george bernard shaw essay
...h trade union members and preferred debate to action. By 1886, Shaw tended to concentrate his efforts on the work that he did with the Fabian Society. The society believed that capitalism had created an unjust and inefficient society. They agreed that the ultimate aim of the group should be to reconstruct "society in accordance with the highest moral possibilities". Shaw throughout his time with this group produced a series of pamphlets on a wide variety of different social issues, including The Fabian Manifesto (1884), The True Radical Programme (1887), Fabian Election Manifesto (1892), The Impossibilities of Anarchism (1893), Fabianism and the Empire (1900) and Socialism for Millionaires (1901). Shaw whilst still working closely with the party began also to write plays, he produced several plays all with political themes. This included Man and Superman (1902), John Bull's Other Island (1904) and Major Barbara (1905). These plays dealt with issues such as poverty and women's rights and implied that socialism could help solve the problems created by capitalism. It was in 1912 that Shaw produced Pygmalion Shaw's plot was derived from Latin poet Ovid's story (in the Metamorphoses) about a character named Pygmalion who fell in love with a beautiful ivory statue of a woman. In later Greek tradition, his prayers to Venus that the beloved statue - Galatea - would come to life came true so that they could marry. Pygmalion proved to be a very successful play, being performed regularly in theatres. Like many socialists, George Bernard Shaw opposed Britain's involvement in the First World War. He created a great deal of controversy with his provocative pamphlet, Common Sense About the War (1914). Shaw's status as a playwright continued to grow after the war and plays such as Heartbreak House (1919), Back to Methuselah (1921), Saint Joan (1923), The Apple Cart (1929) and Too True to be Good (1932) were favourably received by the critics and 1925 he was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. Shaw continued to write books and pamphlets on political and social issues. This included The Crime of Imprisonment (1922), Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism (1928) and Everybody's Political What's What (1944). George Bernard Shaw remained committed to the socialist cause until his death on 2nd November, 1950 Research the social and political society of the period of the author The social and political society of England where Shaw spent the majority of his life was during the reign of Queen Victoria. Politics of the monarchy was very conservative, despite being a presence of parliamentary democracy there was still a prevailing sense of ‘right of kings.’ Life was very pleasant for the aristocracy with enormous wealth; children went to very expensive schools and received a very good education. This was contrast to the appalling living conditions of the working class with extre...