Master and Margarita

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Master and Margarita
by Shahriar
20-Feb-2012
 

Writing a love story that resonates with people, is not an easy task. Shakespeare has shown how it can be done with his Romeo and Juliet.

Writing a political novel is not easy, either. Most of them have an expiry date and when the main dictator is gone, the story becomes meaningless, or at best "historical".

So you should pause and recognize a masterpiece where the two are combined in a timeless and exquisite manner. "Master and Margarita" is one of those rare novels.

Bulgakov has blended the eternal love, with the poison of power in two different eras: the Roman empire's tyranny in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago and Stalin's dictatorship in the Soviet Union.

How skillful a writer should be, to intertwine the story of Christ's crucification, The love between Master and Margarita, terror of Stalin's era and a visit by Satan to Moscow!

In each case of these power struggles, the least powerful and most vulnerable eventually prevails: Christ over the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and the High Priest of Jerusalem, And the defenseless and fragile writer ("Master" as Margarita addresses him) against the monstrous power of Stalin.

Jesus is still in hearts and minds of many today while Pontius Pilate or the High Priest of Jerusalem are buried in history. Bulgakov lives through his masterpiece while Stalin has become a name in history books.

But above and beyond the deadly games of power, the most powerful force of them all shines through: eternal love.

The love between a lonely writer and a married woman. On the day that Margarita meets the writer, she was determined to kill herself if she didn't find her love to take her away from her boring life.

Margarita puts behind, all that matters to ordinary people: comfortable life as the wife of a wealthy husband, clothes, jewelery, nice house and a maid, and she even submits to Satan knowingly, to perish for love, only to save her lover.

It takes a lot of mastery to make a coherent story out of different threads that at first seem to be unrelated to each other, but at the end, the reader feels the corrupting impact of power, the truth of love, and how love of power and power of love have not changed in thousands of years.

In 2005, a 10-part Russian TV production of the book was broadcast, and although nothing replaces your own imagination when you read the book, this TV series could be a second best. Here are the links to view the series.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 Section 1

Part 4 Section 2

Part 4 Section 3

Part 4 Section 4

Part 4 Section 5

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10


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