Despite the fact that the novel was written a long time ago and is a classic, it still enjoys great popularity among the younger generation. Thanks to the school curriculum, almost everyone knows this novel and the one who wrote it. "The Master and Margarita" is a novel created by the greatest author, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov.

Indifference to the novel

In relation to this work, it practically does not exist. In fact, readers are divided into two camps: those who love the novel and admire it, and those who simply hate it and also do not recognize Bulgakov's genius. But there is a third, the smallest, category. It can be attributed, perhaps, only to small children. These are those who have not heard about the novel and do not know who the author is.

"The Master and Margarita" is one of the most extraordinary and mysterious. Many writers and literary critics have tried to unravel the mystery of his popularity and success with the reader. To the end, no one has yet succeeded.

Not many can be remembered and named such works that would give rise to so much controversy around them. They do not stop talking about Bulgakov's novel to this day. They talk about the biblical component of the plot, about the prototypes of the main characters, about the philosophical and aesthetic roots of the novel, about who the main character is, and even about the genre in which the work is written.

Three stages of writing a novel, according to B. V. Sokolov

The opinions of literary critics about the history of the writing of The Master and Margarita, as well as about the essence of this work, differ. For example, Sokolov, the author of the Bulgakov Encyclopedia, divides the editions of the novel into three stages. He says that work on the work began in 1928. Presumably, it was then that the author of the novel The Master and Margarita conceived it, and began writing individual chapters only in the winter of 1929. Already in the spring of the same year, the first complete edition was handed over. But then it was not yet directly said who the author of the book was, who wrote it. "The Master and Margarita" even then did not appear as the title of the work. The manuscript entitled "Furibunda" was given to the publishing house "Nedra" under the pseudonym K. Tugay. And on March 18, 1930, it was destroyed by the author himself. Thus ends the first stage of the editions of the work, singled out by Boris Vadimovich Sokolov.

The second stage began in the autumn of 1936. And at that time no one knew that the novel would be called the way we are now accustomed to. Bulgakov himself, the one who wrote it, thought differently. "The Master and Margarita" - a work that received different names from its author: "He appeared" and "He appeared", "The Advent", "The Great Chancellor", "Here I am", "Black Magician", "Hat with a Feather" , "Counselor's Hoof" and "Foreigner's Horseshoe", "Black Theologian", and even "Satan". Only one subtitle remained unchanged - "A Fantastic Romance".

And, finally, the third stage - from the second half of 1936 to the end of 1938. At first, the novel was called "The Prince of Darkness", but then it nevertheless acquired such a familiar name for us. And at the beginning of the summer, in 1938, it was completely reprinted for the first time.

Nine editions, according to Losev

V. I. Losev studied the biography and work of Mikhail Afanasyevich for more than twenty years. He divides the history of writing the novel into nine parts, just like the author himself.

• The first edition is "The Black Magician". These are drafts of the novel, the first notebook, written in 1928-1929. There is no Master and Margarita in it yet and there are only four chapters.
• The second is "The Hoof of the Engineer". This is the second draft notebook of the same years. It is like a continuation, the second part of the first edition of the work. There are only three chapters in it, but here the idea of ​​​​one of the most important parts of the novel has already appeared - this is a section called "The Gospel According to Woland".
• The third is "Evening of a terrible Saturday." Drafts, sketches for the novel, written in 1929-1931. There are also three chapters. And only the case in Griboyedov reached the final version of them.
• The fourth is the "Great Chancellor". First complete manuscript edition. Margarita and her lover are already appearing here. That's just his name is not the Master yet, but the Poet.
• Fifth - "Fantastic novel". These are chapters rewritten and completed in 1934-1936. New details appear, but there are no significant modifications.
• The sixth is the "Golden Spear". This is an unfinished manuscript, torn off at the chapter "Magic Money".
• Seventh - "The Prince of Darkness". The first thirteen chapters of the novel. is not here, and in general everything ends on the appearance of the protagonist. And Berlioz is called Mirtsev here.
• The eighth part is "The Master and Margarita". Complete and mature handwritten revision 1928-1937. And it was this version that was printed by Elena Bulgakova's sister Olga Bokshanskaya.
• The ninth is also The Master and Margarita. The last and final edition, including all the latest additions and comments by Mikhail Afanasyevich. It was published after the death of the writer Elena Sergeevna, his wife, in 1966.

Version of the story of Belobrovtseva and Kuljus

In many ways, their version is similar to that of Losev, since they completely agree with the critic about the first edition. However, they call the chapters of the novel "The Hoof of an Engineer" given to the publishing house "Nedra" as the second edition. It is here that the Master appears for the first time, who is also called Fesey. He plays the role of Faust even without Marguerite. The third version, according to Belobrovtseva and Kuljus, is the Fantastic Novel written by Bulgakov in 1932, where the Master turns from Fesi into the Poet and Margarita already appears. They consider the fourth edition of 1936, the one that was completed for the first time with the word "end". Next comes the work of 1937 - the unfinished novel "The Prince of Darkness". And then the manuscript printed by O. S. Bokshanskaya. Already its editing by the authors is considered the seventh edition. And the eighth and last is the one that was ruled by Bulgakov's wife before his death and was published after his death.

The novel was published in the form in which we know it, for the first time in the Moscow magazine in 1966. The work immediately gained popularity, and Bulgakov's name did not leave the lips of his contemporaries. Then, for sure, no one had a question about who the author of the work was, who wrote it. The Master and Margarita is a novel that made a great impression. And he still holds the mark.

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

An outstanding Russian prose writer and playwright who called himself a "mystical writer" In his original work, along with "magic realism", a powerful satirical charge plays an extremely important role. Bulgakov's heroes are always preoccupied with global problems that are of a universal nature. As a satirist writer, Bulgakov was one of the first who had the courage to show the degradation of a totalitarian society and the tragedy of a thinking person in it.
The novel by Mikhail Afanasovich Bulgakov (1891-1940) "The Master and Margarita", having come to the reader a quarter of a century after the death of the author, immediately after publication became famous not only in Russian literature and in the world as well. In this we find both a new artistic version of the gospel legend and satirical sketches of Moscow life in the late 1920s, but above all, this novel is about good and evil, about betrayal, heroism, art and the power of love...
The Master and Margarita, first published in the Moscow magazine with a foreword by K. Simonov, was immediately noticed by critics.
Some authors of articles did not approve of the novel, they despised the writer for the lack of a class approach.
This point of view did not find support in the following literary works.
In the following articles, the novel was studied primarily as a work devoted to the "eternal" question of good and evil, taken in the broadest cultural and philosophical context, as a kind of "urban" novel. Writers and critics noted the main problems presented in the novel: freedom of creativity, the moral responsibility of a person for his actions, - much attention was paid to the analysis of the text to the main characters - Yeshua, Pilate, the Master, Margarita. V. Lakshin's article is well-known, which not only was an actual critical response to the publication, but also represents the first serious literary study of the work. A lot of research work appeared in this direction in the 70s and 80s.
On October 4, 1939, convinced of a fatal illness, Bulgakov began to dictate amendments to the novel to his wife and continued this work until the last day of his life.
Back in 1928, the writer began work on his famous work, the novel The Master and Margarita. The first complete version of The Master and Margarita was completed in 1934, and the last in 1938. Already on his deathbed, the blinded Bulgakov dictated the proofreading of his main work, but did not have time to complete the work. The writer died on March 10, 1940, and the first magazine publication of The Master and Margarita in his homeland became possible only 26 years later.
The first full text of the book was published as a separate edition in 1967 in Paris, in the USSR - in 1973. The novel is today one of the most popular works of Russian prose, a "cult" book for several generations of readers.
In the novel, schemes quite common in world literature are developed: the adventures of the devil in the world of people, the sale of the soul, variations on gospel themes, etc.
Using the compositional technique of “text in text”, Bulgakov connected within the framework of space (“Moscow” and “Yershalaim” lines of the plot), which are inextricably linked. The action of the two plots takes place in 29 and 1929 from the Nativity of Christ, and thus, they develop, as it were, simultaneously.
“The interpenetration of these texts, the clash of their” points of view “forms a very important collision” of the “mythologized” and “real” images of a particular person.
Bulgakov's principle of using the Gospel plot is that the Master's novel is polemically correlated with it; the historical Gospel takes on the features of an unreliable version.

Bulgakov's devil Woland differs from the traditional Satan primarily in that he does not create purposeful evil. The essence of Woland is that the living world does not know good and evil.
Woland's only evaluative criterion is "from the point of view of eternity."
Bulgakov emphasizes the gap between creative titanism and human "ordinary". In fact, the only creative stimulus for the Master is the desire to leave the present, to find an illusory existence in another time. Having created an ingenious book, restoring the historical reality in its living primevalness, the Master as a cultural hero and as an artist, “ruler of souls” turned out to be weaker than Levi Matthew, who, blindly believing in his truth, made it a flag of faith for centuries.

Introduction

The analysis of the novel "The Master and Margarita" has been the subject of study of literary critics throughout Europe for many decades. The novel has a number of features, such as the non-standard form of "a novel within a novel", an unusual composition, rich themes and content. It was not in vain that it was written at the end of the life and career of Mikhail Bulgakov. The writer put all his talent, knowledge and imagination into the work.

Genre of the novel

The work "The Master and Margarita", the genre of which critics define as a novel, has a number of features inherent in its genre. These are several storylines, many heroes, the development of action over a long period of time. The novel is fantastic (sometimes it is called phantasmagoric). But the most striking feature of the work is its "novel within a novel" structure. Two parallel worlds - the masters and the ancient times of Pilate and Yeshua, live here almost independently and intersect only in the last chapters, when Levi, a disciple and close friend of Yeshua, pays a visit to Woland. Here, two lines merge into one, and surprise the reader with their organicity and closeness. It was the structure of the "novel within the novel" that enabled Bulgakov to show two such different worlds so skillfully and fully, events today and almost two thousand years ago.

Composition features

The composition of the novel "The Master and Margarita" and its features are due to the author's non-standard methods, such as the creation of one work within the framework of another. Instead of the usual classical chain - composition - plot - climax - denouement, we see the interweaving of these stages, as well as their doubling.

The plot of the novel: the meeting of Berlioz and Woland, their conversation. This happens in the 30s of the XX century. Woland's story also takes the reader back to the thirties, but two millennia ago. And here begins the second plot - a novel about Pilate and Yeshua.

Next comes the tie. These are tricks of Voladn and his company in Moscow. From here the satirical line of the work also originates. A second novel is also developing in parallel. The culmination of the master's novel is the execution of Yeshua, the climax of the story about the master, Margaret and Woland is the visit of Levi Matthew. An interesting denouement: in it both novels are combined into one. Woland and his retinue are taking Margarita and the Master to another world to reward them with peace and quiet. Along the way, they see the eternal wanderer Pontius Pilate.

"Free! He is waiting for you!" - with this phrase, the master releases the procurator and completes his novel.

Main themes of the novel

Mikhail Bulgakov concluded the meaning of the novel "The Master and Margarita" in the interweaving of the main themes and ideas. No wonder the novel is called both fantastic, and satirical, and philosophical, and love. All these themes are developed in the novel, framing and emphasizing the main idea - the struggle between good and evil. Each theme is both tied to its characters and intertwined with other characters.

satirical theme- this is Woland's "tour". The public, maddened by material wealth, representatives of the elite, greedy for money, the tricks of Koroviev and Behemoth sharply and clearly describe the diseases of modern society for the writer.

Love Theme embodied in the master and Margarita and gives tenderness to the novel and softens many poignant moments. Probably not in vain, the writer burned the first version of the novel, where Margarita and the master were not there yet.

Empathy Theme runs through the whole novel and shows several options for sympathy and empathy. Pilate sympathizes with the wandering philosopher Yeshua, but being confused in his duties and fearing condemnation, he "washes his hands." Margarita has a different sympathy - she sympathizes with the master, Frida at the ball, and Pilate with all her heart. But her sympathy is not just a feeling, it pushes her to certain actions, she does not fold her hands and fights for the salvation of those she worries about. Ivan Bezdomny also sympathizes with the master, imbued with his story that “every year, when the spring full moon comes ... in the evening he appears on the Patriarch’s Ponds ...”, so that later at night he can see bittersweet dreams about wonderful times and events.

The theme of forgiveness goes almost alongside the theme of sympathy.

Philosophical themes about the meaning and purpose of life, about good and evil, about biblical motives have been the subject of controversy and study of writers for many years. This is because the features of the novel "The Master and Margarita" are in its structure and ambiguity; with each reading they open up more and more questions and thoughts for the reader. This is the genius of the novel - it does not lose either relevance or poignancy for decades, and is still as interesting as it was for its first readers.

Ideas and main idea

The idea of ​​the novel is good and evil. And not only in the context of struggle, but also in the search for a definition. What is really evil? Most likely, this is the most complete way to describe the main idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe work. The reader, accustomed to the fact that the devil is pure evil, will be sincerely surprised by the image of Woland. He does not do evil, he contemplates, and punishes those who act low. His tours in Moscow only confirm this idea. He shows the moral illnesses of society, but does not even condemn them, but only sighs sadly: "People, like people ... The same as before." A person is weak, but it is in his power to resist his weaknesses, to fight them.

The theme of good and evil is ambiguously shown on the image of Pontius Pilate. In his heart he opposes the execution of Yeshua, but he lacks the courage to go against the crowd. The verdict on the wandering innocent philosopher is passed by the crowd, but Pilate is destined to serve the punishment forever.

The struggle between good and evil is also the opposition of the literary community to the master. It is not enough for self-confident writers to simply refuse the writer, they need to humiliate him, to prove their case. The master is very weak to fight, all his strength has gone into the romance. No wonder devastating articles for him acquire the image of a certain creature that begins to seem like a master in a dark room.

General analysis of the novel

The analysis of The Master and Margarita implies immersion in the worlds recreated by the writer. Here you can see biblical motifs and parallels with Goethe's immortal Faust. The themes of the novel develop each separately, and at the same time coexist, collectively creating a web of events and questions. Several worlds, each of which has found its place in the novel, are portrayed by the author surprisingly organically. It is not at all surprising to travel from modern Moscow to ancient Yershalaim, Woland's wise conversations, a huge talking cat and Margarita Nikolaevna's flight.

This novel is truly immortal thanks to the talent of the writer and the undying relevance of the topics and problems.

Artwork test

M. Bulgakov is the direct heir to the great tradition of the Russian philosophical novel of the 19th century - the novel of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. His Yeshua, this amazing image of an ordinary, earthly, mortal person, insightful and naive, wise and simple-hearted, therefore opposes his powerful and much more soberly seeing interlocutor as a moral antithesis, that no forces can force him to betray good ...

Yes, this is satire - real satire, cheerful, daring, funny, but also much deeper, much more internally serious than it might seem at first glance. This is a satire of a special kind, not so often encountered - moral and philosophical satire ...

M. Bulgakov judges his heroes according to the strictest account - according to the account of human morality ...

The master also remains true to himself to the end in many ways, in almost everything. But still, except for one thing: at some point, after a stream of vicious, threatening articles, he succumbs to fear. No, this is not cowardice, in any case, not the kind of cowardice that pushes one to betrayal, forces one to commit evil. The master does not betray anyone, does not commit any evil, does not make any deals with his conscience. But he succumbs to despair, he cannot stand hostility, slander, loneliness. , he is broken, he is bored, and he wants to go to the basement. That is why he is deprived of light ...

That is why, without removing his personal guilt from his hero, he himself, the author, suffers along with him - he loves him and holds out his hand to him. That is why, in general, the theme of compassion, mercy, either disappearing or reappearing, will pass through the entire novel ... (From the article "Master's Testament")

V. Lakshin

The fact that the author freely combines the incompatible: history and feuilleton, lyrics and myth, everyday life and fantasy, creates some difficulty in determining the genre of this book. ... It could probably be called a comic epic, a satirical utopia, or something else... In The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov found a form most adequate to his original talent, and therefore much that we find separately in other things of the author, as if merged here together ...

One of the strengths of Bulgakov's talent was the rare power of depiction, that concreteness in the perception of life, which was once called "mystery of the flesh", the ability to even recreate a metaphysical phenomenon in a transparent clarity of outline, without any vagueness and allegorism - in a word, as if it were happening. in front of our eyes and almost with ourselves.

In Bulgakov's work, in the extraordinary and legendary, what is humanly understandable, real and accessible, but no less essential: not faith, but truth and beauty. But in the ordinary, everyday and familiar, the sharply ironic look of the writer reveals many mysteries and oddities ...

Bulgakov reinterpreted the image of Woland - Mephistopheles and his relatives in such an original way. The antithesis of good and evil in the person of Woland and Yeshua did not take place. Woland, who strikes the uninitiated with gloomy horror, turns out to be a punishing sword in the hands of justice and almost a volunteer of good...

It is time to note the commonality that brings together the diverse and at first glance autonomous layers of the narrative. And in the history of Woland's Moscow adventures, and in the spiritual duel between Yeshua and Pontius Pilate, and in the dramatic fate of the Master and Margarita, one motive uniting them incessantly resounds: faith in the law of justice, justice, the inevitable retribution of evil...

Justice in the novel invariably celebrates victory, but this is most often achieved by witchcraft, in an incomprehensible way...

Analysis of the novel led us to the idea of ​​the "law of justice" as the main idea of ​​Bulgakov's book. But does such a law really exist? To what extent is the writer's faith in him justified?

(From the article "Bulgakov's novel" The Master and Margarita ")

B. Sarnov

So, not only the very history of the relationship between Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Notsri, but also the way it was expressed by the Master in words, is a kind of objective reality, not fictional, not composed, but guessed by the Master and transferred to paper. That is why the Master's manuscript cannot be burned. To put it simply, the manuscript of the novel written by the Master, these fragile, fragile sheets of paper, covered with letters, are only the outer shell of the work he created, his body. It, of course, can be burned in the oven. It can burn in the same way as the body of a deceased person burns in a crematorium furnace. But besides the body, the manuscript also has a soul. And she is immortal. This applies not only to the manuscript written by the Master. And not just for manuscripts. Not only to “creativity and miracle-working”. Everything that has a soul does not disappear, cannot disappear, dissolve without a trace in non-existence. Not only the person himself, but also every act of a person, every gesture, every movement of his soul ...

Bulgakov's Pilate is punished not because he sanctioned Yeshua's execution. If he did the same, being in harmony with himself and his concept of duty, honor, conscience, there would be no guilt behind him. His fault is that he did not do what, remaining himself, he should have done ... That's why he is subject to the judgment of higher powers. Not because he sent some tramp to execution, but because he did it despite himself, against his will and his desires, out of sheer cowardice ...

Bulgakov, of course, believed that a person's life on earth is not reduced to his flat, two-dimensional earthly existence. That there is some other, third dimension that gives meaning and purpose to this earthly life. Sometimes it's the third

The dimension is clearly present in people's lives, they know about it, and this knowledge colors their whole life, giving meaning to their every action. And sometimes the certainty triumphs that there is no third dimension, that chaos reigns in the world and its faithful servant is a case that life is aimless and meaningless. But this is an illusion. And the writer's job is precisely to make the fact of the existence of this third dimension, hidden from our eyes, clear, to constantly remind people that this third dimension is the highest, true reality ...

(From the article "To each according to his faith")

V. Agenosov

An example of following the moral commandment of love is in the novel Margarita. Criticism noted that this is the only character who does not have a double in the mythological plot of the story. Thus, Bulgakov emphasizes the uniqueness of Margarita and the feeling that possesses her, reaching the point of complete self-sacrifice...

Bulgakov's favorite theme of love for the family hearth is connected with the image of Margarita. The Master’s room in the developer’s house with a table lamp, books and a stove unchanged for Bulgakov’s art world, becomes even more comfortable after Margarita appears here -. Muses of the Master.

(From the article "Thrice Romantic Master")

B. Sokolov

The motive of mercy is connected with the image of Margaret in the novel... We emphasize that the motive of mercy and love in the image of Margaret is solved differently than in Goethe's poem, where before the power of love “the nature of Satan surrendered ... he did not bear her injection. Mercy overcame, ”and Faust was released into the world. In Bulgakov, Margarita shows mercy to Frida, and not Woland himself. Love does not affect the nature of Satan in any way, for in fact the fate of the ingenious Master is predetermined by Woland in advance. Satan's plan coincides with what he asks to reward Master Yeshua, and Margarita here is part of this award.

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

Tragically and ruthlessly, a difficult period of Russian history appears in the novel, unfolding in such a homespun side that the devil himself visits the halls of the capital in order to once again become a prisoner of the Faustian thesis about a force that always wants evil, but does good.

History of creation

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

Along with this, being a man overcoming difficulties hand in hand with his beloved woman, the writer managed to find a place for the nature of feelings more subtle than vanity. Fireflies of hope leading the main characters through diabolical trials. So the novel in 1937 was given the final title: The Master and Margarita. And that was the third edition.

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

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

Analysis of the work

Description of the artwork

(Berlioz, Ivan the homeless and Woland between them)

The action begins with a description of the meeting of two Moscow writers with the devil. Of course, neither Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz nor Ivan the homeless even suspect who they are talking to on a May day at the Patriarch's Ponds. In the future, Berlioz dies according to Woland's prophecy, and Messire himself occupies his apartment in order to continue his practical jokes and hoaxes.

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

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

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

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

main characters

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

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

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

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

The master remembers little about life before meeting his love - Margarita, as if he did not really live. The biography of the hero bears a clear imprint of the events of the life of Mikhail Afanasyevich. Only the ending the writer came up with for the hero is lighter than he himself experienced.

A collective image that embodies the female courage to love in spite of circumstances. Margarita is attractive, brash and desperate in her quest to reunite with the Master. Without her, nothing would have happened, because through her prayers, so to speak, a meeting with Satan took place, her determination led to a great ball, and only thanks to her uncompromising dignity did the two main tragic heroes meet.
If we look back at Bulgakov’s life again, it’s easy to note that without Elena Sergeevna, the writer’s third wife, who worked on his manuscripts for twenty years and followed him during her lifetime, like a faithful, but expressive shadow, ready to put enemies and ill-wishers out of the light, it wouldn’t have happened either. publication of the novel.

Woland's retinue

(Woland and his retinue)

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

(Bad apartment)

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

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

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

The idea of ​​a novel in a novel allows the author to lead two large storylines, gradually bringing them together in the timeline until they intersect "beyond", where fiction and reality are already indistinguishable. Which, in turn, raises the philosophical question of the significance of human thoughts, against the background of the emptiness of words that fly away with the noise of bird wings during the game of Behemoth and Woland.

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