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Foreshadowing
Explanation and Analysis—Eilif as Caesar:
In Scene 2, after Eilif butchered peasants and stole their cattle, the Swedish Commander makes an allusion when he tells him: “You have the markings of a Julius Caesar, why, you should be presented to the king!” Julius Caesar, before becoming the dictator of the Roman Empire, gained fame as a general for his victories in Gaul. The Roman senate awarded him honors for his martial prowess. By making this allusion in reference to Eilif, the Commander pays him a great compliment.
However, Julius Caesar famously met his demise at the hands of his comrades. Roman senators, many of whom he believed to be his friends, waited for him to come into the senate one day and stabbed him. The senators conspired to kill Caesar because they believed he held too much power. With this in mind, the Swedish Commander's allusion to Julius Caesar in reference to Eilif foreshadows Eilif's own demise.
Indeed, Eilif does eventually meet his death at the hands of his peers. He acts very valiantly as a soldier in wartime, but he continues to act like a soldier even in peacetime. On the day the war “ends” (only to start again), Eilif repeats the deed that the Commander praised him for: killing peasants and taking their cattle. However, Eilif neglects to consider that the circumstances have changed: martial law no longer applies when there is no war. Different rules govern peacetime. So, other soldiers capture and execute him.
Brecht, by including this bit, demonstrates the hypocrisy of war. The same deeds that make a man a monster in peacetime make him a hero in a state of war. Like Julius Caesar, who was a wonderful general and thus a wonderful dictator, brutal men like Eilif become a liability when they aren’t on a battlefield. Thus, Brecht shows that war valorizes cruelty.
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