Woyzeck as a Vehicle for the Discussion of Gun Violence
Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck is widely considered the first “modern” for many reasons, not the least of which being that the play features the decidedly unnoble, proletarian Woyzeck in the tragic protagonist role usually reserved for virtuous kings and princes (Scanlan). Of this tragic protagonist, Richard Schechner asserts in his seventh of twenty-nine “Notes Towards an Imaginary Production” that the reader shouldn’t pity Woyzeck, and instead should view him “coldly if you wish to do him justice” because “pity is the death of revolution” (13). It is dangerously easy to present and to view Woyzeck simply as a victim of the broken world which abused him. As western viewers conditioned to root …show more content…
This creates a literal reference to the discussion of mass shootings previously only alluded to, and to de-romanticize the murder. By replacing the knife with a gun, it robs Marie’s murder of any sense of tragic romance. In killing Marie with a knife, Woyzeck had to look her in the eye and physically feel as she died by his hand. The murder was vile, but could be seen as passionate in its gory violence. It could be construed as a jealous lover’s catharsis, and required Woyzeck to have conviction in his action due to the sheer effort it would take to actually kill Marie with only a knife. By replacing the knife with a gun, the murder becomes impersonal. There is a disconnect between the act of pulling a trigger and actually taking human life. Woyzeck doesn’t really make the decision to kill Marie, he makes the decision to pull a trigger. This makes him a coward instead of a jealous lover and and therefore un-pitiable, crystallizing Schechner’s seventh point. Further, in depersonalizing Marie’s murder, we emphasize the desperation of Woyzeck’s action. There is no longer such a clear cause-and-effect for her murder, and instead the action plays as a frantic attempt of Woyzeck to gain control as his physical and mental state spirals out of control due to the abuses and manipulation of the Doctor and Captain, and his pre-existing paranoia and possible schizophrenia. In this way the production …show more content…
It is this dichotomy which Richard Schechner and Barbara Rugen emphasize in their insistence that we do not pity or sentimentalize Woyzeck as a character, and it is this dichotomy which mirrors and invites analysis into our own American problem with violence and refusal to acknowledge this problem’s complex and layered roots. Woyzeck is tragic and flawed, but he is also a victim, and it is the goal of my hypothetical production to reconcile his despicable actions with the chaotic existence that drove him to these acts, not to romanticize a villain, but to force the audience to realize the complexities of a very real
Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck is widely considered the first “modern” for many reasons, not the least of which being that the play features the decidedly unnoble, proletarian Woyzeck in the tragic protagonist role usually reserved for virtuous kings and princes (Scanlan). Of this tragic protagonist, Richard Schechner asserts in his seventh of twenty-nine “Notes Towards an Imaginary Production” that the reader shouldn’t pity Woyzeck, and instead should view him “coldly if you wish to do him justice” because “pity is the death of revolution” (13). It is dangerously easy to present and to view Woyzeck simply as a victim of the broken world which abused him. As western viewers conditioned to root …show more content…
This creates a literal reference to the discussion of mass shootings previously only alluded to, and to de-romanticize the murder. By replacing the knife with a gun, it robs Marie’s murder of any sense of tragic romance. In killing Marie with a knife, Woyzeck had to look her in the eye and physically feel as she died by his hand. The murder was vile, but could be seen as passionate in its gory violence. It could be construed as a jealous lover’s catharsis, and required Woyzeck to have conviction in his action due to the sheer effort it would take to actually kill Marie with only a knife. By replacing the knife with a gun, the murder becomes impersonal. There is a disconnect between the act of pulling a trigger and actually taking human life. Woyzeck doesn’t really make the decision to kill Marie, he makes the decision to pull a trigger. This makes him a coward instead of a jealous lover and and therefore un-pitiable, crystallizing Schechner’s seventh point. Further, in depersonalizing Marie’s murder, we emphasize the desperation of Woyzeck’s action. There is no longer such a clear cause-and-effect for her murder, and instead the action plays as a frantic attempt of Woyzeck to gain control as his physical and mental state spirals out of control due to the abuses and manipulation of the Doctor and Captain, and his pre-existing paranoia and possible schizophrenia. In this way the production …show more content…
It is this dichotomy which Richard Schechner and Barbara Rugen emphasize in their insistence that we do not pity or sentimentalize Woyzeck as a character, and it is this dichotomy which mirrors and invites analysis into our own American problem with violence and refusal to acknowledge this problem’s complex and layered roots. Woyzeck is tragic and flawed, but he is also a victim, and it is the goal of my hypothetical production to reconcile his despicable actions with the chaotic existence that drove him to these acts, not to romanticize a villain, but to force the audience to realize the complexities of a very real