Summary
Summary of Major Barbara
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Good intentions depend on money
Barbara Undershaft believes kindness, soup and prayer can save souls. Her father, Andrew Undershaft, makes guns and explosives and believes poverty is the only real sin. Their opposing beliefs put a question at the heart of the play: can goodness remain separate from the money that supports it?
Bernard Shaw makes this conflict a comedy of ideas. Both father and daughter have arguments worth hearing, so the issue is not simply which person is good, but what makes doing good possible.
Key idea 2
Respectability needs an unwelcome fortune
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Key idea 3
Father and daughter exchange invitations
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Key idea 4
Soup cannot replace a wage
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Key idea 5
Money tests the meaning of forgiveness
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Key idea 6
Bread comes before moral instruction
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Key idea 7
Contradictions keep every belief under scrutiny
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Key idea 8
Helping others raises questions about power
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who enjoy plays full of talk, argument and dry humor, and who like to test their beliefs about charity, money and power.
What this book is
Major Barbara is a play in three acts by Bernard Shaw, first staged in London in 1905. Shaw wrote it as a comedy of ideas, and it argues with its audience as much as it entertains them. It asks a blunt question. Can a person do good in a world where goodness depends on money, and where money often comes from making weapons?
The play puts two kinds of power face to face. Barbara Undershaft is an officer in the Salvation Army, who believes she can save souls by kindness, soup and prayer. Her father, Andrew Undershaft, is a wealthy maker of guns and explosives who believes poverty is the only real sin. You will meet a stern English matriarch, a professor of Greek, a bully with a grudge, and a good deal of sharp wit. Shaw gives each side strong arguments, so you may find your sympathies moving. Let us begin with the family dinner table, where a mother decides she needs her husband's money.
In this summary
- 1A mother summons her absent husbandFree
- 2Undershaft arrives with a strange bargain
- 3The Salvation Army shelter in West Ham
- 4Bill Walker and the price of forgiveness
- 5What the play says about money and virtue
- 6A comedy of talk, paradox and surprise
Key point 1 of 6
A mother summons her absent husband
The play opens in the library of Lady Britomart Undershaft's house in Wilton Crescent, London. She is a commanding woman who has run her family for years without her husband. She calls in her grown son Stephen to talk about money and about the future of his sisters. Stephen is earnest, shy and rather priggish, and he is quick to say what is proper.
Lady Britomart explains that her husband, Andrew Undershaft, left the household long ago. He is a manufacturer of armaments, and she has refused to see him for years. Yet he is very rich, and her family's own income is limited. Her daughter Sarah is engaged to a cheerful young man named Charles Lomax, who has hopes but little money. Her daughter Barbara is engaged to Adolphus Cusins, a professor of Greek.
She tells Stephen that Undershaft must be asked to pay for the marriages. She also says that his money must now be shared more fully with his children, so that they are provided for as they grow up. Stephen is uneasy, because he has never really known his father. Lady Britomart admits that she has not allowed Undershaft to see them, and she says it was for the good of the children.
The scene sets up the whole play. Shaw shows a polite English family that lives on respectable ideas while quietly needing money from a source it would prefer not to name. Lady Britomart is funny because she is so sure of herself, and the humor makes a serious point. The family has good manners and high standards, but those standards depend on a fortune it pretends to dislike.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Check yourself
Why does Lady Britomart seek Undershaft’s help?
Right. “She also says that his money must now be shared more fully with his children, so that they are provided for as they grow up.”Not quite. “She also says that his money must now be shared more fully with his children, so that they are provided for as they grow up.”
Why does Peter Shirley’s situation unsettle Barbara’s faith in charity?
Right. “He says the Army's charity gives bread but leaves the cause of poverty untouched.”Not quite. “He says the Army's charity gives bread but leaves the cause of poverty untouched.”
What does Undershaft argue society must do before teaching virtue?
Right. “A decent society must first remove poverty, and only then talk about virtue.”Not quite. “A decent society must first remove poverty, and only then talk about virtue.”
Who’s who
- Barbara Undershaft
- A devoted Salvation Army major, she believes in saving souls and challenges her father's faith in money.
- Andrew Undershaft
- Barbara's wealthy father manufactures weapons and confronts his estranged family with his unconventional ideas about poverty.
- Lady Britomart Undershaft
- Barbara's commanding mother lives apart from Andrew but seeks his financial support for their children.
- Adolphus Cusins
- A professor of Greek and Barbara's fiancé, he joins her Army work while questioning her father's arguments.
- Stephen Undershaft
- Barbara's earnest brother follows his mother's expectations and struggles to understand his unconventional father.
- Bill Walker
- A rough young man seeking his girlfriend, he confronts Barbara and assaults her fellow Army worker.
- Peter Shirley
- An unemployed older worker at the shelter, he wants honest employment rather than dependence on charity.
- Jenny Hill
- Barbara's fellow Salvation Army worker helps at the shelter and faces Bill Walker's aggression.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 34,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 15 min
- Listening time3 h 45 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Major Barbara
What is Major Barbara about?
It follows Barbara Undershaft, a Salvation Army officer, and her father Andrew, a rich weapons maker. They try to win each other over, and the play asks whether charity can work when poverty and money shape everything.
Who is Andrew Undershaft?
He is Barbara's father, owner of a large armaments firm. He is witty and unapologetic, and he argues that poverty is the worst crime. He has lived apart from his wife and children for years.
Is Major Barbara based on a true story?
No, the plot is invented. Shaw wrote it in 1905 and drew on real social debates of his day, including poverty, the Salvation Army, and the arms trade.
What is the main message of Major Barbara?
Shaw argues that poverty is the real evil, and that good intentions mean little without economic change. He also asks how much moral purity matters when money and power decide how things get done.
Is Major Barbara hard to read?
Not very. It is a play, so it is mostly dialogue, and the humor helps. The preface is optional. It reads well aloud.
