Bernard Shaw biography and influences Essays - George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish plays writer.He was the greatest English dramatist in the modern history and was one of the most interesting literary characters in the history. He was famous for his creative quotes and works .He had developed the English Theatre and changed its porpuses .he was considered second only to Shakespeare.On this essay I will talk about his biography ,his literary start , his major works , influences and his great successes. George Bernard Shaw's early life was different and special from many other people.He had an inspiring childhood .In his early life, he was introduced to music and art which lured him to become a writer .He was born into a low-class family and his father wasn't too careful about him.His father moved to London wheras he stayed in Dublian and received different kinds of knowledge such as art and music , therefor wasn't interested at all in the ordinary learning and hated the school too much.When he was fifteen yeas old , he worked in estate's office as a rent collecter which he hated as much as the school .In spite of hating his job ,it inspired him to write his first play (Widowers' houses). In 1876, he moved to London where he started his literary life.That stage which carried many events was extremely improtant in Shaw's life. He moved to London in 1876 and became a member of Fabien Soceity .He tended to participate in social activities due to his socail interest.During 1880s he became an art and literary critic and a socailist commentator and gathered much attention .He wrote five plays but couldn't publish any one of them .Then , he stopped writing novels and tuned to playwriting which he recognized as a form that allows him to widely express all his deep social ideas and concerns in orded to achieve his main aim which is reforming and correcting the society .In 1898 , six of his plays were published such as (Pleasant and Unpleasant) which brought a popular success to Shaw . Shaw made an impressive influences on the Enlgish Theratre and society .He explored sombre and contentious social subjects like morality ,sexual injustice and class division that waked the society.He accomplished in exposing the realities of many serious situation in way that carried his deep hopes and wishes to change the bitter fact. For instance,in his first play (Widowers' houses) ,he had illustarted the real lifes of poor people and their constant toubles with the greedy landlords ,according to what he had seen in his estate's job in the past.Another example is (Man and Superman) which it's regarded as a very important play of Shaw's works .The play contains a lot of comedy in a story about reluctant man who got tempted by resourceful women. in addition to his plays, his writing also was serving on behalf of public. He had carried the people's worries and concerns that led him to criticise the England Government's dicision in joining the World War 1 which influenced the public and caused the Government anger so he faced some unfair measures for a while such as removing his books from libraries and forcing him to resign from Fabien sociey .In simpler term ,it can be deduced that Shaw's works brought a fabulous impacts in different approaches. Shaw had made many great successes.He gained the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925 for his brilliant play (Saint Joan) which was written in 1921.The prize was a proof that his success was world-wide and wasn't only inclosed in England.Moreover,he left many positive results inside the English Theatre .He was keen on society's issues and poured all his works on serving the society. He achieved in refreshing the English Theatre ,shifting public attitudes and starting the reforming call from the theatre stage . His social flair,political talent ,interesting arguments, deep discussion and serious questioning made the stage burst into "theatre of ideas" . To sum up , George Bernard Shaw was an ingenious ,creative and very interesting character.. He had progressed the English Theatre and served the society by his works which left a great influences.

Before the civil war

Before the civil war, a woman had a specific place in society, one that was extremely inferior to that of men. People had developed notions of what it meant to be a woman. The Civil War changed those notions. The War was the beginning of womans strive for suffrage in America. As the war came to an end, women became more involved in the world, and were allowed to achieve and accomplish a lot of things that only men had done in the past. The attributes of True Womanhood, by which a woman judged herself and was judged by her husband, her neighbors, and society could be divided into four cardinal virtues- piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. (Welter 152). In her work, American Quarterly: The cult of True Womanhood, Barbara Welter explains her view on the role of a woman before the Civil War. In order for a girl to reach true womanhood she would have to reach for perfection in the four above categories. After the war, two of these attributes began to decline greatly in women, as they began to find new roles in society. Women started becoming more independent, and the submissiveness and domesticity gradually started to fade. They still had these qualities, but they were definitely not as strong as they had been before the war. Submission was perhaps the most feminine virtue expected of women. Men were supposed to be religious, although they rarely had time for it, and supposed to be pure, although it came awfully hard to them, but men were the movers, the doers, the actors. Women were the passive, submissive responders. (158-9). Women were very submissive before the war, but after it, they felt that they had earned a new role. They learned to perform the duties formerly only performed by men, and now felt that they did not have to give in so easily to the commands of them. A wife should occupy herself only with domestic affairs-wait till your husba...