Summary:
A comparison of "Mother Courage and Her Children" by Bertolt Brecht with "Blood Wedding" by Fredrico Garcia Lorca shows very different views of societal tradition. The setting of "Blood Wedding" is one of many social customs and traditional values that hold sway over individual behavior. In "Mother Courage and Her Children," people are more individualistic because they must rely upon themselves to survive. Other themes of both novels are explored.
This essay is about the poetic drama written by Fredrico Garcia Lorca, Blood Wedding, and the play written by Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and her Children. In Blood Wedding, Fredrico Garcia Lorca focuses on the moral and social norms people usually follow. They belong to a rural society which is conservative and at times primeval; they follow and respect only the traditional values to which they are accustomed opposite to the liberal social outlooks. They can't accept conduct outside their social lifestyles. The mother and the bridegroom are characters who are affected by these issues. However, In Mother Courage and her Children, Bertolt Brecht diminishes the traditional roles of characters because they have to survive according to their situation, a confused war torn society. Mother Courage and Yvette are two characters that are individualistic and have to survive. The aim is to demonstrate how characters behave and react to social values according to the needs of the situations they are placed in, whether they conform to social rules as expected traditionally or whether they react in a more individualistic ways. In both texts, the characters face difficulties in responding to moral and social issues. This is to emphasize the fact of how characters in Blood Wedding are controlled by the moral and social values in society whereas characters in Mother Courage and her Children are more individualistic and less influenced by the moral and social values of society. In Blood Wedding they conform to the fact that difference is inevitable in any conflict whereas characters in Mother Courage and her Children become malleable and resistant in order to face and overcome conflict.
When a reader interprets Blood Wedding, he faces many moral issues. Betrayal is one of the moral issues that worry the mother. When Bride betrays the Bridegroom by eloping with Leonardo, she devalues the sanctity of marriage and breaks the traditional values. As a result, this incident causes worry and anxiety. The mother says,
"Only clean, decent girls throw themselves into the water, (not her kind)." And now she's the wife of my son. Two families. Now there are two families dragged into it "mine and yours."
This quote depicts conflict between the two families because of irresponsible action. The short sentence structure and use of parenthesis, example (not her kind), portrays a harsh and outraged tone. The break use caesura and break in the sentences suggests the attitude of the mother towards the Bride. The first sentence shows the Bride, as a brazen girl who, the mother feels, does not posses enough guilt to even commit suicide. It also makes life arduous for the Bridegroom because his wife has eloped and he has to destroy Leonardo for this and betraying his friendship. Therefore, betrayal is important in the moral issue.
Elements such as revenge and trust contain both moral and social issues. The Mother trusted the Bride and her father by accepting her son's marriage to the Bride. When the Bride eloped with Leonardo, her family broke the trust with the Bridegroom and his Mother and also the society. It also ends honour in family name because of the simplistic society. After breaking the trust, Mother could no longer accept and approve of the Bride coming to weep with her. When Bride asks to weep the dead, the Mother replies:
"Weep if you like. But there by the door."
Society expects Mother to be unforgivable and isolate Bride because of her betrayal of trust. However, the mother does not discard her; yet does not accept her as an integral part of her society.
Revenge also plays an important role in both moral and social issues. In the beginning of the play, the neighbour tells the Mother about how the neighbour's son lost his arms and legs. Mother knows that the punishment and retribution happens regularly in their society and is not startled. When the Bride rebelled like Leonardo, the Bridegroom wanted revenge. The father of Bride does not do anything to stop the Bridegroom from hurting his daughter because he has accepted the social norms. The Mother also wants to take revenge for she says,
"A horse! Quick! Who's got a horse. I'll give him everything I have, I'll give him my eyes, my tongue."
She wants to help her son in any way. This quote shows an angry tone because of the short sentence structure. When she says that she'll give her tongue and her eyes, she is being metaphorical. She will give everything she has and values for these two organs she will become incapable or subhuman. When Bridegroom departs, two guests accompany him. This shows society's involvement in punishing those who have opposed the social norms.
In the play written by Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and her Children, moral and social issues both merge into one another. The people in the play behave as required by the dictates of war. They cannot afford to be moralistic, so they tend to be amoral in order to survive. There is no condemnation to Yvette's occupation because this is her only form of survival. Bertolt Brecht describes her as:
"Yvette Pottier, a very good looking young person, is sewing at a coloured hat, a glass of brandy before her. She is in stocking feet. Her red boots are near by."
Yvette is "sewing"; which makes her an ordinary person. In Mother Courage and her Children, Yvette is not going against any social or moral norms because there are not any, but if there was a society as in, Blood Wedding then Yvette would be isolated from society. Nobody within the society criticizes Yvette but accepts it, except Mother Courage when trying to stop Kattrin from behaving like her. This depicts her natural and protective mother instinct. This attitude of Mother Courage doesn't go on for long and she finally gives in.
Mother Courage uses amorality to survive. She has to tell lies so that she can continue her business, which helps her to survive. When Mother Courage is asked whether she recognises Swiss Cheese, she answers,
"I can't know all of them, can I? I don't ask, 'What's your name and are you a heathen""; if they pay up, they're not heathens to me. Are you a heathen"
If Swiss Cheese is recognised, he will be killed because they are hunting for him as he has run away with the cash box. Mother Courage fears that if they know that she's his mother, she'll also be killed. She would also like to remain anonymous and take the money if she could. Repetition of the word "heathen" emphasizes that she is religious because this is a religious war where the soldiers are meant to be fanatic about religion.
"You admit you live off the war, what else could you live off""
Anthropomorphism is being used here by the author to show that Mother Courage lives like bacteria; her motive is to intelligently make use of war in order to survive. War creates unnatural situations where moral and religious issues often overlap. Society is responsible for this religious war between the Protestants and the Catholics but moral issues change with each religion and the need of moment. Foe example, Mother courage lies that she does not recognise her son and she is coveting the cash box so that she can use the money for her sons release.
Blood Wedding has many social customs and traditional values. This is a place where society has influenced the moral behaviour of people. People don't follow societal values, they get isolated from society. Whereas in Mother Courage and her Children people subsist according to the situation they're in. This is why people in Mother Courage's society are more individualistic. It is because of this Mother Courage acts courageously according to the demands of the time of war that her name becomes an epithet.
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