G.B.Shaw

Life force

Shaw believed in evolution, in existence as part of a continuing process which goes beyond individual gratification and corresponds to a superior design. He believed that individual will a striving (sforzo) are essential factors in achieving progress. Evolution is brought about by a force that is to be located within the individual and that responds to a universal design of progress. Divinity expresses itself in the individual, but no every individual is divine, not evey individual posesses the life force, that collective, historical force of will power that drives humanity on to more advanced states. Higgins and Eliza are expression of the Life Force

Ibsenism
Ibsen’s plays constituted a radical break with that fashion. Ibsen wanted to photograph society and people as they really were. He faced up problems as sex, incest and venereal diseases, the role of woman and marriage in society. His theatre was not celebrating the status quo, but denouncing bourgeois hypocrisy. Following these ideas Shaw introduces the drama o ideas, a drama which is based neither on the development of plot or character, but prinicipally on a dialectic debate of political, social and moral ideas.Shaw wants you laugh here and feel pain but his aim is to gret you to think and debate topics and issues

THE FABIANS were Socialists who believed in gradual rather than sudden revolutionary progress. This was achieved through education and parliamentary reforms
Pygmalion derives its name from the famous story in Ovid's Metamorphoses, in which Pygmalion, disgusted by the loose and shameful lives of the women of his era, decides to live alone and unmarried. With wondrous art, he creates a beautiful statue more perfect than any living woman. The more he looks upon her, the more deeply he falls in love with her, until he wishes that she were more than a statue. This statue is Galatea. Lovesick, Pygmalion goes to the temple of the goddess Venus and prays that she gives him a lover like his statue; Venus is touched by his love and brings Galatea to life. When Pygmalion returns from Venus' temple and kisses his statue, he is delighted to find that she is warm and soft to the touch--"The maiden felt the kisses, blushed and, lifting her timid eyes up to the light, saw the sky and her lover at the same time" (Frank Justus)
Myths such as this are fine enough when studied through the lens of centuries and the buffer of translations and editions, but what happens when one tries to translate such an allegory into Victorian England? That is just what George Bernard Shaw does in his version of the Pygmalion myth. In doing so, he exposes the inadequacy of myth and of romance in several ways. For one, he deliberately twists the myth so that the play does not conclude as euphorically or conveniently, hanging instead in unconventional ambiguity. His added noisome details keep the story grounded and decidedly less romantic. Finally, and most significantly, Shaw challenges the possibly insidious assumptions that come with the Pygmalion myth, forcing us to ask the following:
-Is the male artist the absolute and perfect being who has the power to create woman in the image of his desires?
-Is the woman necessarily the inferior subject who sees her lover as her sky?
-Can there only ever be sexual/romantic relations between a man and a woman? -----Does beauty reflect virtue?
-Does the artist love his creation, or merely the art that brought that creation into being?
In this way, he draws our attention to his own art, and to his ability to create, through the medium of speech, not only Pygmalion's Galatea, but Pygmalion himself. More powerful than Pygmalion, on top of building up his creations, Shaw can take them down as well by showing their faults and foibles. In this way, it is the playwright alone, and not some divine will, who breathes life into his characters. While Ovid's Pygmalion may be said to have idolized his Galatea, Shaw's relentless and humorous honesty humanizes these archetypes, and in the process brings drama and art itself to a more contemporarily relevant and human level.
Two important themes in Pygmalion that may be traced back to Shaw’s family history are his oedipal complex (casued by hatred of his drunken father, and a frustrated love for unaffecionate mother)and the frustratios and snobbishness deriving from a shabby-genteel upbringing. The first is reflected in Higgin’s lack of interest in young ladies and his love for his mother
Pygmalion old and new
1) P. hates women; Higgins is a convinced bachelor
2) P.and Higgins are both creators
3) Both protagonists create a woman from discouraging material
4) P. creates a statue whoch represents an ideally beautiful woman; Higgins teaches Eliza to talk and act like an automaton. This is a crucial difference because H. Gives Eliza the means(language) that can use to turn against him. Since articulate speech was traditionally associated with intelligence, Higgins gives Eliza the gift of intelligence that will cause Eliza to seek her indipendence from Higgins
5) Galatea comes to life in answer to P’s prayers and they marry , Elizacomes to life of her own freee will and will refuse to marry Higgins
Pygmalion is about the construction of social class through language .In this play ,language is seen from two different perspective. For Higgins, it is a way of demonstrating that the difference between classes is merely a question of education , while for his pupil , Eliza, at the beginning it rapresents a real possibility for social advancement. The socio-scientific experiment at the centre of the play, however, is not a real success. The scientist Higgins hasn't taken into account its consequences. Eliza's transformation, after which she cannot go back to her old life. She is now truly a lady, but having neither money nor the right family background, there is no place for her in high society. Yet at the same time she has become alienated from her own working-class community. She finally rebels against Higgins because she fels he has betrayed her hopes. Her initial aspirations have revealed the limited role women can play in society.
Characters
Higgins He is a spoilt baby. He plays with people and used all means to achieve his goal. He is extremely clever; his desire to improve Eliza’condition corresponds to Shaw’s political views because he wished to elevate everybody’s condition of life
Eliza She is about 20 and she is HONEST: this is the root of her fundamental aspiration: to become a middle-class citizen Shaw imparts a lesson that everybody can learn-social progress is possible through education. Higgins wants to change the world, Eliza to change herself

Mrs. Warren's Profession
Play in four acts by George Bernard Shaw, written in 1893 and published in 1898 but not performed until 1902 because of government censorship. The play's subject matter is organized prostitution.
Vivie Warren, a well-educated young woman, discovers that her mother has attained her present status and affluence by rising from poverty through prostitution and that she now has financial interests in several brothels throughout Europe. For years, an aristocratic friend of the family has been her partner. Vivie also discovers that the clergyman father of Frank, her suitor, had once been a client of her mother's.
Mrs. Warren states her position that poverty and a society which condones it are the true immorality. She asserts that life in a brothel is preferable to a life of grinding poverty as a factory worker. Vivie acknowledges her mother's courage in overcoming her past but rejects her continued involvement in prostitution. She severs her relationship with her mother, also rejecting Frank and the possibility of other suitors.
Apparire dunque significa essere? A questa domanda George Bernard Shaw, in riferimento a più di uno dei suoi capolavori, risponderebbe in maniera pirandelliana, che la necessità di sembrare quel che in realtà non si è, è dovuto ai rapporti con un tipo di società che non apprezza più le virtù, ma i vizi dovuti al benessere. La prostituzione, i matrimoni combinati , il facile guadagno sono fattori di una società malata che non apprezza più l'essere individuale: l'amore vero, i valori genuini, non esistono più, perché tutto è legato in qualche modo al denaro, la prima fonte per il quale l'uomo è disposto a tutto, anche a vendere il proprio io. Nelle sue commedie Shaw attacca in maniera dura e diretta il capitalismo inglese e i problemi connessi direttamente ad esso: la povertà , la prostituzione, l'emarginazione. E' utile a tal proposito prendere in esame la prefazione ad una delle sue famosissime opere "Mrs Warren's Profession":
L' "essere" che differenzia l'uno dall'altro, e tante volte "mascherato" dalle convenzioni del sistema, non ha in tutti i casi la passibilità di esprimersi a causa delle gerarchie sociali, talvolta insormontabili.Queste infatti tendono a favorire nella stragrande maggioranza chi non merita:chi "ha"; precludendo così ogni possibilità per chi invece ne è degno: chi "è". I problemi della Victorian age di Shaw non differiscono molto da quelli attuali. Ancora oggi si parla infatti di "raccomandati": crollano edifici, muoiono persone a causa di cure sbagliate: è solo il caso? Tante volte chi "sembra" purtroppo non è in realtà ciò che ci si aspetta: é opportuno allora l'aforisma di Shaw tratto dalla commedia Pygmalion:
... la differenza tra una signora e una fioraia non consiste nel modo in cui si comporta ma nel modo in cui viene trattata. I valori reali, quelli puri, non vanno cercati scalando i gradini della piramide sociale, ma dentro se stessi:l' "essere" di ogni uomo non deve poggiarsi sulle apparenze ma guardare oltre: una fioraia può così risultare una persona più "vera" e più "sana" di una, invece, benestante che forse non vale la pena neanche conoscere e imitare.
· L'opinione di Oscar Wilde
Mentre la critica di Shaw verso la società è una accusa diretta , altri autori per evitare censure cercano di giocare sul comico, genere fraintendibile e meno controllato, pur ottenendo lo stesso risultato : ammonire un mondo fatto di sole sembianze. Tra questi, l'autore che incarna meglio il ruolo è senza dubbio Oscar Wilde. Egli attraverso paradossi, malintesi, giochi di parole, fraintendimenti, sottolinea come la famiglia, l'amore, l'istruzione non siano altro che false verità, o meglio assurdità. Non esistono, ognuno pensa esclusivamente ai propri interessi di natura prettamente economica, svalutando al massimo ciò che conta in realtà: la vita. Cosi nella commedia " The importance of being Earnest", un nome può diventare più importante della persona stessa, può far innamorare e litigare, l'individualità al contrario non può che ridursi ad un ruolo marginale di passività e incompiutezza

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