Songs, irony and other styles used in Brecht’s ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’

Bertolt Brecht, in his play the Caucasian Chalk Circle, uses many stylistic devices such as play within a play, irony, satire, humour, imagery, songs, wise sayings, contrast and symbolism, among others. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Brecht uses this technique to highlight certain concerns in the society.
  • The main play in the book is the story of the disputed valley. What comes after the prologue is a play within a play, which consists of Gusha’s and Azdak’s story.
  • Grusha’s story highlights the message of humanity and motherhood in a society dominated by cruel, heartless and opportunistic people. When everyone flees the city for safety after the coup, she is the only one who is humane enough to stay with the abandoned child the whole day and night and escapes with him in the morning, risking her own life.

Style is the channel through which the writer passes his message to the reader. Different writers use different styles, depending on their message, the target audience and the purpose of their writing. The different styles employed by the writer not only help him to pass his message but also colour and make his work interesting to read.

Bertolt Brecht, in his play the Caucasian Chalk Circle, uses many stylistic devices such as play within a play, irony, satire, humour, imagery, songs, wise sayings, contrast and symbolism, among others. The article will focus on play-within-a-play, irony and songs.

PLAY WITHIN A PLAY

When the writer introduces another play during the action of the main play, the technique is referred to as ‘play within a play.’ Many writers use the main characters to enact the play within the play, thus minimising the number of characters in the play.

In The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Brecht uses this technique to highlight certain concerns in the society. The main play in the book is the story of the disputed valley. What comes after the prologue is a play within a play, which consists of Gusha’s and Azdak’s story.

Grusha’s story highlights the message of humanity and motherhood in a society dominated by cruel, heartless and opportunistic people. When everyone flees the city for safety after the coup, she is the only one who is humane enough to stay with the abandoned child the whole day and night and escapes with him in the morning, risking her own life.

On the way to the northern mountain, she makes many sacrifices and faces many challenges for the sake of the child. It is also through this story that we get to know the character traits of the governor, Natella, Lavrent and Aniko, who are portrayed as hypocritical and inhuman.

Through the story of the judge, vices such as corruption, misuse of power and exploitation are exposed. The judge himself is corrupt since he demands bribes before and during his hearings and does not use the statute book to make his rulings. The poor, like the granny, are exploited when their children are drafted to the army and they are left with no one to take care of them.

Another play within a play is the Head-Off Game, enacted by Michael and other children when Grusha had gone to the river to wash linen. Different children are assigned different roles with Michael being given that of the governor, which he refuses saying that he fear his “head cut off”. The fat boy who had taken the role of the fat prince takes the role and Michael is to cut his head. This play within a play foreshadows the death of the fat prince in the counter coup and also highlights political instability in the country.

The other play within a play is the Mock Trial, in which the fat prince brings his nephew to make him judge. The iron-shirts insist on testing him before appointing him. This play within a play highlights the corrupt nature of the princes when they fight for contracts and embezzle funds meant for facilitating war and therefore lost the war. It also brings out the dictatorial and exploitative character of the governor. Officials rob his cash box, officers flog soldiers and landowners sleep with peasant’s wives at his command.

SONGS

The other stylistic device is use of songs. One of the songs is ‘The Song of The Four Generals’ ( page 30-31). It is about four generals who set out for war in Iran and did not win because, for the first, war did not agree; the second never won victory; for the third, the weather was never right and for the fourth, men would never fight.

Sosso Robakidze marched to Iran and, for him, the war did agree; he soon won a victory; the weather was always right and men would always fight and he, therefore, won. Grusha sings this song to encourage herself, owing to the challenges ahead of her and, like Sosso, she has to overcome all of them and emerge victorious The song also highlights the theme of war and the way the generals behave when they go to war.

Another song is ‘The Song of The Rotten Bridge’ (page 41-42). Grusha sings this song just before crossing rotten bridge. She sings to Michael, telling him how dangerous the bridge is but they have no option but to use it and  also reassures him that he will get three of every four pieces of bread that she has.

This song shows how compassionate and selfless Grusha is. She is ready to risk her life by crossing the rotten bridge and sacrifice the little food she gets to ensure that Michael is safe and well fed.

The next song is ‘The Song of the Centre’ (page 47), which is again sung by Grusha when she gets to her brother’s house. It is about a person who is engaged and is leaving for war. His lover advises him to be cautious as he fights so that he can return home after the war. She advises him to stay at the centre because at the front is red fire while at the rear is red smoke; the first always die and the last are also hit but those in the centre go home. The song highlights the effects of war such as death and separation from the loved ones. Grusha is a victim of this as she has been separated from her lover, Simon, whom she hopes will survive and come home to her.

The song of ‘Injustice in Persia’ is sung by Azdak after denouncing himself for helping the Grand Duke escape. The song is about war in Persia that took too long and how the common man was oppressed and exploited to ensure the mighty are comfortable. They have to give up their savings to build a new province for the king, their cottages are torn down and their men are drafted to war.

IRONY

Irony is the other stylistic device that Brecht employs in The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Irony refers to a contradiction between what we expect and what we get. There are different types of irony; situational irony where we get the opposite of what we expect; dramatic irony where the reader or the audience know something that some characters don’t know; verbal irony, also known as sarcasm; tragic irony where the antagonist dies, and comic irony where a character who is expected to suffer does not but instead ends up happy.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle presents a number of ironical situations; at the beginning of the play, the governor is attending the Sunday service but he ignores the beggars and petitioners at his door step. We would expect him to address them and give them hope because he is their leader. This shows poor governance where the leaders have neglected their responsibility to provide services to their subjects.

Another ironical situation is when Grusha expects a warm welcome from his brother Lavrenti but she receives very cold one because he fears the wife and does not want to offend her. He defends his cruel and inhuman wife by saying that she is sensitive and religious and that’s why Grusha has to get a father for the child to avoid people talking about an illegitimate child. This brings out the hypocritical nature of both Aniko and Lavrenti at the same time satirising religion.

There is dramatic irony when Grusha scolds the judge because she thinks that he will rule in favour of Natella after receiving a bribe from her lawyers. The reader knows that Azdak rules in favour of the poor but Grusha does not. This dramatic irony shows how desperate Grusha is and the corrupt nature of Azdak.

Another instance of dramatic Irony is when Azdak hides the Grand Duke, thinking that he is a beggar. He tells him not to behave like the Grand Duke without knowing that he is actually the Grand Duke. This episode is humorously presented, which makes the play interesting to read. It also shows how corrupt the Grand Duke is and how observant Azdak is.

 

Students are encouraged to identify more instances of irony and other stylistic devices used in the play and strive to explain their effectiveness because the writer does not just use the style for the sake of it but to achieve a certain effect.

 

The writer is a teacher at Alliance Girls High School. [email protected]

 

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The plot

 

Mothers-in-law in Ogolla’s book

by Kiarie Ranji

In The River and the Source, mothers-in-law can be divided into two — the accommodating mothers-in-law and the meddling ones.

Meddling mothers-in-law keep on interfering with the affairs of their married sons and daughters. The ideal character here is Nyar Asembo, Chief Owuor Kembo’s mother and mother-in-law of Akoko. She is concerned that Akoko is not giving birth to many children and constantly pesters her son to get another wife. She enlists the council of Jodongo to put pressure on chief Owuor and, when this does not work, accuses Akoko of using juok to bewitch her son not to get another wife. This makes Akoko run away.

Mark’s mother is also a meddling mother-in-law. Elizabeth, her daughter-in-law, miscarries and stays for three years without getting another child. Mark’s mother comes all the way from Seme to Nakuru to demand a grandchild. She tells Mark not to trust Elizabeth because she is an ‘educated’ woman. Mark is annoyed by this meddling and tells off his mother.

Akoko is also a meddling mother-in-law. When her son, Owang Sino, maries Alando Nyar Uyioma, Akoko criticises “her tendency to idleness”. She believes every woman had to be as hardworking as she is. She also chooses Okumu to Mary Nyabera so that her daughter does not go very far from her.

On the other hand, we have mothers-in-law who are accommodating to their sons and daughters-in-law. Elizabeth Awiti makes instant friendship with Wandia, the wife of her son Aoro. She makes her feel at home in the family. This close relationship continues up to the death of Elizabeth. Wandia faints during the burial of Elizabeth out of grief.

Nyabera is also a good mother-in-law to Mark Sigu. Sigu is the first person to receive a telegram that Nyabera is sick. He travels to Aluor with his wife Elizabeth and stays with Nyabera until she dies.

Okumu’s mother is also a good mother-in-law to Nyabera. Although Nyabera’s children die one after the other, she never tells her son to marry another wife like Nyar Asembo does.

Wandia’s mother Wangechi is also a good mother-in-law to Aoro. She does not mind her daughter being married to a man from a different community.

The writer is a literature teacher

 

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The Saturday Nation will be publishing reviews and analysis of the KSCE English set books. This will help students, especially Form Four candidates as they prepare for their exams. The series is aimed at helping them to develop a critical and analytical approach to reading.  Students will also be  exposed to questions that will prepare them to better appreciate literature. These will also guide them on how to approach the questions. Send correspondence to [email protected]