The Theme in the Work
The novel measures courage in reverse: it speaks far more of cowardice than of heroism. In chapter 2, Yeshua Ha-Notzri tells Pontius Pilate that his head hurts so badly that he cowardly thinks of death, and, after being whipped, remarks that telling the truth is easy and pleasant. The procurator concludes that the prisoner committed no crime but, faced with the recorded remark against Caesar, confirms the sentence.
In chapter 25, Afranius repeats to Pilate the condemned man's last words: among all human weaknesses, the worst, he considers, is cowardice. It is right after hearing them that the procurator asks for news of Judas of Kerioth and orders, under the guise of protection, the traitor's death. At Golgotha, in chapter 16, Matthew Levi had failed in another way: he tried to break through the cordon with a stolen knife to spare Yeshua the agony, arrived too late and sat down on a stone, cursing the sky.
In Moscow, cowardice belongs to the Master. In chapter 13 he tells Ivan that, attacked by the articles, he fell sick with fear, came to fear the dark, burned the novel and refused Margarita's offer to stay with him. In chapter 29, Levi brings the verdict: the Master did not earn the light, he earned peace. In chapter 32, Woland takes up Yeshua's phrase before Pilate, seated for nearly two thousand years beside his dog, and concludes that the dog is not guilty.
Heroism, in this book, is almost never male. The one who acts boldly is Margarita, who follows a stranger, becomes a witch and presides over the ball; the men who should have resisted, the procurator, the Master and Levi himself, retreat or arrive too late. The phrase from chapter 25 is the yardstick with which the novel distributes the final fate: Pilate remains for two thousand years trapped in the conversation he did not have the courage to sustain, the Master receives rest and not light, and the dog, who merely stayed beside his master, is declared blameless.
Where It Appears
- Part One, Chapter 2: Pontius Pilate: Yeshua tells Pilate that the procurator's own head hurts so much that he cowardly thinks of death, and Pilate, convinced that the prisoner is harmless, confirms the death sentence.
- Part One, Chapter 13: The hero appears: The Master tells Ivan that after the hostile articles he fell sick with fear, to the point of fearing the dark, and one October night burned the novel about Pilate.
- Part One, Chapter 16: The execution: Matthew Levi tries to break through the soldiers' cordon to kill Yeshua with a knife and spare him suffering, arrives too late and curses God.
- Part Two, Chapter 25: How the procurator tried to save Judas of Kerioth: Afranius, chief of the secret guard, tells Pilate that the last thing Yeshua said was that, among human weaknesses, the worst is cowardice.
- Part Two, Chapter 26: The burial: Pilate has Judas killed in secret through Afranius and confesses to Matthew Levi: "It was me."
- Part Two, Chapter 32: Forgiveness and eternal refuge: Presenting Pilate, held for two thousand years in a stone armchair, Woland says that if cowardice is the worst defect, the dog that accompanies him is not guilty.
Passages
Yeshua's diagnosis of the judge, at the first interrogation.
The truth, first of all, is that your head is aching, and it aches so badly that you cowardly think of death
The condemned man's last words, delivered as routine information.
He only said that among all human weaknesses, the one he considers worst is cowardice.
The sentence on the Master, which separates light from rest.
He did not earn the light, he earned peace
Yeshua's phrase applied, two thousand years later, to the one who stood beside Pilate.
Woland picks up the phrase of Yeshua Ha-Notzri when introducing the prisoner of two thousand years, and uses it to absolve whoever stood beside him.If it is true that cowardice is the worst defect, then I think the dog is not guilty.