Abstract
The “foundling heir” is a folklore motif and traditional metadramatic device that Shaw used to add charm and humor to Major Barbara. But there’s much more: It’s the basis for “The Undershaft Inheritance,” a contrapuntal subplay in Major Barbara that exposes the fallacies in Andrew’s thinking.
There’s another Shavian treatment of “Undershaft inheritance” in Major Barbara—a series of maxims called “The Faith of an Armorer.” It’s both a performative document for the firm and part of its origin story. Rather than convincing us that Andrew Undershaft is a business genius, the “Undershaft inheritance” offers audiences a provocative debate about morality, with winning and losing points on both sides.
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Reynolds, J. (2022). The Undershaft Inheritance. In: Language and Metadrama in Major Barbara and Pygmalion. Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96071-1_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96071-1_6
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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