Major Barbara

di Shaw Bernard (Autore)

Library of Alexandria, 2026

What happens when the money that feeds the poor comes from the business of war? A devoted daughter and her arms-manufacturer father turn that question into a battle of wit, belief, and moral nerve. In Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara, Barbara Undershaft has found her calling in the Salvation Army, helping people whom respectable society neglects. Her estranged father, Andrew Undershaft, offers a radically different answer to poverty: wages, material security, and the power of industry. His fortune rests on weapons, yet his arguments prove harder to dismiss than Barbara expects. Moving between the Salvation Army shelter and Undershaft's industrial world, the play tests the distance between professed principles and practical results. Can a religious institution reject a donor's business while accepting his money? Is poverty chiefly a spiritual problem, or a condition that makes spiritual improvement impossible? Shaw gives these questions dramatic life through combative family encounters, unexpected reversals, and dialogue whose humor sharpens rather than softens its challenge. The result is a social satire that still unsettles familiar distinctions between respectable wealth and worthy work. What readers find inside: Conviction Under Pressure - Barbara's dedication to saving souls meets her father's insistence on material security. The Ethics of Giving - Charitable funding exposes the uneasy relationship between noble purposes and questionable sources of wealth. Arms and Industry - Undershaft's business forces the characters to confront the links between prosperity, power, and violence. Family as Debate - The Undershaft family's competing loyalties turn public questions into intensely personal conflicts. Comedy With Consequences - Shaw's sharp exchanges challenge moral certainty without letting any easy answer stand untested. A rewarding choice for readers of classic British drama, theater lovers drawn to strong verbal confrontations, and anyone interested in the ethics of charity, religion, and capitalism. Enter the Undershaft family's argument and discover how difficult doing good can become when every answer has a price.

• Autore: Shaw Bernard
• Anno edizione: 2026
• Editore: Library of Alexandria
• Formato: EPUB3 con Adobe DRM
• Lingua: Inglese
• Compatibilità: Tutti i dispositivi (eccetto Kindle)
• Layout: Reflowable
• EAN: 9781808304330