The Master and Margarita

The stranger describes the palace in Yershalaim (Jerusalem) during the last days of Jesus Christ (approximately AD 30 or 33). Pontius Pilate is the procurator of Judea, the Roman-ruled region Judea that includes the city of Yershalaim. On the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, a preacher named Yeshua Ha-Notsri (Jesus Christ) is dragged in front of Pilate, who is suffering from a terrible headache from which there is “no relief” (16). The badly-beaten Yeshua has been sentenced to death, but the local authorities demand Pilate himself confirm the sentence. Yeshua, who believes Pilate is a good person, proclaims his innocence. Pilate takes offence at the man’s apparent lack of respect, and he orders his guard Ratkiller to beat Yeshua and then continues the interrogation and “explain[s] to him how he should address [Pilate]” (17).

Yeshua claims that a former tax collector named Levi Matvei has incorrectly transcribed Yeshua’s sermons, which has caused the trouble with the authorities. Levi gave up his wealth to become Yeshua’s follower, but his errors in transcription have caused a great deal of trouble. When Yeshua explained how the tax collector threw down the money he was carrying and chose to follow Yeshua, Pilate laughs at the idea of “a tax collector who throws his money on the road” (19). Yeshua correctly identifies that Pilate is suffering from a headache and would rather be with his dog, “the only creature, it seems, to whom [he] is attached” (20). Yeshua also predicts that a storm will arrive soon. As they switch between languages, Pilate calls for Yeshua’s hands to be untied. They talk about philosophers, goodness, and the origins of cruelty. As Pilate thinks about the accusations against Yeshua, he becomes overwhelmed by “brief, strange, disconnected thoughts” (23). He questions Yeshua in private about allegations that Yeshua has incited violence against the Roman Emperor or the authorities. Yeshua admits he talked to a man named Judas from Kerioth about the relationship between authority and violence and imagining a time when “neither the power of the Caesars, nor any other kind of power will exist” (24). Pilate argues with Yeshua about his predictions. Enraged, he announces that he is “confirming the death sentence passed down by the Lesser Sinedrion upon the criminal Yeshua Ha-Notsri” (25). He tells the guards to keep Yeshua apart from the other prisoners and insists that no one talk to him.

After Yeshua is taken away, Pilate meets with the religious leader of the local Jewish community, Joseph Kaifa. Each year on Passover, “in accordance with both law and custom” (27), the local Jewish council (the Sinedrion) traditionally selects one prisoner to be pardoned. This year, the choice is between Yeshua or a man named Bar-rabban, who has been sentenced to death for rebellious behavior and for killing a palace guard. Kaifa explains that the council have selected Bar-rabban to be pardoned. Pilate makes Kaifa repeat himself twice more, arguing that Yeshua would be a better choice. He feels overcome by a tremendous sense of anguish. Kaifa believes that Pilate is conspiring against the Jewish community by pushing for Yeshua to be freed. Pilate accepts Kaifa’s answer but says the Rabbi and his people “shall have no peace” (28). They head to the large gathering where they announce the pardoning of Bar-rabban. Meanwhile, Pilate tells the crowd that Yeshua will be executed alongside two men named Gestas and Dismas. The announcement of Yeshua’s imminent execution hurts Pilate. The crowd seems displeased with his announcement. The three prisoners are led away to a nearby place named Bald Mountain to be crucified. Pilate, nursing his headache and “frowning with dissatisfaction” (32), returns to his palace.

The stranger finishes his story. Berlioz insists that he is not convinced, especially as the stranger’s version of events do not tally with the description of Jesus’s execution in the Bible. The stranger explains that he knows exactly what happened because he “witnessed the whole thing” (33). The writers notice that the stranger has heterochromia: one of his eyes is a wild, insane green and the other is “black and dead” (34). Berlioz changes the subject. He asks about the stranger’s accommodations while he is visiting Moscow. With a wink, the stranger says that he will stay at Berlioz’s home. Then, he asks whether Ivan believes in Satan. Ivan becomes distressed. He shouts at the stranger while Berlioz slips away, hoping to report to the authorities that a man at Patriarch’s Ponds is in an “obviously deranged state” (35). As Berlioz leaves, the stranger asks him about an uncle in Kiev. Berlioz is confused as to how the stranger would know about his family. Walking away, Berlioz spots the man he saw levitating. The man asks for money while directing Berlioz along the street, toward the tram. As he approaches the tram, Berlioz slips on a pool of sunflower oil. He falls beneath the tram (which is being driven by a Russian woman) and he is decapitated, just as the stranger predicted. His “severed head” (36) rolls onto the path in Patriarch’s Ponds.

Ivan rushes toward the tram in time to see Berlioz’s “headless body and severed head” (37). He realizes the stranger correctly predicted his friend’s death. Increasingly desperate, Ivan wonders whether the stranger set up Berlioz to die in this exact manner. He returns to Patriarch’s Ponds and finds the stranger sitting beside the levitating man, who is named Korovyov. Ivan speaks to the stranger but the stranger pretends not to understand Russian. Korovyov encourages the “enraged” (38) Ivan to leave. When Ivan tries to grab Korovyov, he cannot touch the man. Korovyov seems to vanish and reappear as if by magic. Suddenly, the stranger and Korovyov are far away. A giant black cat appears alongside them, walking “on his hind legs” (39) as though it were human. Ivan chases after the group, but he cannot catch them.

Ivan wanders around Moscow. He is certain the stranger is hiding from him. He bursts into an apartment to find the man but finds only a woman, alone and naked in a bathtub, “covered in soap and with a loofah in her hands” (40). Ivan panics. He grabs a candle and goes to the river where he gives his clothes to a watching man and dives in the water. When he climbs out of the river, the man and Ivan’s clothes are gone. All Ivan can find is tattered rags, so he wears these. He decides to visit MASSOLIT, the Writers’ Union. In his mind, he believes the stranger will be waiting for him. As he walks along the street, he is “pestered” (42) by members of the public who laugh at his raggedy clothes.

The building where MASSOLIT is headquartered also contains a restaurant. The restaurant is considered “the best restaurant in Moscow” (44) due to its high quality and reasonable prices. That evening, 12 writers gather in a room in the building and wait for Berlioz. While they wait, they complain about his lateness and bicker about which writers are assigned the better retreats. Eventually, they grow tired of waiting. At “precisely midnight” (46), they go to the restaurant, where a jazz band begins to play. Soon, the cavorting stops as the sudden news of Berlioz’s death spreads through the room. The diners and dancers mourn, but only for a moment before it begins to “subside” (48). They see no point in allowing the food or the evening to go to waste. Zheldybin, Berlioz’s former assistant, moves himself into Berlioz’s office and begins to plan a public memorial service.

The restaurant attendees are shocked again when Ivan appears at the window in his ragged clothes with a stolen candle. He rants about the stranger to the bemused confusion of those in the restaurant. He calls on his “brothers in literature” (49) to call the police. When someone asks him about the stranger, all Ivan can remember is that the man’s name began with the letter W. He describes the giant cat and the levitating man; the people at the restaurant decide to call for medical help from the “asylum” (50). Eventually, the waiters tackle the increasingly-deranged and desperate Ivan. The police arrive and drag Ivan, kicking and screaming, to the nearest insane asylum.

After helping to carry his fellow writer Ivan into the police van, a poet named Riukhin explains the events at the restaurant to the doctor at the asylum. Ivan seems to be in a confused state. He addresses the poet as “scum” (52) then insists frantically that he is not insane and reiterates his story about the stranger. The doctor assures Riukhin that should Ivan prove to be sane his friend will not be kept against his will. Ivan, breaking from his indignant frenzy for a moment, insults Riukhin as a writer and as a person. Ivan asks for a telephone call, and when permitted, he calls the police and says he is being held against his will. As he tries to exit the building, the doctor and Riukhin stop him. Ivan tries and fails to escape through the window, bouncing back off the unbroken glass. The doctor administers a sedative to Ivan as the orderlies take hold of him then carry him from the room. By the time Riukhin leaves, the sun is rising. Despairing for his writing career and becoming disillusioned in his work, Riukhin goes back to the restaurant and orders “glass after glass” (57) of vodka to help deal with his pain.