"The Master and Margarita" is a novel that embodied the thoughts of M.A. Bulgakov's novel about the modernity and eternity of man and the world, the artist and power, is a novel in which caustic satire, subtle psychological analysis and philosophical generalization are surprisingly intertwined. "The Master and Margarita", like most of Bulgakov's works - primarily a novel about the modern world of the writer - is an understanding of the foundations of the society that was created in our country in the 30s, which is now called the period of strengthening the cult of Stalin's personality; it is an attempt to understand the difficult, contradictory time and its processes. The novel raises universal, universal issues.

Comparison of Bulgakov's plot with the evangelical basis proves the writer's rethinking of the biblical texts, polemic with them. If the plot of the Gospels is determined by the events of the life of Jesus, then in Bulgakov the procurator becomes the main person holding the Yershalaim chapters together. In the concept of Bulgakov's novel, the image of Pontius Pilate is of particular importance. This is a complex dramatic figure. He is smart, no stranger to thoughts, human feelings, living compassion. While Yeshua preaches that all people are kind, Pilate is inclined to condescendingly look at this harmless eccentricity. But now the speech turned to the supreme power, and a sharp fear pierces Pilate. He is still trying to bargain with his conscience, trying to persuade Yeshua to compromise, trying to quietly suggest saving answers, but Yeshua cannot cheat. For fear of denunciation, fear of ruining his career, Pilate goes against his convictions, against the voice of humanity, against his conscience. “Cowardice is undoubtedly one of the most terrible vices,” Pilate hears in a dream the words of Yeshua. “No, philosopher, I object to you: this is the most terrible vice,” the inner voice of Pilate and the author himself unexpectedly intervenes. Cowardice is an extreme expression of internal subordination, "lack of freedom of spirit", the main reason for meanness on Earth. And Pilate was punished for her with terrible torments, pangs of conscience. The theme of conscience is one of the central themes in the novel.

In the Moscow space, two novels coexist - the devil and the novel about the master, the story of his work, tragedy, and love. Between the Yershalaim mystery and the Moscow devilry, there are many overlaps: motivational, substantive, verbal.

Bulgakov's image of Woland is probably even more than Yeshua, far from the canon and cultural and historical tradition. Woland's work is destructive - but only in the midst of the disintegration that has already taken place. Bulgakov's Satan does not so much do evil as reveals it.

Bulgakov's third novel is about love, fidelity and death. The heroes are united not only by a sudden and eternal feeling, but by a book, a master's work, which Margarita considers hers as well. The master is the author of the only book who, after all the tests, has lost the ability to create: “I no longer have any dreams and no inspirations either ... I was broken, I am bored ... I hate this novel ... I have experienced too much of for him". Both the master and his novel are saved by the love of Margarita.

Yeshua forgives Pilate, as Margarita forgave Frida. And they leave along the lunar road, or back, into the "garden that has grown magnificently over many thousands of these moons," or forward, into the dreams of Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, the former poet Bezdomny.

The novel "The Master and Margarita" is a work in which philosophical and therefore eternal themes are reflected. Love and betrayal, good and evil, truth and lie, amaze with their duality, reflecting the inconsistency and, at the same time, the fullness of human nature. Mystification and romanticism, framed in the writer's elegant language, captivate with the depth of thought that requires repeated reading.

Tragically and mercilessly appears in the novel a difficult period of Russian history, unfolding in such a homely side that the devil himself visits the palaces of the capital in order to again become a prisoner of the Faustian thesis about power that always wants evil, but does good.

History of creation

In the first edition of 1928 (according to some data from 1929), the novel was flatter, and it was not difficult to highlight specific topics, but after almost a decade and as a result of difficult work, Bulgakov came to a complexly structured, fantastic, but because of this no less life story.

Along with this, being a man overcoming difficulties hand in hand with his beloved woman, the writer managed to find a place for the nature of feelings more subtle than vanity. Fireflies of hope leading the main characters through devilish trials. This is how the novel was given its final title in 1937: "The Master and Margarita". And this was the third edition.

But the work continued almost until the death of Mikhail Afanasyevich, he made the last amendment on February 13, 1940, and died on March 10 of the same year. The novel is considered unfinished, as evidenced by numerous notes in the drafts saved by the third wife of the writer. It was thanks to her that the world saw the work, albeit in an abridged magazine version, in 1966.

The author's attempts to bring the novel to its logical conclusion indicate how important it was to him. Bulgakov was the last to burn out on his own with the idea of ​​creating a wonderful and tragic phantasmagoria. It clearly and harmoniously reflected his own life in a narrow, like a stocking, room, where he fought the disease and came to realize the true values ​​of human existence.

Analysis of the work

Description of the work

(Berlioz, Ivan the homeless and Woland in between)

The action begins with a description of the meeting of two Moscow writers with the devil. Of course, neither Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz nor Ivan the homeless person even suspects who they are talking to on the patriarch's ponds on May day. In the future, Berlioz perishes according to Woland's prophecy, and the Messire himself occupies his apartment in order to continue his jokes and hoaxes.

Ivan the homeless, in turn, becomes a patient of a psychiatric hospital, unable to cope with the impressions of the meeting with Woland and his retinue. In the house of sorrow, the poet meets the Master, who has written a novel about the procurator of Judea, Pilate. Ivan learns that the metropolitan world of critics is cruelly treating unwanted writers and begins to understand a lot about literature.

Margarita, a childless woman of thirty, the wife of a prominent specialist, yearns for the disappeared Master. Ignorance brings her to despair, in which she admits to herself that she is ready to give her soul to the devil, just to find out about the fate of her beloved. One of the members of Woland's retinue, the demon of the waterless desert Azazello, delivers a miracle cream to Margarita, thanks to which the heroine turns into a witch in order to play the role of queen at Satan's ball. Overcoming some torment with dignity, the woman gets her desire fulfilled - a meeting with the Master. Woland returns to the writer the manuscript burned during the persecution, proclaiming a deeply philosophical thesis that "manuscripts do not burn."

In parallel, the storyline of Pilate, a novel written by the Master, develops. The story tells about the arrested wandering philosopher Yeshua Ha-Notsri, whom Judas of Kiriath betrayed, surrendering to the authorities. The procurator of Judea administers a judgment within the walls of the palace of Herod the Great and is forced to execute a man whose ideas, contemptuous of the authority of Caesar, and the authorities in general, seem to him interesting and worthy of discussion, if not fair. Having coped with his duty, Pilate orders Aphranius, the head of the secret service, to kill Judas.

The storylines are aligned in the final chapters of the novel. One of Yeshua's disciples, Matthew Levi, visits Woland with a petition to grant peace to those in love. That same night, Satan and his retinue leave the capital, and the devil gives the Master and Margarita eternal shelter.

main characters

Let's start with the dark forces that appear in the first chapters.

Woland's character is somewhat different from the canonical embodiment of evil in its purest form, although in the first editions he was assigned the role of a tempter. In the process of processing material on satanic themes, Bulgakov blinded the image of a player with infinite power to decide destinies, endowed, at the same time, with omniscience, skepticism and a bit of playful curiosity. The author deprived the hero of any props, such as hooves or horns, and also removed most of the description of the appearance that took place in the second edition.

Moscow serves Woland as a stage on which, by the way, he leaves no fatal destruction. Woland was called by Bulgakov as a higher power, a measure of human actions. He is a mirror that reflects the essence of the rest of the characters and society, mired in denunciations, deceit, greed and hypocrisy. And, like any mirror, Messire gives an opportunity to people who think and are inclined to justice, to change for the better.

An image with an elusive portrait. Outwardly, the features of Faust, Gogol and Bulgakov himself were intertwined in him, since the mental pain caused by harsh criticism and non-recognition gave the writer many problems. The master is conceived by the author as a character whom the reader rather feels as if he is dealing with a close, dear person, and does not see him as an outsider through the prism of a deceptive appearance.

The master remembers little about life before meeting love - Margarita, as if he had not really lived. The biography of the hero bears a clear imprint of the events in the life of Mikhail Afanasyevich. Only the writer came up with a finale brighter for the hero than he himself experienced.

A collective image that embodies the feminine courage to love despite the circumstances. Margarita is attractive, daring and desperate in her quest to reunite with the Master. Without her, nothing would have happened, because through her prayers, so to speak, a meeting with Satan took place, a great ball happened with her determination, and it was only thanks to her unyielding dignity that the meeting of the two main tragic heroes took place.
If you look back at Bulgakov's life again, it is easy to note that without Elena Sergeevna, the writer's third wife, who had been working on his manuscript for twenty years and following him during his lifetime, as if a faithful but expressive shadow, ready to squeeze enemies and ill-wishers out of the light, would not have happened either. publication of the novel.

Woland's suite

(Woland and his retinue)

The retinue includes Azazello, Koroviev-Fagot, Cat hippo and Gella. The latter is a female vampire and occupies the lowest level in the demonic hierarchy, a minor character.
The first is a prototype of the demon of the desert, he plays the role of Woland's right hand. So Azazello ruthlessly kills Baron Meigel. In addition to the ability to kill, Azazello skillfully seduces Margarita. In a way, this character was introduced by Bulgakov in order to remove characteristic behavioral habits from the image of Satan. In the first edition, the author wanted to name Woland Azazel, but changed his mind.

(Bad apartment)

Koroviev-Fagot is also a demon, and an older one, but a buffoon and a clown. His task is to embarrass and mislead the venerable public. The character helps the author provide the novel with a satirical component, ridiculing the vices of society, crawling into such cracks where the seducer Azazello cannot reach. At the same time, in the finale, he turns out to be not at all a joker in his essence, but a knight punished for an unsuccessful pun.

Behemoth the cat is the best of jesters, a werewolf, a demon prone to gluttony, who now and then brings commotion to the life of Muscovites with his comical adventures. The prototypes were definitely cats, both mythological and quite real. For example, Flyushka, who lived in the Bulgakovs' house. The writer's love for the animal, on behalf of which he sometimes wrote notes to his second wife, migrated to the pages of the novel. The werewolf reflects the tendency of the intelligentsia to transform, as the writer himself did, receiving a fee and spending it on buying delicacies in the Torgsin store.

The Master and Margarita is a unique literary brainchild that has become a weapon in the hands of the writer. With his help, Bulgakov dealt with hated social vices, including those that he himself was subject to. He was able to express his experience of experiences through the phrases of the heroes, which have become common nouns. In particular, the statement about the manuscripts goes back to the Latin proverb "Verba volant, scripta manent" - "the words fly away, the written remains." After burning the manuscript of the novel, Mikhail Afanasevich could not forget what he had previously created and returned to work on the work.

The idea of ​​\ u200b \ u200bthe novel in the novel allows the author to lead two large plot lines, gradually bringing them closer together in a timeline until they intersect "beyond the border", where fiction and reality are no longer distinguishable. Which, in turn, raises the philosophical question of the significance of a person's thoughts, against the background of the emptiness of words that fly away with the noise of bird's wings during the game of Behemoth and Woland.

Roman Bulgakov is destined to go through time, as well as the heroes themselves, in order to touch upon again and again important aspects of a person's social life, religion, issues of moral and ethical choice and the eternal struggle between good and evil.

The Master and Margarita is a magnificent work by Bulgakov, where many topics are revealed, among which we can single out separately. Through the prism of the relationship between the Master and Margarita, the theme of love most fully reveals the image of Margarita, and gives the novel a certain soulfulness. Before meeting Margarita, the Master was a tortured writer who was mistaken for a madman. But now fate gives him a meeting with her, with the main heroine of the novel, whose we will consider today in our essay.

The image and characteristics of Margarita

The meeting with Margarita was fateful in the life of the protagonist, because it was she who played an important role in the fate of the Master, having managed to change the state of affairs. The image of Margarita is very important in the work, because she became the Muse for the main character. Her image contained the destructive power of beauty, which could inspire anyone to work, and also bring a storm of feelings and emotions into the writer's life. In the image of Margarita, tenderness, decisiveness, love, passion and justice are simultaneously combined, and her character embodies the rebelliousness of the spirit, human versatility, the complexity of choosing priorities and the path of life.

We do not get to know the main character of the novel right away. First, we see the Master, who was trying to find pure love, and only after a few chapters we meet Margarita.

The image of Margarita before meeting with the Master

Before meeting the Master, Margarita married a wealthy and famous engineer. She was surrounded by luxury and wealth. With a spouse who was respected by everyone, they lived in a beautiful mansion and held a worthy position in society. Margarita lives in good conditions, which many would envy. But such a life did not please her. Another woman would be happy, but not Margarita, who could not see her happiness without love. And her husband could not give her these feelings. She did not live, but existed. Her life was empty, and she did not understand what her purpose was. Margarita was bored, and the house for her was a real cage. Life as a layman was not for her. Her soul requires spiritual development, wants love and warmth. Before meeting the Master, Margarita was very lonely.

Margarita and the Master

And so our heroes met in a deserted lane. They saw each other and fell in love, realizing that their love had existed for a long time. Margarita finds in the Master what she so lacked in her life. Now she has a meaning to live and rejoice. Maybe someone will condemn a woman, because she betrays her husband, but I do not condemn her, but I even understand. After all, it is very difficult to live when life is not filled with the colors of the rainbow, gray and lonely. But the Master changed everything. She completely surrendered herself to love for the hero, devoting her life to him. Margarita, like her chosen one, devoted her life to the novel, helping to write to her beloved. And the refusal of his publishing house is just as painful as the author himself. This cannot be forgiven and she will certainly make itself felt, but later, already in the role of a witch. And it was the separation from her beloved that made her unhappy, and ultimately turned the woman into a witch.

Margarita sells her soul to the Devil

Margarita's love was so strong that she was ready for anything to be close to the Master. Therefore, she was not afraid to collude with Satan. Having met Azazello once and received a cream from him, Margarita gradually turned into a witch. Already in the role of a witch, going to Satan's ball, she destroyed the critic's house, doing with the rooms what the critic did with their work. With this, she at least a little, but achieved justice. And then, in order to meet with the Master, she agrees to the role of the queen of the ball. Thanks to her, the lover was rescued from the psychiatric hospital, and the manuscript was restored.

Mikhail Bulgakov's novel is a truly amazing and brilliant work of its time. For many years it has not been published because of its acute sociality. Many characters in "The Master and Margarita" are copied from real people, prominent figures of the Soviet Union and the close circle of the writer himself, because of whom he was constantly on the verge of arrest. Bulgakov endowed most of the heroes with human traits that he hated.

The history of the creation of the novel

The exact date of work on the novel is unknown. In some of Bulgakov's drafts, the year 1928 is indicated, in others - 1929. It is absolutely certain that in March 1930 the writer burned the first edition of the work. This happened due to the ban on the play "Cabal of the Holy One".

The current title of the novel appeared only in 1937, before that Bulgakov called his work "Fantastic Novel" (second edition) and "Prince of Darkness" (third edition).

The novel was completely written in the early summer of 1938, but Mikhail Bulgakov made edits to it until his death. In total, work on the main work in life has been carried out for more than ten years.

Unfortunately, the writer never managed to see his work published. The first publication of the novel took place in 1966 in one of the literary magazines. The work was significantly trimmed down, but thanks to Bulgakov's wife, the creation "The Master and Margarita" nevertheless became world famous. The novel-testament of the great writer gained immortality.

The main characters of "The Master and Margarita"

The writer himself, after the destruction of the first edition of the book, indicated that he had burned a novel about the devil. Woland, in fact, is the main driving force behind the piece. He's an important character without a doubt.

Along with Satan, the main characters of the novel are the Master and Margarita, despite the fact that they do not appear from the very beginning of the book. The master appears only in chapter 12, Margarita and even further - in the nineteenth.

There are many hypotheses in the philological world as to who the leading character is. Based on the title of the work and the positioning of the image of Woland in the book, we will single out only three dominant figures.

Woland

The reader first meets Woland at the very beginning of the book. And immediately his image creates an ambiguous impression. The traits of his character, which can be deduced from his actions, completely coincide with external features. By himself, he is a dual figure, hence the eyes of different colors and eyebrows of different heights. Cynical and cunning, he is both generous and noble.

It is not surprising that Berlioz and Ivan, who were the first to see Professor Woland, were confused and entangled in their conflicting feelings. The stories told by this strange citizen do not find rational explanations among the listeners.

But Woland did not come to Moscow to lead the story. He has a very definite goal, which the devil's retinue helps him to achieve. They are causing real chaos in the capital. The Variety Theater became a place for black magic sessions. The ladies were promised new dresses, and as a result they ran away from there in only underwear. The innumerable riches falling from the ceiling then turned into priceless pieces of paper.

The goal of arriving on a sinful earth was considered to be punishment for non-observance of the biblical commandments. In general, this is probably the first image of the devil in literature, striving to balance good and evil, light and darkness.

Messire told other characters that he had come to Moscow to study recently found manuscripts, to hold a session of black magic and a ball.

It is at the ball that Woland reveals his true face. Satan himself appears before the reader. Taking his henchmen, he hides in the afterlife the next day.

The origin of Woland is not immediately clear. The poet Homeless wonders if his new acquaintance is a foreigner, since everything in the professor betrays a foreigner: the image, the manner of speaking, his actions.

Mikhail Bulgakov borrowed the name of the protagonist from the poem "Faust" by Goethe. Woland, or Faland - one of the names of the devil. Many researchers agree that the prototype of Satan was the leader of the peoples himself - I.V. Stalin, in whom, just as in Woland, a tyrant and a good man lived.

The retinue of the prince of darkness calls him nothing other than "messire" and "lord", so the reader does not immediately recognize the name of Woland.

Master

The Master is a certified historian who has always dreamed of being a writer. After winning the lottery, he had such an opportunity. He became the creator of a novel about Pontius Pilate and Yeshua, interpreting the events of the Gospel in his own way, but he went almost to the point of madness after his work was criticized to smithereens.

The hero's name is not mentioned in Bulgakov's book. The nickname "Master" was given to him by Margarita, his beloved. However, he was embarrassed by such treatment. He always avoided situations when he had to identify himself. To the poet, he declares that he does not have a name and surname at all.

The character has no external features. Obviously, he's attractive, but the longing in his eyes erases all the outer shine. He is about forty years old, has dark hair and is always clean-shaven, even in the asylum.

The reader will also understand the fact that the Master was written off from Bulgakov himself, and the relationship with Margarita is very similar to his life with his third wife Elena Sergeevna. The master, like Mikhail Bulgakov, burns his novel, and Margarita, like Elena Shilovskaya, rescues its remnants.

The age of the two creators and their relationship with literary critics also coincide, because Bulgakov himself was repeatedly ridiculed and persecuted for his works.

The novel does not describe exactly how the Master ends up in a psychiatric hospital. Some literary scholars believe that these are flaws in the last edition of the novel, others insist that the writer thus makes a reference to the repressions of the 30s, when a person could disappear irrevocably.

Margarita

Margarita Nikolaevna is a friend of the Master, separated from her beloved. She happily agrees to Woland's offer to become queen at the ball, since he promised to fulfill one of her wishes. Margarita passionately dreamed of reuniting with the Master, which ultimately happened thanks to Satan.

The reader does not know until the middle of the novel, the Master hides his beloved.

Margarita is a collective image that has absorbed a lot from Gretchen and the wife of the writer Elena Shilovskaya. In particular, the described meeting of the Master and Margarita is an exact copy of Bulgakov's acquaintance with his wife.

Some researchers see in Marguerite the features of French queens (Marguerite de Valois and Margot of Navarre), and in the text itself there is a reference to their similarity (Koroviev's phrase about the heroine's relationship with the French royal court).

Margarita is depicted in the novel as a beautiful but bored wife of a wealthy man, who takes on the meaning of life after meeting the Master.

N. A. Bulgakov made his main character a symbol of love and sacrifice, a muse and the support of a writer, ready to give her life for the sake of her beloved.

Demonic characters

Woland and his retinue are often not themselves the driving force behind all the unrest in Moscow. Sometimes they are just observers. There are only five of Satan's henchmen in the city. Each has its own mission, its own task.

Koroviev-Fagot plays the role of conductor and interpreter, he is the equivalent of his master's right hand. His name consists of two parts. Koroviev is a derivative of the name of the hero of the story "The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants." Bulgakovsky Koroviev possesses a dozen features of Dostoevsky's Korovkin. The second part of the name is the name of the musical instrument. Here the writer was guided by the external data of the hero, since, like the bassoon, Bulgakov's demon is thin, tall and can be folded three times to fulfill the order of the master.

Koroviev-Fagot appears to the characters of the book as a translator, then as a regent, or as a skillful swindler. His true guise, demon and devil, is not revealed immediately. But the attentive reader will pay attention to how the hero appears in the narrative. It literally emerges from the hot Moscow air (according to legend, the terrible heat is a harbinger of the arrival of evil forces).

Behemoth the cat is a hero who can try on any look. This character, symbolizing debauchery and gluttony, is at the same time Woland's favorite pastime, his jester.

Bulgakov introduced this character exclusively for a satirical and humorous note, woven into the complex philosophical and moral meaning of the novel. This is evidenced by all the actions that the Cat Behemoth did (a shootout with detectives, a chess game with Messire, a shooting competition with Azazello).

Gella is a character who can complete any assignment. The vampire woman is an irreplaceable servant of Woland. In the novel, she is depicted as a green-eyed girl with long red hair, who moves freely through the air. This gives her a special resemblance to a witch. Introducing his servant to Margarita, Woland indicates her quickness, helpfulness and understanding.

It is assumed that many of the vampire features of Gella, Bulgakov spied in the story "The Ghoul" by A. Tolstoy. From there smacking and clicking teeth, a devilish kiss, because of which Varenukha stopped casting a shadow and became a vampire. Gella is a character who was the only one of Woland's retinue who did not participate in the scene of the last flight.

Azazello acts as a liaison, a recruiter for Messire's black deeds. A completely unattractive character, short in stature, with reddish hair sticking out in different directions, and a protruding fang. The look is completed with patent leather shoes, a bowler hat and a striped Azazello suit. And Margarita, who first saw him, calls the hero a robber's face.

Abaddona exists somewhere in the background and differs from the others in his sympathetic attitude towards both the world of evil and the world of good.

Biblical characters

The biblical part of the novel "The Master and Margarita" was written by Bulgakov based on the Gospel of Matthew, but he uses Aramaic names, which he considers historically accurate (Yeshua instead of Jesus).

The biblical story is divided in the novel of the writer into three parts. The first is narrated by Woland; the second is the dream of the poet Homeless, the third is read by Margarita. The biblical chapters contain many references to the Soviet system of power and administration.

The characters of the "Master and Margarita" are Afranius (chief of Pilate's secret police), Judas (resident of Yershalaim who betrayed Yeshua), Joseph Kaifa (the priest who sent Yeshua to execution), Matthew Levi (disciple of Yeshua, who took him down from the cross), and Yeshua, as well as a few more heroes.

Pontius Pilate

The procurator of Judea is called to determine the fate of Yeshua Ha-Notsri, doomed to be executed. A tough and domineering man, he decides to interrogate the accused. During this dialogue, Pontius Pilate was completely fascinated by Yeshua, however, despite the miracles shown to him (Ha-Nozri cured the procurator's migraine), the death penalty was confirmed.

Because of his sympathy for Yeshua, Pilate decides to take revenge. He orders to kill the man who framed Ha-Nozri under the Sanhedrin's blow.

Pontius Pilate and Yeshua were imbued with inexplicable feelings for each other, because of which the first suffered the rest of his life. He understood that he had signed with his own hand the verdict for a real miracle. Therefore, his entire physical and unconscious life was imprisoned in a prison that he created for himself. During Satan's last flight, Woland asked his opponent to grant Pilate freedom, which he did.

Yeshua Ha-Nozri

The biblical story in the novel differs from the Gospel in many aspects that Bulgakov did not take into account. Yeshua is depicted as an ordinary person with the gift of an empath, who is persecuted by crowds of fanatics and followers. Actually, due to their incorrect interpretation of Yeshua's sermons, the latter was on the verge of death. Yeshua tells Pontius Pilate about one particularly obsessive persecutor who twisted his words. His name is Levi Matthew. The Master and Margarita eventually received the long-awaited peace thanks to him.

Most literary scholars characterize Yeshua as the antipode of Woland. However, there is another, more amusing version. Jesus is not the type of Yeshua at all. Bulgakov's hero is the embodiment of hypocrisy, a mask put on by a spirit with different guises. Perhaps this version was born due to the religious preferences of the writer. He was not an ardent atheist, but he also did not adhere to church orders.

Yeshua differs from the gospel Jesus in details of birth and life, as well as outlook. He positions himself as a philosopher, although this is not specifically indicated in the novel. Yeshua claims that all Jesus in the Gospel says that good and evil exist together in the human heart.

Moscow characters

The characters of The Master and Margarita are mostly copied from real people, and in some cases are sharp parodies of them. For example, the prototype of Archibald Archibaldovich was Yakov Rosenthal, the manager of a restaurant at Herzen's house (the novel features a restaurant at Griboyedov's house).

In the novel, the reader sees a parody of the director of the Moscow Art Theater Nemirovich-Danchenko in the person of Bengalsky, whose fate is the personification of the writer's hatred of cynical political "suckers" (he was beheaded).

For some of the heroes, the writer did not even bother to change their names. For example, in Annushka you can recognize Bulgakov's neighbor, and Dr. Kuzmin was in fact his doctor.

Bulgakov also uses speaking surnames (Likhodeev, Bogokhulsky, Barefoot), which acts as a direct characteristic of the characters. The Master and Margarita is not the first novel by the writer in which he uses prototypes. For example, in "White Guard" he copied the image of Nikolka Turbin from his own brother.

Mikhail Bulgakov is an amazing writer who, in one work, is able to sing a beautiful love story, the theme of freedom, answer exciting philosophical questions and subtly, literally with only hints, draw satirical scenes, the heroes of which are people intolerant of him.

Introduction

The image of Margarita in the novel "The Master and Margarita" is the image of a beloved and loving woman who is ready for anything in the name of love. She is energetic and impulsive, sincere and loyal. Margarita is the one whom the master missed so much, and who is destined to save him.

The love line of the novel and the appearance of Margarita in the life of the master gives the novel lyricism and humanism, makes the work more alive.

See you with the master

Before meeting the master, Margarita's life was completely empty and aimless.

"She said ... - the master tells about their first meeting - that she came out with yellow flowers that day, so that I would finally find her." Otherwise, Margarita "would have been poisoned, because her life is empty."
The heroine at the age of 19 married a rich and respected man. The couple lived in a beautiful mansion, a life that any woman would be happy with: a cozy home, a loving husband, no household worries, Margarita “did not know what a primus was”. But the heroine "was not happy even a day." Very beautiful. A young woman sees neither purpose nor meaning in her philistine life. It is hard, bored and lonely for her in her mansion, which is more and more like a cage. Her soul is very wide, her inner world is rich, and she has no place in the gray boring world of the townsfolk, to which, apparently, her husband also belonged.

Amazing beauty, lively, "slightly squinting eyes" in which "extraordinary loneliness" shone - this is the description of Margarita in the novel "The Master and Margarita".

Her life without a master is the life of an insanely lonely, unhappy woman. Having in her heart unspent warmth and irrepressible energy in her soul, Margarita did not have the opportunity to direct her in the right direction.

Margarita and the Master

After meeting with the master, Margarita completely changes. A meaning appears in her life - her love for the master, and the goal is the master's novel. Margarita is imbued with him, helps her beloved to write and proofread, says that "in this novel her whole life." All the energy of her bright soul is directed to the master and his work. Having never known everyday worries, here Margarita, just entering the master's apartment, rushes to wash the dishes and cook dinner. Even small household chores bring her joy next to her beloved. Also with the master, we see Margarita caring and economic. At the same time, she very easily balances between the image of a caring wife and the writer's muse. She understands and sympathizes with the master, loves him, and the work of his whole life is such a long-suffering, dear to them equally novel. That is why the beloved master reacts so painfully to his refusal to publish the novel. She is wounded no less than the master, but skillfully hides it, although she threatens to “poison the critic”.

All her rage will fall on their petty world later, already in the form of a witch.

Margarita the witch

To return her beloved, the heroine of the novel agrees to give her soul to the devil.

Being in terrible despair, Margarita meets Azazello on an evening walk. She would have ignored his attempts to talk to her, but he would read her lines from the master's novel. From the mysterious messenger Woland, the heroine will receive a magic cream, which gives her body an amazing lightness, and turns Margarita herself into a free, impulsive, brave witch. In her amazing transformation, she does not lose her sense of humor, jokes about her neighbor, who is speechless, “both are good” - she throws out the window to two women quarreling over the lights in the kitchen.

And then a new page begins in the life of Margarita. Before getting to the ball of Satan, he, flying around the city, smashes Latunsky's apartment. Margarita, like an angry fury, hits, breaks, floods with water, destroys the critic's things, enjoying this damage. Here we see another trait of her character - the desire for justice and balance. It does to the critic's housing what he tried to do with the novel and did to the life of its author.

The image of Margarita the witch is very strong, bright, the author spares no pains and emotions when portraying her. Margarita seems to be throwing off all the shackles that prevented her from not only living, but also breathing, and becoming light, light, floating in the literal sense. The defeat of the dastardly critic's apartment gives her even more wings before meeting with the master.

Heroine prototype

It is believed that Margarita had a real prototype. This is the third wife of Mikhail Bulgakov - Elena Sergeevna. In many biographies of the writer, one can find how touchingly Bulgakov called his wife "My Margarita". She was with the writer in his last days, and thanks to her, we are holding the novel in our hands. In the last hours of her husband, she, already barely hearing him, ruled the novel under dictation, edited it and fought for almost two decades to get the work published.

Also, Mikhail Bulgakov never denied that he drew inspiration from Goethe's Faust. Therefore, Bulgakov's Margarita owes its name and some features to Gretchen Goethe (Gretchen is the Romano-Germanic version of the name "Margarita" and its original source).

Finally

The Master and Margarita meet for the first time only in chapter 19 of the novel. And in the first versions of the work, they were not at all. But Margarita makes this romance alive, with her another line appears - love. In addition to love, the heroine also embodies compassion and empathy. She is the master's muse, and his "secret" caring wife, and his savior. Without her, the work would have lost its humanism and emotionality.

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