OR SHAW STEALING?
Perhaps all playwrights since Shakespeare have succumbed to the lure of influence—at least that seems to be the view of cynical Punch cartoonists. Above we see parallel depictions of the theatrical reliance: George Bernard Shaw resting on his inner bard and ditto Oscar Wilde additionally propped up by French literature.1
We all lean on our progenitors, admittedly—even Wilde was not averse to the occasional borrowing, although it was often from himself.
But what of Shaw?
Or, put another way: what of downright plagiarism by a playwright of accepted genius now that his fellow countryman is safely beyond the pale?
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