Empathy in Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan and Mother Courage and Her Children

Showing compassion towards someone may be difficult, especially if one has a preexisting bias against that person. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee explores this topic, including how to decide if one is worthy of compassion. The citizens of Maycomb can be quick to judge anyone who is “different”, without fully understanding that person’s backstory. Mayella Ewell is one character who is often subject to this judgment, specifically during Tom Robinson’s trial. During this eventful period, she gains lots of negative attention and is shown no compassion. Because the people of Maycomb see in “black and white”, they are unable and unwilling to fathom that there is another side to the story, thus depriving Mayella of the sympathy she deserves. Mayella Ewell is worthy of compassion because her father is abusive, she does all of the work at home, and she does not deserve her family’s poor reputation.

Scout does not like all of the prejudices in the town, and world, all shows a lot of empathy for how young she is in this quote, “I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks,” (304) Atticus, Scout, and minor characters show the importance of empathy. Atticus always thinks about how people feel, scout shows empathy throughout the novel, especially at the end, and some minor characters show some empathy. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee demonstrates the importance of empathy.

Ascher uses compassion to make us feel sad for the homeless man at the end of the story by showing us a great deal of pathos. This is when she really starts to get you thinking. She says “Could it be that this was the response of the mother who offered the dollar, the French woman who gave the food? Could it be that the homeless, like those ancients, are reminding us of our common humanity? Of course, there is a difference. This play doesn 't end- and the players can 't go home” (3). Following this, she is trying to get us to understand where these people really trying to do acts of kindness or were they just trying to get this poor man out of their heir. She makes you think how their expressions and actions tie into this and if they are a trying to get him out of the way, why? We need to help them. Another way the author makes us feel bad for the homeless is by saying “His hands continue to dangle at his sides. He does not know his part. He does not know that acceptance of the gift and gratitude are what make this transaction complete. The baby, weary of the unwavering stare, pulls its blanket over its head. The man does not look away. Like a bridegroom waiting at the altar, his eyes pierce the white veil.

Brecht’s political theatre stems from his political views towards communism and the upper class society. Theatre that comments on political issues within society. Brecht began to have a dislike for the capitalist society he was brought up in and wanted more of an equal approach to the world and the people around him. With epic theatre, Brecht wanted it to be both didactic (able to teach others) and dialectic (able to create discussions and ideas). The audience at no time during an epic play can be seen to be in a trance or take what they see on stage for granted. Our performance is reflective of Brecht and his Epic and Political theatre as we address many political topics such as Marxism and the divides between classes and the corruption of the government. We have props such as protest signs and banners to communicate Brecht’s political theatre to the audience. In the first episode, Brown’s Boys, there is a scene where MPs choke and die after ignoring the recession and protesters emerge into the audience chanting that ‘politics is dead’ and ‘they don’t really care about us’ while holding banners saying, ‘politics is dead’ and ‘Gordon Clown’. This was done as it represented politics and the fact the seriousness of the situation was ignored; showing how quickly the issues with the recession spiralled out of control and became something that even the higher up in society were unable

Sigmund Freud once said, "Men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine." Freud was credited with the theory of psychoanalysis, and he believed that there were three stages of moral development. First, in the Id stage, people don't have any empathy; they want what they want and they want it now. In the Ego, people are starting to care more about others and gain empathy, but they still may succumb to their self-gratifying desires. In the Superego, others' desires and wills go first because of their selflessness and empathy. Freud's statement, along with his psychoanalysis of the human mind, can be applied to William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies. In the novel, Jack, Ralph, and Simon represent the Id, Ego,

Humans are the most advanced beings on Earth. Since we are the dominant creature, we are the best creature. We can do astounding things, like what I’m doing right now. It’s pretty cool to have the brain of a human. Right? Debatably. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem experience classism and implicit bias. From this, they learn to empathize.

I also felt sorry for “the man”, one, because he has to tell his child where his mother is “For the love of God woman. What am I to tell him?” (McCarthy 58), and two, because his love and best friend was in such despair and there was nothing he could do to impel her to stay. As a mother, in some ways, I also felt sorry for the mother in this book, because most women dream of the day she will have a child of her own to love, care for, and teach, but this mother had to give birth to her son after the great catastrophe, and instead of bringing her tears of happiness, it brought tears of sorrow. She now knows that she has to raise her son in this dark and barley habitable world and that it will be a constant struggle to survive. “My heart was ripped out of me the night he was born…” (McCarthy 57). On the other hand though, I am also disgusted with the mother for the one reason that she gave up, and now her family, especially her child, has to suffer the consequences due to her actions, but again, given that I put myself in her situation, would I do the same thing? While reading I also felt deep sadness in many parts, for one instance, when “the man” dies, at this point in the book I had tears streaming down my face. “He slept close to his father that night and held him but when he woke in the morning his father was cold and stiff.” “He sat there a long time weeping...”(McCarthy 281). “He knelt beside his father held his cold hand and said his name over and over

Sympathy, another theme in this book, can have the same amount of impact on an individual.  Instead of it having a negative reaction to the reader it has a superior reaction to the reader.  ?Lee Chong? knew he could not have helped it, but he wished he might have known and perhaps tried to help.  It was deeply a part of Lee?s kindness and understanding that man?s right to kill himself is inviolable, but sometimes a friend can make it unnecessary?(Page 2).  Lee was having compassionate sentiments for the man who committed suicide.  He had a deep feeling that he could of helped in someway to convince the man that his life was worth living.  A side story that was important to the theme of Sympathy was a story about Mrs. Kitty Casini a mouse and Mary Talbot ?Kitty Casini had a mouse?Daintily she stabbed the mouse through the back and drew it wriggling to her and her tail flicked with tense delight? ?I can?t blame Kitty Casini? said Mary. ?I?m just not going to like her no matter how much I want to??(Pages 155-156).  Mary had intense sympathy for that mouse that with no doubt died a tragic death.  She went to the extreme of disliking on of her favorite cat.  Sympathy can bring about the good in people.  Sympathy for loved ones or strangers can surprise one for their intense emotions.

The narrator is totally crushed by the gender discrimination. She longed to be seen by her mother and her grandma. The narrator is heartbroken that her mother loved her brother more than her and failed to notice her. “When she went into Nonso’s room to say good night, she always came out laughing that laugh. Most times, you pressed your palms to your ears to keep the sound out, and kept your palms pressed to your ears, even when she came into your room to say Good night, darling, sleep well. She never left your room with that laugh” (190). Her agony can be easily seen by the way of her narrating. She does not get the affection that she deserves. She really needs the affection from her own mother, but she is not getting it. She compares the love which her mother shows to his brother and herself. This is gender discrimination can be seen with her grandmother too. She hated her grandma as she would always support her brother and find fault with her. Even though what the brother did, no matter what crime. Her mother and grandmother always supported her brother and never supported or showed interest towards

How Brecht achieves producing this state of consciousness is more subtle and elegant than the previous technique of having actors walk out with blatant placards to remind the audience that they are watching a play. One of the marks of Brecht’s epic theater is his alienation effect, or “a representation which allows [the audience] to recognize its subject, but at the same time makes it seem unfamiliar” (Brecht 1948, 8).

Brechts work is based on the concept that theatre is a means of political persuasion for the masses. He sees the theatre as a tool to manipulate the audience, and to influence their day-to-day living once that have thought about issues raised during the performance.

When she sees that it is her friend Charlotte in this heart breaking situation, she says: “gracious heaven is this possible? And bursting into tears, she reclined the burning head of Charlotte on her own bosom; and folding her arms about her, wept over in silence” [125]. In this passage, Mrs. Beauchamp proves how sentimental and good she could be because not only does she have a sick child at home, but she finds the time to actually care about others and because she actually cries for Charlotte, a person who is not even her relative. She is a sentimental person because she is the only one that in the beginning offered Charlotte her friendship and because thanks to her, Charlotte’s father is able to see Charlotte one last time and forgive her. In many cases, this might be confused with weakness but it is not weakness. It is the ability to feel others pain as your own, it is the ability to care for others as you would your own relative; it is being a moral person and only through the act of sensibility can this be shown. In a situation like this, an immoral person might have only thought about their own problems and not the problems of others.

Brecht was not the sort of writer or director that wanted an exact portrayal from his actors of how he saw his characters. Nor did he expect the audience to take an exact interpretation from he actors. He wanted the audience to draw some sort of moral from the story that would arouse their sense of reason to affect their own

Stereotypes for every different religion, ethnicity, culture, and gender exist among the minds of the human race. These typecasts have ruled this world for as long as there has been diversity among people. In Shakespeare’s comedic tragedy, The Merchant of Venice, one prejudice is very central to the theme. The play is dominantly set in Venice, one of the most liberal cities of the Renaissance era. In this place and time period, anti-Semitism is very much in force. The Jewish people are discriminated against and treated terribly by the Christians living in Venice. Shylock, a wealthy Jew, is mercilessly spurned many times by men like Antonio, a Venetian merchant. In contrast to this blind hatred is the longing and lust associated with

One could say Brecht’s play Mother Courage and Her Children is a tragedy with an anti-war message. It follows the tragic events that surround Mother Courage during the 30 years’ war. Throughout the war, Mother Courage is trying to make a living through her cart. In the beginning of the play, she has all three of her children with her in the cart. However, one by one they get whisked away.