Hokkaido University of Education

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TitleBERNARD SHAW with Special Reference to PYGMALION, ST.JOAN & MAN A

ND SUPERMAN(II)

Author(s) 新井, 広

Citation 北海道学芸大学紀要. 第一部. A, 人文科学編, 16(2): 132-142

Issue Date 1965-12

URL http://s-ir.sap.hokkyodai.ac.jp/dspace/handle/123456789/3794

Rights

Vol. 16, No. 2 Journal of Hokkaido Gakugei University (Section I A) Dec., 1965

BERNARD SHAWwith Special Reference to

PYGMALION, ST. JOAN & MAN AND SUPERMAN(II)

Hiro ABAI

The Department of English Literature, Asahigawa Branch

SAINT JOAN

1. Introduction

The three persons who seem to have given direct suggestion to Shaw for his writing

SAINT JOAN were : Sir Sydney Cookerell who sent Shaw T. Douglas Nurray's " JeanneD'Arc". He also introduced him to his friend "the Abbess of Stanbrook, whose saintliness

and unencloosed mind " impressed Shaw greatly, cf : (Margaret Shenfielb, p. 105) ;

Mary Hankinson, cf. G. B. Shaw's letter, (ST. JOHN ERVINE, p. 496) " To Mary

Hankinson, the only woman I know who does not believe that she is the model for

JOAN and the woman who actually was ..." and Charlotte, Shaw's wife " who left

books about JOAN lying in every room he was likely to imhabit. He found himself

practically picking up one of these books and reading in it, until one day he suddenlyexclaimed to the wise and smiling Charlotte ..." G. B. Shaw is well-known as a

propagandist as well as a man who utilizes anything anybody he knows, so it is not

surprising that he writes such a letter as mentioned above, even if Mary is not the

main motif. A. Henderson also writes of Sir Sydney Cockerell's sending G. B. SHAW

that book. As for his wife's attitude to Shaw about writing SAINT JOAN I can onlysay it is very proable of her to do so, judging from her conduct to him those days.

Bernard Shaw might have written the play SAINT JOAN even if there had been nosuggestion made to him froin others. He is said to have been a rigorous Puritan, though

not a church-goer. It is said that he has seen some absurdities in a minister's sermon

which dislikes him to attend church. But his religious belief as a Christian seems to

have become deeper and greater as years went by. His later works show this fact.

He has not been perfectly satisfied with being a non-church-goer-Christian. In his

heart he must have been secretly ashamed himself of his obsfinacy. I can say that his

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Hiro Arai

SAINT JOAN is his turning point in his attitude toward religion. The work has beentruly made didactically and with a great success. That is the reason I believe, why he

has written such a long and deliberate essay in the form of PREFACE TO ST. JOAN,

dividing it into as many as 41 sections and spending as many as one-third of the wholepages of the book.

It is entirely my supposition that his attitude toward religion must have been different

as he grew older, but, judging from his ST. JOAN, my supposition is not withoutreasons. If Joan had not been cannonized, he would not have written the work. Shaw

says that he does not whole-heartedly agree with Joan's cannonization if that means

the condemnation of those who sentenced Joan guilty. It is clear that Shaw is

speaking for "the church and for those who punished Joan. He is careful in his

treatment of Joan in order to convince every reader the inevitability of Joan's death

and yet her innocence. As A. C. Ward says : "He wrote to open people's minds to

new ideas, not to stir their feelings " and the new idea does not mean his favorite

destructive ideas, even though it looks like that, but really it is to see "not only her

(Joan's) point of view but also her opponents' reasons for destroying her " (INTRO-

DUCTION TO SAINT JOAN BY A. C. WARD). The readers of ST. JOAN also see

in the treatment of ST. JOAN that, though he may not be a church-goer, his beliefin Christianity is not less than that of any regular church-goer. In order to present

his ideas of Joan as he expressed in his PREFACE better, I purposely postponed myreference to the PREFACE, following first the movement of Joan in each scene in

relation to the PREFACE, following first the movement of Joan in each scene inrelation to other characters of the play.

2. SCENES I, H, M, and N

Of the seven scenes, SCENE I seems one of the best as a stage performance goes-

opening the scene by the shrill voice of handsome Robert's (the head of the castle)"No eggs! No eggs!. .." and closing it by the same person's cry, "Christ in Heaven!

She did come from God", and under him, his trodden worm, namely his steward,

crouching, but holding high over his head a basket filled with " five dozen eggs !" So,it has a beauty of unity, and the contrast agreeable to be seen though this sort of

technical devise would be the one commonly seen in a traditional play. Robert must

be a suitable captain of the castle of those days. First of all, it must be his physicalcondition that has made him the master of the castle. He is handsome and physicallyenergetic, which characteristic must have covered his defects even if he had many. His

lack of will is, in a way, a merit. It shows he has not much confidence in himself.

So he saks for the advice of Paulengey rather politely as to how to deal with Joan.Paulgengey is straightforward in his answer. He has no doubt. His answer is positive.

There is never a shadow of hesitation in his answer. Now, if Robert is positive as

Paulengey or much wiser than he really is, there might have been unknown enemies,

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BERNARD SAW with Special Reference to PZGMALION. ST. JOAN & MAN AND SUPERMAN

like Socrates, watching the chance of castng him down from that honored position. He

is rather sensitive about " money matters ", I dare say. It is about " no eggs " that has

pricked his sense and caused him to see Joan. It was also " lots of eggs " he actually

could see that made him cry, "She did come from God." Also, he was unwilling to

pay sixteen francs for a horse and was surprised to hear Paulengey's determination to

pay for it. The trodden-worm-ste.ward might have deliberately made use of that

weakness of his master's, hid the eggs and announced the sterility of the hens. There

is nothing, however, to testify the truth of it. Probably the record of the history wouldshow the truth. But there is one expression made by the steward, "... but she puts

courage into us". This shows that he was also hearing Joan speak to the soldiers,

that he might have forgotten to feed the hens properly, or the hens had been affectedwith the unusual atmosphere of the courtyard, etc., etc.

The most singular character is Joan's. The girl takes an initiative part, vanguard

position to anyone she meets with, just as Eliza Doolittle in the " PYGMALION " takesalmost the same position, just as Eve toward Adam in the Old Testament. Her manner

is sprightly and direct and frank. As her good intention is invitably felt, her familiarmanner in calling the Captain Robert or Paulengey Polly is not so appalling as Robert's

abuses ; "... the worst, most incompetent, drivelling, snivelling jibbering jabbering idiot

of a steward in France." SAINT JOAN of SCENE I is full of Joan's hope and God's

blessing upon her on hand and her defiance of the archibishop and others on the other

which is in spite of bombastic resistance made her loneliness and sadness the deeper.

SCENE II is perhaps more grand and impressive than the first scene because the

high ranking personages gather together, the Archibishop, La Tremouille and theDauphin, and the scene is ironical rather than interesting. A passage, " with nothing

of the ecclesiastic about him except his imposing bearing" well characterizes the

ARCHIB1SHOP. What would be the typical characteristic of " ecclesiastic " is somethingI can not tell clearly, and yet I may be right in guessing G. B, Shaw's irony therein.

His intention would be to reveal a human weakness seen even in a highest dignitary,

perhaps seen more in a so-called great person. Bernard Shsw's attitude to his characters

in SAINT JOAN is to reveal their weaknesses, while in the PYGMALION the authorseems to reveal each character's meritorious side of it. This Archibishop seems to

represent all the Ecclesiastic world leaders. I-Iis speech does not go beyond that world.

His lending money to the Dauphin is all right. The funny thing about him is his

quarrelling with the Dauphin about money matters or ridiculing the Dauphin's poverty

and an insignificant physique. "He (the Dauphin) has never a suit of clothes that Iwould throw to a curate." The Archibishop's speech or action does not go beyond

commonsense just like Polonius's in HAMLET, yet his appearance is so imposing that

his sort of commonsense would be the very one to convince ideotic people. It is also

after he has read through the letter concerning Joan that he finally says : "The

Church must examine the girl before anything decisive is done about her. However,

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Hiro Arai

since his Highness desires it, let her attend the Court." Indeed, "the old fox" is his

nickname. His interpretation of "frauds" and "miracle" is appropriate : "An event

which creates faith does not deceive : therefore it is not fraud, but a miracle, ... When

the girl picks out the Dauphin among his courtiers, it will not be a miracle for me,

because I shall know how it had been done, and my faith will not be increased. But

as for the others, if they feel the thrill of a supernatural, and forget their sinful clayin a sudden sense of the glory of God, it will be a miracle and a blessed one..." But

it is nevertheless ironical to see him blush and touched and say finally, "Come,

gentlemen. The Maid comes' with God's blessing and must be obeyed " and yet when

Joan falling " on her knees and kisses the hem of his robe fervently he shakes his

head in instinctive remonstrances " gathering the robe from her. After all, the author

is trying to reveal human weakness even in the robe of Holy Orders.

La Trgmouille, in spite of his position as the Lord Chamberlain, treats the Dauphinroughly as if the latter were his servant, because of the latter's borrowing from him

" a good twenty-seven thousand and because of the latter's inability to fight for or to

rule the kingdom. It is made clear in the latter part of this scene that the Dauphinhad given the borrowed money to his stupid wife to let her buy pretty clothes, and theone reason he disliked to be crowned was that he had to give a lot of money to her,

since she would insist on buying pretty clothes again! Yet he is contented in dressing

her up beautifully even by berrowing money, since he himself is too ugly to dress himup. A king, yet his life is no greater than a small farmer's life. Such a type of

character would not be rare even today. As for La Tremouille, he is also a type

of man who would behave himself an-ogantly to his weaker people and slavishly

to a tyrant, He reminds me of Bernard Shaw's CLEOPATRA'S chief nurse called

" Ftatateeta." Ftatateeta is an arrogant woman who never stops teasing young Cleopatra.

Cleopatra becomes queenly after she meets Ceaser. As the Queen gains authority

Ftatateeta's arrogance disappears, which fact is revealed, on the stage, by being called

from Ceaser, firrt, " Ftatateeta ", then in proportion to her being ignored " Teetatota",

then " Totateeta ", and finally " Tota " at the time she has come to behave herself

slavishly to Cleopaira. (CEASER AND CLEOPATRA, PLAYS FOR PURITANS 1898).I have tried to look for that word in Shakespeare's Henry VI, but I have found none.

The word " Ftatateeta " and its variations must be Shaw's invention for the purpose

of the stage effect. Such a non-chalant way of accosting is one of the devices of G.

B. Shaw's I have enjoyed and admired immensely. In the case of SAINT JOAN suchdevice is not seen. La Tr^moille is arrogant from the first to the end. Surely the

author's aim for SAINT JOAN is to open our eyes to the truth of human weakness

rather than to enjoy the play. The most comical scene is played by La Trgmokille,

who, in spite of his arrogant and bombastic manners, is illiterate, and though snatching

off the paper from the Dauphin, cannot make out the message and has to follow the

words with his finger but in vain.

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BERNARD SAW with Special Reference to PYGMALION. ST. JOAN & MAN AND SUPERMAN

SCENE III is played beside the bank of the silvery Loire. It is during the warbetween the English and the French, but the scene is almost limited to the conversation

between Dunois and Joan. Dunois is called as " the brave Diinois, the handsome

Dunois, the wonderful Dunois, the darling of all the ladies, the beautiful bastard."

Though unnatural, the author seems to invent this scene because to the romantically

inclined audience it may seem that the love between Joan and Dunois were stirring.

The Warrior Joan seems to have vanished, and Joan the feminine seems to appear, for

Joan the sentimental cries: "Dunois, dear comrade in arms, help me. My eyes are

blinded with tears. Set my foot on the ladder, and say " 'Up, Joan.'"

SCENE VI opens with heated argument and ends with it mostly about Joan andabout the standpoint of each church. There is no action in this long scene. If the

aim of the author were not understood, the scene would be tedious; if the aim is

understood, it will mean that G. B. Shaw's intention of this play is appreciated.

SCENE V is played in the ambulatory in the cathedral of Rheims. It gives theatmosphere of tiredness and loneliness. Joan is deeply discuraged to hear Charles say:

" Oh, are you Well, that will be nice " when Jean says : " Sire : I have made you

lung : my work is done. I am going back to my father's farm." Somehow the

ignoranoe of this woman makes us sad. Bernard Shaw's women, heroines of his plays

go through the same process as hers : first humble but finally proud, which shows

nothing but the ignorance and inferiority of women and their being source of troublein the human world. Joan goes on speaking contradictorily and doss not realize the

situation she is placed, or listen to others from others' standpoint. It may be true, but

nevertheless an irony that Joan at the peak of her life knows that she cannot live

more than a year from now on yet must insist on her own will.

SCENE VI is at the Bishop's court. The decision of her execution has been made

in spite of the Maid's assertion that the saints spoke to her in French. It is interesting

to see the one who is going to be judged (meaning Joan) judges her judge and ispathetic to see her give up her desire to be saved, because of the Office's decision to

imprison her for life. The Executioner's : "Her heart would not burn, my lord ; but

everything that was left is at the bottom of the river. You have heard the last ofher " reminds me of Oscar Wilde's Happy Prince. An adamant nature of a good heart

must be a traditional belief.

The Epilogue is not included in the chronicle play. The sceneis played in the bed ofKing Charles, formerly Joan's Dauphin. It is twenty-five years after Joan's execution.

Both of the speeches made by the soldier and Joan at the end of the Epilogue areimpressive, becauce they are Bernard Shaw's from the modern viewpoint and coincide

with Shaw's opinion expressed in the PREFACE.

3. SHAW'S PREFACE TO SAINT JOAN

G. B. Shaw says that SAINT JOAN is meant for tragedy meaning there are no

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Hiro Arai

villains and yet they are to be punished. I was fascinated by Shaw's PREFACE toSAINT JOAN. One reason was while reading, I suddenly thought of the Nihonbashibridge in Tokyo years ago, on the very day when that great earthquake broke out

there. I was walking along the street, but feeling the earthquake, I stopped just in

front of the bridge to see whether I could cross that bridge safely or not, when I sawto my horror dark bulged bodies floating by in the muddy Sumida River and also somefallen bodies beside fche river. Probably Bernard Shaw has mentioned of "fche Tokyoearthquake, which burnt a great many maidens" because that disaster happened in

the year 1923. Bernard Shaw wrote St. Joan (1924) merely as a contrast of Joan's

death with those of Japanese maidens, yet his mentioning about the Tokyo earthquakehas been felt to me as if the incident of Joan were not a tragedy of a far away country

but were so-called " kith and kin" of my own country. I remember his visit to

Ookuma Kaikan in Waseda University in Tokyo to see Noh play. He seems to have

enjoyed the Noh masks. He seems to have visited Yokohama again but he is said to

have stayed on board never leaving the ship. The reason for it seems to have been his

disgust and fear for so many people gathered together at the Yokohama harbor to

welcome him whom he took for no other than a mad mob. It seems to me that

Japanese still give foreigners this kind of two impressions, one, extremely a good

impression, another, extremely a bad one.

The main ain of his PREFACE seems to me his didactic communication, but it isuncertain whether he is understood as fully as he deserves. With regard to religion,

many modern Japanese would agree with him, believers of Christ but not necessarily

goers to churches. One of the reasons for them to be non-church-goers is that they

are much more eager for grasping higher religious meaning rather than their ordinary

sermons. Broadly speaking the PREFACE of ST. JOAN shows this fact. Written asit is, it is called his best one and there seems to be no one who is in doubt of it.

I have written previously in treating G. B. SHAW'S PYEMALION that the authorwrote his PREFACE TO PYGMALION with confidence and pride bcause he wrote it

as if it were his personal experience and opinion, but in reality he wrote about the

hero and heroine at the same time and convinced his readers that G. B. SHAiW

himself must be the hero and heriune or at least a part of them. The same can be

said of his PREFACE TO ST. JOAN. It is probably the longest preface among his

plays, but not very hard to read through. First of all Bernard Shaw treats of Joan

from a generally accepted history of her life. The following is the outlins of it.

Joan's Life fron Shaw's PREFACE TO ST. JOAN

Savior (1429) Cannonized as Saint (1920)

Heresy _/WitchcraftExecuted (1431)

Blessed (1908)-.\

t

Venerable (1904)\

A village girl (b. 1412)----"Rehabilitated (1456)

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BERNARD SAW with Special Reference to PYGMAL10N. ST. JOAN & MAN AND SUPERMAN

G. B. SHAW enumerates the real causes of Joan's death in detail. What he emphasizes

again and again in the PREFACE is Joan's youth and ignorance and he tries his utmost

energy to her innocence and to the inevitable act of the Holy Church. His argument

for her ignorance is convincing because he compares her with Socrates, Napoleon or a

modern girl who has received high education, and says her ignorarce is due to her

unconsciousness of people's fury to her. He says also the famous Dogma of Papal

Infalliblity is modest or " our infallible democracies, our infallible medical councils,our infallible astronomers, our infallible judges, and our infallible parliaments" etc.

After all, he lets us consider the real meaning of what he saye, namely " EVOLUTION ".

MAN AND SUPERMAN

1. Introduction

The construction of the play seems singular.

The play is divided into seven parts of irregular length :(1)_33 pages to EPISTLE DEDICATORY to A. B. VALKLEY

(2)_46 pages to ACT I(3)_24 pages to ACT II

(4)_72 pages to ACT III(6)_33 pages to ACT IV(6)_41 pages to THE REVOLUTIONIST'S HANDBOOK(7)_17 pages to MAXIMS FOR REVOLUTIONISTS

(2), (3), (4) and (5) are intended for the stage performance. ACT III is called A DONJUAN INTERLUDE which has little direct comnection to the other three ACTS, but isfull of G. B. SHAW'S philosophy. It is said that the play has been acted on the stagewithout ACT III sometimes, or that the ACT III has been performed as an independentplay. But if the ACT III is omitted, the title MAN AND SUPERMAN would not bemade clear and the word "SUPERMAN", either. THE REVOLUTIONISTS'S

HANDBOOK helps its readers to understand the meaning of the title. The stageperformance is limited to ACTS I, II, III, and IV. Each act begins with a longexplanatory setting. It is certain, therefore, that G. B. SHAW would not be quite

satisfied with the exclusion of ACT III, the creation of which he must have beenproud of, because he says : "The evolutionary theme of the third act of MAN AND

SUPERMAN was resumed by me twenty years later in the preface to Back to

M.ethuselah, where it is developed as the basis of the religion of the near future."

(POSTSCRIPT 1933).Judging from the singular construction of the play I should say that the author has

two purposes in this play in spite of his philosophy : enjoyment and didactic.EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO ARTHUR BINGHAN WALKLEY Takes the place of

SHAW'S PREFACE. Walkley is said to be one of the leading critics of the day, and

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Hiro Arai

according to G. B. SHAW'S remarks he is the one who suggested SHAW to write a

Don Juan Play meaning a romance in treating of sex as a main subject. G. B. SHAW

speaks of it as " this frightful responsibility ". The word " frightful " must have beenused as if for fun, but it seems he is really in earnest. G. B. SHAW is an anti-romantic

and to him to induge in sweet tears would have been beyond or rather below his

scope of attraction. He compares his character with Walkley's which seems just the

contrary. He speaks of himself as" a reasonable, patient, consistnent, apologetic,

laborious person, with the temperament of a school-master and the pursuits of a

vestryman," He explains about the difficulty of this kind of theme : " .. .we have no

modern English plays in which the natural attraction of the sexes for one another is

made the mainspring of the action." Finally he says : " Walkley demanded a Don

Juan in the philosophic sense." thus making clear of his own DON JUAN andenumerates from history many so-called Don Juans. What he emphasizes is that the

play is a comedy, a philosophy, and a religion at the same time. He speaks of

didacticism as having much worth than a mere belles-lettres, and than a simple comedy.

He says: " My contempt for belles-lettres is not Jounded on amy illusion of mine. No

doubt I must recognize, as even the Ancient Mariner did, that I must tell my story

entertainingly if I am to hold the wedding guest spellbound in spite of the siren soundof the loud bassoon . .. But a true original style is never achieved with their fancy.. .

Effectiveness of assertion is the Alpha and Omega of style. He who has notihing to

assert has no style and can have none. Your men of letters think he can get Banyan's

conviction or Shakespeare's apprehension especially if he takes care not to split his

infinitives ..." His firm belief that literature must be didactic goes on as if there were

no ending, but when one has come to such a passage as "if he takes care not to split

his infinitives " one knows instinctly SHAW'S endless talk has come to an end, and

with a smile, recollects Shakespeare's use of infinitives and Shaw's interest in language.

G. B. Shaw is so careful as a producer of the play to make it enjoyable that the play

often looks a mere farce without any didactic element. Therefore it is necessary that

his didacticism must be studied carefully from many sides.

2. ACT I, II, III and IV.

ACT I opens with Roebuck Ramaden, the man of means, reading letters in his study.

Though he has classed himself as an advanced free thinker and reformer, in reality,

he is not. Tanner is the hero and Ann Whitefield is the heroine. Each character

shows stupidity and it is only Ann who acts cunningly like a fox. She appears as if

she has no will of her own until she will catch Tanner. Perhaps any of her audience

cannot admire her as Eliza or Joan, The only thing I can admire her is that she

does not exasperate anyone with her speech or conduct. Tanner's only merit is that

he is very outspoken as Shaw. Tanner's argument about the incompatibility of married

life and artists' life is G. B. Shaw's. Octivius, like Freddy in PYGMALION, is deeply

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BERNARD SAW with Special Reference to PYGMALION. ST. JOAN & MAN AND SUPERMAN

in love with Ann but she hates him. Tanner never realizes that he is the only one

who is loved by Ann. I think the following is the true confession of G. B. Shaw to

his wife through the mouth of Tanner : "The true artist will let his wife starve, hischildren go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at

anything but his art. To women he is half vivisector, half vampire. He gets into

intimate relation with them, to surprise their inmost secrets, knowing that they have

the power to rouse his deepest creative energies, to rescue him from his cold reason,

to make him see visions and dream dreams, to inapire him, as he calls it. He steals

the mother's milk and blackens it to make printer's ink to scoff at her and glorify idealwomen with, etc. "Apparently, Shaw looks like an egoist but he is really a rigorous

artist.

SCENE II is a comedy because it ends in the betrayal of Ann by Tanner, SUPERMAN.SCENE III is the evening in the Sierra Hevada. Before a long setting, one can see

so-called SHAVIAN remarks : "... as picturesque scoundrels honoring the Sierra by

using it as an effective background, the mountain tolerate them (about a dozen

scoundrels) as lions tolerate lice." Mendoza: " Allow me to introduce myself: Mendoza,

President of the League of the Sierra. I live by robbing the rich," Tanner : I am a

gentleman : I live by robbing the poor. "etc. Mendoza's love song, 'Louisa, I love

thee...' increases the Romantic dreamy atmosphere of the sceue. Everyone has

fallen asleep and the scene turns a Hell."

An old woman is seventy-seven years old but suddenly turns herself as Ann

Whitefield. Don Juan looks like Tanner. His sppeech is also Bernard Shaw's :

" Confessing more sins thau really committed is perhaps as bad as confessing too little.

"Hell is the home of honor, duty, jnstice, and the rest of seven deadly virtues. etc.

"An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable" is an expression

interesting to hear.

Don Juan, Ana (Ann), the Statue (Ramsden) etc. talk endlessly about almosteverything that happens in the world which means Hell. After the long talk aboutdeath and destruction, 4he main theme of Life Force and marriage is talked about ;

then the conversation goes on to the definition of true marriage, and the long SCENEIll is closed with Ana's crying : " Not yet created. Then my work is not yet done. I

believe in the Life to Come. A father! a father for the Superman! "SCENE IV is a solution of the- problem of marriage between Tanner and Ann.

Tanner's determination to marry Ann shows the seriousness of his attitude to marriage.

This seriousness is also Bernard Shsw's which he probably desires the younger generation

all over the world. It is clear that Ann is pretty and clever because she has succeeded

in her plan without rousing any others' ill feelings yet she would look unwelcome to

the audience if Tanner hunselj did not show his seriousness of marrage as follows :

" What we have both done this afternoon is to renounce happiness, renounce freedom,

renounce tranquillity, above all, renounce the romantic possibilities of an unknown

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Hiro Arai

future, for the cares of a household and a family, etc."

It seems rather strange that Tanner has determined all of a sudden to marry Ann

because Tanner has been trying to let Octavious marry Ann. There is little motive

seen on the stage for Tanner to marry Ann. I am afraid that he is going to be a

despotic husband in order to create Superman. His determination to renounce happiness,

freedom, romantic possibilities etc., sounds terrible, and too personal, it seems.

THE SUMMARY OF G. B. SHAW'S DIDACTICISMREVEALED IN THE THREE PLAYS

G. B SHAW seems to say that everyman should create something for the progressof the world:

Pygmalion ..... With his vast knowledge he created Eliza.

Eliza ..... With her strenious efforts she attained her aim,

Joan ..... Joan saved France.

Tanner.... .The author of the REVOLUTIONIST'S HANDBOOK.

Ann..... She succeeded in marrying a man of Vital Force.

G. B. SHAW seems to say that ignorance is the cause of troubles.

Pygmalion..... His ignorance is due to see things only from his point.

Eliza ..... She cannot see through Pygmalion's greatness.

Joan ..... She does not realise the limits of her action.

Tanner.... .He has been ignorant not to realize Ann's project first.

Ann..... She is a sort of a lier and cheated Octavius.

G. B. SHAW seems to say that every one in the society should be a Superman,

having VITAL FOROE. His opinion is revealed as follows :Pygmalion revolts against the tawdry ignoramus of Eliza.

Eliza revolts against the indifference of Pygmalion.Joan revolts against the cowardice of Dauphin.

Tanner revolts against the established society by his book.Ann revolts against the Romantic attitude of Octavius.

G. B. SHAW'S DIDACTICISM and his own private life. His chief interest has beenin religion and love. He is a genuine Christian but does not show any specific

sectarianizm ; it is broader than a mere Catholic or Protestant, It is courageous of

G. B. SHAW that he has spoken for the Catholic Inquisition which no other Romanticwriters have ever tried. He says in MAN AND SUPERMAN : " Every genuine religiousporson is a heretic and therefore a revolutionist." He wrote in his will : " a believer

in CREATIVE EVOLUTION" (ST. JOHN ER VINE : BERNARD SHAW), so hisattitude to the Inquisition in ST. JOAN is surprising, but it shows that he is not aoue-sided man. It is clever of SHAW that he has clearly discriminated the decisionof luquisition from that of politics with regard to Joan's execution and her later

cannonization.

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BERNARD SAW with Special Reference to PYGMAbION. ST. JOAN & MAN AND SUPERMAN

It was a sad fate of SI-IAW that he never experienced tlie pleasure of bearing, his

owu child. There must have been reasons, as ST. ERVINE hints in his work on

BERNARD SHAW, inevitable for both man and wife. It is a natural process to desireone's own child and SHAW also regretted of that fact in his old age. But he as wellas his wife enjoyed a long life and his works have contributed to the betterment ofthe world. So it may be said he and his wife fulfilled their responsibility to live in

this world. His idea about marriage is not limited to one type as his works show;if he is taken for an' epicurian or a satirist, it is caused by his intention to make his

readers or audience take interest in his works. When he started as a writer he knew

he was extremely unpopular, but gradually by dint of his efforts he reached the present

position. It will be quite natural that he has to disguise himself in appearance inorder to n^iake himself welcomed by the public so that his final purpose of DIDACTICISMcan be promulgated throughout the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ARCHIBALD HENDERSON : GEORGE BERNARD SHAW : MAN OF THE CENTURY(APPLETON)

ST. JOHN ERVINE : BERNARD SHAW;his Life Work and Friends (COMSTABLE)MARGARET SHENFIELD : BERNARD SHAW : a Pictorial Biography

(THOMAS HUDSON)A. C. WARD : SHAW translated by Professor Yasuo Suga of Kyoto University

(KENKYUSHA, TOKYO)MAN AND SUPERMAN and ST. JOAN with NO PREFACE contained in theCOLLECTION OF ENGLISH PLAYS translated into Japanese (SHINCHOSHA)PYGMALION (PENGUIN BOOK)ST. JOAN (PENGUIN BOOK)MAN AND SUPERMAN (PENGUIN BOOK)COMPLETE PLAYS WITH PREFACES BY BERNARD SHAW (DODD MEAD)

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