Money & Corruption Essay

It has been said that money is the root of all evil, but what kind of sin is man willing to commit in exchange for personal gain? The Visit by Friedreck Durenmmat and Mother Courage by Bertlot Brecht are two plays which portray how money and wealth corrupts the human mind and drive peoples to commit hanus crimes. Both stories have similarities and differences of the circumstances in the play but both of them lead to the same outcome. We can see the corruption in both stories present in individuals and in societies. In both plays the corruption is justified by preposterous reasoning presented by the characters. The blunt realization from the character about how they get corrupted is present in both stories, although we can clearly see that the characters aren’t uneasy for what they have become. In Friedreck Durenmmat’s The Visit, lead character Claire Zachanassian plays a filthy rich independent gold digger who demands justice in exchange for one million marks half for the township and the other half for the people. The harsh reality is openly exposed when Madam Claire Zachanassian says that she will only find justice with the execution of a simple townsman which had impregnated her and denied maternity in the past. What had happened to Madam Claire in her past drove her out of Guellen, the town in which the play is set in, and forced her to work in a brothel. She then met a rich man in the brothel and married him and when he died inherited his money, and she has been marrying rich men and divorcing them ever since. After she became rich, she came back to Guellen and ordered Ill’s death, the man who impregnated her. At first when the condition is set all the towns people object violently against her offer and refuse it completely, but this scene is filled dramatical irony as there is a detected scent by the reader of the want for that some of money. There is a sense of foreshadowing at the end of the speech where Claire Zachanasian replies to the townspeople after instantly rebelling against the offer with the two simple words â€Å"I’ll wait†. These two words give us in a way the certainty that he is going to be executed. The corruption of the society of Guellen is clear after the first day of Madam Claire’s proposal. This is evident when all the townspeople begin buying new shoes, wearing clean garments and are buying luxury products all on credit. Before Madam Claire came, the town of Guellen was described as being a very poor area with all of its inhabitants including the mayor living in very simple lifestyles. When the townspeople buy these luxury products we can clearly see that their minds have become corrupted, and that all of them are certain that Ill is going to be executed or murdered. When Ill goes to the mayor and the sheriff for help and demands the arrest of Madame Claire as she has posed a threat on his life, they deny his allegations and reassure that no one wants to execute him. Of course the reader knows that all the townspeople are planning to kill him but they don’t know who will do it and when. At this part of the story the people of Guellen are waiting. When Ill goes to the train station in an attempt to escape from, he finds all the townspeople waiting for him there and they stop him from boarding the train. We can also see the corruption of the higher ranking persons in society, such as the mayor and the church, where they change their decision for the abolishment of the death penalty. The mayor calls a towns meeting for the discussion over the issue of reimplementation of the death penalty. Of course in the end all vote for it except for the church and the schoolmaster which abstain rather than vote against although they are going against their beliefs. In this scene we can see to what extent does corruption extends to where the high ranking officials in the town are corrupted. The mayor which said â€Å"we would rather have poverty than blood on our hands† was actually contemplating executing Ill in exchange for money. The last straw of the corruption in the play is when the schoolmaster goes to Claire Zachanassian in despair and begs her to forget about the execution of Ill. The schoolmaster is a realist and can see through all of the townspeople. He knows that Ill is going to die in the end and can see how the townspeople are becoming corrupted and how they are being seduced by the large sum of money. The schoolmaster pleads to Madam Zachanasian to let her â€Å"feelings for humanity prevail†. Here we can see that the schoolmaster is trying to communicate with the soft side of madam Zachanasian as the power is clearly in her hands and in the money. Here we can conclude that power is in the hands of the wealthy. They can completely corrupt societies and individuals and make them commit horrific sins that no one in their right mind would think about doing. In the play The Visit money corrupted each and every individual in society after they heard that she will be donating one million marks for the township and the individuals. As soon as they hear the deal they start thinking about fulfilling the condition and actually killing Ill. We can see to what extent and how far people are willing to go in exchange for personal gain. In the play all this corruption is justified by justice. Many of the townspeople state that they only want to execute Ill so that justice can be served. This justification of course is false and they are only doing it for the money. In the play Mother Courage and her children the circumstances and the situations are different, but the outcome is similar. The play is set in medieval Europe where there are many wars and conflicts between different countries. In the play, there is evidence of individuals getting corrupted as well as peoples getting corrupted. We first feel a sense of corruption in the second scene when Eilef, the once known brave and courageous man, is recognized for raiding the local peasants and stealing their cattle so that he can feed his hungry men. Here we can see that Eilef is taking the opportunity of the war and his status in the army to go and raid local peasants so that he can steal cattle. In the following scene the Chaplain and the cook appear to be talking about politics and discussing the war. The cook ironically remarks that the king is lucky to justify his war by god, otherwise he would be accused of seeking profits only. Here we can see that see that the people have realized that it is all because of personal gain. In a way, the children of Mother Courage are killed for the motif of money. First Swiss Cheese is executed because he has hid a box which contains a sum of money which the protestants have accumulated from the war. Mother courage then tries then to bribe the soldiers that want to execute him thanking god there is corruption and man is corruptible saying † Thank God they’re corruptible. They’re humans and after money like the rest of us. They’re not wolves. As long as there’s corruption there’s hope. Bribes! They’re a man’s best chance. As long as judges go on taking money, then there’s some chance of justice. † Eilef, after being described as wearing luxurious clothes, is executed for the numerous raids on the local peasants were he stole the belongings of these pitiful peasants and became rich on the expense of their lives. Last but not least Kattrin dies as she is beating the drum warning the peasants that Catholic soldiers are coming to raid their town and steal their belongings. All of Mother Courage’s children had the same tragic fate and all of their deaths are connected to money. In this play, we can see how money can corrupt societies and countries on a large scale. We can see how different people were corrupted in different ways all for the same reason. War changes order into chaos, and man takes the opportunity of chaos so that he can make money on the expense of others, sometimes killing others. The play Mother Courage and her Children vividly describes how peoples and leaders can commit numerous crimes in order to get wealthy and how simple humans can change suddenly into immoral humans after being seduced by wealth. In conclusion, we have an answer to the question at hand. Man is willing to kill, declare war, torture others and steel for the sole purpose of getting money. Man always finds a way to get money on the expense of others without even thinking. Both plays bluntly discussed the issue of corruption, money and how there is no conscience or moral values when it comes to making money, which were major themes in both plays. Last but not least, it is clear to us that man is willing to do anything in exchange for money.