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The Lower Depths

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bunk while her husband, Kleshtch (Tick), works at his bench, fitting old keys and locks. Anna offers him the dumplings that Kvashnya has left for her in the pot. Kleshtch agrees that there is no use feeding a dying woman, and eats the dumplings. The Actor helps Anna down from her bed and into the hall. As they go through the door, the landlord, Kostylyov, enters, nearly knocking them down. He looks around the dirty cellar and tells Kleshtch that he is taking up too much room and that henceforth the rent will be increased. Then Kostylyov asks Vaska furtively if his wife has been in; he suspects that his wife, Vasilisa, is sleeping with Vaska. The thief comes out of his room and denounces the landlord for not paying his debts, saying that Kostylyov still owes seven roubles for a watch he had bought. Ordering Kostylyov to produce the money immediately, Vaska sends him out of the room. The others admire Vaska for his courage and urge him to kill Kostylyov and marry Vasilisa, so he can be the landlord. Vaska decides that he is too softhearted to be a landlord, especially as he is thinking of discarding Vasilisa for her sister, Natasha. Satin asks Vaska for twenty kopecks, which he gives him.
258: 308: 29: 284:. The Baron, who lives largely on Nastya's earnings, seizes the book and mocks Nastya. Satin rises from his bunk, knowing only that he took a beating the night before, and the others tell him he had been caught cheating at cards. The Actor wakes in his bed on top of the stove. He predicts that someday Satin will be beaten to death. 299:
The card players become louder and Satin is accused of cheating. Luka quietens them down. He tells Vaska that he will be able to reform in Siberia, and he assures the Actor that at a sanatorium he could be cured of alcoholism. Vasilisa comes in and offers Vaska three hundred rubles to kill Kostylyov.
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Natasha comes in with the tramp Luka, who is put in the kitchen to sleep with the three already there. Luka begins to sing, but the others object. When Vasilisa comes in, she gives orders for an immediate sweeping of the floor. She asks to see Luka's passport, but he has none, making him more readily
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Luka has overheard everything and warns Vaska not to have anything to do with Vasilisa. Luka sees that Anna is dead and Kleshtch is brought to look at her body, which he agrees to take outside. The Actor begins to cavort in joy, saying he has made up his mind to go to the sanatorium. Luka has told
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The Actor reminds the Baron to sweep the floor to satisfy the strict landlady. The Baron and Kvashnya leave to go shopping. The Actor claims a doctor has told him he has an organ poisoned by alcohol, and sweeping the floor would be bad for his health. Anna, who is dying of consumption, lies in her
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Nikolai Alexandrovich Bugrov in memory of his father, A. P. Bugrov. When the actors of the Moscow Arts Theatre were preparing the play for its first run in 1902, Maxim Gorky supplied them with photographs of the Nizhny Novgorod underclass taken by the famous local photographer, Maxim Dmitriev, to
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was criticized for its pessimism and ambiguous ethical message. The presentation of the lower classes was viewed as overly dark and unredemptive, and Gorky was clearly more interested in creating memorable characters than in advancing a formal plot. However, in this respect, the play is generally
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That night, Anna lies in her bunk while a noisy card game goes on. Luka talks gently to her, and Kleshtch comes occasionally to check on her. Luka remarks that her death will be hard on her husband, but Anna accuses Kleshtch of causing her death, and says that she looks forward to rest and peace
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In the backyard that night, as Natasha is telling romantic stories to the crowd, Kostylyov comes out and orders her back to work. As she goes in, Vasilisa pours boiling water on Natasha's feet. Vaska attempts to rescue her and knocks Kostylyov down, and in the ensuing brawl Kostylyov is killed.
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Sensing trouble, Luka disappears. Vaska escapes a police search, and Natasha is taken to the hospital, while the rest of the down-and-outers continue as before. Satin cheats at cards, and the Baron tries to convince the others of his former affluence. They all agree that Luka was a liar.
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In the cellar of a small boarding house, thin boards partition off the room of Vaska, a young thief. In the kitchen live Kvashnya (Dough), a vendor of meat pies, the decrepit Baron, and the streetwalker Nastya. Other lodgers sleep in bunks in the same room.
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During a bitter quarrel with Nastya, the Baron steps outside. Satin and the others begin singing, but they break off when the Baron bursts in with the news of the actor's suicide, to which Satin retorts: "You spoiled the song, you idiot".
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Vaska knows he would be free to marry Natasha, who is recovering from a beating given to her by her jealous sister, and he is about to refuse when Kostylyov enters; Vaska pushes him out of the cellar.
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The theme of harsh truth versus the comforting lie pervades the play from start to finish, as most of the characters choose to deceive themselves over the bleak reality of their condition.
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accepted by the others. Medvedev, who is a policeman and Vasilisa's uncle, enters the cellar and begins to question Luka, but when the tramp calls him sergeant, Medvedev leaves him alone.
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Vasilisa immediately accuses Vaska of murder. Natasha thinks that Vaska has murdered Kostylyov for the sake of Vasilisa.
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V. C. Hopkins, "The Iceman Seen Through The Lower Depths," College English, XI (Nov. 1949).
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Gorky's play has been recognized as an important influence on Eugene O'Neill's 1946 drama
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The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind
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are said to have been inspired by the denizens of the Bugrov Homeless Shelter (
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Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films
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Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (1939–54)
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production of the play was filmed by Soviet director
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The film stars Shanghai singer 448:to get international recognition. 280:Nastya is reading a novel titled 110:) is a play by Russian dramatist 1075:Maxim Gorky Literature Institute 499:adapted the story into the film 368: 1216:Plays set in the Russian Empire 778: 579:. Macmillan. 2011. p. 62. 687: 657: 648: 633: 621: 610: 605:Peterburgsky Teatralny Zhurnal 599:Olga Naumova (November 2005). 593: 567: 382:directed a silent film called 1: 1015:The Song of the Stormy Petrel 560: 535: 148: 892:Creatures That Once Were Men 444:in 1946, becoming the first 7: 345: 157:– keeper of a night lodging 102: 10: 1232: 1070:Gorky Park (Rostov-on-Don) 553:the incarcerated homeless 442:first Cannes Film Festival 142:regarded as a masterwork. 1183: 1140: 1047: 1024: 1007: 908: 899:Twenty-six Men and a Girl 862: 828:The Life of a Useless Man 795: 786: 694:Booker, M. Keith (2010). 340: 91: 71: 56: 45: 35: 26: 21: 700:. ABC-CLIO. p. 25. 185:Andrei Mitritch Kleshtсh 175:– her uncle, a policeman 155:Mikhail Ivanov Kostylyov 137:When it first appeared, 852:The Life of Klim Samgin 744:in the original Russian 523:1966: Finnish director 451:1947: The Chinese film 446:Indian independent film 252: 205:– a vendor of meat-pies 120:Konstantin Stanislavski 844:The Artamonov Business 601:"Преследуемый театром" 346:Bugrovskaya nochlezhka 311: 273: 310: 260: 1211:Plays by Maxim Gorky 480:in conjunction with 1065:Gorky Park (Moscow) 1060:Maxim Gorki Theatre 941:Children of the Sun 675:on 12 November 2013 527:shot the play as a 341:Бугровская ночлежка 116:Moscow Arts Theatre 16:Play by Maxim Gorky 549:Lady and the Tramp 474:Moscow Art Theatre 457:(夜店), by director 410:producer-director 331:The characters of 327:Production history 312: 274: 270:Moscow Art Theatre 61:Moscow Art Theatre 1193: 1192: 1093: 1092: 734:Project Gutenberg 555:Russian Wolfhound 543:The Iceman Cometh 428:adaptation in an 385:Souls on the Road 296:after her death. 199:– a street-walker 161:Vasilisa Karpovna 100: 79: 78: 72:Original language 1223: 1173:The Lower Depths 1149:The Lower Depths 1132:The Lower Depths 1120: 1113: 1106: 1097: 1096: 1048:Related articles 989:Vassa Zheleznova 925:The Lower Depths 773: 766: 759: 750: 749: 736: 729:The Lower Depths 712: 711: 691: 685: 684: 682: 680: 671:. 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Index


Maxim Gorky
1902
Moscow Art Theatre
Moscow
Russian
romanized
Maxim Gorky
Moscow Arts Theatre
Konstantin Stanislavski
social realism
shelter
Volga

Ivan Moskvin
Vasily Kachalov
Moscow Art Theatre

Russian
Nizhny Novgorod
Old Believer
grain merchant
philanthropist
Japanese film
Minoru Murata
Souls on the Road
French film
Jean Renoir
1936 film of the same name as the play
Indian film

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