"Mrs. Warren's Profession" and Women in Society

Paper Summary:

"Mrs. Warren's Profession" by George Bernard Shaw is a play written in 1894. The roles that women play in this masterpiece show that Shaw was far ahead of his time in his thoughts about what women should do and be. The paper shows that in this work, Shaw presented a new vision of an intellectual, entrepreneurial woman and challenged the conventional roles imposed by society. He also included accounts of women victimized by a capitalist society and defended their rights to take whatever actions they had to in order to changer their circumstances even if that meant prostitution. The paper shows that in fact, Shaw's beliefs are consistent with modern-day feminism with only one exception. Shaw seemed to fear that a woman's independence and choice of a career had to come at the expense of something else, namely love and family. Nonetheless, "Mrs. Warren's Profession" is still revolutionary in comparison to the idealized Victorian version of what a woman should be.

From the Paper:

"Shaw's view that women must sacrifice love and relations with family members is the most disappointing aspect of his play. While the majority of his work represents a dramatic leap forward for women in the Victorian time, he hasn't allowed for women to progress in their intellectual growth and entrepreneurship without a consequence. He seems to support their advancement, but is at the same time, afraid of it. This is apparent in Praed's questions to Vivie, "What happens to the world of chivalry, feeling, and beauty in the modern business world? Does practicality not appear more viable than romance in a world where sentiment has been reduced to sentimentality?" Regrettably, these concerns are still present in today's society where it's argued that a woman going to work will negatively impact the unity of the family and the nurturing of their children."

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