Mother Courage

A detailed Summary of Mother Courage

Bertolt Brecht, In Mother Courage, challenges the accepted concepts of three major values of western society: capitalism, religion, and heroes. He shows how capitalism is flawed by the actions Mother Courage does in order to sustain herself. He challenges religion by showing the hypocrisy of its leaders. Brecht rejects the traditional notion of a hero as being obsolete and presents in the story two examples of traditional heroism and the outcome.

Mother Courage represents the people who struggle to survive in a capitalist system. As a result of her position, she has to be greedy, impersonal, and solely interested in the welfare of her business. Brecht does intend that Mother Courage be seen a proponent of the capitalist system, but as being a victim of the system, working for basic survival. "They call me Courage, sergeant, because when I saw ruin staring me in the face I drove out of Riga through cannon fire with fifty loaves of bread in my wagon. They were getting moldy, I had no choice." An example of Mother Courage's greediness is when Swiss Cheese is caught as a Protestant soldier. Mother Courage's primary concern is to bribe the Catholics for the release of Swiss Cheese with as little money as possible. Her haggling takes t

The Thirty Year's War started as a war of religion. Brecht chose the Thirty Years War as a setting for Mother Courage since it could best show the failures of religion. In Mother Courage, When the Catholics take control of the region from the Protestants, Mother Courage instantly becomes a Catholic supporter and The Chaplain hides any evidence that he was a protestant clergyman. Had they been discovered as protestants, Mother Courage would probably have lost her wagon, her livelihood, and The Chaplain would have been executed. Brecht also stressed the hypocrisy of religion. "There's nothing wrong with dying in war, it's a blessing and I'll tell you why. This is a war of religion. Not a common war, but a war for the faith, and therefore pleasing to God." While The Chaplain is still talking to The Cook, they hear the attack of the Catholics. The Chaplain's hypocrisy is evident when he hides his clericals and pretends to be a Catholic. A chaplain is considered a vocation, but the Chaplain treats it as an occupation. Ironically, at the same time that the Chaplain is hiding his identity, Swiss Cheese, a soldier by occupation, stays loyal to the protestant cause by trying to return the cashbox to the regiment. His loyalty causes his death. The people who suffer the consequences of the war fought for religion are the soldiers, the proletariat, such as Swiss Cheese. They have no strong religious inclinations, but fight since they have no other choice.

The hero is another concept in wester

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mother Courage, Swiss Cheese, Halle Peasant, Mother Courage's, Catholics Chaplain's, mother courage, swiss cheese, Year's War, God Chaplain, Ironically Chaplain, Courage Catholics, mother courage's, Thirty War, war religion, protestants mother, western society, bribe catholics, protestants mother courage, capitalist system,

Approximate Word count = 1005
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English