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Contents
About the Author
Bertolt Brecht is a German poet, play writer, theatre director and Marxist. Born in Augsburg, Germany in 1898 and was a medical orderly during WWI. This has reinforced hatred about war and eventually became more interested in literature than medicine. He is highly influenced by English writers and Chinese philosophers of the time. His famous works are ‘Drums in the Night’ about a soldier returning from war, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ about his growing belief in Marxism. Most of his work projects a Marxist interpretation of society forced him to flee from Nazi Germany when Hitler gained power. In his final years – he founded the Berlin Ensemble in 1949 and over the next few years, it became the country’s most famous theatre company
Background
Ancient Greeks saw the universe as a sphere, with earth in the middle, a sold, unmoving ball. At different heights between earth and sky, they said, the moon, the sun and the planets go around. Aristotle (384-22 B.C.) accepted the earth-centred picture, his whole system was impressive. Ptolemy of Alexandria’s Almagest, a masterpiece supports the whole earth-centred origin. Nicolaus Copernicus (1472-1543), like Aristarchus saw that the pattern would make better sense with sun in the centre. In 1616, church declared that it was against religion to say that sun stood still and the earth move. Brecht’s play takes us from a period where everyone accepted Ptolemaic theory to a period where Copernican theory was beginning to penetrate.
Scene 1
The scene begins with Galileo taking bath and trying to explain Andrea Sarti about the proof which he has made about the Copernicus theory. He is the son of Galileo Galilei’s housekeeper, examines a model of the solar system as it is understood to exist, with the Earth at its centre. Galileo is prepared to challenge that belief: “I have made discoveries we can no longer withhold from the world.” He demonstrates Copernicus’ findings that the earth moves
Contents
About the Author
Bertolt Brecht is a German poet, play writer, theatre director and Marxist. Born in Augsburg, Germany in 1898 and was a medical orderly during WWI. This has reinforced hatred about war and eventually became more interested in literature than medicine. He is highly influenced by English writers and Chinese philosophers of the time. His famous works are ‘Drums in the Night’ about a soldier returning from war, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ about his growing belief in Marxism. Most of his work projects a Marxist interpretation of society forced him to flee from Nazi Germany when Hitler gained power. In his final years – he founded the Berlin Ensemble in 1949 and over the next few years, it became the country’s most famous theatre company
Background
Ancient Greeks saw the universe as a sphere, with earth in the middle, a sold, unmoving ball. At different heights between earth and sky, they said, the moon, the sun and the planets go around. Aristotle (384-22 B.C.) accepted the earth-centred picture, his whole system was impressive. Ptolemy of Alexandria’s Almagest, a masterpiece supports the whole earth-centred origin. Nicolaus Copernicus (1472-1543), like Aristarchus saw that the pattern would make better sense with sun in the centre. In 1616, church declared that it was against religion to say that sun stood still and the earth move. Brecht’s play takes us from a period where everyone accepted Ptolemaic theory to a period where Copernican theory was beginning to penetrate.
Scene 1
The scene begins with Galileo taking bath and trying to explain Andrea Sarti about the proof which he has made about the Copernicus theory. He is the son of Galileo Galilei’s housekeeper, examines a model of the solar system as it is understood to exist, with the Earth at its centre. Galileo is prepared to challenge that belief: “I have made discoveries we can no longer withhold from the world.” He demonstrates Copernicus’ findings that the earth moves