The Doctor's Dilemma
The Doctor's Dilemma
George Bernard Shaw
“The Doctor’s Dilemma”, drama in four acts and an epilogue by George Bernard Shaw, performed in 1906, in London, and published in 1911. The play satirizes the medical profession and comments wryly on the general public’s inability to distinguish between personal behaviour and achievement.
A question of medical ethics is central to The Doctor’s Dilemma: Dr. Colenso Ridgeon must choose between saving Louis Dubedat—a talented and charming artist who has borrowed money with no intention of repayment and has deceived his devoted wife Jennifer—and helping a poverty-stricken doctor who treats indigent patients. The dilemma is further complicated when the doctor falls in love with Jennifer.
Available
1911
978-1-4218-5054-2
Drama
1st World Library
George Bernard Shaw
Irish writer and literary critic, born on July 26, 1856, in Dublin, and died on November 2, 1950, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.
Coming from a poor family, he never attended university. In 1876 he moved to London and worked as a journalist, although his dream was to be a writer. He never stopped writing despite the failure of his early works. He became a theatre, art and music critic for various publications such as Saturday Review, Our Corner, The Pall Mall Gazette, The World and The Star.
As a member of the Social Democratic Federation, he had the opportunity to get to know the work of Karl Marx. He has since become an active socialist, a member of the Fabian Society, has lectured and distributed pamphlets, some of which he authored such as “The Fabian Manifesto” (1884) and “Socialism for Millionaires” (1901). He participated in various actions that later led to the emergence of the Labor Party.
In the meantime he wrote several political plays such as “Arms and the Man” (1894), “Devil’s Disciple” (1897), “Man and Superman” (1902), “Major Barbara” (1905), and “Pygmalion” (1913). As a convinced socialist, he was one of the opponents of the First World War. After the war, he wrote several successful plays, such as “Heartbreak House” (1919), “Back to Methuselah” (1921), “St. Joan” (1923), “The Apple Cart” (1929) and “Too True to be Good” (1932), which helped him to win the Nobel Prize.