Heroes of the play "At the Bottom" Gorky: Characteristics, Images and Fates

The drama "At the bottom" is a landmark work in Gorky's creative biography. Description of the heroes of the play "At the bottom" will be presented in this article.

The work was written at a crucial time for the country. In Russia in the 90 years of the XIX century a serious economic crisis broke out. The masses of impoverished, ruined peasants left after each crop failure in search of earnings from the villages. Closed factories and factories. Thousands of people were without means of livelihood and shelter. This led to the emergence of a large number of "tramps" who sank to the bottom of life.

Who lived in doss houses?

Enterprising slum owners, taking advantage of the fact that people were in a desperate situation, found how to take advantage of the fetid cellars. They turned them into doss houses, where the poor, unemployed, thieves, vagabonds and other representatives of the "bottom" lived. This work was written in 1902. The heroes of the play "At the bottom" are precisely such people.

Maxim Gorky throughout the whole creative career was interested in the person, the person, the secrets of his inner world. Feelings and thoughts, dreams and hopes, weakness and strength are all reflected in the work. The heroes of the play "At the bottom" are people who lived at the beginning of the 20th century, when the old world collapsed, and a new life arose. However, they differ from others in that they are rejected by society. They are people of the "bottom", outcasts. It's unseemly and scary place in which they live Vaska Pepel, Bubnov, Actor, Satin and others. According to Gorky's description, this is a cellar similar to a cave. Its ceiling - stone vaults with crumbled plaster, smoky. Why did the inhabitants of the doss house find themselves "at the bottom" of life, what brought them here?

Heroes of the play "At the bottom": table

What ruined the lives of these people?

The addiction to alcohol ruined the actor. By his own admission, before he had a good memory. Now the actor believes that everything is over for him. Vaska Pepel - representative of the "thieves' dynasty". This hero had no choice but to continue his father's business. He says that even when he was small, even then he was called a thief. The former furrier Bubnov left his workshop because of his wife's betrayal, and also because of fear of his wife's lover. He went bankrupt, after which he went to serve in one "chamber of chambers", in which he committed embezzlement. One of the most colorful figures in the work is Satin. He was a telegrapher in the past, and was imprisoned for killing a man who insulted his sister.

Whom do the inhabitants of the doss house blame?

Virtually all the heroes of the play "At the bottom" tend to blame themselves in the present situation for themselves, but life circumstances. Perhaps, if they had developed differently, nothing essentially would have changed, and all the same the doss-lodgers would suffer the same fate. The phrase, which Bubnov said, confirms this. He admitted that he had actually drunk a workshop.

Apparently, the reason for the fall of all these people is the lack of a moral core that makes up the personality of a person. You can quote the words of the actor as an example: "Why did I die? I did not have a faith ..."

Was there a chance to live a different life?

Creating images of the heroes of the play "At the bottom", the author gave each of them the opportunity to live a different life. That is, they had a choice. However, in everyone, the first test ended in the collapse of life. The Baron, for example, could correct his affairs not through theft of treasury funds, but by investing money in profitable businesses available to him.

Satin could teach the offender a different way. As for Vaska Ashes, could there really have been few places on earth where no one knew anything about himself and his past? The same can be said about many inmates of the doss house. They do not have a future, but in the past they had a chance not to get here. However, the heroes of the play "At the bottom" did not use it.

What do heroes console themselves with?

Now they can only live unrealizable hopes and illusions. Baron, Bubnov and Actor live memories of the past. Dreams of true love adore prostitute Nastya. At the same time, the characterization of the heroes of the play "At the Bottom" is complemented by the fact that these people, rejected by society, are humiliated, are endlessly arguing about moral and spiritual problems. Although it would be more logical to discuss the daily bread, because they live half-starving. The author's characteristic of the heroes of the play "At the bottom" says that such issues as freedom, truth, equality, work, love, happiness, law, talent, honesty, pride, compassion, conscience, pity, patience, death, peace hold them and much more. They are also worried about an even more important problem. They talk about what a person is, why he is born, what the true meaning of being is. The philosophers of the doss house can be called Luka, Satina, Bubnov.

With the exception of Bubnov, all the heroes of the work "doss-house" way of life reject. They are hoping for a successful turn of fortune, which from the "bottom" will take them to the surface. Mite, for example, says that he works from a young age (this hero is a mechanic), so he will get out of here without fail. "Now, wait ... your wife will die ..." he says. The actor, this chronic drunkard, hopes to find a luxurious hospital, in which the health, strength, talent, memory and applause of the spectators will miraculously return to him. Anna, an unfortunate sufferer, dreams of the bliss and peace of the afterlife, in which she will at last be rewarded for her torment and patience. Vaska Asp, this desperate hero, kills Kostylev, the owner of the doss house, because he considers the latter the embodiment of evil. His dream is to go to Siberia, where he will start a new life together with his beloved girl.

The role of Luke in the work

Luka, a stranger, supports these illusions. He owns the skill of a comforter and preacher. Maxim Gorky portrays this hero as a doctor who considers all people as terminally ill and sees his calling as mitigating their pain and hiding it from them. However, at every turn life denies the position of this hero. Anna, whom he promises in heaven divine retribution, wants suddenly "a little more ... to live." Believing in the first cure for alcoholism, the actor brings to the end of the play scores with life. Vaska Ash determines the true value of all these consolations of Luke. He claims that that "fairy tale" says "nice, because so little is good in the world."

Satin's opinion

Sincere pity for the inhabitants of the doss house is full of Luka, but can not change anything, help people to live a different life. In his monologue, Satin rejects this attitude, because he considers him humiliating, suggesting the inconsistency and wretchedness of those to whom this pity is directed. The main characters in the play "At the bottom" Satin and Luke express opposite opinions. Satin says that it is necessary to respect a person and not to humiliate him with pity. In these words, probably, the author's position is expressed: "Man! .. It sounds ... proud!"

Further fate of the heroes

What will become in future with all these people, whether the characters in the play "At the bottom" Gorky can change something? It is not difficult to imagine their fate. For example, Mite. He tries at the beginning of the work to get out of the "bottom". He thinks that when his wife dies, everything will change magically for the better. However, after the death of the spouse, the Tick is left without tools and money and sings sullenly along with others: "I will not run away." In fact, he will not run away, like other inhabitants of the doss house.

What is salvation?

Are there any ways of salvation from the "bottom", and what are they? A decisive solution, perhaps, is outlined from this difficult situation in Satin's speech, when he talks about the truth. He believes that the appointment of a strong person - to eradicate evil, and not to console the suffering, like Luke. This is one of the most solid convictions of Maxim Gorky himself. "From the bottom" people can rise, only having learned to respect, having gained self-esteem. Then they can wear the proud title of Man. It still needs to be earned, according to Gorky.

Declaring his faith in the creative powers, abilities and reason of a free man, Maxim Gorky asserted the ideas of humanism. The author realized that in the mouth of Satin, drunk barefoot, the words about a free and proud person sound artificial. However, they should have sounded in the play, expressing the ideals of the writer himself. This speech had no one to say except Satin.

Gorky in the work refuted the main principles of idealism. These are the ideas of humility, forgiveness, non-resistance. He made it clear which beliefs the future holds. This proves the fate of the heroes of the play "At the bottom." By faith in man all the work is permeated.