Moral Values in Mother Courage and Her Children

           While there are many assumptions made about drama and literature in general, one of the most common is that they contain a moral message of some sort. There is an expectation that the characters will share wisdom or insight with the audience. In the play Mother Courage And Her Children, the expectation of a moral message is violated because the characters do not live up to the roles that the audience expects them to fill.

            The Chaplain is one of the most disappointing characters in the play because he does not consistently fulfill his duties as a preacher. When commenting on the war, the Chaplain makes statements such as, “To fall in battle is a blessing, not an inconvenience, and why? It is a war of faith. None of your common wars but a special one, fought for the faith and therefore pleasing to God” (Scene 3, line 139). After this bold claim, the audience has the expectation that the Chaplain will lead the other characters in the play and be their example for how to cope with the hardships that come along with the difficult war. However, the Chaplain does not meet this expectation. The Chaplain relies on Mother Courage for a place to stay and food to eat, instead of doing his work as a preacher. For example, the Chaplain asks Mother Courage, “Far be it from me to interfere, but what are we going to live on? You’re saddled with a daughter who can’t earn her keep.” (Scene 3, line 590). This exchange shows how the Chaplain does not follow the values of a traditional preacher. The audience expects a kind, honorable, compassionate man but is left with a Chaplain that is self-absorbed. Furthermore, the Chaplain makes excuses about why he is not doing his work. He says, “My talent and abilities are being abused in this place, by manual labour. My God given endowments are denied expression. It’s a sin.” (Scene 6, line 183). The Chaplain uses physical work that must be done as an excuse for not preaching. He does not attempt to preach to Mother Courage and her children or any of the guests that approach the cart. The Chaplain disappoints the audience by not fulfilling the expected roles of a spiritual leader.

            The other character that never lives up to the audience’s expectations is Mother Courage. While other characters in the play recognize her courage and admire her for her persistence and determination in tough times, Mother Courage does not exhibit any characteristics that would be defined as courageous. She handles the situations that are handed to her, but lacks the moral values needed to be truly courageous. For example, she entertains the idea of leaving Kattrin behind to tend to the cart so that she can leave with the Cook (Scene 9, line 60). Later, when Kattrin is killed, she does not stay long enough to see that she is buried but pays someone else to do the job (Scene 12, line 35). The biggest problem of all is that she does not want the war to end because she relies on it for her work. The Chaplain, a morally corrupt character himself, even recognizes this fact and says, “My humanity feels outraged; for then I see that you don’t want peace but war, because you profit from it; in which case you shouldn’t forget the ancient saying that whosoever sups with the devil needs a long spoon.” (Scene 8, line 139). Mother Courage’s lack of morality causes her not meet the audience’s expectations of a courageous woman.

            The author uses the characters of Mother Courage and the Chaplain to show that the labels and expectations that society places on certain people are not always accurate. The Chaplain is expected to be a spiritual leader that sets a good example for the rest of the characters. Mother Courage is expected to be a strong, moral woman who surprises others with her generosity. Instead, both of these characters appear to lack moral strength. The Chaplain even says, “Corruption in humans is same as compassion in God. Corruption’s our only hope. Long as we have it there’ll be lenient sentences and even an innocent man’ll have a chance of being let off.” (Scene 3, line 605). The characters operate under a policy of forgiveness; that is, they often do wrong things under the assumption that they will be forgiven for it later. Brecht has two purposes in constructing the characters in this way. First, it draws attention to the evil that is found in war and shows the audience the many consequences of war, from death to greed and selfishness. Second, it challenges the audience not to blindly expect people with a certain title to act in a specific way. Someone like the Chaplain could be damaging to society if people trusted him for moral direction, not knowing his true character.

            My reaction to Mother Courage And Her Children was mainly frustration. While reading the play, it was frustrating to constantly search for a sense of moral rightness, when there was none to be found. It was also frustrating to feel like the characters had multiple opportunities to correct their moral wrongs but did not take advantage of those opportunities. For example, the Chaplain could have preached to the men that came to the cart to drink instead of complaining about his talent being wasted. I think this frustration was part of Brecht’s goal in writing the play, which means that he did achieve his goal. The dissatisfaction at the end of the play caused me to think about what the moral message of the play might be since it was not clearly displayed in the characters or their actions. If Brecht’s goal was to draw attention to the fact that people constantly betray their duties and moral values, he succeeded. The play is a call to action for society. It asks people to question their motives in life and evaluate the morality of their decisions.