SparkNotes: Major Barbara: Character List Character List Plot Overview Analysis of Major Characters Andrew Undershaft - The great arms industrialist of Europe. Undershaft returns to his long abandoned family with to wreak havoc with his new gospel of man's salvation. He is a man of "formidable reserves of power, both bodily and mental, in his capacious chest and long head." His gentleness is that of a "strong man who has learnt by experience that his natural grip hurts ordinary people." Undershaft understands that he is a man who has bent the world to his will, and a man who determines the course of civilization and history. Read an in-depth analysis of Andrew Undershaft. Barbara - Robust, jolly, and energetic, Barbara begins the play as a major for the Salvation Army. She is peacefully convinced of her mission to redeem mankind. Her father's arrival will force her to recognize that the wealthy, rather than God, hold the world and its salvation in their hands. Undershaft underscores the "inspiration" that truly defines her as the savior of all. The daughter of a foundling, Barbara ostensibly lacks social class and comes "straight from the heart of the whole people." Read an in-depth analysis of Barbara.

Adolphus Cusins - A "slight, thin haired, and sweet voiced" student of Euripides. Cusins is determined to marry Barbara and enthralled by the excesses and ecstasies of the Dionysian spirit. In his determination, he has joined her in the Salvation Army to bring this spirit to the power, but ultimately converts to Undershaft's gospel, becoming Andrew's heir at the Armory. Shaw describes Cusins as a "determined, tenacious, intolerant person" who presents himself as he is, "considerate, gentle, explanatory, even mild and apologetic, capable possibly of murder, but not of cruelty or coarseness." It is not love that drives him to Barbara, but an unmerciful "instinct." Read an in-depth analysis of Adolphus Cusins.

Lady Britomart Undershaft - A "very typical managing matron of the upper class," a woman with "plenty of practical ability and worldly experience." Around fifty years old, she is "limited in the oddest way with domestic and class limitations." Upon Undershaft's arrival, the family—and Stephen in particular—will abandon her as she is too set in her ways to participate in the revolution he brings. Shaw affectionately imagines her through a series of paradoxes: Lady Britomart is at once well dressed and careless in her dress, well bred and reckless of her breeding, well-mannered and yet appallingly outspoken. Stephen Undershaft - Lady Britomart's only son. Stephen is a "gravely correct young man" who takes himself and his sense of morality very seriously. He remains in some awe from his mother from "childish habit and bachelor shyness" but quickly comes to assert his majority in planning his future.

Charles Lomax - A stereotypical "young man about town." Lomax suffers from a "frivolous sense of humor which plunges him at the most inopportune moments into paroxysms of imperfectly suppressed laughter." A comic figure, he suffers the scolding of Lady Britomart throughout the play for his tactlessness and inarticulate speech. He also repeatedly declares his allegiance to the Anglican Church and other moral platitudes, though these declarations only mask his somewhat mercenary propensity to align himself with the wealthy. He is engaged to Sarah on a lark. Sarah Undershaft - Barbara's younger sister. Sarah is a "slender, bored, and mundane" society girl. She is extraneous to the play. Bronterre O'Brien Price - A young, unemployed, and opportunistic "poser." Price appears incapable of honesty and altruism. He exemplifies the agile "humbugs" that take advantage of the Salvation Army. Rummy Mitchens - Already looking sixty at the age of forty-five, Rummy is a "commonplace old bundle of poverty and hard-worn humanity." Like Price, has embellished on her down-and-out condition to pander to the workers of the Army.

Peter Shirley - A "half hardened, half worn-out" old-timer. Shirley has just lost his job to a younger laborer. He figures as the play's "honest poor man," weeping in shame over having to take a hand-out, pledging to get back on his feet, and abhorring the injustices of the wealthy. Bill Walker - A "rough customer of about twenty-five" who appears at the Army shelter to reclaim his converted girlfriend and bully its staff. Bill speaks a thick Cockney accent that Shaw marks as "horribly debased" when at its worst. The swaggering, menacing Bill is quickly cowed and disgraced by the shining Major Barbara. Indeed, if not for her father's intervention, Barbara would have won his soul through his devastating humiliation. Jenny Hill - An overwrought "Salvation lass" who earnestly believes in her cause and her patron, Major Barbara. She suffers an assault from Bill in Act II. Mrs. Baines - A Salvation Army Commissioner.

Baines is an "earnest looking" middle-aged woman with a "caressing, urgent voice" and an "appealing manner." By accepting the donations of the wealthy as necessary to the work of salvation, she surrenders the Army to millionaires like Bodger and Undershaft. Bilton - A foreman at Undershaft's armory. Morrison - The longtime family butler who hesitantly announces Undershaft's return to the household. More Help Book review -- By George Bernard Shaw MAJOR BARBARA February 2012 SPECIAL NOTE ON SPOILERS: This play was written in 1905 and set in 1906. I read Major Barbara in order to think it through and enter into some sort of dialogue with Shaw�s ideas. Thus these comments are not written as a review of something one has not yet seen or read. The comments below will assume that one has read the play and basically knows the text. If you have come across these notes and are not in that situation I would encourage you not to read further notes until you have first read the play itself. Set in 1906, we meet the Undershaft family, British upper class.

The father, Undershaft, is the owner of England�s major munitions factory. He has been for years separated from his wife, Lady Britomart and doesn�t at all know his three, now grown, children, Stephen, Barbara and Sarah. Both the girls are involved with men they seem to plan to marry. Sarah is attached to Lomax, a lightweight but cheery fellow and Barbara is going to marry Cusins, seemingly a teacher of Greek. The play, while set in the events within the Undershaft family, is really about the meaning of human existence, and the nature of individual action and morality. The driving force of the argument is Undershaft and his argument that his munitions work is the right path of human endeavor and that he is actually the humanitarian of the bunch. However, the play is named �Major Barbara� which suggests that Shaw, at least, seemed to think the dilemma of his daughter, Barbara, is more at the center of the play. She is �Major� as a title in the Salvation Army where she tries to help the poor and needy by both feeding them and saving their souls.

The play is a debate on which of these two main views of human existence is to be preferred � a sort of Barbara-inspired religious view of human charity and seeking salvation, versus a much more radical individualist view that human beings themselves have to adapt to the reality of the human species, which means creating one�s own values and having the courage to live them out, facing, even, the view that human beings may not be very encouraging or humanistic, loving creatures � a view espoused by Barbara�s father. I would argue that neither of these views is Shaw�s view. Rather, he uses both Barbara and Undershaft as dramatic persona to represent positions. Shaw�s own view is closer to Undershaft, but not in the dramatically excessive manner. Lady Britomart, a sophisticated rich woman, is much more a common figure of a rather obnoxious rich upper-class women of the time. She controls her house, space and children. Her son, Stephen, age 25, is �correct� and under mom. Sarah is to marry Charles Lomax but both of them are rather lightweight characters without much to contribute to the essence of the play.

However �Major Barbara� and her fianc�, Adolphus Cusins are more important voices. The basic setting of the play � not its argument � is that Lady Britomart has summoned Undershaft to the manor home to ask for more money to help support the three �children,� now of age to marry, but her generous income allowance will not support the children in separate homes with families. Their father has not seen them in many years and doesn�t even quite remember how many of them there are. On Undershaft�s side, he isn�t unwilling to give more support money to the family, but he will not take Stephen into his munitions business since a centuries long family tradition has the owner of the munitions plant to adopt a foundling to become the next own of the factory. He himself was such a foundling. In the meeting of father and children, there is an almost immediate attraction between Major Barbara and her father. Yet they appear so different. She is dedicated to the work of the Salvation Army, especially the feeding and care of the poor in order to lead them toward salvation.

Undershaft believes each individual has a single proper goal in life � to have money enough to live as one wishes and to have power enough to protect that life. Actually Stephen sort of sums up the morality of most in his family including his sister Barbara: Stephen: �People may differ about matters of opinion, or even about religion; but how can they differ about right and wrong? Right is right; and wrong is wrong; and if a man cannot distinguish them properly, he is either a fool or a rascal: that�s all.� Undershaft finds that view na�ve and totally in error: �. . . there is only one true morality for every man; but every man has not the same true morality.� He also sums up his aims in life: ��Money and gunpowder.� In another place he says: � . . . you must first acquire money enough for a decent life, and power enough to be your own master.� In another place he says: �. . . money and gunpowder. Freedom and power.� Undershaft first contributes to destroying Major Barbara�s belief that the Salvation Army�s �conversion� of sinners is an important work.

As she takes her father to a visit to their works, the management is having a major problem with money. They come into this family group with the �good news� that a local man has stepped in to solve their financial problems with a huge gift, but it is conditioned on them raising an equal amount of money from other donors. While Barbara has already denounced her father�s work with munitions, the would-be donor has a business that is even more horrific to her � he brews alcoholic drinks, the primary reason so many of her people are ruined and come to the Army in the first place. And on top of this her father immediately offers the second half the money, which DELIGHTS the leaders of the Salvation Army, but so disgusts Barbara that she breaks off all contact with the religion. The next visit is to the munitions� plant and it turns out to be a virtual utopian village. It is clean, neat, the workers are well-paid, and there are lovely schools, an art museum, health care, very decent wages and quite loyal and loving employees. Even Barbara cannot help being deeply impressed with the utopia her father�s money has created, despite its source, the creation of weapons of mass destruction.

The genius in Shaw�s writing of the play is that while he sincerely critiques the religious views of Major Barbara, he is not personally embracing the quite radical views of Undershaft. Note one can�t consistently hold A below, and at the same time embrace B as some universal principle. It can, according to A, only be his own particular view. A. �. . . there is only one true morality for every man; but every man has not the same true morality.� B. He also sums up his aims in life: ��Money and gunpowder.� In another place he says: � . . . you must first acquire money enough for a decent life, and power enough to be your own master.� G.K. Chesterton, in his 1909 �View of Major Barbara� also attacks Shaw�s view of God, claiming that the God he defines would �not be God to any who understand the concept of God.� However, he has a second argument claiming that Shaw�s notion that increased wealth and ease would create a much better world is mistaken.

For Shaw, Chestertains maintains, �The evil is not ignorance or decadence or sin or pessimism; the evil is poverty.� Chesterton replies: �Major Barbara (the play) is not only apart from his faith but against his faith.� That�s the point I was making above. Shaw�s industrialist is quite the humanitarian in his utopian village and �his� people live decent material lives. But that�s not the radical individualism of morality which Undershaft also argues. Another author who has written on �Major Barbara� shares much of this view. Barbara Bellow Watson in �Sainthood for Millionaires� Modern Drama, Vol. II Dec. 1968. Pp. 227-244, claims that Shaw has Undershaft utter his defense of his utopian village as an ironic attack on capitalism�s benefits, and she notes a similarity to Jonathan Swift�s �A Modest Proposal.� � . . . an irony disguised to show that we may not accept the least of capitalism�s benefits without accepting the last of its depredations� � She claims the real aim to Shaw is to embrace � . . .

Shaw�s secular religion of Creative Evolution, which is clearly related to his socialism.� A radical individualism. Note the important difference between the capitalist Utopia itself (which is not generalizable) and the potential universality of Shaw�s view of each person�s embracing his or her own morality. The latter is reminiscent of Plato�s view that �The unexamined life is not worth living.� But Shaw�s view goes further and comes fairly close to later 20th century Existentialism. The Existentialist is less interested, as Existentialist, in replacing capitalism or surviving than in choosing his or her own authenticity. Undershaft seems to need both the utopia of his capitalist village and claiming the universality of the need of the individual to choose his or her own personal morality. The play is a delight to read. It is witty, funny, troublesome, aggravating, but always thoughtful and challenging. I think it�s not only worth reading, but worth seriously engaging as a dialogue on morality. An Analysis of George Bernard Shaw's Play Major Barbara | Kibin An Analysis of George Bernard Shaw's Play Major Barbara Sign Up & Access Essays Already a member? Login here Pages: 5 This preview is partially blurred.

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Sign up to view the full document End of preview Upgrade to view the full document Title Major BarbaraAuthor George Bernard ShawSetting The play extends over three days in January 1906 The beginning starts in the library of Lady Britomart the estranged wife of Andrew Undershaft It then continues with a visit to the West Ham Shelter of the Salvation Army The play finally concludes at the Undershaft Empire the munitions factoryPlot Lady Britomart invites her estranged husband Andrew Undershaft over to reacquaint him with his children Stephen Sarah and Barbara Lady Britomart is in need of more money to support their daughters and their intendeds Charles Lomax and Adolphus Cusins Barbara tries to convert her father and save his soul While Andrew will convert his daughter Barbara to his sideCast of Key CharactersMajor Barbara UndershaftConformist Barbara to Lady Britomart 65 Lady Britomart has just informed the girls Sarah and Barbara that their father Andrew Undershaft will be arriving at any time She has already informed Stephen Undershaft Since it has been a long time ago when they were babies that Andrew has seen the children she wishes for them to be on their best behavior Lady Brit wants to ask Andrew for money for the girls

 and their intendeds Charles Lomax and Adolphus Cusins therefore she has asked them to be there also To accommodate her mother she attempts to conform to a ladylike appearance Quote All right mother Well do you credit She comes off the table and sits in her chair with ladylike eleganceDirector Barbara to Shirley 83 Bill Walker has just assaulted two women Rummy and Jenny Hill at the West Ham Shelter He is looking for his woman Barbara comes out to take the names of the people who have arrived and to save their souls She takes control of the situation in a professional way She directs Shirley to sit down and for the gentlemen there to give her their names addresses and trades Barbara is trying to put order back to the disorder that @Kibin is a lifesaver for my essay right now!!

- Sandra Slivka, student @ UC Berkeley Wow, this is the best essay help I've ever received! - Camvu Pham, student @ U of M If I'd known about @Kibin in college, I would have gotten much more sleep - Jen Soust, alumni @ UCLA Character List Character List Bookmark this page Manage My Reading List Andrew Undershaft Even though the play is entitled Major Barbara, Andrew Undershaft is the dominant figure of the play, and he is also Shaw's ironic spokesman, especially when Undershaft advocates that peace can best be achieved by the manufacture of munitions and arms of all sorts, that poverty is the worst of all crimes, as well as when he says that charity only contributes to poverty, that all money is tainted — meaning that none is — that sufficient money is better than a good conscience, that only a successful capitalist can actually afford to build the perfect socialistic society, and that a creator of destruction is necessary for the creator of a new social structure.

Major Barbara One of Undershaft's daughters; at first, she is a major in the Salvation Army, intent upon converting souls by providing them with bread and treacle, but she changes from being militant about the "rightness" of her religious organization in order to become a part of her father's munitions factory's ideal town, a town where people are already well fed and clothed and, thus, are not in materialistically dire straits as well as in spiritual distress. In this setting, she can practice her work of "saving souls" without having to deal with "free loaders." Lady Britomart The estranged wife of Andrew Undershaft; as her name suggests, Lady Britomart is the epitome of the sterile upper class of Britain which is concerned with the usefulness of money and with maintaining the proper social decorum. Stephen Undershaft The rather innocuous, if not inept, son of Andrew Undershaft and Lady Britomart.

His lack of finances and competency is the impetus for the beginning of the play since Andrew Undershaft is about to disinherit him and leave the Undershaft fortune to a foundling, in keeping with the long tradition of always leaving the inheritance to a competent foundling rather than trust in the incompetence of family. Adolphus Cusins Major Barbara's fiancé and a scholar of Greek language and literature; he has a highly imaginative and intellectual mind. There are a rather contrived series of events concerning his birth, making him technically an orphan (or foundling) — that is, technically, he is legitimate in Australia where he was born, but in Britain, he is considered to be a foundling because his mother was his father's wife's sister, a relationship that was not legally recognized in England; thus, as a foundling, he will become the next head of the Undershaft Munitions Foundry. Charles Lomax Sarah's rather silly fiancé; he is constantly making stinging and ironic remarks. In contrast to Lady Britomart's views and in support of Andrew Undershaft's views, he illustrates perfectly that the "aristocracy" is not fit to run any type of business.

Morrison Lady Britomart's butler and an old retainer who was in service to the household before Lady Britomart and Andrew Undershaft separated; he is somewhat confused as to how to announce the sudden arrival of his old master. His confusion thus provides some basic comic relief. Bill Walker A ruffian who bullies everyone in the Salvation Army Shelter; when he tries to "buy" forgiveness and atonement, his contribution of only a sovereign (about five dollars then) is rejected. This contrasts with the fact that while the Army rejects his small contribution, it is quite willing to accept the larger contribution (5,000 pounds — about 25,000 dollars) from a brewer and a munitions maker, Bodger and Undershaft. Bill Walker's utterance ("What price salvation now?") becomes a central comment on the nature of the Salvation Army and its ethics in accepting money from any source. Mrs. Baines A rather high officer in the Salvation Army, she is in charge of raising money for the Army.

Unlike Major Barbara, she sees no contradiction or violation of the principles of the Army in accepting money that some people (Major Barbara, for example) consider to be "tainted." Her point of view is that the wealthy Bodger does not force poor people to buy his gin and beer, and, therefore, his money is as good as any because along with Undershaft's contribution, these monies will allow the shelters to remain open for the benefit of the poor during the forthcoming winter. Without these contributions, thousands of poor people would have no place to turn for food or shelter. Thus, Miss Baines represents the practical aspects of the Salvation Army. She is a realist who understands the importance of money without questioning its source. Snobby Price Seemingly, Snobby is a rather permanent fixture at the Salvation Army Shelter.

He represents the hypocrite who lies in order to gain attention and who is willing to publicly acclaim his sins (he swears, for example, that he beats his poor old mother all the time) in order to help the Army collect money from those who are touched by his "heartbreaking confessions." Rummy Mitchens Another fraudulent, hypocritical convert; she is an older woman who enjoys the attention that the young "lasses" at the shelter heap upon her because of the numerous and lurid "sins" that she is able to vividly narrate. Peter Shirley Peter is a forty-six-year-old man who has been discharged from his job because he is too old. He is too proud to accept charity, and he strongly desires to find legitimate employment. He is both an ardent Secularist (as is Andrew Undershaft, we think!) and also anti-capitalistic even though at the end of the play, he accepts a job at the Undershaft Munitions Factory.

When Peter first meets Andrew Undershaft, an often-quoted witty exchange occurs between the two men: Shirley tells Undershaft, "I wouldn't have your conscience, not for all your income," and Undershaft replies, "I wouldn't have your income, not for all your conscience." Bilton The foreman at the munitions foundry who refuses to allow anyone to have matches. This is a humorous way of reminding everyone that they are liable to be "blown to smithereens" at any moment. Mog Habbijem and Todger Fairmile These two characters never appear in the drama but they are often referred to. Mog Habbijem is the person whom Bill Walker is looking for because he is furious with the Salvation Army for converting her. Todger Fairmile is the expert wrestler (and therefore extremely strong) who is now Mog's boyfriend, and, as we hear later, he does not fight with Bill Walker but merely pins him down in an attempt to convert him. While this scene is only narrated in the drama, those who have seen the famous movie (1940) will remember that the skirmish scene was actually included.

Major Barbara Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 24 out of 27 people found the following review useful: "What Price Salvation Now..." from United States 11 June 2004 George Bernard Shaw's 1905 satirical examination of salvation, "Major Barbara," is updated in this 1941 screen translation, but the story is basically the same. Munitions industrialist Andrew Undershaft, who has not seen his family in almost 20 years, returns to find that: (a) his son Stephen, at 25, has not discovered a suitable vocation; (b) his daughter Sarah has engaged herself to a pretentious but unoffending young fool, Charles Lomax; and (c) his other daughter Barbara has adopted the Salvation Army as a career toward moral self-fulfillment and social enlightenment. The essential question in "Major Barbara" concerns the root of the Industrial Age's social ills. Barbara (well-acted by Wendy Hiller) would argue that the greed of whiskey manufacturers and the social rapacity of the ruling classes are the culprits. Her father, on the other hand, maintains that civilization's greatest sin is the existence of poverty.

Further, he deplores the shameless glorification of the "meek, honest, and downtrodden" poor and the empty condescension that is offered to those who live in filth, disease, and constant hunger. And since Andrew Undershaft is the play's hero and Shaw's philosophical stand-in (Robert Morley, the actor who plays him, is even made up to resemble Shaw), there can be little doubt as to which character, father or daughter, will ultimately triumph. Since Shaw was directly involved in this project, it's doubtful that purists will object to the fact that the film includes additional scenes that did not appear in the play's original text. A new prologue introduces us to Adolphus Cusins (Rex Harrison), the professor of Greek classics who is a dismal failure as a Hyde Park lecturer. When his speeches fail to hold or entrance an audience, he is advised by a sympathetic street patrolman (Stanley Holloway) to sample the "religious" speaking-circuit. Deciding he has nothing to lose, Adolphus heeds the policeman's advice, and while doing so, he encounters Barbara speaking to a crowd with incredibly religious fervor, and he is instantly smitten.

From there, the movie segues into Shaw's original First Act. Another important addition is the mock religious conversion of the drunken Bill Walker by wrestler-turned-Salvation-Army-sergeant Todger Fairmile, a scene only described in Shaw's original transcript. Robert Newton, a very fine actor who was especially memorable in Hitchcock's "Jamaica Inn" (1939), here plays Walker as an unbridled, unapologetic savage of a bully. His profane dismissals of the aged Miss Mitchens and the quickness of his physical abuse of the docile Army volunteer Jenny Hill provide the film's most shocking moments. But Walker's more lethal ammunition is used in his verbal taunting of Barbara ("What price Salvation, now?") after her disillusionment with and ultimate resignation from the Army of Good Samaritans. So deep is her despair that she almost commits suicide. Her abandonment of the Army occurs after her superior accepts a large gift of money in the form of a check signed by her own father. Barbara insists that the money is tainted, that its blood money, gleaned from her father with the sweat of his underpaid workers and by the misery suffered by the victims of Undershaft's armaments industry.

However, when reluctantly following up on her father's invitation to visit his munitions plant, she discovers that Undershaft's company town is a working-man's suburban paradise of modern architecture and schools and churches; and she then understands that it is not her father who drives the hellish multimillion-dollar business that makes this Eden possible. It drives him. And the film's concluding shot of Cusins, Walker, and Barbara, marching arm-in-arm with the rest of Undershaft's proletariat, is a celebration of the playwright's ironic vision. Shaw is primarily enjoyed for the intelligent wit of his dialogue, but he had a serious purpose here. As the playwright himself reflected in 1906, a year after the play's premiere, "Undershaft...is simply a man who, having grasped the fact that poverty is a crime, knows that when society offered him the alternative of poverty or a lucrative trade in death and destruction, it offered him (a choice) between energetic enterprise and cowardly infamy." Gabriel Pascal produced and directed  adequately. Here, his style is very understated and completely serviceable to the film's source. The scenes are paced briskly, even by modern standards.

And the casting is superb, particularly Emlyn Williams's two-faced cynic/beggar, Snobby Price (the name says it all); Deborah Kerr is an affecting Jenny Hill (she obtained this film role by reciting the Lord's Prayer for producer Pascal); Torin Thatcher is in fine comic form as Todger Fairmile; and Marie Lohr manages to quietly hit all the right notes as Undershaft's priggish wife, Lady Britomart. Was the above review useful to you? 20 out of 21 people found the following review useful: But what about Boss Mangam? from United States 22 February 2005 I happen to like this film. It is almost as good as "Pygmalion", the previous Shaw - Pascal collaboration, but that film had Leslie Howard in it as Higgins, and as co-director. Here, although Wendy Hiller is back, Howard is not involved and Rex Harrison is the romantic lead (and the philosophic lead is Robert Morley, as the man of wealth Andrew (or, as Shaw says, "St. Andrew") Undershaft).

It has a grand cast supporting these three, including Mary Lohr, Deborah Kerr, Emlyn Wiliams, and Robert Newton (for once showing what a terrific actor he was when not drunk). The best parts are when Newton tries to be stoical and get knocked down to show he can take what he gives out to weaker types. He does get under the skin of Torin Thatcher (as a reformed boxing champ, named Todger Fairchild), only to have Thatcher humiliate him by forcing him to pray. Shaw the comic dramatist is always a treat. Shaw the self-created man with all the answers is another problem. "Major Barbara" is a look at how money is made by ways that are spiritually appalling (armaments and booze for example), but which guarantee jobs and hope to people who can't get them from the world of religion. One probably can agree with this point of view, but the constant pushing of Undershaft's point of view - nobody ever trounces him in an argument - is annoying. He seems omnipotent in this play (as Shaw, no doubt, wanted him to be).

I once suggested that it would have been delightful if after one of his speeches he had actually had coughed blood (to show he was mortal). But Shaw never would have done that to St. Andrew. Yet he did do something within a decade after writing "Major Barbara" that was inconsistent. Shaw probably never willingly discussed it with anyone. Undershaft rules his armaments firm with a total control. He dictates to the government on policies he needs. The stockholders don't seem to exist. But in 1916 Shaw's optimism about dictatorial capitalists had faded. World War I shattered him a bit, and he wrote "Heartbreak House". In it is the character of "Boss Mangam", a powerful business tycoon like Undershaft, who proves to have feet of clay. It seems the great tycoon has to satisfy those stockholders or his empire is taken from him. The same, of course, has to be true of "St. Andrew" Undershaft as well. He probably is his largest shareholder, but he never says he is sole shareholder. Undershaft was quite content and pontifical in 1907 when he describes his religion of cannons and prosperity for all who listen to him.

But that was peacetime. Somehow, in 1916, "St. Andrew" would probably have found it harder to be as glib about his doctrines as he had been. Was the above review useful to you? 19 out of 21 people found the following review useful: Sign of a Classic: Substitute Lockheed or Raytheon for Arms Manufacturer and message the same from United States 21 September 1999 This movie is so rich, that I must see it again and again to 'get' the dialogue. Quotable after quotable, especially today. Example: Ubershaft (don't you love the names?), arms manufacturer, says to his son who is expressing a desire to go into politics: "Do you understand that all the game-playing and posturing done in Parliament (synonym used here) is financed by me and people like me? Those people are allowed their fun because we fund it." And of course, George Bernard Shaw verbalizes this modern truth -- i.e., corporations own the Congress----in a much more eloquent answer. Was it ever so? The acting by all concerned, including a handsome, twinkling Rex Harrison, is STUPENDOUS!!!

Another reason I have to see it again is to see Deborah Kerr as the young Salvation lass who gets clipped in the jaw...her first screen appearance. Robert Morley delivers his lines with just the proper balance of cynicism and charm!!! Orson Welles would have been too ponderous. As the Salvation Army band steps out playing "Onward Christian Soldiers", even we agnostics join in, the mood is so infectious. The point is beautifully made about the power of faith to change a person's life, even as GBS makes his points about the 'greater virtue' of providing a dignified way to make a living. I HATE black and white, except for film noir, but I was so busy mentally interacting that I never missed color. Buy it if you can, because one rental will NOT give you the full appreciation. Compared with all the wealth of information in these old movies, modern TV is sadly, just puff. Was the above review useful to you? 13 out of 15 people found the following review useful: Perfect satire from Leonia, NJ 27 August 2001 Robert Morley as Andrew Underschaft must be seen to be believed. He is incomparated.

Wendy Hiller as his high-spirited, free-thinking, and self-righteous daughter is equally magnificent. Rex Harrison gives them both a run for their money as the swain whose fallen for Barbara. Robert Newton, David Tree, and Deborah Kerr are also terrific in small roles. There are so many double and triple entendres this one will keep your mind swirling for weeks after you've seen it. It is completely enjoyable and universal. Was the above review useful to you? 9 out of 9 people found the following review useful: A question of incentives - spoiler - 9 November 2002 *** This review may contain spoilers *** Shaw decided to pose the question of whether money or religion leads to morality. It is a treat to see a screenplay written by the playwright...and the cast and performance were, to all reports, quite pleasing to Mr. Shaw. I certainly think that the cast and performance are excellent. Shaw based the central theme on the life of John Cadbury, the founder of the Cadbury chocolate business. Mr. Cadbury was a Quaker who spent much of his life working for social reform. The two major characters are Andrew Undershaft and his daughter, Barbara.

Shaw could not make his protagonist a socially aware candy manufacturer - so Andrew Undershaft is cast as an arms merchant and his daughter, Barbara, who rejects the family business as immoral and joins the Salvation Army. Shaw plays the arms merchant's money off against the religion that Barbara has adopted and asks questions about the social compact, the origins of crime and criminal behavior and morality that were scandalous when the play was written 100 years ago and remain scandalous today. I don't know how this film came to be classified as a comedy - it is serious social commentary of the highest sort. Was the above review useful to you? 11 out of 13 people found the following review useful: Preserving a great play from Derry, Ireland 2 October 2007 GBS's great play of war, commerce and religion filmed, as if on the stage, by Gabriel Pascal; (it's at its least effective in the scenes where he 'opens it up').

So what we have, fundamentally, is filmed theater, a rendition on celluloid of a 'performance', much in the same way that Anthony Asquith's version of "The Importance of Being Earnest" was filmed theater, although this is in no way as definitive as that was. Still, what's to complain about when the cast includes Wendy Hiller's high-minded, free-spirited Major Barbara; Rex Harrison's cavalier 'Dolly', oscillating between cynicism and idealism; Robert Morley's unctuous Undershaft, too young for the part but carrying it off splendidly and in support the likes of Robert Newton,Marie Lohr, Sybil Thorndike, Emlyn Williams and Kathleen Harrison. There is even a young Deborah Kerr for star spotters. Of course, as it stands, it may appear something of a dinosaur, both as play and film and some of the speeches have the tone of pamphleteering but it's also very funny and often highly entertaining and one is glad Pascal had the temerity to make it in the first place. Was the above review useful to you? 5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: A nearly perfect film.

24 October 2010 *** This review may contain spoilers *** Outstanding acting: every tiny facial tick or movement of arms adds to the character and displays their feelings and emotions. Interactions are perfectly timed and presented to create an impression of reality (of course we know this is not reality but a film, so the acting must be more than real to succeed) . Striking sets: Dour tones of black & white shade the early sets of down-and-out Limehouse. This is contrasted by gleaming whites and solid blacks of the futuristic mattes and rear projections of the later part of the film. Expectations are high and not disappointed with a crew including names like Vincent Korda, production design (The Third Man, The Thief of Bagdad, etc), John Bryan, art direction (Pygmalion, Great Expectations, etc), Jack Clayton assistant director (Room at the Top, The Pumpkin Eater, etc), Ronald Neame's cinematography (Blithe Spirit, One of Our Aircraft is Missing, etc) and even editing by David Lean. Brilliant lighting: the lighting of the faces and sets heightens the emotions and intellect.

When Robert Newton's Bill Walker first enters the story he kicks over a fence and strides across a cluttered yard. His head and shoulders lined with a nimbus of light as if he is some lost angel recently cast out of heaven. Later, Barbara walks forlornly to the river's edge. She is shrouded in shadows, but light (apparently) reflected from the water moves across her face and eyes signaling what she may be contemplating. Sublime writing: each of the characters, no matter how small, is important to the story. Each speaks with voice that is true to the character and yet represents an aspect of the author's theme. Not one word is wasted. Only the happy socialist worker's March of Humanity to a Better Future ending mars the experience. But then, much of this is probably due to seeing the film with 21st century eyes and besides, to expect a film over which GBS had complete control of the story to end any other way would be like expecting no one to die in a Roger Corman film. Was the above review useful to you?

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: If your old religion doesn't fit the facts then scrap it and find one that does from Tappan, New York 24 August 2009 One of my all-time favorite films, "Major Barbara" is a cinematic Shavian gem that stands alongside the original "Pygmalion", "Caesar and Cleopatra" and "The Devil's Disciple". Many viewers regard this as a rather verbose comedy-drama but then, as with Plato, dialogue was always what Shaw was all about. And what dialogue! There are more fireworks in ten minutes of "Major Barbara" then can be found in entire movies made nowadays, and without a single explosion or car chase! But then, like all Shaw dramas, this is a story about ideas, not about action. Although Major Barbara (Windy Hiller) is the title character, the real center of the story is her father, munitions tycoon Andrew Undershaft, played brilliantly by a fairly young, and uncharacteristically lean, Robert Morely.

It is he who really moves the progress of the story, just as he has controlled the courses of the lives of his family in absentia for the past twenty years without their even being aware of it. As Barbara smugly repudiates his attempts to contribute his tainted money to save her Salvation Army mission, he ironically reminds her fiancée (and the audience) that she has actually accepted a great deal of it already. In fact, she has been living off his tainted money all her life. Tricked out with a Mephistophelean beard (he is constantly referred to as the "Prince of Darkness, and even his name seems redolent of Hell), Undershaft tempts his daughter and prospective son-in-law to abrogate their life in the Salvation Army for his life in the munitions business. Undershaft proposes to spend a day in Barbara's Salvation Army mission if she'll agree to spend a day at his munitions works. She agrees because, in her religious zeal, she's convinced she can convert her father.

The worldly Undershaft, on the other hand, is equally sure that he can wean his daughter away from a life he perceives as a waste of her time and talent for one where he feels she can really make a difference. Whether viewers perceive Shaw's story as cynical or realistic depends upon their point of view. Clearly Shaw took the latter view, at least at the time he wrote "Major Barbara". However, perhaps the most remarkable thing about "Major Barbara" is that a film like this should have been produced in Britain at all during the very darkest days of World War II. It is almost impossible to imagine a film such as this being produced in Hollywood at all, let alone during wartime! Was the above review useful to you? 6 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Disappointing 25 March 2010 *** This review may contain spoilers *** I just received the Eclipse Series collection which includes Major Barbara. I was familiar with a version of the movie that PBS (WNET-13 in New York) used to show. I was disappointed to see that scenes had been cut. Perhaps my favorite is after Undershaft negotiates his deal with cusins they talk about the True faith of an Armorer.

What follows is a tour of Undershaft's ancestors. The DVD version I received cut this scene out. Does anyone know why or if there is an earlier version of the movie with that scene intact? Did anyone else pick that up? BARBARA. Is the bargain closed, Dolly? Does your soul belong to him now? (THE MOVIE NOW CUTS OUT HERE) CUSINS. No: the price is settled: that is all. The real tug of war is still to come. What about the moral question? LADY BRITOMART. There is no moral question in the matter at all, Adolphus. You must simply sell cannons and weapons to people whose cause is right and just, and refuse them to foreigners and criminals. UNDERSHAFT No: none of that. You must keep the true faith of an Armorer, or you don't come in here. CUSINS. What on earth is the true faith of an Armorer? UNDERSHAFT.

To give arms to all men who offer an honest price for them, without respect of persons or principles: to aristocrat and republican, to Nihilist and Tsar, to Capitalist and Socialist, to Protestant and Catholic, to burglar and policeman, to black man white man and yellow man, to all sorts and conditions, all nationalities, all faiths, all follies, all causes and all crimes. The first Undershaft wrote up in his shop IF GOD GAVE THE HAND, LET NOT MAN WITHHOLD THE SWORD. The second wrote up ALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO FIGHT: NONE HAVE THE RIGHT TO JUDGE. The third wrote up TO MAN THE WEAPON: TO HEAVEN THE VICTORY. The fourth had no literary turn; so he did not write up anything; but he sold cannons to Napoleon under the nose of George the Third. The fifth wrote up PEACE SHALL NOT PREVAIL SAVE WITH A SWORD IN HER HAND. The sixth, my master, was the best of all. He wrote up NOTHING IS EVER DONE IN THIS WORLD UNTIL MEN ARE PREPARED TO KILL ONE ANOTHER IF IT IS NOT DONE. After that, there was nothing left for the seventh to say.

So he wrote up, simply, UNASHAMED. CUSINS. My good Machiavelli, I shall certainly write something up on the wall; only, as I shall write it in Greek, you won't be able to read it. But as to your Armorer's faith, if I take my neck out of the noose of my own morality I am not going to put it into the noose of yours. I shall sell cannons to whom I please and refuse them to whom I please. So there! UNDERSHAFT. From the moment when you become Andrew Undershaft, you will never do as you please again. Don't come here lusting for power, young man. Was the above review useful to you? 6 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Opiate Of The Masses from Buffalo, New York 15 April 2010 I'm surprised that this wonderful classic from the British cinema ever got made at the time it did. Not with having one of the major characters of the play being a munitions manufacturer.

Not so very long ago munitions makers were a despised lot of people and in Major Barbara, Robert Morley's character of Edward Undershaft is admirable only for the realistic way he views life. People in his profession were characterized as 'merchants of death' and were held in low repute until they were needed when the United Kingdom was fighting for its survival again. Morley's Undershaft does not redeem the name of the profession. Major Barbara was first presented on the London stage in 1905 and waited 10 years before it made its Broadway debut in 1915. Europe had a general post Napoleonic peace for nearly 100 years and war was unthinkable. The arms merchants such as they were busily made their product and the countries armed more and more. But it was thought that the guns might be used in their various colonial endeavors. When they started getting used against each other in a World War, pacifism became very popular. But in Major Barbara its author George Bernard Shaw had a different idea in mind. I think his chief reason for writing the play was to illustrate one of Karl Marx's tenets that religion was the opiate of the masses.

Shaw was a Fabian socialist and wanted to see socialism come to the United Kingdom by peaceful means. But he wouldn't have disagreed with that part of Marx's diagnosis about the ills of society. He lived until 1950 and saw the post war Labour government do much of what he advocated back in the day. One wonders what he would think now of British, indeed western society in general. Morley who has been estranged from his family for years returns and finds his eldest daughter Barbara played by Wendy Hiller a Salvation Army worker in the London slums. She thinks of herself as repudiating her hated father's evil works by doing good. He finds the idea of visiting her at the mission and showing her the error of her ways as he views it. Religion then as now needs money, why are the televangelists out there begging for your currency to keep their work afloat? The Salvation Army does do a limited amount of good with their soup kitchens and blandishments against indulging too much in the vices.

But what Shaw and his fellow Socialists would argue is that without a real living wage and the workers having some say in production, all this does is just keep the workers at bay with dreams of a perfect life in the next world no matter how bad this world might be for them. Major Barbara is one of Shaw's greatest polemical work and in the characters of Undershaft and Barbara he pits the material against the spiritual and the material wins in a knockout. This production has some really good casting beginning with Hiller and Morley. Rex Harrison gets one of his early cinema roles as scholar Adolphus Cusins who Morley also bends to his point of view and uses the mutual attraction of Hiller and Harrison for each other for his own ends. Deborah Kerr makes her screen debut as an innocent new salvation army lass and Emlyn Williams and Robert Newton as a pair of working class types who work the system so to speak. Major Barbara is a play set firmly in its time, I doubt it could be updated, mainly because we've passed from the Industrial Age to the Information Age because of the computer. At least that's what the sociologists will tell you.

New problems have arisen and for myself I don't think the organized labor movement has quite got a handle on them. Still this fine production raises questions that we should all think seriously about. Was the above review useful to you? Page 1 of 2: Major Barbara CHARACTER ANALYSIS by George Bernard Shaw-Free Online MonkeyNotes BookNotes/Chapter Summary/Synopsis/Download LIST OF CHARACTERS Major Barbara Major Barbara is the central character for whom the play is named and the symbol and voice of idealism. She is the daughter of Lady Britomart and her estranged husband, Andrew Undershaft, a rich industrialist and owner of a munitions factory. In the beginning of the play, Barbara has had little contact with her father and totally disapproves of the source of his wealth. Young and idealistic, Barbara works with the Salvation Army, whose causes she totally supports. She believes her purpose in life is to save the souls of the poverty-stricken individuals who come to the Salvation Army shelter where she is employed. Both kind and patient, she is a hard worker and has risen to the rank of Major. Barbara is engaged to Cusins, another employee of the Salvation Army, and they plan to marry soon.

Barbara is shocked when Mrs. Bains, the commissioner of the shelter where she works in West Ham, accepts donations from a liquor baron and from her own father, a munitions manufacturer; her ideals about the Salvation Army are shattered by the reality of its funding by rich industrialists who have questionable means of earning money. Barbara is so disillusioned that she decides to permanently leave the Salvation Army; however, when she visits her father's factory, she realizes that she can continue her work of saving souls among the workers in the factory; her mission will be easier since she will not have to 'bribe' them with bread and milk, as she used to at the shelter in West Ham. Throughout the play, Barbara comes across as a sincere, strong, and committed Christian who truly believes her mission in life is to save souls. She goes about her work at the Salvation Army with a missionary zeal that is both inspiring and moving. When her father, Mr. Undershaft, observes her at work, he knows that she is the only one of his children that would be capable of someday running his factory.

He, however, is disturbed by her misplaced idealism, for he believes that people in poverty cannot truly be saved; they are too concerned about providing food and clothing for themselves to think about higher spiritual things. He makes Barbara realize that she needs to temper her idealism with reality. In the end, he convinces her that she will have much greater success saving souls at his factory than at the Salvation Army. Your browser does not support the IFRAME tag. By depicting Barbara's conflict between idealism and realism, Shaw seems to be addressing many young people like her, who are striving to reform their society in idealistic ways. He clearly shows that idealism, without any basis on reality, cannot provide a solution to the problems of society. The challenge is to come to terms with the real world, like Undershaft, and find real solutions that can work, like Major Barbara has done in the play. Mr. Undershaft Andrew Undershaft is the symbol and voice of realism in the play. He is a successful millionaire who has accumulated his wealth by selling guns and canons. Like most of Shaw's key characters, he is extremely intelligent, imaginative, outspoken, and eloquent.

Because of his radically different views, he is misunderstood by his relatives, including his own wife (Lady Britomart), his son (Stephen), and his daughter (Barbara). In not giving Undershaft a fair chance, they expose their own hypocrisy, for they believe he must be all bad because of what he manufactures. When they finally go to see his factory, they are shocked to find how well it is organized, how clean it is, and how happy the workers seem to be. Even the idealistic Barbara states that things are much better than she had imagined and agrees to live in the factory town when she marries Cusins. Mr. Undershaft stands out in a society where a person is respected for his money and where everything is hidden under a false set of values, which no one follows. Unlike most wealthy people, he is realistic about who and what he is and honest about his intentions. He frankly says that for him poverty is the world's greatest crime, and wealth is his religion. He is obviously more honest than Lady Britomart and Cusins, who are motivated by money, but preach morality to others.

The manner in which Lady Britomart invites her estranged husband home when she wants to arrange a fixed income for her daughters, reveals that though her husband's profession (making weapons) goes against her moral values (she considers it to be a sinful profession), she does not think twice about Undershaft's source of income when she needs money for her daughters or when she insists that their son should be made the heir to the huge Undershaft empire. In a like manner, Cusins easily leaves the Salvation Army behind to accept the challenge of learning the ammunition factory so that he can eventually run and own it. Throughout the play, Shaw uses Undershaft as a vehicle to convey his views and criticize conventional beliefs about charitable organizations and politics. In his persuasive and imaginative arguments, he comments upon, criticizes, and ridicules the hypocrisy of the moralists, the intelligentsia, and the politicians of British society, who glorify poverty and preach a set of lofty values, which they themselves never practice. Undershaft is honest and rational enough to admit that he would rather be a thief than live in poverty.

His power of reasoning, unmatched wit, and genuine concern for his employees and their living and working conditions influence and change the other characters to a more realistic and rational view of life. Lady Britomart Lady Britomart is the daughter of the Earl of Stevenage, a well- read, sharp-tongued woman of fifty. Because of her wealthy, aristocratic background, she has set herself apart, totally alienated from the rest of society. Even her own children find her to be an unkind and scolding woman. Totally concerned over money, Lady Britomart breaks up her marriage to Andrew Undershaft over the issue of inheritance. When Undershaft tells Britomart (or 'biddy,' as he calls her) that his business empire will not go to their son, Stephen, but to a capable 'foundling' who can be properly trained to run the business, Lady Britomart is horrified. However, when her daughters are engaged to be married, Lady Britomart does not hesitate to ask her estranged husband to provide them with an income, even if it does come from money raised by selling weapons. She is obviously a manipulative and hypocritical woman, who preaches one set of morals and lives another.

Adolphous Cusins Cusins, previously a professor, is depicted to be a total hypocrite. He joins the Salvation Army only because he is in love with Major Barbara. Although he expresses a high moral view, he does not really put it into practice. He never has a commitment to the Salvation Army, but pretends that he does. Unlike Barbara who is distressed over her decision to leave the Army behind, Cusins does not give a second thought to his decision to quit in order to run the munitions factory. In the second act, Cusins is vociferous in condemning Undershaft's business, calling it 'the factory of death and destruction'. However, in the very next act, Cusins put all his lofty morals aside to prove that he is indeed eligible to inherit the Undershaft business empire. He accepts Undershaft's offer, even though he believes it will mean that there is no future for Barbara and him. Then the 'sophisticated' professor haggles with Andrew Undershaft about his share of profits in the company. The only redeeming aspect of Cusins is that Barbara loves him; therefore, there must be some worth in his character.

Peter Shirley Peter Shirley is an honest and hard working man, who appears older than his age because of his gray hair. He comes to the Salvation Army because he has lost his job, for his employer thought that he was too old. Almost as idealistic as Barbara, he believes that it is better to die in poverty than accept charity and his self-respect is injured when Jenny Hill gives him some food at the shelter. His main purpose in the play is to stand in contrast to Andrew Undershaft, the wealthy and realistic industrialist. Peter Shirley, on the other hand, is an idealistic, poverty-stricken man. He genuinely believes that they only reason that the wealthy are successful is because the poor people work for and are exploited by them. Price Bronterre Price Bronterre is an intelligent young man who is the antithesis of Peter Shirley. Called 'Snobby' by his friends, he leaves his job because he feels that he is not being paid for what his skills are worth. He comes to the Salvation Army with no shame, wanting his material needs to be fulfilled. Unlike Peter, he is not affected by the fact that he is living on charity or does not have a job.

Since he is a big talker, Snobby quickly reveals that he really has no scruples about anything. The manner in which he slyly walks away with Bill Walker's money reveals his true nature. Shaw, however, seems tolerant of Snobby's weaknesses, for he believes that honesty and other high moral values can only be held by people who are materially well off (the middle class and the rich). Snobby, since he is poor, cannot stick to any principle for long, for he, like others living in poverty, must be concerned about meeting his basic material needs.

Question: In which play by George Bernard Shaw is the daughter of 'Lady Britomart Undershaft' an Officer of the Salvation Army?
Answer: 'MAJOR BARBARA'