Inequality of conditions - the source of evil?

Rating: 10/10 (27 November 2009)

Nobody commented on this, but villagers were poor and dependent on the Baron who could abuse or get rid of them at his whim (the governess, the husband of the deceased woman lose their jobs arbitrarily, through no fault of their own) ... Could the torture of the Baron's son be seen as caused by the envy of the have-not children (they throw him in the water to take his flute, but why is he hanging around them if they had tortured him )? There's obviously some (class) struggle there with the farmer's eldest son destroying the cabbage field (and also when he confronts his father). The father is resigned to it, but then he has an epiphany and torches the barn. Religion enslaves/constrains the free spirit, yes, the parents act cruelly towards their children, that too, but something is amiss with the way the property is structured too - if the villagers owned the cabbage field and the barn there would be no point in destroying the property and maybe the farmer wouldn't have hanged himself after his wife's death.... ... Could it be the way Proudhon said it, "Property is theft!", so the way the society is structured is built on false/abusive premises and everything else on top of it is just a house of cards? ... What's the story with the Poles the Baron is mentioning when talking to his wife? Is the Baron trying to replace the villagers with even cheaper labor?