The Beaver Coat: Mrs. Wolff
The
Beaver Coat is a comedy that revolves almost exclusively around the
unforgettable figure of that of the washwoman, Mrs. Wolff. With great skill and
exuberance, she manipulates friends and foes alike. She dominants both her
family and her friends, and she enlists their aid in outwitting the arrogant
justice of the peace who threatens her schemes for increasing her family’s wealth.
Mrs. Wolff is a
character all right. And I believe she is the most important character in this
play. She understands how to get involved with the people who can help her and
to get what she wants she wants from them. Although she is responsible for a
series of crimes, her victory of getting away of such crimes was not entirely
of her own doing. Judge Von Wehrhahn was too distracted by what he considers
his greater mission, which is rooting out the tendencies he suspects in Krueger
and even more in the quiet young scholar Dr. Fleisher, to notice what is
happening under his very nose.
Manipulation
of others for one’s private ends is not an endearing trait to have, but the
play has Mrs. Wolff direct it against her natural enemies Wehrhahn and Motes
and even her husband, Julius. Manipulating her husband is no challenge for Mrs.
Wolff given his naïve nature and limited intelligence. And she does so almost scornfully
by appealing to his fatherly instincts, casting slanders on his manhood, and
plying him with alcohol before giving him his marching orders.
The
Beaver Coat’s ending is a bold difference from the sacred tradition that the
guilty must be punished and justice is served. That Mrs. Wolff escapes
punishment and will continue in her wicked ways focuses attention on the
relativity of legality and introduces an element of reality into the plot.
I had never thought of the ending as introducing an element of reality. But after reading your blog, I can see why you would say this. It does appear that the legal system can be distracted with other things by manipulation and therefore allows people like Mrs. Wolff to slip away. I really like thinking about it in this way, it has really helped me to accept the ending. :)
ReplyDeleteWill she get away with what she's done though? The ending is inconclusive and leaves it open to speculation. I do agree with Mrs. Wolff manipulating her friends and family all too easily but if we were her would we do the same thing? She's trying to better her oldest daughter so that she will make lots of money on stage, they live in extremely poor conditions considering they have to work until midnight or later to do everything they need to. Or is Mrs. Wolff being selfish in trying to get her daughter on stage so that she can provide for the family and Mrs. Wolff wouldn't have to work anymore? Just a thought.
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