文档介绍：Table of Contents Historical Context The Myth Behind the Play Introduction summary and analysis of act iii Themes Style Historical Context World War I Colonialism and the British Empire Industrialization The Rise of Women and the Working Classes World War I By the end of World War I (as it came to be known later), million people had been killed and 21 million wounded, including significant civilian casualties. The war constituted the most intense physical, economic and psychological assault on European society in its history; Britain was not alone in experiencing devastating effects on its national morale and other aspects of society It is ironic. To Shaw, the war only demonstrated more clearly the need for human advancement on an individual and social level, to reach a level of understanding that would prevent such tragic devastation Colonialism and the British Empire In 1914 Great Britain was very much still a colonial power, but while victory in the First World War actually increased the size of the British Empire, the war itself simultaneously accelerated the development of nationalism and autonomy in the provinces . In addition to providing a symbolic unity to the Empire, the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837 ? 1901) also gave coherence to British society at home, through a set of values known as Victorians. Victorian values revolved around social high ? mindedness (a Christian sense of charity and service), domesticity (most education and entertainment occurred in the home, but children, who "should be seen and not heard," were reared with a strict hand) and a confidence in the expansion of knowledge and the power of reasoned argument to change society. By the time of Victoria's death1914, the year of Pygmalion and the onset of the Great War, constituted a much different kind of break, and symbolic. Industrialization The growth of industrialization throughout the eenth century had a tremendous impact on anization of Briti