SOURCE: Rosador, Kurt Tetzeli v. “The Natural History of Major Barbara.” Modern Drama 17, no. 2 (June 1974): 141-53.

In the following essay, Rosador considers Major Barbara to be a depiction of Shaw's theory of history.

When in 1949 Francis Fergusson described the content of Shavian drama as “unresolved paradox,”¹ using Major Barbara and Heartbreak House as an illustration, he not only echoed countless early critics,² but also furthered the label-sticking method of interpretation which has vitiated so much of Shaw criticism. “The play,” says Fergusson, “is a parlor-game based upon the freedom of the mind to name and then to rationalize anything, without ever deviating from the concept to the thing.” It is, therefore, not grounded in reality, but merely “a string of jokes which touch nothing.”³ This thesis certainly does run counter to Shaw's professed dramatic aims, and its influence seems due both to Fergusson's persuasive style and to concepts...