The Good Woman of Setzuan
Character sketch of ‘Shen Te’
‘Shen Te’ is the central character around which Bertolt Brecht’s epic play ‘The Good Woman of Setzuan’ is written. This female character disguises itself during half of the play as Shui Ta, a male. Through this character, Brecht presents his most famous dramatic technique of split personality that becomes a medium to present conflict between reason and instinct, morality and reality. Thus, the split character of Shen Te and Shui Ta serve as a model to explain Brecht’s themes of social injustices.
Shen Te is introduced as a “good woman” who is a prostitute by profession. The conflict begins from this moment as the playwright shows an individual can retain good moralities even after being in a socially unapproved profession. Shen Te is generous, kind and helpful to everyone, irrespective of their class or creed. When the gods stay at her place, their faith is restored in humanity. But at the same time, the gods don’t want others to know that they stayed at a prostitute’s room, as the “incident is open to misinterpretations”.
Through Shen Te/Shui Ta, Brecht has made a “division within the same person” of humane vs inhumane and kind vs cruel. The play is of “disguise, survival, and self-improvement” and Shen Te has to pass through a journey of ups and downs throughout the play. She tries to retain her goodness while 1) helping her neighbour, 2) helping her lover, and 3) protecting her son from the cruel world. But because people take advantage of her good nature, she has to create an alter ego of Shui Ta. The two characters are completely different yet help each other through various events.
Shen Te takes multiple roles in the play: she is a prostitute, a shopkeeper, a lover, and a mother. In every role, Shen Te is required to have a different set of virtues and vices. As a shopkeeper, she must know how to make profits but as a lover she surrenders herself completely to Yang Sun. Later one, as a mother she wants to become ferocious to ensure her child’s happiness. All her weaknesses as a woman get covered when she turns into Shui Ta. Her pity, generosity, love and passion, take a backseat, and Shui Ta’s pragmatism leads her life.
As Shui Ta, “the good woman of Setzuan” becomes rough and strict. Shui Ta is only concerned about his profits and gains. He does not care about people and circumstances. He is firm and stern in his decisions. He helps in making Shen Te’s small tobacco shop into a big profit-making factory. This indirectly helps the people of the city in getting jobs. Hence, Shen Te is able to continue her charity only through the materialistic gains created by Shui Ta. Though both are absolutely different from one another, they help each other sustain in the world.
Brecht shows that if circumstances allow, every individual can be a good person. But it is the surroundings that force people to take up bad attributes. Shen Te was innately a good human being but she had to take up many vices in order to sustain her life in the world. This is why, in the end, the gods do not punish Shen Te. They praise “the good woman of Setzuan” and leave for the heavens after learning about the truth of Shui Ta. Shen Te is not a heroic character but neither Shui Ta is a villain.
The psychological conflicts of playing a split character can be understood from the song that Shen Te sings in Scene 4a. She is shown walking with Shui Ta’s mask and singing that “the good can’t defend themselves and even the gods are defenseless”. And then, just as she puts on Shui Ta’s mask, she admits that “you can only help one of your luckless brothers by trampling down a dozen others”. This shows that Shen Te is slowly learning the harsh realities although she wants to remain kind and gentle.
Brecht presents the story of every human being through the struggles of Shen Te. The playwright shows that people are capable of being good and doing good. If the situations can be altered, if the world can be made into a better place, every person can become good and kind.
Authored by VedicaBloggers
