Cowardice is the worst vice of the master and margarita. The worst vice of our time

It is striking in its depth and comprehensiveness. Satirical chapters, in which Woland's retinue fools Moscow inhabitants, are mixed in the novel with lyric chapters dedicated to the Master and Margarita. The fantastic in the novel looks out from behind the everyday, evil spirits roam the streets of Moscow, the beautiful Margarita turns into a witch, and the administrator of the Variety becomes a vampire. The composition of The Master and Margarita is also unusual: the book consists of two novels: tragic fate The Master and four chapters from the Master's novel about Pontius Pilate.
The "Yershalaim" chapters represent the substantive and philosophical center of the novel. The novel about Pilate refers the reader to the text Holy Scripture but at the same time creatively reinterpreting the gospel. There are important differences between his hero Yeshua Ha-Nozri and the evangelical Jesus: Yeshua has no followers, except for the former tax collector Matthew Levi, a man "with a goat's parchment" who writes down Ha-Nozri's speeches, but "writes it incorrectly." Yeshua, when interrogated by Pilate, denies that he entered the city on a donkey, and the crowd greeted him with shouts. The crowd, most likely, beat the wandering philosopher - he comes for interrogation with an already disfigured face. Moreover, Yeshua is not the main character of the Master's novel, although his preaching of love and truth is undoubtedly important for the philosophy of the novel. The protagonist of the "Yershalaim" chapters is the fifth procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.
With the image of Pontius Pilate, the main moral questions novel, such as the problem of conscience and power, cowardice and mercy. The meeting with Yeshua changes the life of the procurator forever. In the interrogation scene, he is almost motionless, but the external staticity further emphasizes his excitement, dynamism and freedom of his thought, tense internal strife with the principles and laws familiar to him. Pilate realizes that the "wandering philosopher" is innocent, he passionately wants to talk to him for a longer time. He sees in Yeshua an intelligent and truthful interlocutor, gets carried away by conversation with him, for a moment forgetting that he is interrogating, and Pilate's secretary drops the parchment in horror, hearing the conversation between the two free people... The upheaval in Pilate's soul is symbolized by a swallow that flies into the hall during a conversation between the procurator and Yeshua; her fast and light flight symbolizes freedom, in particular freedom of conscience. It was during her flight that Pilate had a decision to justify the "wandering philosopher." When the "law of insult to majesty" intervenes in the matter, Pilate "with a frenzied gaze" sees off the same swallow, realizing the illusory nature of his freedom.
Pilate's inner torment stems from the fact that his power, practically unlimited in Judea, is now becoming his weak point. Cowardly and despicable laws, like the law on the insult of Caesar, order him to sentence the philosopher to death. But his heart, his conscience tell him about Yeshua's innocence. The concept of conscience is closely linked in the novel with the concept of power. Pilate cannot give up his career in order to save the “holy fool” Yeshua. It so happens that the outwardly omnipotent procurator, who inspires terror in his servants, turns out to be powerless as regards the laws of conscience, and not the state. Pilate is afraid to protect Yeshua. The image of the Roman emperor appears in front of the procurator in the semi-darkness of the palace as a terrible ghost: “... a rare-toothed crown sat on a bald head; there was a round ulcer on the forehead, corroding the skin and smeared with ointment; sunken toothless mouth with drooping lower lip, capricious. For the sake of such an emperor, Pilate has to condemn Yeshua. The procurator feels almost physical anguish when he announces, standing on the platform, about the beginning of the execution of criminals, everyone except Bar-Rabban: “Under his eyelids a green fire flared up, his brain caught fire…”. It seems to him that everything around him has died, after which he himself experiences a real spiritual death: “... it seemed to him that the sun, ringing, burst over him and flooded his ears with fire. Roaring, squeals, groans, laughter and whistling raged in this fire. "
After the execution of the criminals took place, Pilate learns from the faithful Afranii that during the execution Ha-Nozri was laconic and said only that "among human vices, he considers cowardice to be one of the most important." The procurator understands that Yeshua read his last sermon for him, his excitement is betrayed by a "suddenly cracked voice." The rider Golden Spear cannot be called a coward - several years ago he saved the giant Rat-Slayer, rushing to his aid in the midst of the Germans. But mental cowardice, fear for one's position in society, fear of public ridicule and the anger of the Roman emperor is stronger than fear in battle. Too late Pilate overcomes his fear. He dreams that he is walking next to the philosopher on the moonbeam, argues, and they "do not agree with each other in anything," which makes their dispute especially interesting. And when the philosopher tells Pilate that cowardice is one of the most terrible vices, the procurator objects to him: “This is the most terrible vice". In a dream, the procurator realizes that now he agrees to "ruin his career" for the sake of "an innocent mad dreamer and doctor."
Calling cowardice "the most terrible vice," the procurator decides his fate. Pontius Pilate's punishment is immortality and "unheard of glory." And 2000 years later, people will still remember and repeat his name as the name of the person who condemned the "wandering philosopher" to execution. And the procurator himself has been sitting on a stone platform for about two thousand years and sleeping, and only on a full moon does he suffer from insomnia. His dog Banga shares the "eternity" punishment with him. As Woland explains this to Margarita: "... whoever loves must share the fate of the one he loves."
According to the Master's novel, Pilate tries to atone for his guilt before Yeshua by ordering to kill Judas. But murder, even under the guise of just revenge, contradicts Yeshua's entire philosophy of life. Perhaps the thousand-year punishment of Pilate is connected not only with his betrayal in relation to Ha-Notsri, but also with the fact that he “did not listen to the end” of the philosopher, did not fully understand him.
In the novel's finale, the Master lets his hero run along the moonbeam to Yeshua, who, according to Woland, read the novel.
How is the motive of cowardice transformed in the "Moscow" chapters of the novel? One can hardly blame the Master for cowardice, who burned his novel, renounced everything and voluntarily went to an asylum for the mentally ill. This is a tragedy of fatigue, unwillingness to live and create. “I have nowhere to escape,” the Master replies to Ivan, who suggested that it is easy to escape from the hospital, having, like the Master, a bunch of all hospital keys. Perhaps the Moscow writers can be accused of cowardice, because the literary situation in Moscow in the 1930s was such that a writer could only create things pleasing to the state, or not write at all. But this motive slips in the novel only as a hint, a guess of the Master. He confesses to Ivan that by critical articles in his address it was seen that "the authors of these articles do not say what they want to say, and that their rage is caused precisely by this."
Thus, the motive of cowardice is embodied mainly in the novel about Pontius Pilate. The fact that the Master's novel evokes associations with the biblical text gives the novel a universal human meaning, saturates it with cultural and historical associations. The novel's problematic expands endlessly, absorbing all human experience, forcing each reader to think about why cowardice turns out to be "the most terrible vice."

In the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita two plots. The Moscow chapters depict contemporary to the writer reality of the thirties of the twentieth century. The novel was created in the era totalitarian state, during the period of Stalinist repressions. At this terrible time, people disappeared without a trace from their apartments and never returned there. Fear fettered people, and they were afraid to have their own opinion, to openly express their thoughts. Society was gripped by a massive psychosis of spy mania. Atheism became part of public policy, and denunciation was elevated to the rank of virtue. Evil and violence, meanness and betrayal triumphed. The humanist writer believed in the power of good and was convinced that evil should be punished.

Therefore, in Moscow in the thirties, by the power of his imagination, he places the devil, who in the novel bears the name of Woland. Bulgakov's Satan differs from traditional image the devil existing in the religious mind. He does not tempt people to sins at all, does not tempt them with temptations. He exposes already existing vices and punishes sinners, bearing just retribution and thus serving the cause of good.

The second plot is presented as a novel by the master about Pontius Pilate. To establish eternal spiritual values, the writer turns to gospel images.

Christian motives are associated with the images of Yeshua, Pontius Pilate, Levi Matthew and Judas.

Pontius Pilate appears on the pages of the novel in all the grandeur of a man with tremendous power - "in a white cloak with a bloody lining, shuffling with a cavalry gait" he goes out into the covered colonnade between the two wings of the palace of Herod the Great.

The Roman governor is the fifth procurator of Judea. He has the right to sign death sentences. And at the same time, M. Bulgakov endows his hero with physical weakness - a painful headache - "hemicrania", in which half his head hurts. He suffers terribly from an "invincible" disease, from which there is no means, there is no salvation. In such a morbid state, Pontius Pilate begins the interrogation of the "prisoner from Galilee." The Procurator must approve the Sanhedrin's death sentence.

The image of Pontius Pilate in the novel is the most complex and contradictory. The name of this hero is associated with the problem of conscience, posed very acutely. On the example of the image of the omnipotent procurator, the idea is affirmed that "cowardice is the most terrible vice."

Pontius Pilate is a brave and courageous man, he bravely fought in battle "near Idistaviso, in the Valley of the Virgins." "The infantry maniple fell into the sack, and if the cavalry turma had not been cut in from the flank, and I commanded it, you, the philosopher, would not have had to talk to the Rat Slayer," he says to Yeshua. In battle, the procurator is not afraid of death and is ready to come to the rescue of his comrade. This man is endowed with tremendous power, he approves death sentences, the life of convicts is in his hands. But, nevertheless, Pontius Pilate admits weakness and shows cowardice, condemning to death a person whose innocence he did not doubt for a minute.

To understand why the hegemon made such a decision, one should refer to the scene of interrogation in Herod's palace. Great.

The interrogation episode can be divided into two parts. In the first part, Pontius Pilate decides to cancel death penalty, since he does not see anything criminal in the actions of a wandering philosopher. Yeshua did not persuade the people to destroy the Yershalaim temple. He spoke in figuratively, and the tax collector misunderstood and distorted the thought of the philosopher. In the second part of the interrogation, Pontius Pilate faces the moral problem of conscience, the problem moral choice... On a piece of parchment, the procurator reads a denunciation against Yeshua. Judas of Kiriath asked a provocative question about state power... The wandering philosopher replied that all power is violence, that in the future there will be no power, but the kingdom of truth and justice will come.

The procurator is faced with a choice: not to sign the death warrant is to violate the law on insult to the majesty; to find Yeshua guilty means to save yourself from punishment, but doom an innocent person to death.

For Pontius Pilate, this is a painful choice: the voice of his conscience tells him that the arrested person is not to blame. When the procurator read the denunciation, it seemed to him that the prisoner's head had floated away somewhere, and instead of it appeared Herod's bald head with a sparse-toothed golden crown. This vision symbolizes the choice that Pontius Pilate will make. He is trying to somehow save Yeshua by sending "signals" so that he abandon his words about the great Caesar, but the wandering philosopher is used to telling only the truth. The Roman procurator is internally not free, afraid of punishment and therefore insincere. "There has never been and never will be a greater and more beautiful power than the power of the emperor Tiberius," says Pilate and looks with hatred at the secretary and the escort. He utters words in which he does not believe, fearing denunciation of the witnesses of his interrogation. Pontius Pilate made his choice by approving the death sentence, because he was not ready to take the place of a wandering philosopher, he showed cowardice and cowardice.

The main thing can no longer be changed, and the procurator seeks to change at least minor circumstances in order to drown out the pangs of conscience. Showing sympathy for the condemned, he gives the order to kill Yeshua on the cross so that he does not suffer for a long time. He orders to kill the informer Judas and return the money to the high priest. The procurator is trying to at least somehow make amends for his guilt, to calm his remorse.

An important role in the novel is played by a dream that the Roman procurator saw after the execution of Yeshua. In his sleep, he walks accompanied by his dog Bangui, the only creature to whom he has affection. And next to him on a transparent blue road is a wandering philosopher, and they argue about something difficult and important, and neither of them can defeat the other. In a dream, the procurator convinces himself that there was no execution. He recalls the words spoken by Yeshua before the execution, which are transmitted by the head of the service Athany: "... among human vices, he considers cowardice to be one of the most important." In a dream, the procurator objects to the wandering philosopher: "... this is the most terrible vice!" He recalls his bravery in battle: "... the present procurator of Judea was not cowardly, but the former tribune in the legion, then, in the Valley of the Virgins, when the furious Germans nearly killed Rat-Slayer the Giant." In a dream, the procurator does right choice... Even in the morning he would not have ruined his career because of a man who had committed a crime against Caesar. But at night he weighed everything and came to the conclusion that he agreed to destroy himself in order to save from execution "a totally innocent mad dreamer and doctor". It is shown here that the procurator repents of his cowardice. He realizes that he has made a terrible mistake. But he is capable of feat and self-sacrifice. If it were possible to change everything or turn back time, Pontius Pilate would not have signed the death warrant. "We will always be together now," says Ha-Notsri. It is about that very immortality that the procurator for some reason thought about when he read Judas' denunciation. Yeshua's immortality lies in the fact that he remained faithful to the preaching of good and went up to the cross for the sake of people. It is a feat of self-sacrifice. Pilate's immortality lies in the fact that he showed cowardice and out of cowardice signed the death warrant for an innocent man. Nobody would want such immortality. At the end of the novel, the procurator claims that "most of all in the world he hates his immortality and unheard of glory." He says that he would gladly exchange his fate with the ragged vagrant Matthew Levi. "

Any person has many vices. The writers tried to reveal these vices through the prism of their heroes and their lives. Thanks to the example literary heroes, the reader could see himself from the outside and fight this negative feature character. And so, Bulgakov is no exception. He reveals the problem of cowardice in his famous novel The Master and Margarita. Just today we will turn to him famous work and in the essay on the work of The Master and Margarita, let us trace the problem of cowardice, which the writer considered the most terrible vice.

One of Bulgakov's main works is the novel The Master and Margarita, where moral issues, problem true love, good and evil, loyalty and betrayal. The author also touched upon the topic of vices, where cowardice is distinguished among all human negative characteristics. Everyone can be afraid and have fear of something, but it is cowardice that is destructive. It does not allow admitting mistakes, affects the personal I, making a person a simple individual, but not a person.

It is cowardice that is a terrible vice, and this problem clearly visible in the Master and Margarita on the example of characters. For example, the Master cannot be called a hero, he is not a fighter, he could not go all the way. By rejecting his manuscript, the Master showed his cowardice, he allowed himself to be broken. Unlike Yeshua, who showed courage and spiritual strength, the Master turned out to be the opposite.

Cowardice is also shown by Pontius Pilate, who, having power, is a coward. He is afraid of losing his authority, he is simply broken by the masses. I could not insist on the truth, I did not save the person whose guilt I doubted, I gave up moral principles for which he paid.

Cowardice is the worst vice

The writer calls the most terrible vice - cowardice and it is very difficult to disagree with him. Why? This is because it is this shameful quality of humanity that pushes people to crimes. It is she who controls the actions of traitors, cowardice is also guided by those who often flatter their leadership. It is the coward who goes to lie, and all because he is afraid. Afraid to admit guilt and afraid to tell the truth. And you need to be above your vices. As one philosopher put it, after courage, there is nothing more beautiful than admission of cowardice. I also completely agree with this statement.

To the question Why is cowardice the worst vice? given by the author Flush the best answer is if we cowardly avoid a responsible decision and, without heeding the voice of conscience, choose easy way, which others call correct, although we ourselves feel its infidelity and thus, contrary to our conscience, we follow the path indicated by others, what do we do then? We drown out the divine voice within us; we choose the lower, not the higher, the lighter, but the more breast, we decide to give up our will, instead of purifying it; and even if the path we took at the direction of others was the best of the two, we will still damage our evolution without doing what we conscientiously considered more correct.
The most terrible death- this is spiritual, the instinct of self-preservation should not work here
This is all nonsense.
The reason for cowardice is that most people do it. And everyone is ready to find an excuse for their stupidity and gloating.
It is almost impossible to love faint-hearted people.
This is really horrible.

Answer from Clubfoot[guru]
Nope philosopher, I object to you. There is no vice more terrible than betrayal!

Answer from Fomart[guru]
cowardice is a product of darkness and everything connected with it
a sense of danger - a diametrically different feeling, namely instinct, AWARENESS of the difference

Answer from Glorify[guru]
Even the greatest heroes were cowardly, only psychos are not afraid. Panic is probably the worst thing.

Answer from Protonych[guru]
perhaps the answer to this question can be found in the Master's statements in M. Bulgakov's remake "The Master and E. P. Kruglyakov"
(download text)

Answer from User deleted[guru]
cowardice does not allow a person to grow, be strong, overcome obstacles, cowardice makes people do rash acts, for example: I will be accused of something, I will be caught on this, oh, I'm afraid they will know about me, but let me intimidate or kill this person, I I am afraid that I will be judged, or I am afraid to say "no" and I am used and therefore I am so unhappy, no, I would rather sit in a "hole" than stick out, they will eat me, but I am afraid of becoming strong, suddenly it will not work ....

Answer from Evgeny Sobolev[guru]
Cowardice is different. Sometimes a person knows what awaits him, but being afraid is a vice. But when he does not know what awaits him and is afraid - this is an instinct. And Ga Nozri meant that if you know your fate and are afraid (that is, you cannot accept), then this is a vice. He already knew that he was going to certain death and was not afraid. That is why he was calm. Agree, if he began to rush about in hysterics and ask for forgiveness, it would have lowered him to a level ... well, not much lower, but so he became a god.

Answer from Girl with a maple branch[guru]
How we need excuses! How we need to be perfect! Well, at least in someone's eyes!

Answer from Volkhov[newbie]
Cowardice is the greatest betrayal before God, who endowed us from the beginning with all their greatness

Answer from Eternally human[guru]
1) Vice (SIN) # 1 is the hypocrisy of the first "persons" - the supreme furry clerics (ROC) and high-ranking shaved snouts ** of the tsarist secret police (FSB). ** To say - people just do not turn their tongues.
Pornography # 1 or the life story of Harlot # 1 (of the church) is nothing more than the Bible (Book of Dead Souls)
2) Based on the novel "Ma $ Ma" and the author of the question, one can easily build an idiot-logical chain:
Vice - Betrayal.
Betrayal is a product of Cowardice.
Cowardice is a product of Lack of spirituality.
Lack of spirituality is a product of a brain poor in convolutions.
Poverty (mental) is not a vice ....: -)))
3) Everything is much simpler.
The cowardice of a little person, for example, a child or a person from common people, incomparably small and insignificant in comparison with cowardice the mighty of the world this.
4) Lord, demons! Do you not know what awaits you. However, you have a chance to reduce the "depth" of the abyss by several trillion years ...
😉
Signature: Eternal

Answer from Evetlana Karpova[guru]
The self-preservation instinct is a fear that can be overcome. Cowardice cannot be overcome. But I'm not sure that this is such a terrible vice. It is known that cowards live longer than daredevils.

Answer from Tajmahal[guru]
There are many such vices, pride is even worse. And yet .... weakness is a disease of the spirit. And from the patient what to ask?

Answer from T T[guru]
herd feeling.

Answer from Maya matveeva[newbie]
so cowardice breeds betrayal!

Answer from Ovid Bazhenov[guru]
What does the instinct of self-preservation and cowardice have to do with it?
The "self-preservation instinct" is an uncontrollable response to a threat to life.
Cowardice is the fear of possible negative consequences.
Why is cowardice the worst vice?
Dig into yourself, remember the most shameful acts, and cowardice will be behind them.

Answer from Alyona 185[newbie]
The words that cowardice is one of the most terrible vices belong to Yeshua Ha-Nozri, the hero of the Master's novel. They were addressed to Pontius Pilate due to the fact that the latter did not dare to risk his career and sent an innocent man to death, just not to go against the crowd. Faint-hearted can be called all people who largely disagree with the actions of any leadership, the authorities in general, but will not speak about it publicly, only in their narrow circle. These are those who do not agree, but will comply, are dissatisfied, but do not protest. And these are the majority. Cowardice is dangerous because it is very widespread and, in general, is not punishable. Concerning

Man, like any living being, is subject to fear. This is a completely normal phenomenon, which reflects the instinct of self-preservation. But only in life there are circumstances that require a person to overcome this fear, that is, suppress the primitive instinct in himself. This is not an easy task at all, so it is not surprising that people are cowardly. We will consider this concept today.

What does cowardice mean?

Cowardice is the behavior of a person in a certain situation when he refuses to make decisions or actively act out of fear or other phobias. Cowardice is undoubtedly driven by fear, and must be distinguished from caution or discretion. Once V. Rumyantsev noted that cowardice is an escape from a possible danger without its preliminary adequate assessment.

In psychology, cowardice is considered negative quality... weakness that prevents you from taking proper action.

Understanding cowardice according to Theophrastus

The ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus said that cowardice is a mental weakness that does not allow a person to resist his fear. A cowardly person can easily mistake cliffs for pirate ships or prepare for death as soon as the waves begin to rise. If a coward suddenly finds himself in a war, then at the sight of his comrades dying, he will certainly pretend that he has forgotten his weapon and will return to the camp. There, the coward will hide the sword far away and will represent an intensified search. He will do everything so as not to fight enemies. Even if one of his comrades is wounded, he will look after him, but when the soldiers begin to return from the battlefield, no doubt, the coward will run out to meet them, all smeared with the blood of his comrade and will talk about how he personally took him out of hellish fight.

Here is such vivid example cowardice leads Theophrastus, trying to reveal the essence of this concept. But it doesn't matter if it is now or thousands of years ago, human nature has remained unchanged - cowards behave the same way.

Cowardice and courage

The feeling of fear is known to all people. There has never been, and never will be, a person who is not afraid of anything. Only some retreat in the face of danger, while others break themselves and go towards their fear. Such people are usually called courageous. But if a person did not act this way, and after a while others force him to take a certain action, then without a doubt, he will receive the nickname of a coward. The inability and unwillingness to cope with their fears will forever put a corresponding stigma on a person.

Defeating cowardice is not easy. Gathering courage, showing courage - every person is potentially capable of such actions, but if cowardice is already firmly rooted in him, he becomes her helpless slave. Cowardice does everything not to show itself, it is an imperceptible shadow with tremendous destructive power.

One can recall many examples of cowardice: a friend did not intercede for a comrade, because he was afraid of a fight; a person does not change a hated job for fear of losing stability; or a soldier fleeing from the battlefield. Cowardice has many guises behind the rules.

Dante's Hell

Dante's guide to to the afterlife the classic description of the panties is given. On the very threshold of the Underworld, faceless souls crowded, once they were people stricken with cowardice. These are indifferent onlookers at the feast of life, they did not know either glory or shame, and the world should not remember them.

If a person, finding himself in a dangerous situation, thinks exclusively about flight, while ignoring the voice of reason, he is stricken with cowardice. Cowardice always chooses what is convenient and safe. Not solving the problem, but hiding from it - this is the basis on which the concept of cowardice is based.

Effects

To hide from life problems and decision-making, cowardice finds relaxation in recreational activities. Hiding behind a series of endless parties, watching funny videos, cowardice constantly accumulates the number of unpleasant situations that require resolution. So where does cowardice lead?

If she has already become a manifestation of personality, then it is safe to say that such a person is not capable of courage or selflessness. He becomes timid and fearful, and his conscience is forever silenced. Only the insane are not afraid. To avoid danger is reasonable deed but running away from a specific problem is cowardice.

A coward will think ten thousand times before deciding. His motto: "No matter what happens." Following this principle, a person turns into a real egoist who does everything possible to hide from the threats of the outside world. Cowardice is closed in its loneliness, and a frightened ego, which is most important for its own safety, is ready to go to any meanness. This is how betrayal is born. Paired with cowardice, everyone takes on an exaggerated form: the stupid turns into an incorrigible dumbass, the deceitful becomes a slanderer. This is what cowardice leads to.

A terrible vice

Most cowardly people are cruel. They mock the weak, thereby trying to hide their "fearful ailment" from the public. The coward throws out the accumulated anger and resentment on the victim. Cowardice deprives a person of the ability to reason sensibly. The brutal murders that even seasoned forensic scientists are thrown into a cold sweat are most often committed under the influence of fear. That is why cowardice is the worst vice.

Due to his excessive fearfulness, a person can live a whole life without knowing what he was capable of. Everyone has the potential of being brave, but giving up making decisions or committing necessary actions, the person gradually turns into a pitiful coward. Fear is not a sin, it reveals human weaknesses that can be dealt with quite successfully, but cowardice is already a vice that has no excuses.