The Master and Margarita is Bulgakov’s legendary work, a novel that became his ticket to immortality. He thought about, planned and wrote the novel for 12 years, and it went through many changes that are now difficult to imagine, because the book acquired an amazing compositional unity. Alas, Mikhail Afanasyevich never had time to finish his life’s work; no final edits were made. He himself assessed his brainchild as the main message to humanity, as a testament to descendants. What did Bulgakov want to tell us?
The novel opens up to us the world of Moscow in the 30s. The master, together with his beloved Margarita, writes a brilliant novel about Pontius Pilate. It is not allowed to be published, and the author himself is overwhelmed by an impossible mountain of criticism. In a fit of despair, the hero burns his novel and ends up in a psychiatric hospital, leaving Margarita alone. At the same time, Woland, the devil, arrives in Moscow along with his retinue. They cause disturbances in the city, such as black magic sessions, performances at Variety and Griboyedov, etc. The heroine, meanwhile, is looking for a way to return her Master; subsequently makes a deal with Satan, becomes a witch and attends a ball among the dead. Woland is delighted with Margarita's love and devotion and decides to return her beloved. The novel about Pontius Pilate also rises from the ashes. And the reunited couple retires to a world of peace and tranquility.
The text contains chapters from the Master's novel itself, telling about events in the world of Yershalaim. This is a story about the wandering philosopher Ha-Nozri, the interrogation of Yeshua by Pilate, and the subsequent execution of the latter. The insert chapters are of direct importance to the novel, since their understanding is the key to revealing the author's ideas. All parts form a single whole, closely intertwined.
Topics and issues
Bulgakov reflected his thoughts about creativity on the pages of the work. He understood that the artist is not free, he cannot create only at the behest of his soul. Society fetters him and ascribes certain boundaries to him. Literature in the 30s was subject to the strictest censorship, books were often written to order from the authorities, a reflection of which we will see in MASSOLIT. The master was unable to obtain permission to publish his novel about Pontius Pilate and spoke of his stay among the literary society of that time as a living hell. The hero, inspired and talented, could not understand its members, corrupt and absorbed in petty material concerns, and they, in turn, could not understand him. Therefore, the Master found himself outside this bohemian circle with the work of his entire life, which was not permitted for publication.
The second aspect of the problem of creativity in a novel is the author’s responsibility for his work, its fate. The master, disappointed and completely desperate, burns the manuscript. The writer, according to Bulgakov, must achieve the truth through his creativity, it must benefit society and act for the good. The hero, on the contrary, acted cowardly.
The problem of choice is reflected in the chapters devoted to Pilate and Yeshua. Pontius Pilate, understanding the unusualness and value of such a person as Yeshua, sends him to execution. Cowardice is the most terrible vice. The prosecutor was afraid of responsibility, afraid of punishment. This fear completely drowned out his sympathy for the preacher, and the voice of reason speaking about the uniqueness and purity of Yeshua’s intentions, and his conscience. The latter tormented him for the rest of his life, as well as after his death. Only at the end of the novel was Pilate allowed to talk to Him and be freed.
Composition
In his novel, Bulgakov used such a compositional technique as a novel within a novel. The “Moscow” chapters are combined with the “Pilatorian” ones, that is, with the work of the Master himself. The author draws a parallel between them, showing that it is not time that changes a person, but only he himself is capable of changing himself. Constant work on oneself is a titanic work, which Pilate failed to cope with, for which he was doomed to eternal mental suffering. The motives of both novels are the search for freedom, truth, the struggle between good and evil in the soul. Everyone can make mistakes, but a person must constantly reach for the light; only this can make him truly free.
Main characters: characteristics
- Yeshua Ha-Nozri (Jesus Christ) is a wandering philosopher who believes that all people are good in themselves and that the time will come when truth will be the main human value, and institutions of power will no longer be necessary. He preached, therefore he was accused of an attempt on the power of Caesar and was put to death. Before his death, the hero forgives his executioners; he dies without betraying his convictions, he dies for people, atoning for their sins, for which he was awarded the Light. Yeshua appears before us real person made of flesh and blood, capable of feeling both fear and pain; he is not shrouded in an aura of mysticism.
- Pontius Pilate is the procurator of Judea, a truly historical figure. In the Bible he judged Christ. Using his example, the author reveals the theme of choice and responsibility for one’s actions. Interrogating the prisoner, the hero understands that he is innocent, and even feels personal sympathy for him. He invites the preacher to lie to save his life, but Yeshua is not bowed down and is not going to give up his words. The official's cowardice prevents him from defending the accused; he is afraid of losing power. This does not allow him to act according to his conscience, as his heart tells him. The procurator condemns Yeshua to death, and himself to mental torment, which, of course, is in many ways worse than physical torment. At the end of the novel, the master frees his hero, and he, together with the wandering philosopher, rises along a ray of light.
- The master is a creator who wrote a novel about Pontius Pilate and Yeshua. This hero embodied the image of an ideal writer who lives by his creativity, not looking for fame, rewards, or money. He won large sums in the lottery and decided to devote himself to creativity - and this is how his only, but certainly brilliant, work was born. At the same time, he met love - Margarita, who became his support and support. Unable to withstand criticism from Moscow's highest literary society, the Master burns the manuscript and is forcibly committed to a psychiatric clinic. Then he was released from there by Margarita with the help of Woland, who was very interested in the novel. After death, the hero deserves peace. It is peace, and not light, like Yeshua, because the writer betrayed his beliefs and renounced his creation.
- Margarita is the creator’s beloved, ready to do anything for him, even attend Satan’s ball. Before meeting the main character, she was married to a wealthy man, whom, however, she did not love. She found her happiness only with the Master, whom she herself called after reading the first chapters of his future novel. She became his muse, inspiring him to continue creating. The heroine is associated with the theme of fidelity and devotion. The woman is faithful to both her Master and his work: she brutally deals with the critic Latunsky, who slandered them; thanks to her, the author himself returns from a psychiatric clinic and his seemingly irretrievably lost novel about Pilate. For her love and willingness to follow her chosen one to the end, Margarita was awarded by Woland. Satan gave her peace and unity with the Master, what the heroine most desired.
Woland's image
In many ways, this hero is similar to Goethe's Mephistopheles. His very name is taken from his poem, the scene of Walpurgis Night, where the devil was once called by that name. The image of Woland in the novel “The Master and Margarita” is very ambiguous: he is the embodiment of evil, and at the same time a defender of justice and a preacher of true moral values. Against the backdrop of cruelty, greed and depravity of ordinary Muscovites, the hero looks rather positive character. He, seeing this historical paradox (he has something to compare with), concludes that people are like people, the most ordinary, the same, only the housing issue has spoiled them.
The devil's punishment comes only to those who deserve it. Thus, his retribution is very selective and based on the principle of justice. Bribe takers, incompetent scribblers who care only about their material wealth, catering workers who steal and sell expired food, insensitive relatives fighting for an inheritance after the death of a loved one - these are those whom Woland punishes. He does not push them to sin, he only exposes the vices of society. So the author, using satirical and phantasmagoric techniques, describes the customs and morals of Muscovites of the 30s.
The master is a truly talented writer who was not given the opportunity to realize himself; the novel was simply “strangled” by Massolitov officials. He was not like his fellow writers with a credential; lived through his creativity, giving it all of himself, and sincerely worrying about the fate of his work. The master retained a pure heart and soul, for which he was awarded by Woland. The destroyed manuscript was restored and returned to its author. For her boundless love, Margarita was forgiven for her weaknesses by the devil, to whom Satan even granted the right to ask him for the fulfillment of one of her wishes.
Bulgakov expressed his attitude towards Woland in the epigraph: “I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good” (“Faust” by Goethe). Indeed, having unlimited capabilities, the hero punishes human vices, but this can be considered an instruction on the true path. He is a mirror in which everyone can see their sins and change. His most devilish feature is the corrosive irony with which he treats everything earthly. Using his example, we are convinced that maintaining one’s convictions along with self-control and not going crazy is possible only with the help of humor. We cannot take life too seriously, because what seems to us an unshakable stronghold so easily crumbles at the slightest criticism. Woland is indifferent to everything, and this separates him from people.
Good and evil
Good and evil are inseparable; When people stop doing good, evil immediately appears in its place. It is the absence of light, the shadow that replaces it. In Bulgakov's novel, two opposing forces are embodied in the images of Woland and Yeshua. The author, in order to show that the participation of these abstract categories in life is always relevant and occupies important positions, places Yeshua in an era as distant as possible from us, on the pages of the Master’s novel, and Woland in modern times. Yeshua preaches, tells people about his ideas and understanding of the world, its creation. Later, for openly expressing his thoughts, he will be tried by the procurator of Judea. His death is not the triumph of evil over good, but rather a betrayal of good, because Pilate was unable to do the right thing, which means he opened the door to evil. Ha-Notsri dies unbroken and undefeated, his soul retains the light in itself, opposed to the darkness of the cowardly act of Pontius Pilate.
The devil, called to do evil, arrives in Moscow and sees that people's hearts are filled with darkness even without him. All he can do is denounce and mock them; Due to his dark essence, Woland cannot create justice otherwise. But it is not he who pushes people to sin, it is not he who makes the evil in them overcome the good. According to Bulgakov, the devil is not absolute darkness, he commits acts of justice, which is very difficult to consider a bad act. This is one of the main ideas of Bulgakov, embodied in “The Master and Margarita” - nothing except the person himself can force him to act one way or another, the choice of good or evil lies with him.
You can also talk about the relativity of good and evil. AND good people act wrongly, cowardly, selfishly. So the Master gives up and burns his novel, and Margarita takes cruel revenge on the critic Latunsky. However, kindness does not lie in not making mistakes, but in constantly striving for the bright and correcting them. Therefore, forgiveness and peace await the loving couple.
The meaning of the novel
There are many interpretations of the meaning of this work. Of course, it is impossible to say definitively. At the center of the novel is the eternal struggle between good and evil. In the author’s understanding, these two components are on equal terms both in nature and in human hearts. This explains the appearance of Woland, as the concentration of evil by definition, and Yeshua, who believed in natural human kindness. Light and darkness are closely intertwined, constantly interacting with each other, and it is no longer possible to draw clear boundaries. Woland punishes people according to the laws of justice, but Yeshua forgives them in spite of them. This is the balance.
The struggle takes place not only directly for human souls. A person’s need to reach out to the light runs like a red thread throughout the entire narrative. True freedom can only be achieved through this. It is very important to understand that the author always punishes heroes shackled by everyday petty passions, either like Pilate - with eternal torments of conscience, or like Moscow inhabitants - through the tricks of the devil. He extols others; Gives Margarita and the Master peace; Yeshua deserves the Light for his devotion and faithfulness to his beliefs and words.
This novel is also about love. Margarita appears as an ideal woman who is able to love until the very end, despite all the obstacles and difficulties. The master and his beloved are collective images of a man devoted to his work and a woman faithful to her feelings.
Theme of creativity
The master lives in the capital of the 30s. During this period, socialism is being built, new orders are being established, and moral and moral standards are being sharply reset. Here is born new literature, with whom on the pages of the novel we become acquainted through Berlioz, Ivan Bezdomny, and members of Massolit. The path of the main character is complex and thorny, like Bulgakov himself, but he retains a pure heart, kindness, honesty, the ability to love and writes a novel about Pontius Pilate, containing all those important problems that every person of the current or future generation must solve for himself . It is based on moral law, hiding inside each personality; and only he, and not the fear of God's retribution, is able to determine the actions of people. The spiritual world of the Master is subtle and beautiful, because he is a true artist.
However, true creativity is persecuted and often becomes recognized only after the death of the author. The repressions affecting independent artists in the USSR are striking in their cruelty: from ideological persecution to the actual recognition of a person as crazy. This is how many of Bulgakov’s friends were silenced, and he himself had a hard time. Freedom of speech resulted in imprisonment, or even death, as in Judea. This parallel with the Ancient World emphasizes the backwardness and primitive savagery of the “new” society. The well-forgotten old became the basis of policy regarding art.
Two worlds of Bulgakov
The worlds of Yeshua and the Master are more closely connected than it seems at first glance. Both layers of the narrative touch on the same problems: freedom and responsibility, conscience and loyalty to one’s beliefs, understanding of good and evil. It’s not for nothing that there are so many heroes of doubles, parallels and antitheses here.
The Master and Margarita violates the urgent canon of the novel. This story is not about the fate of individuals or their groups, it is about all of humanity, its fate. Therefore, the author connects two eras that are as distant as possible from each other. People in the times of Yeshua and Pilate are not very different from the people of Moscow, the Master’s contemporaries. They are also concerned about personal problems, power and money. Master in Moscow, Yeshua in Judea. Both bring the truth to the masses, and both suffer for it; the first is persecuted by critics, crushed by society and doomed to end his life in a psychiatric hospital, the second is subjected to a more terrible punishment - a demonstrative execution.
The chapters dedicated to Pilate differ sharply from the Moscow chapters. The style of the inserted text is distinguished by its evenness and monotony, and only in the chapter of execution does it turn into a sublime tragedy. The description of Moscow is full of grotesque, phantasmagoric scenes, satire and ridicule of its inhabitants, lyrical moments dedicated to the Master and Margarita, which, of course, determines the presence of various storytelling styles. The vocabulary also varies: it can be low and primitive, filled even with swearing and jargon, or it can be sublime and poetic, filled with colorful metaphors.
Although both narratives are significantly different from each other, when reading the novel there is a feeling of integrity, so strong is the thread connecting the past with the present in Bulgakov.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!Margarita - g the main heroine of the novel, the Master’s beloved. I'm ready to do anything for love. She plays a very important role in the novel. With the help of Margarita, Bulgakov showed us the ideal image of the wife of a genius.
Before meeting the Master, Margarita was married, did not love her husband and was completely unhappy. Having met the Master, I realized that I had found my destiny. She became his "secret wife". It was Margarita who called the hero Master after reading his novel. The heroes were happy together until the Master published an excerpt from his novel. The critical articles pouring in, ridiculing the author, and the strong persecution that began against the Master in literary circles poisoned their lives. M swore that she would poison her lover’s offenders, especially the critic Latunsky. For a short time, Margarita leaves the Master alone, he burns the novel and runs away to a psychiatric hospital. For a long time, Margarita reproaches herself for leaving her beloved alone at the most difficult moment for him. She cries and suffers greatly until she meets Azazello. He hints to Margarita that he knows where the Master is. For this information, she agrees to be the queen at Satan's great ball. Margarita becomes a witch. By selling her soul, she receives a Master. At the end of the novel, she, like her lover, deserves peace. Many believe that the prototype of this image was the writer’s wife Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova.
From the text of the novel, only her name and patronymic are known - Margarita Nikolaevna. Beautiful Muscovite. A very strong and courageous woman. By occupation, she is a housewife, lives in the center of Moscow, is married to a certain famous and rich military engineer, whom she does not love at all, they have no children. She is wealthy, lives in a rich apartment with servants. At the time of the main events of the novel, she is 30 years old. During the course of the novel's plot, she falls in love with a writer, whom she calls the master, plays the role of queen and hostess of Satan's ball, and at the end leaves the world in the form of a witch and goes with the master to his final resting place.
According to Bulgakov scholars, the prototype of the character of Margarita - according to one version - was the famous Russian actress of the early 20th century Maria Fedorovna Andreeva, according to another, more probable version - Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, the third and last wife writer, whom he called: “My Margarita.” The book about the love of the main characters says this: “Love jumped out in front of us, like a killer jumps out of the ground in an alley, and struck us both at once! That’s how lightning strikes, that’s how a Finnish knife strikes! She, however, later claimed that It’s not that we loved each other, of course, a long time ago, without knowing each other...” It is possible that the first meeting of the master and Margarita in the alley near Tverskaya reproduces the first meeting of Mikhail Bulgakov with Elena after almost twenty months of separation. On March 14, 1933, Bulgakov gave Elena a power of attorney to conclude contracts with publishing houses and theaters regarding his works, as well as to receive royalties. Elena Sergeevna typed from dictation all the works of the writer of the 30s, she was his muse, his secretary...
Master- a Muscovite, a former historian by profession, a highly educated person who knows several foreign languages. Winning the lottery a large sum money, he was able to devote all his time to writing a novel about Pontius Pilate and history last days life of Yeshua Ha-Nozri...
THE MASTER is the hero of M.A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” (1928-1940). In the crowded gathering of people inhabiting the novel, the role of this character is clearly defined. The chapter in which the reader meets him is titled “The Appearance of the Hero.” Meanwhile, M. takes up little space in the plot space. He appears in the 13th chapter, when all the main persons (except Margarita) entered into action, and some have already left him. Then M. disappears from the narrative for a long time, only to appear again in the 24th chapter. And finally, participates in three final chapters(30th, 31st, 32nd). It is difficult to find another work in world literature in which the hero would spend so much time “behind the scenes” of the plot, waiting for his “exit”. These “exits” themselves do not correspond much to the function of the hero. They essentially lack any action, which is especially noticeable in comparison with the active heroine of the novel, who decided to take risky and desperate actions in the name of love for M. M.’s first “exit” results in a confessional story about what happened to him before: about a novel written and burned, about a lover found and lost, about imprisonment, first violent (arrest), and then voluntary (in a clinic for mentally ill). The hero's further vicissitudes are entirely determined by other persons. Woland “extracts” him from the hospital room to connect him with Margarita; Azazello “frees” him by poisoning him, and the freed hero, together with his beloved, who has also become free, go to where eternal refuge awaits them. Almost all events happen to M, but are not produced by him. Nevertheless, he is the protagonist of the novel. The fate of M. and Margarita connects the disparate “episodes” of the narrative, holding them together by plot, event and/or symbolically. master margarita bulgakov image
Bulgakov's hero is a man without a name. He renounces his real name twice: first, accepting the nickname of the Master, which Margarita gave him, and then, ending up in the clinic of Professor Stravinsky, where he remains as “number one hundred and eighteen from the first building.” The latter is associated, presumably, with literary reminiscence: a reference to another “prisoner” of modern Bulgakov novelism - D-503, the hero of E.I. Zamyatin’s novel “We”, whose fate has a number of coincidences with the fate of M. (Both are engaged in writing, not considering themselves writers; everyone has a beloved who is capable of courageous deeds.) The semantics of the name M. is difficult to understand and cannot be read unambiguously. Leaving aside the obscure question of the origin of this name, it can be noted that in Bulgakov’s texts it appears several times, is always endowed with an emphatic meaning and at the same time is used at least inconsistently. Bulgakov calls the hero of “The Life of Monsieur de Molière” “a poor and bloody master”; among the options for the title of the play about Stalin (later "Batum") appears "Master".
In the symbolism of the novel, M.'s name appears in opposition to the craft of writing. The famous answer to Ivan Bezdomny’s question: “Are you a writer?” - "I am a master." If we take into account that before these words there was a conversation about a novel about Pontius Pilate, written by the hero, then the semantic, value modulation is obvious. M. became a hero because his literary pursuit went beyond its boundaries, turned into a task that he was called to fulfill, to which he was crowned, like a king to a kingdom. M. even has a crown - a black cap sewn by Margarita with a yellow letter "M". Then the word "master" means "initiated."
The image of M. represents the development of the lyrical hero Bulgakov, connected with his creator through intimate family relationships and a common literary pedigree, on family tree in which the names of Hoffman and Gogol stand out. From the first, Bulgakov's hero inherited the title of "thrice romantic master", from the second - portrait features (a sharp nose, a tuft of hair hanging over his forehead) and the fatal circumstance of his fate. In a moment of despair, M. burns the novel he created, like Gogol, who destroyed the second volume." Dead souls", like Bulgakov himself, who threw the manuscript of a novel about the devil into the fire. According to I.L. Galinskaya, the hypothetical prototype of M. is the Ukrainian philosopher XVIII" Shv. G.S. Skovoroda, who, like Bulgakov’s hero, did not publish any of his works during his lifetime and in certain circumstances was forced to pretend to be crazy. In addition, the philosophical issues of the novel can be considered as a reflection of Skovoroda’s philosophy in some of its important points.
In Bulgakov's works, the image of M. is correlated with such characters endowed with autobiographical features as the hero of "Notes of a Young Doctor", Turbin (" White Guard"), Moliere (the novel and play "The Cabal of the Holy One"), Maksudov ("Notes of a Dead Man"). Plot parallels with the latter are the most obvious. (Bulgakov's commentators pay attention to them first of all.) Both heroes are petty employees (one - - the editorial office, the other - the museum), unremarkable in everyday life. Both of them suddenly awaken their writing talent, they write a novel that brings them happiness and grief, M., having encountered his “literary brothers,” becomes. both are destined to be “literary wolves” in the wide field of literature (the words Bulgakov said about himself). Meanwhile, Maksudov’s work was published, it was staged by the Independent Theater and did not reach the readers and spiritually broke him. and persecuted, M. renounces his creation, throwing the manuscript into the fire.
Maksudov composes a modern novel, describing in it the events of which he was an eyewitness. M. is endowed with the gift of insight, the ability to see the history of two thousand years ago as it really was. “Oh, how I guessed! Oh, how I guessed everything,” M. exclaims when, thanks to Ivan Bezdomny, who remembered the conversation with Woland, he gets the opportunity to compare what is described in the novel with the story of a living witness.
In the image of M. the author put his understanding of the writer and his life purpose. For Bulgakov, writing is theurgy, but not in the interpretation of Vl.S. Solovyov and the Russian symbolists, which implied “ascension” to “transcendental thrones” and the reverse life-building action produced from there. Bulgakov's theurgy is an insight into the truth sent down from above, which the writer must “guess” and about which he must tell people “so that they know...”. (“So that they know” were the last words of the dying Bulgakov, which his wife heard.) The concept of the writer, personified in the image of M., is fundamentally different from the doctrine of the Symbolists, according to which the artistic gift provided its bearer with a sort of indulgence. In the poem by F.K. Sologuba “I have experienced the vicissitudes of fate,” the poet, who sinned a lot in life, was allowed by the Apostle Peter to “listen to the holy rejoicing” only on the grounds that he was a poet. For Bulgakov, being a poet or prose writer in itself does not mean anything. It's all about how the artist used his talent. Berlioz, for example, exchanged his talent for everyday comfort and for this he must go into oblivion. M. fulfilled his duty, but only half. He wrote a novel. However, he could not bear his burden, chose to flee, and thus violated the second part of his purpose: so that they would know what he had recognized. (In this context, it is significant to compare the fates of M. and Yeshua Ha-Nozri, who had the opportunity to avoid the cross, but did not take advantage of it.) That is why M. “did not deserve light, he deserved peace.”
The tragic image of M., discovered by Russian readers in the late 60s, when M.A. Bulgakov’s novel was first published, became for the domestic intelligentsia the personification of the dilemma of escapism and heroism, a symbol of the choice between these two existential possibilities.
Since the first edition, the attractiveness of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel has not ceased; representatives of different generations and different worldviews turn to it. There are many reasons for this.
One of them is that in the novel “The Master and Margarita” the heroes and their destinies force us to rethink life values, think about your own responsibility for the good and evil that is happening in the world.
The main characters of "The Master and Margarita"
Bulgakov’s work is a “novel within a novel”, and the main characters of Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita” in the part that tells about Satan’s stay in Moscow are Woland, The Master and Margarita, Ivan Bezdomny.
Woland
Satan, the Devil, “the spirit of evil and lord of shadows,” the powerful “prince of darkness.” Visited Moscow in the role of “professor of black magic.” Woland studies people in different ways trying to bring out their essence. Having looked at the Muscovites in the variety theater, he concludes that they are “ordinary people, in general, they resemble the old ones, the housing problem has only spoiled them.” Giving his “great ball”, he brings anxiety and confusion into the lives of the townspeople. He disinterestedly takes part in the fate of the Master and Margarita, revives the Master's burned novel, and allows the author of the novel to inform Pilate that he has been forgiven.
Woland takes on his real guise, leaving Moscow.
Master
A former historian who renounced his name, who wrote a brilliant novel about Pontius Pilate. Unable to withstand the persecution of critics, he ends up in a psychiatric hospital. Margarita, the Master's beloved, asks Satan to save her beloved. Woland also fulfills the request of Yeshua, who read the novel, to give the Master peace.
“The farewell is over, the bills are paid,” and the Master and Margarita find peace and an “eternal home.”
Margarita
Beautiful and smart woman, the wife of a “very big specialist”, who needed nothing, was not happy. Everything changed the moment I met the Master. Having fallen in love, Margarita becomes his “secret wife,” friend and like-minded person. She inspires the Master to have a romance, encourages him to fight for him.
Having made a deal with Satan, she plays the role of hostess at his ball. The mercy of Margarita, asking to spare Frida instead of asking for herself, Latunsky’s defense, and participation in Pilate’s fate soften Woland.
Through the efforts of Margarita, the Master is saved, both leave the Earth with Woland’s retinue.
Homeless Ivan
A proletarian poet who, on instructions from an editor, wrote an anti-religious poem about Jesus Christ. At the beginning of the novel, “an ignorant” person, narrow-minded, believes that “man himself controls” his life, cannot believe in the existence of the Devil and Jesus. Unable to cope with the emotional stress of meeting Woland, she ends up in a clinic for the mentally ill.
After meeting the Master, he begins to understand that his poems are “monstrous” and promises to never write poetry again. The master calls him his student.
At the end of the novel, Ivan lives according to real name“After diving, he became a professor and works at the Institute of History and Philosophy. He has recovered, but sometimes he still cannot cope with incomprehensible mental anxiety.
The list of characters in the novel is large; everyone who appears on the pages of the work deepens and reveals its meaning. Let us dwell on the most significant characters in Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita” for revealing the author’s intention.
Woland's retinue
Fagot-Koroviev
The senior assistant in Woland's retinue, he is entrusted with the most important matters. When communicating with Muscovites, Koroviev introduces himself as the secretary and translator of the foreigner Woland, but it is not clear who he really is: “a magician, a regent, a sorcerer, a translator, or the devil knows who.” He is constantly in action, and no matter what he does, no matter who he communicates with, he grimaces and clowns around, screams and “yells.”
Fagot's mannerisms and speech change dramatically when he speaks to those who deserve respect. He speaks to Woland respectfully, in a clear and sonorous voice, helps Margarita manage the ball, and looks after the Master.
Only at his last appearance on the pages of the novel does Fagot appear in his true image: next to Woland a knight “with a gloomy and never smiling face” rode on a horse. Once punished for many centuries as a jester for a poor pun on the theme of light and darkness, he has now “paid his account and closed it.”
Azazello
Demon, Woland's assistant. The appearance “with a fang protruding from the mouth, disfiguring the already unprecedentedly vile face”, with a cataract on the right eye, is repulsive. His main duties involve the use of force: “punching the administrator in the face, or kicking his uncle out of the house, or shooting someone, or some other trifle like that.” Leaving the earth, Azazello takes on his real appearance - the appearance of a demon killer with empty eyes and a cold face.
Cat Behemoth
According to Woland himself, his assistant is “a fool.” He appears before the residents of the capital in the form of a “huge, like a hog, black, like soot or rook, and with a desperate cavalry mustache” cat or full man with a face similar to that of a cat. Behemoth's jokes are by no means always harmless, and after his disappearance, ordinary black cats began to be exterminated throughout the country.
Flying away from the Earth in Woland's retinue, Behemoth turns out to be "a thin youth, a demon page, the best jester that has ever existed in the world."
Gella. Woland's maid, vampire witch.
Characters from the novel The Master
Pontius Pilate and Yeshua are the main characters of the story written by the Master.
Pontius Pilate
Procurator of Judea, cruel and domineering ruler.
Realizing that Yeshua, who was brought in for interrogation, is not guilty of anything, he becomes imbued with sympathy for him. But, despite his high position, the procurator could not resist the decision to execute him and became cowardly for fear of losing power.
The hegemon takes Ga-Notsri’s words that “among human vices one of the most important is cowardice”, he takes it personally. Tormented by remorse, he spends “twelve thousand moons” in the mountains. Released by the Master, who wrote a novel about him.
Yeshua Ha-Nozri
A philosopher traveling from city to city. He is lonely, knows nothing about his parents, believes that by nature all people are good, and the time will come when “the temple of the old faith will collapse and a new temple of truth will be created” and no power will be needed. He talks about this with people, but for his words he is accused of an attempt on the power and authority of Caesar and executed. Before execution, he forgives his executioners.
In the final part of Bulgakov’s novel, Yeshua, having read the Master’s novel, asks Woland to reward the Master and Margarita with peace, meets Pilate again, and they walk, talking, along the lunar road.
Levi Matvey
A former tax collector who considers himself a disciple of Yeshua. He writes down everything that Ga-Nozri says, presenting what he heard according to his understanding. He is devoted to his teacher, takes him down from the cross to bury him, and is going to kill Judas of Cariath.
Judah of Kiriath
A handsome young man who, for thirty tetradrachms, provoked Yeshua to speak out about state power in front of secret witnesses. Killed by secret order of Pontius Pilate.
Caiaphas. Jewish high priest who heads the Sanhedrin. He is accused by Pontius Pilate of executing Yeshua Ha-Nozri.
Heroes of the Moscow world
Characteristics of the heroes of the novel “The Master and Margarita” will be incomplete without a description of the characters of literary and artistic Moscow, contemporary to the author.
Aloisy Mogarych. A new acquaintance of the Master, who introduced himself as a journalist. Wrote a denunciation against the Master in order to occupy his apartment.
Baron Meigel. An employee of the entertainment commission, whose duties included introducing foreigners to the sights of the capital. “Earpiece and spy,” according to Woland’s definition.
Bengal Georges. Entertainer of the Variety Theater, known throughout the city. A person is limited and ignorant.
Berlioz. Writer, chairman of the board of MASSOLIT, a large Moscow literary association, editor of a large art magazine. In conversations he “discovered considerable erudition.” Denied the existence of Jesus Christ, and argued that a person cannot be “suddenly mortal.” Not believing Woland's prediction about his unexpected death, he dies after being run over by a tram.
Bosoy Nikanor Ivanovich. The “business-like and cautious” chairman of the housing association of the building in which the “bad apartment” was located.
Varenukha. “A famous theater administrator known throughout Moscow.”
Likhodeev Stepan. The director of the Variety Theater, who drinks heavily and does not fulfill his duties.
Sempleyarov Arkady Apollonovich. Chairman of the acoustic commission of Moscow theaters, who insists during a black magic session at the Variety Show on exposing the “technique of tricks.”
Sokov Andrey Fokich. A little man, a bartender at the Variety Theater, a swindler, a scrounger, who does not know how to get joy from life, who earns unearned money on sturgeon of the “second freshest”.
A brief description of the characters will be needed in order to more easily understand the events of the summary of the novel “The Master and Margarita” and not get lost in the question of “who is who.”
Work test
To reveal the general plan of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, the characterization of Margarita in the novel “The Master and Margarita” is very important. This heroine is associated with the theme of love and fidelity.
Fate
At the age of 19, Margarita got married and was married to a wealthy man for 10 years. However, Margarita did not love her husband at all, despite the fact that he respected her and sincerely loved her. For 10 years, the heroine did not experience a feeling of happiness. She believed that her life was empty. Margarita did not need money; her husband provided for her so that she “could buy everything she liked.” But neither money nor the love of her husband could make the story of their relationship happy. Only with the Master, who was far from a rich man, was Margarita able to find happiness: “she needed him, the master, and not a Gothic mansion, and not a separate garden, and not money.” But fate played with Margarita cruel joke: The Master disappears and she is left in the dark for six months. However, after decisive actions, the heroine again finds happiness with her loved one.
Character
M.A. Bulgakov pays rather little attention to Margarita’s appearance, and her last name is unknown. The author wanted to show that important are internal qualities person.
The heroine was smart, very educated. This was noted even by Woland, who sneered at Moscow society in the 1930s: “The more I talk to you, the more convinced I am that you are very smart.”
Margarita is very kind and merciful to other people, she tried to help them. Here you can see another quality of the heroine - generosity. She doesn’t feel sorry for material things at all: she gives her housekeeper Natasha her things, including a bottle of cologne.
Margarita's mercy is most clearly manifested in the episode with Frida, whom she meets at Satan's ball. The heroine asks that Frida no longer be brought the handkerchief with which she strangled her own child. In the same scene, another quality of Margarita is revealed - she always keeps her promises.
The heroine had “tact, charm and charm.”
Margarita is a girl who is not afraid to fight for her happiness. Determination is the main character trait of the heroine. She is even ready to make a deal with the devil himself in order to save her loved one - the Master.
But despite her determination, the heroine is a proud woman. She is not ready to ask for something that might hurt her pride.
Love for the Master
Margarita on the pages of the novel “The Master and Margarita” is presented as a loving woman. After 10 years of an unhappy marriage, she finally met someone she could love with all her heart. Love was spontaneous and sudden, but it completely filled the heroine’s heart. For the sake of her happiness with the Master, Margarita agreed to everything: “I agree to do this comedy with rubbing with ointment, I agree to go to hell.”
One day, in a fit of despair, she declares: “Oh, really, I would pledge my soul to the devil just to find out whether he is alive or not!” It is with the devil that she makes a deal, as a result of which she gets the opportunity to see her lover again.
In the finale of the work, Margarita goes to physical death in order to be close to the Master. The heroes, even after death, remain together forever in a world of eternal peace.
The novel “The Master and Margarita” is a work in which philosophical, and therefore eternal, themes are reflected. Love and betrayal, good and evil, truth and lies, amaze with their duality, reflecting the inconsistency and, at the same time, the completeness of human nature. Mystification and romanticism, framed in the elegant language of the writer, captivate with the depth of thought that requires repeated reading.
Tragically and mercilessly, a difficult period of Russian history appears in the novel, unfolding in such a homespun way that the devil himself visits the palaces of the capital to once again become a prisoner of the Faustian thesis about a force that always wants evil, but does good.
History of creation
In the first edition of 1928 (according to some sources, 1929), the novel was flatter, and it was not difficult to highlight specific themes, but after almost a decade and as a result of difficult work, Bulgakov came to a complexly structured, fantastic, but therefore no less a life story.
Along with this, being a man who overcomes difficulties hand in hand with the woman he loves, the writer managed to find a place for the nature of feelings more subtle than vanity. Fireflies of hope leading the main characters through devilish trials. So the novel was given its final title in 1937: “The Master and Margarita.” And this was the third edition.
But the work continued almost until the death of Mikhail Afanasyevich; he made the last edit on February 13, 1940, and died on March 10 of the same year. The novel is considered unfinished, as evidenced by numerous notes in drafts saved by the writer’s third wife. It was thanks to her that the world saw the work, albeit in an abbreviated magazine version, in 1966.
The author's attempts to bring the novel to its logical conclusion indicate how important it was for him. Bulgakov, with the last of his strength, burned out on the idea of creating a wonderful and tragic phantasmagoria. It clearly and harmoniously reflected his own life in a narrow room, like a stocking, where he struggled with illness and came to realize the true values of human existence.
Analysis of the work
Description of the work
(Berlioz, Ivan the Homeless and Woland between them)
The action begins with a description of the meeting of two Moscow writers with the devil. Of course, neither Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz nor Ivan the Homeless even suspect with whom they are talking on a May day on the patriarchal ponds. Subsequently, Berlioz dies according to Woland's prophecy, and Messire himself occupies his apartment to continue his pranks and hoaxes.
Homeless Ivan, in turn, becomes a patient in a psychiatric hospital, unable to cope with the impressions of meeting Woland and his retinue. In the house of sorrow, the poet meets the Master, who wrote a novel about the procurator of Judea, Pilate. Ivan learns that the metropolitan world of critics treats undesirable writers cruelly and begins to understand a lot about literature.
Margarita, a childless woman of thirty, the wife of a prominent specialist, yearns for the disappeared Master. Ignorance leads her to despair, in which she admits to herself that she is ready to give her soul to the devil, just to find out about the fate of her lover. One of the members of Woland's retinue, the demon of the waterless desert Azazello, delivers a miraculous cream to Margarita, thanks to which the heroine turns into a witch in order to play the role of queen at Satan's ball. Having overcome some torments with dignity, the woman receives the fulfillment of her desire - a meeting with the Master. Woland returns to the writer the manuscript burned during the persecution, proclaiming a deeply philosophical thesis that “manuscripts do not burn.”
In parallel, the storyline about Pilate, a novel written by the Master, develops. The story tells of the arrested wandering philosopher Yeshua Ha-Nozri, who was betrayed by Judas of Kiriath and handed over to the authorities. The procurator of Judea holds court within the walls of the palace of Herod the Great and is forced to execute a man whose ideas, disdainful of the authority of Caesar, and of authority in general, seem to him interesting and worthy of discussion, if not fair. Having dealt with his duty, Pilate orders Afranius, the head of the secret service, to kill Judas.
The plot lines are combined in the last chapters of the novel. One of Yeshua's disciples, Levi Matvey, visits Woland with a petition to grant peace to the lovers. That same night, Satan and his retinue leave the capital, and the devil gives the Master and Margarita eternal shelter.
Main characters
Let's start with the dark forces that appear in the first chapters.
The character of Woland is somewhat different from the canonical embodiment of evil in its pure form, although in the first edition he was assigned the role of a tempter. In the process of processing material on satanic themes, Bulgakov created the image of a player with unlimited power to shape destinies, endowed, at the same time, with omniscience, skepticism and a bit of playful curiosity. The author deprived the hero of any props, such as hooves or horns, and also removed most of descriptions of the appearance that took place in the second edition.
Moscow serves as a stage for Woland, on which, by the way, he does not leave any fatal destruction. Woland was called upon by Bulgakov as higher power, the measure of human actions. He is a mirror reflecting the essence of the other characters and society, mired in denunciations, deceit, greed and hypocrisy. And, like any mirror, messir gives the opportunity to people who think and are inclined towards justice to change for the better.
An image with an elusive portrait. Outwardly, the features of Faust, Gogol and Bulgakov himself are intertwined in him, since the mental pain caused by harsh criticism and non-recognition caused the writer many problems. The Master is conceived by the author as a character whom the reader rather feels as if he is dealing with a close, dear person, and does not see as a stranger through the prism of a deceptive appearance.
The master remembers little about life before meeting his love, Margarita, as if he never really lived. The hero’s biography bears a clear imprint of the events in the life of Mikhail Afanasyevich. Only the writer came up with a brighter ending for the hero than he experienced himself.
A collective image that embodies female courage to love despite the circumstances. Margarita is attractive, daring and desperate in her desire to reunite with the Master. Without her, nothing would have happened, because with her prayers, so to speak, a meeting with Satan took place, a great ball took place with her determination, and only thanks to her unshakable dignity a meeting between the two main tragic heroes took place.
If we look back at Bulgakov’s life, it is easy to note that without Elena Sergeevna, the writer’s third wife, who worked on his manuscript for twenty years and followed him during his life, like a faithful but expressive shadow, ready to drive away enemies and ill-wishers from the world, it would not have happened either publication of the novel.
Woland's retinue
(Woland and his retinue)
The retinue includes Azazello, Koroviev-Fagot, Behemoth the Cat and Gella. The latter is a female vampire and occupies the lowest level in the demonic hierarchy, a minor character.
The first is the prototype of the desert demon, he plays the role right hand Volanda. So Azazello mercilessly kills Baron Meigel. In addition to his ability to kill, Azazello skillfully seduces Margarita. In a way, this character was introduced by Bulgakov in order to remove characteristic behavioral habits from the image of Satan. In the first edition, the author wanted to call Woland Azazel, but changed his mind.
(Bad apartment)
Koroviev-Fagot is also a demon, and an older one, but a buffoon and a clown. His task is to confuse and mislead the respectable public. The character helps the author provide the novel with a satirical component, ridiculing the vices of society, crawling into cracks where the seducer Azazello cannot reach. Moreover, in the finale he turns out to be not a joker at all in essence, but a knight punished for an unsuccessful pun.
The cat Behemoth is the best of the jesters, a werewolf, a demon prone to gluttony, who every now and then brings chaos into the lives of Muscovites with his comical adventures. The prototypes were definitely cats, both mythological and very real. For example, Flyushka, who lived in the Bulgakovs’ house. The writer's love for the animal, on whose behalf he sometimes wrote notes to his second wife, migrated to the pages of the novel. The werewolf reflects the tendency of the intelligentsia to transform, as the writer himself did, receiving a fee and spending it on purchasing delicacies in the Torgsin store.
“The Master and Margarita” is a unique literary creation that has become a weapon in the hands of the writer. With his help, Bulgakov dealt with hated social vices, including those to which he himself was subject. He was able to express his experience through the phrases of the characters, which became household names. In particular, the statement about manuscripts goes back to the Latin proverb “Verba volant, scripta manent” - “words fly away, but what is written remains.” After all, while burning the manuscript of the novel, Mikhail Afanasyevich could not forget what he had previously created and returned to work on the work.
The idea of a novel within a novel allows the author to conduct two major storylines, gradually bringing them closer together in the timeline until they intersect “beyond the border”, where fiction and reality are no longer distinguishable. Which, in turn, raises the philosophical question about the significance of a person’s thoughts, against the backdrop of the emptiness of words that fly away with the noise of bird wings during the game of Behemoth and Woland.
Bulgakov's novel is destined to pass through time, like the heroes themselves, in order to again and again touch upon important aspects of human social life, religion, issues of moral and ethical choice and the eternal struggle between good and evil.
