Woyzeck - George Buchner
George Buchner was inspired by a real-life murder involving a poor man who was sentenced to death for stabbing his wife.
The protagonist, Woyzeck is of a lower economic class. He has a young illegitimate child by Marie, his common-law wife. He lives in the military barracks with his friend and confidant, Andres, and is paid as a barber. He is also a subject of the Doctor's experiment, living on a diet of peas so that the effects on his body and mind may be studied. It is this, supposedly that ultimately is his undoing, being weak of mind in the first place. Woyzeck loves his family, but Marie's infidelity is the catalyst for his descent into madness and murder. He is considered an archetype of human suffering. Woyzeck is a weak willed character in the beginning of the play--very susceptible to manipulation and suggestion. He is compared to an animal in several cases, the most obvious is his comparison to a carnival horse who can count. Buchner is suggesting that the lower classes equate with mindless animals, only interested in basic animal instincts and easily influenced by stronger minds.
Critics suggest that Buchner is saying that the poor are the purest class because they are untainted by pretension and laziness. Even though this also makes them unrefined and animalistic, it is preferable to the kind of inaction or moral depravity represented by the middle-class figures: the Officer, Doctor, and Drum-Major, specifically. Woyzeck's poverty also connects him more deeply to Christ; a poor man who was capable of the greatest and holiest things. Woyzeck is born on the day of the Feast of the Annunciation, which celebrates Christ's conception. He is also the same age Christ was when he was crucified.
Buchner seems to suggest Woyzeck is closer to God through his poverty and suffering (another major theme). However, his poverty is also the source of his physical and emotional suffering, and his undoing. Other themes include sexuality, animal nature, and violence.
The play is sometimes called "Psychological realism" but most critics tag it the beginning of the naturalist movement, which later tackles symbolism, surrealism, and morphs into absurdism. Buchner wanted the play to have a disjointed, fragmented plot. One unifying characteristic of Naturalism is a belief in scientific determinism (the idea that events can be explained in terms of natural laws and reasoning.) If art must represent life, and science is part of life, then art must deal with scientific topics and adopt a scientific methodology. Most obvious is the examination of cause and effect in a given test subject.
Alban Berg, an Austrian composer, wrote an opera version of the play, Wozzeck, first performed in 1925. Additionally, film versions of the play have been produced, most notably Werner Herzog's 1979 version starring Klaus Kinski and Eva Mattes. Here's a few clips:
Werner Herzog's Wozzeck.
Trailer.
The protagonist, Woyzeck is of a lower economic class. He has a young illegitimate child by Marie, his common-law wife. He lives in the military barracks with his friend and confidant, Andres, and is paid as a barber. He is also a subject of the Doctor's experiment, living on a diet of peas so that the effects on his body and mind may be studied. It is this, supposedly that ultimately is his undoing, being weak of mind in the first place. Woyzeck loves his family, but Marie's infidelity is the catalyst for his descent into madness and murder. He is considered an archetype of human suffering. Woyzeck is a weak willed character in the beginning of the play--very susceptible to manipulation and suggestion. He is compared to an animal in several cases, the most obvious is his comparison to a carnival horse who can count. Buchner is suggesting that the lower classes equate with mindless animals, only interested in basic animal instincts and easily influenced by stronger minds.
Critics suggest that Buchner is saying that the poor are the purest class because they are untainted by pretension and laziness. Even though this also makes them unrefined and animalistic, it is preferable to the kind of inaction or moral depravity represented by the middle-class figures: the Officer, Doctor, and Drum-Major, specifically. Woyzeck's poverty also connects him more deeply to Christ; a poor man who was capable of the greatest and holiest things. Woyzeck is born on the day of the Feast of the Annunciation, which celebrates Christ's conception. He is also the same age Christ was when he was crucified.
Buchner seems to suggest Woyzeck is closer to God through his poverty and suffering (another major theme). However, his poverty is also the source of his physical and emotional suffering, and his undoing. Other themes include sexuality, animal nature, and violence.
The play is sometimes called "Psychological realism" but most critics tag it the beginning of the naturalist movement, which later tackles symbolism, surrealism, and morphs into absurdism. Buchner wanted the play to have a disjointed, fragmented plot. One unifying characteristic of Naturalism is a belief in scientific determinism (the idea that events can be explained in terms of natural laws and reasoning.) If art must represent life, and science is part of life, then art must deal with scientific topics and adopt a scientific methodology. Most obvious is the examination of cause and effect in a given test subject.
Alban Berg, an Austrian composer, wrote an opera version of the play, Wozzeck, first performed in 1925. Additionally, film versions of the play have been produced, most notably Werner Herzog's 1979 version starring Klaus Kinski and Eva Mattes. Here's a few clips:
Werner Herzog's Wozzeck.
Trailer.
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