How we cite our quotes: (Scene, Line numbers)
Quote #1
MOTHER COURAGE: He's nowt but a child. You want to take him off to slaughterhouse, I know you lot. They'll give you five florins for him. (I, 182-184)
Here are Mother Courage's two main thoughts on war, loud and clear. The first is that her children are innocent and should be spared the war's brutality. The second is that war is a business, one she knows very well. She understands enough to realize the recruiter is just trying to get his cut by recruiting Eilif.
Quote #2
RECRUITER has taken Eilif by the arm and is leading him away up stage: Ten florins bounty money, then you're a gallant fellow fighting for the king and women'll be after you like flies. (I, 323-325)
Gallant, eh? The recruiter tries to lure Eilif into the army with promises of wealth, women, and prestige. What we see here is a wartime economic exchange at work: you join the army, you're promised a bunch of nice things, but what's the price? Well, in Mother Courage, it might just be your life.
Quote #3
THE COOK: […] talk of the king, it cost the king dear trying to give freedom to Germany, what with giving Sweden the salt tax, what cost the poor folk a bit, so I've heard, on top of which he had to have the Germans locked up and drawn and quartered 'cause they wanted to carry on slaving for the emperor. Course the king took a serious view when anybody didn't want to be free. He set out by just trying to project Poland against the bad people, particularly the emperor, then it started to become a habit till he ended up protecting the whole of Germany. They didn't half kick. So the poor old king's had nowt but trouble for all his kindness and expenses, and that's something he had to make up for by taxes of course, which caused bad blood, not that he's let a little matter like that depress him. One thing he had on his side, God's word, that was a help. Because otherwise folk would of been saying he done it all for himself and to make a bit on the side. So he's always had a good conscience, which was the main point. (III, 189-207)
Well, thank goodness for a good conscience. The cook's irony underscores an important Mother Courage equation: waging war equals raising taxes, which means war makes more money for those in charge. The trick, as the cook again ironically suggests, is to convince the taxpayers that the war is for a noble cause.