Initially, Maxim Gorky called the play “Without the Sun”, among the options were “Nochlezhka”, “The Bottom”, “At the Bottom of Life”, but he settled on the most suitable and meaningful title - “At the Bottom”. Indeed, it is not as transparent as “At the Bottom of Life,” because here not only the social status of the heroes is considered, but also their state of mind.
The play takes place in a rooming house, and its inhabitants are thieves, slackers, drunkards and even murderers, those whom society has long abandoned. None of them, except Kvashnya, the dumpling seller, had a job and did not want to do work. The baron used to serve somewhere, was an aristocrat, but he stole and ended up in prison. Satin, protecting his sister, killed her husband. Nastya is a great inventor, telling ridiculous stories about her lovers. The actor was kicked out of the theater for drunkenness.
Bubnov owned a dyeing workshop, but, fearing that he might kill his wife and her lover, he left, leaving them all his property. Locksmith Kleshch sits without work and blames his miserable situation on his wife, whom he himself brought to death with constant beatings and drunkenness. All these people once had something, but due to weakness or vices they could not keep it, and ended up at the “bottom”.
But, despite the poverty, cramped conditions and suffocating atmosphere of indifference to others, each of the shelters dreams of something. Nastya, reading romance novels, tremblingly awaits her prince, who will lead her to another, pure life. The actor once admits that it’s hard for him to do without a name, as if he doesn’t have one at all. He justifies his lifestyle by “illness”, alcohol poisoning, but continues to dream of the stage and only thinks about how he will find a hospital, but does not begin the search.
Kleshch is sure that his life is about to change for the better as soon as he is freed from his wife. But Anna was gone, and the desired freedom brought him nothing but disappointment. They all wanted to escape from this environment, and with the arrival of Luke they finally had hope. The old man made it clear to everyone that their fate was in their hands, they just had to try. Yes, the night shelters were inspired by the opportunity to start everything from scratch, but, apparently, their hearts, indifferent to their lives, became ballast, preventing them from rising from this “bottom.” It’s convenient for them to live like this, they got used to living almost without “oxygen”, they forgot what willpower is, so they were content with vague dreams and did nothing.
“Bottom” according to Gorky means not so much the social status, the place of residence of the heroes, but rather their way of life. All of them seem to be satisfied with the position of the lumpen, the miserable and impoverished life, spiritual emptiness and moral baseness. There is no sunlight visible at the bottom - there is only darkness, cold and loneliness. And this is the life of the characters in the play.
A. M. Gorky “At the Depth”
The meaning of the play
Gorky about the meaning of the play: “The main question that I wanted to pose is what is better - truth or compassion? What is more needed? Is it necessary to take compassion to the point of using lies like Luke? This is not a subjective question, but a general philosophical one.
The play is philosophical, but everything universal in it is inseparable from the deeply vital and specifically historical. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the social and everyday content of the play. The fact that the characters previously known from Gorky's stories, tramps, are given in a reduced level. Gorky saw and reflected in the play not the tragedy of the Russian people, but the tragedy of Russian life.
In the title, it was important for the author to highlight not the place of action, not the nature of the conditions, not even social status, but what the soul is filled with, what happens at the bottom of human life, at the bottom of the human soul.
Luke
Outwardly, Luka does not in any way affect the lives of the night shelters, but a serious conflict begins in their minds, so the subject of study in the play is the social conditions of reality and their reflection in the minds of people. In each of the heroes, Luke saw the bright sides of his personality; all his conversations were aimed at supporting the person, his faith in the best. Therefore, he only talks to those who live the truth of hope; he has nothing to talk about with non-believers. In an effort to understand human nature, Luke makes a number of wise observations. The essence of these observations is that a person is worthy of respect, love and pity. The origins of this attitude towards man lie in Luke’s conviction that man is initially good, and only the social disorder of life makes him bad and imperfect. That's why the shelters reached out to Luka, who is kind and sincere with us and selfless in his desire to help. He doesn't deceive anyone and doesn't lie to anyone about anything. Thus, Luke acts as an ideologist of passive consciousness, and in the dispute about truth that arises between him and Bubnov, the Baron, Luke affirms the charity of a comforting lie. The parable of the righteous land expresses the idea that a person cannot be deprived of hope, even if it is scanty.
The truth of Luke and the truth of Satin
Luke's sermon gave Satin the impetus for the emergence of a new position in life, which is also based on respect for man, but the emphasis is shifted towards the active participation of man in life. Satin's monologue is only the first step towards the formation of a person's active consciousness. Gorky’s attitude towards Luka is ambiguous; in the development of the plot one can feel the author’s reproach to Luka, because all illusions have been destroyed. On the other hand, the author blames not Luka for what happened to people, but the night shelters themselves, and thereby reveals one of the main features of the Russian national character. Dissatisfaction with life, a critical attitude towards it and the inability to change something.
His work tells us about the night shelter where the heroes of the work gathered and at first the author called his masterpiece “Nochlezhka”. But this name would take us only to a specific place, namely to the place of lodging that Kostylev owned and where the heroes of the play gathered. It was a basement with a heavy ceiling, where there were no normal chairs, and instead of beds there were bunks. A small square window only occasionally let in light. In a word, the name Nochlezhka could not fully convey the meaning of the play. But Gorky wanted the work to be broader and deeper. It revealed more of the essence. The author was thinking about giving another name to his play. For example, the title Without the Sun would have been profound, but it didn't quite fit the theme. Although the heroes had little joy and warmth in their lives, they could see the sunshine.
What is the meaning of the title of the play At the Bottom?
When Gorky renamed his work, the meaning of the name began to play with different colors, and we will try to speculate a little about the meaning of the title of the play At the Lower Depths in ours.
Reading Gorky's work, we will get acquainted with the heroes of the shelter - embittered, weak-willed, sick people. From their stories and conversations, we conclude that they have already lost faith in life, have lost meaning and hope in it. These lost people no longer expect anything from life, and they don’t want to change anything in their existence. All this directly indicates that they are already at the very bottom of the social ladder. Heroes cannot live without drunkenness, scandals, and lies. They constantly scold, but still we see that people at the bottom are still capable of talking about truth and freedom. But each of them has its own truth. The title At the Bottom fully reveals the essence of the play. Thanks to the well-chosen name, the author showed that this is not only about a place to spend the night, which looks like a cave and seems as if you are at the very bottom. But I was also able to convey the atmosphere that hovered in this shelter. The moral and ethical ugliness of the people who gathered there. Subsequently, Gorky’s “at the bottom” became symbolic and revealed not only the essence of the play, but also the lifestyle of some people in our society.
Maxim Gorky's play "At the Lower Depths" is still the most successful drama in the collection of his works. She won the favor of the public during the author’s lifetime; the writer himself even described the performances in other books, ironizing about his fame. So why did this work captivate people so much?
The play was written at the end of 1901 - beginning of 1902. This work was not an obsession or a gust of inspiration, as is usually the case with creative people. On the contrary, it was written specifically for a troupe of actors from the Moscow Art Theater, created to enrich the culture of all classes of society. Gorky could not imagine what would come of it, but he realized the desired idea of creating a play about tramps, where about two dozen characters would be present.
The fate of Gorky's play cannot be called the final and irrevocable triumph of his creative genius. There were different opinions. People were delighted or criticized such a controversial creation. It survived bans and censorship, and to this day everyone understands the meaning of the drama in their own way.
The meaning of the title of the play “At the Bottom” personifies the social position of all the characters in the work. The title gives an ambiguous first impression, since there is no specific mention of what day we are talking about. The author gives the reader the opportunity to use his imagination and guess what his work is about.
Today, many literary scholars agree that the author meant that his heroes are at the bottom of life in the social, financial and moral sense. This is the meaning of the name.
The play is written in a genre called “social and philosophical drama.” The author touches on precisely such topics and problems. His direction can be designated as “critical realism,” although some researchers insist on the formulation “socialist realism,” since the writer focused the public’s attention on social injustice and the eternal conflict between the poor and the rich. Thus, his work took on an ideological connotation, because at that time the confrontation between the nobility and the common people in Russia was only heating up.
The composition of the work is linear, since all actions are chronologically consistent and form a single thread of the narrative.
The essence of Maxim Gorky's play lies in the depiction of the bottom and its inhabitants. Show readers in the play's characters the marginalized, people humiliated by life and fate, rejected by society and who have broken ties with it. Despite the smoldering flame of hope - having no future. They live, argue about love, honesty, truth, justice, but their words are just empty words for this world and even for their own destinies.
Everything that happens in the play has only one purpose: to show the clash of philosophical views and positions, as well as to illustrate the dramas of outcast people to whom no one lends a helping hand.
The inhabitants of the bottom are people with different life principles and beliefs, but they are all united by one condition: they are mired in poverty, which gradually deprives them of dignity, hope and self-confidence. She corrupts them, dooming the victims to certain death.
Despite the seemingly fairly simple plot and the absence of sharp climactic turns, the work is replete with themes that provide food for thought.
The play has a rich range of issues. Maxim Gorky tried in one work to indicate the moral problems that were relevant at that time, which, however, still exist to this day.
The idea of Gorky's play is that all people are absolutely the same, regardless of their social and financial status. Everyone consists of flesh and blood, the differences lie only in upbringing and character, which give us the opportunity to react differently to current situations and act based on them. No matter who you are, life can change in an instant. Any of us, having lost everything we had in the past, having sunk to the bottom, will lose ourselves. There will no longer be any point in keeping oneself within the bounds of social decency, looking appropriate and behaving appropriately. When a person loses the values established by others, he becomes confused and falls out of reality, as happened with the heroes.
The main idea is that life can break any person. Make him indifferent, bitter, having lost any incentive to exist. Of course, an indifferent society will be to blame for many of his troubles, which will only push the falling one. However, the broken poor are often themselves to blame for the fact that they cannot rise up, because it is difficult to find someone to blame for their laziness, depravity and indifference to everything.
Gorky's author's position is expressed in Satin's monologue, which scatters into aphorisms. “Man – sounds proud!” - he exclaims. The writer wants to show how to treat people in order to appeal to their dignity and strength. Endless regret without concrete practical steps will only harm the poor man, because he will continue to feel sorry for himself rather than work to get out of the vicious circle of poverty. This is the philosophical meaning of drama. In the debate about true and false humanism in society, the winner is the one who speaks directly and honestly, even at the risk of incurring indignation. Gorky in one of Satin’s monologues connects truth and lies with human freedom. Independence comes only at the cost of comprehension and search for truth.
Each reader will draw his own specific conclusion. The play “At the Bottom” can help a person understand that in life it is always worth striving for something, because it gives strength to move on without looking back. Don't stop thinking that nothing will work out.
Using the example of all the heroes, one can see absolute inaction and disinterest in their own fate. Regardless of age and gender, they are simply mired in their current situation, making the excuse that it is too late to resist and start all over again. A person himself must have the desire to change his future, and in case of any failure, do not blame life, do not be offended by it, but gain experience by experiencing the problem. The inhabitants of the shelter believe that suddenly, for their suffering in the basement, a miracle should fall on them that will bring them a new life, as it happens - Luka appears to them, wanting to cheer up all the despairing, help with advice to make life better. But they forgot that words cannot help the fallen man; he extended his hand to them, but no one took it. And everyone is just waiting for action from anyone, but not from themselves.
It cannot be said that before the birth of his legendary play, Gorky did not have any popularity in society. But, it can be emphasized that interest in him intensified precisely because of this work.
Gorky managed to show everyday, everyday things surrounding dirty, uneducated people from a new angle. He knew what he was writing about, since he himself had experience in achieving his position in society; after all, he was from the common people and an orphan. There is no exact explanation why the works of Maxim Gorky were so popular and made such a strong impression on the public, because he was not an innovator of any genre, writing about all known things. But Gorky’s work was fashionable at that time, society liked to read his works and attend theatrical performances based on his creations. It can be assumed that the degree of social tension in Russia was rising, and many were dissatisfied with the established order in the country. The monarchy had exhausted itself, and popular actions in subsequent years were harshly suppressed, and therefore many people gladly looked for disadvantages in the existing system, as if reinforcing their own conclusions.
The peculiarities of the play lie in the way of presentation and presentation of the characters, in the harmonious use of descriptions. One of the problems raised in the work is the individuality of each hero and his struggle for it. Artistic tropes and stylistic figures very accurately depict the living conditions of the characters, because the author saw all these details personally.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!
Lessons 13–14
Social and philosophical drama
M. Gorky “At the Bottom”
Goals : give an initial idea of socio-philosophical drama as a genre of drama; introduce the ideological content of Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths”; develop the ability to analyze a dramatic work.
Tasks : determine the philosophical meaning of the title of Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths”; find out the author's techniques for conveying the atmosphere of spiritual separation of people, revealing the problem of imaginary and real overcoming a humiliating situation, sleep and awakening of the soul.
Progress of lessons
I. Opening remarks.
1. Teacher. Gorky became an innovator not only in Russian romanticism, but also in drama. He spoke originally about the innovation of Chekhov, who “killed realism” (of traditional drama), raising images to a “spiritualized symbol.” But Gorky himself followed Chekhov.
Gorky's drama turns 105 years old in 2007 (the premiere took place on December 18, old style, 1902 at the Moscow Art Theater); Since then, the play has been staged and filmed in Russia and abroad many times, dozens of critical and scientific works have been devoted to it, but hardly anyone would dare to say that even today everything is known about this work.
2. Personal message student “The stage fate of Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths.”
The Moscow Art Theater archive contains an album containing over forty photographs taken by the artist M. Dmitriev in Nizhny Novgorod dosshouses. They served as visual material for actors, make-up artists and costume designers when staging the play at the Moscow Art Theater by Stanislavsky.
In some photographs, Gorky’s handwriting made comments from which it follows that many of the characters in “At the Lower Depths” had real prototypes in the environment of Nizhny Novgorod tramping. All this suggests that both the author and the director, in order to achieve maximum stage effect, strived, first of all, for life authenticity.
The premiere of “At the Lower Depths,” which took place on December 18, 1902, was a phenomenal success. The roles in the play were performed by: Satin - Stanislavsky, Luka - Moskvin, Baron - Kachalov, Natasha - Andreeva, Nastya - Knipper.
This influx of famous actors plus the originality of the author's and director's decisions gave a result that no one expected. The fame of “At the Lower Depths” itself is a unique cultural and social phenomenon of the early 20th century and has no equal in the entire history of world theater.
“The first performance of this play was a complete triumph,” wrote M. F. Andreeva. - The public went wild. The author was called countless times. He resisted, didn’t want to come out, he was literally pushed onto the stage.”
On December 21, Gorky wrote to Pyatnitsky: “The success of the play is exceptional, I did not expect anything like this...” Pyatnitsky himself wrote to L. Andreev: “Maksimych’s drama is a delight! Like a shaft, he would hit the foreheads of all those who talked about the decline of his talent.” “At the Depths” was highly appreciated by A. Chekhov, who wrote to the author: “It is new and undoubtedly good. The second act is very good, it is the best, the most powerful, and when I read it, especially the end, I almost jumped with pleasure.”
“At the Lower Depths” is M. Gorky’s first work, which brought the author world fame. In January 1903, the play premiered in Berlin at the Max Reinhardt Theater, directed by Richard Walletin, who played the role of Satin. In Berlin, the play ran for 300 performances in a row, and in the spring of 1905 its 500th performance was celebrated.
Many of his contemporaries noted in the play a characteristic feature of early Gorky - rudeness.
Some called it a flaw. For example, A. Volynsky, after the play “At the Lower Depths,” wrote to Stanislavsky: “Gorky does not have that tender, noble heart, singing and crying, like Chekhov’s. It’s a bit rough, as if it’s not mystical enough, not immersed in some kind of grace.”
Others saw in this a manifestation of a remarkable, integral personality who came from the lower strata of the people and, as it were, “exploded” traditional ideas about the Russian writer.
3. Teacher. “At the Lower Depths” is a programmatic play for Gorky: created at the dawn of the 20th century, it expressed many of his doubts and hopes in connection with the prospects of man and humanity to change themselves, transform life and open the sources of creative forces necessary for this.
This is stated in the symbolic time of the play, in the stage directions of the first act: “The beginning of spring. Morning". His correspondence eloquently testifies to the same direction of Gorky’s thoughts.
On the eve of Easter 1898, Gorky greeted Chekhov with promise: “Christ is risen!”, and soon wrote to I. E. Repin: “I don’t know anything better, more complex, more interesting than a person. He is everything. He even created God... I am sure that man is capable of endless improvement, and all his activities will also develop with him... from century to century. I believe in the infinity of life, and I understand life as a movement towards the perfection of the spirit.”
A year later, in a letter to L.N. Tolstoy, he repeated almost verbatim this fundamental thesis for himself in connection with literature: “Even a great book is only dead, a black shadow of the word and a hint of the truth, and man is the receptacle of the living God. I understand God as an indomitable desire for improvement, for truth and justice. And therefore, a bad person is better than a good book.”
4. What are your impressions of reading Gorky’s play?
II. Work on the topic of the lesson. Working with the text of Gorky's play.
1. How do you understand the title of the play: “At the Bottom”?
Teacher . How did Gorky combine faith in man - “the receptacle of the living God”, capable of “infinite improvement”, faith in life - “movement towards the improvement of the spirit” - and vegetation “At the bottom of life” (this is one of the options for the name of the drama)?
Do his words, in comparison with the characters of the play, seem like a mockery of a person, and its characters against the background of these words - a caricature of humanity?
No, because before us are two sides of Gorky’s single worldview: in his letters there are ideal impulses, in his work there is an artistic exploration of human capabilities.
The God-man and the “bottom” are contrasts, and the contrast forced us to look for invisible but existing secret laws of existence, spirit, capable of “harmonizing the nerves,” changing a person “physically,” snatching him from the bottom and returning him “to the center of the process of life.”
This philosophy is implemented in the system of images, composition, leitmotifs, symbolism, and in the words of the play.
Bottom in the play it is multi-valued and, like much in Gorky, symbolic. The title correlates the circumstances of life and the human soul.
Bottom- this is the bottom of life, the soul, the extreme degree of decline, a situation of hopelessness, a dead end, comparable to the one about which Dostoevsky’s Marmeladov spoke with bitterness - “when there is nowhere else to go.”
“The bottom of the soul” is the innermost, far hidden in people. “It turns out: on the outside, no matter how you paint yourself, everything will be erased,” Bubnov stated, remembering his bright past, painted in the literal and figurative sense, and soon, turning to the Baron, he clarified: “What was was, but what remains is nothing but trifles.” ..."
2. What can you say about the location? What are your impressions of the setting in which the main events take place?
The Kostylevs’ shelter resembles a prison; it’s not for nothing that its inhabitants sing the prison song “The Sun Rises and Sets.” Those who end up in the basement belong to different strata of society, but everyone has the same fate, they are renegades of society, and no one manages to get out of here.
Important detail: The inside of the lodging house is not as gloomy, cold and alarming as the outside. Here is a description of the outside world at the beginning of the third act: “A wasteland is a courtyard littered with various rubbish and overgrown with weeds. In its depths is a tall brick firewall. It covers the sky... Evening, the sun sets, illuminating the firewall with a reddish light.”
It's early spring, the snow has recently melted. “It’s a dog’s cold place...”, says Tick, shuddering, as he enters from the entryway. In the finale, the Actor hanged himself in this vacant lot.
It’s still warm inside and people live here.
- Who are they?
3. Quiz on the content of the work.
A) Which of the characters in the play “At the Lower Depths”...
1) ...states that he “seems to have no character”? (Baron.)
2) ...doesn't want to reconcile with life at the “bottom” and declares:
“I’m a working man... and I’ve been working since I was little... I’ll get out... I’ll rip off my skin, but I’ll get out”? (Mite.)
3) ...dreamed of a life “so that you could respect yourself”? (Ash.)
4) ...lives with dreams of great, true human love? (Nastya.)
5) ...believes that she will be better off in the next world, but still wants to live at least a little longer in this world? (Anna.)
6) ... “lay down in the middle of the street, plays the accordion and yells: “I don’t want anything, I don’t want anything”? (Shoemaker Alyoshka.)
7) ...tells the man who asked her to marry him: “... getting married for a woman is like jumping into an ice hole in winter”? (Kvashnya.)
8) ...under the guise of serving God, he robs people! “...and I’ll throw half a kopeck on you - I’ll buy some oil for the lamp... and my sacrifice will burn in front of the holy icon...”? (Kostylev.)
9) ...is indignant: “And why do they separate people when they are fighting? If we let them beat each other freely... they would fight less, so they would remember the beatings longer..."? (Policeman Medvedev.)
10) ... ended up in a shelter because he left his wife, afraid to kill her, jealous of another? (Bubnov.)
11) ...he consoled everyone with beautiful lies, and in difficult times “disappeared from the police... like smoke from a fire...”? (Wanderer Luke.)
12) ...beaten, scalded with boiling water, asking to be taken to prison? (Natasha.)
13) ...claimed: “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters... Truth is the god of a free man!”? (Satin.)
B) What circumstances brought each of them to Kostylev’s shelter?
1) A former official in the treasury chamber? (The baron went to prison for embezzlement of government money, and then ended up in a shelter.)
2) A watchman at the dacha? (The overnight stay for Luke is just one of the points of his wanderings.)
3) A former telegraph operator? (Because of his sister, Satin “killed a scoundrel in passion and irritation,” went to prison, and after prison ended up in a shelter.)
4) Furrier? (Bubnov was once the owner of his own workshop; after leaving his wife, he lost “his establishment” and ended up in a shelter.)
Teacher . These people are forced to live in the same room, which only burdens them: they are not ready to help each other in any way.
– Re-read the beginning of the play (before Luka appears in the shelter).
1. Gorky conveyed the stability of people’s alienation in the form polylogue, composed of replicas that do not fit together. All remarks are heard from different angles - Anna’s dying words alternate with the cries of the night shelters playing cards (Satin and Baron) and checkers (Bubnov and Medvedev):
Anna . I don’t remember when I was full... All my life I walked around in rags... all my miserable life... For what?
Luke. Oh, baby! Tired? Nothing!
Actor (To Crooked Zob). Move with jack... jack, damn it!
Baron. And we have a king.
Tick. They will always beat you.
Satin. This is our habit...
Medvedev. King!
Bubnov. And I... w-well...
Anna . I'm dying, that's it...
2. In individual remarks, words that have a symbolic sound are highlighted. Bubnov’s words “but the threads are rotten” hint at the lack of connections between the shelters. Bubnov remarks about Nastya’s situation: “You’re superfluous everywhere.” This once again indicates that the residents of Kostylev have difficulty “tolerating” each other.
3. Outcasts from society reject many generally accepted truths. As soon as Klesch says, for example, that the night shelters live without honor and conscience, Bubnov will answer him: “What is conscience for? I’m not rich,” and Vaska Ash will quote Satin’s words: “Every person wants his neighbor to have a conscience, but, you see, it’s not beneficial for anyone to have one.”
5. How does the atmosphere of Acts 2 and 3 differ from Acts 1?
Students reflect, giving examples from the text.
The atmosphere of Acts 2 and 3 is different compared to Act 1. A cross-cutting motive arises for the inhabitants of the flophouse leaving for some illusory world. The situation changes with the appearance of the wanderer Luke, who with his “fairy tales” revives dreams and hopes in the souls of the night shelters.
The undocumented tramp Luka, who has been tormented a lot in his life, has come to the conclusion that a person is worthy of pity, and generously bestows it on the night shelters. He acts as a comforter, wanting to encourage a person or reconcile him with a joyless existence.
The old man advises the dying Anna not to be afraid of death: it brings peace, which the eternally hungry Anna has never known. To the drunken actor, Luka inspires hope for recovery in a free hospital for alcoholics, although he knows that there is no such hospital. He talks to Vaska Pepl about the opportunity to start a new life with Natasha in Siberia.
But all this is just a comforting lie, which can only calm a person for a while, muffling the difficult reality.
The night shelters also understand this, but they listen to the old man with pleasure: they want to believe his “fairy tales”, dreams of happiness awaken in them.
Bubnov. And why is it... people love to lie so much? Always - as an investigator faces... the right!
Natasha. Apparently, a lie... is more pleasant than the truth... Me too...
Natasha. I invent... I invent and - wait...
Baron. What?
Natasha (smiling embarrassedly). So... I think, tomorrow... someone... someone... special will come... Or something will happen... also - unprecedented... I've been waiting for a long time... always - I’m waiting... And so... in reality - what can you wish for?
In the remarks of the night shelters there is a sense of deceptive liberation from circumstances. The circle of existence seems to have closed: from indifference to an unattainable dream, from it to real shocks or death (Anna dies, Kostylev is killed). Meanwhile, it is in this state of the characters that the playwright finds the source of their spiritual turning point.
III. Summary of lessons.
– Make a generalization: what are the features of Gorky’s drama - in the development of action, in content?
That's an example social and philosophical drama. How do you understand this definition?
In the play “At the Lower Depths” the author did not limit himself to only depicting the characteristic social and everyday aspects of Russian reality. This is not an everyday play, but a social and philosophical play, which is based on a dispute about a person, his position in society and his attitude towards him. And almost all the inhabitants of the shelter participate in this dispute (to one degree or another).
Individual: problem Human in Gorky's play "At the Depths".
M. Gorky’s work “At the Depths” touches on a huge layer of moral, ethical and spiritual problems of society. The author used the principle of the great minds of the past: truth is born in dispute. His play, a debate, is designed to raise the most important questions for a person so that he can answer them for himself. A complete analysis of the work can be useful for 11th grade students in preparing for literature lessons, test assignments, and creative works.
Year of writing– end of 1901 – beginning of 1902.
History of creation- the play was created specifically for production in the theater; Gorky put the most important questions of life into the mouths of his characters, reflecting his own view of life. The period of the late 19th century is shown, a deep economic crisis, unemployment, poverty, ruin, and the collapse of human destinies.
Subject- the tragedy of rejected people who found themselves at the very bottom of life.
Composition– linear composition, the events in the play are arranged in chronological order. The action is static, the characters are in one place, the play consists of philosophical reflections and debates.
Genre– social and philosophical drama, debate play.
Direction– critical realism (socialist realism).
The play was conceived by Gorky a year before its creation; once in a conversation with Stanislavsky, he mentioned that he wanted to create a play about the inhabitants of a shelter who had sunk to the very bottom. In 1900 -1901 the author made some sketches. During this period, Maxim Gorky became seriously interested in the plays of A.P. Chekhov, their production on stage and the acting. This was crucial for the author in terms of working in a new genre.
In 1902, the play “At the Depths” was written, and in December of the same year it was staged on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater with the participation of Stanislavsky. It should be noted that the writing of the work was preceded by a crisis that happened in Russia in the late 90s of the 19th century, factories and plants stopped, unemployment, ruin, poverty, hunger - all this is a real picture in the cities of that period. The play was created with a specific goal - to raise the level of culture of all classes of the population. Its production caused a resonance, largely due to the genius of the author, as well as the controversial nature of the problems voiced. In any case - they talked about the play, with envy, dissatisfaction or admiration - it was a success.
The work intertwines several topics: fate, hope, the meaning of life, truth and lies. The heroes of the play talk about lofty topics, being so low that it is no longer possible to sink further. The author shows that a poor person can have a deep essence, be highly moral, and spiritually rich.
At the same time, any person can sink to the very bottom, from which it is almost impossible to rise; it is addictive, gives freedom from conventions, allows you to forget about culture, responsibility, education and moral aspects. Gorky only voiced the most acute Problems modernity, he did not solve them, did not give a universal answer, did not show the way. Therefore, his work is called a debate play; it is based on a dispute in which a truth is born, unique for each character.
Issues The works are varied, perhaps the most pressing are the characters’ dialogues about saving lies and bitter truths. Meaning of the name The play is that the social bottom is a layer where there is also life, where people love, live, think and suffer - it exists in any era and no one is immune from this bottom.
The author himself defined the composition of the play as “scenes,” although its genius corresponds to the masterpiece plays of Russian and foreign classics. The linearity of the play's construction is determined by the chronological sequence of events. The plot of the play is the appearance of Luka in the rooming house with his dissimilarity and facelessness. Then, in several acts, events develop, moving to the most powerful intensity - a dialogue about the meaning of existence, about truth and lies. This is the culmination of the play, followed by the denouement: the suicide of the Actor, the loss of hopes of the last inhabitants of the shelter. They are unable to save themselves, which means they are doomed to death.
In the play “At the Lower Depths,” the analysis allows us to draw a conclusion about the uniqueness of Gorky’s genre – the debate play. The main thing in the development of the plot is conflict; it drives the action. The characters are in a dark basement and dynamics are achieved through the collision of opposing points of view. The genre of the work is usually defined as socio-philosophical drama.
Average rating: 4.3. Total ratings received: 2394.
The purpose of the lesson: to create a problematic situation and encourage students to express their own point of view on the image of Luke and his life position.
Methodological techniques: discussion, analytical conversation.
Lesson equipment: portrait and photographs of A.M. Gorky from different years.
During the classes.
Let us turn to the extra-event series of the drama and see how the conflict develops here.
How do the inhabitants of the shelter perceive their situation before Luke appears?
(In the exhibition we see people who have, in essence, come to terms with their humiliating position. The night shelters squabble sluggishly, habitually, and the Actor says to Satin: “One day they will completely kill you... to death...” “And you are a fool,” Satin snaps. “Why “- the Actor is surprised. “Because you can’t kill twice.” But the response is interesting. Actor: “I don’t understand... why is it impossible?” Perhaps it is the Actor, who died more than once on stage, who understands the horror of the situation more deeply than others, after all, it is he who will commit suicide at the end of the play.)
- What is the meaning of using the past tense in the characters’ self-characteristics?
(People feel like “former”: “Satin. I was an educated person” (the paradox is that the past tense is impossible in this case). “Bubnov. I was a furrier.” Bubnov pronounces a philosophical maxim: “It turns out that it’s like outside Don’t paint yourself, everything will be erased... everything will be erased, yes!”).
Which character is opposed to the others?
(Only one Kleshch has not yet come to terms with his fate. He separates himself from the rest of the night shelters: “What kind of people are they? A rag, a golden company... people! I am a working man... I’m ashamed to look at them... I’ve been working since I was little... Do you think I won’t get out of here? I’ll get out... I’ll tear off my skin, but I’ll get out... Just wait... my wife will die...” Tick’s dream of another life is connected with the liberation that his wife’s death will bring him. He does not feel the enormity of his statement. And the dream will turn out to be imaginary. )
Which scene sets up the conflict?
(The beginning of the conflict is the appearance of Luke. He immediately announces his views on life: “I don’t care! I respect swindlers too, in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: they’re all black, they all jump... that’s it.” And also: “For an old man, where it’s warm, there’s a homeland...” Luka finds himself in the center of attention of the guests: “What an interesting little old man you brought, Natasha...” - and the entire development of the plot is concentrated on him.)
How does Luke affect night shelters?
(Luka quickly finds an approach to the shelters: “I’ll look at you, brothers, - your life - oh!...” He feels sorry for Alyoshka: “Eh, guy, you’re confused...” He does not respond to rudeness, skillfully avoids questions that are unpleasant for him, is ready to sweep the floor instead of the shelters. Luka becomes necessary for Anna, feels sorry for her: “Is it possible to abandon a person like that?” Luka skillfully flatters Medvedev, calling him “under,” and he immediately falls for this bait.)
What do we know about Luke?
(Luke says practically nothing about himself, we only learn: “They crushed a lot, that’s why he’s soft...”)
What does Luke say to each of the inhabitants of the shelter?
(In each of them, Luka sees a person, discovers their bright sides, the essence of personality, and this makes a revolution in the lives of the heroes. It turns out that the prostitute Nastya dreams of beautiful and bright love; the drunken Actor receives hope for a cure for alcoholism; the thief Vaska Pepel plans to leave to Siberia and start a new life there with Natalya, to become a strong master. Luka gives consolation to Anna: “Nothing, nothing else will be needed, and there is nothing to be afraid of - silence, peace - lie to yourself!” faith in the best.)
Did Luka lie to the night shelters?
(There may be different opinions on this matter. Luke selflessly tries to help people, instill in them faith in himself, awaken the best sides of nature. He sincerely wishes good, shows real ways to achieve a new, better life. After all, there really are hospitals for alcoholics, indeed Siberia - the golden side, and not just a place of exile and hard labor. As for the afterlife with which he attracts Anna, the question is more complicated; what did he lie about when Luka convinces Nastya that he believes in her feelings? her love: “If you believe that you had real love... then there was it!” He only helps her find the strength for life, for real, not fictional love.)
How do the inhabitants of the shelter react to Luke’s words?
(The lodgers are at first incredulous of his words: “Why are you lying?” Luka does not deny this; he answers the question with a question: “And... what do you really need... think about it! She really can , fucked up for you...” Even to a direct question about God, Luke answers evasively: “If you believe, he is; if you don’t believe, he is not... What you believe in, he is...”)
What groups can the characters in the play be divided into?
"believers" "non-believers"
Anna believes in God. The tick no longer believes in anything.
Tatar - in Allah. Bubnov never believed anything.
Nastya - in fatal love.
Baron - into his past, perhaps invented.
What is the sacred meaning of the name “Luke”?
(The name “Luke” has a dual meaning: this name is reminiscent of the evangelist Luke, means “bright”, and at the same time is associated with the word “evil” (devil).)
(The author's position is expressed in the development of the plot. After Luka leaves, everything happens not at all as Luka convinced and as the heroes expected. Vaska Pepel really ends up in Siberia, but only to hard labor, for the murder of Kostylev, and not as a free settler. The actor who lost faith in oneself, in one’s own strengths, exactly repeats the fate of the hero of Luke’s parable about the righteous land. Luke, having told a parable about a man who, having lost faith in the existence of a righteous land, hanged himself, believes that a person should not be deprived of dreams, even imaginary ones. while showing the fate of the Actor, he assures the reader and viewer that it is false hope that can lead a person to suicide.)
Gorky himself wrote about his plan: “The main question that I wanted to pose is what is better, truth or compassion. What is more necessary? Is it necessary to take compassion to the point of using lies, like Luke? This is not a subjective question, but a general philosophical one.”
Gorky contrasts not truth and lies, but truth and compassion. How justified is this opposition?
(This faith did not have time to take hold in the minds of the night shelters; it turned out to be fragile and lifeless; with the disappearance of Luka, hope fades.)
What is the reason for the rapid decline of faith?
(Perhaps the point is in the weakness of the heroes themselves, in their inability and unwillingness to do at least something to implement new plans. Dissatisfaction with reality, a sharply negative attitude towards it, are combined with a complete unwillingness to do anything to change this reality.)
How does Luke explain the failures of life for the homeless shelters?
(Luke explains the failures in the lives of the night shelters by external circumstances, and does not at all blame the heroes themselves for their failed lives. That is why they were so drawn to him and were so disappointed, having lost external support with Luke’s departure.)
Luke is a living image precisely because he is contradictory and ambiguous.
The philosophical question that Gorky himself posed: what is better – truth or compassion? The question of truth is multifaceted. Each person understands the truth in his own way, still keeping in mind some final, highest truth. Let's see how truth and lies relate in the drama “At the Bottom.”
What do the characters in the play mean by truth?
(This word has multiple meanings. See the dictionary.
Two levels of “truth” can be distinguished.
D.Z.
Prepare for an essay on the works of M. Gorky.
