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The Good Woman of Setzuan

Brecht began writing The Good Woman of Setzuan in 1938 while
INTR
INTRODUCTION
ODUCTION living in Denmark after fleeing Nazi Germany—but in 1939,
when the threat of war seemed greater than ever, Brecht was
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF BERTOLT BRECHT
forced to flee once again to the U.S. Brecht settled in Los
Born into a middle-class family in Bavaria at the turn of the Angeles, where he finished work on The Good Woman of Setzuan
20th century, Bertolt Brecht enjoyed a comfortable and he composed other seminal plays like Mother Courage and
childhood—though later in life, he claimed to have roots in the Her Children and The Caucasian Chalk Cir Circle
cle. All of Brecht’s plays
peasant class. At the onset of World War I, Brecht avoided from this period are critical of capitalism, fascism, and indeed
conscription into the German Army by enrolling in medical humanity itself—his cynical views on humanity’s inherent greed
school. His interests soon turned to drama, and in 1918 he and cruelty is reflective of the horrors of World War II and of
wrote his first full-length play, Baal, a drama about a degenerate the Holocaust, events which precipitated the bombings of
young poet. In the early 1920s, Brecht moved to Munich, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. The 1930s and 1940s
where he continued writing plays and he found himself hailed were largely defined by violence, human rights violations, and
by critics as a harbinger of a new era in the theater. As Brecht’s genocide on a scale that was unfathomable even in the wake of
star rose, his first marriage began to deteriorate; he sought the World War I. The Good Woman of Setzuan’s cynical,
company of his lovers Elisabeth Hauptmann and Helene Weigel misanthropic views, then, correlate directly with the shock,
in Berlin, where he formed theatrical connections and built horror, and grief that Brecht felt at the time.
artistic collectives in the thriving cultural center. Brecht and his
collaborators sought new methods of theater-making which
RELATED LITERARY WORKS
pointed out the hypocrisy of capitalism and the absurdity of art
as escapism. The Thr Threepenn
eepennyy Oper
Operaa premiered in 1928, Several of Brecht’s other works—including The Thr Threepenn
eepennyy
becoming a verified hit in Berlin and the impetus for a new Oper
Operaa and Mother Courage and Her Children—are also
experimental era in musicals worldwide. In 1933, when Hitler hypercritical of the greed, corruption, and cruelty which
assumed power, Brecht fled Nazi Germany for Denmark and he capitalism inspires in humanity. Like The Good Woman of
spent the subsequent years moving throughout Scandinavia as Setzuan, these plays feature endings which rely on a deus ex
the Nazis occupied country after country, eventually fleeing to machina or audience involvement in order to “solve” the
Los Angeles. Despite the tumult of the period, Brecht produced complicated moral, social, and ethical questions which the
many of his most famous anti-fascist work during it: Life of drama has presented. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s T Tale
ale
Galileo, Mother Courage and her Children, and The Caucasian is another book that engages with the ways in which capitalism
Chalk Cir
Circle
cle are hailed today as emblematic of German particularly effects women—often by forcing them to develop
Exilliteratur, or “literature of the exiled.” In the late 1940s, as the dual identities, to pursue unhappy relationships or marriages,
Red Scare took hold of America, Brecht found himself or to sacrifices their own needs in order to please and satiate
blacklisted by Hollywood and on trial for communist others. The Good Woman of Setzuan debuted in Europe in
sympathies (though an ideological Marxist, Brecht was never a 1943—a time when world literature was influenced by of the
member of the Communist Party). His testimony before the horrors of Nazism and the echoes of the Great Depression.
House Un-American Activities Committee was controversial, George Orwell’s classics 1984 and Animal F Farm
arm are renowned,
and Brecht returned to Europe the day after testifying. Back in as Brecht’s works are, for their critique of the status quo and
East Berlin in 1949, Brecht established the famous Berliner the extant social order, while plays by playwrights like Samuel
Ensemble, but his own individual artistic output slowed. Beckett, Harold Pinter, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Eugene Ionesco
Ongoing political strife in East Berlin distressed and began to dip into the realm of absurdism in order to wrestle
disillusioned Brecht, and in 1956 he died of heart failure. with the painful and often disorienting realities of life lived
Brecht’s artistic contributions to drama remain influential to under fascism and antisemitism.
this day, and the epic theater movement’s reverberations can
be felt throughout contemporary theater, film, and opera. KEY FACTS
• Full Title: The Good Woman of Setzuan (from the German Der
HISTORICAL CONTEXT gute Mensch von Sezuan, often translated literally as The Good
While The Good Woman of Setzuan isn’t tied to any particular Person of Szechwan)
year, it seems to take place in the early-to-mid-20th century, • When Written: 1938-1941
given the presence of the planes that fly frequently overhead.
• Where Written: Los Angeles

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• Literary Period: Modernism; Epic Theater her good fortune spreads throughout town. Mrs. Shin, the
• Genre: Play disgruntled former proprietor of the store, demands Shen Te
• Setting: Setzuan, a fictionalized version of the Chinese give her enough rice to feed her family each day. The carpenter
province of Sichuan who installed the shelves in the store for the last owner
threatens to take them away unless Shen Te gives him an
• Climax: Shen Te reveals to the trio of gods who first declared
enormous sum. An unemployed man begs for damaged tobacco
her a “good” person that she has, in fact, been living a double
life, masquerading as her “bad cousin” Shui Ta in order to stock for free. A destitute family of eight—a husband, wife,
better run her tobacco business. nephew, niece, brother, sister-in-law, grandfather, and young
boy—who once sheltered Shen Te briefly when she arrived in
• Antagonist: The Good Woman of Setzuan is unique in that it
sets up almost every minor character as an antagonist to
Setzuan from the provinces begin squatting in the store’s back
Shen Te and it demonstrates how each person antagonizes room. Mrs. Mi Tzu, the landlady, demands male references who
her in their own way. Yang Sun, Mrs. Mi Tzu, the carpenter, can vouch for Shen Te’s finances—as well as six months’ rent in
the members of the family of eight, and even Shen Te’s alter advance. Shen Te claims she has a cousin, Shui Ta, who is a savvy
ego Shui Ta are all antagonists in their own right. businessman; she promises that Shui Ta will visit soon to meet
• Point of View: Dramatic with Mrs. Mi Tzu and vouch for Shen Te. As Shen Te’s busy first
day at the shop concludes, she marvels at how tightly needy
EXTRA CREDIT people cling to the “lifeboat” of one lucky person’s success.

Play On Words. Brecht originally wanted to title the play that As the gods continually visit Wong in his dreams to check in on
became The Good Woman of Setzuan as Die Ware Liebe, a phrase whether Shen Te has remained good, things get more and more
complicated for Shen Te herself. Shen Te begins disguising
which translates in English to “the product love,” “the product
herself as Shui Ta in order to make the ruthless business and
that is love,” or “love as a commodity.” The German term for
personal decisions needed to keep her shop afloat. Shen Te,
“true love” is Die wahre Liebe. Accordingly, Shen Te’s struggles
dressed as Shui Ta, kicks the family of eight out during business
with love are a large part of the play’s action. As she works to be
hours, threatens the carpenter, haggles with Mrs. Mi Tzu, and
a “good” friend, neighbor, and lover in the face of capitalism and
even puts an ad in the paper for a wealthy husband who can
greed, Brecht’s cynical assertion that love can never be more
help Shen Te run her business. When Shen Te, however, meets a
than a commodity becomes clear.
suicidal, out-of-work, but romantic pilot named Yang Sun in the
park one afternoon, she falls in love with him. Though Yang Sun
PL
PLO
OT SUMMARY is poor and cruel, Shen Te loves him too deeply to accept the
marriage proposal (and financial assistance) of her wealthy
Wong, a poor water seller who works in the impoverished neighbor, a barber named Shu Fu. Shen Te’s needy neighbors
village of Setzuan, meets a trio of shabby, weary travelers at the lament that her newfound love is distracting her from her
city gates one day. Wong instantly recognizes them as gods in duties to them, while Shen Te, hoping to pull Yang Sun out of
disguise. When the first god tells Wong that their group is in financial ruin, becomes indebted to an old man and old woman
need of a place to spend the night, Wong hurriedly tries to find who own a nearby carpet shop in an arrangement which
someone who will shelter the gods for the evening—but they threatens her “goodness.”
are turned away at every door in town. Eventually, a kind While in disguise as Shui Ta one afternoon, Shen Te learns that
prostitute named Shen Te reluctantly agrees to take the gods Yang Sun is only using her for her money because he needs to
in. Wong returns to the sewer drain where he lives. In the bribe someone at an airfield in Peking for a job. Nevertheless,
morning, the gods thank Shen Te for her hospitality and they Shen Te chooses to move forward with her wedding to Yang
tell her that she is the only “good human being” they’ve Sun. The wedding is a disaster—and because Yang Sun and Mrs.
encountered in their travels. Shen Te says she doesn’t believe Yang, Yang Sun’s mother, insist on waiting for Shui Ta’s arrival at
she’s truly good—and that she might have an easier time being the ceremony, the marriage is never confirmed.
good if she had more money. The second god is wary of
Meanwhile, each time the gods visit Wong in his dreams, he
“meddl[ing] in economics,” but the third god insists upon giving
tells them of Shen Te’s trials—but the gods insist that Shen Te’s
Shen Te some money for her troubles. The gods shove over a
burdens will only give her greater strength and more goodness.
thousand silver dollars into Shen Te’s hands and they depart,
Mrs. Shin soon discovers Shen Te’s ruse when Shen Te changes
continuing their mission of finding good people on Earth in
too hurriedly into her disguise as Shui Ta in order to capitalize
order to help decide whether the world can “stay as it is” or
on a large stock of stolen tobacco which the family of eight
whether it must be remade entirely.
brings into her shop. A blank check from Shu Fu allows Shen
Shen Te uses the money the gods give her to rent a humble Te—as Shui Ta—to open up shop in a series of cabins that Shu
tobacco shop but she soon finds herself in trouble as news of Fu owns on the outskirts of town. Shen Te, however, has

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become pregnant with Yang Sun’s illegitimate child. Mrs. Shin Earth—and yet the burdens she begins to accrue as she accepts
warns her that Shu Fu will cease his generosity if he learns of the gods’ favor test the possibility of ever attaining true
Shen Te’s condition. goodness. Shen Te is a meek woman who does her best to be a
Shen Te decides to stay in disguise as Shui Ta for months on dutiful citizen. But after the gods give her a large sum for taking
end. Though the tobacco business flourishes (and Shui Ta’s them in, Shen Te uses the silver to acquire a tobacco shop and
steady weight gain is attributed to his mounting wealth and she soon finds herself torn between her obligation to share her
gluttony), the needy of the village begin missing the sweet, wealth and her desire to pursue success and happiness for
generous Shen Te—and even worrying that Shui Ta has herself. To cope with her mounting struggles, Shen Te creates
murdered her. When a policeman, at Wong’s behest, confronts an alter ego named Shui Ta, a man she claims is her cousin. Shen
Shui Ta and demands to know where Shen Te is, Shui Ta cannot Te dresses up as Shui Ta in order to solve the financial and
answer. He is arrested. Wong warns the gods that if Shen Te personal problems that have been heaped on her plate since
has truly vanished, then “all is lost,” so the gods reluctantly opening the tobacco shop: she kicks out her lodgers, negotiates
agree to return to Setzuan to help look for her. with her debtors, and even “spies” on her cruel lover, the good-
for-nothing Yang Sun. Through Shui Ta, Shen Te finds herself
At Shui Ta’s trial, the entire village gathers. The gods enter in
able to maintain her “good” reputation while still accomplishing
disguise as a trio of judges to hear the arguments. The wealthy
the ruthless deals and loathsome negotiations necessary to
business owners who have had good dealings with Shui Ta leap
stay afloat in a capitalist society. By the end of the play,
to his defense, while the needy poor who miss Shen Te and who
however, Shen Te is exhausted by her own charade. She reveals
have only ever been on the receiving end of Shui Ta’s cruelty
the truth of her schemes to the gods—only to find that they are
lambast him. As the agitated crowd demands to know why Shen
unwilling to have their opinion of the last “good” woman on
Te left Setzuan, Shui Ta declares that if she had stayed, the
Earth altered. As the gods ascend to heaven, Shen Te calls out
villagers would have ripped her to shreds. Shui Ta demands for
to them for help, begging them to give her advice on how to be
the courtroom to be cleared because he has a confession to
good while also living life for herself. Shen Te’s screams go
make to the judges.
unanswered, however, and she’s left alone. Through the parable
Alone in the room with the gods, Shen Te drops her disguise of Shen Te, Brecht explores the pitfalls of capitalism, the
and she reveals the truth to them. The gods are shocked. In a constraints of femininity, and the fluctuations in identity and
sorrowful lament, Shen Te describes how hard it has been to try morality that can occur when an ordinary woman feels crushed
“to be good and yet to live”—she feels she has literally been torn under pressure to fulfill society’s expectations.
in two. She hates that bad deeds are rewarded while good ones
Shui TTaa – Shui Ta is Shen Te’s alter ego. As Shen Te’s “bad
are punished. The gods, however, insist that Shen Te stop
cousin,” Shui Ta is an imposing and ruthless man whose business
beating herself up—they tell her how happy they are to have
savvy and unapologetic self-interest stand in contrast to the
found the one good person they encountered in all their
meek and sweet Shen Te’s generosity and hospitality. Shen Te
travels. Shen Te points out that she failed to be a good woman
creates the persona of Shui Ta in a moment of desperation as an
and instead became a “bad man.” Rather than help Shen Te
answer to her landlady, Mrs. Mi Tzu’s, inquiry about Shen Te’s
solve her moral crisis, the gods choose to return to their “void”
financial references. Soon, Shen Te sees an opportunity to
by ascending into the sky on a pink cloud. Shen Te begs the
“prove [her]self useful” by embodying a “strong backer” who
gods to tell her what to do about all of her entanglements; the
can come not just to her aid, but to the aid of all her needy
gods, however, tell her simply to “continue to be good.”
neighbors. Though Shen Te admits that she fears she will only
In a brief epilogue, one of the actors in the play steps forward be able to help her neighbors by denying others, she continues
to deliver a speech which is not attributed to any specific to appear at the tobacco shop in disguise as Shui Ta. Dressed as
character. The actor suggests it is up to the audience to find a Shui Ta, she wards off those who seek to extort money from her
happy ending for the play and to decide what will change the or take advantage of her good fortune and she has man-to-man
world, whether it be new gods or atheism, materialism or conversations with her distant, cruel lover, Yang Sun. Though
ascetism, moral fortitude or increased decadence. Shui Ta is originally created as a last resort, Shen Te comes to
rely on Shui Ta’s presence more and more often—especially
when she becomes pregnant out of wedlock and she’s
CHARA
CHARACTERS
CTERS desperate for a way to hide her condition from the world. Shui
Ta’s ruthlessness becomes legendary as he steals, bribes, and
MAJOR CHARACTERS intimidates the needy neighbors he was created to help and he
Shen TTe
e – Shen Te is the play’s protagonist. A poor but kind becomes the owner of a large tobacco conglomerate. When
prostitute, she takes in a trio of gods for the night after her Shui Ta is arrested because the other villagers begin to suspect
other neighbors refuse them shelter. Shen Te thus becomes the that he murdered the “missing” Shen Te, Shen Te knows her
gods’ way of proving that there are still good people on ruse has gone far enough. She reveals the truth to the “judges”

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of her case—the gods who first declared her the “good woman there are rains and floods and no one is thirsty, Wong himself is
of Setzuan,” who have returned to the village in disguise—but suffering. Wong’s dilemma is symbolic of the larger struggles of
she finds that they do not fault her for becoming a “wolf” when life under capitalism—one’s success in terms of material wealth,
tempted by money and power. The alias of Shui Ta is not just a Brecht suggests, always comes at the expense of another.
way for Shen Te to take hold of her fate—soon, he becomes an The First God – The first god is the de facto leader of a trio of
outlet through which she can express her frustrations, desires, gods who come down to Earth to determine whether there are
and pent-up rages at the hostility of the world; the burdens of any truly good people left in the world. The first god knows that
capitalism; and the social superiority of men. if no good people can be found, the earth will need to be
Yang Sun – Yang Sun is a depressed, out-of-work man who remade and the rules of humanity reconfigured. Such measures
longs to be a pilot at an airfield in Peking. Shen Te meets Yang would constitute an effort that none of the gods particularly
Sun on a rainy day just as he is about to commit suicide by wants to make. The first god is the most communicative and
hanging himself. She rescues him and she convinces him to keep decisive of the trio—and the most determined (or even
living—soon, the two embark on an affair, even though Shen Te desperate) to find the world’s remaining “good” people. The
knows that she should be seeking a wealthy husband who can first god is anxious to push aside any information which
afford to help her keep her tobacco shop. Yang Sun, however, is threatens Shen Te’s goodness—they are unwilling to accept
selfish and cruel—he doesn’t really love Shen Te and he seeks that it is impossible for humans to attain true goodness. When
only to acquire the marginal wealth she’s managed to accrue confronted with Shen Te’s morally ambiguous actions at the
for himself in order to bribe his way into a flying job. Yang Sun is end, the first god leads the other two in a swift ascent back to
conniving and detestable, yet Shen Te cannot contain or control heaven rather than face down the complicated reality of life on
her love for him. Shen Te’s ill-advised devotion to Yang Sun is Earth.
representative of the many challenges and constraints women The Third God – The third god is one of the trio of gods who
face each day under capitalism. Ultimately, her struggle in come down to Earth to determine whether there are any truly
giving up her feelings for him calls into question the nature of good people left in the world. Whereas the first god is often
the conflicting desires that women are often forced to navigate singular focused on moving the mission forward and the
to get by in a greedy, patriarchal world. second god is quick to blame humanity for their own problems,
Shu FFuu – Shu Fu is a wealthy barber whose shop is near Shen the third god is seemingly the most empathetic toward humans
Te’s. Shu Fu is a respected businessman who falls in love with and the quickest to suggest lending a helping hand to the
Shen Te in spite of her involvement with the scoundrel Yang mortals of Earth. The third god is a bit more nervous and
Sun. Shu Fu wants to marry Shen Te because of how good, kind, insecure than their compatriots but is nonetheless committed
and charitable she is—even though he knows that she is hung to finding goodness in humanity.
up on another lover. Shen Te rejects Shu Fu’s offers of kindness, The Wife – The wife is one of the heads of the family of eight, a
loyalty, and financial support but she instead absconds with group of poor but crafty criminals who do what they must to
Yang Sun, leaving Shu Fu heartbroken. Nevertheless, Shu Fu get by in the unforgiving village of Setzuan. The wife is a self-
remains becomes committed to helping Shen Te’s business righteous and entitled woman: she believes that Shen Te owes
flourish. He offers her generous loans, even writing her a blank her and her family a debt of service since they sheltered Shen
check when she falls into dire straits, and he offers Shui Ta the Te when she first moved to the village.
use of his property, a set of cabins behind a nearby field. Shen
The Husband – The husband is one of the heads of the family of
Te’s inability to accept Shu Fu’s offers of love and
eight alongside his wife. He feels that no matter what he does,
devotion—even as she willingly accepts his cash—demonstrates
he cannot provide for his family—to him, living a “crooked” life is
the dual identities and emotional sacrifices women must make
just as useless as living on the straight and narrow, yet he often
to stay afloat in a greedy, capitalist, patriarchal world.
encourages his family to resort to crime to get by all the same.
Wong – Wong is a poor water seller in Setzuan. Wong acts as a
The Unemplo
Unemployyed Man – The unemployed man is an elderly
sort of narrator or chorus for much of the action—despite his
resident of Setzuan who dresses in rags. Shen Te often helps
lowly profession, he is the first person to recognize the
the unemployed man out by giving him free rice and tobacco.
disguised trio of gods who appear in Setzuan for the deities
He is always scheming of ways to make money and outsmart
they are and he offers to help them find shelter. The gods don’t
those around him, yet often ends up resorting to freeloading to
see Wong as the “good” person they’ve been searching for but
get by.
they nonetheless choose to appear to him in visions throughout
the play as they check in on Shen Te, whom they do believe is The Carpenter – The carpenter is an opportunistic man who
inherently good. Wong is a man who has capitalized on a attempts to shake Shen Te down for a large sum of money for a
natural resource: when there is a drought and his fellow men set of previously-installed custom shelves. When Shen Te
are suffering, he earns a profit by selling them water. When arrives dressed as Shui Ta, however, she’s able to successfully

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negotiate with the carpenter and outwit the man, sending him The Old Man – The old man is the frail, kindly, and elderly
on his way with nothing. The carpenter later struggles to proprietor of a carpet store near Shen Te’s tobacco shop.
provide food for his three sons, demonstrating that even those The Old W
Woman
oman – The old woman is the wife of the old man
who seem like extortionists and grifters are often just doing who owns the carpet shop near Shen Te’s store. She is a
their best to survive and provide for their families. Through the devoted woman who loves her husband deeply.
carpenter’s arc, Brecht suggests that capitalism makes
everyone who must function within the system greedy and Mrs. Y
Yang
ang – Mrs. Yang is Yang Sun’s mother. She is a dishonest
opportunistic through no fault of their own. and unkind woman who only cares about her son.

MINOR CHARACTERS THEMES

The Second God – The second god is one of the trio of gods
who come down to earth to determine whether there are any In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own color-
truly good people left in the world. The second god is the most coded icon. These icons make it easy to track where the themes
pessimistic of the bunch and is quick to comment upon occur most prominently throughout the work. If you don't have
humanity’s collective incompetence and cruelty. a color printer, you can still use the icons to track themes in
black and white.
Mrs. Shin – Mrs. Shin is the former proprietor of the tobacco
shop that Shin Te takes over. The crafty and nosy Mrs. Shin
eventually discovers that Shin Te and Shui Ta are one THE PURSUIT OF GOODNESS
person—and when she does, she simultaneously becomes Shen In The Good Woman of Setzuan, Bertolt Brecht uses
Te’s sole confidant and her most direct threat. the parable of Shen Te, a put-upon woman singled
The Nephew – The nephew is a member of the family of eight. out by the gods as the only good person on Earth,
He is often coddled by the husband and wife. to contemplate whether one can ever truly be plainly, wholly
“good.” Throughout the play, as Shen Te struggles to be good to
The Brother – The brother is the wife’s brother and the sister- others and to herself—and she fails repeatedly—Brecht
in-law’s husband. He is a member of the family of eight. ultimately shows how the constraints of contemporary society
The Sister-in-la
Sister-in-law w – The sister-in-law is a pregnant woman make it impossible for a person to ever be entirely good.
who’s married to the wife’s brother. She’s a member of the Ultimately, Brecht suggests that in a world where true,
family of eight. The sister-in-law is moody due to her pregnancy unimpeachable goodness is impossible, the pursuit of goodness
and she loves to gossip. is more important than actually achieving goodness itself.
The Niece – The niece is part of the family of eight. She works Early on in The Good Woman of Setzuan, a trio of gods descends
as a prostitute. to Earth in search of one good person who can convince them
The Gr
Grandfather
andfather – The grandfather is part of the family of to let the world remain as it is. The gods seem desperate to find
eight. He is a singer and storyteller who laments that money this one person—so desperate, in fact, that they choose a kind
and greed ruins people’s best efforts to live life properly and but imperfect woman, Shen Te, as their paragon of goodness
morally. after she lets them shelter in her room for the night.
Throughout the rest of the play, Shen Te, burdened by the gods’
The Y
Young
oung Bo
Boyy – The young boy is the youngest member of the
favor, tries her best to be “good” in the face of increasing
family of eight.
pressure and mounting problems. At several important points
The Carpenter’s Son – The carpenter’s son is a young, in the action, Brecht demonstrates moments in which Shen Te
destitute boy whom (along with his two brothers) the falls short of pure, total goodness—but her actions prove that
carpenter is trying to support. aspiring to be good is just as worthy as achieving the elusive
Mrs. Mi TTzu
zu – Mrs. Mi Tzu is Shen Te’s landlady. She is a title of “good person.”
demanding woman who is protective of her property’s The first instance in which Shen Te proves that the pursuit of
integrity—but who ultimately proves herself, as so many other goodness is more important than one’s ability to achieve an
characters do, to be crooked at heart and motivated by impossible standard of purity comes early on in the play, after
personal greed and satisfaction. Shen Te hosts the gods in her room for the night. The gods have
The Old Whore – The “old whore” is an older prostitute who been turned away at doors throughout Setzuan and the
works alongside the niece. surrounding provinces for many days and nights—when Shen
Te lets them in, they believe that they have finally found a “good
The P
Policeman
oliceman – The policeman is a local police officer in
human being.” Shen Te insists she isn’t good: she hesitated to
Setzuan. He dutifully upholds the law and he settles frequent
put them up at first, after all. She also sells her body as a
disputes among neighbors.
prostitute for a living, she is covetous of her neighbors’ things,

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and she often lies. The gods—perhaps suggesting that in simply actor (who isn’t assigned to a specific character) entreats the
questioning her ability to achieve goodness, Shen Te is putting audience to find a “happy ending” to the work, Brecht suggests
forth more of an effort than most people do—insist that she is that it is the burden and the purpose of humanity to work
an “unusually good woman” with simple “misgivings” about together toward collective solutions. Even if total purity is
herself. Though Shen Te doesn’t believe she is “good,” as she unattainable, the quest for goodness is nonetheless of vital
takes stock of the things about herself that she dislikes, she importance to humanity’s continued existence.
demonstrates her own self-awareness. No one else the gods
have met has admitted to their own shortcomings or expressed GREED, CAPITALISM, AND CORRUPTION
any desire to change who they are or how they move through
In the impoverished village of Setzuan, thievery and
the world. Shen Te is the first person the gods have
bribery abound. The village is ruled by money, much
encountered who has any measure of mindfulness and so they
like the wider world beyond it. Bertolt Brecht, a
choose to reward this quality in her. This demonstrates that the
playwright whose poems, plays, and operas all wrestle with the
gods—and likely Brecht himself—all believe that one’s desire to
role of capitalism and greed in contemporary society, uses The
chase down the mere potential for goodness is just as
Good Woman of Setzuan to suggest that money, capitalism, and
important as goodness itself.
corruption are significant factors as to why immorality is so
The second major instance in which Shen Te proves that pervasive. Capitalist society, Brecht argues, is an environment
aspiration toward goodness is just as important as the pipe in which one can only advance by taking advantage of others.
dream of achieving goodness itself comes toward the end of Bad deeds are rewarded and good ones are punished—and
the play. After unmasking herself to the gods in the middle of money and capital, Brecht suggests, is at the root of humanity’s
the trial of Shui Ta—an alter ego Shen Te has invented in order inability to “refuse to be bad.”
to do the “bad” things she needs to do in order to get by in the
Many of Brecht’s other plays examine the role of greed,
world as she pursues her promise of goodness—Shen Te
capitalism, and corruption—but in The Good Woman of Setzuan,
attempts to explain to the deities the struggle she has endured
as she’s tried to follow the gods’ “injunction / To be good and Brecht makes one of his plainest and yet most profoundly
yet to live.” She claims that trying so hard to be good has, over frustrated statements about the fundamental impossibility of
the last several months, “torn [her] in two,” quite literally. reconciling humanity’s desire to act morally with the
Badness is necessary in some circumstances, Shen Te posits in a impossibility of being a truly good friend, neighbor, lover, or
lengthy speech. She laments that though she “truly wished to employer under the burdensome weight of capitalism. At the
be the Angel of the Slums” and take care of all of her needy start of the play, Shen Te is working as a prostitute in order to
friends and neighbors, pity became a “thorn in [her] side;” soon, survive. She knows that selling her body is immoral—but she is
she “became a wolf” when the impossibility of achieving also aware that there is no other way for her to make ends
goodness made itself known to her. As Shen Te wrestles with meet. Still, the gods overlook Shen Te’s profession and they
her failure to be good to her neighbors while also maintaining declare her an “unusually good woman.” They reward her for
allegiance to herself, she reveals the argument at the heart of her decision to take them in when no one else in town would by
the play. Brecht doesn’t necessarily believe that there is even paying her a large sum of money—a sum that will allow her to
one truly good person on Earth—there are only those who stop working as a prostitute and open up a shop of her own.
strive to be good and those who do not. Shen Te is in the former Shen Te believes that if she becomes a business owner, she will
camp. Despite her failures—and despite her reliance on the be earning money in a more respectable way—but she quickly
alter ego of Shui Ta to get things done—the gods recognize discovers that there is no ethical way of making money under
Shen Te as a good woman who has done many good deeds. capitalism, a system which requires the exploitation of the poor
Shen Te reminds them that she’s also been a bad man who’s in order to feed the greed of the rich. As Shen Te opens up her
done many bad things—but the gods declare that the self- tobacco shop, she soon finds that her relative financial privilege
critical Shen Te is simply “confused.” The gods give Shen Te their makes her a beacon for her needy neighbors who seek food,
permission to be mostly good and they even suggest she shelter, and favors from her. As Shen Te works to keep her
neighbors afloat while simultaneously fending off financial
continue using Shui Tai “once a month” or so when being the
demands from her landlady Mrs. Mi Tzu, a carpenter, and an
“good woman of Setzuan” becomes too much for her to bear.
unemployed man, Shen Te finds herself lamenting that when a
Thus, Brecht demonstrates his belief that while complete and
lifeboat comes for one person, others “greedily / Hold onto it
total goodness is an impossibility, those who struggle to do
[even] as they drown.” Brecht uses Shen Te’s early struggles
good and be good should still be rewarded.
with money, greed, and corruption to show that in spite of her
Though Brecht is pessimistic about humanity’s collective struggle to be good to her neighbors, kindness and generosity
potential to achieve goodness, he suggests that striving for this are always taken advantage of. Everyone around Shen Te is
ideal is what’s important. In the play’s final moments, as an struggling—and in a world where the wealthy few hoard

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monetary resources while the working class suffers, Shen Te she does for each of them. In order to preserve her “goodness”
must choose whether to protect her own interests and betray while accomplishing the difficult things she needs to do to
her neighbors or be pulled back into poverty and despair. survive in a capitalistic society, Shen Te creates an alter ego: her
Brecht deepens Shen Te’s struggle as Shen Te creates an alter “cousin,” Shui Ta. Shui Ta is imposing, practical, and unapologetic
ego—Shui Ta, a “cousin” from a faraway province—to do the where Shen Te is meek and self-denying. Though Shen Te hates
ruthless deal-brokering that Shen Te herself feels incapable of “being” Shui Ta, she knows that she needs her “bad cousin” in
doing as a woman who is supposed to be generous and blandly, order to survive. Through the dual character of Shen Te and
blithely “good” above all else. As Shui Ta becomes a necessary Shui Ta, Brecht argues that in a world where women’s voices
presence in Shen Te’s life more and more often, Brecht charts are ignored and their agency is denied, women must create
Shen Te’s descent into greed and the pursuit of capitalistic, dual identities to make themselves heard. Brecht
patriarchal power. Shui Ta himself admits that “one can only metaphorically uses Shui Ta to show the extremes to which
help one of [one’s] luckless brothers / By trampling down a women must go in order to accomplish the things they need to.
dozen others,” yet he continues amassing capital in the forms of As such, he ultimately suggests that while not every woman
wealth, property, and social control over his employees and creates an alter ego as different or as masculine as Shui Ta, all
neighbors as he expands Shen Te’s humble tobacco shop into a women must engage in some measure of the artifice, self-
large factory conglomerate with dozens of employees. Soon, denial, and masquerade that goes into creating another identity
Shen Te comes to see that her “bad cousin” represents all the at some point in their lives.
social, economic, and political corruption that makes the world In The Good Woman of Setzuan, Brecht portrays Shen Te as a
such a miserable place to live in for people like herself and her woman so frustrated with the social obligation to be good
neighbors—toward the end of the play, there are even rumors (which her femininity has thrust upon her) that she creates
that Shui Ta has bought a seat as a local Justice of the Peace. another person—a man—whose life she can inhabit in order to
Shui Ta is a ruthless boss, a swindler, and a manipulator: all of escape her own. While Brecht doesn’t suggest that all women
the things that Shen Te knows are necessary for those who must do what Shen Te does in order to get by, he does use her
wish to succeed materially under capitalism, but all of the story as a metaphor for the ways in which society
things that she as a “good” woman cannot herself embody. Shui underestimates and overburdens women—and the great
Ta, then, becomes a tool through which Brecht can indict how lengths to which all women, at one point or another in their
society materially rewards the deeds of crooked bosses and personal or professional lives, must go in order to simply make
landlords while ignoring the individuals who toil under terrible their voices heard. Shen Te “creates” Shui Ta early on in the play
conditions. when Mrs. Mi Tzu, the landlady of the humble tobacco shop
In Shen Te’s climactic, soulful lament to the gods, she decries Shen Te wishes to rent, demands a series of male references.
the fact that pity and empathy became a “thorn in [her] side” Shen Te claims that a cousin of hers who lives far away can act
when it came time to choose between the good deeds for as a reference. When Mrs. Mi Tzu demands to meet Shui Ta,
which she was punished with poverty and the bad deeds for Shen Te disguises herself as the imposing cousin and he (Shen
which she was rewarded with wealth and power. By charting Te disguised as Shui Ta) “arrives” at the shop one morning to
Shen Te’s struggle to be “good”—and her ultimate failure to do kick out the family who has been squatting there, to negotiate
so—Brecht suggests that even those who work hard to rebel with a nasty and greedy carpenter who has been trying to
against the impulse to be greedy, materialistic, and self-serving extort money from Shen Te, and to get Mrs. Mi Tzu off Shen Te’s
often end up failing to remain moral in the face of capitalism’s back. Shui Ta is a helpful presence at first—he is able to say
intense pressures. Brecht’s sympathy (and indeed empathy) for things that Shen Te would feel uncomfortable saying and that
Shen Te is undeniable—he, too, seeks answers to how humanity she wouldn’t be taken seriously for demanding even if she
can possibly “help the lost [without becoming] lost ourselves.” managed to get the words out. As Shen Te comes to rely on
In the end, Brecht characters aren’t given a suitable Shui Ta more and more often, however, she begins “trampling
answer—yet Brecht does not end the play without reminding down […] others” in pursuit of the greater good a bit too heavily.
his audience that “moral rearmament” in the face of capitalism, Shui Ta makes financial deals on Shen Te’s behalf, seeks out
greed, corruption, and materialism is perhaps the only way “to information about her disloyal lover Yang Sun for her, and
help good men arrive at happy ends.” transforms the humble tobacco shop into a massive factory
operated out of the cabins behind the property of Shu Fu (a
local barber). Then, when Shen Te realizes she is pregnant out
WOMEN AND DUAL IDENTITIES
of wedlock by the scoundrel Yang Sun, she begins living full-
In The Good Woman of Setzuan, Shen Te—the titular time as Shui Ta to hide her shame from her fellow villagers.
“good woman”—is dismayed to find that her When Shen Te gains weight from the pregnancy, Shen Te knows
neighbors, her friends, and even her lover refuse to the villagers will attribute Shui Ta’s new heft to the wealth and
listen to her, heed her wishes, or repay the many kindnesses comfort that comes from his successful enterprise.

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Throughout all of Shui Ta’s exploits, Brecht focuses on how bleakly suggests that the human world is a place so full of
Shen Te uses Shui Ta to perform financial negotiations; have “misery, vulgarity, and waste” that even a trio of gods would,
difficult conversations with other men; and consolidate upon visiting, eventually abandon humanity to its vices rather
property, wealth, and social capital. Brecht uses Shen Te’s story than waste their time intervening in the face of a lost cause.
as a metaphor to show how society bars women from Throughout the play, Brecht uses the gods’ point of view to
participating in certain spheres of life—or how, even when show the decayed state of the world—and he uses their central
society begrudgingly allows women into traditionally male question of whether they must remake the world in order
professions and spaces, others fail to take them seriously or access the larger argument of whether or not humanity is even
compensate them fairly. As Shen Te begins relying on the worth investing time, energy, and effort into. The trio of gods
presence of Shui Ta more and more often (with only Mrs. Shin, provide a kind of chorus as they dip in and out of the play’s
the previous owner of the tobacco shop, as a confidant), she action—often appearing only in Wong’s dreams—throughout
realizes that she is creating an increasingly difficult situation the play. The gods’ stated mission is to decide whether to let
for herself. Yet Shen Te is unable or unwilling to relinquish the the earth remain as it is or do something to change it—they
sense of social dominance that the Shui Ta persona enables her must make this decision by finding enough people who are
to feel for the first time in her life. Shen Te both loathes and “living lives worthy of human beings.” In other words, they must
envies Shui Ta—even as she recognizes that he has become an locate the world’s good people. The implication, then, is that if
inextricable part of herself. Brecht also suggests that Shen Te the gods can’t find enough “good people,” they will have to
creates Shui Ta to do the “bad” things she must do to get eradicate humanity—this notion hovers over the entirety of the
by—for much of the play, he frames Shui Ta as a necessary evil, a play and it adds to the conundrum that Shen Te, the play’s
tool through which Shen Te can accomplish things that are central character, faces each day as she struggles to uphold the
forbidden to women. At a certain point, however, Shui Ta mantle of “goodness” which the gods tell her she possesses
becomes a way for Shen Te to unleash her inner frustrations after she takes them in for the night. Early on in the gods’
and the “bad” parts of her own personality. In other words, Shui mission, they feel a sense of desperation to locate the world’s
Ta is not just a vessel for the deeds Shen Te is afraid to do as a good people, and Brecht uses the divine’s invented rules to
woman, but for the things she is afraid to say or feel as herself. make a commentary upon the human world. The gods are
Ultimately, as Shen Te’s journey unfolds, Brecht expresses anxious to find a good person—they feel that if they don’t, their
empathy for the unfair pressures that the play’s corrupt, sexist intervention will become necessary and they will have proof
society piles upon women. Shen Te’s entire story can be viewed that their “rules” have failed humanity. The gods pin their hopes
as a metaphor for these pressures: after a group of authorities on Shen Te—if she succeeds and continues to be “good,” they
charge a woman with the dual task of being good while making will be able to depart Earth and rest assured that their
something of herself, she is left to crumble under these demands upon humanity are fair and sufficient. Their
demands until she creates a version of herself who can handle investment in the human race is palpable in the early parts of
the contradictory directives thrust upon her. In the end, Brecht the play, even as their confidence in humanity’s goodness
suggests that all women must contend with a similar struggle at seems shaky at best.
some point in their lives—and he doesn’t fault them for creating The gods appear in throughout the play to Wong, the water
dual identities which allow them to cope. seller, by inserting themselves into his dreams. The gods’
appearances to Wong suggest that they are continually
HUMANITY VS. THE DIVINE evaluating humanity’s worth. Wong is not one of the “good”
In The Good Woman of Setzuan, a trio of unnamed people of the world, yet the gods choose him to be their go-
gods comes down to Earth in search of one good between. For the majority of the play, the gods’ reliance upon
person. When they arrive in Setzuan, they have Wong to deliver reports of how Shen Te is doing—and thus
already scavenged the world for one person living a life “worthy whether there is any goodness left on Earth after all—shows
of human beings.” The kind, accommodating Shen Te lets the that they are still invested in humanity even as their search for
gods in—and, having encountered goodness, they feel their good people elsewhere falters. The gods are repeatedly turned
mission is worth continuing. As the play unfolds, the gods away as they travel the world, and their investment in humanity
continue their travels in search of more good people—but they wanes even as their hopes for Shen Te become increasingly
also appear continually in the dreams of Wong, the poor water desperate.
seller, in order to receive reports from the man as to how Shen Toward the end of the play, after Shen Te reveals that she has
Te is holding up and whether she has remained good. As the been living as her alter ego (the ruthless businessman Shui Ta),
human world and the divine world overlap in this way, Brecht Shen Te attempts to engage the gods in a discourse about the
portrays the gods as pessimistic, bumbling figures who are just cruelty of life on Earth and the impossibility of being good. Shen
as lost and as hopeless as humans are. Ultimately, Brecht Te entreats the gods to punish her for her badness, or to at

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least give her answers. In response, the gods declare that Shen
PLANES AND FLYING
Te is good in spite of her own misgivings about herself. Thus,
they declare that the world can remain the same after all and Like the symbol of water, planes and flying
then they swiftly pack up and leave, calling upon a giant pink represent the ways in which capitalism controls
cloud to bear them back to the heavens. The gods ignore Shen nearly every element of human society. Whereas Brecht uses
Te’s impassioned cries for help and guidance, instead doling out the symbol of water to point out how humans engage in the
platitudes about her goodness and hollow wishes that her commodification of everything material, even natural
courage will not ever fail her. At the end of the play, the gods resources, for personal gain, he uses the symbol of planes and
see that Shen Te has failed to be truly good after all—and what’s flying to demonstrate how capitalism often makes the dreams
worse, she has discovered the secret and terrible truth of of the working class impossible for the individuals who belong
humanity: no one can “be good and yet […] live [for to it to ever achieve. Yang Sun dreams of being a pilot and he’s
themselves]” at once. Shen Te wants genuine answers to the willing to do nearly anything to achieve his goals—even if it
conundrum of human life—but the gods, overwhelmed by Shen means he has to bribe and cheat his way into a flying gig or
Te’s honesty, sadness, and genuine internal conflict, choose betray his kind and devoted lover, Shen Te, to get to the nearest
instead to divest themselves of their involvement in humanity. airfield. Shen Te, too, begins paying closer attention to the
They decide collectively that they’ve seen enough and so they planes that fly overhead over the course of her involvement
quickly wash their hands of their failed experiment. with Yang Sun. While Yang Sun longs for flight, Shen Te longs
for Yang Sun’s love—but love, too, is a commodity few can
In The Good Woman of Setzuan, Brecht forces his audience to
afford under the restrictive and prohibitive chains of capitalism.
reckon directly with the destruction that humanity has wrought
When planes are heard overhead or when dreams of flight are
upon the earth. By having the gods abscond at the end of the
mentioned throughout the play, Brecht is signaling the physical
play, stating that they’d rather “go back to [their] void” than
awe felt by his characters—and indeed the dread as well—at
spend another moment on Earth, Brecht indicts both the
how far away they are, physically and ideologically, from their
human world and the divine one, suggesting that both parties
greatest dreams.
are too lazy, frightened, and self-concerned to improve upon
the earth.
QUO
QUOTES
TES
SYMBOLS Note: all page numbers for the quotes below refer to the
University of Minnesota Press edition of The Good Woman of
Symbols appear in teal text throughout the Summary and
Setzuan published in 1999.
Analysis sections of this LitChart.

Prologue Quotes
WATER
WONG: I sell water here in the city of Setzuan. It isn’t easy.
Water, and the way in which it’s commodified, When water is scarce, I have long distances to go in search of it,
represents the moral conundrum of the capitalist and when it is plentiful, I have no income. But in our part of the
system. Wong, a water seller, functions as a kind of narrator or world there is nothing unusual about poverty. My people think
observer throughout the play’s action. At the start of the play’s only the gods can save the situation.
prologue, Wong addresses the audience directly and he
proceeds to describe the central contradiction or dilemma of
his profession: it is a conflict at once practical, moral, and Related Characters: Wong (speaker), The Third God, The
ideological. As a water seller, the impoverished Wong has Second God, The First God
resorted to commodifying a natural resource to make his living
Related Themes:
under capitalism. When water is scarce, he must travel far and
work hard but is able to make a lot of money—when it rains,
however, he has no source of income (even though his fellow Related Symbols:
citizens are able to slake their thirst for free.) This central
dilemma—that Wong must profit off of his neighbors’ suffering Page Number: 5
in order to survive himself—provides a metaphorical critique of Explanation and Analysis
the capitalist systems that force people to work against one
In the opening lines of Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of
another to simply get by. In this way, water-selling is a small-
Setzuan, a water seller named Wong introduces himself to
scale representation of capitalism at large, which Brecht
believes is founded upon greed and immorality.

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the audience. He describes the difficult financial situation in prostitute herself to get by, it seems as if no single good
Setzuan—a situation which has contributed to an deed has the potential to render her a wholly good
atmosphere of distrust, greed, and cruelty among person—yet the gods are so desperate to encounter
neighbors. Wong’s profession as a water seller comes to goodness on Earth that they’ll take what they can get. The
function as a central symbol throughout the play, making play’s endeavor is to explore the ways in which women must
concrete the evils of the capitalist economy which has often create dual identities to satisfy society’s ideals of
impoverished so many of Setzuan’s villagers. When water is goodness and propriety, and here, Brecht shows Shen Te
scarce, Wong is able to profit off his neighbors’ suffering wrestling with those very things.
(though the work is still difficult for him to do). When water
is plentiful, however, Wong is broke and he himself is left
destitute. Either way, Wong is suffering—yet he has no THIRD GOD: Good-bye, Shen Te! Give our regards to the
other way of making a living, which suggests that capitalism
water seller!
results in suffering whether one is successful or not.
Throughout the play, Brecht will go on to investigate SECOND GOD: And above all: be good! Farewell!
whether goodness is attainable in a world structured to FIRST GOD: Farewell!
make neighbors seek to make money off one another’s THIRD GOD: Farewell!
hardships the way Wong does—and ultimately, he will
SHEN TE: But everything is so expensive, I don’t feel sure I can
suggest that while the pursuit of goodness is worthy, it is
do it!
impossible to ever be truly good under capitalism.
SECOND GOD: That's not in our sphere. We never meddle
with economics.
SHEN TE: I’d like to be good, it’s true, but there's the rent THIRD: One moment. Isn’t it true she might do better if she had
to pay. And that’s not all: I sell myself for a living. Even so I more money?
can’t make ends meet, there’s too much competition. I’d like to
honor my father and mother and speak nothing but the truth Related Characters: Shen Te, The First God, The Second
and not covet my neighbor’s house. I should love to stay with God, The Third God (speaker), Wong
one man. But how? How is it done?
Related Themes:
Related Characters: Shen Te (speaker), The Third God, The
Second God, The First God Related Symbols:

Related Themes: Page Number: 11

Explanation and Analysis

Page Number: 10
As the gods bid Shen Te farewell and thank her for allowing
Explanation and Analysis them to spend the night with her, they inform her that her
After Shen Te welcomes a trio of gods in to share her room goodness has given them faith in humanity. Shen Te protests
for the night after they are turned away from every other that she isn’t very good at all, but the gods will not hear
home in Setzuan, the gods tell Shen Te that she is a good otherwise. They congratulate Shen Te on her goodness and
person and has proved to them that good people still exist urge her to keep it up. Here, the gods ignore Shen Te’s
on Earth. Their mission to Earth has been focused on entreaties as she begs them to tell her how to be good until
determining whether there are any good people and she suggests that being good would be easy if things were
whether the earth is thus worth saving, and Shen Te has less expensive. The gods, who don’t normally “meddle with
helped them make their decision. Shen Te, however, economics,” nonetheless take a moment to pause and
protests against what the gods are saying. In this passage, consider the weight of Shen Te’s words. This passage is
she discusses all the ways in which she feels she has failed important because it investigates the intertwined themes of
to be good and asks the gods to tell her how one can live a the pursuit of goodness and greed, capitalism, and
truly good life. This quote is thematically significant because corruption. In a world where everything is expensive and
it interrogates what it means to do a good deed yet still live one’s quality of life revolves around money, living a
a less-than-perfect life. For a woman like Shen Te, who must comfortable life means doing whatever it takes to get
by—even if what it takes is a sacrifice of one’s morals or

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scruples. The gods realize that it would, of course, be easier Related Characters: The First God (speaker), The Third
for Shen Te to be good if she had some money—and so they God, The Second God, Shen Te, Wong
decide to give her a large sum to help tip the scales in her
favor. Related Themes:

Related Symbols:
Scene 1 Quotes
Page Number: 22
SHEN TE: The little lifeboat is swiftly sent down.
Too many men too greedily Explanation and Analysis
Hold on to it as they drown.
In this passage, the gods appear to Wong, the water seller,
in a dream. They entreat him to keep tabs on Shen Te and
Related Characters: Shen Te (speaker) report back to them about how she’s doing with the money
they’ve given her—and whether she’s been able to remain
Related Themes: good. The gods worry that if goodness is not demanded of a
person, that person will have no impetus to remain morally
Related Symbols: upright. The gods are personally invested in making sure
Shen Te upholds the mantle of goodness they have thrust
Page Number: 20 upon her—they need for “the idle chatter about the
impossibility of goodness [to] stop” so that they can abscond
Explanation and Analysis
back to heaven and leave the human world as it is. This
After Shen Te receives a large sum of money from the gods passage demonstrates the intertwined nature of the
as a thanks for having let them stay the night in her room, impossibility of goodness and the demands of life under
she uses the money in order to rent a tobacco shop in town. capitalism, and it also showcases how reluctant the gods are
As soon as Shen Te moves into the shop, however, her to be in the world of humans—a species they do not trust at
destitute neighbors begin swarming the shop hoping to take all—in the first place.
for themselves a slice of what Shen Te has been given. A
family of eight who once provided Shen Te with a couple of
nights of shelter moves into the back room; a greedy Scene 2 Quotes
carpenter threatens to take away shelves he installed for
SHUI TA: Miss Shen Te has been delayed. She wishes me
the previous owner unless Shen Te pays him for them again;
to tell you there will be nothing she can do—now I am here.
a greedy landlady seeks to get Shen Te to pay six months’
rent in advance. At the end of her busy, chaotic first day, WIFE (bowled over): l thought she was good!
Shen Te speaks these lines. This passage is significant NEPHEW: Do you have to believe him?
because it shows Shen Te learning to recognize, for the first
HUSBAND: I don’t.
time, how desperately the poor must cling to any nearby
“lifeboat” of wealth in order to survive. Shen Te wants to NEPHEW: Then do something.
help her neighbors—but she can’t help sense their greed as HUSBAND: Certainly! I’ll send out a search party at once.
they seek to save themselves from “drown[ing.]” Shen Te […]
wants to live life for herself—but she knows that to be good,
SHUI TA: You won't find Miss Shen Te. She has suspended her
she mustn’t turn away those in need.
hospitable activity for an unlimited period. There are too many
of you. She asked me to say: this is a tobacco shop, not a gold
mine.
Scene 1a Quotes
FIRST GOD: Do us a favor, water seller. Go back to
Setzuan. Find Shen Te, and give us a report on her. We hear that Related Characters: The Husband, The Nephew, The Wife,
she’s come into a little money. Show interest in her Shui Ta (speaker), Shen Te
goodness—for no one can be good for long if goodness is not in
Related Themes:
demand. Meanwhile we shall continue the search, and find
other good people. After which, the idle chatter about the Page Number: 24
impossibility of goodness will stop!

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Explanation and Analysis sharing her newfound wealth. While no one in their right
mind would buy water from a water seller in the rain, Shen
In this passage, Shen Te’s alter ego—her “cousin,” a man Te is moved by Yang Sun’s sad tale of being unable to
named Shui Ta—appears for the first time. Dogged by her achieve his dreams—she wants to help him and comfort him
greedy neighbors, unable to stick up for herself in the face while also supporting Wong’s business. Water (and
of debtors, and resentful of the ways in which society particularly the exploitation of the natural resource into a
underestimates and ignores women, Shen Te disguises commodity) is a major symbol of capitalism’s greed and
herself as Shui Ta. She does so in order to do the things that oppression throughout the play. Additionally, this passage
the good, kind, and meek Shen Te cannot do herself. As Shui introduces the idea of planes and flying as a symbol for the
Ta, Shen Te feels emboldened to tell her lodgers off and kick dreams and hopes which capitalism makes impossible. In
them out, to stick up for her own business interests, and to this scene, as the two symbols enter into conversation with
reveal her own deepest, darkest thoughts. Throughout the each other, Brecht shows Shen Te desperately trying to
play, Brecht will use the dual role of Shen Te and Shui Ta to outmaneuver the system in which she is, as a newly wealthy
explore the ways in which women—especially women living woman, complicit—a system which makes true and pure
under the stultifying system of capitalism—often feel goodness, in spite of one’s good deeds, impossible to attain.
compelled to create dual identities for themselves to
survive in the professional world or to simply get by with
relatives and neighbors. While not all women go as far as Scene 3a Quotes
creating an alter ego of the opposite sex, Brecht suggests
that all women, to some extent, engage in the practice of THIRD GOD: Forgive us for taking this tone with you,
hiding their true selves in order to survive. Wong, we haven't been getting enough sleep. The rich
recommend us to the poor, and the poor tell us they haven’t
enough room.
Scene 3 Quotes
SHEN TE: I want your water, Wong Related Characters: The Third God (speaker), The Second
The water that has tired you so God, The First God, Wong
The water that you carried all this way
The water that is hard to sell because it's been raining. Related Themes:
I need it for the young man over there—he's a flyer!
Page Number: 41
A flyer is a bold man:
Braving the storms Explanation and Analysis
In company with the clouds
In this passage, as the trio of gods once again visit Wong the
He crosses the heavens
water seller in his dreams, they lament how difficult their
And brings to friends in faraway lands
continued search for more good people throughout the
The friendly mail!
world has been. No matter where they go, no one will
accept the gods in their shabby disguises and agree to
Related Characters: Shen Te (speaker), Yang Sun, Wong shelter them, thus passing their test of a person’s
“goodness.” As the third god explains their struggles to
Related Themes: Wong, Brecht indicts the systemic greed, corruption, and
distrust which thrive under capitalism. The rich don’t want
Related Symbols: to shelter the poor, and while the poor might want to help
their fellow man, they simply don’t have the resources.
Page Number: 38-39 Thus, the destitute truly have nowhere to go. The gods are
distressed by the cruelty and apathy they have found in
Explanation and Analysis
humans—all of whom seems to have been inspired by the
In this passage, Shen Te purchases a cup of water from great disparity in wealth and resources which plagues
Wong even though it is raining hard. She wants to purchase humanity, and which is only getting worse.
the water for Yang Sun, an out-of-work pilot with whom
she’s fallen deeply, quickly, and hopelessly in love. This
passage illustrates Shen Te’s goodness—or at least her
attempt at being good to her friends and neighbors by

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Scene 4 Quotes Scene 4a Quotes

SHEN TE: Your brother is assaulted, and you shut your SHEN TE: In our country
eyes? A useful man needs luck
He is hit, cries out in pain, and you are silent? Only if he finds strong backers
The beast prowls, chooses and seizes his victim, and you say: Can he prove himself useful.
"Because we showed no displeasure, he has spared us." The good can’t defend themselves and
If no one present will be witness, I will. I'll say I saw it. Even the gods are defenseless.
Oh, why don’t the gods have their own ammunition
Related Characters: Shen Te (speaker), Shui Ta, Shu Fu, And launch against badness their own expedition
Wong Enthroning the good and preventing sedition
And bringing the world to a peaceful condition?
Related Themes: […]

Page Number: 47 She puts on SHUI TA’S mask and sings in his voice.
You can only help one of your luckless brothers
Explanation and Analysis By trampling down a dozen others.
When a group of villagers witness the wealthy barber Shu Why is it the gods do not feel indignation
Fu assault Wong with a curling iron, burning and mangling And come down in fury to end exploitation
the poor water seller’s hand, none of them offer Wong any Defeat all defeat and forbid desperation
help. Shen Te is perturbed and offended by her neighbors’ Refusing to tolerate such toleration?
resistance to helping Wong and, in this passage, accuses
them of willfully ignoring Wong’s suffering. The “beast”
Related Characters: Shui Ta, Shen Te (speaker), The Third
Shen Te refers to in this passage is an abstract ideal—she
God, The Second God, The First God
might be referring to the “beasts” men become when they
accrue a measure of wealth and power which makes them Related Themes:
invincible in the face of the law, the “beast” of violence
against the poor, or even the “beast” of simple bad luck. Page Number: 50-51
Shen Te declares that she intends to stand up for Wong,
even though it means she will perjure herself. Though Shen Explanation and Analysis
Te has had reservations about her own capacity for In this passage, Shen Te sings “The Song of the Defenseless,”
goodness, this passage proves that she truly is a good a dirge in which she laments the miserable financial straits in
woman—she decries injustice in her community and tries to which much of her country finds itself, the failure of the
fight it whenever she sees it. It is possible that living under gods to make the world a better place, and the cruelty
the false persona of Shui Ta has emboldened Shen Te, even required even of those who ultimately wish to help a
when going through the world as herself, to be more vocal “luckless brother.” Brecht’s plays often feature songs and
and more assertive. music—often as a way for characters to connect directly
with the audience—and The Good Woman of Setzuan is no
exception. This song is one of the moments in which Shen Te
is her most vulnerable with the audience—she shows
herself transforming into Shui Ta, a private ritual, and she
continues to sing even after she has placed his mask upon
her face. This demonstrates that even when Shen Te is
masquerading as Shui Ta, she does not abandon her
frustration with the cruel state of the world and of
humanity, her desire for help and answers from the gods,
and her fears about her own complicity in the “trampling” of
the poor and needy that life under capitalism necessitates.
Shen Te laments that without her “backer”—Shui Ta—she is
unable to get by on her own, yet that even while operating
as a ruthless man, she is still unable to “defeat all defeat” and
truly help those who need her.

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Scene 5 Quotes Scene 6 Quotes

SHUI TA (a slight outburst): She is a human being, sir! And YANG SUN: On a certain day, as is generally known,
not devoid of common sense! One and all will be shouting: Hooray, hooray!
YANG SUN: Shen Te is a woman: she is devoid of common For the beggar maid's son has a solid-gold throne
sense. I only have to lay my hand on her shoulder, and church And the day is St. Nevercome’s Day
bells ring. On St. Nevercome’s, Nevercome’s, Nevercome’s Day
He'll sit on his solid-gold throne
Oh, hooray, hooray! That day goodness will pay!
Related Characters: Yang Sun, Shui Ta (speaker), Shen Te
That day badness will cost you your head!
Related Themes: And merit and money will smile and be funny
While exchanging salt and bread
Page Number: 56 On St. Nevercome's, Nevercome's, Nevercome's Day
While exchanging salt and bread
Explanation and Analysis
In this scene, Shui Ta and Yang Sun meet alone to discuss Related Characters: Yang Sun (speaker), Shui Ta, Shen Te
Shen Te’s finances—and her promise to help Yang Sun afford
to bribe his way into a position as a flyer at an airfield in Related Themes:
Peking. As the two talk, Yang Sun makes it clear to Shui Ta
that he cares very little for Shen Te and is really only using Page Number: 68-69
her for her money. As Shui Ta reaches a breaking point and
attempts to stand up for Shen Te, warning Yang Sun that Explanation and Analysis
“common sense” will soon save Shen Te from Yang Sun’s In this scene, Yang Sun and Shen Te’s botched wedding
machinations, Yang Sun retorts that as a woman, Shen Te ceremony comes to a conclusion. Their union is contingent
has no common sense—love is the most powerful thing in on Shui Ta’s ability to pay Yang Sun the amount that Shen Te
the world to her and she is easily bamboozled by it. While promised him before the start of the ceremony, but this
Shui Ta is offended by Yang Sun’s words—and Shen Te, impossible given that Shen Te and Shui Ta can never be in
beneath the disguise, is devastated by her lover’s the same place at the same time. Here, Yang Sun sweeps the
cruelty—Yang Sun is correct in his assertion that Shen Te disgraced Shen Te up in a dance and sings of their marriage,
wants so badly to be loved that she will give up everything which is to take place on “St. Nevercome’s Day”—a made-up
else in pursuit of it. holiday when the por will become rich, when “goodness will
This passage is important because it demonstrates the ways pay,” when badness will be punished, and when “merit and
in which women must always be on the lookout for those money” will be related to one another. Yang Sun’s cruel
seeking to deceive them. Additionally, it demonstrates Yang waltz actually reflects Brecht’s genuine frustrations with
Sun’s belief that Shui Ta will show allegiance to him over the world—a place where those who are deserving of
Shen Te on the basis of their shared gender, prioritizing that dignity and prosperity are forced to live in gutters while the
over his familial connection to Shen Te, a woman. Brecht rich often cruelly profit off their neighbors’ suffering.
includes this scene to show how impossible it is for women Though Yang Sun is the ostensible villain of the play, and
to be “good” in a patriarchal world that seeks to take though his cruelty to Shen Te is undeniable, Yang Sun is an
advantage of society’s dictums that women be more kind, impoverished out-of-work dreamer just like so many of his
more accommodating, and more open than their male neighbors. His concerns about the state of the world, his
counterparts. Shen Te has created a male alter ego to try to cynicism about society’s capacity for improvement, and his
shield herself from these things—but even behind the guise indignation about the systems of labor and capitalism which
of Shui Ta, she is forced to confront the unfairness of keep so many men and women down are all palpable and
society’s pressures upon women. genuine.

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Scene 6a Quotes
Related Characters: Wong (speaker), The Carpenter’s Son,
FIRST GOD: Our faith in Shen Te is unshaken! Mrs. Shin, Shui Ta, The Carpenter, Shen Te
THIRD GOD: We certainly haven’t found any other good
people. You can see where we spend our nights from the straw Related Themes:
on our clothes.
Page Number: 75
WONG: You might help her find her way by—
FIRST GOD: The good man finds his own way here below! Explanation and Analysis
SECOND GOD: The good woman too. In this scene, as Shen Te does laundry alongside Mrs. Shin,
Wong leads one of the children of the carpenter (whom
FIRST GOD: The heavier the burden, the greater her strength!
Shui Ta refused to pay for the shelves hanging in her
THIRD GOD: We're only onlookers, you know. tobacco shop) into the yard by the hand. When Shen Te first
moved into the shop, the carpenter attempted to extort
Related Characters: The Second God, Wong, The Third money from her for the shelves which he’d already hung for
God, The First God (speaker), Shen Te the last tenant; Shui Ta showed up on the scene and
badgered the carpenter into abandoning his claim. Now, as
Related Themes: Wong arrives with one of the carpenter’s impoverished
children, Shen Te witnesses for the first time the concrete
Page Number: 71 consequences of her actions as Shui Ta. By making things
better for herself and by resisting one kind of corruption,
Explanation and Analysis
Shen Te has thrown a whole family into homelessness and
In this passage, the gods appear to Wong in a dream yet destitution. Brecht uses this scene to show that under
again. They report that they have found no other “good capitalism, someone is always inevitably suffering
people” in the world—they have been refused from regardless of others’ intentions. He also hammers home just
doorsteps around the globe and have been sleeping in the how impossible it is to be good while also pursuing one’s
streets. The more disappointed they’ve grown with the rest own self-preservation—taking care of oneself, he argues,
of the world, the more their investment in Shen Te’s always comes at the expense of another’s safety and
continued goodness has grown. Wong, however, reports security.
that Shen Te is struggling, and that she could use a little help
from the gods. The gods protest that Shen Te, as a “good
woman,” will only grow stronger as the burdens on her Scene 8 Quotes
shoulders increase. This passage represents Brecht’s
YANG SUN: And the seven elephants hadn’t any tusks
contempt for the idea that if gods did exist, they would likely
The one that had the tusks was Little Brother
be reluctant to actually help the human world thrive. Brecht
Seven are no match for one, if the one has a gun!
portrays the gods as entities with infinite power and
How old Chang did laugh at Little Brother!
resources—much like the wealthiest percentage of
Keep on digging!
society—who only deign to visit the human realm when they
Mr. Chang has a forest park
need something from them. The gods are reluctant to give
Which must be cleared before tonight
too much back to humans or to serve as anything but
And already it's growing dark!
“onlookers” to the decay of human dignity. Brecht’s
frustration with the world is evident—as is his contempt for Smoking a cigar, SHUI TA strolls by.
the idea that poverty, struggle, sexism, and other systems of
denigration and exploitation might make an individual more Related Characters: Yang Sun (speaker), Shen Te, Shu Fu,
of a “good” person. Shui Ta

Related Themes:
Scene 7 Quotes
WONG: It’s about the carpenter, Shen Te. He's lost his Page Number: 85
shop, and he's been drinking. His children are on the streets. Explanation and Analysis
This is one. Can you help?
Scene 8 of the play is a flash-forward several months into
the future. After stealing a huge stock of tobacco and

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cashing a blank check from Shu Fu, Shui Ta has become the Wong is describing the internal conflict which Shen Te has
owner of a huge tobacco conglomerate based out of Shu been facing for so much of the play—she feels that the good
Fu’s unoccupied cabins on a stretch of rural land. By taking part of her is being kept under lock and key by the
advantage of Shu Fu’s love for Shen Te (and his belief that if intimidating and ruthless Shui Ta. Shen Te doesn’t want to
he supports her and her cousin’s business he’ll one day be let Shui Ta take over her life—but the increasing demands on
able to marry her), by exploiting the family of eight by her wealth, her time, and her capacity for empathy have
stealing their stolen tobacco stock, and by turning all of his made Shui Ta’s ruthless presence needed more and more
neighbors into workers, Shui Ta has seized control of often. In a way, Shen Te is being kept prisoner by the alter
Setzuan’s economy with an iron fist. With Yang Sun as his ego she’s created—but Brecht also implies that systems of
foreman, Shui Ta forces the villagers of Setzuan to labor for wealth, greed, patriarchy, and divine expectation are also
him. complicit in Shen Te’s imprisonment from the world.
In this passage, Yang Sun sings “The Song of the Eighth
Elephant,” a parable in which Yang Sun describes a cruel
capitalist named Chang who employs an elephant named THIRD GOD: The place is absolutely unlivable! Good
Little Brother to oversee seven other elephants as they toil intentions bring people to the brink of the abyss, and good
in the fields, wearing their tusks down to nubs as they do deeds push them over the edge. I'm afraid our book of rules is
Chang’s work for him. The song reflects Brecht’s contempt destined for the scrap heap—
for systems in which cruel bosses exploit their SECOND GOD: It's people! They're a worthless lot!
workers—and as Shui Ta, smoking his own product leisurely,
strolls through his factory taking stock of his workers’ THIRD GOD: The world is too cold!
progress, Brecht shows how Shen Te has allowed her dream SECOND GOD: It's people! They're too weak!
of owning a humble tobacco shop to turn into an all-out FIRST GOD: Dignity, dear colleagues, dignity! Never despair!
capitalist nightmare. Shen Te has abandoned her morals and As for this world, didn't we agree that we only have to find one
her scruples—as Shui Ta, she has consolidated wealth and human being who can stand the place? Well, we found her. True,
power and abandoned the humble “goodness” for which the we lost her again. We must find her again, that's all! And at
tobacco shop was her initial reward. once!

Scene 9a Quotes Related Characters: The First God, The Second God, The
Third God (speaker), Shen Te, Wong
WONG: Illustrious ones, at last you're here. Shen Te’s
been gone for months and today her cousin's been arrested. Related Themes:
They think he murdered her to get the shop. But I had a dream
and in this dream Shen Te said her cousin was keeping her Page Number: 95
prisoner. You must find her for us, illustrious ones!
Explanation and Analysis
As the gods visit Wong in his dreams one final time, they are
Related Characters: Wong (speaker), Shui Ta, Shen Te, The
in a state of dishevelment: they are cold, tired, weary, and
Third God, The Second God, The First God
they’ve been turned away from countless homes in
Related Themes: countless realms as they’ve continued to search the world
for good people. Frustrated by their mission—and
Page Number: 94 frightened by the idea that the one good person they did
manage to find in their travels, Shen Te, has
Explanation and Analysis disappeared—the gods cry out in anger against the
In this passage, Wong tells the gods—as they visit him, once “worthless” race they’ve spent months trying to understand.
more, in a dream—that Shen Te is missing. The only good This passage is significant because it interrogates the
person the gods have encountered so far is gone, and many struggle between the world of humans and the world of the
of the villagers of Setzuan fear the worst. As Wong divine. The gods want to believe that good people exist—but
describes his dream in which Shen Te divulges to him that they have failed to pay enough attention to the human
her cousin, Shui Ta, is “keeping her prisoner,” his words are world over the years to recognize that goodness is
even more portentous than they seem to be at first glance. impossible to truly attain, and that even the mere pursuit of

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goodness requires several conditions: wealth, patience, and wealthy and the poor against one another.
support. The gods declare that Shen Te is their last
hope—they must find her again and make sure she’s
continued to be good. Again, as the gods name an ostensible
SHUI TA: I only came on the scene when Shen Te was in
solution to their problems, they fail to see that in their haste
danger of losing what I had understood was a gift from the
to crown Shen Te “good,” they were blind to the pressures gods. Because I did the filthy jobs which someone had to do,
that having the expectation of goodness thrust upon her they hate me. My activities were restricted to the minimum, my
would create for Shen Te—and how those pressures would
lord.
come to affect her capacity for goodness.

Related Characters: Shui Ta (speaker), Shen Te

Scene 10 Quotes
Related Themes:
POLICEMAN: The evidence, in short, my lord, proves that
Mr. Shui Ta was incapable of the crime of which he stands Page Number: 99
accused!
Explanation and Analysis
FIRST GOD: I see. And are there others who could testify
along, shall we say, the same lines? In this passage, Shen Te—in disguise as Shui Ta—reveals the
truth about why Shui Ta first “came on the scene.” Shen Te
SHU FU rises
created Shui Ta to do “the filthy jobs which someone had to
POLICEMAN (whispering to GODS): Mr. Shu Fu—a very do”—she knew that Shui Ta would be hated by all, and yet
important person. the necessities of running a business and making money
FIRST GOD (inviting him to speak): Mr. Shu Fu! would be accomplished, leaving Shen Te herself to continue
SU FU: Mr. Shui Ta is a businessman, my lord. Need I say more? enjoying a reputation for goodness and charity. Though
Shen Te tried to restrict Shui Ta’s activities “to the
minimum,” there is no denying that Shui Ta has slowly taken
Related Characters: Shu Fu, The First God, The Policeman over and become more dominant as his bad deeds have
(speaker), The Third God, The Second God, Shen Te, Shui Ta been rewarded while Shen Te’s good ones have only been
met with cruelty, apathy, or even more demands on her time
Related Themes: and resources. Throughout the play, Brecht uses Shen Te’s
dual identity as an example of an extreme way that one
Page Number: 98
woman—seeking to maintain her reputation of goodness,
Explanation and Analysis charity, and empathy—tries to cope with pressures to be
both feminine and masculine, both accommodating and
In this passage, the judges in Shui Ta’s case—who are really
fierce. Though Shen Te has, as Shui Ta, gotten herself into
the three gods in disguise—ask to hear evidence for and
quite the conundrum, she maintains that Shui Ta has
against Shui Ta as they seek to determine whether he is
ultimately served his purpose—he has protected Shen Te
guilty of the murder or imprisonment of the missing Shen
from her neighbors’ ire while providing her with an
Te. The wealthy and powerful members of Setzuan’s society,
emotional outlet to vent her frustrations, take decisive
such as the policeman and the rich barber Shu Fu, leap to
action for the first time in her life, and make her voice heard.
Shui Ta’s defense in a show of class solidarity. The rich and
powerful don’t want to believe that one of their own could
perpetrate such terrible crimes—or even if they do believe
deep down that Shui Ta is guilty, they don’t want to admit SHUI TA: Shen Te… had to go.
that a wealthy, prominent member of the community could WONG: Where? Where to?
be “capable” of such things, given the doubt such a truth
SHUI TA: I cannot tell you! I cannot tell you!
would then cast doubt upon themselves. While the wealthy
stand up for Shui Ta, the poor and downtrodden decry him ALL: Why? Why did she have to go away? […]
for making their lives more difficult and for refusing them SHUI TA (shouting): Because you’d all have torn her to shreds,
the goodness and charity which Shen Te always showed that’s why!
them. Brecht thus highlights the ways in which capitalism
creates strong divisions along class lines, polarizing the

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Related Characters: Wong, Shui Ta (speaker), Shen Te Page Number: 102

Related Themes: Explanation and Analysis
In this passage, Shen Te rips off her disguise as Shui Ta and
Page Number: 101
reveals to the gods that she has, for many months, been
Explanation and Analysis inhabiting a dual identity. She has used the persona of Shui
When Shui Ta is brought to trial because the villagers of Ta in order to say and do the “bad” things that she, as the
Setzuan believe that he is responsible for the murder—or at titular “good woman of Setzuan,” felt prohibited from doing
least the disappearance—of Shen Te, Shui Ta knows he in order to keep herself and her business afloat. When Shen
cannot reveal the truth without shattering both his and Te says that the gods’ “injunction to be good” while pursuing
Shen Te’s reputations, as intimately entwined as they are. In a life lived on her own terms has split her in two, she is being
the middle of the trial, as the citizens of Setzuan demand to literal since she had to become two different people in
know where Shen Te is in a cacophonous roar, Shui Ta order to serve both herself and others. She goes on to
reaches a breaking point and screams that if Shen Te had entreat the gods to answer her questions about the
stayed, her neighbors would have “torn her to shreds.” This conundrum of living in the difficult world they themselves
passage exemplifies Shen Te’s frustration with her have created. She wants to know how she can “refuse to be
neighbors demands upon her—and with the fact that she’s bad” in the face of the systems of capitalism and
only able to vent her anger about having to be “good” all the patriarchy—systems which make life difficult for women, for
time only when disguised as Shui Ta. Brecht uses this the poor, and for those who sincerely try to be good in the
passage to illustrate how even when assuming a dual face of goodness’s inherent impossibility.
identity in order to cope with the demands and stresses of
femininity, it is impossible for a woman to escape those
demands. Shen Te assumed the disguise of Shui Ta in order SHEN TE: It was when I was unjust that I ate good meat
to save herself from her neighbors’ greediness, cruelty, and And hobnobbed with the mighty
disloyalty—but though she tried to outrun these demands, Why?
her neighbors will not rest until Shen Te’s time, energy, and Why are bad deeds rewarded?
resources are available for them to leech off of once again. Good ones punished?
I enjoyed giving
I truly wished to be the Angel of the Slums
SHEN TE: Your injunction But washed by a foster-mother in the water of the gutter
To be good and yet to live I developed a sharp eye
Was a thunderbolt: The time came when pity was a thorn in my side
It has torn me in two And, later, when kind words turned to ashes in my mouth
I can't tell how it was And anger took over
But to be good to others I became a wolf
And myself at the same time
I could not do it Related Characters: Shen Te (speaker), The Third God, The
Your world is not an easy one, illustrious ones! Second God, The First God, Shui Ta
When we extend our hand to a beggar, he tears it off for us
When we help the lost, we are lost ourselves Related Themes:
And so
Since not to eat is to die Related Symbols:
Who can long refuse to be bad?
Page Number: 102-103
Related Characters: Shen Te (speaker), The Third God, The Explanation and Analysis
Second God, The First God, Shui Ta
In this passage, Shen Te continues her impassioned lament
to the gods as she unravels and interrogates the things that
Related Themes:
being “unjust” and “hobnob[ing] with the mighty” as Shui Ta
afforded her. She questions the unfair way the world

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operates as she indicts her own capacity for apathy and Shen Te in her navigation of such a complicated emotional
cruelty while at the same time questioning how she can ever landscape. Shen Te, however, is desperate for guidance. Her
go back to being “good.” Through Shen Te’s emotional life is in shambles and her entire moral compass has been
speech, Brecht indicts the systems which inspire greed, skewed—she knows that as Shui Ta, she can act virtually
corruption, and self-preservation in the face of human with impunity, or without facing any consequences. At the
suffering. As Shen Te describes the “water of the gutter” in same time, she knows that the gods and the neighbors are
which she grew up, she invokes one of the play’s central counting on her to continue to be the “good woman of
symbols for the unfair and corrupt systems which force Setzuan.” Brecht uses this passage to indict the ways in
individuals to profit off their fellow human beings in order which society and religion alike demand goodness of people
to sustain themselves. Shen Te laments having fallen into without providing them with the emotional, ideological, or
capitalism’s trap and abandoned her goodness in so financial reasons to make good choices and do good deeds.
doing—yet at the same time, she admits that living in a world
in which “good deeds [are] punished” doesn’t incentivize her
to continue pursuing an identity as the “Angel of the Slums” Epilogue Quotes
when only badness and selfishness are rewarded with
“How could a better ending be arranged?
anything tangible.
Could one change people? Can the world be changed?
Would new gods do the trick? Will atheism?
Moral rearmament? Materialism?
SHEN TE: What about the old couple? They’ve lost their It is for you to find a way, my friends,
shop! What about the water seller and his hand? And I’ve To help good men arrive at happy ends.
got to defend myself against the barber, because I don’t love You write the happy ending to the play!
him! And against Sun, because I do love him! How? How? There must, there must, there's got to be a way!”
[…]
FIRST GOD (from on high): We have faith in you, Shen Te! Related Characters: Shen Te
SHEN TE: There’ll be a child. And he’ll have to be fed. I can’t stay
Related Themes:
here. Where shall I go?
FIRST GOD: Continue to be good, good woman of Setzuan! Page Number: 107
SHEN TE: But I need my bad cousin! Explanation and Analysis
In an epilogue, Brecht supplies several lines but attributes
Related Characters: The First God, Shen Te (speaker), The them to no single actor. The epilogue, like the play’s
Third God, The Second God, Shui Ta unfulfilling and oblique ending itself, is left up to the
interpretation of the actors and audience members alike. In
Related Themes: the play’s final lines, Brecht suggests that it is up to the
people sitting in the audience to decide on a “better ending”
Page Number: 104
for Shen Te—and thus for all the people like her who
Explanation and Analysis struggle to be good in the face of wealth inequality, sexism,
and unfair expectations. Brecht breaks the fourth wall and
After revealing her disguise as Shui Ta and lamenting to the
entreats his audience not to seek the answers to their
gods the wolf-like ferocity her alter ego inspired within her,
society’s problems in something as fleeting and artificial as a
Shen Te asks the gods what she should to do make things
piece of theater—he wants to move and inspire them to
right and become “good” again. The gods, however, decide
consider deeply what would actually change the world and
to quickly flee back to the heavens rather than help Shen Te
make it a better place. “There’s got to be a way,” Brecht says,
confront the complex moral situation in which she has found
for the world to work for everyone—and to support the
herself. The gods’ mission to find someone good on Earth
possibility of goodness. It is a matter of finding what will “do
has, with Shen Te’s confession, failed for all intents and
the trick” together rather than relying on poets, gods,
purposes. Shen Te admits that while there is a part of her
economists, or anyone else—regular people must rise up
that’s good, there’s also a part of her that’s greedy, power-
and write their own “happy ending.”
hungry, and “bad.” The gods, however, have no wish to aid

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SUMMARY AND ANAL

ANALYSIS
YSIS
The color-coded icons under each analysis entry make it easy to track where the themes occur most prominently throughout the
work. Each icon corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart.

PROLOGUE
Wong, a water seller standing by the gates of the city of By introducing Wong, a poor water seller, as the play’s narrator,
Setzuan, addresses the audience and he introduces himself. In Brecht demonstrates the central dilemma which will drive the
Setzuan, Wong says, water is often scarce—when this is the action. Like Wong, who only profits when his neighbors are suffering,
case, he must travel long distances to find it, but when water is the characters in this play will struggle with the impossibility of
plentiful, he laments having no income. Poverty is not unusual goodness in the face of capitalism. In other words, this is a world in
in Setzuan, and many locals believe the gods are the only ones which one must betray one’s fellow people in order to survive.
who can “save the situation” there. Wong has heard a rumor
from another traveling merchant that the gods are due to
arrive soon. Every day, he has been standing out at the city
gates in order to welcome the gods—he wants to be the first to
greet them.

Three people dressed shabbily and traveling barefoot Wong’s struggle to find the gods a place to stay reflects the self-
approach. Wong realizes they must be the “illustrious ones” he serving narcissism and greed that is rampant in Setzuan. People are
has been waiting for. He throws himself at their feet, promising so focused on taking care of themselves and their families that they
to do for them anything they might need. The first god speaks reject strangers—even strangers who come bearing divine gifts.
up and states that the trio is in need of a place to stay for the
night. Wong asks what kind of place they’d like to stay in. The
first god says that Wong should simply lead them to the nearest
house. Wong leads the gods to the home of Mr. Fo. He knocks,
but Mr. Fo calls out “No!” without even opening the door.

As Wong leads them from door to door, the gods find The gods, it turns out, are on a very important mission. They are
themselves refused time and time again. The gods eventually putting the citizens not just of Setzuan but of the entire earth to the
step away from Wong to talk among themselves. The second test in order to determine whether there is any part of humanity
god laments that this is the third village from which they’ve worth saving—or, the text implies, whether the world should be
been turned away. The first god insists that a “good person” destroyed and remade anew. The search for a truly good
might be just around the corner. The third god, unfurling a person—and the high stakes behind it—forms the entire crux of the
scroll and reading from it, reminds the others of the play and it demonstrates just how desperate the gods are to find
mission—to determine whether the world can “stay as it is.” The just one ounce of goodness and kindness so that they can be on
world will remain untouched only if enough people are found to their way.
be living “worthy” lives. The third god suggests Wong is a good
person, but the second god points out a false bottom in the cup
of water Wong gave them to share. The first god insists that
they’ll be able to find someone who “can be good and stay good.”

Wong returns to the gods and he sheepishly admits he hasn’t This passage shows that everyone in Setzuan is distrustful—society
found a place for them to stay. As a villager passes, Wong asks here is structured so that everyone must be out for themselves, with
the man if he’ll seize the “rare opportunity” to shelter a trio of no room in their hearts for kindness toward strangers.
gods for the night. The man laughs off Wong, whom he believes
is trying to swindle him into hosting “a gang of crooks.” Wong,
defeated, announces that there is only one person left in the
village—a prostitute, Shen Te, who can never say no to a guest.

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Wong approaches Shen Te’s building and he calls out to her. Shen Te is initially reluctant to take in the gods because doing so will
She comes to the window. Wong tells Shen Te that the gods mean she loses out on business for the night—and the money she
have arrived and they need a place to stay. Shen Te needs to survive. Brecht shows how capitalism creates systems of
protests—she is expecting a gentleman soon and she needs the greed and desperation—and how good people, through no fault of
money. Wong begs Shen Te to take the gods in. She relents and their own, find themselves swept up in the rat race.
she tells Wong that she’ll hide until her gentleman has come
and gone—then she’ll take in the gods.

Wong returns to the gods, who have not overheard his The gods can tell that life in Setzuan is hard. Rather than judging
exchange with Shen Te. Wong excitedly tells the gods that he those who have turned them away or hesitated to take them in, the
has found them a room but that they’ll need to wait a moment gods seek to learn more about what makes people in this place so
while it’s cleaned and tidied. While the gods take a rest and wary of helping others—and what systems tie them to isolation,
they sit down in a doorway, Wong excitedly tells them they’ll be greed, and distrust.
staying with the “finest human being in Setzuan.” The gods ask
Wong what life is like in Setzuan. He tells them that good
people and no-good people alike have a hard time getting by.

Shen Te’s gentleman approaches her building and he whistles Wong laments being unable to be the one the gods singled out as a
for her. She does not come to the window and so he leaves. “good” person—he is ashamed of his failure and he seeks to hide
Shen Te calls for Wong. When Wong, who is hiding in the from their sight. Little does Wong know that the gods have another
doorway with the gods, doesn’t answer, Shen Te goes off down purpose for him—one that will be crucially important to their
the street looking for him. Wong sees her leaving the building mission as it moves forward.
and he runs after her, lamenting quietly that he has “failed in
the service of the gods” yet again. Ashamed, he runs away to his
den in the sewer pipe down near the river to hide from them.
Shen Te returns and she finds the gods sitting in the doorway.
She introduces herself to them and she invites them to share
her “simple” room. The gods, noticing that Wong has left and
abandoned his carrying pole, deduce what must have
happened. They bring the pole in so that Wong can retrieve it
from Shen Te later.

The lights dim and then rise again—it is morning. Shen Te leads This passage demonstrates that while the gods want to complete
the gods outside. They thank her for her hospitality and they their mission with integrity, they are also getting a little desperate to
call her a “good human being.” Shen Te insists that she isn’t good find a “good human being” and they’re perhaps bending their own
and she reveals that she hesitated at first when Wong asked rules for what constitutes someone truly “good.” Even the gods are
her to shelter the gods. The first god tells Shen Te that it’s okay perturbed by how bad things on Earth have gotten.
to hesitate on the way to completing a good deed. He tells her
that she has proved to all three of them that good people still
exist.

The gods all bid Shen Te goodbye, but before they can leave, This passage introduces the idea of how women are often forced to
she stops them. Shen Te tells the gods that she’s not sure adopt dual identities. Shen Te is, to the gods, a good and generous
they’re right about her being a “good” person. She says she’d person—but she has doubts about her own goodness which stem
like to be good but she must sell herself for a living in order to from the ways in which she’s had to compromise her morals and put
make ends meet. She doesn’t honor her mother and father, she on a persona as a prostitute in order to survive under capitalism.
often lies, she sometimes covets her neighbors’ things, and she The gods are unable to handle the moral gray areas Shen Te brings
sleeps with many men. The first god nervously insists that Shen up, so they brush them off entirely.
Te’s thoughts and reservations are nothing but “the misgivings
of an unusually good woman.”

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The gods again bid Shen Te farewell and they urge her to “be This passage hammers home that goodness is, perhaps, impossible
good.” Shen Te says she doesn’t know how she’ll be good when under capitalism. When so much revolves around wealth and greed,
everything is so expensive. The second god insists that gods it’s hard to be truly kind. The gods are willing to accept that perhaps
don’t “meddle with economics.” The third god, though, suggests money is an important part of one’s journey to goodness, and they
that maybe Shen Te would have an easier time being good if she bend their usual rules in order to help Shen Te continue being good.
had more money. The gods huddle together for a minute in They don’t want their assessment of her to have been wrong—or for
discussion. The first god then approaches Shen Te, thrusts her pursuit of continued goodness to fail, proving them wrong.
money into her hands, and insists on paying for the room. Shen
Te accepts the money, and the gods leave.

SCENE 1
Shen Te stands in an empty tobacco shop. She tells the Even when Shen Te comes into money, she wants to use her
audience that three days ago, the gods paid her over a newfound wealth not to hoard joy and capital for herself but to help
thousand silver dollars for their stay. She has used the money her fellow villagers. Shen Te can’t say no to someone in need—even
to rent a tobacco shop and the attached rooms. She says she when that person is coarse and acts as though Shen Te, by virtue of
hopes to “do a lot of good” in her new store—starting with her newfound wealth, owes that wealth to others.
being kind to Mrs. Shin, the previous owner, who stopped in the
night before to ask for rice for her sick children. Mrs. Shin
enters. She and Shen Te greet each other kindly, but Mrs. Shin
quickly begins griping about how Shen Te took over her and her
“innocent children[’s]” home. Shen Te sheepishly goes to get
more rice for Mrs. Shin.

An older husband and wife, along with their nephew, enter the Even though the couple now asking for refuge at Shen Te’s store
shop and they congratulate Shen Te on coming into money. As were once cruel and petty toward her, she can’t help but offer them
their nephew looks around, the couple ask if they can spend the help. The challenges Shen Te faces as she wrestles with her
night as they have no home of their own. Mrs. Shin asks who newfound wealth call into question her “goodness”—is she truly
these people are. Shen Te tells her that the couple sheltered good, or simply browbeaten by the masses? As the play continues,
her when she arrived from the countryside. In an aside to the Brecht seeks to push Shen Te to the limit in order to examine the
audience, Shen Te adds that the couple threw her out on the relationship between wealth, greed, power, and the human capacity
street when she couldn’t pay them. Nevertheless, Shen Te turns for goodness and empathy.
to the couple and she happily offers them to share the little
room behind the shop.

A shabby, old, unemployed man enters. He asks Shen Te if there This passage shows how Shen Te’s goodness and generosity will be
are any damaged cigarettes he can take for free. The wife scoffs tested by the ways in which others seek to take advantage of her
at the unemployed man for seeking out cigarettes rather than wealth. Though Shen Te wants to believe the best in people and
bread. Shen Te, however, gladly gives the man a pack of share her good fortune, the others warn her not to let herself be
cigarettes. She thanks him for being her first customer and she taken advantage of. In order to be savvy in business savvy and to
says she hopes he will bring her good luck as a business owner. maintain one’s wealth, they warn her, one needs a certain measure
The man lights up a cigarette and leaves without thanking Shen of austerity and self-preservation. They advise Shen Te to cultivate a
Te. Mrs. Shin and the couple gossip about the man as soon as he more ruthless part of herself—advice which will become increasingly
is out the door. The husband and wife tell Shen Te that she is important as the play goes on.
“too good”—if she wants to stay in business, they advise her,
she’ll have to “learn to say no.”

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A carpenter enters and he chastises Shen Te for filling up the As the carpenter tries to extort money from Shen Te for no reason
shelves without paying for them. Shen Te insists that when she other than the fact that he knows she has it, it becomes clearer and
took the shop, she was told furnishings were included. The clearer how greed, capitalism, and corruption fuel relations between
carpenter, however, demands a hundred silver dollars. Shen Te neighbors in the village of Setzuan. This passage also shows how the
begs the carpenter to be patient with her—after all, starting a only people who can really settle financial debts and disagreements
new business is hard. In response, the carpenter starts ripping are men—women are, in Setzuan, seen as unable or unqualified to
shelves off the wall. The wife tells Shen Te to let her take part in the economy or in the complicated social aspects of
relative—pointing out her own husband—settle the affair. The negotiations and deals.
carpenter is suspicious of the man really being Shen Te’s
relative but he agrees to put his claim in writing, nonetheless.
He puts the shelf down, sits, and begins writing up a bill. Shen
Te worries what the gods will have to say about her failure to
pay the carpenter.

A man and a woman enter the shop. They are cross with the More and more people come to Shen Te’s shop seeking shelter and a
husband and wife for “hiding out” away from them. The elderly piece of her good fortune, demonstrating how financially desperate
woman states that the man is her brother and the woman is her people in Setzuan are and how willing they are to take advantage of
pregnant (and moody) sister-in-law. Shen Te welcomes the others.
couple warmly.

Mrs. Mi Tzu, the landlady, enters the shop. She introduces Mrs. Mi Tzu, like the carpenter, wants to take advantage of Shen Te’s
herself to Shen Te and she says she hopes that their wealth—yet she doesn’t trust Shen Te to handle her own business or
relationship will be a “happy one.” She hands Shen Te a lease to finances and demands male references. Shen Te lies about having a
look over and she asks if Shen Te has any references. Shen Te is cousin named Shui Ta—but given all the pressure to explore a new,
about to say she doesn’t have any, but the husband speaks up tough identity and to do whatever must be done to keep control of
and he claims that he is “Ma Fu, tobacco dealer.” He claims he her shop, Shui Ta will become an increasingly important presence in
has just sold his successful shop. Mrs. Mi Tzu, however, says Shen Te’s life.
that Shen Te will need more than one reference. Shen Te says
slowly, with downcast eyes, that she has a cousin who can
vouch for her. She claims he lives far away and that his name is
Shui Ta. The various members of the large family promise the
landlady that “Shui Ta” is an upstanding man. Mrs. Mi Tzu says
she looks forward to making Shui Ta’s acquaintance and bids
Shen Te goodbye.

A very old man—the grandfather of the large family—enters the Once all the members of the family of eight arrive, the mother seeks
shop along with a young boy and the niece of the elderly to keep anyone else from entering the shop and leeching off of Shen
couple. The wife asks Shen Te for the key to the shop—they Te. This speaks to the greed and desperation that pervade
must protect themselves from anymore “unwanted guests.” The Setzuan—everyone is out for themselves and those closest to them,
nephew jokes that he hopes “the strict Mr. Shui Ta” doesn’t but most people are unwilling to help their neighbors and fellow
come by tonight. Everyone laughs, knowing there is no Shui Ta. citizens. Shen Te is logistically and emotionally overwhelmed by
The members of the family begin opening bottles of wine and what just one day of her new life has taught her.
taking cigarettes down from the shelves to smoke. Shen Te,
holding the carpenter’s bill and the landlady’s lease, looks on,
too exhausted and overwhelmed to say anything.

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The sister-in-law suggests a song to lift Shen Te’s spirits. The The “Song of the Smoke” illustrates the feelings of discontentedness,
grandfather begins singing “Song of the Smoke,” a song in which smallness, and invisibility that so many of these characters share.
he laments that smarts are not enough to make a poor man For different but equally valid reasons, everyone in the play feels
rich—just as “smoke float[s] free into every colder coldness,” he, that their lives are as fleeting as smoke. Brecht suggests that the
too, has been forsaken. The husband joins in and he laments pursuit of wealth and the impossibility of ever attaining enough
that although he’s tried to live both good and “crooked” lives, material comfort makes people feel worthless.
both have turned him into “smoke” as well. The niece chimes in
and she says that the younger generation, too, is as evanescent
as smoke—their "future[s are] a blank.”

As the family grows drunk and happy, they begin arguing and Shen Te is unable to stop what’s happening all around her. She can
fighting. Soon, they are toppling Shen Te’s sparse displays. Shin only marvel at how the “lifeboat” of her wealth has inspired her
Te begs them not to “destroy a gift from the gods.” The sister-in- neighbors to cling “greedily” to her good fortune, even as their own
law laments that when the rest of the family arrives, they will circumstances continue to worsen. Shen Te is overwhelmed by the
find the shop too small. A knock at the door announces the cruelty and desperation that wealth creates.
arrival of an uncle, an auntie, and more children. The wife asks
Shen Te if she can let the rest of the family in, and Shen Te, as if
in a trance, states that even when a lifeboat is sent down, men
“greedily / Hold on to it as they drown.”

SCENE 1A
Wong, crouched in his sewer pipe den, curls up and goes to Wong’s debt to the gods is not paid—they need to use him to
sleep. The audience sees Wong’s dream. In his dream, the gods determine whether they were right about Shen Te, and whether her
appear to him. Wong apologizes to them for failing to find a goodness can hold up when it’s wealth and capital—not
single room in Setzuan for them to use. The first god, however, goodness—that’s “in demand.” The gods are not done with their
says that Shen Te took them in. Wong laments his stupidity. The search, but at the moment, it is all hinging on Shen Te. They are
gods sing a song in which they chastise Wong for his “hasty determined to keep tabs on her, as her behavior will influence the
judgment” of others. Wong apologizes. The first god bids Wong rest of their journey.
to return to Setzuan, find Shen Te, and give the gods a “report”
on how she’s doing. The first god suggests that Wong should
show interest in Shen Te’s goodness—as “no one can be good
for long if goodness is not in demand.” The gods declare their
intent to carry on their search for more good people elsewhere
and then they vanish.

SCENE 2
Someone knocks at the door of Shen Te’s shop. The wife opens Shen Te disguises herself as Shui Ta in order to perform the actions
the door. Shui Ta enters with the carpenter. The wife asks who and say the words she herself cannot. As Shui Ta, Shen Te is able to
Shui Ta is and he replies that he is Shen Te’s cousin. The niece control others, make demands, and have her voice be heard. Shui Ta
and nephew are flummoxed—they thought Shen Te had made is not concerned with goodness—he is only concerned with running
up having a cousin. The brother and nephew heckle Shui Ta, a business and getting things done. Through this dual identity, Shen
urging him to prove his identity—but Shui Ta ignores them and Te is able to maintain her goodness while letting Shui Ta do all the
he calls to the rest of the family, waking up the house and dirty work required to maintain her wealth and keep her business
ordering everyone to get dressed so that he can open the shop. afloat.
The husband points out that the shop belongs to Shen Te, but
Shui Ta simply shakes his head.

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The sister-in-law demands to see Shen Te. Shui Ta tells her that Shen Te uses Shui Ta to give herself a voice. When Shui Ta reports
Shen Te wishes for him to open the shop for her today. Shen Te, the things Shen Te has said—even when those things are
Shui Ta says, wants the family to hear a message: “This is a coarse—others listen to him in a way they wouldn’t listen to her
tobacco shop, not a gold mine.” The family is scandalized. directly. As Shui Ta begins making business negotiations, his ability
Several of them go out to look for Shen Te while the young boy to say and do the things that Shen Te cannot becomes clearer and
goes to steal breakfast for them all from a nearby bakery. Shui clearer still.
Ta begins tidying up the shop. The carpenter hands Shui Ta the
bill for 100 silver dollars. Shui Ta laughs at the bill and offers
the carpenter 20 dollars. The carpenter says the shelves are
real walnut. Shui Ta replies that if that’s the case, they cost too
much; he urges the carpenter to take the shelves away. The
carpenter starts pulling shelves off the wall, asking the husband
and his wife to help him as he does.

While they work, Shui Ta repeats his offer of 20 silver dollars. When dressed as Shui Ta, Shen Te knows she has nothing to lose. No
As the husband and the wife clumsily move the shelves, the one is expecting the “goodness” Shen Te embodies from this
carpenter chastises them, pointing out that the shelves were man—she is free to say and do whatever she needs to do to keep her
custom and are “no use anywhere else.” Realizing he has caught business running. This emboldens Shen Te to call people on their
himself in a trap, the carpenter gives up. He accepts Shui Ta’s bluff, to stick up for her own interests, and to manipulate those
20 silver dollars and he leaves, embarrassed. The husband and around her somewhat ruthlessly as she looks out for herself above
wife rejoice. Shui Ta, however, tells them to get out—he calls all others for the first time.
them “parasites.” The husband and wife, indignant, refuse. In
response, Shui Ta goes to the door and opens it. A policeman is
waiting outside. The husband and wife begin to panic, knowing
that if the young boy returns with the stolen breakfast tucked
up under his shirt, they will all be done for.

Shui Ta invites the policeman in. He tells the officer that as a Shui Ta is sick of the cavalier, entitled way in which the family of
small business owner, he feels it’s important to be on good eight has glommed onto him. Though framing them for theft is cruel
terms with the local cops. As the policeman steps inside, the and not “good,” it is an act that will allow Shen Te to continue
husband and wife realize that Shui Ta has set a trap for the thriving—and for once in her life, Shen Te feels she deserves to look
young boy. Soon enough, the boy runs inside, his shirt bulging out for herself.
with stolen pastries. The policeman grabs the boy by the collar
and asks if Shui Ta can “clarify” what’s going on. Shui Ta declares
how sorry he is that his establishment has been wrapped up in
the “theft.” The policeman orders the boy, the husband, and the
wife to accompany him down to the station.

Free of his lodgers, Shui Ta tidies up the shop. Mrs. Mi Tzu Shui Ta’s tasks are not over—there are legions of people to deal with
enters—she is scandalized at the sight of having seen thieves as he tries to smooth out all the wrinkles in the tobacco shop
being dragged out of her property. As the landlady continues business. More and more people continue making demands upon
railing against Shen Te and the suspicious means by which she Shen Te’s wealth.
came to lease the shop, Shui Ta asks Mrs. Mi Tzu how much the
rent will be. Mrs. Mi Tzu demands 200 silver dollars—six
months’ rent in advance.

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The policeman returns to offer Shui Ta his “official felicitations” Shui Ta, too, begins to get overwhelmed by the ruthlessness of other
for his help in catching the thieves. In spite of the officer’s good people and the financial demands upon Shen Te. Though Shui Ta
word on Shui Ta’s behalf, Mrs. Mi Tzu refuses to adjust the rent. doesn’t want to admit that the best course of action is to marry
She leaves in a huff. Seeing the predicament before him, Shui Ta Shen Te off, he believes deep down that Shen Te must find a solution
admits to the policeman that Shen Te did not earn a to her own problems—and use her femininity, not her other identity,
“respectable” living until very recently. To keep Shen Te from to do so.
returning to a life of sin—and to help her find a way to pay the
rent—the policeman declares that it is time to find Shen Te a
husband.

A little old woman enters the shop hoping to buy cigars for her Shen Te believed that by embodying Shui Ta, she would be able to
husband for their fortieth anniversary. The policeman solve all of her own problems by masquerading as a man. Shui Ta
continues going on about his plan to find Shen Te a suitable now realizes, though, that there is much involved in the equations of
match. He asks if the old woman thinks he should put an ad in balancing wealth and keeping one’s head “above water.”
the paper advertising Shen Te’s marriageability—before she can
answer, he takes out a pad and pen and gets to work on the ad
for a respectable man “with small capital” who wants to marry
into a “flourishing” tobacco shop. The policeman hands the
completed ad to Shui Ta. Shui Ta is horrified by “how much luck
we [all] need to keep our heads above water,” but he thanks the
policeman for making the “way clear.”

SCENE 3
It is evening in the local park. Yang Sun, a young man dressed in This passages offers a glimpse into the many kinds of desperation
rags, watches as a plane flies overhead. He removes a rope and hopelessness which poverty inspires. Yang Sun is suicidal, while
from his pocket and he moves toward a tall tree. Two the niece of the family of eight is out on the streets to support
prostitutes enter. One is old and the other is the niece from the herself and the rest of her kin. Brecht laments that so many suffer
family of eight. The niece tries to pick up Yang Sun, but the old while so few profit—and as Shen Te walks onto the scene, it seems
whore tells the niece that she shouldn’t waste her time on him that she is now regarded by her fellow villagers as someone who’s
because he’s unemployed. The women move on. Yang Sun firmly in the latter camp.
throws a noose over a branch of the willow tree—but the
women return again, hurrying through the park and
announcing that it is about to rain. Shen Te enters. The old
whore points out the “gorgon” who threw the niece’s family out
into the streets. The niece, however, insists that Shen Te’s
cousin Shui Ta was the one who threw them out.

Yang Sun urges the women to move on. After cursing him, the Because water serves as a symbol throughout the play for the
old whore and the niece leave. Shen Te notices Yang Sun’s rope inequality, greed, and corruption which thrive under capitalism, the
and she tells him he mustn’t kill himself. Yang Sun tells Shen Te rain that begins to fall in this scene underscores Yang Sun’s lament
to mind her own business. Suddenly, it starts raining. Yang Sun that although he wants to work, he is barred from his dreams. Both
softens and he asks Shen Te to take shelter with him beneath symbols—water and flying—underscore aspects of capitalism’s
the tree. Shen Te asks Yang Sun why he was trying to die. He failed promises, and Yang Sun is most certainly a victim of those
tells her that he is a “mail pilot with no mail”—the government failures.
has enough “flyers” and he is not needed.

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Shen Te says she understands Yang Sun’s predicament. Yang Yang Sun dismisses Shen Te’s inability to understand him—perhaps
Sun says she couldn’t possibly understand him. Shen Te tells on the grounds of her having recently come into money, of her being
Yang Sun about a beautiful crane that came to her when she a woman, or a combination of both. Shen Te, however, proves
was little—it had a broken wing. It became her playmate for a herself a good person as she empathizes with Yang Sun by relating a
long time—but every spring and autumn, when the other cranes sad, poignant story from her youth. Shen Te knows how difficult it is
flew overhead, the crane became restless and sad. Shen Te to live in the world—and how hopeless things can feel under the
begins crying. Yang Sun helps comfort her and he wipes her constraints of capitalism.
face with a handkerchief. Yang Sun asks why Shen Te saved him.
Shen Te tells him that he only wanted to die because of the bad
weather. Shen Te addresses the audience and she states that
“with all the misery” in the world, “a very little [more] is enough”
to make men throw their lives away.

Yang Sun asks Shen Te about her life. Shen Te says that there’s Shen Te doesn’t share her full story with Yang Sun—but as pieces of
nothing interesting about her other than the fact that she owns it emerge, it becomes clear that she sees herself as an average
a shop. Yang Sun asks if Shen Te walks the streets, and she woman who has been pulled all her life between goodness and
replies that she stopped walking the streets when she opened desperation.
the shop. Yang Sun ironically declares the change “a gift of the
gods.” Shen Te tells him that that’s exactly what happened—but
Yang Sun doesn’t believe her. Shen Te says she plays the zither
and she imitates men well. Though she made a vow of celibacy
when she opened the shop, she’s now going to marry soon.

Yang Sun asks Shen Te what she knows about love. As Yang Sun and Shen Te explore their feelings of intimacy, they air
“Everything,” she says. Yang Sun asserts that she knows nothing their insecurities. Shen Te seems to relinquish Shui Ta in this
and he reaches out to stroke her cheek. The two share an passage—the feelings of love she has make it seem like she’ll never
intimate moment before Yang Sun breaks away from her. The need him again.
two share more about their lives. Yang Sun says he has friends
but they’re all sick of him complaining about being unemployed.
Shen Te says she has only one friend: a cousin who only came to
town once and who will not return.

Yang Sun asks to hear more. Shen Te tells him a story about As Shen Te muses about the ways in which people strive to be good
receiving a penny from a poor man as a little girl. It is to each other even in the face of suffering, Wong enters singing his
remarkable, she says, how those who have very little seem to lament about the nature of his work. Brecht is continually
be the most generous. Shen Te notices a drop of rain hit her contrasting a sense of hopefulness for change with a sense of doom
head. Wong enters singing “The Song of the Water Seller in the and overwhelm over capitalism’s vice grip on society.
Rain.” He laments that when it rains, no one will buy his water.
He wishes there was lovely weather and no rain for half a
dozen years—then everyone would “go down on their knees
before [him.]”

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Shen Te spots Wong and runs to him, telling him that his pole is Shen Te patronizes Wong because she wants to do something good.
at the shop. Wong thanks Shen Te for keeping it. Shen Te asks By buying water even when it’s raining, she shows that she wants to
to buy a cup of water for Yang Sun. Wong suggests Yang Sun support her neighbors and share what she has. Shen Te is a good
simply tilt his head back and open his mouth. Shen Te, however, person who wants to share her resources—but Yang Sun falling
insists that she wants Wong’s water—she knows how hard he's asleep as she returns to him with a treat symbolically demonstrates
been working and she wants to help him out. She tells him how often her good deeds go unseen and unappreciated even as the
about Yang Sun, the “bold” and generous flyer who can’t find “bad” deeds she perpetrates as Shui Ta are more and more
work. After buying a cup of water, Shen Te runs over to Yang noticeable.
Sun—but he has fallen asleep.

SCENE 3A
Back in Wong’s sewer pipe, the gods come to Wong in a dream Wong is impressed by how charitably Shen Te has continued to
once again. Wong tells them that he has seen Shen Te—she is in behave toward everyone around her since her meeting with the
love and she’s “doing good deeds all the time.” She is kind to gods. Her goodness has earned her a reputation as an “Angel”
everyone, he reports, and she often gives away tobacco to throughout town, which equates her with the realm of the divine.
customers who can’t pay. In addition, she is once again housing Shen Te’s good deeds, however, have been enabled by the fact that
the family of eight. The cherry on top, Wong says, is that Shen she received a gift of money from the gods. Brecht calls into
Te bought a cup of water from him even when it was raining. question whether the Shen Te readers met at the beginning of the
Shen Te, Wong reports, has earned the nickname “the Angel of play would have come to this kind of “goodness” on her own.
the Slums.” The only person in town who doesn’t like Shen Te,
Wong reports, is a carpenter who claims that Shen Te’s cousin,
a businessman, refused to pay him for some shelves. The first
god admits that he doesn’t know what is “customary” in the
“unintelligible” realm of business.

The gods tell Wong that they’ve been turned away quite often This passage points out the disparity between the rich and the poor.
lately—the rich send them to the poor, but the poor don’t have While the rich can help others, they often refuse to; while the poor
enough room to house them. No one is “heroic” anymore, the cannot help others, they often wish they could.
first god says. As the gods depart, Wong calls out to the
“illustrious ones,” suggesting that they refrain from asking too
much of people at one time.

SCENE 4
It is morning on the square outside of Shen Te’s shop. There are When Shen Te begins living life for herself and she stops attending
two other shops nearby: a carpet shop and a barber. The to the needy at all hours, her neighbors and dependents begin
grandfather, the sister-in-law, the unemployed man, and Mrs. seeing her actions as selfish. Again, the other characters feel that
Shin wait outside Shen Te’s. The sister-in-law remarks that Shen Te owes them her time, attention, and resources.
Shen Te has been out all night. Mrs. Shin laments that Shen Te is
“carrying on” with a man. The barber, Shu Fu, angrily kicks
Wong out of his shop for “pestering” his customers, burning
Wong’s hand with a hot curling iron. The unemployed man
tends to Wong while Mrs. Shin and the sister-in-law lament
that if Shen Te were present, she’d give Wong a bandage.

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Shen Te comes walking down the street. She addresses the Shen Te’s newfound love makes her even more generous and happy
audience directly. Shen Te tells them that she has a new lease about taking care of her needy neighbors. Where she was previously
on life and that she attributes the change in her point of view to overwhelmed and upset, she now feels she has enough time, energy,
being in love. As Shen Te approaches the people gathered and attention to go around—even if her neighbors feel she owes
outside her shop, she distributes rice to each of them and then them more.
she ducks into the carpet shop. Shu Fu, who has noticed Shen
Te, remarks to the others how beautiful she is. He declares that
he is in love with her and then he returns to his shop.

The old man and the old woman, proprietors of the carpet Shen Te encounters goodness and generosity from her neighbors,
shop, walk outside with Shen Te. They offer to give her a the carpet shop owners. She wishes she could repay them by
discount on a shawl—they know her many good deeds “eat [her offering them the recognition which she feels the gods may have
earnings] all up.” They ask her if her new lover can help her pay wrongly bestowed upon her.
her rent, but Shen Te replies that Yang Sun is broke. The old
woman offers Shen Te 200 silver dollars to make rent for the
next several months. In exchange, she asks that Shen Te pledge
her tobacco stock. Shen Te declares that the old woman and
her husband are good people—she wishes the gods could
overhear their offer.

Shen Te goes over to the people gathered outside the tobacco Even as Shen Te comes into more and more money, she continues to
shop and she shows them the huge sum of money. Mrs. Shin be involved in her neighbors’ problems and concerned about their
points out Wong’s injury. Shen Te apologizes for not seeing it well-being. She is willing to put herself on the line for them—but
sooner. She suggests taking Wong to a doctor, but the even these actions, good deeds in and of themselves, inspire nothing
unemployed man suggests Wong visit a lawyer instead—he can but suspicion and judgement among her neighbors. Shen Te laments
sue the “filthy rich” barber. All he will need is a witness. None of that people are so self-centered that they’re not willing to help one
the others, however, are willing to testify. Shen Te decries the another.
others for ignoring Wong’s suffering. She declares that she
herself will act as witness. Mrs. Shin warns Shen Te against
perjuring herself. The sister-in-law says that Shen Te can’t
change the world. Shen Te orders everyone to leave her alone
and then she laments to the audience that nothing moves her
fellow citizens to action anymore.

Mrs. Yang, Yang Sun’s mother, comes rushing into the square. Shen Te continues doing good deeds for others—she is genuinely
She declares that Yang Sun has just gotten an offer to work as a hopeful that she can make the lives of her friends, her neighbors,
pilot—but the director of the airfield wants 500 silver dollars. and her lover a better place. She doesn’t care much for her own
Shen Te gives Mrs. Yang the old couple’s loan, stating that she wealth—she just wants to unburden others. Given other people’s
can repay them with her tobacco stock. Shen Te declares that greed toward Shen Te, however, it seems that her good deeds are
she knows “someone who can help” them to come up with the likely to be punished rather than rewarded.
other 300. A plane flies overhead. Shen Te is delighted,
declaring that soon her lover will be able to start “bringing to
friends in faraway lands / The friendly mail!”

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SCENE 4A
Shen Te comes onstage carrying Shui Ta’s mask. She sings “The Shen Te knows that she can’t keep up with all the demands on her
Song of the Defenseless.” The song declares that one can only alone—she needs Shui Ta’s strength as a “backer” to keep making
“prove himself useful” through “strong backers.” The good—and ends meet. Shen Te sees Shui Ta as a necessary evil: a mere
even the gods—are “defenseless” in this day and age. She stepping-stone on her path to doing more and more good deeds for
wishes the gods could launch an “expedition” against the others. At the same time, Shen Te laments that in order to help
badness of the world and bring peace, calm, and plenty to all. those she wants to help, others must suffer needlessly.
Shen Te puts on Shui Ta’s mask and she finishes the song in his
voice. The imposing “Shui Ta” declares that one “can only help
one of [one’s] luckless brothers / By trampling down a dozen
others.” He asks why the gods don’t feel more anger at the state
of the world or work to make things right.

SCENE 5
Inside Shen Te’s tobacco shop, Shui Ta is behind the counter. Even though Shui Ta is supposed to be a man of practicality and
Mrs. Shin works to tidy the shop, talking idly the whole time. business savvy, at the end of the day, he is still just Shen Te in
Mrs. Shin advises Shui Ta to figure out what is going on disguise—and Shen Te is so in love with Yang Sun that she can’t see
between Shen Te and Yang Sun—and to remember that the anything beyond her feelings.
wealthy barber next door, Shu Fu, is interested in marrying
Shen Te. When Shui Ta doesn’t answer Mrs. Shin, she leaves.
Yang Sun’s voice is heard on the street—Shui Ta runs to the
mirror and he begins primping, only to remember the disguise
and laugh.

Yang Sun enters and he asks Shui Ta if Shen Te is in the shop. This passage shows that Yang Sun doesn’t really care for Shen
Shui Ta says that she isn’t. Yang Sun inspects the tobacco stock Te—he is a cruel, rude man who is only after Shen Te for her body
and he asks if Shui Ta thinks he can “squeeze” 300 silver dollars and her money. Yang Sun has no problem disclosing all of this to
out of it. Shui Ta tells Yang Sun to be patient while Shen Te Shui Ta—he believes that Shui Ta’s loyalty will be to another man
gathers the money. Yang Sun crassly declares that he doesn’t before it will be to a woman, even a woman of his own blood.
know Shen Te to be the kind of woman to “keep a man waiting.”

When Shui Ta asks more about the sum Yang Sun needs to get Yang Sun is involved in a dirty plot to wring Shen Te dry in pursuit of
the airfield job, Yang Sun reveals that he is bribing the airfield his own dreams. Because flight is, throughout the play, a symbol of
master into firing a pilot so that Yang Sun himself can take the the dreams which life under capitalism makes impossible, Yang
job. Shui Ta asks if Yang Sun plans to marry Shen Te after asking Sun’s desire to work as a pilot no matter the cost shows that he will
her to give up her possessions, leave her community, and move stop at nothing to further his own agenda. Yang Sun doesn’t know
elsewhere so he can work. He points out that 200 silver dollars love or goodness—he only knows deception, greed, and striving for
covers six months’ rent at the shop—Shen Te might be better self-aggrandizement above all else.
off staying here and running her business with Yang Sun at her
side. Yang Sun, however, disdains the idea of being a tobacco
salesman. Shui Ta replies that he is prepared to liquidate the
stock into cash since Shen Te wants to follow her heart and
have “the right to love.”

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Mrs. Mi Tzu enters, asking after the rent. Shui Ta tells her that Shui Ta is now torn between pursuing the business interests which
Shen Te’s plans have changed—she is moving to Peking with her he was created to protect in light of the revelations of Yang Sun’s
lover and she’ll be selling the stock. Shui Ta asks for 500 silver cruelty and upholding Shen Te’s loyalty to Yang Sun himself. Shui Ta
dollars in exchange for everything. Mrs. Mi Tzu offers 300. is meant to be an imposing presence who can stand up to
Yang Sun urges Shui Ta to take the deal, but Shui Ta insists it is anyone—but in the face of Shen Te’s burning feelings, even Shui Ta is
not enough. He pulls Yang Sun aside and he states that the helpless.
tobacco stock is pledged to the old couple who lent Shen Te the
initial 200. Yang Sun asks if the deal is in writing. Shui Ta replies
that it isn’t. Yang Sun tells Mrs. Mi Tzu that 300 will do. She
promises to come back with the money the day after tomorrow.

Yang Sun asks where they could raise more money in the In this passage, Shui Ta receives further proof of Yang Sun’s cruelty
meantime, but Shui Ta says that there isn’t anywhere they can and disloyalty. Shui Ta realizes that Yang Sun has been playing Shen
do so. He asks if Yang Sun has enough to provide for Shen Te Te like a fiddle, getting her to do his bidding by pretending to care for
for the first few weeks in Peking. Yang Sun says he will “dig it her and love her. Again, Yang Sun presumes that Shui Ta’s loyalty
up” or “steal it.” Shui Ta suggests that Yang Sun will need to will be to him, another man, over Shen Te, a woman.
cover the cost of travel for two. Yang Sun reveals that he is
leaving Shen Te behind—he doesn’t want a “millstone” around
his neck. Shui Ta asks how Shen Te will live. Yang Sun tells Shui
Ta that Shui Ta will come up with a way to support her. Shui Ta
asks if Yang Sun will leave the 200 dollars here until he can
show proof of two tickets to Peking—his cousin may not want
to sell the shop anymore. Yang Sun, however, insists that Shen
Te will do anything he asks.

In a sudden outburst, Shui Ta declares that his cousin is a Shui Ta attempts to stand up for Shen Te, but Yang Sun sinks even
woman with common sense. Yang Sun argues that as a woman, lower as he insults the woman he is swindling while pretending to
Shen Te is “devoid of common sense”—she is easily fooled by love. The entire affair is an outrage even to Mrs. Shin.
the promise of love and the joys of sex. Yang Sun takes a cigar of
the shelves and he tells Shui Ta to tell Shen Te that Yang Sun
wants to marry her—and then he asks Shui Ta to bring along the
300 dollars when it’s there. He leaves. Mrs. Shin sticks her head
out of the back room, having overheard the whole thing, and
expresses her disbelief in Yang Sun’s cruelty. She pops into the
back again.

Shui Ta runs around the shop in a fury, declaring “I’ve lost my Shui Ta breaks his disguise for a moment and he speaks and moves
shop! And he doesn’t love me!” over and over again before as Shen Te, realizing just how deeply and totally she has been
stopping and calling out to Mrs. Shin. Shui Ta declares that he deceived. Shui Ta resolves to preserve Shen Te’s dignity by marrying
“grew up in the gutter” and that he has that hardness within her off the barber and adopting the “hardness” needed to make her
him still. Love is “the deadliest” threat to that hardness. Mrs. abandon Yang Sun.
Shin comes out of the back and she declares that Shui Ta should
talk with Shu Fu and arrange a marriage between the barber
and Shen Te. She goes off to get him.

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Mrs. Shin returns with Shu Fu. Shui Ta tells Shu Fu that Shen Te Shui Ta is determined to help pull Shen Te’s good name and
is in “grave danger”—she has lost her shop through too much reputation out of the scandal she’s embroiled herself in—even if it
“goodness” and she needs the money to get it back. Shu Fu, means marrying her off to a wealthy man whom she doesn’t love.
however, declares that it is Shen Te’s goodness which makes Shen Te’s goodness makes her adored by all—which makes Yang
her so attractive to him. Shu Fu says that he knows how Sun’s deception even more despicable.
charitable and giving Shen Te is and so he wants to help her
open a homeless shelter using a set of “humble cabins” he has
nearby. Shui Ta declares that Shen Te would be “honored” to
hear Shu Fu’s proposal.

Wong and the policeman enter looking for Shen Te. Shu Fu In this passage, Shui Ta does a kind deed for Wong by giving him
pretends to be busy looking at the shelves. Shui Ta tells the Shen Te’s shawl to use as a sling before sealing the man’s fate by
officer and Wong that Shen Te isn’t present. Seeing that Wong’s refusing to perjure himself and declare Shen Te as a witness to
hand is still hurting him, Shui Ta runs to the back and he fetches Wong’s suffering. This passage represents the admixture of good
Shen Te’s shawl. He offers it to Wong, insisting Shen Te doesn’t and bad deeds that one must often perform to keep oneself afloat in
need it. The policeman asks Shui Ta if Shen Te really saw the a cruel world.
conflict between Wong and the barber. Shui Ta declares that
Shen Te wasn’t present. Wong, desperate, declares that she
was. Shui Ta tells Wong that Shen Te has enough
troubles—surely, he says, Wong wouldn’t “wish her to add to
them by committing perjury.” Wong throws the sling to the
ground. The policeman leaves, telling Wong not to go around
libeling his neighbors. Wong, distraught, follows him.

Shui Ta apologizes to Shu Fu for the commotion. Pointing to the In this passage, Brecht shows Shen Te—as Shui Ta—glumly
shawl, which Shen Te bought to impress her lover, Shu Fu asks if accepting her fate and resigning herself to a life of commitment to a
Shen Te will be ready to move on. Shui Ta replies that Shen Te person she does not love in order to save herself and her business.
may need some time to heal. Shui Ta suggests Shu Fu take Shen Shui Ta is the one to make the arrangement, as he is the one who
Te to a nice supper to propose and discuss everything. Shu Fu handles the things that Shen Te herself cannot bear.
agrees that Shen Te deserves to eat at a “high-class”
establishment. Shui Ta goes into the back to “find” Shen Te.

Shu Fu addresses the audience. He declares that he will be Shu Fu clearly cares for Shen Te and he wants to make her happy.
nothing but proper during his dinner with Shen Te—he will not He loves her because she is good—he does not want to take
touch her and he’ll only exchange ideas with her over the advantage of that goodness like Yang Sun does.
beautiful white chrysanthemums that will adorn their supper
table. He hopes to woo Shen Te with “understanding” and care.

Mrs. Shin comes out of the back, and Shu Fu asks what she As the two men in Shen Te’s life fight, argue, and push toward the
knows about Yang Sun. Mrs. Shin declares he is a “worthless back of the shop, threatening to uncover Shen Te’s clever ruse, Shen
rascal.” Yang Sun enters. Mrs. Shin threatens to call Shui Ta out Te offers herself up between them to stop the fighting. While
of the back. Shu Fu declares that Shui Ta and Shen Te are having adopting the persona of Shui Ta helps Shen Te navigate certain
an important meeting. Yang Sun tries to go into the back, but situations, this moment shows that Shen Te must sometimes fend
Shu Fu stands in his way. Shu Fu declares that he and Shen Te for herself.
are to be engaged. Yang Sun, disbelieving, tries to push past
him—but Shen Te emerges from the back room.

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Yang Sun asks Shen Te what’s going on. Shen Te declares that In the end, Shen Te follows her heart rather than her head. By
she intends to hear Shu Fu’s plans to help the poor. Yang Sun appearing as herself, she drops the front of imposing savvy and self-
cannot believe that Shen Te has agreed to her “cousin’s” plans. preservation that Shui Ta has come to represent for her. She allows
Yang Sun begs her to remember the day they met. Shen Te gets herself to be cajoled into returning to Yang Sun in spite of what she
lost in memories and then she declares to Shu Fu that she knows of his cruelty and disloyalty.
wants to be with Yang Sun and go to Peking. Yang Sun demands
that she give him the key to the shop, and she does so. Yang Sun
puts it down on the counter and tells Mrs. Shin to leave it under
the mat when she’s done cleaning.

As Yang Sun leads Shen Te from the shop, Shu Fu shouts for Shen Te has decided that Shui Ta doesn’t always know best. Though
Shui Ta. Shen Te begs him to stop—her cousin doesn’t agree she created him to handle her problems, in this moment she
with her, she says, but he is “wrong.” Addressing the audience, declares that he is unable to make all of her decisions for her.
Shen Te says that she wants to go be with the man she loves
without “count[ing] the cost,” considering if she’s making a
“wise” move, or even interrogating whether he really loves her
back. Yang Sun hears her and he declares, “That’s the spirit.”

SCENE 5A
Shen Te emerges in front of the curtain dressed in wedding Shen Te wants it all: she wants to be able to help her lover to whom
clothes. She addresses the audience and she tells them that she is devoted while also being good to her neighbors. But as Shen
something terrible has happened. As she left the shop with Te is learning, it is nearly impossible to be good and to be true to
Yang Sung, she saw the old carpet dealer’s wife on the one’s own desires all at once. This is a different kind of dual identity
street—the old woman told her that the old man had taken ill that Shen Te must learn to embody: that of neighbor and lover
after all the “worry and excitement” over the money they’d lent wrapped up in one, rather than the split consciousness of Shen Te
her. The old woman, with tears in her eyes, politely asked for it and Shui Ta.
back. Shen Te promised the old woman she’d give it back to her.

Shen Te laments having let Yang Sun sweep her away “like a Shen Te is cautiously optimistic about her future but she knows
small hurricane” and having forgotten her promise to the what a dangerous situation she’s gotten herself into both financially
carpet dealers. Shen Te declares that Yang Sun plans to work in and morally.
a cement factory rather than “owe his flying to a crime.” She is
on her way to her wedding, she says, and she cannot stop
wavering “between fear and joy.”

SCENE 6
In a private dining room of a cheap restaurant in town, Shen Te Yang Sun has no empathy for anyone other than himself; he
and Yang Sun celebrate their wedding with a number of guests. denigrates Shen Te for being a good person and staying on top of her
A priest sits in the corner alone. Yang Sun, wearing a dinner debts rather than devoting her life and her finances all to him. Yang
jacket, talks with his mother Mrs. Yang. He tells her that Shen Sun hopes to use Shui Ta for his own purposes—but little does he
Te has told him she cannot sell the shop—“some idiot” is know that Shui Ta and Shen Te are the same person.
requesting the 200 dollars back. Mrs. Yang suggests that Yang
Sun postpone the wedding, but Yang Sun tells her it’ll be
okay—he’s sent for Shui Ta to settle the matter by bringing the
money to the wedding anyway. Mrs. Yang goes outside to wait
for Shui Ta’s arrival.

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Shen Te addresses the audience. She tells them that she Even though Shen Te tries to look on the bright side of things and
believes she has made the right choice—Yang Sun has given up enjoy her wedding, she remains paranoid and frightened as she
flying for her. She calls for Yang Sun to drink a toast “to the struggles to balance her present identity with her alter ego.
future” with her. Mrs. Yang returns to the room and she states
that Shui Ta has not arrived. Shen Te, hearing that Mrs. Yang
expects Shui Ta to come to the wedding, is flummoxed. Yang
Sun says they will all wait another 15 minutes.

Mrs. Yang excitedly tells her guests that she, Yang Sun, and Shen Te continues to be shocked and baffled by Yang Sun’s
Shen Te are moving to Peking so that Yang Sun can be a pilot. indiscriminate dishonesty. When she tries to confront him about her
Shen Te is taken aback by the fact that Yang Sun hasn’t told his fears, Yang Sun tells her she’s a bad businesswoman and a poor
mother he’s giving up the job. Yang Sun says he still wants to decision-maker. Yang Sun wants Shen Te to think only of him and to
use the money to secure the job. Shen Te is upset, but Yang Sun ignore everyone else’s wants and needs—even her own.
declares that he needs to get out of Setzuan. Shen Te points out
that she’s promised the old woman the money back. Yang Sun
says it’s lucky that Shui Ta is on his way—Shen Te always does
“the wrong thing.”

Shen Te replies that her cousin isn’t coming—he “can’t be where Yang Sun is a relentless two-timer and liar. He cares about no one
[she is.]” She reveals that Shui Ta told her that Yang Sun only but himself and he’s willing to leave even his own mother high and
bought one ticket to Peking. Yang Sun pulls two tickets out of dry in pursuit of his own wants and needs. He represents the very
his pocket and he says he sold his mother’s furniture to afford worst of humanity—the kind of person motivated only by greed and
the second—he doesn’t want his mother to know she’s getting corruption.
left behind. Shen Te asks what will become of the old man and
old woman. Yang Sun asks what’s to become of himself.

A waiter enters and asks Mrs. Yang to pay for the party. Mrs. The wedding is a disaster—and the cruel, violent Yang Sun blames
Yang insists that someone is coming with the money. The priest Shen Te for everything. As Yang Sun creates a cruel farce, he
leaves to officiate another engagement. Mrs. Yang assures the attempts to shame Shen Te for thwarting his opportunity to marry
guests that the priest will return. Yang Sun, however, tells the her and take her money.
guests to go home—the priest is gone, and Shui Ta is nowhere
to be found. The others leave. Shen Te asks if she should go
home too. Yang Sun drags her across the room, tearing her
dress.

Yang Sun sings “The Song of St. Nevercome’s Day,” in which he Yang Sun’s cruel, self-pitying song is suffused with meanness but
talks of all the things that will “never come”: the day a beggar also with real anxiety. Yang Sun knows that certain things will never
maid’s son will sit on a solid gold throne, the day “badness will happen—and just as he knows that corruption will always rule and
cost you your head,” the day “men will be good without batting the poor will always be poor, he knows that his own dreams will
an eye,” the day he himself will “be a flyer.” As the song never come true.
concludes, Mrs. Yang declares that Shui Ta is not coming.

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SCENE 6A
Back in Wong’s den, the gods again come to him in a dream. Wong knows just how deeply Shen Te is embroiled in her bad
Wong tells the gods that Shen Te is in grave trouble—she has situation with Yang Sun, the old couple, Shu Fu, and Shui Ta. The
taken “the rule about loving thy neighbor” too seriously. Wong gods, however, have learned their lessons about helping humans—it
suggests Shen Te is too good for this world and he asks the never turns out well.
gods to intervene. The first god declares that they are done
intervening in human matters—he points out a black eye that
the third god received from meddling in a fight the other day.

When Wong declares that Shen Te may lose her shop, however, Even after Wong begs the gods, they remain unwilling to help Shen
the third god asks if they should help after all. The first god Te. They perhaps do truly believe that adversity will make her
insists that “the gods help those who help themselves.” The stronger and better—but it’s just as likely that they’re simply
second god says they should try to help anyway. The third god exhausted by humanity and they’re eager to be done with humans
admits that they have not found any other good people on once and for all.
Earth. The heavier the burden on Shen Te, the first god
suggests, the greater her strength will become—and the better
she will prove herself to be. The first god promises that
everything will turn out all right. The gods disappear.

SCENE 7
In the yard behind Shen Te’s shop, Shen Te and Mrs. Shin do Shen Te is drowning in debt and worry. Not only that, but she is
laundry. Mrs. Shin tells Shen Te to “fight tooth and nail” to keep becoming sloppy about keeping up her dual identity—when Mrs.
her shop. Shen Te replies that she must sell the tobacco to pay Shin finds the pants on the line, Shen Te realizes that her disguise is
the old couple back today. Mrs. Shin declares that without a perhaps not as foolproof as she believed it to be.
husband, tobacco, and a place to live, Shen Te is going to be
destitute. Mrs. Shin pulls a pair of pants off the line—she
declares that they are Shui Ta’s. Shen Te says that Shui Ta has
many pairs of pants and he must have left these behind after his
last visit. She collects them hurriedly from Mrs. Shin.

Shu Fu enters. He tells Shen Te that he has seen her sacrifice Shu Fu really cares for Shen Te and he deeply admires her goodness.
her own happiness so as not to hurt the old carpet He wants her to be happy—unlike Yang Sun, who only ever wanted
sellers—Shen Te truly is “the Angel of the Slums.” Shu Fu to take her money and leave her high and dry.
declares that he cannot let Shen Te lose her shop. Every
morning, he has watched her give food to the poor. He cannot
let “the good woman of Setzuan” disappear. He pulls out his
checkbook and he gives Shen Te a blank check. He instructs her
to fill out “any sum in the world,” and then he hurries away.

Mrs. Shin urges Shen Te to hurry up and cash the check for s Though Shen Te knows that Yang Sun is cruel and terrible, she can’t
thousand silver dollars. Shen Te, however, has second thoughts. seem to let him go. When she realizes that she is pregnant with his
She is still hung up on Yang Sun. As she gathers up the washing, child, she begins thrusting Yang Sun’s own dreams upon the unborn
she staggers beneath its weight. Mrs. Shin asks if Shen Te is baby. When Shen Te invokes flying here, Brecht symbolically signals
dizzy because she’s pregnant. If Shen Te is pregnant, Mrs. Shin Shen Te’s fears that her child will not be able to pursue his dreams
suggests, Shu Fu will never let her have the money. Shen Te should Shen Te fail to keep herself afloat right now.
caresses her stomach and she excitedly declares that she is
going to bring a blessed son into the world who will conquer
mountains and become a flyer on his own one day. She takes
the imaginary hand of a small boy and she pretends to show
him around the town, introducing him to his neighbors.

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Wong enters with a real little boy. He tells Shen Te that the Though the sleazy carpenter did try to swindle Shen Te out of some
carpenter has lost his home and his business—his three money, there are consequences to her and Shui Ta’s refusal to pay
children are out on the streets. Wong introduces the little boy him—now, he is on the streets. This suggests that people can’t
to Shen Te as the carpenter’s youngest son. Shen Te takes the support themselves without stepping on others.
little boy by the hand and she declares that he can live in Shu
Fu’s cabins. She may have to go there herself, she says, as she is
expecting a child of her own.

Shen Te asks Wong to go find Shu Fu. Before sending him off, Even in the midst of her own problems, Shen Te is still worried about
though, she asks about his hand. Wong shows Shen Te his the well-being of others. Wong is relieved to realize that Shen Te is
mangled hand—but he insists he can get along just fine. Shen Te still good in spite of her recent struggles—he believes that there is
begs him to take a cartful of tobacco, sell it, and go see a doctor. hope not just for Shen Te, but for the world.
Wong quietly delights in the fact that Shen Te is “still good.” He
goes off to get the carpenter, assuring Shen Te that he’ll take
some tobacco to sell when he returns.

The husband, wife, and nephew enter, each dragging a large Shen Te doesn’t want to have to bring Shui Ta back. She would
sack. They ask Shen Te if she’s alone. She says she is. They ask if rather lose everything than continue living a dual life and betraying
Shui Ta is coming back. Shen Te says he isn’t—she’s giving up the her friends and neighbors with the cruel, ruthless Shui Ta’s words
shop. They ask if they can store their sacks in her new home. and actions. This passage shows, though, that without Shui Ta
Shen Te says she’d be happy to let them. The husband says if around, Shen Te’s neighbors continue picking on her the moment
anyone asks about the sacks, Shen Te should say they’re hers. she shows any hesitation about doing whatever they ask of her,
When they ask where they should put them, though, Shen Te leveraging her reputation as a “good woman” against her and adding
expresses nervousness about getting into trouble. The wife to the pressures she’s facing already.
declares that “the good woman of Setzuan” is perhaps no
longer good. The husband tells Shen Te that there is enough
tobacco in the sacks to start a whole tobacco factory. Shen Te
helps them bring the sacks to the back room. Alone on stage,
the carpenter’s son eats scraps from a garbage can nearby.

Shen Te and the others return, making a plan to meet up at Shu Shen Te knows that she must return to living as Shui Ta—perhaps for
Fu’s cabins soon. When Shen Te sees the carpenter’s son eating a while—in order to save not just her own reputation but indeed her
garbage, she shoos the others away and runs to the child. She future child’s well-being. Shen Te is willing to be ruthless and to put
declares that she will be a “tigress” if she has to in order to her own desires on the backburner in order to ensure a better future
defend her own son from ever experiencing such a thing. She for her unborn baby.
picks up Shui Ta’s trousers and she declares that her cousin
must come back for one final visit. She goes inside.

Mrs. Shin, the sister-in-law, and the grandfather all enter. They Shen Te (as Shui Ta) has a plan to turn things around. The means
lament that the shop is closing down and that they will have to through which she plans to do so are tricky and nefarious—and the
move to Shu Fu’s terrible cabins. The unemployed man enters plan wouldn’t have come about had she not, moments earlier,
and, upon seeing the shop is closing, suggests Shen Te call upon witnessed the family of eight dragging the illegally-begotten tobacco
Shui Ta to save them all. Wong, the carpenter, and the into the shop.
carpenter’s other children enter; as they do, Shui Ta arrives and
he asks what has brought the crowd together. Wong says that
the shop is closing and that they are all headed to Shu Fu’s
cabins. Shui Ta, however, declares that they can’t go there—the
space will be “needed for other purposes.” The group can stay in
the cabins if they agree to work for Shen Te making tobacco.
The carpenter and the unemployed man, willing to take up the
offer, go in for the sacks.

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Mrs. Mi Tzu enters with 300 silver dollars for Shui Ta. Shui Ta, Shui Ta declares his intent to use Shu Fu’s money to save the
however, declares that he’s decided not to sell—he will sign the business. To others, it appears as if Shui Ta has decided to sell his
lease. Mrs. Mi Tzu asks if Shui Ta can pay rent in advance. Shui cousin to Shu Fu. Shui Ta’s ruthlessness, it seems, knows no bounds.
Ta pulls out Shu Fu’s check and he writes it out for 10,000 silver
dollars, assuring Mrs. Mi Tzu that she will have six months’ rent
by tonight. Mrs. Mi Tzu expresses amazement at how quickly
Shen Te has moved on from Yang Sun to Shu Fu. She leaves.

The carpenter and the unemployed man drag the sacks of Shui Ta continues blackmailing and manipulating people in order to
tobacco back across the stage. The carpenter begrudgingly make ends meet for himself. He is playing everyone around him
says that he’s unhappy to be doing so. Shui Ta reminds the ruthlessly and indiscriminately with no remorse. Shui Ta, again, can
carpenter that his children need to eat. The sister-in-law, do all of the things that Shen Te can’t bring herself to do as someone
spying the sacks, declares that they contain her family’s struggling under the pressures to be “good” at all costs.
tobacco. Shui Ta asks if he should “consult the police”—the
sister-in-law, knowing the tobacco was obtained illegally,
defeatedly falls silent. Shui Ta leads the carpenter and his
children, the sister-in-law, the grandfather, and the
unemployed man off to Shu Fu’s cabins, leaving Wong and Mrs.
Shin behind.

The old man and old woman enter. Mrs. Shin tells them that Mrs. Shin has figured out Shen Te’s ruse—she knows that Shen Te
Shui Ta arrived wearing a pair of pants she found on the line has created Shui Ta as an alter ego who can do the things she can’t
just moments ago. The old woman asks where Shen Te is—Shen do and to make things turn out “okay.”
Te was supposed to give something to her and her husband.
Wong declares that things will soon be okay—Shui Ta never
stays long. Mrs. Shin, “approaching a conclusion,” declares that
Wong is right.

SCENE 7A
In Wong’s sewer pipe, Wong dreams of the gods yet again. The Wong’s dreams indicate to him very clearly that Shen Te is suffering
gods seem tired from their travels. Wong tells the gods that as she struggles to uphold the mantle of goodness which the gods
he’s been having a bad dream about Shen Te. In the dream, have thrust upon her. Their rules are too much for her to bear—yet
Shen Te is always down by the river in a spot where “the bodies the gods are not open to bending or changing them so that Shen Te
of suicides” often wash up. Shen Te is staggering as she tries to can stop buckling under their pressure. The gods seem determined
carry something along the muddy bank. When Wong calls out to learn more about humanity while remaining as removed as
to her, Shen Te declares she must get the gods’ Book of Rules to possible from humans and doing as little as they can to actually
the other side of the river without getting it wet. Wong asks the change or better human society.
gods for “a little relaxation of the rules […] in view of the bad
times.” The gods reply that their intervention would only create
more problems—the rules, they say wearily, must stand.

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SCENE 8
Shui Ta has established a tobacco factory in Shu Fu’s cabins. In just a few months, Shen Te’s enterprise has become
Several families, mostly women and children, work together. unrecognizable. No longer a small neighborhood shop, the tobacco
The sister-in-law, the grandfather, the carpenter, and the factory is now a veritable sweatshop where the needy of Setzuan
carpenter’s three children are among them. Yang Sun and Mrs. must work tirelessly for low wages. There is no charity or goodness
Yang enter. Mrs. Yang tells the audience that the Shui Ta, after in the town anymore—Shui Ta rules all with an iron fist, turning
opening the flourishing tobacco factory three months earlier, everyone he can into a worker and demanding labor in exchange for
has transformed Yang Sun into a “model citizen.” After the things Shen Te once doled out with no strings attached.
threatening to bring a claim for “breach of promise of marriage”
against Yang Sun on Shen Te’s behalf, Shui Ta agreed to let Yang
Sun repay his debt of 200 silver dollars by coming to work in
the factory. The hard work, Mrs. Yang says, has made Yang Sun
into an honest man—he is now foreman of the factory. As Yang
Sun takes his place in front of the workers, he leads them in
song.

Yang Sun and the others sing the “Song of the Eighth Elephant.” Shui Ta has turned Shen Te’s shop into a massive factory—a place
The song, a parable, tells of a man named Chang who had seven that was meant to be a gathering place for the community has
wild elephants and one tame one named Little Brother. Chang turned into a soulless enterprise. The “Song of the Eighth Elephant”
put Little Brother in charge of guarding and overseeing the is sung by the workers as a kind of anthem yet to Brecht’s audiences
work of the other elephants. Little Brother kept his tusks even is meant to be satirical, indicting the ways in which capitalism turns
as the other elephants wore theirs down through hard friends, neighbors, and workers against one another.
work—“seven are no match for one,” the chorus sings, “if the
one has a gun.” As the workers sing, Shui Ta smokes a cigar and
strolls among them. Mrs. Yang, addressing the audience again,
calling Shui Ta a “real superior man.”

SCENE 9
Shen Te’s shop is now a well-decorated office. Shui Ta, who has Shui Ta has taken over, much to the dismay of the other villagers,
grown fat, sits in a chair talking with the old man and the old who miss Shen Te’s warm and generous presence. Other people are
woman. Mrs. Shin looks on. Shui Ta angrily says he cannot tell clearly afraid of Shui Ta or simply don’t like him—a fact which Shui
them where Shen Te is. The old woman says she simply wants Ta, used to living as the beloved Shen Te, cannot seem to wrap his
to thank Shen Te in writing—an envelope containing the 200 head around.
silver dollars she and her husband were owed arrived. Shui Ta
says he doesn’t have Shen Te’s address and shoos them from
the shop. Mrs. Shin tells him that the couple lost their shop
while waiting for the money. Shui Ta declares they could have
come to him for help. Mrs. Shin retorts that people dislike
coming to Shui Ta.

Shui Ta says he’s dizzy. Mrs. Shin says he ought to be—he’s “in Shen Te wants to bring a child into a kind world that sets a good
[his] seventh month.” Shui Ta says he’s nervous that people will example for her baby, so she doesn’t want her child to know about
start noticing what’s going on soon, but Mrs. Shin says that Shui Ta or his bad deeds. Shen Te is committed to making the world
everyone will think Shui Ta is growing fat because he’s rich. Shui a better place—even as she lives in disguise as the domineering Shui
Ta declares that when the child is born, it must never meet Shui Ta to preserve her own reputation.
Ta. Shui Ta asks Mrs. Shin if the neighbors are circulating any
rumors. Mrs. Shin says that as long as Shu Fu doesn’t learn the
truth, there is “nothing to worry about.” She offers Shui Ta a cup
of tea.

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As Yang Sun enters dressed in a suit, Mrs. Shin puts on a pair of Mrs. Shin is clearly blackmailing Shui Ta, even as she acts as his
nice gloves and leaves. Yang Sun suggests Mrs. Shin is “fleecing” caretaker. This duality of a good deed and a bad deed wrapped up in
Shui Ta. Taking a paper from his briefcase, Yang Sun tells Shui Ta one sums up Brecht’s stance on the pursuit of goodness: there is no
that because Shui Ta hasn’t been “at [his] best,” things at the good deed without a bad one, and often, goodness and badness
factory are getting out of control. The police want to shut the exist alongside each other.
establishment down for having twice the legal number of
workers. Yang Sun offers to bribe Mrs. Mi Tzu into letting their
company use her buildings for the overflow by offering her
sexual favors. Shui Ta says he’ll “never agree to that.” Yang Sun
suggests Shui Ta is irritable because it’s raining.

Wong knocks at the door. He enters, stating that he’s looking This passage reveals that other neighbors are onto Shui Ta—and
for Shen Te. It’s been six months since she’s been seen last, and that Shen Te clearly hasn’t been able to control her impulse to do
“rumors” that something has happened to her have started good deeds even while maintaining the disguise which is her very
cropping up. Shui Ta tells Wong to come back later. Wong says lifeline. Shen Te’s good deeds have made more of an impact on her
he’s seen rice sitting out on the doorstep lately, just as it used to fellow villagers than she ever accounted for.
when Shen Te gave to the needy. Wong says there are rumors
that Shen Te never left Setzuan after all—she is nearby, hiding a
pregnancy. Yang Sun is shocked. Shui Ta calls Wong a liar; Wong
replies that “a good woman isn’t so easily forgotten,” and he
leaves.

Shui Ta goes into the back room. Yang Sun, alone, wonders Yang Sun, like Mrs. Shin, is beginning to put together the pieces of
whether Shui Ta sent the pregnant Shen Te away so that Yang what’s going on. Shui Ta is barely holding things together in the face
Sun wouldn’t get word of a son being born to him. Suddenly, of such serious financial, legal, and emotional challenges—he is
Yang Sun hears sobbing is heard from the back room, which making himself vulnerable to his greedy, opportunistic neighbors
surprises him since Shui Ta never weeps. Yang Sun, too, admits and employees.
that he’s suspicious about the bowls of rice on the doorstep.

As Shui Ta steps out of the back and opens the front door, Yang Sun is onto Shui Ta—though perhaps he’s not necessarily as
listening for something, Yang Sun asks what’s going on. Shui Ta close to solving the mystery as he thinks he is. Nonetheless, Shui Ta
says that he’s listening for the sound of a plane—he asks if Yang becomes defensive and cagey as he begins to fear that the jig is up.
Sun has forgotten his dreams of flying. Yang Sun retorts that he Not only does he now have financial and legal problems to contend
hasn’t “lost interest” in flying, or interest in Shen Te. He asks with, but also problems of his own making to unravel.
Shui Ta if Shui Ta is keeping Shen Te locked up somewhere and
he implies that he’ll cause havoc at the factory if Shui Ta is. Shui
Ta offers to promote Yang Sun in exchange for him “drop[ping]
the inquiry.” Yang Sun demands Shui Ta’s own position. Shui Ta
is hesitant. Yang Sun says he’d “like to see more” of Shen Te.

Yang Sun leaves. Shui Ta goes into the back room and returns Shui Ta is encountering many problems all at once. He’s being forced
with Shen Te’s things. He wraps them in her old shawl. When he to accept bribes and blackmail and to make dirty deals in order to
hears a noise at the door, he shoves the things away. Mrs. Mi keep his operation—and thus his cover—afloat. The pressure is
Tzu and Shu Fu enter and ask why they’ve been sent for. Shui Ta mounting, and people’s suspicions are deepening.
says the factory is in trouble—unless he can prove he has more
space for his workers, the police will shut them down. Shu Fu
declares his displeasure with Shui Ta’s use of the resources that
were offered to Shen Te. Shui Ta assures him that Shen Te’s
return is “imminent.”

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Mrs. Mi Tzu demands that Shui Ta give her Yang Sun. Shui Ta Shui Ta cannot keep up with all of the bribes and demands his daily
promises that Yang Sun will call on her tomorrow if she agrees life now includes. On top of it all, his ruse is falling apart—and the
to tell the police that Shui Ta is taking over her buildings. Shu Fu villagers are misinterpreting his efforts to keep up his identity as
declares that it will be good to have Yang Sun employed evidence of a heinous crime against the very person he’s trying to
elsewhere when Shen Te returns. Everything seems to be protect.
settled—but suddenly, voices from the street announce the
arrival of the police. Yang Sun, Wong, and the policeman all
enter the shop. The policeman says that Yang Sun has reported
Shui Ta for keeping Shen Te locked up after hearing someone
crying in the back room of the office. The rumor has spread
quickly and the whole city is in an “uproar” over Shen Te’s
imprisonment.

The policeman checks the back room but finds it empty. Yang As the village rallies around Shen Te, Shui Ta is faced with the
Sun is baffled. He spots the bundle Shui Ta has stashed away impossibility of the situation he has created for himself. He cannot
and picks it up. Wong declares that Shen Te’s clothes are here. tell the truth—to do so would be to destroy Shen Te’s reputation.
A crowd has gathered outside the door—they declare that Shui
Ta must have murdered Shen Te and hidden her body. The
policeman asks Shui Ta to tell him where Shen Te is. Shui Ta says
he cannot, so the policeman cuffs Shui Ta and leads him away.

SCENE 9A
Back in Wong’s den, the gods appear for the last time in the The gods’ desperation and frustration with their mission is evident
water seller’s dreams. The gods look fatigued and shabby. in this passage. They have failed to find anyone good except Shen
Wong fills them in on Shen Te’s disappearance and Shui Ta’s Te—and for this reason, they resolve to find her no matter what. The
arrest. Wong says that in another dream, Shen Te told Wong gods are determined to leave Earth and stop involving themselves in
that Shui Ta was keeping her prisoner. Wong begs for the gods’ the degenerate world of humans—Shen Te is their last hope for
help in finding Shen Te. The gods declare that in all their travels, being able to do just that.
Shen Te was the only good person they ever found—now that
she has vanished, “all is lost.” The first god decries the “misery,
vulgarity, and waste” that defines human life. The third god is
saddened by the fact that good deeds always harm the one
performing them in the end. As the gods devolve into misery,
the first god says that their only hope is to find Shen Te—the
one good human they encountered in their travels.

SCENE 10
Many of the major characters have gathered in a courtroom. As Though many of the characters want to see Shui Ta punished, their
they sit, they gossip about Shui Ta and his plans for expansion of gossip about him having bought his way out of the trial already
the tobacco factory. They are certain that a man like Shui Ta will reflects an understanding of the ways in which money lets the
not be punished: rumor has it that he’s bribed the judge greedy and corrupt get away with anything while the good and
already. On top of it all, the old woman says, Shen Te is still virtuous suffer the consequences.
nowhere to be found. Wong laments that “only the gods” will
ever know what truly happened to her.

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At that moment, the policeman announces the arrival of the The gods have returned to Setzuan once more to assess the
judges. The three gods walk in wearing judges’ robes. As they situation for themselves—they are very desperate to find Shen Te
proceed to the bench, they whisper nervously amongst and to make sure the one good person on Earth has not vanished.
themselves about their badly-forged certificates and shabby
robes. Wong alone recognizes the judges as the gods and
smiles at them. They smile back.

The policeman brings in Shui Ta. As Shui Ta spies the “judges,” In this passage, as the policeman, Shu Fu, and Mrs. Mi Tzu speak up
he nearly faints. The first god asks Shui Ta how he pleads, and on behalf of Shui Ta, it becomes clear that the wealthy and powerful
he says he is not guilty. The first god calls the policeman as a members of the community believe that he is innocent. To believe
witness. The policeman takes the stand and describes Shui Ta that someone of the same class could have committed a crime such
as “a man of principle” who could never have harmed his cousin. as murder is unthinkable to them—they would then have to see that
The first god asks if anyone else will offer similar testimony. Shu wealthy, influential people like themselves can be bad, too.
Fu rises and declares that a fellow businessman could never be
guilty of such a crime—Shui Ta is an upstanding member of the
community. Mrs. Mi Tzu stands up and speaks out on behalf of
Shui Ta, as well.

The first god then asks if there is any “less favorable” evidence. The needy people of Setzuan clearly hate Shui Ta—he has profited
Wong, the carpenter, the old man and old woman, the off their labor but made their lives worse. Though the wealthy of
unemployed man, the sister-in-law, and the niece come Setzuan stand with Shui Ta in a show of class solidarity, it is clear
forward. The policeman whispers to the first god that only that Shui Ta has negatively impacted the working people of the
“riffraff” have anything bad to say about Shui Ta. The witnesses village.
call him a cheat, a thief, a liar, and a murderer. The first god
thanks them for their opinions and then lets Shui Ta himself
take the stand.

Shui Ta defends himself by stating that many people hate him Shui Ta finds himself dealing with the ruins of Shen Te’s personal life
because he has done the “filthy jobs” needed to save Shen Te’s on top of everything else. Shui Ta tries to point out that his
shop. The others speak out against him again, pointing out his ruthlessness was a necessary evil—but the majority of the other
treachery and his favoritism of the crooked Yang Sun. As Shui villagers cannot see things from his point of view.
Ta tries to defend himself, Yang Sun also leaps to the man’s
defense. He declares that he heard sobbing in the back
room—Shen Te, he deduces, must still be alive, and Shui Ta must
be innocent of her murder. Shu Fu says that Yang Sun
recognized Shen Te’s sobs because he himself made her cry so
often. Yang Sun retorts that he made Shen Te happy—she was
only going to be with Shu Fu after Shui Ta sold her to him.

Shui Ta defends himself, stating that the money he got in the While others declare that Shui Ta ran the shop—a gift from the
exchange was for the poor—and for Shen Te, so that she could gods—into the ground, Shui Ta argues that he was actually doing all
“go on being good.” Wong accuses Shen Te of spoiling the he could to try to turn the place into a resource for everyone. By
“fountain of goodness” that the shop, a gift from the gods, was invoking imagery of water and fountains, Brecht again signals the
supposed to be all along. Shui Ta declares he did what he failures of capitalism and the unfortunate ways in which “fountains”
needed to do to stop the fountain from “run[ning] dry.” Wong of wealth and plenty don’t always serve the purposes they’re meant
demands to know where Shen Te is, and the rest of the crowd to. Shui Ta laments being able to do enough for his neighbors—on
echoes him. Shui Ta says that he cannot tell them. When the his own, or as Shen Te.
others ask why Shen Te had to go away, Shui Ta shouts that if
she had stayed, the town would have “torn her to shreds.”

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Shui Ta asks for the court to be cleared—when only the judges In this passage, Shen Te admits that she created Shui Ta because
remain, he says, he will make a confession. The policeman she could not physically, emotionally, or logistically handle the
clears the court. Everyone exits. Shui Ta, addressing the demands of being good while still supporting herself and living her
shocked “illustrious ones,” declares that he himself is Shen Te. own life. There is so much suffering in the world that it is no wonder
He takes off his mask and tears away his clothes, revealing his the wealthy don’t help more—one can spiral down and become
true identity. The gods are astounded. Shen Te tells the gods “lost” in trying to solve the problems of the needy, since there are so
that their entreaty of her “to be good and yet to live” has many in need and so few able to help. Brecht indicts the ways in
literally torn her in two—she could not be good to others and to which capitalism turns people against one another—often through
herself at the same time. The gods, she says, have not built an no fault of their own.
easy world. Shen Te says that it is easy to become lost while
trying to help those who are lost themselves—and it is hard not
to become bad along the way, “since not to eat is to die.”

Shen Te marvels at the fact that “it was when [she] was unjust Shen Te has come to realize that just like Wong the water seller, who
that [she] ate good meat.” She asks why good deeds are profits off his neighbors’ suffering, she too found herself enjoying life
punished and laments having come to see her sense of empathy more as Shui Ta—a man who was capable of pushing aside his
as only a nuisance. She apologizes to the gods but insists that empathy and thinking only of himself and his own prosperity.
she did all she did in an attempt to help her neighbor, to keep
her lover, and to provide for her child. She was “too poor [and]
too small,” she says, for the gods’ wishes.

The first god begs Shen Te not to make herself miserable any Shen Te knows that she is not entirely good—she has done good
longer—they are all relieved just to have found her. Shen Te deeds in her life, to be sure, but she’s also done plenty of bad ones.
asks how the gods can be happy to see her when she is the bad Shen Te wants the gods’ help in making sense of her life, her choices,
man who committed many crimes against his neighbors, but and her future—but the gods would rather speak to Shen Te in easy
the gods point out that she is also the good woman who did platitudes than engage in the kind of moral reckoning she’s trying to
many good deeds. The first god insists that Shen Te is just do.
“confused” and then announces that the world should not be
changed. The stage lights turn pink. Music begins to play. The
gods ascend onto a cloud to return to heaven, and they ask
Shen Te not to let her courage fail her.

Shen Te calls out to the gods as they ascend, asking for The gods are perturbed by the realization that there is, perhaps, no
instructions as to what to do about the old couple who lost her way for a human being to be entirely good. Rather than deal with
shop, the water seller with the mangled hand, the barber to the complicated moral questions Shen Te is asking—or even advise
whom she is betrothed but does not love, the cruel man whom her as to how to alleviate some of the damage she’s done to her own
she does love, and the child she will soon bring into the world. circumstances, her sense of self, and her community—the gods
The gods simply urge Shen Te to “continue to be good.” She says decide to flee Earth and ignore the things they have learned about
she still needs her bad cousin, but the first god says that she humanity’s capacity for goodness.
should call on Shui Ta “once a month” at most. Shen Te begins
shrieking as she begs for the gods to stay. The gods sing the
“Valedictory Hymn,” a brief song in which they declare what
“rapture” it is to know a good thing—and then they flee. Shen Te
continues screaming as the gods float away.

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EPILOGUE
An epilogue—not attributed to any character in This short monologue (often delivered by the actor playing Wong or
particular—addresses the audience directly. The epilogue the actress playing Shen Te) places the burden of solving humanity’s
points out the futility and insufficiency of the play’s “nasty” problems on the audience. Brecht points out that if audiences have
ending. The players, too, feel “deflated” by the lack of come to find a solution to questions of identity, greed, wealth, and
resolution. The epilogue calls for the audience to decide what religion in a play, they are sorely out of luck. Healing society is up to
will change the world—whether new gods, atheism, humans living within that society—not gods, not actors, and not
materialism, or “moral rearmament” will do the tricks. It is up to fictional characters in a parable.
the audience, the epilogue declares, to write the happy ending
to the play—there must, Brecht himself declares, “be a way!”

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To cite any of the quotes from The Good Woman of Setzuan covered
HOW T
TO
O CITE in the Quotes section of this LitChart:
To cite this LitChart: MLA
MLA Brecht, Bertolt. The Good Woman of Setzuan. University of
Minnesota Press. 1999.
Tanner, Alexandra. "The Good Woman of Setzuan." LitCharts.
LitCharts LLC, 13 Mar 2020. Web. 21 Apr 2020. CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL
CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL Brecht, Bertolt. The Good Woman of Setzuan. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press. 1999.
Tanner, Alexandra. "The Good Woman of Setzuan." LitCharts LLC,
March 13, 2020. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-good-woman-of-setzuan.

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