Gender Norms in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan

The play, “The Good Woman of Setzuan” by Bertolt Brecht is a work of epic theatre and revolves around the life of the protagonist Shen Te, that consists of marked elements of façade and survival in the society and the gender norms. The play aims at giving a clear description of contemporary morality and altruism in social and economic terms: Shen Te is constantly in a war with Shui Ta’s capitalist conscience of profiteering and limelight’s the capitalistic economy determining a society’s morality. 

The protagonist Shen Te is trying to live a “good” life, concurring to the terms of morality constructed by the illustrious ones, to which the people of Setzuan pay no respect to without permitting herself to be mistreated. She endeavours to fit in the male dominant society where a working business woman is not accepted by the society. Shen Te is a kind, charitable woman who cannot say to “no” to anyone and interestingly is the solely person left on earth wo fulfils the condition of a “good” human being. On the other hand, Shui Ta is tough in his approach and strict when it comes to decision making. He really doesn’t care about people and the circumstances and his main concern is earning profits. Shen Te is forced to take on her double self by assuming the negative character traits, her male cousin Shui Ta. Shen Te is unable to fulfil her commitments and is overwhelmed by the requests being made to her. Shen Te realizes that her generous nature is holding her back as even if she refuses and would not accept the demands of her neighbours; her goodness is being abused. Shen Te tries to preserve her goodness by helping her neighbours, her lover and most importantly protecting her baby from the atrocious world. Unwillingly, Shen Te takes over her double self that is Shui Ta. Being a man, Shui Ta is being obeyed by everyone and no one tries to take undue advantage of him. As a businesswoman, she must know how to make profits in the business but as a lover she surrenders herself to Yang Sun. She even went to marry Yang Sun even when he mocks about Shen Te in front of Shui Ta. Shen Te realizes that she needs to be strong enough to guarantee her child’s bliss. Brecht shows that even if you are a good person, the surrounding force to inherit the bad attributes.

The mental clashes of playing a part character can be caught on from the melody that Shen Te sings in Scene 4a. She is appeared strolling with Shui Ta’s cover and singing that “the great can’t guard themselves and indeed the divine beings are defenceless”. And after, that fair as she puts on Shui Ta’s cover, she concedes that “you can as it were offer assistance one of your cursed brothers by trampling down a dozen others”. This appears that Shen Te is gradually learning the cruel substances in spite of the fact that she needs to stay kind and gentle.

The mental clashes of playing a part character can be caught on from the melody that Shen Te sings in Scene 4a. She is appealed strolling with Shui Ta’s cover and singing that “the good can’t defend themselves and even the gods are defenceless”. And after, that fair as she puts on Shui Ta’s cover, she concedes that “you can only help one of your luckless brothers by trampling down a dozen others”. This shows that Shen Te is realizing the harsh realities of the world although she wants to hold on to her goodness.

Shen Te’s goodness takes the best of her. In the beginning of the play, the tobacco shop does not even start earning when She Te is overpowered by her neighbours. Her submissive nature and not being able to say “no” results in her giving rice to Mrs Shin, provides a roof to a family of eight and cigarettes to the unemployed man.

Shen Te is considered to be a weak woman and is not being heard as when she explains to Mrs. Shin that she does not have any money on her; Mrs Shin still demands for rice and some cash, “A little cash while you’re at it.” (Brecht 13). She demands from Shen Te the money as if she owns her.

Shen Te is again forced by the carpenter again to pay him 100 silver dollars for the shelves to which she refuses to pay. In order to save herself from him, she lies about having a male cousin. When Shui Ta actually appears, he, through his skills pays 20 silver dollars only for the shelves which tells us about the fact that men are superior than woman in this play. His word has a value and everyone listens to it whereas Shen Te’s word is taken for granted. Even though being totally different from one another, they lend a hand to each other.

Throughout the whole play, Brecht makes a valid argument of how woman should adopt masculine characteristics in order to sustain in this male dominated world. Being benevolent, emotional weakness and poor business tactics, all are associated with Shen Te. Shen Te must let lose of her feminity in order to save herself from money related troubles and look what is of her best interest.

Even 70 years after Brecht wrote this play, we are still facing gender norms. Even in todays modernized world, we have more housewives than men, there never has been a woman president, less woman entrepreneurs, etc. Is there any proper explanation behind this marvel? Or we should consider it is as a continuation of biases in Brecht’s play? The presence of an inner “Shui Ta” may be empowering in the face of discrimination against women, but the play’s unresolved g=fight reflects the ongoing talk about gender norms, even today.