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M. Gorky "At the bottom"

Luke(thoughtfully to Bubnov). Here ... you say - it's true ... It's true - it’s not always a person’s illness ... you can’t always cure the soul with the truth ... There was, approximately, such a case: I knew one person who went to the righteous land believed...
Bubnov. What-oh?
Luke. To the righteous land There must, he said, be a righteous land in the world ... in that, they say, land - special people inhabit ... good people! They respect each other, they help each other - in every way - simply - they help ... and everything is nice and good with them! And so the man was going to go ... to look for this righteous land. He was poor, he lived badly ... and when it was so difficult for him that at least lie down and die, he did not lose his spirit, but everything happened, he only smiled and said: “Nothing! I will suffer! A few more - I'll wait ... and then - I'll give up this whole life and - I'll go to the righteous land ... "He had one joy - this land ...
Ash. Well? gone?
Bubnov. Where? Ho-ho!
Luke. And in this place - in Siberia, it was something - they sent an exile, a scientist ... with books, with plans, he, a scientist, and with all sorts of things ... The man says to the scientist: “Show me, do me a favor where lies the righteous land, and how is the road there?” Now this scientist has opened the books, laid out the plans ... he looked and looked - there is no righteous land anywhere! That's right, all the lands are shown, but the righteous one is not! ..
Ash(quietly). Well? There is not?
Bubnov laughs.
Natasha. Wait, you... well, grandfather?
Luke. Man - does not believe ... Should, he says, be ... look better! And then, he says, your books and plans are useless if there is no righteous land ... The scientist is offended. My plans, he says, are the most faithful, and there is no righteous land anywhere at all. Well, here the person got angry - how so? Lived, lived, endured, endured and believed everything - there is! but according to the plans it turns out - no! Robbery! .. And he says to the scientist: “Oh, you ... such a bastard! You are a scoundrel, not a scientist ... "Yes, in his ear - one! And more!.. (After a pause.) And after that he went home - and strangled himself!..
Everyone is silent.

Luka, smiling, looks at Ash and Natasha.

Many of us remember the famous play by M. Gorky, in which there are two heroes: Luka and Satin. Each of them defends his point of view, and only the audience can decide which of them is right.

Let's consider the dispute of these characters in more detail.

The plot and the main characters of Gorky's play

This was not surprising, because the young playwright was able to create not only a touching plot, but also brilliant images of the main characters.

The plot was the life of the inhabitants of a rooming house for the poor, people who have nothing: no money, no status, no social status, and even simple bread. Their fate is tragic, they do not see the meaning of their existence, their future is only death and poverty.

Among the heroes, two antipodes stood out - Luke and Satin, who conveyed to the audience the main meaning of the play.

Luke's position

Luka, an old wanderer of about 60, does not appear in the play immediately. He comes to the rooming house and in his own way tries to console the inhabitants there.

He promises Anna, dying of an illness, heavenly bliss for the torment suffered on earth, the robber Vaska - the opportunity to start new life in distant and cold Siberia, an alcoholic - a hospital where he will be cured, a prostitute - an opportunity to find true love, etc.

Some residents of this institution begin to believe the kind old man, but some of them reject his stories, considering (and deservedly considering) them to be lies.

Philosophy of Luke

In fact, Luke suggests to his listeners that he primitively understands the Christian man must endure everything, because he is sinful, he bears a well-deserved punishment on earth, and after death he will be rewarded according to his deeds.

This philosophy essentially justifies evil on earth, turns God into a powerful and ferocious ruler of people who rewards everyone according to their deserts.

Therefore, Luke seeks to deceive the unfortunate people who have fallen into a rooming house, believing that such deception will help them cope with life's difficulties. Luke is ready to accept social injustice as a given, considering it a consequence of the imperfection of human nature.

Satin Position

Satin is the only rooming house character who tries to maintain his human dignity in the inhuman conditions of extreme poverty.

Once he was a more significant person (although he was a cheater and gambler), but he lost his status after standing up for the honor of his sister, he was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 5 years.

Luka and Satin are very different. They are distinguished not so much by age as by beliefs.

Satin is a humanist, in difficult conditions he did not lose faith in people, he does not want to believe Luke's sweet speeches, believing that every person is "the blacksmith of his own happiness."

Philosophy Satin

The dispute between Luke and Sateen begins with the fact that the latter begins to contradict the words of the old man. No, Sateen does not need consolation, he is looking for active work. His truth is not Christian philosophy. Satin is closer to the position of atheism, which believes that everything is in the hands of the person himself, and does not depend on the action of higher powers. Satin does not believe in the immortality of the human soul, he does not need God, he believes that he was “at the bottom” not because his fate was so, but because he acted nobly and honestly and was punished unfairly.

“The truth is that there is a god of a free man!” Satin exclaims. He strives to build a new socially just society of free people who could live in harmony with themselves.

The characterization of Sateen and Luke shows us that these two people demonstrate by their example two completely different positions, two different attitudes towards life and understanding of a person's place in this world.

The position of Luke is compassionate, but passive, the position of Sateen is active, transformative, active. In the play, Satin won the actual victory in the dispute, because it was Luka who left the rooming house.

The dispute between Luke and Sateen: the reaction of contemporaries

Gorky's play was a huge success with the audience also because the author was able to feel and convey in it the spirit of his time.

Society wanted change. Luke's philosophy did not suit young people seeking to transform society according to new patterns. They were opposed by the more conservative part of the older generation, who wanted to preserve the state and social system.

Luka and Satin were just expressing the social split. They revealed these two irreconcilable positions and philosophies of life.

By the way, the author of the play himself, of course, belonged to the latter, he shared the position of Satin, for him this hero embodied what he himself thought. All his life, Gorky fought those who tried to preach tolerance and forgiveness, his values ​​were the struggle and faith in the great future of his country.

In fact, Gorky himself could be called a "revolutionary in Russian literature", who in his works vividly and vividly conveyed the atmosphere of expectation of a new life by part of the progressively minded youth.

People wanted to abandon the monarchical system, they wanted to abandon the power of the capitalists, they believed that they themselves would be able to build a new and more just state.

As a result, the truth of Luke and Sateen turned out to be unequal. A revolution took place in the country, the Bolsheviks seized power, who, like Satin, decided to abandon religion as an extra social link.

So Gorky's play really turned out to be prophetic. And therein lies the genius of this work of Russian literature.

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"At the Bottom" is a real drama, only not quite ordinary, and Gorky more modestly than correctly called his play Scenes. Before us unfolds something integral and strictly united by the thought and mood of the poet. To the rooming house, where I got bored involuntarily ...

1. The history of the appearance of the play by M. Gorky "At the bottom".
2. Innovation of the play.
3. general characteristics lodging house residents.
4. Position of Luke.
5. Contrasting the ideas of two heroes - Luke and Sateen.

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

The play "At the Bottom" by M. Gorky is one of the most striking and dramatic works of the writer. The play was first shown on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater in 1902. The play was the biggest success in the theatrical life of that time. Over time, it was already staged in other theaters in Russia and Western Europe. The main problems of M. Gorky's creativity in the early 1900s are shown in the play "At the Bottom". Here the writer again, as in his early works, refers to the world of outcasts, although he already considers them a little differently.

What is the innovation of M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom"? In itself, the theme of the human “bottom” is not new in literature, and the novelty of this play lies not in the theme itself, but in its new solution. M. Gorky, depicting the suffering of the people of the “bottom”, denounces the bourgeois-proprietary world and shows the whole society in miniature. The position of the writer towards the tramps has also changed, he is already trying to look into their fate and understand the essence of existence, to reveal social psychology. Describing the terrible pictures of the life of the inhabitants of the rooming house, M. Gorky at the same time shows the powerful strength of these people, which is able to withstand social conditions that affect a person and disfigure him. The heroes of the play "At the bottom" are trying to figure it out and understand - what are the reasons and the meaning of the fate that is prescribed for them. They argue about the truth, about simple human happiness, and most importantly about the personality itself, about its place in this world. Each character in the play has his own opinion and his own answer to these questions.

People living in a rooming house with completely different characters, different origins and ages, but they are all brought together by one fate. And just as differently they perceive their position. The mortally ill Anna and the Tartar put up with their position. The only thing that the Baron can do is a useless mockery of the people of the “bottom”, just like him. Nastya is angry, the thief Vaska Pepel is rebelling, Luka is trying to console all the inhabitants of the rooming house, and Satin philosophizes a lot, but does absolutely nothing to somehow realize his ideals in life. The tick is most worried about his fate, he constantly dreams of someday breaking out of the captivity of the rooming house and starting to live with honest work.

But one of the most important disputes in the play "At the Bottom" is between two residents of the rooming house - between Luka and Satin.

For Luke himself, all people are selfish, pitiful, worthless, and they only need consolation in their lives. The role of Luke is precisely the role of a comforter for all the inhabitants of the rooming house. For Luke himself, there are as many truths as there are people in the world. He tells various stories to the inhabitants of the rooming house: about extraordinary love, about righteous land“In that, they say, land - special people inhabit ... good people! They respect each other ... - they help, "he tells Anna about the wonderful life in the next world" ... and you will be calm ... you will not need anything else and be afraid - nothing! Silence...". The elder informs the actor about a free clinic where alcoholics are cured: “... they are now treating drunkenness, ... Free, brother, they are treating ... such a hospital is arranged ... so that, therefore, they can be treated for nothing ... ". But such a lie of Luka did not help the inhabitants of the rooming house, but, on the contrary, only hurt them. So, the Actor, who for a moment believed in Luke's fairy tale about an extraordinary hospital, very soon realized what his fictional stories were worth. And it is not in vain that the Actor quotes P. J. Beranger:

Lord! If the truth is holy
The world can't find the way,
Honor to the madman who will inspire
Mankind has a golden dream!

These verses by Beranger from the mouth of the Actor sound like a mockery of illusions. He does not want to live in a fictional world and, as a result, commits suicide. As a result, it turns out that all Luke's sermons do not improve a person's life, but, on the contrary, only push him to the edge. Gradually, life itself and harsh reality exposes all the comforting lies of Luke. In M. Gorky's play, Sateen's monologue is opposed to Luke's position. He calls for each person to open their eyes to life's problems and see the real reality, and not the fictional one that Luke suggests. According to Satin, "Lies are the religion of slaves and masters... Truth is the god of a free man!" But all the heroes of this play are absolutely not like free people. These people are losers, they are stupid, they are those "who are weak in soul ... and who live on other people's juices - they need a lie ... it supports some, others hide behind it ... And who is his own master .. ... who is independent and does not eat someone else's, why does he need a lie? ..». But gradually it becomes clear that there is no one in the play who could become his own master.

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

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

Luka and Satin in Gorky's drama "At the Bottom"

In the play "At the Bottom" Gorky shows people broken by life, doomed to death. heroes, their inner world It is revealed not from actions, but from conversations. Each hero carries his own philosophy, his own idea.

The main philosophical problem of the play is the dispute about the truth. These disputes are between the inhabitants of the rooming house throughout the play and, above all, between Luke and Satine. Luke's philosophy is faith in man: "Man must be respected." Faith can replace the real truth, as it helps a person to escape from the terrible reality into the world of beautiful illusions. With the arrival of Luka, the atmosphere in the rooming house became more humane.

Luke strives to give at least some hope to perishing people: "Everyone thinks that he lives for himself, but it turns out for the best," brings relief to the inhabitants of the "bottom", consoles them, wakes up the Man in everyone. The baron, having escaped from the world of things, exclaims: "But for some reason I was born." Anna calms down with talk about blissful silence after death, Pepel seduces with pictures of a free life in Siberia, Natasha - with possible love, tells the Actor about an alcoholism clinic, and he believes: "I worked today, swept the street, but I didn’t drink vodka!". Luke sows words of comfort and hope, but all his promises are false. Telling the parable of the righteous land, Luke shows how saving lies are sometimes for people and the truth is dangerous.

But at the very important point for the inhabitants of the rooming house, when faith in something better was born in many, Luke disappears. Awakened by Luke, people come into conflict with the outside world and cannot change their deplorable situation: the Actor - hanged himself, Ashes - in prison, Natasha - disappeared, Anna - died. With this tragic ending, Gorky shows that Luka was wrong. Throughout the play, Luke lies, supposedly for the good of other people, although in reality this lie only destroys them.

Why is he lying? Perhaps in order to even more assert himself in his belief that he says Luke's philosophy rejects Satin: "Lie is the religion of slaves and masters. Truth is the god of a free man!" From the philosophy of Luca, Satin takes faith in man: "Man - that's the truth!", But without pity. Satin is a philosopher, he talks about the meaning of a person: “only a person exists, everything else is the work of his hands and brain”, Sometimes he is cynical and it is this cynicism that exposes the dirt with which Satin himself and all other residents live side by side .

Satin is a card sharper who is not afraid of either life or death. He has lost his name, his job, but he is independent of circumstances, he appreciates freedom: "It's good to feel like a man!" But Satin is not suitable for the present case. Satin's words, instilling faith in a person, in his mind, only temporarily affected the roommates, united by a common fate, expressed by a prison song: "I want to be free, but I can't break the chain." hero. The burden of general impotence drags all Gorky's characters to the bottom.