Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Major Barbara
    Major Barbara
    Major Barbara
    Ebook150 pages

    Major Barbara

    By George Bernard Shaw

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "Major Barbara" by George Bernard Shaw is a compelling and thought-provoking play that grapples with the clash between idealism and pragmatism, wealth and poverty, and the moral complexities of the arms industry. Set in early 20th-century London, the play follows the lives of the Undershaft family, whose members are drawn into a compelling and often humorous exploration of their values and beliefs. The story revolves around Barbara Undershaft, a dedicated major in the Salvation Army, known for her passionate commitment to helping the poor and downtrodden. Her life takes a dramatic turn when she discovers that her estranged father, Andrew Undershaft, is a wealthy arms manufacturer with a thriving business.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInteractive Media
    Release dateAug 17, 2018
    ISBN9781787247789
    Author

    George Bernard Shaw

    George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was born into a lower-class family in Dublin, Ireland. During his childhood, he developed a love for the arts, especially music and literature. As a young man, he moved to London and found occasional work as a ghostwriter and pianist. Yet, his early literary career was littered with constant rejection. It wasn’t until 1885 that he’d find steady work as a journalist. He continued writing plays and had his first commercial success with Arms and the Man in 1894. This opened the door for other notable works like The Doctor's Dilemma and Caesar and Cleopatra.

    Read more from George Bernard Shaw

    Related to Major Barbara

    Related ebooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Stackpole Legend

      Mar 1, 2024

      The Stackpole Legend
      13 min read

    • Article

      In Defense Of The Harvest

      Nov 10, 2021

      I know what you will all be thinking. It is true that I was asked to write this story by members of the current government. A government pertaining of a few politicians, lawmakers, and others who are currently subject to public scrutiny as possibly b

      10 min read

    • Article

      Winning Letter

      Sep 30, 2022

      I’m a single mother who struggles financially to get through each month. When my washing machine broke I had no funds to repair it, so I asked my neighbours if I could do my washing at their place. On a Wednesday afternoon my bell rang. At the door w

      5 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 3, 2024

      Books
      16 min read

    • Article

      Q&A with Bonnie

      Apr 21, 2023

      ◗ Elizabeth Zott is a character we would all love to know or even become. Where did such a personality spring from? Fury! I started Lessons in Chemistry about seven years ago. I’d just come out of a meeting, irritated by some garden variety sexism, a

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Economics of Jane Austen

      Aug 3, 2014

      The Economics of Jane Austen
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Courage To Be Happy

      Feb 1, 2023

      MARRIAGE and columns have this in common: you tend to repeat yourself. More than once in these pages, I have quoted the New Yorker’s legendary film critic Pauline Kael. After President Nixon’s landslide victory in 1972 she wrote: ‘I live in a rather

      3 min read

    • Article

      “I Wore The Daily Mail Down By Still Being Here”

      Apr 25, 2021

      Broadcaster and presenter Sandi Toksvig might be the closest thing we have to lesbian royalty in the UK. As host of shows like QI and The Great British Bake Off, the 62-year-old has become a beloved household name, adored by millions. How different t

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Book of Loki

      Mar 12, 2018

      The Book of Loki
      20 min read

    • Article

      The Man Behind the Counter

      Mar 4, 2019

      The Man Behind the Counter
      8 min read

    • Article

      LeTteR BocKS

      Jun 24, 2021

      SCIENTISTS say that in the future, all meals will be in the form of a pill. Let’s hope they are right, and they don’t develop them in the form of a suppository. I think that would make dining out a most unpleasant experience. Umberto Coaltit, Hull YO

      13 min read

    • Article

      Letterbocks

      Apr 14, 2022

      letters@viz.co.uk □ “OUR HOUSE, in the middle of the street,” sang popular North London ska band Madness in the eighties. But I can’t imagine they were particularly popular with local residents if they had a house blocking the middle of the road. If

      9 min read

    • Article

      A Glass Of Bubbles With... ANNE BATLEY BURTON

      Jan 24, 2021

      The Real Housewives of Auckland star, Anne Batley Burton, is known for her hilarious one-liners, unmistakable laugh and endearing compassion for stray cats. The self-confessed party girl, who imports French Champagne and runs the New Zealand Cat Foun

      3 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Say

      Oct 7, 2022

      I magine a sticky, early August morning, around three o’clock. It is dark, the moon blocked by clouds, no streetlights, a siren in the distance, medics running to a heart attack. Imagine a man out on a bike or walking a sick dog, or maybe a woman who

      10 min read

    • Article

      An ocean OF LOVE

      Jun 27, 2023

      An ocean OF LOVE
      6 min read

    • Article

      An Ocean Of Love

      Aug 17, 2021

      An Ocean Of Love
      6 min read

    • Article

      G’day – And Goodbye

      Aug 25, 2021

      G’day – And Goodbye
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Five People You Meet In A Pandemic

      May 14, 2021

      The Five People You Meet In A Pandemic
      5 min read

    • Article

      Trying To Be Just And Pious In Crusader Kings III Part II

      Dec 29, 2020

      Quick recap: I’m trying to ignore the urges this game inspires in me and everybody else, and be lovely, kind, and noble at every possible opportunity; unless I catch anybody being in any way immoral, then they shall feel my pious wrath. After losing

      7 min read

    • Article

      Winning Letter

      Feb 23, 2024

      EACH week our team comes together to discuss and plan the magazine – from choosing which stories will go into the issue to sourcing images for each page and seeing everything through to the layout process. And week after week, story after story, the

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Major Barbara

    3.5/5

    155 ratings6 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      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 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.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 2/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      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 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?
    • 2/5
      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 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.
    • 5/5
      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 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."

    Book preview

    Major Barbara - George Bernard Shaw

    Trdbook_preview_excerpt.htmlZ[ܶ ;rRRFSɮh[vyRThnr,!Rs/y<܋9KpC}>C_ͅX;\5voJ_}ͳuο?h^XhspT>52lxuodCq}4aٗz}9/mwѶG.IG\q˛˫O_ϟ=ۏ'Yq~惹γ=mZ?yhݎ.=ּdlzcLȧf:1t6}bjW2M㲏R -N̅i-hʔۆ8ڢu&qt:_Ux+m44MU_ٸ3XpX|-m? Brmaj+Z:MEڍQp)OݚbJ3K0uma[57[mY< J{)^Y%ތ(Gt>F̱sǻ\suX lvĶOtӘ``PٍѵxE rwy}Wţ0X@!voX A yom(1ycl5ֈ# ],Ƞt[%ZC.!._l  f3΃/bkFDgFKOv5%vFXv4}o'l#b~2VMo}#͒]"lk -3!rl["zmOݯʻJ'V*v-/5~aЩ H.P0qpH~˜úPI1,n}%ѵebX!ߍ\C<)M0R;k % >@E'-.Bإ;8A>=Y'}M  mh}Hz>!| XXٚoUWӜ>1oh #0&>g,v'@-(8p{AabZ: FB)feZ Cj枹i^?=b]3soyb>Qwb=_tO't*sO4OI~٭̥ t$)LOUW>_j:0lu$%hcf=C .\ & s;{+忿 3D #a>AaʺwO̧+<z$I\^FbKwwxMMYSMFsD"[ZRaMGG| Ԉ?X<`Rq]i)5i4 %2,M]bU+,hᙇuzka=ɱwq<%pҩWf6L,anxb=*wioDzc& U~Έ Xȉ+%^AWD 9C?PFaO$QljDjn]0*cXU(CjaT?NKyS,xb?T.%',luV5E(>0KKHzO>6o 3g}ybWr 7RZP9m1!$pu `9F6ͨHW%;3 5}OKUfqZbw6͏~AK)lOB뉭kICtxݐ !l2$7d,HڧyTʥc`o&w;?8p~UAlr&7b7VSbdlmIuD.%`L)=UJ fقSИH빶Áb9}FAs`} ''V& Y0 (# >{c" `YY?Rks;* ɉAQiG3oi*`G8TA nC9Dhʴ?.m.+$>cQ *^xDqFOTr;FUYbQ$W j6j8KNtŴyhh&tV0W\p&,!a~)dV`rKw 4E6SRܯ.DVbN-<Al +0o>4a  gJ-S}}Exlo뿎߀^U^ )ÿe3EKh~@wk6Jpt9*7k /M@9raDAJ'r4/ ! j9ӈEc5]R!)/8 /BΪTkSũ[>.cӧ,0 Frp۸0$2¾ ElaK*^rXp fJtpDQa9l} -B5vED=H6H*G@Jl?C-o6 LiEV갠Jr M| XDt6 %mmw[!wQMCk( JL6;!EkfP)o?#KX:-ZLaE |ppa=N敽/#thA=8G'lKyv?`VCG؜iފY'mZUr?#1G莧^xJ$|@x!0Uhh8SPI#/⒨u?蓏Hk!KIʜt'W`"r/ȽsGUT=jgVz;Rt0׎4N#w^w;*Ķ8o|kYˠ5*ɾX4c(;CG)0hnX&̤Cj7ygJ,LP4P' 4&Mf +N!Fij8z}9(di0mXN ;ϋGcC( 2?A KqfYʌvل;GQ1oC2tT;aGʓ oҞCiP6$QoR2n^TA)_jrv);^JArebWs$|j5?] zIcV&+/-rٽ["?d|'(|Y5iIdrZ-]ZpRȟQ;8E)jMf:%*Zs/q?W_I!`;* )^aTI[[L:uN;6:di[/`3#4ot-Y,0O$aI$WgӬ2&Y3)P8[{`s/0-82<3F{ yCUCFBέJSXb*\30)t%~ {@el)/I'Yir"`u顰Hn]goe ƏLpP8` {3 U==1g_Ri"x͢ݘ k8ҩi姬o~\HV<9CMeQl\u+#ۅ%&EqsɁp2>IrxҠlmROY?90IWPlÕZTT<:*_vq?DŽ%
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1