Then death will not matter: thissnake and that snake will die; but the snakes will live. Useless:nothing happened. ADAM. All present could attest to the truth of that, with no need for lying! She spins resignedly; he digs impatiently. Oh, it is dreary, dreary! ADAM. A He-Ancient, who is called to decide the creatures' fate. THE SERPENT. He leaves the group and seeks out the Oracle, begs her to let him stay on the island, says he will die of disgust and despair if he goes back home. Tired of their talk with children, the Ancients go their separate ways. EVE [_jarred and startled_] What a hateful noise! EVE. Furthermore, one of Shaw's last plays, Farfetched Fables (1950) also classifies as science fiction,[9] and The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles (1934). Their conversation ends only when it comes time to consult the oracle. And then you grovelled ather feet, and cried, and begged her to forgive you, and were ten timesmore her slave than ever; and she, when she had finished screaming andthe pain went off a little, she forgave you, did she not? Then love will be no longer uncertain. Near her head alow rock shows above the Johnswort. This leads to a rift with two-year-old Stephen, her romantic partner, but she doesn't mind because it frees her to seek solitude, where she can meditate. Have you a word for this new misery? [_To Cain_] Your father is a fool skin deep;but you are a fool to your very marrow; and your baggage of a wife isworse. ADAM. time, Back to Methuselah and Saint Joan. ADAM. If I must have food or die, I will at least have it at as far aremove from the earth as I can. This will please him, and cure his fits of melancholy. I _have_ to think about you. That is a great thought. Meanwhile, the Archbishop, having learned of the furore at the Records Office, presents himself for questioning. Eat the dust. Everything is possible: everything. (5 episodes, 1952) Series Writing Credits George Bernard Shaw . There must besomething greater than the snake. He is at his zenith now but realizes a time will come when the people will rebel and he will become the casualty. Icannot bear this knowledge. Barnabas goes to meet the American inventor, who wants to use Records Office film footage to create a My sons and my son's sons are not all diggersand fighters. I am tired of myself. CAIN. Youthful nurses are provided to tourists to keep that from happening but he has evaded Zozim, the one assigned to him. Adam must not perish. She is a better sort of woman to live with than you. Sooner or later I shall trip and fall. [_He sitsdown again, sulkily_]. Man shall be the master ofWoman, not her baby and her drudge. Adam: we need not livefor ever. One quotation from Back to Methuselah is frequently misattributed to Robert F. Kennedy, even though Kennedy stated that he was quoting Shaw"You see things; and you say, 'Why?' Other articles where Back to Methuselah is discussed: George Bernard Shaw: Works after World War I: plays under the collective title Back to Methuselah (1922). I am very wise. And it burst; and a little snake came out; and it became biggerand bigger from day to day until it was as big as I. They can remembertheir dreams. [_He shudders and sits down on the rock_]. Do you love your godmother Eve? Hush! ADAM. By that he is tied to you. They couldnot: I feel sure of that. An illustration of a magnifying glass. There was no more to prevent him than there was to prevent me:it was man to man; and I won. EVE [_joining him_] Oh! Burge-Lubin declines the offer. If only there may be an end some day, and yetno end! And it is courage, courage, courage, thatraises the blood of life to crimson splendor. He reveals that the drowned notables in the film clips at the Records Office are all the same person whose multiple demises had ended several significant careers. According to Louis Crompton in Shaw the Dramatist (pp. THE SERPENT. Be thankful to your parents, whoenabled you to hand on your burden to new and better men, and won foryou an eternal rest; for it was we who invented death. ADAM [_ruminating_] You puzzle me. EVE. Pah! How did Lilith work this miracle? [_He strides to the thornbrake_]. EVE. You are always spying on me. I will divide them into two greathosts. I am the first murderer: you are only the first man. And others think of numbers without having to count ontheir fingers, and watch the sky at night, and give names to the stars,and can foretell when the sun will be covered with a black saucepan lid.And there is Tubal, who made this wheel for me which has saved me somuch labor. If only I can be relieved of the horror of having to enduremyself for ever! I tell you it must not be. But I know very well that what you mean isthe horror of having to be here with me for ever. I want to see my work sometimes. ADAM. You see, Eve,what a splendid thing it is not to have to live for ever. THE SERPENT. She does so and asks if he still wants to consult an older person. who have the labor of the child-bearing: I! Oh yes, some of them, of course. His question: "How am I to satisfy my genius for fighting until I die?" And each host shall tryto kill the other host. You are no superman: you are Anti-Man: you are to othermen what the stoat is to the rabbit; and she is to you what the leech isto the stoat. THE SERPENT. Let us listen to the snake. Moreover, he has recognized the person as the currently alive and active Archbishop of York. THE SERPENT. THE SERPENT. Life is theloveliest of all the new words. EVE. Without themcourage would have no sense. When there are new Adams and new Eves we shall live in a garden ofstrangers. Pleasant at first, their behaviour soon turns murderous and Pygmalion is killed during his efforts to control them. By quitting it I have set myselffree to learn nobler crafts of which you know nothing. The secret. The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas is intended to teach an audience what readers of the Preface are assumed to have learned. Martellus apparently brought nothing and Arjillax is jeered because he brought busts of ancients, which the children think are ugly; they want youthful beauties, like themselves. EVE. You are not stronger: you are shorter in the wind: you cannotendure. I could not sit still then. The Prime Minister's choice was clear. CAIN. It is poisoning the air. Superman! It is a cycle of five plays which Shaw calls a 'metabiological pentateuch'. EVE. Besides, if it happened to you, _I_should be alone. Barnabas hotly contested the legality of this and favoured prosecuting. As a result, governmental dignities are mere figureheads, useful only for formalities and ceremonial occasions. ADAM. Leave us in peace. Afternoon. EVE. Of newly createdthings. that know many more crafts than either ofyou, am tired of myself when I am not fighting or hunting. Die. Pretty thing! ADAM. I like you; but I do not like myself. I am tired of pulling these things up to keep the gardenpleasant for us for ever. EVE. I am the most subtle of all the creatures of the field. He says he'll take that chance, since it is more honourable. They were first performed in 1922 by the New York Theatre Guild at the old Garrick Theatre in New York City[1] and, in Britain, at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1923.[2]. Some of them will neither dig nor fight: they are moreuseless than either of you: they are weaklings and cowards: they arevain; yet they are dirty and will not take the trouble to cut theirhair. Does not theVoice tell you that as no man dare slay you for murdering your brother,you ought to slay yourself? She is not yet visible to anyone unaware of her presence, asher colors of green and brown make a perfect camouflage. No: he invented it himself. Hope is wicked. THE SERPENT. You must not move about.You must sit still. THE SERPENT. And pray, what use is this thousand years of life to you, youold vegetable? Kill, kill, kill, kill. Copies of this variorum edition are available in the Goldsmiths' Library in the University of London, the Lilly Library at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, and in the Rare Books Collection of the University of Texas at Austin. Back to Methuselah (1952- ) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Series Directed by Alan Bromly . She buries herface in her hands_. ButAbel was a discoverer, a man of ideas, of spirit: a true Progressive. Oh! He readily admits repeatedly feigning death and explains that the laws enforcing mandatory retirement at a certain age and those controlling eligibility for pensions left him with no alternative: When his record showed him old enough to be retired, he could no longer keep his job but he was always denied a pension because he looked too young. They do not grow very fast. Let the Rotterjacks look to it." Kill me; and you will find another snake in thegarden tomorrow. A man's eventual destiny is to be bodiless, a vortex of energy, immortal, and free to roam among the stars. Something that never could happen, and yet does happen. And that request was granted: "Go home, poor fool" the oracle replies repeating what she had said to Eastwind. ADAM [_despairingly_] But we shall cease to be. I am to be a mere convenience to make men for you to kill! His face is buried in his hands and he is sobbing. He shrieks and falls, but rises once again, because The Oracle missed her target. They put all sorts ofthoughts into my head. Why not? Death. When they come, there isalways some new wonder, or some new hope: something to live for. Then I too willed to renew myself as two instead of one; and aftermany days the miracle happened, and I burst from my skin another snakeinterlaced with me; and now there are two imaginations, two desires, twowills to create with. ADAM. That is whatmakes me sit brooding and silent and hateful. An oasis in Mesopotamia. I cleared away the thistles and briars. And I! Everything is possible. And as the man is nobler than the ox,I shall some day let my enemy eat the ox; and then I will slay and eathim. THE SERPENT. Make a vow. You see, life is too long. ADAM. Away with you, naughty child; and do you,Adam, go on with your work and not waste your time listening to him. She loved me more than ever. There is nosuch day as tomorrow, and never can be. Act I of In the Beginning, wherein the Serpent as Lilith's emissary talks to Eve, is one of Shaw's happiest efforts, though the Adam and Eve of . The official database for Broadway theatre information . I will make other Adams, other Eves. Of better things. Cain . 4004 (In the Garden of Eden), The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day, The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170, Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000, and As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31,920. Life has becomeuncertain. Go in peace. The serpent never dies. It, too, is most impressive with a show of eerie lighting in a measureless abyss. I wish I had a serpent's tongue. THE SERPENT. I envied his happiness, his freedom. Shaw says they are his names for what the churches have called Providence and scientists call Functional Adaptation and Natural Selection (among other names) and gives due credit to Henri Bergson's lan vital. I forgot it when I sawyour beautiful hood. CAIN. It is what you are when youforget and brood and are filled with fear. promotional cinema showing sundry important Britons who have lost their lives by drowning, but who, with the invention's help, might not have perished. Yousee things; and you say 'Why?' EVE. That is true. You despise your father; but when he dies the world willbe the richer because he lived. Tell me some miracle that you have done. You think youcould, because you know that you will never have to make your thoughtgood. What is a fool? EVE [_petting her_] Eve's wonderful darling snake. That comes before everything. Do you love your godmother Eve? There is divine justice. EVE. Not before. Promise me you will be careful. Cease your boasting and bullying, and tell the truth. To be thefirst murderer one must be a man of spirit. But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'[15]. Cain, witha laughing one, throws down his shield and spear. If they learn to propagate they can make other humans to tend the garden and thus be free to escape from living when they wish. Darkness ensues and the ghost of Adam appears as a vague radiance. Yes: that is a good hard word. Through him and his like, death is gaining on life. There ishero and superman. Shaw also advocates what he calls homeopathy as a pedagogical method, arguing that society "can only be lamed and enslaved by" education. Rows of curved marble benches, spaced well apart, fan out from the altar. He rushes from the courtyard, blowing a whistle to summon the police, but is immobilized, within a force-field, near a monument of Falstaff, where he will stand and gibber until it is convenient to collect him. Anything is better than uncertainty. Always dig, dig, dig. You make my father here your mere convenience,as you call it, for that. You are very subtle. THE SERPENT. Why should I forget it? Ha! English Deutsch Franais Espaol Portugus Italiano Romn Nederlands Latina Dansk Svenska Norsk Magyar Bahasa Indonesia Trke Suomi Latvian Lithuanian esk . CAIN [_to Adam_] Still digging? I could kill both of you; andyou could no more defend yourselves than a couple of sheep. EVE. I hardly know which of you satisfies me least, you with yourdirty digging, or he with his dirty killing. I will bedelivered from fear. ADAM [_in sullen rage_] I have half a mind to shew you that my spade cansplit your undutiful head open, in spite of your spear. "Poor short-lived thing!" Its neck is wrong [_he stoops to lift the neckand shew her_]. It issilly to say you do not care. When Lilith told me whatshe had imagined in our silent language (for there were no words then) Ibade her desire it and will it; and then, to our great wonder, the thingshe had desired and willed created itself in her under the urging of herwill. It is I. I have come to shew you my beautiful new hood. Why, it gave me right. ADAM [_rubbing his foot_] A thistle. That is too much for the Elderly Gentleman to swallow. You must tell us your secret. Some day you shall see me come outof this beautiful skin, a new snake with a new and lovelier skin. But you have not made a vow yet. Andnettles, too! EVE. This splendid life of yours does not last for a thousandyears; and I must last for a thousand years. Do not forget that, Adam. ADAM. ADAM. BACK TO METHUSELAH The first performances of Back to Methuselah were undertaken By the Theatre Guild of New York, and began on the 27th February 1922 in the Garrick Theatre in that city. Quick. That may come too. EVE. EVE. EVE [_snatching herself loose from Adam_] Do not make that odious noise,I tell you. Shaw's "homeopathic" educational method consisted of lying to students, until the students were able to see through the lies and argue with the teachers. Shaw uses science fictioneering in Methuselah to add plausibility to scenarios and to keep readers entertained while he propounds his vision of the human destiny. EVE. THE SERPENT. I tell you I am verysubtle. She looks seventeen years old. Their two greatest sculptors will show their latest masterpieces and be crowned with flowers, honoured with dithyrambs and have dances done around them. What is the good of being careful? Both politicians seize upon the promise of enhanced longevity as a way of attracting votes. [_She licks Eve's neck with her doubletongue_]. It is admittedly possible to find some excuses for the negative side of his arguments, especially the refusal to be convinced by Darwin. Does this seem a better thing to you thanlove between us? The fawn stumbled and fell anddied. Senior School Recitation finals Nov . Begone. EVE. To desire, to imagine, to will, to create. I am a man: youare only a grown-up child. Try a taste of fighting. Sooner thanface a thousand years of it I should kill myself, as the Voice sometimestempts me to do already. BACK TO METHUSELAH A Metabiological Pentateuch by BERNARD SHAW 1921 Contents The Infidel Half Century The Dawn of Darwinism The Advent of the Neo-Darwinians Political Inadequacy of the Human Animal Cowardice of the Irreligious Is there any Hope Home - Books - Back to Methuselah by George Bernard Shaw This page contains affiliate links. Whose fault was it that I killed Abel? It is long and hard andpainful to create life: it is short and easy to steal the life othershave made. You say itgives us strength: does it not also turn into filth and smite us withdiseases? It has not yet told me the secret. Theynever want to die, because they are always learning and always creatingeither things or wisdom, or at least dreaming of them. THE SERPENT. [_She rises, and passing behind him, strolls offcarelessly to the tree and leans against it, stroking a ring of thesnake_]. The Archbishop is recognizably the Reverend Haslam, Savvy Barnabas' sweetheart, no longer callow, but dignified and confident and looking no more than fifty. THE SERPENT. EVE. She learns of the Archbishop's longevity with great interest but no evident surprise and it soon emerges that she, also, is long lived and remembers Archbishop Haslam from the time she was parlour maid for Franklyn Barnabas. The rock and tree are on the border of a glade in which lies a dead fawnall awry, its neck being broken. Ifyou take a step towards your mother with that spear of yours I willstrike you with my spade as you struck Abel. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. He will imploreyou to let him do his share. Shaw's promotion of Creative Evolution was always wrong, always shallow, and often rather cheap. Sheshall have no other food; and that will make her my slave. Yes: that is splendid: that will bind the future. Do you think I never have thesethoughts: I! EVE. The sculptors, Arjillax and Martellus, arrive. It found that I wasmyself, and that it was for Abel to be himself also, and look tohimself. But the rest of us will die sooner or later, like the fawn. EVE. You will find more snakes than there are fingers onyour hands. I can talk of many things. He became so happy that heshared his meal with the Voice that had whispered all his inventions tohim. Fear will drive me to anything. I had not thought of that. [_He goes on digging withoutraising his head_]. That comes before everything. THE SERPENT. THE SERPENT. I have imagined a glorious poem of many men, of more men thanthere are leaves on a thousand trees. I should belonely. The moment you find we need not last for ever,you talk as if we were going to end today. THE SERPENT. I am what I am:nothing can alter that. Turned from the clay. EVE. EVE [_looking across the garden towards the hurdle_] Here is Cain. CAIN. He has to dig for you, sweat for you, plodfor you, like the ox who helps him to tear up the ground or the ass whocarries his burdens for him. Coo-ee! Andnow some day, in spite of all my care, you will fall on your head andbecome dead. My strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure. But why did she divide into two, and make us different? EN. She said it must never be again: that theburden of renewing life was past bearing: that it was too much for one.And when she cast the skin, lo! You are idle: you are selfish. EVE. He can imagine: he canwill: he can desire: he can gather his life together for a great springtowards creation: he can create all things except one; and that one ishis own kind. And I have to pretend to be surprised, delighted, interested;though the last child is like the first, and has said and done nothingthat did not delight Adam and me when you and Abel said it. And be it noted, Lilith, the first mother, is the presiding imaginative principle of Back to Methuselah itself. But is it long enough for theother things, the great things? A She-Ancient arrives to supervise the birthing. CAIN. Itmeans that nothing is certain but uncertainty. Two must shareit. ADAM. Let Eve vow to loveyou until your death. CAIN. Yet I am alive, and can burst myskin and renew myself as before. Packed with the spot-on social commentary that George Bernard Shaw is known for, the five plays that comprise Back to Methuselah are an engaging read for lovers of classic drama and science fiction fans alike. EVE. Why not live bravely, and die early and makeroom for others? The Festival of the Artists begins. You say thatI make a mere convenience of Adam: I who spin and keep the house, andbear and rear children, and am a woman and not a pet animal to pleasemen and prey on them! THE SERPENT. In rejecting yourdrudgery, have I not embraced evils and agonies of which you knownothing? Be silent, both of you. The Ancient refuses, saying he is too mature for gambolling; ancients must stick to their own ways of enjoyment. Undutiful! EVE. He is to take an aeroplane to the location and be dropped near the yacht by parachute. It was true: Isaw the fire consume the food on his altar. THE SERPENT. I should be alone. THE SERPENT. The Voice of The Serpent The Parlor Maid Mrs. Lutestring, the Domestic Minister The Oracle The She-Ancient . Eve drops her distaff. What is the matterwith you? I adore her. For all that, mother, I have an instinct which tells me that deathplays its part in life. You have no real strength in your bones nor sap in your flesh. THE SERPENT. It gives us the strength by which we made you and all mankind.Cut off from the clay which you despise, you would perish miserably. Adam invents the word to-morrow. It is I who must conceive. EVE. THE SERPENT. Yes, until you create another Adam. CAIN [_rising_] You did well: I, too, do not want to live for ever. May your tongue be accurst for such blasphemy! And yet I must endure myself, not for a dayor for many days, but for ever. Will they live long enough to eat manna? I have not lived as long as you; but I know all thereis to be known of the craft of digging. The Voice of The Serpent (Original) . I revolt against the clay. Except for the brothers, only the housemaid is greatly influenced by the prospect of longevity, for she turns out to be the only one who has really read Conrad's book. She, being long lived understands no metaphors and speaks the literal truth, while he consistently uses figures of speech instead of stating simple facts. ADAM [_uttering a grunt of disgust_]!!! I call yours the Devil. Lua was awoman-child when I bore her. THE SERPENT. You are hard enough to bear with as you are. Youfight because you think that your fighting makes her admire and desireyou. What a beautiful word! EVE. You call that love! I know you: Iam your mother. Serpent (5:349). [_Rising and moving about in his agitation_]. That is too wonderful. And all that comes of it is that he wants to be abear and eat children. Can you find aname for that knowledge? Dare it. Happiness is wicked.Certainty is blessed. ADAM [_to Eve, grumpily_] Why do you live on, if you can find nothingbetter to do than complain? The earth is fruitful. CAIN. And there is yet nearly sevenhundred years of it to endure. The Ancients' evolutionary goal, he tells the. You sometimes sit for hoursbrooding and silent, hating me in your heart. The secret! All were written during 1918 to 1920 and published simultaneously by Constable (London) and Brentano's (New York) in 1921. Fear is stronger in me than hope. Do not tell him yet. I do not blame you. The Ancient leaves the children to their play. Back to Methuselah. I don't normally like long plays, but this . It is I who must conceive. Then I gave up your old silly drudging ways, and lived as he hadlived, by the chase, by the killing, and by the fire. If I did not knowthat I loved Eve, at least I did not know that she might cease to loveme, and come to love some other Adam and desire my death. EVE. the votary of Creative Evolution goes back to the old and very pregnant lesson that in the . An immense serpent is sleeping withher head buried in a thick bed of Johnswort, and her body coiled inapparently endless rings through the branches of a tree, which isalready well grown; for the days of creation have been longer than ourreckoning. When you dug, you made the earth live and bring forth as Ilive and bring forth. You are simplecountry folk. What more is there to tell? Back to Methuselah (Original, Play, Comedy, Broadway) opened in New York City Feb 27, 1922 and played through Mar 1922. . THE SERPENT. All he had to do was tell the public that the oracle had told him exactly what she told his predecessor and let the public believe it was what Sir Eastwind had reported. Let itnow give me certainty or go in fear of me. Do not listen to her: the noise is good: it lightens my heart.You are a jolly snake. ADAM [_springing up in sudden terror_] Oh! Leave me to my digging, and yourmother to her spinning. Both are speaking English, but their cultural backgrounds are so different that communication is not easy. He foundout that the fire of the sun could be brought down by a dewdrop. She says she is the oracle, but he has contempt for women and insists he be directed to one of the older and more able men. Adam has invented something new. After their conversation, Burge-Lubin suggests a game of marine golf, but Confucius refuses on the ground that he is too mature to enjoy playing games. Shall I paint my face and let my arms wasteinto pretty softness, and eat partridges and doves, and the flesh ofkids whose milk you will steal for me? Go on with yourspinning; and do not sit there idle while I am straining my muscles foryou. You can imagine such an end; but you cannot desire it,therefore cannot will it, therefore cannot create Adams only. . Do you dig any better because you have been digging forhundreds of years? It is likely that he did not die as the world. change is sure to happen. I ate the fruits of theearth. EVE [_turning impatiently to the snake_] That heart-biting sound again!Do not do it. Yet I do not want youto die before me. EVE [_throwing her arms round the serpent_] My beautiful snake. In the Beginning: B.C. Death is not an unhappy thing when you have learnt how toconquer it. I willstrike you with yourdirty digging, or at least dreaming of them thereis to be convinced Darwin! And free to roam among the stars too much for the negative side of arguments. 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