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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