Their consent in the end completely changed Babette. They saw that as a young woman she had been beautiful. And they wondered whether in this hour they themselves had not, for the very first time, become to her the "good people" of Achille Papin's letter (38).
The two sisters, Martine and Philippa, in Babette's Feast, are seen by their town as good people. They themselves see themselves in this light as well. "...they were poor and that to them luxurious fare was sinful. Thier own food must be as plain as possible...(32)." This is how they justified denying Babette to indulge in the artistry for French cooking she posessed. They claimed that French luxury was near sinful. The sisters do in fact give to chairity and never turn down anyone that ends up on their doorstep. Babette is a good example of their goodness. They do not know her, yet they take her in when Achille Papin recommends the sisters to Babette as good people that can help her. Babette accepts their offer and submits to the sisters' requests.
When Babette wins the lottery, the sisters' attitude change toward her. They are afraid that they will lose her, meaning they will be losing a servant that they are not paying at all. This makes the sisters selfish. Although it may be best for Babette to leave, they don't want her to because it will be inconveniencing them and they feel that Babette owes them for taking her in, although that is not really being a good person. When Babette makes the simple request to cook a French dinner for their benefit and decides to spend her money for the feast the sisters give in grudgingly. This is when I realized that the sisters are not truly good. This goes back to my argument in Good Woman of Setzuan: No one can be purely good. Eveyone has their flaws, and Babette brought out the flaws of the sisters in this novela.
Work Cited:
Dinesen, Isak. "Babette's Feast." Babette's Feast and Other Anecdotes of Destiny. New York: Vintage, 1988. Print.
Showing posts with label good. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good. Show all posts
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Can you really be GOOD?
The Good Woman of Setzuan tackles some real issues throughout this play but I think what's the most interesting topic of satire is whether a person can, in all actuality, be a good person. The only person who's perceived to be a good person is Shen Te, and she can't even be a truly good person without changing into someone who can be mean. In fact, I think this whole book is satirizing that aspect of human nature. I don't know of anyone who is consistently nice all the time and that is their actual true character. For example in the play, Shen Te is constantly being a "nice" person and allowing people to run all over her (56). But she doesn't have the courage enough to stand up for herself without changing into a whole other person. My question is, is Shen Te truly a nice person? She's simply putting on a mask, she's not changing into an entirely different person, so can she really be good if it's still her who has committed the crimes and who has been selfish and mean towards others (103)? I think that this situation shows us that for some people it is hard to be nice yet firm at the same time, just like Shen Te. I don't think she's a bad person just because she made mistakes under the mask of Shui Ta, but can she really be the good woman of Setzuan if she lied, cheated, and schemed? I think the play is trying to say that it's almost impossible for someone to be good all the time, but it's not fair that someone be good all the time. Even the gods didn't expect her to be good all the time, which is why they didn't get mad when they found out she wasn't being good all the time. No one in life is perfect, and putting too much pressure on someone so that they can be a good person can have an adverse effect on someone, like it did with Shen Te. She couldn't handle being nice to everyone and being run over and having the title of being such a good woman, and the pressure pushed her into having to be Shui Ta.
Brecht, Bertolt, and Eric Bentley. The Good Woman of Setzuan. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota, 1999. Print.
Brecht, Bertolt, and Eric Bentley. The Good Woman of Setzuan. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota, 1999. Print.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Deep Value
“The World can stay as it is if enough people are found living lives worthy of human beings” (7).
The world in, The Good Woman of Setzuan, is a very complicated place where all types of people live under the rule of the almighty gods. I can totally see how much it does relate to our own world. One thing that I found interesting was how three gods appeared in the play right from the start. Now this made me wonder if it has to do something with the divine trinity of the Catholic Church. The gods from the start seem to be on a mission. They want to either keep or destroy the world. They go to Setzuan where they believe they might find a good person. They come across the water seller and they immediately notice that he really isn’t a good fellow. What I like about the gods is that they don’t loose hope in finding a good person, but they leave it up to the measly water seller to be in charge of finding some descent person they can rest with. After many tries they come across Shan Te, a town prostitute, who gets rid of her nights entertainment to fulfill the gods needs. I had been missing out on the irony but when I came across the fact that the gods where going to stay with a prostitute I understood a bit more of the play. What I don’t understand is how the gods allowed for the water seller to give them a place to stay? If they knew he was a crook why would they ever trust him to find them a place to stay? What was more ironic was how much they really liked and enjoyed Shan Te’s company. Even though she was a prostitute they still stayed the night with her and in the morning had good conversation. This made me wonder if the three gods were looking for a good person that wasn’t defined by their occupation. Eventually the gods found out that she was a prostitute they reply with, “That’s not in our sphere. We never meddle with economics” (11). I really liked how the third god accepted that Shan Te was a prostitute. He might not have officially accepted that it was okay to earn your living by selling yourself but he didn’t criticize. He made it seem like it was just something you did for money and your morals had nothing to do with it. I do agree by what the gods had to say about jobs and how they don’t have to reflect on your persona. They even decided to give her money because she needed it. It seemed to me that they thought money was something trivial which is a good thing.
The world in, The Good Woman of Setzuan, is a very complicated place where all types of people live under the rule of the almighty gods. I can totally see how much it does relate to our own world. One thing that I found interesting was how three gods appeared in the play right from the start. Now this made me wonder if it has to do something with the divine trinity of the Catholic Church. The gods from the start seem to be on a mission. They want to either keep or destroy the world. They go to Setzuan where they believe they might find a good person. They come across the water seller and they immediately notice that he really isn’t a good fellow. What I like about the gods is that they don’t loose hope in finding a good person, but they leave it up to the measly water seller to be in charge of finding some descent person they can rest with. After many tries they come across Shan Te, a town prostitute, who gets rid of her nights entertainment to fulfill the gods needs. I had been missing out on the irony but when I came across the fact that the gods where going to stay with a prostitute I understood a bit more of the play. What I don’t understand is how the gods allowed for the water seller to give them a place to stay? If they knew he was a crook why would they ever trust him to find them a place to stay? What was more ironic was how much they really liked and enjoyed Shan Te’s company. Even though she was a prostitute they still stayed the night with her and in the morning had good conversation. This made me wonder if the three gods were looking for a good person that wasn’t defined by their occupation. Eventually the gods found out that she was a prostitute they reply with, “That’s not in our sphere. We never meddle with economics” (11). I really liked how the third god accepted that Shan Te was a prostitute. He might not have officially accepted that it was okay to earn your living by selling yourself but he didn’t criticize. He made it seem like it was just something you did for money and your morals had nothing to do with it. I do agree by what the gods had to say about jobs and how they don’t have to reflect on your persona. They even decided to give her money because she needed it. It seemed to me that they thought money was something trivial which is a good thing.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Good vs. Bad
Second God: And above all: be good! Farewell!
First God: Farewell
Third God: Farewell
Shen Te: But everything is so expensive, I don’t feel sure I can do it!
Second God: That’s not in our sphere. We never meddle with economics (11).
Usually Gods give a lot of freedom and leeway to sticky situations because they can make anything happen but not too much in this play. There is satire in the fact that the Gods do not “meddle” in economics. Why not? Why can’t the Gods end Shen Te’s troubles then and there and make her rich. The Gods do repay her for her hospitality and she is able to open a shop but later we see that being good is bad business. The shop could never be successful in the way she does business. Shen Te herself wonders why the Gods are so helpless when she sings “The Song of the Defenseless”:
The Good can’t defend themselves and
Even the Gods are Defenseless…
Oh, why don’t the Gods have their own ammunition
And launch against badness their own expedition…
Oh, why don’t the Gods do the buying and selling
Injustice forbidding, starvation dispelling…
You can only help one of your luckless brothers
By trampling down a dozen others (51).
Why are the God’s in Brecht play so helpless when usually Gods have the power to free people from any situation? The Gods are helpless because Bertolt wants the power to be in the people’s hands. What would a person do or more specifically what would a good person do to help a friend? How far would a good person go to help and provide? The audience would not be able to answer these questions if the Gods solved all the problems. Are the Gods naïve to suggest that everything would work out if you just be good. On page 46 there is hope for this idealism. The old couple gives Shen Te money so she may pay her rent and keep her shop because they see and admire all the good she does. Shen Te gets overwhelmingly happy not only because she can keep her shop but because maybe she can keep it and continue to be good. This brings up the question whether you have to be bad and cunning in order to help yourself or others financially? The hope dies when Shen Te must once again put on her mask to be the mean business man to help out her lover. She apparently sees no other way. In her song she realizes the Gods will not make everything just and that she must be reasonable. If she does not alter her good ways then it would not only be the end to her but to all she is trying to help. She must be bad to do good.
Work Cited
Brecht, Bertolt. The Good Woman of Setzuan. Trans. Eric Bentley. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota, 1999.
First God: Farewell
Third God: Farewell
Shen Te: But everything is so expensive, I don’t feel sure I can do it!
Second God: That’s not in our sphere. We never meddle with economics (11).
Usually Gods give a lot of freedom and leeway to sticky situations because they can make anything happen but not too much in this play. There is satire in the fact that the Gods do not “meddle” in economics. Why not? Why can’t the Gods end Shen Te’s troubles then and there and make her rich. The Gods do repay her for her hospitality and she is able to open a shop but later we see that being good is bad business. The shop could never be successful in the way she does business. Shen Te herself wonders why the Gods are so helpless when she sings “The Song of the Defenseless”:
The Good can’t defend themselves and
Even the Gods are Defenseless…
Oh, why don’t the Gods have their own ammunition
And launch against badness their own expedition…
Oh, why don’t the Gods do the buying and selling
Injustice forbidding, starvation dispelling…
You can only help one of your luckless brothers
By trampling down a dozen others (51).
Why are the God’s in Brecht play so helpless when usually Gods have the power to free people from any situation? The Gods are helpless because Bertolt wants the power to be in the people’s hands. What would a person do or more specifically what would a good person do to help a friend? How far would a good person go to help and provide? The audience would not be able to answer these questions if the Gods solved all the problems. Are the Gods naïve to suggest that everything would work out if you just be good. On page 46 there is hope for this idealism. The old couple gives Shen Te money so she may pay her rent and keep her shop because they see and admire all the good she does. Shen Te gets overwhelmingly happy not only because she can keep her shop but because maybe she can keep it and continue to be good. This brings up the question whether you have to be bad and cunning in order to help yourself or others financially? The hope dies when Shen Te must once again put on her mask to be the mean business man to help out her lover. She apparently sees no other way. In her song she realizes the Gods will not make everything just and that she must be reasonable. If she does not alter her good ways then it would not only be the end to her but to all she is trying to help. She must be bad to do good.
Work Cited
Brecht, Bertolt. The Good Woman of Setzuan. Trans. Eric Bentley. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota, 1999.
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