The Master and Margarita Book 2, Chapters 26 - Epilogue

 

Chapter 26

Pilate feels he has lost something irretrievable, as he seeks to find comfort in his dog, while Afranius goes into the city after ordering his men to bury the bodies of the criminals that had been crucified. He meets with a woman for a short duration of minutes, and they both leave the house. The woman is soon accosted by Judas, and she gives into his fervent requests to be together. She invites him outside the city and pretends to go there first. Judas reaches the indicated location, but he is accosted by two men who demand to know how much money he was given for betraying Yeshua. Judas gives them his money and asks them to spare his life. The men kill Judas and receive a note from a third man, who tells them the money must be returned with the note, and given to the high priest. In the palace, Pontius Pilate drags his bed out under the moon and falls asleep with difficulty. In his dreams, Pontius is walking with Yeshua in the sky and they are discussing vices. They agree that cowardice is the worst sin, and Pontius regrets the crucifixion. Yeshua reassures him that Pontius will forever be linked to Yeshua, and he is just then awoken by a servant who informs him that Afranius has returned.

Afranius recounts the details of Judas’s murder and the money that he had been given by the high priest. He tells the procurator that Yeshua’s body had been recovered by Levi, who had only calmed down when he had been allowed to participate in the funeral. Pontius meets with Levi and reads his scroll while talking to him about how he had procured the knife he had used to cut down Yeshua. Levi confesses that he hates Pontius, but Pontius claims that he had been forgiven by Yeshua in his dream. Levi then claims that he will murder Judas, but Pontius assures him that he had already had Judas killed. 

Chapter 27

As dawn rises on the city of Moscow, investigators attempt to piece together the set of events that have been taking place. They search Berlioz’s apartment several times but fail to recover any clue worthy of consideration. The investigators realize that a lot of their victims have been admitted into the mental asylum, but interviews with these inmates fail to make the matter any clearer. They are unable to trace any whereabouts of Woland, but they discover that Margarita and her maid Natasha have both gone missing. They hear of people in Berlioz’s apartment and rush in with several teams of policemen to find Behemoth there. A gunfight takes place, and the policemen are seemingly incapable of shooting Behemoth. He puts an end to the fight by setting the apartment on fire, and people report seeing Woland and his retinue flying out of the flaming apartment. 

Chapter 28

Korovyov and Behemoth visit two different and famous establishments in the city. In the first store of foreign goods, they cause a commotion by eating the produce without paying for it, and when one of the employees tries to stop them, they burst like balloons and set fire to the store. Minutes later, they are making a commotion at the Restaurant housed in the building of the Writer’s Union. They are unable to produce cards proving their status as writers, but the manager prevents further commotion as he guides them to the best table. They overhear other diners talking about the bulletproof robbers in the city, and they begin to gorge themselves on the food that the manager so carefully arranges for them. The police soon arrive, and the two burst into flame and disappear, leaving the restaurant ablaze. 

Chapter 29

Woland stands on a terrace overlooking Moscow with Azazello, and they see the fires that mark the presence of Korovyov and Behemoth. His contemplation of the city is interrupted by the arrival of Matvei Levi, who has brought a message for Woland from Yeshua. Levi explains that Yeshua has read the book, and believes that Master should be granted a peaceful life. Woland asks him why Yeshua does not invite Master into heaven, and Levi explains that Master has not earned the light but rather a peace. Before departing he adds that the fate of Master and Margarita should be seen as one, and Woland agrees. He despatches Azazello to make the necessary arrangements and sends Behemoth away along with Korovyov when they appear on the rooftop. He asks them to prepare for the storm, which he says will be the final thunderstorm.

Chapter 30

Margarita and Master try to make sense of the events that have taken place in their life. Margarita is convinced that she has indeed made a deal with Satan, and she is quite pleased about it, but Master isn’t quite sure that the events weren’t a product of his fantasy. Their discussion of the matter is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Azazello, he tells them that Woland has asked for them to join him in an outing. Master accepts the invitation as well as the notion that he had made a deal with the devil. Azazello gives them some wine, the same that had been drunk by Pontius Pilate on the day of Yeshua’s execution. They begin to collapse just as soon as they drink the wine, and Master accuses him of poisoning them. Azazello goes to Margarita’s old apartment and finds he dying of a heart attack. He returns to the basement and revives the couple with the same wine, and asks them to bid goodbye to their basement.

They exit the basement and ride out of the city on three black horses, and stop briefly at the asylum, where the couple visit Ivan. Master entrusts Ivan to write a sequel to his book on Pontius Pilate, and introduces him to Margarita. They depart just as a storm is brewing, and after they leave, Ivan knows that the patient that had once been Master has died, just like a woman in the city. 

Chapter 31

Azazello and the couple meet up with Woland who is awaiting them with his retinue. They observe the storm passing over the city and leaving a rainbow in its wake. He asks the couple to bid goodbye to their city, and all of them ride into the sky on their horses.

Chapter 32

The company rides on their black horses, and as they journey their appearances begin to change as they adopt their true forms, Korovyov becomes a knight, Behemoth becomes a jester, and Azazello takes the form of a demon. They arrive on a platform covered with moonlight and observe a figure sitting on a bed while staring at the moon. Woland explains that Pontius Pilate has been waiting for Master to finish his book, and he has been kept company by his faithful dog, Banga. Master understands what he needs to do, and when he speaks, he speaks with the voice of god. A path extends from the moon to the platform, and Banga leads Pontius to meet Yeshua. Master believes it is his fate to follow Pontius but Woland tells him that he cannot. The master chooses to live out the rest of his existence in peace with Margarita in a stone cottage, where they can be visited by their friends.

Epilogue

Investigators never truly figure out what had happened during those days, and blame the events on a group of expertly skilled hypnotists and ventriloquists. The people affected by the incidents never truly recover, particularly Ivan who is filled with a desire to meet with the Master and Woland once again. Every year around the same time, he experiences a dream of Pontius Pilate talking to Yeshua and hears the Master’s voice telling him that all is as it should be.

Analysis

In the final section of the novel, Margarita creates a future for herself and her Master by showing herself to be separate from the conceited society of Moscow. Margarita experiences genuine sympathy for the sinners she meets during the ball, and chooses to free a woman from hell rather than ask anything for herself. Furthermore, Yeshua takes note of the relationship between the couple and deems that they should spend the rest of their existence with one another.

The Epilogue highlights the bureaucracy’s inability to deal with reality, as they feel more comfortable ignoring multiple eyewitness accounts and continue to push the narrative of Ventriloquists and Hypnotists. The author continues to develop the theme of subjective reality through Pontius Pilate’s character, who is at first introduced to us with the same line as the final line of the novel. He is described as a cruel man for having executed Yeshua, however, by the end of the novel, readers have a deeper understanding of his cruelty. The same lines are repeated but they have differing meanings, as readers realize that Pontius had not wished to execute Yeshua, but had been led by fate and that he had truly come to regret the action.