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Life and Times of George Bernard Shaw

Life and Times of George Bernard Shaw. Background to Pygmalion. Life of the Author. Authors are influenced by their own life experience Also influenced by their times (history) What they experience is often reflected in their writing

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Life and Times of George Bernard Shaw

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  1. Life and Times of George Bernard Shaw Background to Pygmalion

  2. Life of the Author • Authors are influenced by their own life experience • Also influenced by their times (history) • What they experience is often reflected in their writing • However, we cannot assume that everything in an author’s work is a product of her/his own life.

  3. George Bernard Shaw – Important Life Facts • Was born in Ireland in 1856 • Moved to London in 1872 (his mother was having an affair) • Worked as a music and literature critic • Became successful as a critic in the 1880s • Was influenced by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen

  4. George Bernard Shaw – The Reformer • Member of the Fabian Society – middle class socialists • Was in favour of women’s right to vote (gained in 1918) • Was against the hypocrisy of the British class system • Was a pacifist, against World War I

  5. George Bernard Shaw – Writer and Linguist • Famous for his many plays, particularly Pygmalion and Saint Joan • Felt that all his writing was didactic (meant to teach and inform) • Strong advocate of phonetic (alphabet sound) reform

  6. George Bernard Shaw – • He married in 1898 • Marriage was celibate and unconsummated • he often developed infatuations with his actress, but never slept with them • Was he gay? • Did he secretly hate women?

  7. England before World War I • George V was king • Class structure was quite rigid • High class people often inherited money, but often lived beyond their means • Making money in industry was becoming socially acceptable • A person’s accent helped define their class • With the wrong accent, you could never get ahead in life • People didn’t usually move up in the class system

  8. The Lower Classes • The working class lived in misery and poverty • Lots of alcoholism, abuse and prostitution • The Housing Question: where to put the working masses (who comprised most of the population?) • A Cockney is originally a person from a specific district of London • Cockney often generalized to be a member of working class Londoners • Had their own dialect (specific accent and vocabulary)

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