Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Good Woman of Setzuan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Pursuit of Goodness
Greed, Capitalism, and Corruption
Women and Dual Identities
Humanity vs. The Divine
Summary
Analysis
It is morning on the square outside of Shen Te’s shop. There are two other shops nearby: a carpet shop and a barber. The grandfather, the sister-in-law, the unemployed man, and Mrs. Shin wait outside Shen Te’s. The sister-in-law remarks that Shen Te has been out all night. Mrs. Shin laments that Shen Te is “carrying on” with a man. The barber, Shu Fu, angrily kicks Wong out of his shop for “pestering” his customers, burning Wong’s hand with a hot curling iron. The unemployed man tends to Wong while Mrs. Shin and the sister-in-law lament that if Shen Te were present, she’d give Wong a bandage.
When Shen Te begins living life for herself and she stops attending to the needy at all hours, her neighbors and dependents begin seeing her actions as selfish. Again, the other characters feel that Shen Te owes them her time, attention, and resources.
Themes
Shen Te comes walking down the street. She addresses the audience directly. Shen Te tells them that she has a new lease on life and that she attributes the change in her point of view to being in love. As Shen Te approaches the people gathered outside her shop, she distributes rice to each of them and then she ducks into the carpet shop. Shu Fu, who has noticed Shen Te, remarks to the others how beautiful she is. He declares that he is in love with her and then he returns to his shop.
Shen Te’s newfound love makes her even more generous and happy about taking care of her needy neighbors. Where she was previously overwhelmed and upset, she now feels she has enough time, energy, and attention to go around—even if her neighbors feel she owes them more.
Themes
The old man and the old woman, proprietors of the carpet shop, walk outside with Shen Te. They offer to give her a discount on a shawl—they know her many good deeds “eat [her earnings] all up.” They ask her if her new lover can help her pay her rent, but Shen Te replies that Yang Sun is broke. The old woman offers Shen Te 200 silver dollars to make rent for the next several months. In exchange, she asks that Shen Te pledge her tobacco stock. Shen Te declares that the old woman and her husband are good people—she wishes the gods could overhear their offer.
Shen Te encounters goodness and generosity from her neighbors, the carpet shop owners. She wishes she could repay them by offering them the recognition which she feels the gods may have wrongly bestowed upon her.
Themes
Shen Te goes over to the people gathered outside the tobacco shop and she shows them the huge sum of money. Mrs. Shin points out Wong’s injury. Shen Te apologizes for not seeing it sooner. She suggests taking Wong to a doctor, but the unemployed man suggests Wong visit a lawyer instead—he can sue the “filthy rich” barber. All he will need is a witness. None of the others, however, are willing to testify. Shen Te decries the others for ignoring Wong’s suffering. She declares that she herself will act as witness. Mrs. Shin warns Shen Te against perjuring herself. The sister-in-law says that Shen Te can’t change the world. Shen Te orders everyone to leave her alone and then she laments to the audience that nothing moves her fellow citizens to action anymore.
Even as Shen Te comes into more and more money, she continues to be involved in her neighbors’ problems and concerned about their well-being. She is willing to put herself on the line for them—but even these actions, good deeds in and of themselves, inspire nothing but suspicion and judgement among her neighbors. Shen Te laments that people are so self-centered that they’re not willing to help one another.
Themes
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Mrs. Yang, Yang Sun’s mother, comes rushing into the square. She declares that Yang Sun has just gotten an offer to work as a pilot—but the director of the airfield wants 500 silver dollars. Shen Te gives Mrs. Yang the old couple’s loan, stating that she can repay them with her tobacco stock. Shen Te declares that she knows “someone who can help” them to come up with the other 300. A plane flies overhead. Shen Te is delighted, declaring that soon her lover will be able to start “bringing to friends in faraway lands / The friendly mail!”
Shen Te continues doing good deeds for others—she is genuinely hopeful that she can make the lives of her friends, her neighbors, and her lover a better place. She doesn’t care much for her own wealth—she just wants to unburden others. Given other people’s greed toward Shen Te, however, it seems that her good deeds are likely to be punished rather than rewarded.
Themes
