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HOW THE BIBLE PLAYS OUT IN THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE

The Bible guides Bertolt Brecht in writing a spellbinding play which brings out new wisdom while declaring emphatically that the old can easily blend with the new. 

 Bertolt Brecht cleverly weaves a web around biblical stories and Christian tradition to espouse new wisdom in the play, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. 

Bertolt Brecht cleverly weaves a web around biblical stories and Christian tradition to espouse new wisdom in the play, The Caucasian Chalk Circle.  Born of a Protestant mother- who encouraged him to read- and a Catholic father, Bertolt was at home with the Bible and the traditions of the Catholic Church which he dispensed so freely and provocatively in the play.
The play seems to represent the Bible in a very obvious way that the parallels between it and the Bible disappear into something so new and obvious at the same time. On the Easter Sunday, when the governor is about to enjoy his lovely dinner, together with his friends- the architects and discuss matters of expansion of the palace, he is killed. The perpetrator of the act turns out to be the Governors brother, the Fat Prince Kazbeki.
When compared to the traditions of Christianity, Easter Sunday represents the day when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, in The Caucasian, it turns out to be a day of insurrection. The Governor is murdered in cold blood. The similarity in this is lost because the governor was corrupt rich and Jesus was simple and holy. However, the glaring picture is they both were leaders whose fate was determined by those loyal to them. Although Jesus knew one of his disciples will betray him, the governor never knew that the Ironshirts had turned against him. Also, Kazbeki being the governor’s brother brings to mind the story of Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis.
The story of Michael revolves around the childhood of Jesus. Firstly, Michael was a child from a royal family. Secondly, when he is left behind, the maiden who picks him is of pure heart and deeds. Though a virgin, Grusha is taken to be the mother of the child by her brother Lavrent. Lavrent secretly organizes for a marriage between Grusha and a dying man- a certain Jussup.
Jussup and Joseph of the Bible become the unfortunate husbands to marry a woman who is already with a child especially when we learn that Jussup was faking illness to escape conscription. What makes Grusha different from Mary is the fact that her labors with the child were purely physical outside the body (in the Journey to the Northern Mountains), while Mary’s labors were from within her body. Grusha also deviates from marrying her intended to marrying Jussup. It is obvious in Brecht's dramaturgy that makes it less of a biblical illusion.
Before we forget, when the governor is taunted by the Ironshirts, his last walk to his death is reminiscent of that of Jesus. The singer proclaims that, at this point of his helplessness, the governor did not need architects, but a carpenter. The carpenter could be a play on words by Brecht. One it could mean one who would make a coffin for the governor or two, one who could clean the governor's sins before he was killed and could only be Jesus the son of a carpenter.
Furthermore, in the story of Azdak, several biblical similarities pop up. The first is in the way Azdak passed judgment. To begin with, Azdak disregarded the statute book. When Jesus began his ministry, the Jews were horrified by his message which went against the tradition. On several occasions, the Teachers of Law disagreed with Jesus’ teachings on Mosaic Law among other teachings they followed. Thinking that Azdak would go with the dictates of the law as was the norm, the mighty of Grusinia would receive a rude shock in the way Azdak dispensed justice. In all his cases, Azdak always ruled in favour of the oppressed becoming popular with the hoi polloi of Grusinia and hated by the bourgeoisie who controlled everything. Azdak’s reign as a judge would become ached in the peasants of Grusinia as the golden period of justice.
In the case of who was the real mother of the child, Azdak applied the Solomonic wisdom which finally handed the child over to the wrong mother. This culminated Azdak’s reign of power over the mighty and the powerful and reinstated Grusinia to the norm.
Not only did Brecht playfully allude to the Bible as in the above examples, but he also deviated to the seven sacraments of the Catholic as we have discussed before in our theme of religion.
However, this should not be construed as an indicator of Brecht as a religious person. If he was, then it is not brought out in the use of the Bible and Catholic traditions. The main lesson here is, the application of morality in our daily life which most often deviates from the norm.

Throughout the play, Brecht deviates from creating emotional ties that the audience can cling to encouraging introspection and choice for humanity. He believed in creating a theatre performance that was real and that spoke to the masses as well as entertaining. The allusion from bible teaches was as a symbol of how we should live our life to effect change and not a mirror of what the society was at the time or is. To quote Bertolt Brecht himself “Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” 

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