One of the most famous lines from the novel..

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One of the most famous lines from the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita” states: once witchcraft is started, there is no stopping it. It denotes totalitarianism’s self-consuming racism, the never-ending process of having to find enemies during the period of Stalinism where “inexplicable things began happening…people started disappearing without a trace.” What is witchcraft? How do you interpret evil plotting its own ways in our days?

Evil spreads faster than good. Violence begets violence; ideological and religious fanaticism begets intolerance; bigotry and the elimination of those perceived enemies of the system are perpetuated by those who devalue humans and idolize ideologies. Religions and ideologies that sacrifice humans on the altar of power and domination unleash the forces of evil that would spread like a wild fire destroying everything and everyone on their way. This fire of blind power and forces of evil devise ingenious ways to debilitate or destroy anyone who resists these evil forces. Even Jesus was a victim of such satanic powers of socio-political and religious system which plots the destruction of good and instils fear in the people attempting to paralyze their minds and disabling their wills. But the ultimate victory will not be theirs as it was proved in history beginning with Jesus’ victory over evil and death!

The Dance of Evil Powers

Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, a celebrated Russian novel, was published in 1966, more than a quarter of a century after the death of the author. It is a great satire on any totalitarian system that dehumanizes and enslaves a large majority of people for the sake of a few capricious men who capture power through unfair and often violent means. The author’s ingenuity as well as creativity is found in weaving two events, distinct yet interconnected, namely, the contemporary situation of the totalitarian regime of Stalin which unleashed fear and violence and Jesus-event (Yeshua) which involved the condemnation of Yeshua by Pilate and the betrayal of Judas who was murdered in the garden of Gethsemane according to this novel. The evil that takes different forms is personified in the character of Woland (Satan) and his retinue—including the vodka-drinking black cat Behemoth, can be considered the link between these two events. The other important characters are the poet, Ivan Homeless; Pontius Pilate; and a writer known only as the Master, and his passionate companion, Margarita who was turned into a witch. The novelist seems to convey that apparently it is not good or justice that controls and directs the life of many humans in the world but evil personified by Woland and his cronies. The theme of the novel is very relevant today as the symbol of evil,

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