The Shavian Protagonists and Shaw’s Changing Use of Classical Myths

This article illustrates Shaw’s changing use of classical myths to portray his protagonists. As these protagonists developed with his theory of the Life Force and Creative Evolution, they were structurally configured and supported through manipulations of classical myths. First, Shaw makes use of mythical elements in his early writings. Then he thinks through classical myths. Ultimately, he makes his own myth of the Life Force and Creative Evolution and, in so doing, dismantles the scaffolding provided by the classical myths. As Shaw drifts away from the socialist and political writer wanting to amend the defects of social systems and becomes a visionary and a mystic, he is increasingly reliant on classical myths as elevated platforms to work out his concept of the superman.