Ernst Toller: Masse Mensch

This paper is the analysis of the drama Masse Mensch of the German playwright Ernst Toller (1893-1939). The work starts from the ethical-political commitment of Ernst Toller, by highlighting his direct involvement in the foundation of an anti-military union in 1917 and of a Räterepublik, as well as in the direct support to the worker movement, Socialism in particular. The analysis reveals the importance and the resulting influence of such a political commitment onto the literary production of the playwright. About the drama Masse Mensch it underlines the conflict between political commitment and private life, reflected in the characters. Through a specific analysis of the text, the work goes to the heart of both opposite concepts, contained in the title, which forms the background of the whole drama: “the individual” (Mensch) and “the mass” (Masse). Focusing on the two main characters, die Frau and der Namenlose, who reflect both main concepts, and following the development of the events in the text, the analysis allows to stress the dichotomy between controversial elements: love and politics, love and war, communism and capitalism, in relation to strike, revolution and utopia. The work ends with a focus on the characteristic elements of Expressionism in Toller’s drama, which give also the opportunity to make a parallel with Büchner’s drama Woyzeck.