Previous
The Parson
In the penultimate scene, the Lieutenant leads the group of soldiers who terrorize the peasant family (Old Peasant, Old Peasant Woman, and Young Peasant) on their way to attack the town of Halle. He murders the Young Peasant and Kattrin, who warns the townspeople of the pending attack with her drum. His penchant for senseless violence reflects the cruelty of the war as a whole.
The Lieutenant Quotes in Mother Courage and Her Children
The Mother Courage and Her Children quotes below are all either spoken by The Lieutenant or refer to The Lieutenant. 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:
).
Scene 11 Quotes
LIEUTENANT (pointing to the wagon on which KATTRIN has appeared). There’s another. (A SOLDIER pulls her out.) Is this everybody?
OLD PEASANT. That’s our son.
PEASANT WOMAN. And that’s a girl that can’t talk. Her mother’s in town buying up stocks because the shopkeepers are running away and selling cheap.
OLD PEASANT. They’re canteen people.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
(The soldiers arrive with the gun.)
LIEUTENANT. Set it up! (Calling while the gun is set up on forks:) Once and for all, stop that drumming! (Still crying, KATTRIN is drumming as hard as she can.) Fire!
(The soldiers fire. KATTRIN is hit. She gives the drum another feeble beat or two, then collapses.)
LIEUTENANT. So that ends the noise.
(But the last beats of the drum are lost in the din of cannon from the town. Mingled with the thunder of cannon, alarm-bells are heard in the distance.)
FIRST SOLDIER. She made it.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Mother Courage and Her Children LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The Lieutenant Character Timeline in Mother Courage and Her Children
The timeline below shows where the character The Lieutenant appears in Mother Courage and Her Children. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Scene 11
...nighttime, and the tattered wagon is parked next to a farmhouse. Three soldiers and a Lieutenant knock on the farmhouse door, then bring out the family who live there (Old Peasant,...
(full context)
The Lieutenant demands that the son (Young Peasant) show the soldiers the way to town, but he...
(full context)
The Lieutenant runs back, threatens to kill the farmers, and demands that Kattrin throw him the drum....
(full context)
Kattrin starts to laugh as she drums louder and louder. The Lieutenant demands a musket, and his soldiers go to get one. The Old Peasant Woman suggests...
(full context)
The Young Peasant finally switches sides and tells Kattrin to keep drumming. In response, the Lieutenant stabs and kills him. Kattrin starts to cry, but continues drumming, even as the soldiers...
(full context)
