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

146 Bernard Shaw’s Remarkable Religion
tions plant in the original undercut her final acceptance of it. The unity of
father and daughter is made clearer while the ideological conflict of realism
and idealism is made more vital through the strengthening of Cusins.
There is no ambiguity about the philosophical meaning of the play: that is
clear and consistent. The only question remaining at the end of the play is
whether Cusins, the moralist, will change. Much depends on the answer. If
he does not, if we go on dividing the human race into the righteous and the
unrighteous, we will perpetuate evil rather than exterminate it. Barbara
knows you cannot cure evil by either hiding or punishing. Only by facing
it—with strength but without vindictiveness—can we begin to challenge
the multitude of social evils our bungled and hysterical attempts at civilization
have brought upon us. That is what Major Barbara is about.