"The darkness that had come in from the Mediterranean covered the city so detested by the procurator" (188).  This "darkness," or the thunderstorms which are conjured throughout Bulgakov's mysterious and controversial novel The Master and Margarita seem to come with a reason.  Each time, they bring a revelation of the capacity of certain characters and a vision of some higher power, one which may be above Woland and his multiple identities, one that may be connected with the peace-loving Yeshua and his philosophy of goodness, and more powerful than the power-hungry Pilate.  They swallow everything, erase the boundaries between good and evil, rational and irrational-overall, they are a manifestation of that higher power, whatever it may be.

During the first thunderstorm of the novel, two important events occur: first, Varenukha gets attacked and beaten to a bloody pulp and receives a kiss from the beautiful witch...