Pasternak, "Magdalene": reality or myth

Pasternak's poem "Magdalene" is included in the novel "Doctor Zhivago" as a monologue by Lara, a lyrical heroine. The subject was the Gospel text about a repentant harlot who washes Christ's feet and accompanies him on his last journey.

First part

In it begins the development of the thought of Magdalene. At night, demons come to the virgin and suck her heart with memories of debauchery. The beginning of the second stanza suspends these visions in "grave" silence. Is this the end of memories, or does she put an end to life in sin and debauchery? The meaning of these lines of the poem Pasternak "Magdalene" can be treated in two ways. But still his Magdalene repents and renounces life in sin: after reaching the extreme fall, she breaks her life, "like an alabaster vessel."

After that everything is immediately translated from the material world into existential. If at first Magdalene was alone, then she already appears before the Savior. The central stanzas are addressed to the Master and Savior, whom we see through her eyes. Magdalene feels only in him his salvation, mixed with repentance and self-condemnation. The heroine of Pasternak grew up in immense anguish, "like a tree with an escape," with her Teacher, who is destined to conquer death and hell. Only in the last stanza she decides to address him by name, putting his feet on his knees, saying that he is already learning how to prepare it for burial.

Part two

The first stanzas, when Margarita, sobbing, seeing nothing because of tears, washes the feet of the Savior, prosaic. But then the lyrical heroine rises to the heights of foresight. Now, like the sibyls, it is able to predict, its spiritual inner beginning has become so aggravated. And what does Pasternak see in Magdalene? His last hours and minutes of earthly life, the agony on the cross, death and resurrection. But is the world worthy of such a burden, so that for all, stretching out his hands on the cross, Jesus embraced him whole and gave salvation to all? The cross will be torn to the sky, and Magdalene herself will rush to the ground at the crucifix, not knowing yet what forces will be found in her to live until the resurrection.

It is difficult to draw clear boundaries between everyday life and symbolic plans. To do this, we must consider the novel in its entirety, since its heroes conduct dialogues, which refract the eternal in the transitory. The voice of Magdalene in the novel is very significant, because Jesus explained the truth to her. It is thus possible to analyze the "Magdalena" Pasternak. But you can look at it quite different eyes.

Other reading

Not everyone believes earnestly, as BL Pasternak, and does not perceive the words of the four Gospels as an absolute truth. By the way, the Gospels were much larger, but they were declared apocryphal, and for being in the house they were immediately sent to a fire. Now they are all published (Irina Sventsitskaya). The poem "Magdalene" Pasternak is permeated with faith and love. It conveys the myth beautifully and poetically. Who was Jesus really? A foolhardy, which was a lot in his time? During his lifetime, only twelve students from the lowest and uneducated strata of society were typed. The poem "Magdalene" does not bring us closer to understanding what the Creator is.