Brecht's
play, Mother Courage and All Her Children serves as a prime example of the many
works that have been created throughout time to emphasize the significance of
war. Using Epic Theater, Brecht clearly emphasizes the issues in war within the
setting of the play and the time in which Brecht lived. The entire purpose of
Mother Courage's construction was to display the errors in Brecht's society
during World War II, which existed during The Thirty Years War as well. One of
the issues was using war as a form of business and source for profit, which
became an allegory for the main character, Mother Courage. Understandably, the
character and her devotion to making money somewhat creates a perception of
immorality, but progressively reveals the genuine role of a single mother to
support her family. Her nickname "Courage", comes from this idea,
since it is an honorable virtue to hold within times of war and survival. On
the contrary, however, her children hold virtues that may be honorable, but
harmful to the preservation of their lives. Within the following scene a clear
foreshadowing of their inevitable doom is shown.
In scene one, Mother Courage predicts the destinies of her children through a fortune reading. Holding a helmet, metonymically which evokes a skull each child draws a lot. Tearing the parchments to these lots Courage notices the common outcomes for all her children, which is death. The allegory represents each child's selection of their fate, and how it will not only tear them away from their mother, but lead to their ultimate demise. Essentially the children's virtues of honesty, kindness, and bravery are honorable, but important to remember that when they are carried out individualistically they will have harmful effects.
Bravery, honesty, and kindness are significant virtues that are highly valued in society until today, but seem to have the opposite effect of those who possessed them in the past. During times of war, strength in numbers was highly important to sustain a society of people who would otherwise be considered weak and broken. Being alone meant being feeble and poor, therefore portraying any signs of empowering traits still backfired and evidently caused the fatal future of Mother Courage's children. When conveying this idea it is particularly important to apply the conventions of Epic Theater within one's critical thought process in order to focus on the issues of society rather than the tragic death of characters in the story. Looking from within (context) to apply without (reality) is the specific goal of Epic Theater. Therefore, the idea of holding similar virtues collectively, applies to the same idea of working collectively during war for the common goal of gaining defeat.
When constructing a war, it is important to have two parties, which represent a common cause and contain large numbers of people ready to fight one another. Evidently, many people don't fight alone, especially in times of war because of the high probability of being defeated when opposed to large groups of people. Strength exists in numbers for this ultimate reason. No matter how strong one's mentality or attitude may be it can never be superior to that of a higher or more powerful authority, thus proving the value of virtues when held collectively in a society as opposed to being held individually.
In scene one, Mother Courage predicts the destinies of her children through a fortune reading. Holding a helmet, metonymically which evokes a skull each child draws a lot. Tearing the parchments to these lots Courage notices the common outcomes for all her children, which is death. The allegory represents each child's selection of their fate, and how it will not only tear them away from their mother, but lead to their ultimate demise. Essentially the children's virtues of honesty, kindness, and bravery are honorable, but important to remember that when they are carried out individualistically they will have harmful effects.
Bravery, honesty, and kindness are significant virtues that are highly valued in society until today, but seem to have the opposite effect of those who possessed them in the past. During times of war, strength in numbers was highly important to sustain a society of people who would otherwise be considered weak and broken. Being alone meant being feeble and poor, therefore portraying any signs of empowering traits still backfired and evidently caused the fatal future of Mother Courage's children. When conveying this idea it is particularly important to apply the conventions of Epic Theater within one's critical thought process in order to focus on the issues of society rather than the tragic death of characters in the story. Looking from within (context) to apply without (reality) is the specific goal of Epic Theater. Therefore, the idea of holding similar virtues collectively, applies to the same idea of working collectively during war for the common goal of gaining defeat.
When constructing a war, it is important to have two parties, which represent a common cause and contain large numbers of people ready to fight one another. Evidently, many people don't fight alone, especially in times of war because of the high probability of being defeated when opposed to large groups of people. Strength exists in numbers for this ultimate reason. No matter how strong one's mentality or attitude may be it can never be superior to that of a higher or more powerful authority, thus proving the value of virtues when held collectively in a society as opposed to being held individually.
Brecht, Bertolt, and H. R. Hays. Mother Courage. Place of
Publication Not Identified: n.p., n.d. Print.
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