“Patronizing Essie” by explaining to her, “you must not mind if your aunt is strict with you. She is a very good woman, and desires your good too.”
But as Essie replies in “listless misery...” Judith becomes –
“Annoyed with Essie for her failure to be consoled and edified and to appreciate the kindly condescension of the remark.”
Through this “annoyed” expression, the idea of Judith continuous efforts to seek appreciation of the angelic appearance that she is successfully making can be communicated towards the audience. This therefore shows that this was simply an ‘act’, to gain acknowledgement and to fulfill her responsibilities as the minister’s wife, instead of from her true motives. This idea is further reinforced when Judith thinks herself as –
“being a more thoughtful housekeeper than Mrs Dudgeon”
As she –
“Places a couple of chairs at the table with their backs to the window”
Through these thoughts the audience is allowed to see the continuous ‘appearance’ Judith is trying to portray to the other characters.
Contrastingly, towards the end of the melodrama, Shaw has enabled Judith to express her feelings and ideas fully and therefore revealing her true self and motives, without worrying about the responsibilities that she has as Anthony Anderson’s wife.
This change in Judith is presented at the third scene of the play where Richard Dudgeon, who is mistaken as Anthony Anderson, is being trailed in the court. When General Burgoyne sentences Richard to death, Judith uncontrollably surrenders her ‘appearances’ as a quiet, polite and even patronizing woman and expresses her own feelings –
“Oh, you are mad. Is it noting to you what wicked things you do if only you do it like a gentlemen? Is it nothing to you whether you are a murderer or not, if only you murder in a red coat? (Desperately) You shall not hang him, that man is not my husband”
Here she has used coarse language to abuse the highly respected General Burgoyne. This action has deeply impacted in the audience idea of Judith character change, as she throws away her ‘appearances’ and steps into ‘reality’, to try and safe Richard’s life, a life that she had dreadfully hated so much at the start of the play.
This dramatic change in Judith can be further conveyed to the audience when she bribes the sergeant to let her stay to witness the last hours of Richard’s life. –
“Will you take these two silver dollars and let me stay?”
This is completely opposite of the pure and holy Judith at the start of the play, as she learns to take her own choices, act by her motives and forget her responsibility as the wife of a minister.
Through different actions that Judith has made throughout the play, the audience is able to sense the clear idea of ‘appearance and reality’. Shaw has used this character to clearly argue the theme of, ‘what seems to be right might not be’, fighting the social injustice at the time. This play has successfully contributed to altering the audiences’ perception on political matters in their own society.
