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The Insect Play Analysis

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Karel Čapek is primarily known as a writer of social and political commentary that does not subscribe to one set of ideas. Rather, Čapek prefers to question all ideologies including his own. He does not only limit his political ideas to his pieces for his job as a journalist, but also includes them in his fiction, such as in R.U.R, War with the Newts, and The Insect Play. He discusses ideas such as fascism, technological advancements, social disasters, and other problems caused by humans. In his writings, Čapek is extremely critical of political and economic systems with capitalism and communism being topics of his journalistic pieces as well as topics of satire in many of his works of fiction.
Karel Čapek’s 1920 play R.U.R, the author critiques …show more content…

Their love for each other is not really for each other, rather it is for what they call their pile or their capital -- a little ball that their life savings has been put into. After they create one, Mr. Beetle is eager to create a second. When Mrs. Beetle asks why, his response is “Silly – so that we can have two, of course,” (Insect Play 132). Mr. Beetle is a clear representation of capitalist greed from this idea alone. The scene ends with another beetle stealing the pile and Mrs. Beetle chasing after him thinking it’s her husband. When Mr. Beetle returns and is told that both his wife and his capital are gone, he is inconsolable, but just for his pile. No further proof is needed to discover where Mr. Beetle’s heart truly lies, as he is already another good representation of the stereotypical capitalist business man.
Despite his criticisms on capitalism, Čapek by no means subscribes to the ideas of communism, the political system many believe is the opposite of capitalism. In his 1924 piece in The Present titled “Why Am I Not a Communist,” Čapek discusses his concerns about the ideology. His main argument against the system is that he is on the side of the poor, who are the people a communist government takes advantage of. Čapek

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