Helene Weigel

Brecht uses the play Mother Courage and Her Children as an allegory, displaying his political views, and intends to warn the German public against the pending war. Brecht believes that the war will fill the pockets of the great powers, at the expense of the general population. Through Mother Courage and Her Children, he displays many of these views through symbolism in the characters of Courage and Kattrin. By playing the two characters as foils against each other, Brecht can show the differences between the two ideologies, and can show Kattrin 's character, and hence socialism in a more positive light. Mother Courage is pro war since her livelihood depends on war. This is most apparent in the stage directions at the beginning of scene 3. “From her cart, festooned now with all kinds of goods, Mother Courage has stretched a washing line to a large cannon” (p.126) These stage directions show the underlying message that Courage 's is inextricably reliant on the war to make a living. Per World Socialist Movement, “In capitalism, the motive for producing goods and services is to sell them for a profit, not to satisfy people 's needs”1 Courage lives by these morals to the detriment of her character. Courage embodies the capitalist views shared by world leaders of the period, and Brecht uses her actions and the consequences thereof to voice his concerns. Conversely, Kattrin has nothing for which to thank the war. She owes her silence to the war as explained by Courage in…