The Cook Character Analysis in Mother Courage and Her Children

The Cook is an opportunistic, womanizing, pipe-smoking Dutchman who works for the Swedish Commander as a private chef in the second and third scenes. Like Mother Courage, his primary interest is profiting off the war. He also has a salacious backstory with Yvette Pottier, whom he once seduced and then cheated on, and who knows him as “Peter Piper.” (She confronts him when they reunite in the eighth scene.) He has difficult relationships with both the Chaplain, who drinks with him but also knows that he is an immoral letch, and Mother Courage, who price-gouges him over a capon in the second scene but is delighted to see him in the eighth scene (even though he has only visited her in search of alcohol). He follows Mother Courage through Bavaria in the ninth scene, then decides to return to Utrecht to run his late mother’s inn and invites her (but not Kattrin). Mother Courage and Kattrin leave him behind, and his fate is left uncertain at the end of the play.

The Cook Quotes in Mother Courage and Her Children

The Mother Courage and Her Children quotes below are all either spoken by The Cook or refer to The Cook. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

MOTHER COURAGE. My eldest. It’s two years since I saw him. He must be high in favor—the Commander inviting him to dinner! And what do you have to eat? Nothing. The Commander’s guest wants meat! Take my advice: buy the capon. The price is one hundred hellers.

(The COMMANDER has sat down with EILIF and the CHAPLAIN.)

COMMANDER. (roaring) Dinner, you pig! Or I’ll have your head!

COOK. This is blackmail. Give me the damn thing!

Related Characters: The Swedish Commander (speaker), The Cook (speaker), Mother Courage (speaker), Eilif, The Chaplain

Page Number and Citation: 36

Explanation and Analysis:

CHAPLAIN. My dear Cook, you talk as if dying for one’s beliefs were a misfortune—it is the highest privilege! This is not just any war, remember, it is a religious war, and therefore pleasing unto God.

COOK. I see that. In one sense it’s a war because of all the cheating, plunder, rape, and so forth, but it’s different from all other wars because it’s a religious war and therefore pleasing unto God. At that it does make you thirsty.

Related Characters: The Chaplain (speaker), The Cook (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 46

Explanation and Analysis:

MOTHER COURAGE. I must get you two something to drink, or you’ll be making improper advances out of sheer boredom.

CHAPLAIN. That is indeed a temptation—said the Court Chaplain as he gave way to it. And who is this captivating young person?

Related Characters: Mother Courage (speaker), The Chaplain (speaker), The Cook, Kattrin

Related Symbols: Alcohol

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 47

Explanation and Analysis:

COOK. And King Gustavus liberated Poland from the Germans. Who could deny it? Then his appetite grew with eating, and he liberated Germany from the Germans. Made quite a profit on the deal, I’m told.

CHAPLAIN. That is a calumny! The Swedish king puts religion first!

MOTHER COURAGE. What’s more, you eat his bread.

COOK. I don’t eat his bread: I bake his bread.

MOTHER COURAGE. He’ll never be conquered, that man, and you know why? We all back him up—the little fellows like you and me. Oh yes, to hear the big fellows talk, they ‘re fighting for their beliefs and so on, but if you look into it, you find they’re not that silly: they do want to make a profit on the deal. So you and I back them up!

Related Characters: The Cook (speaker), The Chaplain (speaker), Mother Courage (speaker), King Gustavus Adolphus

Page Number and Citation: 48

Explanation and Analysis:

MOTHER COURAGE. Kattrin! Where do you think you’re going? (She examines the bundle.) Ah! So you were listening ? I told him: nothing doing—he can have his lousy inn. (Now she sees the skirt and pants.) Oh, you stupid girl! Now what if I’d seen that, and you’d been gone! (KATTRIN tries to leave. Her mother holds her.) And don’t imagine I sent him packing on your account. It was the wagon. They can’t part me from my wagon. Now we’ll put the cook’s things here where he’ll find ’em, that silly man. You and I are leaving. (She climbs upon the wagon and throws the rest of the COOK’s few things down on to the pants.) There! He’s fired! The last man I’ll ever take into this business! Get into harness, Kattrin. This winter will pass like all the others.

Related Characters: Mother Courage (speaker), The Cook, Kattrin

Related Symbols: The Wagon

Page Number and Citation: 101

Explanation and Analysis:

The Cook Character Timeline in Mother Courage and Her Children

The timeline below shows where the character The Cook appears in Mother Courage and Her Children. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...the Swedish Commander’s tent. The scene opens with her negotiating a deal with the Dutch Cook: she wants 60 hellers for a capon, but he protests that they’re usually “ten hellers... (full context)

Theater, Performance, and History Theme Icon

...their oxen (even though the Swedes are there “to save their souls”). Eilif asks the Cook for meat and complains that “skinning peasants” is exhausting. Suddenly, Mother Courage recognizes her son... (full context)

...just a nasty rumor. She says that everyone is avoiding her because her love, a Dutch army cook the girls nicknamed “Peter Piper,” has cheated on her. (full context)

...her land, she sings, she was just 17. Each of the soldiers took a girl—a Dutch cook took her, and she fell in love. But one winter, the men all disappeared. She... (full context)

The Chaplain and Cook enter, looking for brandy. The Chaplain explains that Eilif has a message for Swiss Cheese,... (full context)

The Chaplain suggests that the Cook dreams about Mother Courage, but the Cook denies it—he just dreams about a young woman... (full context)

...subject, Mother Courage blames the Poles for the Swedish invasion of Poland. The Chaplain and Cook agree that the Swedes have a religious obligation to free the Poles from the German... (full context)

Suddenly, the Catholic army starts firing on the Swedes. The Cook and Ordnance Officer run off to battle, the Chaplain decides to stay, and a soldier... (full context)

...agrees and asks about her pipe—which he knows she stole from the Swedish Commander’s Dutch Cook. Mother Courage refuses to admit it. The Chaplain says it doesn’t matter, since the Cook... (full context)

The Dutch Cook comes to see Mother Courage, who is glad to see him after so many years.... (full context)

The Chaplain returns in his robes, and the Cook confronts him, accusing him of interfering with Mother Courage’s business. The Chaplain says he sees... (full context)

...asks to see Mother Courage, then calls out her first name. At this point, the Cook realizes who she is. Yvette and the Cook stare at each other in shock, then... (full context)

...Scene Three—died some years back. The Chaplain reminds Yvette to tell Mother Courage about the Cook. Yvette identifies him as the seducer Peter Piper, who cheated on her. Mother Courage instantly... (full context)

The Chaplain tells the Cook that “the mills of God grind slowly.” The Cook admits that he was just hoping... (full context)

...Eilif to perform his last rites (even though Eilif asks him not to), and the Cook tries to coax Kattrin out of the wagon. (full context)

...returns with her goods and triumphantly announces that the war has started up again. The Cook admits that Eilif just passed through, and Mother Courage optimistically replies that they’ll meet him... (full context)

Mother Courage assures the Cook that his history with Yvette won’t affect her view of him. She asks whether the... (full context)

...Fichtel Mountains. Winter has hit hard and early, and Mother Courage’s business is struggling. The Cook will soon return home. One gray morning, Mother Courage and the Cook wonder if the... (full context)

The Cook invites Mother Courage to go run the inn with him, and she proposes the idea... (full context)

The Parson’s light turns on, and the Cook and Mother Courage sing “The Song of the Wise and Good” to him. The first... (full context)

In fact, the Parson calls down to them, offering them soup. But the Cook again tells Mother Courage to leave Kattrin behind, and she agrees. She goes inside, but... (full context)

The Cook Character Analysis

The Cook Quotes in Mother Courage and Her Children

Scene 2 Quotes

Scene 3 Quotes

Scene 9 Quotes

The Cook Character Timeline in Mother Courage and Her Children