EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 1

A Study of Brechts Mother Courage and Her Children as Epic Theatre

Firdous Irshad Khan

Fatima Jinnah Women University

EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 2

Abstract

Brecht developed Epic Theatre to replace the traditional realistic theatre. The aim of this theatre

was to keep the audience emotionally detached from the action of the play as opposed to the aim

of realistic plays where intense emotional involvement is the desired objective. Brecht wanted to

appeal to the audience's reason, not feelings, so that they could analyze the play's thematic

content critically. To achieve this end Brecht developed his theory of Alienation Effect which

was created by using anti-illusive techniques like the flooding of the stage with harsh lights,

making the props, sets and equipment frankly visible to the audience to remind them that this

was not actual life but that they were in the theatre. He wanted to break the illusion and the

trance-like involvement of the audience. He made a virtue of necessity by using Alienation

Effects to jolt the audience out of any childish acceptance of make-belief for reality. In spite of

all these efforts to alienate the audience, many of Brechts plays aroused positive emotional

response in the spectators. Thus Brecht's plays did not conform wholly to his theory. Although he

wanted to arouse the audience from mere passive viewing to social action, they were too

spaciously humanistic to be confined by any aesthetic or social dogma. This paper examines his

play Mother Courage and Her Children in the light of his theory to bring out the discrepancy

between his avowed theory and practice.

Keywords

Epic Theatre, Alienation Effect, Anti-Illusive, Anti-Aristotelian

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A Study of Brechts Mother Courage and Her Children as Epic Theatre

"Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it." Bertolt Brecht.

Brechts Epic Theatre is a socially and politically engaged theatre which concentrates on mans

potentials for growth and his capacity to effect social change. It was conceived in direct contrast

to the conventional realistic theatre as it was meant to appeal to the audiences reason not

feelings, and evoke critical attitudes not simple empathy. Brecht despised the conventional

audience looking for emotional thrills and identifying itself with helpless heroes and heroines on

the stage. He felt that such an audience lost its ability to think or judge and merely drifted in pity

and empathy. The audience saw the man as a known entity, his fate settled and finished. Their

emotions were stirred, then exhausted, and at the end they were reconciled to their imperfect

world. Brecht wanted to awaken his audience, to make them think, compare, questions, and see

the implications of the play for their own world instead of losing themselves in the psychological

problems of the leisured class which were usually the themes of the most realistic plays. To this

end, Brecht used various techniques and developed his theory of the Alienation Effect (also

called V- effects) and introduced theatrical devices that were designed to challenge the audiences

unthinking emotional involvement with productions. What he developed was a non-Aristotelian

drama that was anti-theatre, anti-illusive an anti-realistic.

Methodology

In order to explore the relationship between V-effects and expected spectators/readers

response in Brechts epic theatre, Brechts theory of Epic Theatre and Alienation devices was

discussed and set up as a framework against which his play Mother Courage and Her Children

was analyzed to evaluate how successful he was in creating emotional distance in the audience.

Since such analysis involved close examination of the subject matter, dialogues, characters as
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well as the dramatic techniques which require interpretivism and subjectivism, the researcher has

used qualitative approach to carry out this research.

Statement of the Problem

Brecht theorized a great deal about the breaking of the illusions, about devices of

interruption, and about keeping the emotions in check. In his plays he wanted the objectivity of a

lecture by a scientist, with important demonstration, to be watched thoughtfully. Whether

Brechts plays always conformed to his theory or not is arguable. This research paper is a modest

attempt to trace how far Brecht succeeded in achieving his intended aim.

Significance

The researcher's rationale in writing this thesis is to promote understanding of Brecht's

Epic Theatre and to study those aspect of his plays about which not much research has been done

viz, the emotional appeal in his plays and the lack of conformity between his avowed theory and

actual practice. Brecht's theatre plays an influential part in the development of the modern theatre

as not only are his plays important in themselves, but the theory behind them has profoundly

influenced the later playwrights and even actors. The aim of Brecht's theatre was the arousing of

the audience to social action, rather than the release of its empathies in catharsis.

Objectives

The objectives of the research are:

1) To critically evaluate the use of alienation devices and their impact in Mother Courage

and Her Children.

2) To explore elements which create emotional appeal in the play despite the use of

alienation devices to keep emotions at bay.

EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 5

Research Questions

The question addressed in this research are:

1) Which alienation devices are used in Mother Courage and Her Children and what is their

impact?

2) What creates emotional appeal in the play despite the use of alienation devices to keep

emotions at bay?

Theoretical Framework

Brechts theory of Epic Theatre and Verfremmdungseffekt (A- effect) was used as a

theoretical framework to analyze his play Mother Courage to find out the discrepancy between

the theory and practice. The alienation devices employed by Brecht to prevent spectators from

confusing the stage events with real life and to preserve the critical judgment include:

Use of captions/titles. One of the ways through which Brecht tried to break the illusion

of actuality from his plays is that he allocated different captions or titles to different acts and

scenes. These written titles were highlighted on the stage before every scene and act.

Forestating. Suspense is one of the important elements in traditional drama. The

suspenseful element of "what happens next" keeps the audience completely involved in an

unfolding plot. Spectators instead of critically contemplating the actions on the stage become

concerned only with the "what happens next" element. Brecht was aware of this effect of

suspense and tried to do away with it by introducing each scene with a summary of the following

occurrences thus establishing inevitability which denies the audience the excitement of viewing

for the purpose of an unfolding plot.

Loose plots: Brecht's plays usually consist of a series of loosely connected scenes rather

than a compact or highly organized plot with a climax. The individual scenes can be intense but
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they avoid any sense of continuity of action in order to prohibit audience from becoming

involved in the unfolding of the plot. No attention is paid to the unities and there is usually no

definite beginning, middle and end" in the conventional sense.

Use of slides, film sequences banners. Brecht utilized slides, placards, banner, chats,

maps, graphs, a treadmill for moving scenery and actors, and a motion picture screen on which

were projected cartoons, captions and film sequences. The use of such material not only gives

information to the viewers but it also destroys the illusion and makes the theatre look more likely

a lecture hall.

Non-realistic setting: The settings in Brecht's plays are not realistic but merely suggest a

locale and they are often changed in full view of the audience, preventing any entrancing

illusion. It should be enough that the setting suggests the time period or locale. In the notes to

Galileo the first point that Brecht makes is that the stage must not be such that the audience

considers itself to be in a room in mediaeval Italy or in the Vatican. The audience must remain

always clearly aware that it is in a theatre (Brecht, 1963).

Visible light sources and props: One of the ways by which Brecht hoped to achieve his

alienation effect was by making light sources, production props, sets and equipment visible,

reminding the audience that they were in a theatre watching a play.

Songs and Music. Songs in Brechts theatre are a narrative element, definite

interruptions of the dramatic action rather than parts of it, and they can communicate directly

from the author to public.

Narrative: Epic theatre is a mixture of narrative and dramatic techniques. The use of a

narrator is a play creates a distance between the audience tie action Brecht usually employed
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narrative devices like placards, summaries, scene titles, introductory verses and apostrophes to

the audience but he also sometimes used a narrator or a singer in his play.

Stylized Acting. The work of the actor is the cardinal point of Brecht's theories of

distancing on the stage. Brecht expresses his views about the type of acting required in epic

theatre in his "A Short Organnum for the Theatre in following words:

In order to produce A-effect the actor has to discard whatever means he has learned of

persuading the audience to identify itself with the characters which he plays. Aiming not

to put audience into a trance, he must not go into a trance himself.(Brecht,1964,p.67)

Montage: Montage is a technique of piling up images, one after another, or of

simultaneously presenting several images on a divided screen to show the passage of time and

the changes brought by it. It tends to create atmosphere, mood and ultimately, emotive impact. It

also pushes the narrative along, but allows for a greater exploration of both form and content.

Delimitation

Brecht's Epic Theatre was conceived in rejection of the traditional and realistic theatre

found before his time. It has its own dialectical theory and political aspects which can be

discussed at large but the present researcher has delimited her thesis to the use of Alienation

devices and emotional appeal in his plays. Brecht left an extraordinarily large volume of plays

and other work but this thesis is based mainly on his play Mother Courage and Her Children.

Literature Review

Epic theatre did not originate with Brecht as is generally assumed, though he was the first

to use this word, along with Erwin Piscator, for their kind of production in 1920. The epic style is

a deliberate attempt to break with traditions, to move away from the struggles of a single

individual and consider instead the dynamics of social change. It is called epic in order to
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indicate its broad sweep and mixture of narrative and dramatic. The epic theatre revolts against

the traditions of Ibsenian realism concerned with the personal problems of a man and his wife in

a home. Epic drama calls for a larger arena of actions, which shows the dynamics of social forces

at work. In 1927 when epic theatre was still in its initial stage of development Willet quotes

Brecht as postulating,

To expound the principles of epic theatre in a few catchphrases is not possible. They still

mostly need to be worked out in detail, and include representation by the actor, stage

technique, dramaturgy, stage music, use of the film, etc. The essential point of the epic

theatre is perhaps that it appeals less to the feelings than to the spectator's reason. Instead

of sharing an experience the spectator must come to grip with things. At the same time it

would be quite wrong to try and deny emotions to this kind of theatre. (Willet, 1977,

p.168)

The crucial point in epic theatre is that it aims to appeal more to the spectators reason

than to their feelings. Epic theatre was conceived in rejection of both the traditional "well made

plays" in which all the parts fit perfectly together like a machine, and the abstract expressionistic

plays which were becoming too obscure. The term epic theatre' implies a sequence of actions or

episodes of the kind found in Homer's Iliad. These incidence or events are narrated and

dramatized without artificial restrictions as to time, place or relevance to a formal "plot". In epic

theatre the sense of dramatic illusion is constantly avoided and the audience is deliberately made

aware of the fact that they are watching an enactment of reality instead of reality itself. For this

purpose, Brecht developed his theory of Verfremdumgseffekt" (alienation effect), which was

designed to break illusion and to encourage the audience to retain their critical judgment as he
EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 9

did not want his audience to be spellbound or hypnotized by his plays. He wanted them to

critically analyze the plays' thematic contents rather than sit back and be entertained. He aimed to

create conditions in which audiences would witness theatre in a state of sentient objectivity. If

audiences could be taught to watch and to think, than theatre might be something that changed

the world, rather than simply representing it. Lumley (1967) expressing his views about epic

theatre states:

It is wrong for the audience to participate when they should judge for an actor to play

when he should report and for a stage to be a stage when it should be what it is, a

platform. So Brecht devised the alienation of emotion to prevent the audience from

identifying itself with an actor, or from losing itself in the supreme moments of theatre,

only to be brought down to earth with a bump when it was over. There were to be no

supreme moments and consequently no fall. (p. 83-84)

Epic theatre was basically anti-illusive but some illusion had to remain if the audience

was itself to remain in the theatre. The question was one of selection or of degree as Lumley

points out that there was never an effort at total illusion but one of selected illusion; a room may

be portrayed displaying only a part of it, such as one wall, a table and a few chairs. In Mother

Courage for example, fastidious details of the provision wagon are given which is shown to be

aging more markedly than Mother Courage is herself. In The Caucasian Chalk Circle, the

governor's wife concern for her wardrobe rather than for her child is exposed in greater detail

than the attack on the governor's palace.

White (1978) discussing the place of emotion in Brechts plays explicates that what

Brecht opposes is emotions forced on the audience by self-identification with a protagonists

emotion which might be contrary to their genuine interest if they were invited to think. White
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cites brecht as saying that film Gunga Din made him feel an emotional bond with the British

imperialist soldiers and contempt for the Indian natives, in spite of his intellectual dismissal of

such attitudes. The emotions that Brecht allows are rational emotions- principally, ones with a

definable role in the present day class struggles.

Spiers (1987) claims Brechts theory and practice of theatre altered significantly during

his career. In particular, after he had espoused a Marxist vision of society, towards the close of

the 1920s, Brecht started to develop a conception of theatre that would promulgate that view of

society and thus helping to bring about fundamental social change. Spiers therefore surveys his

whole development, bearing in mind both the continuities and the discontinuities between his

earlier and his later Marxist work probing critically the relations between theory and practice,

and studying the major plays in detail. He argues that Brecht's techniques both of writing and

production are well understood as rhetorical tactics than as 'scientific' demonstrations.

Farmer (2008) strives to explore the costs of armed conflict by examining the experience

of two generations of Mother Courages family, caught in the middle of two conflicts. He asserts

that War must be good for something or someone, or it would not have persisted for millennia

as a major staple of human interaction but who does it pay is the question. Farmers guess is

that Bertolt Brecht wrote his famed play in order to ask and answer some of these questions. And

the answers are exposed, over time, to his questionable protagonist, a Swedish canteen woman

and mother striving to keep her head above water during the course of thirty years of war in the

seventeenth century, whose purposes were vague then and were even more so by 1939 when

Brecht produced Mother Courage. Mother Courage gains the ability to answer these and other

questions only as she loses her three children in quick succession. She says, I won't let you spoil

my war for me. Destroys the weak, does it? Well, what does peace do for 'em, huh? War feeds its
EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 11

people better., When she as a shrewd businesswoman even in the worst of times, has reaped a

few of the paltry and temporary spoils of war. But the play is titled Mother Courage and Her

Children because, by the end, the audience knows that the disturbing costs of losing one's

childrenand all victims of war are someone's childrenare definitely too high to calculate.

Smith (1991) analyzing Mother Courage from feminist perspective points out that

regardless of the growing criticism of Brechts portrayal of women in the theater, it cannot be

denied that the most noticeable and inspiring roles in his later plays are female. Brecht not only

had the motivation of writing for the extraordinarily talented actress, Helene Weigel; but perhaps

he recognized as well that dilemmas facing women, as alienated and marginalized members of

society, could articulate his own views. Smith posits that now it rests with feminists to capitalize

on their potential for gender studies. They can use its techniques for rethinking artistic

representations of self and for engaging spectators in that process. Feminist critics are attracted

to the redefinition of spectatorial pleasure implied in these techniques. Although, this form of

pleasure is not noticeably spelled out in Brecht's theories, nor do his plays attain it fully. Thus, it

is required that feminist criticism adapts Brecht's ideas, not just adopt them.

Vork (2013) states that previous academic work on Mother Courage has explored its

apparent themes of war and trade in the context of Brecht's Marxism or has examined the play's

structure and techniques of storytelling in relation to Brecht's theories of the stage. In contrast to

these typical readings, David Hare raises an issue in his introduction to the play that quite

disturbingly does not fit into any predetermined political or theatrical model. Although Hare

recognizes the same themes as most other criticswar, business, and revolution, exposed in the

play's content as well as in its staging he is also intensely sensitive to a silencing force at the

core of the play that does not merely reduce to the above mentioned themes. It is silence itself
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rather than war, or profit, that Hare finally presents as the play's fundamental, key issue when he

suggests that an appropriate alternative title would be "The Silencing of Mother Courage.

Vork does not endorse Hares views and asserts that the play's depiction of revolutionary

force aligns with Brecht's Marxism so far as it attempts to expose the injustices of history and

release what is most alienated within the human being. He also argues that this revolutionary

power does not arise from the inherent injustice of class struggle. In fact, it originates in the

performative power of speech, first of all seeking to liberate the human voice from those forces

of trauma that reduce it to silence. Kattrin whose muteness throughout the play is emphasized

reverses her character and through her self- sacrifice and saves the town from the attacking

armys destruction. Vork asserts that this action on Kattrins part silences the violence.

Analysis

Mother Courage: Failure as Epic Theatre

Mother Courage, one of Brecht's most widely known plays is the best example in support

of the view that in real performance Brecht's drama failed to conform to his own theories about

epic theatre. The audience, instead of being alienated deeply, shared the main character's

experience, contrary to his expectation that people would judge the social reality by watching

dramas reasonably.

In writing Mother Courage, Brecht's aimed to communicate his beliefs and make people

aware of two major issues facing society: war and capitalism. Brecht set the play in The Thirty

Years War to better enlist the objectivity of the audience. He was not interested in the immediate

causes underlying this war any more than he was interested in the causes of the war that raged

while he wrote this play in 1941. He was interested in making a statement against war entirely,

regardless of its cause.

EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 13

In Brechts opinion societies deserve the wars they get if they contribute to a political

system which is prejudicial and favors a specific segment of society namely capitalism, where it

is up to the individual to guard his own means of survival. It means, if the system is unfair in any

way, war and conflicts are unavoidable.

This play focuses on the itinerant trader Anna Fierling, known by the name of Courage,

who with her three children follows the Imperial and Swedish armies during the thirty-year war

and sells liquor and other goods to the soldiers. Mother Courage's business, which is for her

children, depends on war. But, ironically at the same time, the war kills her children. One by one

the children are swallowed by the war: the not very bright but painfully honest Swiss Cheese is

executed when he will not reveal the hiding place of the regimental cash box entrusted to him,

the braggart Eilif, after being treated as a hero for stealing cattle and robbing during the war is

ironically shot as a looter later; and the deaf-and- dumb but compassionate Kattrin is killed as

she beats a drum to warn a town of impending massacre. At the end of the play, Mother Courage,

alone but undaunted sets off pulling the wagon by herself, hoping to get back in the way of trade

for her son Eilifs sake of whose death she is still unaware. Mother Courage will continue to pull

her wagon alone; she never sees further than the money the war brings her She has sacrificed and

lost all without understanding. In spite of Brecht's intentions and the theories of epic theatre she

becomes a tragic heroine.

Attempts at Alienation

Keeping in view the capacity of the play to arouse emotional response, Brecht made

efforts to alienate the audience by deliberately avoiding theatrical techniques that would make

appearances realistic. He incorporated alienation techniques in the staging used in performances

of Mother Courage, firstly by keeping a very bright white light trained evenly upon the set
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throughout. This eliminated any opportunities for creating an atmosphere, any magical or

romantic views of the stage were kept strictly at bay, and no attempt was made to convey the

sense of a specific place.

A banner was also used to introduce every scene, as opposed to a narrator, as was most

common in dramatic performances of the day. This innovative technique appeared unusual to the

audience and differed from the traditional storytelling manner. Also, as words were not being,

spoken to them, it was difficult to get caught up in the story. In addition, scene changes were

made in full view of the audience reminding them of its existence as a play, again alienating

them from the impression of a "true life" tale. This sense was what was intentionally put forth in

other plays of the time, and one method used was to communicate the impression that a fourth

wall had been cut off from the scene and that the audience was viewing incidents in the

characters' lives as if they were spying on them. In Brecht's play, however, this effect was

dispensed with; spectators were not intended to become involved, thus the fact that it was merely

a play was constantly enforced.

With regards to acting, actors were not meant to "become" their characters or persuade

anyone of a transformation, they were required simply to show the character's behavior. They did

not intend to evoke empathy, but to startle the audience into objective thought. Theatrical illusion

was used to the most minimal extent - stage machinery improved some representations of reality,

but not enough to draw the audience out of the knowledge that they were still in a theatre. All of

these methods were utilized to alienate viewers so that they adopted and retained an attitude of

inquiry a criticism in addressing the incidents and issues raised by the play, which is what epic

theatre concentrated on.

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Songs are frequently used in this play, and interpret the story in an objective tone. Mother

Courage's first appearance on stage is initiated by a song, to ensure that the audience is not

empathetic and to draw attention to it as a play from the beginning. Throughout the play this is

what the songs did, as well as make poignant observations and address real issues which Brecht

wanted the audience's focus to be on. Songs interpret the story in an objective tone but not all

songs are strictly related to the plays theme. For instance The Army Chaplains Songs in

Mother Courage raises the issue of war and peace in a new startling light.

Peacemakers shall the earth inherit:

We bless those men of simple worth.

War makers have still greater merit:

They have inherited the earth

Ill tell you, my good sir, what peace is:

The hole when all the cheese is gone.

And what is war? This is my thesis:

Its what world is founded on. (Brecht, 1976, p.706)

This song is meant to make people think critically about war and how some people

exploit it and also to prevent people from getting too deeply involved in Mother Courage's story.

The sudden appearance of song at seemingly unlikely points in the play when it is least expected

is alienating and can confuse an audience. Often a silly or light-hearted song would come up

directly after a dramatic event, creating a lack of moral perspective and irony. In scene six, for

instance, the soldier's "Battle Hymn" serves as an anti-climax to the discussion about the

commander's death. Another alienating characteristic is the fact that the melodic and lyrical

delivery of songs contrasts with their serious, occasionally distressing content. In the third scene,
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for example, the chaplain's song tells of the horrors of Christ's story, and yet the form resembles

that of a nursery rhyme. This occasional use of song makes the play difficult to define in terms of

form of theatre; Brecht is mixing these forms in the same way as he does his writing style, which

is both poetic and demotic. This alternating between almost romantic poetry and every day,

colloquial speech is recurrent, and the fluctuations are sudden. It is alienating that the two

opposing styles are not separated in any distinct way, constantly ensuring that the audience's

expectations are denied.

To differ from the audience's expectations is the purpose of the play's structure - the space

of time as it actually passes between the scenes is often great. After a dramatic event has just

passed, one would expect the reactions of the characters to be portrayed, or at least regarded, and

the anticipated emotions to be seen, but instead one is shown occurrences of several years later.

Thus, dramatic climaxes are forfeited. Also in the same way as one cannot always see a

connection between the songs and their surrounding dialogue, each scene is barely connected to

the next, to the extent that the audience gets the impression that if a scene were removed, it

would make little difference. There is no definite sequence of events, denying the characteristics

of traditional story telling. Brecht brings in the theatre of realism by devising the play not as a

convenient series of dramatic events, with a noted beginning and distinct end, for this is not what

reality is. He also uses what he calls gestures, the denial of the audience's potentiality to

empathise. This is an effect created by epic theatre, designed to compel the audience into

remaining distanced from the story. Brecht objected to the soporific attitude of the audiences and

did not want them to be lulled into passive viewing, instead he compelled them to confront what

they saw and analyze it.

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A significant method of alienation that ensures that the audience does not get wrapped up

in the suspenseful "what happens next" element of the story is Brecht s forestating which he has

used in this play. This encourages the adoption of a critical attitude only through which

understanding can be achieved.

The conflicts of individual characters in Mother Courage are unimportant; the play's

purpose as epic theatre is to attract the audience's attention toward more important societal

issues. The characters in the play can appear- self-contradictory, which would be particularly

alienating to an audience familiar solely with Aristotelian theatre. Though the characters change

in this sense, no character development can be seen, and it is difficult for people to relate to

them. In truth, not only would an audience be unable to empathise, but also they would not know

how to regard the characters. One is not given a defined set of emotions to experience, and

because of the contradictions within characters, one cannot form an opinion on, or an attitude

towards, them. The greatest example of this is Mother Courage herself, who is selfish and

egocentric in that she subscribes to capitalist principles and is blind to their consequences. Yet,

an admirable trait may be that she keeps on going through hardships and confronts danger,

surviving in a man's world and ignoring her own pain for the sake of her children. However,

though she disagrees with war in principle, she lacks strength of belief and exploits the war by

profiting from it. The fact that she works hard constantly, it would appear, from what we are

shown of her life but for little gain, would lead us to sympathize with her, though her deeds in

the beginning of scene three, her selling of ammunition to the opposing army makes us question

her morals. Another example of a contradictory character is the chaplain, who would be expected

to condemn war and disapprove of it completely, though he said, "War satisfies all needs even

those of peace." The chaplain can be said to have been based on contradiction at first he was cold
EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 18

and formal, then later, on the battlefield, he helps the injured and shows a part of himself that is

itself a victim.

Emotional Element in the play

The story of Mother Courage is so compelling because of its tragic content that it arouses

a deep emotional response from the audience in spite of Brecht's use of alienating devices.

Mother Courage and Her Children is the representative Epic Theatre play which failed in

making the audience realise Brecht's intention- especially in the character of Mother Courage. In

the early performances the audience understood her only as the victim of war just like

themselves who had experienced the World War II. This was completely contrary to Brecht's idea

that she should be considered as a self-contradictory person. Despite all attempts to make her a

hyena of the battlefield, people insisted on feeling for and with her as a victim of war.

Frederick Lumley writes that,

When Mother Courage had its premiere at Zurich the bourgeois audience took the play to

be a testament of the indestructibility of people like Mother Courage, and no doubt

identified themselves with her small trader's attitude to war and profiteering. (Lumley,

1967, p.85)

One of the main reasons for the emotional response to this play is that Mother Courage

fails to see that her suffering is the result of her own obsession with her business. Like most of

Brecht's other characters Mother Courage has a split personality having two characteristics: one

is love for her children and the other is attachment to business which is connected to the war.

And, after she loses all her children, she never realizes the relationship between the war and

business which complement each other and the fact that the war is her friend and enemy.
EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 19

SERGEANT: You're peaceful all right; your knife proves that. Tell me, how can we have

a war without soldiers? MOTHER COURAGE Do they have to be mine? SERGEANT

So that's it. The war should swallow the pits and spit out of the peach, huh? (Brecht,

1976, p.678)

Mother courage's dilemma is the fact that the war kills her children while it helps her

business. But, as the plot develops, Mother Courages negative qualities of selfishness, her love

for the business overwhelm the positive. But in spite of all her selfishness, in scene three where

she has to pretend that she does not know her own son whose dead body lies in front of her can

arouse the audience's sympathies.

SERGEANT: You know him?

(MOTHER COURAGE shakes her head)

What? You never saw him before he bought that meal?

(MOTHER COURAGE shakes her head) (Brecht, 1976, p.698)

At the end of the play when Mother Courage loses her last child, Kattrin, her utter loss

causes a feeling of terror and pity in the audience.

MOTHER COURAGE Here's a little money for the expenses.

(She harnesses herself to the wagon)

I hope I can pull the wagon by myself. Yes. Ill manage. There's not much in it now.

(The last regiment heard passing)

MOTHER COURAGE Hey! Take me with you! (Brecht, 1976, p.725)

The story itself contains the factor that makes the audience feel sympathy because it was

in wartime that the first performance was given. Naturally it was inevitable that the audience

interpret the drama, as they liked. The situation of war in the play made the audience justify the
EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 20

negative qualities of Mother Courage. Because it is the world that is abnormal, the audience

comes to understand her difficult situation. Though Brecht emphasizes Kattrin as the symbol of

social betterment contrasted with Mother Courage's selfish attitude toward society, it is not

effective because Mother Courage is the protagonist who can be more attractive to the audience.

But, in fact, Kattrin's behaviour is more relevant to the objective viewpoint. Of course, in this

case, Kattrin can be the direct example of what the people should be. But, Kattrin also can be

unimportant from the point of view of the audience because she can be considered just as one of

the victims and one more tragedy in the life of Mother Courage.

Because Mother Courage does not realize social reality and the relationship between war

and business, it is difficult that the audience can do so even though Brecht wants them to know,

through alienation effect, the contradiction in Mother Courage's attitude. That is, the alienation

effect in the play is, even if it is more artistic, too indirect to influence the audience's reactions,

because they are already sympathetic to Mother Courage. In addition, no character in the play

understands the relationship between war and business so it is too much to demand of the

audience such an immoderately reasonable judgment.

Songs in the play which are meant to alienate the audience can sometimes have the

opposite reaction and induce an emotional response, especially Mother Courage's Lullaby, in the

last scene after Kattrin's death with its ironical overtones can make the audience share the

anguish of the bereaved mother:

They are all starving: you have a cake,

If it's too stale, you need but speak.

Lullay, lullay, what's rustling there?

One lad fell in Poland. The other is where? (Brecht, 1976, p.725)
EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 21

The sight of Mother Courage pulling the wagon alone on a war ravaged stage is such that

no amount of alienation can remove Mother Courage's searing heart-felt cry from the

darkness of human suffering.

Conclusion

Bertolt Brecht, the eminent and legendary dramatist, has beyond the shadow of doubt,

blazed a trail so to speak, in modern dramaturgy. One of the forerunners of modern drama,

Brecht developed a unique kind of theatre which revolted against both realism as well as

expressionism as he rejected both the well-made plays in the realistic tradition which aimed at

getting emotional response from the audience and the totally abstract plays produced by

expressionist writers.

Brecht believed that writing and producing a play also means transforming the societies

and subjecting ideologies to close scrutiny. Central to this concept of epic theatre was his theory

of "Alienation which was meant to shatter illusion and stop the reader or spectator from getting

swept away by the story, the characters, the actors who represented them on the stage, or the

naturalistic devices with which that stage set out to make their representation truly life like. The

central intent of the Alienation Effect can then be understood as a push to make the audience act

rather than react, to impel the audience from an empathetic stupor into an understood action.

The aim of this research was to bring to light the discrepancy between Brecht's theory

and actual practice, especially with regards to the presence of emotional elements in his plays.

For this purpose, the researcher has analyzed his play, Mother Courage and tried to bring out the

emotional aspect in it by juxtaposing it with the avowed aim of the Alienation devices used in the

play. This obvious discrepancy in his theory and plays raises the question: does this discrepancy

mean the failure of the avowed aims of epic theater?

EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 22

Before answering this question one must understand what emotional identification or

empathy means and whether it is possible or desirable to exclude it in theatre. By emotional

identification we mean that when we watch a film or theatre, we find ourselves becoming

attached to a particular character or characters on the basis of values or qualities roughly

congruent with those we possess, or those that we wish to possess, and experience vicariously

the emotional experiences of the character. Audience's empathy is the most important factor in

many great plays. Shakespeare's Hamlet and King Lear, for instance will be no more than the

stories of a procrastinating, cowardly prince and a sentimental and foolish king if we are not able

to identify with the protagonists in such plays. It is only through empathy that the audience is

able to appreciate the message. Thus we can say that, for sensible watching of the Theatre, the

subjectivity in the response of the audience is essential. But it is up to the intellectual level of the

audience to go a step further because despite the empathy, the audiences who have critical view

can get to know the meaning of it reasonably.

Though Brecht considered empathy politically undesirable he was not entirely against

emotion. It was allowed to exist in his plays, though subordinated to reason. Brecht later himself

said that it was not true that epic theatre proclaimed the slogan "Reason this side, Emotion that".

Frederick Lumley expressing his views about the response aroused by Mother Courage writes,

Perhaps after all, Epic is not so much diametrically opposed to Dramatic Theatre as

complementary, for the audience does not watch uninvolved, detached, without feeling

for her plight. (Lumley, 1967, p.87)

What can be concluded from this research is that technically epic theatre proved to be a

failure as spectators stubbornly went on being moved to empathise with his plays and character

but the empathy in this play is not blinding and it has a unique interplay of appeal to the head and
EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 23

appeal to the heart. His more extreme ideas that there should be no emotional identification, that

the audience must remain critical and uninvolved were not successful and were disproved by

even his own plays but his seminal idea that theatre should advance the pleasure of the critical

disposition was taken up by other playwrights, especially by those connected with educational

theatre.
EPIC THEATRE AND MOTHER COURAGE 24

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