Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht
Khalia Frazier
11/18/13
Work used: Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht
Reflective statement: how was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?
In Mother Courage and Her Children the aspects of familial ties versus greed and the effect of war on humanity were explored using the technique of epic theater. In an attempt to further remove the emotional ties Brecht set his play during the Thirty Years War instead of WWII which was happening at the time, he wanted to remove all emotion and cause the audience to view his characters from an analytical standpoint so they could draw their own conclusion of the characters motives. Epic theater is a style of acting in which one makes sure that the audience is aware at all times that they are viewing a show and not real life. This method was used in the writing and producing of Mother Courage so that one could critically analyze the actions of a character instead of their words. This was done by having the actors read stage directions, turn their backs to the audience, and many other methods. The emotions that Brecht sought to exorcise were still present however, because of the deaths and other tragic events that occurred throughout the play. In almost all cultures women are seen as caregivers and protectors but Mother Courage was the exact opposite of this stereotype. She was driven by greed to do things which caused horrible fates to fall upon her children and moved from man to man, resulting in none of her children sharing the same paternal background. This could be due to the fact that Brecht himself had very little regard for women’s feelings, jumping from mistress to mistress while he was still married. Also Brecht was not around to support his children, which could’ve led to mother courage’s nonchalant attitude towards the wellbeing of her offspring. Although Brecht did not want it to, WWII had a very large impact on
11/18/13
Work used: Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht
Reflective statement: how was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?
In Mother Courage and Her Children the aspects of familial ties versus greed and the effect of war on humanity were explored using the technique of epic theater. In an attempt to further remove the emotional ties Brecht set his play during the Thirty Years War instead of WWII which was happening at the time, he wanted to remove all emotion and cause the audience to view his characters from an analytical standpoint so they could draw their own conclusion of the characters motives. Epic theater is a style of acting in which one makes sure that the audience is aware at all times that they are viewing a show and not real life. This method was used in the writing and producing of Mother Courage so that one could critically analyze the actions of a character instead of their words. This was done by having the actors read stage directions, turn their backs to the audience, and many other methods. The emotions that Brecht sought to exorcise were still present however, because of the deaths and other tragic events that occurred throughout the play. In almost all cultures women are seen as caregivers and protectors but Mother Courage was the exact opposite of this stereotype. She was driven by greed to do things which caused horrible fates to fall upon her children and moved from man to man, resulting in none of her children sharing the same paternal background. This could be due to the fact that Brecht himself had very little regard for women’s feelings, jumping from mistress to mistress while he was still married. Also Brecht was not around to support his children, which could’ve led to mother courage’s nonchalant attitude towards the wellbeing of her offspring. Although Brecht did not want it to, WWII had a very large impact on