Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw, Term Paper Example

The play is casted from a hilly environment in the middle of the country of the north age of Sussex in an evening hour of the day. In the play “the heartbreak house” done by the author Bernard Shaw, the author describes the whole play as drama with a lot of idle that depicts the importance of the mind in it and its categorical art of it being translated into speech and some sort of gesture. Ellie Dune is introduced in the play as a young lady a musician who emerges as a visitor in captain Shotore’s family. The play as the name suggests brings out the art of peoples’ hearts being broken several times over several issues in the play after realizing that whatever they believed in is never the same again. This opens her eyes and makes her understand the world and its happenings. It makes the character believe that everything can be changed, (Shaw, 23).[1]

The play is set with characters that are from the educated groups, the cultured, and the class of leisure who are referred to as charming characters who are virtuous. The play depicts manners and morals of the characters and their inability to realize the world’s sad image in relation to their idle and ignorant complicity. The political aspect of the play introduces people like Shotore believed to have military experience and with fresh ideas with big business. The captain is also preferred to be a potential candidate in that he has few responsibilities in his life and this would give time with his people. The captain is thus described as a man who can attract all sorts of people around him in the play thus portraying him as a man with charm. The play set with Ellie a guest who looks like she was never expected in captain’s home and this leads to most unwelcoming conversation that almost put her off only that the fly bus had already departed. Her strange visit seems to make the hosts to show off and use all the types of talk to break other peoples’ hearts within their reach or surrounding, (Shaw, p. 38). The host tries to prevent his visitor Ellie from getting in touch with what the author describes as a boorish but rich Mangan that would tempt her from giving him her heart and hand. Ellie matches into a life of heartbreaks and disillusionment when she marries Mangan and when later on hell breaks loose, she justifies the theme of the play with the words “if I cant have love, that’s no reason why I should have poverty and that heartbreaks are easier to obtain than a cup of a proper tea in the mad house hold of Shotover”. The first heartbreak Ellie encounters is when she is lured into a romantic love affair with Marcus only to realize later on that Marcus is Hector Hushabye. The second one happens to meet her face when she realizes that the man he accepted, boss Mangans millions were never his and never existed anywhere in his life, he was only but a capitalist who people entrusted their money in his hands. Despite all these, Ellie doesn’t become bright enough to learn a lesson from it, she leaves Boss Mangan and opts for the old captain to be the white bride because of the seventh degree of concentration the man is said to have acquired believing that that could be a source of promise of peace and a source of happiness that to he will be beyond despair but the degree of concentration was only but a ruin to her life. Another victim f circumstance of heartbreak is Mangan (Shaw, 40).[2]

This happens when he pretends to be sleeping and he hears all the negative comment made about him and he pretends not to be affected at all by any of the talks although he furious about those opinions. With the emotional unrealistic nature of the direction the characters seem to be headed to, the characters still seem not to understand the life they live though the play is coming to a conclusion. Most of the characters are seen to follow up their emotional needs while the most achieving events of the world overtake them while still in their mode of confusion, (Isherwood, p. 87).

According to Shaw, Ellie is one lady in the play who manages to create an environment where she manipulates two men captain Shotever an old rich man and boss Mangan who was once her father’s boss. Ellie takes advantages in the lives of the character and managers to use it as away in her life. To begin with is boss Mangan, he is said to be a rich man who is a business capitalist. He once transacted business with Ellie’s father although it later on failed. In this particular situation, Ellie’s father introduces Mangan to her and tells her of the partner in the failed business financer. Later on Mangan gets interested in the lady and decides to pursue her. But despite the relationship he had with Ellie’s father, he does not put that into account to respect Ellie and even her age but goes a head to make his proposal to her. Ellie seems not to be so amused with it but tries to accommodate it because of the despair and disillusionment she is been through. She taught to herself that she was poor and she even confesses that she was [3]

proud of her father’s poverty when questioned about the state of her family [4][5]especially what her father does. She takes the advantage of the opportunity to utilize the rich mans offer to marry her. According to the author, Ellie reiterates that her love attachment to this rich man would save her life a great deal. Ellie says that failure to love can not be the reason to poverty. When Mangan tries to evade the trap of marrying Ellie tells him that he would risk not stepping in Shotores house forever in throughout his lifetime. When Mangan hears of this, it forces him to change his mind to accommodate the situation. Even when he pretends to be asleep and he happens to catch the negative argument about him between Mrs. Huhsbye and Ellie critiquing their relation, he takes it easy and goes with the idea of marrying Ellie. The statements echoed by Mrs. Hushbye during the time Mangan was pretending to be asleep seemed to have heart broken him although as a man he pretends not to be heart at all. According to Mrs. Hushbye, she believes that Elli was going to marry a man she never loved and that could be too dangerous in her life. She had in mind someone that she thought was fit to marry Ellie but Ellie’s mind was contrally to that, she pretends and argues that she loved Mangan and they were going to marry each other. All these seem to heart break Ellie when she is told not to marry someone she never thought of even a single day, (Mazer, p. 201).  Mangan is seen to be swayed away by the decisions Ellie makes and he can not control anything even in their engagement. Ellie’s seductive and romantic nature puts Marcus in the mix of being in a relationship with him part from being close to Mangan. Mangan sees all these but he can’t help himself out of the pathetic situation. Nobody among them can understand what has made Mangan get hooked to this lady who is secretly dating Marcus.

Reach dad whose daughter welcomed Ellie in his house. As a young lady, she is welcomed by the old man kin the house with a negative motive from the way her reception was. He is described as an alcohol consumer. The author describes old captain Shotore as an old chap with low attention and this could have greatly influenced the operation of Ellie in manipulation efforts. The old captain is portrayed as a married man of an older age and he has been seeing all the intrigues of this lady Ellie. He later seems to assume all he saw Ellie do or because of the low attention span, he seemed to have not noticed all that Ellie was doing. On the other hand, Ellie seemed to have taken the advantage of the low concentration span of the old man and believes that he never realized what he was doing and comes back with her convincing and seductive nature to convince the old man into marriage after she breaks up with boss Mangan. The crusty charm nature of the old captain too gives Ellie an advantage to get back the man in her arms after going all the circles. He is old but he said he could still send the whole world of ladies crazy. In the author’s opinion, no woman could manage evading the captain’s trap. [6]

Captain Shotore’s life is portrayed as one person who spends passion life throughout his life. This makes him to attract any girl around his life. Ellie is assumed to have taken the advantage of this old mans lifestyle to get back to him again. The wealthy state of the old man also surpassed the poor life of the lady and thought she could nurse all her problems after getting this old captain on the hook. The old man is always himself and Ellie thought as a last resort he was going to be the source of the promise of peace and happiness that would be beyond any reasonable doubt in her life. Nevertheless, the sad side of her life of despair and disillusionment met her again in the arms of the captain when she thought the concentration degree and the fact that the old man was himself would never disappoint her again.

Dunn’s aspect of being seductive led her into the ranchman’s life where she wanted to achieve her objectives although they frustrated her later on. The fact that the background of Ellie Dune was poverish implies that she was aggravated into the lives of hursle where she needed to change tactics to get a place of peace and that could end the despair in her life. Ellie can also be seen as an opportunist where by she capitalizes on the weakness of the men to achieve her intended goals. She manages to control the situations around these men and achieves her motives. According to the author, the men she has encountered are seen to be under her control. The control and manipulative nature makes her maneuver into her intentions and seems to succeed although all were objects of [7]siren. She managed to manipulate Mangan to marry and Mangan would have refused, the impact was that he would never step into captain’s house the whole of his life. This also reflects how she controlled captains setting of homestead. It quite un imaginable how a visitor who was received like a stranger comes and takes over the control of the whole family without limits from the family that was regarded to be rich, big and stable considering her background. After she is seen moving from one man to another, she is still able to convince other men into her relationships again.

References

Christopher Isherwood, James J. Berg: Isherwood on writing, Publisher University of Minnesota Press, 2007, Length274 pages

George Bernard Shaw, Rosy Rapture – The Pride of the Beauty Publisher World 2004, 172 pages.

George Bernard Shaw: Major Barbara: Socialism and superior brains: a reply to Mr. Mallock Publishers. Lane, 1912, 2006Length59 pages

Jonathan Githens-Mazer: Myths and memories of the Easter Rising: cultural and political nationalism in Ireland, Publisher Irish Academic Press, 2006, Length238 pages

1.The author introduces the play by citing the environment where the play was introduced and major characters are too introduced.

2.The author describes how Ellie Dunn got into captain Shotore’s and explains how she is warned against…

3.Ellie is introduced to Mangan and told how they operated with her father, Ellie’s manipulation begins Ellie’s meeting and engagement with Mangan and how she controls him. She  meets Marcus secretly but she’s later disappointed after she realizes who really he was

5.Ellie leaves Mangan after being disillusioned and goes back to be captains white rose and marries him

6.The author points out how Ellie succeeds in her intrigues basing on the two peoples weakness.