Oil, Wine, and Blood Concludes.
“...there stretched an unremoved red pool, as though of
blood, and fragments of the shattered jug were scattered there…
…two white roses drowned in
the red pool…”
M. A. Bulgakov. Master
and Margarita.
The
most intriguing scene on the theme of wine is written by Bulgakov in the
sub-novel Pontius Pilate. The
execution of Yeshua is accompanied by a powerful storm turning into a
hurricane. Bulgakov paints the Wrath of God in an amazingly poetic manner,
calling the punishment of Yerushalaim “heavenly fire.”
During
all this thundering of the hurricane with torrents of rain and hail tormenting
Yerushalaim, Bulgakov shows us only one man, namely, the Roman procurator of
Judea Pontius Pilate, lying on his couch by a low small-sized table.
“At the Procurator’s feet, there stretched an unremoved red pool,
as though of blood, and fragments of the shattered jug were scattered there.”
Even though Bulgakov writes that the procurator had
broken this jug of wine himself, having become angry with the servant, we know
that the procurator is nervous waiting for the arrival of the same man with
whom he had had “a
tête-à-tête in a room shaded from the sun by dark curtains… The face [of this
man] was half-covered by a hood… The meeting had been very brief. The procurator
had told the man a few words in a low voice, after which the man had left…”
This
man was the head of the secret service, whose name was Aphranius, as we already
know from my chapter Cats (posted
segments CXXI-CXXII).
“But for the roar of water,
but for the bursts of thunder… one might have heard the Procurator mumble
something, talking to himself, … that the procurator is expressing his
impatience, that the procurator not only stares at the two white roses
drowned in the red pool, but that he is waiting for someone, impatiently
waiting…”
The
procurator was waiting for the arrival of his head of the secret service
Aphranius in order to receive a full report on the execution of Yeshua (of
which in the upcoming chapter The Garden),
but also to give him an order about an assassination, the “formula” of which
had already been planted in his head by none other than Woland. Once again, but
in a different way, Bulgakov is showing Woland’s communication with Pontius
Pilate. This becomes clear from the following Chapter 26 The Burial.
Having received Aphranius’ report, Bulgakov writes
that “there was a sharp change in the appearance of
the procurator. As though he aged a lot in this short span of time; his back
bent, and besides, he became disquieted. At one point he glanced back and for
some reason shuddered, glancing at the empty armchair, with its back
covered by the cloak. The holiday night was approaching, the evening shadows
were playing their game, and most probably the procurator had a mere
hallucination when he imagined that someone was sitting in that empty
armchair. Having allowed himself a measure of faintheartedness, by touching and
moving the cloak, the procurator let go of it and walked fast back and forth on
the balcony, now rubbing his hands, now running up to the table and grabbing
the chalice, now coming to a stop and beginning to stare mindlessly at the
floor mosaic, as if trying to read in it some hidden letters.”
Once
again Bulgakov shows Woland’s influence on the procurator. Already in the
second chapter of the book, titled Pontius
Pilate, Bulgakov shows how easy it is for Woland to turn a polished Roman
diplomat, who Pontius Pilate was in Judea, into a passionate revolutionary. In
the words of Caiaphas, “we have been accustomed to the
Roman procurator choosing his words carefully before speaking…”
But
in this case nothing stops the procurator. He is fearless in throwing his
accusations and his threats at Caiaphas. And then suddenly and unexpectedly
everything changes. Lucifer releases the procurator, departing from inside his
head. Bulgakov shows this in the following words:
With the back of his hand, the procurator wiped his wet cold
forehead, looked down at the ground and said quietly and indifferently:
“The time is approaching midday. We have
been caught up in our conversation, but in the meantime we need to keep going
[with other things].” Having excused himself to the High Priest in most
exquisite expressions, he asked him to sit down on the bench in the shade of
magnolia, and wait.
Thus,
when in chapter 25, How the Procurator
Tried to Save Judas from Kyriath, Pontius Pilate keeps mumbling something,
talking to himself, this is by no means normal behavior to be expected from the
procurator of Judea. All this nervousness can be explained by the fact that the
devil stays in his immediate proximity, invisible and untouchable. And yet the
procurator feels his presence. There is a good reason why Aphranius felt that
two pairs of eyes had been staring at him: one belonging to a dog (Banga), and
the other to a wolf (the procurator).
It
is very clear that it is the devil who makes the procurator break that jug with
wine. Pontius Pilate is merely an instrument of the devil bent on avenging the
death of Yeshua, as despite all the temptations, Yeshua dies on the cross,
convincing the devil in his superiority. That is how inside Pontius Pilate’s
head, another “formula” comes to fruition: the formula of vengeance. A death
for a death. The traitor Judas must pay with his life for the life of Yeshua. A
majority of Christians do not know the names of Pilate and Caiaphas, but the
name of Judas, because of his betrayal has become commonplace.
“The red pool, as though of blood,” symbolizes in Bulgakov the blood of Judas. According to Aphranius,---
“He was killed most artfully.
Would you kindly observe this purse. I can assure you that Judas’s blood poured
out like a wave.”
In
this case Bulgakov makes use of M. Yu. Lermontov’s poem Waves and People.----
“Waves
are rolling one after another,
Splashing and with a dull
noise;
People are passing in a
wretched throng,
Also one after another.
The waves treasure their will
and coolness
More than the warmth of the
sunrays at noon;
People want to have souls…
and what? ---
The souls in them are colder
than the waves!”
And indeed, Judas’s soul was
cold, which is the reason why such souls go to Hell, where the devil’s heat is
equal to the devil’s wrath.
Thus the God-seeker Bulgakov
wishes to show what humanity can expect having renounced God.
Judas bled to death, that is
the whole symbolism of the “red pool, as
though of blood.” As for the broken wine jug, that is his body, bloodless,
like the devil’s.
It is amazing how Bulgakov
paints another story of betrayal, which he also takes from a poem by M. Yu.
Lermontov.---
“…Inadvertently recognizing everywhere
In every man a stupid flatterer,
And in every woman a Judas.”
Judas,
the “hook-nosed handsome,” had an
affair with a married Greek woman, making money on the side. Apparently,
Aphranius was using the services of this sort of Mata Hari quite frequently.
Having recognized her in a crowd, Judas “immediately
started chasing her, in the process, nearly knocking some passerby with a
jug in his hands off his feet.”
Here
Bulgakov clearly goes further than Lermontov. His devil --- Woland --- is
strikingly more active, whereas M. Yu. Lermontov’s Asmodeus only likes to hear
stories about stupid people.
Unlike
the broken jug of Pontius Pilate, Woland’s jug was naturally full of wine. Here
I am offering the reader to solve this riddle, the answer to which will be
given in my chapter Two Bears.
Returning
to the second allegory, that of the “two
white roses drowned in a red pool,” we need to draw our attention to
Bulgakov pointing out that Pontius Pilate “was
always turning his face toward the garden, toward the flying water dust and
sand.” (In the English language, it is more
natural to use the words “water mist,” but in Russian it is “water dust,” which is what Bulgakov uses
here, hence the connection to “dust” elsewhere.) Here Bulgakov once
again makes use of a Lermontov poem.---
“I am a madman! You are right, you’re
right!
Ridiculous is immortality on earth.
How could I wish for loud glory,
When you are happy in the dust.”
Everything
becomes particularly clear if we remember the lines from the chapter Pontius Pilate in Master and Margarita, which is being told on Patriarch Ponds by
Woland himself:
“The procurator raised his eyes to the prisoner and saw a burning
pillar of dust near him.”
Thus
Bulgakov shows the frailty of human life in general. Dust to dust. And indeed,
a majority of Christians may not know the names Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas,
but there is no name better known to the whole world than that of Jesus Christ.
In
so far as the two white roses drowned
in a red pool are concerned, this allegory takes us back to the white
rose of Dante.
These
two white roses have apparently been brought in from the garden by the
hurricane, but Bulgakov draws our attention to them because of Pontius Pilate’s
attention to them. The two roses must represent Yeshua Ha-Nozri and his
disciple Matthew Levi.
Yeshua,
because of his divine hypostasis, was able to resist all the temptations of the
devil to the end. Specifically, he even refused to accept the desensitizing
drink (wine with spices) afforded to the condemned by the Roman law. According
to Pontius Pilate, “Madman! He preferred to die being burned by the sun!”
Here
Bulgakov uses the exact word of M. Yu. Lermontov:
“I am
a madman, you are right,
Laughable is immortality on
earth.”
In
such a way Bulgakov shows that Yeshua remained faithful to his teachings to the
end. By his example, he taught people courage, considering “cowardice to be the greatest vice.”
Dying a martyr’s human death on the cross, Yeshua “said that he did not blame anyone for taking
his life away from him.”
And
so, one of the two white roses drowned in the red pool is Yeshua Ha-Nozri. As
for the other white rose, that must be Matthew Levi, whose life was finished
with the death of his teacher. This explains why Bulgakov compares Margarita to
Matthew Levi in Master and Margarita.
“Why then did I leave him
there, at night? Why? But that was sheer insanity! And I returned the following
day, honestly, just as I had promised, but it was already too late. Yes, I
returned like the poor Matthew Levi, too late…”
In
this way Bulgakov himself compares his Margarita, for whom all her life was in
master’s novel, to Matthew Levi.
“Why are you tormenting me?
Don’t you know that I put all my life into this work of yours!”
And
so, we have two pairs of people: Yeshua and Matthew Levi, and master and
Margarita. We know that three of them die in the course of the novel. The
subsequent life of Matthew Levi is not shown. He refuses to accept anything
from Pontius Pilate, except clean parchment, on which he would write his
account of the life of Yeshua.
Next
time we meet him on the roof of the Lenin State Library in Moscow. [See my
chapter The Fantastic Novel of Master and
Margarita, posted segment XXXIV.] As a reward for his absolute loyalty to
Christ, Matthew Levi is taken into the Light, which is how Bulgakov, after M.
Yu. Lermontov, calls Paradise.
Yeshua
and Matthew Levi… The idea of the two white roses is taken by Bulgakov from the
Lermontov poem To P…n.
“Although
our life is a minute in a dream,
Although our death is the
sound of a torn string…
And hardly any of us will see
the country
Where friendship would not
deceive friendship,
Where love would not betray
love…
There are roses, friend, even
on the earthly path!
Not all of them will be mowed
down by the malicious Time!..”
This
is the end of the chapter Oil, Wine, and
Blood. We will return with the next chapter The Triangle…
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