With "Plays Unpleasant", Shaw issued a radical challenge to his audiences' complacency and exposed social evils through his dramatization of the moral conflicts between youthful idealism and economic reality, promiscuity and marriage, and the duties of women to others and to themselves. His first play, "Widowers' Houses", depicts Harry Trench's dilemma on learning that the inheritance of his fiancee comes from her father's income as a slum landlord. In "The Philanderer", charismatic Leonard Charteris proposes marriage to Grace, while he is still involved with the beautiful Julia Craven - who is not inclined to give him up so easily. And in "Mrs Warren's Profession", Vivie Warren is forced to reconsider her own future when she discovers that her mother's immoral earnings funded her genteel upbringing.
| ||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Dublin-born George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was an active Socialist and a brilliant platform speaker. He was strongly critical of London theatre and closely associated with the intellectual revival of British drama. Dan H. Laurence has edited SHAW'S COLLECTED LETTERS and COLLECTED PLAYS with their Prefaces. He was Literary Advisor to the Shaw Estate until his retirement in 1990. David Edgar has written widely on theatre and his original plays include DESTINY, MAYDAYS and PENTECOST.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unpleasant topics, but ideologically important,
By
This review is from: Plays Unpleasant (Bernard Shaw Library) (Paperback)
The plays of Bernard Shaw span many years and cover many topics. While many of Shaw's works are entertaining as well as enlightening, the plays in this volume (written very early in his career) tackle complex issues that concern society. These plays force us to critically view how success in the world is judged. They demonstrate how any of us may unknowingly be an accomplice to or a participant in activities to which we stringently object on a moral basis. This is pertinent in society today! The works in this volume open our eyes. . .and we may not like what we see. In summary, the plays in this volume are important, although they will hopefully make the reader feel somewhat uncomfortable. A well planned anthology of Shaw's work should be part of any college education
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
In the garden restaurant of a hotel at Remagen on the Rhine, on a fine afternoon in August in the eighteen-eighties. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
pray dont, plays unpleasant, dont mention, dont mind, dont care, dont understand, staircase door Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Miss Craven, Miss Warren, Miss Blanche, Lady Roxdale, Miss Vivie, Colonel Craven, Lord Chamberlain, Sir George Crofts, Aunt Maria, Miss Sartorius, Chancery Lane, Robbins's Row, New York, Old Order, Apollinaris Church, Grace Tranfield New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In the garden restaurant of a hotel at Remagen on the Rhine, on a fine afternoon in August in the eighteen-eighties. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
pray dont, plays unpleasant, dont mention, dont mind, dont care, dont understand, staircase door Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Miss Craven, Miss Warren, Miss Blanche, Lady Roxdale, Miss Vivie, Colonel Craven, Lord Chamberlain, Sir George Crofts, Aunt Maria, Miss Sartorius, Chancery Lane, Robbins's Row, New York, Old Order, Apollinaris Church, Grace Tranfield New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
45
books
cite this book:
See all 45 books citing this book
- Socialism and Superior Brains: The Political Thought of George Bernard Shaw by Gareth Griffith on 5 pages
- Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare and Shaw: (Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies) by Lagretta Lenker on 4 pages
- The English Stage: A History of Drama and Performance (Canto original series) by John L. Styan on page 339, page 341, and page 347
- Aristocracies of Fiction: The Idea of Aristocracy in Late-Nineteenth-Century and Early-Twentieth-Century Literary Culture (Contributions to the Study of World Literature) by Len Platt on page 88, and Back Matter
- Ella Hepworth Dixon: The Story of a Modern Woman (Nineteenth Century Series) by Valerie Fehlbaum on page 167, and Back Matter
See all 45 books citing this book
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
|
|
