Major Barbara
George Bernard Shaw's 1905 play about a Salvation Army officer and her father, an arms maker.
At a glance
Key ideas
Poverty is the worst evil, Wages over charity, Money from the devil …
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- Barbara Undershaft, a major in the Salvation Army, is shaken when it accepts money from her father, a munitions maker, and from a whisky distiller.
- Her father argues that poverty is a worse evil than munitions, and that his steady wages do more for people than her soup kitchen.
- In the end Barbara decides to bring her message to well-fed factory workers rather than to the starving.
- Shaw published the play with a preface defending charities that take money from any source.
Why it matters
- It confounds the expectation that a religious charity must hold the moral high ground over an arms maker.
Key facts
- Author
- George Bernard Shaw1
- Form
- A play in three acts1
- First performed
- 1905, at the Court Theatre, London1
- Published
- 1907, with Shaw's preface1
- Broadway
- Opened at the Playhouse Theatre on 9 Dec 19151
- Film
- 1941, produced by Gabriel Pascal, with Wendy Hiller as Barbara1
Key ideas
-
Poverty is the worst evil1
Undershaft argues that poverty is a worse problem than munitions.
-
Wages over charity1
Paying workers does them more good than charity, which only prolongs their poverty.
-
Money from the devil1
The preface argues that charity should take money whatever its source, as the poor gain more than from ethical niceties.
-
Religion and capital1
Undershaft's name echoes St Andrew Undershaft, a church in the City of London, tying faith to money.
Connections
Written by
Links
Sources
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