George Bernard Shaw

(1856-1950)
The Irish - born playwright and critic George Bernard Show, is known in English literature for using the
satire/irony on political and social topics.

The different categories of humor, it’s a literary resource: satire, irony, wit (ingenio), sarcasm. Edgar Allan
Poe is the father of gothic. When somebody is ‘ingenioso’ we say witty. So he uses those resources to
criticize political and social topics. We are at the end of the victorian period, last decade from 19th century,
so authors are going to criticize the VP.

The topics include: social class, war or gender issues, in plays such as ‘Arms and the Man’ (1894), ‘Major
Barbara’ (1905), and ‘Pygmalion’ (1913).
Shaw developed an intellectual comedy of manners, and ‘Mrs. Warren’s profession’ is a good example of
this.
Like Oscar Wilde, Shaw wrote about hypocrisy in English society (victorian) as one of his major themes.

He left Ireland for England as a young man in 1876 and like many other modern dramatists, he started
writing novels and criticism before turning to the theater.
This writer has inspired countless authors and poets and he became one of the most popular playwrights of
his time. Wit and irony were his main literary resources.
He wrote fifty plays, many of which are still in production today. He was also a brilliant photographer, social
reformer, women’s rights advocate, satirist, popular public speaker, among many other things.

His idea on what education should be was: ‘Liberty is the breath of life to nations; and liberty is the one thing
that parents, schoolmasters, and rulers spend their lives in extirpating for the sake of an immediately quiet
and finally disastrous life’ - ‘Treatise on parents and children’ (1910).
Libertad como proceso de aprendizaje, es probable que cuando lo pones en práctica, te salgas del camino.
Although he could get a job at the age of 16 he found it boring. He noticed the disparity among the social
classes, at the same time he managed to go to the theatre, read literature, and immerse himself in the poetry
go Lord George Byron and William Blake.
Question: is mrs warren a prostitute?
Many critics during his lifetime and after his death would come to criticize Shaw’s humanitarian politics and
sometimes contradictory but often controversial opinions. ‘Revolutions have never felt lightened the burden
of tyranny: they have only shifted it to another shoulder’
(The Revolutionist’s Handbook and Pocket Companion, 1903).

Shaw was a socialist and member of the Fabian Society which he joined in 1884. This Fabian society was a
revolutionary group whose main objective was to protect the interests of the poorer classes against what they
perceived to be exploitative, capitalist society. His political interests led him, in 1893, to build the
Independent Labour Party.
Question: is there any poor represented in the play?
In 1895he was one of the founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Shaw was an ardent supporter of social reforms, and was an activist in campaigns that ranged from the
movement to reform English spelling to women’s rights, to the abolition of private property.

Shaw’s plays were written to show audiences and teach new social and moral values (different from
Victorian values). He used paradox and reversed the common patterns of judgement (i.e the conventional
hero became the villain, and viceversa). Even Shaw’s lighter work contained a socio-political dimension.
‘Pygnalion’ (1913), for example, which exposes the class decision in British society, I a mixture of comedy
and social observation.
Would mrs warren be the heroine in the play? Or instead, would it be Vivi?
The Women’s social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded in 1903 to campaign for women’s rights to
vite. Members of this movement, the ‘suffragettes’* (different from suffragists), were outspoken and some
employed violent tactics.
*Web page britannica: they were a women group, middle class women ‘pacifists’. The difference between both groups
is that the ‘suffragettes’ were more radical with their demands, what they were losing.
‘Deed not words’ Hechos no palabras: this was their slogan.
During those years the Pankhurst took an important role in the militant campaign for the vote. In 1903,
Emmeline Pankhurst and others, frustrated by the lack of progress, founded the Women’s Social and Political
Union, with the motto ‘Deeds not words’.
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1923) became involved in women’ suffrage in 1880. She was a founding
member of the WSPU in 1903 and left it until it disbanded in 1918. Under her leadership the WSPU was a
highly organized group and like other members she was impresiones and went on hunger stile protests.

Women only. Membership of the WSPU was limited to women.

WSPU members were determined to obtain the right to vote for women by any means and campaigned
tirelessly and sometimes violently to achieve this aim. They felt that the impact of peaceful tactics seemed to
have been exhausted and different, more radical approach was needed.
Question: social movements nowadays?
WSPU: militant wing of the British woman suffrage movement Founded in Manchester, 1903. The WPU
sought votes for women in (…) it was denied in 1803. Full political equality eluded them. The WSPU also
found itself at odds with the Labour Party.

Important ideas in Shaw’s writing:

- Marriage: ‘… the service was really only a honest attempt to make the best of a commercial contract of
property and slavery by subjecting it to some religious restraint and elevating it by some touch of poetry.
But the actual result is that when two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most
delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that excited
condition continuously until death do them apart.
- In the author’s apology, Shaw states that: ‘Mrs. Warren’s profession is a play for women; that it was
written for women; that it has been performed and produced mainly through the determination of (…) and
that no one of these women had any inducement to support it except their belief in the timelines and the
power if the lesson the play teaches’.

Mrs Warren’s Profession

This play was forbidden and censored to perform on public stage by Lord Chamberlain (the official censor)
for eight years because the play was concerned with controversial themes such as prostitution and incest it
was criticized by Victorian audience and drama critics as immoral.
But later it was considered as an exposition of the hypocrisy of Victorian morality and it showed how the
capitalist society of the 19th century pushed women into prostitution and gender inequality.

About Mrs Warren’s Profession, Shaw first describes it in terms of his intentions: “Mrs Warren is much
worse than a prostitute. She is an organism of prostitution, a woman who owns and manages brothels in
every big city in Europe and is proud of it. With her gains she has had her daughter highly educated and
respectably brought up in complete ignorance of the source of her mother’s income. The drama, of course,
lies in the discovery and its consequences. These consequences, though cruel enough, are all quite sensible
and sober, without suicide nor sensational tragedy, I hope, the conscience of the audience. My intention is
that they shall go home thoroughly uncomfortable. The play has horrified everyone who has heard it, but
only as an honest treatment of such a subject enough to horrify them”.
Shaw goes on to proclaim his invention of a distinctive New Woman, Mrs Warren’s daughter. “I have sought
to put on the stage for the first time (as far as I know) the highly educated, capable, independent young
woman of the governing class as we know her today, working, smoking, preferring the society of the men to
that of women simply because men talk about the questions that interest her and not about servants and
babies, making no preference of caring much about art or romance, respectable though sheer usefulness and
strength, and playing the part of the charming woman only was the amusement of her life, not as its serious
occupation.”
Vivie also represents the images of the “New Woman” in the 1880’s. She was the kind of woman interested
in her own education, personal dignity and growth, and who is not much interested in the traditional idea of
having children and husband.
Mrs Warren’s Profession is seen both as a defense of women and as a condemnation of capitalism as a whole.
It is only people like Crofts, the monied upper classes, who benefit from capitalism, while the poor, like Mrs
Warren, must trade dignity and morality for success. MWP is to an extent, Shaw’s image of what great and
terrible lengths capitalism forces people to go to; forcing them into hypocrisy and into hurting the ones they
love.
He also stated that: “My first 3 plays, Widower’s Houses, The Philanderer and MWP were what people call
realistic.” They were dramatic pictures of middle class society from the point of view of a socialist who
regards the basis of that society as thoroughly rotten economically and morally. And he says in reference to
Mrs. Warren’s Profession:
“I am convinced that fine art is the most seductive, the most effective means of moral propagandism in the
world, excepting only the example of personal conduct; and I waive even this exception in favour of the art
of stage, because it works by exhibiting examples of personal conduct mode intelligible.

Themes
Exploitation of women. Mrs. Warren’s Profession forces its audience to consider the problem of the
exploitation of women in British society. The play challenges the idea that working as a prostitute is
immoral, suggesting instead that society is immoral because it limits opportunities for women, often making
prostitution the safest and most lucrative work available to them. The play suggests that a variety of
individuals share personal responsibility for women’s exploitation, ranging from those who invest in brithels,
to those who own factories where women are underpaid, to those who accept the profits of any business that
treats women unfairly.
The play pinpoints two factors that lead to exploitation of women: the limited number of professions open to
women and the poor conditions in those professions. The play contends that prostitutes earn more money
than women working in other professions, and also face fewer occupational dangers to their health. When
Mrs. Warren reveals to her daughter that she has worked as a prostitute and brothel-owner, she gives a
practical defense of why the conditions for working women forced her into this line of work. As a young
woman without an education, she needed to earn a living. Certain professions were open only to women with
talent, like acting, singing or writing for the newspaper. Other professions were open only to pretty women,
like working as shop-girls or barmaids. But in these professions, the women earned very little money while
allowing someone else to profit from their beauty. Women who are neither talented nor pretty have no choice
but to work in factories, where they ruin their health and earn poverty wages.
Though Vivie’s privileged self-righteousness is obviously powerless to free other British women from
exploitation, the play does suggest that British society can take concrete steps to stop exploiting women.
First, the taboo on talking about prostitution should be lifted, and citizens should be forced to think about the
social and economic conditions that make prostitution the best choice for many women. Second, labor
conditions for women should be improved, with women paid higher wages to work in safer conditions.
Finally, educational opportunities like those Vivie afforded should be made more widely available.

Sex, money, marriage, prostitution and incest. Mrs. Warren’s profession depicts a society tainted by the sale
of sex. A mother is portrayed yes as a mamas who may try to sell her daughter, and a young woman’s suitors
might also be her father or brother. The play shows that this impure tangle of relationships is the natural
result of the pervasive buying and selling of sex, wether through marriage or prostitution, and of the
treatment of women as interchangeable, commodified sexual objects. It cynically concludes that the only
sure way to escape incestuous or mercenary relationships is to renounce both familial and romantic love.
Shaw consider marriage and prostitution to be two sides of the same coin; both institutions allow for sex to
be bought and sold, but marriage is approved of in respectable society and prostitution is found upon. Vivie’s
two suitors, Sir George Crofts and Frank Gardner, have opposite motivations for courting her, but both see
mating her in economic terms. While Crofts hopes to buy Vivie as a wife, offering to add to her fortune and
improve her standing in society bu making her a baroness, Frank hopes to sell himself to her in marriage. As
a woman, Vivie is naturally seen by the worlds and by Crofts as a commodity to be bought. But as an
exceptionally rich woman, Vivie is also in the unusual position of being the potential buyer.

Altohugh Vivie’s wealth protects her from the need to sell herself either as a wife or a sex worker, she is still
exposed to the fact that her society treats women as interchangeable sexual objects for sale. Like any object
that can be bought, women can also be replaced: mother can be replaced with daughter, and vice versa,
despite the possibility of incest that this swapping of woman for woman produces. Crofts courts Vivie even
though he is Mrs. Warren's former lover (or customer) and thus could be Vivie's father. Frank courts Vivie
and flirts with Mrs. Warren even though his father was once Mrs. Warren's lover (or customer), and Vivie
may be his half-sister. The play never identifies Vivie's father, nor does it conclusively rule out the possibility
that her father may be Crofts, or Frank's father, Reverend Gardner. By leaving Vivie's paternity ambiguous,
the play leaves the viewer and Vivie with the uncomfortable feeling that it is impossible to determine who is
a blood relation and who is not. Her mother's, aunt's, and grandmother's past as sex workers make it
imposible for her to know to whom she is related. The play shows how even non-incestuous parent-child
relationships are tainted by the sale of sex. Mrs. Warren directly compares all relationships between mothers
and daughters to the relationship between a madam and a prostitute, frankly telling Vivie that any mother
with daughters looks to help them marry a rich man. Frank reports that, in an honest moment, his father told
him he should find a smart, rich woman to marry, in effect telling his son to sell himself to the highest bidder.
Through the mouths of characters like these, Shaw offers a frank and biting criticism of the hypocritical
society he sees around him.

Mrs. Warren's Profession suggests that only by giving all women the opportunity to carn money without
relying on their sexuality can society be freed from the tainted familial and romantic relationships the play
portrays. In the end, the realization that her upbringing was paid for by her mother's work as a prostitute and
brothel owner leaves Vivie with a realization of her own complicity in the sale of women's bodies.
Conscience-stricken, she rejects her mother's money and love and the possibility of romantic love at any time
in the future. While this stance may seem extreme, it is the only way that Vivie sees to avoid being sold to a
husband or bought as a wife, or from profiting from other women’s sale as prostitutes. No matter what Vivie
does, however, her ability to earn her own living remains tied to the expensive education her mother
provided and paid for with profits from the sale of sex.

Class, respectability, morality and complicity. Mrs. Warren's Profession skewers the immorality and
sentimentality of the values and norms of British society, suggesting that the hypocrisy, corruption, and
injustice of the British social system infects everyone affiliated with it. Shaw's nuanced depiction of the
different ways in which the poor, middle-class, and rich uphold oppressive social norms suggests that nobody
is pure and, as such, the only way to fix the system is to be honest and straightforward about how it affects
people, both positively and negatively.
The play exposes the hollowness and cynicism of a range of Victorian moral tenets. For example, Shaw
suggests that the duty of children to respect their parents is a way of obligating children to excuse their
parents' immorality, that valuing the power of art to elevate human life is actually a distraction from reality,
and that concern for protecting young women's chastity is hypocritical in a world in which so many women
are bought and sold.
Mrs. Warren seems only to respect Victorian convention when it benefits her. Though she has defied social
expectations by working as a prostitute and brothel owner, she still believes in the convention that a daughter
should respect her mother. This is blatantly hypocritical, as Vivie's refusal to respect Mrs. Warren is a direct
result of Mrs. Warren’s behavior. Praed plays the role of the artist and art-appreciator who is too concerned
with beauty and romance to involve himself in the sordid details of Mrs. Warren's world However, his claim
not to know Mrs. Warren's profession seems false considering how many years he has known her. Thus,
Shaw suggests that Praed's love of art allows him to escape ay responsibility for the unpleasant realities
around him. Shaw also satirizes the Victorian concern with protecting young girls from men's sexual
advances. Mrs Warren's sister Liz becomes respectable when she makes the transition from brothel owner to
chaperone (a woman who accompanied unmarried young women to parties when a female family member
was not available to do so, and provided a bar on sexual contact with men). Although this transformation is
stark, it also suggests the complicity of those who parrot ideas about the sanctity of rich girls' bodies in a
system that looks the other way when it is poor girls' bodies for sale.

The play also shows how the respectability guaranteed by a high social station allows the upper class to
avoid scrutiny and benefit from the suffering of others. Sir George Crofts personifies a corrupt upper class
that profits from immorality. He makes money by investing in brothels, while other members of the upper
class invest in unsafe factories ow own slums. Despite the fact that the rich are given unqualified respect,
Shaw shows that the less-respected middle class has stronger—if still muddled—moral standards. Frank’s
response to the knowledge that Mrs. Warren runs brothels demonstrates this. Although Frank is cynical in his
desire to marry a woman purely for her money and he has no respect for ideas about parental authority, he
draws a firm moral line against marrying for money that is earned in brothels. His middle-class morality
makes it impossible for him to stomach Mrs. Warren’s upper-class immorality.

International conflict. Mis. Warren s Profession portrays two parent-child relationships in which the children
reject sentimental ideas about familial duty. Frank and Vivie share a belief that they should judge their
parents based on their parents' behavior and values, treating their parents only as well as they deserve to be
treated. In keeping with Victorian views on the respect owed to parents, however, Mrs. Warren and Reverend
Gardner expect Frank and Vivie to respect them and take their advice no matter what, and they are hurt and
stunned by the way their children dismiss them. Through the differences in these two parent-child
relationships, Shaw reveals that, while personality traits are often passed from parent to child, love and
loyalty must be earned.
Part of the bond between Frank and Vivie is their shared feeling of contempt for elders who wish to tell them
what to do. After Frank and Vivie meet one another's parents for he first time, they share a laugh at both
Reverend Gardner and Mrs. Warren's expense. However, even as Frank and Vivie defy their parents' advice
about their futures, they are still following in their parents' footsteps. Frank's father, Reverend Samuel
Gardner, lived a wild youth before becoming obsessed with respectability. While Reverend Gardner wants
Frank to be respectable, Frank's desire to live a wild life is not an explicit rejection of his father, since it's
actually emulating Reverend Gardner's own path. Similarly, Vivie commits herself to a life of hard work
much like her mother's, despite her strong objections to the choices her mother has made. Mrs. Warren's goal
in earning her fortune was to see Vivie installed in fashionable, respectable society, living a life of leisure.
But despite having earned enough money to achieve this goal, Mrs. Warren cannot bring herself to stop
working as a brothel owner because she needs work to give her life purpose. Vivie proves herself to be
exactly the same when she rejects the life of leisure her mother has provided in favor of earning her own
money by using her talents. Like Frank and Reverend Gardner, Vivie is too similar to her mother to take a
different course. Just as Frank must seek to avoid work, although his father begs him to find a steady
occupation, Vivie refuses a life of leisure, despite her mother’s desire to give it to her.

Symbols
Vivie’s cigars. Women who smoked broke with the conventions for young women of the Victorian era.
Vivie’s cigars, along with her fondness for whiskey, suggest that she wants to experience pleasure herself,
not just provide it to others as a wife, mother, or daughter. Smoking, riding bicycles, and dressing in simple
clothing were all outward symbols a cohort of early feminists used to signal their independence from
society’s expectations for women and their right to enter into spheres that used to be open only to men.

Brussels. Brussels is the base of operations for Mrs. Warren's small empire of brothels
across Europe. She also has brothels in Vienna, Ostend, and Budapest. Early on in the play, these European
cities represent the secret life Mrs. Warren leads away from her daughter. They are also places where men
like Praed and Frank seek to go to experience beauty, romance, or fun. Later, after Vivie realizes what her
mother's business consists of, these European cities come to represent the corrupt, exploitative world of the
idle, worthless upper class. Although Vivie seeks to sequester herself in London from the un pleasantness she
imagines exists out of sight on the European continent, as Crofts tells her, the profits of these businesses are
all around her. In the end, then, as a far-off city with many ties to England, Brussels represents the illusion
that one can ever separate oneself from prostitution and other forms.