Other editions of book Androcles and the Lion

"Androcles and the Lion" is Shaw's take on the tale of Androcles, addressing the irreconcilable differences between the teachings of Jesus and traditional Roman values. Though the play deals with the heavy topics of Christianity and its social influence, Shaw uses comedy as a vehicle to propel this memorable theatrical work which is still read and performed to this day.

Famed playwright George Bernard Shaw's quirky version of the ancient Androcles fable deftly combines elements of satire and humor along with a surprisingly philosophically complex view of Christianity and religious belief systems in general. This playful take on the issues of persecution and martyrdom is as timely today as it was when initially published a century ago.

George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was fordrama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Shaw examined education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege. -wikipedia

Famed playwright George Bernard Shaw's quirky version of the ancient Androcles fable deftly combines elements of satire and humor along with a surprisingly philosophically complex view of Christianity and religious belief systems in general. This playful take on the issues of persecution and martyrdom is as timely today as it was when initially published a century ago.

Androcles is the main character of a common folktale that is included in the Aarne-Thompson classification system as type 156. The story reappeared in the Middle Ages as "The Shepherd and the Lion" and was then ascribed to Aesop's Fables. It is numbered 563 in the Perry Index and can be compared to Aesop's The Lion and the Mouse in both its general trend and in its moral of the reciprocal nature of mercy. George Bernard Shaw's play Androcles and the Lion (1912) makes Androcles a tailor; he is also given Christian beliefs for the purposes of the play, which on the whole takes a skeptical view of religion. The first film adaptation of the story in the US was also made in 1912. Afterwards there were several others for both cinema and TV. Rob Englehart's The Lion, the Slave and the Rodent (2010) was a much later American approach to the fable. A one-act chamber opera for five voices, it combined the story of Androcles with the fable of "The Lion and the Mouse".

Androcles, a fugitive Christian tailor, accompanied by his nagging wife, is on the run from his Roman persecutors. While hiding in the forest he comes upon a wild lion who approaches him with a wounded paw. His wife runs off. Androcles sees that the cause of the animal's distress is a large thorn embedded in its paw, which he draws out while soothing the lion in baby language.

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish writer who is considered to be one of the greatest playwrights of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Shaw's first major success was Arms and the Man, written in 1894, and he would go on to write other classics including Pygmalion, Major Barbara, and Mrs. Warren's Profession. Androcles and the Lion is a play that tells the story of a slave who is saved by the mercy of a lion.

Androcles, a fugitive Christian tailor, accompanied by his nagging wife, is on the run from his Roman persecutors. While hiding in the forest he comes upon a wild lion who approaches him with a wounded paw. His wife runs off. Androcles sees that the cause of the animal's distress is a large thorn embedded in its paw, which he draws out while soothing the lion in baby language.

Famed playwright George Bernard Shaw's quirky version of the ancient Androcles fable deftly combines elements of satire and humor along with a surprisingly philosophically complex view of Christianity and religious belief systems in general. This playful take on the issues of persecution and martyrdom is as timely today as it was when initially published a century ago.