Satan on Earth: his forms, tasks, and temptations

Inspired by my summer reading of Master and Margarita, and all the religious thrillers I've loved before

Preface

When I was a junior in high school, that year’s senior valedictorian started her speech talking about the difficulties of starting a speech. My English teacher (shouts out Ms. R) encouraged us never to start a speech by talking about how hard writing a speech is. I like to tell this story because writing is quite hard and getting started is just the worst.. It’s been 8 years or so since I stopped blogging (a handful or less of you readers will remember the good, old days) so the cobwebs are thick and sturdy. But here we are. This essay started as one thing and, as ideas tend to do, evolved as I started getting down to it. I’ve gone from wouldn’t it be nice to too expansive to ever finish to good lord will any one give a shit? to do less now, write more later. 

Reading Master and Margarita¹ this summer moved me in a way that was delightful and surprising (more in the conclusion). I got to thinking about Professor Woland, the whispers (okay shouts) of Faust throughout, and my favorite depictions of angels and god, but in this case, the devil. There are many versions that come to mind but the one I hold most dear is Lucifer in the 2005 film Constantine², who says “I do miss the old names”. Between Lu (as John calls him), Prof. Woland, Mephistopheles, and the devil from the Christian bible, we have a pretty good scaffold for a basic describe, compare, and contrast. 

Agenda as follows

• Satan’s Descriptions

• Satan’s Tasks and Temptations

• Satan’s Heart

See above re: do less now, write more later. Left on the cutting room floor - John Constantine’s comic book self and his combat with Satan, Lucifer the show since I’ve never watched it other than TikTok clips of Tom Ellis being hot, Preacher’s TV Satan and depiction of Hell and Preacher’s comic book depiction of Satan, Hell, and the Saint of Killers, Dante’s seven tiered vision, Paradise Lost...that’s at least all that came to mind and shelved. Plenty of ammo for Part Two, maybe after we take a look at the heavenly hosts. Okay, enough stalling. 

Woe to the earth, and to the sea, because the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time. 

Introduction

I had never heard of Master and Margarita until the August/September 2022 Banned Books Issue of Reason Magazine. Jesse Walker wrote a short and sweet piece on the novel and the author's complicated history and connection to acne-prone, short king Joseph Stalin. I re-read it just now and honestly, I can’t remember what hooked me exactly (likely gun-toting cat) but I do remember adding it to my Goodreads list and buying a copy shortly after. A copy that would sit on the shelf for about a year. We’d just finished reading Stalin’s War³, I was about to take an 18 day work trip, and I wanted to stay in the world of Stalin’s Russia and thought, now seems like a good time.

There are summaries galore online (Wiki entry here), in addition to my copy’s excellent Forward and Introduction, but here’s my synopsis. Two men converse, they are joined by the devil. He tells the story of a headache ridden Pontius Pilate (yes, that one) and his first meeting with Ha-Nozri, who is eventually crucified (yes, that one). At this point, if I recall correctly, the first tear was shed. Can you blame me - Pilate as tragic leading man, swooning in pain overlooking Yershalaim.The devil then predicts the death of one of the two, who does indeed die, and from there, we are off to the races. The who’s who of Moscow toddle about and are punished by the devil (called Professor Woland) and his entourage, a psych patient tells the tale of his novel (the story of Pilate continues this way) and his beautiful lost love who we find out is Margarita. There is indeed a cat with a gun, a seance, later turned-naked attendees of said seance, three more naked women/witches, a scary ball for the dead, a bit of flying horses, and eventually peace and forgiveness. I’m going to save the emotional stuff for the end, but for now…

Part One - Satan’s Forms

Woland is described on page 6 in the following manner:

First of all, the man described did not limp on any leg, and was neither short nor 

enormous, but simply tall. As for his teeth, he had platinum crowns on the left side and gold on the right. He was wearing an expensive grey suit and imported shoes of a matching colour. His grey beret was cocked rakishly over one ear; under his arm he carried a stick with a black knob shaped like a poodle’s head. He looked to be a little over forty. Mouth somehow twisted. Clean-shaven. Dark-haired. Right eye black, left-for some reason-green. Dark eyebrows, but one higher than the other. In short, a foreigner. 

His clothing (he wears a black half mask during the seance), entourage, apartment furniture all define him, along with his posture and ease. Before Satan’s Ball, Margarita returns to Woland’s apartment, first seeing “a wide oak bed with dirty, rumpled sheets…” (253) and as she is taking in the room she sees Woland, who she is prodded to call Messire. 

His eyes were fixed on Margarita’s face. The right one with a golden spark at its bottom, drilling anyone to the bottom of his soul, and the left one empty and black, like the narrow eye of a needle, like the entrance to the bottomless well of all darkness and shadow…The skin of Woland’s face was as if burned for all eternity by the sun. (254) 

He’s wearing a patched, worn nightshirt while the naked witch Hella rubs ointment on his knee. The translation notes inform the reader that one of Bulgakov’s sources for Master and Margarita M. N. Orlov’s History of Man’s Relations with the Devil (409). Apparently, Satan always wears a dirty shirt when performing rituals. Who knew? 

Faust⁴, which I started reading for the first time while drunk on an airplane, also described the devil by clothing, style, and panache. Despite starting it for the first time recently, I’d absorbed the plot of Faust through osmosis, including but not limited to the Wishbone version, the 20 second mirror scene in V for Vendetta, and probably some other stuff but mostly Wishbone. When Mephistopheles enters Faust’s study (or, is granted entry) he states:

MEPHISTOPHELES. I’m dressed like young nobility,  

In a scarlet gold-trimmed coat,

In a little silk-lined cloak,

A cockerel feather in my hat,

With a long, pointed sword,

And I advise you, at that, 

To do as I do, in a word:

So that, footloose, fancy free,

You can experience Life, with me. (63)

On page 87, some frat boys *ahem* young students of the time see Mephistopheles and Faust in a pub and one mentions his limp. Bulgakov’s description quoted above comes after a list of post-Woland’s departure descriptions and does specifically clarify no limp but Woland’s aching knee, pampered by the beautiful, naked witches around him, comes to mind. After their tavern adventure, the lads head to The Witches’ Kitchen and encounter some apes, some beasts, and the witch herself who doesn’t even recognize Mephistopheles for who he is initially until he starts in:  

MEPHISTOPHELES. Do you know me? Skeleton! Scarecrow!

Do you know your lord and master?

What stops me from striking you, so, 

Crushing you, and your ape-creatures?

Have you no response for a scarlet coat? 

Don’t you understand a cockerel’s feather?

Have I hidden my face, you old she-goat?

Have I to name myself, as ever?

THE WITCH. Oh sir, forgive the rude welcome! 

I don’t see a single foot cloven. 

And your two ravens - are where?

I’d deliver this line sarcastically, with a curtsy and a thumbed nose. This dandy, the devil? But actually, are we supposed to know what a cockerel feather means? Is this something I should be on the lookout for in my everyday life?! His answer:

MEPHISTOPHELES. And Civilisation makes men level,

It even sticks to the Devil:

That Northern demon is no more:

Who sess horns now, or tail or claw?

I’d deliver this line with gestures towards Faust, a hand over the place where my heart should be, knowing I am a demon among men and must be a man to pass. An easy sentiment to project.

THE WITCH. (Dancing)

Send and reason flee my brain, 

I see young Satan here again! 

MEPHISTOPHELES. Woman, I forbid that name! 

That is my favorite part. He is a new…well, not man, but a new version of himself, with a new name, a new servant and master, a new contest with God. Mephistopheles has no idea some day he’ll miss the old names. 

Satan’s (used intentionally and as rudely as possibly to Messire) appearance is not described in the Bible per say. Revelation tells the story of the war in heaven and of Satan’s fall. Well, his hurl, or cast depending on the translations…He is given names like a “great red dragon”, “the old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world…” (Reve 12:3, 9)⁵. I’ll admit, I’ve made my way through the bible one and three quarters times and I was hoping, based on Constantine the movie, that there were old names. Satan and the devil, sure, old school classic, can’t forget ole Lucifer. I am partial to “morning star”, mostly because it’s cool. Isaiah 14:12 gives us “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning?” Later translations are a wee different and, since Jesus is called THE morning star in Revelations, you can find oodles of articles explaining how and why they are different. 

This lack of description leaves quite a bit of creative license. Per above, my absolute favorite version appears in Constantine, the 2005 religious thriller starring Keaneu Reeves and Rachel Weisz. Peter Stormare plays an absolutely disgusting, gorgeous, terrifying Lucifer in a 5 minute scene at the end of the film. 

Lucifer’s tar-covered feet and white suit are what the audience sees first, as he descends, a visual surprise as we expect him to emerge up from the pit. Once an angel, always an angel. He moves forward, leaving footprints on the tile (reminiscent of footprints in the sand, perhaps) as he walks confidently to John, dying by suicide for the second time. They’re on a first name basis, Lu and John. Their relationship has been set up throughout the film and now the moment of truth has arrived - is John really the one soul Lucifer would come up himself to collect? Indeed he is, before Lu realizes the trick. Indeed, he is even playful, with a childlike delight at finally getting his way with Constantine for whom he has prepared “a theme park full of rare delights”. His temple veins match his tattoos stretching out underneath an ill fitting white shirt and jacket. He’s relatable, nearly human, a busy father who “need[s] a vacation”. You almost forget, he’s one of two men having a relaxed conversation until suddenly, his mood shifts and he changes, snapping at John like an animal, licking his teeth in anticipation. Once a dragon, always a dragon. 

Bartender, you see the wines drinking me

Came from the vine that strung Judas from the Devil's tree

It's roots deep, deep in the ground

Part Two - Satan’s  tasks and temptations

Earlier in the film, Constantine invites Angela into his world, a world she already knows, in a short scene explaining his suicide, his mission for Heaven, the so-called balance, “the world behind the world”. Lucifer and God’s missionaries, the influence peddlers. Lucifer states “this world is mine, in time” after he tried and failed to retrieve Constantine. But, ever confident, he knows his time will come. 

Revelation seems both a history and a prophecy. In the Bible in Hell, according to Constantine, Revelation ends differently, though to him “a fires a fire”. Before Revelations, readers encounter Satan’s meeting with Jesus in the desert, documented in Matthew Chapter 4. He’s explicit in his temptation. I hear Satan’s tone as blase, calm, with a shrug. “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread” (4:3). The devil brings Christ from the desert to THE temple and says “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written: That he hath given his angels charge over three, and in their hands shall they bear thee up…” (4:6). Finally, he takes Christ to the top of a mountain to behold the world. “All these I will give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me” (4:9). Christ denies all these invitations and Satan simply leaves, perhaps back down to his home or perhaps up to Heaven for a debrief. 

We see Satan in action in two additional gospels. Luke 22:3 (“and Satan entered into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, one of the twelve”) and John 13:27 (“And after that morsel, Satan entered into [Judas Iscariot].”) All done to fulfill the scriptures, I suppose. I wonder what God felt as he watched on, knowing what was coming for his Son, and what he said to Satan to get him to agree. I’m sure it didn’t take much, but if Satan hadn’t, would Judas still have become the betrayer? Satan is clearly open to the challenge of taking the world for his, watching on as Christ and his followers changed the shape of even modern society. 

Satan and God, two characters, celestial beings, former comrades in arms, meet at the start of Faust and at the start of Job to have the same conversation, perhaps similar to the one had about Christ’s temptation and passion. In Job Chapters 1 and 2, the sons of God are standing together, and Satan is there too. He tells God he’s traveled the entire earth and after God mentions Job, a faithful servant, Satan asks “doth Job fear God in vain?” (1:9) since he is a man of wealth, and family, and sustenance. “But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth thee not to thy face” (1:11). God agrees that Satan may influence Job’s things but not the man, which he does, and Job passes the test. Satan returns to God and his sons and suggests “But put forth thy hand, and touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt gee [sic] that he will bless thee to thy face” (2:4). God allows it, asking Satan to spare Job’s life, and Satan sets forth. 

Mephistopheles is described first among the archangels, exactly as in Job. I love this scene. I imagine him wandering in, a former resident of Heaven, still welcome (sort of), to talk directly to God. He’s got sunglasses on (too bright) and a hot coffee (too cold) and he says “hey boys” as he strolls past Raphael and Michael and Gabriel, knowing exactly the effect he has on them. They speak in poetry, proclaiming Satan’s presence, but there is no battle, no war. He used to be their brother, and here he is again. 

MEPHISTOPHELES. The little god of Earth sticks to the same old way,

And is as strange as on that very first day.

He might appreciate life a little more: he might,

If you hadn’t lent him a gleam of Heavenly light:

He calls it Reason, but only uses it

To be more a beast than any beast as yet. 

GOD. Have you nothing else to name?

Do you always come here to complain?

Brief side note - lol. But also calling mankind “the little god of Earth” is quite good. 

GOD. Do you know, Faust?

MEPHISTOPHELES. The Doctor?

GOD. My servant, first! … Though he’s still confused at how to serve me,

I’ll soon lead him to a clearer dawning…

MEPHISTOPHELES. What do you wager? I might win him yet!

If you give me your permission first,

I’ll lead him gently on the road I set. 

GOD. As long as he’s alive on Earth,

So long as that I won’t forbid it,

For while man strives, he errs. 

Woland’s weight in the scales is balanced out by the connection and story of Pilate and Ha-Nozri (with a brief appearance by Matthew Levi (yes that one) but he is the star of this particular show. Satan comes to Moscow to host his ball and to judge and punish those in Moscow. His first major feat - a black magic seance. The seance starts with Woland asking “the Moscow populace has changed significantly, hasn’t it? … The city folks have changed greatly…externally, that is…as has the city itself, incidentally…Not to mention their clothing…” (119). When the theater MC interrupts with color commentary, Woland is offended, irritated, and removes his head. Woland eventually continues, 

“they’re people like any other people…They love money, but that has always been so…Mankind loves money, whatever it’s made of-leather, paper, bronze, gold…mercy sometimes knocks at their hearts…ordinary people…In general, reminiscent of the former ones…only the housing problem has corrupted them…” (124) 

Bulgakov’s Satan is able to provide outside evaluation of Moscow’s changes, perceived as a foreigner, a black magic man. He’s allowed to speak without interruption in a way an ordinary Comrade of Moscow wouldn’t be able to. Woland’s retinue is seen throughout the city sending away corrupt officials, turning wandering-eyed men into hogs, and generally interrupting the day-to-day of the corrupt. The literary magic allows those citizens to be punished in fanciful ways by Satan himself, as opposed to a more realistic punishment by the state or by revolution. As I mentioned, the Foreword and Introduction proved invaluable to set the stage for why Satan and why Moscow. Finish this, then go read that. 

Satan’s ball takes the reader away from Moscow (for the most part) but not away from punishment, crime, and gruesome spectacle. Margarita greets the guests naked, but there is nothing sexual or exploitative. She is a witch and witches don’t need clothes. Woland’s witch Hella is nude in their home as well as in miscellaneous Moscow offices, causing quite a stir. The guests, according to Koroviev “will be different sorts, oh, very different, but no one, Queen Margot, should be shown any preference! Even if you don’t like someone…I understand that you will not, of course,  show it on your face…” (261-2). The first arrives via gallows dropping down into a fireplace, stepping out of a noose. The second, stepping up from a coffin which had crashed down as well. Every guest kisses Margarita’s feet, or knee, or hand. Every guest is in some state of decomposition. Three hours pass and Margarita’s body begins to falter, swell, and ache. But she remains standing. Before the ball, she kneels before Woland, taking over for Hella, tending to his aching knee, foreshadowing her own pain, and Woland’s grace. 

Woland finally appears, limping, for the final moment of the ball, “looking just the same as he had looked in the bedroom. The same dirty, patched shirt hung on his shoulders, his feet were in worn-out bedroom slippers” (273). He addressed the head of Mikhail Alexandrovich, cut off by a train car in the first chapters of the novel and stolen before the funeral. Woland turns the head into a jeweled cup on a platter and brings forth the final guest, Baron Meigel, “in charge of acquainting foreigners with places of interest in the capital” (274) and charged as a spy, soon to be murdered. To save that time and “anticipation”, Azazello shoots the Baron, Koroviev collects the blood, and Woland drinks, reviving him and changing his clothes to “some sort of black chlamys with a steel sword at his hip” (275). Margarita also drinks, is revived, and the ball is over. 

Don’t be afraid, Queen, the blood has long run down into the earth. And on the spot where it was spilled, grapevines are growing today.

Part Three - Satan’s heart

What we see throughout these tales and others is that Satan is willing to make a deal, and quick with a wager. Once a dragon, always a dragon, yes, but also, once an angel, always an angel. He held all the power as Constantine lay on the floor, unable to light his own cigarette. But still, he agreed to send Angela’s sister to heaven, forgiveness for her suicide. Sent to hell, as the rulebook states, yet given grace by Lucifer himself. When Jesus passes his test in the desert, Satan simply leaves. We don’t hear from him again once Job gives in. It’s not Satan’s voice from the whirlwind, but God’s. Mephistopheles is the first to offer a wager over Faust, but only with God’s permission. Even then, a dutiful son. 

Similar to searching for Satan’s name, I was searching for why he was banished, why he chose to fall or why he was thrown. For his avarice, for his pride, for pushing against God’s authority. There are things I know - that Lucifer was one of God’s angels, he is a rebel leader, a dissenter. A powerful character with human characteristics easy to relate to. The verbs used to describe what happened - cast, hurled, fell…those don’t sound like he made a choice. I can recognize I’ve taken this idea in through movies, art, shows, whatever with all my romantic, fanciful, religiosity. The story of Satan isn’t full in the Bible, but it is clearly expansive elsewhere. 

The moments I found so moving in Master and Margarita were between Woland and our heroine. Woland is gentle and welcoming with her, though never not exactly who he is. Woland in the heart of Stalin’s Russia, with a beautiful woman and her love, cracking jokes with his entourage, relaxing in his pajamas playing chess…it made my heart ache. I want to be inside of the moment - feeling relaxed and successful, drinking “pure alcohol” in celebration with your four closest friends with no concern for anything outside that room. 

In addition to the successful endeavors of his ball and having a time with those in Moscow, Woland does end up empowering two women, giving them witches powers, and freeing the love of Margarita, uniting them together and granting them peace. In this story, he is kind, cruel to those who deserve it, and full of mercy for his chosen hostess Margarita. Woland grants Margarita her first wish to save Frieda (demonstrating her own mercy) but also her second wish, releasing her love and reuniting them. He even demands she makes a second request since the first was a gift for her but not a gift for her. 

The novel ends with the master’s death and Margarita’s death, poisoned by wine, “the same wine the procurator of Judea drank” (369). We see them fall asleep and wake up anew in their lovers basement home and their journey continues. But the literary camera pans to Margarita dying in her home, desperate and alone, and Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev being told by the asylum nurse his neighbor has died, though he finds out only after the master and Margarita visit him a final time, showing him their love. Only through dying could they be united and taken to their final home. 

Listen to the stillness,’ Margarita said to the master…’listen and enjoy what you were not given in life - peace. Look, there ahead is your eternal home, which you have been given as a reward…I know that in the evenings you will be visited by those you love, those who interest you and who will never trouble you…you will fall asleep with a smile on your lips. Sleep will strengthen you…And you will no longer be able to drive me away. I will watch over your sleep. (384)

Sounds like heaven to me. 

Just before that, there is a final moment with Pilate. He is alone, with his loyal dog, riddled by insomnia, talking to the moon. Woland explains his plight and Margarita cries out, begging Woland to let him go. He is reluctant but he grants her, and the master, this, a third request. The master “cupped his hands to his mouth and cried out so that the echo leaped over the unpeopled and unforested mountains: ‘you’re free! You’re free! He’s waiting for you!’” (382). 

Peace I leave you, and peace I give you, indeed. 

If I had read this novel in August of 2022, immediately after my interest was sparked, I’m not sure it would have affected me so strongly. I started reading the bible in 2021 and even by summer of 2022, I hadn’t made it to the New Testament. I hadn’t read the different versions of Pilate’s repeated questions, Christ’s call to His father, or learned Mary Magdalene, a loyal woman who shared a name with his mother, was the first one to discover Him risen. I hadn’t yet cried in back row pews, unable to sing Agnus Dei through the tears, absolutely desperate for mercy, granted peace.

For me, the story ended not after the Epilogue but as the master died in his bed and Margarita died of longing in her home. The master’s peace, with his love Margarita, and Pilate, finally free from heat, from his aching head. As I turned the final pages, it was late, I needed sleep. I kept crying anyway. 

1. Bugakov, Mikhail. Master and Margarita. Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, Penguin Books, 2016.

2. Constantine. Directed by Francis Lawrence, Warner Bros., 2005.

3. McMeekin, Sean. Stalin’s War. Penguin Books, 2021. 

4. Goethe, Johann  Wolfgang Von. Faust: Parts I & II. Translated by A. S. Kline. 

5. The Holy Bible: Douay-Rheims (1899 Version). Independently Published.