Q: G.B Shaw as a dramatist?
The philosophy of the Life Force introduced in Man and
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah
was a writer who revolutnized English prose. He was in a way a dreamer
and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is beautiful
and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the reason he
took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out in his plays.
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah
was a writer who revolutionized English prose. He was in a way a
dreamer and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is
beautiful and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the
reason he took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out
in his plays.
An excellent example is the play “Mrs. Warrens Profession” In this play
he discussed the oldest profession in the world, prostitution. Slums so
much a part of British London during his time was beautifully
represented in “Widower’s House”, Think of a subject and GB Shah
tackled it with aplomb. He portrayed the medical profession in “Doctor’s
Dilemma” and the scourge of war in “Arms and the man. His portrayal of
love, marriage and adultery is skillfully represented in “Candida”.
Thus one can visualize GB Shaw as a dramatist who had a sensitive mind.
His i portrayal of social issues that concern the common man is
something that puts him in my view above all play. But GB was not just a
man who represented socio-economic problems only, as his writings
concerned the innermost feelings and ethos of human life. He wrote
about what man is and how he reacts in a situation, this is the beauty of
GB Shaw’s writings.
There are critics of the plays of Shaw. They feel his plays lack ‘conflict’
and as this is the soul of a play, they are apt to put him lower in the scale
of English writers. Fortunately such critics are very few, but one has to
rebut them. The characters created by GB are real life characters. His
plays are like debates as in ‘Arms and the Man’; a conflict is fought by
both sides. But one will agree that though there are allusions to conflict
the actual war is not represented. But in all his plays there is an
undercurrent of conflict and that is the beauty of Shaw’s plays.
Shaw brings out a deeper conflict, a conflict of the mind. This is more
terrible than an actual conflict. Shaw was a mental man and he envisaged
a victory on the mental plane with logic and discussion. Thus one can see
that the plays of Shaw have a different genre and he in fact is step higher
than most play writers
Shaw used his characters to portray his innermost feelings. He is like a
debater who discusses both sides of an issue. Thus in ’Arms and the
Man’ Shaw brings out two opposite view points through his characters
Sergius and Bluntschli. A look at one of his plays brings out the debate as
one of the characters in ‘Candida’ says “Man can climb to the highest
summits but he cannot dwell for long”, while another character says “It is
false: there can he dwell forever.
Shaw thus represented the dual side of a problem. One can without
second thoughts say that here is a writer who is as great as Shakespeare
In a way Shaw unlike Shakespeare was of a more modern age and he was
a propagandist. But he did not just pen propaganda and that is the
reason he wrote fairly lengthy prefaces to his plays. These prefaces are
important and help us to understand GB Shaw the man. He was in a way
a maverick, but a genius. His refusal to accept the Nobel Prize was part of
his make up.
In sum GB Shaw is one of the greatest writers of the English language
and reading him decades after his death, one can realize that apart from
writing impeccable English he was a revolutionary and a debater on a
higher plane, an intellectual plane.
Q: George Bernard Shaw’s Philosophy of Life: Creative
Evolution and Life Force?
Pre-eminently a first-rate dramatist whose work had a major influence on
British drama, Shaw is a philosopher par excellence, with a definite
philosophy of life. As a philosopher he is the chief exponent of the
philosophic doctrine known as Creative Evolution. The earliest statement
of his philosophic doctrine appears in his Man and Superman as the
doctrine of Life Force. This doctrine runs through most of his later plays
and takes final shape as the doctrine of Creative Evolution in his Back to
Methuselah published in 1921.
A. C. Ward has traced the growth and development of Shaw’s
philosophic doctrine in the following wards: “This play was Bernard
Shaw’s earliest full statement of his conception of the way of Salvation
for the human race, through obedience to the Life Force, the term he
uses to indicate a power continually working upon the hearts of men and
endeavoring to impel them towards a better and fuller life. In later plays
theLife Force seems to become more and more closely identified with
what most people mean when they speak of the Will of god and the Holy
Ghost ……………….
Superman, ran through most of the later plays.
Unlike Hardy’s Immanent Will, Shaw’s Life Force is
represented as a power making consciously towards a state of existence
far more abundantly vital than anything yet experienced by
mankind. His startling themes on slum landlordism and prostitution, the
folly of punishment and revenge, religion, politics, the medical
profession, marriage, parenthood, and phonetics—came into the
stage.They came with the force of life. But the Life Force is not purposed
to work unaided; men and women are required to act as willing and
eager agents for the furtherance of its great work.
The existing rage of men, however, (so Shaw thought in 1903),
was too mean-spirited and too self-centered to serve the Life Force,
which would consequently be compelled to supersede man by a more
effective instrument of its will – the Superman!’ In Back to Methuselah
once again the purpose and claims of the Life Force were stressed; Once
again, and in plainer terms than before, he spoke his warning that if man
did not come up to the mark, Man would be replaced by a less tragically
futile creature.” Shaw “pleads for the substitution of Creative Evolution –
his ‘religion of the twentieth century – which teaches not only that man
is the potential Superman, but also that man can himself hasten the
evolutionary process by ‘willing’ his own upward development …….. ”
In fact Shaw's intellect or ideas is imbibed with bold, critical
intelligence and his sharp pen, brought to bear on contemporary issues,
helped mold the thought of his own and later generations. Moreover,
his Life Forceaccomplished this through a brilliance of wit that remains
unsurpassed. now coming to the point, the Life Force is not named so
frequently in Back to Methuselah as in Man and Superman, but it
remains as the power behind the idea of Creative Evolution. The ultimate
desire of the Life Force is to establish the city of God on earth. The
intention at the back of the idea of Creative Evolution is that man should
work intentionally towards to evolution of a human type that will be
strong enough to establish and worthy enough to maintain the earthly
Jerusalem. Creative Evolution is the doctrine commended by Shaw as a
means through which the desire of man and the purpose of the Life Force
may be made identical.”
Q: G.B Shaw as a dramatist?
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah
was a writer who revolutnized English prose. He was in a way a dreamer
and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is beautiful
and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the reason he
took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out in his plays.
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah
was a writer who revolutionized English prose. He was in a way a
dreamer and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is
beautiful and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the
reason he took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out
in his plays.
An excellent example is the play “Mrs. Warrens Profession” In this play
he discussed the oldest profession in the world, prostitution. Slums so
much a part of British London during his time was beautifully
represented in “Widower’s House”, Think of a subject and GB Shah
tackled it with aplomb. He portrayed the medical profession in “Doctor’s
Dilemma” and the scourge of war in “Arms and the man. His portrayal of
love, marriage and adultery is skillfully represented in “Candida”.
Thus one can visualize GB Shaw as a dramatist who had a sensitive mind.
His i portrayal of social issues that concern the common man is
something that puts him in my view above all play. But GB was not just a
man who represented socio-economic problems only, as his writings
concerned the innermost feelings and ethos of human life. He wrote
about what man is and how he reacts in a situation, this is the beauty of
GB Shaw’s writings.
There are critics of the plays of Shaw. They feel his plays lack ‘conflict’
and as this is the soul of a play, they are apt to put him lower in the scale
of English writers. Fortunately such critics are very few, but one has to
rebut them. The characters created by GB are real life characters. His
plays are like debates as in ‘Arms and the Man’; a conflict is fought by
both sides. But one will agree that though there are allusions to conflict
the actual war is not represented. But in all his plays there is an
undercurrent of conflict and that is the beauty of Shaw’s plays.
Shaw brings out a deeper conflict, a conflict of the mind. This is more
terrible than an actual conflict. Shaw was a mental man and he envisaged
a victory on the mental plane with logic and discussion. Thus one can see
that the plays of Shaw have a different genre and he in fact is step higher
than most play writers
 Shaw used his characters to portray his innermost feelings. He is like a
debater who discusses both sides of an issue. Thus in ’Arms and the
Man’ Shaw brings out two opposite view points through his characters
Sergius and Bluntschli. A look at one of his plays brings out the debate as
one of the characters in ‘Candida’ says “Man can climb to the highest
summits but he cannot dwell for long”, while another character says “It is
false: there can he dwell forever.
Shaw thus represented the dual side of a problem. One can without
second thoughts say that here is a writer who is as great as Shakespeare
In a way Shaw unlike Shakespeare was of a more modern age and he was
a propagandist. But he did not just pen propaganda and that is the
reason he wrote fairly lengthy prefaces to his plays. These prefaces are
important and help us to understand GB Shaw the man. He was in a way
a maverick, but a genius. His refusal to accept the Nobel Prize was part of
his make up.
In sum GB Shaw is one of the greatest writers of the English language
and reading him decades after his death, one can realize that apart from
writing impeccable English he was a revolutionary and a debater on a
higher plane, an intellectual plane.
Q: George Bernard Shaw’s Philosophy of Life: Creative
Evolution and Life Force?
Pre-eminently a first-rate dramatist whose work had a major influence on
British drama, Shaw is a philosopher par excellence, with a definite
philosophy of life. As a philosopher he is the chief exponent of the
philosophic doctrine known as Creative Evolution. The earliest statement
of his philosophic doctrine appears in his Man and Superman as the
doctrine of Life Force. This doctrine runs through most of his later plays
and takes final shape as the doctrine of Creative Evolution in his Back to
Methuselah published in 1921.
A. C. Ward has traced the growth and development of Shaw’s
philosophic doctrine in the following wards: “This play was Bernard
Shaw’s earliest full statement of his conception of the way of Salvation
for the human race, through obedience to the Life Force, the term he
uses to indicate a power continually working upon the hearts of men and
endeavoring to impel them towards a better and fuller life. In later plays
theLife Force seems to become more and more closely identified with
what most people mean when they speak of the Will of god and the Holy
Ghost ……………….The philosophy of the Life Force introduced in Man and
Superman, ran through most of the later plays.
Unlike Hardy’s Immanent Will, Shaw’s Life Force is
represented as a power making consciously towards a state of existence
far more abundantly vital than anything yet experienced by
mankind. His startling themes on slum landlordism and prostitution, the
folly of punishment and revenge, religion, politics, the medical
profession, marriage, parenthood, and phonetics—came into the
stage.They came with the force of life. But the Life Force is not purposed
to work unaided; men and women are required to act as willing and
eager agents for the furtherance of its great work.
The existing rage of men, however, (so Shaw thought in 1903),
was too mean-spirited and too self-centered to serve the Life Force,
which would consequently be compelled to supersede man by a more
effective instrument of its will – the Superman!’ In Back to Methuselah
once again the purpose and claims of the Life Force were stressed; Once
again, and in plainer terms than before, he spoke his warning that if man
did not come up to the mark, Man would be replaced by a less tragically
futile creature.” Shaw “pleads for the substitution of Creative Evolution –
his ‘religion of the twentieth century – which teaches not only that man
is the potential Superman, but also that man can himself hasten the
evolutionary process by ‘willing’ his own upward development …….. ”
In fact Shaw's intellect or ideas is imbibed with bold, critical
intelligence and his sharp pen, brought to bear on contemporary issues,
helped mold the thought of his own and later generations. Moreover,
his Life Forceaccomplished this through a brilliance of wit that remains
unsurpassed. now coming to the point, the Life Force is not named so
frequently in Back to Methuselah as in Man and Superman, but it
remains as the power behind the idea of Creative Evolution. The ultimate
desire of the Life Force is to establish the city of God on earth. The
intention at the back of the idea of Creative Evolution is that man should
work intentionally towards to evolution of a human type that will be
strong enough to establish and worthy enough to maintain the earthly
Jerusalem. Creative Evolution is the doctrine commended by Shaw as a
means through which the desire of man and the purpose of the Life Force
may be made identical.”
Q: G.B Shaw as a dramatist?
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah
was a writer who revolutnized English prose. He was in a way a dreamer
and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is beautiful
and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the reason he
took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out in his plays.
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah
was a writer who revolutionized English prose. He was in a way a
dreamer and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is
beautiful and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the
reason he took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out
in his plays.
An excellent example is the play “Mrs. Warrens Profession” In this play
he discussed the oldest profession in the world, prostitution. Slums so
much a part of British London during his time was beautifully
represented in “Widower’s House”, Think of a subject and GB Shah
tackled it with aplomb. He portrayed the medical profession in “Doctor’s
Dilemma” and the scourge of war in “Arms and the man. His portrayal of
love, marriage and adultery is skillfully represented in “Candida”.
Thus one can visualize GB Shaw as a dramatist who had a sensitive mind.
His i portrayal of social issues that concern the common man is
something that puts him in my view above all play. But GB was not just a
man who represented socio-economic problems only, as his writings
concerned the innermost feelings and ethos of human life. He wrote
about what man is and how he reacts in a situation, this is the beauty of
GB Shaw’s writings.
There are critics of the plays of Shaw. They feel his plays lack ‘conflict’
and as this is the soul of a play, they are apt to put him lower in the scale
of English writers. Fortunately such critics are very few, but one has to
rebut them. The characters created by GB are real life characters. His
plays are like debates as in ‘Arms and the Man’; a conflict is fought by
both sides. But one will agree that though there are allusions to conflict
the actual war is not represented. But in all his plays there is an
undercurrent of conflict and that is the beauty of Shaw’s plays.
Shaw brings out a deeper conflict, a conflict of the mind. This is more
terrible than an actual conflict. Shaw was a mental man and he envisaged
a victory on the mental plane with logic and discussion. Thus one can see
that the plays of Shaw have a different genre and he in fact is step higher
than most play writers
Shaw used his characters to portray his innermost feelings. He is like a
debater who discusses both sides of an issue. Thus in ’Arms and the
Man’ Shaw brings out two opposite view points through his characters
Sergius and Bluntschli. A look at one of his plays brings out the debate as
one of the characters in ‘Candida’ says “Man can climb to the highest
summits but he cannot dwell for long”, while another character says “It is
false: there can he dwell forever.
Shaw thus represented the dual side of a problem. One can without
second thoughts say that here is a writer who is as great as Shakespeare
In a way Shaw unlike Shakespeare was of a more modern age and he was
a propagandist. But he did not just pen propaganda and that is the
reason he wrote fairly lengthy prefaces to his plays. These prefaces are
important and help us to understand GB Shaw the man. He was in a way
a maverick, but a genius. His refusal to accept the Nobel Prize was part of
his make up.
In sum GB Shaw is one of the greatest writers of the English language
and reading him decades after his death, one can realize that apart from
writing impeccable English he was a revolutionary and a debater on a
higher plane, an intellectual plane.
Q: George Bernard Shaw’s Philosophy of Life: Creative
Evolution and Life Force?
Pre-eminently a first-rate dramatist whose work had a major influence on
British drama, Shaw is a philosopher par excellence, with a definite
philosophy of life. As a philosopher he is the chief exponent of the
philosophic doctrine known as Creative Evolution. The earliest statement
of his philosophic doctrine appears in his Man and Superman as the
doctrine of Life Force. This doctrine runs through most of his later plays
and takes final shape as the doctrine of Creative Evolution in his Back to
Methuselah published in 1921.
A. C. Ward has traced the growth and development of Shaw’s
philosophic doctrine in the following wards: “This play was Bernard
Shaw’s earliest full statement of his conception of the way of Salvation
for the human race, through obedience to the Life Force, the term he
uses to indicate a power continually working upon the hearts of men and
endeavoring to impel them towards a better and fuller life. In later plays
theLife Force seems to become more and more closely identified with
what most people mean when they speak of the Will of god and the Holy
Ghost ……………….The philosophy of the Life Force introduced in Man and
Superman, ran through most of the later plays.
Unlike Hardy’s Immanent Will, Shaw’s Life Force is
represented as a power making consciously towards a state of existence
far more abundantly vital than anything yet experienced by
mankind. His startling themes on slum landlordism and prostitution, the
folly of punishment and revenge, religion, politics, the medical
profession, marriage, parenthood, and phonetics—came into the
stage.They came with the force of life. But the Life Force is not purposed
to work unaided; men and women are required to act as willing and
eager agents for the furtherance of its great work.
The existing rage of men, however, (so Shaw thought in 1903),
was too mean-spirited and too self-centered to serve the Life Force,
which would consequently be compelled to supersede man by a more
effective instrument of its will – the Superman!’ In Back to Methuselah
once again the purpose and claims of the Life Force were stressed; Once
again, and in plainer terms than before, he spoke his warning that if man
did not come up to the mark, Man would be replaced by a less tragically
futile creature.” Shaw “pleads for the substitution of Creative Evolution –
his ‘religion of the twentieth century – which teaches not only that man
is the potential Superman, but also that man can himself hasten the
evolutionary process by ‘willing’ his own upward development …….. ”
In fact Shaw's intellect or ideas is imbibed with bold, critical
intelligence and his sharp pen, brought to bear on contemporary issues,
helped mold the thought of his own and later generations. Moreover,
his Life Forceaccomplished this through a brilliance of wit that remains
unsurpassed. now coming to the point, the Life Force is not named so
frequently in Back to Methuselah as in Man and Superman, but it
remains as the power behind the idea of Creative Evolution. The ultimate
desire of the Life Force is to establish the city of God on earth. The
intention at the back of the idea of Creative Evolution is that man should
work intentionally towards to evolution of a human type that will be
strong enough to establish and worthy enough to maintain the earthly
Jerusalem. Creative Evolution is the doctrine commended by Shaw as a
means through which the desire of man and the purpose of the Life Force
may be made identical.”
Q: G.B Shaw as a dramatist?
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah
was a writer who revolutnized English prose. He was in a way a dreamer
and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is beautiful
and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the reason he
took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out in his plays.
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah
was a writer who revolutionized English prose. He was in a way a
dreamer and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is
beautiful and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the
reason he took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out
in his plays.
An excellent example is the play “Mrs. Warrens Profession” In this play
he discussed the oldest profession in the world, prostitution. Slums so
much a part of British London during his time was beautifully
represented in “Widower’s House”, Think of a subject and GB Shah
tackled it with aplomb. He portrayed the medical profession in “Doctor’s
Dilemma” and the scourge of war in “Arms and the man. His portrayal of
love, marriage and adultery is skillfully represented in “Candida”.
Thus one can visualize GB Shaw as a dramatist who had a sensitive mind.
His i portrayal of social issues that concern the common man is
something that puts him in my view above all play. But GB was not just a
man who represented socio-economic problems only, as his writings
concerned the innermost feelings and ethos of human life. He wrote
about what man is and how he reacts in a situation, this is the beauty of
GB Shaw’s writings.
There are critics of the plays of Shaw. They feel his plays lack ‘conflict’
and as this is the soul of a play, they are apt to put him lower in the scale
of English writers. Fortunately such critics are very few, but one has to
rebut them. The characters created by GB are real life characters. His
plays are like debates as in ‘Arms and the Man’; a conflict is fought by
both sides. But one will agree that though there are allusions to conflict
the actual war is not represented. But in all his plays there is an
undercurrent of conflict and that is the beauty of Shaw’s plays.
Shaw brings out a deeper conflict, a conflict of the mind. This is more
terrible than an actual conflict. Shaw was a mental man and he envisaged
a victory on the mental plane with logic and discussion. Thus one can see
that the plays of Shaw have a different genre and he in fact is step higher
than most play writers
Shaw used his characters to portray his innermost feelings. He is like a
debater who discusses both sides of an issue. Thus in ’Arms and the
Man’ Shaw brings out two opposite view points through his characters
Sergius and Bluntschli. A look at one of his plays brings out the debate as
one of the characters in ‘Candida’ says “Man can climb to the highest
summits but he cannot dwell for long”, while another character says “It is
false: there can he dwell forever.
Shaw thus represented the dual side of a problem. One can without
second thoughts say that here is a writer who is as great as Shakespeare
In a way Shaw unlike Shakespeare was of a more modern age and he was
a propagandist. But he did not just pen propaganda and that is the
reason he wrote fairly lengthy prefaces to his plays. These prefaces are
important and help us to understand GB Shaw the man. He was in a way
a maverick, but a genius. His refusal to accept the Nobel Prize was part of
his make up.
In sum GB Shaw is one of the greatest writers of the English language
and reading him decades after his death, one can realize that apart from
writing impeccable English he was a revolutionary and a debater on a
higher plane, an intellectual plane.
Q: George Bernard Shaw’s Philosophy of Life: Creative
Evolution and Life Force?
Pre-eminently a first-rate dramatist whose work had a major influence on
British drama, Shaw is a philosopher par excellence, with a definite
philosophy of life. As a philosopher he is the chief exponent of the
philosophic doctrine known as Creative Evolution. The earliest statement
of his philosophic doctrine appears in his Man and Superman as the
doctrine of Life Force. This doctrine runs through most of his later plays
and takes final shape as the doctrine of Creative Evolution in his Back to
Methuselah published in 1921.
A. C. Ward has traced the growth and development of Shaw’s
philosophic doctrine in the following wards: “This play was Bernard
Shaw’s earliest full statement of his conception of the way of Salvation
for the human race, through obedience to the Life Force, the term he
uses to indicate a power continually working upon the hearts of men and
endeavoring to impel them towards a better and fuller life. In later plays
theLife Force seems to become more and more closely identified with
what most people mean when they speak of the Will of god and the Holy
Ghost ……………….The philosophy of the Life Force introduced in Man and
Superman, ran through most of the later plays.
Unlike Hardy’s Immanent Will, Shaw’s Life Force is
represented as a power making consciously towards a state of existence
far more abundantly vital than anything yet experienced by
mankind. His startling themes on slum landlordism and prostitution, the
folly of punishment and revenge, religion, politics, the medical
profession, marriage, parenthood, and phonetics—came into the
stage.They came with the force of life. But the Life Force is not purposed
to work unaided; men and women are required to act as willing and
eager agents for the furtherance of its great work.
The existing rage of men, however, (so Shaw thought in 1903),
was too mean-spirited and too self-centered to serve the Life Force,
which would consequently be compelled to supersede man by a more
effective instrument of its will – the Superman!’ In Back to Methuselah
once again the purpose and claims of the Life Force were stressed; Once
again, and in plainer terms than before, he spoke his warning that if man
did not come up to the mark, Man would be replaced by a less tragically
futile creature.” Shaw “pleads for the substitution of Creative Evolution –
his ‘religion of the twentieth century – which teaches not only that man
is the potential Superman, but also that man can himself hasten the
evolutionary process by ‘willing’ his own upward development …….. ”
In fact Shaw's intellect or ideas is imbibed with bold, critical
intelligence and his sharp pen, brought to bear on contemporary issues,
helped mold the thought of his own and later generations. Moreover,
his Life Forceaccomplished this through a brilliance of wit that remains
unsurpassed. now coming to the point, the Life Force is not named so
frequently in Back to Methuselah as in Man and Superman, but it
remains as the power behind the idea of Creative Evolution. The ultimate
desire of the Life Force is to establish the city of God on earth. The
intention at the back of the idea of Creative Evolution is that man should
work intentionally towards to evolution of a human type that will be
strong enough to establish and worthy enough to maintain the earthly
Jerusalem. Creative Evolution is the doctrine commended by Shaw as a
means through which the desire of man and the purpose of the Life Force
may be made identical.”
Q: G.B Shaw as a dramatist?
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah
was a writer who revolutnized English prose. He was in a way a dreamer
and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is beautiful
and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the reason he
took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out in his plays.
George Bernard Shah is recognized as the greatest dramatist after profession, marriage, parenthood, and phonetics—came into the
Shakespeare. Some even rate him above the bard from Avon. GB Shah stage.They came with the force of life. But the Life Force is not purposed
was a writer who revolutionized English prose. He was in a way a to work unaided; men and women are required to act as willing and
dreamer and that filtered into his writings. He believed that the world is eager agents for the furtherance of its great work.
beautiful and it is the folly of man that it is not a paradise. This was the The existing rage of men, however, (so Shaw thought in 1903),
reason he took up relevant social- political issues and brought them out was too mean-spirited and too self-centered to serve the Life Force,
in his plays. which would consequently be compelled to supersede man by a more
An excellent example is the play “Mrs. Warrens Profession” In this play effective instrument of its will – the Superman!’ In Back to Methuselah
he discussed the oldest profession in the world, prostitution. Slums so once again the purpose and claims of the Life Force were stressed; Once
much a part of British London during his time was beautifully again, and in plainer terms than before, he spoke his warning that if man
represented in “Widower’s House”, Think of a subject and GB Shah did not come up to the mark, Man would be replaced by a less tragically
tackled it with aplomb. He portrayed the medical profession in “Doctor’s futile creature.” Shaw “pleads for the substitution of Creative Evolution –
Dilemma” and the scourge of war in “Arms and the man. His portrayal of his ‘religion of the twentieth century – which teaches not only that man
love, marriage and adultery is skillfully represented in “Candida”. is the potential Superman, but also that man can himself hasten the
Thus one can visualize GB Shaw as a dramatist who had a sensitive mind. evolutionary process by ‘willing’ his own upward development …….. ”
His i portrayal of social issues that concern the common man is In fact Shaw's intellect or ideas is imbibed with bold, critical
something that puts him in my view above all play. But GB was not just a intelligence and his sharp pen, brought to bear on contemporary issues,
man who represented socio-economic problems only, as his writings helped mold the thought of his own and later generations. Moreover,
concerned the innermost feelings and ethos of human life. He wrote his Life Forceaccomplished this through a brilliance of wit that remains
about what man is and how he reacts in a situation, this is the beauty of unsurpassed. now coming to the point, the Life Force is not named so
GB Shaw’s writings. frequently in Back to Methuselah as in Man and Superman, but it
There are critics of the plays of Shaw. They feel his plays lack ‘conflict’ remains as the power behind the idea of Creative Evolution. The ultimate
and as this is the soul of a play, they are apt to put him lower in the scale desire of the Life Force is to establish the city of God on earth. The
of English writers. Fortunately such critics are very few, but one has to intention at the back of the idea of Creative Evolution is that man should
rebut them. The characters created by GB are real life characters. His work intentionally towards to evolution of a human type that will be
plays are like debates as in ‘Arms and the Man’; a conflict is fought by strong enough to establish and worthy enough to maintain the earthly
both sides. But one will agree that though there are allusions to conflict Jerusalem. Creative Evolution is the doctrine commended by Shaw as a
the actual war is not represented. But in all his plays there is an means through which the desire of man and the purpose of the Life Force
undercurrent of conflict and that is the beauty of Shaw’s plays. may be made identical.”
Shaw brings out a deeper conflict, a conflict of the mind. This is more
terrible than an actual conflict. Shaw was a mental man and he envisaged
a victory on the mental plane with logic and discussion. Thus one can see
that the plays of Shaw have a different genre and he in fact is step higher
than most play writers
Shaw used his characters to portray his innermost feelings. He is like a
debater who discusses both sides of an issue. Thus in ’Arms and the
Man’ Shaw brings out two opposite view points through his characters
Sergius and Bluntschli. A look at one of his plays brings out the debate as
one of the characters in ‘Candida’ says “Man can climb to the highest
summits but he cannot dwell for long”, while another character says “It is
false: there can he dwell forever.
Shaw thus represented the dual side of a problem. One can without
second thoughts say that here is a writer who is as great as Shakespeare
In a way Shaw unlike Shakespeare was of a more modern age and he was
a propagandist. But he did not just pen propaganda and that is the
reason he wrote fairly lengthy prefaces to his plays. These prefaces are
important and help us to understand GB Shaw the man. He was in a way
a maverick, but a genius. His refusal to accept the Nobel Prize was part of
his make up.
In sum GB Shaw is one of the greatest writers of the English language
and reading him decades after his death, one can realize that apart from
writing impeccable English he was a revolutionary and a debater on a
higher plane, an intellectual plane.
Q: George Bernard Shaw’s Philosophy of Life: Creative
Evolution and Life Force?
Pre-eminently a first-rate dramatist whose work had a major influence on
British drama, Shaw is a philosopher par excellence, with a definite
philosophy of life. As a philosopher he is the chief exponent of the
philosophic doctrine known as Creative Evolution. The earliest statement
of his philosophic doctrine appears in his Man and Superman as the
doctrine of Life Force. This doctrine runs through most of his later plays
and takes final shape as the doctrine of Creative Evolution in his Back to
Methuselah published in 1921.
A. C. Ward has traced the growth and development of Shaw’s
philosophic doctrine in the following wards: “This play was Bernard
Shaw’s earliest full statement of his conception of the way of Salvation
for the human race, through obedience to the Life Force, the term he
uses to indicate a power continually working upon the hearts of men and
endeavoring to impel them towards a better and fuller life. In later plays
theLife Force seems to become more and more closely identified with
what most people mean when they speak of the Will of god and the Holy
Ghost ……………….The philosophy of the Life Force introduced in Man and
Superman, ran through most of the later plays.
Unlike Hardy’s Immanent Will, Shaw’s Life Force is
represented as a power making consciously towards a state of existence
far more abundantly vital than anything yet experienced by
mankind. His startling themes on slum landlordism and prostitution, the
folly of punishment and revenge, religion, politics, the medical