Quoted description of Grigory Melekhov from the novel “Quiet Don. Grigory Melekhov in the novel "Quiet Don": characteristics

M. A. Sholokhov in his novel “Quiet Don” poetizes the life of the people, deeply analyzes its way of life, as well as the origins of its crisis, which largely affected the fate of the main characters of the work. The author emphasizes that the people play a key role in history. It is he, according to Sholokhov, who is its driving force. Of course, the main character of Sholokhov’s work is one of the representatives of the people - Grigory Melekhov. Its prototype is believed to be Kharlampy Ermakov, a Don Cossack (pictured below). He fought in the Civil War and the First World War.

Grigory Melekhov, whose characteristics interest us, is an illiterate, simple Cossack, but his personality is multifaceted and complex. The best features that are inherent in the people were endowed by the author.

at the beginning of the work

At the very beginning of his work, Sholokhov tells the story of the Melekhov family. Cossack Prokofy, Gregory's ancestor, returns home from the Turkish campaign. He brings with him a Turkish woman who becomes his wife. With this event, a new history of the Melekhov family begins. Gregory's character is already ingrained in her. It is no coincidence that this character is similar in appearance to other men of his kind. The author notes that he is “like his father”: he is half a head taller than Peter, although he is 6 years younger than him. He has the same “dangling kite nose” as Pantelei Prokofievich. Grigory Melekhov stoops just like his father. Both of them even had something in common, “animalistic,” even in their smile. It is he who continues the Melekhov family, and not Peter, his older brother.

Connection with nature

From the very first pages, Gregory is depicted in everyday activities typical of the life of peasants. Like all of them, he takes horses to watering, goes fishing, goes to games, falls in love, and participates in common peasant labor. The character of this hero is clearly revealed in the meadow mowing scene. In it, Grigory Melekhov discovers sympathy for the pain of others, love for all living things. He feels sorry for the duckling that was accidentally cut with a scythe. Gregory looks at him, as the author notes, with “a feeling of acute pity.” This hero has a good feel for the nature with which he is vitally connected.

How is the character of the hero revealed in his personal life?

Gregory can be called a man of decisive actions and actions, strong passions. Numerous episodes with Aksinya speak eloquently about this. Despite his father's slander, at midnight, during haymaking, he still goes to this girl. Panteley Prokofievich cruelly punishes his son. However, not afraid of his father’s threats, Gregory still goes to his beloved again at night and returns only at dawn. Already here the desire to reach the end in everything is manifested in his character. Marriage to a woman whom he does not love could not force this hero to abandon himself, from sincere, natural feelings. He only calmed Pantelei Prokofievich a little, who called out to him: “Don’t be afraid of your father!” But nothing more. This hero has the ability to love passionately, and also does not tolerate any ridicule of himself. He does not forgive jokes about his feelings even to Peter and grabs a pitchfork. Gregory is always sincere and honest. He directly tells Natalya, his wife, that he does not love her.

How did life with the Listnitskys influence Grigory?

At first he does not agree to run away from the farm with Aksinya. However, the impossibility of submission and innate stubbornness ultimately force him to leave his native farm and go to the Listnitsky estate with his beloved. Grigory becomes a groom. However, life away from his parents’ home is not at all his thing. The author notes that he was spoiled by an easy, well-fed life. The main character became fat, lazy, and began to look older than his years.

In the novel "Quiet Don" he has enormous inner strength. The scene of this hero beating Listnitsky Jr. is clear evidence of this. Grigory, despite the position that Listnitsky occupies, does not want to forgive the offense he inflicted. He hits him on the hands and face with a whip, not allowing him to come to his senses. Melekhov is not afraid of the punishment that will follow for this act. And he treats Aksinya harshly: when he leaves, he never even looks back.

The self-esteem that is inherent in a hero

Complementing the image of Grigory Melekhov, we note that in his character there is a clearly expressed strength. It is in him that his strength lies, which is capable of influencing other people, regardless of position and rank. Of course, in the duel at the watering hole with the sergeant, Grigory wins, who did not allow himself to be hit by his senior in rank.

This hero is able to stand up not only for his own dignity, but also for that of others. It is he who turns out to be the only one who defended Franya, the girl whom the Cossacks violated. Finding himself in this situation powerless against the evil being committed, Gregory for the first time in a long time almost cried.

Gregory's courage in battle

The events of the First World War affected the destinies of many people, including this hero. Grigory Melekhov was captured by the whirlwind of historical events. His fate is a reflection of the fates of many people, representatives of the ordinary Russian people. Like a true Cossack, Grigory completely devotes himself to battle. He is brave and decisive. Grigory easily defeats three Germans and takes them prisoner, deftly repels the enemy battery, and also saves the officer. The medals and officer rank he received are evidence of the courage of this hero.

Killing a person, contrary to the nature of Gregory

Gregory is generous. He even helps Stepan Astakhov, his rival, who dreams of killing him, in battle. Melekhov is shown as a skilled, courageous warrior. However, the murder still fundamentally contradicts Gregory’s humane nature and his life values. He confesses to Peter that he killed a man and because of him “his soul is sick.”

Changing worldview under the influence of other people

Quite quickly, Grigory Melekhov begins to experience disappointment and incredible fatigue. At first, he fights fearlessly, without thinking about the fact that he is shedding both his own and other people’s blood in battles. However, life and war pit Gregory against many people who have completely different views on the world and the events taking place in it. After communicating with them, Melekhov begins to think about the war, as well as about the life he lives. The truth that Chubatiy conveys is that a person must be cut down boldly. This hero easily talks about death, about the right and opportunity to take the life of others. Grigory listens to him attentively and understands that such an inhumane position is alien and unacceptable to him. Garanja is the hero who sowed the seeds of doubt in Gregory's soul. He suddenly doubted the values ​​that had previously been considered unshakable, such as Cossack military duty and the Tsar, who is “on our necks.” Garanja makes the main character think about a lot. The spiritual quest of Grigory Melekhov begins. It is these doubts that become the beginning of Melekhov’s tragic path to the truth. He is desperately trying to find the meaning and truth of life. The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov unfolds at a difficult time in the history of our country.

Of course, Gregory’s character is truly folk. The tragic fate of Grigory Melekhov, described by the author, still evokes the sympathy of many readers of "Quiet Don". Sholokhov (his portrait is presented above) managed to create a bright, strong, complex and truthful character of the Russian Cossack Grigory Melekhov.

Cossack Grigory Melekhov is one of the central characters of the historical epic novel by Mikhail Sholokhov “Quiet Don”. The storyline of this work is based on his life path, the formation and formation of Melekhov as a person, his love, successes and disappointments, as well as the search for truth and justice.

Difficult life trials befall this simple Don Cossack, because he finds himself in a whirlwind of bloody events of the early twentieth century: the First World War, revolution, civil war in Russia. The millstones of war into which the main character finds himself “grind” and cripple his soul, forever leaving their bloody mark.

Characteristics of the main character

(Pyotr Glebov as Grigory Melekhov, still from the film "Quiet Don", USSR 1958)

Grigory Panteleevich Melekhov is the most ordinary Don Cossack. We first meet him at the age of twenty in his native Tatar village of the Cossack village of Veshenskaya, located on the banks of the Don River. The guy is neither from a rich nor from a poor family, one might say he is average, but he lives in prosperity, he has a younger sister Dunya and an older brother Peter. A quarter Turkish through his grandmother, Melekhov has an attractive and slightly wild appearance: dark skin, a hooked nose, jet-black curly hair, expressive almond-shaped eyes.

At first, Grigory is shown to us as an ordinary guy living on a farm. He has certain household responsibilities and is immersed in his worries and daily activities. He doesn’t particularly worry about his life; he lives as the traditions and customs of the Cossack village dictate. Even the violent passion that flared up between the young Cossack and his married neighbor Aksinya does not change anything in his life. At the insistence of his father, he marries the unloved Natalya Korshunova, and, as is customary among young Cossacks, begins preparations for military service. It turns out that during this period of his quiet and measured life, he weakly and mechanically fulfills what is destined for him, and does not decide anything special in his life.

(Melekhov at war)

However, everything changes when Melekhov finds himself on the battlefields of the First World War. Here he shows himself as a brave and brave warrior, a defender of the Fatherland, for which he receives the well-deserved rank of officer. However, in his soul Melekhov is the most ordinary worker, accustomed to working on the land, taking care of his farm, but war comes and not a shovel, but a gun is placed in his hands, calloused from work, and he is ordered to destroy the enemy. For Gregory, the first killed Austrian came as a real shock, and his death was a tragedy that he experienced again and again. He begins to be tormented by questions about the meaning of the war, why people kill each other and who needs it, what is his personal role in this bloody chaos? So he begins to grow up and live a more conscious life. Little by little his soul hardens and is tempered by difficult trials, but still in its depths he retains both conscience and humanity.

Life throws him from one extreme to another; in the civil war he fights either on the side of the whites, or joins the Budennovsky detachment, or joins bandit formations. He no longer just goes with the flow, but confidently and consciously seeks his path in life. Distinguished by his sharp mind and observation, the “honest to the core” Melekhov immediately sees the deception and empty promises of the Bolsheviks, the bestial cruelty of the bandits and cannot in any way understand the “truth” of the officer-nobles. Only one thing matters to him in this crazy chaos of a fratricidal war, this is his father's house and his usual, peaceful work in his native land.

(Evgeny Tkachuk plays Grigory Melekhov, still from the film "Quiet Don", Russia 2015)

As a result, he escapes from Fomin’s disgusted gang and dreams of returning home and living a quiet life with Aksinya, without killing anyone, but simply working on his land. It is precisely for her that he is ready to shed the last drop of blood, to kill anyone who encroaches on her. This is how the war once changed an ordinary hard worker, who keenly felt the beauty of the surrounding nature and sincerely felt sorry for the duckling he accidentally killed.

On the way home, a huge emotional shock awaits him: Aksinya dies from a bullet, his love collapses, his hope for a happy and free life dies. Crushed and unhappy, he finally reaches the threshold of his home, where he is met by his surviving son and the land, waiting for its owner.

The image of the hero in the work

(Gregory with his son)

The whole truth of that terrible and bloody time in the history of the Cossack Don was shown by the outstanding Soviet writer Mikhail Sholokhov in the image of a simple Cossack Grigory Melekhov. All his contradictions, complex spiritual tossings and experiences are described by the author with amazing psychological authenticity and historical validity.

It is impossible to say unequivocally that Melekhov is a negative or a positive hero. Sometimes his actions are terrible, and sometimes they are noble and generous. A simple Cossack and hard worker, accustomed to working from morning to night, he becomes a hostage to those bloody historical events that the entire Russian people experienced. The war broke and maimed him, took away his closest and dearest people, forced him to do terrible things, but he did not break and managed to retain in himself those particles of goodness and light that were once in him. In the end, he understands that the most important value for a person is his family, home and native land, and weapons, murder and death cause only disgust and horror in him.

The image of Melekhov, a simple “peasant farmer in uniform,” embodies the long-suffering fate of the entire simple Russian people, and his difficult life path is a path of struggle, quest, tragic mistakes and bitter experience, and finally knowledge of the truth and oneself.

In the novel “Quiet Don” M. A. Sholokhov poetizes people’s life, gives a deep analysis of its way of life, the origins of its crisis, which largely affected the fate of the heroes of the novel. The author emphasizes the decisive role of the people in history. According to Sholokhov, it is the people who are the driving force of history. One of his representatives in the novel is Grigory Melekhov. Undoubtedly, he is the main character of the novel.

Gregory is a simple and illiterate Cossack, but his character is complex and multifaceted. The author endows him with the best features inherent in the people.

At the very beginning of the novel, Sholokhov describes the history of the Melekhov family. Cossack Prokofy Melekhov returns from the Turkish campaign, bringing with him his wife, a Turkish woman. This is where the “new” history of the Melekhov family begins. The character of Gregory is already laid out in it. It is no coincidence that Grigory is outwardly similar to the men of his kind: “... he looks like his father: half a head taller than Peter, at least six years younger, the same drooping kite nose as his father’s, with slightly slanting cuts in the bluish tonsils 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.” It is he, and not his older brother Peter, who continues the Melekhov family.

From the very first pages, Gregory is depicted in everyday peasant life. He, like everyone else on the farm, goes fishing, takes horses to water, falls in love, goes to games, and takes part in scenes of peasant labor. The character of the hero is clearly revealed in the episode of meadow mowing. Gregory discovers a love for all living things, an acute sense of other people's pain, and the ability to compassion. He feels painfully sorry for the duckling accidentally cut with a scythe; he looks at it “with a sudden feeling of acute pity.”

Grigory has a great sense of nature, he is closely connected with it. “Okay, ah, okay!..” - he thinks, deftly handling the scythe.

Gregory is a man of strong passions, decisive actions and actions. Numerous scenes with Aksinya speak eloquently about this. Despite his father's slander, during haymaking, at midnight he still goes in the direction where Aksinya is. Severely punished by Pantelei Prokofievich and not afraid of his threats, he still goes to Aksinya at night and returns only at dawn. Gregory already shows a desire to reach the end in everything, not to stop halfway. Marrying an unloved woman could not force him to abandon himself, his natural, sincere feelings. He only slightly calmed his father, who sternly announced to him: “Don’t be nasty to your neighbor! Don't be afraid of your father! Don’t wander around, dog!”, but nothing more. Grigory loves passionately and does not tolerate ridicule of himself. He doesn’t even forgive Peter for making fun of his feelings and grabs a pitchfork. "You are an idiot! Damn mad! This is the tortured Circassian who has degenerated into the batin breed!” - exclaims the scared to death Peter.

Gregory is always honest and sincere. “I don’t love you, Natasha, don’t be angry,” he frankly says to his wife.

At first, Grigory protests against running away from the farm with Aksinya, but his innate stubbornness and the impossibility of subordination nevertheless forced him to leave the farm and go with his beloved to the Listnitsky estate. Grigory is hired as a groom. But such a life away from his native nest is not for him. “An easy, well-fed life spoiled him. He became lazy, put on weight, and looked older than his years,” says the author.

Gregory contains enormous inner strength. A clear indication of this is the episode of his beating of Listnitsky Jr. Despite Listnitsky’s position, Grigory does not intend to forgive him for his insults: “Having intercepted the whip, he beat him in the face and hands with the whip, not allowing the centurion to come to his senses.” Melekhov is not afraid of punishment for his actions. He also treats Aksinya harshly: when he left, he never looked back. Gregory is characterized by a deep sense of self-worth. His strength lies in him, and it is capable of influencing other people, regardless of their rank and position. In the duel with the sergeant at the watering hole, Grigory undoubtedly wins, not allowing the senior in rank to hit himself.

The hero is ready to stand up not only for his own, but also for the dignity of others. He turned out to be the only one who stood up for Franya, who was abused by the Cossacks. Finding himself powerless against evil, he “for the first time in a long period of time almost cried.”

The First World War caught Gregory's fate and spun it into a whirlwind of turbulent historical events. Grigory, like a true Cossack, devotes himself entirely to battle. He is decisive and brave. He easily captures three Germans, deftly recaptures a battery from the enemy, and saves an officer. Evidence of his courage are St. George's crosses and medals, officer rank.

Melekhov is generous. In battle, he extends a helping hand to his rival Stepan Astakhov, who dreams of killing him. Gregory is shown as a courageous, skilled warrior. But still, the murder of a person deeply contradicts his humane nature, his life values: “Well, I cut down a man in vain and because of him, the bastard, I am sick with my soul,” he says to brother Peter, “... I am sick with my soul.. It was as if I had been under the millstones, they crushed me and spat me out.”

Grigory quickly begins to experience incredible fatigue and disappointment. At first, he fights fearlessly and without thinking that he is shedding his own and others’ blood. But war and life confront Melekhov with many people who have fundamentally different views on the world and what is happening in it. Communication with them makes the hero think about both the war and the life he lives.

Chubatiy carries the truth “Cut a man boldly.” He easily talks about human death, about the possibility and right to take a person’s life. Grigory listens to him carefully and understands: such an inhumane position is unacceptable and alien to him.

Garanzha sowed seeds of doubt in Melekhov’s soul. He suddenly doubted previously unshakable values, such as the tsar and Cossack military duty. “The Tsar is a drunkard, the Tsarina is a whore, the master’s pennies are increased from the war, but it’s on our necks...” Garanzha cynically declares. He makes Gregory think about a lot. These doubts marked the beginning of Gregory’s tragic path to the truth. The hero makes desperate attempts to find the truth and meaning of life.

The character of Grigory Melekhov is truly amazing, truly folk.

Grigory Panteleevich Melekhov is the main character of M. A. Sholokhov’s epic novel “Quiet Don” (1928-1940), a Don Cossack, an officer who rose from the ranks. This is a young resident of the village of Tatarskaya, an ordinary farm boy, full of strength and thirst for life. At the beginning of the novel, it is difficult to classify Gregory as a positive or negative character. He is rather a freedom-loving truth-seeker. He lives thoughtlessly, but according to traditional principles. Despite her strong love for Aksinya, she allows her father to marry him to Natalya. Grigory spends his whole life tossing between two women. In the service, he also finds himself between the Reds and the Whites. Harsh life nevertheless put a saber in the hands of this man, not cruel by nature and not fond of bloodshed, and forced him to fight.

The tragic turning point in his personal life coincided with a sharp turning point in the history of the Don Cossacks. Thanks to his natural abilities, Gregory managed to rise first from an ordinary Cossack to an officer, and then to the commander of the rebel army. However, later it becomes clear that Melekhov’s military career was not destined to work out. The Civil War threw him either into the white formations or into the Budennovsky detachment. He did this not out of thoughtless submission to the way of life, but out of a search for the truth. Being an honest man, he fully believed in the promised equality, but the conclusions were disappointing. From his marriage to Natalya, Grigory had a son and a daughter, from Aksinya, the daughter died in childhood. At the end of the novel, having lost

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

From the very 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. Grigory, 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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