How Does Brecht Portray Motherhood In Mother Courage?

The use of emotive impact is significant in moving the audience into feeling a dramatic feeling of mixed emotions that convey within particular scenes. During the public revelations of Shelia and Bridie's secrets in Act 2, Bridie mentions “that isn’t the truth…she went to the Jap's to a Japanese guard and sold herself for him for tablets”. The contrast between Bridie’s loud angry tone and silence of Sheila proved that. This was very effective in resolving the tension in the play, as the silence aroused a great sense of drama, This quote is an example of Misto’s use of emotive power over the audience, it also contrasts the themes of pity and admiration of both Bridie and Sheila; they are influenced into feeling pity and admiration. Misto’s use of emotive power moves the audience into feeling sadness, pity and admiration that women have endured so much suffering however they are brave enough to tell the whole world of their horrific experiences.

Sometimes we heard moans from the back room and I helped wring out cloths and Doris brought water in a glass held to her mother’s lips (17-22)” it is the first time we see the children in a serious manner as they take care of Doris’s mother. While the war may be a faraway thought, Doris’s mother having cancer directly affects the children and they have to deal with reality for a short time.

silence and complains. As far as we know Mrs. Penn has failed to do this for

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

The minister then questions her but after his unsuccessful attempt, Mother’s actions become a scandal throughout the town because “any deviation from the ordinary course of life in this quiet town was enough to stop all progress in it” (C670). This does not bother Mother and she successfully continues with her plans. By overcoming this alienation both characters achieve feminine empowerment.

"The Mother," by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a sorrowful, distressing poem about a mother who has experienced numerous abortions. While reading the poem, you can feel the pain, heartache, distress and grief she is feeling. She is both remorseful and regretful; nevertheless, she explains that she had no other alternative. It is a sentimental and heart wrenching poem where she talks about not being able to experience or do things with the children that she aborted -- things that people who have children often take for granted. Perhaps this poem is a reflection of what many women in society are feeling.

Mothers are typically seen as kind, loving, and nurturing, at least in a perfect world, that’s how they are. Rather, in the real world many of us wish that is how all mothers are. Various situations can lead to a woman to be too mothering. It is a factor that transcends real life. This conflict causing dynamic is very prevalent in numerous stories, films, and plays. Two plays where it is shown in significance are Machinal and The Glass Menagerie. In both cases, the actions taken by the mother roles in the shows, resulted in some of the character’s roles ending in unfortunate events of some sort.

Both Bridie and Sheila were exposed to war-time atrocities where indifference to their plight is reflected through the war-time Prime Minister Curtain’s anecdotal message to female POWs to just ‘keep smiling’, reinforced through the non-diagetic accompaniment of Judy Garland’s song ‘When You’re Smiling’. Bridie’s beating from Lipstick Larry is presented through a voice-over re-enactment in which a ‘savage yell…ugly thumps’ and Sheila’s exclamations ‘Bridie! Bridie!’ conveys the brutality, yet also the shared suffering that unites the women. It is ironic that Bridie describes this as ‘the best moment of the war’, worthy retribution for the pin sown into Lipstick Larry’s loincloth. Music and its ability to humanise becomes paramount to the women’s survival when the non-diagetic sounds of Christmas Carols foreground Bridie’s revelation of ‘deep male voices – not the shrieks of Japanese’, as a cathartic moment in her life. Visions of ‘hairy legs’, ‘skinny’, starving men in ‘slouch hats’ is analogous with the Aussie Digger providing an exhilarating and morale boosting moment for the women where Bridie later reveals she married the soldier who winked at her. The symbolic ‘piece of caramel’ that had been used so sparingly shared becomes an indulgence to mark this moment of sheer pleasure. The audience, like the women are momentarily

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.

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

Many mothers, regardless of age or situation, share sympathetic life ideals. They all share the common goal of raising their children wholesome; they want to create an environment of love, nurture, and support for their children as well. A mother’s effort to implant good values in her children is perpetual; they remain optimistic and hope that their children would eventually become prosperous. However, some women were not fit to be mothers. Thus, two different roles of a mother are portrayed in As I Lay Dying written by William Faulkner. Faulkner uses the literary technique of first person narrative with alternating perspectives. By doing so, Faulkner adds authenticity and the ability to relate (for some) to the two characters Addie

In a world in which abortion is considered either a woman's right or a sin against God, the poem "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks gives a voice to a mother lamenting her aborted children through three stanzas in which a warning is given to mothers, an admission of guilt is made, and an apology to the dead is given. The poet-speaker, the mother, as part of her memory addresses the children that she "got that [she] did not get" (2). The shift in voice from stanza to stanza allows Brooks to capture the grief associated with an abortion by not condemning her actions, nor excusing them; she merely grieves for what might have been. The narrator's longing and regret over the children she will never have is highlighted by the change in tone

The ideas of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1965) changed the theatre in many ways. Brecht along with Erwin Piscator developed the style of Epic theatre style contrasting to previous accepted styles. Presentational in form, Epic theatre is a vehicle for social comment through techniques such as: alienation, historification, eclectic influences (highly Asian), constructivism in scenery, disjointed and illogical scene placement, ordinary clothing and lighting, the use of music to detach the audience from emotion, placards and signs and projected images. Didactic in nature Brecht’s works aim to challenge the

The Life and Works of Bertolt Brecht In this essay I will consider the life and works of Bertolt Brecht, the famous theatre practitioner who has had such a dramatic impact on our understanding of the theatre and acting. First of all I will give a biography of Brecht because it is important to know the background of his life in order to understand the motives he had for writing and producing plays in the way he did. We will see a direct correlation between events in his life and the plays and techniques that he propagated. I will then move to explore the methods and techniques that Brecht developed, looking at how they came about and who influenced his work.