Social, Cultural And Historical Background

Question 1

Who was Georg Buchner

Answer 1

-He was a German dramatist, born in 1813
-Buchner was the son of an army doctor, and studied medicine
-This tallies with Woyzeck being a soldier and the presence of a doctor, along with the in-depth medical terminology used in the play

Question 2

His works

Answer 2

He wrote three plays. All his work was politically and socially driven. His plays all featured short, abrupt scenes. Structurally, they were ahead of its time.

Question 3

Bucnher never finished Woyzeck

Answer 3

It was finished posthumously by various authors and translators. It has since become one of the most influential and most performed plays in German theatre.
It remained in fragments and unfinished until the time of his death in 1837. It wasn’t published until 1879, and not performed until 1913.

Question 4

Why Woyzeck is different

Answer 4

It was rare at the time of writing for a play to focus on the working classes. Woyzeck is often seen as a working-class tragedy.

Question 5

Context and what it reflects

Answer 5

It reflects the social and cultural tensions of the time, including the growing discontent with class inequality and the rise of scientific and psychological exploration

Question 6

What is Woyzeck loosely based on

Answer 6

• based on a real story that Buchner found his father investigated of a poor solider (Christian Woyzeck) who had killed his girlfriend out of jealousy.
  -the defence were trying to argue that Woyzeck was not of a ‘sane mind’
  -this was the first time mental health had really been considered in court- medicine had only ever been seen as physical health (although many doctors were conducting very obscure experiments on the lower classes).
  -Woyzeck was eventually found guilty and of sane mind and was publicly executed

Question 7

History of theatre at the time

Answer 7

Expressionism
- emerged primarily in Germany and was characterised by its focus on subjective reality, intense emotion, and the distortion of time and space
- aimed to express inner experiences, and psychological states of characters rather than presenting an objective, realistic portrayal of the world
- key features: exaggerated emotions, symbolic settings, highly stylised performances