Dec 16, 2009
Heartbreak House | Heartbreak House
At a glance:
- Author: George Bernard Shaw
- First Published: 1919
- Type of Work: Play of ideas
- Time of Work: 1901-1914
- Setting: England
- Principal Characters: Ellie Dunn, Captain Shotover, Lady Ariadne Utterword, Hesione Hushabye, Boss Mangan, Hector Hushabye, Randall Utterword
- Genres: Drama, Problem play
- Subjects: Values, Love or romance, Europe or Europeans, Class consciousness, 1910’s, England or English people, War, Duty, World War I, Business or business people, Capitalism, Wealth, Old age or elderly people
- Locales: Sussex, England
The Play
Ellie Dunn, desolate and forgotten, sits alone in a room that
resembles part of an old-fashioned ship. Her plight is explained when
Nurse Guinness, a servant, and Captain Shotover enter. Ellie was
invited by Hesione Hushabye, who then forgot the invitation. Nurse
Guinness explains this as normal for the bohemian Heartbreak House.
As they talk, Ariadne arrives, returning home for her first visit in
more than two decades; appalled by Heartbreak House’s disorder,
she has married a conventional colonial administrator and cultivated
propriety.
Hesione enters and...
[The entire page is 2745 words long]
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