24-25 (Cracked Wristwatch)

I thought that chapter 24 provided some really interesting new information regarding the idea we have been discussing about whether Woland and God are part of one larger power and if God can do anything that Woland cannot.  Most helpful, to me, was Woland’s mention of the “departments” (page 296).  Margarita essentially asks Woland to have mercy on Frieda, and Woland claims he will not (or cannot) for the power to do so is out of his “department”.  In Woland’s words, “What sense is there in doing what is properly the task of another…department, as I put it?” (page 296).  This classification of powers seems to imply that Woland is, in fact, working with God (or at least another department) as part of a greater power.  In other words, they each have their own duties, but they work towards the same goal.  The word “department” implies that they are parts of a larger whole, instead of opposing forces.  Therefore, God and the Devil could very well be working together. Woland even seems to suggest that he is sometimes tempted to go beyond his own “job” of providing punishment and do merciful (and thus, God-like) things.  He describes mercy as something that “unexpectedly and slyly creeps through the narrowest cracks,” and seems to imply that he must forces the mercy out by blocking up the “cracks” with rags (295).  In other words, he has to forcibly keep the inclination to be merciful out, because it is his job to be evil and punish.  If this is true, then does Woland not want to perform evil acts (but still does so because he recognizes that through his evil he helps God attain good)?  In this chapter he does not come off as merciless or abominable character.  Rather, he seems to genuinely want to help Margarita and does so as best he can (giving her back the Master and their old apartment).  The way Woland grants Margarita’s wishes seems to be more characteristic of God then of the devil.  Of course, there is still time for this all to turn out badly, but as of now Woland does not seems completely evil.  Similarly, Azezello even seems to be giving moral lessons to Anushka.  He tells her, “You old witch, if you even pick up any somebody else’s property again, turn it in to the militia instead of hiding it!” (page 310).  In other words, he, a follower of the devil, is telling a normal citizen what the right thing to do is, which strikes me as strange.  One would think that he would want her to sin so that she could be punished, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  In addition, despite the fact that he knows many actual witches, he calls Anushka (a normal human being) a witch.  It seems as though all our preconceptions of good and evil have been completely inverted.
-Cracked Wristwatch