George bernard shaw

_(1856-1950)

George Bernand Shaw was born in Dublin in a middle class family. In 1876 he carne to London. After an unsuc­ cessful career as a novelist he wrote art, music and book criticism for several periodicals. In his articles on drama he protested against the artificiality of the London theatre which at that time was full of shallow sentimental plays. He demanded that theatres should perform plays dealing with contemporary social and moral problems and should rouse people, make them think and suffer.

He called the first cycle of his dramatic works- Wid­

ower's Houses (1892), The Philanderer (1893) and Mrs. Warren's Profession ( 1894)- Plays Unpleasant. They

were unfavourably received by the public because they

unmasked bourgeois respectability by exposing the true source of rich families' wealth. It were his witty comedies to which he gave the name Plays Pleasant- Arms and the Man (1894), The Man of Destiny (1895), etc.- that estab­ lished his popularity. In these, as well as in Caesar and Cleopatra, he destroyed romantic illusions about some historical personages and showed the true motives of human actions.

Shaw wrote over 50 plays including John Bull's Other Island (1904) and Saint Joan (1923). In the former he criti­ cized England's colonial policy in Ireland. In the latter he gave his own dramatic interpretation of the character of Joan of Arc, the national heroine of France, also called the

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Maid of Orleans, who fought against the Englishmen during the One Hundred Years' War. One of his best known works is the comedy Pygmalion ( 1913), later turned into a popular musical My Fair Lady.

His plays are, as a rule, based on paradoxical situations and dramatic discussions; they are full of brilliant witty

dialogues. A lot of his remarks have become well known aphorisms. Here are a few of them:

- Apessimisl? A man who thinks everybody as nasty as himself and hales them for il.

- A lifetime of happiness? No man alive could bear il; it would be

hell on earth.

- He who can, does, he who can't, leaches.

- The lest of a man's or woman's breeding is how they behave in a quarrel.

Shaw was always very active in political and social life of his country. In his younger years he joined several literary and political societies. Thus, he was a member of the Fabian society which advocated gradual reforms as a way of social reorganisation, opposed to immediate revolutionary action. In his numerous essays he set down his socialist and collectivist principles; he supported women's rights, abolition of private property and radical changes in the voting system.

He also stood for the simplification of spelling and punctuation and the reform of the English alphabet. Omis­ sion of the apostrophe in all contracted verb forms in his plays (cant for can't, youre for you're, whats for what's, etc.) is due to his hope to initiate these changes with his own writing.

Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1925.

WIDOWE 'S HOUSES

Widower's Houses revealed to the audience the fact that the prosperity of the upper classes was achieved by shamefully exploiting the poor Here, in his own words, Shaw destroyed the legend of the respectability of the bourgeoisie and disclosed the sordid origin of its wealth and power

Harry Trench, a not very rich young man of an aristoc­ ratic family, falls in love with Blanche Sartorius, a very riC'h heiress. Thev become engaged Trench learns that

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Sartorius has made his fortune with money taken from poor people. To those poor he rents brokendown dwellings which he owns in the slums of London. Trench becomes indign< nt at this way of rn< king a fortune. He leaves Blanche, be­ cause he does not want to participate in this criminal exploitation of the poor Sartorius, however, proves to Trench that his source of income is the same. He tells Trench that business cannot be ruled by morals. TrPnch, finally, acknowledges that Sartorius is right anu that he exploits the poor just as much as Sartorius.

This is an extract from Act II of Widower's Houses in which Sartorius tells Trench that the latter's source of

income is the same as his own:

... Sa r (or ius. ( ) As to my business, it is simply to provide homes suited to the small means of very roor people, who require roofs to sheller them just like other people. Do you suppose I can keep up those roofs for nothing?

Trench. Yes: !hats all very fine; but the point is, what sort of homes do you give them for their money? People must live SOITll'Wht'rt•. or els(' go lu jail. Advantage is taken of !hal to make lhern pay for houses !hal arc not fit for dogs. Why don! you build proper dwellings, and give fair value for the money you lake?

Sarlo r ius (pitying his innocence). My young friend: these poor

people do not know how to live in proper dwellings: they would wreck them in a week. You doubt me: try it for yourself. You arc W('lcome to repl: ce all the missing banisters. handrails, cistern lids and dustholl' tors at your own expense; and you will find them missing again in less than three days: burnt, sir, every stick of them. I do not blame lht' poor ere alures: they need fires, and ollen have no other way of gelling them Aut

I really cannot spend pounds in repairs for them to pull down. when I can barely gel them to pay me four and sixpence a week for a room, which 1s the recognized fair London rent. No, gentlemen: when people arc very poor, you cannot help them, no maltcr how much you may sympathize with them. It does them more harm than good in the long run. I prdl'r tu save my money in order to provide additional houses for the homeless. and to lay by a lillie lor Blanche. (He looks at them. Thy arc silent: Trench unconvinced, but talked down; Sartorius bends his brows; comes forward in his chair as if gathering hirnsell fur a spring; and addresses himself, with impressive significance, to Trench). And now, Dr Trench, may I ask what your income is derived from'

Trench (defiantly). From interest: nul from houses. My hands arc

clean as far as that goes. Interest on a mortgage.

SarI or ius (forcibly). Yes: a mortgage on my properly When I, to use your own words, screw, and bully, and drive these people to pay what

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they have freely indertaken to pay me, I cannot touch one penny of the money they give me until I have first paid you your seven hundred a year out of it. And yet, Dr. Trench, you, who have never done a hand's turn of work in connection with the place, you have not hesitated to speak con­ temptuously of me because I have applied my industry and forethought to

the management of our properly, and am maintaining it hy the same

honorable means.

Trench (dazed). Do you mean to say that I am just as bad as you

are?

Sartorius. II, when you say you are just as bad as I am, you mean

that you are just as powerless to alter the state of society, then you are unfortunately quite right...

The composition of this play is similar to that of the other plays written by Shaw. The plot is not very enter­ taining, the stage directions occupy at least a quarter of the printed comedy. However, the dialogue is brilliant, the turn it takes when Trench discovers that his income comes from the same source as that of Sartorius is a paradox in itself. It appears that slums are necessary both for the poor and for the rich: the poor cannot afford anything better, while the ruling classes receive rich incomes from these slums.

Among Shaw's many plays one ranks very high. This is Pygmalion.

PYGMALION

Pygmalion, written in 1912, is a story of a poor young girl, Eliza Doolittle, who sells flowers in the streets of London.

Eliza speaks bad English, with a terrible accent and

intonation that show her humble origin. Professor Higgins, a linguist and phonetician, by experimenting on Eliza,

wants to prove that he can teach a person to speak perfect English, in a short period of time. He achieves his aim and in a period of six months he teaches Eliza to speak such perfect English, that at a grand reception in high society she passes for an aristocrat. However, Higgins is not at all interested in Eliza's future. He has finished his experi­ ment and is no longer interested in what will happen to her He does not notice that she has fallen in love with him. It is only when Eliza leaves him, that Higgins understands how much she means to him.

The short dialogue from Act IV of Pygmalion shows the

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way Higgins treats Eliza after the aristocratic party at which she was a great success. He h<Js never thought of Eliza <JS a human being, therefore he is surprised <Jt her violent reaction.

Liz a (pulling herself loge/her in desperation). What am I fit for) What have you left me fit for) Where am I logo) What am I to do) Wh<ds to become of me)

Higgins (enlightened, but no/ at all impressed) Oh, thats whats worrying you, is it? (He thrusts his hands into his pockets, and walks about in his usual manner, rat/ling /he contents of his pockets, as if con descending to a trivial subfect out of pure kindness.) I shouldnl bother about it if I were you. I should imagine you wont have much difficulty in

sellling yourself somewhere or other, though I haunt quite realized thJt you were going away. (She looks quickly at him: he does not look a/ her but examines the dessert stand on the piano and decides that he will eat an apple.) You might marry, you know (He bites a large piece out of the apple and munches it noisily.) You see, Eliza, all men are not confirmed old bachelors like me and the Colonel. Most men arc the marryin!.! sort (poor devils!), and youre not badtooking. Its quite a pleasure to look Jt you sometimes- not now, of course, because yourc crying and looking as ugly as the very devil: but when youre all right and quite yourself, yourc what I should call attractive. That is, to the peorle in the marryin1"1nc you understand. You go to bed and have a good nice rest and then ct

and look at yourself the glass; and you wont fl'cl cheap

(Eliza again looks at him, speechless, and does not The look quite lost on him: he eats his apple with a dreamy expression of happiness. as it is quite a good one.

Higgins (a genial aflerthoughl occurrin[; to him) I daresay m mother could find some chap or other who would do very well

Liz a. We were above !hal at the corner of Toltenham Court l o; Higgins (waking up). What do you mean)

Liz a. l sold flowers. l didnl sell myself. Now youve made a lady of mr

I'm not fit so sell anything else. I wish youd left me where you found ml'

Pygmalion is a very humane play In it Shaw discloses his deep feelings for the common people, their hum<Jnism, the beauty of their inner qu<Jiities. He shows the absurdity of the opinion that good language, correct pronunci<Jtion, the right modulations of voice and intonation, can only be the attributes of people of high social, cultural and mor<JI standing.

Professor Higgins, the modern Pygmalion,* believes

• According- to a Greek myth. the sculptor Pygmalion created a beautiful statue of Galatea and fell in love with it. His great love brought the statue to life.

that he can create a new Eliza by teaching her good lan­ guage and manners. However, this is just one of Shaw's favourite devices; the paradox lies in the fact that Higgins only gives an' outer polish to Eliza, whose inner qualities have always been greater than the Professor's. Her indi­ viduality remains the same, but she is the one who awakens human feelings in the Professor's heart.

Language can be learned; the inner qualities of a per­ son do not depend on it. Eliza stresses this in the last sentence in the above dialogue.

Shaw's mastery of dialogue and the witty colloquial speech of his characters give a specially rich colouring to

the comedy. Pygmalion, as well as many of his other plays,

have often been staged in various countries of the world and are greatly appreciated by theatre-goers.

Shaw was awarded the Nobel prize in 1925.

I. What changes did Bernard Shaw introduce into the theatre of

England'

2. What arc the main questions raised by Shaw in his Widower's

Houses?

3. What is Pygmalion Jbout'