Satirical image reality, which is "majestic and beautiful", was in those years more than dangerous. And although Bulgakov did not count on the immediate publication of the novel, he, perhaps involuntarily, or perhaps consciously, softened satirical attacks against certain phenomena of this reality.

Bulgakov writes about all the strangeness and ugliness of the life of his contemporaries with a smile, in which, however, it is easy to discern both sadness and bitterness. It is a different matter when his eyes fall on those who have perfectly adapted to these conditions and thrive: on bribe-takers and swindlers, commanding fools and bureaucrats. The writer lets evil spirits on them, as it was conceived by him from the first days of work on the novel.

According to critic E.L. Beznosov, the forces of hell play a somewhat unusual role for them in The Master and Margarita. They do not so much lead the good and decent people astray from the path of the righteous, but bring them out into the open and punish already accomplished sinners.

Unclean power perpetrates in Moscow, at the behest of Bulgakov, many different outrages. It was not without reason that the writer completed his exuberant retinue for Woland. It brings together specialists different profiles: master of tricks and practical jokes cat Begemot, eloquent Koroviev, fluent in all dialects and jargons, gloomy Azazello, extremely inventive in the sense of driving all sorts of sinners out of apartment no. 50, from Moscow, even from this to the next world. And, alternately, then speaking together or three, they create situations, sometimes eerie, as in the case of Roman, but more often comic, despite the destructive consequences of their actions.

The true nature of Muscovites is revealed only when these citizens of a materialistic state find themselves involved in something different from the daily devilry of their lives. In Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita", the Moscow population is influenced by the so-called "black magic". Of course, the tricks of Woland and his retinue turn into a mass of troubles for the Moscow inhabitants. But do they lead to at least one genuine disaster? In the Soviet world of the twenties and thirties, black magic turns out to be less remarkable than real life, with its nocturnal disappearances and other types of legalized violence. But there is not a word about the Russian tyrant in the Moscow chapters. The reader himself is given the opportunity to guess by whose will the arrests are made, people disappear from the apartments, and "quiet, decently dressed" citizens "with attentive and at the same time elusive eyes" try to remember as much as possible and deliver information to the right address.

Styopa Likhodeev, director of the variety show, gets off with Woland's assistants tossing him from Moscow to Yalta. And he has a whole load of sins: "... in general, they," reports Koroviev, speaking of Stepa in the plural, "have been terribly piggy lately. They get drunk, get in touch with women, using their position, they don’t do a damn thing, and they don’t do anything. they can't do a damn thing, because they don't know anything about what is entrusted to them.

They drive a government car in vain! - the cat was too fiddling. "

And all this is just a forced walk to Yalta. A meeting with evil spirits is avoided without too heavy consequences for Nikanor Ivanovich, who really does not dabble in currency, but still takes bribes, for Berlioz's uncle, a cunning hunter for his nephew's Moscow apartment, and for the heads of the Spectacular Commission, typical bureaucrats and idlers.

On the other hand, extremely harsh punishments fall on those who do not steal and who seem to have not been smeared with the Steppe vices, but have one seemingly harmless drawback. The Master defines it this way: a man without a surprise inside. For the find director of the variety show Rimsky, who is trying to invent "ordinary explanations for extraordinary phenomena," Woland's assistants stage such a horror scene that in a matter of minutes he turns into a gray-haired old man with a shaking head. They are also absolutely ruthless to the variety show barman, the very one who utters the famous words about sturgeon of the second freshness. For what? The bartender just steals and cheats, but this is not his most serious vice - in hoarding, in the fact that he steals from himself. “Something, your will,” notes Woland, “unkindness lurks in men who avoid wine, games, the company of pretty women, and table conversation. Such people are either seriously ill or secretly hate those around them.”

But the saddest fate goes to the head of MASSOLIT Berlioz. Berlioz's trouble is the same: he is a man without fantasy. But he is in special demand for this, because he is the head of a writers' organization - and at the same time an incorrigible dogmatist who recognizes only stamped truths. Raising the severed head of Berlioz at the Great Ball, Woland addresses her: "Everyone will be given according to his faith ...".

Dimitri Beznosko

"Impure forces" - or "not dirty"?

The time of the beginning of work on "The Master and Margarita" Bulgakov dated in different manuscripts either 1928 or 1929. In the first edition, the novel had variants of the titles "Black Magician", "Engineer's Hoof", "Juggler with a Hoof", "Son V." "Tour". It is known that the first edition of "The Master and Margarita" was destroyed by the author on March 18, 1930 after receiving news of the ban on the play "Cabal of the Sanctified". Bulgakov said this in a letter to the government: "And personally, with my own hands, I threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove ..."

The novel “The Master and Margarita” combines “three independent plots within a single storyline. It is easy to see that they all have all the components of the concept of "plot". Since any plot can be considered as a complete statement, then in the presence of an ethical component (composition) external to them, such statements as signs must inevitably enter into dialectical interaction, forming the resulting aesthetic form - a meta plot, in which the intention of the title author is manifested ”(1 ). But all three main plots (as well as many small ones) are sometimes connected by the most incredible intricacies that somehow lead us to Woland and his retinue.

In the sixty years that have passed since Bulgakov wrote his famous novel The Master and Margarita, people's views on what the common people call “evil spirits” have changed dramatically. More and more more people began to believe in the existence of good and evil wizards, magicians and witches, sorcerers and werewolves. In the process of this return to folk mythology, the very perception of "Good" and "Evil" associated with the concepts of light and darkness was radically changed. According to S. Lukyanenko, “the difference between Good and Evil lies in relation to ... people. If you choose the Light, you will not use your abilities for personal gain. If you choose Darkness, it will become normal for you. But even a black magician is able to heal the sick and find the missing. And the white magician can refuse to help people ”((2), ch. 5).

V a certain sense Bulgakov anticipates a change in the concepts of light and darkness. In the novel, the author introduces Woland as positive, or, according to at least as a non-negative character. After all, it is not for nothing that the epigraph to The Master and Margarita is the quote from Goethe “- I am a part of the power that always wants evil and always does good” (Goethe, “Faust”).

“As victims of the pivotal Narrator [of the novel], who sarcastically lured them into a trap and provoked enthusiasm for the crude socialist-realist hack of their own work, the real-life commentators of the novel — the (post) Soviet near-literary bureaucracy — are drawn into the metaplot as characters. In it in real modern life the act of Koroviev's mockery will take place according to the schemes described in the novel:
- the ladies, who were flattered by free fashionable outfits, ended up in their underwear when they left the Variety;
- Koroviev provoked Homeless to shout "Help!"
- he also drew the employees of the sovkontory into a friendly choral singing, which brought them to a psychiatric hospital. Similarly, the Narrator only outlined for the critics the empty shell of the novel in the spirit of socialist realism, they unanimously conjectured all the elements necessary for this genre, and he himself carefully refuted all this. In this aspect of the metaplot, the development of which is pushed into the future (into our present), the retinue playing the naked king (socialist realism) is shown satirically, and the entire content of the novel works on this plot ("supposedly money" - "supposedly a novel"); in this sense, "The Master and Margarita" is one of the "Koroviev tricks" of Bulgakov himself, a true master of mystification "(3).

And again we see a connection with Woland and his retinue. From the very moment of Satan's appearance on the Patriarch's Ponds, events begin to unfold with increasing speed. However, it should be noted that the influence of Woland and his retinue is sometimes either minimal or directing, but almost never openly evil. It is possible that Bulgakov is trying to show the "unclean forces" we are used to in a role that can be called "not dirty".

In his first meeting with Berlioz and Homeless at the Patriarch's Ponds, Woland acts only as a storyteller, or, as Bulgakov himself put it, as a historian. And the truth is - history is happening at the Patriarch's. But is Satan or any of his entourage to blame? Woland predicts Berlioz that his head will be cut off; Koroviev indicates to the latter where the turnstile is. But none of them is to blame for the fact that Mikhail Alexandrovich takes that last step when he decides to return to the turntable, although, as Bulgakov emphasizes, he was already safe. So if there is any fault of Woland in the death of Berlioz, it is in the very fact of his appearance at the Patriarch's Ponds and in a conversation with writers. But this is not something out of the ordinary, far from criminal, but rather a "not dirty" act. Likewise, the actions committed by Ivan Nikolaevich in the latter's vain attempt to catch up with Satan and his retinue, as well as the placement of the poet in a psychiatric hospital after the fight in Griboyedov, are not the fault of Woland.

Forging a Variety contract falls under the "unclean" category. But the reader cannot help but notice that Woland is very gentle with Stepan Bogdanovich Likhodeev, the director of the Variety, who “in general [...] has recently been terribly piggy [it]. Drunkenness [s], enters [s] in connection with women, using his position, he doesn’t do a damn thing, and he can’t do anything, because there’s nothing [it] is that [him ] charged. The bosses rubbed [em] glasses! The car in vain drives the government-owned! " ((4) ch. 7). And what does Woland's retinue do with the Steppes? With the permission of their master, they just throw him out of Moscow to Yalta, when it cost them nothing to get rid of Likhodeev using faster and more reliable methods. And again this act can be regarded as “not dirty”.

The scene with Nikanor Ivanovich shows how different it is: Koroviev's call to the police was undoubtedly a dirty business. But the bribe that the chairman of the housing association receives from Koroviev, to some extent, justifies the actions of Satan's retinue.

We can say that actions connected in one way or another with Woland bring evil. That there is nothing "not dirty" in the character, whose actions and orders bring people a nervous breakdown and loss of freedom, or even everything that they have, including life. The only objection is the fact that among the victims of the "jokes" of Woland and his retinue there is not a single person with a clear conscience. And the barman of the Variety, and Nikanor Ivanovich, and Baron Meigel - they were all guilty and lived under a suspended sentence. The appearance of Woland in their lives only causes a quick denouement.

The denouement only does that deprives the perpetrators of the opportunity to aimlessly live the rest of their lives. In the case of Baron Meigel, going up to him at the ball, Woland says: “By the way, Baron,” Woland said suddenly in an intimate lowering of his voice, “rumors have spread about your extreme curiosity. They say that she, combined with your equally developed talkativeness, began to attract everyone's attention. Moreover, evil tongues have already dropped the word - earpiece and spy. And what's more, there is an assumption that this will lead you to a sad end in no more than a month. So, in order to save you from this agonizing expectation, we decided to come to your aid, taking advantage of the fact that you asked to visit me precisely with the aim of spying on and eavesdropping on everything that is possible ”((4), ch. 23) ...

The same theme sounds in the words of Woland, addressed to Andrei Fokich, the barman of the Variety, after he was told that he would die of liver cancer: “Yes, I would not advise you to go to the clinic, ... what is the point of dying in the ward under the groans and wheezing of hopeless patients. Wouldn't it be better to have a feast for these twenty-seven thousand and, having taken poison, move<в другой мир>to the sound of strings, surrounded by drunken beauties and dashing friends? " ((4), ch. 18). It is possible that with these words Woland, and through him Bulgakov, clearly hints at a similar story with the arbiter of grace Guy Petronius at the court of the emperor Nero, who, having fallen out of favor with the emperor, arranges a feast with all his money, and in the presence of family, friends, dancers , he opens his veins.

Approaching the end of the novel, Bulgakov shows Satan as the only one who is able to give peace to the people who deserve it. He puts Woland higher in capabilities than the forces of light, on behalf of which Matthew Levi asks Satan to provide the Master and Margarita with a reward for their labors and torments on Earth. This episode shows Bulgakov's attitude to Woland and his retinue, the writer's respect for the roots of popular beliefs in "evil spirits", in the power of this force.

Leaving Moscow, Woland takes the Master and Margarita with him. Night returns to the true appearance of Koroviev and Behemoth. This is “such a night when scores are settled” ((4), ch. 32.). The ending of the novel is somewhat unexpected - peace awaits the Master and Margarita. Peace from everything: from their earthly lives, from themselves, from the novel about Pontius Pilate. And again Woland gives them this peace. And in the person of Woland, Bulgakov lets his heroes go into oblivion. And no one will ever disturb them. Neither the noseless assassin of Gestas, nor the cruel fifth procurator of Judea, the equestrian Pilate of Pontus ”((4) Epilogue).

Bibliography.

1) Alfred Barkov, " Metaplot "The Master and Margarita" » http://ham.kiev.ua/barkov/bulgakov/mim10.htm

2) Sergey Lukyanenko, " The night Watch», Online publication http://www.rusf.ru/lukian/, 1998

3) Alfred Barkov, " Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita":
"eternal-faithful" love or literary hoax? » http://ham.kiev.ua/barkov/bulgakov/mim12.htm

4) Mikhail Bulgakov, “ Master Margarita», Online publication.

http://www.kulichki.com/moshkow/BULGAKOW/master.txt

Answer from Yergey Ryazanov [guru]
The central problem of the novel is the problem of GOOD and EVIL. Why does evil exist in the world, why does it often triumph over good? How to defeat evil and is it possible at all? What is good for a person and what is evil for him? These questions concern each of us, and for Bulgakov they acquired a special acuteness because his whole life was crippled, crushed by the evil that triumphed in his time and in his country.
The central image in the novel for understanding this problem is, of course, the image of Woland. But how should we relate to him? Is evil really embodied in him? What if Woland is positive hero? In the very house in Moscow where the writer once lived and where the “bad” apartment No. 50 is located, on the wall in the entrance already in our time someone painted Woland's head and wrote under it: “Woland, come, too much rubbish is divorced” (21, p. 28). This, so to speak, is the popular perception of Woland and his role, and if it is correct, then Woland is not only not the embodiment of evil, but he is the main fighter against evil! Is it so?
If you single out the scenes "Residents of Moscow" and "Unclean Power" in the novel, what did the writer want to say with them? Why did he even need Satan and his associates? In society, in the Moscow portrayed by the writer, scoundrels and nonentities, hypocrites and opportunists reign: Nikanors Ivanovich, Aloisii Mogarych, Andriya Fokichi, Varenukhi and Likhodeevs - they lie, talk, steal, take bribes, and until collide with Satan's henchmen, they quite succeed. Aloisy Mogarych, who wrote a denunciation of the Master, moves into his apartment. Stepa Likhodeev, a fool and a drunkard, works happily as the director of the Variety. Nikanor Ivanovich, a representative of the domkom tribe so unloved by Bulgakov, prescribes for money and prosper.
But then “evil spirits” appear, and all these scoundrels are instantly exposed and punished. Woland's henchmen (like himself) are omnipotent and omniscient. They see through anyone, it is impossible to deceive them. But scoundrels and nonentities live only by lies: lies are the way of their existence, this is the air they breathe, this is their protection and support, their shell and their weapons. But against the "office of Satan" this weapon, so perfect in the human world, turns out to be powerless.
“As soon as the chairman left the apartment, a deep voice came from the bedroom:
- I didn't like this Nikanor Ivanovich. He is a burnout and a cheat ”(1, p. 109).
Instant and precise definition - and it is followed by punishment strictly corresponding to "merit". Styopa Likhodeev is thrown into Yalta, Varenukha is made a vampire (but not forever, since this, apparently, would be unfair), Maximilian Andreevich, Berlioz's uncle in Kiev, scared to death, is expelled from the apartment, Berlioz himself is sent into oblivion. Everyone deserves it.
Isn't it very much like a punitive system, but absolutely perfect, ideal? After all, Woland and his retinue also protect the Master. So what - are they the good in the novel? Is “popular perception” correct? No, it's not that simple.
Literary critic L. Levina, for whom Woland is a traditional Satan, does not agree with the "popular" perception of Woland as a orderly of society (10, p. 22). “Satan is (according to Kant) the accuser of man,” she writes (10, p. 18). It is also a tempter, a seducer. Woland, according to Levina, sees a bad side in everything and in everyone. Assuming evil in people, he provokes its appearance (10, p. 19). At the same time, L. Levina believes that “the rejection of Christ (Yeshua) and - as an inevitable consequence - of the value human personality puts the heroes in a vassal relationship with the prince of darkness ”(10, p. 20). That is, after all, the evil is that people reject Christ. However, L. Levina sees evil rather in evil spirits, and as it were, he justifies people. And there are reasons for this: after all, the servants of Satan really provoke people, pushing them to disgusting deeds, as in the scene in the Variety, as in the scene “Koroviev and Nikanor Ivanovich,” when the bribe even crept into the portfolio of the house committee.

Introduction

roman woland satan ball

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita was not completed and was not published during the author's lifetime. It was first published only in 1966, 26 years after Bulgakov's death, and then in an abridged magazine version. By the fact that it is the greatest literary work reached the reader, we owe the writer's wife Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, who managed to preserve the manuscript of the novel during the difficult Stalinist times.

The time of the beginning of work on "The Master and Margarita" Bulgakov dated in different manuscripts either 1928 or 1929. In the first edition, the novel had variants of the titles "Black Magician", "Engineer's Hoof", "Juggler with a Hoof", "Son V." "Tour". The first edition of "The Master and Margarita" was destroyed by the author on March 18, 1930 after receiving news of the ban on the play "Cabal of the Sanctified". Bulgakov said this in a letter to the government: “And personally, with my own hands, I threw a draft of the novel about the devil into the stove ...”.

Bulgakov wrote The Master and Margarita for over 10 years in total. Simultaneously with the writing of the novel, work was underway on plays, staging, librettos, but this novel was a book he could not part with - a novel-destiny, a novel-testament.

The novel is written as if the author, sensing in advance that this was his last work, wanted to put into it without a trace all the sharpness of his satirical eye, the unrestrained imagination, the power of psychological observation ”. Bulgakov pushed the boundaries of the novel genre, he managed to achieve an organic combination of historical-epic, philosophical and satirical principles. In terms of the depth of its philosophical content and the level of artistic skill, "The Master and Margarita" is rightfully on a par with Dante's "Divine Comedy", "Don Quixote" by Cervantes, Goethe's "Faust", Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and other "eternal companions of mankind in his search for the truth of freedom "Galinskaya I.L. Riddles of famous books - Moscow: Nauka, 1986 p. 46

From the history of the creation of the novel, we see that it was conceived and created as a "novel about the devil." Some researchers see in him an apology for the devil, admiration for dark power, surrender to the world of evil. Indeed, Bulgakov called himself a "mystical writer", but this mysticism did not darken his reason and did not intimidate the reader.

The role of the forces of evil in the novel

Satirical role

The satirical depiction of reality, which is "majestic and beautiful", was in those years more than dangerous. And although Bulgakov did not count on the immediate publication of the novel, he, perhaps involuntarily, or perhaps consciously, softened satirical attacks against certain phenomena of this reality.

Unclean power perpetrates in Moscow, at the behest of Bulgakov, many different outrages. It was not without reason that the writer completed his exuberant retinue for Woland. It brings together specialists of different profiles: the master of tricks and practical jokes, the cat Begemot, the eloquent Koroviev, who speaks all dialects and jargons, the gloomy Azazello, extremely inventive in the sense of driving all sorts of sinners out of apartment No. 50, from Moscow, even from this to the next world. And, alternately, then speaking together or three, they create situations, sometimes eerie, as in the case of Roman, but more often comic, despite the destructive consequences of their actions.

The true nature of Muscovites is revealed only when these citizens of a materialistic state find themselves involved in something different from the daily devilry of their lives. In Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, the Moscow population is influenced by the so-called “black magic”. Of course, the tricks of Woland and his retinue turn into a mass of troubles for the Moscow inhabitants. But do they lead to at least one genuine disaster? In the Soviet world of the twenties and thirties, black magic turns out to be less remarkable than real life, with its nocturnal disappearances and other types of legalized violence. But there is not a word about the Russian tyrant in the Moscow chapters. The reader himself is given the opportunity to guess by whose will the arrests are made, people disappear from the apartments, and "quiet, decently dressed" citizens "with attentive and at the same time elusive eyes" try to remember as much as possible and deliver information to the right address.

Styopa Likhodeev, director of the variety show, gets off with Woland's assistants tossing him from Moscow to Yalta. And he has a whole load of sins: “… in general they are,” reports Koroviev, speaking of Stepa in the plural, “they have been terribly pigs lately. They get drunk, get in touch with women, using their position, they don't do a damn thing, and they can't do a damn thing, because they don't understand anything about what is entrusted to them. Glasses are rubbed in to the bosses.

They drive a government car in vain! - the cat was too fiddling. "

On the other hand, extremely harsh punishments fall on those who do not steal and who seem to have not been smeared with the Steppe vices, but have one seemingly harmless drawback. The Master defines it this way: a man without a surprise inside. For the find director of the variety show Rimsky, who is trying to invent "ordinary explanations for extraordinary phenomena," Woland's assistants stage such a horror scene that in a matter of minutes he turns into a gray-haired old man with a shaking head. They are also absolutely ruthless to the variety show barman, the very one who utters the famous words about sturgeon of the second freshness. For what? The bartender just steals and cheats, but this is not his most serious vice - in hoarding, in the fact that he steals from himself. “Something, your will,” notes Woland, “is unkind in men who avoid wine, games, the company of lovely women, and table conversation. Such people are either seriously ill or secretly hate others. "

With seeming omnipotence, the devil performs his judgment and punishment in Soviet Moscow. Thus? Bulgakov gets the opportunity to arrange, albeit only verbally, a kind of judgment and retribution for literary crooks, administrative swindlers and all that inhuman bureaucratic system, which is only subject to the judgment of the devil.

Philosophical role

With the help of Voland's assistants, Bulgakov conducts his satirical and humorous review of the phenomena of Moscow life. He needed an alliance with Woland for other, more serious and important goals.

In one of the last chapters of the novel to Woland, on behalf of Yeshua Ha-Notsri, Matthew Levi appears to ask for the Master: “I come to you, the spirit of evil and the lord of the shadows ... - you pronounced your words like this, - notes Woland, - as if you weren’t you recognize shadows as well as evil. Wouldn't you be so kind to think about the question: what would your good do if there were no evil, and what would the earth look like if the shadows disappeared from it? After all, shadows are obtained from objects and people. Here is the shadow of my sword. But there are shadows from trees and from living things. Do you want to rip off the entire globe, blowing away all the trees and all living things from it because of your fantasy of enjoying the naked light? "

Bulgakov was least of all attracted by the pleasure of naked light, although the life around him was not so abundant in it. What Yeshua preached was dear to him - goodness, mercy, the kingdom of truth and justice, where no power would be needed at all. But this did not exhaust what, in his opinion, people needed for the fullness of life, for the eternal movement of thought and the eternal work of the imagination, and ultimately for happiness. Life, according to Bulgakov, cannot be complete without the play of light and shadow, without invention, without unusual things and mysteries. And all this is already going through the agency of Satan, the prince of darkness, the lord of shadows.

Bulgakov's Woland does not sow evil, but only exposes it in the daylight, making the secret manifest. But his rightful time is moonlit nights when the shadows dominate, they become especially bizarre and mysterious.

On such nights, all the most incredible and most poetic takes place in the novel that opposes the joyless prose of Moscow life: the flights of Margarita, the Great Ball of Satan, and in the finale - the jump of the Master and Margarita with Woland and his now no longer assistants - knights to where he waits heroes are their eternal shelter and peace. And who knows what is more in all this: the omnipotence of Satan or the author's imagination, which is sometimes itself perceived as a demonic force that knows neither fetters nor boundaries.

Among the laws of creativity noted by literary critics, there is one, the nature of which is still completely unknown: the impact of the composition on the creator himself and on what surrounds him. It happens that a work creates around itself a miraculous aura, a magical zone of dispersion, in which the most unexpected transformations are possible.

It has long been noticed that in Bulgakov's biography there are mysterious reservations, failures and unsolved coincidences. Some of them relate to the strange sense of the connection of his fate with the personality of the man in the mustache and with the pipe, whose portrait was familiar to everyone. He was a powerful force, an evil force, but he treated Bulgakov, as Elena Sergeevna thought, if not with sympathy, then with respect and secret curiosity. It seems that Mikhail Afanasyevich himself sometimes thought the same way.

The cabal of the saint pursued Moliere, while from the king it was still possible to expect an unexpected favor to him. It would be in vain to look for historical truth in this Bulgakov's motive. Rather, there was an irrational sense of complacency, an instinctive search for protection. After all, the demon of evil - Woland could help restore justice. Bulgakov was not vindictive and unkind, and yet he did not forgive the harm done to him, the offense inflicted on him, especially since his wounds were not allowed to heal until the end of his life: it is easy to forgive only a sick past. That is why he so cherished the theme of retribution, even if it was belated and restoring justice only on a sheet of writing paper.

The fact that Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov confessed to evil spirits, and still did not offend, but pacified her, domesticated and took her as a companion, like the mocking Koroviev, the impudent Azazello or the unceremonious Cat, rebuilt the whole way of life and way of life, people and the situation around him.

Even Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, who is known to the whole world as Margarita (when she arrived in Hungary, an article “Margarita in Budapest” appeared in the newspaper), little by little turned into a creature next to Mikhail Afanasyevich - I'm afraid to say, mind me, mind you! .. - well, let's just say, partly of the occult sense. Perhaps she was not born a witch, and who knows if she had at least a tiny tail from birth. But she was re-educated into a witch, and there is very authoritative literary evidence for that.

The purpose of this work is to reveal the theme: "The devil and his retinue in the novel" The Master and Margarita "by M. A. Bulgakov". To disclose this topic, we need:

· Analyze the history of the creation of the novel.

· Consider the ideological and artistic image used by Bulgakov to describe the forces of evil.

· Consider the prototypes and the characters themselves in the novel.

· Determine the role and significance of the "dark forces" laid down by Bulgakov in the novel "The Master and Margarita".

This work has been prepared on the basis of reviews, criticism and articles about the novel by MA Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita".

1. The history of the creation of the novel "The Master and Margarita"

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita was not completed and was not published during the author's lifetime. It was first published only in 1966, 26 years after Bulgakov's death, and then in an abridged magazine version. The fact that this greatest literary work has reached the reader is due to the writer's wife Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, who managed to preserve the manuscript of the novel during the difficult Stalinist times.

The time of the beginning of work on "The Master and Margarita" Bulgakov dated in different manuscripts either 1928 or 1929. In the first edition, the novel had variants of the titles "Black Magician", "Engineer's Hoof", "Juggler with a Hoof", "Son V." "Tour". The first edition of "The Master and Margarita" was destroyed by the author on March 18, 1930 after receiving news of the ban on the play "Cabal of the Sanctified". Bulgakov said this in a letter to the government: "And personally, with my own hands, I threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove ..."

Work on The Master and Margarita resumed in 1931. Rough sketches were made for the novel, and Margarita and her unnamed companion, the future Master, already appeared here, and Woland acquired his own exuberant retinue. The second edition, created before 1936, had the subtitle "Fantastic Novel" and variants of the titles "The Great Chancellor", "Satan", "Here I am", "Black Magician", "The Hoof of the Consultant."

The third edition, begun in the second half of 1936, was originally called "The Prince of Darkness", but already in 1937 the now well-known title "The Master and Margarita" appeared. In May - June 1938, the full text was reprinted for the first time. The author's editing continued almost until the writer's death, Bulgakov stopped it with Margarita's phrase: "So this is, therefore, the writers are following the coffin?"

Bulgakov wrote The Master and Margarita for over 10 years in total.

It is worth recalling once again that work on the novel was completed in 1937-1938. The satirical depiction of reality, which is "majestic and beautiful", was in those years more than dangerous. And although Bulgakov did not count on the immediate publication of the novel, he, perhaps involuntarily, or perhaps consciously, softened satirical attacks against certain phenomena of this reality.

Bulgakov writes about all the strangeness and ugliness of the life of his contemporaries with a smile, in which, however, it is easy to discern both sadness and bitterness.

It is a different matter when his eyes fall on those who have perfectly adapted to these conditions and thrive: on bribe-takers and swindlers, commanding fools and bureaucrats. The writer lets evil spirits on them, as it was conceived by him from the first days of work on the novel.

The number of studies devoted to the novel by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is enormous. Even the publication of the Bulgakov Encyclopedia did not put an end to the work of the researchers. The thing is that the novel is quite complex in genre and therefore difficult to analyze. According to the definition of the British researcher of creativity MA Bulgakov J. Curtis, given in her book “The Last Bulgakov Decade: A Writer as a Hero”, “The Master and Margarita have the property of a rich deposit, where undiscovered minerals lie together. Both the form of the novel and its content distinguish it as a unique masterpiece: parallels with it are difficult to find in both Russian and Western European cultural traditions. "

The characters and plots of The Master and Margarita are simultaneously projected onto both the Gospel and the legend of Faust, onto specific historical figures Bulgakov's contemporaries, which gives the novel a paradoxical and sometimes contradictory character. In one field, holiness and demonism, miracle and magic, temptation and betrayal are inextricably linked.

2. Ideological and artistic image of the forces of evil

It is customary to talk about three plans of the novel - ancient, Yershalaim, eternal otherworldly and modern Moscow, which surprisingly turn out to be interconnected, the role of this bundle is played by the world of evil spirits, headed by the majestic and regal Woland. But "no matter how much the plans stand out in the novel and no matter how they are called, it is indisputable that the author had in mind to show the reflection of eternal, transtemporal images and relationships in the shaky surface of historical being."

The image of Jesus Christ as the ideal of moral perfection invariably attracts many writers and artists. Some of them adhered to the traditional, canonical interpretation of it, based on the four Gospels and the Apostolic Epistles, while others gravitated towards apocryphal or simply heretical subjects. As is well known, M. A. Bulgakov took the second path. Jesus himself, as he appears in the novel, rejects the credibility of the testimonies of the "Gospel of Matthew" (recall here the words of Yeshua about what he saw when he looked into the goat parchment of Levi Matthew). And in this respect he shows an amazing unity of views with Woland-Satan: “... whoever,” Woland turns to Berlioz, “but you should know that absolutely nothing of what is written in the Gospels happened actually never ... ". Woland is the devil, Satan, the prince of darkness, the spirit of evil and the lord of shadows (all these definitions are found in the text of the novel). "There is no doubt ... that not only Jesus, but also Satan in the novel is not presented in the New Testament interpretation." Woland is largely focused on Mephistopheles, even the very name Woland is taken from Goethe's poem, where it is mentioned only once and is usually omitted in Russian translations. The epigraph of the novel also reminds of Goethe's poem. In addition, researchers find that while creating Woland, Bulgakov also remembered Charles Gounod's opera and Bulgakov's modern version of Faust, written by the writer and journalist E. L. Mindlin, the beginning of the novel of which was published in 1923. Generally speaking, the images of evil spirits in the novel carry with them many allusions - literary, operatic, musical. It seems that none of the researchers remembered that French composer Berlioz (1803-1869), whose surname is one of the characters in the novel, is the author of the opera Condemnation of Doctor Faust.

And yet Woland is first of all Satan. For all that, the image of Satan in the novel is not traditional.

Woland's unconventionality is that he, being the devil, is endowed with some obvious attributes of God. Yes, and Woland-Satan himself thinks of himself with him in the "cosmic hierarchy" approximately on an equal footing. It is not for nothing that Woland remarks to Matvey Levia: "It's not difficult for me to do anything."

Traditionally, the image of the devil was drawn comically in literature. And in the edition of the novel 1929-1930. Woland possessed a number of lowering traits: he giggled, spoke with a "rogue smile," used colloquial expressions, calling, for example, Bezdomny "a pig liar." And to the barman Sokov, pretending to complain: "Oh, bastard people in Moscow!" However, in the final text of the novel, Woland became different, majestic and regal: “He was in an expensive gray suit, in foreign shoes the same color as the suit, his gray beret famously twisted behind his ear, under his arm he carried a cane with a black knob in the shape of a poodle's head. The mouth is kind of crooked. Shaved smoothly. Brunet. The right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason. The eyebrows are black, but one is higher than the other. " “Two eyes rested on Margarita's face. The right one with a golden spark at the bottom, drilling anyone to the bottom of the soul, and the left one is empty and black, sort of like a narrow eye of a needle, like an exit into the bottomless well of all darkness and shadows. Woland's face was slanted to the side, the right corner of his mouth was pulled downward, deep wrinkles parallel to sharp eyebrows were cut on his high bald forehead. The skin on Woland's face seemed to have burned a tan forever. "

Woland has many faces, as befits the devil, and wears different masks in conversations with different people. At the same time, Woland's omniscience of Satan is fully preserved (he and his people are well aware of both the past and future life those with whom they come in contact know the text of the Master's novel, which literally coincides with the "Gospel of Woland", thus, what was told to the unlucky writers at Patriarch's).

3. Woland and his retinue

The commentators of the novel The Master and Margarita have so far focused primarily on the literary sources of Woland's figure; disturbed the shadow of the creator of "Faust", interrogated medieval demonologists. The connection of an artistic creation with the era is complex, bizarre, non-linear, and it may be worth recalling another real source for the construction of the mighty and gloomy-cheerful image of Woland.

Who among the readers of the novel will forget the scene of mass hypnosis that Muscovites underwent in the Variety as a result of the manipulations of the “consultant with the hoof”? In the memory of Bulgakov's contemporaries, whom I had to question, she is associated with the figure of the hypnotist Ornaldo (N.A. Speaking in the lobbies of cinemas and houses of culture, Ornaldo made experiments with the audience, somewhat reminiscent of Woland's performance: he not only guessed, but joked and denounced. In the mid-1930s, he was arrested. His further fate is dark and legendary. They said that he hypnotized the investigator, left his office, as if nothing had happened, walked past the guards and returned home. But then he mysteriously disappeared from sight again. Life, which, perhaps, suggested something to the author, itself embroidered fantastic patterns on a familiar canvas.

Woland observes Bulgakov's Moscow as a researcher, setting up a scientific experiment, as if he were indeed sent on a business trip from the heavenly office. At the beginning of the book, Berlioz's fool, he claims that he arrived in Moscow to study the manuscripts of Herbert Avrilak - he plays the role of a scientist, experimenter, magician. And his powers are great: he has the privilege of a punishing act, which is in no way from the hands of the highest contemplative good.

It is easier to resort to the services of such Woland for Margarita, who is desperate for justice. “Of course, when people are completely robbed, like you and I,” she shares with the Master, “they seek salvation from the otherworldly force.” Bulgakov's Margarita in a mirror-inverted form varies the story of Faust. Faust sold his soul to the devil for the sake of a passion for knowledge and betrayed Margarita's love. In the novel, Margarita is ready for a deal with Woland and becomes a witch for the sake of love and loyalty to the Master.

Unclean power perpetrates in Moscow, at the behest of Bulgakov, many different outrages. It is not for nothing that a violent retinue was assigned to Woland. It brings together specialists of different profiles: a master of mischievous tricks and practical jokes - the cat Begemot, the eloquent Koroviev, who speaks all dialects and jargons - from semi-submissive to high society, gloomy Azazello, extremely inventive in the sense of knocking out all kinds of sinners from apartment number 50, from Moscow, even from this to the other world. And then alternating, then speaking together or three, they create situations, sometimes eerie, as in the case of Roman, but more often comic, despite the destructive consequences of their actions.

The fact that Woland is not alone in Moscow, but surrounded by his retinue, is unusual for the traditional embodiment of the trait in literature. After all, usually Satan appears on his own - without accomplices. The Bulgakovsky trait has a retinue, and a retinue in which a strict hierarchy reigns, and each has its own function. The closest to the devil in position is Koroviev-Fagot, the first in rank among the demons, the main assistant of Satan. Azazello and Gella obey the bassoon. A somewhat special position is occupied by the werewolf cat Behemoth, a favorite jester and a kind of confidant of the "prince of darkness".

And it seems that Koroviev, aka Fagot, is the oldest of the demons subordinate to Woland, who appears to Muscovites as a translator for a foreign professor and a former choir director, has many similarities with the traditional incarnation of a petty demon. By the whole logic of the novel, the reader is led to the idea of not judging the heroes by their appearance, and the final scene of the "transformation" of evil spirits looks like confirmation of the correctness of involuntarily arising guesses. Woland's henchman puts on various masks only when necessary: a drunkard regent, a gaer, a clever swindler. And only in the final chapters of the novel, Koroviev discards his guise and appears before the reader as a dark purple knight with a face that never smiles.

The surname Koroviev is modeled after the surname of the character in the story by A.K. Tolstoy "Ghoul" (1841) State Councilor Telyaev, who turns out to be a knight and a vampire. In addition, in the story of F.M. Dostoevsky's "The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants" has a character named Korovkin, very similar to our hero. His second name comes from the title musical instrument bassoon invented by an Italian monk. Koroviev-Fagot has some resemblance to the bassoon - a long thin pipe folded in three. Bulgakov's character is thin, tall and in imaginary servility, it seems, is ready to fold three times in front of the interlocutor (so that later he can calmly spoil him).

Here is his portrait: "... a transparent citizen of a weird appearance, On a small head a jockey cap, a checkered kurgozny jacket ..., a citizen of a fathom height, but narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and the physiognomy, please note, is mocking"; "... his antennae are like chicken feathers, his eyes are small, ironic and half-drunk."

Koroviev-Fagot is a devil who has arisen from the sultry Moscow air (unprecedented heat for May at the time of its appearance is one of the traditional signs of the approach of evil spirits). Woland's henchman puts on various masks only when necessary: a drunkard-regent, a gaer, a clever swindler, a weasel-translator for a famous foreigner, etc. Only on the last flight does Koroviev-Fagot become who he really is - a dark demon, a knight A bassoon, no worse than his master, who knows the value of human weaknesses and virtues.

The werewolf cat and Satan's favorite jester is perhaps the most amusing and memorable of Woland's retinue. The author of The Master and Margarita got information about the Behemoth from the book by M.A. Orlov's "History of the relationship of man with the devil" (1904), extracts from which have been preserved in the Bulgakov archive. There, in particular, the case of the French abbess, who lived in the 17th century, was described. and possessed by seven devils, and the fifth demon was Behemoth. This demon was depicted as a monster with an elephant head, with a trunk and fangs. His hands were human in style, and a huge belly, a short tail and thick hind legs, like a hippopotamus, reminded of the name he wore. In Bulgakov's work, the Behemoth became an enormous black werewolf cat, since it is black cats that are traditionally considered to be associated with evil spirits. This is how we see him for the first time: "... on a jeweler's pouf in a cheeky pose, a third person collapsed, namely, an eerie-sized black cat with a shot of vodka in one paw and a fork onto which he managed to pry a pickled mushroom into the other." The hippopotamus in the demonological tradition is the demon of the desires of the stomach. Hence his extraordinary gluttony, especially in Torgsin, when he indiscriminately swallows everything edible.

The shootout between the Behemoth and the detectives in apartment no. 50, his chess match with Woland, the shooting competition with Azazello - all these are purely humorous scenes, very funny and even to some extent removing the acuteness of those everyday, moral and philosophical problems that the novel poses for the reader.

In the last flight, the reincarnation of this merry joker is very unusual (like most of the plot moves in this fantasy novel): “Night tore off the fluffy tail of the Behemoth, tore off its fur and scattered its shreds across the swamps. The one who was the cat that amused the prince of darkness, now turned out to be a thin youth, a demon-page, the best jester that has ever existed in the world. "

These characters in the novel, it turns out, have their own history, which is not related to the history of the biblical. So the purple knight, as it turns out, is paying the price for some joke that turned out to be unsuccessful. Behemoth the cat was the personal page of the purple knight. And only the transformation of another servant of Woland does not take place: the changes that occurred with Azazello did not turn him into a man, like Woland's other companions - in a farewell flight over Moscow we see a cold and dispassionate demon of death.

The name Azazello was formed by Bulgakov from the Old Testament name Azazel. This is the name of the negative hero of the Old Testament book of Enoch, the fallen angel who taught people to make weapons and jewelry. Probably, Bulgakov was attracted by the combination in one character of the ability to seduce and kill. It is for an insidious seducer that we take
Azazello Margarita during their first meeting in the Alexander Garden:
“This neighbor turned out to be short, fiery red, with a fang, in starched underwear, in a striped solid suit, in patent leather shoes and with a bowler hat on his head. "Absolutely a robber's face!" - thought Margarita. But the main function of Azazello in the novel is connected with violence. He throws Styopa Likhodeev from Moscow to Yalta, expels Uncle Berlioz from the Bad apartment, kills the traitor Baron Meigel with a revolver. Azazello also invented the cream that he gives to Margarita. The magic cream not only makes the heroine invisible and able to fly, but also endows her with a new, witch's beauty.

In the epilogue of the novel, this fallen angel appears before us in a new guise: “Azazello flew from the side of everyone, shining with the steel of armor. The moon also changed his face. The ridiculous ugly fang disappeared without a trace, and the crooked eyes turned out to be fake. Azazello's both eyes were the same, blank and black, and his face was white and cold. Now Azazello flew in his true form, like a demon of the waterless desert, a demon-killer. "

Gella is a member of Woland's retinue, a female vampire: “I recommend my maid Gella. She is quick, understanding and there is no such service that she would not be able to provide. " Bulgakov got the name "Gella" from the article "Witchcraft" of the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, where it was noted that in Lesbos this name was given to untimely dead girls who became vampires after death.

The green-eyed beauty Gella moves freely through the air, thereby acquiring a resemblance to a witch. Specific traits behavior of vampires - clicking teeth and smacking his lips Bulgakov, perhaps borrowed from the story of A.K. Tolstoy's "Ghoul". There, a vampire girl with a kiss turns her lover into a vampire - hence, obviously, Gella's kiss, fatal for Varenukha.

Gella, the only one of Woland's retinue, is absent from the scene of the last flight. “The third wife of the writer believed that this was the result of the unfinished work on The Master Margarita. Most likely, Bulgakov deliberately removed her as the youngest member of the retinue, performing only auxiliary functions in the Variety Theater, and in the Bad Apartment, and at the Great Ball at Satan's. Vampires are traditionally the lowest rank of evil spirits. In addition, Gella would have no one to turn into on her last flight - when the night “exposed all the deceptions,” she could only become a dead girl again.

4. Dialectical unity, complementarity of good and evil

An interesting observation is made by one of the researchers: “And finally Woland flew in his real guise.” Which one? Not a word has been said about this. "

The unconventional nature of the images of evil spirits also lies in the fact that “usually the evil spirits in Bulgakov's novel are not at all inclined to do what, according to tradition, they are absorbed - the temptation and temptation of people. On the contrary, Woland's gang defends decency and purity of morals. Indeed, what are he and his associates in Moscow mostly busy with, for what purpose did the author let them walk for four days and misbehave in the capital? "

Indeed, the forces of hell play a somewhat unusual role in The Master and Margarita. Actually, only one scene in the novel - the scene of mass hypnosis in the Variety - shows the devil completely in his original role as a tempter. But here too Woland acts exactly like a corrector of morals, or, in other words, as a satirist-writer, very into the hands of the author who invented it. "Woland deliberately narrows his functions, he is inclined not so much to seduce as to punish." He exposes low desires and grows together only to brand them with contempt and laughter. They do not so much lead the good and decent people astray from the path of the righteous, but bring them out into the open and punish already accomplished sinners.

Styopa Likhodeev, director of the variety show, gets off with Woland's assistants tossing him from Moscow to Yalta. And he has a whole load of sins: “... in general they,” reports Koroviev, speaking of Stepa in the plural, “have been terribly piggy lately. They get drunk, get in touch with women, using their position, they don't do a damn thing, and they can't do a damn thing, because they don't understand anything about what is entrusted to them. Glasses are rubbed in to the bosses. - They drive the government car in vain! - the cat was too fiddling. "

And all this is just a forced walk to Yalta. A meeting with evil spirits is without too heavy consequences for Nikanor Ivanovich Bosom, who really doesn’t dabble in currency, but still takes bribes, for Berlioz’s uncle, a cunning hunter for his nephew’s Moscow apartment, and for the heads of the Entertainment Commission, typical bureaucrats and idlers. ...

On the other hand, extremely harsh punishments fall on those who do not steal and who seem to have not been smeared with the Steppe vices, but have one seemingly harmless drawback. The Master defines it this way: a man without a surprise inside. For the find director of the variety show Rimsky, who is trying to invent "ordinary explanations for extraordinary phenomena," Woland's retinue arranges such a scene of horror that in a matter of minutes he turns into a gray-haired old man with a shaking head. They are also absolutely ruthless to the variety show barman, the very one who utters the famous words about sturgeon of the second freshness. For what? The bartender just steals and cheats, but this is not his most serious vice - in hoarding, in the fact that he steals from himself. “Something, your will,” notes Woland, “is unkind in men who avoid wine, games, the company of lovely women, and table conversation. Such people are either seriously ill or secretly hate others. "

But the saddest fate falls to the head of MASSOLIT Berlioz. Berlioz's fault is that he, an educated person who grew up in pre-Soviet Russia, hoping to adapt to new government frankly changed his beliefs (he, of course, could be an atheist, but not assert at the same time that the story of Jesus Christ, on which the whole European civilization was formed, is “simple inventions, the most ordinary myth.”) and began to preach what is from him this power will demand. But there is also a special demand for him, because he is the head of a writers' organization - and his sermons tempt those who are just joining the world of literature and culture. How can one fail to recall the words of Christ: "Woe to those who tempt these little ones." It is clear that the choice made by Berlioz is deliberate. In exchange for the betrayal of literature, he is given a lot by the authorities - position, money, the opportunity to occupy a leading position.

It is interesting to observe how the death of Berlioz is predicted. “The stranger looked Berlioz with a glance, as if he was going to sew him a suit, muttered something like:“ One, two ... Mercury in the second house ... the moon is gone ... six - misfortune ... evening - seven ... ”- and loudly and joyfully announced: "Your head will be cut off!"

Here is what we read about this in the Bulgakov Encyclopedia: “According to the principles of astrology, twelve houses are twelve parts of the ecliptic. The location of these or those luminaries in each of their houses reflects certain events in the fate of a person. Mercury in the second house means happiness in trade. Berlioz was indeed punished for bringing in the literature of the merchants - members of the MASSOLIT he headed, concerned only with receiving material benefits in the form of dachas, creative business trips, sanatorium vouchers (Mikhail Alexandrovich thinks about such a voucher in the last hours of his life) into the temple of literature. " ...

The writer Berlioz, like all the writers from the House of Griboyedov, decided for himself that the writer's deeds are important only for the time in which he himself lives. Further - nothingness. Raising the severed head of Berlioz at the Great Ball, Woland turns to her: "Everyone will be given according to his faith ..." Thus, it turns out that "justice in the novel invariably celebrates victory, but this is most often achieved by witchcraft, in an incomprehensible way."

Woland turns out to be the bearer of fate, and here Bulgakov finds himself in line with the traditions of Russian literature, which linked fate not with God, but with the devil. With seeming omnipotence, the devil performs his judgment and punishment in Soviet Moscow. Generally speaking, good and evil in the novel are done by the hands of the person himself. Woland and his retinue only give an opportunity to manifest those vices and virtues that are inherent in people. For example, the cruelty of the crowd towards Georges Bengalsky in the Variety Theater is replaced by mercy, and the initial evil, when the unfortunate master of ceremonies wanted to have his head ripped off, becomes a necessary condition for goodness - pity for the headless master of ceremonies.

But the evil spirits in the novel not only punish, forcing people to suffer from their own depravity. It also helps those who cannot stand up for themselves in the struggle against those who violate all moral laws. In Bulgakov's work, Woland literally revives the burned novel of the Master - a product artistic creation, which is preserved only in the head of the creator, materializes again, turns into a tangible thing.

Dialectical unity, the complementarity of good and evil is most closely revealed in the words of Woland, addressed to Matthew Levi, who refused to wish health to the “spirit of evil and the lord of shadows”: “Would you be kind to think about what would do your good if it did not exist evil, and what would the earth look like if the shadows disappeared from it? After all, shadows are obtained from objects and people. Here is the shadow of my sword. But there are shadows from trees and living things. Do you want to rip off the entire globe, taking all the trees and all living things from it because of your fantasy of enjoying the naked light? You are stupid".

Thus, the eternal, traditional opposition of good and evil, light and darkness, is absent in Bulgakov's novel. The forces of darkness, with all the evil they bring to the Soviet capital, turn out to be helpers of the forces of light and good, because they are at war with those who have long forgotten how to distinguish between the two - with the new Soviet religion, which crossed out the entire history of mankind, abolished and rejected all the moral experience of previous generations.

5. Satan's ball as the apotheosis of the novel

Satan's Great Ball is the ball given by Woland in the novel "The Master and Margarita" in a Bad Apartment on Friday, May 3, 1929, which lasts forever at midnight.

According to the memoirs of E.S. Bulgakova, in describing the ball, used the impressions of a reception at the American Embassy in Moscow on April 22, 1935. US Ambassador William Bullitt invited the writer and his wife to this solemn event. From memoirs “Once a year Bullitt gave great receptions on the occasion of the national holiday. Writers were also invited. Once we received such an invitation. In a hall with columns they dance, with a choir - multicolored spotlights. Behind the net - the birds - the mass - flutter. Orchestra signed out from Stockholm. M.A. most of all captivated by the conductor's tailcoat - to the heels. Dinner in the dining room specially attached for this ball to the ambassadorial mansion, on separate tables. In the corners of the dining room there are small carriages, on them - kids, sheep, bears. Along the walls of the cage with roosters. At three o'clock the harmonics began to play and the roosters began to sing. Russe style. A lot of tulips, roses - from Holland. On the top floor there is a barbecue. Red roses, red French wine. Downstairs - champagne, cigarettes everywhere. At about six we got into their embassy Cadillac and drove home. They brought a huge bouquet of tulips from the secretary of the embassy. "

For a semi-opulent writer, such as Bulgakov, a reception at the American embassy is an almost incredible event, comparable to a ball at Satan's. Soviet graphic propaganda of those years often depicted
"American imperialism" in the guise of the devil. Satan's Grand Ball combines real-life cues from the ambassador's residence with details and imagery of a distinctly literary origin.

In order to accommodate Satan's Great Ball in a Bad Apartment, it was necessary to push it apart to supernatural proportions. As Koroviev-Fagot explains, "for those who are well acquainted with the fifth dimension, it costs nothing to push the premises to the desired limits." This brings to mind the novel The Invisible Man (1897) by H.G. Wells. Bulgakov goes further than the English science fiction writer, increasing the number of dimensions from the rather traditional four to five. In the fifth dimension, giant halls become visible, where the Great Ball with Satan takes place, and the participants of the ball, on the contrary, are invisible to the people around them, including the OGPU agents who are on duty at the door of the Bad Apartment. Having abundantly decorated the ballrooms with roses, Bulgakov took into account the complex and multifaceted symbolism associated with this flower. V cultural tradition for many peoples, roses are the personification of both mourning and love and purity. With this in mind, roses at Satan's Great Ball can be viewed both as a symbol of Margarita's love for the Master, and as a harbinger of their imminent death.
Roses are here - and an allegory of Christ, the memory of the shed blood, they have long been included in the symbolism of the Catholic Church.

The election of Margaret as the queen of the Great Ball of Satan and her likeness to one of the French queens who lived in the 16th century is associated with the encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron. Bulgakov's extracts from the articles of this dictionary have been preserved, dedicated to two French queens who bore the name Margaret - Navarre and Valois. Both historical Margaritas patronized writers and poets, and Bulgakov's Margarita turns out to be associated with the brilliant Master, whom she is seeking to retrieve from the hospital after the Great Ball with Satan.

Another source of Satan's Great Ball is the description of the ball in the Mikhailovsky Palace, given in the book of the Marquis Astolphe de Custine "Russia in 1839" (1843) (this work was also used by Bulgakov when creating the screenplay for Dead Souls): “The large gallery, intended for dancing, was decorated with exceptional luxury. One and a half thousand tubs and pots with the rarest flowers formed a fragrant bosquet. At the end of the room, in the dense shade of exotic plants, a pool could be seen, from which a stream of a fountain was continuously pouring out. Splashes of water, illuminated by bright lights, sparkled like diamond dust particles, and refreshed the air ... It is difficult to imagine the magnificence of this picture. The idea of where you are was completely lost. All borders disappeared, everything was full of light, gold, flowers, reflections and enchanting, magical illusion. " Margarita sees a similar picture at the Great Ball with Satan, feeling herself in a tropical forest, among hundreds of flowers and multi-colored fountains and listening to the music of the world's best orchestras.

Depicting the Great Ball with Satan, Bulgakov also took into account the traditions of Russian Symbolism, in particular, the symphony of the poet A. Bely and the play by L. Andreev “The Life of a Man”.

The great ball at Satan's can also be imagined as a figment of the imagination of Margaret, about to commit suicide. Many eminent noble criminals approach her as the queen of the ball, but Margarita prefers the genius writer Master to all of them. Note that the ball is preceded by a session of black magic in a circus-like Variety Theater, where the musicians play a march in the finale (and in the works of this genre, the role of drums is always great).

Note that at the Great Ball of Satan there are also musical geniuses who are not directly related in their work to the motives of Satanism. Here Margarita meets the "king of waltz" Austrian composer Johann Strauss, Belgian violinist and composer Henri Vietant, and the best musicians of the world play in the orchestra. Thus, Bulgakov illustrates the idea that any talent is in some way from the devil.

The fact that at the Great Ball of Satan in front of Margaret there is a string of murderers, poisoners, executioners, libertines and procurers is not at all accidental. Bulgakov's heroine suffers from treason to her husband and, albeit subconsciously, puts her act on a par with the greatest crimes of the past and present. The abundance of poisoners and poisoners, real and imaginary, is a reflection in Margarita's brain of the thought of a possible suicide with the Master with the help of poison. At the same time, the subsequent poisoning of them, carried out by Azazello, can be considered imaginary, and not real, since historically all male poisoners at Satan's Great Ball are imaginary poisoners.

But Bulgakov also leaves an alternative possibility: the Great Ball at Satan's and all the events associated with him take place only in the sick imagination of Margarita, suffering from the lack of news about the Master and guilt before her husband and subconsciously thinking about suicide. The author of The Master and Margarita offers a similar alternative explanation in relation to the Moscow adventures of Satan and his assistants in the epilogue of the novel, making it clear that it is far from exhausting what is happening. Also, any rational explanation of Satan's Great Ball, according to the author's intention, cannot be complete.

Conclusion

Of all the abilities that magicians and wizards are gifted with, the simplest and most common gift is divination. In addition, prophecy is a favorite subject of poetry. Bulgakov correctly judged that manuscripts do not burn, and correctly prophesied the future for himself and his books.

When we find out that this is the devil who visited us "with his comrades" in order to profit from the mockery in complete sweetness - the author, it seems, is not at all saddened by this. He is cheerful, carefree and sweet in all the descriptions of the gang, which he follows with almost a reporter's pleasure. His tone is calm and derisive. Why is this? The first thought that naturally comes to mind is from despair. He hit himself on the forehead, like Pushkin's Eugene, and "burst out laughing." But it seems that no hysteria is heard here. Speech is fast, but smooth and clear. Indifference? Maybe this is already an indifferent laugh at the futility of human efforts, from the astral height, whence comes Russia - "decay and vanity"? It also seems not so: the author is too interested in the people he describes, does not let them go without examination, sighs: "Gods, my gods ..." He is ready to share all their joys and sorrows. Why then?

One detail seems to give understanding the first step. We notice that he laughs at the devil too. A strange turn for serious literature of the 20th century, where the devil is accustomed to respect. Bulgakov has something completely different. He laughs at the forces of decay, quite innocently, but extremely dangerous for them, because he unravels their principle in passing.

After the first amazement at the impunity of the entire "devilish" company, our eyes begin to discern that they are mocking, it turns out, where people have already mocked themselves before them; that they only eat up what they have left long ago.

Note: nowhere did Woland, the Bulgakov prince of darkness, touch the one who recognizes honor, lives by it and comes. But he immediately seeps out to where a gap was left for him, where they retreated, disintegrated and imagined that they were hiding: to a barman with a "fish of the second freshness" and dozens of gold in hiding places; to the professor, who has slightly forgotten the Hippocratic oath; to the cleverest specialist in the "exposure" of values, whom he himself, having severed his head, with pleasure sends to "nothing".

His work is destructive - but only in the midst of the disintegration that has already taken place. Without this condition, it simply does not exist; he appears everywhere, as they notice behind him, without a shadow, but this is because he himself is only a shadow, gaining strength where the strength of good was lacking, where honor did not find the proper course for itself, did not realize, got lost or allowed itself to be pulled in the wrong place, where - felt - there will be truth. It was then that "yon", as one grandmother used to say about the devil, grabbed her.

One way or another, but more and more undoubtedly the thought emerges: the impudent people from Woland's company play only the roles that we ourselves wrote for them. Where the situation is comparatively normal, they walk on the degree of a sparrow and a cat; where it is gloomier - there is already running around a mocking and giggling "checkered" one with a fanged partner, and where it is very difficult - the black Woland thickens, staring at this point with an empty eye.

But everywhere, no matter how disgusting evil spirits are, it remains to admit that the source of the disasters it brings is not in it. It is not for nothing that the unfortunate poet Homeless, chasing the servants of Woland, bumps his head against the glass, his own head, which is destined to change its mind only later; they are only happy about this persecution. Because here, for the pursuers, the main one is completely lost from the eyes, real reason destruction, which is not easy to admit: your own swagger and disregard, the desire to be right at all costs and pick any value, like a toy, which, they say, has just a cunning secret and nothing special, and after breaking it, “there is a way for her” , in a word, the very thing that another Russian writer defined as "we are perishing ... from disrespect for ourselves."

However, Bulgakov never thought that we were dying. Precisely because decomposition is allowed here in various subtleties invisible to the eye to show itself, to reveal itself - and, nevertheless, to accomplish nothing decisive, it becomes clear that its influence has boundaries that it can move, but not overstep. We are present, close and see how this remarkably interesting force operates in a whole series of images and changeable faces; how she, as soon as the real wakes up, immediately rushes to join him, but if someone gags, she quickly destroys it, eats away, mocks and tramples on it; how she crawls around, looking for a crack, ape, pretending to be a friend, and so on. But no more: she can never grasp this genuine beginning of it. And that means, with all its cunning - it only cleans, burns out his weakness. A ruthless correction of something that did not want to fix itself. Her own position remains unenviable; as the epigraph to the book says: "a part of the power that always wants evil and always does good." Everything destroyed by it is restored, the burnt shoots sprout again, the interrupted tradition comes to life.

Of course, the source of the author's calm is from there. He, too, is from afar - connected with the principles that decomposition cannot reach. The novel is filled with this mood, which is not directly pronounced, but gives him all his inner run.

1. Bulgakov M.A.Master and Margarita - Moscow: Pan Press, 2006

2. Galinskaya I. L. Riddles of famous books - Moscow: Nauka, 1986

3. Groznova NA Creativity Mikhail Bulgakov: Research. Materials. Bibliography - L .: Nauka, 1991

4. Sokolov B.V. Bulgakov Encyclopedia - M .: Myth, 1997

5. Sokolov B.V. Three lives of Mikhail Bulgakov - M .: Ellis lac, 1997

6. Shneiberg L. Ya. From Gorky to Solzhenitsyn - M .: graduate School, 1995

Galinskaya I. L. Riddles of famous books - Moscow: Nauka, 1986 p. 46

Groznova N. A. Creativity of Mikhail Bulgakov: Research. Materials. Bibliography - L .: Nauka, 1991 p. 25

Bulgakov M.A.Master and Margarita - M .: Pan Press, 2006 p.112

Bulgakov M.A.Master and Margarita - M .: Pan Press, 2006 p.92

Sokolov B.V. Bulgakov Encyclopedia - M .: Myth, 1997 p.96