Eguria

                 Bernard Shaw: Arms and the Man   AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND             George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright, was born on July 26, 1856.   His father, George Carr Shaw, was a low income earner, a drunkard who was incapable of supporting his family – wife and three children.   Bernard’s mother left Dublin for London because of the poverty of her husband, and became a music teacher.   Bernard could not follow his mother then, because he was in school.   It is this family background that pushed him to the search for true independence.   At fifteen, he worked as a clerk and cashier in a land agent’s office.   After doing four years on this job, he moved to London to join his mother.   His mother gave singing lessons while Lucy, his sister, was a singer who had several notable operas to her ...

OLIVER GOLDSMITH: SHE STOOPS to CONQUER (SUMMARIES OF ACTS AND SCENES) ACT 1 SCENE 1 The setting is a room in the Hardcastle’s house in the countryside. Mrs. Hardcastle presents her grievance to her husband for not traveling out of their local domain. She represents the English wealthy class who has passion for traveling; Mr. Hardcastle has a different view of traveling to the city as it brings vanity and affectation. The woman also complain of living in ‘an old rumbling mansion’ which looks like an inn and that the only visitors they have are the usual local old people, coupled with the hearing of only the same old war stories from her husband.   Mr. Hardcastle replies that he loves anything that is old and even pretty fond of an old wife. Here Mrs. Hardcastle protests because she does not want to be referred to as old. She claims to be 40 years when her husband humorously calculates 20 plus 20 to be 57 as her age. The dialogue shift to Tony and Mr. Hardcastle reacts ...

OLIVER GOLDSMITH: SHE STOOPS to CONQUER (ABOUT THE PLAY) AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND              Goldsmith was born in Ireland, in 1728 of Anglo-Irish parents. His father, Charles Goldsmith, was a poor clergyman. Oliver was not a handsome boy because he had a small-pox scarred face which was always an object of ridicule by his peer. This made his childhood altogether unhappy. He started school very early and by the age of sixteen, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a sizar – an undergraduate who receives assistance from the college for his maintenance     . He left Dublin in 1749 with a pass degree after a career that was not particularly smooth. In spite of his poverty, Oliver was like his father, generous and kind almost to a fault. When his father died (1747), he managed to continue his studies through the help of his uncle. His father had wanted him to be a pastor like himself, but he was rejected by the...