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Anne Nies Professor Foeller-Pituch English 368-CN 02 May 2011 The Significance of Wolands Ball in The Master and Margarita Wolands Ball, which takes place in the chapter titled Satans Grand Ball, is an illuminating chapter that provides the reader with a very clear examples of how Bulgakov twists ideas and preconceptions while laying the framework for subsequent chapters as well as wrapping up some details from previous chapters. The most enlightening features of Wolands Ball provide the reader with some very clear ideas about what behaviors prevents one from being eligible to achieving peace and what Wolands true purpose in Moscow is. The Ball itself is a transitionary piece for the novel as it moves the reader from the general chaos created by Wolands Retinue through a grand ceremony and into the conclusion of the novel. Through the ball a number of key concepts for the novel are made clear and we are given the necessary elements for the Master and Margarita to be reunited. Although the chapter is titled Satans Grand Ball, although it takes place on a full moon, and although it has many elements that seem to point towards the idea of Woland being demonic or Satan himself, there are many other factors of the ball that contradict that idea. In Between Two Worlds Baratt states that it is the expectation that Satans Ball is to be a witches sabbath that remains the most prominent demonological element in this chapter,1 could be easily contended since the main idea (to pervert Christian Mass) of a witches sabbath or Black Andrew Barratt, Between two worlds : a critical introduction to the Master and Margarita (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987) 235.
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Mass is in no way portrayed (Baratt does acknowledge that there is nothing - to suggest a deliberate travesty of Christian ritual.2). Instead it seems more that the demonic expectations of Woland are more clearly met in the more subtle and seemingly dissociated scenes of the blood bath, poodle pendant, poodle foot cushion, the glass floor with hellish furnaces blazing beneath it and diabolical with chefs,3 and the exotic details4 of the ball. What is ultimately most notable though is that although the revelers are criminals and the women are naked there is no sexual activity mentioned, Woland himself never harms another, the ball itself takes place in a brightly lit hall, and that other than the greeting of the guests and Wolands metamorphosis into a long black robe with a steel saber on his hip5 nothing overtly ritualistic happens. Therefore the missing satanic ritual is an indicator to the reader that Satans Grand Ball is the point at which they should more closely begin to consider who and what Woland is and even more importantly what his purpose is. In closely observing Wolands Ball, the first item of clear significance is that for the majority of the ball Woland himself is not present. The ball itself is foremost a test for Margarita. The first indication that the ball is a test is when Korovyov tells Margarita The hostess of the ball will be rewarded for that a hundred times over6. Then as Margarita suffers, both physically and mentally, through the ball it becomes clear that this is a test of her will as she presses on through the supernatural pain and weariness. Margarita also has two blood baths,
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Baratt 236

Michail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita, trans. Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan OConnor (New York: Vintage International, 1996) 232.
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Baratt 235 Bulgakov 234 Bulgakov 223-224

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one before and one during the ball. If it were not for the second bath and again the drinking of the blood at the end of the ball perhaps the reader may dismiss the first bath as part of the surreal nature of Bulgakovs work, but the second indicates that we should give them a bit more consideration and the drinking of the blood confirms the significance. The first shower she is prepared and polished for the greeting of the guests, the second shower is to revive her so that she can make her rounds at the ball, and finally at the end of the ball her trust in Woland is further tested when he presents the goblet of blood to her to drink. With the first shower she is enters the ball, with the second she moves from one stage of the ball to the next, and with the drinking of blood the ball is ended. The blood becomes an element of transformation for Margarita moving her from being a fervent lover to a worthy guide. Ultimately she passes the test of the ball and is so rewarded in the subsequent chapter. This test is important as it proves her worthiness to be reunited with the Master and to receive peace. The greeting of the guests is Margaritas main purpose at the ball, and through it the reader is given a Dantesque vision of the revelers. Also it quickly becomes apparent that the guests are not being tortured or punished, as one would expect from Satan or demons or hell. Instead Margarita is the one who is tortured, and the guests are upon their arrival bathed in light. Margarita is given strict instructions to courteously recognize each guest, and later as she leaves for her second bath they are clearly enjoying themselves as unconstrained merriment reigned.7 What is gained from the greeting of the guests is a clear indication of who is evil; kings, dukes, cavaliers, suicides, poisoners, gallows birds, and procuresses, jailers and cardsharps, executioners, informers, traitors, madmen, detectives, corrupters of youth.8 The guests alone
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Bulgakov 231 Bulgakov 230

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tell us about Woland as they are all there because of what they have done yet his purpose with them is not to punish but to reveal. In the end the only two attendees who receive any from of retribution are Mikhail Alexandrovich and Baron Maigel. Alexandrovich is sent into non-being, this significant first because it shows the power Woland has to meet out the expectations of those he encounters and secondly because it is the first step in Wolands self revelation. Through the final death of Alexandrovich a goblet is created. Then Baron Maigel, an informer and spy,9 is killed by Abaddon. The blood spilled by the Baron is collected in the goblet made from Alexandrovich, this blood is then converted to wine (a clear parallel to the Christian idea of wine turning to blood). When Woland drinks of the wine his mask is lifted and a vision of his true nature is given. Ultimately Wolands Ball shows us that Woland himself is not a punisher of the damned nor a worshiper of demonic, but rather a bearer of ultimate justice.10 Through Woland deceptions are stripped away and truth is brought to light, but rather than doing so in an obvious or kind manner he allows his retinue to intervene by persuading behavior and tormenting the wicked. Most notable is the destruction of Mikhail Alexandrovich. At this point in The Master and Margarita where not only is Wolands ability to foresee the future confirmed, but also his ability to manipulate it. The appearance at the ball of so many of the damned allows us to understand what Bulgakov considers to be sins that separate the sinner from the ability to achieve peace, and it also provides a way for Margarita to complete her penance, thus allowing the Master and Margarita to achieve peace. Furthermore the apocalyptic nature of the ball

Bulgakov 234
Baratt 240

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prepares the reader for Wolands ultimate transformation into what is reminiscent of one of the horsemen of the apocalypse, as well as his granting eternal peace to the Master and Margarita.