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Preface
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Major Barbara, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power, Anarchy, and Freedom
Critique of Capitalism
Moralism and Hypocrisy
Good vs. Evil
Punishment and Forgiveness
Summary
Analysis
On a January evening in 1906, Stephen Undershaft joins his mother, Lady Britomart in the library. The overbearing mother wants to ask her son for advice on a sensitive matter. She worries that neither of his sisters’ fiancées have enough money to support them. Sarah’s fiancée, Charles Lomax, will be wealthy someday, but until he comes into his inheritance, he is stuck with a measly allowance of £800 a year—half of what Sarah deserves to live on. And Barbara’s beau, Adolphous Cusins, is a penniless scholar. Even though Barbara lives meagerly thanks to her religious convictions, Lady Britomart assures Stephen that Barbara and Adolphous will need a minimum income of £2000 a year.
At the beginning of the play, Stephen remains subject to the authority of his overbearing mother. She asks for advice, but her actions betray her confidence that she knows better than her children what they should do. The fact that she thinks Barbara and Adolphus need more money than Sarah and Charles may suggest some favoritism, or it may serve as a rebuke to Barbara’s current poverty. For context, adjusted for inflation, Lady Britomart thinks Sarah needs the equivalent of more than $160,000 per year and Barbara more than $200,000. Her casual attitude toward this sum suggests her family’s wealth and her sense of entitlement to it.
Themes
Given these sums, Lady Britomart explains to Stephen that they must ask his father, her estranged husband Andrew Undershaft, for financial help. Lady Britomart’s father is far too poor to contribute much, she says, as he barely scrapes by on an annual income of £7000. In contrast, Undershaft, a weapons manufacturer, must be “rolling in money,” since there is always a war somewhere for him to profit from. Stephen knows all too well how his father makes his money; his classmates and acquaintances have mocked him mercilessly about it all his life.
Again, Lady Britomart’s casual discussion of vast sums of money—and her assurance that her father is “poor” despite an annual income of more than $700,00 a year adjusted for inflation—illustrates her selfishness and privilege. This contextualizes the amount of money her estranged husband must be making and points obliquely to the demand for his goods despite a general sense that society, like Lady Britomart and Stephen themselves, find war abhorrent.
Themes
Lady Britomart shocks Stephen by revealing, in quick succession, that Andrew Undershaft was born out of wedlock and that she left him because he wanted to follow Undershaft family tradition and adopt an orphan or an abandoned child to raise as his heir in place of his own children. What’s more, contrary to most people, who pretend to have religious and moral scruples, Andrew is proud that he has none. Stephen especially struggles to understand this. He understands that people may disagree about religion, but he thinks everyone instinctively understands the difference between right and wrong. In light of his father’s moral failings, Stephen counsels his mother to refuse his money, and he’s shocked again when lady Britomart reveals that he has spent his entire life supported by his father’s wealth.
Lady Britomart betrays the hypocrisy of her own beliefs here. Her distress over Stephen’s disinheritance combined with her willingness to benefit materially from Undershaft’s business show that she actually cares more about wealth and pride than the immorality of making and selling weapons, no matter what she says to the contrary. In fact, this contrast between her stated beliefs and her actions is a point of pride for her; it shows that she knows what’s right, even if she doesn’t live by it. In contrast, she dislikes those who align their beliefs and actions. For her to do so would require sacrifices she’s not willing to make—either in the form of lost income or reconsidering whether her beliefs have solid foundations.
Themes
Having finally made Stephen understand the necessity of seeking more money from Andrew Undershaft, Lady Britomart announces that she’s invited him to visit and that he will arrive momentarily. Commanding Stephen to calm himself, Lady Britomart asks Morrison, the butler, to summon Barbara, Sarah, Charles Lomax, and Adolphous Cusins to the library. Much to her mother’s consternation, Barbara teases “Cholly” (Charles) and “Dolly” (Adolphous) lightheartedly as she enters. The newcomers react with surprise when Lady Britomart announces Undershaft’s impending arrival. As she tries to prepare them all to make a good impression, Lady Britomart becomes increasingly frustrated with Lomax’s sputtering surprise. Cusins, for his part, seizes every opportunity to ingratiate himself with his future mother-in-law.
Lady Britomart’s frustration with what she considers Barbara’s and Lomax’s unserious attitudes shows how accustomed she is to holding power over her children and others. She expects them to obey her without hesitation. But Barbara—a committed Salvationist despite (or perhaps because of) her mother’s distaste for the Salvation Army—shows her willingness to stand up for herself. This scene also establishes a sharp contrast between the rather dim Lomax and the calculating Cusins, who looks for—and seizes—opportunities to benefit himself.
Themes
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When Andrew Undershaft enters the room, he cannot at first distinguish his son Stephen from his daughters’ suitors, or Barbara from Sarah. Still, he speaks to Lady Britomart with affection undimmed by long years of separation. After several awkward moments, Barbara suggests that Lomax play some music, perhaps some Salvation Army hymns. This idea piques Undershaft’s interest, both musically and philosophically. He asks Barbara about the Salvation Army, and she invites him to come to a meeting. He agrees on the condition that Barbara subsequently visit his munitions factory. Lomax points out that weapons manufacturers are hardly likely to make it into heaven. Undershaft agrees, saying that his morals and religion are based in the necessity of death and war, but he betrays no hint of shame in this fact.
Despite Lady Britomart and her children discussing Andrew Undershaft in terms that suggest he is scarcely better than a devil, the man himself seems mostly harmless, even shy. The immediate connection he feels with Barbara and Cusins foreshadows the similarities between the three the play will eventually expose, even though—on the surface—the zealous missionary, the self-effacing teacher, and the architect of death and destruction seem to have little common ground. He does live up to Lady Britomart’s portrait in one key way, however: in his unapologetic love for his business and his lack of concern for performing the same pious beliefs as the rest of his society. This suggests that he—and the play—have a different view on the true nature of good and evil, although he hasn’t yet explained it.
Themes
This leads Stephen to conclude that the world is divided into honest men and scoundrels. Barbara disagrees, maintaining that all people are equally children of God and equally sinful. Her religious convictions interest Undershaft, who asks her to lead the family in a little service of Salvation Army songs and prayers. Although Lady Britomart resists the idea initially, she eventually joins the rest of the family to Barbara’s improvised prayer meeting, leaving Stephen alone in the library.
Stephen confidently believes that he intuitively understands the line between good and evil. Barbara disagrees, up to a point. Her distaste for Undershaft’s business suggests that deep down she does harbor some strong feelings about right and wrong. But as a member of the Salvation Army, she also represents a more enlightened view when she says that judgements of good and evil are usually based on fallible and biased human judgements. She prefers to leave the distinction to God, who sees things in a very different perspective.
Themes
