A Stylistic Study of Motherhood in Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children

Abstract

The present study is a stylistic study of  Motherhood in Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children. The study examines how stylistic devices are utilized and what are their impact on the reader or listener in terms of stylistic effects. According to the researcher’s best knowledge, this play has never been studied from a stylistic perspective. So, the researcher endeavours to fill this gap. The study aims to Show the impact of the stylistic devices in shaping the complexities and challenges faced by Mother Courage. To achieve this aim, the study hypothesises that utilizing stylistic devices such as simile and metaphor by Mother Courage echoes the contradictions and complexities inherent in Motherhood during times of conflict. To evaluate the hypotheses, a combined qualitative and quantitative analysis method was utilized to examine the data in the study. The study employs Leech and Short’s model of stylistic devices (2007). The study analyzes seven extracts taken from the twelve scenes of the  play utilizing tools that are quantified as percentages to compute the outcomes of the analysis, and subsequently deliberating on the results to draw conclusions.  The analysis comes to main conclusion that stylistic devices like metaphor and simile reveal the emotional conflicts and contradictions of Mother Courage’s experience of Motherhood during war.