Prokhor Petrovich
Prokhor Petrovich, the chairman of the Moscow Commission on Spectacles and Entertainment of the Lighter Type, is a minor but symbolically potent character whose transformation into an empty, talking suit after a confrontation with one of Woland's demons serves as a grotesque and satirical embodiment of the bureaucratic emptiness and spiritual vacuity at the heart of the Soviet literary establishment. His brief, bizarre appearance in the novel functions as a concentrated piece of carnivalesque dethronement, stripping away the human pretension to reveal the mere uniform of authority that remains when the person has been reduced to a functionary. The incident is one of the most vivid examples of the novel's use of the fantastic to expose the absurdity of official reality.
Identity and Position
Prokhor Petrovich is the chairman of the Commission on Spectacles and Entertainment of the Lighter Type, a high-ranking official in the Soviet cultural bureaucracy. His personal secretary is the beautiful Anna Richardovna, who addresses him familiarly as "Prosha." He is described as a man who works "like an ox" and is known for being "edgy" and hot-tempered, a man who swears by the devil. His office is a place of official business, with a huge writing desk and a massive inkstand, and he is accustomed to being treated with deference by his staff.
The Transformation into a Suit
The central event of Prokhor Petrovich's story occurs when a visitor with a "cat-like mug" — one of Woland's retinue, likely Koroviev or a disguised demon — barges unannounced into his office. The visitor claims to have come to discuss business, but Prokhor Petrovich, irritated by the intrusion, shouts, "Get him out of here, devil take me!" The demon immediately takes him at his word. In an instant, the visitor vanishes, and Prokhor Petrovich himself disappears, leaving behind only his empty suit, which continues to sit at the desk and work. The suit is wearing a necktie, has a fountain pen sticking from its pocket, and is capable of speaking in Prokhor Petrovich's voice, tracing on paper with a dry pen. It even answers the telephone and haughtily tells the weeping Anna Richardovna, "I ask you not to sob in the office!" The suit is utterly indifferent to the turmoil around it, embodying the pure, inhuman function of bureaucracy.
Consequences and Aftermath
Anna Richardovna, hysterical with terror, runs through the building clutching at the lapels of the bookkeeper Vassily Stepanovich Lastochkin, crying out that the devil has taken her boss. She reports that the staff has all run away "like rabbits." The police are summoned and arrive with calm, business-like strides, but the suit remains at its desk, writing. The incident is one of a series of supernatural disruptions that plague Moscow's official institutions on the day after Woland's seance, and it contributes to the general atmosphere of chaos and the collapse of the normal order. The transformation of Prokhor Petrovich into a suit is a literal and devastating satire of the dehumanization inherent in Soviet officialdom, where the person is entirely replaceable by the uniform and the function. It is a perfect example of the carnivalesque "dethroning" that Bakhtin describes, where a figure of authority is stripped of his human attributes and reduced to a grotesque, mechanical object.
