Woland's suite: description, description and role in Bulgakov's novel

Voland in the novel Bulgakov appeared not alone. He was accompanied by characters who played, mostly, the role of jesters. Woland's suite hosted a variety of shows that were disgusting. They were hated by the Moscow indignant population. After all, the whole environment of "Messire" turned inside out human weaknesses and vices. In addition, their task was to perform all the "dirty" work at the behest of the master, serving him. All who entered Woland's retinue, were to prepare Margarita for the ball of Satan and sending her with the Master to the world of peace.

The servants of the prince of darkness were three jesters - Azazello, Fagot (he is also Koroviev), a cat with the nickname Behemoth and Gella - a female vampire. Strange creatures was the formation of Woland. The description of each character is given below. Every reader of the famous novel has a genuine interest in the origin of the images presented and their names.

Cat Hippo

Describing the image of Woland and his retinue, the first thing you want to describe is a cat. In fact, Behemoth is a werewolf animal. Most likely, the character Bulgakov is taken from the apocryphal book - "Old Testament" of Enoch. Also, the author could gather information about the Behemoth in the book "The history of human relations with the devil", written by I. Ya. Porfiryev. In the mentioned literature this character is a sea monster, a demon in the form of a creature with an elephant head with fangs and a trunk. The demon had human hands. Also there was a huge belly in the monster, an almost imperceptible tail of a small size and very thick hind legs, similar to those of hippos. This similarity explains his name.

In the novel "The Master and Margarita" Bulgakov introduced the readers to the Behemoth in the form of a huge cat, the prototype of which was the pet pet of the author Flushka. Despite the fact that Bulgakov's fluffy darling had a gray color, in the novel the animal is black, as its image is the personification of evil spirits.

Becoming a Behemoth

At the time when Woland and his retinue made the final flight in the novel, Behemoth turned into a puny young page. Next to him was a knight of purple. It was the transformed Fagot (Koroviev). In this episode, Bulgakov, apparently, reflected a comic legend from the story of S. Zayaitsky "The Life of Stepan Aleksandrovich Lososinov." It deals with a cruel knight, along with which his page constantly appears. The main character of the legend had a passion for tearing off the animals' heads. This cruelty was transferred to Bulgakov Behemoth, who, unlike the knight, tears the head of a man - Georges Bengalsky.

Foolishness and gluttony Behemoth

Mythological creature Behemoth is a demon of carnal desires, especially gluttony. Hence the cat appeared in the novel an unprecedented gluttony in Torgsin (a currency store). Thus, the author shows irony towards the visitors of this all-Union institution, including himself. At a time when people outside the capitals are starving to death, people in big cities enslaved the demon Behemoth.

The cat in the novel most often mischievous, clowns, lets different jokes, scoffs. This character trait of Behemoth reflects the sparkling sense of humor of Bulgakov himself. This behavior of the cat and its unusual appearance have become a way of evoking fear and confusion among people in the novel.

Demon Bugot - Koroviev

What else is Woland and his entourage remembered to readers of the novel? Of course, a bright character is a representative of demons, subordinate to the devil, Fagot, he is also Koroviev. This is Woland's first assistant, the knight and the devil in one person. Koroviev is presented to the people of Moscow as an interpreter serving under a foreign professor, and a former regent of the church choir.

Versions of the origin of the surname and the nickname of this character are several. It is associated with certain images of the works of FM Dostoyevsky. Thus, in the epilogue of the novel "The Master and Margarita" among the people detained by the police because of the similarity of the names with Kroviev, four Korovkin are mentioned. Here, apparently, the author wanted to point out a character from Dostoevsky's story called "Stepanchikovo Village and Its Inhabitants".

Also, a number of knights are considered the prototypes of Bagot, who are the heroes of some works of different times. It is also possible that the image of Koroviev arose from one of Bulgakov's acquaintances. The prototype of the demon could be a real man, a plumber and plumber Ageyich, who was a rare drunkard and a dorker. He repeatedly mentioned in conversations with the author of the novel that during his youth he was one of the regents of the choir in the church. This, apparently, reflected Bulgakov in the role of Koroviev.

The similarity of Bassoon with a musical instrument

The musical instrument of bassoon was invented by a resident of Italy, the monk Afranio
Degli Albonesi. The novel sharply denotes the connection (functional) of Koroviev with this canon from Ferrara. In the novel, three worlds are clearly defined, each of which consists of certain triads according to similar qualities. The demon Bugot belongs to one of them, which also includes Stravinsky's assistant Fedor Vasilyevich and Afranius, the "right hand" of Pontius Pilate. Koroviev also made his main companion Woland, and his entourage did not say so.

The bassoon is even outwardly similar to the one with the same name, long and thin, three-folded instrument. Koroviev is tall and thin. And in his imaginary servility he is ready to fold three times before the interlocutor, but only in order to later unhindered to spoil him.

The transformation of Koroviev

At the moment when Woland and his retinue were making their last flight in the novel, the author presents the reader of Fagot as a dark purple knight, who has a grim, incapable smile on his face. He thought about something, leaning on his chest with his chin and not looking at the moon. When Margarita asked Woland about why Koroviev had changed so much, Messire replied that one day this knight joked unsuccessfully, and his mocking pun of light and darkness was inappropriate. Punishing him for it were jesting manners, gaerical appearance and circus tattered clothes for a long time.

Azazello

From what other representatives of the forces of evil was Woland's entourage? "Master and Margarita" has another bright character - Azazello. His name Bulgakov created by converting one of the Old Testament. The book of Enoch refers to the fallen angel Azazel. It was he who, according to the apocrypha, taught people to create weapons, swords, shields, mirrors and a variety of jewelry made of precious stones and not only. In general, Azazel managed to corrupt the population of the Earth. He also taught to fight representatives of the male and to lie to women, turned them into godlessness.

Azazello in Bulgakov's novel gives Margarita a magic cream that magically changes her appearance. Probably, the author was attracted by the idea of combining in one character the ability to kill and seduce. Margarita sees a demon in the Alexander Garden just like that. She sees him as a seducer and a murderer.

Main duties of Azazello

Azazello's chief duties are necessarily connected with violence. Explaining Margarita his functions, he admits that his direct specialty is to push the administrator in the face, shoot someone or expose him from the house, and other "trifles" of this kind. Azazello throws Yalta from Moscow Likhodeev, expelled from Poplavsky's apartment (Uncle Berlioz), deprives him of his life by the revolver of Baron Maigel. Demon-killer invents a magic cream that gives Margarita, giving her the opportunity to acquire witch beauty and some demonic abilities. From this cosmetic means the heroine of the novel acquires the ability to fly and become invisible at her will.

Gella

Woland and his entourage admitted only one woman to their entourage. Characteristics of Gell: the youngest member of the diabolical alliance in the novel, a vampire. The name of this heroine Bulgakov took from an article called "Sorcery", published in the encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron. It noted that such a name was given to the dead girls, who later became vampires, on the island of Lesbos.

The only character from Woland's retinue, which is missing in the description of the final flight is Gella. One of Bulgakov's wives considered this fact the result of the fact that work on the novel was not completely completed. But it may also be that the author intentionally excluded Gella from an important scene, as an insignificant member of the devil's suite, performing only auxiliary functions in an apartment, a variety show and at a ball. In addition, Woland and his retinue could not on an equal footing perceive in such a situation a representative of the lower class of evil spirits. Among other things, Gelle had no one to turn into, because she had her initial appearance from the moment of transformation into a vampire.

Woland and his retinue: a characteristic of the devil's forces

In the novel "Master and Margarita" to the forces of evil, the author identifies unusual roles for them. After all, the victims of Woland and his retinue are not righteous people, not decent and kind people, whom the devil should knock down from the true path, and already taken place
Sinners. It is their sir and his assistants who convict and punish, choosing specific measures for this.

So, the director of the variety show, Steppe Likhodeev, has to go an unusual way to Yalta. There he is simply mystically thrown from Moscow. But, having got rid of a terrible fright, he safely returns home. But there are a lot of sins in Likhodeev: he is intoxicated, has many connections with women, using his position, does not do anything at work. As Koroviev says about the director of the variety show in the novel, he has recently been scary.

In fact, neither Woland himself nor the devil's assistants influence in any way the events taking place in Moscow during their visit to it. The non-traditional representation of Satan in Bulgakov's way is manifested in the fact that the leader of the otherworldly impure forces is endowed with some clearly expressed attributes of God.