Characters of the work
- Mikhail Ivanovich Kostylev
is a 54-year-old man, the owner and keeper of a rooming house. - Vasilisa Karpovna
is Kostylev’s wife, the woman is 26 years old. She was the mistress of Ash's guest. - Natasha
is the sister of the owner, the girl is 20 years old. - Medvedev
is the uncle of the owner and her sister, a policeman, 50 years old.
Basement residents:
- Vaska Pepel
- thief, 28 years old. - Klesch Andrey Mitrich
- working man - mechanic, 40 years old. - Anna
is his wife, a sick woman of 30 years old. - Nastya
is a slutty girl, 24 years old. - Kvashnya
- trades at the market, about 40 years. - Bubnov
is a former aristocrat, cohabiting with Nastya, 45 years old. - Baron
- 33 years old. - Satin and Actor
are about 40 years old. - Luke
- old man, sage, wanderer, 60 years old.
The main characters of the play and their brief descriptions
Main characters
Mikhail Ivanovich Kostylev - owner of the shelter, 54 years old, greedy, does not hesitate to buy stolen goods, takes the last penny from the guests. Kostylev is a hypocrite: he tries to look pious, but his soul is far from Christianity. He is jealous of his wife, who is his daughter’s age.
Vasilisa Karpovna Kostyleva—the owner’s wife, 26 years old. The woman is heartless, greedy, plays tricks with Vaska Ash, tyrannizes her sister.
Natasha is Vasilisa’s younger sister, 20 years old. A meek, kind girl. She endures Vasilisa’s bullying, her life is joyless, and she often imagines her death.
Luka is a wandering old man of 60 years old, he has seen a lot in life, he takes pity on people, tries to console them, to reassure them in some way.
Vaska Pepel is a young man, 28 years old, engaged in theft, and is in a relationship with Vasilisa Kostyleva, whose cruelty and greed disgust him. Ash likes Natasha because she is “strict, good... a reliable person.” For her sake, I’m even ready to change my lifestyle.
Klesch Andrey Mitrich - unemployed, 40 years old, by trade - a mechanic. He considers himself better than other guests at the shelter because he loves to work. The tick is confident that it will get out of poverty. He is hardworking, but gloomy and hard-hearted towards his sick wife.
Bubnov is a cap-maker who once had his own business. He is 45 years old, lost everything because of his wife and her lover. He doesn’t expect anything good from life, he’s indifferent to everything.
The Baron is a bankrupt aristocrat, 33 years old. He led a thoughtless, empty life, ended up in a poor house, and became the partner of a prostitute. Sometimes he remembers the past and boasts of his origins. He no longer hopes for changes for the better. The Baron is passive, unable to change anything.
Satin is a sharpie, 40 years old. He served time in prison for murder (defending his sister), where he learned to play cards. I once worked in a printing house, read a lot, and compared to the inhabitants of the shelter, I was quite educated. The character often indulges in abstract reasoning and uses bookish words. In his monologue “Man—that sounds proud!..” the author expresses his position.
Nastya is a 24-year-old girl, the baron’s live-in wife, who earns money through prostitution. She reads low-grade French novels, dreams of true love, talks about her beloved Gaston or Raoul, and believes in it herself.
The actor is a drunken man who has even lost his name. He is about forty, in the past he was a provincial actor with the stage name Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky. He is a harmless person and can show compassion. Having lost hope of changing his life, he hanged himself.
Minor characters
Medvedev Abram is a middle-aged policeman, uncle of Vasilisa and Natasha. He unprincipledly does not interfere in the “family matter” when Vasilisa beats Natalya, and turns a blind eye to the business relationship between Kostylev and the thief Ash.
Anna is Kleshch’s wife, 30 years old. She fell ill with consumption from her husband’s beatings and malnutrition. When I was dying, I didn’t see any sympathy from my husband.
Alyoshka is a shoemaker, 20 years old, already a drinker, often in jail.
Kvashnya is an enterprising woman of about 40 who makes a living selling dumplings. Not long ago I became a widow, which made me incredibly happy: my husband was giving up. I didn’t want to hear any more about marriage. Yielding to Medvedev’s persuasion, she got together with him, but she herself began to beat her husband.
Tatar is a hook maker. A hard-working person, he believes that one must always be honest. His hand is crushed and will have to be cut off.
Act I
The work begins on a spring morning. Trader Kvashnya talks about marriage. She claims that she will not fit into the man’s passport and will be given to him in the fortress. The Baron listens and eats bread. Kleshch intervenes in the conversation and argues with her. In his opinion, the woman wants to marry Abramka. Kvashnya swears. The Baron grabs the book from the hands of Nastya, who is enthusiastically reading. He reads the title with a laugh - “Fatal Love”. The girl asks to give her the book, noise begins. Sick Anna asks not to scream, to stop swearing, but no one listens to her. Kvashnya takes pity on the woman and offers her food, Anna coughs dully and refuses.
Satin wakes up, he doesn’t remember what happened yesterday, he feels beaten, but for what, he doesn’t know. Residents argue, no one wants to clean up, they forgot whose turn it is.
Anna offers her husband Kleshch the warm dumplings Kvashnya left for her. The actor announces that the doctor has found the cause of the disease: “the body is poisoned with alcohol.” He and Satin remember complex clever words. They are tired of human speech, they want something new, unknown. Satin was a telegraph operator, so he encountered many new concepts and read books.
Kostylev appears at the shelter. He listens to what is happening in the corner near Ash, behind the partition. The owner demands that Kleshch pay back the debt, 2 rubles. An argument begins between the men, and the locksmith goes outside. Mikhail Ivanovich disturbs Ash's sleep. Satin chuckles, he understands that the owner is looking for a wife. Ash drives them away. He is infatuated with another – Vasilisa’s sister Natasha. The conversation turns to workers, honor and conscience. Who needs them? In his opinion, only those who are rich or in power.
Natalya brings the old man into the shelter. This is Luka. She turns to Kleshch and asks to pick Anna up from the kitchen, where she took her to warm up. The girl admits that she is afraid of death. Ash boasts of courage, is ready to accept death, if only from a “pure” soul. Ash mocks the former aristocrat and asks to bark for the glass.
The tick hopes that he will escape from the cellar and leave the shelter.
Two people remain in the room: the sick Anna and the elder Luke. Anna thinks he looks like her father. Father was affectionate and soft. Luka agrees: he is soft, he has been “bruised” a lot in life.
The action ends with screams. Somewhere behind the scenes, Vasilisa hits Natalya; she doesn’t like that Vaska has changed his interest in her to courting his sister. The guests run to separate the women.
Act II
The situation in the night cellar does not change. Some residents play cards, others play checkers.
The Tatar demands that the players not allow cheating, but no one knows how to play like that. The whole game is built on deception: hiding or replacing a card. The men are arguing. The Baron is caught, he puts the card in his sleeve. The Tatar cannot explain why honesty is needed. Everyone laughs at him.
Zob begins to sing about a prison in which it is dark and there is no sun. The prison is guarded by sentries. The one who is being guarded will not run away, he has nowhere to go, no strength to break the chains. The song enhances the heaviness of the atmosphere in the room.
Luke talks with Anna. A woman complains about her life. She never ate enough, she was afraid, she shook, she trembled. There were no good clothes - only rags. Anna asks about the other world, how life is there, whether she will have peace. Luke consoles: “...you will rest there.”
The actor invites Luka to listen to his favorite poems. He first tries to explain what it is, then gets into an actor's pose. The body, poisoned by alcohol (the words of the Actor), took away the memory. The Actor could not remember anything. He asks the old man if this is bad. Luke explains that forgetting what you love is comparable to losing your soul. The man complains: the soul is drunk, faith is lost, the man is gone. Luka offers him treatment. There is a place, but he doesn’t remember its name. A hospital was built there for those who drink. They are treated for free because they have recognized that “a drunkard is also a person.” But you need to prepare for the hospital: refrain from drinking. Luka is sure that a person can do anything if he wants.
Anna interrupts their conversation. She calls the old man. Luka returns to the woman. The tick stands silently by his wife's bed, he tries to say something, but only waves his hand. The old man understands that it is hard for a man. The woman admits that she has no time for him, and she got sick from his beatings. Luke is looking for words of reassurance. He promises the exhausted Anna that death will take away fatigue and melancholy. “If you die, you will rest.”
Medvedev intervenes in the conversation. He wonders how the elder knows what happens to a person after death.
Anna wonders if she can recover, but Luka snaps: why? To suffer again? “Death... is like a mother to small children.”
The men argue and make noise. Luka tries to pacify them, asks them to be quieter. They ask if the woman is really dying. Luke states that death is near.
Ash turns to Medvedev with a question about Natalia's condition. The policeman is angry, why take an interest in their personal family problems. He calls Cinder a thief. Ash promises Medvedev not to remain silent, but to tell everything about their family: who accepts stolen goods, who points out places and incites them to commit robbery. Uncle is dejected, he does not understand that he has done bad things for Vaska, although he has done nothing good. Luke enters the conversation: he who does not do good does bad. The policeman is angry and leaves.
Bubnov warns Ash, asks to be careful, to reduce his courage. Elder Luke supports and sends the thief guy to Siberia. This is the “golden side”, brave people are needed there. But Vasily was amazed, he thought that they were only exiling to Siberia, and that it was stupid to go there themselves. The conversation takes on a philosophical character. Ash asks Luke if there is a God. The old man smiles silently.
The hostess Vasilisa appears in the lodging house and on the stage. She calls Vasily to talk. The man waves it off. Vasilisa is angry, Ash offended her: he fell in love with her and stepped aside. The cunning mistress offers to help Vaska and herself. The man likes his sister, and for this she beats her half to death. From the conversation it becomes clear that Ash has already suffered at her will: 2 times because of her husband’s greed he was in prison. A woman proposes to kill her husband. The woman's cunning angers the thief.
Kostylev sneaks across the stage. He sees his young wife and starts screaming and waving his arms. Ashes shake the jealous old man. At this time, Luka begins to move on the stove. The fight stops, Kostylev runs out of the basement. Ash is surprised. He understands that the old man deliberately prevented him from beating his owner. Luke explains that he climbed onto the stove “for Ash’s happiness” and did not allow him to make a mistake again. Luka teaches Vaska, “you need to keep this woman away.” She will live without her husband even without Vaska. “With a girl you like,” you need to go away from the shelter. You can go alone to get out of a confused family.
Old man Luka notices that the patient has become quiet. He goes to the bed and says that Anna has suffered enough. Ash shudders in fear, the guy doesn’t like the dead. Luke agrees, we should love the living.
The husband appears, all the guests gather at the bedside of the deceased woman.
Act III
The scene reveals a view not of the rooming house premises, but of the vacant lot next to it. The windows dimly light level with the ground. Nastya and Natasha are resting on a log. Nastya enthusiastically shares about the feelings of falling in love. It was a student wearing beautiful expensive patent leather boots. He wanted to commit suicide because his parents did not allow him to marry poor Nastya. Baron and Bubnov laugh. They know for sure that none of this happened, this is fiction, scenes from a book that Nastya read. Luka calms the girl down and takes her away from the mockers.
Natalya admits to the men that she is also afraid of the future. It always seems to her that she will die tomorrow, it becomes creepy. Bubnov begins to discuss why they are making things up and lying. Nastya is trying to use fiction to change the life around her, to “touch up her soul.” Why is Elder Luke lying? There is nothing useful for him in this lie, but he is lying. The old man appears and addresses the Baron. He asks to leave the girl. The girl wants to shed tears, let her shed them, she doesn’t bother anyone. The Baron does not agree, he is tired of Nastya’s fairy tales. The name of the beloved is constantly changing: Raoul, Gaston. But he goes to make peace with her.
Natasha liked Luka, he is kind. The elder agrees, someone needs to be kind. He told an episode from his long life. Luka was guarding the dacha. Thieves were about to break into it. They were so engrossed in their work that they did not notice the guard with a gun. Luke forced them to flog each other. Then the thieves asked for bread, it turned out that they tried to ask people for food, but no one gave it, so they had to decide to steal. The three of them began to guard the dacha. The thieves turned out to be good and hardworking. They survived the winter and moved on. Luke summed up the story: neither prison nor Siberia makes good, but a simple, ordinary person.
The tick suddenly jumps up and runs away. He doesn't believe in places where there is real truth. The locksmith is alarmed.
Ash is surprised, where did the Tick rush to? Vasily admits that he does not like the tenant for his pride and anger. Klesch always emphasizes that he is a “working man” and holds himself above the rest.
Luka turns to Bubnov. He talks about the essence of truth. Luke met a man who “believed in a righteous land.” It was getting bad, he hoped that he could go to the “righteous land”, it was a joy for him. A learned man has arrived. They began to look through books for the land of truth. She was not found anywhere. The man did not believe the scientist, beat him, then came home and hanged himself out of grief.
Everyone fell silent, and the sage sat smiling. He said that he was going to leave the shelter soon. Luka heard that the crests had a new belief, so he went to see it.
Ash calls Natalya to leave the cellar. The girl doesn't understand where? By prisons? Vaska promises to quit stealing for the sake of his beloved. He believed Luke and offers to go to the golden country, Siberia. He felt that he should change his life, start respecting himself. Natasha talks about feelings: she doesn’t really like the guy. Sometimes she likes a man, other times she gets sick of even looking at him. Ash admits that he truly fell in love with the girl and will help her get used to it. Natasha asks about her attitude towards her sister. Ash explains that Vasilisa did not need Vaska, but money, freedom and debauchery. Luke agrees with the guy. He tells Natalya that Vaska is a good person, but he needs to be reminded of this more often. Natalya clings to Ash, warns that if she beats her, she will either hang herself, or... Vaska promises not to raise her hand against Natalya. Luka confirms his words: Vasily needs Natalya more than she needs him. The girl doesn’t have time to finish, relatives appear, they give orders and order her to do housework. Natalya fulfills her sister's demand. Vasilisa challenges Ash to a quarrel. Luke prevents debris from developing. Kostylev begins to attack the old man, asking when he is going to leave the house. The owner of the shelter does not understand wanderers; he believes that they should live in one place.
The elder tries to explain the difference between “people and people”, compares them to the earth. One is productive, the other is poor and does not yield crops. Mikhail Ivanovich drives the elder away. The sage chuckles and offers to hand him over to his uncle, the policeman. You can get 3 kopecks. Luka promises to leave the house at night. Bubnov is sure: everything needs to be done on time. He told his life story. His wife contacted a master who skillfully painted dogs into raccoons and cats into expensive exotic animals. They began to take Bubnov away from the world. The husband will beat his wife, and the master will beat him up. He decided to kill the woman, but in time he abandoned the murder and left. He remained free, but poor, without a workshop. Bubnov admits that most likely he would have drunk it away, but one feels that he feels sorry for the lost acquired property.
The Actor and Satin appear on stage. The latter scolds the sage Luke for telling fairy tales. The actor did not drink all day, hoping to end up in a hospital. Satin scolds Luke; he wants to know what the wanderer promised.
The tick returns to the basement, gloomy and preoccupied. He has lost the meaning of life. I had to part with my tools to bury my wife; the mechanic cannot imagine himself without work.
The women lead the beaten Natalya. Vasilisa continues to hit her poor sister after her. She screams that no one will stop her from tearing the girl to pieces. Everyone huddles together. Vaska appears. He pushes everyone apart with his hands, looking for his beloved. Kostylev calls to tie up Vaska. He swings and pushes him. The jealous man falls. Kvashnya explains to Ash that the relatives poured boiling water over the girl’s feet. Natalya asks to hide her. Vasilisa shouts that Kostylev was killed. She accuses her lover of murder. Vasily rushes at him, but Satin and Zob take the guy away. Natalya begins to scream that Vasilisa and Vaska conspired and deliberately “mutilated her” so that they could continue to be lovers. She cries and demands to be taken to prison, away from them.
Brief summary of the play “At the Bottom”. Act 4
A.M. BitterThe setting of the first act. Tatar is moaning in the corner, Kleshch is fixing an accordion at the table, Satin, Baron and Nastya are sitting nearby, Actor is coughing on the stove. Everyone is discussing Luka's sudden disappearance during the chaos. The Tatar says that the old man was a good man, “he had the law in his soul,” and did not offend people. Nastya is still preparing to go to the ends of the world, her partner Baron makes fun of her, and Satin advises taking with her the Actor, who learned that “half a mile from the end of the world there is a hospital for organons.” Kleshch recalls that Luka did not like the truth.
Satin objects that the old man was not a charlatan and knew his truth: “Man, that’s the truth! He understood this... You don’t! He lied... but it’s out of pity for you... There is a comforting lie, a reconciling lie... Those who are weak at heart, and who live on other people’s juices, need a lie... some are supported by it, others hide behind it. And who is his own master... who is independent and does not eat other people's things - why does he need lies? Lies are the religion of slaves and masters... Truth is the god of a free man!” Satin says that Luka affected him like acid on an old dirty coin, and offers to drink to his health. The Baron recalls his origins (old surname, nobles, immigrants from France, wealth, hundreds of serfs, horses, carriages with coats of arms, dozens of footmen, houses in Moscow and St. Petersburg). Nastya mocks him and says that none of this happened (“Do you understand what it’s like for a person when they don’t believe him?”).
Nastya says that Natasha was treated in the hospital, but she left there and disappeared. Those gathered discuss how the trial of Ash and Vasilisa will end. Nastya claims that Vasilisa will turn out, and Pepel will be sent to hard labor, loses her temper, adds that it would be nice to send all the inhabitants of the shelter to hard labor, says that the Baron lives at her expense, although he boasts of his high origins. Against the background of all this, Satin continues his reasoning about man: “Man is free... he pays for everything himself: for faith, for unbelief, for love, for intelligence... Everything is in man, everything is for man! Only man exists, everything else is the work of his hands and his brain!
Human! It's great! It sounds... proud! Human! We must respect the person! Don’t feel sorry, don’t humiliate him with pity... Work? For what? To be full? I've always despised people who care too much about being well-fed... That's not the point! Man is higher! Man is beyond satiety! Bubnov and Medvedev appear. Both are tipsy. Medvedev is wearing a jacket from Kvashnya, who took him as her roommate. Bubnov treats the inhabitants of the shelter and gives all his money to Satin, as he feels good towards him. Alyoshka comes running, sings, dances, and grins. The men sing a prison song, the Baron appears and shouts that the Actor hanged himself in the vacant lot. Satin: “I ruined the song... fool!”
