The main and minor characters of the play are at the bottom. Characteristics of the main characters of the work At the Lower Depths, Gorky. Their images and description

The play “At the Lower Depths” was created by Maxim Gorky especially for the troupe Art Theater, and initially did not look in the author’s eyes as an independent literary work. However, the power of psychological embodiment, the acute, to some extent even scandalous, theme of the work, brought the play “At the Bottom” to the rank of the strongest dramatic works.

“At the Lower Depths” is a unique continuation of the theme of the humiliated and insulted in Russian literature. The author talks about the thoughts and feelings of people who, due to circumstances, found themselves at the very bottom of society. The very title of the work contains deepest meaning, which very accurately reflects the theme of the play.

The main images and heroes of the play “At the Lower Depths”

From the first pages of the drama “At the Bottom,” a dark and unpleasant picture unfolds before us. Dark dirty basement, which looks more like a primitive cave, is the home of many people who, for various reasons, found themselves at the bottom social life. Many of them are formerly rich successful people who broke under the pressure of fate, many continue their miserable existence here.

All of them are shackled by the same shackles, which consist in the absence of any spiritual and cultural development. The residents of the shelter are tired of struggling with difficulties and obediently float with the flow of life. Gorky vividly portrays lost people who will never be able to rise from the “bottom.”

Thief Vaska Ash doesn't try to change his life values, saying that he continues the thieving path of his parents. The actor, who was essentially one of the most thoughtful residents of the shelter, is unable to use his philosophical reflections in practice, he finally becomes an alcoholic.

She died in terrible agony Anna, who still firmly believed until the last moment of her life in recovery. But like every society, even at its very bottom there was a person who tried to reassure and ignite the fire of faith in the souls of the disadvantaged.

The priest was such a hero Luke. He tried to instill in people faith in salvation, pushing them to feel the strength in themselves and get out of the bottom of society. However, no one heard him. After the death of the priest, the existence of people became even more unbearable; they lost that weak thin thread of hope that was still in their souls.

It destroyed dreams Tick O better life, and he was the first to give up in his struggle for existence. The hope that at least someone could get out of here was completely trampled. The inhabitants did not have the strength to follow the light that Luka showed them.

The tragedy of society in the play

Using the example of heroes, the author shows how people should not live. And this has nothing to do with their fall, since no one in life is immune from this. But once at the bottom, no one has the right to obey circumstances, but on the contrary, this should serve as a powerful impetus to a better life.

“At the Bottom” can be regarded as a kind of historical chronicle. The situation that is described in the play was quite common at the beginning of the century.

Introductory lesson on Gorky's play "At the Depths".

Meet the heroes. Conflict and problems". Analysis of the 1st action.

Lesson objectives:

educational: to promote the development of cognitive interest in Gorky’s work; develop the ability to carefully read a list characters in a dramatic work; cultivate attention to words; promote the development of new forms of search, processing and analysis of information; organize student activities to identify the predictive power of Gorky’s play in comparison with other works;

developing : contribute to the development of communicative competence among high school students; create conditions for the development of creativity in the classroom; use pedagogical techniques to increase motivation with subsequent development cognitive activity; strengthen the ability to analyze, research and evaluate piece of art and its heroes;

educational: introduce students to moral values; promote a sense of collective cooperation and civic responsibility.

Equipment:

Projector (lesson presentation, slides);

Portrait of M. Gorky;

Illustrations for the novel;

Table: characteristics of heroes;

Lesson type : work on new topic with a comprehensive application of student knowledge, a lesson-reflection (conversation on issues, associative thinking, filling out a table about heroes, writing out quotes and aphorisms).

Dictionary: drama, play, conflict, polylogue.

Methodical techniques:

Research of the poster: (title of the play, the meaning of the names, professions, ages of the characters; prototypes of the characters);

Understanding the title of the work “At the Bottom”, working with the word;

Filling out the table: quotes about heroes, language features;- expressive reading according to the roles of the 1st act.

Textbook: "Russian 20th century literature"edited by Yu.I. Lyssy

The main question that

I wanted to put it in a play

“At the bottom” is what’s better:

Truth or Compassion?

M Gorky

Gorky piled up a mountain

greatest suffering...

and united with burning desire

to truth and justice.

L. Andreev about the play “At the Lower Depths”

During the classes

Org moment. Lesson topic message: “Exploring philosophical drama about the purpose and capabilities of Man, about the essence human relationship to Man." Addressing the epigraphs of the lesson, commenting on them.

Repetition . Dramatic works. What is unique about the drama? Why is this the most difficult type of art to perceive?

Students' answers.

Drama (Greek . - “action”) is the most effective type of literature. It is intended for performance on stage. Therefore, the playwright, unlike the author of an epic work, cannot directly express his position - the only exceptions are the author's remarks, which are intended for the reader or actor, but which the viewer will not see. The playwright is also limited in the volume of the work (the play can last two to three hours) and in the number of characters (all of them must fit on the stage and have time to realize themselves).

Teacher . Therefore, in drama, a special burden falls on the conflict - an acute clash between the characters on a very significant issue for them. Otherwise, the heroes simply will not be able to realize themselves in the limited volume of drama and stage space. The playwright ties such a knot, when unraveling it, a person shows himself from all sides. At the same time, there cannot be extra heroes in a drama - all heroes must be included in the conflict.

Before you start studying the play, explain your association with the word “bottom”.

Student answer options:the bottom is garbage, a hole, the dregs of society, fall, bankruptcy, hopelessness.

Teacher: What does it mean to be at the “bottom”?

Students: to be powerless, to do nothing, not to work, to become a beggar.

Teacher: Gorky wrote this play at the beginning of the last century. Has anything changed?

Students : Hardly ever. There are shelters, beggars, and homeless people.

Teacher: thus, the topic that the author identified is still relevant today.

Now let’s take a moment to look at the poster and get acquainted with the characters. The presence of a conflict is already indicated in the title of the play and the poster.

Projector:

• Gorky rejected original names plays - “Without the Sun”, “Nochlezhka”, “The Bottom”, “At the Bottom of Life”.
• The decisive word on the choice of the name “At the Lower Depths” belonged to L.N. Andreev.
• . On December 18, 1902, the premiere of Gorky’s play “At the Depths” took place.
• The audience saw him on stage for the first time scary world « former people", tramps.

Teacher adds: the tense silence, interrupted at times by sobs and angry cries, testified to how shocked the hall was... Every remark about the “life of a wolf”, that “there is no work, there is no bread”, that “they beat for order” , caused such a violent reaction from the audience that Nemirovich-Danchenko whispered from behind the scenes to the actors to play “easy.” He was afraid that the police would not let the performance finish.

• How could the title of the play attract viewers?

Khitrov market was called “the bottom”. Every intelligent person should be familiar with this, Gorky believed. Conflict is undoubtedly already indicated in the title. After all, the very fact of the existence of a “bottom” of life also presupposes the presence of an “upstream” to which the characters strive.

Question : Why are some characters named only by last name?

others - by name, others - in full, indicating their occupation?

• The very name of the play and the list of characters speak of social conflicts, the victims of which were the heroes of the play, who found themselves at the “bottom” of life, in a shelter.

Hero prototypes

• As Gorky himself pointed out, he observed prototypes of heroes in Nizhny Novgorod. Almost every hero had his own prototype:
• artist Kolosovsky-Sokolovskyserved as the prototype for the Actor;
• Bubnova Gorky wrote not only from a tramp he knew, but also from an intellectual, his teacher;
• In Nizhny Novgorod, and in other places, Gorky saw many wanderers, so the writer accumulated a huge amount of material for creating image of Luke.
• Satin also written from a specific person.
  The heroes of the play “At the Bottom” turned out to be generalized, collective images, although they are undoubtedly typical, they are familiar and close to Gorky.

Let's talk about names and surnames

What associations do you have in connection with the surname LUKA?

One of the evangelists, Gorky, gives him a name that is dear to him. (Newspaper "Moskovskie Vedomosti", December 23, 1902: "This wanderer entered the basement like a ray of bright sun, illuminating everything bad in it... and... awakening the sprouts of goodness to life.")

Name Luke comes from the word "evil one." This is exactly how Gorky’s contemporaries see the old man (D. Merezhkovsky: “The religion of the evil old man is a religion of lies”).

A contemporary of M. Gorky, Archbishop Luka (1877-1961), lived in Krasnoyarsk. He was a famous priest and surgeon, a man worthy of respect. Of course, he was known to Gorky. Krasnoyarsk Archbishop Luka spent twelve years in Stalin's camps. In October 2002, in honor of the 125th anniversary of his birth, a monument was unveiled in Krasnoyarsk. A priest and a surgeon in a padded jacket - this is how the sculptor saw him.

What associations do you have in connection with the surname Satin?

• Satin - this name contains the sound of the word "Satan". But what kind of test will he come up with? Maybe Satin is testing a person with the possibility of a new faith?

What does the occupation of the characters indicate?

Klesh - locksmith,

Kvashnya - a dumpling seller,

Alyoshka is a shoemaker,

Crooked Zob and Tatar are the key holders.

Answers: All this required professions, that is, these people can earn a living. But they don't work. This also suggests a social conflict. The very title of the play and the list of characters speak about social conflicts, the victims of which were the heroes of the play, who found themselves at the “bottom” of life, in a shelter.

Part social conflict is andlove conflict(it is indicated in the poster by the difference in the ages of the Kostylev spouses, the presence of a girl with the gentle name Natasha).

It is clear that here, in the “bottom” conditions, the most sublime feelings will not bring happiness.

Let's turn to the heroes. What is the age of the overnight shelters? What does this mean?

Klesch and Kvashnya are 40 years old, Anna is 30, Bubnov is 45. This is the most productive age. And this is also the age at which a person should already have developed, have something behind him. But these people are in a shelter; they have nothing.

Baron is 33 years old. This is the age of Jesus Christ. Why Gorky (and we know that he great artist nothing happens by chance) gives the age of Christ to one of the least favorite heroes with the nickname Baron? Perhaps, by analyzing the play, revealing the image of the hero, we will answer this question.

Teacher: before before starting to read the roles of the 1st act, please give brief information about heroes. (Individual messages) Students fill out a table about the characters, continue their work at home, draw conclusions and submit after studying the work.

Table-study of the fate of the heroes in Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths”.

Meet the heroes. Mite.

• He has been in the shelter for only six months.

• It is most painful for him, a working man, to realize that he is doomed to live among people who find themselves without work.

• The tick lives by its desire to escape to the surface.

• In the 1st act there are two remark “sullenly”. This is the darkest figure. He looks at life soberly and gloomily before himself.

• His fate is tragic, because... at the end of the play he comes to terms with life: “There is no work... no strength! There is no shelter. I need to breathe..."

Actor.

• In the past, an intelligent person, an artist. He is kind and responsive.
• The poetic nature of the Actor collides with the rudeness and vulgarity of the night shelters.
• on given time a drunkard who constantly brings up his acting past. He is harmless, does no harm to anyone, helps Anna, takes pity on her. Quoting them classical works speaks in favor of the hero.
• He prefers loneliness, the company of himself, or rather, his thoughts, dreams, memories. The remarks to his remarks are typical: “after a pause,” “suddenly, as if waking up.”
• He has no name (his name was Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky, but “nobody knows that”). Like a drowning man, he clutches at any straw if it creates the illusion of this name, individuality. "My body is poisoned by alcohol." The remark “with pride” explains a lot: so I have something that others don’t have.

Bubnov.

• I reached the “dead point” of my fall and was completely crushed by life.
• Rude, cynical. To the request of the dying Anna to stop screaming abuse, she calmly replies: “Noise is not a hindrance to death.”
• Indifferent to the fate of his comrades. His indifference manifests itself at the moment of Anna's death. “I stopped coughing,” he says.
• I once had a workshop... I drank it away.
• “I'm lazy. I don’t like passion like work.”
• From the first remarks, slow-wittedness and indifference are evident.

Baron

• A descendant of rich and noble nobles, but in the shelter he fell below everyone else. There is not a single bright human quality in this person.
• He is still young, he is 33 years old, but he lives off Nastya, and Kvashnya feeds him. He calls Nastya “stupid”, “whore”, “scum” - and then rushes to make peace, cynically explaining: “If you don’t make peace, you won’t give her money for a drink.”
• “A lost soul, an empty man,” the tramps say about him.

Vaska Ash.

• A hero in his strength and spiritual generosity;
• Full of protest against the “wolf life”, out of anger at her he became a thief;
• He doesn't steal out of greed. To him, a strong man, idle life boring;
• With all his soul he reaches for what is pure, which is why he fell in love with honest Natasha.

Nastya.

• In Act 1 he appears with the novel " Fatal love". (Newspapers wrote that such pulp novels constituted the traditional "culture" of the city prostitute.)
• She had already found the "uplifting deception" before Luke arrived.

Satin.

• Appears not with words, but with a growl. His first line says that he is a card sharper and a drunkard.
• He once served at the telegraph office and was an educated man.
• He ended up here because he killed a villain.
• He served 4 years in prison and learned to play cards.
• He utters words that are incomprehensible to others. Organon in translation means “tool”, “organ of knowledge”, “mind”. (Perhaps Satin means that it is not the human body that is poisoned, but the very rationality of life.) Sicamber is ancient Germanic tribe, means "dark man". In these words one can feel Satin’s superiority over the rest of the shelters.
• His monologue sounds like Gorky's dream of transforming life.
• Monologue about Man: “Man! It's great. It sounds...proud!”

Luke.

• Appears with the words: " Good health, people are honest. To Vasilisa’s question: “Who are you? - answers: “Passing... wandering.”
• It is known that he had a chance to “taste” Siberia.
• In the shelter she tries to call everyone to straight Talk, ready to give advice.
• He finds a kind word and consolation for everyone.

But do the inhabitants of the shelter need this? We will answer this question later.

Reading Act 1 by role. Text on the projector.

(in drama, the appearance of the characters and their first lines are important).

The action of Act 1 is preceded by detailed description basement The author wanted to take the viewer into this basement. It looks like a cave. But this is the home of overnight shelters; they are tied to their home. It feels cold from another world. “I’m cold,” says Bubnov, it’s cold for Alyosha and Tick.

The students are given the task: when reading, convey the character of their hero with intonation.

Conclusions after reading.

In Act 1 we met all the characters in the play. These people are mostly indifferent to each other, often do not hear what others say, and do not try to understand. In Act 1, all the characters speak, but each, almost without listening to the others, talks about his own things.

The author conveys the mutual alienation of the guests of Kostylev’s shelter, the atmosphere of spiritual separation of people into original form polylogue. (Polylogue is a form of speech organization in drama, a combination of remarks from all participants in the scene.) Gorky’s characters are deliberately separated - each speaks about his own. No matter what the hero of the play begins to talk about, he will still talk about what hurts. In the characters' speech there are words and phrases that have symbolic meaning. (Bubnov: “And the threads are rotten...”; Bubnov to Nastya: “You are superfluous everywhere.”) These words reveal the “subtextual meaning”: the imaginary nature of connections, the uselessness of these people.

Despite the abundance of lines, the action of the 1st act is slow, “sleepy”. The development of the conflict begins with the appearance of Luke.

The main issue of the play:Which is better: truth or compassion? What is more needed?

Teacher: This homework, answer orally, based on the text, images of Satin and Luke, citing quotes (fill in the table).

Reflection: compose a syncwine on the topic of the lesson.

Man was created not to drag chains, but to soar above the earth with his wings spread wide.
V. Hugo
It's good when a book you read leaves a mark on your soul. And if it is bright, we think about what meaning this work has for us, what it gave us. Now that we are again talking about humanism and mercy, when we call for “mercy for the fallen,” M. Gorky’s play “At the Depths” again acquires great importance. Apparently, his plays are not allowed to die at all. They are destined to have a long life. One can say about his play “At the Bottom” that it is an encyclopedia of pre-revolutionary Russia, a history captured truthfully and masterfully. And we must not forget that there is a lot of universal humanity in it, suitable not only for the past, but also for the present life.
“The man is wonderful! That sounds... proud!” These words, spoken at the dawn of the 20th century, determined the writer’s creative line. He came out with a passionate and ardent protest against everything that humiliated man, against all the “leaden abominations” of life.
In the play "At the Bottom" with great strength and unsurpassed artistic skill Gorky showed those terrible living conditions that push people to the “bottom” of it, into the “pit”. And then the person ceases to be a person. And are these the people who appear before us in Kostylev’s disgusting flophouse? They have lost everything human, even lost the appearance of a person, and turned into pitiful, useless creatures. Of course, in many ways they themselves are to blame for what happened to them: they did not have enough firmness or the ability to fight fate, the desire to work, to overcome difficulties. But social conditions are also to blame. Gorky showed the era of the enrichment of some people at the expense of the impoverishment of others. In each inhabitant of the shelter, in his ruined fate, we see a combination of social and personal problems fused together.
But even here, “at the bottom” of life, their inexorable wolf laws operate. Here there are “kings” and their subjects, exploiters and exploited, masters and workers. The laws of society pursue a person from birth to death. They push people to commit crimes, callousness, and dishonesty. Vaska Pepel has been stealing and stealing. From birth his destiny was predetermined. This is how he himself talks about it: “My path is marked out for me! My parent spent his whole life in prison and ordered the same for me... When I was little, at that time they called me a thief, a thief's son...” Anna dies in terrible agony. Until the very last moment she believes in her recovery: “Or... maybe... maybe I’ll recover?” But her spirit, her inner faith are undermined by the words of the inhabitants of the shelter: “For what? For flour again? The Actor finally becomes an alcoholic. They can't get up anymore! But these are people who once knew and
another life. Now what do they have left? Probably just faith. "We don't have a name! Even dogs have nicknames, but we don’t!” - the Actor exclaims with bitter feeling. And in this exclamation there is an unbearable resentment of a person thrown overboard of life. Everything was taken away from them, from these forgotten people, but they could not take away their faith, faith in the best. Gorky himself possessed this quality; he endowed it with his heroes.
The wanderer Luke, who appears in the play, managed to plant and ignite a spark of hope and dreams in everyone’s heart. He lit it in the Actor, which then flared up into a flame, into a flame of salvation. The actor believed in a hospital where he could recover from alcoholism. Luka advises Vaska Ash to start a new life - an honest life, without theft. But has Luke's philosophy helped anyone? After his departure, life for the night shelters became even more difficult. These people are so broken that they can no longer change anything in their fate. The hope expressed by Luke only aggravated their wounds even more. In general, they have nothing to wait for. The old man lit a ray of hope in their hearts, beckoned them, but did not show them the way.
Mite's dreams of a better time are crushed like a nutshell, and as a result we see him falling extremely low. He will never get out of here again. And we, the readers, feel uneasy from these words.
The play says: you can’t live like this!
The author puts many of his thoughts into Satin’s mouth. In Satin, a remarkable nature, a strong, clear mind, perished. Proud words about a person have become popular; they make one believe that people deserve a better fate.
The play “At the Bottom” is imbued with an ardent, passionate appeal to love a person, to make this name truly sound proud. No, there can be no happiness until a person is free, while injustice dominates at every step. A person deserves happiness and freedom because he is a Human!
Gorky's play is not only a historical document, not just an outstanding creation of the human mind, it is a work that will again and again turn people's eyes to eternal problems goodness, mercy, social justice.

The drama “At the Bottom” is a landmark work in creative biography Gorky. A description of the characters in the play “At the Bottom” 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 economic crisis broke out. Masses of impoverished, ruined peasants left the villages in search of work after each crop failure. 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 hopeless situation, found how to get some benefit out of stinking basements. They turned them into shelters in which beggars, the unemployed, thieves, tramps 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 interested in personality, man, his secrets inner world. 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 of 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 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 Lower Depths” tend to blame their current situation not on themselves, but on their life circumstances. 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 a moral core, which constitutes a person’s personality. You can cite the words of the Actor as an example: “Why did he die? I had no faith..."

Was there a chance to live a different life?

By creating the images of the heroes of 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 with unrealistic hopes and illusions. Baron, Bubnov and Actor live with memories of the past. Dreams about 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 their daily bread, since they live from hand to mouth. The author's description of the heroes of 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 his true meaning being. 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. Kleshch, for example, says that he has been working since he was young (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 miraculously health, strength, talent, memory and applause from the audience will return to him. Anna, an unfortunate sufferer, dreams of bliss and peace afterlife, 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

These illusions are supported by Luke, the wanderer. 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 defines true value to all these consolations of Luke. 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 at 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's not hard to imagine them 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 creative forces, abilities and intelligence free man, 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.

IN school years many probably had the opportunity to become acquainted with the work of the respected Russian writer Maxim Gorky - the play “At the Lower Depths”, which without embellishment describes to all of us the familiar archetypes of people living in Russian realities.

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

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

Where did the wanderer come from?

doesn't reveal the secret Luke's origins, only fleetingly speaks of his wandering life. The wanderer has neither a homeland nor any specific place of residence. He himself talks about it this way: “To the old man – Where it’s warm, there’s homeland.”

The residents of the shelter are also not interested in the old man’s past; they are preoccupied with their problems and attempts “go out into the public”, and not drag out an existence “at the bottom” for the rest of your life.

Character Characteristics Analysis

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

The hero really emanates an aura of peacefulness and understanding, which, of course, endears him to the characters in the play, making them believe that the future is not hopeless and there is a chance to correct their social status, fulfill dreams and desires.

To everyone who, willy-nilly, ended up in a shelter, Luka selects the right words, gives everyone hope and encourages them to believe in their dreams, no matter how funny they may seem to themselves and others.

But no matter how sweet and comforting the stranger’s words sounded, they were only empty sounds, distracting homeless people from everyday troubles, and not real support that gives strength to get out of poverty and ignominy.

Nevertheless, Luka is not a liar, he just sincerely feels sorry for those around him and encourages them, even if it is absolutely meaningless and useless.

Luka’s relationship with other characters in the play “At the Lower Depths”

The characters relate to the old man in two ways:

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

One thing is certain - no one remained indifferent to the appearance of such an extraordinary personality in such a dirty and doomed place.

After the sudden disappearance of the wanderer, the fate of some characters changed dramatically. The locksmith Kleshch's wife, Anna, died of tuberculosis, the actor could not come to terms with the hopelessness of his life and hanged himself, Vaska Pepel, due to an accidental murder, went to hard labor in Siberia, his dreams of honest life the end has come for Natasha. The remaining heroes continued to while away their time in the shelter, but at the same time started to think about the meaning of one’s existence, one’s actions and the problems of others.

Parable of the Righteous Land

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

This parable seems to have predetermined fatal fate several characters - the death of Anna and Actor, the imprisonment of the thief Vaska. They believed that their own righteous land would be found for them, that it was possible to get out of the bottom, poverty, but this did not happen. Luke soon left, and with him the hope that warmed the characters in the play went away.

Quotes

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

Here are a few of his quotes that everyone who has read Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” should analyze and reflect on:

“And everyone is people! No matter how you pretend, no matter how you wobble, if you were born a man, you will die a man...”

"I don't care! I respect swindlers too, in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: all are black, all jump...”

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

“So, you’ll die, and you’ll be at peace... you won’t need anything else, and there’s nothing to be afraid of!”

“...it’s not the word that matters, but why the word is said? - that's the problem!"

Bottom line

Maxim Gorky's image of the wanderer Luke turned out to be very multifaceted and reflective main philosophical questions about life, love, principles and priorities of a person.

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

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

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