Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (4): 134-143.

• Ethical Literary Criticism • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Misplaced Identity and Ethical Choice in Bernard Shaw's Too True to Be Good

Liu Maosheng   

  • Published:2021-08-29
  • About author:Liu Maosheng is a “Yushan Outstanding Scholar” and Professor of English at the Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (Guangzhou 510420, China), specializing in British and American literature, Ethical Literary Criticism, and narratology. Email: liumaosheng2004@126.com
  • Supported by:
    “The Compilation, Translation, and Research of Literatures on Contemporary Western Ethical Criticism” (19ZDA292) sponsored by the National Social Science Fund of China and the Institute of Hermeneutics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (CSY-2021-YA-01)

Abstract: The subtitle of Too True to be Good, “Political Rhapsody,” implies an inseparable connection between the play and politics. Living in a social environment, in which one's survival depends on hypocrisy and fraud, different characters in the play face their own ethical choices and identity choices. The transformation of the relationships among characters, thereby, leads to the changes and confusions of their ethical identities. Then, new ethical identities plunge them into an ethical dilemma both in life and spirit. This is a true portrayal of the chaos of the ethical and moral standards in the British society at that time. Motivated by the pursuit of his political ideal, Bernard Shaw skillfully designs a “path” in the wilderness, offering the people on the spiritual wasteland a hope of social reform and, at the same time, expressing his own strong desire to reconstruct the ethical order in the post-war Western society.

Key words: Bernard Shaw, Too True to be Good, misplaced identity, ethical choice

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