George Bernard Shaw

Born in Dublin in 1856 to a middle-class Protestant family bearing pretensions to nobility

(Shaw's embarrassing alcoholic father claimed to be descended from Macduff, the slayer of Macbeth),
George Bernard Shaw grew to become what some consider the second greatest English playwright,
behind only Shakespeare. Others most certainly disagree with such an assessment, but few question
Shaw's immense talent or the play's that talent produced. Shaw died at the age of 94, a hypochondriac,
socialist, anti-vaccinationist, semi-feminist vegetarian who believed in the Life Force and only wore
wool. He left behind him a truly massive corpus of work including about 60 plays, 5 novels, 3 volumes of
music criticism, 4 volumes of dance and theatrical criticism, and heaps of social commentary, political
theory, and voluminous correspondence. And this list does not include the opinions that Shaw could
always be counted on to hold about any topic, and which this flamboyant public figure was always most
willing to share. Shaw's most lasting contribution is no doubt his plays, and it has been said that "a day
never passes without a performance of some Shaw play being given somewhere in the world." One of
Shaw's greatest contributions as a modern dramatist is in establishing drama as serious literature,
negotiating publication deals for his highly popular plays so as to convince the public that the play was no
less important than the novel. In that way, he created the conditions for later playwrights to write
seriously for the theatre.
PYGMALION
Of all of Shaw's plays, Pygmalion is without the doubt the most beloved and popularly received,
if not the most significant in literary terms. Several film versions have been made of the play, and it has
even been adapted into a musical. In fact, writing the screenplay for the film version of 1938 helped Shaw
to become the first and only man ever to win the much coveted Double: the Nobel Prize for literature and
an Academy Award. Shaw wrote the part of Eliza in Pygmalion for the famous actress Mrs. Patrick
Campbell, with whom Shaw was having a prominent affair at the time that had set all of London abuzz.
The aborted romance between Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle reflects Shaw's own love life, which
was always peppered with enamoured and beautiful women, with whom he flirted outrageously but with
whom he almost never had any further relations. For example, he had a long marriage to Charlotte PayneTownsend in which it is well known that he never touched her once. The fact that Shaw was quietly a
member of the British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology, an organization whose core members
were young men agitating for homosexual liberation, might or might not inform the way that Higgins
would rather focus his passions on literature or science than on women. That Higgins was a representation
of Pygmalion, the character from the famous story of Ovid's Metamorphoses who is the very embodiment
of male love for the female form, makes Higgins sexual disinterest all the more compelling. Shaw is too
consummate a performer and too smooth in his self- presentation for us to neatly dissect his sexual
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background; these lean biographical facts, however, do support the belief that Shaw would have an
interest in exploding the typical structures of standard fairy tales.
SUMMARY
Two old gentlemen meet in the rain one night at Covent Garden. Professor Higgins is a scientist
of phonetics, and Colonel Pickering is a linguist of Indian dialects. The first bets the other that he can,
with his knowledge of phonetics, convince high London society that, in a matter of months, he will be
able to transform the cockney speaking Covent Garden flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into a woman as
poised and well-spoken as a duchess. The next morning, the girl appears at his laboratory on Wimpole
Street to ask for speech lessons, offering to pay a shilling, so that she may speak properly enough to work
in a flower shop. Higgins makes merciless fun of her, but is seduced by the idea of working his magic on
her. Pickering goads him on by agreeing to cover the costs of the experiment if Higgins can pass Eliza off
as a duchess at an ambassador's garden party. The challenge is taken, and Higgins starts by having his
housekeeper bathe Eliza and give her new clothes. Then Eliza's father Alfred Doolittle comes to demand
the return of his daughter, though his real intention is to hit Higgins up for some money. The professor,
amused by Doolittle's unusual rhetoric, gives him five pounds. On his way out, the dustman fails to
recognize the now clean, pretty flower girl as his daughter.
For a number of months, Higgins trains Eliza to speak properly. Two trials for Eliza follow. The
first occurs at Higgins' mother's home, where Eliza is introduced to the Eynsford Hills, a trio of mother,
daughter, and son. The son Freddy is very attracted to her, and further taken with what he thinks is her
affected "small talk" when she slips into cockney. Mrs. Higgins worries that the experiment will lead to
problems once it is ended, but Higgins and Pickering are too absorbed in their game to take heed. A
second trial, which takes place some months later at an ambassador's party (and which is not actually
staged), is a resounding success. The wager is definitely won, but Higgins and Pickering are now bored
with the project, which causes Eliza to be hurt. She throws Higgins' slippers at him in a rage because she
does not know what is to become of her, thereby bewildering him. He suggests she marry somebody. She
returns him the hired jewelry, and he accuses her of ingratitude.
The following morning, Higgins rushes to his mother, in a panic because Eliza has run away. On
his tail is Eliza's father, now unhappily rich from the trust of a deceased millionaire who took to heart
Higgins' recommendation that Doolittle was England's "most original moralist." Mrs. Higgins, who has
been hiding Eliza upstairs all along, chides the two of them for playing with the girl's affections. When
she enters, Eliza thanks Pickering for always treating her like a lady, but threatens Higgins that she will
go work with his rival phonetician, Nepommuck. The outraged Higgins cannot help but start to admire
her. As Eliza leaves for her father's wedding, Higgins shouts out a few errands for her to run, assuming
that she will return to him at Wimpole Street. Eliza, who has a lovelorn sweetheart in Freddy, and the
wherewithal to pass as a duchess, never makes it clear whether she will or not.
CHARACTERS
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Professor Henry Higgins - Henry Higgins is a professor of phonetics who plays Pygmalion to
Eliza Doolittle's Galatea. He is the author of Higgins' Universal Alphabet, believes in concepts like visible
speech, and uses all manner of recording and photographic material to document his phonetic subjects,
reducing people and their dialects into what he sees as readily understandable units. He is an
unconventional man, who goes in the opposite direction from the rest of society in most matters. Indeed,
he is impatient with high society, forgetful in his public graces, and poorly considerate of normal social
niceties--the only reason the world has not turned against him is because he is at heart a good and
harmless man. His biggest fault is that he can be a bully.
Eliza Doolittle - "She is not at all a romantic figure." So is she introduced in Act I. Everything
about Eliza Doolittle seems to defy any conventional notions we might have about the romantic heroine.
When she is transformed from a sassy, smart-mouthed kerbstone flower girl with deplorable English, to a
(still sassy) regal figure fit to consort with nobility, it has less to do with her innate qualities as a heroine
than with the fairy-tale aspect of the transformation myth itself. In other words, the character of Eliza
Doolittle comes across as being much more instrumental than fundamental. The real (re-)making of Eliza
Doolittle happens after the ambassador's party, when she decides to make a statement for her own dignity
against Higgins' insensitive treatment. This is when she becomes, not a duchess, but an independent
woman; and this explains why Higgins begins to see Eliza not as a mill around his neck but as a creature
worthy of his admiration.
Colonel Pickering - Colonel Pickering, the author of Spoken Sanskrit, is a match for Higgins
(although somewhat less obsessive) in his passion for phonetics. But where Higgins is a boorish, careless
bully, Pickering is always considerate and a genuinely gentleman. He says little of note in the play, and
appears most of all to be a civilized foil to Higgins' barefoot, absentminded crazy professor. He helps in
the Eliza Doolittle experiment by making a wager of it, saying he will cover the costs of the experiment if
Higgins does indeed make a convincing duchess of her. However, while Higgins only manages to teach
Eliza pronunciations, it is Pickering's thoughtful treatment towards Eliza that teaches her to respect
herself.
Alfred Doolittle - Alfred Doolittle is Eliza's father, an elderly but vigorous dustman who has had
at least six wives and who "seems equally free from fear and conscience." When he learns that his
daughter has entered the home of Henry Higgins, he immediately pursues to see if he can get some money
out of the circumstance. His unique brand of rhetoric, an unembarrassed, unhypocritical advocation of
drink and pleasure (at other people's expense), is amusing to Higgins. Through Higgins' joking
recommendation, Doolittle becomes a richly endowed lecturer to a moral reform society, transforming
him from lowly dustman to a picture of middle class morality--he becomes miserable. Throughout, Alfred
is a scoundrel who is willing to sell his daughter to make a few pounds, but he is one of the few
unaffected characters in the play, unmasked by appearance or language. Though scandalous, his speeches

are honest. At points, it even seems that he might be Shaw's voice piece of social criticism (Alfred's
proletariat status, given Shaw's socialist leanings, makes the prospect all the more likely).
Mrs. Higgins - Professor Higgins' mother, Mrs. Higgins is a stately lady in her sixties who sees
the Eliza Doolittle experiment as idiocy, and Higgins and Pickering as senseless children. She is the first
and only character to have any qualms about the whole affair. When her worries prove true, it is to her
that all the characters turn. Because no woman can match up to his mother, Higgins claims, he has no
interest in dallying with them. To observe the mother of Pygmalion (Higgins), who completely
understands all of his failings and inadequacies, is a good contrast to the mythic proportions to which
Higgins builds himself in his self-estimations as a scientist of phonetics and a creator of duchesses.
Freddy Eynsford Hill - Higgins' surmise that Freddy is a fool is probably accurate. In the
opening scene he is a spineless and resourceless lackey to his mother and sister. Later, he is comically
bowled over by Eliza, the half-baked duchess who still speaks cockney. He becomes lovesick for Eliza,
and courts her with letters. At the play's close, Freddy serves as a young, viable marriage option for Eliza,
making the possible path she will follow unclear to the reader.

CAESAR & CLEOPATRA

Caesar and Cleopatra, a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw, was first staged in 1901
and first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in his 1901
collection, Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed at Newcastle upon Tyne on March 15, 1899.
London production was at the Savoy Theatre in 1907.
The play has a prologue and an "Alternative to the Prologue". The prologue consists of the
Egyptian god Ra addressing the audience directly, as if he could see them in the theatre (i.e., breaking
the fourth wall). He says that Pompey represents the old Rome and Caesar represents the new Rome. The
gods favoured Caesar, according to Ra, because he "lived the life they had given him boldly". Ra recounts
the conflict between Caesar and Pompey, their battle at Pharsalia, and Pompey's eventual assassination in
Egypt at the hands of Lucius Septimius.
In "An Alternative to the Prologue", the captain of Cleopatra's guard is warned that Caesar has
landed and is invading Egypt. Cleopatra has been driven into Syria by her brother, Ptolemy, with whom
she is vying for the Egyptian throne. The messenger warns that Caesar's conquest is inevitable and
irresistible. A Nubian watchman flees to Cleopatra's palace and warns those inside that Caesar and his
armies are less than an hour away. The guards, knowing of Caesar's weakness for women, plan to
persuade him to proclaim Cleopatrawho may be controllableEgypt's ruler instead of Ptolemy. They
try to locate her, but are told by Cleopatra's nurse, Ftatateeta, that she has run away.
Act I opens with Cleopatra sleeping between the paws of a Sphinx. Caesar, wandering lonely in
the desert night, comes upon the sphinx and speaks to it profoundly. Cleopatra wakes and, still unseen,
replies. At first Caesar imagines the sphinx is speaking in a girlish voice, then, when Cleopatra appears,
4

that he is experiencing a dream or, if he is awake, a touch of madness. She, not recognizing Caesar, thinks
him a nice old man and tells him of her childish fear of Caesar and the Romans. Caesar urges bravery
when she must face the conquerors, then escorts her to her palace. Cleopatra reluctantly agrees to
maintain a queenly presence, but greatly fears that Caesar will eat her anyway. When the Roman guards
arrive and hail Caesar, Cleopatra suddenly realizes he has been with her all along. She sobs in relief, and
falls into his arms.
Act II. In a hall on the first floor of the royal palace in Alexandria, Caesar meets King Ptolemy
(aged ten), his tutor Theodotus (very aged), Achilles (general of Ptolemy's troops), and Pothinus (his
guardian). Caesar greets all with courtesy and kindness, but inflexibly demands a tribute whose amount
disconcerts the Egyptians. As an inducement, Caesar says he will settle the dispute between the claimants
for the Egyptian throne by letting Cleopatra and Ptolemy reign jointly. However, the rivalry exists
because, even though the two are siblings and already married in accordance with the royal law, they
detest each other with a mutual antipathy no less murderous for being childish. Each claims sole
rulership. Caesar's solution is acceptable to none and his concern for Ptolemy makes Cleopatra fiercely
jealous.
The conference deteriorates into a dispute, with the Egyptians threatening military action. Caesar,
with two legions (three thousand soldiers and a thousand horsemen), has no fear of the Egyptian army but
learns Achilles also commands a Roman army of occupation, left after a previous Roman incursion,
which could overwhelm his relatively small contingent.
As a defensive measure, Caesar orders Rufio, his military aide, to take over the palace, a theatre
adjacent to it, and Pharos, an island in the harbour accessible from the palace via a causeway that divides
the harbour into eastern and western sections. From Pharos, which has a defensible lighthouse at its east
most tip, those of Caesar's ships anchored on the east side of the harbour can return to Rome. His ships on
the west side are to be burnt at once. Britannus, Caesar's secretary, proclaims the king and courtiers
prisoners of war, but Caesar, to the dismay of Rufio, allows the captives to depart. Only Cleopatra (with
her retinue), fearing Ptolemy's associates, and Pothinus (for reasons of his own), choose to remain with
Caesar. The others all depart.
Caesar, intent on developing his strategy, tries to dismiss all other matters but is interrupted by
Cleopatra's nagging for attention. He indulges her briefly while she speaks amorously of Mark Antony,
who restored her father to his throne when she was twelve years old. Her gushing about the youth and
beauty of Mark Antony are unflattering to Caesar, who is middle-aged and balding. Caesar nevertheless,
impervious to jealousy, makes Cleopatra happy by promising to send Mark Antony back to Egypt. As she
leaves, a wounded soldier comes to report that Achilles, with his Roman army, is at hand and that the
citizenry is attacking Caesar's soldiers. A siege is imminent.
Watching from a balcony, Rufio discovers the ships he was ordered to destroy have been torched
by Achilles' forces and are already burning. Meanwhile, Theodotus, the savant, arrives distraught,
anguished because fire from the blazing ships has spread to the Alexandrian library. Caesar does not
sympathize, saying it is better that the Egyptians should live their lives than dream them away with the
5

help of books. As a practicality, he notes the Egyptian firefighters will be diverted from attacking Caesar's
soldiers. At scene's end, Cleopatra and Britannus help Caesar don his armour and he goes forth to battle.
Act III. A Roman sentinel stationed on the quay in front of the palace looks intently, across the
eastern harbour, to the west, for activity at the Pharos lighthouse, now captured and occupied by Caesar.
He is watching for signs of an impending counter-attack by Egyptian forces arriving via ship and by way
of the Heptastadion (a stone causeway spanning the five miles of open water between the mainland and
Pharos Island). The sentinel's vigil is interrupted by Ftatateeta (Cleopatra's nurse) and Apollodorus the
Sicilian (a patrician amateur of the arts), accompanied by a retinue of porters carrying a bale of carpets,
from which Cleopatra is to select a gift appropriate for Caesar.
Cleopatra emerges from the palace, shows little interest in the carpets, and expresses a desire to
visit Caesar at the lighthouse. The sentinel tells her she is a prisoner and orders her back inside the palace.
Cleopatra is enraged, and Apollodorus, as her champion, engages in swordplay with the sentinel. A
centurion intervenes and avers Cleopatra will not be allowed outside the palace until Caesar gives the
order. She is sent back to the palace, where she may select a carpet for delivery to Caesar. Apollodorus,
who is not a prisoner, will deliver it since he is free to travel in areas behind the Roman lines. He hires a
small boat, with a single boatman, for the purpose.
The porters leave the palace bearing a rolled carpet. They complain about its weight, but only
Ftatateeta, suffering paroxysms of anxiety, knows that Cleopatra is hidden in the bundle. The sentinel,
however, alerted by Ftatateeta's distress, becomes suspicious and attempts, unsuccessfully, to recall the
boat after it departs.
Meanwhile, Rufio, eating dates and resting after the day's battle, hears Caesar speaking somberly
of his personal misgivings and predicting they will lose the battle because age has rendered him inept.
Rufio diagnoses Caesar's woes as signs of hunger and gives him dates to eat. Caesar's outlook brightens
as he eats them. He is himself again when Britannus exultantly approaches bearing a heavy bag
containing incriminating letters that have passed between Pompey's associates and their army, now
occupying Egypt. Caesar scorns to read them, deeming it better to convert his enemies to friends than to
waste his time with prosecutions; he casts the bag into the sea.
As Cleopatra's boat arrives, the falling bag breaks its prow and it quickly sinks, barely allowing
time for Apollodorus to drag the carpet and its queenly contents safe ashore. Caesar unrolls the carpet and
discovers Cleopatra, who is distressed because of the rigors of her journey and even more so when she
finds Caesar too preoccupied with military matters to accord her much attention. Matters worsen when
Britannus, who has been observing the movements of the Egyptian army, reports that the enemy now
controls the causeway and is also approaching rapidly across the island. Swimming to a Roman ship in
the eastern harbour becomes the sole possibility for escape. Apollodorus dives in readily and Caesar
follows, after privately instructing Rufio and Britannus to toss Cleopatra into the water so she can hang
on while he swims to safety. They do so with great relish, she screaming mightily, and then Rufio takes
the plunge. Britannus cannot swim, so he is instructed to defend himself as well as possible until a rescue
can be arranged. A friendly craft soon rescues all the swimmers.
6

Act IV. Six months elapse with Romans and Cleopatra besieged in the palace in Alexandria.
Cleopatra and Pothinus, who is a prisoner of war, discuss what will happen when Caesar eventually
leaves and disagree over whether Cleopatra or Ptolemy should rule. They part; Cleopatra to be hostess at
a feast prepared for Caesar and his lieutenants, and Pothinus to tell Caesar that Cleopatra is a traitress who
is only using Caesar to help her gain the Egyptian throne. Caesar considers that a natural motive and is
not offended. But Cleopatra is enraged at Pothinus' allegation and secretly orders her nurse, Ftatateeta, to
kill him.
At the feast the mood is considerably restrained by Caesar's ascetic preference for simple fare and
barley water versus exotic foods and wines. However, conversation grows lively when world-weary
Caesar suggests to Cleopatra they both leave political life, search out the Nile's source and a city there.
Cleopatra enthusiastically agrees and, to name the city, seeks help from the God of the Nile, who is her
favourite god.
The festivities are interrupted by a scream, followed by a thud: Pothinus has been murdered and
his body thrown from the roof down to the beach. The besieging Egyptians, both army and civilian, are
enraged by the killing of Pothinus, who was a popular hero, and they begin to storm the palace. Cleopatra
claims responsibility for the slaying and Caesar reproaches her for taking short-sighted vengeance,
pointing out that his clemency towards Pothinus and the other prisoners has kept the enemy at bay. Doom
seems inevitable, but then they learn that reinforcements, commanded by Mithridates of Pergamos have
engaged the Egyptian army. With the threat diminished, Caesar draws up a battle plan and leaves to speak
to the troops. Meanwhile, Rufio realizes Ftatateeta was Pothinus' killer, so he kills her in turn. Cleopatra
left alone and utterly forlorn discovers the bloodied body concealed behind a curtain.
Act V is an epilogue. Amidst great pomp and ceremony, Caesar prepares to leave for Rome. His
forces have swept Ptolemy's armies into the Nile, and Ptolemy himself was drowned when his barge sank.
Caesar appoints Rufio governor of the province and considers freedom for Britannus, who declines the
offer in favour of remaining Caesar's servant. A conversation ensues that foreshadows Caesar's eventual
assassination. As the gangplank is being extended from the quay to Caesar's ship, Cleopatra, dressed in
mourning for her nurse, arrives. She accuses Rufio of murdering Ftatateeta. Rufio admits the slaying, but
says it was not for the sake of punishment, revenge or justice: he killed her without malice because she
was a potential menace. Caesar approves the execution because it was not influenced by spurious
moralism. Cleopatra remains unforgiving until Caesar renews his promise to send Mark Antony to Egypt.
That renders her ecstatic as the ship starts moving out to sea.
THEMES
Shaw wants to prove that it was not love but politics that drew Cleopatra to Julius Caesar. He sees
the Roman occupation of ancient Egypt as similar to the British occupation that was occurring during his
time. Caesar understands the importance of good government, and values these things above art and love.
Shaw's philosophy has often been compared to that of Nietzsche. Their shared admiration for men
of action shows itself in Shaw's description of Caesar's struggle with Pompey. In the prologue, the

god Ra says, "the blood and iron ye pin your faith on fell before the spirit of man; for the spirit of man is
the will of the gods."
A second theme, apparent both from the text of the play itself and from Shaw's lengthy notes after
the play, is Shaw's belief that people have not been morally improved by civilization and technology. A
line from the prologue clearly illustrates this point. The god Ra addresses the audience and says, "ye shall
marvel, after your ignorant manner, that men twenty centuries ago were already just such as you, and
spoke and lived as ye speak and live, no worse and no better, no wiser and no sillier."
Another theme is the value of clemency. Caesar remarks that he will not stoop to vengeance when
confronted with Septimius, the murderer of Pompey. Caesar throws away letters that would have
identified his enemies in Rome, instead choosing to try to win them to his side. Pothinus remarks that
Caesar doesn't torture his captives. At several points in the play, Caesar lets his enemies go instead of
killing them. The wisdom of this approach is revealed when Cleopatra orders her nurse to
kill Pothinus because of his "treachery and disloyalty" (but really because of his insults to her). This
probably contrasts with historical fact. The murder enrages the Egyptian crowd, and but for Mithridates'
reinforcements would have meant the death of all the protagonists. Caesar only endorses the retaliatory
murder of Cleopatra's nurse because it was necessary and humane.
CHARACTERS
Julius Caesar, the dictator of Rome and conqueror of the world. A middle-aged, rather prosaic
man, he meets the childish Cleopatra on a moonlit night in the desert. Although fascinated and rather
amused by the beautiful child, he is too practical and detached to be enthralled by her charms. He forces
her out of her childishness and teaches her statecraft that makes her truly the queen of Egypt.
Cleopatra, the sixteen-year-old queen of Egypt. An excitable schoolgirl, she is at war with her
husband-brother, Ptolemy Dionysus, for the crown. She believes herself to be in love with the elderly
Caesar, who forces her to assume her dignity as queen, but she really loves only herself. At the end of the
play, she is looking forward to the arrival of the young and handsome Antony.
Ptolemy Dionysus, Cleopatras brother, husband, and rival for her crown, killed in battle against
Caesar.
Ftatateeta, Cleopatras bullying and savage nurse, against whom the queen finally revolts, at
Caesars instigation. She is killed by Rufio.
Britannus, Caesars secretary. The eternal Englishman, conventional and easily shocked, he is
doggedly faithful to Caesar.
Rufio, a Roman officer and the slayer of Ftatateeta.
Pothinus, Ptolemy Dionysus guardian. He plots against Caesar and, at Cleopatras instigation, is
killed by Ftatateeta.
Apollodorus, a Sicilian.
Caesar & Cleopatra
Caesar is one of the best brain children of Shaw. Caesar and Cleopatra is purely an antiromantic comedy. In this play Shaw tries to establish the principle that passion in its various aspects
8

must be disciplined and controlled by reason. He presents Caesar as a man of practical wisdom, a man of
reconciliation and a man who is master of his mind.
The central theme of the play Caesar & Cleopatra is the wickedness and futility
of revenge. Shaws aim was neither to present Cleopatra as an immortal lover nor to idealise Caesar as
a mighty warrior and the conqueror of the world. Shaws Caesar is tired of war. As an iconoclast, Shaw
wants to break the idealism on war and revenge. So he presents Caesar as a man of clemency and
a messenger of the Life Force. As he does in his other plays, Shaw uses his sword against sentimentalism,
revenge and romantic illusions on war.
Shaw tries to give Caesar the justice that Shakespeare denied him. He makes deviations from
history in order to project him as the greatest man that ever lived. History tells us and Shakespeare
supports it that Caesar fell a prey to the charms of Cleopatra, the serpent queen of the Nile. But
Shaw ignores these facts to project Caesars greatness as a man and this makes Caesar and Cleopatra an
anti-romantic comedy.
Shaws Caesar is bold and anti-romantic. He is not infatuated with Cleopatra. Caesar transforms
her. He makes her a real queen from a timid teenage girl. She becomes a woman, from a kitten to a cat.
Caesar shows the characteristics of Fabianism. He is against revenge. In the climax of the play in
ACT IV, he expresses murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until
the gods are fired of blood and create a race that can understand. Shaws plea for an evolutionary
change is revealed here.
Like Bluntchli in Arms and the Man, Caesar expresses Shaws anti-idealism. In the end of Act
II of the play, Caesar speaks to Cleopatra, No Cleopatra, No man goes to battle to be killed. Caesar
is against killing. He never accepts the killing of Pompey by Lucius. As Shaw tells in his notes on Caesar,
Caesar is greater off the battle field than on it.
In the fourth act of the drama, Caesar clearly proves that he is the spokesman of Shaw Caesar and
Cleopatra are more as symbols of opposing standards of conduct than as persons that they stay in
memory. He is the instruments of the Life Force.
Caesar is not romantic before Cleopatra. She wants to use Caesar to terminate her enemies. But
Caesar is not so. Cleopatra is only a foil to Caesar. Shaw stresses on the genius of Caesar and not on the
beauty of Cleopatra.
1. My way hither was the way of destiny; for I am he of whose serious you are the symbol part brute, part
woman and part god. Or What a dream! What a magnificent dream! (p. 28)
Caesar and Cleopatra, included in the volume called Three plays for puritans, is one of the
anti-romantic plays of Shaw. In this play, Shaw presents Caesar as a man of clemency, one who is against
revenge war and violence. In the first act of the play Caesar is in the Syrian Desert in search of his rival
Pompey. He is before Sphinx, a huge monster with a lions body and a womans face and head. Caesar
compares himself with the Sphinx in greatness.

The Sphinx is described as a symbol of his own greatness. He is part brute because he is a fighter.
He fights and kills people. He is part woman, because, he is gentle. He claims that there is nothing of
man in him. He has a sort of spiritual kinship with the sphinx.
Shaw introduces Caesar as a strong man with reason, clemency and gentleness.
Caesar

is

awakened

by

the

words

of

Cleopatra

who

hides

behind

the

Sphinx. She introduces herself as the Queen of Egypt. She calls him old gentleman. She wants him to
hide there or Romans will eat him. Now Caesar tells that he does not want to wake up. He wants
to remain in the dream, for which he would pay ten continents as the price.
2. This is why my hair is so wavy. That is because my blood is made with Nile water (p. 29)
Caesar does not disclose his identity to Cleopatra. She wants to know whether he has seen the
white cat which she had brought to be sacrificed to the Sphinx. She asks Caesar whether the white
cat could be her great great-great-grandmother. Then she says that her greatgreatgrand mother was
a black kitten of the sacred white cat. She was the seventh wife of the Nile God. Her blood is made with
Nile water that is why she is so.
The passage reveals the popular ancient stories on Egyptian Ancestry.
3. Woe to the vanquished, Caesar! When I served Pompey, I slew as good men as he, only because
he conquered them. His turn came at last (p. 50) Or Did not I as a Roman, share his glory?.... Am I Julius
Caesar, or am I a wolf, that you thing to memight Roman. My gratitude. (p.50).
In

Act

II

of

the

secretary Britannus. Caesar wants

play

Caesar

Pothinus to

is
pay

in

the

palace

him Egypts

of

debt to

Alexandria
Rome i.e.

with

his

1600 talents.

Rufio declares that all are Caesars Prisoners. Caesar shows his clemency and allows them all to
go free. Then Pothinus says that it is for Caesar to go. Caesar would have been at the mercy of the Roman
army of occupation led by Achilles. To prove, he calls Lucius who had killed Pompey. Lucius says that he
placed Pompeys head at Caesars feet, with the same hand.
Caesar then asks Lucius whether he would not have killed Caesar himself, if Pompey had
been Victorious. Lucius replies that he would kill the vanquished man and serve the bigger man.
Pompeys turn came at last.
When Pothinus speaks , Caesar laughs at the idea of revenge. He says he does not approve the
killing of Pompey that he shared the glory of Pompey his own friend and son-in law.
The words of Caesar show that he is against revenge and killing which is the main stream in the
play.
4. Why should the slayer of Pompey. (p. 51) Or Caesar is no Caesarian Republicans (p. 51)
Lucius Condemns Caesar for killing Vercingetorix, the chief of a rebellious tribe of Gaul. Caesar
replies that it was done in the interest of the common wealth and not out of vengeance. He offers Lucius a
place in his service which Lucius rejects.
He believes that Caesar would be defeated. Now Rufio comments that Lucius is a Republican
while he is a Caesarian. Then Caesar corrects that he is not a Caesarian i.e. a despot. He would be

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a Republican if Rome were a true Republic. Caesar, the spokesman of Shaw speaks as a true man of
reason who is against war, revenge and killing.
5. Clemency is very well for you, but. Thanks to your Clemency
Rufio and Britannus are of the view that if the prisoners are let free, they would become
dangerous in future. Those who are released by Caesar will join the enemy group of Pothinus. Rufio
reminds Caesar that they do not share Caesars clemency.
Caesar acts as a diplomat here. He shows practical wisdom. If the prisoners are not released, each
prisoner will have to be guarded by two of his soldiers.
6. It is not the lion I fear, but the jackal. (p. 52)
Rufio is ready to send the released Egyptians out of the palace. Caesar notices Ptolemy alone sits
in the hall. He asks Caesar whether he will also be sent out. Caesar wants him to escape from the lions
mouth. Then Ptolemy says that he is not afraid of the lion (i.e. straight forward Caesar) but the jackal (i.e.
Rufie).
7. Mine is a temple of the arts Art for Arts sake
At the beginning of the third act Roman guards in front of the palace stop Apollodrous and the
Egyptian soldiers, who carry carpets to the Queen. The guards have contempt for art. They ask him
whether he is a merchant. Apollodorus replies that he is a noble man. He is a worshipper od beauty who
collects beautiful objects of art for beautiful Queens. His motto is Art for Arts sake.
The Slogan Art for Arts sake was there in England led by writers like Oscar Wilde and Walter
Pater.
8. When a stupid man is doing . That is his duty. Or Who says artist Caesar himself, you are prisons
Towards the end of the third act of the play Cleopatra comes to the quay to go to the lighthouse
in a boat to see Caesar. But she and Apollodorus are stopped by Roman guards. Apollodorous is about to
fight. Cleopatra clears that she will not go back to palace. She enquires whether Caesars guards have
become illmannered. The centurion guard replies that he is doing his duty as ordered. Then
Apollodorus comments that every fool will justify his action. He wants Cleopatra to return to the
palace. He would get orders for her release from Caesar.
The words reveal Shaws humour
9. Now Caesar has made me wise . But it is greatness Or If Caesar were gone, I could govern the
Pothinus wants Cleopatra whether she is infatuated with Caesar as it is said. Cleopatra replies that
is it

not so. If

it is

so she

wishes she

were made foolish. She was once foolish but Caesar

has made her wise. She does what she has to do. That does not make her happy, but that leads her
to greatness.
Cleopatra believes that she would be able to govern Egypt when Caesar returns to Rome. Caesars
acquaintance has gained her wisdom and courage to rule Egypt.
Cleopatras words reveal what extent Caesar has changed her.
10. And so, to the end of history murder she will breed murder Crate a race that can understand. (p.
108)
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In the fourth act of the play, Cleopatra tells Rufio that Pothinus was murdered by her order. Rufio,
Lucius

and

Britannus

consider

her

action

to

be

right.

But

Caesar

criticizes

it.

He

describes why he is against murder. He says that with the murder of Pothinus people will be against
Cleopatra. Then Caesar will kill them for murdering their Queen. Then people might kill him in
turn. The murder will produce murder in the name of honour and peace. If so the gods will be tired of
murder and create another race which can understand life.
The words of Caesar show that he is really the spokesman of Shaw. The words clearly reveal that
the play is anti-romantic and Shaw is against war and killing.
Appollodorus is presented in Caesar and Cleopatra as a representative of art. He is a man from
Sicily, whose motto is Art for Arts sake. He sells beautiful carpets for beautiful queens. He pleases
Cleopatra with his flattery. He is bold and expert in sword also. When Caesar is trapped, it is
Appolodorous who shows the way of escaping by jumping in to the sea and swimming away. He
acts tactfully. It is Appollorodus who saves Cleopatra inside a carpet as a gift to Caesar. Caesar
acknowledges him for his service and ability. When Caesar leaves, he gives Appollodorus the charge of
art in Egypt.
Ftatateeta is the chief nurse of Cleopatra. She frightens Cleopatra and even beats her till the arrival
of Caesar to Egypt. Caesar understands her very easily. Ftatateeta is tall and wrinkle faced. Caesar
mispronounces her. She guesses that she is no match for Caesar. He makes her to obey Cleopatra .She is
sincere in her service to the queen. When Cleopatra is rolled up in the carpet to be taken to Caesar, she is
full of concern for her and prays sincerely. Ftateeta is bold and physically strong. She kills Pothinus and
throws his body over the palace wall. Rufio kills her in turn.
Rufio is the trusted body guard of Caesar. He is every inch a soldier. He has devoted loyalty
towards Caesar. He proclaims himself a Caesarian and he wants to be known as Caesars child. He is
always concerned about Caesars safe. When Caesar is threatened at the court of Ptolemy he fills the court
with Roman soldiers and announces them to be prisoners. He does not allow Caesar to touch
Appollodorus rolled carpet. Rufio knows very well about Caesars clemency and hatred for revenge. He
tells Caesar that he had killed Ftateeta without any malice. Though he is less practical compared to
Caesar, he is a powerful character.

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