No matter how long humanity exists, it will always be worried moral issues: honor, duty, conscience. These questions are raised by M.A. Bulgakov in his best philosophical novel "The Master and Margarita", forcing the reader to rethink life and appreciate the importance of the moral aspects of a person, and also to think about what is more important in life - power, might, money or one's own spiritual freedom, leading to goodness and justice and a calm conscience. If a person is not free, he is afraid of everything, he has to act contrary to
His desires and conscience, that is, he manifests the most terrible vice - cowardice. And cowardice leads to immoral acts, for which the most terrible punishment awaits a person - pangs of conscience. Such pangs of conscience haunted the protagonist of the Master's novel, Pontius Pilate, for almost 2,000 years.
M.A. Bulgakov takes the reader to ancient Yershalaim, to the palace of the fifth procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, to whom they brought a man under investigation from Galilee, who was arrested for inciting the destruction of the Yershalaim temple. His face was smashed and his hands were tied. Despite the headache that tormented the procurator, as a person convicted by the authorities, he was forced to interrogate the criminal. Pontius Pilate, a powerful, formidable and domineering man, who did not tolerate objections and was accustomed to the uncomplaining obedience of his subordinates and slaves, was outraged by the appeal of the arrested person to him: “ a kind person, trust me!" Calling Mark Krysoboy (the head of the special county), he ordered the defendant to be taught a lesson. No wonder the procurator himself called himself a "ferocious monster." After the punishment, Pontius Pilate continued the interrogation and found out that the arrested person named Yeshua Ha-Nozri was a literate person who knew Greek, and spoke to him in Greek. Pontius Pilate becomes interested in a wandering philosopher, he understands that he is not faced with a hypocrite, but with an intelligent and wise man who also has the wonderful ability to relieve a headache. Also, the procurator is convinced that the spiritual position of Ga-Notsri: “there are no evil people in the world” is sincere and conscious that Yeshua lives according to his own laws, the laws of goodness and justice. Therefore, he believes that all people are free and equal. He behaves with the procurator as an independent person: “Some new thoughts have come to my mind, which, I believe, might seem interesting to you, and I would gladly share them with you, especially since you make an impression very smart person ". The procurator is surprised at how simply and directly Yeshua objects to him, sir, and is not indignant. And the arrested man continued: “The trouble is ... that you are too closed off and have completely lost faith in people. After all, you must admit, you can’t put all your affection in a dog. Your life is meager, hegemon…” Pilate felt that the condemned man was absolutely right about something important, and his spiritual conviction was so strong that even the tax collector, Matthew Levi, despising money, followed his Teacher everywhere. The procurator had a desire to save an innocent doctor and philosopher: he would declare Ha-Notsri mentally ill and send him to an island in the Mediterranean Sea, where his residence is located. But this was not destined to come true, because in the case of Yeshua there is a denunciation of Judas from Kiriath, which reports that the philosopher told a “kind and inquisitive person” that “that any power is violence against people and that the time will come when there will be no the authority of neither the Caesars nor any other authority. A person will pass into the realm of truth and justice, where no power will be needed at all. Thus, having offended the power of Caesar, Yeshua signed his own death warrant. Even for the sake of saving his life, he does not renounce his beliefs, does not try to lie or hide something, since it is “easy and pleasant” for him to tell the truth. Yeshua was taken to execution, and from that moment on Pontius Pilate lost his peace, because he sent an innocent person to execution. It vaguely seemed to him, "that he did not say something with the convict, or maybe he did not listen to something." He felt that there would be no forgiveness for his act, and hated everyone who contributed to the condemnation of the philosopher, and first of all himself, as he quite consciously made a deal with his conscience, frightened by an inner desire to restore justice. He, a smart politician and a skilled diplomat, realized long ago that while living in a totalitarian state, one cannot remain oneself, that the need for hypocrisy deprived him of faith in people and made his life meager and meaningless, which Yeshua noticed. The unshakable moral position of Ha-Notsri helped Pilate realize his weakness and insignificance. In order to alleviate his suffering and at least somehow clear his conscience, Pilate orders to kill Judas, who betrayed Yeshua. But the pangs of conscience do not let him go, so in a dream in which the procurator saw that he had not sent a wandering philosopher to be executed, he wept and laughed with joy. And in reality he executed himself for being afraid to take the side of Yeshua and save him, because to have mercy on Ha-Nozri meant to endanger himself. If there hadn't been an interrogation protocol, he might have let the wandering philosopher go. But career and fear of Caesar turned out to be stronger than the inner voice.
If Pilate had been in harmony with himself and his concept of morality, his conscience would not have tormented him. But he, having sanctioned the execution of Yeshua, acted contrary to “his will and his desires, out of cowardice alone…”, which turns into a two-thousand-year-old torment of repentance for the procurator. According to Bulgakov, people with double morality, like Pontius Pilate, are very dangerous, because because of their cowardice and cowardice they commit meanness, evil. Thus, the novel undeniably proves the assertion of Yeshua, the bearer of goodness and justice, that “cowardice is the worst vice.”
Pontius Pilate is a cowardly man. And it was for cowardice that he was punished. The procurator could have saved Yeshua Ha-Notsri from execution, but he signed the death warrant. Pontius Pilate feared for the inviolability of his power. He did not go against the Sanhedrin, ensuring his peace at the cost of the life of another person. And all this despite the fact that Yeshua was sympathetic to the procurator. Cowardice prevented saving a man. Cowardice is one of the most serious sins (based on the novel The Master and Margarita).
A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"
Vladimir Lensky challenged Eugene Onegin to a duel. He could cancel the fight, but he chickened out. Cowardice manifested itself in the fact that the hero reckoned with the opinion of society. Eugene Onegin thought only about what people would say about him. The result was sad: Vladimir Lensky died. If his friend had not been afraid, but preferred moral principles to public opinion, tragic consequences could have been avoided.
A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter"
Siege Belogorsk fortress troops of the impostor Pugacheva showed whom to consider a hero, who a coward. Aleksey Ivanovich Shvabrin, saving his life, betrayed his homeland at the first opportunity and went over to the side of the enemy. In this case, cowardice is a synonym
5. Cowardice is the worst of vices...
And Russian theology implies a concept of the religious history of mankind, different from that set out in our works “Dead Water” in the edition of 1998, “Trotskyism is “yesterday”, but not “tomorrow” at all”, “Come to the aid of my unbelief ” and all others, the latest editions of which were completed before June 10, 2000.
The principal feature of the theology of The Master and Margarita is that there has not been a single Revelation in history in the sense that all religious cults teach. But this is not atheism, not a denial of God's participation in the destinies of all mankind, peoples and each of the people, but a different view of God's guidance in relation to humanity as a whole, its constituent peoples and each person personally. God led in the past and now leads everyone and everyone through life, but he leads everyone in his own way, according to morality, worldview, worldview that society and each of the people have reached.
It is possible that during the destruction of the global civilization preceding ours, in which the demonic structure of the psyche triumphed, God said to its “unmanifested” (in the terminology of the Vedic, healer culture) owners and mentors something close to the following in meaning:
“Act contrary to My Providence according to your ability, and I will act according to My ability. And no matter what you do, a person, all people without exception will come to an understanding of My Truth-Truth and will be in harmony with Me forever.
And it is possible that he did not say anything, because it went without saying.
After the astrophysical catastrophe that caused the geophysical catastrophe that destroyed the former civilization subsided, the restoration of the way of life desirable for its “unmanifested” masters and mentors began. Some progress has been made. Magic flourished again, "polytheistic" (the basis of social magic), Egypt became the intellectual capital of the ancient world. It seemed that it was possible to move on to spreading this way of life on a global scale and creating a single global civilization uniting all of humanity under the rule of Egypt. And suddenly, a 14-year-old boy, having ascended the Egyptian throne under the name Amenhotep IV, declares “all your “gods” are fiction, there is no God but the One Most High God, the Merciful Creator and Almighty”, accepts the new name Akhenaten and proceeds to build a culture in Egypt based under his leadership on a different morality and worldview of Life, and not a posthumous existence, as it was in Egypt before and after him. The blow was so strong that Akhenaten succeeded, for a while.
Then the opponents of Akhenaten recovered from their stun and began to counteract: Akhenaten was poisoned by slow-acting poisons that perverted the physiological structure of his body (this is the reason for the appearance of effeminateness of his body with age). After his death, they began to destroy his heritage, his name was doomed to oblivion, for which purpose all references to him were scraped out from all papyri in circulation, blotted out from stone statues and wall paintings. And he really was forgotten for thousands of years until archaeologists established that there was a monotheistic pharaoh in history, who preached peace and joy in harmony with God throughout the Earth, refusing to wage wars.
But after the incident, the “unmanifested” masters and mentors of civilization decided that if they could not prevent the announcement in society ideas, then from now on they should take on the mission of preaching “monotheism”, which will allow them to give it an orientation that meets their interests. This is how the "Revelation" to Moses and all subsequent "Revelations" given through the so-called prophets, messengers, etc. arose.
Which of the “prophets” himself erroneously or deliberately falsely declared that only through him God broadcasts His truth to other people, and all other people are deprived of direct admonition from Above, or to which of the “prophets” such a view was attributed by the people themselves - associates and descendants, - has no significance for the culture of mankind, although it is not easy for many of the "prophets" to survive the Shameful Day. The same applies to the elevation to the rank of gods or God of certain people personally.
What matters is that the cults of monotheism, ascending to the “Revelation” of Moses, based on the Bible and the Koran, are united in intimidating with an endless hell all those who do not recognize their Divine origin or show their will, stepping over unconsciously, and all the more consciously purposefully through their commandments - the norms of life of individuals and society prescribed by them.
In addition, they all hush up a fact that is extremely unpleasant for their “unmanifested” owners: the 14-year-old boy Amenhotep, behind whom there was no life experience characteristic of maturity, inspired by the truth from Above, escaped from their captivity, not being afraid of either the court of Osiris or the hierarchies of the cult-holders of Egypt, traditionally referred to as the "priesthood" despite the essence of what they did.
And all the religious teachings of “monotheism”, without exception, in one way or another, directly or indirectly limit and suppress the cognitive and creativity in man both dogmas and cultivated fears.
And they all deny the truth of that:
that all people, with all the differences in their physical, intellectual, mental development, in their education, knowledge, skills, always and everywhere according to their destiny in Predestination from Above at the present stage of history, when the culture of future humanity is being formed, - the Messengers of the Most High God one to another and the vicars of God on Earth;
· that people evade the missions of governorship and envoy only under the influence of diverse fears, including the unjustified fear of God; but it is not these obsessions of fears, but their own cowardice that stifles conscience and shame in people, as a result of which they do not accept the Truth-Truth, which God gives to everyone directly in his inner world through conscience, through other people's appeals to them, through works and monuments of a common culture;
· that God has not abandoned and will not retreat from anyone, and will never deprive anyone of His attention, care and mercy, but out of cowardice, having obeyed the obsessions of fears, people prefer to refuse His attention and care for them.
And the thesis about cowardice as the worst vice is repeatedly proclaimed in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov:
“... and cowardice is undoubtedly one of the most terrible vices. This is what Yeshua Ha-Nozri said. No, philosopher, I object to you: this is the most terrible vice.
For example, the current procurator of Judea was not cowardly, but the former tribune in the legion, then, in the Valley of the Virgins, when the furious Germans almost killed the Ratslayer the Giant. But, have mercy on me, philosopher! Do you, with your mind, allow the idea that because of a man who has committed a crime against Caesar, the procurator of Judea will ruin his career?
Yes, yes, - Pilate groaned and sobbed in his sleep.
Of course it will. In the morning I would not have ruined it yet, but now, at night, having weighed everything, I agree to ruin it. He will do anything to save a completely innocent dreamer and doctor from execution!
We will always be together now, - a tattered vagabond philosopher told him in a dream, who, no one knows how, stood on the road of a rider with a golden spear.
Pilate in a dream went through shame, rethought everything. And if in the future he lived in accordance with the truth that came to him in a dream, and was able to free himself from everything that prevented him from supporting Providence on the morning of the 14th day of the spring month of Nisan, then what Yeshua told him in a dream came true: “Now we will always be together".
This is liberation: Pilate came to the realm of truth, in whose coming he did not believe in the morning of the 14th day of the spring month of Nisan, and having come to the realm of truth, he became beyond jurisdiction.
All further stories in the story “about Pilate” about a figure sitting in a chair on a rock under the moon for two thousand years, about the release of Pilate by the master, about the vision of Pilate and Yeshua going to the moon, in a dream by Professor Ponyrev - obsessions from Woland.
In connection with the theme of glamours, it is useful to note that before becoming a professor, Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev managed to become a Mason: “Goodbye student,” said the master, and began to melt in the air.(ch. 30, the scene in the lunatic asylum before the death of the master). "Apprentice" is the lowest rank in the Masonic lodge. So the head of the lodge, established by Margarita and the legitimacy of which Woland personally recognized, initiated the next generation directly from the “other world”. As the practice of the Soviet period of history showed, joining the “elitist” Masonic “brotherhood” simplified the promotion to higher degrees both in science and in politics. And as you can understand, Ivan Nikolaevich chose the easiest way to make a formal career with the support of international "brotherhood". But this is not the path of Truth-Truth: otherwise, Ivan Nikolaevich would not have raved in his dreams every full moon with problems that are unsolvable in Freemasonry: what is truth in the relationship of people with God? what happened in Jerusalem at the beginning of the era?
But the outlined concept of the religious history of the current global civilization leads to the question:
How to relate to the information contained in the imitations of "Revelations from Above", recorded in historically real " scriptures”, if it at least partly stems from the opponents of the Providence of God?
The answer to it is the simplest of all related to the novel:
Treat everything without cowardice according to conscience, since everything that God leads a person to, as well as everything that God brings to a person by grace or allowance, is given to a person as a lesson, and this should not be neglected .
And this is true, because cowardice is the worst of vices. Cowardice brings to life lack of will; lack of will - obsession; obsession - despair, which, in turn, aggravates cowardice, more and more leading a person away from God.
In addition, "2x2=4" - regardless of whether a person has reached this point with his own mind; whether the Almighty told him this in Revelation; whether the devil taught him this knowledge, pursuing his own interests; or an angel of God told, fulfilling Providence. In other words, information in line with Predestination by the grace of God objective, i.e. has a self-sufficient inherent essence, and does not bear the "print" of the repeater. Although the repeater is able to add something to it or hide something from it, but as a result of such an action, a different information module will appear. Therefore, what is true is true, and what is false is false, regardless of the repeater.
There is only one exception: God does not lie under any circumstances, but always tells the Truth-Truth to a person in all languages of the all-encompassing Language of Life.
A person himself must sincerely answer in all life circumstances to the question specifically “what is truth?”, correcting his moral and ethical standards on mistakes, in which God helps him.
Rus', Russian culture is also characterized by a specific attitude towards evil spirits which also distinguishes us from the West. In the culture of the West, on the subject of "human relations with evil spirit"For the most part, works about deals with the devil, based on the sale or mortgage of the evil spirits of one's own or someone else's soul, prevail.
In Russian culture, there are simply no outstanding works of art, where such episodes would be the basis of the plot. We have nothing similar in plot to I.V. Goethe’s “Faust”, which the Russian boring read at school and as an adult. Throughout history, we have a completely different relationship with God and with evil spirits.
As for evil spirits, then, of course, we also had those who tried to enter into a deal with the devil, like Faust, or foolishly surrendered themselves or others to evil spirits without any deal, just as Margarita surrenders to Woland the master of extracting one from a psychiatric hospital. There were and are those who live according to the principle "and pray to God, and do not be angry with the devil: even if it is impure, it is still a force." But it is not these approaches to evil spirits that determine Russianness in this matter.
IN folk art In Rus', craftsmen of a different kind live: the Novgorod chronicles tell how one of the Novgorod pilgrims flew to Jerusalem to pray in hell; the blacksmith Vakula at Gogol's on the line flies to St. Petersburg for household needs in preparation for the wedding; Pushkin's fairy tale "Priest and his worker Balda" is about the same.
This is all an allegorical statement of the opinion characteristic of Russian civilization: if there is an evil spirit, and it imposes communication with a person, then a person, being in harmony with God or striving for such, has the right to use the evil spirit at his own discretion, not obeying it. without entering into transactions with her.
In the Russian worldview, any unclean force - from a petty demon to Satan - in certain circumstances can itself become an object of God's allowance in relation to it righteous. And such an attitude towards evil spirits in Russian culture is based on the fact that:
God is the Creator and Sustainer,
information by the grace of God is objective, unchanged in its essence,
· man is the vicar of God on Earth according to God's Predestination.
But the relationship with Woland of the master and Margarita lies outside the mainstream of the Russian tradition due to the lack of faith in God and the lack of will of each of them.
The theme of cowardice links the two lines of the novel. Many critics will attribute cowardice to the master himself, who failed to fight for his novel, for his love and his life. And this is precisely what will explain the rewarding of the master after the completion of the whole story with peace, and not with light. Let's dwell on this in more detail.
At the end of the novel, when Woland leaves Moscow, Levi Matvey comes to him with an assignment (ch. 29).
“- He read the work of the master,” Levi Matthew spoke, “and asks you to take the master with you and reward him with peace. Is it really difficult for you to do, spirit of evil?
“He did not deserve the light, he deserved peace,” said Levi in a sad voice.
The question of why the master did not deserve the light remains to this day not fully clarified. It is analyzed in detail by V. A. Slavina. She notes that the most common opinion is that “the master was not awarded the light precisely because he was not active enough, which, unlike his mythological counterpart, allowed himself to be broken, burned the novel”, “did not fulfill his duty: the novel remained unfinished.” A similar point of view is expressed by G. Lesskis in his comments to the novel: “The fundamental difference between the protagonist of the second novel is that the master turns out to be untenable as a tragic hero: he lacked the spiritual strength that Yeshua reveals on the cross just as convincingly as on interrogation by Pilate ... None of the people dare to reproach a tortured person for such a capitulation, he deserves peace.
Of interest is another point of view expressed, in particular, in the works of the American scientist B. Pokrovsky. He believes that the novel "The Master and Margarita" shows the development of rational philosophy, and the novel of the master himself takes us not two millennia into the past, but into early XIX century, at that point in historical development when, after Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, the process of demythologization of the sacred texts of Christianity began. The master, according to Pokrovsky, is among these demythologists, and therefore is deprived of light (the master freed the Gospel from the supernatural - there is no resurrection of Christ). Moreover, he is given a chance to atone for sin, but he did not see it, did not understand it (meaning the episode when Ivan Bezdomny in Stravinsky's clinic tells the master about his meeting with Boland, and he exclaims: “Oh, how I guessed! How I guessed everything! »
He accepted the testimony of the devil about the truth - and this is his second sin, more serious, Pokrovsky believes. And what many critics see as the reason for punishing the master with peace, Pokrovsky calls an act of heroism, because the hero did not make any compromises with the world alien to him, even in the name of his salvation. Here the master just corresponds to the idea of "good will" and "categorical imperative", which the author of the novel "The Master and Margarita" calls to follow, following Kant. In the first chapter, when the characters argue about the existence of God, Woland, referring to Kant, says that he first destroyed all the proofs for the existence of God, and then "built his own sixth proof." Kant's sixth proof is the doctrine of good will, the essence of which, according to Vladimir Solovyov's definition, is "the universal reasonable idea of good, acting on the conscious will in the form of an unconditional duty or a categorical imperative (in Kant's terminology). Simply put, a person can do good in addition to and in spite of selfish considerations, for the very idea of goodness, out of respect for duty or moral law alone.
We emphasize what is important, in our opinion, to Bulgakov. In his novel, Yeshua is the bearer of good will. And then we ask the question: can Yeshua, following the "categorical imperative", punish the master for not being as strong as himself? He would rather forgive this shortcoming, as he forgave Pontius Pilate, than help the master finish his novel. Then Pokrovsky is right, who saw the sin of the master in the destruction of faith: “However, such a statement is paradoxical, but historically the master is the predecessor of the “educated” theorist Berlioz and the ignorant practitioner Ivan Bezdomny, Ivan before his rebirth. Pokrovsky is closer to the truth, in our opinion, but we cannot fully agree with him, because his truth is in faith, in religion only, and he believes that the Mind is to blame for everything (“the nightmare of the mind that absolutizes itself”).
According to V. A. Slavina, this is not entirely true with Bulgakov. While ideas and theories are often the cause of misfortune (think of Fatal Eggs and dog's heart”), although he denies social revolutions, preferring the “beloved and Great Evolution”, yet it is precisely on the conscious and rational will that he stakes on the path to good. And this is the essence of his philosophy, embodied in a brilliant artistic form - in the novel "The Master and Margarita".
M. Bulgakov's archive contains the journal "Literary Study" (1938) with Mirimsky's article about Hoffmann. It was about her that Bulgakov wrote to Elena Sergeevna in Lebedyan: “I accidentally attacked an article about Hoffmann's fiction. I'm saving it for you, knowing that it will amaze you as it hit me. I'm right in The Master and Margarita! You understand what this consciousness is worth - I'm right! In this article, among those noted by Bulgakov, there are the following words: “He (Hoffmann) turns art into a military tower, with which, as an artist, he creates a satirical reprisal against reality.” This is also obvious for Bulgakov's novel, which is why, first of all, the work took so long and difficult to reach the reader.
We focused on the biblical chapters in most detail, since they contain the philosophical quintessence of the novel. Not without reason, the first remark of Ilf and Petrov after reading the novel by Bulgakov was: “Remove the“ ancient ”chapters - and we undertake to print.” But this in no way belittles the content of the chapters on modernity - one cannot be read without the other. Post-revolutionary Moscow, shown through the eyes of Woland and his retinue (Koroviev, Behemoth, Azazello), is a satirical and humorous, with elements of fantasy, an unusually bright picture with tricks and dressing up, with sharp remarks along the way and comic scenes. .
During his three days in Moscow, Woland explores the habits, behavior and lives of people of different social groups and strata. He wants to know whether the Moscow population has changed and how significantly, moreover, he is more interested in "whether the townspeople have changed internally." Before the readers of the novel, there is a gallery similar to Gogol's heroes, but only smaller than those, albeit from the capital. It is interesting that each of them in the novel is given an impartial characterization.
The director of the Variety Theater Styopa Likhodeev “gets drunk, gets involved with women, using his position, doesn’t do a damn thing, and can’t do anything ...”, the chairman of the housing association, Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, is a “burnout and a rogue”, Meigel is an “earphone” and "spy", etc.
In total, in the novel "The Master and Margarita" more than five hundred characters are not only those who are distinguished by some individual or specific features, but also "collective characters" - spectators of the Variety, passers-by, employees of various institutions. Woland, although he, according to Margarita, is omnipotent, uses his power far from being in full force and, rather, only in order to emphasize and more clearly show human vices and weaknesses. These are tricks in the Variety and an office with an empty suit signing papers, a singing institution and the constant transformation of money into simple papers, then into dollars ... And when in the theater the "chairman of the Acoustic Commission" Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov demands from Woland to expose tricks, a real exposure of those present takes place in Variety Citizens.
“I’m not an artist at all,” says Woland, “but I just wanted to see Muscovites in bulk ...” And people do not stand the test: men rush for money - and to the buffet, and women - for rags. As a result, a well-deserved and fair conclusion “... They are people like people. They love money, but it has always been... Mankind loves money, no matter what it is made of, whether it is leather, paper, bronze or gold. Well, they are frivolous ... well, well ... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts ... ordinary people ... in general, they resemble the former ones ... the housing problem only spoiled them ... "
It is noteworthy that the action of the novel begins with Woland's acquaintance with Berlioz, the head of a writers' organization, editor of a thick magazine, one might even say a theoretician and ideologist, and Ivan Bezdomny, a poet who writes an anti-religious poem on Berlioz's order. The confidence of the educated Berlioz in his theoretical postulates and the poet's blind adherence to them is frightening, like any dogmatism that leads to thoughtless obedience and, as a result, tragedy. A tragedy not of an individual, but of a whole society forced to submit to a false totalitarian idea. For a lie, retribution is due, “retribution as part of the earthly law of justice” (V. Lakshin). This retribution in Bulgakov's interpretation sounds like the thesis "each will be given according to his faith", which is revealed by the example of Berlioz in the scene at Satan's ball.
“Mikhail Alexandrovich,” Woland turned softly to the head, and then the dead man’s eyelids lifted, and on the dead face Margarita, shuddering, saw living eyes full of thought and suffering. Everything came true, didn't it? Woland went on, looking into the eyes of the head, “the head was cut off by a woman, the meeting did not take place, and I live in your apartment. It is a fact. A fact is the most stubborn thing in the world. But now we are interested in the future, and not in this already accomplished fact. You have always been an ardent preacher of the theory that after cutting off the head, life in a person stops, he turns into ashes and goes into oblivion. I am pleased to inform you, in the presence of my guests ... that your theory is both solid and witty. However, all theories stand one another. There is one among them, according to which each will be given according to his faith. Berlioz goes into oblivion - he believed in it, he promoted it. He deserved this punishment. The fate of Berlioz's interlocutor, Ivan Bezdomny, is also interesting. In the final version of the novel, his punishment is much lighter than in earlier editions. He can't handle the spring full moon. “As soon as it begins to approach, as soon as the luminary begins to grow and fill with gold ... Ivan Nikolayevich becomes restless, nervous, loses his appetite and sleep, waits for the moon to ripen.” But in The Great Chancellor, an early version of The Master and Margarita, the fate of Ivan Bezdomny is more complicated. He appears at the trial dead (how he died, we don’t know) before Woland and to the question: “What do you want, Ivanushka?” - replies: "I want to see Yeshua Ha-Nozri - you open my eyes." “In other lands, in other kingdoms,” Woland tells him, “you will walk through the fields blind and listen. A thousand times you will hear how silence is replaced by the noise of floods, how birds cry in spring, and you will sing them, blind, in verse, and for the thousand and first time, on Saturday night, I will open your eyes. Then you will see him. Go to your fields." Due to ignorance, Ivan Bezdomny also believed in Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, but after the events at the Patriarch's Ponds, in the Stravinsky clinic, he admits that he was wrong. And although Bulgakov holds the idea that "blindness due to ignorance cannot serve as an excuse for unrighteous deeds," at the same time he understands that Berlioz's guilt cannot be equated with the actions of Ivan Bezdomny.
In this regard, the fate of Pontius Pilate is also interesting. In the last chapter of The Master and Margarita, called Forgiveness and Eternal Refuge, two novels (the Master's novel and Bulgakov's novel) are connected, as it were, the master meets his hero:
“They read your novel,” Woland spoke, turning to the master, “and they said only one thing, that, unfortunately, it was not finished. So, I wanted to show you your hero. For about two thousand years he has been sitting on this platform and sleeping, but when the full moon comes, as you can see, he is tormented by insomnia. She torments not only him, but his faithful guardian, the dog. If it is true that cowardice is the most grievous vice, then perhaps the dog is not to blame for it. The only thing the brave dog was afraid of was thunderstorms. Well, the one who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.
Pontius Pilate is tormented by the fact that he did not agree on something important with the prisoner, with whom he dreamed of going along the lunar road together. This moment in the novel seems to be very important, as well as the “full of thought and suffering” eyes of Berlioz’s head. Suffering from having done or said something wrong, but cannot be returned. “Everything will be right, the world is built on this,” Woland says to Margarita and invites the master to end the novel “in one phrase.”
“The master seemed to have been waiting for this while he stood motionless and looked at the sitting prosecutor. He folded his hands like a mouthpiece and shouted so that the echo jumped over the deserted and treeless mountains:
- Free! Free! He is waiting for you!"
Pontius Pilate is forgiven. Forgiveness, the path to which lies through suffering, through the awareness of one's guilt and responsibility. Responsibility not only for deeds and actions, but also for the thoughts and ideas themselves.
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