The Devil's Disciple is an 1897 play written by Irish dramatist, George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. Nearly all his writings deal sternly with. The play is Shaw's eighth, and after Richard Mansfield's original 1897 American production it was his first financial success, which helped to affirm his career as a playwright. It was published in Shaw's 1901 collection Three Plays for Puritans together with Captain Brassbound's Conversion Captain Brassbound's Conversion is a play by G. Bernard Shaw. It was published in Shaw's 1901 collection Three Plays for Puritans (together with Caesar and Cleopatra and The Devil's Disciple). The first American production of the play starred Ellen Terry in 1907 and Caesar and Cleopatra. Set in Colonial America during the Revolutionary era The American Revolutionary War or American War of Independence began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen former British colonies in North America, and concluded in a global war between several European great powers, the play tells the story of Richard Dudgeon, a local outcast and self-proclaimed "Devil's disciple". In a twist characteristic of Shaw's love of paradox, Dudgeon sacrifices himself in a Christ-like gesture despite his professed Infernal allegiance.
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Plot summary
The setting is in the Fall of 1777, during the Saratoga Campaign.
Act I
Richard "Dick" Dudgeon is an outcast from his family in colonial New Hampshire. He returns their hatred with scorn. After the death of his father, Dick returns to his childhood home to hear the reading of his father's will, much to his family's dismay. Anthony Anderson, the local minister, treats him with courtesy despite Dick's self-proclaimed apostasy, but Dick's "wickedness" appalls Anderson's wife Judith. To everyone's surprise, it is revealed that Dick's father secretly changed his will just before he died, leaving the bulk of his estate to Dick. Dick promptly evicts his mother from her home, but also invites his orphaned cousin to stay as long as she wants. At the end of the Act, Dick proclaims himself a rebel against the British and scorns his family as cowards when they flee his home.
Act II
While visiting Anderson's home at the Reverend's invitation, Dick is left alone with Judith while Anderson is called out to Mrs. Dudgeon's deathbed. Perceiving Judith's distaste for him, Dick attempts to leave, but Judith insists he stay until Anderson returns. While waiting, British soldiers enter Anderson's home and arrest Dick, mistaking him for Anderson. Dick allows them to take him away without revealing his actual identity. He swears Judith to secrecy lest her husband give the secret away and expose himself to arrest. Anderson returns and finds his wife in a state of great agitation. He demands to know if Dick has harmed her. Breaking her promise to Dick, Judith reveals that soldiers came to arrest Anderson but Dick went in his place. Anderson is stunned. He grabs all his money and a gun and quickly rides away, ignoring Judith's appeals. Judith believes her husband to be a coward, while Dick, whom she despised, is a hero.
Act III
Judith visits Dick and asks him if he has acted from love for her. He tells her that he has acted according to "the law of my own nature", which forbade him to save himself by condemning another. During the military trial, Dick is convicted and sentenced to be hanged. This scene introduces General Burgoyne, a Shavian realist, who contributes a number of sharp remarks about the conduct of the American Revolution. Judith interrupts the proceedings to reveal Dick's true identity – but to no avail: he will be hanged in any case. News reaches Burgoyne that American rebels have taken a nearby town, so he and his troops are in danger, especially since orders from London that would have sent reinforcements were never dispatched. The rebels will send a man to negotiate with the British. The final scene of the play is the public square where Dick will be hanged. Like Sydney Carton Sydney Carton is a character in the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. He is a shrewd young Englishman and sometime junior to his fellow barrister Stryver. In the novel, he is seen to be a drunkard, self-indulgent and self-pitying because of his wasted life. He has a strong, unrequited love for Lucie Manette in Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it is the most printed original English book, and among the most famous works of fiction, Dick defies his executioners and prepares to meet his death. At the last minute, Burgoyne stops the hanging because the rebel has arrived. It is Anthony Anderson, who has become a man of action in an instant, just as Dick became a man of conscience in an instant. Anderson bargains for Dick's life, and Burgoyne agrees to free him. Anderson tells Dick that he (Anderson) is not suited to be a minister and says Dick should replace him. As the Americans rejoice, the British go away, knowing that they face certain defeat.
Adaptations
Main articles: The Devil's Disciple (1959 film) and The Devil's Disciple (1987 film)A film adaptation was in 1959 starring Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor and star, noted for his athletic physique, distinct smile (which he called "The Grin") and, later, his willingness to play roles that went against his initial "tough guy" image. Initially dismissed as "Mr Muscles and Teeth", in the late 1950s as Reverend Anthony Anderson, Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas is an American actor and film producer recognized for his prominent cleft chin, his gravelly voice and his recurring roles as the kinds of characters Douglas himself once described as "sons of bitches". He is the father of Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas. He was #17 on the American Film Institute's list of the as Dick Dudgeon and Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered British actors of the 20th century. He married Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh and Joan Plowright as General Burgoyne. In February 2009 BBC Radio 7 rebroadcast a 1976 adaptation starring Tony Church, James Laurenson and Lucy Fleming.[1]
References
- ^ "The Devil's Disciple". RadioListings. 2009. http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/devil_s_disciple__the.html. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- Colin Wilson (13 November 1988). "How 'The Devil' Hauled Shaw Up From Hell". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEEDA1F3CF930A25752C1A96E948260. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
Further reading
- Online Text
- Shaw, Bernard (1901). The Devil's Disciple (First ed.). London: G. Richards. OCLC OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs". It was incorporated on July 6, 1967 as the not-for-profit Ohio College Library Center. More than 72,00 4987001.
External links
- The Devil's Disciple at the Internet Broadway Database The Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community
- The Devil's Disciple at the Internet off-Broadway Database The Lortel Archives, or the Internet Off-Broadway Database is an online database that catalogues theatre productions shown off-Broadway
- The Devil's Disciple at the Internet Movie Database The Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, video games, and most recently, fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. IMDb launched on October 17, 1990, and in 1998 was acquired by Amazon.com
Categories: 1897 plays | Broadway plays | Comedy plays | Plays by George Bernard Shaw | Off-Broadway plays | West End plays
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