Major Barbara

Major Barbara is a play by George Bernard Shaw from 1905. It's about Barbara Undershaft, major of the Salvation Army (did you think they're called army for nothing?) who's in a moral conflict: Should she accept money from her estranged father, a producer of arms, or not?

The other members of the family: Lady Britomart, head of the family, which has fallen in hard times; Sarah, Barbara's sister; Charles Lomax, Sarah's husband; Adolphus Cusins, Barbara's significant other, a teacher for Greek; and Stephen, Barbara's brother.

---

Tropes used in Major Barbara include:

• Arms Dealer: Andrew Undershaft.
• Catch Phrase: "Oh I say!" for Charles Lomax
• Decoy Protagonist
• Embarrassing Nickname: Cholly and Dolly for Charles [Lomax] and Adolphus [Cusins]
• Funetik Aksent: Price and Rummy, and other poor people.
• Grande Dame: Lady Britomart.
• Momma's Boy: Stephen. After having met his father, he finally stands up.
• The Nicknamer: Undershaft calls Cusins "Euripides".
• Take That: Undershaft saying "He [Stephen] knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."