"The Master and Margarita" was written in 1928-1940. and published with censored cuts in the Moscow magazine No. 11 for 1966 and No. 1 for 1967. The book without cuts was published in Paris in 1967 and in 1973 in the USSR.

The idea for the novel arose in the mid-20s, in 1929 the novel was completed, and in 1930 it was burned in the stove by Bulgakov. This version of the novel was restored and published 60 years later under the title “The Great Chancellor.” There was neither the Master nor Margarita in the novel; the gospel chapters were reduced to one - “The Gospel of the Devil” (in another version - “The Gospel of Judas”).

The first complete edition of the novel was created from 1930 to 1934. Bulgakov painfully thinks about the title: “The Engineer’s Hoof,” “The Black Magician,” “Woland’s Tour,” “Consultant with a Hoof.” Margarita and her companion appear in 1931, and only in 1934 the word “master” appears.

From 1937 until his death in 1940, Bulgakov edited the text of the novel, which he considered the main work of his life. His last words about the novel are the twice repeated “so that they know.”

Literary direction and genre

The novel “The Master and Margarita” is modernist, although the Master’s novel about Yeshua is realistic and historical; there is nothing fantastic in it: no miracles, no resurrection.

Compositionally, “The Master and Margarita” is a novel within a novel. The Gospel (Yershalaim) chapters are a figment of the Master’s imagination. Bulgakov's novel is called philosophical, mystical, satirical and even a lyrical confession. Bulgakov himself ironically called himself a mystical writer.

The Master's novel about Pontius Pilate is close in genre to a parable.

Issues

The most important problem of the novel is the problem of truth. The heroes lose their direction (The Homeless Man), their heads (Georges of Bengal), and their very identity (The Master). They find themselves in impossible places (Likhodeev), turning into witches, vampires and hogs. Which of these worlds and faces is true for everyone? Or are there many truths? So the Moscow chapters echo Pilatov’s “what is truth.”

The truth in the novel is the Master's novel. Anyone who guesses the truth becomes (or remains) mentally ill. Parallel to the Master's novel about Pontius Pilate, there are false texts: the poem by Ivan Bezdomny and the writings of Levi Matthew, who supposedly writes something that did not exist and that would later become the historical Gospel. Perhaps Bulgakov questions the truths of the Gospel.

Another major problem of the eternal life search. It is embodied in the road motif in the final scenes. Having given up the search, the Master cannot claim the highest reward (light). Moonlight in the story - the reflected light of the eternal movement towards truth, which cannot be comprehended in historical time, but only in eternity. This idea is embodied in the image of Pilate, walking with Yeshua, who turned out to be alive, along the lunar path.

There is another problem connected with Pilate in the novel - human vices. Bulgakov considers cowardice to be the main vice. This is, in a way, a justification for one’s own compromises, deals with conscience that a person is forced to make under any regime, especially under the new Soviet one. It is not for nothing that Pilate’s conversation with Mark the Rat-Slayer, who is supposed to kill Judas, resembles the conversation of agents of the secret service of the GPU, who do not speak directly about anything and understand not words, but thoughts.

Social problems are associated with satirical Moscow chapters. The problem of human history is raised. What is it: a game of the devil, the intervention of otherworldly good forces? How much does the course of history depend on a person?

Another problem is behavior human personality to a specific historical period. Is it possible in a whirlwind historical events remain human, maintain sanity, personality and not compromise with conscience? Muscovites are ordinary people, but the housing problem has spoiled them. Can a difficult historical period justify their behavior?

Some problems are believed to be encrypted in the text. Chasing Woland's retinue, Bezdomny visits precisely those places in Moscow where churches were destroyed. Thus, the problem of godlessness of the new world is raised, in which a place has appeared for the devil and his retinue, and the problem of the rebirth of a restless (homeless) person in it. The new Ivan is born after being baptized in the Moscow River. Thus, Bulgakov connects the problem of the moral decline of man, which allowed Satan to appear on the streets of Moscow, with the destruction of Christian shrines.

Plot and composition

The novel is based on well-known plots in world literature: the incarnation of the devil in the human world, the sale of the soul. Bulgakov uses compositional device“text within text” and connects two chronotopes in the novel - Moscow and Yershalaim. Structurally they are similar. Each chronotope is divided into three levels. The upper level is Moscow squares – Herod’s Palace and the Temple. Average level- Arbat lanes, where the Master and Margarita live - Lower City. The lower level is the bank of the Moscow River - Kidron and Gethsemane.

The highest point in Moscow is Triumfalnaya Square, where the Variety Theater is located. The atmosphere of a booth, a medieval carnival, where heroes dress in someone else's clothes and then find themselves naked, like unfortunate women in a magic shop, spreads throughout Moscow. It is the Variety Show that becomes the site of a demonic Sabbath with a sacrifice of the entertainer, whose head was torn off. This one high point in the Yershalaim chapters corresponds to the place of Yeshua’s crucifixion.

Thanks to parallel chronotopes, the events taking place in Moscow acquire a touch of farce and theatricality.

Two parallel times are also correlated by the principle of similarity. The events in Moscow and Yershalaim have similar functions: they open a new cultural era. The action of these plots corresponds to 29 and 1929 and seems to take place simultaneously: on the hot days of the spring full moon, on the religious holiday of Easter, which was completely forgotten in Moscow and did not prevent the murder of the innocent Yeshua in Yershalaim.

The Moscow plot corresponds to three days, and the Yershalaim plot corresponds to one day. Three Yershalaim chapters are associated with three eventful days in Moscow. In the finale, both chronotopes merge, space and time cease to exist, and the action continues into eternity.

In the finale three also merge storylines: philosophical (Pontius Pilate and Yeshua), love (The Master and Margarita), satirical (Woland in Moscow).

Heroes of the novel

Woland - Bulgakov's Satan - is not like the Satan of the Gospels, who embodies absolute evil. The hero's name, as well as his dual essence, are borrowed from Goethe's Faust. This is evidenced by the epigraph to the novel, which characterizes Woland as a force that always wants evil and does good. With this phrase, Goethe emphasized the cunning of Mephistopheles, and Bulgakov makes his hero the opposite of God, necessary for world balance. Bulgakov, through the mouth of Woland, explains his thought with the help of a bright image of the earth, which cannot exist without shadows. Woland's main feature is not maliciousness, but justice. That is why Woland arranges the fate of the Master and Margarita and ensures the promised peace. But Woland has no mercy or condescension. He judges everything from the point of view of eternity. He does not punish or forgive, but incarnates among people and tests them, forcing them to reveal their true essence. Woland is subject to time and space, he can change them at his discretion.

Woland's retinue refers the reader to mythological characters: the angel of death (Azazello), other demons (Koroviev and Behemoth). On the final (Easter) night, all scores are settled, and the demons are also reborn, losing their theatrical, superficial appearance, revealing their true face.

Master – main character novel. He, like the ancient Greek cultural hero, is the bearer of a certain truth. He stands “at the beginning of time”; his work - the novel about Pontius Pilate - marks the beginning of a new cultural era.

In the novel, the activities of the writers are contrasted with the work of the Master. Writers only imitate life, creating myth; the Master creates life itself. The source of knowledge about her is incomprehensible. The master is endowed with almost divine power. As the bearer and creator of truth, he reveals the true, human, and not divine, essence of Yeshua, and releases Pontius Pilate.

The master's personality is dual. The divine truth revealed to him is in conflict with human weakness, even madness. When the hero guesses the truth, he has nowhere else to move, he has comprehended everything and can only move into eternity.

It is Margarita who is awarded an eternal shelter, into which she ends up with the master. Peace is both a punishment and a reward. A faithful woman is ideal female image in the novel and Bulgakov’s ideal in life. Margarita is born from the image of Margarita "Fausta", who died as a result of the intervention of Satan. Margarita Bulgakova turns out to be stronger than Satan and takes advantage of the situation, like Gogol’s Vakula, while remaining pure herself.

Ivan Bezdomny is reborn and turns into Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev. He becomes a historian who knows the truth from the first instance - from its creator himself, the Master, who bequeaths him to write a sequel about Pontius Pilate. Ivan Bezdomny is Bulgakov’s hope for an objective presentation of history, which does not exist.

Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" was published in 1966-1967 and immediately brought the writer worldwide fame. The author himself defines the genre of the work as a novel, but genre uniqueness still causes controversy among writers. It is defined as a myth novel, a philosophical novel, a mystical novel, and so on. This happens because the novel combines all genres at once, even those that cannot exist together. The novel's narrative is directed to the future, the content is both psychologically and philosophically reliable, the problems raised in the novel are eternal. The main idea of ​​the novel is the struggle between good and evil, inseparable and eternal concepts. The composition of the novel is as original as the genre - a novel within a novel. One is about the fate of the Master, the other is about Pontius Pilate. On the one hand, they are opposed to each other, on the other, they seem to form a single whole. This novel within a novel collects global problems and contradictions. The master is concerned about the same problems as Pontius Pilate. At the end of the novel, you can see how Moscow connects with Yershalaim, that is, one novel is combined with another and turns into one storyline. Reading the work, we find ourselves in two dimensions at once: the 30s of the 20th century and the 30s of the 1st century AD. We see that the events took place in the same month and on several days before Easter, only with an interval of 1900 years, which proves the deep connection between the Moscow and Yershalaim chapters. The action of the novel, which are separated by almost two thousand years, are in harmony with each other, and they are connected by the fight against evil, the search for truth, and creativity. And yet the main character of the novel is love. Love is what captivates the reader and makes the work a novel in its genre. In general, the theme of love is the writer’s favorite. According to the author, all the happiness that a person has in life comes from their love. Love elevates a person above the world and comprehends the spiritual. This is the feeling of The Master and Margarita. That is why the author included these names in the title. Margarita completely surrenders to love, and for the sake of saving the Master, she sells her soul to the devil, taking on a huge sin. But still, the author makes her the most positive heroine of the novel and himself takes her side. Using the example of Margarita, Bulgakov showed that each person must make his own personal choice, without asking for help from higher powers, not expecting favors from life, a person must make his own destiny.

There are three storylines in the novel: philosophical - Yeshua and Pontius Pilate, love - the Master and Margarita, mystical and satirical - Woland, his entire retinue and Muscovites. These lines are closely related to each other by the image of Woland. He feels free in both biblical and modern times as a writer.

The plot of the novel is the scene on the Patriarch's Ponds, where Berlioz and Ivan Bezdomny argue with a stranger about the existence of God. To Woland’s question about “who controls human life and all order on earth in general,” if there is no God, Ivan Bezdomny replies: “Man himself controls.” The author reveals the relativity of human knowledge and at the same time affirms man's responsibility for his destiny. The author tells what is true in the biblical chapters, which are the center of the novel. Move modern life lies in the Master's story about Pontius Pilate.

Another feature of this work is that it is autobiographical. In the image of the Master we recognize Bulgakov himself, and in the image of Margarita - his beloved woman, his wife Elena Sergeevna. This is probably why we perceive heroes as real individuals. We sympathize with them, worry, put ourselves in their place. The reader seems to move along the artistic ladder of the work, improving along with the characters. The storylines are completed by connecting at one point - in Eternity. This unique composition of the novel makes it interesting for the reader, and most importantly, an immortal work.

3.1 Woland

Woland is a character in the novel “The Master and Margarita”, who leads the world of otherworldly forces. Woland is the devil, Satan, “prince of darkness,” “spirit of evil and lord of shadows” (all these definitions are found in the text of the novel). Woland is largely inspired by Mephistopheles in Johann Wolfgang Goethe's Faust. The name Woland itself is taken from Goethe’s poem, where it is mentioned only once and is usually omitted in Russian translations. As amended 1929 – 1930 the name Woland was reproduced in full Latin on his business card: “Dr Theodor Voland”. In the final text, Bulgakov abandoned the Latin alphabet. Note that in early editions Bulgakov tried the names Azazello and Veliar for the future Woland.

Woland’s portrait is shown before the start of the Great Ball “Two eyes fixed on Margarita’s face. The right one with a golden spark at the bottom, drilling anyone to the bottom of the soul, and the left one is empty and black, kind of like a narrow eye of a needle, like an exit into a bottomless well of all darkness and shadows. Woland's face was slanted to the side, the right corner of his mouth was pulled down, and deep wrinkles were cut into his high, bald forehead, parallel to his sharp eyebrows. The skin on Woland’s face seemed to be forever burned by a tan.”

Bulgakov hides Woland’s true face only at the very beginning of the novel in order to intrigue the reader, and then directly declares through the mouth of the Master and Woland himself that the devil has definitely arrived at the Patriarch’s. The image of Woland in relation to the view of the devil, which was defended in the book “The Pillar and Ground of Truth” by the philosopher and theologian P.A. Florensky: “Sin is fruitless, because it is not life, but death. And death drags out its ghostly existence only life and about Life, feeds from Life and exists only insofar as Life gives it nourishment from itself. What death has is only the life it has spoiled. Even at the “black mass”, in the very nest of the devil, the Devil and his fans could not come up with anything other than to blasphemously parody the mysteries of the liturgy, doing everything the other way around. What emptiness! What beggary! What flat “depths”!”

This is further proof that there is neither in reality nor even in thought either Byron’s, Lermontov’s, or Vrubel’s Devil - majestic and regal, but there is only a pitiful “monkey of God”... As amended in 1929-1930. Woland was still such a “monkey” in many ways, possessing a number of degrading traits. However, in the final text of The Master and Margarita, Woland became different, “majestic and regal,” close to the traditions of Lord Byron, Goethe, and Lermontov.

Woland different characters, who is in contact with him, gives different explanations for the purposes of his stay in Moscow. He tells Berlioz and Bezdomny that he has arrived to study the found manuscripts of Hebert of Avrilak. To the staff of the Variety Theater, Woland explains his visit with the intention of performing a show black magic. After the scandalous session, Satan tells the bartender Sokov that he simply wanted to “see the Muscovites en masse, and the most convenient way to do this was in the theater.” Before the start of the Great Ball at Satan's, Margarita Koroviev-Fagot informs that the purpose of the visit of Woland and his retinue to Moscow is to hold this ball, whose hostess must bear the name Margarita and be of royal blood.

Woland has many faces, as befits the devil, and in conversations with different people he puts on different masks. At the same time, Woland’s omniscience of Satan is completely preserved: he and his people are well aware of both the past and the future life those with whom they come into contact also know the text of the Master’s novel, which literally coincides with the “Gospel of Woland”, the same thing that was told to the unlucky writers at the Patriarchal.

Woland's unconventionality lies in the fact that, being a devil, he is endowed with some obvious attributes of God. Dialectical unity, the complementarity of good and evil are most clearly revealed in Woland’s words addressed to Matthew Levi, who refused to wish health to the “spirit of evil and the lord of shadows”: “Don’t you want to rip off the whole Earth, having blown away all the trees and all living things because of your fantasy of enjoying the naked light? You are stupid".

In Bulgakov, Woland literally revives the Master's burned novel; product artistic creativity, preserved only in the creator’s head, materializes again and turns into a tangible thing.

Woland is the bearer of fate, this is due to a long tradition in Russian literature that connected fate, fate, fate not with God, but with the devil. This was most clearly manifested in Lermontov’s story “The Fatalist” (1841), an integral part of the novel “A Hero of Our Time.” In Bulgakov, Woland personifies the fate that punishes Berlioz, Sokov and others who violate the norms of Christian morality. This is the first devil in world literature, punishing for non-observance of the commandments of Christ.

3.2 Koroviev-Fagot

This character is the eldest of the demons subordinate to Woland, a devil and a knight, who introduces himself to Muscovites as a translator for a foreign professor and former regent of a church choir.

The surname Koroviev is modeled after the surname of a character in the story by A.K. Tolstoy's "Ghoul" (1841) of the state councilor Telyaev, who turns out to be a knight and a vampire. In addition, in the story by F.M. Dostoevsky’s “The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants” has a character named Korovkin, very similar to our hero. His second name comes from the name of the musical instrument bassoon, invented by an Italian monk. The Koroviev-Fagot has some similarities with the bassoon - a long thin tube folded in three. Bulgakov's character is thin, tall and in imaginary servility, it seems, ready to fold himself three times over in front of his interlocutor (in order to then calmly harm him).

Here is his portrait: “...a transparent citizen of a strange appearance, On his small head there is a jockey cap, a checkered short jacket..., a citizen a fathom tall, but narrow at the shoulders, incredibly thin, and his face, please note, is mocking”; “...his mustache is like chicken feathers, his eyes are small, ironic and half-drunk.”

Koroviev-Fagot is a devil who emerged from the sultry Moscow air (unprecedented heat for May at the time of his appearance is one of the traditional signs of the approach of evil spirits). Woland's henchman, only when necessary, puts on various disguises: a drunken regent, a guy, a clever swindler, a sneaky translator for a famous foreigner, etc. Only in the last flight does Koroviev-Fagot become what he really is - a gloomy demon, a knight Bassoon, who knows the value of human weaknesses and virtues no worse than his master.

3.3 Azazello

Bulgakov was probably attracted by the combination of seduction and murder in one character. It is for the insidious seducer that we take Azazello Margarita during their first meeting in the Alexander Garden: “This neighbor turned out to be short, fiery red, with a fang, in starched underwear, in a good-quality striped suit, in patent leather shoes and with a bowler hat on his head. “Absolutely a robber’s face!” - thought Margarita"

But Azazello's main function in the novel is related to violence. He throws Styopa Likhodeev out of Moscow to Yalta, expels Uncle Berlioz from the Bad Apartment, and kills the traitor Baron Meigel with a revolver.

Azazello also invented the cream that he gives to Margarita. The magic cream not only makes the heroine invisible and able to fly, but also gives her a new, witch-like beauty.

In the epilogue of the novel, this fallen angel appears before us in a new guise: “Flying at the side of everyone, shining with the steel of his armor, was Azazello. The moon also changed his face. The absurd, ugly fang disappeared without a trace, and the crooked eye turned out to be false. Both of Azazello's eyes were the same, empty and black, and his face was white and cold. Now Azazello was flying in his true form, like a demon of the waterless desert, a killer demon.”

3.4 Behemoth

This werecat and Satan's favorite jester is perhaps the funniest and most memorable of Woland's retinue.

The author of “The Master and Margarita” gleaned information about Behemoth from the book by M.A. Orlov’s “The History of Relations between Man and the Devil” (1904), extracts from which are preserved in the Bulgakov archive. There, in particular, the case of a French abbess who lived in the 17th century was described. and possessed by seven devils, the fifth demon being Behemoth. This demon was depicted as a monster with an elephant head, a trunk and fangs. His hands were human-shaped, and his huge belly, short tail and thick hind legs, like those of a hippopotamus, reminded him of his name.

In Bulgakov, Behemoth became a huge black werewolf cat, since black cats are traditionally considered associated with evil spirits. This is how we see him for the first time: “... on the jeweler’s pouffe, in a cheeky pose, a third person was lounging, namely, a terribly sized black cat with a glass of vodka in one paw and a fork, on which he had managed to pick up a pickled mushroom, in the other.”

The hippopotamus in the demonological tradition is the demon of the desires of the stomach. Hence his extraordinary gluttony, especially in Torgsin, when he indiscriminately swallows everything edible.

Behemoth's shootout with detectives in apartment No. 50, his chess match with Woland, his shooting competition with Azazello - all this is pure humorous skits, very funny and even to some extent remove the severity of those everyday, moral and philosophical problems that the novel poses to the reader.

In the last flight, the transformation of this merry joker is very unusual (like most of the plot devices in this science fiction novel): “The night tore off the fluffy tail from the Behemoth, tore off its fur and scattered its shreds across the swamps. He who was a cat who amused the prince of darkness now turned out to be a thin youth, a demon page, the best jester that ever existed in the world.”

Gella is a member of Woland’s retinue, a female vampire: “I recommend my maid Gella. She is efficient, understanding, and there is no service that she cannot provide.”

Bulgakov took the name “Gella” from the article “Sorcery” Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron, where it was noted that in Lesvos this name was used to call untimely dead girls who became vampires after death.

The green-eyed beauty Gella moves freely through the air, thereby taking on a resemblance to a witch. Character traits Bulgakov may have borrowed the behavior of vampires - clicking teeth and smacking their lips from the story by A.K. Tolstoy's "Ghoul". There, a vampire girl turns her lover into a vampire with a kiss - hence, obviously, Gella’s fatal kiss for Varenukha.

Gella, the only one from Woland's retinue, is absent from the scene of the last flight. Most likely, Bulgakov deliberately removed her as the youngest member of the retinue, performing only auxiliary functions both in the Variety Theater, and in the Bad Apartment, and at Satan’s Great Ball. Vampires are traditionally the lowest category of evil spirits. In addition, Gella would have no one to turn into on the last flight - when the night “exposed all the deceptions,” she could only become a dead girl again.

Satan's Great Ball is a ball given by Woland in the Bad Apartment in the novel The Master and Margarita on the endlessly lasting midnight of Friday, May 3, 1929.

According to the memoirs of E.S. In her description of the ball, Bulgakova used impressions from the reception at the American Embassy in Moscow on April 22, 1935. US Ambassador William Bullitt invited the writer and his wife to this gala event. From his memoirs: “Once a year, Bullitt gave large receptions on the occasion of the national holiday. Writers were also invited. One day we received such an invitation. In a hall with columns they dance, with a choir - multi-colored spotlights. Behind the net there are birds - a mass - fluttering. Orchestra from Stockholm. M.A. I was most captivated by the conductor’s tailcoat – right down to his toes.

Dinner in a dining room specially built for this ball at the embassy mansion, on separate tables. In the corners of the dining room there are small carriages, with kids, sheep and bear cubs on them. Along the walls of a cage with roosters. At about three o'clock the harmonicas began to play and the roosters began to crow. Russ style. A lot of tulips and roses - from Holland. On the top floor there is a kebab shop. Red roses, red French wine. Downstairs there is champagne and cigarettes everywhere. At about six we got into their embassy Cadillac and drove home. They brought a huge bouquet of tulips from the embassy secretary.”

For a semi-disgraced writer like Bulgakov, a reception at the American Embassy is an almost incredible event, comparable to a ball at Satan’s. Soviet visual propaganda of those years often depicted “American imperialism” in the guise of the devil. In Satan's Great Ball, real features of the furnishings of the American Ambassador's residence are combined with details and images of a distinctly literary origin.

In order to fit Satan's Great Ball into the Bad Apartment, it was necessary to expand it to supernatural proportions. As Koroviev-Fagot explains, “for those who are well acquainted with the fifth dimension, it costs nothing to expand the room to the desired limits.” This brings to mind the novel “The Invisible Man” (1897) by H.G. Wells. Bulgakov goes further than the English science fiction writer, increasing the number of dimensions from a fairly traditional four to five. In the fifth dimension, the gigantic halls where the Great Ball of Satan takes place become visible, and the participants of the ball themselves, on the contrary, are invisible to the people around them, including the OGPU agents on duty at the doors of the Bad Apartment.

By abundantly decorating the ballrooms with roses, Bulgakov took into account the complex and multifaceted symbolism associated with this flower. In the cultural tradition of many peoples, roses represent both mourning, love and purity. Taking this into account, the roses at Satan’s Great Ball can be seen both as a symbol of Margarita’s love for the Master, and as a harbinger of their imminent death. Roses here are also an allegory of Christ, a memory of shed blood; they have long been included in the symbolism of the Catholic Church.

The election of Margaret as queen of the Great Ball of Satan and her likening to one of the French queens who lived in the 16th century is associated with the encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron. Bulgakov's extracts from the articles of this dictionary dedicated to two French queens who bore the name Margaret - Navarre and Valois - have been preserved. Both historical margaritas patronized writers and poets, and Bulgakov’s Margarita turns out to be connected with the brilliant Master, whose extraction from the hospital she achieves after the Great Ball with Satan.

Another source of Satan’s Great Ball is the description of the ball in the Mikhailovsky Palace, given in the book of the Marquis Astolphe de Custine “Russia in 1839” (1843) (this work was used by Bulgakov when creating the film script “ Dead Souls"): "The large gallery intended for dancing was decorated with exceptional luxury. One and a half thousand tubs and pots with the rarest flowers formed a fragrant bosquet. At the end of the hall, in the thick shadow of exotic plants, a swimming pool was visible, from which a fountain stream was constantly gushing out. The splashes of water, illuminated by bright lights, sparkled like diamond specks of dust and refreshed the air... It is difficult to imagine the splendor of this picture. You completely lost track of where you were. All boundaries disappeared, everything was full of light, gold, flowers, reflections and enchanting, magical illusion.” Margarita sees a similar picture at Satan’s Great Ball, feeling like she is in a tropical forest, among hundreds of flowers and colorful fountains and listening to the music of the world’s best orchestras.

Depicting Satan’s Great Ball, Bulgakov also took into account the traditions of Russian symbolism, in particular the symphonies of the poet A. Bely and L. Andreev’s play “The Life of a Man.”

Satan's Great Ball can also be imagined as a figment of the imagination of Margarita, who is about to commit suicide. Many eminent nobles-criminals approach her as the queen of the ball, but Margarita prefers the brilliant writer Master to everyone. Note that the ball is preceded by a session of black magic in the circus-like Variety Theater, where at the end the musicians play a march (and in works of this genre, drums always play a large role).

Let us note that at Satan’s Great Ball there are also musical geniuses who are not directly associated in their work with the motives of Satanism. Margarita meets here the “king of waltzes”, the Austrian composer Johann Strauss, the Belgian violinist and composer Henri Vietan, and the orchestra plays the best musicians peace. Thus, Bulgakov illustrates the idea that every talent is something of the devil.

The fact that at Satan’s Great Ball a line of murderers, poisoners, executioners, debauchees and pimps passes in front of Margarita is not at all accidental. Bulgakov's heroine is tormented by betrayal of her husband and, albeit subconsciously, puts her act on a par with the greatest crimes of the past and present. The abundance of poisoners and poisoners, real and imaginary, is a reflection in Margarita’s brain of the thought of possible suicide together with the Master using poison. At the same time, their subsequent poisoning, carried out by Azazello, can be considered imaginary and not real, since historically all the male poisoners at Satan’s Great Ball are imaginary poisoners.

But Bulgakov also leaves an alternative possibility: Satan’s Great Ball and all the events associated with it take place only in the sick imagination of Margarita, who is tormented by the lack of news about the Master and guilt before her husband and subconsciously thinking about suicide. The author of The Master and Margarita offers a similar alternative explanation in relation to the Moscow adventures of Satan and his henchmen in the epilogue of the novel, making it clear that it does not exhaust what is happening. Also, any rational explanation of Satan’s Great Ball, according to the author’s plan, can in no way be complete.

One of the striking paradoxes of the novel is that, having caused quite a bit of mischief in Moscow, Woland’s gang at the same time brought decency, honesty back to life and cruelly punished evil and untruth, thereby serving, as it were, to affirm the millennia moral commandments. Woland destroys routine and brings punishment to vulgarities and opportunists. And if his retinue appears in the guise of petty demons, not indifferent to arson, destruction and mischief, then the messir himself invariably retains a certain majesty. He observes Bulgakov's Moscow like a researcher conducting a scientific experiment, as if he had really been sent on a business trip by the heavenly office. At the beginning of the book, fooling Berlioz, he claims that he arrived in Moscow to study the manuscripts of Herbert of Avrilak - the role of a scientist, experimenter, and magician suits him. And his powers are great: he has the privilege of punishing acts, which is in no way within the reach of the highest contemplative good.

It is easier for Margarita, who despairs of justice, to resort to the services of such a Woland. “Of course, when people are completely robbed, like you and me,” she shares with the Master, “they seek salvation from an otherworldly force.” Bulgakov's Margarita, in a mirror-inverted form, varies the story of Faust. Faust sold his soul to the devil for the sake of a passion for knowledge and betrayed the love of Margarita. In the novel, Margarita is ready to make a deal with Woland and becomes a witch for the sake of love and loyalty to the Master.

You can also notice that the story of Margarita from Faust has many similarities with the story of Bulgakov’s Frida. But in Bulgakov, the motive of mercy and love in the image of Margarita is resolved differently than in Goethe’s poem, where before the power of love “the nature of Satan surrendered... he did not bear its prick, mercy overcame”, and Faust was released into the world. In The Master and Margarita, it is Margarita who shows mercy to Frida, and not Woland himself. Love does not in any way affect the nature of Satan, for in fact the fate of the brilliant Master is predetermined by Woland in advance. Satan’s plan coincides with what Master Yeshua asks to be rewarded with, and Margarita here is part of this reward.

In the epilogue of the novel, on the wings of a cloud, Satan and his retinue leave Moscow, taking with them to their eternal peace, to the last refuge of the Master and Margarita. But those who deprived the Master of a normal life in Moscow, hounded him and forced him to seek refuge with the devil - they remained.

In one of the editions of the novel, Woland’s last words are as follows: “... He has a courageous face, he does his job correctly, and in general it’s all over here. It is time!" Woland orders his retinue to leave Moscow, because he is confident that this city and country will remain in his power as long as “a man with a courageous face” dominates here. This man is Stalin. Obviously, such a direct hint that the “great leader and teacher” enjoys the favor of the devil especially frightened the listeners of the last chapters of the novel on May 15, 1939. It is interesting that this place scared the subsequent publishers of Bulgakov’s novel no less. Although the quoted fragment was contained in the last typescript of “The Master and Margarita” and was not canceled by subsequent editing, it did not appear in the main text in any of the editions carried out so far.

Researchers from different countries have written a lot of literature about Bulgakov’s novel, and probably a lot more will be written. Among those who interpreted the book, there were those who were inclined to read it as an encrypted political treatise: in the figure of Woland they tried to guess Stalin and even his retinue was painted according to specific political roles - in Azazello, Koroviev they tried to guess Trotsky, Zinoviev, etc.

Other interpreters of the novel saw in it an apology for the devil, an admiration for dark power, some kind of special, almost morbid predilection of the author for the dark elements of existence. At the same time, they were annoyed at the author’s irreligion, his unsteadiness in the dogmas of Orthodoxy, which allowed him to compose the dubious “Gospel of Woland.” Others, completely atheistically minded, reproached the writer for the “black romance” of defeat, capitulation to the world of evil.

In fact, Bulgakov called himself a “mystical writer,” but this mysticism did not cloud the mind and did not intimidate the reader. Woland and his retinue performed harmless and often vengeful miracles in the novel, like wizards in good fairy tale: with them, in essence, there was an invisible hat, a flying carpet and a sword - a treasure, a punishing sword.

One of the main targets of Woland’s cleansing work is the complacency of the mind, especially the atheistic mind, which sweeps away the entire area of ​​the mysterious and mysterious along with faith in God. Indulging in free imagination with pleasure, describing the tricks, jokes and flights of Azazello, Koroviev and the cat, admiring the gloomy power of Woland, the author laughs at the confidence that all forms of life can be calculated and planned, and the prosperity and happiness of people does not cost anything - you just have to want .

1) Beznosov E.L., “Belongs to Eternity”, Moscow Ast “Olympus”, 1996

2) “Bulgakov Encyclopedia” compiled by B.V. Sokolov - M. “Lokid”, “Myth”, 1997

3) Bulgakov M.A. , “Notes on Cuffs”, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1988

4) Bulgakov M.A., “The Master and Margarita”, Moscow Ast “Olympus”, 1996

5) Boborykin V.G., “Mikhail Bulgakov” - M. “Enlightenment”, 1991

6) Boborykin V.G., “Literature at school”, Moscow, “Enlightenment”, 1991

7) “The work of Mikhail Bulgakov: Research. Materials. Bibliography. Book 1" ed. ON THE. Groznova and A.I. Pavlovsky. L., “Science”, 1991

8) Lakshin V.Ya., Introductory article to the publication “M.A. Bulgakov Collected Works in 5 volumes. M., " Fiction", 1990

9) Yankovskaya L., “ Creative path M. Bulgakov ", Moscow, " Soviet writer”, 1983

In 1928-1929, during one of the most difficult periods of his life, M.A. Bulgakov almost simultaneously begins to create three works: a novel about the devil, a play called “The Cabal of the Holy One” and a comedy, which will soon be destroyed along with the novel he began. Bulgakov painfully searched for a title for his novel, repeatedly changing one for another. In the margins of his manuscripts, such variant names as “Tour…”, “Son…”, “Juggler with a Hoof”, “He Appeared”, etc. are preserved. However, “Black Magician” is most often found. Soon new heroes are introduced: first Margarita, then the Master. The appearance of the image of Margarita in the novel, and with it the theme of great and eternal love, is associated by many researchers of Bulgakov’s work with his marriage to Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya. By 1936, after 8 years of work on the novel, Bulgakov prepared the sixth complete draft edition. The reworking of the text continued in the future: the writer made additions, changes, changed the composition and chapter titles. In 1937, the structure of the novel was finally formed, and then the title “The Master and Margarita” appeared. The novel “The Master and Margarita” was first published in 1966-1967, in the magazine “Moscow” with large bills (more than 150 deletions of the text). In the same year, it was published in full in Paris and was soon translated into major European languages. In the writer's homeland full text The novel appeared only in 1973.

PLOT, COMPOSITION, GENRE OF THE NOVEL

M.A. Bulgakov called “The Master and Margarita” a novel, but the genre uniqueness of this work still causes controversy among literary scholars.

It is defined as a myth novel, a philosophical novel, a menippea (a genre of ancient literature; characterized by a free combination of poetry and prose, seriousness and comedy, philosophical reasoning and satirical ridicule, a predilection for fantastic situations (flying into the sky, descending into the underworld, etc. ), creating for the characters the possibility of behavior free from any conventions.).

This happens because, as noted by the author of the “Bulgakov Encyclopedia” B.V. Sokolov, in “The Master and Margarita” almost all existing genres and genres in the world were combined very organically. literary trends.

As original as the genre, the composition of “The Master and Margarita” is a novel within a novel, or a double novel. These two novels (about the fate of the Master and Margarita and about Pontius Pilate) are opposed to each other and at the same time form a kind of organic unity.

Two layers of time are uniquely intertwined in the plot: biblical and contemporary to Bulgakov, that is, the 30s. 20th century and 1st century new era. Many events described in the Yershalaim chapters are repeated in a parodic, reduced form exactly 1900 years later in Moscow.

The three storylines of the Master and Margarita (philosophical - Yeshua and Pontius Pilate, love - the Master and Margarita, mystical and satirical - Woland, his retinue and Muscovites), clothed in a free, bright, sometimes bizarre form of storytelling, are closely interconnected by the image of Woland.

The storylines of the two novels end by intersecting at one spatio-temporal point - in eternity, where the Master and his hero Pontius Pilate meet and find forgiveness and eternal shelter.

The collisions, situations and characters of the biblical chapters, mirrored in the Moscow chapters, contribute to such a plot conclusion and help reveal the philosophical intent of the novel.

The genre uniqueness of the novel "The Master and Margarita" - the "last, sunset" work of M. A. Bulgakov still causes controversy among literary scholars. It is defined as a mythical novel, a philosophical novel, a menippea, a mystery novel, etc. “The Master and Margarita” quite organically combines almost all the genres and literary movements existing in the world. According to the English researcher of Bulgakov's creativity J.

Curtis, the form of “The Master and Margarita” and its content make it a unique masterpiece, parallels with which “are difficult to find in both Russian and Western European literature.” literary tradition". No less original is the composition of "The Master and Margarita" - a novel within a novel, or a double novel - about the fate of the Master and Pontius Pilate.

On the one hand, these two novels are opposed to each other, while on the other hand they form a kind of organic unity. The plot combines two layers of time in an original way: biblical and contemporary to Bulgakov - the 1930s. and I century. ad. Some events described in the Yershalaim chapters are repeated exactly 1900 years later in Moscow in a parodic, reduced version.

There are three storylines in the novel: philosophical - Yeshua and Pontius Pilate, love - the Master and Margarita, mystical and satirical - Woland, his retinue and Muscovites. They are presented in a free, bright, sometimes bizarre form of storytelling and are closely interconnected with Woland’s infernal image. The novel begins with a scene on the Patriarch's Ponds, where Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz and Ivan Bezdomny are heatedly arguing with a strange stranger about the existence of God.

To Woland’s question “who controls human life and all order on earth in general,” if there is no God, Ivan Bezdomny, as a convinced atheist, answers: “Man himself controls.” But soon the development of the plot refutes this thesis. Bulgakov reveals the relativity of human knowledge and predetermination life path. At the same time, he affirms man's responsibility for his destiny. Eternal questions: “What is truth in this unpredictable world?

Are there unchangeable, eternal moral values?" - are posed by the author in the Yershalaim chapters (there are only 4 (2, 16, 25, 26) of the 32 chapters of the novel), which, undoubtedly, are the ideological center of the novel. The course of life in Moscow in the 1930s gg. merges with the Master’s story about Pontius Pilate.

Hunted down in modern life, the Master's genius finally finds peace in Eternity. As a result, the storylines of the two novels are completed, converging at one spatio-temporal point - in Eternity, where the Master and his hero Pontius Pilate meet and find “forgiveness and eternal shelter.” Unexpected turns, situations and characters of the biblical chapters are mirrored in the Moscow chapters, contributing to such a plot conclusion and the disclosure of the philosophical content of Bulgakov's narrative.

Main feature literary portrait M.A. Bulgakov, in my opinion, is his commitment to the idea of ​​creative freedom. In his works, the writer not only reveals himself as much as possible, which allows his work to be classified as modernism, but also freely places fantastic characters in real reality, risks retelling the gospel story, making central character the devil. Bulgakov's narrator often changes his ironic mask to a lyrical one, sometimes disappearing altogether, as, for example, in the chapters about Pilate in the novel “The Master and Margarita,” leaving the reader the right to draw his own conclusions. The writer proclaims the fearlessness of a true creator as the principle of any creativity, because “manuscripts do not burn”, they are equivalent to the indestructible Universe, nothing can hide the truth. If in The White Guard despondency is considered the main sin, then in The Master and Margarita the master is deprived of the right to light because he succumbed to fear. The creator’s betrayal of his destiny, cowardice, according to Bulgakov, are unforgivable. The master in the novel gains fearlessness only when he no longer has anything and does not want to create, but Bulgakov’s texts have a special magic, because their author always had the courage to speak sincerely and truthfully.

The artistic conventions of Bulgakov's prose - exceptional plot whimsicality, external implausibility of situations and details - are difficult to understand. “The Master and Margarita” intertwines satire, realism and fantasy; this work is defined as a mythical novel. The writer seeks to expand real time and space through the inclusion of text within the text, to show the interconnection of events, while at the same time focusing attention on the universal and culturally-historically distant more than on the close reality. The causes and consequences of current events are intertwined in an interesting way. Thus, the procurator of Judea, considering it impossible to free the condemned man himself, offers to make a choice to the high priest, but the decision of Caiaphas will affect the future of the whole world, and will give Pilate dubious glory for centuries. In our time, as soon as the critic Latunsky blasted the master’s novel in his article, neighbor Aloisy Mogarych denounces the author, eager to expand his living space. Captured following a denunciation by the secret police, the master goes crazy. It is scary that at all times political gain turns out to be more important than morality and the heroes are similar in that they do not listen to the voice of conscience. For Bulgakov, a moral absolutist, the concepts of good and evil remain unchanged in any empire: both the Roman and the Soviet. Therefore, he correlates the fate of the main character with the fate of Jesus Christ, and modern history- with sacred history. A novel within a novel, the story of Pilate cannot be considered as an independent work (unlike, for example, “The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor” from Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”), since its philosophy is determined by its place in the main novel. The mythical images of Yeshua and Woland only affirm the eternity and inviolability of moral laws.

Despite the presence of mythical elements in The Master and Margarita, huge role Bulgakov devoted himself to historical material. In affirming the idea of ​​the perversion of law and justice under a despotic regime, Bulgakov did not need to distort or embellish historical facts about the times of government in Ancient Rome and the Soviet Empire. However, it is characteristic that while there are a huge number of plot and figurative parallels between the era of Pontius Pilate and the 30s of the twentieth century, Pilate and Caiaphas, who are situationally in power, are nowhere compared with Stalin. This is probably not necessary. “All power is violence against people... the time will come when there will be no power either by Caesars or by any other power. Man will move into the kingdom of truth and justice, where no power will be needed at all.” The dispute between Yeshua and Pilate, where the former is the embodied idea of ​​Christianity, and the latter represents earthly power, according to the writer, does not need to be resolved. Bulgakov's novel is not anti-Gospel. Yeshua is the Christ of the Sermon on the Mount, a man who believes that all people are naturally good and that one must turn the cheek to the offender. The author only excluded the messianic theme from his work, but otherwise he solved the question of the existence of Christ in a religious manner. In addition to the Gospel, “The Master and Margarita” traces details of medieval apocrypha and legends with which Bulgakov put historical sources into artistic form. Thus, the novel cannot be strictly attributed to any historical works realism, nor to the works of Christianity.

The artistic, modernist nature of The Master and Margarita is emphasized by numerous symbolic descriptions. In both the Moscow and Yershalaim chapters, images of golden church domes and golden idols stand out, turning from religious symbols into simple decorations. Bulgakov always doubted the spirituality of the official faith, whose representatives considered themselves rulers of human souls. Beneath the outward religiosity hides the same tyranny. Therefore, the appearance in the novel of a thundercloud covering Yershalaim so that the great city “disappears... as if it never existed in the world” is significant.

Sometimes in Bulgakov what seems symbolic becomes a parody. Thus, the paper icon of Ivan and the heavy image of a poodle on Margarita’s neck are like versions of a crucifix, which is absent in the Yershalaim chapters. The twelve writers in Griboyedov’s meeting room resemble the apostles, only they are waiting not for Christ, but for the deceased Berlioz. Associations with the transformation of water into wine from the Gospel are created by the scene of the transformation of Narzan labels into money. But it is important that the images of Woland and Yeshua do not look parody. Woland appears in the novel not as a malicious tempter, but as a judge who atones for his sins with such a service, Yeshua is an intercessor, an intercessor for people before God. Black magic sometimes seems less remarkable than reality with its nightly disappearances and other forms of institutionalized violence. The object of Bulgakov's satire is not Ancient Rome with his tyranny, and the writers' club - Griboyedov. Second-rate writers with unappetizing surnames see squabbles over departmental dachas, vouchers and apartments as the meaning of life. The writer makes scoundrels and slow-witted officials, as if inspired by Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin, the targets for his satirical pen. But Bulgakov’s satire is intended, first of all, not to destroy, but to affirm. To affirm the existence of moral absolutes, to awaken in us the voice of conscience, so often drowned out for political reasons.

Bulgakov, despite all the irony in relation to the world around him, still in my eyes looks like a great idealist, who contrasts the creative perception of the world with the ordinary, and believes in romantic ideals. “The Master and Margarita” continues a series of novels such as “We” by E. Zamyatin, “Doctor Zhivago” by B. Pasternak, where in the conflict between the individual and society, moral victory invariably remains with the human creator. It is no coincidence that although the central character in Bulgakov’s work is Woland, the novel is named after the master. In some ways, using the example of his personality, the author wanted to reveal to us his inner world, connect with your feelings. And this is also a kind of expression of individual freedom, an indicator of its openness to the world.