Money rules the world', 'Everyone can be bought, it's just a question of price' ('The Visit' by F. Durrenmat) - What is the power of money in the modern world?

Agnieszka Grochowska - 08.10.2018 @ 16:18

I read the tragicomedy 'The Visit' written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and the book has pushed me to reflect on a power of money in the modern world. You can find my thoughts about it here

Sad, but real!

by Katarzyna Bebak, VIII LO Cracow/Poland

Money is said to make the world go round. People have always believed that everything is for sale. Most of them think that bribery doesn’t concern them personally, but sooner or later it turns out to be just a question of time. Actually we are all the same and sometimes we act against to our conscience.

The residents of Güllen from the tragic-comedy written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt ‘The Visit’ have never expected that one day they will betray Ill-their neighbor and friend- and just ‘sell’ him, because the sense of community and humanity used to be most important values for them. However, the financial proposal offered by Claire was attractive enough to resist the temptation. That’s how they decided to kill Ill. With dispatch did they find justification of their behaviour. All this was done for money, which could put an end to poverty in their city and improve their lives. The most terrible for me was the fact, that even Ill’s wife and children cooperated with Ill’s murderers. They put money before their family bonds. So what is the value of human relations, emotions and feelings?

Nowadays there are lots of similar situations. Majority of celebrities promise themselves not to appear in commercials and ads. Most sportspeople declare to be faithful to their national sports clubs. However, when they find out how high their salary can be, they change their attitude immediately. Upsetting but true it is how weak and dependent on the money a contemporary man is. Despite all their believes and values! ‘Every man is for sale’- that is really distressing- but real.

Can we act against this? Or are we doomed to become fully dependent on money?

Scene from theatrical performance in Warszawa in 2002

Katarzyna Bebak - 13.11.2018 @ 17:40

Hi Katarzyna, I liked your text and found the topic quite interesting. I haven't read the book myself but you did a good job summarising the main story. It seems like the people in the book are very easy to manipulate since I don't see myself or my friends do that to their family but then agian no one would expect that so what makes me any diffrent. I am not sure if the system where money is worth everything is going to change or if it's even possible to change but I don't know if it should change. This may not seem like an optimal system but I don't know what other system could be better. It should obviuosly not be to the point where you will sell your family memebers for money but I don't really see why it's wrong for athletes to be in ads and commercials to make money.

I hope i can hear your reply, Gabriel

Gabriel Lindström - 29.11.2018 @ 11:39

While I was reading your article, I remembered a quote from the movie "The miracle of Wörgl" (This miracle was an answer of the local mayor to the economical crisis): "Money is an agreement. We all agreed, that this scrap of paper is worth this or that much." So I think, it is pretty safe to say that not only the worth of money is determined and set by a common agreement, but also the worth of basically everything else, be it a human, an animal or any inanimate object. If the majority of one community concurs, that the life of one person, wether they`re young or old, alone or with a family, is worth less than, let`s say, one barrel of wheat, this becomes their thruth, it turns into a common occurence to trade life for food, just as common as it is for us to trade a piece of paper for basically anything necessary or unnecessary to live.

Also, we humans are herd animals and therefore tend to yield to flock mentality, which indeed makes us easy to manipulate, in my opinion. We are so used to striving for the same thing that everybody else strives for, that we don`t want to leave the comfort of being like anybody else and risk becoming an outcast. I think this includes you, this includes me, this includes all of us human beings.

Mirjam Kronthaler - 19.12.2018 @ 19:00

In my opinion it's very sad that money truly rules the world. People will do anything for money, like you said, wheather it's killing their family members or betraying their close friends. Moreover, everybody has to work half of their valuable life, just to "be able" to live on this world. You have to earn money to have a roof above your head and to get food, which definetly is a basic human need. Also through working hard, many people get weak and sick and have to pay the money, they worked so hard for, to get heathy again. There are so many things in life, that are more important than money. True friendship, stunning moments and seeing beauty in all the small things is worth more than thausands of euros to me. If I really think about the system, I think it's just crazy, how our world is driven.

Leandra Kreisser - 15.01.2019 @ 21:16

Hi Katarzyna! I really liked your article. I read the book "The Visit", too and I was very surprised about the decision of Güllen`s society and how fast the mood in the village changed. I think they were able to kill him, because they convinced each other. In addition they talked a lot about Ill`s bad actions of the past, to feel less guilty.

I think, getting influenced or tempted by money to act unfair or mean, is very easy. This is very dangerous and we should always keep the things in mind that are more important to us, than money.

Charlotte Wittlich - 22.01.2019 @ 17:00

I also read "The Visit" and in my opinion the book is very interesting because its content isn't like in all the other books. It's a story which animates you to think about your life and you habits that have to do with money. And it keeps being gripping until you reach the last page of the book. It's shocking to see how fast people can change if money plays a role.

Hannah Daxer - 26.01.2019 @ 12:35