WOMEN AND SOCIAL EQUALITY IN THE PLAYS OF GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Abstract

George Bernard Shaw, according to Charles Benyamin Purdom 1963 , has a large place for women as ‘he honoured women, showing in his plays that they were not only to be loved, but respected, even feared.’ Therefore, this study examines the voices of New Women as portrayed in the female characters of his plays: Widowers’ Houses, Mrs Warren’s Profession, Major Barbara, and Pygmalion. Shaw, as a Victorian writer for whom social distinction, especially the position between the rich and the poor, was the greatest problem in society, was well placed to draw such an issue into his plays. He created female characters with various economic and social backgrounds, from the lower and the middle, to the upper-classes. Interestingly, these characters have the distinctive manner of occupying a particular rank in which some of them ‘ascribe’ their status from their family, whilst others ‘achieve’ their status after going through the process of social change. Although Shaw’s plays were written around a hundred year ago, the female characters of his plays are important for examination as its topic of discussion are still relevant for women nowadays. Firstly, in terms of gender equality, even though women today have their own rights in education and the workplace, some of them are still treated unfairly. Secondly, Shaw’s female characters who have strength and independent minds are always necessary because it will be helpful for women as they pursue their careers and make contributions to public life, such as in politics. Lastly, discussing the opinion of these characters about marriage may give today’s women an understanding that marriage is also important for them. Nonetheless, Shaw, who stands for the feminism movement, has advocated equal rights/social equality for women by presenting women issues and inserting a doctrine of women’s liberation into his plays

Keywords

• George Bernard Shaw,Social Equality,New Women,Victorian,Literature,Play

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