Plays Unpleasant: Widowers' Houses/The Philanderer/Mrs. Warren's Profession

By George Bernard Shaw

Book Overview

Exclusive to Penguin Classics: the definitive text of Shaw's volume of "unpleasant" plays, Widowers' Houses, The Philanderer, and Mrs. Warren's Profession--part of the official Bernard Shaw Library

A Penguin Classic

With Plays Unpleasant, Shaw issued a radical challenge to his audiences' complacency and exposed social evils through his dramatization of the moral conflicts between youthful idealism and economic reality, promiscuity and marriage, and the duties of women to others and to themselves. His first play, Widowers' Houses, depicts Harry Trench's dilemma on learning that the inheritance of his fianc e comes from her father's income as a slum landlord. In The Philanderer, charismatic Leonard Charteris proposes marriage to Grace, while he is still involved with the beautiful Julia Craven--who is not inclined to give him up so easily. And in Mrs. Warren's Profession, Vivie Warren is forced to reconsider her own future when she discovers that her mother's immoral earnings funded her genteel upbringing.

This is the definitive text under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence. This volume includes Shaw's prefaces, cast lists from the first productions of the plays, and a list of his principal works.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140437932
• ISBN13: 9780140437935
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Unpleasant topics, but ideologically important

The plays of Bernard Shaw span many years and cover many topics. While many of Shaw's works are entertaining as well as enlightening, the plays in this volume (written very early in his career) tackle complex issues that concern society. These plays force us to critically view how success in the world is judged. They demonstrate how any of us may unknowingly be an accomplice to or a participant in activities to which we stringently object on a moral basis. This is pertinent in society today! The works in this volume open our eyes. . .and we may not like what we see. In summary, the plays in this volume are important, although they will hopefully make the reader feel somewhat uncomfortable. A well planned anthology of Shaw's work should be part of any college education