Woyzech's context

Buchner wrote Woyzeck during the last year of his life, and did not complete it. Certainly, the social conditions of Germany in the late 19th century influenced it. The main themes are about the dehumanizing effects of poverty, class, and cruelty between humans. Think about the fact that Marx would write Das Kapital only a decade later. Artistically, Buchner is expressing his connecting with the German Naturalist movement, which took the Realist approach (show life as it really is) and emphasized the gritty, ugly details of it. But the play also stands as a play out of time because of how expressionist it is, with its disjointed scenes and almost otherworldly emphasis amidst the realistic poverty. Lastly, it's worth noting the play was inspired by a real incident, showing that Buchner was interested in the effects of a stilted class system on human behavior.