Introduction To George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950 ) - Shaw's Contribution To English Drama

Introduction To George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) - Shaw's Contribution To English Drama

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Condition Of The English Stage - At The time when Shaw Came to the English stage English drama was slowly struggling to rise from the torpor into which it had fallen during the victorian age. 

Poetical drama had proved to be a failure and the dramatists were looking for something real and alive Pinheiro Arthur Jones and other were trying to bring realism back to English stage.

Ibsen had made a sensation with his new outlook and dramatic technique. The problem play was slowly emerging But much had yet to be done. The stage was still shackled with old tradition and prudery.

Shaw, Father of the drama of Ideas - It Was during this transitional period of the Endlish Drama that Shaw burst upon the scene almost with a clap of thunder. The theatre was experiencing un dual throes of a rebirth and Shaw hastened this process with a caesarian operation. 

The very first play of Shaw showed that the drama of ideas had come into life and it's future existence was assured. Not that the new dramatist had an instantaneous reception and recognition. 

Far from it the early plays of Shaw created a flutter in the literary dovecotes of the day, and in the words of the dramatist himself they are him "infamous." Shaw's ruthless iconoclasm biting satire and intellectual sharpness combined with his dazzling wit and love of the paradox and the fantastic at once showed that a new and highly original genius though perhaps a little perverted jad come into the field.

But it did not take long for the people to now that Shaw not merely a curious literary, phenomenon, a nine days wonder. They realised that the Father of the drama of Ideas has come into being. Realism and rationalism had come to have their abiding hold on the English stage. Shaw thus widened the scope of the English drama. 

His Belief Didactic Art - Shaw is a believer in didactic art. He does not mince matters in this respect. In his preface to Pygmalian he writes "Art should never be anything else but dedicated." At another place he observes that for art's sake alone he would not face the toil of writing a single sentence". Thus Shaw frequently sacrifices art for the sake of his reformist's zeal. His plays, therefore, should not be judged on the score of pure art. And it is also true that the moralist and the satirist in him often overpower and eclipse the artist. 

His characters - He is unable to give real life to his characters. They are usually the mouthpiece of his views and, therefore, they fail to appeal, as creature of flesh and blood. The readers cannot sympathise with them or identify with them. For instance, in The men of Destiny, Shaw has painted a rather distorted picture of the Great Nepoleon who with all his faults was not such a despicable creature as we find him in this play. The oniy answer is that it is Shaw's version ofthe French Emperor. 

The failure to creat convincing characters who are able to stand on their feet is a great failing indeed. But Shaw has certain gift, which compensate for this shortcoming. Even on the score of creating real characters. 

Shaw is not a canplete failure. He has given some real characters like Saint John. Shakespeare in The dark Lady of the Sonnets, Candida and Bluntschli in Arms and The Man. But they are exceptions rather than the rule. His dramatist personae are interesting in another manner. In fact Shaw's women are more alive than his Man men who generally lack power and self-will. Perhaps this explains incidentally the reason for the remarkable success he achieved in drawing the character of John.

His Dialogue - Shaw's real success as a dramatist is to be found not so much in his idea or characterization as in his superb mastery of dialogue Shaw's plays may not present a good story, his characters may be shadowy; disembodied beings his, ideas too shocking and hence unaccountable, his attitude to paradoxical; and his satire too cold and steely but his dailogue is bewitching, incisive and irresistible. 

On this hinges the real success of Shaw. Getting Married is a play which is nothing but conversation and the discussion Scene in Saint Joan is supreme example of Shaw's power as a conversationalist Moreover, when occasion demands he can write fine rhetorical prose with telling effect.

His Humour - If the touchstone of comedy is its capacity to provoke laughter, Shaw is a prince among writers of this types of plays. His plays provide an inexhaustible source of laughter. One may feel that the dramatist is behaving like a clown at places of delíberately saying absurd things, one will admire the ingenuity of the observation and enjoy a hearty laugh. 

This aspect of Show is both an aset and a liability, for if on the one hand, it makes the reader laugh, on the other hand, it exposes the dramatist to the charge of sheer fAippancy. At any rate, it makes his plays amusing in the highest degree. Shaw may have any other weakness as a dramatist but he is never dull. His plays are as readable at home as they are enjoyable on the stage.

His stage Directions - Shaw has introduced new dramatic devices in the form of long and elaborated stage directions. The stage directions are not mere appendage in the play; they are its vital elements. It is here that the dramatist gives his correct and detailed impression about the setting and characters of the plays Shorn of the stage directions the play would be mutilated piece of creation.

 On account of the stage directions the reader enjoys the play in the closet also. In this respect Shaw is quite opposite to Shakespeare in whose plays so much is left to the imagination of the audience and the direction of the stage manager. Shaw leaves nothing to be desired in this respect. 

His Perfacees - Shaw is often ridiculed as a person who writes long perfaces for short plays. When the preface is long or short, it is in the opinion of the dramatist an integral part of the play. Actually, the need for the preface is justified only on the score of the dramatist's earnestness to present his point of view as correctly as possible before the reader. The prefaces are really independent pieces of composition, excellent essays on the various topics of the day.

 That is why Shaw's perfaces have been separately published. They form a picces findependent literature, fit for the closet. Apart from expounding the underlying object of the plays they throw valuable light artistic growth of the dramatist himself. Thus Shaw has succeeded in making drama a real literature and not a mere threehour traffic of the stage.

Shaw's Contribution - Finally, what did Shaw achieve? In the words of a modern critic Shaw's contribution is summed up thus; "He (Shaw) laughed out of theatre its romantic falsities and its prudery. He immeasurably enlarged the dramatist's horizon. He threw open the doors to the new theatre of ideas; he made the author bigger than the actor, and lastly he creased a new public, the intellectual middle class."