The complete contents of the master and margarita. Who wrote The Master and Margarita? The history of the novel "Master and Margarita

The novel was written in 1937 by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov. The novel is considered an unfinished work, since the writer died without completing it. The writer began working on this work in 1928. 1966-1967 the first publication of the work was released in an abridged form.

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About the novel

This novel is one of Bulgakov's best works.. At the very beginning, it is saturated with a mystery that the reader cannot understand in any way. The work is mystical. Everything that happens there defies any explanation. That's what makes this novel great.

Before you start a brief description of the content, you need to get acquainted with the characters involved in this work

Main characters:

Messier and his team

Secondary Heroes:

After listing the characters that will often appear in the novel, let's start reading summary online.

Part 1

Chapters:

1. Never talk to strangers.
2. Pontius Pilate.
3. Seventh proof.
4. Chase.
5. There was a case in Griboyedov.
6. Schizophrenia, as said.
7. Bad apartment.
8. A duel between a professor and a poet.
9. Koroviev jokes.
10. News from Yalta.
11. Split Ivan.
12. Black magic and its revelation.
13. Hero Appearance.
14. Glory to the rooster.
15. The dream of Nikanor Ivanovich.
16. Execution.
17. Restless day.
18. Unlucky Visitors.

Summary of chapters

1. The first chapter begins with how two members of "MASSOLIT" Berlioz and Ivan were walking on the Patriarch's Ponds. Their conversation was about the existence of Jesus Christ. The fact is that the editor gave Ivan a task on an anti-religious topic. Ivan Nikolaevich quickly completed this task, but his poem presented Jesus in very black colors, and therefore the editor demanded that everything be redone. Berlioz argued that Jesus does not exist and this had to be conveyed in the poem.

Suddenly, a stranger intervened in their conversation and asked Berlioz if he believed in God. He replied that he did not believe. Then a strange stranger, who looks like a foreigner, asks the question: who controls life if God does not exist. Berlioz replied that a person manages his own life. After that, the foreigner predicts the death of Berlioz at the hands of a Komsomol member and because Annushka spills oil.

Ivan and Bezdomny begin to suspect the stranger of espionage, but he shows evidence of his innocence by showing them documents. He said that he was a specialist in black magic and was invited to Moscow to give an introduction to black magic. After that, he began a story about Pontius Pilate to prove the existence of Jesus.

2. A prisoner is brought to the trial before the procurator Pontius Pilate. His name was Yeshua Ha-Nozri. He was 27 years old, beaten and poorly dressed. He was accused of inciting people to destroy temples. The procurator suffered from a headache, so it was difficult for him to conduct a trial and sometimes he did not even realize the questions he was creating. But Yeshua helped the procurator heal Pilate's sore head by some unseen miracle.

After Pilate's conversation with Ga-Notsri, the procurator liked the young man very much and he even tried to help him. He tries to make the young man refuse those words that were attributed to him by the court. But Yeshua does not see the danger and confesses what Judas said in his denunciation. And it was told there that Ga-Notsri opposes the authorities. The procurator has no choice but to accuse the young man and sentence him to death.

But he makes another attempt to save the young man. In a conversation with the high priest, he intercedes that of the two criminals, it was Ha-Notsri who was pardoned. But Kaifa refuses him this and the young man is finally sentenced to death. And the murderer and robber Bar-Rabban is released.

3. After listening to the stranger's story, Berlioz told him that this was not evidence. The stranger, offended, said that he himself was at these events. The companions immediately realized that the foreigner was crazy and it was better not to provoke him. After Berlioz asked a specialist in black magic where he would live. To this he replied that he would live in Berlioz's apartment, after which Mikhail Alexandrovich went to the telephone to report on the crazy citizen. Having reached the rails, he slips and falls onto the rails, where the wheel of a tram, driven by a Komsomol member, cuts his head.

4. After an unexpected tragedy, Ivan hears a conversation that mentions Annushka, who spilled oil. Remembering the stranger's words, the poet decides that he is involved in this death and decides to conduct an investigation himself. Approaching the bench, he sees that a subject dressed in a plaid jacket is sitting next to a foreigner. It was the regent. Ivan begins to interrogate the foreigner, but he pretends not to understand him. After that, the two people sitting on the bench began to quickly move away. Soon a huge cat joins them. The poet leads the pursuit, but quickly falls behind them.

Ivan did not stop and first invaded an unfamiliar apartment, taking out a small icon and a candle. Then, for unknown reasons, he went to the Moscow River. There he took off his clothes, gave them to an unfamiliar bearded man and began to swim in the river. After he climbed ashore, it turned out that his clothes were gone, and instead there were torn pants and a shirt. He changed into these clothes and went to the restaurant "At Griboyedov" in the hope of finding the criminals.

5. The action takes place in the Griboyedov House. This restaurant belongs to the MASSOLIT trade union. Being a member of this trade union is very profitable, since its members are provided with many privileges, they can get an apartment in Moscow for free and dine inexpensively in a good restaurant.

12 writers gathered in this restaurant in anticipation of chairman Berlioz. And having learned about his death, they mourn, but this does not last long. This event is soon forgotten. Suddenly, Ivan appears in the restaurant in torn underpants, barefoot, with an icon and candles. He begins to look for a foreigner in a restaurant and blames him for the death of Berlioz. Everyone who was in the restaurant considered him mentally ill and began to calm him down. But Ivan stubbornly resisted and started a fight. The waiters had to tie him up with towels. Soon he was taken to a psychiatric hospital.

6. The action takes place in a psychiatric hospital. The doctor asks Ivan to tell the whole story. The poet is very glad that at least someone is ready to listen to him and tells an incredible story about how a consultant on black magic arranged the death of Berlioz in some mystical way. Then he says that you need to call the police, but they did not listen to him. Then Ivan tries to escape from the hospital. He tries to knock out the glass, but it turns out to be very strong. After that, he is placed in a ward with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

7. The next chapter begins with the fact that the director of the variety show, Stepan Likhodeev, wakes up in his apartment with a hangover and finds a man in a black robe sitting next to him. Likhodeev shared this apartment with the late Berlioz. This apartment has a bad reputation - there are rumors that the previous tenants of this apartment are missing.

Let's return to what is happening in the apartment. The man in black said that he was a professor of black magic and agreed yesterday with Likhodeev to give an introduction. Naturally, Likhodeev does not remember anything, since he drank all day. Therefore, he decided to check the authenticity of the professor's words by calling the theater. They confirmed the words of the professor. After the call, Likhodeev discovers that a man in a plaid jacket and a large cat who has been drinking vodka are sitting next to the stranger. Then he saw that a red-haired, fanged dwarf named Azazello came out of the mirror. Azazello offered to throw Likhodeev out of Moscow. The next day, Likhodeev wakes up on the banks of Yalta.

8. Nurses and Dr. Stravinsky come to Ivan Homeless. He asks to repeat the story and asked Ivan what he would do when he was released from the hospital. The poet said that he would call the police and tell everything that had happened to Berlioz. The doctor says that they will not believe him, and they will bring him here again, and therefore it is better for him to stay here, rest and put everything in writing. Ivan agrees to this proposal.

9. Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, chairman of the housing association in the house where Berlioz lived, is under serious pressure from applicants for an apartment. He decides to look there himself and finds a man there who introduces himself as Koroviev and reports that he is the artist's translator. He then offers rent and a bribe to rent the apartment. Barefoot gladly accepts the bribe and hides it at home. Woland says that he no longer wants to see him here. Koroviev calls the police and reports that Nikanor Ivanovich has illegal currency in his house. After that, the apartment is searched and the employees find dollars from Nikanor Ivanovich.

10. Fin. the theater director Rimsky and Varenukha do not understand why Likhodeev is not yet at the theater. But soon Varenukha receives a telegram from Yalta, which says that a man calling himself Likhodeev has come to the local branch, and they demand to confirm his identity in a response telegram in order to send him home. Varenukha and Rimsky considered this letter a hoax, since Likhodeev called them 4 hours ago. During this time, he could not be in Yalta. But soon Varenukha decides to send a reply letter. Walking down the street, he is attacked by a huge cat and a red dwarf. After, he finds himself beaten in an unfamiliar apartment. Suddenly, a red-haired naked girl began to approach him.

11. After the sedative injections, Ivan began to think that perhaps it was necessary to calmly listen to that stranger and ask him about Pontius Pilate, and not start the chase. Suddenly a stranger appears in the window...

12. The next day, Woland, accompanied by Kot and Koroviev, gave performances with black magic. They did some incredible stunts, but the entertainer claimed it was mass hypnosis. After that, the Cat tore off his head, but the audience took pity on him and Woland ordered the head to be screwed back into place. After that, they began to distribute perfume and new clothes to women in exchange for their old ones.

13. A man who called himself a master and showed his cap with the letter M as evidence got into the ward of Homeless. He said that he also got here because of Pontius Pilate. It turns out that this novel was written by the master himself. He tells how he wrote a novel and because of the criticism of his work he began to go crazy and soon ended up here. He told Ivan that the stranger he was chasing was Satan.

14. The action takes place in the theater. Rimsky sees from the window two women who at one moment lost all their clothes. These ladies were just changing clothes at Woland's performance. Soon, the missing Varenukha knocked on the door and said that everything that happened to Likhodeev was just a joke. Fin. the director notices that Varenukha is very pale, behaves strangely, and at the end his shadow was not reflected. After that, a naked woman flew in through the window. Rimsky was so frightened that his hair turned gray. But suddenly a rooster crowed, and two guests jumped out the window and flew away.

15. During interrogation, Nikanor Ivanovich tells law enforcement officers that he did not keep any currency in the house, he took a bribe, but in rubles. When asked how the currency got to him, he answered that the evil spirits in apartment No. 50 were involved. A squad was called there, but nothing was found, and Barefoot was sent to a psychiatric hospital. There he had a dream that he was being interrogated again, but the action takes place in the theater and they ask him to give up all the currency.

16. The action takes place on Bald Mountain. Yeshua is being taken to the death penalty. He was crucified along with two other criminals. It was very hot weather, which was unbearable for the poor fellows who got here. Yeshua's disciple, Matthew Levi, is trying to get up the mountain and stab his teacher to save him from a painful death. But he doesn't succeed. Soon the commander orders the captives to be slaughtered. After that, Levi took off all three, and Yeshua's body was stolen.

17. The theater accountant Lastochkin is completely confused. All the theater managers have disappeared, and their search is useless. There are many strange rumors circulating around Moscow. Lastochkin decided to go to the entertainment and entertainment commission, but there he discovers that instead of the chairman, a suit was sitting and signing papers. The frightened secretary said that a huge cat came to the chairman.

After that, Lastochkin goes to the branch of the commission, but another strange thing happened there. A man in a plaid jacket organized a whole circle of singing, which did not stop all day. After everything he has experienced, Lastochkin decides to donate all the proceeds to the financial entertainment sector. But instead of rubles, he has dollars. He is immediately arrested.

18. The uncle of the deceased Berlioz arrives in Moscow. Interestingly, the letter that came to him was signed by Berlioz himself. The uncle was not upset that his nephew was dead. He was interested in an apartment in Moscow, which he was supposed to inherit. And when he came to the apartment, he found Koroviev there, who told the whole story in tragic colors. Then the cat spoke to him and asked him to show his passport. After presenting the passport, Azazello throws the guest out.

Immediately after him, the barman Variety Sokov comes in and says that all his chervonets have turned into pieces of paper. Woland voices his claims to him that the food was second-class. The bartender does not agree with this and demands that the money be returned to him. After that, all his papers were exchanged for chervonets. Woland predicted the death of the barman in 9 months from liver cancer.

The barman, frightened by the remark in his direction, went to the doctor and paid in chervonets, which, after his departure, again turned into pieces of paper.

Part 2

Chapters

1. Margarita.
2. Cream Azazello.
3. Flight.
4. By candlelight.
5. Great ball with Satan.
6. Extracting the Master.
7. How the procurator tried to save Judas.
8. Burial.
9. End of apartment number 50.
10. The last adventures of Koroviev and Behemoth.
11. The fate of the Master and Margarita is certain.
12. It's time! It's time!
13. On Sparrow Hills.
14. Farewell and eternal shelter.

Summary of chapters

1. Margarita still remembered the Master and loved him. On the day when a strange story happened with the barman, Margarita dreamed of a master. She decides to take a walk through the streets of Moscow and ends up at Berlioz's funeral. There she meets Azazello and he invites her to visit a noble foreigner. Margaret disagrees. After that, Azazello quotes a few lines from the master's novel. Margarita agrees to fulfill his request in the hope of learning about the master. Azazello gives her the magic cream and instructions.

2. Margarita is smeared with cream. After that, she begins to get younger and acquires the ability to fly. After that, she writes a farewell letter to her husband and flies away in front of the maid Natasha and neighbor Nikolai Ivanovich.

3. Having become invisible, Margarita flies around Moscow and performs various pranks. Soon Natasha catches up with her. It turned out that Natasha also anointed herself with this cream and also anointed her neighbor. As a result, she turned into a witch, and a neighbor into a boar. The main character took a dip in the river, and then got into the flying car given to her.

4. Koroviev escorts the main character to a bad apartment and says that royal blood flows in her, and she must help hold the ball. In a small apartment, a whole ballroom is surprisingly placed. Koroviev explained that this happens due to the fifth dimension. In the bedroom, Margarita met all the members of the retinue and Woland himself.

5. Preparations for the ball begin. Marguerite is bathed in blood and rose oil, then put on her queen's regalia. She stood at the stairs and met long-dead criminals. There, Koroviev tells her the story of Frida, who killed a newborn by gagging him with a handkerchief. Since then, the same handkerchief has been brought to her every morning.

The ball ends, Margarita flies around the halls. Woland, who is presented with the head of Berlioz on a platter, takes his skull and turns it into a bowl, and sends it into oblivion. The cup is filled with the blood of Baron Meigel, who was killed by Azazello. The cup is brought to Margarita, then she drinks it and the ball ends.

6. Margarita fears that they will not give her awards, but she herself does not say anything about this. After that, Woland said that she did the right thing by not asking for a reward. For this, Woland promised to fulfill any desire of Margarita. After thinking, Margarita said that Frida should no longer be served a handkerchief. Woland said that this was a trifling desire, and since she was the queen, she herself could order no more handkerchief. Then Margarita said that the Master should be returned to her immediately.

The master is in front of her on a chair. He does not believe in everything that happens. Woland, interested in his work about Pontius Pilate, takes out the manuscript, which turns out to be completely intact. Margarita asks that they begin to live as before. Woland fulfills her will: he gives the documents to the Master, returns them to their housing, in which the "friend" of the Master Magarych lived, who wrote a denunciation against him about the storage of illegal literature. Natasha was left a witch, and Nikolai Ivanovich was returned to his appearance. Then Varenukha appears and asks to be released from the vampires, since he is not bloodthirsty.

7. The head of the secret service, Aphranius, reports to Pilate that the execution has taken place and there are no disturbances. Pilate tells Aphranius that an attempt will be made on Judas at night, thus he himself ordered the assassination of the head of the secret service.

8. Aphranius visits a girl named Nisa, with whom Judas is in love. She makes an appointment with him. He comes to the meeting place, but there he is met by three murderers, one of whom was Aphranius. Taking a bag with thirty pieces of silver from him, he came to the procurator and reported that the task had been completed and presented a bag of money as proof. Soon the procurator learns that the body of Yeshua is in the possession of Levi Matthew, who did not want to give up the corpse. But having learned that the body would be buried, he reconciled himself and appeared before the procurator. There he said that he would kill Judas, but the procurator did it for him.

9. The investigation into the case of a bad apartment continues and employees visit it to identify evidence. There they find a cat with a primus stove, he provokes a shootout, but miraculously no victims turn out to be. After that, gasoline is poured out of the primus, which caught fire on its own, and 4 silhouettes flew out of the apartment, one of them is female. The apartment burns down quickly.

10. Koroviev and a cat-like person appear in a shop that sells goods for foreign currency. The cat begins to eat everything in the window, and Koroviev calls on everyone to protest. When the police show up, they hide by starting a fire. Then they head to the Griboedov restaurant and soon a fire starts there.

11. Azazello and Woland are talking on the terrace of a Moscow building. Levi Matthew appears and says that Yeshua asks to give the master and Margarita eternal rest. Woland orders Azazello to arrange everything.

12. Azazello appears in the basement of lovers. Before that, they talked about past events. The master tries to convince Margarita to leave him and not to ruin herself. Margarita does not listen to him. After the arrival of Azazello, all three sit on horses and fly out of the apartment. The apartment is on fire. On the way, the master flew to Ivan, called him his student and bequeathed to write a continuation of the story.

13. Azazello, master and Margarita join Woland, Cow and Behemoth. The master says goodbye to the city. Everyone is ready to leave the city.

14. Under the moonlight, the heroes begin to change their appearance. Koroviev turns into a knight wearing purple armor, Azazello into a desert demon killer. Behemoth - into a slender page boy. The master has a gray braid and spurs. Margarita does not see her transformation. Woland explained that tonight was a special night when all scores were settled.

The riders see Pilate with his dog in front of them. For two thousand years he has been dreaming the same dream - how he is walking along the lunar road towards Yeshua. The master shouts to him that he is free. Pilate gets up and walks along the moonlit road to Yeshua. This means that the novel is over. And the master and Margarita will find eternal rest.

After reviewing the summary of the novel, we advise you to read the full version of the book, as the summary only helps to present the plot. In the full version, you will feel the beauty of the story.

Moscow 1984
The text is printed in
last lifetime
editions (manuscripts are stored
in the handwriting department
State Library
USSR named after V. I. Lenin),
as well as corrections and
additions made
under the dictation of the writer
wife, E. S. Bulgakova.

* PART ONE *
...So who are you, finally?
I am part of that power
what you always want
evil and always doing good.
Goethe. "Faust"

Chapter 1

Once in the spring, at the hour of an unprecedentedly hot sunset, in Moscow, on the Patriarchal
ponds, two citizens appeared. The first of them, dressed in summer gray
a couple, was short, well-fed, bald, carried his decent hat with a pie in
hand, and on his well-shaven face were placed supernatural sizes
black horn-rimmed glasses. The second is broad-shouldered, reddish, swirling
a young man in a checkered cap twisted at the back of his head - was in a cowboy shirt,
chewed white trousers and black slippers.
The first was none other than Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, chairman
board of one of the largest Moscow literary associations, abbreviated
called MASSOLIT, and editor of a thick art magazine, and the young
his companion is the poet Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, who writes under the pseudonym
Homeless.
Once in the shade of the slightly greening lindens, the writers first of all rushed to
colorfully painted booth with the inscription "Beer and water".
Yes, the first strangeness of this terrible May evening should be noted.
Not only at the booth, but in the entire alley parallel to Malaya Bronnaya Street,
there was not a single person. At that hour, when, it seems, there were no forces
breathe when the sun, having heated Moscow, fell in a dry fog somewhere beyond
Garden Ring - no one came under the lindens, no one sat on the bench, it was empty
there was an alley.
"Give me the narzan," Berlioz asked.
“Narzan is gone,” answered the woman in the booth, and for some reason took offense.
- Do you have beer? Homeless inquired in a hoarse voice.
“The beer will be delivered by evening,” the woman replied.
-- What is there? asked Berlioz.
“Apricot, only warm,” said the woman.
- Come on, come on, come on, come on!
The apricot gave a rich yellow foam, and the air smelled of
barbershop. Having drunk, the writers immediately began to hiccup, paid
and sat down on a bench facing the pond and with their backs to Bronnaya.
Here a second oddity happened, concerning Berlioz alone. He
suddenly stopped hiccuping, his heart pounded and for a moment somewhere
failed, then returned, but with a blunt needle stuck in it. Besides,
Berlioz was seized by an unfounded, but such a strong fear that he wanted to
immediately run away from the Patriarchs without looking back.

The novel The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov (1928-1940) is a book within a book. The story about Satan's visit to Moscow at the beginning of the 20th century includes a short story based on the New Testament, which was allegedly written by one of Bulgakov's characters, the master. At the end, two works are combined: the master meets his main character - the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate - and mercifully decides his fate.

Death prevented Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov from completing work on the novel. The first magazine publications of The Master and Margarita date back to 1966-1967, in 1969 the book with a large number of abbreviations was printed in Germany, and in the writer's homeland the full text of the novel was published only in 1973. You can get acquainted with its plot and main ideas by reading the online summary of The Master and Margarita chapter by chapter.

Main characters

Master- unnamed writer, author of the novel about Pontius Pilate. Unable to bear the persecution of Soviet criticism, he goes crazy.

margarita- his beloved. Having lost the master, she yearns for him and, hoping to see him again, agrees to become the queen at the annual ball of Satan.

Woland- a mysterious black magician, who eventually turns into Satan himself.

Azazello- a member of Woland's retinue, a short, red-haired, fanged subject.

Koroviev- Woland's companion, a tall, thin type in a plaid jacket and pince-nez with one broken glass.

Hippopotamus- Woland's jester, from a huge talking black cat turning into a short fat man "with a cat's face" and back.

Pontius Pilate- the fifth procurator of Judea, in which human feelings struggle with the call of duty.

Yeshua Ha-Nozri- a wandering philosopher, condemned to crucifixion for his ideas.

Other characters

Mikhail Berlioz- Chairman of MASSOLIT, trade union of writers. He believes that a person determines his own fate, but dies as a result of an accident.

Ivan Homeless- a poet, a member of MASSOLIT, after meeting with Woland and the tragic death of Berlioz, goes crazy.

Gella- Woland's maid, an attractive red-haired vampire.

Styopa Likhodeev- Director of the Variety Theater, Berlioz's neighbor. Moves mysteriously from Moscow to Yalta to vacate an apartment for Woland and his retinue.

Ivan Varenukha Variety manager. As an edification for impoliteness and addiction to lies, Woland's retinue turns him into a vampire.

Gregory of Rome- Financial director of the Variety, who almost fell victim to the attack of the vampire Varenukha and Gella.

Andrey Sokov- Variety bartender.

Vasily Lastochkin- Variete's accountant.

Natasha- Margarita's housekeeper, a young attractive girl, after the mistress turns into a witch.

Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy- chairman of the housing association in the house where the "cursed apartment" No. 50 is located, a bribe taker.

Aloisy Mogarych- a traitor to the master, pretending to be a friend.

Levy Matvey- Yershalaim tax collector, who is so carried away by the speeches of Yeshua that he becomes his follower.

Judas of Kiriath- a young man who betrayed Yeshua Ha-Nozri, who trusted him, being tempted by a reward. As a punishment, he was stabbed to death.

High Priest Caif- the ideological opponent of Pilate, destroying the last hope for the salvation of the condemned Yeshua: in return for him, the robber Bar-Rabban will be released.

Aphranius- head of the secret service of the procurator.

Part one

Chapter 1

At Patriarch's Ponds in Moscow, Mikhail Berlioz, chairman of the MASSOLIT Writers' Union, and poet Ivan Bezdomny are talking about Jesus Christ. Berlioz reproaches Ivan that in his poem he created a negative image of this character instead of refuting the very fact of his existence, and gives many arguments to prove the non-existence of Christ.

A stranger who looks like a foreigner intervenes in the conversation of writers. He asks the question, who, since there is no God, governs human life. Disputing the answer that “the man himself governs”, he predicts Berlioz’s death: he will be cut off his head by a “Russian woman, a Komsomol member” - and very soon, because a certain Annushka has already spilled sunflower oil.

Berlioz and Bezdomny suspect that the stranger is a spy, but he shows them the documents and says that he has been invited to Moscow as a specialist consultant on black magic, after which he declares that Jesus did exist. Berlioz demands proof, and the foreigner begins to talk about Pontius Pilate.

Chapter 2. Pontius Pilate

A beaten and poorly dressed man of about twenty-seven is brought to the trial of the procurator Pontius Pilate. Migraine-suffering Pilate must approve the death sentence handed down by the most holy Sanhedrin: the accused Yeshua Ha-Nozri allegedly called for the destruction of the temple. However, after a conversation with Yeshua, Pilate begins to sympathize with the smart and educated prisoner, who, as if by magic, saved him from a headache and considers all people to be kind. The procurator is trying to lead Yeshua to renounce the words that are attributed to him. But he, as if not sensing danger, easily confirms the information contained in the denunciation of a certain Judas from Kiriath - that he opposed any authority, and therefore the authority of the great Caesar. After that, Pilate is obliged to approve the verdict.
But he makes another attempt to save Yeshua. In a private conversation with the High Priest Kaifa, he intercedes that of the two prisoners under the department of the Sanhedrin, it was Yeshua who would be pardoned. However, Kaifa refuses, preferring to give life to the rebel and murderer Bar-Rabban.

Chapter 3

Berlioz tells the consultant that it is impossible to prove the reality of his story. The foreigner claims to have been personally present at these events. The head of MASSOLIT suspects that he is facing a madman, especially since the consultant intends to live in Berlioz's apartment. Having entrusted the strange subject to Bezdomny, Berlioz goes to a pay phone to call the bureau of foreigners. Following the consultant asks him to believe at least in the devil and promises some credible evidence.

Berlioz is about to cross the tram tracks, but slips on spilled sunflower oil and flies onto the rails. The tram wheel, driven by a female carriage driver in a Komsomol red scarf, cuts off Berlioz's head.

Chapter 4

Struck by the tragedy, the poet hears that the oil on which Berlioz slipped was spilled by a certain Annushka from Sadovaya. Ivan compares these words with those spoken by the mysterious foreigner and decides to call him to account. However, the consultant, who had previously spoken excellent Russian, pretends not to understand the poet. A cheeky person in a plaid jacket comes forward in his defense, and a little later Ivan sees them in the distance together and, moreover, accompanied by a huge black cat. Despite all the efforts of the poet to catch up with them, they hide.

Ivan's further actions look strange. He invades an unfamiliar apartment, being sure that the insidious professor is hiding there. Having stolen a small icon and a candle from there, Bezdomny continues the pursuit and moves to the Moscow River. There he decides to take a swim, after which he discovers that his clothes have been stolen. Dressed in what he has - a torn sweatshirt and underpants - Ivan decides to look for a foreigner "at Griboedov's" - in the MASSOLIT restaurant.

Chapter 5

"House of Griboedov" - the building of MASSOLIT. Being a writer - a member of the trade union is very profitable: you can apply for housing in Moscow and summer cottages in a prestigious village, go on "sabbaticals", eat deliciously and cheaply in a luxurious restaurant "for your own".

12 writers who have gathered for a meeting of MASSOLIT are waiting for chairman Berlioz, and without waiting, they go down to the restaurant. Upon learning of the tragic death of Berlioz, they mourn, but not for long: “Yes, he died, he died ... But we are still alive!” - and continue to eat.

Ivan Bezdomny appears in the restaurant - barefoot, in underpants, with an icon and a candle - and begins to look under the tables for a consultant whom he blames for Berlioz's death. Colleagues try to calm him down, but Ivan becomes furious, starts a fight, the waiters tie him up with towels, and the poet is taken to a psychiatric hospital.

Chapter 6

The doctor is talking to Ivan Bezdomny. The poet is very glad that they are finally ready to listen to him, and tells him his fantastic story about a consultant who is familiar with evil spirits, “attached” Berlioz under a tram and is personally acquainted with Pontius Pilate.

In the middle of the story, Bezdomny remembers that it is necessary to call the police, but they do not listen to the poet from the lunatic asylum. Ivan tries to escape from the hospital by breaking the window, but the special glass holds out, and Bezdomny is placed in a ward with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Chapter 7

Styopa Likhodeev, director of the Moscow Variety Theater, wakes up hungover in his apartment, which he shares with the late Berlioz. The apartment has a bad reputation - there are rumors that its former tenants have disappeared without a trace and evil spirits are allegedly involved in this.

Styopa sees a stranger in black who claims that Likhodeev made an appointment for him. He calls himself a professor of black magic Woland and wants to clarify the details of the concluded and already paid contract for performances in the Variety, about which Styopa does not remember anything. Calling the theater and confirming the guest's words, Likhodeev finds him no longer alone, but with a checkered type in pince-nez and a huge talking black cat who drinks vodka. Woland announces to Styopa that he is superfluous in the apartment, and a short, red-haired, fanged person named Azazello, who has come out of the mirror, offers to “throw him to hell from Moscow.”

Styopa finds herself on the seashore in an unfamiliar city and learns from a passerby that this is Yalta.

Chapter 8

Doctors led by Dr. Stravinsky come to Ivan Bezdomny in the hospital. He asks Ivan to repeat his story again and wonders what he will do if he is released now from the hospital. The homeless man replies that he will go straight to the police to report on the damned consultant. Stravinsky convinces the poet that he is too upset by the death of Berlioz to behave adequately, and therefore they will not believe him and will immediately return him to the hospital. The doctor offers Ivan to rest in a comfortable room, and to formulate a statement to the police in writing. The poet agrees.

Chapter 9

Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, chairman of the housing association in the house on Sadovaya, where Berlioz lived, is besieged by applicants for the vacated area of ​​​​the deceased. Barefoot visits the apartment himself. In the sealed office of Berlioz sits a subject who introduces himself as Koroviev, an interpreter for the foreign artist Woland, who lives with Likhodeev with the permission of the owner who has left for Yalta. He offers Bosom to rent Berlioz's apartments to the artist and immediately gives him the rent and a bribe.

Nikanor Ivanovich leaves, and Woland expresses the wish that he should not appear again. Koroviev calls on the phone and reports that the chairman of the housing association illegally keeps currency at home. They come to Bosom with a search and instead of the rubles that Koroviev gave him, they find dollars. Bosoy is arrested.

Chapter 10

In the office of the financial director of the Rimsky Variety, he and the administrator Varenukha are sitting. They wonder where Likhodeev has gone. At this time, Varenukha received an urgent telegram from Yalta - someone appeared at the local criminal investigation department claiming that he was Stepan Likhodeev, and confirmation of his identity was needed. The administrator and financial director decide that this is a hoax: Likhodeev called four hours ago from his apartment, promising to come to the theater soon, and since then he could not move from Moscow to the Crimea.

Varenukha calls Styopa's apartment, where he is informed that he has left the city to ride in a car. New version: "Yalta" - cheburek, where Likhodeev got drunk with a local telegraph operator and amuses himself by sending telegrams to work.

Rimsky tells Varenukha to take the telegrams to the police. An unfamiliar nasal voice on the phone orders the telegram administrator not to wear anywhere, but he still goes to the department. On the way, he is attacked by a fat man who looks like a cat and a short, fanged fellow. They deliver their victim to Likhodeev's apartment. The last thing Varenukha sees is a naked red-haired girl with burning eyes, who is approaching him.

Chapter 11

Ivan Bezdomny in the hospital is trying to make a statement to the police, but he does not manage to clearly state what happened. In addition to this, he is worried about the thunderstorm outside the window. After a soothing injection, the poet lies and talks “in his mind” to himself. One of the internal "interlocutors" continues to worry about the tragedy with Berlioz, the other is sure that instead of panic and chase, it was necessary to politely ask the consultant more about Pilate and find out the continuation of the story.

Suddenly, a stranger appears on the balcony outside the window of Homeless's room.

Chapter 12

Rimsky, financial director of Variety, wonders where Varenukha has gone. He wants to call the police about this, but all the phones in the theater are broken. Woland arrives at Variety, accompanied by Koroviev and the cat.

Entertainer Bengalsky introduces Woland to the public, stating that, of course, no black magic exists, and the artist is just a virtuoso magician. "Session with exposure" Woland begins with a philosophical conversation with Koroviev, whom he calls Fagot, that Moscow and its inhabitants have changed a lot externally, but the question of whether they have become different internally is much more important. Bengalsky explains to the audience that the foreign artist is delighted with Moscow and Muscovites, but the artists immediately object that they did not say anything like that.

Koroviev-Fagot shows a trick with a deck of cards, which is found in the wallet of one of the spectators. The skeptic, who decides that this spectator is in collusion with a magician, finds a wad of money in his own pocket. After that, the gold coins start falling from the ceiling, and people catch them. The entertainer calls what is happening "mass hypnosis" and assures the audience that the pieces of paper are not real, but the artists again refute his words. Fagot declares that he is tired of Bengalsky and asks the audience what to do with this liar. A proposal is heard from the hall: “Tear off his head!” - and the cat tears off Bengalsky's head. The audience feel sorry for the entertainer, Woland argues aloud that people, in general, remain the same, “the housing problem only spoiled them”, and orders to put their heads back. Bengalsky leaves the stage and is taken away by an ambulance.

"Tapericha, when this bugger gets ripped off, let's open a ladies shop!" Koroviev says. Shop windows, mirrors and rows of clothes appear on the stage, and the exchange of the old dresses of the spectators for new ones begins. As the shop disappears, a voice from the audience demands the promised exposure. In response, Fagot exposes its owner - that yesterday he was not at work at all, but with his mistress. The session ends with a bang.

Chapter 13

The stranger from the balcony enters Ivan's room. This is also a patient. He has a bunch of keys stolen from the paramedic, but when asked why he, having them, does not escape from the hospital, the guest replies that he has nowhere to run away. He informs Bezdomny about the new patient, who keeps talking about the currency in the ventilation, and asks the poet how he himself got here. Having learned that "because of Pontius Pilate", he demands details and tells Ivan that he met with Satan at the Patriarch's Ponds.

Pontius Pilate also brought the stranger to the hospital - Ivan's guest wrote a novel about him. He introduces himself to Bezdomny as a “master” and, as proof, presents a hat with the letter M, which was sewn for him by a certain “she”. Further, the master tells the poet his story - how he once won one hundred thousand rubles, quit his job at the museum, rented an apartment in the basement and began to write a novel, and soon met his beloved: “Love jumped out in front of us, like a killer jumping out of the ground in an alley, and blew us both away! This is how lightning strikes, this is how a Finnish knife strikes! . Just like the master himself, his secret wife fell in love with his novel, saying that it contained her whole life. However, the book was not taken to print, and when the excerpt was nevertheless published, the reviews in the newspapers turned out to be a failure - critics called the novel "pilatch", and the author was branded "bogomaz" and "militant old believer". Particularly zealous was a certain Latunsky, whom the master's beloved promised to kill. Soon after that, the master made friends with a fan of literature named Aloisy Mogarych, who really did not like his lover. Meanwhile, reviews continued to come out, and the master began to go crazy. He burned his novel in the oven - the woman who entered managed to save only a few burnt sheets - and on the same night he was evicted and he ended up in a hospital. The master has not seen his beloved since then.
A patient is placed in an adjacent room, complaining of an allegedly severed head. When the noise subsides, Ivan asks the interlocutor why he did not let his beloved know about himself, and he replies that he does not want to make her unhappy: “Poor woman. However, I have a hope that she has forgotten me!” .

Chapter 14

The financial director of the Variety Rimsky from the window sees several ladies from whom their clothes suddenly disappeared in the middle of the street - these are the unlucky clients of the Fagot store. He has to make several calls about today's scandals, but he is forbidden by a "lewd female voice" on the phone.

By midnight, Rimsky was left alone in the theater, and then Varenukha appeared with a story about Likhodeev. According to him, Styopa really got drunk in the Yalta cheburek with a telegraph operator and arranged a prank with telegrams, and also committed many ugly tricks, ending up in a sobering-up station. Rimsky begins to notice that the administrator is behaving suspiciously - he covers himself from the lamp with a newspaper, has acquired the habit of smacking his lips, turned strangely pale, and has a scarf around his neck, despite the heat. Finally, the financial director sees that Varenukha is not casting a shadow.

The unmasked vampire closes the cabinet door from the inside, and a naked red-haired girl enters through the window. However, these two do not have time to deal with Rimsky - a cock's cry is heard. The financial director, who miraculously escaped, turned gray overnight, hastily leaves for Leningrad.

Chapter 15

Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, to all the questions of law enforcement officers about the currency, keeps talking about evil spirits, a scoundrel-translator and his complete non-involvement in the dollars found in his ventilation system. He admits: “I took it, but I took it with our Soviet ones!” . It is transferred to psychiatrists. A detachment is sent to apartment No. 50 to check Bosoy's words about the translator, but finds it empty, and the seals on the doors are intact.

In the hospital, Nikanor Ivanovich has a dream - he is again interrogated about dollars, but this happens in the premises of some strange theater, in which, in parallel with the concert program, the audience is required to hand over the currency. He screams in his sleep, the paramedic calms him down.

Barefoot's screams woke up his neighbors in the hospital. When Ivan Homeless falls asleep again, he begins to dream about the continuation of the story about Pilate.

Chapter 16

Those sentenced to death, including Yeshua, are being taken to Lysaya Gora. The place of the crucifixion is cordoned off: the procurator fears that they will try to recapture the convicts from the servants of the law.

Soon after the crucifixion, the spectators leave the mountain, unable to bear the heat. The soldiers stay and suffer from the heat. But another person lurked on the mountain - this is the disciple of Yeshua, the former Yershalaim tax collector Levy Matvey. When the suicide bombers were being taken to the place of execution, he wanted to get to Ha-Notsri and stab him with a knife stolen in a bakery, saving him from a painful death, but he did not succeed. He blames himself for what happened to Yeshua - he left his teacher alone, fell ill at the wrong time - and asks the Lord to give Ha-Nozri death. However, the Almighty is in no hurry to fulfill the request, and then Matthew Levi begins to grumble and curse him. As if in response to the blasphemy, a thunderstorm gathers, the soldiers leave the hill, and the commander of the cohort in a scarlet mantle rises up the mountain to meet them. On his orders, the sufferers on the pillars are killed with a prick of a spear in the heart, ordering them to glorify the magnanimous procurator.

A thunderstorm begins, the hill is empty. Levi Matthew approaches the pillars and removes all three corpses from them, after which he steals the body of Yeshua.

Chapter 17

The accountant of the Variety Lastochkin, who remained in charge of the theater, has no idea how to respond to the rumors that Moscow is full of, and what to do with the incessant phone calls and investigators with a dog who came to look for the missing Rimsky. The dog, by the way, behaves strangely - at the same time he is angry, afraid and howls, as if at evil spirits - and does not bring any benefit to the search. It turns out that all the documents about Woland in the Variety have disappeared - even the posters are gone.

Lastochkin is sent with a report to the commission of spectacles and entertainment. There he discovers that in the office of the chairman, instead of a person, an empty suit is sitting and signing papers. According to the tearful secretary, her boss was visited by a fat man who looked like a cat. The accountant decides to visit the branch of the commission - but there a certain checkered type in a broken pince-nez organized a circle of choral singing, he disappeared, and the singers still can't shut up.

Finally, Lastochkin arrives at the financial entertainment sector, wishing to hand over the proceeds from yesterday's performance. However, instead of rubles in his portfolio, there is a currency. The accountant is arrested.

Chapter 18

Maxim Poplavsky, the uncle of the late Berlioz, arrives in Moscow from Kyiv. He received a strange telegram about the death of a relative, signed by the name of Berlioz himself. Poplavsky wants to claim the inheritance - housing in the capital.

In the apartment of his nephew, Poplavsky meets Koroviev, who weeps and describes the death of Berlioz in colors. The cat speaks to Poplavsky, says that he gave the telegram, and asks the guest for a passport, and then informs him that his presence at the funeral is cancelled. Azazello expels Poplavsky out, telling him not to dream of an apartment in Moscow.

Immediately after Poplavsky, the barman Variety Sokov comes to the "bad" apartment. Woland voices a number of claims to his work - green feta cheese, sturgeon "second freshness", tea "looks like slop". Sokov, in turn, complains that the chervonets in the cash register have turned into cut paper. Woland and his retinue sympathize with him and along the way - they predict death from liver cancer in nine months, and when Sokov wants to show them the former money, the paper again turns out to be chervonets.

The barman rushes to the doctor and begs him to cure the disease. He pays for the visit with the same chervonets, and after his departure they turn into wine labels.

Part two

Chapter 19

The master's beloved, Margarita Nikolaevna, did not forget him at all, and a prosperous life in her husband's mansion is not dear to her. On the day of the strange events with the barman and Poplavsky, she wakes up with the feeling that something is going to happen. For the first time during the separation, she had a dream about the master, and she went to go through the relics associated with him - this is his photographic portrait, dried rose petals, a passbook with the remnants of his winnings and burnt pages of the novel.

Walking around Moscow, Margarita sees the funeral of Berlioz. A small, red-haired citizen with a protruding fang sits down next to her and tells her about the head of the deceased stolen by someone, after which, calling her by name, invites her to visit "a very noble foreigner." Margarita wants to leave, but Azazello quotes lines from the master's novel after her and hints that by agreeing, she can find out about her lover. The woman agrees, and Azazello hands her some magic cream and gives her instructions.

Chapter 20

Having smeared with cream, Margarita becomes younger, prettier and acquires the ability to fly. “Forgive me and forget as soon as possible. I'm leaving you forever. Don't look for me, it's useless. I became a witch from the grief and calamity that struck me. I have to go. Farewell,” she writes to her husband. Her maid Natasha enters, sees her and learns about the magic cream. Azazello calls Margarita and says that it's time to fly out - and a revived floor brush bursts into the room. Having saddled her, Margarita, in front of Natasha and Nikolai Ivanovich, a neighbor from below, flies out the window.

Chapter 21

Margarita becomes invisible and, flying around Moscow at night, has fun with petty pranks, scaring people. But then she sees a luxurious house in which writers live, and among them is the critic Latunsky, who killed the master. Margarita enters his apartment through the window and arranges a pogrom there.

As she continues her flight, Natasha, riding a boar, catches up with her. It turns out that the housekeeper rubbed herself with the remnants of a magic cream and smeared her neighbor Nikolai Ivanovich with it, as a result of which she became a witch, and he became a boar. Having bathed in the night river, Margarita goes back to Moscow on a flying car served to her.

Chapter 22

In Moscow, Koroviev escorts Margarita to a "bad" apartment and talks about the annual ball of Satan, at which she will be queen, mentioning that royal blood flows in Margarita herself. In an incomprehensible way, ballrooms are placed inside the apartment, and Koroviev explains this by using the fifth dimension.

Woland lies in the bedroom, playing chess with the cat Behemoth, and Gella rubs his sore knee with ointment. Margarita replaces Gella, Woland asks the guest if she suffers from something: “Perhaps you have some kind of sadness that poisons your soul, melancholy?” , but Margarita answers in the negative. It is not long before midnight, and she is taken away to prepare for the ball.

Chapter 23

Margarita is bathed in blood and rose oil, put on her queen's regalia and led to the stairs to meet the guests - long dead, but for the sake of the ball criminals resurrected for one night: poisoners, panders, counterfeiters, murderers, traitors. Among them is a young woman named Frida, whose story Koroviev tells Margarita: “When she served in a cafe, the owner somehow called her to the pantry, and nine months later she gave birth to a boy, took him into the forest and put a handkerchief in his mouth, and then buried the boy in the ground. At the trial, she said that she had nothing to feed the child. Since then, for 30 years now, Frida has been brought the same handkerchief every morning.

The reception ends, and Margarita must fly around the halls and pay attention to the guests. Woland comes out, to whom Azazello offers Berlioz's head on a platter. Woland releases Berlioz into oblivion, and his skull turns into a bowl. This vessel is filled with the blood of Baron Meigel, shot dead by Azazello, a Moscow official, the only living guest at the ball, in which Woland figured out a spy. The cup is brought to Margarita, and she drinks. The ball ends, everything disappears, and in place of the huge hall there is a modest living room and an ajar door to Woland's bedroom.

Chapter 24

Margarita has more and more fears that there will be no reward for the presence of Satan at the ball, but the woman herself does not want to be reminded of her out of pride, and even Woland answers a direct question that she does not need anything. “Never ask for anything! Never and nothing, and especially for those who are stronger than you. They themselves will offer and give everything themselves! - says Woland, pleased with her, and offers to fulfill any desire of Margarita. However, instead of solving her problem, she demands that Frida stop serving a handkerchief. Woland says that the queen herself can do such a small thing, and his proposal remains in force - and then Margarita finally wants her "her lover, the master, to be returned to her this very second."

The master is in front of her. Woland, having heard about the novel about Pilate, becomes interested in it. The manuscript, which the master burned, turns out to be completely intact in Woland's hands - "manuscripts do not burn."
Margarita asks to return her and her lover to his basement, and that everything be as it was. The master is skeptical: others have been living in his apartment for a long time, he has no documents, they will look for him for escaping from the hospital. Woland solves all these problems, and it turns out that the master's living space was occupied by his "friend" Mogarych, who wrote a denunciation against him that the master keeps illegal literature.

Natasha, at the request of her and Margarita, is left as a witch. Neighbor Nikolai Ivanovich, who was returned to his appearance, requires a certificate for the police and his wife that he spent the night at the ball with Satan, and the cat immediately composes it for him. Administrator Varenukha appears and begs to be released from the vampires, because he is not bloodthirsty.

In parting, Woland promises the master that his work will still bring him surprises. The lovers are taken to their basement apartment. There the master falls asleep, and the happy Margarita rereads his novel.

Chapter 25

A thunderstorm is raging over Yershalaim. The head of the secret service, Aphranius, comes to the procurator and reports that the execution has taken place, there are no unrest in the city, and the mood is generally quite satisfactory. In addition, he talks about the last hours of Yeshua's life, quoting the words of Ga-Nozri that "among human vices, he considers cowardice to be one of the most important" .

Pilate orders Aphranius to urgently and secretly bury the bodies of all three executed and take care of the safety of Judas from Kiriath, whom, as he supposedly heard, “Ha-Notzri’s secret friends” are to be slaughtered that night. In fact, the procurator himself right now allegorically orders this murder to the head of the secret guard.

Chapter 26

The procurator understands that today he missed something very important and no orders will ever return it. He finds some consolation only in communication with his beloved dog Bunga.

Aphranius, meanwhile, visits a young woman named Niza. Soon she meets in the city with Judas from Kiriath, who is in love with her, who has just received payment from Kaifa for betraying Yeshua. She makes an appointment with the young man in a garden near Yershalaim. Instead of a girl, Judas is met there by three men, they kill him with a knife and take away a purse with thirty pieces of silver. One of these three - Aphranius - returns to the city, where the procurator, waiting for the report, fell asleep. In his dreams, Yeshua is alive and walks beside him along the lunar road, both of them are arguing with pleasure about necessary and important things, and the procurator understands that, indeed, there is no vice worse than cowardice - and it was precisely cowardice that he showed, being afraid to justify the philosopher-freethinker to the detriment of his career.

Aphranius says that Judas is dead, and a package with silver and a note "I return the damned money" was thrown to the high priest Kaifa. Pilate tells Aphranius to spread the word that Judas committed suicide. Further, the head of the secret service reports that the body of Yeshua was found not far from the place of execution with a certain Levi Matthew, who did not want to give it away, but after learning that Ha-Notsri would be buried, he reconciled.

Levi Matthew is brought to the procurator, who asks him to show the parchment with the words of Yeshua. Levi reproaches Pilate for the death of Ha-Nozri, to which he remarks that Yeshua himself did not blame anyone. The former tax collector warns that he is going to kill Judas, but the procurator informs him that the traitor is already dead and he, Pilate, did it.

Chapter 27

In Moscow, the investigation into the Woland case continues, and the police once again go to the “bad” apartment, where all ends lead. A talking cat with a primus stove is found there. He provokes a shootout, which, however, does without casualties. The voices of Woland, Koroviev and Azazello are heard, saying that it is time to leave Moscow - and the cat, apologizing, disappears, spilling burning gasoline from the stove. The apartment is on fire, and four silhouettes fly out of its window - three male and one female.

An individual in a checkered jacket and a fat man with a primus stove in his hands, who looks like a cat, come to a store that sells for currency. The fat man eats tangerines, herring and chocolate from the window, and Koroviev calls on the people to protest against the fact that scarce goods are sold to foreigners for foreign currency, and not to their own - for rubles. When the police appear, the partners hide, having previously set a fire, and move to Griboyedov's restaurant. Soon it will light up.

Chapter 29

Woland and Azazello are talking on the terrace of one of the Moscow buildings, looking at the city. Levi Matthew appears to them and conveys that “he” – meaning Yeshua – has read the master’s novel and asks Woland to give the author and his beloved a well-deserved peace. Woland tells Azazello "to go to them and arrange everything."

Chapter 30 It's time!

Azazello visits the master and Margarita in their basement. Before that, they are talking about the events of last night - the master is still trying to comprehend them and convince Margarita to leave him and not destroy herself with him, but she absolutely believes Woland.

Azazello sets fire to the apartment, and all three, sitting on black horses, are carried away into the sky.

On the way, the master says goodbye to Bezdomny, whom he calls a student, and bequeaths to him to write a continuation of the story about Pilate.

Chapter 31

Azazello, the master and Margarita are reunited with Woland, Koroviev and Behemoth. The master says goodbye to the city. “In the first moments, an aching sadness crept up to the heart, but very quickly it was replaced by a sweetish anxiety, a wandering gypsy excitement. […] His excitement turned, as it seemed to him, into a feeling of bitter resentment. But she was unstable, disappeared and for some reason was replaced by proud indifference, and it was a premonition of constant peace.

Chapter 32

Night comes, and in the light of the moon, horsemen flying across the sky change their appearance. Koroviev turns into a gloomy knight in purple armor, Azazello into a desert demon killer, Behemoth into a slender young page, "the best jester that ever existed in the world." Margarita does not see her transformation, but the master acquires a gray braid and spurs before her eyes. Woland explains that today is such a night when all scores are settled. In addition, he informs the master that Yeshua read his novel and noted that, unfortunately, it was not finished.

A man sitting in a chair and a dog next to him appear before the eyes of the riders. Pontius Pilate has had the same dream for two thousand years - a lunar road that he cannot walk on. "Free! Free! He is waiting for you!" - shouts the master, letting go of his hero and completing the novel, and Pilate finally leaves with his dog along the moonlit road to where Yeshua is waiting for him.

The master himself and his beloved are waiting, as promised, for peace. “Don’t you really want to walk with your girlfriend under the cherries that are beginning to bloom during the day, and listen to Schubert’s music in the evening? Wouldn't you like to write by candlelight with a quill pen? Don't you want, like Faust, to sit over a retort in the hope that you will be able to fashion a new homunculus? There, there. There is already a house and an old servant waiting for you, the candles are already burning, and soon they will go out, because you will immediately meet the dawn "- this is how Woland describes him. “Look, there is your eternal home ahead, which you were given as a reward. I can already see the Venetian window and climbing grapes, it rises to the very roof. I know that in the evening those whom you love will come to you, whom you are interested in and who will not alarm you. They will play for you, they will sing for you, you will see the light in the room when the candles are burning. You will fall asleep wearing your greasy and eternal cap, you will fall asleep with a smile on your lips. Sleep will strengthen you, you will reason wisely. And you won't be able to drive me away. I will take care of your sleep, ”Margarita picks up. The master himself feels that someone is letting him go free, just as he himself had just let Pilate go.

Epilogue

The investigation into the Woland case reached a dead end, and as a result, all the oddities in Moscow were explained by the intrigues of a gang of hypnotists. Varenukha stopped lying and being rude, Bengalsky abandoned the entertainer, preferring to live on savings, Rimsky refused the post of financial director of the Variety, and the enterprising Aloisy Mogarych took his place. Ivan Bezdomny left the hospital and became a professor of philosophy, and only on full moons he is disturbed by dreams about Pilate and Yeshua, the master and Margarita.

Conclusion

The novel The Master and Margarita was originally conceived by Bulgakov as a satire about the devil called The Black Magician or The Great Chancellor. But after six editions, one of which Bulgakov personally burned, the book turned out to be not so much satirical as philosophical, in which the devil, in the form of the mysterious black magician Woland, became only one of the characters. The motives of eternal love, mercy, the search for truth and the triumph of justice took the first place.

A brief retelling of The Master and Margarita chapter by chapter is enough only for an approximate understanding of the plot and the main ideas of the work - we recommend that you read the full text of the novel.

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Michael Bulgakov

Master and Margarita

Moscow 1984

The text is printed in the last lifetime edition (manuscripts are stored in the manuscript department of the State Library of the USSR named after V. I. Lenin), as well as with corrections and additions made under the dictation of the writer by his wife, E. S. Bulgakova.

PART ONE

…So who are you, finally?
I am part of that power
what you always want
evil and always doing good.

Goethe. "Faust"

Never talk to strangers

One day in the spring, at the hour of an unprecedentedly hot sunset, two citizens appeared in Moscow, at the Patriarch's Ponds. The first of them, dressed in a summer gray pair, was small, well-fed, bald, carried his decent hat with a pie in his hand, and on his well-shaven face were glasses of supernatural size in black horn-rimmed. The other, a broad-shouldered, reddish, shaggy young man with a checkered cap folded at the back of his head, was wearing a cowboy shirt, chewed white trousers, and black slippers.

The first was none other than Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz, chairman of the board of one of the largest Moscow literary associations, abbreviated as MASSOLIT, and editor of a thick art magazine, and his young companion, the poet Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, writing under the pseudonym Bezdomny.

Once in the shade of slightly green lindens, the writers first rushed to the colorfully painted booth with the inscription "Beer and water."

Yes, the first strangeness of this terrible May evening should be noted. Not only at the booth, but in the entire alley parallel to Malaya Bronnaya Street, there was not a single person. At that hour, when, it seemed, there was no strength to breathe, when the sun, having heated Moscow, was falling in a dry fog somewhere beyond the Garden Ring, no one came under the lindens, no one sat on the bench, the alley was empty.

"Give me the narzan," Berlioz asked.

“Narzan is gone,” the woman in the booth answered, and for some reason took offense.

“The beer will be delivered by evening,” the woman replied.

– What is there? Berlioz asked.

“Apricot, but warm,” the woman said.

- Come on, come on, come on, come on!

The apricot gave a rich yellow foam, and the air smelled of a barbershop. Having drunk, the writers immediately began to hiccup, paid off and sat down on a bench facing the pond and with their backs to Bronnaya.

Here a second oddity happened, concerning Berlioz alone. He suddenly stopped hiccuping, his heart thumped and fell somewhere for a moment, then returned, but with a blunt needle stuck in it. In addition, Berlioz was seized by an unreasonable, but such a strong fear that he wanted to immediately run away from the Patriarchs without looking back. Berlioz looked around sadly, not understanding what had frightened him. He turned pale, wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, thought: “What is the matter with me? This has never happened... my heart is beating... I'm overtired. Perhaps it's time to throw everything to hell and to Kislovodsk ... "

And then the sultry air thickened in front of him, and a transparent citizen of a most strange appearance was woven from this air. On a small head there is a jockey cap, a checkered, short, airy jacket ... A citizen of a sazhen's height, but narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and a physiognomy, please note, mocking.

Berlioz's life developed in such a way that he was not accustomed to unusual phenomena. Even more pale, he goggled his eyes and thought in dismay: “This cannot be! ..”

But, alas, it was, and a long, through which one can see, a citizen, without touching the ground, swayed in front of him both to the left and to the right.

Here terror seized Berlioz to such an extent that he closed his eyes. And when he opened them, he saw that everything was over, the haze dissolved, the checkered one disappeared, and at the same time a blunt needle jumped out of the heart.

- Damn you! - the editor exclaimed, - you know, Ivan, I just now almost had a stroke from the heat! There was even something like a hallucination,” he tried to grin, but anxiety still jumped in his eyes, and his hands were trembling.

However, he gradually calmed down, fanned himself with a handkerchief and, saying quite cheerfully: “Well, so ...” - he began his speech, interrupted by drinking apricot.

This speech, as they later learned, was about Jesus Christ. 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, the editor was not at all satisfied with it. Bezdomny outlined the main character of his poem, that is, Jesus, with very black colors, and yet, according to the editor, the whole poem had to be written anew. And now the editor was giving the poet a kind of lecture about Jesus, in order to emphasize the poet's basic mistake. It is difficult to say what exactly let Ivan Nikolaevich down - whether the pictorial power of his talent or complete ignorance of the issue on which he was going to write - but Jesus in his image turned out to be well, just like a living, although not attracting character. Berlioz wanted to prove to the poet that the main thing was not what Jesus was like, whether he was good or bad, but that this Jesus, as a person, did not exist at all in the world and that all the stories about him were mere inventions, the most common myth.

It should be noted that the editor was a well-read man and very skillfully pointed in his speech to ancient historians, for example, the famous Philo of Alexandria, the brilliantly educated Josephus Flavius, who never mentioned the existence of Jesus in a word. Displaying solid erudition, Mikhail Alexandrovich informed the poet, among other things, that that place in the 15th book, in chapter 44 of the famous Tacitus Annals, which speaks of the execution of Jesus, is nothing more than a later fake insert.

The poet, for whom everything reported by the editor was news, listened attentively to Mikhail Alexandrovich, fixing his lively green eyes on him, and only occasionally hiccupped, cursing apricot water in a whisper.

- There is not a single Eastern religion, - said Berlioz, - in which, as a rule, an immaculate maiden would not give birth to a god. And Christians, without inventing anything new, created their own Jesus in the same way, who in fact never lived. This is where the main focus should be...

The high tenor of Berlioz resounded in the desert alley, and as Mikhail Alexandrovich climbed into the jungle, into which he could climb without the risk of breaking his neck, only a very educated person, the poet learned more and more interesting and useful things about the Egyptian Osiris , the blessed god and son of Heaven and Earth, and about the Phoenician god Tammuz, and about Marduk, and even about the less well-known formidable god Vitsliputsli, who was once highly revered by the Aztecs in Mexico.

In the work - two storylines, each of which develops independently. The action of the first takes place in Moscow during several May days (days of the spring full moon) in the 30s. XX century, the action of the second also takes place in May, but in the city of Yershalaim (Jerusalem) almost two thousand years ago - at the very beginning of a new era. The novel is structured in such a way that the chapters of the main storyline are interspersed with chapters that make up the second storyline, and these inserted chapters are either chapters from the master’s novel, or an eyewitness account of Woland’s events.

On one of the hot days in May, a certain Woland appears in Moscow, posing as a specialist in black magic, but in fact he is Satan. He is accompanied by a strange retinue: the pretty vampire witch Gella, the cheeky type of Koroviev, also known as Fagot, the gloomy and sinister Azazello and the cheerful fat Behemoth, who for the most part appears before the reader in the guise of a black cat of incredible size.

The first to meet Woland at Patriarch's Ponds is the editor of a thick art magazine, Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, and the poet Ivan Bezdomny, who wrote an anti-religious poem about Jesus Christ. Woland intervenes in their conversation, arguing that Christ really existed. As proof that there is something beyond human control, Woland predicts that Berlioz will be beheaded by a Russian Komsomol girl. In front of the shocked Ivan, Berlioz immediately falls under a tram driven by a Komsomol girl, and cuts off his head. Ivan unsuccessfully tries to pursue Woland, and then, having appeared in Massolit (Moscow Literary Association), he recounts the sequence of events so intricately that he is taken to Professor Stravinsky's suburban psychiatric clinic, where he meets the protagonist of the novel, the master.

Woland, having appeared in apartment No. 50 of building 302-bis on Sadovaya Street, which the late Berlioz occupied with the director of the Variety Theater Stepan Likhodeev, and finding the latter in a state of severe hangover, presents him with a contract signed by him, Likhodeev, for Woland's performance in the theater, and then escorts him out of the apartment, and Styopa inexplicably ends up in Yalta.

Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, chairman of the housing association of house No. 302-bis, comes to apartment No. 50 and finds Koroviev there, who asks to rent this apartment to Woland, since Berlioz died, and Likhodeev is in Yalta. Nikanor Ivanovich, after much persuasion, agrees and receives from Koroviev, in addition to the payment stipulated by the contract, 400 rubles, which he hides in the ventilation. On the same day, they come to Nikanor Ivanovich with an arrest warrant for possession of currency, since these rubles have turned into dollars. The stunned Nikanor Ivanovich ends up in the same clinic of Professor Stravinsky.

At this time, the financial director of the Variety Rimsky and the administrator Varenukha unsuccessfully try to find the disappeared Likhodeev by phone and are perplexed, receiving telegrams from Yalta one after another with a request to send money and confirm his identity, since he was abandoned in Yalta by the hypnotist Woland. Deciding that this is Likhodeev's stupid joke, Rimsky, having collected telegrams, sends Varenukh to take them "where necessary", but Varenukha fails to do this: Azazello and the cat Behemoth, grabbing him by the arms, deliver Varenukh to apartment No. 50, and from a kiss naked witch Gella Varenukha faints.

In the evening, a performance begins on the stage of the Variety Theater with the participation of the great magician Woland and his retinue. A bassoon with a shot from a pistol causes a rain of money in the theater, and the whole hall catches the falling gold coins. Then a “ladies' shop” opens on the stage, where any woman from among those sitting in the hall can dress from head to toe for free. Immediately, a queue forms in the store, but at the end of the performance, the gold pieces turn into pieces of paper, and everything purchased in the "ladies' store" disappears without a trace, forcing gullible women to rush through the streets in their underwear.

After the performance, Rimsky lingers in his office, and Varenukh, turned by the kiss of Gella into a vampire, appears to him. Seeing that he does not cast a shadow, Rimsky is mortally frightened and tries to escape, but the vampire Gella comes to the aid of Varenukha. With a hand covered with cadaveric stains, she tries to open the window bolt, and Varenukha is on guard at the door. Meanwhile, morning comes, the first cock crow is heard, and the vampires disappear. Without wasting a minute, instantly gray-haired Rimsky rushes to the station in a taxi and leaves for Leningrad by courier train.

Meanwhile, Ivan Bezdomny, having met the Master, tells him about how he met with a strange foreigner who killed Misha Berlioz. The master explains to Ivan that he met with Satan at the Patriarchs, and tells Ivan about himself. His beloved Margarita called him a master. Being a historian by education, he worked in one of the museums, when he suddenly won a huge sum - one hundred thousand rubles. He left his job at the museum, rented two rooms in the basement of a small house in one of the Arbat lanes and began to write a novel about Pontius Pilate. The novel was already almost finished when he accidentally met Margarita on the street, and love struck them both instantly. Margarita was married to a worthy man, lived with him in a mansion on the Arbat, but did not love him. Every day she came to the master. The romance was nearing its end, and they were happy. Finally, the novel was completed, and the master took it to the magazine, but they refused to print it there. Nevertheless, an excerpt from the novel was published, and soon several devastating articles about the novel appeared in the newspapers, signed by critics Ariman, Latunsky and Lavrovich. And then the master felt that he was ill. One night he threw the novel into the oven, but the alarmed Margarita ran up and snatched the last stack of sheets from the fire. She left, taking the manuscript with her in order to worthily say goodbye to her husband and return to her beloved forever in the morning, but a quarter of an hour after she left, they knocked on his window - telling Ivan his story, at this point the Master lowers his voice to a whisper, - and now a few months later, on a winter night, having come to his home, he found his rooms occupied and went to a new country clinic, where he has been living for the fourth month, without a name and surname, just a patient from room No. 118.

This morning Margarita wakes up with the feeling that something is about to happen. Wiping her tears, she sorts through the sheets of the burnt manuscript, looks at the photograph of the master, and then goes for a walk in the Alexander Garden. Here Azazello sits next to her and informs her that a certain noble foreigner invites her to visit. Margarita accepts the invitation because she hopes to learn at least something about the Master. In the evening of the same day, Margarita, having stripped naked, rubs her body with the cream that Azazello gave her, becomes invisible and flies out the window. Flying past the writer's house, Margarita arranges a rout in the apartment of the critic Latunsky, who, in her opinion, killed the master. Then Margarita meets Azazello and brings her to apartment number 50, where she meets Woland and the rest of his retinue. Woland asks Margarita to be the queen at his ball. As a reward, he promises to grant her wish.

At midnight, the full moon spring ball begins - the great ball of Satan, to which scammers, executioners, molesters, murderers - criminals of all times and peoples are invited; men are in tailcoats, women are naked. For several hours, naked Margarita greets guests, offering her hand and knee for a kiss. Finally, the ball is over, and Woland asks Margarita what she wants as a reward for being the hostess of the ball. And Margarita asks to immediately return the master to her. Immediately the master appears in a hospital gown, and Margarita, after conferring with him, asks Woland to return them to a small house on the Arbat, where they were happy.

Meanwhile, one Moscow institution begins to take an interest in the strange events taking place in the city, and they all line up in a logically clear whole: the mysterious foreigner Ivan Bezdomny, and the black magic session at the Variety, and Nikanor Ivanovich's dollars, and the disappearance of Rimsky and Likhodeev. It becomes clear that all this is the work of the same gang, led by a mysterious magician, and all traces of this gang lead to apartment number 50.

Let us now turn to the second storyline of the novel. In the palace of Herod the Great, the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, interrogates the arrested Yeshua Ha-Nozri, who was sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin for insulting the authority of Caesar, and this sentence is sent to Pilate for approval. Interrogating the prisoner, Pilate realizes that before him is not a robber who incited the people to disobedience, but a wandering philosopher who preaches the kingdom of truth and justice. However, the Roman procurator cannot release the man who is accused of a crime against Caesar, and approves the death sentence. Then he turns to the Jewish high priest Kaifa, who, in honor of the upcoming Easter holiday, can release one of the four criminals sentenced to death; Pilate asks that it be Ha-Nozri. However, Kaifa refuses him and releases the robber Bar-Rabban. On the top of Bald Mountain there are three crosses on which the condemned are crucified. After the crowd of onlookers who accompanied the procession to the place of execution returned to the city, only Yeshua's disciple Levi Matvey, a former tax collector, remains on Bald Mountain. The executioner stabs the exhausted convicts, and a sudden downpour falls on the mountain.

The procurator summons Aphranius, the head of his secret service, and instructs him to kill Judas from Kiriath, who received money from the Sanhedrin for allowing Yeshua Ha-Nozri to be arrested in his house. Soon, a young woman named Niza allegedly accidentally meets Judas in the city and appoints him a date outside the city in the Garden of Gethsemane, where unknown people attack him, stab him with a knife and take away a purse of money. After some time, Aphranius reports to Pilate that Judas was stabbed to death, and a bag of money - thirty tetradrachms - was thrown into the high priest's house.

Levi Matthew is brought to Pilate, who shows the procurator a parchment with the sermons of Ha-Nozri recorded by him. “The gravest vice is cowardice,” reads the procurator.

But back to Moscow. At sunset, on the terrace of one of the Moscow buildings, they say goodbye to the city of Woland and his retinue. Suddenly, Matvey Levi appears, who offers Woland to take the master to himself and reward him with peace. “But why don’t you take him to yourself, into the world?” Woland asks. “He did not deserve the light, he deserved peace,” Levi Matvey answers. After some time, Azazello appears in the house to Margarita and the master and brings a bottle of wine - a gift from Woland. After drinking wine, the master and Margarita fall unconscious; at the same moment, turmoil begins in the house of sorrow: the patient from room No. 118 has died; and at the same moment, in a mansion on the Arbat, a young woman suddenly turns pale, clutching her heart, and falls to the floor.

Magic black horses carry away Woland, his retinue, Margarita and the Master. “Your novel has been read,” Woland says to the Master, “and I would like to show you your hero. For about two thousand years he has been sitting on this site and dreaming of a lunar road and wants to walk along it and talk with a wandering philosopher. You can now end the novel with one sentence. "Free! He is waiting for you!" - the master shouts, and over the black abyss, an immense city with a garden lights up, to which the lunar road stretches, and the procurator runs swiftly along this road.

"Farewell!" - shouts Woland; Margarita and the master walk across the bridge over the stream, and Margarita says: “Here is your eternal home, in the evening those you love will come to you, and at night I will take care of your sleep.”

And in Moscow, after Woland left her, the investigation into the case of a criminal gang continues for a long time, but the measures taken to capture her do not give results. Experienced psychiatrists come to the conclusion that the members of the gang were hypnotists of unprecedented power. Several years pass, the events of those May days begin to be forgotten, and only Professor Ivan Nikolayevich Ponyrev, the former poet Bezdomny, every year, as soon as the spring festive full moon arrives, appears at the Patriarch's Ponds and sits down on the same bench where he first met Woland, and then, having walked along the Arbat, he returns home and sees the same dream in which Margarita, and the master, and Yeshua Ha-Nozri, and the cruel fifth procurator of Judea, horseman Pontius Pilate, come to him.

retold