Golgotha in the novel "The Master and Margarita": semantic symbol suggestion

Abstract

The study aims to perform a semantic-semiotic analysis of the symbol "Golgotha" in M. A. Bulgakov’s novel "The Master and Margarita" in the light of the theory of suggestion. The symbol "Golgotha" consists of a signifier, i. e. the perceptual image of Golgotha, and a signified, namely three biblical symbolic meanings: ‘head’ (Adam’s in the Bible), ‘punishment’, and ‘absolution’. By suggestion in a literary text, we will mean the energy of semantic attraction between the signifier and the signified of a symbol. This is the impact of the writer’s persuasion on the reader (E. V. Shelestyuk) which is feasible since some linguistic units are polysemantic and include semantic overtones in the lexical meaning within a micro- or macro-context (B. A. Larin, G. O. Vinokur). The main research method employed is the superimposition of suggestion in the literary text under consideration on the semantic-semiotic structure of the "Golgotha" symbol. The study identifies three symbolic models implemented in the text with the aid of linguistic units. The main semantic tension arises between the perceptual image of Bald Mountain and the bald (balding) characters of the novel, as well as those characters whose heads also experienced something. Such suggestion is based on the foregrounding of the inner form of the word Golgotha (‘a bald skull’) and implements the symbolic model ‘Golgotha → Head’. The signifier of this model is expressed not only by the toponym Bald Mountain, the words bald (Russian lysyy, lys), bald spot (Russian lysina), bald-headed (Russian oblysevshii), balding (Russian lyseyushchii), baldpate (Russian pleshivyi), thinning (Russian zhidkii), skull (Russian cherep), head (Russian golova), but also by the names of the novel characters, i. e. the bearers of this feature. The second and third suggestion lines implement the symbolic models ‘Golgotha → Punishment, death’ and ‘Golgotha → Absolution’. Many characters in the book are punished to a greater or lesser extent, and most of them are forgiven. The signified "punishment" is represented by a thematic group of words and phrases whose lexical meaning includes the seme of punishment or death. The Bald Mountain features are symbolically transferred to the rocky platform of Pilate’s eternal imprisonment, Stravinsky’s clinic, and Woland’s globe. The signified "forgiveness" is expressed by the words forgive (Russian prostit’), forgiven (Russian proshchennyi), and mercy (Russian miloserdie).