Why two people?

In Bertolt Brecht's play, The Good Woman of Setzuan, we are introduced to a prostitute named Shen Te. At the beginning, we see that Shen Te is very kind and she basically lets people run over her. She does everything to please others including allowing many of her relatives to come in and stay in her very small and crowded tobacco shop. But, then she sort of disappears and a new character is introduced -- Shui Ta, her cousin. Shui Ta comes in and sort of just takes control of everything and is basically the complete opposite of Shen Te. Later, when Shui Ta is accused of murdering Shen Te and trying to take over her business, we see him confess that he is Shen Te. Shen Te had simply dressed and created an alter-ego. But, why?

On page 103, Shen Te gives this long explanation as to why she fabricated the story of having a cousin. She says, to the Gods,

"But to be good to others/And myself at the same time/I could not do
it/Your
world is not an easy one, illustrious ones!/When we extend our hand
to a
beggar, he tears it off 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?"

Through this, Brecht tells what I believe is the whole point of his play. No one can avoid being bad. Even if someone tries to be perfect and good, something inside of them is always going to be bad. People are always going to somehow be prideful, lust what others have, and lie to get their way. As the story developed, it was hard to understand why Brecht would choose to make one woman seem crazy by having two personalities but then I realized what he was trying to do. I believe that his use of an alter ego was his way of using satire to prove a point. Although at first I didn't understand the satire in it, I then understood that it was that people have to create different personalities to live in the world. We don't need two personalities though. Everyone has both already. Sure most people prefer to be "good" rather than "bad" but everyone has their moments. The purpose of this play was to show that there aren't just bad people and just good people. Everyone has a little of each inside of them, you just have to accept it and learn to live with it to survive in this world.

Works Cited:
Brecht, Bertolt, and Eric Bentley. The Good Woman of Setzuan. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota, 1999. Print.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariannameli/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Alter Ego

Bertolt Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuah introduced a very confused, yet determined character. Shen Te, the prostitute whom the gods have deemed the only “good” person in the world, seems to have the problem of being too good. She is unable to deny those who need assistance, even though they take advantage of her goodness. Throughout the play, not once does Shen Te display any aggravation or complain about giving everything she's worked for to those less fortunate; she helps everyone to the best of her ability without hesitation. Shen Te's cousin, Shui Ta, on the other hand, is not bad, but he is rash: He does what he feels is necessary and logical in order to help his Shen Te. It is not until the end of the play, however, that we come to know that Shui Ta is really Shen Te in disguise.


When Shui Ta reveals himself as Shen Te to the gods in the courtroom, the gods are still convinced that she is good. Even when she confesses:

SHEN TE: … I am she!... Shen Te, yes. Shui Ta and Shen Te. Both./ Your injunction/ To be good and yet to live/ Was a thunderbolt:/ It has torn me in two/ I can't tell how it was/ But to be good to others/ And myself at the same time/ I could not do it/ 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/ Fuin stared me in the face/ It was when I was unjust that I ate good meat.../ Why are bad deeds rewarded?/ Good ones punished?/ I enjoy giving/ I truly wished to be the Angel of the Slums.../ The time came when pity was a thorn in my side/ And, later, when kind workds turned to ashes in my mouth. And anger took over/ I became a wolf/ Find me guilty, then, illustrious ones.../ For your great, godly deeds, I was too poor, too small. (102).

Shen Te is trying to explain that no one can be good because it is too hard on them. Helping others is good, but you can only help so many and for so long. This is why Shen Te came up with an alter ego: Shui Ta. Because she would disguise herself as Shui Ta, she was able to release some of the anxiety that she dealt with as Shen Te. Also, as Shui Ta, she was able to preserve some of what Shen Te had worked hard for herself without ruining the good image she had as Shen Te. Even then, the gods accept Shen Te and her alter ego and head back to heaven to announce that there is a good person in the world and leave her, only advising that she not use Shui Ta so often.

This whole episode was meant to show that there are good people, but people are also self absorbed. The gods understand this, and this is why they did not reprimand Shen Te. Her intentions were good, but she could not get past the fact that she herself needed things too. A good person is one who puts other before themselves, which Shen Te did, but she could not keep it up which is why she concocted the alter ego of Shui Ta. Either the gods saw nothing wrong with this, or they were exhausted in searching the world for a good person and settled for Shen Te.


Work Cited
Brecht, Bertolt, and Eric Bentley. The Good Woman of Setzuan. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota, 1999. Print.