I-Hsiang Chao

Prof. Pedersen

FWS 121

Weekly Response #7

November 2017

Introduction

In 1836, Woyzeck, a literary gem which would be discovered at the turn of the century, was

created by Georg Büchner. He died prematurely in the following year at the age of 23, but his play

reveals the concealed problems in the human social structure, which we are still not able to fix

nowadays. Structural suppression is uncompromisingly eloquently portrayed here, and trembled the

European society when it was published in 1879 and premiered in 1913; for the first time, the

Europeans were fascinated by the expressive capacity of Woyzeck and haunted by Büchner’s profound

understanding of capitalistic violence.

Preliminary argument

Woyzeck is a representation of the victimized class in the whole industrial capitalism structure,

while simultaneously he is also a perpetrator in a domestic scale; the ever-transferring yet unceasing

oppression was later personified in the trend of fin de siècle and expressionism. Essentially, Woyzeck is

a message that claims itself as a futile attempt to remedy capitalistic (on even fascistic) violence.

Outline

Woyzeck and his nihilistic thoughts

 Nihilism as an inevitable consequence of capitalism

The industrial capitalism in Europe during the 19th century

Woyzeck and the relation with capitalistic suppression (i.e. how it is portrayed in this play)

Suppression as a problematic element that undermines the society

Victim transferral: Woyzeck, domestic fulfillment and domestic violence

The family of Woyzeck and the capitalistic structure

Conclusion

Bibliography

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Cultural History of Human Experimentation in Georg Büchner's Dramatic Case Study

"Woyzeck"." Monatshefte 98, no. 1 (2006): 68-82. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30159786.

Büchner, Georg. The Major Works. Edited by Matthew Wilson Smith and translated by Henry J.

Schmidt. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012.

Orr, John. Tragic Drama and Modern Society. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1989.

Ramanathan, Geetha. Sexual Politics and the Male Playwright: The Portrayal of Women in Ten

Contemporary Plays. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996.

Richards, David G. Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck: A History of its Criticism. United States:

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Stromberg, Roland N. Realism, Naturalism and Symbolism: Modes of Thought and Expression

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