An instance of verbal irony occurs in Scene 6 when Mother Courage—trying to decide whether she should restock her supplies—asks the Chaplain whether he thinks the war will continue. The Chaplain makes a somewhat sarcastic argument for why war will continue indefinitely:
Well, I’d say there’s peace even in war, war has its islands of peace. For war satisfies all needs, even those of peace, [...] they’re provided for, or the war couldn’t keep going. In war—as in the very thick of peace—you can take a crap, and between one battle and the next there’s always a beer, and even on the march you can snatch a nap [...]. You have your leg shot off, and at first you raise quite an outcry as if it was something but soon you calm down or take a swig of brandy, and you end up hopping about, and the war is none the worse for your little misadventure. And can’t you be fruitful and multiply in the thick of slaughter—behind a barn or somewhere? Nothing can keep you from it very long in any event. [...]
The general thrust of his very cynical argument is that war is bearable. Just about everything you can do in peace, you can do in war. Therefore, nothing incentivizes people to end the war because it does not completely block access to sleep, alcohol, or sex. Since the war makes people miserable, but not miserable enough to stop it, it continues indefinitely.
At first glance, this argument appears to use logos—that is, it uses logic to try to prove a statement. However, the logic is flawed because the Chaplain does not necessarily believe in his own argument. The argument is semi-facetious, because although the Chaplain views the fact that small pleasures (e.g. sleep, drinking, sex, etc.) still exist in war as a reason that it continues, he does not endorse the morality of such a position—even if this position ultimately benefits him. Later, when peace is momentarily declared, he dons his old pastor cloak with excitement to be able to preach again, showing that he values the unique opportunities that peacetime offers. It is also worth noting that Brecht meant the argument to be unpersuasive. Brecht’s play critiques war, arguing that war actually does make life unbearable and is not sustainable.
Even though the argument is not meant to be persuasive, it is meant to be a little funny. The Chaplain’s argument draws upon dark comedy, but the Chaplain’s remarks are perhaps too dark, as his entire argument upsets Kattrin, who feels revulsion at the thought that the war might go on forever. The logos of the argument, meanwhile, appeals to the capitalist calculations of Mother Courage—she is immediately convinced by the Chaplain’s speech and goes to buy more supplies, but if one evaluates the argument from a compassionate standpoint (i.e. Kattrin’s standpoint), the argument is repugnant. Brecht thereby shows that dispassionate calculations to maximize profit are morally wrong.
