“They run like rats from the sinking ship,

Friend turns foe, servants won’t serve,

And our good old pal from the snack bar

Gives us the cold shoulder.

Where do morals go in times like these?”

The difficulties facing the Trust mirror those of most Germans in the 1920s-1930s. The harsh material reality bends the morals of those involved, making them desperate for any solution, no matter how immoral they recognize it to be. In “times like these” (8), the characters accept that their morality gives way to desperation, introducing The Dangers of Greed and Self-Interest into the play.

“He’s honest. And what’s more: he’s perceived as honest.”

Honesty is important, but not as important as the perception of honesty. Arturo Ui is not an honest man, for example, but people believe his lies and believe him to be honest. This allows him to lie at will, creating a false narrative that appeals to many people. The perception matters more than the reality, such is the dreamlike, absurd world which men like Ui can create.

“Negativity is treason.

You’ll just end up stabbing each other in the back, my boys.”

Dogsborough issues an ominous warning about the nature of alliances and The Inevitability of Betrayal. While the Trust do fracture, Dogsborough’s warning is particularly relevant to the paranoia and treachery that will envelop Ui’s crew. They will betray one another, just like Ui claims that they have been betrayed. Dogsborough is denounced as delusional by the Trust, but his comments come to pass in more ways than one.

“Ah, the poor gangster struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more.

A fickle public picks new heroes faster than the mob in Rome.”

Throughout the play, Ui is likened to a Shakespearean figure. Even in these early scenes, the language used to describe Ui is like that used by Macbeth in Macbeth, turning these allusions into an important motif in the play. Not only does this Shakespearean framing foreshadow Ui’s downfall, but it emphasizes the performative nature of his public persona. He is not so much an authentic person as someone assembled from popular scraps of imagination and emotional appeal.

“Keep an eye on him boys. Come on, Roma! I think we’re in business.”

Ui builds his movement on lies and paranoia. When he comes to understand that the seemingly honorable Dogsborough is actually corrupt, he is delighted. This revelation confirms Ui’s pessimistic worldview, in which everyone is as immoral and self-interested as himself. If he can reveal the corruption of such an esteemed figure, he believes, then he can do it to anyone.

“And the view of the lake, like silver before it’s minted

Into coins. And no sour smell of day-old beer!”

As he reaches the end of his life, Dogsborough laments his later turn to The Dangers of Greed and Self-Interest. He admits that he was motivated by money, so much so that the notion seeps into his language. The view of the lake, seen from the mansion that he bought with his ill-gotten gains, looks like coins in the process of being minted. Everywhere he looks, he sees the money that caused him to sell out his morality.

“Any mug tries to touch so much as a hair on your head, I’ll pump him full of lead!”

Ui delights in corrupting the honorable Dogsborough. His appeal to the old man is delivered in a sing-song manner that belies his grim delight. Ui’s use of rhyme and direct threats shows the lack of artistry in his actions, but also shows how effective he can be. The rhyme may not seem like much, it may not adhere to strict meter, but it is catchy and convincing for someone like Dogsborough.

“Gentlemen, this is no coincidence. Sheet’s suicide is but the inevitable result

Of his monstrous crime!”

Sheet was murdered and Ui knows this. Nevertheless, when he tells the story, he announces that Sheet died by suicide as though this were a settled fact. The death was “inevitable” (34), he claims, which shows Ui’s subtle attempts to rewrite the truth in front of everyone. Many people believe that Sheet was murdered but, by forcing them to accept his story, Ui forces them to accept his worldview.

“Oh but don’t tell him I said nothing.”

Givola tells Ui that Giri cannot be trusted. Throughout the play, Ui has surrounded himself with trusted lieutenants and preached about the importance of honesty. The way in which his henchmen are so quick to turn on each other, however, shows that these words are hollow. Ui does not practice what he preaches, nor do his lieutenants, reflecting The Inevitability of Betrayal.

“Well, my dear vegetable dealers, it’s not so simple. Only death is free.”

Ui recruits an actor to teach him how to appeal to the public. Immediately after his lesson, he puts his newfound rhetoric into practice. He is actively trying to charm the vegetable dealers, yet his efforts are undermined by his proclivity for violence. This violence undermines any performance as the violence, more than the rhetoric, is what convinces people. As such, the rhetoric is an example of Ui’s ability to look beyond his immediate situation. The acting lessons may not help now. In the future, however, they will pay dividends. Now, he just needs to practice.

“So what’s it gonna be? Protection? Or murder, tyranny, theft and extortion?”

As Ui and his men consolidate their grip on power, the pretension begins to fall away. Givola makes the threat most specific, asking whether the dealers would prefer protection or violence. The violence, everyone knows, comes from Ui himself, so the offer is essentially extortion. Givola uses such word glibly; he does not fear being caught or challenged because Ui is already so powerful that he no longer needs to be subtle.

“You too! Shut up! If you wanna live!”

Ui’s status is such that his lieutenants feel comfortable threatening a Judge in his own court. In the court, Giri’s threats are no longer subtle or implied. He is direct with his violence and, even in the midst of all the trappings of society’s legal institutions, he fears no reprisal. Giri’s lack of fear shows the confidence and the swagger of the criminals who now think of themselves as above the law. That he suffers no consequences suggests that he is correct to think so. The breakdown of law and order also invokes The Nature of Complicity and Resistance.

“All this I knew,

All this I allowed—I, your honest Dogsborough, out of simple lust

For riches and fear that I would lose your trust.”

Dogsborough offers an eloquent confession as he approaches death. He blames himself for being tempted by The Dangers of Greed and Self-Interest and for allowing Ui to take power. However, his confession is fundamentally useless. His confession will never be read by the people who need to read it, so it serves only to soothe the ego of a dying man. The tragedy of Dogsborough’s final confession is that it means nothing. It only emphasizes how much power he has already surrendered.

“What’re they saying about me behind my back, Arturo?”

Throughout the play, Ui’s lieutenants gossip about one another in a constant power struggle, reflecting The Inevitability of Betrayal. Their attempts to maneuver themselves into the good graces of their bosses are made possible by Ui’s own paranoia. He does want to see treachery everywhere and he does want to hear the rumors about possible betrayers. As much as Ui uses lies and paranoia for his personal goals, he cannot help but succumb to the same issues.

“Lots of others got those too, but what they lack is strong belief

That they were destined to be the leader. And so must you believe in me.”

Ui’s speech is riddled with lies, but it is compelling because it provides an insight into how Ui sees himself. He make be a violent and opportunistic bully, yet he sees himself as a natural leader of men. A strong belief in his own talent, rather than an aptitude for violence, is what has led to his success, he believes. This self-delusion illustrates why he can convince other people of so many lies: because he has already convinced himself.

“Then I guess it’s time for suicide. Jesus. Eighteen years we’ve been friends.”

Just before his betrayal at the hands of Ui, Giri, and Givola, Roma reveals that he truly is the most loyal and dedicated of the lieutenants. At the slightest hint of a threat to Ui’s life, he is willing to sacrifice himself and his men to save his leader. Giri and Givola would never have been so devoted, yet this absolute devotion also means that Roma could never have predicted that Ui would betray him. His fanatical devotion to Ui means that he is unable to see his own downfall and The Inevitability of Betrayal.

“The word on the street in Cicero Is that when Dogsborough dies, Ui’s getting his position.”

The rumors surrounding Ui’s rise to power create a self-perpetuating loop of inevitability. He has already achieved so much that people are willing to give credence to any rumor of future success. This makes them feel powerless to halt such a rise, so they feel compelled to make a deal with him. Ui’s success is built on a mask of lies and fortune, but also on the cowardice of his opponents in their inability to envision any way that they could stop him. In emphasizing the people’s passivity, the play exposes The Nature of Complicity and Resistance.

“Clearly I’m a socialist—which

I prove by taking money from the rich.”

Ui assures Betty that he is a socialist and a Christian. His words are evidently lies: Not only does he break many of the tenants of Christianity, but he seems incapable of any political thought other than self-enrichment. Ui only cares about Ui; his politics are self-interested, rather than socialist. The brazenness with which he lies emphasizes to the audience that even his political statements and identities cannot be trusted.

“Now there’s a man with tact. Not a word about the cause of death.”

Givola praises the pastor’s eulogy because it adheres to the version of reality Ui wishes to perpetuate. This is illustrative of many of the crew’s beliefs, that the only thing that matters is how much people are willing to delude themselves on Ui’s behalf. Lies and delusion represent allegiance to Ui and a furthering of his power, so everything needs to be measured according to this metric. Good men are those who help Ui, the crew fervently believes, while bad men are those who stop him. Morality is reduced to servility to Ui.

“What did I get in return for my friendly words? Silence. Silence!”

The Trust and the vegetable dealers have offered their allegiance to Ui but this is not enough. It is not enough for people to quietly support him; they must publicly praise him. His criticism demonstrates that he will never be placated or appeased. He will constantly demand more, always in service of his self-grandeur. The lambasting of the vegetable dealers is a demonstration that there is no way to satisfy Ui’s lust for power, highlighting The Nature of Complicity and Resistance.

“Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence!”

Ui is haunted by Roma’s ghost and the haunting explicitly mirrors the haunting of Macbeth in the play of the same name. Like Macbeth, Ui calls on the shadowy ghost to leave him alone. Unlike Macbeth, however, this play ends without Ui meeting his downfall. The reference to Shakespeare’s tragic protagonist hints that Ui is part of a wider narrative of downfall, yet the play does not portray the downfall itself.

“I sell cauliflower—I’m no gangster.”

The vegetable dealers from Cicero assuage their collective guilt by telling each other (and themselves) that they are simple men. Vegetable dealers should not be expected to take on gangsters, they tell one another. However, their refusal to stand up to the violent bullies means that the men like Ui only become more powerful. By mocking this position, the play urges the audience to stand up to people like Ui, even if the audience members consider themselves more like the vegetable dealers than the gangsters.

“At first, we were only a handful, fanatical in our

Pursuit of this pure and simple peace. Today, we are many.”

As he relishes his greatest accomplishment, Ui returns to the story of his life. He has told this story several times, always slightly differently. He is actively constructing a heroic narrative of his own rise to power, one which glorifies him and his accomplishments. The play stands in marked contrast to this, criticizing his actions in an explicit manner. Ui’s desire to write his own story shows the importance of such glorifying narratives, vindicating the play’s existence as a critique of such self-serving delusions.