The metaphysics of evil in the narrative structure of M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”

The controversy surrounding M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” is largely centered around the central image of the work - Woland, whose evaluation and interpretation in the research literature is extremely broad: from universal evil to the embodiment of the idea of supreme justice. In the article, this image is considered as a complexly organized figurative structure based on the ethically significant antithesis of personality and mass for the author. The analysis of the text of the novel is conducted in the aspect of three chronotopes presented in it: “Yershalaim”, “Moscow” and “infernal”, in each of which the image of the crowd/mass becomes the embodiment of the metaphysics of evil.