Mother Courage and Her Children

Bertolt Brecht's play Mother Courage and Her Children profoundly impacted Europe in the 17th century. The drama combines grief, societal satire, and sardonic humor. Mother Courage, the titular figure, roams war-weary Europe, supplying troops on opposing sides with drink, food, clothes, and supplies. But unfortunately, mother Courage tends to lose her grown children one by one as she works to expand her budding company. The years 1624 to 1636 are covered in "Mother Courage and Her Children," which is set chiefly in Poland, Germany, and other regions of Europe. This period encompasses the Thirty Years' War, a bloody war between Protestant and Catholic troops that claimed many lives. Therefore, it is crucial to analyse the act Mother Courage and Her Children to understand various thematic scenarios used to portray the overall message of the act.

The goal of the current staging of Bertolt Brecht's 1939 drama Mother Courage and Her Children is to emphasize the idea of human qualities and how these frequently result in a disastrous collapse in both a social and individual context. Although some individuals in Mother Courage have more perspectives than others, it is clear that many encounters this deterioration in some manner (Brecht et al.). Through the author's expressed intent, in the deconstruction of theatrical illusion, one may strive to lead the viewers into a disorienting state of self-reflection and, inevitably, self-judgment, in which they represent upon and make judgments on their catastrophic qualities, in prospect, and recognize the methods in which they can preclude their decline if it has not yet occurred (Brecht et al.). Various themes are portrayed in the play. They include capitalism, power struggles, and courage.

Capitalism

Bertolt Brecht's anti-war position is evident in his depiction of the horrible 30-year fight in Mother Courage and Her Children. War as a means of making money is one of Brecht's principal concerns; the lengthier and deadlier the struggle, the greater the earnings (Daram, and Ahmadinia). Mother Courage derives her living off ongoing warfare and is fundamentally a moderate war profiteer. She follows the soldiers while pulling her cart from one battleground to the next, peddling them inflated goods and alcohol (Daram, and Ahmadinia). Brecht makes it quite apparent that those in power make the real money, not impoverished people like Mother Courage, the provider-er, who will never be able to transform their lives via war. However, anyone who makes money from conflict does so at the expense of their morals (Daram, and Ahmadinia). Mother Courage prioritizes gaining profit over all else; hence she enjoys the reality of battle while not being a fan of the war in theory due to its fake heroics, ineptitude, and dishonesty (Brecht et al.). Brecht meticulously plans the sequences in which Mother Courage's three children perish to make sure she's conducting business at crucial times: she's bartering over the cost of a belt buckle when the recruitment agency steals Eilif away, and she's out shopping when Eilif comes back before being killed and when Kattrin is gunned down (Daram, and Ahmadinia). But Mother Courage's response to Swiss Cheese's predicament is the most damaging Therefore, capitalism as a theme greatly features in the play.. Mother Courage tries to negotiate the cost of his freedom rather than spend to have him released. So, even if not entirely rationally or voluntarily, Mother Courage finally chooses business when she must decide between her son's life and her interests (Brecht et al.). It is impossible to tell if she is acting intentionally—knowing that rescuing him now is imperative—or if she is only attempting to minimize her liabilities like a savvy businessperson (Brecht et al.). Mother Courage ties herself to the shopping cart in the play's conclusion after learning that her children had died and declares, "Got to get back to business again" (Daram, and Ahmadinia). Mother Courage represents a complete military-industrial capitalism system in her small-scale trade in commodities like belt buckles, ammunition, and capons—the necessities of the military being clothes, weaponry, and food. Brecht was utterly repulsed by this undervaluation of human feeling and existence. Therefore, capitalism as a theme greatly features in the play.

Power Struggles

According to Mother Courage and Her Children, war promotes capitalism and accentuates the gap between those in control and those who don't. Power clashes between the affluent and the poor are the most visible. In Scene 1, Mother Courage bemoans the situation "Only those in need are courageous. Why? because they have no chance" (Brecht et al.). "They stagger, starving, bearing the full thunderous weight of the... affluent on their big foolish backs," she adds in her portrayal. Naturally, Mother Courage herself carries the "thundering weight" of her cart all through the play; she never makes enough resources from the conflict to alter her way of life or prevent the loss of her children (Daram, and Ahmadinia). When Mother Courage tries to extract something—resources—from the battle, it asks for something in return, which is a symbol for a commercial transaction (Daram, and Ahmadinia). To maintain the social structure that enables her to exist, Mother Courage must nourish the battle for each of her offspring. Power disputes between the sexes are another issue. Men appear to have unlimited authority in the 17th century when the drama is set because they get to select who lives and who dies. The female personas rely on their cunning to survive to compensate for the deficiency of conventional power (Brecht et al.). For example, the old colonel is tricked into renting Mother Courage's cart by Yvette, who finally succeeds in getting the man's wealthy brother, who bequeaths a sum to her (Brecht et al.). Using her cunning, Mother Courage persuades people to pay top money for her goods. She also makes the recruiter believe she has a sixth sense and devises a workable, though largely failed, strategy to save Swiss Cheese's life (Daram, and Ahmadinia). Even if it eventually costs her her life, Kattrin, who occupies most of the act as a subject of male aggression, suddenly finds her identity and seizes her authority. Therefore, Power struggles features as a theme in the play.

Courage

Several personas in the play ponder what it takes to be courageous amid wartime. Mother Courage receives her moniker after "bravely" entering the battleground to sell 50 loaves of bread before they get rancid and become unfit for consumption (Brecht et al.). It justifies her rhetorically sarcastic moniker, "scared of being broke," which is regarded as "courageous." Thus, much as Mother Courage frequently questions the worth of courage, viewers may wonder if financial distress leads to bravery (Brecht et al.). In his diaries, Brecht writes: "When parachutists are dropped, it's like dropping a bomb, which doesn't require guts (Brecht et al.). The act of refusing to board the jet in the first place would need courage (Brecht et al.). Brecht suggests that acts of bravery should not move spectators during the war. In Scene 3, when Eilif "butchers" a household of peasants and takes their livestock to save the regiment from starving, the commander commends him for his bravery. Eilif performs a similar crime in Scene 8 but receives a death sentence for murder (Daram, and Ahmadinia). The subject of why using violence is regarded as heroic one day, but Eilif's death brings up illegal the next (Brecht et al.). Is it true that war inspires bravery, as the general asserts, or does it only bring out "humanity's lowest tendencies," as the chaplain declares? The public knows that Mother Courage and Her Children is an anti-war drama and that the chaplain's judgment closely resembles Brecht's viewpoints (Brecht et al.). Mother Courage informs everyone that generals require "courageous" youths to disguise their lack of morality in the "slaughterhouse" of warfare. Her point becomes apparent when the protagonist witnesses her children, Eilif with the oxen, Swiss Cheese with the money box, and Kattrin with the drum (Brecht et al.). But because of the conflict, every valiant deed—violent, benign, or noble—results in the death of the children (Daram, and Ahmadinia). Therefore, courage is ineffective or a chance if the parachutist touches down.

Conclusion and personal independent perspective

It is crucial to analyse the act Mother Courage and Her Children to understand various thematic scenarios used to portray the overall message of the act.  Mother Courage and Her Children struck me as a fascinating drama. By linking it to the setting in which the play was written, I could connect it to the topics we covered in class. Mother Courage is a lady who seeks to profit from the conflict while also being ignorant of the circumstances affecting her and her children. For most of the play, she prospers while the war is going on, but as she starts to think that the conflict must go on for her to be prosperous, things begin to go south, and finally, all three of her children pass away. The usage of scene transitions in Brecht's play perhaps caught my attention the most. Other pieces would shift scenes, carry on with the action, and let the audience witness the scenario. In Brecht's work, the viewer is informed of the following scene's title and content after each set concludes, allowing them to anticipate what will occur on stage. It seemed intriguing to go about it since I could appreciate the play's nuances better because I didn't have to wonder who a particular figure was, where they came from, or why they were there. Therefore, various themes and aspect are used to clearly portray the message in Mother Courage and Her children.

Work Cited

Brecht, Bertolt et al. Mother Courage and her children. Methuen Drama, 2009.

Daram, Mahmoud, and Abolfazl Ahmadinia. "Bertolt Brecht’s mother courage and her children: Marxist concept of alienation". International Journal Of Comparative Literature And Translation Studies, vol 2, no. 4, 2014. Australian International Academic Centre, https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijclts.v.2n.4p.30.