Mother Courage and Her Children (Masterplots II: Drama)
At a glance:
- Author: Bertolt Brecht
- First Published: 1941
- Type of Work: Protest drama
- Time of Work: The 1620’s to the 1640’s
- Setting: Sweden, Poland, and Germany
- Principal Characters: Mother Courage, Kattrin, Eilif, Swiss Cheese
- Genres: Drama, Problem play
- Subjects: Mothers, Parents and children, Europe or Europeans, War, Seventeenth century, Death or dying, Ethics, Business or business people, Capitalism
- Locales: Europe
The Play
Like the Thirty Years’ War in which it is set, Mother Courage and Her Children ranges over several decades of the seventeenth century and over much of Northern and Central Europe. The opening of the play finds Mother Courage and her three children near a mobilization center for the Swedish army. It is 1624, a half-dozen years into the interminable war between Protestants and Catholics, and Sweden is gathering its forces for an invasion of Poland. Army recruiters are scouring the countryside for fresh recruits. They do not have to look far to find Mother...
[The entire page is 2397 words long]
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