Getting Married

Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 331K words
Chapters: 34

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Getting Married by Bernard ShawAuthor: Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 1, 2004

Editor's review

Getting Married is a 1908 play by Bernard Shaw that debates marriage as an institution, prenuptial agreements, divorce, and the economic relations between the sexes. It exemplifies Shaw's "problem play" method: characters take turns stating their views in drawing rooms and at banquets, plot gives way to clashes of ideas, and the satire targets the hypocrisy of contemporary British marriage law and social custom. Readers will find Shaw's witty dialogue, irony, and tradition of long prefaces, and will sense Edwardian intellectuals' anxiety about institutional reform. It is not a warm love story but a social debate in comic dress, suited to readers interested in theater history, the history of social thought, or Shaw's style. Because the argumentation is dense, first-time readers may treat the characters as spokespeople for different positions rather than seeking plot suspense.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Shaw's plays and the British problem play
Readers studying the social and intellectual history of marriage, gender, and economic relations
Readers who enjoy witty dialogue and debates of ideas and do not depend on strong plot
Students needing a public-domain text for an English drama reading course

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a romantic love plot and emotional immersion
Novel readers who prefer tight plotting and action
Beginners with little patience for long argumentative dialogue

Reading tips

Learn first about early twentieth-century British marriage law and divorce, then enter the debate
List the main characters by position and track changes in their arguments while reading to avoid confusion
Read Shaw's prefatory material for the play first to grasp his critical concerns
Read act by act and, after each act, restate the core points of contention to check whether you have followed the argument

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Does the play have a coherent love plot?

It does not center on the development of a romance. Instead, through scenes of marriage negotiations and wedding preparations, it lets different characters express views on marriage as an institution, property, and divorce. Plot serves the clash of ideas, and the romantic element is limited. Readers expecting an emotional storyline should adjust their expectations; those interested in debate will find that the play's appeal.

Can I understand it without knowing British marriage law?

You can read it, but some of the satire will land less sharply. The play's arguments involve prenuptial agreements, grounds for divorce, and women's economic status at the time. It is advisable first to read a brief overview of British marriage-law reform in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; with that institutional background, the irony in the dialogue becomes much clearer.

Is this an early or late work by Shaw?

The play premiered in 1908, in the middle period of Shaw's career, when he had already developed his mature "problem play" method: comic scenes carrying social criticism, usually with a long preface setting out his views. The source material gives only the author and public-domain information; for differences among specific editions, consult the e-book you are reading.

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About the author

Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950 Author

Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was an Irish playwright and critic. Public information about the details of his life is limited, yet his works have had a profound influence. The collection here contains 53 of his works, covering drama, criticism, and discursive essays. His representative works include Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Man and Superman, Candida, Caesar and Cleopatra, Major Barbara, and Arms and the Man. His plays often use witty, sharp dialogue to explore such issues as social class, gender relations, moral hypocrisy, and idealism, combining comic tension with argumentative force to form a distinctive style of drama of ideas. Shaw was skilled at presenting conflicts of ideas through exchanges between characters, turning the stage into a place of public discussion and exerting an important influence on the development of modern English-language drama.