Master and Margarita.notebook

Chapters 14­15 1

January 26, 2010

The Master and MargaritaChapters 14­15

Faustian Bargain

Literally, to “strike a Faustian bargain” is to be willing to sacrifice anything to satisfy a limitless desire for knowledge or power. In other, more generalized, terms, it is the exchange of some permanent or eternal characteristic or attribute (such as one’s honor, character, or soul) in exchange for some transitory gain (such as power, beauty, wealth, fame, etc.). The bargain appeals to the non­critical recipient who is avaricious of immediate gratification, but who does not consider the long­term effects of the bargain. By definition, the Faustian bargain is a “bad deal,” for the recipient; the devil always wins!

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil.

Master and Margarita.notebook

Chapters 14­15 2

January 26, 2010

..."Believe me [, stated Korovyov,] ... Nikanor Ivanovich, your [housing] committee has everything to gain and nothing to lose."...The interpreter's proposition made a lot of practical sense. It was a very solid proposal, but there was something decidedly unsolid about his manner of speaking.... As a result, a vague sense of uneasiness troubled the chairman's soul, but he decided to accept the offer anyway....Nikanor Ivanovich gave a confused grin and failed to notice that he was standing next to the deceased's writing desk, where Korovyov was drawing up two copies of a contract with great speed and agility. Next, he whisked them into the bedroom and returned with both copies signed in the foreigner's scrawling hand. The chairman signed the contract too. ...This was done to the accompaniment of Korovyov's little jokes and quips, such as, ... "A fool and his money are soon parted," and other things of that sort [italics added].

(81, 82)

Find five other examples of a Faustian Bargain in your text:

Page What is sacrificed What was obtained

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Master and Margarita.notebook

Chapters 14­15 3

January 26, 2010

Faust Legends(See handout.)

Late 15th Century16th Century

Das FaustbuchMephistopheles

Christopher Marlowe: The Tragicall History of D. Faustus17th Century

German popular versions and puppet plays18th Centruy

G. E. Lessing: Faust19th Century

Johann von Goethe: FaustMephisto

Hector Berlioz: The Damnation of FaustCharles Gounod: Faust

20th CenturyThomas Mann: Doktor FaustusMikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita

§ 129: What is real?129: All is a lie­like this text

§ 130: What does it all mean?­like this text§ 131: The shadows in the room tell Rimsky that what he believed to be real, isn't!

§ Change­­­after an immediate encounter with the Numinous.130: Varenukha has become unrecognizable132: Rimsky is changed

Master and Margarita.notebook

Chapters 14­15 4

January 26, 2010

Rooster: Biblical resonances (131­132)

All four Gospels record Peter's three denials of Jesus. They can be found in Matt. 26:69­75; Mark 14:66­72; Luke 22:54­62; and John 18:15­27. The Mark passage reads as follows:

As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant­girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus the Nazarene." But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about." And he went out onto the porch, and a rooster crowed. The servant­girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, "This is one of them!" But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too." But he began to curse and swear, "I do not know this man you are talking about!" Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, "Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." And he began to weep.

(NASB) Mark 14:66­72

133: Narratology ­ a sjuzet, continuation from 85, 111

133­134: Nikanor prays to God (a God who officially "doesn't exist"!?!)

Soviet criticism: All are crooks (134)

Nikanor's Dream­­WUD

Confession/Interrogation of foreign money (134ff)Freudian context Repentance (136)Eyes are the window to the soul (140)Nikanor dreams that he is dreaming: WUD­WUD! (141)

142: Segue to Pontius Pilate story. Is this a dream? Is it real? Who is the narrator?

What the #@%$ is going on here??!!! (“…through humor and chaos.”)

Attachments

Witches_.ppt