1. Examine the relationship between Stephen and his mother, Lady Britomart. Major Barbara begins with just Stephen and his mother on stage as they discuss the necessity for his father to give the children more financial help. The stage directions and dialogue make it apparent that Lady Britomart dominates Stephen through commands and complaints. By …
George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, essayist and critic, was born in Dublin in 1856. After an uneven education, he began work in a land agent’s office. He moved to London in 1876 and joined his mother and elder sister who had settled there in 1872. His political perspective was firmly socialist and was a leading …
It is only in the middle classes, Stephen, that people get into a state of dumb helpless horror when they find that there are wicked people in the world. In our class, we have to decide what is to be done with wicked people; and nothing should disturb our self-possession. Act I p. 56. …
Capitalism As the trader in arms, Undershaft epitomizes and embodies the influence of capitalism in Western society. Curiously for a play which questions this economic system, Undershaft is the most honest of the characters as he regales others in his views that poverty is the worse crime. This may be seen as a weakness in …
Arms Trade The arms trade is represented by the Undershaft cannon business and is initially criticized for being too powerful and for operating outside the law. It symbolizes capitalism in all its glory and violence as it certainly trades in death. As the play progresses, however, Undershaft and his business represent the more honest approach …
Adolphus Cusins (also referred to as Dolly) Cusins is betrothed to Barbara and is of Greek and Australian extraction. He is an intellectual and becomes involved in the Salvation Army through his love for her. Andrew Undershaft This is the father of Barbara, Sarah and Stephen and he runs the Undershaft cannon business. He is …
Summary Undershaft returns to the subject of inheritance and tries to tempt Cusins by quoting Plato to him. He asks if he will see Cusins at 6 am the following day (to start work) and Cusins says firmly his hours are from 11 am to 5 pm. Undershaft agrees to this and says before …
Summary A description of Perivale St Andrews is given, which is where the cannon works is based. It lies between two Middlesex hills and is an almost smokeless town of white walls, tall trees and domes. It is ‘beautifully situated and beautiful in itself.’ The foundry is described and Barbara is standing on …
Summary Act III begins the next day after lunch with Lady Britomart writing in the library in Wilton Crescent. Sarah is reading in the armchair and Barbara is on the settee ‘in ordinary fashionable dress, pale and brooding’. Lomax enters and notes with a start that Barbara is not wearing her uniform. Sarah …
Summary Price and Jenny come out from the shelter and she is carrying a tambourine full of coppers. Barbara also comes over and says how moved she was by Price’s confession. Jenny informs her that they have raised four and tenpence from those who listened to him and Barbara says if only he had …
