I'm going to analyze an extract from a play "The man of destiny" by George Bernard

Shaw, an Irish playwright, who was mostly talented for drama. He wrote more than 60 plays.
Nearly all his writings are devoted to the social problems, but have a vein of comedy which
makes their stark themes more palatable. The fact of his being the only person to be
nominated both a Nobel Prize in literarture and an Oscar proves him to be a very talented
person.

"The man of destiny" is a drama and drama is a kind of a genre which can be personified,
leading to the climax through series of events.

The play opens with the lieutenant hearing the Lady's voice which he thinks to be the
voice of a man who has tricked him out of Napoleon's letters. In fact it was the Lady who has
stolen them. Napoleon orders her to give back the letters but the Lady starts to flatter
Napoleon in order to distract his attention. Suddenly Napoleon hears the lieutenant's voice and
that makes him to remember about the letters again. The Lady agrees to give him the letters
except one which is a love letter. The Lady hints that the love letter has been written by
Napoleon's wife to his friend Barras. Napoleon doesn't believe her and thinks she has done
that because of revenge. The play ends with Napoleon driving the Lady out.

There's an external type of a conflict in the play. The two parties are Napoleon, that is
protagonist, and the Lady, antagonist. The author doesn't describe Napoleon directly, but it
isn't very difficult to know his character as the author shows us all his emotions through his
actions. There's no use to describe Napoleon's appearance. He is a historic person and it is
considered that everyone knows him. Napoleon's character is round and dynamic. In the
beginning of the play Napoleon is shown as a polite and courteous person. And also he is strict
and exacting as he immediately demands the letters and doesn't like the Lady's disobedience.
He is also shown as a kind person. He tries to calm down the Lady when she sinks on her knees.
Repetitions "No. No. There. There. Be calm Be calm" show his embarrassing. It is also clear that
Napoleons was not a very patient person as he quickly "utters a yell of rage", speaks in a "
furious whisper".

As for the Lady, the author describes her directly and it is quite easy to know what kind of
a person she was through her actions and appearance which is considered to be a very
important part of characterization. The Lady is described as a "tall, extraordinary graceful with
delicately intelligent face" woman. Her character is round and static as she doesn't change very
much. The Lady is a very clever and cunning person. She has managed to trick the lieutenant
out of letters. She has a great artistic talent. She can express a wide range of emotions. It is not
too difficult for her to disguise herself as a man, to perform a play as if she is crying sitting on
her keens in front of Napoleon.

The author uses the third-person objective narrator. The narrator can tell us what is
happening but he can't tell us what's in Napoleon's or in the Lady's minds. The author uses
remarks in which he describes emotions of the main characters. The tone of the story is highly
emotional. The language is emotional and expressive. The story is full of different stylistic
devises. The author uses many epithets while describing Napoleons feelings and mood at
hearing the Lady’s words.

The story also contains many metaphors (cut a very foolish figure, you goose, falling into
your hands), oxymoron (bitter sweetly). Also we can see that he use a lot of repetitions (Tut!
Tut!,Pray!Pray! No,no. Be calm, be calm. There! There!) which show Napoleon to be
embarrassed and emotional.

The author mostly writes in short, simple sentences. Long paragraphs are used to express
character’s thoughts, attitude and opinions. There are a lot of exclamatory sentences as the
main characters are highly emotional.

Bernard Shaw uses indirect characterization that makes us feel as the spectators of the
action.

The story is devoted to the problem of Napoleon’s private life. The author managed to
show the reader that every person has his own secrets and weak sides, no matter what status
he has in the society. Even Napoleon, a French political leader,

The author touches upon one of the most interesting problems. We shouldn’t think of a
person judging on his status. The most important thing is hidden from our first sight. We
should bear in mind that everyone, even Napoleon, a French political reader, first of all is a
man with his own thought, fears and strangeness.