SEO Title: Bertolt Brecht – Mother Courage and Her Children – Important MCQs (UGC NET / SET / PGTRB)
Labels: Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children, Epic Theatre, Verfremdungseffekt, Alienation Effect, Anti-war Play, Thirty Years’ War, Mother Courage, Anna Fierling, Kattrin, Eilif, Swiss Cheese, Chaplain, Cook, Songs in Drama, Marxism, Political Theatre, UGC NET English, SET English, PGTRB English, MCQ Quiz
Description: Practice 50 exam-oriented MCQs on Bertolt Brecht’s play Mother Courage and Her Children. Useful for UGC NET, SET, and PGTRB exams. Each question has a “Show Answer” button.
Bertolt Brecht – “Mother Courage and Her Children” – Exam Based MCQs
1. Mother Courage and Her Children is written by: (UGC NET)
A) Henrik Ibsen
B) Bertolt Brecht
C) Anton Chekhov
D) Arthur Miller
Ans: B) Bertolt Brecht
2. The play is set during the: (SET)
A) French Revolution
B) First World War
C) Second World War
D) Thirty Years’ War
Ans: D) Thirty Years’ War
3. Mother Courage’s real name is: (PGTRB)
A) Anna Fierling
B) Nora Helmer
C) Hedda Gabler
D) Blanche DuBois
Ans: A) Anna Fierling
4. Mother Courage survives mainly by: (UGC NET)
A) Farming land
B) Royal patronage
C) Trading goods from her wagon
D) Running a school
Ans: C) Trading goods from her wagon
5. Brecht is most associated with: (SET)
A) Theatre of the Absurd
B) Epic Theatre
C) Restoration Comedy
D) Symbolist Drama
Ans: B) Epic Theatre
6. The key technique of Brechtian theatre that prevents emotional immersion is: (UGC NET)
A) Catharsis
B) Naturalistic illusion
C) Soliloquy
D) Alienation effect (Verfremdungseffekt)
Ans: D) Alienation effect (Verfremdungseffekt)
7. Mother Courage has how many children? (PGTRB)
A) Three
B) One
C) Two
D) Four
Ans: A) Three
8. Which of the following is NOT one of her children? (SET)
A) Eilif
B) Swiss Cheese
C) Azdak
D) Kattrin
Ans: C) Azdak
9. “Swiss Cheese” is also known as: (UGC NET)
A) The Cook
B) The Paymaster (honest son who handles cashbox)
C) The Chaplain
D) The General
Ans: B) The Paymaster / cashbox handler
10. Kattrin is: (PGTRB)
A) A singer and actress
B) A soldier’s wife
C) A nun
D) Mute (cannot speak)
Ans: D) Mute
11. Eilif is initially praised for: (SET)
A) Bravery/violence in war (later seen as criminal in peace)
B) Refusing to fight
C) Becoming a priest
D) Protecting villages without weapons
Ans: A) Bravery/violence praised in war
12. The central theme of the play is: (UGC NET)
A) Romantic love triumphs
B) Divine justice
C) War as a business that destroys lives
D) Mythic heroism
Ans: C) War as a business that destroys lives
13. The wagon in the play symbolizes: (PGTRB)
A) Royal inheritance
B) Survival through trade, tied to war
C) Religious faith
D) Domestic comfort
Ans: B) Survival through trade tied to war
14. The play contains many songs mainly to: (SET)
A) Increase romance
B) Provide comic relief only
C) Make the story mysterious
D) Comment on action and create critical distance
Ans: D) Comment on action and create distance
15. “Epic theatre” aims to make the audience: (UGC NET)
A) Think critically and judge social issues
B) Forget reality and escape
C) Experience catharsis and weep
D) Believe the stage is real life
Ans: A) Think critically
16. The Chaplain in the play mainly represents: (PGTRB)
A) Pure heroism
B) Scientific rationalism
C) Adaptation/opportunism of religion in wartime
D) Romantic devotion
Ans: C) Religion’s adaptation/opportunism
17. The Cook offers Mother Courage: (SET)
A) A crown
B) A chance of a more stable life (inn/position), but with conditions
C) A ticket to America
D) A weapon to end the war
Ans: B) Chance of stability (with conditions)
18. Swiss Cheese is executed because: (UGC NET)
A) He deserts the army
B) He becomes a priest
C) He leads a rebellion
D) He hides the regiment’s cashbox and is caught
Ans: D) Hides cashbox and is caught
19. Mother Courage refuses to identify Swiss Cheese’s body because: (PGTRB)
A) She fears losing her goods/wagon and her own safety
B) She hates him
C) She does not recognize him
D) She is blind
Ans: A) Fear for her own survival and property
20. Kattrin’s most heroic act is: (SET)
A) Selling supplies to both sides
B) Becoming a general
C) Drumming a warning to save a town
D) Burning the wagon
Ans: C) Drumming a warning to save a town
21. Kattrin dies: (UGC NET)
A) Peacefully in bed
B) Shot after beating the drum to warn the town
C) In a shipwreck
D) By poison
Ans: B) Shot after warning the town
22. The play was written largely as a warning against: (PGTRB)
A) Renaissance humanism
B) Romantic poetry
C) Victorian morality
D) War profiteering and fascism/coming war
Ans: D) War profiteering and fascism
23. The play is an “anti-war” play because it shows: (SET)
A) War destroys ordinary people while benefiting profiteers
B) War always creates saints
C) War brings instant peace
D) War is a romantic adventure
Ans: A) War destroys ordinary people; benefits profiteers
24. “Verfremdungseffekt” literally relates to making the familiar: (UGC NET)
A) Sacred
B) Romantic
C) Strange/unfamiliar
D) Silent
Ans: C) Strange/unfamiliar
25. The play has how many scenes? (PGTRB)
A) 5
B) 12
C) 3
D) 24
Ans: B) 12
26. One Brechtian device often used to summarize upcoming action is: (SET)
A) Curtain falls suddenly
B) Magic realism
C) Ghost appearances
D) Scene titles/placards projecting information
Ans: D) Scene titles/placards
27. Brecht’s theatre is influenced by Marxist ideas because it focuses on: (UGC NET)
A) Social/economic forces shaping human actions
B) Destiny controlled by gods
C) Only personal romance
D) Mythic fate
Ans: A) Social/economic forces
28. Mother Courage is often criticized because she: (PGTRB)
A) Refuses to sell anything
B) Ends the war early
C) Tries to profit from war even as it destroys her children
D) Becomes a queen
Ans: C) Profits from war while losing children
29. The play’s ending shows Mother Courage: (SET)
A) Becoming rich and retiring
B) Pulling her wagon onward despite losses
C) Winning a war medal
D) Killing the General
Ans: B) Pulling her wagon onward
30. The play’s structure is best described as: (UGC NET)
A) A single continuous Aristotelian plot
B) A detective mystery
C) A fairy tale
D) Episodic, with separate but linked scenes
Ans: D) Episodic scenes
31. Brecht wanted the audience to respond with: (PGTRB)
A) Reasoned judgment rather than passive emotion
B) Only tears and catharsis
C) Belief in illusion
D) Total silence without thought
Ans: A) Reasoned judgment
32. The play was originally written in: (SET)
A) English
B) French
C) German
D) Russian
Ans: C) German
33. A major contrast in the play is between: (UGC NET)
A) City and sea
B) War’s profit and human cost
C) Myth and legend
D) Science and magic
Ans: B) War’s profit vs human cost
34. The Chaplain stays with Mother Courage mainly because: (PGTRB)
A) He is her brother
B) He is a king
C) He wants to become a soldier
D) He needs protection and adapts to circumstances
Ans: D) Needs protection and adapts
35. The character often seen as the moral center is: (SET)
A) Kattrin
B) The General
C) The Recruiter
D) The Armorer
Ans: A) Kattrin
36. Brecht opposed Aristotle’s dramatic theory mainly because it promotes: (UGC NET)
A) Critical debate
B) Historical thinking
C) Emotional identification and catharsis
D) Audience activism
Ans: C) Identification and catharsis
37. A typical Brechtian acting method is: (PGTRB)
A) “Method acting” total immersion
B) Demonstration/gestus (showing attitude socially)
C) Only mime
D) Naturalistic crying
Ans: B) Gestus/demonstration
38. “Gestus” refers to: (SET)
A) A magical spell
B) A love letter
C) A dance step only
D) A social gesture/attitude revealing class relations
Ans: D) Social gesture revealing relations
39. The “Song of the Great Capitulation” illustrates: (UGC NET)
A) How people compromise and submit to survive
B) Pure romantic love
C) Mythic fate
D) Religious conversion
Ans: A) Compromise and submission
40. The play is also known as: (PGTRB)
A) A Restoration comedy
B) A pastoral drama
C) An epic anti-war drama
D) A romantic tragedy
Ans: C) Epic anti-war drama
41. The play’s message suggests that war: (SET)
A) Ends all suffering quickly
B) Continues because people find ways to profit from it
C) Is always heroic and glorious
D) Has no relation to economics
Ans: B) Continues because people profit from it
42. Brecht’s theatre often uses visible stagecraft (lights, signs) to: (UGC NET)
A) Hide production
B) Increase illusion
C) Create magical realism
D) Remind audience it is theatre and provoke thinking
Ans: D) Remind it is theatre and provoke thinking
43. Mother Courage’s tragic flaw is best seen as: (PGTRB)
A) Greed / inability to detach from war-profit logic
B) Too much heroism
C) Royal ambition
D) Supernatural curse
Ans: A) Greed / attachment to war-profit
44. The play was written in 1939, largely in response to: (SET)
A) The Renaissance
B) The Industrial Revolution
C) The rise of fascism and threat of World War II
D) The Victorian Age
Ans: C) Rise of fascism / threat of WWII
45. Brecht’s plays aim for “learning” and are sometimes called: (UGC NET)
A) Closet dramas
B) Lehrstücke (learning plays)
C) Masques
D) Morality plays
Ans: B) Lehrstücke
46. The title “Mother Courage” is ironic because: (PGTRB)
A) She never appears in the play
B) She is actually a queen
C) She ends the war
D) Her courage is mixed with self-interest and survival instincts
Ans: D) Courage mixed with self-interest
47. Kattrin’s muteness can symbolize: (SET)
A) Voiceless suffering of innocents in war
B) Royal superiority
C) Magical power
D) Comic foolishness
Ans: A) Voiceless suffering of innocents
48. The play ultimately suggests Mother Courage learns: (UGC NET)
A) Everything and changes completely
B) To become a queen
C) Very little; she repeats the cycle and continues with war
D) To end war permanently
Ans: C) Very little; repeats the cycle
49. The play’s episodic scenes cover roughly: (PGTRB)
A) One hour
B) One month
C) One week
D) About 12 years
Ans: D) About 12 years
50. In Brecht’s theatre, the audience should be: (SET)
A) Hypnotized and passive
B) Active, questioning, and socially aware
C) Completely silent and believing
D) Only entertained by spectacle
Ans: B) Active, questioning, socially aware
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