Man and Superman

Man and Superman Summary | Dedication Summary

George Bernard Shaw's letter to Arthur Bingham Walkley is an epistle dedication to the play. Walkley asked Shaw, more than a decade before the play was written, why he had never written a Don Juan play. His question led to the creation of Man and Superman.

Shaw recounts the experiences he and Walkley had as critics, and he announces that he has finally written a Don Juan play, but he warns Walkley that it may not be what he is expecting. Shaw does not understand why the public is so interested in his plays, and he apologizes to Walkley for preaching.

Shaw finds all previous attempts to deal with the relationship between the sexes have been a failure. He is certain Walkley did not want him to write a trite Don Juan play as has been done in the past, so he had to spend time crafting the perfect Don Juan character. He then goes on to describe the essence of a Don Juan character as being "a man who though gifted enough to be exceptionally capable of distinguishing between good and evil, follows his own instincts."

Shaw acknowledges that the reader rarely ever gets the message the author intends. Therefore, he has outlined his intention. He reveals that he based his Don Juan on Mozart's version of Don Juan who he considers the last and possibly only great Don Juan. He then goes on to describe how all the world loves Byron's Don Juan, but Shaw does not consider Byron a great writer. He admits that Byron is better than Wordsworth is, but he is not a force like Shelley. Shaw's Don Juan is now a play for the 20^th century. The story of Don Juan, in Shaw's opinion, is a full century out of date, and Shaw is ready to give it a facelift.

He says because the fundamental nature of women has changed so must the story. Women no longer cry for pity, rather they take social, legal, and political arms to win their battles.

Although Shaw doubts man ever was the victor of the battle of the sexes, he is positive man no longer claims any hold to victory. He claims that men's business is to keep status and position while women's business is to get married. Overall, he finds this a satisfying means of conducting society. Shaw does not think that the average artist can portray this complicated dynamic because the artist is uniquely absent from the complicated actions of ordinary men and women. Because the artist is absent from the dynamic of ordinary relationships, all the art he creates based on those relationships is flawed.

Shaw notes that most artists portray the man as the sexual initiator; however, he says that the business of sex is largely left to women. Although women are responsible for continuing the human race and marriage, the artist misses this point and incorrectly portrays the relationship. Thus the artist continues to portray these relationships in an incorrect formula of man pursing woman and being thwarted when in reality the relationship goes, according to Shaw, woman pursues, man resists, woman gets frustrated, man relents.

In Shaw's play, the woman pursues her cause, marriage, against all moral standards. Shaw says society's shock at his heroine's pursuit is just another example of man's hypocrisy because if women held the same moral standard as men, the human race would die out.

If literature portrayed real life instead of rejoicing in woman's illusory beauty, artists would fear women's pursuits. Thus, Shaw concludes that in the instance of sex, art does not imitate life. Shaw is going to change that with this play because although he has been refined by literature, he understands where everyone before him has gone wrong.

He acknowledges that there is a political aspect of the relationship between men and women, but he does not have time to fully deal with the political question in this play. He thinks that the masses have diluted politics because there are no more arranged marriages and interbreeding between political families. Although the masses have earned the right to enter the political fray, they obviously are not confident in their ability because they do not elect members of their own class to parliament. This highlights the class struggle that helps shape society.

Shaw remarks that our society is quickly following the road of Greece and Rome. He thinks the newspapers are inaugurating decadence and that the people are only interested in riches. He believes that society has given up on philosophy and following the truth and instead has become so selfish that our society is doomed to fall much in the same way ancient societies fell.

Shaw says he has incorporated many of his leanings in his play as other authors do, but he says he has taken it one step further than other authors have. Instead of just saying that his Don Juan is a pamphleteer, he has included his handbook as an appendix to the play in order to show the audience that his character has real ideas.

He admits that he has pillaged from many other authors, and he says he admires ancient authors more than he admires the romantics—a notion he thinks will surprise Walkley. All that being said, Shaw says the most important artistic determination is the author's opinion. Shaw says he has not relied, as so many authors do, on recreating another's style of writing but rather has created his own unique style. He ends his letter by hoping Walkley appreciates what he has written.