The Master and Margarita, Chapter 14: Glory to the Cock! quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Rimsky see on the sidewalk below his window after the séance?

   • A crowd burning the magician's banknotes
   • Styopa Likhodeev arguing with a cab driver
   • Correct answer: A lady in only a shift and violet bloomers
   • A policeman leading the cat away on a leash

   The lady, still with her hat and umbrella, is one of the women left in their underwear after Fagott's shop, surrounded by a guffawing crowd.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What stops Rimsky from making the telephone calls he planned?

   • Correct answer: A voice on the line warns him not to call
   • He realizes no one would believe his account
   • The theatre's telephone lines are still cut
   • Varenukha bursts in and takes the receiver

   The phone rings by itself and a soft, lewd voice whispers that it will be bad if he calls anywhere, so he gives up on the calls and thinks only of escape.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What first strikes Rimsky as odd about Varenukha's arrival?

   • He enters through the window, not the door
   • He calls Rimsky by the wrong first name
   • He walks in carrying Styopa's briefcase
   • Correct answer: He says he thought Rimsky had already left

   Rimsky wonders why Varenukha would come to his office if he thought it was empty, and why the night-watchmen had not told him Rimsky was staying late.

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4. 4

   Question 4. According to Varenukha, where is Styopa Likhodeev now?

   • Under arrest at the Yalta police station
   • Correct answer: In a sobering-up cell, after his spree
   • Hiding in apartment No. 50 with the cat
   • On a train back to Moscow from the Crimea

   Varenukha claims Styopa was found at the Yalta tavern in Pushkino and is now in a sobering-up cell, a story Rimsky soon decides is a lie.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why does Rimsky stop believing Varenukha's story about Styopa?

   • A telegram from Yalta arrives during the story
   • Correct answer: The details are too vivid, too much even for Styopa
   • Varenukha contradicts himself about the tavern
   • The night-watchman says Varenukha never left

   The more lifelike and colorful the details become, the less Rimsky believes them, until he is sure it is a lie from first word to last.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Rimsky suddenly notice that is unnatural about Varenukha in the armchair?

   • Correct answer: He casts no shadow on the floor
   • His hands are as cold as ice
   • He has no reflection in the window
   • His heart makes no sound at all

   The chair's shadow lies clearly on the floor, but there is no shadow of Varenukha's head or legs.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What saves Rimsky from the dead girl and Varenukha?

   • Rimsky holds up the magician's banknotes
   • The desk lamp suddenly flares into brightness
   • Correct answer: A cock crows in the garden, announcing dawn
   • The night-watchman hears his cry for help

   A trained cock kept for the show crows; the girl curses, Varenukha drops to the floor, and at the third crow both fly out the window.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events actually happen before Varenukha arrives?

   • The telephone rings by itself and a female voice warns Rimsky.

     Happened

     While Rimsky hesitates over the receiver, the telephone rings by itself and a soft, lewd female voice whispers that it will be bad if he calls anywhere.

   • Rimsky locks the banknotes in the theatre safe.

     Didn't happen

     Rimsky seizes the banknotes from his desk and puts them in his briefcase, which he keeps clutched in his hands.

   • The clock begins to strike midnight.

     Happened

     As Rimsky gets ready to leave the silent building, the clock rings out and begins to strike midnight, just before the key turns in the lock.

   • Rimsky telephones the police about the women on Sadovaya.

     Didn't happen

     Rimsky never makes a call: he twice reaches for the receiver and draws back, and after the warning there is no longer any question of phone calls.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happen during Rimsky's escape?

   • Rimsky's hair has turned completely white.

     Happened

     After the cock-crow, the man who rushes for the door is an old man, white as snow, with not a single black hair left on his head.

   • Rimsky goes back to the office for his hat.

     Didn't happen

     Once outside, Rimsky realizes his hat has stayed behind in the office, but he does not go back for it.

   • Rimsky pays the cabby fifty roubles.

     Happened

     When the driver says he is going to the garage, Rimsky takes fifty roubles from his briefcase and hands them through the window.

   • Rimsky wakes the watchman to warn him.

     Didn't happen

     Rimsky finds a watchman asleep on a chair by the box office and steals past him on tiptoe without waking him.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'calumny' mean in: 'There was something that seemed still more inexplicable than the calumny invented'?

    • A careful report of real events
    • A joke told to break the tension
    • A confession of one's own guilt
    • Correct answer: A false story told to damage someone

    A calumny is a damaging falsehood; Varenukha's tale of Styopa's spree is invented slander.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'pallor' mean in: 'pale with a chalk-like, unhealthy pallor'?

    • A deep, angry flush
    • Correct answer: A sickly paleness
    • A heavy, dark bruise
    • A sweaty, oily shine

    Pallor is unhealthy paleness; the normally full-blooded Varenukha has turned chalk-white.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'stratagem' mean in: 'The findirector's stratagem did not escape the notice of Varenukha'?

    • A polite show of respect
    • A sudden loss of nerve
    • A loud cry for help
    • Correct answer: A secret trick or plan

    A stratagem is a clever scheme; Rimsky's is to press the bell button secretly while pretending to tap the desk.

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