MTA 104 ("Understanding Theatre")

Walter Metz

Reading Notes:  Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children (1939)

Irony:  The recruiter has been tricked in trying to trick someone into joining the army (811, 1)

War equals business (811, 1)

Why Mother Courage's name is courage (811, 2)

Mother Courage sleeps around a lot to survive; she has many children with different fathers (812, 1)

Mother Courage profits off of the war (812, 1)

The recruiter wants Mother Courage's sons for the army, but she is a good mother and won't let them go (812, 2)

The Sergeant is a coward: he is always in the rear (813, 2)

Mother Courage's philosophy of politics (816, 2)

The corrupt officers sell their troops' bullets in exchange for alcohol (817, 2)

The Chaplain believes this is a pleasing war to God (819, 1)

The Cook uses God to justify the war (819, 2)

Small business vs. Large insititutions (819, 2)

The war interrupts Mother Courage's business, which makes her mad (820, 1)

Mother Courage can understand sex for money, but not giving it away free (821, 2)

The Chaplain and Mother Courage switch sides by hoisting different flags (822, 1)

Mother Courage haggles for the release of Swiss Cheese.  She bargains too much and the soldiers kill Swiss Cheese (825, 1)

Mother Courage refuses to acknowledge knowing Swiss Cheese in order to save her own life.  "The Song of the Great Capitulation" directly ensues (825, 2)

Abrupt scene changes, without any Aristotelian order (827, 1)

Mother Courage refuses to give shirts for bandages for wounded soldiers (827, 2)

Mother Courage on being poor (829, 2)

The Chaplain makes a pass at Mother Courage (830, 2)

Kattrin gets attacked (830, 2)

The Cook wants Mother Courage to leave Kattrin behind.  "The Song of Solomon" directly ensues (836, 2)

Mother Courage refuses to leave Kattrin for the Cook (837, 2)

But Mother Courage still refuses to admit that she loves Kattrin (838, 1)

Kattrin beats a drum to warn the village of the invastion (839, 2)

Kattrin laughs in defiance of the soldiers (840, 1).  The soldiers kill Kattrin (840, 2).

Mother Courage sings to the dead Kattrin (841, 1)

Mother Courage is back in business.  She goes off with another regiment.  An ironic regeneration given that all of her children are now dead (841, 2)

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This page was last updated on June 16, 2001

Questions or comments?  Please phone me at (406) 994-6403 or send an e-mail to:  metz@montana.edu

Walter Metz, Department of Media and Theatre Arts, Montana State University--Bozeman