History Creator / GeorgeBernardShaw

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: "Immenso Champernoon" (Creator/GKChesterton) in ''Back to Methuselah'' and "Private Meek" (UsefulNotes/TELawrence) in ''Too True to Be Good''.

** In ''Misalliance'', there's a running joke of no one being able to pronounce (or spell) Lena Szczepalowska's last name -- while Lena herself can't fathom why everyone's having so much trouble with it.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: "Immenso Champernoon" (Creator/GKChesterton) in ''Back to Methuselah''

His will funded a contest to create a new non-Latin alphabet for the English language. Four of the winning entries were combined to create [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavian_alphabet the Shavian alphabet]], which first appeared in 1962 in a special edition of another Shaw play, ''Androcles and the Lion''.

* GrandInquisitorScene: The Roman Emperor in ''Androcles and the Lion'', who asserts that he is actually a Christian evangelist -- since Christian martyrs inspire converts, the more Christians he kills, the more Christians he creates.

* ''Film/CaesarAndCleopatra''[[note]]film adaptation of the play -- he collaborated closely on it[[/note]]

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was an Irish playwright, noted for his satirical wit.

His best-known plays include ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}'', ''Theatre/ArmsAndTheMan'', ''Mrs. Warren's Profession'', ''Man and Superman'', ''Theatre/TheDevilsDisciple'' and ''Saint Joan''.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: A more heroic version in ''Saint Joan''. As she is burned at the stake for heresy, Joan asks for a cross, and a soldier makes one for her by tying two sticks together. When they meet again in the afterlife, he doesn't recognize her, and cheerfully says that he's known so many young women in his life that they all blur together.
* DistantFinale: ''Saint Joan'' is described in a subtitle as "A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue". The Epilogue is set 25 years after Joan's death, on the night after a retrial overturned her heresy conviction, and has King Charles dreaming of a reunion with Joan and the other people involved in her life and death; they tell Joan what has become of them since her death, discuss the implications of the retrial, and react to the news, brought by a mysterious messenger, that in 1920 Joan will be declared a saint.

* GrandInquisitorScene:
** In ''Saint Joan'', the Inquisitor delivers a long and very convincing speech on the necessity of the Inquisition to a young friar who doubts Joan's heresy.
** The Roman Emperor in ''Androcles and the Lion'', who asserts that he is actually a Christian evangelist -- since Christian martyrs inspire converts, the more Christians he kills, the more Christians he creates.
* AHellOfATime:
** In the "Don Juan in Hell" sequence in ''Man and Superman'', Hell is a relatively pleasant place...

** In the Epilogue of ''Saint Joan'', the ghost of an English soldier reports that Hell is actually quite comfortable, at least compared to fifteen years at war in France.
--->'''Soldier:''' You won't find it so bad, sir. Jolly. Like as if you were always drunk without the trouble and expense of drinking. Tip top company, too: emperors and popes and kings and all sorts.
* HeroicBastard: In ''Saint Joan'', Jean de Dunois, the commander of the soldiers who Joan leads into battle, and subsequently her closest friend in the French court. His real-life nickname, "Bastard of Orleans", is mentioned in the play; it wasn't an insult but a factual statement -- he was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Orleans -- and even something of a sign of respect, since as an acknowledged son of the Duke he was a member of the royal family.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Most of the characters in ''Saint Joan''.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In ''Saint Joan'', John de Stogumber, an English cleric, spends most of the play determined to get Joan burned as a heretic, and speaks forcefully against her at her trial. After witnessing the burning and gaining an understanding of what a cruel death it is, he's so remorseful he has a FreakOut.

* SelfInflictedHell: Hinted at in the 'Epilogue' of ''Saint Joan'', where Joan's ghost meets the ghost of an English soldier who has gone to hell, but gets one day off a year as a reward for being kind to Joan at her execution. He tells her that after fifteen years at war he actually finds Hell quite homely and wasn't sure to do with his days off at first, and ends by mentioning that he's been told he can have more days off, "as many as I like", when he decides he wants them.

His will funded a contest to create a new non-Latin alphabet for the English language. Four of the winning entries were combined to create [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavian the Shavian alphabet]], which first appeared in 1962 in a special edition of another Shaw play, ''Androcles and the Lion''.

* AuthorFilibuster: His socialist views (he was a prominent figure in the Fabian Society) sneak into many characters

* AHellOfATime: In the "Don Juan in Hell" sequence in ''Man and Superman'', Hell is a relatively pleasant place...
-->'''Don Juan:''' Hell, Señora, is a place for the wicked. The wicked are quite comfortable.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Act III of ''Man and Superman''. Everyone's suddenly in hell, all their names have changed, and they're pausing the plot to have a big philosophical debate, and afterwards everthing's back to normal. It's usually left out entirely.

* DeadpanSnarker
** He once received a letter with one word: "Imbecile". He commented that he had received many letters without a name, but that that was the first time he received a name without a letter.
** One story goes that Shaw once found himself sitting next to an annoying dinner guest who continued to drone on about all manner of subjects. Shaw turned to the guest and stated that between the two of them, they knew everything there was to know in the world. When asked how he figured that, Shaw answered, "Well, you seem to know everything except that you are a bore and ''I'' know that."

* VitriolicBestBuds: With Creator/GKChesterton in RealLife.
--> '''Chesterton:''' George, you look like you just came from a country in a famine!
--> '''Shaw:''' G.K., you look like you caused it!

** One story goes that Shaw once found himself sitting next to an annoying dinner guest who continued to drone on about all manner of subjects. Shaw turned to the guest and stated that between the two of them, they knew everything there was to know in the world. When asked how he figured that, Shaw answered "Well, you seem to know everything except that you are a bore and ''I'' know that."

His will funded a contest to create a new non-Latin alphabet for the English language. Four of the winning entries were combined to create [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavian the Shavian alphabet]], which first appeared in 1962 in a special edition of another Shaw play, ''Androcles and the Lion''. He is also the TropeNamer for SeparatedByACommonLanguage.

His will funded a contest to create a new non-Latin alphabet for the English language. Four of the winning entries were combined to create [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavian the Shavian alphabet]], which first appeared in 1962 in a special edition of another Shaw play, ''Androcles and the Lion''.

Shaw is the only writer to have been awarded both the NobelPrizeInLiterature and an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward (the latter for the screenplay of the 1938 film adaptation of ''Pygmalion'').

Shaw is the only writer to have been awarded both the NobelPrizeInLiterature and an AcademyAward (the latter for the screenplay of the 1938 film adaptation of ''Pygmalion'').

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: "Man and Superman" is an allusion to ''ThusSpakeZarathustra''

->'''Sarah Bernhardt''': Mr. Shaw, you and I should make love, for with my looks and your brains we would have wonderful children.
->'''George Bernard Shaw''': Aha! But what if the child were born with my looks and your brain? ...
->(Walks outside)
->Oh no, I've just blown out a definite shag!

->'''Sarah Bernhardt''': Mr. Shaw, fancy a shag?
->'''George Bernard Shaw''': "Fancy"? It is the darling of society but the outcast of the soul... oh no, I've done it again!
-->--Sketch from ''TheMaryWhitehouseExperience''

''Arms and the Man'' inspired the operetta ''The Chocolate Soldier'', and ''Pygmalion'' inspired the musical ''MyFairLady''.

* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: One of the most relevant examples;
-->''The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.''

Shaw is the only writer to have been awarded both the Nobel Prize in literature and an AcademyAward (the latter for the screenplay of the 1938 film adaptation of ''Pygmalion'').

His best-known plays include ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}'', ''ArmsAndTheMan'', ''Mrs. Warren's Profession'', ''Man and Superman'', ''Theatre/TheDevilsDisciple'' and ''Saint Joan''.

* ''ArmsAndTheMan''