The Devil's Disciple story
The Devil's Disciple is an 1897 play written by Irish dramatist George Bernard Shaw. Set in Colonial America during the Revolutionary era, the play tells the story of Richard Dudgeon, a local outcast and self-proclaimed "Devil's disciple". In a twist characteristic of Shaw's love of paradox, Dudgeon sacrifices himself in a Christ-like gesture despite his professed Infernal allegiance.
10 total · 4 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| courage | major | Dick is brave and at the end we learn that Anderson is too |
| cowardice | major | Anderson appears to be a coward and is scolded as such when he flees |
| human self-sacrifice for another | major | Dick sacrifices himself for Anderson who appears to flee but in fact takes some risk to save Dick in turn |
| the human capacity for good and evil | major | Dick is an apostate and scorned for being wicked but he sacrifices himself by taking Anderson's place to be lead off for execution |
| black sheep | minor | Dick is the family's black sheep |
| husband and wife | minor | Anderson and Judith |
| legal occupation | minor | Anderson underwent a military tribunal. |
| love triangle | minor | Anderson, Judith, Dick |
| mother and son | minor | Dick's mother despises Dick who in turn evicts her from the house when he inherits it from his father |
| what it is like in a legal proceeding | minor | Anderson underwent a military tribunal. |