Strong masculinity and weak femininity in masculinity dominated society in The Good Woman of Setzuan

The Good Woman of Setzuan by Brecht is an important play in terms of gender issues since we encounter a female prostitute Shen Te as the protagonist. The conflict between Shen Te's economic concerns and social abuse, stereotypes of gender established her struggle to force a completely different person within her to protect her from social gender inequality. The play starts with three gods coming towards Setzuan seeking a truly good person. The narrative focus on the idea that Shen Te has restrained herself and is unable to thrive in her society because the society Brecht created in the play is a society of value men above women. Setzuan society forced Shen Te to create a copy, a really bad shadow to survive in masculinity dominated society. The tension of criticism of masculinity and femininity are expressed through discrimination against characters for Shen Te and Shui Ta, which represent aspects such as Shen Te's love, Shen Tei's career with disregarding for the social eye. But in general, the social way is exploited, unjust, suppressing the woman, Brecht created a character with an astute smart copy like Shui Ta to prove that living well in reality society is impossible.

The gods need to find a place to stay but no one wants them to stay because the town has been poor and needy. Shen Te is depicted as self-sacrificing, intentional compassionate and warm-hearted who loves helping the poor even if she is very poor just like the rest of the town. In point of fact, Shen Tei is the only one in Setzuan who offers the Gods a place to. In the morning, they hear of her destitute state, they give her “ 1,000 silver dollars “as a reward. Then Shen Te buys a small tobacco business, finds she’s been swindled into paying too much, owes a carpenter who was never paid. She was extremely loyal that she refusing to take money from the gods by the saying "I'm not good. Shen Te's naive and kindness make her seem vulnerable and less intelligent compared to Shui Ta, her relationship with Yang Sun is the best illustration for such an argument. In contrast to Shen Te, Shui Ta controls his emotions well. He is a knowledgeable businessman, with a sharp, cunning and self-seeking personality who was successful in crisis management. More than that, he can think rationally at times of moral decision making and not fall into the mistakes that Shen Te often makes in critical situations. Becoming a good person and money like the bribe Shen Te received from the gods became a burden that he could not bear and oppose. The gods gave her the money, the money from a source of religious power evolved into a heavy-duty inevitable. This government turned Shen Te into a bribe of gods or a kind of tool that they would manipulate to imitate a world in which good people were still alive as if they had accomplished a mission to be a good person. By the time the bad things about this society forced her heart to break, and her kindness only made people blame on about how she was failing them. Her final solution was to invent a brutal, cruel capitalist brother, Shui Ta, a man that everyone gave in before, whom everyone worked to pay for a poor salary, whom people after finding impressions have hated and feared pressure on people to become productive and, strangely, responsible for themselves even if they were victims. He is her crafty doppelganger, the person she cannot allow herself to be in the world.

Being a good person is only done by Shen Te when she is a woman that condemns the pressing of society with feminism. Shen Te’s decisions are made through emotional mechanisms while Shui Ta’s are rational and based on calculations of profit and loss. At the first time, Shui Ta has appeared who has told the homeless family that they cannot stay at Shen Te's tobacco shop, and he has told the carpenter that he will not pay the exorbitant price the carpenter is demanding for the installation of the shelves. Shui Ta equates "good" with "ruined" to demonstrate the point that Shen Te could not help everyone without going her own participation. The carpenter said that she was "good" but in fact, he didn't think she was good but thought she was stupid to be fooled and exploited, he knows that if he were dealing with Shen Te, he would get the price he wants. This narrative illustrates how this society strikes this woman, as she makes more concessions, the more they will demand benefits. The gods reveal a bit more about their definition of "goodness", during their interaction with Wong. They ask him to find Shen Te and " no one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand."(22). The gods realized that no one could preserve the long-term good that there was no cooperation of those in that society, especially in the role of a woman who was always suppressed in society because of her past. This reveals that they recognize how difficult it is to be good without support from others. However, Shen Te provides her own support, in the form of her invented cousin, Shui Ta. When the carpenter asks him to call Shen Te because "she's good," Shui Ta answers, "Certainly. She's ruined."(26) . Certainly. She's ruined."Pointing out her inferiority will undermine her business mind and her rationality that she embodies during the disguise of Shui Ta. The obvious difference brings the idea that Shen Te will only achieve to overcome his emotional obsession by wearing a male suit and appearing as a man to act sensibly. Meanwhile, the shop Shen Tei grew and grew, and its success was due to the subtlety of Shui Ta's ingenuity, toughness. Shen Te’s femininity depicts her as a prisoner of her hysterical emotions and lack of ability to use her intelligence in a sufficient way, so she exists between two individuals in one body but it seems she is just an existence or symbol for the social construction of femininity. Both sexual and moral dimensions of Shen Te get suffering by society. The policeman reminds the past of with Shen Te's life. " lived by selling herself.”(30)– “ love isn't bought and sold like cigars”(30). The policeman had extremely disrespectful words about Shen Te when he told Shui Ta, he said that Shen Te's previous prostitution was truly disgusting that it's similar way Yang Sun thinks about love with Shen Te. Although Shen Te really cared for him, his purpose of getting marry her because he could take her money to get a job for himself as a pilot in Peiking. The issue of gender points out when Yang Sun talk with Shui Ta in a significantly different demeanor with Shen Te. Shui Ta defends his cousin by saying, " a human being… common sense!" (56 )- Yang Sun answers, "Shen Te is a woman”(56); Shen Tei's love, saving Yang Sun, but that can't help him become a better person. Shen Te's hysterical love for Sun did not have a good result that she always persisted in, although she knew of his true intentions for his conversations with Shui Ta, she was crazy truly cherished, belonging to someone, all urged her to sacrifice as an instinct for a woman.

The extreme state of poverty and misery of Setzuan certainly overrides humane feelings such as helping others and solidarity when people’s survival is at stake. The only person left with such feelings is Shen Te, however, she also needs to survive and it is not possible with her exceedingly generous behavior. The main reason that constrains Shen Te from acting freely is the money that she receives from the gods in exchange for being a good person, which she uses as the capital of her tobacco shop. She feels responsible and guilty for a debt that does not belong to her. During the play, we also encounter many scenes during which the gods are checking on Shen Te in order to make sure that she still behaves in a good manner. The gods keep checking on Shen Te and her good behavior by using Wong as their agent. This control mechanism and the anxiety of Shen Te to fulfill the expectations of the gods. Shui Ta has let economic success get the best of him. He builds a kingdom of Tobacco and become a “Tobacco King of Setzuan"(96) since he has continually expanded the small tobacco shop into a huge factory system. He tells the judges, "Mr. Shui Ta is a businessman"(98); and the police claim that Shui Ta " is a man of principle" (98). The police representative is a metaphor for a government that always respects male rather than female, they hold in respect men more than women, moreover, it shows that citizens in that codependent community always appreciate the profession of men and always have higher social status in society than women.

In many people's minds, men must always be the backbone of the family and the woman can only be the one behind the kitchen, the male has economic and financial rights while the woman only has to take care of the house. and children. It can be seen that the male ideology of men and women has continued over the centuries, not only does it imbalance sex, but it also disturbs society and security and order of the country. This heartbreaking situation not only haunts people especially women, but it may also have created a Shui Ta on behalf of Shen Te to purge the parasites in society. Modern society has gradually changed in its attitude to gender, in particular through its gradual abandonment of sexist stereotypes.

Works cited:

Brecht, Bertolt. The good woman of Setzuan. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1948. Print.