"Sunset" novel by M.A. Bulgakov is attributed to the works fantastic realism, leading the tradition from Goethe, Hoffmann, Gogol. Even decades after the creation of The Master and Margarita (1929-1940), the novel is considered one of the most mysterious phenomena Russian literature. The magic and secrets of the novel are manifested at all levels: from the plot action in Moscow of Woland's retinue to Everyday life heroes, in which symbols, signs, secret codes and ciphers. The author does not deviate from the mystical tradition in the relationship of the characters he created.
It is difficult to single out the main character in the novel - the Master and his beloved Margarita, of course, come to the fore, but there is also Ivan Bezdomny, to whom, according to researchers, the entire action of the work is directed. All heroes are united by M.A. Bulgakov in groups - 8 triads and 1 dyad, and along with bright, colorful heroes, the group can also include an invisible hero, barely perceptible on the pages of the novel, a secret double.
Triad 1 is represented by the rulers of the destinies and lives of people. These are Pontius Pilate, Woland and Dr. Stravinsky. Each of them rules in the world “entrusted” to him: Pilate in Yershalaim, Woland in Moscow, Stravinsky in a clinic for the mentally ill. Each of them is obsessed with the idea of salvation. Pilate tries to save the preacher Yeshua, but retreats (cowardice is the worst sin); Woland - in the other world - saves the Master, and Stravinsky unsuccessfully tries to save the Master in the Moscow world.
Triad 2 is made up of the closest assistants to those in power: Pilate's Aphranius, Woland's Koroviev-Fagot, and, finally, Stravinsky's doctor Fyodor Vasilyevich. Each of them - right hand his "master", carrying out any order.
Mark Krysoboy, Azazello, Archibald Archibaldovich - triad 3, triad of executioners. Mark Ratslayer willingly "teaches" Yeshua how to behave with the Procurator. Azazelo, the demon-killer, does the dirty work on behalf of Woland. And Archibald Archibaldovich becomes their projection in the real world.
Triad 4 is unusual in that its characters are animals. This is Banga, Pilate's dog, his only salvation during bouts of headache, the only creature that understands and loves the Cruel Fifth Procurator of Judea the Horseman, the Golden Spear. Tuztuben is a projection of Bunga in the Moscow world, a "police" dog. Behemoth is Woland's favorite cat, able to ride a "hare" in a tram and appear from a mirror.
The 5th triad is purely female: Nisa is the agent of Aphranius, Gella is the agent and maid of Koroviev-Fagot, Natasha is the maid of Margarita. Each performs a secret act: Niza avenges the betrayal of Yeshua, Gella excites visitors to a bad apartment with her appearance, and Natasha ... becomes a witch.
Berlioz, Iosif Kaifa and the editor of the "thick" literary magazine are united in the 6th triad. They are also "those in power", but the rank is undoubtedly lower. Each of them has a wormhole that turns them into the category of negative heroes: Kaifa understands the absurdity of the execution of Yeshua, but insists on it; Berlioz imposes his "militant" atheism on everyone; the editor pretends to be a foreigner. 
Triad of traitors - triad 7: Judas, who betrayed Yeshua, Baron Meigel, who offended Woland, and Aloisy Mogarych, who offended the Master.
And finally, the 8th triad is the triad of students who have become last hope their mentors: Matthew Levi, a former tax collector and the only disciple of Yeshua; Ivan Homeless - a student of the Master, who was supposed to continue his novel; Ryukhin is a failed student of Pushkin.
The only dyad of the novel is the dyad of heroes who accomplished a feat: Yeshua is a sacrificial feat, the Master is a creative feat.
The grouping of the heroes of the novel is another example of the three worlds of The Master and Margarita, which is far from its only mystery.
Successful study of literature!
blog.site, with full or partial copying of the material, a link to the source is required.
Woland did not come to earth alone. He was accompanied by creatures that in the novel by and large play the role of jesters, arrange all sorts of shows, disgusting and hated by the indignant Moscow population (they simply turned human vices and weaknesses inside out). But their task was also to do all the "dirty" work for Woland, to serve him, incl. to prepare Margarita for the Great Ball and for her and the Master's journey into the world of peace. Woland's retinue consisted of three "main" jesters - Behemoth Cat, Koroviev-Fagot, Azazello and another vampire girl Gella. Where did such strange creatures in Woland's suite? And where did Bulgakov get their images and names from?
Let's start with Behemoth. This is a werewolf cat and Woland's favorite jester. The name Behemoth is taken from the apocryphal Old Testament book of Enoch. Information about Behemoth Bulgakov, apparently, learned from the research of I.Ya. Porfiriev "Apocryphal tales of the Old Testament persons and events" and from the book of M.A. Orlov "The History of Man's Relations with the Devil". In these works, Behemoth is a sea monster, as well as a demon, which “was depicted as a monster with an elephant head, with a trunk and fangs. His hands were of a human style, and his huge belly, short tail and thick hind legs, like a hippopotamus, reminded of the name they bear. Bulgakov's Behemoth became a huge werewolf cat, and Behemoth served as a real prototype domestic cat L.E. and M.A. Bulgakov Flushka is a huge gray animal. In the novel, he is black, because. symbolizes evil spirits.
During the last flight, the Behemoth turns into a thin young page, flying next to the purple knight (transformed by Koroviev-Fagot). Here, probably, the comic “legend of a cruel knight” from the story of Bulgakov’s friend S.S. Zayaitsky “The Biography of Stepan Alexandrovich Lososinov” was reflected. In this legend, along with a cruel knight, his page also appears. Zayaitsky's knight had a passion for tearing off the heads of animals, and this function in "The Master ..." is transferred to Behemoth, only in relation to people - he tears off the head of Georges of Bengal.
In the demonological tradition, Behemoth is the demon of the desires of the stomach. Hence the extraordinary gluttony of Behemoth in Torgsin. This is how Bulgakov sneers at the visitors of the foreign exchange store, including himself (people seem to have been possessed by the demon Behemoth, and they are in a hurry to buy delicacies, while outside the capitals the population lives from hand to mouth).
The hippopotamus in the novel mostly jokes and fools around, which manifests Bulgakov's truly sparkling humor, and also causes confusion and fear in many people with his unusual appearance (at the end of the novel, it is he who burns down apartment No. 50, "Griboyedov" and Torgsin).
Koroviev-Fagot - the eldest of the demons subordinate to Woland, his first assistant, the devil and the knight, who appears to Muscovites as an interpreter with a foreign professor and a former regent church choir. There are many versions about the origin of the name Koroviev and the nickname Fagot. Perhaps the surname is modeled after the surname of the character in A.K. Tolstoy's "Ghoul" of State Councilor Telyaev, who turns out to be a knight Ambrose and a vampire. Koroviev is also associated with the images of the works of F.M. Dostoevsky. In the epilogue of The Master and Margarita, “four Korovkins” are named among those detained because of the similarity of their surnames with Koroviev-Fagot. Here one immediately recalls Dostoevsky's story "The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants", where a certain Korovkin appears. And a number of knights from the works of authors of different times are considered the prototypes of Koroviev-Fagot. It is possible that this character had real prototype among Bulgakov's acquaintances was the plumber Ageich, a rare dirty trick and drunkard, who more than once recalled that in his youth he was the regent of the church choir. And this influenced the hypostasis of Koroviev, posing as a former regent and appearing at the Patriarchs as a bitter drunkard. The nickname Fagot, of course, echoes the name musical instrument. This, most likely, explains his joke with the employees of the branch of the Entertainment Commission, who, against their will, sang in a choir directed by Koroviev, “Glorious Sea, Sacred Baikal.” The bassoon (musical instrument) was invented by the Italian monk Afranio. Due to this circumstance, the functional connection between Koroviev-Fagot and Aphranius is more clearly indicated (in the novel, as we have already said, three worlds are distinguished, and the representatives of each of them together form triads in terms of external and functional similarity). Koroviev belongs to the triad: Fyodor Vasilyevich (first assistant to Professor Stravinsky) - Aphranius (first assistant to Pontius Pilate) Koroviev-Fagot (first assistant to Woland). Koroviev-Fagot even has some resemblance to a bassoon - a long thin tube folded in three. Bulgakov's character is thin, tall and in imaginary subservience, it seems, is ready to triple in front of his interlocutor (in order to calmly harm him later). On the last flight, Koroviev-Fagot appears before us as a dark purple knight with a gloomy, never smiling face. “He rested his chin on his chest, he did not look at the moon, he was not interested in the earth under him, he was thinking about something of his own, flying next to Woland. Why has he changed so much? Margarita asked softly to the whistle of the wind at Woland.
This knight once made an unsuccessful joke, ”Woland answered, turning his face with a quietly burning eye to Margarita,“ his pun, which he composed, talking about light and darkness, was not entirely good. And the knight had to beg a little more and longer than he expected.
Tasteless torn circus clothes, gayer look, buffoonish manners - that, it turns out, what punishment was determined for the nameless knight for the pun about light and darkness!
Azazello - "the demon of the waterless desert, the killer demon." The name Azazello was formed by Bulgakov from the Old Testament name Azazel (or Azazel). This is the name of the negative cultural hero of the Old Testament apocrypha - the book of Enoch, the fallen angel who taught people to make weapons and jewelry. Thanks to Azazel, women have mastered the "lascivious art" of face painting. Therefore, it is Azazello who hands the cream to Margarita, magically changing her appearance. Probably, Bulgakov was attracted by the combination of the ability to seduce and kill in one character. It is for the insidious seducer that Azazello Margarita takes during their first meeting in the Alexander Garden. But the main function of Azazello is connected with violence. Here are the words that he said to Margarita: “Kick the administrator in the face, or put an uncle out of the house, or shoot someone, or some other trifle of that kind, this is my direct specialty ...” Azazello threw Stepan Bogdanovich Likhodeev out of Moscow to Yalta, expelled Uncle M.A. Berlioz Poplavsky from the Bad Apartment, killed Baron Meigel with a revolver.
Gella is the youngest member of Woland's retinue, a female vampire. Bulgakov got the name "Gella" from the article "Sorcery" of the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, where it was noted that in Lesbos this name was used to call untimely dead girls who became vampires after death. Character traits behavior of vampires - clicking teeth and smacking Bulgakov, perhaps borrowed from the story of A. K. Tolstoy "Ghoul", where the main character is threatened with death by ghouls (vampires). Here, a vampire girl with a kiss turns her lover into a vampire from here, obviously, the kiss of Gella, fatal for Varenukha. She, the only one from Woland's retinue, is absent from the scene of the last flight. The wife of the writer E.S. Bulgakova believed that this was the result of the unfinished work on The Master and Margarita. However, it is possible that Bulgakov deliberately removed Gella from the scene of the last flight as the youngest member of the retinue, performing only auxiliary functions in the Variety Theater, and in the Bad Apartment, and at the great ball with Satan. Vampires are traditionally the lowest rank evil spirits. In addition, Gella would have no one to turn into on the last flight, because, like Varenukha, having turned into a vampire, she retained her original appearance. It is also possible that the absence of Gella means immediate disappearance (as unnecessary) after the end of the mission of Woland and his companions in Moscow.
Reviews
As you already understood, it is impossible to display Bulgakov's novel in verses in the same figurative and tragic way, at least I cannot ... Therefore, the fruits of my lunchtime come to you, from which, perhaps, later I will select 8-10 stanzas. which and become "Pontius Pilate" with a complete meaning and idea... In the meantime, we continue to play in our free time!
Shadow covered the hills of Jerusalem...
Red grass fell under the wind...
In the coolness of the Temple, smiling sweetly,
Iscariot sold his words...
Eyes suffered, the pain squeezed the whiskey,
And everything is back to normal...
In a purple robe lined with ermine,
The governor of Rome executed himself...
The philosopher asked to be left alive,
To take him to distant lands...
After all, it was impossible to decapitate
The one whom he loved, idolized ...
The high priest remained unmoved,
And he did not allow the Horseman to have mercy on Christ...
Under the burning sun, angry-hot,
Three crosses rose into the sky at once ...
Pilate's heart beat out of rhythm,
Shadows pushed, trembling in the torches...
The head of the guard listened in the wards
The second part of his briefing...
The earth was spinning, people were leaving,
And many have been forgotten forever...
Betray the Teacher...Worse than the sin of Judas
Will never be in this world!
And nothing could be fixed
And Annushka spilled the oil...
And Pontius Pilate He could not force,
Though he understood that death came to Christ!
Ponds on the Patriarch's were melting under the heat,
Over all Moscow from a black cloak
The shadow of the one who was older than Jesus lay,
Who saw everything, and in whom the soul lived!
The question of birth as a symbol of being
I decided sharply on a park bench,
The professor of magic laughed like a child
Refuting two friends guesses!
The moon is to the west ... It means to be in trouble.
In the desert field the wind whistles sharply.
The forecast is up! in the evening you
A simple Komsomol member will cut off his head!
Soul and faith are two crosses!
And the third is to carry Christ within you!
A simple example when they don't believe in fate
They take off their heads to break them at the knees!
There was a conversation, leading to the finish line
With a hand of immeasurable rigidity...
Settling in your apartment soon
Your skull will become my measuring cup!
Hello readers!
How I would like to give you all 248 quatrains at once based on Bulgakov's first book...
But no one writes to the colonel ... So read the excerpts! There are 50 people who want to get everything at once or weakly????
To be continued... Hee hee!
Woland
Woland is a character in the novel The Master and Margarita, who leads the world of otherworldly forces. Woland is the devil, Satan, the prince of darkness, the spirit of evil and the lord of shadows (all these definitions are found in the text of the novel). Woland is largely focused on Mephistopheles, even the name Woland itself is taken from Goethe's poem, where it is mentioned only once and is usually omitted in Russian translations.
Prince's appearance.
The portrait of Woland is shown before the start of the Great Ball "Two eyes rested 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, sort of like a narrow needle's ear, 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, deep wrinkles parallel to sharp eyebrows were cut on his high bald forehead. The skin on Woland's face seemed to be burned forever by sunburn. "The true face of Woland Bulgakov hides only at the very beginning of the novel, so that the reader intrigue, and then directly declares through the lips of the Master and Woland himself that the devil has definitely arrived at the Patriarch's. The image of Woland - majestic and regal, is put in opposition to the traditional view of the devil, as the "monkey of God"
The purpose of Messier's coming to earth
Woland gives different explanations of the goals of his stay in Moscow to different characters in contact with him. He tells Berlioz and Bezdomny that he has come to study the found manuscripts of Gebert Avrilaksky. Woland explains his visit to the employees of the Variety Theater with the intention to perform a session of black magic. After the scandalous séance, Satan told the barman Sokov that he simply wanted to "see Muscovites en masse, and it was most convenient to do this in the theater." Margarita Koroviev-Fagot, before the start of the Great Ball with Satan, reports that the purpose of the visit of Woland and his retinue to Moscow is to hold this ball, whose hostess should bear the name Margarita and be of royal blood. Woland has many faces, as befits the devil, and in conversations with different people 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 future life those with whom they come into contact know the text of the Master's novel, which literally coincides with the "Gospel of Woland", thereby, which was told to unlucky writers at the Patriarchs.
The world without shadows is empty
Woland's unconventionality is that, being a devil, he is endowed with some obvious attributes of God. The dialectical unity, the complementarity of good and evil, is most closely revealed in the words of Woland addressed to Levi Matthew, who refused to wish health to the "spirit of evil and the lord of shadows" ("Would you like to skin the whole Earth, taking away all the trees and all living things from it because of your fantasy of enjoying the naked light (You are stupid. " In Bulgakov, Woland literally revives the burnt novel of the Master - a product of artistic creativity, preserved only in the head of the creator, materializes again, turns into a tangible thing. Woland is the bearer of fate, this is connected with a long tradition in Russian literature, linking fate, fate, fate not with God, but with the devil. Bulgakov's Woland personifies fate, punishing 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.
Koroviev - Bassoon
This character is the eldest of the demons subordinate to Woland, a devil and a knight, who introduces himself to Muscovites as an interpreter with a foreign professor and a former regent of the church choir.
background
The hero's surname was found in F.M. Dostoevsky "The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants", where there is a character by the name of Korovkin, very similar to our Koroviev. His second name comes from the name of the musical bassoon instrument, invented by an Italian monk. Koroviev-Fagot has some resemblance to a bassoon - a long thin tube folded in three. Bulgakov's character is thin, tall and in imaginary servility, it seems, is ready to triple in front of his interlocutor (so that later he can calmly harm him)
Appearance of the regent
Here is his portrait: "... a transparent citizen of a strange appearance, On a small head a jockey cap, a short checkered jacket ... a citizen a sazhen tall, but narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and a physiognomy, please note, mocking"; "... his antennae are like chicken feathers, his eyes are small, ironic and half drunk"
Appointment of the lascivious gayar
Koroviev-Fagot is a devil that has arisen from the sultry Moscow air (an unprecedented heat for May at the time of its appearance is one of the traditional signs of the approach of evil spirits). Woland's henchman, only out of necessity, puts on various masks-masks: a drunken regent, a gaer, a clever swindler, a rogue translator with a famous foreigner, etc. Only in the last flight Koroviev-Fagot becomes who he really is - a gloomy demon, a knight Bassoon, no worse than his master, knowing the price of human weaknesses and virtues
Azazello
Origin
The name Azazello was formed by Bulgakov from the Old Testament name Azazel. That's the name villain the Old Testament book of Enoch, the fallen angel who taught people how to make weapons and jewelry
The image of a knight
Probably, Bulgakov was attracted by the combination in one character of the ability to seduce and kill. It is for the insidious seducer that Azazello Margarita takes during their first meeting in the Alexander Garden: "This neighbor turned out to be vertically challenged, fiery red, with a fang, in starched linen, in a good-looking striped suit, in patent leather shoes and with a bowler hat on his head. "Absolutely robber face!" Margaret thought.
Appointment in the novel
But the main function of Azazello in the novel is associated with violence. He throws Styopa Likhodeev from Moscow to Yalta, expels Uncle Berlioz from the Bad Apartment, and kills the traitor Baron Meigel with a revolver. Azazello also invented the cream, which he gives to Margherita. The magic cream not only makes the heroine invisible and able to fly, but also endows her with a new, witchy beauty.
Behemoth cat
This werewolf cat and Satan's favorite jester is perhaps the most amusing and memorable of Woland's retinue.
Origin
The author of The Master and Margarita got information about Behemoth from the book by M.A. Orlov "The History of Man's Relations with the Devil" (1904), extracts from which have been preserved in the Bulgakov archive. There, in particular, the case of the 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's head, with a trunk and fangs. His hands were of a human style, and his huge belly, short tail and thick hind legs, like a hippopotamus, reminded him of his name.
Behemoth image
Bulgakov's Behemoth became a huge black werewolf cat, since it is black cats that are traditionally considered to be associated with evil spirits. This is how we see it for the first time: "... on a jeweler's pouffe, in a cheeky pose, a third person collapsed, namely, a terrible black cat with a glass of vodka in one paw and a fork, on which he managed to pry a pickled mushroom, in the other." Behemoth 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.
Appointment of the Jester
Probably everything is clear here without additional digressions. Behemoth's skirmish with the detectives in apartment No. 50, his chess duel with Woland, the shooting contest with Azazello - all this is pure humorous scenes, very funny and even to some extent removing the acuteness of those everyday, moral and philosophical problems that the novel poses to the reader.
Gella
Gella is a member of Woland's retinue, a vampire woman: "I recommend my maid Gella. Quick, understanding and there is no such service that she would not be able to provide."
The origin of the witch-vampire
Bulgakov got the name "Gella" from the article "Sorcery" of the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, where it was noted that in Lesbos this name was used to call untimely dead girls who became vampires after death.
Image of Gella
Beauty Gella - a green-eyed, red-haired girl who prefers not to burden herself with excess clothes and dresses only in a lace apron, moves freely through the air, thereby taking on the resemblance to a witch. The characteristic features of the behavior of vampires - clicking their teeth and smacking their lips, Bulgakov, perhaps, borrowed from the story of A.K. Tolstoy "Ghoul". There, a vampire girl with a kiss turns her lover into a vampire - hence, obviously, the kiss of Gella, fatal for Varenukha
Woland is a character in the novel "The Master and Margarita", who leads the world of otherworldly forces. Woland is the devil, Satan, "the prince of darkness", "the spirit of evil and the lord of shadows" (all these definitions are found in the text of the novel).
Woland is largely focused on Mephistopheles "Faust" (1808-1832) by Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832), including the opera, from Charles Gounod's (1818-1893) opera "Faust" (1859).
The name Woland itself is taken from a poem by Goethe, where it is mentioned only once and is usually omitted in Russian translations. This is how Mephistopheles calls himself in the scene of Walpurgis Night, demanding from evil spirits to give way: "Nobleman Woland is coming!". In the prose translation of A. Sokolovsky (1902), with the text of which Bulgakov was familiar, this place is given as follows:
"Mephistopheles. Where have you gone! I see that I must use my master's rights. Hey, you! Place! Mr. Woland is coming!"
In the commentary, the translator explained the German phrase "Junker Voland kommt" as follows: "Junker means a noble person (nobleman), and Woland was one of the names of the devil. The main word "Faland" (which meant a deceiver, crafty) was already used by ancient writers in the sense of a devil ".
Bulgakov also used this last name: after a session of black magic, the employees of the Variety Theater are trying to remember the name of the magician: "- In ... It seems, Woland. Or maybe not Woland? Maybe Faland."
In the edition of 1929-1930. Woland's name was reproduced entirely in Latin on his business card: "D-r Theodor Voland". In the final text, Bulgakov refused the Latin alphabet: Ivan Bezdomny remembers only initial letter surnames - W ("double-ve").
This replacement of the original V ("fau") is not accidental. The German "Voland" is pronounced like Foland, and in Russian the initial "ef" in this combination creates comic effect Yes, and it is difficult to pronounce. The German "Faland" would not fit here either. With the Russian pronunciation - Faland - things were better, but there was an inappropriate association with the word "fal" (it denotes a rope that raises sails and yards on ships) and some of its slang derivatives. In addition, Faland did not meet in Goethe's poem, and Bulgakov wanted to connect his Satan with Faust, even if he was given a name not too well known to the Russian public. Rare name it was necessary so that the ordinary reader, not experienced in Demonology, would not immediately guess who Woland was.
The third wife of the writer E. S. Bulgakov captured in her diary the reading of the initial chapters latest edition"Masters and Margaritas" April 27, 1939: "Yesterday we had Faiko - both (playwright Alexander Mikhailovich Faiko (1893-1978) with his wife), Markov (Head of the Moscow Art Theater) and Vilenkin (Vitaly Yakovlevich Vilenkin (born 1910/11) ), a colleague of Pavel Alexandrovich Markov (1897-1980) in the literary part of the Moscow Art Theater). Misha read "The Master and Margarita" - from the beginning. The impression is enormous. They immediately insistently asked to set a day for the continuation. Misha asked after reading - who is Woland? Vilenkin said he guessed, but he would never tell. I suggested that he write, I will write too, and we will exchange notes. We did. He wrote: Satan, I am the devil. After that, Fyko also wanted to play. And he wrote on his note: I don't know. But I fell for the bait and wrote to him - Satan."
Bulgakov, no doubt, was quite satisfied with the experiment. Even such a qualified listener as A. M. Faiko Woland did not immediately guess. Therefore, the riddle that appeared on Patriarch's Ponds a foreign professor will be kept in suspense from the very beginning by most readers of The Master and Margarita. In early editions, Bulgakov tried the names Azazello and Belial for the future Woland.
The literary genealogy of Woland, used by Bulgakov, is extremely multifaceted. The devil in The Master and Margarita has an obvious portrait resemblance to Eduard Eduardovich von Mandro, the infernal character in A. Bely's novel The Moscow Eccentric (1925), presented to Bulgakov by the author. According to the definition given by A. Bely in the preface to the novel "Masks" (1933) from the same epic "Moscow" as "The Moscow Eccentric", Mandro is a combination of "a kind of Marquis de Sade and Cagliostro of the 20th century." In the preface to The Moscow Eccentric, the author argued that "in the face of Mandro, the theme is becoming obsolete" iron heel" (famous novel Jack London (John Griffith) (1876-1916), who appeared in 1908) (enslavers of mankind)". Bely masks the infernality of his character in every possible way, leaving the reader in the dark whether Mandro is Satan.
A red-haired and green-eyed girl named Gella is an ordinary witch from those who arrive at the Sabbath on a broomstick. Her name is mentioned in some legends in connection with Mount Broken, which was considered the habitat of witches. Bulgakov himself kindly reminds of this through Woland: ... I strongly suspect that this pain in the knee was left to me as a keepsake by a charming witch, whom I became intimately acquainted with in 1571 in the Broken Mountains, on the Devil's Chair ... Probably, to continue Woland's words and telling about our meetings with him would be the height of indiscretion, but I'll tell you something. After all, you can trust and hope that my stories will not reach the brightest ears of Messire ???:-) The Brocken mountains ... Goethe wrote a lot about them. This is a wonderful place: the air is filled with a variety of aromas, it is light and fresh, you want to completely dissolve in it. No human foot has stepped on these slopes. Broken can be offensive and harsh, but for the welcome visitors, it suddenly becomes affectionate and inviting into its sinful alcove. Nowhere is there softer and silkier grass and shady, cozy corners in which even the Lord himself cannot see anything. Here the very atmosphere calls to sin, and no sin can be as sweet as adultery with Satan himself.
Woland did not appear alone in Bulgakov's novel. He was accompanied by characters who played mainly the role of jesters. Woland's retinue put on a variety of shows that were disgusting. They were hated by the indignant Moscow population. After all, the whole environment of the "messier" turned inside out human weaknesses and vices. In addition, their task was to perform all the "dirty" work at the behest of the master, serving him. Everyone who was part of Woland's retinue had to prepare Margarita for Satan's ball and send her with the Master to the world of peace.
The servants of the prince of darkness were three jesters - Azazello, Fagot (aka Koroviev), a cat named Behemoth and Gella - a female vampire. Woland's retinue was. Each character is described separately below. each reader of the famous novel has a question about the origin of the images presented and their names.
Behemoth cat
Describing the image of Woland and his retinue, the first thing I want to do is describe the cat. Basically, the Behemoth is a werewolf animal. Most likely, Bulgakov took the character from the apocryphal book - the "Old Testament" of Enoch. Also, the author could get information about the Behemoth in the book “The History of Intercourse between Man and the Devil”, written by I. Ya. Porfiriev. In the literature mentioned, this character is sea monster, a demon in the form of a creature with the head of an elephant, having fangs and a trunk. The hands of the demon were human. The monster also had a huge belly, an almost imperceptible tail small size and very thick hind limbs, similar to those of hippopotamuses. This similarity explains his name.
In the novel The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov introduced the Behemoth to readers in the form of a huge cat, the prototype of which was the author's pet Flyushka. Although fluffy pet Bulgakov had a gray color, in the novel the animal is black, since his image is the personification of evil spirits.
Behemoth Transformation
At the time when Woland and his retinue made the final flight in the novel, Behemoth turned into a frail young page. Next to him was a knight purple. It was the transformed Fagot (Koroviev). In this episode, Bulgakov, apparently, reflected a comic legend from S. S. Zayaitsky's story "The Biography of Stepan Alexandrovich Lososinov." In her in question about a cruel knight, with whom his page constantly appears. Main character legend had a passion for tearing off the heads of animals. This cruelty is transferred by Bulgakov to Behemoth, who, unlike a knight, tears off the head of a man - Georges of Bengal.
Tomfoolery and gluttony Behemoth
Behemoth is a demon of carnal desires, especially gluttony. Hence, the cat in the novel had an unprecedented gluttony in Torgsin (currency store). Thus, the author shows irony towards the visitors of this all-Union institution, including himself. At a time when people live from hand to mouth outside the capitals, people in big cities enslaved by the demon Behemoth.
The cat in the novel most often plays pranks, clowns, lets go different jokes, laughs. This feature Behemoth's character reflects the sparkling sense of humor of Bulgakov himself. This behavior of the cat and his unusual view became a way of causing fear and confusion in people in the novel.
Demon Bassoon - Koroviev
What else is Woland and his retinue remembered by the readers of the novel? Of course, a bright character is the representative of demons subordinate to the devil, Fagot, aka Koroviev. This is Woland's first assistant, a knight and a devil rolled into one. Koroviev appears to the residents as an employee of a foreign professor, and a former director of the church choir.
There are several versions of the origin of the surname and nickname of this character. It is also associated with some images of the works of F. M. Dostoevsky. So, in the epilogue of the novel The Master and Margarita, four Korovkins are mentioned among the people detained by the police because of the similarity of their surnames with Kroviev. Here, apparently, the author wanted to point out a character from Dostoevsky's story called "The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants."
Also, the prototypes of Fagot are a number of knights, who are the heroes of some works of different times. It is also possible that the image of Koroviev arose thanks to one of Bulgakov's acquaintances. The prototype of the demon could be a real man, plumber Ageich, who was a rare drunkard and dirty trick. He repeatedly mentioned in conversations with the author of the novel that in youth was one of the choir directors in the church. This, apparently, was reflected by Bulgakov in the incarnation of Koroviev.
The similarity of the bassoon with a musical instrument
The bassoon was a musical instrument invented by the Italian monk Afranio.
degli Albonesi. In the novel, the connection (functional) of Koroviev with this canon from Ferrara is sharply indicated. Three worlds are clearly defined in the novel, representatives of each of which form certain triads according to similar qualities. The demon Fagot belongs to one of them, which also includes: Stravinsky's assistant Fyodor Vasilievich and Aphranius, the "right hand" of Pontius Pilate. Koroviev, however, made Woland his main associate, and his retinue did not contradict this.
The bassoon is even outwardly similar to the long and thin instrument of the same name, folded in three. Koroviev is tall and thin. And in his imaginary subservience, he is ready to triple in front of the interlocutor, but only in order to later unhinderedly harm him.
Koroviev's transformation
At the moment when Woland and his retinue were making their last flight in the novel, the author presents the reader with Fagot in the form of a dark purple knight, who has a gloomy, incapable of smiling face. He was thinking about something of his own, resting his chin on his chest and not looking at the moon. When Margarita asked Woland why Koroviev had changed so much, Messire replied that once this knight joked badly, and his mocking pun about light and darkness was inappropriate. For this, he was punished with jester manners, a gayer look and circus tattered clothes for a long time.
Azazello
What other representatives of the forces of evil did Woland's retinue consist of? The Master and Margarita has another bright character- Azazello. Bulgakov created his name by converting one of the Old Testament ones. The book of Enoch mentions fallen Angel Azazel. It was he, according to the Apocrypha, who taught people to create weapons, swords, shields, mirrors and various decorations from precious stones and not only. In general, Azazel managed to corrupt. He also taught males to fight and women to lie, turned them into godlessness.
Azazzello in Bulgakov's novel gives Margarita a magic cream that magically changes her appearance. Probably, the author was attracted by the idea of combining in one character the ability to kill and seduce. Margarita sees the demon in the Alexander Garden just like that. She perceives him as a seducer and murderer.
Azazello's main responsibilities
The main duties of Azazello are certainly connected with violence. Explaining his functions to Margarita, he admits that his direct specialty is to punch the administrator in the face, shoot someone or put him out of the house, and other “trifles” of this kind. Azazello transfers Likhodeev to Yalta from Moscow, expels Poplavsky (Uncle Berlioz) from the apartment, deprives Baron Meigel of life with the help of a revolver. The demon-killer invents a magic cream that he gives to Margarita, giving her the opportunity to acquire witch beauty and some demonic powers. From this cosmetic product, the heroine of the novel gains the ability to fly and become invisible at her request.
Gella
Only one woman was allowed into their entourage by Woland and his retinue. Characteristics of Gella: the youngest member of the diabolical union in the novel, a vampire. Bulgakov took the name of this heroine from an article entitled "Sorcery", published in encyclopedic dictionary Brockhaus and Efron. It noted that such a name was given to the dead girls, who later became vampires, on the island of Lesbos.
The only character from Woland's retinue who is missing from the description of the final flight is Hella. One of Bulgakov's wives counted given fact the result of the fact that the work on the novel was not fully completed. But it may also be that the author deliberately excluded Hella from the important scene, as an insignificant member of the devil's retinue, performing only auxiliary functions in the apartment, variety show and at the ball. In addition, Woland and his retinue could not equally perceive a representative of the lower rank next to them in such a situation. In addition, Gella had no one to turn into, because she had her original appearance from the moment of transformation into a vampire.
Woland and his retinue: characteristics of the devilish forces
In the novel "The Master and Margarita" the author defines the forces of evil with unusual roles for them. After all, the victims of Woland and his retinue are not righteous, not decent and good people, whom the devil must lead astray, and those who have already taken place
sinners. It is their sir and his assistants who denounce and punish, choosing peculiar measures for this.
So, the director of the variety show has to go to Yalta in an unusual way. He is simply mystically thrown there from Moscow. But, escaping with a terrible fright, he safely returns home. But Likhodeev has a lot of sins - he gets drunk, makes numerous connections with women, using his position, does nothing at work. As Koroviev says in the novel about the director of the variety show, he Lately terribly swine.
In fact, neither Woland himself nor the devil's assistants in any way influence the events taking place in Moscow during their visit to it. The non-traditional representation of Satan in Bulgakov's way is manifested in the fact that the leader of otherworldly impure forces is endowed with some clearly expressed attributes of God.
