THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a tale of two parables drawn from both the Chinese folklore and the Bible. In the parables, Bertolt cleverly espouses new wisdom alluding to the political concept of communism.
Written in form of a play, the Caucasian Chalk Circle cleverly surrounds the biblical Solomonic wisdom and the ancient Chinese lore in an attempt to introduce the concept of communism. In the play, Bertolt alludes to the Bible wisdom in which two mother's fight over the ownership of a child. The women had given birth to children at the same time. However, at night, one of the woman inadvertently killed her own child. Realising that her child had died. She replaced it with the one alive, oblivious of the mother. When the real mother woke, she identified the dead child as not her own and the two started a confrontation. Their fight attracted the attention of the neighbors who take the case to King Solomon. Finding it hard to determine who the real mother of the child is, Solomon commanded one of his soldiers to take the child who was alive and cut it into a half.
The false mother supported the idea but the real mother protested and conceded saying she would rather let the baby be given to the false claimant than see it dead. Upon which Solomon decided the case and gave the real mother the child.
On the other hand, the Chinese Lore surrounds the story of inheritance. In the play, a rich childless tax collector marries a poor child turned prostitute as a second wife. The young wife, Haitang get the tax collector a son Shoulong. Meanwhile, the first wife kills the husband and claims the child to be hers. Having the upper hand, the first wife Ah Siu, accuses Haitang of adultery. Haitang is bitten until she confesses but before she is hanged, she is rescued by King Bao Zhang.
Using the same Solomonic wisdom, Bao Zhang requested that the child should be put in the Circle drawn on the ground and the real mother should be the one to pull him out of the circle. Driven by the desire to possess the vast estates of her late husband, Ah siu violently jerks the child from the circle while Haitang refuses to even hold the child claiming that she had not the guts to tear him apart. With such love at hand, the King gave the child to the real mother.
Using this two tales, Bertolt decides to confuse the audience by introducing new wisdom. First of all, he wants us to question whether both Solomon and Bao Zhang were right when they gave the children to the mothers they concluded were real by creating the character of Grusha to have the same compassion as the real mother.
In so doing he postulates the hypothesis that mothers can be compassionate even without the existence of the blood bond. Natella Lawyers argue that the strongest bond is that of blood but what if the mother does not show that bond in her action.
The woman in the Solomonic ruling, Ah Siu, and Natella Abashwili presents characters whose desire for power and money overrun simple human qualities. At least in the case of the first two women, the children were not really theirs. With Natella, her greed supersedes reason for she is ready to tear her child apart for the sake of her late husband's estate.
Using this Allegory, Bertolt questions the wisdom behind capitalism and labels it as vile as a mother who is ready to tear her child apart just to get the vast wealth and control the world the way her late husband did. The concept of capitalism is indeed despicable like Natella in countries like Kenya where the imperial capitalists are ready to sell fake goods including drugs and basic foods just to be counted among the rich. The simple question is, What if their children and mothers become the unfortunate consumers of this toxic products?
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a tale of two parables drawn from both the Chinese folklore and the Bible. In the parables, Bertolt cleverly espouses new wisdom alluding to the political concept of communism.
Written in form of a play, the Caucasian Chalk Circle cleverly surrounds the biblical Solomonic wisdom and the ancient Chinese lore in an attempt to introduce the concept of communism. In the play, Bertolt alludes to the Bible wisdom in which two mother's fight over the ownership of a child. The women had given birth to children at the same time. However, at night, one of the woman inadvertently killed her own child. Realising that her child had died. She replaced it with the one alive, oblivious of the mother. When the real mother woke, she identified the dead child as not her own and the two started a confrontation. Their fight attracted the attention of the neighbors who take the case to King Solomon. Finding it hard to determine who the real mother of the child is, Solomon commanded one of his soldiers to take the child who was alive and cut it into a half.
The false mother supported the idea but the real mother protested and conceded saying she would rather let the baby be given to the false claimant than see it dead. Upon which Solomon decided the case and gave the real mother the child.
On the other hand, the Chinese Lore surrounds the story of inheritance. In the play, a rich childless tax collector marries a poor child turned prostitute as a second wife. The young wife, Haitang get the tax collector a son Shoulong. Meanwhile, the first wife kills the husband and claims the child to be hers. Having the upper hand, the first wife Ah Siu, accuses Haitang of adultery. Haitang is bitten until she confesses but before she is hanged, she is rescued by King Bao Zhang.
Using the same Solomonic wisdom, Bao Zhang requested that the child should be put in the Circle drawn on the ground and the real mother should be the one to pull him out of the circle. Driven by the desire to possess the vast estates of her late husband, Ah siu violently jerks the child from the circle while Haitang refuses to even hold the child claiming that she had not the guts to tear him apart. With such love at hand, the King gave the child to the real mother.
Using this two tales, Bertolt decides to confuse the audience by introducing new wisdom. First of all, he wants us to question whether both Solomon and Bao Zhang were right when they gave the children to the mothers they concluded were real by creating the character of Grusha to have the same compassion as the real mother.
In so doing he postulates the hypothesis that mothers can be compassionate even without the existence of the blood bond. Natella Lawyers argue that the strongest bond is that of blood but what if the mother does not show that bond in her action.
The woman in the Solomonic ruling, Ah Siu, and Natella Abashwili presents characters whose desire for power and money overrun simple human qualities. At least in the case of the first two women, the children were not really theirs. With Natella, her greed supersedes reason for she is ready to tear her child apart for the sake of her late husband's estate.
Using this Allegory, Bertolt questions the wisdom behind capitalism and labels it as vile as a mother who is ready to tear her child apart just to get the vast wealth and control the world the way her late husband did. The concept of capitalism is indeed despicable like Natella in countries like Kenya where the imperial capitalists are ready to sell fake goods including drugs and basic foods just to be counted among the rich. The simple question is, What if their children and mothers become the unfortunate consumers of this toxic products?
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