B.A. (Hons.

) English – Semester VI Core Course

Paper XIII : Modern European Drama Study Material

Unit-2
Bertolt Brecht: The Good Woman of Szechuan

Department of English

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

University of Delhi
Paper XIII – Modern European Drama
Unit-2

Bertolt Brecht: The Good Woman of Szechuan

Prepared by:
Krishna Das Gupta
School of Open Learning
University of Delhi
Delhi-110007

 
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
Paper XIII – Modern European Drama
Unit-2

Bertolt Brecht: The Good Woman of Szechuan

Contents
S. No. Title Pg. No.
Part-I 01
1. Introduction 01
2. A brief Life Sketch of Brecht 01
3. What is Epic Theatre? 02
4. The Background of the theory of Epic Theatre 06
Part-II : Summary and Analysis 12
5. The Story of the Good woman of Szechuan. 12
6. Scene-wise Summary of the Play. 13
7. A Critical Analysis of the Play. 24

Prepared by:
Krishna Das Gupta

 
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
Unit-2

The Good Woman of Szechuan

Bertolt Brecht
Krishna Das Gupta

Part-I
Introduction
Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg in what was then the Kingdom of Bavaria on 10th
February 1898 and died in Berlin on 14th August 1956. Brecht is one of the great play
wrights of modern times and one of the most controversial. He was the exponent of the epic
theatre but his plays do not always conform strictly to his idea of the epic drama.
A brief Life Sketch of Brecht
During Brecht's youth, contemporary German Society was materialistic and chauvinistic.
Brecht's ideas did not go along with this prevailing attitude of his countrymen. He exposed
through his writings the hero who was a criminal at the same time. According to him, the
glorification of such heroes was only a subtle form of self indulgence.
Brecht's early upbringing was religious and he declared that the Bible had had the
strongest influence on his work. He belonged to a fairly well to do family and had a
comfortable childhood.
He drifted to the communist party later on but was never totally acceptable to the
communists. Ronald Gray writes - “Many of his plays reveal a dichotomy - a continual inner
dialogue between the claims of absolute goodness, right, justice on the one hand, and a
chameleon-like adaptation on the other”. In a way Brecht's drama may be described as a
drama of paradox.
After schooling, Brecht entered the University of Munich in 1917, as a Student of
Medicine and natural science. Next year he was called up for military service and joined the
army. For nearly one year he served as a medical orderly. He came back full of horror at the
terrible cruelty of war. His poems reflect the gruesome experiences he had. Actually these
experiences brought him closer to the communist party, the only party in real opposition,
totally against Militarism. But by temperament, Brecht was more of an anarchist so he
delayed his explicit support to the communist party.
Brecht was unlike a typical German. They maintained their impeccable dress code even
when in very adverse circumstances. But he dressed himself like a mechanic with hair cut in
a straight line across his forehead. He went around in a crumpled shirt without a tie. At
dazzling first nights where everyone is in evening clothes, he would enter unshaven, wearing
a black shirt. In the evening accompanying on the banjo, Brecht sang the Ballad of the Dead
Soldier, composed by himself. It described how they dug up a soldier, patched him up and

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sent him back to the front. The “Pure German gentleman” answered this Ballad with furious
hatred. Those were days of turmoil in Germany. The fascists were about to grab power.
Brecht’s name was fifth on their murder list, an honour earned by his 'Ballad of the Dead
Soldier'. He has been described, as in the Berlin days, as the solitary intellectual cynic - one
against many, puncturing hypocrisy with his pen, his only weapon.
In his plays as part of his epic presentation he worked for coordination of speech and
gesture “The gesture precedes the word” said Brecht in his play, A Man's a Man. The
ironical treatment of the theme shows the transformation of Galy Gay who could not say 'no'
to a fascist, for whom others say 'no' and 'yes', while he yells only 'heil.' The German
bourgeois, was not amused. This play was hastily withdrawn in 1931, after a few
performances, from a respectable theatre in Berlin.
Brecht's desire was not to induce catharsis, but to change the attitude of the spectator.
The change was to be carried outside the theatre.
He became associated with the drama world and worked with two of the leading
producers of the times. Max Reinhardt and Erwin Piscator Brecht himself produced plays in
violently anti-sentimental, antiromantic fashion.
The production of the Threepenny Opera in Berlin in 1928, made him famous overnight.
As a poet also he became famous at about the same time.
With the growth of the Nazi party, Brecht's Communist leanings became more explicit in
his plays. Early in 1932, his adaptation of Gorky's novel The Mother for the first time in all
Brecht's work, held up the Russian Revolution, as the model for workers in Germany.
But the Nazis banned the performance of The Mother and in 1933 Brecht and his family
had a narrow escape from Germany. The Nazis burnt the books of Brecht and after a brief
sojourn in western Europe, Brecht went to America in 1941. His most famous plays include -
Mother Courage, The Life of Galileo, The Good Woman of Szechuan, Herr Puntila and
his Hired Man Matti and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
He returned to East Germany after the war. He had taken some steps before settling there
- such as retention of a bank account in Switzerland, and acquiring a passport of Austrian
nationality - perhaps to forestall any serious interference with his freedom as might be
expected under any totalitarian regime. He was offered by the East German Govt. his own
Theatre to experiment at will. There he built up his Berliner Ensemble'. his own theatre
group. Brecht's theories and his dramatic practice did not always go hand in hand. He was not
rigid about his own writings either. Constant revision, alteration and modification took place
throughout the process of stage production under Brecht himself. Brecht died on 14th August
1956.
What is the Epic Theatre
According to Karl Marx - The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways;
the point however, is to change it- Brecht's object was to apply this to the Theatre. Through
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his plays, he tried precisely to change the material world by changing human attitude and
opinions regarding social norms and behaviour.
Brecht wanted to introduce the epic theatre in place of Aristotelian or dramatic theatre
which had so long existed. The most important feature of the epic theatre is the estrangement
effect, that is the loss of identification between the character on the stage and the audience.
Once the spectator could look at the dramatic character objectively, he should be able to
judge the dramatic character and the action critically. Brecht wanted drama to present a view
of the world. In the epic theatre, unlike in the Aristotelian form, each scene exists for itself,
and the play develops by sudden leaps. In the Aristotelian drama, man is revealed as known,
and fixed. Evolutionary inevitability is shown in the Aristotelian drama, in the epic form, we
see man producing himself in course of the action, and is therefore subject to criticism and
change. The naturalist school of drama, which Brecht was actually opposing, excluded all
alternatives by its conventions of verisimilitude. (The appearance or semblance of truth).
Raymond Williams writes - “Essentially what Brecht created after a long experiment was
a dramatic form, in which men were shown in the process of producing themselves and their
situations. This is, at root, a dialectical form drawing directly on a Marxist Theory of history
in which within given limits. Man makes himself. Correspondingly, the pure naturalist form
(which in many actual naturalist plays were diluted or qualified) depends on a simpler
materialist view, in which man discovers the truth about himself by discovering his real
environment; the literal presentation of this environment is then a means to human truth”.
Brecht's method was one of critical detachment. Everything was 'open” in the sense that
Brecht's intention was to show “the action in the process of being made. He was not rigid
about his own writing either. Constant revision alteration and modification took place
throughout the process of stage production under Brecht himself. Passage of time and change
of place are clearly indicated in the Brechtian Theatre- through a placard or by a narrator,
who sits at one side of the stage throughout. The character would talk directly to the
audience, explaining and defining problems. The action would be commented upon or
announced by intervening or accompanying projections.
Central to his style is the 'Distance' between the audience and the action. In other words
the emphasis on the alienation effect remains vital to the dramatic technique of Brecht. So
long in the naturalist theatre the suspension of disbelief before an illusion of reality, was the
accepted formula. Brecht projects the reality of the illusion on the stage. The actors must also
maintain the same distance from the characters they portray on the stage.
The actor was not required to “live the part”, as in the naturalist theatre. Brecht wanted
his characters to be presented objectively and critically by the actors.
The production and acting techniques apart, estrangement effects are built into the
structure of a Brechtian play. There is frequent duplication - of characters or events. Herr
Puntila in his drunken generous mood is different from the sober intolerant Puntila. The good
woman Shen Te turns into the harsh business man Shui Ta. The personalities are therefore

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neither fixed nor unalterable. There are songs in the plays, commenting on or predicting the
course of the action and thus interrupting it.
In his critical writing - “Little organon for the theatre”, written in 1948, Brecht wrote -
“Let us treat the theatre as a place of entertainment------. The theatre was to be neither
moralistic nor didactic, it was merely to detach itself from the classical models that had suited
former ages and produce entertainment, adapted to our own age”. So briefly the epic theatre
would in theory present the dramatic action in a manner which would make the audience
objectively critical.
Instead of feeling pity and sympathy for the dramatic character, the audience in the epic
theatre would analyze and observe his actions. Brecht's own dramatic creations do not always
conform to his critical theories. Nevertheless some of his plays are great creations whether or
not they conform to his theories.
The alienation technique (v. effekt, v standing for verfremdung) is explained at its
simplest as the means of making the happenings on the stage seem unfamiliar and strange.
The spectator, as a result will never identify himself with the stage character which would
facilitate his judgement and assessment of the dramatic character and action.
In distinguishing between the two types of drama, Brecht lists the following qualities of
the two:–
Dramatic Form Epic Form
1) Active Narrative
2) Involves the spectator in the stage action Makes the spectator an observer
3) Consumes his capacity to act Awakens his capacity to act
4) Allows him to have feelings Demands decision from him.
5) Spectator drawn into something He is confronted with something.
6) Feelings are preserved Feeling driven into becoming
realizations.
7) The spectator stands inside, experiences with the The spectator confronts and studies
characters. what he sees.
8) Man is assumed to be known Man is an object of investigation.
9) Man unalterable Man alterable and altering
10) Suspense is awaiting the outcome Suspense at the process.
11) One scene exists for another. Each scene for itself.
12) Growth Montage
13) Linear Progress In curves

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Dramatic Form Epic Form
14) Evolutionary inevitability Sudden leaps
15) Man as fixed Man as a process
16) Thought determines being Social being determines thought
17) Feeling reason.
The Brechtian rejection of theatrical illusion is one of the most important traits of his
theatre. He treats the stage openly as a stage and not as the real world, seen through a missing
fourth wall. Brecht considered empathy and illusion as poisonous for they destroy man's
critical ability as Peter Demetz says —
“Epic theatre is the theatre of destroyed illusions and wide-awake audience” and also
“Epic acting inscriptions projected upon the stage, a particular use of songs, music,
choreography and scenic design, which counteracts the fable, commenting on rather than
supporting it — all of these elements alienate certain events of the play from the realm of the
ordinary, natural and expected, and make them, surprisingly new and strange” – Peter
Demetz – ‘Introduction’ to A Collection of Critical Essays on Brecht, (Prenctice Hall - 1962).
While in exile in Scandinavia and the U. S. A. Brecht wondered whether and how it could
be possible for man to retain his natural goodness and kindness amidst rising political
violence and economic adversity and ruthless exploitation.
Through this thought process, Brecht embarks upon creating his split characters such as
Shen Te/ShuiTa, or the drunk/sober Puntila. In the The Good Woman of Szechuan (1938-42)
the good woman Shen Te has to take help of her other self Shui Ta, in order to survive. “As
Shui Ta she safeguards her livelihood but cripples her life; as Shen Te she fulfils her life but
forfeits her livelihood (W. Sokel). Brecht used many of the devices of Expressionist drama,
such as episodic structure, unity derived from theme or thesis, and non illusionist visual
elements. Unlike the Expressionists though Brecht, did not consider that appearance is false.
He focused the attention of the audience on the real conditions, political and Social and
reduced their empathy in the dramatic characters. He hoped that way he could persuade the
spectator to work for changes in society outside the theatre.
The Good Woman is a parable about the difficulties of remaining good under existing
social conditions. Shen Te, the good woman is soon betrayed and exploited.
She invents Shui Ta, her tough cousin to overcome this problem. In other words, she lets
the ruthless side of her character dominate her actions. With passage of time, she is forced to
take on the role of Shui Ta, more frequently. “Brecht uses this device to suggest the
progressive deterioration of morality”. The play ends in a stalemate, for the Gods leave Shen
Te with the message “Be good”, and she is no nearer to knowing how to accomplish this” (O.
G. Brockett, L. Brockett; Introduction to An Anthology of World Drama (P-XVI).

5
In the play The Good Woman, we have alternatively Short and Long Scenes. The action is
broken up and commented upon by the short scenes. The insertion of songs and speeches in
the long scenes, presents Brecht's ideas about Society. The problem of Shen Te is a universal
problem and it may be solved through taking the right social and political action.
The Background of the Theory of Epic Theatre & Evolution of Brecht's Dramatic
Career
Epic theatre is widely associated with Brecht; and evolution of Brecht's dramatic career but
the term was in use before Brecht adapted it.
Erwin Piscator, highly talented Director of Germany's proletarian theatre movement
between 1927-1930 used the term in his Political Theatre (1929). Structurally Piscator used
various mechanical devices. Revolving platforms, Conveyer belts, escalators, elevators, rising
and failing stage levels, were used in the production of plays by Piscator. According to him,
the theatre would launch a movement for the working class and the stage is to be used as a
platform for social and political debate and discussion. The drama would be epic drama of a
narrative sequence without the trappings of a well made play. In 1928 Piscator produced in
Berlin, Hasek's The Good Soldier Schweik' in collaboration with Brecht. Piscator appealed to
the reason of the audience and he assumed that the result of this rational enlightenment would
be to kindle the flame of revolt among the workers' and he tried to convert their every
performance into a public demonstration. Though Brecht was deeply influenced by Piscator,
he rejected the identification either of the actor or of the audience with events on stage. This
is the point where he differed from Piscator in distancing the stage action from the audience
and producing the estrangement effect. There was a long standing tradition of political drama
in Germany. Before the Nazis came to power in Germany, frequent street fights took place
between them and communists. Brecht's plays till the late 1930s, reflected the mood of the
times, though his plays lacked the intolerance of some of the Agitprop plays.
What Brecht opposed was that the Spectator should identify himself with the character
on the stage. He should not indulge in the willing suspension of disbelief and should not
accept the happenings in the theatre and outside it as something unchangeable and inevitable.
Starting with Piscator’s model of the epic theatre he was one with him in opposing,
Stanislavsky's method of perfecting the illusionistic theatre by promoting the actor
identifying with the role he enacted. Stanislavsky the founder of a new method of intense and
introspective acting, was a young member of the Moscow art theatre (1890s').
The famous producers Piscator and Reinhardt, during the time, when Brecht started his
career, wanted the involvement of the audience in the events of the stage. Reinhardt's
production of the “Death of Danton” seated the actors in the auditorium, so that the theatre
became the French revolutionary tribunal.
Brecht was deeply influenced by the two and acknowledged his own debt to Piscator,
describing him as “without doubt one of the most important theatre men of all times”.

6
But his important difference with Piscator was in 'distancing' the stage action in inducing
a critical and questioning response. The word verfremdung, '(alienation), in Brecht's drama
actually means that 'reality not only ceases to be taken for granted, but is seen reconstructed
with new eyes'' (Ronald Gray, Brecht, Page 76)
The term epic, has had for Brecht sources other than the political theatre of Erwin
Piscator and German Agitprop (Agitation Propaganda). He was also influenced by
Expressionists, by the cabaret of Frank Wedekind, and the music hall comedian Karl
Valentin, Charlie Chaplin and the American Silent film; by the revolutionary Soviet theatre
and also by Shakespeare and Elizabethan chronicle plays. Japanese 'Noh' plays with their non
realistic and highly stylized conventions also had an impact on Brecht's plays. The Noh actors
directly speak to the audience, and serious issues are dealt with simply and objectively. The
technique of self-controlled 'demonstration' in Chinese acting was appreciated by Brecht,
when he witnessed the acting of the Chinese actor Mei Lan-fang in Moscow in 1935. His first
major play Baal (1918) is episodic like the later plays. This connects the play to what Brecht
defined as “epic theatre”, an important trait of which is a collection of scenes.
Brecht kept on developing his dramatic theory. He wanted to establish 'a theatre fit for a
Scientific age”. In A Short Organum for the Theatre in 1948 he writes that the theatre should
be socially productive as well as aesthetically pleasurable. It is wrong to say that Brecht
barred amusement and feelings from the theatre. He wanted to prevent empathy (one type of
feeling) and shake the spectator out of torpor, and encourage the pleasures of a productive
life. The object of epic theatre was to 'examine' and not just to stimulate emotion. The
aesthetic that finally emerged from Brecht's modified theories may therefore be called
'dialectical aesthetic.
The picaresque story of Baal's life reproduces the expressionist Stationendrama “The
form of Stationendrama is often adhered to by Pirandello, and achieves its acts and
subdivisions by means of some event or foreign element which breaks off the action at the
'right' place. Connected with the idea of the Stationendrama and its tempting loose structure
are the plays which are built on an inversion of the time concept and its aspect of cause and
effect. Thus Act II may chronologically follow Act III as in J. B. Priestley's play Time and the
Conways (Oscar Badel, Aesthetic Distance in Contemporary Theatre, PMLA XXVI 1961).
The other play of Brecht In the Jungle of Cities 1923, has an exuberance of language,
one of the traits of the expressionist theatre. The other influences which are prominent in the
early Brecht are the idea of the futurists --the drama as a sporting contest, its anticipation of
the surrealist and absurdist drama and its insistence on a motiveless action and rejection of
psychology.
Moreover according to one critic “With the true ambivalence of a real poet Brecht has
also infused a great deal of genuine feeling, even a degree of a biographical self-identification
between himself and Baal into the characters of the wild Bohemian whose destructiveness is
merely an expression of his mystic belief that life has to be accepted in all its beauty and
horror”.

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Baal is an irresponsible individualist. Brecht said that Baal was “antisocial in an
antisocial society”'. His early plays —Drums in the Night', 'In the Jungle of Cities', 'A Man's a
Man'. 'The Threepenny Opera' Rise and Fall of the Town of Mahagonny has been described
as less the attempt to change the society, and more attempts to come to terms with his own
personality.
In the short story 'Bargan Gives Up' written in 1921, Bargan, the protagonist, allows
himself to be degraded by a worthless devilish character Croze. (It brings to mind the case of
Shen Te, in The Good Woman, staking her all for the sake of the worthless airman) Bargan
wants to imbibe a wide knowledge of the devilish side of human nature, by aligning himself
with the murderer Croze. From another point of view Bargan's self sacrifice has a religious
overtone. It seems, sometimes in Brecht's play brutality and cruelty are shown as necessary
evils. In The Good Woman the disregard of normal humanity by Shui Ta is abhorrent to Shen
Te. But Shui Ta the other part of Shen Te's personality, has to behave the way he does, to
maintain order and balance, Brecht said that the theatre must entertain in a way suitable to
our own age, in other words, a theatre scientific in mood. The theatre should be treated as a
place of entertainment. We come across these views in the Little Organum for Theatre
(1948). In the same essay, Brecht writes “Society can derive enjoyment even from the
antisocial, while it displays vitality and greatness”. All attempts at refashioning society
successful or not, give us a feeling of triumph and confidence in the possibility of change in
all things. Change is welcomed for its own sake for example by Galileo in Brecht's play. The
highest pleasure is the morally - unmoved witnessing of such change. In the Life of Galileo,
the sheer dynamism of the flux of life is welcomed. This is unlike the earlier propagandist
plays, where the structure of society was sought to be altered for the benefit of the
underprivileged.
In the words of Ronald Gray “in these last words of the Organum (Where he says 'the
theatre should not even be expected to teach, at all events nothing more useful than how to
conduct oneself pleasurably, whether in a physical or an intellectual sense') Brecht reverts to
an attitude akin to that he had expressed through Baal; the all accepting amoral delight in the
dreadful as well as in the more obviously pleasurable consequences of being alive.
Brecht's aesthetics reveal their weakest point, in their complete irrelevance to tragedy,
their insistence that the tragedies of the past as presented by Shakespeare and Sophocles are
now to be presented as avoidable.
Human history is full of catastrophes; individual and national, which could not be
controlled, tragedy has relentlessly confronted those grasping at the worst enduring it without
pessimism or resignation. For this form of drama Brecht has no place. For the millions, who
even in recent years have seen final and inevitable disaster, disaster which when it came
could only be met in the spirit and in faith Brecht has no word to offer.
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Lei, the most effective of his anti-Nazi plays was completed
in Finland in 1941, in collaboration with Margaret Steffin. In this play, Hitler was meant to
be understood, as a product of capitalism.
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The five plays of later years, are the best written by Brecht The Life of Galileo, Mother
Courage, The Good Woman of Szechuan, Herr Puntilla and his Man Matti, The Caucasian
Chalk Circle — all display a general human interest - These plays invite the spectator to
consider how he should have conducted himself in similar circumstances. In these plays more
compassion is shown for ordinary human failure. These plays show more tolerance than the
rigidity shown in earlier plays. May be the rigors of exile had generated more understanding
in Brecht or the real face of communism was being gradually realized. Galileo had pursued
knowledge and scientific research in isolation and the play implied that the direct fallout was
the horror of the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. The question mark on the suggested
solutions at the end of the drama, marks the mature later plays of Brecht, and that also brings
about the essentially epic trait of these plays.
It is said that tragedy is out of place in modern setting. A statement by a modern critic
makes amusing reading. If Oedipus were to put his eyes out to day, Creon would probably
call an ambulance”.
Mother Courage, is one of the best plays by Brecht, and is typical epic drama, Mother
Courage earns a living off war, which goes on, it seems infinitely. She sells food, drink and
equipment from her wagon, to the soldiers. She feeds her children from the profit but
ultimately all her children are lost to her through direct or indirect effects of war. She is
shown dragging the wagon alone behind first the Protestant and then the Catholic army. At
the end Brecht depicts in Mother Courage, how things stand and the final effect is one of the
sense of waste.
After this short discussion of a few of Brecht's great plays, it is clear that his mature
work has, above all, human interest and warm compassion, the qualities that rank him among
the great playwrights of modern times.
In the words of Martin Esslin, the biggest question mark on Brecht’s total achievement,
has been “how far is it possible to be committed to a political creed and yet to produce works
which like all of the Greatest Literature, are of universal validity and appeal to all mankind?
Brecht was by nature in his early life, without much sense of purpose or direction. Baal his
first play has no social relevance.
Gradually he started feeling concern for the lot of the working classes, but his subsequent
plays such as “A Man's a Man “, and the “Three-Penny Opera”, still do not make his stand
point very clear. Through these plays elements of his well-known alienation are introduced.
In his adaptation of the English 'Beggar's Opera' (by John Gay) he satirizes society in general
and even the revolution that the playwright seems to demand. Rise and Fall of the Town of
Mahagonny, is again a satire on the capitalist way of life.
The Measures Taken, St. Joan of the. Stockyards, The Mother, are plays with clear cut
doctrinaire approach showing Brecht openly sympathizing with the communists. His later
plays reveal his tolerance and sympathy, without any trace of the earlier rigidity and
doctrinaire approach. Many of his plays appeal for their contemporary relevance. The

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problem faced by the good woman, is universal “Why are bad deeds rewarded and good ones
punished” How to retain the essential human values and defend goodness against the
onslaught of evil. Throughout ages, across the world, goodness has been exploited, trampled
upon and ignored by selfishness and meanness.
In The Life of Galileo, again Brecht has left the question unanswered about the Rightness
of Galileo's action. The ambivalence of the playwright's attitude in these plays, make their
interpretation more difficult. In Galileo, perhaps, Brecht was looking for a character who
compromises to gain the confidence of a strong adversary, to be able to survive to fight for
another day. He makes a show of total submission to the Roman Catholic Church, to be able
to continue his forbidden research. However in the case of Shen Te, no such definite aim is in
sight. She has to disrupt her natural way of life by taking recourse to a dual personality, in
order to survive. She is not a genius, a great Scientist nor a Theoretician Nevertheless, she is
unable to follow her instincts and be her own self without being exploited and abused by the
very people who are benefited by her generosity. In her acquired persona of being Shui Ta,
She is more acceptable in her ruthlessness. This Paradoxical situation brings up layers of
truth, defying easy solutions. These plays make us think and the avowed aim of the epic
theatre is displayed. But the empathy is not absent. Surely we do feel for the girl Shen Te's
predicament and respond to her appeal lost on the gods. Galileo, of course is not projected as
a hero, and we are free to draw our own conclusions regarding his action.
Brecht's major plays. Mother courage, The Good Woman of Szechuan, The Life of
Galileo, The Caucasian Chalk Circle all belong to a period between 1937-1945. If his plays
are given all the traits, which he thought essential for his epic theatre, the spectator's response
to the action is still an element beyond the control of the dramatist. Some critics have
preferred the term “open” theatre to the epic, as Brecht adopted a critical detachment in his
methods of writing, producing and acting. In contrast to the naturalist theatre, the open
presentation shows the action in the process of being made.
“What happens on the stage is not so much lived as shown and both the consciousness of
an audience, and the distance between the audience and the deliberately played action, are
made central to the style.
According to Brecht a work of art shows characters and events as historically
determined, subject to change and contradictory by their very nature. It is directed toward all
people of good will ............ It reveals that as result of the creation of a society free from
exploitation, human creative possibilities will develop the dimensions unheard of until now”
(”On the Artistic Originality of Bertolt Brecht's Drama” - by I. Fradkin, translated by Ruth
Crego from Voprosy Literatury (Moscow) December 1958.).
His faith in man was emphasized when he stressed the strength of the people, and wanted
to make them conscious of it.
According to Brecht's theory there is no inevitable fate, there is need for people to know-
that historic conditions influencing social relations can definitely be changed and have always

10
changed. This confidence in the instability of an unfair and exploiting social order is to be
built up by the art of what Brecht defines as socialist realism, at the same time inspiring
people to change the society.
He thoroughly, studied Marx's Kapital during the vacation in October 1926. The same
year he laid the foundation for his theory of the epic theatre.
At the end of year 1926 his comedy A Man's a Man was performed, and according to
Brecht this was his first work which met the conditions of epic theatre. The Marxist world
view which Brecht adopted brought for him new social tasks as an artist and for him the key
to accomplish these tasks, was his theory of the epic theatre. This artistic integrity and
responsibility made him constantly rewrite and correct his own writings, and he was ready to
incorporate and adapt all constructive suggestions and ideas. He was indifferent though to
historical discrepancies. The action of the Good Woman takes place in Szechuan, but it could
happen anywhere. The readers and spectators could apply the situation anywhere under the
sun and thus break from the narrow local historical conditions. This is a point which
universalizes Brecht's play and adds to its relevance. The exotic settings free from familiarity
more easily takes on the form of a parable, in which some of his plays are written.

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Part-II
Summary and Analysis
The Story of the Good Woman of Szechuan
The play was written between 1938-1941.
The Good Woman of Szechuan is a parable about the problems of remaining good under
the existing adverse social and economic conditions.
Three gods come to Szechuan in search of at least one good person. Wong, the water-
seller looks for a shelter for the gods to stay for the night. He finds only Shen Te, the
prostitute ready to accommodate them. She foregoes a client for the night to shelter the gods
even though she needs the money from the client to pay her rent.
The gods are highly pleased with her and ask her to remain good, in spite of all the
difficulties in the way of remaining good. Problems of day to day living, Shen Te says, has
made it unavoidable for her to live on her immoral earnings. The gods offer some money to
Shen Te. They want her to keep it a secret. Shen Te, they feel, will be able to make use of the
money and have a better life and be able to remain good.
Shen Te buys a tobacco shop. But before she can start business, all sorts of people come
to her with all sorts of demands of shelter, of money, of food, of exorbitant claim for work
done for the shop.
Shen Te is almost ruined in trying to meet all the demands. She invents a cousin Shui Ta
to deal with the situation. This man cuts down every one to size. He goes about in a business
like manner. And soon every body understands that he is not going to tolerate any nonsense.
He makes friends with the policeman who suggests that Shen Te should marry a rich man to
solve her financial worries.
An old couple have a carpet shop across the square. The lady comes to make friends with
Shen Te; Actually Shui Ta is the other self of Shen Te. She has to take the help of the tough
calculating side of her character, to counteract the over generous impulses of her feminine
self as Shen Te. Shen Te falls in love with an unemployed airman, Yang Sun. She is prepared
to sacrifice her shop, her only means of livelihood to get money which he needs to get
employment as a pilot. The man is totally unscrupulous and is ready to abandon Shen Te after
he gets money from her to serve his needs. He exposes himself to Shui Ta. Shui Ta sets up a
factory to enable Yang Sun and also the other dependents of Shen Te, to work and earn their
bread. But this leads her to become more ruthless. She wants to safeguard her unborn son's
interest. “I will study to defend him/ To be good to you, my son, / I shall be a tigress to all
others/ If I have to.”
She has realised that following her charitable impulses, she will be ruined in no time, by
the ever increasing demands on her generosity, Shui Ta, therefore comes to her rescue, But
Shui Ta is hauled up before the court on charges of murdering Shen Te. Shen Te has vanished

12
in the presence of Shui Ta. as Shen Te and Shui Ta are the same person. In the court the gods
come disguised as judges. Shui Ta/Shen Te recognises them and tells them why she has put
on the disguise of her male cousin.
To be good to others and myself at the same time/I could not do it/ your world is not an
easy one, illustrious ones. When we extend our hand to a beggar, he tears it off for us.
When we help the lost, we are lost ourselves Since not to eat is to die.
Who can long refuse to be bad?
As I lay prostrate beneath the weight of good intentions
Ruin stared me in the face
It was when I was unjust that I ate good meat and hobnobbed with the mighty.
Why?
Why are bad deeds rewarded?
Good ones punished?
The gods however insist that she should continue to be good. They overlook all her bad
deeds as mere unfortunate coincidences. At most they allow her to take help of her bad
cousin once a month. Ignoring Shen Te's cry for help, the gods disappear.
The epilogue requests the audience “to find a way”. To help good men arrive at happy
ends....... “There's got to be a way”.
Scene-wise Summary of the Play
The Good Woman of Szechuan is a parable about the difficulties of remaining kind and
humane under the constraints of existing economic and social conditions.
The good woman Shen Te, known as the Angel of the slums, is always ready to help
others. In this endeavour, she gets thoroughly exploited and betrayed by the very people
whom she helps. In order to survive she invents a ruthless cousin Shui Ta. Shui Ta puts
everything in order and does not allow anybody to take advantage of the goodness of Shen Te
But the dilemma is not resolved. The gods, who had come to Szechuan in search of at least
one good person, are happy to find Shen Te. At the end Shui Ta is exposed, she has the
double identity of both Shui Ta and Shen Te. Shen Te confesses to have allowed Shui Ta (the
evil side of her character) to take over, in order to survive. The gods want her to remain good,
with only occasional help from Shui Ta, the other self of hers.
In the epilogue the audience is asked to find a solution to the problem of how to remain
good in the face of all the prevailing meanness and exploitation “there must, there's got to be
a way”.
The play alternates short and long scenes. As you already know that in the epic theatre
each scene exists for itself. The short scenes break up and comment on the action. The long

13
scenes have songs and speeches delivered directly to the audience. Another way of bringing
about the reality of the illusion is by making the spectators realize that they are in a theatre
and are asked to exercise their judgement to decide what should be the course of action.
In the Prologue, we learn a lot about the setting and the background of the action of the
play. The Good Woman - Wong the water seller, introduces himself. He talks of his own
problem of securing and selling water in different seasons - dry and wet. He has heard
rumours of the presence of gods in the neighbourhood, who he hopes may solve the problems
of poverty.
The gods indeed arrive, looking for at least one good person. They are looking for a
shelter for the night. Trying to help them. Wong comes across Shen Te. She sells herself to
pay the rent of her room. Still she decides to forego her earning for the night, to
accommodate the gods. In the morning the gods leave. They are highly pleased with Shen Te.
She is asked to remain good, but it is not easy she says. Economic constraints do not allow
her to practice her good intentions. So the gods pay her a handsome amount, with which she
should be able to indulge in her charitable wishes.
Scene I
A small tobacco shop, not fully furnished,
Shen Te has started business she has bought a tobacco shop with the money the gods
gave her, from one Mrs. Shin, who has already asked for rice from Shen Te. This morning
she arrives with complaints and demands rice and cash from Shen Te and starts screaming at
and threatening her. Immediately after, a stream of people with more demands on Shen Te's
charity, descend on her shop. We come to know from her that they had put her up when she
first came from the country. The audience is also informed by Shen Te that “when my small
purse was empty, they put me out on the street”. This family of eight, make themselves at
home at Shen Te's expense and they are very unwilling to let her help anybody else.
A carpenter comes for being paid for the shelves he had installed. As Shen Te can not
make immediate payment, he gets rude. As a quick remedy the hangers-on urge Shen Te, to
invent a cousin. Seeing no way out Shen Te mentions Shui Ta, her cousin, a supposedly all-
powerful man. When Mrs. MiTzu insists on a good reference for Shen Te, the cousin comes
in very handy. That's how Shen Te somehow wards off her immediate threats. Her small
place is almost taken over by the grabbing lot of people, who fight among themselves.
The scene closes with Shen Te's song -
“The little lifeboat is swiftly sent down
Too many men too greedily
Hold on to it as they drown”
Scene IA
Wong's den in a sewer pipe.
14
He is scared to face the gods, as he was not aware that Shen Te had given them shelter.
But the gods appear in his dream and ask him to report on Shen Te's good activities. They
continue in the meanwhile to search for other good people.
Comments on Scene I
The gods have been generous to Shen Te. The brazen attitude of Mrs. Shin, the previous
owner of Shen Te's newly acquired Tobacco shop, is shown, when she finds fault with Shen
Te and insults her gratuitously.
Hordes of hangers-on descend on Shen Te's shop. The hospitality of the good woman,
Shen Te, is taken for granted and uncalled for advices offered. The process of exploitation
begins, which will end as we know, in the creation of the dual personality Shen Te /Shui Ta.
Actually the other self of Shen Te, i.e. Shui Ta, is a product of the insistence of people, who
want all Shen Te's generosity for themselves. Human nature is shown in a very poor light.
Those who have come to seek help from the kind girl, want to snatch the maximum, without
any consideration for her.
We are introduced to Wong the water seller. His role is akin to the chorus in the play. He
is poor and we are provided with a glimpse into the life of a typical poor labourer. He has to
work hard without any hope of adequate return. And then again as a typical poor man, he
believes that gods alone can save the situation. While trying to guess who the gods are,
Brecht's irony is evident when Wong speaks of some people who cannot be gods, as they
have to work. Gods are benevolent, says Wong, as they don't beat people like some others.
The treatment of the situation is throughout ironical. Wong makes false excuses to the gods,
as they are denied shelter by one man after another. And, there is amusing treatment of the
awkwardness of the gods who pay Shen Te, for the night shelter. Even the gods are liable to
be misunderstood and they too care for their reputation “But don't tell anyone” they are on the
defensive and assert that it was never decreed that a god must not pay hotel bills. Gods too
are subject to limitations!
Scene II
Mr. Shui Ta, Shen Te's cousin appears on the scene. The parasitic crowd in Shen Te's
shop, are expecting Shen Te to bring them breakfast. There is a lot of heated exchange
between them and Shui Ta. First they refuse to accept him as the genuine relation of Shen Te,
then they hope that Shen Te will come and send him away. When Shui Ta shows firmness,
they send a boy to steal food from the bakery. The carpenter comes, demanding a hundred
silver dollars for the shelves, he had made for the shop. Shui Ta rejects the claim as too
exorbitant. He offers him twenty silver dollars. The carpenter has to settle for this reduced
sun, which he does sullenly.
A policeman appears and seems to be on excellent terms with Shui Ta. Shui Ta asks the
crowd to leave. The policeman takes all of them away, as it is clear that they are hand in
glove with the boy, who has come to the shop with stolen goods.

15
Mrs. MiTzu, Shen Te's land lady, turns up next. She demands six months rent, payable in
advance. She speaks ill of Shen Te and looks askance at the police man who has re-entered.
The police man helps himself to two cigars from the shop, and suggests that to get out of
her financial problems, Shen Te must get a husband - “We can't pay six months rent, So what
do we do? We marry money”. He prepares an ad in this connection to be given in the paper,
and hands it over to Shui Ta. In the meantime an old lady has come to the shop to buy a cigar.
She and her husband have a carpet shop across the square and want to be good neighbours.
Comments Scene II
Shui Ta - The tough cousin appears on the scene, to the dismay of all concerned. In this
scene, we note how stern authority pays dividend. Shui Ta is friends with the policeman and
the old couple come like a whiff of fresh air to offer friendship without any axe to grind. The
policeman is a sensible man of the world. Marriage is a practical way out for Shen Te, who
cannot meet her pressing economic requirements. It is a business proposition in which the
only consideration that matters, is how to pay six months rent.
Scene III
Shen Te meets the unemployed pilot Yang Sun trying to hang himself from a large
willow tree. It starts raining and both of them take shelter under the tree. Yang Sun is
indignant at others, who are employed, though they are not good pilots. Shen Te's talking
stops Yang Sun from taking his own life. They become friends : Yang Sun is very thirsty, for
two days he has not eaten anything. Wong, the water seller, enters, singing. He sings that he
cannot sell his water, as it is raining. Shen Te buys a cup of water for Yang Sun and runs to
him with it. But he is fast asleep and Shen Te is in love.
Scene IIIA
Wong's den
The Gods appear again to Wong in a dream. They eagerly listen to Wong's report of all
the good deeds done by Shen Te. They are happy but a little upset to know about her cousin
Shui Ta's unkind treatment of the carpenter. First of all they say “he must never darken her
threshold again”. Next they are somewhat puzzled to know that he is a business man. They
know nothing of business, and what is customary there. But they firmly state that 'Such a
thing must not occur again'. But Wong tells them that they “should not ask too much- all-at-
once”.
Comments - Scene III
Yang Sun, the unemployed pilot, and two women, who sell themselves, and Shen Te
may be seen here as depicting the dejection and desperation of the economically deprived.
The pilot is trying to commit suicide, he is bitter and ironical.
Shen Te's innate goodness is witnessed in her compassion, she takes pity on the pilot and
pays Wong for a cup of water for him, even though it is raining.

16
Comments - Scene III A
The gods are happy to know that Shen Te is continuing to be good. The continued irony
of Brecht, in treating the gods, makes the latter appear to be comic figures. They are
befuddled regarding the nitty gritty of “business”. They seek to banish Shen Te's cousin from
her door and insist on her keeping strictly to the book of rules.
Scene IV
The square in front of Shen Te’s tobacco shop- Morning.
The carpet shop and the barber’s also are seen outside Shen Te’s shop- The Grand father,
the sister-in-law, the unemployed man, and Mrs. Shin, wait. They are waiting for rice, to be
brought by Shen Te. They are commenting on her undesirable conduct of staying out all
night. The barber, Shu fu, a fat man comes chasing Wong the water seller. He strikes his hand
with a hot curling iron, for pestering his customers to buy his water. All who are present
witness the incident.
She Te comes, happy to have woken up early and observing the beauty of Szechuan in
the morning. She distributes the rice, she has brought. Shen Te goes into the carpet shop,
watched by admiring Shu Fu. Shen Te comes out of the shop with its owner- an old man and
his wife, the old woman. She is buying a shawl from them. They will give her a reduction as
there is a little hole in it.
This old couple want to help her with two hundred Silver dollars for payment of her rent,
falling due next Monday. They feel happy to help her, as Shen Te says that it is love that got
her into difficulties.
Next Shen Te sees the wound of Wong she is indignant and as Wong wants to go to the
judge, to claim compensation, she wants to act as an eye witness. Others, who had actually
seen the incident, avoid going to the police. Yang Sun's mother, Mrs. Yang comes. She tells
Shen Te that Yang Sun needs five hundred Silver dollars to fly again. Shen Te gives her the
two hundred dollars, given to her, by the old couple, for payment of rent. She is thinking of
how to raise the remaining three hundred dollars, that Yang Sun would need to pay to the
people who would allow him to fly once again. She feels overjoyed that her lover would be
able to fly again and she sings.
Scene IVA
In front of the inner curtain space Shen Te enters carrying Shui Ta's mask. She sings.
with Shui Ta's mask on .....
“'You can only help one of your luckless brothers
By trampling down a dozen others.
Why is it the gods do not feel indignation
And come down in fury to end exploitation
Defeat all defeat and forbid desperation
Refusing to tolerate such toleration?”
Why is it?

17
Comments -Scene IV
People who have started taking Shen Te's generosity for granted, easily indulge in gossip
against her. There is violence against the poor, but nobody is prepared to stand by the injured
Wong except Shen Te. Throwing caution to the winds Shen Te is ready to stand as eye
witness. Shen Te's generous character comes out. She forgets about her personal interest in
promising help to others. Her freshness of mind still lets her enjoy the sights and sounds of
nature, of the early morning.
Scene V
Shen Te's tobacco shop
Shui Ta is reading the paper and Mrs. Shin is cleaning up. She is talking of Shu Fu's
interest in Shen Te. She goes out but again sneaks into the backroom to eavesdrop as Yang
Sun enters the shop.
Yang Sun's character as an unscrupulous, selfish man comes out in his conversation with
Shui Ta. He will pay five hundred silver dollars to the director of the Peking airfield to get
the job of a pilot. The director will dismiss one of the present pilots, on a false charge of
negligence. Mrs. MiTzu comes and agrees to buy the tobacco shop, which Yang Sun wants to
sell for the remaining three hundred dollars. Shui Ta wants to sell the shop for five hundred
dollars. Mrs. Mi Tzu wants to pay only three hundred. Yang Sun doesn't care even when Shui
Ta tells him that Shen Te has to pay two hundred dollars to the old couple, who lad lent her
the amount. Yang Sun doesn't want the promise to pay back to be honoured, since there is
nothing in writing. Shui Ta tells him that two people can't travel for nothing, so he has to
have more money. Now Yang Sun makes his intention clear, that he will leave behind Shen
Te, and is very casual in his answer to Shui Ta's query, as to how Shen Te is going to live.
Shen Te is sure to sell the shop, being a woman that is the belief of Yang Sun. He helps
himself to a box of cigar and leaves the shop.
Shu Fu comes next, with offers of help. He is ready to give to her, his cabins behind the
cattlerun as shelter for the homeless. Wong comes in with a police man to request Shen Te, to
give evidence on his behalf, against Shu Fu. Shui Ta tells Wong that Shen Te won't do it. Shu
Fu tells Yang Sun, as he comes in that he is engaged to Shen Te But it does not take Yang
Sun, long to make Shen Te change her attitude. He appeals to her emotions and sentiments.
Shen Te's softer side responds and throwing reason to the winds, she goes out with Yang Sun.
“I want to go with the man I love.
I don't want to count the cost
I don't want to consider if its wise.
I don't want to know if he loves me
I want to go with the man I love”.
Scene VA
In front of the inner curtain.
Shen Te is on the way to her wedding.
18
She has met the old woman, the wife of the carpet dealer who wants back the two
hundred dollars. she had lent to Shen Te. She is sorry she had forgotten them, and now she
has promised to pay them back. She thinks Yang Sun would rather work in the cement
factory, than owe his flying to a crime.
Comments on Scene V
Yang Sun gives himself away. He is exposed as the most selfish and is in a hurry to get
for himself money in a way that may ruin Shen Te. He has no intention of taking Shen Te
with him. She is no more than a millstone round his neck, Shu Fu, the rich man wants to
assist Shen Te, but for a price. Though he does not ostensibly have any motive. And the scene
shows how Shen Te does not understand, how to defend herself against the hypocrisy of the
sweet-talking Yang Sun.
Scene VI
The private dining room in a cheap restaurant. Shen Te and others with a priest. Yang
Sun talking to his mother, downstage.
Yang Sun tells his mother that Shen Te says she can't sell the shop for him, as she has to
settle the loan of somebody else. The mother says then he should not marry her. She goes out
to find Shui Ta. Mother and son want to talk to him. Shen Te fondly says that she wasn't
mistaken in him i.e. though for Yang Sun giving up flying must have been a great blow, still
he is bearing up well. They drink a toast together. Mrs. Yang comes back and says that the
expected guest has not arrived. The priest wants to leave as he is getting delayed. The mother
and son, it is clear, are not interested in the marriage until Shui Ta comes with the remaining
three hundred dollars. Both are talking about Yang Sun's job as a mail pilot in Peking. Shen
Te says Peking is out of the question now as she has promised the money to the old couple.
Yang Sun shows her the two tickets to Peking. He has sold his mother's furniture to buy
these tickets. The waiter comes for money for the wine, consumed. The priest leaves. Yang
Sun asks the guests to leave. Since in plain terms the wedding will not take place, as Shui Ta
has not arrived with the money. Yang Sun roughs up the bride, sings the song of St.
Nevercome's Day. It sings of impossible hopes and unfulfilled dreams. Yang Sun, his mother
and Shen Te sit looking at the door.
Scene VIA
Wong's den
The gods appear in Wong's dream.
The gods speak of their faith in Shen Te. Wong tells them of her trouble. But they do not
agree either to intervene or help. Wong asks what happens if we cant help ourselves. The
gods say that man must try and suffering ennobles. They scold Wong for his lack of faith and
he believes everything will be all right in the end.

19
Comments on Scene VI
We have in this scene further exposure of Yang Sun and the real motive of the mother
and son. Shen Te cannot sell the Shop for him as she has to settle the claim of the old couple
for two hundred pounds. They had lent her the money, when she badly needed it, now Yang
Sun and his mother decide that he will not marry her without the money. The man is a cheat,
he thinks nothing of cheating even his mother, ultimately the proposed wedding ends in a
fiasco. The marriage between Shen Te and Yang Sun never takes place.
Scene VII
The yard behind Shen Te's shop. A few articles of furniture on a cart.
Shen Te and Mrs Shin are taking the washing off the line. Mrs. Shin asks Shen Te to
keep the shop, but Shen Te says she has to sell it to pay back the old couple, Mr. Shu Fu
comes admiring all the benevolent activities of Shen Te. He doesn't want her to sell the shop
and offers her a blank cheque.
Shen Te is not willing to cash the cheque, as in that case she might have to marry him. It
seems Shen Te is pregnant. She is very happy at the prospect of a child's arrival. She
imagines a little boy to be present and introduces him to the audience. She has hopes of a
bright future for the child and walks up and down, holding him by the hand. Wong comes
holding a child, the carpenter's who has lost his shop and is looking for help from Shen Te.
She promises them shelter in Shu Fu's cabins, and wants to help Wong. She asks him to sell
everything on the cart and go to the doctor for treatment of his hand hurt by Shu Fu. The
child is left behind by Wong.
A husband and wife come with a large sack. They want to leave it with Shen Te. If any
enquiry is made, Shen Te should say it is hers.
Shen Te mildly disagrees but gives in eventually. The child eats from the garbage. Other
parasites come to seek help from Shen Te. She decides to take the help of Shui Ta, to be able
to defend her son. Mr. Shui Ta enters after sometime and asks everybody seeking help, that
they may stay in the cabins, if they work for Shen Te.
He tells Mrs. MiTzu that the shop will not be sold and she will get her six months rent by
seven in the evening. Mrs. Shin realizes that Shen Te herself is masquerading as Shui Ta.
Scene VIIA
The gods appear in Wong's dream who is sleeping in the sewer pipe- his den.
Wong speaks of Shen Te's problems in following the book of rules, of the gods. She was
trying to cross the river and something was dragging her down. It was the book of rules
provided by the gods.
The gods are not prepared to compromise on the rules and they wearily continue their
journey.

20
Comments on Scene VII
We get a further glimpse into the selfless attitude of Shen Te and her dreams about her
unborn son. She is about to lose the shop but keeps on sheltering the weak and the needy.
People continue to abuse her hospitality. Shui Ta tries to intervene and stop Shen Te from
getting totally ruined.
Scene VIII
Shui Ta's tobacco factory in Shu Fu's cabins.
Many people are present, including the sister-in-law, the Grandfather, and the carpenter
with his three children. Yang Sun and his mother enter.
Mrs. Yang Sun speaks of the strong and wise Mr. Shui Ta, who has transformed her son
from a dissipated good-for-nothing into a model citizen. He had given Yang Sun a choice of
either going to jail, or working in Shen Te's factory. Thus he might pay off through his
wages, the two hundred dollars, taken from Shen Te, Yang Sun has proved himself to be an
honest worker and he gets promoted to be the Yang Sun. So it was the strength and wisdom
of Mr. Shui Ta, which has brought out the best in Yang sun.
Comments on Scene VII
With the change for the better in the attitude of Yang Sun and he doing his best for the
firm, perhaps Brecht is implying that being soft in trying to be good to others, is not always in
the best interest of the beneficiary. It is not Shen Te's yielding to all his unreasonable ways,
that brings out the best in Yang Sun. It is in fact Shui Ta's tough talk that brings out the best
in Yang Sun who proves his mettle.
Scene IX
Shen Te's shop, now an office with club chairs and fine carpets. It is raining.
Shui Ta is telling the old man and the old woman, that he is not sure when Shen Te will
be back. The old woman says that they have got two hundred dollars, which they believe is
from Shen Te. They want her address, to be able to write and thank her. Shui Ta can't give it.
So they leave, disappointed.
Mrs. Shin says the old couple have lost their shop, as they couldn't pay taxes, the money
arrived too late. Mrs. Shin assures Shui Ta/Shen Te that she will help her during the birth of
her child. As they are close to each other, Yang Sun enters and is surprised to see their
intimacy. He tells Shui Ta that police want to close down their factory, as the number of
workers are more than twice the allowed number. In the meantime people outside are calling
for Shen Te. Wong enters excitedly. People say something has happened to Shen Te.
Recently rice was there on her door step for the poor, people conclude from this that She is
still in Szechuan. Wong says that before she disappeared, Shen Te had told him, that she was
pregnant. That rouses Yang Sun's interest and he thinks that Shen Te has been detained by
Shui Ta, who had gone to the backroom in the meantime. The sound of sobbing is heard from

21
the backroom. As Shui Ta returns, Yang Sun threatens him with police action and goes out.
Shui Ta brings in Shen Te's underwear etc. and hides the packet under the table. Shu Fu and
Mrs. Mi Tzu come in, Shui Ta discusses with them the expansion of the business.
Yang Sun comes in with Wong and the police man. They search the backroom for Shen
Te. No one is there. But Yang Sun comes across the packet containing Shen Te's clothing,
there is an uproar outside- The tobacco king Shui Ta is suspected of murdering Shen Te,
hiding the body and keeping the clothes. Shui Ta is arrested.
Scene IX
Wong's den
For the last time, the gods appear to the water seller in his dream. The gods show signs
of a long journey and fatigue and plenty of mishaps. The first no longer has a hat; the third
has lost a leg, all three are barefoot.
Shen Te, Wong says, has been kept prisoner by her cousin. He requests the gods to find
her.
The gods says that Shen Te is the only person who has stayed good. But she has
vanished, and with that the gods have lost hope. The world is unlivable and their rule book
will be for the scrap heap.
But the first god encourages others. They had wanted to find one good human being.
They have found Shen Te. Of course they have lost her. But they must urgently find her out.
Comments on Scene IX
Rumour is rife regarding the whereabouts of Shen Te. The target of easy exploitation is
missing, so people are alarmed and Shui Ta is suspect.
Scene X
Courtroom. All the people, we had come across previously, are present, except Shui Ta &
Shen Te.
A discussion is going on. The old man says Shui Ta has too much power, not good for
one man. The unemployed man says he is going to open twelve super tobacco markets. We
hear that one of the judges is a good friend of Mr. Shu Fu's. Another, says one of the judges,
accepted a great fat goose.
The judges enter -- they are the three gods in judges' robes. They talk among themselves
that they will be caught, as their certificates have been badly forged. One god says that his
predecessor's 'sudden indigestion', will be commented upon. Another one says that he had just
eaten a whole goose. People in the courtroom are excited about the new judges. Shui Ta is
brought in by the policeman. And he staggers as soon as he sees the new judges. He picks
himself up, and pleads not guilty to the charge of doing away with Shen Te, to take
possession of her business.

22
The first witness is the policeman. He speaks highly of Shui Ta and that he was
incapable of the crime of which he is accused.
Next Shu Fu and Mrs. Mi Tzu also are all praise for Shui Ta. According to them Shui Ta
holds important posts in the council of commerce and committee on social work and does
charitable work. Then come the carpenter, the old man, the old woman, the unemployed man.
The sister-in-law and the niece.
The policeman introduces them as the riffraff. They say he has ruined them, he is a cheat,
liar, a thief, blackmailer and murderer.
Now Shui Ta is asked to give his statement. He defends himself against the voices
accusing him of all kinds of charges. Though Yang Sun speaks against him, later on he comes
to his defense.
Shui Ta may be accused of anything, bot not of murder, Yang Sun leaves just fifteen
minutes before his arrest. Shen Te could be heard sobbing in the backroom. Shui Ta is
accused of spoiling all the good intentions of Shen Te. Wong says that the gods idea was to
make the shop a fountain of goodness, but Shui Ta, went and spoilt everything. Shui Ta says
all that he had done was to save Shen Te, and that he was her only friend.
Now everybody wants to know where Shen Te has gone. Shui Ta says, she had to go,
otherwise, people would have torn her to shreds. He wants to make a confession but only in
the presence of the judges. The court is cleared. He removes his mask, and there stands Shen
Te. She sings a song. In that she says it was impossible for her to be good and stay alive at
the same time. When she wanted to be good, she was thoroughly exploited and robbed. She
had to be unjust to survive. She asks why are bad deeds rewarded and good deeds punished.
She sincerely wished to be the 'Angel of the slums'. But pity became a thorn in her side, and
she became a wolf.
“But know/All that I have done I did/to help my neighbour/to love my lover/And to keep
my little one from want/For your great godly deeds I was too poor, too small”.
The gods are shocked. They are overjoyed to have found her. Shen Te insists that she is
both the good and the bad person. But the gods refuse to pay heed. She is confused, they say,
they cannot renounce their rules and the world should not be changed. They are now about to
leave. To Shen Te's frantic queries of how she could remain good in the face of the adverse
circumstances, they only repeat that she must continue to be the good woman of Szechuan.
They concede that she may take the help of her “bad cousin”, only once a month, and not
once a week as she wants.
Comments on Scene X
In the court room scene, problems get more compounded. The double identity of Shen
Te/Shui Ta is revealed. The gods masquerading as judges cannot offer any solution to Shen
Te's predicament. They go by the rule book, which is impossible to follow. If goodness goes
unchecked, it will end up ruining itself. The paradox of life comes through the statement of

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Shen Te – “I've got to defend myself against The barber, because I. don't love him! And
against Sun because I do love Him!”, The audience of the epic drama has to look for a
solution and answer the query - How could a better ending be arranged? The audience has to
write the happy ending to the play.
The Epilogue enquires from the audience, how a better ending could be arranged. Is it
possible to change people, can the world be changed? Several alternatives are proposed-
Divine intervention, Atheism, Moral rearmament. Materialism. The people must find a way,
which is sure to be there “to help good ones arrive at happy ends”.
In a foot note Eric Bentley (Translator) wrote - “whichever actor delivers the epilogue,
should drop the character he has been playing”.
A Critical Analysis of the Play
Brecht's theme in this play is to show how easily goodness may be exploited by unscrupulous
people. Good must fight evil on its own terms to survive. Shui Ta represents shrewdness and
practicality in the play, which shields Shen Te representing vulnerable goodness. The double
identity of the protagonist is at the core of the play. Shen Te/ Shui Ta represent both goodness
that succumbs to undue threat, and tough strength that withstands unreasonable and undue
pressure on charity and kindliness. It is a split personality portrayed by Brecht that shows the
two sides of the same character. Shen Te becomes Shui Ta, to save herself and her unborn
child from excessive goodness, born of her generous self, that becomes helpless in the face of
the marauding self-seekers and hangers-on. The gods turn a deaf ear to Shen Te's query as to
how she is going to maintain goodness without constant help from her bad cousin. Shen Te is
betrayed by her emotions:
“I don't want to count the cost
I don't want to consider if it's wise
I don't want to know if he loves me
I want to go with the man I love”
(Scene V)
“When I heard this cunning laugh, I was afraid
But when I saw the holes in his shoes,
I loved him dearly.”
(Scene VII)
The gods representing conventional religion are treated ironically. They leave only holy
sentiments, and do not offer any permanent solution.
Joan Riviere observes that womanliness is a cover up to conform with social
constructions of femininity, a masquerade, whereby the woman as a category does not exist
except by miming and parodying that which is expected of her.
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(Joan Riviere-Womanliness as masquerade in Formation of Fantasy - Ed-Victor Burgin,
James Donand, Cora Kaplan (Methuen; London and New York 1986 Pages 35-44)
Shen Te is a split personality comprising of a good exploited female and a bad exploiting
male.
In her first persona as Shen Te she is attractive for her helplessness and innocence and in
the second as Shui Ta she is attractive for her power.
Her profession is forced upon her due to the prevailing economic conditions - “How am I
to pay my rent?” “To be good while yet surviving split me like lightning into two people.”
The issue is not what is good or what is bad, but whether it is possible to be good under
prevailing circumstances. In the play an experiment is conducted whether it is possible to
remain good under such trying conditions.
The world is a place full of grasping, unscrupulous people and to defend themselves
good people must fight evil on its own terms, and never surrender as victims. Shui Ta in the
Good Woman represents shrewd toughness aligning itself with defenceless goodness
represented by Shen Te. From the feminist point of view the exploitation that Shen Te suffers
from is more sexual than economic. As a woman Shen Te through her essentially feminine,
socially correct, image of being “an Angel to the slums”, pleases her suitors and father-gods,
who respectively reap economic and moral advantage from the attitude and the meek gestures
from their feminine victim.
Elizabeth Wright says “on he whole Brecht's female characters are shown as admirable
to the extent to which they develop their womanliness into a form of political strength”
characters of Kattrin/ in Mother Courage, Grusha (in Caucasian Chalk Circle), Frau Sarti (in
Galileo) illustrate this point. Shen Te is a prostitute - she is presented as a person who would
be good. Were it not for the social and economic conditions”. I should certainly like to be
(good) but how am I to pay my rent”? She exposes herself to ruin in her feminine self, so she
needs a bad male counterpart for survival Class oppression is related to sexual repression.
The subordination of Woman is advantageous to man from all classes. To quote once again
from Elizabeth Wright — “Shen Te is placed in a subordinate position by a number of
different systems and not just by a single mechanism - That of a woman with property within
capitalism and its market economy. Her oppression is economic as a prostitute, psychic as a
romantic beloved, social as a pregnant mother. There is here an ensemble of social practices
that mutually reinforce one another. Moreover the various reactions to her in each of these
positions ally with each other to disempower her in specifically concrete ways. In her
'feminine' masquerade she is repeatedly called to account while Shui Ta, as a man inspires
confidence without further credentials.
Brecht sees the sexist behaviour of Yang Sun (you want to appeal to her reason, she
hasn't any reason) primarily as economically determined, an effect of capitalist rather than
gender oppression”.

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Brecht's portrayal of Shen Te is based on the male dominated Society's image of the
ideal woman. Her great moment is as the mother of the future combatant -- “An airman” -
that is how Shen Te presents her small son to the audience “Salute a new conqueror/of
unknown mountains inaccessible countries! once across the wastes where no man yet has
trod! Carrying letters from man to man.”
The gods want her to “freely follow the impulses of her gentle heart' and Shen Te does
precisely that
The audience may feel with Wong the water-carrier that the absolute ideals set before
man should be more related. The devotion to an impossible ideal makes Shen Te transform
herself to her ruthless counterpart.
The “almost unattainable absolutes should be replaced by more human qualities” says
Ronald Gray, “but the gods insist on the retention of the rules without relaxation.”
“When the audience is asked to find a solution of its own it has the whole range of
political nostrums to choose from. Politically the play does no more than state, the basic
problem underlying all politics; how to create a just society out of a crowd of largely unjust
individuals. The answers range from total subordination of the individuals through
democratic-voting procedures to total anarchy, but since the play offers no basis for choosing
between these, it does no more than raise the issue. But that is presumably what Brecht
meant, when he called it a “parable play”. The distribution of wealth is unequal both within
the industrialized countries and in the global relation between them and the third world.
Whatever else it does Brecht's play remains to point a moral, as, in its day, the parable of the
good Samaritan did.”
(Ronald Gray, Brecht : Cambridge University Press)
The element of split personality in The Good Woman, hampers the dramatic conflict in
the play. Shen Te and Shui Ta being identical, they cannot clash openly on the stage, as such
the tension cannot properly build up. The predicament of Shen Te, “reveals the solution
implied by Brecht as fragmentary and wholly insufficient.”
The message sought to be conveyed in The Good Woman, that a socialist society would
solve problems such as Shen Te faces, is rather obtrusive.
In summing up how the modem readers and spectators should evaluate Brecht, Peter
Demetz writes in his introduction Brecht - a Collection of Critical Essays (Prentice Hall
1962).
“It may be quite fruitful to take Brecht's own advice seriously. When he was young he
always spoke of an Epic Smoking Theatre, a place where people could watch plays as if they
were bicycle races, or boxing matches. Spectators on their toes, critically aware of the
technical implications, never permitting their cigars or cigarettes to go out. This sporting
attitude may be the only one open to us who are involved in political conflicts and are yet
unwilling to make political categories the last criterion of the arts. Deeply inhaling the smoke,
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we may discover that Brecht, inspite of his commitment speaks to us as the creator of vital
characters like Mother Courage, Shen Te, Galileo, Azadak, Puntila and Grusha as the bitter
Aristophanes of this age of little laughter.”

Some Examination Questions

1. Critically comment on the title of the play.
2. Do you agree with the view that the play is about “how to create a just society out of
a crowd of largely unjust individuals.” Give a reasoned answer.
3. In your view does Brecht’s play measure goodness? Critically discuss with a brief
look at any two examples.
4. Illustrate any two features of Epic theatre from Brecht’s The Good Woman of
Szechwan.
5. How do gods define goodness in the play?
6. Do you think Brecht's portrayal of Shen Te is based on the male dominated
Society's image of the ideal woman? Discuss.
7. “Bertolt Brecht’s Epic theatre is seen to distance us from a feeling of empathy with
the plot, enabling us to see universal truths as class/gender based lies.” In the light
of this statement analyze in detail any two such instances from your understanding
of The Good Woman of Szechwan.
8. Discuss the significance of the alienation effect in Brecht’s theatre with reference to
The Good Woman of Szechwan.
9. How does Brecht alienate the audience in the epilogue?
10. Critically analyze Shen Te’s statement “To be good while yet surviving split me like
lightning into two people.”

List of Resource Books

Erwin Piscator The Political Theatre : London: Methuen, 1980.
Oscar Brockett & Lenyth Brockett ed. Plays for the Theatre. Harcourt Brace College
Publishers. 2000
Peter Thomson; Glendyr Sacks ed. The Cambridge Companion to Brecht. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1994
Peter Demetz Brecht. A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice Hall, 1962
Raymond Cowell, Twelve Modern Dramatists. University of Michigan: Pergamon Press
1967.
Raymond Williams Drama from Ibsen to Brecht . Penguin, 1981.
Ronald Gray Brecht - The Dramatist . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.

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