The Literature of George Bernard Shaw
The Literature of George Bernard Shaw
Oftentimes in literature an author will use his works as a means for the expression of views. It then becomes the job of the reader to find those views and make an attempt to understand them. George Bernard Shaw is a playwright who layered his plays with opinions and social commentary. It is these views that present themselves after a close reading in which the reader feels he has read more than a play. In his classic work Man and Superman Shaw attempts to further his opinions both sublimely and forthrightly. Though many do not appreciate his attempts and criticize his works, the legacy of Shavian writing lives on.
To the everyday reader the play Man and Superman is a dry love story with an interesting third act. To those well versed in Shavian script, it is more than that, much more. The outset of the play contains the most important lines for this is where first impressions are made. Shaw believed that an impression of his characters should hold true throughout the work (Nethercot 96). The play opens with the upper class Englishman, Roebuck Ramsden, ordering his maid around. With this Shaw already begins to show the class dichotomy he hates so much. On the surface the most important character is the one who never speaks, Mr. Whitefield, the deceased father of Ann Whitefield, the woman who must be married. Ann becomes the vessel Shaw uses to demonstrate his views on the struggle between sexes. She teases poor Octavius or Tavy as the others call him. The pen name Tavy stems from Ann’s referring to him as Ricky Ticky Tavy, in a sensually sly, almost devious manner because she knows he loves her. This love Octavius has for Ann becomes a main argument in the play because much of the character interaction branches from this.
The real story begins with the death of Ann’s father and the reading of his will where a shocking revelation is learned. Mr. Whitefield has named the regale elderly Ramsden as well as the radical youthful Jack Tanner to be the guardian of his two daughters. It comes as a great surprise to all (except Ann) that Tanner has been named a suitor because he has such radical social views. In fact, the...