Justify the title of You Never Can Tell

Answer

 Justify the title of You Never Can Tell. 

The title is an unavoidable or essential part of every literary work. The title of Shaw’s (1856 – 1950) play “You Never Can Tell” (1897) expresses the moral message that we never can tell what will happen in the future. This title provides clues to all the characters and incidents of the story and reveals the philosophy of life and society.

Uncertainty of the Future: Uncertainty of the future is the most important message of the play. From the title, we get the message that we can never tell what will happen in the future. In the play, Mr. Crampton does not know he will meet his Children and family. On the other hand, Valentine also nothing knows what will happen at the lunch party at the Marine Hotel. So, the waiter, Walter Boon, tells Mr. Crampton about the mystery of life.

It’s the unexpected that always happens, isn’t it? You never can tell, sir: you never can tell.

Love Crosses Ideology: We can notice that Mrs. Clandon teaches her children her ideas and morality. She tries to make Gloria a lady with no interest in love and marriage, but she fails because Gloria disobeys her mother’s advice and loves Valentine, an old-fashioned person. Here, the drama’s message is that young men and women at the point of marrying regard marriage as a source of dread, but after all, marriage is not as unhappy and uncomfortable as they think.

It’s unwise to be born; it’s unwise to be married; it’s unwise to live; and it’s unwise to die.

Humour and Satire: Shaw satirizes the ideology of Victorian society. When Mrs. Clandon leaves her husband, Mr. Crampton, she threatens her husband that she will teach her children her philosophy and ideas. But she fails because her daughter, Gloria, disobeys her ideals and falls in love with Valentine. One can predict the future of things in life. 

Relationships and Feminists: The most unexpected things always happen in life. He also satirizes Victorian modern relationships and feminists. Shaw reveals that man cannot live without family. After a gap of eighteen years, when Mrs. Clandon meets her husband, her character changes, and she wants feelings for her husband. 

On the other hand, her husband, Mr. Crampton, lives a lonely life without his wife and children. At last, they get reconciled. Through their reconciliation, Shaw means that family life must be based on wisdom and understanding, not emotion. Here, the dramatist says: 

We don’t bother much about dress and manners in England, because as a nation we don’t dress well and we’ve no manners.

The Unpredictable Urge of Life Force: Shaw displays the unpredictable urge of life force. In the play, Valentine is a struggling dentist who lives amid realities and faces them without any illusion. Valentine is anti-romantic in his attitude towards love, but when he sees Gloria instantly, he feels that oxygen is running in his blood. 

On the other hand, her mother teaches Gloria an unromantic and unconventional education. She thinks love is the sentimentality of romance and an enemy of marriage. When Valentine expresses his interest in Gloria, Gloria says that she has no intention of getting married. But with the unpredictable urge of life force, they fall in love with each other.

From the above discussion, we can undoubtedly assert that one can know what will happen in the future. Shaw expresses that life is a grand mystery and an enigma. Thus, it is proved that the title of the play is congenial.