The immortal work of M.A. Sholokhov’s “Quiet Don” reveals the essence of the Cossack soul and the Russian people without embellishment or reticence. Love for the land and loyalty to one’s traditions, along with betrayal, courage in struggle and cowardice, love and betrayal, hope and loss of faith - all these contradictions are organically intertwined in the images of the novel. With this, the author achieved such sincerity, truthfulness and vitality in the depiction of the people in the abyss of the terrible reality of the first third of the twentieth century, thanks to which the work still causes discussions and different opinions, but does not lose its popularity and relevance. Contradictions are the main feature that characterizes the image of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don” by Sholokhov.
The inconsistency of the character of the hero
The author depicts the life path of the main character using the method of parallel plotting. One line is Gregory’s love story, the second is a family story, the third is a civil-historical story. In each of his social roles: son, husband, father, brother, lover, he retained his ardor, inconsistency, sincerity of feelings and the steadfastness of his steely character.
The duality of nature may be explained by the peculiarities of the origin of Grigory Melekhov. "Quiet Don" begins with a story about his ancestors. His grandfather Prokofy Melekhov was a true Don Cossack, and his grandmother was a captured Turkish woman whom he brought back from his last military campaign. Grishka's Cossack roots endowed him with perseverance, strength and strong principles of life, and his eastern blood endowed him with special wild beauty and made him a passionate nature, prone to desperate and often rash actions. Throughout his life's journey, he rushes about, doubts and changes his decisions many times. However, the rebelliousness of the protagonist's image is explained by his desire to find the truth.
Youth and desperation
At the beginning of the work, the main character of the novel appears before the reader in the image of a hot young nature, a beautiful and free Don lad. He falls in love with his neighbor Aksinya and begins to actively and boldly conquer her, despite her marital status. He does not hide the stormy romance that began between them, thanks to which he gained the reputation of a local womanizer.
To avoid a scandal with a neighbor and distract Grigory from a dangerous relationship, his parents decide to marry him, to which he easily agrees and leaves Aksinya. Future wife Natalya falls in love at the first meeting. Although her father doubted this hot free Cossack, the wedding still took place. But could the bonds of marriage change Gregory’s ardent character?
On the contrary, the desire for forbidden love only flared up in his soul. “So extraordinary and obvious was their crazy connection, so frantically they burned with one shameless flame, people without conscience and without hiding, losing weight and blackening their faces in front of their neighbors.”
Young Grishka Melekhov is distinguished by such a trait as carelessness. He lives lightly and playfully, as if by inertia. He does his homework automatically, flirts with Aksinya without thinking about the consequences, obediently marries at his father’s orders, gets ready for work, in general, calmly floats with the flow of his carefree young life.
Civic duty and responsibility
Grishka accepts the sudden news of war and the call to the front with honor and tries not to disgrace his old Cossack family. This is how the author conveys his prowess and courage in the battles of the First World War: “Grigory firmly guarded the Cossack honor, seized the opportunity to show selfless courage, took risks, acted extravagantly, went to the rear of the Austrians in disguise, took down outposts without bloodshed, the Cossack was a horseman...” However, being at the front cannot pass without leaving a trace. Many human lives on his own conscience, albeit enemies, but still people, the blood, groans and death that surrounded him, made Gregory’s soul callous, despite his high services to the sovereign. He himself understood at what cost he got four St. George Crosses for courage: “The war drained everything from me. I myself became scary. Look into my soul, and there’s blackness there, like in an empty well...”
The main feature that characterizes the image of Gregory in “Quiet Flows the Flow” is the perseverance that he will carry through years of anxiety, loss and defeat. His ability not to give up and fight, even when his soul was black from anger and numerous deaths, which he had to not only see, but also bear with sin on his soul, allowed him to withstand all adversity.
Ideological quest
With the onset of the Revolution, the hero is trying to figure out which side to take, where is the truth. On the one hand, he swore allegiance to the sovereign who was overthrown. On the other hand, the Bolsheviks promise equality. He, at first, began to share the ideas of equality and people's freedom, but when he saw neither one nor the other in the actions of the red activists, he headed the Cossack division, which fought on the side of the whites. The search for truth and doubt is the basis of the characterization of Grigory Melekhov. The only truth that he accepted was the struggle for the possibility of a peaceful and quiet life on his land, growing bread, raising children. He believed that it was necessary to fight with those who take away this opportunity.
But in the whirlpool of events of the Civil War, he became increasingly disillusioned with the ideas of certain representatives of military-political movements. He saw that everyone has their own truth, and everyone uses it as it suits them, and no one cared about the fate of Don and the people living there. When the Cossack troops disbanded, and the white movement more and more resembled gangs, the retreat began. Then Gregory decided to take the side of the Reds and even led a cavalry squadron. However, returning home at the end of the Civil War, he became an outcast, a stranger among his own, since local Soviet activists, in particular in the person of his son-in-law Mikhail Koshevoy, did not forget about his white past and threatened to shoot him.
Awareness of core values
In the work of Mikhail Sholokhov, central attention is paid to the problem of a person’s search for his place in a world where everything familiar and familiar instantly changed its appearance, turning into the most severe living conditions. In the novel, the author states a simple truth: even in inhuman conditions one must remain human. However, not everyone was able to implement this covenant at that difficult time.
The difficult trials that befell Gregory, such as the loss of loved ones and close people, the struggle for his land and freedom, changed him and formed a new person. The once carefree and daring boy realized the true value of life, peace and happiness. He returned to his roots, to his home, holding in his arms the most valuable thing he had left - his son. He realized what price had been paid for standing on the threshold of his home with his son in his arms under a peaceful sky, and he understood that there was nothing more expensive and more important than this opportunity.
Work test
Quoted description of Grigory Melekhov from the novel “Quiet Don”
At the beginning of the novel "Quiet Don" Gregory is a cheerful, lively, mischievous guy:
“Youthfully round and thin neck, carefree lips, constantly smiling”
In Gregory’s veins flows the blood of a Turkish grandmother, whom his grandfather married, contrary to the opinion of all the villagers. He also inherited the cool temperament of his grandfather and father:
“Gregory walked, holding onto the front chair on which his brother was sitting; frowned. From the lower jaw, obliquely to the cheekbones, the nodules rolled, trembling. Petro knew: this was a sure sign that Gregory was seething and ready for any reckless act.
Human feelings are not subject to social rules. A deafening passion for his married neighbor Aksinya overwhelms the guy:
So extraordinary and obvious was their crazy connection, so frantically they burned with one shameless flame, people without conscience and without hiding, losing weight and blackening their faces in front of their neighbors, that now for some reason people were ashamed to look at them when they met.”
Gregory’s comrades, who had previously mocked him about his connection with Aksinya, were now silent, having gathered together, and felt awkward and tied up in Gregory’s company. The women, jealous in their hearts, judged Aksinya, gloated in anticipation of Stepan's arrival, and languished, consumed by curiosity. At the denouement, their assumptions trailed.
“If Gregory had gone to the wicked Aksinya, pretending to be hiding from people, if the wicked Aksinya had lived with Gregory, keeping it in relative secrecy, and at the same time not shunned others, then there would have been nothing unusual in this, lashing the eyes"
At some point, Grigory ends the relationship, fulfills his father’s will and marries a young girl, Natalya. However, the marriage does not turn out to be happy, the son blames his father for this and again shows his rebellious character, takes Aksinya and leaves his father’s farm:
“Grigory pulled at the sleeve of a sheepskin coat thrown on the bed, flaring his nostrils, trembling in the same seething anger as his father. One blood, flavored with a Turkish admixture, flowed into them, and they were miraculously similar at that moment.”
Dexterous and brave, a born warrior, Grigory ends up on the front of the First World War, where he manages to distinguish himself and show his young prowess. Of course, the Cossacks were raised to be real fighters, in the spirit of serving the Tsar. However, it soon becomes clear that war and murder change a person, and not for the better:
“Grigory firmly guarded the Cossack honor, seized the opportunity to show selfless courage, took risks, acted extravagantly, went disguised to the rear of the Austrians, removed outposts without bloodshed, performed horseback riding as a Cossack and felt that the pain for a person that oppressed him in the first days of the war was gone forever. The heart became coarse, hardened, like a salt marsh in a drought, and just as a salt marsh does not absorb water, so Gregory’s heart did not absorb pity. With cold contempt he played with other people's and his own life; That’s why he was known as brave - he won four St. George’s crosses and four medals. At rare parades he stood at the regimental banner, covered in the gunpowder smoke of many wars; but he knew that he would no longer laugh as before; he knew that his eyes were sunken and his cheekbones were sticking out sharply; he knew that it was difficult for him, when kissing a child, to look openly into clear eyes; Gregory knew what price he paid for a full bow of crosses and production.”
Relations with Aksinya are deteriorating:
“There was a chill in the letters...” Returning home, where his little daughter died during his absence, Grigory learns that Aksinya is the mistress of the master's son. Having hit her with a whip in anger, he returns to his wife, but for many years he remembers his lost beloved:
“Lying here on the hill, for some reason he remembered that night when he walked from the Nizhne-Yablonovsky farm to Yagodnoye to Aksinya; with a cutting pain I remembered her too. Memory has sculpted obscure, infinitely dear and alien lines of the face, erased by time. With his heart suddenly beating, he tried to restore it as he had last seen it, distorted with pain, with the crimson mark of a whip on his cheek, but memory persistently suggested another face, slightly tilted to one side, smiling triumphantly. Here she turns her head, mischievously and lovingly, from underneath her fiery black eyes reek, something unspeakably affectionate, her viciously greedy red lips whisper something hot, and slowly looks away, turns away, there are two large fluffy curls on her dark neck. .. he once loved to kiss them so much...”
A civil war begins, Grigory takes the side of the Reds, but after the brutal senseless execution of prisoners he goes over to the side of the White Cossacks, differs there too:
“It began to seem that truth no longer existed in the world and, embittered to the brink, he thought: everyone has their own truth, their own furrow. People have always fought for a piece of bread, for a plot of land, for the right to life... We must fight with those who want to take away life, the right to it, we must fight hard, without swinging - as if in a wall - but the intensity of hatred, the firmness will be given by the fight ... "
Grigory, without leaving his wife, gets along with Aksinya too:
“My love! Unforgettable! "
Over time, Grigory Melekhov becomes embittered and cruel. His father is angry with him:
“Hero, white officer, true eagle, division commander, honored, all over the place, and not a single one can be touched.”
Gregory himself understands this and says to his wife:
"Ha! Conscience! I forgot to think about her! What kind of conscience is there when all life has been stolen! You kill people... It’s unknown why all this mess... I smeared myself so much on other people’s blood that I no longer had any regrets left for anyone. I almost don’t regret my childhood, but I don’t even think about myself. The war took everything out of me. I myself became scary. Look into my soul, and there’s blackness there, like in an empty well...”
Soon, seeing the death of friends and loved ones, Gregory begins to lose interest in the war. He, like other officers, drinks, seeing the stupidity and senselessness of the murders. He is drawn to peaceful work:
“When he imagined how he would prepare harrows and carts for spring, weave a manger out of redwood, and when the earth undressed and dried out, he would go out into the steppe: holding the chapigs with his hands, tired of work; will follow the plow, feeling its living beating and jolts; imagining how it would be to inhale the sweet spirit of young grass and black soil raised by ploughshares, which had not yet lost the fresh aroma of snow dampness, my soul warmed. I wanted to clean up the cattle, throw the hay, breathe in the withered smell of sweet clover, wheatgrass, and the spicy aroma of manure. I wanted peace and silence, - that’s why there was shy joy and protection in Grigory’s stern eyes, looking around: at the horses, at his father’s steep, sheepskin-covered back. The fatigue acquired during the war also broke him. I wanted to turn away from everything seething with hatred, hostile and incomprehensible world. There, behind, everything was confused and contradictory. It was difficult to find the right path; as if in a muddy road, the soil began to clog under your feet, the path became fragmented, and there was no certainty whether it was going along the right one...”
At the end of the novel, only his sister and son remain among Gregory’s close people. From the officers he falls into enemies, persecuted by the new government, But he still holds on in this world:
“A large, courageous Cossack who has lived and experienced a lot with tired squinting eyes, with the reddish tips of a black mustache, with premature gray hair at the temples and hard wrinkles on the forehead - ineradicable traces of the hardships experienced during the war years.”
Appearance description Grigory Melekhov: “...hump-nosed, wildly handsome Cossacks Melekhovs...” “... handsome in appearance...” “... to a black, affectionate guy...” “... the youngest, Grigory, like his father poper: half a head taller than Peter, at least six years younger, the same as his father’s, a drooping kite nose, slightly slanted slits with blue almonds of hot eyes, sharp slabs of cheekbones covered with brown, ruddy skin. Grigory was stooped in the same way as his father, even in their smile they both had something in common, a beastly quality...” “...What the hell, not particularly tall...” the gray-haired doctor purred...” “... the brown skin of his high-cheekbone face...” “... the only good thing is that he is black, like a gypsy..." "...Gregory blinded her with the whiteness of his wolf teeth..." "...on his forehead, hair jumped in black tangled bangs..." "...on his thrown back Grigory's head has curls as hard as horsehair..." "... Grishka's stubborn, callous hands..." "... looks at his beautiful cartilaginous nose..." "... kisses his face, neck, arms, tough curly black growth on his chest..." "...his strong legs, confidently trampling the ground..." "...His dark body shone the color of languid oak. He was embarrassed, looking at his legs, thickly covered with black hair..." "... Bandit face... Very wild..." "... Pervert! From the East, probably..." Grigory's eyes: "...in slightly slanted slits there are blue almonds of hot eyes..." "... Grishka's black eyes..." "... opens his hot, non-Russian eyes.. "...Imagine, the sovereign sees such a face, what then? He has only eyes..."
Appearance of Gregory in the service of the master before the war of 1914:"... His easy, well-fed life spoiled him. He became lazy, got fat, looked older than his years..."
Gregory's appearance during the war in 1914: "...He has noticeably lost weight, lost weight..." "...furrow<...>darkened, flowing obliquely across the forehead, unfamiliar..." (Grigory has a wrinkle on his face from mental suffering) "...Grigory, in a hurry, took off his trousers, walked to the crest of the dam, brown, stooped, slender, in Peter's opinion, aged for time of separation..."
Clothes of Grigory Melekhov(traditional Cossack clothing): “... he pulled off his everyday trousers from the pendant, put them into white woolen stockings and put on his chirik for a long time, straightening the back that had turned up...” (chiriki - shoes) “... the mark left by Grishin’s sharp-nosed chirik. .." "...into the muscular neck, burnt by the sun..." "...Grishka's wide trousers, tucked into white woolen stockings, were red with stripes. On his back, near his shoulder blade, a scrap of freshly torn dirty shirt fluttered, a dark triangle of naked bodies..." "...Grigory, with a zipun thrown over his shoulders, crawled out of the darkness, approached the fire..." (zipun - caftan) "... carefully hung up the festive trousers, with stripes..." ".. .on Gregory’s back, a satin blue shirt flutters, inflating with a hump from the wind...” (Grigory’s smart clothes when he goes to woo Natalya) “... pulled him by the hem of his frock coat...” (Grigory puts on a frock coat for his wedding with Natalya) “...Grigory, putting on a sheepskin coat, heard...” (winter clothes) “... picked up a hat that had fallen from the bed...”
Gregory's weight is about 84.5 kg:“...Five poods, six and a half pounds,” answered the gray-haired doctor, without lowering his raised eyebrows...”
Personality and character of Grigory Melekhov
Grigory Melekhov - wayward and simple guy:"...similar to the old restive and simple guy..."
Grigory Melekhov - stubborn man. He doesn’t always obey his father: “..“Take a bite, Dad, even if I’m hobbled, I’ll go to the fun,” I thought, angrily gnawing at the back of my father’s steep head...” (hobbled - that is, with his legs tied)
Grigory Melekhov - daring Cossack: “...In his heart, Miron Grigorievich liked Grishka for his Cossack prowess...”
Grigory Melekhov - economical and hard-working man: "...I liked Grishka<...>for the love of farming and work..." "...A hard-working guy..." Grigory Melekhov is a conscientious man: "..“I hit a man who was lying down...” - Grigory turned purple. “... Ksyusha... lost his word, well, don’t be offended...”
Grigory Melekhov - hot man j. He is capable of reckless, “mad” actions: “...You’re a fool! Mad devil! You’ve degenerated into the batin’s breed, the tortured Circassian!..” “...From the lower jaw, obliquely to the cheekbones, trembling, the nodules rolled Petro knew: this is a sure sign that Grigory is seething and is ready for any reckless act..."
Grigory Melekhov - stubborn and persistent person: “...He persistently pursued her with his persistent and waiting love. And it was this persistence that scared Aksinya. She saw that he was not afraid of Stepan, she felt in her gut that he would not give up on her like that...”
Gregory - not a cowardly person: "...She saw that he was not afraid of Stepan, she felt in her gut that he would not give up on her like that..."
Gregory - proud Human. He does not allow his father to beat him and does not ask for help from his father when there is a need: “...I won’t let you fight!” Grigory muffled and, clenching his jaw, pulled on the crutch... “... he hoped for the money he had made, not bowing to my father, buy a horse..."
Gregory - clever Cossack. He performs horseback riding perfectly: “...at the races Grishka took away the first prize for horseback riding...” (Jigitovka is a variety of complex exercises on a galloping horse) Grigory - competent Cossack. He knows how to write: "...Grigory wrote home occasionally..." Gregory loves the quiet village life on the farm: "...I won't move anywhere from the land. Here is the steppe, there is something to breathe, but there...?"
Grigory Melekhov loves his native place and the Don River: “...I miss the farm, Petro. I miss the Don, you won’t see running water here. It’s a sickening place!..”
Gregory can't stand female marks h: "...Grigory could not stand tears. He fidgeted restlessly on the ground, fiercely shook off a brown ant from his trouser leg and again briefly glanced at Aksinya..." Grigory Melekhov does not allow himself to be treated poorly in the army and (when others endure): “...the sergeant flew at him like a vulture, raised his hand. “Don’t touch it!” Grigory said dully, looking into the rippling water under the log house...." “...That’s what,” Gregory tore his head from the frame, “if you hit me, I’ll kill you anyway! Do you understand?..”
Gregory tormented by conscience in war because he kills people in battle: “...I, Petro, have lost my soul. It’s as if I’ve never been beaten... It’s as if I’ve been under a millstone, they crushed me and spat me out...” “...My conscience is killing me. I stabbed someone with a pike near Leshnyov. In the heat of the moment... It was impossible otherwise... Why did I cut this guy down?.." "...Well, I cut down a man in vain and because of him, the bastard, my soul is sick. I dream about it at night, the bastard. Is it my fault?.."
The image of Melekhov in cinema
The first to play the role of Gregory Me-le-ho-va was Andrey Ab-ri-ko-sov, who starred in the film, based on the first two books of the novel. As the actor later recalled, at the moment of the ki-no-trial he had not yet read the sho-lo-hov-s-pro-of-ve-de-niy and at -went to the square unprepared; the idea of the image of the per-so-na-zha developed later. According to the words of the actress Emma Tsesarskaya, the role of Ak-si-new, Sho-lo-khov wrote about the continuation of the film after the release of the film. Ti-ho-go Don” with an eye to the heroes embodied in the film.
Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” is an epic of the Russian life of individual people, the Cossacks, and all of Russia. The work covers a difficult time period for the country from May 1912 to March 1922: the fall of the monarchy, the provisional government, the Bolsheviks coming to power. These events become key in people's lives. The main character of the novel is Grigory Melekhov, a Don Cossack, through whose life the events described in the book run like a red thread. So what is the characterization of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don”?
Appearance of Grigory Melekhov
Grigory Melekhov at the beginning of the novel is a young handsome guy. He is full of energy, cheerful, loves to work and help his family. His grandmother was a captive Turkish woman, and the main character inherited much of his appearance (especially his dark skin) from her. Gregory is a tall, dark-skinned young man with brown eyes. Gregory has an older brother Peter, who looks like his mother, but he himself is more like his father: “... the youngest, Gregory, takes after his father: half a head taller than Peter, at least six years younger, the same as his father, a pendulous kite a nose, in slightly slanting slits there are blue almonds of hot eyes, sharp slabs of cheekbones are covered with brown, ruddy skin. Grigory slouched in the same way as his father, even in their smile they both had something in common, a little beastly...”
White teeth, black hair, high cheekbones made him very handsome. Aksinya could not resist him, although she was married. Also, Natalya Korshunova, a young girl who falls in love with him and whom, as a result of parental pressure, Grigory has to marry, falls unconsciously in love with him.
Character of Grigory Melekhov
At the beginning of the novel, Grigory Melekhov is an ardent young Cossack, capable of reckless actions. He is capable of loving strongly and selflessly. Grigory loves his family and helps his father with the housework. A strong feeling came over the young man when he met Aksinya, the wife of his neighbor Stepan Astakhov. Her position as a married woman does not stop the lovers, and they, without any embarrassment, begin to meet.
However, despite his ardor and ability to do crazy things, Grigory Melekhov does not dare to contradict his father and dutifully marries the young Natalya Korshunova, who is in love with him.
The contradictory character and duality of nature are characteristic of the main character in military life. During the First World War, he behaved boldly and courageously; numerous awards and St. George's crosses serve as proof of his courage. In war conditions, all the humanity and generosity of Melekhov’s image is revealed. He saves his blood enemy, tries to protect the girl who is being raped by his comrades.
But Gregory quickly gets tired of the war. He cannot find himself, and in the end he becomes disillusioned with the Tsar, the white officers and the Bolsheviks. The only thing he dreams of is to be closer to his children.
The fate of Grigory Melekhov
For Grigory Melekhov, fate had many tragic events in store. The young man, being the grandson of a Turkish woman, adopted her dark appearance and straightforward character. Having fallen in love with the married Aksinya, he does not think about his reputation and plunges into the relationship as if in a pool. Neither rumors nor gossip bother the young man. However, the character traits of Grigory Melekhov contain gentleness and submission to the will of his father, who did not like Aksinya. He matches his son with Natalya Korshunova, and Grigory, unable to contradict his father, marries her.
During the war, Gregory shows himself to be a true patriot and receives many awards. However, killing another person goes against his nature. Grigory remembers for a long time the Austrian whom he had to kill. Finding himself in a civil war, the main character does not understand or fully accept the side of any one side. He cannot decide who is right and who is wrong in this war. Watching murders, cruel treatment of people, looting, his soul hardens, he becomes for some time the same cruel warrior.
Grigory Melekhov
GRIGORY MELEKHOV is the hero of M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” (1928-1940). Some literary scholars are of the opinion that the true author of “The Quiet Don” is the Don writer Fyodor Dmitrievich Kryukov (1870-1920), whose manuscript was subjected to some revision. Doubts about the authorship have been expressed since the novel's appearance in print. In 1974, in Paris, with a foreword by A. Solzhenitsyn, a book by an anonymous author (pseudonym - D*) “The Stirrups of the Quiet Don” was published. In it, the author tries to substantiate this point of view textologically. In 1978, at the International Congress of Slavists in Zagreb, the results of the research work of a group of Scandinavian Slavists led by Professor G. Hoteo were reported: the textual analyzes they carried out confirmed the authorship of M.A. Sholokhov (the materials were published in the collection “Quiet Don,” Lessons from the Novel ", 1979).
The prototype of G.M., according to Sholokhov, is “hump-nosed,” like G.M., a Cossack from the Bazki farm (Veshenskaya village) Kharlampiy Vasilyevich Ermakov, whose fate is in many ways similar to the fate of G.M. Researchers, noting that “the image of G.M. is so typical that in every Don Cossack we can find something of him,” the prototype is considered to be G.M. one of the Drozdov brothers - Alexey, a resident of the Pleshakov farm. In Sholokhov's early works the name Grigory appears - “Shepherd” (1925), “Kolovert” (1925), “Path-Road” (1925). These namesakes G.M. are carriers of the ideology of “new life” and die at the hands of its enemies.
G.M. - the image of a typical representative of the social stratum of Don Cossack peasants at the beginning of the 20th century. The main thing in him is a deep attachment to home and agricultural work. This is combined with the concept of military honor: G.M. - a brave and skillful warrior who earned the rank of officer during the First World War. He absorbed the best features of the Russian national character: openness, straightforwardness, deep inner morality, lack of class arrogance and cold calculation. This is an impulsive, noble nature with a heightened sense of honor.
After the release of the novel, some critics condescendingly considered the creator of the image G.M. to everyday life writers of a “narrow Cossack theme,” others demanded that G.M. “proletarian consciousness,” while others accused the author of defending “kulak life.” In 1939, V. Hoffenscherer was the first to express the opinion that G.M. - the hero is neither positive nor negative, that in his image the peasant problem with the contradictions characteristic of its bearer between the traits of the owner and the working man was concentrated.
G.M. - the central character of a historical epic novel, in which, on a basis as close as possible to documentary, the events that captured the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century are described - the First World War, the events of 1917, the civil war and the victory of Soviet power. The behavior of G.M., captured by the flow of these events, dictates the socio-psychological appearance of the environment of which he is a representative. G.M., a native Don Cossack, a grain grower, an ardent patriot of the region, devoid of the desire to conquer and rule, according to the concepts of the time the novel appeared in print, is a “middle peasant”. As a professional warrior, he is of interest to the warring forces, but pursues only his peasant class goals. The concepts of any discipline other than that which exists in his Cossack military unit are alien to him. A full Knight of St. George in the First World War, during the Civil War he rushes from one fighting side to another, eventually coming to the conclusion that the “learned people” have “confused” the working people. Having lost everything, he cannot leave his native land and comes to the only thing dear to him - his father's house, finding hope for the continuation of life in his son.
G.M. personifies the type of noble hero, combining military valor with spiritual subtlety and the ability to feel deeply. The tragedy of his relationship with his beloved woman, Aksinya, lies in his inability to bring their union into agreement with the moral principles accepted among him, which makes him an outcast and separates him from the only acceptable way of life for him. The tragedy of his love is aggravated by his low social status and the ongoing socio-political upheavals. G.M. - the main character of a great literary work about the fate of a farmer, his life, struggle, psychology. The image of G.M., “a peasant farmer in uniform” (in the words of A. Serafimovich), an image of enormous generalizing power with a clearly expressed, integral, deeply positive individuality of the hero, stood among the most significant in world literature, such as, for example, Andrei Bolkonsky.
Lit.: Dairedzhiev B.L. About "Quiet Don". M., 1962; Kalinin A.V. Time of the Quiet Don. M., 1975; Semanov S.N. "Quiet Don" - literature and history. M., 1977; Kuznetsova N.T., Bashtannik V.S. At the origins of “Quiet Don” // “Quiet Don”: lessons from the novel. Ros-tov-on-Don, 1979; Semanov S.N. In the world of "Quiet Don". M., 1987.
Introduction
The fate of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don” by Sholokhov becomes the focus of the reader’s attention. This hero, who by the will of fate found himself in the midst of difficult historical events, has been forced to search for his own path in life for many years.
Description of Grigory Melekhov
Already from the first pages of the novel, Sholokhov introduces us to the unusual fate of grandfather Grigory, explaining why the Melekhovs are outwardly different from the rest of the inhabitants of the farm. Gregory, like his father, had “a drooping kite nose, in slightly slanting slits there were bluish almonds of hot eyes, sharp slabs of cheekbones.” Remembering the origin of Pantelei Prokofievich, everyone in the farmstead called the Melekhovs “Turks.”
Life changes Gregory's inner world. His appearance also changes. From a carefree, cheerful guy, he turns into a stern warrior whose heart has hardened. Gregory “knew that he would no longer laugh as before; knew that his eyes were sunken and his cheekbones were sticking out sharply,” and in his gaze “a light of senseless cruelty began to shine through more and more often.”
At the end of the novel, a completely different Gregory appears before us. This is a mature man, tired of life, “with tired squinting eyes, with the reddish tips of a black mustache, with premature gray hair at the temples and hard wrinkles on the forehead.”
Characteristics of Gregory
At the beginning of the work, Grigory Melekhov is a young Cossack living according to the laws of his ancestors. The main thing for him is farming and family. He enthusiastically helps his father with mowing and fishing. He is unable to contradict his parents when they marry him to the unloved Natalya Korshunova.
But, for all that, Gregory is a passionate, addicted person. Contrary to his father's prohibitions, he continues to go to night games. He meets Aksinya Astakhova, his neighbor’s wife, and then leaves his home with her.
Gregory, like most Cossacks, is characterized by courage, sometimes reaching the point of recklessness. He behaves heroically at the front, participating in the most dangerous forays. At the same time, the hero is not alien to humanity. He is worried about a gosling he accidentally killed while mowing. He suffers for a long time because of the murdered unarmed Austrian. “By obeying his heart,” Grigory saves his sworn enemy Stepan from death. He goes against an entire platoon of Cossacks, defending Franya.
In Gregory, passion and obedience, madness and gentleness, kindness and hatred coexist at the same time.
The fate of Grigory Melekhov and his path of quest
The fate of Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don” is tragic. He is constantly forced to look for a “way out,” the right road. It's not easy for him in the war. His personal life is also complicated.
Like the beloved heroes of L.N. Tolstoy, Grigory goes through a difficult path of life’s quest. At the beginning, everything seemed clear to him. Like other Cossacks, he is called up for war. For him there is no doubt that he must defend the Fatherland. But, getting to the front, the hero understands that his whole nature is opposed to murder.
Grigory moves from white to red, but even here he will be disappointed. Seeing how Podtyolkov deals with captured young officers, he loses faith in this power and the next year he again finds himself in the White Army.
Tossing between the whites and the reds, the hero himself becomes embittered. He loots and kills. He tries to forget himself in drunkenness and fornication. In the end, fleeing the persecution of the new government, he finds himself among the bandits. Then he becomes a deserter.
Grigory is exhausted from tossing and turning. He wants to live on his land, raise bread and children. Although life hardens the hero and gives his features something “wolfish,” in essence, he is not a killer. Having lost everything and not having found his way, Grigory returns to his native farm, realizing that, most likely, death awaits him here. But a son and a home are the only things that keep the hero alive.
Gregory's relationship with Aksinya and Natalya
Fate sends the hero two passionately loving women. But Gregory’s relationship with them is not easy. While still single, Grigory falls in love with Aksinya, the wife of Stepan Astakhov, his neighbor. Over time, the woman reciprocates his feelings, and their relationship develops into unbridled passion. “So unusual and obvious was their crazy connection, they burned so frantically with one shameless flame, people without conscience and without hiding, losing weight and blackening their faces in front of their neighbors, that now for some reason people were ashamed to look at them when they met.”
Despite this, he cannot resist his father’s will and marries Natalya Korshunova, promising himself to forget Aksinya and settle down. But Gregory is unable to keep his vow to himself. Although Natalya is beautiful and selflessly loves her husband, he gets back together with Aksinya and leaves his wife and parental home.
After Aksinya's betrayal, Grigory returns to his wife again. She accepts him and forgives past grievances. But he was not destined for a calm family life. The image of Aksinya haunts him. Fate brings them together again. Unable to bear the shame and betrayal, Natalya has an abortion and dies. Grigory blames himself for the death of his wife and experiences this loss cruelly.
Now, it would seem, nothing can stop him from finding happiness with the woman he loves. But circumstances force him to leave his place and, together with Aksinya, set off on the road again, the last for his beloved.
With the death of Aksinya, Gregory's life loses all meaning. The hero no longer has even a ghostly hope for happiness. “And Grigory, dying of horror, realized that it was all over, that the worst thing that could happen in his life had already happened.”
Conclusion
In conclusion of my essay on the topic “The Fate of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don””, I want to fully agree with critics who believe that in “Quiet Don” the fate of Grigory Melekhov is the most difficult and one of the most tragic. Using the example of Grigory Sholokhov, he showed how the whirlpool of political events breaks human destiny. And the one who sees his destiny in peaceful work suddenly becomes a cruel killer with a devastated soul.
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