Who is Who in Master?
Posting #16.
“...And if the face of
freedom is revealed,
Revealed first is the face of
the snake,..”
Alexander Blok. The
City.
In
the 2nd chapter of Master and
Margarita, titled Pontius Pilate,
Alexander Blok appears for a brief moment, but in a very important conversation
between Yeshua and Pontius Pilate about power. Yeshua tells Pilate about a warm
welcome he had received from Judas, who urged Yeshua to share with him his
views on state power. And this is what Bulgakov writes:
“All power is violence
against the people. A time will come when there will be no more power of the Caesars
or any other power.”
Like
many other Russian intellectuals, Blok very painfully responded to the Russian revolution
of 1905. Yeshua’s words are not Gumilev’s, who was a devout monarchist. They
are Blok’s words, and in such a fashion Blok emerges as another prototype for
the character of Yeshua.
In
the poetry collection The City (1904-1908)
Blok writes (in a 1905 poem):
“...And
if the face of freedom is revealed,
Revealed first is the face of
the snake,
And not a single joint is
compressed
Of the flashing rings of the
scales…”
Also
in the next poem in the same cycle, dated 1905, Blok writes:
“…And
over the bays the voice of the rabble
Was lost, dispelled in the
Neva’s sleep,
And the wild screams:
Dethrone! Dethrone!
Do not awaken pity in the
sleepy wave.”
In
short, these Blokian lines clearly demonstrate that he was not a monarchist
like Gumilev was. And finally, Blok’s terrific 1905 poem The Rally:
“He
was speaking wisely and sharply,
And the dim eye-pupils were
darting,
Straight and glitterless,
Blind little lights.
And streaming from below were
glances
Of many thousands of eyes,
And he had no premonition
that soon
His last hour would strike.
His movements were sure,
And his voice was stern…
A noise erupted like the
sound
Of a dropped smoldering
firebrand…
And in the ringing of broken
glass
A hollow moan burst in,
And the man fell down on the
slabs
With a broken head…
I don’t know who in the crowd
Killed him with the thrown
stone,
And I clearly remember how a
rivulet of blood
Remained on the pole…”
It
becomes quite clear here that it is from this Blokian poem that Bulgakov takes
the idea of the pole, also like Blok himself is following after Christ. The
Romans did not use nails in crucifixion, but tied the condemned with ropes to a
pole with two crossbeams for arms and legs.
“…And
resonantly clicked near the vault
The set triggers.
And flashing in the fleeting
light
Was how the man was lying
And how a soldier
Was holding his rifle at the
ready
Over the dead man.
And stern and quiet
Were the open eye pupils,
Stretching gracefully before
him
Were glinting bayonets…”
And
here comes the wonderful ending:
“...As
though one hidden at the entrance
Behind the black muzzle of
the barrels
Had confidently breathed in
the night
The breath of freedom.”
This
1905 poem already contains a precursor of the famous Blokian 1918 long poem The Twelve.:
“...And
in the sudden quietude
The circle of the face was
radiant,
Quiet was the Angel flying
over,
And boundless joy…”
Remember
the words closing Blok’s The Twelve?
–
“...Crowned
with a white wreath of roses –
Jesus
Christ is leading the way.”
This
is totally unsurprising, as already in 1905 Blok writes:
“Here
He is, Christ – in chains and roses –
Behind the bars of my prison.”
This
is why M. A. Bulgakov in the 25th chapter of Master and Margarita: How the
Procurator Tried to Save Judas from Kyriath puts two white roses in a red
puddle, as though of blood.
To
be continued…
***
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