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The relationship between theme and form in the plays of George Bernard ShawFrazer, Frances Marilyn January 1960 (has links)
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
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Inherent rhythms of activity of the northern flying squirrel in relation to illumination and to lunar and solar photoperiodismRadvanyi, Andrew January 1959 (has links)
For more than three and one-half years a study was made of the amount of locomotor activity of the northern flying squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus (Shaw). These nocturnal animals were studied in captivity under both natural climatic (outdoor) and controlled artificial (indoor) environmental conditions.
Over a sixteen month period, 1285 observations were made under all kinds of weather upon the time at which flying squirrels became active. The average "awakening" time was 35.4 minutes after sunset.
Spontaneous locomotor activity, of both individual and groups of flying squirrels, were recorded under natural climatic conditions by means of activity wheels, a treadle-board activity recorder, and an electronic vibration amplifier. Under these outside conditions an inverse relationship exists between the level of activity and the intensity of the nocturnal illumination. Locomotor activity was at a high level between the last and first quarter phases of the moon and declined markedly at full moon, or just afterwards. The relationship appeared to be unaltered by temperature, vapor pressure, the season, or the sex of the animal.
The internal physiological "clock" governing this activity cycle persisted even after nine months under constant environmental conditions in which only the light was manipulated to produce 2-3 month periods of continuous light, continuous darkness, or light-dark periods in normal or reversed sequences.
In later experiments manipulation of artificial moonlight was used to produce in the animals cycles of activity corresponding to lunar cycles of normal duration and lengthened cycles of 40-days duration or shortened cycles as brief as 7-days in duration.
Under 8-hours light and 8-hours darkness (a 16-hour day instead of a 24-hour day), responsiveness differed markedly from the previous experiments i. e. the animals became almost as active under illumination as under darkness. Only after two months under these conditions did daylight activity begin to decline. Whether or not the animals could eventually adapt to a 16-hour day was not determined.
This study reveals a series of inherent physiological controls within the animal which govern the level of the spontaneous activity under varying natural climatic conditions and under controlled artificial experimental conditions.
The flying squirrel is sensitive to slight changes in light intensity during the dark periods. By observing the responses to varying environmental photoperiods, an attempt was made to understand the inherent rhythms of activity of this species--whether these should be neural, endocrinological, or both. Most nocturnal animals respond mainly to olfactory stimuli. The activity of the flying squirrel is shown by this study to be intimately determined by illumination. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate
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Theme and structure in Bernard Shaw's political plays of the 1930'sWilliams, Jeffery Alvin January 1968 (has links)
The political extravaganzas dominate Shavian drama of the 1930's,
Shaw's last really productive decade. They form a fairly large and coherent
group, but their topicality and their abstract, seemingly non-dramatic
techniques have prevented most critics from examining the plays on their
own merits. This thesis attempts to show how Shaw, in his political plays,
not only chronicles his very close involvement with the urgent social problems
of the interwar years, but also how he develops special artistic devices
to embody his themes.
Shaw's political plays offer a continual flow of analysis and criticism
of an age which he thought was heading for disaster and war. In Too True to
be Good (1931); he analyzes modern man's sense of directionlessness and indicates
that he must re-evaluate his aims and goals, his morality and economics,
and discard worn out values which no longer describe either human
nature or contemporary problems. This play introduces a theme which prevails in all Shaw's political extravaganzas of the period: that men must
overcome their limited frames of reference and must cultivate an
open-mindedness
in their search for meaning and direction in a complex world. In On
the Rocks (1933), he investigates governmental problems In England and implies that in a world of selfish insularity, democratic government founders,
needing more than ever a strong leader to impose a direction on the country.
Recognizing the sinister implications of even an interim dictatorship, Shaw
is almost driven to despair. In The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles (1934),
Shaw retreats from the ugly and almost insoluble problems of the immediate
world, to define and examine in abstract and symbolic terms the problems
dis-cussed in the earlier plays. Shaw reaffirms his faith in the Life Force,
again stresses that life-will continue to evolve, and asserts that if man
wants to be the vanguard of evolution he must be able to adapt to the unexpected
.
Having expressed his ultimate thoughts and allegiances in The Simpleton,
Shaw seemed to abandon his concern "with political problems in his plays,
until the urgency of world developments in the late thirties brought the
preacher in Shaw to the pulpit of the stage again in Geneva (1938). But in
this play Shaw's inability to maintain an aesthetic distance from world
events interfered with his artistry so that he produced a play lacking the
unity of theme and structure found in the earlier plays of the period.
But while the political plays of the thirties chronicle Shaw's very
close involvement with complex social problems, they also reveal Shaw's
attempt to develop special dramatic techniques to render an artistic expression
of his thoughts. The seemingly chaotic structures, weak characters, and garrulous speeches really are in many ways well suited to the
topical themes. Shaw utilizes a symposium type of discussion, which is appropriate
for the searching for direction, the open investigation of all
aspects of a complex problem. But perhaps the most characteristic and
least understood technique in these plays is Shaw's use of structure as a
major thematic device. Once understood, the seemingly random structures
are not evidence of "imitative fallacy", of using negative techniques to
express negative themes, hut of an artistic handling of technique to enhance
thematic comment on the chaos. In the best of Shaw's political
plays there is a well integrated mating of theme and structure which belies any idea that these plays are the products of a man in his dotage. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate
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Ibsen and Shaw : A ComparisonWaldbauer, Katherine January 1977 (has links)
No description available.
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The Religion of Bernard ShawO’Sullivan, Timothy January 1949 (has links)
No description available.
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The Religion of Bernard ShawO'Sullivan, Timothy January 1949 (has links)
No description available.
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Bernard Shaw, socialist, reformer and creative evolutionist.Stabler, Ernest. January 1943 (has links)
No description available.
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The Ethic of the Shavian Hero as Developed in Three Plays by Bernard ShawDietrich, Richard Farr January 1960 (has links)
No description available.
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The Ethic of the Shavian Hero as Developed in Three Plays by Bernard ShawDietrich, Richard Farr January 1960 (has links)
No description available.
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George Bernard Shaw's "Big Three" : an althusserian reading of Man and Superman, John Bull's Other Island, and Major BarbaraKramer, Johanna I. 11 June 1998 (has links)
Traditional readings of George Bernard Shaw's texts suggest that he is not a pure
Marxist socialist because of the spiritual and nationalist aspects of his vision. This thesis
attempts to confront Shaw's politics in order to demonstrate that he indeed offers a viable
socialist program. Overlaying his socialism with Louis Althusser's concepts of
"overdetermination," "structural causality," and "ideology" reveals that Shaw uses
relatively autonomous instances of the superstructure toward socialist ends. This
reevaluation of Shaw is best achieved through a combined reading of three of his major
plays -- John Bull's Other Island, Man and Superman, and Major Barbara. In John Bull,
Shaw incorporates the controversy of nationalism into his socialist vision by explaining it
as an inevitable step in the development of an oppressed nation toward socialism. Man and
Superman discusses the need for spirituality in the form of Shaw's concepts of Creative
Evolution and the Life Force, which drive toward the development of a consciousness that
recognizes socialism as the only sustainable internationalist program. Major Barbara
combines Shaw's socialist and spiritual views by showing that both stand in reciprocal
relation to each other; they are equally necessary to the Shavian world, one providing the
ideal social system, the other the most enlightened human sensibility. This project
demonstrates that Shaw's integration of these elements usually considered contradictory to
Marxism becomes a way to understand him as practicing the Althusserian idea that any
displacements of the infrastructure are economic in the last instance. / Graduation date: 1999
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