George Bernard Shaw is a great admirer of Henrik Ibsen and a great apostle of the so-called Ibsenism. The theme of discussion in the Ibsen’s plays inspired Shaw who suggested that Ibsen’s plays provided a technical novelty and signalled a new beginning out of the well made play of Eugene Scribe. Shaw expressed his recognition of Ibsen’s genius in The Quintessence of Ibsenism and championed the introduction of Ibsen to the English public. The purpose of this research endeavour entitled Anti-Capitalist Sentiments in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is to show the disgruntlement of Ibsen and Shaw with the practice of conventional politics. The study investigates the political perspectives of the authors and seeks to examine how the playwrights condemned the political systems in 19th century Europe. The political vision of the authors is therefore of prime interest to this study which is based on the assumption that A Doll’s House and Mrs. Warren’s Profession are platforms for the anti-capitalist views of Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw. According to the authors, the poor systems of government in Victorian England and in Norway hinder man’s progress and destroy man’s freedom. They therefore share in the Marxist ideology that governments are machineries of exploitation of the masses and the Marxist belief that capitalism is based on the exploitation of workers by the owners of capital. In other words, the chapter will look at the poor notions of democracy and capitalism as obstacles on the road to self-fulfilment and self-realisation. The study postulates that for Ibsen and Shaw, no meaningful change is possible in a capitalist society.
| Published in | International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 5) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.17 |
| Page(s) | 311-320 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Anti-Capitalist, Conventional Politics, Marxist, Victorian, Disgruntlement, Governments, 19th Century Europe
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| [2] | Shaw, George Bernard. Mrs Warren’s Profession. Edited by L. W. Conolly. Toronto: Broadview press Ltd, 2005. |
| [3] | Alexander, James. Shaw’s Controversial Socialism. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2009. |
| [4] | Berst, Charles A. Pygmalion, Shaw’s Spin on Myth and Cinderella. NY: Twayne, 1995. |
| [5] | Bradbrook, M. C. Ibsen, the Norwegian: A Revaluation. London: Chatto & Windus, 1966. |
| [6] | Carpenter, Charles. Bernard Shaw and the Art of Destroying Ideals: The Early Plays. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969. |
| [7] | Dadgar, Yadollah. Public Sector Economics. Mufid University fourth edition, 2018. |
| [8] | Gandhi, Mahatma. 1869-1948. An Autobiography: The Story of my Experiments with Truth. Boston: Beacon Press, 1993. |
| [9] | Holroyd, Michael. Bernard Shaw: The Lure of Fantasy 1918-1951. NY: Random House, 1991. |
| [10] | Howe, Irving. Bernard Shaw‘s Anti-Capitalism. New International, vol. 14 no. 1, January 1948. http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/howe/1948/01/shaw.htm. |
| [11] | Ibsen, Henrik. Letters and Speeches. Ed. and trans. Evert Sprinchorn. New York: Hill and Wang, 1964. |
| [12] | Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. Wage-labor and Capital. Vancouver: Whitehead Estate, 1919. |
| [13] | Shaw, George Bernard. Mrs Warren’s Profession with the Author’s Apology. Washington: Watchmaker Publishing, 1902. |
| [14] | The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism, Capitalism, Sovietism and Fascism. London: Constable and Co, 1932. |
| [15] | Templeton, Joan. Ibsen’s Women. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. |
| [16] | Weintraub, Stanley. “George Bernard Shaw,” in Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 10. Modern British Dramatists 1900 – 1945. ed, Stanley Weintraub, Gale. Gale Research, 1982. |
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APA Style
Njong Divine. (2022). Anti-Capitalist Sentiments in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(5), 311-320. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.17
ACS Style
Njong Divine. Anti-Capitalist Sentiments in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(5), 311-320. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.17
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.17,
author = {Njong Divine},
title = {Anti-Capitalist Sentiments in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House},
journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
volume = {10},
number = {5},
pages = {311-320},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.17},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.17},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221005.17},
abstract = {George Bernard Shaw is a great admirer of Henrik Ibsen and a great apostle of the so-called Ibsenism. The theme of discussion in the Ibsen’s plays inspired Shaw who suggested that Ibsen’s plays provided a technical novelty and signalled a new beginning out of the well made play of Eugene Scribe. Shaw expressed his recognition of Ibsen’s genius in The Quintessence of Ibsenism and championed the introduction of Ibsen to the English public. The purpose of this research endeavour entitled Anti-Capitalist Sentiments in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is to show the disgruntlement of Ibsen and Shaw with the practice of conventional politics. The study investigates the political perspectives of the authors and seeks to examine how the playwrights condemned the political systems in 19th century Europe. The political vision of the authors is therefore of prime interest to this study which is based on the assumption that A Doll’s House and Mrs. Warren’s Profession are platforms for the anti-capitalist views of Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw. According to the authors, the poor systems of government in Victorian England and in Norway hinder man’s progress and destroy man’s freedom. They therefore share in the Marxist ideology that governments are machineries of exploitation of the masses and the Marxist belief that capitalism is based on the exploitation of workers by the owners of capital. In other words, the chapter will look at the poor notions of democracy and capitalism as obstacles on the road to self-fulfilment and self-realisation. The study postulates that for Ibsen and Shaw, no meaningful change is possible in a capitalist society.},
year = {2022}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Anti-Capitalist Sentiments in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House AU - Njong Divine Y1 - 2022/10/21 PY - 2022 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.17 DO - 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.17 T2 - International Journal of Literature and Arts JF - International Journal of Literature and Arts JO - International Journal of Literature and Arts SP - 311 EP - 320 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2331-057X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.17 AB - George Bernard Shaw is a great admirer of Henrik Ibsen and a great apostle of the so-called Ibsenism. The theme of discussion in the Ibsen’s plays inspired Shaw who suggested that Ibsen’s plays provided a technical novelty and signalled a new beginning out of the well made play of Eugene Scribe. Shaw expressed his recognition of Ibsen’s genius in The Quintessence of Ibsenism and championed the introduction of Ibsen to the English public. The purpose of this research endeavour entitled Anti-Capitalist Sentiments in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is to show the disgruntlement of Ibsen and Shaw with the practice of conventional politics. The study investigates the political perspectives of the authors and seeks to examine how the playwrights condemned the political systems in 19th century Europe. The political vision of the authors is therefore of prime interest to this study which is based on the assumption that A Doll’s House and Mrs. Warren’s Profession are platforms for the anti-capitalist views of Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw. According to the authors, the poor systems of government in Victorian England and in Norway hinder man’s progress and destroy man’s freedom. They therefore share in the Marxist ideology that governments are machineries of exploitation of the masses and the Marxist belief that capitalism is based on the exploitation of workers by the owners of capital. In other words, the chapter will look at the poor notions of democracy and capitalism as obstacles on the road to self-fulfilment and self-realisation. The study postulates that for Ibsen and Shaw, no meaningful change is possible in a capitalist society. VL - 10 IS - 5 ER -
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