Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch: Analysis of Major Characters
"Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch" explores a range of complex characters that embody philosophical themes relating to immortality, human nature, and societal evolution. The narrative begins with Adam and Eve, where Adam represents tradition and stagnation, while Eve's curiosity drives her to seek creation and improvement. The character of Cain illustrates the destructive tendencies of ambition and greed, contrasting sharply with Enoch, who evolves from a rationalizer of violence to a seeker of truth. Through characters like Franklyn and Conrad Barnabas, the text examines the implications of extending human life and its potential impact on governance and societal structures. Other characters, such as the wise Serpent and various political figures, reflect the struggle between short-lived and long-lived individuals, highlighting the challenges of leadership and moral responsibility. Ultimately, the narrative culminates in a reflection on human aspirations and the continuous quest for growth and understanding, suggesting both a critique and a celebration of humanity's journey. The interplay between these characters invites readers to consider deeper questions about existence, purpose, and the nature of progress.
Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: George Bernard Shaw
First published: 1921
Genre: Play
Locale: The Garden of Eden, the Middle East, and Britain
Plot: Play of ideas
Time: The past and the future
Adam, the first man, created by the splitting of Lilith into male and female. Adam is dull and plodding, the tradition-bound agrarian who adheres to conventional morality solely from a lack of curiosity.
Eve, who eagerly eats the Forbidden Fruit to trade the agonies of individual immortality for racial immortality. Eve, the eternally curious, has a compulsion to create. Dissatisfied by both Adam's passivity and Cain's senseless hunger for glory, she yearns for something better.
The Serpent, a wise and beneficent female serpent. She frees Adam and Eve from the burden of immortality and tells them that their wills have the power to create anything they desire.
Cain, the archetype of the ruling-class man: the destroying man and the exploiting man. Cain demonstrates that it is “the Voice of God” that makes him kill, while it is “the Voice of the Devil” that tells Adam, “Thou shall not kill.”
Enoch, the intellectual who, while young, manufactures doctrines to justify Cain's rapacity. Fortunately, Enoch lives long enough to understand “the Voice” more clearly and to repudiate Cain.
Lua, Eve's daughter and Cain's wife. For her own greedy ends, she encourages Cain's conquests.
Franklyn Barnabas, a clerical English gentleman of about fifty.
Conrad Barnabas, Franklyn's brother, a professor of biology. He and Franklyn are preparing to publish their proposal that human life be extended to three hundred years. Their belief is that this change is necessary if humanity is not to destroy itself.
Mr. Joyce Burge, a fifty-year-old former Liberal prime minister.
Lubin, a patriarch of seventy years of age, prime minister before Burge. Lubin and Burge are obvious demonstrations that short-lived men are too inexperienced to rule rationally. Both dismiss the Barnabas' scheme when they cannot see how it can win votes in the next election.
Cynthia, Franklyn's eighteen-year-old daughter. Because she has grown up without bourgeois manners, she is known as “Savvy,” short for “Savage.”
William Haslam, a boyish clergyman who is to marry Cynthia. He is one of those destined to live three hundred years.
A parlor maid, who is leaving Franklyn's employ to marry the village woodsman. Although she speaks ironically of only one life to live, she too is to live three hundred years.
The archbishop, actually William Haslam of the previous section. Now 283 years old, he still looks 45. His longevity, which he had concealed by faking drowning accidents, is accidentally discovered.
Mrs. Lutestring, the domestic minister. She is actually the parlor maid, now 274 years old. She and the archbishop discuss the difficulty of living in a world without grownups in it. They agree to marry and have long-lived children.
Burge-Lubin, the president of England, a composite of the two politicians in the previous section but hardly an improvement on either of them.
Barnabas, the accountant-general, a younger and more commonplace version of Conrad Barnabas. He threatens the long-lived ones with extinction because he fears them and because they upset his actuarial tables.
Confucius, one of the Chinese civil servants who govern England in 2170. He takes stoically the fact that long-livedness is confined to the English race.
The Negress, the minister of health, with whom Burge-Lubin has been carrying on a flirtation via television. The chance that he, too, may be long-lived makes him turn down a rendezvous with her.
Joseph Popham Bolge Bluebin Barlow, O.M., the Elderly Gentleman, a descendant of Burge-Lubin. The British Isles are now reserved for the long-livers. Visitors from the Empire, which now has its capital in Baghdad, visit the British Isles to consult with them. The Elderly Gentleman is at Galway with a party that has come to consult the Oracle. His tragedy is his realization of the infinite foolishness of his own society. Unable to bear returning to his own world and too immature to remain in Britain, he is at last put mercifully to death by the Oracle.
Zoo, a “girl of fifty” who resembles Savvy of Part II. Acting as Barlow's nurse, she is so enraged at his manner that she announces her conversion to the party of Colonizers, who wish to exterminate the short-livers.
Napoleon I, Cain Adamson Charles, “the man of destiny.” He is a great general who fights because he has no other talents. He asks the Oracle how he can stop being a general without losing his glory. The Oracle quite logically takes his pistol from him and tries to shoot him.
The British envoy, his wife, and their daughter, conventional and uncomprehending Britishers who act as chorus. The envoy is Badger Bluebin, son-in-law of the Elderly Gentleman.
The Pythoness, who is 170 years old. She is so advanced beyond the “mortals,” although only half-grown herself, that her gaze is enough to cow Napoleon and to kill the Elderly Gentleman.
Zozim, a very young “adult.” His and Zoo's bored and mocking manner, as they attend the Oracle, offend the visitors.
Strephon and Acis, two youths.
Chloe and Ecrasia, two nymphs. With Strephon and Acis, they frolic in a glade before a temple in the style of Greece in the fifth century b.c.e. They watch the birth of a nymph and the tragedy that grows out of the sculptors' competition.
Amaryllis, a beautiful nymph delivered from her egg while the children watch.
A She-Ancient, who delivers Amaryllis from her egg.
Arjillax and Martellus, two sculptors. Martellus claims that he has discovered the greatest of artists, Pygmalion.
Pygmalion, a squarish, benevolent, and somewhat pedantic man who has captured the Life Force and sculptured a living man and woman. When Pygmalion tries to keep the female figure from killing the male, she bites him. Her being is so gross in comparison to Pygmalion's that he dies on the spot.
Ozymandias and Cleopatra-Semiramis, the male and female figures. As primitive as humans of today, they pompously proclaim mystical claptrap and, after Pygmalion dies, plead human nature and beg for mercy.
A He-Ancient, who is called to decide the creatures' fate. He humanizes them to the point of wishing to die for each other, then allows them to die. The Ancients' evolutionary goal, he tells the young people, is complete freedom from the flesh, existence as a state of pure intelligence.
The Ghost of Adam, the Ghost of Eve, the Ghost of the Serpent, and the Ghost of Cain, who all appear as the children drift off. They puzzle over the meaning of all that has happened.
Lilith, the Universal Mother. She appears to pronounce a benediction over humanity's history. Humankind has redeemed itself from sin and violence. Best of all, humans are not yet satisfied.