How we cite our quotes: (Scene, Line numbers)
Quote #4
MOTHER COURAGE: […] Finest plans get bolloxed up by the pettiness of them as should be carrying them out, because emperors can't do nowt themselves, they just counts on soldiers and people to back 'em up whatever happens, am I right? (VI, 46-50)
Here's a tip from our very own Mother Courage: the ones in power actually don't have any power. Sure, they get to say what happens, and wage wars against one another. But really, it all comes down to the "little folk," the ones doing the dirty work, and often things don't go so well as they should.
Quote #5
THE CHAPLAIN: […] There've always been people going round saying 'the war can't go on for ever'. I tell you there's nothing to stop it going on for ever. Of course there can be a bit of a breathing space. The war may need to get its second wind, it may even have an accident so to speak. […] It can suddenly come to a standstill for some quite unforeseen reason, you can't allow for everything. A slight case of negligence, and it's bogged down up to the axles. And then it's a matter of hauling the war out of the mud again. But emperor and kings and popes will come to its rescue. […] (VI, 63-75)
While Mother Courage likes to point out that leaders don't have any actual power, the chaplain is convinced they're the ones at the wheel. In fact, he really does see the war as a kind of machine, one that can be driven indefinitely by those with the power to do so.
Quote #6
THE CHAPLAIN: I told you I'm not a woodcutter by trade. I studied to be a pastor of souls. My talents and abilities are being abused in this place, by manual labour. My god-diven endowments are denied expression. It's a sin. One sermon of mine can put a regiment in such a frame of mind it'll treat the enemy like a flock of sheep. Life to them is a smelly old foot-cloth which they fling away in a vision of final victory. God has given me the gift of speech. I can preach so you'll lose all sense of sight and hearing. (VI, 197-202)
Maybe Chap missed the day they talked about humility back in chaplain training school. The chaplain isn't just complaining about having to waste his talents by performing manual labor for Mother Courage. He's also saying something important about his power as a man of God. The main feature of his "god-given endowments" is not the ability to communicate the word of God, but to put soldiers into a hypnotic state and prepare them for battle. He suggests that religious power has been enlisted by the military to increase its sway over soldiers.