Master and Margarita series mystical events. The novel "The Master and Margarita" is entangled in mysticism and riddles

Mysteries of "The Master and Margarita"

But his colleague Yuri Kara, who previously filmed a film version of Bulgakov's novel, claims just the opposite. Yes, and the very fact of not appearing in a wide box office of his film, except as a manifestation of demonic forces, perhaps, cannot be called. Many actors and directors of this novel on theater stage claim that during rehearsals or already playing in a play, strange things sometimes happened to them - they forgot the text, got injured, lost the items they needed in a particular mise-en-scene, and some even ended up in a hospital bed with a serious illness.

Such mystical things happen not only when trying to film or stage Bulgakov's novel, but also when creating illustrations for it. This is the story told by the famous Donetsk painter and graphic artist, folk artist Ukraine Vladimir Shendel.

I first read the novel "The Master and Margarita" in 1971, while still a student at the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. Repin. I was given two Moskva magazines with a novel printed in them for just one night. Bulgakov's work shook my imagination. It was not terrible, most likely, a youthful interest in everything forbidden and unusual appeared.

The Polish film "Master and Margarita" hurt me to the core. Its creators distorted everything - the era, types, atmosphere, even the idea. And then I was born, at first glance, a crazy idea: to show myself and other people, as I see this work and its characters.
He began to collect material around 1975: he visited museums, libraries, studied Moscow in the 20-30s - costumes, life, transport, architecture, biography and work of Bulgakov. He specially came to Moscow to see with his own eyes those places where the events of the novel unfolded. It used to be that I walked around in circles all day, but could not find the right place: as if someone did not allow me to go to it. Only on the third visit did my feet lead me to the house where the apartment where the Master lived was located.

Also on a whim, I found the Patriarch's Ponds. I circled for a long time, when suddenly I found myself on the shore of a well-groomed pond, where there was a monument to the fabulist I. Krylov. I asked a woman walking with a child where the Patriarchs were. “So this is what they are,” I heard in response. I had no idea that the Patriarch's Ponds are actually one pond. I looked at the surface of the water, and I immediately imagined a buffet, a tram line, the terrible death of Berlioz. I tried to live the life of each character in the novel. I went all the way of Ivan Bezdomny's pursuit of the trinity, was inside the Griboyedov house, found the square where Massolit was located. I visited the grave of Mikhail Afanasyevich at the Novodevichy cemetery. The same story happened there: I easily found the grave, as if I knew in advance where to go.

"The Master and Margarita" re-read ten times, and each time discovered something new, previously unnoticed. There was a feeling that the author of the novel was invisibly helping me. In my home library, books began to appear by themselves that had something to do with the writer, but the point was that I did not buy them. When acquaintances gave me books, they were exactly those books in which new sides of the heroes of the novel "The Master and Margarita" were opened, its author and that era.

I am an artist, and for the accuracy of recreating the image of a character, its description is very important. But when I read the book, I didn't always find it. However, the most interesting thing is that the description of the characters, which I could not find today, suddenly appeared on the page tomorrow, and the very next day, in an absolutely incomprehensible way for me, disappeared again.

Only in 1995 did I start making illustrations for Bulgakov's novel. Suddenly - and this has remained a mystery to me to this day - five etching boards disappeared. They were not finished - I applied the drawing, etched with nitric acid and left in the workshop. When he decided to continue working, they were nowhere to be found. I had to start all over again.

When half done graphic works, began to hurt right hand. Every day the pain became stronger and stronger: in order to hold the needle and pen, one had to make incredible efforts. A psychic friend I met by chance on the street, after listening to what I was doing, said: “You don’t understand what you got yourself into. Quit it before it’s too late, otherwise your hand will be completely taken away.” I had to suspend work, but I was used to bringing everything to the end, so when after some time I felt better, I decided: come what may. Probably, otherworldly forces appreciated my determination and perseverance and allowed me to successfully complete the work.

Completed illustrations did not bring home: he was afraid to invite misfortune. One etching from "Master and Margarita" I presented to my friend, who was engaged in the study of Bulgakov's work. Once this work, hanging on her wall, fell with a crash. The bad sign was justified: soon this woman was diagnosed with cancer, and she died.

I believe that around this work there is powerful energy, and she reacts differently to those who try to dig deeper. The fate of The Master and Margarita is dramatic, mysterious, and to this day is not fully known. Bulgakov began work on the novel in 1929, and made the last correction to the text four weeks before his death, in 1940. The novel remained unfinished.

A curious incident occurred on May 15, the birthday of Mikhail Bulgakov. By this date, the employees of the Donetsk House of Cultural Workers asked me to create a portrait of the writer. When I worked on it, there was a constant feeling of his presence in the studio. And when the portrait was exhibited, everyone was amazed at the piercing gaze that Bulgakov looked at from the canvas of those present.

But the matter did not end there. Exhibition visitors brought great amount flowers, which were then placed by the employees of the House of Cultural Workers throughout the hall. A bouquet of scarlet roses was placed near the portrait of Mikhail Afanasyevich, by the way, these were his favorite flowers. In the morning, we were surprised to find that it was near this portrait that the flowers withered, while all the other bouquets remained fresh and fragrant. They even called the flower shop with complaints, but they assured me that absolutely all the flowers were fresh.

Saifulin Denis

The novel The Master and Margarita is to this day one of the most mystical and enigmatic works in Russian literature. Many people admit that they have a feeling of fear even when they come into contact with this book; some tell how some mystical events begin to occur in their lives, again connected with the novel. The desire to dispel such fears prompted us to turn to this topic.

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federal state professional educational institution

"Kungur technical boarding school"

Ministry of Labor and social protection Russian Federation

Research work

The mystical in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov

"The Master and Margarita"

Completed by a student of group D-11-15 Specialty 46.02.01 "Documentary support of management and archives"

Saifulin Denis

Head: teacher

Elkina Evgenia Igorevna

p. Sadoyagodnoe

2016

Introduction ................................................ ................................................. .........................31. M.A. Bulgakov and his way to the creation of the novel "The Master and Margarita"……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. Woland and his retinue……………………………..……...…………….………...……..7

3. The hidden meaning of practical jokes and hoaxes in the novel "The Master and Margarita" ……………...…..fourteen

Conclusion………………………………………………………………….…………24

List of used literature……………………………………….…….....25

Application…………………………………………………..………………………..26

Introduction

Of everything school course literature, the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" aroused the greatest interest in me. And, of course, the proposal to take part in the competition of research works on the subject "Literature" was considered by me as an opportunity to study the idea in more detail and philosophical meaning of this novel. Moreover, a single reading of the work could not exhaust all the questions that arose in the course of the plot. The fate of the writer Soviet Russia, biblical story, the love story of the Master and Margarita, the exposure of the inhabitants of Moscow ... many storylines are woven together. But as a lover of everything mystical and fantastic, I am most attracted by the clue to the image of Woland, the hidden meaning of everything mystical in the novel.

Relevance of the chosen topic due to the fact that the novel "The Master and Margarita" to this day is one of the most mystical and mysterious works in Russian literature. Many people confessthat they have a feeling of fear even when they come into contact with this book; some tell how some mystical events begin to occur in their lives, again connected with the novel. Perhaps the desire to dispel such fears prompted me to turn to this topic.

Thus, the object research work is a mystical line in the novel The Master and Margarita. Subject of research: the solution of the mystical in the novel.

Objective - exposure of the hidden meaning of hoaxes in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita"

To achieve this goal, we define research objectives:

To study literary sources about the novel and the history of its creation;

Correlate Woland and his retinue with their mythical and literary prototypes, consider the prototypes of evil spirits and identify similarities and differences;

To analyze the hidden meaning of hoaxes in M.A. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita".

The structure of the work consists of an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion.

In the introduction the relevance of the chosen topic is substantiated, the purpose and objectives of the research work are formulated, its structure is outlined.

In the first chapter biographical information about the author of the novel Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, his life and creative path to the creation of the novel "The Master and Margarita" are presented.

Second chapter is devoted to the interpretation of the image of Woland and his retinue in the novel: Azazello, Behemoth, Koroviev, Gella.

The third chapter analyzes the hidden meaning of the pranks and hoaxes arranged by Woland and his associates.

In custody summed up the results of the work on the research topic.

The work involved the followingresearch methods:analysis of literary sources on the research problem, methods of synthesis, comparison and generalization of information.

Literary sourcesserved: the text of the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita", B.V. Sokolov "Bulgakov's Encyclopedia", M. Chudakova "Mikhail Bulgakov: his partners and works", L.M. about the "secrets" of the novel "The Master and Margarita".

1. Bulgakov and his path to the creation of the novel The Master and Margarita

12 years of labor (1928-1940), 8 editions, 6 thick notebooks ... K modern reader this novel came in the 60s. XX century.

There is hardly any human , who will take the liberty of claiming that he has found the keys to all the riddles lurking in the novel. But a lot about him will be revealed, if at least briefly trace the ten-year history of its creation, while not forgetting that almost all of Bulgakov's works were born from his own experiences, conflicts, upheavals.

The novel about the devil as a satirical extravaganza was conceived in the mid-twenties. The impetus for the idea had a "mystical" origin for Bulgakov. In the mid-twenties, he was presented with a book by A.V. Chayanov "Venediktov or Memorable Events of My Life." In this work, the author - the hero, on behalf of whom the story is being told, is faced with diabolical forces. The name of this hero is Bulgakov. The second wife of the writer, L.E. Belozerskaya-Bulgakova, noted in her memoirs that this coincidence of surnames had an exceptionally strong impact on the writer. Apparently, it was one side of the impulse to create their own "novel about the devil."

The second side of the idea of ​​the novel was associated with such a phenomenon in Russia in the twenties as the collapse of religion and almost all religious institutions. The collapse of religion as a whole layer of the cultural, spiritual and moral life of the people.

Starting to work on the novel, Bulgakov began to collect materials that help develop various storylines. The writers' archives preserved sheets folded into a special notebook with the title "About the Devil", which contained excerpts and quotations from various publications - fromDictionary of Brockhaus and Efron to the book of essays by Mikhail Orlov "The History of Man's Relations with the Devil".

In the first edition of the novel (1928-1930) there is still no Master and no Margarita. But the story about Yeshua and Pilate is already embedded in the scene of the meeting at the Patriarch's Ponds. Apparently, both the idea of ​​a “novel about the devil” and the paraphrase of the Gospel legend about Christ and Pilate existed inseparably from the very beginning of the idea. In general, the original idea evolved greatly in the process of working on the novel. The name of the work has also undergone a significant change: “The Hoof of the Engineer”, “The Great Chancellor”, “Satan”, “The Foreigner's Horseshoe” and others. The canonical name "Master and Margarita" was established only in 1937.

The novel was almost destroyed by the author in March 1930: after the ban on his writings, he tried to seek the truth, not yet realizing that he was not alone - all literature and art were sacrificed to anti-popular politics, and destroyed his work in protest. The resumption of work on the novel occurred, as is believed, under the influence of the contact of Bulgakov himself (the writer, not the hero Chayanov) with the power of a truly diabolical nature. This contact was Bulgakov's telephone conversation with Stalin on April 18, 1930, provoked by the writer's letter to the USSR government with a request to send him abroad.

In 1931, Bulgakov returned to the novel again, or, more precisely, began to write it again. The writer did not force the work on the novel, already knowing for sure that he could not count on publication. At times, he gave himself entirely to her and managed to write huge chunks of fresh text in a short time. But it happened that he interrupted her for many months and even years. And he returned to her with new ideas and plans. The first complete version was completed by him in 1934. The last one in 1938, although the writer continued polishing it later, until the end of his days.

Ultimately, only a few general contours. The content of the novel seemed to be heard in breadth and depth. Satire intertwined with lyrics, lyrics with philosophy, philosophy with politics.

Thus, summing up the results of the first part of the study, we can conclude that the creation of the novel was preceded by "significant" events. In addition, it was originally conceived as a novel about the devil. Next, let's try to figure out how real the images of evil spirits in the work "The Master and Margarita" are and whether they had any prototypes.

2. Woland and his retinue in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov

"The Master and Margarita"

This section will consider the image of Woland, his retinue, the place of these characters in the work, their role functions and prototypes.

In the novel "The Master and Margarita" there is a test of humanity by the devil. Woland - the character of the novel The Master and Margarita, who leads the world of otherworldly forces. This is the devil, Satan, the prince of darkness, the spirit of evil and the lord of shadows (all these definitions are found in the text of the novel).

AT contemporary writer reality, the Prince of Darkness Woland arrives with his retinue - the cat Behemoth, Koroviev, Azazello and Gella. The purpose of his arrival is to check the spiritual content of society, and he ambiguously declares this during a session of Black Magic in the Variety Theater: “I am interested in (...) a much more important question: have the townspeople changed internally?”. Appearing in Moscow, Woland turns reality inside out, exposing its values, true and imaginary. Unmasking and revealing her essence main function Woland.

As for evil in its nature, in which it destroys, seduces and destroys, it is clearly referred in the novel not so much to Woland's "department" as to the works of human hands. Here, the spiritual killer of thoughts Berlioz and the spy and earpiece Baron Meigel from the Moscow storyline, punished by Woland, here are countless deceased criminals from the scene of Satan's Great Ball. In a word, hell is created without any intervention of infernal forces. And the Devil's department really does justice, and this idea is confirmed in the words of Woland during his conversation with the head of Berlioz: “... all theories stand one another. There is one among them, according to which each will be given according to his faith. Woland is just, but stern.

According to the literary criticLydia Yanovskaya , Woland's "literary genealogy" is extensive and diverse, but Mephistopheles stands out among the many "predecessors" of Messire. Referencing a characterGoethe already stated in the epigraph in the form of a direct quotation from "Faust ": "I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good." At the same time, the researchers noted that the first impulse to create the image of Satan was still given by another work - we are talking about an opera.Charles Gounod « Faust ”, which Mikhail Afanasyevich loved to listen to since his childhood.

Messire's black clothes are, according to Yanovskaya, a kind of roll call with the image of Mephistopheles, createdFedor Chaliapin : during a benefit performance in Kyiv, his hero appeared before the audience "dressed in a black, wonderfully tight-fitting cloak with an orange, fiery lining."

I would like to focus on the fact that in the images of evil spirits in the novel there is something in common not only with works of foreign literature. Bulgakov's sister Nadezhda Afanasievna Zemskaya said that Gogol was her brother's favorite writer since his gymnasium years. The motives of the books of Nikolai Vasilyevich were reflected in the novel "The Master and Margarita": the episode with Gella and Varenukha, goes back to "Vii", there are scenes close to "Nights before Christmas ". For example, the story of the chairman of the entertainment commission, Prokhor Petrovich, who treated impolitely the Behemoth who appeared in his office (“Take him out, so the devils took me”), is akin to the dialogue between Vakula and Patsyuk: when the blacksmith asks how to find the way to hell, then in the answer is heard "He does not need to go far, who has the devil behind him." But, at the same time, if we compare the images of the devil from the story "The Night BeforeChristmas" and Woland's Satan from the novel "The Master and Margarita", then the conclusions will be as follows:

Thanks to both characters, human sins appear on the surface.

Both representatives of the other world freely walk among people, doing their own activities: however, unlike the Gogol character, Woland is faced with the persistent disbelief of most people in the existence of heaven and hell, God and the devil;

- Bulgakov's image of Satan is positive, it is very far from the traditional, textbook depiction of evil spirits in literature. Gogol's devil is more traditional - it is negative character, although he is stupid, poor, harmless (busy with “pranks”: prevents the blacksmith from working (“pushed invisibly by the arm, lifted ashes from the furnace in the forge and sprinkled the picture with it”), steals a month only so that Chub does not find the way to the godfather , etc.).

So, the image of Woland is a generalizing image, each storyline it leads to its ideological completion, connects all compositional parallels with each other. Woland materializes in his person a kind of judgment of Eternity, the judgment of the author over his own time.In life, Bulgakov had to deal with Berlioz, Barefoot, Likhodeev, Homeless, Rimsky, Varenukhs. Bitterness accumulated in his soul from these people, their vitality, their growing into socialist reality. Bulgakov - the satirist is fighting against this scourge consistently and logically. Probably, from here such a form of his work arose, where Woland and his assistants become the punishing sword.

Azazello - this is a character endowed with "robber directness", whose image is rooted in mythology (Azazel - "demon of the desert"). The researchers noted that, according to the materials of the book of the historian Ivan Yakovlevich Porfiryev “Apocryphal tales ofOld Testament Persons and Events”, published in 1872, Azazel gave people the skills to make edged weapons, jewelry, decorative means for face care. Bulgakov, who was probably familiar with the work, included Azazello in Woland's retinue because of his "capacity for seduction and murder".

Azazello is directly involved in several key episodes of the novel. So, it was he who, having settled with his companions in a “bad apartment”, sent Styopa Likhodeev to Yalta. When Berlioz's uncle Maximilian Andreyevich Poplavsky arrives in Moscow from Kyiv, dreaming of inheriting the room of his deceased nephew on Bolshaya Sadovaya, Azazello harshly puts the visitor out the door. He mercilessly takes the life of Baron Meigel.

In addition, this character largely determines the fate of Margarita. When the heroine, tired of uncertainty, confesses her readiness to make a deal with the devil in order to obtain information about the Master, Woland’s associate instantly appears next to her - a citizen of “small stature, fiery red, with a fangs, in starched linen, in a good-quality striped suit, in varnished shoes and with a bowler hat on his head. Thanks to the ointment received from Azazello, a transformation occurs: Margarita acquires lightness, youth and the ability to fly. The theme of the miraculous cream, according to the researchers, is connected both with ancient folk legends about magical substances, and with literary sources- a similar motif is present in "Metamorphoses » Apuleia , Goethe's "Faust" and "fiery angel » Valeria Bryusova .

Koroviev appears on the first pages of the novel as a citizen of a "strange appearance" with a "mocking physiognomy". This demon easily changes masks: for example, he asks Berlioz for “a quarter of a liter” to improve the health of his formerregent ; Nikanor Ivanovich Bosom introduces himself as an interpreter for a foreigner who has arrived in Moscow; in a telephone conversation, complaining in a “weepy voice” about the chairman of the housing association of house No. 302-bis, he calls himself Timofey Kvastsov, a tenant of the eleventh apartment. Koroviev's "mocking provocations and buffoonery" are so natural that the reader, according to Lydia Yanovskaya, begins to get confused: "Perhaps not Koroviev, but Timofey Kvastsov by some miracle called the police?" Rolegaera forces the character to include in their own lexiconvulgarisms : for example, during a session of black magic, he gives announcements from the stage, saturated with colloquial turns: "Tapericha, when this annoying one was fused, let's open a ladies' shop."

Among Koroviev's jokes is the organization of a circle in the branch of the entertainment commission: having come there as a specialist choirmaster, Woland's henchman makes the employees sing "Glorious Sea ..." almost non-stop. The creation of this episode, judging by the diaries of the writer's wife, was preceded by a real event: in December 1933, the Bulgakovs were invited to visit the actor and directorRuben Simonov , where during the feast the song "Through the wild steppes of Transbaikalia ". Mikhail Afanasyevich was ironic about natural disasters. choirs and in the chapter "A Restless Day" "ridiculed the commitment of representatives Soviet power to this art form. Bulgakov developed a similar theme before: for example, the hero of his story "dog's heart "(1925), Professor Preobrazhensky declares in a conversation with Dr. Bormenthal that if he does not operate, but "sings in chorus", then his apartment will inevitably "destruction".

In the name of the character, according to BulgakovBoris Sokolov , literary influence is traced: on the one hand, it contains a reference to the storyAlexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy « Ghoul ", in whichvampire Semyon Semyonovich Telyaev; on the other hand, a certain connection with the story is notedDostoevsky « The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants ”, where Mr. Korovkin is among the friends of Colonel Rostanev; the same surname is found in the epilogue of The Master and Margarita, when, after the disappearance of Woland and his retinue, “four Korovkins” are included in the list of suspicious persons.

Researchers name several possible prototypes of Koroviev. Bulgakov's second wife -Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya - she recalled a certain regent-plumber Ageich, whose features are visible in the guise of Fagot. The writer Oleg Demidov included - with reference to the literary critic Alfred Barkov - among the alleged prototypes of the actor's characterVasily Kachalov and playwright Nikolai Erdman , who, being the screenwriter of the film "Funny boys ", created phantasmagoric situations in the picture, reminiscent of episodes from Bulgakov's novel.

Hippo cat Bulgakov depicted as an animal moving on "thick, as if puffy paws." According to the researchers, such a description was "borrowed" by the author from those sources that he studied when creating portraits of characters - in particular, we are talking about Mikhail Orlov's book "The History of Relations between a Man and the Devil", which mentions the demon Behemoth, similar to a "monster with an elephant head, trunk and fangs. In the final edition, the appearance of the character changed: Ivan Bezdomny, rushing in pursuit of Woland and Koroviev, sees next to them a cat "huge, like a hog, black, like soot or a rook, and with a desperate cavalry mustache."

According to the literary criticMarietta Chudakova , one of the "distant literary ancestors" of Behemoth ishoffmanovsky murr the cat - it was from him that a member of Messire's retinue inherited "his funny complacency." At the same time, Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya said that the huge cat Flyushka, who lived in the Bulgakovs' house, had a certain influence on the creation of the image of the Behemoth, on behalf of which Mikhail Afanasyevich sometimes left notes. As the writer's second wife recalled, Flushka's temperament and habits are recorded in Behemoth's phrase: "I'm not naughty, I don't touch anyone, I'm fixing the primus stove."

The appearance of Behemoth and Koroviev inTorgsine on the Smolensk market causes a commotion among the sellers: the cat takes tangerines and chocolate from the counters, extracts fish from a barrel with the inscription "Kerch herring selected". Such a tendency togluttony comes, according to the literary critic Boris Sokolov, fromdemonological installations, according to which the Behemoth is a "demon of the desires of the stomach." When a group of armed people appears in the apartment where Woland and his associates are staying, Behemoth greets those who come with a warning that "the cat is an ancient and inviolable animal."

Gella is one of the colorful characters whose mission in the plot is not fully clarified. The red-haired maid Woland is pretty; the only thing that spoils her appearance is a "bizarre scar on her neck", indicating that the woman's death was violent. Gella is directly confronted by the financial director of the Variety Theater Rimsky: after a session of black magic, he withstands a tough attackvampires and remains alive thanks to the predawn crow of a rooster, which, according to legend, has the ability to shudder evil spirits. In this episode, according to the literary criticAlexandra Zerkalova , there is an analogy withGogol « viem ":" Illuminating Gella with the ominous reflection of the pannochka, Bulgakov denotes the formidable power of the feminine principle.

In the chapter about the fire in apartment No. 50, it is mentioned that the residents who were in the courtyard of the house on Bolshaya Sadovaya watched "three male silhouettes and one silhouette of a naked woman" fly out of the window. However, Gella is not among the flying horsemen leaving the city. Literary critic Vladimir Lakshin said that when he, who knew Elena Sergeevna Bulgakov well, pointed out to the writer's widow that Woland's maid was absent in the final episodes, she reacted very emotionally: "Misha forgot Gella!" This circumstance, according to a number of researchers, serves as additional confirmation that The Master and Margarita is an unfinished novel; at the same time, some Bulgakov scholars consider such an author's "forgetfulness" to be deliberate.

Thus, we conclude that withwith the help of the image of Woland and his associates, Bulgakov, through sharp satire, exposes the ignorance and lack of spirituality of society, and at the same time raises true values- love and nobility. In other words, the mystical characters in the novel are only M.A.'s tool. Bulgakov, helpingidentify the shortcomings of society.

3. The hidden meaning of pranks and hoaxes

in "The Master and Margarita"

In this chapter, we will try to expose the hidden meaning of the pranks and hoaxes that Woland and his retinue staged in Moscow.

Bad apartment.Apartment No. 50, in which Woland, who arrived in the Soviet capital, settles, has a bad reputation: within two years, not only all the tenants who rented rooms, but also the hostess Anna Frantsevna Fougère, disappeared from it. The history of their disappearances is not explained in any way on the pages of the novel, however, the theme of sudden arrests, when people went out “for a minute” and never returned, is “through” in The Master and Margarita. The address of the "bad apartment" - Bolshaya Sadovaya, 302-bis - is fictitious, but the object itself has a real prototype: we are talking about the profitable house of the manufacturer Ilya Pigit, built in 1903 on Bolshaya Sadovaya, 10.

According to the memoirs of the writer Vladimir Lyovshin, Pigit's house with its stucco balconies and multifacetedbay windows "looked awesome." Among the residents were an artistPyotr Konchalovsky with his family, singer Fyodor Chaliapin, sculptorSergey Konenkov , pianist Alexander Borovsky ; actor Vasily Kachalov, composerSergei Prokofiev , writer Alexey Tolstoy , theater directorVsevolod Meyerhold . After the October Revolution, the house was taken over by the workers' commune. In 1921 (according to other sources, in the winter of 1922), Bulgakov became one of his guests, describing his first Moscow home not only in The Master and Margarita, but also in other works: “No. 13. House of Elpit-Rabkommun”, “moonshine lake ”, “Psalm”. Poetic sketches made by Mikhail Afanasyevich in the early 1920s have been preserved:“On Bolshaya Sadovaya / There is a healthy house. / Our brother lives in the house - / Organized proletariat. / And I got lost between the proletariat, / Like some, pardon the expression, an atom".

The end of the “bad apartment” in the novel comes after an attempt by representatives of the authorities to arrest Woland living in it with his retinue. During the shooting, which turned out to be ineffective, the damaged primus of the cat Behemoth "starts to spray gasoline"; the result is a fire. Bulgakov, according to Lidia Yanovskaya, "loved fire"; in one of his letters, he said: “The stove has long been my favorite edition. I like her because, without rejecting anything, she equally willingly absorbs receipts from the laundry, and the beginning of letters, and even, oh shame, shame, poetry!

In March 2007, the Museum of M.A. Bulgakov. Apartment No. 10 on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street, which houses memorial museum the writer is the same “bad apartment 50” in the “house 302-bis”. Every year, the “bad apartment” is visited by tens of thousands of people.

Variety theater and a session of black magic. The chapter on the session of black magic conducted by Woland and his retinue is one of the central ones in the Moscow part of The Master and Margarita: in the scenes dedicated to the performance at the Variety Theater, “the real takes on a fantastic character, and the demonic demonstrates its power.” Evidence that Bulgakov originally planned to include this action in the novel is his notes from 1928: at the moment of meeting Bezdomny and Berlioz, a foreigner hands them a business card and informs them that he is Veliar Velyarovich Woland, a specialist in white magic who arrived in the Soviet capital to perform at the Music Hall.

Variety - a fictional organization, by which Mikhail Afanasevich meant the Music Hall, located in 1926-1936 at Bolshaya Sadovaya, 18; in the performances of this theater, called at first the "Second State Circus", "Soviet and foreign guest performers" participated. The tricks demonstrated on the stage by Woland's henchmen are reminiscent of the tricks that illusionists showed in the Music HallEmil Keogh and Nicholas Ornaldo , who conducted mass hypnosis sessions for viewers and instant cures "from drunkenness, smoking, dizziness, doubts."

According to the literary critic Vasily Novikov, Koroviev, who organizes a “money rain” over the hall and opens a “ladies' store” on the stage, in which the dresses and shoes of spectators are exchanged for Parisian models, arranges a kind of exam for Muscovites, designed to show whether progress affects human psychology. Woland, watching the action, comes to the conclusion that “they are people like people. They love money, but it has always been ... Housing problem just ruined them." For Bulgakov, the housing issue was relevant: back in 1922, in a letter to his sister Vera Afanasievna, he noted that “the most terrible issue in Moscow is housing”; communal life, which doomed Soviet citizens new government, destroys the personality, Mikhail Afanasevich believed.

Among those exposed by Koroviev during the session is Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov, sitting in box No. 2, the chairman of the acoustic commission, who visited the Variety Theater with his wife and a young actress relative. When Fagot reports that the night before Sempleyarov was visiting the artist Milica Andreevna Pokobatko, a relative hits Arkady Apollonovich with an umbrella. This episode is close to Bulgakov's early feuilleton "Madmazelle Jeanne", in which a certain "soothsayer from Paris" acts; after the public disclosure by the seer of details related to the personal life of one of the spectators, his wife hits the unfaithful spouse in the facereticule .

MASSOLIT, Griboedov's House, restaurant "Griboedov".Researchers offer different options for deciphering the name of the fictional writers' association "MASSOLIT" (Masters of Socialist Literature, Moscow Association of Writers, Mass Literature), but Bulgakov, according to Georgy Lesskis, did not mean by thisabbreviation any original combination of words. It contains, on the one hand, the author's reaction to theOctober revolution fashion for all sorts of abbreviations (RAPP , MAPP etc.); on the other hand, there is a reference built on sound associations to “Glavlit "- an organization that carried out censorship in the USSR. MASSOLIT is placed in the HouseGriboyedov located "onboulevard ring in the depths of a stunted garden, separated from the pavement of the ring by a carved iron grate. The prototype of this building was, according to the Bulgakov scholars, the HouseHerzen (Tverskoy boulevard , 25), within the walls of which numerous literary associations and groups were based in the 1920s. There was also a writer's restaurant, about the manners of which Mayakovsky wrote..

Members of the board of MASSOLIT have the opportunity to settle in the suburban literary village of Perelygin (which meansPeredelkino ); authors planning to write regular works, may qualify for "full-scale sabbaticals" in Yalta,Suuk-su , Tsikhidziri, Makhinjauri . Restaurant "Griboedov", where writers have lunch and dinner, is famous for its cuisine; in the menu - “boiled portionedperch "," sterlet pieces, laid with a cancerous neck and fresh caviar, "cocotte eggs with champignon puree", "thrush fillets". All dishes are offered to visitors "at the most reasonable price".

At the head of "Griboyedov" is Archibald Archibaldovich, whose prototype wasYakov Danilovich Rosenthal , who worked in 1925-1931 as the director of the Herzen House restaurant. In the future, Rosenthal led similar institutions in various creative organizations and had a reputation as an "enthusiast and favorite of all muses."Leonid Utyosov remembered him as "a hospitable host who not only knew the whole theater world but also the tastes of everyone.

On the day of the death of Berlioz, the Massolithites dance in a foxtrot restaurantVincent Youmans "Hallelujah!"; the same music is heard at the great ball at Satan's and in the apartment of the specialist in liver diseases, Professor Kuzmin, after the departure of the barman Sokov from him. According to Boris Sokolov, the foxtrot "Hallelujah!" in this context, “symbolizes a parody of Christian worship in the hell-like restaurant of the Griboyedov House.” At the same time, the director of the institution Archibald Archibaldovich, watching the midnight dances of writers, "as if correlated with the image of Woland at the spring full moon ball."

For Koroviev and Behemoth, an attempt to dine at Griboyedov's without presenting writer's certificates turns out to be unsuccessful; as a result, Fagot enters the institution, posing as a writerPanaev , and the cat is a criticSkabichevsky . The fire, arranged there by Woland's henchmen, destroys not only the restaurant, but the entire system of Massolit benefits and privileges.

Ball with Satan. Another mystical rite is the great ball with Satan - the ball, which in the novel "The Master and Margarita" is given by Woland in the Bad Apartment on the endlessly lasting midnight of Friday, May 3, 1929. This is the climax of the novel.

According to the memoirs of E.S. Bulgakova, in describing the ball, used impressions from a reception at the American embassy in Moscow on April 22, 1935. US Ambassador William Bullitt invited the writer and his wife to this solemn event. From the memoirs “Once a year, Bullitt gave big receptions on the occasion of a national holiday. Writers were also invited. Once we received such an invitation. In the hall with columns they dance, from the choir - multi-colored spotlights. Behind the net - birds - mass - flutter. Orchestra ordered from Stockholm. M.A. I was most captivated by the conductor's tailcoat - to the toes. Dinner in a dining room specially attached for this ball to the embassy mansion, on separate tables. In the corners of the dining room there are small wagons, on them are goats, lambs, cubs. On the walls of the cage with roosters. At about three o'clock the harmonicas played and the roosters began to sing. Russ style. Mass of tulips, roses - from Holland. AT top floor- barbecue. Red roses, red French wine. Below - everywhere champagne, cigarettes. About six we got into their embassy Cadillac and drove home. They brought a huge bouquet of tulips from the secretary of the embassy.

For a semi-disgraced writer like Bulgakov, a reception at the American embassy is an almost unbelievable event, comparable to a ball at Satan's. Soviet visual propaganda of those years often depicted
"American imperialism" in the guise of the devil. In Satan's Great Ball, real-life signs of the American ambassador's residence are combined with details and images of a distinctly literary origin.

In order to fit the Great Ball at Satan's into the Bad Apartment, it was necessary to expand it to supernatural dimensions. As Koroviev-Fagot explains, "for those who are well acquainted with the fifth dimension, it costs nothing to push the room to the desired limits." This brings to mind the novel The Invisible Man (1897) by HG Wells. Bulgakov goes further than the English science fiction writer, increasing the number of dimensions from the rather traditional four to five. In the fifth dimension, giant halls become visible, where the Great Ball is held by Satan, and the participants of the ball, on the contrary, are invisible to the people around them, including the OGPU agents on duty at the door of the Bad Apartment. Having abundantly decorated the ballrooms with roses, Bulgakov took into account the complex and multifaceted symbolism associated with this flower. AT cultural tradition In many nations, roses are the personification of both mourning and love and purity. With this in mind, the roses at Satan's Great Ball can be seen both as a symbol of Margarita's love for the Master and as a harbinger of their imminent death. Roses here - and an allegory of Christ, the memory of the shed blood, they have long been included in the symbolism of the Catholic Church.

The election of Marguerite as the queen of the Great Ball by Satan and her likening to one of the French queens who lived in the 16th century is associated with encyclopedic dictionary Brockhaus and Efron. Bulgakov's extracts from the entries in this dictionary have been preserved, dedicated to two French queens who bore the name of Margaret - Navarre and Valois. Both historical Margaritas patronized writers and poets, and Bulgakov's Margarita turns out to be connected with the ingenious Master, whom she seeks to extract from the hospital after the Great Ball with Satan.

Another source of the Great Ball with Satan is the description of the ball in the Mikhailovsky Palace, given in the book of Marquis Astolf de Custine "Russia in 1839" (1843) (this work was also used by Bulgakov when creating the screenplay "Dead Souls"): " Grand gallery, intended for dancing, was decorated with exceptional luxury. One and a half thousand tubs and pots with the rarest flowers formed a fragrant bosquet. At the end of the hall, in the dense shade of exotic plants, one could see a pool from which a stream of a fountain was constantly escaping. Splashes of water, illuminated by bright lights, sparkled like diamond dust particles and refreshed the air ... It is difficult to imagine the magnificence of this picture. You completely lost track of where you are. All borders disappeared, everything was full of light, gold, colors, reflections and a bewitching, magical illusion. Margarita sees a similar picture at Satan's Great Ball, feeling herself in a tropical forest, among hundreds of flowers and colorful fountains, and listening to the music of the best orchestras in the world.

So, Bulgakov creates the atmosphere of the ball oversaturated with external details, makes its space objective, but at the same time capable of incredible metamorphoses (a quick change of visual “pictures”). Another important point: bright, beautiful images can be associated with dark, devilish ones: hissing fountains - hissing boilers, blacks in silver armbands - devils, light - darkness. Similar transformations occur with the characters.

From the very beginning, Margarita was doused with "hot, thick and red" blood. This detail is associated with the motif of baptism, only Bulgakov has blood instead of holy water. Causes Christian associations and the mention of "a heavy image of a black poodle in an oval frame on a heavy chain that burdened Margarita." This attribute of black forces in reverse lighting is a Christian cross. Indeed, the main task of Margarita at the ball is to love everyone and thereby resurrect the souls of the dead. Koroviev insists: “... no one, Queen Margot, no advantage! .. just not inattention ... fall in love, love!”. Margarita came to the ball with her living soul (remember the name), so that, having given it to sinners, "grant" them new life. Christ came to earth with the same mission. It is no coincidence that the conductor of the orchestra shouts after Margarita: "Hallelujah!", which means "praise to God." Bulgakov also emphasized the suffering, martyr role of Margarita: “The worst suffering was caused to her by her right knee, which was kissed. It was swollen, the skin on it turned blue.

The presence of Margarita at the ball is a parody of the voluntary sacrifice of Christ. Has Queen Margot done her part?

Guests at the ball emerge from an immense fireplace, reminiscent of a "cold mouth". There is an association with ashes, decay, the extinct fire of life. “Suddenly something crashed downstairs in a huge fireplace, a gallows jumped out of it with half-scattered ashes hanging on it ... and a black-haired handsome man in a tailcoat and patent leather shoes jumped out of it.” Using reduced verbs to describe this metamorphosis, Bulgakov expresses irony in relation to everything that happens. This is not how they depict the resurrection, the transfiguration, the victory of life over death. All these "headless skeletons", "running out coffins", "decomposed corpses" are a parody of people. The triumph of the moment is deliberately distorted by Bulgakov. Woland's retinue is funny, pretending to repeat to each guest: "I am in admiration!" The queen of the ball cannot fulfill her mission - she did not fall in love with everyone. Margarita gave preference to Frida, seized by simple human, and not divine compassion. Everything that Margarita does is feigned: “... she mechanically raised and lowered her hand and, smiling monotonously, smiled at the guests ... her face was pulled into a motionless mask of greeting.” Everything that happens begins to resemble a big masquerade.

Further - more terrible. The masquerade turns into a real bacchanalia, Bulgakov's irony - into sarcasm. When the staircase with the flow of guests was empty, everything changed in the very atmosphere of the ball: “... on the stage, where the waltz king's orchestra was playing, monkey jazz was now raging. A huge, shaggy-whiskered gorilla with a trumpet in his hand, dancing heavily, conducted. Sinners were transformed into monkeys, and not into angels with pure souls - this is the result of the diabolical version of resurrection.

The gloomy ending is also emphasized by attributes, a description of the scope of the bacchanalia: “... immediately, with a hiss and a roar, the agitated mass of champagne left the pool, and Neptune began to spew ... a wave of dark yellow color” (cognac). The appearance of ancient pagan deities at the ball, which began with Christian motives, shows how polar the semantic accents have shifted: from the expectation of light to darkness. Erupting champagne is now associatively associated with boiling lava, “hellish fireboxes”, “devilish white cooks” are mentioned. The resurrection turned into an orgy. Hopes are broken - this is the end.

No, on the contrary, this is the time of the appearance of Woland, the devil himself, the second, after Margarita, the semantic center of the episode. It is he who is instructed by Bulgakov to summarize everything that has happened, to say his word.

“Woland went out into this last great exit at the ball in exactly the same form in which he was in the bedroom. All the same dirty patched shirt ... ". After some time, a metamorphosis took place. Woland found himself in some kind of black mantle with a steel sword on his hip. Transformed Wolandane alive soul Margarita, and the blood of the murdered Meigel, drunk from the cup - the skull of Berlioz. This symbolically represents the idea of ​​Woland: "You are going into non-existence, and I will be happy to drink from the cup into which you turn into, to drink for being." Thus, the devil proclaims the infinity and power of being as such, punishing those who do not believe in eternal life with non-existence: "To each will be given according to his faith."

Woland comes, bringing with him not only death and blood, but also the triumph of retribution. He gives the last, final chord to the ball, proclaiming death as a guarantee of a future life. Evil, according to Woland, is an integral part of the universe in general.

On the other hand, the Great Ball with Satan can also be imagined as a figment of the imagination of Margarita, who is about to commit suicide. Bulgakov's heroine is tormented by betrayal of her husband and, albeit subconsciously, puts her act on a par with the greatest crimes of the past and present. The abundance of poisoners and poisoners, real and imaginary, is a reflection in Margarita's brain of the thought of a possible suicide with the Master using poison. At the same time, their subsequent poisoning, carried out by Azazello, can be considered imaginary, and not real, since historically all male poisoners at Satan's Great Ball are imaginary poisoners.

But Bulgakov also leaves an alternative possibility: the Great Ball with Satan and all the events associated with it occur only in the sick imagination of Margarita, tormented by the lack of news about the Master and guilt before her husband and subconsciously thinking about suicide. The author of The Master and Margarita offers a similar alternative explanation in relation to the Moscow adventures of Satan and his henchmen in the epilogue of the novel, making it clear that it is far from exhausting what is happening. Also, any rational explanation of Satan's Great Ball, according to the author's intention, can in no way be complete.

Thus, all of the above mystical phenomena in the novel - fiction, echoes of biblical and pagan stories, although they have very real backgrounds associated with the life of the writer. These are just symbols with which M.A. Bulgakov hides true meaning novel. That is, the myth that the history of the creation of the novel "The Master and Margarita" and the novel itself are associated exclusively with some fantastic events, and that this work can be a source mysterious phenomena in the lives of readers, we dispelled.

Conclusion

It is difficult to calculate how many works were devoted to Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. The novel gives rise to many interpretations, it would seem, already famous characters. The novel can be re-read countless times with enduring interest. Readers should not deprive themselves of such pleasure because of fears and prejudices. This work combines an unusual author's philosophy, humor, ridicule of the existing system, and, probably, first of all, this is a novel about people, their vices and weaknesses, about love and nobility.

In completing the work on the research topic, you can do some conclusions concerning the analysis and interpretation of the images of Woland and his retinue in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita", practical jokes and hoaxes:

The idea of ​​the novel is connected with the problem of the collapse of religion as a layer of cultural, spiritual and moral life;

M.A. Bulgakov, working on the characters of the novel, relied on the images of famous literary heroes, mythical creatures and real people. The writer borrowed from individual images character traits giving them to Woland and his retinue;

In the novel, a mystic is a tool with which M.A. Bulgakov turns the reality of his day inside out, exposing its values, true and imaginary.

Thus, the goal set by us at the beginning of the study is to expose the hidden meaning of hoaxes in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "Master and Margarita", achieved. HDespite this, the topic of this research work cannot be considered completely exhausted, since the author limited himself only to considering the line dark forces in the novel. Therefore, the theme of mysticism in the work "The Master and Margarita" can be expanded and continued in the future.

Bibliography

1. Boborykin V. G. Biography of the writer Mikhail Bulgakov.
2. Bulgakov Mikhail. Autobiography, Moscow, October 1924 Bulgakov M.A. Favorites. Moscow, 1982
3. Sokolov B.V. Bulgakov Encyclopedia. - M.: Lokid-mif. - 592 p.
4. Chudakova M. Bulgakov and Gogol // Russian speech. - 1979. - 2. - S. 38 - 48.
5. Yanovskaya L. The creative path of Mikhail Bulgakov. - M.: Soviet writer, 1983. - 387 p.
6. Yanovskaya L.M. Woland's triangle and the Purple Knight: about the "secrets" of the novel "The Master and Margarita" // Tallinn. - 1987. - 4. - S. 101 - 113.
7. https://en.wikipedia.org
8. http://masterimargo.ru

Behind the edges of gems, as if by chance, casually thrown by writers on

pages of his works, sometimes hidden

deep meaning that enriches the plot of the work

additional nuances.

The Master and Margarita novel is a mystery. Each person who reads it discovers his own meaning in it. The text of the work is so full of problems that it is very difficult to find the main one, I would even say it is impossible.

The main difficulty is that several realities are intertwined in the novel: on the one hand, the Soviet life of Moscow in the 20-30s, on the other, the city of Yershalaim, and finally, the reality of the all-powerful Woland.

The first world is Moscow in the 1920s and 1930s.

Satan came to Moscow to do justice, to rescue the Master, his masterpiece and Margarita. He sees that Moscow has become something like a Grand Ball: it is inhabited by traitors, scammers, sycophants, bribe-takers, money-changers. Bulgakov represented them both as individual characters and as employees the following institutions: MASSOLIT, Variety Theater and Spectacle Commission. Every person has vices that Woland exposes. A more serious sin was committed by the workers of MASLIT, who call themselves writers and scientists. These people know a lot and at the same time deliberately lead people away from the search for truth, make the brilliant Master unhappy. For this, punishment overtakes the House of Griboyedov, where MASSOLIT is located. The Moscow population does not want to believe in anything without evidence, neither in God nor in the devil. In my opinion, Bulgakov hoped that someday people would realize the horror that had consumed Russia for many years, just as Ivan Bezdomny realized that his poems were terrible. But this did not happen during Bulgakov's lifetime.

The second world is Yershalaim.

Yershalaim is associated with many characteristic, inherent in it and at the same time uniting with Moscow details. This is the scorching sun, narrow tangled streets, terrain. The similarity of some elevations is especially surprising: Pashkov's House in Moscow and Pilate's palace, located above the roofs of city houses; Bald Mountain and Sparrow Hills. You can also pay attention to the fact that if in Yershalaim the hill with the crucified Yeshua is surrounded, then in Moscow with Woland leaving it. Only three days are described from the life of the city. The struggle between good and evil does not stop and cannot stop. Main character ancient world Yeshua is very similar to Jesus. He is also a mere mortal who remained misunderstood. Yershalaim, invented by the Master, is fantastic. But it is he who looks the most real in the novel.

The third world is the mystical, fantastic Woland and his retinue.

Mysticism in the novel plays a completely realistic role and can serve as an example of the contradictions of reality. The underworld is headed by Woland. He is the devil, Satan, "prince of darkness", "spirit of evil and lord of shadows". Devilry in "The Master and Margarita" exposes human vices before us. Here is the devil Koroviev - a drunken bastard. Here is the cat Behemoth, very similar to a man and at times he turns into a man, very similar to a cat. Here is the hooligan Azazello with an ugly fang. Woland personifies eternity. He is that eternally existing evil which is necessary for the existence of good. In the novel, the traditional image of Satan is changed: it is no longer an immoral, evil, treacherous demon-destroyer. Evil spirits appear in Moscow with a revision. She is interested in whether the townspeople have changed internally. Watching the audience in the Variety, the "professor of black magic" tends to think that, in fact, nothing has changed. The evil spirit appears before us as an evil human will, being an instrument of punishment, committing intrigues at the suggestion of people. Woland seemed to me fair, objective, and his justice was manifested not only in the punishment of some heroes. Thanks to him, the Master and Margarita are reunited.

All the heroes of the novel are closely connected with each other, without the existence of some, the existence of others would be impossible, just as there can be no light without darkness. The novel "The Master and Margarita" tells about the responsibility of a person for his actions. Actions are united by one idea - the search for truth and the struggle for it. Enmity, distrust, envy reign in the world at all times. This novel belongs to those works that must be re-read in order to better understand the subtext, to see new details that you might not have paid attention to the first time. This is not only because the novel affects many philosophical problems, but also because of the complex "three-dimensional" structure of the work.

Illustration: Alexander's Slovik

The work "The Master and Margarita" in the form in which we know it now has changed from its very beginning. Mikhail Bulgakov began work on the novel in 1928. The book was written in several versions. Mysticism was saturated with each of the options.

No. 1. Bulgakov's mysticism

Many people know the fact that the writer was passionate about occult sciences. In particular, he was interested in German mysticism of the 19th century. It was during this period that the writer takes on the creation of his famous work.

In the first manuscript there was not even a trace of either our beloved Master or the beautiful Margarita. The Devil himself was at the head of the story, and the work was very reminiscent of Faust, only in a Russian way. Moreover, the description of the main character, that is, the Devil himself, was given 15 handwritten pages. It felt like the author was personally familiar with the character.

What was written on these 15 pages we will no longer know, since the first version of the novel was burned.

In the second version of the novel, which was called "Satan, or the Great Chancellor", the main character is an angel, whom God sent from himself to the sinful earth. In this version, there is already a place for the Master, and the beautiful Margarita, and Woland with his mysterious retinue. But the reader will not see this novel either.

And finally, the work "The Master and Margarita" in the form in which the whole world knows it is only the third option. The writer never finished it.

No. 2. Woland in his diversity

Reading the novel, one can assume that Woland is not at all a negative character, although he is the prototype of the Devil himself. He is the patron of creativity and love in the novel. But not everything is so simple.

The writer embodied in his character the Tempter Satan, the Scandinavian Odin, the ancient German god Wotan in one person. Woland combines a many-sided image, which, according to external data, is very similar to the powerful magician Count Cagliostro.

Another interesting point: in Germany, the devil is called nothing more than Faland. Is it true that it is close in sound to Woland?

Number 3. Woland's minions

In the work, Woland appears with his retinue. The most memorable for all readers were such bright characters as Azazello, Koroviev-Fagot and the cat Behemoth.

The image of Azazello was taken by the writer from the Bible, or rather from the Old Testament. That was the name of the angel who created such evil on the planet as weapons and jewelry. Azazello also taught the beautiful half of humanity the art of beautifying the face, which is a lecherous sin according to the Bible. It was Azazello who became the tempter for Margarita. It was he who gave the magic cream and directed her down the dark path.

Woland's favorite jester is Behemoth the cat. The writer introduced the image of this character after reading the story of Anna Desange, the abbess of the Loudun monastery, who lived in the 17th century and was possessed by seven demons. One of them became the prototype of the Behemoth cat character. By the way, the writer also had his own Behemoth in his life. That was the name of the writer's dog.

The only human image in the retinue is given to Koroviev-Fagot. According to assumptions, this character is the prototype of the Aztec god of war, Vitzliputzli.

No. 4. Gorgeous Margarita

The image of Margarita is very reminiscent of Bulgakov's third wife, Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya. The novel also mentions a certain connection between Margarita and the French Queen Margot. If you remember the history, Queen Margo favored writers and poets. And in the novel itself, Margarita's love for the Master can be traced.

No. 5. mysterious time

The novel is curious about the fact that there is not a single mention of the time in which the events take place. One gets the feeling that we are flying from one century to another. Also, events move from one city to another - from the mysterious Yershalaim to Moscow.

No. 6. Bulgakov's suicide "list"

The third wife of Mikhail Afanasyevich, Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, left a note in personal diary a few days before the death of the writer. In the lines of that note, it was said that the husband asked for a list, a list of the things that he did. Bulgakov asked for this so that people would know. Elena Sergeevna considered that this was a kind of nonsense of a sick person, and it seemed to her that it was impossible to understand the writer. However, she made a promise to her husband that she would make corrections to the novel and send the book to print.

Shilovskaya notices that her husband listened to her every word, and then uttered a rather meaningful phrase "To know."

Bulgakov's biographers claim that it was a list of the writer's enemies, both literary and ideological. Nevertheless, Mikhail Afanasyevich passionately desired to publish his novel. It is believed that the last phrase in a conversation with his wife meant that readers would receive a certain warning from the writer through his work.

“One of the strongest impulses leading to art and science is the desire to get away from everyday life with its painful cruelty and inconsolable emptiness, to get away from the bonds of your own ever-changing whims. But a positive one is added to this negative reason.

A person strives to create in himself a simple and clear picture of the world; and this is not only in order to overcome the world in which he lives, but also in order to, to a certain extent, try to replace this world with the picture he created.

A. Einstein

"Principles of Scientific Research"

In Bulgakov's works, mysticism and reality are so intertwined that it is not always possible to separate them. It seems that if you remove any mystical detail, reality will lose its significance.

But why do people read fiction? Probably for the same reasons as children loving fairy tales, - to believe in the events of the book. It’s scary, of course, to think that Azazello and Woland live somewhere nearby. But this means that somewhere a great novel is being written, Pilate flies to the window, Behemoth puts on a “tie”, your Master goes for a walk, and your Margarita is already carrying disgusting yellow disturbing flowers in her hands.

I propose to plunge for some time into the world of fantasy and illusion

Today, when the planet was captured by "technical fever", it may seem that there is nothing strange in the "humanization" of the dog.

Let's dive into history a bit.

Even 100-150 years ago, people did not know about computers, or about the possibilities of medicine, or about many concepts and things that modern man mundane.

In our age of advanced technology, people have completely ceased to pay attention to the fact that they are surrounded by mystery. It seems that any phenomenon can be explained in terms of science. Mankind has forgotten about the world of books - a world where the boundaries between reality and fantasy are blurred. The mystical component of life is forgotten, without which everyday life becomes insipid and boring. But there are books that keep stories of incredible events.

Once upon a time, in the Middle Ages, there was Demonology - a section of medieval Christian theology (western branches of Christianity), considering the issue of demons and their relations with people. The knowledge gained from Demonology was widely used by Bulgakov in the novel The Master and Margarita.

Diaboliad - one of Bulgakov's favorite motifs, was vividly written out in The Master and Margarita. But mysticism in the novel plays a completely realistic role and can serve as an example of a grotesque-fantastic, satirical exposure of the contradictions of reality. Woland sweeps over Moscow with punishing force. His victims are mocking and dishonorable people. Otherworldliness, mysticism, as it were, do not correlate with this devil. If such a Woland did not exist in a country steeped in vices, then it would be necessary to invent him.

Almost every mystical detail or event has a real prototype.

1) Ball with Satan.

According to the memoirs of the third wife of the writer E. S. Bulgakova (recorded by V. A. Chebotareva), in the description of the Great Ball with Satan, impressions of a reception at the American Embassy in Moscow on April 22, 1935 were used.

For a disgraced writer like Bulgakov, a reception at the American embassy is an almost unbelievable event, comparable to a ball at Satan's. Soviet graphic propaganda of those years often depicted "American imperialism" in the guise of a devil. In the Great Ball at Satan's, real signs of the furnishings of the American ambassador's residence are combined with details and images of literary origin.

2) Variety Theatre.

The prototype of the Variety Theater was the Moscow Music Hall, which existed in 1926-1936. and located not far from the "bad" apartment at the address: B. Sadovaya, 18. Now the Moscow Theater of Satire is located here. And until 1926, the circus of the Nikitin brothers was located here, and the building was specially built for this circus in 1911 according to the project of the architect Nilus. By the way, the Nikitin circus is also mentioned in " dog heart". And the program of the Variety Theater contains a number of purely circus numbers, such as the "miracles of the Julie family's bicycle technology", the prototype of which was the famous circus cyclists of the Poldi (Podrezovyh) family, who successfully performed on the stage of the Moscow Music Hall.

3) Bad apartment.

The prototype of the Bad Apartment was apartment No. 50 in house No. 10 on B. Sadovaya Street in Moscow, where Bulgakov lived in 1921-1924. In addition, some features of the layout of the Bad Apartment correspond to a more spacious apartment No. 34 in the same building where the writer lived from August to November 1924. The fictitious number 302-bis is the encrypted number 10 of the prototype building according to the formula 10 = (3 +2)x2.

And yet the most mystical image in Bulgakov's novel is Woland, who leads the world of otherworldly forces. Woland is the devil, Satan, "the prince of darkness", "the spirit of evil and the lord of shadows" (all these definitions are found in the text of the novel).

Some lovers of Bulgakov's work draw a parallel between Woland and the director psychiatric clinic Professor Stravinsky, noticing the portrait resemblance. Woland - "in appearance - more than forty years old" and "smoothly shaved." Stravinsky is "a carefully shaven man of about forty-five, like an actor." Satan has a traditional distinguishing feature - different eyes: "the right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason", "the right one with a golden spark at the bottom, drilling anyone to the bottom of the soul, and the left one is empty and black, sort of like a narrow coal ear, like exit to the bottomless well of all darkness and shadows. The professor is a man with "very piercing eyes".

Yes, Bulgakov's novel is about a great and eternal confrontation. It is about good and evil, love and hate, reality and mysticism. However, the author found a very unusual funny form to express his thoughts about the endless enmity of the world, about the meaning of happiness, about peace and reconciliation. Laughing, humanity says goodbye to its past. History put the writer in a more difficult position. Bulgakov's laughter is a form of struggle with his own present.

It is surprising that he is not aggressive, there is no malice in him, revenge for a trampled, warped fate, for a poor life, for injustice and for terrible physical suffering. Yes, of course, in the novel everything goes to hell in the literal sense. Styopa Likhodeev goes to Yalta in the most unusual way in the world, the Griboedov restaurant and a store for not quite ordinary citizens are on fire. The mocking Bassoon with a cat and a primus stove make fun of the employees of the famous house on the square, but all this has an incredibly chaotic carnival tone. This is laughter

So, summing up, we can say that Bulgakov skillfully combines the mystical and real components in the novel "The Master and Margarita", immersing us in a world where a miracle is possible. An enthusiastic reader feels like a guest at Satan's Ball and at the Variety Theater at a performance, talks with Pontius Pilate along with Yeshua, and even leaves for Eternity. At the same time, having a special vision, one can notice Woland or Margarita passing by in a modern city, carrying disgusting yellow flowers, or even the flashed tail of a Behemoth cat. You just need to want