Shen Teh Harlot

1190 Words5 Pages
On a tiring and cynical journey deep into the half-westernized city of Setzuan to discover goodness and goodwill amongst its citizens, the three gods are overjoyed when they find that there is one warmhearted human being left, by the name of Shen Teh. Shen Teh, a former prostitute whose ambiance teems over with “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22), was the only altruistic person in the city who still believed in the age-old adage, which is as follows: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Philippians 2:3,4). In spite…show more content…
But this does not normally lead to a change in her status, or a change in attitudes toward harlots. The determining negative image of the harlot is not fundamentally challenged by the counterimage, but maintained. For the harlot is never allowed to become a good wife, but only a good harlot, a righteous outcast, a noble-hearted courtesan, the exception that proves the rule—just as Robin Hood does not define the type of the bandit, but only the antitype (Bach…show more content…
Brecht’s aim was to propose this problem here “between the conception of goodness imposed by the gods and the economic requisites of the world” (Puchner 684). More profoundly, how through her goodness and courage the gods was able to free her from the scarce economic society she had previously slaved in, just as “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not” (Hebrews

    More about Shen Teh Harlot

      Open Document