Bernard Shaw’s concern for the perfection of the English language in his Comedy “Pygmalion” content introduction chapter I. George Bernard Shaw's life and work

1900–1909
Full-length plays

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  Man and Superman
  
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  John Bull's Other Island
  
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  Major Barbara
  
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  The Doctor's Dilemma
  
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  Getting Married
  
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  Misalliance
  

Short plays

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  The Admirable Bashville
  
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  How He Lied to Her Husband
  
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  Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction
  
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  The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet
  
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  Press Cuttings
  
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  The Fascinating Foundling
  
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  The Glimpse of Reality
  

Shaw's major plays of the first decade of the twentieth century address individual social, political or ethical issues. Man and Superman (1902) stands apart from the others in both its subject and its treatment, giving Shaw's interpretation of creative evolution in a combination of drama and associated printed text.228 The Admirable Bashville (1901), a blank verse dramatisation of Shaw's novel Cashel Byron's Profession, focuses on the imperial relationship between Britain and Africa.229 John Bull's Other Island (1904), comically depicting the prevailing relationship between Britain and Ireland, was popular at the time but fell out of the general repertoire in later years.230 Major Barbara (1905) presents ethical questions in an unconventional way, confounding expectations that in the depiction of an armaments manufacturer on the one hand and the Salvation Army on the other the moral high ground must invariably be held by the latter.231 The Doctor's Dilemma (1906), a play about medical ethics and moral choices in allocating scarce treatment, was described by Shaw as a tragedy.232 With a reputation for presenting characters who did not resemble real flesh and blood,233 he was challenged by Archer to present an on-stage death, and here did so, with a deathbed scene for the anti-hero.234235
Getting Married (1908) and Misalliance (1909)—the latter seen by Judith Evans as a companion piece to the former—are both in what Shaw called his "disquisitionary" vein, with the emphasis on discussion of ideas rather than on dramatic events or vivid characterisation.236 Shaw wrote seven short plays during the decade; they are all comedies, ranging from the deliberately absurd Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction (1905) to the satirical Press Cuttings (1909).237

1910–1919edit