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A English Part II Study Material Modern Drama

gentlemen need only look through the instrument!’. In a famous quote from the play, Galileo
challenges the obstinate outlook of the scholars.

“The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn

When teachers themselves are taught to learn.”

Instead of supporting new developments and change, the philosophers and scientists are
completely unconcerned with scientific truth. As the philosopher remarks furiously to Galileo,
‘The truth may lead us absolutely anything!’. Even Cardinal Barberini, the man who
subsequently becomes Pope must uphold the status quo despite being a scientist and
appreciating Galileo’s discovery. Brecht naturalizes the upper class’ inconsiderate outlook
towards the working class. In the first scene, Ludovico remarks:

“My mother thinks that a little science is necessary. All the world takes a drop of science in
their wine nowadays, you know”

Ludovico, an upper class gentleman, was sent to Galileo to ‘take a drop of science’ his
position in society dictated that he should have a basic understanding of the workings of the
world. Galileo made a miraculous change to Europe’s approach to science. Instead of science
being something handed out to only the upper class with their wine, by the end of the play,
everyone in Italy and Europe had access to science through a language they could read and
even through entertainers on the street! Galileo transformed expensive wine to water
affordable to all, Brecht drawing clear parallels with Marxism which endorsed a classless
system.

The gulf between the quest for knowledge and absolute religious faith can be very wide, and
has caused problems at many points in history. Galileo’s doctrines which proclaimed that the
sun, rather than the earth, is at the centre of the universe displaced the accepted position of
the heavens and the supremacy of the Catholic Church. When his trusted friend Sagredo asks
him, “where is God In your cosmography?”, Galileo responds, “Within ourselves or nowhere”.
In the early 20th century, when Darwin’s theory of natural selection and evolution became
widely studied, science once again came in conflict with the Catholic Church. The conflict
between such ideologies is unmistakable in The Life of Galileo. Just as the political ideologies
of Germany deported Brecht and had his literature burned, the ideologies entrenched in the
Catholic Church destroyed the brilliant scientist Galileo. The similarities between the lives of
Galileo and Brecht run deep in the text and were a prime motivation for Brecht writing the
play. Just as he continued reforming theatre long after he was deported from his homeland,
Galileo continued to secretly compose his Discorsi despite blindness and being under heavily
guarded house arrest.

“We need a type of theatre which not only releases the feelings, insights and impulses
possible within the particular historical field of human relations in which the action takes
place, but employs and encourages those thoughts and feelings which help transform the
field itself.”

Brecht rose to the occasion of transforming the social field inEurope. Change around him and
his strong political convictions unquestionably had an impact on his writings. In a single
performance, Brecht manages to succinctly yet powerfully challenge the belief that
knowledge can be suppressed and simultaneously endorse the belief of a genuine new age in

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