Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1945.Reprinted 1957
Description
Drama. Fiction. HTML: Major Barbara is a 1905 play by George Bernard Shaw. Andrew Undershaft, a wealthy weapons trader, despises poverty believing "The greatest of our evils and the worst of our crimes is poverty ... our first duty, to which every other consideration should be sacrificed, is not to be poor". His daughter, Barbara, devotes herself to charity. When a shelter for the poor is at risk of closure due to lack of funds, the idealistic Barbara, a Major in the Salvation Army must reassess her beliefs and opinions about wealth, poverty and philanthropy..
User reviews
LibraryThing member subbobmail
Ah, George Bernard Shaw, master dramatist, winner of the Nobel, a playwright of endless wit and wisdom -- who is rarely staged these days, and who is probably known best as the guy who wrote the play from which came My Fair Lady. Why, in fifteen years covering theater around here, have I only seen
Major Barbara centers around a millionaire named Undershaft, a man who made his money through the sale of munitions. Who will inherit his business? Does anyone in his family want it? No, but everyone in the family wants his money. Too bad he is determined to hand the foundry over to a foundling.
The title character is Undershaft's daughter, who holds a rank in the Salvation Army. She struggles to raise up the poor by saving their souls. Undershaft argues that a job at the bomb factory would elevate a poor man much more efficiently. Blood money! shrieks the family. But there is no other kind, Undershaft replies.
The whole play was/is part of Shaw's campaign to prove that by far the most pernicious social evil is poverty, and that there's no point trying to eradicate the others without ending poverty first. Undershaft frankly says that he'd rather be a murderer than a beggar; that the world never changes until men are willing to kill for a cause; that the Salvation Army is a humbug, useful mainly as a way to keep the poor from killing the bosses; and many other shocking, hard-to-refute things.
Do yourself a favor, skip a sitcom and read Shaw instead. He's smarter and funnier, for he knew (though he did not like it) that his ideas would fall on deaf ears if he failed to amuse.
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one Shavian production? Probably because 1) Shaw's works are full of the play of ideas, 2) they tend to question the values of the middle class -- that is, the audience, and 3) his plays require many actors, expensive actors. So I must settle for reading the blasted things. Major Barbara centers around a millionaire named Undershaft, a man who made his money through the sale of munitions. Who will inherit his business? Does anyone in his family want it? No, but everyone in the family wants his money. Too bad he is determined to hand the foundry over to a foundling.
The title character is Undershaft's daughter, who holds a rank in the Salvation Army. She struggles to raise up the poor by saving their souls. Undershaft argues that a job at the bomb factory would elevate a poor man much more efficiently. Blood money! shrieks the family. But there is no other kind, Undershaft replies.
The whole play was/is part of Shaw's campaign to prove that by far the most pernicious social evil is poverty, and that there's no point trying to eradicate the others without ending poverty first. Undershaft frankly says that he'd rather be a murderer than a beggar; that the world never changes until men are willing to kill for a cause; that the Salvation Army is a humbug, useful mainly as a way to keep the poor from killing the bosses; and many other shocking, hard-to-refute things.
Do yourself a favor, skip a sitcom and read Shaw instead. He's smarter and funnier, for he knew (though he did not like it) that his ideas would fall on deaf ears if he failed to amuse.
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LibraryThing member A_Reader_of_Fictions
This is one weird play. None of the characters seem like real people and they are all obnoxious. The main theme is an interesting one: an argument betwixt right and wrong. Shaw points out that all money for organizations like the Salvation Army comes from the war-makers and booze-makers. What
George Bernard Shaw has a fairly recognizable style. The most noticeable aspect is his scene setup. He describes the scene down to every last detail. Where Shakespeare plays have exceedingly brief notes, Shaw goes on for a page or two any time there is a location change. I really have trouble imagining how the scene change in the middle of the third act would be accomplished, since two very precise sets would need to be made.
The other thing about Shaw that I noticed is that he is much like Wilde, only perhaps not so funny. Both Wilde and Shaw were born Irishman. Shaw moved to England as a young boy. Still, you can see his judgment of the English in his writing, which is why the characters are so irritating. Like Wilde, the humor in the story comes from the mocking of the English, particularly the upper crust.
Best line, which comes after Undershaft tells Barbara that he saved her from the seven deadly sins:
"Yes, the deadly seven. [Counting on his fingers.] Food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes, respectability and children."
And yes, I do love this largely because children are listed as a deadly sin. How hilarious is that?
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meaning does salvation have in this context? Also, how much does a salvation borne of starvation fed mean? It actually occurs to me that the dynamic between charity/morality and between industry/immorality is somewhat reminiscent of The Fountainhead.George Bernard Shaw has a fairly recognizable style. The most noticeable aspect is his scene setup. He describes the scene down to every last detail. Where Shakespeare plays have exceedingly brief notes, Shaw goes on for a page or two any time there is a location change. I really have trouble imagining how the scene change in the middle of the third act would be accomplished, since two very precise sets would need to be made.
The other thing about Shaw that I noticed is that he is much like Wilde, only perhaps not so funny. Both Wilde and Shaw were born Irishman. Shaw moved to England as a young boy. Still, you can see his judgment of the English in his writing, which is why the characters are so irritating. Like Wilde, the humor in the story comes from the mocking of the English, particularly the upper crust.
Best line, which comes after Undershaft tells Barbara that he saved her from the seven deadly sins:
"Yes, the deadly seven. [Counting on his fingers.] Food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes, respectability and children."
And yes, I do love this largely because children are listed as a deadly sin. How hilarious is that?
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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Wow is Shaw a master of putting a lot of provocative ideas in a short play. A young lady rejects society to try to save the bellies, livers, and souls of the poor - is she truly a good person? An arms manufacturer claims power over government to get them to make war so he can sell weapons to all
A line from the beginning that made me realize this polemic was going to be funny is spoken by the society matron, Barbara's mother, a strong & opinionated woman, Let snobbish people say what they please: Barbara shall marry, not the man they like, but the man *I* like."
And an exchange from the end that reminds me of Oscar Wilde, first Lady B. again, "[You] ought to know better than to go about saying that wrong things are true. What does it matter whether they are true if they are wrong?" The arms merchant retorts, "What does it matter whether they are wrong if they are true?"
What indeed? What is right? What is true? What is valuable? What do people need in this life, or in the hereafter? What is our duty to ourselves, to truth, to God, to our family, to our fellow man? Don't expect Shaw to tell you - he wants you to do the work to figure it out for yourself."
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who can pay - is he truly a bad person? Is the pragmatic matron or the idealistic professor more likely to hold sway over their own destinies? Or over the destinies of the others in the family? A line from the beginning that made me realize this polemic was going to be funny is spoken by the society matron, Barbara's mother, a strong & opinionated woman, Let snobbish people say what they please: Barbara shall marry, not the man they like, but the man *I* like."
And an exchange from the end that reminds me of Oscar Wilde, first Lady B. again, "[You] ought to know better than to go about saying that wrong things are true. What does it matter whether they are true if they are wrong?" The arms merchant retorts, "What does it matter whether they are wrong if they are true?"
What indeed? What is right? What is true? What is valuable? What do people need in this life, or in the hereafter? What is our duty to ourselves, to truth, to God, to our family, to our fellow man? Don't expect Shaw to tell you - he wants you to do the work to figure it out for yourself."
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LibraryThing member ponder
What a fantastic play. Although I expected not to enjoy this, I thoroughly loved it. It was funny and thought provoking. How I would love to know how his contemporaries reviewed the play to elicit such a long, defensive introduction.
LibraryThing member bookwoman247
Barbara, a major in the Salvation Army, is in the business of saving souls. Her father, a wealthy arms dealer, is in the business of war, death, and destruction. He sells weapons to anyone who wants them, without regard for the aims or ideals of the buyer.
The conflict between Barbara and her father
This play made me both laugh and think, which had to be exactly Shaw's intention.
The conflict between Barbara and her father
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is at the heart of this play, which addresses social and philosophical questions in a brilliant and witty manner.This play made me both laugh and think, which had to be exactly Shaw's intention.
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LibraryThing member IAmChrysanthemum
I feel like the genius of the play's ideas merits more than 2 stars; HOWEVER, this wasn't an enjoyable read. Far from it. From hopelessly trying to decipher the writing style Shaw uses to portray the dialect of the poor to struggling to determine what exactly Shaw was recommending, I found it
What I think Shaw is trying to say is that only through wealth can we eradicate poverty. Which, in the case of Undershaft using his munitions factory to outfit potentially oppressed peoples with weapons, is valid. It's also valid since Undershaft's factory complex is a mini-socialist utopia where all the needs of the workers are met. But in reality, I don't agree with this "solution" to poverty. Unfortunately, most wealthy people aren't intelligent and kindly Undershafts. Most rich business owners work selfishly for themselves and fail to protect the needs of the poor.
But then again, I may have completely missed the point of the play; I truly have no idea. Perhaps I would better appreciate this if I saw it staged. Then some of my problems--namely the unreadable dialect--would disappear. It's also rather funny in spots, and again, humor always translates better on stage.
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difficult to appreciate Major Barbara. What I think Shaw is trying to say is that only through wealth can we eradicate poverty. Which, in the case of Undershaft using his munitions factory to outfit potentially oppressed peoples with weapons, is valid. It's also valid since Undershaft's factory complex is a mini-socialist utopia where all the needs of the workers are met. But in reality, I don't agree with this "solution" to poverty. Unfortunately, most wealthy people aren't intelligent and kindly Undershafts. Most rich business owners work selfishly for themselves and fail to protect the needs of the poor.
But then again, I may have completely missed the point of the play; I truly have no idea. Perhaps I would better appreciate this if I saw it staged. Then some of my problems--namely the unreadable dialect--would disappear. It's also rather funny in spots, and again, humor always translates better on stage.
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LibraryThing member AliceAnna
A play that doesn't know whether it wants to be a light drawing-room comedy or a Greek tragedy. The juxtaposition of light and dark scenes just doesn't work.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Shaw tries to deal with the problem of non-establishment religion in this 1905 play. An arms manufacturer has a daughter who wishes to marry a student of Greek. The couple will need money to live on, and she has a post in the salvation Army, partly taken to make up for her father's poor reputation.
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Her suitor, is at first appalled but finally reconcilled to the family business, and comes to terms with it as a relatively honest trade in a worrld that does rely on force and capital to run. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1905 (performed)
1907 (printed)
Local notes
500
Other editions
Major Barbara by Bernard Shaw (Paper Book)