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 evidence, 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.
Before us is “The Master and Margarita”. A summary of the chapters of the novel will help the reader quickly understand whether the work is interesting to him. Mikhail Bulgakov finished work on it by 1937, but the first magazine publication took place only 25 years later. Each of the two stories told in the “myth novel,” as Bulgakov called it, develops an independent plot.
The first story takes place in Moscow - the Soviet capital - in the 30s of the twentieth century during the May full moon. The second - at the same time of year, but in Yershalaim two thousand years before the first. Chapters of new Moscow history are interspersed with chapters of ancient Yershalaim.
Summary of “The Master and Margarita”, part one, chapters 1-12
On a hot May day, the mysterious foreigner Woland and his entourage meet with the editor of a literary magazine, Mikhail Berlioz, and the young poet Ivan Nikolaevich Bezdomny, the author of an atheistic poem. A foreigner poses as a master of black magic. His retinue includes assistant Koroviev, called Fagot, Azazello, responsible for “power” operations, a pretty assistant and part-time vampire witch Gella, and a funny jester Behemoth, often appearing in the form of a black cat of impressive size.
The foreigner intervened in the discussion between Berlioz and Bezdomny about Jesus, claiming that he really existed. Proof that not everything is subject to man’s control was Woland’s prediction about the sad death of Berlioz at the hands of a Komsomol member. Immediately, Ivan witnesses how a tram, driven by a Komsomol girl, beheaded the editor-in-chief.
The chase and the desire to detain Woland’s ghostly gang led Bezdomny to a clinic for the mentally ill. Here he meets the Master, a patient from number one hundred and eighteen, and listens not only to the story of his love for Margarita, but also to the story of Yeshua Ha-Nozri. In particular, the Master reveals to Ivan the true otherworldly essence of Woland, the king of darkness.
The foreigner and his assistants took over Berlioz’s apartment, sending his neighbor Styopa Likhodeev to Yalta. The stage at the Variety Theater becomes a demonstration performance by a hellish company. Muscovites are offered various temptations: rain of money, clothes and perfumes. After the performance, those who were seduced bitterly regret it, finding themselves on the street naked and without money.
The master tells Ivan that he is a historian, a former museum employee. Having once won a large sum of money, he quit and began writing a long-planned book about the times of Pontius Pilate.
At the same time, he meets Margarita, and love arises between them. After the publication of an excerpt from the book, the Master begins to have troubles, provoked by critics of the Moscow Literary Association and a denunciation. In a fit of despair, he burns the manuscript. All this leads him to a psychiatric clinic.
Summary of “The Master and Margarita”, part one, chapters 13-18
At the same time, another story is developing. interrogates the captured beggar philosopher Yeshua, whom local religious authorities have already sentenced to execution. Pilate does not agree with the harsh sentence, but is forced to approve it. He asks in honor of the Easter holiday to have mercy on Ha-Notsri, but the Jewish high priest releases the robber. defaced with three crosses on which two robbers and Yeshua are executed. As soon as only his follower Matvey Levi remains at the feet of the dying philosopher and the executioner ends the suffering with a merciful blow of a spear in the heart, an incredible downpour immediately covers everyone. Pontius Pilate cannot find peace for himself. He calls an assistant and orders the execution of the one who betrayed Yeshua. In the parchment of Levi, where he wrote down the speeches of Ha-Nozri, Pilate read that cowardice is the most serious vice.
Summary of “The Master and Margarita”, part two, chapters 19-32
Margarita accepts Azazello's offer and becomes a witch for a while in order to meet her loved one again. She plays the role of hostess at the annual ball of dark forces along with Woland and his henchmen. As a reward, the Master is returned to her. They are carried away by the hellish retinue, and they find peace forever, because the Master did not deserve the light.
Summary of “The Master and Margarita”, part two, epilogue
Every year, while walking under the full May moon, Professor Ivan Nikolaevich daydreams. Pontius Pilate and Ha-Nozri appear to him, talking peacefully and walking along an endless lunar path, and number one hundred and eighteen, led by an incredibly beautiful woman.
Reader, be vigilant! A summary of “The Master and Margarita” can take away an abyss of pleasure from anyone who does not dare to read the entire novel, which is one of the literary masterpieces of the twentieth century.
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HISTORY OF CREATION
M. Bulgakov worked on the novel for 12 years (1928-1940), the last insertions were dictated to his wife three weeks before his death. Initially, the work was conceived as a satire about the devil and had different titles: “Black Magician”, “Prince of Darkness”, “Consultant with a Hoof” or “Grand Chancellor”. But after eight editions, one of which was burned by the author, the work turned out not to be satirical, but philosophical, and the devil in the form of the mysterious black magician Woland became just one of the characters, far from the main one. The themes of eternal love, creativity, the search for truth and the triumph of justice came first. The novel was first published in 1966-1967. in the magazine “Moscow”, and without cuts - only in 1973. Textual work on the work is still ongoing, since the final author’s edition does not exist. Bulgakov did not finish the novel, although he worked on it until the last days of his life. After his death, for many years his widow edited the novel and made attempts to publish it.
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TITLE AND COMPOSITION
The title and epigraph define the main themes of the work. The title contains the theme of love and creativity. The epigraph is taken from I. Goethe’s lines from “Faust”: ... so who are you, finally? “I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good.” Thus, the author introduces the philosophical theme of the confrontation between good and evil, and also designates another very important character in the novel - Woland. The reader is presented with a double novel or a novel within a novel: a work about Pontius Pilate, created by the master based on the New Testament, is inserted into the story about the fate of the master and the visit of Satan to Moscow at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Moscow line alternates with the line of Yershalaim to connect at the end of the work - the master meets his hero (the Roman procurator of Judea Pontius Pilate) and decides his fate. Characters from one line duplicate characters from another. The work is addressed to an educated reader who will understand the allusions to works of art and references to historical events. The novel is multi-layered and allows for different interpretations.
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DOUBLE IMAGES
The composition of the novel is symmetrical: the heroes of one line have their counterparts in the other line. The novel contains different types of human characters: the Master and Yeshua (creator and teacher), Ivan Bezdomny and Levi Matvey (student), Aloysius and Judas (provocateur and traitor). One can trace a connection between the Master and Pontius Pilate: their common problem is cowardice.
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YESHUA HA-NOZRI
The philosophical meaning of the novel is the comprehension of truth. The image of Yeshua raises the theme of the high duty of serving the truth. Every person carries goodness and love within himself. In the name of this truth, Yeshua went to his death and fulfilled his high destiny to the end. The prototype of this character in the novel is Jesus Christ, but this is not the God-man, but an ordinary mortal who knows the truth and brings it to people. He claims that man can build a new society, and that “the time will come when there will be no power either of Caesars or of any other power.” Yeshua believes in the good beginning in every person. And that the “kingdom of truth and justice” will definitely come.
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PONTIUS PILATE
Pilate is the personification of power in the novel. Pontius Pilate is a historical figure, the Roman procurator under whom Jesus Christ is believed to have been executed. In the novel, he cruelly decides the destinies of people; he is called a “fierce monster.” The procurator is proud of this nickname, because the world is ruled by those who have power, and only the strong, who know no pity, win. Pilate also knows that the winner is always alone and he cannot have friends - only enemies and envious people. However, power and greatness did not make him happy. The only creature to which Pontius Pilate is attached is a dog. He insincerely pronounces words of praise in honor of the Emperor Tiberius, whom he despises, and understands that Yeshua is right in his assessment of power. By sending an innocent person to death, he commits violence that has no justification. Pilate also destroys his own soul by passing judgment on Yeshua. The procurator chickened out and was afraid of being accused of treason. For this he received a terrifying punishment - eternal torment of conscience (“twelve thousand moons”) and eternal loneliness.
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The image of Satan in the novel is unconventional: he does not embody evil and does not push people to do bad things. The Prince of Darkness appears in Moscow to test the morality of Muscovites; find out whether people have changed over the centuries-old path that humanity has passed since the events described in the master’s novel about Pilate. He observes the life of Moscow as a researcher, conducting a kind of experiment on its inhabitants. And if his retinue (Azazello, the cat Behemoth, Koroviev-Fagot, the witch Gella) commits minor dirty tricks (the drunkard Likhodeev, the boor Varenukha, the atheist Berlioz, the random curious viewer Arkady Sempleyarov, the greedy and dishonest Bosom and Lastochkin, the informer Aloysius and many others), then Messire himself remains aloof from their mischief, remaining calm and polite. Appealing to images of evil spirits who perform good deeds in the name of justice is an interesting artistic technique that helps Bulgakov reveal the problems of society and depict the duality of human nature.
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A master is a person who is skilled and outstanding in his craft; a person who has achieved great skill in work or creative endeavor. The main character of the novel has no name; the whole essence of his life is creativity. The image is a broad generalization, since the fate of the hero is the fate of many artists and writers forced to remain silent in the era of totalitarianism. In the master one can discern the features of Bulgakov himself: there is an external resemblance (leanness, yarmulke cap), individual episodes of his literary fate, a common feeling for both of them of despair from the impossibility of releasing their creations into the world, a thirst for peace. But unlike the master, the author did not abandon his brainchild. The master showed cowardice and, under the pressure of life circumstances, refused to fight for the truth and bring its light to people, did not complete his mission to the end (he hid in a madhouse). At the end of the novel, the hero finds peace, his muse remains with him. Margarita, he immerses himself in the world of nature and music in order to comprehend the wisdom of life and create. Perhaps Bulgakov himself wanted this.
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MARGARITA
Margarita sells her soul to the devil, takes on a huge sin in order to save her loved one. The plot of Goethe's work "Faust" is reflected in Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita". The main character repeats the fate of Goethe's Faust, only Faust sold his soul to the devil for the sake of a passion for knowledge, betraying the love of his Margarita. And in Bulgakov, Margarita becomes a witch and comes to the devil’s ball for the sake of love for the master, recklessly sharing her fate with him.
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SATIRE IN THE NOVEL
These are numerous parodies: of fashionable and awkward abbreviations in Soviet times (Massolit, by analogy with the organization that existed at that time), of writers' pseudonyms, emphasizing belonging to the class of the disadvantaged (the fictional Ivan Bezdomny, by analogy with the real Demyan Bedny and Maxim Gorky), of bribery (Nikanor Barefoot), drunkenness (Stepan Likhodeev), greed (a fight in a variety show over falling ducats), etc.
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PART ONE
Chapter 1. Never talk to strangers
In Moscow, on the Patriarch's Ponds, on a hot spring evening, two writers are talking. This is Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz, editor of a thick art magazine and chairman of the board of one of the largest Moscow literary associations, abbreviated as “Massolit”, and poet Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, writing under the pseudonym Bezdomny.
The writers were talking about Jesus Christ. The editor ordered the poet an anti-religious poem, which Bezdomny composed, but did not at all satisfy the requirements of the order. The poet’s image of Jesus Christ turned out to be very lively, although endowed with all the negative features. Berlioz demands that Ivan convey to the reader the main idea - such a person has never existed.
That is why the well-read and highly educated editor gives a lecture to the poet, in which he refers to various ancient sources, proving that all the stories about Christ are an ordinary myth. A stranger who looks like a foreigner suddenly enters the conversation. He is surprised that God does not exist and asks who then controls human life. The homeless man replies that “the man himself is in charge.”
The strange stranger objects: a mortal cannot govern, because he does not even know what he will do this evening. He predicts Berlioz's imminent death (a Russian woman, a Komsomol member, will cut off his head), because a certain Annushka “has already bought sunflower oil, and not only bought it, but even spilled it.”
The writers are perplexed what kind of person is in front of them: they take the stranger for a madman, then suspect that he is a spy. However, a mysterious stranger shows them documents: he is Professor W and has been invited to Moscow as a consultant on black magic.
The mysterious scientist is convinced that Jesus existed, and tells his interlocutors a story from the life of the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.
Chapter 2. Pontius Pilate
A beaten, poorly dressed man is brought to Pontius Pilate, who amazes him with his wisdom, extraordinary insight and kindness. This is Yeshua Ha-Nozri, sentenced to death by the Small Sanhedrin for speaking to people with sermons against the authorities. The verdict must be confirmed by Pontius Pilate.
However, in a conversation with Yeshua, the procurator is convinced of his innocence. He likes the accused. In addition, Yeshua somehow guessed about Pilate’s excruciating headache and miraculously relieved him of it. The prosecutor thinks about the possibility of saving the young man.
The fact is that three more criminals were sentenced to execution: Dismas, Gestas and Bar-Rabban. One of those sentenced will be given freedom in honor of the upcoming Easter. Pontius Pilate appeals to the Jewish high priest Caiaphas with a request to have mercy on Ha-Nozri. But the Sanhedrin frees Bar-Rabban.
Chapter 3. Seventh proof
The story about Pilate amazed the writers, and the strange stranger assured that he personally
was present at this. Berlioz decided that in front of them was a madman and, leaving him with Bezdomny, hurried to the telephone to call the doctors.
Following the departure, the foreigner asked to at least believe in the existence of the devil, promising to provide proof in the very near future.
While crossing the tram tracks, Berlioz slips on spilled sunflower oil and falls onto the tracks. The consultant's prediction comes true - the wheel of the tram, which is controlled by a Komsomol member in a red headscarf, cuts off Berlioz's head.
Chapter 4. The Chase
The terrible death of a colleague, which occurred in front of Ivan Bezdomny, shocked the poet. Ivan understands that the foreigner is somehow involved in Berlioz’s death, because he spoke about the head, and about the girl, and about the cancellation of today’s meeting, and about the spilled oil.
The homeless man returns to the bench and tries to detain the professor. However, this is prevented by the suddenly appearing regent in a checkered suit. The poet rushes in pursuit of the professor and his retinue - a huge black cat has also joined the company. He chases the fugitives around the city for a long time, but eventually loses sight of them.
Ivan breaks into someone else's apartment - for some reason he is sure that he will find a foreigner in house no. 13, in apartment no. 47. There he pins a paper icon on his chest and picks up a candle. The unfortunate man begins to understand that the stranger is not a professor, but the devil himself.
Bezdomny then heads towards the Moscow River, confident that the professor has nowhere else to hide. The poet decided to come to his senses and swim in the river. Having surfaced on shore, he discovered that his clothes had been stolen.
Ivan remains in long johns and a torn sweatshirt. In this form, he resolutely heads to the luxurious Massolita restaurant in the Griboedov House.
Chapter 5. There was a case in Griboyedov and Chapter 6. Schizophrenia, as was said
Homeless Man, who appeared at the restaurant, behaved extremely strangely, told a crazy story about what happened that evening and even started a fight. He was taken to a well-known mental hospital outside the city. There, Homeless Man begins to enthusiastically tell the doctor the whole incredible story, and then tries to escape through the window.
The poet is placed in a ward. The doctor tells his colleague Ryukhin, who brought the poet to the hospital, that the poet has schizophrenia.
Chapter 7. Bad apartment
Apartment No. 50 at 302 bis on Sadovaya Street has a bad reputation. There were rumors that its residents disappeared without a trace and that evil spirits were involved in this.
The director of the Variety Theater Stepan Likhodeev, a neighbor of the late Berlioz, lives here. Styopa wakes up in a state of severe hangover and sees next to him a stranger in black, calling himself a professor of black magic. He claims that Likhodeev made an appointment with him and shows him the contract he signed for Professor Woland’s performance at Variety.
Styopa doesn't remember anything. He calls the theater - they are actually preparing posters for the performance of a black magician. And a checkered guy in pince-nez and a huge talking black cat appear in the apartment. Woland announces to Likhodeev that he is unnecessary in the apartment, and the red-haired and fanged Azazello, who emerges from the mirror, offers to “throw him the hell out of Moscow.”
In an instant, Likhodeev finds himself on the seashore in Yalta.
Chapter 8. The duel between the professor and the poet
Ivan Bezdomny is in the clinic of Professor Stravinsky. He is eager to catch the damned consultant responsible for Berlioz's death. The professor convinces the poet to rest in comfortable conditions and write a written statement to the police. The homeless man agrees.
Chapter 9. Koroviev's things
After the death of Berlioz, many residents laid claim to the vacant living space in apartment No. 50, besieging the chairman of the housing association, Nikanor Ivanovich Bosy, with statements. He visits the apartment and finds a man in a sealed room
in a checkered jacket and cracked pince-nez.
The strange man introduces himself as Koroviev, calls himself the translator of the artist Woland, offers Bosom to rent out housing to a foreigner and gives him a bribe. Nikanor Ivanovich takes the money and leaves, and Woland expresses his wish that he should not appear again. Then Koroviev telephones to the authorities that Bosoy illegally keeps currency at home. They come to the chairman with a search, find hidden dollars and arrest him.
Chapter 10. News from Yalta
The financial director of the Variety Theater Rimsky and the administrator Varenukha unsuccessfully try to find Likhodeev and are perplexed when they receive telegrams from him in which he reports that they will throw Woland into Yalta by hypnosis, asks to confirm his identity and send him money. Deciding that these were Likhodeev’s stupid jokes (he couldn’t move from Moscow to Crimea in 4 hours), Rimsky sends Varenukha to take the telegrams “to where they need to go.”
After looking into his office for a cap, the administrator answered the phone. The nasal voice on the phone ordered Varenukha not to go anywhere and not to take the telegrams anywhere. Not listening, Ivan Savelyevich paid brutally - in the restroom near
The variety show beat him up (a fat man who looked like a cat and a short fanged guy), and then they dragged the unfortunate administrator to Likhodeev’s apartment.
“Then both robbers disappeared, and in their place a completely naked girl appeared in the hallway.” Varenukha fainted from fear when the red-haired Gella approached him.
Chapter 11. Ivan's split
At the clinic, Ivan Bezdomny tries many times to make a written statement to the police, but he cannot clearly state the events that concern him. The raging thunderstorm had a depressing effect on the poet. Ivan, bursting into tears and frightened, was given an injection, after which he begins to talk to himself and tries to evaluate everything that happened.
He really wants to know the continuation of the story about Pontius Pilate. Suddenly outside the window
An unfamiliar man appears in the Homeless man's room.
Chapter 12. Black magic and its exposure
In the evening, a black magic session begins at the Variety Show with the participation of the foreign magician Woland and his retinue - the cat Behemoth and Koroviev, whom the magician calls Bassoon. The bassoon performs a trick with a deck of cards, then fires a pistol shot to cause money to rain - the audience catches the chervonets falling from under the dome. Entertainer Bengalsky unsuccessfully comments on everything that is happening.
Bassoon declares that Bengalsky is tired and asks the audience what to do with him. A proposal comes from the gallery: “Tear off his head!” The cat lunges at the entertainer and rips his head off. The spectators are horrified and ask for the unfortunate man’s head to be returned. Fagot asks Woland what to do. Messire argues out loud: “People are like people. They love money, but that’s always been the case...
Humanity loves money, no matter what it is made of, whether leather, paper, bronze or gold... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts... the housing problem
only spoiled them...” And orders Bengalsky’s head to be returned. The entertainer left the stage, but felt so bad that he had to call an ambulance.
Woland also disappeared unnoticed by everyone. And Fagot continued to work miracles: he opened a ladies' shop on stage and invited women to exchange their things for new ones for free. The ladies lined up and came out of the wonderful store wearing wonderful new clothes. From the box, a certain Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov demands that the tricks be exposed, but he himself is immediately exposed by Fagot as an unfaithful husband. The evening ends in a scandal, and the foreign guests disappear.
Chapter 13. The appearance of a hero
The unknown man who appeared in the window of Ivan Bezdomny’s room is also a patient of the clinic. He has the keys stolen from the paramedic - he could run away, but he has nowhere to go. Ivan tells his neighbor how he ended up in the house of sorrow and about the mysterious foreigner who killed Berlioz. He assures that at the Patriarchal Meeting Ivan met with Satan himself.
The night guest calls himself a master and says that he, like Bezdomny, ended up in the clinic because of Pontius Pilate. A historian by training, he worked in one of the Moscow museums and once won a hundred thousand rubles in the lottery.
Then he quit his job, bought books, rented two rooms in the basement of a small house in one of the Arbat alleys and began writing a novel about Pontius Pilate. One day he met Margarita, a beautiful woman with unprecedented loneliness in her eyes. “Love jumped out in front of us, like a killer jumps out of the ground in an alley, and struck us both at once.
That’s how lightning strikes, that’s how a Finnish knife strikes!” Margarita, although she was the wife of a worthy man, became the secret wife of the master. She came every day. The master wrote a novel that absorbed her too. She said “that this novel is her life.”
When the novel was ready, it was given to the editor to read. The book was not accepted for publication: But for submitting the manuscript to the editor, the author was subjected to vicious persecution, he was accused of “Pilatchina”, called “Bogomaz”, “militant Old Believers” (the critic Latunsky tried especially hard).
The master showed signs of illness - at night he was seized with fear (it seemed to the master that “some very flexible and cold octopus with its tentacles” was creeping right to his heart), and he burned the novel (Margarita, who entered, managed to save only the last pages from the fire).
Margarita leaves to explain to her husband in order to return to the master forever in the morning. And at night the craftsmen are thrown out of the apartment onto the street following a denunciation from neighbor Aloysius Mogarych.
He thought about throwing himself under a tram, but then he went across the city to this clinic, which he had already heard about. The master has been living in the clinic for four months without a name or surname,
just a patient from room No. 118. He hopes that Margarita will soon forget him and be happy.
Chapter 14. Glory to the Rooster!
After the end of the performance, the financial director of the Variety Rimsky sees through the window how the things purchased by women in Fagot’s store disappear without a trace - gullible ladies rush around the streets in a panic in their underwear. Rimsky, sensing trouble, hides
in the office. However, the scandal was quickly dispersed.
“The time had come to act, we had to drink the bitter cup of responsibility. The devices were corrected during the third section, it was necessary to call, report what had happened, ask for help, scribble away, blame everything on Likhodeev, shield yourself, and so on.”
However, the phone rang on its own, “an insinuating and depraved female voice” forbade him to go anywhere.
By midnight, Rimsky is left alone in the theater. Suddenly Varenukha appears. He seems strange: he smacks his lips and covers himself from the light with a newspaper. He begins to tell what he learned about Likhodeev, but Rimsky understands that all his words are lies.
The financial director notices that Varenukha does not cast a shadow, that is, he is a vampire! A naked red-haired girl comes through the window. But they don’t have time to deal with Rimsky - a rooster crows.
Rimsky, who has turned grey, miraculously escaped, hastily leaves Moscow.
Chapter 15. Nikanor Ivanovich's dream
Barefoot is interrogated by the authorities about the currency found on him. He admits that he took bribes (“I took bribes, but I took them with ours, the Soviets!”), and all the time he insists that there is a devil in apartment No. 50. A squad is sent to the address, but the apartment is empty and the seals on the doors are intact. Barefoot is handed over to psychiatrists. At the clinic, Nikanor Ivanovich again falls into hysterics and screams.
His anxiety is transmitted to other patients at the clinic. When the doctors manage to calm everyone down, Ivan Bezdomny falls asleep again and dreams of the continuation of the story about Pontius Pilate.
Chapter 16. Execution
The chapter describes the execution on Bald Mountain. Ha-Notsri's disciple, Levi Matvey, wanted to stab Yeshua himself with a knife on the way to the place of execution in order to save him from torment, but he failed. He prayed to the Almighty to send Yeshua death, but he did not hear the prayer.
Levi Matvey blames himself for the death of Ha-Notsri - he left the teacher alone, he fell ill at the wrong time. He murmurs against God, curses him, and as if in response, a terrible thunderstorm begins.
Sufferers crucified on pillars are killed by soldiers with spears in the heart. The execution site is empty. Levi Matthew removes the dead bodies from the crosses and takes with him the body of Yeshua.
Chapter 17. Restless day
At the Variety Theater they cannot find either Rimsky, Varenukha, or Likhodeev. Bengalsky was sent to a psychiatric clinic. All contracts with Woland disappeared, not even posters remained. There are thousands of people queuing for tickets. The performance is cancelled, an investigative team arrives.
Accountant Lastochkin goes with a report to the entertainment and entertainment commission, but there in the chairman’s office he sees an empty suit signing papers. According to the secretary, a fat man who looked like a cat visited the boss.
Lastochkin goes to the branch of the commission - and there, the day before, a certain guy in a checkered shirt organized a choral singing circle, and today all the employees, against their will, sing in chorus “The Glorious Sea - Sacred Baikal.” The accountant goes to hand over the proceeds, but instead of rubles he has foreign money. Lastochkin is arrested. The chervonets turn into pieces of paper among taxi drivers and at the buffet.
Chapter 18. Unlucky Visitors
Maximilian Poplavsky, the uncle of the late Berlioz, comes to apartment No. 50 and lays claim to the living space. Koroviev, Azazello and Behemoth kick him out and tell him not to even dream of an apartment in the capital. Variety barman Sokov comes for Poplavsky.
He complains that the chervonets in the cash register have turned into cut paper, but when he unwraps his bag, he again sees money in it. Woland criticizes him for his poor work (the tea looks like slop, the cheese is green, the sturgeon is stale), and Koroviev predicts his death in 9 months from liver cancer. The barman immediately runs to the doctor, begging him to prevent the disease, and pays for the visit with the same ducats.
After he leaves, the money turns into wine labels, and then into a black kitten.
PART TWO
Chapter 19. Margarita
Margarita did not forget the master. She woke up with a premonition that something would happen that day, and went for a walk in the Alexander Garden. A funeral procession passes in front of her: the scandalous story of the deceased Berlioz - someone stole his head. Margarita thinks about her beloved, hopes for at least some sign from him.
Azazello sits down on her bench and invites her to visit the noble foreigner. To be convincing, he quotes lines from the master’s novel, and Margarita accepts the invitation, hoping to learn something about her lover.
Azazello hands her the cream: “Tonight, at exactly half past ten, take the trouble to strip naked and rub your face and whole body with this ointment. Then do what you want, but don’t leave your phone. I’ll call you at ten and tell you everything you need.”
Chapter 20. Azazello cream
Having smeared herself with cream, Margarita changes: she becomes younger, feels free, and acquires the ability to fly. She writes a farewell note to her husband. The maid Natasha enters, looks at the changed mistress, and learns about the magic cream.
Azazello calls and says it’s time to fly out. A floor brush flies into the room. “Margarita squealed with delight and jumped up onto the brush.” Flying over the gate, she shouts, as Azazello taught her: “Invisible!”
Chapter 21. Flight
Flying past the house of writers, Margarita stops and causes destruction in the apartment of the critic Latunsky, who killed the master. Then she continues her flight, and Natasha, riding a hog, catches up with her (she rubbed herself with the remains of the cream - she became a witch, and she also smeared it on her neighbor Nikolai Ivanovich, who turned into a hog).
After swimming in the night river, Margarita sees witches and mermaids who give her a grand reception.
Then, in a flying car (driven by a long-nosed rook), Margarita returns to Moscow.
Chapter 22. By candlelight
Margarita is met by Azazello and brought to apartment NQ 50, introducing him to Woland and his retinue. Woland asks Margarita to become queen at his annual ball.
Chapter 23. Satan's Great Ball
Margarita is bathed in blood and rose oil, put on shoes made of rose petals and a royal diamond crown, hung on her chest with an image of a black poodle on a heavy chain and led to the stairs to meet guests. For several hours, she greets guests, exposing her knee for a kiss.
The guests are criminals who died long ago and were resurrected for one night - murderers, counterfeiters, poisoners, pimps, traitors. Among them, Margarita remembers the unfortunate Frida, begging her to remember her name.
One day the owner called her into the pantry, and nine months later Frida gave birth to a child, whom she strangled in the forest with a handkerchief. And for 30 years now, this handkerchief has been served to her every morning, awakening the torment of her conscience. The reception ends - the ball queen flies around the halls, paying attention to the fun guests. Apartment No. 50 amazingly houses a tropical forest, an orchestra, a ballroom with columns, and a swimming pool with champagne.
Woland comes out. Azazello brings him Berlioz's head on a platter. Woland turns his skull into a precious cup and fills it with the blood of the immediately shot earphone and spy Baron Meigel. He drinks from it to the health of the guests and offers the same cup to Margarita. The ball is over.
Luxurious spaces are once again transformed into a modest living room.
Chapter 24. Extracting the Master
Margarita, Woland and his retinue are again in the bedroom, where everything turned out to be as it was before the ball. Everyone talks for a very long time, discussing the ball. Finally, Margarita decides to leave, but feels deceived because she does not receive any gratitude for her dedication.
Woland is pleased with her behavior: “Never ask for anything! ..especially those who are stronger than you. They will offer and give everything themselves.” He asks what she wants. Margarita asks that Frida be pardoned and that the handkerchief be stopped every day. This is fulfilled, but Woland asks what she wants for herself. Then Margarita asks: “I want my lover, the master, to be returned to me right now, this very second.”
The master immediately appears, “he was in his hospital attire - in a robe, shoes and a black cap, which he did not part with.” The Master thinks he is hallucinating because of his illness. Having drunk what was poured into his glass, the patient comes to his senses.
Woland asks why Margarita calls him a master. “She thinks too highly of the novel I wrote,” her lover replies. Woland asks to read the novel, but the master says that he burned it. Then Messire returns the full version to him with the words: “Manuscripts do not burn.”
Margarita asks to return her and the master to the house on Arbat in which they were happy. The master complains that “another person has been living in this basement for a long time.” Then Aloysius Mogarych appears, who wrote a complaint against his neighbor.
Aloysius accused the master of possessing illegal literature because he wanted to move into his rooms. The traitor was thrown out of a bad apartment and at the same time from a house on Arbat.
Koroviev gave the master the documents, destroyed his hospital file, and corrected the entries in the house book. He returned to Margarita “a notebook with burnt edges, a dried rose, a photograph and, with special care, a savings book.”
Housekeeper Natasha asked to make her a witch, and the neighbor in whom she arrived at Satan's ball demanded a certificate about where he spent the night for his wife and the police.
The unfortunate Varenukha appeared, who does not want to be a vampire. He promised to never lie again. The lovers find themselves in their apartment again, and the touched Margarita begins to re-read the master’s novel.
Chapter 25. How the procurator tried to save Judah from Kiriath
The head of the secret service, Afranius, came to the procurator, who reported that the execution had been completed, and conveyed the last words of Yeshua (“among human vices, he considers cowardice to be one of the most important”).
Pontius Pilate orders Afranius to take care of the burial of the bodies of those executed and the safety of Judas from Kiriath, who, as he heard, was to be slaughtered that night by the secret friends of Ha-Nozri (in fact, he orders Afranius the murder of Judas).
Chapter 26. Burial
Pilate realized that there is no vice worse than cowardice, and that he showed cowardice by being afraid to justify Yeshua. He finds solace only in communication with his beloved dog Bunga. On behalf of Afranius, the beautiful Nisa lured Judas (who had just received 30 pieces of silver from Caiaphas for betraying Yeshua) to the Garden of Gethsemane, where three men killed him.
Matthew Levi was brought to Pilate, from whom Yeshua's body was found. He reproached the procurator for the death of his teacher and warned that he would kill Judas. Pilate reports that he himself has already killed the traitor.
Chapter 27. The end of apartment No. 50
An investigation into Woland’s case is underway in a Moscow institution. All traces lead to apartment No. 50. The police burst into it and discover a talking cat with a primus stove. The hippopotamus provokes a shootout, but there are no casualties.
The invisible Woland, Koroviev and Azazello say that it is time to leave Moscow. The cat, apologizing, disappears, spilling burning gasoline from the primus stove. A fire starts in the house.
“While heart-frightening bells were heard on Sadovaya on long red cars rushing quickly from all parts of the city, people rushing in the courtyard saw how, along with the smoke, three dark, what seemed to be male silhouettes and one silhouette flew out of the fifth floor window naked woman."
Chapter 28. The last adventures of Koroviev and Behemoth
A fat man who looked like a cat and a long citizen in a checkered jacket appeared in a foreign exchange store. There they cause a scandal and then arson. Their next appearance at the Griboyedov House restaurant was no less memorable.
At the restaurant, the police try to catch the couple, but the troublemakers immediately disappear into thin air. From Behemoth’s primus “a column of fire hit the tent,” after which panic and fire began. The “underfed” writers are fleeing from the burning building.
Chapter 29. The fate of the master and Margarita is determined.
Woland and Azazello “high above the city on the stone terrace of one of the most beautiful buildings in Moscow” talk and watch the Griboyedov House burn. Matthew Levi appears to Woland and says that he, meaning Yeshua, has read the master’s novel and asks Woland to give him and his beloved the well-deserved peace. Azazello leaves
arrange everything.
Chapter 30. It's time! It's time!
Azazello appears to the master and Margarita, treats them to poisoned wine - both fall dead. At the same time, Margarita Nikolaevna dies in her home, and in the clinic, the patient in ward No. 118.
To everyone, these two are dead. Azazello brings them back to life, sets the house on Arbat on fire, and all three, riding black horses, fly into the sky. Along the way, the master says goodbye to Ivan Bezdomny at the clinic, calling him his student.
Chapter 31. On the Sparrow Hills
Azazello, the Master and Margarita reunite with Woland, Koroviev and Behemoth. The master says goodbye to Moscow forever.
Chapter 32. Forgiveness and Eternal Shelter
Night falls, and the moonlight changes the appearance of all the heroes. Koroviev becomes a gloomy knight, the cat Behemoth becomes a demon page, Azazello becomes a demon. The master himself also changes. Woland tells the master that they read his novel and “they only said one thing, that, unfortunately, it is not finished.” The master was shown Pontius Pilate.
The procurator has been seeing the same dream for about two thousand years - a lunar road along which he dreams of walking and talking with Ga-Notsri, but cannot do this. “Free! Free! He is waiting for you!" - the master shouts, releasing Pilate and thus ending his novel. And Woland shows the way to the master and Margarita to their eternal home.
And the master feels like someone has set him free - just as he himself has just released the hero he created.
Epilogue
Rumors about evil spirits in Moscow did not subside for a long time, the investigation continued for a long time, but reached a dead end. After Woland’s appearance, not only people suffered, but also many black cats, who were tried to bring to justice all over the country in various ways.
At the hour of a hot spring sunset, two citizens appeared on the Patriarch's Ponds. The first of them - approximately forty years old, dressed in a gray summer pair - was short, dark-haired, well-fed, bald, carried his decent hat like a pie in his hand, and his neatly shaven face was adorned with supernaturally sized glasses in black horn-rimmed frames. The second, a broad-shouldered, reddish, curly-haired young man in a checkered cap pulled back on his head, was wearing a cowboy shirt, chewy white trousers and black slippers.
The first was none other than Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz, editor of a thick art magazine and chairman of the board of one of the largest Moscow literary associations, abbreviated as MASSOLIT, and his young companion was the poet Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, writing under the pseudonym Bezdomny.
Finding themselves in the shade of slightly green linden trees, the writers first rushed to the colorfully painted booth with the inscription “Beer and water.”
Yes, the first strangeness of this terrible May evening should be noted. Not only at the booth, but in the entire alley parallel to Malaya Bronnaya Street, there was not a single person. At that hour, when, it seemed, there was no strength to breathe, when the sun, having heated Moscow, fell in a dry fog somewhere beyond the Garden Ring, no one came under the linden trees, no one sat on the bench, the alley was empty.
“Give me Narzan,” Berlioz asked.
“Narzan is gone,” answered the woman in the booth, and for some reason she was offended.
“The beer will be delivered in the evening,” the woman answered.
- What is there? asked Berlioz.
“Apricot, only warm,” the woman said.
- Well, come on, come on, come on!..
The apricot gave off a rich yellow foam, and the air smelled like a barbershop. Having drunk, the writers immediately began to hiccup, paid and sat down on a bench facing the pond and with their backs to Bronnaya.
Here a second strange thing happened, concerning only Berlioz. He suddenly stopped hiccupping, his heart pounded and for a moment sank somewhere, then returned, but with a dull needle stuck in it. In addition, Berlioz was gripped by an unreasonable, but so strong fear that he wanted to immediately flee from the Patriarch's without looking back. Berlioz looked around sadly, not understanding what frightened him. He turned pale, wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, and thought: “What’s wrong with me? This has never happened... my heart is racing... I’m overtired... Perhaps it’s time to throw everything to hell and go to Kislovodsk...”
And then the sultry air thickened above him, and from this air a transparent citizen of a strange appearance was woven. On his small head is a jockey cap, a checkered, short, airy jacket... The citizen is a fathom tall, but narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and his face, please note, is mocking.
Berlioz's life developed in such a way that he was not accustomed to unusual phenomena. Turning even paler, he widened his eyes and thought in confusion: “This can’t be!..”
But this, alas, was there, and the long citizen, through which one could see, swayed in front of him, both left and right, without touching the ground.
Here horror took over Berlioz so much that he closed his eyes. And when he opened them, he saw that it was all over, the haze dissolved, the checkered one disappeared, and at the same time the blunt needle jumped out of his heart.
- Fucking hell! - the editor exclaimed. “You know, Ivan, I almost had a stroke from the heat just now!” There was even something like a hallucination... - he tried to grin, but his eyes were still jumping with anxiety, and his hands were shaking.
However, he gradually calmed down, fanned himself with a handkerchief and, saying quite cheerfully: “Well, so...”, he began his speech, interrupted by drinking apricot.
This speech, as we later learned, was about Jesus Christ. The fact is that the editor ordered the poet to write a large anti-religious poem for the next book of the magazine. Ivan Nikolaevich composed this poem in a very short time, but, unfortunately, it did not satisfy the editor at all. Homeless outlined the main thing actor his poem, that is, Jesus, in very black colors, and yet the whole poem had, in the opinion of the editor, to be written anew. And now the editor was giving the poet something like a lecture about Jesus in order to highlight the poet’s main mistake. It’s hard to say what exactly let Ivan Nikolayevich down - whether it was the visual power of his talent or complete unfamiliarity with the issue on which he wrote - but his Jesus turned out to be, well, a completely alive, once-existing Jesus, only, however, equipped with all the negative features of Jesus . Berlioz wanted to prove to the poet that the main thing is not what Jesus was like, whether he was bad or good, but that this Jesus, as a person, did not exist in the world at all and that all the stories about him are simple inventions, the most common myth.
It should be noted that the editor was a well-read man and very skillfully pointed in his speech to ancient historians, for example, the famous Philo of Alexandria, the brilliantly educated Josephus, who never mentioned the existence of Jesus. Displaying solid erudition, Mikhail Aleksandrovich informed the poet, among other things, that the place in the fifteenth book, in chapter 44 of the famous Tacitus “Annals”, which talks about the execution of Jesus, is nothing more than a later fake insertion .
The poet, for whom everything reported by the editor was news, listened attentively to Mikhail Alexandrovich, fixing his lively green eyes on him, and only hiccupped occasionally, cursing the apricot water in a whisper.
“There is not a single Eastern religion,” said Berlioz, “in which, as a rule, an immaculate virgin would not give birth to a god.” And the Christians, without inventing anything new, created their own Jesus in the same way, who in fact was never alive. This is what you need to focus on...
Berlioz's high tenor resounded in the deserted alley, and as Mikhail Alexandrovich climbed into the jungle, into which only a very educated person can climb without risking breaking his neck, the poet learned more and more interesting and useful things about the Egyptian Osiris , the benevolent god and son of Heaven and Earth, and about the Phoenician god Fammuz, and about Marduk, and even about the lesser-known formidable god Vitzliputzli, who was once highly revered by the Aztecs in Mexico.
And just at the time when Mikhail Alexandrovich was telling the poet about how the Aztecs sculpted a figurine of Vitzliputzli from dough, the first man appeared in the alley.
Subsequently, when, frankly speaking, it was too late, various institutions presented their reports describing this person. Comparing them cannot but cause amazement. So, in the first of them it is said that this man was short, had gold teeth and limped on his right leg. In the second - that the man was enormous in stature, had platinum crowns, and limped on his left leg. The third laconically reports that the person had no special signs.
We have to admit that none of these reports are any good.
First of all: the person described did not limp on any of his legs, and he was neither short nor huge, but simply tall. As for his teeth, he had platinum crowns on the left side and gold ones on the right. He was wearing an expensive gray suit and foreign-made shoes that matched the color of the suit. He cocked his gray beret jauntily over his ear and carried a cane with a black knob in the shape of a poodle's head under his arm. He looks to be over forty years old. The mouth is kind of crooked. Shaven clean. Brunette. The right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason. The eyebrows are black, but one is higher than the other. In a word - a foreigner.
Passing by the bench on which the editor and the poet sat, the foreigner glanced sideways at them, stopped and suddenly sat down on the next bench, two steps away from his friends.
“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 help will help you remember the plot of the novel. summary by chapter. If it is too long for you, we suggest reader's diary, and 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 mental 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 in 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 his 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 wrote 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 position. 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 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 commission of spectacles and entertainment, 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-legged 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 shiny 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 to make sure that Frida was not brought 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.
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