Q.

Discuss Shui Ta as Shen Te’s ‘alter ego’ in Bertolt Brecht’s The Good
Woman of Setzuan. Or, Character Analysis of Shui Ta Or Describe the theme
of greed and capitalism in Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan.

The Good Woman of Setzuan is a masterpiece of modern theatre, written by

German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht during his exile in Scandinavia.
With its powerful thought-provoking exploration of themes such as morality,
social responsibility and the corrupting influence of capitalism, this play
continues to captivate the audiences around the world. The protagonist of the
play Shen Te, a young woman forced into prostitution by poverty who is
rewarded by three visiting gods for her hospitality and kindness. As she
struggles to maintain her goodness, she is forced to adopt a persona of her
ruthless cousin Mr. Shui Ta, in order to survive in the harsh society.

The term alter ego in Latin means ‘second I’. It suggests the hidden side of one’s
own self. In The Good Woman of Setzuan, we find this phenomena in Shen Te
who is forced to unleash her other side just to cope the constraints of
contemporary society. Shen Te creates an alter ego of her cousin Shui Ta who
embodies an imposing, practical, and unapologetic trait in contrast to Shen Te’s
meek and self-denying nature. Despite Shen Te’s aversion to embodying Shui Ta,
she acknowledges that she requires her “bad cousin” to ensure her survival.
Through the portrayal of Shen Te and Shui Ta as dual characters, Brecht
presents the argument that women, in a world where their voices are
disregarded and agency is denied, must resort to creating dual identities to
assert themselves and be heard.

When Shen Te purchases a tobacco shop by using the gods’ reward with the
intention to help poor, many arrive to exploit her generosity such as The former
owner of the shop, Mrs. Shin, comes and blames Shen Te, even though Shen Te
had bought the shop from her. Upon hearing about Shen Te’s good fortune,
other characters, including husband, wife, nephew, wife’s brother, sister-in-law,
grandfather, uncle, auntie, unemployed man and the carpenter arrive at the
shop to take advantage of the situation. When the landlady, Mrs. Mi Tzu,
demands a series of “male references,” Shen Te claims that a distant cousin of
hers can serve as a reference. When Mrs. Mi Tzu insists on meeting Shui Ta,
Shen Te disguises herself as the imposing cousin and he (Shen Te disguised as
Shui Ta) “arrives” at the shop one morning to evict the family that has been
squatting there, negotiate with a nasty and greedy carpenter attempting to
extort money from Shen Te, and deals with Mrs. Mi Tzu’s demands to alleviate
the pressure on Shen Te. Shui Ta’s remark towards the family, “this is a tobacco
shop, not a gold mine,” vividly illustrates the greedy nature of capitalist society,
where others attempt to exploit those who possess even a small favor from the
gods.

As Shen Te transforms herself in Shui ta, she follows her brain rather than heart.
This is vivid when Shen Te willingly agrees to sell her tobacco shop for her lover
Yung Sun, as she asserts, “I want to go with the man I love / I don’t want to
count the cost”. Even she gives him two hundred silver dollars that the old
couple loans her so that he can pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. But Shen
Te’s this perception changes rapidly when she transforms herself in Shui ta,
refuses to sell the tobacco shop and asking Yung sun to “leave two hundred
silver dollars until you(Yung Sun) can show me(Shui Ta) two tickets for
Peking”. Shen Te’s remark “my cousin can’t be where I am” the irreconcilable
nature of logic and emotion, implying that they are destined to be estranged
from one another. Eventually, when Shen Te brings her alter ego, she becomes
ruthless and dominant being. This is vivid when Shui Ta refuses to become
Wong’s witness and repulses the old woman from her tobacco factory. At this
point, Brecht illustrates how Shui Ta becomes a way for Shen Te to unleash her
inner frustrations and the “bad” parts of her own personality.

To pursue the formulae of goodness given by the gods, Shen Te had to pursue
her ruthless alter ego of Shui Ta. However Brecht portrays how the unforgiving
and capitalist society manages to evoke tears even from Shui Ta, who had never
cried before, underlining the profound impact of the harsh reality on his
emotions. At the end of the play, when finally Shen Te reveals her other side to
the gods and the ‘bad’ this she had to pursue to survive, gods merely state it as
a thought of ‘confused’ mind and allow her to embrace her alter ego once a
month, recognizing the harsh reality that one cannot survive solely by being
good in society marked by greed, evil and dishonesty.
In conclusion, Bertolt Brecht’s “The Good Woman of Setzuan” presents a
thought-provoking exploration of the complexities of human nature through the
character of Shui Ta, Shen Te’s alter ego. As the play unfolds, Shui Ta’s
emergence as a ruthless persona to cope with the demands of a harsh capitalist
society highlights the moral dilemmas faced by individuals striving to uphold
goodness amidst adversity. Ultimately, the play suggests that the pursuit of
goodness, despite its impossibility, is more important than achieving it.