Guide Note:
The play Mother Courage by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) deals with the 17th century Thirty Years War. However, it is a play about all wars. The play begins in 1624 in Poland, at the time of conflict between German Catholics and Swedish Lutherans. The action of the play unfolds over twelve years, represented in twelve scenes.
Brecht does not describe battles that constitute the history of the world, but concentrates on the consequences of war on the ordinary people. The central character, Anna Fierling, nicknamed Mother Courage, follows the armies with her canteen wagon, selling her goods to soldiers on both sides. She hopes to profit by the war - even as her three children are devoured by it, one by one.
Ana Fierling is not a tragic heroine. There are no heroes in Mother Courage and her Children. Ana is a mother who haggles while her children die. In her character Brecht wanted to expose ties between war and commerce. He himself once said that "war is a continuation of business by other means". He also wanted to show the audiences how pointless and dehumanizing the war is, in order to influence them to take action against war.
The play was written in 1939, at the outset of World War II, while Brecht was in exile in Scandinavia. Typically for Brecht, Mother Courage contains scenes with music and singing.
Fast Facts:
- Written in 1939
- Written as a response to Germany's invasion of Poland
- Full title: Mother Courage and Her Children
- Title in original German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder
- Originally produced in Zurich in 1941
- The first German performance was in Berlin in 1949
- Considered by some to be the greatest play of the 20th century
- Considered by some to be the greatest anti-war play of all times
- Quotation: "You know what the trouble with peace is? No organization."
- Quotation: "War is like love, it always finds a way."
