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Situational Irony
The Author's Apology
Explanation and Analysis:
Mrs. Warren's Profession features certain distinctive aspects of style that connect it to the work of Shaw's contemporaries. Within the "comedy of manners" genre, Shaw connects himself to the infamous Oscar Wilde: both Mrs. Warren's Profession and Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray include an author's preface that directly comments on the work in question.
There exists a longstanding literary tradition of authors including explanatory prefaces to controversial texts. Shaw draws connections between this tradition and his own censored work, asserting his place in the history of controversial literature in the following passage from the Author's Apology:
If the old rule against the exhibition of illicit sex relations on stage were revived, and the subject absolutely barred, the only result would be that Antony and Cleopatra, Othello (because of the Bianca episode), Troilus and Cressida, Henry IV, Measure for Measure, [...] Iris would be swept from the stage, and placed under the same ban as Tolstoy's Dominion of Darkness and Mrs Warren's Profession, whilst such plays as the two described above would have a monopoly of the theatre as far as sexual interest is concerned.
Using the styling of an explanatory preface to full effect, Shaw compares Mrs. Warren's Profession to other important literary works within the Western canon. Powerfully, he asserts that, in the style of other important and controversial plays, Mrs. Warren's Profession also challenges the social mores of its time.
