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.

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Two personalities

In the novel, Palace Walk, by Naguib Mahfouz, we are first introduced to the devoted Amina. She is a housewife who praises the Qur'an, as well as her husband. Everyday she makes sure the house is clean and in the condition her husband likes it to be. Until now, there is nothing bad to mention about her because she is always on top of things. In the contrary, her husband, Mr. Ahmad, is nothing but a brutal human being who over uses his power on his family. He is portrayed as "so wealthy, strong, and handsome" by his wife, but there is only a small amount of trust we can give to a devoted wife like Amina. She only speaks positive about him. The person we can give more trust to is Mr. Ahmad himself.
While he got a visit from shaykh, we got a better sense of his personality, or personalities. We discovered that Mr. Ahmad, in fact, does have the ability to show respect towards others. He praised the shaykh and only spoke when the shaykh addressed him (38). Mr. Ahmad exposed himself opposite from he was at home. As the narrator wrote:

“The truth was dreaded and feared only in his own family. With everyone else- friends, acquaintances, and customers- he was a different person. He received his shared of respect and esteem but above all else he was loved. He was loved for the charm of his personality more than for any of his many other fine characteristics. His acquaintances did not know what he was like at home. The members of his family did not know him as others did? (36).

Nobody, but him, is aware of these two personalities he is good at hiding.

Mr. Ahmad opens up a mystery about his culture. Is it the same situation for every men, or is he the only one? We cannot answer this question, at least not yet. What we do know is that Mr. Ahmad is aware of the situation he is. He knows that he is feared at home and loved once he leaves his house.

Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1990