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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Woyzeck, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Human Nature
Secrecy, Paranoia, and Betrayal
Poverty and Suffering
Character vs. Circumstance
Summary
Analysis
Soldiers Woyzeck and Andres are in a field splitting wood. A town is visible in the distance. Woyzeck says the place is cursed. He gestures toward a patch of mushrooms growing nearby, apparently the spot “where the head rolls” at night. Woyzeck says that "Someone picked it up” by mistake once and was dead three days later. Andres, meanwhile, sings a song about rabbits in the grass.
Not much is known about Woyzeck at this point, but the menial labor he and Andres are performing here indicates that they have a low rank and aren’t all that important to their higher-ups. Woyzeck’s odd, confusing remarks about mushrooms and curses, meanwhile, indicate that he may be somewhat mentally unstable.
Themes
Woyzeck stamps on the ground and tells Andres it feels hollow. He thinks it’s freemasons. Then he notes how quiet it is. Andres is scared. Woyzeck looks ahead at the town in the distance, noting how bright it is. The men hear the sound of trumpets and drums in the distance and head into town.
Woyzeck makes more odd remarks, further suggesting that he is paranoid or mentally unwell in some regard. That he and Andres immediately head into town at the sound of trumpets and drums—likely a signal from the army they’re serving—points to their low rank. As mere soldiers, they must submit to the demands of their higher-ups.
Themes
