George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)

George Bernard Shaw Journalist

George Bernard Shaw Journalist, music critic

George Bernard Shaw Journalist, music critic Pamphleteer

George Bernard Shaw Journalist, music critic Pamphleteer Fabian society

George Bernard Shaw Journalist, music critic Pamphleteer Fabian society Intelligent Women’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism

George Bernard Shaw Journalist, music critic Pamphleteer Fabian society Intelligent Women’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism Marx + Darwin

George Bernard Shaw Journalist, music critic Pamphleteer Fabian society Intelligent Women’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism Marx + Darwin Co-founds London School of Economics

Dramatist, Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant

Prefaces; afterwords; appendices

Dramatist, Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant Prefaces; afterwords; appendices Print; layout

Dramatist, Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant Prefaces; afterwords; appendices Print; layout Ibsen campaign: The Quintessence of Ibsenism

Dramatist, Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant Prefaces; afterwords; appendices Print; layout Ibsen campaign: The Quintessence of Ibsenism Turning Ibsen into radical critic of society

Comedy Inversion and surprise

Comedy Inversion and surprise Oscar Wilde, aphorisms

Comedy Inversion and surprise Oscar Wilde, aphorisms Shaw as alternative dandy (hipster?)

Opening scene Character types: overbearing mother, fidgety son

Opening scene Character types: overbearing mother, fidgety son Taking words literally: “of course”

Opening scene Character types: overbearing mother, fidgety son Taking words literally: “of course” Advise masked as executive decision

Opening scene Character types: overbearing mother, fidgety son Taking words literally: “of course” Advise masked as executive decision Surprise: son knows little about family’s affair

Opening scene Character types: overbearing mother, fidgety son Taking words literally: “of course” Advise masked as executive decision Surprise: son knows little about family’s affair Inversion: son too young to begin matchmaking, even in his own case

Lady Britomart Articulating conventional view, taking it to an extreme

Lady Britomart Articulating conventional view, taking it to an extreme Wilde’s Lady Bracknell, Importance of Being Earnest

Lady Britomart Articulating conventional view, taking it to an extreme: Wilde’s Lady Bracknell, Importance of Being Earnest Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Magie Smith), in Downton Abbey

Obliviousness "she has developed a propensity to have her own way and order people about which quite cows me sometimes. It's not ladylike: I'm sure I don't know where she picked it up." (61)

Obliviousness "she has developed a propensity to have her own way and order people about which quite cows me sometimes. It's not ladylike: I'm sure I don't know where she picked it up." (61) Undershaft being unaware of his family. B: "This is your family." U: "Is it so large? I am sorry to say my memory is failing very badly in some things.”

Obliviousness "she has developed a propensity to have her own way and order people about which quite cows me sometimes. It's not ladylike: I'm sure I don't know where she picked it up." (61) Undershaft being unaware of his family. B: "This is your family." U: "Is it so large? I am sorry to say my memory is failing very badly in some things.” U: "Mr. Cusins: I am much indebted to you for explaining so precisely." 67

Comedy of Ideas "I, the dramatist whose business it is to shew the connexion between things that seem apart and unrelated in the haphazard order of events in real life, have contrived to make it known" (37)

Institutions Weapon’s manufacturer versus

Institutions Weapon’s manufacturer versus Salvation Army

Lady Britomart. "It is only in the middle classes, Stephen, that people get into a state of dumb helpless horror when they find that there are wicked people in the world. In our class, we have to decide what is to be done with wicked people; and nothing should disturb our self- possession." (56)

Military-industrial complex (Eisenhower)

Undershaft’s anti-hereditary system of succession Undershaft: "I am not one of those men who keep their morals and their business in water- tight compartments” (70)

Undershaft’s anti-hereditary system of succession Undershaft: "I am not one of those men who keep their morals and their business in water- tight compartments” The Voysey Inheritance: Mr. Voysey: "you must realize that money making is one thing, and religion another, and family-life a third."

Weapon manufacturing – Salvation Army

Act II+III: conflict between these two institutions

Weapon manufacturing – Salvation Army Act II+III: conflict between these two institutions and their interrelation

U's credo: Undershaft. Two things necessary for salvation. Cusins. [disappointed, but polite] ah, the Church Catechism, Charles Lomax also belongs to the Established Church. Undershaft. The two things are – Cusins. Baptism and – Undershaft. No. Money and gunpowder. Cusins. [surprised by interested] That is the general opinion of our governing classes. The novelty is in hearing any man confess it. Undershaft. Just so.

U's credo: Undershaft. Two things necessary for salvation. Cusins. [disappointed, but polite] ah, the Church Catechism, Charles Lomax also belongs to the Established Church. Undershaft. The two things are – Cusins. Baptism and – Undershaft. No. Money and gunpowder. Cusins. [surprised by interested] That is the general opinion of our governing classes. The novelty is in hearing any man confess it. Undershaft. Just so.

Undershaft... without enough of both [money and gunpowder] you cannot afford the others. Cusins. That is your religion? Undershaft. Yes. (93)

Undershaft... without enough of both [money and gunpowder] you cannot afford the others. Cusins. That is your religion? Undershaft. Yes. (93) Lady Britomart: "Really, Barbara, you go on as if religion were a pleasant subject. Do have some sense of propriety." (72)

Religion - Capitalism What the Salvation Army does for the poor: Cusins. It makes them sober – Undershaft. I prefer sober workmen. The profits are larger.

Religion - Capitalism What the Salvation Army does for the poor: Cusins – honest – Undershaft. Honest workmen are the most economical.

Religion - Capitalism What the Salvation Army does for the poor: Cusins – attached to their homes - Undershaft. So much the better: they will put up with anything sooner than change their shop.

Religion - Capitalism What the Salvation Army does for the poor: Cusins – happy - Undershaft. An invaluable safeguard against revolution.

Religion - Capitalism What the Salvation Army does for the poor: Cusins – unselfish - Undershaft. Indifferent to their own interests, which suits me exactly.

Religion - Capitalism What the Salvation Army does for the poor: Cusins – with their thoughts on heavenly things – Undershaft. And not on Trade Unionism nor Socialist. Excellent.

Undershaft. You are not bringing any capital into the concern. Cusins. What! No capital! Is my mastery of Greek no capital? Is my access to the subtlest thought, the loftiest poetry yet attained by humanity, no capital? Cusins. All power is spiritual.

Fabian Society Socialism, but not by revolutionary means (rather, by “evolution”).

Fabian Society Socialism, but not by revolutionary means (rather, by “evolution”). Distribution of ownership of production

Fabian Society Socialism, but not by revolutionary means (rather, by “evolution”). Distribution of ownership of production Reformism