Developing a mystical and satirical storyline in the mythical novel The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov depicted modern reality. One of the main tasks of the writer was to reveal the moral side of man. To this end, the author draws in the novel an expressive mythical character - Woland, the prince of darkness, accompanied by his retinue (Azazello, Koroviev, Behemoth, Gella). In the "Moscow" chapters of the novel, where the activities of Boland and his retinue are described, Bulgakov, using all satirical techniques - from irony to the grotesque - exposes the spiritual insignificance of ignorant, hypocritical, cruel and greedy people. Woland's mission was to see if humanity has changed in two thousand years, to expose and punish people for their evil deeds, to restore justice. The author reveals the meaning of the image of Woland with the help of the epigraph to the novel: “I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good” (Goethe, “Faust”).
Woland paid a visit to Moscow, the country of socialism, where life should be built on the basis of goodness and justice, in order to assess the moral state of Muscovites. The victims of Woland's retinue are Moscow inhabitants, officials, people associated with the cultural life of Moscow, primarily near-literary Moscow. This is the chewing literary brethren who have turned literature into a source of satisfaction for their immoderate appetites.
Woland had his first meeting with Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, chairman of the MASS-LIT, and the poet Ivan Bezdomny, who argued with him about the existence of God. Ivan Bezdomny, brought up on the propaganda of atheism, argued that a person controls his own life, and not God. And Berlioz, a deceitful and unscrupulous man, did not believe in either God or the devil, and, taking advantage of his official position, morally corrupted such young poets as Ivan Bezdomny. The prince of darkness, testing his interlocutors, gave them a chance to show decency and think about the ignorance of the world. But in vain. For self-confidence and narrow-mindedness, for the stupid insistence that there is nothing that they have not seen, Berlioz paid with his life, and Ivan Bezdomny ended up in a lunatic asylum. They suffered not only for immorality and stupidity, but also for the limited knowledge, since they did not even allow the thought of the existence of any otherworldly power.
The next victim of Woland's retinue was the director of the variety show Styopa Likhodeev, a loafer, drunkard and libertine, whom the visitors sent to Yalta. Koroviev summarized his behavior as follows: “In general, they have been terribly swine lately. They get drunk, enter into relations with women, using their official position. And then the resourceful Azazello offered to "throw the hell out of Moscow" Styopa Likhodeev. Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, the chairman of the housing association, according to Woland, "a burnout and a rogue", suffered for greed and bribes (he was arrested for possession of currency). A well-deserved retribution overtakes Sokov, the barman of the variety show. He is a thief who has accumulated a huge amount of money by deceiving buyers, which he “keeps in five savings banks” and “at home under the floor.” On the day of the session of black magic, he sells sturgeon "second freshness". Convinced that conscience cannot be awakened in Sokovo, Woland and his team predict his death “in nine months from liver cancer in the clinic of the first Moscow State University, in the fourth ward.” And Koroviev completely finishes off the thief, saying that after the death of Sokov, his money will go to the state.
With the help of mysticism, fiction, Bulgakov ridicules everything that has lost its eternal truths, turned away from goodness, hardened and lied about. With bitter irony, the author describes a session of black magic in the Variety Theater, conducted by Koroviev-Fagot and the cat Behemoth. Woland and his retinue tested people's greed. After the trick with the cards, when one citizen found a large wad of money in his pocket, the audience was excited not by the miracle of their appearance, but by whether they were real or fake. And when the “money rain” fell, people rushed for money and were ready to crush each other, forgetting about human dignity. Georges of Bengal, who demanded "exposure", the public offered to tear off his head, which was instantly executed. And only a woman's cry for mercy made people come to their senses. Therefore, Woland sadly concludes: “Well ... they are people like people. They love money, but it has always been... Well, they are frivolous... well, well... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts... ordinary people... In general, they remind the former ones... only the housing problem spoiled them...” Woland, seeing that there is still mercy left in people, is ready to forgive their cruelty. The women who did not show themselves in the best way, rushing to the stage for gratuitous goods, were subjected to the next test. Thus, the public demonstrated their philistine mores. Of course, the money that rained down from the sky turned into simple pieces of paper, and the clothes and shoes from the ladies disappeared, as if exposing their spiritual poverty.
So, Woland and his retinue were worried about the question of whether the “Moscow population” had changed, he wanted to check the moral nature of man. What did he see? In Moscow, everything is the same, theft, denunciation, bribery flourish and people have lost moral values. Against people without conscience and honor, the punishing sword of justice of Woland's retinue was directed. To restore justice, according to Bulgakov, evil must be fought by the forces of evil.
why did Woland punish whom and how? (master and margarita) and got the best answer
Answer from Irina Polyakova[guru]
1. Berlioz is punished by Woland for his belief in imaginary values and for his conscious service to them. He not only preaches officially approved truths himself, but also demands this from his subordinates.
2. Pontius Pilate was punished with terrible torments of conscience, not because he authorized the execution of Yeshua, but because he did it contrary to his conscience, out of sheer cowardice.
3. Barefoot for illegal renting of apartments and bribery is first in the police, and then in a clinic for the mentally ill.
4.A. A. Semplyarov for excessive patronage of pretty girls flies out of the post of theater director and becomes the head of the mushroom harvesting point.
5. Andrei Fokich (variety bartender) is sentenced to death from liver cancer for causing damage to people's health.
6. Homeless 6 suffering. which fall to his lot because of the meeting with Woland, purify his soul and help to realize the monstrous absurdity of his poems and poems.
Answer from Denis Petrukhin[newbie]
I would like to meet Woland.
Answer from Yatiana[guru]
Varenukha is a lie
Rimsky - and could not understand why. Perhaps for callousness, heartlessness ...
Likhodeev - drunkenness
Georges of Bengal - vulgarity
Baron Meigel - provocateur, scammer
Answer from Yatyana Lektorovich[guru]
Woland does not harm people, punishes them only for immoral acts - greed, denunciation, groveling, bribes, etc. He is ironic, but not mocking, prone to mischief
The one who has evil in his soul is his ward. Woland himself does not multiply evil, but only monitors it, and, as necessary, stops and judges fairly.
Woland did not appear alone in Bulgakov's novel. He was accompanied by characters who played mainly the role of jesters. Woland's retinue put on a variety of shows that were disgusting. They were hated by the indignant Moscow population. After all, the entire environment of the “Messire” turned human weaknesses and vices inside out. In addition, their task was to perform all the "dirty" work at the behest of the master, serving him. Everyone who was part of Woland's retinue had to prepare Margarita for Satan's ball and send her with the Master to the world of peace.
The servants of the prince of darkness were three jesters - Azazello, Fagot (aka Koroviev), a cat named Behemoth and Gella - a female vampire. Woland's retinue was. Each character is described separately below. each reader of the famous novel has a question about the origin of the images presented and their names.
Describing the image of Woland and his retinue, the first thing I want to do is describe the cat. Basically, the Behemoth is a werewolf animal. Most likely, Bulgakov took the character from the apocryphal book - the "Old Testament" of Enoch. Also, the author could get information about the Behemoth in the book “The History of Intercourse between Man and the Devil”, written by I. Ya. Porfiriev. In the mentioned literature, this character is a sea monster, a demon in the form of an elephant-headed creature with fangs and a trunk. The hands of the demon were human. The monster also had a huge belly, an almost imperceptible small tail and very thick hind limbs, similar to those of hippos. This similarity explains his name.
In the novel The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov introduced the Behemoth to readers in the form of a huge cat, the prototype of which was the author's pet Flyushka. Despite the fact that Bulgakov's fluffy pet had a gray color, in the novel the animal is black, since its image is the personification of evil spirits.
At the time when Woland and his retinue made the final flight in the novel, Behemoth turned into a frail young page. Next to him was a purple knight. It was the transformed Fagot (Koroviev). In this episode, Bulgakov, apparently, reflected a comic legend from S. S. Zayaitsky's story "The Biography of Stepan Alexandrovich Lososinov." It deals with a cruel knight, with whom his page constantly appears. The main character of the legend had a passion for tearing off the heads of animals. This cruelty is transferred by Bulgakov to Behemoth, who, unlike a knight, tears off the head of a man - Georges of Bengal.
Behemoth is a demon of carnal desires, especially gluttony. Hence, the cat in the novel had an unprecedented gluttony in Torgsin (currency store). Thus, the author shows irony towards the visitors of this all-Union institution, including himself. At a time when outside the capitals people live from hand to mouth, people in big cities were enslaved by the demon Behemoth.
The cat in the novel most often plays pranks, clowns, makes various jokes, and scoffs. This character trait of Behemoth reflects the sparkling sense of humor of Bulgakov himself. This behavior of the cat and its unusual appearance became a way of causing fear and confusion in people in the novel.
What else is Woland and his retinue remembered by the readers of the novel? Of course, a bright character is the representative of demons subordinate to the devil, Fagot, aka Koroviev. This is Woland's first assistant, a knight and a devil rolled into one. Koroviev appears to the residents as an employee of a foreign professor, and a former director of the church choir.
There are several versions of the origin of the surname and nickname of this character. It is also associated with some images of the works of F. M. Dostoevsky. So, in the epilogue of the novel The Master and Margarita, four Korovkins are mentioned among the people detained by the police because of the similarity of their surnames with Kroviev. Here, apparently, the author wanted to point out a character from Dostoevsky's story called "The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants."
Also, the prototypes of Fagot are a number of knights, who are the heroes of some works of different times. It is also possible that the image of Koroviev arose thanks to one of Bulgakov's acquaintances. The prototype of the demon could be a real person, a plumber Ageich, who was a rare drunkard and dirty trick. He repeatedly mentioned in conversations with the author of the novel that in his youth he was one of the choir directors in the church. This, apparently, was reflected by Bulgakov in the incarnation of Koroviev.
The bassoon was a musical instrument invented by the Italian monk Afranio.
degli Albonesi. In the novel, the connection (functional) of Koroviev with this canon from Ferrara is sharply indicated. Three worlds are clearly defined in the novel, representatives of each of which form certain triads according to similar qualities. The demon Fagot belongs to one of them, which also includes: Stravinsky's assistant Fyodor Vasilyevich and Aphranius, the "right hand" of Pontius Pilate. Koroviev, however, made Woland his main associate, and his retinue did not contradict this.
The bassoon is even outwardly similar to the long and thin instrument of the same name, folded in three. Koroviev is tall and thin. And in his imaginary subservience, he is ready to triple in front of the interlocutor, but only in order to later unhinderedly harm him.
At the moment when Woland and his retinue were making their last flight in the novel, the author presents the reader with Fagot in the form of a dark purple knight, who has a gloomy, incapable of smiling face. He was thinking about something of his own, resting his chin on his chest and not looking at the moon. When Margarita asked Woland why Koroviev had changed so much, Messire replied that once this knight joked badly, and his mocking pun about light and darkness was inappropriate. For this, he was punished with jester manners, a gayer look and circus tattered clothes for a long time.
What other representatives of the forces of evil did Woland's retinue consist of? "The Master and Margarita" has another bright character - Azazello. Bulgakov created his name by converting one of the Old Testament ones. The book of Enoch mentions the fallen angel Azazel. It was he, according to the apocrypha, who taught people to create weapons, swords, shields, mirrors and various jewelry made of precious stones and more. In general, Azazel managed to corrupt. He also taught males to fight and women to lie, turned them into godlessness.
Azazzello in Bulgakov's novel gives Margarita a magic cream that magically changes her appearance. Probably, the author was attracted by the idea of combining in one character the ability to kill and seduce. Margarita sees the demon in the Alexander Garden just like that. She perceives him as a seducer and murderer.
The main duties of Azazello are certainly connected with violence. Explaining his functions to Margarita, he admits that his direct specialty is to punch the administrator in the face, shoot someone or put him out of the house, and other “trifles” of this kind. Azazello transfers Likhodeev to Yalta from Moscow, expels Poplavsky (Uncle Berlioz) from the apartment, deprives Baron Meigel of life with the help of a revolver. The demon-killer invents a magic cream that he gives to Margarita, giving her the opportunity to acquire witch beauty and some demonic powers. From this cosmetic product, the heroine of the novel gains the ability to fly and become invisible at her request.
Only one woman was allowed into their entourage by Woland and his retinue. Characteristics of Gella: the youngest member of the diabolical union in the novel, a vampire. Bulgakov took the name of this heroine from an article called "Sorcery", published in the encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron. It noted that such a name was given to the dead girls, who later became vampires, on the island of Lesbos.
The only character from Woland's retinue who is missing from the description of the final flight is Hella. One of Bulgakov's wives considered this fact the result of the fact that the work on the novel was not fully completed. But it may also be that the author deliberately excluded Hella from the important scene, as an insignificant member of the devil's retinue, performing only auxiliary functions in the apartment, variety show and at the ball. In addition, Woland and his retinue could not equally perceive a representative of the lower rank next to them in such a situation. In addition, Gella had no one to turn into, because she had her original appearance from the moment of transformation into a vampire.
In the novel "The Master and Margarita" the author defines the forces of evil with unusual roles for them. After all, the victims of Woland and his retinue are not righteous, not decent and kind people whom the devil should lead astray, but already accomplished
sinners. It is their sir and his assistants who denounce and punish, choosing peculiar measures for this.
So, the director of the variety show has to go to Yalta in an unusual way. He is simply mystically thrown there from Moscow. But, escaping with a terrible fright, he safely returns home. But Likhodeev has a lot of sins - he gets drunk, makes numerous connections with women, using his position, does nothing at work. As Koroviev says in the novel about the director of the variety show, he has been terribly swine lately.
In fact, neither Woland himself nor the devil's assistants in any way influence the events taking place in Moscow during their visit to it. The non-traditional representation of Satan in Bulgakov's way is manifested in the fact that the leader of otherworldly impure forces is endowed with some clearly expressed attributes of God.
Which of the heroes of the novel by M.A. Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita" becomes a victim of Woland's retinue and why?The novel "The Master and Margarita" became the final one in the life and work of M.A. Bulgakov. The artist has been creating it for 12 years. In this work, the author expressed their views on Light and Darkness, Good and Evil, Loyalty and Betrayal, Love and Hatred.
Images of post-revolutionary Moscow and Muscovites, contemporaries of Bulgakov, run through the entire novel. The author described in detail the life and customs of Moscow writers, whom he knew very well. Except Togo, Bulgakov painted the life of other residents of Moscow in the 20-30s: employees of the Variety, house committee workers, sellers and just street onlookers.
In the novel, the writer expresses his attitude towards contemporaries and colleagues with the help of Woland's retinue. These heroes judge and punish vicious Muscovites, restoring justice, which does not exist in the real life of Moscow in the 1920s and 30s.
The novel opens with the reader's acquaintance with representatives of the "writing fraternity": the chairman of Massolit M.A. Berlioz and the budding poet Ivan Bezdomny. Delving into their conversation, we immediately encounter lies, narrowness of thinking, opportunism. Berlioz reprimands Bezdomny for his anti-religious poem, the hero of which was Jesus Christ. We understand that this "creation" was written by a young poet not from the heart, but for the sake of power. Bulgakov shows us how famous poets were born at that time. Talent was taken into account last, strict adherence to the word of the party and the leader came to the fore.
It is enough just to look at the Massolit Chairman to understand what kind of people were valued at that time. Berlioz has long sold his talent for a warm place, he is not able to distinguish a real work art from tinsel and a real poet from a fake. Bulgakov himself treated this hero with great irony. Enlightening Bezdomny in matters of religion, “Berlioz’s high tenor resounded in the desert alley, and as Mikhail Alexandrovich climbed into the jungle, into which he could climb without risking breaking his neck, only very educated person- the poet learned more and more ... "Berlioz's soul has long been dead, so Woland and his assistants have only one thing to do - to kill the body of Mikhail Alexandrovich.
Representatives of Variety do not look the best either. Theater director Styopa Likhodeev is a reveler, a lazy person, a drunkard, a liar. Variety employees are similar to him: the financial director Rimsky, the administrator Varenukha. They only care about their own well-being. These heroes without a twinge of conscience take bribes, are rude, lie, and mean. Therefore, all these Variety workers receive their punishment from Woland. Likhodeev was thrown into Yalta in an instant, Gell scared Rimsky half to death, and Varenukha was in the shoes of a vampire.
One of the brightest "Moscow" characters is Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, chairman of the house committee. This "great" bribe-taker was known to all the inhabitants of his house. The only way to get him to improve his living conditions was either a big bribe, or a call from an influential person. No other arguments (difficult marital status, a large number of children) had no effect on Nikanor Ivanovich. The very name of the hero is ironic. Despite the fact that the hero was always well fed, dressed and shod, he remained Barefoot.
And this hero was justly punished by Woland's retinue. Bribery turned against Nikanor Ivanovich. He accepted a bribe with Soviet chervonets, which turned into dollars at the “right” moment. Boss was arrested. Already in the cell, the hero dreamed that he was a currency trader and they continued to persecute him.
To show the main vices of Muscovites, Bulgakov arranges a session of revealing black magic on the pages of his novel. Nothing enlivens the attention of the public so much as chervonets falling from under the dome. Decent, it would seem, the Moscow public begins to arrange bedlam in pursuit of money: “A voice was heard in the mezzanine: “What are you grabbing? That's mine! She flew to me! and another voice: “Don’t push, I’ll push you myself!” and suddenly a splash was heard. Thus, Bulgakov shows the incredible craving of Muscovites for easy money. For the sake of money, they are ready for anything, even to lose their human appearance.
The female population of Moscow does not look the best either. It was very easy to bribe Soviet ladies with all sorts of foreign tricks. Muscovites happily tried on foreign dresses, forgetting about everything in the world: “And, and from all sides, women came onto the stage ... One, like a storm, burst behind the curtain ... took possession of the first thing that turned up - silk, in huge bouquets, a dressing gown and , in addition, managed to pick up two cases of perfume.
Bulgakov notes that contemporary Muscovites are unfaithful spouses, they are greedy for money, and so on. But most of all they were spoiled by the housing problem, as Woland aptly and ironically remarks.
But for all their shortcomings, the inhabitants of Moscow are not bad people. They are characterized by pity, sympathy. So, they asked Woland not to torment the entertainer Bengalsky, whose head was torn off for annoying.
Thus, Woland's retinue creates a fair trial in Moscow, punishing Muscovites for all their shortcomings. This punishment is last hope and masters, and the author himself. Only the Devil can protect and put in place the presumptuous residents of Moscow, mired in their vices...
