Woland and his predecessors in literature. Essay: How is Bulgakov’s devil similar and different from his literary predecessors? Perhaps this will interest you

Essay text:

... So who are you, finally? I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good. Goethe. Faust M. A. Bulgakov is an outstanding writer of Russian and world literature. His largest work is the novel "The Master and Margarita". This is a special work in which the writer managed to fuse together myth and reality, satirical everyday life and a romantic plot, truthful depiction and irony, sarcasm. The writer worked on his novel for about 12 years, from 1928 to 1940. In the process of work, the concept of the novel, its plot, composition, system of images, and title changed. All this testifies to the enormous work done by the writer. Bulgakov showed four different worlds in his work: earth, darkness, light and peace. Yershalaim in the twenties of the 1st century and Moscow in the twenties of the 20th century are the earthly world. The characters and times described in them seem to be different, but the essence is the same. Enmity, distrust of dissident people, envy reign both in ancient times and in Bulgakov’s contemporary Moscow. The vices of society are exposed by Woland, in which the author artistically reinterpreted the image of Satan. Woland occupies a significant place in Bulgakov's novel, but no one except the Master and Margariya recognizes Satan in him. Why? The fact is that ordinary people do not admit the existence of something inexplicable in the world. In Bulgakov's portrayal, Woland absorbed many of the traits of various spirits of evil: Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer and others. But most of all Woland is associated with Goethe's Mephistopheles. Both of them are “part of that force that always wants evil and always does good.” But if Mephistopheles is a cheerful and malicious tempter, then Bulgakov’s Woland is much more majestic. Sarcasm, not irony, is its main feature. Unlike Mephistopheles, Woland gives the sophisticated the opportunity to choose between good and evil, gives them a chance to use their good will. He sees everything, the world opens up to him without blush or makeup. With the help of his swine, he ridicules and destroys everything that has deviated from goodness, lied, become corrupted, become morally impoverished, and lost its high ideal. With contemptuous irony, Woland looks at the representatives of the Moscow philistinism, at all these businessmen, envious people, thieves and bribe-takers, at these petty crooks and gray philistines who are tenacious at any time. While reading the novel, I paid attention to the scene in the variety show hall, where the role of Woland is perfectly revealed. Bulgakov's Woland turned this hall into a laboratory for the study of human weaknesses. Here the greed of the public and its petty-bourgeois vulgarity are exposed, which are especially evident at the moment when “money rain” fell on the astonished spectators. This is what the scene looks like: “Someone was already crawling in the aisle, groping under the chairs. Many stood on the seats, catching fidgety, capricious pieces of paper." Because of money, people were already ready to attack each other. And involuntarily, each of us recalls the words of the famous aria of Mephistopheles: "People die for metal. Satan ruled there." Thus, once again a parallel can be drawn between Mephistopheles and Woland. The climax in Bulgakov’s novel, of course, are those episodes where Satan’s ball is described, to which poisoners, informers, traitors, madmen, debauchees of all stripes came. These dark forces, if given free rein, will destroy the world. For just three days Woland appears in Moscow with his retinue, but the ruin of life disappears, the cover falls from the gray of everyday life. The world appears before us in its nakedness. Playing on earth the role of the god of vengeance, Woland punishes real evil and occasionally grants freedom to those who have suffered enough. The novel “The Master and Margarita” is a unique masterpiece of Russian and world literature. By rereading this work, each of us will be able to understand it more deeply and rethink a lot. We can have different attitudes towards the novel, but one thing is certain: it will not leave the reader indifferent.

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... So who are you, finally? -

I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good.

Goethe. Faust

M. A. Bulgakov is an outstanding writer of Russian and world literature. His largest work is the novel “The Master and Margarita”. This is a special work in which the writer managed to fuse together myth and reality, satirical everyday life and a romantic plot, truthful depiction and irony, sarcasm. The writer worked on his novel for about 12 years, from 1928 to 1940. In the process of work, the concept of the novel, its plot, composition, system of images, and title changed. All this testifies to the enormous work done by the writer.

Bulgakov showed four different worlds in his work: earth, darkness, light and peace. Yershalaim in the twenties of the 1st century and Moscow in the twenties of the 20th century - this is the earthly world. The characters and times described in them seem to be different, but the essence is the same. Enmity, distrust of dissident people, and envy reign both in ancient times and in Bulgakov’s contemporary Moscow. The vices of society are exposed by Woland, in which the author artistically reinterpreted the image of Satan. Woland occupies a significant place in Bulgakov's novel, but no one except the Master and Margarita recognizes Satan in him. Why? The fact is that ordinary people do not allow the existence of something inexplicable in the world. In Bulgakov's portrayal, Woland absorbed many of the features of various spirits of evil: Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer and others. But most of all Woland is associated with Goethe's Mephistopheles. Both of them are “part of that force that always wants evil and always does good.” But if Mephistopheles is a cheerful and malicious tempter, then Bulgakov’s Woland is much more majestic. Sarcasm, not irony, is his main feature.

Unlike Mephistopheles, Woland gives the sophisticated the opportunity to choose between good and evil, gives them a chance to use their good will. He sees everything, the world is open to him without rouge or makeup. With the help of his retinue, he ridicules and destroys everything that has deviated from goodness, has lied, become corrupted, become morally impoverished, and lost its high ideal. With contemptuous irony, Woland looks at the representatives of the Moscow philistinism, at all these businessmen, envious people, thieves and bribe-takers, at these petty crooks and gray philistines who are tenacious at any time. While reading the novel, I paid attention to the scene in the variety show hall, where the role of Woland is perfectly revealed. Bulgakov's Woland turned this hall into a laboratory for the study of human weaknesses. Here the greed of the public and its petty-bourgeois vulgarity are exposed, which are especially evident at the moment when “money rain” fell on the astonished spectators. This is what the scene looks like: “Someone was already crawling in the aisle, groping under the chairs. Many stood on the seats, catching fidgety, capricious pieces of paper.” Because of money, people were already ready to attack each other. And here each of us involuntarily recalls the words of the famous aria of Mephistopheles: “People die for metal. Satan rules the roost there." Thus, once again a parallel can be drawn between Mephistopheles and Woland.

The climax in Bulgakov's novel, of course, are those episodes where Satan's ball is described, to which poisoners, informers, traitors, madmen, and libertines of all stripes came. These dark forces, if given free rein, will destroy the world. Woland appears in Moscow with his retinue for just three days, but the routine of life disappears, the veil falls from gray everyday life. The world appears before us in its nakedness. Playing the role of the god of vengeance on earth, Woland punishes real evil and occasionally grants freedom to those who have suffered enough. The novel “The Master and Margarita” is a unique masterpiece of Russian and world literature. By rereading this work, each of us will be able to understand it more deeply and rethink a lot. You can have different attitudes towards the novel, but one thing is certain: it will not leave the reader indifferent.

How is Bulgakov's devil similar and different from his literary predecessors?

So who are you, finally? -

I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good.

Goethe. Faust

M. A. Bulgakov is an outstanding writer of Russian and world literature. His largest work is the novel "The Master and Margarita". This is a special work in which the writer managed to fuse together myth and reality, satirical everyday life and a romantic plot, truthful depiction and irony, sarcasm. The writer worked on his novel for about 12 years, from 1928 to 1940. In the process of work, the concept of the novel, its plot, composition, system of images, and title changed. All this testifies to the enormous work done by the writer.

Unlike Mephistopheles, Woland gives the sophisticated the opportunity to choose between good and evil, gives them a chance to use their good will. He sees everything, the world is open to him without rouge or makeup. With the help of his retinue, he ridicules and destroys everything that has deviated from goodness, has lied, become corrupted, become morally impoverished, and lost its high ideal. With contemptuous irony, Woland looks at the representatives of the Moscow philistinism, at all these businessmen, envious people, thieves and bribe-takers, at these petty crooks and gray philistines who are tenacious at any time. While reading the novel, I paid attention to the scene in the variety show hall, where the role of Woland is perfectly revealed. Bulgakov's Woland turned this hall into a laboratory for the study of human weaknesses. Here the greed of the public and its petty-bourgeois vulgarity are exposed, which are especially evident at the moment when “money rain” fell on the astonished spectators. This is what the scene looks like: “Some were already crawling in the aisle, groping under the chairs. Many were standing on the seats, catching fidgety, capricious pieces of paper.” Because of money, people were already ready to attack each other. And here each of us involuntarily recalls the words of the famous aria of Mephistopheles: “People die for metal. Satan rules the roost there.” Thus, once again a parallel can be drawn between Mephistopheles and Woland.

The climax in Bulgakov's novel, of course, are those episodes where Satan's ball is described, to which poisoners, informers, traitors, madmen, and libertines of all stripes came. These dark forces, if given free rein, will destroy the world. Woland appears in Moscow with his retinue for just three days, but the routine of life disappears, the veil falls from gray everyday life. The world appears before us in its nakedness. Playing the role of the god of vengeance on earth, Woland punishes real evil and occasionally grants freedom to those who have suffered enough. The novel "The Master and Margarita" is a unique masterpiece of Russian and world literature. By rereading this work, each of us will be able to understand it more deeply and rethink a lot. You can have different attitudes towards the novel, but one thing is certain: it will not leave the reader indifferent.

Bibliography

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Woland

WOLAND is the central character of M.A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” (1928-1940), the devil who appeared at the “hour of hot spring sunset on the Patriarch’s Ponds” to celebrate “the great ball of Satan” here in Moscow; which, as it should be, became the cause of many extraordinary events that caused turmoil in the peaceful life of the city and caused a lot of anxiety to its inhabitants.

In the process of creating the novel, the image of V. played a key role. This character was the starting point of the artistic concept, which then underwent many changes. The future novel about the Master and Margarita began as a “novel about the devil” (Bulgakov’s words from his letter to the “Government of the USSR”, 1930). In the early editions, V., who had not yet found his name, called either Herr Faland or Azazel, was the main person placed at the center of the narrative. This is indicated by almost all variants of the title of the novel, noted in manuscripts from 1928 to 1937: “Black Magician”, “Engineer’s Hoof”, “Consultant with a Hoof”, “Satan”, “Black Theologian”, “Great Chancellor”, “Prince of Darkness”, etc. As the “distance of the free novel” expanded (the “ancient” line developed, the Master and, as well as many other persons appeared), V. lost his function as a hero. In the “final” edition, he was pushed out of the main roles and became the tritagonist of the plot, after the Master and Margarita, after Yeshua Ha-Nozri and Pontius Pilate. Having lost his supremacy in the hierarchy of images, V. nevertheless retained obvious primacy in terms of plot presence. He appears in fifteen chapters of the novel, while the Master appears in only five, and Yeshua in only two chapters.

The author took the name V. from Goethe’s Faust: Mephistopheles’ exclamation “Plate! Junker Voland kommt" ("Walk the way! The devil is coming!"; translation by N.A. Kholodkovsky; scene "Walpurgis Night"). The source of the image for Bulgakov was M.N. Orlov’s book “The History of Relations between Man and the Devil” (1904), as well as articles about Satan, about demonology in the “Encyclopedic Dictionary” of Brockhaus and Efron. V.'s literary genealogy is very extensive. Among his predecessors, Milton's Satan, Melmoth the wanderer Methurin are usually mentioned; the closest prototype of Goethe's tragedy and Gounod's opera. (Ironic identification of V. as Satan in a conversation between the Master and Ivan Bezdomny. The latter could not recognize the devil in the “foreigner”, because he had never heard the opera “Faust”.) If, however, Mephistopheles is only a “servant of the great Lucifer”, then V The main person among the forces of darkness is Lucifer himself, who has taken a different name.

In the depiction of the devil, the writer used some traditional attributes, emblems, portrait descriptions: lameness, squint, crooked mouth, black eyebrows one higher than the other, a cane with a knob in the shape of a poodle’s head, a beret famously twisted over one ear, though without a feather, and so on. Nevertheless, Bulgakovsky's V. differs significantly from the images of Satan captured by the artistic tradition. Research shows that these differences intensified from one edition to another. “Early” V. was much closer to the traditional type of tempter, catcher of human souls. He committed sacrilege and demanded blasphemous acts from others. In the “final” version, these points disappeared. Bulgakov interprets the provocation of the devil in a unique way. Traditionally, it is intended to provoke everything dark lurking in a person’s soul, to kindle it, as it were. The meaning of provocations is the study of people as they really are. A session of black magic in a variety theater (a classic provocation) revealed both the bad (greed) and the good in the audience gathered there, showing that mercy sometimes knocks on people's hearts. The last conclusion, murderous for Satan, does not offend Bulgakovsky at all.

Messire V., as his retinue respectfully calls him, consisting of the lomaki-regent Korovye-vaUFagot, the demon Azazello, the cat Behemoth and the witch Gella, is by no means a fighter against God and not an enemy of the human race. Contrary to the orthodox interpretation, which denies the devil the truth, for “he is a lie and the father of lies” (John, VII, 44), V. is involved in the truth. He certainly distinguishes between good and evil: usually Satan is a relativist, for whom these concepts are relative. Moreover, V. is endowed with the power to punish people for the evil they have committed; He himself does not slander anyone, but he punishes slanderers and informers.

Throughout the novel, V. does not try to capture souls. He doesn’t need the souls of the Master and Margarita, to whom he showed so much selfless concern. Strictly speaking, V. is not the devil (Greek §1sphoHo