Women In Mrs. Warren's Profession

During the late nineteenth century, Britain saw a shift in importance in terms of women’s rights with a focus on suffrage. This shaped the early twentieth century where women began to take on a role in education by not only being able to attend university, but to also have a voice within school board elections and that in turn pioneered the idea of “the new woman”. Although women were not allowed to receive degrees and have full voting rights until later on in the twentieth century, many brave women spoke out and participated in discussions for a push in reaching more equality within the time period. One author who highlighted this idea was Bernard Shaw, a political activist and author of Mrs. Warren’s Profession which provided commentary

Warren’s Profession, Shaw employs the use of rhetorical questions, hyperbole, and analogy in order to highlight the struggle and ridicule that Mrs. Warren has faced from Vivie and Frank because of her choice in profession in order to get ahead in society, whereas if she were a man, none of this would be a topic of

Warren’s Profession, Shaw argues for a push towards equality for men in women which can be directly be seen within Frank’s role in the piece through the use of hyperbole and analogy to display the unfairness in the time period. Since the beginning of the play, tension has developed between Frank and Mrs. Warren given the fact that Mrs. Warren does not believe that he can provide a quality life for Vivie given his lack of skill paired with the fact that he essentially lives off of the church because of his father. Frank expresses his disdain of Mrs. Warren to Vivie by comparing her to an “old wretch” (Shaw 1812). Frank simply is appalled by not only the type of pioneering woman Mrs. Warren is but also that that she has a job that creates income for her and Vivie to live sustainably. Shaw crafts these nasty words to display how many men felt during the time period of a woman who chose to go out and make a life for herself. This underlying tone that money is only okay if it is respectable arises within Frank’s communication to Vivie, with Frank going so far to say that “if [Vivie] ever put your arm around her waist in my presence again, I’ll shoot myself there” (Shaw 1812). This ridiculous and hyperbolic claim calls further attention to Frank’s disrespect for Mrs. Warren in that his fragile masculinity has been so attacked by her disapproval of marriage that he feels the need to influence Vivie. This conversation points out the irony in Frank’s thought process, where