Courage curses the war, telling the Chaplin that there is even less hope of Kattrin ever finding a husband now.
Mother Courage rejoices at her peak in business and her confidence in the war has returned. She sings verse 3 of “Courage’s song” comparing the business of war to her own business saying that war is nothing but business, trading in blood instead of boots.
A bell and voices ring out that peace time has arrived. The cook returns and Courage and the cook flirt over each others ruin. The Chaplin emerges and the two men argue which results in the Chaplin reclaiming his clerical garb whilst Courage sarcastically tells him that his “holy war” has been a flop, which provokes the Chaplin to call her a “hyena of the battlefield” who cannot accept peace because she makes money out of war. Courage has had enough of him and tells him to scarper.
Courage decides to sell her merchandise before the prices drop too much.
A much older, fatter and powered Yvette arrives, now a rich colonel’s widow and identifies the cook as her aforementioned beau, “puffing Piet” the womanizer from which her downfall began. Courage and Yvette go into town to sell the remaining goods.
Eilif returns whilst Courage is away and is under arrest for repeating previous escapades of heroics (Scene 2), but during peacetime the penalty of his “bravery” is death.
When Courage returns the cook tells her Eilif returned after repeating his heroics but had to leave, not wanting to destroy Courage’s view of her son.
Courage reports back that peacetime was once again over and invited the cook to join her as she moved off. She sings verse 4 of “Courage's song” as she rejoins her “own side” the Swedes once again.
- The Fichtel Mountains, Saxony, 1634
A hard winter has come early; Courage and the cook appear begging in front of a war-torn personage wearing rags. Abruptly the cook tells Courage of a letter through which he has inherited the family inn at Utrecht. He invites her to accompany him, but refuses to take Kattrin. He sings the “Song of Solomon.”
Kattrin, who has overheard the conversation between the two, symbolically lays a skirt of her mother’s next to a pair of the cook’s trousers on the wheel of the cart. She is on the verge of running away when her mother returns and tells Kattrin of her rejection of the cook’s offer, insisting that it wasn’t because of her daughter but because of her cart. The cook returns to find his things lying on the ground.
Courage and Kattrin pause from the effort of pulling the cart outside a house in which the “Song of Home” on the theme of comfort and security can be heard.
- A farm outside Halle, Saxony, 1636
Kattrin is alone inside the cart, Mother Courage has ventured into the town to purchase supplies. The farm which is held under the Swedish forces is invading by Imperial troops who force the farmer’s son to lead them toward the sleeping town, they head for town and the farmer’s wife considers the fate of the sleeping citizens and proceeds to pray.
At this, Kattrin climbs onto the roof with a drum in attempt to wake up the citizens of the town.
The soldiers make a swift return upon hearing the drum, and after failing to persuade her to come down, take no option but to shoot her.
Her body rolls off the roof, upon which the bells of Halle ring out the alarm, saving the town and causing Kattrin to be successful in her actions.
- Same day, Halle, Saxony, 1636
Courage despairs at Kattrin's death and is unable to grasp that she is dead, sings her a lullaby. Courage tells the peasants that the shouldn’t of mentioned the children, to which they reply that she should of been with Kattrin, not in town trying to make a profit. Courage pays them to bury Kattrin and moves off with her cart to catch up with business. Courage sings the final verse of her song, ending with the line, “Wherever life has not died out, it staggers to its feet again.”
There is no real sense of sub-plot, as Brecht’s idea is not to have a sub-plot because his play is not about the psychological development of the character and their lives to create a sense of reality but to represent the society in which is being lived in.
Mother Courage
“No that they stink. Look s’pose some general or king is bone stupid and leads his men up shit creek, then those men’ve got to be fearless, there’s another virtue for you….” (Scene 2 p18)
In this use of dialogue it shows us that Mother Courage has:
- A confident aggression about her,
- Uses long sentences- broken up by pauses
- Shows she is working class through words like, “s’pose” “shit creek” “bone stupid”
In her use of punctuation:
- Uses commas (pauses)
- Has fast thoughts
- Is dynamic
This dialogue shows she has:
- Intelligence, she is insightful but is aggressive with it,
- Has a dialect- sharpness of a trader- Cockney
- Patronising- makes the general sound bad and is affected by the presence of the general
- Has a strategy in her use of language
“Kattrin! Will you stop there? Kattrin! Where you off to with that bundle? Has the devil himself taken you over? She’s packed her things. You been listening? I told him nowt doing, Utrecht, his rotten inn, what’d we be up to there? You and me, inn’s no place for us…..it was cart, that’s it. Catch me leaving my cart im used to, it aint you, it’s for cart…”
In this instance this dialogue shows a change in Mother Courage,
- She has a suppression of feeling
- She is tactical to stop showing her emotion- fast talking but slows down towards the end.
- Calms her “vulgar ness” from the beginning of the play-change over time (12 years), she has been ruined, a sense of rejuvenation.
- There is straight forward language
- A dramatic change/contrast from her previous dialogue- more emotional
- Links with the “silent scream” used by Helene Weigel as Mother Courage (gestus)
Ensign
She doesn’t trust you; with a mug like yours it’s not surprising. Suppose I gave you my word? I can give you my word of honour….We’ll have to make a noise that’s louder than her drumming. What can we make a noise with?....A harmless one you fool. A peaceful one….Good: you chop. Chop harder! Harder! You’re chopping for your life.”
This dialogue shows:
- The ensign believes that no-one can do the same as him
- Makes someone else feel inadequate for his inadequacy.
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He is well spoke- sense of ‘proper ness’ – “We’ll have somehow to make a noise”
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However, is grammatically incorrect- “I want no noise now”
- Lacks intelligence
- Abuses his status- ignores others, shows he’s risen from the ‘muck’
- Visual, Aural and Spatial elements
Visual
Brecht made the audience constantly aware that they were in the theatre. When the audience would be reading the summaries projected between scenes they would be aware of the movement of props and set behind the Brechtian half-curtain which ran across the stage as the stage crew set up the next scene.
Above the stage the audience would see the lights used, reminding the audience they were in the theatre.
For every scene, whether it was taking place during a spring afternoon in Sweden, or a cold wintry dawn, bright, plain white lights, which not only surprised the audience but was an awakening effect.
Brecht used a bare grey stage which contained just enough scenery and props to show where the scene was taking place or if a chair or roof was required by the text. Its immense bareness surprised the audience which was expecting a realistic and detailed set.
The red boots used in scene 3 is used as a symbolism; they are primarily prostitutes’ boots but also represent beauty and luxury. In combining an innocent character with the object of prostitution Brecht shows that Kattrin seeks love through the only way possible during war, through prostitution.
Mother Courage’s cart was always the most prominent element on the stage throughout the whole play, its equipment and physical state changed with the change of her business.
At the end Courage’s forlorn cart stood on the same bare stage as at the start of the play only with the added bareness symbolising the devastation through which the war had led her.
Aural
In Mother Courage music largely assumes an independent reality which is set apart from the action this is Brecht’s use of the verfrumdungseffekte and was very specific about how the actors should perform the songs in his plays. Brecht recommended that the actors should not slip into song (as in a musical) and clearly mark it off from the dialogue.
The use of music is never simply an accompany nor completely the expression of a character’s current state, at times working as a historical backdrop of a character’s background, or a political comment such used In Mother Courage’s “Song of Capitulation.”
The “song of Solomon” neatly summarises one of the plays themes- the rewards of virtue are petite in such corrupt times: there’s no use trying to be an angel when you live in hell!
Brecht used song as a form of detachment, allowing time for the audience to contemplate any issues which the play had already engaged in their interests. Brecht also uses music and song as a form of alienation. The songs allow the actor to disengage from his character preventing identification with his character and preventing the audience from empathising with the character.
In Scene 11 silence plays an important part. It provides tension of the scene and also irony, Kattrin is not only the main focus but also has the loudest voice.
During our own workshop of Scene 11, the drumming was choreographed, during speech it was quiet and in moments of silence it was loud.
Spatial
The stage was framed with large screens made of tent materials stretching between wooden poles which were joined with ropes; all materials would have been available on a 17th century military camp. Brecht always insisted on the feeling of reality of sets and props meaning material needed to be authentic and all showed signs of wear and tear as through everyday use.
Where buildings were needed such as the peasant’s house, only the part of the house was built that was required in the scene, (like in Scene 11), the peasant’s house complied of a front door and a porch with a slopping roof which was supported by two square pillars which allowed Kattrin to climb up with her drum. This approach to scenery was creative in Brecht’s time.
During the end of Scene 12 Mother Courage traipses offstage with the stage revolving slowly against her motion. Brecht used the revolving motion to facilitate Mother Courage and her assembly to travel forward without making any real progression.
Epic theatre
The term ‘epic’ is traditionally applied to forms of writing in which the playwright tells a story, using episodes and characters as a complete account of his subject. Epic story writing is objective in which the story teller stands back from his story as he tells it and doesn’t relate himself to the character and allows the submission of his own comments on events.
Mother Courage is an epic play, it doesn’t develop a conflict between the characters, and instead it follows how Mother Courage travels over twelve years from Europe to Scandinavia to Italy and back to Central Germany to show the devastation that her involvements in the Thirty years war has on her and her family.
The first and second scenes jump from Sweden to Poland allowing Courage to meet with her son by chance. At the end of Scene 3 Courage has to suppress every natural emotion to deny the identity of her other son, Swiss Cheese, but her emotions change towards anger at her treatment by the army at the beginning of Scene 4. Her emotions change after singing the “Song of the Grand Capitulation” reminding herself that offending authorities isn’t good for business. She damns war at the end of scene 6 but during the next scene she is ringing in praises of it.
These changes reflect how Mother Courage adopts whatever in order to have an influence on her business in the situations that occur and reveal the false principles that influence her actions. Mother Courage’s story doesn’t start at the opening of the play and equally doesn’t end when the curtain falls. This type of opening and ending is very much a feature of epic theatre.
Epic theatre uses the social situation to influence man’s thinking, as his thoughts will change when his social situation changes. At the same time, he is the ambassador of his own social situation, therefore creating dialectical and reciprocal influence and change. This is a difficulty in Mother Courage, as the character itself doesn’t change, but this is exactly the point. If the play had been presented in Brecht’s intended fashion it would have affected the audience in that they would be angry at how the story unfolded as opposed to feeling sympathy for the characters.
Everything that has happened to her in the previous scenes shows that there is no life for her, as all her work and good intentions would be destroyed by the framework she knows, accepts and works with- the exploitation of a war. The framework, like all other forms of exploitations, must be changed, and it is successful if the audience realises this message because the whole political meaning of the play has made its impression.
At the beginning of each scene Brecht used a set of summaries which gave an idea of the content of the scene as well as the date and location of the scene, which related them to history, where they link to events in history, linking to the great events, however Brecht chose not to show these events, although his characters carry these events with them.
The titles are anti-illusionist devices in which Brecht uses to keep the audience alert. Instead of being passive watchers they become active watchers in the way that in theory they are freed from understanding what happens to how something happens.
This is one of Brecht’s alienation effects referred to from the German “Verfremdungseffekte.” Brecht referred to these effects as “to take from the incident or character what makes it familiar, so to create a sense of wonderment and curiosity.” Another alienation effect that occurs in Mother Courage is the use of song, in that the songs are unnatural in their context.
Yvette’s “song of fraternisation” and Courage’s “song of capitulation” tell us the singer’s past but also at the same time providing comments of the way life treated people in the 17th Century. The “song of Solomon” is a succinct summary of the overall message of the play-that goodness is never rewarded in corrupt times, while also drawing parallels of the fates of famous persons and that of Courage and her Children. The songs give the actors leave to step out of their roles and introduce themselves to the audience. When the actors present this shift it conforms to the principle of epic acting- that the actor should not identify with his character, anymore than seducing them to empathise with it.
Brecht also insisted that empathy isn’t wanted and that neither the actor nor the audience should identify with the character. The aim of all Brecht’s alienation effects was to try and reveal the character in an unfamiliar circumstance which he believed would stimulate and focus their critical abilities. The risk of emotion, emotional involvement, empathy and seductive illusions is that the audience is blind to Brecht’s social defences set in motion before them.
Montage
Brecht also change the manner in which events were presented to the audience, epic theatre tells a story in a way that invites the audience to consider the events and make their own judgement of them.
Brecht achieved this by changing the form of the play; it was assembled as a montage of independent separate incidents which invented a process of events taking place.
The play takes place over a period of 12 years, (shows the audience this at the beginning), moving from scene to scene through means of “jumps” keeping the audience attentive to what was happening in order to judge if this was the right way. Between scenes 4/5 with Swiss Cheese and his loss of life the scene then skips two years and we are unaware of what happens over the two years.
This is the form most common to Brecht, where he uses no “through lines of action.” Meaning there is no continuing plot and the year and situation change dramatically from scene to scene.
There are contrasting scenes such as Scene 2 and Scene 8 where Eilif repeats his previous heroics of robbing a peasant and killing his wife; however during peacetime the penalty for such escapades is death. There is also strong difference between scenes 1 and 12, Mother Courage starts out with two aims- to live off the war and to bring her children through it, by scene 12 not only has Courage lost all three children but is also living in desolation, with her cart in ruins., by the end of scene 12 Courage’s aims have cancelled each other out leaving Courage with nearly nothing.
Scene 12 also ends on the same song it opened with bringing the montage together forming a sense of “wholeness” this contributes towards the main themes of the play, including how Mother Courage learns nothing during the play, and how business took priority over mothering her children, this is backed up still by the irony of Mother Courage not even knowing her son Eilif is dead.
Themes
War as business
Brecht uses the sub-plot of war being a “continuation of business by no other means.” Brecht showed his own personal opinion of war, “just another profit venture by Europe’s great leaders.” Through many dialogues like during scene 3 Mother Courage claims that, “motives of the top men are that they are in the war for the money, just as she is.” Brecht uses Mother Courage’s role as a small business woman showing that big profits are not made by little people this is proved through the cost of all her children’s lives, the war taking back what she had been provided in flesh. Brecht wanted to put war in what he felt was its “true” light, showing that no-one benefits from it, that it drags the emotion from people, this was shown by Mother Courage haggling for a lower price for her son’s life, as she was more intent on being a good business woman than being a mother to her son.
Virtue
Brecht remarked that war "makes the human virtues fatal even to their possessors." This "lesson" appears from the beginning of the play, in which Mother Courage prophesises her children’s fate by telling their fortunes. Courage conjures their deaths at the hand of their respective virtues: bravery, honesty, and kindness. Later, the cook will rehearse this lesson in "The Song of the Great Souls of the Earth." Brecht often attributes these virtues ironically. Courage is often a coward, and is more a murderer than a brave hero.
Survival
Survival is a total theme throughout the play, even when Courage’s son is going to die she still ahs spirit.
Yvette’s life is all about surviving, as she gives up her only possession-her body-for survival.
Where Stanislavski’s theatre has an empathetic focus on an individual and their psychological make-up, Brecht draws his attentions towards the historical and social pressures that make an individual what they are.
Stanislavski was concerned with developing individual characters that were unique in their psychology and other characteristics, Brecht presented types of characters- Mother Courage, the Chaplin, and the General.
Mother Courage doesn’t present herself but represents all poor working class mothers struggling during times of war- she isn’t a particular woman with a name, (although Mother Courage has a real name it is only mention twice throughout the whole play), but is a woman who shares the same characteristics of any other mother of her social and historical circumstances. Kattrin is the only character that gets a real first name- as the one person who is mute; she is the only person who speaks out when it is important.
Whereas through Stanislavski’s theatre we are enthralled by who the character is, in Brecht’s theatre we are shown what a character does and through their actions we are brought to understand the history and class system at work.
Historical
Brecht wrote Mother Courage and her children in 1939 during his exile in Scandinavia. He had been forced to leave Nazi Germany and wrote the play primarily as a warning to the Scandinavians 'not to sup with the devil of Nazism'. Scandinavian countries have a history of making munitions and Brecht was concerned that they would be drawn into any conflict as a means of furthering their business interests - just as Mother Courage herself does.
Brecht explained that the main theme of the play was that 'war is a continuation of business by other means'.
Brecht decided to write and set the play on the thirty years war which until the 20th Century was the most destructive conflict fought on German soil. He ruled out selecting the 1914-1918 war because he felt that he wanted to move away from the use of propaganda as he had used before.
The thirty years war (1618-1648) was a political upheaval following the reformation which had divided Christian Europe into Protestant and Catholic states.
The first scene opens during the truce of 1622-1625 in the Polish-Swedish war which lasted until 1629 although was separate from the thirty years war.
Social
Brecht uses the names of the major war leaders at the time only in conversations or events offstage, like the death of General Tilly. This is because Brecht didn’t care for how they fought their wars, but how their wars affected the low-class people of the time.
It is in this respect he chooses to have a female leading role who shares the same profit motives as the top men, and how she would exploit anyone she meets. Brecht achieves his image of war affected the people at the bottom of the social ladder by ending with Mother Courage almost destitute, knowing two of her children are dead and believing, wrongly, that her eldest son is still alive.
Cultural
Brecht used a method of presentation which he called “epic theatre” this presented Mother Courage on the stage based upon his Marxist-political ideals. Mother Courage learns nothing through the events of the play. The audience is supposed to learn what she doesn’t - that a Capitalist society is corrupt and the decisions we make should not be the same ones Mother Courage makes.
Brecht did not direct Mother Courage until 1949 when he had been invited back to East Berlin by the Communist government. Its relevance was most probably even stronger to the audience who had lived through the events of the Second World War.
Britain perhaps cannot appreciate Brecht’s “Mother Courage and her children” as there hasn’t been a war fought on it’s land for many years therefore lacks a sense of identification with it- maybe requires a war situation for the message to be appreciated fully.
“Mother Courage and her Children” may also be lost in translation of the text, as certain phrases don’t exist in different languages and cultures. This can have an effect on the alienation effects of Brecht and translating his linguistic “tricks” is quite impossible.
