It is the same thing with discussion on the stage. The subject
of Mr. Shaw's discussion is what is called a "nasty" one. That is
neither here nor there, though it may be pointed out that there is no
essential difference between the problem that he discusses and the
problem that is at the root of "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray."
But Mr. Shaw, I believe, is never without his polemical intentions, and
I should like, for a moment, to ask whether his discussion of his
problem, taken on its own merits, is altogether the best way to discuss
things. Mr. Shaw has an ideal of life: he asks that men and women should
be perfectly reasonable, that they should clear their minds of cant, and
speak out everything that is in their minds. He asks for cold and clear
logic, and when he talks about right and wrong he is really talking
about right and wrong logic. Now, logic is not the mainspring of every
action, nor is justice only the inevitable working out of an equation.
Humanity, as Mr. Shaw sees it, moves like clockwork; and must be
regulated as a watch is, and praised or blamed simply in proportion to
its exactitude in keeping time. Humanity, as Mr.
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