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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 10 page research paper/essay that analyzes Bertolt Brecht's play "Mother Courage and Her Children." This play addresses the senselessness of war and human depravity that results from totalitarianism; however, Brecht does this by using his own unique perspective and sense of theatre, rather than following the Aristotelian paradigm for tragedy, which had traditionally ruled theatrical productions. Rather than following the traditional theatrical paradigm in regards to tragedy, which engages the audience on an emotional level, Brecht endeavored to keep his audience outside of the action as observers, but to cause them to think about what was happening, its ramifications and social significance, which Brecht referred to as "epic" theatre. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
10 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khbremc.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
worst-their greed, cruelty, ignorance and aggression. Bertolt Brechts play "Mother Courage and Her Children" addresses the senselessness of war and human depravity that results from totalitarianism; however, he does so
using his own unique perspective and sense of theatre, rather than following the Aristotelian paradigm for tragedy, which had traditionally ruled theatrical productions. Rather than following the traditional theatrical paradigm
in regards to tragedy, which engages the audience on an emotional level, Brecht endeavored to keep his audience outside of the action as observers, but to cause them to think
about what was happening, its ramifications and social significance. In his notes for his opera Mahagonny, Brecht directly compared his concept of "epic theatre" to traditional dramatic forms.
In the traditional theatre, the stage is viewed as embodying an event, with the goal of drawing the spectator into that event, consuming the individuals capacity for action but stimulating
an emotional response (Brecht, 2000). In his notes, Brecht indicates that his goal is to have the stage narrate an event that makes the spectator an active observer to the
action, propelling action on the part of the spectator in that the individual is compelled to make decisions about the action (Brecht, 2000). As this indicates, rather than drawing the
spectator into the action, Brechts goal was to place the spectator outside the action as an observer, but one who is actively involved in evaluating the arguments presented by the
play. Because of this difference in perspective, Brechts work differs radically from traditional theatre. For example, Kernan (1969) associates "suspense" with the "rhythm of action" (p. 720). Likewise, Brecht (2000)
observed that in traditional theatre, suspense largely concerns the audiences anticipation of the outcome. Rather than follow this paradigm, Brecht indicated that his intention was to have the audience experience
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