Devil

God and the Devil/Satan

'Tell me, why does Margarita call you the master?' enquired Woland.

The man laughed and said:

'An understandable weakness of hers. She has too high an opinion of a novel that I've written.'

'Which novel?'

'A novel about Pontius Pilate.' ...

'About what? About whom?' said Woland, ceasing to laugh. 'But that's extraordinary! In this day and age? Couldn't you have chosen another subject? Let me have a look.' Woland stretched out his hand, palm uppermost.

'Unfortunately I cannot show it to you,' replied the master, 'because I burned it in my stove.'

'I'm sorry but I don't believe you,' said Woland. 'You can't have done. Manuscripts don't burn.' He turned to Behemoth and said: 'Come on, Behemoth, give me the novel.'

The cat jumped down from its chair and where he had been sitting was a pile of manuscripts. With a bow the cat handed the top copy to Woland. Margarita shuddered and cried out, moved to tears: 'There's the manuscript! There it is!'

The devil, Woland, gives the master back his destroyed novel in Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.

- Salman Rushdie: "Joseph Anton A MEMOIR", Jonathan Cape, London; page 95.

Kishalay Sinha [G]

The Master = God (in human form)

Margarita = Eve

Woland = Devil = Satan (late; expired; breathed his last a few years ago.)