The Good Woman of Szechuan by Bertolt Brecht:
One of the most-played epic theatrical plays ‘The Good Woman Of Szechuan' or (The Good Woman of Setzuan) written by the German playwright Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht in the twentieth century. It was first performed in 1943. It’s a powerful thought-provoking play. The parable sets in the Chinese “city of sichuan”. Here, Shen Te, a prostitute who adopts an alter-ego, Shui Ta, to be advanced and professional. she is a young woman torn between “obligation and reality”. The play was written in 1939-41 when Brecht was in flight from the Nazis in Scandinavia. It’s an example of Brecht's "Non-Aristotelian drama".
In the early stages, a water seller named, Wong, who works in the impoverished village of Setzuan. He knows three gods will come to the city Setzuan, and he goes to the city’s gate to meet them. When he corresponds them, the gods say, "we need a place to spend the night". In the moment, they ask a gentleman for a sheltering place but he impudently refuses their proposal. Then they correspond a prostitute, Shen Te, who reluctantly agrees to shelter them. In the morning, the Gods offer Shen Te “Thank you, thank you, dear Shen Te, for your elegant hospitality!” and give some dollars her.
In the course of the play, when the gods went out, Shen Te uses these dollars to buy a “humble Tobacco Shop” from Mrs. Shin. Shen Te faces some problems after buying the shop such as, "customers do not pay well", and "financial pressures" etc. In the moment, Mrs. Mi Tzu, the landlady, references a male character, who can "vouch" Shen Te's pleasures. Shen Te expresses, "I were poor Shui Ta, and not rich Shen Te, you wouldn't have given me a second glance", and highlights the conflict inside her, as she struggles to balance her natural “kindness and empathy”.
In the significant segment of the play, Shen Te transforms her into an alter-ego, Shui Ta. Then, she becomes “a ruthless man, can take own decision, and threatens the Carpenter.” In a time, Shen Te is corresponded to an unemployed romantic pilot, Yang Sun. After encountering, she quickly falls in love with Mr. Sun. And she expresses, "we're two little boats that have met in the open sea". It also emphasizes the idea of the two characters as "little boats" in a vast and “unpredictable world”,
On the other hand, Shen Te understands and laments that Yang Sun does not truly love her rather than he loves the money, "she has accumulated through her acts of kindness." In addition, Shen Te prays Gods in the imagination, and the gods insist her burdens will only give her “greater strengthen and kindness.” However, at Shen Te’s pathetic circumstances Shu Fu, The barber, allows her a blank cheque to be stable from her indigent positions. On the other hand, Shen Te becomes pregnant with Mr. Yang Sun's “illegitimate child.”
In a while, we are expressed, Shen Te decides to stay in disguise as "Shui Ta". And her weight is gaining, she is pregnant. Additionally, the policemen come and arrested to Shui Ta, because they suspect, "Shui Ta has murdered Shen Te, since, they did not find Shen Te" anywhere. Wong warns gods that if Shen Te has been truly vanished, then "all is lost". As a result, the Gods return to Setzuan to help them.
In Shui Ta's trial, the entire villagers are mobbing, a trio of judge come to hear the arguments. Thus, the hectic crowds are expressed to know, "why Shui Ta left Setzuan". In a moment, Shui Ta requests to clear the courtroom. Now, Shui Ta alone in the courtroom with the gods, where Shui Ta drops his “disguise” and says why he takes such decision. In the sorrowful laments, Shen Te describes, "To be good and yet to live". She hates, "bad deeds are rewarded", while good ones are "punished". Shen Te mentions out that she failed to be woman instead she becomes a "bad man", rather than Shui Ta helps Shen Te to solve her moral consists.
In conclusion, Brecht (1898-1956) writes 'The Good Woman of Szechuan’, to show the contemporary world’s "struggle to be good in a corrupt and oppressive world." It challenges the audiences to think about the impact of capitalism, imperialism, and inequalities on people’s lives. An American literary critic Harold Bloom comments, “the play portrays the human condition as a constant struggle to survive in a world that is often hostile and unjust”. It also introduces the society's morality is determined by its economic systems.