Bøger af George Bernard Shaw

The story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics who makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can successfully pass off a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a refined society lady by teaching her how to speak with an upper class accent and training her in etiquette. In the process, Higgins and Eliza grow close, but she ultimately rejects his domineering ways and declares she will marry Freddy Eynsford-Hill - a young, poor, gentleman.

Androcles and the Lion is a 1912 play written by George Bernard Shaw. The play is Shaw's retelling of the tale of Androcles, a slave who is saved by the requiting mercy of a lion. In the play, Shaw portrays Androcles to be one of the many Christians being led to the Colosseum for torture. Characters in the play exemplify several themes and takes on both modern and supposed early Christianity, including the cultural clash between Jesus' teachings and traditional Roman values.Androcles or Androclus is the name given by some sources to the main character of a common folktale that is included in the Aarne-Thompson classification system as type 156.[1] The story reappeared in the Middle Ages as "The Shepherd and the Lion" and was then ascribed to Aesop's Fables. It is numbered 563 in the Perry Index and can be compared to Aesop's The Lion and the Mouse in both its general trend and in its moral of the reciprocal nature of mercy.George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 - 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1912) and Saint Joan(1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876, where he struggled to establish himself as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. By the mid-1880s he had become a respected theatre and music critic. Following a political awakening, he joined the gradualist Fabian Society and became its most prominent pamphleteer. Shaw had been writing plays for years before his first public success, Arms and the Man in 1894. Influenced by Henrik Ibsen, he sought to introduce a new realism into English-language drama, using his plays as vehicles to disseminate his political, social and religious ideas. By the early twentieth century his reputation as a dramatist was secured with a series of critical and popular successes that included Major Barbara, The Doctor's Dilemma and Caesar and Cleopatra.Shaw's expressed views were often contentious; he promoted eugenics and alphabet reform, and opposed vaccination and organised religion. He courted unpopularity by denouncing both sides in the First World War as equally culpable, and although not a republican, castigated British policy on Ireland in the postwar period. These stances had no lasting effect on his standing or productivity as a dramatist; the inter-war years saw a series of often ambitious plays, which achieved varying degrees of popular success. In 1938 he provided the screenplay for a filmed version of Pygmalion for which he received an Academy Award. His appetite for politics and controversy remained undiminished; by the late 1920s he had largely renounced Fabian Society gradualism and often wrote and spoke favourably of dictatorships of the right and left-he expressed admiration for both Mussolini and Stalin. In the final decade of his life he made fewer public statements, but continued to write prolifically until shortly before his death, aged ninety-four, having refused all state honours, including the Order of Merit in 1946.Since Shaw's death scholarly and critical opinion about his works has varied, but he has regularly been rated among British dramatists as second only to Shakespeare; analysts recognise his extensive influence on generations of English-language playwrights. The word Shavian has entered the language as encapsulating Shaw's ideas and his means of expressing them.During the first decade of the twentieth century, Shaw secured a firm reputation as a playwright.

Man and Superman is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to calls for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905, but it omitted the third act. A part of the act, Don Juan in Hell (Act 3, Scene 2), was performed when the drama was staged on 4 June 1907 at the Royal Court. The play was not performed in its entirety until 1915, when the Travelling Repertory Company played it at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.

Caesar and Cleopatra, a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw, was first staged in 1901 and first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in his 1901 collection, Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed at Newcastle-on-Tyne on March 15, 1899. The first London production was at the Savoy Theatre in 1907. The famous scene in which Cleopatra, concealed in a rolled-up carpet, is smuggled into Caesar's presence was credited by Otto Skorzeny as the inspiration for his doing the same to his kidnapping victim Miklós Horthy, Jr. in 1944 during Operation Panzerfaust. Shaw wants to prove that it was not love but politics that drew Cleopatra to Julius Caesar. He sees the Roman occupation of ancient Egypt as similar to the British occupation that was occurring during his time. Caesar understands the importance of good government, and values these things above art and love. Shaw's philosophy has often been compared to that of Nietzsche. Their shared admiration for men of action shows itself in Shaw's description of Caesar's struggle with Pompey. In the prologue, the god Ra says, "the blood and iron ye pin your faith on fell before the spirit of man; for the spirit of man is the will of the gods." A second theme, apparent both from the text of the play itself and from Shaw's lengthy notes after the play, is Shaw's belief that people have not been morally improved by civilization and technology. A line from the prologue clearly illustrates this point. The god Ra addresses the audience and says, "ye shall marvel, after your ignorant manner, that men twenty centuries ago were already just such as you, and spoke and lived as ye speak and live, no worse and no better, no wiser and no sillier." Another theme is the value of clemency. Caesar remarks that he will not stoop to vengeance when confronted with Septimius, the murderer of Pompey. Caesar throws away letters that would have identified his enemies in Rome, instead choosing to try to win them to his side. Pothinus remarks that Caesar doesn't torture his captives. At several points in the play, Caesar lets his enemies go instead of killing them. The wisdom of this approach is revealed when Cleopatra orders her nurse to kill Pothinus because of his "treachery and disloyalty" (but really because of his insults to her). This probably contrasts with historical fact. The murder enrages the Egyptian crowd, and but for Mithridates' reinforcements would have meant the death of all the protagonists. Caesar only endorses the retaliatory murder of Cleopatra's nurse because it was necessary and humane.

Essay Authors Include G. Bernard Shaw, Sydney Olivier, Sidney Webb, Annie Besant, William Clark, Graham Wallas, And Hubert Bland.

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright who co-founded the London School of Economics. Shaw wrote more than 60 plays with his most famous being "Pygmalion," which served as the inspiration for the musical" My Fair Lady."

A Bulgarian woman's delusions about romance and war are quickly dismantled by a disgruntled Swiss mercenary. Arms and the Man, by George Bernard Shaw, is a humorous examination of one person's perception versus reality. The young heroine gradually discovers the truth about love, honor and the unexpected casualties of war.

Pygmalion (1914), unquestionably George Bernard Shaw's most popular play, is a comedic masterpiece of love and the British class system. It tells the story of the transformation of a young cockney girl's life, and the entanglements that follow. The play is the basis for the immensely popular musical, My Fair Lady.

Following the death of her father, Ann Whitefield becomes the ward of Jack Tanner and Roebuck Ramsden; Jack is a childhood friend, author of The Revolutionist¿s Handbook, and descendant of Don Juan, while Roebuck Ramsden is a respectable friend of her father¿s entirely opposed to Jack¿s philosophy. Also in mourning are Octavius Robinson, who is openly in love with Ann, and his sister Violet, who is secretly pregnant. So begins a journey that will take them across London, Europe, and to Hell.George Bernard Shaw wrote Man and Superman between 1901 and 1903. It was first performed in 1905 with the third act excised; a part of that third act, Don Juan in Hell, was performed in 1907. The full play was not performed in its entirety until 1915.Shaw explains that he wrote Man and Superman after being challenged to write on the theme of Don Juan. Once described as Shaw¿s most allusive play, Man and Superman refers to Nietzsche¿s concept of the Übermensch. It combines Nietzsche¿s argument that humanity is evolving towards a ¿superman¿ with the philosophy of Don Juan as a way to present his conception of society: namely, that it is women who are the driving force behind natural selection and the propagation of the species. To this end, Shaw includes as an appendix The Revolutionist¿s Handbook and Pocket Companion as written by the character Jack Tanner.

Major Barbara is a three-act play that premiered at the Court Theatre in 1905, and was subsequently published in 1907. It portrays idealist Barbara Undershaft, a Major in the Salvation Army, and her encounter with her long-estranged father who has made his fortune as a ¿dealer of death¿ in the munitions industry. Barbara doesn¿t wish to be associated with her father¿s ill-gotten wealth, but can¿t prevent him from donating to the Salvation Army and eventually converting her family to his capitalist views on how best to help the poor.In the preface, Shaw addresses his critics and explicates his actual attitudes towards the Salvation Army, versus the attitudes and fates portrayed by his characters and responded to by the critics. He continues on to discuss the issues of wealth and poverty, religion and science, and how they all fit into his views of society.Major Barbara is one of the most controversial of Shaw¿s work and was greeted with decidedly mixed reviews, yet it endures as one of his most famous plays.

In the middle of the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian war, an enemy soldier escapes a cavalry charge by climbing up a drainpipe into Raina Petkoff¿s room. Raina is the daughter of one Major and engaged to another, but she chooses to save the soldier¿s life by concealing him.Arms and the Man, named after the opening lines of Virgil¿s The Aeneid, is a play that humorously deals with the hypocrisy of humanity and the stupidity of war. It was among George Bernard Shaw¿s first commercial successes, and was included in a collection of plays he referred to as Plays Pleasant, along with Candida, You Never Can Tell, and The Man of Destiny. Having coined the term ¿chocolate soldier,¿ the play has been staged multiple times in London¿s West End and on Broadway, and has been adapted into operetta and film.

Como se verá más adelante, Pigmalión necesita, no un prefacio, sino un apéndice, que he puesto en su debido lugar. Los ingleses no tienen respeto a su idioma y no quieren enseñar a sus hijos a hablarlo. Lo pronuncian tan abominablemente que nadie puede aprender, por sí solo, a imitar sus sonidos. Es imposible que un inglés abra la boca sin hacerse odiar y despreciar por otro inglés. El alemán o el español suena claro para oídos extranjeros; el inglés no suena claro ni para oídos ingleses. El reformador que hoy le haría falta a Inglaterra es un enérgico y entusiástico conocedor de la fonética. Por esta razón, el protagonista de mi obra es el tal conocedor. Entusiastas por el estilo han existido en los tiempos pasados, pero clamaban en el desierto.

Meticulously selected by Simon Mundy, the Wit and Acid series collects the sharpest lines from the Shaw's oeuvre in small neat volumes, allowing the reader to sample some of the very best barbs and one-liners the twentieth century has to offer, and this, the second volume, covers lines from the great writer's works published after 1911.

"The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated."- George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion"What is life but a series of inspired follies ? The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance : it doesn't come every day."- George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion"The greatest British dramatist since Shakespeare."- The GuardianA chance meeting between Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, and Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle leads to a bet that he can teach her how to speak proper English. While Higgins undertakes an effort to train Liza out of her Cockney accent to prove that it is one's manner of speaking that determines one's opportunities, Liza's refreshing candor and generosity of spirit effect a change in Higgins. Beguiling, relatable, and engaging, Pygmalion is an uproariously funny and ultimately touching tale of mutual transformation. All the while, beneath its irresistible charm, it offers a scathing critique of class, entitlement, and social prejudice.Ever since its wildly popular first production in 1913, Pygmalion has amused and entertained audiences the world over and has become one of the most adapted plays of all time. In 1938 Shaw provided the screenplay for a filmed version of Pygmalion for which he received an Academy Award.

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is a witty and thought-provoking play that explores class, identity, and the power of language. Immerse yourself in this captivating story of transformation and social commentary, crafted by one of the greatest playwrights of all time. Follow the journey of Eliza Doolittle as she goes from a flower girl to a refined lady. Engage with Shaw's sharp wit and satirical take on societal norms. Reflect on the themes of social mobility, gender roles, and the importance of communication. Experience the dynamic characters and sparkling dialogue that define Shaw's works. This edition presents Shaw's acclaimed play in a high-quality format, making it an essential addition to the collection of theater enthusiasts and fans of insightful storytelling.

One of his most important plays and one of the most renowned comedies, George Bernard Shaw'sArms and the Man talks about the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War. The story revolves around the incident of a Swiss soldier fighting in the Serbian army who bursts into a young Bulgarian woman's bedroom and begs her to hide him. A crafted combination of wit and humour, this classic is an epitome of a satire on the typical values about war, morality, love and class.

A witty retelling of the classic tale of a sculptor falling in love with his flawless creation, Pygmalion is a subtle attack on the British class system while highlighting Shaw's feminist ideology.Professor Higgins asserts to his friend, Colonel Pickering, that he can disguise a regular flower girl as a duchess just by teaching her the mannerisms and speech of the upper class society. In the course of the flower girl's 'upgradation,' she transforms into a beautiful and accomplished lady. To Higgins, however, she remains a mere successful experiment leaving her out of both the worlds: the one she stepped out of and the one she never felt a part of.

Pygmalion, a romance play in five acts, is written by George Bernard Shaw and named after the Greek mythological figure. In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life. It is considered as a humane comedy about love and the English class system. Eliza Doolittle, fictional character, a flower girl who is transformed into a woman of poise and polish by Shaw in this play. According to playwright, character of Professor Henry Higgins was inspired by several British professors of phonetics.The last scene in Act V ends with another confrontation between Higgins and Eliza. Higgins asks if Eliza is satisfied with the revenge she has brought thus far and if she will now come back, but she refuses. Higgins defends himself from Eliza's earlier accusation by arguing that he treats everyone the same. Pygmalion was first produced in German in 1913 in Vienna. It was later on performed in England in 1914.

Arms and the Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid, in Latin: Arma virumque cano. The play discusses how war is made, how it is fought, and how parties sue for peace at the close of it. Indeed, the play's title is a direct quote from Virgil's Aeneid, the Roman epic that glorifies war. George Bernard Shaw's three-act comedy, Arms and the Man, follows Raina Petkoff as she learns the reality of the world around her. Set during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885, Shaw's play takes a critical look at the romanticizing of love and war, the challenges of self-reflections, and the gray world of absolute truth.

A collection guaranteed to put a smile on your face, ‘500 Quotes of Humour’ features the sharp wit and wisdom of the likes of Oscar Wilde, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Groucho Marx, and Woody Allen. Some of the leading figures in their fields, these writers, actors, comedians, physicists, and playwrights are responsible for some of the most humorous quotes of all time. They are collected together in this hilarious volume that is ideal for those looking for a quick laugh. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is one of the most celebrated writers in history and is best known for his novels ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Woody Allen (1935- )is a celebrated writer, director, comedian, and actor, famous for films such as ‘Manhattan’, ‘Annie Hall’, and ‘Hannah and Her Sisters’.Groucho Marx (1890-1977) was a comedian, writer, and actor, famous for his sharp wit and his many films which include ‘Duck Soup’ and ‘A Night at the Opera.’ Albert Einstein was one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. He is best known for developing the theory of relativity. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was an Irish playwright and political activist, famous for his plays such as ‘Pygmalion’ and ‘Man and Superman’.

As suggested by the reference to Nietzsche's "Übermensch" in the title of the play, George Bernard Shaw intended Man and Superman to be not only a light romantic comedy but also a deeply philosophical work. In this highly entertaining play, he lays out his perspective on life and the cosmos with unsurpassable wit and verve. Upon the death of her father, Ann Whitefield is left in the care of two guardians, Roebuck Ramsden and John Tanner. Tanner, author of The Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion, becomes the reluctant target of Ann's affections and marital ambitions. In the courtship that ensues, Ann's charm and sheer force of life are pitted against his protestations of disinterest and dedication to anarchy. This Warbler Classics edition presents the complete unabridged play, including the long third act, "Don Juan in Hell," along with The Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion, which is published with the play as an appendix as Shaw intended, and an extensive biographical timeline.

A chance meeting between Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, and Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle leads to a bet that he can teach her how to speak proper English. While Higgins undertakes an effort to train Liza out of her Cockney accent to prove that it is one's manner of speaking that determines one's opportunities, Liza's refreshing candor and generosity of spirit effect a change in Higgins. Beguiling, relatable, and engaging, Pygmalion is an uproariously funny and ultimately touching tale of mutual transformation. All the while, beneath its irresistible charm, it offers a scathing critique of class, entitlement, and social prejudice. Ever since its wildly popular first production in 1913, Pygmalion has amused and entertained audiences the world over and has become one of the most adapted plays of all time. In 1938 Shaw provided the screenplay for a filmed version of Pygmalion for which he received an Academy Award. In 1956 Pygmalion was adapted into a musical entitled My Fair Lady starring Rex Harrison as Higgins and Julie Andrews as Eliza. The 1964 filmed version starred Audrey Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison as Higgins. This Warbler Classics edition includes an extensive biographical timeline.

At the most wretched hour between a black night and a wintry morning in the year 1777, Mrs. Dudgeon, of New Hampshire, is sitting up in the kitchen and general dwelling room of her farm house on the outskirts of the town of Websterbridge. She is not a prepossessing woman. No woman looks her best after sitting up all night; and Mrs. Dudgeon's face, even at its best, is grimly trenched by the channels into which the barren forms and observances of a dead Puritanism can pen a bitter temper and a fierce pride. She is an elderly matron who has worked hard and got nothing by it except dominion and detestation in her sordid home, and an unquestioned reputation for piety and respectability among her neighbors, to whom drink and debauchery are still so much more tempting than religion and rectitude, that they conceive goodness simply as self-denial. This conception is easily extended to others - denial, and finally generalized as covering anything disagreeable. So Mrs. Dudgeon, being exceedingly disagreeable, is held to be excee-dingly good. Short of flat felony, she enjoys complete license except for amiable weaknesses of any sort, and is consequently, without knowing it, the most licentious woman in the parish on the strength of never having broken the seventh commandment or missed a Sunday at the Presbyterian church.

Pygmalion's audiences in 1914 were both enthralled and scandalized by it. In addition to being a razor-sharp critique of the British class system and a declaration of Shaw's feminist beliefs, this fantastically funny retelling of the traditional story of the sculptor who falls in love with his ideal female statue. My Fair Lady, the musical version of one of Bernard Shaw's most well-known plays ''Pygmalion'', was a great sensation both on Broadway and in London and New York. An updated and extensively revised version of the Pygmalion and Galatea myth from ancient Greece, the 20th-century fable pokes fun at the antiquated British class system. In Shaw's skillful adaptation, Professor Henry Higgins, a linguist, accepts a bet that he can transform a clumsy cockney flower seller into an educated young woman by merely teaching her better speech and manners. While convincing society that his construct is a mysterious royal figure, the professor also falls in love with his attractive invention. Pygmalion, one of the most well-known comedies in the English language, blends Shaw's witty dialogue and great playwriting skills with the alluring idea of the developing butterfly. It continues to be regularly performed and forms the basis of college theater programs.

Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw was written in 1903 as a four act drama, responding to those who had questioned Shaw as to why he had never written a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at The Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905 without the performance of the 3rd Act. A part of the act, Don Juan in Hell (Act 3, Scene 2), was performed when the drama was staged on June 4, 1907 at the Royal Court. The play was not produced in its entirety until 1915 by the Travelling Repertory Company at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.The long third act of the play is often cut. Don Juan in Hell consists of a philosophical debate between Don Juan (played by the same actor who plays Jack Tanner), and the Devil, with Doña Ana (Ann) and the Statue of Don Gonzalo, Ana's father (Roebuck Ramsden, an aged acquaintance of Tanner's and Ann's Guardian) looking on. Don Juan in Hell is often performed separately as a play in its own right, most famously in the 50's in a concert version with Charles Boyer as Don Juan, Charles Laughton as the Devil, Cedric Hardwicke as the Commander, and Agnes Moorehead as Doña Ana. This version was also released as a spoken word album on LP, but has yet to appear on CD. However, the complete performance recording is now available at various sites on the Internet.Although Man and Superman can be performed as a light comedy of manners Shaw intended the drama to be something much deeper, as suggested by the title. This title comes from Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical ideas about the "Übermensch" ("Superman"). The plot centers on John Tanner, author of "The Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion," which is published with the play as a 58-page appendix. Tanner is a confirmed bachelor despite the pursuits of Ann Whitefield and her persistent efforts to make him marry her. Ann is referred to as "the Life Force" and represents Shaw's view that in every culture, it is the women who force the men to marry them rather than the men who take the initiative.