What is the internal drama of the characters in the play? M

The social and philosophical drama “At the Depths,” written by M. Gorky at the beginning of the twentieth century, touched upon the most important problems of society and showed the life of the lowest strata of the Russian population.

The heroes of the play are desperate people who have become regulars at a cave-like flophouse. This place is a shelter for them and at the same time a prison, since everyone knows that they will never get out of this “bottom”. The guests are aware of the plight, there is an abyss between them and the world, all ties have been severed: family, spiritual, social. Everyone has their own life drama that caused their fall.

The inhabitants of the shelter are not alien to ordinary feelings, they love and hate, they dream, they are disappointed, and most importantly, they think.

They often make interesting conclusions that reflect internal experiences. For example, Baron sees consolation in the fact that “everything has already happened! It’s over!”, he no longer expects anything from life. For the cap-taker Bubnov, the meaning of current existence is contained in the bitter: “So I drank - and I’m glad.” But true philosophical talent belongs to the former telegraph employee Satin, who argues

about the purpose of man. The hero’s phrase “Man – that sounds proud!” became generally known.

The characters live in dreams and memories, but do absolutely nothing to change the situation. The reasons for falling to the “bottom” are different for everyone, but the internal state is similar. The years spent in the shelter left their mark on the characters of the inhabitants: their hearts became hardened, their souls became coarser. They managed to come to terms with the circumstances and became indifferent to their destinies.

The usual life changes with the appearance of the wanderer Luke in the shelter. This character reassures everyone, gives false hope for better life. However, along with Luka’s disappearance, the positive attitude of the night shelters also disappears.

Thus, the author reveals to the reader a real social tragedy. It shows that people living in the past, who are not ready to show firmness and change, are doomed to vegetate. The absence of an inner core and constant thoughts about the past is the inner drama of the play's disadvantaged heroes.

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Lifting social problems, the drama “At the Bottom” simultaneously poses and resolves philosophical questions: what is truth? do people need it? is it possible to find happiness in real life? Two conflicts can be found in the play. The first is social: between the owners of the shelter and the tramps, the second is philosophical, touching on the basic questions of existence, unfolding between the inhabitants of the shelter. This is the main one.

The world of the flophouse is the world “ former people" Previously, they belonged to different strata of society: here was a baron, a prostitute, a mechanic, an actor, a cap-maker, a merchant, and a thief. They try on different situations, trying to “surface” to the surface. Each of them wants to return to the world of “real people.” The heroes are full of illusions about the temporary nature of their situation. And only Bubnov and Satin understand that there is no way out “from the bottom” - this is the lot of only the strong. Weak people need self-deception. And still in this scary world Outcasts, these people search for truth and try to solve eternal problems. How to bear the burden of life? What to oppose to the terrible force of circumstances - open rebellion, patience based on sweet lies, or reconcile? These are the three main positions held by the characters in the play.

The darkest thinker in the shelter is Bubnov. He is unpleasant to Gorky because his remarks reflect the cynical truth of the fact. Life in Bubnov’s assessment is devoid of any meaning. It is monotonous and flows according to laws that man cannot change. “Everything is like this: they are born, they live, they die. And I will die, and so will you. What is there to regret?” Dreams for him are a person’s desire to appear better, or, as Baron said, “all people have gray souls, everyone wants to brown up.” Bubnov’s philosophy is the philosophy of hopelessness that reigns “at the bottom.”

With the appearance of Luka, the atmosphere in the shelter changes. The Wanderer Luke, in my opinion, is the most complex and interesting character in the play. The old man finds the right tone with everyone: he consoles Anna with heavenly happiness after death, interprets that in the afterlife she will find peace, which she has not felt before. Pepel persuades Vaska to leave for Siberia: there is a place there for strong and purposeful people. He calms Nastya down, pretending to believe her stories about unearthly love. The actor is promised recovery from alcoholism in a special clinic. The most amazing thing about all this is that Luke lies disinterestedly. He takes pity on people, tries to give them hope as an incentive to live. Initially, his ideas are based on a lack of faith in human capabilities: for him, all people are weak, petty, and therefore need compassion and consolation. Luke believes that the truth can be a “butt” for the weak. Sometimes it is better to deceive a person with fiction and instill in him faith in the future. But this is the philosophy of slavish obedience; it is not for nothing that Satin calls lies “the religion of slaves and masters”: “it supports some, others hide behind it.”

The wanderer's advice did not help anyone: Vaska kills Kostylev and goes to prison, the actor commits suicide. Of course, this is not Luke’s direct fault, it’s just that the circumstances turned out to be stronger than people. But he is indirectly to blame, or rather, not he, but his ideas: they made changes in the lives of the night shelters and in their worldviews, after which those who believed him could no longer continue to live normally. Satin opposes this harmful lie. In his final monologue there is a demand for freedom and humane treatment to a person: “We must respect a person! Don’t feel sorry, don’t humiliate him with pity... you must respect him!” The hero is convinced of the following: it is necessary not to reconcile a person with reality, but to make this reality work for a person. “Everything is in man, everything is for man.” The author undoubtedly likes Satin. Unlike most night shelters, he committed a decisive act in the past, for which he paid: he spent four years in prison. But he does not regret it: “Man is free, he pays for everything himself.” Thus, the writer argues that a person is able to change circumstances, and not adapt to them.

It seems that through the mouth of Satin the author condemns Luke and refutes the conciliatory philosophy of the wanderer. But Gorky is not so simple and straightforward; it gives readers and viewers the opportunity to decide for themselves whether such “reconciling” philosophers are needed in real life or whether they are evil. It's amazing how society's attitude towards this character has changed over the years. If during the creation of the play “At the Lower Depths” Luka, with his boundless compassion for people, was almost negative hero, since he “indulged” their weaknesses, then in our cruel times, when a person feels his loneliness and uselessness to others, the wanderer received a “second life” and is perceived as truly good character. He feels sorry for the people living nearby, even if mechanically, without spending all his mental strength on it, but he finds time to listen to the suffering, instills hope in them, and this is already a lot. The play “At the Bottom” is one of those works that do not age, and each generation discovers in them thoughts that are in tune with their time, views, and life situations. This is the great power of the playwright’s talent, his ability to look into the future.

The drama "At the Depths" is a landmark work in creative biography Gorky. Descriptions of the heroes will be presented in this article.

This work was written at a turning point for the country. In Russia in the 90s of the 19th century, a serious outbreak broke out. Masses of impoverished, ruined peasants left the villages after each crop failure in search of work. Plants and factories were closed. Thousands of people found themselves without means of livelihood and shelter. This led to the emergence of a large number of “tramps” who sank to the bottom of life.

Who lived in the dosshouses?

Enterprising slum owners, taking advantage of the fact that people found themselves in a hopeless situation, found how to extract benefit from fetid basements. They turned them into shelters in which beggars, the unemployed, thieves, vagabonds and other representatives of the “bottom” lived. This work was written in 1902. The heroes of the play "At the Bottom" are just such people.

Maxim Gorky throughout creative path I was interested in personality, man, the secrets of his feelings and thoughts, dreams and hopes, weakness and strength - all this is reflected in the work. The heroes of the play "At the Bottom" are people who lived at the beginning of the 20th century, when the old world, and arose new life. However, they differ from the rest in that they are rejected by society. These are people from the bottom, outcasts. The place where Vaska Pepel, Bubnov, Actor, Satin and others live is unsightly and scary. According to Gorky's description, this is a cave-like basement. Its ceiling is stone vaults with crumbling plaster, smoked. Why did the inhabitants of the shelter find themselves “at the bottom” of life, what brought them here?

Heroes of the play "At the Bottom": table

What ruined the lives of these people?

Addiction to alcohol ruined the Actor. By his own admission, he used to have a good memory. Now the Actor believes that everything is over for him. Vaska Pepel is a representative of the “thieves’ dynasty”. This hero had no choice but to continue his father’s work. He says that even when he was little, even then he was called a thief. Former furrier Bubnov left his workshop because of his wife’s infidelity, as well as out of fear of his wife’s lover. He went bankrupt, after which he went to serve in one “treasury chamber”, in which he committed embezzlement. One of the most colorful figures in the work is Satin. He was a former telegraph operator, and went to prison for the murder of a man who insulted his sister.

Who do the shelter's inhabitants blame?

Almost all the characters in the play “At the Bottom” tend to blame life circumstances rather than themselves for the current situation. Perhaps, if they had turned out differently, nothing would have changed significantly, and the same fate would have befallen the night shelters anyway. The phrase that Bubnov said confirms this. He admitted that he actually drank the workshop away.

Apparently, the reason for the fall of all these people is their lack of moral core which constitutes a person's personality. You can cite the words of the Actor as an example: “Why did you die? I had no faith...”

Was there a chance to live a different life?

By creating the images of the characters in the play “At the Lower Depths,” the author provided each of them with the opportunity to live a different life. That is, they had a choice. However, for each, the first test ended in the collapse of life. The baron, for example, could improve his affairs not by stealing government funds, but by investing money in profitable businesses that he had.

Satin could have taught the offender a lesson in another way. As for Vaska Ash, would there really be few places on earth where no one would know anything about him and his past? The same can be said about many of the inhabitants of the shelter. They have no future, but in the past they had a chance not to get here. However, the heroes of the play "At the Bottom" did not use it.

How do the heroes console themselves?

All they can do now is live in unrealistic hopes and illusions. Baron, Bubnov and Actor live with Dreams of true love Prostitute Nastya is amusing herself. At the same time, the characterization of the heroes of the play “At the Bottom” is complemented by the fact that these people, rejected by society, humiliated, wage endless debates about moral and spiritual problems. Although it would be more logical to talk about since they live from hand to mouth. The author's description of the characters in the play "At the Bottom" suggests that they are interested in such issues as freedom, truth, equality, work, love, happiness, law, talent, honesty, pride, compassion, conscience, pity, patience, death, peace and much more. They are also concerned about an even more important problem. They talk about what a person is, why he is born, what is the true meaning of existence. The philosophers of the shelter can be called Luka, Satina, Bubnova.

With the exception of Bubnov, all the heroes of the work reject the “losing” lifestyle. They hope for a lucky turn of fortune that will bring them from the “bottom” to the surface. Mite, for example, says that he has been working since he was a small child (this hero is a mechanic), so he will definitely get out of here. “Wait a minute... my wife will die...” he says. The actor, this chronic drunkard, hopes to find a luxurious hospital in which health, strength, talent, memory and the applause of the audience will miraculously return to him. Anna, an unfortunate sufferer, dreams of bliss and peace in which she will finally be rewarded for her torment and patience. Vaska Pepel, this desperate hero, kills Kostylev, the owner of the shelter, because he considers the latter the embodiment of evil. His dream is to go to Siberia, where he will start a new life with his beloved girl.

Luke's role in the work

Luke, the wanderer, supports these illusions. He masters the skill of a comforter and preacher. Maxim Gorky portrays this hero as a doctor who considers all people to be terminally ill and sees his calling in softening their pain and hiding it from them. However, at every step life refutes the position of this hero. Anna, to whom he promises divine reward in heaven, suddenly wants to “live a little more....” Having first believed in a cure for alcoholism, the Actor commits suicide at the end of the play. Vaska Pepel determines the true value of all these consolations of Luka. He claims that he “tells fairy tales” pleasantly, because there is so little good in the world.

Satin's opinion

Luka is full of sincere pity for the inhabitants of the shelter, but he cannot change anything, help people live a different life. In his monologue, Satin rejects this attitude, because he considers it humiliating, suggesting the failure and wretchedness of those to whom this pity is directed. The main characters of the play "At the Bottom" Satin and Luka express opposing opinions. Satin says that it is necessary to respect a person and not humiliate him with pity. These words probably express the author’s position: “Man!.. This sounds... proud!”

The further fate of the heroes

What will happen to all these people in the future, will the heroes of Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” be able to change anything? It is not difficult to imagine their future fate. For example, Tick. At the beginning of the work he tries to get out of the “bottom”. He thinks that when his wife dies, everything will magically change for the better. However, after the death of his wife, Kleshch is left without tools and money and gloomily sings along with others: “I won’t run away anyway.” In fact, he will not run away, like the other inhabitants of the shelter.

What is salvation?

Are there any ways to escape from the “bottom” at all, and what are they? A decisive way out of this difficult situation may be outlined in Satin’s speech when he talks about the truth. He believes that the purpose strong man- to eradicate evil, and not to console the suffering, like Luke. This is one of the firmest convictions of Maxim Gorky himself. People can rise from the bottom only by learning to respect themselves and gaining self-esteem. Then they will be able to bear the proud title of Man. It still needs to be earned, according to Gorky.

Declaring his belief in the creative powers, abilities and intelligence of a free person, Maxim Gorky affirmed the ideas of humanism. The author understood that in the mouth of Satin, a drunken tramp, words about a free and proud man sound artificial. However, they had to sound in the play, expressing the ideals of the writer himself. There was no one to say this speech to except Satin.

In his work, Gorky refuted the main principles of idealism. These are the ideas of humility, forgiveness, non-resistance. He made it clear what beliefs the future belongs to. This is proven by the fate of the heroes of the play "At the Bottom." The entire work is imbued with faith in man.

The play “At the Lower Depths” was conceived by Gorky as one of four plays in a cycle showing the life and worldview of people from different walks of life. This is one of the two purposes of creating a work. The deep meaning that the author put into it is an attempt to answer the main questions of human existence: what a person is and whether he will retain his personality, having sunk “to the bottom” of moral and social existence.

History of the play

The first evidence of work on the play dates back to 1900, when Gorky, in a conversation with Stanislavsky, mentioned his desire to write scenes from the life of a flophouse. Some sketches appeared at the end of 1901. In a letter to the publisher K. P. Pyatnitsky, to whom the author dedicated the work, Gorky wrote that in the planned play all the characters, the idea, the motives for the actions were clear to him, and “it will be scary.” The final version of the work was ready on July 25, 1902, published in Munich and went on sale at the end of the year.

Things were not so rosy with the production of the play on stages Russian theaters- it is practically prohibited. An exception was made only for the Moscow Art Theater; other theaters had to obtain special permission for the production.

The title of the play changed at least four times during the work, and the genre was never determined by the author - the publication read “At the Bottom of Life: Scenes.” The shortened and familiar name to everyone today first appeared on the theater poster during the first production at the Moscow Art Theater.

The first performers were star cast Moscow Art academic theater: K. Stanislavsky played the role of Satin, V. Kachalov played Barona, I. Moskvin played Luke, O. Knipper played Nastya, M. Andreeva played Natasha.

The main plot of the work

The plot of the play is tied to the relationships of the characters and the atmosphere of general hatred that reigns in the shelter. This is the outer outline of the work. A parallel action explores the depth of a person’s fall “to the bottom,” the measure of insignificance of a socially and spiritually degraded individual.

The action of the play begins and ends storyline the relationship between two characters: the thief Vaska Pepel and the wife of the owner of the rooming house Vasilisa. Ash loves her little sister Natasha. Vasilisa is jealous and constantly beats her sister. She also has another interest in her lover - she wants to free herself from her husband and pushes Ash to murder. During the course of the play, Ash actually kills Kostylev in a quarrel. In the last act of the play, the guests of the shelter say that Vaska will have to go to hard labor, but Vasilisa will still “get out.” Thus, the action loops around the destinies of the two heroes, but is far from limited to them.

The time period of the play is several weeks of early spring. The time of year is an important component of the play. One of the first titles given by the author to the work is “Without the Sun.” Indeed, there is spring all around, a sea of ​​sunshine, but in the shelter and in the souls of its inhabitants there is darkness. The ray of sunshine for the overnight shelters was Luka, a tramp whom Natasha brings in one day. Luke brings hope for a happy outcome to the hearts of people who have fallen and lost faith in the best. However, at the end of the play, Luka disappears from the shelter. The characters who trusted him lose faith in the best. The play ends with the suicide of one of them - the Actor.

Analysis of the play

The play describes the life of a Moscow flophouse. The main characters, accordingly, were its inhabitants and the owners of the establishment. Also in it appear people related to the life of the establishment: a policeman, who is also the uncle of the hostess of the rooming house, a dumpling seller, loaders.

Satin and Luka

Schuler, the former convict Satin and the tramp, wanderer Luke are carriers of two opposing ideas: the need for compassion for a person, a saving lie out of love for him, and the need to know the truth, as proof of a person’s greatness, as a sign of trust in his strength of spirit. In order to prove the falsity of the first worldview and the truth of the second, the author built the action of the play.

Other characters

All the other characters form the background for this battle of ideas. In addition, they are designed to show and measure the depth of the fall to which a person is capable of falling. The drunkard Actor and the terminally ill Anna, people who have completely lost faith in their own strength, fall under the power of wonderful fairy tale, to which Luke takes them. They are the most dependent on it. With his departure, they physically cannot live and die. The rest of the inhabitants of the shelter perceive Luka's appearance and departure as the play of a spring sunbeam - he appeared and disappeared.

Nastya, who sells her body “on the boulevard,” believes that there is bright love, and it was in her life. Tick, husband dying Anna, believes that he will rise from the bottom and begin to earn a living by working again. The thread that connects him with his working past remains a toolbox. At the end of the play, he is forced to sell them in order to bury his wife. Natasha hopes that Vasilisa will change and stop torturing her. After another beating, after leaving the hospital, she will no longer appear in the shelter. Vaska Pepel strives to stay with Natalya, but cannot get out of the networks of the powerful Vasilisa. The latter, in turn, expects that the death of her husband will untie her hands and give her the long-awaited freedom. The Baron lives on from his aristocratic past. The gambler Bubnov, the destroyer of “illusions,” the ideologist of misanthropy, believes that “all people are superfluous.”

The work was created in conditions when, after economic crisis In the 90s of the 19th century, factories shut down in Russia, the population rapidly became poor, many found themselves on the bottom rung of the social ladder, in the basement. Each of the characters in the play experienced a fall to the bottom, social and moral, in the past. Now they live in the memory of this, but they cannot rise “to the light”: they don’t know how, they don’t have the strength, they are ashamed of their insignificance.

Main characters

Luke became a light for some. Gorky gave Luka a “speaking” name. It refers both to the image of St. Luke and to the concept of “cunning.” It is obvious that the author seeks to show the inconsistency of Luke’s ideas about the beneficial value of Faith for man. Gorky practically reduces Luka’s compassionate humanism to the concept of betrayal - according to the plot of the play, the tramp leaves the shelter just when those who trusted him need his support.

Satin is a figure designed to voice the author’s worldview. As Gorky wrote, Satin is not quite a suitable character for this, but there is simply no other character with equally powerful charisma in the play. Satin is the ideological antipode of Luke: he does not believe in anything, he sees the ruthless essence of life and the situation in which he and the rest of the inhabitants of the shelter find themselves. Does Satin believe in Man and his power over the power of circumstances and mistakes made? The passionate monologue that he delivers, arguing in absentia with the departed Luka, leaves a strong but contradictory impression.

There is also a bearer of the “third” truth in the work - Bubnov. This hero, like Satin, “stands for the truth,” only it is somehow very scary for him. He is a misanthrope, but, in essence, a murderer. Only they die not from the knife in his hands, but from the hatred that he has for everyone.

The drama of the play increases from act to act. The connecting outline is Luke's comforting conversations with those suffering from his compassion and Satin's rare remarks, indicating that he listens attentively to the speeches of the tramp. The climax of the play is Satin’s monologue, delivered after Luke’s departure and flight. Phrases from it are often quoted because they have the appearance of aphorisms; “Everything in a person is everything for a person!”, “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters... Truth is the god of a free person!”, “Man - this sounds proud!”

Conclusion

The bitter result of the play is the triumph of the freedom of fallen man to perish, disappear, leave, leaving behind neither a trace nor memories. The inhabitants of the shelter are free from society, moral standards, family and livelihood. By and large, they are free from life.

The play “At the Lower Depths” has been around for more than a century and continues to be one of the most strong works Russian classics. The play makes you think about the place of faith and love in a person’s life, about the nature of truth and lies, about a person’s ability to resist moral and social decline.

The characteristics of the heroes of “At the Bottom” help to create a general portrait of people who are at the “bottom of life”: inaction, humility, reluctance and inability to change their own lives.

Kostylevs

The owner of the flophouse, where the main characters of the play “At the Lower Depths” live, and his wife Vasilisa are evil and vicious people. These characters in “At the Bottom” considered themselves “masters of life,” not realizing that morally they were worse than those who were unlucky in life.

Actor

This is a former actor whose body is now “poisoned by alcohol.” M. Gorky does not even give his hero a name to show that he is at the “day of life”, his lack of will and inaction.

Satin

Satin ended up in a shelter after being imprisoned for murdering a man. The hero understood that his life was over, so he did not try to change it. Satin is a kind of philosopher who discusses many eternal questions. M. Gorky pays special attention to the description of this image, since it largely expresses the author’s position.

Nastya

This is a young girl who dreams of sincere love, despite the fact that she herself is a girl of easy virtue.

Vaska Ash

Vaska is a thief who dreams of an honest life in Siberia next to his beloved Natasha. However, Ash's dreams are not destined to come true: wanting to protect Natasha, he kills Kostylev and ends up in prison.

Natasha

This is Vasilisa’s sister, who always endures bullying and even beatings from the Kostylevs.

Luke

This is an elderly wanderer, whose views influence the inhabitants of the shelter. Luka has compassion for the people around him, consoles them, believing that a white lie can motivate a person to take specific actions.

Luke’s role in the lives of the residents of the shelter is great, but the hero’s help is ambiguous, as reflected in the following table:

Mite

Kleshch is a mechanic by profession. He works honestly and hard to get out of the shelter. Gradually, his efforts stop, as he realizes that he is no different from the people next to him, whom he previously despised. The tick is angry at his own fate, having already stopped trying to change his life for the better.

Anna

Kleshch's wife, who is dying. She understands that absolutely no one needs her, not even her own husband, who believes that her death will benefit both of them.

Bubnov

Previously, the hero owned a dyeing workshop, but environment broke Bubnov when his wife ran away from him to the master. Being at the “day of life”, Bubnov does not strive to improve his life; he actually goes with the flow, without thinking about the future.

Baron

The Baron is a man who does not think about a good future, he lives in the past, which was good for him.

Kvashnya

The heroine of the work is a dumpling seller. This is a strong woman who is used to earning a living by her own labor. Life has not made her embittered; she is used to helping other people.

Medvedev

This is a policeman who visits the shelter to maintain order. Throughout the entire story, he takes care of Kvashnya, and in the end the woman agrees to a relationship with him.

Alyoshka

This is a young shoemaker whose drunkenness led him to the “bottom of life.” He does not strive to correct himself, to become better, he is happy with what he has.

Tatar

The Tatar is a key holder who believed that every person should live an honest life, despite various circumstances.

Crooked Goiter

This is another key holder who justified his dishonest lifestyle by the fact that honest people cannot survive in this world.

This article, which will help you write an essay “Characteristics of the characters “At the Depth”,” will give brief information about the characters in M. Gorky’s play.

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