The Good Woman Of Setzuan

Shen Te is packing her store, unable to pay rent. She is selling the store in order to pay back the old couple. Mrs. Shin asks her how she will live, and Shen Te isn’t sure. Mrs. Shin finds Shui Ta’s pants, wondering why they are there when Shen Te has said that Shui Ta will not be returning. Mr. Shu Fu rushes in. Having learned of Shen Te’s plight, he is distraught. The barber asks, “Must the good woman of Setzuan perish?” (71). He pleads with her to let him help, writing her a blank check and then leaving, as he describes, “quietly and modestly, making no claims, on tiptoe, full of veneration, selflessly” (71). Shen Te continues to pack, much to Mrs. Shin’s surprise. She demands to know if Shen Te does not want the check because she would have to give up Sun and marry the barber. Shen Te explains that Sun’s poor treatment of her happened because of the desperation caused by poverty and that she still loves him. Mrs. Shin calls her crazy, angrily exclaiming that the neighborhood will be better off without her.

Suddenly, Shen Te becomes dizzy. Immediately, Mrs. Shin realizes that Shen Te is pregnant. Shen Te is overjoyed, thinking about her future son, describing, “In the towns, people are saying: Someone’s coming now who’s got to be reckoned with” (72). Shen Te imagines teaching her son, her “fatherless boy” (73), to scrounge for food and run away from policemen. Wang enters with a real child, holding his hand. The boy belongs to Lin To, the carpenter, who has been drunk since he lost his store. Lin To’s children have been wandering the streets, starving. Easily, Shen Te takes the boy’s hand and tells Wang that the boy, as well as Lin To and his family, can live in Mr. Shu Fu’s cabins. She adds that she will probably move in too, since she is going to have a baby. However, Shen Te asks Wang to keep her pregnancy a secret lest Yang Sun learn about the baby. Grateful, Wang tells the boy, “You see, someone who’s good always knows a way out” (74). As Wang is leaving to fetch Lin To, Shen Te asks about his hand. She apologizes that her cousin refused to allow her to testify on his behalf. Wang forgives her, showing her how he manages without the use of his hand.

Shen Te gives Wang the possessions she has just packed, insisting that he sell everything and see a doctor. She asks how Wang would feel if she lives in Mr. Shu Fu’s cabins after the barber hurt him. Wang replies, “The homeless can live there now. And so can you. That’s more important than my hand” (74). Seeing this interaction, Mrs. Shin admonishes Shen Te for giving away her belongings when she hasn’t paid her for the laundry. Shen Te accuses Mrs. Shin of being greedy when she ought to be generous. Mrs. Shin exits, angry. The elderly couple who moved their family in to Shen Te’s store at the beginning of the play enters with their nephew. They are carrying bags of tobacco that were supposedly given to them as payment of a debt. However, they ask Shen Te to store them for her and tell anyone who asks—particularly the police—that they are hers. It is obvious that the bags are stolen, and Shen Te is reluctant to do anything that might land her in jail, but the couple guilts her into taking them.

They exit to put the tobacco in the back room and return to find Lin To’s child eating from the garbage. Shen Te becomes upset, sending the couple and nephew away. She sings a song about her own child, determined that she will do whatever is necessary to protect him from living a neglected life like Lin To’s son, vowing, “I will be good to you, and a tigress, a wild beast to all others, if I have to, and I shall have to” (76-77). Shen Te exits, carrying Shui Ta’s pants and hoping that it will be the last time she has to assume her fictional cousin’s identity. Mrs. Shin reenters and watches her leave. The pregnant sister-in-law enters with the grandfather. Mrs. Shin tells them that Shen Te will soon join them in Mr. Shu Fu’s cabins. The sister-in-law tells Mrs. Shin that she is there to complain about the conditions in the cabins, exclaiming that the barber only offered them the cabins because they are in such terrible shape. The unemployed man in rags who was Shen Te’s first customer enters. They talk about Shen Te, and the man in rags insists that she must bring in her cousin. Shui Ta is the only one who is ruthless enough to save the store.

Wang returns with Lin To and the carpenter’s two children. Lin To, excited to have a place to live, expresses gratitude to Shen Te, Mr. Shu Fu, and the child Wang found wandering the streets. Shui Ta enters, questioning the surprised loiterers as to what they want. Shui Ta tells them that Shen Te has left on a trip and that he will not allow any of them to live in the cabins as “the space is reserved for something else” (78). Shui Ta continues, explaining that Shen Te is not completely abandoning them but will help them in a much more reasonable way. From now on, they will have to work for Shen Te in exchange for help. They will be making tobacco, starting with the bags of raw tobacco that the elderly couple left there. The sister-in-law balks, since her family once owned a tobacco shop. She also believes that her family still has the three bags of tobacco and feels that working for Shen Te is beneath her. Lin To and the unemployed man in rags agree to work, exiting unhappily.

Mrs. Mi Tzu, the landlady, enters and asks Shui Ta about the sale of the shop. Shui Ta informs her that they will not be selling. Shui Ta shows her the barber’s blank check, which he has filled out for ten thousand silver dollars, promising that Mrs. Mi Tzu will have her half-year rent by that evening. The landlady criticizes Shen Te for being “fickle. And superficial too” (79) for switching so easily from the pilot to the barber. Satisfied, she leaves. Lin To and the previously unemployed man in rags enter with bags of tobacco. The sister-in-law recognizes the bags, exclaiming that the tobacco belongs to her family. Shui Ta tells her to keep her voice down, telling her that the tobacco was in his shop and is obviously his. He suggests that they go to the police if she would like to press the issue and the sister-in-law backs down. Shui Ta points out that since her family apparently doesn’t have any tobacco after all, perhaps she would reconsider working for Shen Te. She joins in hauling the tobacco and Shui Ta exits. Wang comments, “He’s a bad man. But Shen Te is good” (80). Skeptically, Mrs. Shin notes that Shui Ta is wearing the pants that she found earlier, which “must mean something” (80).

The old woman from the carpet store enters, looking for Shen Te. Both the old woman and Wang lament that Shen Te promised to help them. Wang suggests that she will return soon, since “the cousin has never stayed long” (80). Mrs. Shin muses, “He hasn’t, has he?” (80).

In an interlude, Scene Seven-A, Wang is dreaming again, and the gods appear. They look tired. Wang tells them that he was dreaming about Shen Te. In the dream, Shen Te was “in great distress in the rushes by the river at the place where those who commit suicide are found” (80). She was hauling a heavy package full of rules, which she needed to carry across the river without allowing the water to smear and erase the words. Concerned for Shen Te, Wang pleads with the gods for “a little relaxation of the book of rules, benevolent ones, in view of the bad times” (81). Wang suggests that “only goodwill be required, instead of love […], fairness instead of justice, [or] propriety instead of honor” (81). The gods protest that “that would mean more work, not less” (81) and leave, exhausted.

Shui Ta has converted Mr. Shu Fu’s cabins into a tobacco factory, and groups of families, including the sister-in-law, the grandfather, Lin To, and the carpenter’s children, are huddled behind bars. Yang Sun and his mother enter. Mrs. Yang tells the audience that Shui Ta “has transformed […] Yang Sun from a depraved scamp into a useful person” (82). The scene flashes back three months ago, when Mrs. Yang called on Shui Ta because he was suing Sun for “breach of promise of marriage” (82) and procuring 200 silver dollars by dishonest means. Mrs. Yang pleads for mercy, since Sun had already spent the money and the flying job in Peking hadn’t worked out. Shui Ta offers to hire Sun in his tobacco factory and allow him to work off the debt. Given the choice between working and jail, Sun agrees. Mrs. Yang describes, “The first weeks were hard for sun. The work didn’t agree with him. He had little opportunity to distinguish himself” (83). After three weeks, something happened that changed Sun’s situation.

The scene flashes back to Sun and Lin To dragging heavy bags of tobacco. Lin To, who is older, is having difficulty and stops to rest. He tells Sun that he has to keep working this job in order to feed his family. They see Shui Ta coming to check on them, and Sun suddenly helps Lin To by taking one of his bags for him. Shui Ta enters, admonishing Lin To for only having one bag and praising Sun for “having the right attitude” (83). He sends Lin To to get another bag because if Yang Sun can carry three then so can Lin To. Then, on payday, the man in rags is handing out wages. He gives Sun six silver dollars. Sun corrects him, since he missed a day, explaining, “I don’t want to get anything I don’t deserve, however lousy the pay is!” (84). Shui Ta takes Sun aside and tells him that he has noticed that he is a strong, hard worker and now he sees that Sun is honest as well. Shui Ta offers to reward him with money, but instead, Sun points out that he is also smart and educated. He asks Shui Ta for a chance to show that he would be a good foreman.

Mrs. Yang describes, “My son worked true miracles in Mr. Shui Ta’s factory” (85). We see Sun managing the factory, yelling at the workers to be more productive. The employees sing a working song about overworked elephants. Shui Ta enters, smoking a cigar, and Sun joins in for the last verse, clapping to speed up the tempo. Mrs. Yang praises Shui Ta for “almost without lifting a finger, with wisdom and strength alone, [bringing] out all the good that lay hidden in Sun” (86). Unlike Shen Te, who made grand promises, Shui Ta “just forced him into honest work” (86). She adds, “A noble man is like a bell. If you ring it, it rings, and if you don’t, it don’t” (86).

In the tobacco shop, Shui Ta has grown very big. The elderly couple from the carpet store is asking how to contact Shen Te, having received a letter with the 200 silver dollars. Mrs. Shin watches, “obviously in new clothes” (87). Shui Ta claims not to know where Shen Te is, and the couple leaves, the woman saying, “She’s got to come back sometime” (87). Mrs. Shin informs Shui Ta that the couple did not receive the money in time and lost their shop. Shui Ta asks why they didn’t ask him for help, and Mrs. Shin replies, “People don’t like to come to you” (87). Shui Ta becomes dizzy and feels ill. Mrs. Shin notes that Shui Ta is in the seventh month of pregnancy and needs to take it easy. She promises to be there to help (for a price). Shui Ta asserts, “It’s all for the child’s sake, Mrs. Shin” (87). He worries that people will notice that he is gaining weight so quickly. Mrs. Shin assures Shui Ta that everyone assumes it’s because he is wealthy and promises that the child will receive the best care money can buy and will never meet Shui Ta.

Shui Ta alludes to “rumors in the neighborhood! The things the water-seller says! The store is being watched” (88). Mrs. Shin says, “A long as the barber doesn’t know anything, nothing is lost” (88). Sun enters, wearing a suit. Mrs. Shin puts on her gloves and leaves, and Sun muses that she might be “fleecing [Shui Ta]” (88). Shui Ta doesn’t respond, and Sun goes on, pointing out that Shui Ta has been acting strangely lately and wondering if Shui Ta is sick. Sun has a letter from the police. They want to shut down the tobacco factory because Shui Ta has more than twice the number of workers legally allowed. Shui Ta doesn’t answer but goes into the back room and returns with a bowler hat, which he gives to Sun. Surprised and appreciative, Sun tries it on. Then Sun returns to the subject at hand, reminding Shui Ta that he needs to meet with Mr. Shu Fu to talk about a new project. Shui Ta tells Sun that “the barber’s demanding impossible conditions” (89). Sun asserts cabins may be good enough for the factory workers, but it’s not good enough for the tobacco.

Sun tells Shui Ta that he plans to meet with Mrs. Mi Tzu about a new building and flirt with her until she lowers the prices. Shui Ta protests immediately that Sun must remain “personally reserved and coolly businesslike” (89). Sun wonders if Shui Ta is acting annoyed because of the “unpleasant rumors” (89), which Shui Ta denies. Sun suggests that Shui Ta might be in a bad mood because of the rain. To Sun’s annoyance, Wang’s voice is heard from off-stage, singing a water-selling song about how no one purchases his water when it rains. Wang wonders if “there are any good people left in the city of Setzuan” (89), wishing that Shen Te, who would buy water from him even when it was raining, was there. He asks where she has gone, exclaiming, “She went into this house one evening and never came out again” (89). Sun offers to get rid of the water-seller. Wang enters, asking Shui Ta where Shen Te has gone, as she has been missing for six months and the people in the village are concerned about her well-being. Shui Ta tells him that he is busy and to try again next week. Wang comments that someone has been leaving rice for the hungry people again, just like Shen Te once did.

Wang tells Shui Ta that Shen Te confessed that she was pregnant before she disappeared. Although Shui Ta denies this, the news shocks Sun. Before exiting, Wang promises that they will all continue asking about Shen Te until they find out what happened to her because “a good person isn’t so easily forgotten. There aren’t many” (90). Shui Ta goes into the back room, leaving Sun to rant indignantly that Shui Ta must have sent Shen Te away so Sun wouldn’t find out that she was pregnant. Then Sun hears weeping from the back room. He wonders if Shui Ta is hiding Shen Te on the premises and resolves to find her. Shui Ta reenters and Sun immediately asks about Shen Te’s whereabouts. Shui Ta ignores him and tells him to be quiet so he can hear the mail plane. He asks Sun if he still wants to fly. Sun replies that he has come to care about his job at the tobacco factory, especially since it was so important to Shen Te.

Sun asks if Shen Te has really gone away, asserting that he would be very concerned if someone like Shui Ta had her locked up. Sun suggests that he might stop being concerned if he were given Shui Ta’s position in the company so he could eject Shui Ta from the business. And if Shui Ta were to eject Sun instead, Sun might return with the police to search the back room and possibly find Shen Te. Sun laments, “Mr. Shui Ta, my longing for the lady of my heart is insatiable. […] She’s pregnant and needs someone around” (92). Sun leaves to find Wang. Alone, Shui Ta gathers what he needs to transform back into Shen Te. When Mrs. Mi Tzu and Mr. Shu Fu enter, he hides everything under the table. They all sit, and Shui Ta informs them that “the police are openly threatening to close [the factory] if [he] can’t point to negotiations for a new project” (93). Shui Ta mentions the barber’s ongoing interest in Shen Te and Mr. Shu Fu balks, complaining that he keeps bringing her up and asking him for more but doesn’t tell him where Shen Te has gone. Shui Ta asks if his interest in the company might be renewed if Shen Te returned.

Mr. Shu Fu exclaims, “I’ve told you a thousand times that I’m ready to discuss everything with your cousin and nothing with you” (93). Shui Ta promises that Shen Te will be back in three months and the barber agrees to work with him. Mrs. Mi Tzu is willing to offer the company space, but in return demands Sun as her new business manager. Reluctantly, Shui Ta agrees to send him to her. Shui Ta pronounces that they will expand to twelve stores, all of which will go to benefit Shen Te and her descendants. Suddenly, the policeman enters with Sun and Wang, who have accused Shui Ta of imprisoning Shen Te. Shui Ta denies this. The policeman searches the back room. Naturally, he finds no one there and is ready to disregard the claims, but Sun finds Shen Te’s clothing and belongings where Shui Ta has stashed it under the table. When Shui Ta cannot provide Shen Te’s location, the policeman arrests him, leading him out as a mob gathers and shouts allegations that Shui Ta has murdered his cousin. Shui Ta expresses certainty that a judge will see that he is innocent.

In an interlude, Scene Nine-A, the gods appear to Wang in a dream for the last time. They are in terrible shape, bearing “unmistakable signs of a long journey, extreme exhaustion, and manifold unhappy experiences” (96). One god has lost his hat, another has lost a leg, and all have lost their shoes. Anxious to speak to them, Wang immediately tells them of everything that has happened: Shen Te’s disappearance, Shui Ta’s taking possession of the store, and his arrest for the alleged murder of Shen Te. Wang, who had a dream in which Shen Te told him that Shui Ta was keeping her captive, does not believe that she is dead. He pleads with the gods to return and help. The gods are distraught, having decided that Shen Te was the only worthy person they had found in their search. If Shen Te is gone, there is nothing left for them in the world. They argue about whether their laws are too strict, or the people of the world are too weak. Finally, the first god concludes that they must find Shen Te since her existence as “a human being who was good and stayed good” (97) justified the continued existence of the world. They disappear.

In a courtroom, all of Shen Te’s friends, workers, and the people of the village await Shui Ta’s trial, gossiping amongst themselves. They wonder if the law will hold such a well-connected and powerful man accountable. Mrs. Shin was spotted the previous evening bringing the gift of a fat goose into the judge’s kitchen. The old woman from the carpet shop states sadly, “Our poor Shen Te will never be found” (97). When the judges enter, they are the three gods in disguise, worrying that they will be discovered. They also allude to the goose, which they devoured the night before. Wang, recognizing the gods, pronounces that these new judges are “very good ones” (98). The policeman leads Shui Ta into the courtroom. Shui Ta sees the gods and immediately faints, surprising the crowd. The gods question Shui Ta, who denies the charges. First, the policeman speaks on Shui Ta’s behalf, calling him “a respectable and law-abiding citizen” (99).

The first god asks for other testimonies on Shui Ta’s behalf, and Mr. Shu Fu and Mrs. Mi Tzu step up. As Mr. Shu Fu begins to defend him, Wang exclaims, “You’re doing business with him!” (99). Mrs. Mi Tzu chimes in, explaining that Shui Ta is about to greatly improve the living conditions of his workers and also makes generous charitable donations. Then the first god asks for “less favorable evidence” (99). Wang, Lin To, the old couple from the carpet shop, the previously unemployed man in rags, the sister-in-law, and the young prostitute step forward. The policeman comments, “The scum of the neighborhood!” (99). They all begin to shout accusations at once that Shui Ta “exploited the helpless,” “lied,” “cheated,” and “murdered” (99). To these charges, Shui Ta replies, “I have simply enabled my cousin to exist, your honor. I only came when she was in danger of losing her little store. […] My cousin was popular; I did the dirty work. That’s why I’m hated” (100).

Those testifying against Shui Ta begin to complain. Shui Ta wouldn’t let them stay in the tobacco shop when they had nowhere to go. It was Shui Ta’s fault that the old couple lost their carpet store. Shui Ta defends his decisions—there was no room for everyone in the shop and he was doing as Shen Te wished by helping Sun. Shui Ta exclaims that although Sun “was a scoundrel” (100), he hired him to make him a better person because Shen Te loved him. Shui Ta admits that he handed Sun to Mrs. Mi Tzu because “she wouldn’t give [him] any of her buildings unless she had [Sun] to stroke her knees” (101). Mrs. Mi Tzu becomes offended and storms off. Sun interjects, announcing, “I must speak on his behalf!” (101). Those gathered grumble that Sun is “a slave-driver” and “absolutely depraved” (101). Sun exclaims that regardless of the other charges, Shui Ta is not a murderer because he heard Shen Te crying in the back room.

The first god is excited to learn that Shen Te is not dead and presses Sun to continue. Sun explains that he recognized her voice, to which Mr. Shu Fu responds, “Sure, you made her sob often enough!” (101). Sun exclaims that he also made Shen Te happy, but Shui Ta wanted to exchange her to Mr. Shu Fu for money. Shui Ta agrees but points out that Sun wanted her to betray her friends while Mr. Shu Fu wanted to help the poor, asserting, “I had to get her engaged to him so that she could still be good” (101). Wang asks why Shen Te couldn’t have just used Mr. Shu Fu’s blank check to be good instead of spending it on the factory, and Shui Ta asserts, “For the child’s sake!” (101). Lin To asks about the sake of his children, who were working in the factory in order to make money for Shen Te’s child. Wang reproaches, “The gods gave the store to Shen Te as a little fountain of goodness. She always wanted to do good and you always came and spoiled it” (102). Upset, Shui Ta cries, “Because otherwise the fountain would have dried up, fool!” (102).

Wang asks pointedly, “What good is a fountain if you can’t get at the water?” (102). Shui Ta argues, “Good deeds mean ruin!” (102). Wang replies that “bad deeds mean a good life, don’t they?” (102). Wang asserts that Shen Te was good. She wanted to testify for him when Mr. Shu Fu broke his hand, so Wang is testifying on her behalf. Shui Ta claims that he was Shen Te’s only friend, but when they all ask for her whereabouts, he tells them that he can’t tell them. They demand to know why she left and Shui Ta shouts, “Because you would have torn her to shreds!” (102). Suddenly, Shui Ta tells them that he will make a confession but only to the judges. Once the courtroom is cleared, Shui Ta reveals that he is actually Shen Te. Shen Te tells them that when you are good, everyone takes advantage and destroys you, asking, “Why is malice well-rewarded? Why do punishments await the good?” (103). The gods are horrified but thrilled to have found Shen Te.

They excuse her actions as Shui Ta as “a misunderstanding! Several unfortunate occurrences! Some heartless neighbors! An excess of zeal!” (104). The gods debate about whether they need to change their rules and expectation for the world, finally determining that everything is fine, and they are ready to return home. Shen Te begs them not to leave. She doesn’t know how she will face everyone who Shui Ta wronged. The first god says, “You can do it. Just be good and everything will turn out well” (105). The witnesses from the trial reenter, amazed to see that the judges are gods and to learn that Shen Te is back. Shen Te begs them not to leave her, and “stretches her arms to them in desperation” (106), but they disappear.

In the Epilogue, an actor “walks in front of the curtain and apologetically addresses the audience” (106). The actor says that they are sorry for the way the play ended and begs the audience not to be angry. The actor explains that they are also disappointed that the story did not resolve, but they are hoping that the audience will give their approval anyway. Then, the actor asks the audience how the play should have ended. Should the gods change the world, or does human nature need to be fixed? The actor questions, “How can we mortals be both good and rich?” (106). The actor tells the audience that they must think and come to a conclusion for themselves, then declares, “There must, there must, be some end that would fit. Ladies and gentlemen, help us look for it!” (106).