Before us is the "Master and Margarita." A summary of the chapters of the novel will help the reader quickly understand whether he is interested in the work. Mikhail Bulgakov finished work on it by 1937, but the first journal publication took place only 25 years later. Each of the two stories told in the "myth novel", as Bulgakov called it, develops an independent story.
The first story takes place in Moscow - the Soviet capital - in the 30s of the twentieth century during the May full moon. The second - at the same time of the year, but in Yershalaim two thousand years before the first. The chapters of the new Moscow history are interspersed with the heads of the ancient Yershalaim.
Summary of The Master and Margarita, Part One, Chapters 1-12
On a hot May day, the mysterious foreigner Woland and his companions meet with the editor of the literary magazine Mikhail Berlioz and the young poet Ivan Nikolaevich Bezdomny, the author of an atheistic poem, at Patriarch Ponds . A foreigner pretends to be a master of black magic. His retinue includes an assistant Koroviev, called Fagot, Azazello, responsible for the “power” operations, a pretty assistant and part-time witch-vampire Gella and a funny buffoon Hippo, often appearing in the form of a black cat of impressive size.
The foreigner wedged into the discussion of Berlioz and the Homeless about Jesus, claiming that he really existed. The proof that not everything is subject to man was Woland's prediction about the sad death of Berlioz at the hands of a Komsomol member. Immediately, Ivan witnesses how a tram operated by a Komsomol girl decapitated the chief editor.
The pursuit and the desire to detain Woland’s ghost gang brought Homeless to a clinic for the mentally ill. Here he meets the Master, a patient from the one hundred and eighteenth issue, and listens not only to the story of his love for Margarita, but also to the story of Yeshua Ga-Nozri. In particular, the Master reveals to Ivan the true otherworldly essence of Woland - the king of darkness.
A foreigner with assistants occupied the apartment of Berlioz, sending his neighbor Stepa Likhodeev to Yalta. The stage in the Variety Theater becomes a showcase of the infernal company. Muscovites are offered various temptations: rain of money, outfits and perfumes. After the performance, the seducers bitterly regret it, finding themselves on the street naked and without money.
The master tells Ivan that he is a historian, a former employee of the museum. Having won once a large sum of money, he quit and began to write a long-conceived book about the times of Pontius Pilate.
At the same time he meets Margarita, love arises between them. After publishing an excerpt from the book, the Wizard begins to get into trouble, provoked by critics of the Moscow literary association and denunciation. In a fit of despair, he burns the manuscript. All this leads him to a psychiatric clinic.
Summary of The Master and Margarita, Part One, Chapters 13-18
Another story is developing in parallel. Pontius Pilate interrogates the trapped beggar philosopher Yeshua, whom the local religious authorities have already sentenced to death. Pilate does not agree with the harsh sentence, but is forced to approve it. He asks in honor of Easter to have mercy on Ga-Nozri, but the Jewish high priest releases the robber. The bald mountain is disfigured by three crosses on which two robbers and Yeshua are executed. As soon as one of his followers, Matvey Levy, remains at the feet of the dying philosopher and the executioner ceases suffering with a merciful blow of a spear in his heart, an incredible rainfall covers everyone. Pontius Pilate cannot find peace. He calls an assistant and orders the execution of the one who betrayed Yeshua. In Levi's parchment, where he wrote down Ga-Nozri's speeches, Pilate read that cowardice is the most serious vice.
Summary of The Master and Margarita, Part Two, Chapters 19-32
Margarita accepts Azazello's offer, becomes a witch for a while to meet her lover again. She plays the role of mistress at the annual Ball of Dark Forces along with Woland and his henchmen. In return, the Masters are returned to her. They are carried away by the infernal retinue, and they will find peace forever, because the Master did not deserve the light.
Summary “The Master and Margarita”, part two, epilogue
Every year, walking under the full May moon, Professor Ivan Nikolaevich dreams in reality. To him are Pontius Pilate and Ga-Nozri, who, talking peacefully, walk along the endless lunar path, and number one hundred and eighteenth, led by an incredibly beautiful woman.
Reader, be vigilant! The summary of “The Master and Margarita” can take away an abyss of pleasure from someone who does not dare to read the whole novel, which was included in the number of literary masterpieces of the twentieth century.