Test

In the play The good woman of Setzuan written by Bertolt Brecht we see how the gods that appear in this play put people up to do to some things that are so tough for humans to handle. Throughout our whole lives many people worship their gods with all their will. In this play we see how the people are so helpful that the gods could help them with whatever problems it is that they have. The gods first expect for the humnas to work for what they want.
“Well, um, good-will. for instance, might do instead of love?" (80).
The gods sent Shen Te to carry their book of rules across a river and make sure it didn't get wet. In this quote wong is expressing his opinion on what the gods are doing to Shen Te. Wong is asking them to find a better way to care for Shen Te then to make her have to carry the heavy rule book. Wong feels like if the gods are testing Shen Te a little to hard. Just like sometimes us humans feel like god has given up on us but it is all just a test of our faith for him. Wong wonders if there is a simpler way that Shen Te could serve the gods instead of this punishment. Sometimes we as humans look up to the heavens and ask god "Why to me?" the true is that he is always testing us and no matter what the punishment that he gives us we should just put up with it and look forward cause after every hardship there is a great satisfaction. God will never give up on us and he would not test us to hard if he knew that we couldn’t handle it. Sometimes instead of asking why we should look up and thank him for everything that he has provided to us.
Brecht, Bertolt. The Good Woman of Setzuan. New York: Grove, 1966. Print.

Was an Alter Ego Needed?

After reading the play The Good Woman of Setzuan by Bertolt Brecht I have a better understanding of what satire is. What seems to be the main satirized idea in this play is that it’s impossible to be a good person because people will take advantage of you. Shen Te, the protagonist of this play, believes this so in order to keep committing good deeds she develops an alter ego, Shui Ta that does what’s necessary to protect Shen Te from those that want to take advantage of her.

The reason I think being a good person is what’s being satirized in this play is that I don’t believe that just because you don’t let people take advantage of you means you’re a bad person. I think its possible to have good people who help others but at the same time know how to protect themselves. However, this isn’t what Shen Te believed; she thought that if she wasn’t selfless and thought about herself once in a while she was a bad person. For example, when she came upon money she just handed it out left and right. When I think about her doing that I don’t think about her being a good person, I think about her dumb and squandering her money. This is a very foolish way to use her money because, beside the obvious reasons, she could be using that money to invest it and create more of it. By generating more money she could her more people. But Shen Te doesn’t think about this, she thinks that if she doesn’t extend her hand to the needy right away she’s being a bad person.

In order to balance some of those “good” deeds she made she created Shui Ta, which, like Kersia explained in her blog, isn’t a bad person, he only does what he feels is necessary and logical in order to help Shen Te. It wasn’t long, however, before she confessed the truth.

SECOND GOD: What have you done with our good woman of

Setzuan?

SHUI TA: I have a terrible confession to make: I am she!

SECOND GOD: Shen Te!

SHEN TE: 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 to not eat is to die/ Who can long refuse to be bad? (102)

After doing some research I found evidence that explained Shen Te’s multiple personality disorder. In the article “split Personality” a Rapidly Growing Psychotic Disorder I found that “Typically a patient's primary identity has the person's own given name and is passive, dependent, guilty and depressed. Meanwhile, other personalities - or alters - that surface at different times are more likely to be hostile, controlling and self-destructive.” This exactly how it is with Shen Te. She herself was too giving, too selfless, so she created a more hostile, more controlling alter ego to defend her true self. If she hadn’t thought that not letting people take advantage of her meant that she was a bad person Shen Te wouldn’t have had to create this alter ego.

Work Cited

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

"split Personality€ a Rapidly Growing Psychotic Disorder." Free Articles Directory | Submit Articles - ArticlesBase.com. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .

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

The Woman Behind the Mask

If I were to say the word mask, what would be the first thought that comes to your mind? If words like hide, conceal, and protect came to your mind, then I'd have to say you were fishing in the right pond. Looking at Bertolt Brecht's The Good Women of Setzuan, we look at characters, Shen Te and Shui Ta, who are synonymous, Shen Te being a woman and Shui Ta being a "man". As the reader, throughout the play, we are aware that the two are the same people, while the characters in the play are ingnorant of this fact. In the novel, Shen Te uses a mask as a means of stepping out of her admirable shell and stepping into a character that allows her to indulge in less saint like behaviors and take on the characteristics a selfish person. It's the accepted view that the purpose of a mask is to hide, protect, or conceal a person's identity.
In the play, I found it ironic that Shen Te wears a mask to hide her identity and ends up pregnant, which is impossible for the man, Shui Ta, which she pretends to be, so it becomes only a matter of time before she is found out. Looking back at the play, the text says:

SHUI TA: I'm dizzy.
MRS. SHIN: After all, you are in your seventh month. But old Mrs. Shin will be there in your hour of trial!
SHUI TA: Can I count on that?
MRS. SHIN: We all have our price, and mine won't be too high for the great Mr. Sui Ta!
SHUI TA: It's for the child's sake. All of this.
MRS. SHIN: "All for the child," of course.
SHUI TA: I'm so fat. People must notice.

When looking at Shen Te's situation, it made me think that she has a multiple personality disorder, which is a condition where a person exhibits multiple distinct or discrete personalities. In Shen Te's situation, the multiple peronalities are directly linked to the mask that she uses to change her persona and become Shui Ta. From the beginning of the play we see Shen Te in her attempt to be the most admirable person possible, but after seeing that it is impossible to be congenial all the time, Shen Te resolves to becoming her alter ego, Shui Ta.
But when does a mask cease to work? From a religious stand point, I don't think it's ok to pose as something you're not and sooner or later, what's done in the dark will come to the light.


Work Cited
"Dissociative Identity Disorder" Wikipedia. 17 April 2010. Wikipedia Foundation, Incorporated. 19 April 2010.

Brecht, Bertolt. The Good Woman Of Setzuan. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1948.

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.

Who Is Good?

Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan is a very humorous play. The idea of three gods in search of a good person in order to prove that religion still exists is hilarious, especially when the gods say that this dispute is being held in heaven as well. What raised the bar, however, is the fact that the only “good” person they can find in several towns is a prostitute and she is the one that is giving the gods hope that there are good people still in the world. The whole idea of a prostitute carrying out gods will makes for a good plot, especially when the gods know her profession.
FIRST GOD: ... You proved that good people still exist, a point that has been disputed as of late—even in heaven.

SHEN TE: Stop, illustrious ones! I’m not sure you’re right. I’d like to be good, it’s true, but there’s the rent to pay. And that’s not all: I sell myself for a living... I should love to stay with one man. But how? How is it done? Even breaking a few of you commandments, I hardly manage.

FIRST GOD (clearing his throat): These thoughts are but, um, the misgivings of an unusually good woman! (10)

It is as if the first god wishes to quickly leave before they find out that Shen Te is not a good woman after all; they’re willing to settle for “good enough” and quickly leave before they can change their minds. Then they are stopped and obligated to give her money, even though it is not allowed of gods. The first god, after throwing money in her hands, that “...there’s no law against it! It was never decreed that a god musn’t pay hotel bills!” (11).

The satire continues as we are introduced to characters who are only concerned about themselves. Shen Te does good with the money, although she is often accused of letting people walk all over her. She decides to invest in a tobacco shop (apparently people need their cigarettes when the economy’s down). When Shen Te needs someone to vouch for her reputation, a lady off the street helps her concoct a “cousin” to put all the weight of the business on. But Shui Ta, the invented cousin, turns up on the doorstep of the tobacco shop. He turns out to be very harsh compared to Shen Te and ends up kicking them all out just to have Shen Te welcome them back with open arms soon after.

This is a funny play that can go in any direction. Shen Te does appear to be good, but I wonder what will happen when she marries. She claims that she is in love, but she only just met the man. When she was under the tree with Yang Sun, he caressed her cheek and said,” You’re easily satisfied, I must say” (36). Shen Te is good in the eyes of the gods right now, but she may not be able to keep it up for long.

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

Don't Be Prejudiced

Something that has really been frustrating me about the play we are currently reading, The Good Woman of Setzuan, by Bertolt Brecht is that I don’t understand the satire that it presents. I think that part of this is due because I tend to associate satire with comedy. Although satire can be comic it isn’t all the time; also what I think is comic depends on my own personal taste.

So basically, as I’ve been reading the play, I’ve been looking for examples of satires. The only one I’ve recognized, though, is the one that Susan pointed before we started reading the play: how Wong the water seller of Setzuan is looking for a good person to take the Gods in for a night and that good person ends up being a prostitute, Shen Te.

This is a satire because the author is showing us through irony how people are stupid in having a preconceived idea of what a good person is. Unfortunately society tags people and places them into very broad categories, two of these are good and bad. People like prostitutes are classified into the bad category. However, its unfair to tag someone as being a bad person simply because they live this kind of life style. Sure, you could argue that even if they are extremely poor they could find other ways to make money, but that still doesn’t make it ok to judge them without even knowing them. The following scene proves that Shen Te, in spite of being a prostitute is a good person:

WONG: Godless rascal! Have you no religion, gentleman of Setzuan? Patience, illustrious ones! There’s on ly one person left. Shen Te the protitute. She can’t say no. Shen Te! Shen Te, it’s Wong. They’re here, and nobody wants them. Will you take them?

SHEN TE: Oh no, Wong, I’m expecting a gentleman…Oh very well! I’ll hide till my gentleman has come and gone. Then I’ll take them. (8)

Wong the water seller meets the Gods when they are entering the city of Setzuan. They tell him that they need a place to stay and Wong says

WONG: The whole town is at your service. (6)

However, Wong asks many people to take in the Gods and they all decline. Shen Te on the contrary accepts. She also does this in spite of having to work. She knows that she has to work in order to eat but she chooses to not send the Gods away. Now that we know this we can easily see how Shen Te is a great person in spite of being a prostitute. This shows us that we should never judge a person before we get to know them.

Works Cited

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