The Master and Margarita meaning. The hidden meaning of "The Master and Margarita"

On May 23, 1938, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov completed his novel “The Master and Margarita.” We invite Tabloid readers to familiarize themselves with interesting facts, as well as illustrations for the legendary novel made by Samara artist Nikolai Korolev. Let's begin with that…

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

Work on The Master and Margarita resumed in 1931. Rough sketches were made for the novel, and Margarita and her then nameless companion, the future Master, already appeared here, and Woland acquired his own riotous retinue. The second edition, created before 1936, had the subtitle “Fantastic Novel” and variant titles “Great Chancellor”, “Satan”, “Here I am”, “Black Magician”, “Engineer’s Hoof”.

And finally, the third edition, begun in the second half of 1936, was originally called “The Prince of Darkness,” but already in 1937 the title “The Master and Margarita” appeared. June 25, 1938 full text was reprinted for the first time (it was printed by O. S. Bokshanskaya, sister of E. S. Bulgakova). The author’s edits continued almost until the writer’s death; Bulgakov stopped it with Margarita’s phrase: “So this means that the writers are going after the coffin?”...

Bulgakov wrote “The Master and Margarita” for a total of more than 10 years.

There is also one interesting meteorological correspondence confirming internal chronology“The Master and Margarita.” Judging by press reports, on May 1, 1929, Moscow experienced a sharp warming, unusual for this time of year, as a result of which the temperature rose from zero to thirty degrees in one day. In the following days, an equally sharp cold snap was observed, ending with rain and thunderstorms. In Bulgakov's novel, the evening of May 1 turns out to be unusually hot, and on the eve of the last flight, as once over Yershalaim, a severe thunderstorm with rain sweeps over Moscow.

Hidden dating is also contained in the indication of the age of the Master, the most autobiographical of all the characters in the novel. The master is “a man about thirty-eight years old.” Bulgakov himself turned the same age on May 15, 1929. 1929 is also the year when Bulgakov began working on “The Master and Margarita.”

If we talk about predecessors, then the first impetus for the idea of ​​​​the image of Satan, as A. Zerkalov suggests in his work, was music - an opera by Charles Gounod, written on the plot of I.V. Goethe and amazed Bulgakov in childhood for the rest of his life. Woland's idea was taken from the poem by I.V. Goethe's Faust, where it is mentioned only once and is omitted in Russian translations.

It is believed that Bulgakov's apartment was searched many times by NKVD officers, and they were aware of the existence and contents of the draft version of The Master and Margarita. Also Bulgakov in 1937 had phone conversation with Stalin (the contents of which no one knows). Despite the massive repressions of 1937-1938, neither Bulgakov nor any of his family members were arrested.

In the novel, during the death of Yeshua Ha-Nozri, unlike the Gospel, he pronounces the name not of God, but of Pontius Pilate. According to Deacon Andrei Kuraev, for this reason (and not only for it), the Yershalaim story (a novel within a novel) should be perceived as blasphemous from the point of view of Christianity - but this, according to him, does not mean that the entire novel should also be considered blasphemous "Master and Margarita".

Woland's name in the early editions of the novel was Astaroth. However, this name was later replaced, apparently due to the fact that the name “Astaroth” is associated with a specific demon of the same name, different from Satan.

The Variety Theater does not exist in Moscow and never has existed. But now several theaters sometimes compete for the title.

In the penultimate edition of the novel, Woland utters the words “He has a courageous face, he does his job correctly, and in general, it’s all over here. It's time for us!”, referring to the pilot, a character later excluded from the novel.

According to the writer’s widow, Elena Sergeevna, last words Bulgakov about the novel “The Master and Margarita” before his death were: “So that they know... So that they know.”

In Moscow there is a house-museum " Bulgakov House" It is located at st. Bolshaya Sadovaya, 10. In apartment No. 50 there is a museum telling about the life and work of the writer. There are also theatrical performances, original improvisations on the works of Mikhail Bulgakov.

Some oddities begin even when creating a novel. An interesting fact is that Bulgakov was prompted to write “The Master and Margarita” by A.V. Chayanov’s novel, which was given to him. entitled “Venediktov or memorable events of my life.” The main character of the novel is Bulgakov, who faces devilish forces. M.A.'s wife Bulgakova, Elena Belozerova, wrote in her memoirs about the strong impact of the coincidence of surnames on the writer.

Bulgakov wrote his novel in the atmosphere of Moscow in the 1930s: the destruction of religion and religious institutions and, as a consequence, the decline of spiritual and moral life. Naturally, in such years, an affair with biblical motifs was not accepted for publication, and Bulgakov tried to burn his creation. The resumption of work on the novel is attributed to the writer’s clash with diabolical forces, namely a conversation between Mikhail Afanasyevich and Stalin on the phone. After which, during the mass repressions of 1937-1938, neither Bulgakov nor his family members were arrested.

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.

In 2005, director Vladimir Bortko made an attempt to film artistic canvas Bulgakov. The ten-episode series was shown on the Rossiya TV channel and was viewed by 40 million viewers. Here Interesting Facts about the film.

Valentin Gaft, who performed several roles in the television series minor roles, in Kara's unreleased film he played Woland himself. In turn, Alexander Filippenko, who played the role of Azazello in that film, was another representative dark forces- Koroviev.

The man in the jacket wears the uniform of a state security major (the rank corresponding to the rank of brigade commander of the Red Army) during the main action of the film and the uniform of a senior state security major (corresponding to the Red Army division commander) in the finale. This form worn by employees of the GUGB NKVD in 1937-1943. The man in the jacket is not mentioned in the novel; all episodes with his participation are the authors' find.

During the main action of the film, the investigator wears the uniform of a junior lieutenant of state security (corresponding to a senior lieutenant of the Red Army). In the finale, he has insignia - four cubes in his buttonholes - which have never been seen either in the Red Army or in the GUGB NKVD in the entire history of their existence.

Sergei Bezrukov, who played Yeshua, voiced the role of the Master, so that actor Alexander Galibin does not speak in his own voice throughout the entire film.

Oleg Basilashvili, who played Woland, voiced the role of the head of the secret guard of the Procurator of Judea Afranius, played by Lyubomiras Lautsevičius.

Despite the fairly wide timing, the film omitted some episodes from the original novel, for example, the announcement of the death sentence by Pontius Pilate in front of a crowd of people, Nikanor Ivanovich’s dream, the barman’s consultation with the doctor after visiting the “bad apartment”, the episode with Margarita in the trolleybus on the way to Alexander Garden, Margarita’s collision with an illuminated disk during the flight, Margarita’s conversation with the boy after the destruction of Latunsky’s apartment (most of the details of Margarita’s flight from Latunsky’s apartment to the lake were also missed, except for the meeting with Natasha on the hog), conversation with Kozlonogy over a glass of champagne. The details of the Sabbath scene were modestly presented, for example, there were no fat-faced frogs, glowing rotten mushrooms, or Margarita’s flight to the other side.

There is no episode of Margarita’s initiation into a witch in the novel, this is a discovery of the film’s authors, Woland and the Cat Behemoth playing chess (the chess pieces, according to Bulgakov’s novel, are alive), an episode of Woland and Margarita observing what is happening in the globe, a forest with parrots and Margarita’s flight at the Ball Satan, episodes with Abadonna, an enthusiastic conversation between Behemoth, Gella and Woland after the ball, Afranius’s meeting with Nisa, a conversation between Woland, Koroviev and Behemoth after the fire in Griboedov.

Woland in the novel is no more than 50 years old, and Oleg Basilashvili is ~75. Azazello's hair color is red, and Alexander Filippenko's hair color in this role is dark. Woland's eyes different color and one of them always looks straight, Basilashvili in this role has healthy eyes and the same color.

In some places, illogical edits have been made to the text. In episode 9, Pilate has a conversation with Matvey: “And now I need a parchment...”, “And do you want to take the last one away?”, “I didn’t say give it back, I said show me.” In the interrogation scene of Sempliyarov, he talks about a magician in a mask (as was the case in the novel), although in the film Woland appears in the theater without it.

In the interrogation scene of Yeshua, he introduces himself as Ga Nozri, and not Ga Nozri.

In episode 8, Koroviev gives the Master an obviously metal cup (according to the text - glass tumbler), The master drops it on the carpet, Koroviev remarks: “fortunately, fortunately...”, although nothing broke.

Mikhail Bulgakov's work "The Master and Margarita", recognized as a genius, still amazes even modern readers It is practically impossible to find an analogue to a novel of such originality and skill.

Moreover, even modern writers have difficulty identifying the reason why the novel gained such fame and what is its main, fundamental motive. This novel is often called “unprecedented” not only for Russian, but also for world literature.

The main idea and meaning of the novel

The narrative of “The Master and Margarita” takes place in two time periods: the era in which Jesus Christ lived, and the period Soviet Union. Paradoxically, the writer combines these two very different eras and draws deep parallels between them.

After all main character works The master himself writes a novel about Christian history, about Yeshua Ha-Nozri, Judas and Pontius Pilate. Bulgakov unfolds an incredible phantasmagoria, as separate genre, and extends it throughout the entire narrative of the novel.

Events taking place in the present time are surprisingly connected with what once changed humanity forever. It is very difficult to single out one specific topic to which the novel could be devoted; “The Master and Margarita” touches on too many sacramental and eternal themes for art, and especially for literature.

This is a revelation of the theme of love, unconditional and tragic, meaning of life, distortions in the perception of good and evil, this themes of justice and truth, madness and unawareness. It cannot be said that the writer reveals this directly; he creates a holistic symbolic system that is quite difficult to interpret.

The main characters of his novels are so extraordinary and non-standard that only their images can serve as a reason for a detailed analysis of the concept of his already immortal novel. “The Master and Margarita” is written with an emphasis on philosophical and ideological themes, which gives rise to the extensive versatility of its semantic content.

"The Master and Margarita" - timeless

The main idea of ​​the novel can be interpreted in completely different ways, but for this you need to have high level culture and education.

Two key hero Ha-Nozri and the Master are unique messiahs, whose bright activities affect completely different time periods. But the Master's story is not so simple, his bright, divine art is connected with dark forces, because his beloved Margarita turns to Woland to help the Master.

The highest artistry of The Master and Margarita lies in the fact that the brilliant Bulgakov simultaneously talks about the arrival of Satan and his retinue in Soviet Moscow, and how the tired and lost judge Pontius Pilate sentences the innocent Yeshua Ha-Nozri to execution.

The last story, the novel that the Master writes, is amazing and sacred, but Soviet writers refuse to publish the writer because they do not want to recognize him as worthy. The main events of the work unfold around this. Woland helps the Master and Margarita restore justice and returns to the writer the novel he had previously burned.

“The Master and Margarita” is an impressive, psychological book, which in its depth reveals the idea that circumstantial evil does not exist, that evil and vice are in the souls of people themselves, in their actions and thoughts.


Literary scholars, it seems, have already literally broken down Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita.” However, more and more new research is appearing, forcing us to look differently at the plot of the book and the main characters...

Is the master Gorky?

For example, there is a version put forward by Alfred Barkov, from which it follows that “” is a novel about... Maxim Gorky! It was behind him in the 1930s. The title “master” was firmly established. In addition, the book contains references to 1936, the year of Gorky’s death... True, Gorky died in June, but the action of the novel seems to take place in May. However, it was on June 19, when the whole country said goodbye to the deceased writer, that it was necessary solar eclipse(in the novel there is a description of the darkness that covered Yershalaim and Moscow). The details of Gorky's funeral are easily recognizable in Berlioz's funeral ceremony.

In turn, the prototype of Margarita is common-law wife Gorky M.F. Andreeva, artist of the Moscow Art Theater. In the mansion where Margarita lives, you can easily recognize the mansion of Savva Morozov, whose lover Maria Andreeva was listed until 1903. It is known that in 1905 M. Andreeva received, according to the will of Morozov, who committed suicide, an insurance policy for one hundred thousand rubles, ten thousand from which she gave to M. Gorky to pay off debts, and donated the rest to the needs of the RSDLP, of which she was a member... In the book, the Master wins one hundred thousand lottery ticket, which he finds in a basket with dirty laundry, and becomes a writer, and ten thousand of this amount is transferred to Margarita. In one of the original editions of the novel, apartment No. 20 on Vozdvizhenka, 4, where M. Gorky and M. Andreeva lived during the uprising of 1905, appears as a “bad apartment.”

According to A. Barkov, there is real prototypes and other characters: Woland is Lenin, Latunsky and Sempleyarov are the then Minister of Culture Lunacharsky, Levi Matvey is Leo Tolstoy, the Variety Theater means the Moscow Art Theater...

Woland and the Cathars

There is also reason to believe that he was familiar with the medieval teachings of the Cathars. Translated from Greek, this word means “pure.” According to the Cathars, Good and Evil in the world are in eternal opposition: the personification of Good is God, the personification of Evil is...

The Cathars denied the rite of baptism in infancy and the sacrament of communion, and also opposed the veneration of the cross, since it was used in ancient times during executions as a murder weapon. They also denied the worship of icons, and in addition, the mediating role of the clergy in communication with God and human essence God. Christ was for them an incorporeal entity that descended to earth from heaven.

It is interesting that the Cathars considered the Old Testament Jehovah to be Satan, and the prophets to be his servants. From books Holy Scripture they accepted only the New Testament.

A hint of the Cathars (or Albigensians - this heresy was born in the city of Albi) is visible in the image of Fagot-Koroviev, who in last chapter the novel turns into “a dark purple knight with the gloomiest and never smiling face.” To Margarita’s question about him he answers that “This knight once made a bad joke... his pun, which he made while talking about light and darkness, was not entirely good. And the knight had to joke a little more and longer than he expected. And today is the night when scores are settled. The knight paid his account and closed it!”

The Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedia, which Bulgakov often uses, mentions the book of the French historian Napoleon Peyre “History of Albigensianism”, and in it there is a reference to a medieval manuscript containing ballads of the knight-troubadour Cadenet. The vignette of the manuscript's capital letter depicts the author himself in a purple robe. The bassoon is also a “former choir director,” as well as “the organizer of the choir circle.” And in French “fagotin” means “jester”. Jesters in the Middle Ages often dressed in purple. Let’s remember Fagot’s “joke”, for which he paid... In addition, there is a French phraseological unit “sentir le fagot” - “to give away heresy.”

And the murder of Judas from Kiriath on the banks of the Kidron River is very similar in description to the murder of the papal legate Peter de Castelnau, committed on January 15, 1208 on the banks of the Rhone. The fact is that it was this event that served as the reason for the start of the crusade against the Albigensian heretics, on the initiative of Pope Innocent III.

Perhaps Bulgakov had such an interest in the Cathars because his father, Afanasy Bulgakov, was a professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy and studied the history of Western religions. IN teenage years the writer was also acquainted with a prominent philologist, private assistant professor at the University of St. Vladimir, Count Ferdinand de La Barthe, who in 1903-1909. lived in Kyiv, where he gave lectures and conducted seminars. De La Barthe was known as the translator of The Song of Roland. In addition, he taught Provençal and wrote commentaries on many literary monuments, including the “Song of the Albigensian” crusade».

So with a great novel it's not all that simple. But first of all, this is a book about good and evil and that the world is not always divided into black and white...

In this article we will look at the novel that Bulgakov created in 1940 - “The Master and Margarita”. A brief summary of this work will be brought to your attention. You will find a description of the main events of the novel, as well as an analysis of the work “The Master and Margarita” by Bulgakov.

Two storylines

There are two storylines in this work that develop independently. In the first of them, the action takes place in Moscow in May (several days of the full moon) in the 30s of the 20th century. In the second storyline the action also takes place in May, but already in Jerusalem (Yershalaim) about 2000 years ago - at the beginning new era. The chapters of the first line echo the second.

The appearance of Woland

One day Woland appears in Moscow, introducing himself as a specialist in black magic, but in reality he is Satan. A strange retinue accompanies Woland: this is Gella, a vampire witch, Koroviev, a cheeky type, also known by the nickname Fagot, the sinister and gloomy Azazello and Behemoth, a cheerful fat man, appearing mainly in the form of a huge black cat.

Death of Berlioz

At the Patriarch's Ponds, the first to meet Woland are the editor of a magazine, Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, as well as Ivan Bezdomny, a poet who created an anti-religious work about Jesus Christ. This “foreigner” intervenes in their conversation, saying that Christ really existed. As proof that there is something beyond human understanding, he predicts that a Komsomol girl will cut off Berlioz's head. Mikhail Alexandrovich, in front of Ivan’s eyes, immediately falls under a tram driven by a Komsomol member, and his head is actually cut off. The homeless man tries unsuccessfully to pursue his new acquaintance, and then, having arrived in Massolit, talks so confusingly about what happened that he is taken to psychiatric clinic, in which he meets the Master, the main character of the novel.

Likhodeev in Yalta

Arriving at the apartment on Sadovaya Street, occupied by the late Berliz together with Stepan Likhodeev, director of the Variety Theater, Woland, finding Likhodeev in a severe hangover, presented him with a signed contract to perform in the theater. After this, he escorts Stepan out of the apartment, and he strangely ends up in Yalta.

Incident in the house of Nikanor Ivanovich

Bulgakov's work "The Master and Margarita" continues with the fact that barefoot Nikanor Ivanovich, the chairman of the house's partnership, comes to the apartment occupied by Woland and finds Koroviev there, who asks to rent this premises to him, since Berlioz has died and Likhodeev is now in Yalta. After lengthy persuasion, Nikanor Ivanovich agrees and receives another 400 rubles in addition to the payment stipulated in the contract. He hides them in the ventilation. After this, they come to Nikanor Ivanovich to arrest him for possession of currency, since rubles have somehow turned into dollars, and he, in turn, ends up in the Stravinsky clinic.

At the same time, Rimsky, the financial director of Variety, as well as Varenukha, the administrator, are trying to find Likhodeev by phone and are perplexed when reading his telegrams from Yalta asking him to confirm his identity and send money, since he was abandoned here by the hypnotist Woland. Rimsky, deciding that he is joking, sends Varenukha to take the telegrams “to the right place,” but the administrator fails to do this: the cat Behemoth and Azazello, taking him by the arms, carry him to the above-mentioned apartment, and Varenukha faints from the kiss of the naked Gella.

Woland's presentation

What happens next in the novel that Bulgakov created (“The Master and Margarita”)? A summary of further events is as follows. Woland's performance begins on the Variety stage in the evening. The bassoon calls with a pistol shot money rain, and the audience catches the falling money. Then a “ladies’ store” appears where you can dress for free. There is a line immediately forming into the store. But at the end of the performance, the chervonets turn into pieces of paper, and the clothes disappear without a trace, forcing women to rush through the streets in their underwear.

After the performance, Rimsky lingers in his office, and Varenukha, transformed into a vampire by the kiss of Gella, comes to him. Noticing that he does not cast a shadow, the director tries to run away, scared, but Gella comes to the rescue. She tries to open the latch on the window, and Varenukha, meanwhile, is standing guard at the door. Morning comes, and with the first crow of the rooster, the guests disappear. Rimsky, instantly turning gray, rushes to the station and leaves for Leningrad.

The Master's Tale

Ivan Bezdomny, having met the Master at the clinic, tells how he met the foreigner who killed Berlioz. The master says that he met with Satan and tells Ivan about himself. Beloved Margarita gave him this name. A historian by training, this man worked in a museum, but suddenly won 100 thousand rubles - a huge amount. He rented two rooms located in the basement of a small house, left his job and began writing a novel about Pontius Pilate. The work was almost finished, but then he accidentally met Margarita on the street, and a feeling immediately flared up between them.

Margarita was married to a rich man, lived in a mansion on Arbat, but did not love her husband. She came to the Master every day. They were happy. When the novel was finally finished, the author took it to the magazine, but they refused to publish the work. Only an excerpt was published, and soon devastating articles appeared about it, written by critics Lavrovich, Latunsky and Ariman. Then the Master fell ill. One night he threw his creation into the oven, but Margarita snatched the last pack of sheets from the fire. She took the manuscript with her and went to her husband to say goodbye to him and in the morning to reunite with the Master forever, but a quarter of an hour after the girl left, there was a knock on the writer’s window. Winter night, returning home a few months later, he found that the rooms were already occupied, and went to this clinic, where he has been living for four months without a name.

Meeting of Margarita with Azazello

Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita continues with Margarita waking up with the feeling that something is about to happen. She sorts through the sheets of manuscript and then goes for a walk. Here Azazello sits down next to her and reports that some foreigner is inviting a girl to visit. She agrees, as she hopes to find out something about the Master. Margarita rubs her body with a special cream in the evening and becomes invisible, after which she flies out the window. She causes destruction in the home of the critic Latunsky. Then the girl is met by Azazelo and escorted to the apartment, where she meets Woland’s retinue and himself. Woland asks Margarita to become queen at his ball. As a reward, he promises to fulfill the girl's wish.

Margarita - queen at Woland's ball

How further events describes Mikhail Bulgakov? "The Master and Margarita" is a very multi-layered novel, and the narrative continues with the full moon ball, which begins at midnight. Criminals are invited to attend, who come in tailcoats, and the women are naked. Margarita greets them, offering her knee and hand for a kiss. The ball is over, and Woland asks what she wants to receive as a reward. Margarita asks her lover, and he immediately appears in a hospital gown. The girl asks Satan to return them to the house where they were so happy.

Some Moscow institution, meanwhile, is interested in the strange events taking place in the city. It becomes clear that they are all the work of one gang, headed by a magician, and the traces lead to Woland’s apartment.

Pontius Pilate's decision

We continue to consider the work that Bulgakov created (“The Master and Margarita”). The summary of the novel consists of the following further events. Pontius Pilate in the palace of King Herod interrogates Yeshua Ha-Nozri, who was sentenced to death by the court for insulting the authority of Caesar. Pilate was obliged to approve it. Interrogating the accused, he realizes that he is dealing not with a robber, but with a wandering philosopher who preaches justice and truth. But Pontius cannot simply release a person who is accused of acts against Caesar, so he confirms the sentence. Then he turns to Caiaphas, the high priest, who, in honor of Easter, can release one of the four sentenced to death. Pilate asks to release Ha-Nozri. But he refuses him and releases Bar-Rabban. There are three crosses on Bald Mountain, and the condemned are crucified on them. After the execution, only the former tax collector, Levi Matvey, a disciple of Yeshua, remains there. The executioner stabs the condemned to death, and suddenly a downpour falls.

The procurator summons the head of the secret service, Afranius, and instructs him to kill Judas, who received a reward for allowing Ha-Nozri to be arrested in his house. Nisa, a young woman, meets him in the city and arranges a date, where unknown men stab Judas with a knife and take his money. Afranius tells Pilate that Judas was stabbed to death and the money was planted in the high priest's house.

Levi Matthew is brought before Pilate. He shows him recordings of Yeshua's sermons. The procurator reads in them that the most serious sin is cowardice.

Woland and his retinue leave Moscow

We continue to describe the events of the work “The Master and Margarita” (Bulgakov). We return to Moscow. Woland and his retinue say goodbye to the city. Then Levi Matvey appears with an offer to take the Master to him. Woland asks why he is not accepted into the world. Levi replies that the Master did not deserve light, only peace. After some time, Azazello comes to the lovers’ house and brings wine - a gift from Satan. After drinking it, the heroes fall unconscious. At the same moment, there is turmoil in the clinic - the patient has died, and on the Arbat, in a mansion, a young woman suddenly falls to the floor.

The novel that Bulgakov created (“The Master and Margarita”) is coming to an end. Black horses carry away Woland and his retinue, and with them the main characters. Woland tells the writer that the character in his novel has been sitting on this platform for 2000 years, seeing moon road in a dream and wanting to walk along it. The master shouts: “Free!” And the city with the garden lights up over the abyss, and a lunar road leads to it, along which the procurator runs.

A wonderful work was created by Mikhail Bulgakov. "The Master and Margarita" ends as follows. In Moscow, the investigation into the case of one gang continues for a long time, but there are no results. Psychiatrists conclude that the gang members are powerful hypnotists. After a few years, the events are forgotten, and only the poet Bezdomny, now professor Ponyrev Ivan Nikolaevich, every year on the full moon sits on the bench where he met Woland, and then, returning home, sees the same dream in which the Master and Margarita appear to him , Yeshua and Pontius Pilate.

Meaning of the work

The work “The Master and Margarita” by Bulgakov amazes readers even today, since even now it is impossible to find an analogue of a novel of this level of skill. Modern writers fail to note the reason for such popularity of the work, to highlight its fundamental, main motive. This novel is often called unprecedented for all world literature.

The main idea of ​​the author

So, we looked at the novel, it summary. Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" also needs analysis. What is the author's main intention? The narrative takes place in two eras: the life of Jesus Christ and the author’s contemporary period of the Soviet Union. Bulgakov paradoxically combines these very different eras and draws deep parallels between them.

The master, the main character, himself creates a novel about Yeshua, Judas, Pontius Pilate. Mikhail Afanasyevich unfolds a phantasmagoria throughout the work. The events of the present are connected amazingly with something that changed humanity forever. It is difficult to single out a specific topic to which M. Bulgakov devoted his work. "The Master and Margarita" touches on many eternal, sacramental issues for art. This, of course, is the theme of love, tragic and unconditional, the meaning of life, truth and justice, unconsciousness and madness. It cannot be said that the author directly reveals these issues; he only creates a symbolic whole system, which is quite difficult to interpret.

The main characters are so non-standard that only their images can be the reason detailed analysis the concept of the work created by M. Bulgakov. "The Master and Margarita" is imbued with ideological and philosophical topics. This gives rise to the multifaceted semantic content of the novel that Bulgakov wrote. “The Master and Margarita”, as you see, touches on very large-scale and significant problems.

Out of time

The main idea can be interpreted in different ways. The Master and Ga-Nozri are two unique messiahs whose activities take place in different eras. But the Master’s life story is not so simple; his divine, bright art is also connected with dark forces, because Margarita turns to Woland to help the Master.

The novel that this hero creates is sacred and amazing story, but Soviet-era writers refuse to publish it because they do not want to recognize it as worthy. Woland helps the lovers restore justice and returns to the author the work he had previously burned.

Thanks to mythological techniques and a fantastic plot, Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" shows eternal human values. Therefore, this novel is a story outside of culture and era.

Cinematography showed big interest to the creation that Bulgakov created. “The Master and Margarita” is a film that exists in several versions: 1971, 1972, 2005. In 2005, a popular mini-series of 10 episodes directed by Vladimir Bortko was released.

This concludes the analysis of the work that Bulgakov created (“The Master and Margarita”). Our essay does not reveal all the topics in detail, we just tried to succinctly highlight them. This plan can serve as a basis for writing your own composition based on this novel.


In the world of the novel "The Master and Margarita" are fantastic, unexplained phenomena intertwined with everyday realities. This mystical work thoroughly imbued with the author's satire and black humor. But the last chapter 32, “Forgiveness and Eternal Shelter,” differs from the entire novel in its narrative form. It is written in a high style and contains motifs of transformation. That night, illusions are dispelled and Woland and his retinue take on their true appearance. No more antics from Behemoth and Koroviev. This is no longer a huge black cat and a man in a checkered suit - this is a thin young page and a dark purple knight with a gloomy face. Azazelo, Master, Woland change. This night the fates of the heroes are decided; the author's irony is inappropriate here.

All the characters are as serious as possible - they understand that today all scores are being settled, the terms of punishment are expiring.

Pontius Pilate receives forgiveness. Two thousand years ago, he signed the death warrant for the simple philosopher Yeshua Ha-Nozri. The great procurator of Judea became cowardly and was punished for his cowardice. But that night he was freed from the constant torment of his conscience.

The Master receives the long-awaited peace and the opportunity to create freely, next to the woman he loves. Not light, but precisely peace - what the tormented soul of the persecuted writer really craved. The masters will no longer be disturbed life problems, condemnation and misunderstanding from critics. He enters his “eternal home” together with Margarita, and the artist’s “restless memory, punctured by needles,” fades away.

But the solemn and mysterious atmosphere of chapter 32 in the epilogue changes to the usual satirical one. With the same irony, the author talks about the fate of those who remained in Moscow. The case of a gang of skilled hypnotists troubled the minds of city residents for a long time. But the years passed and Moscow life returned to normal. However, every spring full moon, some individuals lose peace. Among the “victims of the moon” is Ivan Ponyrev, aka Bezdomny. He listened to the Master's advice, left poetry and became a professor of history. There are no longer traces of madness in this man with which he ended up in Stravinsky's clinic. But he can't control this moon. Once a year he appears on Patriarch's Ponds and repeats his path, just like many years ago, when Misha Berlioz was hit by a tram. At home, in a dream, he sees the execution of Gestas, sees the lunar road and two people walking along it, sees a woman and his acquaintance from room 118. And in this strange obsession is the tragedy of Ivan Bezdomny: his memory does not forget anything, it only fades until the next spring full moon.

Thus, the ending of the novel “The Master and Margarita” confirms the idea that justice will always triumph. Those who deserve it will receive peace, and those who are guilty will lose it.

Updated: 2018-02-07

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