The role of the “black magic session” scene in the ideological and artistic structure of Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.

Those who have read the novel “The Master and Margarita”, and there are more and more such people in numerous reprints of the book, undoubtedly remember the chapter that tells about a session of black magic in a certain Variety Show on Sadovaya, which was carried out by the foreign professor Woland and his associates with a scandalous ending. These miracles in Variety, thanks to the unbridled imagination of the author, are perhaps the most bright scene throughout the novel.

The events that took place with the employees of this institution - director Likhodeev, his assistants Rimsky and Varenukha, accountant Lastochkin, are described so artistically realistically, tangibly and believably that the question involuntarily arises whether everything happened in reality, whether there was a Variety Show in Moscow where it took place or could a fantastic session of black magic take place? As we already know, in his works Bulgakov almost everywhere used a real historical and topographical background, “settled” his heroes in those places that he himself knew, where he lived or worked, where he visited acquaintances and friends. The places of action of the heroes were no exception to this rule when describing the Variety Show. The writer remained true to himself, showing the Moscow Music Hall that existed in 1926-1935 in a fictional fantasy Variety Show. It was located in the same building where the current Moscow Theater of Satire (Bolshaya Sadovaya, 18), in the area of ​​the current Triumfalnaya Square- Old Triumphal Gate).

This old building, now hidden behind a modern facade, has undergone many reconstructions and renamings: Operetta Theater, Theater folk art, Second State Circus, Cinema Circus. And it was built round, like a real circus, in 1911 by the architect B. M. Nilus for the first Russian circus of the Nikitin brothers on the site of the houses and outbuildings of P. V. Sheremetev, a bankrupt descendant of an old noble family.

After the revolution, a few years after the last of the brothers Peter Nikitin in 1921, until his death former director, this circus in pure form ceased to exist. The future novelist nevertheless managed to visit there - a description of his visit can be found in the early story “Fatal Eggs”:

“In the circus of the former Nikitin, in a brown, greasy arena that smelled pleasantly of manure, the deathly pale clown Bom said to Bim, swollen in checkered dropsy:

- I know why you are so sad!

- Ottsivo? - Bim asked squeaky.

“You buried the eggs in the ground, and the police of the fifth precinct found them.”

Ha-ha-ha! - the circus laughed so hard that the blood ran cold joyfully and sadly, and trapezes and cobwebs blew under the old dome.

A-up! - the clowns shouted shrilly, and a well-fed white horse carried a wonderfully beautiful woman, on slender legs, in a crimson tights ... "

In 1926, the old circus was significantly rebuilt: the place of the arena was taken by stall seats, and part of the amphitheater and balcony was transformed into big stage, backdrop, backstage.

The building turned into a theater and was first called the Second State Circus - a music hall, and then simply the Moscow Music Hall. The hall was designed for 1,766 seats and had stalls, boxes, a mezzanine, and a balcony-gallery - just like Bulgakov’s Variety Show. Interesting performances of the new variety theater were accompanied by great success. One of the performances was called “Variety Show Artists.” In the guidebook “Theater Moscow” for 1930, the music hall was presented as a theater of variety and attraction genre and reviews, where, in addition to the permanent troupe, “Soviet and foreign touring artists” performed. So the “black magician” Woland and his retinue are a completely natural phenomenon here.

The Moscow music hall existed until 1936. It was at this time that Bulgakov, who apparently often attended his performances, created those chapters of the novel that show an enchanting session of black magic at the Variety Show. And many of his characters and mysterious tricks are based on real artists and their art in the then music hall.

The performance at the Bulgakov Variety Show begins with a performance by the “Julli bicycle family”: “ Small man in a holey yellow bowler hat and a pear-shaped crimson nose, in checkered trousers and patent leather boots, he rode onto the Variety stage on an ordinary two-wheeled bicycle. He made a circle to the sounds of a foxtrot, and then let out a triumphant cry, causing the bicycle to rear up. Having ridden on one rear wheel, the little man turned upside down, managed to unscrew the front wheel while moving and let it go behind the scenes, and then continued on one wheel, turning the pedals with his hands. On a tall metal mast with a saddle on top and one wheel, a plump blonde in tights and a skirt dotted with silver stars rode out and began riding in a circle.

When meeting her, the little man uttered greeting cries and kicked the bowler hat off his head. Finally, a little boy of about eight with an old face rolled up and darted between the adults on a tiny two-wheeler, to which was attached a huge car horn...”

This is how detailed, as if from life, Bulgakov described the cyclist figure skaters in a kind of pop prologue to a session of black magic.

What did the so-called “black magic session” consist of in Bulgakov’s novel? From card tricks, rain of money ultimately fake pieces of paper, from tearing off and reattaching the head of an entertainer, from changing clothes in the “Parisian fashion salon”, which ended in a general scandal.

It is worth noting that the genre of magic using the “black cabinet” technique was especially popular in the Moscow music hall of the 1930s. The work of the beginner Emil Keogh (E. T. Renard) was accompanied by a humorous commentary about black and white magic by entertainers N. S. Oreshkov and A. A. Grill. Touring Leningraders Dora and Nikolai Ornaldo (N.A. Smirnov) performed with a whole illusion theater, where they used mass hypnosis, tricks with cards (compare with the “acts” of Koroviev and Behemoth), “sawing” a woman (rather than tearing off her head Georges of Bengal?) large programs were given.

Journalist V. Viren spoke about another hypnotic gift of Ornaldo: “Once M. Zoshchenko, together with the writer V. Polyakov, entered the Leningrad Tauride Gardens, where circus performers gave a performance. The poster said that the “famous hypnotist Ornaldo” was performing in the tent. We bought tickets. The “treatment” session began: the audience was called onto the stage to outerwear to which notes were attached indicating what exactly was to be healed. With his gaze and bizarre hand movements, Ornaldo subjected them to “treatment”: he forced them to sing songs and dance “Cossack girls”.

In the second part, the hypnotist was engaged in suggestion. The group of spectators was called again. Ornaldo convinced them that they were children on the beach - and adults began to play in the sand, dive into the water, and fish.

After the performance, the writers waited for Ornaldo and left the garden with him. It turned out that he was Russian and real name his - Smirnov.

- What would you like me to do? - asked the hypnotist.

“Let this passerby walking in front of us stop,” Zoshchenko asked.

“He will stop on the count of ten,” said Ornaldo and began to quietly count: “One, two, three...”

And as soon as he said “ten”, the citizen walking in front stopped. All three approached him.

- What's wrong with you? - the hypnotist asked him.

“Yes, there’s something incomprehensible,” said the stranger. “I can’t move.”

- Nonsense. Go. Everything will be OK.

And the citizen, at first timidly, then confidently walked on.”

A special figure in the black magic session is the injured entertainer Georges of Bengal, with whom the devilish gang almost did the same as with Mikhail Berlioz. But they took pity on him and returned his head. Who from the entertainer in the music hall could be a caricatured copy of Georges of Bengal?

(Note that Bulgakov knew the work of an entertainer firsthand and not only as a spectator: at the beginning of his Moscow life he worked as an entertainer in small theater) Of course, Bulgakov's Georges Bengalsky, whose head is torn off for excessive chatter, is a collective image, although there is an obvious similarity between the stage names of Georges Bengalsky and the real-life Moscow entertainer Georges (George) Razdolsky.

Perhaps the novelist wanted to strengthen his more circus (“tiger”) pseudonym comic effect appearance and behavior of your hero. Georgy Razdolsky was relatively little known and popular. And among the recognized stars of the Moscow entertainer, among the famous A. A. Mendelevich, A. A. Glinsky, A. G. Alekseev and others, one should certainly highlight one of the most popular in the Moscow music hall - Alexander Alexandrovich Grill. He was perhaps closest to Bulgakov's Georges of Bengal.

Let us remind you that the incident with Gella and Varenukha who flew away did not end the terrible night for the Variety financial director. Rimsky, gray from the nightmare he had experienced, got out of the building, gasping for breath, and ran to the taxi stand on the corner of the square opposite from the theater, where there was a cinema. On Triumfalnaya (recently Mayakovsky) Square opposite the music hall building there was indeed a cinema called “Khanzhonkov”, then “Mezhrabpom”, “Gorn” (now it is the Moscow cinema).

Rimsky caught a taxi near him to rush to the departure of the Leningrad express. (Note that in describing the stay of the financial director driven to the point of insanity in Leningrad, Bulgakov uses autobiographical details. He himself always stayed at the Astoria Hotel, and the 412th room indicated in the novel “with blue-gray furniture with gold and a wonderful bathroom” was one of the constantly busy writers.)

And another character in the novel, victim of black magic, rushes around the Sadovaya area. This is the barman at Variety Sokov, who sold sturgeon of “second freshness.” After a visit to the “bad apartment” and meeting Koroviev and Gella, with a scratched head, “he burst out of the gateway, looked around wildly, as if looking for something... and a minute later he was on the other street at the pharmacy.” Before construction big house with the Beijing Hotel, occupying an entire block, on the corner of Krasina Street (formerly Zhivoderka) and Bolshaya Sadovaya Pharmacy former owner Rubanovsky.

From it, the bandaged barman ended up opposite, across the courtyard, into the mansion of Professor Kuzmin, where a phantasmagoria also took place with the participation of a little sparrow foxtrotting to “Hallelujah.” The “little white mansion” where the doctor “for liver diseases” lived was clearly copied from the house next to the pharmacy (No. 3); where Elena Sergeevna, already familiar to us, lived in apartment 2 shortly before becoming the wife of Mikhail Afanasyevich... It is interesting that Professor V.I. Kuzmin, a surgeon and specialist in internal medicine, was also very close to this area at the address: Sadovaya- Kudrinskaya, 28, apartment also 2. Whether this was a coincidence or written by the author on purpose remains one of the mysteries of the novel.

But Bulgakov quite transparently identified several Moscow addresses associated with the characters of other Variety employees. The city branch of the Commission for Entertainment of the Light Type, the accountant Lastochkin heard the harmonious choral singing of “The Glorious Sea...”, was placed by the author in Vagankovsky Lane, in a “mansion peeling from time to time in the depths of the courtyard” behind a lattice fence. The former Vagankovsky, or Starovagankovsky, lane, where house 17 corresponds to that described in the novel. There have never been any institutions resembling an “entertainment commission” at this address. The author spotted the house when he went to the library of the Rumyantsev Museum in famous house Pashkov, on the roof-balustrade of which he deployed one of final scenes novel, and was a correspondent for the magazine “Voice of an Education Worker”; This is where the heroes of the essay “Birds in the Attic” published there live.

The hero, perhaps the only one whom the author sympathizes with, the employee of the Variety Show, the accountant Lastochkin, expects many experiences after a session of black magic. First with a taxi driver who suffered from counterfeit money. Then at the Commission for Shows and Entertainment of a Light Type, recognizable in the same GOMETS on Tsvetna Boulevard. A terrible scene awaited him there with the empty suit of Prokhor Prokhorovich and the sobbing secretary Anna Richardovna. Then in Vagankovsky Lane, already known to us, and finally, in the “financial entertainment sector” (the address of which one can only guess), where the ill-fated accountant was arrested...

The epilogue of the novel determines the fates of not only its main characters - the Master and Margarita. It tells what happened to other characters, including a Variety employee. Varenukha stayed, but Rimsky went to work! Children's Puppet Theater in Zamoskvorechye. A similar theater actually existed in that area of ​​the capital. Of course, without Rimsky. Under the name "Moscow Mobile puppet show“It was located near Ordynka, in 2nd Cossack Lane, building 11.

Styopa Likhodeev was transferred from Moscow's Sadovaya to Rostov as the manager of a large grocery store. It seems that Southern City Bulgakov was chosen for a reason. He visited there several times. And the largest Rostov grocery store was also located on Sadovaya Street (now Friedrich Engels - the main street cities). Today's Rostovites know this old and well-equipped store (like the Moscow "Eliseevsky") in the same place, but under a different name...

Learn new things from books, look for answers to all your most intricate questions. Your Gordey Metky

Myagkov B. S.

Bulgakov on the Patriarchal / B. S. Myagkov. - M.: Algorithm, 2008

Photo source: komodda.com, www.bulgakov.ru, varlamov.me, nnm.me.

Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" - essay "Scene in a variety show"

The image of the devil is a frequent occurrence in the works of world classics. Goethe, Lesage, Gogol and others gave him their understanding. Traditionally, the devil performs two missions: tempts and punishes a person.

In M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita,” the devil appears to check whether the townspeople have “changed internally.” The scene in a variety show is of great importance for answering this question. Woland's retinue demonstrates various miracles, and the encounter with fan-tastic fiction exposes many human vices. To begin with, Fagot demonstrates a trick with a deck of cards. Having delighted the audience, he publicly announces that the cards are “in the seventh row of citizen Parchevsky, just between the three-ruble note and the summons to appear in court in the case of paying alimony to citizen Zelkova.” Parchevsky becomes “all crimson with amazement”, because his genuine nature before that it was hidden under the mask of decency. Bassoon does not rest on this and brings to the attention of the public that Parchevsky is big fan poker games.

One of climaxes in the episode there is a “falling out” of money rain. Suddenly, money begins to fly into the hall from under the dome. The author’s description of the public’s reaction to such “precipitation” is full of irony. Someone crawls in the aisle, someone climbs onto a chair with their feet and begins to catch pieces of paper. People begin to rush at each other, each trying to score as much as possible more money. After all, you don’t need to earn them, they appeared unexpectedly, on their own, you can spend them on anything and be completely happy about it.

Next, Wolandov's retinue decides to surprise the audience by tearing off the head of the entertainer Bengalsky. It is here that the audience shows pity and sympathy, still characteristic of them, begging the artists to forgive the hapless entertainer. Woland makes a conclusion about them: “People are 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 previous ones... housing problem I just ruined them...”

The public's temptation does not end there: a ladies' shop opens on the stage of the variety show. At first, timid, and then seized by passion, women begin to grab everything in a fantastic store, without any trying on, regardless of their size and taste. There is even a man who is afraid of missing out on a chance and, due to the absence of a wife, also begins to gain women's clothing.

Unfortunately, all successful acquisitions later melt away on the ladies, and this has symbolic meaning. The nakedness of bodies here is tantamount to the nakedness of the soul, demonstrating greed, materialism, greed. People are controlled by selfish, momentary desires.

The “guest of honor” of the evening, chairman of the acoustic commission of Moscow theaters Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov, comes out with a demand to immediately expose the tricks. But they expose him himself. He turns out to be not at all as honorable a person as he imagined himself to be to others. Instead of meetings of the acoustic commission, Sempleyarov, as it turns out, visits the artist of the traveling regional theater, Militsa Andreevna Pokobatko, who, thanks to Sempleyarov’s disposition, gets her roles. In honor of Arkady Apollonovich, a march sounds at the end of the episode: His Excellency Loved poultry And took Pretty girls under his protection. Woland takes the position of a spectator studying the moral state of society, and comes to unfavorable conclusions: vices such as greed, cruelty, greed, deceit, hypocrisy are eternal.

One of the brightest writers of the 20th century. The wonderful fantasy and satire of the novel “The Master and Margarita” made the work one of the most read in Soviet time when the government wanted to hide the shortcomings by any means social system, vices of society. That is why the work, full of bold ideas and revelations, was not published for a long time. This novel is very complex and unusual, and therefore is interesting not only to people who lived in Soviet times, but also to modern youth.

One of the main themes of the novel - the theme of good and evil - sounds in every line of the work, both in Yershalaim and Moscow chapters. And oddly enough, punishment in the name of the triumph of good is carried out by the forces of evil (the epigraph of the work is not accidental: I am part of that force that always wants evil and does good).

Woland exposes the worst side human nature, exposes human vices and punishes a person for his misdeeds. The most striking scene of the “good” deeds of an evil force is the chapter “Black Magic and Its Exposure.” The power of revelation reaches its apogee in this chapter. Woland and his retinue seduce the audience, thereby revealing their deepest vices modern people, and immediately show the most vicious ones. Woland orders the head of the annoying Bengalsky, who lied too much, to be torn off (“butting around all the time where he’s not asked, ruining the session with false remarks!”). Immediately the reader notices the cruelty of the audience towards the guilty entertainer, then their faint-heartedness and pity for the unfortunate man with his head torn off. The forces of evil expose such vices as distrust of everything and suspicion, brought up by the costs of the system, greed, arrogance, self-interest and rudeness. Woland punishes the guilty, thereby directing them to the righteous path. Of course, the exposure of the vices of society occurs throughout the entire novel, but it is more clearly expressed and emphasized in the chapter under consideration.

This chapter also sets out one of the most important philosophical questions throughout the novel: “Have these townspeople changed internally?” And, having slightly traced the reaction of the audience to the tricks of black magic, Woland concludes: “In general, they resemble the previous ones... the housing problem only spoiled them...” That is, comparing people who lived thousands of years ago and modern ones, we can say that time nothing has changed: people love money just as much, and “charity sometimes knocks on their hearts.”

The possibilities of evil are limited. Woland gains full power only where honor, faith, true culture. People themselves open their minds and souls to him. And how gullible and vicious the people who came to the variety theater turned out to be. Although the posters said: “Sessions of black magic with its complete exposure,” the audience still believed in the existence of magic and in all of Woland’s tricks. The greater their disappointment was that after the performance, all the things donated by the professor evaporated, and the money turned into simple pieces of paper.

The twelfth chapter is the chapter in which all the vices are collected modern society and people in general.

IN artistic structure The scene in question occupies a special place. The Moscow line and the line of the dark world merge together, intertwining and complementing each other. That is dark forces show all their power through the depravity of Moscow citizens, and the reader is revealed the cultural side of Moscow life.

In conclusion, we can say that the chapter about the session of black magic is very important in the ideological and artistic structure of the novel: it is one of the most important in the author’s disclosure of the theme of good and evil, in it the most important artistic lines novel.

The novel “The Master and Margarita,” unfinished in 1940, is one of the most profound works of Russian literature. For the most full expression Bulgakov builds his ideas as a combination of the real, the fantastic and the eternal. This structure allows the best way show the changes that have taken place over two millennia in the souls of people, and ultimately answer the main questions of the work about good and evil, creativity and the meaning of life.

If we consider the composition of the “Moscow” chapters of the novel (i.e., its “real” part), it becomes obvious that the scene of the black magic session is the climax. The reasons for the appearance of this episode are also clear - to conduct a kind of test of people, to trace the evolution of their souls.

Variety show visitors encounter an otherworldly force, but never realize it. On the one hand, the motive of recognition appears here. In Bulgakov, only “favorite” heroes, heroes with a soul are able to understand that Satan is in front of them. The variety show audience, on the contrary, is soulless, dead, and only occasionally “mercy... knocks on their hearts.” On the other hand, the author uses the technique of everyday life of the fantastic, that is, characters who arrive from the world of eternity, in reality acquire specific earthly features. The most characteristic detail is the faded magician's chair.

And it is Woland who, at the beginning of the episode, poses the main question: “Have these townspeople changed internally?” The conversation that follows about Muscovites, together with the latter’s reaction to black magic, constitutes ideological content scenes.

The first test to which the unfortunate spectators were subjected was the "money shower" - a test of money that ended with the compere's head being torn off. It is important that the proposal came from the public. This indicates that the craving for “money notes” among city residents is inherent at the level of instinct. When the Bengali personification of intelligence becomes an obstacle to wealth, they strive to remove it. But in essence, the entertainer is the same money-grubber, which is confirmed by the remark: “Take the apartment, take the paintings, just give me your head!” It seems that the “housing issue” (according to the magician, main reason the depravity of Muscovites) is the motive of the scene. Its main meaning is to prove that people have not lost their greed.

The next test to which the public is subjected is a ladies' store. It is interesting to trace the change in adverbs characterizing the state of the first visitor: from “decisively all the same” and “thoughtfully” to “with dignity” and “arrogantly.” The brunette has no name, it's collective image, using the example of which Bulgakov shows how greed takes possession of a person’s soul.

What motivates these people? Judging by the reaction of the audience to the appearance of a transformed woman - envy, that very “feeling of a crappy category”, which, together with the thirst for profit and careerism, can push a person to do anything. This illustrates the “exposure” of Arkady Apollonovich, another “mouthpiece of reason.” Sempleyarov is accused of “providing protection” to young actresses. Honor is sacrificed for a career, and a high position gives the right to dishonor others.

In light of all this, the meaning of the title of the chapter becomes clear - “Black magic and its exposure.” It is not magic that is debunked in front of people, but, on the contrary, human vices are revealed with the help of witchcraft. This technique is used in other places in the novel (for example, the self-writing suit).

If speak about artistic originality episode, then it is necessary to note the features of the carnival scene in the session. Classic example The scene of Katerina Ivanovna’s madness in “Crime and Punishment” can serve as an example. Even the noises in this episode are similar to Bulgakov’s: laughter and clinking of plates in “The Master and Margarita” and laughter, the thunder of the basin and singing in Dostoevsky.

The speech design of the scene is typical for the “Moscow” chapters. The episode is written in a dynamic language, “cinema style” - one event follows another with virtually no author’s commentary. It is also necessary to note the classical techniques: hyperbole, grotesque.

So, the scene of a black magic session occupies an important place in the ideological and artistic structure of the novel. From the point of view of composition, it is the culmination of the development of action in the “Moscow” chapters. All major defects are considered modern man(which never changed), except, perhaps, for the most important thing - cowardice. It was because of her that the master was deprived of light, and she also took away death from the cruel fifth procurator of Judea, the horseman Pilate of Pontus.

The image of the devil is a frequent occurrence in the works of world classics. Goethe, Lesage, Gogol and others gave him their understanding. Traditionally, the devil performs two missions: tempts and punishes a person. In M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita,” the devil appears to check whether the townspeople have “changed internally.” The scene in a variety show is of great importance for answering this question. Woland's retinue demonstrates various miracles, and the encounter with fantasy reveals many human vices. To begin with, Fagot demonstrates a trick with a deck of cards. Delighting the audience, he publicly announces that the cards are “in the seventh row of citizen Parchevsky, just between the three-ruble note and the summons to appear in court in the case of paying alimony to citizen Zelkova.” Parchevsky becomes “all crimson with amazement,” because his true nature was previously hidden under the mask of decency. Bassoon does not rest on this and brings to the attention of the public that Parchevsky is a big fan of the game of poker. One of the climaxes of the episode is the rain of money. Suddenly, money begins to fly into the hall from under the dome. The author’s description of the public’s reaction to such “precipitations” is full of irony. Someone crawls in the aisle, someone climbs onto a chair with their feet and begins to catch pieces of paper. People begin to rush at each other, each trying to collect as much money as possible. After all, you don’t need to earn them, they appeared unexpectedly, on their own, you can spend them on anything and be completely happy about it. Next, Wolandov's retinue decides to surprise the audience by tearing off the head of the entertainer Bengalsky. It is here that the audience shows pity and sympathy, still characteristic of them, begging the artists to forgive the hapless entertainer. Woland concludes about them: “People are 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... the housing problem has only spoiled them...” The public's temptation does not end there: a ladies' shop opens on the stage of the variety show. At first, timid, and then seized by passion, women begin to grab everything in a fantastic store, without any trying on, regardless of their size and taste. There is even a man who is afraid of missing out on a chance and, due to the absence of a wife, also begins to stock up on women's clothing. Unfortunately, all successful acquisitions later melt away on the ladies, and this has a symbolic meaning. The nakedness of bodies here is tantamount to the nakedness of the soul, demonstrating greed, materialism, greed. People are controlled by selfish, momentary desires. The “guest of honor” of the evening, chairman of the acoustic commission of Moscow theaters Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov, comes out with a demand to immediately expose the tricks. But they expose him himself. He turns out to be not at all as honorable a person as he imagined himself to be to others. Instead of meetings of the acoustic commission, Sempleyarov, as it turns out, visits the artist of the traveling regional theater, Militsa Andreevna Pokobatko, who, thanks to Sempleyarov’s disposition, gets her roles. In honor of Arkady Apollonovich, a march sounds at the end of the episode: His Excellency Loved poultry And took Pretty girls under his protection. Woland takes the position of a spectator studying the moral state of society and comes to disappointing conclusions: vices such as greed, cruelty, greed, deceit, hypocrisy are eternal.

The image of the devil is a frequent occurrence in the works of world classics. Goethe, Lesage, Gogol and others gave him their understanding. Traditionally, the devil performs two missions: tempts and punishes a person.

In M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita,” the devil appears to check whether the townspeople have “changed internally.” The scene in a variety show is of great importance for answering this question. Woland's retinue demonstrates various miracles, and the encounter with fantasy reveals many human vices. To begin with, Fagot demonstrates a trick with a deck of cards. Delighting the audience, he publicly announces that the cards are “in the seventh row of citizen Parchevsky, just between the three-ruble note and the summons to appear in court in the case of paying alimony to citizen Zelkova.” Parchevsky becomes “all crimson with amazement,” because his true nature was previously hidden under the mask of decency. Bassoon does not rest on this and brings to the attention of the public that Parchevsky is a big fan of the game of poker.

One of the climaxes of the episode is the rain of money. Suddenly, money begins to fly into the hall from under the dome. The author’s description of the public’s reaction to such “precipitations” is full of irony. Someone crawls in the aisle, someone climbs onto a chair with their feet and begins to catch pieces of paper. People begin to rush at each other, each trying to collect as much money as possible. After all, you don’t need to earn them, they appeared unexpectedly, on their own, you can spend them on anything and be completely happy about it.

Next, Wolandov's retinue decides to surprise the audience by tearing off the head of the entertainer Bengalsky. It is here that the audience shows pity and sympathy, still characteristic of them, begging the artists to forgive the hapless entertainer. Woland concludes about them: “People are 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... the housing problem has only spoiled them...”

The public's temptation does not end there: a ladies' shop opens on the stage of the variety show. At first, timid, and then seized by passion, women begin to grab everything in a fantastic store, without any trying on, regardless of their size and taste. There is even a man who is afraid of missing out on a chance and, due to the absence of a wife, also begins to stock up on women's clothing.

Unfortunately, all successful acquisitions later melt away on the ladies, and this has a symbolic meaning. The nakedness of bodies here is tantamount to the nakedness of the soul, demonstrating greed, materialism, greed. People are controlled by selfish, momentary desires.

The “guest of honor” of the evening, chairman of the acoustic commission of Moscow theaters Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov, comes out with a demand to immediately expose the tricks. But they expose him himself. He turns out to be not at all as honorable a person as he imagined himself to be to others. Instead of meetings of the acoustic commission, Sempleyarov, as it turns out, visits the artist of the traveling regional theater, Militsa Andreevna Pokobatko, who, thanks to Sempleyarov’s disposition, gets her roles. In honor of Arkady Apollonovich, a march sounds at the end of the episode: His Excellency Loved poultry And took Pretty girls under his protection. Woland takes the position of a spectator studying the moral state of society and comes to disappointing conclusions: vices such as greed, cruelty, greed, deceit, hypocrisy are eternal.

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Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Sobakevich - these heroes are antisocial, their characters are ugly, but each of them, as we became convinced upon closer acquaintance, had at least something positive left. Manilov. This man reminds me a little of Chichikov himself. “God alone could say what kind of character M. has. There is a family of people known by the name: neither this, nor that, neither in the city of Bogdan, nor in the village of Selifan, his facial features were not devoid of pleasantness, but in this pleasantness, it seemed too much sugar."

Saltykov-Shchedrin is a world-recognized master of satire. His talent showed itself in difficult times for Russia. The contradictions that were corroding the country from within and the discord in society became apparent. Appearance satirical works was inevitable. But only a few were able to fully reveal their talent. Ruthless censorship did not leave the slightest opportunity to express one’s opinion on the situation in Russia if it contradicted the government’s. For Saltykov-Shchedrin, the problem of censorship was very acute,

Yu. D. Levitansky (1922 - 1996) published his first poems in the front-line press. And indeed, the poet seems to paint pictures from life, often resorting to nominative, one-part definite and indefinite personal sentences, noting individual strokes of everyday life - as if he were reporting, long, endless, from the road of War: Peeling off our palms, We crawl along ice, on the rough ice of the river... The shadow of a sentry. The blow of the blade. The missiles are careful light. A short battle... And the fighter’s eyes were covered with ice... (“Ice Ballad”) Conveying the complex

Nature in spring is beautiful in its own way. After a long time winter sleep she looks sleepy, a little unsure. But every day nature begins to gain strength. Warm Sun rays They say that the time of spring has come, winter is no longer the mistress here. Every day the snow becomes less and less, he tries to hide in the shade of the trees, but nevertheless the sun makes its way there. The ringing murmur of streams can be heard everywhere; they are the ones who say that the long-awaited spring has finally arrived. You can already hear in the forest

RAFAEL DE VALENTIN (French Raphael de Valentin) - the hero of the story by O. de Balzac “ Shagreen leather"(1831), included in " The human comedy"(section "Philosophical Studies"). R. de V. is an autobiographical figure; in this way Balzac seemed to suggest his own destiny: he shortened his life beyond his strength literary work and “burned out” just like his hero; however, without any influence of a magical talisman. Among the literary prototypes of R. de V. - Goethe's Faust or C. Meturen's Melmoth the Wanderer are heroes

Prince Andrey is one of the main characters of the novel “War and Peace”, using the example of which the author shows us the life and quest of the leading part of the nobility of the first half of the 19th century century. Tolstoy’s attitude towards his hero is very complex: along with many positive qualities there is something about Prince Andrei that makes the reader think about his future fate. The scene of the prince’s departure for the war of 1805 confirms this. Firstly, Prince Andrei goes to fight not because he considers Napoleon the “antichrist”, as

Raskolnikov Rodion Romanovich - main character novel. Romantic, proud and strong personality. Lives in St. Petersburg in a rented apartment. Extremely poor. Former student law school, which he left because of poverty and his theory. The hero’s consciousness is tormented by two questions: “is it permissible to commit a small evil for the sake of a great good, does a noble goal justify a criminal means?” and “Am I a trembling creature or do I have the right.” To resolve them, Raskolnikov kills the old pawnbroker and, by chance, her