A Man for All Seasons Group

Question:

splash
splash
Student
High School - 12th Grade

What effect does Brechts alienation technique have on the common man during the play, and to the audience?

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Posted by splash on Sunday April 22, 2007 at 1:42 AM and tagged with a man for all seasons, brecht.

Answers:


  1. janeyb

    eNotes Editor

    The common man is effectively the audience(if you think that the majority of people watching the play would be a base and crafty figure who dons different costumes to enact the roles of More's steward, boatman, jailer, foreman of the jury, and executioner (called "headsman"). Everyday jobs and people rathan than Sir Thomas Moore, etc..) The Common Man changes outward identities as easily as he changes hats, but his essential, opportunist self remains the same. He serves as a foil to More's integrity and reinforces the heroism of More's martyrdom. By alienating the common man, Brecht therefore alienates the audience, and gets across his point that individualism and spirituality is key. The things that More is passionate about, the spiritual rather than the body, individualism in a time of greed, that is what the audience is supposed to remember, reverently.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/man-all/18170

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    Posted by janeyb on Monday April 23, 2007 at 8:49 AM

  2. trn
    trn Student
    High School - 12th Grade

    The brecht alienation technique makes the audience feel involved in the play. Unlike traditional plays where the audience watches the play take place on a stage, Bolt use of the common man reminds the audience that they are really one in the same and that the common man is the audience.

    i cant remember the quotes but something along the lines of "the sixteenth century is the year of the common man, just like all other years" and "if you see me around, recognise me"

    hope that sorta helps although im like 2 years 2 late XD

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    Posted by trn on Monday August 3, 2009 at 5:16 AM