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
Andres and Woyzeck are in the barracks. Woyzeck looks through his possessions to see if there’s anything Andres might want. Andres tells Woyzeck to drink some Schnapps mixed with gunpowder—that might cure his fever.
It's unclear why Woyzeck is giving away his belongings, but it’s plausible that he is preparing to take some critical next step. Andres, in suggesting that Woyzeck drink a likely deadly cocktail of alcohol and gunpowder to cure his “fever,” implies that Woyzeck’s delusional thinking and the plans he has formulated as a result are so self-destructive that death would be a preferable outcome.
Themes
