What It Is
The handkerchief with which Frida smothered her newborn son and which, thirty years ago, she finds on waking on her own bedside table, placed there by a housekeeper. It appears in chapters 23 and 24, at Satan's ball and in the request that Margarita makes to Woland afterward.
Where It Appears
In chapter 23, among the dead guests climbing the ballroom stairs, Frida only repeats her own name.
Frida, Frida, Frida! My name is Frida, oh, queen!
In chapter 24, Woland asks Margarita what she wants as payment for the ball, and she asks for Frida before asking for the Master; Woland will say right afterward that this does not count as her request.
I want them to stop handing Frida the handkerchief with which she smothered her own baby.
Never ask for anything! Never ask for anything, especially from those who are strong. They will offer of their own accord and will give everything as well.
What It Means
The handkerchief appears in two consecutive scenes. In chapters 19 to 24, the request for Frida can be read as the human counterpoint to the settling of accounts that Woland had been carrying out with Moscow, and the question remains whether this request rescues Margarita or condemns her to refuge (see the House of Refuge) instead of light.
Frida's punishment has the same form as that of Pontius Pilate: the repetition of a scene of guilt, every night for her and every full moon for him. In both cases it is Margarita who asks for release, for Frida in chapter 24 and for Pilate in chapter 32.
Relationships
- Standard themes: Guilt, Compassion and charity, Forgiveness.
- Characters: Frida, Margarita, Woland, Pontius Pilate.
- Neighboring symbol: the Moon, the measure of Pilate's punishment.