Mother Courage: Scene I - Initial Thoughts

In the play 'Mother Courage', Brecht expresses his view of society which can be demonstrated with a Marxist Paradigm where the elite are few in number but hold economic power and therefore hold the control in society. Next is the bourgeoisie which are the middle class and hold some economic power. Lastly, are the proletariats: the workers who hold little to no power and serve the aspirations of the elite and are enslaved.

Mother Courage is associated with the common people and is a very paradoxical character as there are many readings of her character.

She can be seen as:

- The archetype of mother vs. the hard-hearted mother full of selfishness

- Wise yet foolish

- The voice of judgement yet petty and unethical

An example of this is how she is against war and of her sons being taken away as soldiers, however it is the war that she is living off. Without the war, she would not have a form of income.

Her children are introduced in this scene and all of them are from different fathers showing how war has effected her life as she is peripatetic and moves with war, which fragments her life as she, along with her children seem to have no place of origin and seem to be drifting along behind the war.