...m his mother, he as practically self-educated. At the age of 20 he ent to London and set to ork as a novelist. He rote five novels in all, but none of them made him famous. In 1884 he joined the nely formed Fabian Society, a large society of socialistic intellectuals hose leader he as beteen 1884 and 1900. He edited SItitfs24 Fabian Essays 1887SItfs24 hich as influential in forming socialist opinion in Britain.tpar SIttab SItfs24 Before starting his career as a dramatist, G. B. Sha rote much theatre and music criticism for a number of papers. In 1891 he published SItitfs24 The Quintessence of Ibsenism,SItfs24 a study on the Noregian dramatist hose plays of social criticism impressed him very much for bringing a ne perspective in drama. In Shatrquote s plays though it is the ideas and not the characters that really matter, his characters do not talk in order to define themselves but to make speeches.tpar ttab He as aarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925.tpar ttab His most famous plays are probably SItitfs24 Man and Superman SItfs24 1903 SItitfs24 Major BarbaraSItfs24 1905SItitfs24 PygmalionSItfs24 1912SItitfs24 Heartbreak HouseSItfs24 1917 other plays in SItitfs24 Plays Pleasant and UnpleasantSItfs24 1898 -SItitfs24 idoertrquote s HousesSItfs24 in SItitfs24 Plays for PuritansSItfs24 1901 - SItitfs24 The Deviltrquote s DiscipleSItfs24 SItitfs24 Caesar and CleopatraSItfs24 other plays after 1918 SItitfs24 The Art CartSItfs24 SItitfs24 In Good King Charlestrquote s Golden DaysSItfs24 .tpar ttab SItitfs24 The Deviltrquote s DiscipleSItfs24 , ritten in 1897, is the first of the SItitfs24 Plays for Puritans SItfs24 published in 1901, folloed by SItitfs24 Caesar and CleopatraSItfs24 1898 and SItitfs24 Captain Brassboundtrquote s ConversionSItfs24 1899.tpar ttab In order to give his criticism a note of harmlessness, Sha sets the action of the play in Ne England, back in the year 1777, during the rebellion of American colonies against British dominion. Probably, no description of that year is better then Shatrquote s SItitfs24 tldblquote The year 1777 is the one in hich the passions roused by the breaking-off of the American colonies from England, more by their on eigh then by their on ill it85strdblquote SItfs24 tpar ttab At the beginning of the play e are introduced to Mrs. Dudgeon - sour, shreish and stupidly puritanical. The situation in the Dudgeon family is rather tense Peter Dudgeon, Mrs. Dudgeontrquote s brother-in-la, as hang on the public gallos as a rebel and his tlquote irregular childtrquote Essie as brought into the house. On top of all the disgrace, the death of Timothy Dudgeon, Mrs. Dudgeontrquote s husband, comes as a terrible shock to her. An equally trying circumstance is the reading of the ill, hich takes place in an atmosphere of chilly puritanism. It is the moment hen the SItitfs24 deviltrquote s discipleSItfs24 , Dick Dudgeon, comes in. Inevitably, the ill reveals that Dick is no master of the house. The play nearly reaches a climax hen Richard explains to his ae relatives that he used to pray secretly to the devil - SItitfs24 tldblquote he comforted me, and saved me from having my spirit broken in this house of childrentrquote s tears. I promised him my soul, and sore on oath that I ould stand up for him in this orld and stand by him in the next. That promise and this oath made a man of me.trdblquote SItfs24 tpar ttab Minister Anthony Anderson and his pretty young ife Judith also appear in act I. Their attitude toards Dick Dudgeon is very much the same as that of the others disregard and contempt, probably mixed ith some pity. But is it only the second act that really makes the to leagues confront each other. At the ministertrquote invitation, Richard calls on the Andersons and stays on for tea, hile Anderson goes off comfort Mrs. Dudgeon, ho is dying. hen Judith begins to pour out her loathing of Dick, the British soldiers arrive and mistake Dick for Anderson and arrest him. Their intention is to hang someone as an example, regardless of his being innocent. Dick tells Judith to find her husband and get him out of harmtrquote s ay. She kisses him before the soldiers take him aay, in order to make things seem as natural as possible. She immediately faints. hen Anderson returns, she cannot tell him hat happened and for another quarter of an hour he goes on believing that it as Dick that the soldiers came for. The tension mounts and this is Shatrquote s skill as a dramatist is at its best. For it is Essie ho rushes into the house and reveals hat really happened. hen Anderson realizes the absurdity of the facts, his true character suddenly emerges he turns into a man of action, leaps on his horse and leaves ithout any explanation. This makes Judith believe that he has simply deserted Dick, hich brings her to despair.tpar ttab The third act, actually the best in the play, turns all the anxieties and tensions into melodrama. Judith visits Dick in prison, tells him of her husbandtrquote s flight and begs him to save himself. He keeps up to his usual sarcasm and tells her that his death ill not by any means break her heart. Judith, ith her hands on his shoulders and looking intently at him, hispers an ambiguous question SItitfs24 trdblquote Ho do I knotrdblquote SItfs24 . At this stage Dick makes the speech that is the point of the hole play SItitfs24 tldblquote hat I did last night, I did in cold blood, caring not half so much for your husband, or for you as I do for myself.trdblquote SItfs24 This is the true revelation of Dicktrquote s inner, natural Christianity, a value that Sha poses against the false kindness of those ho call themselves good Christians before having done anything to prove their good-heartedness.tpar ttab The trial scene that follos is another onderful example of the clash of egos - this time, Dick and General Burgoyne. The latter is cultured, intelligent and ith a vein of self-mockery, an ideal partner for Dicktrquote s itty replies. The trial scene is a masterpiece in terms of itticism and irony ith sarcastic overtones BURGOYNE SItitfs24 trdblquote it85s Let me persuade you to be hanged, Mr. Anderson.trdblquote SItfs24 RICHARD SItitfs24 trdblquote it85s Hang me, by all means.trdblquote SItfs24 tpar ttab In the end, Richard Dudgeon is not hanged because Anderson himself comes ith a safe-conduct at the last minute. He explains that he has found his true profession due to this trial, hich has shon him that he is a soldier at heart, not a clergyman. The plays ends ith Dick being carried off in triumph on shoulders of the tonspeople, after promising Judith - ho is ashamed of having doubted her husband - that he ill never tell hat happened in prison.tpar SItbtitfs24 CharacterizationSItfs24 tpar ttab The so-called tlquote melodramatrquote is a very subtle combination of romantic scenes vieed from a completely unromantic perspective and of gradually accumulation tension. The center of these sirls is Richard Dudgeon, th...
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