The Caucasian Chalk Circle

Bertolt Brecht’s celebrated play, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, was written in 1944. The story is structured as a play within a play and touches on themes of justice, motherhood, and moral choices in times of crisis. Brecht, a German playwright best known for his unique style of drama called “epic theater,” was based in the United States at the time, and the play was translated into English by his friend, Eric Bentley. It went on to premiere in the US in 1948 at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, with subsequent productions taking place in Philadelphia (Hedgerow Theatre, directed by Bentley) and Berlin (The Berliner Ensemble at Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in 1954). The play takes place in the Soviet Union and follows a peasant woman who raises an aristocrat’s son. To date, The Caucasian Chalk Circle is one of Brecht’s most well-known plays.

This guide uses the 2021 Methuen Drama Edition.

Content Warning: This play references sizeism, fascism, child neglect, and sexual harassment.

Plot Summary

The Caucasian Chalk Circle begins shortly after the end of World War II, in the ruins of a Caucasian village. There, two kolkhoz (spelled “kolchos” in the play) groups (Soviet collective farms) are debating who has the right to settle in the valley now that the Nazis have moved out. One group, the Galinsk kolkhoz, are goat-herders who have lived there for centuries. The other, the Rosa Luxemburg kolkhoz, are farmers who have great plans to make the valley 10 times as fruitful as before. To ease the tension, a Singer and musicians are called in to tell a story that relates to the current issue at hand. The Singer asks them all to sit and listen to a retelling of an old Chinese parable: “The Tale of the Chalk Circle.”

The play within a play begins, and the old story takes place in the country of Georgia (referred to by its Soviet alternative name, Grusinia). There, the Governor Georgi Abashvili and his wife, Natella, are attending an Easter service with their new baby, Michael. The Governor’s citizens are suffering and pleading for help, but he ignores them. A man known as “the Fat Prince” pretends to be excited about the child but has something sinister planned for the family.

The Fat Prince and his followers, the Ironshirts, stage a mutiny and overthrow the Governor’s family. The Governor is beheaded, and the servants in the palace race to help the Governor’s Wife and baby Michael evacuate safely. The Governor’s Wife is more concerned with packing her elaborate wardrobe than she is with the wellbeing of her child, and in her rush leaves the baby behind.

Grusha, a kitchen maid and the protagonist of the play, is one of the servants trying to escape. She tells her sweetheart, a soldier named Simon, that they will find each other after the war. As she is fleeing the palace, Grusha finds the baby. She debates whether she should take him with her or leave him behind, but ultimately decides to take him. She takes off for the mountains, hoping to reach her brother’s farm on foot.

Grusha encounters a number of people on her journey to her brother’s. She is frustrated when she tries to find milk for Michael and is met with a stingy farmer who asks an expensive price for it. Likewise, she tries to find shelter with a group of rich ladies, but they threaten to call the police on her when they discover she is a servant. Finally, Grusha finds a peasant family’s home and decides that Michael will likely be better off with them. She leaves the baby on the threshold, and, once she knows that Michael is taken inside, turns away.

In the woods, Grusha encounters a group of Ironshirts who are after Michael. Michael is the Governor’s heir, and therefore a threat. Grusha’s motherly instincts kick in and she returns to the peasant’s home, where she begs the woman to lie on Michael’s behalf. Although the woman initially promises to pretend Michael is her own child, she falters when the Ironshirts enter. Grusha hits one of the Ironshirts, the Corporal, over the head when he comes near to Michael. She takes the opportunity to grab the baby and makes her escape.

After a long, hard journey, Grusha finally makes it to her brother’s house. She comes down with scarlet fever, and her brother agrees to let her stay until the winter passes. His wife, Grusha’s sister-in-law, is nervous about the rumors that might spread from them housing an unwed mother. When winter ends, Grusha’s brother arranges a marriage between Grusha and a dying man, so that she will inherit his land and have a place to stay. This will also dispel the rumors about her honor. Grusha reluctantly agrees, for Michael’s sake, and the marriage ceremony commences. It is meant to double as a funeral, but an announcement comes that the war has ended. Yussup, the dying groom, is suddenly no longer ill. He had been feigning it to avoid the draft. Grusha finds herself married, and there is nothing she can do.

A few years pass, and Grusha takes Michael out to play with the other children. There, her beloved Simon finds her and asks if she kept her promise to wait for him. She tells him that she was made to marry Yussup out of necessity, but her heart remains unchanged towards him. Simon sees Michael and assumes that not only did Grusha marry while he was away, but she also had a child with another man. Upset, he departs from her just as a few Ironshirts approach Grusha.

The Ironshirts tell Grusha that she has been called to court, for they suspect Michael is the long-lost heir to the Governor’s estates. The Governor’s Wife wants the child back. Now that the Fat Prince is no longer in power, Michael’s life is not in danger. However, the life he has with Grusha is threatened.

The Singer pauses the current story to tell an entirely new story to the audience. He jumps back in time to the overthrowing of the Governor and tells about a character named Azdak. Azdak is a village clerk who, during the riots, hides a fugitive man in his hut. Later, he realizes that the man he hid was in fact the Grand Duke, who holds even more power than the Governor. Azdak is unaware that the coup was staged by the Fat Prince, and he thinks that his own people have finally rebelled against the rich. He turns himself in for class treason, but upon finding his assumptions false, ends up being put in the position of Judge.

For two years, Azdak remains a Judge. His rulings are considered nonsensical, as he often rules in favor of the working class, all while taking bribes from the rich. He is sometimes drunken and crude, but overall, the citizens are better off for his sense of justice. When he gets word that the war is over, however, Azdak fears that he is running out of time.

The final scene returns to the story of Grusha and the trial, and this is where her story and the story of the Judge intersect. The Ironshirts initially try to appoint a different Judge than Azdak, but a rider comes in with word from the Grand Duke. He orders for Azdak, the man who saved his life, to be Judge. The Ironshirts begrudgingly give him back his robes, and Azdak takes over proceedings in the court.

The Governor’s Wife has several lawyers, all of whom argue that she is the true mother. She is Michael’s biological mother, and therefore should lay claim to the child and his inheritance. Grusha, meanwhile, tells how she has raised Michael as her own the last few years and addresses the sacrifices she has made for him. Azdak declares that the litigation portion of the trial is over, and the true mother will be decided by a test.

He has a chalk circle drawn on the floor and has Michael placed in the middle. The Governor’s Wife is to grab one of his arms, and Grusha the other. The true mother is the one who is strong enough to pull him to the other side of the circle. As soon as the Governor’s Wife starts pulling, Grusha lets go of Michael. Azdak asks them to do it a second time, and again she releases him, declaring she can’t hurt him because she raised him. She is willing to surrender him to the Governor’s Wife before she causes him any harm. Satisfied with this answer, Azdak grants custody of Michael to Grusha and declares his estates shall go to the people.

In a final act of justice, Azdak is asked to divorce an old couple from an earlier proceeding. He writes up a document that is, in fact, divorce papers for Grusha and Yussup. Now, Grusha and Simon are free to marry each other. They start their family and end the play in celebration. The Singer addresses the audience one more time, telling them that the people who are best for the valley will be the ones who should own it. In this case, it’s the fruit farmers, because they care for the valley in a way the goat-herders never did, just as Grusha cared more for Michael than his biological mother. True justice is what’s best for all parties involved, and true love requires hard work and sacrifice.