Luka and Satin: which one is right?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Many of us remember the famous play by M. Gorky, in which there are two heroes: Luke and Satin. Each of them defends their point of view, and only the audience can decide which of them is right.

Let's consider the dispute between these characters in more detail.

The plot and main characters of Gorky's play

The play "At the bottom" was written by the author at the beginning of the last century. Its first premiere, which took place in 1902 at the Moscow Art Theater, made a huge impression on the audience.

This was not surprising, because the young playwright was able to create not only a touching plot, but also brilliant images of the main characters.

The plot was the life of the inhabitants of a rooming house for the poor, people who have nothing: no money, no status, no social status, and even simple bread. Their fate is tragic, they do not see the meaning of their existence, their future is only death and poverty.

Among the heroes, two antipodes stood out - Luke and Satin, who conveyed to the audience the main meaning of the play.

Luke Position

Luka, an old wanderer of about 60, does not appear in the play right away. He comes to the rooming house and tries to comfort the inhabitants in his own way.

He promises Anna, who is dying of illness, heavenly bliss for theon the land of torment, the robber Vaska - the opportunity to start a new life in distant and cold Siberia, the alcoholic - the hospital where he will be cured, the prostitute - the opportunity to find true love, etc.

Some residents of this establishment begin to believe the kind old man, but some of them reject his stories, believing (and rightfully believing) them to be lies.

Luke's Philosophy

In fact, Luke offers his listeners a primitively understood Christian philosophy of life: a person must endure everything, because he is sinful, he bears a well-deserved punishment on earth, and after death he will be rewarded according to his deeds.

This philosophy essentially justifies evil on earth, turns God into a powerful and ferocious ruler of people who gives everyone their due.

Therefore, Luka seeks to deceive the unfortunate people who have fallen into a rooming house, believing that such deception will help them cope with life's difficulties. Luke is ready to accept social injustice as a given, considering it a consequence of the imperfection of human nature.

Satin position

Satin is the only rooming house character who tries to maintain his human dignity in the inhuman conditions of extreme poverty.

Once he was a more significant person (although he was a cheater and gambler), but he lost his status after standing up for the honor of his sister, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Luka and Satin are very different. They are not distinguishedas much age as conviction.

Satin is a humanist, in difficult conditions he did not lose faith in people, he does not want to believe the sweet speeches of Luke, believing that every person is a “blacksmith of his own happiness.”

Satin's Philosophy

The dispute between Luke and Sateen begins with the fact that the latter begins to contradict the words of the old man. No, Sateen does not need consolation, he is looking for active work. His truth is not Christian philosophy. Satin is closer to the position of atheism, which believes that everything is in the hands of the person himself, and does not depend on the action of higher powers. Sateen does not believe in the immortality of the human soul, he does not need God, he believes that he was “at the bottom” not because his fate happened that way, but because he acted nobly and honestly and was punished unfairly.

"Truth is the God of a free man!" exclaims Satin. He strives to build a new socially just society of free people who could live in harmony with themselves.

The characterization of Sateen and Luka shows us that these two people demonstrate by their example two completely different positions, two different attitudes towards life and understanding of a person's place in this world.

Luke's position is compassionate, but passive, Sateen's position is active, transformative, active. In the play, Satin actually won the dispute, because it was Luka who left the rooming house.

The dispute between Luke and Sateen: the reaction of contemporaries

Gorky's play was a huge success with the audience also because the author was able to feel andconvey the spirit of his time in it.

Society yearned for change. Luke's philosophy did not suit young people seeking to transform society according to new patterns. They were opposed by the more conservative part of the older generation, who wanted to preserve the state and social system.

Luka and Satin were just expressing the public split. They showed these two irreconcilable positions and life philosophies.

By the way, the author of the play himself, of course, belonged to the latter, he shared the position of Sateen, for him this hero embodied what he himself thought. All his life, Gorky fought those who tried to preach tolerance and forgiveness, his values were the struggle and faith in the great future of his country.

In fact, Gorky himself could be called a "revolutionary in Russian literature", who in his works vividly and vividly conveyed the atmosphere of expectation of a new life by part of the progressive youth.

People wanted to abandon the monarchy, they wanted to abandon the power of the capitalists, they believed that they themselves could build a new and more just state.

As a result, the truth of Luke and Sateen was not equal. A revolution took place in the country, the Bolsheviks seized power, who, like Sateen, decided to abandon religion as an extra social link.

So Gorky's play really turned out to be prophetic. And therein lies the genius of this work of Russian literature.