Androcles and the Lion: An Old Fable Renovated

by George Bernard Shaw

Book Overview

Androcles and the Lion is a 1912 play written by George Bernard Shaw.

Androcles and the Lion is Shaw's retelling of the tale of Androcles, a slave who is saved by the requited mercy of a lion. In the play, Shaw makes Androcles out to be one of many Christians being led to the Colosseum for torture. Characters in the play exemplify several themes and takes on both modern and supposed early Christianity, including cultural clash between Jesus'...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140450130
• ISBN13: 9780140450132
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Read the whole book!!!

Do not be tempted to pass over the essay that begins this book. It is a delightfully thought provoking essay that sets up the story of the play. Shaw writes of his views of organized religon with support for his thesis. It is important to read this before diving into the play itself.The play is wonderful, but the theater program must be 200 pages long. You need all the 111 pages before the play to get all of the meanings of the play.

A Pleasant Fable

Androcles and the Lion is an allegorical work which points out that kindness is not necessarity altruistic - it can be of worth. Shaw's writing is brilliant and well worth the reading.

Excellant to show sequencing to learning disabled students

I teach 7th grade learning disabled students world history and I use Androceles and the Lion to teach sequencing skills. After I read the story, I ask the students to number in order in which they occur, several events in the story.

I'm so glad to have found it

I first this read this book in Baltimore, MD at the tender age of 7, 1952. I thought that I would never see this book again in my life time. But fate has it that I'm able to read it again. I've used this book in my lectures and motivational speeches. Because I love the message that it portrays and illustrate to children as it did mine. Thanks for letting me share. I'm 57 yo now.

this book was an enchanting fable...

the story sets a scene of serenity, but later the plot thickens and complications trouble androcles and his lion friend, but old friends remain friends, and it is their friendship that saves them in the end.