Each reader has his own "Bible." M. A. Bulgakov presented people with several works that can claim such a high title. First of all, the reader comes to mind the novel "The Master and Margarita."
Loneliness as the air that the heroes breathe
Loneliness is the first reality of human existence. People are born alone, death is also a lonely thing. And speaking quite frankly, a person cannot really share life with anyone. You can successfully marry or get married, give birth to a bunch of children, but at heart you can remain completely lonely.
It seems that this is exactly what M. A. Bulgakov expressed in his imperishable novel. Most of its main characters are invariably alone: Woland, Pilate, Yeshua, Ivan Homeless, Master, Margarita. Loneliness is so natural for them that they don’t even notice it.
In order to illustrate how the problem of loneliness is revealed in the novel “The Master and Margarita”, we will move in our analysis from one hero to another.
Woland
Can Satan have partners or partners? Or maybe friends? Of course not. He is doomed to be alone. At the very beginning of the novel, M. A. Berlioz asked the “Consultant”: “Professor, did you come to us alone or with your wife?” To which Woland answers him: "One, one, I am always alone." And at the same time, the “professor of black magic” may be the least lonely in comparison with other heroes, of course, because of his retinue. This strange company does not emit a painful feeling of hopelessness, probably because she arrived in Moscow not for fun, but in order to save the Master and give the ball “One Hundred Kings”.
One has to insist on just such an order, since the annual holiday could take place in any city in the world, but Moscow of the 1930s was not chosen by chance, precisely because there was a Master and his novel about Pontius Pilate. Such is the portrait of Woland in the context of the theme “The problem of loneliness in the novel“ The Master and Margarita ”.”
Pontius Pilate
With Pilate, too, in this sense, everything becomes clear from the very beginning; he is hated by Yershalaim. He is alone. The only creature to which he is attached is his dog Bang. The prosecutor wants to die because of an unbearable headache. He would have a rest, but no, we need to interrogate some tramp. According to rumors, he persuaded the people to destroy the temple.
Then this tramp miraculously heals the procurator and speaks to him as few people allow themselves. Despite this, the hegemon is ready to let go of the “philosopher”, but it turns out that Yeshua is also guilty of a crime against state power. By law, the procurator must crucify his deliverer, because there is nothing worse than a crime against Caesar.
Pilate does everything possible to prevent the tragedy, but, unfortunately, his efforts are in vain. In the course of the story, a spiritual transformation happens to him. He changes beyond recognition and discovers that in fact the tramp whom the Sanhedrin did not want to have mercy on him is as close to him as Banga, although there are no reasonable reasons for this. The problem of loneliness in the novel “The Master and Margarita” by Bulgakov is unthinkable without the image of Pontius Pilate.
He is perhaps the most lonely and most tragic figure in the novel. And without it, the composition would have a completely different face and a different depth. All subsequent torment: moonlight, insomnia, immortality - nothing compared to the moment when Pilate lost his only friend - Yeshua.
So far, the theme "The Problem of Solitude in the novel" The Master and Margarita "" is maintained in a sad tone. Unfortunately, nothing changes even when it comes to the fate of Ivan Bezdomny
Ivan Homeless
With characters representing the Soviet reality of the novel, everything is more complicated. Their loneliness becomes apparent only in borderline situations - points of human existence where life approaches its limits (death or insanity).
This happened with the poet I. Bezdomny, who only in a psychiatric hospital realized how wrong his life had been before. True, the figure of Ivan Bezdomny, one way or another, is tragic - life revealed to him the truth about his homelessness, but gave nothing in return. Ivan has no hope of salvation.
main characters
The Master and Margarita are the only couple of characters whose story ends well, but not in this reality, but only in the “other world”. If you release this story from the romantic flair, it turns out that it was loneliness that pushed them into each other's arms.
Margarita’s husband is not in the novel (he is present only in her words), but the reader understands that, most likely, her husband is boring, practical and smart only in domestic or commercial matters, so the woman wanted to fly.
The master is also a lonely person. He has nothing but a basement and a novel about Pontius Pilate, and he, like no one else, needs the love of a pretty woman. True, due to the fact that the couple does not have money at all, only strong love holds them together, or maybe fear returns to their total and complete loneliness. In general, it is difficult to say for sure whether there was love between them. If it was, then it was probably sick and lame, but the fear of being left alone was definitely there. It turns out that the problem of loneliness in the novel "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov hides even where love lives at first glance.
The master was changed by reason precisely because he could not cope with the burden of unfulfilled hopes and aspirations. He very much counted on the novel, on its publication, and the composition was met with criticism, which closed his path to the light.
The master could no longer torture Margarita. "The boat of love crashed into everyday life." Rather, the Master simply had a conscience, but then Woland came and corrected everything. True, even his power was not enough to give the couple salvation in this life, and not in another.
Roman M. A. Bulgakova - a multilayer work
Accordingly, the problems of the novel “The Master and Margarita” are not limited to the topic of loneliness. The writer’s talent is that the reader cannot say with certainty what the main theme of this mysterious novel is: is it the “Gospel of Mikhail Bulgakov” (the title of the book by Alexander Zerkalov), which means that religious issues occupy the main place in it. Or maybe the main thing is a satire directed against Soviet reality?
A novel is about everything at once, and in order not to violate the integrity of a work of art, it is better not to split it into molecules and components. This is probably the most general answer to the question, what are the problems of the novel “The Master and Margarita”.
Philosophy as a sign of high classics
It is generally accepted that philosophy is something boring and living somewhere within the walls of academies. To the mere mortal, all this is definitely inaccessible. This is a massive and fundamentally wrong idea of "love of wisdom." In fact, in the life of every person (and even more so an artist) there comes a time when he thinks about God, fate, human loneliness. Usually such works are hard to write, they are difficult to read, but they give an unusually much to a person. There are a great many such creations both in Russian and in world classics, therefore, hypothetically, the topic of the article could sound like this: “The problem of loneliness in ...”. The master and Margarita were not chosen by chance, because these characters and a book about them are incredibly popular among modern Russians.
Kurt Vonnegut and Mikhail Bulgakov: two views on the problem of loneliness
Kurt Vonnegut, like our classic, has been “sick” with the problem of loneliness all his life and tried to solve it in his own way. For example, in the novel “The farce, or the End to loneliness,” he suggested that all people unite in families so that not a single person is left in the world (the reader can refer to the source for details). In some of his journalistic books, the American classic wrote about the following: a person’s life is a constant struggle with loneliness.
It seems that Bulgakov would completely agree with this, but they would disagree on the issue of overcoming loneliness. According to our novel, loneliness (in “The Master and Margarita” it is clearly visible) is irresistible, tragic and inevitable for a person. K. Vonnegut is looking at a person and his prospects are more optimistic, which cannot but rejoice. If suddenly people overcome their own egoism and realize that “we are all brothers,” that is, the hope of victory over loneliness. True, to be honest, it seems like a miracle.