There’s no good without evil

“The Master and Margarita” is a controversial piece of work, which exploited my imagination and understanding. Even though it is written in an easy manner, specific to children novels, I’ve constantly felt there was still more to discover about its characters and meaning. Young or old, it’s never too late to “experience” a story of good and evil, which defies the so-called “normality”. This book is a philosophical “thesis” of morality and perception. Give a chance to this great classic, and don’t ever be surprised if it’s going to stick to your memory!

The Narration

While the narration of “The Master and Margarita” takes place on the 3^rd person, the omniscient objective storyteller uses several narrative threads for telling the story. The anti-communist voice showed an important influence in the readers’ experience and helped contouring complexly the setting.

The main characters of “The Master and Margarita”

• Woland (Satan, who pretends to be a professor of dark magic)
• the Master
• Margarita
• Azazello (one of Satan’s two helps. He keeps a human form)
• Berlioz
• Bezdomnîi
• Yeshua (Jesus)
• Behemoth (one of Satan’s two helps. He is shown as a massive walking black cat)
• Pontius Pilate

The Moral of the story

It has completely astonished me to discover – only after finishing the story – that it is recommended mostly for the age 7-11. Most probably, if I had looked for its age rating before reading it, my curiosity for “The Master and Margarita” would’ve vanished immediately – and it would’ve been a complete loss.

While its language and action are decent – completely right for a young child -, the approached themes are complex, and the message of the book can initially come unclear, making it hard even for the older readers to deepen it. Wasn’t “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry also initially considered a simple children book? It was definitely an understatement.

“The Master and Margarita”, I think, is a beautiful way to teach every reader, no matter their age, the dynamic of the world. Good and evil are codependent; there is no one without the other. As in the Chinese “Yin and Yang”, good and evil include each other and contour the reality. This story is a mesmerizing way of illustrating the very middle of morality and belief.

𝐈𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐠, 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭.

“The Master and Margarita”, Mikhail Bulgakov

The moral of the story is exactly the codependent relation between good and evil, which is if not influent, influenced. Many contemporary books promote the idea that there is no such thing as bad people, but only good people who sometimes do bad things (“It Ends with Us”- Colleen Hoover). Even so, in the end, is the evil tempting people, or is easier for them to blame it for their own sins and will?

Themes in “The Master and Margarita”

“The Master and Margarita” is a life metaphor that shows there’s no good without evil. The novel is a smart combination of hope, fate and magic, which didn’t fail to impress me. The magical elements, the realism features and the biblical circumstances offer “The Master and Margarita” the desired shape.

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭.

“The Master and Margarita”, Mikhail Bulgakov

Starting with the very beginning of Christianity, the novel drives its readers straight into the Stalinist Moscow, when Satan’s ball needs a queen. Contrasting the fate and sins, the classic shows the constant immorality of society and their desire for social climbing. “The ends justify the means.” … Or not.

Sinning

The evil is developed briefly in this great classic, in which the main course of the action is built up on the Satan’s coming on Earth for his annual ball. Unexpectedly, the evil is presented from a new perspective which somehow succeeded surprising me. While the previously mentioned character seems to tempt the immoral side of the “sinners”, the people still have free will and the decisions, therefore, are their own.

𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.

“The Master and Margarita”, Mikhail Bulgakov

The readers are subtly suggested the fine wicked tones that color a great part of our society. While the personal interests, selfishness and indifference rule the world, Earth becomes a favorable place for the installing of evil and chaos. Therefore, the ball is about to begin…

While people tend to believe whatever imposes itself more convincing, “The Master and Margarita” shows us their need to be given a scientific explanation to believe in good and evil. The simple morality is harder to be believed than the supernatural.

People and Power

On a second narrative thread, the story presents the dynamic between morality, humanity and power, including the consequences of an unbalanced relationship. Through Margarita’s “journey” along the story, readers are able to find out the sharp decay of a dehumanized person. As it appears in “The Master and Margarita”, human nature and, most of all, morality is often altered by possessing true power. While the woman is “transformed” by it, from an emotional simple lover to a powerful immortal witch, the narrator illustrates creatively her alteration of morality.

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝. 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐭. 𝐈𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭… 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲? 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

“The Master and Margarita”, Mikhail Bulgakov

Love Beyond the Purgatory

The so-called “Master” and his lover, Margarita, seem to live a love story beyond Heaven or Hell. They live their life journey in an unofficial “purgatory”, being simple people who are predisposed to sinning. The man is divinely blessed to tell the story of Pontius Pilate. Therefore, the ending reveals that he is the one who needs to end the Roman’s “story”.

One thing which I especially liked about the writing was the usage of the biblical personalities’ original names – Yeshua, for example. Even though it initially was a little bit difficult to link those names to a story, everything came clear in the end. This whole originality contributed great and well to the authenticity of the novel.

“The Master and Margarita” censored

The Soviet censors considered the novel unacceptable and decided to completely forbid it from the public eye. The ex-URSS used to strongly deny the concept of fate or afterlife, and, as a communist state, totally canceled the books that promoted the contrary. Besides that, the story also offered women a kind of individuality, power and meaning in the course of the events, which also has been seen as one more reason for it being censored.

My favorite parts of “The Master and Margarita”

• it’s written in a casual language
• a great codependency of good and evil
• the social and moral accents of the story
• the complexity of the literary themes
• the balance between faith and sinning
• the story defies the social “standards” or “usual”
• the engaging plot

Conclusions

“The Master and Margarita” was a book I’ve never thought I would so heartedly recommend one day. It is an important story for the universal classic literature, precisely illustrating the great role which morality owns in society.

Combining the old Jerusalem of Jesus Christ with the 30’s Stalinist Moscow, it is a novel that completely “cancels” the standards of morality and rebuilds them from the ground.

Through a powerful contrast realized between true faith and sinning, “The Master and Margarita” made me wonder about the nature of society’s true “colors”. How do we know when “far” becomes “too far”? Do the ends really justify the means?

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More information

1. Read about the mental illnesses present in “The Master and Margarita”
2. Read about the literary elements of “The Master and Margarita”
3. Read more detailed dates about the book and its author

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