Mother Courage and Her Children Themes

Mother Courage is famous as an anti-war play, but we think there's a whole lot more to it than that. Saying war is no fun is one thing, but this play is really about the violent intersection of war...

Money makes the world go round. Or was that love? Anyway, wealth and its acquisition are definitely important themes in Mother Courage. The play's protagonist remains obsessed with making her livin...

There's no getting around the fact that Mother Courage is a play about war. It begins during a war. It ends during the same war. War is basically inescapable. So, what is it good for? Well, let's r...

Mother Courage might be a play about war and social class, but our picture is definitely not complete until we talk about religion. For heaven's sake, the chaplain sings a whole song about Jesus (I...

When it comes to justice, you're supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Well, let's just say that's not exactly the case in the world of Mother Courage. In times of war, Brecht's pl...

Think about it. Now, where would the military be without uniforms? The military is known for being a highly disciplined and hierarchical institution, and that reality is nearly always present in th...

Power to the people? Not so much. From the first scene to the last, military power is one of the main forces driving forward the chain of events in Mother Courage. We're not just talking about fire...

Let's get real: Brecht doesn't exactly have glowing things to say about the human being's innate sense of right and wrong. On that topic, Brecht writes, "First comes eating and then comes morality....