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Take notes and make a presentation.

a. Work as a class or cooperate in groups to investigate these questions about about G. B. Shawand his times. Consult the following Documents and the reference sections (Context and Glossaryof Literary Terms).

b. Report back to the class or in new groups about what you have learned.

D1 The information in this documentdeals with G. B. Shaw’scampaign for spelling reformand his feelingswith regard to the Englishlanguage.

NOTEBOOK

RESEARCH DOCUMENTSGeorge Bernard Shaw

An example �of Shavianwriting. Translation: “All human beings are bornfree and equal in dignity and rights. They areendowed with reason and conscience and shouldact towards each other in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Shavian English

In the preface to Pygmalion Shaw wrote:“The English have no respect for their language,and will not teach their children to speak it. Theycannot spell it because they have nothing to spellit with but an old foreign alphabet of which onlythe consonants-and not all of them-have anyagreed speech value. Consequently no man canteach himself what it should sound like fromreading it; and it is impossible for an Englishmanto open his mouth without making some otherEnglishman despise him.”“During the last 60 years I have had to provide forpublication many millions of words, involving forme the manual labor of writing, and for the printerthe setting up in type, of tens of millions of letters, largely superfluous. To save myown time I have resorted to shorthand, in which the words are spelt phonetically,and the definite and indefinite articles, with all the prepositions, conjunctions andinterjections, as well as the auxiliary verbs, are not spelt at all, but indicated by dotsand ticks, circles or segments of circles, single strokes of the pen and the like.”

� The front cover of Androclesand the Lion, 1962, the only play of Shaw’s to be published in theUniversal Alphabet. Cover design by Germano Facetti.

Question 1. Why is the play called Pygmalion? What does the name refer to? Find out more.

Question 2. You have seen that Shaw wanted to awakenpeople’s consciences on various social issues through his art. But who were his literary influences and what were his political allegiances? What kind of personal thesison drama did he develop from his various influences?

Question 3. You may have noticed as you read the text of the play that Shaw’s spelling and punctuation is unusual. Find out more about why Shaw writes his plays in this unusual way.

0909_385_417_bz5:0909_Inglese 8-02-2011 11:01 Pagina 393

Deborah J. Ellis, Literature for Life © Loescher Editore, 2011

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394 Section 4 The First Part of the 20th Century

D2 Here you will find a selection fromGeorge BernardShaw’s writings on a range of issues.

The Theses of Shaw

Stalin and MussoliniShaw spoke favourably of both Joseph Stalin and Mussolini before the outbreak of World War II. They embodied the kind of will power and drive to action which Shaw so admired.

Shortly after a visit to Italy Shaw published a brief statement in “The Daily News” entitled Mussolini: a defence.

“the only visible difference is that the British Oligarch kicksconstitutional rights out of his way to secure the ascendancy of hisclass, whereas the Italian Dictator does it to get public business donediligently for the public benefit.”

According to Shaw the Italian people tolerated Il Duce because heserved the cause of national efficiency and not through fear of the blackshirts; the people, tired of parliament “feel the need for a strenuous tyranny, and think Mussolini the right sort of tyrant.”Later in February he argued:

“Some of the things Mussolini has done, and some of the things he isthreatening to do go further in the direction of socialism than theEnglish Labour Party could yet venture if they were in power.”

PacifismFrom a talk broadcast by the BBC on the eve of World War II:

“The pacifist movement against war takes as its charter the ancientdocument called The Sermon on the Mount. The sermon is a verymoving exhortation, and it gives you one first-rate tip, which is to dogood to those who despitefully use you and persecute you. I, who ama much hated man, have been doing that all my life, and I can assureyou that there is no better fun; whereas revenge and resentment makelife miserable and the avenger hateful.[…] The lesson we have to learn is that our dislike for a certain person,or even for the whole human race, does not give us any right to injureour fellow-creatures, however odious they may be.”

TheatreIn The Quintessence of Ibsenism, Shaw explains the kind of theatre he wants to achieve.

“the introduction of discussion and its development until it sooverspreads and interpenetrates the action that it finally assimilates it”

and again, in The Perfect Wagnerite,

“There is only one way of dramatizing an idea, and that is by puttingon stage a human being possessed by that idea, yet none the less ahuman being with all the human impulses which make him akin andinteresting to us.”

SocialismFrom The Intelligent Woman’sGuide to Socialism and Capitalism(1928):

“Equal distribution is then quitepossible and practicable, not onlymomentarily but permanently. It isalso simple and intelligible. It getsrid of all squabbling as to howmuch each person should have. Itis already in operation and familiarover great masses of humanbeings. And it has the tremendousadvantage of securing promotionby merit for the more capable.”

Creative evolution and thelife forceDarwin’s theory of evolution heldthat organisms evolved simplythrough mutation and adaptation to their natural environment.However Shaw believed in “creativeevolution” which held that allorganisms possessed a life force,a will power which drove them to improve themselves and gavemeaning to life.

In letter to Leo Tolstoy in 1909Shaw wrote:

“To me God does not yet exist; butthere is a creative force strugglingto evolve an executive organ ofgodlike knowledge and power; thatis, to achieve omnipotence andomniscience; and every man andwoman born is a fresh attempt toachieve this object. We are hereto help God, to do his work, toremedy his whole errors, to strivetowards Godhead ourselves.”

Feminism and women’s rightsFrom Freedom for Women (1891):

“Unless woman repudiates her womanliness, her duty to her husband, to herchildren, to society, to the law, and to everyone but herself, she cannotemancipate herself. It is false to say that woman is now directly the slave of man:she is the immediate slave of duty; and as man’s path to freedom is strewn withthe wreckage of the duties and ideals he has trampled on, so must hers be.”



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D3 This documentcontainsinformationon the sourcefor Pygmalion.

The Story of Pygmalion

Metamorphoses, written in AD 8 by the Roman poet Ovid, is a narrative poem infifteen books recounting the creation myth and the history of the world. The firstsentence of the poem outlines its major theme:

“I want to speak about bodies changed into new forms.”

Book X relates the story of Pygmalion, a sculptor from Cyprus who becomes sodisillusioned with women that he carves an image of his ideal woman from aflawless piece of ivory. He falls in love with his creation, dressing it in beautifulclothes, adorning it with precious jewels and even giving it a name, Galatea, whichmeans sleeping love. At the festival of Aphrodite he prays to the Gods that he mayfind a wife like his ivory virgin. Hearing his prayers, Aphrodite visits the sculptor’sstudio and flattered by the resemblance to herself, brings the statue to life. Onreturning home Pygmalion is overjoyed to find that Galatea is alive. The couplewed and their union is blessed by Aphrodite.

The Pre-Raphaelites artistEdward Burne-Jonesdepicted the Pygmalionmyth in a series of fourpaintings (1875-78).

� Edward Burne-Jones, fromPygmalion and the Imageseries, 1868-70, oil on canvas(private collection).

1. The Heart Desires shows theartist before setting to work onhis creation; 2. The Hand Refrains showsthe artist admiring his finishedwork; 3. The Godhead FiresAphrodite breathes life intothe statue; 4. The Soul Attains The artistworships his living creation. 1 2

3 4



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396 Section 4 The First Part of the 20th Century

D4 Document 4 givesinformation onShaw’s life, worksand interests.

G. B. Shaw, as he is often known, was a Dublin born playwright, essayist,critic and pamphleteer whose literary career spanned seventy years andwho was responsible for bringing significant reforms to the English speakingtheatre, including a new drama of ideas, at the turn of the century.

Shaw attended school in Dublin until he was sixteen, but shortlyafter this, in 1873, his mother left her husband, a failed merchant andalcoholic, to follow her music teacher and lover to England. Shaw wasobliged to work as a clerk in an office to help his father financially.However, two years later, in 1876, he left Ireland to join his mother inLondon where he set out to re-educate himself. He studied music, spentmany hours reading at the British Museum, became a teetotaller and avegetarian and began to take a serious interest in politics. In 1884 hejoined the left-wing Fabian Society which promoted gradual andpeaceful social reform.

Shaw first gained literary recognition as an astute arts critic whosestyle was accessible, intelligent and witty. This work led him to aparticular appreciation of the composer Richard Wagner (1813-83) and

the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906). In his essay, The Quintessence ofIbsenism (1891), he champions Ibsen’s realism and credits him with introducing theidea of discussion into plays. Shaw explained that in Ibsen’s theatre “we are notflattered spectators killing an idle hour” but “guilty creatures sitting at a play”. Inspiredby Ibsen and critical of the superficial state of the theatre he witnessed, Shaw turnedhis hand to writing plays (he had already written five unsuccessful novels) with the aimof spreading socialist ideas and unmasking middle class hypocrisies. His first playWidower’s Houses was staged in 1892 and this was followed by Mrs Warren’sProfession (1893), Arms and the Man (1894) and Candida (1894). He once said: “Everyplay, every preface I write conveys a message. I am the messenger boy of the new age.”An essential part of Shaw’s style and success was the combination of serious subjectmatter and his unique “Shavian” humour.

Shaw’s early plays, although well-received, were not performed often as they wereconsidered too experimental and not commercially viable. Shaw was very particularabout productions and the publishing of his plays which had to be reproduced exactlyas he wished. He wrote lengthy prefaces and detailed stage directions and often hischaracters had long speeches which argued their point of view requiring a new style ofacting and staging which many directors and actors found unworkable. However a youngdirector, Harley Granville Barker, saw the innovation and power of Shaw’s plays andproduced eleven of them between 1904 and 1907 at the intimate Court Theatre alongwith other new European works.

With the outbreak of war, Shaw took a pacifist and seemingly unpatriotic stanceand after writing some articles entitled Common Sense about the War (1914) he lostpopularity. In the 1920s he rebuilt his reputation becoming a celebrity in America andBritain, especially with his two most famous plays, Pygmalion (1912), named after themythological figure from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, and Saint Joan (1923).

He remained a respected public figure involved in politics, supporting the end ofdramatic censorship and the establishment of a subsidised national theatre. He wasparticularly interested in the idea of simplifying the English language and its writingsystem. On his death, at the age of 94, he left a fund to create a new phonemicalphabet but when this failed his money was divided between the three most importantinstitutions in his life, The National Gallery of Ireland, which had inspired him in the1870s, The British Museum and The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, all of which stillreceive money from the royalties of his plays.

George Bernard Shaw(1856-1950)

BIOGRAPHY

� George Bernard Shaw.

