Title of The Good Women of Setzuan

Q. Significance of the title of The Good Woman of Setzuan.
Ans:- In The Good Woman of Setzuan, Bertolt Brecht uses the parable of Shen Te, a put-
upon woman singled out by the gods as the only good person on Earth, to contemplate
whether one can ever truly be plainly, wholly “good.” Throughout the play, as Shen Te
struggles to be good to others and to herself—and she fails repeatedly—Brecht ultimately
shows how the constraints of contemporary society make it impossible for a person to ever
be entirely good. Ultimately, Brecht suggests that in a world where true, unimpeachable
goodness is impossible, the pursuit of goodness is more important than actually achieving
goodness itself.
Early on in The Good Woman of Setzuan, a trio of gods descends to Earth in search of one
good person who can convince them to let the world remain as it is. The gods seem
desperate to find this one person—so desperate, in fact, that they choose a kind but
imperfect woman, Shen Te, as their paragon of goodness after she lets them shelter in her
room for the night. Throughout the rest of the play, Shen Te, burdened by the gods’ favor,
tries her best to be “good” in the face of increasing pressure and mounting problems. At
several important points in the action, Brecht demonstrates moments in which Shen Te falls
short of pure, total goodness—but her actions prove that aspiring to be good is just as
worthy as achieving the elusive title of “good person.”
"Goodness" as a theme is addressed in Scenes 6 and 6a by Yang Sun and by the gods,
respectively. The Song of St. Nevercome, sung by Yang Sun, reveals that he believes it is
futile to try to be "good." He sings sarcastically, "Oh, hooray, hooray! That day goodness will
pay!" and describes the day that will never come as when "all men will be good without
batting an eye." To him, this day is unachievable. The gods cite goodness as a strength,
telling Wong that they cannot intervene in Shen Te's life because "The good man finds his
own way here below! The good woman too."
The theme of love as a weakness is emphasized with regard to Shen Te and Shu Fu in the
beginning of Scene 4. Shen Te is walking home from Yang Sun's house and everything seems
pleasant to her because she is, as she says, in love: "They say you walk on air when you're in
love but it's even better walking on the rough earth, the hard cement." In Scene 4, Yang Sun
will reveal to Shui Ta that he plans to abandon Shen Te and take her money. After he leaves,
Shui Ta says, "One weakness is enough, and love is the deadliest." Meanwhile, Shu Fu
speaks of his love for Shen Te for the first time: "I begin to suspect I am in love with her. She
is overpoweringly attractive!"
Love is represented as a weakness in Scene 6. After the would-be wedding guests depart,
Yang Sun makes a fake announcement, explaining that the ceremony is postponed because
Shui Ta has not arrived, but "also because the bride doesn't know what love is." He is
making the point to Shen Te that if she loved him, she would sell her shop to support him in
his dream of becoming a pilot in Peking. Nevertheless, it is clear to the audience that it is
Yang Sun himself who does not know what love is, since he has betrayed Shen Te.
The Good Woman of Setzuan suggests that a society’s morality is determined by its
economic systems. This theme is introduced in the prologue. When Shen Te complains to
the gods, "But everything is so expensive, I don't feel sure I can do it!" the second god
responds, "That's not our sphere. We never meddle with economics." However, the first god
immediately contradicts him and they decide to give her some money to make it easier for
her to be good. This irony blurs the distinction between the morality of "goodness" that the
gods are searching for and economics.
The play's title is often translated as "The Good Woman of Szechwan," rather than
"Setzuan," but Szechwan is a province, while Setzuan is a city. According to translator Eric
Bentley, Brecht identified the location of the play as "a city," so he must have meant
Setzuan.

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Q. Significance of the title of The Good Woman of Setzuan.

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