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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Motifs
Explanation and Analysis—Wandering:
Mother Courage, as a traveling merchant, has to be in constant motion because, if she wants a profit, she must follow her customer base. However, always being on the move is difficult. She depends on something that inherently brings destruction, subjects herself to the dangers of the war, and braves the weather changes. Her wandering nature also shows her flexible moral principles. It makes no difference to her whether she takes gold from Protestants or Catholics, heroes or villains, friends or enemies.
If Mother Courage is taken as a symbol of capitalism, this wandering nature demonstrates how a free market has no principles. The values of the free market are the values that are profitable, just as Mother Courage makes her home wherever it is profitable. The Cook gives her a chance to settle down in his inn on the condition that she abandon Kattrin. Ironically, the moment in which Mother Courage refuses to settle down is one of the few in the play to demonstrate her showing any sort of caring for others.
However, Mother Courage and Kattrin struggle in the winter without an abode. They wander by a farmhouse that looks cozy and leisurely in contrast to life on the wagon. The farmhouse shows what Mother Courage gave up by choosing a life that consists of am unceasing hunt for profit.
At the end of the play, the death of Kattrin forces Mother Courage to wander alone evermore. The viewer knows that Mother Courage will be forced to wander quite a bit longer, as the play ends in 1632, which was 16 years before the end of the Thirty Years' War. She states that she will wander in search of Eilif, whom she believes is her one remaining child. Unfortunately, though, she does not know that Eilif is dead, so she wanders in vain.
Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis:
There are many songs scattered throughout the play. The usage of songs seems to be a light and whimsical choice in a play about death and war. These songs use rhyme and playful rhythms, but they still tackle dark issues related to the rest of the play. Like in a musical, the act of the characters bursting into song is unrealistic, but unlike in a musical, the play provides no escapism. The moments of music are just bizarre, not uplifting.
In Scene 1, Mother Courage sets the tone of the play by singing a song about the role commerce plays in terms of fueling the war effort:
Your men will walk 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.
Mother Courage uses this song to introduce herself as an entrepreneur in the play. It directly lays out one of the main themes of the play: the reciprocal relationship between war and capitalism, without much room for misinterpretation. The implication is that the systems of bartering that allow men to die are equally responsible for the horrors of war as the generals are.
In Mother Courage, the song is not unusual, as most of these songs have some sort of moral or cautionary message. Mother Courage’s song shows the brutality of war, “The Fraternization Song” warns against being taken advantage of when in love, while “The Song of the Great Souls of this Earth” warns against being too virtuous.
It is worth noting that Brecht does not always condone the message of the song. Oftentimes, Brecht uses the characters as a way to express the opposite of the meaning of the play. For example, “The Song of the Great Souls of this Earth” argues that it is unwise to be virtuous because the virtuous are always killed. To the Cook, who sings this song, that is true, but to Brecht and the audience, the song functions as societal critique. The song points out that governments punish virtuous people, like Socrates or Caesar, with death for making things inconvenient for people in power.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Verfremdungseffekt:
Brecht calls his strange tactics to make the audience aware that his plays are works of fiction "Verfremdungseffekt," which is otherwise known as the "distancing effect." He uses plot-spoiling stage directions, out-of-character dialogue, and stylistic discordance to deprive the audience of the illusion that what they witness on the stage is “real.” Brecht believed that preventing his audience from suspending disbelief would make them more likely to engage with the underlying meaning of a play.
An example of this technique is the couplet that ends Scene 1:
SERGEANT (looking after them):
When a war gives you all that you earn
One day it may claim something in return!
This couplet, not unlike the couplet that traditionally ends a sonnet, summarizes the gist of the preceding scene. Mother Courage profits off the war, so it is befitting that her sons enlist. But this line is out of character for the Sergeant. Although he holds the sentiment that Mother Courage owes something to the war, the Sergeant did not express it in such ominous terms beforehand. Nor would a real-life sergeant, who has shown no inclination for being poetic, typically burst out into a couplet. Thus, the couplet makes the listener uneasy, for it demonstrates the facetiousness of the play while corroborating the play’s message: namely, that war brings destruction even if it also brings profit. To communicate this message, Brecht breaks the Sergeant's character and effectively speaks through him.
Another example of this occurs in Scene 3 when the Cook and the Chaplain visit Mother Courage. When Mother Courage offers the Chaplain the drink lest he start “making improper advances out of sheer boredom,” he responds:
CHAPLAIN: That is indeed a temptation, said the court chaplain, and gave way to it.
The chaplain narrates his own action with a third-person narrative voice. Since no one talks like this, the line reminds audiences that they are watching a play—that is, a work of fiction. It also reminds the audience that the Chaplain is only an actor representing a chaplain; he is following a script and is forced to speak certain lines. This distancing effect is meant to dispel the magic of theater and, in its place, create a space for reflection.
Related Themes:
Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Meat:
Meat and starvation are recurring motifs throughout the play. The war has made supplies scant, especially meat. In Scene 2, the Cook and Mother Courage haggle aggressively over a capon (a capon is a castrated rooster). Mother Courage charges a high price for the capon because she knows that the Cook is desperate to serve quality meat to the military commander. His livelihood depends on it, so he pays full price for the bird. His decision demonstrates the high value of meat.
In the same scene, Eilif relates to the commander an act of heroism. Eilif made his soldiers “crazy for meat,” but he does not give the details of how he did so. Then, he and his soldiers raided the peasants' farms for oxen. The peasants outnumbered Eilif’s men by quite a bit, and he feared that they would make him into “mincemeat.” However, Eilif, being clever, confused the peasants by offering to pay for the oxen, and as they stopped to think about what he was saying, he killed both the civilians and their cattle. On a similar note, later in the play, peasants beg Catholic soldiers to “spare the cattle” because without livestock they would not have anything to eat.
The motif of meat and starvation demonstrates the poverty of war. Not only do soldiers and civilians alike worry about dying by bullet, but they also worry about the more pressing and more mundane issue of starvation. Unlike death in battle, which is considered honorable or exciting by many cultures, death by starvation is difficult to glorify. In addition, several comments throughout the play about men becoming meat demonstrate the dehumanizing nature of war. By repeatedly comparing men to meat, Brecht demonstrates that, in the face of war’s brutality, men lose their humanity and become livestock. War forces human beings to be just another resource for its consumption.
Related Themes:
Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Verfremdungseffekt:
Brecht calls his strange tactics to make the audience aware that his plays are works of fiction "Verfremdungseffekt," which is otherwise known as the "distancing effect." He uses plot-spoiling stage directions, out-of-character dialogue, and stylistic discordance to deprive the audience of the illusion that what they witness on the stage is “real.” Brecht believed that preventing his audience from suspending disbelief would make them more likely to engage with the underlying meaning of a play.
An example of this technique is the couplet that ends Scene 1:
SERGEANT (looking after them):
When a war gives you all that you earn
One day it may claim something in return!
This couplet, not unlike the couplet that traditionally ends a sonnet, summarizes the gist of the preceding scene. Mother Courage profits off the war, so it is befitting that her sons enlist. But this line is out of character for the Sergeant. Although he holds the sentiment that Mother Courage owes something to the war, the Sergeant did not express it in such ominous terms beforehand. Nor would a real-life sergeant, who has shown no inclination for being poetic, typically burst out into a couplet. Thus, the couplet makes the listener uneasy, for it demonstrates the facetiousness of the play while corroborating the play’s message: namely, that war brings destruction even if it also brings profit. To communicate this message, Brecht breaks the Sergeant's character and effectively speaks through him.
Another example of this occurs in Scene 3 when the Cook and the Chaplain visit Mother Courage. When Mother Courage offers the Chaplain the drink lest he start “making improper advances out of sheer boredom,” he responds:
CHAPLAIN: That is indeed a temptation, said the court chaplain, and gave way to it.
The chaplain narrates his own action with a third-person narrative voice. Since no one talks like this, the line reminds audiences that they are watching a play—that is, a work of fiction. It also reminds the audience that the Chaplain is only an actor representing a chaplain; he is following a script and is forced to speak certain lines. This distancing effect is meant to dispel the magic of theater and, in its place, create a space for reflection.
Related Themes:
