Mikhail Koshevoy as the ideological antipode of Grigory Melekhov. Characteristics of the hero Mishka Kosheva, Quiet Don, Sholokhov
A true master of words, Mikhail Sholokhov, created a great work " Quiet Don". It is considered truly folk epic in the style of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky. The outstanding author showed many destinies, characters, and worldviews in his novel. The formation of the characters' characters is shown in the turning points of history - revolution, civil war. Mikhail Koshevoy occupies a special place in Sholokhov’s system of characters, among complex, multifaceted, contradictory people. The characteristics of this man of that era will help you understand his complex but vibrant personality.
The beginning of turbulent events in the epic novel
The history of the Cossacks in the turbulent years from 1912 to 1922 is shown by Sholokhov in the epic "Quiet Don". This work reflects everything from the peculiar Cossack way of life to their culture, traditions, and morals. The novel is filled with events in socio-political life that greatly influenced the fate of the Don Cossacks.
The author endowed the main characters of the novel with bright individual characters. In the vicissitudes of strong passions, they face difficult destinies. Grigory Melekhov occupies a central place in the novel. Sholokhov shows his difficult life path and formation moral character. The reader observes the traditions of the Cossacks, universal moral values. To better reveal the characters' characters, the author uses the beautiful landscapes of the Don land.
At the beginning of the novel, the life and customs of the Cossack village before the First World War are depicted. At first, the Tatarsky farm lived a calm, peaceful life. Sholokhov shows the connection between original and bright personalities - Grigory Melekhov and Aksinya Astakhova. But their personal lives are complicated by the turmoil that came with the revolution and civil war. Grigory had a friend Mikhail Koshevoy, whose image is given by the author a little secondary. But it is he who is the complete counterweight to Grigory Melekhov. With the onset of Soviet power, Grigory was tormented by doubts and hesitations, and Koshevoy was completely imbued with the idea of equality, justice and brotherhood. While still working as a flock keeper in the village, Mishka reflects on the fact that somewhere people decide other people’s destinies, and he is simply grazing mares. And he completely decided to devote himself to communist ideas.
Koshevoy's appearance
At the beginning of the novel, the reader sees Mishka Koshevoy as an ordinary farm guy. He has a naive and even slightly childish expression on his face, and laughing eyes. Sholokhov paid special attention to the hero’s eyes. In the first book he showed them dark, and in the second they turned blue and cold. And this is not without reason. Mikhail underwent strong internal changes. He even stopped smiling.
The war made Mishka’s face mature and, as it were, “faded.” The hero became cruel, frowning, sternly knitting his eyebrows and clenching his teeth. He pierced the enemy with his pupils so much that they had no place under his feet. At the end of the novel, a small warm light flashed in his eyes when he looked at Dunyashka and Mishatka (Grigory’s children). A small piece of warmth and affection flared up and then faded away.
The origin of the views of Mikhail Koshevoy in the novel "Quiet Don"
Even in the first book, Sholokhov introduces readers to Mishka Koshev. This is an ordinary guy, no different from other Cossacks. He and the farm youth have fun in the evenings and look after the household. At first it seems that the author inserted this character only as an extra. But soon he began to participate in Shtokman's circle. The visiting member of the RSDLP was able to completely convince the guy that the Soviet government was right, and he takes its side. He had no doubts about the correctness of communist ideas. His confidence in his rightness leads the hero to fanatical actions, very cruel.
Post-revolutionary changes in the hero
After some time, class hatred completely took possession of Mikhail and drove out all human qualities from his heart. After he learned about the death of his friends at the gathering, a final rebirth occurred in him. After the murder of Shtokman and the Elan communists, a burning hatred for the Cossacks settled in Mishka’s heart. Pity had ceased to be his advisor; he treated any captured Cossack cruelly. Having joined the ranks of the Red Army, he killed and burned houses. The most revealing scene of Koshevoy’s cruelty is considered to be the punitive expedition to the village of Kargynskaya, where he personally set fire to 150 houses.
Where did such cruelty come from, since the guy had never been like this before? In his youth, he couldn’t even kill a pig. But Mikhail did not consider the opponents of the new government to be people. He easily raised his hand against such people, because they had no idea. The hero constantly calls such people enemies, and he sees them everywhere. Even Dunyasha, the person closest to him, should not speak badly about the communists, otherwise he will throw her out of his life without a second thought.
Koshevoy in the Melekhovs' house
For several years Koshevoy fought in the civil war in the Red Army. Upon his return, he comes to the house of his beloved Duna Melekhova. How does the Melikhov family greet the guest? There was no reason for them to love him. At one time, Mikhail killed Dunya's brother Peter, as well as their matchmaker. Dunyasha’s mother, Ilyinichna, greeted Koshevoy rudely and unfriendly, even with hatred. But Mikhail persistently takes advantage of the fact that Dunya loves him. He turned out to be not only Dunya’s chosen one, but also the enemy of her family. Hatred and love merge into a single tragic episode. Dunya still loves the old Misha, but not the real killer. After all, he did not even hesitate to give the order to arrest his ex-friend Gregory, Dunya's brother.
Be that as it may, guilt does not torment Mikhail’s soul. In all the Cossacks who do not support Soviet power, he sees not his fellow countrymen, but class enemies. He does not torment himself for killing Peter, because he believes that he would have done the same in his place. In the end, Grigory nevertheless overcame himself and opened his arms to Mikhail for a hug, but he remained unshaken. Hatred completely took possession of him. In the fourth book, Koshevoy was appointed chairman of the revolutionary committee on the farm, which made him even colder. His eyes became icy.
Mikhail's actions and human traits
The revolution that swept Russia turned Koshevoy's heart into a blazing fire. He became a faithful soldier of new times. On the way to a bright future for all the oppressed, he is ready to take the lives of his fellow villagers. He doesn’t feel sorry for his friends or the elderly. He hates people who do not support communism.
Only something a little human awakens in him when he marries Dunyasha and helps Ilyinichna with the housework. Being deep down kind person, he shows hard work. Mikhail firmly believes that mercilessness in the fight for new life will definitely bring good results. Is this really the case?
Mishka Kosheva is the complete opposite of Grigory Melekhov. He first served in the regular troops tsarist army, then defected to the Red Army, then was in the ranks of the volunteer and rebel army. After all his wanderings, he became a member of Fomin’s detachment. People gathered there who found themselves in robbery and led a hectic lifestyle with murders and robberies. Thus, the civil war gave birth to robbers who were not guided by the moral principles “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not kill.”
Gregory's tossing between the Reds and the Whites led him to an asocial environment. He knows how to fight, but doesn't want to. He wants to plow the land, raise children, live with his beloved, but they don’t let him. This is where Sholokhov shows the tragedy of the Cossacks of that time.
Unlike Gregory, Mikhail does not want to plow the land and work on it. He got a good job as a boss. At the end of the novel, Gregory ends his war, returns home, he has no desire to hide and fight. But his fate is in the hands of the authorities, that is, Mikhail Koshevoy. The ending of the novel remained open. The reader does not know whether Gregory was able to find a little warmth next to his son.
Is Kosheva a positive character?
If we consider Koshevoy from a political point of view, he took the positive side. He became a dedicated fighter for a brighter future. But it’s scary to even think about his universal human positions. Can a fanatic without soul and compassion build something bright? So, rather, this is a negative character.
What did Sholokhov want to show with the image of Koshevoy?
Depicting the fates of Mikhail Koshevoy, Grigory Melekhov, as well as other heroes, Sholokhov wanted to show the pricelessness of human life. Even the noblest idea has no right to take someone's life. The author of the novel focuses on the fact that the meaning of human life lies only in work, care for children, and love. These are the values that a real Cossack should have, and not those like Mikhail Koshevoy.
These days, millions of television viewers are watching the main premiere of the "Russia" channel - the fourth film adaptation of the novel "Quiet Don" performed by director Sergei Ursulyak. What's in literary work, that in the television version the narrative will stop at the most interesting place. Will we really never know what will happen to Grigory Melekhov and his son next? But subsequent events can be reconstructed based on what we know about the lives of the prototype heroes of the book and the fate of the Cossacks as a whole. We asked an expert in the history of the Cossacks, Doctor of Sciences, professor of the department, to model the further biography of the characters national history Southern Federal University Andrey Venkov.
GREGORY SHOULD NOT HAVE STOKED THE RIFLE
In the finale, Melekhov makes a fatal mistake, says Andrei Vadimovich. - If you remember, before returning to the farm, he drowned the rifle in the river. And the “Reds” had a rule: if you confess and hand over your rifle to the village council, you will receive an amnesty. If you haven’t turned in the rifle, then where is the guarantee that you won’t dig it up and start fighting against the Soviet regime again? Therefore, Grigory will be spanked when he returns to Tatarsky. And if not for this mistake, then a Cossack with such biographical data as Melekhov would have had a chance to live until the early thirties.
- What about his officer past?
The narrative of the novel “Quiet Don” ends in 1922, when the White Guard past was treated quite calmly. During civil war the transition from camp to camp was natural phenomenon. Both the Reds and the Whites created entire units from prisoners. And in 1927, former White Guards were officially forgiven on the occasion of an amnesty associated with the 10th anniversary October Revolution. But they only had a few years of quiet life. Already in 1929, a course was set for their destruction, unfair verdicts and falsified trials began... And Melekhov, if you look at him as a real person, of course, would not have survived in this meat grinder.
You say the repressions began in 1929. But Kharlampy Ermakov, who served as the prototype for Sholokhov for the image of Grigory Melekhov, was shot in 1927.
Ermakov became a hostage of circumstances. In 1927, a pre-war situation arose. The USSR was preparing for war with Poland. And at this time Ermakov decided to participate in the elections to the village council. He enjoyed incredible authority among his fellow villagers and, naturally, they chose Kharlampiy, and the government’s protege was given a disastrous ride. If he had not lit up so boldly at that moment, then they would not have remembered him for the time being. And here, in addition to resentment, the communists had a reason: the country was on the eve of war, and here former white officers were climbing into power and were very popular among the people.
THE SON OF AN INFORMER IN THE ERMAKOV CASE HAS GONE MAD
Here it is necessary to clarify for readers that Kharlampy was indeed a legendary figure on the Don. He was arrested for the first time two and a half weeks after returning home - February 23, 1923. Let us recall that Ermakov retired from the Red Army from the post of head of the divisional school of the 14th Cavalry Division of the 1st Cavalry Army. But the entire population came to his defense. Ermakov’s criminal case contains the minutes of the general meeting of citizens of the Bazkovsky farm, where residents took Kharlampy on bail and assured that he was not the organizer of the Veshensky uprising. Ermakov spent a year in prison, but in 1924 he was forced to be released...
- Let's return to the second criminal case, which was opened in 1927. The investigation had no evidence that Kharlampy participated in the bullying and execution of prisoners. On the contrary, there was a lot of evidence in favor of Ermakov. But suddenly the testimony of a certain Andrei Alexandrov appears, who claims: “In one of the battles in 1919, Ermakov personally hacked to death 18 sailors. During the battles on the Don River, under the command of Ermakov, about 500 Red Army soldiers were drowned in the water, he did not give any mercy to any of the Komsomol members or the Red command staff, he cut everyone down.” Is anything known about the person whose testimony largely decided the fate of Kharlampi?
The surname Alexandrov is often found in the village of Karginskaya. But it is difficult to say who exactly wrote the denunciation. But a characteristic detail is known regarding another informer - Elankin, who actively “drowned” Ermakov. Elankin's son went crazy and claimed that it was he, and not Sholokhov, who was the real author of "The Quiet Don". He was quickly “closed” and ended his days in a psychiatric hospital.
KOSHEV'S TEAR WOULD BE SLAPPED IN COLLECTIVIZATION
- It turns out that out of the entire novel, only Dunyashka Melekhova and Mishka Koshevoy have a relatively bright future?
I think that Koshevoy would have been slapped during collectivization for abuse of power. When the famine began in 1932, Molotov’s commission went to Ukraine, and a military team led by Lazar Kaganovich came to us...
- Has the famine affected the Lower Volga and Don regions?
Yes, suffice it to say that in 1932-33, under the Rostov NKVD, there was a department to combat cannibalism... So the excesses, the burdens of collectivization, decossackization, repression - they decided to blame all this on the local authorities. Many lower-level leaders were shot then, and people with the habits of Mikhail Koshevoy had a short life. Well, look: he burned half a farm, shot people without trial. It is clear that his fellow villagers did not forgive him for this. They would have taken revenge on him in every possible way, done dirty tricks on him and eventually led him to a monastery.
- IN last chapters In the novel we see that the Tatar farm has become depopulated. And from the large Melekhov family, only Grigory remained alive (and not for long) and his little son from his legal wife Natalya. What awaited the farm in the future?
The situation is typical: the Don regions lost 1/3 of their people after the civil war. The Cossack population before the start of all these events numbered 1.5 million people. 250 thousand Cossacks were killed during the civil war. Civilian losses from disease, hunger, military action, etc. are estimated at approximately the same figure. According to the 1926 census, half (!) of the male population were children and adolescents under 16 years of age. In farms like Tatarsky, women, old people, and children remained. But the farms were not empty. The Cossacks were simply not allowed out of the villages and farmsteads. There was a passport regime: passports were not issued to village residents and there was no legal opportunity to leave. And if they caught a runaway farmer in the city without a passport, they were automatically imprisoned for 3 years. The Cossacks received freedom of movement only after the death of Stalin in 1953-55. That’s when the mass exodus to the cities began and the villages became deserted.
FROM THE KP DOSSIER
Kharlampy ERMAKOV - born on February 7, 1891 in the Antipov farmstead of the village of Veshenskaya. He became the prototype of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don”. Full Knight of St. George. After the First World War he returned home with the rank of military officer. Divisional commander of the 1st rebel division in the Vyoshensky uprising. Then he was a commander in Budyonny's First Cavalry Army. He was considered one of the best in the art of wielding a saber. He had incredible strength with a “cormorant blow” - he could cut a 20-centimeter birch trunk in one fell swoop. He communicated with Sholokhov several times during the time between his first and second arrest (that is, from 1924 to 1927). Shot on June 17, 1927. In 1989 he was rehabilitated “for lack of corpus delicti”
Even Dunyashka, the only one to a loved one, Koshevoy gives a stern warning due to the fact that she spoke unflatteringly about the Reds: “if you say that, you and I won’t live together, then you know that!” Your words are the enemy’s...” All this characterizes fanaticism and the uncompromising nature of his positions.
Koshevoy’s ruthlessness does not come from natural cruelty, as, for example, in Mitka Korshunov, but is dictated and explained by him by the class struggle. To the mother of Pyotr Melekhov, whom he killed, Mishka says: “...There’s no reason for my eyes to close their eyes! And if Petro caught me, what would he do? Do you think I would kiss you on the crown? He would have killed me too..."
But all this does not bring the necessary harmony to the image of Koshevoy, and in the minds of readers he remains a negative hero. Mikhail Koshevoy is the embodiment of devotion to the party, but on the scale of human values he is lower than Grigory. One day, hearing that Mikhail was in danger of death at the hands of the Cossacks, Grigory, without thinking about his own danger, rushes to his aid: “...Blood has fallen between us, but are we not strangers?”181 If he constantly hesitates in the political struggle, then this happens because he is true to himself, to human dignity, to decency.
Mikhail, who humiliatingly asks the flock owner Soldatov not to give him away, “his eyes darted in confusion...”. Returning from Veshenskaya to the Tatarsky farm, and not yet knowing what is happening there, Koshevoy hesitates: “What to do? What if we have such a mess? Koshevoy's eyes became sad..." Later, when he escaped from the death that threatened him in the farmstead, "he remembered how they took him prisoner, his defenselessness, the rifle left in the hallway - he blushed painfully to the point of tears...".
But a simple, cheerful village guy changes dramatically over the course of turbulent years and turns from a minor image into one of the main characters.
“I’ll do it, namesake, by God I’ll do it, just move a little away, otherwise the shavings won’t get into your eyes,” Koshevoy persuaded him, laughing and thinking with amazement: “Well, what a look-alike, little devil... just like Dad! And the eyes and eyebrows, and the upper lip also raises... What a job!” Here, direct speech and internal monologue help to imagine the simultaneous good nature and amazement on Koshevoy’s face without any instructions from the author.
Main character In the novel by M. A. Sholokhov “Quiet Don” Grigory Melekhov, looking for the truth of life, gets confused a lot, makes mistakes, suffers, because in none of the warring parties does he find the moral truth to which he strives. Gregory is faithful...
The main character of "Quiet Don" is, without a doubt, the people. The novel shows the patterns of the era through the prism of the many heroic destinies of ordinary people. If among other heroes Grigory Melekhov comes to the fore, it is only because he is the most...
The novel "Quiet Don" is a broad and diverse work. It harmoniously intertwines the events of the pre-war period from the beginning of the First World War, and then the revolution and civil war, forming a bold combination of love, family and historical episodes....
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, creating the epic novel “Quiet Don” in the turning years of the revolution and civil war, devotes a lot of space to the Cossack woman: her hard work in the field and at home, her grief, her generous heart. Unforgettable is the image of Grigory’s mother, Ilyinichna....
Both in “Quiet Don” and in “Virgin Soil Upturned” there are many characters who act only in crowd scenes, without acting separately, without having “their own” storyline. Not to mention “Quiet Flows the Don,” which takes place during the period when “the global...
Evgeny Listnitsky is a nobleman who has an estate near the village of Tatarskaya. He went through the entire First World War, and during the revolution he sided with the whites. It was on his estate that Grigory and Aksinya worked before the war. L. liked Aksinya, and for some...
Introduction
Mikhail Koshevoy in the novel “Quiet Don” is initially a minor character. But gradually his image comes to the fore. It is this, at first insignificant character, who plays a decisive role in the fate of a number of central characters works.
Description of Mikhail Koshevoy
In the first part of “Quiet Don” Mishka Koshevoy appears before us as an ordinary farm boy with a naive, even somewhat childish, expression and laughing eyes. It is the hero’s eyes that Sholokhov draws the reader’s attention to. Dark in the first book, they suddenly become “unsmiling”, “blue and cold as ice” in the third.
During the war years, “Mikhail’s face matured and seemed to fade.” The hero becomes bitter, frowns and often clenches his teeth. Koshevoy “jerked up his eyes, and they looked straight into the enemy’s pupils, pierced into them.” His dull eyes briefly perk up only when he looks at Mishatka and Dunyashka. “The lights of admiration and affection flashed in them for a moment and went out.”
Characteristics of Mikhail Koshevoy
In peacetime, Koshevoy behaves like his peers. He lives by caring for the household and takes part in the entertainment of the farm youth. Participation in Shtokman's circle changes his outlook on life. Mishka is imbued with the ideas of the visiting member of the RSDLP and unconditionally sides with the Soviet government. Unlike Grigory Melekhov, Koshevoy does not doubt for a minute whose side he is on. His devotion to the ideas of the party gradually reaches the point of fanaticism, and the hero becomes completely embittered. The feeling of class hatred displaces everything universal from his soul. The final rebirth of Koshevoy occurs after he learns of the death of his comrades. “After the murder of Shtokman, after Mishka heard rumors about the death of Ivan Alekseevich and the Elan communists, Mishka’s heart was clothed with burning hatred for the Cossacks. He no longer hesitated, did not listen to the hated voice of pity when a captured Cossack rebel fell into his hands.” He kills, burns houses. Particularly indicative are the scenes of Koshevoy’s participation in the punitive expedition to the village of Karginskaya, where he personally allowed the “red kochet” into 150 houses.
Mikhail was not cruel by nature. He says that, unlike other Cossacks, he cannot even slaughter a pig. But for him, opponents of the new government are no longer people. In his opinion, they live in vain in the world; Koshevoy has a “steady hand” on them. It is characteristic that the word “enemy” constantly appears in the hero’s speech. He sees enemies everywhere. He is even ready to throw Dunyasha, the person closest to him, out of his life just because she spoke unflatteringly about the communists. “If you say that again – you and I can’t live together, you know that!
Your words are the enemy’s…” says Koshevoy.
Koshevoy and Melekhov
Koshevoy’s relationship in “Quiet Don” with the Melekhov family is complicated. He personally shoots the captive Peter, kills the Melekhovs’ matchmaker, Grishak Korshunov’s grandfather, and sets fire to his house, insists on the arrest of his former comrade Gregory. Despite all this, he does not feel guilty for what he did. For him, they are all not fellow villagers with whom he lived side by side for so many years, but class enemies. Mishka says to Ilyinichna, who reproaches him for killing his grandfather: “I can’t kill an animal... but I can kill a dirty trick like this matchmaker of yours or some other enemy as much as I like!” To the accusations of murdering Peter, he replies that Peter would have done the same to him if they had switched places.
It is interesting that it is Koshevoy, who brought so much grief to the Melekhovs, who undertakes to improve her life. He, having come to Ilyinichna’s house as Dunya’s fiancé, puts up a fence, repairs the longboat, and helps with the mowing. But, despite these seemingly positive aspects, in his soul he is not able to understand and accept someone else’s position. He considers Dunyasha’s mother, who calls him a “murderer,” to be “an enraged old woman.” Mishka also hates Gregory, who, even after everything that happened, opens his arms to him, considering Koshevoy his own.
If in the first three books Mishka still shows uncertainty, sometimes even confusion, then they completely disappear in the fourth book, when Koshevoy becomes chairman of the farm revolutionary committee. The only feeling he feels for his fellow villagers is anger because they do not want to unconditionally accept new government as he himself did.
Conclusion
Positive or negative character Koshevoy? From a political point of view, of course, yes. After all, it’s hard to imagine a more dedicated fighter for a brighter future. But, if you look at the hero from a universal human perspective, it becomes scary. What bright future can a fanatic build who has neither understanding nor compassion in his soul?
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