2- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
The greatest among the modern dramatist
born and brought up in Ireland
but at the age of twenty in 1876 he left Ireland for good, and went to London to make his fortune
1- tried his hand at the novel, but he did not get any encouragement
2-he began to take part in debates of all sorts, and made his name as the greatest debater in England.
, became a Socialist
joined the Fabian Society which was responsible for creating the British Labour Party
a voracious reader
and came under the influence of Samuel Butler
believe in the Force
Two other writers who provoked the critical mind of Shaw
Ibsen, a Norwegian dramatist;
doctrine, 'Be Thyself
In his plays Ibsen had exposed sentimentality, romanticism and hypocrisy.
Friedrich Nietzche, a German philosopher
theory of the Superman who says 'Yea to Life
Shaw wrote his plays with the deliberate purpose of propaganda
." He prepared the minds of the audience by written prefaces to his plays which are far more
convincing than the plays themselves
All the plays of Shaw deal with some problem concerning modern society
Widower's House
House he put the blame on society, and not on the individual landlord for creating abuses of the right to property
Getting Married
he showed the unnaturalness of the home-life as at present constituted
In The Doctor Dilemma
he exposed the superstition that doctors are infallible
In John Bull's Other Island
the hero talks exactly like Shaw, and the Englishman represents the worst traits in English character.
Caesar and Cleopatra
has no particular theme, and that is why it comes nearer to being a play than most of Shaw's works.
In The Apple Cart
Shaw ridiculed the working of democratic form of government and hinted that it needed a superman to set things right.
It was in St. Joan
Shaw reached the highest level of his dramatic art by dealing in a tragic manner a universal theme involving grand emotions
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Oscar Wilde (1856-1900)
It was only during the last five years of his life that he turned his attention to writing for the stage.
had the tact of discovering the passing mood of the tome and expressing it gracefully
his plays are all superficial,
none of them adds to our knowledge or understanding of life.
his plays are hackneyed
borrowed from French plays of intrigue.
four important comedies of Wilde
Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest
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4- John Galsworthy (1867-1933
who besides being a novelist of the first rank, made his mark also in the field of drama
. He believed in the naturalistic technique both in the novel and drama
. Of course his delicate sympathies for the poor and unprivileged classes make his heart melt for them, and he takes sides with them
The important plays of Galsworthy
. Strike
deals with the problem of strikes, which are not only futile but do immense harm to both the parties. The Skin Game
presents the conflict between the old-established class.
Justice
is a severe criticism of the prison administration of that period.
The Sliver Box
deals with the old proverbs that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor.
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Harley Granville-Barker (1877-1946
, he occupies his place in modem drama mainly as a writer of four "realistic" plays
-The Marrying of Anne Leete (1899), The Voysey Inheritance (1905), Waste (1907) and The Madras House (1910).
Each of these plays deals with a dominant problem of social life.
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John Masefield(1878- 1967)
belonging to the same school as Galsworthy and Granville-Barker
He combines in himself high imagination and a sternly classical spirit; passionate enthusiasm and cold logic, fantasy and realism.
All these conflicting qualities are seen in his greatest play-The Tragedy of Nan,
which is the best modem example of the form of domestic tragedy.
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J.M. Barrie (1860-1937)
did not belong to any school of dramatists. The best of his work is marked by imaginative fantasy
humour and tender pathos
His most characteristic and original play is The Admirable Crichton (1902) a drawing-room comedy in which the family butler is the hero.
Three other plays,
Peter Pan, The Golden Bird and The Golden Age have the children story-book characters in them, who are brought to life by the writer's skill.
Barrie's last and most ambitious drama was The Boy David (1936) in which he has given a fine picture of the candid soul of boyhood
Barrie could not here effectively make use of the element of surprise; which is his strongest point in other plays.
He discovered that in an age of affectations and pretensions, the theatre-goers needed the sincerity and innocence of childhood, and he earned his popularity by giving them what they needed.
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Model Questions
1-G.b. Shaw died in
2-G.b. Shaw was born and brought up in………….