The Victorian era in the United Kingdom is archetypically considered the time period in which Queen Victoria ruled, from 1837 to 1901 (Miller 1). Although the Queen's reign altered many social aspects of British life, perhaps the most noticeable was the drama. Previously the theater had been barred and frowned upon for various reasons, particularly religious ones. However, Queen Victoria chose to often witness histrionic performances and eventually made it respectable. The Queen considered Shakespeare too confusing a playwright (Airdrie 1) and it soon became the task of numerous others to create entertaining works that would appeal to her and countless other Europeans. Although Victorian era playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and J.M. Barrie came from vastly different backgrounds and circumstances, each of them gave their all to their writing in the hopes of expressing themselves and entertaining their audiences. Perhaps best known of the Victorian playwrights, George Bernard Shaw was born on 26 July 1856 to a drunkard, George Carr Shaw, and his wife, Lucinda Elisabeth Shaw (George Bernard Shaw 1), a lower-middle class family (Mazer 1) . Shaw attended Wesleyan Connexional School before moving to Central Model School in Dublin. From there, he attended the Dublin English Scientific and Commercial Day School. However, his education ended around the age of fifteen when he began working as a clerk (George Bernard Shaw 1). It was around this time that Shaw's mother left her husband and moved in with her singing teacher in London (Mazer 1). In 1876, Shaw joined his mother in London (George Bernard Shaw 1) where he devoted himself to journalism and writing while reading excessively and even engaging in politics and public advertising. . Network. March 6, 2012..Miller, Ilana. "The Victorian era." Victoriaspast.com. Network. March 04, 2012..Nguyen, Linh. "The Aesthetic Movement". Teaching writing with the computer. UCDavis, Winter 2002. Web. 05 March 2012. "Oscar Wilde." Vernon Johns. Network. 04 March 2012. "Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)." BBC News. BBC. Network. March 04, 2012.."Fun Facts About Oscar Wilde." Network. 05 March 2012. "Oscar Wilde Quotes". Clever quote. Xplore. Network. 06 March. 2012..