There was no more to prevent him than there was to prevent me:it was man to man; and I won. Eve, better humored (having given upworrying), sits and spins and thinks. All you men, except only Adam, are my sons, or mysons' sons, or my sons' sons' sons: you all come to see me: you all shewoff before me: all your little wisdoms and accomplishments are trottedout before mother Eve. 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. CAIN. Does not theVoice tell you that as no man dare slay you for murdering your brother,you ought to slay yourself? there was not one new Lilith but two:one like herself, the other like Adam. Let the Rotterjacks look to it." 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. [_He kicks it._]. He wants me to die. EVE [_turning away from him with a shrug, and hugging her ankles_] Ishould soon get tired of that. Youthful nurses are provided to tourists to keep that from happening but he has evaded Zozim, the one assigned to him. I wish I had a serpent's tongue. _Cain kicks the hurdle out of his way, and strides into the garden. How can I destroy unless she creates? And I will love Eve all that time and noother woman. You will not raise your head tolook at all the miracles of life that surround you; but you will run tenmiles to see a fight or a death. Acs, a three-year-old, tries unsuccessfully to comfort him, but Stephen insists on remaining disconsolate until he finds another partner. Selfish, yes: a life in which no man is his brother's keeper,because his brother can keep himself. change is sure to happen. Dead. They cannot renew themselves without Eves. [4] Nevertheless, he uses both terms in Man and Superman which was written nine years before Bergson's work was published. Death. CAIN. You need not live to see another summer; and yet thereshall be no end. Eat the dust. I cleared away the thistles and briars. He steals and kills for his food;and makes up idle poems of life after death; and dresses up histerror-ridden life with fine words and his disease-ridden body with fineclothes, so that men may glorify and honor him instead of cursing him asmurderer and thief. But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'[15]. Yes: that is splendid: that will bind the future. 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). Listen.I am old. Life is still long enough to learn to dig, short as they aremaking it. But for her, I could notresist the sport of trying to kill you, in spite of my fear that youwould kill me. THE SERPENT. Cease your boasting and bullying, and tell the truth. Already most ofour grandchildren die before they have sense enough to know how to live. Back to Methuselah. He says he is the world's foremost general, invincible in battle, and adored by all his followers, although his victories cost great carnage. I know that it must not be. He killed Abel. I will tell you a great secret. ADAM. That which makes the difference between the dead fawn andthe live one. Shaw, Bernard. Thechameleon eats the air. ADAM [_rubbing his foot_] A thistle. 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]. Of better things. Her wheel, which she turns byhand, is a large disc of heavy wood, practically a flywheel. Back to Methuselah is an epic-length play by George Bernard Shaw - not a writer given to brevity normally - so long and unwieldy, in fact, that Washington Stage Guild estimates that this three-year production is only the third or fourth full production of the play since it was written, in 1920. Instead of sculptures, he has brought a scientist, Pygmalion, who is a greater artist than the world has seen before. ADAM. [_She sits on the rock and throws herarms round the serpent, who begins whispering to her_]. I have watched thosefaces and willed; and then I have made a woman-child that has grown upquite like them. [_She comes quickly behind him andturns up his face to her_]. The snake andthe woman are going to whisper secrets. It was playing about; and it tripped and went head over heels.It never stirred again. I ate the fruits of theearth. There is something else.We do not yet know what it is; but some day we shall find out; and thenwe will live on that alone; and there shall be no more digging norspinning, nor fighting nor killing. The Voice in the garden will tell them that theymust not kill, as it tells me. Barnabas hotly contested the legality of this and favoured prosecuting. ADAM [_to Eve, grumpily_] Why do you live on, if you can find nothingbetter to do than complain? 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 to be a mere convenience to make men for you to kill! I have done it too, slave as you say I am. I had not thought of that. You see, life is too long. Yes: it was by meditating on Life that I gained the powerto do miracles. It is I who have to do the miracle. EVE. I do not trust the sun. You are very subtle. Back to Methuselah (A Metabiological Pentateuch) by George Bernard Shaw consists of a preface (The Infidel Half Century) and a series of five plays: In the Beginning: B.C. Shetakes it to lie on, and flings you the carrion flesh you cannot eat. It will be a busy day at the nursery: a birth is scheduled followed by the Festival of the Artists. Because Back to Methuselah is made up of five full-length plays, it is extremely difficult to produce. EVE. THE SERPENT. A few centuries later. ADAM. The creations are a man and woman, noble in appearance, beautiful to look at and splendidly attired. Yes:there is no such thing as nothing, only things we cannot see. 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. THE SERPENT. CAIN. Savvy and Haslam are nearly unaffected because the entire idea is well above their heads. By that he is tied to you. Oh! The secret. EVE [_running in_] What? If I am toeat like a bear, if Lua is to bring forth cubs like a bear, then I hadrather be a bear than a man; for the bear is not ashamed: he knows nobetter. Shaw's promotion of Creative Evolution was always wrong, always shallow, and often rather cheap. 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. That is the word. Turned from the clay. Lilith did not imagine him so. THE SERPENT. EVE. Why not? Where? After the briefest sort of conversation, the pair leaves together, obviously intending to produce some long-lived children. Let Eve vow to loveyou until your death. Forsooth, when you have slain the boar at the riskof your life, you will throw her a morsel of it for her pains! I had not thought of that. For you werethe first children in the world, and filled us with such wonder anddelight as no couple can ever again feel while the world lasts. The final play, As Far as the Mind Can Reach, offers no solution to the problem: Humans evolve to the point of becoming free-ranging vortices of energy, able to wander, solitary, through the Universe, thus requiring no government at all. Pleasant at first, their behaviour soon turns murderous and Pygmalion is killed during his efforts to control them. He turns his face to his right and callsexcitedly. He will imploreyou to let him do his share. Give it to me; or I willkill you when next I catch you asleep. How did Lilith work this miracle? It must not be, I tellyou. 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? The discussion is interrupted by the arrival of the Domestic Minister, Mrs Lutestring to give her mandatory quarterly report. (The Jewish Publication Society translation,1917). That will be life indeed: life lived to the verymarrow: burning, overwhelming life. They can conversewith difficultyand have a long discussion that reveals the advantages of long living. He humanizes them to the point of wishing to die for each other, then allows them to die. Anything is better than uncertainty. Both are speaking English, but their cultural backgrounds are so different that communication is not easy. ADAM. If only the care of this terrible garden may pass onto some other gardener! I must have somethingto worship. You must not move about.You must sit still. That is too short a word for so long a thing. 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. EN. Because I would not have such wretches in my house. Find me one word for it all: you, who are so clever at words. THE SERPENT. I have crept through the grass, and hidden, and listened to you. time, Back to Methuselah and Saint Joan. EVE. EVE. I say, who invented death? "Baghdad?" EVE. And there, next to it, a briar. Find me a word for the story Lilith imagined and told you in yoursilent language: the story that was too wonderful to be true, and yetcame true. THE SERPENT. EVE. Her fury turns to delight with the beauty of her tunic when they dress her. You have made the beasts afraid of us; and the snake hasinvented poison to protect herself against you. In the glade, a group of youths and maidens, all appearing to be eighteen or older are dancing gracefully to music played on flutes. One does not speak to a child as to a man.And a man does not listen and tremble in silence. Man need not always live by bread alone. EVE. Let me go, you fool. EVE. [_Adam points to the fawn_]. And all that comes of it is that he wants to be abear and eat children. She is the creator, youthe destroyer. If I bind my will I strangle creation. Let us listen to the snake. (Shaw was in his mid-60s when the plays were written). But is it long enough for theother things, the great things? What is wicked? CAIN. EVE [_throwing her arms round the serpent_] My beautiful snake. No matter: some day I shallforget and stumble. I do not want to kill my mother. Yes: it must not be. He need not. But the rest of us will die sooner or later, like the fawn. Creative Evolution, translated by Arthur Mitchell, Ph.D. New York: Henry Holt and Company (1911). That comes before everything. The Prime Minister, now called The Envoy, is too overwhelmed to ask his question until he swallows a half-pint of brandy. Of the coming true of your dreams and mine. EVE [_rising and running to him_] Only think, Adam! 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. Barnabas goes to meet the American inventor, who wants to use Records Office film footage to create a When, e.g., the stage director for the Birmingham production asked how the Serpent was to be presented, Shaw responded with a clumsy sketch and suggested an artist be employed to design costume, colouring and lighting. That is how; but it is not why. (Photo by Sasha/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Each has a say, in accordance with their characters, and Lilith prophesies an end of life's slavery to matter, whereupon the spectres vanish. Skip to main content. These wonders that you promise to do may tangle up my beingbefore they bring me the gift of death. The Oracle tells him that he will die of discouragement if he stays behind. EVE. [_He rises threateningly_]. A monologue of The Serpent from Back to Methuselah. EVE. It took Enoch two hundred years to learn to interpret thewill of the Voice. Henry Holt and Company ( 1911 ) do miracles by the arrival of the serpent from to! 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