Why does Shen Te need Shui Ta in The Good Woman of Setzuan? How does Shui Ta help her survive?

One way of looking at Brecht’s satiric works, which advocate economic and social justice by focusing on human corruption and venality, is that capitalism is so complex a system to operate under, and so prone to inequity, that the common person can only stay afloat by subterfuge. To quote a song lyric, from Brecht's play with music most familiar to American audiences, The Three-Penny Opera, “What keeps a man alive? He lives on others....Forget that they’re supposed to be his brothers, that he himself was ever called a man.” In other words, the struggle for survival costs even a good person their integrity. But if these socio-economic conditions are complicated enough for men, the odds are stacked even higher against poor women. This play involves a study of someone needing to game the system for the sake of simple survival.

Shen Te, the village prostitute, is more than generous, but she is weary of random men. Unfortunately, her lifestyle doesn’t preserve her boundaries or personal space. When her fortunes rise, as the new proprietor of a shop, she becomes a target for scroungers. She deflects the responsibilities they impose by inventing an assumed identity, her male cousin Shui Ta. Assuming this role, she is no longer an easy mark. As the tough, sensible cousin, she/he is able to confront the shop’s squatters and parasites. In nearly every situation in the town at large, the Good Woman must use her alternate identity to balance the scales. While it’s unfortunate and problematic that Shen Te must undertake this imposture, the system is so basically unfair that deceit proves to be the only solution. She/he goes on to strong-arm creditors and so on, things she would never normally allow herself to do. As Shui Ta, Shen Te can exert some economic leverage in this codependent community. As “he” says, “How much luck we need to keep our heads above water! How many ideas! How many friends!”

Shen Te finds that she is too warm hearted and tender to live in the world as she is. Therefore, she assumes the persona of her male cousin, Shui Ta, in order to help her exist and survive in this world where being kind and generous only seems to endanger your own chances of survival. Her cousin is a ruthless businessman. Shen Te finds it impossible to say "no" to any appeal for food, help or money, and therefore fulfills the requirements of a "good" human being as defined by the gods. When she is blessed with money and starts her tobacco shop, this only makes her destitute once more, as various friends and relatives, hearing of her prosperity, go to her in order to ask for money. Survival for Shen Te is only possible when she literally becomes another person, Shui Ta, her ruthless, business-minded cousin, who is able to build upon Shen Te's prosperity by ruthless business methods. Shen Te is unable to say no herself, but assuming a different character allows her to be ruthless and to prosper. This play is therefore a crushing indictment on a society where the only way to get ahead is to adopt ruthless capitalist doctrines that ignore the individual and his or her need.

Why does Shen Te become Shui Ta in The Good Woman of Setzuan?

Shen Te the prostitute has been rewarded for her goodness by the gods, who have bestowed a gift of a large sum of money upon her. With that money, she buys herself a tobacconist's shop. Somewhat ironically, given what we know about the appalling damage that tobacco does to health, this is considered a more respectable occupation than her previous one.

Before long, Shen Te's business has run into serious trouble. This is largely because the kind Shen Te, a woman who lacks a ruthless streak, is much too generous, giving out money left, right, and center to anyone with a sob story. It soon becomes patently obvious that Shen Te needs to do something fast if she's to keep hold of her business.

She does this by taking the unusual step of adopting the persona of Shui Ta, who's supposed to be her cousin. In her new persona, Shen Te is suddenly transformed from a kind, considerate woman to a ruthless, hard-nosed businessman determined to squeeze as much profit as possible out of the business.

Due to Shui Ta's much greater understanding of capitalism and how it works, he's able to expand the small business into a large factory, where men, women, and children workers are ruthlessly exploited. In turning into Shui Ta, Shen Te may have saved her business, but in the process, she's lost her soul.