In school years, many probably had a chance to get acquainted with the work of the respected Russian writer Maxim Gorky - the play "At the Bottom", without embellishment, describing to all of us the familiar archetypes of people living in Russian realities.

Despite the fact that more than a century has passed since the publication of the drama, the situations that it touches on remain relevant today.

In this article, we will analyze in detail the image of the character Luke from this play, get acquainted with his statements and talk about the attitude of other heroes of the work towards him.

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Where did the wanderer come from

does not reveal the secret the origin of Luke, only a fleeting mention of his wandering life. The wanderer has neither a homeland, nor at least some definite place of residence. He himself says this about it: "Old man – where it is warm, there is homeland.

The inhabitants of the rooming house are also not interested in the past of the old man, they are preoccupied with their problems and attempts "get out in public", and not drag out an existence "at the bottom" for the rest of his life.

Analysis of character characteristics

Luke appears before us in the form kind-hearted old man preaching goodness, love, pity and the will of a person to create his life as his heart tells.

From the hero directly emanates an aura of peacefulness and understanding, which, of course, disposes the characters of the play to him, making them believe that the future is not hopeless and there is a chance to improve their social position, fulfill dreams and desires.

To everyone who, willy-nilly, ended up in a rooming house, Luke chooses the right words, gives everyone hope and encourages them to believe in their dreams, no matter how ridiculous they may seem to themselves and others.

But no matter how sweet and comforting the words of the wanderer sounded, they were only empty sounds, distracting roommates from everyday hardships, and not real support, giving strength to get out of poverty and dishonor.

However, Luka is not a liar, he just sincerely pities those around him and cheers them up, even if it is absolutely pointless and useless.

Luke's relationship with other characters in the play "At the Bottom"

The characters relate to the elder in two ways:

• alone ( thief Vaska Pepel, Actor, Anna, Nastya, Natasha) tell him with relief about their life, confess and receive in response the necessary pity, sympathy and soothing statements;
• other ( kartuznik Bubnov, Satin, Baron, Tick) do not trust a stranger too much and speak to him briefly and skeptically.

One thing is certain - nobody remained indifferent to the appearance of such an extraordinary personality in such a dirty and doomed place.

After the sudden disappearance of the wanderer, the fate of some characters has changed dramatically. The wife of the locksmith Klesch, Anna, died of tuberculosis, the Actor could not come to terms with the hopelessness of his life and hanged himself, Vaska Pepel went to hard labor in Siberia due to an accidental murder, his dreams of an honest life with Natasha came to an end. The rest of the heroes continued to while away their time in a rooming house, but at the same time started thinking about the meaning of their existence, their actions and the problems of others.

Parable of the Righteous Land

The parable of Luke tells us about a man who endured all the hardships and sufferings of earthly life, believing that there is a righteous land where people live in great relationships, help each other and never lie. One day he went to a local scientist he knew and asked him to show the righteous land on a map. He tried to find what he was looking for, but could not. Then the man got angry, hit the scientist, and then went home and strangled himself.

This parable seemed to predetermine the fate of several characters - the death of Anna and the Actor, the imprisonment of the thief Vaska. They believed that their own righteous land would be found for them, that it was possible to get out of the bottom, poverty, but this did not happen. Luka soon left, and with him the hope that warms the heroes of the play also left.

Quotes

The play "At the bottom" is rich thoughtful phrases and the statements of the characters, but perhaps the most significant of them are the words of Elder Luke.

Here are a few of his quotes, to make an analysis and reflect on which everyone who reads the play "At the Bottom" by Gorky should:

“All of them are people! No matter how you pretend, no matter how you wobble, but you were born a man, you will die a man ... "

"I don't care! I respect crooks too, in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: everyone is black, everyone jumps ... "

“You, girl, do not be offended ... nothing! Where is it, where are we to pity the dead? E, honey! We don’t feel sorry for the living… we can’t feel sorry for ourselves… where is it!”

“Here, then, you will die, and you will be calm ... you will not need anything else, and there is nothing to be afraid of!”

“... not in the word - the point, but - why is the word spoken? - that's the problem!"

Outcome

The image of the wanderer Luka in Maxim Gorky turned out to be very multifaceted and reflective major philosophical questions about life, love, principles and human priorities.

And not only Luke - all the characters in one way or another reflect those who we meet in real life.

The writer managed to reflect in his work entertaining philosophical and psychological ideas:

All of the above is important for a correct understanding of the work and simply the situations that happen to people around us, it teaches us to sympathize and set life priorities correctly.

Russian writers have always shown an interest in philosophical problems, that is, in the problems of human existence and the meaning of life. The work of M. Gorky was no exception, and the play "At the Bottom" is rightfully considered the first Russian socio-philosophical drama. One of the most complex in the play is the image of Luke. It is with him that the main philosophical question is connected: “Which is better: truth or compassion?”.

Luke is an itinerant preacher. He appears in a rooming house in the midst of disputes of its inhabitants about conscience and honor. Do they need people who are at the very bottom of life?

The mission of the comforter falls to the share of Luke. He calms everyone and promises deliverance from suffering to everyone. And Luke does not invent anything. Knowing how to feel the dreams and desires of people surprisingly subtly, he only convinces them of what they themselves hope for in the depths of their souls. Luke's position in life is based on the phrase he himself said: "What you believe is what you are." He advises the dying Anna not to be afraid of death, because death will free her from pain and torment. He tells the actor about the possibility of recovering from alcohol in a special hospital. Ash, after the words of Luke, begins to believe that he will find his happiness with Natasha on the "golden side" of Siberia.

The inhabitants of the rooming house have different attitudes towards the old man. So, Nastya, for example, after Luka left, says: “The old man was good!” The tick especially emphasizes that Luke is compassionate. And even Luka's antagonist Satin notes that Luka "was like crumb for the toothless", that he acted on him, "like acid on a rusty coin." But the Baron calls him a charlatan, and the same Klesch says that the old man did not like the truth. And again, oddly enough, Satin rushes to Luke's defense. He interrupts the Baron with the words: "Silence! .. be silent about the old man!" How do you evaluate Luke anyway?

A number of researchers associate the name of Luke with the evil one, with the tempter. But still this is not entirely true. He does not seduce or tempt anyone. However, his name, apparently, is connected with the word "crafty" in the meaning of "cunning". Luka is not as simple as it seems at first glance: he is an outstanding person with great life experience. He quickly navigates the situation, finds an approach to almost everyone. In addition, the name of the hero is associated with the gospel apostle Luke. Before us is a certain bearer of wisdom, the spokesman of his truth, which is connected in a significant way with the Christian commandments. Luke's story about how he took pity on two robbers who were plotting a murder and fed them (that is, responded to evil with good), just confirms this.

Yet for all its complexity and ambiguity, Luke deserves respect. First of all, this person is kind and sympathetic. He is sincere in his attitude towards the people of the “bottom”. In addition, he does not impose his views on anyone. And most importantly, he himself has no personal benefit from this lie. According to Luke, a person lives "for the best." This means that his dreams, hopes, self-esteem should be strengthened, which he does, driven by pity and mercy.

The question of the author's attitude to Luke is very complicated. It is known that the writer more than once called him a swindler, a saint and a rogue. Yes, indeed, Luke expresses his compassion in a peculiar form - in the form of a lie, a beautiful fairy tale. But his lie is not everyday, it can sometimes even be called high. This is a kind of Christian lie for salvation. He believes that the truth is too scary for people, and therefore wants to embellish their existence, bringing a "golden dream" into it.

No matter how Gorky opposed his hero, nevertheless, the writer turned out to be better, wiser and kinder than he originally conceived. When at the end of the play the rooming houses try to “judge” Luka, the author refuses them: Satin immediately and irrevocably stops all conversations.

Thus, in the play "At the Bottom" M. Gorky creates a very interesting and controversial image. On the one hand, Luka is kind and helps people not to lose heart. On the other hand, his lies lead to the fact that the most weak-minded people can not stand it, and their return from the land of dreams to horror Everyday life too hard for them to bear. Thus, for example, the loss of faith leads the Actor to suicide.

Gorky, of course, stands in the position of Sateen and condemns Luka. However, there is no such direct condemnation in the play. The reader and the viewer themselves will have to decide what is better: the truth of Sateen or a lie to save Luke. Or maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

So, Luke takes part in the fate of people thrown to the bottom of life. In his speeches and actions, he tries to distract people from their joyless life, although he knows the sad result of each of the overnight stays. Luke's humanity is necessary for people, because he awakens sympathy, compassion in people, those main values ​​without which one cannot be called a man. But, of course, pity in itself is not able to save people from suffering. Decisive changes in reality are needed. Therefore, Luka and Satin are not antagonists, but rather allies. Luke, like a doctor, patiently and wearily heals tormented souls, and Satin is a dreamer, endowed with the gift of bold creative thought, able to see far and vigilantly. But, unlike Luke, Satin is not a worker in the field of human suffering, but a contemplative. People in and of themselves don't interest him. He is far from their suffering. He is only interested in his own thought, breaking out far beyond the walls of the rooming house.

In M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom", the image of Luka occupies a special place, since his appearance in the rooming house changes the lives of other characters. This article will help to consider the characteristics of Luke ("At the bottom").

Fate

Luke at the time of the story is a sixty-year-old wanderer who found himself in a rooming house, where for a long time other characters of M. Gorky's play live.

Luke talks little about his past life. Most likely, he stayed in hard labor after committing some kind of crime.

In a story about himself, Luka says that he was "crumpled a lot", which is why he is so soft and affectionate. Such a self-characterization allows us to say that Luka had to life path encounter a various obstacles However, he was not afraid of them and overcame everything.

views

Luka held special views, which differed in many respects from the views of other inhabitants of the rooming house. Consider these views with quotations.

Luca believes that every person deserves respect, because no matter what they are, "always worth their price."

That is why Luke treats everyone with warmth and kindness.

The Stranger believed that every person should be treated kindly, that everyone should be pitied. Here Luke relies on the teaching of Christ, who “pityed everyone and commanded us so.” Moreover, Luke notes that it is necessary to feel sorry not for those who have already died, but for those who are still alive, because “it’s good to feel sorry for a person in time!”.

The value of the image

The image of Luka in the play "At the Bottom" occupies a special place. He is the personification of the "three truths" in the work. Luke believes that the truth does not always bring only good to a person. The hero uses a lie to save, giving the inhabitants of the rooming house hope that they will be able to change their lives for the better.

Luke affects the fate of many characters in Gorky's work, which the table will help to demonstrate:

	Influence of Luke
	Helps her, supports her in every possible way, saying that after death she will find the desired peace
	Supports the heroine, believes in her love stories with a French student
	Believes stories that the hero was a powerful noble in the past
Vaska Pepel	Advises to go to Siberia to start there new life, abandoning the thieves way
	He advises to go with Vaska Pepel to Siberia, where she can live in peace without the Kostylev family
	Lies about the existence of a free clinic in which people are treated for alcoholism, gives hope for a change in life for the better and a return to the stage

In short, all the intentions of the wanderer Luke are good, but they lead to real tragedies of a different nature. The white lie that Luke used first gives people hope for the best, but then people realize that they will not be able to change anything, and this only brings disappointment. With the help of the image of Luke, M. Gorky exposes the theory of lies in the name of good.

This article, which will help write the essay “Characteristics of Luke (“At the Bottom”)”, will consider the fate of Luke, his views on life, and also demonstrate the role of Luke in the entire play by M. Gorky.

Artwork test

The image of Luka in M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom" is rightfully considered one of the most interesting and controversial.

This work is studied at school, but it is interesting to study and analyze at any age.

Characteristics of Luke in the play "At the Bottom"

The Wanderer Luka first appears on the pages of the work, when the reader has already become a little acquainted with the main characters who find themselves on the “day of life” and the plot.

The playwright gives a very modest description of the hero, without focusing on his biography.

It's pretty old man with a stick in his hand, he had a knapsack over his shoulders, a kettle and a bowler hat on his belt.

The roommates treated the wanderer rather indifferently, not suspecting what role he would play in their difficult life.

The role of Luke in the drama of Maxim Gorky

M. Gorky made people think about life, about what people turn into under the pressure of life circumstances, and how scary it is to be on the “day of life”, from which you can’t get out.

Philosophy and Truth of Luke

No matter how readers consider the image of Luke, positive or negative, one thing is clear: this kind man came into the life of little people who found themselves on the “day of life” for a reason, he had his own position - a certain mission.

Did he lie? Did he speak the truth? Everyone will answer these rhetorical questions in their own way.

Luka radically changed the atmosphere that was in the rooming house. The heroes began to think, began to dream about something again. The elder was at the same time so gentle and convincing in his speeches that even the biggest skeptics changed their attitude to truth, to man.

Luke quotes and aphorisms

Luke's words are sparkling phrases with deep philosophical overtones. Their topics are very diverse:

• value of human life:
• moral and ethical standards of behavior:
• the power of a word:
• the power of faith:
• parenting:

The meaning of the name Luka in the play "At the Bottom"

It should be noted that the above name is quite interesting, having a hidden meaning. It is of ancient Greek origin, literally means "farmer".

But subconsciously the reader's imagination associates him with the biblical images of the Holy Martyr Luke. Thus, according to many critics, Jesus Christ himself looks at us from the pages of the play and gives his wise advice.

How the inhabitants of the rooming house feel about Luke's words

All Luke's sayings had a deep meaning. He spoke briefly, but always to the point. Each of his words was thought out, honed by life and therefore hit the target.

How does Luke affect overnight stays?

Over time, the heroes realize that Luke deceived them in most cases, but this already becomes unimportant.

The heroes simply perfectly understood that the elder said what supported them, helped to exist in this dirty rooming house.

His parable about righteous land”, which so excited their minds, are just words of comfort that gave them hope. But this, in truth, was exactly what they lacked.

They were lonely and no one needed them, just no one believed in them. And Luke picked up the keys to their so devastated hearts, gave the advice they needed.

Luke's sayings about people - what he says to each of the inhabitants of the rooming house

The hero was not just listened to, the roomers heard him:

• he managed to find words of comfort for Anna before her death;
• was able to convince the Artist to start fighting alcoholism, despite failures and failures;
• supported the girl of easy virtue Nastya, who firmly believed in love;
• even tried to reach out to such a complex Vasily Ash and warn him against a fatal mistake - the murder of his mistress's husband.

Not all the characters in the play needed Luke's advice, there were those whom Luke did not advise anything.

Gorky's attitude to Luka

Quite intriguing was the moment of Luke's disappearance.

He left as quietly and imperceptibly as he had appeared in the rooming house.

The position of the author is clear, he sympathizes with his hero, convincing the reader that all the actions of the wanderer were from good intentions - to help unfortunate, downtrodden people, give them hope, instill faith in themselves and their strengths, identify a goal in life.

Positive or negative character Luke

Over the years, critics and literary scholars have characterized this character rather ambiguously, referring him to either heroes or anti-heroes.

This polarity in views was primarily due to historical realities. At the beginning of the 20th century, Luke was seen as a negative character who was engaged in empty chatter and excited the minds of people who could not change anything in their lives.

Later, critics agreed that Luke gave people hope and faith, and they themselves chose their own path in life.

Science from Gorky Luk

Soviet postulates in education taught readers that each work necessarily has an instructive implication. Speaking of M. Gorky's drama "At the Bottom", it's hard to argue with that.

The image of the wanderer Luke gives readers the opportunity to think about whether society needs such people, what role they play in our lives, how often they come and teach us goodness, faith in our own strength.

M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom" is an innovative literary work. As soon as she appeared, she had a very strong effect. Since then, it has repeatedly caused controversy - and will cause it, because the range of problems raised by the author is too wide, at different stages historical development acquiring new relevance, the author's position is too ambiguous and contradictory, the description of everyday life is too sharp and undisguised. bitter maxim onion character

Unfortunately, for many years the reading of the play was subject to ideological needs. The complex, philosophically ambiguous ideas of the writer were artificially simplified, turned into slogans adopted by official propaganda. Words: "Man... that sounds proud!" often became poster inscriptions, almost as common as "Glory to the CPSU!"

And today, a century later, I want to reread the play again, having an unbiased look at its characters, carefully pondering their words and peering into their actions.

In the center of the play is not so much human destinies as a clash of ideas, a dispute about a person, about the meaning of life. The core of this dispute is the problem of truth and lies, the perception of life as it really is, with all its hopelessness and truth for the characters - people of the "bottom", or life with illusions, no matter how diverse and bizarre forms they may appear. This argument begins long before Luka arrives at the rooming house and continues after he leaves.

Already at the very beginning of the play, Kvashnya flatters herself with the illusion that she is a free woman, and Nastya - with dreams of a great feeling, borrowing it from the book Fatal Love. And from the very beginning, the fatal truth breaks into this world of illusions. It is no coincidence that Kvashnya throws his remark, turning to Tick: "You can't stand the truth!"

From the very beginning of the play, much sounds like M. Gorky's argument with himself, with his former idealization of tramps. In Kostylev's rooming house, freedom turns out to be illusory - having sunk to the "bottom", people have not left life, it overtakes them. And the former Gorky desire - to consider in tramps, lumpen, people cut off from normal human life, first of all good - also recedes into the background.

These people are cruel to each other, life has made them so. And this cruelty is manifested primarily in the persistence with which they destroy the illusions of other people, for example, Nastya, the dying Anna, Klesh with his hope of getting out of the rooming house, starting a new life, Baron, whose entire property is memories of the past greatness of the family and to whom Nastya throws out a retort in bitterness: "You're lying, it didn't happen!".

Among these hardened people, the wanderer Luka appears. And with his appearance, the dispute about a person, about truth and lies, that has already begun, intensifies in his life. Let's take a closer look at the image of Luke. First of all, we note that it is this character of the play that causes the most fierce controversy, is its dramatic nerve.

Luke comforts people. How can you console these former barons, actors thrown out of life, who have sunk to the bottom, a working man who has lost his job, a dying woman who has nothing good to remember about her life, a hereditary thief? And Luka resorts to lies like a verbal drug, like a painkiller. He instills illusions in the inhabitants of the rooming house, and life experience his is such that he subtly feels people, knows that each of them is most important. And he unmistakably presses the main lever of the human personality, promising Anna peace and rest in the next world, the Actor - free hospitals for alcoholics, and Vaska Peplu - a free life in Siberia.

Why is Luke lying? Readers and critics have asked themselves this question more than once when reflecting on Gorky's play. For a long time, negative assessments prevailed in the interpretation of the image of Luke, he was accused of indifference to people, of self-interest (his very name is consonantly associated with the word "evil", and one of the meanings of this word is close to unclean, to the tempter). Luka was also accused of tempting people with his lies, and the death of the Actor was called the main accusation. In the image of the Gorky wanderer, they were primarily looking for ideological sources, he was associated with sectarians, runners, with the ideas of Tolstoyism. However, if you look closely at what Luke is doing, listen carefully to his speech, you understand that the mechanism of his consolation is both simpler and more complicated. He simply did not harden his soul, one cannot but agree with the assessments that Luka Sateen gives: "He lied ... But this is only out of pity for you."

Luka not only deceives, throughout the play he does real, active good: he comforts Anna before his death, tries to reassure Vasilisa. It is this wanderer who prevents Vaska's Ashes from killing Kostylev. By the way, Satin directly pushes Vaska to kill: "... and why don't you kill him, Vasily ?!" - and further: "Then marry Vasilisa ... you will be our master ...". And he advises Ash to go to Siberia as soon as possible, because he foresees: this business will not end well, and his prediction turns out to be correct. Luka doesn’t just lie to the actor, he persuades him: “The only thing you are doing is: you are getting ready for now! Refrain ... pull yourself together and endure ...” And the cause of the Actor’s death is not in illusions, but in their collapse, in insight, in the consciousness of the impossibility of refraining and pull yourself together.

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 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 ..." While a person believed, he lived, but lost faith and strangled himself.

So, in the play, as you can see, the main bearer of good is Luka, he pities people, sympathizes with them and tries to help in word and deed. The author's position in the drama of M. Gorky is expressed, in particular, in the plot. The last event of the play - the death of the Actor - confirms Luke's words: the man believed, then lost his faith and strangled himself.

It is generally accepted that the main opponent of Luke in the dispute about the truth is Satin. This seems to be so, because it is he who pronounces the aphorism: "Lie is the religion of slaves and masters ... Truth is the god of a free man!" However, it is Satin who not only stands up for the old man, forbidding to speak badly about him, but also utters his famous monologue about a person, embodying Luke's ideas. Indeed, what is reasoning, if not a verbal drug, designed to console everyone around, to instill in everyone the illusion of their own worth, regardless of real human affairs. It is not for nothing that after Satin's monologue, a drunken revelry begins in the rooming house, and even the herald of the merciless and evil truth, Bubnov, declares: "How much does a person need? Here I am - I drank and I'm glad!" And only the news of the Actor's suicide suddenly interrupts this picture. Therefore, the last words of the play, put into the mouth of Satin, sound so ambiguous: "Eh ... ruined the song ... fool-cancer!".

It is not Satin who really argues with Luka, but the author of the play himself. It is Gorky who shows that a saving lie did not save anyone, that it is impossible to live forever in the captivity of illusions, and the way out of them and insight are always tragic, and most importantly, that a person living in a world of comforting dreams, lulling deceit, reconciles with his miserable, hopeless real life. This leads him to the fact that he agrees to endure - this motive is heard in the play more than once, for example, in the words of Anna: "If there is no flour ... here you can endure ... you can!", Or in the parable of the righteous land - a person lived badly , but endured in the hope of finding some other life. M. Gorky does not accept this reconciliation with life.

The dispute between the writer and Luke is in many ways a dispute with himself. No wonder contemporaries recalled that in terms of his human qualities, M. Gorky was in many ways close to this wanderer-comforter. Not without reason, already in the post-revolutionary period, he wrote the screenplay "On the way to the bottom", where, under the influence of ideological dogmas, he exposed Luka, showed him as a kulak, a criminal and immoral person. But this scenario turned out to be a creative failure of M. Gorky, and the play "At the Bottom" continues to live today, causing numerous disputes and gaining new relevance.

The image of Luke has long been evaluated in literary criticism unambiguously negatively. Luka was accused of lying out of selfish motives, that he was indifferent to the people whom he was deceiving, and finally, that at the time of the crime he disappeared from the rooming house. But the main accusation that was brought against Luka concerned his position, his attitude towards a person. He preaches pity, mercy, which in previous years were considered something superfluous, even suspicious, a kind of manifestation of conciliation, a retreat from the position of fighting the class enemy (and they saw an infinite number of enemies around them), mercy was declared "intelligent softness", which is unacceptable in clash between the two worlds.

Another thing was not accepted in Luke's position - that he does not call people to struggle, to revolutionary actions, to a radical change in life. All this in ancient times was considered harmful and alien to the man of the new society, "a fighter for a bright society." Today, the image of Luka is read in many ways differently, and the reason for this can simply be an attentive, unbiased acquaintance with Gorky's play.

It seems to me that the image of Luke is the image of a person endowed with personal qualities - such as kindness, compassion, sensitivity - but completely asocial. That's why he doesn't call for a fight. The very way of life of Luke - wandering - suggests that he has no ideas about the order and arrangement of the world. Luka sees only a specific person - and does what he can for him. And let it not be so much - but sometimes this is enough. And in any case, it is better than inaction. Alas, how often people do not do what they can. In fact, Luke embodies half of the slogan "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!" - that is, he, as best he can, tries to make this world a better place, to somehow make life easier for the people he passes by.