The image of the "bottom" in the play "At the bottom" of Gorky

The play "At the Bottom", written by Maxim Gorky (Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov) in 1902, is the second after the drama "Petty Bourgeois" (1901). All over the world she is recognized as the best dramatic work of this author. The work is written on the material of the life of "former people", well known to the writer. In Nizhny Novgorod dormitories, Gorky personally observed the prototypes of almost all the characters in the play. Each of them is important for the expression of a common sense, bears its own "truth", different from the others.

"Former people"

The fact that most of the characters in the work are “former people” is extremely important. Each of them was once a member of society, performed a social role. Now, in the shelter, the differences between the characters have been erased, all of them are just people who have been deprived of some degree of individuality. In order to understand the image of the "bottom" in the play "At the bottom", it is necessary to take into account this feature of its actors.

The problems of the play

The author focuses not so much on social roles as on general, most important for most features of human consciousness. "What helps and hinders living?", "How to gain human dignity?" - Maxim Gorky is looking for answers to these questions. Therefore, the content of the play is not limited to social issues, including philosophical and ethical ones. The "bottom" is the bottom of life in the broadest sense, in the sense of human existence in general, and not just in the social context.

The image of the "bottom" in the play "At the bottom"

At the turn of the century, Russian society acutely felt the impending formidable social catastrophe. In his work, the writer depicted the state of the modern world to him in apocalyptic tones. Heroes living in the "pits" and basements await Doomsday. This life is a kind of test: who is capable of resurrection, to a new life, and who is finally dead.

The symbolic, apocalyptic sound of the play was especially sharply felt by some modern theater and film directors. So, in the production of the Moscow Theater in the Southwest (directed by Valery Romanovich Belyakovich), the overnight shelter turns into an empty dark space with rows of two-story bunks, losing household signs. All the characters put on white clothes and cross stitches, as if before Judgment Day. The course of the performance is interspersed with "existential" scenes: the overnight shelter is filled with "afterlife" blue light and puffs of smoke, and its inhabitants suddenly fall silent and, like somnambulists, begin to roll over the bunks and writhe, as if they are tormented by an evil unknown force. The image of the “bottom” in the play “At the bottom” in this interpretation is extremely expanding, going beyond the social context.

Symbolism and Realism in the Work

The symbolism of the sound of the work is combined with a commitment in the image to the principles of socio-psychological realism. Particularly loud is the theme of the “pit”, the basement as a symbol of the humiliated, oppressed existence of people. It reflects not only the realities of life (the poor in Russia at that time really lived mainly in the basements), but also something much larger. Gorky wanted a person to achieve a "divine" essence, repeated the "divine" feat in the spiritual plane. For this, however, he had to perform a painful and difficult act of resurrecting his own soul. It is no coincidence that the stone vaults of the shelter resemble a cave with the tomb of Christ. Characterization of images ("At the bottom") is carried out on the basis of comparison with this biblical character, the ability to become like him.

People and "people"

In this basement, a person is thrown out of everyday life, deprived of property and savings, social status, often even a name. Many of the characters in the play have only nicknames that vividly characterize the images of the characters at the bottom. Gorky) creates a whole gallery of characters: Actor, Baron, Crooked Goiter, Kvashnya, Tatar. It seems that only similarities remained from these people. The author, putting this psychological experiment on the heroes of his work, wants to say that, despite the whole depth of the fall, these "former people" still have a living soul and can make a "resurrection".

The system of images "at the bottom of life" includes another type. Representatives of the "upper", basement world of the "owners" - Kostylev, the owner of a lodging house, a bloodsucker and a hypocrite, his wife Vasilisa, inciting his lover Vaska Pepla to kill his own husband - are shown as creatures incapable of regeneration. It becomes clearer one of the "mysterious" phrases that Elder Luke says: "There are people, and there are others, and people ...". Then he explains to Kostylev that the "people" are those whose souls resemble plowed fertile land that can give new seedlings.

True-false opposition

Alexei Maximovich Gorky - a writer and a man - was always tormented by the insolubility of the opposition "truth - false." The juxtaposition of the two “truths” - the one that hits a person on the head and the one that stimulates creative energy, lies at the heart of the play “At the Bottom”. The images of Baron, Tick, Bubnov, Ash are carriers of bitter truth, and the author’s ideas about it are embedded in the famous monologue of Satin ("Everything is in man, everything is for man!").

Dostoevsky once admitted that if he had to choose between Jesus Christ and truth, he would choose Christ. He would be chosen and Nastya, Luke, Actor and others. The images of the heroes “At the Bottom” in many respects characterize the adherence to this point of view or another (Baron, Bubnov, Tick, Ashes). Aleksey Maksimovich, with his work, and especially with this work, said that he made a choice in favor of man.

Readers and Critics

Despite the huge success of the play “At the Bottom”, the author was not quite happy with what he ultimately did. He understood from the reaction of most critics and the public that the preacher of "comforting lies" Luke came out as the most important and significant figure, who could not find a worthy opponent. In later reviews and interviews, Alexei Maksimovich blasphemed the "lying" Luke, but unconsciously, probably, loved him. Therefore, the old man turned out to be so controversial and mysterious. Gorky convinced readers of the dangers of "comforting lies" almost to the end of his life.

Conclusion

Gorky managed to show one of the most painful and dangerous features of human psychology and consciousness - dissatisfaction with reality, its criticism, and at the same time dependence on outside help, weakness for the possibility of “miraculous” salvation and deliverance from troubles, unwillingness to be responsible for one’s life and oneself create it. This is the very "bottom" of life, where a representative of any class and social status may find himself. For such people, Luke’s “comforting lie” is harmful and dangerous, even deadly (remember the actor who hanged himself at the end of the play), because the truth that they will have to face sooner or later is by no means so idyllic.

There is evil in the world, and he needs to confront, and not run away from him into the world of dreams and fantasies. People who prefer fiction are weak. They are confronted by more fit for life, which can withstand the truth. Aleksei Maksimovich acts as a genuine humanist, opening his eyes to a person’s true state of affairs, without clouding his eyes with comforting promises based on lies that humiliate a person.

The image of the “bottom” in the play “At the bottom” is one of the most powerful images in the writer's work, to which readers and critics come back again and again, drawing their thoughts, ideas and inspiration.