Woland

There are several versions of the origin of the name "Voland":

• the name "Voland" goes back to the Anglo-Saxon pagan pantheon of "Velunda";
• the word "Woland" comes from the German Faland, which means "devil", "deceiver", "crafty". This word can be found in the work "Faust" (1859) by Goethe (1749 - 1832);
• Woland got his name from Goethe's Mephistopheles, whose symbols relate to Woland's external attributes and are present in the novel. It was believed that the devil appears in the form of a black dog (Woland's appearance on Patriarch's Ponds with a cane and a knob in the form of a poodle's head). Witches traveled to the Sabbath on black dogs, which were considered their companions (the signs of Margarita's black poodle at Satan's Ball). The black poodle is a symbol of demonic, otherworldly forces, a harbinger of death, is important for describing the image of Woland and hints at his functions in the work.

The novel "The Master and Margarita" was created as a novel about the Devil. In the first edition, the novel had several titles: "The Black Magician", "The Engineer's Hoof", "The Juggler with a Hoof", "The Son of Veliar?", "(Woland's?) Tour". In the second edition, the following titles appeared: "The Great Chancellor", "Satan", "Here I Am", "A Hat with a Feather", "The Black Theologian", "He Appeared", "The Foreigner's Horseshoe", "He Appeared", "The Coming", "The Black Magician", and "The Consultant's Hoof". In the third edition - "The Prince of Darkness", but already in the second half of 1937, the now well-known title "The Master and Margarita" appeared. Woland is a character who leads the ancient world of otherworldly forces, appearing in the image of the Devil, Satan, "Prince of Darkness", "Spirit of Evil and Lord of Shadows". The work is based on the myth of Christ and the Devil in relation to the period in which Mikhail Bulgakov lived and wrote his novel, describing various aspects of relationships between people. The unstable situation in the country during the writing of the novel had a special influence on the fact that the myth of the confrontation between good and evil goes beyond the boundaries of a work of art. Satan, in the person of Woland, arrives in Moscow with his retinue in order to see whether people have changed since he met them last time, whether Yeshua's sacrifice was in vain or not. Woland in the novel has many faces, as befits the devil, and in conversations with different people he puts on different masks, gives completely different answers about the goals of his mission. This is the first devil in world literature who punishes for failure to comply with the commandments of Jesus Christ. Woland personifies evil, which has always existed and which is necessary for good to exist. He is a moralist who restores justice. Woland and his retinue punish lies, meanness, dishonesty, fraud, and swindling. Woland's means of restoring justice is evil, which helps to cope with human vices and sins.

The novel gives a clear description of Woland's everyday appearance: "He was neither short nor huge, but simply tall... He had platinum crowns on the left side and gold ones on the right... He was wearing an expensive gray suit, with foreign shoes that matched the suit. He carried a cane with a black knob in the shape of a poodle's head under his arm. He looked about forty years old. His mouth was crooked. He was clean-shaven. He had a dark complexion... His eyebrows were black, but one was higher than the other. In a word, he was a foreigner...". The author retained one of the traditional distinguishing features of the Devil - eyes of different colors: "the right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason", "the right one has a golden sparkle at the bottom, drilling into anyone's soul, and the left one is empty and black, like a narrow coal ear, like an exit into a bottomless well of all kinds of darkness and shadows." In the final chapter, Woland appears before the readers "in his true form." But the reader will not know what he looks like - the novel does not say anything about it.

Woland has a low, heavy voice: "Having muffled his low voice." "Woland's voice was so low that on some words it drew out into a hoarse sound." The hero's speech contains a large number of set phrases, which gives it aphorism and vividness: your will, to get a taste, a quick glance, the housing issue, and others. Some of Woland's statements are didactic in nature: "whoever loves must share the fate of the one he loves", "...never ask for anything! Never for anything, and especially from those who are stronger than you..." and others. Woland uses phraseological units: to talk the talk (colloquial, ironic), to spread rumors (colloquial), to drop a word (disparaging), evil tongues (plural, disapproving). Also in Woland's speech there are incomplete expressions used to express an order: "The chair is for me", "The stool is for the gentleman in charge of the buffet" and others. The hero's speech corresponds to the comic beginning of the image, emphasizes his ambivalent essence, imperiousness and omniscience.

Woland appears in the novel accompanied by a retinue that carries out all of Messire’s instructions and serves him. Koroviev (Fagot) is a gloomy demon knight, who appears in the novel as a "citizen a fathom tall, but narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and with a physiognomy, I ask you to note, mocking." He mocks human vices, cruelly exposing them and holding them up to ridicule. Azazello is a demon-killer who does the "dirty work": shoot a person who is inconvenient for Messira, punch a boorish administrator in the face, throw a bribe-taker out of an apartment, etc. Behemoth the Cat is a demon-jester and Woland's page in the form of a black cat. The cat constantly plays the fool and suffers from gluttony, thus denouncing the human love of gluttony. Gella is a vampire, a servant, a red-haired girl who appears naked.

Full name: Woland. Age - he looked to be about 40 years old - that was how he arrived in Moscow in the 1930s. Occupation: devil, satan. Family - absent. Social status - representative of the dark forces. Origin - representative of the dark forces. Education - very polite, well-mannered. Education - well-rounded, well-educated. Appearance: tall, brunette with different colored eyes (left - green, right - black), gold and platinum crowns on his teeth, and a crooked smile. Character: wise, kind, witty, generous, strong-willed, tough, merciless, demanding, fair. Positive traits: intelligent, educated, generous, fair, firm, demanding, generous. Negative traits: ruthless, cruel, bilious.

"Yesterday at Patriarch's Ponds you met Satan." “I am coming to you, spirit of evil and lord of shadows…” “…the consultant, let’s be honest… is in touch with evil spirits…” "Is it really so difficult for you to do this, spirit of evil?" "...who amused the prince of darkness..." “Are you German?” asked Bezdomny. “Me?” the professor asked again and suddenly became thoughtful. “Yes, perhaps a German...” “…the foreigner asked politely…” “Here is my card, passport and invitation to come to Moscow for a consultation…” “…the poet managed to make out the word “professor” printed in foreign letters on the card and the initial letter of the surname – a double “B”. “What is your specialty?” Berlioz inquired. “I am a specialist in black magic.” "Here in the state library, the original manuscripts of the sorcerer Herbert of Aurillac, from the tenth century, have been discovered. So, I am required to sort them out. I am the only specialist in the world. “Ah! Are you a historian?” Berlioz asked with great relief and respect. “I am a historian,” the scientist confirmed.” “Professor of black magic Woland,” the visitor said weightily.