The Master and Margarita, Chapter 16: The Execution quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What words were written on the boards hanging around the condemned men's necks?

   • Blasphemer and liar
   • Traitor to the temple
   • Enemy of Caesar
   • Correct answer: Robber and rebel

   Each board read 'robber and rebel' in two languages, Aramaic and Greek.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. Why has the crowd of onlookers left Bald Mountain by the fourth hour of the execution?

   • Correct answer: The scorching sun drove them back to the city
   • Heralds announced that the feast had begun
   • Soldiers ordered everyone off the hill
   • Rain began to pour down on the hill

   The sun scorched the crowd and drove it back to Yershalaim; the storm and rain come only later.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. Where does Matthew Levi position himself to watch the execution?

   • At the open passage up from the Jaffa road
   • Correct answer: On a stone under a fig tree on the north side
   • On a stool beside the posts at the top
   • Among the horse-handlers by the brook

   Levi sits on a stone under a sickly fig tree on the steep north slope, a poor viewpoint where nobody bothers him. The stool belongs to the man in the hood.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. Yeshua left Bethphage alone around noon. What kept Levi from following him to Yershalaim that evening?

   • He had been arrested by the temple guard
   • Yeshua sent him on an errand to the north
   • Correct answer: A sudden fever struck him at Bethphage
   • The gardener asked him to stay and work

   Yeshua left alone around noon, and Levi was struck by a terrible ailment that kept him in the gardener's shed until dawn on Friday.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. What did Levi plan to do with a knife on the road to Bald Mountain?

   • Cut Yeshua's bonds so he could run away
   • Correct answer: Stab Yeshua to spare him torture on the post
   • Force the executioners to set Yeshua free
   • Attack the centurion leading the procession

   Levi meant to slip through the soldiers, stab Yeshua in the back to save him from suffering, and then, if he had time, stab himself.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. Where does Levi get the knife he carries on the hill?

   • From a pilgrim's tent by the Jaffa road
   • From the gardener's shed at Bethphage
   • Correct answer: From a bread shop near the city gate
   • From a soldier who dropped it on the road

   He entered a bread shop, asked for a loaf, and took a bread knife from the counter when the woman turned around.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. What does Yeshua ask the executioner after drinking from the sponge?

   • Correct answer: That Dysmas be given a drink too
   • That his disciple be allowed near
   • That the hegemon be thanked for him
   • That he be told what day it is

   When Dysmas cries out against the injustice, Yeshua tears himself from the sponge and asks hoarsely, 'Give him a drink.'

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. Who examines each condemned man and pronounces him dead?

   • The head of the temple guard
   • The centurion Ratslayer
   • The tribune from the city
   • Correct answer: The man in the hood

   The man in the hood examines Yeshua, touches his foot, and says 'Dead,' then repeats this at the other two posts.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. Why does the narrator call Levi's knife 'not uselessly stolen' near the end of the chapter?

   • He uses it to end Yeshua's suffering at last
   • Correct answer: He uses it to cut the bodies from the posts
   • He uses it to fight off a soldier in the rain
   • He gives it back to the woman at the bread shop

   Levi had thrown the knife down as stolen in vain, but after the soldiers leave he uses it to cut the ropes and free the bodies.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events happen in Chapter 16?

    • Gestas, driven mad by the sun and flies, sings quietly about grapes.

      Happened

      Gestas had lost his mind from the flies and sun towards the end of the third hour, and he quietly sings something about grapes.

    • Levi breaks through the cordon and reaches the cart before the posts are raised.

      Didn't happen

      Levi arrives too late: trying to break through, he is struck in the chest with a spear butt, and the ring of soldiers is already closed.

    • Levi writes on his parchment, begging God to send Yeshua death.

      Happened

      With the sharp stylus Levi writes a plea to God to send Yeshua death, after notes that the sun is sinking and still no death comes.

    • Ratslayer lets his infantry lay down their spears and rest in the shade.

      Didn't happen

      Ratslayer keeps his infantry standing with spears in hand; it is the cavalry commander who lets his men stick their spears in the ground and shelter under their cloaks.

    • A storm cloud swallows the sun before it can set into the sea.

      Happened

      The sun disappears before reaching the sea, swallowed by a storm cloud rising against the sky in the west.

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. Which of these happen at the end of Chapter 16?

    • The executioner says 'Praise the magnanimous hegemon!' before killing Yeshua.

      Happened

      After giving Yeshua a drink from the sponge, the executioner whispers these words solemnly and pricks him in the heart.

    • Yeshua's last whispered word is 'Hegemon.'

      Happened

      Yeshua twitches and whispers the word hegemon; then blood runs down his belly and his head drops.

    • The man in the hood stays behind on the hill after the soldiers leave.

      Didn't happen

      The man in the hood leaves the hilltop with the tribune and the head of the temple guard before the downpour catches the soldiers.

    • Levi cuts down only Yeshua and leaves the other two bodies hanging.

      Didn't happen

      After freeing Yeshua's body, Levi runs to the other two posts and cuts their ropes as well, so those bodies fall too.

    • Levi and Yeshua's body are gone from the hilltop by the end of the chapter.

      Happened

      At the end only the two other bodies and the three empty posts remain on the hilltop; Levi and Yeshua's body are gone.

    Read the passage
12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'sedately' mean in: 'entered the shop very sedately'?

    • In a loud, angry way
    • In a hurried, careless way
    • Correct answer: In a calm, dignified way
    • In a sly, sneaking way

    Levi forces himself to walk in calmly so no one suspects he means to steal the knife.

    Read the passage
13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'inexorably' mean in: 'a storm cloud was rising menacingly and inexorably against the sky in the west'?

    • Slowly and hesitantly
    • Quietly and gently
    • Briefly and harmlessly
    • Correct answer: Unstoppably and relentlessly

    Inexorably means in a way that cannot be stopped; nothing can hold back the storm.

    Read the passage
14. 14

    Question 14. What does 'carrion' mean in Levi's cry: 'I'm not a man, I'm carrion!'?

    • Correct answer: Decaying flesh of the dead
    • A servant without a master
    • A coward who runs away
    • A beggar without money

    Carrion is rotting dead flesh; Levi calls himself worthless and loathsome for failing Yeshua.

    Read the passage