man by retaining that motherly quality of looking out for the children and by doing so in an aggressive, masculine manner. So aggressive that she ends up losing her offspring. Mother Courage and Her Children raise the question: "what would happen if both genders possessed male stereotypical traits?"
             These ideals for what men and women should be certainly left men with more power and women with a responsibility to keep out of the way. As it was briefly touched upon earlier, the plays Mother Courage and Her Children and M. Butterfly reverse or glorify these stereotypes that have been attributed to the two genders.
             The character of Mother Courage in Mother Courage and Her Children has personality traits that are far from those stereotypically defined as feminine. In fact, if her characteristics and actions are examined closely, she seems to have assumed those of a male. She tries to help her children survive the thirty years war. While looking after them is typically a female quality and responsibility, doing so by running a small business and welcoming a war rather than running from it, is much more masculine. She received the name Courage, after driving her cart of bread straight through the middle of a military bombardment because she was broke and her bread was
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