A Feminist Analysis of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession: The Concept of the “New Woman”

Year 2023, , 193 - 209, 27.10.2023

Tuğba Karabulut

https://doi.org/10.53048/johass.1364902

Abstract

Mrs. Warren’s Profession was written in 1893 by the Irish critic and dramatist George Bernard Shaw, who introduced social realism to the British stage. First performed in 1902 in London, the text is a social critique satirizing the stereotypical Victorian norms. Reflecting Shaw’s feminist ideals, the play also contributed to the development of the feminist movement. Mrs. Warren’s Profession introduces the “New Woman” type who rebels against the stereotyped female representations and male-centered conventions of the nineteenth century. The play mainly revolves around a controversial taboo topic, prostitution. Shaw dramatizes this profession through the two untraditional female characters. Kitty Warren is an audacious woman running a brothel to provide her daughter with better life and education standards and Vivie is a highly-educated and independent woman who expostulates her mother for her profession. Mrs. Warren’s Profession stresses that it is the social, economic and moral ills of the society that lead women to choose this profession. This paper, from a feminist lens, links these two non-conformist characters to navigate the ways through which the concept of the “New Woman” is represented. This paper also investigates how these characters protest against the stereotypical female roles imposed on them to gain an autonomous identity within society. Thus, this study, through these two female characters, reveals how this play dethrones the myth of the “Angel in the House,” the ideal Victorian woman, and sheds light on the modern feminism.

Keywords

Mrs. Warren’s Profession, The “New Woman” concept, “Angel in the House, ” feminism, female representation

References

• Ahmad, M. I. (2018). Woman and social equality in the plays of George Bernard Shaw. International Journal of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, 3(1), 21-36.
• Alkan, H. (2021). A liberal feminist analysis of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Söylem Filoloji Dergisi. 6(3), 598-608. https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.994031
• Beauvoir, S. de. (1973). The second sex. In H. M. Parshley (Ed) & H. M. Parshley (Trans.) Vintage Books.
• Blanche, L. (1896). Reflections on the “new woman”. The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health (1870-1911), 102(10), p. 124.
• Cooley, W. The new womanhood. Cornell University Library, 1940. https://archive.org/stream/cu31924013851435/cu31924013851435_djvu.txt
• Corbin, J. (1905). Introduction: Tyranny of police and press. The Author’s apology from Mrs. Warren’s Profession, by Bernard Shaw, Brentano’s, 1905. https://ia601603.us.archive.org/19/items/authorsapology00shawuoft/authorsapology00shawuoft_djvu.txt
• Crane, G. C. (1983). Directing early Shaw: Acting and meaning in Mrs. Warren’s Profession. In D. Leary (Ed.), Shaw’s plays in performance. (29), 34-37.
• Dierkes-Thrun, P. (2006). Incest and the trafficking of women in Mrs. Warren’s Profession: “It runs in the family.” English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920. 49(3), 293-310.
• Gainor, J. E. (1991). Shaw’s daughters: Dramatic and narrative constructions of gender. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
• Grand, S. (1894). The new aspect of the woman question. North American Review, 158(448), 270–276.
• Hadfield, D. A. (2010). Writing women: Shaw and feminism behind the scenes. In Shaw and feminism. D. A Hadfield and Jean Reynolds (Eds.). University oPress of Florida.
• Ibsen, H. (1992). A Doll’s House. Dover Publications.
• John, C. St. (1949). (Ed.). Ellen Terry and Bernard Shaw: A correspondence. Reinhardt & Evans Ltd. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.3319/2015.3319.Ellen-Terry-And-Bernard-Shaw-A-Correspondence-1949_djvu.txt
• Klaus, C. H., Gilbert, M., & Field, B. S. (1995). Stages of Drama: Classical to Contemporary Theater (3rd ed.). St. Martin’s Press.
• Laurence, D. (Ed.). (1970/1974). The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw. Collected plays with their prefaces (Vols. 7). Max Reinhardt, The Bodley Head.
• Palczewski, C. H. St. Valentine’s Greetings—Woman’s sphere in the HOME (1909) postcard. Suffrage Postcard Image Gallery, University of Northern Iowa, Unischolarworks. scholarworks.uni.edu/suffrage_images/451/.
• Patmore, C. (1854). “The Angel in the House.” Genders and identities in the Poetry of Walt Whitman. In H. Morley (Ed.) https://whitmanarchive.org/archive1/classroom/student_projects/bernie/patmore.html
• Salter, W. M. (1908). Mr. Bernard Shaw as a social critic. International Journal of Ethics. 18(4), 446-458.
• Shaw, B. (1893). Everybody’s political what’s what? Constable.
• ---. (1894). Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Project Gutenberg, Alice & Books.
• Study guide: Mrs. Warren’s Profession, George Bernard Shaw. (2017-18). A Noise Within. https://www.anoisewithin.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/SGFall_17-18-MrsWarren-R3.pdf
• Watson, B. (1964). A Shavian guide to the intelligent woman. Chatto and Windus.
• Wollstonecraft, M. (1972). A Vindication of the rights of woman: With strictures on political and moral subjects. J. Johnson. Woolf, V. (1979). Woman and Writing. In M. Barrett (Ed.). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
• Yatağan, Y. K. (2016). A struggle for an independent identity for Two: Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, (38), 275-290.