like margot in fear of fear fall victim of her ambitious husband and like fox in fox and his friend be drive into suicide by his boyfriend who take all his money away and like xaverl bolwieser in the stationsmaster wife who go to prison in order to give his cheat wife a chance to get rid of him and like hermann hermann who seek refuge in insanity in order to flee his stupid wife and bankrupt company and so also hans epp be a victim of the german wirtschaftswunder society after world war ii in r. w. fassbinder the merchant of the four season . simply from the fact that fassbinder play through social abuse between men and woman as well a between hetero and homosexual couple and it should be clear that he do not favorize any sex . in han epp case there be the woman who drive him into despair and illness and finally death . when he come back from the foreign legion where he fly because he could not stand anymore the pressure of his mother and she complain that he be still alive while the good boy from her neighbor have be kill . then hans get a job a a policeman and but be surprise by his foreman while he be seduce by a prostitute . after have lose his job and he work a a fruit merchant with little income and go from backyard to backyard cry out his produce . his mother and one of his sister and her husband be ashamed to have such a street worker in their family . the love of his life ( she have no name in the movie ) refuse to marry him because his job do not fit together with her social status and origin . so he marry irmgard whom he do not love and who do not love him . from her constant pressure on him he flee into drinking . one evening and after his wife be stalk him and he explode and hit her . she flee to her family for which this event be just what they have be wait for . when irmgard be call a lawyer for divorce and hans suffers a heart attack . imrgard decide to stay with him and but from now on and he be not allow anymore to do heavy work and to drink alcohol . so he start to feel more and more superfluous and get quiet and quiet and more and more depressive . when he find out that irmgard cheat him and he choose to end his life and but not like hermann hermann by have a trip into the light of madness and but he drink himself to death in front of imrgard and their little daughter and his boozing buddy . fassbinder say in an interview that hans know what he be do . the question and however be represent do han just kill himself because he could not stand anymore his miserable environment and or do he make self justice .