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In Mother Courage and her Children, the morality play which Brecht designed co-exists with a tragedy he inadvertently created.’ By examining the dramatic techniques that Brecht employed to present the character of Mother Courage, consider the validity of this assessment.
Bertolt Brecht created a style of theatre, which is referred to as the ‘Epic Theatre.’ In Epic theatre, Brecht had intended to distance the audience from emotion so that they would not sympathise with any of the characters but instead focus on the issues the play addressed. ... To do this Brecht employed many techniques, such as ‘alienation. ... Brecht wanted to use the alienation effects to excite conflicting emotions and make dialecticians of the audience.” [Volker, 245]
When Brecht directed the play he would use titles to introduce every scene as opposed to the conventional narrator. ... Brecht would also perform scene changes in full view of the audience, reminding them that they were watching a play. ... The audience were not allowed to become involved in the play nor could they become emotionally connected to the characters, instead they should become critical and incite inquiry to the issues raised. One of Hitler’s favourite quotations was ‘War is the father of all things’, and Brecht uses Mother Courage to imply that those who live off of war will perish by it.
“According to Brecht’s notes, the thirty years war was the first large-scale war to be caused by capitalism. ... In one scene Mother Courage could save the life of her honest son by paying a bribe of 200 florins, but by haggling she loses him. More important, the association between trading and killing is implicit to the plays central image…” [Hayman, 225]
Brecht also used songs throughout the play to empathise to the audience that they are watching a play. Mother Courage’s first introduction is by use of a song. The songs also seem to come at unlikely times throughout the play, which has the effect of confusing the audience. Brecht also uses the songs to highlight issues, which he wanted the audience to concentrate on. In scene nine for example, The Cook and Mother Courage sing a song concerning Solomon, Julius Caesar, Socrates and St Martin. In the song, they state that wisdom, courage, honesty, unselfishness and fear of god caused the death of these people, ‘how fortunate for the man who does not have these traits,’ The Cook says. ... ” [Brecht, 170]
In essence, Brecht is attacking Capitalism as he sees trading criminal and often murderous. The songs paragraphs depict death by virtue and we can see that these are some of the virtues of Mother Courage’s children.
Approximate Word count = 2172
Approximate Pages = 8.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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