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III English drama from 1900 to 1950
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Life
 George
Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin on 26th July, 1856. His father, George Carr
Shaw, a corn miller, was an alcoholic and therefore there was very little
money to spend on George's education. George went to local schools but never
went to university and was largely self-taught. Shaw’s father, married
Shaw’s mother, Elizabeth Gurley, a woman much younger than he, on the
pretext that he was a solvent and sober member of the Irish Protestant
governing class. She was soon disillusioned, for he was poor at handling
money and even worse at handling his liquor. Genteel poverty was their lot
(though they had rich and noble relations), and Shaw was born the son of
what he called a “down-start,” one of those who were sliding down the social
scale. Fortunately, his mother’s genius on music and connoisseurship toward
art influenced and benefited Shaw greatly.
After working in an estate office in Dublin, during which
time he experienced for the first time the social problems as disparity
between the rich and the poor which provided him first hand sources for his
future drama creation, Shaw moved to London in March, 1876, following his
mother and two sisters, who had moved to London earlier. Shaw hoped to
become a writer and during the next seven years wrote five unsuccessful
novels. He was more successful with his journalism and contributed to
Pall Mall Gazette. Shaw got on well with the newspaper's campaigning
editor, William Stead, who attempted to use the power of the popular press
to obtain social reform.
In 1882 Shaw heard Henry George lecture on land
nationalization. This had a profound effect on Shaw and helped to develop
his ideas on
socialism. Shaw then joined the Social Democratic Federation
and its leader, H. H. Hyndman, introduced him to the works of Karl Marx.
Shaw was convinced by the economic theories in Das Kapital but held
the opinion that it would have little impact on the working class. Shaw
became an active member of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF). In May
1884 Shaw joined the Fabian Society, a socialist league. Shaw was also
influenced by other German philosophers and some philosophies like
existentialism. Though he was a socialist, his means of transforming the
social institution was not to lead a revolution and replace the old by the
new, but to reform gradually. Shaw’s political attitude and early
experiences helped him to pay more attention to social problems, for
instance, woman’s rights and social status, moral degeneration, people
pursuing financial profit, etc.
Widowers’ Houses (1892), Shaw’s first drama,
achieved attention from press though it was only performed in public twice.
The following works, like the Philanderer and Mrs. Warren’s
Profession (1898), together with Widowers’ houses, were called
unpleasant drama. The works accomplished in 1898 mentioned topics of women
and were unaccepted. Later on he compiled the former three with three
pleasant dramas like Arms and the Man (1894), Candida, the Man of
Destiny and You Never Can Tell (1899). The dramas at the end of the 19th
century also included the Devil’s Disciple (1897), Caesar and Cleopatra
(1901), and Captain Brassbound’s Conversion (1900). Shaw’s drama was
not very popular because of theatres’ calling for economic profits. New
works especially those ones which were possible to arouse dispute would not
accepted by agents of theatres who would like to be urged by attendance
rate. The first golden age for English drama in 20th century, as well as
Shaw was from 1904 to 1907. John Bull’s Other Island performed in
November 1st, 1904, made Shaw famous and popular. Major Barbara
(1905) also belonged to this phase. His later work Saint Joan (1923)
won him Nobel Prize in literature in 1925. He endowed premium for literary
communication between Switzerland and Britain. The last works included
The Apple Cart (1929), The Millionairess (1936), and Why She
Would Not (1950). The prolific dramatist died in November 2nd, 1950,
leaving the world with 51 dramas after his death
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