A play Mother Courage and Her Children

Mother Courage and Her Children is irrefutably one of the most huge play in the 20th century and has been played in many components of the world attracting big crowds, it is currently the biggest antiwar play of all time. It was written by a German dramatist, and due to the truth that it is one of the greatest plays, it obviously attracted almost everybody in the school.
The play is set in the 17th century at some point of the thirty years of war, the recruiting officer in the plot is explaining how hard it has gotten to recruit soldiers to conflict mother courage then enters with a cart of materials to be sold to the soldiers, she then introduces her children Eilif, Kattrin, and Swiss Cheese. After that the sergeant negotiates a deal with mother courage. Two years later, Eilif, her son killed peasants and while mother courage scolds him, General of the Army congratulates him for slaughtering. After a period of about three years, mother courage’s son Swiss cheese is employed as an army pay master and that is when she met the army prostitute. After the arrival of catholic soldiers, Swiss cheeses hide the pay box of the invading troops which resulted in torture by the catholic troops. Swiss cheeses claims that that he threw the box into the river leading to his killing and when mother courage hears that the box had been thrown into the river, she backtracks on the price of release of her son. Swiss cheese in then killed. Mother Courage in fear of the repercussions, she denies knowing Swiss cheese leading to his body being discarded. Mother courage then goes to the generals’ tent to register a complaint which she drops after being convinced by a soldier to withdraw. Due to the fact that living under the catholic army was horrendous, mother courage after a series of events resorted to following the protestant army. Her child, Eilif is killed for killing innocent peasants; an act which he was praised for ding the other time, however, mother courage does not pay attention to the action. When she finds out that war continues, she flees off with the cook by a wagon. After the seventeenth year of war the situation was getting worse when there was no food supplies. Cook inherits an inn and offers mother courage the privilege to operate with her (Gardiner, 2015). However, she refuses. Kattrin was killed the time when they were trading in the protestant city when catholic soldiers wanted to guide by them to the city for a seek attack when she beat the drum loud waking up the people of the city. Peasant burry Kattrin, as Mother Courage hitches herself to the wagon.Attending the event is interesting due to the fact that it provides an insight of the situation in Europe during the time of war, there are stylistic devices used making the play worth coming back for more. Mother courage ends up losing all her children to war which devastates her to the core. At that time also, innocent peasants were killed but after sometime, something changes and it becomes a crime killing them. Due to the fact that I had already read the play several times, I was excited that it was now being acted as I have the chance of perceiving the events therein unfold. The overall mood of the play is sad, this is due to the fact that mother courage loses her children tragically and s the ply comes to an end. Kattrin is killed by catholic soldiers as when they were commanded to lead them to a sneak attack on the sleeping city. She is buried by peasants as her mother sings a lullaby and has herself to the cart. The red boots in the play are a symbol of feminism and when it is worn by a woman, it symbolizes there were whores and what is tragic about it is that it was the way of survival for women and was the only chance for getting love during the war time. The play portrays that people die for different purposes. Eilif is employed in the army and slaughters peasants, an act which she is scolded for by her mother. Later, he kills some peasants making him killed also. Swiss cheese is also killed for not revealing where the pay box of the soldiers was hidden, Kattrin was also murdered in an attempt to save the sleeping town. It is astounding how mother courage’s children are killed under different circumstances with each child killed for their own believes and virtues. The play is trying to teach us that it is only the peasant and the low living citizens; this is evident by the fact that mother courage lost her children to war as she tried to sell her merchandise to the soldiers.The event is beautiful due to the fact that it portrays using different stylistic devices employed, the play tells the truth about those people that are affected by war being the peasants and those that do not matter in the government when those that are high ranking enjoying the benefits by making money through sale and gaining more control. Because of the poverty brought about by war, she focuses on business of supplying money and is portrayed as a mother that fails to protect her children; this is due to the fact that it is clear that if the benefits of war consists of a loot, she could scavenge. It also portrays the importance of family in not only protection of children but also bringing them up with the right virtues and attitudes.There are some of the elements such as the use of songs in the play, there are many things such as Marxist Gilbert and Suvillian musical. The play is created with a lot of expertise knowledge and is an independent reality apart from the action in the play. Whenever a song arose, the director of the play would lower the emblem of the music. The importance of music in the play is obvious due to the fact that it is not just a simple accompaniment but an exclusive character expression and functions alongside or as allegory. Sometimes the music is pedagogical; this is due to the fact hast courage teachers the soldiers surrender through teaching him the song of capitulation and Yvette also hardens Kattrin so that she would love by singing fraternization. ReferencesGardiner, J. (2015). Mother Courage and Political Pragmatism: Sovietizing Brecht during the Thaw. Slavonic & East European Review, 93(4), 626-654.