You Never Can Tell

Drama | George Bernard Shaw

Critically comment on Shaw's treatment of love in "You Never Can Tell".

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Critically comment on Shaw's treatment of love in You Never Can Tell Or Comment on Shaw's treatment of love and marriage in his You Never Can Tell Or Evaluate You Never Can Tell as an anti-romantic comedy George Bernard Shaw the Irish dramatist wrote You Never Can Tell in In this play he rejects false romantic ideals and presents love and marriage as natural human relations Shaw mocks dreamy love and sentimental passion He gives love a practical and realistic meaning The play is called an anti-romantic comedy because it breaks the old traditions of romantic literature Through humor wit and logic Shaw expresses his modern and scientific view of love Anti-Romantic View of Love Shaw attacks the false emotions of romantic literature He mocks the idea of love as worship or blind devotion Valentine the young dentist loves Gloria not with flattery but with honesty He does not kneel

or sing praises like old lovers He says Nature was in deadly earnest with me when I was in jest with her Here Shaw shows that love is serious and guided by nature not fantasy His love is practical and full of truth Love as a Natural Force Shaw treats love as an inherent part of human nature It is not a game or a poem It is natural and strong like life itself Valentine s attraction to Gloria is physical and emotional not artificial Gloria resists at first but later accepts his sincerity Their love grows from truth not imagination Shaw believes that love joins a man and a woman for life s purpose Criticism of Ideology or Ideas Shaw expresses his idea against traditional thinking He satirizes love and marriage and modern Victorian society Mrs Clandon thinks she teaches her children her philosophy and ideals but she fails because her daughter Gloria disobeys her ideals and falls in love with Valentine Mrs Clandon tries to dissuade Gloria from falling in love with Valentine How much practice it has taken to make him perfect in his chosen part in life as the Duelist of Sex From this line we understand that Mrs Clandon thinks men use love to attract women To her love is not pure emotion but a trick used by men for desire and control Scientific Explanation of Love Shaw gives a scientific view of love He rejects false romantic mystery Valentine compares love to science He says No no no Not love we know better than that Let s call it chemistry This witty line shows his belief that love is like a chemical reaction between a man and a woman It happens naturally and logically Shaw removes ideal fantasy and presents love as a fact of nature For him love is both physical and mental balance not blind passion Humor and Message of the Play Shaw mixes humor with wisdom to teach truth His comedy laughs at false emotion and pride The old waiter William gives the final message of life He says It s the unexpected that always happens isn t it You never can tell sir you never can tell This line gives the moral of the play Life and love are uncertain Shaw uses laughter to reveal truth and teach that love like life is full of surprise and learning In termination we can say that You Never Can Tell is a perfect anti-romantic comedy Shaw rejects false romantic dreams and presents love as natural and real He teaches that marriage must grow from reason not emotion His characters speak with wit and honesty Through humor he reforms society s ideas about love and marriage Shaw s play is both intelligent and humane full of truth and laughter

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