Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The political thinking of George Bernard Shaw was both a logical extension of and an attack on classical liberalism, for he took the seed of equality planted by Locke and extended it to economics. He agreed with the Idealists, Bradley and Bosanquet, that the state must concern itself with the interests of all the people, and with T. H. Green especially, that it must have a moral foundation. He accepted the idea of an inherent impulse in man from the utilitarians but gave it a wider base, under the influence of Lamarck and Butler, and called it the Life Force. Henry George revealed the importance of economic justice; Marx, the extent of the evils of Capitalism; Jevons and Wicksteed, the utility theory of value; Bentham, the duties of government to provide security for all; Mill, the ways in which competition might be restricted. Thus the various parts of Shaw's writings were not original, but he evolved a unique system out of these parts, overlooking no aspect of life. The rationality of the Fabians attracted Shaw. He went beyond the Fabians in an attempt to improve not only institutions but also man's nature--a difficult task, since each was dependent on the other. In the prewar years, Shaw based his hopes for success on the rationality of Socialism, although his doctrine always contained seeds of totalitarianism. World War I and the accomplishments of dictators led him away from Fabianism to ideas of force. World War II brought more critical attitudes toward authoritarian power [TRUNCATED].

The purpose of this study is to establish the thesis that Shaw, the noted iconoclast, was actually much influenced by nineteenth-century theatrical conventions, and that his use of hackneyed forms as bases for satire and subjects for revitalization was often not wholly successful, especially in his earlier plays, because formal conventions tended to confine and constrict the fresh themes he was attempting to develop in the old stage material. The Introduction summarizes and argues against lingering critical attitudes toward Shaw which imply that he was not a playwright but an author of stage debates, and that he should therefore be held exempt from the type of criticism accorded dramatists' in the 'tradition'. Chapter One is a brief critical survey of plays current in London in the Nineties and the English and continental forebears of these plays, and includes some discussion of Shaw's campaign against the 'old' drama, his opinion of the pseudo-realist 'new' dramatists, and the differences between his aims and techniques and those of the post-Ibsen, post-Shavian playwrights. Chapter Two deals with Shaw's first play, Widowers' Houses, and two other sociological plays the relatively early Mrs. Warren's Profession and a play of Shaw's maturity, Major Barbara. These three plays demonstrate Shaw's progress from mere inversion of stock sentimental romance to more positive treatments of initially orthodox situations. Chapter Three is concerned with Shavian transformation of conventional melodrama and men of action and discusses the conflict between orthodox techniques and devices and Shavian ideas in the 'hero' plays. Chapter Four deals with two exceedingly popular plays -- Candida and Man and Superman -- in which Shaw developed his views on the Life Force and the relationships between the sexes. Like Chapter Two, this chapter seeks to prove that Shaw exhibited growing skill in adapting popular stage subjects to his own purposes while sustaining interest and comedy in the eternal conflict he perceived between vitality and system. In Chapter Five, two semi-tragic plays, Heartbreak House and Saint Joan, are discussed as the final steps in Shaw's movement toward achieving harmony of story and theme. Heartbreak House, a disquisitory, symbolic drama, is an improvement upon earlier, less unified discussion plays, and Saint Joan combines the elements of philosophical discussion and powerful story in a play that undoubtedly benefits from the poignancy and melodrama of the legend on which it is based, but is also a triumphant blend of the traditional elements of drama and qualities uniquely Shavian. The chapter and the thesis close with a short comment on Shaw's contribution to modern drama. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate