Brief biography of the life and works of dramatist, critic and essayist George Bernard Shaw, one of the best British playwrights.
George Bernard Shaw is probably Ireland's most famous playwright whose masterpiece is Saint Joan but is best-known for Pygmalion, musical My Fair Lady. During his long life he wrote numerous plays; over 50 of them. A powerful public speaker with great wit, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.
Early Life
G.B. Shaw (1856-1950) was born in Dublin, Ireland, on July 26, and died at the age of 94. Shaw had a troubled childhood. His father drank heavily, eventually forcing his mother to leave the family to teach music in London. This strained family background, and at the same time, a strong religious education, shaped many of his views.
Literary Career as a Critic
At 20, he joined his mother in London. He began his literary career as a respected drama, literary and music critic in his mid-20s. It was during this time that he encountered the work of the playwright Henrik Ibsen.
Ibsen's Influence
Before writing plays, he started writing novels, however, Ibsen's realistic dramas were of great influence on his thinking. His treatise The Quintessence of Ibsenism establishes his belief in the drama of socialism and realism, much an Ibsen factor.
Aged 36, Shaw wrote his first play, Widower's Houses, which criticizes slum landlords. This was the first of three plays that together Shaw labelled unpleasant plays because they dealt with subjects that many people would rather ignore. A lifelong socialist, Shaw helped found the Fabian Society, which believed in reforming society in a way that was just and fair to all people.
Success as Playwright
His plays, from 1903, for example, Man and Superman, Major Barbara and Pygmalion, and even Back to Methuselah, proved successful as plays instead of novels due to Shaw's mastery of witty dialogues.
Pygmalion is probably Shaw's best-known play. The story, which criticizes the British class system, was the basis for the popular musical My Fair Lady. However, Saint Joan, which tells the story of Joan of Arc, is widely regarded as his masterpiece.
Shaw was a vegetarian, a supporter of women's rights and a strong critic of Victorian society. He defends his views in his essays, which are noted for their clarity of expression and his 'wit' trademark. As a playwright George Bernard Shaw is considered as an institution by the British people.
Works by George Bernard Shaw
- The quintessence of Ibsenism, 1891
- Widower's Houses, 1892
- Arms and the Man, 1894
- Mrs. Warren's Profession, 1902
- Man and Superman, 1903
- Major Barbara, 1905
- Pygmalion, 1912, became the musical "My Fair Lady"
- Androcles and the Lion, 1913
- Heartbreak House, 1919
- Back to Methuselah, 1921
- Saint Joan, 1923
Sources:
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby (1993)
Dictionary of Literature, Brockhampton Press (1995)
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)
