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Introduction 1 INTRODUCTION Art is not created in a vacuum, it is the work not simply of a person, but of an author fixed in time and space, answering to a community of which he is an important,[...] articulate part[....] (Five Approaches 123)* Drama as a work of art is characteristic of the temperament of people amidst whom it has its origin and development. It represents their processes of thought, their cultural aspirations, their values of life, spiritual and material. Though human nature is more or less the same everywhere, it is very largely influenced by its religious and cultural background, by its social environment and also by such physical condition as political and climatic. Therefore, drama, as picture of life has a dual function, that of reflecting those elements of life which are universal, and embodying within itself these values and aspirations which are typical of its people. No account of modern drama can be complete without a consideration of the contribution of Shaw. Shaw is a peculiar mixture of Ibsen and Wycherley. His aim is very serious and analytical and he cloaks that seriousness of purpose with a gaiety and wit which has already been equalled in any time. In the history of the English drama, Shaw occupies a position perhaps second only to that of Shakespeare. He dominated the English theatre for over sixty years and his influence, name and fame were * Joseph Gibaldi. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th edn., 1977 New Delhi: Affiliated East West Press Ltd., 2004) is followed for documentation of sources . 2 all pervasive. He built up his own theatre, “theatre of ideas”. Nicholas Grene in Bernard Shaw : A Critical View affirms that Without the contribution of Irishmen there would be scarcely be a single major comedy in English between 1700 and 1900. Farquhar, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Wilde-the Irish monopoly in eighteenth and nineteenth century comedy is remarkable (1). These Irish English comedies have much in common. They have what London audience wanted but with a lyrical qualities or a cut of satire. Shaw in many ways fits easily on to the end of this series Farquhar, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Wilde [....] The style, the paradoxes, the wit restate him obviously to Wilde [....] He might use this Irish persona, his reputation for cynical iconoclasm, but he would use if to more pointed purpose than the Farquhars, Sheridans and Wildes. Shaw was not just out to conquer London but to change London. (Grene 2) Modern Tamil drama exhibited many trends and tendencies in the late forties. Realism played a significant role in modern Tamil drama. Anna in his dramas, novels, and short stories deals with the problems of life in a realistic way and offers solutions to the vexed and complicated problems confronting the society. During Anna’s period, the modern drama dealing with problems of life has become far more intellectual than ever it was before and gives us plenty of food for thought. That period was mainly for social problems. The problem play became essentially the drama of disillusion, for it stripped life of false sentiment and revealed the ugliness and squalor that lay beneath the false glitter of superficial life. 3 Problem play is a fairly recent dramatic type which was popularised by the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In a problem play, the situation of the protagonist is so rendered as to indicate that it represents a contemporary sociological problem. Often the dramatist manages by the use of a spokesman in the play or the evolution of the plot or both to indicate that he favours a solution to the problem which is at odds with prevailing opinion. The issue may be one of the inadequate scopes allowed to a woman in the middle class nineteenth century family as that of in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House or of the morality of prostitution regarded as a typical economical phenomenon in a capitalist society as in Profession . One of the problem plays is the discussion play in which the social issue is not incorporated into a plot, but expounded in the dramatic give and take of sustained debate among the characters as in Superman and in Barbara. The problem play was an experiment in the art of drama and it derived its force from its contempt of false romantic ideals and mere commercial ventures. The problem play was sometimes identified with frank propaganda due mainly to Shaw who favoured free serious discussion over social questions in plays and who himself spared no occasion for advocating the problem play. The problem play dealt with some important social problems seriously. It came to advocate the rights of individuals against overwhelming social forces. It also gave equality to women and aimed at ending the dual code of morality for men and women. Questions of economic and social importance were taken up. Shaw’s were the first full length problem plays evidently dedicated to the task of removing certain evils from the society. 4 Discussion scenes on capitalism and slum-landlordism in Houses and on causes of prostitution in Profession were carefully planned and placed by Shaw. In the analysis of a few important prose plays and discussion of a few points, Shaw’s real greatness lay in his strikingly fresh approach to his subjects and a felicity of style which was greatly original and indecisive and thought proving. Vivie, Candida, Gloria and Grace were all drawn in the Ibsen model. Shaw in his long preface to the published edition of Profession echoed Ibsen’s ideas on the question of dual morality. Shaw’s female characters are embodiments of types in society who act and speak not for their genuine impulses as human creatures but under the stress of social convention of the times. Their passions, desires, and ambitions are all guided by their desire to conform to the established social values. Their personalities do not evolve from within but are shaped by stress from outside. Houses and Profession had no dominant male character. In both these plays the role of social forces has been so overwhelming that characters act more like puppets than as individuals possessed of a will of their own. Sartorious and Trench in Houses are both involved in capitalist intrigue. The Philanderer also has no outstanding male figures. Conflict in Profession is divided between the mother and the daughter. Following Ibsen, contemporary English dramatists improved on women characters and not on male ones. Shaw showed considerable boldness in expressing the basic revolt by an individual’s inner-self against society. He endeavoured to scrutinise old decadent ideas, deal values, which haunt us like ghosts. Ideas are embodied in the characters in the very texture of their being and when 5 they issue from them they sound temperamentally. The problem play became a precious human document presenting a living picture of human experience sometimes in an artistic and sometimes in the spirit of a propagandist. Hence, the problem play has become a dire necessity as the situations and the conditions of the society prompted it. The problem playwrights exposed cant and hypocrisy, pulled down old idols from their high pedestals and debunked the ruling gods. The dramatists of that period did not merely paint the phenomena of life and character; they desired to reveal the sordid realities that lurked behind the sacred ideals and romantic commonplaces cherished and upheld middle class society. Anna’s painstaking effort in popularising the ethics of the Dravidian Movement and various social reforms enriched the Tamil literature. Anna took up the social responsibilities of eliminating casteism and communalism and attaining egalitarian society. It is so obvious in his writings, social revolution acquired priority over political and economic reforms. Anna found the humanistic concept advanced and practised by his contemporaries as the strong base for the reorganisation and renaissance of the Tamil society. He fought a fierce and relentless battle for the causes that were utmost important to his people. Anna with his spontaneous flow, inimitable style, awe-inspiring alliterations, flowery language, devastating arguments, lucid presentation, superb marshalling of facts, packing punch in well chosen epithets and felicitous expression, attempted to give Tamil stage a new identity as that of Irish Theatres of Revolt. 6 Shaw’s family originally came from Scotland, but his Irish birth and childhood found a strong influence on his whole outlook. The Protestant Anglo-Irish were a narrow class surrounded by Catholics who regarded everything English as foreign, and Shaw lived long enough in Ireland to look at the English people with the eyes of an outside critic who saw many weaknesses and absurdities unnoticed by Englishmen. Shaw was by birth and by nature an outsider. He was an Irishman among Englishmen, just as he had been, in Dublin, a protestant among Catholics. His writings have the note of arrogance and self-righteousness. From his unsuccessful father and his uncle, he inherited his Shavian sense of fun and anti-climax and his superficial blasphemy, from his mother a deep love and knowledge of music with which his keen interest in the spoken and written language, was to improve his most enduring love and one of the greatest influences on his works. This helped him compose very fine rhythmic prose in his later career as a playwright. He was also entertained in London Society as a singer. Shaw did not get on well in school, but read widely. He had a deal of first rate music. When he was fifteen, he left school and became a clerk in an office. The National Gallery of Ireland provided him with good company. He stayed in the office for more than four years, until he decided to give up his job and to go to London in order to become an artist.
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