Master and Margarita

by Mikhail Bulgakov

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Student Question

What does the final chapter of Master and Margarita reveal about the writer?

Expert Answers

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In the end of Master and Margarita, the title characters -- a writer and his lover -- are taken by Woland, the Devil, to their eternal home:

"Romantic Master! He who your hero so longs to see -- the hero you invented and have just freed -- has read your novel."
...
"Listen to the silence..." Margarita said. "...your sleep will strengthen you and inspire you to wise thoughts. And you won't be able to chase me away anymore. It is I who will guard your sleep."
...
And the Master's troubled, needling memories began to fade. Someone was setting him free, just as he himself had just released his hero. This hero vanished into the void, vanished forever, forgiven on a Sunday night....
(Bulgakov, Master and Margarita, Google Books)

In a sense, this shows the Writer as a creator of stories just as he himself is a creation of God. Since the Writer is able to change, alter, save and doom his creations, he is himself subject to the same from his own creator, but it is within his power to influence his eventual fate with good or evil deeds. The Master freed his hero from eternal suffering, but was unable to become enlightened, so instead of consignment to Hell he is allowed to finally relax in Limbo; he is not rewarded for his efforts, but neither is he punished. The Master must earn his happy ending, rather than having it given to him; similarly, a Writer must put great effort into his work, because a blank page will otherwise always remain blank.

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