Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: Bernard Shaw Salvation Army - 1,951 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

Images of Blood and Fire in Plays: The Robbers and Major Barbara The two plays by very well world known writers Friedrich Schiller and Bernard Shaw play important role in the development of audiences perception of what is good and what is evil. In this research we are going to talk about the essence of the two plays and particularly about the images of blood and fire presented in them. These both stories have plenty of violence at the first stage and consequently the images of blood and fire play significant role in the audiences better perception of how negative and ugly can the violent actions be as they appear to be performed in the plays. The images of blood and fire appear at different stages of the two plays and symbolize violence and grief that face the major characters of the stories.

In the case of Major Barbara the images of blood and fire go along the whole story through the existence of the cannon factory owned by her father. This factory causes a great deal of controversy that follows the play in the relationships between the main characters. The main argument of the play Major Barbara is between Undershaft and Major Barbara. They disagree about what each other does for a profession, what their professions due for other people, and the idea of money. In this play Lady Britomart chose not to allow her children to be raised in the presence of their father. She feels that Undershaft's decision to not break that family tradition of passing the business down to a foundling, is more than her name can handle.

She believes that the family fortune should be passed down to the real blood of the family, not an orphan. Stephan, their son, has trouble accepting the fact that the family business will be passed on to someone else. He is not upset because he will not inherit the family business; he is upset due to the general idea of the inheritance situation. Stephan has no desire to inherit the business; he is just upset about the foundling that will inherit the business. Lady Britomart is also upset because the business is that of making canons. Lady Britomart feels that making canons is no real way to make a living and earn money. (Gussman) Act I of the play actually consists of Lady Britomart calling Undershaft to dinner to ask him for more money for their children to live on.

Their two daughters have chosen to marry men that will not be able to support them to the fullest extent. Barbara has decided that she will marry a professor of Greek philosophy and Sarah decided that she would marry a poet. As he comes to dinner, he meets is family for the first time since they were young kids. He had no clue who they were; he continuously introduces himself to everyone until he finally gets it right. The children are all curious with the idea of their father.

They have always been told that their father was a rotten man due to what he did for a living. So when he came for dinner they were very interested in him, which irritated Lady Britomart. It irritated her because she felt that she was the one that raised them and now they are disrespecting her when finding Undershaft's ideas interesting and curious. Barbara and Undershaft hit it off right from the start. They both in some way were very intrigued by each others professions. Barbara dedicated her time to the Salvation Army.

She thought that her mission in life was to help the needy. She felt that her mission was to save the souls of the people that had less fortune in their lives. On the other hand, Undershaft who ran the canon factory, felt that his mission in live was to help people by giving them a solid job, means to feed their children, and a place to sleep at night. But everyone else was so oblivious to that and thought that all he thought about was money and gunpowder. (Gussman) Undershaft thought that poverty was the greatest crime, he hated to see people living in misery and thought that if the were steady in their lives, and then their souls were saved.

Undershaft and Barbara made an agreement to see each other at work. So first Undershaft went to the Salvation Army and witnessed the lives that people lived in poverty. While there he also witnessed the fact that the Salvation Army needed a great deal of money to stay open. The only means to reach their goal was through donations. The owner of the local distillery offered the Salvation Army five thousand dollars if the other half would be donated by someone else. Major Barbara felt that the money from the distillery should not be accepted because liquor causes people to do bad things.

But overall the argument against Barbara was that the owner of the distillery was not the one that was causing the harm to people; it was the people that were abusing the alcohol that caused problems. Eventually Undershaft offered up the remainder of the money that was needed to save the Salvation Army, but again Major Barbara did not think they should take the money because it was coming from somebody who is building canons, which in the long run killed people. Thus we see how the images of blood and fire were implied in the cannon factory and how the images influence the relationships between Undershaft and Barbara as well as the other people in the play. Barbara had her mind set to nothing but religion and saving the souls at the Salvation Army. Undershaft had his ideas set to nothing other than money and gunpowder. But when they met as adults they were able to influence each other into saving each others souls.

On the other hand in the play The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller the images of blood and fire are less implied and more realistic although they play similar role, as in the Major Barbara. The Robbers, Schiller's first play, tells the story of two brothers driven to extremes. One son plots to kill his father with emotional warfare and steal his brothers fiancee. The other, in a fit of despair, forms a robber band and roams the forests looting and murdering.

The play about a noble outlaw, Karl Moor, who has rejected the values of his father, gained with its revolutionary appeal immediate success among students. The theatre was like a madhouse - rolling eyes, clenched fists, and hoarse cries in the auditorium, wrote an eye-witness. Strangers fell sobbing into each others arms, women on the point of fainting staggered towards the exit. There was a universal commotion as in chaos, out of the musts of which a new creation bursts forth. The playwright himself was nearly arrested for neglecting his military duties in Stuttgart, where he was a regimental doctor. Romantic writers in England, especially Samuel Taylor Coleridge, admired The Robbers and greeted with enthusiasm its theme of liberty. (Finley, 107) The images of blood and fire are presented throughout the whole play in minds of the main characters and also in their actions.

Charles: Thou- thou- Flames of fire darting from thine eyes -- His curse -- His curse -- He disowns me- Where am I? My sight grows dim- Horrors of the living God Twas I, twas I that killed my father! The robber has killed his father in order to receive some property and thus made his conscience unclear and full of anxiety. This particular example shows us how cruel can be the world especially in perception of it of a person who values money the most. Every delineator of human character is placed in the same dilemma if he proposes to give a faithful picture of the world as it really is, and not an ideal phantasm, a mere creation of his own. It is the course of mortal things that the good should be shadowed by the bad, and virtue shine the brightest when contrasted with vice.

Whoever proposes to discourage vice and to vindicate religion, morality, and social order against their enemies, must unveil crime in all its deformity, and place it before the eyes of men in its colossal magnitude; he must diligently explore its dark mazes, and make himself familiar with sentiments at the wickedness of which his soul revolts. In this play we see all these positive and negative appearances exposed in its innermost workings. In Francis it resolves all the confused terrors of conscience into wild abstractions, destroys virtuous sentiments by dissecting them, and holds up the earnest voice of religion to mockery and scorn. Next to this man (Francis) there is another man who would perhaps puzzle many of the readers. (Finley, 48) A mind for which the greatest crimes have only charms through the glory which attaches to them, the energy which their perpetration requires, and the dangers which attend them. A remarkable and important personage abundantly endowed with the power of becoming either a Brutus or a Catiline, according as that power is directed. An unhappy conjunction of circumstances determines him to choose the latter for, his example, and it is only after a fearful straying that he is recalled to emulate the former.

Erroneous notions of activity and power, an exuberance of strength which bursts through all the barriers of law, must of necessity conflict with the rules of social life. (Finley, 55) It is nowadays so much the fashion to be witty at the expense of religion that a man will hardly pass for a genius if he does not allow his impious satire to run a tilt at its most sacred truths. The noble simplicity of holy writ must needs be abused and turned into ridicule at the daily assemblies of the so-called wits; for what is there so holy and serious that will not raise a laugh if a false sense be attached to it? The author was trying to render no inconsiderable service to the cause of true religion and morality in holding up these wanton misbelievers to the detestation of society, under the form of the most despicable robbers. Consequently he made a play in which the audience sees the development of human ethics and morals by tempting the main characters of the play and looking at their reactions to that. The images of blood and fire are exposed as another example of the temptations faced by the main characters, which show their attitudes and decisions they take in difficult situations. All in all it is possible to say that the images of blood and fire play significant role in the two plays examined.

In the case of Major Barbara the images are implied in the industry that the main characters are engaged in, whereas in The Robbers these images are clearly expressed in minds and actions of the heroes. In both these plays the images represent negative aspects of human being and it also gives a chance for the heroes to make their choices. In the case of Major Barbara the heroes finally found out what the real good and evil is, whereas in the other case the situation was rather controversial because heroes had performed their evil actions and thus were not so free at their choice and finally had ended tragically. Bibliography: Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara.

Friedrich Schiller, The Robbers. Will Finley, Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller, New York: Viking Press, 1982. Yan Gussman, Controversies Presented by Bernard Shaw in Major Barbara, from Ontario Statesman Journal, issue April 1998, pp. 19 - 21.


Free research essays on topics related to: bernard shaw, salvation army, main characters, significant role, great deal

Research essay sample on Bernard Shaw Salvation Army

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com