Mother Courage
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Key Facts
full title · Mother Courage and Her Children
author · Bertolt Brecht
type of work · Drama
genre · Epic theater, social drama
language · German
time and place written · Written during Brecht's exile in Sweden, 1939
date of first publication · 1941
publisher · Henschelverlag Kunst und Gesellschaft, Berlin
narrator · None (though each scene includes a poster summarizing the future events)
climax · As a work of "epic theater," Mother Courage does not adhere to the Aristotelian model of plot and thus does not involve a structure of rising and falling action, climax, and catharsis. In some sense, each scene exists for itself.
protagonists · Mother Courage, Kattrin, Swiss Cheese, and Chaplain
setting (time) · The Thirty Years War (Spring 1624–January 1636)
setting (place) · Throughout Europe (Germany, Poland, Bavaria, and Saxony)
point of view · Point of view is not located as there is no narrator figure
falling action · Again, as a work of "epic theater," Mother Courage does not adhere to the Aristotelian model of plot.
tense · The play unfolds in the time of the present
foreshadowing · Most notably, Courage's game of fortune telling in the first scene foretells the death of her children
tone · Tragi-comic
themes · War as business; virtue in wartime
motifs · The Verfremdungseffekt, allegory, music, business practices, maternity, capitulation
symbols · The red boots
