CRAIN 1

Bulgakov’s Joker

In The Master and Margarita, when the devil, Woland, comes to Moscow, he becomes an

almost Joker-like figure in the novel who wreaks havoc on the people as a sort of agent of chaos.

Agents of chaos consider themselves to be a necessary evil in order to show society how pitiful

and hypocritical they really are, and in this situation specifically, to show how ridiculous

clinging to atheism is when the proof of the devil is right in front of you and he is providing

proof of the existence of Jesus. Woland has a fantastic time creating strife and destruction

wherever he goes, but seem to lack a motive other than a desire for chaos. This is in direct

opposition to the traditional devil presented in the Bible, Satan. The biblical devil is the tempter

of mankind and tries to bring humanity away from God and the ‘good forces’ because he is

motivated by a desire to become higher than God and the ‘good forces’ and usurp them. All of

this to say, Woland may be the devil in The Master and Margarita, but he is not an entirely evil

character; he is simply an agent of chaos using chaos, magic, and his foreknowledge of events as

tools, occasionally through his minions. These tools and Woland’s actions are certainly not good,

but they are also not in direct opposition to good and/or good forces. In comparison, Satan is the

biblical devil and is wholly evil, and his only purpose is to oppose the good forces and try to

become greater than them.

In the bible, Satan is an angel who no longer wanted to be a servant of God, and tried to

become an equal to God and usurp him. God was understandably displeased by this, and Satan

was subsequently cast out of heaven. He was and is motivated by pride and a desire to become

the highest power in the universe.

"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How

you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have
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said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the

stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides

of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most

High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit

(Isaiah 14:12-15)

Satan tries to reach this goal by ‘stealing’ people away from God and a godly lifestyle

and tempt them into doing evil actions and going against God and good forces. He does this

through various means, but arguably the most famous example of this is when Satan is given

almost totally free rein to try and convince a man named Job to turn his back on God and the

‘good forces.’

On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord,

and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the Lord said

to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From

roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to

Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him;

he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still

maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any

reason.” “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own

life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will

surely curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in

your hands; but you must spare his life. (Job 2:1-6)”

In comparison, Woland is presented as less of a vengeful and evil person, but rather as

one who is motivated by a simple desire to cause chaos for the fun of it and who is simply having
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an absolutely wonderful time causing mass confusion and hysteria. At his Black Magic Expose

at the Variety Theater, Woland and his gang gift the women in the theater new French clothes,

shoes, purses and perfumes (pg. 106) and make money rain down from the ceiling (pg. 103) to

the delight of the members of the audience. However, all this gets turned on its head when all of

the women’s new clothes disappear, leaving them naked (pg. 126) and the money, which had

looked so realistic in the theater, turned into regular paper and labels for water and champagne

bottles (pg. 157). These events do not have an apparent purpose other than creating chaos just for

the fun of it, and this is certainly not in accordance with the evil tempting devil who actively

fights against the forces of good presented in the Bible.

Another difference between Woland and the devil of the Bible is that though they both

test and tease, they do so with very different intentions. The devil of the Bible tests in order to

get people to make decisions that go against God and the forces of good and bring them over to

his side so to speak.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the

devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came

to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every

word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy

city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of

God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

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so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to

the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all

the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said,

“if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me,

Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then

the devil left him, and angels came and attended him (Matthew 4:1-11).

Woland, on the other hand, tests and teases with the intent to make people question

themselves and to discern what kind of person they are. He pushes Margarita in many ways, all

with the end result of her becoming a stronger person who understands herself and the world

better and who receives Woland’s respect and a gift from him as well. During Woland’s grand

ball, Margarita is pushed to the limits of her endurance and beyond physically. She suffers from

physical pain and bruising on her knee where the guests kiss her and she feels as though she will

collapse and/or begin crying from the pain after she has been at the ball only three hours (pg.

230).

Woland also pushes and tests her mentally after the ball when they all sit down to dinner

and discuss the events of the ball and what sort of compensation Margarita will receive. During

this verbal sparring match, Woland implies he will not reward Margarita for her service to him

during his ball, just to see what her reaction would be. When Margarita responds by pretending

not to be effected by it and acts as though she will leave, Woland is delighted and offers her any

one thing she desires, saying that one should never ask anything of anyone, as they will give you

whatever you want of their own free will (pg. 240-241). The granting of a wish also proves to be

a test which Margarita comes dangerously close to failing when she asks for mercy for Frieda, a
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specter who is tormented daily with reminders she killed her own child, that had caught

Margarita’s attention at the ball. Woland does not seem very keen on granting Freida mercy until

Margarita claims that she made a foolish promise to Frieda that she must now fulfill, and that it

has nothing to do with mercy, and everything to do with maintaining Margarita’s image. This

mollifies Woland enough that he grants mercy to Frieda and also grants Margarita another wish

that he will fulfill (pg. 241-243). Margarita of course wishes to be immediately with her lover,

the Master and that they be returned to their life before their separation exactly as it was (pg.

246). Woland does exactly that, and replaces the manuscript that the Master had written and

burned in a fit of pique. Not only does he do this, he also gives Margarita back some of her other

belongings and her savings book with 10,000 rubles in it, saying that he has no need of other

people’s money (pg. 248).

All of this leads to the next point of comparison, which is that though Woland implies

that he isn’t in the business of mercy, he bows to Margarita’s wishes to save Frieda and the

Master. This is interesting because it again goes directly against what we expect from the biblical

devil, Satan. The devil of the Bible is portrayed as an entirely evil figure who will take advantage

of anyone and will show no mercy.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a

roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith,

knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the

world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ

Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle

you (1 Peter 5:8-10).

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Satan will do whatever is necessary to accomplish his goals, and has no qualms about

using and then discarding those unfortunate enough to have served him.

On another note, looking at the epigraph in the Master and Margarita deomnstrates that

Woland is a character who delights in mischief and chaos, but his actions sometimes create good

things for those involved, as in the case of Margarita and the Master. He ends up saving the

Master from spending his life in an asylum tormented by thoughts of Margarita leaving him, how

his manuscript was terrible and how he has wasted his life by writing it. Woland also saves

Margarita by removing her from her stifling life as a rich man’s wife and returning her to her

lover.

Satan is the antithesis of this. He is always trying to do evil and does only evil. He can do

no good. Individuals who are involved with Satan can expect to be rewarded with something

temporary that will no doubt turn sour quickly, like in the famous example of the fall of Adam

and Eve.

Now the serpent [Satan] was more crafty than any of the wild animals the

LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not

eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat

fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from

the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will

die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God

knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like

God, knowing good and evil.”

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So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was

pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit

and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both

of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig

leaves together and made themselves coverings (Genesis 3: 1-7).

Finally, when it comes to our respective devils’ relationships with the forces of good,

Satan is by definition always in direct opposition to them while Woland acts mostly as a simple

observer of the goings-on in the world and doesn’t directly oppose the good forces. Satan doeshis

absolute best to destroy the good forces and beat them in order to achieve his goal of beating

them and becoming more powerful than they. He sometimes even uses people to accomplish this,

as in the case of Judas Iscariot.

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was

approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for

some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan

entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief

priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might

betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented,

and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was

present (Luke 22: 1-6).

Conversely, Woland has been, or at least claims to have been present for many events,

such as the trial of Jesus done by Pontius Pilate (pg. 34), but he does not actually do anything

during this important event that was a huge move by the forces of good, and were Woland
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actively fighting the forces of good, he would have done something to prevent Jesus’ death and

subsequent resurrection.

In the end, easiest way to sum up the difference between Woland and Satan is that Satan

is characterized by his prideful motivation to become more powerful and greater than God and

the good forces in the universe. He is the tempter of mankind and actively seeks to make people

turn against God and the good forces, and he can only do evil. Granted, he does this tempting

very cunningly, but one can always know not to trust him, and that the promises he makes will

not turn out well in the end. In comparison, Woland is characterized by a desire to create strife

and chaos, but he lacks a motivation other than the simple joy of the chaos. Depending on his

whims, Woland’s actions can have a good or bad result, and while he isn’t a trustworthy

character, he will more than reward services rendered to him, as is right. Woland is also an

observer, rather than an active participant in many things, and does not fight against anyone

specifically. In short, Satan is like a lawful evil mob boss who you know is bad, but who you

turn to when you have no choice. You know exactly what to expect and how much ‘insurance’

you’ll have to pay. Woland is more like the Joker; a chaotic evil force that one can never tell

what he will do next, but you can be certain that it will cause mass confusion and will likely

result in property damage.