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Loading... Androcles and the lion : an old fable renovated by Bernard Shaw (edition 1962)by Bernard Shaw
Work InformationAndrocles and the Lion by George Bernard Shaw (Author)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Shaw uses the framework of Aesop's tale of Androcles and the lion to examine how different people exhibit (or fail to exhibit) Christian virtues. In particular importance in the play is the Christian ideal of turning the other cheek. There were many ideas similar to those in "The Devil's Disciple" but as a play I think that this one isn't as good entertainment as "The Devil's Disciple" was. A fun little work, short and to the point, based on the old fable, but with more wisecracking and dialogue. Shaw does not go out of his way to make any side of this look good, and Androcles himself is a wimpy sort of guy, lacking in any real courage except where animals are concerned. The Christians are not the bad guys, but neither are the pagans. They are all just sort of strange, with odd beliefs that at least some of them are willing to die for. Shaw skewers everyone equally, but there is a gentleness to his fun, and many of the characters are actually likeable. This was worth the time I spent.
The general formula of George Bernard Shaw, to wit, the announcement of the obvious in terms of the scandalous, is made so palpable in his new book, Androcles and the Lion, that even such besotted Shawolators as George Jean Nathan will at last perceive and acknowledge it... Nevertheless, this preface makes bouncing reading—and for the plain reason that Shaw is a clever workman in letters, and knows how to wrap up old goods in charming wrappers. When, in disposing of the common delusion that Jesus was a long-faced tear-squeezer like John the Baptist or the average Methodist evangelist, he arrives at the conclusion that He was “what we should call an artist and a Bohemian in His manner of life,” the result, no doubt, is a shock and a clandestine thrill to those who have been confusing the sour donkey they hear every Sunday with the genial, good-humored and likable Man they affect to worship. Is contained inHas as a student's study guide
Classic Literature.
Drama.
Fiction.
Humor (Fiction.)
HTML: Famed playwright George Bernard Shaw's quirky version of the ancient Androcles fable deftly combines elements of satire and humor along with a surprisingly philosophically complex view of Christianity and religious belief systems in general. This playful take on the issues of persecution and martyrdom is as timely today as it was when initially published a century ago. .No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)822.912Literature English & Old English literatures English drama 1900- 1900-1999 20th Century 1900-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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read as part of the Kindle omnibus The Plays of Shaw ( )