The Master and Margarita, Chapter 32: Forgiveness and Eternal Refuge quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. As the riders fly toward their goal, what kind of moon rises from beyond the edge of the forest?

   • Correct answer: A crimson and full moon rising to meet them
   • A silver half-moon hidden behind storm clouds
   • A green new moon above the stony summit
   • A pale crescent moon low over the swamps

   The narrator describes the crimson and full moon rising to meet the riders, and at that moment all deceptions vanish.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What is the only thing Woland says Pilate's brave dog ever feared?

   • Silence
   • Darkness
   • The moon
   • Correct answer: Storms

   Woland says that storms were the only thing the brave dog feared, so the dog at least is not guilty of cowardice.

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3. 3

   Question 3. According to Woland, whose lot would Pilate willingly take in exchange for his own?

   • The next procurator's, in Judea
   • The emperor's, far away in Rome
   • Correct answer: The ragged tramp Matthew Levi's
   • The centurion Mark Ratslayer's

   Woland reports that Pilate hates his immortality and fame and would gladly trade places with the ragged tramp Matthew Levi.

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4. 4

   Question 4. When Margarita cries, "Let him go!", what happens in the mountains?

   • The dog leaps up and starts to howl at her
   • Correct answer: A stone falls and tumbles into the abyss
   • The moon slips behind a dark storm cloud
   • Pilate wakes and turns his head toward her

   At her piercing cry a stone falls and rumbles down the ledges, and Woland laughs, telling her not to shout in the mountains.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Woland mean when he asks Margarita, "Repeating the story with Frieda?"

   • Correct answer: She is again asking mercy for a suffering soul
   • She is again mocking his power over the dead
   • She is again asking to be sent back to Moscow
   • She is again refusing a gift she has been given

   Margarita pleads for Pilate just as she once pleaded for Frieda, and Woland recognizes her pattern of compassion.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why does Woland refuse to let the master follow Pilate down the path of moonlight?

   • The path can carry only one traveler at once
   • Correct answer: Pilate's story is finished, so there is no need
   • The master's tired horse could never keep up
   • Yeshua has not yet finished reading the novel

   Woland asks, "why run after what is already finished?" and tells the master to leave Pilate and Yeshua to each other.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Which figure does Woland compare the master to when he imagines him at work over a retort?

   • Kant
   • Schubert
   • Solomon
   • Correct answer: Faust

   Woland asks whether the master would not like to sit over a retort like Faust, hoping to form a new homunculus.

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8. 8

   Question 8. How does the closing sentence describe Pilate's parentage?

   • As the son of a Syrian father
   • As a foundling of unknown parents
   • Correct answer: As the son of the astrologer-king
   • As the heir of the Syrian legate

   The final sentence calls Pilate the son of the astrologer-king before naming him the cruel fifth procurator of Judea.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What does the line "Someone was setting the master free, as he himself had just set free the hero he had created" suggest?

   • The master will now have to sit in Pilate's empty stone chair
   • The master has been made to forget Margarita for good
   • Correct answer: The master is given the same mercy he has just shown Pilate
   • The master is being punished for having freed his own hero

   The parallel shows forgiveness passing on: the author who forgave his hero is himself released from his anxious memory.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events happen during the night flight in Chapter 32?

    • Night tears off Behemoth's fur and scatters it in tufts over the swamps.

      Happened

      Night tears off Behemoth's fluffy tail, pulls off his fur and scatters it in tufts over the swamps, and he turns out to be a slim youth, a demon-page.

    • Azazello's fang grows longer and sharper in the moonlight.

      Didn't happen

      In the moonlight Azazello's absurd, ugly fang disappears without a trace, and the albugo on his eye proves false.

    • The master flies with his eyes on the moon, smiling at it.

      Happened

      Like the demon-youth, the master flies with his eyes fixed on the moon, smiling to it as to a close and beloved friend.

    • The riders land on Sparrow Hills to rest their tired horses.

      Didn't happen

      The riders do not land on Sparrow Hills, which they have left behind; Woland reins in his horse on a stony, joyless, flat summit.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Which of these events happen after the master frees Pilate?

    • The sharp-eared dog is the first to rush down the path of moonlight.

      Happened

      When the path of moonlight stretches to the garden, the first to rush down it is the sharp-eared dog, and the man in the white cloak follows.

    • The master follows Pilate into the boundless city and its garden.

      Didn't happen

      When the master asks whether he is to follow, Woland says no, asking why he should run after what is already finished.

    • Woland and his retinue throw themselves into a gap and vanish.

      Happened

      After the farewells, Woland throws himself into a gap and his retinue noisily hurries down after him; the black steeds vanish too.

    • Margarita tells the master that the little basement is waiting for him.

      Didn't happen

      It is Woland who asks what the master would do in the little basement; Margarita instead tells him of his eternal home, with its Venetian window and twisting vine.

    • The sand rustles under Margarita's bare feet on the path.

      Happened

      Walking down the sandy path at dawn, Margarita tells the master to listen to the stillness as the sand rustles under her bare feet.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'ineluctable' mean as used in: 'ineluctable night began to overtake them'?

    • Correct answer: Impossible to escape or avoid
    • Lit by many distant stars
    • Slow and gently rolling
    • Strange and frightening

    Ineluctable means impossible to escape; the tired riders cannot outrun the night.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'fitfully' mean as used in: 'rubbed his hands fitfully'?

    • Slowly and very gently
    • Correct answer: In short, uneven bursts
    • With great angry force
    • Carefully and in order

    Fitfully means in irregular bursts, matching the restless, sleepless figure in the stone chair.

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14. 14

    Question 14. What does 'irrevocably' mean as used in: 'This hero had gone into the abyss, gone irrevocably'?

    • Quickly and in a great rush
    • Quietly, without a word
    • Unwillingly and in fear
    • Correct answer: In a way that cannot be undone

    Irrevocably means beyond recall; Pilate is gone for good and the master's novel is complete.

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