Mother Courage

[Michael Perelman]

Brecht wrote her as a symbol of capitalism -- a war profiteer, but
audiences sympathized with
her as a person who was trying to make the best of a bad situation -- the
ambiguity that you mentioned.

On Sun, Mar 03, 2002 at 12:46:39AM -0500, Christopher Rhoades Dÿkema wrote:
> Is Michael necessarily right about Brecht seeing Mother Courage this way? --
> 
> 
> Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 10:01:13 -0800
> From: Michael Perelman <michael at ecst.csuchico.edu>
> Subject: Re: David Lynch
> 
> 
> Brecht tried to make Mother Courage into a villain.  The audiences loved
> her, so he had his wife take up the role, and they treated her to more
> affection.
>  --
> 
> I seem to remember her as a more ambiguous character. And Eric Bentley, the
> great Brecht interpreter that taught the course in it that I taught, pointed
> out that she could be seen as a symbol of capitalism, presumably a force
> which, in the historical period portrayed, had not exhausted its progressive
> potential. There's nothing sentimental about his portrayal, but then
> sentimentality wasn't Brecht's thing at all, ever.
> 
> Christopher Rhoades Dÿkema
> 
> 

-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu