Presentation for the novel by M.A. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita” presentation for a literature lesson (grade 11) on the topic

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Lesson 55 “THE MASTER AND MARGARITA” – AN APOLOGY OF CREATIVITY AND IDEAL LOVE IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF DESPAIR AND DARKNESS

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Lesson 55 “The Master and Margarita” - an apology for creativity and ideal love in an atmosphere of despair and darkness

Goals:

determine the author’s techniques for revealing the theme of creativity and the theme of love; trace the evolution of the characters in the novel; develop skills in characterizing a literary hero.

During the classes

Bulgakov’s novel is truly innovative for Russian literature, and therefore not easy to get your hands on...

M. Kreps

I. Introductory conversation.

– Tell me how you understand the epigraph to the lesson. What was the writer's innovation?

– Researcher B. Sokolov Fr. Prove this with examples.

It is also necessary to note the variety of themes of the work. Let's continue our acquaintance with the originality of Bulgakov's novel, consider how the author managed to reveal the themes of creativity and ideal love.

II. The fate of an artist in a world in which talents perish.

Work with text.

1. Conversation.

In Bulgakov's novel there is a hero who is not named. He himself and those around him call him Master. I want to write this word with a capital letter, because the power of this person’s talent is extraordinary. It appeared in the novel about Pontius Pilate and Yeshua. So who is he, why doesn’t he say his name? How did his fate turn out in the world into which he comes with his novel?

– In what episode does the Master first appear?

The poet Ivan Bezdomny, having witnessed the death of Berlioz, pursues Satan and his retinue, goes through various misadventures and ends up in a psychiatric clinic, which in the novel is called the “house of sorrow.” Here he meets the Master.

– Read the description of the appearance of the man whom Bezdomny saw through the balcony door of the hospital.

“From the balcony, a shaved, dark-haired man with a sharp nose, anxious eyes and a tuft of hair hanging over his forehead, about thirty-eight years old, cautiously looked into the room.”

– How can you explain this person’s behavior? When Ivan asked why, if he had the keys, he couldn’t “escape” from here, the guest replied that he “had nowhere to escape.” In what literary work and in what connection has this phrase already appeared?

Let us recall the phrase from Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”: “there is nowhere to go.” Let's establish literary associations. You can ask the student to prepare an answer to this question in advance based on Dostoevsky’s text.

– The guest will simply call himself Master. Rejecting the word “writer” used by Ivan and shaking his fist at him. Why?

– Why will Ivan Bezdomny earn the Master’s trust? Indeed, a degree of trust will be established between them that will help everyone realize something in themselves. The master will find confirmation of his guesses in this, and for Ivan this meeting will become the starting point of a new life.

2. Individual message (assigned: to reconstruct the Master’s past from the text).

3. Conversation.

The Master's life was filled with meaning when he began work on a book about Pontius Pilate. The novel was completed: “And I went out into life, holding it in my hands, and then my life ended.”

–

What do you think this phrase means? What will happen to the Master?

The novel was not accepted for publication; everyone who read it: the editor, members of the editorial board, critics - attacked the Master, responded with devastating articles in the newspapers, the critic Latunsky was especially furious.

Reality broke the Master. During his bitter walks with the novel through the editorial offices, he learned that side of life that was hitherto unknown to him.

And as a result, he burns the novel: “The ashes at times overpowered me, choked the flames, but I fought with them, and the novel, stubbornly resisting, still died.” The Master considers his only salvation to be a stay in Stravinsky’s clinic: “...I can’t remember my novel without trembling.”

The specially dedicated chapters of Bulgakov’s book help expand our understanding of the world into which the author of the novel about Pilate was forced to enter.

4. Work with the text of the 5th chapter “There was an affair in Griboedov.”

– What do MASSOLIT members do?

They dream of dachas (“there are only twenty-two dachas, and there are three thousand of us in MASSOLIT”), of sabbaticals (everything is calculated: up to two weeks for a short story, up to one year for a novel). They dream of eating tasty and cheap food.

Let's pay attention to the telling names of the writers: Dvubratsky, Bogokhulsky, Sladky and, finally, the “merchant orphan Nastasya Lukinishna Nepremenova”, who took the pseudonym “Navigator Georges”!

Among them is the young poet Bezdomny; remember that it was he who was reprimanded by Berlioz for failing to write, as required, the anti-religious poem ordered to him.

– How does this hero appear to readers? Describe this literary hero.

Ivan is the only hero of the novel who, during his lifetime, tries to realize the chance presented to him to change. He is young and talented: “It’s hard to say what exactly let Ivan Nikolaevich down - whether it was the visual power of his talent or complete unfamiliarity with the issue on which he was going to write - but Jesus in his portrayal turned out to be completely lifelike, although not attractive character".

But he can become an artist only if he is introduced to world culture, otherwise from his pen paintings will come out, although bright, but dictated by Berlioz.

The homeless man was the only one who tried to fight Woland, thinking that Moscow needed protection from him. This leads him to a madhouse. Forced inaction in the clinic leads the poet to the first attempt in his life to think for himself. A creative attitude towards life is awakened in him:

“What, comrades, are we talking about! - the new Ivan objected to the old, former Ivan. “Even a child can understand that this is something unclean.” He is an extraordinary and mysterious person to the fullest. But this is the most interesting thing! The man was personally acquainted with Pontius Pilate, what more interesting do you want? And instead of raising the stupidest fuss about the Patriarchs, wouldn’t it be smarter to politely ask about what happened next with Pilate and this arrested Ga-Nozri?”

Having left this world, the Master left his student in it. Homeless - Ponyrev left poetry and became an employee of the Institute of History and Philosophy. The rebirth of the hero is accompanied by a change in his surname.

Homeless –

this surname spoke of the restlessness of the soul, the lack of one’s own view of life, and ignorance. The meeting with the devil, being in the “house of sorrow”, and meeting the Master reborn this man. It is he who can now, albeit in a dream, see the scene of Pilate’s final explanation with Yeshua. It is he who can carry the word of truth further into the world.

5. Work in groups (the task is given in advance).

1st group.

– Re-read the dialogues between Ivan Bezdomny and the Master at Stravinsky’s clinic, as well as a fragment of the epilogue dedicated to Professor Ponyrev.

– Why is Woland friendly towards Ivan Bezdomny, although in a dispute with him Ivan behaves even more aggressively than Berlioz, denies the existence of God and the justice of biblical truths even more vehemently?

– What illness do you think Ivan Bezdomny is curing from? Can he be considered a student of the Master?

2nd group.

“The forces of hell generally play a somewhat unusual role for them in The Master and Margarita. They do not so much lead good and decent people astray from the path of the righteous, but bring them to light and, moreover, punish already established, or even inveterate, sinners, but They choose punishment measures in a very unique way, it seems, at the author’s instigation.”

V. G. Boborykin. Michael Bulgakov. 1991

– What are the reasons for such a severe punishment for Berlioz? Use the text of the novel for evidence.

– Is it really “at the author’s instigation” that Woland treats the chairman of MASSOLIT so harshly?

III. “Ideal love” in Bulgakov’s novel.

With the arrival of Margarita, the novel, which until then had resembled a ship in the depths of a storm, cut through the transverse wave, straightened the masts, set sails to the oncoming wind and rushed forward towards the goal - fortunately, it was outlined, or rather, it opened - like a star in a break in the clouds.

A guiding landmark that you can rely on, like the hand of a reliable guide.

A. Z. Vulis

1. The teacher's word.

Probably no one doubts that one of the main themes of the novel is the theme of “love and mercy”, “love between a man and a woman”, “true love”. No one doubts that the Master and Margarita really love each other and that for the author this is “true love.” But even an inexperienced reader will notice that the line of the Master and Margarita is only one of the love conflicts of the novel.

In addition to it, there are lines Judas - Nisa; Master and his wife; Margarita and her husband; Sempleyarov – his wife and relative; Prokhor Petrovich and his secretary; the stories of Likhodeev and Berlioz with their wives, Natasha - Nikolai Ivanovich... Is it by chance that there are so many hints of love conflicts in the novel?

The underestimation of the importance of the theme of love is connected, not least of all, with the “tired” word “love” in our language: it is used to denote selfishness, sexual relations - and spiritual feelings, patriotism and religiosity (love of God). Apparently, what is common to all manifestations of love is the desire for goodness, joy, pleasure - for oneself or for another. An analysis of the novel convinces that Bulgakov makes the main criterion for identifying good and evil in a person his ability (inability) to love. The novel builds a clear hierarchy of this ability: the level to which a person was able to rise determines his fate after death.

Self-love only increases evil in the world, “spilling” self-interest, lust and vulgarity into it. There are many examples of such relationships between people in the novel: from the naively pleasure-seeking Judas and the fanatical Caiaphas to Moscow citizens - the management of the variety show, members of MASSOLIT. But in these relationships there is no real feeling: men love neither their wives nor their mistresses, and the mistresses betray their lovers at the first danger (Ida Gerkulanovna Vors or Sempleyarov’s distant relative).

The consequence of selfishness is fear for oneself. It becomes clear why Yeshua speaks of cowardice as “one of the terrible vices,” and the repentant Pilate as “the most terrible vice.” Loving your neighbor is not a merit; it is the natural state of man. To love another means to forget about yourself.

But in the Moscow world we will also find glimpses of love, higher than selfish: neither the wife of Nikanor Ivanovich Bosy, nor the mistress of Prokhor Petrovich (the talking suit), Anna Richardovna, refuses their chosen ones who find themselves in a terrible situation: a feeling of compassion, a desire to help guide them words and actions. No matter how ugly this world is, “mercy sometimes knocks” on human hearts, although mostly on women’s.

Against the background of the mentioned collisions, the love of the master and Margarita not only looks like an exception to the rule, but also gives rise to anxiety in the reader, because the heroes are forced to confront a world that has forgotten about love.

2. Working with text.

– What is behind the author’s definitions of “true, faithful, eternal” love?

As a result of working with the text, the diagram is filled in:

“She was carrying disgusting, disturbing yellow flowers in her hands. The devil knows what their names are, but for some reason they are the first to appear in Moscow. And these flowers stood out very clearly on her black spring coat.” Anyone who has read the novel remembers these words of the Master who appeared for the first time, who tells Ivan Bezdomny about his meeting with his beloved.

– What did this meeting bring?

This meeting brought with it not only the happiness of love, but (which the lovers do not realize) also the most serious trials. The author warns the reader about this: yellow alarming flowers in Margarita’s hands, the combination of black and yellow (a black and yellow thundercloud covers Yershalaim after the execution of Yeshua), the image of love-killer: “Love jumped out in front of us, like a killer jumps out of the ground in lane, and amazed us both! That’s how lightning strikes, that’s how a Finnish knife strikes!” These comparisons contain the suddenness of the feeling, its strength, and its danger. From this moment on, a person is tested by his ability to love, by his ability to renounce himself for the sake of his beloved.

3. Checking homework.

analysis of the episode “Satan’s Great Ball.”

– What episode at Woland’s ball confirmed this ascent up the ladder of great love for people?

At Woland's ball, Margarita rises to a higher level, sacrificing her love for the peace of Frida, a complete stranger to her.

Margarita, who has undergone a terrible test, is given a specific condition: “Allow me, Queen, to give you one last piece of advice. Among the guests there will be different, oh, very different, but no one, Queen Margot, will have any advantage! If you don’t like someone... I understand that you, of course, won’t express it on your face... No, no, you can’t think about it! He will notice. He will notice at the same moment. You need to love him, love him, queen. The hostess of the ball will be rewarded a hundredfold for this!”

A condition that is practically impossible for an ordinary person to fulfill. But Margarita, if she did not love everyone, then, in any case, did not express either contempt or disgust anywhere. Moreover, the feeling of compassion for Frida turned out to be so strong that Margarita is ready to sacrifice her happiness for the sake of freeing Frida from the pangs of conscience.

Introducing Margarita to the reader, Bulgakov emphasizes her unusualness, her difference from Moscow citizens. Everyone remembers the description of the heroine in the Epilogue, in Ivan Ponyrev’s dream.

Student (reads by heart)

. “The moonlight boils, a lunar river begins to gush out of it and spills in all directions. The moon rules and plays, the moon dances and plays pranks. Then a woman of exorbitant beauty appears in the stream and leads a man with a beard to Ivan by the hand... She leans towards Ivan and kisses his forehead, and Ivan reaches out to her and peers into her eyes, but she retreats, retreats and leaves with her satellite to the moon..."

Teacher. Margarita is also unusual in the form of a witch: her hair turns black, her eyes turn green - but her body suddenly begins to emit light; No wonder the shocked Natasha exclaims: “Margarita Nikolaevna! After all, your skin glows!.. Satin! Glows!”

The heroine’s “lunar” features are not accidental. In the history of world culture, in mythology and religions, the moon is associated with the “cosmic” feminine principle, with the world secret. “Lunar” motifs are associated with familiarization with eternity, with immersion in the feminine, “maternal” element of the Cosmos, with the idea of ​​​​the eternal path - it is no coincidence that Margarita, leaving with the Master “to the moon”, kisses the remaining Ponyrev-Bezdomny on the forehead with a maternal kiss - as if blessing before difficult trials.

Even in Margarita the witch there remains a human element. The enraged Margarita, who caused a pogrom in the House of Dramlit, is pacified by the crying of a child, and, having uttered the word “evil” in the “fairy tale,” she will no longer harm anyone.

The permissiveness of Satan's prom queen did not completely displace ethical standards from her consciousness, freedom did not kill love. And Woland, faithful to his promise to reward the queen of the ball, fulfills her wish. This is how Margarita defends her right not to be separated from the Master.

The tormented heroine eventually finds peace, acquiring her true appearance: “Even in the approaching stormy twilight one could see how her temporary witch’s squint and the cruelty and violence of her features disappeared. The deceased’s face brightened and finally softened, and her grin became not predatory, but simply a feminine, suffering grin.”

The truly immortal force that reigns in the world of Bulgakov’s “sunset” novel and conquers the darkness of infinity turns out to be the “moonlight” of female love.

IV. Lesson summary.

The last pages of Bulgakov's novel have been read. What impressions did you get from this work? Write down your reasoning in miniature “Moral Lessons of Bulgakov.”

Homework.

Write an essay on the chosen topic.

1. “I want to tell you about the book” (based on Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”).

2. Reflections on goodness and beauty. (Based on literary material or life impressions.)

3. The problem of moral choice in the novel “The Master and Margarita”.

4. How are mercy, forgiveness and justice related in M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”?

5. The problem of loneliness in M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.”

6. Analysis of a chapter (at the student’s choice) of Bulgakov’s novel.

To analyze the resulting student work, you can also offer a single sample essay as a handout.

Analysis of Chapter 2 of M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”.

All people are kind.

M. Bulgakov

Russian satirical prose of the 30s of the twentieth century, despite the fact that the dominant ideology demanded that writers primarily depict the heroes of industrialization and collectivization, continued its development in the spirit of the great traditions of Fonvizin, Gogol, Griboyedov, Saltykov-Shchedrin.

However, the authorities have always been extremely hostile to any ridicule of themselves. Therefore, satirical prose was not popular in the 30s, the works of satirical writers were declared untimely, harmful, and more often simply did not reach the reader, such as the works of M. Bulgakov “Heart of a Dog”, “Fatal Eggs”, “The Master and Margarita” "

Bulgakov's novel was revealed to the general public only in 1966–1967, after the death of the writer. It was a huge literary event of that time, but even now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the novel does not look archaic and amazes with its artistic novelty.

It is interesting that the love story of the Master and Margarita, pictures of Moscow life are accompanied by tragic episodes that reproduce the gospel plot, but are presented as a novel by the main character. This construction of a novel within a novel does not at all destroy the unity and integrity of the work.

Almost the entire Master's novel is reproduced, but each time Bulgakov finds a special way of incorporating this story into the fabric of the narrative.

The second chapter of “Pontius Pilate” becomes a kind of prologue to the Master’s novel. It is in it that we first learn about the interrogation of Yeshua and the sentence approved by Pilate from Woland, and his story is given (strange as it may be to hear this from the Devil) as evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ.

Bulgakov presents his interpretation of the Gospel. He deliberately changes the life story of the gospel hero. It is also important that his Yeshua is not the Son of God at all, but the son of man. And you can’t call him the only main character, if you pay due attention to the title of the second chapter of the novel.

So, in the center there are two images: Yeshua Ha-Nozri and Pontius Pilate.

The social structure of Yershalaim society, in which these heroes are located, gives rise to evil, for it is based on violence, the suppression of human freedom and goodness. To survive in such a society, a person must be evil and cruel (Pilate chooses this path).

In this case, only a beggar vagabond, unconnected with anyone or anything, can feel free (Yeshua is an orphan who has neither home nor family).

A. Zerkalov, analyzing the image of Yeshua, draws quite convincing conclusions about the essence of this character: “Ha-Nozri is the personification of the Sermon on the Mount, a maximalist idea of ​​good, embodied in behavior... The truth is that goodness is spilled throughout the world... And then the mechanism of power will disappear and violence."

For Yeshua, all people are initially good by nature - “there are no evil people in the world.” Oddly enough, the philosopher’s statement that Mark the Ratboy “became cruel and callous” only “since good people disfigured him” is not at all paradoxical. In this reasoning, the author’s position is felt: the social structure of society disfigures people, displacing their good nature.

Great faith in people and goodness allows Yeshua to stand up quite bravely during interrogation. He delivers his speech, “smiling brightly,” confidently speaks about the power of words, about the transformation of even such a cruel person as Mark the Ratboy: “If you could talk to him,” the prisoner suddenly said dreamily, “I’m sure that he would change dramatically.” " In the image of Yeshua, we see a fighter against the power of violence, dreaming of a time when “man will move into the kingdom of truth and justice, where no power will be needed at all.”

Pontius Pilate argues with the wandering philosopher, whose attitude towards people is contemptuous and disgusting. This is the complete opposite of Ha-Nozri: for him it is obvious that all people are evil, to be kind in this world, in his opinion, is dangerous and pointless.

However, A. Zerkalov, comparing the images of Pilate and Yeshua, finds something in common between the heroes: “... both... are lonely, extremely smart, not completely healthy mentally, firm in their convictions.”

And yet, according to the critic, “... European literature, perhaps, does not know such a complete ethical contrast.” If Ha-Nozri, in the face of death during interrogation, is quite calm, then Pilate is presented by the author in such a way that sometimes one feels sorry for him: “The swollen eyelid lifted, the eye, covered with a haze of suffering, stared at the arrested man.”

As in the image of Yeshua, an important detail in the portrait of the procurator is the smile, but when describing it, the author selects the epithet “terrible” as the antithesis of the “bright” smile of the arrested person.

The wandering philosopher sentenced to execution turns out to be freer than Pilate, who is in power. The procurator is completely dependent on society, his position in the “hated city,” therefore he loses the chance, as if given by fate on the eve of Easter, to save the life of Yeshua, of whose innocence he himself was confident, and “affirms the death sentence.”

In addition to the images of the main characters of the second chapter, symbolic images are of great interest. So the sun does not bring good warmth, but mercilessly scorches both Pilate and Ga-Nozri, heating up the air, heating up the situation in which the characters find themselves. Therefore, Yeshua “stays away from the sun”, and the procurator also suffers from him: “... the sun burned his eyes,” “... then it seemed to him that the sun, ringing, burst above him and filled his ears with fire.” But maybe Pilate is tormented not by the cruel sun, but by his awakened conscience? “The procurator squinted not because the sun was burning his eyes, no! For some reason, he didn’t want to see a group of convicts who... are being elevated to a platform.”

The image of a swallow, appearing several times during interrogation, is also symbolic. Whose guardian angel is this? “The wings of a swallow snorted just above the head of the hegemon... The procurator raised his eyes to the prisoner and saw that a column of dust had caught fire near him.” But neither Yeshua was saved from execution, nor the procurator from his cowardly act. “Be silent! - Pilate cried and with a wild gaze followed the swallow, which again fluttered onto the balcony.”

This is how the death sentence was approved at the end of one of the “Yershalaim” chapters of Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”.

In appearance, the chapters about Yeshua and Pontius Pilate, which interrupt the modern narrative three times, live separately. However, reading deeper into the pages of the novel, we understand that, following the duel between the procurator and the vagabond philosopher and then becoming witnesses to the terrible execution, we find ourselves in the circle of the same problems of good and evil, the powerlessness and power of the human will, which occupied the author in the story about Woland's adventures, in the "Moscow" chapters.

Parallels with the Gospel emphasize that the modern world has been “turned inside out,” that ethical ideals, norms, and culture that have developed over two millennia of the Christian era have been devalued and lost.

Reading Bulgakov’s book, we understand that the writer has no illusions about modern humanity, but there is hope that after the destruction of the temple of power and violence, a “new building” will be built, about which Woland says: “Well, we can only wish that it was better than before.”

For us, readers of the 21st century, Bulgakov’s work has become a textbook of life with instructions and warnings from the artist, who, before others, felt the monstrous nature of the totalitarian system and mercilessly debunked it in his satirical novel.

11th grade, lesson plans, Russian literature

Presentation on the topic: “M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita".

M.A. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”.

History of creation, plot, composition, characters.

About the novel

Bulgakov's novel is a multi-dimensional and multi-layered work. It combines mysticism and satire, fantasy and realism, light irony and philosophy.

One of the main philosophical problems of the novel is the problem of the relationship between good and evil. This topic has always occupied a leading place in Russian philosophy and literature.

The history of the novel

First edition

Bulgakov dated the start of work on “The Master and Margarita” in different manuscripts as either 1928 or 1929. The first edition of “The Master and Margarita” was destroyed by the author on March 18, 1930, after receiving news of the ban on the play “The Cabal of the Holy One.” Bulgakov reported this in a letter to the government: “And I personally, with my own hands, threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove...”. Work on The Master and Margarita resumed in 1931.

The history of the novel

Second edition
The second edition
was created before 1936.

Third edition
The third edition
was started in the second half of 1936. On June 25, 1938, the full text was reprinted for the first time (it was printed by O. S. Bokshanskaya, sister of E. S. Bulgakova). The author's editing continued almost until the writer's death (1940), Bulgakov stopped it with Margarita's phrase: “So this means that the writers are going after the coffin?”... The novel “The Master and Margarita” was not published during the author’s lifetime. It was first published only in 1966, 26 years after Bulgakov’s death, with banknotes, in an abbreviated magazine version. The writer's wife, Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, managed to preserve the manuscript of the novel during all these years.

Variants of novel titles

Genre

The genre uniqueness of the novel “The Master and Margarita” - the “last, sunset” work of M. A. Bulgakov still causes controversy among literary scholars. It is defined as a mythical novel, a philosophical novel, a menippea, a mystery novel, etc. “The Master and Margarita” quite organically combines almost all the genres and literary movements existing in the world. According to the English researcher of Bulgakov’s work, J. Curtis, the form of “The Master and Margarita” and its content make it a unique masterpiece, parallels with which “are difficult to find in both the Russian and Western European literary traditions.”

Composition

Composition of the novel

multifaceted: it is a “novel within a novel.” Within the framework of one work, two novels interact in a complex manner: a narrative about the life of the Master and a novel about Pontius Pilate created by him.

The fate of Bulgakov is reflected in the fate of the Master, and the fate of the Master is reflected in the fate of his hero Yeshua.

Storylines

Time and space

The novel takes place in two eras, separated by almost two millennia. Both lines of the work - modern (4 days in Moscow in the 30s of the
XX century)
and evangelical
(1 day in Ancient Rome)
- echo each other, connecting at different

narrative levels of the text. The ancient past has not gone away forever, but exists in parallel with the present.

Three levels of reality

Three time layers

- past - present - eternal.

Three levels of reality

- earthly (people), artistic (biblical characters) and mystical (Woland and his companions);

The role of the liaison

performed by Woland and his retinue

Heroes of the novel. Yershalaim chapters

The wandering philosopher Yeshua, nicknamed Ga-Nozri, who does not remember his parents, has no means of subsistence, no family, no relatives, no friends, he is a preacher of goodness, love and mercy. His goal is to make the world a cleaner and kinder place.

Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate - Roman procurator of Judea in the late 20s - early 30s. n. e., during which Jesus Christ was executed. The procurator was an imperial official who had the highest administrative and judicial power in a small province.

Photo illustration of Retrograde

Pilate announces the verdict:

“He waited for some time, knowing that no force could silence the crowd until it exhaled everything that had accumulated inside it and fell silent itself.

And when this moment came, the procurator threw his right hand up, and the last noise was blown away from the crowd.”

Illustration by Nikolai Korolev

Woland and his retinue

…
SO WHO ARE YOU FINALLY? — I AM PART OF THAT POWER
THAT ETERNALLY WANTS EVIL

AND DOES GOOD ETERNALLY.

GOETHE "FAUST"

Woland is the devil, Satan, “prince of darkness,” “spirit of evil and lord of shadows” (all these definitions are found in the text of the novel).

Illustration by Nikolai Korolev

Woland's gang settles in Styopa Likhodeev's apartment

“The guest was no longer alone in the bedroom, but in company. In the second chair sat the same guy who had imagined himself in the hall. Now he was clearly visible: a feathery mustache, a piece of pince-nez glittering, but no other piece of glass. But there were even worse things in the bedroom: a third person was lounging on the jeweler’s pouffe in a cheeky pose, namely, an eerie-sized black cat with a glass of vodka in one paw and a fork on which he had managed to pick up a pickled mushroom.”

Illustration by Nikolai Korolev

The Role of Bible Chapters

In the gospel chapters - a kind of ideological center of the novel - the most important questions of human existence are posed, which concern people at all times, “eternal questions”.

• What is truth? What is good and evil? Man and his faith. Man and power. What is the meaning of human life? Inner freedom and non-freedom of a person. Loyalty and betrayal. Mercy and forgiveness.
• What is truth? What is good and evil? Man and his faith. Man and power. What is the meaning of human life? Inner freedom and non-freedom of a person. Loyalty and betrayal. Mercy and forgiveness.
• What is truth?
• What is good and evil?
• Man and his faith.
• Man and power.
• What is the meaning of human life?
• Inner freedom and non-freedom of a person.
• Loyalty and betrayal.
• Mercy and forgiveness.

Koroviev

Koroviev is a knight who masters black magic, a swindler.

In reality, he is the dark purple knight Bassoon. Once he unsuccessfully made a pun about light and darkness and was punished; forced to serve Woland.

Azazello

Azazello – “demon of the waterless desert, demon killer.”

The name Azazello was formed by Bulgakov from the Old Testament name Azazel (or Azazel). This is the name of the fallen angel who taught people how to make weapons and jewelry.

This character personifies death.

Photo illustration of Retrograde

Cat Behemoth

The Behemoth cat is a werecat and Woland’s favorite jester, a satirical character, as he is presented in the form of a fat black cat who can speak and is always “playing the fool.” Occasionally he turns into a thin young man.

Photo illustration of Retrograde

Gella

Gella is a female vampire. She is silent and mysterious throughout almost the entire novel. Vampires are traditionally the lowest category of evil spirits, so we can assume that she is the youngest member of the retinue.

Photo illustration of Retrograde

The role of Woland's retinue

Woland's retinue personifies evil, but in each of them it is presented in a unique way. The character and purpose of each of them is different. Woland’s statement that it is against the backdrop of good that evil can be seen, that good without evil is worth nothing, explains their actions by the fact that Good and Evil are inseparable things.

Messire does not do evil, he tries to cleanse the world by discovering and exposing human vices.

"Moscow" chapters. MASSOLIT

The house in which MASSOLIT is located is called the “Griboyedov House”. This is a parody of the House of Industry. The people's canteen here has turned into a luxurious restaurant. There is no library - MASSOLIT members do not need it, because Berlioz’s colleagues are not readers, but writers. Instead of labor institutions, there are departments related only to recreation and entertainment: “Fish and dacha section”, “Cash desk”, “Housing issue”, “Billiard room”, etc. . The main attraction is the restaurant.

“Griboedov” in the novel is a symbol not of the writing, but of the chewing brethren, a symbol of the transformation of literature into a source of satisfying immoderate appetites.

Berlioz

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz is the chairman of MASSOLIT, located in the Griboyedov House. Berlioz received material benefits in exchange for beliefs and the renunciation of artistic freedom. This results in punishment: he dies under the wheels of a tram immediately after talking with the devil.

Photo illustration by Jean Lurie

Ivan Bezdomny

Ivan Bezdomny (aka Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev) is a poet who in the epilogue becomes a professor at the Institute of History and Philosophy.

According to Woland's prediction, Ivan ends up in a madhouse.

Illustration by Nikolai Korolev

Conversation between the Master and Ivan

“The guest was sad and twitching for a long time, but finally spoke: “You see, what a strange story, I’m sitting here because of the same thing as you, precisely because of Pontius Pilate.” Illustration by Nikolai Korolev

Master

The image of the Master is a symbol of suffering, humanity, a seeker of truth in a vulgar world.

— Are you a writer?

- I AM A MASTER.

Photo illustration of Retrograde

Master and Margarita

“I clearly remember how her voice sounded, quite low, but with disruptions, and, as stupid as it seemed, the echo struck in the alley and reflected from the yellow dirty wall” Photo illustrations by Jean Lurie

Margarita

At the beginning of the novel, Margarita, the Master’s friend, compassionate for her lover, successfully lies to her husband.

She is gradually reborn and at the end of the story gains moral strength, making her capable of resisting evil.

When “all deceptions have disappeared” and Margarita’s beauty, previously “deceptive and powerless,” is transformed into “unearthly beauty,” she saves the Master from suffering.

Photo illustration of Retrograde

“Manuscripts don’t burn!”

Photo illustration by Jean Lurie

Master and Margarita

The story of the Master and Margarita, like a transparent stream, crosses the entire space of the novel, breaking through the rubble and abysses on its way and going into the other world, into eternity. Margarita and the Master did not deserve the light. Yeshua and Woland rewarded them with eternal peace.

Photo illustration of Retrograde

“He walked accompanied by Banga, and next to him walked a wandering philosopher. They were arguing about something very difficult and important, and neither of them could defeat the other. They did not agree with each other on anything, and this made their dispute especially interesting and endless.” Photo illustration from Retrograd

Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita"

Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” is a great book because it expresses great ideas: about the greatness of man and the immorality of power as a manifestation of violence against man; about the beauty of love and people capable of love; about compassion and mercy, courage and loyalty to one’s calling as the highest human qualities, about the inseparability of good and evil, life and death...

Such manuscripts really don’t burn!..