Brecht's Mother Courage And Her Children example essay topic

Mother Courage It's always important to be touched. Writers know and understand this idea. Whether the audience feels good or bad about whom or what you present is not as important as the fact that they feel something. Bert olt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children is a perfect example of a work that doesn't leave us in very high spirits but touches us in such a way that it becomes even more powerful than if it had. Throughout the play the title character, Mother Courage, is presented to us in such a way that the reader is usually left not knowing how to feel. We have with two choices.

On the one hand she can be a money grubbing, self concerned woman who only cares about herself and those directly related to her money. On the other hand she can be considerate and caring mother who only wants to protect her children. It's an issue the reader wrestles with many times over the course of the play. If you take everything at face value it seems that all Mother Courage is driven by is profit.

But then one has to think... What's is her motive? Is it her children? Are we completely misinterpreting Mother Courage's intentions?

Consider this: Mother Courage throughout the war does what she can to keep her daughter Kattrin "innocent". Now as awful as it sounds prostitution is a pretty lucrative business. If Mother Courage was only driven by profit wouldn't she decide that maybe selling Kattrin's body would help her business? Mother Courage looses all three of her children at the end of the play.

As each dies she just seems to pick up and move on, with a brief moment of sorrow. This is a characteristic that adds to the readers contempt for her, and rightly so. Wouldn't you think the death of a child would affect a mother to the point of agony? But it doesn't seem to reach Mother Courage on this level. Why is it, that in spite of losing all her children, Mother Courage fails to see the light? She conducts business even at the end, paying for Kattrin's burial.

Basically, she has learned nothing, saying, 'I must get back into business. ' Although Brecht wants us to condemn her for her sentiments at the end, it is difficult to do so. Part of the problem is that we are not presented with a better alternative. Had she not conducted business at each moment when her children were killed, then she would not have been able to feed her remaining family. So, while we may not agree with her outlook on life, it is difficult to condemn her for her actions.

Kattrin's body is kept onstage in the last scene because it represents the death of selflessness. Helping others does not pay; by keeping the body onstage, Brecht is showing the audience that only people like Mother Courage can survive in the world. By making us despise Mother Courage, Brecht is trying to get his audience to realize that the world in which we live needs to be changed. Kattrin represents an alternative and idealized world that cannot yet exist in our own world. Another issue regarding Mother Courage is whether she indeed deserves her name. To answer this, one must decide what their definition of the word courage is.

She earned her name Mother Courage in Riga when she ran through a bombardment in order to sell her loaves of bread. Running through the middle of a battle seems pretty courageous. But if you look at the motive it seems wrong in some way. "Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty" is Merriam Webster's definition for the word courage. But should morality really be considered when deeming an action courageous?

If so Mother Courage's actions don't exactly fit the bill. But does morality really define courage? It shouldn't. Whether or not Mother Courage is a hero is another issue entirely. The answer here would even be a slight bit wishy-washy. A hero is someone who acts courageously for others.

Mother courage does this seemingly insane thing to make money for herself. But is it just for herself? She does have a family that needs to survive. Is survival not grounds enough for an action to be courageous? Once again we come back to Brecht's idea that only people like Mother Courage can survive in this world. Using the word "courage" in her name he makes a cynical statement about our value system.

Courage is an extremely valuable virtue, however just look at Mother Courage's distorted ethics. Brecht is saying that that's where humankind is now. Mother Courage is an embodiment of all the corrupt aspects of our own values. But if the readers find Mother Courage's actions objectionable they should see themselves as objectionable also. We are not meant to hate Mother Courage entirely. Indeed on some levels we should admire her.

She does what she can with the little she has, which is an admirable quality itself. Mother Courage's purpose is to make us think. It's to spark those little questions in our minds that just might make some difference in ourselves and how we live. By creating disdain for Mother Courage Brecht gives the reader a thought provoking character with the power to do good.