Major Barbara
Summary:
Major Barbara is a play that is set in the early 1900’s in London and is about a Salvation Amy Officer, Major Barbara Undershaft, who becomes disillusioned when her Christian denomination accepts money from an arms manufacturer, who happens to be her father. She eventually decides that bring a message of salvation to people who have plenty will be more fulfilling and satisfying than converting the starving in return for food and nourishment. Barbara initially regards the Salvation Army’s acceptance of her father’s money as hypocrisy because of how he’s an arms manufacturer and the Salvation Army is a peaceful, nonprofit organization meant to feed the poor and the starving.
Character Analysis:
Andrew Undershaft is the great arms industrialist of Europe, who returns to his long abandoned family to wreak havoc with his new gospel of man’s salvation. He is a man of formidable reserves of power, both physically and mentally. His gentleness is that of a strong man who seems to have learned by experience that his natural grip hurts other people. He also understands that he is a man who has bent the world to his will, and a man who determines the course of history and essentially of the world.
Barbara Undershaft is a jolly and energetic major for the Salvation Army, peacefully convincing herself of her mission to redeem the human race. Her father’s arrival, however, will force her to recognize that the wealthy, rather than God and His natural order, hold the world and its salvation in their hands. Undershaft underscores the inspiration that truly defines her as the savior of all. Being the daughter of a foundling, Barbara lacks social class and comes straight from the heart of the whole people.
Adolphus Cusins is a slight, thin haired and sweet voiced Greek student of Euripides and is described as a determined, tenacious and intolerant person who presents himself as he is. Cusins is determined to marry Barbara, not driven by love, but an unmerciful instinct. He is enthralled by the excesses and ecstasies of the Dionysian spirit that she seems to possess. In his determination to marry Barbara, he has joined the Salvation Army to bring this spirit to the power, but ultimately converts to Andrew Undershaft’s new gospel, quickly becoming Undershaft’s heir at Undershaft Armory.
Lady Britomart Undershaft is described as a very typical managing matron of the upper class and a woman with plenty of practical ability and worldly experience. She’s also described, by the writer of this play, that she is well bred and reckless of her breeding, well-mannered and yet appallingly outspoken. Upon Undershaft’s arrival, the family will abandon her, as she is too set in her ways to participate in the revolution he brings.
Stephen Undershaft is Lady Britomart’s only son and is a gravely correct young man who takes himself and his sense of morality very seriously. He still remains in awe from his mother from a childish habit and bachelor shyness, but quickly comes to assert his majority in planning his future.
Charles Lomax is described as a stereotypical young man. Lomax seems to suffer from a frivolous sense of humor which plunges him at the most inopportune moments into paroxysms of imperfectly suppressed laughter. A comic figure, he suffers the scolding of his mother throughout the play for his tactlessness and inarticulate speech. He also repeatedly declares his allegiance to the Anglican Church and other moral platitudes, though these declarations only mask his somewhat mercenary propensity to further his own goals.
Setting:
Throughout the play, it takes place in London, England during the early 1900’s and moves around as the different Acts, and the play in general, progress. In Act I, the setting is in Lady Britomart’s house in Wilton Crescent and is there until the end of the first Act. In Act II, the setting changes to the Salvation Army shelter in West Ham. Finally, in Act III, the setting is Lady Britomart’s house again, but shifts to the Undershaft munitions works in Perivale St Andrews.
Types of Conflict:
The primary conflict of the play is that between the extremist ideas of Andrew Undershaft, the munitions and armaments giant of Europe, and the ideas of his aristocratic relatives, representing the ideals of society. Undershaft’s devilish power and wit, however, seal the outcome of this conflict, and at the end, everyone recognizes the fusion of money with morality.
Major Themes:
One of the themes that are present in this play is the arms and the man. Undershaft’s gospel is organized around the philosophy of the millionaire and the military industrialist. As the characters will come to realize later in the play, the world is not in God’s power but in the power of the military industrialist, Andrew Undershaft. With money and gunpowder, Undershaft participates in the power that reigns over Europe, the power that determines the course of society. To Undershaft and his new gospel, man does not need redemption from sinfulness but from the material abjection of poverty, hunger and sickness. The growth of Christian virtues rests fundamentally on man’s material security.
The will to killing is another theme that is common throughout the play. Undershaft’s philosophy organizes itself around a notion the great man’s will. This will comes into being through the agonistic struggle between men that has been around since the beginning of time. Undershaft continues to preach and proclaim about his new gospel, words and sayings that go against the Christian ideals of human brotherhood. Instead of demanding love from his neighbor, Undershaft demands obedience and respect. Those who do not submit to his desire must die.
Ideal community and the crime of poverty is an important theme. The contest between the father and his new gospel, and daughter for the other’s soul and the path of salvation is what structures this theme and the whole play the most.
Major Symbols:
Andrew Undershaft is the symbol and voice of realism in the play. He is a successful millionaire who has accumulated his wealth by selling guns and cannons. He is extremely intelligent, imaginative, outspoken and eloquent.
Barbara is the symbol and voice of idealism. She believes her purpose in life is to save the souls of the poverty-stricken individuals who come to seek the help of the Salvation Army. Her ideas and beliefs tend to clash with Andrew Undershaft’s ideals and beliefs.
Citations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Barbara
"Major Barbara." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/majorbarbara/themes.html
"Major Barbara." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmMajorBarbara21.asp
"Major Barbara Character Analysis by George Bernard Shaw." Major Barbara CHARACTER ANALYSIS by George Bernard Shaw-Free Online MonkeyNotes BookNotes/Chapter Summary/Synopsis/Download. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013
http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/majorbarbara/
"Major Barbara." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
Summary:
Major Barbara is a play that is set in the early 1900’s in London and is about a Salvation Amy Officer, Major Barbara Undershaft, who becomes disillusioned when her Christian denomination accepts money from an arms manufacturer, who happens to be her father. She eventually decides that bring a message of salvation to people who have plenty will be more fulfilling and satisfying than converting the starving in return for food and nourishment. Barbara initially regards the Salvation Army’s acceptance of her father’s money as hypocrisy because of how he’s an arms manufacturer and the Salvation Army is a peaceful, nonprofit organization meant to feed the poor and the starving.
Character Analysis:
Andrew Undershaft is the great arms industrialist of Europe, who returns to his long abandoned family to wreak havoc with his new gospel of man’s salvation. He is a man of formidable reserves of power, both physically and mentally. His gentleness is that of a strong man who seems to have learned by experience that his natural grip hurts other people. He also understands that he is a man who has bent the world to his will, and a man who determines the course of history and essentially of the world.
Barbara Undershaft is a jolly and energetic major for the Salvation Army, peacefully convincing herself of her mission to redeem the human race. Her father’s arrival, however, will force her to recognize that the wealthy, rather than God and His natural order, hold the world and its salvation in their hands. Undershaft underscores the inspiration that truly defines her as the savior of all. Being the daughter of a foundling, Barbara lacks social class and comes straight from the heart of the whole people.
Adolphus Cusins is a slight, thin haired and sweet voiced Greek student of Euripides and is described as a determined, tenacious and intolerant person who presents himself as he is. Cusins is determined to marry Barbara, not driven by love, but an unmerciful instinct. He is enthralled by the excesses and ecstasies of the Dionysian spirit that she seems to possess. In his determination to marry Barbara, he has joined the Salvation Army to bring this spirit to the power, but ultimately converts to Andrew Undershaft’s new gospel, quickly becoming Undershaft’s heir at Undershaft Armory.
Lady Britomart Undershaft is described as a very typical managing matron of the upper class and a woman with plenty of practical ability and worldly experience. She’s also described, by the writer of this play, that she is well bred and reckless of her breeding, well-mannered and yet appallingly outspoken. Upon Undershaft’s arrival, the family will abandon her, as she is too set in her ways to participate in the revolution he brings.
Stephen Undershaft is Lady Britomart’s only son and is a gravely correct young man who takes himself and his sense of morality very seriously. He still remains in awe from his mother from a childish habit and bachelor shyness, but quickly comes to assert his majority in planning his future.
Charles Lomax is described as a stereotypical young man. Lomax seems to suffer from a frivolous sense of humor which plunges him at the most inopportune moments into paroxysms of imperfectly suppressed laughter. A comic figure, he suffers the scolding of his mother throughout the play for his tactlessness and inarticulate speech. He also repeatedly declares his allegiance to the Anglican Church and other moral platitudes, though these declarations only mask his somewhat mercenary propensity to further his own goals.
Setting:
Throughout the play, it takes place in London, England during the early 1900’s and moves around as the different Acts, and the play in general, progress. In Act I, the setting is in Lady Britomart’s house in Wilton Crescent and is there until the end of the first Act. In Act II, the setting changes to the Salvation Army shelter in West Ham. Finally, in Act III, the setting is Lady Britomart’s house again, but shifts to the Undershaft munitions works in Perivale St Andrews.
Types of Conflict:
The primary conflict of the play is that between the extremist ideas of Andrew Undershaft, the munitions and armaments giant of Europe, and the ideas of his aristocratic relatives, representing the ideals of society. Undershaft’s devilish power and wit, however, seal the outcome of this conflict, and at the end, everyone recognizes the fusion of money with morality.
Major Themes:
One of the themes that are present in this play is the arms and the man. Undershaft’s gospel is organized around the philosophy of the millionaire and the military industrialist. As the characters will come to realize later in the play, the world is not in God’s power but in the power of the military industrialist, Andrew Undershaft. With money and gunpowder, Undershaft participates in the power that reigns over Europe, the power that determines the course of society. To Undershaft and his new gospel, man does not need redemption from sinfulness but from the material abjection of poverty, hunger and sickness. The growth of Christian virtues rests fundamentally on man’s material security.
The will to killing is another theme that is common throughout the play. Undershaft’s philosophy organizes itself around a notion the great man’s will. This will comes into being through the agonistic struggle between men that has been around since the beginning of time. Undershaft continues to preach and proclaim about his new gospel, words and sayings that go against the Christian ideals of human brotherhood. Instead of demanding love from his neighbor, Undershaft demands obedience and respect. Those who do not submit to his desire must die.
Ideal community and the crime of poverty is an important theme. The contest between the father and his new gospel, and daughter for the other’s soul and the path of salvation is what structures this theme and the whole play the most.
Major Symbols:
Andrew Undershaft is the symbol and voice of realism in the play. He is a successful millionaire who has accumulated his wealth by selling guns and cannons. He is extremely intelligent, imaginative, outspoken and eloquent.
Barbara is the symbol and voice of idealism. She believes her purpose in life is to save the souls of the poverty-stricken individuals who come to seek the help of the Salvation Army. Her ideas and beliefs tend to clash with Andrew Undershaft’s ideals and beliefs.
Citations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Barbara
"Major Barbara." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/majorbarbara/themes.html
"Major Barbara." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmMajorBarbara21.asp
"Major Barbara Character Analysis by George Bernard Shaw." Major Barbara CHARACTER ANALYSIS by George Bernard Shaw-Free Online MonkeyNotes BookNotes/Chapter Summary/Synopsis/Download. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013
http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/majorbarbara/
"Major Barbara." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.