NEW PERSPECTIVES OF PLAYS MAXIM GORKY "ON THE BOTTOM"
Keywords:
history of Russian literature of the twentieth century, plays, Gorky, the play «The lower depths», philosophical structure, figurative systemAbstract
The article offers the modern view on the understanding of the philosophical and ideological essence and the composite structure of the play «The Lower Dep- ths» (1902) by M. Gorky. The article shows that the basis of the conflict of the play is not the antinomy of the concepts «true ↔ false” or “true ↔ compassion” but the stepwise triad of Gorky’s ideas about the development of Man: “paganism → Chri- stianity → new philosophy”. The article shows how pagan «wild» humans-animals (according to Plato) through religious believers in one God (Christ) the heroes of the play climb to the highest step of the evolutionary ladder — to the Proud Man (following Nietzsche). The author shows that the system of characters of the Gorky play splits into three groups, each of which marks a certain stage of human evolution.The analysis of the play suggests a solution of the question who was a real killer of the owner of the house Kostyljov and offers the interpretation of «ambiguous» final words of the play.
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