The
Beaver Coat parallels The Broken Jug on
its view of the justice system. Both use
comedy to depict the various flaws within the judicial system and government in
general, although they go about it in different ways. One shows the flaw in the person of power,
while the other shows how normal people can get away with crime.
As we talked about last week in
class, The Broken Jug shows how
corruption can seep through within a branch of government. Judge Adam was as crooked as a judge could
be, and almost got away with it. The way the plot unfolds helps show how Adam
is immoral.
However, in The Beaver Coat, Mrs. Wolff is able to outwit the government
officials to provide the main source of entertainment throughout the play. She is able to manipulate both her friends
and family to help her deceive government executives and direct their
suspicions elsewhere. Furthermore,
unlike in The Broken Jug, she is able
to get away with it. Her deceptive
tricks work better than Judge Adam’s did, and she is able to fool everyone and
leave the thievery a mystery.
Mrs. Wolff had more brains than
Judge Adam. She had innocence on her
side. Everyone thought that she was this
innocent, diligent worker who was kind and sweet hearted. Von Wehrhahn states on page 181, “I think
very highly of Mrs. Wolff. That woman
works as hard as four men. My wife says
if Mrs. Wolff doesn’t come, she has to get two women to do her washing—and the
opinions the women express aren’t bad either.”
Little did they know she was stealing from right underneath their
noses. She kept her good reputation in
order to fool the people around her.
Judge Adam never had a good reputation to begin with. He was a terrible judge in every aspect. Both plays were able to show corruption in
government by showing the different perspectives from which it could come.
I thought about the connection between Judge Adam and Mrs. Wolff, too. I think that if Adam had a little more composure in the courtroom, he could have gotten away with breaking the jug. Mrs. Wolff stayed extremely calm when she was talking to others about the thefts, which is how she was able to keep her secret.
ReplyDeleteThough not as corrupted as Judge Adam, I thought it was interesting that Von Wehrhahn was very biased in his judgement. Because he was so set in ignoring whatever Mr. Krüger came to report and trying to pin Dr. Fleischer, Mrs. Wolfe was able to get away with a lot. If Von Wehrhahn had really been as unpersuaded as he was trying to be, he probably would have caught on a lot faster.
ReplyDeleteIf it is true as you claim that "Both use comedy to depict the various flaws within the judicial system and government in general," what does this mean for _The Beaver Coat_ which does not end with the socially disruptive element being exiled (or rehabilitated)? We'll explore this aspect in class.
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