Previous
Prologue
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mother Courage and Her Children, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
War, Failure, and Despair
Profit, Violence, and Power
Love and Nurture
Faith and Identity
Theater, Performance, and History
Summary
Analysis
In rural Sweden in 1624, two military men, the Top Sergeant and the Recruiting Officer, are looking to recruit young men to join the Thirty Years’ War. The Recruiting Officer is worried that his recruits will take their own lives, and the Sergeant declares that the Swedes are disorganized and wasteful because they haven’t had a war—which would force them to put all their men, food, and equipment to good use.
The soldiers’ conversation makes the stakes of war clear: it is a machine for destroying human beings so that a select few people (like the King, the military officers, and, indeed, Mother Courage) can profit. The Recruiting Officer’s comment shows that even their recruits quickly realize that fighting is a losing proposition—and commit suicide in despair. Meanwhile, the Sergeant’s comment, which echoes the Nazi regime’s beliefs about the economic benefits of war, shows how treacherous the profit motive can be when taken to its logical conclusion.
Themes
Mother Courage and her children (Kattrin, Eilif, and Swiss Cheese) approach on their wagon. The soldiers demand to see the family’s business license. Eilif and Swiss Cheese explain that everyone knows Mother Courage, who got her name after driving her wagon right through a major battle in Riga. Mother Courage shows the soldiers some papers: a Bible (whose pages she uses to wrap vegetables), a map showing Moravia (where she has never been), and a certificate of health for her horse (which died). She explains that her license is her “honest face.” Her real name is Anna Fierling, she continues, but her children all have different names. Eilif’s surname is Noyocki because his father’s was something similar. Swiss Cheese’s father was Swiss, but when he was born, Mother Courage was with a Hungarian man, so he took the name Feyos. Kattrin’s last name is Haupt because her father is German.
Mother Courage’s children introduce her by describing her defining character trait—her unquestioned, often self-defeating perseverance. Notably, the Riga story also explicitly links her to the character of her same name from German folklore. Her use of the Bible to wrap vegetables represents the way that war makes a mockery of religion—the people who join it are forgotten and left to die, as though forsaken by God. What’s more, the Thirty Years’ War used religion as a thinly-veiled excuse for leading thousands of soldiers to their deaths. Lastly, Mother Courage’s comments about her children’s fathers reflect how her job has made her transient and prevented her from forming enduring ties. Her story should leave the audience asking questions as the rest of the play unfolds: how did she meet these men? Are they still alive? Did she fall in love with them, was she a sex worker, or did she suffer sexual violence?
Themes
Literary Devices
The Recruiting Officer compares Eilif and Swiss Cheese to oxen because they are pulling the wagon. Eilif asks Mother Courage for permission to “smack him in the puss [face].” Mother Courage tries to sell the soldiers guns or belts, but they want Eilif instead. They promise him money, fame, and new boots if he joins the army, but he refuses. Mother Courage draws her knife and insists that her family are just merchants, not soldiers. The Top Sergeant mocks Eilif for being afraid of war, then talks about his own successful career in the military. But Mother Courage declares that the Sergeant will die soon. Swiss Cheese explains that she can see the future.
The Recruiting Officer’s comment suggests that both war and capitalism degrade human beings to the status of animals, beasts of burden who get used for others’ benefit. Despite this warning, the Sergeant tries to recruit Eilif into the war by manipulating his ego and his sense of masculine pride. Again, this suggests that men only agree to fight and die in the war when they are manipulated into doing so—they clearly would not do so of their own free will. Lastly, Mother Courage’s fortune-telling ability is another example of the estrangement effect: it comes out of nowhere, with no explanation or connection to the preceding plot elements. It is meant to be jarring to the audience, remind them that they are watching an artificial narrative, and force them to ask what Brecht’s true intentions are.
Themes
Literary Devices
Mother Courage puts two folded pieces of parchment in the Top Sergeant’s helmet: one is blank, and the other has a black cross on it (which represents death). She mixes them up, then pulls out the black cross. The Sergeant protests and insists that he’s taking Eilif. Surprisingly, Eilif agrees to go—and says that Swiss Cheese wants to fight, too. Mother Courage draws lots for all three of her children, and to her dismay, all three are black crosses. Seeing how seriously Mother Courage’s family takes this, the Sergeant grows fearful and complains that his own black cross was a mistake. At the Recruiting Officer’s suggestion, the Sergeant buys a belt from Mother Courage for half a guilder, hoping this will save him.
Mother Courage’s foretune-telling also blatantly foreshadows the play’s conclusion: all of her children will die. The Sergeant’s concern demonstrates that, despite all his pomp and show, he is actually terrified of the realities of war—which will require him to face his mortality. He tries to avoid this fate through commerce, which reflects back Mother Courage’s attitude toward life. It’s also a convenient metaphor for both capitalism and war, which Brecht presents as foolish, doomed attempts to cheat fate for personal advantage.
Themes
Literary Devices
Get the entire Mother Courage and Her Children LitChart as a printable PDF.
While Mother Courage takes the Top Sergeant behind her wagon to sell him the belt, the Recruiting Officer grabs Eilif and leads him away. Kattrin makes disapproving noises. Mother Courage returns to the front of her wagon, notices that Eilif is gone, and explains that Kattrin can’t speak. Kattrin and Swiss Cheese pull the wagon away, and the Sergeant exclaims, “When a war gives you all you earn / One day it may claim something in return!”
Mother Courage loses Eilif in part because her thirst for profit distracts her, and in part because he foolishly believes that war will bring him glory. (Brecht has already clearly shown that it will not.) Kattrin’s muteness is another incongruent, unexplained, and alienating plot point. It will take on powerful new meanings later in the play, but for now, suffice it to say that she has been traumatized and silenced by the war but keenly observes everything that goes on around her.
Themes
Literary Devices
