The fate and tragedy of Grigory Melekhov in the novel Quiet Don Sholokhov essay

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The fate and tragedy of Grigory Melekhov in the novel Quiet Don

Grigory Melekhov is the main character of Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”. He is constantly looking for meaning in life, his true path, but all attempts are in vain. From the very beginning of the story, the duality of the protagonist’s character is evident. Grigory fell in love with Aksinya, his neighbor’s wife, but at the decisive moment he refused to follow her. His father forced him to marry Natalya, a girl from a rich family. She loved Gregory with all her heart, but this love turned out to be unrequited. One day he confesses to his wife that he does not have warm feelings for her, after which he leaves his home and, together with Aksinya, heads to Yagodnoye.

The reader sees the contradictory nature of Melekhov. The problem is that he himself knows what he wants from life. Further events during the First World War and the revolution will show this character trait of the hero even more clearly and will reveal Melekhov’s human essence.

Once serving in the army, the hero witnesses how unfair life is: the worthy position of officers is contrasted with the fate of humiliated and powerless soldiers. Having taken part in hostilities, where he behaved confidently and bravely, Melekhov is convinced of the meaninglessness of murder.

Next, another contradiction appears in the actions and words of the hero. Having met the Bolshevik and talked with him, Melekhov begins to hate the royal family. It is noteworthy that from childhood he was instilled with respect for the current regime of power. However, he did not dare to join the Bolsheviks either: at home there was talk about the free Don, about the Cossacks who obey neither the white nor the red side. When the Bolsheviks win the revolution, Grigory leans towards them, but after returning to the farm, he again feels terrible doubts about whom to support.

Convinced that the Cossacks should go their own way, Melekhov takes part in the uprising. But he soon realizes that he is not fighting for the freedom of the Cossacks, but is only participating in the confrontation between the poor and the rich. The hero finds himself in a difficult situation and does not know what to do.

During future battles, Melekhov goes over to the side of the Bolsheviks, admiring how their commanders, who came from the common people, bravely fight against the white army men. At the same time, Gregory, a former white officer, clearly senses the Reds’ distrust of him. For this reason, Melekhov is forced to return home.

But even here he does not find peace. After a criminal case is opened against Gregory, the hero becomes a member of Fomin’s gangster group. After some time, not wanting to commit a crime, Melekhov goes to Aksinya and offers to start a new life. However, soon the girl is killed, and all the hero’s dreams of a happy and calm life are instantly destroyed. Now the only hope for a bright future remains Melekhov’s son, the only meaning of life for him.

Thus, the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov is a consequence of the uncertainty of choice, constant doubts and contradictions. The problem is that he was never able to find his true path in life, always being at a crossroads of fate.

The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov

Sholokhov wrote the work Quiet Don in the period from 1925 to 1940. This is a novel about a man and his exciting fate, written as an epic in honor of the people. All this was written during a significant historical period. The work is dedicated to several main characters whose lives did not have a happy ending. Perhaps because of their wrong actions they would have come to a different end.

The main character of the work Quiet Don Grigory Melekhov is the main character of the novel Quiet Don. Based on the work, one can understand that he is a young man who has a hot temper, but despite this he is very sociable and open towards all people and the world. He has his own hobbies such as fishing and farming. He is a hot guy who has the same blood as his deceased grandmother, who at one time was a captive Turkish woman. Thanks to her origin and genes, some external similarities with the Turks were passed on to him.

Well, most of all, Gregory was similar to his father; in addition to all this, he had a brother who was older than him. The elder brother was not like his father and his grandmother was most like his mother. The difference between the two brothers was six years. The action of the work takes place during the war period in the country, it was at this time that Melekhov showed himself as a responsible and brave person. For his services, he is honored to receive the award of the St. George's Cross, as well as various other awards.

From childhood, Gregory was a sociable young man who loved to communicate with people, he was philanthropic. Even when he has the opportunity to get rid of his worst enemy, he prefers to leave him alive and save him from death. Despite all the positive qualities of the main character, sooner or later he ends up in a love triangle. Which consisted of Natalya Korshunova, who was his wife, his mistress Aksinya Astakhova, and he was the third person. When the moment comes for him to marry, he cannot go against his father’s decree and is forced to take an unloved woman as his wife.

The worst thing about all this is that he finds misfortune and doom not only for himself, but also for the women who truly love him. All actions take place during the war period, during this period Gregory was at war and was away from his beloved Aksinya. At this very moment, her little daughter dies, she cannot bear the loss and finds solace in the arms of a strange man. When Grigory Melekhov returns from the war, he cannot forgive her for this, but is forced to forget everything in the near future, since he loves her very much.

“The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov in Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don””

Against the broad epic background of the movement of the masses in the revolution, Sholokhov with great artistic force revealed the contradictory quests and tragic fate of Grigory Melekhov, the complex philosophical problem of the relationship between the individual and the people, the problem of the place of the individual in the revolutionary struggle. When depicting communists, the writer focused on the growth of their revolutionary consciousness and the strengthening of ties with the people from which they came. In his depiction of representatives of the White Guard camp, he emphasized moral decay and the inglorious death of forces hostile to the people. In the image of Grigory Melekhov, Sholokhov revealed the tragic fate of a gifted man who got lost and left the people. Grigory's character is much more complex than the character of his brother Pyotr Melekhov, whose views and behavior are dictated by a possessive psychology and caste class. Peter is a consistent defender of the interests of the reactionary part of the Cossacks, who without hesitation supported the counter-revolution. Isolating nineteen-year-old Grigory from the Melekhov family, Sholokhov points out his outlandish beauty. Gregory’s appearance (“a pendulous kite nose, slightly slanted slits with bluish almonds of hot eyes, sharp slabs of cheekbones covered with brown, ruddy skin”) highlights not so much his origin as the originality of his character.

From his youth, Gregory was deeply characterized by hard work, a subtle love for his native nature, soulful song, and great humanity. Sholokhov constantly emphasizes his remarkable abilities, sincerity and truthfulness, straightforwardness and courage.

Grigory saves his blood enemy Stepan Astakhov from death, frees the unjustly imprisoned Cossacks from prison, forbids Ermakov to destroy and undress captured Red Army soldiers, protests against the disgusting robbery, severely condemning even his father for this. Having rebelled against the cruelty and inertia of the life of the farmers, he protects Aksinya from her husband’s beatings, and cannot look at Daria, who killed Kotlyarov, without contempt. Grigory cuts down the White Guards with passion and pleasure; he hates the White officers with all his heart. His sympathies are always on the side of those who do not lose courage and dignity in the most difficult moments of life.

One of Gregory’s characteristic features is his sincere patriotic feeling. He cannot see the British on his Don, he speaks with anger about the interventionists: “... I would not allow them to set foot on our land.” And he advises Lieutenant Campbell of the English army: “Go home quickly, before they turn your head here... There is no need for you to interfere in our affairs. Understood? Please go, otherwise you’ll get screwed here!”

Every time, falling on the criminal path of struggle against the people, Grigory experiences severe torment, begins to realize that he is wrong, all the best in him makes him reach for something new, experience “an acute feeling of enormous, insatiable curiosity for the Red Army, for these Russian soldiers with whom he there was something to fight for.”

Commanding a rebel division, Gregory wants to make peace with the Reds, but does not know how to do it. From the very beginning of the uprising, he feels its doom, because it is “against the people.” Grigory feels that the old “is chilling”, that “everything old has collapsed.” However, “our own, Cossack” destroys the best qualities in Gregory and takes “the upper hand over the great human truth.” His beliefs were formed under the influence of the old Cossack way of life, dictated by class and proprietary interests, the persistent influence of the village and officer environment, the influence of which Gregory constantly experienced.

Along with the positive traits of a gifted representative of the people, Gregory early shows the self-will of a person who is inconsistent in his actions. The gradual loss of connections with the people will determine the drama of the story. The feeling of a worker makes Gregory reach for something new, for truth and happiness, but proprietary and class interests persistently pull him back, leading him astray from the consistent, correct path. Painfully and for a long time hesitating between two irreconcilable camps, he begins to look for a non-existent “third way” in the revolution.

Grigory is at a crossroads not only in his public life, but also in his personal life: between the domestic and meek Natalya and Aksinya, passionate in her feelings. He is drawn to Natalya by possessive principles, family peace, children; Aksinya attracts him with the strength of her feelings for him, her love of freedom.

Essay The Fate of Grigory Melekhov

From the first pages of the work, it is especially noticeable how Sholokhov, with enormous artistic power, conveyed the contradictory paths and tragic fate of Grigory Melekhov, revealing the issue of the relationship between the individual and the masses, especially in the revolutionary struggle.

If we consider the character of Gregory, we can see that he is much more problematic than that of his brother Peter. From his youth, Grishka grew up to be a hardworking and humane Cossack, with a keen sense of his native nature. The author especially accurately emphasizes his extraordinary abilities, straightforwardness and courage. The main character saves Stepan Astakhov, whom he hated, from death, and forbids Ermakov to mock the Red Army soldiers who were captured and destroy them. Rebelling against the harshness of the farmers, he stands up for Aksinya, who suffered from beatings from her husband, and cannot look indifferently at Daria, who killed Kotlyarov. Often condemning weakness and cowardice, Gregory behaves courageously and steadfastly at various stages of his quest.

Sholokhov vividly depicted the stages of Melekhov’s intricate, complex path. From the initial moments of the work, the emphasis was placed on the difficult struggle of proprietary and class interests in the minds of Gregory, who wanted to reconcile his strong love for Aksinya with his laws and traditions. Understanding the senseless course of hostilities, he preserves his glory as a Cossack, performing valiant deeds, showing his courage in them. Having fallen under the influence of the Cossack centurion Izvarin, Grigory could not understand whose side was right. Soon he encounters the revolutionary Fyodor Podtelkov, but he leaves his squad because he wanted to get away from this incomprehensible world and live a quiet life. But his plans are disrupted by his neutrality. He finds himself in a White Guard detachment, on the side of the hostile Soviet regime. Once, in a conversation with Kotlyarov, he fiercely condemns the policies of the Bolsheviks and speaks out in defense of wealthy Cossacks. His further actions are dictated by possessive sentiments.

During the Veshensky uprising of counter-revolutionaries, Gregory is in the camp of the strikers, where he begins to consider his past quests empty. Worry hunches his shoulders as he considers the fact that he is standing against the people. After Melech began to think differently, his spiritual decline worsened. Common sense and prudence leave him. He tries to forget himself in continuous drinking and carousing.

The tragic situation of a renegade who has lost his way becomes especially noticeable. The drama grows and reaches its point in the scene where Gregory understands the injustice of the brutal reprisal against the revolutionary sailors. He understands that he has no mercy or forgiveness. All that remains is to die. Sholokhov concludes this chapter with a significant digression, where nature is involved in the drama of Melekhov’s fate. His terrible desolation and spiritual death are revealed at the end of the novel. Having lost his mind and courage, he hides in the forest in fear and confusion. So, despite the desire to see a successful outcome in the fate of Grigory Melekhov, the author tells us that the writer must present the truth, no matter how bitter it may be.

The tragedy of the fate of Grigory Melekhov

Grigory Melekhov is one of the central characters in M. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”. The tragedy of Gregory’s fate is closely connected with the tragedy of the Cossacks in Rus'. The writer managed to realistically convey the fate of the hero and prove the objective necessity of his actions

Gregory is a young Cossack. People liked him for his love of farming and work, for his Cossack prowess. From the first pages of the novel we notice the inconsistency of Gregory's character.

It manifests itself both in personal relationships and in actions during the war. Grishka has a relationship with the married Aksinya, but his father’s disappointment in him (Melekhov beat Grishka. “Zhenya! I’ll marry a fool!” - the father shouted to his son.) worries the Cossack and he breaks off his relationship with the girl without experiencing mental anguish, but at the wedding with Natalya, for whom he was not the best candidate for a husband, but still had the luck of being chosen by her, he thought only about Aksinya. His back and forth between the two girls continues throughout most of the novel and neither of them has a good fate: Natalya survives a suicide attempt, is expelled by her family and lives in longing for her husband, Aksinya dies altogether...

Melekhov himself does not understand what he needs, he cannot decide which side to take, with whom to be. Are you enrolling in 2021? Our team will help you save your time and nerves: we will select directions and universities (according to your preferences and expert recommendations); we will fill out applications (all you have to do is sign); we will submit applications to Russian universities (online, by e-mail, by courier); we will monitor competition lists ( we will automate the tracking and analysis of your positions); we will tell you when and where to submit the original (we will evaluate the chances and determine the best option). Entrust the routine to professionals - more details.

We see the same in his attitude to the war, to the revolution. Gregory went to war with strong convictions, but the war breaks him. We see the Cossack’s emotional experiences: “...My conscience is killing me. I stabbed one with a pike near Leszniow. In the heat of the moment... It couldn’t have been otherwise... Why did I cut this guy down?...” “...Well, well, I cut down a man in vain and because of him, the bastard, my soul is sick. I dream at night, you bastard. Is it my fault?..” He becomes callous and cold, but his humanity does not leave Gregory. However, the Cossack dreams of returning to his homeland, he is drawn to the land, his native kuren. Grishka was able to go through the war, end up in a hospital, and rise to the rank of officer. He stood out in the crowd of Cossacks, Four Crosses of St. George and four medals are an indicator of this. Melekhov tried to understand the essence of the red and white movement, but could not. He went over to the side of the Reds, but saw that the cruelty on each side was equal, he realized that there was no “good” side and “bad” side, that there was blood, cruelty, and injustice everywhere. In the hero’s conversations, we see the hopelessness of the choice: “If the Red Army soldiers weren’t going to kill me at the party then, I might not have participated in the uprising.

“If you weren’t an officer, no one would touch you.”

“If I hadn’t been hired, I wouldn’t have been an officer.” The Cossack dreams of returning to his homeland, he is drawn to the land, his native kuren. I remember the words he said at the beginning of the novel: “I won’t touch the earth. Here is the steppe, there is something to breathe, but what about there?”

The tragedy of Gregory is a tragedy of inconsistency, a tragedy of an individual who finds himself at a crossroads in an era of critical historical events, a tragedy of the entire Russian Cossacks. At the end of the story, Gregory returns to the earth. He has no one close to him except his son, but the main thing is that the Cossack finds himself, his place in life.

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