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The play "At the Bottom" by M. Gorky is an innovative literary work. In the center of it is not so much human destinies as a clash of ideas, a dispute about a person, about the meaning of life. The core of this dispute is the problem of truth and lies, the perception of life as it really is, with all its hopelessness for the characters - people of the "bottom", or a life with illusions, in whatever varied and bizarre forms they may appear. Already at the very beginning of the play, Kvashnya flatters herself with illusions that she is a free woman, and Nastya - with dreams of a great feeling, borrowing it from the book Fatal Love.

And from the very beginning, a fatal truth bursts into this world of illusions. It is no accident that Kvashnya throws his remark, addressing the Tick: "You can't stand the truth!" In the Kostylevo flophouse, freedom turns out to be ghostly - having sunk to the “bottom”, people have not left life, it overtakes them. These people are cruel to each other, life made them that way. And this cruelty is manifested primarily in the persistence with which they destroy the illusions of other people, for example Nastya, the dying Anna, Tick with his hope to get out of the shelter, start a new life, the Baron, whose entire heritage is made up of memories of the past greatness of the family and to whom Nastya throws in bitterness: "You're lying, there was not this!" Among these people, hardened by life, the wanderer Luke appears. And with his appearance, the dispute that has already begun about a person, about truth and lies in his life is exacerbated. Let's take a closer look at the image of Luke.

First of all, we note that it is this character of the play that causes the most fierce disputes, constitutes its dramatic nerve.

Luke comforts people. How can you comfort these former barons, actors, a working man who has lost his job, a dying woman who has nothing to remember about her life, a hereditary thief, who have been thrown out of life, sunk to the bottom of her former barons, actors? And Luke resorts to lying like a verbal drug, like a pain reliever. He instills illusions in the inhabitants of the shelter, and his life experience is such that he subtly feels people, knows that each of them is most important. And unerringly presses on the main lever of the human personality, promising Anna peace and rest in the next world, the Actor - free hospitals for alcoholics, and Vaska Pepl - a free life in Siberia. Why is Luke lying? Readers and critics have asked themselves this question more than once, reflecting on Gorky's play.

For a long time, the image of Luka was assessed in literary criticism unequivocally negatively. Luka was accused of lying out of mercenary motives, that he was indifferent to the people he was deceiving, and finally, that at the time of the crime he disappeared from the shelter. But the main accusation that was brought against Luke concerned his position, his relationship to a person. He preaches pity, mercy, which in previous years were considered something superfluous, even suspicious, a kind of manifestation of conciliation, a retreat from the position of fighting the class enemy (and they saw infinitely many enemies around him), mercy was declared "intellectual softness", which is unacceptable in conditions of the clash of two worlds. Another thing was not accepted in Luke's position - that he does not call people to fight, to revolutionary actions, to radically change their lives. All this in the old years was considered harmful and alien to the man of the new society, a fighter for a brighter future.

However, Luke is not just a comforter, he philosophically substantiates his position. One of the ideological centers of the play is the story of a wanderer about how he saved two escaped convicts. The main idea of ​​the Gorky character here is that it is not violence, not prison, but only good that can save a person and teach good: "A person can teach good ... While a person believed, he lived, and lost faith, and hanged himself." The author's position in the drama is expressed, in particular, in the plot. The last event of the play - the death of the Actor - confirms these words of Luke.

It is believed that the main opponent of Luke in the dispute about the truth is Satin. It seems to be so, because it is he who utters the aphorism: "Lies are the religion of slaves and masters ... Truth is the god of a free man!" However, it is Satin who not only stands up for the old man, forbidding him to speak badly about him, but also pronounces his famous monologue about a man, embodying Luke's ideas.
(It is not Satin who really argues with Luka, but the author of the play. in the world of a consoling dream, lulling deception, he reconciles with his wretched, hopeless real life. This leads him to the fact that he agrees to endure - this motive sounds in the play more than once, for example, in the words of Anna: “If there will be no torment ... here you can tolerate ... you can! "or in the parable of the righteous land - the person lived badly, but endured in the hope of finding another life sometime. This is such a reconciliation with life M. Gorky does not accept. The dispute between the writer and Luka is in many ways a dispute with himself It was not for nothing that his contemporaries recalled that in his human qualities M. Gorky was in many ways close to this wanderer-comforter. portrayed him as a fist, a criminal and immoral person.

Analysis of the play by M. Gorky "At the Bottom"

In all of Gorky's plays, an important motive sounded loudly - passive humanism, addressed only to such feelings as pity and compassion, and opposing it with active humanism, which arouses in people the desire for protest, resistance, struggle. This motive was the main content of the play, created by Gorky in 1902 and immediately provoked heated discussions, and then spawned in several decades such a huge critical literature that few of the dramatic masterpieces have generated in several centuries. This is the philosophical drama At the Bottom.

Gorky's plays are social dramas in which problems are common and heroes are unusual. The author has no main or secondary characters. In the plot of the plays, the main thing is not a clash of people in some life situations, but a clash of life positions and views of these people. These are socio-philosophical dramas. Everything in the play is subject to philosophical conflict, the clash of different life positions. And that is precisely why an intense dialogue, often a dispute, is the main thing in the playwright's work. Monologues in the play are rare and are the end of a certain stage of the heroes' dispute, a conclusion, even an author's declaration (for example, Satin's monologue). The disputing parties seek to convince each other - and the speech of each of the heroes is bright, rich in aphorisms.

The development of the action of the play "At the Bottom" flows along several parallel channels, almost independent of each other. The relationship between the owner of the shelter Kostylev, his wife Vasilisa, her sister Natasha and the thief Ash is tied into a special plot knot - a separate social and everyday drama could be created on this vital material. Separately, the storyline is developing, connected with the relationship between the locksmith Kleshch, who lost his job and sank to the bottom, and his dying wife Anna. Separate plot nodes are formed from the relationship between the Baron and Nastya, Medvedev and Kvashnya, from the fate of the Actor, Bubnov, Alyoshka and others. It may seem that Gorky gave only a sum of examples from the life of the inhabitants of the "bottom" and that, in essence, nothing would have changed if there were more or fewer of these examples.

It even seems that he deliberately sought to disrupt the action, dividing the stage every now and then into several sections, each of which is inhabited by its own characters and lives its own special life. At the same time, an interesting polyphonic dialogue arises: the remarks sounding on one of the sections of the stage, as if accidentally echoes the remarks sounding on the other, acquiring an unexpected effect. In one corner of the stage, Ashes assures Natasha that he is not afraid of anyone or anything, and in another corner, Bubnov, who is patching his cap, says in a drawn-out manner: “But the threads are rotten ...” And this sounds like an evil irony addressed to Ashes. In one corner the drunken Actor tries and cannot recite his favorite poem, and in another Bubnov, playing checkers with the policeman Medvedev, gloatingly says to him: "Your king is gone ..." And again it seems that this is not only addressed to Medvedev , but also to the Actor, that we are talking not only about the fate of the game in checkers, but also about the fate person.

This cross-cutting action is complex in this play. To understand him, you need to understand what role Luke plays here. This wandering preacher consoles everyone, promises everyone deliverance from suffering, says to everyone: "You - hope!", "You - believe!" Luca is an outstanding personality: he is smart, he has tremendous experience and a keen interest in people. The whole philosophy of Luke is condensed in one of his dictums: "What you believe is what you believe." He is sure that truth can never cure any soul, and nothing can be cured, and the pain can only be softened by a comforting lie. At the same time, he sincerely pity people and sincerely wants to help them.

From collisions of this kind, the end-to-end action of the play is formed. For his sake, Gorky needed the fates of different people developing in parallel, as it were. These are people of different vitality, different resistance, different ability to believe in a person. The fact that Luke's preaching, its real value, is "tested" on so many different people makes this test especially convincing.

Luke says to the dying Anna, who did not know peace during her life: “You - die with joy, without anxiety ...” And in Anna, on the contrary, the desire to live intensifies: “... just a little more ... I should live ... a little! If there is no flour there ... you can be patient here ... you can! " This is Luke's first defeat. He tells Natasha a parable about the "righteous land" in order to convince her of the perniciousness of truth and the salvificance of deception. And Natasha makes a completely different, directly opposite conclusion about the hero of this parable, who committed suicide: "I could not stand the deception." And these words throw light on the tragedy of the Actor, who believed in Luke's consolations and could not bear the bitter disappointment.

Brief dialogues between the old man and his "wards", intertwining with each other, impart a tense inner movement to the play: the ghostly hopes of the unfortunate are growing. And when the collapse of illusions begins, Luka imperceptibly disappears.

Luke suffers the biggest defeat from Satin. In the last act, when Luka is no longer in the shelter and everyone is arguing about who he is and what, in fact, he wants, the tramps' anxiety increases: how, how to live? The Baron expresses the general condition. Admitting that he “never understood anything” before, lived “as in a dream,” he thoughtfully remarks: “... after all, for some reason I was born ...” People begin to listen to each other. Satin first defends Luka, denying that he is a deliberate deceiver, a charlatan. But this defense quickly turns into an offensive - an offensive against Luke's false philosophy. Satin says: “He lied ... but - this is out of pity for you ... There is a comforting lie, a reconciling lie ... I - I know a lie! Whoever is weak in soul ... and who lives in other people's juices - those need lies ... Some it supports, others hide behind it ... And who is his own master ... who is independent and does not eat someone else's - why should he lie? Lies are the religion of slaves and masters ... Truth is the god of a free man! " Lies as "the religion of the owners" are embodied by the owner of the shelter Kostylev. Luke embodies lies as a "religion of slaves", expressing their weakness and oppression, their inability to fight, their tendency to be patient, to reconcile.

Satin concludes: “Everything is in a person, everything is for a person! There is only man, all the rest is the work of his hands and his brain. " And although for Satin his roommates were and will remain "dumb as bricks", and he himself will not go further than these words, for the first time a serious speech is heard in the shelter, pain is felt because of the lost life. The arrival of Bubnov reinforces this impression. "Where are the people?" - he exclaims and offers to "sing ... all night", weep out his inglorious fate. That is why Satin responds to the news of the Actor's suicide with harsh words: "Eh ... ruined the song ... you fool!" This line has another emphasis. The departure from the life of the Actor is again a step of a person who could not bear the truth.

Each of the last three acts "At the Bottom" ends with someone's death. In the finale of Act II, Satin shouts: "The dead cannot hear!" The movement of the drama is associated with the awakening of "living corpses", their hearing, emotions. It is here that the main humane, moral meaning of the play is concluded, although it ends tragically.

The problem of humanism is complicated in that it cannot be solved once and for all. Each new era and each shift in history is forced to pose and solve it anew. That is why there can be controversies over and over again about Luke's "softness" and Satin's rudeness.

The polysemy of Gorky's play led to its various theatrical performances. The most striking was the first stage incarnation of the drama (1902) by the Art Theater, directed by K.S. Stanislavsky, V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, with the direct participation of M. Gorky. Stanislavsky later wrote that everyone was conquered by "a kind of romanticism, on the one hand bordering on theatricality, and on the other, with preaching."

In the 60s, Sovremennik, under the leadership of O. Efremov, seemed to enter into polemics with the classic interpretation of At the Bottom. The figure of Luke was brought to the fore. His consolatory speeches were presented as an expression of concern for a person, and Satin was reprimanded for his "rudeness." The spiritual impulses of the heroes were suppressed, and the atmosphere of the action was mundane.

Disputes about the play are caused by different perceptions of Gorky's drama. In the play "At the Bottom" there is no subject of controversy, collisions. There is also no direct mutual appreciation of the characters: their relationship had developed long ago, before the start of the play. Therefore, the real meaning of Luke's behavior is not immediately revealed. Along with the embittered remarks of the inhabitants of the shelter, his "blissful" speeches sound contrasting, humane. Hence the desire to "humanize" this image is born.

M. Gorky psychologically expressively embodied the perspective concept of man. The writer revealed in unconventional material the acute philosophical and moral conflicts of his time, their progressive development. It was important for him to awaken the personality, its ability to think, comprehend the essence.

The play "At the Bottom" was created by Maxim Gorky especially for the troupe of the Moscow Art Theater, and initially did not look in the eyes of the author as an independent literary work. However, the power of psychological embodiment, 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 Bottom” is a kind of continuation of the theme of the humiliated and insulted in Russian literature. The author tells about the thoughts and feelings of people who, by the will of circumstances, found themselves at the very bottom of society. The very title of the work contains the deepest meaning, which very accurately reflects the theme of the play.

The main characters and heroes of the play "At the Bottom"

From the first pages of the drama At the Bottom, a dark and unpleasant picture unfolds before us. A 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 of social life. Many of them in the past were rich, successful people who broke under the pressure of fate, many continue their miserable existence here.

All of them are bound by the same fetters, which consist in the absence of any spiritual and cultural development. The residents of the shelter are tired of struggling with difficulties and dutifully float along the course of life. Gorky vividly depicts people who are lost, who will never be able to rise from the “bottom”.

Thief Vaska Ash does not try to change his life values, saying that he is continuing the thieves' path of his parents. The actor, who, in fact, was one of the most thoughtful inhabitants of the flophouse, unable to apply his philosophical reflections in practice, finally gets drunk.

She died in terrible agony Anna, who nevertheless sacredly believed in recovery until the last moment of her life. But like every society, even at the very bottom there was a man 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 the belief in salvation, pushed them to feel the strength in themselves and get out of the lower ranks 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 Mite about a better life, and he was the first to surrender in his struggle for existence. The hope that at least someone would be able to get out of here was completely trampled. The inhabitants did not have the strength to follow the light that Luke showed them.

The tragedy of society in the play

Using the heroes as an example, the author shows how people cannot live. And this does not in any way concern their fall, since no one in life is immune from this. But once at the bottom, no one has the right to obey the circumstances, but on the contrary, this should serve as a powerful impetus for a better life.

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

A very complex work was created by Maxim Gorky. “At the bottom”, a summary of which cannot be conveyed in a few phrases, prompts philosophical reflections on life and its meaning. Carefully written images offer the reader their point of view, however, as always, it is up to him to decide.

The plot of a famous play

Analysis of "At the Bottom" (M. Gorky) is impossible without knowledge of the plot of the play. A common thread running through the entire work is the dispute about the capabilities of man and the man himself. The action takes place in the Kostylevs' little house - a place that seems to have been forgotten by God, cut off from the civilized world of people. Each inhabitant here has long lost professional, social, social, spiritual, family ties. Almost all of them consider their position abnormal, hence the unwillingness to know anything about the neighbors, a certain bitterness, vices. Once at the very bottom, the characters have their own position in life, they only know their own truth. Could anything save them, or are they lost souls to society?

"At the Bottom" (Gorky): the heroes of the work and their characters

In the dispute that is being conducted throughout the play, three life positions are especially important: Luke, Bubnova, Satina. They all differ in fate, and their names are also symbolic.

Luke is considered the most difficult way. It is his character that prompts one to think about which is better - compassion or truth. And is it possible to use lies in the name of compassion, as this character does? A careful analysis of At the Bottom (Gorky) shows that Luke personifies precisely this positive quality. It eases Anna's death throes, gives hope to the Actor and Ash. However, the disappearance of the hero leads others to a disaster that might not have happened.

Bubnov is a fatalist by nature. He believes that a person is not able to change anything, and his fate is determined from above by the will of God, circumstances and laws. This hero is indifferent to others, to their suffering, as well as to himself. He goes with the flow and does not even try to get ashore. Thus, the author emphasizes the danger of such a credo.

When analyzing "At the Bottom" (Gorky), you should pay attention to Satin, who is firmly convinced that a person is the master of his own destiny, and everything is the work of his hands.

However, preaching noble ideals, he himself is a sharper, despises others, longs to live without working. Smart, educated, strong, this character could get out of the quagmire, but does not want to do it. His free man, who, in the words of Satin himself, “sounds proudly,” becomes an ideologue of evil.

Instead of a conclusion

It is worth considering that Satin and Luka are paired heroes, similar. Their names are symbolic and not accidental. The first is associated with the devil, Satan. The second, despite the biblical origin of the name, also serves the evil one. Concluding the analysis of At the Bottom (Gorky), I would like to note that the author wanted to convey to us that truth can save the world, but compassion is no less important. It is up to the reader to choose the position that is right for him. However, the question of a person and his capabilities still remains open.

Maksim Gorky is the literary pseudonym of Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov (March 16 (28), 1868, Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire - June 18, 1936, Gorki, Moscow Region, USSR) - Russian writer, prose writer, playwright.

Dedicated to Konstantin Petrovich Pyatnitsky

Characters:

Mikhail Ivanov Kostylev, 54 years old, owner of a shelter.

Vasilisa Karpovna, his wife, 26 years old.

Natasha, her sister, 20 years old.

Medvedev, their uncle, a policeman, 50 years old.

Vaska Ash, 28 years old.

Tick, Andrey Mitrich, locksmith, 40 years old.

Anna, his wife, 30 years old.

Nastya, girl, 24 years old.

Kvashnya, a ravioli trader, under 40.

Bubnov, cap, 45 years old.

Baron, 33 years old.

Satin, Actor - about the same age: under 40.

Luke, the wanderer, 60 years old.

Alyoshka, shoemaker, 20 years old.

Crooked Goiter, Tartar - kryuchniki.

Several tramps without names or speeches.

Analysis of the drama "At the Bottom" by M.Yu.

Drama, by its very nature, is meant to be staged on stage.... The orientation towards stage interpretation limits the artist in the means of expressing the author's position. She cannot, unlike the author of an epic work, directly express her 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 author's position is expressed in the monologues and dialogues of the heroes, in their actions, in the development of the plot. In addition, the playwright is limited in the volume of the work (the performance can go on for two, three, at most four hours) and in the number of characters (all of them must "fit" on the stage and have time to realize themselves in the limited time of the performance and the space of the stage).

That's why , an acute clash between the heroes on a very significant and significant occasion for them... Otherwise, the characters simply will not be able to realize themselves in the limited amount of drama and stage space. The playwright ties such a knot, when untangled, a person shows himself from all sides. Wherein there can be no “superfluous” heroes in the drama- all heroes must be included in the conflict, the movement and course of the play must capture all of them. Therefore, a harsh, conflictual situation, playing out in front of the viewer, turns out to be the most important feature of drama as a kind of literature.

The subject of the image in Gorky's drama "At the Bottom"(1902) becomes the consciousness of people thrown as a result of deep social processes to the bottom of life... In order to embody such an object of depiction by stage means, the author had to find an appropriate situation, a corresponding conflict, as a result of which the contradictions of the consciousness of the night-lodgers, its strengths and weaknesses, would be most fully manifested. Is a social, social conflict suitable for this?

Indeed, social conflict is presented in the play on several levels. Firstly, this is a conflict between the owners of the hostel, the spouses Kostylevs and its inhabitants.... It is felt by the characters throughout the play, but it turns out to be as if static, devoid of dynamics, non-developing... This is because The Kostylevs themselves have not gone so far in the public sense from the inhabitants of the shelter. The relationship between owners and occupants can only create tension, but not become the basis for a dramatic conflict that can "start" drama.

Besides , each of the heroes in the past experienced his own social conflict, as a result of which he ended up at the "bottom" of his life, in a shelter.

But these social conflicts are fundamentally taken out of the scene, relegated to the past and therefore do not become the basis of a dramatic conflict. We see only the result of social troubles that have so tragically affected the lives of people, but not the clashes themselves.

The presence of social tension is already indicated in the title of the play. After all, the very fact of the existence of the “bottom” of life also presupposes the presence of a “rapid”, its upper course, towards which the characters strive. But even this cannot become the basis for a dramatic conflict - after all, this tension is also devoid of dynamics, all attempts of the heroes to get away from the “bottom” turn out to be futile. Even the appearance of the policeman Medvedev does not give impetus to the development of a dramatic conflict.

Perhaps, is the drama organized by the traditional love conflict? Really, such a conflict is present in the play. It is determined by the relationship between Vaska Ashes, Vasilisa, Kostylev's wife, the owner of the hostel and Natasha.

The exposition of the love story is the appearance of Kostylev in the shelter and the conversation of the shelters, from which it is clear that Kostylev is looking for his wife Vasilisa in the shelter, who is cheating on him with Vaska Ash. The outbreak of a love conflict - the appearance of Natasha in the shelter, for the sake of which Ash leaves Vasilisa... In the course of the development of a love conflict, it becomes clear that relations with Natasha enrich Ash, revive him to a new life.

The culmination of a love conflict is fundamentally taken out of the scene.: we do not see exactly how Vasilisa scalds Natasha with boiling water, we only learn about it from the noise and screams behind the stage and the conversations of the night lodgers. The murder of Kostylev by Vaska Ash turns out to be a tragic denouement of a love conflict.

Of course love conflict is also a facet of social conflict... He shows that the anti-human conditions of the “bottom” cripple a person, and the most lofty feelings, even love, lead not to the enrichment of the individual, but to death, injury and hard labor. Having thus unleashed a love conflict, Vasilisa emerges victorious from it, achieves all her goals at once: she takes revenge on her former lover Vaska Peplu and her rival Natasha, gets rid of her unloved husband and becomes the sole owner of the hostel. Nothing human remained in Vasilisa, and her moral impoverishment shows the enormity of the social conditions in which both the inhabitants of the shelter and its owners are immersed.

Ho a love conflict cannot organize stage action and become the basis of a dramatic conflict, if only because, unfolding in front of the night lodgers, it does not affect them themselves . They are keenly interested in the vicissitudes of these relations, but do not participate in them, remaining only by outside viewers... Hence, a love conflict also does not create a situation that could form the basis of a dramatic conflict.

Let us repeat once again: the subject of the depiction in Gorky's play turns out to be not only and not so much social contradictions of reality or possible ways of their resolution; his interested in the consciousness of the night lodgers in all its contradictions. Such a subject of the image is characteristic of the genre of philosophical drama. Moreover, it also requires non-traditional forms of artistic expression: the traditional external action (series of events) is giving way to the so-called internal action. Everyday life is reproduced on the stage: there are minor quarrels between the hostels, one of the heroes appears and disappears. But these are not the circumstances that turn out to be plot-forming. Philosophical problems force the playwright to transform the traditional forms of drama: the plot manifests itself not in the actions of the heroes, but in their dialogues; Gorky translates the dramatic action into an extra-event series.

In the exhibition we see people who, in essence, have come to terms with their tragic position at the bottom of their lives. The plot of the conflict turns out to be the appearance of Luke. Outwardly, it does not in any way affect the lives of the night lodgers, but intense work begins in their minds. Luca immediately becomes the center of their attention, and the entire development of the plot focuses on him. In each of the heroes, he sees the bright sides of his personality, finds the key and approach to each of them. And this makes a real revolution in the lives of heroes. The development of inner action begins at the moment when the heroes discover in themselves the ability to dream of a new and better life.

It turns out that those bright sides, what Luke guessed in each character of the play, and constitute his true essence... Turns out, prostitute Nastya dreams of beautiful and light love; Actor, drunken person, recalls creativity and seriously thinks about returning to the stage; "Hereditary" thief Vaska Ashes finds in himself the desire for an honest life, wants to go to Siberia and become a strong master there.

Dreams reveal the true human essence of Gorky's heroes, their depth and purity.

This is another facet of social conflict: the depth of the heroes' personality, their noble aspirations are in blatant contradiction with their current social position. The structure of society is such that a person does not have the opportunity to realize his true essence.

Luke from the first moment of his appearance in the shelter, he refuses to see crooks in the shelters. "I also respect crooks, in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: everyone is black, everyone is jumping."- so he says, justifying his right to name his new neighbors "Honest people" and rejecting Bubnov's objection: "Was honest, yes, the spring before last." The origins of this position are in the naive anthropologism of Luke, who believes that a person is initially good and only social circumstances make him bad and imperfect.

This story-parable of Luke clarifies the reason for his warm and benevolent attitude towards all people - including those who are at the "bottom" of life. .

Luka's position appears in the drama very complex, and the author's attitude towards him looks ambiguous. ... On the one hand, Luke is absolutely disinterested in his preaching and in his desire to awaken in people the best, hidden for the time being, sides of their nature, which they did not even suspect - they contrast so strikingly with their position at the very bottom of society. He sincerely wishes his interlocutors well, shows real ways to achieve a new, better life. And under the influence of his words, the heroes really go through a metamorphosis.

Actor he stops drinking and saves money in order to go to a free hospital for alcoholics, not even suspecting that he does not need it: the dream of returning to creativity gives him the strength to overcome his illness.

Ash subordinates his life to the desire to go with Natasha to Siberia and get on his feet there.

Dreams of Nastya and Anna, the wife of Tick are completely illusory, but these dreams also give them the opportunity to feel happier.

Nastya imagines herself a heroine of tabloid novels, showing in her dreams of the non-existent Raoul or Gaston the feats of self-sacrifice that she is really capable of;

dying Anna, dreaming of an afterlife, also partly escapes the feeling of hopelessness: Only Bubnov Yes Baron, people who are completely indifferent to others and even to themselves, remain deaf to the words of Luke.

Luke's position is exposed by controversy About what is the truth, which arose with him with Bubnov and Baron, when the latter mercilessly exposes Nastya's groundless dreams of Raoul: “Here ... you say - it’s true ... It’s true, it’s not always because of an ailment to a person ... not always a true soul You will cure ... ”In other words, Luke affirms charity for a person of comforting lies. But is it the only lie that Luke claims?

Our literary criticism has long been dominated by the concept that Gorky unequivocally rejects Luke's comforting sermon. But the position of the writer is more complicated.

Vaska Ashes will indeed go to Siberia, but not as a free settler, but as a convict convicted of the murder of Kostylev.

The actor, who has lost faith in himself, will exactly repeat the fate of the hero of the parable of the righteous land, told by Luke. Trusting the hero to tell this plot, Gorky himself in the fourth act will beat him, drawing directly opposite conclusions. Luke, having told a parable about a man who, having lost faith in the existence of a righteous land, strangled himself, believes that a person should not be deprived of hope, even an illusory one. Gorky, through the fate of the Actor, assures the reader and the viewer that it is a false hope that can lead a person to a noose. Ho back to the previous question: In what way did Luke deceive the inhabitants of the shelter?

The actor accuses him of not leaving the address of the free hospital ... All heroes agree that hope which Luke instilled in their souls - false... But after all he did not promise to bring them out of the bottom of life - he simply supported their timid belief that there was a way out and that it was not ordered for them. The belief in oneself, which had awakened in the minds of the night lodgers, turned out to be too fragile and with the disappearance of the hero who was able to support it, it immediately died out. It's all about the weakness of the heroes, their inability and unwillingness to do at least something little in order to withstand the ruthless social circumstances that doom them to existence in the Kostylevs' little house.

Therefore, the author addresses the main accusation not to Luke, but to heroes who are unable to find the strength in themselves to oppose their will to reality. So Gorky manages to reveal one of the characteristic features of the Russian national character: dissatisfaction with reality, a sharply critical attitude towards it and a complete unwillingness to do anything in order to change this reality. ... That is why Luke finds such a warm response in their hearts: after all, he explains the failures of their lives by external circumstances and is not at all inclined to blame the heroes themselves for the failed life. And the thought of trying to somehow change these circumstances does not occur to either Luka or his flock. Therefore, so the heroes are dramatically experiencing Luke's departure: the hope awakened in their souls cannot find an inner support in their characters; they will always need the external support of even such a helpless person in a practical sense as the "pathetic" Luke.

Luka is an ideologue of passive consciousness, so unacceptable for Gorky.

According to the writer, a passive ideology can only reconcile the hero with his current position and will not prompt him to try to change this position, as happened with Nastya, with Anna, with the Actor. ... But who could object to this hero, who could oppose at least something to his passive ideology? There was no such hero in the shelter. The bottom line is that the bottom cannot develop a different ideological position, which is why Luke's ideas are so close to its inhabitants. But his preaching gave impetus for the emergence of a new position in life. Satin became its spokesman.

He is well aware that his state of mind is a reaction to the words of Luke: “Yes, it was he, the old yeast, who sour our roommates ... Old man? He is a clever fellow! .. The old man is not a charlatan! What is truth? Man - that's the truth! He understood this ... you - no! .. He ... acted on me like acid on an old and dirty coin ... " humiliation - expresses a different life position. But this is still only the very first step towards the formation of an active consciousness capable of changing social circumstances.

The tragic ending of the drama (the Actor's suicide) raises the question of the genre nature of the play "At the Bottom". Let me recall the main genres of drama. The difference between them is determined by the subject of the image. Comedy is a moral-descriptive genre, therefore the subject of the image in the comedy is a portrait of society at a non-heroic moment of its development. The subject of depiction in tragedy most often becomes the tragic, insoluble conflict of the hero-ideologist with society, the outside world, and insurmountable circumstances. This conflict can move from the external sphere to the sphere of the hero's consciousness. In this case, we are talking about an internal conflict. Drama is a genre that gravitates towards the study of philosophical or social and everyday problems.

Do I have any reason to regard the play At the Bottom as a tragedy? Indeed, in this case, I will have to define the Actor as a hero-ideologist and consider his conflict with society as ideological, for the hero-ideologist by death affirms his ideology. Tragic doom is the last and often the only way not to bow before the opposing force and to validate ideas.

I think not. His death is an act of despair and disbelief in his own strength for rebirth. Among the heroes of the “bottom” there are no obvious ideologues opposing reality. Moreover, their own situation is not comprehended by them themselves as tragic and hopeless. They have not yet reached the level of consciousness when a tragic outlook on life is possible, for it presupposes a conscious opposition to social or other circumstances.

Gorky clearly does not find such a hero in Kostylev's little house, at the “bottom” of his life. Therefore, it would be more logical to regard At the Bottom as a social-philosophical and social-everyday drama.

Reflecting on the genre nature of the play, it is necessary to find out what collisions are in the center of the playwright's attention, what becomes the main subject of the depiction. In the play At the Bottom, the subject of Gorky's research is the social conditions of Russian reality at the turn of the century and its reflection in the minds of the heroes. In this case, the main, main subject of the image is precisely the consciousness of the night lodgers and the sides of the Russian national character that manifested themselves in it.

Gorky tries to determine what are the social circumstances that influenced the characters of the heroes. To do this, he shows the backstory of the characters, which becomes clear to the viewer from the dialogues of the characters. But it is more important for him to show those social circumstances, the circumstances of the “bottom” in which the heroes find themselves now. It is this position of theirs that equates the former aristocrat Baron with the sharper Bubnov and the thief Vaska Ash and forms the common features of consciousness: a rejection of reality and at the same time a passive attitude towards it.

Within Russian realism, starting from the 40s of the last century, a trend has been developing that characterizes the pathos of social criticism in relation to reality. It is this direction, which is represented, for example, by the names of Gogol, Nekrasov, Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Pisarev, that received the name critical realism.

In the drama At the Bottom, Gorky continues these traditions, which is manifested in his critical attitude to the social aspects of life and, in many respects, to the heroes immersed in this life and shaped by it.

Typical does not mean the most common: on the contrary, the typical is more often manifested in the exceptional. To judge typicality means to judge what circumstances gave rise to this or that character, what caused this character, what is the background of the hero, what turns of fate brought him to the present situation and determined certain qualities of his consciousness.

Analysis of the play "At the Bottom" (opposition)

Chekhov's tradition in Gorky's drama. Gorky originally said about Chekhov's innovation, who "Killed realism"(traditional drama), raising images up "Spiritualized symbol"... That is how the departure of the author of The Seagull from a sharp clash of characters, from a tense plot was determined. Following Chekhov, Gorky strove to convey the unhurried pace of everyday, "eventless" life and to highlight in it the "undercurrent" of the heroes' inner motives. Only the meaning of this "trend" Gorky understood, naturally, in his own way. Chekhov has plays of refined moods and emotions. In Gorky, there is a clash of heterogeneous perceptions of the world, the very "fermentation" of thought that Gorky observed in reality. One after another, his dramas appear, many of them are indicatively named "scenes": "Bourgeois" (1901), "At the Bottom" (1902), "Summer Residents" (1904), "Children of the Sun" (1905), "Barbarians" ( 1905).

“At the Bottom” as a Socio-Philosophical Drama. From the cycle of these works, the depth of thought and the perfection of construction stands out “At the bottom”. Staged by the Moscow Art Theater and held with rare success, the play amazed with its “non-stage material” - from the life of tramps, cheats, prostitutes - and in spite of this, its philosophical richness. A special author's approach to the inhabitants of the dark, dirty little house helped to "overcome" the gloomy coloring and frightening everyday life.

The play got its final name on the playbill after Gorky went through others: "Without the sun", "Nochlezhka", "Bottom", "At the bottom of life." Unlike the original ones, which set off the tragic position of tramps, the latter clearly had a polysemy, was widely perceived: "At the bottom" not only of life, but primarily of the human soul.

Bubnov says about himself and his roommates: "... everything faded away, one naked man remained." Because of the "blooming", the loss of the previous position, the heroes of the drama really bypass particulars and gravitate towards some common human concepts. In this version, the internal state of the personality is visibly visible. The "dark kingdom" made it possible to single out the bitter meaning of existence, which is imperceptible under normal conditions.

The atmosphere of spiritual separation of people. The role of the polylogue. Characteristic of all literature of the early XX century. the painful reaction to the disunited, spontaneous world in Gorky's drama acquired rare proportions and convincingness of embodiment. The author conveyed the stability and limit of the mutual alienation of Kostylev's guests in the original form of a "polylogue". In act I all the characters speak, but each, almost without listening to the others, speaks of his own. The author emphasizes the continuity of such "communication". Kvashnya (the play begins with her remark) continues the dispute with Kleshch, begun behind the scenes. Anna asks to stop what lasts "every single day." Bubnov interrupts Satin: "I've heard a hundred times."

In the stream of fragmentary remarks and squabbles, words that have a symbolic sound are emphasized. Bubnov repeats twice (doing furry business): "And the strings are rotten ..." Nastya characterizes the relationship between Vasilisa and Kostylev: "Tie any living person to such a husband ..." Bubnov notes about Nastya's position: "You are superfluous everywhere." ... The phrases said on a specific occasion reveal the "subtext" meaning: the imaginary connections, the personality of the unfortunate.

The peculiarity of the inner development of the play... The setting changes from the appearance of Luke. It is with his help that illusory dreams and hopes come to life in the secret places of the souls of the night shelters. II and III acts of the drama allow you to see in the "naked man" attraction to another life. But, based on false ideas, it is crowned only with misfortune.

Luke's role in this outcome is very significant. An intelligent, knowledgeable old man indifferently looks at his real environment, believes that "for the better people live ... For a hundred years, and maybe more - they live for a better person." Therefore, the delusions of Ash, Natasha, Nastya, the Actor do not touch him. Nevertheless, Gorky did not at all limit what was happening to the influence of Luke.

The writer, no less than human disunity, does not accept the naive belief in miracles. It is the miraculous that Ash and Natasha think about in some "righteous land" of Siberia; to the actor - in a marble hospital; To tick - in honest work; Nastya is in love happiness. Luke's speeches worked because they fell on the fertile soil of secretly cherished illusions.

The atmosphere of acts II and III is different in comparison with I. There is a cross-cutting motive that the inhabitants of the flophouse leave for some unknown world, a mood of exciting anticipation and impatience. Luke advises Ash: “... from here - march forward! - leave! Go away ... "The actor says to Natasha:" I am leaving, leaving ...<...>You, too, go away ... "Ash persuades Natasha:" ... you have to go to Siberia of your own free will ... We're going there, well? " But at once other, bitter words of hopelessness sound. Natasha: "There is nowhere to go." Bubnov once "caught himself in time" - he left the crime and forever remained in the circle of drunkards and cheats. Sateen, recalling his past, sternly asserts: "After prison there is no way." And Tick with pain admits: "There is no shelter ... there is nothing." There is a deceptive release from the circumstances in these remarks of the inhabitants of the shelter. Gorky tramps, by virtue of their rejection, experience this eternal drama for a person with rare nudity.

The circle of existence seemed to be closed: from indifference - to an unattainable dream, from it - to real shocks or death. Meanwhile, it is in this state of the heroes that the playwright finds the source of their emotional change.

The meaning of Act IV. Act IV shows the same situation. And yet something completely new happens - the fermentation of the previously sleepy thought of tramps begins. Nastya and the Actor for the first time angrily denounce their stupid classmates. The Tatar expresses a conviction that was previously alien to him: it is necessary to give the soul a "new law." The tick is suddenly calmly trying to discern the truth. But the main thing is expressed by those who have not believed in anyone and in anything for a long time.

The Baron, admitting that he “never understood anything,” thoughtfully remarks: “... after all, for some reason I was born ...” This bewilderment binds everyone. And it maximally strengthens the question "Why was I born?" Satin. Clever, impudent, he correctly evaluates tramps: "stupid as bricks", "brutes", knowing nothing and not wanting to know. Therefore, Satin (he is "kind when drunk") and tries to protect the dignity of people, to open their possibilities: "Everything is in a person, everything is for a person." Satin's reasoning is unlikely to be repeated, the life of the unfortunate will not change (the author is far from any embellishment). But the flight of Satin's thoughts fascinates the audience. For the first time, they suddenly feel like a small particle of the big world. The actor therefore does not stand up to his doom, cutting off his life.

The strange, completely unconscious rapprochement of the "bitter brethren" takes on a new shade with the arrival of Bubnov. "Where are the people?" - he shouts and offers to "sing ... all night", "weep" his fate. That is why Satin responds sharply to the news of the Actor's suicide: "Eh ... ruined the song ... you fool."

Philosophical overtones of the play. Gorky's play of the socio-philosophical genre, and with its vital concreteness, was undoubtedly aimed at universal human concepts: alienation and possible contacts of people, imaginary and real overcoming of a humiliating position, illusions and active thought, sleep and awakening of the soul. The characters of At the Bottom only intuitively touched the truth, without getting rid of the feeling of hopelessness. Such a psychological collision enlarged the philosophical sound of the drama, which revealed the universality (even for the outcast) and the inaccessibility of genuine spiritual values. The combination of the eternal and the instant, the stability and at the same time the precariousness of familiar representations, a small stage space (a dirty shelter) and reflections on the big world of mankind allowed the writer to embody complex life problems in an everyday situation.

At the bottom is my chapter summary

Action one

A cave-like basement. The ceiling is heavy, with fallen plaster. Light from the audience. On the right, behind the enclosure, is Ash's closet, next to Bubnov's bunk, in the corner is a large Russian stove, opposite the door to the kitchen, where Kvashnya, Baron, Nastya live. Behind the stove is a wide bed behind a cotton curtain. Around the bunks. In the foreground, a vise with an anvil is on a tree stump. Sitting next to Kvashnya, Baron, Nastya, reading a book. On the bed behind the curtain, Anna coughs heavily. On the bunk, he examines the old open trousers of Tambourines. Next to him, the newly awakened Satin lies and growls. The Actor is busy on the stove.

The beginning of spring. Morning.

Kvashnya, talking to the Baron, promises never to marry again. Bubnov asks Satin why he “grunts”? Kvashnya continues to develop her idea that she is a free woman and will never agree to “give herself up to the fortress”. The tick rudely shouts to her: “You're lying! You yourself will marry Abramka. "

The Baron snatches the book from reading Nastya and laughs at the vulgar title "Fatal Love". Nastya and Baron are fighting over the book.

Kvashnya scolds Tick as an old goat who brought his wife to death. The tick scolds lazily. Kvashnya is sure that Tick does not want to hear the truth. Anna asks for silence in order to die peacefully, Tick impatiently reacts to his wife's words, and Bubnov philosophically remarks: "Noise is not a hindrance to death."

Kvashnya is surprised how Anna lived with such a "sinister"? The dying woman asks to leave her alone.

Kvashnya and the Baron are going to the bazaar. Anna refuses the offer to eat dumplings, but Kvashnya still leaves the dumplings. The Baron teases Nastya, tries to anger her, and then hastily leaves for Kvashnya.

The finally awakened Satin asks who beat him the day before and why. Bubnov argues whether it does not matter, but they beat for cards. The actor shouts from the stove that one day Satin will be completely killed. The tick calls the Actor to get off the stove and start cleaning the basement. The actor objects, it's Baron's turn. The Baron, peeping in from the kitchen, excuses himself by his busyness - he goes with Kvashnya to the bazaar. Let the Actor work, he has nothing to do, or Nastya. Nastya refuses. Kvashnya asks the Actor to remove it, it will not break. The actor is discouraged by illness: it is harmful for him to breathe dust, his body is poisoned with alcohol.

Satin utters incomprehensible words: "sycamber", "macrobiotics", "transcendental". Anna invites her husband to eat dumplings left by Kvashnya. She herself languishes, anticipating the imminent end.

Bubnov asks Satin what these words mean, but Satin has already forgotten their meaning, and in general he is tired of all these conversations, all the "human words" that he has heard, probably a thousand times.

The actor recalls that he once played a gravedigger in Hamlet, and quotes from there the words of Hamlet: “Ophelia! Oh, remember me in your prayers! "

A tick, sitting at work, creaks with a file. And Satin recalls that once in his youth he served in the telegraph office, read many books, was an educated person!

Bubnov skeptically notes that he had heard this story “a hundred times!”, But he himself was a furrier, he had his own establishment.

The actor is convinced that education is nonsense, the main thing is talent and self-confidence.

Meanwhile, Anna asks to open the door, she is stuffy. The tick does not agree: it is cold on the floor, it has a cold. The Actor approaches Anna and offers to take her out into the hallway. Supporting the patient, he takes her out into the air. Met Kostylev laughs at them, what a "wonderful couple" they are.

Kostylev asks Klesch if Vasilisa was here in the morning? The tick did not see. Kostylev scolds Kleshch that he takes a place in the little house for five rubles, but pays two, he ought to throw in fifty rubles; "Better put on a loop" - ticks parries. Kostylev dreams that for this fifty kopeck he will buy lamp oil and pray for his own and others' sins, because Tick does not think about his sins, so he took his wife to the grave. The tick can not stand it and starts shouting at its owner. The returned Actor says that he has arranged Anna well in the entryway. The owner notices that everything will be reckoned for the good Actor in the next world, but the Actor would be more satisfied if Kostylev now knocked off half of his debt. Kostylev immediately changes his tone and asks: "Can kindness of heart be equated with money?" Kindness is one thing, duty is another. The actor calls Kostylev a rogue. The owner knocks on Ash's closet. Satin laughs that Ash will open, and Vasilisa is with him. Kostylev is angry. Opening the door, Ash demands money from Kostylev for the watch, and when he finds out that he hasn't brought money, he gets angry and scolds the owner. He rudely shakes Kostylev, demanding a debt of seven rubles from him. When the owner leaves, Ash is explained that he was looking for his wife. Satin is surprised that Vaska has not yet nailed Kostylev. Ash replies that "he will not spoil his life because of such rubbish." Satin teaches Ash to "kill Kostylev cleverly, then marry Vasilisa and become the owner of the flophouse." Ashes are not happy with such a prospect, the hostels will drink all his property in the tavern, because he is kind. Ash is angry that Kostylev woke him up at the wrong time, he just had a dream that he caught a huge bream. Satin laughs that it was not a bream, but Vasilisa. Ash sends everyone to hell together with Vasilisa. A tick returning from the street is unhappy with the cold. He did not bring Anna - Natasha took her to the kitchen.

Satin asks Ash for a nickel, but the Actor says that they need a dime for two. Vasily gives until the ruble is asked. Satin admires the kindness of the thief, "there is no better people in the world." The tick notices that money is easy for them, so they are kind. Satin objects: "Many people get money easily, but few part with it easily," he reasons that if the work is pleasant, he might work. “When work is pleasure, life is good! When labor is a duty, life is slavery! "

Satin and the Actor go to the pub.

Ash asks Tick about Anna's health, he replies that he will soon die. Ash advises Tick not to work. "How to live?" - he asks. “Others live,” notes Ash. The tick speaks contemptuously of those around it, it believes that it will break out of here. Ashes objects: the people around are no worse than Tick, and “they don't need honor and conscience. You can't wear them instead of boots. Honor and conscience are needed for those who have power and strength. "

The chilled Bubnov enters and, in response to Ash's question about honor and conscience, says that he does not need conscience: "I am not rich." Ash agrees with him, but Mite is against. Bubnov asks: does Mite want to occupy his conscience? Ash advises Tick to talk about conscience with Satin and Baron: they are smart, although drunkards. Bubnov is sure: "Who is drunk and smart - there are two lands in him."

Ash recalls how Satin said that it is convenient to have a conscientious neighbor, but being conscientious himself is "not profitable."

Natasha brings the wanderer Luka. He politely greets those present. Natasha introduces the new guest, inviting him to go to the kitchen. Luka assures: old people - where it is warm, there is a homeland. Natasha tells Tick to come later for Anna and be kind to her, she is dying and she is scared. Ash objects that dying is not scary, and if Natasha kills him, he will also happily die from a clean hand.

Natasha doesn't want to listen to him. Ash admires Natasha. She wonders why she rejects him, all the same, after all, she will disappear here.

"Through you and will be lost"- assures Bubnov.

Tick ​​and Bubnov say that if Vasilisa finds out about Ash's attitude to Natasha, both will be in trouble.

In the kitchen, Luka plays a mournful song. Ashes wonders why people suddenly feel melancholy? He yells at Luca not to howl. Vaska loved to listen to beautiful singing, and this howl evokes melancholy. Luka is surprised. He thought he sang well. Luka says that Nastya is sitting in the kitchen crying over a book. The Baron assures us that it’s stupidity. Ash invites Baron to bark a dog on all fours for half a bottle of booze. The Baron is surprised how happy Vaska is. After all, now they are equal. Luke sees the Baron for the first time. Grafov saw, princes, and baron - for the first time, "and even then spoiled."

Luke says the lodgers have a good life. But the Baron remembers how he used to drink coffee with cream while still in bed.

Luca notes that people get smarter over time. "They live worse and worse, but they want - everything is better, stubborn!" The Baron is interested in the old man. Who it? He answers: a wanderer. He says that everyone in the world is a wanderer, and "our land is a wanderer in the sky." The Baron goes with Vaska to the tavern and, saying goodbye to Luka, calls him a rogue. Alyosha enters with an accordion. He starts screaming and acting like a fool, which is no worse than others, so why Medyakin does not allow him to walk down the street. Vasilisa appears and also swears at Alyosha, drives him out of sight. Orders Bubnov to drive Alyosha if he appears. Bubnov refuses, but Vasilisa angrily reminds that since he lives out of mercy, then let him obey the masters.

Interested in Luka, Vasilisa calls him a crook, since he has no documents. The hostess is looking for Ashes and, not finding him, breaks down at Bubnov for the dirt: "So that there are no specks!" She angrily shouts to Nastya to clean up the basement. Upon learning that her sister was here, Vasilisa becomes even more angry, shouting at the hostels. Bubnov is surprised how much anger there is in this woman. Nastya replies that with a husband like Kostylev, everyone will go berserk. Bubnov explains: the "mistress" came to her lover, did not find him on the spot, and therefore gets angry. Luka agrees to clean up the basement. Bubnov learned from Nastya the reason for Vasilisa's anger: Alyoshka blurted out that Vasilisa was tired of Ash, so she chases the guy. Nastya sighs that she is superfluous here. Bubnov replies that she is superfluous everywhere ... and all people on earth are superfluous ...

Medvedev enters and asks about Luka, why doesn't he know him? Luke replies that not all the land is included in his site, there is only one left. Medvedev asks about Ash and Vasilisa, but Bubnov denies that he knows anything. Kvashnya is returning. Complains that Medvedev is calling her to marry. Bubnov approves of this union. But Kvashnya explains: a woman is better off in an ice hole than getting married.

Luke brings Anna. Kvashnya, pointing to the patient, says that she was driven to death by a noise in the entryway. Kostylev calls Abram Medvedev: to protect Natasha, who is beaten by her sister. Luka asks Anna what the sisters did not share. She replies that they are both well-fed, healthy. Anna tells Luca that he is kind and gentle. He explains: "crumpled, that's why it is soft."

Second action

The same setting. Evening. On the bunk, Satin, Baron, Crooked Zob and Tartar are playing cards, Tick and Actor are watching the game. Bubnov plays checkers with Medvedev. Luka is sitting by Anna's bedside. The stage is dimly lit by two lamps. One is on fire at the gamblers, the other is near Bubnov.

Tatarin and Krivoy Zob are singing, Bubnov is also singing. Anna tells Luka about her hard life, in which she remembers nothing but beatings. Luka consoles her. The Tatar yells at Satin, who is wandering in a card game. Anna recalls how she was starving all her life, she was afraid to gobble up her family, to eat an extra piece; Is it possible that torment awaits her in the next world? In the basement, the screams of gamblers, Bubnov are heard, and then he sings a song:

Guard as you wish ...

I won't run away anyway ...

I also want to be free - eh!

I cannot break the chain ...

Crooked Goiter sings along. The Tatar shouts that the Baron is hiding the card up his sleeve, he is cheating. Satin calms Tatarin, saying that he knows: they are swindlers, why did he agree to play with them? The Baron reassures that he has lost a dime, and shouts at a three-ruble note. Crooked Goiter explains to Tartar that if the hostels begin to live honestly, they will die of hunger in three days! Satin scolds the Baron: he is an educated man, but he hasn’t learned to cheat at cards. Abram Ivanovich lost to Bubnov. Satin calculates the winnings - fifty-three kopecks. The actor asks for three kopecks, and then he wonders why he needs them? Satin calls Luka to the pub, but he refuses. The actor wants to read poetry, but with horror realizes that he has forgotten everything, has spent on drink his memory. Luca calms the Actor that he is being treated for drunkenness, only he has forgotten in which city the hospital is. Luca convinces the Actor that he will be cured, will pull himself together, and will live well again. Anna calls Luka to talk to her. The tick stands in front of his wife, then leaves. Luka feels sorry for Tick - he feels bad, Anna replies that she has no time for her husband. From him she also withered. Luka consoles Anna that she will die and feel better. "Death - it calms everything ... it is affectionate for us ... If you die, you will rest!" Anna is afraid that suddenly torment awaits her in the next world. Luke says that the Lord will call her and say that she lived hard, let her now rest. Anna asks, what if she gets well? Luka asks: for what, for new flour? But Anna wants to live more, she even agrees to suffer, if then peace awaits her. Ash enters and screams. Medvedev is trying to calm him down. Luka asks to be silent: Anna is dying. Ash agrees with Luka: “You, grandfather, if you please - respect! You, brother, well done. You're lying well ... you tell fairy tales nicely! Lie, nothing ... little, brother, pleasant in the world! "

Vaska asks Medvedev if Natasha beat Vasilisa badly? The policeman excuses himself: “this is a family matter, not his, Ashes,”. Vaska assures that if he wants, Natasha will leave with him. Medvedev is outraged that the thief dares to make plans for his niece. He threatens to bring Ash to clean water. At first, Vaska, in a passionate mood, says: try it. But then he threatens that if he is taken to the investigator, he will not remain silent. He will tell you that Kostylev and Vasilisa were pushing him to steal, they are selling stolen goods. Medvedev is sure: no one will believe a thief. But Ash confidently says that they will believe the truth. Ash and Medvedev are threatened with confusion. The policeman leaves so as not to run into trouble. Ash smugly remarks: Medvedev ran to complain to Vasilisa. Bubnov advises Vaska to be careful. But Ash, Yaroslavl, you can't take with your bare hands. "If there is war, we will fight," the thief threatens.

Luka advises Ash to go to Siberia, Vaska jokes that he will wait until he is taken at public expense. Luka persuades that people like Ashes are needed in Siberia: “There are people like them - you need them.” Ash replies that his path was predetermined: “My path is indicated to me! My parent spent his whole life in prisons and ordered me the same ... When I was little, so at that time they called me a thief, a thief's son ... "Luka praises Siberia, calls it the" golden side ". Vaska wonders why Luka is lying. The old man replies: “And why do you really need it painfully ... think about it! She's really something, maybe a butt for you ... "Ashes asks Luka if there is a God? The old man replies: “If you believe, there is; if you do not believe, no ... What you believe in is what you believe. Bubnov goes to the tavern, and Luka, slamming the door, as if leaving, carefully climbs onto the stove. Vasilisa goes to Ash's room and calls Vasily there. He refuses; he was tired of everything and she too. Ash looks at Vasilisa and admits that, despite her beauty, he never had a heart for her. Vasilisa is offended that Ashes suddenly fell out of love with her. The thief explains that not all of a sudden, she has no soul, like animals, she is with her husband. Vasilisa confesses to Ash that she loved the hope in him that he would get her out of here. She offers Ash to her sister if he frees her from her husband: "Take this noose off me." Ash grins: she thought of everything great: her husband - to the coffin, lover - to hard labor, and herself ... Vasilisa asks him to help through his friends, if Ash himself does not want to. Natalya will be his pay. Vasilisa beats her sister out of jealousy, and then she herself cries out of pity. Kostylev, who entered quietly, catches them and shouts at his wife: "A beggar ... a pig ..."

Ash drives Kostylev away, but he is the owner and decides for himself where to be. The ash strongly shakes Kostylev's collar, but Luka makes a noise on the stove, and Vaska lets the owner go. Ashes realized that Luke had heard everything, and he did not deny. He deliberately began to make noise so that Ash would not strangle Kostylev. The old man advises Vaska to stay away from Vasilisa, take Natasha, and go with her away from here. Ashes cannot decide what to do. Luke says that Ashes is still young, he will have time to "get a woman, let it be better to go from here alone, before they ruin him here."

The old man notices that Anna is dead. Ashes do not like the dead. Luke replies that you need to love the living. They go to the tavern to inform Tick about the death of his wife. The actor recalled a poem by Paul Beranger, which in the morning he wanted to tell Luca:

Gentlemen! If the truth is saint

The world cannot find a way, -

Honor to the madman who will inspire

A golden dream for mankind!

If tomorrow the land is our way

I forgot to light our sun

Tomorrow would light up the whole world

The thought of some madman ...

Natasha, listening to the Actor, laughs at him, and he asks, where did Luka go? As soon as it gets warm, the Actor is going to go to look for a city where drunkenness is being treated. He admits that his stage name Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky, but here no one knows and does not want to know, it is very insulting to lose his name. “Even dogs have nicknames. Without a name - there is no person. "

Natasha sees the deceased Anna and tells the Actor and Bubnov about it. Bubnov notes: there will be no one to cough at night. He warns Natasha: The ashes "will break her head," Natasha doesn't care who she dies from. The newcomers look at Anna, and Natasha is surprised that no one regrets Anna. Luke explains that you need to feel sorry for the living. “We don’t feel sorry for the living… we cannot feel sorry for ourselves… where is it!” Bubnov philosophizes - everyone will die. Everyone advises Tick to report the death of his wife to the police. He grieves: he has only forty kopecks, why bury Anna? Crooked Goiter promises that he will collect a penny - a dime at the flop. Natasha is afraid to go through the dark passage and asks Luka to accompany her. The old man advises her to be afraid of the living.

The actor shouts to Luka to name the city where drunkenness is being treated. Satin is convinced that everything is a mirage. There is no such city. The Tatar stops them so that they do not shout in front of the dead. But Satin says the dead don't care. Luka appears at the door.

Act three

Wasteland littered with various rubbish. In the depths there is a wall of refractory bricks, to the right is a log wall and everything is overgrown with weeds. To the left is the wall of the Kostylev house. Planks and beams lie in a narrow passage between the walls. Evening. Natasha and Nastya are sitting on the boards. On the logs - Luka and Baron, the Tick and Baron are located nearby.

Nastya talks about her allegedly former date with a student in love with her, ready to shoot himself because of love for her. Bubnov laughs at Nastya's fantasies, but the Baron asks not to interfere with lying further.

Nastya continues to fantasize that the student's parents do not give consent to their marriage, he cannot live without her. She supposedly tenderly says goodbye to Raul. Everyone laughs - the last time the beloved was called Gaston. Nastya is outraged that they do not believe her. She claims: she had true love. Luka consoles Nastya: "Tell me, girl, nothing!" Natasha reassures Nastya that everyone behaves this way out of envy. Nastya continues to fantasize what tender words she said to her beloved, persuading him not to take his own life, not to upset his beloved parents / The Baron laughs - this is a story from the book Fatal Love. Luka, on the other hand, consoles Nastya, believes her. The Baron laughs at Nastya's stupidity, however, noting her kindness. Bubnov wonders why people love lies so much. Natasha is sure: it is more pleasant than the truth. So she dreams that tomorrow a special stranger will come and something very special will happen. And then he realizes that there is nothing to wait. The Baron picks up her phrase that there is nothing to wait, and he does not expect anything. Everything has already ... been! Natasha says that sometimes she will imagine herself dead and she becomes terrified. The Baron takes pity on Natasha, who is tormented by her sister. She asks: who is easier?

Suddenly the Tick screams that not everyone is bad. If it were for everyone, it would not be so offensive. Bubnov is surprised by Tick's cry. The Baron goes to put up with Nastya, otherwise she will not give him a drink.

Bubnov is unhappy that people are lying. Okay, Nastya is used to “tint my face… it brings a blush to the soul”. But why is Luke lying without any benefit to himself? Luka reprimands the Baron so as not to disturb Nastya's soul. Let her cry if she wants to. The Baron agrees. Natasha asks Luka why he is kind. The old man is sure that someone should be kind. “In time to regret a person ... it’s good ...” He tells the story of how, being a watchman, he took pity on the thieves who climbed into the dacha guarded by Luka. Then these thieves turned out to be good men. Luka concludes: “If I hadn't pity them, they might have killed me ... or something else ... And then - court and prison, but Siberia ... what's the use? Prison - will not teach good, and Siberia will not teach ... and man - will teach ... yes! Man - can teach goodness ... very simply! "

Bubnov himself cannot lie and always speaks the truth. The tick jumps up as if stung and shouts, where does Bubnov see the truth ?! "There is no work - that's the truth!" The tick hates everyone. Luka and Natasha regret the Mite, who looks like a madman. Ash asks about Tick and adds that he does not love him - he is painfully angry and proud. What is proud of? Horses are the most hardworking, so are they taller than humans?

Luka, continuing the conversation started by Bubnov about the truth, tells the following story. There lived a man in Siberia who believed in a "righteous land" inhabited by special good people. This man endured all the insults and injustices in the hope that someday he would go there, this was his favorite dream. And when the scientist came and proved that there was no such land, this man hit the scientist, cursed him as a scoundrel, and he hanged himself. Luka says that he will soon leave the shelter for the "Ukrainians", to look at the faith there.

Ash offers Natasha to leave with him, she refuses, but Ash promises to quit stealing, he is literate - he will work. He offers to go to Siberia, assures: we must live differently than they do, better, "so that you can respect yourself."

He was called a thief since childhood, so he became a thief. “Call me something else, Natasha,” Vaska asks. But Natasha does not trust anyone, she is waiting for something better, her heart aches, and Natasha does not love Vaska. At times she likes him, and at other times it is sickening to look at him. Ash persuades Natasha that over time she will love him as he does her. Natasha asks with a scoff, how does Ash manage to love two at the same time: her and Vasilisa? Ash replies that he is drowning like in a quagmire, for whatever he grabs, everything is rotten. He could have fallen in love with Vasilisa if she were not so greedy for money. But she does not need love, but money, will, debauchery. Ash admits that Natasha is another matter.

Luka persuades Natasha to leave with Vaska, only to remind him more often that he is good. And here, with whom does she live? Her family is worse than wolves. And Ash is a tough guy. Natasha doesn't trust anyone. Ash is sure: she has only one way ... but he will not let her go there, he would rather kill him himself. Natasha is surprised that Ash is not her husband yet, but is already going to kill her. Vaska hugs Natasha, and she threatens that if Vaska touches her with a finger, she will not tolerate, she will strangle herself. Ashes swears that his hands will dry up if he offends Natasha.

Vasilisa, who was standing at the window, hears everything and says: “So we got married! Advice and love! .. ”Natasha is frightened, but Ash is sure: no one will dare to offend Natasha now. Vasilisa objects that Vasily does not know how to either offend or love. He is more daring in words than in deeds. Luka is surprised at the poisonousness of the "mistress" language.

Kostylev drives Natalya to put the samovar and set the table. Ash intercedes, but Natasha stops him so that he does not command her, "it's still early!"

Ash tells Kostylev that they mocked Natasha and that's enough. "Now she's mine!" The Kostylevs laugh: he hasn't bought Natasha yet. Vaska threatens not to have much fun, not to cry. Luka chases Ashes, whom Vasilisa incites, wants to provoke. Ash threatens Vasilisa, and she tells him that Ash's plans will not come true.

Kostylev asks if it is true that Luka decided to leave. He replies that he will go wherever his eyes look. Kostylev says that it is not good to wander. But Luke calls himself a wanderer. Kostylev scolds Luka for not having a passport. Luke says that "there are people, and there are people." Kostylev does not understand Luka and is angry. And he replies that Kostylev will never be a man, even if "the Lord God himself commands him." Kostylev chases Luka, Vasilisa joins her husband: Luka has a long tongue, let him get out. Luka promises to leave into the night. Bubnov confirms that it is always better to leave on time, tells his story about how he, having left on time, escaped hard labor. His wife got in touch with the furrier master, and so cleverly that, look, Bubnov would be poisoned so that he would not interfere.

Bubnov beat his wife, and the master beat him. Bubnov even thought about how to "kill" his wife, but caught himself and left. The workshop was assigned to his wife, so he turned out to be naked as a falcon. This is facilitated by the fact that Bubnov is a drunken drunkard and very lazy, as he himself admits to Luka.

Satine and the Actor appear. Satin demands that Luka confess to the lie to the Actor. The actor did not drink vodka today, but worked - the street was chalk. It shows the money earned - two five dollars. Satin offers to give him the money, but the Actor says that he earns his way.

Satin complains that he blew everything into smithereens into the cards. There is a "sharper smarter than me!" Luke calls Satin a cheerful person. Satin recalls that in his youth he was funny, he loved to make people laugh, to represent on stage. Luke asks how did Satin come to this life? Satin is unpleasant to stir up the soul. Luka wants to understand how such an intelligent person suddenly got to the bottom. Satin replies that he spent four years and seven months in prison, and after prison he is no longer going anywhere. Luka wonders why Satin went to jail? He answers that for a scoundrel, whom he killed in passion and irritation. I learned to play cards in prison.

- For whom did you kill? Luca asks. Satin replies that because of his own sister, however, he does not want to tell anything more, and his sister died nine years ago, she was glorious.

Satin asks the returning Tick why he is so morose. The locksmith does not know what to do, there is no tool - they "ate" the entire funeral. Satin advises not to do anything - just live. But Tick is ashamed of such a life. Satin objects, because people are not ashamed that they doomed Tick to such a bestial existence.

Natasha screams. Her sister beats her again. Luka advises to call Vaska Ash, and the Actor runs after him.

Krivoy Zob, Tatarin, Medvedev are participating in the fight. Satin tries to push Vasilisa away from Natasha. Vaska Ash appears. He pushes everyone away, runs after Kostylev. Vaska sees that Natasha's legs are scalded with boiling water, she says to Vasily in an almost unconscious state: "Take me, bury me." Vasilisa appears and shouts that Kostylev was killed. Vasily does not understand anything, he wants to take Natasha to the hospital, and then settle accounts with her offenders. (The light goes out on the stage. Individual surprised exclamations and phrases are heard.) Then Vasilisa shouts in a triumphant voice that her husband was killed by Vaska Ash. Calls the police. She says that she saw everything herself. Ashes comes up to Vasilisa, looks at Kostylev's corpse and asks if not to kill her, Vasilisa? Medvedev calls the police. Satin calms Ashes: killing in a fight is not a very serious crime. He, Satin, also beat the old man and is ready to act as a witness. Ashes confesses: Vasilisa urged him to kill her husband. Natasha suddenly shouts that Ash and her sister are at the same time. Vasilisa was disturbed by her husband and sister, so they killed her husband and scalded her, overturning the samovar. Ash is stunned by Natasha's accusation. He wants to refute this terrible accusation. But she doesn't listen and curses her offenders. Satin is also surprised and tells Ash that this family will "drown him."

Natasha, almost delirious, shouts that her sister has taught, and Vaska Ashes killed Kostylev, and asks himself to be imprisoned.

Action four

The setting for the first act, but there is no Ash room. The Tick sits at the table and repairs the accordion. At the other end of the table - Satin, Baron, Nastya. They drink vodka and beer. The Actor is busy on the stove. Night. The wind is in the yard.

The tick did not notice how Luka disappeared in the confusion. The Baron adds: "... like smoke from the face of fire." Satin says with the words of a prayer: "Thus, sinners disappear from the face of the righteous." Nastya stands up for Luka, calling everyone present rust. Satin laughs: For many, Luca was like crumb for the toothless, and the Baron adds: "Like a plaster for abscesses." The tick also stands up for Luka, calling him compassionate. The Tatar is convinced that the Koran should be law for people. The tick agrees - we must live according to the laws of God. Nastya wants to leave here. Satine advises her to take the Actor with her, along the way.

Satin and Baron list the muses of art, but they cannot remember the patroness of the theater. The actor tells them - this is Melpomene, calls them ignorant. Nastya screams and waves her hands. Satin advises the Baron not to interfere with the neighbors to do what they want: let them shout, they go to no one knows where. The Baron calls Luca a charlatan. Nastya indignantly calls him a charlatan.

The tick notes that Luke "did not like the truth very much, he rebelled against it." Satin shouts that "man is the truth!" The old man lied out of pity for others. Satin says that he read: there is truth, consoling, reconciling. But this lie is needed by those who are weak in soul, who hide behind it like a shield. He who is the owner, is not afraid of life, does not need a lie. “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters. Truth is the God of a free man. "

The Baron recalls that their family, which came from France, was rich and noble under Catherine. Nastya interrupts: the Baron invented everything. He is angry. Satin calms him down, "... forget about grandfather's carriages ... in the carriage of the past - you won't go anywhere ...". Satin asks Nastya about Natasha. She replies that Natasha left the hospital long ago and disappeared. The innkeepers argue about who will "seat" whom more firmly, Vaska Ash to Vasilisa or she to Vaska. They come to the conclusion that Vasily is cunning and "wriggle out", and Vaska will go to hard labor in Siberia. The Baron again quarrels with Nastya, explaining to her that he is not like him, the Baron. Nastya laughs in response - the Baron lives on her handouts, "like a worm - an apple."

Seeing that the Tatar went to pray, Satin says: "A man is free ... he pays for everything himself, and therefore he is free! .. Man is the truth." Satin claims that all people are equal. “There is only man, everything else is the work of his hands and his brain. Human! It's great! It sounds ... proud! " Then he adds that the person should be respected, not humiliated with pity. He tells about himself that he is a "convict, murderer, sharper" when he goes

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