Brect Alienation PDF

International Research Journal of Humanities, Language and Literature
Vol. 3, Issue 7, July 2016 IF- 3.558 ISSN: (2394-1642)

© Associated Asia Research Foundation (AARF) Publication
Website: www.aarf.asia Email : editor@aarf.asia , editoraarf@gmail.com
‘ALIENATION TECHNIQUES’ IN BERTOLT BRECHT’S THE GOOD

WOMAN OF SETZUAN: A CRITICAL OBSERVATION
Md. Jahidul Azad

Senior Lecturer
Department of English
Prime University, Bangladesh.
ABSTRACT
The paper aspires to exploring the use of ‘Alienation Techniques’ in the classic play ‘The
Good Woman of Setzuan’ by Bertolt Brecht, German Marxist and dramatist who is considered as
one of the influential figures of Twentieth Century theatre. Brecht used a variety of techniques in
his narrative style called Epic theatre. Among these Brecht is notably known for his creation of
what is called the ‘Alienation Techniques’, which forces the audience to view a play objectively
rather than experiencing its content emotionally. This technique of addressing the audience
directly is a paradigm of alienation, which compels the spectators to see the play for what it is
rather than think of it as an analogy for real life. He intention was to use theatre as a vehicle not
just interpreting the world merely rather to bring the social change. In this paper attempt has
been taken to comprehend how Brecht was able to succeed in reaching the audience by the
means of alienation techniques and making them ponder about what they had seen and what
actions they may need to make to ascertain the necessary social changes Brecht wanted them to
strive for.
Key Words: Alienation techniques, Epic theatre, Social change, Definition of good, Class
struggle.
Introduction
Bertolt Brecht, German Playwright and theatre director, was born on February 10, 1898
in Augsburg, and died on August 14, 1956 in Berlin. His contribution of the world of theatre
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International Research Journal of Humanities, Language and Literature ISSN: (2394-1642)
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made him as one of the most renowned as well as one of the most influential poets, dramatists,
and essayists of twentieth century. Born into a bourgeois family, Brecht received the social
advantages, including a good education. Still, he abandoned his medical studies, especially after
his service as a medical orderly in a military hospital in 1918, an experience which turned him
into a radical opponent of war and the nationalistic attitudes associated with it. It was then he
started to lean towards Socialism and Marxism. He decided to become a poet and dramatist who
saw the theatre as the cultural forum for most people and thus most well-suited to effecting
changes within society. Although Brecht’s early plays such as ‘Baal’ (1918), ‘Drums in the
Night’ (1920), and ‘In the Jungle of Cities’ (1923) show traces of earlier and contemporary
literary influences-most notably those of the Expressionist movement and the philosophy of the
German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and using the ideas of celebrating the individual and
society, they already foreshadow his later obsession with the political manifestations of his age
which he witnessed during second world war and the subject material of many of his plays and
literary works which inextricably linked political dogma with social aspects.
Brecht’s own life bears witness to this reality. When Hitler’s National-Socialist party came into
power in 1933, Brecht was on their black list. Despite his successes in the theatre, most notably
with the ‘Three-Penny Opera’, a work written and produced in collaboration with German
composer Kurt Weill, Brecht went into exile in Switzerland. Having studied the works of Karl
Marx, the German philosopher and revolutionary socialist during the twenties, Brecht’s
Lehrstücke, short didactic plays written between 1929 and 1930 and today rarely performed, are
radical in their socialist aims. However, Brecht’s drama Saint Joan of the Stock yards, was a
direct attack of capitalism as practiced in the Chicago stockyards of the time, which served as a
hint of plays to come.
From Switzerland Brecht and his family fled to Denmark, Sweden, then to Finland, and in 1941
to the United States via Moscow to settle in San Pedro, California where they stayed until 1947.
During these troubled years of exile and wandering, Brecht wrote some of his most enduring and
best known plays, including ‘The Good Woman of Setzuan’ (1938-40) and ‘Mother Courage and
Her Children’ (1941). (Carney 129-130)
But life in the United States also proved difficult for Brecht: on October 30, 1947, he had to
appear in front of Senator McCarthy’s Committee on Un-American Activities to defend his work
and his beliefs. Traumatized by this experience, Brecht left for Europe that same year, first for
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Paris and Zürich, and eventually for Berlin in 1948. In 1954, in what was to become East Berlin,
Brecht and his ensemble of actors and directors were given their own theatre where he continued
to create the theatrical work that has been so enormously influential the world over. The Berliner
Ensemble, still in existence today in the reunited Berlin, continues to keep Brecht's theatrical
legacy alive, albeit in his spirit of adapting to aesthetic and societal changes.
The theoretical impact Brecht had on the theatre of the twentieth century cannot be
overestimated. His concept of ‘Epic theatre’ constitutes a major departure from the principles of
traditional Aristotelian theatre. Epic theatre, which combines narration with enactment, breaks
the illusion which is at the core of traditional theatre. Even though Brecht understood that theatre
had to be the fun and pleasurable for the audience, he was not interested in passive consumption
and simple enjoyment. He compared illusionistic theatre to opium consumption: it induces a
stupor in the audience. Instead, he wanted to challenge the viewers to think, analyze, and act in
the interests of social change. Thus the key term defining Brechtian theatre is the ‘Alienation
Techniques’ which basically can be described as the use of techniques designed to distance the
audience from emotional involvement in the play through jolting reminders of the artificiality of
the theatrical performance. Brecht borrowed Russian formalist critic Victor Shklovsky’s concept
of ‘Ostranenie’, which is center or making things strange dissimilar (Krasner 170). Ostranenie is
centered on defamiliarize and making things seems strange. The ‘Alienation Effect’ was not
solely focused on a style of acting, but a style of performance itself. Brecht wanted to consider
‘delineate[ing] the separate components of acting, directing, and set design rather than unifying
them’ (Krasner 171). Additionally unlike dramatic theatre, Brecht did not aim to make an
audience empathize with his characters. In fact, he wanted the audience to actively be aware of
the fact that they are watching a play that is staged and not something that is real. Brecht
emphasizes that ‘if empathy makes something ordinary of a special event, alienation
[estrangement] makes something special of an ordinary one’ (Krasner 170).
Alienation is basically operative in proportion to the actor's ability first to empathize with the
character and then to step out of the role. Brecht always desired that his actor must first learn to
identify with the portrayed characters and then step out of the role to break this spell of
identification. By impeding further identification between onlookers and characters he enables
both the audience and the presenters to adopt a critical attitude to the action. These startling
techniques lend a fresh touch to the stage performance and provide the audience with a new
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perspective. The evocation of empathy followed by unexpected spell of detachment awakens
sensitivity, added understanding and cognition in both the audience and the actors. The theatre
public should be made to look at relationships ‘with a critical estranged eye of the discoverer’
(Esslin 129). Brecht actually sought to replace illusion, magical effects, trance and sentiments
with rationality, vivacity, grace and transparency. The spectators find the illusion of
‘spontaneous, transitory, authentic, unrehearsed events’ (Willet 79) missing in the epic
performance.
The ‘Alienation Technique’ in fact awakens the audience from stupor and breaks the illusion of
the fourth wall by making them aware of the performed illusion. For this, Brecht proposed
several strategies to change radically the audience’s involvement in the theatrical experience.
‘We no longer need to identify with characters in a drama, nor must we vicariously live their
story’, Brecht insisted. ‘On the contrary, we must keep a cool and critical distance in order to be
able to judge the actions of fictional women and men by the highest ethical standards. We, the
audience, are encouraged to decide whether we approve or disapprove of characters’ actions and
decisions, and we are encouraged to contemplate alternative plots and decisions. To make these
intellectual judgments, we are no longer kept in suspense, nor should we empathize or
sympathize with the characters. Thus actors might abandon their assigned roles and tell us what
they are about to do or some signs and titles might come up on stage as useful pointers and
directions. Aware at all times that we are in a theatre, watching a play that is presented by actors
who are clearly not identical to the characters, the audience is provoked to confront the problems
presented, and to participate in finding solutions’. Another simple way of looking at ‘Alienation
Techniques’ is it involves the use of techniques designed to distance the audience from
emotional involvement in the play through jolting reminders of the artificiality of the theatrical
performance.
In The Good Woman of Setzuan, we find the true embodiment of all the elements of ‘Epic
Theatre’ and the use of ‘Alienation Techniques.’ As an example of epic theatre, the play
revolutionized the theatre by creating radical breaks from traditional literary and theatrical form.
These uncustomary breaks were done to bring about radical social change. This was also seen in
the Prologue of the play when, Brecht asks the audience to think and act towards social change.
The play opens with Wang, a water seller, explaining to the audience that he is on the city
outskirts awaiting the arrival of three gods. The gods are out on a mission to seek if there are any
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good people left in the world. After a lot of wandering they find only greed, evil, dishonesty, and
selfishness. The same turns out to be true in Setzuan as well. Finally, they find some goodness in
Shen Teh, a young prostitute, who provided them shelter and comfort. Shen Teh is rewarded for
her hospitality, as the gods take it as a sure sign of goodness. They are extremely happy because
they have found a ‘good person’ and all is not lost. The gods rewarded her but simultaneously
intended to know whether Shen Teh can maintain to be good with the newfound means in the
long run. If she succeeds, the Gods’ confidence in humanity would be restored. At the beginning
Shen Teh started her business generously but soon she realized that people are taking advantage
of her kindness and she gives everything away. At one point, she created an alter ego in the name
of Shui Ta, a male cousin. In the effort of bringing the business profitable, Shui Ta made a lot of
enemies because of his hard, unpopular business decisions. This is Brecht’s nod to the capitalist
who has to make cold, calculated decisions that may not be popular but necessary for business
purposes. Incidentally, Shen Teh falls in love and becomes pregnant. She is betrayed and caught
crying in her room by one of the employees. As she is in disguise of Shui Ta, she is taken to the
court to prove the existence of Shen Teh. During the process of her trial, the gods appear in the
robes of the judges. Shui Ta reveals herself to the gods that Shui Ta is actually Shen Teh. She
explains being good has got her into trouble and therefore she had to create this alter ego to
survive. The gods then realize that they are confronted by the dilemma that their divine
intervention has caused: they have created impossible circumstances for those who wish to live
‘good’ lives; however, when it comes time to make a verdict, the gods refuse to intervene
directly to protect their followers from the vulnerability that results from this ‘being good’. The
gods leave without providing further guidance. This was Brecht's way of saying that God, or
gods or even religion was not the answer to society's problems. At the end, the narrator throws
the responsibility of finding a solution to the play's problem onto the shoulders of the audience. It
is for the spectator to figure out how a good person can possibly come to a good end in a world
that, in essence, is not good. The play relies on the assumption that the spectator will be moved
to see that the current structure of society must be changed in order to resolve the problem. That
is what Brecht hoped to achieve when writing this play.
Actually Brecht’s breakaway from Dramatic theatre and his exploration into Epic Theatre and
using of ‘Alienation Techniques’ have had universal ramifications. Jane De Gay notes Brecht’s
doctrine of alienation has been assimilated into drama productions ranging from New York’s
Broadway to England’s Stratford up to London’s West End, making it one of the most celebrated
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ideas in modern theatre (De Gay 86). The ‘Alienation Techniques’ not only have been successful
in Europe but also in the Far East as well, particularly, China. The idea to shock the audience
into a fresh perception of reality has become familiar with the main stream Chinese theatre. Tom
Le Clair stated, ‘Brecht referred to art as the medium that would further the great social task of
mastering life’ and added, ‘theatre was the most human of art because it represented human
activity with human activity and Epic theatre is the broadest and most far reaching attempt at
large scale modern theatre’ (Le Clair 51). Le Clair further added that Epic Theatre and
Alienation Techniques were its primary technique and both had a double function: extend
representation of life and through abstract situation, make the play strange and unfamiliar. This
allows the audience to distance itself from the play. Le Clair also noted that Brecht wanted the
audience to respond ‘both intellectually and emotionally with a free and highly mobile mind’ (Le
Clair 52). Epskamp also stated that many theatre directors including Augusto Boal, a Brazilian
theatre director used Brecht’s progressive theatre techniques, including Alienation Techniques.
Boas was also successful from keeping the public from identifying themselves too much with the
characters. Epskamp also discovered that Brecht wanted a form of drama and theatre that would
stimulate an increased sense of political awareness in the mind of the spectator and his own
situation in society amidst recession, unemployment and rising fascism. (Epskamp13). Besides,
SyRen Quah, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, wrote that he was deeply influenced by
Brecht. He stated: ‘the discovery of Brecht had a forceful impact on Gao’ (Quah 27). He added
in the spirit of Brecht, other Chinese dramatists were able to explore different modes of
representation.
‘Brecht’s ‘Epic Theatre’ revolutionized the theatre by creating radical breaks from traditional
literary and theatrical form and were done to facilitate radical social change’(Squires 1).
Specifically, Squires added ‘Brecht designed his epic theatre as a revolutionary aesthetic which
would help bring about the advent of a Marxist revolution.’ (Squires 1). However, if there is
anyone criticism that can be leveled against Brecht in his quest of using alienation effects in his
dramas, it is the absence of actual data collected to understand if the audience response has been
successful or not. However, it must be kept in mind, since this is not empirical data but
subjective data, it is very difficult to quantify, if not impossible to formulate the audience's
reactions. Squires lends more to this writing, ‘it is unfortunate, that there isn't substantial,
empirical data about the effectiveness of the particular estrangement effects that Brecht himself
employed.’ (Squires 127). One of Brecht's critics, the French Philosopher, playwright and
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literary critic, Jean-Paul Sartre seem to indicate that Brecht’s particular techniques were doing
what his theory says they should have been doing. However, Sartre never analyzed or discussed
with real audience members their reactions after particular performances. Instead he spoke about
Brecht and his work abstractly. Nevertheless, Sartre saw performances of the Berliner Ensemble
and therefore it is probably a fair assumption that their conclusions about Brecht were at least
somewhat rooted in the empirics of their own experiences. (Squires 128).
The main view of the present study is to determine the main ‘Alienation Techniques’ Brecht
utilized that made The Good Woman of Setzuan succeed in sending out a social message to the
audience. That is, by what means was Brecht successful in making the audience question the
merits of the play and allowing their reasoning rather than their emotions, reach a conclusion
about what is the definition and perception of Good. To understand Epic theatre and its
techniques of ‘Alienation Effects’, it is necessary to see how it differs from Traditional or
Dramatic Theatre.
DRAMATIC THEATRE vs. EPIC THEATRE

Dramatic Theatre is plotted Epic Theatre is narrated
Implicates the spectator in a stage situation Turns the spectator into an observer
Suggestion Argument
Audience is involved Audience only observes
Unalterable human being He is being altered
Thinking determines being Social being determines thinking
One scene after another Each scene for itself
(Le Clair 51)
Whereas Traditional theatre was more interested in entertaining the audience, Brecht viewed
theatre as part of an enlightenment project, not just mere entertainment. He wanted theatre to
force judgment and lead to social action. The present study will visualize the three main types of
‘Alienation Techniques’ employed by Brecht in The Good Woman of Setzuan.
First, Brecht applied the use of a narrator throughout the play. The primary reason he did this
was to make sure the audience always knew that they were watching a drama. He did not want
them to fall in love with a certain character or get carried away by presence of expensive and
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glamorous sets and props. Though he valued the importance of entertainment, his primary
objective was to send a social message and to destroy the theatrical illusion; in theory, Brecht’s
plays are ‘anti-illusionistic.’ This can be seen as a reaction to theatre of the late nineteenth
century, with its emphasis on entertainment and spectacle, realism or escapist entertainment
which Brecht referred to as farce and melodrama (Carney 128).
He also initiated direct involvement with the audience through characters who step out of their
roles to function as commentators. This is illustrated by the character Wang, who is a water seller
in The Good Woman of Setzuan. He opens the play by describing the first scene as well as later
scenes when explanations are required. Another example of a character talking directly to the
audience is when ShenTe talks to the audience explaining her feelings for her lover Yang Sun, an
unemployed man. (Brecht 35).
In epic theatre scenes are detached from each other. Brecht stated that ‘words, music and setting
must become more independent of one another’ (Brecht 38) and that epic theatre required ‘the
separation of the different elements’ (Brecht 85). So for Brecht, epic theatre consisted of many
independent parts or pieces. These pieces include, for example, musical elements, lighting
effects, written texts, projections, scenes, words, sounds, etc. Other methods involved using stage
props, charts, slides and messages which flashed across screens. One of the unique
characteristics of epic theatre is that unlike traditional or Natural theatres, the lights in the
auditorium would never be turned off even after the play has commenced. The audience was
made to purposely watch the entire play with the auditorium lights turned on. Again, the
reasoning is they are constantly being reminded that they were watching a play. In addition,
Brecht would leave visible stage machinery (expose the technology of theatre) in the setting of
the plays. This was seen in The Good Woman of Setzuan where the orchestra that plays the music
is exposed to the audience. In traditional theatres the musicians are in the background or hidden
from the view of the audience. Here their presence is highlighted and fully exposed. And, simply
to constantly remind the audience they were watching a play. Brecht also used characters that
performed double roles. This unique aspect of dual characters was seen in The Good Woman of
Setzuan through the characters of Shen Teh and Shui Ta. They are actually both the same person
and come at different points of the play wearing their individual masks. Masks and costumes are
very important in all of Brecht’s plays, giving the play its unique, pantomimic visual effect.
The second ‘Alienation Technique’ used by Brecht in the introduction of songs and music with
the purpose of sending out social messages. In Brecht’s epic theatre it is the use of songs which
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interrupt the dramatic action and therefore enhance the identification of the audience with the
characters played by musicians visible to the audience. This is a true example of Epic Theatre.
Being a Marxist with Socialist leanings, Brecht was not a fan of the Bourgeois (middle class)
society. He viewed the Bourgeois as corrupt which fed upon the weaknesses of the labor class,
the Proletariat (working class). One of the songs that discuss his views about the class struggle is
the Song of Defenselessness. As the protagonist Shen Teh enters the stage carrying the mask
representing Shui Ta, her alter ego, she sings:
‘In our country

A useful man needs luck
Only if he finds strong backers
Can he prove himself useful.
The good can’t defend themselves and
Even the gods are defenseless.
Oh, why don't the gods have their own ammunition
Give bread to each city and joy to each dwelling?
Oh, why don't the gods do the buying and selling?’ (Brecht 50)
In these stanzas, Brecht laments through Shen Teh, the current, despicable status of today’s
society and the hardship the lower classes live through. Religion is not the answer because ‘even
the Gods are defenseless’ (Brecht 50). It is seen that through this song, Brecht reiterates the line
‘why don’t the gods do the buying and selling?’ (Brecht 50). In other words, Capitalism has
corrupted all the good institutions leaving the poor destitute and Godless. Also, Brecht’s
repetition of this line is used to emphasize its importance. Brecht associates ‘injustice’ and
‘starvation’ with ‘buying and selling’. By ‘buying and selling’, Brecht seems to be alluding to
the market capitalism his audience is familiar with. In this song then, Shen Teh makes an appeal
against the injustice of market capitalism as a vehicle of economic distribution. He remarked
Market capitalism hurt people because of its competitive nature. This is evidenced in the line
‘The good can’t defend themselves.’ (Brecht 50). Even the gods cannot defend themselves
against the Capitalists who control everything. Shen Teh then puts the mask on and sings: ‘You
can only help one of your luckless brothers, by trampling down a dozen others...’ (Brecht 51).
Shen The’s alter ego, the capitalist minded Shui Ta continues the theme of competition; so unlike
Shen Teh, Shui Ta does not lament the injustice around him and has no problem with capitalism.
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This is as explained before one of the unique aspects of alienation effects where Brecht uses dual
characters to promote two opposite philosophies. Whereas Brecht uses Shen Teh to say
capitalism is bad, he uses Shui Ta to say capitalism may be good and necessary. Importantly, he
wants the audience to decide what is considered good and what is considered bad. So, in this
play, it is seen Shui Ta accepts and embraces the idea of competition. Shui Ta is accepting of the
idea that dozens can be trampled for the advent of industry and free market (Bartram 31). This
was a hot debate in Brecht’s time and it is still continues to be so today, particularly in
developing as well as less developing countries where labor may be exploited for specific
industries such as garments industry. But like Shui Ta, many industrialists today may counter
that it is because of capitalism that employment has been generated for the mass, who otherwise
would have remained unemployed and secondly, these countries have received unprecedented
foreign exchange for the export of these garments which help turn the wheels of economy.
A second important song in the play is The Song of the Water Seller in the Rain. This is sung by
one of the characters, Wang, who is a water seller by profession. He was also the characters that
open the play by addressing the audience:
‘Buy my water I am yelling,

And my fury restraining,
For no water I'm selling
‘Cause it’s raining, cause it’s raining’ (Brecht 37)
Through this song, Brecht personified the futility of the human spirit. It is ironic to be selling
water when it is raining, and therefore it represents the futility of being in a profession that
supplies something for which there is no demand. He used this also to pinpoint the status of
Wang, the water seller similar to that of the lower class as both have nothing to offer that is in
demand to the Bourgeois society. The greater message is society does not have time or cares
about something that cannot give them economic value. There must be a financial benefit to have
the attention of the masses. The fact we live in a highly materialistic world, where currency
dictates emotion was the message Brecht was attempting to share through this song (Demetz 42).
A third song The Song of the Eighth Elephant also had an important message which Brecht
wanted to share with is audience and readers:
‘…and the seven elephants hadn't any tusks
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the one that had the tusks was Little Brother
Seven are no match for one, if one has a gun’ (Brecht 84).
The message that Brecht wanted to send out here was even if one had the backing of a large
group, if that person did not have power than it did not matter. It was power or in this case, the
gun which dictated what was to be done. In other words, he was referring to concept of ‘might is
right’. Despite hard work, the end game is determined by those in power. Again, this is going
back to his previous message that the Capitalist who were few in number ruled the mass because
they had the power. They had the gun or the whip. Power allowed them to control the labor
classes who despite their huge numbers were defenseless against the ones holding the gun.
These topics and messages were primarily more significant during the times of Brecht’s life as
he witnessed the atrocities and devastation of WW II through the actions of Adolf Hitler through
his Third Reich, Italy's Benito Mussolini, Russia’s Josef Stalin, Great Britain's Winston
Churchill coupled with other European powers and later, the Americans. It was the common
people who were devastatingly affected and left crippled mentally and physically. No one was
spared. Brecht’s message here was clear and concise - he wanted to shine the light on what
power in the hands of a few can do if not checked by the mass. Hence he is leaning towards
Socialism.
The third and final ‘Alienation Technique’ is the use of epilogue in The Good Woman of
Setzuan. An epilogue is simply a small chapter or page, after the main parts of the book or play
has been completed which carries very pertinent information. For Brecht, it is one of the most
integral parts of this play. It is here that he cleverly asks the audience how they would to end the
play. In other words, Brecht does not write an ending but instead asks the audience to make their
own. This is one of the most interested aspects of ‘Alienation Techniques’ used by Brecht. This
is no easy task because there are difficult points to consider, ponder and everyone has their own
views and opinions. This is where the genius of Bertolt Brecht rises to the occasion. All his
efforts through the play of leading, suggesting, tormenting the audience finally ends up here
when he teases the audience to come up with the way this story should end. He knew there was
no right or wrong answer and even illustrates this dilemma through his protagonist, Shen Teh
who admits when asked by the gods to stay good:
‘But to be good to others
And myself at the same time
I could not do it,
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Your world is not an easy one, illustrious ones!
When we extend our hand to a beggar, he tears it off for us
When we help the lost, we are lost ourselves
And so Since not to eat is to die
Who can long refuse to be bad?
As I lay prostrate beneath the weight of good intentions
Ruin stared me in the face…’ (Brecht 107- 108).
Here Brecht illustrated the difficulty of being good and staying good in any society. Shen Teh
continues with the line ‘It has torn me in two’ (Brecht 107). This line is perhaps the most
poignant line in the entire play. It is symbolic in many aspects. It represents the class struggle
between the bourgeois and the working class, the struggles between good and evil, the conflict
between man and woman, the mistrust between neighbors, and the list is endless.
Conclusion
Alluding to the devastation and social disorder as a result of Second World War, Brecht believed
that fragile and conditions of human beings were by no means a permanent reality and that under
the right conditions things could be changed for the better. This was truly his Marxist belief. He
used Epic theatre as an attempt to create the necessary conditions for such change to happen. As
Brecht states, ‘the purpose of our investigation was not merely to arouse moral misgivings about
certain conditions... The purpose of our investigation was to make visible the means by which
those onerous conditions could be done away with’ (Bartram 33). Brecht was not content to
simply complain about the conditions of economic exploitation. His conscious led him to create
the necessary groundwork for them to change through his work, particularly his dramas. Brecht
used ‘Alienation Techniques’ to turn the audience into observers, while arousing their capacity
for action and forcing them to take decisions for social betterment. His aim was not for the sake
of just providing entertainment and creating emotions but to awaken the spectators’ minds and
send a message to them. In order to achieve this end, he believed drama must not hypnotize the
audience but must continually remind them that what they are watching is not real, but merely a
representation of a vehicle for an idea or a cause. He concluded his play with the epilogue that
leaves the audience to answer how the play should end as well as ask what actually the definition
of Good is. It can be mentioned that Brecht’s efforts to use ‘Alienation Techniques’ have
succeeded to a large degree to excite the minds of his audience, because even after several years
of writing of The Good Woman of Setzuan, the debate of the definition of Goodness still rages
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on. We are still nowhere near an answer and Bertolt Brecht is enjoying every minute of this,
watching us from where ever he is.
References:
Brecht, Bertolt. Good Woman of Setzuan, London: Penguin Books Limited, 1947.
Bartram, Graham. and Anthony Edward Waine. Brecht in Perspective, London: Longman, 1982.
Brecht, Bertolt. and John Willett. Brecht on theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic, New
York: Hill and Wang, 1992.
Carney, Sean. Brecht and critical theory: Dialectics and contemporary aesthetics, London:
Routledge, 2005.
De Gay, Jane. The Routledge Reader in Politics & Performance, London: Routledge, 2002.
Demetz, Peter. Brecht: A Collection of critical essays. Twentieth century views, New Jersey:
Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 1962.
Epskamp, Kees. Theatre for Development: An Introduction Vol I, New York: Zed Books, 2006.
Esslin, Martin. Brecht-The Man and His Works, New York: Doubleday & company, Inc., 1961.
Krasner, David. Theatre in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology, Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.,
2008.
Le Clair, Tom. The Art of Excess: Mastery in Contemporary American Fiction, Chicago:
University of Illinois Press, 1989.
Quah, SyRen. Gao Xianjian and Transcultural Chinese Theatre, Hawaii: University of Hawaii
Press, 2004.
Squires, Anthony. The Social and Political Philosophy of Bertolt Brecht, Diss. Michigan:
Western Michigan U, 2012.
Willet, John. The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht: A Study from Eight Aspects, London: Methuen &
Co. Ltd., 1959.
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International Research Journal of Humanities, Language and Literature

Vol. 3, Issue 7, July 2016 IF- 3.558 ISSN: (2394-1642)

‘ALIENATION TECHNIQUES’ IN BERTOLT BRECHT’S THE GOOD

Md. Jahidul Azad

DRAMATIC THEATRE vs. EPIC THEATRE

(Le Clair 51)

‘In our country

‘Buy my water I am yelling,

‘…and the seven elephants hadn't any tusks

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