Mothers and Sons: Representing Motherhood in Blood Wedding and Mother Courage and Her Children

Abstract

This paper examines the representation of the mother figure in two modern tragedies, namely Blood Wedding (1932) by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca and Mother Courage and Her Children (1939) by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. The paper sheds light on the binary representation of maternity in both plays. Hence, it highlights how the mother figures are depicted as traditional, “natural” mothers who are caring and overprotective but simultaneously contradict the traditional mother archetype, rendering themselves “bad mothers.” It shows that the mothers sacrifice their motherhood or maternal love for the sake of the other side of the binary which is traditions, honor, and revenge in the case of the Mother in Blood Wedding whereas business and capital in the case of Anna Fierling in Mother Courage and her Children. Eventually, the other side of the binary, which is not motherhood, wins. To achieve its purpose, the paper examines the mother-son relationship in Blood Wedding as well as the mother-son and the mother-daughter relationship in Mother Courage and Her Children.