Bertolt Brecht’s classic two-toned play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is about both gangland Chicago and Nazi Germany. Brecht uses the fictional story of Arturo Ui to parallel the truthful rise of Hitler in Nazi Germany around the same time. Both Ui and Hitler are totalitarian rulers of their relative domains, each with their own secret agendas and a thirst for power that they will attain in any way they need to. If they have to kill people, so be it. Violence and corruption only helped these rulers because they were able to threaten others by making their presence known. Ui rises to power through the cauliflower sales business, meant to represent the rum-running and bootleg alcohol rings that existed in the 1930’s Chicago. Hitler rose to power in 1930’s Germany by charming the people of Germany, convincing them he would be the right leader, and gaining a position as Chancellor of Germany. The title of the play states that Arturo’s rise is “resistible,” meaning that it could have been completely avoided. This paper aims to analyse this claim through the context of the play and the historical background, the play’s text, and the UTSC live performance.
Brecht makes use of the world “resistible” as a key term in distinguishing Ui’s rise to power as well as Hitler’s and makes sure to accomplish his message using this specific term. It is a very specific term that Brecht chose strategically to further the meaning and the significance of his play. Using “resistible” in the title, Brecht is acknowledging that these events, Nazi Germany and Ui’s rise in Chicago, could have very easily been avoided if people had acted differently as a nation. By saying that the rise to power of these evil dictators was “resistible,” Brecht is somewhat accusing the public of allowing this situation to happen and placing the blame on the people of these countries. Hitler and Ui rose to power because they could. They saw the option to further their power and they took it because they figured out a system to do so. No one stopped these men from becoming the terrible rulers that they did, and therefore Brecht is saying that this is the reason that their power became such a problem. If these people had considered what was happening and taken the proactive means to stop them, neither Hitler nor Ui would have caused so much destruction and death in their quest for power and total domination.
Arturo Ui rises to power in the play in a very similar fashion to the way Hitler did. Both of them edged in, and then began to gain power and slowly let it take over their attitudes and mindsets. At the beginning of Hitler’s reign, he believed that those who had been in power before him had not been strong enough to utilize the power of Germany to better the country, and that to do this one needed to use more than just politics (Andrews 511). He knew that in order to encompass the power he desired he had to appeal to more than just political status, and that there were things that he needed to do to establish himself that might not be agreeable. Some of these things were not legal or ethical, and some led to the marginalization and death of certain groups of people. Both of these men become so powerful that they are synonymous with their relative areas. For example, in the 1930’s Hitler was representative of Germany as a whole because of his totalitarian government (Hauner 15). This is why sometimes historians and history books will refer to Germany during this time as Hitler’s Germany. In this same regard, while Ui is a fictional character, some of the gangsters in Chicago during the prohibition era also became representative of the city. The most notable example of this is Al Capone’s Chicago. In the play, Ui is representative of a Capone-esque personage, and can be considered the king of the Chicago gangsters.
Hitler’s rise to power was resistible because it could have been completely avoided. Hitler did not use violence or war to overthrow the government, and instead he was handed over power. The people of Germany did not foresee the actions that Hitler was going to take once he came to power. Historians have argued that Hitler himself did not even have a set plan or “programme” for once he gained power (Hauner 15). There is a lack of physical evidence to support the idea that he had a program or set plan (Hauner 15), and therefore he did not have any warning signs or predictions that could be seen by the general public. Once he gained his position, he remained very distant from other members of government and rarely wrote anything down on paper (Kershaw 105). He even kept the Economics Minister out of the loop during the economic crisis of 1935-1936 (Kershaw 105). He remained mysterious and did not let people in on his plans, and therefore the people of Germany had let this mystery dictator become the head of their country instead of questioning his motives like they should have. To make matters worse, he had built his entire power style on the support of those closest to him, and even these people were out of the loop when it came to his plans (Kershaw 107). However, the problem with Hitler rested within the fact that he had been able to gain so much trust from the people and his partners in government that it did not matter what he had planned; people were going to support him anyway. He was seen as a charismatic and likeable leader at the beginning, and some people idolized him like a hero (Andrews 512). He appealed to everyone, including the common people. He once claimed, in May of 1933, that he “knew the life of the common person” (Andrews 514). In this sense Hitler was able to appeal to enough groups of people that he could easily capture their trust and hearts and make himself appear to be the solution for the country, without anyone making the effort to question him.
The last line of the play reads “Although the world stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again” (Brecht 128). This is meant as a direct warning to be careful as citizens of the world not to let this situation happen again. Both of these leaders did terrible things during their time in power. The ghost of Roma tells Ui, “Treason has made you big, treason will make you fall” (Brecht 120). This is Ui’s own warning message within the play, telling him that one day he is going to get what is coming to him due to the actions he has committed. Every bad leader must fall at one point or another, and those who are truly evil always have some type of treason, rebellion, or revolution to get them out of their position. One could extend the warning of resistible rule to the present day because there are a lot of things in the current world that could parallel the rise of Hitler and Ui. Some might argue that the current status of the United States election could parallel these themes, as many have compared the rise of Donald Trump to the rise of Hitler. Trump has staged his position based on hatred and the marginalization of specific ethnic groups of people, but people still seem to want to vote for him and support him. In this sense, the Republicans of the United States are giving Trump the power to spread his hatred, even though this hatred could easily be resisted if he stopped receiving the support of the people. This parallel was even pointed out by Professor Freeman in the pamphlet that was handed out at the production of the play. This could also be used as a warning against many of the modern day capitalist corporations that pose a threat to the government, world peace, and the environment through big businesses.
In the UTSC performance, the resistible nature of Ui’s rise is showcased through the characters around him. While the play is about Ui and his rise to power through the cauliflower sales business and criminal activity, the supporting characters represent the resistible progress that he made. Without these characters and the actors that played them, Ui would never be able to become such a powerful force. They allow Ui to do the things that he begins to do, and they watch on the sidelines as the power goes right to Ui’s head. The side characters were important for this specific point, and many of the supporting actors and actresses were very effective in showcasing the power that was simply handed to Ui. In particular, the person who played Roma did an excellent job in enforcing the position of Ui’s sidekick. He seemed to be just the right combination of serious and funny that was necessary to make the play such a strong visual performance.
In conclusion, Bertolt Brecht set the tone for a major lesson in government, power, and who we trust as citizens of the world. In The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, the audience is shown the dangers of letting power and control go to the head of someone who is willing to take any measure possible to ensure that he does not fall in his position. Ui rises to power because he begins to be in control of the cauliflower sales and he is able to threaten, pay off, and murder people who get in his way. He then begins to see himself as invincible and untouched by even the most authoritative of police. It is important to remember Arturo Ui and Adolf Hitler as warnings for what could happen if people do not make educated votes and do their research when it comes time for people to be elected to the government or any position of power. Brecht showcases this message by making the parallel between gangland Chicago and Nazi Germany, both of which were real events that shook the foundations of their various locations, and pose as lessons to be learned about who people trust with power.
Works Cited
Andrews, Herbert D. “Hitler, Bismarck, and History.” German Studies Review 14.3 (1991):
511-532.
Brecht, Bertolt. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Trans. Jennifer Wise. London: Methuen Drama,
2013.
Hauner, Milan. “Did Hitler Want a World Dominion?” Journal of Contemporary History 13.1
(1978): 15-32.
Kershaw, Ian. “‘Working Towards the Fuhrer’: Reflections on the Nature of the Hitler
Dictatorship.” Contemporary European History 2.2 (1993): 103-118.
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. By Bertolt Brecht. Dir. Barry Freeman. Leigha Lee Browne
Theatre, UTSC, Toronto. 10-12 and 15-17 March 2016. Performance.
