Moral Degradation in Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children

Mother Courage and Her Children, performed in 1941, is a twelve scene play that depicts the
thirty year war (1618-1648) between Sweden and Poland. The central theme of the play is the moral
degradation as a direct result of war. Each scene presents a variation of this theme because the play is
episodic in structure. The events of the opening scene take place on a highway outside a Swedish town.
A recruiting officer and a sergeant are talking together about the people who become indifferent to the
war that is going on. The recruiter is complaining that he is unable to enlist new soldiers because the
people become lazy and disordered. He makes a comparison between war and peace saying that in
peace, order and organization are completely lost whereas these are the very things which war
demands.

From the very beginning, the moral degradation is revealed when the recruiter tries to twist the
facts. He does so because he is one of the profiteers of war. For him, war is associated with organization
and order, not destruction and ruin. The sergeant confirms the recruiter’s ideas:

“Where’s [the people’s] sense of morality to come from? Peace – that’s just a mess; take a war
to restore order. Peacetime, the human race runs wild”.

Then, the recruiter and the sergeant meet Mother Courage who is singing. The song gives an
idea about her profession as a canteen woman. Besides, she advises the soldiers to fill their stomachs
with drink and food before their impending death.

Another hint about the moral degradation caused by war is that each of Courage’s children has a
different father from a different country. Therefore, her three children represent three different
nationalities. The audience feels that this woman is not chaste when she refers to her children’s
different fathers for they might not have been her husbands. When a confrontation is about to happen
between the recruiter and her son, Eilif, Courage’s degradation is revealed. She says threateningly
“Sergeant, I’ll tell the colonel. He’ll have you both in irons. The lieutenant’s going out with my
daughter”(8).

Because the recruiter realizes that Courage will forget her instinct as a mother for the sake of
her business, he asks the sergeant to engage her in a deal. The sergeant drags her to the rear of the
wagon to give a chance to the recruiter to take Eilif. As the sergeant gives her half florin for the belt, she
bites the coin to check its genuineness. This is an indicator that during war, cheating and forgery prevail.
However, with all her shrewdness and wittiness, she does not understand the sergeant’s trick when she
follows him to the back of the wagon. This is because her commercial spirit is stronger than her
motherly feelings. This is the very idea which Brecht intends to emphasize. He does not want the
audience to feel sympathy towards Courage; contrastingly, he wants to make the audience realize that
during war, even motherhood is deformed.

At the end of the scene, when Courage discovers that Eilif has been taken away by the recruiter,
the sergeant tells her that she must make some sacrifice for the war which she lives on. Here, the
sergeant becomes the mouthpiece of the playwright when he makes clear that all people, even the
profiteers, are victimized by war:

“Like the war to nourish you?

Have to feed it something too”(13).

In Scene Two, the Swedish commander feels greatly impressed by Eilif’s achievement of killing
some peasants and taking their oxen for the soldiers. During war, killing and looting are considered
heroism. Ironically, the same deed is going to be repeated by Eilif during peace but he is executed for it.
The scene ends with Eilif and his mother singing “The Song of the Girl and the Soldier” which hints that
the actual fate of most soldiers is a premature death.

Scene Three begins with another image of moral degradation when the Armourer wants to sell
the troops’ munitions to Courage. He reveals his utilitarian slogan when he addresses Courage, “You
scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” (21). After this bargain with the Armourer, a pretty woman by the
name of Yvette Pottier appears talking to Courage telling her how the degraded circumstances of war
have driven her to be a prostitute. She sings “The Fraternization Song” which dramatizes Yvette’s story
and also interrupts any possible process of identification with Yvette on the part of the audience:

“When I was only sixteen

The foe came into our land

He laid aside his saber

And with a smile he took my hand.” (23)

It is worth mentioning that the Chaplain represents another kind of “prostitution” because he
quickly adjusts himself to the changing conditions. At the beginning, he calls it “a war of faith . . . a
special one, fought for the faith and therefore pleasing to God” (25). But after the sudden attack of the
Catholics, his life is at the stake so he hoists a Catholic flag upon Courage’s wagon and declares his
support to the Catholic faith.

Another episode which portrays an image for the moral degradation is related to Swiss cheese.
When he is taken into the custody of the Catholics, his mother sends Yvette, the prostitute, to bribe the
sergeant to release him. After Yvette’s negotiation, the Catholic sergeant is willing to release his prisoner
if he is given a bribe of two hundred gilders. Ironically, Mother Courage thanks God for the moral
degradation of the people because she can use it to release her son:

Thank the Lord they’re corruptible. After all, they ain’t wolves, just humans out for money.
Corruption in humans is same as compassion in God. Corruption’s our only hope. Corruption's
our only hope. Long as we have it there will be lenient sentences and even innocent man will
have a chance of being let off. (40)

After a long bargaining on the part of Courage, Swiss Cheese is shot. Even his mother is after her
own interest because while haggling, she hopes to recompense her bribe by the money of the cash-box
of Swiss Cheese. Once she knows that the cash-box is lost in the river, she hesitates and sacrifices her
son’s life.

In Scene Four, Brecht continues presenting variations of moral degradation during war. Here, a
young soldier is angry because he has been deprived of his reward while the captain is enjoying himself
with drinks and women. The audience is instigated by the soldier’s helplessness towards the injustice
done to him by the captain.

During war, people only think of their interest. This is what Scene Five sheds light upon. A group
of peasants is brought wounded but Mother Courage refuses to bandage them with the shirts which she
keeps for sale. War enforces Courage’s commercial spirit at the expense of her human feelings. Kattrin
who rescues the baby from the ruin is even advised by Courage not to be too kind because during war
everyone seeks one’s safety.

Scene Six presents an ironic situation that reflects the degradation of the army. Once the
general who is supposed to be the victory maker is dead, he is forgotten because his funeral is not
attended by the soldiers.

Moreover, because of the chaos of war, Kattrin is molested and attacked by a soldier upon her
return from the market. Although Kattrin has got a wound on her face, her mother tries to console her
saying that her deformity would keep the soldiers away and ensure her safety. Complaining to the
audience of the hardships she has undergone because of war, Courage steps aside from her role being a
profiteer of war and declares at the end of the scene, “War be damned”(59).

In Scene Eleven , ironically, the dumb Kattrin tries to warn the society against the moral
degradation. This is because the Catholic soldiers intend to begin a sudden attack on a sleeping town in
order to kill the civilians including innocent children. Kattrin climbs to the top of the farm-house sending
the alarm by beating a drum. Hence, the Catholic lieutenant shoots Kattrin to muffle her “voice”.
Silencing Kattrin in this brutal way is to show the audience the degradation of the world which urges
even a dumb girl to “shout”.

After the pitiful death of Kattrin, Mother Courage alienates the audience in the final scene by
attaching herself to business despite all the tribulations she has undergone. Pulling her wagon by herself
and following the regiment, Courage says that she would resume her business as a canteen-woman. This
is to say, in a degraded world, feelings are to be swept aside.

Among the
dramatists who attempt to warn the world of the devastative
consequences of war is Bertolt Brecht. His well-known play, Mother
Courage and Her Children, is composed in a way that arouses horror of
war and the moral degradation resulting from it. The main character,
Mother Courage, is presented on the stage as a negative character that
alienates the audience and creates in them a feeling of resentment and
repugnance.
Mother Courage is described as the “hyena of the battlefield”
because she advocates war and feels unhappy at the return of peace. She
is the representative of the profiteers of war who live on the death of
others. Throughout the play, she is presented as a businesswoman rather
than a mother. For example, she loses Eilif, Swiss Cheese, and Kattrin
while bargaining and doing business. Eilif is snatched by the recruiter
while she has been offering the belt to the sergeant. Swiss Cheese is shot
because she bargains a lot with Yvette Pottier about the bribe. Her
commercial greed is shown when she goes to the town to make some
money leaving Kattrin behind to her hard destiny with the peasant family.
Despite her tribulations, she gives no sign that she would withdraw from
war so at the end of the play, she begins to pull her wagon by herself
saying that she must start her business again.
17
The playwright says that in the degraded circumstances caused by
war, even motherhood is deformed. Using alienation technique in Mother
Courage and Her Children, Brecht hopes that his audience, unlike
Mother Courage who has learnt nothing from her “sad” experiences,
would understand the play correctly and learn something about the moral
degradation of war.
Among the
dramatists who attempt to warn the world of the devastative
consequences of war is Bertolt Brecht. His well-known play, Mother
Courage and Her Children, is composed in a way that arouses horror of
war and the moral degradation resulting from it. The main character,
Mother Courage, is presented on the stage as a negative character that
alienates the audience and creates in them a feeling of resentment and
repugnance.
Mother Courage is described as the “hyena of the battlefield”
because she advocates war and feels unhappy at the return of peace. She
is the representative of the profiteers of war who live on the death of
others. Throughout the play, she is presented as a businesswoman rather
than a mother. For example, she loses Eilif, Swiss Cheese, and Kattrin
while bargaining and doing business. Eilif is snatched by the recruiter
while she has been offering the belt to the sergeant. Swiss Cheese is shot
because she bargains a lot with Yvette Pottier about the bribe. Her
commercial greed is shown when she goes to the town to make some
money leaving Kattrin behind to her hard destiny with the peasant family.
Despite her tribulations, she gives no sign that she would withdraw from
war so at the end of the play, she begins to pull her wagon by herself
saying that she must start her business again.
17
The playwright says that in the degraded circumstances caused by
war, even motherhood is deformed. Using alienation technique in Mother
Courage and Her Children, Brecht hopes that his audience, unlike
Mother Courage who has learnt nothing from her “sad” experiences,
would understand the play correctly and learn something about the moral
degradation of war.
Among the
dramatists who attempt to warn the world of the devastative
consequences of war is Bertolt Brecht. His well-known play, Mother
Courage and Her Children, is composed in a way that arouses horror of
war and the moral degradation resulting from it. The main character,
Mother Courage, is presented on the stage as a negative character that
alienates the audience and creates in them a feeling of resentment and
repugnance.
Mother Courage is described as the “hyena of the battlefield”
because she advocates war and feels unhappy at the return of peace. She
is the representative of the profiteers of war who live on the death of
others. Throughout the play, she is presented as a businesswoman rather
than a mother. For example, she loses Eilif, Swiss Cheese, and Kattrin
while bargaining and doing business. Eilif is snatched by the recruiter
while she has been offering the belt to the sergeant. Swiss Cheese is shot
because she bargains a lot with Yvette Pottier about the bribe. Her
commercial greed is shown when she goes to the town to make some
money leaving Kattrin behind to her hard destiny with the peasant family.
Despite her tribulations, she gives no sign that she would withdraw from
war so at the end of the play, she begins to pull her wagon by herself
saying that she must start her business again.
17
The playwright says that in the degraded circumstances caused by
war, even motherhood is deformed. Using alienation technique in Mother
Courage and Her Children, Brecht hopes that his audience, unlike
Mother Courage who has learnt nothing from her “sad” experiences,
would understand the play correctly and learn something about the moral
degradation of war.
Thus, Mother Courage and Her Children arouses horror of war and the moral degradation
resulting from it. The main character, Mother Courage, is presented on the stage as a negative character
that alienates the audience and creates in them a feeling of resentment and repugnance. Mother
Courage is described as the “hyena of the battlefield” because she advocates war and feels unhappy at
the return of peace. She is the representative of the profiteers of war who live on the death of others.
Throughout the play, she is presented as a businesswoman rather than a mother. For example, she loses
Eilif, Swiss Cheese, and Kattrin while bargaining and doing business. Eilif is snatched by the recruiter
while she has been offering the belt to the sergeant. Swiss Cheese is shot because she bargains a lot
with Yvette Pottier about the bribe. Her commercial greed is shown when she goes to the town to make
some money leaving Kattrin behind to her hard destiny with the peasant family. Despite her tribulations,
she gives no sign that she would withdraw from war; so at the end of the play, she begins to pull her
wagon by herself saying that she must start her business again.

Mother Courage harnessing herself to the cart:

Hope I can pull cart all right by myself. Be all right, nowt much inside it. Got to get back in
business again.