A fantastic line in the novel The Master and Margarita. An essay on the role of fiction in the novel by M. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita". Science fiction is a special form of depicting reality

And what is the real world in which the Master lives and Woland administers justice?

The novel "The Master and Margarita" really represents Moscow, its communication, everyday life and literary and theatrical world, so well known to Bulgakov.

In his novel, Bulgakov reflected the real situation of the writers who lived in the 30s. Literary censorship did not allow works that differed from the general flow of what needed to be written. The masterpieces could not find recognition. Writers who risked freely expressing their thoughts ended up in psychiatric hospitals, died in poverty, without achieving fame.

The Master had the same fate, he was hunted down, the very first encounter with the literary world leads him to a madhouse.

But along with the cruel reality there is another - this is the love of the Master and Margarita.

Margarita in the novel has become a wonderful, generalized and poetic image of a woman who loves. Without this image, the novel would have lost its appeal. By the brightness of her nature, she is opposed to the Master. She herself compares fierce love with the fierce devotion of Levi Matthew. Margarita's love, like life, is all-embracing and, like life, is alive. Margarita is opposed to the warrior and commander Pilate with her fearlessness. And his defenseless and powerful humanity - to the all-powerful Woland.

The Master is in many ways an autobiographical hero. The writer deliberately, sometimes demonstratively, emphasizes the autobiography of his hero. The master is indifferent to the joys of family life, he does not even remember exactly the name of his wife, does not strive to have children. The master was lonely, and he liked it, but when he met Margarita, he realized that he had found a kindred spirit. Love "jumped out" in front of them and amazed both of them at once. This huge feeling filled their lives with new meaning, created around the Master and Margarita only their small world, in which they found happiness and peace. And since such love flared up between them, then it should be passionate, stormy, burning both hearts to ashes. It was not extinguished by either the gloomy black days, when critical articles about the novel appeared in the newspapers, nor the Master's serious illness, nor their parting for many months. The Master and Margarita, with their love, challenged the whole world, both fantastic and real.

Finishing his novel with an epilogue, Bulgakov shows the life of the city, which seems to be closed in a circle. The city has lost everything spiritual and talented that left it along with the Master. Lost all that was beautiful and eternally loving that had gone with Margarita. He lost all that was true. But the author gives special credibility to the events, telling about the lives of his heroes over the next few years. And we, reading the work, clearly imagine, sitting under the linden trees on the Patriarch's Ponds, an employee of the Institute of History and Philosophy, Professor Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, a former Homeless, seized by irresistible anxiety during the spring full moon. However, for some reason, after the last page of the novel is turned, an irresistible feeling of slight sadness arises, which always remains after communication with the Great, no matter whether it is a book, a film or a play.

bulgakov roman margarita stilevoy

When people are completely robbed like we are. with you, they are looking for salvation from the otherworldly force. M. Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita The novel by MA Bulgakova "The Master and Margarita" is unusual in that reality and fantasy are closely intertwined in it. The mystical heroes are immersed in the whirlpool of stormy Moscow life in the 1930s, and this erases the boundaries between the real world and the metaphysical world. In the guise of Woland, before us in all its glory appears none other than the ruler of darkness himself, Satan. The purpose of his visit to earth is to see how much people have changed over the past millennia. Woland did not arrive alone, with him his retinue: an absurdly dressed merriment like Koroviev-Fagot, who in the end turns out to be a dark purple knight, a funny joker Behemoth, who turned into a prisoner into a young page, the demon of the waterless desert Azazello, executive Gella. All of them constantly interfere in the life of people and in a few days manage to excite the whole city. Woland and his retinue constantly test Muscovites for honesty, decency, the power of love and faith. Very many do not pass these tests, because this exam is not an easy one: the fulfillment of desires. And people's desires turn out to be the lowest: career, money, luxury, outfits, the opportunity to get more and for free. Yes, Woland is a tempter, but he also severely punishes those who have been fined: money melts, outfits disappear, and grievances and frustrations remain. Thus, Bulgakov in the novel interprets the image of Satan in his own way: Woland, being the embodiment of evil, at the same time acts as a Judge, evaluating the motives of human actions, their conscience: it is he who restores the truth and punishes in its name. Woland has access to all three worlds depicted in the novel: his own, otherworldly, fantasy; our world of people, reality; and a legendary world depicted in a novel written by the Master. On all planes of being, this dark nagging knows how to look into the human soul, which turns out to be so imperfect that the ruler of darkness has to be a prophet of truth. Even more surprising is that Woland not only punishes "sinners", but also rewards the worthy. Thus, ready for endless sacrifices in the name of true love, Margarita and the Master obtained the right to their own peace of paradise. Thus, "forgiven on Sunday night., The cruel fifth procurator of Judea ... Pontius Pilate" left along the moonlit path, questioning Yeshua, who was executed by his will, about the misunderstood, overheard, unsaid. Fiction itself in its purest form is not an end in itself for M. Bulgakov, it only helps to reveal more deeply to the writer his understanding of philosophical and moral-ethical problems. Using fantasy elements as a means for revealing and more fully illuminating the concept, M. Bulgakov invites us to reflect on the important questions of good and evil, the truth and predestination of man on earth.

When people are completely robbed,

like you and me, they are looking

salvation from the otherworldly force.

M. Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita

The novel by MA Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" is unusual in that reality and fantasy are closely intertwined in it. Mystical heroes are immersed in the whirlpool of stormy Moscow life in the 1930s, and this erases the boundaries between the real world and the metaphysical world.

In the guise of Woland, before us in all its glory appears none other than the ruler of darkness himself, Satan. The purpose of his visit to earth is to see how much people have changed over the past millennia. Woland did not arrive alone, with him his retinue: the ridiculously dressed merry fellow Koroviev-Fagot, who in the end turns out to be a dark purple knight, the funny joker Behemoth, who turned into a young page imprisoned, the demon of the waterless desert Azazello, the executive Gella. All of them constantly interfere in the life of people and in a few days manage to excite the whole city. Woland and his retinue constantly test Muscovites for honesty, decency, the power of love and faith. Very many do not pass these tests, because the exam is not easy: the fulfillment of desires. And people's desires turn out to be the lowest: career, money, luxury, outfits, the opportunity to get more and for free. Yes, Woland is a tempter, but he also severely punishes “those who have made a mistake”: money melts, outfits disappear, resentments and disappointments remain. Thus, Bulgakov in the novel interprets the image of Satan in his own way: Woland, being the embodiment of evil, at the same time acts as a Judge, evaluating the motives of human actions, their conscience: it is he who restores the truth and punishes in its name. Woland has access to all three worlds depicted in the novel: his own, otherworldly, fantastic; our - the world of people, reality; and a legendary world depicted in a novel written by the Master. On all planes of being, this dark beginning knows how to look into the human soul, which turns out to be so imperfect that the ruler of darkness has to be a prophet of truth.

Even more surprising is the fact that Woland not only punishes "sinners", but also rewards the worthy. So, ready for endless sacrifices in the name of true love, Margarita and the Master received the right to their own paradise - peace. So "forgiven on Sunday night ... the cruel fifth procurator of Judea ... Pontius Pilate" left along the moonlit path, asking Yeshua, who was executed by his will, about the misunderstood, overheard, unsaid.

Fiction itself in its pure form is not an end in itself for M. Bulgakov, it only helps the writer to deeper understand the understanding of philosophical and moral-ethical problems. Using fantastic elements as a means for revealing and more fully illuminating the concept, M. Bulgakov also invites us to reflect on the eternal questions of good and evil, the truth and purpose of man on earth.

Municipal educational institution

Secondary school number 8

With in-depth study of foreign languages

Literature abstract on the topic:

Prepared by:

Pupil 11 "D" class

Trubelina Galina

Checked:

Viktorenko

Yulia Viktorovna

G. Smolensk

1. Justification for the choice of topic …………………………………… .p.3

2. Biography of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ………… .p.4

3. "Ascension to Golgotha" ………………………………………. P.5-6

4. The cherished novel ……………………………………………… .p.6-13

5. Grotesque in the novel "The Master and Margarita" ………………… ..p.13-20

6. The reality of the first part and the fantasy of the second ………… p.21-27

7. Conclusion …………………………………………………… ..p.28

8. List of used literature ……………………… .p.29

9. Appendix …………………………………………………… .p.30-35

The choice of this topic for me is due to the desire not only to broaden my horizons, but also to try to figure out what is the true meaning of the work of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”.

It seems to me that M. Bulgakov himself was, of course, very smart and amazingly observant, not only in literature, but also in life. “And, of course, his humor could not always be called harmless - not because Bulgakov proceeded from a desire to humiliate someone (this was in fundamental contradiction with his essence), but his humor took, so to speak, revelatory character, for often the ido of philosophical sarcasm grew up. " Rereading the work "The Master and Margarita" we can see for ourselves. The novel "The Master and Margarita" became a significant event in the literary life of Russia in the twentieth century. Whatever Bulgakov talks about, he always creates a feeling of eternity, as if in subtext, and he makes his heroes not only exist in the tense conditions of our time, but also confronts eternal problems of being, forcing them to think about the meaning and purpose of existence, about true and imaginary values, about the laws of life development.

Therefore, I decided to draw the attention of other people to the work of Bulgakov.

(1) Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov was born in 1891 in Kiev in the family of a clergyman, a serious historian of religious theories, who, however, did not want to give his firstborn a spiritual education. Two years after the death of his father, 18-year-old M. Bulgakov becomes a student of the medical faculty of Kiev University: and at the age of 21 he marries Tatiana Lanka. In 1916, with a diploma of "doctor with honors", he ended up in front-line hospitals in the Ukraine, and then a wonderful enemy in the Smolensk province (the village of Nikolskoye), where he was the only doctor in the entire district. And already in 1917 he moved to Vyazma, to a large hospital. After the October Revolution, he returned to Kiev, going through bloody events in the city, caused by the actions of the German authorities, White Guards and Petliurists. When Soviet power was established in Kiev in 1919, Bulgakov continued to heal in a military hospital in Vladikavkaz and in the same year he almost died of typhus, deciding to leave medicine completely. In 1921 he came to Moscow (2) “without money, without things ... in order to stay with her forever. In Moscow he suffered for a long time; to maintain his existence, he served as a reporter and feuilletonist in the newspapers and hated these titles, devoid of distinction. And in 1922-1924, after the final move to Moscow, the writer created the novel "White Guard", which opened the way for him to great literature. In 1926 he reworked the play "Days of the Trubins" for the theater, staged at the Moscow Art Theater. The play brought both the author and the theater great fame and big trouble: the play was either banned or allowed to be staged again. From 1927 to 1930, Bulgakov wrote a number of plays that today constitute the glory of the Russian theater, but none of which was staged. Driven to despair, in March 1930 he addressed a letter to the Soviet government and personally to Stalin, where he asked either to allow him to work, to publish, or to leave the country. (3) About the same he writes to Gorky: “Not a single institution, not a single person responds to my statements ... all that remains is to destroy the last thing that remains - myself. I ask you to make a humane decision - to let me go. " The letter to Stalin coincided with Mayakovsky's funeral. Stalin, not wanting another high-profile suicide, called the writer and offered him a job as a director at the Moscow Art Theater. But in 1932 the Moscow Art Theater resumed the production of Days of the Trubins because of Stalin's personal predilection for this play. In the same year, Bulgakov marries Elena Shilovskaya, with whom he lived until the end of his life. And on March 10, 1940, Bulgakov died in Moscow.

1 - Nikolaev L.A. "M. Bulgakov and his main book", 1988, pp. 3-7

2 - Bulgakov M.A. "Autobiography", Moscow, October, 1924.

3 - Merkin G. S. Russian literature of the twentieth century (1). S., 1990, pp. 144-145

(1) How did everything fit together in one creation? And the picture of Moscow life in the thirties, and philosophy with fantasy, and, of course, love lyrics. The novel reads into a boggle, especially when you enter it trustingly and give yourself up to the will of the author's thought and fantasy, without slowing yourself down with skeptical questions. In this case, he also leaves an inexpressible impression: he illuminates the surrounding life with some new, unprecedented light and, as it were, raises above it, suddenly opening new horizons in your idea of ​​freedom, love, death and immortality, the strength and powerlessness of one-man power over people, about the real and the surreal ...

There is hardly a reader who dares to claim that he has found the keys to all the mysteries hidden in the novel. But a lot about him will be revealed if at least a cursory trail of the ten-year history of his creation, while not forgetting that almost all of Bulgakov's works were born from his own experiences, conflicts, upheavals.

One way or another, it can be argued that it was his own fate that made the writer recall the New Testament biblical story and introduce it into the novel. In his first sketches, made in the spring of 1929, this connection is not striking. They are generally quite distant from the text that is known to the reader. Neither the Master nor Margarita is here yet. The devil appears in Moscow alone, without an entourage. But he begins his activity, just as in the final edition of the novel, with a conversation with two literary men of a clearly rappian kind. He tells them this biblical story from beginning to end, with special care describing the torment of Christ during his ascent, Golgotha ​​and, as if trying to ensure that his interlocutors, in the mirror of those ancient events, in the decisions of the Sanhedrin and the procurator of Judea, also saw their own, rappian brutal fanaticism ...

The work of the writer was interrupted by the events of March 1929. For a whole year after the banning of his writings, he tried to search for the truth, not yet realizing that he was not alone - all literature and art was sacrificed to anti-popular politics, and in protest destroyed his work: he tore apart notebooks with a novel along the pages and burned one half, leaving the second at the roots - only as evidence that the novel really existed.

Only in 1931 Bulgakov returned to it, or, more precisely, began to write it anew. In the novel, the Master and Margarita appeared, to whom the writer predicted the same role that Elena Sergeevna (Bulgakov's third wife) played in his life, but again, a completely special one, going beyond the real life.

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1 - Boborykin V.G. "Biography of the writer Mikhail Bulgakov", 1991,

(1) Bulgakov, however, did not force work on the novel, already firmly knowing that he could not count on publication. At times he devoted himself entirely to her and managed to write huge chunks of fresh text in a short time. But it happened, interrupted it for many months and even years. And he returned to her with new ideas and designs. The first complete version was completed by him in 1934. The latter was in the 38th, although the writer continued polishing it later, until the end of his days.

Ultimately, only a few general outlines remained from the original Bulgakov's plan. The content of the novel seemed to be heard in breadth and depth. Satire intertwined with lyrics, lyrics - with philosophy, philosophy - with politics.

(2) In the 1930s Bulgakov devoted his energy mainly to work on the novel The Master and Margarita. The author still could not choose a suitable name and nevertheless settled on the name "Master and Margarita", although there were others: "Satan", "Horseshoe of a foreigner", "Great Chancellor" and others. The canonical name "The Master and Margarita" appeared only in 1937. Bulgakov worked on the last edition of the novel literally until his death (March 14, 1939), he wrote the epilogue of the novel, and made the last amendment to the text on February 13, 1940, already blind, less than a month before his painful end. For Bulgakov, "The Master and Margarita" was like the last testament to humanity, and he put all his remarkable talent into the novel.

There is not a single absolute dating of events in the novel, but a number of indirect signs allow us to unambiguously determine the time of action of both ancient and modern scenes. In the first edition and in early versions, the second modern part is dated at 12935 or 45 years, but later Bulgakov eliminated the absolute chronology and changed the time of actions. The final text of the novel only says that Woland and his retinue appear in Moscow on Wednesday evening in May, and leave the city with the Master and Margarita at the end of the same week in May - on the night from Saturday to Sunday. It is on this Sunday that they meet with Yeshua and Pilate, and it becomes obvious that this is the bright Sunday of Christ, Christian Easter. Consequently, the events in Moscow take place during the Holy Week. Orthodox Easter fell on the new style no earlier than May 5th.

1 - Boborykin V.G. "Biography of the writer M. Bulgakov", 1991, p. 115

2 - Sokolov B. "M. Bulgakov: To the 100th anniversary of his birth"; Moscow, 1991

(1) After 1918, only one year satisfies this condition - 1929, when Orthodox Easter was on May 5th.

The beginning of the action of the Moscow scenes falls on May 1 - the Day of International Solidarity of Workers, but it is solidarity, mutual assistance, Christian love for one's neighbor that people in Bulgakov's Moscow lack, and Woland's visit quickly reveals this.

It is also very important that the exact chronology is present in Yershalaim scenes of the novel. Their action also begins on the Wednesday of Nisan, with the arrival of Yeshua Ha-Nozri in Yershalaim and his arrest in the house of Judas from Kiriath, and ends at dawn on Saturday, Nisan 15, when Pilate learns about the murder of Judas and talks with Matthew Levi. The true ending is forgiveness, the Master's gift to Pilate on Easter night. Thus, the ancient and modern worlds of The Master and Margarita merge here, and this merger takes place in the third world of the novel - in the otherworldly, eternal world. And it is no coincidence that such a combination of three novel spaces actually occurs on the same day, which simultaneously combines the action of both the ancient Yershalaim and Moscow new scenes.

When recreating the history of Yeshua and Pilate, Bulgakov used many historical works. Thus, in his archive there are extracts from the book of the French scientist Renan, The Life of Jesus. " Renan pointed out that the execution of Jesus could have occurred either in the 29th or in the 33rd year, but the historian himself leaned towards the 33rd year. Bulgakov's year of action in the ancient part of the novel is not indicated, but Yeshua's age is named - about 27 years. If we accept the traditional date of Christ's birth - 1 year of the new, Christian Era, it turns out that Bulgakov's Yeshua died in the 28th or 29th year. The preaching of Yeshua Ha-Notsri, in contrast to the Gospel Jesus Christ, lasted a week - only a few months. Indeed, before the arrest, the Roman authorities did not have time to learn anything about his sermon, and Yeshua had only one student at that moment - Matthew Levi, while with a longer preaching time the number of disciples should have been large, since even Pilate recognized the attractiveness of Ha-Nozri's teachings for the people. Following the Gospel of Luke and Renan, Bulgakov focused on the 28th year as the time of the beginning of Christ's activity. The writer needed a preacher's life, bright as a sunbeam and short as a flash of lightning, designed to shade the imperfections and dark spots of modern life. Therefore, Yeshua in The Master and Margarita is much younger than Yeshua of the Gospels and Renan, and his life before his painful life on the cross is practically devoid of any memorable, significant events. The main thing for Bulgakov was to show the inner, humanistic

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1 - Sokolov B. "M. Bklgakov: To the 100th anniversary of his birth" Moscow 1991 p. 99-100

(1) In the 1929 edition, Yeshua directly told Pilate that "1900 years will pass before it becomes clear how much they lied, writing down after me." If the Moscow scenes take place in 1929, then the 1900-year gap that separates the ancient and modern parts of the novel plays an extremely important role in the structure of The Master and Margarita. The fact is that 1900 is a short 76, 76 years old, the famous lunisolar cycle, containing an equal number of years according to the solar, Julian, lunar calendars. Every 76 years according to the Julian calendar, the phases of the moon fall on the same numbers and days of the week. Therefore, Easter Friday on the 14th of Nisan (Jewish Passover) both in the 29th and in 1929 fell by the same number - April 20 according to the Julian calendar, and April 22, 28, and the 16th day of the month of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar those lunar years that fall on 22 April 1928 and 29 years of the Julian calendar. On this day of Orthodox Easter, the resurrection of the master and the resurrection of Yeshua take place, and the world of the Gospel legend merges with the other world. It is in the scene of the last flight that not only the temporal, but also the very complex spatial structure of The Master and Margarita merges. Thus, the Gospel time forms one stream with the time when Bulgakov and his master began work on the novel about Yeshua and Pilate, and the action of the novel created by the Master connects with the course of modern Moscow life, where the author of the genius novel ends his earthly life, shot persecutors in order to gain immortality and long-awaited peace in the eternity of the other world.

The three worlds of "The Master and Margarita" correspond to three kinds of characters, and representatives of different worlds form peculiar triads, united by functional similarity and similar interaction with the characters of their own series. Let us demonstrate this point with the example of the first and most significant triad of the novel. It consists of: the procurator of the Jews Pontius Pilate - "Prince of darkness" Woland - director of the psychiatric blade Professor Stravinsky. In the scenes of Yershalaim, life develops thanks to the actions and orders of Pilate. In the Moscow part, the action takes place thanks to Woland, who, like the procurator of the Jews, has a howling retinue. Likewise, Stravinsky, albeit in a parody, reduced everywhere, repeats the functions of Pilate and Woland. Stravinsky determines the fate of all three characters in the modern world who ended up in the clinic as a result of accidental contact with Satan and his servants. It seems that the course of events in the clinic is directed by action

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1 - "Questions of Literature" No. 1.176, p. 258

(1) Stravinsky is an adjacent likeness of Woland. In turn, it is a somewhat contiguous likeness of Pilate, diminished already because the "Prince of Darkness" is almost completely devoid of any psychological experiences, which are so richly endowed with the procurator of the Jews, tormented by conscience for his momentary cowardice. Woland, as it were, parodies Pilate - the man who stands at the head of the entire Yershalaim world. After all, the fate of Kaifa, and Judas, and Yeshua depends on Pilate, and, like Woland, he has his own retinue - Afranius, Mark the Rat-Slayer, the faithful Banga. Pilate tries to save Yeshua, but, being forced, in the end, to send him to death, unwittingly ensures both of them immortality for centuries.

And in modern Moscow, the eternal Woland rescues the master and gives him a reward. But here, too, the death of the creator and his devoted beloved must first come - they receive reward in the other world, and immortality gives the Master a genius novel written by him, and Margarita her unique love.

Stravinsky also rescues the Master and others who have become victims of evil spirits, only this salvation is frankly parody, since the professor can offer the Master only absolute, inactive peace of the psychiatric hospital.

The power of each of the powerful characters in this triad turns out to be imaginary. Pilate is unable to change the course of events, predetermined by circumstances beyond his control, ultimately because of his own cowardice, although outwardly everything in the ancient part of the novel takes place at his command. In turn, the future of those people with whom it comes in contact is only predicted, but the future is still determined by extremely long circumstances. So, Berlioz perishes under the wheels of a tram not because Satan presented an unforeseen circumstance in the form of tram wheels and oil spilled on the rails by Annushka, but because he simply slipped on this oil. And the informer Mastgel, who died at Woland's ball from the bullet of Azazello, still a month later inevitably had to pay with his life for his betrayal, and the intervention of otherworldly forces only accelerates the denouement. Stravinsky's power over the Master and other patients turns out to be illusory. He is not able to deprive Ivan the Homeless of the memories of Pilate and the death of Yeshua, and the Master and his beloved; he is unable to prevent the Master's earthly death and his transition, together with Margarita, to the other world and to Immortality.

There is also a certain portrait resemblance between the members of the triad. Woland - "in appearance - more than forty years old" and "shaven smoothly", Stravinsky - "carefully, in an actorly shaven man of about forty-five" right with a gold spark at the bottom, drilling

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1 - Sokolov B. "M. Bulgakov: To the 100th anniversary of his birth", Moscow, 1991

anyone to the bottom of the soul, and the left one is empty and black, sort of like a narrow coal ear, like an exit into the bottomless jelly of all darkness and shadows ", while the professor is a man" with pleasant, but very piercing features. " The outward resemblance of Stravinsky to Pilate is noted by Ivan homeless when he meets professor.

(1) Let us list the remaining seven triads of The Master and Margarita: Afranius, Pilate's first assistant; Fagot Koroviev, Woland’s first assistant; Fyodor Vasilievich, physician, Stravinsky’s first assistant; centurion Mark Ratslayer, Azazello, demon of the waterless desert, - Argibald Argibaldovich, director of the restaurant of the Griboyedov house; Banga's dog - a cat Behemoth - a police dog Tuzbuben; Kiza, the agent of Afrania, - Gella, the servant of Fagot - Korovieva, - Natasha, the maid and confidant of Margarita; the chairman of the Sinfrion Joseph Kaifa - the chairman of MASSOLIT, Berlioz - an unknown person in the torgsin, posing as a foreigner; Judas from Kiriath, Baron Meigel, - journalist Aloziy Mogarych, Levi Matvey, the only follower of Yeshua, - the poet Ivan Bezdomny, the only disciple of the Master - the poet Alexander Ryukhin.

Of the main characters in the novel, only three are not included in the triads. These are, first of all, two such important heroes as Yeshua Ha-Nozri and the nameless Master, who form a punishment, or dyad. The heroine remains, whose name appears in the title of the novel. The image of Margarita personifies not only love, but also mercy (she seeks forgiveness for Frida and Pilate). Margarita acts in all three worlds of the novel: modern, otherworldly and historical. This image is not always ideal. Becoming a witch, Margarita hardens and smashes the house of Dramlit, where the main enemies of the Master live. But the threat of the death of an innocent child becomes the threshold that a truly moral person can never cross, and sobering sets in. Another sin of Margaret is participation in Satan's ball together with the greatest sinners "of all times and peoples." But this sin is committed in the other world, Margarita's actions here do no harm to anyone and do not require atonement. And Margarita's love remains an eternal ideal for us.

It is characteristic that none of the characters of the triads, as well as the dyads, are connected with each other, and with other characters (with rare exceptions) by ties of kinship or marriage. In The Master and Margarita, the basis for the development of the plot is such connections between the characters, which entirely follow from the position in society. Recall that both the Roman Empire and Judea in the first century AD were hierarchical societies. Only Yeshua stands outside the hierarchy, his teaching opposes any hierarchy, highlighting the qualities of a person.

1 - "New World" No. 6,1968, p.306

(1) Eternal, once and for all given strict hierarchy reigns in the other world as well, and it in a peculiar way reflects the hierarchy of the ancient Yershalaim and modern Moscow world.

For modern Bulgakov, the world also turns out to be a hierarchical world. Only the relationship between the Master and Margarita is ruled not by hierarchy, but by love. In society, mainly on the hierarchy, the Master, despite his genius and even largely because of it, has no place. The master is an unconscious rebel against the system of state hierarchy, and the novel itself is a covert protest against such a system. The novel of the Master, a man of genius who does not belong to the powerful hierarchy of the literary and near-literary world, cannot enter the world. Like Yeshua, he will rebuild against the Jewish hierarchy, the Master is doomed to perish.

Bulgakov's novel affirms the priority of eternal human feelings over any social hierarchy, even if good, true, love, creative genius are forced to hide here in the other world, seek support from the "prince of darkness". The writer firmly believed that only by relying on the living embodiment of these humanistic concepts, humanity can create a truly just society, where no one will have a monopoly on truth.

Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita is a novel that pushed genre boundaries, a work where, perhaps for the first time, it was possible to achieve an organic combination of historical-epic, satirical and philosophical principles. In terms of the depth of its philosophical content and the level of artistic skill, it is rightfully placed on a par with the “divine comedy of Dante, Faust,” Goethe.

The Master and Margarita is one of the most literary novels of our time; based mainly on literary sources. In the text you can find explicit and hidden quotes from literary works, here are Gogol, and Goethe, and Renan.

The lofty world of the Gospel legend, found under Bulgakov's pen of the line of a unique reality, is declining, parodically distorted in other worlds, other dimensions. Modernity becomes imaginary, the other world becomes reality. The reader is plunged into the created world of a fantastic performance, which, in fact, turns out to be the highest reality. The Master leaves for the other world to wait there for the hour when the modern world will be renewed, and will desperately need his novel, his thoughts. And the very acquaintance of the present reader with the text of The Master and Margarita is, according to the writer's intention, an act of the Master's spiritual liberation, his return to his people and the whole world.

The influence of the "Great Break" was fully felt by Bulgakov in

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1 - Sokolov B. "M. Bulgakov: To the 100th anniversary of his birth", Moscow 1991

his life and work. Until the days of light, when his work was freed from the oppression of censorship and became the property of the general reader, during his lifetime it was still very far away. It is no coincidence that the reflection of modernity in The Master and Margarita is much more veiled than in the Moscow stories of the 1920s. Of course, the autobiographical parallels between the Master and Bulgakov, Margarita and Elena Sergeevna were obvious to close friends.

(1) The novel also contains veiled echoes of the country's political life in the 1930s. Consider the last two guests at Satan's ball. This is the chief poisoner and his ready-to-do assistant, who sprayed the walls of the office of a certain influential person with poison. And here is a quote from the transcript of the trial of the "Right-Tratskyist bloc", when Bukharin, Rykov, Yagoda and other prominent leaders of the party and government were convicted in the past. Here is what the accused Bulanov (former secretary of Yagoda) said at this trial: “When he (Yagoda) was removed from the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, he undertook direct poisoning of the office and that part of the rooms that adjoin the office ... where Nikolai was supposed to work Ivanovich Yezhov. He gave me personally a direct order to prepare the poison ... (09/28/36). I have fulfilled this instruction of Yagoda. " The writer saw all the farcism of the story told by Bulanov. The fictitiousness of the planned poisoning is emphasized in the novel by the fact that the idea was whispered to the boss over cognac by the demon Azazello.

In The Master and Margarita, the main accused at the trial, Bukharin, is also captured in a parody form. He is depicted in the image of "Ivan Nikolaevich's lower tenant". There is not only a coincidence of names and patronymics, an obvious portrait resemblance and an indication of the responsible position that the "lower lodger" who drives to the service in a car takes. However, in general, the "bottom tenant" does not look like an ominous figure. Rather, he expresses pity. Bulgakov understood that Bukharin was the same victim of Stalin's tyranny, like many others. His trouble is that he did not find the strength in himself to resist and fight this arbitrariness, and he did not immediately realize its scale. The words of Nikolai Ivanovich Ponyrev about the "lower tenant" also become understandable; said in the epilogue: "... this is still the first victim, like me," and Ivan Nikolayevich's own sorrowful regrets about what he had missed in life: "Oh, I am a fool! Why didn’t I leave him? What was I scared of, old donkey. Straightened the papers! Be patient now, you old cretin! The attempts of the novel Nikolai Ivanovich to justify himself that he attended Satan's ball against his will can be drawn up with Bukharin's attempts to obtain a public refutation of the information that appeared in the press about his involvement in the Conspiracies. "

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1 - "Questions of Literature" No. 6, 1968, p. 72

(1) And yet the first circumstance in the creative history of The Master and Margarita turned out to be associated with the name of Bukharin. On June 12, 1929, the All-Union Day of the Atheists opened in Moscow with the reports of Yaroslavsky and Bukharin. And in the edition of the 29th year in the chapter "Ostensibly money" all extraordinary incidents in Moscow begin on June 12, and the great ball at Satan's, or the Sabbath, obviously parodying this congress, was apparently timed to coincide with this day.

Bulgakov clearly saw the weakness of the politicians opposing Stalin, even those who had once fought for the continuation of the NEP and, probably, by this aroused Bulgakov's sympathy. And the weakness was, as the writer showed in the parody of the "lower tenant" Nikolai Ivanovich, in the denial of the cultural tradition and norms of Christian morality and ethics (the "lower tenant" violates the commandment "Do not commit adultery!" and he paid the most terrible price for it - not only death, but also complete moral humiliation at the medieval court).

The writer carefully preserved the cultural tradition with his creativity, asserted moral values.

The Master and Margarita remained the most significant monument of Russian literature of the 1920s and 1930s, and forever entered the treasury of masterpieces of world literature. Today we see even more clearly than before that the main thing in Bulgakov's work is pain for a person, be that an outstanding Master or an inconspicuous clerk, righteous Yeshua or the cruel executioner Mark Rat-Slayer. Humanism remained for Bulgakov the ideological core of literature. And this genuine, uncompromising humanism of his works is always relevant.

(2) In his final novel The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov refers to the realistic grotesque as the main principle of artistic generalization.

Almost everyone who wrote about the novel noted that the artistic world of The Master and Margarita is growing as a result of the rethinking of various cultural and aesthetic traditions. The realistic grotesque of The Master and Margarita seems to grow out of a grotesque romantic structure: Bulgakov transforms situations, figures and

1 - Sokolov B. "M. Bulgakov: To the 100th anniversary of his birth", Moscow, 1991, p. 115

2 - Babicheva Yu.A. "Creativity of M. Bulgakov"; Publishing house of Toms.univ. 1991s47

motivated by giving them a different, realistic function. At the same time, Bulgakov's modification of the romantic grotesque is associated with parodying.

(1) A typical situation in the works of the romantic grotesque is a clash of the real and the fantastic in order to study the moral and ethical potential of a person and society. The romantics considered the devil to be a surreal figure, revealing as much as possible the inner nature of mankind. Jean-Paul called the devil the greatest humorist and eccentric who turns the divine world inside out. In the novel "The Master and Margarita" the test of humanity by the devil also takes place. The Prince of Darkness Woland with his retinue - the cat Begemot, Koroviev, Azazello and Gella - flies into the reality of the modern writer. The purpose of his arrival is to test the spiritual content of society, and this he ambiguously declares during a session of Black Magic at the Variety Theater: “I am interested in (...) a much more important question: have the townspeople changed internally?” (2) Having appeared in Moscow, Bulgakovsky Woland turns reality inside out, revealing its values, true and imaginary. Tearing off the masks and exposing its essence is Woland's main function. And this happens, as in romantic literature, as if by chance, playfully, ironically cheerfully, i.e. by ridicule.

The comedy in the novel The Master and Margarita is primarily associated with the creation of a grotesque situation. In a fantastic situation (interaction with the unreal world), the character is introduced by Woland and his creature, who, in essence, perform the role of a rogue-trickster. Their intrigues, like the intrigues of any rogue, are conscious and purposeful. The scenes where the essence of this or that hero is revealed are directed by them. The grotesque situation that Bulgakov's characters find themselves in resembles a fabulously romantic situation throughout the entire external structure and consists of such basic links as trial and corresponding retribution. Encountering the characters with Satan, Bulgakov sought to reveal the cultural potential of a person, and then the moral, i.e. inner essence. Woland appears in the guise of the traditional literary and theatrical Devil. And this is already evidenced by external attributes (different eyes, a mourning cloak lined with fiery matter, a knob in the form of a poodle's head, a diamond triangle on a gold cigarette case), retinue (demons Koroviev, Azazello, black cat, naked witch), fantastic deeds, finally, name - Woland, close to the German Faland ("deceiver", "crafty"). The comic is that the "Moscow population" does not recognize Woland. Doesn't understand that he is in touch with the devil's world, barman

1 - Babicheva Yu.A. "Creativity of M. Bulgakov"; Publishing house of Tomsk Univ. 1991s50

2 - Bulgakov M.A. Favorites. M., 1982, p. 101

theater "Variety", although the surroundings of this world are emphatically traditional. “The entire large and semi-dark hallway was cluttered with unusual objects and clothing. So, a mourning cloak lined with fiery material was thrown over the back of a chair, a long sword with a gleaming golden handle lay on the mirror table. (1) Three swords with silver handles stood in the corner as simply as some umbrellas or walking sticks. Berets with eagle feathers hung on the deer mountains. " It smells of incense, buried in dampness. The door is opened by a naked witch with a crimson scar on her neck. But the ignorant Andrei Fokich Sokov had only an indignant reaction: “Oh yes, the foreigner's maid! Ugh, what a dirty trick! " Woland's world for him is the immoral environment of a foreign artist. The all-seeing Woland reveals the true essence of the outward appearance of a meek and polite grabber who has amassed "two hundred and forty-nine rubles in five savings banks." “The artist stretched forward his hand, on the fingers of which stones sparkled, as if blocking the barman, and spoke with great ardor:“ No, no, no! (…) I will not take anything into my mouth in your buffet! I, most respectable, passed by your counter yesterday and still cannot forget either sturgeon or feta cheese! My precious! Cheese is never green, someone deceived you. She is supposed to be white (...) There is only one freshness - the first, it is also the last. And if the sturgeon is of the second freshness, it means that it is rotten! "

Thus, a grotesque situation based on the contrast of an unreal incident, on the one hand, and a completely natural behavior of the character, on the other, reveals the essence of a person as much as possible.

The modern plot layer of the novel is, as it were, woven from repetitive everyday grotesque situations that develop the same collision, the same motive of identity with spiritual values. In each situation, the sequence of events is the same (test of the cultural, then the moral level of a person), and the set of characters is the same (contemporaries and the devil's world). The situation is presented as exceptional, extraordinary, but at the same time - and as natural, which has already happened more than once, instructive due to its potential recurrence. The variability of situations creates the variety of the plot of the grotesque. And it does not exist simply as a reflection of the anomalies of individuals. These microplots and characters contain the writer's judgment about the world order, the principles of the existence of the society he painted. This judgment is impartial and harsh, therefore the author resorts to the means of satirical exposure. The deviation from spiritual and moral norms, which is clearly revealed in everyday life, a cardinal divergence with them turns out to be a kind of rule, a principle of being, i.e. presented by the author as socially determined

1 - Babicheva Yu.A. "Creativity of M. Bulgakov"; Publishing house of Tomsk.univ. 1991s52

process. Like any satirical situation, the grotesque situation in The Master and Margarita is moralistic and didactic. The author not only exposes a social vice, but immediately invents punishment for it, thereby confirming the relativity of personality criteria in a society dominated by selfish interests. Bulgakov endures punishment with fantasy, exclusivity, a miracle, which has been supplanted by utilitarian principles, soberly routine. The barman Sokov turns yellow with horror, Stepa Likhodeev is thrown out of Yalta, Poplavsky is flying head over heels from the stairs, Prokhor Petrovich turns into an empty suit, etc. The verdict of surreal force is just and immediate.

With laughter, overthrowing the pragmatic type of being, coupled with a smug rejection of all the original spiritual and creative, Bulgakov's grotesque revealed the acute conflict nature of this being. The world of pragmatic society is opposed by an alternative convincing by its irrefutable vitality. It is expressed not only by the satirical, but also by the lyrical pathos of the author, which manifests itself as much as possible in the theme of the Master and Margarita, which sounds at first quietly, but gradually becomes the leading melody of the entire polyphony of Bulgakov's narrative. The line of the Master and Margarita has its own height. It is in the affirmation of spirituality, natural and necessary for people and the world. There is an abyss between the protagonists and the society around them. It is formed by the spiritual integrity of the Master and Margarita, inaccessible to the understanding of contemporaries, originally unbreakable even by the Devil himself. Measuring human characters and relationships with the standard of spirituality, Bulgakov raises love and creativity to a particularly high pedestal as properties that ennoble a person, naturally full of goodness, excluding cruelty and egoism. Fidelity to moral principles found in society is the most important result of personality testing, and in it the author sees the guarantee of the improvement of man and the world.

The grotesque situation of the novel, reproducing human existence, torn into two polar spheres (spiritual and non-spiritual), reflects, in essence, a romantic conflict. Just at the breaking of the world into two independent spheres - internal and external - Hegel saw the main feature of the entire romantic form of art: “In romantic art we have, therefore, two worlds. On the one hand, we have before us the realm of the external as such, freed from the connection with the spirit that firmly holds it together; the external now becomes an entirely empirical reality, the image of which does not touch the soul. ”(1)

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1 - Hegel. Lectures on aesthetics. Soch.M., 1940. Vol.13.p.96

(1) The mental socio-philosophical experiment undertaken by Bulgakov revealed cardinal universal human collisions and was largely close to the poetics of the romantic grotesque. But organically connected with the romantic canon, the grotesque of The Master and Margarita gravitated towards a different, realistic type of reproduction of life. Unlike the romantics, Bulgakov strove to explore social conflicts not only in moral and historical terms. That is why Bulgakov's fantastic assumption unfolds in a real-concrete chronotope, which helps to strengthen the illusion of the reliability of what is happening, brings the reader as close as possible to the essence of modern reality. Just like in The Devil's Day, Fatal Eggs, Heart of a Dog, the grotesque situation of the novel is replete with allusions to the modern author's world, full of ironic "tracing copies" from real phenomena and events that clearly shine through the fabulous pictures. Scenes, types, phenomena appear that not only correspond to generalized ideas about certain life tendencies, but are also designed for the reader's comic analogies with specific features of our time. The events of the modern layer of the novel take place in the 30s. Almost all of the characters are typical figures of the Soviet era of that time. But this does not exhaust the signs of modernity in the utopian novel. In the course of the development of the fantastic plot, Bulgakov saturates it with realities. These include the true topography of Moscow, to which events are linked. (2)

The author reliably records the inspection of a surreal force in the capital: Patriarch's Ponds, Sadovaya Street, 302-bis, apt.50 and located nearby, on the same Garden Theater "Variety", Torgsin on the Smolensk market; writers' house on the boulevard ring, near the monument to Pushkin; entertainment commission in Vagankovsky lane; the Master's house near the Arbat; the mansion of Margarita, located "very close" from the basement of the Master; a stone terrace of "one of the most beautiful buildings in Moscow, a building built about one and a half years ago," with a balustrade, plaster vases and plaster flowers; Sparrow Hills. The novel is replete with the names of Moscow streets of the 1930s (Sadovaya, Tverskaya, Bronnaya, Kropotkinskaya, Spiridonovskaya, Ostozhenka, Bozhedomka, Ermolaevsky lane, Skatertny, Kudrinskaya square, etc.) Manege, Maiden Monastery, "Metropol"), scientific, public organizations and institutions (clinic of the First Moscow State University, psychiatric hospital, institute

1 - Babicheva Yu.A. "Creativity of M. Bulgakov"; Publishing house of Tomsk Univ. 1991s54

2 - Myagkov B.S. "In the footsteps of the heroes of" The Master and Margarita "No. 1.1984s.24

history and philosophy). With the same detail and reliability, the author strove to capture the geographical range of diabolical influence (Moscow, Yalta, Kiev, Leningrad, Armavir, Kharkov, Saratov, Penza, Belgorod, Yaroslavl ...). (1) With the help of this kind of realities, the list of which could be continued, the fictional reality of the novel is linked by associative threads with concrete modernity.

Bulgakov also creates pseudo-realias in the novel - based on the model of phenomena, facts, persons, names known to the reader, with whom an associative connection is maintained. So, for example, the Moscow association of writers deduced in the novel, called MASSOLIT, correlates in the reader's mind with the proletkult-rappian associations of the 20s and early 30s (MAPP, RAPP) not only with a typical abbreviation of the post-revolutionary era, but, above all, with aesthetic rigorism - negative attitude to the classical heritage, class one-sided assessment of the artist and creativity. Just as in Proletkult and RAPP, in MASSOLIT the significance of a writer is determined by his proletarian origin. Therefore, Riukhin, although a "fist inside," but "carefully disguises himself as a proletarian"; Nastasya Lukinishna Nepremenova, who writes sea battle stories under the pseudonym Shturman Georges, calls herself a "Moscow merchant orphan"; the poet Ivan Nikolaevich signs himself with the surname Bezdomny (by analogy with the pseudonyms characteristic of the proletarian era - Poor, Hungry). Similarly to the Rapp's doctrines, MASSOLIT affirms a vulgar-schematic approach to art, eliminating talent, national traditions, universal human ideals. Criticism of the Master's novel with the sticking of ideological labels ("The Enemy Under the Editor's Wing", "The Militant Old Believer") and the tactics of a rappian strike ("Mstislav Lavrovich suggested hitting and hard hitting Pilatchina and that bogomaz who decided to push her into print") is a typical example vulgaristic criticism of the 1920s and 1930s, which sees in the creative intelligentsia a class enemy and absolutely discredits the writer, going beyond the framework of its categorical imperatives.

Bulgakov creates pseudo-realias based on their similarity with the socio-psychological signs of an atmosphere of suspicion and fear caused by the increased role of the administrative-volitional factor in the 30s. As an example of such pseudo-realias, one can name the prehistory of "bad apartment" No. 50, from which the tenants disappeared without a trace even before Woland appeared; desperate thoughts of Margarita, who has lost the Master: “If you are exiled, then why don't you let anyone know about yourself” ?; Ivan's aggressiveness, proposing to exile Kant to Solovki and meeting the doctor in a psychiatric hospital with the words: "Great, pest." Signs of the same atmosphere

1 - Babicheva Yu.A. "Creativity of M. Bulgakov"; Publishing house of Tomsk Univ. 1991s55

reflected in the figures of informers and spies: Baron Meigel, Timofey Kvasov, Alloziy Magarych, caught in a bribe, and in his own dream, reminiscent of public judicial revelations of those years; finally in scenes of mass psychosis and arrests of black cats and people. “Among others, - as the epilogue tells about it, - citizens Volman and Volner were detained for a short time in Leningrad, three Volodins in Saratov, Kiev and Kharkov, Volokh in Kazan, and in Penza, and it is completely unknown why - candidate of chemical sciences Vetchinkevich ”.

By organically combining realities and pseudo-realias, Bulgakov gave his satirical utopia a pamphlet character. As a result, he ironically declassified the conventionality of the grotesque situation and focused on the fact that science fiction is a creative game, an artistic device used to analyze the most acute collisions of the modern era.

(1) The rethinking of traditional grotesque images, as well as the rethinking of the grotesque situation, is associated with their parody in Bulgakov. The author ironically debunks the romantic notion of God's miraculous omnipotence. Yeshua himself disowns the traditional attributes of supernatural vice: “I don’t even have a donkey, hegemon (...). I came to Yershalaim exactly through the Susa gate, but on foot, accompanied by only Matthew Levi, and no one shouted anything to me, since no one in Yershalaim knew me then. " Yeshua appears as a physically weak and naive person, because he does not know about his traitor, calling Judas "a very kind and inquisitive person." The prophecies of the philosopher about human destiny, about the social structure are the result of high culture and spiritual knowledge.

Bulgakov also parodies the images of evil spirits. Like romantics, Bulgakov's evil spirits are outwardly scary, ugly, anthropomorphic. They drive you crazy, rip off heads, kill, etc. But these demons turn out to be kinder, smarter, nobler than the people they tempt. Berlioz, likhodeevs, barefoot are much more primitive and terrible. And the evil devil of Woland (demonic bacchanalia) is not as evil and terrible as the devil of human immorality, ignorance, and debauchery. Suffice it to compare at least Woland's “fifth dimension” and “the fifth dimension of Muscovites,” the ball of Satan and the ball of writers. The obvious irony in the novel over the images of God and the Devil changed the poetics of fear in Bulgakov's grotesque. The motive of fear, of course, is present in Bulgakov's utopia, but its source is not fantastic forces, but people, their thoughts and actions. So, parodying grotesque images led to the fact that they are the most important element of artistic play undertaken to analyze the most acute socio-philosophical collisions.

1 - Gasparov B.M. From observations of the motive structure of the R. "Master and Margarita". Daugava, 1988. No. 10-12; 1989. No. 1

Transforming the romantic grotesque situation and images, Bulgakov also transformed the methods of introducing fiction into the narrative, that is, the motivation of the fantastic, the poetics of the romantic mystery.

The art of plotting a plot in romantic works has always been associated with the enduring poetics of romantic mystery. As a rule, the narrative began with a mysterious phenomenon, and an atmosphere of mystery immediately arose. Then, as the strange was being whipped up, the tension of the mystery grew more and more, and, finally, the reason for the strange was revealed - a supernatural force, good or evil.

In the novel "The Master and Margarita" we are faced with a mystery already from the title of the first chapter - "Never talk to strangers", and the first lines are immersed in the atmosphere of the mysterious: two citizens (...). Yes, the first strangeness of this terrible May evening should be noted. Not only at the booth, but in the entire alley parallel to Malaya Bronnaya Street, there was not a single person. At that hour, when it already seemed, and there was no strength to breathe, when the sun, heating Moscow, fell in a dry fog somewhere beyond the Garden Ring - no one came under the linden trees, no one sat on the bench, the alley was empty ”. Further, the atmosphere of mystery intensifies. It is revealed that an evil spirit is involved in this. Intertwining the modern devil with antiquity, Bulgakov more and more intrigues the reader and, finally, reveals that the last judgment of the Devil is carried out by the will of God. But keeping the course of the narrative in the romantic canon, Bulgakov parodies the poetics of the romantic mystery, giving extraordinary phenomena a real-causal motivation. So the whole Moscow devilry is the hallucinations of Muscovites, and rumors about miracles, talking cats, etc. From the first chapter to the epilogue, the author crosses the fantastic and the real-psychological motivation. In this interweaving and hesitation, in this game, Bulgakov's spirit of irony is manifested. The irony of Bulgakov debunks the version about the participation of an unreal force in a person's life, and at the same time it is far from identifying the specific culprits of tragicomic drunkenness. Its purpose is much deeper. Bulgakov's irony reveals the confusion and abnormality of the entire structure of social relations, that mysterious fantasy of good and evil, which is rooted in people's behavior, in their way of feeling and thinking.

(1) The novel The Master and Margarita is clearly divided into two parts. The connection between them and the line between them is not only chronological. Part one of the novel is realistic, despite the obvious fantasy of the appearance of the devil in Moscow, despite the crossing of eras, separated by two millennia. The images and fates of people against the background of fantastic events develop throughout the cruel earthly reality - both in the present and in the past. And even Satan's minions are concrete, almost like people.

The second part is fantastic, and the realistic scenes in it cannot remove this impression. In a completely different way - not in everyday details, but in the fantasy of large generalizations - the innermost essence of the images that have already passed through the pages of the first part is revealed, and reality, which has tipped over into fantasy, appears before us in some new light.

And Woland is seen differently. Removed literary reminiscences. Removed opera and stage props. Margarita sees the great Satan sprawled out on the bed, dressed in one nightgown, dirty and patched on his left shoulder, and in the same casual outfit he appears in his last great exit at the ball. A dirty, patched shirt hangs on his shoulders, his feet are in worn-out night shoes, and he uses a naked sword like a cane, leaning on it. This nightgown and the black chlamyda in which Woland appears, emphasize his incomparable power, which does not need any attributes or any confirmation. Great Satan. Prince of shadows and darkness. Master of the night, lunar, reverse world, the world of death, sleep and fantasy.

Margarita stands up new, fantastically beautiful next to Woland. And even in the "ancient" chapters of the novel, there is a latent, but nevertheless, a clear shift.

The thunderstorm in Yershalaim, the same thunderstorm that we saw in the first part, when the centurion's cry: "Take off the chain!" - drowned in a roar and happy soldiers, being overtaken by streams of water, ran down the hill, putting on helmets on the run, - this thunderstorm, observed from the balcony, on which there is only one person - Pontius Pilate, is now seen quite different - threatening and ominous.

“The darkness that came from the Mediterranean covered the city hated by the procurator. Disappeared all sorts of bridges connecting the temple with the terrible Anthony Tower, an abyss fell from the sky and flooded the winged gods over the hippodrome, the Hasmonean palace with loopholes, bazaars, caravanserais, lanes, ponds ... "

1 - Nemtsev V.I. "Mikhail Bulgakov: The Formation of a Novelist"; 1991, pp. 306-307

(1) Perhaps, in this perception of the thunderstorm, the phrase of the Evangelist Matthew was born: "Darkness was throughout the whole earth."

Perceived by Pontius Pilate, this darkness is described significantly and terribly:

“As soon as the smoky black brew was ripped open by the fire, a great block of the temple with a sparkling scaly cover flew up from the pitch darkness. But it faded away in an instant, and the temple plunged into a dark abyss. Several times he grew out of it and again fell through, and each time this failure was accompanied by the crash of a catastrophe.

Other quivering flickers called from the abyss the palace of Herod the Great opposed to the temple on the western hill, and terrible eyeless golden statues soared up to the black sky, stretching out their hands to him. But again the heavenly fire was hiding, and heavy thunderclaps drove the golden idols into darkness. "

The conflict between the wandering philosopher and the omnipotent procurator appears as a new side - the tragedy of power, devoid of support in the spirit.

In the second part of the novel, an abstractly fair, conditional resolution of destinies is gradually taking shape, which can be called a projection of personalities and deeds into infinity. If, of course, in personalities and deeds there is something to be projected into infinity.

Somewhere in abstract infinity, Pontius Pilate and Yeshua finally converge like two eternally striving parallels. The eternal companion of Yeshua Levi Matthew goes to infinity - fanaticism that immediately grew out of Christianity, engendered by it, devoted to it and fundamentally opposite to it. Forever unite there, in infinity, the Master and Margarita.

And there is no infinity for Berlioz. In the life of this authoritative editor of the magazine and chairman of MASSOLIT, an end is made at the very moment when a tram covers him. However, one moment is given to him from the future, so that everything is clear. “You have always been an ardent preacher of that theory,” Woland addresses to the revived, full of thought and suffering through the eyes of dead Berlioz, “that after cutting off the head, life in a person stops, he turns into ash and goes into oblivion… May it come true! You go into oblivion, and it will be joyful for me to drink from the cup into which you are being transformed to being! "

But what can the Master receive in this infinity, except for the love of Margarita that already belongs to him?

Bulgakov offers the master the satisfaction of creativity - creativity itself. And - peace. Moreover, it turns out that in the infinities of the novel, this is not the highest award.

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1- Nemtsev V.I. "Mikhail Bulgakov: Becoming a novelist"; 1991, p.307-308

(1) “He read the master's work ...” Matthew Levi speaks on behalf of Yeshua, addressing Woland, “and asks you to take the master with you and reward him with peace. Is it really difficult for you to do this, spirit of evil?

He did not deserve the light, he deserved peace, ”Matvey said in a sad voice."

This clear and at the same time disturbing by its elusive understatement formula: "He did not deserve the light, he deserved peace" - gradually developed in Bulgakov, tormented him for a long time and, therefore, was not an accident.

The first surviving record of this theme (it was cited above) is in a 1931 manuscript: "You will meet Schubert there and bright mornings ..."

Later, in a notebook, among the texts of which is the date: "September 1, 1933" - a concise sketch: "The meeting of the poet with Woland. Margarita and Faust. Black mass. - You do not rise to heights. You won't listen to the masses. But you will listen to romantic ones ... "The phrase is not finished, then a few more words, and among them a separate one:" Cherries. "

And this is a very early sketch: Bulgakov also calls his future hero a poet, and the "black mass" is probably a prototype of Satan's great ball. But “You do not rise to heights. You will not listen to the masses ... "- clearly the words of Woland: this is the decision of the hero's fate. Woland is not talking about the "black mass" here, but about a synonym for what Bulgakov would later call the word "Light". (The image of "eternal mass", "eternal service" in one of Bulgakov's works by that time already existed: in the play "Cabal of the Sanctifier", in the scene "In the Cathedral", Archbishop Sharron, turning confession into denunciation and devilishly tempting Madeleine Bejart, promises to her this very "eternal service", called in religion "salvation": "Madeleine. I want to fly to the eternal service. Sharron. And I, archbishop, by the power given to me, untie you and let you go. Madeleine. (crying with delight). Now I can fly! ”and the organ sings“ powerfully ”, completing this deception-induced betrayal.)

Instead of "eternal mass" Woland grants the hero something else - "romantic ...". Probably the music of Schubert, which the author invariably promises to the Master - from the first sketches to the very last, final version of the novel. Romantic music by Schubert and "cherries" - cherry trees that surround the last refuge.

In 1936, the picture of the award promised to the master was almost complete. Woland unfolds it as follows:

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1 - Nemtsev V.I. "Mikhail Bulgakov: Becoming a novelist"; 1991, p.308-309

(1) “You are awarded. Thank Yeshua, who wandered in the sand, whom you composed, but never think of him again. You have been noticed and you will get what you deserve. You will live in the garden, and every morning, going out onto the terrace, you will see how thicker wild grapes entwine your house, how, clinging, crawling along the wall. Red cherries will sprinkle the branches in the garden. Margarita, raising her dress slightly above her knees, holding stockings and shoes in her hands, will wade across the stream.

The candles will burn, you will hear quartets, the rooms of the house will smell like apples ... the house in the garden will disappear from the memory, the terrible barefoot, but the thought of Ha-Nozri and the forgiven hegemon will disappear. This is not a matter of your mind. You will never rise higher, Yeshua will not see, you will not leave your shelter. "

In early versions, the novel was set in summer, and the cherry trees in the garden promised to the Master were strewn with fruits; in the final text - May, and the Masters are waiting for the cherries "which begin to bloom." And in Margarita, crossing a stream, picking up a dress, there is an echo of Schubert, images of a running stream and a woman from Schubert's song cycle "The Beautiful Miller Woman".

Bulgakov will remove the "quartets" in the final text. But they will nevertheless disturb him, and shortly before his death, at the end of 1939, in a letter, asking Alexander Kdeshinsky about the music of childhood, he will ask separately about the home quartets in the Kdeshinsky family. “Your questions aroused in me such an influx of memories ... - replied Kdeshinsky. - 1. Have quartets ever played in our family? Whose? What? .. ”Of course, they played. Bulgakov is asking because he remembers that they played. Gdeshinsky names the names of Beethoven, Schumann, Haydn. And, of course, Schubert ...

But even in the text of 1936, the motive of the incompleteness of the award assigned to the Master sounds distinctly: "You will never rise higher, Yeshua you will not see ..."

Why is there still “peace”, if there is something higher - “light”, why did not the Master deserve the highest award?

The question worries the reader, makes the critic think. II Vinogradov is looking for an answer in the incompleteness of the Master's feat: “... at what moment, after a stream of malicious, threatening articles, he succumbs to fear. No, this is not cowardice, in any case, not the cowardice that pushes you to betrayal, makes you commit evil ... But he succumbs to despair, he does not withstand hostility, slander, loneliness. " V. Ya. Lakshin sees the reason in the dissimilarity of the Master from Yeshua Go-Nozri: “He bears little resemblance to a righteous man, a Christian, a passion-bearer. And is it not for this reason that, in the symbolic end of the novel, Yeshua refuses to take him to himself

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1 - Nemtsev V.I. "Mikhail Bulgakov: Becoming a novelist"; 1991, p.309-310

"Into the light", but invents a special destiny for him, rewarding him with "peace", which the Master knew so little in his life. NP Utekhin - in the dissimilarity of fate and personality of the writer who created it (1) (“The passive and contemplative character of the Master was alien to the energetic and active Bulgakov, who possessed all the qualities of a fighter”). M.O. Chudakova tries to find the answer outside the novel - in the biography of the writer.

In the fate of the Master M.O. Chudakov, he sees a solution to the “problem of guilt” that supposedly runs through all of Mikhail Bulgakov's work — through his entire life. "Guilt" that the Master cannot atone for, for "no one can give himself full atonement." Paying attention to the fact that the Master “enters the novel without a past, without a biography,” that the only visible thread of his life “begins from the age of maturity,” the researcher concludes that Bulgakov does not tell us everything about his hero that remains something visible only to the author and his hero and hidden from the eyes of the reader, what exactly the Master (and Yeshua, who decides his fate) "knows better" that the Master deserved and "did he say everything, that he knew, saw and changed his mind."

What did he not say that the master hid from us, what his 2 guilt lies ", the researcher does not say, but that this" guilt "is great, she has no doubts:" The Romantic Master is also in a white cloak with bloody lining, but this lining will remain, we do not see to anyone except the author. " (2)

Let me remind you that Pontius Pilate wears a purple border on his white cloak by right of nobility, and in Bulgakov's novel it is not without reason associated with the color of blood (“In a white cloak with bloody lining, shuffling cavalry gait ...”): Pontius Pilate is a fierce warrior in his fearlessness , and the procurator of the conquered province, fearless in his cruelty; a man who lacked fearlessness once - for the only and main act in his life - and whose cowardice also turned into blood, and this blood he tried to redeem with new blood and could not redeem.

Compare the Master with Pontius Pilate? To see the “bloody lining” on the clothes of the hero, the named hero, named (right there!) “Alter ego” - the “second me” - the author, and not notice that this casts a shadow on the appearance of the deceased writer? In the archives raised by researchers over the past twenty years, there is not the slightest reason for such an interpretation.

But is it necessary, reflecting on the incompleteness of the reward promised to the Master, to look for what the Master's feat is incomplete, involuntarily substituting an imaginary guilt for the merit and considering the reward as a punishment? The artist receives an award from his author, not ____________________________________________________________________

1 - "Questions of Literature", 1968, No. 6, p.69; "New World", 1968, No. 6, p.304; “Contemporary Soviet Novel. Philosophical aspects ", p. 223

2 - "Questions of Literature", 1976, No. 1, p. 250

reproach. And this award is connected with the main thing that he did in his

life - with his novel.

(1) We said that the tragedy of the Master is the tragedy of non-recognition. In the novel "The Master and Margarita", what he created was appreciated and understood by only three: first - Margarita, then - the fantastic Woland, then - invisible to Master Yeshua. And is it by chance that all of them - first Yeshua, then Woland, then Margarita - read him the same thing?

"He read the Master's composition," said Matthew Levi, "and asks you to take the Master with you and reward him with peace."

“Margarita Nikolaevna! - Woland turned to Margarita. “It’s impossible not to believe that you tried to invent the best future for the master, but, really, what I offer you, and what Yeshua asked for you, for you, is even better.” “… Oh, three times romantic Master,” Woland said “convincingly and softly,” “don't you want to walk with your friend under the cherries that are starting to bloom during the day and listen to Schubert's music in the evening? Wouldn't it please you to write with a goose pen by candlelight? Don't you want, like Faust, to sit over a retort in the hope that you will be able to mold a new homunculus? There, there. There is already a house and an old servant waiting for you, the candles are already burning, and soon they will go out, because you will immediately meet the dawn. On this road, Master, on this. "

And Margarita prophetically conjures: “Look, ahead of you is your eternal home, which you were given as a reward. I can already see the Venetian window and the climbing grapes, it rises to the very roof. Here is your home, here is your eternal home, I know that in the evening those whom you love, whom you are interested in and who will not alarm you, will come to you. They will play for you, they will sing to you, you will see what kind of light is in the room when the candles are lit. You will fall asleep, putting on your greasy and eternal cap, you will fall asleep with a smile on your lips. Sleep will strengthen you, you will begin to reason wisely. And you won't be able to drive me away. I will take care of your sleep. "

But why not “light” after all? Yes, because, it must be, that Bulgakov, who put the feat of creativity in this novel so high that the Master talks on equal terms with the prince of darkness, so high that Yeshua asks for an eternal reward for the master, so high that in general there is a speech about an eternal reward ( after all, for Berlioz, Latunsky and others there is no eternity, and there will be neither hell nor heaven), Bulgakov still puts the feat of creativity - his feat - not as high as death on the cross of Yeshua Ha-Notsri, and even - if you make a connection with other works of the writer - not as high as the feat "in the battlefield of the slain" in the novel "White

1-Nemtsev V.I. "Mikhail Bulgakov: The Formation of a Novelist", 1991, pp. 311-312

(1) the guard. " However, even there, everyone gets their own: the radiant helmet of the crusader - Nai Tours and the sky, all strewn with red mars, - a soldier from the armored train "Proletarian" ...

Probably, this choice - not "light" - is connected with the polemic with Goethe. Goethe gave his heroes the traditional "light". The first part of his tragedy ends with Gretchen's forgiveness (“She is condemned to torment!” - Mephistopheles tries to conclude her fate, but “a voice from above” makes another decision: “Saved!”). The second part ends with the forgiveness and justification of Faust: the angels carry away his "immortal essence" to heaven.

This was the greatest audacity on the part of Goethe: in his time at the church, his heroes could only receive a curse. But something in this decision did not satisfy Goethe either. It is not for nothing that the solemnity of the finale is balanced for him by the scene of Mephistopheles' flirting with the angels, full of rude humor, in which winged boys so deftly surround the old devil and take away the soul of Faust from under his nose - thieves.

Moreover, such a solution turned out to be impossible for Bulgakov. Impossible in the attitude of the twentieth century. To reward an autobiographical hero with heavenly radiance? And you, dear reader, would you retain this heartfelt credulity towards a writer who so sincerely told everything - about himself, about creativity, about justice? It is impossible in the artistic structure of the novel, where there is no hatred between Darkness and Light, but there is opposition, separation of Darkness and Light, where the fate of the heroes turned out to be connected with the Prince of Darkness and their reward - if they deserve a reward - they can only receive from his hands. Or Margarita, who asked the devil for protection, to receive a reward from God?

There are many nuances, shades, associations in the solution of the novel "The Master and Margarita", but all of them, as if in focus, converge in the Don: this solution is natural, harmonious, unique and inevitable. The master gets exactly what he unconsciously longed for. And Woland, with the final text of the novel, does not bother him by talking about the incompleteness of the award. Woland, Yeshua and Levi Matvey know about this. The reader knows. But the Master and Margarita know nothing about this. They receive their reward in full.

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1 - Nemtsev V.I. "Mikhail Bulgakov: The Formation of a Novelist", 1991, pp. 312 - 313

Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov created a truly magical novel. The novel "The Master and Margarita" was perceived by me as the creation of a new person and the recreation of genuine life with true values ​​(goodness, love, creativity). The author seemed to offer us to climb the ladder of knowledge, he painted in front of us a picture of the spiritual development of a person, inviting us to overcome ourselves, our essence.

To achieve moral goals, the author has structured the novel in such a way that each of us, each reader treats the heroes as real personalities: we sympathize with them, think with them, put ourselves in their place. In a word, we can enter the artistic world of a work by climbing the ladder of moral improvement.

The novel "The Master and Margarita" took a long time to reach the reader. This path could be cut off many times. But as the writer himself proclaimed, "manuscripts do not burn." At times incomprehensible are the ways by which goodness and justice still reign in the world. But their accession to the throne is inevitable. The novel "The Master and Margarita" is a book of farewell to life and people, a requiem for oneself. But at the same time, it is a light and poetic book. In this work, she expressed faith, love and hope, for a person is not breakable by the forces of evil, not trampled, but resurrected.

1. Babicheva Yu. A. "Creativity of Mikhail Bulgakov"; Tomsk University Publishing House; Tomsk 1991.

2. Boborykin V. G. Biography of the writer Mikhail Bulgakov.

3. Bulgakov Mikhail. Autobiography, Moscow, October 1924 Bulgakov M.A. Moscow, 1982

4. Gasparov BM From observations of the motive structure of the novel by MA Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita", Daugava, 1988; No. 10-12; 1989 # 1

5. Hegel. Lectures on aesthetics, Moscow, 1940

6. Journals: a) "Voprosy literatury"; # 6; 1968 year; No. 1, 1976.

b) "New World"; # 6; 1968 year.

7. Merkin G.S. Russian literature of the twentieth century (1), Smolensk, 1990.

8. Myagkov B. S. “In the footsteps of the heroes“ The Master and Margarita ”; 1984, No. 1

9. Nemtsev V.I. "Mikhail Bulgakov: Becoming a novelist"; 1991 year

10. Nikolaev P. A. "Mikhail Bulgakov and his main book", Publishing house "Khud.lit-ra"; 1988 year

And the Renaissance - Michelangelo, Bosch, Dante, Botticelli, outstanding masters of Western European art - Milton, Calderon, Goethe, Byron, T. Mann and others. We can say that Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" comes into contact with those works of English, French and German literature, the authors of which developed antique plots and images, resorting, in particular, to ...

... "prophetic gene". The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time we are making an attempt to create an integral and consistent research on the topic: "The philosophical and religious ideas of M. Bulgakov's novel" The Master and Margarita "and L. Leonov's novel" The Pyramid ". The theoretical and practical significance of the work lies in the fact that this material can be used in the study of the history of Russian ...