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Part of the book: Character, Ideology, and Symbolism in the Plays of Wedekind, Sternheim, Kaiser, Toller, and Brecht

M. Helena Gonçalves da Silva

MHRA Texts and Dissertations 21

Modern Humanities Research Association

GermanDramaopen

Abstract.  Bertolt Brecht. A new formula for a humanist political theatre. A theatre of parables that illustrate a new phase of a dialectical relationship between man and society, and restore faith in the individual through the Marxist conception of history. Characters as images of social contradictions presented both as individualized and as representative parable figures. Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder: Anna Fierling, para- doxical image of the little people who join the war for profit and instead lose everything. Brecht's plea for pacifism. Der Gute Mensch von Sezuan: A parable illustrating the impossibility of being moral and well off in a society divided into classes. Shen Te's personal dilemma representative of the conflict between Christian morality and capitalist economy. Leben des Galilei: The scientist's responsibility to act politically in the interest of the masses. Brecht's dialectical presentation of individual and social ele- ments (Galileo's political naivety and the power of the Catholic Church and the interests of the rising middle class).

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