Analysis of the First Two Acts of Brecht's

Sophia Marinho de Lemos

Analysis of the First Two Acts of Brecht’s

“The Caucasian Chalk Circle”

Set shortly after World War two, the Prologue commences with two groups of peasants seated in the ruins of a Caucasian village, present is a delegate from the State Reconstruction Commission. We are introduced to the two parties as they argue the retrieval of a valley; the goat herders (on the right) originally owned the land and therefore believe that as they were there first they should hence keep the land, whereas the party on the left (the fruit farmers) argue that they could put the land to better use by means of superior production. The delegate moderating the debate chooses the fruit farmers. This introduction not only sets the plays structure but also possesses many communist undertones as in a capitalist government the land would be returned to its original owner, yet under Communist supervision the “logical” explanation is to give the land to whoever will put it to the best use. In order to celebrate the peaceful resolution to the dispute the peasants on the left provide a singer named Arkadi to sing a song entitled “The Chalk Circle.” The positioning of the two parties on the stage is very effective, as one immediately comprehends the political significance. The party on the right representing right-wing beliefs and that of the left conveying that of the communists, the fact that the delegate selects the Communists to receive the land suggests the topic of the play and the eventual outcome of it, resulting in a foreboding and somewhat confusing atmosphere. The prologue serves as a means for Brecht to present his ideas before the play essentially commences thus allowing the audience to accept the moral of the play and be inclined to acknowledge the Communist message before the actual production begins. The singer appears to be symbolic of wisdom throughout the play; he narrates the fable in a lyrical and poetic fashion with metaphors that offers insight on the various characters feelings and clarification of the various scenes.

The prologue appears historically accurate yet the initiation of Act One presents an entirely different mood; the singer causes his story to be perceived as a fairytale. By speaking in verse all realism is taken away and the audience is transported to a fabled world created by the singer. Though not announced, the Acts having titles emphasizes the storybook theme. The play commences with the singer seated on the floor surrounded by a group of listeners (the chorus) in his hand is a book, as he commences his tale he does not read from the book but rather narrates from memory “the manner of his recitation makes it clear that he has told his story over and over again.” As he tells the story he interacts with the chorus and on doing so with the audience, he asks one questions such as “how shall I describe him to you?” making his lyrical speeches seem almost conversational. Throughout his opening speech the setting of the play is gradually built up by brief and materialistic descriptions of the Governor and the audience is given a brief background of the play in order to better comprehend the events yet to come. As the singer concludes his opening speech several characters enter the stage portraying the story being told, hence the audience feels they are within the singer’s imagination and listening with the peasants to his tale. The characters consist of beggars, petitioners, children, iron shirts and the governor’s family, though the characters are few, the scene is very expressive and the concept of chaos is captured instantaneously. As the uproar of the peasants and the soldiers take place the singer briefly clarifies the situation and predicts what is yet to come, as he does throughout the play emphasizing the character of narrator. The story commences on Easter Sunday, hence irony is immediately introduced into the play as rather than being a time for resurrection the day concludes with the insurrection of the Governor who is killed by his brother. Religion appears to play a continuous theme throughout the play as the Fat Prince killing his brother reflects the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. Even the act of entering the church is contrasted with the image of the iron shirts whipping back the common people, thus undermining the religious aspects of attending church.

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The Fat Prince greets his brother in such a way that the audience feels suspicious of him, he appears overly happy and babbles idly “when it was raining last night, I thought to myself, gloomy holidays! But this morning the sky was gay…” He appears extremely artificial and joyful with the child that one feels weary of him and in fact further on in the play he proceeds to kill his brother and attempt to kill his predecessor. One is also surprised by the formal title he uses with his brother as he always refers to him as “Natella Abashwilli” this emphasizes the foreign sounds of the name and sets the time and place, but also stresses the impracticality of the play as it is implausible that people constantly repeat each others full names in conversation. Our immediate opinion of the Governor’s wife is that she is egocentric, pompous and superficial as she suggests the tearing down of “these wretched slums…to make room for the garden.” As her child coughs she reacts in an overprotective manner speaking “sharply” to the two doctors present that break into an argument. The Fat Prince greets his brother in an unusual manner and hence the Governor remarks on it, "But did you hear Brother Kazbeki wish me a happy Easter?" Soon thereafter the Fat Prince usurps power and takes over the city. The relationship between the brothers is thus foreshadowed by the Governor's comment, in which he expresses surprise at being greeted by his brother. There is a constant feeling of artificialness around the Prince and everything he comments on has an ironic undertone, such as the remarking on how much Michael resembles a governor when he has all intentions of disposing of him. This form or morbid irony continues as Michael is attended to by two doctors who fuss over the child and are desperate to keep him in good health. The two doctors names are very similar, Niko Mikadze” and “Mika Loladze and as they constantly refer to each other by their full names, a comical atmosphere is introduced to the play. They continue to absurdly fuss over the child, squabbling with one another in subtle sarcasm and then overly courteously returning to conversation with the Governor’s wife. Everyone enters the church except for the Governor and a messenger who has just arrived. The messenger has important news for the Governor, but the Governor refuses to hear it, telling the messenger to wait until later, little does he know is that there will not be a “later.”

The singer again contributes to the setting of the mood as he portrays various scenes and introduces us to the next part of the story concerning Grusha and Simon. Grusha enters with a stuffed goose beneath her arm and is greeted by Simon, a soldier who has guard duty outside the church. The two of them engage in a flirtatious conversation where Simon reveals that he hides behind a bush and watches Grusha washing linen so he can see her dip her legs in the river. Though it is evident that Simon is playful and coy with Grusha, as Simon speaks with “exaggerated laughter” and “winks” continuously yet the barrier of formality seems to remain between them. The discussion continues provocatively and Grusha appears confused until Simon states “Everything that goes on there when a certain person is –“washing linen”?” she reacts in embarrassment and runs off.

As the scene changes again the Fat Prince appears and makes a sign to some Ironshirts (soldiers). They disappear and within minutes the entire city is surrounded. The Governor and his family soon appear coming out of the church. The Governor's wife enters telling her Adjutant how jealous of Michael she really is. She is desperate for attention from her husband. "But Georgi, of course, will only build for his little Michael. Never for me! Michael is all! All for Michael!" This jealousy of her child is relevant as it contributes to her abandoning her son further on in the act. The Governor returns to his home in order to speak with some architects who are to build a new section onto his palace, which will evidently never happen. The architects arrive, but they soon realize that the Fat Prince has committed a coup and they run away before they are captured. The Governor is soon led onstage in chains. The Singer, who narrates the events to follow, comments that the Governor does not need an architect, but rather "a carpenter will do." This alludes to the fact that Jesus was a carpenter; the Governor needs Jesus to intervene and save him on this Easter Sunday. This will of course not happen. The servants and the two doctors who were attending to Michael soon rush out of the house and run away.

Simon returns and searches for Grusha until he sees her. He informs her that he will remain loyal to the old regime and that he will protect the Governor's wife as she flees the city. Grusha tells him he is being "pigheaded" by obeying orders instead of mutinying with the other soldiers. Simon then turns to Grusha and asks her several questions that indicate he is interested in marrying her. She replies to all of them and then anticipates his last question, telling him that her answer is yes. He ignores her answer and quickly tells her about himself before asking her for her hand. She again accepts and Simon gives her a silver cross to wear as a sign of their engagement. Grusha thus speaks in verse or what assumes may be a song promising to wait for Simon “under the green elm… the bare elm” suggesting that she will wait for him as long as it takes. The poem is touching and presents a side of Grusha that one feels fond of. Simon then leaves to go protect the Governor's wife and hence Grusha exits the stage as well. This constant referral to verse and song rids the play of all realism, yet song and lyrical wording are successful means of conveying emotions.

The Governor's wife arrives with numerous boxes of her belongings and her child Michael. She makes another woman hold Michael while she runs around and packs her clothes exposing her materialistic and self-absorbed nature. She realizes that she needs help so she makes the other woman put Michael on the ground in order to help her pack. The Adjutant arrives and forces her to leave immediately and in her haste to save her dresses, she leaves her child Michael behind. One of her servant woman sees Michael and hands him to Grusha. Grusha places value on human life unlike the other people who advise her to give up Michael. The Cook goes so far as to say, "if he had the plague he couldn't be more dangerous." She replies with, "He hasn't got the plague. He looks at me! He's human!" Brecht is quick to point out that this kindness is taken advantage of. She seems to be the “good” character and someone who one should strive to be, however because of the cruelty of her surroundings she is abused.

Grusha watches as everyone runs away and then hides the child under a blanket and waits to see what happens. The Fat Prince arrives with his soldiers, who carry the Governor's head on a lance and then nail the head over a doorway, this action is crude and repulsive and the audience find themselves with an extreme dislike for the Fat Prince who remarks that it is unfortunate that he was unable to kill Michael. At this, the conversations from earlier in the play that appeared confusing, piece together, yet one does not feel pity for the Governor as they are overwhelmed with such an intense dislike for the Fat Prince. After the soldiers leave, Grusha goes to sit down next to the child. The singer tells us of how she sits with the child all through the night until dawn. The poetic atmosphere projected by the Singer and the simple actions of Grusha causes one to accumulate a great affection for Grusha and her circumstances. By the next morning she is "seduced" by Michael and so as an act of charity she takes him away. Brecht ends the Act by having the singer comment, "As if it was stolen goods she picked it up. / As if she was a thief she crept away." Brecht appears to indicate that the audience should not be seduced by Grusha’s apparent selfless act as in reality she is a thief who has stolen a child. The audience is hence forced to use a similar logic to that which is used in the prologue and decide her Grusha is in fact a thief or a heroin. This bears similarities to the subject of the valley in the prologue. Grusha represents the fruit farmers who steal the valley in order to put it to better use, while the Governor’s wife is the peasants on the right, the authentic owner of the child.

The following act follows Grusha as she flees with Michael and saves him from the soldiers who have been instructed to kill him. “The Flight into the Northern Mountains” commences with the singer and the chorus reciting Grusha’s acts, the last line of the singers verse and the chorus’ “She sang, she bought some milk.” Simply concludes what is about to happen but ironically places emphasis on such an undemanding and what would normally be perceived as a trivial act. She buys this milk at a peasant’s cottage where she is charged two piastres, the equivalent of a weeks wages for her. The amount of money used is an important issue in the play, both is this act and the subsequent ones. She is sacrificing a substantial amount of money for Michael and in return for trying to help this child she is treated harshly by the people around her. She hence continues to head north, all the while being followed by several Ironshirts who want to kill Michael. She soon arrives at the River Sirra and comes across a farmhouse. When she sees that the peasant woman has milk, she decides to leave Michael on the doorstep since she knows that the peasants can feed him. The peasant woman finds the child at her door and brings Michael into the house. Her husband tells her to give it to the local priest and views the idea of keeping the child with disdain, yet she indicates that she will take care of Michael and she appears to be kindhearted. Throughout the play there are few people of goodwill and the heartlessness of some characters sometimes appears implausible. Grusha hurries away, however before she gets very far she encounters the Ironshirts who are led by the Corporal, a crude and perverse man who speaks to Grusha in a vulgar and explicit manner. He eventually becomes serious and demands to know where Michael is, panic-stricken Grusha rushes back to the cottage where she left the child. By returning to find the child we realize how fond she is of it and how willing she is to sacrifice a part of herself for it. In order to protect Michael she runs back to the cottage and tells the peasant woman to hide Michael in order to keep him safe. The woman tentatively aggress, but in fear of the soldiers she falls to her knees before the Corporal and reveals that Grusha had left the child on her doorstep. In despair Grusha seizes a log and hits him over the head with it, knocking him out and grabs Michael and escapes from the house with him, "the helpless girl adopted the helpless child." Eventually she reaches a glacier that has a deep ravine in it and the only way across it is a broken rope bridge where one rope has snapped and is hanging down the abyss. Grusha informs several merchants that it is compulsory that she crosses the bridge immediately as she is being pursued by ironshirts. The merchants warn her at the unfeasibility of crossing the bridge with a child, yet Grusha ignores their warnings and steps onto the ropes. She succeeds in getting across and triumphantly laughs at the ironshirts when they arrive on the other shore and realize they cannot catch her. Another religious reference occurs at the glacier, where there is a reference to the act of baptism. "I'll wash you, son, and christen you in glacier water." This is a secularized version of baptism, meaning that it has no religious significance.

As Grusha develops as a character in the play so does her relationship with Michael, she has given up herself financially, emotionally (as we saw with Simon) but rather than being disheartened by her losses her affection for Michael increases thus making her the “good guy” in the play. “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” is a satirical play in which Brecht finds irony and humor in the most horrific of situations. This form of humor is emphasized by characters such as the doctors and Grusha’s husband in the third act. The play deals with social issues that remain relevant in modern day life, issues such as equality presented in communism and the self-indulgence of humans. The play within itself is not realistic, but this artificial world has been created on purpose by the usage of the Singer and the lyrical style of the verses. The songs and the relatively short dialogue as well as the rapid changing of scenes results in the play being especially fast moving. The exaggerated characters of the play, and Brecht’s original style of writing and vision all contribute to an impracticable yet exceptionally effective performance.