Comment on Shaw’s Treatment of Love and Marriage in “You Never Can Tell”.

Answer

Comment on Shaw’s Treatment of Love and Marriage in “You Never Can Tell”.

In “You Never Can Tell” (1898), George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) presents a complex and nuanced exploration of love, which is a central theme of the play. Shaw’s treatment of love is critical of societal norms and expectations that often shape romantic relationships, and he advocates for a more genuine and egalitarian form of love based on mutual respect and understanding.

Anti-Romantic for Love and Marriage: The term ‘anti’ means against or opposite, and anti-romantic comedy signifies the opposite of romantic comedy. To put it differently, Anti-romantic is a type of comedy in which romantic fascinations are disrupted. ‘You Never Can Tell’ is an anti-romantic comedy because Shaw satirizes a cynical attitude toward love, marriage, and life.

Ironical Setting: At the beginning of the play, we notice that the plot starts very romantically but gradually turns into bitter experiences of love and marital life.

Criticism of Ideology or Ideas: Shaw expresses his idea against traditional thinking. He satirizes love and marriage and modern Victorian society. Mrs. Clandon thinks she teaches her children her philosophy and ideals, but she fails because her daughter, Gloria, disobeys her ideals and falls in love with Valentine. Mrs. Clandon tries to dissuade Gloria from falling in love with Valentine.

How many times he has laid the trap in which he has caught you; how often he has baited it with the same speeches; how much practice it has taken to make him perfect in his chosen part in life as the Duelist of Sex.

From this quotation, we can understand that love between males and females is the only source of sex, according to Mrs. Clandon.

Anti-romantic Attitude to Love: Shaw has an anti-romantic attitude to love. Being the mouthpiece of Shaw, Valentine expresses his creator’s attitude to love. Valentine told Gloria that his attack on the conflict of love is not conventional. He does not kneel in front of her. She doesn’t worship and adore her like a romantic lover. Instead, he hugs her tightly and kisses her lips. Valentine says:

Nature was in deadly earnest with me when I was in jest with her.

Here, he applies his new method to overcome new women’s resistance. His work is more direct and realistic, and Valentine unconventionally wins Gloria’s heart.

Satire of Love and Marriage: Shaw vividly satirizes love and marriage in the play. He expresses the problems and misunderstandings of marital life. He also satirizes Victorian modern relationships and feminists. Shaw reveals that man cannot live without family. In the play, 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 alone 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. 

Wit and Humor for Love: Wit means the ability to use words or ideas in an amusing, clever, and imaginative way; humor means quality in something that makes you laugh. In the play, we notice that Valentine is a wit person. When Gloria wants an explanation of man-woman attraction for each other, Valentine describes it in terms of chemistry. Valentine also illustrates that their relationship is like a chemical reaction. In a chemical reaction, a new is always produced by mixing at least two elements. Likewise, the relationship between man and woman is prolific because a new human comes to this world through such a relationship.

No, no, no. Not love: we know better than that. Let’s call it Chemistry.

Morality for Love and Marriage: Every literary work bears morality for humans, and ‘You Never Can Tell’ is no exception. The play’s morality is that everyone can never tell what will happen in the future.  Man needs a family, and marital life needs mutual understanding. Walter Buhon says:

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

From the above discussion, it is undoubted that Shaw’s treatment of love and marriage in “You Never Can Tell” is critical of traditional notions of romantic relationships and advocates for a more genuine and egalitarian form of love based on mutual respect and understanding. Through his play, Shaw invites the audience to question the conventional wisdom about love and marriage, suggesting that personal happiness and mutual respect should prevail over traditional expectations.