Bernard Shaw's Remarkable Religion: A Faith That Fits the Facts

128 Bernard Shaw’s Remarkable Religion
perhaps even Barbara), others are not convinced (Marriage 75–79). Turco,
for example, believes that the play ultimately fails because Shaw does not
succeed in presenting Cusins as a clear advance over his predecessor. Most
critics now would reject Chesterton’s view that religion, represented by
Barbara, is defeated by materialism in the person of her father. Turco, in
particular, has noted the many similarities between father and daughter.
The difficulty is that critics are inclined to seek salvation in Cusins. Many
find this view appealing, and there is evidence in the play to support it, but
it is wrong. The play can be interpreted in a Hegelian manner, but Cusins
does not represent the synthesis that emerges from the play as a whole.
The real enemy is idealism, which is the refusal to look hard truths in the
eye. Like Candida, but on a much deeper level, Major Barbara develops a
conflict from an underlying unity, and the point is that the conflict is illusory
or unnecessary. Many of the complexities and apparent contradictions
are the result of the fact that the moral conflict, which first appears to
Cusins so unavoidable, is artificial. The play does not deny the existence of
evil, insisting emphatically that it cannot be avoided; it only denies the
possibility of isolating and destroying it. Evil is not something that can be
cut out like a cancer; it can only be transformed. It is part of us and we are
part of it. We can try to repudiate it as alien to us, and we will find that we
can do so only by choosing death over life, declaring a victory while accepting
annihilation. But the play does represent the defeat of idealism, and if,
like Chesterton, you are unable to see religion as other than a form of
idealism, you must perforce agree with him about the moral of the play.
From such a point of view the play must be unbearably pessimistic.
More important, much would appear irrelevant or incomprehensible, so
complete understanding demands a realistic point of view. The play’s purpose
is to show us the path to heaven, a path forever invisible to idealist
eyes. Only from the realist’s point of view do all of the pieces of the dramatic
picture—a map of the world and the spirit—fit meaningfully together.
Responsibilities and Choices
In Major Barbara, as in Shaw’s other plays, the issues develop through the
relationships of different sets of characters. One of Shaw’s favorite devices
is a triad of characters representing a range of approaches to a particular
ethical or social problem. They might be presented in the abstract, like the
Philistine, idealist, and realist of the Quintessence, or as three major char-