BERNARD SHAW

As Art ist-Philosopher :An

Exposit ion of S hav ian ism

By Renée M . D eacon

NEW YOR$

JOHN LANE COMPANY

MCM$

Copyright, 1910, by

$ 0LA27 1 3 7 3

Con ten ts

The Choice o f ComedyDramatic Consc iousness

B ernard Shaw and the WorldThe Function o f B ernardShaw

Word was in my heart as a burn ing fi re

shut up my bones, and I was weary withforbearing , and I could not s tay.

Chap ter I

D ramatic Theory

BERNARD SHAW, with eminentlych aracteri sti c generos i ty , has given us

several important clues todramatic theory .

These shou ld be care fully studi ed by any

one who Wi she s to understand h i s Vi ewson dramati c art.In th e Pre face to the Pl eas ant Plays heenunci ates the law o f confl i ct . Unity,however des irab le in pol iti c a l agitat ions , i sfata l to drama , s ince every drama must b ethe arti sti c presentation o f a confl i ct . Theend may b e recon c i l iat ion or destruct ion ;or, a s in l i fe i tsel f, there may be no end ;but the confl i ct i s indispensable : no confl ict , no drama .

”

The dramati c value o f confl i ct i s su

preme , becaus e confl i ct, more than anyother state , exposes cha racter . Browningwas fond o f selecting for delineation testmoments ,” or cri ses in the l ives o f h is

9

Bern ard Shaw

ch aracters , s ince he h eld tha t thes e moments most truly revea led the men andwomen o f whom he wrote . But a testmoment can supply only the cl imax o f adrama . Susta ined dramati c writing demands

,b es ides these cri ses , s teady and con

t inuous confl i ct and interplay of characte rand emotion . I t a rgues a weakness inBrown ing’s dramati c gen ius that he so frequently i solated these tes t moments fromthe i r normal s etting in the l ives o f h i scharacters . Nevertheless , the idea wh i chlay at th e root o f th i s emphasis o f the tes tmoment, namely, the supreme va lu e o fconfl i ct in th e expos ition o f character, wasa tru e one .We will select fi rst for consi deration con

fl iet o f a rather extreme type that foundin The Devi l ’s D isciple . By means o f thi sconfl i ct the cha racters o f Judith , Dick andAnderson are wholly revealed in l es s thantwo (dramatic) days . Discoveries aremade in that short space o f time whichwould have demanded the slow revelationo f months or yea rs in the ordinary courseo f events .

1 0

Dramatic Theo ryHerein , then , l i es the dramatic va lue o f

confl i ct in the rap id and complete expositiou o f character . The more acute theconfl i ct, the more rap id and complete i sthe revelation .

The resu lt i s a mani fold surpri s e for allconcerned . The n e ’er-do-weel , Ri chard ,finds himsel f sacr ific ing his own l i fe to saveanother man . When called Upon to supplya reason for hi s action , he finds h imsel f ata loss . What I did last n ight,” he tell sJudith , I did in cold blood , caring nothal f so much for your husband , or for youa s I do for mysel f. I had no motive andno interest : a ll I can tell you i s tha t wheni t came to the point whether I would takemy neck out o f the noose and put anotherman ’s into i t, I could not do i t . I don ’ tknow why not : I see mysel f as a fool formy pa in s ; but I could not and I cannot . ”

Anthony Anderson , the Presbyter i anmin i ster, finds h imsel f a lso in a contradic

tory pos ition . I thought mysel f a decentmini ste r o f the gospel o f peace ; but whenthe hour o f trial came to me, I found thati t was my destiny to be a man of action ,

I I

Bern ard Shaw

and that my place was amid the thundero f the capta ins and the shouting .

”

The test o f Judith is o f a d ifferentnature . One conce ives o f her, a fter i t i sover, as o f a woman for whom a ll mora lvalues a re alter ed . For her, a s for so

many in the late n ineteenth and even in theearly twenti eth century, names and labelshad usurped the place o f the sp iri t wh i chthey were intended to s ign i fy. A man wase ither a good or a bad man , according as

h e subscrib ed or did not subscribe tocurrent mora l conventions . I t n eve roccurred to her to test these conventi onsby the s ide o f the h ighest mora l conceptions known to her soul . Suddenly she i sbrought face to face with the Devi l ’s D isciple (whom , in accordance with her code ,she has consci ent iously hated and dreaded)in the act o f sacrific ing h i s l i fe to save herhusband .

The resu lt i s two fold . Firs t 0 k ingo f paradoxes $— she finds hersel f in lovewith th is man , for one moment o f b l indintox i cation with the hero ism o f the new

l i fe that i s in h im . And when th i s i s over,1 2

D ramatic Theoryand the la st agony o f the gallows ha s become l ike the memory of a fea rfuldream

,one conce ives o f her, as I have sa id ,

in the qui et possess ion o f these new va lues ,these strange interpretations o f th e th ings ofthe soul .The confl i ct in The Devi l ’s Di sciple i s ,as we have seen , a violent one . A moresubtle examp l e o f th e dramat i c valu e o fconfl i ct i s afforded by Caesar and Cleopatra .At the open ing o f the play, Cleopatra i sa spo i l t kitten , wont to encourage everywhim , yet in abj ect submiss ion to herNurse Ftatateeta, who rules the $ ueen ’sHousehold with a rod o f i ron . At the endo f the play she i s a woman , who acts forgood or evi l on h er own ini ti ative, andpursues her a ims without mercy .

$ Cleopatra ,” s ays Pothinus , you arechangedfi

’

Do you speak with Cazsar every dayfor s ix months ,” she returns , and you willb e changed . And she cont inues : WhenI was fool i sh , I did what I l iked

,except

when Ftatateeta beat me ; and even then I

cheated her and did i t by stealth . Now1 3

Bern ard Shaw

that Caesa r has made me wi se , i t i s no usemy l iking or di sl iking : I do what must bedon e , and have no time to attend to mysel f.That i s not happ iness ; but i t i s greatness .In thi s p lay chara cter, and the confl i ct o fcharacter direct events , wherea s in Th eDevi l ’ s Disciple confl i ct o f events revealscharacter .We may take as a second great princ iple

o f dramati c th eory that given in the superbPre face to Man and Superman : i t may bebri efly summar iz ed a s the repudiation o fthe absolute point o f Vi ew . B ernard Shawsays of hi s cha racters : $ They are all rightfrom thei r severa l points o f Vi ew ; and the i rpo ints o f vi ew are , for the dramatic moment, mine also . This may puzz le thepeople who bel i eve that th ere i s su ch ath ing as an ab solutely r ight point o f Vi ew,

usually the ir own . I t may seem to themthat nobody who doub ts th i s can b e in astate o f grace . However that may be , i t iscerta inly true tha t nobody who agrees withthem can possibly b e a dramatist

,or indeed

anyth ing else that turns upon a knowledgeo f mank ind .

”

I4

D ramati c Theo ryDuring the period o f d ramati c creation

the dramati st b ecomes i dentified with eachof h i s characters in tu rn .

‘ As they a re,so

i s he . The grea ter th e dramat i st, the morefully th i s identification b ecomes possib le .Thus a lso i t comes about tha t th e philosopher-dramati st exerci s es the m ost god-l ikeo f all a rt-funct ions , because s ince he cancomprehend the l ives and purposes o fm any men , he must b e h imsel f e ither as

grea t or greater than any o f them , and his

understanding o f the univers e above and

b eyond th eirs . He is -Superman ,$ tha twh ich i s beyond man , and greater. Thata lways s eems to me a curious obj ection ,wh i ch G . $ . Chesterton has made to B ern ard Shaw, to the cflect tha t he does notrepresent mankind . In a ll consc i ence ,h ave we not $ mankin d enough $ Andto what h as i t b rought u s , th i s mass o f automat ical ly working, l iving, loving , nonth inking human i ty $ To a soci a l o rderwh i ch renders the name o f civi l ization 3

It shou ld be c lear ly un ders t ood, howev er , that the phi losoph er -d ramati s t s hith er to hav e been

$acciden tal Supermen

”

an d n ot The Superman as an t icipat ed in the Appendix to

Man and Superman .

I S

Bern ard Shaw

m ockery and a shame . Let us welcomea genius who can ofler us someth ing morethan common humani ty i s able to do .

I have just sta ted that we may say o f the'

Shav i an charact ers in r ela tion to B erna rdShaw h ims el f that , for the dramati c mo

ment,” as they are so i s h e . I t wi ll be seen .

tha t the proposition i s equally t rue wh enreversed . As h e i s , so they§are.

” In thePre fa ce to The S an ity of Art he gives ush i s clue to his cha ra cters.

$ As a dram at ist I have no clue to any h i s tori ca l or otherpersonage save that part o f h im wh i ch i sa lso mysel f, and wh i ch may be n ine-tenth so f h im or n inety-n ine hundredths, as thecase may b e (i f, indeed , I do not transcendth e creatu re ), bu t wh i ch , anyhow, i s all

tha t can ever come with in my knowledge o fhi s soul .”

I t i s mos t interesting to cons ider th eShavi an po rtra its from thi s standpoint .Taking into a ccount the plays publ i sh edup to the tim e of writing

,Tanner

,Caesa r,

and Andrew Undersha ft reveal the Shav i anm ind in the greatest degree . I do not meanfor one moment that the resemblance i s an

1 6

Dramatic Theo rya ffa i r o f outward fact . But, in the case ofTanner for instan ce, the mould in whichthe man i s cast i s essenti ally Shavi an : theTanneresque method o f grappling with l i feat close quarters , un sparing o f strength andenergy : o f thinking o f other people ’ s ne

cessit ies instead o f h i s own or anybodyelse ’s $ con founded princip les ,” i s eminently characteri sti c o f Mr . Shaw himsel f.In the Pre face to Man and Superman i t

i s stated that Phi losoph ica lly , D on Juani s a man gi fted enough to be exceptionally capable of distingu ish ing between goodand evi l . This po int must b e dwelt on ,

because i t follows from i t tha t Tanner(who i s the phi losoph i c D on Juan ) i s aninca rnate challenge to the current standardso f l i fe and morali ty . That any advance inmorals must be preceded by such a challengei s made clear in The Sanity o f Art Everystep in moral s i s made by challenging theval idi ty o f the exist ing conception o f perfeet propriety o f conduct. ”Finally, a last quotation from Man and

Superman will i llustrate supremely the prec ise qual ity o f the Shavian temper . Thus

8 I 7

Bern ard Shaw

Don Juan , bored to extinction in hell : I

tel l you that a s long as I can conce ive someth ing better than mysel f I cannot b e ea syun less I am striving to bring it into existence or clearing the way for it . That i sthe law o f my l i fe . That i s . the workingwithin me o f Li fe ’ s incessant asp irationto higher organ ization

,wider, deeper , in

ten ser sel f-con sc iousness,and clea rer sel f

understanding .

”

Andrew Undersha ft, a lthough on thesurface a very d ifferent person from Tan

ner , i llustrates the Shav i an mind in muchthe

‘

same way . They ar e at one, for example, on the question o f the fa ll ib i l ity o fcommon j udgment a s regards r ight andwrong . In a delightfu l passage , LadyBritomart discusses with her son her husband ’ s weakness in th i s respect

I rea lly cannot bear an immoral man .

I am not a Phari see, I hOpe ; and I shouldnot have minded h i s merely doing wrongth ings : we are none of us perfect . Butyour father didn ’ t exactly do wrong thingshe sa id them and thought them : tha t waswhat was so dreadful . You would all

18

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard ShawYou are pleased to be facetious . I pretend to nothing more than any honorab le English gent leman

c laim s as his birth right . [He sits down angrily ]Tanner, Cze sar , and Undersha ft are a ll

a l ike in one respect they regard themselves a s in struments of the Li fe Force , or,to use an older phrase , o f the Div ine Will .They exist, not for persona l ends ambition , happiness , and the l ike but to fulfila purpose which i s infinitely greater thanthese . Th i s point o f Vi ew is essentia llyShavian . So in the Pre face to Man and

Superman :$ Th i s i s the true joy in l i fe ,

the b eing used for a purpose recogn i z ed byyoursel f a s a mighty one ; the being thoroughly worn out b e fore you are thrown on

the scrap heap , the b eing a force o f Natureinstea d o f a feveri sh selfish l ittl e clod of

a i lments and grievances compla in ing thatth e world wi ll not devote itsel f to makingyou happy . And also the on ly real tragedyin l i fe i s the be ing used by personallyminded men for purposes which you recogn i z e to b e base .”

Andrew U ndershaft’

s parti cular methodo f fulfil l ing the purpose o f the Li fe Force

20

Dramatic Theo ryi s th e direction o f the cannon foundrythe Undersha ft inheri tance . ” He does

not regard th i s busin ess a s h i s own possess i on with which he may do as he pleases : hei s rather possessed by it .LADY BRITOMAR’

I‘

: To think o f all that [ indicat ing the town ] being yours $ and that you havekept it to yoursel f al l these years $UNDERSHAFT : It does not belong to m e. I be long

to it . I t is the Undershaft inheritance .

Aga in,when Undersha ft says tha t i f

Cusin s succeeds to the foundry he mustkeep the true fa ith o f an Armorer ,” th ati s,

$ to give arms to a ll men who offer anhones t p ri ce for them , without respect o fpersons or prin ciples : the following con

versation en suesCUS IN S : I shal l sel l cannons to whom I please and

refuse them to whom I p lease. S o there $UNDERSHAFT : From the moment when you become

Andrew Undershaft , you wi l l never do as you pleaseagain . Don ’t come here lusting for power , young man .

CUS IN S : I f power were my aim I should not

come here for it . You have no power.UNDERSHAFT : None of my own , certain ly.

CUS IN S : I have more power than you, more w il l .You do not drive this p lace : it drives you. And

what drives the p lace $2 1

Bern ard ShawUNDERSHAFT [en igmatical ly ] : A w i l l of which I

am a part .The same princip le that o f fulfi ll ing

the purpose o f the Li fe Force an imatesCaesa r ’s l i fe . The grea t lesson which Cleopatra learns from h im is that she must do ,not what she l ikes , but what must b edone .” $ Now that Cn sar has made mewise , she says , $ i t i s no use my l iking or

di sl iking : I do wha t must b e done .That i s not happiness ; but i t i s greatness .Caesa r does not make cla ims upon l i fe

he recogn izes instead that l i fe lays cla im tohim . He gives utterance to th i s i dea in acharacteri st i c speechRUFIO : Caesar : I am loth to let you go to Rome

w ithout your sh ie ld. There are too many daggersthere.

CE SAR : It matters not : I shal l fin ish my l i fe ’

s

work on my way back ; and then I shal l have livedlong enough .

The same point i s very str ik ingly exemplified towards the close o f Man andSuperman .

TANNER : We do the world’

s w il l , not our own .

I have a fright ful feel ing that I shal l let mysel f be2 2

Dramatic Theo rymarried because it is the world ’

s w i l l that you shouldhave a husband.

The idea wh i ch underl i es a l l these passages i s magn ificen t ly summed up inAct III o f Man and SupermanDON JUAN : I te l l you, gent lemen ,

if you can shew

a man a p iece o f what he now cal ls God’

s work to do,and what he w il l later on cal l by many new names ,

you can make him entirely reckless o f the conse

quences to h imsel f personal ly.In the Pre face to Three Plays for Pur i

tans,Bernard Shaw works out the thes i s

that $ there can be no new drama withouta new philosophy .

” He po ints out tha tthe wri ting o f practi cab le stage plays does

not present an infinite scope to humantalent : the summit o f dramati c art $ hasbeen atta ined aga in and aga in .

” He citesLear (tragedy), Peer Gyn t (comedy),Don Giovann i (opera ), the N iblung

’

s Ring(musi c drama ) in proof o f th is . Then inone sentence he reaches th e heart o f theproblem :

$ I t i s the philosophy,the out

look On l i fe, that changes , not the cra ft o fthe playwright .

”

I f men find themselves in oppos i tion to23

Bern ard Shaw

the conceptions and idea ls o f l i fe and conduct

,wh i ch preva il in the i r generation ,

they must, i f they write plays, write themin terms o f thei r own phi losophy .

” Forth i s reason there can be no new dramawithout a new ph ilosophy .

”

Aga in , a modern author cannot hope tosurpas s th e art o f Shakespear . What hecan hope to do , i s to say someth ing whichShakespea r d id not say : something wh i ch ,l ike Caesa r, was not in Shakespear, nor inthe epoch , now fast waning, wh i ch in

augurated.

”

24

Chap ter II

The Revolt Again s t

Rom ance

SHAW speaks o f Romance as the grea theresy to be swept from Art and Li fe .I t should be noted , however, that the wordRomance as used by h im in thi s connectionmay be properly understood to mean thedegeneration o f the Romantic i dea .For o f the strangen ess and the b eauty

and the wonder o f Romance l i fe 18 indeedfull, and o f it Bernard Shaw takes amplea ccount in h is plays . But he will havenoth ing to do with the false glamour whichi s ca st over art and love by romance becomedegenerate . His plays from th is po int o fVi ew may b e regarded as one continuousprotest aga inst the romanti c vi ew o f love,culminating in Man and Superman . Shaw ’ spoint o f view is above all th ings analyti c .He i s in the world but not o f i t . He has

Bern ard Shaw

a godlike immunity from its preoccupationwith itsel f : hence h i s a tt i tude towards lovei s di spass ionate, a lthough hi s treatmen t o fi t n ever la cks pass ion . He refuses , l ikeTanner in Man and Superman , to b e e itherthe slave o f love or its dupe .It i s a great falla cy to in fer from what

has j ust been sa id that Bernard Shaw bel i ttles love . On the con trary, he places i tfa r higher in the un iversa l sch eme than dothose who pro fess themselves i ts mostardent advocates . How do you know ,

”

says Don Juan , tha t love i s not thegreatest o f a ll the relations $ far too grea tto be a persona l matter Man and Superman i llustrates thi s theme . Love betweenthe sexes , cons idered from the external andanalyti c po in t o f Vi ew, i s Nature

’s devicefor the fulfi lmen t o f her great purposethe continuance o f the race . The man and

woman are merely her agents . They areprompted and in sp i red by the Divine Will ,or as Shaw would call i t, the Li fe Force , toends far tran scending thei r own persona lplea sure . Valentine describ es the pos itiono f the lovers admirab ly in You Never Can

2 6

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

woma '

n a lways takes the 1n 1t 1at 1ve. In h i sproblem p lays and his popular plays a likethe love interest i s the interest o f see ingthe woman hunt the man down . She maydo i t by blandi shment, l ike Rosal ind , o r bystra tagem , l ike Mariana ; but in every ca sethe relati on between the woman and theman is the same : she i s the pursuer and

con tr iver, he the pursued and disposedo f.”

For the woman ’ s j ustification , we mustlook to the closing scene o f Man andSuperman .

TANNER : [seiz ing her in his arms] : I love you.

The Li fe Force en chants m e : I have the wholeworld in my arm s when I clasp you . But I am

fighting for my freedom ,for my honor, for my se l f,

one and indivisib le .

ANN : Your happiness w ill be worth them all .

TANNER : You would se l l freedom and honor andsel f for happ iness $ANN : It w i l l not be all happ iness for me . Per

haps death .

To further the purpose o f the Li fe Forcewoman takes the supreme ri sk . She puts

$ Man and Superman : Preface, p. xvi.28

Revo l t Again s t Roman ce

her own l i fe to the hazard , that she maycreate another l i fe .Bernard Shaw has twi ce analysed thecri ti ca l moment in the love encounter themoment when the Li fe Force gain s i tspoint, so to speak . These two accounts aremarvellously deta i l ed and minute ; theyoccur in You Never Can Tell (end of

Act II) and in Man and Superman (end o fAct IV).

The ch i e f point to notice about the cri seswhich are here ana lysed i s that the woman ’ smomen t o f weakn ess i s the man ’s momento f strength . Throughout the man may bevacil lat ing, reluctan t, uncerta in o f h i s goalthe woman determined

,s ingle o f purpose

,

un faltering in a im . Curiously enough , a tthe supreme moment she falters on thethreshold ; and with divine economy o fforce th e man sudden ly p lucks up courageand car ri es her over i t . So in You NeverCan Tell : Glori a has b een comparatively a ther ease with Va lentin e ever s ince thei r firstmeeting : he has been uneasy and restless ,hi s excitement increas ing a s he i s en tangledmore and more inextri cably in the meshes

29

Bern ard Shaw

o f hi s love . Now comes the cr it i ca lmomen tVALENTINE [in an agony of restrained passion ]

Oh, don’t p ity me. Your voice is tearing my heart

to pieces . Let me alon e, Glor ia . You go down intothe very depth s o f m e, t roub l ing and stirring me

I can ’t struggle w ith it— I can’t te l l you $

GLORIA [breaking down sudden ly ] : Oh, stop tel ling m e what you fee l : I can ’t bear it .VALENTINE [springing up t riumphan t ly, the ago

nised voice now sol id, ringing, and j ub ilan t] Ah,it

’

s

come at last—my m om en t o f courage . [He seiz es

her hands : she looks at him in terror . ] Our mo

men t o f courage $ [He draws her to h im ; kisses herwith impetuous strengt h ; and laughs boyish ly ] .

Now you’ve done it , Gloria. It’

s al l over : we ’re inlove w ith one another. [ S he can on ly gasp at h im . ]But what a dragon you were $ And how h ideous lya fraid I was $

Romance in Shaw ’s p lays depends onrea li ty for i ts b as is . He has the philosopher

’

s impati en ce to get to real i ti esRea li ty, as he trul y says, being the one

th ing wh ich the majori ty o f playgoer swish to escape from . That i s b ecause the i rown l ives are so sord id that they despa i r offinding beau ty, happ iness , or Divin i ty inconnection with the rea l world , and depart

30

Revo l t Again s t Roman ce

in search o f them into the fool ’ s Paradiseo f popula r roman ce .”To them Romance i s a drug , ..n opiate

l ike the Ori enta l hasch isch , which providesi ts vi ctims with marvellous dreams . Thisconception o f l i fe and roman ce i s a t theOpposite pole to that wh ich we find inShaw ’ s plays . Here an ever- increas ingcon sc iousness o f l i fe i s the idea l a imed at .On ly by facing facts can we hope to redeemthe world : and without the redemptiono f the world individua l well-be ing i s imposs ib le : a man $ must save the world ’shonor i f he i s to save his own .

” BernardShaw dispose s o f various fa llac i es. in thedramati c treatmen t o f love . He revoltsaga inst the modern idealizat ion o f love .Love can tr ansfigure but cannot trans form .

Love can ’ t give any m an new gi fts . I tcan on ly heighten the gi fts he was bornwith .

”

The lovers do not th ink one anotherper fect : they a re keen ly con scious

,not

on ly o f beauty, but a lso of de fect . Lovepers i sts and tr iumphs in sp i te o f, not because of, the de fect . No lover really loves

3 1

Bern ard Shaw

his lady’s faults . He loves the lady, andcondon es the faults for her sake : o ften ,indeed , consciously dece ives himsel f aboutthem . Neither i s love all-conquering , aswe have been led to b el i eve . Tr ifl ingdiflicult ies in the path o f love a ssumeabnormal proportion s .In the l ight o f thi s conception o f love ,

based on reality and free from illus ion , th ecry o f Mrs . George in Getting Marri edbecomes s imple o f understanding : Takeme as I am , take me as I am .

” I t i s a s i fshe sa id : Take me a s I am , because I haveno power o f changing mysel f : because Ilove you , and i f you love me not, am losta s I am , because I am destined for you , andon ly so can our destiny be fulfi lled . Takeme as I am , because you alone know what Iam

,and thus you alone are capable o f

evoking that which i s latent in me .”Examp les could b e multipl i ed from the

Plays o f th e freedom from illusionwhich characteri zes love . In Arms and th eMan i t i s prec i sely the true knowledge o fhersel f which he d isp lays that attractsRa ina to B luntschl i .

32

Revo l t Again s t Roman ce

RAINA [wonderingly] D o you know, you are the

first man I ever m et who did not take me seriously $BLUNTSCHLI : You m ean , don

’t you,that I am the

first man that has ever taken you quite seriously $RAINA : Yes, I suppose I do mean that .In You Never Can Tell Va len tin e tells

Glori a what he thinks of her without fearor favour and advances hi s su it verymateri ally thereby .

VALENTINE : You ’re a prig—a fem in ine prigthat ’s what you are .

I f he had made love to her in the tradit ional fash ion she would have d isposedo f him very quickly : he di d make anattemp t in that di rect ion before he learntto know wisdom , i. e. Glori aVALENTINE [pretending to forget h im sel f ] : How

could that m an have so beautiful a daughter $GLORIA [taken aback for a momen t : then an swer

ing h im w ith po l ite but in ten tional con tempt ] Thatseem s to be an attempt at what is cal led a prettyspeech . L et m e say at once, Mr . Valen tine, thatp retty speeches make very s ickly conversation .

The same freedom from illus ion in thelover may be found in Widowers ’ Housesand The Philanderer . In Widowers ’

C33

Bern ard Shaw

Houses Blan che makes an a ttempt to ma inta in i dea l extern al rela tion s b etween hersel fand her lover : but she breaks down lamen tably : and when she and Trench finallymake up the ir quarrel they do so with aclea r knowledge o f one anoth er ’s weaknesses . In The Ph i l anderer Jul ia does nottry to concea l her fau lts from the man

she loves ; and Charteri s , wishing to propit iate Grace , makes a feeble effort to concea l his , which she sees through at once .

The dénouement i s brought about by aclea r understanding o f each other on thepart o f all concerned , except in the case o fPa ramore

,the inveterate ideal i s t whom

we have always with us .Man and Superman i s the b est proo f o f

the case in point . In i t we see Love , apoten t force , moving inexorably to thea ccompli shmen t o f i ts purpose , fully con

scious— and th i s i s al l- importan t— o f

what i t i s doing . Neither Ann nor Tannerhave any i llu s ion s about ea ch other . Tan

ner expresses h i s opin ion of Ann prettyfrankly in his conversation with Mrs .Whitefield towards the end o f the Fourth

34

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

Not only does Shaw deal with love considered intrins i ca lly from a new point o fView . In hi s plays h e readjusts the dramati c relat ion s between love and the world .

When h e began to write,love was regarded

a s the staple materi a l o f Drama . The loveinterest was supposed to be the one unfa i ling interest for old and young, and to th iscons ideration all others were subordinate .In Shaw ’ s plays love i s presen ted to us , aswe see i t in l i fe , in relation with other grea ti ssues . I t i s a ffected by a thousand complexities o f though t and action , chara cterand destiny . In a word , love occupi es inthe plays , as in l i fe i tse l f, a relat ive pos ition .

Two examples may be noted o f Shaw ’sprotest aga inst the soph i st i cat ion o f ourconsciousness by the ideal ization o f love ata ll costs . In the one case he protestsaga inst the bel i ttl ing o f fri endsh ip betweenone man and another . Th is occurs inJohn Bull ’ s Other I sland .

NORA : You seem very fond of Tom, as you cal lh im .

LARRY [the t rivial ity going sudden ly out of his

voice] : Yes : I am fond o f Tom.

36

Revo l t Again s t Roman ce

Later on the question recurs .NORA : You care more for him than you ever did

for me.

LARRY [w ith curt sincerity] : Yes o f course I dowhy should I tel l you l ies about it $The other examp le occurs in Th e Dev i l’sDisciple . Dick Dudgeon has taken Anthouy Anderson ’s place and i s about to b ehanged a s a rebel . Judith, Anderson ’swi fe, bel i eves hersel f to b e in love withDick , and tri es to persuade h im tha t he hassaved her husband for h er sake .RICHARD : I f I said—to p lease you— that I did

what I did eve r so l itt le for your sake, I l ied as men

always l ie to women . You know how much I havelived with worth less men—aye, and w ith worth lesswomen too. We l l, they could al l rise to some sorto f goodness and kindness when they were in love[the word love comes from him with t rue Puritanscorn ] . That has taught me to set very little storeby the goodness that on ly comes out red hot . WhatI did last n ight, I did in cold b lood, caring not hal fso much for your husband, or [ ruth lessly] for you[ she droops, stricken ] as I do for mysel f. I had no

motive and no interest : al l I can tel l you is that whenit came to the poin t whether I would take my neckout o f the noose and put another man ’

s into it, Icould not do it . I don ’t know why not : I see mysel f as a fool for my pains ; but I could not and I

37

Bern ard Shaw

cannot . I have been brought up standing by the lawo f my own nature ; and I may not go again st it , gallows or no gallows . [S he has s low ly raised her

head and is now looking ful l at him .] I should havedone the same for any other man in the town, or any

other man ’

s wi fe.

In sp i te o f a ll that has b een sa id , somemay sti l l b e found who will deny to Bernard Shaw any gi ft for producing purelyromanti c beauty In answer I will g ivesome examples o f romanti c b eauty fromthe plays .Take in the first place , the character o f

Eugene , in Candi da , a character conce ivedand executed in the very spiri t o f t o

mance . Th ink Of the passage in wh i chEugen e speaks , first o f love, and o f thedumbness o f love , which i s the world ’s tragedy ; then o f the i dea l he des ires for thewoman he loves . What i s th i s but ro

mance , romance wh i ch i s the l i fe and soulo f rea l ity, not a vague dream conceivedapart from li fe

,but a vita l a sp iration grow

ing out o f l i fe , part p rayer, part ecstasy .

I wish I could find a country to l ive inwhere the facts were not bruta l and thedreams not unreal .”

38

Revo l t Again s t Roman ce

Surely these words o f Larry ’ s , ri s ing outo f the deep p laces of his soul , afford thebest answer to anyon e who denies Shaw ’ spower to conceive wonder and beauty .

They are a p rayer for the p er fect real i ty .

Read , too , Caesar’s speech be fore th e

Sphinx, D ubedat’s dy ing speech in The

Doctor ’ s Dilemma , and the trance speecho f Mrs . George in Getting Marri ed , i f youwould understand the work o f B ernardShaw from th i s the romanti c po int o fV1ew.

39

Chap ter I I I

The Cho ice of Com edy

COMEDY, con s idered in i ts essence ,represents the forces o f l i fe a s opposed

to th e forces of death , the latter , in agreater or less degree , forming the subj ectof tragedy. When we speak of a tragics i tuation

,we mean an imposs ible one, out

o f which there is no means o f escapesave death . S im i larly, comedy plays thechie f part in all those s i tuation s which arecapable o f furth ering l i fe in its variousmani festations .Anyone who has come thus fa r wi th me

wi l l agree that the subj ect with which Bern ard Shaw l s primari ly concerned 18 alwaysthe same namely, l i fe .DON JUAN : S o would I en j oy the contemp lation

o f that wh ich in terests me above al l th ings : name lyLi fe : the force that ever strives to attain greate rpower of contemp lat ing itsel f.

40

.The Cho ice o f Com edyHere Shaw defines the obj ect o f the

Li fe Force a s th e atta inmen t o f con

sciousness. Hence i t i s not strange thathe should set a high value on comedy,for in his Dramati c Opin ion s he gives usthe following di ctum :

$ The function ofcomedy i s to di spel unconsciously bymean s o f analys i s .”A whole chapter could b e written on the

p lays from thi s po int o f Vi ew alon e . I f youthink o f i t, that i s one o f th e greatest serv i ces which Bernard Shaw has rendered toh i s gen eration : to di spel unconsciousness . A good hal f o f the suffering andfa i lure in the world i s due to th i s state ofunconsciousn ess wh i ch we are in . And

those who ra i l a t Shaw as an i conoclastforget that much o f th i s very unconsciousness wh ich he has don e so much to dispel i sdue to an accumulation o f traditional andconventiona l i deal i sm out o f which thespiri t h as passed , leaving the dry bones o fform as so much hindrance to our progressin the future .I t i s in th i s sen se that he speaks o f

comedy a s $ the fine a rt o f d is i llus ion4 1

Bern ard Shaw

wh i ch , qu ite apart from h i s own plays, i tcerta inly i s . Go back to Shakespear, takeFalstaff, the most comic figure in a worldo f comedy ; out o f what does the humouro f Falstaff a ri se save out o f the ins ight weget into hi s foll i e s and weaknesses , bymeans Of the searchl ight o f analys is ,thrown on h im by Shakespear $ Out o fthe $ fine art o f d is i llus ion in fact .Hence i t may b e sa i d o f Shavian drama

as a whole that i t i s wri tten in the comic(or l i fe-giv ing) sp ir i t .George Meredith has spoken o f

$ theu ses o f comedy in teach ing the world tounderstand wha t a i ls i t.” The idea i s afine one . Th i s heal ing effect o f comedy i sconstantly to b e seen a t work in B ernardShaw ’s plays . I t i s in th i s d irection amongothers that h e makes good h i s t itle to philosopher. For i f he were s imply an arti sth e might b e content to present u s withcomedi es in the vein o f Mr . SomersetMaugham, whose witty and delightfulplays have obta ined so great a vogue . ButShaw has a purpose b eyond any wh i ch Mr.Maugham has at present revea led to us .

42

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

modern drama o f its t ime . But behind allth i s mass o f popular drama the class i ca ldram a wi l l qu ietly grow in power, and

wil l gradually come into i ts own .

Thus i t i s poss ible to meet ca lmly theoutcry which i s ra i sed on every s ide withregard to the Shaw plays . Con stantly oneh ears the comment : Very witty and ih

terest ing ; but i t i sn’ t drama , you know .

”

Now the question i s , what is drama $ The

answer i s a s imple one : i t i s one thingyesterday, and another th ing to-morrow :

and meanwh i l e, i t i s in a transi tion state ,and i t i s s imple waste o f time and energy tospeculate on what i t wil l b ecome : B ernardShaw i s noth ing i f he i s not a p ioneer ;one who fearlessly crosses the old sacredfronti ers o f tragedy and comedy, and findsbeyond a ground none the less sacred

, be

cause it i s h i therto untraversed by them ind o f man . Speak ing o f drama , he oncesa id :

$ The end may be reconci l i ation ordestruction ; or , as in life itself, there maybe no end I have a lways thought that thesentence wh i ch I have ita l ic i sed ought torece ive parti cular emphasi s in any consid

44

The Cho ice of Comedyerat ion of Shavian form . All the p laysi llustrate the idea more or less . Sp i ri tually

,

there i s no final curta in in any of them .

Take Major Barbara as an examp le . Thething is vi ta l : you cannot con ce ive that i tceases to l ive when i t van i shes from yours ight . You can see Cus in s arriv ing at s ixO

’clock n ext morn ing, gently grumblingand whimsi cally p retending to rub his eyesa t the early hour : you can see Barbara ,with her eager, fervent face , going in and

out o f the model dwell ings in the l ittlewhite town . You know that U ndersha ftwill l abour to his l i fe ’s end to fulfi l thedestiny h e has revealed to you : and thatLady Bri tomart wi l l continue to get herown excellen t way with the utmost pol i ten ess and absence o f cons ideration for otherp eop l e ’ s feel ings . You can see Sarah andCholly settl ing down to a fashionab l e existence in the West End, and hear an echo asthei r carriage rolls past you in the street,$You know there i s a certa in amount o ftosh aboutOne may a lso mention here the fact that

there i s no such th ing a s $

p oeti c j ust ice45

Bern ard Shaw

in the Shaw plays . But there i s v ita lj u sti ce : as a man sows , so does he reap ,(which i s qu ite a di fferen t thing) . Man ’ sdestiny i s fulfilled from within , i t i s not anexternal Force imposed on him from without . Hen ce in Shavian drama the neatending, m which the wicked repent, and thegood are j ustified , i s not more commonthan in l i fe . Writing in Tom Jones onmodern com edy, Fielding describes theerror into wh ich the writers o f h i s t imehave fa llen :

$ their heroes generally arenotorious rogues

, and th e ir hero ines abandoned j ades , during the first four acts ;but in the fi fth

,the former b ecome very

worthy gentlemen , and the la tter women o fvirtu e and discretion . He adds , n a ively$ Th ere i s

,indeed , no other reason to b e

a ssigned for i t, than b ecause the play i sdrawing to a conclus ion .

” '

The whole falla cy which i s involved here

,and in the

$ happy ending ” theory gen erally, i s en

t irely ignored by Bernard Shaw TakeWidowers’ Houses a s an example . Thereyou see the problem working out exactly asi t would have done in l i fe . Sartorius flour

46

The Cho ice of Comedyi shes from first to last like a green bay tree .There is no repentance and no change o f

fron t . Throughout he puts h i s case withthe utmost dexterity . When all h i s ski llfa i l s to h ide the hell out o f which h is moneyi s dragged , Trench

’s fear o f los ing £450per annum (however obta ined) plus thecerta inty o f los ing B lanche (Sartorius ’daughter) proves qu ite .too much fo r h i soutraged sen se o f just i ce

,and he decides

to$ stand in .

” A less truthfu l dramati stwould have given us Trench at bay , heroically decla iming on the sufferings of th epoor, and a farewell scen e with Blanche, inthe I could not love th ee , dear, so much ,loved I not honour more ve in .

Such s i tuation s may b e very effective onthe stage , but a s a matter o f fact they donot occur in l i fe .I t i s interesting to cons ider Shav i an

drama in the l ight of Meredith ’ s Essay onComedy . There are many po ints o f contact . In the first p lace

,Meredith ins i sts

on Comedy as a social art . He speaks o f$ Soci ety, or tha t a ssemb lage o f mindswhereo f the Comic sp iri t has i ts origin .

”

47

Bern ard Shaw

Now no dramati c author h itherto has ins i sted so strongly on the soci a l s ide o f l i fea s Bern ard Shaw . Take the plays fromfirst to last ; there i s not one o f them towhich th i s principle may not be applied .

The Pleasant Plays dea l d irectly with socia lfoll i es : The Unpleasan t Plays, with soc ia lhorrors . In Three Plays for Puritans theapp l i cation i s l es s l itera lly obvious : butthe Comi c Sp iri t re ign s supreme in themnevertheless . What else i s a t the root o fthe del ight ful contrast b etween Dick Dudgeon and hi s family in th e in im itable scenea t the reading o f the Will $ Caesar andCleopatra i s an essent i ally comedic revel .John Bull ’ s Other I sland carri es theSoci a l principle a step further and givesyou the a ffa irs o f a whole nation , an entire ,

type o f soci a l l i fe , a s the background toyour scene . In Maj or B arbara Shaw goesback to the soc i a l p roblem - the problemof poverty and dea ls with i t in masterlyfa sh ion . There can be no more convinc ingproo f o f h i s essentia lly comedic outlookthan that he i s able to extract from the masso f sordid and tragi c fact conta ined in th e

48

The Cho ice of Come dyPre faces , the t ransfigurat ion o f Maj orBarbara which closes the play .

I t i s clear from what I have sa id that thefollowing reproach , l evelled by Mereditha t Engli sh comedy, no longer holds good .

He says : $Our Engl i sh school has not

clearly imagined Soci ety ; and o f the mindhovering above congregated men andwomen

,i t ha s imagined nothing .

”

From the first, Bernard Shaw hasClearly imagin ed soci ety .

” He has ohserved and an alysed our soci a l order withunerring and un faltering courage and ac

curacy .

I need only to re fer h ere to the previou schap ter on the Revolt aga in s t Romance toprove that Mr . Shaw agrees w ith Meredith in regarding the sent imentali st, i.e .

the man who re fuses to face facts,as one o f

the chi e f opponents o f the Comic .The question o f woman ’s position in

comedy i s a ltogether fascinating . First o fall I should say taking the deeper a spect o f the question first— that woman ’ srelation with the Li fe Force and herstrength o f in iti ative in that relation are

D49

Bern ard Shaw

essenti a lly comedic, a lthough they Oftenborder on tragedy. Comedy mean s l i fe,and Woman i s by her very nature boundto further l i fe . Take the fol lowing quotation from the Dream Act in Man andSuperman

ANA Tel l me : where can I find the S nperman $THE DEVIL : He is not yet created, Senora.

ANA : Not yet created $ Then my work is not yetdone. [Crossing herse l f devout ly] I be lieve in the

Life to Come. [Crying to the Un iverse] A fathera. father for the S uperman $

Primari ly and essentia l ly, and withoutregard to spec ia l cases , woman

’ s functionin the un iverse i s to create l i fe and man ’ sto nour i sh i t. $ That m en should putnouri shment first and women ch i ldren first13, broadly speaking , the law o f Natureand not the di ctate o f personal amb i tion .

”

Further, Woman by he r domesti c l abouri s continua lly bu i lding up the forces inman and so continu ing her orig inal work .

Th i s work o f hers i s further compl icatedand rendered del ight ful by the fact thatwhere her a ffect ions a re engaged she i s a lso

50

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

comedy in the Shaw plays . Without suchfreedom i t i s obv iou s

,for instance , that the

adventures o f Maj or Barbara and the escapades o f Lady C icely, not to speak o f whatI once hea rd called the di sgrace ful meander ings

” o f Ann , would have been impossib le. Not only so , but the whole attitude towards women in th ese plays , thedeta i led way in which the i r personal iti e sa re revea led , a s i f i t were pre-eminentlyworth while to revea l them ; a s i f theywere des i rab l e b eings in themselves , andnot merely put into the world as mean s toan end , however noble a ll th i s a ccountsfor the unique charm and fascination exercised by these women over '

our imaginations . Th e prominent part played bywomen in Shaw ’ s p lays should also benoted . Here aga in the plays prove Meredith

’

s thes i s : Comedy l i fts women to astation offering them free play for theirwi t, a s they u sually show it, when theyhave i t, on th e s ide o f sound sense . Thehigher the Comedy, the more prominentthe part they en j oy in i t .” Candida , LadyCicely, Major Barbara , Mrs . George to

5 2

The Cho ice of Comedyhave reduced thei r influence by a ha ir’sbreadth would have been to have doneuntold wrong to the l ives and destinies o fm en . I was once at a great meeting ad

dressed by Mr . Shaw , a t the end o f wh ichhe was ba i ted as usual by innumerab lequestion ers , ti l$ a t last a l ittl e woman rosefa r off in the gallery and a sked , $ Whatabout the position o f women $ ” Therewas the slightest poss ib le touch o f impat ience in Mr . Shaw ’ s voice a s he repli edthat he really could not b e expected to trea to f that subj ect at such a late hour. WhenI l i stened to the trance speech o f Mrs .George a t the Haymarket Theatre, Iknew that the l i ttle woman had got herrep ly .

Wi th regard to the sound sense o fwomen ’s wi t in Comedy, the examples Ihave ci ted will serve excellently ; but Ishould l ike to emphas ize in parti cula r thecase o f Lady Cicely Waynflete in Capta inBrassbound

’

s Conversion . Her wit maybest be described in the words wh i ch Meredith has appl i ed to Moliere . I t i s l ike arunning brook, with innumerab le fresh

53

Bern ard Shaw

l ights on i t a t every turn o f the woodthrough which its business i s to find

a way . Without effort i t i s fullo f heal ing , the wi t o f good breeding , the

wisdom .

”

'

54

Chap ter IV

D ram atic Consc iou sness

The truth is that dramatic‘

inven tion is the firsteffort o f man to become inte l lectual ly conscious .

”

TO Bernard Shaw consc iousness i s thefirst a im o f l i fe . He makes thi s

clear in the th i rd a ct o f Man and Superman

What made th i s bra in o f mine , do youth ink $ Not merely the need to do ,but the need to know what I do , lest in mybl ind efforts to l ive I should be slay ing mys el f . His own dramati c consciousness i sextraordinary : i ts force and depth areun iqu e in th e annals o f l i terature .Con sciousness i s a late development o f

the world-sp ir i t. In order to test th i sstatemen t you have on ly to compare aShakespearean play with a Shavian one.

Take Romeo and Juli et b es ide You NeverCan Tell . Both conta in a love story. But

5 5

Bern ard Shaw

you would do better to say o f Romeo andJuli et that it is a love story . I t i s concernedwith elementa l pass ion , wholly inst inctive ,and there fore comparat ively untroubled bythe doubts

,hopes , and fears o f the con

sc ious mind . Take Jul i et ’s words to

Romeo a t the las t dawn-parting

JULIETW ilt thou be gone $ I t is not yet near dayI t was the n ightingale, and not the lark,That p1erced the fear ful hol low of thine ear ;

N ight ly she sings on yond pomegranate t reeBel ieve me, love, it was the n ightingale.

ROMEOI t was the lark, the herald of the morn ,

No n ightingale : look, love, what envious streaksDo lace the severing clouds in yonder eastN ight ’s candles ar e burn t out , and j ocund dayS tands tiptoe on the m isty moun tain tops :I must begone and l ive, or stay and die.

Th i s s cene will never b e surpassed a s anexpos ition o f love pure and s imple . But toproffer such a scen e a s an exposition o f lovein the twen ti eth century would be as absurda s i t i s imposs ib le .Not its b lank verse a lone , but also its

s imple grandeur, i ts comparat ive immunity5 6

Dramatic Con sciousn es s

from preoccupation , i ts ch i ldl ike fa ith belong to a bygone age .There are eternal elements in love : an

i solation from the rest o f the world, thelovers being alone in a cosmos o f the ir owna fa ith which can move mounta ins , and i syet part wi sdom

,part folly : a force and

directness seldom approached in l i fe : anecstasy

,perhaps

,never . But a ll these

things assume a differen t colour under ourmodern condition s . The thoughts whichassa i l Jul i et (Act II, Sc . II ) are s impl ic i tyi tsel f compared with those which vexhercounterpart to-day . The family feud : thefea r of Romeo ’ s death a t the hands o f herkin smen : a touch of shame a t the thoughto f her spoken word : these are the cons iderations which trouble her , and note thatthey are almost a ll externa l cons ideration s .To-day the scene o f drama has sh i fted fromwithout to with in the soul o f man . Fearsconcern ing family or kin smen trouble thelovers less than th e d iffi culties wh ich a ri sewithin themselves .Take Va lentin e and Glori a in You Never

Can Tell . Glori a resents even her

5 7

Bern ard Shaw

mother ’s inter ference on her behal f. Icannot bel i eve tha t anyone has any righteven to th ink about th ings that concern meon ly . Now such a conception i s utterlyforeign to Jul i e t, because in her time thech ild was regarded a s absolutely a t the d isposa l o f i ts parents , benefi cent or otherwisethe ch i ld had no option in the matter .The conception o f th e chi ld as a separateindividua l with a destiny to ach ieve without coerc ion from parents o r fri ends i s o fqu ite modern growth . Nevertheless theend i s the same in e ither case th e ch i ldhas i ts way . This i s Jul i et ’ s

LADY CAPULETMarry, my chi ld

, early next Thursday morn ,

The gal lant , young, and nob le gen tleman ,

The Coun ty Paris, at Sain t Peter ’s Church,Shal l happily make thee there a j oy ful bride.

JUL IET :Now by S aint Peter ’s Church, and Peter too,He shal l not make me there a j oy ful bride .

The next po int to be con s idered withregard to the Shavian consciousness i sthe wide extent o f its operation . Forhuman consc iousness not only intens ifies

58

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

ever, the increas e o f dramati c consc i ousnesshas le ft i ts mark on th e p lays themselves .Notice the description o f each new chara cter which precedes h i s or her en try .

Take as an example the descr iption o fAndrew Undersha ft in Maj or Barbara

$ Andrew i s, on the surface, a stouti sh ,ea sy-going elderly man , with kindly pati entmanners , and an engaging simpli c i ty o fcharacter. But h e has a watch ful , delibcrate, waiting, l i sten ing face , and form idab l e reserves o f power, both bodi ly and m en

ta l , in h i s capacious chest and long head .

His gentleness i s partly that o f a strongman who ha s l earnt by exper i ence that hi snatural grip hurts ord inary people un le sshe handles them very care fully, and partlyth e mellowness o f age and success .”There you have a characteri sti cally Shav i an expos ition o f the man , reveal ing atonce h i s menta l and phys i ca l qual i t i es ;giving a b road h in t, too , o f the Shavianfa culty o f ca lculating the power o f the physical to revea l the mental .Again , note th e depth o f Shavian con

sciousness. I t i s th i s very faculty o f diving6o

D ramatic Con sciousn ess

for and bringing to l ight the inner sp i ri tua ls ign ificance o f men ’s l ives which has ledto much misunderstanding o f the plays .B ernard Shaw ’ s a im in each cas e has beento d ivin e the heart and soul o f the problem ,

to reveal th e rea li ty which underl i es sel fdeception and pretence o f every kind . Sowhen he i s most in earnest as in the lasta ct o f Man and Superman

, for examplehe o ften seems to the casua l observer to bej oking, or worse , to b e indulging in somewanton folly . Throughout Man and Superman , a s regards the relations betweenAnn and Tanner, Shaw i s translating inst inct into a ct . I t i s mere fool i shness tosuppose tha t Ann ’ s words in the fourth act,for in stance , are intended to represent l i terally a conversation that would actuallytake p lace . But th ey are none the less truein sp i ri t for a ll that . B ernard Shaw hasfound words for a s i lent instinct .

TANNER : I w il l not marry you. I will not marryyou .

ANN : Oh , you w il l , you wil l .TANNER : I te l l you, no, no, no.

ANN : I te l l you, yes, yes, yes.

6 1

Bern ard Shaw

I t i s a s wel l to b ea r thi s cons ideration inmind when thinking o f the p lays as a whole .There i s a pa ssage in the $ uintessence o fIbsen i sm

,which gives a very noteworthy

key to the comprehens ion of Shaviandrama . Playwrights who formerly onlycompounded plays a ccording to the re

ceived prescription s for producing tears orlaughter, are already taking thei r profess ion ser iou sly to the full extent o f the i rcapacity, and venturing more and more tosub st i tute the in cidents and cata stropheso f sp iritual h i story for the swoons , su rpri ses , d i scoveri es , murders , duels, a ssassinat ions and in trigues wh ich are thecommonp laces o f the theatre a t presen t .Remember that most i lluminating phrase

,

the inc idents and catastrophes o f sp i ri tua lh i story.

” I t i s with such inc idents tha tShavian drama i s p rinc ipally concerned .

The ma in di stinction to b e drawn between Shakesp earean drama and Shaviandrama i s tha t the scen e o f action ha s sh i ftedfrom the cosmos outs ide man to the cosmoswith in . The E l i zabethan s dealt primari lywith man in hi s relation s w ith the externa l

6 2

D ramatic Con sciousn es s

world . They l ived in a time when thephys ical counted for much , when l i fe wa sfresh and eager and vigorous , when man

’ sadventuring with the elements was a daringand a pass ionate th ing . Man himsel f, a sthey conce ived him , was a creature o f amazing s implic i ty, ful l o f warring pass ion s , amb ition s , dreams : but a lways a lert, a lway sal ive , a lways looking ahead to the gloriousposs ibi l i ti es o f the unknown .

”With the deepen ing consciousness o f thef ace , man

’ s con sc iousness o f h imsel f asrevealed in l i terature ha s deepened too .

Owing to the progress o f sci ence , masteryover the elements , over space and t ime , i sso much nearer real i zation ,

that man i scorrespondingly freer to develop hi s sp iri tu a l energies . Hence he has become preoccup i ed with himsel f. Formerly the worldwas hi s workshop : now h e finds thi s withinhi s Own soul . Just a s former dramati cconfl i ct s b etween good and evi l are nowrepla ced by the subtl er confl i ct betweengood and a h igher good stil l : so a l ikesubtlety attends the change which decreesthat wherea s the older plays were full o f

63

Bern ard Shaw

confl i cts b etween men ’ s bod ies so themodern plays are full o f confl i cts betweenmen ’ s souls . $ I f th i s were fully real i sedwe should hea r less non sen se about theabsence o f action in Bernard Shaw ’s plays .There i s plenty o f a ction but it i s Sp i ri tu a l a ct ion , not phys i ca l ; and the crit ic s havenot yet become accustomed to the change .Out o f thi s change o f subj ect a change

o f form directly proceeds . $ The soul i sform and doth the body make . Whereasin Shakespear

’

s An tony and Cleopatra , forexample, you have five acts and a greatnumber o f scen es , some o f them very shortindeed : in Shaw ’ s plays the tendency i sincreas ingly to s impli fy the dramati c instrument .I t is tru e tha t in the majority o f ca ses he

reta ins the divi s ion in to acts . S ix o f hispubl i shed plays are wr itten in three a cts ,five o f them in four, and on ly one in five ;so th at in the matter o f acts a lone i t wil lb e seen that the process o f s implificationha s gone fa r .

$ Note t he s ign o f th is chan ge a ff orded by the t it les of

modern p lays : Waste : St ri fe : Misal l ian ce .

64

D ramatic Co n sciousn es s

But he goes much farther than this .He di scards the subdivi s ion in to scenesa ltogether. In th i s matter he i s very muchin advan ce o f his time .Con s iderable l ight i s thrown on this sub

j ect by a statemen t in the $ uin tessence o f

Ibsen i sm $ The h ighest type o f p layi s comp letely homogeneous

,o ften cons ist

ing of a s ingle very comp lex incident .” I t

i s well to bear th i s statemen t in mind , forexamp l e , when deal ing with Shaw ’ s latestp lay

,Getting Marr i ed . The critics might

have been p repared for the thunderboltwh ich i s launched at conven t iona l dramatictheory by thi s p lay, by the previous production o f D on Juan in Hell a t the CourtTheatre . D on Juan forms the third a cto f Man and Superman , but a s Shaw saysin the Pre face , i t i s $ a tota lly extraneousact

”: i t i s qu ite ab le to stand alone on i ts

own merits . Now in D on Juan in Hellthe action i s ent ir ely sp i r itual . Shaw describes it thus : My hero

,en chanted by

th e a i r o f the S ierra , has a dream in

which hi s Mozarti an ancestor appears andphilosophize s a t grea t length in a Shav io

Bern ard Shaw

Socrati c d ia logue with the lady, the statue ,and the devil .” I t i s qu i te obvious thatfor the purpose o f such a d ialogue changeo f scene i s not only unnecessary but purposeless and di stracting .

Getting Marri ed i s described by B ernard Shaw a s a Conversation— it i s notdivided into acts and scenes . In an in terv i ew ih the D aily Telegraph, which preceded the production of the play, h e i sreported to have spoken as follows :INTERVIEWER : Would it be indiscreet to ask you

to l ift a corner o f the curtain p rematurely, and givesome notion o f the plot o f the p lay $MR. SHAW : The play has no p lot . Surely nobody

expects a p lay by me to have a p lot . I am a dramaticpoet

, not a p lot-monger.INTERVIEWER : But at least there is a story.

MR. SHAW : Not at al l . I f you look at any Of the

old editions of our classical p lays, you w il l see thatthe description o f the p lay is not cal led a p lot or a

story, but an argument . That exact ly describes thematerial of my p lay. I t is an argumen t—an argumen t lasting nearly th ree hours, and carried on w ithunflagg ing cerebration by twelve peop le and a beadle.

I t i s true tha t for the sake o f my argumen t I have h ere considered two extremeexamples ; but the princip le I have enun

66

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

To-day man ’s thought concern ing h imse l f has changed ; he sees that he i s a t a llt imes master o f h i s fate ; and th is imposesupon h im an enormous respons ib i l i ty

,and

an amount o f.

activ i ty h itherto unknown .

He sees that instea d o f submitting to theDivine Will , h e must fulfi l it— so thatinstead o f regard ing h i s rel ig ion as anexcuse for mere laz iness h e finds in i t anincentive to the utmost exertion o f h i spowers .Maj or B arba ra i s an excellent example

o f a Shaw play considered from thi sstandpoint. Maj or Barbara i s a s ingularly courageous young woman who findsher sp iri tua l nature unsati sfied by theordinary l i fe o f Soci ety. So she goes tothe other extreme, and b ecomes a Maj orin the Sa lvation Army.

Here she i s bl i ss fully happy for a time ,consciou s that she has become merged ina wider l i fe , in the fulfilment o f a purposewhich fa r transcends the petty preoccupat ions she has le ft beh ind her . But herhappiness is short-l ived . The Army i sdesperately in need o f money : she finds

68

Dramatic Con sciousn ess

that her mill iona ire father, Andrew Undersha ft, maker of cannons , and Bodger, th edisti ller , are able to buy the army— i.e.

to keep the Shelters '

open by their munificent contributions , in sp ite o f the wickedness from her poin t o f Vi ew o f thei rsevera l o ccupations . For a time she i splunged in despa1r : for the work o f Bodgerand Undersha ft stands in her mind fordrunkenness and murder and thethought that through them the Army(wh i ch ex i sts to fight them ) should besaved i s intolerab le . Then she i s takento see her father ’ s cannon works , and findsa model ci ty, with cleanliness and ordereverywhere, and a complete ab sence o f thesta rvation , degradation and misery aga instwh ich she ha s to strive a t the Army shelter .As Undersha ft says : In your salvationshelter I saw poverty, misery, cold andhunger . You gave them bread and treacleand dreams Of heaven . I give from thirtysh i ll ings a week to twelve thousand a year .They find the ir own dreams ; but I looka fter the dra inage .”

$ I t i s cheap.

work converting starving69

Bern ard Shaw

men with a B ible in one hand and a s li ceo f bread in the other I wi ll undertaketo convert West Ham to Mahom etamsm

on the same terms . ‘ Try your hand on

my men : the i r souls are hungry becausethe i r bodi es are full .”Out o f th i s experi ence Major Barbara

learns her great lesson . By i t her futurei s determined

BARBARA : My father shal l never throw it in my

teeth again that my converts were bribed with bread.

[S he is t ransfigured. ] I have got r id of the bribe of

bread. I have got r id of the bribe of heaven . L et

God’

s work be done for it s own sake : the work hehad to create us to do because it cannot be done except by living men and women .

I have to ld th e story o f Maj or Barbarahere because i t i s important to realiz e thesort o f drama wh i ch may rightly b e considered a s $ sp iri tua l h i story . The playi s the story o f Barbara ’s soul : o f her firstfa ith , o f i ts test by real ity (a lways theShavian test) ; o f i ts fa ilure and o f th eb i rth o f the new pass ion wh i ch will inSpire her hence forward .

I t should b e added tha t the word70

- Dramatic Con sciousn es s

spi ri tua l ” in the phrase inc idents andcatastrophes o f spiritual h i story ” hasfound a peculi arly l itera l appli cation inth i s instance . In the other plays the confl icts may be more properly called intellectual or pass ionate , but all come underthe broad class ification o f sp iri tua l historyf

’

.7 1'

Chap ter V

Ph ilosophy of L ife

IF I were asked to give the main ten eto f Bernard Shaw ’s phi losophy I should

at once rep ly the sancti ty o f l i fe . I t i supon thi s ma in foundation that h i s a tti tudetowards man , and parti cularly towards man

in hi s soc ia l relations , depends . A violence~

done to l i fe not to phys i ca l l i fe a lone ,but also

$

to menta l and sp i ri tua l l i fe (a k indof violen ce which i s o ften , comparativelyspeaking

,thought l ightly o f or ignored), i s

to h im the unpardonable sin . We are hereat the behest '

of the Li fe Force , to preserveand enhance to the fullest poss ible extentthe flame o f divin i ty which has b een en

trusted to our ca re .I t i s for thi s reason that Shaw wishes

to protect the arti st aga in st th e forces o fmodern civi l i zation which would perverthi s art in order to feed the van i ty and

flatter the conce i t o f his audi ence . The7 2

Philo sophy o f L ife

mission o f art in the world i s to producebeauty and truth in such gui se a s to st imu

late and engender fresh l i fe in the beholder .The fact that the arti st, while he is a t work ,may b e conscious of noth ing but the blindin stinct to create, does not affect the i ssuein the least .Now i t follows from thi s proposition

that in the case o f every work of art inwhich the arti st has consciously violatedhi s message in order to fl atter h i s audience ,an inj ury i s done , first to himsel f, andsecondly to every human being who comesin contact with h i s work . For just in sofa r a s the message i s v iolated , the workb ecomes, not an insp i ration , but a l i e .Adroitness and subtlety in the presentationo f the message are qu ite another th ing, att imes essenti a l i f the arti st has no amb ition to be stoned and very o ften wise .To return to the Shavian ph i losophy .

You may trace th e origin o f Bernard Shaw ’ sconviction of the sacredness o f l i fe back tothat devotion o f real i ty, wh i ch has beendiscussed in previous chapters . His wholedes ire i s for the sanct ificat ion and further

73

Bern ard Shaw

ance o f the rea l . So in Act III o f Manand Superman he defines Hell a s $ thehome of the unrea l and o f th e seekers forhapp iness , as the only re fuge fromheaven , which i s the home o f the mastersOf real ity, and from earth , wh i ch i s thehome o f the slaves o f rea li ty .

”

Then we come to the crux o f the wholematter . Li fe i s defined a s the force thatever str ives to atta in greater power o fcontemplating i tsel f.” Throughout th eevolutionary process Li fe was driving a tbra ins a t i ts darl ing obj ect : an organ bywh i ch i t can atta in not only sel f-consc iousness but sel f-understanding .

” La ter on

th i s bra in power i s more closely definedLi fe i s evo lving to-day a mind ’ s eye thatshall see , not the phys i ca l world , but thepurpose o f Li fe , and thereby enable theindividua l to work for tha t purpose insteado f thwarting and bafll ing i t by sett ing upshorts ighted persona l a ims a s a t present”,I t wil l b e seen at once that thi s philosophy increases man ’ s personal respons ib i l i tyfor the well-being o f the world enormously.

I t says , in effect : $ You must, to the ut74

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

I t was Woman who taught me to say Iam ; there fore I th ink .

’ And also Iwould th ink more ; there fore I must bemore . ’

The grea t lesson wh i ch the world i slearning to-day i s tha t the purpose o fLi fe cannot be ach ieved without the co

opera tion o f man and woman . In orderth at we may ri s e to the he ights o f ourdestiny (heights wh i ch modern ph i lo sophyreveals o r rather suggests a s unth inkablygrea t) man must take advantage o f a ll theweapons wh i ch the Li fe Force has putwith in h i s power . And the greatest of

these i s Woman . Man does not a t firstth ink th i s . He th inks tha t h i s destinymay be ach i eved by h imsel f a lone . Dest in i es so ach i eved are l ikely to b e veryone-s ided— to be characteri sed by bra inconsciousness , and to lack be ing-consc iousness . The hardest th ing Bernard Shawhas ever sa id of woman (Tanner

’s sayingin Man and Superman : the greatest common measure o f a man and a woman i snot necessari ly greater than the man ’ ss ingle measure) hardly affects the ques

, a

76

Philo sophy o f L ife

t ion,s ince he lacked the generosity to

poin t out that the propositi on i s o ftenequally true when reversed .

One of the greatest evil s o f the presentday is the developmen t o f man at the ex~pens e o f woman . Men forget that thewoman who goes (or rather i s sent) to

th e wall b ecomes the mother o f ch i ldrenand that her weakness means further weakn ess in her sons . So to a ll those who urgethe preservation and enl ightenment o f therace I would say Look to your womenfolk : the men are ab le a t thi s stage inthe i r evolution to take ca re o f themselves .Do not forget the inh eritance o f strengthor weakness wh i ch the mother no less thanthe father bequeaths to her ch i ldren .

”

In a memorab l e phrase Bernard Shawexpounds the educationa l value o f th elove-encounter to the persons concerned .

$ That moment introduced me for thefirst t ime to mysel f, and , through mysel f,to the world .

”I t i s only when you come

into contact with a force stronger thanyoursel f that you learn the measure o fyour own strength . When the Li fe Force

77

Bern ard Shaw

takes two people by the scruffs o f the 1rl i ttle necks ,” a s Va lentine says , and usesthem in sp ite o f themselves for a purposeabove and b eyond the i r own , then theyfind out for the first t ime the i r rela tivevalu e in the universa l scheme . Unti l thatmoment they have only known the i r personal valu e : they have used thei r individua l j udgment

,have done as they

thought fit : but now a greater powerthan they have h i therto known comesinto thei r l ives , and they b egin to vi ewthemselves and the world in a new and

broader l ight . I t i s a t th is point thatShaw introduces h i s great prophecy con

cerning the future o f the race . Thedwindling birth-rates , wh i ch are causingso much comment to-day, will b e replacedby the great centra l purpose o f breedingthe race

, ay, breeding i t to heights nowdeemed superhuman . I t only rema insto add that Bernard Shaw is already justified by the activiti es o f th e EugenicsSoci ety .

We now reach the centra l point o f theShav i an phi losophy.

78

Philo sophy o f L ife

I tell you that a s long as I can conceive something better than mysel f I can

not be ea sy un less I am striv ing to bringi t into existence or clearing the way fori t . That i s the law o f my li fe . That i sthe working within me o f Li fe ’ s incessanta spi ration to higher Organization , wider ,deeper

,intenser sel f-consc iousness , and

clearer sel f-understanding .

” Th i s i s theprincip l e wh i ch l i es a t the root o f evolut ion . The terms in which i t i s expressedare eminently characteri sti c o f the p ion eerqual i ty o f the Shavian phi losophy . I t i sa preparation for that which i s to come .

/Now it i s j u st this centra l law wh1ch

gives due proportion to all the other depar tments o f l i fe . This i s the Spiritua lPrincip le , wh ich , among all the mutation swhich are constantly taking p lace , doesnot change , nor fa lter , nor repen t . ”Love , art, and rel igion may at times fa i lto console : this grea t purpose o f the Li feForce a lone rema ins certa in to encouragethe soul o f man .

After all , i t i s the princip le wh i ch findsexpress ion in the h ighest love

,the most

79

Bern ard Shaw

potent ar t, the most s incere rel ig ion . Forthese are a ll attempts to create the morebeauti fu l thing . Nature, whose sole a imi s to evolve the most per fect l iving creature , del iberately casts an a tmosphere o fi llus ion over her chi ldren . No lover ha sever loved , no arti st ha s ever worked , nodevotee ever prayed with such pass ionbe fore . So th inks every lover, everyarti st, every devotee . And by her worksNature i s j ustified .

But observe that the purpose o f th eLi fe Force i s the same throughout . Man

i s the obj ect of a ll i ts endeavour . I t doesnot care intrin s i ca lly for great pa inting orpoetry or musi c , nor for the j oy o f loverso r the mysterious b eauty o f cathedralsbut i t ca res intensely for the fru i t o f a llthese th ings — the perfected sou l o f man .

In order to obta in th i s r esult —in order ,in th e ages which are coming, to evolvethe Superm an i t u rges‘ on a ll humanactiv i ty through i ts appointed channels ,through the unth inkab le infinitude o ftime .”

Here i t i s well to give B ernard Shaw ’s80

Phi lo sophy o f L ife

definition of the Phi losopher ’ s funct ion .

The ph ilosopher i s in the grip o f theLi fe Force . This Li fe Force says to h imI

‘

fi’

ave do‘ne a thousand wonderful things

uncon sciously by merely wi ll ing to l iveand following the l ine o f least r es i stancenow I want to know mysel f and my destination , and choose my path ; so I havemade a specia l bra in —f a philosopher ’sbra in to grasp thi s knowledge for me asthe husbandman ’s hand grasp s the ploughfor me . ’ The obj ect o f th i s knowledgeon the part o f the philosopher i s $ to b eable to choose the l ine o f greatest advantage instead o f y i elding in the di rect ion of

the least res istance . Then in a few wordsthe whole ca se i s magn ificently summedup : $ The philosopher i s Nature ’s p i lot

to be in hell i s to dri ft ; to b e inheaven i s to steer .I t i s very s ign ifican t that The Dream in

Act III o f Man and Superman should end

on the note $ woman .

” The s ign ificancewould seem to be th i s : j ust a s man l earn sfrom woman the secret o f being-consciousness, so woman learn s from man

F 81

Bern ard Shaw

the secret o f bra in-consciousness . Womani s l earn ing th i s lesson more and more perfect ly every day.There sounds a triumphant note o f insp iration for the futur e o f th e race forthe united consciousness o f bra in and

being - in the cry o f Ana at the close o fthe dream :

$ A fath er a father for theSuperman $

82

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

Much has been heard , s ince he leap t intofame, o f the syn icism o f Shaw . No greatermistake ha s ever been made with regard toa man o f gen ius . Shaw ’ s so-called cyn i c i smi s noth ing more nor les s than the outwardeffect o f an inten s e desire to have no secondbest in any department o f l i fe . He seesthe good in exi sting in sti tutions a s clearlya s we do ; h e has sa id so over and overaga in . But he sees the mistakes too ; andhe knows tha t there i s no rhyme nor reasonin h i s wasting hi s intellectua l capacity bytell ing us how well we have done, when heknows that i f our faults are po inted out to

us , we shall b e enabled to do so muchbette r. The whol e question i s one o feconomy. We have no t ime to waste . Weare here for a l i ttle while in the sun , bornwith a sp ir i t o f a lmost infin i te poten cy , anda body o f p iti able weakn ess . He says tous : D o not stay : do not rest : do not

be sati sfied : there i s more ahead, unknownlands to which the sp iri t o f man may atta in ,where h e may become t ransfigured, glorified, one with God. All these m istakes ,these wrongs , these fallings-back a re keep

84

Bern ard Shaw and the Wo rld

ing you from the Land of Beat itude wh i chi s be fore you .

”

I t has been sa id of Coleri dge that hehungered for etern i ty . I t sha ll b e sa id o fB ernard Shaw that he so hungered for theinfin i te goodness o f God that he dedicatedh i s l i fe to man ’ s a tta inmen t thereto .

I intend in thi s chapter to deal withsome o f the favourite gibes which havebeen l evelled at Shaw by m en whose op inion deserves to carry con s iderable we ight .First there are those who deny him any

serious inten tion whatever . They r e feryou comp rehens ively to hi s wi t, as i f thatwere not on ly his chi e f, but hi s sole asset .I f he states a truth wh ich sounds to themdifferen t from the A B C o f art and moralson which they have been brought up , theydub i t a gay paradox and say i t i s So l ikeShaw .

”

In reply to th is I should l ike to say first,that in j udging that Bernard Shaw woulddeal with any sp iri tual truth out of wantonwit they are reckon ing without the ir man .

No keen er arti sti c consci ence than hisexi sts a t the present time few so keen .

85

Bern ard Shaw

There i s noth ing o f the doctrine o f artfor art ’s sake ” about him .

$ For art ’ ssake a lone ,

” he says , I would not face theto il o f writing a single sentence . Takethe s imple test o f superfluity. You con

stan t ly see the assert ion that Shaw’ s play s

are all talk .

” I t i s in ferred that he writesad l ib . ,

730 to speak . In a very l imitedsense th i s i s per fectly true : the man ’ scop iousn ess o f thought and fel ic i ty o f

utterance a re amaz ing . But the rea l testo f h is qual i ty i s , Can you leave anythingout $ Try : and you will find that seriousinj u ry to h i s ma in subj ect will result . Iti s a l l inevi tab le and essenti a l ; i t a ll has aplace and a purpose . For Shaw ’ s work ,l ike Whistler ’s

,i s not a matter o f taste , but

o f knowledge .But in these prel iminary remarks we

have not reached the heart o f the matter .The an swer to thi s cr1t 1c1sm o f Shaw ,

which says th a t he has no rea l po int o fVi ew , l i es deeper ; and a care fu l studyo f h i s works wil l convince you that thetruth i s to b e found at the very oppos itepole . The fact that he i s a dramatist has

86

Bern ard Shaw and the Wo rld

put peop le Off the scen t There are twoquotation s from h i s works wh ich shouldbe studi ed s ide by s ide in this connection .

One i s a passage from the Pre face to Manand Superman : Not that I di scla im thefullest respons ib i l ity for his (Tanner

’s )op in i ons and for those o f all my characters ,p leasan t and unpleasant . They are a llright from the i r severa l po ints o f Vi ew ;and thei r points o f vi ew are , for the dra

matic momen t,

$ mine also.

”

I have taken th i s quotation first because ir reveals toyou the dramatic a spec to f th e Shavian mind . Couple with i t thefollowing from

[The San i ty o f Art : Thenotion that the grea t poet and arti st cando no wrong is a s misch ievously erroneousa s the notion tha t the $ ing can do no

wrong . In my last p lay, The Doctor ’ sDilemma , I recognized th i s by dramati z inga rasca lly gen ius , with the di squ i etingresult tha t severa l h ighly intell igen t and

sens itive persons pass ionately de fendedh im , on the ground , apparen tly, that h igharti sti c faculty and an ardent arti sti c

Ital ics are m in e R. M. D .

Bern ard Shaw

imagination en ti tl e a man to be recklesslydi shon est abou t mon ey and r ecklesslyselfish about women .

”

You wil l rightly in fer from thi s la stquotation tha t there is a Shavi an po in t o fVi ew .

$

At this po in t I sha ll take up aga in th emuch ridi culed comparison between Shawand Shakespear , because much may belearnt from i t in the present connection .

Bernard Shaw cla ims that Shakespear ha sle ft u s no intellectually coherent drama ”

;

and speaking elsewhere o f D icken s andShakespear, h e says : $ The i r pregnantobservations and demon stration s o f l i feare not co-ordinated in to any philosophyor rel igion .

”

Let us examin e th is'

charge aga instShakespear . I s i t true $One thing at l east i s certa in . I f he

had any message to give us , any insp iration o f a constructive character, we a rej ustified in looking for i t in those playswhich represen t h i s r ipest experi ence

,h is

$ For fu r ther discuss ion o f the case in The D octor’

s

D ilemma, see the San ity of A r t, pp . 1 2—1 3 .

88

Bern ard Shaw and the World

most mature j udgmen t plays such asThe Temp est and The Winter ’ s Tale .

What do we find there $ These p lays al lclose on the note of peace , o f reconci l i at ion , o f ca lm a fter storm

S leepe after toyle, port after storm ie seas,

Ease a fter warre, death after life, does great ly p lease.

.Th i s i s a very beauti ful conception . Butwe must face the facts , and they clearlypo int to th i s : tha t for Shakespear therewas no active look ing forward , but on lycalm at the end. B ernard Shaw ’s wonderful revelati on o f $ the prophetic Soul o fthe wide world dreaming on things tocome ” was not in h i s age , was not poss ible for h i s time . I t i s not for us to cavi la t Shakespear because th is i s so ; ratherwe should accep t h i s magica l bounty o ftruth and beauty in the frank and joyfulsp ir i t in which i t i s offered . What I wishto po int out i s that Shaw can o ffer us afurther gi ft not more comfort

,but more

courage . Throughout h is work the discern ing eye can see the s igns o f preparation . A great time i s a t hand . The old

89

Bern ard Shaw

modes o f l i fe and thought are shi fting ,changing , giving place to new . And be

h ind al l the changes,as the motive power

and inner cause o f them all , l i e s theconception o f the Superman . Towardsth i s the evolution o f woman ’s soul ,through various channels but with i tsown pecul i a r and individua l function , i sa ssuredly moving .

Th is sense o f a h igh j udgment-seatb eh ind Shaw ’ s various dramati c pageantryi s our surety and stand-by, our guaranteeo f h i s good fa ith . I t i s thi s which givesun i ty to h i s work— th i s consc iousness o fa message wh ich he has been sent to

del iver, and which appears over and overaga in under different aspects and in different forms . I have heard people grumblebecause , they sa id , B ernard Shaw haddelivered h i s message and had nothingmore to say . Apart from the fact thatthese people differed cons iderab ly a s tothe nature o f the message he had alreadydel ivered

,I would remind them that no

man of gen ius ever ha s more than one

message to del iver to the world . This90

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

sturdy exterior, a shrinking heart ; but wecannot dece ive h im ; and presently westand revealed

,in a l l our futi l i ty and

cowardice , in a ll our emp tiness o f heartand bra in . I can imagine h im echoing thewords o f the Revelation $

$ I know thyworks , tha t thou a rt n e ither cold nor hot :I would thou wert cold or hot . B ecausethou sayest

,I am rich

, and increased withgoods , and have need o f nothing ; and

kn owest not tha t thou art wretched , andmiserable , and poor, and bl ind , and naked .

I remember di scuss ing You Never CanTell with an extremely intell igent womano f my acqua intance , and re ferr ing to th efamous love scene b etween Va lentin e andGloria

,she sa id : That ’s a funny sort o f

love scene .” I t was an ab solutely honestremark : and i t revealed to me in a flashthe a tti tude o f th e genera l mind towardsthe Shavian expos itions o f these confl i cts ofsoul . As I have di scussed th i s parti cu la rscene elsewhere I will only say here thatthe $ funny ” mean ing extraordinarycharacter o f th i s love scen e ari ses enti rely

Close o f Act I I.

92

Bern ard Shaw and the Wo rld

from the fact that i t i s treated analyt ica lly .

I t i s not a l itera l rendering of a love-cri s i si t rep resen ts rather the mysti c and innertruth o f that pass ionate encounter . It i sa s i f some sp ir itual report er had been presen t , and had noted in h is book , not whatthe lovers sa id Wi th thei r l ips , but whatthey felt in thei r souls .Over and over aga in I have tested

B ernard Shaw ’ s work— h i s ins ight intohuman character, and in parti cular, h i srevelation o f Iri sh l i fe and mind ; and hehas invari ably triumphed . Independenttestimony pours in from all s ides to thesame effect. A lady who had l ived muchin Ireland once a ssured me that she couldlay her finger , so to speak, on a ll th e Irishtypes described in John Bull ’ s Other I sland . Another lady, when the conversationwas enti rely independent of Shaw, paraphrased in s imp l e prose Larry ’s greatspeech n ea r the beginn ing o f John Bull ,her po in t being to prove that I ri sh chara cter i s the product Of the Irish cl imate . $

$ The speech r e fer r ed to is the one beg inn ing :$ No, no

the c l imat e is diff eren t .”

93

Bern ard Shaw

Once in a London club when the subj ecto f discuss ion was whether B ernard Shaw ’ swomen characters were true to nature ornot, I saw a man stand up to championMrs . George

,surpri sed that no one had

been found to bring her any tribute . Thesame man bore testimony to the truth-tol i fe-ness o f Morel l and Eugene in Candida .

A friend o f mine once sa id tha t he knewpeop le who , i f they were placed in the sames i tuations a s the characters in The Ph i landerer, would act in preci sely the same way .

I could cite many other examples , but thesea re enough to serve my present purpose .The charges whi ch in the n ature o f th ingsare most frequently made aga inst the pioneer are those which are most o ften b roughtaga inst Shaw . It i s , for in stance, frequen tlystated that h is phi losophy is destructiverather than constructive , and thi s i s re

garded a s a de fect in h im . This charge i son ly in part true , and in so fa r a s i t i s trueit should be regarded as a virtue and not asa de fect .Go to h i s works first (not , as i s so o ften

done, to the remarks made by his a ccusers),94

Bern ard Shaw and the Wo rld

and a fter r eading th em , ask yoursel f i f thecharge i s a true one . Can you honestlysay

,a fter a perusa l o f Man and Superman ,

for examp le , tha t h i s phi losophy i s dest ruct ive $ No more constructive ph ilosophywas ever Offered to mankind . The playteems with pos itive in sp i ration for futuregenerations . There i s in i t enough sp ir itua lforce to provide the inmost soul o f futuredrama— to supp ly the bas i c fabri c uponwhi ch that drama will b e bu il t up , so thatdramati sts for years to come will pati entlyreap where Shaw has sown

,expati ating , en

larging upon and elaborating his primaryinsp i ra tions . Take, for examp le , the following passage from Man and Superman ,

which enunc iates the philosophi c pr incipleunderly ing all Shavian drama : This i sthe true j oy in l i fe , the b eing used for apurpose recogn i z ed by yoursel f as a mightyone ; the being thoroughly worn out beforeyou are thrown on the scrap heap ; thebeing a force o f Nature instead o f a feverish , selfish li ttle clod o f a i lments and gr ievauces comp la in ing that the world wi ll notdevote i tsel f to making you happy .

”

95

Bern ard Shaw

Look for a momen t a t Bernard Shaw ’ splays a s a p rotest aga inst conven tional i smand the employment o f obsolete ideas indrama . Can i t b e den i ed that h i s revoltaga inst romance (romance which had degen erated into a mere feti sh instead o fbeing a l iving in sp i ration , a s wi th Shakespear) has don e the very best th ing thatcould b e don e for drama , tha t i s to say, hass et the dramati c form free to find i ts ownpath

,to evolve a ccording to i ts own inner

n ecess i ty $ Cash el Byron , in The Adm irable Bashville, voices preci sely one ’s feel ingabout the drama which Shaw has superseded. O God, let me b e natural a moment $ The solution o f the whole problem li es in the fact that the Shakespeareanepoch th e epoch o f Romance i s at anend. B ernard Shaw is the prophet o f thenew era the era o f Real ity : but

,a s usua l

,

we take a long while to b ecome accustomedto the change .But i t i s on th i s very account— because

hi s ideas are new— that so many peop l eobj ect to Shaw , and dub hi s philosophydestructive . Ideas are not n ecessari ly de

96

Bern ard Shaw

Structive because they are new They willin their turn become Old, and meanwhilethey have prepared the way for other andfar-reach ing truths they have let in l ightfor us to see the new truths by . There i sno need for anyon e to take up a superioratti tude towards those who do not at presen t appeciate Bernard Shaw . Many to-dayare on the borderland o f do ing so : and U n

dershaft rightly interprets the ir state o fmind when he says to Major BarbaraYou have learn t something . That a lwaysfeels a t first a s i f you had lost someth ing .

”

Finally, I would urge that i f the Shavi angen ius i s partly destructive , th i s i s a virtuein i t, and not a de fect . On ly by an in fu

s ion o f new truth can the world progressand destruction alon e can prepare the wayfor the coming of the new truth . SO Tan

ner in Man and SupermanANN [bored] : I am afraid I am too fem in ine to

see any sen se in destruction . Destruction can on lydestroy .TANNER : Yes . That is why it is so u se ful . Con

struction cumbers the ground w ith in stitution s made

by busy-bodies . Destruct ion clears it, and gives us

breath ing space and l iberty .

G97

Bern ard Shaw

The would-be worsh ipp ers o f Construction wi ll doubtless dub thi s passage an

archi ca l . I there fore insert here a fewauthori tat ive words wh i ch are to the pointin th i s conn ect ion .

$ There i s a prevalent idea tha t theconstructive genius i s in i tsel f somethinggrander than the cri t i ca l , even though theformer turns out to have merely made asymmetrica l rubb ish heap in the middleo f

'

the road o f sc i ence wh i ch th e latterhas to clear away before anybody can getforward These words apply withspeci a l force to Shaw ’ s posi tion in theworld of dramati c l iterature to day .

Finally, I contend that the gen ius o fBernard Shaw i s ult imately constructive .For p roo f, tu rn to the second act o fCae sar and Cleopatra : by h i s own wordshe i s j ustified .

The Library of A lexandria is in fl ames.

THEODOTU S [knee l ing, w ith genuine l iterary emo

tion : the passion of the pedan t] : Caesar : once in

ten generations o f men , the world gain s an immortalbook.

$ Huxley’s Method and Resul ts.

”

98

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Chap ter VII

Function of BernardS haw

We are led to bel ieve a lie

When we see wi th not through the eye,

Which was born in a n ight to perish in a nigh tWhen the soul s lept in beam s o f l ight .”

WILL IAM BLA$ E.

BLA$ E and Shaw , so diss imila r fromthe merely externa l po int o f Vi ew , are

enti rely a t one on the myst i ca l p lane . Shawhas drawn publ i c a ttention to the sympathywhi ch exists b etween them : but the subj ect may be pursued a l i ttle further withadvantage .The arti st-mysti c (or the arti s t-philosopher : the terms are interchangeable , fori t ha s been well sa id that the myst i c hasthe root o f phi losophy in h im ) the arti stmysti c i s the greatest o f seers , the m ostmighty of a ll the creators o f mind . He

I OO

Fun ction o f Bern ard Shaw

ploughs the so i l o f thought : the arti stswho follow him in the s ame epoch do butreap where he has sown . The distinctionbetween th e arti s t and the arti st-mysti c ISmade clea r in the cas e of Dubedat in TheDoctor’ s Dilemma . Dubedat was an art ist , a gen ius , but $ a rascally genius .”Lest anyone should be tempted , however

, in a rash momen t ,‘

to under-estimateh i s work I shall quote here h i s beauti fu lpro fess ion o f fa ith , at once an in sp i rationand a prophecy . I b el i eve in MichaelAngelo , Velasquez , and Rembrandt, in themight of des ign , in the mystery o f color ,in the redemption o f a ll things by Beautyeverla sting , and the message Of Art thathas made these hands blessed . Amen .

Amen .

”

I t i s customary to consider BernardShaw primari ly as a phi losopher and to

depreciate h is talent a s an arti st, i f not todeny him all arti st i c ta len t whatsoever .This j udgmen t i s a mistaken one

$

Hisartist i c apprehen sion i s s ingularly acute ,and the evidence o f thi s i s wri t largeOver all h i s plays . The pr imary demand

IO I

Bern ard Shaw

wh i ch we make of the arti st i s , that heshall feed the human soul through thechannel o f E stheti c b eauty . Beauty shallclothe h i s work a s i t were with a garment .To the arti st pure and s imple , indeed ,beauty i s in i tsel f sati s fy ing enough . To

$ eats , dying in hi s early noon , i t soseemedA th ing of beauty is a j oy for everIts love l iness increases ; it w i l l neverPass in to noth ingness ; but stil l w il l keepA bower quiet for us, and a s leepFu l l o f sweet dream s, and health, and quiet breathing .And aga inSp ite o f despondence, o f the inhuman dearthO f nob le natures

, o f the gloomy days,Of all the unhealthy and o

’

er -darkened waysMade for our search ing : yes, in sp ite of al l,Som e shape o f beauty moves away the pal lFrom our dark spirits .

Yet we see even here , tha t $ eats wa srap idly develop ing from the point o fVi ew o f the arti st pure and s imple , tothat o f an arti st-mysti c o f a very h ighorder .But the Shavian conception o f the rela

1 0 2

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Bern ard Shaw

to hi s curative power . He does notwallow in the miseries which . con stitutethe soc ia l problem o f to-day . In a mannerwhich can on ly be compared to that o f

the fin est a rti st-philosophers B lake , forExamp l e, and Bunyan he states the whol efcase conc i sely , and presents the problemin so unmistakable a fash ion that i t can no

longer be$ hedged or evaded in any

way . The Truth, says Will i am Blake ,can never be told so a s to b e understood

and not be bel i eved .

” I t i s imposs ible toread the U np leasan t Plays and to remainunmoved by an urgen t sense o f soc ia l sin .

But observe h i s method o f deal ing withthe s in s o f soc i ety .

” Contrast with i ttha t of so many modern authors , who l ingermorb idly over the symptoms of disease inour soc ia l system , and be ing powerless tosuggest a cu re , l eave the reader or spectator in a state o f mind bordering on

desp a i r . Take , for examp le, a play call edLinks , translated from the Dutch , and

recen tly presen ted by the Stage Soci ety .

$ Taking the ph rase in it s w ides t app l icat ion , of cou rse

using t he word$society ”

to imp ly the whole social system.

1 04

Fun ction o f Bern ard Shaw

The play i s d istinctly clever , and it wasacted to admiration , espec ia lly by Mr .Fisher White , to whom it a fforded avaluable opportun i ty . But Christi an ’ sfeel ings in the Slough o f Despond musthave been tep i d compared with those o f

the un fortunate p laygoer who stumbledhal f bl ind with horror, out o f that Sundayeven ing per formance o f Links .The ultimate cause o f Bernard Shaw ’ s

superiority in th is di rection i s to b e foundin hi s humour , using the word in theh ighest sen se of which i t i s capable .Let us not forget ,

” says the Bi shop o f

Chelsea,

$ that humour i s a divin e at t r i

bute . ” I would go further, and wouldsay that humour, as I am about to definei t, i s the d ivinest o f al l a ttributes . Byhumour, here , I mean the comedic sen se :preoccupation with l i fe , not death ; withsalvation ,

not sin ; with a j oy ful fa ith inthe ultimate ach ievement o f God , not

with despa ir . In spi te of a ll the diseasesymptoms wh ich Bernard Shaw Observesin Soci ety, and has dep i cted for us withan accuracy so relen tless and so terrible

105

Bern ard Shaw

that h e ha s spared n e ither h imsel f nor us ;in fa ce

,I repeat

,o f the direst o f these

symptoms,hi s head i s yet held h igh, h i s

courage i s unfa iling , hi s insp iration re

main s supremex/ It i s th e greatest o f h i sd i st inctions, tha t he i s a lways on the s ideo f the forces o f l i fe a s opposed to theforces o f death : in short , that he bel ievesin l ife. I f th i s one fact about h im has beenmade clear, th is book wi ll not have b eenwritten in va in .

THE END

I O6

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

GE ORGE B E RNARD S HAW

B Y

GIL BE RT $ . CHE S TE R'

I‘

ON

An Illus trated B iog raphyCloth. IZmo. net . Postage It s.

It is a fascinating portrait study and I am proud to have been the

pain ter’ s model . ”—G. B. Shaw in The Na tz on (London) .

Scintillates with good things.—Baj

'

a laIllustra ted Times.

The cleverest man in all the world,w ith the second cleverest as

his subj ect, is here doing his c leverest writing . No t since S t .

Augu stine have the gods sen t u s such a man who cou ld m ake the

incredib le so fascinatingly probab le .

—T/ze Sma rt Set .

A most entertain ing book fu ll of illum inating phrases on manysubj ects .

— The Outlook.

D ecidedly good reading and emphatically good compan ionship .

—Tow n and Country .

Human as wel l as clever. Al l abou t Shaw ,when it is not more

directly concerned w ith God and G . $ . Chesterton .

”—B rueningS tanda rd and S t . James Ga z ette (London) .

Will justify every favorab le expectation which cou ld be formed

of it . Will take rank with the very best things he has ever written .

His thoughtfu l analysis of Shaw ’

s character w ill help many a readerto an understanding . ” —Philadelphia Public Ledger .

Amusing—daz z ling—apparen tly irresponsib le , Chesterton ’

s portra1t is like one of Rodin’

s conceptions in scu lpture MrChesterton has never been c leverer than in his latest biography .TorontoNew s .

The most readab le book of this character ever pub lished.

”

$A s entertain ing as anything Mr. Chesterton ’

s exuberan t gen iushas yet produced . Al l h is won ted sureness .

” —T/z e D za l .

$ Not to be able to be du l l is G . $ . Chesterton ’

s most remarkab lecharacteristic . Ev en ing New s .

Always 0riginal .”— C/z z'eago Tr z 'éune.Orthodoxy . U n iform with Heretics .

I z mo. $ 1 .50 net . Postage 1 2 cents .

$ Here is a man with something to say.

”—B r ooklyn L if e.

A work of genius .

”Ch icago E ven ing Post .

$ ‘Orthodoxy 'is th e most importan t religious work that has ap

peared since Emerson .

” —Nor t$z Amer ica n Review.

$ Is likely to produce a sensation . An extraordinary book whichwil l be much read and talked about . - 1Vew Yor k Globe.

Al l Th ing s Cons idered. Essays on various subjects ,such as :

Conceit and Car icature ; S pir itual ism ; S cience and

Religion ; Woman , etc.

1 2mo. net . Postage 1 2 cents .

$ Fu ll of the author’s abundan t v itality, wit and unflinchingoptimism .

”—B ook News .

The Napoleon of Not t ing Hill. I z ma.

$ A bril lian t piece of satire, gemmed wi th ingen ius paradox.—B oston Hera ld.

Georg e B ernard S haw . An il lustrated B iography.

I z ma. net . Postage 1 2 cen ts .

Th e Ba l l and th e Cross . 1 2mo.

Gilbert $ . Ches terton . A C rit icism .

Cloth . 1 2mo. $ 1 .5 0 net . P ostage 1 2 cen ts .

An il lust rated biography of th is bril l ian t author ; also anable rev iew of h is works .

$ The anonymous author is a critic with uncommon discriminationand good sense . Mr . Ches terton possesses one of the best at tributes of gen iu s—impersona li ty .

$ —B a l t z'

mor e News .

A . NE IL LYONS

ROB E RT B L ATCHFOR D

The S ket ch of 3. Pe rs ona lity.

An E s t imate of S ome Ach ievemen t .

A sp lendid figure for b iographical study . -T/1e Ca l l .

Cot tag e P ie Clot/z . 127710.

A Country Spread. A Novel .

S ixpenny P iecesTh e S tory of a S ixpenn y D octorNot since famous No . 5 John S treet has been offered so tel l

ing and characteristic a work. Power t o stir human hearts and

sway human sympathies . Holds the in terest With a grip of iron and

w il l make many think .

” —C/z icagoRecord Hera ld.

Un ique in style and matter and in ten se in human in terest .Louisfvi l le Cour ier Journa l .

Notab le,pathetic, humorou s and tragic . In realistic force and

convincing t ruth of characteriz ation it is a striking achievemen t .S lum life has never been better portrayed.

” —Brooklyn Eag le.

Arth ur ’s Hot e l can . 127m . $1 50.

Sketches of low life in London . The book w il l de light Vi si torsto the slum s .

—New Yark Sun .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

THE MARTYRD OM’

OF MAN

W INWOOD READE

Glat/z . $1 . 50 net . Postage 15 cents

New E d ition . Portra it F ron t ispie ce and 3.

B iog raphy of th e Author.

I. War

Egypt—VVestern A sia—The Persian s—The Greeks—The Mace

don ian s—A lexandria—The Phoen ician s—Carthage and Rom e

Roman A frica—The A rabs.

II. Re lig ionThe Natural History of Religion—The I sraelites—The Jews—TheProphets— The Character of Jesu s—The Christians—A rabiaMecca —The Character of Mahom et—D escription of A frica—TheMahom etan s in Cen tral A frica .

111. L ibertyA nc ient Europe- The German Invasion—The Castle—The Town

—The Church—Ven ice—A rab Spain—The Portuguese D iscoveriesT he S lave T rade—Abo lition in Europe—A bo lition in Am ericaMaterials of Human History .

IV . In te l le c tA n imal Period of the Earth—Origin and Early History of Man

Summary of Un iversal History—The Future of the Human Race

The Re ligion of Reason and Love.