Summary Having prepared Stephen for the arrival of his father, Lady Britomart now sends Morrison, the butler, to fetch her daughters and their respective fiances so that they might be told of the imminent arrival of Undershaft. Barbara and Sarah arrive first, Barbara dressed in her major’s uniform from the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act I (The brief scene between the family, just prior to the arrival of Andrew Undershaft)Summary and Analysis Act I (The opening scene between Stephen Undershaft and his mother, Lady Britomart)
Summary The play begins when the estranged wife of Andrew Undershaft, Lady Britomart, calls Stephen, her son, in for a conference. Lady Britomart is so domineering and Stephen is so intimidated that he is virtually speechless. She immediately corrects his behavior and reminds him that he is now twenty-four years […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act I (The opening scene between Stephen Undershaft and his mother, Lady Britomart)Summary and Analysis Shaw’s Preface to Major Barbara
In many of his plays, Shaw writes a preface for the reader which, in some cases, has very little to do with the play itself, but, in some cases, as with Major Barbara, it comments directly on the ideas found in the play. And as with this play, the prefaces […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Shaw’s Preface to Major BarbaraCharacter 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 […]
Read more Character ListPlay Summary
Lady Britomart has summoned her twenty-four-year-old son, Stephen, into the drawing room to discuss the family’s finances for the first time in Stephen’s life. It seems that both of his sisters are about to be married and both young women need extra money. While the younger, Sarah, is marrying into […]
Read more Play Summary