1. Some critics think that Barrie was trying merely to write a story full of adventure, like Swiss Family Robinson or his own play Peter Pan, when he wrote The Admirable Crichton. What evidence is there in the play or in Barrie's biography to support or contradict that notion?

2. The original version of The Admirable Crichton had Crichton announce his intention at the end of the play to marry Tweeny and open an inn he planned to call 'The Case Is Altered."

After World War I, Barrie changed the last act to leave Crichton's future uncertain. Which version of the play is better and why?

3. What was the critical response to The Admirable Crichton when it was first staged? Have the critics' views of the play changed today?

4. Barrie's characters in The Admirable Crichton have been compared to characters in the...