New Characters
Nikolai Ivanovich: Margarita’s husband.

Summary
The master’s lover, the 30-year-old, childless Margarita, has a comfortable life but does not love her husband. With the master gone and her not knowing if he is alive or dead, she sinks into despair. But on Friday, the same day as the bookkeeper’s arrest, she wakes up around noon, sensing that her dream last night of the master calling to her means he is either dead and calling for her to join him, or alive, and they will see each other soon. She listens to her housemaid, Natasha, talk about last night’s magic show, but she dismisses the stories as a false rumor. Margarita takes the trolley-bus down the Arbat and hears talk of a corpse’s head being stolen from a coffin before getting off and taking a seat on a bench under the Kremlin wall. After watching a funeral procession go by, she says she would “pawn [her] soul to the devil” to know if the master is alive. She wonders who is being buried, and Azazello tells her it is Berlioz. The corpse’s head has been stolen, however. He points out Latunsky in the procession in response to her request, then tells her he has come to her with some business, namely, to invite Margarita for a visit to a foreigner that evening. When a disbelieving Margarita dismisses him, he recites some of the master’s novel, and an amazed Margarita asks him if the master is alive. Azazello affirms that he is alive and instructs Margarita to take off all her clothes at home at 9:30 that evening, rub herself with the ointment he will have given her, and wait for him to call her at 10. Margarita agrees and puts the ointment into her handbag.

At 9:29 that evening, Margarita spreads the ointment over her body, and, looking in the mirror, sees herself as twenty-year-old woman with naturally curly black hair. She is pleasantly amazed by this, and, when she feels her body become weightless and free, she becomes very happy. She writes a farewell note to her husband, telling him she is now a witch and is leaving him forever. Natasha sees her transformation and helps her pack up for the trip. Meanwhile, her husband, Nikolai Ivanovich, arrives in his car to sit on a bench in the garden outside their home. Azazello promptly calls and tells her to shout “Invisible!” as she flies over the gate. Margarita takes the broom that comes into the house, and she throws off her shift, cries “Invisible! Invisible!” and flies off.

Analysis
Margarita, with her dissatisfaction in the midst of wealth, a superficially happy marriage, and roomy lodgings, is a stark contrast to earlier Moscow characters, who sought after material luxury as though it was the key to happiness. Margarita is instead devoted to her relationship with the master. She also follows the presentiment that arises from her dream: unlike other characters, she follows her intuitions about the supernatural. She also is willing to able to talk with the absent master on the bench under the Kremlin. Margarita is not superstitious though, as is seen in her refusal to believe Natasha’s stories about the magic show. She responds to Azazello’s arrival with fresh, uninspired speech, and even reproaches him. Her courage, even audacity, has been matched only by Yeshua. But she does trust Azazello and agrees to visit Woland, seeing it as a chance to reunite with the master.

Woland, who has earlier caused several people to age rapidly, does the opposite trick for Margarita. Her sense of freedom and anticipation also contrasts with the fear so many characters have felt. She realizes that Woland is not dangerous, and embraces her future as a witch who has abandoned her husband. Other characters seem to dread the future, but she thinks it will bring her happiness.