The dispute about the person in the play by M. Gorky "At the Bottom"

The dispute about the person in the play by M. Gorky
The dispute about the person in the play by M. Gorky "At the Bottom"

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Gorky defined the play "At the Bottom" as a socio-philosophical drama, in which the main are the conflict of people with the outside world and internal conflict. One of the original titles of the play is "At the Bottom of Life", but the writer shortened it, thereby expanding its sound: the heroes of the play are not only at the bottom of life, but also at the bottom of their own feelings, thoughts, each of them has to fight not only with circumstances but also with yourself.

First, we get to know social conflict. The author draws us Kostylev's little house: “A basement that looks like a cave. The ceiling is heavy, stone vaults, smoked, with crumbled plaster ... Everywhere on the walls there are bunks ... In the middle of the shelter is a large table, two benches, a stool, everything is unpainted and dirty » - it looks more like a prison, it's not for nothing that its inhabitants sing the prison song "The sun rises and sets." In the course of the play, we learn about the events that led people to such a life. For example, Bubnov was married in the past, “the wife got in touch with the master” and decided to “defeat” her husband; As a result, Bubnov almost committed the crime himself, but "caught himself in time" and left. Satin served time in prison for the murder of a "scoundrel" and now, like almost all the inhabitants of the flophouse, he drinks, plays cards, and steals. The baron came from a noble family, he "studied", "married", "served", "wasted state money." The fates of all the heroes are different and at the same time surprisingly similar: they are at the bottom of their lives, deprivation and suffering brought them here. This portrayal of the lives of the poorest sections of society is the social essence of the drama. drama conflict truth play

However, the main, philosophical question of the work is different. What is better, more salvific for a person: truth or compassion?

The society of bed-lodgers described by Gorky can be called insensitive truth-seekers. “In my opinion, bring down the whole truth as it is! Why be ashamed? "- Bubnov asserts, and the Baron behaves rudely towards Nastya, accuses her of lying in front of everyone, when she talks about her" true love ":" Do you think it's true? This is all from the book "Fatal Love". Such heroes as Anna, Nastya, Actor are gullible, dreamy, it is easy to hurt them with the bitter truth. They crave compassionate kindness, but find no sympathy from the "truth of fact" advocates. As a ray of light, Luke appears in their joyless life. He comforts everyone, respects each person ("not a single flea is bad, all are black"), believes that a person can do anything if he wants. This his belief in a man is expressed in a story about two escaped convicts, the main idea of ​​which is that it is not violence, not a prison that can save a person and teach good. You will cure ... ”, meet with resistance from many of the characters in the play. Especially with this point of view, Satin's opinion is at odds. He says: "Falsehood is the religion of slaves and masters ... Truth is the god of a free man!" As an illustration of these ideas, we are told the parable of the righteous land. In it, a “man” with his belief in the existence of a righteous land and a “scientist” who refutes this dream with his cards and numbers collide with each other. Here, it would seem, lies the key to unraveling the ideological contradictions of the play "At the Bottom": if reality does not allow a person to maintain self-esteem, then let the "truth about man" be replaced by "the truth of man", that is, "holy faith." After all, the naked truth, which the night-lodgers heard from each other before the appearance of Elder Luke, is of no value. It is not clear what is more in their words - the thirst for truth or the desire to humiliate and offend a person. But it is also impossible to live only with illusions, we see this on the example of the Actor. Luca gave him hope for the opportunity to start a new life, to return to work. The actor even “finished writing”, heightened the elder's advice about a trip to a hospital for alcoholics: “An excellent hospital ... Marble ... marble floor! Light ... cleanliness, food ... all for nothing! And the marble floor, yes! " , but he never did anything to make this trip, he just continued to dream and hanged himself in the end.

The uniqueness of Gorky's play "At the Bottom" lies precisely in its veracity, starting with the description of the flophouse and ending with an unresolved dispute about what is best for a person: to live with false hope or to bring down the bitter evil truth on everyone. The value of these two points of view seems to be tested on all the characters throughout the play, but this dispute has not received a final answer. Everyone decides it for himself.

Who is weak in soul ... and who lives in other people's juices - those need lies ... some it supports, others hide behind it ... And who is his own master ... who is independent and does not eat someone else's - why should he lie?

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The work of M. Gorky "At the Bottom" touches upon a huge layer of moral, moral and spiritual problems of society. The author used the principle of the great minds of the past: the truth is born in a dispute. His play - Dispute is designed to raise the most important questions for a person, so that he himself can answer them. A complete analysis of the work can be useful for 11th grade students in preparation for literature lessons, test assignments, and creative work.

Brief analysis

Year of writing- late 1901 - early 1902.

History of creation- the play was created specifically for staging in the theater, Gorky put the most important questions of life into the lips of his heroes, reflected his own view of life. Shows the period of the late 19th century, a deep economic crisis, unemployment, poverty, ruin, the collapse of human destinies.

Theme- the tragedy of rejected people who find themselves at the very bottom of their lives.

Composition- linear composition, events in the play are built in chronological order. The action is static, the characters are in one place, the play consists of philosophical reflections and arguments.

genre- socio-philosophical drama, debate play.

Direction- critical realism (socialist realism).

History of creation

The play was conceived by Gorky a year before its creation; once in a conversation with Stanislavsky, he mentioned that he wanted to create a play about the inhabitants of a flophouse who had sunk to the very bottom. In 1900-1901 the author made some sketches. During this period, Maxim Gorky was seriously carried away by the plays of A.P. Chekhov, their staging on stage and the acting of actors. This was crucial for the author in terms of working in a new genre.

In 1902, the play "At the Bottom" was written, and in December of the same year it was staged at the Moscow Art Theater with Stanislavsky's participation. It should be noted that the writing of the work was preceded by a crisis that happened in Russia in the late 90s of the 19th century, factories and plants stopped, unemployment, ruin, poverty, hunger - all this is a real picture in the cities of that period. The play was created with a specific purpose - to raise the level of culture of all classes of the population. Its production caused a resonance, largely due to the genius of the author, as well as the controversy of the problems voiced. In any case - the play was spoken of with envy, discontent or admiration - it was a success.

Theme

The work intertwines several topics: fate, hope, meaning of life, truth and lies. The heroes of the play talk on lofty topics, being so low that it is no longer possible to go down further. The author shows that a poor person can have a deep essence, be highly moral, spiritually rich.

At the same time, any person can sink to the very bottom, from which it is almost impossible to rise, it delays, gives freedom from conventions, allows you to forget about culture, responsibility, education and moral aspects. Gorky only voiced the most acute Problems modernity, he did not solve them, did not give a universal answer, did not show the way. Therefore, his work is called a dispute play, it is based on a dispute in which truth is born, its own for each character.

Problematic the works are diverse, the most burning, perhaps it is worth considering the dialogues of the heroes about the saving lies and the bitter truth. The meaning of the name the play is that the social bottom is a stratum where there is also life, where people love, live, think and suffer - it exists in any era and no one is immune from this bottom.

Composition

The author himself defined the composition of the play as “scenes”, although its genius corresponds to the masterpieces of Russian and foreign classics. The linearity of the play is due to the chronological sequence of events. The plot of the play is the appearance of Luke in the shelter with his dissimilarity and impersonality. Further, in several actions, the development of events takes place, passing to the most powerful intensity - a dialogue about the meaning of existence, about truth and lies. This is the culmination of the play, followed by the denouement: the Actor's suicide, the loss of hopes of the last inhabitants of the shelter. They are not able to save themselves, which means they are doomed to death.

genre

In the play “At the Bottom,” analysis allows us to draw a conclusion about the uniqueness of the Gorky genre - the play-dispute. The main thing in the development of the plot is the conflict, it drives the action. The heroes are in a dark basement and dynamics is achieved through the collision of opposing points of view. The genre of the work is usually defined as a socio-philosophical drama.

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The turn of the XIX-XX centuries in the development of Russian literature was marked by the emergence of new trends, trends, a non-standard approach to solving the problems posed in the work, the originality of artistic forms. And if A.P. Chekhov became a recognized innovator in drama, then he developed and improved his innovative principles, such as: subtext, veiled main conflict, an abundance of plot lines,
action on the principle of "disunity" of characters, - another Russian writer and playwright Maxim Gorky. He created a number of bright and serious plays, among which a special place is occupied by the play "At the Bottom", rich and varied not only in ideological content, but also in artistic embodiment, which has become a literary monument to the author's dramatic skill.
The play became a kind of completion of a cycle of works by Gorky about tramps and represents a snippet from the life of the inhabitants of the shelter. The author himself defined the genre of the play as "pictures", that is, sketches, scenes; however, the conventionality, generalization of images, allegoricality, subtext speak of a deeper, philosophical content of the play, which is a complex combination of elements of the dramatic, tragic and even comic. The fate of almost all the heroes who have sunk to the “bottom” of life is dramatic; tragic insoluble conflict in the soul of some of them (Actor), as well as death (Anna, Actor). There are also comic episodes, for example, the scene of the joint life of Kvashnya and Medvedev. Genre originality also lies in the fact that excerpts of various genres are introduced into the fabric of the play: parables (Luke's monologues about the "righteous land" and the detained thieves), a love story retold by Nastya as part of her biography; poems by Beranger, folk songs, reminiscences from Dante, Shakespeare. Nevertheless, all these, so different, excerpts are masterfully, organically combined by M. Gorky and make up a single artistic whole.
Continuing the traditions of Chekhov, Gorky built the play not on one, but on several conflicts: love, social, philosophical. The love triangle (Ash, Vasilisa, Natasha) and the development of relationships in it are the main intrigue; social conflict - between the owners and the inhabitants of the shelter. However, as Gorky said, “the main question that I wanted to pose was which is better, truth or compassion?” faith, on a person and attitude towards him, for the future. In this conflict, the author's position is most pronounced: Gorky clearly thinks like Satin, in other words. Satin is the author's resonator. In general, drama is a kind of literature in which it is very difficult for an author to express his point of view; For this Gorky uses Satin's monologues and the very course of events, the development of the action; it is no coincidence that in the finale all those who believed Luka die or tragically leave the stage (Natasha disappears, Ashes are exiled to hard labor), and the supporters of Satin's theory, having adapted to the terrible conditions of life, continue to go with the flow. The plot itself is striking in the abundance of various lines; each character tells his own background, there are many commentaries simultaneously with the stage action (stories about Ash and Natasha in the finale, before that - about the connection between Vasilisa and Ash). Out-of-stage action and heroes significantly expand the scope of the depicted time, and also have another important meaning: the whole play appears as a fragment torn from the monotonous life of the night lodgers. This is also played by the peculiarity of the composition: all acts begin with household duties
a picture of everyday life, this gives the play a mood of hopelessness, a hopelessness of the situation, the impossibility for tramps to escape from this world. Three of the four acts (II, III, IV) end with death (Anna, Kostylev and Actor, respectively); the tragedy of these scenes makes a heavy and overwhelming impression on the viewer.
Gorky really subtly thought through the stage organization, the production of the play, this is evidenced by the detailed remarks, detailed descriptions of the scene and the type of characters. The poster indicates the exact age of the characters, an average of 30 years; at this age people are usually at the peak of their careers, and the heroes of the play At the Bottom, on the contrary, find themselves at the “bottom” of society, life; the symbolism of the name is subtly thought out by the author. The stage details are also symbolic, such as: a window in the first and fourth acts, disappearing like the heroes' hope for a better life; a partition that initially separated Ash's room, disappearing in the finale. Unlike Chekhov, Gorky leads at the end of the heroes to spiritual unity: disunity is replaced by mutual understanding. In general, the principles of constructing a system of characters are also a Chekhovian tradition: heroes are divided into groups, firstly, into the owners and inhabitants of the shelter; the inhabitants of the flophouse, in turn, on the supporters of Luke and the supporters of Satin.
The images created by Gorky are embossed and multifaceted; that is why, due to the difference in interpretations, there are still several points of view on a possible reading of the play. Characters are created in the play, first of all, through a poster informing the name and age; secondly, the images are inextricably linked with the interior: in the “basement, which looks like a cave,” people growl, grunt, hiss and make other animal sounds. Further, everyone tells their biography. Also, the impression of the hero is formed thanks to the stylistic coloring of his speech: Luka has a lot of proverbs, Bubnov has “thieves” aphorisms (for example, the people “were honest, but the spring before last ...”). Characters often characterize each other, complementing the images; so, almost everyone describes Luka after his disappearance. The images are revealed, for example, through the parallelism of the parable of the "righteous land" and the tragedy of the Actor; in general, Gorky endows his heroes with the gift of foresight, predictions: Natasha near the bed of dead Anna predicts the same end for herself (“in the basement, choked up ...”), Ashes predict that Natasha will disappear “through him”. With the help of these artistic means, Gorky intensifies a painful atmosphere, enhances the feeling of hopelessness, creates clearer and more scenic images, and intrigues the viewer.
According to the documents, the audience, who came to the premiere of the play "At the Bottom" at the Moscow Art Theater in 1903, wept. The reaction to the play of different literary schools was varied, they discussed the problems and the author's position, but no one could refute the perfection of the artistic form chosen by Gorky, which most fully reflected his intention, which made the play bright, multifaceted, deep, exciting.

History of creation. At the beginning of the 20th century, Gorky turned to drama. He writes his first plays almost simultaneously. "At the Bottom" was conceived earlier than "Bourgeois", the idea of ​​"Summer Residents" was outlined even before the first premiere of "At the Bottom". Work on the play began in 1900. In January of the following year, Gorky wrote to Stanislavsky: “I started another play. Bosyatskaya. There are about twenty characters. Very curious what will come out! " The play At the Bottom was written in 1902 for the troupe of the Moscow Art Public Theater. According to Gorky, the play appeared as a result of twenty years of observations of the world of "former people", to which he attributed "... not only wanderers, inhabitants of shelters and generally" lumpen proletarians ", but also some of the intellectuals, offended and humiliated by failures in life" ... As the writer himself pointed out, he observed the prototypes of his heroes in Nizhny Novgorod: the artist Kolosovsky-Sokolovsky served as the prototype for the Actor: Bubnov Gorky wrote not only from his friend, a tramp, but also from one intellectual, his teacher; the image of Nastya is largely borrowed from the stories of Claudia Gross. The staging of Gorky's plays was prohibited. To stage At the Bottom, it was necessary to apply for a theatrical society or a local governor. “I had to go to St. Petersburg, defend almost every phrase, creak my heart to make concessions and, in the end, get permission for only one Art Theater,” VN Nemirovich-Danchenko later recalled about the production of “At the Bottom”. From conversations with the then head of the Main Directorate for Press Affairs, Professor Zverev, he left the impression that At the Bottom was allowed only because the authorities were counting on a deafening failure of the play. On December 18, four and a half months after its creation, the first performance of the play took place, and it was published only a month and a half later. The play was a huge success. The proof of this is the many newspaper publications.
It is known that the image of the bottom was interpreted as a metaphor for the spiritual atmosphere. However, there is every reason to believe that the tragic state of the heroes has been given a grotesque character. The author's assessment of the inability of the heroes to physical or spiritual salvation is quite ironic, even the Actor is sometimes perceived as a jester of the bottom, in the eyes of Satin he is the bearer of a stupid beginning ("Eh ... ruined the song ... fool!"). In general, the tragedy described in the play is devoid of catharsis. The genre essence of Gorky's dramas is ambiguous. Thus, even I. Annensky pointed out the presence of irony in the tragic situations "At the Bottom." The replicas of the heroes sometimes bring a farcical beginning to the emotional world of the drama. At the expense of rhymes, including internal ones, essentially tragic heroes allow themselves to speak in a buffoonish language. The phonetic capabilities of the Russian language are conducive to sound parallels, identities, which were widely used by poets, this property of Russian speech was also in demand by the playwright Gorky. Following Gogol, Gorky introduces into the text a clownish language like satin “Many people easily get money, but few part with them easily ...” Due to phonetic identities, Gorky creates a grotesque, anomalous atmosphere of laughter and spiritual death, fun and horror. Apparently, believing that the ugliness of life is not only outside a person, in society, but also inside a person, he makes his heroes speak with "laughing" phrases. Phonetically, Nastya's remarks are colored with an inner rhyme; for example: “Give ... give! Well ... don't spoil! " Almost all the characters in the play resort to sound repetitions: “Christ, from everyone, took pity on us and told us ...” (Luke), “I play again, I don’t play anymore ...” and “We know what kind of you you are ...” (Tatar ), "Such a life that as in the morning I got up and howling ..." (Bubnov), "More interesting than you ... Andrei! Your wife is in our kitchen ... ”(Natasha). Sound becomes a means of creating the character of a man of the bottom. It is not difficult to notice Satin's "phonetic preferences". Quite often, words based on "r" (labor, good, slavery, etc.) sound in his dictionary. As you know, Satin is tired of "all human words", he loves "incomprehensible, rare words", and in their phonetic pattern - the same dominant sound: "Gibraltar", "Sardanapalus". The tendency to alliterate is evident in phrases like “Work? Make the work pleasant to me - maybe I will work ... yes! ". Satin's speech resembles a beastly growl. It is no coincidence that the very first remark states: "Satin growls."
The text, like the instructions in the directions, emphasizing the farcical nature of what is happening, contains information about the animal, inhuman nature of the inhabitants of the bottom. If Satin growls, then Bubnov remarks about this: "Why are you grunting?" Referring to the text of "Dead Souls", the researchers pointed to such means of creating a portrait of a dead soul, such as the presence of animal features in the hero's appearance, or characteristics of inanimate nature, which initiates the grotesque. In Gorky's text, in addition to the zoological "speech", the presence of inorganic nature in the heroes is also indicated; so, Kostylev asks Klesh: "Are you creaking?"
Thus, the analysis of the vocabulary of the play "At the Bottom" confirms the version about its tragic, tragicronic basis.

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 excess of the unfortunate.

The originality of the play's internal development. The setting changes with the arrival 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. Acts II and III of the drama make it possible to see in the "naked man" an 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.

Goals:

  • To acquaint students with the stage fate of the play "At the Bottom".
  • Introduce the characters of the play into the setting and world.
  • Determine the main conflict of the work - the clash of views and attitudes of the inhabitants of the bottom.
  • Show the tense atmosphere of the Kostylevo shelter with its endless arguments and quarrels; find out the reasons for the disunity of the people of the "bottom".
  • To help schoolchildren understand the meaning of the author's remarks.

During the classes

I. Introductory speech of the teacher.

Major writers of the 19th century (A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, L.N. Tolstoy) acted as prose writers, playwrights, and publicists. The creativity of M. Gorky is also characterized by a multi-genre nature. He entered literature with romantic and realistic stories. At the end of the 90s. published the novel "Foma Gordeev", in which he reproduced a wide picture of Russian life, showing representatives of various social strata. In the early 900s he turned to drama and acted as a playwright for several years.

"Play, drama, comedy are the most difficult form of literature," said M. Gorky.

At that time, the Moscow Art Theater enjoyed immense popularity, opening a new page in the history of Russian theatrical art with the innovative performances of Chekhov's plays. In the winter of 1900, Gorky first visited this theater; in the spring of the same year, while visiting Chekhov in Yalta, Gorky met the artists who carried him away with the idea of ​​creating a play for them. The result of this acquaintance was the play "The Bourgeoisie" (1901) and the subsequent plays: "At the Bottom" (1902), "Summer Residents" (1904), "Children of the Sun" and "Barbarians" (1905)

Let us recall what is the peculiarity of drama as a kind of literature (a student's speech, accompanied by a computer presentation).

1) Drama is meant for performances on stage.

3) The text consists of monologues and dialogues actors.

4) The play is divided into actions (acts) and pictures (scenes).

5) In the interval between actions, a certain time may pass (a day, two, a month, six months :), the scene of the action may change.

6) The whole life process is not depicted in the drama, it goes, as it were, behind the scenes; the author, on the other hand, snatches from the flow of time the most significant, from his point of view, moments, and focuses the attention of the audience on them.

7) A special load in the play falls on conflict- a sharp clash between the heroes on a very significant occasion. At the same time, there can be no (extra) heroes in the drama - all heroes must be included in the conflict.

8) The dramatic work is preceded by poster- a list of actors.

The very first plays of Gorky showed that an innovative playwright had come to literature.

The content and problematics of the plays were unusual, and their heroes are a revolutionary-minded proletarian, the inhabitants of the flophouse, and the conflict. Gorky acted as the creator of a new type of drama.

From the cycle of Gorky's dramatic works, the play "At the Bottom" stands out for its depth of thought and perfection of construction. "It was the result of my almost 20-year observation of the world of" former people ", to which I include not only wanderers, dwellers of shelters and the" lumpen-proletariat "in general, but also some of the intellectuals -" demagnetized ", disappointed, offended and humiliated by failures in life. I realized very early that these people are incurable, "- wrote Gorky. He talked a lot and willingly about tramps, their lives, people who served as prototypes for this or that character.

Gorky worked hard and purposefully on the play At the Bottom. Even the list of titles that he consistently gave to the play shows both the intensity of his search, and even partly his direction:

  • "Without sun"
  • "Overnight"
  • "In an overnight house"
  • "Bottom"
  • "At the bottom of life"
  • "At the bottom"

Why "At the Bottom"? (The author singled out not the place of action - "the shelter", not the nature of the conditions - "without the sun", "the bottom", not even the social position - "at the bottom of life." The final name combines all these names with a new one. where how, a what's happening at the bottom" (what?): souls... Unlike the original names that set off the tragic situation of tramps, the latter name is more succinct, ambiguous.)

The play got its final name on the theater poster of the Moscow Art Theater, on the stage of which the premiere of the play took place.

Already after the first reading of the play by Gorky himself at the apartment of the writer L. Andreev, it was clear that it would become an event. For a long time, censorship did not allow the play to be presented. I washed out the text, mutilated it, but nevertheless, yielding to the public onslaught, allowed to play exclusively in Moscow and only one Art Theater. The authorities considered the play boring and were sure of the failure of the performance, where instead of a "beautiful life" on the stage there was dirt, darkness and poor, embittered people (sharpshooters, tramps, prostitutes). The production by directors Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko was a tremendous success. The author has been called over 20 times!

Playbill for the play "At the Bottom".

So, December 1902. Moscow Art Theater. First performance of the play.

There are many prominent writers, artists, painters, public figures and famous critics in the public. The cast is the most beloved, most prominent artists of the Moscow Art Theater: Stanislavsky (Satin), Moskvin (Luka), Katchalov (Baron), Knipper-Chekhova (Nastya), Lugsky (Bubnov). The curtain is opening ...

II. A re-enactment of the beginning of the play by the students in the class.

III. Conversation.

Where did the viewer end up? When and where does the play take place? (In the flophouse in early spring, in the morning.)

How is the scene depicted in the stage one to act 1, depicting the setting of the flophouse? (A basement that looks like a cave. Everywhere there is dirt, soot, rags ...)

- How are the characters on the stage?(Everywhere on the walls there are bunks. Thin bulkheads fence off Ash's room. Except for Kvashnya, Baron, Nastya, who live in the kitchen, no one has their own corner. others, the bed of dying Anna (by this, she is, as it were, separated from life.)

- How is the stage lit?(The light reaches the night shelters from the basement window, as if looking for people among the basement inhabitants.)

- Why does the author describe the flophouse in such detail in the pre-act 1 remark? Why is the remark so lengthy?(The playwright emphasizes the extreme poverty of the present existence of the "former", the wretchedness of the human haven.)

- The tragedy of the existence of the shelters, the depth of the human fall, help to feel the remarks that give an idea of ​​the sounds of the shelter. What does the viewer hear?

Anna moans

Tinkering and hysterically coughs Actor

Loud growls Satin

Fiercely tinkles keys and creaks file mite

The Baron chomps, chewing black bread:

- What is the atmosphere of a flophouse?(Noise, swearing. Endless arguments, quarrels. Hell, anger :)

- Why do fights occur so often?(Everyone lives in this basement, as he wants. Everyone is preoccupied with their own problems. The characters seem to not hear each other. Words sound from different angles. All those present speak at once, without waiting for an answer, weakly reacting to other people's comments, but everyone, almost not listening to others, talking about his own. Complete separation of people who find themselves under one roof.)

- Stability, the utmostness of mutual alienation is conveyed in the form polylogue. What remarks underline the continuity of such "communication", the feeling of the flow of time in a vicious circle, without beginning and end?

The curtain opens and the viewer hears the Baron's voice: "Farther!". This is the first line of the play! She "creates a feeling of the inevitable flow of time, flow in a vicious circle without beginning and end ". (B.A. Byalik. Gorky the playwright.)

Growls, not frightening anyone, Satin slept after next intoxication.

Kvashnya continues a conversation started behind the scenes with Tick, constantly fencing off from a terminally ill wife.

Baron habitually taunts Nastya, absorbing regular shocker.

Actor is boring repeats the same thing: "My body is poisoned with alcohol: It is harmful for me: to breathe dust:

Anna begs to stop what lasts "Every single day:".

Bubnov interrupts Satin: "I've heard: a hundred times!"

Satin, as it were, sums up: ": all our words are bored! I heard each of them: probably thousand times:"

- In a stream of fragmentary remarks and squabbles, words with a symbolic sound are heard.

Bubnov: "And the strings are rotten:" - twice, doing furry business.

He is about Nastya's position: "You are superfluous everywhere: yes, and all people on earth are superfluous:"

What do these seemingly casually dropped lines reveal?

(The phrases said on a specific occasion reveal the imaginary connections of the people gathered in the shelter, the "excess" of the unfortunate).

IV. Teacher's word.

Already the first readers of the play "At the Bottom" drew attention not only to the novelty of its content, but also to the novelty of its form. Chekhov said of the play: "It is new and undoubtedly good."

What is so unusual about the form of the play "At the Bottom"? In what way does Gorky deviate from the rules for creating dramatic works known to us from the plays read earlier?

2.No traditional plot: it unfolds not so much in "external" events as in dialogues (disputes), polylogue- they determine the development of the conflict.

3.In the play no main and secondary characters- all are important.

Let's turn to the list of actors - poster.

V. Work with the playbill.

Why are the heroes presented in different ways: some - by name and patronymic, others - by nickname, by last name?

Why are Kostylev and Kleshch presented differently? (The list contains a certain hierarchy of the "bottom". There are also "masters of life" here, although they are not so different from the inhabitants of the flophouse).

People in society are valued in different ways. At the "bottom" of life can be a representative of any class, gender and age. What unites them? (They are all renegades. All are "former".)

Vi. Mini-quiz.

Remember which of the characters in the play was

  • an official in the treasury chamber?
  • as a watchman in the country?
  • a telegraph operator?
  • a locksmith?
  • furrier?
  • an artist?

Vii. Conversation.

How did these people get here? What brought them to the shelter? What is the background story for each of the characters?

Satin went to the bottom after serving in prison for murder (act 1).

The baron went broke. Served in the treasury chamber, squandered money; for embezzlement of state money, he went to prison, then ended up in a flophouse (act 4).

The tick lost his job, although he was an "honest worker," "worked from an early age" (Act 1).

The actor once had a sonorous surname - Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky, but was not in the first roles (he says that he played a gravedigger in Hamlet), lived in need; He began to drink, not seeing a way out, - he drank himself, "drank his soul" (act 2). Weak at heart. The tick resists - the result is the same.

Fate Ashes predetermined already at birth: "I am from childhood: a thief." "Son of thieves". There is no other road (act 2).

Which hero tells more about his fall than others? (Baron. Each stage of his life is marked by a certain costume. These dressings symbolize a gradual decline in social status.)

What reasons bring people to the bottom? (People are brought to the "bottom" by both subjective (laziness, meanness, dishonesty, weak character) and objective, social reasons (poisoned, perverted the life of society).

What are the bed-lodgers talking about? (About what any person thinks about.)

Honor and conscience Belief in your strength, in your talent

People of the "bottom" are not villains, not monsters, not scoundrels. They are the same people as we are, only they live in different conditions. This amazed the first viewers of the play and amazes more and more new readers.

Heroes talk a lot, argue. Their conversations are the subject of the play. The clash of ideas, life views, the struggle of worldviews determine the main conflict of the play. This is typical for the genre philosophical dramas .

VIII. Homework.

Answer the following questions in writing:

  1. One of the characters in the play, Satin, in the line that concludes the second act, likens the night lodges to the dead: "The dead do not hear! The dead do not feel: Shout: roar: the dead do not hear! .."
  2. Is it possible to say that the first act is conversations in "the kingdom of the dead" (GD Gachev)?
  3. Or is the researcher right, who believed that "Luke, having gone down to the basement, did not come to the desert, but to people" (I.K.Kuzmichyov), and before the arrival of Luke, preserved to one degree or another living human traits?