The influence of society in the play is at the bottom. Social issues of Gorky's play “At the Depths”
Thoughts about Man in M. Gorky’s play “At the Bottom”
The leading role in M. Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” is played by ideological conflict, a deep confrontation between the moral, aesthetic, social, and philosophical views of the heroes. The author depicts their heated arguments. In this regard, the play “At the Lower Depths” is considered a debate play!
The play “At the Bottom” is social and philosophical. It is based on a dispute about a person, about his purpose, position in society and attitude towards him. Almost all the inhabitants of the shelter take part in it. Gorky's attention is focused not on the fate of individuals, but on the course of life of all the characters as a whole. Showing their lives, the playwright focuses on the experiences, feelings, thoughts and aspirations of the characters, trying to look at the very bottom human soul.
The inhabitants of the shelter strive to break free from it, to finally leave the notorious bottom of life. However, these people discover their complete powerlessness in front of the constipation of the Kostylevo cave, which gives them an absolute feeling of hopelessness. The tramps painted by Gorky have long ago lost themselves and the meaning of life. They lead an empty existence. Fate and inhuman living conditions deprived them and devastated them morally. Gorky tramps are people without a future. Not every one of them has a past. Only the former baron, the former telegraph operator, boast about him, former actor provincial theater, “Thief, son of a thief.”
The appearance of Luke stirs up the life of the “bottom”. It is with his image that the problem of man is connected in the play. This is the most difficult one controversial image in the play, which raises the main philosophical question. M. Gorky stated: “The main question that I wanted to pose is what is better, truth or compassion? What is more needed? Is it necessary to take compassion to the point of using lies, like Luke?”
Luke’s philosophy boils down to the statement: “A person can do anything if he is helped to believe it, if he is made to want it.” Luke plays the role of a certain sorcerer who evokes the “golden dream”. The old man is deeply convinced that you need to be able to feel sorry for a person, warm him up, reassure him, listen to him, especially when it’s hard for him, that you need to bring him compassion. Luka believes that people are afraid and do not need the true truth of life, since it is too harsh and merciless. To alleviate the situation of the disadvantaged, you need to embellish their lives with a beautiful word, bring into it a fairy tale, an illusion, deception, a rose-colored dream, and give hope. Luka tells different parables, which clearly and eloquently illustrate his philosophy, clearly speak to tramps about the old man’s truth. He is affectionate with them, calling them “darling”, “dove”, “baby”. Ash asks Luka: “Why are you lying all the time?”, and he replies: “And what do you really need, think about it? It’s true, she might be a bitch for you.”
Based on this, the mysterious wanderer tells the dying Anna about a happy afterlife, reassures her with stories about the blissful silence after death, about the long-awaited deliverance from all illnesses and troubles. Luke announces to the ashes wonderful country Siberia, free and free, where he can finally find a use for himself. The old man tells the actor a story about a free hospital with marble floors, where he will be freed from his addiction to alcohol, after which he will certainly return to his former life. The actor and Anna listen to Luka during their first conversation. Former artist feels that something good and forgotten is awakening in his soul, he remembers his name, his favorite poem.
Luke's idea is to save by deceiving. He generously sows words of comfort and hope. People easily trust him because he is lenient towards their weaknesses and vices, tolerant of sins, responsive to requests for help, and shows genuine interest in their indifferent nature for a long time, in their fate. The old man knows how to listen.
This choice of the name of this hero is not accidental. It explains a lot about his character. Luka - means crafty, cunning, on his own, secretive, deceiver, good-natured, playful. The name of the hero reveals a connection with the Gospel, with the apostle, who also brings his teaching to the world. And Gorky’s Luke is a bearer of wisdom, giving away his truth to people. He is a truth-seeker, he walked the earth a lot, learned and saw a lot. The wanderer sincerely loves people, sincerely wishes them well, every person is necessary and important to him, and with this he warms up the inhabitants of the shelter. Luke preaches: “A person can teach goodness very simply.”
The playwright does not depict Luke's past, but the lack of a passport indicates many difficulties in his life. The old man has a big one everyday experience, he is observant, loves to have instructive conversations, in which there are notes of humility (“That’s it, dear little bear”) and guiding judgments (“Whoever really wants, will find”).
Luke's arrival illuminated the shelter with a sudden light. A ray of kindness and affection, attention and a desire to help appeared in the lives of the inhabitants of the Kostylevo cave. The relationships in the shelter with the arrival of Luka became a little more humane, the forgotten began to awaken, the past was remembered, in which everyone had not nicknames, but real ones, human names, faith in the possibility of living better grew stronger, the first steps appeared towards regaining one’s human self.
Luke's position is very controversial and contradictory. Reasoning about a person intensifies in a shelter in connection with sudden disappearance old man. The assessment of the wanderer's personality by the night shelters is ambiguous. Nastya says that “he was a good old man,” Kleshch, that “he was compassionate.” Satin calls Luka “crumb for the toothless,” “a plaster for abscesses.” His lies gave the night shelters the strength to live, resist their evil fate, and hope for the best. But it only brought peace for a while, muffling the difficult reality. When Luke disappeared real life horrified the Actor, and he hanged himself, and Nastya fell into despair out of hopelessness, while Vaska Ash went to prison.
The hopes awakened in the souls of the heroes turned out to be too fragile and soon faded away. Willy-nilly they had to return to prosaic and harsh reality. They named the culprit of their severe sobering up as an old man who had disappeared without a trace. Dreams and dreams suddenly disappeared and bitter disappointment inevitably set in. Instead of peace and quiet in the Costa Levo shelter, dramatic events. Luka really managed to plant a spark of hope in the heart of every tramp, to give him a dream, but after his departure it only became harder for all the homeless people. They are weak-willed, weak and cannot change anything about their fate. The old man beckoned, but did not show the way. The night shelters demonstrate an absolute unwillingness to do anything to make their dreams come true. The hope given by Luke could not find support in the characters of the tramps.
Luka is an ideologist of passive consciousness, which Gorky always rejected. Such a psychology, the playwright believed, can only reconcile a person with his situation, but it will never push him to change this situation.
Satin's monologue is a living reaction to Luke's philosophy. Satin is Luke's opponent in the dispute about man. This is a complex, contradictory, ambiguous image. Satin promotes the need for respect for a person, and not pity for him. Pity, according to Satin, humiliates the individual. He believes that a person needs to be taught to use freedom, he needs to open his eyes. The basis of Satin’s words is a deep faith in man, in his unlimited capabilities and exceptional powers. “What is a man? - asks the hero. - This is huge! What is the truth? Man is the truth... Only man exists, everything else is the work of his hands and his brain.” The playwright puts his own innermost thoughts into Satin’s mouth.
True humanism, according to the writer, affirms the high purpose of man; compassionate humanism, which calls only to pity him, is passive and false. Preachers like Luke are unacceptable to Gorky because they reconcile a person with an unacceptable reality.
Satin understands that Luke lied not out of self-interest, but out of pity for people. He says that Luke “leavened” the residents, and “acted on him... like sour on a rusty coin.” But in his monologue he still proclaims a different attitude towards man. Luke's comforting lie is called by him the religion of slaves and masters. Satin expresses the opinion that it is necessary not to reconcile a person with reality, but to force it to serve the person. He speaks of the high intrinsic value of the human personality. Man, according to Satin, is the creator, master and transformer of life. “Only man exists, everything else is the work of his hands and brain,” sounds from his lips. He boldly asserts the equality of people regardless of their social status and nationality. Satin’s words were spoken in a moment of deep spiritual uplift, and this indicates that not everything died in his soul, since the hero continues to reflect on life and man’s place in it. Satin's speech is the main moment in the development of the shelter-in-place disputes about truth and man.
One cannot help but say about Bubnov, who proclaims the truth of the fact. Bubnov's position is simple. He believes that you should not try to change anything in life, you need to come to terms with everything, accept everything for granted, including evil. According to Satin, a person should go with the flow without hesitation. “People all live...like chips floating down a river,” he asserts. This position is incorrect. It undermines a person’s desire for the best, deprives him of hope, and makes faith meaningless. The bearer of such a position becomes passive, cruel and heartless. Evidence of this is the words of Bubnov, thrown to the dying Anna: “The noise of death is not a hindrance.” Baron probably held similar views to Bubnov. All his life he senselessly swam with the flow (swimmed down!). As a result, from a nobleman he turned into a tramp. He is an example of a person - a piece of wood.
In one of his letters, Gorky wrote “... my task is to awaken pride in a person in himself, to tell him that he is the best, the most significant, the most precious, the most sacred in life and that besides him there is nothing worthy of attention" These words give a vivid idea of the playwright's response to main question plays.
The man in M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom".
Human! It's great!
It sounds... proud! Human!
M. Gorky
M. Gorky's play "At the Depths" was written in 1902. It was a huge success and was staged on the stages of not only Russian but also European theaters. Interest in it is primarily explained by the fact that the writer depicted in detail and accurately the life of people who found themselves at the “bottom”. Previously, on the pages of Russian classics, people who belonged to the high society. Now the floor was given to those who were usually not only not listened to, but also not noticed.
In his work, Gorky encourages his contemporaries to think about what is better for a person at the bottom: the bitter truth or the sweet lie? The characters in the play talk about truth and lies. Man and his purpose occupy almost the main place in the conversations of the night shelters.
In his drama, the writer condemns the existing system, the victims of which were ordinary people. Kostylev, the owner of the shelter, brazenly sucks out the last pennies of the inhabitants of this “hole” in one night spent here. Before us appears a world of outcasts, from whom faith in better life"Human dignity has been trampled into the dirt" strongmen of the world" However, as Satin claims, man is the master of his fate, and it is their own fault that the night shelters found themselves in such a plight. If the Actor had not started drinking, he would not have lost his job and would not have sunk to such a degree .
Among the people of the “bottom” it is difficult to meet anyone who is ready and capable not of death, but of life. From Luke’s point of view, there are “people” and there are “men,” just as there is land that is inconvenient for sowing... and there is productive land.” All the inhabitants of the shelter are just people, so the only grace that will be granted to them is death. That's why Luke convinces Anna to face death as a long-awaited deliverance from a painful existence. Only Natasha and Ash find the meaning of life in each other. They are still young and can break free from the power of circumstances. According to Luke, they are able to find faith in God, which means , worthy of hope and grace. The rest of the inhabitants of the shelter deserve only pity. And Luke takes pity on them, not realizing that his deception has a detrimental effect on everyone.
In my opinion, the antipode of Luke in the matter of attitude towards a person is Satin. He declares man the only legislator who determines own destiny. Everyone's will is strong. A person is free in his actions. He is able to independently achieve grace; he just needs to believe in himself, and not in God, not in the “righteous land,” or in anything else. It is pointless to feel sorry for yourself or someone else, since no one but the person himself is to blame for his sorrows. Is it possible to feel sorry for someone who has carried out his own will? If for the believer Luke “blessed are the poor in spirit,” then for the atheist Satin “blessed are the strong in spirit.”
At the same time, Satin has a dream of free life, clean, honest, bright, but he does not want to work, realizing that in the existing exploitative society it is impossible to live by honest work. That is why he laughs when Kleshch, in a fit of despair and powerlessness, declares that he will escape from the “bottom” of life and become a normal person, he just needs to work. Satin hates and despises people who “care too much about being well-fed.” He accuses Luka of lying, but understands that the old man was “crumbs for the toothless”; he understands that a comforting lie is similar to the lies of the owners. That's why he says: "Lies are the religion of slaves and masters. Truth is the god of a free man."
However, at a critical moment, Luka’s comforter disappeared and ran away, discrediting himself and his idea. And this is not the only plot device that allows us to judge author's position, to believe that the author himself is on Satin’s side.
A person tortured by life may lose all faith. This is what happens to the Actor, who, having lost faith in the mercy of God and not relying on himself, commits suicide. But, it seems to me, suicide is one of the manifestations of free will. The death of the Actor means for Gorky the victory of the satinist view of the man. That is why Satin reacts so calmly to the terrible news. In his opinion, the Actor gained true faith in himself.
The play “At the Bottom” is strong not so much for its answers as for its questions that arise from the very thick of life, from the most pressing human needs. This is where the main motive of the play comes from - the contradiction between the master’s lies and the freedom of Man. And this question sounded like hope for those who despaired and resigned themselves to their situation.
Falling to the bottom of society is as easy as passing two bytes. To do this, you do not need to have special knowledge or skills. Just remain human, think not only about everyday things, but also speak out philosophical topics- not everyone can do this. After all, a person who is at the bottom has only three options: slide into the abyss, turn into a philosopher, or rise from the ashes.
The legacy of Maxim Gorky
Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov cherished the dream that the world would be inhabited by “new people.” People who are impeccable in terms of intellectual and physical development, manners and principles. These new people are distinguished by their fearlessness and thirst for freedom, they don’t care about any obstacles, they can achieve anything they want. And even if their goals are beyond the realm of possibility, they can do it.
During this time, he managed to write 5 novels, 10 novellas, 18 stories and essays, 16 plays and published 3 cycles of journalistic articles. The writer, novelist and playwright was nominated 5 times for Nobel Prize in the field of literature. He became known as one of the most famous Russian thinkers and writers. He left behind a rich legacy, and one of the pearls of his collection is the play “At the Bottom.”
"At the bottom"
The play “At the Bottom” saw the world in 1902. Before publishing the material, the author for a long time I couldn't choose which title to go with. He had a choice among several options: “The Bottom”, “Nochlezhka”, “At the Bottom of Life”, “Without the Sun”. Ultimately, the play received the short and laconic title “At the Bottom.” Two years after its release, in 1904, the play was awarded the Griboyedov Prize.
The first performance based on the work was staged on December 18, 1902 at the Moscow Art Theater. IN Soviet time The production delighted the audience 9 times. Last time it could be seen in 1956. But this did not detract from her success. More than once the play was staged abroad in cities such as Berlin, Krakow, Helsinki, Paris, Tokyo, New York, London, Tunisia. From 1996 to the present, more than 20 productions have been staged in different countries peace. The play was filmed 10 times not only domestic cinema, but also in Hungary, Japan and France.
What attracted the public so much to this play: the problem moral choice; the realization that each person has his own truth; or did the very image of the bottom in the play “At the Bottom” touch the strings of the human soul? Let's try to figure it out.
M. Gorky, “At the Bottom”: summary
The events of the work take place in a place like a flophouse. The lodging house is the property of M.I. Kostylev. People live here who have long sunk to the bottom of society. Some of them still believe that they can get out of this hell and change their destiny for the better, while others have long given up and slipped into the farthest channels of the “bottom.”
Between the residents of the shelter difficult relationships. They have different destinies, different views on life, so it’s difficult for them to find mutual language, because of which quarrels constantly arise. The owner's wife, Vasilisa, loves Vaska Pepla, who earns his living by stealing. She persuades the thief to kill her husband so that they will be free and no one will bother them. Only Vaska does not reciprocate Vasilisa’s feelings, since he has long been in love with her younger sister Natalya. Vasilisa notices this and mercilessly beats Natalya, which is why she ends up in the hospital. After being discharged, she no longer returns to the shelter.
What next does the work that M. Gorky created (“At the Depths”) tell about? Summary even in the second part it is tragic. Appears among the guests new person Luke, who inspires everyone that life will get better. But when a conflict arises between Kostylev and Vaska, as a result of which Vaska accidentally kills Kostylev and the thief is arrested, Luka miraculously disappears. The actor, who had become attached to Luka and believed him, is upset by his disappearance and hangs himself in the yard. Amazes the reader final phrase works spoken by Satin after he learned of the death of the Actor: “What a fool, he just ruined the song.”
People of the bottom
The people of the bottom in Gorky's play "At the Depth" are the most ordinary. They got into a difficult situation life situation. The main characters of the work:
- Mikhail Kostylev is in charge of the shelter.
- Vasilisa is Kostylev’s wife, loves the thief Ash.
- Natalya, Vasilisa’s sister, suffers beatings from her older sister and disappears after leaving the hospital.
- Luke is a wanderer who suddenly appears and disappears, skillfully comforting everyone with lies.
- Vaska Pepel is a thief who wants to change his destiny.
- Mite is an ordinary hard worker who wants to return to past life.
- The Baron is an impoverished aristocrat, confident that best moments his life is a thing of the past.
- Satin is a sharper, he is sure that the main thing for a person is spiritual freedom
- An actor who once really performed on the big stage, is currently a drunkard who has not come up with anything better than to commit suicide.
Play Analysis
Why did Gorky write “At the Lower Depths”? Analysis of this work shows that among the moral dirt of outcasts of society there is a small smoldering ember that unobtrusively hisses: “Man is proud, man is good!” This is especially clearly visible when guests face a small problem.
Truth or lie?
The problem of moral choice in Gorky's play “At the Lower Depths” is very acute. What should people believe? A sweet lie or a bitter truth, which is what Gorky flavored his play “At the Depths” with? The analysis shows that the wanderer Luke is the master of sweet lies in the work; he is sure that people need to be told what they want to hear. He reassures all the inhabitants of the shelter. Gives you faith that there is a chance to change your life if you do this or that. But when he suddenly disappears, everyone becomes uneasy. The guests feel abandoned, and the Actor, who believed Luke’s words more than anyone else, commits suicide.
The truth in Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” is personified by its hero, Satin. This man is not the best representative human race- he is dishonest, likes to drink, gets into fights, and looks to the future with pessimism. But there is a little more knowledge and understanding of what is happening. It is from him that the simple truth comes: “You need to be proud of being a human being.” Satin is not a charismatic personality who can lead a crowd, he is not a revolutionary, not a psychologist or a politician - he simply pointed out the obvious, which lit a special spark in the eyes of every inhabitant who had not yet completely despaired. And it will not fade away when Satin disappears, as happened with Luke’s beautiful lie.
The image of the bottom in the play “At the Bottom”
What else can be said about this creation of a classic of Russian literature? Why is it so captivating even to our contemporaries? Maybe because the topic raised by Alexei Maksimovich is relevant at all times?
The play written by M. Gorky (“At the Depths”) can rightfully be called social and philosophical. Here social life And philosophical reflections do not intersect, but complement each other perfectly, making the play complete, lively and real work. The image of the bottom in the play “At the Bottom” represents harsh reality lower strata of society. There are no fictitious facts here, but only real life, such as it is. The fate of the outcasts, those who no longer have a chance to rise. For the first time in world drama, the hopeless fate of “ former people" In the sticky darkness of the musty basement, crippled people, disfigured by fate, gathered. Every day they desperately fight for their existence. Some people have enough strength to survive, while others surrender to the embrace of death. The only ray of hope in this pitchless darkness was brought by Luke, who reassured people and then disappeared. It is difficult not to give up in such a situation, but Satin’s words instill in people faith not in the future, but in their own human dignity. The image of the bottom in the play “At the Bottom” is a torture chamber, where His Majesty disappointment acts as the executioner. It mercilessly beats people who have long been covered in dirt.
The image of the bottom in the play “At the Bottom” is something dark and hopeless, but with a person inside. And where there is a person, there will always be a little hope, because a person is wonderful.
The truth is always recognizable
The public reacted ambiguously to the play written by M. Gorky (“At the Depths”). People have always been alien to the suffering of the lower class of society. But the truthfulness of his story, the characters and fates of his heroes became recognizable not only in the Soviet Union, but throughout the world - from America to Japan.
Art is life itself, and it does not know death.
O. Wilde
The play “At the Lower Depths” was written by Gorky in nineteen hundred and two and staged on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. It is significant that an unprecedented number of critical articles and monographs were immediately written about the play. The play shook everyone literary world, the entire public. Indeed, the work was unusual. It seemed that there was no storyline, no conflict. At first, the goal of the author, who developed the action as if in several directions, in parallel, was unclear. He said it very well famous critic B. Belik: “We have before us a kind of Mendeleev Periodic table elements, only elements not chemical, but spiritual.” Yet in this play there is a conflict, a clash of two opposites. It is known that a feature of Gorky’s work, a feature of his dramaturgy, was that his conflict was always expressed not externally, not in complex intrigue, not in spectacular clashes, but in the internal movement of the play. Thus, the main conflict of the play lies in the clash of ideas, in the struggle of worldviews, social principles And political views. Main conflict, which is the basis of the play, is the contradiction between classes and the autocratic orders of bourgeois-landowner Russia, which reduce people to the tragic fate of homeless vagabonds.
The central problem of the play is the problem of false and true humanism. Gorky was the first to pose this problem so broadly and so passionately, awakening millions of people around the world to think about this problem. Gorky posed the question: “What is better: to know the bitter truth or to listen to a beautiful lie”? A beautiful lie is dangerous precisely because it interferes with understanding the reality of life, thereby stopping the movement of the masses in their struggle for liberation, for the bright future of their country. And this just plays into the hands of the bourgeoisie, big capitalists, and factory owners. It is not beneficial for them if workers go on strike if there is an increase in their political consciousness.
Religion serves this purpose very well. In the West, there are many different religious sects that in every possible way call for humility and “non-resistance to evil through violence.” Churchmen say that if in “this world” you endure such torment, then in the “other world” heaven and all sorts of blessings will definitely await you. It was this same idea that the wanderer Luke preached in Gorky’s play. He consoled and dying Anna, and promised the Actor a hospital for alcoholism, and promised various benefits to all the inhabitants of the shelter. His theory was tested by life itself, which was complex and contradictory. And the theory of comforting lies failed completely. Luka suffers his first defeat from Anna. Luke says to the dying Anna, who knew no peace during her life: “You die with joy, without anxiety...”
And in Anna, on the contrary, the desire to live intensifies: “... a little more... I wish I could live... a little bit! If there is no flour there... here we can be patient... we can!” Next, Luke tells Natasha about the “righteous land” in order to convince her of the destructiveness of the truth and the saving power of deception. And Natasha makes a completely different, directly opposite conclusion about the hero of this parable, who committed suicide: “He could not stand being deceived!” And these words shed light on the death of the Actor, who believed Luke and could not bear the tragedy that beautiful words the old man turned out to be just a pathetic lie. So in modern bourgeois society everything goes out best impulses people of the social “bottom”: to break out into the light, to find “their place in the sun.”
What the bourgeoisie is not doing to weaken the labor movement! It also creates the so-called “labor aristocracy”, which conducts appropriate propaganda in the masses. There are also many different parties abroad, “servants” of the bourgeoisie. They hate workers who fight for ordinary human rights to normal, healthy life. The more conscious part of the people under the leadership of the socialist parties is actively fighting these parties. If I may say so, then socialists are, as it were, bearers of the idea of true humanism. They are for the truth, they are for man. In all languages of the world, Satin’s inspired words from Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” are now repeated: “Man is the truth!”; “Man - that sounds proud!”; “Everything is in man, everything is for man!”
In the play, Satin is contrasted with Luke. It is in their collision that the main conflict of the play lies. Satin can in no way be considered positive hero. But it was in this way that Gorky wanted to show that even at the “bottom” people had not yet lost faith in the best, faith in victory. Pondering the images of the “bottom,” many people say to themselves: “If even thrown back, almost to a cave lifestyle, a person does not turn into a beast, it means that the human is stronger than the bestial, if even at the very “bottom” of life sparks of faith in a person flare up in the possibility of happiness on earth means this faith is unquenchable; if even in the darkness of the night, when “there is no path in sight,” a person does not succumb to despair, he will find a way.” And a person finds this true, the only true path of life.
Perhaps one of the most pressing problems in the world is the problem of unemployment. The problem of the “extra person” in society has been around for a very long time. Many generations of writers paid a lot of attention to this problem, approached it from different angles, looked at it from different positions. The geniuses of Russian classics also wrote about this: Pushkin, Lermontov, the founder of literature also wrote about this socialist realism A.M. Bitter. The problem of the “extra person” is very acute in the play “At the Bottom”. The play depicts the character of the unemployed Mite, who lost his job as a result of the crisis of the sixties. He is a mechanic in the past and is proud of it: “I’m a working man... I’ve been working since I was little... Do you think I won’t get out of here? I’ll get out... I’ll rip off the skin, and I’ll get out...” He says this at the beginning of the play. But then, broken by his hard life and succumbing to Luke’s comforting lies, he changes his positions and even becomes Luke’s defender. This is yet another proof of the effect of beautiful lying words on a person, a working person.
In the play, Gorky depicts the fates of such “ extra people"as Actor, Ash, Nastya.
The whole problem is that these people are socially incurable. In the play, the shelter itself is a product of that society where the ruble is most valued. In the author's notes we read a description of the shelter: “A basement like a cave. The ceiling is heavy, stone vaults, smoked, with crumbling plaster. The light is from the viewer and, from top to bottom, from the square window on the right side.” Even here, at the “bottom” of life, possessive instincts and petty-bourgeois prejudices penetrate. Great humanist Gorky denounces the owners of the shelter, and the theme of denunciation is all the more intensified since the shelters are often remarkable people. The inhabitants of the “bottom” are thrown out of life due to the conditions prevailing in society. Man is left to his own devices. If he stumbles, gets out of line, then he is threatened with “the bottom”, inevitable moral, and often physical death. Anna dies, the Actor commits suicide, and the rest are broken, disfigured by life to the last degree.
The main evil, the reason people fall to the “bottom” is society itself, completely rotten and incurably ill in socially. How much good perishes in it, how much beauty! Society itself is to blame for people’s suffering, their poverty, their misfortunes, their unemployment. It itself suffers from this. From this we conclude that it is impossible to live like this, that this society must be ended once and for all.
It is this idea that runs like a red thread through Gorky’s entire play “At the Lower Depths.” In the play, Gorky refutes passive humanism, which is addressed only to such feelings as pity and compassion, and contrasts it with active, revolutionary humanism, which arouses in people the desire for protest, resistance, and struggle. The play is imbued with a protest against the social order of capitalist society and an indomitable call for another, fair and free human life. Under the dark and gloomy arches of the lodging house, among the pitiful and crippled, unfortunate and homeless vagabonds, solemn words are heard about Man, about his calling, about his strength and beauty.
Proud words about what a person can be and what a person should be highlight even more sharply the picture of the actual situation of a person that the writer paints. And this contrast takes on a revolutionary meaning. If a person is beautiful in his essence and only a system based on exploitation reduces him to such a terrifying state, therefore, everything must be done to destroy this system and create conditions under which a person will become truly free and beautiful. This was the conclusion of the play. This is the conclusion of life. Only through struggle can one win happiness and achieve the great goals that face the peoples of the planet.
/ / Social issues Gorky's plays "At the Depths"
Despite the fact that Maxim Gorky's play "" is already more than a hundred years old, it continues to be staged in many theaters around the world. This work, which showed the life of people who have sunk to the bottom, has not lost its relevance in our time. Gorky showed us daily life the poorest segment of the population in its usual terms.
The action of the play takes place in a flophouse that sheltered people of different age categories, different professions. Many of them had another life before, but now they are all at the bottom of this life.
Talking about social conflict plays, it is worth noting that it is ambiguous and multifaceted. It is revealed in the confrontation between the inhabitants of the shelter and its owners, and also manifests itself in the personal tragedy of each hero of the work and the reasons that forced them to sink to the bottom of life.
To understand the conflict between the inhabitants of the shelter and its owners, it is necessary to understand what kind of people they were.
So, the owner of the shelter was Mikhail Kostylev. He was a hypocritical and greedy man. On the one hand, he gave shelter to those in need, and on the other, he ripped off their last money for accommodation.
His wife Vasilisa also treated the residents of the shelter with disgust. She was in love with Vaska Pepla, and was constantly jealous of his sister Natalya. Natalya Vasilisa and her husband were bullied with special zeal. Natalya, on the contrary, was a quiet girl and did not allow herself to contradict her sister and her husband.
In the relationship between two sisters, Gorky showed us how social status affects the relationship between two people, even though they were sisters.
Vaska Pepel was one of the inhabitants of the Kostylevo shelter. He said to himself that since childhood he had been called a thief. Therefore, all his life he did nothing else except steal. It should be noted that Vasilisa encouraged Ash’s occupation by buying stolen things from him.
Another inhabitant of the shelter, Anna, had an unenviable fate. She was sick with a fatal disease and lived last days. Her husband, a mechanic, Kleshch had been waiting for his wife’s death for a long time. She was a burden to him. He thought that after Anna's death he would be able to earn money and live new life. But this was not destined to happen. Anna lived and endured, endured daily humiliation and beatings from her husband. There was no place for joy and happiness in her life. The girl no longer remembered when she ate her fill and put on something other than old rags.
The person who could not find use for his knowledge and skills, and now found himself in a shelter with its other inhabitants, was Satin. WITH early age he worked at the telegraph office and was fond of reading. But now he has become a beggar, not expecting anything from life. From the old days he only had a few intricate words left. foreign language which he loved to show off to others.
Orphan Nastya was forced to sell her body in order to somehow make ends meet. She was a dreamer. Nastya was fond of romance novels and believed that someday it would happen to her too real love. For her dreaminess and naivety, the girl endured daily ridicule from other inhabitants of the shelter.
Another inhabitant of the shelter was Bubnov. He ended up here because he found out about his wife’s betrayal and, not finding best option, went to Kostylev’s shelter.
In my opinion, the most tragic fall to the bottom was the fall of Baron. He was a former nobleman and held a high position. But now he is forced to spend time with those people whom he simply did not notice before. The Baron often recalled his past “well-fed” years. All that remained from that life was his arrogant manner of communicating with others.
The next inhabitant of the shelter was a man of the stage, a man who basked in applause, but who, succumbing bad habit, rolled down. The worst thing is that the Actor understands the cause of his suffering, but cannot do anything about it.
Now all these once different people equal in their lack of rights. They find themselves at the bottom of their lives and are forced to accept their fate. These people have no future, they only have memories of their past life. They are all united by one road - the road down into the abyss. Such a life destroyed everything in the inhabitants of the shelter human feelings and quality and gave rise to not only social, but also moral degradation.
Old man Luka becomes a ray of light for the inhabitants of the shelter, who tried to “stir them up” by giving them hope. Unfortunately, it was already too late, no one could find the strength to climb up again. The actor commits suicide, Vaska Pepel was exiled to Siberia, and the rest of the inhabitants of the shelter suffered a worse fate.
Maxim Gorky in his play “At the Depths” tried to show us all the lack of rights of a person burdened social problems how important it is to be able to solve them in time in order to change your life.
