The action of the novel takes place from Wednesday to Sunday of the Holy Week, in modern Moscow and in biblical Jerusalem. The Moscow story enables the author to satirize everyday Soviet life in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. During the black magic show, people demonstrate that they have changed little after the revolution. Greed, materialism, corruption, selfishness, and paranoia still are rampant.

Another first-level interpretation centers on the love story of the Master and Margarita. It is more than a love story, however. The lovers find happiness at the end, and their love is elevated by the nobility of Margarita’s potential sacrifice in order to help the suffering woman regain her peace. By far the most important, and most complex, interpretation of the novel concerns philosophical questions. The basic ethical question of good and evil is the focal point of the novel, with a Manichean twist of equality between good and evil.

Pilate poses another philosophical question, concerning the nature of truth, but it is directed at the rulers’ usurped monopoly on the truth and underscored by the fact that the Jerusalem story is told from three viewpoints. By painting the Devil in colors other than black, by using Jesus Christ’s ethnic name, and by changing his age and the last days of crucifixion, Bulgakov discards the customary way of thinking, thus rejecting any dogmatism, including the political one. Yet another philosophical dilemma concerns the nature of reality. Through supernatural tricks, Bulgakov questions the rulers’ exclusive reliance on materialistic reality. Similarly, Bulgakov uses the Jerusalem angle not to tell another story about Christ but to castigate dogmatic thinking of all kinds.

There are several messages implied in all these questions and answers. Life is imperfect and must be accepted as such. Good and evil coexist. One must always strive for goodness, and evil is there to help recognize good. This results in temporary suffering and death but ultimately in life; without this striving, the final death of darkness ensues. Most important, cowardice is the greatest sin.

The fantastic elements in the novel are not only delightful to read but also quite ingenious. The central episode, Satan’s Grand Ball (also known as the Springtime Ball of the Full Moon, the Ball of the Hundred Kings, Walpurgisnacht, and the Witches’ Sabbath), takes place in Berlioz’s tiny apartment, with hundreds of the dead in the parade of human vices and follies, revived to answer again for their deeds. Margarita’s broom flight to a distant lake before the ball suggests baptism, a passage into a new state of awareness, before she assumes her duties of a queen. The mysterious departure of all the main characters at the end is impressive in its apocalyptic beauty. Additional fantastic features enhance the whimsical mixture of fantasy and realism, making The Master and Margarita a seminal work in contemporary world literature.