sordidness, to disinterestedness by the picture of selfishness, to
illusion by disillusionment? It is impossible to believe that he is
unconscious of the humor of his dramatic situations, yet he stoically
gives no sign. He even dares the charge, terrible in proportion to its
truth, which the most serious of us shrinks from--the lack of a sense of
humor. Men would rather have their integrity impugned.

In "Arms and the Man" the subject which occupies the dramatist's
attention is that survival of barbarity--militarism--which raises its
horrid head from time to time to cast a doubt on the reality of our
civilization. No more hoary superstition survives than that the donning
of a uniform changes the nature of the wearer. This notion pervades
society to such an extent that when we find some soldiers placed upon
the stage acting rationally, our conventionalized senses are shocked.
The only men who have no illusions about war are those who have recently
been there, and, of course, Mr. Shaw, who has no illusions about
anything.

It is hard to speak too highly of "Candida." No equally subtle and
incisive study of domestic relations exists in the English drama. One
has to turn to George Meredith's "The Egoist" to find such character
dissection. The central note of the play is, that with the true woman,
weakness which appeals to the maternal instinct is more powerful than
strength which offers protection. Candida is quite unpoetic, as, indeed,
with rare exceptions, women are prone to be. They have small delight in
poetry, but are the stuff of which poems and dreams are made. The
husband glorying in his strength but convicted of his weakness, the poet
pitiful in his physical impotence but strong in his perception of truth,
the hopelessly de-moralized manufacturer, the conventional and hence
emotional typist make up a group which the drama of any language may be