Gendered Knowledge and Patriarchal Failure in Shaw’s Augustus Does His Bit

Abstract

This study examines George Bernard Shaw’s Augustus Does His Bit through the lens of feminist epistemology. This feminist epistemology also acts as a theoretical paradigm. Numerous previous studies emphasize on nationalism, patriotism, and war satire in the play. They pay comparatively less attention to the relation between gender and knowledge. However, this study introduces gender that shapes knowledge and patriarchal authority that produces epistemic failure during wartime. It examines the operation of gendered knowledge and analyzes the masculine authority that collapses in the play. Shaw portrays war not only as a political crisis but also as an epistemic one. This study adopts a qualitative approach and an interpretive research design. It employs close textual analysis as the principal method. This analysis focuses on language, silence, authority, and power. Augustus Highcastle represents authority-driven knowledge in the play. His speech relies on certainty and discourages inquiry. He equates obedience with intelligence and treats emotion as evidence. Doubt appears as weakness and questioning appears as a threat. In contrast, the female spy in the play demonstrates silence, observation, and restraint as strategies of her knowledge. Her actions challenge masculine authority and expose the limitations of patriarchal certainty. This play presents war as an epistemic crisis that extends beyond politics and morality to the foundations of knowledge itself. Thus, this study concludes that Shaw critiques patriarchal modes of knowing and foregrounds alternative forms of knowledge that emerge from marginalized positions.