What is the significance of the leitmotif “Oh gods, gods…”?
This refrain, which appears as a sort of leitmotif ten times throughout the novel, is an interpretation of the quotation from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aida. This opera was known and loved by Bulgakov, and he quotes it in other ways in some of his other works, as well. The quote is from the last stanza of the first scene of Act I: Oh gods, have pity on my suffering! There is no hope for my sorrow. Fatal love, terrible love, break my heart, make me die! Oh gods, have pity on my suffering! etc. This phrase is an appropriate leitmotif, as the question of God’s existence is prominent throughout the novel. It also serves to link the Master to Pilate, both of whom repeat it often as a reflection of their neurosis. The narrator himself uses this phrase in Chapter 19, speaking of Margarita’s unhappiness: “Gods, gods! What did this woman need? This woman, in whose eyes there always flickered an enigmatic little spark? This witch with just the slightest cast in one eye, who had adorned herself that
