The play “At the Bottom”: a debate about true and false humanism
M. Gorky's play “At the Depths” is a socio-philosophical drama in genre. More than a century has passed since the creation of the work, the social conditions exposed by the writer have changed, but the play has still not lost its relevance. This is due to the fact that in the play the author raises an “eternal” topic that will excite people at all times. As a rule, this inescapable theme of Gorky's play is formulated as a dispute about truth and lies. However, this formulation is insufficient, since lies and truth do not exist on their own; they are always associated with a person. Therefore, the philosophical theme of the play can be formulated as a debate about false and true humanism.
The writer himself, in Satin’s famous monologue, connects truth and lies not only with humanism, but also with human freedom:
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“Man is free... he pays for everything himself: for faith, for disbelief, for love, for intelligence - man pays for everything himself, and therefore he is free! Man - that’s the truth!”
Thus, in the play the author talks about man, freedom and truth - the main moral categories of philosophy. It is impossible to unambiguously define these ideological categories, therefore in his drama Gorky presents several points of view. The work is polyphonic. There are several ideologue heroes in the play, each with their own special point of view on man and the world. The following characters belong to the ideologists in the work:
- Luke
- Satin
- Bubnov
- Kostylev.
According to Kostylev, the truth threatens the well-being of the “masters of life”, and therefore it is not needed at all. He talks about wanderers and expresses his personal attitude to the truth. Although in words Kostylev advocates work and honesty (“It is necessary that a person be useful... that he work...”), in reality he buys stolen goods from the thief Vaska Pepel.
Bubnov always speaks the truth, but this is the “truth of fact”; it only records the injustice and disorder of the existing world. He does not believe that people can live more honestly, better, and help each other, as in a righteous land. Therefore, Bubnov calls all dreams about such a life fairy tales. He believes that the truth should be told as it is. However, the hopeless truth of a fact cannot satisfy a person.
Finished works on a similar topic
Coursework Fate: a dispute between the hero and the author (M. Gorky's play "At the Depths") 490 ₽ Abstract Fate: a dispute between the hero and the author (M. Gorky's play "At the Depths") 260 ₽ Test paper Fate: a dispute between the hero and the author (play M Gorky "At the Depths") 200 ₽
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Bubnov’s truth is opposed by Kleshch, who shouts:
“Which truth? Where is the truth? (...) No work... no power! That's the truth! (...) You have to breathe out... here it is, the truth! (...) What do I need it for - is it true?”
Another character who believed in a righteous land also opposes Bubnov’s “truth of fact.” This faith, according to Luke’s story, helped him live and overcome difficulties. And after this faith in the possibility of a better life was destroyed, this man committed suicide. In this case, it is a “truth of fact” that a righteous land does not exist, but to claim that it should never exist is a lie. Therefore, Natasha explains the death of the hero of the parable this way: “I could not tolerate deception.”
A particularly interesting character-ideologist in the work is Luke. Critics give very different assessments of this strange hero. Some admire the old man's generosity, while others expose his harmful consolation. Such assessments are extreme and therefore one-sided. In the first performance of Luka by I.M. Moskvin, Luka was presented as a kind, intelligent man, in whose consolations there is no self-interest. Bubnov also notes this:
“Luke, for example, lies a lot... and without any benefit to himself... Why would he?”
However, the reproaches leveled at Luke are not always justified. It should be noted that the old man is not “lying.” For example, he advises Vaska Pepl to go to Siberia, where he can start life anew. And this is true. Luke's story that there is a free hospital for alcoholics is also true - this is confirmed by special research by literary scholars. No one can say that Luke is lying when telling dying Anna about the afterlife. The old man only consoles a seriously ill woman, and there is nothing to reproach him for. As for Nastya, Luka says that he believes in her story about the noble Gaston-Raoul, because he sees in this story a poetic dream, and not just a lie.
On the other hand, the old man’s consolations tragically affected the fate of the inhabitants of the shelter. Luke didn’t save anyone, didn’t really help. The actor committed suicide. However, this cannot only be blamed on the old man. Luke came to degenerate people in whom no one is interested, about whom no one cares at all. He tried to help them, consoled them as best he could. Although the old man did not save anyone, he did not destroy anyone. Luke did everything in his power, namely, he helped people feel like people. And everything else depended on the character of the person. For example, the heavy drinker Actor did not have enough willpower to quit this addiction. Vaska Pepel, in a state of stress, kills Kostylev.
Satin, in contrast to Luke, formulates the right ideas about truth, freedom, and man. “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters... Truth is the god of a free man!” - he claims. Satin demands to look the truth straight in the eye, while Luka strives to find a comforting lie. However, Satin’s truth is not similar to Bubnov’s truth; he believes in man, in his creative talent and in his future.
Note 1
Thus, Satin is the only person who knows the truth.
Essays on the topic of a dispute about a person in Gorky’s drama at the bottom
Maxim Gorky's play “At the Depths,” written in 1902, was immediately staged on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater and translated into many European languages; Performances based on the play were performed not only in European theaters, but even in Japan. The success of the play was due to the fact that it acutely posed not only social problems relevant to Russia, but also philosophical ones, the main one of which was about the essence of man, about his purpose.
See also: Federal Law 442 of 01012019
For Gorky, the word “man” sounded proud; it was not for nothing that he wrote this word with a capital letter. All the more acutely did he experience the humiliation of the human person “in the world of violence and money.” In the play “At the Lower Depths,” the author depicted the life of tramps living in the Kostylevo flophouse, which at the same time resembles both a cave and a prison cell. Old and young, single and married, men and women, healthy and sick, hungry and well-fed coexist in one room. This overcrowding and terrible poverty (“I don’t remember when I was full... All my life I walked around in rags... all my miserable life.” - Anna complains) give rise to mutual irritation, quarrels, fights and even murder. And this is perceived as commonplace. “One day they will kill you,” the Actor warns Satine. “You fool, you can’t kill twice,” Satin jokes in response.
An ordinary morning in a flophouse begins with a quarrel, with each trying to hurt the other more painfully (“You’re lying.”; “You’re a red goat”; “Why are you grunting?” The Baron, hitting Nastya on the head with a book, says: “You’re a fool, Nastya”) . People, thrown back to a cave existence, become brutal, lose their human appearance, shame and conscience, and trample on moral standards. And this is natural. “If they start living honestly, they will die of hunger in three days,” says Crooked Zob. Each of the inhabitants of the shelter violates the laws of morality: Nastya is a prostitute, Baron is a pimp, Satin is a sharper, Vaska Pepel is a thief. The tick tortured his wife and gradually sinks to the bottom of life. Moreover, the owners of the shelter, the Kostylevs, are also helping them to finally perish, who, under the guise of caring for the “unfortunate brethren,” either “throw fifty kopecks” or put Vaska Pepel in prison.
The inhabitants of the shelter are people without a future, and not everyone has a past. If Baron is a former baron, and Satin is a former telegraph operator, Actor is a former provincial theater actor, then Vaska Pepel is a born thief (“a thief, the son of a thief”), and Nastya has no past at all - she had neither parents nor family. In the present, everyone is equal in poverty and lawlessness. It is under these conditions that the true essence of a person is revealed. To the question whether a person deprived of all the conditions of a normal life remains a person, Gorky answers in the affirmative. The more a person is trampled upon, the stronger a person’s desire to assert his human dignity. "Man is above satiety." And for people thrown out of life, the highest values are “inedible” things:
- education: “I was an educated person... you know!” - recalls Satin;
- talent: “Education is nonsense, the main thing is talent,” the Actor, who dreams of returning to the stage, objects to him;
- honest work: “I said, I’ll quit stealing! I must live in such a way that I can respect myself,” dreams the thief Vaska Pepel;
- love: “Can you understand love? True love!" - Nastya shouts, forced to sell her love.
The humanity in these people has not died; it breaks through in the inhabitants of the shelter in everyday trifles. Then Kvashnya leaves dumplings for the dying Anna, and she gives them to her husband.
Satin talks about the intrinsic value of the human personality. Man is the center of the universe, he is the creator, the transformer of life.
Only man exists; everything else is the work of his hands and brain.
He talks about the equality of all people, regardless of their social status and nationality
What is a person? It's you, me, them, the old man, Napoleon, Mohammed... in one!
Luke, a wanderer who appeared out of nowhere and brought with him the idea of belief in the best, enters into the argument:
What you believe in is what it is,” he tells Ash.
Luka gives everyone a grain of faith in a better future: he convinces Anna that her torment is finite and that relief from suffering will soon come, he tells the actor about free hospitals for alcoholics, which already existed at that time, he advises Ash to go to Siberia, where he can have a clean slate. start a new life, build a family and happiness. Nastya believes that her love is not a fairy tale, but a reality. To many, his words seem like a lie, a deception, but these words, his participation, the calmness emanating from the good wanderer make everyone feel better, though not for long. But you also need to use your own strengths, rely on your inner desire, and understand what you want.
You just need to face the truth, believe in your strength, and only under these conditions can you change the world for the better. Satin’s words, instilling faith in man, in his mind and creative energy, only had a temporary effect on the night shelters, who felt the brotherly community of the feast and were united by a common fate, expressed in the hopeless despair of the prison song:
The sun rises and sets, and it’s dark in my prison... and I want to be free, but I can’t break the chain...
The song was interrupted by the news that in the vacant lot “The Actor... hanged himself.” Who is to blame for this? Was it the actor who believed Luke, or Satin, who opened his eyes to the truth of life? What is better, the cruel truth, which “shocks a person,” or a comforting lie?
The play makes you think about your position in life for every person and determine your place on earth.
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Maxim Gorky's play "At the Depths", written in 1902 and then staged at the Moscow Art Theater, was a phenomenal success.
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Previously published in the section:
- Neo-romanticism and the early work of Maxim Gorky
Romanticism as a literary movement at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries no longer existed for a long time. But the romantic attitude during the period.
1. The meaning of the final episode: – The final episode is of great importance in the work. It completes the plot and resolves conflicts in one way or another. There are finals.
1. The beginning of the play - the first remark - a generalized image of reality. Created by a description of the scenery. A pile of different objects creates a feeling of cramped, stuffy space.
New section materials:
- Realistic and romantic in the story “Old Woman Izergil”
Maxim Gorky's early romantic stories are filled with dreams of beautiful and brave people. The story told by the old woman Izergil has.
The early romantic stories of Maxim Gorky were written in the nineties of the nineteenth century. It's a difficult time for a new writer. IN.
Maxim Gorky's play "At the Depths", written in 1902 and then staged on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater, had a phenomenal impact.
