The main problems in the novel the master and margarita. Here it is, the eternal problem - the novel of the master and margarita

The novel by M. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" is a complex, multifaceted work. The author touches upon the fundamental problems of human existence: good and evil, life and death. In addition, the writer could not ignore the problems of his time, when human nature itself was breaking down. The problem of human cowardice was urgent. The author considers cowardice one of the biggest sins in life. This position

expressed through the image of Pontius Pilate. The procurator controlled the fate of many people. Yeshua Ha-Notsri touched the procurator with sincerity and kindness. However, Pilate did not listen to the voice of conscience, but went on about the crowd and executed Yeshua. The procurator chickened out and was punished for it. He did not rest day or night. Here is what Woland said about Pilate: “He says,” Woland’s voice rang out, “the same thing, he says that even in the moonlight he has no peace and that he has a bad position. He always says this when he is awake, and when he sleeps, he sees the same thing - the lunar road and wants to go along it and talk with the prisoner Ha-Notsri, because, as he claims, he did not say something then, long ago on the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan. But, alas, for some reason he fails to get out on this road and no one comes to him. Then what can you do, he has to talk to himself. However, some variety is needed, and to his speech about the moon, he often adds that more than anything in the world he hates his immortality and unheard-of glory. And Pontius Pilate suffers twelve thousand moons for one moon, for the moment when he was afraid. And only after much torment and suffering, Pilate finally receives forgiveness.

The problem of excessive self-confidence and unbelief also deserves attention in the novel. It was for disbelief in God that the chairman of the board of the literary association, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz, was punished. Berlioz does not believe in the power of the Almighty, does not recognize Jesus Christ and tries to make everyone think the same way as he does. Berlioz wanted to prove to Bezdomny that the main thing is not what Jesus was like - good or bad, but that Jesus had not existed in the world before as a person, and all the stories about him are just fiction. “There is not a single Eastern religion,” said Berlioz, “in which, as a rule, an immaculate virgin would not give birth to a god, and Christians, without inventing anything new, in the same way ripped off their Jesus, who in fact never existed in alive. That's where the main focus should be." No one and nothing can convince Berlioz. Could not convince Berlioz and Woland. For this stubbornness, for self-confidence, Berlioz is punished - he dies under the wheels of a tram.

On the pages of the novel, Bulgakov satirically portrayed the inhabitants of Moscow: their way of life and customs, everyday life and worries. Woland is interested in what the inhabitants of Moscow have become. To do this, he arranges a session of black magic. And he concludes that not only greed and greed are inherent in them, mercy is also alive in them. When Georges of Bengal is torn off by the hippopotamus, the women ask to return it to the unfortunate man. And Woland concludes: “Well, well,” he replied thoughtfully, “they are people like people, they love money; but it has always been... humanity loves money, no matter what it is made of, leather, paper, bronze or gold. Well, they are frivolous ... well, well ... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts ... ordinary people ... in general, they resemble the former ones ... the housing problem only spoiled them.

The novel "The Master and Margarita" - Fr. great love, about loneliness, about the role of the intelligentsia in society, about Moscow and Muscovites. It reveals itself to the reader in an endless variety of topics and problems. And so the work will always be modern, interesting, new. It will be read and appreciated in all ages and times.

Question 47

1. "Master and Margarita" - a philosophical novel.

2. Theme of choice.

3. Responsibility for your choice.

4. Conscience is the highest form of human punishment.

5. Interpretation of biblical motifs in the novel.

1. The novel "The Master and Margarita" is the pinnacle work of M. A. Bulgakov, on which he worked from 1928 until the end of his life. At first, Bulgakov called it "The Engineer with a Hoof", but in 1937 he gave the book a new title - "The Master and Margarita". This novel is an extraordinary creation, a historically and psychologically reliable book about that time. This is a combination of Gogol's satire and Dante's poetry, an alloy of high and low, funny and lyrical. The novel is dominated by a happy freedom of creative imagination and at the same time the rigor of compositional design. The basis of the plot of the novel is the opposition of true freedom and lack of freedom in all its manifestations. Satan rules the ball, and the inspired Master, a contemporary of Bulgakov, writes his immortal novel. There, the procurator of Judea sends the messiah to be executed, and nearby, fussing, mean, adapt, betray quite earthly citizens inhabiting Sadovye and Bronny streets of the 20-30s of our century. Laughter and sadness, joy and pain are mixed together, as in life, but in that high degree of concentration that is available only to literature. "The Master and Margarita" is a lyric-philosophical poem in prose about love and moral duty, about the inhumanity of evil, about true creativity.

2. Despite the comedy and satire, this is a philosophical novel, in which one of the main themes is the theme of choice. This topic allows you to reveal many philosophical questions, to show their solution with concrete examples. Choice is the core on which the whole novel rests. Any hero goes through the opportunity to choose. But all heroes have different motives for choosing. Some make a choice after much thought, others without hesitation and cannot shift the responsibility for their actions to someone else. The choice of the Master and Pontius Pilate is based on their negative human qualities; they bring suffering not only to themselves, but also to other people. Both heroes choose the side of evil. Pilate faced a tragic dilemma: to fulfill his duty, drowning out his awakened conscience, or to act according to his conscience, but lose power, wealth, and maybe even life. His painful thoughts lead to the fact that the procurator makes a choice in favor of duty, neglecting the truth that Yeshua brings. For this, the higher powers doom him to eternal torment: he gains the glory of a traitor. The master is also driven by cowardice and weakness, disbelief in Margarita's love. He pretends to be crazy and voluntarily enters a psychiatric hospital. The motive for such an act was the failure of the novel about Pilate. Burning the manuscript. The master renounces not only his creation, but also love, life, and himself. Thinking that his choice is the best for Margarita, he involuntarily dooms her to suffering. Instead of fighting, he runs away from life. And despite the fact that both Pilate and the Master take the side of evil, one creates it consciously, out of fear, and the other unconsciously, out of weakness. But heroes do not always choose evil, guided by negative qualities or emotions. An example of this is Margarita. She deliberately became a witch in order to bring back the Master. Margarita has no faith, but strong love replaces her faith. Love serves as her support in her decision. And her choice is right because it does not bring grief and suffering.

3. Only one hero of the novel chooses not evil, but good. This is Yeshua Ha-Nozri. His only purpose in the book is to express the idea that will be subjected to all sorts of tests in the future, the idea given to him from above: all people are good, therefore the time will come when “man will pass into the realm of truth and justice, where no power will be needed at all” . Yeshua not only chooses the good, but he himself is the bearer of the good. Even to save his life, he does not renounce his beliefs. He guesses that he will be executed, but still does not try to lie or hide something, since it is “easy and pleasant” for him to tell the truth. It can be said that only Yeshua and Margarita made the really right choice; only they can take full responsibility for their actions.

4. The theme of choice and responsibility for one's choice is also developed by Bulgakov in the "Moscow" chapters of the novel. Woland and his retinue (Azazello, Koroviev, Behemoth, Gella) are a kind of punishing sword of justice, exposing and naming various manifestations of evil. Woland arrives with a kind of revision in the country, which is declared the country of victorious goodness, happiness. And in fact, it turns out that people are what they were, and have remained so. At a performance in a variety show, Woland tests people, and people simply throw themselves at money and things. The people themselves made this choice. And many of them are justly punished when their clothes disappear, and gold coins turn into stickers from narzan. Man's choice is an internal struggle between good and evil. A person makes his own choice: who to be, what to be and on whose side. In any case, a person has an inner inexorable judge - conscience. People who have an unclean conscience, who are guilty and do not want to admit it, are punished by Woland and his retinue. But he does not punish everyone, but only those who deserve it. Woland returns to the Master his novel about Pontius Pilate, which he burned in a fit of fear and cowardice. The atheist and dogmatist Berlioz dies, and Kant, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Master and Margarita, who believe in the power of love and words, are transferred to a higher reality, because “manuscripts do not burn”, the creations of the human spirit are imperishable.

A true understanding of the "Moscow" chapters of the novel is impossible without a deep insight into the story of Yeshua. The story of Yeshua and Pontius Pilate, recreated in the Master's book, affirms the idea that the confrontation between good and evil is eternal, it lies in the very circumstances of life, in the human soul, capable of lofty impulses and enslaved by the false, transient interests of today.

5. Bulgakov's version of biblical events is extremely original. The author depicted not the death and resurrection of the son of God, but the death of an unknown wanderer, who was also declared a criminal. Yes, Yeshua was a criminal in the sense that he transgressed the seemingly immutable laws of this world - and gained immortality.

These two temporal and spatial layers are interconnected by another grandiose phenomenon - thunderstorm and darkness, the forces of nature that cover the earth at the moment of “world catastrophes”, when Yeshua leaves Yershalaim, and the Master and his companion leave Moscow. Each reader of the novel, closing the last page, wonders whether the end of any life is so unambiguously determined, whether spiritual death is inevitable and how it can be avoided.

Shadow painting by Kumi Yamashita

The essay itself turned out to be somewhat contradictory, because the history of its writing is directly related to my eternal forgetfulness to do my homework in literature on time. Although, as practice has shown, fantasy works flawlessly both in an algebra lesson and at a break in the women's toilet. The novel "The Master and Margarita" (here, not everyone remembers it very well, so I advise you to try to reproduce in your memory at least some colorful episodes of this wonderful work that inspired me to ...) However, now you will understand everything anyway .. I would be glad to hear from readers their own opinion on the problem raised in the proposed text. So, have a good time.

Here it is, the eternal problem - the novel "Master and Margarita".

... so who are you, finally?
- I am part of the power that is eternal
wants evil and always does good.
Goethe. "Faust".

“The fact is that the editor ordered the poet for the next book of the magazine a large anti-religious poem. Ivan Nikolaevich composed this poem, and in a very short time, but, unfortunately, his editor was not at all satisfied ...
It is difficult to say what exactly let Ivan Nikolaevich down - whether the pictorial power of his talent or complete unfamiliarity with the issue on which he wrote - but Jesus turned out to be, well, completely alive, Jesus who once existed, only, however, Jesus is equipped with all the negative features ".
In order not to repeat the mistakes of Ivan Nikolaevich, I firmly decided to abstract as far as possible from the biblical overtones. Usually, any school essay begins with an explanation of the topic chosen by the student. Well, maybe I should start as well...
Here, unexpectedly for myself, I got into a dead end. Each topic was interesting in its own way: "Eternal Love", "Bulgakov's Moscow", "Good and Evil", "Responsibility" and "Eternal Problems" in Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita". Relying on chance, backed up by the experience of girl fortune-telling, using the Feng Shui numerological technique, there was nothing left to do but look at the 12th line (certainly from the bottom) of the 15th page.
“Yes, man is mortal, but that would be half the trouble. The bad thing is that he sometimes suddenly dies, that's the trick!
Eureka! I stumbled upon the age-old irresistible desire of a person to know the future course of life. Hmm… If the desire is eternal, then this is already a problem for centuries. And there are many such problems in the novel! And to be specific...
Defining in one word the wealth of ideas and images of The Master and Margarita, we can say that this is a novel-test. Each of the heroes, even the most insignificant, secondary, becomes a participant in a fantastic experiment. Perhaps this very hero has never seen Woland, but nevertheless Satan himself is testing him. In a person, the ability for goodness, mercy, love, fidelity, determination is explored. Each generation of people solves a moral problem for itself. Some sometimes “see the light”, look “inside themselves”. And there is always hope that a person will make the right choice. It is amazing that such experiments are carried out by Satan himself and no one else. Being a representative of the dark forces, he is at the same time a harbinger of good.
So how to regard the "evil" committed by Muscovites, and the tricks of evil spirits? Woland and his assistants do evil, but their goal is to expose the essence of the phenomenon, highlight, enhance, expose negative phenomena in human society to the public. An empty suit signing papers, the mysterious transformation of Soviet money into dollars and other devilry - this is the exposure of the hidden vices of man. The meaning of the tricks in the Variety becomes clear - the question of the eternal problems of mankind is raised. Here Muscovites are tested for greed, hypocrisy, frivolity and mercy. At the end of the performance, Satan comes to the conclusion: “Well ... they are people as people. They love money, no matter what they are made of - leather, paper, bronze or gold. Well, they are frivolous ... well, well ... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts ... ordinary people ... in general, they resemble the former ones ... the housing problem only spoiled them ... "
The author is not interested in the inner world of these characters. He included them in his novel for the exact reunion of the atmosphere in which the Master worked and where Woland burst into with his retinue like a thunderstorm. The thirst for spiritual freedom among these “spoiled by the housing problem” Muscovites is atrophied, they strive only for material freedom, the freedom to choose clothes, a restaurant, a mistress, work. This would allow them to lead a calm, measured life of city dwellers.
The retinue of Satan is precisely the factor that makes it possible to reveal human vices. The performance arranged in the theater immediately pulled off the masks from the people sitting in the auditorium. After reading the chapter describing Woland's speech, it becomes clear that these people are free in their isolated world in which they live. They don't need anything else. They can't even guess that something else exists.
The novel, with its mysticism and fantastic episodes, challenges rationalism, philistinism, vulgarity and meanness, as well as pride and spiritual deafness. However, is the current generation so blind and deaf?
I first read The Master and Margarita when I was thirteen years old. Then I perceived it as fantasy, adventure or something like that. But a person goes up the spiritual ladder throughout his life, and therefore, after reading the novel more carefully four years later, thinking about every word, I realized that in this work Bulgakov reflects on such global topics as good and evil, life and death. , God and the Devil, love and friendship, what is the truth, who is a Man, how does power affect him and over many others. One thing still remained unchanged - my attitude to these eternal problems. I did not think, and to this day I do not think that the desire for material wealth is not a vice. What, in fact, is bad in a calm, measured life of an urban inhabitant? Doesn't every second of us dream of getting rid of everyday problems, inhaling, slowly, a breath of fresh air, feeling the well-being of the day that has not yet come? Each person has his own isolated inner world, but it is painted in different colors. For some, these are transparent tones of watercolor, for others, thick and bright strokes of oil paint, while others have to be content with a gloomy gray tint of a slate pencil. We are all different in appearance, but united in human essence. These eternal problems and vices touched upon in the novel are the missing touches that create the uniqueness of each individual person.
My inner world also includes "hundreds of ladies' hats, and with feathers, and without feathers, and with buckles, and without them, hundreds of shoes - black, white, yellow, leather, satin, suede, and with straps, and with pebbles." However, I am in no hurry to get rid of this vice. Don't become him. Who knows what's in return? Are we risking our own well-being by trying to solve any of the eternal problems?
Perhaps this is like a theorem, the proof of which has not yet been invented by mankind. And perhaps - an axiom that does not require any proof and is taken for granted forever. Forever.
Didn't I make up my mind? By the way, also my eternal problem.

Roman M.A. Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita still remains unsolved to the end, excites the reader's imagination, haunts critics. The scope of the work is impressive. The uniqueness of the problem lies in the fact that all problems are tied to one main one, indicated in the epigraph - the problem of good and evil, more broadly - light and darkness. Whether we are talking about the moral torments of heroes, the constant need to weigh and make choices, about the problem of love and loneliness, it all depends on which side the hero takes - light or darkness, good or evil.

Problem of choice

Each participant in the actions unfolding in Moscow in the 1930s or in a historical novel written by the Master faces the problem of choice. Everyone is on their own level. Covet the money falling from the sky, a neighbor's apartment, or remain a decent person. Even episodic characters are constantly deciding whether to be or not to be, to take or not to take. Petty petty manifestations are increasingly plunging the world into darkness. At the level of heroes of the first plan, the main battles of darkness and light take place, not temporary well-being depends on the choice, but life and death, fate, love, the triumph of truth.

Master
So, the Master, refusing to fight for his offspring, for the novel of his whole life, from the fight for love, makes his choice and ends up in a mental hospital. But even here he remains a Master, passing on his knowledge, experience, humility, wisdom to the young poet, turning his worldview upside down. Ivan Bezdomny will leave the hospital as a completely different person and bring light, goodness into the world. He has already made his choice.

margarita
Margarita - a woman exhausted by longing, loneliness, lack of love - gets everything she dreamed about, which she no longer hoped for, having met the Master. From that moment on, every minute she has to make a choice. At the household level - a change from a luxurious apartment to a basement, a betrayal of her husband, even an adventurous proposal from Azazello - the choice is easy for the heroine, because she is driven by love. Everything that gives her a chance to be close to her beloved is not questioned and accepted without looking back.

The main test of Margarita is Satan's ball. Agreeing to be the queen of the ball is not the worst thing that a woman had to do. The choice - to ask for yourself or for the unfortunate Frida - a milestone that decided everything. The moral choice of the heroine was rewarded.

Pontius Pilate
The choice of this hero - to save Yeshua by destroying himself, or to execute a wandering philosopher, thereby pushing his own problems - is one of the climaxes of the entire novel. It was on this battlefield that light and darkness, good and evil, conscience and dishonor, came face to face in their highest manifestations. The fear and weakness of the procurator did not allow him to make a choice according to his conscience, forever depriving him of peace during his lifetime and for another two thousand long years after his death.

There are heroes in the novel who are freed from the need to make decisions. These are those who know the Truth and serve it. Yeshua Ha-Notsri brings the truth to people, preaching goodness. Once the choice he made determines his future fate, therefore, without hesitation, he accepts everything that is destined for him. Oddly enough, the same truth is served by the higher powers of Darkness in the person of Woland and his retinue. The paradoxical nature of the role of Satan and his companions is indicated in the epigraph to the novel: "... he always wants evil and always does good." The Servants of Truth do not have to make a choice, because they are tools in her hands.

moral issues

The moral side of an act, word, choice as the basis of human existence is emphasized in the work at all levels. In the historical novel of the Master, the central figures from the point of view of the problem of morality are not only Pontius Pilate, but also Judas of Kiriath. A very handsome young man is overwhelmed by two passions. He is dating a married woman, but what he loves most is money. Immorality in values ​​and relationships leads a young person to betrayal, meanness and death.
The novel clearly traces the line of retribution for deals with conscience. Someone is deprived of life, someone of the mind, someone of peace. The immorality of ordinary Muscovites is painted in general colors, for example, the mass of spectators in the variety show hall, or has a portrait description: the empty chatter of Bengalsky, the greed of Andrey Fokich - a simple barman, the self-interest of Aloisy Mogarych. Each of them suffered their own punishment.
The population of Moscow in the 30s, mired in theft, envy, denunciation, meanness, sycophancy, disgusts not only Woland, but also the readers of the novel. But how much better have the people of the 21st century compared to fellow citizens who lived a hundred years ago? Have we become kinder, more conscientious? It is this question that should worry readers both 100 and 200 years after the writing of the novel.

The Problem of Creativity

All facets of the problem of creativity are revealed in the novel on the example of three vivid images. Nomenklatura bohemia, bureaucracy, mediocrity, vulgarity are embodied in the overall picture of the House of Writers and a vivid portrait of Berlioz, chairman of Massolit. The purpose of this pseudo-creative swamp is to grab more, to hold on tighter. And so that the spirit of free writing does not shake the positions won by intrigues, young writers should be put on the same rails: admire, praise, sing.
Ivan Bezdomny is that rare representative of the "creative" youth who was lucky, however, with the active help of evil spirits, to see the light, appreciate his work and touch the true values. Becoming a student of the Master, the young poet will not be able to create by order, to fulfill the plan, like his former comrades in the writing workshop.
The highest manifestation of creativity is the Master. For him, a novel is not a path to fame, position, money. The master initially knows that this novel, on the contrary, will deprive him of all possible benefits: he does not fit into the general concept of Massolit. The novel for the Master is the meaning of life, life itself.

The problem of love

The line of the main characters, the Master and Margarita, is the theme of comprehensive, selfless and selfless love. Only by meeting each other, he, a successful writer, and she, the wife of a very wealthy specialist who knows nothing of refusal, found the meaning of life. The heroes understood what happiness is, they ceased to be lonely despite their former success. Only after love struck them both did they begin to live as if life had never existed before.
A great gift goes through great trials. Parting, obscurity about the fate of a loved one did not extinguish the Master's love and inspired Margarita to a desperate struggle. Defending the right to happiness, Margarita experienced remorse in front of her husband, who is not to blame for the fact that she met her love, made a deal with the devil, endured incredible physical torment at a ball with Satan. The novel is a hymn to love, fierce and merciful, true, eternal. The names of the main characters have become a symbol of people who cannot be separated even by death.

The problem of loneliness

The problem of loneliness is one of the main ones in the novel. The central images of this theme are Pontius Pilate, Margarita, the parallel lines of Yeshua and the Master, Levi and the Homeless. Each of them, being in the midst of historical events, surrounded by people, feels isolated from the world, alienated from everything, restless, even homeless.
Pontius Pilate is a temporary worker, he is uncomfortable in a luxurious palace. The only living creature to whom he can entrust his dream is a dog. Loneliness was seen by the Master in the eyes of a woman with yellow flowers in her hands. The Master himself, before meeting Margarita, was so lonely that he would not even remember the name of his ex-wife. Yeshua, a vagabond philosopher, does not remember his father, he has no associates, like-minded people. Only Matthew Levi follows him like a shadow - another wanderer without family or tribe. The apogee of this homelessness is Ivan Ponyrev, who took on an eloquent pseudonym. Homeless post-revolutionary Russia, survived the civil war, which destroyed family ties, blood ties. This homelessness embittered the citizens, pushing some to cunning, others to meanness. No wonder Woland noticed that the “housing problem” spoiled the Muscovites.
M.A. Bulgakov left for posterity a novel-confession, a novel-revelation, a novel-prophecy, the main problems of which will always be relevant. The eternal struggle of good and evil, light and darkness will test many generations of Muscovites and other citizens of the world for faith, conscience, honor, and loyalty.

"M. them." - the main, "sunset" novel by M. Bulgakov, which brought the author posthumous world fame and put him on a par with our brilliant writers - F.M. Dostoevsky, N.V. Gogol, A.P. Chekhov. Bulgakov would have been especially proud of his neighborhood with Gogol. He considered him his teacher, Bulgakov's poetics was in tune with Gogol's. He appealed to Gogol: “Teacher, cover me with your iron “overcoat”. And how strange and sometimes miraculous fate disposes: Gogol's gravestone now lies on Bulgakov's grave. (Aksakov brought a stone-slab from the Crimea to the Novodevichy cemetery for Gogol's grave, but it was thrown into a ravine as unnecessary. Almost a century later, Elena Sergeevna, Bulgakov's wife, turned to K. Simonov for help, and now the stone intended for Gogol's grave, rests on Bulgakov's grave.

Let us turn to the novel, its creative history, main problems and heroes. M.A. Bulgakov did not prepare the novel for publication, because did not hope that it would be published, but he had 8 versions, editions of the novel (according to Yanovskaya - 6 editions). Possible names are “Foreigner’s Horseshoe” (B. was very sensitive to biblical symbols, the magic of numbers and anagrams. He believed that the devil’s hoof kicked around Moscow so much that the horseshoe just had to go to the Temple of the Savior, i.e. the foreigner’s horseshoe was like would be a synonym for Moscow, which has lost faith in ideals), “Satan”, “Black Theologian”, “Grand Chancellor”, “Coming”, etc.

Bulgakov wrote "M. them." as a historically and psychologically reliable book about its time and its people, and therefore the novel became a unique human document of that remarkable era. And at the same time, B. shows human history over the course of 2 thousand years, he explores the human spirit. Following Dostoevsky, he poses cardinal, essential questions: what is a person, how does he live, what does he live for, how does he relate to death, what is more in him - good or evil?

B. brought together people of various eras and ages, a huge number of characters. And in addition to people - Satan and devils of all stripes. The world is filled with a kaleidoscope of miracles and everyday realities. B., without any pressure, combined the high and the low in the novel, the temporal and the eternal, through brilliant fantasy, he gives an instructive picture of the most complex mechanics of current life, the eternal struggle in it of the forces of creation and decomposition, destruction.

It is difficult to establish the direct sources of the original philosophy of the novel. The most talented scientists saw in it the echoes of the ancient Byzantine heresy of Bogomilism (or Manichaeism), the adherents of which were firmly convinced that the evil spirit "at the instigation of God" received power over the earthly world and goodness itself would be unthinkable without the existence of evil on an equal footing with it. At the same time, the appearance of the Prince of Darkness in post-revolutionary Moscow becomes an integral part of the “style of the era” in the literature of the 1920s and 1930s (suffice it to recall the apocalyptic “Moscow” by Andrei Bely or “The Burning Bush” by M. Voloshin). For a long time, the reader's world was fascinated by the very fact of the tragic loss of the manuscript of J. Golosovker's Burnt Novel, the plot of which so noticeably echoes Bulgakov's M. and M. ”, which even caused a number of rumors and speculation. However, the publication of the manuscript restored by the author after a double death in a fire in one of the reputable journals dispelled all doubts about the originality of Bulgakov's text.

The novel by B. is fundamentally different from all works that are outwardly similar to it, its unusually complex architecture. It fully meets all the characteristics of the genre, which in modern literary criticism is called a myth-novel or a novel within a novel.

The well-known literary critic and art critic B.M. Gasparov notes that in “M. them." the same phenomenon, whether it be an object or a human character, or a situation, or an event, etc. exists simultaneously in different time slices and in different moral planes.

The three times of Bulgakov's novel: the Moscow "present", the Yershalaim historical "past" and the "universal", which allow readers to simultaneously show the Yershalaim temple and Moscow engulfed in fire, are one, because the same, in essence, events take place in them. And it is difficult to unequivocally establish which of them is more real: the events of the Jewish Easter of 29 or the Full Moon Ball of Woland, which, according to the author's intention, takes place on the same Easter midnight, but already in the year 1929.

B. put an ancient biblical legend at the basis of his novel, but all the time he stubbornly overcomes it, even argues with it. In his novel, there are no 11 apostles and women mournfully frozen in the distance during the execution (according to Matthew, Mark, Luke) or weeping at the foot of the cross (according to John). There is only one, in despair cursing God, Levi Matthew. There is no crowd mocking and shouting, “If you are the son of God, come down from the cross!” Bulgakov: “The sun burned the crowd and drove it back to Yershalaim.” There are no words "crucified", "crucifixion". B. transforms the names and names of cities that have become textbooks: Jerusalem - Yershalaim, Jesus - Yeshua, Matthew - Matthew, Judas from Kiriath - Iscariot.

The writer removes - "rips off" - the usual shell from the great legend, making it perceptibly authentic. One can trace how the “grounding” of the gospel tradition proceeds, the movement towards the defenselessly human, towards the immortally human in it, the artistic transformation of the hero from a God-man into a man…

An interesting resemblance between the gospel Holy Week and the week (4 days) of Woland's stay in Moscow.

Holy Week before Easter

Moscow (ch. 29, part 2) Yershalaim (ch. 25, part 2)

Only 4 days Woland lived in Moscow. He appeared at the Patriarch's Ponds not by chance. The ponds got their name from the Patriarchal Sloboda, which was located here in the Middle Ages. In post-revolutionary Moscow, by the 1920s, the very name - Patriarchs - sounded like a bitter mockery, because there was not a single functioning church nearby. Those. Satan appeared where the Lord's temples were destroyed, and he appeared at the voice of blasphemy.

Bulgakov seeks to prove the authenticity of Satan's Moscow visit. Sataniana clearly fits into the life of the 20s and the personal experience of the author. These 4 days are filled with everyday realities, the list of which can be brought to a hundred. At B. all sorts of accountants, writers, etc., in the matter of inventing various versions, explanations of miracles (bribes, exchange of apartments, etc.) can compete with evil spirits. In the novel, signs of 1937 unobtrusively appear. (The disappearance of people from bad apartment No. 50. At a meeting with doctors, Ivan Bezdomny says: “Hey, pest.” Money is thrown up by “enemies.” The police are looking for Woland, and in Armavir they brought a cat with paws tied with a green tie (Yezhov wore a green tie on parade days).

The novel is oversaturated with the vicissitudes of the literary life of Moscow in the 1920s: in the poet Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev one can easily guess Demyan Bedny, the author of the Gospel according to Demyan, and at the same time, the features of A. Bezymensky are visible in his image ... There are no traditional prototypes in the novel, but there are "free associations". (the poet Ryukhin outgrows Mayakovsky, who gave birth to him, and I. Bezdomny turns out to be in the role of Chatsky, getting from the “ship to the ball”, and from the ball to the lunatic asylum, then in the role of the fabulous Ivan (fool, prince?), And then he reminds him of his tattered Judah’s “thirty tetradrachms” pop up every now and then in real Moscow life (this is exactly the amount that the terminally ill Andrey Fokich tries to pay for a visit to the professor), two five-candles equally brightly highlight both the execution in Yershalaim and the ball in "Griboyedov". In a complex system of distorting mirrors, the real and the unreal, the genuine and the reflection change places, and in such an inverted world, the devilish forces act in concert with the forces of Light, clearly outline the scope of their activity, and cannot be compared with demonic antics " earthly pilates."

Woland, the main character in the figurative system of the novel, came as if from a medieval German legend. Satan tirelessly sows temptations, destruction, evil. But Bulgakov's Woland is something attractive, has a gloomy charm. Cat Behemoth, Azazello, Koroviev - all evil spirits are shown in a human way, but the most attractive is Woland, not like Goethe's Mephistopheles. He is much closer to Faust (to know all the baseness and all the greatness). In Bulgakov's Woland one can guess the motive of the act, protest against stagnation, routine.

Traditional Satan is called upon to perform 2 tasks: to induce a person to evil deeds and to punish a person for his deeds. Bulgakov Woland is different. He did not need to initiate evil deeds, they (people) have already sinned, they are terribly swine. But Woland is not an evil inclination. He returns the manuscript to the Master and just laughs at the desires of people (arranges money rain for them and makes sure that everything in the world remains the same).

But evil exists, and according to B., it has an earthly beginning, and not a demonic one, and is embodied in man (Pontius Pilate). Pontius Pilate is not without a subtle mind, after spending a day with the philosopher Yeshua, he fell in love with him, wanted to save him, but in return demanded that he renounce the doctrine, the truth.

Truth is a transpersonal, transhuman manifestation of the spirit, it is God himself, and truth is an earthly manifestation of truth, according to Yeshua.

According to Pilate, the kingdom of truth will never come on earth, and he advises Yeshua, at least in words, to renounce the doctrine, from the truth, but Yeshua is adamant. And Pilate is forced to pronounce the verdict. True, Pilate is trying to alleviate the fate of the executed (the servant finishes off with a spear), punishing Judas. But a terrible evil happened, and the punishment for Pilate is that his head constantly hurts (bad conscience)

Today the main character is the Master. The Master is the Yeshua of our day. The master is Bulgakov himself, his destiny. (B. had 298 negative reviews). In the 1930s, the master was ill with a traditional illness - longing, nostalgia for fair, pure, harmonious relations between people. He is unable to recover from nostalgia and passes away. His death is given in two ways: real-everyday (he died of a heart attack in the Stravinsky clinic) and conditionally fantastic - he takes the potion from the hands of Azazello along with Margarita and leaves life for the other world.

But the Master is not the author. B. himself lived according to other ethical standards: the writer must be persistent, no matter how hard it is for him, literature does not exist without this. There is no fault for the Master, and therefore his theme is not the theme of redemption. Nevertheless, the Master is destined for peace, but not light. This incompleteness of the reward is especially sharply expressed in the last edition: “He did not deserve the light, he deserved peace,” says Levi Matthew. Why didn't the Master deserve the light? Is it because he did not accomplish the feat of serving good, like Yeshua Ha-Nozri? Or because he was looking for help and protection from the devil? Maybe because he loved a woman who belonged to someone else? ("Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife"). He was a master, not a hero. But did the master need light? What should a master do in the "bare light"?

In the very last layer of editing, on the same page dictated at the end of his life, where Levi Matvey says that the Master did not deserve the light, Woland’s monologue sounds menacingly: “... What would your good do if evil did not exist, and how would what would the earth look like if the shadows disappeared from it?.. Wouldn’t you like to tear off the entire globe, taking away all the trees and all living things from it because of your fantasy of enjoying the naked light?

The master gets exactly what he so longs for - harmony unattainable in life. The one that Pushkin wanted ("It's time, my friend, it's time! My heart asks for peace ...) and Lermontov ("I would like freedom and peace .."). The “peace” of the Master is on the verge of light and darkness, at the junction of day and night, where the dawn burns and the candle is lit at dusk, light and darkness are combined in it.

Heroes of the novel

Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, chairman of Massolit

Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev - poet Bezdomny

Massolit members: novelist Beskudnikov, poet Dvubratsky,

Nastasya Lukinichna Nepremenova, Moscow merchant orphan

"Navigator Georges", short story writer

Ieronim Poprikhin

Critic Ababkov

Poet Alexander Ryukhin

Stepan Bogdanovich Likhodeev, director of the Variety (apartment No. 50)

Anna Frantsevna de Fougère, widow of a jeweler, former owner of the kV. No. 50

Grigory Danilovich Rimsky, financial director of Variety

Ivan Savelievich Varenukha, Variety administrator

Professor Stravinsky

Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, chairman of the housing association at home

No. 302-bis on Sadovaya

Georges Bengalsky, entertainer Variety

Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov, Chairman of the Acoustic Commission

Moscow theaters

Vasily Stepanovich Lastochkin, accountant Variety

Prokhor Petrovich (suit without a head), Chairman of the Spectacle Commission

Anna Richardovna, secretary

Maximillian Andreevich Poplavsky, uncle of Berlioz

Andrey Fokich, bartender

Professors Kuzmin and Bure

Margarita Nikolaevna and Master

Critic Latunsky

Natasha, Margarita's housekeeper

Nikolai Ivanovich, Margarita's neighbor (boar)

Woland, Azazello, Koroviev (Bassoon)

Frieda, Baron Mangel (spy)

Aloisy Mogarych

Yeshua, Pontius Pilate, Mark Ratslayer, High Priest of Caif

Judas of Kiriath, Matthew Levi