Literature lesson in 11th grade
Goals: show features compositional structure M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”; understand the writer’s intention, notice and comprehend the echoes of lines in the novel, understand moral lessons M. Bulgakov, to promote the development of interest in the personality and work of the writer.
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Literature lesson in 11th grade
“Three worlds in Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.”
Goals: show the features of the compositional structure of M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”; understand the writer’s intention, notice and comprehend the roll calls of the lines of the novel, understand the moral lessons of M. Bulgakov, promote the development of interest in the personality and work of the writer.
Equipment: presentation, video material.
"I am part of that force that always wants evil
and always does good"
"Faust" by Goethe
“Why, why, where does evil come from?
If there is a God, then how can there be evil?
If there is evil, then how can there be God?
M. Yu. Lermontov
1.Teacher's opening speech
“Manuscripts don’t burn...” - with this belief in the power of art the writer M. A. Bulgakov died, all of whose main works lay unpublished in the drawers of his desk at that time and only a quarter of a century later came to the reader one after another. The novel “The Master and Margarita,” which incorporates the infinity of time and the immensity of space, is so multifaceted that it does not fit into the usual framework and schemes. It combined philosophy, science fiction, satire, politics, love; the devilish and the divine are intertwined. There is hardly a person for whom all the secrets of the novel, all the riddles, have been solved.
The novel takes place in several worlds at once. The purpose of our lesson: to understand the purpose of each world and find the “place” of the main characters, the Master and Margarita.
Many researchers distinguish three worlds, three levels of reality in the novel. Name them.
Determine whether the characters in the novel belong to one of the three worlds.(Work in groups. Drawing up a table.)
The system of images in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita"
Modern Moscow world | Ancient Peace of Yershalaim | Otherworldly World |
|
"Bearers of Truth" | |||
"Students" | |||
Informers | |||
Rulers making decisions | |||
"Executioners" | |||
Animals | |||
Maids |
Heroes of the novel: Master, Margarita, Pontius Pilate, Yeshua, Rat Slayer, Natasha, Gella, Niza. Krovyov-Fagot, the cat Behemoth, Azazello, Woland, Afrany, Judas, Aloisy Mogarych, Levi Matvey, Ivan Bezdomny (Ponyrev), etc.
How are these three worlds connected?(The role of the connecting link is played by Woland and his retinue. Time and space sometimes shrink, sometimes expand, sometimes converge at one point, intersect, sometimes lose boundaries, that is, they are both concrete and conditional.)
Many characters in the Moscow world have counterparts in the ancient world. In turn, there is a parallelism between the images of the other world and the ancient world, and partly the Moscow one; Moreover, triads of images have been created. Why does the writer make such complex constructions? Let's try to figure it out.
2. Analytical conversation. Work in groups.
At the hour of an unusually hot sunset on the Patriarch's Ponds, our acquaintance with Moscow of the 30s begins. And following Ivanushka, rushing through the streets, running into communal apartments, we see this world.
1 group. Moscow World - Moscow in the 30s of the 20th century.
Problematic question:Why was Berlioz punished so terribly?Because he is an atheist? Because he is adapting to the new government? For seducing Ivanushka Bezdomny with unbelief?Woland gets annoyed: “What do you have, no matter what you’re missing, there’s nothing!” Berlioz gets “nothing”, non-existence. He receives according to his faith.)
For what purpose does Woland and his retinue visit Moscow? What are the objects and techniques of Bulgakov's satire?
Individual messages:
- Styopa Likhodeev (chapter 7)
- Varenukha (chap. 10, 14)
- Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy (chapter 9)
- Bartender (Ch. 18)
- Annushka (Ch. 24, 27)
- Aloysius Mogarych (chapter 24)
Conclusion: Receives punishment different shapes, but it is always fair, done in the name of good and deeply instructive. Punishment is in the people themselves
2nd group. “Gospel” chapters – 1 AD.
What lies at the basis of human behavior - a coincidence of circumstances, a series of accidents, predestination or adherence to chosen ideals and ideas? Who controls human life? If life is woven from chance, is it possible to vouch for the future and be responsible for others? Are there any unchanging moral criteria, or are they changeable and a person is driven by the fear of power and death, the thirst for power and wealth?
“In a white cloak with a bloody lining, a shuffling gait, in the early morning of the 14th of the spring month of Nisan, the procurator of Judea, the son of an astrologer, the horseman Pontius Pilate, came out into the covered colonnade of the palace of Herod the Great in the city of Yershalaim that he hated...”
(“Cowardice is the most serious vice"- Woland repeats (chapter 32, night flight scene). Pilate says that “more than anything else in the world he hates his immortality and unheard-of glory”)
Problematic question:What is the difference between the “Gospel” and “Moscow” chapters? How are Yershalaim and Moscow similar?(The two worlds are very similar, although separated by time. The two cities are described in the same way (clouds, a thunderstorm that came from the west). Different clothes, different habits, different houses, But the essence of people is the same. What they have in common are tyranny, unfair trials, denunciations, executions, enmity .)
Two worlds are connected, connected by a Master who guessed and wrote a novel,
– How is the Master similar to Yeshua?(They are united by truthfulness, incorruptibility, devotion to their faith, independence, the ability to empathize with the grief of others. But the master did not show the necessary fortitude, did not defend his dignity. He did not fulfill his duty and found himself broken. That is why he burns his novel).
The two worlds are connected with each other and with the power of evil that has always been present everywhere.
We are entering the third world - the world of otherworldly power.
3rd group. The world of otherworldly power is eternal.
Problematic question: The main question that interests us: “Is the evil spirit in the novel evil or good?”
– Who did Woland come to earth with?
It turns out that the world is surrounded by grabbers, bribe-takers, sycophants, swindlers, opportunists, and self-interested people. And so Bulgakov’s satire matures, grows and falls on their heads, the conductors of which are aliens from the world of Darkness
But Woland saves Pilate from the pangs of conscience, returns his novel to the Master and gives him eternal peace, helps Margarita find the Master.
In Bulgakov, Woland personifies the fate that punishes Berlioz, Sokov and others who violate the norms of Christian morality.. Woland does not betray, does not lie, does not sow evil. He discovers, manifests, reveals the abomination in life in order to punish it all. It is thanks to Woland that truth and honesty are reborn. This is the first devil in world literature, punishing for non-observance of the commandments of Christ. We can say that Woland is an eternally existing evil that is necessary for the existence of good. (back to epigraphs)
Let's see what happened after Woland disappeared from Moscow. The punishment is over. Rimsky returned, Varenukha ceased to be a vampire, the patients of the Stravinsky clinic were cured. This means that Woland is needed not only to punish those who could not resist temptation. He left a warning. And the punishment is inside.
- Woland collapsed into a black hole, and Pontius Pilate, released by the Master, walked away along the moonbeam. But the Master is not with them. Where is the place for The Master and Margarita?
4th group. Master and Margarita
Peace, promised to the Master, looks attractive after everything he has suffered. But the nature of the peace is unclear. The Master did not deserve either happiness on earth or departure into the world. The most serious sin of a master is refusal to create, from the search for truth. True, having atoned for his guilt by discovering the truth, the Master has earned forgiveness and is worthy of freedom and peace. Perhaps peace is death, because the Master receives this reward from the hands of Woland, the Prince of Darkness. The master is endowed with the ability to “guess” the truth. His gift can save people from unconsciousness, from their forgotten ability to do good. But the Master, having written a novel, could not stand the struggle for it.
Who told you that there is no real, true, eternal love? May the liar's vile tongue be cut out! Margarita is an earthly, sinful woman. She can swear, flirt, she is a woman without prejudices. Is she the only hero who doesn’t have a double? Why?(Her image is unique. She loves selflessly, to the point of self-sacrifice, she sells her soul to the devil, she decides to share even death with her lover.)
How did Margarita deserve special favor? higher powers, rulers of the Universe? In the name of what does she perform this feat?Margarita, probably one of those one hundred and twenty-two Margaritas that Koroviev spoke about, knows what love is.
What is love?Love is the second path (after creativity) to super-reality, something that can resist the eternally existing evil. The concepts of goodness, forgiveness, responsibility, truth, and harmony are also associated with love and creativity.
– Find confirmation of this in the text.
Conclusion: Margarita values the novel more than the Master. With the power of his love he saves the Master, he finds peace. Related to the theme of creativity and the theme of Margarita true values, affirmed by the author of the novel: personal freedom, mercy, honesty, truth, faith, love
What a main conclusion novel?Everyone will be rewarded according to their deserts. The world is built on this. God is in your souls - CONSCIENCE. She prevents you from committing evil deeds and protects you from all temptations.
3. Lesson summary.
– all plans of the book are united by the problem of good and evil;
– themes: search for truth, theme of creativity
– all these layers and space-time spheres merge at the end of the book
The truth, the bearer of which was Yeshua, turned out to be historically unrealized, while remaining at the same time absolutely beautiful. This is tragic human existence. Woland makes a disappointing conclusion about the immutability of human nature, but these same words contain the idea of the indestructibility of mercy in human hearts.
4. Homework
: essay “What would good do if evil did not exist?”
Appendix No. 1
Using the questions given to you, prepare coherent story. Support your answer with quotes from the text, indicating the part and chapter, as well as your own point of view.
Group 1.
What time is ahead of us? How and what do Muscovites live? What is the language of these chapters? What subtext can we find?
- Quite modern people, busy with immediate problems, operate in this world. What does the Master say about Berlioz? Why?
What strange things happened to Berlioz and Ivan Bezdomny?
Group 2.
How does Bulgakov portray Pilate? How does his portrait reveal Pilate's character?
How does Pilate behave at the beginning of his meeting with Yeshua and at the end of their meeting?
Remember the interrogation scene. Pilate asks a question that should not be asked during interrogation. What kind of question is this?
What is Yeshua's core belief?
Why is Pilate trying to save Yeshua from execution?
Why does Pilate approve the death sentence?
Why was Pilate punished? What is the punishment?
Group 3.
– Who did Woland come to earth with? How does the author portray him? What role does each of Woland’s retinue perform? Your attitude towards to this hero. How does it make you feel?
Who is Woland tempting? Who did you kill? Whom did you punish?
– What is the reality in Moscow?
What is the role of the Devil and his retinue in the novel?
Group 4.
The master did not deserve light, he deserved peace. Is peace a punishment or a reward?
How did Margarita deserve the special favor of the higher powers that control the Universe? In the name of what does she perform this feat?
“... trinity is the most general characteristic of being.”
P. A. Florensky
“The Master and Margarita” is a satirical novel, a fantastic novel, and a philosophical novel. A novel about love and creativity... About death and immortality... About strength and powerlessness... What is guilt and retribution? What is power? What is fearlessness, fear, cowardice? What is the passage of time? And what is a person in time? What is this - the truth or the path to the truth?
The "three-dimensional" structure of the novel expresses Bulgakov's philosophy. The writer argued that the trinity corresponds to the truth. Both the spatio-temporal and ethical concepts of the novel are based on trinity.
The three worlds of “The Master and Margarita” correspond to three groups of characters, and representatives different worlds form unique triads. They are united by their role and similar interaction with other heroes, as well as elements of portrait resemblance. Eight triads are presented in the novel: Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea - Woland, the “prince of darkness” - Professor Stravinsky, director of a psychiatric clinic; Afranius, Pilate's first assistant - Fagot-Koroviev, Woland's first assistant - doctor Fyodor Vasilyevich, Stravinsky's first assistant; centurion Mark the Ratboy - Azazello, demon of the waterless desert - Archibald Archibaldovich, director of the restaurant "Griboyedov's House"; the dog Buncha - the cat Behemoth - the police dog Tuzbuben; Nisa, agent Afrania - Gella, Fagot-Koroviev's maid - Natasha, Margarita's maid; Chairman of the Sanhedrin Kaifa - Chairman of MASSOLITA Berlioz - unknown in Torgsin; Judas from Kiriath - Baron Meigel - journalist Aloysius Mogarych; Levi Matthew, follower of Yeshua - poet Ivan Bezdomny, student of the Master - poet Alexander Ryukhin.
Let us turn to one of the significant triads of the novel: Pontius Pilate - Woland - Stravinsky. “In a white cloak with bloody lining” Pontius Pilate appears in the world of Yershalaim. In the Moscow world, the action takes place thanks to Woland, who, like the procurator of Judea, has his own retinue. Stravinsky runs his clinic, determines the fate of those who came to him as a result of communication with Satan and his servants. It seems that the course of events in the clinic is directed by the actions of Stravinsky, the “small” likeness of Woland. Woland is a “small” likeness of Pilate, for the “prince of darkness” is almost completely devoid of any experiences with which the procurator of Judea, tormented by pangs of conscience for his momentary cowardice, is so richly endowed (bravery on the battlefield and civil cowardice - as he often observed this is Bulgakov among his contemporaries). Pilate tries to save Yeshua, but, forced in the end to send him to his death, he involuntarily becomes immortal. And in modern Moscow, the eternal Woland saves the Master and gives him a reward. But the creator must die, and with him Margarita. They receive reward in other world. Immortality gives the Master the brilliant novel he wrote, and Margarita - her true, sincere love. Stravinsky also “saves” the Master who became a victim evil spirits; only “salvation” is a parody, because the professor can offer the Master the absolute inactive peace of a mental hospital.
The power of each of the powerful characters in this triad turns out to be imaginary. Pilate is unable to change the course of events and save Yeshua. Woland, in turn, only predicts the future. Thus, Berlioz dies under the wheels of a tram not because Satan “gave” him the tram and Annushka, but because he slipped on oil. Stravinsky's power is generally illusory: he is not able to deprive Ivan Bezdomny of memories of Pilate and the death of Yeshua, of the Master and his beloved, he is not able to prevent the earthly death of the Master and his transition to the other world. Material from the site
There is also a portrait resemblance between these heroes: Woland “appears to be over forty years old” and is “clean-shaven.” Stravinsky is “a carefully groomed man of about forty-five, like an actor.” Satan’s “right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason,” and “the right one has a golden spark at the bottom, drilling anyone to the bottom of the soul...”, the professor’s eyes are “pleasant, but piercing.” External resemblance Stravinsky and Pilate are noted by Ivan Bezdomny (Stravinsky, like the procurator, also speaks Latin). Pilate and Woland are also similar. During the interrogation of Yeshua, Pilate’s face turns from yellow to brown, and “the skin on Woland’s face seemed to be forever burned by a tan.”
This strict hierarchy, eternal once and for all, reigns in the other world, reflecting the hierarchy of the ancient Yershalaim world and the modern Moscow one.
Bulgakov’s contemporary world is also hierarchical: the Variety Theater, the Stravinsky Clinic, MASSOLIT. And only the Master, Yeshua and Margarita are ruled by love. The Master and Yeshua have no place in a world where hierarchy reigns. And yet the author is convinced that he is above all social, political, everyday problems feeling: love, joy.
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On this page there is material on the following topics:
- essay on the topic of fear and fearlessness by Bulgakov
- Stravinsky in the novel The Master and Margarita
- three worlds in M. A. Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita
- second world in the novel The Master and Margarita
- trinity in the novel The Master and Margarita
Three worlds. There are few novels in Russian literature that would cause as much controversy as Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” caused. Literary critics, historians and just readers never cease to talk about the prototypes of his heroes, book and other sources of the plot, about his philosophical and moral and ethical essence. Each new generation finds something of its own in this work, in tune with the era and its own ideas about the world. Each of us has our favorite pages. Some people prefer the “novel within a novel”, others prefer the funny devilry, others never tire of re-reading love story The Master and Margarita. This is understandable: after all, in the novel there simultaneously exist, as it were, three worlds, three layers of the narrative: the gospel, the earthly and the demonic, associated with Woland and his retinue. All three layers are united by the figure of the main character - the Master, who lived in Moscow in the 30s of the 20th century and wrote a novel about Pontius Pilate. The novel is unpublished and unrecognized, causing its creator severe torment.
It is to restore justice that Satan himself, the almighty Woland, appears in Moscow. A force beyond the control of the almighty NKVD! During the thaw of the 60s, when Bulgakov’s novel was published, the restoration of historical justice was associated with the victims of the repressions of the 30s, so the disgrace of the “authorities” was perceived by readers with evil triumph. And it was at this time that interest in Christianity, in a religion that had long been under oppression and an unspoken ban, was revived among the intelligentsia. For the generation of the 60s, Bulgakov’s novel itself became a kind of Gospel (from the Master, from Satan - it doesn’t matter). And the fact that the main character of the “novel within a novel” is not Jesus, not Yeshua Ha-Nozri, but the procurator Pontius Pilate, was not just a polemic with the gospel texts. Bulgakov is not engaged in preaching Christianity: for him this is a completely indisputable thing. He talks about something else - about the personal responsibility of a person in power for what is happening in the world. The writer is not very interested in Judas (in the novel he is not a traitor, not a beloved student who has renounced his teacher, but an ordinary provocateur). According to Bulgakov, the main fault is not with those who, out of self-interest, without delving into the essence, give a person into the hands of executioners, but with those who, understanding everything, want to use Yeshua, bend him, teach him to lie.
Bulgakov had difficult relationships with Stalin (maybe it was he who partly served as the prototype for Pilate in the Master’s novel). Of course, the writer was not arrested, not shot in the Butyrka basement, or sent to Kolyma. He was simply not allowed to speak out, they tried to force him to cooperate, they played with him like a cat plays with a half-dead mouse. And when they realized that they couldn’t use it, they trampled it. This is how Pilate tried to use Yeshua, a healer and philosopher, even wanted to save him - but at the cost of lies. And when this failed, he gave it away for flour. And he received hateful immortality: Pilate has been commemorated daily for two thousand years in prayer, which the Orthodox call the “Creed.” This is the retribution for cowardice, for cowardice.
The world of Moscow philistinism is saturated with cowardice and money-grubbing, in which Woland and his retinue unexpectedly appear: the nasal checkered Koroviev, the sinister and gloomy Azazello, the foolishly charming Behemoth, the dutiful and seductive Eella. Drawing the Prince of Darkness, Bulgakov chuckles slightly at the world literary tradition. There is little scary or demonic in his tiredly ironic Woland (but one can clearly feel the connection with Faust’s Mephistopheles in an operatic interpretation!). And the cat Behemoth is the most quoted character in the novel. Suffice it to recall the famous: “I don’t play pranks, I don’t hurt anyone, I fix the primus stove.” Woland and his faithful assistants not only easily deal with petty swindlers like Rimsky, Varenukha, Styopa Likhodeev or Berlioz’s uncle Poplavsky. They give justice to both the unprincipled Berlioz and the provocateur Baron Meigel. The cheerful riot of the devil's retinue does not cause us to protest - the Moscow reality of the 30s is very unsightly: the third layer, the third world of the novel.
With particular sarcasm, Bulgakov describes his fellow writers - regulars at the “House of Griboyedov”. What are the names and pseudonyms of “engineers” worth? human souls": Beskudnikov, Dvubratsky, Poprikhin, Zheldybin, Nepremenova - "Navigator Georges", Cherdakchi, Tamara Crescent, etc.! Each of them simply asks to be included in Gogol’s list of “Dead Souls”. And these are truly “dead souls”, for whom pitiful attempts at creativity are just an excuse to snatch an apartment, a ticket to a holiday home and other benefits of life. Their world is a world of envy, denunciation, fear, comfortably covered outside with the decorations of the “Griboedov House”. I really want to blow up this world. And you understand Margarita, in the guise of a witch, selflessly trashing the apartment of the venerable critic Latunsky. The bright, passionate, spontaneous beloved of the Master is one of the links connecting the human world with the devilish world. The proud queen of the Satanic ball is, of course, a witch - after all, all women are a little bit of a witch. But it is her charm, her tenderness, kindness and fidelity that connects darkness and light, physicality and spirituality. She believes in the Master’s talent, in his purpose, in the fact that she is able to revive patient No. 118, who is in a mental hospital, back to life.
Next to her, evil forces once again perform a good deed: Woland grants the Master peace. Here is another question that causes controversy among readers. Why still peace and not light? You involuntarily look for the answer in the old Pushkin: “There is no happiness in the world, but there is peace and will.” As conditions for creativity. What more does a writer need? And by the way, unlike the recklessly integral Levi Matthew, neither the life of the Master nor his novel became a guide to action for anyone. He is not a fighter dying for his beliefs, not a saint. In his novel, he managed to correctly “guess” the story. That is why the Master’s student Ivan Bezdomny, having given up writing, becomes a historian. He only sometimes, on a full moon (and the moon in the novel always accompanies the heroes’ insight) remembers the tragedy that played out before his eyes and touched his soul. He just remembers: Ivan Bezdomny is also not a fighter or a saint. Oddly enough, the wise skeptic Woland does not allow us to be completely disappointed in our contemporaries, who says, looking around Moscow at night: “They are people like people. They love money, but that's always been the case. Well, frivolous... well, well... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts... ordinary people... in general, they resemble the old ones... the housing problem only spoiled them..." Yes, stuffy, bustling Moscow strangely and terribly resembles ancient Yershalaim with its political struggle and intrigue , secret investigation. And just like two thousand years ago, in the world there is good and evil (sometimes indistinguishable from each other), love and betrayal, executioners and heroes. Therefore, in Bulgakov’s novel, all three worlds are intricately intertwined, the characters in some ways repeat each other: the Master shows the features of Yeshua Ha-Nozri, the Master’s friend Alozy Mogarych resembles Judas, the devoted, but in some ways very limited Levi Matthew is also wingless, as a student of the Master Ivan Bezdomny. And a character like the repentant Pilate, who finally found forgiveness and freedom, is completely unthinkable in Soviet Moscow.
So, “a novel within a novel” is a kind of mirror in which Bulgakov’s contemporary life is reflected. And they hold this mirror like the trolls in Andersen's " To the Snow Queen", Woland and his retinue. And the “magic crystal” is in their power: “I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good” (Goethe’s “Faust”),
Three worlds in Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita"
M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” belongs to those works that we want and definitely need to re-read in order to better understand the subtext, to see new details that we did not pay attention to the first time.
We come across the number three in our world more than once: this is the main category of life (birth - life - death), thinking (idea - thought - action), time (past - present - future). In Christianity, too, much is built on the trinity: the trinity of the divine trinity, the governance of the earthly world (God - man - the Devil).
Mikhail Bulgakov was sure that the trinity corresponds to the truth, so you can see that the events in the novel take place in three dimensions: in the ancient “Yershalaim” world, in modern writer the Moscow world of the 30s and in the mystical, fantastic, otherworldly world.
At first it seems to us that these three planes hardly touch each other. It would seem what kind of relationship modern Muscovites might have with heroes literary novel with gospel themes, and even more so with Satan himself? But very soon we realize how wrong we were. Bulgakov sees everything in his own way and offers to look at surrounding reality(and not just the events of the novel) in a new way.
In fact, we are witnessing constant interaction, a close relationship between three worlds: creativity, ordinary life and higher powers, or providence. What happens in the Master’s novel about the ancient world of Yershalaim clearly echoes the events of modern Moscow. This roll call is not only external, when literary heroes“a novel within a novel” is similar in portraiture and actions to Muscovites (the Master shows features of Yeshua Ha-Nozri, the Master’s friend Aloysius Mogarych resembles Judas, Levi Matvey, with all his devotion, is as limited as the poet Ivan Bezdomny). There is also a deeper similarity, because in the conversations of Pontius Pilate with Ha-Notsri many moral problems, questions of truth, good and evil, which, as we see, were not fully resolved either in Moscow in the 30s, or even today - these questions belong to the category of “eternal”.
Woland and his retinue are representatives of the other world, they are endowed with the ability to read in human hearts and souls, see the deep relationships of phenomena, predict the future, and therefore Bulgakov gives them the right to act as human judges. Woland notices that internally people have changed little over the past last millennia: “They are people like people. They love money, but that’s always been the case. Well, they’re frivolous... well... in general, they resemble the old ones...” Cowardice, greed, ignorance, spiritual weakness, hypocrisy - this is far from full list those vices that still guide and largely determine human life. Therefore, Woland, endowed with special power, acts not only as a punitive force, punishing careerists, sycophants, greedy and selfish, but also rewards the kind, capable of self-sacrifice, deep love, who knows how to create, creating new worlds. And even those who, having committed evil, do not hide, like an ostrich, with their heads in the sand, but bear responsibility for their actions. Everyone is rewarded according to their deserts, and many in the novel (and the majority - to their own misfortune) get the opportunity to fulfill their desires. At the end of the novel, all three worlds, quite clearly demarcated at the beginning, merge together. This speaks of the close and harmonious relationship of all phenomena and events in the world. A person needs to learn to be responsible not only for his actions, but also for his emotions and thoughts, because an idea that arises in someone’s head can come true even on the other side of the Earth.
Three worlds in Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”
M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” belongs to those works that we want and definitely need to re-read in order to better understand the subtext, to see new details that we did not pay attention to the first time.
We come across the number three in our world more than once: this is the main category of life (birth - life - death), thinking (idea - thought - action), time (past - present - future). In Christianity, too, much is built on the trinity: the trinity of the divine trinity, the governance of the earthly world (God - man - the Devil).
Mikhail Bulgakov was sure that the trinity corresponds to the truth, so you can see that the events in the novel take place in three dimensions: in the ancient “Yershalaim” world, in the contemporary Moscow world of the 30s and in the mystical, fantastic, otherworldly world.
At first it seems to us that these three planes hardly touch each other. It would seem, what kind of relationship can modern Muscovites have with the heroes of a literary novel with an evangelical theme, and even more so with Satan himself? But very soon we realize how wrong we were. Bulgakov sees everything in his own way and offers to look at the surrounding reality (and not just the events of the novel) in a new way.
In fact, we are witnessing constant interaction, a close relationship between three worlds: creativity, ordinary life and higher powers, or providence. What happens in the Master’s novel about the ancient world of Yershalaim clearly echoes the events of modern Moscow. This roll call is not only external, when the literary heroes of the “novel within a novel” are similar in portraiture and actions to Muscovites (the Master shows features of Yeshua Ha-Nozri, the Master’s friend Aloisy Mogarych resembles Judas, Levi Matvey, with all his devotion, is as limited as the poet Ivan Bezdomny). There is also a deeper similarity, because in the conversations of Pontius Pilate with Ha-Notsri, many moral problems are touched upon, questions of truth, good and evil, which, as we see, were not fully resolved either in Moscow in the 30s, or even today - These questions belong to the category of “eternal”.
Woland and his retinue are representatives of the other world, they are endowed with the ability to read in human hearts and souls, see the deep relationships of phenomena, predict the future, and therefore Bulgakov gives them the right to act as human judges. Woland notes that internally people have changed little over the past millennia: “They are people like people. They love money, but that's always been the case. Well, frivolous... well, well... in general, they resemble the old ones...” Cowardice, greed, ignorance, spiritual weakness, hypocrisy - this is not a complete list of those vices that still guide and largely determine human life. Therefore, Woland, endowed with special power, acts not only as a punitive force, punishing careerists, sycophants, greedy and selfish, but also rewards the kind, capable of self-sacrifice, deep love, who knows how to create, creating new worlds. And even those who, having committed evil, do not hide, like an ostrich, with their heads in the sand, but bear responsibility for their actions. Everyone is rewarded according to their deserts, and many in the novel (and the majority - to their own misfortune) get the opportunity to fulfill their desires. At the end of the novel, all three worlds, quite clearly demarcated at the beginning, merge together. This speaks of the close and harmonious relationship of all phenomena and events in the world. A person needs to learn to be responsible not only for his actions, but also for his emotions and thoughts, because an idea that arises in someone’s head can come true even on the other side of the Earth.