Disguised Identity as Dialectic of Pleasure, Defence, and
Surrender in The Good Person of Szechwan
Subrata Biswas,
Assistant Professor,
Department of English,
City College,
Kolkata, West Bengal, India,
&
Hasifa Khatun,
Student,
Department of English,
City College,
Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Abstract: This paper examines the Shen Teh/Shui Ta
duality in Bertolt Brecht’s The Good
Person of Szechwan as a dialectical performance of pleasure, defence,
and surrender within a patriarchal-capitalist social order. While existing
Marxist, gender-oriented, psychological, and theatrical studies have
established the economic and psychological necessity of Shen Teh’s
transformation, this study focuses on the gendered nature of the authority that
the masculine persona makes possible. Drawing on R. W. Connell’s concept of
hegemonic masculinity and selected Lacanian concepts of symbolic authority and
lack, and placing these within Brecht’s critique of socioeconomic relations,
the paper reads Shui Ta not merely as a disguise but as a socially intelligible
performance of masculine power. It argues that the adoption of Shui Ta
functions initially as a defensive strategy through which Shen Teh protects
herself from economic exploitation and acquires authority unavailable to her as
a woman. At the same time, the masculine persona generates a form of pleasure
and psychological agency associated with the possession and exercise of
authority. This empowerment, however, entails a paradox: Shen Teh can resist
patriarchal subordination only by assuming the masculine position through which
patriarchal authority is conventionally legitimised. The paper particularly
examines her relationship with Yang Sun, arguing that Shui Ta enables her to
reverse their earlier power relation and place Sun in a subordinate position
without requiring him to acknowledge submission to a woman. The study
consequently conceptualises disguised identity as a dialectical mechanism in
which pleasure and agency coexist with ideological surrender: Shui Ta provides
a means of resisting patriarchal-capitalist exploitation while simultaneously
reproducing its gendered structures of authority. Brecht’s dramatic
construction of the dual identity thus exposes the difficulty of sustaining
ethical goodness when social and economic powers remain organised through
masculine dominance.
Keywords: Disguised Identity, patriarchy,
defence, surrender, authority, pleasure.
Published
in 1943, The Good Person of Szechwan represents
one of Bertolt Brecht’s most incisive explorations of the contradictions
embedded in capitalist morality. Situated within the framework of epic theatre,
the play dismantles the illusion of coherent subjectivity and instead
foregrounds the socio-economic forces that produce identity. Shen Teh, a
prostitute who is rewarded by the gods for her goodness, finds herself unable
to survive within the exploitative conditions of her environment. Her
transformation into Shui Ta— an invented male cousin—enables her to navigate
the economic sphere with authority and control.
Brecht’s dramaturgy resists psychological realism and
instead stages identity as contingent, performative, and structurally
determined. The Shen Teh/Shui Ta duality is not a mere theatrical device but a
dialectical construct that exposes the incompatibility between ethical idealism
and material reality. Within this framework, disguise becomes a site where
competing forces—morality and survival, femininity and masculinity, resistance
and complicity—intersect.
Critical scholarship on Bertolt Brecht’s The Good
Person of Szechwan has approached the Shen Teh/Shui Ta duality from
predominantly Marxist, gender-theoretical, psychological, and theatrical
perspectives. Although these approaches differ in their theoretical premises,
they converge on the recognition that Shen Teh’s transformation cannot be
understood merely as a theatrical disguise. Rather, the emergence of Shui Ta is
closely connected with the economic, social, psychological, and gendered
conditions within which Shen Teh attempts to survive. The existing scholarship,
however, leaves room for a more sustained examination of how masculine identity
itself becomes a condition of exercising authority within the
patriarchal-capitalist world of the play.
From a Marxist perspective, Priyanka Arora interprets the
Shen Teh/Shui Ta transformation through the concept of commodity fetishism. Her
reading suggests that identity becomes an exchangeable and functional construct
under conditions of material necessity. Shui Ta consequently embodies the
rationality of economic survival, replacing the ethical and compassionate
impulses associated with Shen Teh. Arora’s approach is significant because it
establishes that Shen Teh’s transformation is not merely psychological but is
produced by material conditions. The distinction between Shen Teh and Shui Ta
therefore reflects the contradiction between humanitarian morality and the
economic logic of a society governed by material interests. Such a reading provides
an important foundation for understanding why Shen Teh is compelled to adopt an
identity capable of functioning within the economic structure of the play.
Other Marxist readings similarly foreground the
relationship between economic exploitation and the destruction of humanitarian
values. Sneha Banerjee examines capitalism in The Good Woman of Setzuan,
while Muhammad Minhas and his co-authors analyse capitalism and alienation in
the play alongside Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. These studies
reinforce the understanding that Brecht presents a social order in which
individual ethical values encounter the coercive demands of economic survival.
Siegfried Mews and Herbert Knust’s collection Essays on Brecht: Theater and
Politics, together with John Fuegi’s discussion of “The Alienated Woman,”
further situates the play within Brecht’s broader engagement with social
structures, alienation, and political theatre. Such scholarship is particularly
relevant to the present study because Shen Teh’s gendered vulnerability cannot
be separated from the economic relations that structure her choices.
A second strand of scholarship examines the Shen Teh/Shui
Ta relationship through gender and identity. Holly Berkowitz, in her discussion
of meta-theatre and identity construction in M. Butterfly and The
Good Person of Szechwan, draws attention to the constructed character of
identity and the theatrical mechanisms through which gendered identities are
produced and presented. Her approach is important for understanding Shui Ta not
as an entirely autonomous male identity but as a role that Shen Teh performs
under particular social circumstances. The theatricality of the transformation
consequently raises questions about the stability of gender categories and the
relationship between performance and social recognition.
Saadetbilge Coşkun’s gender-oriented reading similarly
draws attention to the relationship between gender and socioeconomic mobility.
Shen Teh’s adoption of Shui Ta enables her to enter a sphere of authority and
economic control that remains comparatively inaccessible to her as Shen Teh.
The significance of this transformation lies in the fact that her increased
agency is achieved through the assumption of masculinity. Thus, the apparent
empowerment of Shen Teh simultaneously exposes the gendered restrictions of the
social order: authority is available to her, but it becomes socially effective
only when articulated through a masculine persona.
The gendered dimension of authority is particularly
important when considered alongside the concept of hegemonic masculinity. The
existing readings indicate that Shui Ta acquires authority through
characteristics culturally associated with masculinity, including decisiveness,
rationality, discipline, economic control, and coercive power. Such
characteristics are not necessarily presented as biologically masculine;
rather, their social effectiveness depends upon a cultural system that
associates authority with masculine behaviour. This provides an important point
of departure for examining Shui Ta through the theoretical framework of gender
performativity and hegemonic masculinity. The transformation consequently
raises a larger question: if Shen Teh can perform the behaviours associated
with masculine authority, what does this reveal about the supposedly natural
relationship between masculinity and power?
A third approach to the transformation is offered by
psychological and psychoanalytic criticism. Atiqa Parveen and Subrata Biswas
interpret the Shen Teh/Shui Ta anamorphosis through Jungian and Lacanian
perspectives, arguing that the masculine persona represents a psychological
necessity for Shen Teh. Their reading foregrounds the internal dimension of the
transformation and considers Shui Ta as an integral component of Shen Teh’s
psychic existence. The psychological approach is valuable because it prevents
the dual identity from being reduced exclusively to an economic strategy. At
the same time, an exclusively psychological interpretation may risk shifting
attention away from the social structures that make the masculine persona
necessary in the first place. The present study therefore treats the
psychological dimension as complementary to, rather than sufficient for, an
analysis of gendered authority.
The scholarship on Brecht’s theatrical techniques also
contributes to an understanding of the Shen Teh/Shui Ta duality. Palit’s study
of kinesics and Brecht’s representation of dystopian society demonstrates the
importance of theatrical gesture and bodily expression in the construction of
meaning in The Good Person of Szechwan. This dimension is significant
for the present study because Shui Ta’s authority is not produced solely
through the declaration that Shen Teh has a male cousin. It is produced through
the performance of a socially recognisable masculine identity. The theatrical
body therefore becomes an important site at which gender, authority, and
economic power intersect.
Taken together, these studies establish several important
dimensions of the Shen Teh/Shui Ta transformation. Marxist criticism
demonstrates the pressure exerted by material and economic conditions;
gender-oriented criticism reveals the instability and constructedness of gender
identity; psychological criticism illuminates the internal necessity of the
transformation; and Brechtian approaches demonstrate the significance of
theatrical performance and social contradiction. Nevertheless, these approaches
leave a specific intersection insufficiently explored: the relationship between the performance of masculinity and the exercise
of authority over other characters, particularly male characters such as Yang
Sun.
Existing scholarship has convincingly demonstrated the
economic and psychological necessity of Shen Teh’s disguise, yet it has largely
overlooked how the adoption of masculine authority functions as a relational
mechanism of control. Specifically, previous analyses do not sufficiently
address why a male persona is required not only to navigate the public economic
sphere, but also to exercise dominance over figures like Yang Sun without
violating the patriarchal expectation that a woman submit to a man. The
transformation into Shui Ta thus signifies more than a mere shift into
capitalist subjectivity; it highlights an alignment with patriarchal power structures
where authority is inherently gendered. Consequently, this study suggests that
Shen Teh’s predicament is systemic, rooted in a socio-economic framework that
privileges masculine traits such as rationality, coercion, and dominance, while
enabling Shen Teh to exert psychological and economic leverage over Yang Sun by
shielding him from the indignity of submitting directly to a woman.
While scholarship on The
Good Person of Szechwan has thoroughly established the Shen Teh/Shui Ta
duality as a response to material, economic, and psychological compulsions, it
remainstheoreticallylimitedinaccountingforthegenderednuancesofinterpersonaldominance
within the text. Current Marxist and psychological interpretations tend to
treat the mechanics of the disguise as a functional given, without critically
interrogating how Shen Teh derives satisfaction and practical leverage from
exercising masculine authority over others. The disguised identity of Shui Ta
is simultaneously a defensive performance against patriarchal-capitalist
exploitation and a form of ideological surrender to the same system, because
Shen Teh can exercise economic and interpersonal authority only by assuming the
masculine identity that the social order recognises as legitimate. This study
addresses this oversight by examining how only the performance of patriarchal
masculinity allows to subvert conventional power dynamics, particularly in her
interactions with Yang Sun, without
overtly challenging the patriarchal order. This study poses the questions of how Shen Teh's performance of Shui Ta
enables her to acquire masculine authority over Yang Sun and other male
figures, and how this performance simultaneously resists and reproduces the
patriarchal structures governing that authority. This study further poses the
question of how the transformation from Shen Teh to Shui Ta exposes the
relationship between gender performance, economic power, and patriarchal
authority in Brecht's play.
This study employs an interdisciplinary textual
methodology combining R. W. Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity and
selected Lacanian concepts of symbolic authority and lack. These frameworks are
brought into dialogue with Brecht's Marxist critique of socioeconomic
relations. Rather than treating Shui Ta as either an authentic masculine
identity or merely a disguise, the study reads the persona as a performative
and socially intelligible form of authority. Close reading of Shen Teh's
interactions with Yang Sun, the economic sphere, and the other characters
demonstrates how masculine authority simultaneously functions as a mechanism of
resistance and a reproduction of patriarchal power.
In the essay, “Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the
Concept,” Connell and Messerschmidt opine that “hegemonic masculinity actually
does refer to men’s engaging in toxic practices—including physical
violence—that stabilise gender dominance in a particular setting” (840). So far
as gender dominance is concerned, referring to R. Collier, Connell and
Messerschmidt points out that masculinity is not only a self-constructed idea
but serves “the interests or desires of women” (840). Moreover, masculinity is
neither a fixed idea nor is it fixed in a person, as Connell and Messerschmidt
wrote: “Men can adopt hegemonic masculinity when it is desirable; but the same
men can distance themselves strategically from hegemonic masculinity at other
moments” (841).Connell draws attention to the hierarchical relations through
which particular forms of masculinity acquire cultural legitimacy and authority.
Hegemonic masculinity represents the culturally dominant configuration of
masculine practice that legitimises male authority and establishes relations of
power among men and between men and women. Interestingly, to construct
masculinity, as expected from women, Shen Teh does not require understanding
women; she can adopt such masculinity by herself.
The invention of Shui Ta marks a decisive shift from
ethical subjectivity to economic rationality. This transformation is not
arbitrary but necessitated by the structural conditions of the play because
masculinity emerges as the only viable means of asserting authority and control. As Shui Ta, Shen Teh adopts traits
associated with hegemonic masculinity: decisiveness, discipline, and coercion.
These traits enable her to succeed economically; highlighting the systemic
privileging of masculine behavior. The success of ShuiTa underscores the
failure of Shen Teh, reinforcing the incompatibility of femininity with
economic survival.
The performative nature of Shui Ta reveals that
masculinity is not innate but constructed. However, this construction is
constrained by societal expectations, suggesting that performativity operates
within a framework of structural limitation. The disguise functions as a
protective mechanism, enabling Shen Teh to navigate a hostile environment. It
allows her to resist exploitation and assert control over her circumstances. In
this sense, Shui Ta represents a form of agency. The adoption of a masculine
role provides access to power and authority. It enables Shen Teh to transcend
the limitations imposed by her gender, albeit temporarily. This highlights the
asymmetry of gender relations within the play.
While the disguise offers a means of survival, it also
entails an acceptance of patriarchal norms. By embodying Shui Ta, Shen Teh
internalizes the very structures that oppress her. This represents a form of
ideological surrender. The increasing dominance of Shui Ta leads to the erosion
of Shen Teh’s identity. The disguise ceases to be a tool and becomes a
constraint, illustrating the cost of survival within oppressive systems. As a
result, towards the end of the play, Shen Teh’s absence assures the dominance
of male economic stability over feminine goodness. Shen Teh’s appeal for her disguise
did entity to the three gods further confirms that, in the materialistic
society male members of society are more suitable than the female ones.
Ultimately, Shen Teh’s goodness is rendered untenable, whereas economic power
in the society is more desirable.
The Shen Teh/Shui Ta anamorphosis (Parveen and Biswas)
not only fulfills her desire for phallus and completeness through the
archetypal figure of her maphrodite but this feminises1 Yang Sun as
well. In the beginning of the play we find Sun a depressed young airman looking
for a job. But immediately when he finds Shen Teh, who falls in love with her,
as an object to dominate over ignoring her identity and self. He negotiates
over marriage with her though he is well aware that selling off the tobacco
shop means, for Shen Teh, losing everything.
However, soon, Shen Teh realises the fact and reverses
the power dynamics pushing her socially constructs feminine identity back to
inactivity. Interestingly enough, Shen Teh forces Sun to adopt a weaker self before
Shui Ta, thus femininises him without making him surrender to a woman. Because
whom he surrenders before is not woman as he assumes but the masculine
disguise, Shui Ta.
Thus, Shui Ta does not merely function as a defensive
alter ego through whom Shen Teh escapes economic vulnerability. The masculine
persona also provides access to a position of authority from which she can
experience agency, recognition, and control. The pleasure associated with Shui
Ta therefore emerges not simply from disguise but from occupying a socially
legitimised masculine subject-position. Yet this pleasure is dialectical: the
very symbolic order that denies Shen Teh authority as a woman makes that
authority available to her through masculine performance. Consequently, the pleasure
of empowerment simultaneously becomes an indication of structural complicity.
In summation, the anamorphosis of Shen Teh functions as a
complex dialectical mechanism, affording her both the psychological
completeness of self-actualization and the structural authority required to
navigate an oppressive socioeconomic landscape. By integrating the compulsion
for masculine authority—exemplified in both her self-preservation and the
subsequent femininisation of Yang Sun—Brecht’s dramaturgy lays bare the
fundamental impossibility of sustaining ethical goodness within a world that
exclusively privileges rationalized coercion and patriarchal dominance.
Ultimately, the erasure of Shen Teh in favour of Shui Ta underscores the tragic
triumph of capitalist utility over humanitarian idealism.
Note
1.
“Femininisation” refers to the symbolic
relocation of Sun into a subordinate position conventionally coded as feminine
within the patriarchal social order of the play.
Works Cited
Arora, Priyanka. “Shen
Teh/ Shui Ta: The Shifting Identity in Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan through
the Lens of Marxist Fetishization.” The
Criterion: An International Journal in English, Vol. 14, Issue 1, February
2023.https://www.the-criterion.com/V14/n1/CT04.pdf
Banerjee, Sneha. “Idea of
Capitalism in The Good Woman of Setzuan”.
Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly
Journal on Literature, vol. 7, no. 3, July 2023, https://erothanatos.com/journal/index.php/ojs/article/view/128.
Berkowitz, Holly. ‘“I
Know You’re Watching Me”: Meta-theatre and Identity Construction in M. Butterfly and The Good Person of Szechwan.’ Consciousness,
Theatre, Literature and the Arts 2015, edited by Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe.
Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 14 Dec 2016, pp. 17-24.
Brecht, Bertolt. The Good Person of Szechwan. Translated
by John Willett, edited by Tom Kuhn and Charlotte Ryland, Bloomsbury, 2015.
Connell, R. W. and James
W. Messerschmidt. “Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept.” Gender
and Society, vol. 19, no. 6 (Dec., 2005), pp. 829-859, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27640853. Accessed October 12, 2016.
Fuegi, John. “The
Alienated Woman: Brecht’s The Good Person
of Setzuan.” Essays on Brecht:
Theater and Politics, edited by SIEGFRIED MEWS and HERBERTKNUST, vol.79,
University of North Carolina Press, 1974, pp. 190–96. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469657967_mews.15.
Melosik, Zbyszko.
"Hegemonic masculinity: theory and social construction of crime.” Resocjalizacja
Polska, no. 21, 2021, pp. 9–22, https://doi.org/10.22432/pjsr.2021.21.02.
Mews, Siegfried and
Herbert Knust. Essays on Brecht: Theater and Politics. The University of
North Carolina Press, 1974. Project MUSE,
https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/book.75739.
Minhas, Muhammad et al.
“A Marxist Analysis of Capitalism and Alienation in Death of A Salesman and
The Good Woman of Szechwan.” Journal of Applied Linguistics and TESOL,
Vol. 8 No. 4 (2025). https://jalt.com.pk/index.php/jalt/article/view/1497#:~:text=Abstract,genuine%20human%20values%20and%20connections.
Palit,Somoshree.““Bythishand”:Brecht’sportrayalofadystopiansocietythroughkinesicsofthehand
in ‘The Good Person of Szechwan’.” The
Text, Vol.6, No.2. (July 2024). http://thetextjournal.com/text_admin/issue/3865-5-samoshree-july-2024-pdf.pdf
Parveen, Atiqa and
Subrata Biswas. “Psychological Necessity of Shen Teh—Shui Ta Anamorphosis”. Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly
Journal on Literature, vol. 9, no. 4, Dec. 2025, pp. 86-93, https://doi.org/10.70042/eroth/904196.