Why is Bulgakov's famous novel called The Master and Margarita, and what is this book really about? Did Margarita love the Master? An alternative reading of M.A. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" Margarita was a married master and.

An alternative reading of the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita"

Woman as a moral reference point on the example of female images of "Faust" by I.V. Goethe and "The Master and Margarita" by M.A. Bulgakov.

Men are somewhat reminiscent of children, not only in everyday life, but in general in life, in particular in determining their moral guidelines. They, like a child, very often test us for strength, and themselves for the correctness of their behavior. “How long can you be naughty?” they seem to ask. And we answer. And to some extent, on a subtle spiritual plane, we lead them through life.

All the most important things in life man goes from mother, from woman.

The life position of a woman has always been a moral guide, a thin tuning fork and a conductor of goodness and light, justice and righteousness, love and mercy. And this is a huge responsibility indeed.

But, unfortunately, a modern woman forgets about this, ceasing to be a standard moral sound, according to which the entire complex orchestra of our life is tuned. Having sold the brightest sides of her inner being to the golden calf and her own EGO, she degrades along with the society that gives birth to her.

It manifests itself in every moment of our lives.

I want to trace this in the literature. Only on two works: “Faust” by I.V. Goethe and “The Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov. The positive heroines of these works are called the same - Margarita.

They have been compared more than once and not at this level, but I want to avoid the academic character of literary criticism and look at them from the point of view of a reader and just a woman, preoccupied with the process of terrible and inexorable degradation in society of the sacred feminine.

Already at the first reading of the novel, something confused me in Bulgakov's heroine, there was one very strange feeling, as if for some reason I stumbled on the pages describing the acquaintance of the Master and Margarita. There was something wrong with him. At first, I did not want to go deep, the novel itself was so intoxicating. But something definitely caught on to the classical perception and understanding female image and demanded a solution and return.

Somehow he did not fit in with the image of Lisa Kalitina, or with Sonechka Marmeladova, and even more so with Natasha Rostova. And even Anna Karenina, torn by contradictions, was somehow perceived closer, without exaggeration.

But with Margaret it was different. Something more primitive. More emancipated. And somehow less cute. What was wrong?

I imagined a woman who deliberately buys disgusting yellow flowers to attract the attention of a potential "lover". Not because she liked them, and not in order to console herself in solitude, but precisely because she went hunting! To get noticed.

It's like a flag for all to see alarm signal suffering that supposedly tears her soul apart. “She carried disgusting, disturbing, yellow flowers in her hands. The devil knows what their names are, but for some reason they are the first to appear in Moscow.

And these flowers stood out very distinctly against her black spring coat. She carried yellow flowers! Bad color! “In obedience to this yellow sign, I also turned into an alley and followed in her footsteps.”

Well, then you remember that she spoke first, asked him if he liked flowers, he said no, and she threw them into the ditch..

He picked them up, stretched them out, she pushed them away, grinning, took them out of his hands and again threw them onto the pavement, “then put her hand in a black glove with a bell into mine, and we walked side by side.”

And he “suddenly realized that he had loved this particular woman all his life! ..

Love jumped out in front of us, like a murderer jumping out of the ground in an alley, and hit us both at once!

This is how lightning strikes, this is how a Finnish knife strikes!

Don't you find this vocabulary and this scene strange?

Does it cause some internal resistance in you?

To me personally, it seems deliberate and strange. Bulgakov is a deep writer and does not throw words into the wind.

And if someone thinks that Margarita is not characterized by him quite unambiguously and even without much sympathy, he, it seems to me, reads Bulgakov inattentively!

And all because the writer shows us not a completely pure and angelic creature, but a woman wise by the bitter experience of an unsuccessful marriage. In this scene, we have before us a potential witch, a harlot, a huntress, whom Azazello had no difficulty in persuading to become a queen at Satan's ball.

Something impure was already initially in their meeting.

Margarita was not alone in the literal sense of the word, she lived with another person and went out on purpose with yellow flowers so that the master would find her, otherwise she would have been poisoned, because her life is empty. And the Master lived with this…, well, this one, like her…, Varenka, Manechka… “still a striped dress”…

Here is the Master - writer, connoisseur human souls, the author of the novel about Pontius Pilate ... And such indifference to Manechka ... But he lived with her ...

Finally, I found something that involuntarily upset and hurt me in the novel.

Both of them, already at that moment of their meeting, were both unclean, not quite decent and very conventionally unhappy, in order to poison themselves from hopelessness.

By the way, Margarita lived well in those days. Remember, stockings, Natasha gives dresses to her worker. Lives in a beautiful apartment.

“I became a witch from grief and disaster…” she writes in farewell letter to her unsuspecting, apparently kind husband. There is something theatrical, far-fetched in these lines.

Something does not fit, does not add up to a harmonious picture of a suffering positive heroine, sacrificing herself for the sake of her beloved.

She doesn't seem to be particularly upset about selling her soul to the devil at all. Remember with what pleasure Margarita rubs herself with cream, feeling her youth and beauty, and flies, free and invisible, to the ball, where all the most terrible scoundrels of the planet will gather.

This, of course, will bring her some suffering, like scratches on her forehead and a swollen knee, to which the killers are applied.

But to call it a feat in the name of love ... somehow the tongue does not turn ...

She also asks for Frida, not because she is so merciful and kind, but for a completely different reason.

“I asked for Frida only because I had the imprudence to give her a firm hope. She's waiting, sir. She believes in my power. And if she remains deceived, I will be in a terrible position. I won't have peace for the rest of my life."

Who is she talking about? About poor Frida, suffering from the sight of a handkerchief with which she strangled her child, or about herself, her own peace?

She and the Master are initially interested only as a way to get out of longing.

Even then, at their first meeting, she behaves like a self-confident woman, imperiously hurrying to take a helpless and weak-willed writer into circulation. “She promised glory, she urged him on, and then she began to call him a master.

She waited for these promised last words about the fifth procurator of Judea, chanting and loudly repeating certain phrases that she liked, and said that her life was in this novel.

It is she who insists that the Master take his novel to the publisher. She wants fame.

But the novel was not published.

“What do I remember after that? ... showered red petals on title page and my friend's eyes. Yes, I remember those eyes.

What could be in those eyes?

Condemnation, disappointment, contempt?

And this is when he needed her support so much.

And then “bleak days came ... now we parted more than before. She began to go for a walk.

And originality happened to me ... I got a friend ... ”. This friend will subsequently inform on the Master and settle in his apartment.

But this might not have happened if she, his beloved woman, had been less vain and more sensitive.

She, like the Faustian Margarita in Mephistopheles, felt in Aloisia Mogarych a vile person, but allowed the Master to get close to him. "Do what you like…".

And then, when the money won by the Master came to an end, and visions and fear of darkness began to take possession of his mind, Margarita suggested that he go to the sea for the last ten thousand and forget all the bad things. “She was very insistent… she said that she would take me a ticket herself. Then I took out all my money, that is, about ten thousand rubles, and gave it to her.

Why so many? she wondered.

I said something to the effect that I was afraid of thieves and asked her to save the money until I left. She took them, put them in her purse, began to kiss me and say that it would be easier for her to die than to leave me in such a state of one, but that they are waiting for her, that she submits to necessity, that tomorrow will come ... "

Strange, right? Slippery moments. And why did she urgently need something. And why has she not left her husband at all, if she loved the master so much. After all, she had no children. So it must have been something else.

Maybe the presence of stockings and black velvet shoes with buckles?

After the disappearance of the Master, Margarita is imbued with malice and vindictiveness towards the perpetrators of his (or rather her) misfortunes, having received power from Woland, she crushes and breaks everything in the dwellings of the hated writers.

Maybe there is some cleansing power in this retribution, but there is also a wild, unbridled and aggressive desire for destruction, which does not seem to bother her at all.

She happily dine with Satan after the annual ball of various evil spirits, where she was the hostess, conducts a cheeky conversation, drinks alcohol, and eagerly swallows caviar.

“After the second shot, drunk by Margarita, the candles in the candelabra flared up brighter ... Biting the meat with white teeth, Margarita reveled in the juice flowing from it.

And tell me, - Margot, perked up after vodka, turned to Azazello, - did you shoot him, this former baron?

I would not like to meet you when you have a revolver in your hands, - Margarita said coquettishly looking at Azazello.

Somehow, all this does not fit with the image of a woman who understands who she is dealing with. It seems that she herself likes it all very much and excites. This is her environment.

And how much imperious power sounds in her last request to Voladn:

“I want my lover, the master, to be returned right now, this very second,” said Margarita, and her face was distorted by a spasm. Queen Margo.

Neither more nor less.

And she is happy that she made a deal with the devil.

“I am a witch and very happy with it! My only one, my dear, don't think about anything. You had to think too much, and now I will think for you! And I guarantee you, I guarantee that everything will be dazzlingly good, ”she promises him.

Yeah! Fine…

It seems to me that Margarita never truly loved the Master.

Otherwise, she would not have allowed him to become what he became, in essence, destroying the creator in himself. A weak, tired and completely devastated person. What awaits him in a small quiet house, where peace is prepared for him, where cherries are always in bloom, and there is not a single living soul, except for Margarita, who will not even let him think for himself, but will do it for him?

The master was not given light, that which the soul of every artist aspires to. He was given peace.

What is peace for a writer? This is death, oblivion.

This is a dead end, a stop, when nothing is needed anymore, you don’t want to strive anywhere, there is no need to live. And this is not salvation for him, but torment, real torment, from the captivity of which Faust once wanted to get rid of, because he lacked the living breath of life in the dusty academicity of a closed office.

He sold his soul to Mephistopheles for the sake of knowing life, for the sake of a bold and daring lofty goal, for the sake of real living suffering. And this led him to the very light he was looking for, despite the fact that his actions ruined Margarita (Gretchen).

And although many critics, comparing the two Margaritas, speak of their righteousness and sacrifice in the name of love, this, alas, concerns them to a completely different degree. I can't put them side by side. The moral gulf between these two women is too great.

And the point here is not only in temporal and spatial differences, but much deeper. It is in the whole complex of moral concepts and motives that guide them in life.

Gretchen, a poor girl, after the death of her father and younger sister, who was completely in her care, became the only support of her mother.

She works from morning to evening, her life and thoughts are modest and pure.

She does not whine about her sufferings, although how can they be compared with the “prosperous” torments of Moscow Margarita?

She, indeed, like a tuning fork, subtly feels meanness, immediately guessing in Mephistopheles a person with black energy, and warns Faust about this. She is characterized by high demands on herself when she thinks about her sinful connection with Faust and the inability to give up the feeling that swallowed her whole, and Gretchen suffers for real. Youth and inexperience cannot justify her act, she longs to redeem him, which is why she refuses to escape from prison with her lover.

The message of Bulgakov's Margarita was also love, but some other kind of love ... Rather, love-possession, love-absorption, and suffering, the desire to enjoy this suffering.

She loves not the Master, but herself in the Master, her pain, her anguish, her sacrifice. And yet, her sacrifice brings her pleasure.

She is closer to Woland than to the Master, to some extent, one might say, his brainchild. And I think he will finish off the Master in that quiet house. He will kill the remnants of his living mind with his imperious and capricious character.

In the stream moonlight they will appear to Ivan Bezdomny as follows: “A woman of exorbitant beauty leads to Ivan by the hand a timidly looking around, overgrown with a beard man ... This is that number one hundred and eighteenth ... "

So the Master will lose even his high rank of Master, becoming number one hundred and eighteen, fearfully looking around.

Here is a novel about great love for you!

I think, real love does not tolerate the betrayal of high impulses of the soul, it is pure and disinterested, it lacks rationality.

But Bulgakov, a real artist, perspicaciously penetrating into the most secret cause-and-effect relationships of life, could not fail to catch this inexorable process that is gradually destroying the spirituality of a high feminine principle in our world.

The Master was not awarded the light, but the sacrificing Margarita was not awarded it either.

But Gretchen, who lulled her mother to death in order to meet without hindrance with her beloved Faust, who caused the death of her brother, who tried to drown her newborn child, she still by force creative imagination Goethe is lifted out of darkness.

And she is forgiven by heaven. And not just forgiven, but uplifted. Although at first glance, her sins are much heavier than Margot's sins. But the thing is that Gretchen is a pure and bright creature and, unlike Margarita, really suffering from the duality of her terrible situation.

And when Faust tries to save her and get her out of prison, he refuses, only prays to him to save their daughter, who has not yet managed to drown. She prefers to die and thereby atone for her terrible sin.

Margarita Bulgakova, even having died and knowing about it, still strives for herself with hope, forever enjoying peace and power over the poor, degraded and colorless master in a cozy house at the end of the world.

She is somewhat similar to modern woman. Bulgakov's novel was completed in 1940, when the issues of feminization and emancipation and the general spiritual impoverishment of high femininity were not yet as relevant as they are now.

And what awaits us in the light of all of the above, if we try to move further in our fantasies.

What awaits us in the era of a total search for pleasure and the substitution of true feelings for relationship surrogates? What "margaritas" and what "masters"?

Or maybe we are moving towards same-sex love and global cloning of human souls?

The genius of M.A. Bulgakov, who wrote a truly great and terrible novel, lies in the fact that already in 1940 he knew and felt what humanity should be warned and warned about.

But too thin and too dangerous was this line between darkness and light in the new Soviet Russia, and Bulgakov's personal fate is too difficult for him to end his novel on the same optimistic and beautiful note as Goethe ended Faust.

The spirit of evil Mephistopheles is defeated, having failed to take possession of the soul of the creator:

Saved the high spirit from evil

By the Will of God:

Whose life in aspirations has passed,

We can save him.

And for whom love itself

The petition does not freeze,

He will be the family of angels

Welcome to heaven.

And is it worth saying that Margarita Goethe ultimately embodies the image of “eternal femininity”, the Virgin Mary, who saves and gives light to her Faust, in the finale of Faust?

What, alas, you can’t say and guess in the final Margarita, just “an exorbitantly beautiful woman”, on a spring festive full moon, bringing her fearful bearded Master by the arm into Ivan’s disturbing dreams.

When a book makes you think about your own fate and your feminine destiny, this is a great book.

We only need to learn to read it carefully and let it pass through our hearts.

Introduction

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

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

See you with the master

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

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

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

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

Margarita and Master

After meeting with the master, Margarita completely changes. Meaning appears in her life - her love for the master, and the goal - the master's novel. Margarita is imbued with him, helps her beloved to write and proofread, says that "her whole life is in this novel." All the energy of her bright soul is directed to the master and his work. Having not known everyday worries before, Margarita, having just entered the master’s apartment, rushes to wash the dishes and cook dinner. Even small household chores bring her joy next to her beloved. Also with the master we see Margarita caring and economic. At the same time, she very easily balances between the image of a caring wife and the muse of the writer. She understands and sympathizes with the master, loves him, and the work of his whole life is so hard-won, dear to them in equally novel. That is why the master's beloved reacts so painfully to his refusal to publish the novel. She is hurt no less than the master, but skillfully hides it, although she threatens to "poison the critic."

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

margarita the witch

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

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

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

The image of Margarita the witch is very strong, bright, the author does not spare colors and emotions depicting her. Margarita seems to throw off all the shackles that prevented her from not only living, but also breathing, and becoming light, light, literally floating. The destruction of the vile critic's apartment inspires her even more before meeting with the master.

Prototype of the heroine

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

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

Finally

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

Artwork test

Margarita is the main character of the novel, the beloved of the Master. For the sake of love is ready for anything. She plays a very important role in the novel. With the help of Margarita Bulgakov showed us perfect image wife of a genius.

Before meeting the Master, Margarita was married, did not love her husband and was completely unhappy. Having met the Master, I realized that I had found my destiny. She became his "secret wife". It was Margarita who called the hero the Master after reading his novel. The heroes were happy together until the Master published an excerpt from his novel. showered critical articles, ridiculing the author, and a strong persecution that began on the Master in literary circles poisoned their lives. M swore that she would poison the offenders of her lover, especially the critic Latunsky. On a short time Margarita leaves the Master alone, he burns the novel and escapes to a psychiatric hospital. For a long time Margarita reproaches herself for leaving her beloved alone at the most difficult moment for him. She cries and suffers greatly until she meets Azazello. He hints to Margarita that he knows where the Master is. For this information, she agrees to be the queen at the great ball of Satan. Margarita becomes a witch. By selling her soul, she gets a Master. At the end of the novel, she, like her lover, deserves rest. Many believe that the writer's wife, Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, served as the prototype for this image.

From the text of the novel, only her name and patronymic are known - Margarita Nikolaevna. Beautiful Muscovite. A very strong and courageous woman. By occupation, she is a housewife, lives in the center of Moscow, is married to a famous and wealthy military engineer, whom she does not love at all, they have no children. Wealthy, lives in a rich apartment with servants. At the time of the main events of the novel, she is 30 years old. In the course of the plot of the novel, she falls in love with the writer, whom she calls the master, plays the role of the queen and hostess of Satan's ball, and at the end leaves the world in the form of a witch and leaves with the master to the place of his last refuge.

According to Bulgakov scholars, according to one version, the famous Russian actress of the early 20th century, Maria Fedorovna Andreeva, became the prototype of the character of Margarita, according to another, more likely version, Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, the third and last wife writer, which he called: "My Margarita". The book about the love of the main characters says this: “Love jumped out in front of us, like a killer jumping out of the ground in an alley, and struck us both at once! it’s not like we loved each other, of course, a long time ago, without knowing each other ... ". It is possible that the first meeting of the master and Margarita in the lane near Tverskaya reproduces the first meeting between Mikhail Bulgakov and Elena after almost twenty months of separation. On March 14, 1933, Bulgakov gave Elena a power of attorney to conclude contracts with publishers and theaters regarding his works, as well as to receive royalties. Elena Sergeevna typed under dictation all the works of the writer of the 30s, she was his muse, his secretary ..

The master is a Muscovite, a former historian by profession, a highly educated person who knows several foreign languages. By winning the lottery a large sum money, he was able to devote all his time to writing a novel about Pontius Pilate and the history last days life of Yeshua Ha-Nozri..

MASTER - the hero of M.A. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" (1928-1940). In the crowded collection of persons inhabiting the novel, the role of this character is indicated with all certainty. The chapter in which the reader meets him is called "The Appearance of the Hero." Meanwhile, in the space of the plot, M. takes up little space. He appears in the 13th chapter, when all the main persons (except Margarita) have entered into action, and some have already left him. Then M. disappears from the narrative for a long time, only to reappear only in the 24th chapter. And finally, he participates in the three final chapters (30th, 31st, 32nd). In world literature, it is difficult to find another work in which the hero would be "behind the scenes" of the plot for so long, waiting for his "exit". These “exits” themselves do not correspond much to the function of the hero. They essentially lack any action, which is especially noticeable in comparison with the active heroine of the novel, who, in the name of love for M., decided to take risky and desperate actions. M.'s first "exit" results in a story-confession about what happened to him earlier: about the novel, composed and burned, about his beloved, found and lost, about imprisonment, first violent (arrest), and then voluntary (in a clinic for the mentally ill). The further vicissitudes of the hero are entirely determined by other persons. Woland "extracts" him from the hospital ward in order to connect him with Margarita; Azazello - "liberates" by poisoning him, and the liberated hero, together with his beloved, who has also become free, go to where they will find eternal shelter. Almost all events happen to M, but are not produced by him. However, he is the protagonist of the novel. The fate of M. and Margarita connects the disparate "episodes" of the narrative, holding them together in a plot-event and / or symbolically. master margarita bulgakov image

Bulgakov's hero is a man without a name. He renounces his real name twice: first, taking the nickname of the Master, which Margarita called him, and then, being in the clinic of Professor Stravinsky, where he stays as "number one hundred and eighteenth from the first building." The latter is associated, presumably, with literary reminiscence: a reference to another "prisoner" modern Bulgakov novelistics - D-503, to the hero of the novel "We" by E.I. Zamyatin, whose fate has a number of coincidences with the fate of M. (Both are engaged in writing, not considering themselves writers; each has a lover capable of courageous deeds.) Semantics of the name M .difficult to understand and not amenable to unambiguous reading. Leaving aside the obscure question of the origin of this name, it can be noted that in Bulgakov's texts it occurs several times, always endowed with an emphatic meaning, and at the same time, it is used at least inconsistently. "Poor and bloody master" Bulgakov calls the hero of "The Life of Monsieur de Molière"; among the variants of the name of the play about Stalin (later "Batum") appears "Master".

In the symbolism of the novel, the name M. appears in opposition to the craft of writing. The famous answer to Ivan Bezdomny's question: "Are you a writer?" - "I am a master". If we take into account that before these words there was a conversation about the novel about Pontius Pilate, composed by the hero, then the semantic, value modulation is obvious. M. became a hero because his literary occupation went beyond its borders, turned into a deed that he was called to fulfill, to which he was crowned, like a king to a kingdom. M. even has a crown - a black cap sewn by Margarita with a yellow letter "M". Then the word "master" means "initiate."

The image of M. is a development lyrical hero Bulgakov, connected with his creator by intimate relations and a common literary pedigree, on family tree which the names of Hoffmann and Gogol stand out in particular. From the first, Bulgakov's hero inherited the title of "thrice romantic master", from the second - portrait features (a sharp nose, a tuft of hair hanging over his forehead) and the fatal circumstance of his fate. In a moment of despair, M. burns the novel he created, like Gogol, who destroyed the second volume " dead souls", like Bulgakov himself, who threw the manuscript of the novel about the devil into the fire. According to I.L. Galinskaya, the hypothetical prototype of M. is the Ukrainian philosopher XVIII" Shv. G.S. Skovoroda, who, like the hero of Bulgakov, did not publish any of his works during his lifetime and in certain circumstances had to pretend to be crazy. Besides philosophical problems The novel can be regarded as a reflection of Skovoroda's philosophy in some of its important points.

In the work of Bulgakov, the image of M. correlates with such characters endowed with autobiographical features, such as the hero of the "Notes of a Young Doctor", Turbin (" white guard"), Moliere (the novel and the play "The Cabal of the Hypocrites"), Maksudov ("Notes of a Dead Man"). The plot parallels with the latter are the most obvious. (Bulgakov's commentators are the first to pay attention to them.) Both characters are petty employees (one is the editors , the other - a museum), unremarkable in everyday life. In both, writer's talent suddenly awakens. Both compose a novel that brought them happiness and grief. Like Maksudov, M., faced with "brothers in literature", becomes the object of persecution. Both "in the wide field of literature" are destined to be "literary wolves" (Bulgakov's words, spoken by him about himself). Meanwhile, Maksudov's work has been published, it is being staged by the Independent Theater. M.'s novel did not reach the readers and spiritually broke him. Hounded and persecuted, M. renounces his creation, throwing the manuscript into the fire.

Maksudov composes modern novel, describing in it the events of which he was an eyewitness. M. is endowed with the gift of insight, the ability to see the history of two thousand years ago as it really was. “Oh, how I guessed! Oh, how I guessed everything,” exclaims M., when, thanks to Ivan Bezdomny, who remembered the conversation with Woland, he gets the opportunity to compare what is described in the novel with the story of a living witness.

In the image of M., the author put his understanding of the writer and his life purpose. For Bulgakov, writing is theurgy, but not in the interpretation of Vl.S. Solovyov and the Russian symbolists, which meant "ascent" to the "transcendental thrones" and the reverse life-building action produced from there. Bulgakov's theurgy is an epiphany of the truth sent down from above, which the writer must "guess" and about which he must tell people "so that they know ...". ("To know" - last words dying Bulgakov, which his wife heard.) The concept of the writer, personified in the image of M., is fundamentally different from the doctrine of the symbolists, according to which an artistic gift provided its bearer with a kind of indulgence. In a poem by F.K. Sologub "I experienced the vicissitudes of fate", a poet who sinned a lot in life, was allowed by the Apostle Peter to "listen to holy rejoicing" only on the grounds that he was a poet. For Bulgakov, being a poet or prose writer in itself does not mean anything. It's all about how the artist disposed of his talent. Berlioz, for example, exchanged his talent for worldly comfort, and for this he must go into oblivion. M. fulfilled his duty, but only half. He wrote a novel. However, he could not bear his burden, he preferred to flee, and thereby violated the second part of his destiny: so that they know - what he recognized. (In this section, it is essential to compare the fates of M. and Yeshua Ha-Notsri, who had the opportunity to avoid the cross, but did not use it.) That is why M. "did not deserve the light, he deserved peace."

The tragic image of M., discovered by the Russian reader in the late 60s, when the novel by M.A. Bulgakov was first published, became for the domestic intelligentsia the personification of the dilemma of escapism and heroism, a symbol of the choice between these two existential possibilities.

the greatest literary work and a monument of the twentieth century is the novel by M. A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita". The image of Margarita is key. This is a character that the author has worked on enough long time writing out every little detail. In this article, we will consider the personality of M. A. Bulgakov's heroine and define her role in the semantic content of the novel.

Who is Margarita Nikolaevna?

The reader meets the heroine in the second part of the book and is immediately fascinated by her. The work tells that she was a young woman of about thirty, married to a rich, influential man. Surrounded by luxury and external well-being, she was not happy in marriage "for a single minute." The description of Margarita largely corresponds to her character.

The heroine appears before the reader as a serious lady with a deep sense of spiritual dissatisfaction. The image of Margarita is bright, lively, holistic. Looking at her, we can say that she was constantly looking for something, but did not find it. The big bottomless eyes of the heroine betray the bitterness and longing that she has carried in her heart for years.

Characteristics of Margarita

Turning to the inner content of the heroine, it can be noted that for a long time she was eaten by a deep sense of loneliness and uselessness. Despite the fact that outwardly her life seemed arranged and happy, her soul was not satisfied, did not rejoice at all the blessings that surrounded her. What was the reason for this? Perhaps life with an unloved person or a boring, unremarkable existence in which there was no place for new discoveries, achievements? Nowhere is there a description of interesting evenings, fun, laughter, joy, communication.

Margarita is emphatically lonely. The heroine suffers quietly, gradually sinking into sleep in this beautiful luxurious house. So, over time, a living heart that has not found closeness dies. The characterization of Margarita allows the reader to understand and realize the origins of the problem that prompted the heroine to turn into a witch and completely change her life.

Image prototype

Researchers in the field of literature have more than once come to an interesting conclusion: they noted some similarities between the heroine of the novel and the third wife of the writer himself. One can even make a bold assumption that in part the image of Margarita Bulgakov created, having before his eyes the original - his wife. The fact is that the history of their relationship with Mikhail Afanasyevich is somewhat similar to the story of the Master and Margarita: at the time of their acquaintance, Elena Sergeevna was married to another person, she was distinguished by high pride and rebelliousness.

It is Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, like Margarita, who will become the writer's real muse, inspiring him to write the last, sunset novel in his life. She will help him create, take care of him when he is sick, and later, before his death, only she will be able to entrust Mikhail Afanasyevich with his brainchild. According to Elena Sergeevna, specialists in the field of literature will work on proofreading the novel. But without this woman, perhaps the novel would never have seen the light of day.

Demonic Beginning

Loneliness in the soul of the heroine gave rise to her dissatisfaction with life. After meeting with the Master, she admitted that if this meeting had not happened, she would have been poisoned, because her life is empty. Margarita Bulgakova demonstrates to the reader a commitment to the dark force, which is led by Woland. After all, it is not by chance that Margarita Nikolaevna is invited to the ball to Satan, it is she who is entrusted with this role?

What are the signs of this? Firstly, Margarita suffered for a long time, which means she squandered mental strength necessary to maintain the ability to rejoice. Secondly, the woman limited her social circle, practically did not meet with anyone, often indulged in sadness, yearned. Thirdly, Margarita was ready to pay any price just to learn something about the Master, and this is perhaps the most important thing. She mentally agreed to sell her soul to the Devil long before she received this offer. And all this can be read in the novel "The Master and Margarita". The image of Margarita is ambiguous, includes many facets and shades. It is impossible to condemn her - the heroine admires with her selflessness, with which she loves.

Love in the life of Margarita Nikolaevna

According to the book, love seized the heroes suddenly, blinded and at the same time opened their eyes to the truth. Since the first meeting with the Master, when the heroine went out into the street with yellow flowers, much has changed in her life. She has ceased to be lonely, because if there is a person in the world who needs your help and support, then you cannot remain lonely. Margarita Bulgakova took on such a role. She cares, worries, loves completely, with complete dedication, does not think at all about what will happen to her later. The heroine thinks for the most part not about herself, but about him, her lover. For his sake, she is ready to sacrifice herself, to go to any test. Even death is not terrible.

At Satan's Ball

Margarita, without fear or any fear, accepts the invitation of Azazello, who hands her a cream and tells her to smear her face and whole body at exactly midnight. The strange assignment does not surprise her at all. Maybe she is not comfortable, but she does not show her confusion and confusion, she behaves as if she was waiting for something like this.

Margarita Nikolaevna wants to seem independent, at the ball she acts somewhat detached and proud of the woman, and this is exactly what Woland likes. She demonstrates a willingness to play her part even when she has little strength to do so.

Forgiveness and eternal shelter

Having passed all the tests, Margarita remains true to herself. She achieved her goal: having lost external well-being, she gained eternal love and a sense of calm. In the work itself, the transformation of the image of the heroine is very well shown. Her character does not change, but from a dull and sad she is transformed into a fighting for life, self-confident and self-sufficient woman. This is the end of Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. The image of Margarita turned out to be unforgettable and very original for such an unusual and touching story.

Spiritual world, where the heroes go after physical death, does not look like paradise, but there is everything you need: peace and quiet. Margarita goes hand in hand with her loved one and knows that she did everything she could to achieve her intention to be with him forever. The heroes found themselves and each other, which means they became truly happy.

Instead of a conclusion

A truly masterpiece work - "Master and Margarita". The image of Margarita captivates the reader from the first minute and does not let go until the end. Is it possible to forget those big sad eyes that looked around with selfless longing and despair? And yet the heroine can be called strong personality: Bulgakov created independent woman She knows what she wants and knows how to love.

Margarita's sacrifice, which she makes when she goes to the ball with Satan, is not in vain: freedom becomes the highest award. Later, when the soul of a loved one is saved, Woland will let them go in peace, because he always retreats before love, which can do anything. Obviously in this novel M. A. Bulgakov wanted to show that love, not Satan, rules the world.

In this article, we will turn to famous novel M. A. Bulgakov - "Master and Margarita". The image of Margarita will interest us in the first place. It is this heroine that we will try to give detailed description and consider all the changes that occur to her throughout the work.

Margarita: common features

The heroine embodies the image of a loving and beloved woman who, for the sake of the chosen man, is ready to do anything, even make a deal with the devil. Margarita's age at the time of the meeting with the Master is 30 years old. Despite this, she has not lost her attractiveness and stature. Her character is a little impulsive, but this energy is like a sip fresh air for the Master. Margarita supports and helps her beloved in everything, if not for her help, his novel would not have been created.

The heroine is associated with love line novel. Her appearance in the narrative enlivens the work, endows it with lyricism and humanism.

Characteristics of Margarita

About how the heroine lived before meeting the Master, we learn only from her words. Her life was empty. On that day, she went outside with yellow flowers so that her beloved would finally find her, otherwise she would have been poisoned. This speaks of the meaninglessness of its existence, the absence of any desires and aspirations.

Margaret got married at the age of 19. Her chosen one was a respected and rich man. The couple lived in abundance, which any woman would be happy about: beautiful house, no worries about life, loving husband. However, she was not happy for a single day. She saw no meaning or purpose in her life.

The characterization of Margarita gives an idea of ​​​​her as an outstanding woman who is not enough material wealth. Her soul needs emotions and real feelings. The mansion she lives in reminds her of a cage. She has rich inner world, the breadth of the soul, so the philistine grayness that reigns around gradually kills her.

Bulgakov describes the heroine as amazing beautiful woman with lively, "slightly squinting" eyes, which radiated with "unusual loneliness." Before meeting the Master, she was unhappy. A lot of warmth and energy accumulated in her heart, which she could not spend on anyone.

Love

The Master's lover and the woman he happens to run into on the street are completely different people. Margarita is transformed, her life finally has meaning - love for the Master, and the goal is to help him write a novel. All the spiritual energy accumulated in her is now directed to her beloved and his work. Never caring about everyday life and not knowing what a primus is, the heroine, entering the Master's house, immediately begins to cook dinner and wash the dishes. Surprisingly, even household chores brought her only joy if she was next to her beloved. Margarita appears to the reader as economic and caring. At the same time, the heroine manages to balance between the images of the muse of the writer and the caring wife.

Margarita perfectly understands and feels the Master, hence her empathy and love for his novel, which was gained by both of them. That is why the heroine reacts with such malice and hatred to the refusal to publish the novel and to critical reviews about it. From that moment on, rage towards the gray and petty world begins to accumulate in her, which will find a way out later.

Witch

A deal with the devil is one of the key motifs in The Master and Margarita. The image of Margarita is very closely connected with him. Being in despair, the heroine meets with Azazello. At first, the woman did not pay any attention to him, but when Woland's envoy began to quote lines from the Master's novel, she believes him. It is Azazello who gives her the cream and instructions. Understanding who came to her, Margarita is ready to do everything, if only she had the opportunity to return the Master.

At night, the heroine decides to use a magic cream and turns into a witch. The character of Margarita is changing again. Dark force transforms it no worse than love. She becomes free and brave, and her impulsiveness only increases. In the guise of a witch, Margarita does not lose her sense of humor: she jokes with a neighbor who saw her in the window, teases the arguing housewives.

A new Margarita is born. And she no longer holds anger in herself. Ready to deal with the offenders of the Master, she does not miss the chance to smash the apartment of the critic Latunsky. At this moment, she looks like an angry fury.

Margarita the Witch is a very bright and strong image, Bulgakov does not spare emotions and colors when drawing it. The heroine throws off everything that fettered her and prevented her from living and breathing. It becomes light in the literal sense of the word.

At Woland's ball

So, how does Margarita appear at Woland's ball? To begin with, the ball is the climax of the novel. Several key (for the novel and the image of the heroine) questions are raised here. For example, the problem of mercy. This theme is inextricably linked with the image of Margarita. And we see that, even having turned into a witch, she does not lose this feature, saving Frida from torment. Margarita manages to preserve her bright human qualities surrounded by evil spirits.

All the events of the chapter describing the ball are concentrated around the heroine. We see how she suffers from jewelry, but endures. Margarita really appears as a queen and hostess at the ball. She courageously endures everything that falls to her lot. Woland also notes this, mentioning the power of royal blood that flows in Margaret.

There is no more witchish prowess and recklessness in the heroine, she behaves with dignity and observes all the rules of etiquette. At the ball, the witch transforms into a queen.

Margaret's Award

It was the actions of the heroine that determined the denouement of the book The Master and Margarita. The image of Margarita is the driving force that helps the plot to develop. Only thanks to her consent to Woland's proposal, the Master gains freedom and receives his novel. Margarita achieves the goal she is striving for - finding love and peace. Despite the fact that the image of the heroine often transforms, we do not see drastic changes in her character. Margarita remains true to herself, despite all the trials.

And as a reward for all the suffering, she is granted peace. The spiritual world, to which Woland sends her and the Master, is not paradise. The heroine still did not deserve it, as she made a deal with the devil. However, here she found a long-awaited peace. The lovers walk next to each other, and Margarita knows that she has done everything possible to never part with the Master again.

Prototypes

Almost every hero has his own prototype in The Master and Margarita. The image of Margarita is associated with the third wife of Bulgakov himself - Elena Sergeevna. The writer often called her "my Margarita". It was this woman who was with Bulgakov last years his life and did a lot to ensure that this very novel was completed. The edition of the work was already underway at the time when Bulgakov was seriously ill and dying. Elena Sergeevna made corrections under his dictation, sitting by the bed. And after her husband's death, she struggled with criticism for another two decades to get the novel published.

Bulgakov's Margarita also has features of Gretchen, main character Faust by Goethe.

Quotes from The Master and Margarita

Here are a few of the most famous quotes our heroine:

• “And in enjoyment one must be at least a little prudent.”
• “Sadness before a long journey. Isn't it true that it is quite natural, even when you know that happiness awaits you at the end of this road?

Quotes from The Master and Margarita have long been catchphrases that even those who have not read this amazing work have heard.