Mother Courage and Her Children - Dramatic Elements, Synopsis, Analysis

REACTION/ANALYSIS:
Brecht's Mother Courage is so completely full of different sets of imagery and satire that it would prove to be quite difficult to discuss them all in a brief analysis; however I will attempt to hit the high points.
The layout of Brecht's work, as well as some of the staging, reflects his idea of epic theatre. This genre attempts to distance the audience from the action, and involve the audience in an analytical mode, rather than having them react to the staged events on an emotional level. In an introduction to the play, written by the editors of the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces (V2), Brecht's intended staging is described: "Events onstage are announced beforehand by signs, or are accompanied by projected films and images during the action itself. Place names are printed on signs and suspended over the actors, and footlights and stage machinery are openly displayed. Songs that interrupt the dramatic action are addressed directly to the audience . . .. Brecht described a special kind of acting: actors should "demonstrate" their parts instead of being submerged in them."
Inside the play itself, recurring themes abound, some that spread across Brecht's other major works. Brecht's satirical position in regard to religion comes up over and over with the subject of "religious war" and the actions of the chaplain, in particular.
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