Major Barbara story
Major Barbara is a three-act English play by George Bernard Shaw, written and premiered in 1905 and first published in 1907. The story concerns an idealistic young woman, Barbara Undershaft, who is engaged in helping the poor as a Major in the Salvation Army in London. For many years, Barbara and her siblings have been estranged from their father, Andrew Undershaft, who now reappears as a rich and successful munitions maker. Undershaft, the father, gives money to the Salvation Army, which offends Major Barbara, who does not want to be connected to his "tainted" wealth. However, the father argues that poverty is a worse problem than munitions, and claims that he is doing more to help society by giving his workers jobs and a steady income than Major Barbara is doing to help them by giving them bread and soup.
10 total · 8 major · 2 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| arms trade | major | Undershaft supplies arms to all and sundry and revels in war |
| father and daughter | major | Undershaft and Barbara |
| father and son | major | Undershaft and Stephen |
| husband and wife | major | Britomart and Undersahft, separated |
| inheritance fight | major | Britomart wants Stephen to inherit Undershaft's arms enterprise but he wants to adopt a foundling |
| mother and daughter | major | Britomart and Barbara |
| mother and son | major | Britomart and Stephen |
| realist vs. idealist | major | Undershaft is a down to earth realist while his children are various kinds of idealists. |
| the horrors of war | minor | comments are made about killing people in war |
| the senselessness of war | minor | comments are made about how stupid people are in killing each other |