Master and Margarita-ing

[cathschaffstump]

Since I am writing about Master and Margarita, I can say that idle hands are the devil’s handiwork. Or Woland’s. Or whatever.

4,074 / 6,000 (67.9%)

I’ve really focused in on my angle today. I’ll be analyzing this work from a feminist perspective, but what I’ll be trying to focus on is whether Margarita’s liberation as a witch while serving Woland is a journey of self-discovery, or whether she’s being placed on a pedestal in a medieval way. Both theories have been advanced about the novel.

I’m going to talk about Margarita from a second-wave feminist perspective–shedding her prosperous but loveless middle class marriage to choose the Master, his art, and poverty. Yet, there are some third-wave comments that can be made. Is she really in love with the master, or his art? What is truly her agenda in serving Woland’s purpose? Why are she and the Master taken away from the reality of Moscow at the end of the novel and “saved” while being denied “salvation?” Is she in control of her own destiny? Is her inherent difference (difference feminism *is* an interesting idea) what is being noticed by the others in the novel?

Lots of good questions now that I’ve done some munging about in the shallows of feminism, to try to think about how to interpret the story. Women in Russia REALLY like this story. It speaks to them. Hrm.

Probably won’t weigh in until later tomorrow, if then. Have to register many students for summer and fall.

Catherine

Originally published at Writer Tamago. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[squirrel-monkey.livejournal.com]

I wonder how the fact that the author was a man, who was certainly not a feminist -- in fact, a bearer of a strongly patriarchal culture plays into that. It seems to me that Margarita's agency is very limited and she is primarily defined in relation to men surrounding her.

[cathschaffstump.livejournal.com]

At the same time, Bulgakov's wife finished the book after his death in 1940.

I agree that Bulgakov was not a feminist (hardly!), but I find myself thinking of the character's motivation from an angle of loving the Master's art more than the Master. There is the possibility of a feminist reading as an interesting angle to consider, given that in the end, Margarita could arguably be liberated from her marriage, from her master, and from the world.

However, does Woland then get agency over here?

I like the idea of the paper, because we can talk about difference feminism versus chivalric interpretation as well. It seems to be turning into a paper of possibilities, rather than strong theories.

Catherine