Love hurts

Lastly, during the first bizarre exchange between Woyzeck and his love interest Marie, the disturbed Woyzeck voices his restlessness and concerns about destruction, an indication of volatility. Scene 2 captures Marie’s truthful foreboding, as she declares to herself after Woyzeck’s departure, “he’ll go crazy with those thoughts of his” (533). Despite Marie knowing that Woyzeck is unwell, she treats him with disinterest. Marie’s behavior suggests that although she and Woyzeck have a child together, she has previously refused to marry him, and thereby chosen to entertain her time with a muscular soldier of higher rank. Marie neither admits nor denies her relationship with the Drum Major; rather she responds to both Woyzeck’s advances and accusations nonchalantly. Because Woyzeck gives Marie monetary compensation for their child, the mother privately feels guilty for treating her former lover in such a cold manner, but publicly acts of her own free will. Marie’s behavior infuriates Woyzeck and he confronts her about cheating, only to be snubbed. As she dances by in the street with the Drum Major, demonstrating her barefaced adultery and careless behavior amongst townspeople, a mortified Woyzeck becomes enraged. “From this point on [Woyzeck] is tortured by jealousy and despair, obsessed by visions and dreams of a knife, and commanded by ubiquitous voices to kill his unfaithful paramour” (Richards, 153). In a fit of rage, Woyzeck succumbs to the demands of the voices and murders the beautiful, red-lipped mother of his child, stabbing her several times. When questioned by townspeople at the inn about his blood soaked hands, Woyzeck further displays his lunacy in a disjointed rant, screaming, “Damn it, what do you want? What do you care? ... You think I killed someone? Am I a murderer? What are you staring at?” (541). Returning to the crime scene to look for the murder weapon, he talks to the murdered mother of his child and insists that her indiscretions made her black like sin, but by killing her, he has redeemed her soul. Büchner employs escalating thoughts of murder and degrading events to create a crazed protagonist who spins into a frantic oblivion. Woyzeck remains tormented by the discombobulated thoughts in his head until the closing of the play.

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