Essay by Bulgakov M.A. Mini-essay on the topic “Good and evil in the novel “The Master and Margarita” Master Margarita, the confrontation between good and evil
Composition
Topic: M.A. Bulgakov “Good and evil in the novel Master and
Margarita”
Throughout life, a person has faced and will face good and evil. Therefore, the question of what is good and what is evil will always worry humanity. The theme of good and evil in the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov
“The Master and Margarita” is one of the key ones; the author shows readers this eternal struggle between good and evil.
“The Master and Margarita” is structured like a novel within a novel: in one book it describes the events of the twenties and thirties of our century and the events of biblical times. And the motives and plots of both novels constantly overlap.
The theme of good and evil develops throughout the book.
First of all, the disclosure of the problem of good and evil is connected with the image
Woland, one of the main characters in the Master's novel. The question is: does Woland do evil? It seems to me that no, he does not bring evil to people.
It is not for nothing that Bulgakov writes that he “eternally wants evil and always does good.”
Woland points out the vices of people and provokes them to display these qualities. So, for example, in the scene in Variety, when people rushed for money and clothes, Woland demonstrated human greed. Woland accurately defines “who is who”: Styopa Likhodeev, a famous person in the cultural world of Moscow, is a slacker, a libertine and a drunkard; Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy - bribe-taker; Fokin, bartender at Variety, is a thief; Baron Meigel, an employee of one of the offices, is an informer, and the poet A. “carefully disguised as a proletarian”
Ryukhin is an inveterate hypocrite
The author puts a lot of deep meaning into the word “good”. This is not a characteristic of a person or an action, but a way of life. The idea of Yeshua that “all people are good” is very important for the author. The fact that it is expressed in the description of the time when Pontius Pilate lived, that is, “twelve thousand moons” ago, when narrating about Moscow in the twenties and thirties, reveals the faith and struggle of the writer into eternal good, despite the evil that accompanies it, which also has eternity. “Have these townspeople changed internally?” Satan asked, and although there was no answer, the reader clearly feels that
"no, they are still petty, greedy, selfish and stupid." Thus, Bulgakov directs his main blow, angry, inexorable and revealing, against human vices, considering cowardice to be the “heaviest” of them, which gives rise to both unprincipledness and pity of human nature.
So, the theme of good and evil in Bulgakov is the problem of people’s choice of the principle of life, and the purpose of the evil that Woland and his retinue carry in the novel is to reward everyone in accordance with this choice. The author considers only man capable of overcoming any evil despite circumstances and temptations. Through the fate of Margarita, he presents to us the path of goodness to self-discovery through the purity of the heart with a huge, sincere love burning in it, which is where its strength lies. The writer's Margarita is an ideal.
The master is also a bearer of good, because he was above the prejudices of society and lived guided by his soul. Therefore, the author gives him the peace that the hero dreamed of. On earth, the Master still has a student and an immortal romance, destined to continue the struggle between good and evil. In my opinion, M.
Bulgakov wanted to show us that the line between good and evil is, indeed, barely noticeable: after all, you do not immediately realize the meaning of the actions of Woland and his retinue.
And in life, while doing good, we may not even notice how our actions give rise to evil.
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is a great master, bringing light with his talent, without hiding the darkness...
Indeed, he did not hide the darkness. This time in which the author lived and worked tried to hide its lawlessness and tragedy from his contemporaries. Time tried to hide Bulgakov himself as an author. In the thirties he was one of the “forbidden”. After the publication of the beginning of “The White Guard,” he did not manage to publish a single significant work until the end of his life. And only many years later, after the death of the author, his creations in in full became available to the reader. Remained “in the shadows” for a long time last piece Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”. This is a complex, multifaceted work. Its genre was defined by the author himself as a “fantasy novel.” Through combinations of the real and the fantastic, Bulgakov in his work raises many problems, shows the moral flaws and shortcomings of society. I see laughter and sadness, love and moral duty while reading the pages of the novel. One of the main themes, it seems to me, is eternal theme good and evil.
As long as man exists on earth, good and evil will exist. Thanks to evil, we understand what good is. And good, in turn, reveals evil, illuminating a person’s path to the truth. There will always be a struggle between good and evil.
Bulgakov depicted this struggle in his work in a very original and masterful way. The devil's retinue sweeps through Moscow like a whirlwind. According to that Moscow, in which lies, distrust of people, envy and hypocrisy exist. These vices, this evil, are revealed to readers by Woland, an artistically reimagined image of Satan. His fantastic evil in the novel shows real evil, mercilessly exposes the hypocrisy of people like Styopa Likhodeev, a significant personality in the cultural and high circles of Moscow - a drunkard, a libertine, a degenerate slacker. Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy is a scoundrel and a rogue, the variety show bartender is a thief, the poet A. Ryukhin is an inveterate hypocrite. Thus, Woland calls everyone by their proper names, indicating who is who. At a session of black magic in a Moscow variety show, he undresses, literally and figuratively, citizens who covet free goods, and sadly concludes: “They love money, but that’s always been the case... Well, they’re frivolous... well, what... . and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts... ordinary people... In general, they resemble the former...”
What were they like, these old ones? The author takes us to distant Yershalaim, to the palace of the fifth procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. “In Yershalaim, everyone whispers about me that I am a ferocious monster, and this is absolutely true.” The procurator lives by his own laws, according to them the world is divided into those who rule and those who obey, a slave obeys his master - this is an unshakable postulate. And suddenly someone appears who thinks differently. A man of about twenty-seven whose hands are tied and who is physically absolutely helpless. But he is not afraid of the procurator, he even dares to object to him: “... the temple will collapse old faith and a new temple of truth will be created.” This is a man - Yeshua is convinced that there are no evil people in the world, there are only “unhappy” people. Yeshua interested the procurator. Pontius Pilate wanted and even tried to save Yeshua from a bitter fate, but he could not give up his truth: “Among other things, I said that all power is violence over people and that the time will come when there will be no power either of Caesars or of any kind.” or other authority. Man will move into the kingdom of truth and justice, where no power will be needed at all.” But the procurator cannot come to terms with this; this is a clear contradiction of his ideology. Yeshua is executed. A man who brought people the righteous light of truth was executed; goodness was his essence. This man was spiritually independent, he defended the truth of goodness, instilled faith and love. Pontius Pilate understands that his greatness turned out to be imaginary, that he is a coward, and his conscience torments him. She is punished, his soul cannot find peace, but Yeshua - the embodiment of the moral force of good in the novel - forgives him. He passed away, but the grains of goodness he left behind live. And for how many centuries people have believed in Jesus Christ, of whom Yeshua is a prototype. And the eternal desire for good is irresistible. The master writes a novel about Christ and Pilate. In his understanding, Christ is a thinking and suffering person, bringing eternal values into the world, an inexhaustible source of good. The truth was revealed to the Master, he believed and still fulfilled the mission for which he lived. He came into this life to write a novel about Christ. The Master, like Yeshua, pays dearly for the right to proclaim his truth. Prophets find their place in a madhouse. And the world, alas, turns out to be such that the devil acts as the judge. It is he who pays everyone what they deserve. The master leaves people, finding peace and happiness. But it remains on the ground immortal work. The struggle between good and evil continues. From generation to generation people are searching and will continue to search moral ideal, resolve ethical contradictions, seek truth, fight evil.
I think Bulgakov himself is such a fighter. His novel is destined to have a long life, I believe that it will not be lost in time, but will serve as a source moral ideas for many, many more generations.
The problem of good and evil is an eternal problem that has and will continue to worry humanity. What is good and what is evil on earth? This question runs as a leitmotif throughout M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.” As you know, two opposing forces cannot help but come into conflict with each other, therefore the struggle between good and evil is eternal.
The conflict between these forces was most acutely reflected in the novel “The Master and Margarita.” So, before us is Moscow of the late twenties and early thirties. On a hot and stuffy evening, a gentleman who looks like a foreigner appears on the Patriarch’s Ponds: “...he didn’t limp on any leg, and he was neither short nor huge, but simply tall. As for his teeth, he had platinum crowns on the left side and gold ones on the right. He was wearing an expensive gray suit, with foreign-made shoes that matched the color of the suit... He looked to be over forty years old. The mouth is kind of crooked. Shaven clean. Brunette. The right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason. The eyebrows are black, but one is higher than the other...” This is Woland - the future culprit of all the unrest in Moscow.
There is no doubt that Woland is a representative of the “dark” force. (Woland is translated from Hebrew as “devil.”) It is important to pay attention to the epilogue to the novel. These are the words of Mephistopheles from Goethe’s “Faust”: “I am part of this force that always wants evil and always does good.” Mephistopheles in Faust is Satan, who punishes sinners and creates riots. No, Woland is not like Mephistopheles. His resemblance to him is limited only by external signs! Pointed chin, sloping face, crooked mouth. In Woland’s actions there is no desire to punish Muscovites mired in sins. He came to Moscow with one purpose - to find out whether Moscow had changed since the day he was in it last time. After all, Moscow claimed to be the Third Rome. She proclaimed new principles of reconstruction, new values, new life. But what does Woland see when he organizes a black magic session for Muscovites at the variety theater? Greed, envy, desire to make “easy” money. And Woland draws the following conclusion: “Well... They are people like people. They love money, but this has always been the case... Humanity loves money, no matter what it is made of, whether leather, paper, bronze or gold. Well, they are frivolous... well... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts... ordinary people... in general, they resemble the old ones... housing issue I just ruined them...”
Woland's arrival in Moscow is accompanied by unrest: Berlioz dies under the wheels of a tram, Ivan Bezdomny goes crazy, and the Griboedov House burns down. But is this the work of Woland himself? No. Woland's retinue is partly to blame for the troubles of Muscovites! Koroviev and the cat Behemoth. But most of all, Muscovites themselves are to blame for their misfortunes. After all, it was they who created a world around themselves that looked like hell, populated by anger, drunkenness, lies, and debauchery. Let’s at least take a look at the restaurant “Griboyedov’s House”, where MASSOLIT members spend their free time. Here, “swimming with sweat, the waiters carried sweaty mugs of beer over their heads,” “some very elderly man with a beard with a green onion feather stuck in it danced,” “the crash of gold plates in jazz sometimes covered the crash of dishes that the dishwashers were moving down an inclined plane.” they went down to the kitchen.” The whole atmosphere in the restaurant resembles the underworld described in the Bible, in one word “hell”.
When we get to Satan's ball, we can be convinced that humanity has always lived by the same laws and has always committed evil. In front of us and Margarita passes Mrs. Minkhina, who burned her maid’s face with a curling iron, a young man who sold the girl who loved him to a brothel. But at the same time we understand that all these people are dead. This means that only the dead fall into Woland’s “department”, into the “department” of “darkness”. Only when a person is dead does his soul, burdened with sins, fall under the power of Woland. Then comes the reckoning for all the evil that a person has committed during his lifetime.
Woland’s “department” includes Berlioz, the Master and Margarita, and Pontius Pilate, the cruel procurator of Judea.
How many people have fallen under the power of Satan! Who can join the fight against evil, which of the novel’s heroes is worthy of “light”? This question is answered by a novel written by the Master. In the city of Yershalaim, mired, like Moscow, in debauchery, two people appear: Yeshua Ha-Notsri and Levi Matvey. The first of them believes that there are no evil people and that the worst sin is cowardice. This is the person who is worthy of “light”. For the first time he appears before Pontius Pilate “in an old and torn tunic. His head was covered with a white bandage with a strap around his forehead, and his hands were tied behind his back. The man had a large bruise under his left eye and an abrasion with dried blood in the corner of his mouth.” Can we say that Yeshua Ha-Nozri is Jesus Christ? The fates of these people are similar; they both died on the cross. But it is worth noting that Yeshua was twenty-seven years old, and Jesus was thirty-three years old when they were crucified. And Yeshua is the most ordinary person, an orphan, and Jesus Christ is the “son of God.” But that's not the point. The main thing is that Yeshua carries goodness in his heart, he never did anything bad in his life, he came to Yershalaim to teach people goodness, to heal their bodies and souls. He is the savior of humanity. But, unfortunately, humanity does not need saving. On the contrary, it seeks to get rid of Yeshua as a criminal and a thief. And this is also a struggle between good and evil.
The clash of opposing forces is most clearly presented at the end of the novel, when Woland and his retinue leave Moscow. What do we see? “Light” and “darkness” are on the same level. Woland does not rule the world, but Yeshua does not rule the world either. All Yeshua can do is ask Woland to give the Master and his beloved eternal peace. And Woland fulfills this request. Thus, we come to the conclusion that the forces of good and evil are equal. They exist in the world side by side, constantly confronting and arguing with each other. And their struggle is eternal, because there is no person on Earth who has never committed a sin in his life; and there is no such person who would completely lose the ability to do good. The world is a kind of scale, on the scales of which lie two weights: good and evil. And, it seems to me, as long as balance is maintained, the world and humanity can exist.
Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” helps to look at the world around us in a new way. I believe that this novel helps to find and recognize what is good and what is evil.
M.A. Bulgakov - novel “The Master and Margarita”. In Bulgakov's novel, the concepts of good and evil are intricately intertwined. Woland, Satan, is traditionally supposed to be the absolute embodiment of evil, but he often restores justice on earth by exposing human vices. The greatest evil, according to Bulgakov, is concentrated in the world of human society. And this has always been the case. The Master wrote about this in his novel, revealing the history of the deal between the procurator of Judea and his own conscience. Pontius Pilate sends an innocent man, the wandering philosopher Yeshua, to execution, since society expects such a decision from him. The outcome of this situation is endless pangs of conscience that overcome the hero. The situation in Bulgakov’s contemporary Moscow is even more deplorable: all moral norms have been violated there. And Woland seems to be trying to restore their inviolability. During his four days in Moscow, Satan determines the “true face” of many cultural figures, artists, officials, and local citizens. He accurately defines the inner essence of everyone: Styopa Likhodeev, a famous cultural figure, is a slacker, a reveler and a drunkard; Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy - bribe-taker and fraudster; proletarian poet Alexander Ryukhin is a liar and a hypocrite. And at a session of black magic in a Moscow variety show, Woland literally and figuratively exposes the citizens who have coveted what they can get for nothing. It is noteworthy that all of Woland’s tricks are almost unnoticeable against the background of everyday life in Moscow. Thus, the author seems to hint to us that real life totalitarian state, with its legalized party hierarchy, violence - this is the main diabolical action. There is no place for creativity and love in this world. Therefore, the Master and Margarita have no place in this society. And here Bulgakov’s thought is pessimistic - for a real artist, happiness on earth is impossible. In a world where everything is determined by a person’s social status, good and truth still exist, but they have to seek protection from the devil himself. Thus, according to Bulgakov, the confrontation between good and evil is eternal, but these concepts are relative.
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(418 words) Almost every day a person has to make a choice between good and evil. These two concepts cannot actually be separated. It is impossible to say unequivocally that one of us is exclusively good or exclusively evil. In particular, M. A. Bulgakov wrote about this in his work “The Master and Margarita.”
We are presented with two novels, the actions of which are intricately intertwined, although this does not become immediately noticeable. The first world is from the 20-30s of the last century, the second from biblical times. They are united by the heroes’ desire to know the truth and find it. Bulgakov believed that truth lies in communion with God.
In the novel, Yeshua Ha-Nozri appears to the cruel and timid procurator of Judea in the form of a man, and to readers in the form of the son of God. In this case, we are not talking about the triumph of evil, but about the betrayal of good. Why? Pontius Pilate, who had power, understood that the young man only wanted to help everyone, but still sent him to execution. It would seem that evil has triumphed over good. But not everything is so simple. The procurator was not evil, he simply found himself in a subordinate position in relation to the state. The same thing happens practically in our time. Nameless heroes or people like Nikanor Bosoy are neither good people nor villains. Captured by circumstances, they are forced to do as prescribed.
But Yeshua brings light and joy to people, he freely expresses himself, expresses opinions about truth and truth, about ideals and values. Its main idea is the triumph of justice, the absence of any power. The hero believes that a good beginning prevails in every person. You just need to wake him up.
But then Woland appears on the stage - the opposite of Yeshua. He considers evil to be the predominant principle of the soul. Awakening the “dark side” is very simple. The hero instantly reveals the vices of those who meet on his way, and actually destroys people. His retinue helps him. Woland spends three days in Moscow, and in this short period of time the people around expose not only their bodies (remember the scene in Variety), but also their souls.
However, the incarnate Satan, whose image should only inspire fear, hatred and contempt, unexpectedly shows nobility, jokes, in general, becomes more humane. His role in the work is that of the arbiter of destinies, the restoration of balance. On the one hand, in this way he stands on the side of good. On the other hand, it seems to be taking revenge on all dishonest, deceitful, and passionate people.
Another argument in favor of good in the novel is the love of Margarita and the Master, which changes the characters and the world around them. In one of the Moscow alleys, a real feeling broke out - and the city plunged into chaos. Satan himself suddenly contributed to the fulfillment of divine love. And this, it seems to me, testifies to the triumph of good. Forgiveness, humanity, the search for truth, in the end, defeat all that evil, momentary and feigned that forces people to walk along the dark side of life.
Introduction
Throughout its history, humanity has tried to explain the nature of things and events. In these attempts, people have always identified two opposing forces: good and evil. The correlation of these forces in the human soul or in the surrounding world determined the development of events. And people embodied the forces themselves in images close to them. This is how world religions emerged, containing great confrontation. In opposition to the light forces of good, different images appeared: Satan, the devil, and other dark forces.
The question of good and evil has always occupied the minds of souls, truth seekers, has always prompted the inquisitive human consciousness to strive to resolve this intractable issue in one sense or another. Many were interested, as they are now, in questions: how did evil appear in the world, who was the first to initiate the appearance of evil? Is evil a necessary and integral part of human existence, and if this is so, then how could the Good Creative Power, creating the world and man, create evil?
The problem of good and evil is an eternal topic of human knowledge, and, like any eternal topic, it does not have clear answers. One of the primary sources of this problem can rightfully be called the Bible, in which “good” and “evil” are identified with the images of God and the devil, acting as absolute bearers of these moral categories of human consciousness. Good and evil, God and the devil, are in constant opposition. In essence, this struggle is waged between the lower and higher principles in man, between the mortal personality and the immortal individuality of man, between his egoistic needs and the desire for the common good.
With its roots in the distant past, the struggle between good and evil has attracted the attention of many philosophers, poets, and prose writers for a number of centuries.
Understanding the problem of the struggle between good and evil is also reflected in the work of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, who, turning to the eternal questions of existence, rethinks them under the influence historical events, occurring in Russia in the first half of the twentieth century.
The novel “The Master and Margarita” entered the golden fund of Russian and world culture. They read it, analyze it, admire it. Bulgakov depicts good and evil - the devil and Christ - in their entirety, with the goal of exposing the real evil generated by the new system and showing the possibility of the existence of good. For this purpose, the writer uses the complex structure of the work.
The theme of good and evil in M. Bulgakov is the problem of people’s choice of the principle of life, and the purpose of mystical evil in the novel is to reward everyone in accordance with this choice. The writer’s pen endowed these concepts with a duality of nature: one side is the real, “earthly” struggle between the devil and God inside any person, and the other, fantastic, helps the reader to understand the author’s project, to discern the objects and phenomena of his accusatory satire, philosophical and humanistic ideas.
Creativity M.A. Bulgakov is the subject of close attention of literary scholars who study him. art world in different aspects:
B. V. Sokolov A. V. Vulis“M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”, B. S. Myagkov"Bulgakov's Moscow" V. I. Nemtsev"Mikhail Bulgakov: the formation of a novelist", V. V. Novikov"Mikhail Bulgakov - artist" B. M. Gasparov“From observations of the motivic structure of M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”, V. V. Khimich“Strange realism of M. Bulgakov”, V. Ya. Lakshin“M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”, M. O. Chudakova"Biography of M. Bulgakov".
“The Master and Margarita,” as critic G. A. Lesskis rightly noted, is a double novel. It consists of the Master's novel about Pontius Pilate and a novel about the fate of the Master. Main actor the first novel is Yeshua, whose prototype is the biblical Christ - the embodiment of good, and the second - Woland, whose prototype is Satan - the embodiment of evil. The informal structural division of the work does not hide the fact that each of these novels could not exist separately, since they are connected by a common philosophical idea, understandable only when analyzing the entire novelistic reality. Set in the initial three chapters in a difficult philosophical debate between the characters whom the author introduces first on the pages of the novel, this idea is then embodied in interesting collisions, interweavings of the real and the fantastic, biblical and modern events that turn out to be completely balanced and causally determined.
The uniqueness of the novel lies in the fact that we are presented with two layers of time. One is connected with the life of Moscow in the 20s of the twentieth century, the other with life Jesus Christ. Bulgakov created, as it were, a “novel within a novel,” and both of these novels are united by one idea - the search for truth.
Relevance Our research is confirmed by the fact that the problems raised in the work are modern. Good and evil... Concepts are eternal and inseparable. What is good and what is evil on earth? This question runs as a leitmotif throughout M. A. Bulgakov’s novel. And as long as a person lives, they will fight each other. This is the kind of struggle that Bulgakov presents to us in the novel.
Purpose of this work- a study of the peculiarities of understanding the problem of good and evil in M. Bulgakov’s novel “Master Margarita”.
This goal determines the solution of the following specific tasks:
trace the relationship of eternal values in the novel;
correlate creative work M. Bulgakov on a work with a historical era;
reveal artistic embodiment problems of good and evil through the images of the heroes of the novel.
The work uses various research methods: scientific-educational, practical-recommendatory and analysis, interpretation to the extent that they seem to us appropriate and necessary for solving the tasks.
Object of study: novel by M. A. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”.
Subject of research: the problem of good and evil in the novel by M. A. Bulgakov.
The practical significance of the work is that its material can be used in developing lessons and additional classes on Russian literature at school.
Chapter 1. The history of the creation of the novel “The Master and Margarita”
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” was not completed and was not published during the author’s lifetime. It was first published only in 1966, 26 years after Bulgakov’s death, and then in an abridged magazine version. Because it's the greatest literary work reached the reader, we are indebted to the writer’s wife Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, who during the difficult Stalinist times managed to preserve the manuscript of the novel.
This last work of the writer, his “sunset novel”, completes a theme that was significant for Bulgakov - the artist and power, this is a novel of difficult and sad thoughts about life, where philosophy and science fiction, mysticism and heartfelt lyrics, soft humor and apt deep satire are combined.
The history of the creation and publication of this most famous novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, one of the most outstanding works in modern Russian and world literature, is complex and dramatic. This final work, as it were, summarizes the writer’s ideas about the meaning of life, about man, about his mortality and immortality, about the struggle between good and evil principles in history and in the moral world of man. The above helps to understand Bulgakov’s own assessment of his brainchild. “When he was dying, he said, his widow, Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, recalled: “Maybe this is right. What could I write after the Master? "
Creative history“The Master and Margarita”, the idea of the novel and the beginning of work on it, Bulgakov attributed to 1928, however, according to other sources, it is obvious that the idea of writing a book about the adventures of the devil in Moscow arose several years earlier, in the early to mid-1920s. The first chapters were written in the spring of 1929. On May 8 of this year, Bulgakov submitted to the Nedra publishing house for publication in the almanac of the same name a fragment of the future novel - its separate independent chapter, called “Mania Furibunda,” which translated from Latin means “violent insanity, mania of rage.” This chapter, from which only fragments not destroyed by the author have reached us, in content approximately corresponded to the fifth chapter of the printed text “It happened in Griboyedov.” In 1929, the main parts of the text of the first edition of the novel were created (and possibly a plot-completed draft version of it about the appearance and tricks of the devil in Moscow).
Probably, in the winter of 1928-1929, only individual chapters of the novel were written, which were even more politically acute than the surviving fragments of the early edition. Perhaps, the “Mania Furibunda”, which was given to “Nedra” and has not reached us in full, was an already softened version of the original text. In the first edition, the author went through several options for the titles of his work: “ Black Magician", "Engineer's Hoof", "Woland's Tour", "Son of Destruction", "Juggler with a Hoof", but didn’t stop at any one. This first edition of the novel was destroyed by Bulgakov on March 18, 1930, after receiving news of the ban on the play “The Cabal of the Holy One.” The writer reported this in a letter to the government on March 28, 1930: “And I personally, with my own hands, threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove.” There is no exact information about the degree of plot completeness of this edition, but from the surviving materials, it is obvious that that final compositional juxtaposition of two novels in a novel (ancient and modern), which constitutes the genre feature of The Master and Margarita, is still missing. Written by the hero of this book - the master - there is, in fact, no “novel about Pontius Pilate”; “simply” a “strange foreigner” tells Vladimir Mironovich Berlioz and Antosha (Ivanushka) on the Patriarch’s Ponds about Yeshua Ha-Notsri, and all the “New Testament” material is presented in one chapter (“The Gospel of Woland”) in the form of a lively conversation between the “foreigner” and his listeners. There are no future main characters - the master and Margarita. This is still a novel about the devil, and in the interpretation of the image of the devil, Bulgakov is at first more traditional than in the final text: his Woland (or Faland) still acts in the classical role of a tempter and provocateur (he, for example, teaches Ivanushka to trample the image of Christ), but The writer’s “super task” is already clear: both Satan and Christ are necessary for the author of the novel as representatives of the absolute (albeit “multipolar”) truth, opposing the moral world of the Russian public of the 20s.
