The problem of loneliness in the novel "Master and Margarita" Bulgakov

Each reader has his own "bible". M. A. Bulgakov gave people several works that can claim such a high rank. First of all, the reader comes to mind the novel "Master and Margarita".

Loneliness as the air that the heroes breathe

Loneliness is the first reality of human existence. People are born alone, death is also a lonely affair. And if you really talk quite frankly, then a person's life can not really be divided with someone. You can successfully marry or get married, give birth to a bunch of children, but in the depths of your soul to be completely alone.

It seems that this is exactly what Bulgakov expressed in his imperishable novel. Most of his main characters are invariably lonely: Woland, Pilate, Yeshua, Ivan Bezdomny, Master, Margarita. Loneliness for them is so natural that they do not even notice it.

To illustrate how the problem of loneliness in the novel "Master and Margarita" is revealed, we will move in our analysis from one hero to another.

Woland

Can Satan have partners or partners? And maybe friends? Of course not. He is doomed to be alone. At the very beginning of the novel, M. A. Berlioz asks the "Consultant": "Professor, did you come to us alone or with your wife?" To which Woland answers: "One, one, I am always alone". At the same time, the "professor of black magic" may be the least lonely in comparison with other heroes, of course, because of his retinue. From this strange company does not emanate a painful sense of despair, probably because she arrived in Moscow, not for fun sake, but in order to save the Master and give a ball to the "One Hundred Kings".

We have to insist on this order, since an annual holiday could take place in any city in the world, but Moscow of the 1930s was not chosen by chance, but precisely because there was a Master and his novel about Pontius Pilate. This is the portrait of Woland in the context of the theme "The problem of loneliness in the novel" The Master and Margarita. "

Pontius Pilate

With Pilate, too, everything is clear from the very beginning, he is hated by Yershalaim. He's lonely. The only creature to which he is attached is his dog Banga. The procurator wants to die because of the unbearable headache. He would have a rest, but no, we must interrogate some vagabond. According to rumors, he rebuked the people to destroy the temple.

Then this vagabond miraculously heals the procurator and talks to him as few people allow himself. Despite this, the hegemon is ready to let go of the "philosopher", but here it is found that Yeshua is also guilty of a crime against state power. By law, the procurator must crucify his deliverer, because there is nothing more terrible than the crime against Caesar.

Pilate does everything possible to prevent the tragedy, but, unfortunately, his efforts are futile. During the narrative, spiritual transformation takes place. He changes beyond recognition and discovers that in fact a vagabond whom the Sanhedrin did not want to pardon is as close to him as Banga, although there are no reasonable reasons for this. The problem of loneliness in the novel "Master and Margarita" Bulgakov is unthinkable without the image of Pontius Pilate.

He is perhaps the single most tragic figure in the novel. And without it, the composition would have a completely different face and a different depth. All the subsequent torments: moonlight, insomnia, immortality - nothing, compared with the moment when Pilate lost his only friend - Yeshua.

While the theme "The problem of loneliness in the novel" The Master and Margarita "is kept in a sad tone. Unfortunately, nothing changes even when it comes to the fate of Ivan Bezdomny

Ivan Bezdomnyi

With the characters representing the Soviet reality of the novel, everything is more complicated. Their loneliness becomes evident only in borderline situations - the points of human existence, where life approaches its limits (death or madness).

So it happened with the poet I. Bezdomny, who only in a psychiatric hospital realized how bad his life had been before. True, the figure of Ivan Bezdomny, one way or another, is tragic - life revealed to him the truth about his homelessness, but gave nothing in return. There are no hopes for Ivan to be saved.

main characters

Master and Margarita are the only pair of characters whose story ends well, but not in this reality, but only in the "other world." If you release this story from a romantic fleur, it turns out that it was loneliness that pushed them into each other's arms.

Margarita's husband is not in the novel (he is present only in her words), but the reader understands that, most likely, her husband is boring, up to platitude is practical and clever only in domestic or commercial matters, that's why the woman wanted flight.

The master is also a lonely man. He has nothing but a cellar and a novel about Pontius Pilate, and he loves the love of a pretty woman like no other. However, due to the fact that the couple does not have any money at all, only a strong love keeps them together, and maybe fear to return to their total and complete solitude. In general, it is difficult to say for sure whether there was love between them. If it was, it must be sick and limp, but the fear of being alone was as it were. It turns out that the problem of loneliness in the novel "Master and Margarita" Bulgakov hides even where love at first glance lives.

The master changed his mind precisely because he could not cope with the burden of unfulfilled hopes and aspirations. He very much counted on the novel, on his publication, and the work was met with criticism, which closed his way to the light.

Master could no longer torment Margarita. "The love boat broke about life." Rather, the Master simply had a conscience, but then Woland came and fixed everything. True, even his power was not enough to give a couple salvation in this life, and not in another.

Roman Bulgakov's novel is a multilayered work

Accordingly, the problems of the novel "Master and Margarita" are not limited to the theme of loneliness. The writer's talent is that the reader can not say with certainty what the main theme of this mysterious novel is: is it the "Gospel of Mikhail Bulgakov" (the title of the book by Alexander Zerkalov), and hence the religious issues in it occupy the main place. Or maybe the main thing is a satire directed against Soviet reality?

A novel about everything at once, and not to break the integrity of a work of art, it is better not to split into molecules and components. This is probably the most common answer to the question of what are the problems of the novel "Master and Margarita".

Philosophy as a sign of high classics

It is generally accepted that philosophy is something boring and inhabiting somewhere in the walls of academies. To a simple mortal, all this is definitely inaccessible. This is a massive and fundamentally wrong idea of "love of wisdom." In fact, in the life of each person (and even more so of the artist) there comes a time when he thinks about God, destiny, human loneliness. Usually such works are difficult to write, they are difficult to read, but they give a lot to a man. Such creations are a great variety both in Russian and in world classics, so the topic of the article could hypothetically sound like: "The problem of loneliness in ...". Master and Margarita were chosen not by chance, because these characters and the book about them enjoy incredible popularity among modern Russians.

Kurt Vonnegut and Mikhail Bulgakov: two views on the problem of loneliness

Kurt Vonnegut, as well as our classic, all his life "sick" with the problem of loneliness and tried to solve it in his own way. For example, in the novel "Balagan, or End of loneliness", he invited all people to join families so that there is not a single lonely person left in the world (for details, the reader can refer to the original source). In some of his journalistic books, the American classic wrote about the following: a person's life is a constant struggle with loneliness.

I think Bulgakov would have agreed with this, but they would have disagreed on the issue of overcoming loneliness. According to our novel, loneliness (in the "Master and Margarita" is clearly visible) is irresistibly, tragically and inevitably for a person. K. Vonnegut also looks at the person and his prospects more optimistically, which can not but rejoice. If suddenly people overcome their own selfishness and understand that "we are all brothers", that is, the hope of victory over loneliness. True, to be honest, it looks like a miracle.