The character and fate of Aksinya Astakhova. Sholokhov spring
Aksinya Astakhova - she is one of the main characters of the novel “Quiet Don”, a Cossack woman, the wife of Stepan Astakhov and the beloved of Grigory Melekhov. Fate has been cruel to Aksinya since childhood. Having learned early on the slave position of a woman, she was married to an unloved man. The marriage only intensified the hard labor and physical humiliation of the girl. Once at Don's she met Gregory, with whom she could no longer part. For his sake, she was not afraid of bad fame in the village and the anger of a jealous husband. She plunged headlong into this love, with all her directness and honesty. In her relationship with Grigory, she wanted to “fall out of bitter love throughout her entire life.” If at first it was a little selfish love, to spite her husband and for her “dried up” heart, then this feeling changed and blossomed.
Changes in the heroine also occurred with the birth of her daughter. Her “vicious” beauty turned into “confident-happy.” She took Gregory away from the family more than once, but more and more often not out of selfishness, but by sacrificing herself. For his sake, she warmed Mishatka, became close to Ilyinichna, and after Natalya’s death she took care of her children. She was close to her beloved to the end and witnessed all his tossing and turning. At the end of the novel, Aksinya dies from a Red Guard bullet right in the arms of Gregory, having never known calm human happiness, but having fully fulfilled her feminine destiny. The last thing she thought about were children and love.
Aksinya Astakhova is one of the main characters in M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don,” which takes place in the Tatarsky farm and reveals the life of the Don Cossacks.
Aksinya is a Cossack woman with a very difficult and even tragic fate. She is very beautiful, perhaps this is what creates problems for her and changes her destiny. The author says that Aksinya’s beauty is very vicious and destructive for herself. The neighbors are jealous of Aksinya because the men look at her. And it’s hard not to stare, because Aksinya’s black eyes, plump cherry lips, dark face, beautiful posture and thick curly hair involuntarily attract the eye. In the entire description of Aksinya’s appearance and feelings, one can feel the author’s own tenderness towards her.
There were few joyful events in Aksinya's life. As a very young girl, she was raped by her own father, and after this became known to her family, they beat her father to death. This was the beginning of a series of troubles and misfortunes that haunted Aksinya throughout her life, and for her father’s death she blamed herself to the last, even despite what he did to her.
Later she was married off, but her husband began beating her almost immediately after the wedding, even when she was expecting a child, the beatings did not stop. The child did not live even a year, and with the death of the child, beatings from the husband resumed. He absolutely did not want to appreciate and understand Aksinya, although she did a very good job with the housework, was not afraid even of men’s work, whitewashed and thatched the house, mowed the grass and drove the bulls herself, got up at dawn and fed the cows. While working, Aksinya tried to hide her bad thoughts and not think about anything.
Perhaps this attitude of her husband was the reason that Aksinya fell passionately in love with Grigory Melekhov, who showed her a little attention and understanding. She seemed to have lost her head from these new feelings. No one treated her as much as Grigory did, so she is ready to follow him to the ends of the earth. The whole village knows about the love of Grigory and Aksinya, Aksinya even admitted to her husband that she fell in love with another, although she knew that she would be beaten again, but she is an honest woman, so she cannot hide it.
Together, the lovers left the farm and began to live as husband and wife, and soon they had a daughter. It would seem that this is happiness, but fate again decided otherwise: the daughter became very ill and died. From grief, Aksinya loses her mind and gives herself up to the owner for whom she and Grisha worked and lived.
Grigory could not forgive Aksinya for this and left her, and she had to return to her unloved husband, who forgave her for her betrayal, since he realized that he loved her when he lost her, although he continued to behave like a master towards her. Grigory soon married a Cossack woman, Natalya. Grigory and Aksinya just couldn’t stop thinking about each other, so Aksinya decided to fight for her love and was still able to take Grisha away from the family.
Only their happiness was short-lived again, Aksinya tragically dies in the arms of her beloved, and the inconsolable Grigory loses the meaning of life.
Essay Characteristics of Aksinya Astakhova
“Quiet Don” is one of the outstanding creations of M.A. Sholokhov, received worldwide recognition. The work has been translated into foreign languages and filmed four times. And, most importantly, the author was awarded the Nobel Prize.
The plot of the novel reveals the life of the Don Cossacks. The action takes place in the Tatarsky farm. One of the most striking and unforgettable characters in the work is Aksinya, who was married to Stepan Astakhov. The heroine loved Grishka Melekhov with all her heart. Her path in life was not easy, her fate was tragic. As, indeed, with most of the heroes of the novel.
Already in her youth, Aksinya began her tragic path. The rape and tragic death of the father seemed to lead to a series of misfortunes. Marriage also did not bring her happiness. From the first day until the child was born, the husband brutally beat the heroine. The baby died, and the husband’s abuse continued. Love for Grishka Melekhov became an outlet for Aksinya. She needed it, like a breath of fresh air.
She knew that her husband, returning from service, would beat her harder than before. But this did not frighten Aksinya. The love living in her heart gave her strength. Only when she found out that Gregory was marrying Natalya, everything turned upside down in the heroine’s soul. Pain and resentment overwhelmed her. But Aksinya, firmly deciding to fight for her happiness, takes Grigory Melekhov away from the family.
Having left their native farm, Aksinya and Grigory live together as husband and wife. Soon their daughter is born. And Aksinya, pleased that Grigory is next to her, could be quite happy. But fate presented her with a difficult test. Her little daughter became seriously ill and died. Grief seems to take away the reason from the inconsolable heroine. Maybe that’s why she gave herself to the owner for whom she and Grigory worked and lived.
Grigory, after everything that happened, left Aksinya. She had to return to her hated husband. But all her thoughts are only about Gregory. Only with him can she be happy. Gregory, forced to leave his native place, takes Aksinya with him to a foreign land. Only they were not destined to be together. Aksinya's happiness did not last long. She tragically dies in the arms of her loved one.
Option 3
Many people of different ages have heard about Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”. The work is large, has a huge number of plot lines and characters. One of the main characters, “drawn” by Mikhail Alexandrovich, is called Aksinya Astakhova.
So who is Aksinya? A girl who was raped by her father at the age of sixteen. For this he was killed by his own son, Aksinya’s brother. This is a girl who, at seventeen, was not married for love. One misfortune gave way to another. Stepan Astakhov turned out to be not the most ideal husband. For several years he severely beat his wife. Because of these tortures, Aksinya lost her child. Stepan was cunning, he never hit his woman in the face so that his fellow villagers would not suspect anything.
We can say that Aksinya is the brightest character in the novel. She always felt guilty for the death of her father and child. She didn't know true love. And when I met Grigory Melikhov, she was a distrustful woman who didn’t trust anyone. Aksinya could not imagine that someone could love her and give her the purest and most tender feelings. But after thinking about the situation several times, she completely surrendered to this “madness.”
Sholokhov draws a heroine-mistress. Who is both a sinner and a saint. Aksinya's immorality is redeemed by her all-consuming love. It seems that even the author does not condemn her, but, on the contrary, puts the heroine on a pedestal. It is not for nothing that Sholokhov describes Aksinya as a beautiful and intelligent girl.
It was love that changed the character of Aksinya Astakhova. She was able to numb the pain of losing her child. I was able to forget about all the bruises inflicted by Stepan’s hand. Her inner core is combined with femininity and devotion. And she did not care about public opinion about her love. She was able to give her tenderness to Melikhov’s children.
The love of Aksinya and Gregory saved their lives. She, a married woman beaten by her husband, found the strength to love and see the world in new colors. Aksinya was able to preserve her sincere and wonderful feelings throughout her life.
Spring is the most extraordinary time of the year. In spring nature comes to life. In spring, the snow melts and the first green grass appears. In spring you can hear the birds singing. In spring, the sun shines and your mood immediately improves.
Platonov, as a Soviet writer, very often turned to the themes of the Soviet political system, the concept of building a new socialist society that seemed incorrect to him
Lermontov wrote the work “Hero of Our Time,” which soon became very famous. This novel can be interpreted in completely different ways. It is also perceived differently for all readers
May 24 is a special day for residents of the Upper Don: 106 years ago, in the steppe farm of Kruzhilino, assigned to the village of Vyoshenskaya, a boy was born into the family of Alexander Mikhailovich Sholokhov, clerk of the merchant Paramonov. They christened him Michael according to the calendar.
Today the Kruzhilinsky farm is known throughout the world as the birthplace of the great Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate, author of the novels “Quiet Don”, “Virgin Soil Upturned”, “They Fought for the Motherland”, the story “The Little Road”, the collections of stories “Don Stories” and “ Azure Steppe”, stories “The Fate of Man” and “The Science of Hate” by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov.
More than 35 thousand people gathered at the All-Russian literary and folklore festival “Sholokhov Spring 2011”, which took place from May 27 to 29 in the writer’s homeland.
I read the novel “Quiet Don” 5-6 times, all 4 books. Moreover, I only got around to it after retirement. This is a great work by a great author! Then I bought an audiobook, where the speaker’s reading is accompanied by real Cossack singing. I listen in transport. I am a person very far from the Cossacks, but this novel has become my reference book. Sholokhov’s depth and talent are all-encompassing. You are amazed at how accurately and how subtly the author portrays his characters heroes.
In Sholokhov’s books we find answers to the main questions and learn to understand universal human values. This is the secret of eternal youth and vitality of the writer’s works.
This monument to the main characters of “Quiet Don” Aksinya and Gregory was erected on the banks of the Don near the village of Veshenskaya:
I tried to analyze Aksinya’s life, so short and tragic:
Aksinya Astakhova - medical history
date born around 1892
At the age of 16, she suffered severe psychological trauma - she was raped by her own father. In the fall, in the steppe where they plowed, 8 miles from the Dubrovsky farm, where she then lived with her parents and brother. Then she became a witness, her brother and mother beat her father to death, who died before her eyes. This happened around the fall of 1908.
A year later, when she married Stepan, she was 17 years old, on the second day after the wedding she was severely beaten by her husband (for not being a girl) - blows to the stomach, back, chest. The wedding took place in autumn meat-eater, i.e. late autumn, pre-winter 1909
A year and a half after getting married, i.e. Aksinya was 18 and a half years old, she gave birth to a child with the help of a midwife. The birth was not very difficult. Contractions began in the morning, and somewhere in the afternoon she already gave birth. But again there was psychological trauma - within an hour before the birth of the child, her mother-in-law, who had been ill for a long time, died. This happened in the spring of 1911
I lost a child who did not live to see a year. Aksinya was not yet 20 years old. i.e. at the end of 1911 or at the very beginning of 1912, most likely in winter.
She was again subjected to a brutal beating by Stepan after his return from the May camps (annual military training) in 1912. The reason was Stepan’s jealousy, moreover, justified because Aksinya openly cheated on him with a neighbor’s guy Grigory, while Stepan was at training camp. The beatings were terrible - a fist to the head, a forged boot to the stomach, back, face. The novel says that Aksinya got off easily, Stepan could have killed or mutilated for life, since the strength in him was immeasurable. He spilled his anger in a fight with Peter.
After this day, the husband’s torture became daily - he humiliated Aksinya and mentally and physically, almost sadistically, twisted the skin on her chest, pinched, beat, covering her mouth. Her entire chest was covered in cherry-blue bruises.
Pregnancy and childbirth. In July 1913, Aksinya gave birth to a girl from Grigory. Contractions began in a field while harvesting barley, Grigory did not have time to take her to the Listnitsky estate, where they then lived and were hired workers. Aksinya gave birth without anyone’s help, on the bottom of an uncovered cart, during driving wildly on a bumpy road. Grigory gnawed the baby's umbilical cord and tied it with a piece of his own shirt. The baby was born strong. Aksinya quickly recovered after giving birth. The girl was named Tanya.
In September 1914, the girl fell ill with a severe form of scarlet fever and a few days later died in the arms of Aksinya, distraught with grief. Grigory was called up for service on December 26, 1913, and in the summer of 1914 the First World War began, he fought at the front. Aksinya lived with her daughter all the time this is the time, and when Tanechka died, she was left completely alone on someone else’s estate.
After this tragedy, Aksinya no longer had children, she did not become pregnant.
In November of the same 1914, Grigory unexpectedly returned to Yagodnoye for a short vacation after being wounded in the eye. From the groom Sashka he learns that Aksinya cheated on him with the young gentleman Evgeny Listnitsky. Grigory hits her in the face with a whip, throwing an insulting word, leaves her and Yagodnoye , returns to his family, to his parents, where his legal wife Natalya also lived
From that day until August 1918, Aksinya lived in Yagodnoye without Grigory. When Listnitsky appeared, she lived with him. She was assigned to a maid, she no longer did hard work, she recovered, became even more prettier, but she had no true happiness. About her nothing is written about illnesses at this time. She somehow broke away from village life. When Listnitsky brought his young wife, she had no reason to stay in Yagodnoye, and the master himself directly hinted to her that he no longer needed her.
And when Stepan, who had returned from captivity, called her back, Aksinya did not hesitate for long. She returned again to Tatarskoye, this happened somewhere in August 1918.
They lived quietly, unnoticed; there are no details in the novel until the beginning of the Veshensky uprising in February-March 1919.
The Reds came to Tatarsky on January 8, 1919. Repressions and excesses on the part of the Reds began. An uprising of the Cossacks was brewing. At the end of February, horse and foot hundreds were formed in Tatarsky and many other farms. Fierce clashes began between the Cossacks and the Reds throughout the Upper Don. In March 1919, Pyotr Melekhov, Gregory’s brother, died. Gregory was on the side of the Cossack rebels.
After 4 and a half years of separation, Aksinya and Grigory first met only after the start of the uprising, when Grigory, together with Christonya and Anikushka, came to the Astakhovs’ kuren to Stepan to enroll him in the hundred, he flatly refused to fight, but they forced him. Grigory glanced briefly at the frightened Aksinya. This was at the end of February 1919. In mid-April 1919, Aksinya accidentally met Gregory on the banks of the Don (they were already about 26-27 years old). He came from the unit that was stationed along the Chir for a few days for spring plowing and sowing grain. They met in the same place, near the Don, where their love once began. The passion that flared up with renewed vigor will be with them until the end, until Aksinya’s death.
By December 1919, the White Cossack army rolled south under the blows of the Reds. Panic and confusion reigned on the Don. A retreat began. Grigory was lying at home with typhus, as soon as he recovered a little and became stronger, he decided to set off on a retreat along with everyone else to find his regiment. Decided take Aksinya with him. By this time, his wife Natalya had died. We left in mid-December. On the way, she fell ill with typhus. For Aksinya it all started with a severe headache, nausea, and loss of strength. She complained of chills and dizziness, and sweated profusely in her sleep. She had a hot blush and a suspicious sparkle in her eyes. She was sick for several days until she became completely exhausted. They traveled for several days, spent the night in passing villages. They became very lousy. A strong fever began. She was tormented by thirst. On the third or fourth day, Aksinya became very bad, she was already half-forgotten. She could no longer get up from the sleigh. They led her arm in arm into another house in Novo-Mikhailovsky to random owners. Her eyes became clouded, her cheeks were cold as ice, and her forehead was burning at her temples perspiration began to appear. By the evening of this day, Aksinya lost consciousness. Before that, she asked for a drink, only very cold, snowy. Grigory had difficulty persuading the owner of the apartment to leave the sick woman with him. This was at the end of December 1919. And he, Prokhor and other refugees were forced was to move further south. They reached Novorossiysk all the way to the Black Sea.
Aksinya was ill for a long time and was able to get back on her feet only in the spring of 1920. She had hope that Grigory would take her, but having learned that the war was not over, that many Cossacks had gone to the Crimea, and those who remained went to the Red Army and to the mines, she decided to go home. It took a long time to get there, about two weeks She got to Tatarskoye by the end of March 1920. She became very thin, her hair fell out, and her weakness continued. But gradually she became involved in farming - working in the fields, sowing, repairing a neglected house, etc. After all, there were no men, no one to help.
Grigory returned only in November. Soviet power is on the farm. And Grigory served with the whites. His mother and father are no longer at home. Dunyasha’s sister married Mikhail Koshevoy. He lives in his father’s house. The meeting is cold. They were once friends, but now they are class enemies. He and his children went to live with Aksinya. But they lived together for less than a week. The danger of arrest hung over Grigory, which he feared more than death. He fled from Tatarskoe.
He appeared again in the farm with the goal of taking Aksinya six months later on a short July night. Leaving the sleeping children in the care of Dunyasha, they fled that same night.
Death of Aksinya. The next night they came across a patrol and a bullet killed Aksinya. The bullet entered Aksinya’s left shoulder blade, crushed the bone and came out obliquely under the right collarbone. Blood gushed from under the collarbone - the vessel was broken. Blood flowed from his half-open mouth, bubbling and gurgling in the throat. Breathing - whistling, choking - in the air, the lung is affected. She died in Grigory’s arms shortly before dawn, without regaining consciousness. Grigory buried her in a ditch 2 km from the farm where she was wounded, the name is not given. The only landmark is Chir River. There is no cross or stone on the grave. Aksinya died in July 1921, i.e. approximately 29 years old.
CONCLUSION: Aksinya Astakhova lived a very short life - 29 years old. She died tragically. In her life she suffered many trials, mental turmoil, mental and physical trauma. She gave birth twice, girls. She lost both of them in infancy. Despite everything, she was a fairly strong, strong woman. If not for the tragedy, I could have lived a long time.
Aksinya's image
The author of the novel endowed Aksinya with a special charm. She has both external and internal beauty. She stubbornly fights for her happiness, having early experienced all the bitterness of the female lot, she boldly and openly rebels against the slavish, humiliated position of women, against patriarchal morality. Aksinya’s passionate love for Gregory expresses a decisive protest against wasted youth, against the torture and despotism of her father and unloved husband. Her struggle for Gregory, for happiness with him, is a struggle for the assertion of her human rights. Rebellious and rebellious, with her head held high, she went against prejudice, hypocrisy and falsehood, winning her happiness with her loved one, causing evil rumors and gossip.
Aksinya is incredibly beautiful. This is how Sholokhov describes her: “...The wind ruffled Aksinya’s skirt, fingered small fluffy curls on her dark neck. A cap embroidered with colored silk glowed on the heavy knot of her hair, a pink shirt tucked into a skirt, without wrinkles, covered her round back and plump shoulders...” The heroine has a beautiful and proud gait: she even carries buckets of water in a special way - very majestic and graceful.
The author does not hide anything from Aksinya’s life: neither the fact that she, sixteen years old, was raped by her drunken father, nor the fact that her husband later beat her. Her youth was desecrated by the abuse of her father and the torture of her husband. For the heroine, love is a kind of way out of a hopeless past, which is why she gives herself entirely to her feelings: “Aksinya was reborn from the meadow mowing. As if someone had made a mark on her face, burned the brand. The women, when they met her, grinned sarcastically, shook their heads after her, the girls were jealous, and she proudly held her happy, but shameful head high.”
Aksinya loves Gregory sensually and passionately. The relationship between them is described very harshly: “He persistently, with brutal persistence, courted her. And it was this stubbornness that scared Aksinya.” She is willful and reckless in her passion and loves Gregory so much that she is ready to do anything, even kill her husband. Grigory begins: “I thought, let’s finish with you...” Aksinya thinks out the terrible words to herself: “... let’s finish Stepan,” but “he licked his lips in annoyance...” - and adds, “let’s finish this story. A?"
And Gregory loves Aksinya. “The exciting smell of her lips remains on Gregory’s lips, smelling either of the winter wind, or of the distant, elusive smell of steppe hay sprinkled with May rain...” This description conveys the freshness, health, and purity of the heroine. But the writer also emphasizes her “vicious and alluring beauty,” her lips “shamelessly greedy, plump,” her eyes flashing with a “spoiled, desperate light” and smile.
When Aksinya learns about Melekhov’s decision to leave the farm and live with her, “on her lips, hidden from Grigory’s eyes, a joyful smile, filled with fulfilled happiness, trembled.” She was incredibly happy. Her smile reflects the most contradictory feelings. So, for example, long-standing pain and melancholy, surprise and tenderness were reflected in Aksinya’s smile when, after a long separation, she met Gregory on the banks of the Don, at the pier: “She smiled such a pitiful, confused smile, so unbecoming of her proud face that Gregory my heart trembled with pity and love..."
One of the constant definitions of Aksinya’s human essence, her struggle for happiness, becomes the epithet “proud” in the novel. Aksinya has a “proud” face, despising farm gossip, she “carried her happy but shameful head proudly and high.” After a quarrel with the Melekhovs, she did not greet them, “with satanic pride, flaring her nostrils, she walked past.” The repeatedly repeated definition of “proud” serves to highlight one of Aksinya’s most significant character traits. Aksinya is proud not only of her bright, exciting beauty. Her pride expresses a constant readiness to defend her human dignity, shows resilience, strength and nobility of character.
Difficult life trials did not break Aksinya, but on the contrary, they brought out the best in her. If at the beginning of the novel she could, under the influence of a momentary mood, change Grigory and Listnitsky, insult Natalya, yell at Pantelei Prokofievich, then in the last volume she changes, shows love and understanding towards other people. Aksinya develops a new feeling towards her unloved husband Stepan - she begins to understand him and feel sorry for him in her own way. The attitude towards Natalya also changes: in the last conversation, when Natalya comes to find out whether Aksinya has really “taken possession” of Grigory again, Aksinya no longer mocks Natalya as before, but sensibly, almost like Ilyinichna, reasons: “You know what? Let's not talk about him anymore. He will be alive... he will return - he will choose.” Aksinya loves Gregory’s children with all the fullness of maternal feelings (“They themselves, Grisha, began to call me mother, don’t think that I taught them”). It is no coincidence that Ilyinichna, who had previously been so irreconcilable about Grigory’s relationship with Aksinya, as Dunyashka says, “has fallen in love with Aksinya lately.”
As soon as maternal feelings awaken in Aksinya, everything vicious and defiant in her disappears, and this affects her attitude towards the world and other people. So, Aksinya takes care of grandfather Sashka just as touchingly as Natalya did in her time towards grandfather Grishak. However, Aksinya will have to overcome her self-will for a long time until she finally gives up the desire to take possession of Gregory at any cost and atones, at least partially, for her sin before Natalya by replacing the mother of Gregory’s children.
Aksinya cannot lie, dodge, or deceive. Hypocrisy disgusts her. When Natalya came to talk to her about Gregory, who was rumored to be dating a neighbor, Aksinya tries to evade the answer. But it was enough for Natalya to reproach her, when Astakhova, flushed, proudly and sharply confirmed the assumptions of her deceived wife.
Truthfulness and directness are in her character. For example, Grigory and Stepan are sitting at the same table. When Aksinya saw them together, horror flashed in her eyes. The husband, with hatred and longing, offers her a drink for the long separation. He knew well for whom this man came to them. Aksinya refuses:
"- You know…
I know everything now... Well, not for separation! For the health of our dear guest, Grigory Panteleevich.
I'll drink to his health! “Aksinya said loudly and drank the glass in one gulp.”
And in this impulse is the entire main character, freely and fearlessly expressing her feelings. If Natalya lowered her head under the blow of fate, reproaching herself for not being able to change the course of events, then Aksinya met danger with her head held high and entered into the struggle for happiness.
Aksinya proved her love and loyalty to Gregory with her whole life: “And no matter what she thought about, no matter what she did, she was always invariably, inseparably in her thoughts about Gregory. This is how a blind horse walks in a circle in Chigir, turning the watering wheel around its axis...”
Aksinya did not want to see anything in the world except her beloved, because of him she always lived in terrible tension and excitement, never thinking about whose side he fought on. At his first call, she could part with anything and anyone, just to be close to him. And the last time he came for her at night, she without hesitation and even joyfully got ready and went, not knowing where. To Gregory’s question: “Well? Are you going? - she answers: “What would you think?... Is it sweet for me alone? I’ll go, Grishenka, my dear! I’ll walk, I’ll crawl after you, and I won’t be left alone anymore! I have no life without you... It’s better to kill, but don’t leave again!” Seeing her eyes, swollen from tears, but shining with happiness, Grigory, grinning, thought: “She got ready and went, as if on a visit... Nothing frightens her, what a fine woman...”
But this last attempt by Aksinya to finally find happiness turned into death for her. Far from the farm she found her refuge.
The image of Aksinya is built on the development of the motif of fire and heat, on the motif of the heroine’s special vitality and her gift of “feeling” into nature.
The motif of fire and heat first appears in the portrait of the heroine in the meadow, then it acquires the role of a symbol of the invincibility of love and passion. Forbidden love leaves an imprint on Aksinya’s proud face (it’s like a brand on it scorched), and “shameless fire"love passion manifests itself powerfully and aggressively in the clash with Pantelei Prokofievich, and in separation from Grigory "in the eyes, sprinkled with ashes fear, barely noticeable smoldering ember, left over from what Grishka lit fire».
“Fiery” images become a sign of the truth and exclusivity of Aksinya’s feelings; they are certainly present in scenes and author’s descriptions associated with Aksinya and Gregory. And even at the moment of Gregory’s confession of dislike for his wife, Aksinya’s presence is indicated by a “flickering red speck of a fire” in the steppe, a “speck” from which the flame flares up again: during a date in the winter forest are burning Aksinya’s cheeks are filled with shame and joy, and her eyes flash with “pampered, desperate with a twinkle", and then "all on fire and trembling" she is waiting for news from Gregory, and even the pain caused by pregnancy, pain before fiery splashes, leaves no doubt that Aksinya is carrying Gregory’s child, in her maternal love there is a reflection of fiery love for Gregory: Aksinya was attached to her daughter too burning feeling.
The meeting of Gregory and Aksinya in Yagodnoye is permeated with antithetical motifs of cold and fire: Gregory chills strike, and hands fiery hot; on red Aksinya's lips - frozen smile. And the scene ends with a landscape sketch that parallels the state of Aksinya, who understands the inevitability of separation as retribution for betraying the feeling that connected her with Gregory. And the fire motif seems to be completed in Gregory’s thoughts about Aksinya: “ Destructive, fire her beauty did not belong to him.” This beauty is emphasized again by the author in the scene of Listnitsky’s parting with Aksinya: leaving, he sees yellow the doorway of an abandoned lover - she looks at fire and smiles. And Stepan, returning to the farm, longingly, looks for a long time at the flowing stirrup of the Don, at fiery the last month on the Don water, and the decision comes to return fire Aksinya, start life again.
The motif of heat and fire is continued in the scene of a chance meeting between Aksinya and Gregory on the banks of the Don, which “turned a new corner” of their lives and culminates in the description of three “blazing heat” days in Vyoshenskaya.
In parallel with the development of this motif, there are other natural sketches that are in tune with the sensations and experiences of Sholokhov’s heroine (the symbolic image of the “yellow frost”, the “sun” sign on Aksinya’s cheek in the scene in sunflowers, detailed comparisons with trampled ears of corn and a snow avalanche, landscapes from Aksinya’s life period in Yagodnoye and others), and the “secret sound” of the forest revealed to Aksinya in the episode with the lily of the valley is not accidental. The surprisingly finely drawn picture of nature amazes with its multi-sounding, multi-subject and detailed nature, the stereoscopic nature of the author’s view, emphasizing the naturalness of Sholokhov’s heroine, and the motives of sadness, languid expectation, the transience of life and dissatisfaction of desires open up the horizons of meaning of a particular episode.
The death of Natalya, the retreat with Grigory, a serious illness and return to his native farm, attachment to Grigory’s children - all this changed Aksinya, in her eyes Grigory, who returned home, saw not a spark of feverish passion, but devotion and shine. Aksinya’s ability to value her family life delights the author. “In essence, a person needs very little to be happy. Aksinya, in any case, was happy that evening,” he formulates the main idea of his large-scale narrative.
And the last day of Aksinya is marked radiance her eye. Aksinya enjoys the beauty of a summer morning, her mood is surprisingly in tune with the world around her, and she is again ready to follow her happiness, to go off-road, firmly believing: “We will find our share!” And the whole scene becomes two-dimensional: on one plane - Aksinya’s faith in the possibility of finding “full happiness”, on the other - the author’s sober view, indicated by the words: “Again ghostly the unknown attracted her with happiness,” “the world seemed her jubilant and bright,” with a retrospective and symbolic image of a wreath with rosehip flowers.
The night landscape, filled with anxiety and signs of impending disaster, is pierced by a fiery flash that brings death to the “fire” Aksinye. The motif of fire and heat receives its completion: daylight loses its power, because the disappearance of the symbol “Aksinya - fire, heat” affects the sun: it becomes black, and the disappearance of the parallel of the last episodes “Aksinya - light” makes not only the sun black, but also the sky. Gregory's life without Aksinya is likened to a black steppe scorched by burning fires.
The image of this heroine is amazing in its drama, directness and passion of feeling. It is passion, a powerful, almost bestial erotic, vital energy that unites Gregory and Aksinya - primarily at the deep-natural level of temperament. These are two magnificent natural specimens of a Cossack and a Cossack woman, with a clearly expressed opposite and therefore especially attractive gender sign: he is the embodiment of masculinity (the wild beauty of black burning eyes, thick spreading eyebrows, a vulture nose, an elastic strong body with a chest densely covered with fur... ), she is femininity, magnetic and attractive charm. Gregory is not warm, but hot in everything: in the type of emotionality, in impetuous reactions, in violent outbursts of anger, in bravery in battle, in love (“Damn mad! ... tormented Circassian” - brother Petro about him). Aksinya is also accompanied by the image of heat, fire (“it burned him with the blazing black eyes”), erotic fury (“And what a fierce woman, brothers! On Styopka, you can even wring out a shirt... It’s stuck to his shoulder blades!” She drove him out, in all soap..."). With all the fiery dominance of her erotic nature, such a pliable, affectionate, predominantly feminine element as water, moisture is not alien to her (“wet black eyes”, “In Aksinya’s eyes, moistened and shining...” - here, towards the end of the novel, light also appears).
Aksinya is natural, not uptight, and at times even shameless in her desires, in the manifestations of her sensual naturalness - this is irresistible and lights up men. It would seem that in a certain female typology, Aksinya resembles Daria: strong sensuality, some involvement in erotic abysses, even specific features of appearance emphasized by Sholokhov - the heat of the eyes and mouth, “viciously greedy” lips, a gait swaying at the hips. The writer deprives both of them of motherhood (at the very beginning of “Quiet Don” Daria flashes, singing a lullaby to the baby, who then disappears without a trace, presumably dies, just as Aksinya’s child from Stepan dies “before reaching the age of one year”, and scarlet fever in the same infancy carries away her and Gregory's daughter), in different ways emphasizing their outstanding qualities as female lovers par excellence. And yet, the main and defining thing separates them: Daria lives in the impersonal element of eros, representing a kind of Cossack hetaera, reacting with equal warm favor to the men who come across her path; Aksinya - despite the fact that she is fiery and passionate with both Stepan and Listnitsky - is primarily marked by the individual choice of a single, absolute love.
This love of Aksinya and Grigory is depicted in the novel in a meager sequence of several of its ups: the first convergence, when Stepan left for the camps, then Grigory’s departure from Natalya and life together with Aksinya in Yagodnoye, a breakup and only four years later a new meeting with the Don, reconciliation, one night of love, then three days in Veshenskaya, a joint retreat, when Aksinya’s dream of leaving with her beloved, being together, came true, but not a single, even the most chaste, scene of erotic love, and road hardships, dirt, lice, typhus came into their own , and, finally, a short anxious period of their love after the return of Grigory from Budyonny’s army and in the finale a new escape and death of the heroine.
It is interesting that Aksinya’s love (not counting, perhaps, her first period, when the young Grishka Melekhov sought and achieved her with “bugain persistence”) is, as it were, primary - she captivates, ignites, fans the fire of passion. This becomes especially obvious in the second half of the novel, when her lover went through such horrors, spiritual devastation, and took upon himself such grave sins that Aksinya does not know. A few years after the catastrophe of their relationship, they meet again at Don’s, their “many-year” feeling flares up with renewed vigor, but Aksinya herself calls Gregory, and the two of them leave for the night “into the steppe, beckoning with silence, darkness, the drunken smells of young grass,” - here their love element seems to be cramped in an upper room, nature itself is needed... But what does Grigory think the next day, leaving for the division? “Well, life has turned around again in a new way, but my heart is still cold and empty... Apparently, Aksyutka will no longer be able to cover up this emptiness.”
And at the new meeting in Veshenskaya, it was she who “wound herself with wild hops,” “showering short kisses on Gregory’s nose, forehead, eyes, lips,” continuously stroking him, saying “indescribably affectionate, sweet, womanly, stupid,” “on her cheeks.” the blush blazing with heat appeared more and more, and the pupils seemed to be clouded with blue smoke,” Sholokhov expressively depicts precisely her manifestations of feelings, her, the true bearer of igniting eros, captivating her beloved in a powerful outburst of passion, an orgy of feeling and sensuality. On the ruins of life, in the constant threat of losing her beloved forever, the fire of her reckless and absolute eros burns. The writer creates a powerful contrast in this scene: the Reds are on their heels, there is panic, turmoil, flight, madness, doomsday all around, and they are anchored by their love, on a burning island of passion, where there is no one and nothing but the two of them. And when on the third day Grigory emerges from this sweet, stupefying pool, deciding to go to Tatarskoye, “to find out where the family is,” Aksinya fully reveals her claims to the absolute: either only she is with him and with him, or... “Go ! But don't come to me anymore! I won't accept it. I don’t want it like that!.. I don’t want it!”
In the finale of “Quiet Don,” this demand and thirst for the absolute, which reveal the depths of love, are once again directly expressed by Aksinya: “I will follow you everywhere, even to death!” By the way, only such an absolutely loving woman was able to most accurately determine Gregory’s position in the clutches of fate and hard times: “He’s not a bandit, your father,” she explains to Mishatka. “He’s such a... unhappy man.” And it was not without reason that the writer reserved this almost Melekhov formula for the reader at the very end, at the conclusion of the novel. But the same ending of “Quiet Don” brilliantly reveals the entire illusion of finding such an absolute in the conditions of earthly love and mortal earthly circumstances. “Once again the unknown beckoned her with illusory happiness” - Aksinya experiences a surge of joy, but how brief this moment turned out to be! In the clearing, while Grigory is sleeping, Aksinya either picks off “the purple petals of the fragrant honeydew with her lips,” or picks up a “large armful” of “fragrant, motley flowers” and weaves an “elegant and beautiful” wreath from them, sticking “a few pink rosehip flowers” into it. . At his last farewell to the heroine, Sholokhov generously and subtly, anticipatingly leads the motif of flowers, so mysteriously close to the highest beauty of the visible physical world, and to its aroma, but also to the transience of the phenomena of this world, and to the human coffin and grave, always strewn with the same colors.
Presenting Aksinya as a kind of standard of “love beauty” for a Cossack woman, readers (and after them some researchers) most often compare her with pagan goddesses (Aphrodite, Venus, Astarte, and so on). Indeed, in love Aksinya is somewhat akin to pagan goddesses. The furious swirl of her passions literally fascinates, blinds, leading to the background, into the so-called internal plot, other novel images of Cossack women.
In fact, Sholokhov masterfully uses almost the entire arsenal of means that pagan goddesses and their priestesses used in love practice. Scenes of Aksinya’s meetings with Gregory are almost always accompanied by “natural elements.” Sholokhov constantly renews the intensity of passions between them, then separating them, then bringing them together again. It is difficult to remember flowers that the author would not throw on the altar of Aksinya’s love feelings. And the subtext is constantly confusing: if these are lilies of the valley, then they are already fading; if they are leaves, then they are “last year’s”, touched by decay, rotting; if they are beauty, then they are “destructive,” if they are love, then they are “alluringly vicious.” And it is no longer accidental that the warning appears at the very beginning of the novel: “Late woman’s love blooms not with an azure scarlet color, but with a dog’s madness, a drunken roadside.” The overlap with another (non-Christian Orthodox) culture is obvious here: aphrodisiacs were widely used by servants of pagan temples in the practice of introducing men to divine values. No worse than the “flowers of Aphrodite”, Gregory was excited by Aksinya’s “viciously inviting gaze,” her “viciously greedy red lips,” “swollen, slightly inverted, greedy,” “calling, slightly inverted, viciously red.”
Sholokhov constantly emphasizes the “frenzy”, “fury”, “shamelessness” of the feelings of this heroine. Here Aksinya, accompanying her husband to the service, “held onto the stirrup, from bottom to top, lovingly and greedily, like a dog, looking into his eyes.” Having seen Stepan off, she was already with Grigory “furious in her late, bitter love.” At the same time, “their crazy connection was so extraordinary and obvious, they burned so frantically with one shameless flame” that looking at them “was shameful.”
The world in Aksinya’s mind is too clearly divided into “mine” and “alien.” And she constantly emphasizes this division. To one degree or another, every person and social group divides the world into “us” and “strangers”. The size of each of these groups determines the view of the world: the more “insiders,” the friendlier the world. And vice versa. Aksinya has only one “own”; the rest of the world is hostile: “Besides Grishka, I have no husband. There is no one in the whole world"; “At least you have children, but he’s the only one I have in the whole wide world.” That’s why Aksinya defends “what’s hers” so fiercely: it’s mine, I own it, I won’t give it away, don’t interfere.
Aksinya’s goal: to tempt - to take possession - to cherish, not to give away: “She firmly decided on one thing: to take Grishka away from everyone, to fill him with love, to own him as before.” But love regenerates her too. Words of pity and affection appear in her speech: she promises Grigory to love him and feel sorry for him (“Grisha, my friend... darling... let’s leave. I’ll kill you, I’ll feel sorry for you”), she takes pity on Natalya’s orphaned children (“I only feel sorry for the kids, but for myself and I won’t say “oh”
“... They were bored and asked - where is dad? I treat them in every possible way, more and more with affection”); “... And Mikhail treated them with nothing, kindly. And Grigory, remembering Aksinya, imagines her like this: “Here she turns her head, mischievously and lovingly, from below she stinks with the gaze of her fiery black eyes, something unspeakably affectionate, her viciously greedy red lips whisper something hot.”
Throughout her life, Aksinya carried her love for Gregory; the strength and depth of her feeling was expressed in dedication, in the readiness to follow her beloved through the most difficult trials. In the name of this feeling, she leaves her husband and household and leaves with Grigory to work as a farm laborer for the Listnitskys. During the Civil War, she follows Gregory to the front, sharing with him all the hardships of camp life. And for the last time, at his call, she leaves the farm with the hope of finding her “share” in Kuban with him. The whole strength of Aksinya’s character was expressed in one all-encompassing feeling - love for Gregory.
The first film adaptation was in 1931. Historical background: 1930-31 are the years of the “great turning point,” complete collectivization and the liquidation of the kulaks as a class.
The second film adaptation - 1955-1958. Historical background: death of J.V. Stalin, processes of liberalization in the domestic and foreign policy of the USSR, the beginning of the “Khrushchev Thaw”.
Third film adaptation: - 1990-1992. Historical background: Declaration of Independence of Russia, political chaos, reforms.
Aksinya Astakhova, married soldier
In, the daughter of an engineer from Yekaterinoslav, there was almost no Russian blood. There was Ukrainian, Moldavian, Jewish - the mixing of these bloods resulted in an explosive mixture. A real beauty - bright, sensual - she was a real star of Soviet cinema. The first role in the film by Olga Preobrazhenskaya and Ivan Pravov brought fame to the 18-year-old actress. But it was rarely filmed (before Quiet Don - only four films), somehow it did not fit into the avant-garde revolutionary cinema of the 20s. However, her sultry, rebellious beauty was in full demand in the role of Aksinya in the film adaptation of "Quiet Don". The actress was approved for this role without auditioning nine months before filming began.
After the release of the film, there was no doubt for millions of viewers that Emma Tsesarskaya was a real Don Cossack who came to the screen from life itself.
Mikhail Sholokhov highly appreciated the actress’s work in this film and became her close friend for many years. According to the memoirs of the actress (Arkady Bernstein. “The Last Interviews of Emma Tsesarskaya”), the writer watched the film several times: “Once he excitedly declared to me and Abrikosov: “You devils are walking before my eyes!”
In March 1937, Emma Tsesarskaya's husband, a high-ranking NKVD official Max Stanislavsky, was arrested, she was immediately stopped filming, and she and her son were evicted from the apartment to a barracks. Mikhail Sholokhov did not leave the actress during this difficult time for her; thanks to his intercession, Tsesarskaya acted in films for many decades. But she went into the shadows, second roles became her lot, and even those - not often.
When in the late 50s the director decided to shoot a new version of "Quiet Don", Emma Tsesarskaya came to audition. She really wanted to play Aksinya again. But Gerasimov treated her quite harshly: he took her to the mirror, and all questions disappeared. A graduate of the course taught by Gerasimov, she also dreamed of this role, and Aksinya was her diploma role. Moreover, Gerasimov rated Mordyukova’s performance as “excellent.” Therefore, when she found out that her teacher was going to film “Quiet Don,” she had no shadow of a doubt that he would invite her to play the role of Aksinya. But the role went to few people known. The author of the novel himself, Mikhail Sholokhov, tipped the scales in favor of Bystritskaya. One day they showed him all the filmed samples, and he, choosing from them the one in which Bystritskaya auditioned, exclaimed: “So that’s Aksinya!”
“I am often asked about my roots. And when I played Aksinya in “Quiet Don” - a Cossack woman in all the splendor of physical and spiritual beauty - the Don Cossacks told me: “You are ours, a village girl, from the Don...”
I have never attached much importance to my name, patronymic, or origin, but to the question that is often asked to me: “Where are you from?” - she simply said: “From Ukraine.” Yes, my roots are in Ukraine. My mother Esther Isaakovna was born and raised there. Father Abraham Petrovich is from Poland, but for many years he also lived in Ukraine. My mother chose the name for me - she really loved the heroine of Knut Hamsun from the play “At the Gates of the Kingdom.” True, my name should have two “l”s, but when filling out the documents, the passport officer probably made a mistake, and they wrote me down as Elina.”
In 1953, Elina Bystritskaya graduated from the Kiev Institute of Theater Arts and became an actress at the Vilnius Drama Theater and acted in films. Somehow, in 1956, she was included in the delegation of Soviet filmmakers for a trip to France (at that time - almost unimaginable luck!).
From the book of memoirs by Elina Bystritskaya “Meetings under the Star of Hope”:
“Once Alla Larionova - she was also part of our delegation - told me:
- Sergei Apollinaryevich Gerasimov will film “Quiet Don”.
I gasped in my heart. I have always admired the great novel by M.A. Sholokhov. His Aksinya aroused a burning interest in me as an actress. I felt that I could play her in a movie or theater, although even in my wildest dreams I did not see any possibilities for this. I read “Quiet Don” a long time ago, when I was about twenty. Then, already at the pedagogical institute, I reread the novel again and again, but I could not even think that I would have the happiness of playing Aksinya.
I can’t say that “Quiet Don” became a kind of “bible” for me, it was just a book that was dear to me. And, of course, I cried while reading about the crazy love that Aksinya felt for Gregory, about the misfortunes that befell her... It’s strange, but I fully felt the charm of the novel later, much later, when I had already starred in the film. I read and reread the novel again, trying to understand it thoroughly.
Having learned that S.A. Gerasimov will be filming "Quiet Flows the Don", I was very afraid of being late. I immediately called Gerasimov, and he agreed to meet with me when I returned to Moscow.
As soon as I found myself in Moscow, I immediately called Sergei Apollinarievich, reminded me of myself, and he said:
- Come. Grigory Melekhov is already sitting here with me...
I had time before the train to Vilnius, and I rushed to the Ukraine Hotel - he lived there.
“Come in,” he invited. And he introduced me to an actor who was visiting him, who was completely different from the Grigory Melekhov I had imagined.
After some time, Gerasimov said:
- Well, here’s a book for you, read the excerpt...
“Sergei Apollinaryevich,” she begged, “I’ve just come from Paris, I’m afraid that my French impressions will not give me the opportunity to reliably reproduce this scene.” I need to re-read the book, remember it, imagine how it all was... It seemed to me that with every word I said I was moving further and further away from the desired role.
There was a lot of competition for the role of Aksinya. I came from Vilnius to Moscow several times for test shooting. The trials lasted six months. Sergei Gerasimov later said that M.A. Sholokhov selected me for the role of Aksinya:
- We rejected dozens of candidates, not finding in any of them the character traits of Gregory’s beloved, her unique beauty. Finally, on the advice of Sholokhov, they settled on Elina Bystritskaya.
There was hard work ahead. It started literally the next day...
At the very first meeting, Gerasimov told us:
- We are starting work on “Quiet Don”. You will have to become different people.
Male actors were warned to “prepare” their hands - they should become like the hands of people working on the ground. He gave the same advice to actresses.
Literally a few days later, an amateur Cossack choir of pensioners arrived from the Dichensky farm, fourteen kilometers from the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky. Only later did I understand that wisdom was required in order to introduce us to old men and women whose youth fell on the times of the “Quiet Don”. Elderly Cossacks and Cossack women quickly understood what was required of them and turned out to be good mentors. I remember one woman, very large, broad-shouldered, with kind eyes, patronized me. I listened to the intonation of her speech, watched how she walked, what gestures and facial expressions she used to accompany her speech. It turned out, for example, that there is a whole art to carrying water in buckets so that it does not splash and so that the Cossacks you meet enjoy it. Grandma Ulya taught me this:
- And you carry it with your hips... Carry it with your hips, carry it with your hips...
At first I couldn’t understand how buckets of water could be carried “with your hips” if they were on a yoke. And grandma Ulya gave me “director’s” instructions:
- You understand, the enta doesn’t just have to carry water, but so that Grishka likes it...
I had to become a Cossack woman at all costs - a woman who deals with land, water, who is blown by the winds and burned by the sun, and who works a lot and hard, remaining loved and desired. I danced with the Cossacks, sang with them and, in the end, fit into their circle, just as one fits into the landscape.
In those years, I was a thin, flexible girl - all actresses watch their figure. I carefully “sculpted” my figure - I can’t eat, I can’t eat that... But Aksinya was completely different - a strong, mature woman, whose becoming was shaped not by diet, but by work, a very active lifestyle, steppe expanses, her environment, in which Fearless, strong people were valued. Cossack women are wives, girlfriends, lovers of born warriors, and “young ladies” on the Don were not in price. They, of course, could not carry water with their hips.
I, of course, knew and remembered that our “Quiet Don” was the second attempt to adapt the novel by M.A. Sholokhov. Aksinya was played by the magnificent Emma Tsesarskaya, Grigory - Andrei Abrikosov. Central to this film was the love drama of Aksinya and Gregory. Emma Tsesarskaya played Aksinya wonderfully! I remember her amazing smile...
At one of the official receptions we accidentally ended up together: Mikhail Alexandrovich, Emma Vladimirovna and me.
It seemed to me that Tsesarskaya looked at me with slight sadness: I was young, and her time was running out. And I didn’t yet know that from now on, for the rest of my life, I would be Aksinya in the eyes of many people...”
And now, finally, the third film adaptation of "Quiet Don". The French actress was approved for the role of Aksinya.
She was born in 1966, in Paris. According to the actress, her great-grandmother is Russian and she has heard Russian speech since childhood.
By the time of filming “Quiet Flows the Flow”, Delphine Forrest had starred in several films, the most famous of which in Russia are “Europa Europa” by Agnieszka Holland and “Boris Godunov” by Andrzej Zulawski. In "Boris Godunov" Dolphin Forrest played the fatal Polish beauty Marina Mniszech. At a press conference dedicated to the premiere of the series, the actress said that at first she was supposed to play the role of Daria, but at the very first meeting with her, Bondarchuk decided to take her specifically for the role of Aksinya. And she added: “I am very glad that, finally, this film will be seen in the homeland of Sergei Fedorovich. I have been waiting for this for 15 years and now I am happy that I can attend this premiere in Russia.”
When asked by journalists about how her relationship with Grigory Melekhov - Everett behind the scenes - developed, Dolphin replied: 
- Oh, he's a very nice man. Pleasant, charming. With me, however, he behaved like some kind of prima donna. Although he wasn’t particularly capricious.
From the memoirs of the writer Viktor Likhonosov (“Notes before going to bed”):
“April. The role of Aksinya is played by the young French actress Delphine Forest, whose charming appearance inspired me with memories of Chantilly, Montparnasse and the Bois de Boulogne. I somehow immediately stopped wanting to think about the portly Don village women and steppe huts...”
Perhaps the choice of actors for the main roles in the third film adaptation of "Quiet Don" will not be accepted by Russian viewers. At least by the older generation. Comparison with Sergei Gerasimov's version is inevitable. And we will compare and discuss. Moreover, those who have not seen Gerasimov’s film adaptation, or have seen it, but a very long time ago, will also discuss and compare.
But if you think about it, what a long journey the “third” “Quiet Don” had to reach the viewer: from the first idea of a film adaptation in the mid-60s to filming in 1990! And then - another 15 years of waiting...
And no matter what they say, those who returned “Quiet Don” to Russia did a great job! Regardless of the degree of participation...
