Grigory Melekhov. Grigory Melekhov in military service Why is Grigory Melekhov a tragic hero

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The main character of the novel M.A. Sholokhov is a Don Cossack Grigory Melekhov. We see how dramatically the fate of Gregory develops on one of the most controversial and bloody pages of our history.

But the novel originates long before these events. First, we are introduced to the life and customs of the Cossacks. In this peaceful time, Gregory lives a quiet life, not worrying about anything. However, at the same time, the hero’s first mental break happens when, after a stormy romance with Aksinya, Grishka realizes the importance of the family and returns to his wife Natalya. A little later, the First World War begins, in which Gregory takes an active part, having received many awards. But Melekhov himself is disappointed in the war, in which he saw only dirt, blood and death, along with this comes disappointment in the imperial government, which sends thousands of people to death. In this regard, the main character falls under the influence of the ideas of communism, and already in the seventeenth year he takes the side of the Bolsheviks, believing that they will be able to build a new just society.

However, almost immediately, when the red commander Podtelkov massacres the captured White Guards, disappointment comes. For Gregory, this becomes a terrible blow, in his opinion, one cannot fight for a better future, while doing cruelty and injustice. An innate sense of justice repels Melekhov from the Bolsheviks. Returning home, he wants to take care of his family and the household. But life does not give him this chance. His native farm supports the white movement, and Melekhov follows them. The death of a brother at the hands of the Reds only fuels the hatred of the hero. But when the surrendered detachment of Podtelkov is mercilessly exterminated, Grigory cannot accept such a cold-blooded destruction of his neighbor.

Soon, the Cossacks, dissatisfied with the White Guards, including Grigory, desert and let the Red Army through their positions. Tired of war and murder, the hero hopes to be left alone. However, the Red Army soldiers begin to commit robbery and murder, and the hero, in order to protect his home and family, joins the uprising of the separatists. It was during this period that Melekhov fought most zealously and did not torment himself with doubts. He is supported by the knowledge that he is protecting his loved ones. When the Don separatists unite with the white movement, Grigory is again disappointed.

In the final, Melekhov finally goes over to the side of the Reds. Hoping to earn forgiveness and a chance to return home, he fights without feeling sorry for himself. During the war, he lost his brother, wife, father and mother. All he has left are the children, and he only wants to return to them in order to forget about the struggle and never take up arms. Unfortunately this is not possible. For others, Melekhov is a traitor. Suspicion turns into outright hostility, and soon the Soviet government begins a real hunt for Gregory. During the flight, Aksinya, still beloved by him, dies. Having wandered across the steppe, the main character, aged and gray-haired, finally loses heart and returns to his native farm. He resigned himself, but wishes, perhaps, for the last time to see his son before accepting his sad fate.

Sholokhov M.A. - The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov in the novel by M. Sholokhov “Quiet

For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been since the beginning of creation ... even

until now it will not be ... But brother will betray brother to death, and the father of children; And

children will rise up against their parents and kill them.

From the gospel

Among the heroes of The Quiet Flows the Don, it falls to Grigory Melekhov to be

the moral core of a work that embodies the main features

powerful national spirit. Grigory - a young Cossack, a daring man, a man with

capital letter, but at the same time he is a man not without weaknesses,

confirmation of his reckless passion for a married woman - Aksinya,

which he cannot overcome.

The fate of Gregory became a symbol of the tragic fate of the Russian Cossacks. AND

therefore, having traced the entire life path of Grigory Melekhov, starting with the history

of the Melekhov family, one can not only reveal the causes of his troubles and losses, but also

come closer to understanding the essence of that historical era, whose deep and

we find the right image on the pages of The Quiet Don, you can realize a lot

in the tragic fate of the Cossacks and the Russian people as a whole.

Grigory inherited a lot from his grandfather Prokofy: quick-tempered,

independent character, the ability to tender, selfless love. Blood

grandmother "Turkish woman" manifested itself not only in the appearance of Gregory, but also in

his veins, and on the battlefields, and in the ranks. Brought up in the best traditions

Russian Cossacks, Melekhov from his youth cherished the Cossack honor, understood by him

wider than just military prowess and devotion to duty. Its main difference

from ordinary Cossacks, was that his moral sense did not

allowed him neither to share his love between his wife and Aksinya, nor to participate

in Cossack robberies and massacres. It gives the impression that this

the era that sends Melekhov trials is trying to destroy or break

recalcitrant, proud Cossack.

The first such test becomes for Grigory his passion for Aksinya: he

did not hide his feelings, he was ready to answer for his misconduct in the Cossack

environment. In my opinion, it would be much worse if he, a young Cossack, secretly

visited Aksinya. When did he realize that he could not break

finally with his former mistress, leaves the farm and goes with Aksinya to

Berry, albeit not corresponding to the common image of a Cossack, but still

listening to your moral feeling and not abandoning the very

In the war, honestly fulfilling his Cossack duty, Grigory did not hide behind

backs of his comrades, but did not boast of reckless courage. Four

St. George's cross and four medals - this is a valuable evidence of how

Melekhov kept himself in the war.

Grigory Melekhov stood out among other Cossacks, although he was deprived

heroes. The inevitable killings that Gregory commits in battle are committed

them with edged weapons, which means - in an equal battle. He reproached himself for a long time

and could not forgive himself for the murder of an unarmed Austrian. He's disgusted

violence, and even more so murder, because the essence of Gregory's character is

love for all living things, a keen sense of someone else's pain. Everything he dreams of

They will return to their native hut, do their favorite household. But he is a Cossack

honored for his valor with an officer's rank, which with milk

mother absorbed the unwritten Cossack ideas of honor and duty. This and

predetermined the tragic fate of Melekhov. He has to be torn between

craving for the native land and the duty of a warrior, between the family and Aksinya, between the whites

and red

A conversation with Mishka Koshev showed the tragic

the hopelessness of that fatal circle into which Melekhov fell in spite of his

“- If then at the party the Red Army men were not going to kill me, I would,

maybe he wouldn't have taken part in the uprising.

If you weren't an officer, no one would touch you.

If I had not been hired, I would not have been an officer ... Well, this is a long

The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov is the tragedy of the Russian Cossacks as a whole. On the

no matter whose side the Cossacks fight, they want one thing: to return to their native

farm, to his wife and children, to plow the land, to run his own household. But the whirlwind

history burst into their kurens, tearing the Cossacks from their native places and leaving them

in the midst of a fratricidal war, a war in the name of ideals, obscure,

and even alien to the majority of ordinary Cossacks. However, no matter how the Cossack shook

war, if his soul has not deadened, then longing for the earth, for

native farm.

With a black steppe scorched by fires, Sholokhov compares the life of Grigory in

end of his journey. A strong, brave man has become a light chip in a stormy ocean.

historical change. Here it is - Tolstoy's insignificance of personality in

stories. But no matter how great the tragedy of what is happening, it inspires hope

the last symbolic picture is father and son, and all around is “merrily green

young grass, countless larks tremble above it in the blue sky,

migrating geese graze on the fodder greenery, and build nests that have settled for the summer

Creating the image of Grigory Melekhov, the protagonist of the novel "Quiet

Don”, M. A. Sholokhov achieves artistic integrity in depicting his actions, thoughts and feelings, no matter how different and contradictory they may be. The basis of Gregory's personality is perfect truthfulness to himself, immediacy, uncompromisingness. He doesn't know how to hide his feelings. And this character trait repeatedly leads him to clash with others. But for all its complexity and inconsistency, Grigory Melekhov remains whole, true to himself, his thoughts, ideas, and convictions.

The writer does not isolate his hero, does not separate from the rest of the Cossacks. Knowing well the history of the Don Cossacks, Mikhail Alexandrovich shows the reader the life and customs of these people. The Don Cossacks, who did not know serfdom, were a special type of peasantry. The Cossacks differed from the peasants not only in that from an early age they were prepared for military service, from childhood they brought up courage, dashing, resourcefulness. The tsarist government cultivated among the Cossacks a sense of class isolation, despising the "muzhik" and the "city" - the worker. Servants loyal to the “king, throne and fatherland” were brought up from them.

The Cossack family was built on patriarchal principles. Her father was the eldest in her and the sovereign master in the house. At his request, the gathering could publicly flog a disobedient son. From childhood, the Cossack had to absorb the fear of disobedience. Obedience, respect for elders were brought up not only in childhood, but were also instilled in military service. So, the Cossacks of the older years of service were given the right to punish young Cossacks.

The environment that brought up and nurtured Grigory Melekhov is comprehensively shown in The Quiet Don. This, first of all, of course, is the Melekhov family - grandfather Grigory Melekhov, who brought a captive Turkish woman from Turkey. “Since then, Turkish blood has gone to interbreed with the Cossack. From here, the hook-nosed, wildly beautiful Melekhovs, and in the street - Turks, led the way in the farm.

“... the youngest, Grigory, hit his father: half a head taller than Peter, although six years younger, the same drooping vulture nose as Bati, blue tonsils of hot eyes in slightly slanting slits, sharp slabs of cheekbones covered with brown ruddy skin. Grigory’s stoop is the same as his father’s, even in a smile both of them had something in common, animalistic.

How the family of the middle peasants Melekhov lived can be seen from the words of its head Pantelei Prokofievich: “... we have enough for two bread even without this year's harvest. We have, thank God, and in the bins it is up to the nostrils, but there is something - where there is. But the Melekhovs are, first of all, a working family. Depicting her, M. A. Sholokhov does not keep silent about either the tough temper of Panteley Prokofievich, or the hard lot of a woman, or possessive habits under the roof of the Melekhov kuren. But, despite the fact that the wayward owner asserted his power with the help of a crutch, an atmosphere of friendship, mutual concern, and love reigned in the family. In fact, three families lived in the house, but there were no clashes between them, no quarrels broke out that would destroy family relations.

The Melekhovs were known not only for their loyalty to the patriarchal way of life, but also for the spirit of freedom-loving, proud disobedience. At the origins of the story about them is the tragic story of Prokofy, fanned with romance, who did not want to obey the farm orders and became a victim of prejudice. And Pantelei Prokofievich, and his children, and even grandchildren are portrayed as people of high human usefulness.

The image of the tragic fate of the Melekhov family is one of

the greatest artistic achievements in Sholokhov's novel. The history of the Melekhov family is, in essence, the history of how the foundations of social injustice in the old village were destroyed. On the quiet Don, irreconcilable currents awakened and met. Mighty blows shake the Melekhovsky house. Pantelei Prokofievich feels how unknown forces, frightening with their newness, are tearing up the roots that forever, it seemed, united the Cossacks with the monarch, with the ataman power. Grigory struggles, unable to escape from the circle of contradictions surrounding him.

In all modern world literature, one cannot find a figure as expressive as it is contradictory. Equally riveting the eyes of readers to itself and encouraging them, looking around, to look for Grigory Melekhov among non-fictional, living people.1

Grigory Melekhov grew up in an atmosphere of admiration for the Cossack military prowess. Cossacks in uniforms with epaulettes, with all the insignia, went to the church, to the stanitsa gathering. St. George's crosses, medals evoked respect, deep respect, and this respectful attitude to titles, royal awards was instilled from childhood.

“You serve as you are supposed to,” Father urged Grigory, who was drafted into the army before the imperialist war. For the king, the service will not be lost. And he signed the letter: "Your parent, senior officer Pantelei Melekhov." The father was not just a father, but also a senior officer. This military rank, according to the deep conviction of Panteley Prokofievich, obliged him to additional respect.

Labor was Gregory's need; he could not imagine his life outside of work. And more than once during the war, with a deaf, heart-wrenching longing, Grigory recalled loved ones, his native farm, work in the fields: “It would be nice to take hold of the chapigi with your hands and go along the wet furrow behind the plow, greedily absorbing the damp and insipid smell of loosened earth with your nostrils, the bitter aroma of grass cut with a plowshare.

In Gregory, humanity, love for the earth, nature, and the animal world were brought up from childhood. On the mowing, Grigory accidentally cut the chick in two, picked it up, "with a sudden feeling of acute pity, looked at the dead lump lying in his palm."

Grigory Melekhov, before the war and the revolution that shook the whole country, did not think about social issues. He loves his family, his chicken, is attached to his native farm. He never had a feeling of rejection of the order of life in which he grew up. Even a break with the family and going to work as farm laborers did not alienate Gregory from farm life. And when Aksinya offered to give up everything and go to the mines, to the mines, "far away", Grigory

In a difficult family drama, in the little things of everyday life, in the trials of war, the deep humanity of Grigory Melekhov is revealed. His character is characterized by a heightened sense of justice, consciousness of the dignity of his human personality, strong, passionate love for all the innumerable manifestations of life. And it is natural that Gregory, thrown into the heat of war, is having a hard, painful experience of his first battle, cannot forget the Austrian he killed. “I cut down a man in vain and I’m sick through him, a reptile, with my soul,” he complains to his brother Peter. Gregory develops a feeling of rejection of the imperialist war, a vague awareness of its aimlessness and destructiveness...

Gregory, like all Cossacks, a man of agricultural labor, is endowed with a feeling of inextricably strong connection with the surrounding world of life, he is sensitive to everything beautiful. Grigory's characteristic sense of understanding a person is also revealed in the history of his relationship with Aksinya and Natalya. Love for proud Aksinya, whose fiery, destructive beauty does not fade over the years, life with Natalya - a beautiful woman of a different warehouse, a faithful and loving wife - mother - help us to catch, understand a lot in Gregory.

Gregory is a man of strong passions, decisive deeds and actions. His love for Aksinya, full of dramatic vicissitudes, shocks with its strength and depth. Returning after being wounded on vacation from the hospital, Grigory finds out that Aksinya “got confused” with the young Lisnitsky ... Grigory, a simple Cossack, a plump centurion, was terribly and severely beaten, abandoned Aksinya, returned to the farm, to his native hut. But neither Aksinya's betrayal, nor life with Natalya, nor the children extinguished a strong, passionate feeling. In the long front-line nights he remembered, yearned for Aksinya.

Gregory is distinguished by a developed sense of self-worth, consciousness of himself as a full-fledged person. In a class society built on the subjugation and oppression of some by others, it inevitably had to lead and did lead to sharp clashes.

During the call, a group of officers examined the equipment of the Cossacks - recruits. White-handed officers evoke a hostile feeling in Gregory. His fingers, "rough and swarthy", touched the "white, sugary fingers" of one of the officers. He jerked his hand away and, grimacing in disgust, wiped it on the lining of his overcoat. With an evil smile, Grigory looks at the officer, and he, having met his gaze, could not stand it, shouted: “How do you look? How do you look, Cossack? The same Gregory, when a sergeant-major ran into him with fists near the well, said with terrible force of hatred: “That's what ... if you hit me, I'll kill you all the same! Understood?" And the sergeant hastily moved away from Gregory.

In the gray everyday life of the army service, Grigory acutely feels the "impenetrable dumb wall" between himself and smartly dressed officers - loafers. This is the feeling of a man - a worker who feeds on the labor of his hands and, not recognizing the class division of society, nevertheless clearly understands that the landowners, officers are people of another world, and despises this world of parasites and loafers standing above them. These feelings will grow in Gregory and during the years of the civil war will break through more than once with heavy, scorching hatred for the oppressors and parasites.

Gregory is always ready to stand up for the trampled dignity of a person. He rushes at the Cossacks who raped the maid Franya, they tied him up and threatened to kill him. And when the officer at the inspection asked why the button on his overcoat was torn off, Grigory, remembering what happened in the stable, for the first time in a long period of time, almost cried from shame and the consciousness of his impotence. This is how the imperialist war finds Grigory Melekhov.

It seems that we learned a lot about Grigory from the everyday environment in which he and his family lived, from those complex and confusing relationships that he had with Natalya and Aksinya. As if alive, a swarthy Cossack stands before us with a gloomy, bestial look, quick-tempered to the point of recklessness, proudly guarding his human dignity, resolute, sharp, gentle and rude ... Remarkable strength is felt in his round-shouldered figure, in a quick look, and a deft labor grasp, in a dashing Cossack landing. And yet, there will be a certain incompleteness in our ideas about Grigory Melekhov until we understand what he thought about the war, with what ideas about the nature of its meaning he was plunged into the bloody abyss of battles.

In the hospital, Grigory met a smart and caustic soldier - the Bolshevik Garanzha. Under the fiery power and truth of his words, the foundations on which Gregory's consciousness rested began to smoke. “These foundations were rotten, the monstrous absurdity of the war had undermined them with rust, and all that was needed was a push. The impetus was given, a thought woke up, it exhausted, crushed the simple, unsophisticated mind of Gregory. The truth about the uselessness of the war, revealed to him by Garanzha, seemed terrible to Grigory. Sleep leaves him, Gregory wakes Garanzha at night, angrily and anxiously asks: “You say that for the needs of the rich we are driven to death, but what about the people? Does he not understand? Gregory wrestles with the question: how to stop the war? “... Everything must be put upside down? .. But under the new government, where can you go? .. How can you shorten the war? ..” Garanzha answered everything. And Gregory, parting with him, excitedly thanked: “Well, crest, thank you for opening my eyes. Now I am sighted and ... angry!

The importance of Gregory's first political school cannot be underestimated. It had its full effect in the first months after the October Revolution, when Grigory, taking the side of the Bolsheviks, led the Cossacks against the Whites.

Even if the truth, discovered by Garanzha, did not last long, it nevertheless gave a strong impetus to unprecedented thoughts, feelings ...

Gregory goes home for a visit. Dissatisfaction with the war, rage against those who drove people to the slaughter, combined with offended personal feelings, erupted in the scene of the brutal beating of Listnitsky. The family, the farm, oiled his troubled heart, caressed him with honor, undisguised flattery. Why, the first Knight of St. George in the farm came to visit! The elders spoke to him as an equal. Grigory caught on himself respectfully - amazed looks, hats were taken off at his bow, the women and girls did not hide the admiration. Attentively, almost fawning looked after him in the family. Proudly, on the way to the Maidan or to the church, Pantelei Prokofievich paced next to him. Well, how could the poor head not spin! This honor was not given to everyone. In the foggy distance of memories, the great truth discovered by Garanzha faded, the severe bitterness of his words was forgotten. The order established from eternity seemed indestructible, the concepts of Cossack honor, military prowess, brought up throughout life, acquired again their exciting primordial value. “Grigory came from the front as one person, and left as another. Not reconciling in his soul with the nonsense of the war, he honestly protected his Cossack glory ... ”And this Grigory“ seized the opportunity to express selfless courage, took risks, went wild, went disguised to the Austrians, removed outposts without blood, horse-riding a Cossack and felt that that pain had gone irrevocably for the man who crushed him in the first days of the war.

With the beginning of such a historical event as the war, fraught with the most serious and unexpected consequences, in the context of the brewing revolutionary crisis, it was important to clarify, bring to the fore the socio-political feelings of Gregory. M. A. Sholokhov confronts Melekhov with people of sharply expressed opposite social sympathies and antipathies. The Cossack Chubaty and the soldier Garanzh, like litmus papers, contribute to the manifestation of various features in the image of Melekhov.

The imperialist war brought Grigory to Chubaty at the front. Chubaty professes a disgusting and miserable philosophy of hatred and contempt for man. This is who fully expressed that ideal of a Cossack - a grunt, a faithful servant of the "king, throne and fatherland", who was so fond of the ruling classes of tsarist Russia! Grigory, who recalled with acute morbidity the Austrian he had killed, Chubaty cynically taught: “Cut a man boldly ... Don’t think about how and what. You are a Cossack, your job is to chop without asking ... You can’t destroy an animal without need - a heifer, say, or something like that - but destroy a person. He is a filthy man ... Unclean, stinks on the ground, lives like a mushroom - toadstool. Grigory was at first hostile to Chubatom. He shoots at Chubaty when he cut down the captured Magyar for no reason at all. “If I had killed you, it would have become one less sin in my soul,” Grigory says bluntly and openly later, when Chubaty recalled the skirmish.

That unconscious humanism, which was imbibed with the milk of a mother - a toiler, defeated in the soul of Grigory the destructive philosophy of Chubaty. The obvious nonsense of the war induces in him restless thoughts, melancholy, acute discontent. Thus, the writer, as it were, brings Gregory to a meeting with Garanzha, to the perception of great human truth. Democracy, humanism win in Gregory for some time a victory over proprietary and estate prejudices.

Gregory begins an intense search for the great truth, suitable for the whole people. Creating this image of a restless seeker of truth, the writer revealed in it the complex theme of the tragedy of a man who was crippled by the forces of the past, entangling and blinding him on a difficult path. for the Cossacks. Grigory goes home from the hospital firmly convinced that he knows where, on which side the truth lives in the world.

After returning from home, rested, saturated again with his "Cossack", Grigory closely converge with Chubaty. Between them there are no more clashes and quarrels. The influence of Chubaty affected the psyche and character of Grigory. “Pity for the man has disappeared,” Grigory’s heart has “hardened, hardened.” And we suddenly quite clearly feel the terrible connection that exists between the established Cossack life for centuries and the anti-human, degenerate philosophy of Chubaty. The Melekhov family, the circumstances of their lives and Chubaty touched something very significant in the reader's perception...

The writer relatively little covers the front-line life of Gregory after returning from home. This is said either in general terms, or in the memoirs of Gregory. M. A. Sholokhov focuses on the internal transformations of the hero. “With cold contempt, he played with a stranger and with his own life ... he knew that he would no longer laugh at him, as before; he knew that his eyes were hollow and his cheekbones were sharp; he knew that it was difficult for him, kissing a child, to openly look into clear eyes; Gregory knew what price he had paid for the full bow of crosses and production. This is, as it were, the result of what Gregory, the man, came to the revolution with.

But Garanja planted a living seed in his soul. The words of the smart, evil neighbor in the hospital ward have not been forgotten. Grigory once stated to Chubatom

Finding the meaning of life, your way

The Great October Revolution, the Civil War put before Grigory Melekhov, as well as before all the Cossacks, the question: with whom to go and where to go?

The Bolsheviks brought peace to a suffering country. Most of the Cossacks - front-line soldiers, exhausted by the war, took the side of the Bolsheviks. Among them was Grigory Melekhov.

Gregory came to the revolution with weak, undeveloped sympathies for the Bolsheviks. He did not have firm political convictions, and he will not have them throughout the civil war. But the events associated with the uprising were of decisive importance for the entire future fate of Gregory. It was necessary to show Melekhov from all sides: the attitude of the Cossacks towards him, painful doubts about the correctness of the chosen path, the behavior of the sailors in battle, love for Aksinya, grief after the death of Natalya ... Self-characteristics that come to the fore in psychological analysis, the psychological significance of events were to convey intense inner life of Gregory, his search for the right path.

The connection of the Cossacks - rebels with the Whites sharpens in Gregory the understanding of the incompatibility of the interests of the Cossacks with the goals of the counter-revolutionary movement. A whole series of scenes follows: a skirmish with Fitskhalaurov, indignation at an Englishman - an officer. In this chain of events, the writer reveals Grigory's growing antipathy towards the White Guards, shows the deep connection between spontaneous patriotic feelings and the labor nature of Melekhov. The hostile attitude towards the “cadets” manifests itself in the most drastic form: the refusal to carry out the orders of Fitskhalaurov, the abolition of the combat mission of Yermakov.

Melekhov's further stay in the White Army becomes uninteresting. And it is no coincidence that Sholokhov says almost nothing about this period of Grigory's life. There are no events associated with it. Sick with typhus, he is brought home on the eve of the counter-revolutionary movement. In fact, he no longer takes part in the struggle. It follows along with the retreating not as part of a military unit, but on its own. He, as it were, observes the decomposition, the collapse of the army from the sidelines. At night, in the steppe, listening to the old Cossack song, which was sung by a cavalry regiment passing by, repeating its words to himself, Grigory, with aching anguish, with tears, experiences all the shame of the inglorious struggle against the Russian people. This is one of those events that prepared Gregory for the transition to serve in the Red Army.

The sequence of events reveals the inner logic of Melekhov's actions, the pattern of his fate. In accordance with the truth of the stormy revolutionary era, the writer constantly puts his hero before the need for immediate action. Every time Gregory has to choose between two things: life will not give him the opportunity to evade decisions. He himself did not know how to wait, to hide, and did not want to. A chain of actions is created, tightly connected, causing each other. Outwardly, he fell into some kind of vicious circle: he became an officer in the war; for this, the Red Army soldiers of one of the regiments that entered Tatarsky almost killed him; He was running; then again he had to hide from arrest; joined the uprising.

The sequence of actions, their nature reveal a combination of objective and subjective factors in the fate of Grigory Melekhov. M. A. Sholokhov achieves here a complete fusion of the truth of history and the truth of character. It is in this fusion that the greatest artistic persuasiveness and authenticity of the image of Grigory Melekhov lies. His fluctuations, flights from one side to the other during the years of the civil war were inevitable. The agonizing search for the way to go further continues. “I wanted to turn away from everything seething with hatred, hostile and incomprehensible world. There, behind, everything was confused, contradictory. It was difficult to find the right path; as in a swampy gati, the soil clogged up underfoot, the path was crushed, and there was no certainty whether it was going along the right one. He was drawn to the Bolsheviks - he walked, led others, and then he took thought, his heart went cold. "... Whom to lean against?"

But life gave Gregory the opportunity to choose more than once. Before the execution of Podtyolkov, he could have gone to the Red Army, did not leave and ended up in the camp of the White Cossacks; during the period of the uprising, he could obey the Soviet authorities in time, did not do this and rolled with the defeated white army to the sea; in the Red Army he could serve until the end of the war, but he returned to the farm, in the difficult situation of the imminent anti-Soviet uprising, and ended up in Fomin's gang. In criticism, the idea was expressed that, having brought Grigory Melekhov to the Fomin gang, the writer executed his hero with a spectacle of a bloody parody of the ideals that he once professed and defended with weapons in his hands during the days of the Vyoshensky rebellion.1

The fourth volume of The Quiet Don is a book of results. Every scene, picture, detail is full of deep meaning and significance here. They are selected and evaluated with that measure of artistic tact, expediency, which does not allow anything superfluous, unnecessary. Sholokhov keeps the reader in the utmost tension.

In the eighth part of The Quiet Don, Grigory, demobilized from the Red Army, returns home. In the stormy, faded autumn steppe, he recalls his distant childhood, dreams of a peaceful life, of happiness with Aksinya.

We haven't seen him for a long time. We said goodbye to him in Novorossiysk, when a detachment of red horsemen rode out from around the corner to meet Grigory and his companions, also participants in Verkhnedonsky. From the words of Prokhor Zykov, we learned that Grigory served in the Red Army, fought with Wrangel against the White Poles. Many events took place during this time in the farm. Gregory's mother died without waiting for her "youngest", "desired".

Dunyasha married Koshevoy, who became chairman of the Soviet. Aksinya returned to her hut, having recovered from typhus. What happened to Gregory? What has he become now?

As if anew, after a long separation, when all the changes are seen more sharply, more clearly, we peer at Gregory through the eyes of his casual companion - "name". In this choice of life situation, the mature skill of the author was manifested. After all, Sholokhov could convey the appearance of the current Grigory in a variety of circumstances: when meeting with loved ones - Aksinya,

Dunyashka, Prokhor, and finally, in the author's objectified description, Sholokhov gives the appearance of Grigory in the perception of a random female leader. The author's portrait in this place would lack the immediacy of feeling; Aksinya, Dunyashka, out of excitement, the joy of meeting, could not see Gregory the way his “names” studying, curious, worldly, experienced eyes saw him: “He is not hefty old, although gray-haired. And kind of weird, she thought. - All eyes frown, why does it squint? How, tell me, he’s so tired, how, tell me, they drove carts on him ... But he’s nothing of himself. Only there are many gray hairs and the mustache is almost gray. And so nothing of itself. What is he thinking?

The foolish woman, as it were, is talking to herself, here even conversational intonation is heard. And this Grigory, “squinting his eyes” seen by her, “starved, as, say, they carried carts on him,” not only reminds us of the seven years of the war that he “did not get off his horse.” This Gregory awakens pity, aching - a dreary foreboding. Oh, I can’t believe that he has reached a peaceful family marina! Much more grief and loss was prepared for him by life ...

The writer found an image of great emotional strength and expressiveness, not only recreating the image of Grigory, "starved" by grave delusions, the war, which reminded him of his past, but also an image in which a premonition of a tragic final sounds. The ability to see, feel and excite in this way distinguishes a perfect master.

Critics about the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov

The life of Grigory Melekhov has not been easy, his journey in the Quiet Don ends tragically. Who is he: is he a victim of delusions, who has experienced the full burden of historical retribution, or an individualist who has broken with the people, who has become a miserable renegade? In the critical literature about Sholokhov and his novel, disputes about the essence of the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov still do not stop. At first, the prevailing opinion was that this was the tragedy of a renegade. This view is most sharply expressed in the work of L. Yakimenko:

“... the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov, in the final analysis, is precisely in isolation from the revolutionary people, who affirm in life the lofty ideals of the new society. Grigory Melekhov's break with the labor Cossacks and the splitting off were the result of insurmountable hesitations, an anarchic denial of the new reality. His apostasy becomes tragic, because this confused man of the people went against himself, against millions of workers just like himself.

But Doctor of Philology V.V. Agenosov refutes this point of view: “The renegade does not evoke sympathy - even those who, in the ranks of the Red Army, mercilessly dealt with the real Melekhovs, cried over the fate of Grigory. Gregory did not become a beast, did not lose the ability to feel, suffer, did not lose the desire to live.

“The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov is the tragedy of historical delusion,” this point of view, going back to the article by B. Emelyanov “On the Quiet Don” and its critics, which appeared in 1940, is currently most sharply and consistently pursued by A. Britikov and N. Maslin. According to this theory, Gregory carried in himself many features of the Russian national character, the Russian peasantry. “It is impossible not to agree with this, but he “throws like a snowstorm in the steppe” not because he is an owner, like any peasant, but because in each of the warring parties he does not find absolute moral truth, to which he strives with the inherent Russian people maximalism,” writes V. V. Agenosov.

V. Goffenschefer argued that in the eighth part of the novel, the story of the tragedy of Gregory as a typical representative of the Cossacks ends and the story of an unfortunate man broken by trials begins.2

There is another way to look at this issue. G. A. Frolov, a researcher of the work of M. A. Sholokhov, writes: “The origins of the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov lie in the fact that he is the most typical representative of the Don Cossacks, who fell victim to revolutionary violence. The fate of Gregory in the novel is universalized, it actualizes an important issue for the 20th century: man - revolution - power - freedom. Through the broken fate of Grigory, through the collapse of the Melekhov family, Sholokhov showed the fate of the Russian peasantry in a turning point in history, in its rejection or contradictory attitude towards the revolution. And Grigory Melekhov, being one of the leaders of the uprising, is fighting not only for his hut and allotment of land. This is a struggle against violence, against an inhuman regime, against forms of enslavement, a struggle for a free Don, for the idea of ​​freedom. And this is truly the correct "third way" of the Sholokhov hero, chosen in torment and doubt.

Much has been written about Sholokhov's novel, critics have been arguing about his characters for more than a dozen years, but the character of Grigory Melekhov, his tragic fate still remain mysterious, because none of the existing concepts covers the image in its entirety.

The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov is the tragedy of the Don and the entire Russian Cossacks as a whole. Here is what M. A. Sholokhov himself said about this to the correspondent of Sovetskaya Rossiya: “Grigory, in my opinion, is a kind of symbol of the middle peasant Cossacks. Those who know the history of the civil war on the Don, who know its course, know that not only Grigory Melekhov and not dozens of Grigoriev Melekhovs staggered until 1920.

And in a conversation with V. Vasiliev, he noted: “... the social appearance of Grigory Melekhov embodies features that are characteristic not only for a certain layer of the Cossacks, but also for the peasantry in general. After all, what happened among the Don Cossacks during the years of the revolution and the civil war took place in similar forms among the Ural, Kuban, Siberian, Semirechensk, Transbaikal, Terek Cossacks and among the Russian peasantry.

It has long been an indisputable assertion that the fate of Gregory in a peculiar way refracts the path of the historical errors of the Cossacks during the years of the civil war. If you follow Grigory step by step along his entire path, from memorable meetings with Izvarin and Podtelkov to Novorossiysk, to joining the ranks of Budyonny's cavalry, then you can notice the amazing commonality of his fate, the consonance of moods, the affinity of illusions with fate, the moods and illusions of the Cossacks .

Even the contour of the external fate of Grigory Melekhov during the Vyoshensky uprising in a peculiar way reflects the ebb and flow in the moods of the Cossack masses.

[It is more important for Sholokhov to show that not only the external fate of Gregory coincides with the fate of the Cossacks in the days of the uprising, but his thoughts and moods are surprisingly consonant with those thoughts and moods that the Cossacks were engulfed in. A writer with a striking aftermath As if reluctantly, Grigory Melekhov got involved in the fight against the Reds, but gradually bitterness came to him. But the Cossacks were also seized by the same moods, who, too, succumbing to bitterness, took prisoners less and less, and more and more often engaged in robberies. The idea of ​​Grigory Melekhov's ideological and moral commonality with the Cossack masses receives its artistic implementation in the compositional system, in the logic of the plot development.

Grigory Melekhov is intimately connected with the Cossack masses, personifying their mind and prejudices, those features of the Cossacks that developed historically and manifested themselves in the tense situation of the civil war. The path of historical error that fell to the Cossacks, the social roots that gave rise to the "Don Vendée", in a peculiar way determined the fate of Grigory Melekhov: he turned out to be a participant in a reactionary movement, historically doomed. But this was a movement of the masses awakened by the revolution, so the process of overcoming prejudices and the destruction of illusions that pushed people onto the wrong path of fighting the revolution was inevitable. Those were hard lessons that became a turning point in the movement of the Cossacks to a new life.

Grigory Melekhov fully knew both the bitterness of the collapse of illusions and the painful feeling of shame. However, the difficult experiences of searching for the truth did not pass without a trace for him. Elemental impulses are replaced by the ability to think. Moral and psychological prerequisites for the evolution of character are outlined in the direction that the masses of the Cossacks suffered at a difficult price.

The world-famous novel by Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov "Quiet Don" is a novel about the tragedy of the civil war, about the tragedy of thousands of people. Speaking about his famous novel Quiet Flows the Don, the writer noted: “I am describing the struggle of the whites with the reds, not the struggle of the reds with the whites.” This complicated the task of the artist, and it is no coincidence that critics are still arguing about the fate of the protagonist, about the results of his life searches. Who is he? A "father" who went against his own people, or a victim of history who failed to find his place in the universal struggle and life?

Depicting the life of the Don Cossacks in the tragic period of the revolution and civil war, Sholokhov solves the complex philosophical problem of correlation, interaction between the personal and the social. The attitude to the revolution is a question that tormented not only the main character, it is a question of the era.

The first parts of the novel are a leisurely description of the life of the pre-war Cossacks. Life, traditions, mores that have developed over many generations seem unshakable and unshakable. And only the ardent, reckless love of Aksinya for Grigory is perceived by the villagers as a rebellion, as a protest against generally accepted norms of morality.

But already from the second book, the novel goes beyond the framework of a family and household narrative, social motives sound more and more strongly. Sholokhov debunks the myth of the homogeneity and unity of the Cossacks. Shtokman and his underground circle appear; a fierce fight at the mill shows the arrogant arrogance of the Cossacks in relation to the peasants, the same, in essence, toilers as they are.

With the outbreak of the World War of 1914, Grigory Melekhov comes to the fore in the novel, and through his fate, Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov traces the fate of the front-line Cossacks. In general, speaking about the war, emphasizing its unfair nature, the author speaks from an anti-militarist position. Let us recall at least the scene of the murder of an Austrian soldier or a student's diary. At the front and then in the hospital, Gregory comes to the realization that the truth, in which he still believed, is illusory. A painful search for another truth begins. Melekhov comes to the Bolsheviks, but cannot fully accept their correctness. There are several reasons for this. First of all, he, a military officer, feels that in the camp of the Reds he is treated with distrust, he is repelled by the senseless cruelty and bloodthirstiness of the Bolsheviks. In addition, Melekhov's estate arrogance in relation to the "bad" remains unexpunged.

Yes, and the whites do not linger, realizing that behind the big words about the salvation of Russia often hides self-interest and petty calculation.

Grigory Melekhov is looking for a third way, naively believing that there is a special "Cossack" truth. However, in a world split into two irreconcilable camps, recognizing only two colors and not distinguishing shades, the third way is not given.

Having survived the defeat of the Veshensk uprising, Grigory decides to leave the army and take up grain-growing work, but after meeting and talking with Ko-shev, he realizes that this fanatic lives with one thought - a thirst for revenge. Saving his life and the life of Aksinya, Melekhov runs away from his home and ends up in Fomin's gang. He understands the price he has to pay: no matter how big words Fomin says, his squad is an ordinary criminal gang. In punishment, fate takes away the most precious thing that was from Grigory Melekhov - Aksinya. It is then that he sees the "dazzling black disk of the sun" - a symbol of the tragic finale. material from the site

Grigory returns to the village, not hoping for either forgiveness or indulgence. But even in this hopeless situation, a faint ray of hope flashed: the first person Melekhov saw was his son Mishka, life will continue in him, and perhaps his fate will turn out differently.

The path to the native home, the path to the small homeland, the path to the dear, beloved and close from birth, the path to the little son - this is the result of the life searches of the protagonist of the novel "Quiet Flows the Don" by M.A. Sholokhov Grigory Melekhov.

In my opinion, Grigory Melekhov is not a renegade, he is a victim of the tragedy of the civil war, a victim of history. In addition, he belongs to a type well known from Russian literature of the 19th century. This is the type of truth seeker, for whom the process of finding one's own truth sometimes turns out to be the meaning of existence. From this point of view, it can be argued that Mikhail Sholokhov's novel The Quiet Flows the Don, with all its tragic pathos, continues and develops the humanistic traditions of classical Russian literature.

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Grigory Melekhov is the most famous and memorable character in Sholokhov's novel The Quiet Flows the Don. But few people know that in the first edition of the work there was no such hero at all. His place was taken by a certain Abram Ermakov, who outwardly looked very much like Grigory. Why the author decided to make changes to the novel is still unknown.

Hero's appearance

Grigory Melekhov (the characterization of the character will be discussed in detail in this article) is endowed by the author with a “wild” beauty, like all the Cossacks of his kind. He was taller than his older brother, black-haired and hook-nosed, which made him look like a gypsy. The eyes are slightly slanted, almond-shaped and “bluish”, and “the sharp slabs of the cheekbones are covered with brown skin.” His smile was "animal", "wolf teeth" snow-white. Hands are stubborn and callous to caress.

In all his appearance, wildness and rudeness are felt, combined with incredible beauty. Even during the war, he did not lose his attractiveness. Although he lost a lot of weight and became more like an Asian.

Grigory Melikhov wore traditional Cossack clothes: wide trousers, woolen white stockings, chiriks (shoes), a zipun, a spacious shirt, and a sheepskin coat. The clothes have a direct indication of nationality. The author emphasizes the Cossack origin of his hero.

Who is the main character of the novel?

Let's start with the fact that the focus of Sholokhov is the people, and not a specific person. And Gregory stands out from the general background only because he is the embodiment of folk traits. It became a reflection of the Cossack prowess and "love for the economy, for work" - the two main commandments of the Cossacks, who were warriors and farmers at the same time.

But Grigory Melekhov (“Quiet Flows the Don”) is famous not only for this. Distinctive features of his character were self-will, the desire for truth and independence in actions. He always seeks to verify everything personally and does not take anyone's word for it. For him, truth is born slowly, from concrete reality, painfully and painfully. His whole life is the search for truth. The same thoughts tormented the Cossacks, who first encountered the new government.

Grigory Melekhov and Aksinya

The love conflict is one of the main ones in the novel. The relationship of the protagonist with Aksinya runs like a red thread through the entire work. Their feeling was high, but tragic.

Let's talk a little about the heroine. Aksinya is a stately, beautiful and proud Cossack woman, who perceives what is happening very emotionally. A difficult fate fell on her. At the age of sixteen, Aksinya was raped by her father, and a year later they married Stepan Astakhov, who beat her. This was followed by the death of a child. An unloved husband and hard work - that's the whole life of a young woman. Such was the fate of many peasant women and Cossacks, and therefore it is generally accepted that it reflects the whole era of the Quiet Don.

The fate of Grigory Melekhov was closely intertwined with the life of Aksinya. The woman wanted true love, so she responded so readily to the courtship of a neighbor. Passion broke out between the young people, burning fear, shame and doubt.

Even marrying Natalya did not stop Gregory. He continued to meet with Aksinya, for which he was expelled from the house by his father. But even here the lovers did not give up. Their life as workers does not bring happiness. And Aksinya's betrayal with the master's son forces Grigory to return to his wife.

However, the final break does not occur. The lovers start dating again. They carry their feelings through life, despite all the misfortunes and tragedies.

Character

Grigory Melekhov does not run away from reality. He soberly assesses everything that happens around and takes an active part in all events. This is considered the most striking and memorable in his image. He is characterized by breadth of soul and nobility. So, he saves the life of Stepan Astakhov, risking himself, although he does not have any friendly feelings for him. Then he bravely rushes to the rescue of those who killed his brother.

The image of Melekhov is complex and ambiguous. He is characterized by throwing, a feeling of inner dissatisfaction with his actions. That is why he constantly rushes about, for him to make a choice is not an easy task.

Social aspect

The character of the hero is determined by his origin. For example, Listnitsky is a landowner, and Koshevoy is a laborer, so you cannot rely on them. Grigory Melekhov has a completely different origin. "Quiet Don" was written during the heyday of socialist realism and harsh criticism. Therefore, it is not surprising that the main character has a peasant origin, which was considered the most “correct”. However, the fact that he was from the middle peasants became the reason for all his throwing. A worker and an owner coexist in the hero at the same time. This is the cause of internal discord.

Grigory Melekhov in the war practically does not care about his family, even Aksinya fades into the background. At this time, he is trying to understand the social structure and his place in it. In war, the hero does not seek benefits for himself, the main thing is to find the truth. That is why he looks so intently at the world around him. He does not share the enthusiasm of other Cossacks regarding the coming of the revolution. Gregory does not understand why they need her.

Previously, the Cossacks themselves decided who would rule them, chose the ataman, and now they are imprisoned for this. On the Don, neither generals nor peasants are needed, the people will figure it out themselves, as they figured it out before. Yes, and the promises of the Bolsheviks are false. They say that everyone is equal, but here comes the Red Army, chrome boots on the platoon, and the soldiers are all in windings. And where is the equality?

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Grigory Melekhov sees reality very clearly and soberly assesses what is happening. In this he is similar to many Cossacks, but there is one difference - the hero is looking for the truth. This is what gives him no rest. Sholokhov himself wrote that the opinion of all the Cossacks was embodied in Melekhov, but his strength was that he was not afraid to speak out and tried to resolve contradictions, and did not humbly accept what was happening, hiding behind words about brotherhood and equality.

Gregory could recognize the correctness of the Reds, but he felt the lie in their slogans and promises. He could not take everything on faith, and when he checked it in practice, it turned out that he was lied to.

Closing one's eyes to lies was tantamount to betraying oneself, one's land and one's people.

How to deal with an unwanted person?

Grigory Melekhov (the characterization confirms this) stood out against the background of other representatives of the Cossacks. This attracted Shtokman's attention to him. This man did not have time to convince people like our hero, so he immediately decided to eliminate him. The innocent Gregory was doomed to arrest and death. And what else to do with unnecessary people who ask unnecessary questions?

The order is given to Koshevoy, who is surprised and embarrassed. Gregory, his friend, is accused of a dangerous way of thinking. Here we see the main conflict of the novel, where two sides clash, each of which is right. Shtokman takes every measure to prevent an uprising that could interfere with the reign of the Soviet power, which he serves. The character of Gregory does not allow him to accept either his fate or the fate of his people.

However, Shtokman's order becomes the beginning of the very uprising that he wanted to prevent. Together with Melekhov, who entered into battle with Koshev, all the Cossacks rise. In this scene, the reader can be convinced with distinct clarity that Gregory is indeed a reflection of the people's will.

Melekhov decides to fight the power of the Reds. And this decision was due to a series of incidents: the arrest of his father, numerous executions in Tatarsky, a threat to the life of the hero himself, insults to the Red Army soldiers stationed at his base.

Gregory has made his choice and is sure of it. However, not all so simple. This is not the last turn in his life.

Throwing

The image of Grigory Melekhov in the novel "Quiet Don" is very ambiguous. He is constantly in throwing and is not sure of the correctness of the choice. So it is with the decision to confront the Red Army. He sees the prisoners and the dead who participated in his uprising, he understands who can benefit from it. The final epiphany comes when Gregory rushes alone to the machine gun and kills the sailors who controlled it. Melekhov then rolls in the snow and exclaims: “Who did I kill!”

The hero again finds himself in conflict with the world. All Melekhov's throwings reflect the fluctuations of the entire Cossacks, which first came from monarchism to Bolshevism, then decided to build autonomy, and then returned to Bolshevism again. Only on the example of Gregory do we see everything more clearly than it happened in reality. This is due to the very character of the hero, with his intransigence, passion, unbridledness. Strictly Melekhov judges himself and those around him. He is ready to answer for his wrong deeds, but he wants others to answer.

Summing up

The image of Grigory Melekhov in the novel "Quiet Don" is full of tragedy. Throughout his life he tried to find the truth, but what did he get in the end? In the last chapter of the book, we see how the hero loses the most precious thing - the woman he loves. The death of Aksinya was the most terrible blow for Melekhov. At that moment, the meaning of life was taken away from him. In this world, he no longer has close people. Spiritual devastation leads him to the forest. He tries to live alone, but cannot stand it and returns to the farm where his son lives - the only thing left of Aksinya and their love.

What is the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov? He came into conflict with the world, could not come to terms with its new laws, attempts to change something ended in failure. But the hero could not come to terms with what was happening. The new era "ground" and distorted his fate. Gregory just turned out to be a man who could not adapt to change.