Date of Award

6-1927

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Literatures, Languages, and Cultures

First Advisor

Thomas P. Whelan

Second Advisor

William M. Magee

Abstract

Few dramatists are so widely discussed, so excessively journalized as is George Bernard Shaw, and, as a result, few are more misunderstood. Many consider him a hero, accepting all his dictums with no critical observations on their own part, and, on the other hand, many denounce him whole-heartedly as an insincere iconoclast who is entirely negative and destructive. It is my purpose to show that Shaw is neither of these, -- that his philosophy of life as set forth in the plays is either constructive in a certain sense, or, if destructive, destructive only so far as it is necessary to break down before someone wiser, perhaps, than Shaw, can build up, -- in other words, that we may, with Caesar, "build the future with the ruins of the past." In this light, the ethical aspect of the plays will be considered.

Comments

A Thesis submitted partially to fulfill the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, College of Liberal Arts, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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