The Master and Margarita

by

Mikhail Bulgakov

The Master and Margarita: Paradox 1 key example

Definition of Paradox
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar Wilde's famous declaration that "Life is... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel... read full definition
Chapter 18. Hapless Visitors
Explanation and Analysis—No Good People:

Maximilian Andreyevich enters apartment 50 with high hopes and a strange acquaintance. Meeting a tomcat and a crying stranger in Chapter 18, Berlioz’s uncle feels a sudden upwelling of emotion, in a moment laden with paradox and irony:

Berlioz’s uncle was sincerely moved by the stranger’s conduct. “And they say there are no good people left in the world today!" he thought, feeling that his own eyes were beginning to smart.

The encounter is ironic on situational and dramatic levels. There is Maximilian’s obliviousness to the grieving stranger’s identity as Woland’s accomplice, a fact all too well known to the reader. But Bulgakov creates an additional irony in the uncle’s rush to conclusions. Claiming Koroviev’s performative grief as proof that “good people” still exist in the world, Maximilian mistakes the Devil (no less) as a force for goodness. He assigns morality to a figure that is perfectly antithetical to virtue.

This is a telling confusion that underscores the anomie of Soviet-era Russia and contributes to the novel’s moral ambiguity. Maximilian’s admission creates a paradox in which the Devil happens to be better than the people themselves. Koroviev—at least by his superficial impressions—seems no worse than Maximilian and his guarded, property-motivated gestures of bereavement. People, not the Devil, exchange their clothing, accept illegal payments, and pilfer diamond-encrusted horseshoes. By some accounts, Woland even surpasses humans in grace. He reunites the Master with his lover, granting them a peace and fulfillment that Soviet society’s snobbish literary circles could not. Ironically appraising humanity, Bulgakov makes way for complexity.