.

But he's a cheater, and that's a fact. His reasoning is not supported by real support. He throws words around like cards. If it weren't for the "old man", we would never have known that he could have been different.

Luke affected Satin “like acid on an old and dirty coin.” The sermon of a drunken sharper is unexpectedly dedicated to humanity.

Probably at these moments the audience suddenly notices an untreated silver cross on Satin’s bare chest.

Satin understands that “the old man is right,” right in the original. Satin clarifies the accents. He corrects the theory, and at moments severe intoxication He also has compassion for his neighbor.

Satin wants to be human, but he can no longer. He forgot and lost a lot. He can't love individual person, therefore, doomed to love all of humanity as a whole, which means not to love at all.

Satin's moral tragedy lies in the understanding of this cruel paradox.

Time cannot change the characters of the play. Evstigneevsky's Satin calls us to appreciate the humanity in actions and not to trust words alone, no matter how beautiful they may sound.

(From the article “Seventy years later. Review of Galina Volchek’s performance at the Sovremennik Theater”)

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The thought at the bottom is bitter. The ideological originality of the play M

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