Major Barbara is a play I have enjoyed reading and seeing in
performance multiple times. Having just
read it again for my Great Books group, I decided a brief reflection is in
order.
This
play is the perfect read for thinking Americans today. If you have ever read works by Shaw, you know
that his plays are meant for thinkers; they are not light comedies. This play includes discussions of morality
and its varying definitions, responsibility of the state for its people,
morality and religion or perhaps morality versus religion, and finally the
crime of poverty. Poverty is a
crime? Yes, if there is great wealth, there should be no poverty. It is also
about families: mothers and sons,
mothers and daughters, responsibility of fathers to their children. And it is about love: parental love, couples
in love, love for humankind.
If
you have never read Shaw, shame on you!
Start with Major Barbara. Even better...it is in performance at The Shaw Festival this year!
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