25253):[14]. For that is what it would come to,just as it came to lambs and kids when Abel began with sheep and goats.You are a poor silly creature after all. Do you never think ofthat? I adore her. The moment you find we need not last for ever,you talk as if we were going to end today. My strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure. Allll the way back to the beginning, with a series of. Both politicians seize upon the promise of enhanced longevity as a way of attracting votes. EVE [_now pitying him maternally_] Love! 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. As long as you do not know the future you do not know thatit will not be happier than the past. EVE [_trying to shake it and roll it over_] It is stiff and cold. I donot know what I want, except that I want to be something higher andnobler than this stupid old digger whom Lilith made to help you to bringme into the world, and whom you despise now that he has served yourturn. ButAbel was a discoverer, a man of ideas, of spirit: a true Progressive. EN. ADAM [_ruminating_] You puzzle me. A He-Ancient, who is called to decide the creatures' fate. It will be a busy day at the nursery: a birth is scheduled followed by the Festival of the Artists. Adam: we need not livefor ever. CAIN. Let me go, you fool. ADAM [_angrily_] How can I help brooding when the future has becomeuncertain? Hope is wicked. If only the rest and sleep that enable me to bear it fromday to day could grow after many days into an eternal rest, an eternalsleep, then I could face my days, however long they may last. You invented murder. I can raise you out of that. That is how; but it is not why. Theynever want to die, because they are always learning and always creatingeither things or wisdom, or at least dreaming of them. 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. Back to Methuselah (1952- ) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Series Directed by Alan Bromly . EVE. Serpent (5:349). No. How can I destroy unless she creates? Adam is digging in themiddle of the garden. EVE. 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. Love is uncertain. I know the craftof fighting and of hunting: in a word, the craft of killing. Andfor her sake I will not kill you, though I could send this spear throughyou without coming within reach of your spade. The Garden of Eden. Both Burge-Lubin and Barnabas are considerably put off because they stand in awe of her although they deem her quite good-looking. You and Adam. Stay with the womanwho gives you children: I will go to the woman who gives me dreams.Grope in the ground for your food: I will bring it from the skies withmy arrows, or strike it down as it roams the earth in the pride of itslife. The Serpentspoken of in Genesis. There issomething against it. Jealousy. She enjoys the flirting, but rejects a rendezvous and breaks the connection. Shaw's promotion of Creative Evolution was always wrong, always shallow, and often rather cheap. The serpent gave me fear. I followed your teaching. Literature Network George Bernard Shaw Back to Methuselah In the Beginning. I will not create anyEves, only Adams. I shewed the little case to the sun, and left it in itswarmth. I say, who invented death? It was I whowhispered the word to you that you did not know. Something that never could happen, and yet does happen. Have you a word for this new misery? THE SERPENT. Ha! 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. I musthave certainty. You said there would be no killing because the Voice would tell ourchildren that they must not kill. 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 [_shaking him_] Adam: you must not brood. Shaw, Bernard. Shaw also advocates what he calls homeopathy as a pedagogical method, arguing that society "can only be lamed and enslaved by" education. If they are lazy and have a will towards death I cannot help it.I will live my thousand years: if they will not, let them die and bedamned. You should not. You see, life is too long. I will dig, andlive. It is especially. He who bearsthe brand of Cain shall rule the earth. ADAM. Eve, better humored (having given upworrying), sits and spins and thinks. Stay as you are; andI will stay as I am. That is a dreadful thought. She spins resignedly; he digs impatiently. EVE. To be thefirst murderer one must be a man of spirit. Andthen there will be nothing but snakes, snakes, snakes everywhere. EVE. Creation must not be strangled. She looks seventeen years old. promotional cinema showing sundry important Britons who have lost their lives by drowning, but who, with the invention's help, might not have perished. Think of that! I will clear themaway tomorrow. What is wicked? According to Louis Crompton in Shaw the Dramatist (pp. He will imploreyou to let him do his share. Eat the dust. And now you want tomake still more unnatural monsters, so that you may be utterly lazy andworthless, and that your tamed human animals may find work a blastingcurse. That is why thereis enmity between Woman the creator and Man the destroyer. Even a bear would not eat a man if it could gethoney instead. ADAM. A few centuries later. [She strokes it and pets the serpent]. For if you do not there will be an end. Consternation reigns behind them because the others realise than, with the secret out, other long-lifers, previously in hiding, will emerge to join them and form a colony that will seem a threat to short-lived people. Tell me this: who invented death? Then I must, though I loathe it. She is not yet visible to anyone unaware of her presence, asher colors of green and brown make a perfect camouflage. EVE. This splendid life of yours does not last for a thousandyears; and I must last for a thousand years. The Ancients arrive, having sensed that they were needed, and destroy the couple painlessly. Back to Methuselah: With Fanny Rowe, Ursula Howells, Ellen Pollock, Ernest Clark. The Voice does not tell me not to kill you. And others makelittle mammoths out of clay, or make faces appear on flat stones, andask me to create women for them with such faces. I have striven with a boar and with a lion as to which ofus should kill the other. There will be no pain for him. If I am to die like the fawn, why should not the rest die too? Acs, a three-year-old, tries unsuccessfully to comfort him, but Stephen insists on remaining disconsolate until he finds another partner. You have both invented marriage. You have made the beasts afraid of us; and the snake hasinvented poison to protect herself against you. He says he is the world's foremost general, invincible in battle, and adored by all his followers, although his victories cost great carnage. THE SERPENT. Let us listen to the snake. Everything must have been created out of nothing. I dared everything. Eve thoughtfully remarks that there is more to living than 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. EVE. CAIN. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1928. 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. If I put off death until tomorrow, I shall never die. Bind the future by your will. ADAM. Anything is better than uncertainty. [_She strokes it and pets the serpent_].Pretty thing! The gardenis full, not empty. Ifyou take a step towards your mother with that spear of yours I willstrike you with my spade as you struck Abel. ADAM. EVE [_angrily to the snake_] This death that you have brought into thegarden is an evil thing. EVE. You are very subtle:tell me what to do. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. Whatdo I care? I am very subtle; but Man is deeper in his thought thanI am. I do not want to be a bear. I do not trust the sun. I can talk of many things. I don't normally like long plays, but this . Back to Methuselah. THE SERPENT. When you and Adam talk, I hear you say 'Why?' Think of it, man: to have no escape! Selfish, yes: a life in which no man is his brother's keeper,because his brother can keep himself. Eve looks after them for a moment; then, with a shiver of disgust, sitsdown on the rock, brooding. I should be alone. THE SERPENT [_responding affectionately_] It is so, dear Adam. Think. THE SERPENT. [_He goes away roaring with laughter, which ceases as he cries from thedistance_] Goodbye, mother. Methuselah acceptable only as his worst play.D A reading of Back to Methuselah in terms of Blake's magnum opus, Jerusalem, will, I hope, contribute towards a better understanding of the play that Shaw in 1944 chose as his "world classic." II. It is I who must conceive. By another thing, called birth. I ate the fruits of theearth. [_Adam, with a weary shrug, throws down his spade. Could you bear to live for ever? The creations are a man and woman, noble in appearance, beautiful to look at and splendidly attired. ADAM. Butwhen it is short it will be very sweet. The other children bathe her, despite her shrieks and protestations. Her wheel, which she turns byhand, is a large disc of heavy wood, practically a flywheel. But then,as soon as you like. The Ancient leaves the children to their play. ADAM. EVE. Jealousy. A line drawing of the Internet Archive headquarters building faade. Thatis birth. Already most ofour grandchildren die before they have sense enough to know how to live. It is a burden. Life is theloveliest of all the new words. 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 the most subtle of all the creatures of the field. Burge-Lubin is chiding himself indulgently for mixing romance with business when Barnabas bursts in, completely overwhelmed. Ultimately he is asking if it would be expedient to hold elections now or better to put them off till spring. Itmay be tomorrow; it may be after as many days as there are leaves inthe garden and grains of sand by the river. EVE. I should belonely. It means that I fear certainty as you fear uncertainty. 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. It is not only its eyes. ADAM. Eve: do notplay with me about this. Yes: that is splendid: that will bind the future. CAIN. THE SERPENT. For all that, mother, I have an instinct which tells me that deathplays its part in life. To desire, to imagine, to will, to create. When she merely lifts her veil he shrieks that he is dying, covers his eyes, and begs her to veil herself again. Fool: she makes you fight because you bring her the ornaments andthe treasures of those you have slain, and because she is courted andpropitiated with power and gold by the people who fear you. When there are new Adams and new Eves we shall live in a garden ofstrangers. CAIN. It is admittedly possible to find some excuses for the negative side of his arguments, especially the refusal to be convinced by Darwin. The Voice in the garden will tell them that theymust not kill, as it tells me. That must not be. You must clear away some ofthose horrid things, or we shall be scratched and stung whenever weforget to look where we are stepping. It found that I wasmyself, and that it was for Abel to be himself also, and look tohimself. Fear will drive me to anything. THE SERPENT. You are simplecountry folk. [_She licks Eve's neck with her doubletongue_]. Martellus laughs, but not in mockery; he says he, too, attempted such a project, but has smashed all his sculptures and thrown away his tools. Jealousy. And all that comes of it is that he wants to be abear and eat children. [_Calling_] Adam!Adam! EVE. She will fish him out and dry him off and then let nature take its course. CAIN. CAIN. And there is yet nearly sevenhundred years of it to endure. Away with you, naughty child; and do you,Adam, go on with your work and not waste your time listening to him. The Emperor of Turania, calling himself Napoleon, impatient of ceremony, bursts into the courtyard of the Temple of the Oracle. Well, you are wrong. ADAM. Back to Methuselah By the closing years of World War I, Shaw had long supported the idea that Ireland ought to achieve a kind of Home Rule, an arrangement that would grant Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales their own parliaments, but would also maintain a joint council to coordinate matters of mutual THE SERPENT. But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'[15]. He became so happy that heshared his meal with the Voice that had whispered all his inventions tohim. Life is still long enough to learn to dig, short as they aremaking it. No. She is outraged when And I to him! [_Trying to pronounce it_] B-birth? I revolt against these births that you and mother are so proudof. [_He shudders and sits down on the rock_]. He cannotbear pain, nor take trouble with his body. Zozim belittles that display as well, but the visitors are overawed and become unnerved completely when the oracle appears as an insubstantial figure amidst lightnings and thunder. You shall notlisten to that snake any more. A housemaid announces the opportune arrival of Lubin and Burge, two prominent politicians with antagonistic viewpoints; they will serve as sounding-boards while the brothers present their case for the need of longer lifetimes. I am the first murderer: you are only the first man. Will they learn all the ways of all the stars in theirlittle time? Because Back to Methuselah is made up of five full-length plays, it is extremely difficult to produce. So I have to come back and listen to Adam saying thesame thing for the ten-thousandth time, or to receive a visit from thelast great-great-grandson who has grown up and wants to impress me withhis importance. CAIN. Make me a beautiful word for doing things tomorrow; for thatsurely is a great and blessed invention. Oh, it is dreary, dreary! Do you think I never have thesethoughts: I! A scene from the Barry Jackson production of George Bernard Shaw's 'Back to Methuselah' at the Court Theatre, starring Colin Keith Johnson as Adam, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies as Eve and Edith Evans as the serpent, 1924. Ihave a plan. The secret! I tell you I am verysubtle. THE SERPENT. That was wonderfully clever of you. Not before. I am the old serpent, older than Adam, older than Eve. Zozim and Zoo, dressed impressively in costumes that they disparage as foolish, but are demanded by their short-lived clients, lead the visiting party into the temple. He said that the Voice was the voice of the fire that cooked hisfood, and that the fire that could cook could also eat. He defiantly dares her to remove her veil and robe. 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 . ADAM. She loved me more than ever. ADAM [_instinctively moving his hand towards her_] Husband and wife. EVE. ADAM. 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