The Various Shades of George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
Mrs. Warren’s Profession
Possible Lines of Approach Shaw as a feminist writer Shaw as a socialist writer Shaw as a “new” dramatist Notes on Approaching Mrs. Warren’s Profession Shaw as a feminist writer Gender and identity Education, professionalization, and sexuality Marriage and familial duty Shaw as a socialist writer Shaw as a “new” dramatist Questions for Discussion Comparison/Context Questions
Possible Lines of Approach
Shaw lived to be almost one hundred, during a turbulent century (1856-1950) that experienced radical revisions to the practice of scientific inquiry, to the laws of evolution, to cosmology, to economics, to the status of women, and to the nature of warfare. His first play, Widowers’ Houses, was written when Queen Victoria occupied the throne; his last was a product of the atomic age, and he lived to see popular film adaptations of several of his works. He is the only writer to have been awarded both the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 1925) and an Oscar (for the 1938 screenplay of his play Pygmalion). Awkward and painfully shy as a young man, he deliberately refashioned himself as a brilliant debater, sought-after orator, and public intellectual. He served as a municipal politician, helped found the London School of Economics, campaigned for women’s suffrage and against vaccination, appeared before a Parliamentary committee on theatrical censorship, wrote about 250,000 letters, wooed countless women in print and in life, got married at 42 to a wealthy heiress with whom he probably never had sex, and founded a society for spelling reform in English. His plays are the products of an incisive mind and sharp wit grappling with the transition between the old world and the new, and the resulting mix of ideas and dramatic forms makes his plays difficult to slot comfortably into a single period; like the playwright who wrote them, they span the transition from the Victorian to the modern age.
Shaw as a feminist writer
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Mrs. Warren’s Profession
Possible Lines of Approach Shaw as a feminist writer Shaw as a socialist writer Shaw as a “new” dramatist Notes on Approaching Mrs. Warren’s Profession Shaw as a feminist writer Gender and identity Education, professionalization, and sexuality Marriage and familial duty Shaw as a socialist writer Shaw as a “new” dramatist Questions for Discussion Comparison/Context Questions
Possible Lines of Approach
Shaw lived to be almost one hundred, during a turbulent century (1856-1950) that experienced radical revisions to the practice of scientific inquiry, to the laws of evolution, to cosmology, to economics, to the status of women, and to the nature of warfare. His first play, Widowers’ Houses, was written when Queen Victoria occupied the throne; his last was a product of the atomic age, and he lived to see popular film adaptations of several of his works. He is the only writer to have been awarded both the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 1925) and an Oscar (for the 1938 screenplay of his play Pygmalion). Awkward and painfully shy as a young man, he deliberately refashioned himself as a brilliant debater, sought-after orator, and public intellectual. He served as a municipal politician, helped found the London School of Economics, campaigned for women’s suffrage and against vaccination, appeared before a Parliamentary committee on theatrical censorship, wrote about 250,000 letters, wooed countless women in print and in life, got married at 42 to a wealthy heiress with whom he probably never had sex, and founded a society for spelling reform in English. His plays are the products of an incisive mind and sharp wit grappling with the transition between the old world and the new, and the resulting mix of ideas and dramatic forms makes his plays difficult to slot comfortably into a single period; like the playwright who wrote them, they span the transition from the Victorian to the modern age.
Shaw as a feminist writer
•