The history of writing Bulgakov's work "The Master and Margarita"

An outstanding Russian prose writer and playwright who called himself a “mystical writer.” In his original work, along with “magical realism,” important role plays a powerful satirical charge. Bulgakov's heroes are always preoccupied global problems, which have a universal human character. As a satirist writer, Bulgakov was one of the first who had the courage to show the degradation of a totalitarian society and the tragedy thinking man in him.
The novel “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Afanasovich Bulgakov (1891-1940), coming to the reader a quarter of a century after the author’s death, immediately after its publication became famous not only in Russian literature but also in the world. In this we find a new artistic version of the Gospel legend, and satirical sketches of Moscow life in the late 20s, but above all, this novel is about good and evil, about betrayal, heroism, art and the power of love...
“The Master and Margarita,” first published in the Moscow magazine with a foreword by K. Simonov, was immediately noticed by critics.
Some authors of the articles did not approve of the novel; they despised the writer for the lack of a class approach.
This point of view was not supported in the following literary works.
In the following articles, the novel was examined primarily as a work dedicated to the “eternal” question of good and evil, taken in the broadest cultural and philosophical context, as a kind of “urban” novel. Writers and critics noted the main problems presented in the novel: freedom of creativity, a person’s moral responsibility for his actions; much attention was paid when analyzing the text to the main characters - Yeshua, Pilate, the Master, Margarita. There is a well-known article by V. Lakshin, which not only was a relevant critical response to the publication, but also represents the first serious literary study of the work. A lot of research work appeared in this direction in the 70s and 80s.
October 4, 1939, convinced of fatal disease, Bulgakov began dictating amendments to the novel to his wife and continued this work until last day own life.
Back in 1928, the writer began work on his famous novel “The Master and Margarita”. The first complete version of The Master and Margarita was completed in 1934, and the last in 1938. Already on his deathbed, the blinded Bulgakov dictated the proofs of his main work, but did not have time to complete the work. The writer died on March 10, 1940, and the first magazine publication of “The Master and Margarita” in his homeland became possible only 26 years later.
First full text The book was published as a separate edition in 1967 in Paris, and in the USSR in 1973. The novel is today one of the most popular works of Russian prose, a “cult” book for several generations of readers.
The novel develops schemes that are quite common in world literature: the adventures of the devil in the human world, the sale of the soul, variations on Gospel themes, etc.
Using the compositional technique of “text within text,” Bulgakov connected within the framework of space (“Moscow” and “Yershalaim” lines of the plot), which are inextricably linked. The action of the two plots takes place in 29 and 1929 from the Nativity of Christ and thus they develop as if simultaneously.
“The interpenetration of these texts, the collision of their” points of view “forms a very important collision” of the mythologized and “real” images of a specific person.
Bulgakov's principle of using the Gospel plot is that the Master's novel is polemically correlated with it; the historical Gospel takes on the features of an unreliable version.

Bulgakov worked on the novel “The Master and Margarita” for about 12 years and did not have time to finally edit it. This novel became a real revelation of the writer; Bulgakov himself said that this was his main message to humanity, a testament to his descendants.

Many books have been written about this novel. Among researchers of Bulgakov's creative heritage, there is an opinion that this work is a kind of political treatise. In Woland they saw Stalin and his retinue was identified with politicians that time. However, it would be wrong to consider the novel “The Master and Margarita” only from this point of view and to see in it only political satire.

Some literary scholars believe that the main meaning of this mystical work is the eternal struggle between good and evil. According to Bulgakov, it turns out that evil on Earth must always be in balance. Yeshua and Woland personify precisely these two spiritual principles. One of the key phrases of the novel were the words of Woland, which he said, addressing Levi Matvey: “Wouldn’t it be so kind to think about the question: what would your good do if evil did not exist, and what would it look like if they disappeared from it? shadows?

In the novel, evil, in the person of Woland, ceases to be humane and fair. Good and evil are intertwined and are in close interaction, especially in human souls. Woland punished people with evil for evil for the sake of justice.

It is not for nothing that some critics have drawn an analogy between Bulgakov’s novel and the story of Faust, although in “The Master and Margarita” the situation is presented inverted. Faust sold his soul to the devil and betrayed Margarita's love for the sake of his thirst for knowledge, and in Bulgakov's novel Margarita makes a deal with the devil for the sake of love for the Master.

Fight for man

The inhabitants of Bulgakov's Moscow appear before the reader as a collection of puppets, tormented by passions. Great value has in Variety, where Woland sits down in front of the audience and begins to talk about how people have not changed for centuries.

Against the background of this faceless mass, only the Master and Margarita are deeply aware of the world and who rules it.

The image of the Master is collective and autobiographical. The reader does not know his real name. The master is represented by any artist, as well as a person who has his own vision of the world. Margarita is an image ideal woman who is able to love to the end, despite difficulties and obstacles. They are ideal collective images of a man devoted to his work and a woman true to her feelings.

Thus, the meaning of this immortal novel can be divided into three layers.

Above everything stands the confrontation between Woland and Yeshua, who, together with their students and retinue, wage a continuous struggle for the immortal human soul, play with the destinies of people.

Just below are people like the Master and Margarita; later they are joined by the Master’s student, Professor Ponyrev. These people are spiritually more mature, who realize that life is much more complicated than it seems at first glance.

And finally, at the very bottom are the ordinary inhabitants of Bulgakov’s Moscow. They have no will and strive only for material values.

Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” serves as a constant warning against inattention to oneself, against blindly following the established order of things, to the detriment of awareness of one’s own personality.

Sources:

• The theme of good and evil in Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita"
• The meaning of the title of the novel "The Master and Margarita"
• main idea novel "The Master and Margarita"

Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" is one of best books, written in the 20th century in Russian. Unfortunately, the novel was published many years after the writer’s death, and many of the mysteries encrypted by the author in the book remained unsolved.

Devil on the Patriarch's

Bulgakov began work on the novel, dedicated to the appearance of the Devil in Moscow in the 1930s, in 1929 and continued until his death in 1940, without finishing the author's editing. The book was published only in 1966, thanks to the fact that Mikhail Afanasyevich’s widow, Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, kept the manuscript. The plot, or rather, all its hidden meanings, is still a subject scientific research and disputes among literary scholars.

“The Master and Margarita” is included in the list of the hundred best books of the 20th century according to the French periodical Le Monde.

The text begins with the fact that two Soviet writers talking on the Patriarch's Ponds are approached by a foreigner who turns out to be Satan. It turns out that the Devil (he introduces himself by the name Woland) travels all over the world, periodically stopping in various cities along with his retinue. Once in Moscow, Woland and his henchmen punish people for their petty sins and passions. The images of bribe takers and swindlers are drawn by Bulgakov masterfully, and the victims of Satan do not evoke sympathy at all. So, for example, the fate of Woland’s first two interlocutors is extremely unpleasant: one of them dies under a tram, and the second ends up in an insane asylum, where he meets a man who calls himself the Master.

The master tells Woland’s victim his story, in particular, saying that at one time he was talking about Pontius Pilate, because of whom he ended up in a psychiatric hospital. In addition, he recalls the romantic story of his love for a woman named Margarita. At the same time, one of the representatives of Woland’s retinue turns to Margarita with a request to become the queen of Satan’s Ball, which is held annually by Woland in various capitals. Margarita agrees in exchange for the Master being returned to her. The novel ends with a scene of all the main characters from Moscow, and the Master and Margarita find the dream they dreamed of.

From Moscow to Jerusalem

In parallel with the “” plot line, the “Yershalaim” line is developing, that is, in fact, the novel about Pontius Pilate. From Moscow in the 30s it is transferred to Jerusalem from the beginning of our era, where tragic events, described in the New Testament and reinterpreted by Bulgakov. The author tries to understand the motives of the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, who sent the philosopher Yeshua Ha-Nozri, whose prototype is Jesus Christ, to execution. In the final part of the book, the storylines intersect, and each hero gets what he deserves.

There are many film adaptations of Bulgakov’s novel, both in Russia and abroad. In addition, the text has inspired many musicians, artists and playwrights.

"The Master and Margarita" is a novel at the junction. Of course, in the foreground there is a satirical depiction of the morals and life of the inhabitants of Bulgakov’s contemporary Moscow, but in addition to this, there are various mystical symbols, moral confusion, and the theme of retribution for sins and misdeeds is revealed.

One of the main characters of the novel “The Master and Margarita” is replete with various shades of meaning, and one or another context cannot do without a connection with this image. This allows us to call the Master, strictly speaking, the main character of the novel.

Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, among other possible genre definitions, can also be considered as a novel about an artist. From here a semantic thread immediately stretches to the works of romanticism, since the theme of “the artist’s path” sounded most clearly and became one of the main ones in the work of romantic writers. At first glance, it makes you wonder why the hero does not have a name and in the novel only the name “Master” is used to designate him. It turns out that a certain concrete and yet “faceless” image appears before the reader. This technique works on the author's desire to typify the hero. Under the name “Master” are hidden the true, according to Bulgakov, artists who do not meet the requirements of the official “culture” and are therefore always persecuted.

Image in the context of 20th century literature

We should not forget that in general the theme of the state of culture, very characteristic of the 20th century, makes Bulgakov’s novel similar to such a genre as the intellectual novel (a term used mainly when considering the work of Western European writers). The protagonist of an intellectual novel is not a character. This is the image that contains the most character traits era. At the same time, what happens in inner world hero, reflects the state of the world as a whole. In this regard, as the most significant, it is appropriate to recall Harry Haller from Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf, Hans Castorp from The Magic Mountain or Adrian Leverkühn from Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus. So it is in Bulgakov’s novel: the Master says about himself that he is crazy. This indicates the author's opinion about current state culture (by the way, this is almost what happens in Steppenwolf, where the entrance to the Magic Theater is a place where the remains of classical art, art humanistic era- possible only for those who are “crazy”). But this is just one piece of evidence. In fact, the identified problem is revealed in many aspects, both in the example and outside the image of the Master.

Biblical allusions

The novel is structured in a mirror way and it turns out that many storylines are variations, parodies of each other. Thus, the Master’s storyline is intertwined with the line of the hero of his novel, Yeshua. It is appropriate to recall the concept of the romantics about the artist-Creator, rising above the world and creating his own special reality. Bulgakov also parallels the images of Yeshua (biblical Jesus) and the writer Master. In addition, just as Matvey Levi is a disciple of Yeshua, so at the end the Master calls Ivan his disciple.

The connection between the image and the classics

The Master’s connection with Yeshua evokes another parallel, namely with Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot.” "Positively wonderful person"Myshkin is endowed with Dostoevsky traits biblical jesus(a fact that Dostoevsky did not hide). Bulgakov builds the novel according to the scheme only discussed above. Again, the motive of “madness” makes these two heroes similar: just as Myshkin ends his life in the Schneider clinic, where he came from, so life path The master, in fact, ends up in a madhouse, because Praskovya Fedorovna answers Ivan’s question that he from room one hundred and eighteen has just died. But this is not death in its literal sense, it is the continuation of life in a new quality.

About Myshkin’s seizures it is said: “What does it matter that this tension is abnormal, if the very result, if the minute of sensation, recalled and considered already in a healthy state, turns out to be in highest degree harmony, beauty, gives an unheard-of and hitherto unspoken feeling of completeness, proportion, reconciliation and triumphant prayerful merging with the highest synthesis of life? And the result of the novel - the incurability of the hero suggests that he has finally plunged into a state, into another sphere of existence and his earthly life is akin to death. The situation is similar with the Master: yes, he dies, but he dies only for all other people, and he himself acquires a different existence, merging in this again with Yeshua, ascending along the lunar path.

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The novel, which still leaves many places open for discussion, attracts many researchers and ordinary readers. The novel offers its own interpretation of the contradictions that are relevant to the era.

What is the novel about?

Since the main character of the novel is the Master, a writer, it is reasonable to assume that the main theme is that of art and the path of the artist. This idea is also suggested by the abundance of “musical” names: Berlioz, Stravinsky, Strauss, Schubert, and the fact that “Griboyedov” occupies an important place in the novel.

The theme of art and culture was raised with new ideological content in an intellectual novel. This genre began in the 20s. 20th century. At the same time, Bulgakov was working on the novel “The Master and Margarita.”

Before the reader is a clinic of Stravinsky (certainly a reference to the composer Stravinsky). Both the Master and Ivan find themselves in it. Ivan as a poet (a bad poet, but this is not what is important, but this “status” at the time of his stay in the clinic). That is, the clinic can be conditionally designated as an “artists’ shelter.” In other words, this is a place where artists have closed themselves off from outside world and are occupied only with the problems of art. It is this problem that the novels of Hermann Hesse are devoted to. Steppenwolf" and "The Glass Bead Game", where you can find analogues to the image of the clinic. This is the “Magic Theater” with the inscription above the entrance “Only for crazy people” (the clinic in Bulgakov’s novel is a madhouse) and the country of Castalia.

The heroes of an intellectual novel are predominantly condemned for withdrawing from the outside world, and since the image of the hero is always generalized, the whole society as a whole is condemned for passivity, which leads to catastrophic consequences (for example, the activation of fascism in Thomas Mann’s novel “Doctor Faustus”). So Bulgakov clearly hints at Soviet power.

The ending of the novel

In the final scenes, the fate of the Master is decided. If we proceed from the fact that “he did not deserve light, he deserved peace,” then we can assume that “peace” is some kind of intermediate state between light and darkness, since peace cannot resist. Moreover, Woland gives the Master peace and then it becomes clear that the Master’s refuge is in the kingdom of the devil.

But in the epilogue, when the fate of Ivan Bezdomny (by that time already simply Ivan Ponyrev) after the events described in the novel is told, the days of the full moon that are especially painful for him are mentioned, when something unclear torments him and in a dream he sees Pontius Pilate and Yeshua, walking along the lunar path, and then “a woman of immense beauty” together with the man with whom he once talked in a madhouse, who leave the same way. If the Master and Margarita follow Pontius Pilate and Yeshua, doesn’t this mean that the Master was subsequently awarded “light”?

A novel within a novel:

The form of a “novel within a novel” allows Bulgakov to create the illusion of creating the Master’s novel in real time before the reader’s eyes. But the novel is “written” not only by the Master, but also by Ivan (as strange as it may seem). The Master's novel about Pontius Pilate receives its logical conclusion only at the moment of the “liberation” of Pilate, who leaves with Yeshua along the lunar path; Bulgakov’s novel about the Master ends with his ascension after Pilate and Yeshua, and it is Ivan who “sees” this, who (by analogy with the Master) “frees” the Master and becomes involved in writing the novel, becomes Bulgakov’s co-author.

General information

The history of the creation of the novel “The Master and Margarita” is still shrouded in secrets, however, like the novel itself, which never ceases to be the center of mysteries for the reader. It is not even known exactly when Bulgakov had the idea of ​​writing the work that is now known as “The Master and Margarita” (this title appeared in Bulgakov’s drafts relatively shortly before the creation of the final version of the novel).

The time it took Bulgakov from the ripening of the idea to the final version of the novel was ultimately about ten years, which indicates the care with which Bulgakov took on the novel and what significance it apparently had for him. And Bulgakov seemed to have foreseen everything in advance, because “The Master and Margarita” became the last work he wrote. Bulgakov did not even have time to complete the literary editing of the novel; it stopped somewhere in the area of ​​the second part.

Conceptual question

Initially, Bulgakov chose the image of the devil (the future Woland) to replace the main character of his new novel. The first several editions of the novel were created under the banner of this idea. It should be noted that each of the four well-known editions can be considered as an independent novel, since they all contain many fundamental differences at both the formal and semantic levels. Familiar to the reader main image– the image of the Master was introduced into the novel by Bulgakov only in the fourth, final edition, and this itself ultimately determined the main concept of the novel, which initially contained a bias more towards , however, the Master as the main character with his “appearance” forced Bulgakov to reconsider his prospects novel and give the main place to the theme of art, culture, and the place of the artist in the modern world.

Work on the novel took so long, probably not only because the concept was not finalized, its changes, but also due to the fact that the novel was intended by Bulgakov himself as a final work, summarizing his entire path in the field of art, and in connection with this the novel has enough complex structure, it's filled a huge amount explicit and implicit cultural allusions, references at each and every level of the novel’s poetics.

The novel “The Master and Margarita” is a work in which philosophical, and therefore eternal themes. Love and betrayal, good and evil, truth and lies, amaze with their duality, reflecting inconsistency and, at the same time, completeness human nature. Mystification and romanticism, framed in the elegant language of the writer, captivate with the depth of thought that requires repeated reading.

A difficult period appears tragically and mercilessly in the novel. Russian history, turning around in such a homely way that the devil himself visits the palaces of the capital to once again become a prisoner of the Faustian thesis about a force that always wants evil, but does good.

History of creation

In the first edition of 1928 (according to some sources, 1929), the novel was flatter, and it was not difficult to highlight specific themes, but after almost a decade and as a result of difficult work, Bulgakov came to a complexly structured, fantastic, but therefore no less a life story.

Along with this, being a man who overcomes difficulties hand in hand with the woman he loves, the writer managed to find a place for the nature of feelings more subtle than vanity. Fireflies of hope leading the main characters through devilish trials. So the novel was given its final title in 1937: “The Master and Margarita.” And this was the third edition.

But the work continued almost until the death of Mikhail Afanasyevich; he made the last edit on February 13, 1940, and died on March 10 of the same year. The novel is considered unfinished, as evidenced by numerous notes in drafts saved by the writer’s third wife. It was thanks to her that the world saw the work, albeit in an abbreviated magazine version, in 1966.

The author's attempts to bring the novel to its logical conclusion indicate how important it was for him. Bulgakov, with the last of his strength, burned out on the idea of ​​​​creating a wonderful and tragic phantasmagoria. It clearly and harmoniously reflected his own life in a narrow room, like a stocking, where he struggled with illness and came to realize the true values ​​of human existence.

Analysis of the work

Description of the work

(Berlioz, Ivan the Homeless and Woland between them)

The action begins with a description of the meeting of two Moscow writers with the devil. Of course, neither Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz nor Ivan the Homeless even suspect with whom they are talking on a May day on the patriarchal ponds. Subsequently, Berlioz dies according to Woland’s prophecy, and Messire himself occupies his apartment to continue his pranks and hoaxes.

Homeless Ivan, in turn, becomes a patient in a psychiatric hospital, unable to cope with the impressions of meeting Woland and his retinue. In the house of sorrow, the poet meets the Master, who wrote a novel about the procurator of Judea, Pilate. Ivan learns that the metropolitan world of critics treats undesirable writers cruelly and begins to understand a lot about literature.

Margarita, a childless woman of thirty, the wife of a prominent specialist, yearns for the disappeared Master. Ignorance leads her to despair, in which she admits to herself that she is ready to give her soul to the devil, just to find out about the fate of her lover. One of the members of Woland's retinue, the demon of the waterless desert Azazello, delivers a miraculous cream to Margarita, thanks to which the heroine turns into a witch in order to play the role of queen at Satan's ball. Having overcome some torments with dignity, the woman receives the fulfillment of her desire - a meeting with the Master. Woland returns to the writer the manuscript burned during the persecution, proclaiming a deeply philosophical thesis that “manuscripts do not burn.”

In parallel, the storyline about Pilate, a novel written by the Master, develops. The story tells of the arrested wandering philosopher Yeshua Ha-Nozri, who was betrayed by Judas of Kiriath and handed over to the authorities. The procurator of Judea holds court within the walls of the palace of Herod the Great and is forced to execute a man whose ideas, disdainful of the authority of Caesar, and of authority in general, seem to him interesting and worthy of discussion, if not fair. Having dealt with his duty, Pilate orders Afranius, the head of the secret service, to kill Judas.

The plot lines are combined in the last chapters of the novel. One of Yeshua's disciples, Levi Matvey, visits Woland with a petition to grant peace to the lovers. That same night, Satan and his retinue leave the capital, and the devil gives the Master and Margarita eternal shelter.

Main characters

Let's start with dark forces appearing in the first chapters.

The character of Woland is somewhat different from the canonical embodiment of evil in its pure form, although in the first edition he was assigned the role of a tempter. In the process of processing material on satanic themes, Bulgakov created the image of a player with unlimited power to shape destinies, endowed, at the same time, with omniscience, skepticism and a bit of playful curiosity. The author deprived the hero of any props, such as hooves or horns, and also removed most descriptions of the appearance that took place in the second edition.

Moscow serves as a stage for Woland, on which, by the way, he does not leave any fatal destruction. Woland was called upon by Bulgakov as high power, the measure of human actions. He is a mirror reflecting the essence of the other characters and society, mired in denunciations, deceit, greed and hypocrisy. And, like any mirror, messir gives the opportunity to people who think and are inclined towards justice to change for the better.

An image with an elusive portrait. Outwardly, the features of Faust, Gogol and Bulgakov himself are intertwined in him, since heartache, caused by harsh criticism and lack of recognition, caused the writer many problems. The Master is conceived by the author as a character whom the reader rather feels as if he is dealing with a close, dear person, and does not see as a stranger through the prism of a deceptive appearance.

The master remembers little about life before meeting his love, Margarita, as if he never really lived. The hero’s biography bears a clear imprint of the events in the life of Mikhail Afanasyevich. Only the writer came up with a brighter ending for the hero than he experienced himself.

A collective image that embodies female courage to love despite the circumstances. Margarita is attractive, daring and desperate in her desire to reunite with the Master. Without her, nothing would have happened, because with her prayers, so to speak, a meeting with Satan took place, a great ball took place with her determination, and only thanks to her unshakable dignity a meeting between the two main tragic heroes took place.
If we look back at Bulgakov’s life, it is easy to note that without Elena Sergeevna, the writer’s third wife, who worked on his manuscript for twenty years and followed him during his life, like a faithful but expressive shadow, ready to drive away enemies and ill-wishers from the world, it would not have happened either publication of the novel.

Woland's retinue

(Woland and his retinue)

The retinue includes Azazello, Koroviev-Fagot, Behemoth the Cat and Gella. The latter is a female vampire and occupies the lowest level in the demonic hierarchy, a minor character.
The first is the prototype of the desert demon, he plays the role right hand Volanda. So Azazello mercilessly kills Baron Meigel. In addition to his ability to kill, Azazello skillfully seduces Margarita. In a way, this character was introduced by Bulgakov in order to remove characteristic behavioral habits from the image of Satan. In the first edition, the author wanted to call Woland Azazel, but changed his mind.

(Bad apartment)

Koroviev-Fagot is also a demon, and an older one, but a buffoon and a clown. His task is to confuse and mislead the respectable public. The character helps the author provide the novel with a satirical component, ridiculing the vices of society, crawling into cracks where the seducer Azazello cannot reach. Moreover, in the finale he turns out to be not a joker at all in essence, but a knight punished for an unsuccessful pun.

The cat Behemoth is the best of the jesters, a werewolf, a demon prone to gluttony, who every now and then brings chaos into the lives of Muscovites with his comical adventures. The prototypes were definitely cats, both mythological and very real. For example, Flyushka, who lived in the Bulgakovs’ house. The writer’s love for the animal, on whose behalf he sometimes wrote notes to his second wife, migrated to the pages of the novel. The werewolf reflects the tendency of the intelligentsia to transform, as the writer himself did, receiving a fee and spending it on purchasing delicacies in the Torgsin store.

“The Master and Margarita” is a unique literary creation that has become a weapon in the hands of the writer. With his help, Bulgakov dealt with hated social vices, including those to which he himself was subject. He was able to express his experience through the phrases of the characters, which became household names. In particular, the statement about manuscripts goes back to the Latin proverb “Verba volant, scripta manent” - “words fly away, what is written remains.” After all, while burning the manuscript of the novel, Mikhail Afanasyevich could not forget what he had previously created and returned to work on the work.

The idea of ​​a novel within a novel allows the author to pursue two large storylines, gradually bringing them closer together in the timeline until they intersect “beyond the border,” where fiction and reality are no longer distinguishable. Which, in turn, raises philosophical question about the significance of a person’s thoughts, against the backdrop of the emptiness of words that fly away with the noise of bird wings during the game of Behemoth and Woland.

Bulgakov's novel is destined to pass through time, like the heroes themselves, in order to touch upon important aspects again and again social life man, religion, issues of moral and ethical choice and the eternal struggle between good and evil.

Based on the novel by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov and film adaptations

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Among the ancient Jews, Azazel was a goat-shaped spirit of the desert (the word “Azazel”, more precisely “Aza-El” means “goat-god”). Traces of the faith of the goat-shaped god - the devil - have been preserved in modern Jewish and Christian beliefs: the devil, who at a much later time took on the image of a man in the minds of believers, retained, however, some of his ancient external attributes: horns and hooves. Mention of the demon Azazel is found in the Old Testament Book of Enoch. This is the name of the fallen angel who taught people how to make weapons and jewelry. Bulgakov was probably attracted by the combination of seduction and murder in one character. It is precisely for the insidious seducer that Margarita mistakes Azazello during their first meeting in the Alexander Garden: “This neighbor turned out to be vertically challenged, fiery red, with a fang, in starched underwear, in a good-quality striped suit, in patent leather shoes and with a bowler hat on his head. “Absolutely a robber’s face!” thought Margarita.” But Azazello's main function in the novel is related to violence. He throws Styopa Likhodeev out of Moscow to Yalta, expels Uncle Berlioz from the Bad Apartment, and kills the traitor Baron Meigel with a revolver. Azazello gives Margarita a magic cream, which not only makes the heroine invisible and able to fly, but also gives her a new, witch-like beauty. It was the Hebrew demon Azazel who taught women to decorate themselves precious stones, blush and whiten - in a word, taught a lesson in seduction. In the epilogue of the novel, this fallen angel appears before us in a new guise: “Flying at the side of everyone, shining with the steel of his armor, was Azazello. The moon also changed his face. The absurd, ugly fang disappeared without a trace, and the crooked eye turned out to be false. Both of Azazello's eyes were the same, empty and black, and his face was white and cold. Now Azazello flew in his true form, like a demon of the waterless desert, a killer demon.”

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Alexander Ryukhin, MASSOLIT poet, who accompanied I. Bezdomny on the trip to Dr. Stravinsky’s psychiatric hospital (Chapter 6, “Schizophrenia, as it was said”). He was severely criticized by Bezdomny: “A typical kulak in his psychology, and, moreover, a kulak carefully masquerading as a proletarian. Look at his Lenten face and compare it with those sonorous poems that he composed for the first day! “Cheer up!” Yes, “Cheer up!”...and you look inside him - what he’s thinking there... you’ll gasp!” “The visit to the house of grief left a very difficult mark on him (Ryukhin”). Bezdomny’s words helped A. Ryukhin realize the meaninglessness of his poetry: “The truth, he told the truth! I don’t believe in anything I write!..” The trip left him "completely sick and even old." In the morning in the restaurant, Ryukhin ate and drank, “understanding and recognizing that nothing in his life could be corrected, but only forgotten.” “The poet spent his night, and now he understood that it could not be returned”

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An acquaintance of the Master, who wrote a false denunciation against him in order to appropriate his living space. Was kicked out of his new apartment Woland's retinue. After the trial, Wolanda left Moscow unconscious, but, waking up somewhere near Vyatka, returned. Replaced Rimsky as financial director of the Variety Theater. Mogarych’s activities in this position caused great torment for Varenukha

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A retired woman known for her caustic character. Wherever she appeared, chaos and strife reigned everywhere. Broke a bottle with sunflower oil on the tram tracks, which was the cause of Berlioz's death. Lives on the floor below the “bad apartment”. Later, Azazello was intimidated to return the diamond horseshoe found in the entrance, given by Woland as a souvenir to Margarita (the horseshoe with diamonds was returned to Margarita)

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The director of the Griboedov House restaurant, a formidable boss and a man with phenomenal intuition. He is economical and, as usual in catering, a thief. The author compares him to a pirate, a brig captain

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Head of the secret service, comrade-in-arms of Pilate. He supervised the execution of the murder of Judas and planted the money received for betrayal into the residence of the high priest Caiaphas

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An NKVD employee assigned to spy on Woland and his retinue, introducing himself as an employee of the Entertainment Commission in the position of introducing foreigners to the sights of the capital. He was killed at Satan's ball as a sacrifice, whose blood filled Woland's liturgical cup

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Poet, member of MASSOLIT. Real name is Ponyrev. He wrote an anti-religious poem, one of the first heroes (along with Berlioz) who met Koroviev and Woland. He ended up in a clinic for the mentally ill, and was also the first to meet the Master. Then he recovered, stopped studying poetry and became a professor at the Institute of History and Philosophy

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Entertainer of the Variety Theater. He was severely punished by Woland's retinue - his head was torn off - for the unfortunate comments he made during the performance. After returning his head to its place, he could not come to his senses and was taken to the clinic of Professor Stravinsky

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The chairman of MASSOLIT is a writer, a well-read, educated person who is skeptical about everything. He lived in a “bad apartment” on Sadovaya, 302 bis, where Woland later settled during his stay in Moscow. He died, not believing Woland's prediction about his sudden death, made shortly before her. At Satan's ball further fate was determined by Woland according to the theory that everyone will be given according to their faith... Berlioz appears before us at the ball in the form of his own severed head. The head was later transformed into a bowl in the form of a skull on a golden leg, with emerald eyes and pearl teeth... the lid of the skull was hinged. It was in this cup that the spirit of Berlioz found oblivion

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Nikonor Ivanovich's wife

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Chairman of the housing association on Sadovaya Street, where Woland settled during his stay in Moscow. Jaden, the day before, committed the theft of funds from the cash register of the housing association.

Koroviev entered into a temporary rental agreement with him and gave him a bribe, which, as the chairman later claimed, “itself crept into his briefcase.” Then Koroviev, on Woland’s orders, turned the transferred rubles into dollars and, on behalf of one of the neighbors, reported the hidden currency to the NKVD.

Trying to somehow justify himself, Bosoy admitted to bribery and reported similar crimes on the part of his assistants, which led to the arrest of all members of the housing association. Due to further behavior during interrogation, he was sent to mental asylum, where he was haunted by nightmares associated with demands to hand over his existing currency

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Administrator of the Variety Theater. He fell into the clutches of Woland’s gang when he was carrying to the NKVD a printout of correspondence with Likhodeev, who had ended up in Yalta. As punishment for “lies and rudeness on the phone,” he was turned by Gella into a vampire guide. After the ball he was turned back into a human and released. Upon completion of all the events described in the novel, Varenukha became a more good-natured, polite and honest person.

Interesting fact: Varenukha’s punishment was a “private initiative” of Azazello and Behemoth

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Satan, who visited Moscow under the guise of a foreign professor black magic, "historian". At its first appearance (in the novel “The Master and Margarita”), the first chapter from the Roman is narrated (about Yeshua and Pilate). The main features of his appearance are eye defects and lameness in one leg. Appearance: “He was neither short nor huge in stature, but simply tall. As for his teeth, he had platinum crowns on the left side and gold ones on the right. He wore an expensive gray suit, expensive foreign shoes to match the color of the suit, and always had a cane with him, with a black knob in the shape of a poodle’s head; the right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason; the mouth is kind of crooked. Shaven clean." He smoked a pipe and always carried a cigarette case with him

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A witch and vampire from Satan's retinue, who confused all his human visitors with her habit of wearing practically nothing. The beauty of her body is spoiled only by the scar on her neck. In the retinue, Wolanda plays the role of a maid. Woland, recommending Gella to Margarita, says that there is no service that she cannot provide. Gella bit Varenukha, and then together with him attacked the financial director Rimsky

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A wandering philosopher from Nazareth, described by Woland on the Patriarch's Ponds, as well as by the Master in his novel, compared with the image of Jesus Christ. The name Yeshua Ha-Nozri means Jesus (Yeshua????) of Nazareth (Ha-Nozri??????) in Hebrew. However this image significantly diverges from the biblical prototype. Characteristically, he tells Pontius Pilate that Levi-Matthew (Matthew) wrote down his words incorrectly and that “this confusion will continue for a very long time.” for a long time" Pilate: “But what did you say about the temple to the crowd at the market?” Yeshua: “I, the hegemon, said that the temple of the old faith would collapse and be created new temple truth. I said it this way to make it clearer"

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Jewish high priest, head of the Sanhedrin, who condemned Yeshua Ha-Nozri to death

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A young resident of Yershalaim who handed Yeshua Ha-Nozri into the hands of the Sanhedrin. Pontius Pilate, worried about his involvement in the execution of Yeshua, organized the secret murder of Judas to take revenge

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Wife of the Procurator of Judea Pontius Pilate (character from the film adaptation)

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A character from Satan's retinue, appearing in the form of a huge black cat, a werewolf and Woland's favorite jester.

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Accountant at Variety. While I was handing over the cash register, I discovered traces of the presence of Woland’s retinue in the institutions where he had visited. While handing over the cash register, he unexpectedly discovered that the money had turned into various foreign currencies, for which he was arrested

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The surname of Latunsky, who criticized the Master for clericalism, is a hybrid of the surnames of two famous critics 1930s, A. Orlinsky ( real name Krips, 1892-1938) and O. Litovsky (real name Kagan, 1892-1971), who actually sharply criticized Bulgakov

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The only follower of Yeshua Ha-Nozri in the novel. He accompanied his teacher until his death, and subsequently took him down from the cross to bury him. He also had the intention of stabbing his executioner, Yeshua, in order to save him from the torment of the cross, but in the end he failed. At the end of the novel, Woland comes to Woland, sent by his teacher Yeshua, with a request to grant peace for the Master and Margarita

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Director of the Variety Theater, Berlioz's neighbor, also living in a “bad apartment” on Sadovaya. A slacker, a womanizer and a drunkard. For “official inconsistency” he was transferred to Yalta by Woland’s henchmen

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A beautiful, wealthy, but bored wife of a famous engineer, suffering from the emptiness of her life. Having met the Master by chance on the streets of Moscow, she fell in love with him at first sight, passionately believed in the success of the novel he wrote, and prophesied fame. When the Master decided to burn his novel, she managed to save only a few pages. Then she makes a deal with Messire and, in order to regain the missing Master, becomes the queen of a satanic ball organized by Woland. Margarita is a symbol of love and self-sacrifice in the name of another person. If you name the novel without using symbols, then “The Master and Margarita” is transformed into “Creativity and Love”

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Centurion, Pilate's guard, once crippled in a battle with the Germans, acting as a guard and directly carrying out the execution of Yeshua and two other criminals. When a strong thunderstorm began on the mountain, Yeshua and other criminals were stabbed to death in order to be able to leave the place of execution. Another version says that Pontius Pilate ordered the convicts to be stabbed to death (which is not allowed by law) in order to alleviate their suffering. Perhaps he received the nickname “Rat Slayer” because he himself was German. In a conversation with Yeshua, Pilate characterizes Mark the Rat Slayer as a cold and convinced executioner

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A professional historian who won a large sum in the lottery and got the opportunity to try his hand at literary work. Having become a writer, he managed to create a brilliant novel about Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Nozri, but he turned out to be a person not adapted to the era in which he lived. He was driven to despair by persecution from colleagues who cruelly criticized his work. Nowhere in the novel is his name and surname mentioned; when asked directly about this, he always refused to introduce himself, saying, “Let’s not talk about that.” Known only by the nickname “master” given by Margarita. He considers himself unworthy of such a nickname, considering it the whim of his beloved. Master - a person who has achieved highest success in any activity, perhaps that is why he is rejected by the crowd, which is not able to appreciate his talent and abilities. Master, main character novel, writes a novel about Yeshua (Jesus) and Pilate. The master writes a novel, interpreting the gospel events in his own way, without miracles and the power of grace - like Tolstoy. The master communicated with Woland - Satan, a witness, according to him, to the events described in the novel.

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

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Beautiful, blonde housekeeper Margarita. She secretly smeared herself with Azazello cream, after which she turned into a witch and, riding a hog (Nikolai Ivanovich), went after Margot. Natasha and Gella helped Margarita at Satan’s ball, after which she did not want to return to her former life and begged Woland to leave her as a witch

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A resident of Yershalaim, an agent of Afranius, who pretended to be Judas's lover in order to lure him into a trap, on the orders of Afranius.

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Margarita's neighbor from the bottom floor. He was turned by Margarita’s housekeeper Natasha into a hog and in this form “brought in as vehicle"to Satan's ball. The reason for the punishment is lust. At Margarita’s request, he was forgiven, but until the end of his days he grieved for forgiveness: it was better to be a hog under naked Natasha than to live out a century with a disgusted wife

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The fifth procurator of Judea in Yershalaim, a cruel and powerful man, who nevertheless managed to develop sympathy for Yeshua Ha-Nozri during his interrogation. He tried to stop the well-functioning mechanism of execution for insulting Caesar, but failed to do this, which he subsequently repented of throughout his life. He suffered from severe migraines, from which he was relieved during the interrogation by Yeshua Ha-Nozri

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Kiev uncle of Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, who dreamed of living in Moscow. He was invited to Moscow for the funeral by Behemoth, however, upon arrival he was concerned not so much with the death of his nephew as with the living space left over from the deceased. Was kicked out by Behemoth and exposed to Azazello, with instructions to return back to Kyiv

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The doctor who examined the barman Sokov. Was visited by the demon Azazello, who “spread” first into a “vile sparrow”, then into a nurse with a “man’s mouth”. Despite his obvious medical talent, he had a sin - excessive suspiciousness, for which Azazello was punished - he received slight damage to his mind

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Chairman of the entertainment commission of the Variety Theater. The Behemoth cat temporarily kidnapped him, leaving him with an empty suit sitting at his workplace, for occupying a position that was not suitable for him.

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A barman at the Variety Theater, criticized by Woland for the poor quality of food served in the buffet. Accumulated over 249 thousand rubles on purchases of “second-fresh” products and other abuses official position. I received a message from Koroviev about his death 9 months later from liver cancer, which, unlike Berlioz, he believed and took all measures to prevent, which, of course, did not help him

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One of the characters in Satan's entourage, always wearing ridiculous checkered clothes and pince-nez with one cracked and one missing glass. In his true form he turns out to be a knight, forced to pay with a permanent stay in Satan's retinue for one bad pun he once made about light and darkness

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A sinner invited to Woland's ball. She once strangled an unwanted child with a handkerchief and buried her, for which she experiences a certain kind of punishment - every morning they invariably bring this same handkerchief to her bedside (no matter how she tried to get rid of it the day before). At Satan's ball, Margarita pays attention to Frida and addresses her personally (invites her to get drunk and forget everything), which gives Frida hope for forgiveness. After the ball, the time comes to voice her only main request to Woland, for which Margarita pledged her soul and became the queen of the satanic ball. Margarita regards her attention to Frida as a carelessly given veiled promise to save her from eternal punishment; under the influence of feelings, she sacrifices her right to a single request in favor of Frida