Swiss Cheese Character Analysis

HERE’S MOTHER COURAGE AND HER WAGON!
HEY, CAPTAIN, LET THEM COME AND BUY!
BEER BY THE KEG! WINE BY THE FLAGON!
LET YOUR MEN DRINK BEFORE THEY DIE!
SABERS AND SWORDS ARE HARD TO SWALLOW:
FIRST YOU MUST GIVE THEM BEER TO DRINK.
THEN THEY CAN FACE WHAT IS TO FOLLOW—
BUT LET ‘EM SWIM BEFORE THEY SINK!

CHRISTIANS, AWAKE! THE WINTER’S GONE!
THE SNOWS DEPART, THE DEAD SLEEP ON.
AND THOUGH YOU MAY NOT LONG SURVIVE,
GET OUT OF BED AND LOOK ALIVE!

YOUR MEN WILL MARCH TILL THEY ARE DEAD, SIR,
BUT CANNOT FIGHT UNLESS THEY EAT.
THE BLOOD THEY SPILL FOR YOU IS RED, SIR,
WHAT FIRES THAT BLOOD IS MY RED MEAT.
FOR MEAT AND SOUP AND JAM AND JELLY
IN THIS OLD CART OF MINE ARE FOUND:
SO FILL THE HOLE UP IN YOUR BELLY
BEFORE YOU FILL ONE UNDERGROUND.

Well, there’s yours, Eilif, my boy! (As EILIF takes the slip, she snatches it and holds it up.) See? A cross!

[…]

Take yours, Swiss Cheese. You should be a better bet—you’re my good boy. (SWISS CHEESE draws.) Don’t tell me it’s a cross? Is there no saving you either? Just look, Sergeant—a black cross!

[…]

(to KATTRIN) Now all I have left is you. You’re a cross in yourself but you have a kind heart. (She holds the helmet up but takes the slip herself.) Oh dear, there must be some mistake! Don’t be too kind, Kattrin, don’t be too kind—there’s a black cross in your path! So now you all know: be careful! Be very careful! (MOTHER COURAGE climbs on her wagon preparing to leave.)

YVETTE (re-enters, pale). You’ve done it—with your haggling. You can keep your wagon now. He got eleven bullets in him. I don’t know why I still bother about you, you don’t deserve it, but I just happened to hear they don’t think the cash-box is really in the river. They think it’s here. And they think you were in with him.

SERGEANT. There’s a man here we don’t know the name of, but he has to be registered to keep the records straight. He bought a meal from you. Look at him. See if you know him. (He draws back the sheet.) You know him? (MOTHER COURAGE shakes her head.) What? You never saw him before he bought that meal? (MOTHER COURAGE shakes her head.) Lift him up. Throw him on the garbage dump. He has no one that knows him.

(They carry him off.)

She’s finished. How would she ever get a husband now? And she’s crazy for children. Even her dumbness comes from the war. A soldier stuck something in her mouth when she was little. I’ll never see Swiss Cheese again, and where my Eilif is the Good Lord knows. Curse the war!

LULLAY, LULLAY, WHAT’S THAT IN THE HAY?
THE NEIGHBOR’S KIDS CRY BUT MINE ARE GAY.
THE NEIGHBOR’S KIDS ARE DRESSED IN DIRT:
YOUR SILKS WERE CUT FROM AN ANGEL’S SKIRT.
THEY ARE ALL STARVING. YOU HAVE A CAKE
IF IT’S TOO STALE, YOU NEED BUT SPEAK.
LULLAY, LULLAY, WHAT’S RUSTLING THERE?
ONE LAD FELL IN POLAND. THE OTHER IS—WHERE?

HERE’S MOTHER COURAGE AND HER WAGON!
HEY, CAPTAIN, LET THEM COME AND BUY!
BEER BY THE KEG! WINE BY THE FLAGON!
LET YOUR MEN DRINK BEFORE THEY DIE!
SABERS AND SWORDS ARE HARD TO SWALLOW:
FIRST YOU MUST GIVE THEM BEER TO DRINK.
THEN THEY CAN FACE WHAT IS TO FOLLOW—
BUT LET ‘EM SWIM BEFORE THEY SINK!

CHRISTIANS, AWAKE! THE WINTER’S GONE!
THE SNOWS DEPART, THE DEAD SLEEP ON.
AND THOUGH YOU MAY NOT LONG SURVIVE,
GET OUT OF BED AND LOOK ALIVE!

YOUR MEN WILL MARCH TILL THEY ARE DEAD, SIR,
BUT CANNOT FIGHT UNLESS THEY EAT.
THE BLOOD THEY SPILL FOR YOU IS RED, SIR,
WHAT FIRES THAT BLOOD IS MY RED MEAT.
FOR MEAT AND SOUP AND JAM AND JELLY
IN THIS OLD CART OF MINE ARE FOUND:
SO FILL THE HOLE UP IN YOUR BELLY
BEFORE YOU FILL ONE UNDERGROUND.

Well, there’s yours, Eilif, my boy! (As EILIF takes the slip, she snatches it and holds it up.) See? A cross!

[…]

Take yours, Swiss Cheese. You should be a better bet—you’re my good boy. (SWISS CHEESE draws.) Don’t tell me it’s a cross? Is there no saving you either? Just look, Sergeant—a black cross!

[…]

(to KATTRIN) Now all I have left is you. You’re a cross in yourself but you have a kind heart. (She holds the helmet up but takes the slip herself.) Oh dear, there must be some mistake! Don’t be too kind, Kattrin, don’t be too kind—there’s a black cross in your path! So now you all know: be careful! Be very careful! (MOTHER COURAGE climbs on her wagon preparing to leave.)

YVETTE (re-enters, pale). You’ve done it—with your haggling. You can keep your wagon now. He got eleven bullets in him. I don’t know why I still bother about you, you don’t deserve it, but I just happened to hear they don’t think the cash-box is really in the river. They think it’s here. And they think you were in with him.

SERGEANT. There’s a man here we don’t know the name of, but he has to be registered to keep the records straight. He bought a meal from you. Look at him. See if you know him. (He draws back the sheet.) You know him? (MOTHER COURAGE shakes her head.) What? You never saw him before he bought that meal? (MOTHER COURAGE shakes her head.) Lift him up. Throw him on the garbage dump. He has no one that knows him.

(They carry him off.)

She’s finished. How would she ever get a husband now? And she’s crazy for children. Even her dumbness comes from the war. A soldier stuck something in her mouth when she was little. I’ll never see Swiss Cheese again, and where my Eilif is the Good Lord knows. Curse the war!

LULLAY, LULLAY, WHAT’S THAT IN THE HAY?
THE NEIGHBOR’S KIDS CRY BUT MINE ARE GAY.
THE NEIGHBOR’S KIDS ARE DRESSED IN DIRT:
YOUR SILKS WERE CUT FROM AN ANGEL’S SKIRT.
THEY ARE ALL STARVING. YOU HAVE A CAKE
IF IT’S TOO STALE, YOU NEED BUT SPEAK.
LULLAY, LULLAY, WHAT’S RUSTLING THERE?
ONE LAD FELL IN POLAND. THE OTHER IS—WHERE?