GE 212 – Bertolt Brecht: Theatre as Revolution
Week 9: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder II
Group 1: Religion: ‘Ich predig, dass Ihnen hören und sehen vergeht.’
Comment on the representation of religion in the play, both from the aspect that the 30 years war is
supposed to be a religious war and on the character of the Feldprediger. In Die heilige Johanna der
Schlachthöfe, organised Religion is presented as ‘ideology’ in straightforwardly Marxist terms (i.e. as
a tool for the ruling classes to hide or veil the true social situation). How does Religion appear in
Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder? What kind of character is the Feldprediger? Have a look esp. at his
statements in sc. 3 (p. 2), and particularly scene 6 in his defense of war and his exchange with MC (p.
66-67, 70-71), and later his critique of MC in scene 8 (p. 82).
Group 2: ‘Mir ist ein historischer Augenblick, dass sie meiner Tochter übers Aug’ geschlagen haben.’
(p. 74).
Comment on the way the play represents ‘history’, especially the representation of the 30 years’ war
as an important historical European event (i.e. a war about religion) and the play’s representation of
important historical agents (Tilly, King Gustav Adolph) and events (e.g. Tilly’s Sieg bei Magdeburg, sc.
5 and his burial) in relation to what happens on stage. You need to have a look at the surtitles for
this. What is the relation between the importance of these events in historical perspective and the
events taking place on stage? How ‘important’ are these events in the economy of the play and for
the characters? (e.g. how do they influence their lives, do they influence their lives?) What do you
make of Courage’s statement at the end of scene 6 that her daughter’s injury is a ‘historischer
Augenblick’ (p. 74)? You might want to make reference to Walter Benjamin’s critique of the
relationship between history/culture and barbarism and the way the play stages ‘history’ as well as
Brecht’s poem ‘Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters’? You should also consider Schiller’s ‘Wallenstein’Trilogy which is a history play or Shakespeare’s ‘history plays’ like King Henry IV, King Henry V, King
Richard III, etc. – what do these plays focus on? See also MC’s statements in sc. 3 (p. 40), and sc. 6
(esp. pp. 65, 69). In what way can the play be described as a critique of ‘history’ (in the sense of
historiography, i.e. the writing of history)?
Group 3: Empathy
Have a look at scene 11 (Kattrin’s death) with view to the question of emotionality. In the first
instance, summarise the scene and describe what motivates Kattrin to the action that gets her killed.
The young Brecht’s theatre was often criticised for being too cerebral and anti-emotional. What do
you make of this scene? Would you say that it is very emotional (one that arouses pity in the
spectator trough identification) or a scene that portrays emotions (see esp. MC’s description of her
as ‘suffering from pity’, p. 93), or both? Would you say this scene is a deviation from epic theatre’s
dispensation with empathy? Have a look at the way Kattrin’s actions change the onlookers. What is
going on here? Can we describe this as a learning process? Is there a way we can connect Kattrin’s
‘lesson’ to the advice of the workers’ leader in Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe (p. 110). Finally,
is Kattrin’s death different from the deaths of Eilif and Schweizerkas? See esp. the song of the ‘weise
Salomon’ in scene 9 (p. 93-95) that connects the death of all three of MC’s children to the ‘virtues’ of
wise men. What attitude does the song (or the singer) take towards these virtues, and how do they
feature in the play?