The only role women play in war is that of the innocent victim - Essay Example

Thesis statement: The comparison based on Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht and Women of Troy by Euripides proves that the only role women play in war is that of the innocent victims. Comparison: A. Role of women in Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648 and Trojan War First of all, one can easily identify that Brecht was totally against Fascism and Nazism. So, he made use of the context of German invasion of Poland (1939) as the plot of his play, Mother Courage and Her Children. But he infused the plot to another context, i.e., the Thirty Years' War.

The plot revolves around the life history of Anna Fierling (Mother Courage) and her futile attempt to make a living by serving as a canteen woman. Besides, Mother Courage considers her job as an opportunity to help her family. Bloom makes clear that “In the opening scene, Brecht uses “the song of Mother Courage” to project an attitude- Anna Fierling’s response to war as an arena for commerce” ( 37). From a different angle, her involvement in the Thirty Years' War (say, her service in Swedish Army) was indirect but she was forced to face its after effects (the death of her children) in a direct way.

Besides, her daughter Catherine was killed during the war, without any solid reason. On the other side, in the play Women of Troy, the playwright portrays the women characters as the victims of the Trojan War. Their status in the society as the members of the royal family does not help them to be safe from the after effects of the war. For instance, the women of Troy faced multiple problems due to the utter defeat in the war with the Greek warriors. Besides, the women characters were not responsible for the war but they were forced to undergo a number of problems.

Salisbury states that “In the Women of Troy, at the end of the war the women of Troy are enslaved, and Euripides shows the horror of warfare through their eyes” (153). Almost all the women characters in the play, like Hecuba, Helen, Andromache and Cassandra were not directly involved in the war. But abduction of Helen was the grass root level reason behind the war. To be specific, the women characters in Play Women of Troy were the victims of the after effects of the Trojan War. B. Family crisis One can easily identify that Brecht makes use of the main female characters in the play Mother Courage and Her Children, as his mouthpiece to communicate with the viewers.

For instance, Brecht makes use of the character Anna Fierling and her service in the Swedish Army to unveil the futility of war. Besides, Anna Fierling’s service did not help her to save her children from the after effects of the dreadful war. Instead, her children (Eilif, Kattrin, and Swiss Cheese) were killed during the war. But Carney opines that” When Mother Courage lose one of her children, her immediate reaction is businesslike: it is necessary to divide up the work anew” (101). Her attempt to serve the Swedish Army in the Thirty Years' War and to save her family became unsuccessful.

Her daughter Kattrin (Catherine) was one of the direct victims of the war. Besides, Yvette Pottier, a female character in the play, was a prostitute who used to entertain the soldiers. One can easily identify that these female characters (say, Anna Fierling, Catherine and Yvette Pottier) were not directly involved in the war, but were forced to be the direct victims. On the other side, in the play Women of Troy, the women charac