![]() The Master, who has lost all sense of purpose and cannot even remember his own name, and Margarita, his desperately unhappy former mistress, are reunited through Woland’s doing, and manage to find peace of mind together. Yet there is a sense that some have been changed for the better by their contact with the devil for example Ivan Nikolayich, a former poet, is left sadder and troubled but wiser, with deeper insight into the human condition. People are decapitated, and then have their heads reattached, are visited and tormented by Woland’s henchmen, have their homes and livelihoods destroyed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thanks to him, formerly respectable and contented citizens are deeply traumatised and haunted by pain and bad dreams during the full moon. Also, in a similar manner to Mephistopheles, Woland’s pranks vary from the amusing to the unnecessarily cruel. As with Faust, The Master and Margarita is full of images to do with food and gluttony, describing feasts at the best restaurants and food halls in department stores, which contrast with the moral starvation of the citizens. They are relentlessly caricatured as lustful, thieving, vain, selfish, bureaucratic and greedy for example, Griboyedov House, supposedly a hotbed of artistic and literary talent, is in reality Kafkaesque in its incompetence and lack of humanity. The citizens of Moscow are totally hapless against Woland and his entourage, yet there is a sense that their own flaws have contributed to this. This, he suggests, is our modern method of dealing with issues such as belief in God and the existence of evil, but also a way of blinding ourselves to our own flaws and justifying our own bad behaviour. They target the theatre in particular, as a way of reaching a great deal of people all at once, but also so that Bulgakov is able to explore themes of illusion, and our instinct to constantly rationalise the inexplicable. These consist of Koroviev, a tall man in a checked suit with broken glasses who introduces himself as a retired choirmaster, Behemoth, a giant black cat who walks, talks and enjoys playing tricks and starting fights, Azazello, a thug with a fang and a squint, and Hella, a beautiful witch with a scar across her neck. ![]() His appearance is charming and knowledge of philosophy and history unparalleled he behaves with courtesy towards all he meets, relying on his henchmen to scare and manipulate people. The character who corresponds to Mephistopheles is known as Professor Woland, although his true name is never revealed. There is no central protagonist, however- it seems that the whole of modern humanity stands in for Faust. Bulgakov includes a quotation from Faust at the beginning of the text, “‘Say at last- who art thou?’/ ‘That Power I serve/ Which wills forever evil/ Yet does forever good.’” The novel is heavily influenced by Faustian concerns, for example thirst for knowledge, human limitations, the confusion of the supernatural with everyday life, madness, love and redemption Bulgakov has even written in a Walpurgis Night. It follows Pontius Pilate during the days leading up to Jesus’ trial, an illicit love affair between an unusually talented and sensitive writer and an extraordinary woman, and a Mephistophelian figure who arrives in Moscow with his entourage in order to cause chaos. The novel is set in contemporary Moscow, first-century Judea and an unnamed place which can probably be equated to Hell. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (1967) ![]()
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