The author's position in the play is at the bottom of bitter. The role of remarks in a dramatic work on the example of the play "At the Bottom

The people portrayed by Gogol in the comedy "The Inspector General" with surprisingly unprincipled views and ignorance of any reader amaze and seem completely fictional. But in reality, these are not random images. These are the faces typical for the Russian province of the thirties of the XIX century, which can be found even in historical documents.

In his comedy, Gogol raises several very important public issues. This is the attitude of officials to their duties and the implementation of the law. Oddly enough, but the meaning of comedy is relevant in modern realities.

The history of writing "The Inspector General"

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol describes in his works a rather exaggeration of the images of Russian reality at that time. At the time of the emergence of the idea of ​​a new comedy, the writer is actively working on the poem "Dead Souls".

In 1835, he turned to Pushkin on the idea of ​​a comedy, in a letter he stated a request for help. The poet responds to requests and tells a story when the publisher of one of the magazines in one of the southern cities was mistaken for a visiting official. A similar situation, oddly enough, happened with Pushkin himself at the time when he was collecting materials to describe the Pugachev revolt in Nizhny Novgorod. He was also mistaken for the capital auditor. The idea seemed interesting to Gogol, and the very desire to write a comedy captivated him so much that work on the play took only 2 months.

During October and November 1835, Gogol wrote a complete comedy and a few months later read it to other writers. The colleagues were delighted.

Gogol himself wrote that he wanted to collect everything that is bad in Russia into a single heap and laugh at it. He saw his play as a cleansing satire and a weapon in the struggle against the injustice that existed in society at that time. By the way, the play based on the works of Gogol was allowed to be staged only after Zhukovsky personally made a request to the emperor.

Analysis of the work

Description of the work

The events described in the comedy "The Inspector General" take place in the first half of the 19th century, in one of the provincial towns, which Gogol simply refers to as "N".

The governor informs all city officials that the news of the arrival of the capital inspector has reached him. Officials are afraid of inspections, because they all take bribes, do not work well and in the institutions under their control, a mess reigns.

Almost immediately after the news, the second appears. They realize that a well-dressed man who looks like an inspector is staying at a local hotel. In fact, the unknown is a petty official Khlestakov. Young, windy and stupid. The Governor personally came to his hotel to get to know him and offer to move to his house, in conditions much better than the hotel. Khlestakov happily agrees. He likes this kind of hospitality. At this stage, he does not suspect that he was not mistaken for who he is.

Khlestakov is also introduced to other officials, each of whom hands him a large sum of money, supposedly in debt. They do everything to make the check not so thorough. At this moment, Khlestakov realizes who he was mistaken for and, having received a round sum, is silent that this is a mistake.

Then he decides to leave the city N, having previously made an offer to the daughter of the Governor himself. Joyfully blessing the future marriage, the official rejoices at such a relationship and calmly says goodbye to Khlestakov, who is leaving the city and, naturally, is not going to return to it anymore.

Before that, the main character writes a letter to his friend in St. Petersburg, in which he talks about the embarrassment that happened. The postmaster, who opens all the letters in the mail, also reads Khlestakov's message. The deception is revealed and everyone who gave bribes is horrified to learn that the money will not be returned to them, and there has not been a check yet. At the same moment, a real auditor arrives in the city. Officials are horrified by the news.

Comedy heroes

Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov

Khlestakov's age is 23 - 24 years old. Hereditary nobleman and landowner, he is thin, thin and stupid. Acts without thinking about the consequences, has an abrupt speech.

Khlestakov works as a registrar. In those days, this was the lowest-ranking official. At the service he is not present much, more and more often plays cards for money and walks, so his career is not progressing anywhere. Khlestakov lives in St. Petersburg, in a modest apartment, and his parents, who live in one of the villages of the Saratov province, regularly send him money. Khlestakov does not know how to save money, he spends them on all sorts of pleasures, without denying himself anything.

He is very cowardly, loves to brag and lie. Khlestakov is not averse to hitting on women, especially pretty, but only stupid provincial ladies succumb to his charm.

Governor

Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky. Aged in the service, in his own way not stupid official, making quite a solid impression.

He speaks carefully and in moderation. His mood changes quickly, his facial features are hard and rough. He performs his duties poorly, he is a fraudster with extensive experience. The Governor profits everywhere, wherever possible, and among the same bribe-takers he is in good standing.

He is greedy and insatiable. He steals money, including from the treasury, and unscrupulously violates all laws. Doesn't even shun blackmail. A master of promises and an even greater master of breaking them.

The Governor dreams of being a general. Ignoring the mass of his sins, he attends church weekly. A passionate card player, he loves his wife, treats her very tenderly. He also has a daughter, who at the end of the comedy, with his own blessing, becomes the bride of the nosy Khlestakov.

Postmaster Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin

It is this character who, in charge of forwarding letters, opens Khlestakov's letter and discovers the deception. However, he is engaged in opening letters and parcels on an ongoing basis. He does this not out of precaution, but solely for the sake of curiosity and his own collection of interesting stories.

Sometimes he does not just read the letters that he especially liked, Shpekin keeps for himself. In addition to forwarding letters, his responsibilities include managing post stations, caretakers, horses, etc. But this is not what he does. He does almost nothing at all, and therefore the local mail works extremely poorly.

Anna Andreevna Skvoznik-Dmukhanovskaya

The Governor's wife. A provincial coquette whose soul is inspired by novels. She is curious, vain, loves to get the best of her husband, but in fact it turns out only in small things.

An appetizing and attractive lady, impatient, stupid and capable of talking only about trifles, but about the weather. At the same time, she likes to chat incessantly. She is arrogant and dreams of a luxurious life in St. Petersburg. The mother is not important, since she competes with her daughter and boasts that Khlestakov paid more attention to her than to Marya. From the entertainment of the wife of the Governor - fortune-telling on the cards.

The Governor's daughter is 18 years old. Attractive in appearance, cutesy and flirtatious. She is very windy. It is she who, at the end of the comedy, becomes Khlestakov's abandoned bride.

Plot composition and analysis

The basis of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's play "The Inspector General" is a common anecdote, which at that time was quite widespread. All images of the comedy are exaggerated and, at the same time, believable. The play is interesting in that here all its characters fit together and each of them, in fact, acts as a hero.

The plot of the comedy is the arrival of the inspector expected by the officials and their haste in drawing conclusions, due to which Khlestakov is recognized as the inspector.

Interesting in the composition of the comedy is the absence of a love affair and a love line as such. Here vices are simply ridiculed, which are punished according to the classical literary genre. In part, they are already orders to the frivolous Khlestakov, but the reader understands at the end of the play that even greater punishment awaits them ahead, with the arrival of a real inspector from St. Petersburg.

Through a simple comedy with exaggerated images, Gogol teaches his reader honesty, kindness and responsibility. The fact that you need to respect your own service and comply with the laws. Through the images of the heroes, each reader can see his own shortcomings, if among them there are stupidity, greed, hypocrisy and selfishness.

The role of remarks in a dramatic work

on the example of the play "At the Bottom"

Teacher: A dramatic work is created by a writer for staging on stage. When we come to the theater and see a play staged by the director, only the monologues and dialogues of literary heroes reach us from the literary text - the remarks remain behind the scenes. However, it must be remembered that the author creates a dramatic work for reading, therefore the remarks are not only “instructions” for the director, but also “help” for the reader. What, in your opinion, is the role of stage directions in a dramatic work?

(Sample answers from students: The author's thoughts are realized in them. Through the remarks, the author "invisibly" enters the play, expressing his attitude to the characters, their relationships, to the social problems of his time.)

Teacher: turned to drama at the beginning of the twentieth century, in the era of the economic crisis in Russia. The play "At the Bottom" was written in 1902, and the factual material for it was the direct communication of the writer with the people of the "bottom", the inhabitants of Moscow shelters, the number of which increased in the capital every year. The tragedy of a contemporary man is drawn by the author in his play, and this idea is carried out in each remark. Let's open the play and see how it is being implemented. Let's open the book. As you know, first of all, the author's idea is reflected in the title of the work. As you know, Gorky did not immediately find the name “At the Bottom” - there were variants “Bottom”, “Without the Sun”. Why do you think he named his play that way? What is the meaning of the name?

(Sample answers from students: If we are talking about people “at the bottom”, then there is an association with a drowned man, that is, a dead person, but these people are alive, which emphasizes their tragedy - they are dead for society, for others, they are not noticed by them.

The heroes found themselves "at the bottom" of life, they even live in a basement, below the normal standard of living, there is nowhere to fall further. And even if you want to get out of the bottom, then the water column presses from above, and the person finds himself in a kind of "trap" from which there is no way out.)

Teacher: So what is the main problem in the title of the play?

(Student response: The problem of the hopelessness, impasse, tragedy of the existence of heroes.)

Teacher: How is this problem highlighted in the playbill for the play At the Bottom?

(Observations of students: The author does not define the genre of his dramatic work, not calling it a comedy, or a tragedy, or a drama. By this he wants to say: what the viewer sees are scenes from real life, and not the author's fantasy; but at the same time, Gorky seems to be saying this: everything in the play (and in life) is so terrible that there is no name corresponding to it.

The list of characters also shows the author's characteristics of the “bottom”: the tragedy of the flophouse is revealed in the variety of people who find themselves here. Age - from 20 to 60 years old, from different social strata: actor, baron, thief, worker; of different nationalities, men and women, find themselves here as whole families or singly. For many people who have fallen to the bottom, it deprives even a name, only nicknames remain.)

Teacher: Yes, the Actor will tell about this tragedy. Let's find his words.

(Student: “I don’t have a name here ... Do you understand how sad it is to lose a name? Even dogs have nicknames ... There is no man without a name. "- action II.)

Teacher: You can learn a lot about the shelter itself and the position of people in it from the author's remarks to act I. Human tragedy unfolds here in full.

Commented reading of remarks at the beginningIactions.

"A cave-like basement"- this place is not meant for life, but circumstances force people to adapt to any conditions. Everything in this basement is aimed at destroying the human in man, at turning him into a "cave dweller" - a beast: "Heavy stone vaults" crushed the lodgers like a gravestone; "Square window" at the very ceiling and "Bunks of Bubnova", evoking associations with a prison, from which one cannot leave on their own; Satin's growl complements the picture of "cave life". The tragedy is aggravated by the fact that people seem to live together. Trying to isolate themselves from each other: "Ash's room fenced off by thin bulkheads", "closed with a canopy, Anna coughs", "on the stove, invisible, the Actor fiddles and coughs."

Teacher: Can we say that "separation" is born from the desire to preserve your personality, to be alone with yourself?

Students: No.

Teacher: What does it mean then?

Students: Disunity of people. Everyone experiences their own misfortune and alone tries to cope with it. Nobody here will help you, as the saying goes, "Who is it easy for now?"

Teacher: Whose example is this especially evident?

Students: Anna. Her bed is separated by a canopy so that she does not, with her miserable appearance, aggravate the suffering of everyone present. When it is closed, there seems to be no problem. And the lodgers turn a blind eye to her suffering. Bubnov says in response to Anna's request not to shout: "The noise of death is not a hindrance."

Teacher: Let's remember that the original title of the play is "Without the Sun". Let's try to explain the meaning of this name through the author's remarks - pictures of the life of the heroes.

(Observations of students: In the remarks to act I "Light - from the viewer and from top to bottom - from a square window" again evokes associations with a prison. The sun is replaced by the dim rays from the window. "The beginning of spring. Morning"- this is how the first author's remark ends. But after all, only the author knows about the morning, the spring, and for the night-lodgers, the seasons, the hours of the day do not matter much. People have lost almost all of their landmarks. And although spring and morning are usually associated in a literary work with the beginning of something, with something new, the heroes of the play do not expect any changes, having lost all hope for them.

In the remarks to Act III, the author takes the heroes out into the street, but even here there is no sun: "Tall brick firewall ... covering the sky." D the thief is surrounded by walls, which again resembles a prison yard. Now the author depicts "Evening, the sun is setting", and the words of the night lodgers' favorite song are immediately remembered:

The sun rises and sets

And in my prison it is dark ...

As they say, the sun is separate, and people are separate. But the sun is a symbol of life. And the lodgers were thrown out of it.)

Teacher: In the last lesson, you received your homework - with the help of the author's remarks, characterize the heroes (by options). Let's talk about the characters in the play.

Approximate characteristics of some heroes:

Nastya: At the beginning of the play, the author constantly shows her with a book, with the help of which she leaves the shelter for other worlds where the noble "Rauli" and "Gastons" live. The heroine speaks about them "Dreamily", "closing his eyes and shaking his head in time to the words, melodious", "as if listening to distant music"(Act III), because this music in her soul helps her to drown out the cacophony of the world in which she lives. Nastya, believing in her stories about ardent young men who are truly in love with her, "Covers his face with his hands and cries silently"(III act) when he talks about the “death” of her admirer.

Vaska Ash: This hero is also experiencing his tragedy: society has entrusted him with a certain role - “a thief, a thief's son,” and he is forced to maintain his reputation as an “authority” regardless of whether he wants it or not. But he doesn't want to! But the circumstances of his life and people who benefit from Vaska being a thief, a criminal, a murderer, Vasilisa and Kostylev, are trying to erase everything human from his soul. When talking with Vasilisa Ash "Shakes off her hand with a movement of the shoulder", is talking "Suspicious"(action II). And in the scene of the murder of the owner of the hostel, the beast wakes up in him: he "Hits the old man", "rushes at Vasilisa". "Indifferent" says Vaska about the uselessness of honor and conscience, but literally a few minutes later he changes: Natasha comes to the shelter. Ash "Smooths the mustache", wishing to please the girl, sincerely "Laughs" when meeting Luka, when talking to him "Silently, surprised and stubbornly looks at the old man", apparently trying to understand his words, to understand them. In some ways he agrees with Luka, in others he does not, but the wanderer clearly touched some strings hidden from many in Vasily's soul. And sometimes a seasoned thief seems literally a child: when Anna dies, he is afraid to even go to her bed: "Without coming up, stretches out and looks at the bed." But he "Decisively" talks to Natasha when he invites her to leave this world and rebuild her life, but "Embarrassed" makes excuses to her about his relationship with Vasilisa. Ash and Natasha sincerely love each other and yearn for happiness: Natasha "Smiles", "Confidentially cuddles" to Vaska, he "Hugs her".

Actor: At the first mention of him, the author gives him a characteristic "invisible", which here can be equal in meaning to the word "inconspicuous", or rather "unnoticed". Actor, a man of the public profession, dreaming of influencing the minds and souls (not without reason he recalls the role of Hamlet, then King Lear). He does not cause a serious attitude towards himself in anyone, and yet this is a character deeply feeling and experiencing his tragedy. The author tells us in detail about his state of mind in the remarks: "Thinking while sitting on a bunk", is talking "Loudly, as if suddenly waking up", "thoughtfully", "looking around sadly"... This is a creative person who lives a deep inner life. The actor is one of the few heroes whom his grief did not make indifferent to the troubles of others. He " helps Anna to get up, supporting her, leads her for a walk. " And the Actor leaves this life imperceptibly - simply "Runs out into the canopy"- without pathos and beautiful phrases. Only then does the Baron bring the news of his suicide. This is how talents perish, unnoticed and supported by anyone.

Luke- one of the main characters of the play, an old man of 60 years old who, unlike the rest of the characters, does not belong to the world of bed-lodgers: this place for him is only a “staging post”, he does not depend on circumstances to the same extent as other heroes. Already at the first appearance of Luke, it becomes clear that nothing holds him in any particular place - he carries everything of his with him: "A knapsack on shoulders, a bowler hat and a kettle at the belt"- that's all his simple economy. He does not need a lot of material benefits from life. The main wealth of his life is the people with whom he seeks to communicate, regardless of whether they are thieves or princes. Luke speaks "good-naturedly", "quietly", "humbly", they consult with him and talk about the most intimate, but he can and seeks to help a person not only in word, but also in deed. When Vasilisa comes to Vaska Ash (act II), Luka pretends to leave the room, "Slams the door loudly, then gently climbs onto the bunks - and onto the stove", and at the moment when Ashes becomes furious and is ready to kill Kostylev, "Loud fuss and howling yawning are heard on the stove." Vaska lets Kostylev go - this time Luka is preventing a crime that Vaska could have committed. Then with him "calmly" talking, he calmed Ash, pretending to be on the stove by accident.

Teacher: Who else of the characters in the play says “calmly”? How does his calmness differ from Luka's?

Students: This is Bubnov. But if Luke's calmness says that he lives in harmony with himself and the people around him, about the sincerity of the old man, then the remark "calmly" characterizes Bubnov as an indifferent person: Luka speaks calmly once, the same character speaks “calmly” more than 5 times, that is, almost always. He is calm about all the phenomena of life. You can remember his remarks, confirming his thoughts: "Do you care?" I am not rich ... ".

Teacher: And at the end of our conversation, I would like to recall another hero who actually opens and closes the play. The first line in the play belongs to him. And in the last author's remark, he is also the Baron. "Farther!" - I want to move forward, to break out of the vicious circle. And in Act IV, one author's remark concerning the Baron expresses the general mood of all the hostels: "Tired of anger, sits on the bench." All the characters in the play are tired of misunderstanding, despair, disunity, hostility. Perhaps one Baron in the end of the play was left with what he began with: “everyone is looking at the Baron. Nastya appears from behind him. " Nastya and Baron are always together, they are united by an ambiguous relationship, akin to love - enmity. Maybe after all the tragic events: fights, quarrels, deaths - it's time to forget about enmity and remember about love? Then there will be "Further!"

The play by M. Gorky "At the Bottom" is rightfully one of the best dramatic works of the writer. This is evidenced by its incredible success for a long time in Russia and abroad. The play caused and still causes contradictory interpretations about the characters depicted and its philosophical basis. Gorky acted as an innovator in drama, raising an important philosophical question about a person, about his place, role in life, about what is important to him. “Which is better: truth or compassion? What is more needed? ”- these are the words of M. Gorky himself. The incredible success and recognition of the play "At the Bottom" was also facilitated by its successful staging on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater in 1902. VN Nemirovich-Danchenko wrote to M. Gorky: “The appearance of Bottom at one blow paved the way for theatrical culture ... Having in“ At the Bottom ”a sample of a truly folk play, we consider this performance the pride of the theater.”

M. Gorky acted as the creator of a new type of social drama. He correctly, truthfully portrayed the environment of the inhabitants of the shelter. This is a special category of people with their own destinies and tragedies.

Already in the first author's remark, we come across a description of the shelter. This is a “cave-like basement”. A beggar environment, dirt, light coming from top to bottom. This further emphasizes that we are talking about the very “bottom” of society. At first the play was called “At the Bottom of Life”, but then Gorky changed the name - “At the Bottom”. It more fully reflects the idea of ​​the work. Sharpie, thief, prostitute - representatives of the society depicted in the play. The owners of the shelter are also at the “bottom” of moral rules, they do not have any moral values ​​in their souls, they carry a destructive beginning. Everything in the shelter takes place far from the general course of life, events in the world. “The bottom of life” does not capture this course of life.

The characters in the play previously belonged to different strata of society, but now all of them are united by one thing - their present, hopelessness, inability to change their fate, and some unwillingness to do this, a passive attitude to life. At first, the Tick differs from them, but after Anna's death, he becomes the same - he loses the hope of getting out of here.

Different origins determine the behavior, speech of the characters. The Actor's speech contains quotations from literary works. The speech of the former intellectual Satin is full of foreign language words. Luke's quiet, unhurried, soothing speech is heard.

The play has many different conflicts, storylines. This is the relationship of Ash, Vasilisa, Natasha and Kostylev; Baron and Nastya; Tick ​​and Anna. We see the tragic fates of Bubnov, Actor, Satin, Alyoshka. But all these lines seem to run parallel, there is no common, pivotal conflict between the heroes. In the play, we can observe a conflict in the minds of people, a conflict with circumstances - this was unusual for the Russian audience.

The author does not tell in detail the story of each bed-lodger, and yet we have enough information about each of them. The life of some, their past, for example, Satin, Bubnov, Actor, is dramatic, in itself worthy of a separate work. Circumstances forced them to sink to the bottom. Others, such as Ash, Nastya, learned the life of this society from birth. There are no main characters in the play, all occupy approximately the same position. In the future, they have no improvement in life, which is depressing for its monotony. Everyone is used to the fact that Vasilisa beats Natasha, everyone knows about the relationship between Vasilisa and Vaska Ash, everyone is tired of the suffering of dying Anna. Nobody pays attention to how others live; there are no connections between people; no one is able to listen, sympathize, help. No wonder Bubnov repeats that "the strings are rotten."

People no longer want anything, they do not strive for anything, they believe that everything on earth is superfluous, that their life has already passed. They despise each other, each considers himself superior, better than others. Everyone is aware of the insignificance of their position, but they do not try to get out, stop dragging out a miserable existence and start living. And the reason for this is that they got used to it and put up with it.

But not only social and everyday problems are raised in the play, the characters also argue about the meaning of human life, about its values. The play "At the Bottom" is a deep philosophical drama. People thrown out of life, sank to the bottom, argue about the philosophical problems of being.

M. Gorky posed in his work the question of what is more useful to a person: the truth of real life or a comforting lie. It was this question that caused so much controversy. Luke serves as a preacher of the idea of ​​compassion and lies, who comforts everyone, speaks kind words to everyone. He respects * ^ each person (“not a single flea is bad, all are black”), sees a good beginning in everyone, believes that a person can do anything if he wants. He is naively trying to awaken in people faith in themselves, in their strengths and capabilities, in a better life.

Luke knows how important this faith is for a person, this hope for the possibility and reality of the best. Even just a kind, affectionate word, a word that supports this faith, is capable of giving a person support in life, a solid foundation under their feet. Belief in his ability to change, improve his own life reconciles a person with the world, as he plunges into his fictional world and lives there, hiding from the real world that frightens him, in which a person cannot find himself. And in reality this person is inactive.

But this applies only to a weak person who has lost faith in himself.

Therefore, such people are drawn to Luke, listen to him and believe him, because his words are a miraculous balm for their tormented souls.

Anna listens to him because he alone sympathized with her, did not forget about her, told her a kind word, which she, perhaps, had never heard. Luke gave her the hope that she would not suffer in another life.

Nastya also listens to Luka, because he does not deprive her of the illusions from which she draws her vitality.

He gives the ashes the hope that he will be able to start life anew where no one knows either Vaska or his past.

Luca tells the actor about a free clinic for alcoholics, in which he can recover and return to the stage again.

Luke is not just a comforter, he substantiates his position philosophically. 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 man can teach good ..."

The other inhabitants of the house do not need Luke's philosophy, support for non-existent ideals, because they are stronger people. They understand that Luke is lying, but he lies out of compassion, love for people. They have questions about the need for this lie. Everyone thinks, and everyone has their own position. All the lodgers participate in the debate about truth and lies, but do not take each other very seriously.

In contrast to the philosophy of the wanderer Luka, Gorky presented the philosophy of Satin and his judgments about man. "Lies are the religion of slaves and masters ... Truth is the god of a free man!" While pronouncing monologues, Satin does not expect to convince others of anything. This is his confession, the result of his long reflections, a cry of despair and a thirst for action, a challenge to the world of the well-fed and a dream of the future. He speaks with admiration about the power of man, about the fact that man was created for the better: "man - it sounds proud!" This monologue, spoken among the ragged, deserted inhabitants of the shelter, shows that faith in genuine humanism, in the truth, does not fade away.

The play by M. Gorky "At the Bottom" is an acute social and philosophical drama. Social, since it presents the drama caused by the objective conditions of the life of society. The philosophical aspect of the drama is rethought by each generation in a new way. For a long time, the image of Luka was assessed unequivocally negatively. Today, in view of the historical events of the last decade, the image of Luke is read in many ways, he has become much closer to the reader. I believe that there is no definite answer to the author's question. It all depends on the specific situation and the historical era.

The author's position (the fifth in a row, but perhaps not the last) in the play "At the Bottom" is created as a result of repulsion from false points of view (Kostyleva and Bubnov) and the complementarity of two other points of view (Luke and Satina). The author in a polyphonic work, according to the definition of M.M. Bakhtin, does not join any of the points of view expressed: the solution of the philosophical questions posed belongs to more than one hero, but is the result of a search for all participants in the action. The author, as a conductor, organizes a polyphonic choir of heroes "singing" the same theme in different voices.

Still, there is no final solution to the question of truth - freedom - in Gorky's drama. However, this is how it should be in a play that poses "eternal" philosophical questions. The open ending of the work makes the reader himself think about them.

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 run 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 is 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.

Moreover , 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.

Maybe, 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 ... She's really, - it's not always because of a person's illness ... it's not always 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 hero's prehistory, 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 fence, 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 brought 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 was chasing 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, I was called a thief, a thief's son at that time ... "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 answers: “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 - in a coffin, her 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 didn’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. Person! 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

The author's position is expressed, first of all, in the ambiguous, non-linear development of the plot action. At first glance, the movement of the plot is motivated by the dynamics of the traditional "conflict polygon" - the relationship of Kostylev, Vasilisa, Ash and Natasha. But love affairs, jealousy, and the "culminating" murder scene - the intrigue that connects these four characters - only externally motivate the stage action. Some of the events that make up the plot of the play take place outside the stage (a fight between Vasilisa and Natasha, Vasilisa's revenge - overturning a boiling samovar on her sister). The murder of Kostylev takes place around the corner of the shelter and the viewer is almost invisible. All other characters in the play remain uninvolved in the love affair. The author deliberately takes all these events "out of focus", inviting the viewer to take a closer look, or rather, listen to something else - the content of the numerous conversations and disputes of the night lodgers.

Compositionally, the plot disunity of the characters, their alienation from each other (everyone thinks "about his own", worries about himself) - is expressed in the organization of the stage space. The characters are dispersed in different corners of the stage and are "locked" in unconnected, hermetically sealed microspaces. Gorky organizes communication between them with an eye to Chekhov's principles of composition. Here is a typical passage from the play:

"Anna. I do not remember - when I was full ... All my life I walked in rags ... all my unhappy life ... For what?

Luke. Oh you, child! Tired? Nothing!

Actor. Jack go ... jack, damn it!

Baron. And we have a king.

Mite. They will always beat.

Satin. This is our habit ...

Medvedev. King!

Bubnov. And I have ... n-well ...

Anna. I'm dying, here ... "

In the above fragment, all the remarks sound from different angles: Anna's dying words are confused with the cries of the night shelters playing cards (Satin and Baron) and checkers (Bubnov and Medvedev). This polylogue, made up of remarks that do not coincide with each other, conveys well the author's desire to emphasize the disunity of the hostels: communication failures are clearly visible, replacing communication. At the same time, it is important for the author to keep the viewer's attention on the semantic pillars of the text. The dotted line of leitmotifs (truth is faith, truth is falsehood), organizing the movement of the speech stream, becomes such a support in the play.

Other techniques are also noticeable, compensating for the relative weakening of the plot action and deepening the meaning of the drama. This is, for example, the use of "rhyming" (ie, repetitive, mirrored) episodes. So, two dialogues of Nastya and Baron, symmetrically located relative to each other, are mirrored. At the beginning of the play, Nastya defends herself against the Baron's skeptical remarks: his attitude to Nastya's stories about "fatal love" and Gaston is formulated by the saying "If you don't like it, don't listen, but don't bother lying." After Luka leaves, Nastya and Baron seem to change roles: all of the Baron's stories about "wealth ... hundreds of serfs ... horses ... cooks ... carriages with coats of arms" are accompanied by the same remark from Nastya: "It was not!"

The exact rhyme in the play is made up of Luke's parable about the righteous land and the episode with the Actor's suicide. Both fragments literally coincide in the final lines: “And after that I went home - and hanged myself ...” / “Hey ... you! Go ... come here! There ... The actor ... strangled himself! "- Such compositional binding shows the position of the author in relation to the results of Luke's" preaching "activity. However, as already mentioned, the author is far from placing all the blame for the death of the Actor on Luka. The fate of the Actor is also connected with a twice repeated episode in which the night-shelters sing their song - "The sun rises and sets." The actor “spoiled” this very song - in the final act, the lines “I want to be free ... / I cannot break the chain” were not sung in it.

The “rhyming” episodes do not carry new information about the characters, but they connect the disparate fragments of the action, giving it semantic unity and integrity. Even more subtle methods of compositional "arrangement", for example, a system of literary and theatrical allusions, serve the same purpose.

In one of the early episodes, the Actor mentions "a good play", referring to Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet". A quote from Hamlet ("Ophelia! Oh ... remember me in your prayers! ..") already in the first act predicts the future fate of the Actor himself. His last words before suicide, addressed to the Tatar, are: "Pray for me." In addition to Hamlet, the Actor quotes King Lear several times (“This way, my faithful Kent ...”). Lyre is credited with the phrase "I am on the way to rebirth", which is important for the Actor. The Actor's favorite poem was Beranger's poem, which in the context of the play acquired the meaning of a philosophical declaration: "Honor to the madman who will bring / to Mankind a golden dream." Along with quotes from Western classics in the speech of the Actor, Pushkin's line unexpectedly slips: “Our nets have dragged a dead man” (from the poem “The Drowned Man”). The semantic core of all these literary reminiscences is death, death. The plot path of the Actor, therefore, is set already at the very beginning of the work, and by those artistic means that define his profession - an "alien" word, a quote pronounced from the stage.

In general, the sounding speech, in accordance with the dramatic nature of the work, turns out to be an important means of semantic deepening of the action. In the play, the aphorism that is incredibly thick against the background of the literary tradition is striking. Here are just a few examples from a real waterfall of aphorisms and sayings: "Such a life that I got up in the morning and howling"; "Wait for the wolf to help you"; “When labor is a duty, life is slavery!”; “Not a single flea is bad: everyone is black, everyone is jumping”; "Where it is warm for an old man, there is a homeland"; "Everyone wants order, but there is a lack of reason."

Aphoristic judgments are especially significant in the speech of the main "ideologues" of the play - Luka and Bubnov, heroes whose positions are indicated most clearly and definitely. The philosophical dispute, in which each of the heroes of the play takes his own position, is supported by the common folk wisdom, expressed in proverbs and sayings. True, this wisdom, as the author subtly shows, is not absolute, sly. Too "round" statement can not only "push" on the truth, but also lead away from it. In this regard, it is interesting that the most important monologue of Satin in the play, also rich in "chased" (and clearly conveyed to the hero by the author) formulations, is deliberately dotted with ellipses, signaling how difficult it is for the most important words in his life to be born in Satin's mind.