Sections: Literature
- show how an independent work dedicated to Yershalaim history is intertwined with chapters on modernity;
- the novel belonging to the Master is the core of the entire work;
- the difference between a work of art and a theological work.
- find out what truth is.
Equipment and visibility:
- illustrations of Ivanov’s paintings “The Appearance of Christ to the People”, Kramskoy “Christ in the Desert”, Ge “What is Truth”;
- board design: interpretation of the word “truth” and epigraph.
Its theme is the theme of general
human responsibility
for the destiny of goodness and beauty,
truths in the human world.
I. Vinogradov.
The Master's Testament. 1968
Teacher's word. We begin a conversation about the novel by M. Bulgakov, which rethought the gospel story. During the lesson we will pay special attention to artistic means and vocabulary work. Now the whole class is divided into 2 groups:
Group 1 answers questions related to the image of Yeshua Ha Notsri, group 2 analyzes episodes that reveal the image of Pontius Pilate. (See attached questions for questions)
– Identify the main characters of Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” (the answer to this question will help determine the theme, idea of the work, its problems, and understand the plot lines).
- So who are the heroes?
- Let's see if you're right. Woland asks the Master: “What is the novel about?” And what does he hear in response? (“The novel about Pontius Pilate,” the Master’s remark)
The master creates an original work. The Gospel of John, which Bulgakov loved, does not talk about the suffering of Pontius Pilate.
So, it was the procurator of Judea who was the main character for the author himself, and not Yeshua Ha Nozri. Why? We will find out this in our further conversation.
What detail is important to reveal the character of the hero?
You know well that a portrait is of great importance in revealing the character of a hero, his inner world. How do the two heroes appear before us - Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ga Notsri, a wandering 27-year-old philosopher who found himself before the eyes of the ruler. What does this mean?
a) “this man was dressed...” (ch.2)
– The Master is not talking about God’s son, his hero is an ordinary, simple person. Why? What problems will be solved: theological or real, worldly?
(the novel is dedicated to earthly life, the story of Yeshua and Pilate will unfold in parallel with the story of the Master and Margarita.)
– What detail in the description attracts attention? (bloody lining, not red, not bright... This is one of the symbols that carries a certain load).
– What does this mean? ( the man is not afraid of blood, he is a fearless warrior, it is not for nothing that he was nicknamed “Horseman of the Golden Spear.” He himself is ready to repeat about himself what others say about him: “a ferocious monster”).
Now he suffers from a headache, the author talks about this, referring to one detail of his portrait - his eyes. And this detail plays a huge role in the characterization of the hero. Watch how his eyes change. What does this detail do? (ch.2) ( Painful eyes. It was this detail that helped Yeshua guess about Pilate’s suffering and free him from it. And P.P. began to treat the arrested person differently from other people like Yeshua. The man standing in front of the procurator interested him with his speeches).
– Is the prisoner afraid of Pontius Pilate? (ch.2) ( With P.P. he speaks calmly. He is afraid to experience physical pain. But he is unshakable when he defends his view of the world, the truth. He has an inner strength that makes others listen to him).
– What fact confirms that he knows how to convince people? (story of Matthew Levi, chapter 2). And then the Procurator asks the question whether it is true that he, Yeshua Ha-Nozri, called for the destruction of the temple, he answered: “I, the teacher, ...ch2)
– After these words, the question arises: what is truth?
– The purpose of our lesson is to understand what truth is? Whose position is closer to us: Bulgakov or his heroes. Let's try to formulate this concept. ( I give 1-2 minutes; write down the sentence as you understand this word. Everyone writes down, then reads.)
– Everyone understands the truth in their own way. This is how the dictionary interprets this concept. ( There is a note on the board: Truth: 1) what exists in reality, reflects reality, truth. 2) a statement, a judgment, verified by practice, experience).
– The theme of goodness and truth is reflected not only in fiction, but also in art. The artist Ivanov in his painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People” gives his concept of truth. Truth is what was originally given from God, this truth is carried by the Son of God.
Kramskoy in his canvas “Christ in the Desert” showed the tragedy of the thinking man of his era. Exhausted, having washed away the sins of the world with tears and torment, in humble simplicity he brings the truth to the world. The biblical theme is also reflected in Ge’s painting “What is Truth?”
– Something surprising arises in the conversation between Pontius Pilate and Yeshua. What will Yeshua answer to this ironic question from the procurator?
What does Yeshua say about this? (Find Yeshua's answer in chapter 2.)
– Why is the answer amazing? – The fact that an abstract, distant concept - truth - turns out to be alive, the fact that it is now the truth, and what then? Here it is - in the pain that debilitates you. Truth turned out to be a human concept; it comes from a person and is locked in him. Why does Pontius have a headache: from roses - a symbol of the Christian faith, truth. And further Yeshua develops this concept and says that for Yeshua the truth is that “there are no evil people in the world.” And if he had talked to Rat-Slayer, he would have sharply changed his view. He is ready to move towards the truth with the help of conviction and words. This is his life's work. (p. 23 chapter 2) “Some thoughts came to my mind...”
– Pontius Pilate after this part of the conversation makes a decision in favor of Yeshua. Which? Why? (p.26 chapter 2)
Declare Yeshua mentally ill, without finding evidence of a crime, remove him from Yershalaim and place him in his residence. To keep him with him because the only people around him are those who are afraid of him, and he can afford the pleasure of having a person with independent views nearby.
“But everything cannot be resolved this way; people who have power are afraid of losing it. At what point will Pilate's mood change? Why is he forced to abandon this decision? Let's follow the text. The secretary, taking notes during the interrogation, sympathizes with him (pp. 26-27, chapter 2)
This is how Pilate sees Caesar, and therefore does not serve him out of respect. Then why?
– Later Yeshua will say this out loud, the conversation about the truth is not finished. ("Among others…)
– Does Pontius need such truth? (no, confirm your answer with words from the text)
– What suddenly happened to the procurator? A few minutes ago, he himself suggested to Yeshua a way out, a saving answer? (p. 27. “Listen, Ga Notsri,” he suddenly spoke...)
Why is Pilate now approving the death sentence?
Pilate is a brave warrior on the battlefield, but a coward when it comes to Caesar's power. For him, the place he occupies is a “golden cage”; he is so afraid for himself that he will even go against his conscience. Pontius Pilate is not internally free, so he will now sell Yeshua. There are people who commit such betrayals calmly. Judas does not suffer morally by betraying Yeshua. Pontius Pilate is among the people who have a conscience. Forced to pass judgment on Yeshua, he knows that along with the death of the wandering philosopher, his own death will come, but only a moral one. (p. 27 “Thoughts ran short...).
– After the Sanhedrin approved the execution decision, some incomprehensible melancholy pierced his entire being, it seemed to him that he had not finished speaking to the condemned man, had not listened to something. This thought flew away, and the melancholy remained unexplained. Another thought came, the thought of immortality. But whose immortality has come? The procurator did not understand this. (Ch. 2)
– Why does the possibility of immortality not make a person happy, but gives rise to horror in his soul? ( A conscientious person cannot live with a stone in his soul. Already now Pilate knows that he will have no peace day or night. He is trying to soften his “sentence” (chapter 2)
– What other act will Pilate commit, trying to alleviate the pangs of conscience? ( He orders the suffering of Yeshua, crucified on a pillar, to end. But everything is in vain. This is nothing compared to the words that Yeshua conveys before his death. And these same words will be repeated by Afranius, head of the secret police of Pontius Pilate. (Ch. 2)
-Watch how Pilate’s voice changes? Why? What came to Pilate with this? What does this detail – the voice – mean? (Retribution has come. It is impossible to escape from it. The Horseman of the Golden Spear is forced to agree that he is a coward).
What can you do now? Something for which Caesar will not punish, but which will at least somehow help Pilate justify himself. What order and how does he give to the chief of the secret police? (The conversation is full of omissions, half-hints. But Afranius will understand his master. (Ch. 25). Afrania's diligence did not disappoint this time either. At night, Afranius reported to Pilate that, unfortunately, “he was unable to save Judas from Cariath; he was stabbed to death at night.” (Ch. 26 p. 311)
Let's leave Pontius Pilate for a moment and remember another hero - Matthew Levi. How will Matthew Levi behave when he learns about the inevitability of Yeshua’s death? ( The former tax collector followed the procession of convicts all the way to Bald Mountain. He made an attempt to break through to the place of execution. For this he received a heavy blow to the chest with the blunt end of a spear and jumped back, and looked at the legionnaire with a dull, indifferent gaze to everything, like a person insensitive to physical pain (chapter 16 p. 169). Matvey wants most of all (chap. 16). And further - ch. 16 p. 171.
– How will Levi Matvey fulfill his last duty to his teacher? ( He will remove Yeshua's body and carry it away from the top of the mountain. This is how the problem of loyalty and betrayal is solved.)
– Remember what conversation took place between Pontius Pilate and Levi? (chapter 26)
– Why can we say that Matvey Levi is a worthy student? ( Levi will behave proudly and will not be afraid of Pilate. He was as tired as a man can be who thinks of death as a rest. Levi refuses Pilate’s offer to serve him “chapter 26 p. 317”. Only once does Pontius realize his triumph over Levi when he says that he killed Judas).
– How did fate punish Pilate for his cowardice? Let's turn to chapter 32 “Forgiveness and eternal peace.” ( Woland and his retinue ride on magic horses...). To Margarita’s question: “What is he saying?”, Woland answers: chapter 32 p. 367. Pilate long ago, immediately after the death of Yeshua, realized that he was right when he argued that cowardice is a great sin, and for this a person pays with immortality).
– Do you remember that the topic of immortality has always worried people. Immortality was often punished for a person who had committed evil in life. Already in the Bible there is a similar story dedicated to Cain and Abel. God makes Cain immortal to punish him for killing Abel. Cain is tormented by repentance, but death does not come as a deliverance from torment.
– Which literary heroes suffered a similar fate? ( M. Gorky “Old Woman Izergil”, legend of Larra).
So. Pontius Pilate has been suffering for about two thousand years. And Margarita, traveling with Woland, asks to let him go (chapter 32).
– Will the procurator of Judea calm down now? Why don't these words end the stories of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua? What episode will conclude the novel written by the Master? ( epilogue).
So, it is not enough for Pontius Pilate that he was forgiven. The soul will calm down when Yeshua tells him that there was no execution.
– Let’s summarize what has been said. Why did Bulgakov need such an artistic device - parallel to the narrative of modernity, to also carry on the line of a novel written by the Master and telling about events that took place two thousand years ago? ( The novel is dedicated to eternal problems; they exist in the present just as they did thousands of years ago. It will take a long time for humanity to reach the truth and whether it will come to its knowledge is unknown).
– What are these problems: (make a diagram or table...)
Lesson summary. General question: “What is the meaning of the Gospel story reproduced by the author in the novel?”
Homework. Select material relating to a) the history of the Master; b) depiction of the world of art in the novel c) the general atmosphere of life in the 30s of the 20th century, using Ch. 5,6,7,9,13,27.
References:
- Magazine “Literature at School” for 1990-1993.
- N.V. Egorova. Lesson developments on Russian literature of the 20th century. Grade 11. Moscow 2005.
- V.V. Agenosov. Russian literature of the 20th century. Grade 11. Bustard, 2007.
Yeshua and Pontius Pilate
In the novel "The Master and Margarita"
The writer completed the first complete version of the novel in 1934, the last in 1938, although the writer continued polishing it until the end of his days. The novel can be considered at the same time both everyday, and fantastic, and philosophical, and love-lyrical, and satirical.
The four chapters with Woland's story about Christ and Pontius Pilate are a novel within a novel and the basis of the entire work. Pontius Pilate- Procurator of Judea.
The New Testament of the Bible includes four gospels, four different versions of the life and execution of Jesus Christ. Bulgakov creates another, fifth version, which also seems plausible, since the historical details are presented quite successfully. Yeshua Ga-Nozri in the Master’s imagination seems to be an ordinary person. He is indignant when speeches that he did not pronounce are attributed to him, and he feels annoyed when his sermons are misinterpreted. Judas even provoked him into reasoning that led him to a death sentence. Yeshua Just like an ordinary person, he is afraid of both pain and death. He asks Ratboy: “Don’t hit me.” “Would you let me go, hegemon,” the prisoner suddenly asked, “I see that they want to kill me.” But his spiritual world is marked by genius. He has a huge influence on people. Halfway through his speeches, the tax collector followed him like a faithful dog. For Pilate, he relieves his headache with just words. The prosecutor forbids the secret service team to talk about Yeshua.
His spirit and mind are absolutely independent and free from stereotypes. At first, people see him as a madman. He speaks completely freely with the powerful Roman procurator. It is the independence of the philosopher that becomes an attractive example for his listeners. Thanks to her, he reveals truths invisible to others, and sets them out in his sermons, which are very dangerous for the authorities. The master who wrote the novel realized for himself that Good is primary.
“...Everyone is good by nature. We just need to release the energy of their kindness.”
But this was not in the spirit of the 30s. It turned out that the country’s enemies were good internally and externally. And the hero’s attacks against violence and power! So, against the dictatorship of the proletariat!
Bulgakov made the Master his double, with some coincidences in fate and love.
The author's focus is mostly on ordinary people. And in the Yershalaim chapters there are representatives of the authorities. And these two layers can be combined very well in the reader’s mind. During a session of black magic, Woland and Fagot-Koroviev come to the conclusion that the townspeople in Moscow are the same people as thousands of years ago: “People are like people. They love money, but that’s always been the case... Ordinary people...”
And the government officials have changed little.
In two of the four chapters written by the Master, the main attention is paid to Pontius Pilate - a statesman, politician, and warrior in the past. Pilate serves Emperor Tiberius faithfully, because he is afraid of the emperor. Pilate values his own career. Pilate wanted to save Yeshua, suggested to the latter the correct answers at the trial. But Yeshua does not accept compromise. Pilate organized (with Afranius) the murder of Judas, but this did not correct the morning verdict for Yeshua.
Everyday sketches make a strong impression.
Berlioz’s death prompted a stream of statements with claims to the deceased’s living space: “They contained pleas, threats, slander, denunciations, promises to make repairs at their own expense, indications of unbearable cramped conditions and the impossibility of living in the same apartment with the bandits. Among other things, there were... two promises to commit suicide and one confession of a secret pregnancy.”
The picture of the life of Muscovites leaves a depressing impression. And it is supplemented with explanations about the disappearances of people, arrests, and confiscations. We find this in the description of Nikanor Bosy’s dream, in the history of apartment No. 50, in Bezdomny’s desire to imprison Kant in Solovki.
Bulgakov's novel met with great readership in Russia and abroad.
Pontius Pilate - Yeshua
In the novel “The Master and Margarita,” the writer’s attention is directed to just one episode of Christ’s earthly journey: the clash with Pontius Pilate. On the pages of Bulgakov's novel, the first trial of Yeshua takes place in the palace of Pilate, the fifth procurator of Judea, whose name is also on the pages of the Gospel. Who is he, this Pontius Pilate, so often mentioned in the novel? Pilate interested many writers as a person who painfully combines two principles.
A procurator was a Roman official who had the highest administrative and judicial power in a province. Pontius Pilate was appointed procurator of Judea in 29. The name Pilate comes from the Latin pilatus, meaning "spearman".
From the novel “The Master and Margarita” we learn many details about Pilate. We learn that he suffers from hemicrania, that he does not like the smell of rose oil, and that the only thing he is attached to and cannot live without is his dog. The novel “The Master and Margarita” provides a deep, psychologically accurate analysis of the hero’s behavior, which develops into a moral trial of Pilate. This is a complex, dramatic figure. He is smart, not alien to thoughts, human feelings, living compassion. While Yeshua preaches that all people are good, the procurator is inclined to look condescendingly at this harmless eccentricity. But now the conversation turns to supreme power, and Pilate is pierced by acute fear.
Inside Pontius Pilate there is a struggle between good and evil. He is still trying to bargain with his conscience, trying to persuade Yeshua to compromise, trying to quietly suggest saving answers: “Pilate drew out the word “not” a little longer than it should be in court, and sent Yeshua in his gaze some thought that would I wanted to impress upon the prisoner.” But Yeshua cannot lie. Yeshua, initially considering all people to be good, sees in him an unhappy person, exhausted by a terrible illness, withdrawn into himself, lonely. Yeshua sincerely wants to help him.
“In Yershalaim everyone whispers about me that I am a ferocious monster and that is absolutely true,” he says about himself. - Oh no! That's not true. The disputes between Yeshua and Pilate reveal the intellectual equality of the victim and the executioner. Overcome by fear, the all-powerful procurator loses the remnants of his proud dignity and exclaims:
“Do you believe, unfortunate one, that the Roman procurator will release the man who said what you said? Oh gods, gods! Or do you think I'm ready to take your place? I don’t share your thoughts!”
But endowed with power, the powerful and formidable Pilate is not free. Circumstances forced him to pronounce the death sentence on Yeshua. In the novel, the torment of conscience, the consciousness of the sin committed by Pilate and symbolic cleansing from it are symbolized by the gesture when he “... rubbed his hands, as if washing them...”. Subsequently, Bulgakov will force his hero to repeat this gesture in a conversation with Afranius, when Pilate organizes the murder of Judas from Kiriatha.
Execution of Judas
However, this was dictated to the procurator not by the cruelty attributed to him by everyone, but by cowardice, the very vice that the wandering philosopher ranks among the most terrible. Later, the procurator will groan and be tormented, cry in his sleep and call Yeshua. And every night it will seem to him that “there was no execution, there was no!” But every time he will wake up and every time he will again find himself face to face with the bloody reality, because the execution took place. Was. There's no getting around this. You can't hide. You can't run away. But the procurator was forgiven. At the very end of the novel, he transcends the boundaries of his era; time becomes an abstract concept for him.
“The moon filled the area green and bright, and Margarita soon saw in the deserted area an armchair, and in it the white figure of a sitting man... - What is he saying? - asked Margarita... - He says, - Woland’s voice was heard, - the same thing, he says that even in the moonlight he has no peace and that he has a bad position... - Let him go, - Marga suddenly shouted shrilly Rita... -...You don’t need to ask for him, Margarita, because the one with whom he is so eager to talk has already asked for him.” One day in the life of a procurator and an eternity in the life of a procurator.
It is not the depths of Christian metaphysics that interest Bulgakov. Tormenting personal relationships with the authorities, which are grossly interfering in his work and life, force the writer to choose in the gospel plot those episodes that his own era makes him experience most deeply: persecution, betrayal, wrongful trial...
The only thing we learn about Pilate from the Law of God is that he had a wife who asked him “not to do anything to that righteous man, because now in a dream she suffered much for Him,” that he was confident in the innocence of Jesus and “ washed his hands before the people and said: “I am innocent of shedding the blood of this Righteous One; look you” (i.e. let this guilt fall on you). The Gospel Pilate also did not find fault with Jesus and “sought to let him go,” i.e. Bulgakov retained the meaning of events.
But unlike the canonical texts in the novel written by the Master, Pontius Pilate is one of the main characters. The shades of his mood, fluctuations, emotions, his train of thoughts, conversations with Yeshua, the process of making the final decision, received a vivid artistic embodiment in the novel. But senior clerics continue to insist on the death sentence. Pilate succumbs to the shameful cowardice of an intelligent and almost omnipotent ruler: out of fear of denunciation, which could ruin his career, Pilate goes against his convictions, against the voice of humanity, against his conscience. He makes his last pitiful attempts to save the unfortunate man, and when this fails, he tries to at least alleviate the reproaches of his conscience. But there is not and cannot be a moral ransom for betrayal.
And the basis of betrayal, as is almost always the case, is cowardice. Pontius Pilate succumbs to his cowardice; it is easier for him to sentence an innocent person to death than to argue with the high priests, calm the people, or appear before Caesar as an accused: “From that time on, Pilate sought to release Him. The Jews shouted: if you let Him go, you are not a friend of Caesar; Anyone who makes himself a king is an opponent of Caesar. Pilate, having heard this word, brought Jesus out and sat down at the judgment seat, in a place called Liphostroton, and in Hebrew Gavvatha. Then it was the Friday before Easter, and it was six o’clock. And Pilate said to the Jews: Behold, your King! But they shouted: take him, take him, crucify him! Pilate says to them: Shall I crucify your king? The high priests answered: We have no king except Caesar. Then finally he handed Him over to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away” (Gospel of John, ch. 19, v. 12-16).
Message quote
Let us now turn to the second storyline of M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”. In the palace of Herod the Great, the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, interrogates the arrested Yeshu Ha-Nozri, to whom the Sanhedrin sentenced him to death for insulting the authority of Caesar, and this sentence is sent for approval to Pilate.
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“The trouble is... that you are too closed and have completely lost faith in people... Your life is meager, hegemon,” this is what Yeshua says to the procurator of Judea, the richest man after the Great Herod. Pilate will demonstrate his poverty of spirit later, when, fearing that Yeshua’s fate might befall him, he pronounces a death sentence.Interrogating the arrested man, Pilate understands that this is not a robber who incited the people to disobedience, but a wandering philosopher preaching the kingdom of truth and justice. Artist Garbar David. Pontius Pilate and Yeshua ha Nozri (Jesus Christ)However, the Roman procurator cannot release a man accused of a crime against Caesar, and approves the death sentence. Then he turns to the Jewish high priest Caiaphas, who, in honor of the upcoming Passover holiday, can release one of the four criminals sentenced to death; Pilate asks that it be Ha-Nozri . However, Kaifa refuses him and releases the robber. Bar-Rabbana . At the top of Bald Mountain there are three crosses on which the condemned were crucified. After the crowd of onlookers who accompanied the procession to the place of execution returned to the city, only Yeshua’s disciple Levi Matvey, a former tax collector, remains on Bald Mountain. The executioner stabs the exhausted convicts to death, and a sudden downpour falls on the mountain. |
According to the Gospel legend, Pontius Pilate, forced to agree to the execution of Jesus, washed his hands in front of the crowd and said: “I am innocent of the blood of this Righteous One.” This is where the expression “I wash my hands” comes from to abdicate responsibility.
When the Apostle Thomas was told about the resurrection of the crucified Christ, he declared: “...unless I see in His hands the marks of the nails, and put my finger into His wounds, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The procurator calls Afranius, the head of his secret service, and instructs him to kill Judas from Kiriath, who received money from the Sanhedrin for allowing Yeshua to be arrested in his house Ha-Nozri . Soon, a young woman named Nisa allegedly accidentally meets Judas in the city and makes an appointment for him outside the city in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he is attacked by unknown assailants, stabbed to death and robbed of his wallet with money. After some time, Afranius reports to Pilate that Judas was stabbed to death, and a bag of money - thirty tetradrachms - was thrown into the high priest's house.
Matthew Levi is brought to Pilate, who shows the procurator a parchment with sermons he recorded. Ha-Nozri . “The most serious vice is cowardice,” reads the procurator.
Pontius Pilate
Magic black horses carry away Woland, his retinue, Margarita and the master. “Your novel has been read,” Woland says to the master, “and I would like to show you your hero. For about two thousand years he has been sitting on this platform and sees a lunar road in a dream and wants to walk along it and talk with a wandering philosopher. You can now end the novel with one sentence.” “Free! He is waiting for you!" - the master shouts, and over the black abyss an immense city with a garden lights up, to which a lunar road stretches, on which we see the procurator. He is neither in Hell nor in Heaven. He's in the middle. In thought.
And in Moscow, after Woland left her, the investigation into the criminal gang continues for a long time, but the measures taken to capture it do not yield results. Experienced psychiatrists come to the conclusion that the gang members were hypnotists of unprecedented power. Several years pass, the events of those May days begin to be forgotten, and only Professor Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, the former poet Bezdomny, every year, as soon as the spring holiday full moon comes, appears on the Patriarch's Ponds and sits on the same bench where he first met Woland, and then, walking along the Arbat, he returns home and sees the same dream, in which Margarita, the Master, and Yeshua come to him
And the essence of his drama, to which he is doomed, lies precisely in the conflict between that natural, human that is still preserved in him, and the hypostasis of a politician. Once Pilate was a warrior, he knew how to value courage and he himself did not know fear. But he served a high position and was reborn.
The procurator was not afraid for his life - nothing threatened her - but for his career, when he had to decide whether to risk his position or send to death a man who had managed to conquer him with his intelligence, the amazing power of his word, a crime which in its essence did not deserve such a cruel punishment. True, this is not only the fault of the procurator, but also his misfortune. Cowardice is the main problem of Pontius Pilate. But is the once fearless horseman Golden Spear on the battlefield really a coward? “Cowardice is undoubtedly one of the most terrible vices,” Pontius Pilate hears Yeshua’s words in a dream. “No, philosopher, I object to you: this is the most terrible vice!” - the author of the book suddenly intervenes and speaks in his full voice.
Dialogue between Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Nozri
I, the hegemon, never in my life intended to destroy the temple building and did not persuade anyone to do this senseless action.
“Many different people flock to this city for the holiday,” Pilate said monotonously. You, for example, are a liar. It is clearly written down: he persuaded to destroy the temple. This is what people testify.
“These good people,” the arrested man spoke, “didn’t learn anything and confused everything I said.” In general, I'm starting to fear that this confusion will continue for a very long time. And all because Matvey Levi writes down my notes incorrectly. I once looked at his parchment with these notes and was horrified. I said absolutely nothing of what was written there.
That morning the procurator had an unbearable headache. And looking at the arrested man with dull eyes, he painfully remembered why he was here, and what other questions he should ask him. After thinking a little, he said:
- But what did you say about the temple in the crowd at the bazaar? - the sick procurator asked in a hoarse voice and closed his eyes.
Every word of the arrested man caused Pontius Pilate terrible pain and stabbed him in the temple. But the arrested person, nevertheless, was forced to answer: “I, the hegemon, said that the temple of the old faith would collapse and a new temple of the true faith would be created.” I said it this way to make it clearer.
-Why did you tramp confuse the people by telling about the truth about which you have no idea? What is truth? What is it? - P. Pilate shouted in a dull flash of rage, caused not so much by the words of the arrested man, but by the unbearable pain splitting his head. At the same time, he again imagined a bowl of black liquid. “I’m poisoning myself...” There was a pounding in his temples, causing unbearable pain.
Overcoming this vision and this hellish pain, he forced himself to again hear the voice of the arrested man, who said: “The truth, first of all, is that your head hurts unbearably.” And it hurts so much that you, cowardly, think about suicide. Not only are you unable to speak to me, but you find it difficult to even look at me. But your torment will end now. Well, it’s all over, and I’m incredibly happy about it,” the arrested man concluded, looking benevolently at P. Pilate.
“But there is another truth that I spoke about in the crowd at the market,” Yeshua continued. It is that people have chosen a disastrous path of development. People wanted to be independent, instead of being interconnected as a whole with each other, with the surrounding nature and God. Having separated from a single whole that harmoniously connects people with nature and God, they dream and try to find meaning and harmony each in their own little world, as well as in the totality of all their individual little worlds that make up the state. All these little worlds are very much limited by the imperfections of human perception and are far from the truth of a single, integral divine world. Each such little world is colored by a whole range of individual feelings and emotions, such as fear, envy, anger, resentment, egocentrism, thirst for power, etc.
The main characters of the novel.
Bulgakov attaches great importance to the images of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua. This is the outer shell of the conflict. Much here corresponds to the well-known legend: Pontius Pilate sends Yeshua to execution. They took advantage of the execution of the wandering philosopher many years later and elevated him to a saint, and his teaching to a religion.
A robber, a troublemaker, in a torn blue tunic, appeared before the all-powerful procurator. One look at this man is enough to draw the conclusion: “a tramp”... Without family and tribe, an insignificant little man allows himself the audacity to easily address him with the words “good man.” Insolence is punished. Mark the Ratboy inspired respect and fear in the pathetic tramp. So it seemed to Pontius Pilate. The authorities have restored their rights. And what follows reveals to Pontius Pilate a man of high spirit: timid, but intelligent and deep. And gradually, in the eyes of Pontius Pilate, the tramp turns into a philosopher: first the procurator calls him a tramp, a robber, a liar, and then respectfully calls him a philosopher (“To you, philosopher”). It turns out that he knows Greek and Latin, he doesn’t go to great lengths for words, he has ready-made answers to everything, and has his own established philosophy. Pontius Pilate in his thoughts is already making plans to invite him to his service as a librarian. Yeshua amazed Pontius Pilate: the depth and originality of his thoughts made him ask incredulously whether he had read all this from a Greek book. Pontius Pilate was ready to recognize him as mentally ill and, without establishing “the slightest connection between the actions of Yeshua and the unrest that recently occurred in Yershalaim,” he was imprisoned in Caesarea Stratanova, thereby canceling the death sentence passed by the Lesser Sanhedrin. But this established formula was not dictated to the secretary. So it remained only in the thoughts of the procurator. Serious circumstances prevented its implementation: another piece of parchment said that the peace of mind that came to him as a result of a conversation with the accused was again disturbed. An instant change occurred in his state of mind: “It seemed to him that the prisoner’s head floated away somewhere, and another appeared in its place. On this bald head sat a sparsely toothed golden crown... And something strange happened to the hearing: as if trumpets were playing quietly and menacingly in the distance, and a nasal voice was very clearly heard, arrogantly drawing the words: “The law of lese majeste...” Just now two people were talking peacefully in front of us, and Pontius Pilate wanted to show leniency towards “crazy utopian speeches.” Up until this moment, Pontius Pilate is humane and shows humanity. But here again we have a ruler in front of us, inexorable and cruel, evil and merciless. Here he seems to split into two: outwardly menacing, “but his eyes are alarming.” The words with which he addresses the accused are harsh and merciless, and in his intonation and gestures one can hear either pleading or something like a warning of impending danger. With all his behavior, Pontius Pilate seemed to suggest the form of behavior during interrogation. With his gaze he sends “some kind of thought,” shielding himself from the sun with his hand, he takes advantage of this moment to “send to the prisoner some kind of suggestive glance.” Every gesture, every movement, look, intonation is filled with a special meaning here. Pontius Pilate as a person sympathizes with Yeshua, trying in every possible way to warn him of the danger. But nothing had any effect: the truth, according to the wandering philosopher, is easy and pleasant to speak. And Yeshua is no longer a man, but a judge, the procurator of Judea: mercy has ended, he must serve the law, and the law commands the destruction of everyone who questions the greatness of Caesar’s power. Outwardly he is submissive to Caesar, but inwardly he shudders with hatred; shouts a toast in honor of Emperor Tiberius and at the same time, for some reason, looks with hatred at the secretary and the convoy. And he hates them, it seems, because they are involuntary witnesses of his division: he has to abandon a decision that has already been made, which he himself has made, which he considers fair, and accept something else, for the sake of the Law. He felt like a toy in the hands of Caesar, called upon to automatically carry out any of his orders. He hates Caesar, but is forced to praise him. He saw in Yeshua a great doctor, philosopher, but he must send him to a painful death. Sending him to death, Pontius Pilate suffers terribly; suffers from powerlessness, from the inability to do as he wants. Yeshua uttered words about Caesar that doomed him; nothing will help. Everyone heard (hence his hatred of the secretary and the convoy) these words. He is either in a fit of rage or smiling strangely, listening to Yeshua’s naive fears for the life of Judah from Kiriath, trying to convince him that his belief in the possibility of the “kingdom of truth” has no basis.
Pontius Pilate, left alone with Yeshua, either shouts in a terrible voice “Criminal!”, so that everyone behind the wall can hear, or, lowering his voice, confidentially asks about God, about the family, and advises him to pray. This constant feeling of duality makes him either “sadly” ask, and he is full of sympathy for the accused, then unbridled anger seizes him at the thought of breaking the law and letting Yeshua go. For him, he is no longer an accused, only for those around him he still calls him a criminal; for him personally, he has become “unhappy.” By force of will and a mighty cry, he suppresses in himself sympathy and compassion for a person who has unwittingly fallen under the wheel of history. Yes, he does not share the thoughts of the wandering philosopher. . And really, can the dirty traitor Judas be called a good man? And can the “kingdom of truth” come if the world is populated by people like the “cold and convinced executioner” Mark the Ratboy, like the robbers Dismas and Gestas, like those people who beat Yeshua for his preaching? According to Pilate, the kingdom of truth will never come, and at the same time he sympathizes with the preacher of these utopian ideas.
Personally, he is ready to continue the argument with him, but the position of the prosecutor
the Torah obliges him to administer justice. An interesting detail: Pilate warns Yeshua not to utter a single word to him or anyone else. Why? Out of cowardice? An overly simple explanation of the artist’s complex creative intent.
Pilate, having confirmed the death sentence, secretly hopes to persuade Caiaphas to have mercy on Yeshua (according to tradition Jews on the eve of the holiday give life to one of the criminals). Pilate's words - “Hateful city” and “I think that there is someone else in the world whom you should pity more than Judas of Kiriath, and who will have much worse than Judas!” - very accurately reveal his condition.
Two plans in the development of action seem to convey the struggle of two principles living in Pilate. And that which can be defined as “spiritual automatism” acquires fatal power over him for some time, subordinating all his actions, thoughts and feelings. He loses power over himself. We see the fall of man, but then we also see the revival in his soul of humanity, compassion, in a word, a good beginning. Pontius Pilate carries out a merciless judgment on himself. His soul is filled with good and evil, waging an inevitable struggle among themselves. His conscience is stained. All this is true. You can’t say anything - you’re a sinner. But it is not the sin itself that attracts Bulgakov’s attention, but what follows it - suffering, repentance, sincere pain.
Pilate loses his duel with Caiaphas. He hoped to achieve the release of Yeshua, but Caiaphas three times denied the Roman procurator his petition.
Pilate fought for Yeshua’s life to the end, and when he felt that it was all over, “the same incomprehensible melancholy that had already come on the balcony pierced his entire being. He immediately tried to explain it, and the explanation was strange: it seemed vaguely to the procurator that he had not finished talking to the convict about something, or maybe he hadn’t even listened to something.” An incomprehensible melancholy, an absurd thought about immortality, followed by “terrible anger - the anger of powerlessness” finally undermined his power over himself, and he expresses to Caiaphas everything that has accumulated in his soul.
Pilate found himself powerless before the law. And again, it is as if he ceases to be a man and becomes a ruler. Calmly, indifferently, he interrupts the conversation. Human passions have no place where the law comes into force. Everyone is equal before the law. The law must be observed and protected. Outwardly, Pilate does just that. While secretly you can bypass it. And here the man in the hood comes to the fore - the head of the secret service.
The action develops, as it were, along two channels - official and secret. Pilate, having been defeated in the battle with Caiaphas, did not calm down, and cruelly plotted revenge, but in secret ways. Man and ruler fight with each other all the time. Even when he goes to announce the verdict. He always tried not to succumb, to resist Yeshua’s charms. It’s worth watching how he walked without raising his eyes so as not to see Yeshua, how he fought with himself to shout out the correct name of the freed one, and only when they were taken away did he feel safe and open his eyes. He did what was in his power. It is impossible to save Yeshua. But you can alleviate his suffering, thereby once again showing him your sympathy. The law has won. Nothing can be done about it, although he behaved courageously and bravely. He could not do otherwise, because he could not break the law, he could not break custom.
And here Matthew Levi comes to the fore. Why did he try to break through the stockade of Roman and Syrian soldiers? He suffered, despaired, and was sad, and, it turns out, only because he was unable to save Yeshua from a painful death on the stake. And when he, returning to the city and stealing “a long bread knife sharpened like a razor,” rushed back after the procession, he was late. “He was breathing heavily and did not walk, but ran up the hill, pushed and, seeing that a chain had closed in front of him, like everyone else, he made a naive attempt, pretending that he did not understand the irritated shouts; break through between the soldiers to the very place where the convicts were already being taken off the cart. For this he received a heavy blow to the chest with the blunt end of a spear and jumped away from the soldiers, screaming, not from pain, but from despair.” Suffering from unbearable torment, from the inability to carry out his plans himself, he “demanded from God an immediate miracle.” “He demanded that God send Yeshua to death immediately.” But God did not heed the passionate plea. And Matthew Levi cursed God: “You are the God of evil... You are the black God.” But what Matthew Levi failed to do—to save him from torment on the stake—was done by the hooded man, on Pilate’s orders. “Obeying the gestures of the hooded man, one of the executioners took a spear...” To decide on such an act, Pilate needed to have courage and nobility. And what follows only confirms this idea. As a statesman, Pilate sends Yeshua to his death. He had no other choice. He finds himself in the tragic position of having to approve a verdict against his personal wishes. The interests of the state are higher than personal desires here. Statehood, laws and regulations stand and will stand on this.
The procurator accepts the execution of Yeshua as a personal grief. Pilate’s dream especially accurately reveals his state of mind, as if removing the outer covers, exposing the inner essence: “And as soon as the procurator lost touch with what was around him in reality, he immediately set off along the luminous road and walked up it, straight to moon. He even laughed in his sleep with happiness, everything turned out so beautifully and uniquely on the transparent blue road. He walked accompanied by Banga, and next to him walked a wandering philosopher. They were arguing about something difficult and important, and neither of them could defeat the other. They did not agree with each other on anything, and this made their dispute especially interesting and endless. It goes without saying that today’s execution turned out to be a pure misunderstanding...” The awakening seems to confirm this idea. From sleep, Pilate utters a phrase that plunges Mark the Rat-Slayer into “greatest amazement”: “... you also have a bad position... You cripple soldiers.” He has not yet put on the official mask, he has not yet come to his senses from sleep, where everything is relaxed and sincere, where duty does not contradict the heart and you do everything that it commands. Then, having awakened, he will try to “make amends for the vain words.” But in these complaints there is a true Pilate, suffering from the burden of power.
Waking up from sleep is terrible. Everything fell into place again. Once again, tremendous suffering begins to wear down his soul.
Pilate, in the hope of atonement for his guilt before Yeshua, offers his disciple Levi Matthew the same benefits that he promised Yeshua. Pilate did exactly what Matthew Levi would have wanted to do in this situation: save the teacher from torment and punish the traitor.
Levi Matthew refuses to go to Pilate’s service: “You will be afraid of me. It won’t be very easy for you to face me after you killed him.” But Pilate does not deny his guilt. On the contrary, Levi persuades Matthew not to be cruel, reminds him of Yeshua’s commandment that all people are kind. And as if he asks for forgiveness for the inevitability of what happened.
And again Bulgakov shows psychological skill in revealing Pilate’s state of mind: recalling Yeshua’s commandment, he “significantly” raised his finger (outwardly he is still trying to maintain his official mask) and at the same time “Pilate’s face was twitching,” twitching from internal discord. Here the facial expression betrays his true state, no matter how hard he tries to hide it.
All this confirms only one idea, which Bulgakov pursues consistently and persistently: Pilate does not deny his guilt in the death of Yeshua, but without denying it, he painfully experiences the absurdity of what happened, his guilt and helplessness in the face of inexorable circumstances. And the most amazing thing: Bulgakov forgives Pilate, assigning him the same role and his philosophical concept as the Master. Pilate, like the Master, deserves peace for his suffering. Let this peace be expressed in different ways, but its essence is one thing - everyone gets what they want.
In the last chapter of the novel, which is called “Forgiveness and Eternal Shelter.” Pontius Pilate sits for many years “on a rocky, joyless flat top,” immersed in thought. “For about two thousand years he has been sitting on this platform, sitting “on a rocky, joyless flat top”... He says the same thing. He says that even under the moon he has no peace and that he has a bad position. This is what he always says when he is not sleeping, and when he sleeps, he sees the same thing: the lunar road and wants to go along it and talk with the prisoner Ga-Notsri, because, as he claims, he did not finish saying something then, long ago, on the fourteenth of the spring month of Nissan. But, alas, for some reason he fails to take this road, and no one comes to him. Then, what can you do, he has to talk to himself. However, some variety is needed, and to his speech about the moon he often adds that most of all in the world he hates his immortality and unheard-of glory. He claims that he would willingly exchange his fate with the ragged vagabond Levi Matvey.
Margarita, having learned about this fate of the hero of the novel, sympathizes with him: “... her face was covered with a haze of compassion.” She is determined to change the fate of Pontius Pilate. As a human being, he does not deserve such a cruel punishment. “In life” this could be the case, but this cruelty does not correspond to the Pontius Pilate who is depicted by the Master’s pen. Margarita asks to let him go. She knows about his suffering, she knows about his true intentions and the motives for his behavior. The master revealed them and conveyed the true tragedy of a man who, after a mistake he made, suffered painfully and paid for it with incredible suffering. The artist seemed to have discovered the true motives of the behavior of a historical figure, looked at an episode of history much deeper than before. But the Master knew only the “earthly” fate of his hero. He did not know that he was still tormented and suffering from the collapse of his hopes and desires,
Yeshua, having read the Master’s novel, took a new look at Pontius Pilate, looked through the eyes of Margarita, full of compassion. “The one with whom he is so eager to talk asked for him.” Woland consoles Margarita: “Everything will be right, the world is built on this.”
And indeed, everything in the world became right as soon as the Master shouted the last phrase of his novel: “Free, free! He is waiting for you!"
And now, along the wide lunar road, “a man in a white cloak with a bloody lining rises and begins to walk towards the moon. Walking next to him is a young man in a torn tunic and with a disfigured face. Those walking are talking passionately about something, arguing, wanting to agree on something.
Gods, gods! - says the man in the cloak, turning an arrogant face to his companion. - What a vulgar execution! But please tell me,” here the face turns from arrogant to pleading, “after all, she wasn’t there!” Please tell me, it didn’t happen?”
And his companion assures him that nothing like this happened, he only imagined everything. Yeshua swears, “and for some reason his eyes smile.”
In the image of Pilate, Bulgakov shows the duality of a person and a statesman: he has such a strong sense of duty that he cannot do anything in defense of Yeshua, although he humanly sympathizes with him and does everything possible to save him.
Bulgakov depicts the conflict between the feeling of compassion and the official duties of Pilate, and this conflict is tragic. The feeling of compassion develops into painful and restless suffering, coloring Pilate’s entire subsequent life with hopelessness and darkness. Pilate violated the moral law while defending the civil law, for which he paid with eternal suffering. “Everything will be right,” Woland reassures. The philosophy of history is optimistic. Yes, in the historical process. the seeds of good and evil ripen at the same time. Yes, there are many weaknesses in human nature, many things need correction and renewal.