Read online Master and Margarita in abbreviation. Analysis of the work “The Master and Margarita. Incident in the house of Nikanor Ivanovich

Chapter 1. Never talk to strangers

On a hot summer day, the head of the Soviet literary association (MASSOLIT) Mikhail Berlioz and the simple-minded proletarian poet Ivan Bezdomny meet on the Patriarch's Ponds in Moscow. Berlioz gives Ivan guidelines regarding the poem about Jesus Christ that he is writing. The homeless man paints Christ in it with black paints, but Berlioz believes: it would be better to prove to the Soviet reader that Jesus never existed at all.

Master and Margarita. Feature Film

A strange-looking citizen in an expensive gray suit, looking like a foreigner, suddenly sits down on the bench with them. He begins to assure that God exists, and he controls the lives of people and the world. Writers skeptically ridicule this opinion, but the foreigner suddenly declares that he knows what kind of death Berlioz will die: his head will be cut off, because “Annushka has already bought sunflower oil and spilled it.”

Berlioz and Bezdomny are wondering who the strange man in front of them is: a madman or a foreign spy who is deliberately fooling them? The unknown man, as if reading their thoughts, shows his passport in the name of the professor of black magic Woland, and then begins to vividly tell what happened in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago.

Patriarch's Ponds. The place in Moscow where the action of the novel “The Master and Margarita” begins

Chapter 2. Pontius Pilate

The Roman procurator (governor) of Judea, Pontius Pilate, tormented by a terrible migraine, has to deal with the case of the traveling preacher Yeshua Ha-Nozri on Easter days. Jewish authorities arrested him on charges of calling for the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. Ha-Nozri, brought before Pilate, does not look like a dangerous troublemaker. He explains that he only figuratively predicted the destruction of the temple of the old faith and the erection in its place of love for truth in human hearts. (See the text of the interrogation scene.) Looking shrewdly at Pilate, Yeshua suddenly guesses his headache and in some incomprehensible way relieves the procurator of it.

Pilate feels sympathy for Ha-Notsri, wanting to continue to use his mysterious medical art. The procurator summons the Jewish high priest Kaifa and persuades him to have mercy on Yeshua. However, Kaifa sharply refuses, saying that Ha-Nozri’s preaching shakes the Jewish faith. Pilate, in anger, threatens the high priest with revenge, but, unable to help Yeshua any more, announces in front of a huge Jewish crowd in the square of Jerusalem that he will be executed today along with two robbers.

Chapter 3. Seventh proof

Having told the writers about Pilate, Woland suddenly begins to assure them that he himself was present two thousand years ago during all these events on the balcony of the procurator. These words finally convince Berlioz and Ivan of the professor’s madness. Berlioz gets up to go to the pay phone to call the police or doctors. But Woland, laughing, says that he will now be presented with a seventh, additional to the six already existing in philosophy, proof of the existence of both God and the devil.

Berlioz runs to Malaya Bronnaya. A strange, half-drunk man in checkered trousers and a jacket stands up to meet him from another bench and, grimacing, points to the exit from the alley. The tram is just turning to Malaya Bronnaya. Berlioz stops to wait for him, but his feet at the turnstile suddenly fall on something slippery. Unable to resist, the chairman of MASSOLIT flies onto the rails. His head rolls out from under the wheels of the tram, which did not have time to brake.

Place of death of the head of MASSOLIT Berlioz. Modern look. The tram line no longer exists

Chapter 4. The Chase

Ivan Bezdomny sees with horror: Berlioz’s head is cut off, as the mysterious foreigner predicted. A woman’s cry is heard from the street: “This Annushka of ours, from Sadovaya, took some sunflower oil from the grocery store and smashed a liter on the turntable. And this poor fellow slipped on the oil and went onto the rails!”

Ivan rushes to grab Woland, but he is already walking away to the end of the alley. He is accompanied by that crook in a checkered suit who pointed Berlioz to the turnstile, and by a huge black cat who came from nowhere.

Ivan rushes after the villains. But at the Nikitsky Gate, the “checkered” one jumps onto the bus, and the cat jumps onto the tram step, also holding out a ten-kopeck piece to the conductor in his paw. Ivan can’t catch up with the professor: he moves at terrible speed and soon disappears in the alleys. In search of Woland, Ivan breaks into a communal apartment. He does not find the professor there, but grabs a dusty icon and a candle from the dirty kitchen in order to defend himself against evil spirits. Completely distraught, Bezdomny jumps from the embankment into the Moscow River: to check if there is a devilish professor in it? While the poet is swimming, his clothes are stolen from the embankment. Wearing only underpants, with a candle and an icon, Ivan rushes to the residence of MASSOLIT - the “house of Griboyedov”.

Chapter 5. There was an affair in Griboedov

The “Griboedov House” on the Boulevard Ring, where the board of the association of “proletarian writers” greedy for generous handouts from the authorities is located, is known throughout Moscow. Most of all, it is famous for its luxurious restaurant, where you can order dishes that are exotic by Soviet standards for incredibly cheap prices. Only those with a MASSOLIT ticket are allowed into the restaurant.

A meeting of the association's board of directors is scheduled for this evening, to be chaired by Berlioz. The board members wait in vain for him until midnight, and then go down to the restaurant to have dinner, drink and dance to a jazz orchestra. But in the midst of the ensuing fun, news comes of the terrible death of Berlioz.

A commotion breaks out in the restaurant hall. And on the path at the entrance to the restaurant, a ghost-like man in long johns with an icon on his chest and a candle in his hand suddenly appears. Writers have difficulty recognizing the famous poet Bezdomny. He shouts that a foreign spy and wizard has appeared in Moscow and must be caught urgently. Ivan barely manages to be tied up and sent by car to a psychiatric hospital. Fellow writers suspect he has delirium tremens.

Chapter 6. Schizophrenia, as was said

Bezdomny, brought to a mental hospital, rages terribly there, calling the doctor who approached him a “pest”, and the poet Ryukhin, who was sent to accompany him from the “house of Griboedov”, “a dunce, mediocrity and a typical kulak masquerading as a proletarian.” Ivan incoherently tells how “a spy who personally talked with Pontius Pilate placed Misha Berlioz under a tram,” and then tries to call the police to call “five motorcycles with machine guns to capture a foreign consultant.”

A homeless man is given a sedative injection. He falls asleep. The orderlies take him to solitary ward No. 117. The doctor explains to Ryukhin: Ivan apparently has schizophrenia, aggravated by alcoholism.

Chapter 7. Bad apartment

The director of the Variety Theater Styopa Likhodeev wakes up in the morning from a heavy drinking session at home, in one of the apartments of the six-story building No. 302 bis on Sadovaya Street. This apartment has long had a bad reputation. Recently it was owned by the widow of a jeweler, Anna Frantsevna de Fougere, who rented out three rooms to tenants. But first the residents, and then Anna Frantsevna, disappeared somewhere without a trace after short visits from the police. The state took the apartment, and soon Likhodeev and Berlioz received warrants for rooms here.

Opening his eyes with difficulty, Styopa suddenly sees with fear an unknown man on his sofa. He speaks affably to Likhodeev, introducing himself as professor of black magic Woland. He assures that Styopa himself invited him to his place this morning, because yesterday he signed a contract with him for seven performances in the Variety Show with sessions of black magic, but, apparently, he forgot about it after yesterday's drinking.

Woland invites Likhodeev to get over his hangover from the already prepared table, served with vodka and snacks. Styopa goes out into the corridor and calls the financial director of Variety Rimsky. He confirms: the agreement with Woland was indeed concluded. But returning to Woland’s room, Likhodeev suddenly sees there also a certain mocking person in a checkered suit and a large black cat who drinks vodka from a glass, snacking on a pickled mushroom from a fork. “This is my retinue,” explains the professor. “And it seems to me that now you are superfluous in this apartment!”

Another unknown person emerges from the mirror of the dressing table - small, broad-shouldered, fiery red-haired with a huge fang sticking out of his mouth. The cat calls him Azazello. Woland orders Azazello to “throw out the lazy and drunkard Likhodeev from Moscow.” Styopa's eyes are terribly dizzy. He comes to his senses on the seashore, near the city of Yalta.

See Chapter 7 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 8. The duel between the professor and the poet

Ivan Bezdomny wakes up in the morning in a hospital room. After breakfast, accompanied by a large retinue of doctors, the head of the hospital, the famous psychiatrist professor Stravinsky, enters him.

Ivan convinces that he is not a schizophrenic, but immediately retells his story from yesterday about the death of Berlioz - and even more confusingly. Stravinsky persuades the poet to stay in the hospital for now and offers to describe all the strange events that happened to him on paper.

See Chapter 8 for more details and the full text.

Chapter 9. Koroviev's things

Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, the chairman of the housing association of building No. 302-bis on Sadovaya, receives many applications with claims to Berlioz’s room in apartment No. 50. Bosoy goes to check this apartment - and is surprised to see that an unfamiliar citizen in a checkered suit is sitting in Berlioz’s room and pince-nez.

He rushes to shake Barefoot's hands, greeting him by name and patronymic. Introducing himself as Koroviev, he reports: the director of the Variety Show, Likhodeev, who lives here, went to Yalta and allowed the foreign artist Woland to stay with him for the time being.

Koroviev asks Bosoy to give Woland the room of the deceased Berlioz for a week: the rich foreign artist will pay the housing association a staggering sum of money for this - 5,000 rubles. Koroviev hands Bosom an already signed contract for this amount - and on top of that a 400 ruble bribe for the service.

Nikanor Ivanovich happily signs the contract and goes home. He hides 400 rubles in his dressing room and sits down to dinner. At this time, Koroviev calls the police from the telephone in apartment No. 50 and shouts in a whiny voice: “Our chairman of the housing association Bosoy is speculating in currency. He has $400 in his closet!”

Satisfied Nikanor Ivanovich, continuing his lunch, snacks on vodka and herring, but they call him, and a policeman comes in with the question: “Where is the toilet?” The police find a bundle of money in the restroom. To Bosogo’s horror, it’s not rubles that fall out, but foreign banknotes. "Dollars?" – the policeman says thoughtfully. Barefoot swears that he is not guilty of anything and yells: “We have evil spirits in our house!”

See Chapter 9 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 10. News from Yalta

The financial director of Variety Rimsky is sitting in his office with the administrator Varenukha. Both are worried: yesterday their boss Likhodeev, a famous drunkard, entered into an agreement to perform at the theater of a certain magician Woland. And from today’s phone call it turned out that Styopa doesn’t remember about this agreement - and still doesn’t show up for work.

Unexpectedly, the postman brings a telegram: a crazy-looking citizen in a nightgown has appeared at the Yalta criminal investigation department. He introduced himself as the director of the Variety Show Likhodeev, claims that he was “thrown into Yalta by the hypnosis of the magician Woland” and begs Rimsky and Varenukha to confirm his identity.

Rimsky and Varenukha are racking their brains: Styopa called them in the morning from his Moscow apartment - there was no way he could get to Yalta so quickly. Varenukha calls Likhodeev on Sadovaya and is surprised to hear an unknown sweet voice (Koroviev) answering on the phone: “Is that you, Ivan Savelyevich? Styopa went for a ride in the car, and the magician is busy now.”

The stunned Rimsky sends Varenukha to the police with copies of all the telegrams received. On the way, Varenukha runs into his office to pick up a cap. The phone is ringing there. Varenukha picks up the phone and hears: “Don’t be a fool, Ivan Savelyevich. Don’t carry these telegrams anywhere and don’t show them to anyone.”

Varenukha hangs up and runs through the summer garden to the police station. But near the restroom located in the garden, two people stop him: a small fat man with a muzzle that looks like a cat’s and some redhead with a fang in his mouth. “Were you warned not to carry telegrams anywhere?” - both yell

They beat the administrator, drag him along Sadovaya to house No. 302-bis and drag him into apartment No. 50. In the hallway, a completely naked girl with glowing phosphorescent eyes, a scar on her neck and hands as cold as ice appears in front of Varenukha. She leans towards him: “Let me kiss you!”

See Chapter 10 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 11. Ivan's split

Out of excitement, Ivan Bezdomny is unable to write a coherent story about yesterday’s events. It’s as if two people are fighting in it: one convinces himself not to make a fuss anymore, but the other objects: how can we forget that the foreigner knew about Berlioz’s death in advance!

In the evening, Ivan begins to fall asleep - and then the bars on the balcony of his solitary room move aside. In the moonlight, an unfamiliar man appears on the windowsill and, pressing his finger to his lips, whispers to Ivan: “Shh!”

See Chapter 11 for more details and the full text.

Chapter 12. Black magic and its exposure

Without waiting for Varenukha, Rimsky goes to watch Woland’s show, which is starting at the Variety Show. He arrives with two assistants: Koroviev and a large cat named Behemoth.

The magician and his assistants sit down in the middle of the stage. Woland, looking inquisitively at the audience, suddenly asks loudly: “I wonder if Muscovites have changed much - not in the sense of costumes and life, but internally, like people?»

To test this, Woland orders Koroviev and Behemoth to show the public tricks. Koroviev, with a wave of his hand, causes a rain of chervonets falling from the ceiling in the hall. Spectators rush to catch them, where and with a fight, demonstrating that no eternal human qualities are alien to them.

The host of the concert, entertainer Georges Bengalsky, assures that everyone sees money under the influence of hypnosis and now it will disappear. “Tear off this entertainer’s head,” someone from the audience shouts. The Behemoth cat immediately jumps on Bengalsky's chest and rips his head off his neck. The audience freezes at the sight of the gushing blood, but Behemoth, “forgiving” the entertainer, puts his head on his neck again and escorts him out of the hall.

Then suddenly the hall of a ladies' store appears on the stage with a lot of shoes, dresses and handbags. Behind the window stand a Hippopotamus with a centimeter on his neck and a red-haired girl with a scar on her neck who came from God knows where, in evening dress. They invite women from the audience to come on stage and exchange old dresses and shoes for new ones.

The ladies, one after another, begin to go to the “shop”, changing clothes and shoes. Here, from one box, the loud voice of the major theater director Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov is heard. He angrily demands that Woland “immediately expose to the audience the technique of his tricks, especially the trick with money bills.” Koroviev, in response, announces to the public that yesterday Sempleyarov, secretly from his wife, visited his mistress on Yelokhovskaya Street. The wife, sitting next to him in the box, gives Sempleyarov a stormy scandal and begins to call the police. Seeing that bedlam is rising in the hall, the cat Behemoth orders the orchestra to play a march. To the sounds of this music, Woland and his assistants dissolve into thin air.

See Chapter 12 for more details and the full text.

Chapter 13. The appearance of a hero

Meanwhile, Ivan Bezdomny’s unexpected guest - a man of about 38, with a sharp nose and anxious eyes - explains to the poet that he stole the keys to the balcony bars from the nurse and can secretly climb from ward to ward. He is surprised by Ivan’s story about the incident at the Patriarch’s, but believes that Woland is the devil. The guest says that he himself ended up in the hospital “because of Pontius Pilate” and begins to tell the story of his life.

A historian and translator, he used to work in a Moscow museum, but then he suddenly won a hundred thousand rubles on a bond and with this money he moved from a communal apartment on Myasnitskaya to a separate two-room basement in an alley near Arbat. Looking from the windows at the lilacs and maples blooming in the yard, he believed that his life now resembled paradise, and began to write a novel about Pontius Pilate.

Once on Tverskaya he accidentally saw a woman walking with a sad face and a bouquet of alarming yellow flowers in her hand. Among the thousands of people walking by, both of them noticed each other. He followed her down the alley. The woman stopped, put her black-gloved hand into his, and they walked on side by side. (See the text of the Master's monologue about the meeting with Margarita.)

It immediately became clear to both that they were made for each other. Although this woman had a husband, she began to go to her new beloved in the basement, where they baked potatoes together, drank wine or sat hugging each other. She really liked his novel and began to call him Master.

Soon he took the novel to one of the editorial offices. However, his “religious” topic was considered unsuitable for a Soviet magazine. Another editor nevertheless published an excerpt of the novel in one newspaper, but immediately there were devastating reviews against it from critics Latunsky and Mstislav Lavrovich, who demanded to “hit the pilatchina”, and the author of the novel was called almost a counter-revolutionary.

The Master's beloved shouted that she would poison Latunsky. Soon the slippery journalist Aloisy Mogarych managed to make acquaintance with the Master, who began to spend a long time with him. Articles against the novel in the newspapers did not stop, and the Master could no longer sleep for fear of imminent arrest. One night, in a fit of terrible anxiety, he lit the stove and began to burn his manuscript in it.

At that moment his beloved entered, who at home felt in her heart that something was wrong with the Master. She snatched the last half-burnt leaves from the stove, saying that she had decided tomorrow to explain herself to her husband and go live with the Master forever. He tried to dissuade her: after all, she could then be arrested along with him. But she insisted on her own and left, saying that in the morning she would move in with him forever.

But a quarter of an hour after she left, they came to arrest the Master. He was kept in prison for three months, and was finally released in January. Arriving in his courtyard and looking at the basement windows, he realized that someone else was already living there. Barely overpowering the desire to throw himself under a tram, he voluntarily went to the Stravinsky clinic. His beloved did not know what happened to the Master after his arrest. He did not announce himself, not wanting to upset her with a letter from a madhouse.

Having told all this to Ivan, the guest again disappeared through the balcony.

See Chapter 13 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 14. Glory to the Rooster!

The excited Rimsky runs into his office after Woland’s scandalous session and hears noise outside the window. Running up to him, he sees several ladies on the street wearing only pantaloons and understands: the dresses that Woland’s assistants distributed to women are now disappearing directly from the bodies of the owners.

The building is quiet. Rimsky realizes that he is left alone on the entire floor. Suddenly the key in the door of his office is carefully turned, and Varenukha enters.

He sits down at the table opposite Rimsky, but behaves very strangely: he talks with a strange smacking sound, covers himself with a newspaper. Rimsky suddenly notices a huge bruise near his nose, and then sees: under the chair where Varenukha is sitting, there is no shadow from him!

Catching Rimsky’s gaze, Varenukha jumps to the door and locks it with the lock button. Rimsky rushes to the window, but on the windowsill, on the other side, stands a naked girl with a scar on her neck and a face covered with corpse green.

Rimsky's hair stands on end. But then a rooster suddenly crows outside the window, announcing the onset of morning. The girl and Varenukha, with distorted faces, fly through the air through the window, and Rimsky rushes out of the theater as fast as he can, takes a taxi, goes to the station and leaves on the first train from Moscow to Leningrad.

See Chapter 14 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 15. Nikanor Ivanovich's dream

Considering Nikanor Bosy crazy, screaming about “evil spirits,” the police take him to Stravinsky’s clinic. After the injection, Nikanor Ivanovich falls asleep there and has a dream: in a large theater hall, without chairs, many men are sitting on the floor, suspected of storing currency. Many have clearly been here for a very long time, because they have a lot of beards. The compere comes on stage and begins to convince everyone to hand over foreign money and valuables to the Soviet state. He calls first one, then another from the audience, and shames him in front of the others. Some immediately agree to give up the currency. At the end, the artist Kurolesov emotionally reads excerpts from Pushkin’s “The Miserly Knight” in front of others, ending with a picturesque performance of the scene of the pitiful death of this old man obsessed with gold.

Barefoot sobs bitterly - and wakes up in the ward, shouting that he does not and never had any currency. They give him another sedative injection.

See Chapter 15 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 16. Execution

In the next room at the same time, Ivan Bezdomny has a dream about the execution of Yeshua Ha-Nozri. Roman soldiers crucify him and two convicted robbers on Bald Mountain near Jerusalem. His closest disciple, Matthew Levi, watches the torment of Yeshua in the terrible heat, wringing his hands.

However, a huge black cloud suddenly appears in the sky. Heavy rain is gathering. The Roman commander gives one executioner the signal to finish off the three executed. He stabs each of them in the heart with a spear. The guards leave, and Levi, in the pouring rain, removes Yeshua’s dead body from the pillar and takes it with him.

See Chapter 16 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 17. Restless day

The day after the damned session, a long line forms outside the Variety building for tickets to Woland’s new performance. But the police prohibit it. Everyone is looking for the missing Rimsky and Varenukha. The famous police dog Tuzbuben, entering Rimsky’s destroyed office, begins to howl terribly.

Variety accountant Vasily Stepanovich Lastochkin is instructed to first go to the Entertainment Commission with a report on yesterday’s incidents, and then to the financial entertainment sector to hand over yesterday’s cash register. However, taxi drivers do not agree to take Lastochkin right away: after Woland’s session, some passengers paid them with chervonets, which flew from the ceiling in the theater, and then all this money turned into stickers from bottles of Narzan!

At the Entertainment Commission, Vasily Stepanovich finds a terrible commotion. It turns out that in the morning some fat man with a muzzle like a cat brazenly broke into the office of the Chairman of the Commission, Prokhor Petrovich. He began to scold the shameless visitor, shouting: “Take him out, the devil take me!” - “The devil would they take it? Well, it’s possible! - said the visitor and disappeared, and all that was left of Prokhor Petrovich was his suit, who, sitting at the table without a head and body, continued to sign papers.

Another incident occurred at a branch of the Commission. The manager brought there a subject in a checkered suit and pince-nez, who volunteered to organize a glee club. The subject gathered his employees, began to sing the song “Glorious Sea, Sacred Baikal” with them, and then disappeared somewhere. The branch workers continued to sing, unable to stop, until they were all taken on three trucks to the Stravinsky clinic.

Stunned by these unusual cases, Lastochkin goes to hand over the money to the cash register. But when he unwraps his package at the window, foreign currency pours out instead of rubles, and the hapless accountant is immediately taken into custody by the police.

See Chapter 17 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 18. Unlucky Visitors

The uncle of the late Berlioz, Maximilian Poplavsky, receives a strange telegram in Kyiv: “I was just killed by a tram on the Patriarchs. Funeral Friday, three o'clock in the afternoon. Come. Berlioz." Poplavsky goes to Moscow to figure out what’s going on, and if his nephew really died, to try to inherit his capital apartment on Sadovaya.

In apartment No. 50, Koroviev meets his uncle, who, in response to the question of who gave the telegram, points to a large cat sitting on a chair nearby. The cat jumps off the chair: “Well, I gave a telegram. What's next?" Azazello came out from another room with the words: “Sit in Kyiv and don’t dream about any apartments in Moscow!” - takes Poplavsky out the door and down the stairs along with his suitcase, having previously taken out the fried chicken from the latter.

Uncle quickly leaves for Kyiv. And another visitor comes to apartment No. 50: the bartender of the Variety Theater Andrei Fokich Sokov. A completely naked girl with a scar on her neck opens the door for him and leads him to Woland as if nothing had happened.

The magician is having lunch with his entire company. Sokov, hesitatingly, tells how after yesterday's show, theater visitors paid in his buffet with chervonets flying from the ceiling, and today instead of them there was cut paper. The result is a shortage of 109 rubles.

"It's low! - Woland sympathizes with him. - But why are you selling rotten sturgeon in your buffet and pouring raw water into boiled tea? Are you poor at all? How much savings do you have?

Sokov turns pale and hurries to leave. In the hall, a naked girl hands him a hat. He puts it on, but on the stairs the hat suddenly turns into a kitten and grabs onto Andrei Fokich’s bald head. He barely fights off the scratching and runs away without memory.

Sokov comes to the best liver specialist, Professor Kuzmin, babbling: “I learned from reliable hands that I will soon die of cancer. I beg you to stop." Kuzmin looks at him as if he’s crazy, but gives directions for tests. Sokov puts 30 rubles on the doctor’s table for an appointment, but when he leaves, this money turns into labels from Abrau-Durso bottles.

Kuzmin stares at the labels in bewilderment, and next to them suddenly appears, first a black kitten, then a dancing sparrow and finally a girl dressed as a nurse. They all immediately melt into thin air. Kuzmin screams in horror and hastily calls his acquaintance, psychiatrist professor Bure.

Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”, part 2 – summary by chapter

Chapter 19. Margarita

The Master's beloved is called Margarita Nikolaevna. This 30-year-old woman is the wife of a very prominent specialist. She and her husband occupy the entire top (5 rooms) of a beautiful mansion in one of the alleys near Arbat. Margarita does not need anything, but she does not love her husband, and they have no children. On the day when the Master was arrested, Margarita actually came to move in with him, but she did not have time to talk to her husband before that, and, not finding her beloved in the basement, she returned back to the mansion.

All winter and spring she thinks about the missing Master, and soon after Woland appears in Moscow, she goes out for a walk around Moscow. On the trolleybus, Margarita hears two citizens whispering that the head of some famous dead man was stolen this morning.

She sits on a bench near the Kremlin wall. A funeral procession is passing by. An unfamiliar fiery red-haired man who sat down next to Margarita explains: they are taking Mikhail Berlioz, the chairman of MASSOLIT, to the crematorium. It was his head that was skillfully stolen from the coffin. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask about this theft of Behemoth,” notes the unknown person.

He tells Margarita his name: “Azazello,” and unexpectedly makes her an invitation to come to a noble foreigner in the evening. Margarita suspects that they are talking about something indecent and is about to leave. But Azazello suddenly begins to recite lines from the Master’s novel by heart.

Stunned, Margarita returns to the bench. Azazello hints to her that the disappeared Master is alive, and while visiting a foreigner she will be able to learn more about his fate. Margarita immediately agrees to come. Azazello gives her a box of some kind of cream and tells her to strip naked this evening, smear herself with it, and then wait for the phone call.

See Chapter 19 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 20. Azazello cream

In the evening, Margarita rubs herself with cream in her bedroom - and sees in the mirror that this makes her ten years younger. Her whole body turns pink and burns. Jumping for joy, Margarita discovers that she can fly through the air. Housekeeper Natasha almost faints when she sees her mistress in a new guise.

Azazello calls on the phone, saying that Margarita must now fly out of town, to the river, where they are already waiting for her. A floor brush hobbles towards Margarita from the next room. She jumps on top of it and flies out the window.

See Chapter 20 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 21. Flight

Invisible to passers-by, Margarita flies over the Arbat and soon finds herself near the eight-story “House of Playwright and Writer,” where writers and journalists live. Having entered the entrance unseen, she sees in the list of tenants the address of the critic Latunsky, who most vehemently trashed the Master's novel in the newspapers. Latunsky lives in apartment 84.

Having calculated the location of her windows, Margarita soars towards them on a brush. There are no owners in the apartment, and Margarita causes a terrible pogrom in it, smashing the piano with a hammer, cutting the sheets with a knife and letting water from the bathtub spill on the floor in all the rooms. With a triumphant cry, she flies out and begins to break windows on all floors of the Dramlita house. People come running downstairs, not seeing Margarita, wondering why the glass everywhere is bursting on its own.

Having enjoyed revenge, Margarita rises on a brush so high that all of Moscow seems like one big lake of lights. She flies for a long time at terrible speed, but then descends and slows down her flight over the dewy meadows. Natasha suddenly catches up with her from behind. She smeared herself with the remnants of Azazello cream, and then smeared it on the face of Nikolai Ivanovich, a neighbor-boss from the lower floor of the mansion, who came into their apartment and approached Natasha with obscene harassment. Nikolai Ivanovich turned into a hog from the cream. Natasha straddled him and flew on him like a witch.

Margarita lands on the banks of one of the rivers. In her honor, frogs are already playing a march, mermaids and witches are dancing. A car suddenly crashes here from the sky, with a rook sitting at the wheel instead of a driver. On this car Margarita flies through the air back to Moscow.

See Chapter 21 for more details and the full text.

Chapter 22. By candlelight

Rook lands the car in a cemetery near Dorogomilov. Azazello is already waiting for Margarita here. They fly together to apartment 50 in building No. 302-bis on Sadovaya and silently sneak into it past three police officers posted in the gateway and entrance for surveillance.

The apartment is dark. Margarita is met by Koroviev and explains to her: Sir Woland annually gives a spring ball on the full moon, for which a hostess is needed - a local native, who must bear the name of Margarita. After going through all the Margaritas in Moscow, Woland and his retinue decided that she was the most suitable.

Margarita agrees to become the hostess of the ball. Koroviev leads her to a room lit only by candles in a candelabrum with nests like bird’s feet. Woland sits on the bed in a dirty nightgown, playing chess with the cat Behemoth. Nearby, the naked witch Gella with a scar on her neck is preparing a brew to rub on Woland’s sore knee. The hippopotamus makes witty jokes and indulges in eccentricities. He gallantly bows to Margarita and puts on a tie for respectability, although he is not wearing pants. The chess pieces on the board are alive. The cunning cat tries to cheat when Woland announces check to his king, but then still admits his loss.

Azazello notifies Woland about the arrival of strangers: a beauty and a hog. Woland allows them to take part in the ball, which is about to begin.

See Chapter 22 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 23. Satan's Great Ball

Gella and Natasha wash Margarita with blood. A royal crown is placed on her, and an image of a black poodle on a heavy chain is hung around her neck. It is very difficult to hold him, but Koroviev mutters: “We must, we must!”

The hippopotamus squeals: “Ball!” – and everything is illuminated by a sea of ​​light. With the help of the “fifth dimension,” Satan’s retinue fits many huge rooms into an ordinary Moscow apartment. Margarita and Woland's servants fly through magnificent halls where waltzes and jazz orchestras composed of the best virtuosos are playing.

Margarita stands at the top of the huge staircase, which goes down into the Swiss staircase with an enormous fireplace. Coffins suddenly start jumping out of this fireplace. The ashes of the dead lying in them come to life, turning into gentlemen and naked ladies. They climb the steps to Margarita, kissing her knee, like the queen of the festival. Koroviev, standing nearby, explains: all these people are former murderers, poisoners, counterfeiters, pimps... Of all of them, Margarita especially remembers the young girl with crazy eyes. This is Frida, who once buried her son, born from an accidental relationship, in the forest, gagging him with a handkerchief. In hell she was punished by assigning a maid, who every evening puts that same handkerchief on her night table.

It is very difficult for Margarita to stand with a heavy chain around her neck. Her knee is swollen and sore from hundreds of kisses. But she heroically endures all the torment. After cheerful dancing and swimming in pools with champagne and cognac, the guests gather at the dais, where Woland comes out to Margarita. Azazello brings him a dish with Berlioz's severed head. “Mikhail Alexandrovich,” Woland addresses the head. – You have always been an ardent preacher of the theory that after death a person turns into ash and goes into oblivion. Let it be given to you according to your faith. You are going into oblivion, but I will be happy to drink from the cup into which you are turning into being.” At Woland's wave, all the coverings fall off the head, and it turns into a skull.

They also bring Baron Meigel, an agent of the Soviet police, to Woland, who, under the guise of “introducing foreigners to the sights of the capital,” ingratiated himself into their trust and spied on them. On behalf of his department, Meigel also came to the “bad apartment” No. 50. Woland orders Azazello to shoot him, and then drinks Meigel’s blood from a cup made from Berlioz’s skull to the health of all the guests. He brings this cup to Margarita. Overcoming herself, she also drinks blood. At this moment, the crowds of guests begin to disintegrate into dust. The ball ends, the hall disappears, and Margarita again finds herself in a room where candles are burning.

See Chapter 23 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 24. Extracting the Master

Woland has dinner with his retinue, inviting Margarita to the table. Behemoth and Koroviev play the fool at dinner, as usual, and Azazello demonstrates his murderous art: without turning around, he shoots over his shoulder at the seven of spades placed behind him and accurately pierces the upper right point. Margarita is tormented by the desire to ask about the Master, but out of pride she refrains from doing so.

“Perhaps you want to say something in parting?” - Woland asks her. - “No, nothing, sir.” - "Right! That's how it should be. Never ask for anything! Never and nothing, and especially among those who are stronger than you. They will offer and give everything themselves! What do you want, proud woman, for spending this ball naked?”

Margarita suddenly sees the face of the unfortunate child killer Frida before her eyes. She asks that Frida stop giving her the handkerchief she used to strangle her child. Woland fulfills this wish of hers and allows Margarita to ask for something for herself. “I want my lover, the Master, back,” she exclaims.

The window swings open, and a stunned Master in a hospital gown appears on the windowsill. Margarita rushes to him in tears.

Woland asks the Master to show him his novel about Pontius Pilate. “I can’t, I burned it,” he replies. - “This cannot be. Manuscripts don’t burn,” says Woland, and Behemoth immediately brings the novel’s notebooks to the Master.

The master persuades Margarita not to associate herself with him anymore. “With me you will be lost.” But Margarita does not listen and asks Woland to return the two of them to the basement of the alley on Arbat.

By magic, the Master’s acquaintance Aloysius Mogarych suddenly appears in the room. It turns out that it was he who handed the Master over to the authorities in order to take possession of his apartment in this way. Mogarych chatters his teeth in front of Woland: “I built a bath... whitewash... vitriol...” At the behest of Satan, Aloysia carries it out the window upside down.

Yielding to the fervent plea of ​​the housekeeper Natasha, Woland allows her to remain a witch forever. At his request, Nikolai Ivanovich is issued a certificate to present to his wife: “The bearer of this spent the mentioned night at Satan’s ball, having been brought there as a means of transportation (hog). Signed – Behemoth.” Woland also lets Varenukha go home, having been a vampire for two days.

Woland's retinue sees off the Master and Margarita. They are driven to the Arbat lane by the same car with a rook driver. In his basement, the Master soon falls asleep, and Margarita unfolds his manuscript and reads the continuation of the story about Pontius Pilate.

See Chapter 24 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 25. How the procurator tried to save Judah from Kiriath

After a terrible downpour in Yershalaim, Afranius, the head of the secret service, appears to the procurator, who, on his instructions, oversaw the execution of three convicts. He reports that Ha-Notsri refused to drink the poison that, by order of Pilate, was offered to him before the crucifixion. He did not want to save himself from severe torment and finally said that “among human vices, he considers cowardice to be one of the most important.”

Pilate shudders and thinks. He instructs Afranius to bury the bodies of those executed, and then asks if it is true that Judas of Kiriath, who betrayed Yeshua, should receive money for this from the high priest Caiaphas. “Yes, there is such information,” Afranius replies. “And I,” says Pilate, “received information that Judas will be slaughtered that night, and the reward he received will be thrown back to the high priest with a note: “I’m returning the damned money!”

Afranius is surprised at first, but then shrewdly peers into the procurator’s face. “I’m listening. Will they kill you like that, hegemon?” - “Yes, and all hope is only for your amazing diligence.” Afranius salutes and leaves.

See Chapter 25 for more details and the full text.

Chapter 26. Burial

After Afranius leaves, Pilate sits in anguish with his faithful dog - the huge Banga...

Meanwhile, Afranius visits the house of a merchant in Yershalaim and talks with his beautiful wife Nisa. Soon he leaves, and Nisa, dressed up, goes for a walk on the streets of the city, festively colored for Easter.

The young money changer Judas comes out of the house of the high priest Caiaphas with a satisfied face. Near the market square, Nisa, a woman with whom he has long been in love, passes by him as if by chance. Judas runs after her. Looking around, Nisa drags Judas into an inconspicuous courtyard and says: “If you want to meet me today, come a little later to the countryside olive estate, behind Kidron. I’ll wait for you there at the grotto.”

Nisa slips away, and Judas, after wandering around Yershalaim for some time, goes out the city gates and walks through the gardens to the appointed place. However, near the grotto, two armed men block his path. Judas prays that they do not take his life, handing them the money they received from Caiaphas - thirty tetradrachms. But the killers stab him with daggers. Afranius comes out from behind the trees. The killers tie the note given to them to their wallet and leave for the city.

Pilate, meanwhile, has a dream that he is walking along a luminous heavenly road straight to the Moon together with Ga-Notsri and Banga. The philosopher does not reproach him for today's execution. “Now we will always be together,” Yeshua says in his dream. “They will remember me, and now they will remember you too!” Pilate sobs and repents before him...

They wake up the prosecutor. Afranius enters and reports: “Judas from Kiriath was just found murdered, and the bag with the money he had on him was thrown to the high priest.” Pilate nods his head and asks how the burial of the bodies went. Afranius says that his close disciple, Matthew Levi, tried to steal Yeshua’s body, but was discovered with it in a cave near the place of execution.

Levi is brought in. Pilate asks to be left alone with him. “What are you going to do now that your teacher has died?” – the procurator asks Levi. - “Kill Judas of Kiriath.” - “He was already stabbed to death this night.” - "Who?!" - "I"...

See Chapter 26 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 27. The end of apartment No. 50

Moscow investigators are running wild, collecting materials about unexplained incidents in the city. Berlioz's head is never found, but the chairman of the Entertainment Commission, Prokhor Petrovich, returns to his suit as soon as the police enter his office, and the missing Rimsky is discovered in the Astoria Hotel in Leningrad, where he is hiding in a wardrobe. Rimsky begs that the police immediately place him in an armored cell with armed guards.

The police enter apartment No. 50 on Sadovaya several times, but it is empty. However, from there, from time to time, a nasal voice answers telephone calls. The sounds of a gramophone can be heard from the windows of the apartment, and on the windowsill the neighbors see a black cat basking in the sun. On Friday evening, on behalf of the investigators, Baron Meigel, who had previously arranged a visit by telephone, goes to the apartment. But when ten minutes later the police enter 50th, it is empty again. Maigel is gone!

Styopa Likhodeev flies to Moscow from Crimea and talks about meeting Woland in his own apartment. Varenukha also returns home, telling the police that for two days he played the role of a vampire guide for the magician’s company. It is also learned that the prominent leader Nikolai Ivanovich, not being at home one night, then presented his wife with a certificate that he was at Satan’s ball.

Finally, on Saturday afternoon, two groups of operatives from two different entrances break into apartment No. 50. Again, there are no people there, just a black cat sitting on the fireplace. But for some reason he holds a primus in his paws and addresses the police in a human voice: “I’m not being naughty, I’m not hurting anyone, I’m fixing the primus.”

The operatives begin to shoot at the cat. At first, blood pours out of his body, but he takes a sip of gasoline from the primus, and the wounds heal before his eyes. The cat pulls out a Browning gun from behind his back and, swinging on the chandelier, begins to shoot at the police himself. There is incessant shooting in the living room, although there are no dead or wounded from it. And from the next room a voice is suddenly heard: “Messir! Saturday. The sun is bowing. It is time".

“I have to go,” the cat shouts and splashes gasoline from the primus onto the floor. It flares up horribly. In the blink of an eye, the entire apartment lights up, and in the middle of it, the corpse of Baron Meigel suddenly begins to appear, gradually becoming thicker. The cat jumps out the window and rushes across the roof, and people in the yard see three male shadows and one silhouette of a naked woman fly out of the fifth floor window along with the smoke.

See Chapter 27 for more details and its full text.

A quarter of an hour after the fire started on Sadovaya, a long citizen in a checkered suit and a fat man in a torn cap with a primus in his hands, looking like a cat, enter one of the Moscow Torgsins (shops selling for currency). This, naturally, is Koroviev and Behemoth.

The hippopotamus, without paying money, takes several tangerines from the counter and devours them along with the peel. Then he swallows, along with the foil, one chocolate bar and a couple of Kerch herrings from a barrel standing right there. The saleswoman calls the manager in horror, although Koroviev sincerely explains to her: “This poor man has been fixing the primus all day and is hungry... but where can he get the currency?” The manager calls the police. But as soon as the policemen enter, Behemoth douses the counter with gasoline from the primus stove, and the store is engulfed in flames. Both bullies fly up to the ceiling and burst like balloons.

Exactly a minute later, Behemoth and Koroviev find themselves at Griboyedov’s house. “Why, here literary talents grow and ripen like pineapples in greenhouses!” - Koroviev exclaims solemnly.

Both friends head to a writer's restaurant. The young watchwoman does not want to let them in without a MASSOLIT certificate. But the impressive director of the restaurant, Archibald Archibaldovich, appears. Knowing about the session at the Variety Show and other events of these days, he is also aware that the “checkered” and the “cat” were indispensable participants in them. Archibald immediately guesses who these visitors are, prefers not to quarrel with them and orders them to be allowed into the restaurant hall.

Koroviev and Behemoth clink glasses of vodka, but several policemen with revolvers suddenly run into the restaurant and start shooting at them. Both victims immediately melt into the air, and a column of fire shoots out from Behemoth's primus. In the blink of an eye, it covers both the restaurant and the Griboyedov House itself. Soon all that remains are firebrands.

See Chapter 28 for more details and the full text.

Chapter 29. The fate of the Master and Margarita is determined

At sunset, Woland and Azazello sit on the stone terrace of one of the most beautiful buildings in Moscow, looking at the smoke from the Griboedov fire rising from the boulevard. From the round tower on the roof behind Woland, a ragged, gloomy man in a chiton suddenly emerges, looking angrily at Satan - Matvey Levi.

« He sent me,” says Levi. – He I read the Master’s work and asks you to take it with you and reward it with peace.” - “Why don’t you take him into the world?” “He didn’t deserve light, he deserved peace. And take the one who loved and suffered for him too.” - “What would your good do if evil did not exist, and what would the earth look like if shadows disappeared from it? – Woland asks Matvey with disdain. “Don’t you want to rip off the entire globe, removing every living thing from it because of your fantasy of enjoying the naked light?”

Levi disappears. Woland sends Azazello to the Master and Margarita. Koroviev and Behemoth appear, smelling of smoke from them. Behemoth's face is covered in soot, his cap is half-burnt, and in his paw he is carrying salmon he grabbed from the restaurant.

“Now a thunderstorm will come,” says Woland, “and we will set off.” A large black cloud rises on the horizon and gradually covers Moscow, as it once covered Yershalaim.

See Chapter 29 for more details and its full text.

Chapter 30. It's time! It's time!

The Master and Margarita are sitting in their basement. Margarita hugs the Master: “How you suffered, my poor one! You have gray threads in your head! But now everything will be dazzlingly good.”

Azazello enters them. Margarita joyfully greets him. All three sit down to drink cognac. “Messer said hello to you,” Azazello reports, “and invited you to take a short walk with him.” He takes out a moldy jug: “This is a gift to you from Messire. The same Falernian wine that the procurator of Judea drank.”

Azazello pours. The Master and Margarita, having drunk it, lose consciousness and fall to the floor. After waiting a little, Azazello pours a few more drops of the same wine into their mouths. The lovers come to life. Margarita’s face shows peace; the witch’s features disappear from it.

“The thunderstorm is already thundering! - Azazello hurries. - Horses dig the ground. Say goodbye to the basement! He pulls out a burning brand from the stove and sets fire to the tablecloth on the table. The whole room lights up. “Burn, burn, old life! Burn, misery!

Right there, in the courtyard, all three sit on three black snoring horses waiting for them and fly over Moscow in the downpour. At the Stravinsky Clinic, the Master and Margarita descend towards the window of Ivan Bezdomny’s room.

In the dark silhouette that approached him, he recognized the Master. “Have you found her? Such a beauty! – Ivan mutters, looking at Margarita. “And I will never write poetry again.” I learned a lot while I was lying here.”

They say goodbye to Ivan and fly away. A minute later, Ivan learns from nurse Praskovya Fedorovna that his neighbor in room 118 has just died. - "I knew it! – Ivan says thoughtfully. “And now another person has died in the city.” Woman".

See Chapter 30 for more details and the full text.

Chapter 31. On the Sparrow Hills

After a thunderstorm, Woland and his retinue, the Master and Margarita stand on horseback at the top of the Sparrow Hills. The master runs up to the cliff to say goodbye to Moscow. When he sees the city, he first feels aching sadness, then it turns into a feeling of deep and bloody resentment, and that into proud indifference and a premonition of constant peace.

Behemoth and Koroviev finally whistle so loudly and dashingly that the whirlwind from the whistle splashes a river tram with unharmed passengers from the Moscow River onto the shore. "It's time!!" - Woland shouts loudly and terribly. Horses soar into the sky.

See Chapter 31 for more details and the full text.

Chapter 32. Forgiveness and Eternal Shelter

During the flight, Margarita sees how the appearance of her companions changes. The joker Koroviev turns into a knight with a thoughtful, never smiling face, and the fat Behemoth turns into a thin young jester. Woland tells Margarita that they were once a knight and a jester. Azazello loses his human features, taking on the appearance of a demon killer, with a cold, white face. The Master wears his long hair in a braid, and boots with spurs appear on his feet. Woland now looks like a huge block of darkness.

Woland stops on a rocky, joyless flat top, where a man sits silently. There is no one next to him except his faithful dog Banga.

“Here is the hero of your novel,” Woland says to the Master. “He has been sitting here for almost two thousand years and during the full moon he dreams of a vision of a luminous road to it, along which he wants to go next to the prisoner Ga-Nozri.”

“Let him go!” – Margarita screams shrilly. Woland nods to the Master, and he loudly exclaims: “Free! He is waiting for you!"

From this cry, the vast city of Yershalaim with a lunar road to it appears in front of the mountain peak where they stand. The procurator and his devoted dog rush along it.

“And should I go there?” - asks the Master. “No,” Woland answers. “Why pursue in the footsteps of what is already over?” - “So, that’s where we’re going?” – The master points back, where the outlines of the just abandoned Moscow are woven from the darkness. - "Also no. What should you do in the basement? Better go for a walk with your girlfriend under the cherry blossoms, listen to Schubert’s music and write like Faust with a quill pen.”

Yershalaim and Moscow disappear, Woland and his retinue fall on horseback into the abyss, disappearing from view, and a small house with a Venetian window entwined with grapes appears in front of the Master and Margarita. They walk towards him along a mossy bridge across a stream. “Here is your home, your eternal home,” says Margarita. “I will take care of your sleep in it.” (See the text of Margarita's final monologue.) The master feels an unprecedented calm, as if someone had set him free, just as he himself had just set his hero free...

See Chapter 32 for more details and its full text.

Epilogue

The Moscow police have been investigating the case of a mysterious gang of a foreign professor for a long time. Rumors about him spread throughout the country. In different parts of it, frightened people catch and exterminate innocent black cats. Citizens named Volman, Volper, Volokh, Korovin, Korovkin and Karavaev were arrested in different cities. When a man accidentally enters a restaurant in Yaroslavl with a primus in his hands, all the visitors run away from him in panic.

Everything that happened is explained by the fact that the members of the criminal gang were hypnotists of unprecedented power. Psychiatrists come to the conclusion that the cat invulnerable to bullets in apartment No. 50 was apparently a mirage that Koroviev, who was standing behind them, inspired the policemen with.

The strange disappearance of Margarita Nikolaevna and her housekeeper Natasha from Moscow is attributed to kidnapping: the gang could have been attracted by the beauty of these women. The motives for the abduction of a mentally ill patient from room 118 of the Stravinsky clinic remain unclear.

Georges Bengalsky, having spent three months in the hospital, no longer returns to serve in the Variety. He always has the habit of suddenly and fearfully grabbing his neck. Styopa Likhodeev is transferred to Rostov to the position of manager of a grocery store, and Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov is transferred to Bryansk, as head of a mushroom procurement point. Rimsky, turning gray after his adventures, is in a hurry to move from Variety to the children's puppet theater. Nikanor Bosoy, after leaving the Stravinsky clinic, hates the poet Pushkin and the artist Savva Potapovich Kurolesov until the end of his life. Bartender Andrei Fokich Sokov dies at the predicted time from liver cancer.

Aloysius Mogarych, a day after meeting Woland, comes to his senses on a train, somewhere near Vyatka, without trousers. But this weasel quickly returns to Moscow. Having learned that his basement burned down, within two weeks he finds himself a new room, on Bryusovsky Lane, and soon takes up Rimsky’s former position at Variety.

Every year on the day of the spring full moon, Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev (Bezdomny), now a professor at the Institute of History and Philosophy, comes to the Patriarch’s Ponds. He sits for two hours on the very bench where he talked with Berlioz on the fateful day, smokes, looks at the moon and at the turnstile. Then he always walks along the same route, through Spiridonovka into the Arbat alleys, past the same Gothic mansion, to which he is drawn by an inexplicable force. On this day, on a bench near the mansion, he always sees a respectable man in pince-nez with slightly pig-like features, who also looks at the moon, whispering from time to time: “Oh, I’m a fool!.. Why didn’t I fly away with her?”

Returning home, Ivan cries and tosses around in his sleep all night. His wife is forced to give him a calming injection, after which the former poet dreams of a bright road stretching from his bed to the Moon. Ga-Notsri and Pontius Pilate walk along it, talking. Then, in a stream of moonlight, a beautiful woman and a man with a beard, fearfully looking around, appear. The woman kisses Ivan on the forehead and goes to the moon with her companion...

See the Epilogue for more details and its full text.

“The Master and Margarita” is usually studied in the 11th grade. This is a complex work that is written based on the gospel of Nicodemus, a secret follower of Jesus Christ. Our chapter-by-chapter summary will help you remember the plot of the novel. If it is too long for you, we suggest it for a reader's diary, and we also recommend reading.

Chapter 1. Never talk to strangers

In Moscow, Mikhail Berlioz, a short, plump and bald man, the head of one of the capital's leading literary associations MASSOLIT, and his companion, the poet Ivan Ponyrev, who wrote under the name Bezdomny, were walking on the Patriarch's Ponds. Surprisingly, there was no one else on the alley except them. The men drank apricot and sat down on a bench. Here another strange thing happened: Berlioz’s heart suddenly sank, and he was overcome by fear, which made him want to run wherever his eyes were looking. After that, he saw in the air a transparent citizen with a mocking face, dressed in a checkered jacket. Soon the man disappeared, so the chairman attributed the incident to heat and fatigue. Having calmed down, he began to talk with his friend about the Son of God. Berlioz ordered Bezdomny to write an anti-religious poem, but the leader was not satisfied with the result. Jesus turned out to be realistic, but it was necessary to show that he never existed.

While Berlioz was giving a lecture to Bezdomny on this topic, a man appeared in the alley. He appears to be a tall man in his forties. His right eye was black and his left eye was green, clean-shaven, the crowns of his teeth on one side were platinum and on the other gold, richly dressed, a foreigner. He sat down with the men. The foreigner was interested in their atheism and remembered how he had talked with Kant on this topic, which surprised Berlioz and Bezdomny. The stranger asked who, if not the Almighty, controls everything on earth, to which Ivan replied that people do this. The foreigner said that they could not even know their fate in advance. After this, a suspicious person predicted to Berlioz that that evening he would lose his head because of the girl who spilled the oil. Then he advised Bezdomny to ask doctors what schizophrenia is. Later, the stranger said that he was invited to the capital of Russia as a consultant on black magic. The man was convinced of the existence of Jesus, and began to tell the story.

Chapter 2. Pontius Pilate

The Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, duly interrogated the arrested man. The prisoner called him a kind person, but the judge denied this. Next, the centurion Mark, nicknamed the Rat Slayer, at the request of Pilate, explained to the prisoner with the help of a whip that the Roman procurator should be called hegemon. The arrested man introduced himself as Yeshua Ha-Nozri from Gamala. He was educated: in addition to Aramaic, he also knew Greek. The prisoner had no relatives. The hegemon asked whether Yeshua really wanted to destroy the temple, as they said. The prisoner replied, people got everything mixed up because they did not receive the proper education. He also told about Levi Matthew, who collected taxes, but lost interest in money after listening to Yeshua’s sermons, and went with him to travel. The prisoner realized that Pilate had a headache, and he wanted his beloved dog to be nearby. When Yeshua told the hegemon about this, the malaise stopped. Pontius Pilate considered that this man was innocent, and even took a liking to the traveler. The procurator was about to pardon him, but then the secretary submitted a report from Judas from Kiriath that Yeshua considered power to be violence, and that one day it would not exist, and the kingdom of truth would come. It seemed to the hegemon that an ulcer appeared on the prisoner’s head and his teeth fell out, but soon the vision disappeared. Pontius Pilate, being a representative of the authorities, could not get away with such a crime. The procurator was afraid that if he released Yeshua, he himself would take his place on the cross. Therefore, the hegemon imposed a death sentence, but in the hope that the arrested person would be pardoned in honor of Easter. The High Priest Joseph Caiaphas reported that he had pardoned the robber Varavan. Pilate could not convince him. The convicts were taken to Bald Mountain, and the hegemon returned to the palace with a feeling of sadness.

Chapter 3. Seventh proof

By the time the consultant finished the story, it was already evening. The stranger stated that the gospels were not a reliable source. The man said that he was present at those events. Here Berlioz finally realized that the stranger was crazy. After the mentally ill person said that he would be staying in Mikhail Alexandrovich’s apartment, he left him with Ivan, and he ran around the corner to the phone. The stranger sadly asked Berlioz to finally at least believe in the existence of the devil. The writer played along and ran away.

On the way, he noticed the same man who was flying in the air, only no longer transparent, but the most ordinary one, but did not talk to him. Berlioz was not stopped by the phrase that suddenly appeared in the glass box: “Beware of the tram!” Mikhail Alexandrovich slipped and fell on the tram track. The counselor with the scarlet bandage slowed down, but it was too late. The tram ran over Berlioz, and his severed head galloped down the street.

Chapter 4. The Chase

Paralyzed by fear, Ivan Bezdomny fell onto the bench, unable to understand that his comrade was no longer there. Hearing conversations about Annushka and butter, the poet immediately remembered the stranger’s words, returned to him and blamed him for what had happened. The foreigner “stopped” understanding Russian, and the man in a checkered jacket stood up for him. Ivan guessed that they were together and tried to catch him, but his comrades began to move away with supernatural speed. In addition, they were joined by a huge cat. Ivan ran after them, and the gang split up. Checkered left on the bus, the cat tried to pay for the trip on the tram, but the conductor wouldn’t let him in, so he hitched a ride on the back and left for free. Later, Bezdomny lost that foreigner in the crowd.

Deciding that the criminal must certainly end up in apartment 47 of building No. 13, Ivan burst in, but was mistaken. There were other people in the house. Grabbing a candle and a paper icon, the poet ran out of the house and went to look for the alleged criminal on the Moscow River. The homeless man undressed and left his belongings for safekeeping with a stranger. Returning to the shore, the poet discovered that instead of his clothes there were some cast-offs. Ivan, annoyed, changed into what was left for him and went to search further.

Chapter 5. There was an affair in Griboedov

A meeting of writers under the leadership of Mikhail Berlioz was planned for that evening at Griboedov's house. The subordinates waited for their boss, discussing those who received the dachas, and suggesting why the chairman was delayed. Without waiting for him to appear, people went down to the restaurant and began to have a fun evening. Upon learning of Berlioz's sudden death, they plunged into short-lived grief.

When the half-naked poet Ivan Bezdomny found himself in a restaurant looking for a foreigner, the writers sent him to a psychiatric hospital.

Chapter 6. Schizophrenia, as was said

At the hospital, Ivan told the doctor the whole truth about the death of his comrade. He was even glad that they were listening to him, although he was outraged that he, an adequate person, was thrown into a psychiatric hospital.

In addition to the doctors, the poet Ryukhin was also in the hospital, who testified: he reported what Bezdomny usually was like and in what condition he came to the restaurant. There, Ivan shouted and even got into fights with other writers.

From the hospital, Bezdomny called the police to detain the consultant, but no one there would listen, deciding that the poet was crazy. Bezdomny was diagnosed with schizophrenia, so he was not released. Ryukhin left, offended by Ivan, who called him mediocre.

Chapter 7. Bad apartment

The director of the capital's Variety Theater Stepan Likhodeev woke up after drinking in apartment No. 50, where he lived with Berlioz. Stepan saw his ugly reflection in the mirror, and next to him a stranger. The man introduced himself as Woland, a specialist in black magic, and said that they agreed to meet an hour ago. Stepan didn't remember anything. Woland allowed him to recover from his hangover, and his memory gradually began to recover, but Stepan still did not remember this gentleman. Likhodeev studied the contract shown by Woland, where all the signatures were in place, then he went to call and, passing by Berlioz’s room, was surprised that it was sealed.

Stepan spoke with financial director Rimsky, who confirmed the conclusion of the contract. Woland was joined by Koroviev, the big cat and the short red-haired Azazello. The company decided that it was time to get rid of Likhodeev. After this, Stepan ended up in Yalta.

Chapter 8. The duel between the professor and the poet

The homeless man wanted to go to the police to put the man from Patriarch’s Ponds on the wanted list, but the doctors said that they wouldn’t believe him and would send him back to the psychiatric hospital. In this regard, Ivan began to write a statement right there.

Dr. Stravinsky argued that Bezdomny was very saddened by the death of his comrade, and he needed to rest. Ivan agreed to live in the ward, where food was brought to him.

Chapter 9. Koroviev's jokes

The head of the housing association at building No. 32 bis, Nikonor Ivanovich Bosogo, began to be pestered by citizens who wanted to get the room in which the chairman of MASSOLIT lived. Exhausted by these people, the man went to the ill-fated apartment, where in a sealed room he met a man in checkered clothing, who introduced himself as Koroviev, a translator for a foreigner who lived in this apartment. At the same time, he advised Nikonor Ivanovich to look at the letter from Likhodeev, which was in his bag. In it, Stepan wrote that he was leaving for Yalta and asked to temporarily register Woland in his apartment. After a bribe of five thousand rubles and a receipt, the matter was resolved and the chairman left.

Woland expressed a desire not to see Bosogo again. Koroviev called and said that Nikonor Ivanovich was making money on foreign currency. They came to Bosom to check and found dollars on the man, and the contract disappeared along with Woland’s passport, which the chairman took for paperwork.

Chapter 10. News from Yalta

Stepan Likhodeev went to the criminal investigation department of Yalta, from where he sent a telegram to Variety to confirm his identity. Rimsky and his fellow administrator Varenukha took it as a joke, because just a few hours ago the director called them on their home phone and said that he was going to go to work. The men called Stepan back at home, and Koroviev said that he had gone for a car ride out of town. Varenukha sensed something was wrong and prepared to go to the police. The phone rang and they told me not to go anywhere. Varenukha did not listen.

On the way, he was caught by robbers, dragged into apartment No. 50, where he was met by a naked girl with burning eyes and deathly cold hands, who wanted to kiss him. This made the man faint.

Chapter 11. Ivan's split

Because of his excitement, Ivan Bezdomny could not write a coherent text about what happened. In addition, there was a thunderstorm outside the window. The poet cried from powerlessness, which worried the paramedic Praskovya Fedorovna, who closed the window with curtains and brought him pencils.

After the injections, Ivan began to come to his senses and decided that there was no need to worry so much about Berlioz’s death, since he was not even related to him. Ivan thought and mentally communicated with himself. When he was ready to fall asleep, a man appeared on his window and said: “Shh.”

Chapter 12. Black magic and its exposure

The financial director of Variety Rimsky did not understand where Varenukha was. The boss wanted to call the police, but for some reason not a single phone in the theater worked. Woland arrived to them with a man in plaid and a large cat. Entertainer Georges Bengalsky introduced the consultant, saying that there is no such thing as witchcraft, and the speaker is a master of magic.

Woland began the session with words about people. In his opinion, they had become completely different externally, and wondered whether changes had occurred internally. The magician conjured a rain of money, which Muscovites began to catch, pushing and swearing. Georges of Bengal informed the public that these were just tricks, and the money would now disappear. Someone from the audience said to tear off Georges' head. The Behemoth cat did it right away. Blood gushed from his neck. Then the cat forgave the entertainer, put his head back on and let him go. Then Woland conjured up a foreign clothing store on stage, where you could exchange your belongings for new fashionable and expensive items of clothing. The ladies immediately went there. Here one of the leaders, Arkady Sempleyarov, angrily demanded exposure. Koroviev told the audience that this man had gone to see his mistress the day before. His wife, who was sitting next to him, started a scandal. Soon Woland and his retinue disappeared.

Chapter 13. The appearance of a hero

The man who entered Ivan’s room introduced himself as a foreman and said that he had access to the balcony because he had stolen the keys. He could have escaped from the hospital, but he had nowhere to go. When Bezdomny said that he writes poetry, the guest winced and admitted that he did not like poetry. Ivan promised not to write again. The stranger reported that a man was brought into one of the wards, who talked incessantly about the currency in the ventilation and evil spirits. When Ivan told the guest that he was in the hospital because of Pontius Pilate, he immediately perked up and asked for details. Then the unfamiliar man expressed regret that the critic Latunsky or the writer Mstislav Lavrovich did not take the place of the chairman of MASSOLIT. At the end of the story, the master said that the poet had met with Satan.

An unfamiliar man told about himself. He was writing a novel about the procurator of Judea. Later the master met the woman he loved. She was married, but the marriage was unhappy. When the novel was written, the publishing house did not accept it; only a small piece was published, followed by a harsh critical article. The critic Latunsky spoke especially badly about the novel. The master burned his brainchild. The woman said that she would kill Latunsky. The master also had a friend Alozy Mogarych, who read his novel. When the woman went to her husband to break off relations with him, there was a knock on the writer’s door. He was evicted from his apartment and went to live in a psychiatric hospital. He didn’t say anything to his beloved so as not to drag her into his problems.

Ivan asked the master to tell the contents of the novel, but he refused and left.

Chapter 14. Glory to the Rooster!

Rimsky sat at his work and looked at the money that had fallen from the ceiling at the will of Woland. He heard a police trill and saw half-naked women outside the window. The new clothes for which they exchanged the old ones disappeared. The men laughed at the ladies. Rimsky wanted to call and report what had happened, but then the phone itself rang and a woman’s voice from the receiver said not to do this, otherwise it would be bad.

After some time, Varenukha came. He said that Stepan had not been to any Yalta, but got drunk in Pushkin with a telegraph operator and began sending comic telegrams. Rimsky decided that he would remove the offender from his post. However, the more Varenukha told, the less the financial director believed him. In the end, Rimsky realized that it was all a lie, and also noticed that the administrator did not cast a shadow. Rimsky pressed the panic button, but it did not work. Varenukha closed the door. Then, after three rooster crows, he flew out the window along with a naked girl who suddenly appeared. Soon the graying Rimsky was traveling by train to Leningrad.

Chapter 15. Nikanor Ivanovich's dream

Nikanor Bosoy, while in a psychiatric hospital, talked about the dark force in apartment No. 50. They checked the home, but everything turned out to be in order. After the injection, the man fell asleep.

In a dream, he saw people sitting on the floor and a young man who was collecting currency from them. Then the cooks brought soup and bread. When the man opened his eyes, he saw a paramedic holding a syringe. After the next injection, Nikanor Ivanovich fell asleep and saw Bald Mountain.

Chapter 16. Execution

Under the command of Centurion Mark, three convicts were led to Bald Mountain. The crowd watched what was happening, no one made an attempt to save these people. After the execution, unable to withstand the heat, the spectators left the mountain. The soldiers remained.

One of Yeshua’s disciples, Levi Matthew, was on the mountain. He wanted to stab the teacher before execution in order to give him an easy death, but it didn’t work out. Then Matvey began to ask God to grant Yeshua death. It still didn’t come, so the student began to curse the Almighty. Thunderstorm began. The soldiers pierced the criminals with spears in the hearts and left the mountain. Levi carried away the body of Yeshua, at the same time untying the other two corpses.

Chapter 17. Restless day

Variety's accountant Lastochkin, who remained in the theater as the eldest, was in extreme confusion. He was embarrassed by the rumors circulating around Moscow, frightened by the disappearance of Rimsky, Likhodeev and Varenukha, discouraged by the commotion during and after the performance, and horrified by the endless calls from investigators. All documents about Woland and even posters disappeared.

Lastochkin went to the entertainment and entertainment commission, but instead of the chairman, he saw only an empty suit who was signing papers, and in the branch a man in checkered organized a choir, disappeared himself, and the women could not stop singing. Then Lastochkin wanted to hand over his profits, but instead of rubles he had dollars, and he was arrested.

Chapter 18. Unlucky Visitors

The uncle of the late Berlioz, Maxim Poplavsky, came from Ukraine to Moscow for his nephew’s funeral. He was somewhat surprised that he himself sent a telegram about his death. However, the uncle found benefit in Mikhail's misfortune. Having long dreamed of an apartment in the capital, he went to house number 32 bis in the hope of inheriting a relative’s space. There was no one in the housing association, and in the room he was met by a fat cat, a man in checkered clothing who called himself Koroviev, and Azazello. Together they took his passport and lowered him down the stairs.

The barman entered the apartment and reported his grief: Woland’s audience paid him with money that fell from the ceiling, and then the profit turned into garbage, and he suffered great losses. Woland said that he would soon die of cancer, so he didn’t need a lot of money. The barman immediately ran for examination. The money he used to pay the doctor also became unnecessary paperwork after the patient left.

Part two

Chapter 19. Margarita

The young, pretty and intelligent woman whom the master loved was named Margarita. Her husband was wealthy and adored his young wife. They had a very large living space in the center of Moscow and servants. However, in her heart, before the master appeared, Margarita was unhappy, since she and her husband had nothing in common. One day she came to her beloved, did not find him at home and began to worry, but she could not find him. The unfortunate heroine was very worried about his fate and was sad.

While walking, the woman met the funeral procession of Berlioz, whose head had disappeared. Margarita asked the red-haired man if there was a critic of Latunsky among these people. The man, whose name was Azazello, pointed at him. Red said that he knew where her lover was and offered to meet. He gave her a cream that needed to be used at a specified time and asked her to wait for the escort.

Chapter 20. Azazello cream

Margarita was in her room. At the right time, she smeared the cream on her skin, which made her even more beautiful, and her body became so light that, jumping, the woman hovered in the air.

The phone rang. Margarita was told to say the word “Invisible” while flying over the gate. At that moment a floor brush appeared. The woman gave her things to the maid Natasha, and she flew away on a brush.

Chapter 21. Flight

Margarita did not fly high. When she reached Latunsky’s house, she climbed into his apartment, where there was no one at that time, and began to destroy everything, at the same time flooding the neighbors. After that, Margarita flew on.

After some time, Natasha, flying on a hog, caught up with her. She also smeared herself with the cream, and at the same time rubbed it on her neighbor’s bald head, on whom the cream had an unusual effect. Then Margarita plunged into the lake, where she was met by mermaids and other witches, after which the sideburn man and the goat-footed man put the woman in the car, and she flew back to the capital.

Chapter 22. By candlelight

Margarita flew to house No. 32 bis, and Azazello took her to the former apartment of Berlioz and Likhodeev, where Koroviev met the woman. Where she found herself was a large hall with a colonnade and no electricity. We used candles. Koroviev said that a ball was planned, the hostess of which should be a woman named Margarita, in whom royal blood flows. It turned out that she was just a descendant of one of the French queens.

Woland immediately realized that Margarita was very smart. Natasha and the hog were also there. The maid was left with the mistress, and they promised not to kill the neighbor.

Chapter 23. Satan's Great Ball

Margarita was washed with blood, then with rose oil, after which she was rubbed with green leaves until she shined and put on very heavy clothes and jewelry. Koroviev said that the guests will be very different, but no one should be given preference. At the same time, it was necessary to devote time to everyone: smile, say a few words, turn your head slightly. The cat exclaimed: “Ball! ", after which the light came on, and corresponding sounds and smells appeared.

World celebrities such as Vietan and Strauss gathered in the hall. Margarita with Koroviev, the cat and Azazello greeted the guests - the inhabitants of the underworld, whose sins the interlocutors savored. Most of all, the hostess of the ball remembered Frida, who buried her living newborn illegitimate son in the forest, putting a handkerchief in his mouth. After that incident, that thing was placed next to her every day. After the roosters crowed, the guests began to leave.

Chapter 24. Extracting the Master

At the end of the ball, Woland asked Margarita what she would like. The woman did not take up the offer. Then he repeated it. Margarita asked that they not bring Frida a scarf. The wish was fulfilled.

The man said that she could choose something for herself. Margarita said that she wanted to live with the master at his home. Her lover was immediately nearby. Woland gave him the novel and papers for the apartment, and the slanderer Aloysius Mogarych, who obtained his housing by deception, was thrown out of the window. Margarita and the master returned home.

Chapter 25. How the procurator tried to save Judah from Kiriath

Pontius Pilate met with the head of the secret service. The man said that Yeshua called cowardice one of the worst vices.

The procurator said that Judas would soon be killed, and gave the man a heavy bag. According to Pilate, the traitor will receive money for denunciation of Yeshua, and after the murder it will be given to the high priest.

Chapter 26. Burial

Judas came out of the high priest's house and saw the girl Nisa, for whom he had long had feelings. She made an appointment with him. Near the agreed meeting place, Judas was stabbed to death, and the coins were actually thrown back to the high priest with a note about return.

At this time, Pilate had a dream that he was walking towards the Moon along the lunar path with his dog Banga and Yeshua. The companion said that from now on they will always be together. Levi Matthew told the hegemon that he wanted to kill Judas for betrayal, but Pilate himself avenged him.

Chapter 27. The end of apartment No. 50

By morning Margarita finished reading the chapter. Life in Moscow began to gradually recover. Rimsky, Likhodeev and Varenukha were found. Citizens from the psychiatric hospital were interrogated again, taking their words more seriously.

Soon people in civilian clothes came to apartment No. 50. Koroviev said that they had come to arrest them. Woland and his comrades disappeared. All that was left was the cat who started the pogrom and the fire.

Koroviev and the cat caused a row in the store. They skillfully manipulated the crowd by entering a store where they only accepted currency as payment. The heroes introduced themselves as ordinary hard workers, and Koroviev made an impassioned speech against the bourgeoisie who could arrange shopping in such a store. Then a man from the crowd of onlookers attacked the rich buyer. After frightening the sellers and customers, they started a fire.

Then the couple went to the MASSOLIT restaurant. They introduced themselves as dead writers, and the obsequious administrator let them out of harm's way, but immediately, promising to personally supervise the preparation of the fillet for the guests, he called the NKVD. The arriving operatives, without wasting time on explanations, began to shoot, and the mysterious “writers” disappeared, and before that the cat set the entire hall on fire again, spilling flames from the primus stove.

Chapter 29. The fate of the master and Margarita is determined

In the evening, Woland and Azazello stood on the terrace of one of the most attractive buildings in the capital. Stuck nearby was the “consultant’s” long sword, which cast a distinct shadow.

Soon Matthew Levi came to them. He did not greet Woland because he did not wish him health. Satan said that light without shadows would be meaningless, pointing to the sword. The ambassador said that Yeshua asks Woland to take the master to him, because he is not worthy of light, but deserves peace. Satan agreed.

Chapter 30. It's time! It's time!

Margarita was stroking her beloved master and suddenly met Azazello right in the cozy basement. Red fatally poisoned a couple in love with red wine and immediately resurrected them, declaring the will of the master. Then they set the house on fire, mounted their horses and the three of them rushed to heaven.

Flying past the hospital, the master said goodbye to Ivan, who was surprised by Margarita’s beauty. When the lovers disappeared and the paramedic entered, the former poet learned from her that the neighbor had died. Ivan reported that a lady also died in the city.

Chapter 31. On the Sparrow Hills

When the bad weather was over, a rainbow shone in the capital. After the lovers said goodbye to the capital, Woland soon took them with him.

Chapter 32. Farewell and eternal shelter

During the journey, the always cheerful Koroviev turned into a serious and thoughtful knight, Behemoth - into a thin jester, and Azazello - into a demon. The master had a braid and long cavalry boots on his feet. Woland took on the appearance of a block of darkness.

On the way, they met a man who was sitting next to his dog Banga and dreamed of going with Yeshua. At Margarita's request, Woland released Pontius Pilate. Then Satan showed the lovers their new house with a Venetian window covered with grapes. Margarita told the master that there she would protect his sleep.

Epilogue

Life for Muscovites has improved. Everything that happened was attributed to a mass hallucination caused by skilled magicians.

Ivan Ponyrev (Bezdomny) stopped writing poetry, and often came to the place where he last spoke with Berlioz. He found a new job as a professor of history and philosophy. Georges of Bengal remained alive and well, but he developed a habit of suddenly grabbing his neck, checking to see if his head was in place. Rimsky and Likhodeev changed jobs. The barman died of cancer. Aloisy Mogarych woke up on a train near Vyatka, but found himself without pants. Soon he returned to Moscow and took Rimsky's place. Ivan Ponyrev often dreamed of Pontius Pilate walking along the lunar path next to Yeshua, and a beautiful woman kissing the former poet on the forehead and leaving for the moon with her companion.

The Master and Margarita is Bulgakov’s legendary work, a novel that became his ticket to immortality. He thought about, planned and wrote the novel for 12 years, and it went through many changes that are now difficult to imagine, because the book acquired an amazing compositional unity. Alas, Mikhail Afanasyevich never had time to finish his life’s work; no final edits were made. He himself assessed his brainchild as the main message to humanity, as a testament to descendants. What did Bulgakov want to tell us?

The novel opens up to us the world of Moscow in the 30s. The master, together with his beloved Margarita, writes a brilliant novel about Pontius Pilate. It is not allowed to be published, and the author himself is overwhelmed by an impossible mountain of criticism. In a fit of despair, the hero burns his novel and ends up in a psychiatric hospital, leaving Margarita alone. At the same time, Woland, the devil, arrives in Moscow along with his retinue. They cause disturbances in the city, such as black magic sessions, performances at Variety and Griboedov, etc. The heroine, meanwhile, is looking for a way to return her Master; subsequently makes a deal with Satan, becomes a witch and attends a ball among the dead. Woland is delighted with Margarita's love and devotion and decides to return her beloved. The novel about Pontius Pilate also rises from the ashes. And the reunited couple retires to a world of peace and tranquility.

The text contains chapters from the Master's novel itself, telling about events in the world of Yershalaim. This is a story about the wandering philosopher Ha-Nozri, the interrogation of Yeshua by Pilate, and the subsequent execution of the latter. The inserted chapters are of direct importance to the novel, since their understanding is the key to revealing the author's ideas. All parts form a single whole, closely intertwined.

Topics and issues

Bulgakov reflected his thoughts about creativity on the pages of the work. He understood that the artist is not free, he cannot create only at the behest of his soul. Society fetters him and ascribes certain boundaries to him. Literature in the 30s was subject to the strictest censorship, books were often written to order from the authorities, a reflection of which we will see in MASSOLIT. The master was unable to obtain permission to publish his novel about Pontius Pilate and spoke of his stay among the literary society of that time as a living hell. The hero, inspired and talented, could not understand its members, corrupt and absorbed in petty material concerns, and they, in turn, could not understand him. Therefore, the Master found himself outside this bohemian circle with the work of his entire life, which was not permitted for publication.

The second aspect of the problem of creativity in a novel is the author’s responsibility for his work, its fate. The master, disappointed and completely desperate, burns the manuscript. A writer, according to Bulgakov, must achieve truth through his creativity; it must benefit society and act for the good. The hero, on the contrary, acted cowardly.

The problem of choice is reflected in the chapters devoted to Pilate and Yeshua. Pontius Pilate, understanding the unusualness and value of such a person as Yeshua, sends him to execution. Cowardice is the most terrible vice. The prosecutor was afraid of responsibility, afraid of punishment. This fear completely drowned out his sympathy for the preacher, and the voice of reason speaking about the uniqueness and purity of Yeshua’s intentions, and his conscience. The latter tormented him for the rest of his life, as well as after his death. Only at the end of the novel was Pilate allowed to talk to Him and free himself.

Composition

In his novel, Bulgakov used such a compositional technique as a novel within a novel. The “Moscow” chapters are combined with the “Pilatorian” ones, that is, with the work of the Master himself. The author draws a parallel between them, showing that it is not time that changes a person, but only he himself is capable of changing himself. Constant work on oneself is a titanic work, which Pilate failed to cope with, for which he was doomed to eternal mental suffering. The motives of both novels are the search for freedom, truth, the struggle between good and evil in the soul. Everyone can make mistakes, but a person must constantly reach for the light; only this can make him truly free.

Main characters: characteristics

1. Yeshua Ha-Nozri (Jesus Christ) is a wandering philosopher who believes that all people are good in themselves and that the time will come when truth will be the main human value, and institutions of power will no longer be necessary. He preached, therefore he was accused of an attempt on the power of Caesar and was put to death. Before his death, the hero forgives his executioners; he dies without betraying his convictions, he dies for people, atoning for their sins, for which he was awarded the Light. Yeshua appears before us as a real person of flesh and blood, capable of feeling both fear and pain; he is not shrouded in an aura of mysticism.
2. Pontius Pilate is the procurator of Judea, a truly historical figure. In the Bible he judged Christ. Using his example, the author reveals the theme of choice and responsibility for one’s actions. Interrogating the prisoner, the hero understands that he is innocent, and even feels personal sympathy for him. He invites the preacher to lie to save his life, but Yeshua is not bowed down and is not going to give up his words. The official's cowardice prevents him from defending the accused; he is afraid of losing power. This does not allow him to act according to his conscience, as his heart tells him. The procurator condemns Yeshua to death, and himself to mental torment, which, of course, is in many ways worse than physical torment. At the end of the novel, the master frees his hero, and he, together with the wandering philosopher, rises along a ray of light.
3. The master is a creator who wrote a novel about Pontius Pilate and Yeshua. This hero embodied the image of an ideal writer who lives by his creativity, not looking for fame, rewards, or money. He won large sums in the lottery and decided to devote himself to creativity - and this is how his only, but certainly brilliant, work was born. At the same time, he met love - Margarita, who became his support and support. Unable to withstand criticism from Moscow's highest literary society, the Master burns the manuscript and is forcibly committed to a psychiatric clinic. Then he was released from there by Margarita with the help of Woland, who was very interested in the novel. After death, the hero deserves peace. It is peace, and not light, like Yeshua, because the writer betrayed his beliefs and renounced his creation.
4. Margarita is the creator’s beloved, ready to do anything for him, even attend Satan’s ball. Before meeting the main character, she was married to a wealthy man, whom, however, she did not love. She found her happiness only with the Master, whom she herself called after reading the first chapters of his future novel. She became his muse, inspiring him to continue creating. The heroine is associated with the theme of fidelity and devotion. The woman is faithful to both her Master and his work: she brutally deals with the critic Latunsky, who slandered them; thanks to her, the author himself returns from a psychiatric clinic and his seemingly irretrievably lost novel about Pilate. For her love and willingness to follow her chosen one to the end, Margarita was awarded by Woland. Satan gave her peace and unity with the Master, what the heroine most desired.

Woland's image

In many ways, this hero is similar to Goethe's Mephistopheles. His very name is taken from his poem, the scene of Walpurgis Night, where the devil was once called by that name. The image of Woland in the novel “The Master and Margarita” is very ambiguous: he is the embodiment of evil, and at the same time a defender of justice and a preacher of true moral values. Against the background of cruelty, greed and depravity of ordinary Muscovites, the hero looks rather like a positive character. He, seeing this historical paradox (he has something to compare with), concludes that people are like people, the most ordinary, the same, only the housing issue has spoiled them.

The devil's punishment comes only to those who deserve it. Thus, his retribution is very selective and based on the principle of justice. Bribe takers, incompetent scribblers who care only about their material wealth, catering workers who steal and sell expired food, insensitive relatives fighting for an inheritance after the death of a loved one - these are those whom Woland punishes. He does not push them to sin, he only exposes the vices of society. So the author, using satirical and phantasmagoric techniques, describes the customs and morals of Muscovites in the 30s.

The master is a truly talented writer who was not given the opportunity to realize himself; the novel was simply “strangled” by Massolitov officials. He was not like his fellow writers with a credential; lived through his creativity, giving it all of himself, and sincerely worrying about the fate of his work. The master retained a pure heart and soul, for which he was awarded by Woland. The destroyed manuscript was restored and returned to its author. For her boundless love, Margarita was forgiven for her weaknesses by the devil, to whom Satan even granted the right to ask him for the fulfillment of one of her desires.

Bulgakov expressed his attitude towards Woland in the epigraph: “I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good” (“Faust” by Goethe). Indeed, having unlimited capabilities, the hero punishes human vices, but this can be considered an instruction on the true path. He is a mirror in which everyone can see their sins and change. His most devilish feature is the corrosive irony with which he treats everything earthly. Using his example, we are convinced that maintaining one’s convictions along with self-control and not going crazy is possible only with the help of humor. We cannot take life too seriously, because what seems to us an unshakable stronghold so easily crumbles at the slightest criticism. Woland is indifferent to everything, and this separates him from people.

good and evil

Good and evil are inseparable; When people stop doing good, evil immediately appears in its place. It is the absence of light, the shadow that replaces it. In Bulgakov's novel, two opposing forces are embodied in the images of Woland and Yeshua. The author, in order to show that the participation of these abstract categories in life is always relevant and occupies important positions, places Yeshua in an era as distant as possible from us, on the pages of the Master’s novel, and Woland in modern times. Yeshua preaches, tells people about his ideas and understanding of the world, its creation. Later, for openly expressing his thoughts, he will be tried by the procurator of Judea. His death is not the triumph of evil over good, but rather a betrayal of good, because Pilate was unable to do the right thing, which means he opened the door to evil. Ha-Notsri dies unbroken and undefeated, his soul retains the light in itself, opposed to the darkness of the cowardly act of Pontius Pilate.

The devil, called to do evil, arrives in Moscow and sees that people's hearts are filled with darkness even without him. All he can do is denounce and mock them; Due to his dark essence, Woland cannot create justice otherwise. But it is not he who pushes people to sin, it is not he who makes the evil in them overcome the good. According to Bulgakov, the devil is not absolute darkness, he commits acts of justice, which is very difficult to consider a bad act. This is one of the main ideas of Bulgakov, embodied in “The Master and Margarita” - nothing except the person himself can force him to act one way or another, the choice of good or evil lies with him.

You can also talk about the relativity of good and evil. And good people act wrongly, cowardly, selfishly. So the Master gives up and burns his novel, and Margarita takes cruel revenge on the critic Latunsky. However, kindness does not lie in not making mistakes, but in constantly striving for the bright and correcting them. Therefore, forgiveness and peace await the loving couple.

The meaning of the novel

There are many interpretations of the meaning of this work. Of course, it is impossible to say definitively. At the center of the novel is the eternal struggle between good and evil. In the author’s understanding, these two components are on equal terms both in nature and in human hearts. This explains the appearance of Woland, as the concentration of evil by definition, and Yeshua, who believed in natural human kindness. Light and darkness are closely intertwined, constantly interacting with each other, and it is no longer possible to draw clear boundaries. Woland punishes people according to the laws of justice, but Yeshua forgives them in spite of them. This is the balance.

The struggle takes place not only directly for human souls. A person’s need to reach out to the light runs like a red thread throughout the entire narrative. True freedom can only be achieved through this. It is very important to understand that the author always punishes heroes shackled by everyday petty passions, either like Pilate - with eternal torments of conscience, or like Moscow inhabitants - through the tricks of the devil. He extols others; Gives Margarita and the Master peace; Yeshua deserves the Light for his devotion and faithfulness to his beliefs and words.

This novel is also about love. Margarita appears as an ideal woman who is able to love until the very end, despite all the obstacles and difficulties. The master and his beloved are collective images of a man devoted to his work and a woman faithful to her feelings.

Theme of creativity

The master lives in the capital of the 30s. During this period, socialism is being built, new orders are being established, and moral and moral standards are being sharply reset. New literature is also born here, with which on the pages of the novel we become acquainted through Berlioz, Ivan Bezdomny, and members of Massolit. The path of the main character is complex and thorny, like Bulgakov himself, but he retains a pure heart, kindness, honesty, the ability to love and writes a novel about Pontius Pilate, containing all those important problems that every person of the current or future generation must solve for himself . It is based on the moral law hidden within each individual; and only he, and not the fear of God's retribution, is able to determine the actions of people. The spiritual world of the Master is subtle and beautiful, because he is a true artist.

However, true creativity is persecuted and often becomes recognized only after the death of the author. The repressions affecting independent artists in the USSR are striking in their cruelty: from ideological persecution to the actual recognition of a person as crazy. This is how many of Bulgakov’s friends were silenced, and he himself had a hard time. Freedom of speech resulted in imprisonment, or even death, as in Judea. This parallel with the Ancient World emphasizes the backwardness and primitive savagery of the “new” society. The well-forgotten old became the basis of policy regarding art.

Two worlds of Bulgakov

The worlds of Yeshua and the Master are more closely connected than it seems at first glance. Both layers of the narrative touch on the same problems: freedom and responsibility, conscience and fidelity to one’s beliefs, understanding of good and evil. It’s not for nothing that there are so many heroes of doubles, parallels and antitheses here.

The Master and Margarita violates the urgent canon of the novel. This story is not about the fate of individuals or their groups, it is about all of humanity, its fate. Therefore, the author connects two eras that are as distant as possible from each other. People in the times of Yeshua and Pilate are not very different from the people of Moscow, the Master’s contemporaries. They are also concerned about personal problems, power and money. Master in Moscow, Yeshua in Judea. Both bring the truth to the masses, and both suffer for it; the first is persecuted by critics, crushed by society and doomed to end his life in a psychiatric hospital, the second is subjected to a more terrible punishment - a demonstrative execution.

The chapters dedicated to Pilate differ sharply from the Moscow chapters. The style of the inserted text is distinguished by its evenness and monotony, and only in the chapter of execution does it turn into a sublime tragedy. The description of Moscow is full of grotesque, phantasmagoric scenes, satire and ridicule of its inhabitants, lyrical moments dedicated to the Master and Margarita, which, of course, determines the presence of various storytelling styles. The vocabulary also varies: it can be low and primitive, filled even with swearing and jargon, or it can be sublime and poetic, filled with colorful metaphors.

Although both narratives are significantly different from each other, when reading the novel there is a feeling of integrity, so strong is the thread connecting the past with the present in Bulgakov.

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

Two storylines

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

The appearance of Woland

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

Death of Berlioz

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

Likhodeev in Yalta

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

Incident in the house of Nikanor Ivanovich

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

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

Woland's presentation

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

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

The Master's Tale

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

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

Meeting of Margarita with Azazello

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

Margarita - queen at Woland's ball

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

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

Pontius Pilate's decision

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

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

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

Woland and his retinue leave Moscow

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

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

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

Meaning of the work

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

The main idea of ​​the author

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

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

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

Out of time

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

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

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

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

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

The novel by M. A. Bulgakov is a masterpiece of world and domestic literature. This work remained unfinished, which gives each reader the opportunity to come up with his own ending, to some extent feeling like a real writer.

PART ONE

Chapter 1 Never talk to strangers

The next topic of conversation between Ivan Bezdomny and Mikhail Berlioz was Jesus Christ. They argued heatedly, which attracted the attention of a stranger who decided to have the audacity to interfere in their dialogue. The man resembled a foreigner in both appearance and speech.

Ivan's work was an anti-religious poem. Woland (the name of the stranger, who is also the devil himself) tried to prove the opposite to them, assuring them that Christ exists, but the men remained adamant in their convictions.

Then the foreigner, as proof, warns Berlioz that he will die from sunflower oil spilled on the tram rails. The tram will be driven by a girl in a red headscarf. She will cut off his head before she can slow down.