Three worlds in the novel "The Master and Margarita" - essay. Three worlds in the novel "The Master and Margarita" - essay The Other World in the work The Master and Margarita

Three worlds in Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” and their interaction

The novel consists of three worlds: our familiar world, the Yershalaim world (“Light”), and the other world. All three worlds of the novel exist in constant and inextricable connection, subject to constant evaluation by higher powers. The novel “The Master and Margarita” is the most brilliant and most controversial work about love and moral duty, about the inhumanity of evil, about true creativity, which always strives for light and goodness.

First World - Moscow Moscow is shown by Bulgakov with love, but also with pain. It's a beautiful city, a little bustling, hectic, full of life.

But how much refined humor, how much outright rejection in the depiction of the people inhabiting the capital!

In the literary environment, talent has been successfully replaced by disruptive abilities, cunning, lies, and meanness. From now on, the price of success is not recognition by the people, but a dacha in Peredelkino!

The swindlers, careerists, and pimps are shown brilliantly. They all receive their well-deserved retribution. But the punishment is not terrible, they laugh at him, putting him in ridiculous situations, bringing their own traits and shortcomings to the point of absurdity.

Those greedy for freebies receive things in the theater that disappear, like Cinderella’s ball gown, money that turns into pieces of paper.

Woland stands at the center of the “eternal otherworldly” world. The author gives this hero quite broad powers; throughout the entire novel he judges, decides destinies, and rewards everyone according to their faith. Satan's World

Woland owns many of the smartest and instructive statements that carry deep meaning.

People live, fuss, gain, and die absurdly. He will say about them this way: “People are like people. They love money, but this has always been the case... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts... ordinary people... in general, they resemble the old ones... the housing problem has only spoiled them...”

In a conversation with Margapita, Woland utters amazing words: “Never ask for anything! Never anything, and especially from those who are stronger than you. They will offer and give everything themselves.”

Woland expresses Bulgakov’s favorite thought: “Everyone will be given according to his faith.”

Woland, his “retinue” and all the “dark power” reveal, expose, seduce. The only ones who endure the test are the Master and Margarita, and the Master, it turns out, still deserves only peace. Margarita is the only person who aroused the admiration of Woland and his retinue for her honesty, morality, pride, and ability to love so selflessly. He thanked her for her hard work, once again being amazed that she didn’t demand anything...

Biblical world In the “Yershalaim” chapters, the main themes of the work acquire the most acute resonance: the theme of moral choice, human responsibility for one’s actions, punishment by conscience.

M. Bulgakov concentrated the action of the novel around two characters - Yeshua and Pilate. Yeshua stands at the center of the “Yershalaim” world. He is a philosopher, a wanderer, a preacher of goodness, love and mercy; he is the embodiment of a pure idea in a novel, entering into an unequal battle with legal law.

In Pontius Pilate we see a formidable ruler. He is gloomy, lonely, the burden of life weighs him down. Almighty Pilate recognized Yeshua as his equal. And I became interested in his teaching. But he is unable to overcome the fear of Caiaphas' debt

Despite the fact that the plot seems completed - Yeshua is executed, it seems that Yeshua never died. It seems that the word “died” itself is not present in the episodes of the novel.

Pilate is the bearer and personification of the “most terrible vice” - cowardice. Through repentance and suffering, Pilate atones for his guilt and receives forgiveness...

Conclusion In The Master and Margarita, modernity is tested by eternal truths. All ongoing events are inextricably linked, they emphasize and help to understand the immutability of human nature, the concepts of good and evil, eternal human values...

“... trinity is the most general characteristic of being.”

P. A. Florensky

“The Master and Margarita” is a satirical novel, a fantastic novel, and a philosophical novel. A novel about love and creativity... About death and immortality... About strength and powerlessness... What is guilt and retribution? What is power? What is fearlessness, fear, cowardice? What is the passage of time? And what is a person in time? What is this - the truth or the path to the truth?

The "three-dimensional" structure of the novel expresses Bulgakov's philosophy. The writer argued that the trinity corresponds to the truth. Both the spatio-temporal and ethical concepts of the novel are based on trinity.

The three worlds of The Master and Margarita correspond to three groups of characters, with representatives of different worlds forming unique triads. They are united by their role and similar interaction with other heroes, as well as elements of portrait resemblance. Eight triads are presented in the novel: Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea - Woland, the “prince of darkness” - Professor Stravinsky, director of a psychiatric clinic; Afranius, Pilate's first assistant - Fagot-Koroviev, Woland's first assistant - doctor Fyodor Vasilyevich, Stravinsky's first assistant; centurion Mark the Ratboy - Azazello, demon of the waterless desert - Archibald Archibaldovich, director of the restaurant "Griboyedov's House"; the dog Buncha - the cat Behemoth - the police dog Tuzbuben; Nisa, agent Afrania - Gella, Fagot-Koroviev's maid - Natasha, Margarita's maid; Chairman of the Sanhedrin Kaifa - Chairman of MASSOLITA Berlioz - unknown in Torgsin; Judas from Kiriath - Baron Meigel - journalist Aloysius Mogarych; Levi Matthew, follower of Yeshua - poet Ivan Bezdomny, student of the Master - poet Alexander Ryukhin.

Let us turn to one of the significant triads of the novel: Pontius Pilate - Woland - Stravinsky. “In a white cloak with bloody lining” Pontius Pilate appears in the world of Yershalaim. In the Moscow world, the action takes place thanks to Woland, who, like the procurator of Judea, has his own retinue. Stravinsky runs his clinic, determines the fate of those who came to him as a result of communication with Satan and his servants. It seems that the course of events in the clinic is directed by the actions of Stravinsky, the “small” likeness of Woland. Woland is a “small” likeness of Pilate, for the “prince of darkness” is almost completely devoid of any experiences with which the procurator of Judea, tormented by pangs of conscience for his momentary cowardice, is so richly endowed (bravery on the battlefield and civil cowardice - as he often observed this is Bulgakov among his contemporaries). Pilate tries to save Yeshua, but, forced in the end to send him to his death, he involuntarily becomes immortal. And in modern Moscow, the eternal Woland saves the Master and gives him a reward. But the creator must die, and with him Margarita. They receive reward in the other world. Immortality gives the Master the brilliant novel he wrote, and Margarita - her true, sincere love. Stravinsky also “saves” the Master, who has become a victim of evil spirits; only “salvation” is a parody, because the professor can offer the Master the absolute inactive peace of a mental hospital.

The power of each of the powerful characters in this triad turns out to be imaginary. Pilate is unable to change the course of events and save Yeshua. Woland, in turn, only predicts the future. Thus, Berlioz dies under the wheels of a tram not because Satan “gave” him the tram and Annushka, but because he slipped on oil. Stravinsky's power is generally illusory: he is not able to deprive Ivan Bezdomny of memories of Pilate and the death of Yeshua, of the Master and his beloved, he is not able to prevent the earthly death of the Master and his transition to the other world. Material from the site

There is also a portrait resemblance between these heroes: Woland “appears to be over forty years old” and is “clean-shaven.” Stravinsky is “a carefully groomed man of about forty-five, like an actor.” Satan’s “right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason,” and “the right one has a golden spark at the bottom, drilling anyone to the bottom of the soul...” The professor’s eyes are “pleasant, but piercing.” Ivan Bezdomny notes the external resemblance of Stravinsky to Pilate (Stravinsky, like the procurator, also speaks Latin). Pilate and Woland are also similar. During the interrogation of Yeshua, Pilate’s face turns from yellow to brown, and “the skin on Woland’s face seemed to be forever burned by a tan.”

This strict hierarchy, eternal once and for all, reigns in the other world, reflecting the hierarchy of the ancient Yershalaim world and the modern Moscow one.

Bulgakov’s contemporary world is also hierarchical: the Variety Theater, the Stravinsky Clinic, MASSOLIT. And only the Master, Yeshua and Margarita are ruled by love. The Master and Yeshua have no place in a world where hierarchy reigns. And yet the author is convinced that above all social, political, everyday problems is a feeling: love, joy.

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The novel “The Master and Margarita” is a mystery. Each person who reads it discovers its own meaning. The text of the work is so full of problems that it is very difficult to find the main one, I would even say impossible.

The main difficulty is that several realities are intertwined in the novel: on the one hand, the Soviet life of Moscow in the 20-30s, on the other, the city of Yershalaim, and finally, the reality of the all-powerful Woland.

First world - Moscow of the 20-30s.

Satan came to Moscow to bring justice, to rescue the Master, his masterpiece and Margarita. He sees that Moscow has turned into something like a Great Ball: it is inhabited by traitors, informers, sycophants, bribe-takers, currency traders. Bulgakov presented them both as individual characters and as employees of the following institutions: MASSOLIT, Variety Theater and the Entertainment Commission. Every person has vices that Woland exposes. A more serious sin was committed by MASSLIT workers who call themselves writers and scientists. These people know a lot and at the same time deliberately lead people away from the search for truth and make the brilliant Master unhappy. For this, punishment comes to the Griboyedov House, where MASSOLIT is located. The Moscow population does not want to believe in anything without evidence, neither in God nor in the devil. In my opinion, Bulgakov hoped that someday people would realize the horror that had consumed Russia for many years, just as Ivan Bezdomny realized that his poems were terrible. But this did not happen during Bulgakov’s lifetime.

The second world is Yershalaim.

Yershalaim is associated with many characteristic details that are unique to it and at the same time unite it with Moscow. This is the scorching sun, narrow intricate streets, and the terrain. The similarity of some elevations is especially surprising: the Pashkov House in Moscow and Pilate’s Palace, located above the roofs of city houses; Bald Mountain and Sparrow Hills. You can also pay attention to the fact that if in Yershalaim a hill with the crucified Yeshua is surrounded, then in Moscow it is surrounded by Woland leaving it. Only three days are described from the life of the city. The struggle between good and evil does not stop and cannot stop. The main character of the ancient world, Yeshua, is very similar to Jesus. He is also a mere mortal who remains misunderstood. Yershalaim, invented by the Master, is a fantasy. But it is he who looks the most real in the novel.

The third world is the mystical, fantastic Woland and his retinue.

Mysticism in the novel plays a completely realistic role and can serve as an example of the contradictions of reality. The otherworldly world is headed by Woland. He is the devil, Satan, "prince of darkness", "spirit of evil and lord of shadows." The evil spirits in The Master and Margarita expose us to human vices. Here comes the devil Koroviev - a drunken drunkard. Here is the cat Behemoth, very similar to a person and at times turning into a person very similar to a cat. Here is the bully Azazello with an ugly fang. Woland personifies eternity. He is the eternally existing evil that is necessary for the existence of good. The novel changes the traditional image of Satan: he is no longer an immoral, evil, treacherous demon-destroyer. Evil spirits appear in Moscow with an audit. She is interested in whether the townspeople have changed internally. Observing the audience at the Variety Show, the “professor of black magic” is inclined to think that essentially nothing has changed. Evil spirits appear before us as evil human will, being an instrument of punishment, carrying out intrigues at the suggestion of people. Woland seemed to me fair, objective, and his justice was manifested not only in the punishment of some heroes. Thanks to him, the Master and Margarita are reunited.

All the characters in the novel are closely related to each other; without the existence of some, the existence of others would be impossible, just as there can be no light without darkness. The novel “The Master and Margarita” talks about a person’s responsibility for his actions. The actions are united by one idea - the search for truth and the fight for it. Hostility, mistrust, and envy reign in the world at all times. This novel belongs to those works that definitely need to be re-read in order to better understand the subtext, to see new details that you might not have noticed the first time. This happens not only because the novel touches on many philosophical issues, but also because of the complex “three-dimensional” structure of the work.

THREE WORLDS IN M. BULGAKOV’S NOVEL “THE MASTER AND MARGARITA”

2. Three-dimensionality as a form of being

Trinity of the Divine Trinity

3. Three-world structure of the novel

The ancient "Yershalaim" world

The modern Moscow world

Eternal otherworld

The relationship of three worlds

4. Parallel rows of characters emphasizing the connections of worlds

Triads of characters based on external similarity and their actions

Moving characters from one world to another

Characters not included in triads

Yeshua Ha-Nozri and the Master

Margarita

5. The influence of the three worlds on the genre uniqueness of the novel......00

Conclusion................................................. ......00

References.........................................00

Introduction

M. A. Bulgakov is one of the remarkable writers of the post-revolutionary era. Bulgakov had a difficult fate, there were many conflicts, victories and defeats. The novel “The Master and Margarita” became a revelation of the great writer.

Until now, no one has been able to determine what constitutes a satirical, philosophical, psychological, and in the Yershalaim chapters - a parable novel “The Master and Margarita”. It was viewed both as a result of world literary development, and as a historical response to specific life events of the 20s and 30s, and as a concentration of ideas from the writer’s previous works. The author himself assessed it as his main message to humanity, his testament to his descendants.

This novel is complex and multifaceted; the writer touched on many topics and problems in it.

In the image of the Master we recognize Bulgakov himself, and the prototype of Margarita was the writer’s beloved woman - his wife Elena Sergeevna. It is no coincidence that the theme of love is one of the main, main themes of the novel. Bulgakov writes about the highest and most beautiful human feeling - about love, about the pointlessness of resisting it. In the novel, he proves that true love cannot be hindered by any obstacles.

Another of the many problems raised in the novel is the problem of human cowardice. The author considers cowardice to be the greatest sin in life. This is shown through the image of Pontius Pilate. After all, he understood perfectly well that Yeshua had not done anything for which he needed to be executed. However, Pilate did not listen to his “inner” voice, the voice of conscience, but followed the lead of the crowd and executed Yeshua Ha-Nozri. Pontius Pilate was afraid and for this he was punished with immortality.

An endless chain of associations, not always explainable, not always traceable, but really existing; there are hundreds of them. Let's consider three of them: the ancient “Yershalaim” world, the modern Moscow world and the eternal other world.

The presented work compares these three worlds and the characters that inhabit them, the characters and actions of the heroes of the book.

The three-dimensional structure of the novel is also visible in the construction of the characters, who are collected according to the principle of the influence of similarities and their actions: Pontius Pilate - Woland - Professor Stravinsky; Afrany - Fagot Koroviev - doctor Fyodor Vasilyevich, assistant to Stravinsky; and others.

Three-dimensionality as a form of being.

“Trinity is the most general characteristic of being.”

P. Florensky

Space is a form of existence of matter, expressing the extent of its constituent objects, their structure from elements and parts.

Space has three dimensions and is called three-dimensional. It is a necessary condition for the existence of stable systems. Space is a time slice of our existence, characterized by the formula 3+1. It is the trinity of time and any change that reveals another feature of time, namely the unity of changing being that penetrates it.

Being is one of the most general categories, carrying a triple nature.

At the level of everyday life, the fact of the fluidity of time is striking: from the past to the present, from the present to the future.

To confirm this, there are metaphors: “Kill time”, “Time is money”, “Everything flows - everything changes.” The main manifestation of time is its change. Change is the unity of past, present and future.

Trinity of the Divine Trinity.

The word “trinity” of non-biblical origin was introduced into the Christian lexicon in the second half of the 2nd century by St. Theophilus of Antioch. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is given in Christian Revelation. It says: God is one in essence, but trinity in persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity is consubstantial and indivisible.

Belief in the Trinity distinguishes Christianity from all other monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam. The doctrine of the Trinity is the basis of all Christian faith and moral teaching, for example, the doctrine of God the Savior, God the Sanctifier, etc. V.N. Lossky said that the doctrine of the Trinity “is not only the basis, but also the highest goal of theology, for... to know the mystery of the Holy Trinity in its fullness -

means to enter into the Divine life, into the very life of the Most Holy

The doctrine of the Triune God boils down to three provisions:


  1. God is trinity and trinity consists in the fact that in God there are three Persons (hypostases): Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

  2. Each Person of the Holy Trinity is God, but They are not three Gods, but are one Divine being.

  3. All three Persons differ in personal, or hypostatic properties.
This saying sets out the basic meaning of Christians’ perception and understanding of God. The Trinity of God is an immutable truth for Christians, which has many confirmations in the Bible. In the Old Testament - in unambiguous prototypes, and in the New Testament - quite clearly, for example: in the Baptism of Christ, where the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove and the voice of the Father is heard; in a farewell conversation with the disciples, where Jesus Christ says: “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he will testify about Me...”; in his last meeting with his disciples, when He says: “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit...”.

Three-dimensional structure of the novel

In his novel, Bulgakov shows us that life is not two-dimensional, that it is not limited to the plane of earthly existence, that every event on this plane of earthly life only seems flat, two-dimensional to us. But in fact, it undoubtedly has, albeit invisible, indistinguishable to our eyes, but a completely real and unconditional “third dimension”.

The ancient “Yershalaim” world.

This world appears before us in the novel, written by one of the leading characters of the novel, it is the basis of the entire Bulgakov novel. The question of the Yershalaim scenes in The Master and Margarita has long attracted the attention of researchers.

E. Renan's book "The Life of Jesus" occupies an important place in Bulgakov's work on these scenes. Extracts from it are preserved in the writer’s archive. In addition to chronological dates, Bulgakov also picked up some historical details from there.

Also, when working on a novel about Pontius Pilate, Bulgakov turned to another work by Renan - “Antichrist,” which tells about the history of Christianity during the time of Nero.

But none of these books can compare in value of information with the work of the British researcher, Bishop Frederick William Ferrar, “The Life of Jesus Christ.”

Another of the most important sources when creating Yershalaim scenes is the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron. It was from there that Bulgakov took information about the equipment, structure and weapons of the Roman army.

The novel has been cleared of many unreliable gospel events, as well as from some details of the gospel plot that are unnecessary for the novel. The writer concentrated the action of his novel around two characters - Yeshua and Pilate. In the Yershalaim scenes of The Master and Margarita there are much fewer characters, although the genre chosen by Bulgakov should have led to the opposite.

At the end of the novel, we see the procurator “on a rocky, joyless flat top,” sitting alone in a heavy chair in this desolate mountainous area. Pilate's last refuge in the novel is a kind of analogue of the deep well surrounded by mountains from the apocryphal legend.

The Yershalaim scenes are the most striking part of the novel. From various details, the author created a panorama of the life and everyday life of people of an era far from our days, giving it historical authenticity. The images described in these chapters are still clear to us today. These scenes contain the philosophical line of the novel, its highest aesthetic point.

Modern Moscow world.

On the pages of the novel, Moscow residents and their way of life, everyday life and worries are depicted satirically. Woland arrives to see what the inhabitants of Moscow have become. To do this, he arranges a black magic session. And he literally showers people with money and dresses them in expensive clothes. But it's not just greed

And greed is inherent in them who inhabit the capital. Mercy is alive and well in them. Suffice it to recall the episode that happened at that unusual session when the presenter of the program, Bengalsky, was torn off his head by Behemoth. Seeing the presenter without a head, Muscovites immediately ask Woland to return Bengalsky’s head. This is how Woland’s words can characterize the residents of Moscow at that time.

“Well,” he responded thoughtfully, “they are people like people, they love money; but this has always been... humanity loves money, no matter what it is made of, whether leather, paper, bronze or gold. Well, they are frivolous... well, well... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts... ordinary people... in general, they resemble the old ones... the housing problem has only spoiled them..."

Eternal other world.

“The demonological is something that neither reason nor reason can comprehend. It is alien to my nature, but I am subject to it.”

I.V.Goethe

When describing the Sabbath in The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov used many literary sources. In the preparatory materials for the first edition, excerpts from Orlov’s book “Antesser” were preserved. Sabbath games. Sawdust and a bell”, as well as from the article “Sabbath of Witches” in the Encyclopedic Dictionary. The author of this article points out that witches and devils, who according to popular belief are participants in the Sabbath, originated from ancient pagan gods and goddesses, traditionally depicted on a hog. But this is exactly how Margarita’s servant, Natasha, travels.

But the flight of Margarita and the Sabbath is just a kind of prelude to the most striking scenes associated with the great ball and Satan.

According to the memoirs of E.S. Bulgakova, the initial description of the ball was very different from the one we now know from the final text of the novel. At first it was a small ball in Woland’s bedroom, but already during his illness Bulgakov rewrote it and the ball became larger.

In order to describe such a grandiose ball, it was necessary to expand the space of an ordinary Moscow apartment to supernatural proportions. And, as Koroviev explains, “for those who are well acquainted with the fifth dimension,” it costs nothing to expand the room to the desired limits.

Some details of the ball scene are to a certain extent based on articles by Brockhaus and Efron, and a number of other sources. Thus, having abundantly decorated the ballrooms with roses, Bulgakov, without a doubt, took into account the complex and multifaceted symbolism associated with this flower. The Encyclopedic Dictionary article on roses in ethnography, literature and art notes that roses acted both as a symbol of mourning and as a symbol of love and purity.

Taking this into account, Bulgakov’s roses can simultaneously be considered both as symbols of Margarita’s love for the Master and as a harbinger of their imminent death. The abundance of roses - a flower alien to Russian tradition - emphasizes the foreign origin of the devil's play and its heroes played out in Moscow, and, if we remember the widespread use of roses to decorate Catholic services, roses add an additional element to the ball - a parody of a church service.

When describing Satan's ball, Bulgakov also took into account the tradition of Russian symbolism. Thus, Woland’s ball is called “the full moon spring ball, or the ball of a hundred kings,” and Margarita appears at it as a queen. At Bulgakov's, Margarita receives the guests of the ball, standing on one knee. The guests are men in tails, and naked women in hats with feathers kiss her hand and knee, and Margarita is forced to smile at everyone. During the ceremony, she is located on the marble staircase rising above the hall.

It is no coincidence that a line of villains, murderers, poisoners, and libertines passes in front of Margarita. Bulgakov's heroine is tormented by her betrayal of her husband and, albeit subconsciously, puts this offense on a par with the greatest crimes of the past and present. Woland, introducing Margarita to famous villains and libertines, as if testing her love for the Master, intensifies the torment of her conscience.

The image of Frida occupies a special position in the ball scene. The name itself evokes many associations. It is also close to the English word freedom, meaning “freedom”. She kills her child in infancy and with the help of a handkerchief. In the episode with Frida, it was the innocent baby that was important to Bulgakov as the last measure of good and evil. The handkerchief that Frida sees every evening on her table is not only a symbol of the pangs of conscience tormenting her, but also the ghost of the existence of an obsession.

Frida is granted mercy. Her story in some ways echoes the story of Goethe’s Margarita from “Faust” and is contrasted with the fate of Bulgakov’s Margarita, which genetically goes back to this heroine of Goethe’s tragedy.

The transformation of Berlioz's head into a cup - a skull, from which they drink wine and blood, occurs in strict accordance with the laws of the Sabbath. Even in the preparatory materials for the first edition of the novel there is an extract from the article “The Sabbath of Witches”: “A horse skull from which they drink.” In the original source, this passage sounds like this: that the participants of the Sabbath “eat horse meat, and drink drinks from cow hooves and horse skulls.” At the ball of the dead, Woland, a specialist in “black magic”, Satan, refers to the severed head of Berlioz, on which “living eyes, full of thoughts and suffering” have been preserved: “... everyone will be given according to his faith. May it come true! You are going into oblivion, but I will be happy to drink from the cup into which you are turning into being.”

What “faith” does the chairman of MASSOLIT profess? In this context, it comes down to a simple thought: “when a person’s head is cut off, life in a person ceases... and he goes into oblivion.” Woland raises a toast “to being,” a toast to life.

However, “life” is only a superficial, far from exhaustive content that the author puts into the concept of “being”. In Woland’s conversation with a Moscow writer on the Patriarch’s Ponds, we talk about evidence of the existence of God and, accordingly, the devil. Woland “begs” his interlocutors: “at least believe that the devil exists.” God and the devil are creatures of the spiritual world, of spiritual value. Being - in a broad sense - is the reality of the spiritual world, rejected by Berlioz. Woland forms the essence of his “faith” in an ironic maxim: “... whatever you miss, there is nothing.” Such is Berlioz’s “faith.” Woland refutes Berlioz's views point by point; he proves that they contradict “facts,” the most stubborn thing in the world. The “full of thoughts and suffering” eyes on the severed head indicate that the truth of the fact reached Berlioz’s still unextinguished consciousness.

Parallel rows of characters highlighting the connections between worlds.

Parallel rows of characters highlighting the connections between worlds.

There are no minor characters in the novel; but all the characters conditionally belong to three groups:

1) We accept a priori - Yeshua, Pilate and Woland, as well as the Master and Margarita, who existed long before Bulgakov, and were only included by him in the fabric of the narrative. The figures are certainly historical; about which endlessly much has been written and endlessly interesting. Controversy over the origin of the last two heroes still does not subside, and I believe that almost all researchers of this problem are equally right.

2) The characters are parodies, taken directly from life, and do not raise questions for us; just funny as hell. And Styopa Likhodeev, and financial director Rimsky, and the failed poet Ryukhin, and the brilliant Archibald Archibaldovich, and the entire literary world of the Griboyedov house, drawn with great care, but how mercilessly. But you never know how many of them are spotted on the street or in a queue, striking when they meet; for a book is an accumulation of facts from the biography of the writer himself, which no one argues with when trying to find a correspondence between a biographical fact and an episode of the novel. But such a direct relationship almost never happens, but strange associations do happen, like all of us, when two unfamiliar thoughts, in a hurry and bustle, suddenly collide and give birth to a third - brilliant and amazing. This is how they appear:

3) Mysterious heroes who have their own story that lies outside the dimension of the book.

Bibliography:


  1. A short reference book for schoolchildren, grades 5-11, “Drofa”, Moscow 1997

  2. B.V. Sokolov M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”. Essays on creative history, “Science”, Moscow 1991

  3. V.P. Maslov The hidden leitmotif of M.A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.” "Izvestia of the Academy of Sciences", Series of literature and language, volume No. 54, No. 6, 1995

  4. www.rg.ru.

  5. M. Chudakov Mikhail Bulgakov. The era and fate of the artist. "Enlightenment", Moscow 1991

  6. B.M. Sarnov To each according to his faith. About M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”. "MSU" Moscow 1998

  7. V.V. Petelin The Life of Bulgakov. Finish before you die. ZAO "Tsentropoligraf", Moscow 2005

  8. Priest Oleg Davydenko Teaching of the Orthodox Church about the Holy Trinity. From lectures on dogmatic theology at the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Theological Institute. 05/29/2004

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The novel “The Master and Margarita” is a mystery. Each person who reads it discovers its own meaning. The text of the work is so full of problems that it is very difficult to find the main one, I would even say impossible.

The main difficulty is that several realities are intertwined in the novel: on the one hand, the Soviet life of Moscow in the 20-30s, on the other, the city of Yershalaim, and finally, the reality of the all-powerful Woland.

First world - Moscow of the 20-30s.

Satan came to Moscow to bring justice, to rescue the Master, his masterpiece and Margarita. He sees that Moscow has turned into something like a Great Ball: it is inhabited by traitors, informers, sycophants, bribe-takers, currency traders. Bulgakov presented them both as individual characters and as employees of the following institutions: MASSOLIT, Variety Theater and the Entertainment Commission. Every person has vices that Woland exposes. A more serious sin was committed by MASSLIT workers who call themselves writers and scientists. These people know a lot and at the same time deliberately lead people away from the search for truth and make the brilliant Master unhappy. For this, punishment comes to the Griboyedov House, where MASSOLIT is located. The Moscow population does not want to believe in anything without evidence, neither in God nor in the devil. In my opinion, Bulgakov hoped that someday people would realize the horror that had consumed Russia for many years, just as Ivan Bezdomny realized that his poems were terrible. But this did not happen during Bulgakov’s lifetime.

The second world is Yershalaim.

Yershalaim is associated with many characteristic details that are unique to it and at the same time unite it with Moscow. This is the scorching sun, narrow intricate streets, and the terrain. The similarity of some elevations is especially surprising: the Pashkov House in Moscow and Pilate’s Palace, located above the roofs of city houses; Bald Mountain and Sparrow Hills. You can also pay attention to the fact that if in Yershalaim a hill with the crucified Yeshua is surrounded, then in Moscow it is surrounded by Woland leaving it. Only three days are described from the life of the city. The struggle between good and evil does not stop and cannot stop. The main character of the ancient world, Yeshua, is very similar to Jesus. He is also a mere mortal who remains misunderstood. Yershalaim, invented by the Master, is a fantasy. But it is he who looks the most real in the novel.

The third world is the mystical, fantastic Woland and his retinue.

Mysticism in the novel plays a completely realistic role and can serve as an example of the contradictions of reality. The otherworldly world is headed by Woland. He is the devil, Satan, "prince of darkness", "spirit of evil and lord of shadows." The evil spirits in The Master and Margarita expose us to human vices. Here comes the devil Koroviev - a drunken drunkard. Here is the cat Behemoth, very similar to a person and at times turning into a person very similar to a cat. Here is the bully Azazello with an ugly fang. Woland personifies eternity. He is the eternally existing evil that is necessary for the existence of good. The novel changes the traditional image of Satan: he is no longer an immoral, evil, treacherous demon-destroyer. Evil spirits appear in Moscow with an audit. She is interested in whether the townspeople have changed internally. Observing the audience at the Variety Show, the “professor of black magic” is inclined to think that essentially nothing has changed. Evil spirits appear before us as evil human will, being an instrument of punishment, carrying out intrigues at the suggestion of people. Woland seemed to me fair, objective, and his justice was manifested not only in the punishment of some heroes. Thanks to him, the Master and Margarita are reunited.

All the characters in the novel are closely related to each other; without the existence of some, the existence of others would be impossible, just as there can be no light without darkness. The novel “The Master and Margarita” talks about a person’s responsibility for his actions. The actions are united by one idea - the search for truth and the fight for it. Hostility, mistrust, and envy reign in the world at all times. This novel belongs to those works that definitely need to be re-read in order to better understand the subtext, to see new details that you might not have noticed the first time. This happens not only because the novel touches on many philosophical issues, but also because of the complex “three-dimensional” structure of the work.

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