Student Question
What is the verfremdungseffekt in The Good Person of Szechwan?
Quick answer:
The verfremdungseffekt, or "distancing effect," in Brecht's play is designed to keep the audience critically aware that they are watching a staged performance. This is achieved through techniques such as altering Shen Teh's identity with the alter ego Shui Tai, which prevents emotional attachment, and disrupting the narrative with poems and songs. These methods emphasize the artificiality of the play, encouraging viewers to engage intellectually rather than emotionally.
Verfremdungseffekt is a German word meaning "distancing effect," a dramatic technique used extensively by the playwright Bertolt Brecht. In using this technique, Brecht wanted to prevent his audience from losing itself in the narrative. Instead, he wanted them to be aware at all times that they were watching a play, making them critical observers of the action rather than participants through emotional engagement with the characters on stage. In short, Brecht was insistent that the audience of his plays should always know that they were watching something staged, not real.
Brecht's use of distancing can be observed in The Good Person of Szechwan in the character of Shen Teh. Alienated from the townsfolk, she is transformed by her change from an ordinary to an extraordinary character. To make it impossible for the audience to develop empathy towards Shen Teh, Brecht playfully changes her identity, allowing her to adopt the alter ego of her cousin Shui Tai. This fracturing of the self highlights the fact that we are watching something deliberately contrived and artificial. Once more we are reminded, in no uncertain terms, that we are watching a play and not observing real life.
The narrative structure of the play also illustrates Brecht's alienating technique. He willfully disrupts the linearity of the narrative by way of poems and songs, which add a consciously theatrical degree of complexity to the action, keeping the audience at a critical distance from what's happening on stage.
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