The Master and Margarita of Rome were punished for this. The novel “The Master and Margarita”: what Bulgakov encrypted. Varenukha - famous theater administrator

In the Moscow chapters of M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita,” the financial director of the Moscow Variety Rimsky, Grigory Danilovich, is presented among the minor characters who were punished by Woland and his retinue for minor and major sins. The events that happened to him in a few days not only changed his appearance beyond recognition, but also his whole life in general.

It was Rimsky who almost died in his own office, the theater administrator Varenukha, turned into a vampire. And before that, Rimsky experienced the stress associated with the sudden mystical movement of Styopa Likhodeev to Yalta and the scandalous session of Woland and his retinue on the theater stage.

Gray-haired as snow, but alive, thanks to the rooster, which announced the dawn with three crows and saved him from evil spirits, Rimsky ran out of the Variety Show, never to return to it again.

The experience turned Rimsky into a decrepit old man with a shaking head. Even treatment in the clinic, and then in Kislovodsk, did not help him: Rimsky did not dare to continue working in his old place in his previous position where the fatal events took place. Rimsky even sent his resignation letter to his wife so that he would no longer attend Variety.

True, Rimsky was unable to completely break with the theatrical sphere: his new place of work was the children's puppet theater in Zamoskvorechye.

Despite the fact that Rimsky witnessed and participated in amazing and fantastic events, even in a stressful situation he tried to maintain composure and logical thinking. Although he eventually found himself in a state of complete insanity, he still had enough strength to escape from Moscow to Leningrad and hide there in the wardrobe of the Astoria Hotel room.

Unlike other heroes, Rimsky had enough common sense, when the police returned him under guard to Moscow by Leningrad train, not to admit that he had become a victim of an attack by evil spirits. Rimsky did not tell the truth either about Gella in the window, or about the vampire gunner Varenukha, who almost caused his death. Although he looked like a mentally disturbed old man, he asked to be imprisoned in an armored cell, but he was stubborn in the version that he left for Leningrad simply because he felt ill. Apparently, experience told Rimsky that they would not believe his story and would finally consider him crazy.

Before the appearance of Woland and his retinue, Rimsky showed himself as a person with business acumen, sensitivity like a seismograph, acted and spoke intelligently, which was recognized by those around him. But he used his analytical abilities and his talents only for his own benefit: this is precisely why he was punished.

Image of Grigoriev Rimsky

Rimsky represents the image of an everyman, through him Bulgakov describes how a simple person faces the unknown and terrible. The author’s description of the entire cycle of such “impact” is characteristic, that is, Bulgakov presents to us the stages before - in the period - after.

Before meeting Woland, Rimsky is a simple financial director of Variety, who dreams of simple things, like Likhodeev’s dismissal and promotion. He is a family man, has an unpleasant voice and look. There are many like him, he is typical and typically unpleasant.

During the meeting with Woland, he easily succumbs to his influence and writes out a large sum for payment for performances, but at the same time he almost immediately realizes that something is wrong. Woland has an overwhelming effect on him, and after the performance, Rimsky immediately begins to change in appearance in a negative direction. The apotheosis of this interaction with dark forces is the visit of Gella and the converted Varenukha, only by a miracle Rimsky manages to avoid something amiss, and in this, perhaps, the author provides some kind of divine intervention that protects even the common man.

Afterwards, Rimsky turns out to be completely gray and reaches mental complexes. He sees something incredible, but turns to the police and asks for an armored camera - the irony of the author, who draws a character who wants to protect himself from the devil with walls.

As a result, Rimsky received treatment at a resort and forgot what happened like a bad dream. Quite funny, he is afraid not of the devil, but of Variety, that is, he simply relies on his own experience and in the end did not really understand anything.

He continues to work in his specialty, but now just at another job in the puppet theater, where he will continue his philistine and nondescript existence.

This character Bulgakov probably also distinguishes a simple man in the street from a believer or simply a thinking and searching person. A believer realizes the good and evil of this world, learns lessons; for the average person, even the devil in the flesh does not bring anything special except fear and excitement.

3 sample

Rimsky belongs to the list of minor personalities in this work by Bulgakov. Woland punished him for his offenses along with his retinue. In just a short period of time, he changed beyond recognition. And not only externally, but also its principle of existence has changed.

He worked as a financial director in Moscow, at Variety. Rimsky almost said goodbye to his life when administrator Varenukha snuck into his office. The fact is that Varenukha was turned into a vampire and attacked Rimsky. But before this incident, the hero experienced an event from which he almost went crazy. And all because Styopa Likhodeev mysteriously suddenly ended up in Yalta.

Rimsky ran out of the theater with Varenukha, thanks to the rooster crowing three times. Grigory Danilovich was so frightened by everything he had experienced that he even turned gray. From that moment on, he told himself that he would never return to this now cursed place. After this, Rimsky began to look like an old man, with shaking limbs. No treatment in the hospital helped him. Even a vacation in Kislovodsk did not help erase from Gregory’s memory the terrible events that happened at Variety. When he was about to quit his job, he sent his wife to take his leave card. He himself would never want to visit there again.

Then he began working in Zamoskvorechye, again in the theater. So Rimsky was unable to give up his profession completely. However, even considering the fact that Gregory experienced terrible events, he still tried his best to remain calm in any situation. Ultimately, he became a completely abnormal person, but was nevertheless able to leave Moscow for Leningrad. There he hid safely, as it seemed to him, in a hotel called “Astoria”, climbing into a closet in the room.

The police nevertheless found him and sent him back to Moscow. What distinguished him from the other characters was that he was smart enough not to blurt out to the police that he was attacked by evil spirits. He was not going to talk about Gella, whom he saw in the window, or about the incident with Varenukha. When asked why he left, he replied that he felt bad. He knew that if he spoke about what had happened, he would definitely be taken for a crazy person.

He was punished for using his abilities solely for his own benefit.

How I envied my friend that she had a sister! We sometimes walked with her and picked her up from kindergarten. I really wanted to have a younger sister too.

Essay How Vasyutka survived in the taiga based on the story Vasyutkino Lake, 5th grade

In the story by V.P. Astafiev we are talking about the boy Vasyutka. He was from a family of fishermen. It was August, the fishermen settled down on the banks of the Yenisei. Vasyutka was bored and waiting for the start of the school year.

Life of Evgeny Onegin in the Village

The life of the main character in the village is the second chapter of the author's great work. Here, very deeply, the soul and character of the hero are revealed. After receiving a huge inheritance, Evgeny Onegin was elevated in spirit and felt very energetic

At Satan's Ball, his future fate was determined by Woland according to the theory that everyone will be given according to their faith... Berlioz appears before us at the ball in the form of his own severed head. Subsequently, the head was turned into a bowl in the form of a skull on a golden leg, with emerald eyes and pearl teeth....the lid of the skull was hinged. It was in this cup that the spirit of Berlioz found oblivion.

Ivan Nikolaevich Bezdomny

Poet, member of MASSOLIT. Real name is Ponyrev. He wrote an anti-religious poem, one of the first heroes (along with Berlioz) who met Koroviev and Woland. He ended up in a clinic for the mentally ill, and was also the first to meet the Master. Then he recovered, stopped studying poetry and became a professor at the Institute of History and Philosophy.

Stepan Bogdanovich Likhodeev

Director of the Variety Theater, Berlioz's neighbor, also living in a “bad apartment” on Sadovaya. A slacker, a womanizer and a drunkard.

For “official inconsistency” he was teleported to Yalta by Woland’s henchmen.

Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy

Chairman of the housing association on Sadovaya Street, where Woland settled during his stay in Moscow. Jaden, the day before, committed the theft of funds from the cash register of the housing association.

Koroviev entered into a temporary rental agreement with him and gave him a bribe, which, as the chairman subsequently stated, “she crawled into his briefcase herself.” Then Koroviev, on Woland’s orders, turned the transferred rubles into dollars and, on behalf of one of the neighbors, reported the hidden currency to the NKVD.

Trying to somehow justify himself, Bosoy admitted to bribery and reported similar crimes on the part of his assistants, which led to the arrest of all members of the housing association. Due to his further behavior during interrogation, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he was haunted by nightmares associated with demands to hand over his existing currency.

Ivan Savelyevich Varenukha

Administrator of the Variety Theater. He fell into the clutches of Woland’s gang when he was carrying to the NKVD a printout of correspondence with Likhodeev, who had ended up in Yalta. As punishment for “lies and rudeness on the phone,” he was turned by Gella into a vampire guide. After the ball he was turned back into a human and released. At the end of all the events described in the novel, Varenukha became a more good-natured, polite and honest person.

Interesting fact: Varenukha’s punishment was a “private initiative” of Azazello and Behemoth.

Grigory Danilovich Rimsky

Financial director of the Variety Theater. He was so shocked by Gella’s attack on him along with his friend Varenukha that he turned completely gray, and then chose to flee Moscow. During interrogation by the NKVD, he asked for an “armored cell” for himself.

Georges Bengalsky

Entertainer of the Variety Theater. He was severely punished by Woland's retinue - his head was torn off - for the unfortunate comments he made during the performance. After returning his head to its place, he could not come to his senses and was taken to the clinic of Professor Stravinsky. The figure of Bengalsky is one of many satirical figures whose purpose is to criticize Soviet society.

Vasily Stepanovich Lastochkin

Accountant at Variety. While I was handing over the cash register, I discovered traces of the presence of Woland’s retinue in the institutions where he had visited. While handing over the cash register, he unexpectedly discovered that the money had turned into various foreign currencies, for which he was arrested.

The novel “The Master and Margarita” is divided into three different but intertwined stories: events taking place in Moscow, including the adventures of the creatures of Satan; events relating to the crucifixion of Yeshua Ha-Norzi or Jesus Christ in the 1st century in Yershalaim, and the love story of the Master and Margarita. All three stories are told from Wednesday until the night from Saturday to Sunday of Holy Week.

Part one

Wednesday

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz, an important literary figure, chairman of the board of one of the largest Moscow literary associations, called Massolit for short, and Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, a poet writing under the pseudonym Bezdomny, meet at the Patriarch's Ponds to discuss the poem that Ivan was supposed to write for Berlioz . Berlioz wanted Ivan to rewrite the poem, because... he thought that Jesus was presented too realistically in the poem. Berlioz explained why he believes Jesus never existed, giving Ivan a lesson in religious history. Some time later, Berlioz was interrupted by a mystical man, Professor Woland, who assured him that Jesus really existed. When Berlioz began to protest, Woland began to tell the story of Pontius Pilate, not forgetting to tell Berlioz that his head would be cut off by a Komsomol member in the evening of the same day.

The story moves to Yershalaim (Jerusalem), where Pilate is considering the case of Yeshua Ha-Norzi (Jesus of Nazareth). Yeshua is accused of inciting people to burn the Jerusalem Temple and resist Emperor Tiberius. Pilate must judge him, and Yeshua is sentenced to death.

The action returns to Moscow again. Berlioz is beheaded at the moment when he was leaving the Patriarch's Ponds. He slipped on spilled sunflower oil and was thrown onto the tram tracks. Ivan remembered the strange professor’s prediction and tried to follow Woland and his fatal companions - Regent Koroviev and the huge black cat Behemoth - through the streets of Moscow, but to no avail. During this hunt through Spiridonovka, Nikitsky Gate, Kropotkinskaya Street and Ostozhenka, he created hell in the apartment and ended the hunt “on the granite steps of the Moscow River amphitheater.” But the three disappeared. He undressed to continue searching in the water. When he stopped trying, he discovered that his clothes had been stolen. All that was left were striped long johns and a torn sweatshirt.

For some inexplicable reason, Ivan thought that the professor should be in the Griboedov House, which belonged to Massolit. Heading there, and given that he was running in long johns, he tried to delve deeper into the mysterious network of alleys. Ivan tried to give a logical explanation to the writers for his strange clothes, telling the story of the day, but he was tied up and taken to Dr. Stravinsky's psychiatric hospital.

Thursday

Styopa Likhodeev, who lived in the same apartment as Berlioz - apartment No. 50 on Sadovaya Street - and was the director of the Variety Theater, came to the conclusion that it was already morning and he saw Woland waiting for him. Apartment No. 50 was called “the devil’s apartment” because the previous owners mysteriously disappeared.

Woland reminded Likhodeev that he had promised to organize 7 performances of black magic in his theater. Likhodeev did not remember such an agreement. But Woland showed him the contract with his signature. It seems that Woland is manipulating the situation, but Likhodeev is bound by the agreement. When Likhodeev realized that he had to allow Woland's death in his theater, Woland introduced him to his retinue - Behemoth, Koroviev, and the little fiery red-haired Azazello - and said that they would need apartment No. 50. Woland and his companions did not like such people as Styopa Likhodeev. People like him who occupy high positions are scoundrels for them. “He’s driving a government-issued car in vain!” the cat was gossiping, chewing mushrooms. “And this retinue requires space,” Woland continued, “so some of us are superfluous here in the apartment. And it seems to me that this extra one is you!”

A second later, Styopa found himself far from this place, in Yalta. Variety's financial director Grigory Danilovich Rimsky and administrator Ivan Savelyevich Varenukha discovered that their director had disappeared, while Satan's team created complete chaos in the building on Sadovaya Street. The greedy chairman of the building's housing association, Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, turned out to be a lover of foreign currency and was arrested by the police for this. Ivan Savelyevich Varenukha, after lengthy telegraph correspondence from Yalta, determined the location of Styopa Likhodeev. At the same time, he tried, with the help of others, to determine the identity of the mysterious Professor Woland. In order to get around Varenukha’s difficult questions, Woland sent a new demonic creature - Gella, “a completely naked red-haired girl with glowing phosphorescent eyes.” “Let me kiss you,” the girl said tenderly. Then Varenukha fainted and did not feel the kiss.”

At the Variety Theater, Woland and his assistants staged a performance of black magic, at which the entertainer Georgy Bengalsky was beheaded. Later, the ladies in the theater were able to fully satisfy their desires coming from the depths of their hearts in receiving luxurious clothes and jewelry for free, which led to a chaotic and noisy spectacle in which the chervonets - “By God, real ones! Chervontsy! - fell like a whirlwind on the audience, and in which the guest of honor Arkady Apollonovich Sempleyarov, chairman of the Acoustic Commission of Moscow Theaters, in the presence of his wife, was exposed in public as an unfaithful spouse. In short: “in Variety after all this, something like a Babylonian pandemonium began.”

Meanwhile, returning to the hospital, Ivan meets a patient who is lying in the next room. We are introduced to the hero of the novel - the Master. Ivan tells him what happened in the last days, and the Master thinks that this is about the adventures of the devil. Then the Master tells his story to Ivan. The master was a historian (the same profession that Ivan will choose at the end of the story), but after winning one hundred thousand rubles on a state domestic loan bond, he quit his job to write a book. One day he met Margarita and fell recklessly in love with her. When he submitted the book to the publisher, he was asked who inspired him to write about such a strange subject. The book was not accepted for publication. Even though it was never published, newspaper critics began attacking the book and its author. The critic Latunsky was especially merciless. In a fit of insanity, the Master imagined that the octopus was getting into his room; it “suddenly seemed to him that the autumn darkness would squeeze out the glass, pour into the room and he would choke in it, as if in ink.” And the Master burned his book. Margarita remained calm and accepted this, but the Master, convinced that he was terminally ill, went to the hospital. He had been here for 4 months and never saw Margarita again.

Based on the novel by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov and film adaptations

Characters

Search for characters

We will search among the fandom characters

Character Groups

Total characters - 39

13 7 0

Among the ancient Jews, Azazel was a goat-shaped spirit of the desert (the word “Azazel”, more precisely “Aza-El” means “goat-god”). Traces of the faith of the goat-shaped god - the devil - have been preserved in modern Jewish and Christian beliefs: the devil, who at a much later time took on the image of a man in the minds of believers, retained, however, some of his ancient external attributes: horns and hooves. Mention of the demon Azazel is found in the Old Testament Book of Enoch. This is the name of the fallen angel who taught people how to make weapons and jewelry. Bulgakov was probably attracted by the combination of seduction and murder in one character. It is Azazello that Margarita mistakes for an insidious seducer during their first meeting in the Alexander Garden: “This neighbor turned out to be short, fiery red, with a fang, in starched underwear, in a good-quality striped suit, in patent leather shoes and with a bowler hat on his head. “Absolutely a robber’s face!” thought Margarita.” But Azazello's main function in the novel is related to violence. He throws Styopa Likhodeev out of Moscow to Yalta, expels Uncle Berlioz from the Bad Apartment, and kills the traitor Baron Meigel with a revolver. Azazello gives Margarita a magic cream, which not only makes the heroine invisible and able to fly, but also gives her a new, witch-like beauty. It was the Hebrew demon Azazel who taught women to decorate themselves with precious stones, blush and whiten themselves - in a word, he taught them a lesson in seduction. In the epilogue of the novel, this fallen angel appears before us in a new guise: “Azazello flew at the side of everyone, shining with the steel of his armor. The moon also changed his face. The absurd, ugly fang disappeared without a trace, and the crooked eye turned out to be false. Both of Azazello's eyes were the same, empty and black, and his face was white and cold. Now Azazello flew in his true form, like a demon of the waterless desert, a killer demon.”

1 0 0

Alexander Ryukhin, MASSOLIT poet, who accompanied I. Bezdomny on the trip to Dr. Stravinsky’s psychiatric hospital (Chapter 6, “Schizophrenia, as it was said”). He was severely criticized by Bezdomny: “A typical kulak in his psychology, and, moreover, a kulak carefully masquerading as a proletarian. Look at his Lenten face and compare it with those sonorous poems that he composed for the first day! “Cheer up!” Yes, “Cheer up!”...and you look inside him - what he’s thinking there... you’ll gasp!” “The visit to the house of grief left a very difficult mark on him (Ryukhin”). Bezdomny’s words helped A. Ryukhin realize the meaninglessness of his poetry: “The truth, he told the truth! I don’t believe in anything I write!..” The trip left him "completely sick and even old." In the morning in the restaurant, Ryukhin ate and drank, “understanding and recognizing that nothing in his life could be corrected, but only forgotten.” “The poet spent his night, and now he understood that it could not be returned”

0 0 0

An acquaintance of the Master, who wrote a false denunciation against him in order to appropriate his living space. He was kicked out of his new apartment by Woland's retinue. After the trial, Wolanda left Moscow unconscious, but, waking up somewhere near Vyatka, returned. Replaced Rimsky as financial director of the Variety Theater. Mogarych’s activities in this position caused great torment for Varenukha

0 0 0

A retired woman known for her caustic character. Wherever she appeared, chaos and strife reigned everywhere. She broke a bottle of sunflower oil on the tram tracks, which was the cause of Berlioz's death. Lives on the floor below the “bad apartment”. Later, Azazello was intimidated to return the diamond horseshoe found in the entrance, given by Woland as a souvenir to Margarita (the horseshoe with diamonds was returned to Margarita)

2 0 0

The director of the Griboedov House restaurant, a formidable boss and a man with phenomenal intuition. He is economical and, as usual in catering, a thief. The author compares him to a pirate, a brig captain

1 0 0

Head of the secret service, comrade-in-arms of Pilate. He supervised the execution of the murder of Judas and planted the money received for betrayal into the residence of the high priest Caiaphas

0 0 0

An NKVD employee assigned to spy on Woland and his retinue, introducing himself as an employee of the Entertainment Commission in the position of introducing foreigners to the sights of the capital. He was killed at Satan's ball as a sacrifice, whose blood filled Woland's liturgical cup

2 0 0

0 0 0

1 1 0

The chairman of MASSOLIT is a writer, a well-read, educated person who is skeptical about everything. He lived in a “bad apartment” on Sadovaya, 302 bis, where Woland later settled during his stay in Moscow. He died, not believing Woland’s prediction about his sudden death, made shortly before. At Satan's ball, his future fate was determined by Woland according to the theory that everyone will be given according to their faith... Berlioz appears before us at the ball in the form of his own severed head. The head was later transformed into a bowl in the form of a skull on a golden leg, with emerald eyes and pearl teeth... the lid of the skull was hinged. It was in this cup that the spirit of Berlioz found oblivion

0 0 0

Nikonor Ivanovich's wife

0 0 0

Koroviev entered into a temporary rental agreement with him and gave him a bribe, which, as the chairman later claimed, “itself crept into his briefcase.” Then Koroviev, on Woland’s orders, turned the transferred rubles into dollars and, on behalf of one of the neighbors, reported the hidden currency to the NKVD.

1 0 0

Interesting fact: Varenukha’s punishment was a “private initiative” of Azazello and Behemoth

73 10 8

Satan, who visited Moscow under the guise of a foreign professor of black magic, a “historian.” At its first appearance (in the novel “The Master and Margarita”), the first chapter from the Roman is narrated (about Yeshua and Pilate). The main features of his appearance are eye defects and lameness in one leg. Appearance: “he was neither short nor huge, but simply tall. As for his teeth, he had platinum crowns on the left side and gold ones on the right. He wore an expensive gray suit, expensive foreign shoes to match the color of the suit, and always had a cane with him, with a black knob in the shape of a poodle’s head; the right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason; the mouth is kind of crooked. Shaven clean." He smoked a pipe and always carried a cigarette case with him

5 6 4

A witch and vampire from Satan's retinue, who confused all his human visitors with her habit of wearing practically nothing. The beauty of her body is spoiled only by the scar on her neck. In the retinue, Wolanda plays the role of a maid. Woland, recommending Gella to Margarita, says that there is no service that she cannot provide. Gella bit Varenukha, and then together with him attacked the financial director Rimsky

6 0 2

A wandering philosopher from Nazareth, described by Woland on the Patriarch's Ponds, as well as by the Master in his novel, compared with the image of Jesus Christ. The name Yeshua Ha-Nozri means Jesus (Yeshua????) of Nazareth (Ha-Nozri??????) in Hebrew. However, this image differs significantly from the biblical prototype. Characteristically, he tells Pontius Pilate that Levi-Matthew (Matthew) wrote down his words incorrectly and that “this confusion will continue for a very long time.” Pilate: “But what did you say about the temple to the crowd at the market?” Yeshua: “I, the hegemon, said that the temple of the old faith would collapse and a new temple of truth would be created. I said it this way to make it clearer"

0 0 0

Jewish high priest, head of the Sanhedrin, who condemned Yeshua Ha-Nozri to death

0 0 0

A young resident of Yershalaim who handed Yeshua Ha-Nozri into the hands of the Sanhedrin. Pontius Pilate, worried about his involvement in the execution of Yeshua, organized the secret murder of Judas to take revenge

0 0 0

Wife of the Procurator of Judea Pontius Pilate (character from the film adaptation)

96 9 4

A character from Satan's retinue, appearing in the form of a huge black cat, a werewolf and Woland's favorite jester.

0 0 0

0 1 0

The surname of Latunsky, who criticized the Master for clericalism, is a hybrid of the surnames of two famous critics of the 1930s, A. Orlinsky (real surname Krips, 1892-1938) and O. Litovsky (real surname Kagan, 1892-1971), who really spoke out harshly criticism of Bulgakov

0 0 0

The only follower of Yeshua Ha-Nozri in the novel. He accompanied his teacher until his death, and subsequently took him down from the cross to bury him. He also had the intention of stabbing his executioner, Yeshua, in order to save him from the torment of the cross, but in the end he failed. At the end of the novel, Woland comes to Woland, sent by his teacher Yeshua, with a request to grant peace for the Master and Margarita

1 0 0

Director of the Variety Theater, Berlioz's neighbor, also living in a “bad apartment” on Sadovaya. A slacker, a womanizer and a drunkard. For “official inconsistency” he was transferred to Yalta by Woland’s henchmen

18 15 6

A beautiful, wealthy, but bored wife of a famous engineer, suffering from the emptiness of her life. Having met the Master by chance on the streets of Moscow, she fell in love with him at first sight, passionately believed in the success of the novel he wrote, and prophesied fame. When the Master decided to burn his novel, she managed to save only a few pages. Then she makes a deal with Messire and, in order to regain the missing Master, becomes the queen of a satanic ball organized by Woland. Margarita is a symbol of love and self-sacrifice in the name of another person. If you name the novel without using symbols, then “The Master and Margarita” is transformed into “Creativity and Love”

1 0 0

Centurion, Pilate's guard, once crippled in a battle with the Germans, acting as a guard and directly carrying out the execution of Yeshua and two other criminals. When a strong thunderstorm began on the mountain, Yeshua and other criminals were stabbed to death in order to be able to leave the place of execution. Another version says that Pontius Pilate ordered the convicts to be stabbed to death (which is not allowed by law) in order to alleviate their suffering. Perhaps he received the nickname “Rat Slayer” because he himself was German. In a conversation with Yeshua, Pilate characterizes Mark the Rat Slayer as a cold and convinced executioner

8 12 0

A professional historian who won a large sum in the lottery and got the opportunity to try his hand at literary work. Having become a writer, he managed to create a brilliant novel about Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Nozri, but he turned out to be a person not adapted to the era in which he lived. He was driven to despair by persecution from colleagues who cruelly criticized his work. Nowhere in the novel is his name and surname mentioned; when asked directly about this, he always refused to introduce himself, saying, “Let’s not talk about that.” Known only by the nickname “master” given by Margarita. He considers himself unworthy of such a nickname, considering it the whim of his beloved. A master is a person who has achieved the highest success in any activity, which may be why he is rejected by the crowd, who are unable to appreciate his talent and abilities. The Master, the main character of the novel, writes a novel about Yeshua (Jesus) and Pilate. The master writes a novel, interpreting the gospel events in his own way, without miracles and the power of grace - like Tolstoy. The master communicated with Woland - Satan, a witness, according to him, to the events described in the novel.

“From the balcony, a shaven, dark-haired man of about thirty-eight years old, with a sharp nose, anxious eyes and a tuft of hair hanging over his forehead, cautiously peered into the room.”

1 0 0

Beautiful, blonde housekeeper Margarita. She secretly smeared herself with Azazello cream, after which she turned into a witch and, riding a hog (Nikolai Ivanovich), went after Margot. Natasha and Gella helped Margarita at Satan’s ball, after which she did not want to return to her former life and begged Woland to leave her as a witch

0 0 0

A resident of Yershalaim, an agent of Afranius, who pretended to be Judas's lover in order to lure him into a trap, on the orders of Afranius.

0 0 0

Margarita's neighbor from the bottom floor. He was turned by Margarita's housekeeper Natasha into a hog and in this form was “brought in as a vehicle” to Satan’s ball. The reason for the punishment is lust. At Margarita’s request, he was forgiven, but until the end of his days he grieved for forgiveness: it was better to be a hog under naked Natasha than to live out a century with a disgusted wife

7 1 0

The fifth procurator of Judea in Yershalaim, a cruel and powerful man, who nevertheless managed to develop sympathy for Yeshua Ha-Nozri during his interrogation. He tried to stop the well-functioning mechanism of execution for insulting Caesar, but failed to do this, which he subsequently repented of throughout his life. He suffered from severe migraines, from which he was relieved during the interrogation by Yeshua Ha-Nozri

0 0 0

Kiev uncle of Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, who dreamed of living in Moscow. He was invited to Moscow for the funeral by Behemoth, however, upon arrival he was concerned not so much with the death of his nephew as with the living space left over from the deceased. Was kicked out by Behemoth and exposed to Azazello, with instructions to return back to Kyiv

0 0 0

The doctor who examined the barman Sokov. Was visited by the demon Azazello, who “spread” first into a “vile sparrow”, then into a nurse with a “man’s mouth”. Despite his obvious medical talent, he had a sin - excessive suspiciousness, for which Azazello was punished - he received slight damage to his mind

0 0 0

Chairman of the entertainment commission of the Variety Theater. The Behemoth cat temporarily kidnapped him, leaving him with an empty suit sitting at his workplace, for occupying a position that was not suitable for him.

0 0 0

A barman at the Variety Theater, criticized by Woland for the poor quality of food served in the buffet. He accumulated over 249 thousand rubles from purchasing “second-fresh” products and other abuses of official position. I received a message from Koroviev about his death 9 months later from liver cancer, which, unlike Berlioz, he believed and took all measures to prevent, which, of course, did not help him

16 7 1

One of the characters in Satan's entourage, always wearing ridiculous checkered clothes and pince-nez with one cracked and one missing glass. In his true form he turns out to be a knight, forced to pay with a permanent stay in Satan's retinue for one bad pun he once made about light and darkness

2 0 0

A sinner invited to Woland's ball. She once strangled an unwanted child with a handkerchief and buried her, for which she experiences a certain kind of punishment - every morning they invariably bring this very handkerchief to her bedside (no matter how she tried to get rid of it the day before). At Satan's ball, Margarita pays attention to Frida and addresses her personally (invites her to get drunk and forget everything), which gives Frida hope for forgiveness. After the ball, the time comes to voice her only main request to Woland, for which Margarita pledged her soul and became the queen of the satanic ball. Margarita regards her attention to Frida as a carelessly given veiled promise to save her from eternal punishment; under the influence of feelings, she sacrifices her right to a single request in favor of Frida

His nerves gave way, as they say, and Rimsky did not wait for the protocol to be completed and ran to his office. He sat at the table and with sore eyes looked at the magic ducats lying in front of him. The financial director's mind went beyond reason. There was a steady hum from outside. The audience poured out of the Variety building into the street in streams. The financial director's extremely heightened hearing suddenly heard a distinct police trill. By itself, it never promises anything pleasant. And when it was repeated and another, more authoritative and prolonged, came to her aid, and then a clearly audible guffaw and even some kind of hooting joined in, the findirector immediately realized that something else scandalous and dirty had happened on the street. And that this, no matter how much one would like to dismiss it, is in close connection with the disgusting session carried out by the black magician and his assistants. The sensitive financial director was not at all mistaken.

As soon as he looked out the window overlooking Sadovaya, his face twisted, and he did not whisper, but hissed:

I knew it!

In the bright light of the strongest street lamps, he saw on the sidewalk below him a lady in only a shirt and purple trousers. The lady, however, had a hat on her head and an umbrella in her hands.

Around this lady, who was in a state of complete confusion, now crouching, now trying to run somewhere, the crowd was worried, emitting the same laughter that sent a chill down the back of the findirector. A citizen was rushing about near the lady, tearing off his summer coat and, out of excitement, unable to cope with the sleeve in which his hand was stuck.

Screams and roaring laughter came from another place - namely from the left entrance, and, turning his head there, Grigory Danilovich saw the second lady, in pink lingerie. She jumped from the pavement onto the sidewalk, trying to hide in the entrance, but the flowing public blocked her path, and the poor victim of her frivolity and passion for outfits, deceived by the damned Fagot's company, dreamed of only one thing - to fall through the ground. The policeman rushed towards the unfortunate woman, whistling through the air, and some cheerful young men in caps hurried after the policeman. It was they who emitted this same laughter and hooting.

A mustachioed, thin reckless driver flew up to the first undressed one and brought down the bony, broken horse with a flourish. The mustache's face grinned happily.

Rimsky hit himself on the head with his fist, spat and jumped away from the window.

He sat for a while at the table, listening to the street. The whistling at different points reached its highest intensity, and then began to subside. The scandal, to Rimsky’s surprise, was liquidated somehow unexpectedly quickly.

The time had come to act; I had to drink the bitter cup of responsibility. The devices were fixed during the third section, it was necessary to call, report what had happened, ask for help, make excuses, blame everything on Likhodeev, shield yourself, and so on. Ugh you devil! Twice the frustrated director put his hand on the phone and twice took it off. And suddenly, in the dead silence of the office, the device itself burst out ringing right in the findirector’s face, and he shuddered and went cold. “However, my nerves are very upset,” he thought and picked up the phone. He immediately recoiled from her and became whiter than paper. A quiet, at the same time insinuating and depraved female voice whispered into the phone:

Don’t call, Rimsky, don’t call anywhere, it will be bad.

The tube was immediately empty. Feeling a shiver in his back, the findirector hung up the phone and for some reason looked back at the window behind him. Through the sparse and still weakly covered with green branches of the maple, he saw the moon running in a transparent cloud. For some reason, chained to the branches, Rimsky looked at them, and the more he looked, the stronger and stronger the fear seized him.

Making an effort, the findirector finally turned away from the moonlit window and stood up. There could be no more talk about calling, and now the findirector was thinking about only one thing - how he could leave the theater as quickly as possible.

He listened: the theater building was silent. Rimsky realized that he had long been alone on the entire second floor, and a childish, irresistible fear took possession of him at this thought. Without a shudder he could not think about the fact that he would now have to walk alone along empty corridors and down the stairs. He feverishly grabbed the hypnotist's ducats from the table, hid them in his briefcase and coughed to cheer himself up at least a little. The cough came out hoarse and weak.

And here it seemed to him that a putrid dampness suddenly wafted from under the office door. A shiver ran down the findirector's spine. And then suddenly the clock struck and began to strike midnight. And even the battle caused trembling in the financial director. But his heart finally sank when he heard an English key quietly turning in the door lock. Clutching the briefcase with wet, cold hands, the findirector felt that if this rustling in the well continued a little longer, he would not be able to stand it and would scream shrilly.

Finally, the door gave way to someone’s efforts, opened, and Varenukha silently entered the office. Rimsky stood and sat down in a chair, because his legs gave way. Taking a deep breath into his chest, he smiled as if an ingratiating smile and said quietly:

God, how you scared me!

Yes, this sudden appearance could frighten anyone, and yet at the same time it was a great joy. At least one tip has poked out in this complicated matter.

Well, speak quickly! Well! Well! - Rimsky wheezed, clinging to this tip, - what does all this mean?

And Varenukha, without taking off his cap, walked to the chair and sat down on the other side of the table.

It must be said that in Varenukha’s answer there was a slight oddity that immediately pricked the financial director, whose sensitivity could rival the seismograph of any of the best stations in the world. How so? Why did Varenukha go to the financial director’s office if he believed that he was not there? After all, he has his own office. This is one time. And secondly: no matter from which entrance Varenukha entered the building, he inevitably had to meet one of the night guards, and it was announced to everyone that Grigory Danilovich would be staying in his office for some time.

But the financial director did not think long about this oddity. There was no time for that.

Why did not you call? What does all this parsley and Yalta mean?

Well, what I said,” the administrator answered, smacking his lips as if he was bothered by a bad tooth, “they found him in a tavern in Pushkin.”

Like in Pushkin?! Is this near Moscow? And the telegram from Yalta?

What the hell is Yalta! He got the Pushkin telegraph operator drunk, and both of them began to misbehave, including sending telegrams marked “Yalta.”

Yeah... Yeah... Well, okay, okay... - Rimsky didn’t say, but sort of sang. His eyes glowed with a yellow light. A festive picture of Styopa’s dismissal from work formed in my head. Liberation! The long-awaited release of the financial director from this disaster in the person of Likhodeev! Or maybe Stepan Bogdanovich will achieve something worse than removal... - Details! - said Rimsky, hitting the paperweight on the table.

And Varenukha began to tell the details. As soon as he arrived where he had been sent by the financial director, he was immediately received and listened to most attentively. No one, of course, even thought that Styopa could be in Yalta. Everyone immediately agreed with Varenukha’s assumption that Likhodeev, of course, was in Pushkin’s “Yalta”.

Where is he now? - the excited financial director interrupted the administrator.

“Well, where should he be,” the administrator answered with a wry grin, “naturally, in the sobering-up station.”

Oh well! Ay, thanks!

And Varenukha continued his story. And the more he narrated, the more vividly the long chain of Likhodeev’s rudeness and disgrace unfolded before the findirector, and every subsequent link in this chain was worse than the previous one. What was it worth even to drunkenly dance in an embrace with a telegraph operator on the lawn in front of the Pushkin telegraph office to the sounds of some loitering harmonica! Chasing after some civilians screaming in horror! An attempt to fight with a barman in Yalta itself! Scattering green onions on the floor of the same "Yalta". Breaking eight bottles of dry white Ai-Danil. The taxi driver's meter breaks down because he didn't want to give Styopa a car. Threat to arrest citizens who tried to stop Stepin's disgrace. In a word, dark horror.

Styopa was widely known in Moscow theater circles, and everyone knew that this man was not a gift. But still, what the administrator said about him was too much even for Styopa. Yes, too much. Even very much...

Rimsky's prickly eyes pierced the administrator's face across the table, and the further he spoke, the darker these eyes became. The more life-like and colorful the vile details with which the administrator filled his story became... the less the findirector believed the storyteller. When Varenukha reported that Styopa had become so reckless that he tried to resist those who came for him to return him to Moscow, the financial director already knew for sure that everything that the administrator who returned at midnight was telling him was all a lie! A lie from the first to the last word.

Varenukha did not go to Pushkino, and Styopa himself was not in Pushkin either. There was no drunk telegraph operator, there was no broken glass in the tavern, Styopa was not tied up with ropes... - none of this happened.

As soon as the findirector became convinced that the administrator was lying to him, fear crawled through his body, starting from his feet, and twice again it seemed to the findirector that a rotten, malarial dampness was creeping across the floor. Not for a moment taking his eyes off the administrator, who was somehow strangely writhing in his chair, all the time trying not to leave from under the blue shadow of the table lamp, somehow surprisingly hiding himself from the light of the light bulb that was disturbing him with a newspaper, the findirector thought of only one thing, What does all this mean? Why does the administrator who returned to him too late lie to him so brazenly in a deserted and silent building? And the consciousness of danger, an unknown but formidable danger, began to torment the findirector’s soul. Pretending not to notice the administrator’s evasions and tricks with the newspaper, the findirector examined his face, almost no longer listening to what Varenukha was weaving. There was something that seemed even more inexplicable than the for some unknown reason invented slanderous story about adventures in Pushkin, and this something was a change in the appearance and manners of the administrator.

No matter how he pulled the duck visor of his cap over his eyes to cast a shadow on his face, no matter how he twirled the newspaper sheet, the findirector managed to see a huge bruise on the right side of his face, right next to his nose. In addition, the usually full-blooded administrator was now pale with a chalky, unhealthy pallor, and for some reason an old striped muffler was wrapped around his neck on the stuffy night. If we add to this the disgusting manner of sucking and smacking that the administrator developed during his absence, a sharp change in his voice that became dull and rude, thievery and cowardice in his eyes, one could safely say that Ivan Savelyevich Varenukha became unrecognizable.

Something else was disturbing the findirector, but what exactly, he could not understand, no matter how much he strained his inflamed brain, no matter how much he peered at Varenukha. One thing he could claim was that there was something unprecedented, unnatural in this connection between the administrator and a well-known chair.

Well, we finally overcame him and loaded him into the car,” Varenukha boomed, peeking out from behind the sheet and covering the bruise with his palm.

Rimsky suddenly extended his hand and, as if mechanically with his palm, at the same time playing with his fingers on the table, pressed the button for the electric bell and froze.

In an empty building, a sharp signal would certainly be heard. But there was no signal, and the button sank lifelessly into the table board. The button was dead, the call was ruined.

The findirector’s cunning did not escape Varenukha, who asked, shuddering, and a clearly evil fire flashed in his eyes:

Why are you calling?

Mechanically,” the findirector answered dully, pulled his hand back and, in turn, asked in an unsteady voice: “What is that on your face?”

The car skidded and hit the door handle,” Varenukha answered, looking away.

"Lies!" - the findirector exclaimed mentally. And then suddenly his eyes widened and became completely crazy, and he stared at the back of the chair.

Behind the chair, on the floor, lay two crossed shadows, one thicker and blacker, the other weak and gray. The shadow back of the chair and its pointed legs were clearly visible on the floor, but above the back on the floor there was no shadow head of Varenukha, just as there were no legs of the administrator under the legs.

"It doesn't cast shadows!" - Rimsky cried out desperately in his mind. A shiver hit him.

Varenukha looked around furtively, following Rimsky’s mad gaze, behind the back of the chair and realized that it was open.

He rose from his chair (the financial director did the same) and took a step away from the table, clutching his briefcase in his hands.

You guessed it, damn it! “I’ve always been smart,” Varenukha said, grinning viciously right in the findirector’s face, suddenly jumped from his chair to the door and quickly pulled down the button of the English lock. The findirector looked around desperately, retreating to the window leading to the garden, and in this window, flooded by the moon, he saw the face of a naked girl pressed to the glass and her bare hand, sticking through the window and trying to open the lower bolt. The top one was already open.

It seemed to Rimsky that the light in the table lamp was going out and that the desk was tilting. Rimsky was hit by an icy wave, but, fortunately for himself, he overcame himself and did not fall. The rest of my strength was enough to whisper, but not shout:

Help...

Varenukha, guarding the door, jumped up near it, getting stuck in the air for a long time and swaying in it. He waved his crooked fingers towards Rimsky, hissed and smacked his lips, winking at the girl in the window.

She hurried, stuck her red head into the window, extended her arm as far as she could, began to scratch the lower latch with her nails and shake the frame. Her hand began to lengthen, like rubber, and became covered with corpse green. Finally, the green fingers of the dead woman grabbed the head of the latch, turned it, and the frame began to open. Rimsky cried out weakly, leaned against the wall and put his briefcase forward like a shield. He understood that his death had come.

The frame opened wide, but instead of the night freshness and aroma of linden trees, the smell of the cellar burst into the room. The deceased stepped onto the windowsill. Rimsky clearly saw spots of decay on her chest.

And at that time, the joyful, unexpected cry of a rooster came from the garden, from that low building behind the shooting range where the birds participating in the programs were kept. A loud, trained rooster trumpeted, announcing that dawn was rolling toward Moscow from the east.

Wild rage distorted the girl’s face, she let out a hoarse curse, and Varenukha squealed at the door and fell out of the air onto the floor.

The rooster crowed again, the girl clicked her teeth, and her red hair stood on end. With the third crow of the rooster, she turned and flew out. And after her, jumping up and stretching out horizontally in the air, resembling a flying Cupid, Varenukha slowly floated out the window through the desk.

An old man, gray as snow, without a single black hair, who had recently been Rimsky, ran to the door, unfastened the button, opened the door and rushed to run along the dark corridor. At the turn to the stairs, groaning in fear, he groped for the switch, and the stairs lit up. On the stairs, the shaking, trembling old man fell, because it seemed to him that Varenukha had softly fallen on him from above.

Having run downstairs, Rimsky saw the attendant who had fallen asleep on a chair at the cash desk in the lobby. Rimsky tiptoed past him and slipped out the main door. On the street he felt somewhat better. He came to his senses so much that, clutching his head, he managed to realize that his hat had remained in the office.

It goes without saying that he did not return for her, but, out of breath, ran across the wide street to the opposite corner near the cinema, near which a reddish dim light loomed. A minute later he was already near him. No one had time to intercept the car.

To the Leningrad courier, I’ll give you a tip,” the old man said, breathing heavily and holding his heart.

“I’m going to the garage,” the driver answered with hatred and turned away.

Then Rimsky unzipped his briefcase, pulled out fifty rubles and handed them through the open front window to the driver.

A few moments later, the rattling car, like a whirlwind, flew along the Sadovaya ring. The rider was tossing about in the seat, and in the fragment of the mirror hung in front of the driver, Rimsky saw either the driver’s joyful eyes or his own crazy ones.

Jumping out of the car in front of the station building, Rimsky shouted to the first person he came across in a white apron and with a badge:

The man with the badge, looking back at the glowing watch, tore the chervonets from Rimsky’s hands.

Five minutes later, the courier disappeared from under the glass dome of the station and completely disappeared into the darkness. Rimsky also disappeared with him.