The antics of Woland and his gang draw out the populace’s self-interest, greed, and dishonesty, exposing a collective cowardice that strengthens the status quo and all its faults-and in Soviet society, there were many. If courage can be defined as a willingness to take a stand against something in aid of a greater good, most of the Moscow inhabitants of the novel fall well short. Mikhael Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita makes a powerful argument in favor of courage over cowardice, describing the latter as “the worst sin of all.” All three of the novel’s storylines-the visit of Woland (Satan) and his entourage to Moscow, the love between the master and Margarita, and Pontius Pilate’s condemnation of Yeshua (Jesus) to execution in Yershalaim (Jerusalem) two thousand years prior-combine to show the power of courage and the terrible consequences of cowardice.
