The Undershaft Maxims

THE UNDERSHAFT MAXIMS IN THE THIRD ACT of Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara, Andrew Undershaft , attempting to bridge the "abyss of moral horror" which Adolphus Cusins claims lies between him and the Undershaft factory, recites the maxims of the previous Undershafts, concluding with his own. Listed separately for more convenient reference, they are: [I] The first Undershaft wrote up in his shop IF GOD GAVE THE HAND, LET NOT MAN WITHHOLD THE SWORD. [II] The second wrote up ALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO FIGHT: NONE HAVE THE RIGHT TO JUDGE. [III] The third wrote up TO MAN THE WEAPON: TO HEAVEN THE VICTORY. [IV] The fourth had no literary turn; so he did not write up anything; but he sold cannons to Napoleon under the nose of George the Third. [V] The fifth wrote up PEACE SHALL NOT PREVAIL SAVE WITH A SWORD IN HER HAND. [VI] The sixth, my master, was the best of all. He wrote up NOTHING IS EVER DONE IN THIS WORLD UNTIL MEN ARE PREPARED TO KILL ONE ANOTHER IF IT IS NOT DONE. [VII] After that, there was nothing left for the seventh to say. So he wrote up, simply, UNASHAMED. Since Undershaft is attempting to convert Cusins and Barbara to his doctrine of realism and power, and since these six maxims and one non-maxim are means to this end, it is remarkable that they have received virtually no attention. In this essay, I will try to demonstrate that these seven principles are not only summaries of the various arguments used by Undershaft in the process of converting Cusins, but also that they are the bases of Cusins' attempt to justify his decision to Barbara. In addition, I would like to suggest what his slogan might be when he becomes the eighth Andrew Undershaft . The motto of the present Andrew Undershaft (Andrew Undershaft VII) is one of the first things we learn about him. Early in the expository dialogue between Lady Britomart and Stephen. she complains to her son that since her husband's motto was "Un90 1966 UNDERSHAFT MAXIMS 91 ashamed," everyone knew that his parents were unmarried. This lack of shame is soon evident after Undershaft's arrival when he calls himself "a profiteer in mutilation and murder," confesses that he is in an especially amiable humor because that morning a weapon of his that had formerly destroyed thirteen dummy soldiers managed to demolish twenty-seven, and refuses to be hypocritical when Lomax suggests that "the more destructive war becomes, the sooner it will be abolished." "Not at all," Undershaft candidly replies. The more destructive war becomes the more fascinating we find it. No, Mr. Lomax: I am obliged to you for making the usual excuse for my trade; but I am not ashamed of it. I am not one of those men who keep their morals and their business in watertight compartments. All the spare money my trade rivals spend on hospitals, cathedrals, and other receptacles for conscience money, I devote to experiments and researches in improved methods of destroying life and property. I have always done so; and I always shall. Therefore your Christmas card moralities of peace on earth and goodwill among men are of no use to me. Your Christianity, which enjoins you to resist not evil, and to tum the other cheek, would make me a bankrupt. My morality -my religion-must have a place for cannons and torpedoes in it. Also in the first act, Undershaft has dialogue that anticipates the first and third slogans, which link guns and God: UNDERSHAFT. • •• I am rather interested in the Salvation Army. Its motto might be my own: Blood and Fire. LOMAX (shocked). But not your sort of blood and fire, you know. UNDERSHAFT. My sort of blood cleanses: my sort of fire purifies . However, neither of these speeches is addressed to Cusins. Indeed, the Greek professor is a comparatively minor figure in the first act. Although his abilities are suggested when he humbugs Lady Britomart and Lomax, when he takes charge of the introductions in order to clarify social relationships for the long-absent head of the household, and when he explains a moral precept to the...