Major Barbara | Quotes

Shaw did not believe in salvation through atonement for sins or in forgiveness. Because he believed poverty to be the greatest sin, salvation must include delivering the whole of England from its clutches.

Although some critics interpreted the play as a condemnation of the Salvation Army, Shaw explains that the Army is no more corrupt than other religious organizations that benefit from donations from the wealthy. The Army simply cannot survive without the money of the rich.

Lady Britomart tells Stephen of his father's influence. Because his products are necessary in wars, European governments depend on him. The result is that Undershaft and his business partner, Lazarus, can do whatever they like without worrying about retribution.

Speaking of her husband's origins, Lady Britomart tells Stephen his father's parents were not married. Undershaft has lived by this motto his entire life, unworried by conventional ideas of morality or social expectations. He feels no shame about his business or himself.

Undershaft expresses moral relativism by claiming one person's sense of right and wrong can be different from another's.

When Barbara asks what religion her father is, believing him to be a secularist, what Undershaft responds he believes in money. He professes his faith in the goodness and power of money to save people from poverty, about which he thinks there's nothing admirable or noble.

Peter Shirley, poor and out of work because of his age, takes verbal jabs at Undershaft because he is rich. Shirley echoes the usual rhetoric of one of the virtues of poverty: a clear conscience, which he thinks is better than wealth. Undershaft, however, is his usual pragmatic self and sees no virtue in poverty, nor does he see the connection between poverty and a clear conscience. Indeed, a clear conscience may seem of little importance if it means one must be poor.

Barbara talks to the violent Bill Watkins, trying to win his soul for God. She believes his salvation will not only inspire him to be a better person in the present but also win him everlasting glories in heaven.

Because Undershaft believes poverty to be a crime and a sin, to which money is the solution, money is the means of salvation. Gunpowder is the source of his wealth. With both, he has all he needs.

Barbara refuses to take a small amount of money from her father, even to give to the Salvation Army, which will close its shelter if more funds are not raised. She recognizes he is trying to buy something she believes must be honestly sought after through a real change of heart and can't be purchased in a simple monetary transaction. Her father, however, has other ideas—and does get what he wants by using his money.

Barbara is appalled to see the Salvation Army take money from a distiller and a munitions manufacturer, the enablers of drunkenness and murder, in her opinion. Thus she sees the Salvation Army can indeed be bought. Echoing the words of Christ upon the cross, she expresses her feelings of abandonment by God.

In response to Stephen's boasts about the unimpeachable character of the British government, Undershaft can't help but condemn his son's naiveté. He and his business partner might as well be the government because of the level of influence they hold over it. Undershaft claims he tells the government what to do.

Undershaft reiterates his belief that poverty is a sin. He explains his version of the seven deadly sins includes the kinds of needs that keep people impoverished. Money alone, he argues, can save people from these burdens, which will otherwise pull them down to their deaths.

Cusins wants to use his position as the new leader of the Undershaft company to create power for all people, power that will benefit everyone. For Cusins, this is the highest good.

When Cusins asks if Barbara thinks salvation can be found in the arms factory, she expresses her new belief that evil things can be used to create good. Thus, she has become more pragmatic, perhaps more Machiavellian, like her father.