Russian language and literature. Literature. Literature lesson on the topic "M. Gorky. The play "At the Bottom" as a philosophical drama. Sharp criticism of reality in the play, the tragic fate of the "bottom""

For more than 100 years, performances based on M. Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” have not left the Russian stage. She walked around and largest theaters peace. And the interest continues! What explains the phenomenal success of the play, why does it continue to excite the minds of mankind today, 100 years after its creation? Apparently, because it is directed towards the most significant issues of life for a person. In the center of it - not so much human destinies, so much a clash of ideas, a dispute about man, about the meaning of life. The core of this dispute is the problem of truth and lies, the perception of life as it really is, with all the hopelessness and truth for the characters - people of the “bottom”, or life with illusions, no matter how diverse and bizarre forms they appear. This dispute begins long before Luke appears and continues after his departure.

The plot of the play “At the Bottom” is the appearance of Luke. Depicting the outrageous conditions of Kostylev’s doss house, where hunger, dirt, illness, drunkenness, and anger have become commonplace, Gorky shows that hope awakens in the inhabitants of the bottom, the desire to change life for the better lives. Already at the very beginning of the play, Kvashnya consoles herself with hopes that she is a free woman, and Nastya with dreams of a great feeling, borrowing it from the book “ Fatal love" The tick retains within himself the dream of breaking out of the basement and achieving prosperity through honest work. But those who have no illusions are trying to destroy the rosy dreams of anyone who dares to still hope for something. And among these people, embittered by life, the wanderer Luke appears. His very appearance brings something soothing and pacifying into the tense atmosphere of the night shelters’ life: “Good health, honest people!.. Where, my dear, can I adapt? For an old man, where it’s warm, there’s a homeland...” He easily and quickly finds mutual language with each of the night shelters, is not offended by Ash’s remark to stop humming the song. Turning to the Baron, he says: “I saw the Count, and I saw the Prince... but this is the first time I’ve met the Baron, and even then he’s spoiled...” Heavy life experience, Luke's homeless search determined the main features of his psychology. Among them is a keen interest in people. “I want to understand human affairs,” Luke defines his main desire. He will spoil words of sympathy for everyone and for everyone: “Ehe-he! I look at you, brothers, - your life - “Oh-oh!”, “...I respect swindlers too, and I think not a single flea is bad: they’re all black, they all jump... that’s how it is.” ", "...is it really possible to abandon a person like that? No matter what he is, he’s always worth his price...” Looking closely at those around him, Luka sees how hard it is for Anna, and finds words of consolation for her, supports her, helps her get out of the kitchen: “Well, we’ve crawled... Oh you! And is it really possible to walk alone in such a weak group?” At the same time, Luka can fight back against Vasilisa. When she sternly interrogates him, demands a passport, calls him a rogue, he calmly objects to her: “Passing... wandering...” Luka is in no hurry to characterize her, but tactfully remarks: “Oh, and you are unkind, mother... Serious butterfly". He behaves with the same dignity in the presence of the policeman Medvedev. To his words that he should know everyone in the area, but doesn’t know him, Luka replies: “That’s because, uncle, not all the land fits in your area... there’s only a little left to cover it up...”

Luka calls different attitude from the side of the night shelters. For the Baron he is “a kikimora and a rogue,” for the sick Anna he is sensitive and man of heart: “I look at you... you look like my father... like a priest... just as affectionate... soft...” To which Luka reasonably replies: “They crushed a lot, that’s why you’re soft...” In these words, Luke’s whole life immediately appears: he had to see a lot, go through difficult moments before he began to feel sorry for people and understand them.

The second act of the play ends with the scene of Vasilisa beating Natasha. Hearing screams coming from the kitchen, Luka asks what is happening there: “Who is fighting there?.. What are they dividing?”

Luke's personality, with its complexity and contradictions, is reflected in his speech characteristics, his speech portrait. Coming from a folk background, he mainly uses colloquial vocabulary: “ali”, “say”, “seem”, “ish”. In his speech there are words used in peasant vocabulary: “don’t hesitate”, “angry”, “preempt”, “okrome”, “calm”, etc. There are many words in his speech with diminutive suffixes: “small”, “ bread”, “bread” - which reflects his attitude towards others. The special colorfulness of Luke’s speech is striking. He uses many aphorisms: “No matter how you pretend, no matter how you wobble, but you were born a man, you will die a man...”, “they live - everything is worse, but they want - everything is better...”, etc.

From the end of the first until the denouement of the third act, Luka is on stage. He looks omnipresent: he manages to talk with almost everyone, appears where important matters are discussed. life problems, tirelessly “comforts” the suffering. And although the usual life goes on in the shelter: they get drunk, play cards, swear, Klesh creaks his file, Anna coughs and moans, the external plane of existence is increasingly permeated with the growing emotional excitement of those whom Luka inspires on a new path.

Gorky himself considered Luka a “negative type.” He wrote. “The main question I wanted to pose is: what is better, truth or compassion? What is more needed? Is it necessary to take compassion to the point of using lies, like Luke?” The questions posed by Gorky troubled many generations of actors representing Luka on stage. One of best performers in this role, the artist I. Moskvin, at the Moscow Art Theater in 1902, created the image of such a Luke, which allowed theater critics to recognize him as “an exponent higher truth" The modern viewer will find some new interpretations of the famous Gorky hero and will be able to person XXI centuries to determine how faithfully this image is embodied on stage, Luke’s story about the “righteous land”

1. What is the theme of the comedy “The Inspector General”?
The comedy "The Inspector General" is a comedy of manners. Its topic is bribery and corruption of officials; the author satirically depicts various abuses in the bureaucratic environment, as well as Khlestakov’s frivolity and dishonesty.

2. Who was the first to report the auditor? Why did everyone believe this message? Who is Khlestakov: a petty official and insignificant person or significant person? How does he appear in conversations with officials, merchants, the mayor’s wife and daughter?
For the first time they learned about the auditor from a letter received by the Governor and, since the auditor could already arrive and live in the city incognito, the eccentric and stupid gossips Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky mistook the Strange Visitor for the auditor, who turned out to be Khlestakov. Everyone believed their guess because they were very scared. In reality, Khlestakov is an insignificant and empty person, a talker and a braggart who does not know how to do anything, but knows how to benefit from the mistakes of officials. He quite cleverly adapts to his interlocutors and impresses everyone. He behaves freely with officials, boasts in front of ladies, and pretends to be a boss with merchants.

3. Where is the beginning and end of the comedy? Did Khlestakov want to deceive the officials and townspeople?
The plot of a comedy is an episode in which the prerequisites for the development of the plot are laid. IN in this case, it seems to me that this is the moment when Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky report that they saw the auditor.
The denouement is the moment when the plot comes to its conclusion. This is an episode of reading Khlestakov’s letter, from which it becomes clear to everyone that he is not an auditor.

4. Why are the landowners Dobchinsky, Bobchinsky and the mayor being deceived? Read and comment on the scene at the inn. For what reason do officials believe Khlestakov in the “scene of lies”? Remember and tell or read this scene out loud. What is the role of stage directions in comedy?
The landowners are deceived because they are stupid, they are captured by the sensation and want to be involved in it, and Khlestakov behaves atypically. The mayor believes them out of fear. For example, he takes all Khlestakov’s words about prison personally: Khlestakov is afraid that he will be sent to prison for not paying the innkeeper, and the Governor himself is afraid of prison for bribery. Wanting to avoid arrest, Khlestakov lies that he is a respected official, and the Mayor takes this as a hint that he is the auditor.
In the "lying scene" all the officials are very scared because they think that the drunk will tell the truth. They have never met such selfless liars as Khlestakov. He seems to believe himself. In addition, everyone is very afraid of him, because they all broke the law. The stage directions show how at first they did not dare to sit down, and then jumped up and shook in horror.

5. What did the news of the arrival of a new auditor mean and who is this new auditor - an official or the conscience of each character? Read this scene and prepare a detailed answer to this question.
The news of the arrival of a new auditor - the real one - meant the end of a career for each of the officials, and perhaps even prison. Everyone was already dumbfounded by their revealed mistake, and then there was a real auditor. The mayor says: “Killed, completely killed!” That was probably everyone's feeling.
I think this is a real auditor: people like, for example, Strawberry can hardly have a conscience. It seems to me that this is not conscience then, but fear of punishment, because if officials had a conscience, they would not behave this way. The same Zemlyanika stole from sick people, hired a doctor who doesn’t understand a word of Russian: it’s not surprising that all the patients “get better like flies.” Something like human feelings is visible in Gorodnichy, he even says words that Gogol himself would like to say: “Why are you laughing? You’re laughing at yourself!” He speaks these words not so much to officials, but to all of us. Because the auditor is not the conscience of officials, but ours.

6. Read the definitions of the main stages of plot development. What comedy scenes do you think correspond to these stages? (exposition, beginning, climax, resolution)
The exhibition is a reading and discussion of the letter received by the Mayor.
The beginning is a message from the landowners that they have found the auditor and the conversation of the Governor with him.
The climax is the scene where the Mayor boasts that he is leaving for St. Petersburg.
The denouement is the reading of Khlestakov’s letter.

7. It is known that Nicholas 1, after the first performance of the play, said: “What a play! Everyone got it, and I got it more than anyone else!” And Gogol exclaimed: “Everyone is against me!” How can we explain the indignation of all classes by the play?
Everyone was offended by the comedy because people of all classes were depicted satirically. Under the guise county town All of Russia is depicted.

1 option

1.When and where do the events take place in the play “At the Bottom”? Give a description of the shelter.

2. Divide all characters into two groups according to social status.

3.Trace how the play “At the Bottom” develops its first story line(Vasilisa - Ashes). What characters does it capture? Where does it reach its apogee?

4.What unites the lonely inhabitants of the shelter? Can we consider the main conflict of the play only the opposition of the social plane?

5.Where do you think the plot of the play is? What strings of the heroes’ souls does Luke touch with his speeches?

6. Interpret the parable of the righteous land told by Luke?

7.What is the purpose of Luke’s “consolation”: does he pursue selfish interests, or is his intervention in the fate of other heroes caused by other motives? Why doesn’t Luka try to “comfort” Bubnov and Satin?

8. With the plays of which Russian writer is Gorky’s drama comparable in its compositional organization?

Option 2

1. Give a general description of Kostylev and Vasilisa.

2. Do the characters in the play have hope in the exhibition? Prove it.

3.What is a monologue, dialogue, polylogue? What is their role in the play?

4. Restore the event rad of the play. What events take place on stage and what events happen behind the scenes?

5. It is not for nothing that the wanderer bears the name of one of the apostles of Christ. What does he promise, what does he call for? Why does none of the promises benefit the inhabitants of the “bottom”?

6.Under what circumstances does Satin pronounce his monologue about a person? What motivated his rebuke to the Baron? Does Satin condemn or defend Luke in his monologue?

7. Why is Luke’s life conclusion about the righteous land so attractive: “if you believe, it is”?

8.So what is more necessary: ​​truth or compassion? Whose position – Luke’s or Satina’s – is closer to you?

9.Luka and Satin: antipodes or kindred spirits? Why does Satin suddenly protect Luka after the old man leaves?

Option 3

1.Has the life of the night shelters changed with the appearance of Luke?

2.Why do heroes live? What do the inhabitants of the “bottom” dream about?

3. How does Luke console the homeless people? How do they feel about his words?

4.What is attractive about Luke’s appearance and judgment? What do you take in it?

5. Is Luke to blame for what happened in the last scenes?

6. Do Actor, Ashes, Nastya change me in the play? How and why?

7. Do the weak need lies? Are pity, empathy, and compassion always humiliating?

8. Is there a need for a debate about Truth and Man in the play? How do you feel about the participants in the dispute and their position?

9. Why did Gorky entrust Satin with an important monologue about a person?

Option 4

1.What event overturned all the illusions sown by Luke?

2.What changed in the lives of the shelters after the murder of Kostylev and the disappearance of Luka?

3.Which characters’ fates particularly shocked you and why?

4. So what is more needed: truth or compassion?

5.Define compositional elements plays.

6.What is the outcome of the dispute about truth?

7.What is Gorky’s innovation as a playwright?

8.What philosophical meaning plays?

9. Highlight repeating, mirrored episodes in the play. What is their role in the composition of the work?

The play “At the Bottom” (1902)

Lesson objectives:

• deepen students' understanding of artistic originality prose of M. Gorky;
• introduce students to the history of the creation of the play "At the Bottom". based on direct impressions from reading the play, conduct comprehensive analysis
• works, having considered the issues, plot and compositional features, the originality of artistic images. improve students' analysis skills work of art
• , developing the ability to highlight the main, significant moments in the development of an action, determine their role in revealing the theme and idea of ​​the work, and draw independent conclusions. working on the analysis of the work, to form in students own attitude to the events and characters of the play, thereby promoting the development of active life position
• , the ability to defend one’s own point of view.
• develop literary text research skills. use the example of heroes to educate the best human qualities
• : compassion, mercy, humanism. bring up Attentive attitude

by the way.

During the classes

I. Org. moment, explanation of the goals and objectives of the lesson. Today we continue to study the work of A. Gorky. In the previous lesson we talked about the life of a writer, looking at creativity in general outline

Before directly analyzing the work, I would like to remind you that when getting acquainted with works of literature and art, there is no need to make hasty conclusions: it is difficult, incomprehensible.... Remember: in order to understand, you need, as L. N. Tolstoy noted, " force your mind to act with all its possible strength."

II. Literary mood, poetic five minutes.

III. Go to the topic of the lesson.

1. The teacher’s story about the history of writing the play “At the Depths”.

In 1900, when artists from the Art Theater traveled to Crimea to show Chekhov his plays “The Seagull” and “Uncle Vanya,” they met Gorky. The head of the theater, Nemirovich-Danchenko, told them that the theater had the task of not only “captivating Chekhov with its art, but also infecting Gorky with the desire to write a play.”

IN next year Gorky donated his play “The Bourgeois” to the Art Theater. The first performance of Gorky's play by the Art Theater took place on March 26, 1902, in St. Petersburg, where the theater went on a spring tour. For the first time, a new hero appeared on the scene: the revolutionary worker, the machinist Nile, a man aware of his strength, confident of victory. And although the censorship erased all the “dangerous” passages from the play, and also erased Neil’s words: “The master is the one who works!”, “rights are not given, rights are taken,” nevertheless, the play as a whole sounded like a call for freedom, struggle .

The government feared that the performance had turned into a revolutionary demonstration. During the dress rehearsal of the play, the theater was surrounded by police, and policemen in disguise were stationed in the theater; Mounted gendarmes were riding around in the square in front of the theater. “One might have thought that they were preparing not for a dress rehearsal, but for a general battle,” Stanislavsky later wrote.

Almost simultaneously with the play "The Bourgeois" Gorky was working on a second play, "At the Depths". In this new play The protest against capitalist society sounded even more sharply and boldly. Gorky showed in it a new, unfamiliar world - the world of tramps, people who have sunk to the very bottom of life.

In August 1902, Gorky handed over the play to Nemirovich-Danchenko. Rehearsals began, and Gorky now often had to visit Moscow. The actors and the director worked with enthusiasm, went to the Khitrov market, to the shelters where tramps lived, and Gorky talked a lot about the lives of his heroes, helping to better understand their lives and habits.

O. L. Knipper-Chekhova recalled how at one of the rehearsals Gorky said: “I read “At the Lower Depths” in the dosshouse, to the real Baron, to the real Nastya. You understand! They cried in the dosshouse, shouted: “We are worse!”... They kissed they hugged me..." On December 18, 1902, the play premiered. They endlessly called actors, directors, and the author. The performance turned into a stormy celebration of A. M. Gorky; he went on stage excited, confused - he did not expect such success. Large, slightly stooped, he frowned and, out of embarrassment, forgot to throw away the cigarette he was holding in his teeth, forgot that he had to bow.

A huge crowd that did not attend the performance stood outside the theater for a long time. The police urged the public to disperse, but no one left - they were waiting for Gorky just to look at him.

And working on the play was difficult and intense. “Without the sun” - “Nochlezhka” - “In a shelter house” - “At the bottom” - this is how its name changed. The history of the name to some extent means general outlines the author's work on the play. There is evidence from contemporaries about this process. “I was in Arzamas with Gorky,” wrote L. Andreev, “and heard his new drama “In a Lodging House” or “At the Bottom” (he had not yet settled on one or the other title)... He piled up a mountain of the most severe suffering, threw dozens of different characters into a pile - and united them all with a burning desire for truth and justice."

2. An analytical work based on M. Gorky’s play “At the Depths”.

a) Conversation on the following issues:

The title “At the Bottom” gives rise to a sense of perspective, and I just want to add an ellipsis further. What's going on at the bottom? “At the bottom” of what, maybe just life? Maybe even souls? (Yes, it is precisely this meaning that acquires paramount importance. “At the bottom” as philosophical drama, thinking about the purpose and capabilities of a person and about the essence of human attitude towards a person. “The Bottom of Life” is a tragic image of the play; the naked truth of everyday realities and the sharp contrast of colors: the antithesis of a flophouse - a cave and behind its walls the awakening nature - death and life.)

b) Work on the images and features of the composition of the play.

The composition of the play includes the following parts:

1. Exposition - introductory part(optional part), which at the initial stage of analyzing a work of art helps answer a number of questions: Where?, When?, what's happening?- and gives an initial idea of ​​the current characters.
2. The plot is the event with which the action begins.
3. Development of action.
4. Climax - highest point in the development of action.
5. Decline of action.
6. Denouement is the event that ends the action.

The composition of the play can be represented in the form of the following graphic diagram:

(Further when analytical work The correspondence of one or another episode of the work to the corresponding point of the scheme is determined. As a result of the analysis, a plot-compositional scheme is obtained, which clearly helps to present the chain of events that make up the plot of the work and to reveal the structural features of the work being studied. As the analysis progresses, the ability to give individual and generalized characteristics of the characters improves, and knowledge about composition and plot deepens.)

The play begins with the author's remark. Why do you think it is so extensive? - Who and how do we meet at the exhibition? (17 characters in the play, and we meet 10 of them in the exposition) - What can you say about the heroes? - What themes are clearly heard in the debates and reflections of the heroes? What are their views on life? - The beginning of the play is the appearance of Luke. What events “start” at this moment? What strings of the soul does the wanderer touch with his unexpectedly humane-sounding words in the shelter? - Describe Luke based on his remarks.

Act II begins with the song “The Sun Rises and Sets”; Bérenger’s poems create a unique musical background for the events. But is it only? What is the role of the song in Act II?

How do the characters change as the action progresses? What ways out of this situation do they see? (Nastya sees an “outlet” in reading and embroidery, lives with fairy-tale fantasies about past, true love. “I’m superfluous here,” - saying these words, Nastya seems to be fencing herself off from the inhabitants of the shelter. Natasha also lives in hopes for the best, which is why she protects Nastya : “Apparently, a lie is more pleasant than the truth... I, too... I make it up... I make it up and wait...” The tick thinks to break out: “I’m a working man,” he declares, Ashes dreams of breaking out: “ I need to live better! I need to live this way... so that I can respect myself..." He sees support in Natasha: "You understand... You name it... And you are a young Christmas tree - and you’ll be in pain, but you’ll hold back. ..” The actor dreams of being cured: “Today I worked, swept the street... but didn’t drink vodka!”)

In Act II, the Actor reads poetry:
"Gentlemen! If to the truth the saint
The world doesn't know how to find a way -
Honor the madman who inspires
Humanity has a golden dream."

How do you understand these lines?

Act IV begins with the heroes remembering Luke. How would you characterize Luke now?

• The place and role of a person in life.
• Does a person need the truth?
• Is it possible to change your life?

In the fate of the heroes of the play “At the Lower Depths,” Gorky saw a “material crime” that is committed by society. Gorky managed to show new heroes in the drama, whom the stage had not yet seen - he brought tramps to it. Gorky was able to directly and unequivocally point out the “perpetrators of the crime.” This is the social and political meaning of the play, the reason why it was called the play - the storm petrel.

IV. Lesson summary. Conclusions. Homework.