The play "At the Bottom", written by Gorky during 1902, brought the writer world fame. This work was the writer's response to the most pressing problems of our time. Ideological topicality immediately attracted the attention of the Russian public.
The play completed the cycle of Gorky's works about "tramps". “She was the result of my almost twenty years of observation of the world of“ former people ”,” wrote Gorky. As Gorky's social consciousness took shape, the socio-psychological characteristics of the representatives of "tramp anarchism" became deeper in comparison with the stories of the 1990s.
The inhabitants of the rooming house are already the types in which the writer gave huge socio-philosophical generalizations. Gorky himself said this. “When I wrote Bubnov,” he noted, “I saw in front of me not only a familiar tramp, but also one of the intellectuals, my teacher. Satin - a nobleman, a postal and telegraph official, served four years in prison for murder, an alcoholic and a brawler, also had a "double". It was the brother of one of the major revolutionaries who committed suicide while in prison.
The play was written during a period of acute industrial and economic crisis that broke out in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. It reflects the facts and events of our time that really took place. In this sense, it was a sentence to the existing social system, which threw many people endowed with intelligence, feeling, talent, to the “bottom of life”, led them to a tragic death.
The play towered over all Gorky's works of the 1990s with the power of denunciation. He argued that a society that distorted the human in a person cannot exist. That is why each action of the play ends with the death of one of the inhabitants of the rooming house. This diverse chain of deaths (from natural to murder) also becomes a symbol of the tragedy of such a life. That is why the genre of the play can be defined as a tragedy. The difference between the form "At the Bottom" and the traditional incarnation of this genre is the maximum degree of truthfulness and typicality. In general, tragedy belongs to high art, but Gorgiy managed to rise above the accepted postulates.
The problem of the "bottom" and "masters", which in the play acquires a political sound and is revealed on the example of Kleshch's life, is connected with the "cross-cutting" theme of Gorky's entire work. This is an attempt to solve the problem of humanism. Gorky spoke out against the "offensive to people" preaching of consolation. Whatever the manifestations of consolation, he saw in them only a form of reconciliation with reality.
The problems of consoling illusions are the content of many of the writer's works of the 90s (“Sick”, “Rogue”, “Reader”). But in none of them was it developed with such completeness as in the play "At the Bottom". Gorky exposed this problem in its most diverse manifestations and condemned those who succumbed to the illusions of comforters.
Thus, the main question of the play becomes the question "Which is better, truth or compassion?", "Is it necessary to bring compassion to the point of using lies, like Luke?" It is around this question that heated debates unfold in the play about man, about the meaning and truth of life, about the paths to the future.
The idea of rejection of the philosophy of consolation is expressed in the well-known words of Satin: “Those who are weak in soul ... and who live on other people's juices need a lie ... it supports some, others hide behind it. Lies are the religion of slaves and masters.
Gorky contrasted this lie, the psychology of humility with the truth about a free Man who rejects pity that humiliates a person. Gorky put his thoughts about this into the mouth of Satin. He speaks about the great possibilities of man and mankind, which with their own hands, with their thought will create the life of the future: “We must respect a person! Don't feel sorry... don't humiliate him with pity... you have to respect him!.. Man - that's the truth... only man exists, everything else is the work of his hands and his brain! Man! - It's great! It sounds proud!
The problem of the "bottom", which was so deeply affected by Gorky, is also clearly expressed in the example of Natasha's fate. Her image is strikingly different from other inhabitants of the rooming house. In Natasha, the dignity, purity, pride that so captivated Ash are clearly visible. The main intrigue is whether she will be able to retain these qualities in herself? Most likely no. The proof is her sister Vasilisa. Natasha has a lot in common with her - the same will, directness, pride. Obviously, once Vasilisa was the same as Natasha, but became a "beast", "reptile".
There are hints in the play that explain this metamorphosis. Nastya says about Vasilisa: “You will go wild in such a life ... tie every living person to such a husband as hers ...” Vasilisa herself admits that she torments Natasha and pities her, and cannot help herself: “... so - I beat ... that I myself cry from pity ... And I beat.
There were excellent inclinations in Vasilisa, and Natasha was a living reminder of this. Vasilisa is a mirror that reflects Natasha's future.
In the play "At the Bottom" one of the peculiar genres of Gorky's dramaturgy was minted - the genre of a socio-philosophical play. In this work, the problem is formed not by the clash of individuals in the struggle for personal gain, but for life in general. There are no positive characters in the play, and there cannot be any. That is why the main thing here is the idea that every person has the right to happiness.
A man in M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom".
Man! It's great!
It sounds... proud! Man!
M. Gorky
M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom" was written in 1902. It was a huge success and was staged not only in Russian but also in European theaters. The interest in it is primarily due to the fact that the writer depicted in detail and reliably the life of people who found themselves at the "bottom". Previously, on the pages of Russian classics, people who belonged to high society talked about life and death, about good and evil. Now the floor was given to those who were usually not only not listened to, but also not noticed.
Gorky in his work encourages his contemporaries to reflect on what is better for a person of the "bottom": bitter truth or sweet lie? The characters of the play talk about truth and lies. A person and his destiny occupy almost the main place in the conversations of overnight stays.
In his drama, the writer condemns the existing system, the victims of which were ordinary people. Kostylev, the owner of the flophouse, brazenly sucks out the last pennies of the inhabitants of this "hole" for one night spent here. Before us appears the world of the outcasts, who have been deprived of faith in a better life, human dignity trampled into the dirt by "the mighty of this world." However, according to Satin, a person is the master of his own destiny, and they themselves are to blame for the fact that the shelters were in such a distressed situation. If the Actor had not started drinking, he would not have lost his job and would not have stooped to such a degree.
Among the people of the "bottom" it is difficult to meet someone who is ready and capable not of death, but of life. From Luke's point of view, there are "people" and there are "humans", just as there is land that is inconvenient for sowing ... and there is fertile land. "All the inhabitants of the rooming house are just people, therefore the only grace that will be granted to them is death. That is why Luke convinces Anna to meet death as a long-awaited deliverance from a painful existence.Only Natasha and Pepel find the meaning of life in each other.They are still young and can escape from the power of circumstances.According to Luke, they are able to gain faith in God, which means , worthy of hope and grace.The rest of the inhabitants of the rooming house deserve only pity.And Luka pities them, not realizing that his deceit has a detrimental effect on everyone.
In my opinion, the antipode of Luke in relation to a person is Satin. He declares that man is the sole legislator who determines his own destiny. Everyone's will is strong. Man is free in his actions. He is able to achieve grace on his own, you just need to believe in yourself, and not in God, not in the "righteous land", not in anything else. Feeling sorry for yourself or someone else is pointless, because no one but the person himself is to blame for his sorrows. Is it possible to pity someone who has carried out his own will? If for the believer Luke "blessed are the poor in spirit", then for the atheist Sateen "blessed are the strong in spirit".
At the same time, Sateen has a dream of a 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's why he laughs when Tick, in a fit of despair and powerlessness, declares that he will break out of the "bottom" of life and become a normal person, you just need to work. Satine hates and despises people who "care too much about being full". He convicts Luka of a lie, but understands that the old man was "a crumb for the toothless", he understands that a comforting lie is similar to the lies of the owners. Therefore, he says: "Falsehood is the religion of slaves and masters. Truth is the god of a free man."
However, at a critical moment, the comforter Luka disappeared, fled, discrediting himself and his idea. And this is not the only plot move that allows us to judge the author's position, to believe that the author himself is on the side of Satin.
A person tortured by life can 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 that suicide is one of the manifestations of free will. The death of the Actor means for Gorky the victory of the satin view of man. That is why Satin reacts so calmly to the terrible news. In his opinion, the Actor has gained real faith in himself.
The play "At the Bottom" is strong not so much for its answers as for the questions that arise from the very thick of life, from the most pressing human needs. This is where the main motive of the play is the contradiction between the lie of the owner and the freedom of Man. And this question sounded like hope for those who despaired and resigned themselves to their situation.
Young people tend to build "castles in the air", dream about something. Few people in their youth come up with the idea that they will not achieve anything in life, will drag out a miserable existence, or even sink to the very "bottom" of life. Most often, people dream of eternal love, glory, a comfortable life, serving the people and simple human happiness. M. Gorky's play "At the bottom" is just about such people, people who were "at the bottom".
Initially, the play had another no less telling name "Without the Sun". Then this name was transformed into "Nochlezhka". But this option was also rejected by the author. After much deliberation, a new version is approved - "At the bottom of life." Just before the play's release, in 1902, the title was shortened by one word. In the final version, the name turned out to be the most suitable of all previously announced. The play reflects many of the contradictions of the early twentieth century. It reflects both social and philosophical conflict. There is also a place for love drama. The action of the play takes place in the Kostylevs' rooming house, where "everything is unpainted and dirty", "stone vaults ... with fallen off plaster". The inhabitants of the "bottom" - the inhabitants of the Kostylevo rooming house - were thrown out of their ranks by society. The “bottom” threatens stumbled, weak, unsettled people with moral or physical death. Here were people with different characters, destinies and different social origins: a worker and a thief, a ruined baron and a drunken actor, a woman of easy virtue and a righteous woman. At the first meeting with the inhabitants of the rooming house, it is clear that suffering and very lonely people appear before us. Gorky deliberately does not give a complete biography of the heroes. We can build it only by individual replicas. So what can we say about each hero?
In general, all the inhabitants of the rooming house can be divided into three groups. The first are those who have come to terms with the status quo. Having found a saving dream, false and unrealizable in its essence, they found an excuse for themselves in the rejection of an active life position. The second are those people who would like to start a new life, to get out of the "bottom". And the third, last image is Satin, taken separately from the others. Let's now consider each group separately.
Representatives of the first group are Bubnov, Nastya, Baron, Actor and Anna. We learn about Bubnov from his stories: once he was the owner of a dyeing workshop. His wife soon got along with the master, and Bubnov, fearing for his life, chose to simply leave. According to his theory, the very environment in which a person is placed forms the latter, makes him completely dependent on himself. The truth of Bubnov is the truth of external circumstances, in which a person is denied personal initiative. Here we see a true adherent of fatalism. The environment that surrounds him is vile and dirty. There are no good people here, and therefore there is nothing to "paint" yourself.
Nastya is a girl of easy virtue. Despite all the cruelty, humiliation and insults, she did not despair, did not become cruel and soulless. On the contrary, she sincerely dreams of great and bright love. But in the real, surrounding reality, there is no place for pure love, except for its face value on paper. Not wanting to take a sober look at reality, she created a past for herself, in which supposedly "lived" great and pure love. She presents her created world as real.
Baron - just like Nastya lives in the past, but unlike her, it really took place. From time to time, remembering his former state, his famous family, the Baron is unable to deal with the difficult reality. He finds salvation from memories and bitterness of loss at the bottom of a glass. The author's attitude to such a hero is expressed by the following phrase: "You can't go far in the carriage of the past." So it is: the Baron's "carriage" stands still, and he himself does not take any steps to change his life.
The actor is another inhabitant of the rooming house. The real name of the hero is not known. In the past, he was a representative of the creative intelligentsia, but now he is just a man with no name. Remembering the former glory, each time he paints it in brighter colors than it really was. Saved from the bitter "truth of life" as well as the previous hero - drunkenness.
The most pathetic and tragic character, in my opinion, is Anna. She is the hardest of all: she is sick and fading away every day. Gorkovskaya Anna is a collective image of an ordinary woman of the early twentieth century. She describes her life as follows: “I don’t remember when I was full ... I was shaking over every piece of bread ... I was trembling all my life ... I was tormented ... how not to eat more than others ... I went all my life in rags ... my whole unhappy life. "Most likely she was born in an ordinary poor family.Then she got married, rather not so much out of love as out of necessity.The image of Anna is rather neutral, characterizing the general mass of gray people: who do not create evil in life, but are not a bright image either.She completely resigned herself with the surrounding reality, relying only on happiness in the afterlife.
All these people, having sunk to the very “bottom” after many hardships, became ruthless both to themselves and to others. In response to their complaints, they receive only laughter and bullying from others. The Baron, who lives at the expense of Nastya, is amused by her fantasies and tears. Everyone is closed in his grief and leads an endless story about him, not listening to those who may also need help.
The only one who believes in the ability to escape, to escape from the "bottom" is Kleshch, a representative of the second group. Yes, he is angry with people, sometimes cruel with Anna - his wife. But the only one who sees salvation in exhausting, hard, but honest work: "I'm a working person... I'm ashamed to look at them... I've been working since I was young... Do you think I won't get out of here? I'll get out... I'll take off my skin and get out."
And finally, the third, last group. Its only representative is Konstantin Satin. Why does he stand out from the rest? He is the bearer of the philosophy of the truth of life in a dispute with Luke. In his opinion, one should not give up, it is necessary to openly look at troubles and try to solve them. All we know about him is that in the present he is a card sharper. Previously, he worked as a telegraph operator, but after the crime committed by him, he ended up at the "bottom". In many ways, he stands out against the background of the general mass of "gray" rooming houses: with his remarks, education and intelligence. In a dispute with Luke, they are united by the fact that both stand on positions of respect for a person. But everyone sees it differently. Satin, in his fiery monologue, claims that "falsehood is the religion of slaves and masters. Truth is the God of a free man." He is also against any compassion for a person: "You must respect a person! Do not pity ... do not humiliate him with pity." And therefore, apparently, he opens everyone's eyes to Luka's deceit: the Actor assures that there are no free hospitals for alcoholics, Vaska Ash is jokingly pushing him to crime. And what was the end result of this truth? To the death of the Actor and the exile of Ashes to Siberia. That's the whole truth of Konstantin Satin.
Bed-and-breakfasts appear before us miserable and miserable. None of them could get out of the "bottom", could not change anything in themselves. And so they all remained to live out their short life "at the bottom".
In the play "At the Bottom" M. Gorky explores the consciousness of people thrown to the "bottom" of life as a result of deep social processes. Researchers characterize this work as a social and social-philosophical drama. Three levels can be distinguished in social conflict. Firstly, this is the problem of the relationship between the owners of life, endowed with power, and disenfranchised overnight stays. Secondly, this is the problem of the fate of a person in an unfairly organized society.
Thirdly, the problem of love as a facet of social conflict.
The conflict between the owners of the rooming house, the Kostylevs, and its inhabitants is felt throughout the play.
Kostylev appears on stage in the first act, "humming something divine under his breath, suspiciously examining the rooming house." Already in this remark, the author reveals the hypocrisy and falsity of this hero. He is looking for his wife Vasilisa, suspecting her of treason. His greed and greed are shown in a dialogue with the former locksmith Kleshch. The owner is going to give the guest "fifty dollars" for the place he occupies. The worker answers him rudely, not hiding his hatred: "You throw a noose on me and crush ... You will die soon, but you are still thinking about fifty dollars."
Kostylev behaves like Yudushka Golovlyov: he pours out his affectionate, unctuous speech, using diminutive suffixes, often mentioning the name of God, hiding his self-interest behind a honeyed speech. Praising the Actor for taking care of the sick Anna, the owner of the rooming house hypocritically declares: "In the other world, brother ... everything is taken into account there, every deed of ours is taken into account. In response to his unctuous reasoning about kindness, the Actor remarks:" You are a rogue, an old man. Satin directly declares his dislike for the owner: "Who - except the devil - loves you?" lost". It should be noted that another "crafty old man", whom the inhabitants of the rooming house call both "rogue" and "charlatan", is Luka. He also speaks of his special love for people: "I respect crooks, because in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: all are black, all are jumping. .." Are these roll calls accidental? Perhaps the author wanted to emphasize by this that Luke sows a comforting lie. But Luke instills illusions in the souls of the shelters, pitying them. Kostylev covers selfish interests and the desire for profit with a lie.
Exposing the exploitative essence of the owners, Gorky shows that they are not far from the inhabitants of the rooming house in social terms. Kostylev takes the stolen goods from the thief Vaska Ash and resells them. The relationship between the hosts and the roomers creates only tension, but is not the basis of the dramatic conflict.
The fate of the majority of the inhabitants of the rooming house develops like a drama and ends like a tragedy. There is only one reason for this: indifference to a person in a society based on the hypocrisy of bourgeois morality. People feel unwanted, rejected by society. "You are superfluous everywhere ... and all the people on earth are superfluous ..." - Bubnov declares to Nastya.
Each of the characters in the past experienced their own social conflict, as a result of which they ended up at the "bottom" of life, in a rooming house.
Satin once served on the telegraph, read many books. Protecting his sister, in the heat of anger, he accidentally kills the offender of a loved one. So he ended up in prison, where he learned to play cards.
The actor once had the stage name Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky, played a gravedigger in the drama "Hamlet". But drinking began, and he lost his job in the theater.
Bubnov was a furrier, had his own establishment, but his wife contacted the master. The hero leaves, leaving everything to his wife.
The tick works from an early age. He is proud of the fact that the worker, at first considers himself superior to the rest of the overnight stays. He is still only half a year at the "bottom", but he hopes that after the death of his wife he will start a new life.
Anna trembled all her life over every piece, was afraid to eat too much, endured her husband's beatings.
The baron proudly announces that he belongs to "an old family from the time of Catherine", likes to remember how in the morning he was served coffee with cream in bed. He graduated from the noble institute, got married. Having lost government money, he was forced to put on a prisoner's robe.
Vaska Pepel becomes a thief "by inheritance". "...my parent has been in prison all his life and ordered me too," he says about himself.
Nastya - "a girl living on her own" - lives with dreams of beautiful love, of the feat of self-sacrifice.
These people are victims of social circumstances, and the events of the play confirm this. Vaska Pepel in a fight accidentally kills the owner of the rooming house, Kostylev, and hard labor awaits him in Siberia. He will not go to the "golden side" of his own free will, as Luke advised him. Disfigured by Vasilisa, her own sister Natasha goes missing, more than once
comforting the inhabitants of the rooming house. Anna, who was in poverty before her death, dies. After the death of his wife, the tick loses hope for a decent life of a worker: "the funeral ate" the instrument. Nastya is embittered against everyone, because there is no good Luke nearby, who knew how to support her. The actor commits suicide, despairing and having lost hope of being cured in a free clinic.
The fate and life of the people of the "bottom" serves as irrefutable proof of the violence against the human person, which inevitably arises in the conditions of a bourgeois state based on the principles of lies and indifference to man.
A vivid accusation of this sounds in the speeches of Satin. "Make it so that the work was pleasant to me ... When work is pleasure, life is good!" - he polemically objects to Kleshch, who reproaches the inhabitants of the rooming house for not working.
At the end, Satin makes a speech in defense of the freedom and dignity of a person, no matter what step of the social ladder he is on. He rises up against the lie that justifies "the weight that crushed the worker's hand...and blames the starving one." "Lies are the religion of slaves and masters," says Gorky's reasoner. He opposes humility and humility, calls on people to fight for their rights.
"Love polygon" - the relationship between Kostylev, Vasilisa, Ash and Natasha - is the face of social conflict. Vasilisa is cheating on her husband with Ashes and hopes to get rid of her old and annoying husband with the help of her lover. Ashes leaves Vasilisa for Natasha. Love for a pure, modest girl instills in his soul the hope for an honest working life. The climax of the love conflict is taken offstage. We only learn from the replicas of the overnight stays that the "beast woman" scalded her sister with boiling water out of jealousy.
The murder of Kostylev becomes the tragic outcome of a love conflict. We see that the inhumane conditions of the "bottom" cripple the souls of people. Love here does not lead to personal enrichment, but to mutilation and hard labor.
Thus, from this love conflict, it is the cruel hostess of the rooming house who achieves all the goals at once: she takes revenge on her former lover and her rival, gets rid of her unloved husband and becomes the sole owner of the rooming house. Its moral impoverishment emphasizes the enormity of the social conditions in which both the inhabitants of the rooming house and its owners find themselves.
