Woman: The Force of Nature! Do you Believe in?

By JH Sayyar

Major Barbara is one of the best plays of George Bernard Shaw. In which Shaw throws light on the character of females and raises the importance of females in his plays. In the eyes of Shaw male and female both are equal in the eye of God. God makes no difference except the difference in their physical structure. Physically male is stronger than a female is but mentally there is no difference between them. Therefore according to Shaw a female should be given equal rights to a male. The same thing Shaw shows in his famous play Major Barbara.

While reading the play we cannot deny the fact that Shaw discusses the women to whom he knew in his lifetime well. Shaw’s women are more complex than men are. In his plays Shaw’s women dominant men in every field of life as in An Whitefield, Saint Joan, and Vivie Warson and Major Barbara.

Shaw does portrait women as perfect political leaders who can peacefully rule and run the country. As we see in the Apple Cart the terrifying portrait of Orinthia, the King’s mistress. The same spirit we find in Major Barbara that is the leader of the Salvation Army has all the qualities of leadership: the qualities those are most important for politicians: confidence and courage. Shaw shows Major Barbara intellectually more powerful than a man is. Shaw thinks that women should be powerful like men are.

When Lady Britomart invites her husband at her home listening to this Sara says at once, “So you mean that he is coming regularly to live here.” Listening to it lady Britomart replies, “ Certainly not the spare room is ready for him. He likes to stay for a day or two.” Here Lady Britomart implies politics. On one side she makes contacts with ex- husband so that the children could not feel father’s love. On the other side she does not allow him to mix up with them for a long time.

Here we see her selfish motive of staying him at her home for a short time. Thus she wants to attract her children’s attention to her so that they could respect her in life and could not ignore her. Here Sara thinks that women should be given liberty to work side by side with men in practical field so that they could make accept their beings in the society.

But lady Britomart is the lady who has been divorced by Undershaft. He leaves her in tough time to make her upset but Britomart does not lose heart and alone make efforts to earn livelihood for her children. She makes a lot of works for her children and gets success in her life aim. She is not fed up with widowhood and is not afraid of working alone in practical field. She is shown the symbol of endurance. Her ideas of doing something for her future is striking for the readers and attract women’s attention.

Britomart does not nourish the idea of mixing her father and husband but her younger sister and brother guide her in practical field. Britomart get success to cultivate her own

passion in the play that is running the Salvation Army. She also offers her father to re- join the Salvation Army if he wants. There is one most important to be noted in the ply that Britomart has deprived Stephen of all manly qualities and courage with her pre-planned intention. She does so to take revenge from Undershaft who leaves her and her children in lurch.  As we see while discussing the family affairs Stephen is completely ignored to take revenge.

Here Davidson says, “ There are varieties of women in the plays of Shaw but all are different in passions and emotions as they are in real life: Saint Joan represents conscious, Britomart represents leadership, Vivie, Mrs. Turton and Lady Underworld works for the sake of God.” So Shaw’s all women characters are sensible and full of courage and confidence. Shaw tries to create the world of women in which the women are shown superior to men in every field of life. The most important quality of Shaw’s women is that they all do constructive works for the betterment of the society.

This quality is not in other writer’s plays even Shakespeare could not deal women as Shaw has done in his plays.

To sum up, in Major Barbara Shaw puts his private life. There were two ladies Mrs. Patrick and Terry Ellen both worked in the theatre actually Shaw puts them in his plays. Shaw discusses different problem s in his plays as divorce, religion, liberalism, war, married life, and sex and marriage in detail with strong arguments, so all Shaw’s plays reveal that Shaw was dissatisfied with political democracy.

Shaw presents this view that if women are allowed to participate in politics the society may get progress soon. Shaw shows women fulfill all the characteristics belonging to political field. Major Barbara is an open criticism on the corrupt political and social economic system.

According to Shaw money is must to crush corruption from the society. Lack of money creates the state of poverty and this state leads women and men to crimes in the societies. Shaw shows that with courage and confidence women can earn their livelihood, but women’s participation in the society work is must. So women are allowed to work side by side with men.