The Beaver Coat – The Contrast Within

There were a few contrasts within this play. Among the few that I found, my favorite one would be,

Von Wehrhahn.  “…. And it’s as true when I say here, Mrs. Wolff is an honest soul, as it is when I tell you with the same certainty, your Dr. Fleischer is an extremely dangerous fellow.”

The judge is someone the public relies on for truth, he is the man that decides if another man is guilty or innocent. In this comedy, it is obvious that judge von Wehrhahn do not see good from evil. It is described in the play that Mrs. Wolff is responsible for the theft of the fire wood as well as the beaver coat. She is both deceptive and smart, and is capable of covering up her tracks so well that no one suspects her of stealing. However, Judge von Wehrhahn’s arrogance and ignorance has led him to believe that Mrs. Wolff is both honest and trustworthy. He only wants to uncover and arrest the sinister and the politically outlawed people in town and is completely blind towards a criminal right in front of him. To me, this is reflective of the foolishness of authorities in reality. Authorities are often so sure of themselves that they would not consider anything but their own point of view. They only cared about climbing up the political stairways to the top that they would do anything to get there, even if it involves stepping on a few innocents.

On the contrary, even though Dr. Fleicher reads about twenty different newspapers and talks to many free thinking people, there was not anything dangerous about him. He was not secretly plotting a revolution or attack on the government. If anything, he was portrayed as a loving father with a normal family and a friendly attitude. He even turned pale when Mrs. Wolff mentioned being locked up in jail. However, the judge is again lacking critical thinking when he assumes Dr. Fleicher is an anarchist based on Motes’ sole opinions. This is again reflective of the authorities’ decisions towards policies that are defective because they refuse to consider views that are less beneficial to them. Instead, they choose to claim views that are more likely to be accepted by the public at large, stabilizing their credibility in the process.

The Broken Jug: Adam's Inappropriate Actions as a Judge

One of the first things I notice in this play was how Judge Adam acted towards the plaintiffs and defendants. When the towns people first came in and sat down, Judge Adam did not ask what the complaint was but just sat there. He had to be prompted by district judge Walter to ask questions. This continues as the case moves forward. Judge Adam proves his incompetence as a judge by not asking questions, siding with Frau Martha, and threatening to beat Ruprecht for speaking out of turn. Not only does this demonstrate his incompetence but it also shows that he's got something to hide. One of the most recent judge scandals that I can remember is where the judge on the Shannon Christian/ Christopher Newsome case revealed that he was under the influence while presiding over the case and was dismissed. Much of the case had to be retried, which leads me to the fact that Judge Adam was a very heft drinker. He was drunk the night before and then got up and had another drink. Maybe he's going off of the "take a hair from the dog that bit you" but I still think that him drinking before and during a case is dangerous considering alcohol clouds judgement. Even if he wasn't the cause of the case, Judge Adam could still be dismissed as Judge for simply not doing his job correctly. Judges are supposed to be the good in the community, but Judge Adam demonstrates that not all judges can be trusted.