Transcript MandM Presentation1

The Master and Margarita
A Russian satire
What happens when the Devil presents
himself to a Godless society?
Characters/Names
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Bulgakov uses names in ta variety of layered ways: to pay homage to or allude to a living or
historical figure (generally an artist or person from Bulgakov’s past) or as a representation of the
character, or a historical event in Russia
The confusion with names comes from the fact that people are generally addressed in two ways
within the Russian culture:
1) The first and last name – formal – family or geographical region where the family comes from
2) the first and middle name (father’s name – vich is “son of”)
Ivan Nikalaevich Ponyryov – Ivan (the fool) “son of” Nikalae Ponyryov – also known as Bezdomny his pen name meaning “homeless” – obvious textual significance
Mikhail Alexandrovich Belioz – the maestro (Hector Belioz – composer commissioned for State
Operas – La Damnation de Faust - represents the cross over of politics and art corruption within
Russia and by extension the housing shortage corruption
Styopa Likhodeyev – director of the variety theatre –”evildoer” – again the corruption of the arts is
illustrated here through his actions
Annushka – Anna/Channah – Old testament. New testament – prophetess that recognized Jesus as
the messiah
Twenty slides and a course could be taught on Bulgakov’s use of names
Ode to Faust
• Throughout this text, Bulgakov pays homage to
Goethe’s Faust throughout.
• Woland is the German Valand – Mephistopheles
in Faust
• Margarete is the Russian form of Gretchen
• The poodle imagery at the ball – Mephistopheles
appears as a poodle in Faust
• Schubert’s music which is prominent in the text
put music to a section of Faust “Lieder” and
Belioz “Grand Opera” wrote the opera La
damnation de Faust
Music
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Through Schubert and Belioz, Bulgakov is commenting on the different forms of artistic expression
in Moscow under political restriction.
Belioz represents the contrived “Grand” spectacle of the arts that were controlled pieces of
propaganda and Schubert’s Lieder (song) represents the informal and romantic or pure side of the
arts – often performed in one’s
www.emiclassics.com/releasetracklisting.php?rid=44574 Belioz – La Damnation de Faust
www.listeningarts.com/music/art_song/oxy116/gretchen.htm Schubert – Gretchen am Spinnrade
Bulgakov’s multi-layered symbolic application of Grand Opera and Lieder in the novel mirrors the
harmonic structure of “sonata form,” a principle classical music form used by almost every major
composer. In sonata form, the piece of music is organized into three sections: the exposition, the
development, and the recapitulation. In the exposition, two harmonic “theme groups” are
presented in conflict; that is, they are in different keys (the two stories – Master and Pilate/Russia
and Judea). However, once the piece reaches the recapitulation, these same “theme groups” are
restated, only now in harmony, or in the same key (the Epilogue). Taking into account the
significance of the moon as a symbol, The Master and Margarita is Bulgakov’s literary “Moonlight
Sonata.”
The text essentially has its own musical score – it is a homage to composers but also the story itself
is composed as an opera on the stage orchestrated by Satan himself
Bulgakov’s Style - Satire
• “A menippean satire - In The Master and Margarita Bulgakov practises the
so-called menippean satire. This kind of satire turns the world completely
around. Authorities are interchanged, fabrications become true, the social
order is mixed up. The motives are grotesque and blusterous. The
menippean satire laughs about the socially legitimated cultural
expressions and connects them to the absurd and the abnormal. It's a
parody of the established power, which doesn't mean by definition that it
casts off authorities or the official truth. The characters in the satire
experience very different and extreme psychological situations. It varies
from insanity, schizophrenia and interchange of identities to unrestrained
daydreams and an excessive wish for scandals and eccentricity. The satire
questions the dominant cultural order. It is expressed by wiping the floor
with the morality, norms and etiquette of the higher class. In general the
official representatives of power are challenged.
• This form of satire was inspired by the Greek Anatolian Menippus of
Gadara (300 BC-260 BC).
Techniques ofStyle
• Masking – a message through subtlety (Aesopian language) Aesopian language is thus a use of words having an innocent
meaning to outsiders, but which is very significant for insiders or
those who are informed (not always critical)– very accessible within
the Russian language due to nuance and multiple meanings.
• Ex., When the Master tells to Ivan that he was "in the same coat but
with the buttons torn off", the informed reader knows that he had
been arrested. Because in Stalin's Soviet Union the buttons of the
clothes of arrested people were torn off or “the secret police” is
never mentioned. Lines like "a citizen entered and whispered
something", sometimes vague general descriptions like "a certain
Moscow institution“ were used instead – deniability!
• This subtlety of language, dual meanings, and allusions allowed for
Bulgakov to get his point across to an informed audience without
having to commit himself to persecution/interrogation
Style – Narration
• The narrator of the text is both an objective observer and
subjective player with clear opinions: “Between us, the
article was idiotic…”. It appears to be an objective
omniscient narrator, at times, (questions what characters
are thinking) but break forms through direct address – “But
enough, you are digressing, reader! Follow me!”. This direct
address adds a playful personal quality to the text, while
bridging the world of realism and fiction.
• The narrator also speaks specifically to the Russian reader
cementing the idea that this book was one for the Russian
people calling the reader “dear citizens”
• There are many theories as to whom the narrator may be:
Bulgakov, an unnamed entity, even Koroviev.
Imagery and Motif
• The storm plays heavily into the text from Ivan’s cell to
the crucifixion of Christ. This form of pathetic fallacy is
symbolic of pain and the mental anguish of the
characters
• Leitmotif – a musical term (fitting) for a reoccurring
thought/image. “O Gods” is repeated 10 times in the
text by both the master, Pilate and the narrator
creating a bond between the characters
• Contrast – light and dark, the sun and moon, good and
evil
• Symbols – the needle, the moon, the sparrow(swallow)
are all tied to Woland in some form
Themes
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The soviet reality – the terrors, apartment exchanges, atheism, foreigners, secret
police all play into the realism component of “Magic Realism” – defined as "what
happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too
strange to believe.“ Again the key question of this novel.
Censorship – political and religious and the consequences of – really the bridge
between the two stories
The interplay of love, loyalty, sensuality, and sacrifice – the Master and Margarita,
Pontius and Banga, Nickolai Ivanovich
Courage/ Cowardice – Pontius, Margarita
Truth revealed in absurdity – the theatre – what appears absurd (money and the
clothes ultimately reveals the materialistic greed of the time), Griboedovs - the
new elite that was created in what should have been the classless society under
Stalin
Faustian theme – selling one’s soul for materialistic possessions
App. vs Reality – black magic, religion – USSR – cover ups, the power of the word –
when one stopped talking about something (denial) it ceased to exist within the
Russian culture
Theme
• Fate – invoking the devil – ultimately people decide their fate – although
the devil is invoked in the text, Woland seems to give people a choice
(even warned) and, therefore, responsibility over their fates. Woland
almost appears as an agent of justice and punisher of greed and treachery.
• Hope – redemption is possible for sin – even Pilate
• Guilt – Pilate - death of Christ, Bulgakov – as a favorite of Stalin was at
times protected while friends were punished
• The role of the arts – primarily shown through the variety theater and the
first chapter (poem on Christ), and the pure and romantic (Schubert)
juxtaposed against the materialistic Grand Opera (Belioz), the individual
and self expression against the state manufactured nationalistic spectacle
• Good vs. Evil – told through satire (the mythical elements)
• The Power of Words – language as a tool of oppression but also a tool of
expression and by extension subversion and freedom