Disclaimer: The following is a discordant analysis of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, with no explanation of the story whatsoever. If you have not read this, I would not recommend reading the following. It might entirely ruin the story for you.
And now that I’ve described my morning in excruciating detail, I enjoyed our discussion of Bulgakov, though I obviously would have preferred it be much more detailed, having already read the book and written a total of fifteen pages on it. I think that the question of ethics and of human sovereignty is the central one of the novel, and Bulgakov tries to support and re-introduce the human element, exposing the Soviet state of rule by the devil. Bulgakov believes in integrity and consistency, both of which Satan tests. In offering man the choice, and enjoying the temptation, Satan reveals himself for who he is, as well as his own motivations. The meaning of the realist epilogue strikes me as the final exposition of the idea that the devil has won: Muscovites will not believe in a supernatural or a divine, and Satan shows himself to be the great deceiver – he has convinced Moscow that he does not exist. While revealing Christ’s humanity served his purpose with Berlioz and Bezdomny, he gives no image of the divine, and nothing external to human life, leading to a radically human (and thus, I think, limited) perspective of the novel.
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