Yvette Pottier Character Analysis

Yvette Pottier is a sex worker who accompanies the Swedish army on its campaigns around Europe, hoping to make a living in the short term and eventually strike it rich in the long term by marrying one of the soldiers. Her saga began when the Dutch Cook seduced her in her hometown, and she agreed to start following him around Europe; he ended up cheating on and abandoning her, which led her to sex work. When the audience first meets her in the third scene, the soldiers have been avoiding and spreading rumors about her, but she manages to seduce the Colonel and help Mother Courage pawn her wagon in an effort to save Swiss Cheese. When Yvette returns years later in the eighth scene, she is older, heavyset, and presumably wealthy—she married the Colonel’s brother, who since died. She reunites with the Cook. Her story shows how war makes a mockery out of love, turning it into little more than a transaction. In this way, she serves as a foil for both Mother Courage—who also sees a great business opportunity in the war—and Kattrin, who dreams that a man will save her from her dreadful life through marriage, but who could also easily end up exploited or drawn into sex work if she idealistically tried to pursue that dream during the war. The red boots that Yvette wears on her dates are also an important symbol of Kattrin’s femininity and desire for freedom throughout the play.