IB English A1 Standard Level

World Literature

Title: The significance of religion in the societies in which the plays Oedipus
Rex and Mother Courage are set.
Religion as an influence in society in Mother Courage and Oedipus
Rex.

Both of the plays Oedipus Rex and Mother Courage are in times and societies
where religion plays an important factor in the lives of people albeit in
different ways. King Oedipus and Mother Courage both have lives that are
quite influenced by the prevailing religions of the time. Oedipus is set in
Greece at a time where the main social and political force was religion. The
gods of those days were the most important influence in the lives of every
citizen including the king. Religion was inseparable from everyday life.
Everybody believed in the gods completely, nobody dared to question the
existence of the gods. On the other hand in Mother Courage the greatest
influence in society at that time was the war. However religion was one of
the main causes of the war. The people in the play are quite cynical about
religion and god. Religion and god are not really important to the normal
people, even the chaplain doesn’t seem to actually believe in god or behave
according to his religion. Both these plays offer completely contrasting
pictures of religion.

The significance of religion in Mother Courage is shown as a hindrance by

Brecht. It is shown as being of little help, and is often merely a reason to
start a war. On the other hand in Oedipus Rex Greek religion underlies every
moment of the play's action. However we can draw certain parallels
throughout both the plays. In both Oedipus and Mother Courage it is religion
which is the cause of the most major events that take place. In Mother
Courage the main cause of the war is said to be religion (the conflict
between Catholics and Protestants) while in Oedipus it is the gods who cause
most of the problems in the Greek cities which forms the basis of conflict
throughout the play. Oedipus himself talks about how all his problems were
caused by the gods (namely Apollo) at the end of the play, “Apollo, Apollo it
was Apollo, always Apollo who brought each of my agonies to birth...” [1]
However in Mother Courage it must be noted that while war is supposedly
the reason for conflict and the main cause of the thirty year war, it does not
seem to have much to do the war in reality. In Mother Courage religion is
portrayed through the snivelling, hypocritical figure of the Chaplain, and it
has little positive role to play. Also despite the fact that in Oedipus religion is
the main theme it must be noted that even Sophocles does not state that
religion is a positive thing, he merely shows it as an unavoidable fact of life
which could cause you great harm even if you are innocent (namely the
citizens who suffer the plague). Brecht portrays religion as a folly of
humanity while Sophocles shows it as something that is supreme and all
knowing, something that is all powerful and something to which humanity is
insignificant.
 1- Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex published by Oxford paperbacks. Line 1731-
Line 1733, Pg. 85.

In Oedipus we can see King Oedipus (the protagonist of the story) struggling
to accept the fact that his life is decided by the gods. We are shown his
desperate attempts to conquer the gods and his religion so that he can
change his fate, and we are shown his complete ineffectiveness in the face
of his fate and the will of the gods. Another thing we notice is that while
Oedipus is trying his best to disprove the sayings of the gods and change his
fate, he never questions the existence of the gods themselves. The complete
opposite of this is shown in Mother Courage. In Mother Courage rather than
showing belief in the gods the characters, especially Mother Courage don’t
even give a thought to the gods. They are too caught up in their own
materialistic lives to worry about the possible existence of gods or a heaven.
However in one scene even Mother Courage starts to think of hell and
heaven. “Sometimes i see myself driving through hell with this wagon and
selling brimstone. And sometimes driving through heaven handing out
provisions to wandering souls.”[2] So we can see that in both the societies
and plays we see that the concept of religion and god comes up even if
merely as a casual wondering.

Another thing we can see in both these plays is the effectiveness of religion
as a tool in our daily lives. In Oedipus if Oedipus had never dared to question
the ultimate power of the gods then he might never have suffered the way
he did, so in a way we can say that if he had used his religion effectively he
could have saved his life from all the miseries and suffering. In Mother
Courage we are shown how the religious people are completely helpless and
how their prayers are quite ineffective all the time. For example: At the very
end, the prayers of the peasants are juxtaposed with Kattrin climbing the
rooftop, suggesting ineffective inaction among the religious versus effective
action by Kattrin. So this is a point of difference in the plays. While Oedipus
seems to indicate that praying to the gods and giving them proper respect is
necessary for survival, Mother Courage seems to say that religion is merely
an obstacle in the path of survival, a distraction which should be ignored and
manipulated in any way possible to increase your chances of survival. This
shows us how the different societies and different situations in which the
plays are set influence the way the people think. In traditional Greek society
everything hung around religion, it was the only thing that mattered,
everything was based on rituals and the gods. On the other hand in Germany
and Sweden the long years of war and the inbuilt cynicism and materialism
of the people cause them to view religion as an inconvenience and nothing
more, but this doesn’t prevent them from turning pensive and thinking about
their gods at times when they feel helpless.
So in conclusion we can see how certain parallels exist in both the plays
when we talk about religion, and also how certain features may be said to
exist in all societies when we talk of religion (for example even the most
cynical people turn to their gods when they feel helpless.).
Both the plays have religion as a major theme which affects society as a
whole as a cause of war or as a basis for all the daily events. In the end we
see that while Mother Courage shows religion as being quite superficial and
Oedipus Rex gives it a very superior aura (as something beyond the
comprehension of mere humans), both show it as a support net for humans
even if it’s only a last resort. I think that this shows us how religion is always
inseparable from humanity; even cynics sometimes depend on religion as a
lifeline.
2- Pg. 68 of Mother Courage by Bertholt Brecht, published by Oxford.