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1 Tema 51: Oscar Wilde y Bernard Shaw * * * * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO Madhatter Wylder 07/06/2009 *

2 Table of contents Topic 51: Oscar Wilde y Bernard Shaw. Topic 51: 1. Introduction Early Irish Literature: Before The Anglo-Irish Literature: to English settlement and its consequences Anglo-Irish Viewpoints Patriotism and Irish nationalism 5 * 1.3. Irish revival: 1800 to Irish Renaissance Oscar Wilde ( ) Biography The picture of Dorian Gray Introduction: The Preface Themes The Importance of being Earnest Introduction Themes Bernard Shaw ( ) Biography Pygmalion Setting Themes Plot (Structure) 20 * Bibliography 23 Brief summary 24 * * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO 2 *

3 1. Introduction. Topic 51: IRISH LITERATURE is the oral and written literature of the people of Ireland, an island that today comprises the independent Ireland and Northern Ireland. In recent years the definition of Irish literature has been broadened to encompass literature produced by Irish writers living * outside Ireland and writers of Irish descent whose work reflects the Irish or Irish emigrant experience. Irish literature is composed in the Irish (or Gaelic) and the English languages. The oldest Irish literature consists of stories and poems about ancient kings and heroes, which were transmitted orally in Irish. Written literature in Ireland begins after Christian missionaries arrived in the 5th century ad and introduced the Roman alphabet, which was then adapted to the Irish language. Christianity coexisted with traditional Irish ways, rather than supplanting them, and has continued to do so to the present day. Both traditions figure strongly in Irish literature. The second major influence on Irish literature, after Christianity, was colonization from England, which began in the 12 th C. English was the * language of the rulers & literature in Irish survived largely in oral tradition. Anglo-Irish literary movements of the 19 th 3 C sought to revive Gaelic culture and the Irish language. These movements linked * literature with the cause of Irish political and cultural independence from Britain. The revival gained strength when Irish became an official language in At that time the island was divided politically into the * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * Irish Free State, which became Ireland in 1949, and Northern Ireland. Today writers in Irish and English continue to find themes in the Irish landscape and in Irish history. Irish literature reflects the boldness of Celtic heroes as well as the suffering and hardships the Irish people have experienced over the course * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO of their history. Despite these hardships, wit and humour (satire or irony) have characterized much of Irish literature. Another defining feature has been an exploration of the riches of language and an enjoyment of wordplay, as we could see in the 20 th C experiments of JAMES JOYCE. *

4 Topic 51: 1.1. Early Irish Literature: Before 1200 Irish is a Celtic language brought to Ireland from the European mainland by Celtic peoples who arrived in the late 6 th C BC. In this society, poets had responsibility for preserving and transmitting the town s heritage, its history, and the genealogy of its rulers. Our knowledge of these ancient narratives comes from fragments written down long after their composition. From the 5 th C onward, native Celtic society existed alongside Irish Christianity, presenting a model for the coexistence of paganism and Christianity, the establishment of written as well as oral traditions, and the development of literacy in both English and Irish. Christianity in Ireland dates to the arrival of Saint Patrick in 432 AD. Monasteries served as centres for learning and the arts at a time when the general population could neither read nor write. The earliest Christian writings survive in a few * manuscripts from the 7 th through the 10 th C The Anglo-Irish Literature: 1200 to 1800 Irish life and literature changed dramatically after the Norman * invasion. The Normans introduced a central government and a feudal system, whereby nobles owned land and peasants worked it, but their conquest of Ireland was slow and incomplete. Many Normans adopted * the Irish language and Irish ways, and Gaelic culture flourished alongside its Norman counterpart. Satiric literature appeared in both the Irish and English languages, although English increasingly became the * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * language of literature English settlement and its consequences. In the 16 th C, England s monarchs broke with the Roman Catholic Church and established the protestant Church of England. Although their efforts to introduce Protestantism throughout Ireland failed, * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO they sought to ensure loyalty by settling parts of Ireland with English Protestants. These settlers and their descendants were known as Anglo-Irish. During the 17 th C English rulers consolidated their control 4 *

5 of Ireland, confiscating lands held by Catholics and giving them to English Protestant planters. Rebellions by Irish Catholics were brutally crushed. By the late 17 th C repressive laws prohibited Catholics from owning property or working in many professions. English increasingly became the language of literature & everyday speech, and the Gaelic culture was suppressed. * Anglo-Irish Viewpoints JONATHAN SWIFT was straightforward in his attacks on English policies that exceeded the Irish nation limits. SWIFT became a hero in Ireland for championing the Irish cause. When English policies prohibited most Irish exports, SWIFT wrote the bitter satire A Modest Proposal (1729). In it he suggested that in order to solve the problems of food shortages, unemployment, and overpopulation in Ireland, Irish children of poor parents. the In the 18 th C, English caricatures of the Irish were brought onto stage. The stereotypical Irishman was talkative and fond of exaggeration and of drinking, yet more clever than his English enemies. * Patriotism and Irish nationalism Lyric poetry of the 18 th C continued to include elegies in the Irish language, many of them striking a patriotic note. In 1780 Britain * approved Ireland s parliament legislative independence, and it ruled until Although the Irish parliament was entirely Protestant, it repealed some repressive laws against Catholics (permitting them to own land and * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * to practice their religion). Ireland s English-language literature from the late 18 th century reflected a growing sense of national identity under Ireland s independent parliament. Two important collections of Gaelic poetry and Gaelic music contributed to this rising nationalism: Charlotte Brooke s anthology * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO in English translation, Reliques of Irish Poetry (1789), and Edward Bunting s A General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music (1796). 5 *

6 1.3. Irish revival: 1800 to 1949 Topic 51: Following the unsuccessful Irish Catholic rebellion of 1798, the Irish Parliament was dissolved, & the ACT OF UNION (1801) made Ireland part of the United Kingdom. Nationalist movements and conflicts with Britain dominated Irish history thereafter. In 1829 Catholics gained full political rights. From 1845 to 1849, a disease destroyed Ireland s potato crop, the principal food source of the people. As a result of starvation and emigration during this period, Ireland s population fell by 20%. Agitation for land reform became widespread in Ireland after the potato famine Irish Renaissance. In the 1890s, two Irish dramatists appeared: OSCAR WILDE and GEORGE BERNARD SHAW. Neither of them wrote of or from Ireland, but both were outstanding dramatists in the Anglo-Irish tradition. Perhaps, they were the last of their kind: for a new Irish theatre was arising, as part of a movement * known as the IRISH LITERARY RENAISSANCE. The search for Ireland s lost Gaelic heritage ushered in this period. The IRISH RENAISSANCE was spearheaded by the energy of its major figures: * writers WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, LADY ISABELLA AUGUSTA GREGORY, and JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE. Its intention was to find the sources for a new Irish literature in the Irish countryside and in Irish myth. * Drama was the literary form that best captured the ideals of the Irish Renaissance and established Ireland's literary reputation. YEATS, LADY GREGORY, and playwright EDWARD MARTYN published their Irish Literary Theatre * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * manifesto in 1899, promising to create a national theatre for Ireland. The Irish Literary Theatre, which opened that year, was succeeded in 1902 by the Irish National Theatre Society. In 1904 the Society opened the Abbey Theatre, whose purpose was to present Irish plays about Irish subjects. The plays it produced dramatized Irish myth and history and portrayed Irish * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO peasant life realistically. 6 *

7 2. Oscar Wilde ( ) 2.1. Biography. OSCAR WILDE was born in 1854 in Dublin by a prominent intellectual family. Though not of the aristocracy, the WILDE s were nonetheless well off and sent Oscar to the finest schools as he grew up. Oscar seems * especially influenced by his mother, a brilliantly storyteller, & he was frequently invited while still a child to participate in their intellectual circle of friends. Wilde entered Trinity College Dublin in 1871 and enjoyed an accomplished career studying the classics as well as theories of aestheticism. In 1874, he transferred to Oxford in England and studied under the divergent tutorials of JOHN RUSKIN and WALTER PATER. There, WILDE became involved in the AESTHETICISM MOVEMENT. This group of beautiful people, as he called them, was concerned with art for art s sake. He expounded the notion that life was to be lived for beauty and pleasure, not * for duty. Art should not be confined to the page or the canvas. It should be lived. It should be worn. It should structure all of life. WILDE was received * with great pleasure and enthusiasm by the aristocracy of London. He was caricatured in the popular presses which served the middle class because of his dressing eccentrically and saying shocking * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * things. WILDE negotiated their conflicting philosophies while he experimented & discovered his homosexual tendencies. Upon graduating from Oxford, Wilde had a brief flirtation with Catholicism, even meeting with the Pope, but his independent ideas prevented his exclusive attachment to religion. He moved to the avant-garde * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO neighbourhood of Chelsea in London, but his father's death and the family's snowballing debts forced him to embark on a lecture tour of the United States in *

8 In 1884, WILDE married a shy and rich Irishwoman & they moved in to a posh London house. In the 1890s, he exploded on to the literary scene with his masterpiece novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a Faustian tale about beauty and youth. His last play, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), is also considered his greatest and the modern paragon of the comedy of manners. By this time, WILDE's colourful appearance, sophisticated humour, and melodious speaking voice made him one of London's most required dinner-party guests. By now WILDE was obsessed with the younger, beautiful poet LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS (known as Bosie), and he was not shy about showing their sexual relationship. Douglas' father accused Wilde of sodomy and Wilde charged him with defamation. However, Douglas father located several of Wilde's letters to Bosie as well as other incriminating evidence. Wilde was found guilty of homosexuality and * sentenced to two years of hard labour. In 1897, while in prison, WILDE wrote De Profundis, an examination of his newfound spirituality. After his release, he moved to * France under an assumed name. He wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol in 1898 and published two letters on the poor conditions of prison (one of the letters helped reform a law to prevent children from imprisonment). His new life in France, however, was lonely, impoverished, and humiliating. * Wilde died in 1900 in a Paris hotel room The picture of Dorian Gray. * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * Introduction: The Preface The picture of Dorian Gray is a remarkably ingenious story of a handsome young man and his selfish pursuit of sensual pleasures. Until the end of the book, he himself remains fresh and healthy in appearance while his portrait mysteriously changes into a horrible * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO image of his corruptive soul. Although the preface to the novel emphasizes that art and morality are totally separate, WILDE seems to be illustrating a moral lesson on the evils of selfish hedonism. 8 *

9 Wilde may have deserved the cruel criticism of his contemporaries, but like other Victorian creators of fictions and fantasies about monstrous selves who will to die, he recognized something deeply disturbing about his own culture. DICKENS's NELL, STEVENSON's DR. JEKYLL and many other Victorian characters all had a little shadow that went along with them. That shadow was a dark, distorted other self seated on their * shoulders and which was the main business of their lives to hate and oppose. The Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray is famous in its own right as a sort of manifesto of the AESTHETIC MOVEMENT in art and literature. It consists of a series of epigrams 1 (short sayings) which affirm the notions of art for art s sake. Many of these epigrams form the basis not only of Aesthetic writing, but also Modernist writing, which was to reach its height in the 1920s. In the 19 th C, art was supposed to be useful for the moral instruction of the people. It was supposed to mirror life and also teach its readers to live the good and moral life. OSCAR WILDE opposes this view of art. For Wilde, art was valuable in its own right, not for its * usefulness for other aims. His sayings about art seem strange and against the norm even for late twentieth century readers. People often read them as a humorous overstatement of principles. However, each of the statements is exactly in accord with the ideas of the Aesthetes. They are not necessarily * exaggerations Themes. * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * - The Purpose of Art: When The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published, it was criticized as immoral. In revising the text the following year, WILDE included a preface, which serves as a useful explanation of his philosophy of art. The purpose of art, according to this series of epigrams, is to have no * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO purpose. In order to understand this claim fully, one needs to consider the 1 A short poem treating concisely and pointedly of a single thought or event. The modern epigram is so contrived as to surprise the reader with a witticism or ingenious turn of thought, and is often satirical in character. Epigrams were originally inscription on tombs, statues, temples, triumphal arches, etc. 9 *

10 moral climate of Wilde s time and the Victorian sensibility regarding art and social education and moral enlightenment, as illustrated in works by CHARLES DICKENS. The AESTHETICISM MOVEM proponent, sought to free art from this responsibil ity. The aestheticisms were motivated as sensibility embodied in The picture of Dorian Gray by LORD every word seems designed to shock the other purpose than being beautiful. his only novel confirms it. The two works of art that dominate the novel (BASIL s paint DORI his own body has been suffering, while the novel acts as something of a road map, leading the young man farther along the disgrace. While we know nothing of the circumstan ces of the yellow book s composition, B clear. His portrait of DORIAN is anything but unconscious, ideal, and remote. Thus, BASIL s initial refusal to exhibit the work results from his belief thatt it betrays his adoration of his subject. - The Supremacy of Youth and Beauty: the ting and the mysterious yellow book that LOR IAN) are presented in a Victorian way. That is, both the portrait and the BASIL s st Topic 51: Oscar Wilde y Bernard Shaw. morality. The Victorians believed that art could be used as a tool for much by a dislike for bourgeois morality (a If this philosophy informed Wilde s life, we must then consider whether French novel serve a purpose (and thus a morality): the portrait acts as a type of mysterious mirror that shows D tate of mind while painting Dorian s portrait is The first principle of aestheticism is thatt art serves no other purpose than to offer beauty. Throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray, effect that BASIL s painting has on the cynical L ENT, of which Wilde was a major ethical certainties of the growing DORIAN th he physical dissipation beauty reigns. It is a means to revitalize the tired senses, as indicated by LORD HENR D HENRY, w RD HENRY g path toward RY. It is also a means of escaping the brutalities of the world: Dorian distances himself, not to mentionn his consciousness, from the horrors of his actions by devoting himself to the study of beautiful things (music, jewels, rare tapestries ). In a 10 whose middle class) as they were by the belief that art need not possess any * * * gives * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO *

11 society that prizes beauty so highly, youth and physical attractiveness become valuable commodities. LORD HENRY reminds Dorian of as much upon their first meeting, when he laments that Dorian will soon enough lose his most precious attributes. In Chapter 17, the Duchess of Monmouth suggests to Lord Henry that he places too much value on these things; indeed, Dorian s eventual failure confirms her suspicions. For although beauty and youth remain of utmost importance at the end of the novel the portrait is, after all, returned to its original form the novel suggests that the price one must pay for them is exceedingly high. Indeed, Dorian gives nothing less than his soul. DORIAN is a monster quite opposite to the Elephant Man, for instance, he is beautiful on the outside but ugly within. The fantasy of Dorian Gray's portrait is not a Faustian story of a hero giving up life for knowledge, but a black fairy tale in which a spoiled boy gets his one * wish (endless youthfulness and sensuality) and becomes a suicide because he cannot handle its implications. - The Superficial Nature of Society: * It is no surprise that a society that prizes beauty above all else is a society founded on a love of surfaces. What matters most to DORIAN, LORD HENRY, and the polite company they keep is not whether a man is * good at heart but rather whether he is handsome. As Dorian evolves into the realization of the perfect mixture of scholar and socialite he experiences the freedom to abandon his morals without censure. Indeed, even * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * though society s elite question his name and reputation, Dorian is never detested. On the contrary, despite his mode of life, he remains at the heart of the London social scene because of the innocence and purity of his face. As LADY NARBOROUGH notes to DORIAN, there is little, if any, distinction between ethics and appearance: you are made to be good: you look so * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO good. 11 *

12 - The Negative Consequences of Influence: The painting and the yellow book have a profound effect on DORIAN, influencing him to his immoral behaviour over the course of nearly two decades. Reflecting on Dorian s power over BASIL and deciding that he would like to seduce DORIAN in much the same way, Lord Henry points out that there is something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence. Falling under the sway of such influence is, perhaps, unavoidable, but the novel ultimately censures the sacrifice of one s self to another. BASIL s idolatry of DORIAN leads to his murder, and DORIAN s devotion to LORD HENRY s hedonism and the yellow book precipitate his own downfall. It is little wonder, in a novel that prizes individualism (the uncompromised expression of self) that the sacrifice of one s self, whether it be to another person or to a work of art, leads to one s destruction The Importance of being Earnest * Introduction. OSCAR WILDE's The Importance of Being Earnest opened at the St. James's Theatre in London on Feb. 14, This play has proved a timeless * hit beyond its primary demographic and has been considered Wilde's best play, and the greatest stage comedy of all time. Part of that success comes from WILDE's seemingly infinite supply of * piquant epigrams. Though some of the concise, often paradoxical statements refer to contemporary events, most are universal, hilarious reflections on beauty, art, men, women, and class. They are endlessly quotable and * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * continue to delight audiences with their blend of sophistication and absurdity. One feature of the epigram that ensures the play's durability is that it can be separated from the play's narrative. In other words, epigrams have little effect on the story. This is because epigrams encapsulate many of Wilde's beliefs on what art should do (above all, * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO art should be beautiful and serve little social function: It should be useless). The epigram is the essence of this ideal: beautiful in its elegant construction, it is also dramatically useless to the play. 12 *

13 Beyond pontificating on beauty, the play is also a masterful parody of Victorian manners, especially in regards to marriage and morality. Marriage had long been an important issue in English literature, and WILDE exposed its manipulative use as a social tool of advancement; except for Miss Prism, all the women in the play have ulterior motives when it comes to romance. As for morality, Wilde critiqued the solemn façade of politeness he observed in society; he details the "shallow mask of manner," as Cecily calls it, that aristocratic Victorians wore. Within the play's framework of false identities, WILDE also planted several possible allusions to the male characters' homosexuality. Whether or not one believes this argument, WILDE was leading dual lives as a married man and an active homosexual. Moreover, much of the contemporary audience for the play is supposed to have howled at all the inside references to London's homosexual subculture. Unfortunately, WILDE's heady success with * Earnest was short-lived; the MARQUEES OF QUEENSBURY, father of Wilde's young lover, Bosie, showed up to the opening night. Though he was barred entrance, Wilde's infamous trial began soon after, and his personal life * (sexual affairs) were discovered. One of the ways WILDE's humor manifests itself is in puns. Running throughout the entire play is the double meaning behind the word earnest, which functions both as a male name and as an adjective describing * seriousness. The plays twists and turns around this theme, its characters lying in order to be "Ernest," and then discovering that because of a number of remarkable circumstances they had not in fact been lying at all * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * Themes. - Masks of manners: The major target of WILDE's sarcastic social humour is the hypocritical mask of society. Frequently in Victorian society, its * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO participants comported themselves in overly sincere, polite ways while they keep for themselves conversely manipulative, cruel attitudes. WILDE exposes this divide in scenes such as when GWENDOLEN and CECILY behave themselves in front of the servants. GWENDOLEN and LADY 13 *

14 BRACKNELL want to marry someone named Ernest, as the name inspires "absolute confidence"; in other words, the name implies that its carrier truly is earnest, honest, and responsible. However, JACK and ALGERNON have lied about their names, so they are not truly earnest. The rapid flipflopping of truths and lies, of earnestness and duplicity, shows how truly confused the Victorian values of honesty and responsibility were. * - Dual identities: A subset of the "Mask of manners" theme, WILDE explores in depth what it means to have a dual identity in Victorian society. This duality is most apparent in Algernon and Jack's episodes of "Bunburying," or their creation of an alter ego to allow their own evasion of responsibility. Wilde drops some hints that BUNBURYING may describe homosexual relationships, or at the very least is an escape from the oppression of marriage. As a secret homosexual most of his life who was also married, WILDE was well aware of the dual identities of sexual orientation. But other characters go beyond this; just as ALGERNON and JACK apparently "write" their fictional personae of BUNBURY and ERNEST, so does * CECILY literally write correspondence between herself and ERNEST (before she has ever met him). Unlike the men who are free to come and go as they please, she must be mentally satisfied with this fictional identity. That Jack truly has been unwittingly leading a life of dual identities shows that our * alter egos are not as far from our "real" identities as we would think. - Critique of marriage as a social tool: * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * WILDE's most concrete critique in the play is of the manipulative desires revolving around marriage. GWENDOLEN and CECILY are interested in their mates, it appears, only because they have disreputable backgrounds. Their desires to marry someone named "Ernest" demonstrates how their romantic dreams hinge upon titles, not * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO character. The men are better, though not by much, since ALGERNON proposes to the young and pretty Cecily within minutes of meeting her. Only JACK seems to have earnest romantic desires, though why he would love the 14 *

15 self-absorbed GWENDOLEN is questionable. However, these ulterior motives are dwarfed by those of LADY BRACKNELL, who epitomizes the Victorian tendency to view marriage as a financial arrangement. She does not consent to GWENDOLEN's marriage to Jack on the basis of his being an orphan, and she ignores Cecily until she discovers she has a large personal fortune. - Comedy of manners and farce 2 : When people think of OSCAR WILDE, they invariably think of his epigrams, his compact, witty maxims that often paradoxically expose the absurdities of society. Frequently he takes an established cliché and alters it to make its illogic somehow more logical ("in married life three is company and two is none"). While these gems are in place for sophisticated critiques of society, Wilde also employs several comic tools of "low" comedy, specifically those of farce. He echoes dialogue and * actions, uses comic reversals, and explodes a fast-paced, absurd ending whose implausibility we overlook because it is so ridiculous. This tone of wit and farce is distinctively Wildean; only someone so skilled in both genres could combine them so successfully. * 3. Bernard Shaw ( ) 3.1. Biography. * GEORGE BERNARD SHAW was born on the 26th of July, 1856 in Dublin. His father had been a civil servant. He became a corn merchant but was unsuccessful in this venture. Shaw's mother, Lucinda Elizabeth Shaw, the * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * daughter of an Irish landowner, was considerably younger than her husband. The Shaws were Protestants and Bernard was baptized in the Church of England in Ireland. Bernard went to a series of schools starting with the Wesleyan Connexional School and ending his fifteenth year at the Dublin English Scientific and Commercial Day School. He claimed to hate all the * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO schools he attended. 2 A comic dramatic piece that uses highly improbable situations, stereotyped characters, extravagant exaggeration, and violent horseplay. Farce is generally regarded as intellectually and aesthetically inferior to comedy in its crude characterizations and implausible plots. 15 *

16 G. B. Shaw had an unhappy childhood. By the time Shaw was 15 his parents' marriage had broken up. His mother deserted her husband and went off to England along with her two daughters. Shaw's father appears to have been a weak. Shaw left school and worked as a clerk and cashier for a firm of land agents for nearly 4½ years. During this period SHAW read voraciously and frequented the theatre. He saw every new play and was especially interested in Shakespeare. His deep and profound knowledge of Shakespeare may be traced to these early theatre visits. In 1876 following the tragic death of his sister Agnes at the age of 19, SHAW left Ireland and joined his mother and Lucy in London with the intention of becoming a musician or a painter. Shaw was an acutely shy young man and took considerable time to adjust to the liberal London atmosphere. He undertook a variety of odd jobs in his early years in London. He then gave up "working for his living" and decided to establish himself as a * writer. During these years Shaw was financially dependent on his mother. Shaw started writing articles on various subjects but they were rejected by the magazines and newspapers he sent them to. * During these early years of his stay in London, SHAW became interested in socialism. He was immensely influenced by the alarming rise in unemployment and general social distress. SHAW became a socialist in 1882 and joined the FABIAN SOCIETY in The FABIANS aimed to bring about * a gradual change from capitalism to socialism and were a powerful influence on British political thought. In 1884 SHAW attended a lecture delivered by HENRY GEORGE which proved to be a turning point in * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * Shaw's life and shaped his political thought. Shaw's first published works were novels, Cashel Byron's Profession (1886) and An Unsocial Socialist (1887). Cashel Byron's Profession was extremely popular but SHAW came to dislike it. The play The Widowers' * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO Houses was performed in London on December 9 th, 1892 at the ROYALTY THEATRE. 16 *

17 The play is both didactic and realistic and constitutes a savage attack on slum landlords who made money by exploiting the poor. This play stimulated Shaw's interest in drama. But the play's subject was considered too radical for its time and the play had no success. SHAW went on to write serious plays of ideas like Mrs. Warren's Profession (1893) which explores the subject of prostitution due to the underpayment and ill treatment of women who try to earn an honest living. Another such play was The Philanderer (1893) which dealt with the subject of women and marriage. Mrs. Warren's Profession was denied performance by the Examiner of Plays who considered it immoral. It was given a private performance by the Independent Theatre Club in 1902 and its first public performance was later in SHAW's first great play was Man and Superman (1905). He called the play "a comedy and a philosophy." Shaw's ideas about the life force are * embodied in the characters of the battling lovers ANN WHITEFIELD and JOHN TANNER. As dictated by her father's will, Ann has two guardians, the dignified Roebuck Ramsden and the radical John Tanner. She decides to marry Tanner. * Back to Methuselah is preoccupied with the theme of Creative Evolution. It is an extremely long play in five parts. SHAW was anti- Darwinian. In DARWIN's scheme of things, the fittest of the species survive while the weak are killed by the strong. SHAW believed instead that the * fittest survive by use of their superior intelligence and will power. Although he was reluctant to writing for film, he did agree to prepare a script for the filming of Pygmalion which was completed in * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * 1938 and had a successful reception. A musical version of Pygmalion called My Fair Lady was produced in New Haven, Connecticut in It was later made into the well-known film by the same name that won an Academy Award for Best Picture in * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO Shaw died at the age of 95 in He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, which he first refused & afterwards accepted. 17 *

18 3.2. Pygmalion Setting. Topic 51: Pygmalion is set in London in the early 1900s. The physical settings of the play include the Portico at St. Paul's in Covent Garden, Higgins' laboratory and drawing room at Wimpole Street and Mrs. Higgins' drawing room in a flat on Chelsea Embankment. * Themes - Major Theme: In Pygmalion, SHAW presents the classic theme of drama: the complexity inherent in human relationships. The play's major thematic concern is of course, romantic, as suggested by the title itself. In the Pygmalion narrative as told by Ovid in Metamorphoses, PYGMALION is described as having repulsion for women and he thus decides to remain single. Ovid explains that Pygmalion's disgust for women is due to the behavior of the women of AMATHUS, who were the first women to become prostitutes. Yet PYGMALION longs for a feminine ideal and is inspired to sculpt an extremely beautiful woman in ivory and name it GALATEA. * Upon finishing his marvelous piece of sculpture, he clothes the state with colorful garments and adorns it with jewelry. However the beauty of the statue is not realized since it is lifeless. PYGMALION then prays to the * Gods and Venus breathes life into GALATEA. The once lifeless statue now comes alive and falls in love with its creator. Pygmalion's desire for a maiden beyond the imperfection of mortal women is fulfilled and he marries * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * GALATEA. In SHAW's play, HIGGINS' transforms a common flower girl into a graceful lady, like the sculptor Pygmalion in the Ovidian legend carved a beautiful statue out of shapeless ivory. Higgins effects this amazing transformation by teaching ELIZA to speak correctly and beautifully. This cultural crash-course is simply a scientific experiment for Higgins and he is * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO astonished to find that against his will ELIZA has fallen in love with him. As a scientist, Higgins focuses upon his task (of passing of Eliza as a duchess) with absolute concentration and objectivity. He is amazed to find that he cannot control all the variables of his experiment since nobody can 18 *

19 control the human heart. HIGGINS realizes that he should not have ignored the humanity of his subject. However, the union between the two is out of question since they hold divergently opposed views about life. Higgins stands for the principle of rationality and the intellect while ELIZA represents natural warmth and affection of the heart. The conflict between the two provides the comedy of the play. HIGGINS simply cannot regard others in human terms. He sees them as only the means to achieve his end. He tells ELIZA that he does not care for her as an individual person but because she is a part of the human species. Pygmalion may also be read as a modern-day Cinderella story. The miserably poor, dirty and ill treated but exquisitely beautiful maid who is magically raised to a high level in society is common to both Shaw's play and the popular fairy tale. The other necessary ingredients (a * step-mother, a golden coach, the midnight hour when the maiden is confronted with reality and a desperately lonely gentleman) are inseparable details of Shaw's plot as well. However like the Ovidian legend SHAW manipulates the * fairy tale narrative to serve his own unique ends. Consequently the chronology of the incidents is changed and even the ingredients are modified. For instance, Eliza's stepmother is rather harmless. The golden coach is the cab that Eliza hires in Act One from the money that Higgins had thrown * off-handedly into her basket. More significant is the emphasis on the midnight hour of self-actualization than on the ball scene since the focus is on Eliza's capacity to adjust to the harsh conditions of the real world. And finally, contrary * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * to the popular fairy-tale's ending, SHAW does not offer any certainty of a blissful married life. - Minor Theme: * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO SHAW proclaims in the preface to Pygmalion that his prime objective in writing the play is to create awareness about the importance of phonetics in society. Throughout the play, Shaw points out the use of language as a means of dividing society into classes. 19 *

20 However Shaw is obviously ignoring the entertaining content of the play by this insistence on didacticism. Phonetics is only a minor concern in the play. While the play does indeed create awareness about the importance of phonetics in society, it does this imaginatively. SHAW focuses our attention on the human implications of Higgins' project rather than on phonetics itself. The readers are interested in ELIZA's phonetic lessons only because it exposes the triviality of class distinctions. The prime message of the play is to assert the importance of individual worth. If a common flower girl can be passed off as a duchess in merely six months, then the only qualities that distinguish a duchess are her wealth and hereditary reputation. SHAW thus points out that refinement is simply a matter of education and environment. Another prominent theme is the exploration of the Victorian * concept of the unworthy poor through the character of ALFRED DOOLITTLE. In the Victorian Age the poor were not rightfully entitled to charity and had to prove that they morally deserved charity. SHAW attacks this hypocritical moral code through DOOLITTLE, who defines middle class * morality as an excuse for never giving me anything. The prime objection against charity to the poor was the belief that it would habituate them to living off charity. * Plot (Structure) Pygmalion is a reworking of Ovid's Metamorphoses with undertones of Cinderella. Romance and satire dominate both the * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * play's plot as well as style. Shaw takes a strong central situation (the transformation of a common flower girl into a lady) and surrounds it with superficial extras. There is technical innovation in the plot structure since SHAW replaces the stock Victorian formula of exposition, situation and * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO unraveling with exposition, situation and discussion. The plot thus has three distinct stages of development. 20 *

21 In the first stage Professor HENRY HIGGINS, who is an expert in phonetics, transforms a common flower girl into an artificial replica of a lady by teaching her how to speak correctly. Prior to this ELIZA's life has been miserable. As a poor flower girl she coaxes money out of prospective customers. She lacks the capacity to express her feelings articulately and an indiscriminate sound of vowels "Ah - ah - ow - ow - oo" serves to connote a multitude of emotions ranging from pain, wonder, and fear to delight. However she is not entirely depraved and is at least self-reliant enough to earn her own livelihood by selling flowers. In Act Two Eliza arrives at Higgins' laboratory at Wimpole Street and haughtily demands that Higgins teach her to speak correctly so that she can become a lady in a flower shop. This desire for financial security and social respectability constitutes a step forward in her larger quest for self-realization. For HIGGINS, ELIZA is simply a phonetic experiment, a view that dehumanizes her and results in * the creation of an artificial automaton-like replica of a lady. In the second stage of the play the audience encounters an ELIZA who has become an artificial duchess. She is no longer a flower girl but is * not quite a lady. During Mrs. HIGGINS' at-home she proceeds to deliver Lisson Grove gossip with an upper class accent. She is nothing more than a live doll and there is an element of crudity in her parrot-like conversation. The mask of gentility that she wears only partially hides her low class * background. SHAW demonstrates here that having fine clothes and the right accent are not enough to make a lady. By the time that ELIZA returns after her triumphant society appearance at the Ambassador's ball, she no * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * longer exhibits this element of crudity. She has benefited from HIGGINS's lessons in achieving social composure and has acquired the ability to articulate her thoughts and feelings. She has begun to think for herself and is capable of manipulating any situation to her advantage. * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO The play enters into the third phase of development in Act Four. ELIZA now encounters the great moment of truth and reality of her situation. Her education has created in her an intense dissatisfaction with the old way of life and she is not exactly pleased about the 21 *

22 avenues open to her as a lady. She realizes that her social acquisitions do not enable her to fulfill her aspirations or even earn a living. She repudiates HIGGINS' suggestion that she could marry a wealthy husband and ironically comments that earlier "I sold flowers, I didn't sell myself" while now that she has been made a lady she isn't fit to sell anything. She has thrown away her mask and reveals a newfound maturity. She throws HIGGINS' slippers at him and thereby breaks free from a life of subjugation and dependence. Eliza's society appearance has been a tremendous success and after the climatic encounter between Higgins and Eliza in Act Four the dramatic tension disappears. Eliza runs away to Mrs. Higgins and the only issue left is the resolution of her relationship with Higgins. The readers have to agree that the main impetus of the action has disappeared since all the preceding acts had been gearing up for the crucial moment of Eliza's test. Now Alfred Doolittle's strategic second appearance performs a resuscitating act for the play in its * dying stage. Doolittle's transformation from a dustman to a gentleman also provides an ironic comment on Eliza's metamorphosis. After this brief spirit of energy the action returns to the issue at hand: * the relationship between ELIZA and HIGGINS. ELIZA has developed into a self-sufficient woman and has become a perfect match for HIGGINS. She has garnered the requisite strength of character and maturity of thought to face life courageously. Gentility has become an integral aspect of her * personality. No longer afraid of Higgins, she treats him as an equal. She negates his role in her transformation and insists that it was the Colonel's generosity and courteous behavior, which truly made her a * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * lady. She rejects Higgins' proposal that he, she and Pickering live together like old bachelor friends and astounds him by announcing that she will marry Freddy instead. The play concludes on an uncertain note and the readers do not know whether she might indeed marry Higgins. In the * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO majority of his plays the issues and conflicts they deal with are never quite resolved and the audience is left wondering about what will happen after the curtain falls. 22 *

23 resolution in the epilogue. The drama lies neither in the conflict, nor in the discussion or the action remains incomplete. Action always has to be completed either comically or tragically. Hence in the epilogue, Shaw resolvess the issue by mak king ELIZ provided such an commentators Pygmalion merely to make the play unromantic. But the actual point of ending is not the issue of Eliza's marriage but her achievement of liberty. Bibliography the exposition. The conflict itself arises over the issue of the ZA marry accuse FREDDY Topic 51: Oscar Wilde y Bernard Shaw. However Shaw realizing the importance of an ending does provide a resolution of the problem. Unless there is a resolution, there is no drama, for * anti-romantic conclusion Shaw of Introduction: /Irish_Literature.html Oscar Wilde: /athena.english.vt.edu/~jmooney/3044biosp-z/wilde.html; / / / B. Shaw: / 23 HILL. It was typical of SHAW to have to the play. Many deliberately twisting the natural end of * * * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO *

24 Brief summary: - INTRODUCTION: THE IRISH LITERATURE. Topic 51: Brief summary - Irish Literature is the oral and written literature of the people of Ireland. The Df on of Irish literature has been broadened to Irish writers living outside Ireland & works which reflects the Irish emigrant experience. Irish literature is composed in the Irish (or Gaelic) and the English languages. The second major influence on Irish literature, after Christianity, was colonization from England, which began in the 12 th C. English was the language of the rulers & literature in Irish survived largely in oral tradition. Irish literature reflects the boldness of Celtic heroes as well as the suffering and hardships the Irish people have experienced over the course of their history. Despite these hardships, satire & irony have characterized much of Irish literature. - Irish literature before 1200: Ireland populated by Celts In this society, poets had responsibility for preserving and transmitting the town s heritage, its history, and the genealogy of its rulers. Our knowledge of these ancient narratives comes from fragments written down long after their composition. Christianity in Ireland dates to the arrival of Saint Patrick in 432 AD. Monasteries served as centres for learning and the arts at a time when the general population could neither read nor write - Anglo-Irish Literature ( ): Irish life and literature changed dramatically after the Norman invasion. The Normans introduced a central government and a feudal system, whereby nobles owned land and peasants worked it, but their conquest of Ireland was slow and incomplete. English increasingly became the Lg of literature. Anglo-Irish: British protestant settlers who went to Ireland after the creation of the Anglican church of England to control the island. Catholics suffered repressive measures during many years. JONATHAN SWIFT was straightforward in his attacks on English policies that exceeded the Irish nation limits. Ireland s English-Lg literature from the late 18 th C reflected a growing sense of national identity under Ireland s independent parliament. - Irish revival ( ): The ACT OF UNION (1801) made Ireland part of the UK. Nationalist movements & conflicts w/britain dominated Irish history thereafter. IRISH RENAISSANCE was spearheaded by the energy of its major figures: writers WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, LADY ISABELLA AUGUSTA GREGORY, and JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE. Its intention was to find the sources for a new Irish literature in the Irish countryside and in Irish myth. Drama was the literary form that best captured the ideals of the IRISH RENAISSANCE and established Ireland's literary reputation. - OSCAR WILDE: * - Biography: In Oxford Uni, WILDE studied under the divergent tutorials of JOHN RUSKIN & WALTER PATER, & was involved in the AESTHETICISM MOVEMENT. This group of beautiful people (as he called them) was concerned with art for art s sake. He expounded the notion that life was to be lived for beauty and pleasure, not for duty. Art should be lived. He was caricatured in the popular presses which served the middle class because of his dressing eccentrically and saying shocking things. WILDE negotiated their conflicting philosophies while he experimented & discovered his homosexual tendencies. In 1884, WILDE married a shy and rich Irishwoman & they moved in to a posh London house. WILDE's colourful appearance, sophisticated humour, & melodious voice made him one of LND's most required dinner-party guests. WILDE became obsessed with the younger, beautiful poet LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS (known as Bosie), who was not shy about showing their sexual relationship. Douglas' father accused WILDE of sodomy and WILDE charged him with defamation. However, Douglas father located several of WILDE's letters to Bosie as well as other incriminating evidence. WILDE was found guilty of homosexuality & sentenced to two years of hard labor. After prison, he went to Paris. His new life in France, however, was lonely, impoverished, and humiliating. WILDE died in 1900 in a Paris hotel room. * * - The picture of Dorian Gray: The picture of Dorian Gray is a remarkably ingenious story of a handsome young man and his selfish pursuit of sensual pleasures. Until the end of the book, he himself remains fresh & healthy in appearance while his portrait mysteriously changes into a horrible image. The Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray is famous as a sort of manifesto of the AESTHETIC MOVEMENT in art & literature. It consists of a series of epigrams (short sayings) which affirm the notions of art for art s sake. Many of these epigrams form the basis not only of Aesthetic writing, but also Modernist writing. In the 19 th C, art was supposed to mirror life and also teach its readers to live the good and moral life. WILDE opposes this view of art. For WILDE, art was valuable in its own right, not for its usefulness for other aims. Although the preface to the novel emphasizes that art and morality are totally separate, WILDE seems to be illustrating a moral lesson on the evils of selfish hedonism - THEMES: The purpose of Art: In its preface, WILDE states that the purpose of art is to have no purpose. In order to understand this claim fully, one needs to consider the moral climate of WILDE s time & the VICTORIAN sensibility regarding art & morality. The Victorians believed that art could be used as a tool for social education and moral enlightenment. The AESTHETICISM MOVEMENT, of which WILDE was a major proponent, sought to free art from this responsibility. If this philosophy informed WILDE s life, we must then consider whether his only novel confirms it. The two works of art that dominate the novel (BASIL S PAINTING and the mysterious YELLOW BOOK) are presented in a Victorian way. That is, both the portrait and the French novel serve a purpose and thus a morality: (a) the PORTRAIT acts as a type of mysterious mirror that shows Dorian the physical dissipation his own body has been suffering, (b) The NOVEL acts as something of a road map, leading the young man farther along the path toward disgrace. The supremacy of Youth and Beauty: Beauty is a means of escaping the brutalities of the world: Dorian distances himself, not to mention his consciousness, from the horrors of his actions by devoting himself to the study of beautiful things (music, jewels, rare tapestries ). In a society that prizes beauty so highly, youth and physical attractiveness become valuable commodities. DORIAN is a monster quite opposite to the ELEPHANT MAN, for instance, he is beautiful on the outside but ugly within. Dorian Gray's portrait is not a Faustian story of a hero giving up life for knowledge, but a black fairy tale in which a spoiled boy gets his one wish (endless youthfulness and sensuality) and becomes a suicide because he cannot handle its implications. Superficial nature of society: a society that prizes beauty above all else is a society founded on a love of surfaces. Despite Dorian mode of life, he remains at the heart of the London social scene because of the innocence and Iván purity Matellanes of his Notes face. * QUEDA PROHIBIDA * * LA IMPRESION * * DE ESTE DOCUMENTO * 24