George Bernard Shaw完整版

1、 田燕田燕 杨田玉杨田玉 李文玉李文玉 罗禹奚罗禹奚 姜烹姜烹 蔡琴蔡琴George Bernard ShawContentsLifeCharacteristicsHis worksHis main worksComments LifePlaywright, critic, political activist He is greatest dramatist in English literature in the 20th century. And he is the most important representative of critical realism in modern E

2、nglish drama.He is a Bourgeois reformism.And he is a Philanthropist.He was born in Dublin, Ireland.At 14 he graduating from school. At 20 he went to London where he remained jobless for 9 years, to self-education . His education was irregular, due to his dislike of any organized training. In 1925 he

3、 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1938,Academy Award for Best Writing.In 1931,he visited China and was warmly received by the Chinese people, represented by Lu Xun and others.In 1950 he died.(94years old)CharacteristicsStructurally and thematically ,Shaw followed the great traditions o

4、f realism. As a realistic dramatist, he took the modern social issues as his subjects with termed as social problem plays.One feature of Shaw characterization is that he makes the trick of showing one character vividly at the expense of another. Usually he would take an unconventional character , a

5、person with the gift of insight and freedom Another feature is that Shaws characters are the representatives of ideas ,points of view, that shift and alter during the play ,for Mr. Shaw is primarily interested in doctrines.Shaws plays have plots ,but they do not work by plots. The plot is usually th

6、e disregarded backbone to one long, unbroken conversation .It is the vitality of the talk that takes primacy over mere story.His worksShaw wrote five novels in all the best of which is Cashel Byrons Profession （1886），which is about a world-famous prize fighter marrying a priggishly refined lady of p

7、roperty. His criticism is entitled Our Theaters in the Nineties （1931） In his long dramatic career， Shaw wrote more than 50 plays of a variety of subjects. Widowers Houses (1892) 鳏夫的房产 Mrs. Warrens Profession 华伦夫人的职业Caesar and Cleopatra (1898)凯萨与克丽奥佩拉Man and Superman (1903) 人与超人 Major Barbara (1905)

8、 巴巴拉少校Pygmalion (1912) 卖花女Heartbreak House (1917) 伤心之家Saint Joan (1923) 圣女贞德The Apple Cart (1929) 苹果车 Mrs. Warrens Profession one of major playsThis story tell us that Mrs. Warrens is the proprietress of brothels,and she considers the profit derived from this business quiet honourable. Her partner i

9、n this business is George Crofts, an old aristocratic. Mrs. Warren has a daughter named Vivie, who studies at a boarding school and has received good moral education. When she is graduated and come back she discovers the source of her mothers income. She angrily blames her mother for earning the dir

10、ty money. Finally she leaves her mother and begin to earn her bread by honest work.The story centers on the relationship between Mrs Kitty Warren, a brothel owner, described by the author as on the whole, a genial and fairly presentable old blackguard of a woman and her daughter, Vivie. The play als

11、o focuses on Mrs. Warrens handsome young friends Mr. Praed and George Crofts, and the local reverend, Samuel Gardner, who becomes the catalyst of the play by revealing Mrs. Warrens profession. CommentShaw is a critical realist writer. His plays bitterly criticise and attack the vices of English bour

12、geois society.Shaws plays deal with contemporary social problems. He portrays his situations frankly and honestly, intending to shock his audiences with a new view of society. In their realism and wit, his plays are largely comedies of ideas in the French dramatist tradition of Moliere and mark a turning to realism and naturalism that gradually dominate British drama.Shaw is a humourist. He manages to produce amusing and laughable situations. He delights in ridiculing, upsetting, scandalising and astonishing his publi