George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was born in Dublin on July 26th, 1856, into a family of Irish gentry.

He began his literary work as a critic of art, literature, music and drama. By his clever criticisms Shaw won recognition as the most talented British feuilletonist of his day.

Shaw's career as a dramatist began with his famous series of "unpleasant" plays: "Widowers' Houses", "Mrs Warren's Profession" and others, that turned out to be a daring exposure of the darker sides of English life.

Another series of plays that followed: "Candida", "Arms and the Man", "You Never Can Tell" and others was given the title of "pleasant" plays, and this rather ironically; through the amusing situations and witty scenes with sparkling dialogue Shaw continued his criticism of bourgeois morals and ideals. "There were two Shaws," writes a critic, "one was the prophet with doctrine in his hand; the other was the jester with a joke on his lips".

Among Shaw's other plays most well known are: "Heartbreak House", "Saint Joan", "The Apple Cart", "Too True to Be Good" and others.

Shaw introduced intellectual debate into his stories with its original and fearless paradoxes. He also revived the practice of including a long preface and sometimes a sequel in the play, explaining what it was about and what he actually meant. Shaw's influence on his age was immense. William Irvin, Shaw's biographer, says that to comprehend Shaw is to comprehend the 20th century to a great extent. Like Shakespeare, his name was adapted to add a new adjective to the English language: "Shavian". The word defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "characteristic of Bernard Shaw" suggests a unique way of looking on life and the universe.

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Shaw demanded that art should always be didactic, serving a social purpose. His "Pygmalion" is unlike most of his other plays in this respect. The plot of "Pygmalion" is "the eternal Cinderella story". In the play professor Higgins, a phonetics expert, transforms a Cockney flower girl into a society lady by teaching her to speak beautifully. Professor Higgins is drawn from Henry Sweet, an eccentric phonetics expert from Oxford. The role of Eliza was specially written for Patrick Campbell, a famous actress of Shaw's time.

"Pygmalion" has been regularly revived since it was first produced in Vienna, was successfully filmed in 1937 and set to music as "My Fair Lady" in 1956.

PYGMALION*

* Shaw C.B. Pygmalion. M., 1972. Pages in Assignments refer to this edition.

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