Mother Courage

The following Scene, scene 6, that I am going to comment on, in which the

chaplain is holding s speech, is set in Ingolstadt, in Bavaria in 1632.in this scene

Mother courage is attending the funeral of the late Imperial commander Tilly

when discussions about heroes of the war and about the duration and the end of

the war begin to break out. While mother Courage and her daughter Karin are

counting the amount of goods they have still on their cart and stocktaking, the

chaplain and the regimental clerk are playing a board game together.

During the discussion about war, in which mother courage, the clerk and the

chaplain are involved, they all three agree that the war is continuous, but they all

have completely different feelings about the benefits and bad consequences of

war as in each of their lives war plays a different role.

The chaplain does not associate bad, cruel or especially negative things with war

as he is used to it and regards it as something normal, like it was just a part of

his life. In his opinion people can also life on normal and survive during

wartime. To communicate this message to his readers the author, Brecht, uses a

very intensive irony as he even lets the chaplain glorifying the War and its

consequences, what adds even more irony. In doing so a completely opposite

image to how cruel and negative war really is and what consequences it has on

the country and its inhabitants is created. The chaplain says:" I d say there's

peace in war too", which is an antithesis, because peace and war mean the

complete opposite. Brecht by using this strong contrast shows that he for himself

has doubts about the meaning for him, if it should be regarded as something

good or bad. But the main character of this story, Mother Courage, takes

advantage of the war, as it is always present, and for her it is a business that

provides her with the necessary money to survive, what for many people, who

suffer under the cruelty of the war seems to be wrong. For Mother Courage this

war is not just something normal but also something good and something she

could never life without, although many people die, even her own children, and

suffers because of the war.

The author tried to let his readers know that he is against