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/lp/penn-state-university-press/don-roberto-in-bernard-shaw-s-plays-neirfXl7qt
- Publisher
- Penn State University Press
- Copyright
- Copyright © Penn State University Press
- ISSN
- 1529-1480
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
"When the Master of Life and King among Men walked down the street, the children scampered behind him, mimicking his swagger," wrote Cedric Watts and Laurence Davies in their biography of Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham.1 Who was Cunninghame Graham, and why did Shaw inform us that Sergius in Arms and the Man and Captain Brassbound, i.e., Black Paquito, were based in part on Cunninghame Graham, as was Hector Hushabye in Heartbreak House? Don Roberto, however, was hardly the romanticized cavalry officer of the earlier play and certainly not the brigand of Captain Brassbound's Conversion. Nor was he the lapdog whose appearance in Arab robes in Heartbreak House would have reminded knowledgeable audiences of Cunninghame Graham. Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (18521936) was considered during his lifetime a romantic, heroic figure, even a "mythogenic figure: an attractor and generator of legends."2 Born into the Scottish aristocracy-- as a Menteith, directly descended from Robert II--Cunninghame Graham said that he should have been king of Scotland had he wanted to pursue his claim to the throne. Heir to properties in three Scottish counties, he would, in 1883, inherit the family estates in Dumbartonshire, Gartmore, and Gallangad--and the debts that had accrued. As
Journal
SHAW The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies – Penn State University Press
Published: Sep 11, 2011