The first meeting of Gregory and Aksinya. Creative works on literature. Position in the Aksinya family

(374 words) Love line in the novel by M.A. Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" is represented by two characters: Aksinya and Natalya. These women have a huge influence on Grigory Melekhov as the story progresses. The main character's tossing between them occupies one of the most important places throughout the entire work. Two women who sincerely love Gregory express radically opposing belief systems.

Aksinya lived a really hard life. She was raped by her own father, abused by her husband, and her life was filled with constant work and worries. She tries with all her might to find her happiness, and at the very beginning of the novel she finds it in Grishka. The heroine gives herself entirely to love, and in her passion she is relentless and selfish. To destroy the family, humiliate Natalya, disgrace her husband - she is ready to do anything to ensure that Gregory stays with her. Aksinya symbolizes the passionate beginning of love; it was her emotionality, sensuality and thirst for freedom, contrary to the patriarchal mores of the Cossacks, that attracted the chosen one to her. But, living solely by emotions, she, having received false information about the death of her beloved, cheats on him with the young nobleman Listnitsky.

Natalya represents precisely that same centuries-old Cossack way of life that Aksinya and Grigory hate so much. She sincerely loves her husband, although she was married to him according to an agreement between the parents of the families. Unfortunately, Grishka cannot answer her in kind. Tender, but cold and sparse in emotions, Natalya does not attract him. The heroine tries to steadfastly survive her husband’s escape, but in the end she goes to Aksinya, begging her to return the man, and then unsuccessfully tries to kill herself.

It would seem that Aksinya won a decisive victory, but after her betrayal, Grigory, deeply disappointed, returns to his legal wife, who accepts and forgives him. It was during this period that Natalya reveals her true beauty. She is the embodiment of the family in the novel, and even though she cannot compare with Aksinya, Grigory and Natalya form a strong family, have children and live a truly happy life.

However, this happiness is short-lived. The empire collapses and civil war begins. In these difficult times, traditional values, such as family and brotherhood, crumble and are forgotten. Gregory, risking his life every hour on the front line, again cheats on his wife with Aksinya. Natalya cannot stand the repeated betrayal, curses her husband, has an abortion and soon dies.

Aksinya and Natalya represent two opposing concepts of love - mind-blowing, irresistible passion and modest, quiet family happiness. It is characteristic that Melekhov eventually loses both Natalya and Aksinya, which reminds us of the trials people go through during turning points stories.

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The epic novel “Quiet Don” is an illustration of the social and military-political life of the first quarter of the 20th century. One of the main motives is the love of Grigory Melekhov and Aksinya in “Quiet Don”. How did the fate of the heroes develop, and how did their characters change?

Characteristics of Grigory Melekhov

Grigory Melekhov - a young Don Cossack, main character Sholokhov's novel "Quiet Don". His grandfather married a captured Turkish woman, so hot Turkish blood flows in Gregory. Melekhov loves his parents, his older brother Peter and his younger sister Dunyasha. He enjoys working in the field, fishing and doing agricultural work. Grigory's ardent disposition leads him to fall in love with Aksinya, a married woman, and is not shy about showing his feelings in public.

However, Gregory is a dual nature. Despite all his love for Aksinya, he does not dare to disobey his father and marry Natalya Korshunova. He immediately admits to Natalia that he does not love her. This act characterizes him as an open person, unable to hide the truth and be a hypocrite.

During the war, Gregory's character is revealed. He proves himself to be a brave warrior, capable of defending his homeland and comrades. Philanthropy is an important character trait of Melekhov. In an impulse, he saves Stepan Astakhov, his worst enemy, from death.

Over time, his attitude towards military events changes. He becomes disillusioned with the war and sees the shortcomings and imperfections of the political system.

Characteristics of Aksinya Astakhova

Aksinya Astakhova is the central female figure in a novel with a difficult fate. The author shows the reader a very beautiful black-haired Cossack woman. Her beauty was noticeable to everyone around her: “Her destructive, fiery beauty...” At the age of 16, she was raped by her father. While married to Stepan Astakhov, she was unhappy, since the man reproached her for not being able to maintain her maiden honor before marriage. An ardent girl falls in love with Melekhov, and not ashamed of her position, begins to flirt with him and then date him.

A strong feeling for the main character takes over her completely. She does not hide from her husband that she does not love him. In this, he and Gregory are very similar: both are honest with themselves and with others. Knowing that Melekhov loves her, she often treats Natalya rather arrogantly.

Love of Gregory and Aksinya

The love story of Aksinya and Gregory is full of twists and turns and tragic events. From the very beginning of the relationship they have to overcome difficulties. Aksinya, a married Cossack woman, was not allowed to communicate with the handsome Gregory. However, there were no prohibitions for lovers. Neither rumors nor the disapproving whispers of neighbors behind their backs could restrain their passionate feelings. At the insistence of his father, Gregory marries, but he continues to love only one woman - Aksinya. Aksinya also does not hide her betrayal from her husband.

During Melekhov's stay in the war, his child with Aksinya dies. Aksinya, in despair, cheats on him. Rumors reach Gregory and he turns away from his beloved, deciding to return to Natalya. However, his heart is still occupied with Aksinya. Natalya, suffering from illness and because of her lover’s betrayal, cannot stand it and dies.

Grigory and Aksinya understand that their feelings are still alive. Because of problems, Grigory and Aksinya decide to run away, but on the way to Aksinya they die from a bullet. Grigory, lost with grief, does not know how to continue to live and decides to stay in the forest with the partisans. After living in the forest for some time, he decides to return to his homeland, where he will raise his son.

This article will help schoolchildren write an essay “Aksinya and Grigory” in Sholokhov’s work “Quiet Don”. The article reveals in detail the characters of Aksinya Astakhova and Grigory Melekhov, their relationships and difficulties.

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Introduction

The theme of love in the novel “Quiet Don” by Sholokhov, first of all, is revealed through the example of Grigory Melekhov’s relationship with Natalya and Aksinya. We can say that a classic love triangle arises in the work, none of the participants in which finds personal happiness.

Grigory Melekhov and Natalya

Grigory wooed Natalya, then still Korshunova, not on his own initiative, but at the insistence of his father. Panteley Prokofievich, having learned about his son’s relationship with his neighbor’s wife, will decide to save his family from shame and universal condemnation. At the same time, respecting the interests of the same family, he chooses as his son’s bride the daughter of one of the most prosperous Cossacks of the farm.

The scene of the matchmaking between Gregory and Natalya is noteworthy. When Natalya enters the room, Grigory examines her “like a horse dealer examines a queen mare before buying.” He likes the “bold gray eyes” of the bride, the “shallow pinkish pit” trembling on her cheek, “large hands crushed by work,” “small girlish stone breasts” under a green blouse. At that moment, Grigory firmly decides for himself that he has “gone away.”

And Natalya, who fell in love with Grigory at first sight, hopes that she will be happy in the Melekhovs’ house.

But, family life doesn't last long. A beautiful, clean, hard-working wife is unable to evoke any feelings in Gregory other than affection. He again meets Aksinya, his true passion. Insulted, Natalya leaves the Melekhovs’ house and returns to her parents. In a fit of anger, she even wishes for Gregory’s death. “Lord, punish him damned!” - she exclaims. Unable to withstand the mental anguish, Natalya, however unsuccessfully, tries to commit suicide. Only thanks to the care and attention from her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Natalya finds the strength to return to the Melekhovs’ house and continue to hope for her husband’s return to the family.

Having overcome her pride, she even decides to go to Yagodnoye to beg Aksinya to return Gregory to her. And, it would seem, fate rewards the woman for her suffering. Having learned about Aksinya's betrayal, Grigory returns to his abandoned wife, and they have two children. Natalya is happy. Having become a mother, the heroine blossoms, her life is filled with new meaning. But even the birth of children cannot make Gregory fall in love with his wife. Patient, faithful Natalya is not able to replace the passionate Aksinya for him. The hero again begins to meet with his mistress secretly from his wife.

It must be said that love in “Quiet Don” turns into tragedy for the main characters. Having learned about her husband's infidelity, pregnant Natalya decides to get rid of the child, not wanting to give birth to a man who constantly betrays her. This decision turns out to be disastrous for the heroine. She dies from loss of blood, forgiving Gregory before her death. Natalya's death was a real blow for Gregory. In his own way, the hero loved his wife and is grieving her death, realizing that it was he who was to blame for what happened.

Grigory and Aksinya Astakhova

In the novel “Quiet Flows the Don,” the author and another heroine, Aksinya Astakhova, experience love. This is a woman who was initially unlucky in life. At first she was subjected to violence from her own father, and later she was forced to endure beatings and humiliation from her husband. But Aksinya takes her position for granted until the moment when her young neighbor, Grigory Melekhov, pays attention to her.

At first, Aksinya is afraid of the new feeling that has arisen in her soul, “she saw with horror that she was drawn to a black, affectionate guy... not wanting this with her mind, she resisted with all her might, noticed that on holidays and on weekdays she began to dress up more carefully.” In the end, Grigory, who “stubbornly, with brutal persistence, courted her,” achieves reciprocity. Aksinya, who has never known love, gives herself entirely to it, no longer paying attention to her neighbors and not thinking about what fate awaits her, the unfaithful wife, when Stepan returns from the camps. It is interesting to note that Grigory, who seemingly passionately loves Aksinya, turns out to be not ready to leave home for his beloved and go to the mines with her. In addition, he is not particularly worried about what her husband will do to Aksinya. Grigory does not dare to contradict his father, who forces him to marry Natalya Korshunova.

They say that true feelings are only tested in separation. This happens with Sholokhov’s heroes. Aksinya, who is trying to forget Gregory and even makes a lapel for this with the help of a local healer, only outwardly comes to terms with the loss of her loved one. Aksinya and Grigory cannot live for long without Aksinya. They leave their families and go to Yagodnoye.

Fate separates the heroes again. After the death of her daughter, Aksinya, left alone, accepts the courtship of Listnsky and Grigory, who learned about this, returns to the family. But, apparently, Aksinya was destined to be with Gregory until her death. She waits patiently. After Natalya’s death, the woman becomes close to Ilyinichna and tries to replace the mother of her lover’s children. Grigory also understands that he can only be truly happy with Aksinya, who, despite all the ups and downs, carried her love for him throughout her life. After tragic death heroine, Gregory realizes that his soul died along with her.

Conclusion

So, the theme of love in “Quiet Don” turns out to be one of the leading ones. She is revealed throughout the entire work, making the reader empathize with Aksinya, Natalya and Gregory. They all have big hearts and deserve happiness. The more tragic their personal drama is perceived.

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Gregory’s passionate feeling for the proud and beautiful Aksinya, whose fiery, destructive beauty does not fade over the years, is compared in the novel with his measured married life with Natalya - a beautiful woman of a different kind, faithful and loving wife and mother. Strictly speaking, Melekhov never loved Natalya, who was by no means a stranger to Grigory, having married her under his father’s coercion, clearly realizing the absurdity of his parents’ idea, but also not having the right to resist. And Grigory was destined to carry his true, eternal, unquestioning and enduring love for Aksinya throughout his life. This love was a kind of inner core of Grigory Melekhov, it was she who supported the Don Cossack in the most intense moments of difficult moral decisions, with uncontrollable force pulled him to his native land, plunging the hero into the abyss of desperate happiness, it was she who dictated Grigory the will to live.

The strength of this feeling, its development, its bends were conveyed by Sholokhov with remarkable psychological accuracy, warmed by living excitement. The writer depicted the all-consuming passion, readiness for all sacrifices on the part of Aksinya, married woman, who fearlessly rebelled against farm customs and morals, and the youthful carelessness of Gregory, who at first abandoned his love and broke with Aksinya. The passion is fatal, inevitable, for the Cossack was unable to forget Aksinya, his craving for his beloved was uncontrollable. Love for Aksinya, which at first reconciled rudeness and tenderness, becomes increasingly spiritual. Grigory often recalls their life together in Yagodnoye on the fronts of the imperialist and civil war as the happiest time of my life. And every time, remembering Aksinya, Grigory thinks about his childhood, remembering his childhood, he thinks about Aksinya. This subtle psychological observation of the writer speaks better than many words about the strength and depth of feeling that connected Gregory and Aksinya. Aksinya entered him forever, forever... She, like barefoot childhood, became a part of his life.

Sholokhov is rather stingy with unnecessary descriptions of Grigory’s feelings. When, at the very beginning of the uprising, Melekhov comes to arrest Stepan, who does not want to fight, he tries not to even look at Aksinya, who is standing right there, by the stove. What does he think and feel when he enters the Astakhovs’ kuren and sees Aksinya, whom he continues to love? Not a word is said about this. And this is a manifestation of that economy, which is an essential sign of artistry.

A mention of Gregory’s feelings for Aksinya would have violated artistic integrity, and therefore was not necessary in this place. After all, Grigory was then seething with rage; the owner bristled within him, taking up arms against the Soviet regime. He thought only about struggle and revenge then, that was all that occupied him. Grigory pays a high price for his delusions. His own life seemed painfully difficult and unnecessary to him. Sholokhov with soulful skill conveys to the reader the full depth of Grigory’s tragic devastation: he met Aksinya, new strength their love flared up, but in this moment and she is unable to fill the cold emptiness in Melekhov’s soul. The previously heard motif of the search for happiness in this abundant land is repeated. The whole world seems jubilant and bright to Aksinya: “Aksinya with lively curiosity examined the snow-covered, snowdrift steppe, the road polished to a gloss, the distant horizons drowning in darkness; smiling at the fact that the dream that had captivated her for a long time had come true so unexpectedly and strangely - to leave with Grigory somewhere far away from Tatarsky...”

But even here fate takes its own turn. Aksinya falls ill with typhus on the way. To save Aksinya’s life, she has to leave her in the village with strangers. Together with Prokhor, Grigory goes to Kuban. The war is nearing its end. More and more often, Grigory remembers Aksinya when he is apart. In the morning he got into a sleigh, rode along the snow-covered steppe, and in the evening, having found somewhere to stay for the night, he went to bed. And so on day after day.

But the disease does not bypass Gregory either. He lives as if in a dream: he often loses consciousness, it is difficult for him to talk. He barely raises his clouded head to look at the sky. Fortunately, after some time Gregory began to recover. Aksinya also recovers, returning from an unfamiliar village to her native Veshki. Waiting for Gregory to return, the days drag on long and tediously. The hope is born in my soul that after long and painful separations, Grigory and Aksinya will be together.

Long before dawn, Grigory galloped to the Tatarsky farm, tied the horses to the dry karaich he had known from childhood, and went to the village. And here, finally, Don, the old Melekhov kuren, dark clumps of apple trees, Aksinya’s window, her hands. Aksinya kneels down in front of him, pressing her face to her wet overcoat, shaking with sobs. Aksinya's love is selfless. Feeling the illusory quality of the happiness-dream that has come true, she joyfully responds to Gregory’s call to run away with him. Grigory calls her to the south, to Kuban, almost repeating the words she once said: “To Kuban or further. We'll survive and feed ourselves somehow, eh? I don’t disdain any work. I need to work with my hands, not fight..."

For the last time, without knowing it, Aksinya and Grigory go down to the Don. The Don, the steppe, receives its beloved for the last time. A random bullet interrupts this getaway date in search of its share. The wounded Aksinya, bleeding, dies in the arms of Gregory, never having met a new dawn, in the darkness of the night.

The story of Grigory Melekhov and Aksinya is a story of tragic love, a story of a burnt out, incinerated life. Their love - so great in its passion and mutual desire, so majestic in the most burning need to love, so desirable in its forbiddenness - does not bring happiness to the heroes, it simply does not have time to be fully realized.

Thus ends the long dance of death. Begun by the murder of an Austrian soldier in the war, it ends with the death of the person dearest to Gregory. This is the logic of war: the swing of the saber, for which Gregory executed himself in such a way, is destined to respond with the ridiculous bullet that Aksinya got.

On a sunny morning, Gregory buries his Aksinya in a deep hole. The grief that befell Gregory is immeasurable. After Natalya's death, Grigory tossed about and suffered. Before us was still a living person, but wounded, tormented by pain. Aksinya’s death was so terrible that everything in Gregory seemed to die. Now he has no need and nowhere to rush. Gregory buries all his spiritual quests, all his hopes, all his life. He buries himself alive: Grigory says goodbye to the dead Aksinya, “firmly believing that they will not part for long.” Now he has no reason to live.

Love for Aksinya was the whole meaning of Gregory’s existence, was the main driving force all his life. The tragedy lies in the fact that the spark of passion that ran between Gregory and Aksinya at the very beginning of the novel was initially doomed to blaze with bright light and go out from the brutal invasion of historical cataclysms. The rich world of heroes, the world of vivid feelings and primordial emotions, is not able to squeeze into rigid schemes class struggle, the meaning of which is not even completely clear to the characters of Sholokhov’s novel. Grigory and Aksinya, created for happiness, like millions of other people, lost their master's role in the plot and in life, fell into cruel submission to forces beyond their control, were left alone with their own fate and found themselves desperately powerless to change anything.

M. A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” tells not only about the most difficult time in the life of Russia, which brought enormous social and moral upheavals. This work is called an epic novel because it fully and multifacetedly reflected the events of that time, the way of life of people, and the reasons for their actions. The love of the main character Grigory Melekhov and Aksinya runs through the entire work as a “red line”. The feeling of the heroes was both high and tragic.

Aksinya is a proud Don Cossack woman who has endured a lot on her difficult path in life. Beautiful, stately, perceiving life very emotionally and impulsively, she, like any woman, wanted happiness, but troubles fell on her head early. At the age of sixteen she was raped by her father, a year later the girl was married to the unloved Stepan Astakhov, who beat her “to the death”; the death of a child, exhausting housework alone, since the husband was lazy, loved to take a walk, and left the house at night, “combing his forelock.”

Her heart wanted love, her soul was yearning for freedom, so the heroine responded to the courtship of Grigory Melekhov. A huge, all-consuming love flared up between them, burning in its fire the fear of her husband and his beatings, the shame of her fellow villagers.

Grigory's marriage to Natasha makes Aksinya suffer. After a long separation, seeing him near the river, she felt “how the yoke grew cold under her hands and the blood poured into her temples with heat,” tears covered her eyes, the woman realized that it was impossible and useless to fight this feeling. Having learned that they are secretly meeting again, the father kicks Gregory out of the house. Aksinya, without hesitation, follows her beloved, although she knows that all this is not to the liking of Melekhov’s mother Ilyinichna.

Their life as workers for the landowner Listnitsky was complex and dramatic: the birth of a child, Gregory’s suspicions, his departure for service, the death of his daughter, despair, loneliness and grief of Aksinya, in an unkind hour, the owner’s “comforter” son turned up. Returning from service, Melekhov learns about the betrayal of his beloved woman and, offended, returns to Natalya. Aksinya remains alone, but not for long, because “late woman’s love does not bloom with the azure scarlet color of drunkenness.” Life repeatedly separates them and again throws them into each other's arms.

But, having learned that Grigory is dating Aksinya, Natalya goes to her and reproaches her for taking the father away from the children. Aksinya replies: “At least you have children, but I have him... the only one in this world! First and last. You know? Let's not talk about him anymore. He will live, the Queen of Heaven will protect him from death, he will return - he will choose.”

The heroine carried her love for Gregory throughout her difficult life. The writer often conveys the feelings that excite Aksinya through her perception of the surrounding nature. After a serious illness, a woman went out onto the porch and stood for a long time, intoxicated by the freshness of the spring air: “The world appeared different, wonderfully renewed and seductive before her. With sparkling eyes, she excitedly looked around, childishly fingering the folds of her dress... Everything seemed to her unprecedentedly beautiful, everything was blooming with thick and delicate colors.”

Aksinya fits organically into nature. Whatever she does, she does it naturally, harmoniously: whether she is preparing dinner for Gregory, whether she is carrying water, whether she is working in the field. She always patiently waits for Melekhov, loves, takes pity on his children left without a mother, and takes care of them. However, Gregory’s tossing between different political camps not only does not bring happiness and peace to anyone, but also leads to the senseless death of Aksinya.

Yes, the fate of the lovers was tragic. But, in my opinion, it was the most open, sincere and tender love between two people for each other that you can imagine. The feeling of being united with your loved one is an absolutely fantastic feeling. We all know that in a normal state a person simply cannot feel the feelings of other people and experience with them. And only in the upsurges of strong love are there states when different “selves” seem to merge with each other, as if the “currents” of love are connecting two open souls, as if invisible bridges are thrown between lovers, and the sensations of one flow into the other and become common . The interests, joys and problems of another person suddenly become yours.