The Master and Margarita

by

Mikhail Bulgakov

The Master and Margarita: Tone 1 key example

Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Tone
Explanation and Analysis:

The Master and Margarita’s narrator makes a playful, lively presence throughout the novel. The novel finds a witty Bulgakov who gossips with the reader while watching the characters meet their misfortune. “Ah, if only Ivan Nikolayevich had been there! He would have recognized this character at once!” he ironically tells the reader as Styopa glances up at a passing Koroviev. Like a puppetmaster, Bulgakov creates distance between himself and his characters in apparent emphasis of their human fallibility. He looks on at the novel’s all-too-mortal characters, revealing how their temptations and desires get the better of their moral bearings.

Bulgakov is chatty, too. He embarks on tangents about his own sympathy for Margarita. He breaks the fourth wall, directly addressing the reader through humorous asides—“(I’m not joking!)”—or assurances of truthfulness. “Let [anyone] speak to me, and I will tell him how to get there,” he tells the reader about Margarita’s Arbat Square apartment. Bulgakov admits the audience into his intimacy, pointing out the “utterly useless pince-nez” and “diamond triangle” on pocket watch lids as hapless Moscovites cross paths with Woland. Like the foreigner who squeezes onto the park bench mid-conversation, Bulgakov’s narration livens up the novel with his personal, comic touch.