Dec 25, 2009

Mrs. Warren’s Profession | Themes

Poverty and Wealth
Shaw knew well the consequences of poverty in Victorian England, the hypocrisy of the wealthy, and the interdependence of the rich and poor. He writes in his ‘‘Apology,’’ ‘‘as long as poverty makes virtue hideous and the spare pocket-money of rich bachelordom makes vice dazzling, their daily hand-to-hand fight against prostitution . . . will be a losing one.’’ Mrs. Warren’s poverty forces her into prostitution, which wealthy men pay for. ‘‘Good’’ society rejects her but overlooks, as Crofts points out, the corruption involved in...