The Caucasian Chalk Circle

“Because you can’t like it. Because it’s not what it was in the old days. And why isn’t it? Because our goats don’t like the new grass as they used to like the old. Cheese is not cheese because grass is not grass, that’s it.”

In the first scene, the Old Man is a character who reveals what life was like before the Nazis, and the amount of care he and his people used to put into the land before it was taken from them. While some characters think that the cheese from the goats is good enough, the Old Man remembers a time when it was better. The land isn’t being cared for the way it used to, which means that everything in that ecosystem is off.

“It’s true that we have to consider a piece of land as a tool with which one produces something useful. But it’s also true that we must recognize the love for a particular piece of land.”

This quote foreshadows the difference between how the Governor’s Wife and Grusha view Michael. For the Governor’s Wife, Michael may be her flesh and blood but he is, ultimately, the heir that will maintain her lavish lifestyle. Grusha, meanwhile, loves Michael because she has raised him from infancy. The land, likewise, will either go to the people who want it based on their historical ties to it alone, or people who love it because they want the land itself to flourish.

“What do you think of this, Arsen? Georgi has finally decided to start building the new wing on the east side. All these miserable slum houses are to be torn down to make room for a garden.”

The wealthy’s disdain for those living in poverty is established from the beginning, especially in the play within the play. The blatant ignorance with which the Governor’s Wife speaks about the housing demonstrates early on her lack of empathy, and her selfish nature.

“Well, well, well! I always say: one pain in my liver and the doctor gets fifty strokes on the soles of his feet. And that’s only because we live in such a decadent age. In the old days it would have been: Off with his head!”

Statements like this provide readers with a greater understanding of the given circumstances of the play. The people in this village are living under a dictatorial rule, from which only the wealthier subjects benefit. While Brecht frequently reminds the audience that this is in fact, a play, it’s easy to draw similarities between this system and Fascist system in Germany that his plays were intended to combat.

“Walk, Your Highness, walk even now with head up.

From your Palace the eyes of many foes follow you!

You no longer need an architect, a carpenter will do.

You will not move into a new palace, but into a little hole in the ground.

Just look about you once more, you blind man!”

The death of the Governor and the overthrowing of his power is the inciting incident of the play within a play. While there is a good deal of humor in the play, this portion builds up to the Governor’s head being brought in on a lance and shifts the story to a slightly darker tone.

“That green one! And of course that one with the fur trimming. Where are the doctors? I’m getting this terrible migraine again.”

The motif of the migraine appears throughout the play when the wealthier characters are out of touch with the realities of their circumstances and are instead blinded by their own desires or prejudices. In this case, the Governor’s Wife ignores the chaos all around her, the death of her husband, and the danger she and Michael are in because she is too busy focusing on her clothing.

“Nina takes it to heart more than the mistress. People like that get others even to do their weeping for them!”

The wealthy citizens in The Caucasian Chalk Circle are portrayed as lacking any sort of human empathy. This is yet another way for Brecht to emphasize the difference between how the Governor’s Wife would have been as a mother to Michael, versus how Grusha will be as his mother.

“Michael, Michael, I certainly took on a nice burden with you!”

Raising Michael is no easy task, and Grusha soon learns that she will have to make sacrifices in order to keep the baby healthy and safe. Even though the child is not hers biologically, she has an instinct to protect him even at the expense of her own wellbeing or wants, highlighting The Bond of Mothers and Their Children.

“There aren’t any beds. Here are some sacks and blankets. You’ll have to arrange them yourselves. Be glad you’re not being put in a hole in the earth. Like lots of others.”

While the ladies on the road are concerned with maintaining their lavish lifestyle, the Innkeeper is quick to give them a healthy dose of perspective. Their worries about not staying in a fine inn is a meagre complaint compared to the harsh realities of war for so many others.

“Believe me, nothing’s harder than aping a lazy useless person. Once they suspect you can wipe your own arse, or that your hands have ever touched a broom, the game’s up.”

Grusha is able to disguise herself as a wealthier lady, but only for a while. As soon as she demonstrates any sort of housekeeping skill, she is outed and the other ladies are repulsed by her. The lines between different classes are harshly drawn, and the characters are not quick to cross them.

“I’d have shown you your first rabbit and- how not to wet yourself, but I must turn back, because my sweetheart the soldier should soon return, and suppose he didn’t find me?”

Part of what makes Grusha’s love for Michael so strong is the fact that she consistently and constantly chooses to love and care for him. She has moments of doubts and moments where she thinks it best to leave him, but ultimately she chooses to keep him each time. This is a true mother’s love: choosing daily to care for your child, even when it’s exhausting, painful, or costs you something you want (for Grusha, the love of her soldier, Simon).

“The helpless girl/ Became the mother of the helpless child.”

Grusha and Michael’s lives are congruent in a way, even though they are originally from different backgrounds. Both are in an impossible situation: For Grusha, she is helpless to abstain from raising Michael, her conscience won’t allow it. For Michael, the abandoned child’s fate lies in Grusha’s hands. If she doesn’t choose to love and raise him, he will die.

“You don’t need a man in bed, but a man on paper.”

Grusha finds herself in deeper trouble when she finally makes it across the bridge and to the home of her brother and sister-in-law. Her reputation is on the line as villagers start to question where Grusha got the child, especially because she insists that Michael is hers. This prompts one of the next major plot points of the play—the marriage of Grusha to a man she thinks is dying.

“Oh, my children, how varied is the fate of man! The one dies to get a roof over his head, and the other marries so that flesh may be turned to dust, from which it was made.”

The monk illuminates the irony of the marriage between Grusha and Yussup. What is meant to be a union of love is for these two merely a business transaction. Grusha does not wish to marry, but as an unwed mother to Michael, she is forced to anyway. The monk is aware of this but does not condemn them, a signal that the audience should not condemn them either. This speaks to the theme of Moral and Ethical Choices in Times of Crisis.

“‘Can’t the peasant do that himself?’ Get the brush! To hell with you! Are you the wife or are you a stranger?”

Again, Brecht employs irony in this quote from Yussup. When Grusha’s dying husband ends up living, she is forced to remain with him. He demands intimacy from her (both in servitude, such as bathing him, and sexually) because they are husband and wife in name. In this quote, the irony is that although they are married, they are still strangers.

“When do women change their names, Simon? Let me explain it to you: Nothing stands between us. Everything between us has remained as it was. You’ve got to believe that.”

Simon is devastated when he returns to find Grusha has married someone else. Although she can’t say too much, Grusha tries to communicate to Simon that her love for him has not wavered. The marriage is not one of love, but of convenience and need to protect Michael, and herself, as they try to make a life for themselves.

“The real mother demanded the child back. The foster mother faced her trial.”

This quote appears during the climax of the play. At last, the two mothers must prove who is worthy of keeping Michael. This is the moment that parallels the framing device: a village that only means to benefit from the land, versus a village that loves and cares for the land without needing to profit from it.

“Finish your cheese, but eat it like a poor man, or else they’ll still catch you. Do I even have to tell you how a poor man behaves?”

Azdak says this to The Fugitive after hiding him from Shauva, the policeman. What Azdak doesn’t realize at this time is that the reason The Fugitive doesn’t know how a poor man behaves is because he is actually the Grand Duke and is not accustomed to wanting for anything.

“I have helped the Grand Duke, the Grand Thief, the Grand Murderer, to escape! In the name of Justice, I demand to be judged severely in a public trial!”

Once Azdak realizes that The Fugitive he helped was indeed the Grand Duke, he is mortified. He is quick to turn himself in rather than leave his judgement to the people, who have already started to execute the mighty few in power. This introduces the theme Azdak embodies throughout the play, Justice and How It’s Administered.

“Forty years ago. Everyone hanged. Viziers, tax-collectors. My grandfather, a remarkable man, saw it all. For three whole days. Everywhere.”

This is Azdak’s response to an Ironshirt asking what happened in Persia that made him so afraid of helping the Grand Duke. The mutiny that is happening in the play has happened before and will continue to happen as long as the current systems stay in place.

“‘Why did all this happen?’ Must there be a special reason? […] War! Too long a war! And no justice!”

The execution of the Judge, the Governor, and the other people of power is a direct consequence of war without justice. Directly after this quote, Azdak sings a song his grandfather taught him about these topics. The segue into a song is an example of Brecht again reminding the audience that this is a performance, while challenging them to really listen to the words that are being said and/or sung.

“High Court of Justice! Of all bonds the bonds of blood are the strongest. Mother and child-is there a more intimate relationship?”

At first, it appears that the ruling over who will be allowed to raise Michael will be in the Governor’s Wife’s favor. Her lawyers try to make the case based on blood alone, even though the bond she shares with Michael doesn’t go beyond that. The lawyer is correct in that the mother-child relationship is an intimate one, but the label of mother is not exclusive to biological mothers, as Grusha proves during the test of the chalk circle.

“But you’ve let yourself become their servant. So that their houses are not taken away, because they’ve stolen them. Since when do houses belong to bed-bugs?”

Grusha is unafraid to stand up for herself in court and paints a clear picture for how she views the wealthy. She and the other people who are poorer than the Governor’s Wife are the ones who actually work to keep their village, and their homes, going. The wealthy are nothing more than a pest; instead of contributing, they exploit the poorer classes.