What does the phrase cowardice, the most serious sin, mean? Why does Yeshua, in the novel The Master and Margarita, consider cowardice to be the main vice? There are no evil people in the world, there are only unhappy people

To the question Why cowardice is the most terrible vice? given by the author Throw the best answer is if we cowardly avoid a responsible decision and, without heeding the voice of conscience, choose easy way, which others call correct, although we ourselves feel it is incorrect and thus, contrary to our conscience, we follow the path indicated by others, what do we do then? We're jamming divine voice within us; we choose the lower, not the higher, the lighter, but the more chesty, we decide to renounce our will, instead of purifying it; and even though the path we took at the direction of others was the better of the two, we will still harm our evolution by not doing what we in our conscience considered more correct.
The most terrible death- this is spiritual, the instinct of self-preservation should not work here
This is all nonsense.
The reason for cowardice is that most people act this way. And everyone is ready to find an excuse for their stupidity and gloating.
It is almost impossible to love cowardly people.
This is truly terrible.

Reply from I-beam[guru]
Nope, philosopher, I object to you. There is no worse vice than betrayal!

Reply from Fomart[guru]
cowardice is a product of darkness and everything connected with it
the feeling of danger is a diametrically different feeling, namely instinct, AWARENESS of the difference

Reply from Farrow[guru]
Even the greatest heroes were cowards; only psychos are not afraid. Panic is probably the worst thing.

Reply from Protonych[guru]
Perhaps the answer to this question can be found in the Master’s statements in M. Bulgakov’s remake of “The Master and E.P. Kruglyakov”
(download text)

Reply from User deleted[guru]
cowardice does not allow a person to grow, to be strong, to overcome obstacles, cowardice makes people do rash acts, for example: they will accuse me of this, I will be caught doing this, oh, I’m afraid they will find out about me, but let me intimidate or kill this person, I I’m afraid that they will judge me, or I’m afraid to say “no” and be used and that’s why I’m so unhappy, no, I’d rather sit in the “hole” than stick my head out, they’ll eat me, and I’m afraid to become strong, in case it doesn’t work out ....

Reply from Evgeniy Sobolev[guru]
There are different types of cowardice. Sometimes a person knows what awaits him, but he is a coward - this is a vice. But when he doesn’t know what awaits him and is a coward, that’s instinct. And Ha Notsri meant that if you know your fate and are afraid (i.e., you cannot accept it), then this is a vice. He already knew that he was going to certain death and was not afraid. That's why I was calm. Agree, if he began to rush around in hysterics and ask for forgiveness, it would lower him to a level... well, no lower, but he became a god.

Reply from Girl with a maple branch[guru]
How we need excuses! How we need to be perfect! Well, at least in someone’s eyes!

Reply from Volkhov[newbie]
Cowardice is the greatest betrayal before God, who endowed us with all his greatness from the beginning.

Reply from Forever Man[guru]
1) Vice (SIN) No. 1 is the hypocrisy of the first “persons” - the supreme shaggy-snouted churchmen (ROC) and high-ranking shaved snouts** of the Tsarist secret police (FSB). **It’s hard to say, people just can’t help but say it.
Pornography No. 1 or the biography of Harlot No. 1 (church) is nothing more than the Bible (Book of Dead Souls)
2) Based on the novel “Ma$Ma” and on the aFFTAr of the question, you can easily build an idiotic logical chain:
Vice - Betrayal.
Betrayal is a product of Cowardice.
Cowardice is a product of Lack of spirituality.
Lack of spirituality is a product of a brain that is poor in convolutions.
Poverty (mental) is not a vice....:-)))
3) Everything is much simpler.
Cowardice little man, for example, a child or a person from common people, incomparably small and insignificant compared to COWARDNESS powerful of the world this.
4) Lord demons! Don't you know what awaits you? However, you have a chance to reduce the “depth” of the abyss by several trillion years...
😉
Signature: Eternal

Reply from Yovetlana Karpova[guru]
The instinct of self-preservation is a fear that can be overcome. Cowardice cannot be overcome. But I'm not sure that this is such a terrible vice. It is known that cowards live longer than brave men.

Reply from Tajmahal[guru]
There are many such vices, pride is even worse. And yet... weakness of spirit is a disease of the spirit. What should I ask the patient?

Reply from T T[guru]
herd feeling.

Reply from Maya matveeva[newbie]
This is how cowardice gives rise to betrayal!

Reply from Ovidy Bazhenov[guru]
What does the instinct of self-preservation and cowardice have to do with it?
The “instinct of self-preservation” is an uncontrollable reaction to a threat to life.
Cowardice is the fear of possible negative consequences.
Why is cowardice the worst vice?
Delve into yourself, remember the most shameful acts, and behind them there will be cowardice.

Reply from Alyona 185[newbie]
The words that cowardice is one of the most terrible vices belong to Yeshua Ha-Nozri, the hero of the Master’s novel. They were addressed to Pontius Pilate due to the fact that the latter did not dare to risk his career and sent an innocent man to death rather than go against the crowd. Cowardice can be called all people who largely disagree with the actions of any leadership, the authorities in general, but will not talk about it publicly, only in their narrow circle. These are those who do not agree, but will comply, are dissatisfied, but do not protest. And these are the majority. Cowardice is dangerous because it is very common and, in general, unpunished. Regarding

DEBT THEORY

Cowardice is habitually condemned by society

Many people have heard M. Bulgakov’s phrase that cowardice is the most terrible vice. Well, that’s true. However, it is very bad when, under the pressure of such maxims, a conscientious person gives up on himself after a cowardly act.

Of course, the cats are already scratching at his soul, and in addition, society invisibly repeats to him: “You have reached the most terrible vice!”

But pay attention - after all, Bulgakov hardly condemned anyone. Rather, he simply stated a fact that was obvious to him. And I will allow myself to add to the famous phrase:

Cowardice is the worst of vices if you don’t fight it.

It is not cowardice itself that is immoral, but the unwillingness to resist it.

I repeat - for thousands of years, leaders of all stripes have cultivated cowardice in people using the most cruel means. She has ingrained herself into our soul, she has literally become a part of it! This is why, when we are threatened, we instinctively strive to obey.

Under these conditions, one cannot blame a person who succumbs to cowardice. It would be more correct to honor the one who was able to overcome it!

There is a striking episode in the Gospel when the Apostle Peter denied Christ. Just before this, he passionately convinced the teacher that he would never leave him. To which he will receive the answer: “... Truly I tell you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And so it happened - under the threat of being captured, Peter denied Christ three times - and then the rooster crowed. And Peter, gone, wept bitterly...

So, do we now consider Peter a scoundrel and a traitor? No. Having overcome his fear, he then became a successor to the work of his teacher - and at the end of his life he also accepted martyrdom.

And now I’ll give an excerpt from E. M. Remarque’s book “On western front no change,” which describes the shelling:

“A recruit lying scared to death next to us...

He covered his face with his hands. His helmet rolled to the side.

I pull it up and am going to put it on his head.

He looks up, pushes his helmet away and, like a child,

crawls his head under my armpit, pressing tightly to mine

breasts His narrow shoulders tremble...

Gradually he comes to his senses. Suddenly he turns red like a poppy,

Confusion is written on his face. He carefully touches his hand

pants and looks at me pitifully. I immediately realize what's going on:

he has gun disease. I try to console him:

- There is nothing to be ashamed of; It also happened not like you

shit in their pants when they first came under fire. Go behind the bush

take off your underpants and that's the end of it...

There is not a drop of blame or condemnation in this episode. Not only gods, but also people are wise, understanding the nature of cowardice and not making a judgment out of it. Cowardice is not bad in itself, but only when you refuse to fight it. In this case, we can safely equate cowardice and laziness of the soul...

Okay - but what should you do if you commit a shameful, cowardly act?

Paradoxically, the first thing to do is to perk up your spirit a little. Thousands and thousands of people are absolutely not ashamed of their cowardice - their weak consciousness is designed in such a way that it instantly displaces all unpleasant memories from their memory.

You are not like that. There is some kind of vigilant guard in your soul that does not allow you to relax. And this, on the one hand, is good. But on the other hand, you may soon simply overstrain yourself from endless reproaches of your conscience. Especially if you still don’t have enough strength to follow her voice...

I suggest you adopt debt theory . If at some point in your life you did not have the courage to act according to your conscience, write this action down as a liability. Rest assured - fate, seeing the intention to get even with the debts of the past, will definitely provide the opportunity to do this

One of the most striking episodes in my life was when I did not stand up for a woman who was robbed on a bus. When we, tightly squeezed in the car, approached the stop, she became agitated and shouted: “Driver, don’t open the door! My wallet was stolen! I know who stole it - this one!” And she pointed to the big guy next to me, who was grinning and looking away to the side. And I stood right at the door and could well have said: “I’m ready to show my pockets. You do the same, or give me your wallet.” Moreover, I was pressed so tightly against the door that, if I wanted, I could prevent it from opening.

But... The bus pulled up to the stop, the driver, turning his face to the side, opened the door, the big guy immediately jumped out into the street - and was gone...

I was extremely ashamed to remember this episode, until I said to myself: “Simply tormenting the soul will not help the matter. They will only wear me down. Therefore, I write this episode down as a credit to myself. As soon as I witness again similar situation- I will be ready to intervene in it...”

Almost every one of us has committed cowardly, shameful acts in life. It is commendable to worry about this - but only if the worries lead to a specific positive result.

Cowardice comes only from a lack of...desire

R. Descartes

THEORY OF SMALL CASES

The eyes of fear are great

What does this saying mean? Yes very much simple thought- we tend to exaggerate the scale of the unknown. As Shakespeare said: “Real horrors are not so terrible as the horrors of imagination.”

The main tool for defeating cowardice is practice. If you are afraid of the dark, go into the darkness. If you are afraid of gopniks, reprimand them for swearing in a public place.

But, of course, do it wisely. If you go into the dark, then go into one where there are no swamps and sharp branches. After all, your task is to return alive, healthy and with the experience of victory over cowardice.

If you reprimand a gopnik, do it in a place where those around you can help you if something happens. Yes, and for the first time you should choose a cooler Gopnik - in case of a possible fight.

Starting with small steps, you will gradually feel the ground under your feet more and more confidently. And soon you will realize that you can make comments even drunk company in a train compartment - and instead of a fight, you are met with confused glances...

In general, it has long been said that you cannot overcome fear without going through the path that frightens you. Moreover, the more often you get into extreme situations, the faster your body adapts to this. It's all about practice!

Human He fears only what he does not know; with knowledge all fear is conquered.

V. G. Belinsky

HOW SCARY THE HELL IS IT?

Often we do not dare to act only because we have been instilled with the idea of ​​​​the terrible consequences of the act...

Man is a lazy creature. Having found a more or less comfortable corner in life, we prefer to keep a low profile, so as not to lose even the illusion of well-being. Habit is a terrible thing.

Wife tolerates a drunken husband because she thinks it will be harder for her alone.

Employee tolerates a boorish boss because he’s not sure

will find an equally well-paid job

People tolerates power because it assumes that in the event

disobedience, she will apply the most severe measures of influence to him

So - pay attention: “thinks”, “not sure”, “assumes”... In general, we live by the principle of the immortal phrase: “No matter what happens!” It’s difficult for us to even decide to experiment - what will happen if I do...

So, let's carry it out anyway - in a safe way for now, laboratory conditions. Take a pen, a piece of paper and write the name of the situation at the top. Now, in two columns below, write the pros and cons as a result of its change.

Work calmly, without rushing. Weigh all your options carefully. And it may well turn out that the prospect of being fired from your job is no longer so scary. Or what a failure public speaking does not threaten disaster at all. Etc.

A separate issue is fights. To be honest, many of us give in to them. Therefore, start by carefully watching video recordings of fights, which, unfortunately, are offered in huge quantities on the Internet today. Then summarize: what characterizes fights? How do they go? What result awaits me if I get into a fight?

After this, you should carefully study expert advice about how to behave in a fight. After this, it’s a good idea to take a self-defense course without weapons - fortunately, there are a lot of them now. And so you will find that your confidence has now increased - to the point that you have mastered the icy ability to extinguish a fight before it starts.

Our the fears are half groundless and half simply shameful.

K. Bovey

IF YOU'RE AFRAID, DON'T DO IT, IF YOU DO, DON'T BE AFRAID

In conclusion, I want to say this again:

Dare on brave act Only those who feel the strength should do so. This does not mean that you can enter into a fight with hooligans only after learning kickboxing. But in in this case It is not physical preparation that is important, but mental strength.

History has repeatedly shown examples of how big men and big men retreated from a weaker enemy only because he was not going to give up. Desperate, focused resistance sometimes works wonders. But only internally mature people are capable of such resistance.

So don't rush the time. If you have taken a course towards courage, that’s already good. Work tirelessly and consistently towards your goal. Be prepared for failure. Think of them as training and conditioning. Get up from your knees and walk forward again.

And at one point there will come a calm inner feeling that you have already don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid of gopniks.

Don't be afraid to argue with your boss.

Don't be afraid to openly express your position on the forum.

Don't be afraid to live.

"Don't be afraid of your friends - in the worst case, they can betray you. Be afraid of the indifferent - they don't kill or betray, but only with their tacit consent There is betrayal and murder on earth."

In Moscow on Bolotnaya Square An ensemble of sculptures “Children - Victims of the Vices of Adults” was installed.

"The composition was conceived and implemented by me as a symbol and call to the fight for the salvation of current and future generations. I, as an artist, with this work urge you to look around, hear and see what is happening. And before it's too late for the sane and honest people we need to think about it. Don’t be indifferent, fight, do everything to save the future of Russia.”
Mikhail Shemyakin

As if from a swamp, mud, viscous mud everyday life these freaks got out, stretch their gnarled hands towards the viewer, trying to drag them to the bottom... Here - Drug Addiction, Prostitution, Drunkenness, Sadism. To the left of the center are 6 statues, to the right are 6 others. What's in the center?

And in the center is a figure, looking in two directions at the same time and covering his ears in unwillingness to listen and hear, standing above everyone else. This is the most terrible of the vices of our time, primarily because of it, the amount of grief, suffering, death, and disasters in the world is increasing every second. And we breed this sin with every step we take, often without even noticing it.

Who is this figure? Mikhail Shemyakin put the most terrible vice of our time in the center - Indifference.

It is blind, it is deaf, there is no world around it. “The house is on edge”, “the matter is a side”, “they will sort it out without me”, “pass by”, “think about yourself” - these phrases today regulate all people’s behavior. “Take care of yourself, be careful...” An activity that does not bring in money is funny... Without thinking, we say: “Everything is fine,” forgetting that synonyms for “norm” are “no way,” “ordinary,” “gray,” “standard”, “faceless”. Society normal people- it's scary.

*** I don’t know how to excite you in the depths of your apartments,
How to disturb, what kind of dusts?
But I know that if the world perishes tomorrow,
he will die only through your fault, indifferent ones!

*** When does a person become indifferent?
Then, when holy concepts turn for him
Into the usual set of words, into an empty sound.

Holy concepts such as Motherland, love, veteran, mercy, memory, mother.

*** The most terrible indifference is indifference to your own mother. Indifference, resentment, misunderstanding - very often these qualities accumulate in us, and our dear close person becomes a stranger. Mother . We are always in her debt. Busy, always preoccupied with our affairs, always ready to sacrifice her peace and well-being for us, accepting our joys and sorrows as her own - no, closer than her own! But we are in a hurry, in a hurry and forget to say something to our mother, kiss her, take her care of us for granted, putting off gratitude for later.

The easiest way to offend your mother is
She won't answer with offense
And he will only repeat:
“Don’t catch a cold, it’s windy today!”

*** Indifference… But what about the memory of those who remained in the earth forever, and who live next to us. About the soldiers who gave us peace. Where do young people come from in Russia who attach vile symbols to themselves, forgetting about those 20 million who...

The war has passed, gone around the corner,
Guards banners are in cases.
Both life and time move forward.
Only twenty million were left behind.

*** Maybe the adults, protecting the fragile, impressionable soul of the child, did not tell him the truth about the war, about fascism, about human grief, maybe he himself believed that these were “things that happened a long time ago.” days gone by“, but now there are much more interesting and important activities.

There are names and there are dates
They are full of imperishable essence.
We are guilty before them in everyday life.
Do not atone for guilt on holidays.

*** And this is not the person’s fault alone. People have become indifferent to small tragedies. Previously, when a child walked alone down the street, passers-by would certainly ask if he was lost and if everything was okay. Now they are just passing by. The pain threshold in society has increased. To cry today we need to see something monstrous.

We look through distorting mirrors
And we see life as a clot of darkness,
Not distinguishing any heat at all,
No happiness, no love, no beauty.
And the kindness in those mirrors is a deception,
Pretense and destructive evil...

So why do we look through the fog
To deceitful, corrupt glass?
Why notice the bad in people?
And talk about other people's mistakes?
Why burn out of black envy,
Shower streams of hatred at everyone?

We just stopped respecting
Appreciate goodness, laugh and love.
We gradually began to forget
What does it mean in the full sense of the word -
LIVE!

*** We are sometimes afraid to give a penny to a beggar, to show even the slightest concern for the humiliated. No, you cannot be afraid to do good. This will make us happier and brighter. If we did something from pure heart, sincerely pitied the person and did not humiliate him, then let us remember his grateful look. No matter how hard it was for us from our internal experiences, we managed to find in ourselves mental strength, break away from them, help those who suffer more than us. By passing through ourselves the pain of another person, a stranger to us, we are cured of our own pain. This is mercy, which is built on respect and a feeling of compassion and involvement with a person.

A compassionate attitude towards everything that surrounds us: towards people, towards nature, towards animals, birds, fish, even insects, is manifested in actions. We need to learn to give warmth, kindness, mercy, and it will definitely return to us a hundredfold. It is important to find peace in your soul, where there is no anger and aggression, indifference and hatred.

*** ...rallies, demonstrations of solidarity!And yet sometimes we hear: “Who needs all this? These rallies and demonstrations of solidarity are a waste of time! What's the point? With more voice, with less voice...” But this is indifference. “Small?” no, indifference is always dangerous, in any form.

*** There is such a disease: “hospitalism”. A girl, smart and the favorite of all the staff, died in the hospital. The unfortunate “abandoned” child, who was three years old, died from this disease. And she is not the first and probably not the last. This disease develops because there is simply no one to caress the child, sing a song, or kiss him good night. With all the love the nurses had for her, they had no time for the child when there were so many worries; The main thing is that he is fed and dry. But the entire staff was shocked. Die from inattention. Isn't it scary? This is what children can die from.

*** And here is another case.
A girl was accosted by hooligans on the street. It was still light, there were a lot of people around. Everyone walked by and pretended not to notice anything. Only one young man came up and tried to calm the hooligans down. A fight ensued. No one came to help. When one of the hooligans pulled out a knife, the girl screamed. No one came in response to the cry. The hooligans wounded the young man with a knife and ran away. The ambulance didn't have time to arrive. This indifference and fear of others killed young man. And there are a lot of such stories.

*** If at first we simply ignore the grief of others, drown out the voice of our own conscience, convincing ourselves that later we will make up for lost time, but for now we already have a lot of worries, then we will kill ourselves the most valuable quality is the ability to do good. This hardens our heart, covering it with an impenetrable crust through which pleas for help can no longer break through.

*** People, be good friend to a friend, be sensitive! Morality and kindness are great forces, and we must understand them correctly. Goodness educates and exalts a person, anger and indifference humiliate him.

“If you are indifferent to the suffering of others, you do not deserve the name of a person,” said Saadi. But is it really that bad?

*** Many people like to sit in front of the TV and discuss the situation in the world, sympathize, groan... But there are other people...

Veteran of the great Patriotic War All the honey collected from his apiary was sent to a military hospital for soldiers wounded in Chechnya.
- Charitable Foundation"Children's Hearts" was created to help children with congenital heart defects.
- The initiative group “Donors for Children” is focused on finding blood donors for patients of the Hematology Center of the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital.
....

We take purity and simplicity from the ancients.
We bring sagas and tales from the past.
Because good remains good
In the past, future and present!

Everyone wants to live in a country where it’s not scary to go outside, where you can calmly walk in the park in the evening, where truly works of art are shown on TV, and where we will be calm about our lives, because there will be no indifferent people nearby and every person will lend a helping hand.

Trees do not bear fruit for themselves,
And rivers clean waters They don’t drink their own
They don't ask for bread for themselves,
At home they do not keep comfort for themselves.
We will not compare ourselves with them,
But everyone knows this loving life,
That the more generously you give to people,
The more joyfully you live for yourself.

It is stunning in its depth and comprehensiveness. Satirical chapters in which Woland's retinue fools Moscow townsfolk are mixed into the novel with lyrical chapters, dedicated to the Master and Margarita. The fantastic in the novel peeks out from behind the everyday, evil spirits walk the streets of Moscow, the beautiful Margarita turns into a witch, and the administrator of the Variety Show becomes a vampire. The composition of “The Master and Margarita” is also unusual: the book consists of two novels: the actual novel about tragic fate The Master and four chapters from the Master's novel about Pontius Pilate.
The “Yershalaim” chapters represent the substantive and philosophical center of the novel. The novel about Pilate refers the reader to the text Holy Scripture, but at the same time creatively rethinks the Gospel. Between his hero Yeshua Ha-Nozri and gospel Jesus There are important differences: Yeshua has no followers except the former tax collector Levi Matthew, a man "with a goat's parchment" who records the speeches of Ha-Nozri, but "writes it down incorrectly." Yeshua, when interrogated by Pilate, denies that he entered the city on a donkey, and the crowd greeted him with shouts. The crowd most likely beat up wandering philosopher- He comes to interrogation with his face already disfigured. Moreover, Yeshua is not the main character of the Master’s novel, although his preaching of love and truth is undoubtedly important for the philosophy of the novel. The main character of the “Yershalaim” chapters is the fifth procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.
The image of Pontius Pilate is associated with the main moral issues novel, such as the problem of conscience and power, cowardice and mercy. A meeting with Yeshua changes the procurator's life forever. In the interrogation scene, he is almost motionless, but the external static character further emphasizes his excitement, dynamism and freedom of thought, tense internal struggle with the principles and laws familiar to him. Pilate understands that the “wandering philosopher” is innocent, he passionately wants to talk with him longer. He sees in Yeshua an intelligent and truthful interlocutor, is carried away by the conversation with him, for a moment forgetting that he is conducting an interrogation, and Pilate’s secretary drops the parchment in horror, hearing the conversation between the two free people. The revolution in Pilate's soul is symbolized by the swallow that flies into the hall during the conversation between the procurator and Yeshua; her fast and easy flight symbolizes freedom, in particular freedom of conscience. It was during her flight that the decision to justify the “wandering philosopher” arises in Pilate’s head. When the “law of lese majeste” intervenes in the matter, Pilate “with a wild gaze” sees off the same swallow, realizing the illusory nature of his freedom.
Pilate's internal torment occurs because his power, practically unlimited in Judea, is now becoming his weak point. Cowardly and vile laws, like the law of insulting Caesar, order him to sentence the philosopher to execution. But his heart, his conscience tells him about Yeshua’s innocence. The concept of conscience is closely connected in the novel with the concept of power. Pilate cannot sacrifice his career in order to save the “fool” Yeshua. So it turns out that the outwardly omnipotent procurator, who inspires horror in his servants, turns out to be powerless when it comes to the laws of conscience, and not the state. Pilate is afraid to protect Yeshua. The image of the Roman emperor appears before the procurator in the semi-darkness of the palace like a terrible ghost: “...a rare-toothed crown sat on his bald head; there was a round ulcer on the forehead, corroding the skin and covered with ointment; a sunken, toothless mouth with a drooping, capricious lower lip.” For the sake of such an emperor, Pilate has to condemn Yeshua. The procurator feels almost physical torment when, standing on the platform, he announces the beginning of the execution of criminals, all except Bar-Rabban: “A green fire flared up under his eyelids, his brain caught fire...”. It seems to him that everything around him has died, after which he himself experiences real spiritual death: “... it seemed to him that the sun, ringing, burst above him and filled his ears with fire. Roars, squeals, groans, laughter and whistles raged in this fire.”
After the execution of the criminals took place, Pilate learns from the faithful Afranius that during the execution Ha-Nozri was laconic and said only that “among human vices, he considers cowardice to be one of the most important.” The procurator understands that Yeshua read his last sermon for him; his excitement is revealed by a “suddenly cracked voice.” The Horseman Golden Spear cannot be called a coward - several years ago he saved the giant Ratkiller by rushing to his aid in the midst of the Germans. But spiritual cowardice, fear for one’s position in society, fear of public ridicule and the wrath of the Roman emperor are stronger than fear in battle. Too late, Pilate overcomes his fear. He dreams that he is walking next to the philosopher on the moonbeam, arguing, and they “do not agree with each other on anything,” which makes their argument especially interesting. And when the philosopher tells Pilate that cowardice is one of the most terrible vices, the procurator objects to him: “this is the most terrible vice.” In a dream, the procurator realizes that he now agrees to “ruin his career” for the sake of “an innocent, crazy dreamer and doctor.”
Calling cowardice “the most terrible vice", the procurator decides his fate. Punishment for Pontius Pilate becomes immortality and “unheard-of glory.” And 2000 years later, people will still remember and repeat his name as the name of the man who condemned the “wandering philosopher” to execution. And the procurator himself sits on a stone platform and sleeps for about two thousand years, and only on a full moon is he tormented by insomnia. His dog Bunga shares his punishment for "an eternity." As Woland will explain this to Margarita: “... whoever loves must share the fate of the one he loves.”
According to the Master's novel, Pilate tries to atone for Yeshua by ordering the death of Judas. But murder, even under the guise of just revenge, contradicts all life philosophy Yeshua. Perhaps Pilate’s thousand-year punishment is connected not only with his betrayal of Ha-Nozri, but also with the fact that he “did not listen to the end” of the philosopher, did not fully understand him.
At the end of the novel, the Master lets his hero run along the moonbeam to Yeshua, who, according to Woland, read the novel.
How is the motive of cowardice transformed in the “Moscow” chapters of the novel? One can hardly accuse the Master of cowardice, who burned his novel, abandoned everything and voluntarily went to a mental hospital. This is a tragedy of fatigue, unwillingness to live and create. “I have nowhere to escape,” the Master answers Ivan, who suggested that it would be easy to escape from the hospital, possessing, like the Master, a bunch of all the hospital keys. Perhaps Moscow writers can be accused of cowardice, because the literary situation in Moscow in the 30s of the 20th century was such that a writer could only create things pleasing to the state, or not write at all. But this motive appears in the novel only as a hint, a guess of the Master. He admits to Ivan that he critical articles in his address it was clear that “the authors of these articles are not saying what they want to say, and that their rage is caused by precisely this.”
Thus, the motive of cowardice is embodied mainly in the novel about Pontius Pilate. The fact that the Master's novel evokes associations with the biblical text gives the novel a universal significance and imbues it with cultural and historical associations. The novel's problematics endlessly expand, incorporating all human experience, forcing every reader to think about why cowardice turns out to be “the worst vice.”

Every person has many vices. Writers tried to reveal these vices through the prism of their heroes and their lives. Thanks to example literary heroes, the reader could see himself from the outside and fight this negative trait character. And so, Bulgakov is no exception. He reveals the problem of cowardice in his famous novel The Master and Margarita. Just today we will turn to his famous work and in an essay on the work The Master and Margarita we will trace the problem of cowardice, which the writer considered the most terrible vice.

One of Bulgakov's main works is the novel The Master and Margarita, where moral issues, problem true love, good and evil, loyalty and betrayal. The author also touched upon the topic of vices, where among all human negative characteristics highlights cowardice. Every person can be afraid and have fear of something, but it is cowardice that is destructive. It does not allow one to admit mistakes, it affects the personal I, making a person a simple individual, but not a person.

It is cowardice that is a terrible vice, and this problem is clearly visible in The Master and Margarita through the example of characters. For example, the Master cannot be called a hero, he is not a fighter, he could not go to the end. By abandoning his manuscript, the Master showed his cowardice; he allowed himself to be broken. Unlike Yeshua, who showed courage and spiritual strength, the Master turned out to be the opposite.

Pontius Pilate, who has power, also shows cowardice. He is afraid of losing authority, he is simply broken by the masses. He could not insist on the truth, he could not save a person whose guilt he doubted, he abandoned moral principles for which he paid.

Cowardice is the worst vice

The writer calls cowardice the most terrible vice, and it is very difficult to disagree with him. Why? This is because it is precisely this shameful quality of humanity that pushes people to commit crimes. It is she who controls the actions of traitors; those who often flatter their leadership are also guided by cowardice. It is the coward who lies, and all because he is afraid. Afraid to admit guilt and afraid to tell the truth. And you need to be above your vices. As one philosopher said, after courage, there is nothing more beautiful than admitting cowardice. I also completely agree with this statement.