The main female images of Mikhail Sholokhov's novel "Quiet Flows the Don" are Natalya Melekhova and Aksinya Astakhova. Both of them love the same Cossack, Grigory Melekhov. He is married to Natalya, but he loves Aksinya, and she, in turn, is married to another Cossack, Stepan Astakhov. A very traditional love triangle is formed, an important part of the plot of the novel. But it is resolved very tragically. By the end of the novel, both Natalia and Aksinya are dying.

What led two almost completely different women to a sad outcome? In the most general form, this question can be answered as follows: love for Gregory. Natalya cannot bear the fact that her husband continues to love Aksinya, does not want to have another child from him because of this, and commits a suicidal abortion, actually seeking death, and not just trying to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy. Aksinya's love for Grigory drives him to the Kuban. And since Melekhov is hiding from the authorities, they have to run from the patrol that came across. A patrolman's bullet accidentally wounds Aksinya and mortally wounds her.

The end of each of the heroines is logical in its own way. Natalia is a nervous, reflective woman. She is hardworking, beautiful, kind, but unhappy. Natalya, having only learned about the Melekhovs’ matchmaking, declares: “I love Grishka, but I won’t marry anyone else! .. I don’t need others, my friend ... bring the monastery ... "She is a deeply religious person, God-fearing
ny. And in order to decide first to attempt suicide, and then to kill an unborn child, she had to step over the Christian commandments that were so important to her. Only the strongest feeling of “love and jealousy inspired Natalya to such actions. She experiences her grief in herself, without splashing it out.

Aksinya, from the very beginning, "decided to take Grishka away from the happy, neither grief nor joy of love, Natalia Korshunova, who had never seen her ... She only decided firmly: to take Grishka away from everyone, pour love" to own him, as before, "until marriage. But in in a clash of two women who love Gregory, there will be no winners, as we know.When, due to her husband’s betrayal, Natalya temporarily returns to her parents’ house, then “it seemed to her that Gregory would return to her, she waited with her heart, not listening to the sober whisper of the mind; she went out at night in burning anguish, collapsed, trampled down by an unexpected undeserved insult. "Aksinya, unlike Natalya, loves Grigory not only with her heart, but also with her mind. She is ready to fight for her beloved by all available means. Aksinya actively strives for her happiness, while doing "Unfortunate Natalya. However, kindness is characteristic of her to no lesser extent than her rival. After the death of Natalya, it is Aksinya who takes care of her children, and they call her mother. Long before her death, Natalya is inclined to go to her parents' house with her children, allowing Grigory to openly However, Grigory's mother, Ilyinichna, according to the author's definition, "a wise and courageous old woman," categorically forbids her to do this: - Mine was also not one of the last males. That I took grief from him, and it is impossible to say. It’s not easy to leave your own husband, and there’s nothing to it. Poraskin mind - you'll see. Yes, and the kids from the father to take away, how is it? No, you're talking in vain. And don't think about it, I won't order it!" Then "everything that had been piling up in Natalya's heart for so long suddenly broke out in a convulsive fit of sobs. With a groan, she tore off her handkerchief from her head, fell face down on the dry, unkind earth, and, pressing against her chest, sobbed without tears. "In a frenzy, Natalya sends the most terrible curses on the head of an unfaithful husband:" Lord, punish him accursed! Beat him to death there! So that he no longer lives, does not torment me! .. "And dooms himself to a painful death, trying to get rid of his child. Ilyinichna was going with the help of Panteley Prokofievich "to dissuade the daughter-in-law who was furious with grief from an unreasonable act," but she did not have time. pissed off with grief."

Aksinya is more balanced than Natalya. She also drank a lot of grief, survived the death of her daughter. However, she refrained from sharp, thoughtless actions. Aksinya wants them to be able to unite with Grigory forever, to get rid of people's gossip, to live a normal life. It seems to her that this dream can come true after the death of Natalia. Aksinya nurses Melekhov's children, and they almost recognize her as a mother. But Gregory did not have a chance to live peacefully with her. Almost immediately after returning from the Red Army
and he is forced to flee from his native farm, because he fears arrest for old sins - active participation in the Vyoshensky uprising. Aksinya yearns without him, fears for his life: “It is clear that she, so strong, was broken by suffering. It is evident that she lived salty these months ...." Nevertheless, Aksinya readily responds to Grigory's proposal to leave the house, children (their Melekhov expects to pick it up later) and go with him to the Kuban towards the unknown: “What would you think? .. Is it sweet for me alone? I’ll go, Grishenka, my dear! Better kill you, but don’t leave again!..” She, of course, does not suspect that this time she and Grigory will not be there for very long, that her quick and ridiculous death awaits.

Gregory is experiencing the death of both women. But he experiences differently. Learning that a conversation with Aksinya, who told his wife the whole truth, pushed Natalya to a fatal step, Grigory “came out of the room, aged and pale; soundlessly moving his bluish, trembling lips, sat down at the table, caressed the children for a long time, seating them on his knees .. He understands that he is to blame for the death of his wife: “Gregory imagined how Natalya said goodbye to the children, how she kissed them and, perhaps, baptized them, and again, as when he read the telegram about her death, he felt a sharp, stabbing pain in the heart, a deaf ringing in the ears As the author notes: “Gregory suffered not only because he loved Natalya in his own way and got used to her for six years lived together, but also because he felt guilty of her death. If during her lifetime Natalya had carried out her threat - she had taken the children and gone to live with her mother, if she had died there, bitter in hatred for her unfaithful husband and unreconciled, Gregory, perhaps, would not have felt the burden of loss with such force, and certainly, remorse would not have tormented him so violently. But from the words of Ilyinichna, he knew that Natalya forgave him everything, that she loved him and remembered him until the last minute. This increased his suffering, aggravated his conscience with an unceasing reproach, forced him to rethink the past and his behavior in it in a new way ... "

Grigory, who previously treated his wife with indifference and even hostility, warmed up to her because of the children: paternal feelings woke up in him. He was ready to live with both women at one time, loving each of them in his own way, but after the death of his wife, he temporarily felt hostility towards Aksinya "because she betrayed their relationship and thereby pushed Natalya to death." However, the death of Aksinya causes Grigory even deeper suffering. He saw how "blood flowed ... from Aksinya's half-open mouth, bubbling and gurgling in his throat. And Grigory, dying of horror, realized that it was all over, that the worst thing that could happen in his life had already happened. .." Again Melekhov unwittingly contributed to the death of a woman close to him, and this time she literally died in his arms. With the death of Aksinya, life for Grigory almost lost its meaning. Burying his beloved, he thinks; that "they parted for a while ...". There are a lot of deaths in The Quiet Don. Almost all members of the Melekhov family die, and not a single hut on the Tatarsky farm escaped death.

So it really was in the civil war, when a lot of Cossacks died. And the death of the two main characters in this sense is natural. The death of Natalya and the death of Aksinya, according to the writer's intention, should deepen Grigory's loneliness to the end of the story, leaving him only with his only surviving son, Mishatka: - Everything was taken away from him, everything was destroyed by a ruthless death. Only the children remained "(Grigory does not yet know that his daughter Polyushka died" from a glottis "). In Sholokhov's novel, both the strong-willed Aksinya and the weaker Natalya are doomed to perish. The tragedy of the civil war intensifies the tragedy of the love line of the "Quiet Flows the Don". on his lips: - Brothers, there is no forgiveness for me! .. Cut down, for God's sake ... mother of God ... Death ... betray! .. "He speaks in almost the same words as the Cossack Yegor Zharkov, who received a mortal wound during the First World War and begging his comrades to end his torment: "Brothers, put to death! Brothers! .. Brothers ... What are you looking at? .. Aha-ha-ah-ah-ah-ah! .. Brothers, put to death! , whose guts are falling out of his torn stomach, is not wounded, but experiences almost the same torment that he has to kill compatriots, Russian people, Cossacks, peasants, sailors ... Even when he kills the enemy in a fair fight, he sometimes experiences moral torment. talk about killing the unarmed.

True, in avenging Peter, Gregory does such a dirty deed. But the feeling of revenge passes quickly. And having learned that the killers of Peter fell into the hands of the Cossacks, Grigory hurries to his native farm not to hasten their death, but on the contrary, to save them from death. But he was too late: during the lynching, Ivan Alekseevich was killed by Peter's widow Daria. Truly, "what is done with people"! Grigory does not accept the brutality caused by the civil war. And in the end it turns out to be a stranger in all warring camps. He begins to doubt whether he is looking for the right truth. Melekhov thinks about the Reds: “They are fighting so that they can live better, and we fought for our good life ... There is no one truth in life. sick, swaying back and forth ... In the old days, you hear, the Don offended the Tatars, they went to take away the land, to captivity. Now - Russia. No! I will not make peace! They are strangers to me and all the Cossacks. " He feels a sense of community only with fellow countrymen Cossacks, especially at the time of the Vyoshensky uprising. He dreams of the Cossacks being independent from both the Bolsheviks and the "Kadets", but quickly realizes that there is no room left for any "third force" in the struggle between the Reds and the Whites.

In the White Cossack army of Ataman Krasnov, Grigory Melekhov serves without enthusiasm. Here he sees robbery, and violence against prisoners, and the unwillingness of the Cossacks to fight outside the region of the Don Cossacks, and he himself shares their sentiments. And just as without enthusiasm, Grigory fights with the Reds after the connection of the Vyoshensky rebels with the troops of General Denikin. The officers who set the tone in the Volunteer Army are not just strangers to him, but also hostile. It is not for nothing that Yesaul Yevgeny Listnitsky becomes an enemy, whom Grigory beats half to death for his connection with Aksinya. Melekhov foresees the defeat of the Whites and is not too sad about this. By and large, he is already tired of the war, and the outcome is almost indifferent. Although during the days of the retreat "at times he had a vague hope that the danger would force the dispersed, demoralized and warring forces of the whites to unite, fight back and overthrow the victoriously advancing red units."

Introduction

The image of Aksinya in the novel "The Quiet Flows the Don" by Sholokhov is one of the central ones. Her difficult relationship with Grigory Melekhov, developing against the backdrop of fateful historical events, permeates the entire work like a red thread. In The Quiet Don, the image of Aksinya allows the reader to comprehend the full depth of the experiences of a woman for whom love becomes, at the same time, a blessing and a curse.

Description of Aksinya

A detailed description of Aksinya in the novel "Quiet Don" is not found anywhere. But, the author focuses the reader's attention on the individual details of her appearance, thanks to which an idea is formed about the appearance of the heroine as a whole.

From the first chapters of the novel, a woman of remarkable beauty appears before us. A full body, a steep back, full shoulders, black curly hair and hands hardened from work. This is what a classic Cossack woman of the beginning of the century looks like. Sholokhov and his heroine saw this.

Particular attention is drawn to Aksinya's deep black eyes and full lips. They drive Gregory crazy, and the author most often talks about them. Aksinya's beauty is wild, alluring, even "shameless", according to the writer, arouses envy among neighbors.

Over time, the appearance of the heroine changes. When Aksinya meets Grigory again, she is still beautiful, but the "autumn of life" has already left its mark on her appearance. Silver threads appeared in the hair, the skin darkened. The eyes, burning and shining in youth, now exude weariness. Sholokhov draws a parallel between a faded lily of the valley and a fading woman mourning her life.

I must say that every meeting with Grigory is reflected in the appearance of Aksinya. Happiness from the possession of a beloved transforms the heroine, makes her more stately, enlivens the features of her face, the whole world seems to her "jubilant and bright."

Characteristics of Aksinya

Aksinya was created for love and family happiness. She dreams of a happy marriage, the birth of children. Aksinya lives by the traditions that have developed in the farm from time immemorial. Obeying the will of the mother, she marries, suffers beatings and humiliation from her husband, does not dare to contradict her mother-in-law. But Aksinya's complaisant disposition is deceptive. Passion and strength sleep in her soul, which wake up along with a feeling for Gregory.

The characterization of Aksinya in The Quiet Don is ambiguous. On the one hand, a woman is capable of boundless tenderness for her lover and children. Finds the sweetest words for them. Replaces the children's mother after the death of Natalia. On the other hand, she has the strength to defend her love. So, Aksinya rebuffs Pantelei Prokofievich, who came to reproach her for her relationship with her son. He openly confesses to Stepan in connection with Gregory, not fearing the inevitable reprisal. Ready to leave the house and household to be close to her lover.

Life without a loved one does not make sense for the emotional, self-sacrifice and deep devotion of Aksinya. She, despite the danger, follows him everywhere in pursuit of "illusory happiness."

Her words: “I will follow you everywhere, even to death,” turn out to be prophetic. Love gives her the strength to live, it also leads the heroine to a tragic death.

The fate of Aksinya

The fate of Aksinya is tragic from the very beginning. When the heroine was 16 years old, her own father abused her. For this crime, the girl's mother and brother kill him. This event predetermined the future life of the heroine. Aksinya marries Stepan Astakhov, but life does not work out with her husband. After the wedding night, Stepan beats Aksinya, drinks and cheats on her. The heroine hopes that the birth of a child will change their relationship. But the baby soon dies.

Aksinya, like Katerina Ostrovsky, needs love. And she finds her in the arms of Grigory Melekhov. An unknown feeling captures the heroine so much that she becomes indifferent to the consequences of this connection. She understands that her husband can kill her, but even a possible death cannot keep Aksinya from meeting Grigory.

Having learned about the upcoming marriage of her lover, the woman tries to forget him. He tries to reconcile with her husband and even conducts a "lapel" rite with the help of a farm healer. But, a chance meeting again brings Aksinya with Grigory. She decides to leave the house and, together with her beloved, goes to work in Yagodnoye, the Listnitsky estate.

It would seem that happiness finally smiled at the woman. Beloved lives with her, they have a daughter. But fate again treated Aksinya cruelly. Grigory goes to the front, and his daughter dies of scarlet fever. The heroine is left alone again. There is no one next to her who would give her moral support, console her in grief. Hopelessness pushes Aksinya into the arms of Yevgeny Listnitsky, who has long shown signs of attention to her. Grigory cannot understand the reasons that prompted Aksinya to betray, and leaves her. The heroine returns to Stepan and gradually fades away, living by inertia next to the unloved person.

Only the acquisition of Gregory brings the woman back to life. She hopes to finally know family happiness. Grigory comes to her with the children, and she tries with all her might to replace Melekhov's dead wife, Natalya, with them. But circumstances again separate the lovers, destroy their dreams of a quiet life. Aksinya, hoping for a better life, accepts Grigory's offer to go to the Kuban. But this trip is the last in the life of a woman. A random bullet ends her life.

Conclusion

Aksinya in The Quiet Don is a character with a tragic fate. Why does Sholokhov kill his heroine? Could her life have turned out differently? Aksinya is looking for peace, but life circumstances do not allow her to find it. Gregory, who became the meaning of her life, turned out to be an outcast under the new government. He is forced to wander. What kind of life could expect a woman next to him? Deprivation away from home and her beloved children. Like the heroes of Bulgakov, apparently, only in death Aksinya could finally calm down.

Artwork test

Speaking about the image of this woman, one cannot fail to note her catchy qualities that Sholokhov endowed his heroine with - captivating beauty, natural charm and passionate nature. Aksinya's appearance aroused the envy of other Cossack women: a swarthy chiseled neck, bottomless black eyes, plump lips, curly hair, a strong and strong camp. The girl knew about her alluring beauty and was always proud of her. Internally, Aksinya is no less beautiful. She is brave, patient, economic and capable of a high sincere feeling of love.

Since childhood, Aksinya has been unhappy. At a very young age, she was tied up and raped by her own father. A couple of years later, her mother married the unloved and rude Stepan Astakhov. Aksinya's married life did not work out. Immediately after the wedding, the newly-made spouse discovered that he got the girl “spoiled” and hated her for it. Stepan brutally beat Aksinya, not knowing pity almost every day. In marriage, the Astakhovs had a child, but he died before he even reached a year.

Aksinya and Grigory

What is true love between a man and a woman, Aksinya found out when she let Grigory Melekhov, a young neighbor who had been seeking her favor for a long time, come to her. For the sake of her lover, the young woman, straightened up from warmth and affection, was ready to endure the notoriety in the village and the rage of her jealous husband. The heroine plunged headlong into her love, trying to “fall out of love” with all the unfortunate fate in her relationship with Grigory. Aksinya experienced terrible pain when the elder Melekhov forced Grigory to marry Natalya. She did not intend to give away her beloved Cossack. Soon the lovers fled from their families to start a life together on the estate of the master Listnitsky. There, Aksinya had a daughter who died of scarlet fever. Mother was very upset by grief, Gregory at that time was at the front. Aksinya found solace in the arms of the master's son. Upon learning of the betrayal, Melekhov left Aksinya and returned to his father's house to his legal wife.

Aksinya herself reunited with Stepan for some time. But the lovers could not forget each other and soon began to secretly meet. After the death of Natalia, Aksinya and Grigory live together. Aksinya becomes an affectionate mother for Natalia's children. During the retreat, Aksinya and Grigory try to escape to the Kuban, leaving the children in the care of Dunyasha Melekhova. In pursuit, Aksinya is mortally wounded. So without waiting for a calm female happiness, she dies in the arms of Gregory and the last thing she thinks about is children and love.

Quotes Aksinya

For the rest of my life I will love you bitterly!.. And kill the hell out of there! My Grishka! My!.."

What are you, father-in-law? BUT? Father-in-law?.. Are you teaching me! Go, the otkel has come! And if I want your Grishka, I’ll eat it with the bones and I won’t keep an answer! .. Here it is! Bite it!..

I won’t feel sorry for you anyway,” she said sharply. - It’s like this with you: I suffer - you feel good, you suffer - I feel good ... Do we share one? Well, I'll tell you the truth: so that you know ahead of time. All this is true, they lie for good reason. I took possession of Grigory again, and at once I will try not to let him out of my hands...

Days passed, and after each a tart bitterness settled in Aksinya's soul. Anxiety for the life of a loved one drilled into the brain, did not leave her for days, visited at night, and then what accumulated in the soul, bridled for a time by will, tore the dams: all night, all to the ground, Aksinya fought in a silent scream, biting her hands in tears, so as not to wake the child, to calm the scream and kill the moral pain of the physical ...

Analysis of the episode Aksinya's death.

Four supports for a person in life: a house with a family, work, people with whom you rule together, holidays and weekdays, and the land on which your house stands. And all four- one is more important than the other...
V. Rasputin

The first mention of the epic novel by the great Soviet writer, Nobel Prize winner, M.A. Sholokhov refers to 1927, when the writer, arriving in

Moscow, read it to my friends. Initially, the novel was called "Donshchina" and covered only the Kornilov rebellion. "Donshchina" limited the reader in understanding the life and character of the Cossacks. Therefore, Sholokhov decided to write the epic novel Quiet Flows the Don, which objectively showed the life of the Cossacks during the Civil War. Here the author paints a terrible picture of war among the citizens of one state, when a brother kills his brother, father-son. A civil war is terrible because there is no specific enemy in it, it becomes a neighbor, relative, brother. It was this kind of war that Sholokhov showed us in The Quiet Don. There are a lot of historically existing characters in it: Ivan Lagutin, chairman of the Cossack department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the first chairman of the Don All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Fedor Podtelkov, a member of the Revolutionary Committee, a Cossack, Mikhail Krivoshlykov. But the main characters of the epic novel are fictitious: the family of the Melekhovs, Astakhovs, Korshunovs, Aksinya.

"Quiet Flows the Don" consists of many episodes showing the life of the Cossacks, the military operations of the Whites and the Reds, the ability of the Cossacks to love, their customs and traditions. It seems to me that the episode of Aksinya's death is the most interesting in the fourth book. It begins with a description of nature: “Late at night, when the moon had set, they left the Dry Log. Midnight silence reigned in the farm. The state of nature coincides with the mood of the heroes, Grigory Melekhov and Aksyini. Night nature, covered with cold and silence, alarms not only the reader, but also Melekhov himself: “He did not believe this silence and was afraid of it.” It seems that something frightening, unforeseen should happen now. Four men emerged from the ditch and called out to the heroes: “Stop! Who goes?". Grigory, having mastered himself, answered: “Own!”. He knew that they were whites and he would not be able to deceive them, so he lashed Aksinya's horse with force and drove it. It seems to me that at that moment Melekhov thought only about Aksinya, he loved her too much to lose, so he rode behind her, covering his beloved woman with himself. But the shot that rang out mortally wounded her: "He did not hear a word, not a groan from the silent Aksinya."

Gregory could not believe in her death. He tried to talk to her, bandaged the wound, but the blood "bubbling and gurgling in his throat." Having lost a person close to us, we feel an emptiness in our heart, we do not want to believe that he is no longer with us, and we feel fear and horror. Melekhov felt the same: “And Grigory, dying of horror, realized that everything was over, that the worst thing that could happen in his life had already happened ...”

“War equally imposes tribute on both men and women, only takes blood from one, tears from others!” Wrote the English writer W. Thackeray. Grigory got both blood and tears. He lost his entire family, and now only Aksinya remained the person closest to him, but whom he, unfortunately, lost. "Aksinya died in Grigory's arms shortly before dawn." Grigory Melekhov loved Aksinya like no one else in the world and could not allow anyone to desecrate her body, so he feverishly began to dig a grave, having lost the instinct of self-preservation, because at any moment he could be found and killed by whites. “Then, without getting up from his knees, he took out a saber from its sheath and began to dig a grave. He was in a hurry, but suffocation was crushing his throat ... He raked the earth with his hands and a hat, not resting for a minute ... "

"In the bright morning light" Grigory buried Aksinya, he carefully folded her arms on his chest, covered his face with a handkerchief, and carefully covered the grave with earth. “He said goodbye to her, firmly, believing that they did not part for long ...”. Grigory Melekhov now had nothing to live for, he lost the only person close and beloved to him. The death of Aksinya took with it the desire to live and do good. Gregory has no worthy goal left to start living anew. His soul died with Aksinya, and now he only wants to die in order to meet his beloved as soon as possible.

The bright sunny weather at the end of the episode did not please Melekhov, did not give rise to a desire to live in him, but, on the contrary, aggravated his grief even more. It seems that during this night he aged for many years: “The rays silvered the thick gray hair on Grigory’s uncovered head, glided over his pale and terrible face in its immobility. As if waking up from a heavy sleep, he raised his head and saw a black sky above him.

and the dazzlingly shining black disk of the sun.

The French scientist D. Bernal said: “Only in a world free from war, for the first time in the history of mankind, it will be possible to fully use the knowledge and labor of people to meet their needs.” The episode of Aksinya’s death, as well as possible, shows that war is destructive force that makes people suffer. She takes lives, leaving others to suffer. In my opinion, The Quiet Flows the Don was created by M.A. Sholokhov in order to warn all successors from this evil, harsh and cruel Civil War.

The Quiet Flows the Don has become one of the best works of world literature of the 20th century. He received wide recognition not only in the Soviet Union, but also abroad. In numerous translations, the novel appeared in all countries of the world and was appreciated by readers and critics. When the epic novel was translated into English, Sholokhov wrote: “I am glad that my novel The Quiet Don is warmly received by English readers and the press. I am especially glad because England is the birthplace of the greatest writers who have invested a lot of values ​​​​in the treasury of world literature ... "

Women's characters, with great skill revealed by the author in this work, are complex and multifaceted. Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, creating "Quiet Flows the Don" in the critical years of the revolution and the civil war, pays great attention to the Cossack woman: her hard work in the field and at home, her grief, her generous heart. In the images of the Don Cossacks - Aksinya, Natalia, Ilyinichna, the best female features are embodied, which in a way complement some of the qualities of the main character Grigory Melekhov.

The author endowed Aksinya with a contradictory character. Creating her image, Sholokhov set the task of showing her "alive, with all her actions, justified and convincing." Warmly loving Gregory, Aksinya converges with Listnitsky; not loving Stepan and contrary to the decision not to meet him, Aksinya returns to him. You can understand her actions by following her condition. Her relationship with Listnitsky was preceded by a tragic event - the death of her daughter. Aksinya “felt her loneliness more strongly”, “she was tormented by unshed anguish”, “a cry grew in her throat, but there were no tears”, “she wanted and could not cry”. Dream and reality mingled in her mind: “It seemed to her that her daughter was sleeping next to her, then she heard an indistinct whisper: “Mom, drink.” And in this difficult time, Evgeny turned out to be next to Aksinya. Aksinya laconically explains to Evgeny the reason for her connection with him: “The need made me such. I'm exhausted alone."

And it is precisely the need and loneliness that force Aksinya, in spite of her “black pride” and selfless love for Grigory, to return to Stepan, who “has crushed her young life”, “dried her heart”. Despite the morally vicious actions, the reader cannot condemn and despise Aksinya, because they are vitally justified. Aksinya's relationship with Listnitsky and Stepan does not discredit her, but emphasizes the beauty and depth of her feminine love for Grigory.

Aksinya is not a saint and is far from ideal, but for many decades readers have not stopped admiring her love and strength of character. The author repeatedly emphasizes her “vicious beauty”, “viciously inviting look”, “calling, viciously open lips”. But at the end of the novel, after the death of Natalya, we see a completely different Aksinya - whole and wise. Dunyashka reaches out to her, Ilyinichna recognizes her right to her son, Natalya's children call her mother, and even Stepan began to respect her feelings for Grigory. Aksinya carried her love for Gregory through her entire difficult, warped life. A simple, illiterate Cossack woman, she had a complex, rich soul. ... Life without Grigory, without love, was unbearable for Aksinya, therefore, to the call of her beloved to go with him, she answers: “Grisha, dear, I’ll crawl ...” Bright, impulsive, selfless Aksinya remains for a long time in the memory of readers.

Aksinya, unlike Natalia, is endowed with the gift of empathy, tact and complicity. She notices and understands the smallest shades of Grigory's mood, lives the life of her beloved, he is life itself for her. “... The world died for her when Grigory was absent, and was reborn when he was near her,” Sholokhov notes. She saw and understood his spiritual split when he rushed between the reds and whites, hoping to find the third truth: “She knew what he was thinking, she herself suffered, seeing how hard it was for him. She didn't ask anything. Let him decide for himself." When Grigory rushes between her and Natalya, who raised his children, she mockingly advises him to start a harem. But when Natalya dies, Aksinya, feeling guilty about her death, waits for Grigory to speak to her first.

Natalia is a kind, hardworking and beautiful woman. But nature did not endow her with the power of feelings that Aksinya possessed. Trying to get used to family life imposed by his parents, Grigory tells his wife: “You are some kind of alien ... You are like this month: you don’t cool and don’t warm ... nothing in her heart ... Empty ... ”Natalia loves Gregory in her own way, but her world is limited by household, children and husband. Brought up in a patriarchal family, the old Melekhovs liked her. But she could not understand Gregory, and she did not try. His thoughts and interests, aspirations and throwings were alien and incomprehensible to her. If Aksinya calmly accepts all the decisions of her beloved, lives in the calm hope that everything can change in the future, then Natalya is able to do the irreparable in the heat of the moment. The first time her attempt to commit suicide was unsuccessful, but she did not leave this intention.

Upon learning that Grigory continues to cheat on her with Aksinya, Natalya accuses her husband of debauchery and drunkenness: "... You screwed up, accused yourself, and now you are turning everything to war." Grigory replies: “There is nothing more to talk about with you ... But I’m not a comforter to you at once. I was so smeared with someone else's blood that I had no remorse left for anyone. I almost don’t regret my childhood, but I don’t even think about myself. The war took everything out of me. I became terrible to myself. Look into my soul, and there is blackness, like in an empty well ... "Natalya is not able to look into the soul of her beloved, and therefore Grigory's soul reaches out not to her, but to Aksinya:" She alone beckoned him to her, as she beckons a traveler on a chilling black autumn night, a distant quivering fire in the steppe.

Gregory rarely remembers Natalya. He does not feel her support. Not about her, but mainly about children, Melekhov thinks in difficult situations. The love of children aroused in him a reciprocal feeling, which passed on to Natalya. But after the death of Natalia, Grigory began to think about her more often: “He exhausted himself with work ... and still remembered Natalia ... He remembered her figure, gait, her way of straightening her hair, her smile, the intonation of her voice ... "

At turning points in the fate of the heroines, the author compares their inner life with changes in nature. So, the life of Aksinya and her state of mind after Grigory was married to Natalya, the author compares with a field of wheat trampled down by a herd and with the feeling of its owner: “So it is with Aksinya. Grishka stepped on the feeling ripened in the golden bloom with a heavy rawhide chirp, trampled, pounded - and that’s all ... ”But Aksinya, and the author with her, believes in the continuation of life:“ Bread poisoned by cattle rises. From the dew, from the sun, a stalk driven into the ground rises: at first it bends, like a man overstrained by an unbearable weight, then straightens up, raises his head, and the day shines on him in the same way, and the wind shakes in the same way.

Natalya Melekhova and Aksinya Astakhova love Grigory desperately and selflessly, and this love leads to a tragic outcome - both heroines die at the end of the novel. Natalya cannot come to terms with the idea that her husband loves Aksinya - she decides to have an abortion and dies, forgiving her husband for everything. Aksinya is driven by love for Grigory to the Kuban, where Melekhov hopes to hide from the authorities. But Aksinya was not destined to find family happiness: the patrolman who met them on the way fired, and the bullet mortally wounded her. The ending of each of the heroines is natural in its own way.

Unforgettable is the image of Grigory's mother - Ilyinichna. Her whole life was spent in work. She received a lot of beatings from her violent and wayward husband, she knew a lot of anxieties, she suffered a lot of losses during the years of wars: imperialist and civil. Ilyinichna is a modest and hardworking woman, she has a wise mind, a courageous and strong character, a big, loving heart. She also managed to curb Panteley Prokofievich: imperceptibly, but firmly, she leads him. It was under her influence that her husband did not let Natalya's brother, Mitka Korshunov, into the house, having learned that he had massacred the family of Mikhail Koshevoy. "I don't want you to trash my house! And more so that your foot does not set foot on me. We, the Melekhovs, are not related to the executioners, that's it! the old man declared resolutely, guided by Ilyinichna's stern gaze.

Ilyinichna had the most ardent love for her youngest son Grisha. She had been waiting for him until the last minute since the war, having lost both her husband, her eldest son, and both daughters-in-law. Before her death, having gathered the last of her strength, she left the hut at night. “A full moon shone. A breeze blew from the steppe. From the laying of straw on the bare current, beaten out by stone rollers, a thick shadow fell ... Ilyinichna looked for a long time into the twilight blue of the steppe, and then softly, as if he were standing right there next to her, called:

Grishenka! My dear one! - She paused and already in a different, low and deaf voice she said: - My little blood!

The combination of the epic depiction of great historical events with the amazing lyricism of the narration, the transfer of the most subtle experiences of the characters, the disclosure of their most intimate feelings and thoughts, and to a greater extent this applies to the description of the images of ordinary Russian women, gives considerable merit to the novel "Quiet Flows the Don". It is difficult to find another such work in Russian literature, on the pages of which so much attention and bright colors would be given by its author to a woman and her bitter share. Tenderness and pain in relation to the heroines come from the depths of the author's heart. “Not an azure scarlet color, but a dog’s impotence, a drunken roadside, late woman’s love blooms ...” Sholokhov remarked on the first pages of his novel. The love of Aksinya and Natalya had to go through many trials, but even she did not help them withstand the storm of the time in which they had to live. But the main thing is that this love still flared up with such a light that everything immediately became brighter and gave strength to the future love, soaring to the heights of the new time.