Role of Gods in The Good Woman of Setzuan

Q. Comment on the role of Gods in The Good Woman of Setzuan.
Ans: - The gods in Brecht’s play are found to be no better than the people on the earth. They
are not happy with the progress of their tour in search for a good person on the earth.
Though they rarely come across people with good intentions and a lot of high principles,
they do not lead to a good person. When they find people who are acceptably good, they
are not found to be leading a decent life. They have to spend their nights hopelessly in
worse conditions sleeping in cattle sheds or on haystacks. However, they console Wang
saying that the sufferings of Shen Teh will make her absolutely good and she will find her
feet soon.
When Wang requests them to intervene and save Shen Teh who has to give up her marriage
because she has to obey the commandments of the gods, the gods plead their inability to
intervene in her affairs. They even point of the adverse effect of their interference in their
human affairs by pointing to the black eye that one has developed and the loss of hat of
another and the limping leg another caught in the fox trap. Wang begs them to reduce the
burden of percepts that one has to carry as per their commandments by describing to them
the horrible dream that he had about Shen Teh. But here again, the gods plead their
helplessness.
It is very significant for understanding the central idea of the play that in unjust and
aggressive societies good can only survive by means of evil. It highlights the difficulties of
the good people to remain good against the schemes of the wicked and the unsympathetic
rich. Even people who want obey the commandments of gods cannot do so because of their
Herculean fights against hunger. The good always have to look for the gods to come up their
help in their uneven fight against hunger, evil men and unequal distribution of wealth but
the pity is that the gods themselves are powerless and they remain mute spectators
watching the good waging a loosing battle against the wicked. If the gods are very serious
about the good on the earth to triumph over the evil, they must come down and launch a
mighty battle against the wicked and distributed wealth equally to all so that the hunger
and thirst wiped out. This will make all people of the earth move with one another as
friends and lead a happy life. It is the apathy of the gods that makes the good defenceless
and unable to remain good for a longer period. If goodness is not allowed to sustain in spite
of its weakness, evil will have uncontrolled sway over the earth and make it a hell.
When they learn about the disappearance of Shen Teh from Wang, the gods themselves
become disillusioned. The third god becomes self-conscious and feels that their
commandments proving to be fetal to people who try to be good. All the moral principles
they have formed for the well being of the people will have to be cancelled. People have to
undergo hell to save their mere lives. Good principles are leading them to the edge of a
dangerous mountain and good deeds are dragging them to their ruin.
Two of the gods are given to arguments and counter arguments whether the world they
have created is bad or the men who inhabit them or bad. But then the other one reminds
them of their dignity and asks them not to give in for despair. Shen Teh the good woman
whom they have chosen has only disappeared. They have only to find her.
Though they are gods, they are not aware of what happened to Wang’s hand. When they
come to know that it is broken, they do not try to restore his hand at least as a token of
gratitude for what he has done to them. In the court though they sit as judges, they do not
offer any verdict. They do not either punish wickedness or reward virtue. They do not offer
permanent solution to the problems raised by Shen Teh. They try to leave the earth hastily
by pronouncing her to be the one good woman of Szechwan. They say that their mission to
choose at least one good person on the earth is over and the world – however muddled it is
– shall remain as such.

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