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The Good Woman Of Setzuan (Der Gute Mensch Von Sezuan)
Analysis

Introduction:

Both Mother Courage and Galileo, are, in a sense, divided characters. Each is torn between the demands of practical self-interest and those of nobler ideals. In the Good Woman of Setzuan Brecht carries the notion of the divided character one step further, presenting as his photagonist a woman who almost literally divides herself into two people, the warmhearted, generous Shen Te and her hardheaded, practical cousin Shui Ta. Brecht further implies that this sort of division is inevitable in the world in which we live, a world that will not let its Shen Te's survive unless they have the protection of Shui Ta. As a Communist, Brecht wants us to believe that in the better world to come goodness will be able to survive without the protection of cruelty. But we may choose to find more tragic implications in the picture Brecht paints for us.

Characters

Shen Te

A prostitute, later a shopkeeper, who also appears disguised as her imaginary cousin, Shui Ta.

Yang Sun

An unemployed pilot, later a factory manager; also Shen Te's lover.

Mrs. Yang

Yang Sun's mother.

Wong

A water seller.

Mrs. Shin

Former owner of Shen Te's shop.

Mrs. Mi Tzu

Shen Te's landlady.

Mr. Shu Fu

A barber, in love with Shen Te.

Three Gods

Who are looking for a good person.

A Family Of Eight

Who take advantage of Shen Te's generosity.

An Unemployed Man

A Carpenter

A Whore

A Policeman

An Old Man

An Old Woman

Gentlemen, Voices, Children, Etc.

Prologue:

At the gates of the city of Setzuan, Wong the water seller awaits the arrival of three gods who are supposed to be headed that way. Soon they arrive and they turn out to have some very human complaints - among them, that their feet hurt. They have been walking from city to city, looking - so far without success - for one good person. Not only have they been unable to find the good person they seek as evidence that goodness still exists in the world, but they have been unable to get any proper rest because on one has been willing to take them in at night and give them a warm and comfortable bed.

Although Wong himself is not a good person, as the gods realize when they discover a false bottom in his water cup, he promises to find the gods a place to stay in Setzuan. This proves, however, to be more difficult than he expected. Turned down by all the respectable people of Setzuan, a discouraged Wong decides he will ask the prostitute, Shen Te, to take the gods in for the night. This is an inconvenience for Shen Te, since it means she must give up an appointment with a client, but she agrees. Wong hopes only that the gods won't realize what sort of woman they're staying with.

Next morning the gods prepare to take their leave, satisfied that in Shen Te they've found the good person they're looking for. She denies she's good, pointing out she sells herself for money, but the gods reject her arguments. In payment for her hospitality, and to help her meet the expenses of a more virtuous way of life, they give her money and depart.

Comment:

Two themes important to the play are introduced in this prologue. The first is the scarcity of goodness in the world. The second is the ineffectuality and irrelevance of the gods, whom Brecht treats as objects of ridicule. Their refusal to accept Shen Te's low evaluation of herself seems based less on divine charity than on expediency. If they can claim that Shen Te is the good person they've been seeking, they have an excuse for giving up their tiresome wanderings and resuming the comfortable life proper to gods.

Scene One:

With the money from the three gods, Shen Te has purchased a tobacco shop from a Mrs. Shin, who continues to hang about the shop and expects Shen Te to give her handouts of rice and cash. The good-natured Shen Te finds it impossible to refuse Mrs. Shin's demands.

Mrs. Shin is not the only one to take advantage of Shen Te's generosity. A husband and wife and their nephew soon arrive, asking Shen Te to put them up. They remind her that they took her in when she needed help. (Actually, they exploited and overworked her in the tobacco shop they used to own.) And soon after this an unemployed man wanders in, asking for a handout of cigarettes. At this point Mrs. Shen and the others warn Shen Te that she must not allow herself to be taken advantage of. If she finds it difficult to refuse those who ask for charity, the husband advises, she should pretend the shop belongs to a relative who refuses to let her give anything away.

A carpenter arrives to demand payment for the shelves he installed. Shen Te, who was assured that Mrs. Shin had already paid for the shelves, has no money for the carpenter. Following the husband's advice, she instructs the carpenter to leave his bill for her "cousin," who takes care of such matters.

The parade of new arrivals is not over yet. The wife's brother and pregnant sister-in-law turn up, also expecting to be taken in by Shen Te. Mrs. Mi Tzu, the landlady, arrives to announce she requires references from Shen Te. Still maintaining the deception proposed by the husband, Shen Te refers Mrs. Mi Tzu to her prosperous cousin, Shui Ta, who lives in Shung. This satisfies Mrs. Mi Tzu for the time being.

Eventually the husband, wife, nephew, brother, and sister-in- law are joined by the rest of their family, bringing the total to eight. They help themselves to Shen Te's cigarettes and wine. A family quarrel develops, in the course of which considerable damage is done to Shen Te's shop.

Comment:

In this scene we see what may be a partial explanation of the gods' difficulty in finding a good person. The truly good person, like Shen Te, is at the mercy of others who take advantage of his goodness. This being so, who can afford to be good? The good person could survive only in a perfect world.

Scene One(a):

The three gods visit Wong's den, located in a sewer pipe. They tell him of the goodness they have found in Shen Te and order him to find her, see how she is doing, and report back to them.

Scene Two:

Back at the shop, the family of eight is still living on Shen Te's charity. But they are greedy enough to want still more and send one of their number out to steal for them. What they don't know is that Shen Te has taken to heart the husband's advice that she pretend the shop really belongs to a relative. Shen Te arrives disguised as a man-Shui Ta, cousin of Shen Te.

Shui Ta argues with the carpenter over his bill for the shelves and, by driving a harder bargain than the meek Shen Te could have done, forces the carpenter to accept far less than his original demands. Shui Ta also orders the family of eight out of the shop. When they ignore his order, Shen Te summons a policeman. Since they are waiting to receive stolen goods, the family realize they had better leave, but before they can do so, the boy they sent out returns with what he has stolen. Sizing up the situation, the policeman takes the whole family away.

Mrs. Mi Tzu arrives, disturbed by all the commotion. She runs a respectable house, she says, and if Shen Te's activities are going to bring in the police, respectability demands payment of six months' rent in advance. Not even Shui Ta's craftiness can help in this situation, since the money is simply not available. But the policeman, returning and becoming aware of the problem, has a suggestion: let Shen Te advertise for a wealthy husband.

Comment:

It is ironic that the imaginary relative, originally the idea of the husband, should be turned so quickly against the husband and his family. We can take unmixed pleasure in seeing this greedy family getting what it deserves, for we recognize that the husband's suggestion to Shen Te was not motivated by concern for her, but by fear that others might receive the fruits of generosity he wanted to enjoy.

Things are rather more complicated with regard to the Carpenter, however. If his original demands are excessive, Shui Ta's final settlement is unreasonably meager. Shui Ta does not hesitate to take advantage of the Carpenter when the opportunity presents itself. Like other Brechtian characters Shen Te/Shui Ta is undergoing a painful process of education. She is learning how many tricks one must master if one is to survive in this world.

Scene Three:

In the park at evening, Shen Te encounters the unemployed pilot, Yang Sun. Despair at his inability to find work has brought Yang Sun to the point of committing suicide, but Shen Te argues him out of this. When Wong comes along, complaining that, because it is raining, no one will buy his water, Shen Te buys a cup and gives it to Yang Sun. She stays with the young pilot, and it is clear that she has fallen in love with him.

Comment:

It is entirely consistent with what we have seen of Shen Te's character that she fall in love with a young man who is in despair, and that she first express her love by giving him water. It is, in fact, unlikely that Shen Te could love a man capable of standing on his own two feet. It is also typical of Shen Te's impracticality that she buys a cup of water when it is raining.

Scene Three(a):

Again the gods come to Wong's den in the sewer pipe to inquire about the fortunes of Shen Te. Wong tells them that Shen Te seems to be doing rather well, on the whole, and has fallen in love. The gods are eager to be kept informed of Shen Te's progress and are also full of complaints about the wickedness of people. Wong suggests that the gods may be judging people by standards that are too harsh.

Comment:

In the role of tolerant moralist he here assumes, Wong may well be acting as Brecht's spokesman, arguing that in a world as imperfect as ours, moral perfection is an irrelevant and frustrating ideal. At any rate, within the framework of the play, Wong seems more in touch with reality than do the gods, who show no interest in recognizing thins as they are.

Scene Four:

The setting is the square in front of Shen Te's tobacco shop. Mrs. Shin and some of the others gossip about Shen Te's morals. She has stayed out all night; is she reverting to her old ways? While they talk, Shu Fu, the barber, whose shop is next to Shen Te's, ejects Wong from his shop, injuring the water seller's hand in the process.

Shen Te arrives in the square. Seeing her, Shu Fu becomes convinced that he is falling in love with her. Shen Te's neighbors, an old couple, offer to lend her the two hundred dollars she needs for the rent. She gratefully accepts their offer. Meanwhile, Wong finds that none of the witnesses of what has happened to him will testify on his behalf if he brings a complaint against Shu Fu. Sympathizing with Wong, Shen Te, who didn't see what happened, agrees to perjure herself for him.

Yang Sun's mother arrives to tell Shen Te the good news: Yang Sun has a chance at a job. The only trouble is that he needs five hundred dollars or the job won't be his. Shen Te gives Mrs. Yang the two hundred she has received from the old couple. She decides she will have to summon Shui Ta once again to raise the additional three hundred.

Comment:

When Shen Te gives Mrs. Yang the money she has just received from the old couple, we have a right to think she is not only kind but foolishly imprudent. Her impulses are good but uncontrolled. In seeking to aid Yang Sun she runs the risk of hurting the old couple who have generously come to her assistance.

Notice also that Shen Te's goodness is a matter of benevolence rather than adherence to any sort of strict moral code. For the sake of doing Wong a favor, she is willing to commit perjury. And, however laudable her motives, in testifying to something she hasn't seen. Shen Te will hardly be acting fairly towards Shu Fu. In a complex world, perhaps the simple good will of Shen Te is not the best answer, after all.

Scene Four(a):

Shen Te, carrying the mask of Shui Ta, sings a song in which she laments that the good are unable to defend themselves in this world and that it is impossible to help one person without hurting a dozen others at the same time.

Comment:

The song suggests that Shen Te, like many of Brecht's other characters, is undergoing a process of education. She is becoming faintly aware of the lessons implied in Scene Four.

Scene Five:

In the shop Shui Ta sits reading a newspaper while Mrs. Shin cleans the shop. Mrs. Shin mentions to Shui Ta that the prosperous barber Shu Fu is interested in Shen Te.

Yang Sun arrives and explains to Shui Ta that he needs five hundred dollars to give to the director of an airfield in Peking in exchange for a job. Part of the deal is that the director will fire another man to make way for Yang Sun. Yang Sun is not at all interested in staying in Setzuan and selling cigars in Shen Te's shop. To raise the money for Yang Sun, Shui Ta tries to sell the shop to Mrs. Mi Tzu for five hundred dollars. She offers three hundred. Yang Sun can't understand why Shui Ta doesn't accept, since three hundred, together with the two hundred Shen Te already gave his mother, will give him the five hundred he needs, but Shui Ta is thinking of the two hundred that must be paid back to the old couple. Yang Sun makes it clear that he has no intention of marrying Shen Te, but he instructs Shui Ta to accept the three hundred, deceive Shen Te into thinking he intends to marry her, and tell her to bring the money to him. Taking a few of Shen Te's cigars, Yang Sun leaves.

Shu Fu enters and tells Shui Ta of his interest in Shen Te. He says he knows how much of a drain Shen Te's charities have been on her finances and offers to support her charitable activities. Seeing in Shu Fu a useful source of money, Shui Ta encourages him. But at this moment Wong and a policeman arrive, looking for Shen Te to testify against Shu Fu. Wong is dismayed, and Shu Fu is delighted, when Shui Ta says Shen Te will not give testimony. The policeman takes Wong away, and Shui Ta goes into the back room, telling Shu Fu he will find Shen Te.

Yang Sun returns and a gloating Shu Fu says he and Shen Te will soon announce their engagement. But when Shen Te comes out of the back room, she goes off with Yang Sun.

Comment:

It is a peculiar feature of Shen Te's character that she seems to learn nothing from her experience as Shui Ta. The two halves of her personality remain completely divided. Thus, even though Shui Ta encourages Shu Fu, because this is the practical thing to do, Shen Te impractically leaves with the faithless and unworthy Yang Sun.

Scene Five(a):

Going to her wedding to Yang Sun, Shen Te learns that the old man from whom she borrowed two hundred dollars is ill, and she has promised his wife she'll return the money at once.

Comment:

By this time we may begin to recognize in Shen Te's inability to refuse a request some resemblance to Galy Gay, the protagonist of A Man's a Man.

Scene Six:

The guests have gathered for Shen Te's wedding to Yang Sun, but the prospective bride and groom quarrel when Shen Te mentions her desire to give two hundred dollars to the old couple. Besides, he insists the wedding can't begin until Shui Ta arrives. Eventually the priest and guests become impatient and leave, seeing that no wedding will take place this day.

Comment:

This scene reinforces our impression of Yang Sun's worthlessness and Shen Te's masochism. It also indicates the degree to which Shui Ta is becoming important in the life of Shen Te.

Scene Six(a):

The gods pay another visit to Wong. Although he tells them of Shen Te's difficulties, they refuse to intervene. It is not their business, they say, to become involved in the affairs of humans.

Comment:

The gods refusal to help Shen Te in spite of her goodness confirms their complete indifference to human problems.

Scene Seven:

Behind Shen Te's shop, Shu Fu, still as interested in her as ever, brings Shen Te a blank check and tells her to fill in whatever amount she needs for her good works. When Shu Fu leaves, Wong appears with a child. The child is the carpenter's; the carpenter has taken to drink and abandoned his family. Shen Te agrees to help Wong and to take care of the carpenter's children. She is pregnant herself now, and the sight of this miserable child makes her resolve always to be good to her son and to be a tigress to others.

Comment:

Shen Te's pregnancy is teaching her a lesson she never learned from Shui Ta's experiences: in a cruel and selfish world one must be cruel and selfish to protect oneself and those one loves.

Shen Te's yard fills up. Some members of the family of eight bring stolen tobacco and demand that Shen Te hide it for them. The carpenter arrives with two more of his children. Mrs. Shin and others arrive. But Shen Te once again assumes the disguise of Shui Ta. Shui Ta refuses to take care of the carpenter's children, but offers the carpenter a job. Since he plans to claim the stolen tobacco for himself and run his factory, Shui Ta needs workers. Picking up the blank check left by Shu Fu, Shui Ta makes if out for ten thousand dollars to pay off Mrs. Mi Tzu. When the old couple arrive, looking for Shen Te, they are told she isn't there. Mrs. Shin, meanwhile, has begun to notice a few things and suspects Shui Ta may be Shen Te in disguise.

Comment:

In his efforts on Shen Te's behalf Shui Ta is becoming increasingly aggressive. But this is necessary because Shen Te's difficulties are becoming more acute, and provision must be made for the child she expects.

Scene Seven(a):

When the gods visit him, Wong asks them to relax their rules, substituting more attainable ideals for the impossible ones they insist on. The gods refuse.

Scene Eight:

The setting is Shui Ta's factory, located in huts Shu Fu had originally Provided for Shen Te's charitable activities. Mrs. Yang speaks enthusiastically of what Shui Ta has done for her son, Yang Sun, over the past three months. He has transformed Yang Sun into a model citizen.

Three months before Shui Ta brought a breach of promise suit against Yang Sun and accused him of having come by two hundred dollars improperly. He then offered to let Sun make up for what he had done by going to work in the tobacco factory. Now Sun is a foreman who drives his men unmercifully - a model citizen.

Comment:

Shui Ta's harshness has achieved what Shen Te's kindness could never have done: made a respectable man out of Yang Sun. Note, however, that Yang Sun's moral character has not improved at all; he is still as selfish and ruthless as ever.

Scene Nine:

Shen Te's shop has been turned into an office with comfortable chairs and fine carpets. Shui Ta is now being looked after by Mrs. Shin, who knows that Shui Ta is really Shen Te, now in the seventh month of her pregnancy. It is Shen Te's hope that her child will never learn of Shui Ta.

Comment:

It is apparently Shen Te's hope that her son will be victimized by the same illusions that have caused her so much difficulty. He must never know of Shui Ta; but Shui Ta, as Shen Te should know, is a part of reality.

Yang Sun comes to the office and tells Shui Ta that the factory' s present facilities are inadequate. They will have to expand into buildings owned by Mrs. Mi Tzu. Sun offers to become Mrs. Mi Tzu's lover to make her agree to let them use the building. At first Shui Ta, reacting with Shen Te's feelings, refuses to consider this. But then he agrees.

Wong arrives, looking for Shen Te. He reveals that when he last saw her she told him she was pregnant. Now he's afraid of what might have happened to her. Seeing his opportunity, Yang Sun threatens to bring the police to search for Shen Te unless Shui Ta makes him top man. When Sun returns with the police, they discover some of Shen Te's clothes, and Shui Ta is charged with the murder of Shen Te.

Scene Nine (a):

When the gods visit Wong again, their appearance shows clearly that they have suffered harsh treatment in their wanderings through the world. And they are discouraged. Shen Te is the only really good person they've found, and now no one seems to know where she is.

Scene Ten:

The settings in court. Shui Ta, on trial for murder, almost faints when he sees the three gods appear in judges robes. The trial commences. Shui Ta's character is praised by the policeman, Shu Fu, and Mrs. Mi Tzu, but he is attacked by many others, including Wong, the old couple, the carpenter, and the thieving family.

Comment:

The harsh, businesslike Shui Ta is praised by the symbols of wealth and authority in society and attacked by society's victims and outcasts.

Speaking in his own behalf, Shui Ta says that he always acted in Shen Te's interests and was her only true friend. He then asks that the courtroom be cleared. When his request has been carried out, he removes his disguise and reveals himself to the gods as Shen Te. When Shen Te points out that her good actions have had bad consequences, they merely tell her to go on being good. When she protests that she cannot survive without the wicked Shui Ta, they say it may be permissible to use Shui Ta occasionally - say, once a month. Ascending into heaven on a pink cloud, they leave a troubled Shen Te alone.

Comment:

The decision of the gods solves nothing; Shen Te is left with the problem of how a good person is to survive in a bad world. If the world is to be fit for its good people, it must be remade - by men, not by gods.

Epilogue:

Abandoned by the gods, Shen Te turns to the audience, states the problem directly to them, and asks what is to be done.

Comment:

From Brecht's point of view, Shen Te's question is merely rhetorical. The answer, which the audience is expected to recognize, is that a Communist revolution is necessary to bring into existence a world in which it will be possible for men to be good. But for those of us who are skeptical about the adequacy of the Marxist formula, or any formula, for Utopia, Shen Te's question is a real one. Will it ever be possible for men to be truly good and not be destroyed by their goodness?

Analyses Of Character

Shen Te:

Shen Te is a woman of good and generous impulses, but she is also unrealistic in her attitudes. She even hopes that her child will never know of the harsh realities she has had to face, even though this would seem to mean that he would be as ill-equipped to cope with the world as she. In her relation with Yang Sun, Shen Te goes beyond generosity to what approaches masochism.

Shui Ta:

Shen Te's imaginary cousin and protector. Shui Ta must do the cruel things that Shen Te is unable to do in her own person; otherwise Shen Te's generosity would lead to her total ruin. This division of personality into two halves is obviously not an adequate solution to the problem of evil, as Shen Te herself finally realizes.

Wong:

Although he is not a "good person" by the standards of the gods, Wong is an instinctive moralist of natural good sense. When he suggests to the gods that their standards are too rigid, he is implicitly preaching a morality adjusted to the needs of an imperfect world.

Yang Sun:

Shen Te's lover is a selfish and unscrupulous young man. Shen Te loves him for his weakness, but he proves himself capable of surviving in the harsh world of Shui Ta. It is an indictment of this world that it treats a Yang Sun better than it treats a Shen Te.

The Three Gods:

The gods are absurd in their ineptitude and in their obstinate refusal to recognize the realities of the world in which men must live. In the framework of Brecht's thought, they symbolize the folly of man's looking beyond himself for assistance in dealing with his problems.

Brecht, Bertolt, Works of Bertolt Brecht: The Good Woman Of Setzuan (Der Gute Mensch Von Sezuan). , Monarch Notes, 01-01-1963.

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