M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom" is rightfully one of the best dramatic works of the writer. This is evidenced by her incredible success for a long time in Russia and abroad. The play caused and still causes conflicting interpretations about the characters depicted and its philosophical basis. Gorky acted as an innovator in dramaturgy, raising an important philosophical question about a person, his place, role in life, about what is important to him. “Which is better: truth or compassion? What is more needed? - These are the words of Gorky himself.
The incredible success and recognition of the play "At the Bottom" was also facilitated by its successful staging on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater in 1902. V.N. Nemirovich-Danchenko wrote to Gorky: “The appearance of The Bottom at one blow paved the way for theatrical culture ... Having an example of a truly folk play in The Bottom, we consider this performance the pride of the theater.”
Gorky acted as the creator of a new type of social drama. He correctly, truthfully depicted the environment of the inhabitants of the rooming house. This is a special category of people with their own destinies and tragedies. Already in the first author's remark we come across a description of the rooming house. It is a "cave-like cellar". Poor environment, dirt, light coming from top to bottom. This further emphasizes that we are talking about the very bottom of society. At first, the play was called "At the bottom of life", but then Gorky changed the name, leaving only "At the bottom". So, according to the author, it more fully reflects the idea of the work.
A cheater, a thief, a prostitute - these are the representatives of the society depicted in the play. The owners of the rooming house are also at the bottom of moral rules, they do not have any moral values in their souls, they carry a destructive beginning. Everything in the rooming house takes place far from the general course of life, events in the world. The bottom of life is a swamp that captures and absorbs.
The characters of the play previously belonged to different strata of society, but now they all have one thing in common - their present, hopelessness, inability to change their fate, and some unwillingness to do so, a passive attitude to life. At first, Tick is different from them, but after the death of Anna, he becomes the same and loses hope of escaping from the rooming house.
Different origin determines the behavior, speech of the characters. The Actor's speech contains quotations from literary works. The speech of the former intellectual Satin is saturated with foreign words. Luke speaks quietly, slowly, soothingly.
There are many different conflicts and storylines in the play. These are the relations of Ash, Vasilisa, Natasha and Kostylev; Baron and Nastya; Tick and Anna. We see the tragic fates of Bubnov, Actor, Satin, Alyoshka. And all these lines seem to run in parallel, there is no common, core conflict between the characters. In the play, we can observe a conflict in the minds of people, a conflict with circumstances - this was unusual for a Russian audience.
The author does not tell in detail the history of each rooming house, and yet we have enough information about each of them. The past of some, for example, Satin, Bubnov, Actor, is dramatic, worthy of a separate work in itself. Circumstances forced them to sink to the bottom. Others, such as Pepel, Nastya, knew the life of this society from birth. There are no main characters in the play, they all occupy approximately the same position. In the long term, they do not have any improvement in life, which depresses with its monotony. Everyone is used to the fact that Vasilisa beats Natasha, everyone knows about the relationship between Vasilisa and Vaska Pepel, everyone is tired of the suffering of the dying Anna. Nobody pays attention to how others live; there are no connections between people; no one is able to listen, sympathize, help. No wonder Bubnov repeats that "the threads are rotten."
People no longer want anything, they do not strive for anything, they believe that they are superfluous on earth, that their life has already passed. At the same time, they despise each other, each considers himself superior, better than others. Everyone is aware of the insignificance of their position, but they do not try to get out, stop dragging out a miserable existence and start living. And the reason for this is that they are accustomed and resigned.
But not only social problems are raised in the play, the characters also argue about the meaning of human life, about its values. The play "At the Bottom" is a deep philosophical drama. People thrown out of life, sunk to the bottom, argue about the philosophical problems of being. M. Gorky raised in his work the question of what is more useful to a person: the truth of real life or a comforting lie. This question has caused so much controversy. Luke serves as a preacher of the idea of compassion, a lie for salvation, who consoles everyone, speaks kind words to everyone. He respects every person (“not a single flea is bad, all black ones”), sees a good beginning in everyone, believes that a person can do anything if he wants. Naively, he tries to awaken in people faith in themselves, in their strengths and capabilities, in a better life.
Luke knows how important this faith is for a person, this hope for the possibility and reality of a better one. Even just a kind, affectionate word, a word that supports this faith, can give a person support in life, solid ground under his feet. Belief in one's ability to change, improve one's own life reconciles a person with the world, as he plunges into his fictional world and lives there, hiding from the real world that frightens him, in which a person cannot find himself. And in reality, this person is inactive.
But this applies only to a weak person who has lost faith in himself. Therefore, such people are drawn to Luke, listen to him and believe him, because his words are a miraculous balm for their tormented souls. Anna listens to him because he alone sympathized with her, did not forget about her, said a kind word to her, which she, perhaps, had never heard. Luke gave her hope that in another life she would not suffer. Nastya also listens to Luka, because he does not deprive her of illusions, from which she draws her vitality. He gives Ashes hope that he will be able to start life anew where no one knows either Vaska or his past. Luka tells the actor about a free hospital for alcoholics, in which he can recover and return to the stage again. Luke is not just a comforter, he philosophically substantiates his position. One of the ideological centers of the play is the wanderer's story about how he saved two runaway convicts. The main idea of Gorky's character here is that it is not violence, not prison, but only goodness that can save a person and teach goodness: "A person can teach goodness ..."
Other inhabitants of the rooming house do not need the philosophy of Luke, the support of non-existent ideals, because these are stronger people. They understand that Luke is lying, but he is lying out of compassion, love for people. They have questions about the necessity of this lie. Everyone argues, and everyone has their own position. All the roomers are involved in an argument about truth and lies, but they don't take each other very seriously.
In contrast to the philosophy of the wanderer Luka, Gorky presented the philosophy of Sateen and his judgments about man. "Lie is the religion of slaves and masters... Truth is the god of a free man!" Speaking monologues. Satin does not expect to convince others of anything. This is his confession, the result of his long reflections, a cry of despair and a thirst for action, a challenge to the world of the well-fed and a dream of the future. He speaks with admiration about the power of man, about the fact that man was created for the best: "Man - it sounds proud!", "Man is above satiety", "Do not regret ... do not humiliate him with pity ... you must respect." This monologue, uttered among the ragged, downtrodden inhabitants of the rooming house, shows that faith in genuine humanism, in truth, does not fade away.
Gorky's play "At the Bottom" is a sharp socio-philosophical drama. Social, as it presents the drama caused by the objective conditions of society. The philosophical aspect of the drama is rethought by each generation in a new way. The image of Luke for a long time was evaluated unambiguously negatively. Today, due to the historical events of the last decade, the image of Luke is read in many ways differently, he has become much closer to the reader. I believe that there is no single answer to the author's question. It all depends on the specific situation and historical era.
To the question Why is the play "At the Bottom" a socio-philosophical drama? given by the author Ўliya the best answer is The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by the appearance of such plays as "The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov and "At the Bottom" by M. Gorky. These two works were so unconventional in their construction and the questions posed that their authors began to rightfully be considered the founders of modern dramaturgy. The plays, of course, differ from each other in many ways, but there are also similarities. Both works seem to be closer to the genre of drama. But Chekhov insisted on such a genre definition as a lyrical comedy, and Gorky called his play a collection of pictures from the life of tramps. Why, then, is it closer to us, the readers, to define the genre of the play “At the Bottom” as a drama? In my opinion, this is due to its socio-philosophical content, the depth of life and human problems posed and solved by the author.
For the first time in Russian dramaturgy, the life of the social lower classes, the "bottom" was shown so realistically and mercilessly. The life of the inhabitants of the Kostylevo rooming house is so terrible and hopeless that it makes readers shudder. A terrible thing happens at the "bottom" - people are dying morally and physically, each of whom deserves a better share. It is impossible to imagine a situation more tragic than that in which the heroes of the play found themselves. All of them are victims of the ugly and cruel orders prevailing in society, victims of social evil. An unfortunate coincidence of life circumstances - and a person is not able to correct his fate, not to rise, and then there is only one road - to the “bottom”.
The heroes of the play got to the rooming house in different ways, but now they have one fate, terrible and inevitable. Their life is not much different from death, it is not for nothing that there are so many deaths in the play, and the clever Satin says: “The dead do not hear! ” These “living dead” are not the worst of people. Many of them dream of goodness, beauty. This is Nastya, Kleshch, Anna. Others have resigned themselves to the existing state of affairs, they are indifferent even to crimes, but they know how to judge everything correctly and unconsciously yearn for the best and worthy. And these humiliated, lonely, deeply unhappy, completely rejected by society people are endlessly arguing about philosophical categories, such as truth, freedom, work, equality, happiness, pride, honesty, conscience, patience, death. All this interests them in connection with an even more important social and philosophical problem: what is a person, why did he come to earth, what is the true meaning of his being?
Gradually, but inevitably, all the participants in the disputes are faced with the question: what is better - truth or compassion, truth or lies for salvation. The preacher of lies for salvation, the wanderer Luke, performs the role of a comforter in the play. The author exposes the philosophy of Luke. Reality itself, the truth of life, refutes Luke's lie, which not only soothes and comforts, but also justifies and reconciles, which is by no means acceptable to a worthy person. The author thinks so, and therefore Luke leaves in the third act: “Lie is the religion of slaves and masters ... Truth is the god of a free man! ”- this is what Satin, opposed to Luka, says, acting as a reasoner.
Man is strong with truth, whatever it may be. The philosophy of Luke is needed only by the weak, who no longer have the strength to fight for their destiny. The play contains proud words about a man: “A man is the truth! Human! It's great! This sounds... proudly! ". These words contrast sharply with the terrible fate of the inhabitants of the rooming house. And this inevitably gives rise to the most difficult questions: why does it happen that people fall to the “bottom”? What to do so that everyone's life would be worthy of the great title - Man? Such deep socio-philosophical problems are posed by the author in his play.
Leonid Andreev wrote that Gorky, as a philosopher, persistently and painfully searches for the meaning of being. “He piled up a mountain of the most severe suffering, threw dozens of diverse faces into one heap - he united everything with a burning desire for truth and justice.”
The play ends tragically, because its heroes, who have fallen to the "bottom", can no longer rise to the light, can not be reborn to a worthy life. But the spiritual awakening of the inhabitants of the "bottom" is near, their desire for the best is growing.
In 1902, the great Russian writer M. Gorky wrote the play "At the bottom". In it, the author raised a question that remains relevant to this day - this is the question of freedom and the appointment of a person. M. Gorky was well acquainted with the life of the lower strata of society, and the sight of suffering, injustice evoked in him a feeling of acute rejection of reality. All his life he was looking for the image of the ideal Man, the image of the Hero. He tried to find answers to his questions in literature, philosophy, history, in life. Gorky said that he was looking for a hero where there are usually no people. In the play “At the Bottom”, the author showed the way of life and thinking of precisely those people who are already considered lost, useless for society. The author changed the name of the play many times: “The Bottom”, “Without the Sun”, “The Nochlezhka”. All of them are bleak, sad. Although it is impossible in another way: the content of the play requires gloomy colors. In 1901, the writer said of his play: “It will be scary...”
The play is rather ambiguous in its content, but its main meaning cannot be distorted or misunderstood.
According to the literary genre, the play “At the Bottom” is a drama. Drama is characterized by plot and conflict action. In my opinion, two dramatic principles are clearly marked in the work: social and philosophical.
Even its title, “At the Bottom”, speaks of the presence of social conflict in the play. The remark placed at the beginning of the first act creates a dull picture of a rooming house. “A basement that looks like a cave. The ceiling is heavy, stone vaults, sooty, with crumbling plaster ... Everywhere along the walls there are bunk beds.” The picture is not pleasant - dark, dirty, cold. The following are descriptions of the residents of the rooming house, or rather, descriptions of their occupations. What are they doing? Nastya is reading, Bubnov and Kleshch are busy with their work. It seems that they work reluctantly, out of boredom, without enthusiasm. They are all beggars, miserable, miserable creatures living in a dirty hole. There is also another type of people in the play: Kostylev, the owner of the rooming house, his wife Vasilisa. In my opinion, the social conflict in the play lies in the fact that the inhabitants of the rooming house feel that they live “at the bottom”, that they are cut off from the world, that they only exist. They all have a cherished goal (for example, the Actor wants to return to the stage), they have their own dream. They seek the strength within themselves to confront this ugly reality. And for Gorky, the very desire for the best, for the Beautiful, is wonderful.
All these people are placed in terrible conditions. They are sick, poorly dressed, often hungry. When they have money, holidays are immediately organized in the rooming house. So they try to drown out the pain in themselves, to forget, not to remember their beggarly position of “former people”.
It is interesting how the author describes the activities of his characters at the beginning of the play. Kvashnya continues to argue with Kleshch, the Baron habitually taunts Nastya, Anna groans “every goddamn day…”. Everything goes on, all this has been going on for more than a day. And people gradually stop noticing each other. By the way, the absence of a narrative beginning is a hallmark of the drama. If you listen to the statements of these people, it is striking that all of them practically do not react to the comments of others, they all speak at the same time. They are separated under one roof. The inhabitants of the rooming house, in my opinion, are tired, tired of the reality that surrounds them. It’s not for nothing that Bubnov says: “But the threads are rotten ...”.
In such social conditions in which these people are placed, the essence of a person is exposed. Bubnov remarks: “Outside, no matter how you paint yourself, everything will be erased.” The residents of the doss-house become, as the author believes, "unwittingly philosophers." Life makes them think about the universal concepts of conscience, labor, truth.
Two philosophies are most clearly opposed in the play: Luke and Satine. Satin says: “What is right, yes?.. A man is the truth!.. Truth is the god of a free man!” For the wanderer Luke, such a “truth” is unacceptable. He believes that a person should hear something from which it will be easier and calmer for him, that for the good of a person it is possible to lie. Interesting points of view and other inhabitants. For example, Kleshch thinks: “... You can’t live ... Here it is, the truth! .. Damn it!”
Luka's and Satin's assessments of reality differ sharply. Luke brings a new spirit into the life of the rooming house - the spirit of hope. With his appearance, something comes to life - and people begin to talk more often about their dreams and plans. The actor lights up with the idea of finding a hospital and recovering from alcoholism, Vaska Pepel is going to go to Siberia with Natasha. Luke is always ready to console and give hope. The Stranger believed that one should come to terms with reality and look at what is happening around calmly. Luke preaches the opportunity to “adapt” to life, not to notice its true difficulties and one’s own mistakes: “It’s true that it’s not always a person’s illness ... you can’t always cure the soul with truth ...”
Satin has a completely different philosophy. He is ready to denounce the vices of the surrounding reality. In his monologue, Satin says: “Man! It's great! It sounds... proud! Human! You have to respect the person! Don't feel sorry... Don't humiliate him with pity... you have to respect him!" But respect, in my opinion, is necessary for a person who works. And the inhabitants of the rooming house seem to feel that they have no chance to get out of this poverty. Therefore, they are so drawn to the affectionate Luke. The Stranger surprisingly accurately seeks out something hidden in the minds of these people and paints these thoughts and hopes into bright, iridescent currents.
Unfortunately, in the conditions in which Satin, Kleshch and other inhabitants of the “bottom” live, such a contrast between illusions and real ty has a sad result. The question awakens in people: how and what to live on? And at that moment, Luka disappears ... He is not ready, and not willing. answer this question.
Comprehension of the truth fascinates the inhabitants of the rooming house. Satin is distinguished by the greatest maturity of judgments. Not forgiving the “lie out of pity”, Satin for the first time rises to the realization of the need to improve the world.
The incompatibility of illusions and reality is very painful for these people. The Actor ends his life, the Tatar refuses to pray to God... The departure from the life of the Actor is the step of a person who has failed to realize the true truth.
In the fourth act, the movement of the drama is determined: life awakens in the sleepy soul of the “dormitory”. People are able to feel, hear each other, empathize.
Most likely, the clash of views between Sateen and Luke cannot be called a conflict. They run in parallel. In my opinion, if we combine the accusatory character of Sateen and pity for the people of Luke, then we would get the very ideal Person who could revive life in a rooming house.
But there is no such person - and life in a rooming house remains the same. Former outwardly. Some kind of turning point is happening inside - people are starting to think more about the meaning and purpose of life.
The play “At the Bottom” as a dramatic work is characterized by conflicts that reflect universal contradictions: contradictions in views on life, in lifestyle.
Drama as a literary genre depicts a person in acutely conflicting, but not hopeless situations. The play's conflicts are indeed not hopeless - after all (according to the author's intention), the active principle, the attitude to the world, still wins.
M. Gorky, a writer of amazing talent, in the play "At the Bottom" embodied the clash of different views on being and consciousness. Therefore, this play can be called a socio-philosophical drama.
In his works, M. Gorky often revealed not only the everyday life of people, but also the psychological processes taking place in their minds. In the play “At the Bottom”, the writer showed that the neighborhood of people brought to life in poverty with a preacher of patient expectation of a “better person” necessarily leads to a turning point in people's minds. In the rooming houses, M. Gorky captured the first, timid awakening of the human soul - the most beautiful thing for a writer.
The play "At the Bottom" was written in 1902. About the idea of the play, Gorky said this: "It will be scary." The place of action is a doss house. The people who live here are thrown out of life, they have lost everything they had.
The play begins with a description of the environment in which the inhabitants of the rooming house live. This is a basement that looks like a cave. Ceiling - heavy stone vaults, sooty, with crumbling plaster. There are bunk beds everywhere, the bed is covered with a dirty cotton canopy. Terrible terrible environment. The morning is just beginning, and the inhabitants of the rooming house are already swearing, Satin is growling, Anna is coughing, the Tick is sharpening iron. Outside the window is spring, but the rooming houses do not notice it.
Each of them has their own destiny, the only common thing is that they fell to the bottom of life. Kleshch is a locksmith, his wife Anna is mortally ill. He hopes that by honest work he will earn money and finally get out of the rooming house. The tick despises the inhabitants of the rooming house, because they do not work like he does.
The baron was once rich. Only memories and Sateen's phrase remained from the former life: "You can't go far in the carriage of the past."
The actor was once famous, played on stage, but drank himself and ended up in a rooming house. However, he hopes that he will be able to get out of the bottom of life and become an actor again. These hopes are destroyed not so much by Satin as by life itself. Vaska Pepel is a thief, his father was a thief, and Vaska's fate is sealed. In any case, prison and Siberia await him.
Nastya is a 24-year-old girl. She sincerely believes that there is such a beautiful, bright feeling as love. She reads books and imagines herself as their heroine, she wants to believe in great love. However, her dreams are untenable, illusory, they will never come true. Nastya simply does not want to face the truth, love in an unfair society is doomed and cannot lead away from social problems. Life is so cruel that love, dreams about it, cannot save a person.
Bubnov is a kartuznik. Once he had his own workshop. But the wife and her lover kicked out Bubnov. At first he wanted to kill his wife, but then changed his mind, resigned himself and simply left the workshop. Having settled in a rooming house, he lost all hope of returning to a normal life. He speaks bluntly and directly about his hopeless situation, he does not know how to sympathize. The so-called "theory of fact" is connected with the image of Bubnov, which consists in the fact that a person is left alone with a cruel reality, he has nowhere to wait for help and support.
Among the other inhabitants of the rooming house, Satin stands out for his education. He was a telegraph operator, but, standing up for the honor of his sister, he ended up in prison, and then in a rooming house. He could work, but consciously does not. Satin considers society to be the culprit of misfortunes and challenges him with his behavior.
The play has no plot. The most important event is the murder of the owner of the rooming house, Kostylev. In the course of the action, Anna dies, the Actor commits suicide. Just as imperceptibly as he appeared, Luka disappears. But all these events are not connected by a single storyline. The main thing was the conversation about the person. Basically, thoughts on this subject are expressed by two heroes - Luke and Satin. Their points of view do not match. Satin owns lofty words about a person, his purpose: “Man - it sounds proud”, “Everything in a person, everything for a person”, “Man is the truth”, “Truth is the god of a free person, lies are the religion of slaves and masters”, “When work is a pleasure, life is good; when work is a duty, life is slavery.” He believes that pity humiliates people. His life philosophy is close to the writer himself, the hero expresses a point of view on the life and position of the Gorky man.
Luke preaches a different philosophy of life. He believes that a person, whatever he is, he is always worthy of pity. “A person needs to be caressed,” says Luka. For him, all people are equal: “Not a single flea is bad, everyone is black, everyone jumps”, “A person is always worth his price”, “A person can do anything, if only he wants to”.
Luke has two favorite stories that he tells to convince him of his truth. One story about thieves who got into the house that was guarded by Luka. He caught the thieves and found out that they were poor convicts, that they went to steal because they were hungry. Luka left them in the house until spring, for which they were very grateful to him. Luke believed that he saved them, having regretted seeing people in the fugitive convicts. Thanks to her, they did not commit a new crime. Luke considers such an attitude towards a person to be the most necessary.
Another story was about a man who believed in the existence of a righteous land and kept hoping to get there. However, scientists proved that there is no such land, and then the disappointed man strangled himself from grief. Thus, Luke's idea that people should not be told the whole truth was again confirmed, the truth can kill.
In his play, Gorky asks the question: where is the truth? How to live? Face the truth or turn a blind eye to social justice?
The death of Anna, Kostylev, the Actor, the arrest of Pepel seem to awaken the whole rooming house from hibernation, people begin to gradually realize the full horror of their situation. In addition, Luka quietly leaves the rooming house, not wanting to be a witness in the police after the murder of the hostel. This speaks of the failure of his life philosophy. The position of Sateen, on the contrary, becomes closer and clearer. Such a position in assessing a person and his abilities was in the spirit of that time, met the needs of the revolutionary era.
Gorky's play "At the Bottom" was a new word in Russian drama. Unusual heroes with unusual destinies posed to the audience not only social issues, but also philosophical ones. The main confrontation is the confrontation of ideas, there is no intrigue as such in the play, it is almost impossible to single out the main and secondary characters among the characters.
People live on the stage, and this life is terrible. Gorky urged every person to think about the causes of grief and suffering and how to alleviate this suffering.
