Abstract

The devil is a prominent figure in two of Mikhail Bulgakov's works, the well-known novel The Master and Margarita and the earlier and lesser-known Diaboliad. Although in each the devil visits Soviet-era Moscow and interacts with a number of Muscovites, despite similarities in motif and theme, The Master and Margarita and its devil do not simply reexamine the ideas found in the earlier work. The two devils portray two uniquely different manifestations of the devil. Woland, the refined and relatively intellectual devil of The Master and Margarita, often serves as a benefactor to Margarita, while the devil of Diaboliad, a harsher and more chaotic figure, torments the clerk Korotkov and eventually drives the man to suicide