Man And Superman

It is nighttime in the Sierra Nevada, the Spanish mountain range. One man stands guard while a group of about a dozen men, “a selected band of tramps and ablebodied paupers” (140) are lounging around a campfire. In a lengthy description of the scene, Shaw explains that many men wind up in bands like this not because they have no skills, but because “they are strong-minded enough to disregard the social convention” (140) of enslaving themselves with work. Shaw suggests that his readers “contemplate the tramps of the Sierra without prejudice” (142) as many share similar goals—“briefly, to be gentlemen of fortune” (142)—but are simply not in the same position or using the same methods. Although a couple of the men are perhaps too dangerous to be free. Most of the men are young, and they are a mix of Englishmen and Frenchmen.

The men are a band of thieves, and their primary objective is to rob passing motorists. As they wait for a new target, the chief of the group, Mendoza, addresses the men, continuing an ongoing discussion on “the principles of Anarchism and Social-Democracy” (144). In the debate, Mendoza refers to their practice as “hold[ing] up motor cars and secur[ing] a more equitable distribution of wealth” (146). Their rather eloquent debate stops when the watchman signals that a vehicle is approaching. The band has scattered nails in the road, prepared to shoot at the tires to puncture them if the nails don’t get the job done. The nails work, and the men lead Jack and Henry in from the road.

Mendoza introduces himself as “President of the League of Sierra” and adds, “I am a brigand: I live by robbing the rich” (148). Jack replies, “I am a gentleman: I live by robbing the poor” (148), which earns cheers and laughter. The oddly friendly exchange prompts Henry to ask, “Are we avin a pleasure trip in the mountains, or are we at a Socialist meetin?” (149) Mendoza offers them food, which Jack politely declines, and Mendoza dismisses the rest of the thieves. Mendoza reassures the concerned Henry that they won’t disturb the car since the last time they attempted to steal a car, they didn’t know how to drive and crashed into a police station.

Mendoza invites them to sit by the fire and explains that Jack and Henry have “arrived out of office hours” (150), and that they are welcome to go ahead and take care of their ransom but otherwise they will have to wait until tomorrow. Jack agrees to wait, stating, “I am rich enough to pay anything in reason” (151), which surprises Mendoza since most captives plead poverty (despite the fact that their possession of an automobile suggests otherwise). Agreeably, Jack suggests that if Mendoza treats them well, he will reward them. They discuss socialism, and Jack wonders how Mendoza, who is intelligent and witty, came to be living this life rather than the life of the wealthy. Mendoza explains that he was once a successful waiter. But Mendoza fell in love with a woman—a fellow member of the working class—who wouldn’t marry him because he is Jewish.

Mendoza goes on to say that this wasn’t because of religion, but because Jewish people, with their “elaborate sanitary code” (154), looked down on Gentiles as dirty. Heartbroken that she would not give in to Mendoza’s pleas, Mendoza left town and went to America, where he decided to go to Europe and rob cars. But then Mendoza mentions the name of the woman he still yearns for, Louisa Straker, who happens to be Henry’s sister. Henry, infuriated, threatens to punch Mendoza, and Mendoza agrees to allow it to happen if only he will tell his sister. Jack comments, “This is genuine devotion, Henry. You should respect it” (156). Henry and Mendoza nearly come to blows, but Jack intervenes. Still annoyed, Henry goes to sleep.

Mendoza continues to wax poetic and is about to read some verse he has written about Louisa to Jack, but Jack tells him to burn the poetry because no woman is worth giving up the freedom he experiences as a thief living in the mountains. Mendoza insists that the mountains get old, and Jack agrees to hear some of his poetry as he falls asleep. They argue about the conventions of poetry until Jack is asleep. Mendoza goes to sleep as well. In the growing darkness, there is a sound of ghostly music. A man appears, “seated, absurdly enough, on nothing” (160). The man is Don Juan, a ghost or memory from 15th-16th-century Spain. He looks a bit like Jack. An old woman wanders in, sobbing in relief at the sight of another person.

The old woman explains that she died that morning and has been lonely since. She is indignant when Don Juan tells her that they are in Hell, since she was a religious Catholic who went to confession frequently. She is even more upset to learn that Don Juan was a murderer and insists that she must speak to someone about this obvious mistake. Don Juan suggests that she speak to the Devil. The woman takes offense to this idea and exclaims that this can’t be Hell because she isn’t in pain, to which Don Juan replies that those who are wicked will find Hell comfortable. Therefore, she must belong. Don Juan tells her that he was honorable in life and only killed someone in a duel, which the old woman agrees is not really murder. However, when Don Juan explains the circumstances of the duel, in which he had fought the father of a young woman he loved for trying to kill Don Juan, the old woman becomes enraged because her father died in a similar duel.

Don Juan tells her that she will be able to find anything she wants in Hell, including devils to serve her. Additionally, although she was 77 when she died, she can be whatever age she chooses. Don Juan suggests that she transform to be 27, and when she does, she looks very similar to Ann Whitefield. Don Juan immediately recognizes her as Ana, the woman whose father he killed in a duel. At first, Ana is angry and upset, but then begs Don Juan not to leave her alone. Don Juan warns her that they might meet her father, who occasionally becomes bored in Heaven and visits, and that he will get angry upon finding her with Don Juan. Don Juan goes on to say that most people don’t want to find their loved ones in the afterlife because “the death of anyone we knew, even those we liked best, was always mingled with a certain satisfaction at being finally done with them” (169).

Ana asks Don Juan if he really loved her, but Don Juan is tired of talking about love because “here, they talk of nothing else but love” (170). They hear music again, and Don Juan tells Ana to disappear because it’s her father and he wants to prepare him to see her. Ana disappears. Her father appears as a living Statue, a form he chose because the statue of him on earth received much more praise an attention than his human form. The Statue is reminiscent of Ramsden. When Don Juan tells him that his daughter is dead, the Statue is confused, barely remembering that he had a daughter, and Don Juan must remind him of her name. When Ana reappears, irate, the Statue begs her not to think of him as a father, since he was even younger than she was when he died, but “as a fellow creature” (172).

Ana decides that the Statue and Don Juan must be devils and that she should pray. The Statue urges her not to pray because the main advantage of Hell is the lack of hope. Hope is “a form of moral responsibility” (173) that requires duty and effort. Without it, you can do as you please. Don Juan notes that the Statue is in a good mood, and the Statue explains that he has “come to a momentous decision” (173) and needs to meet with the Devil. They call the Devil, who looks like Mendoza. The Devil introduces himself to Ana as Lucifer, promising that he is not as bad as his earthly reputation suggests. Every time Lucifer talks about love or sincere emotion, Don Juan complains that it nauseates him. Lucifer wonders why he’s saddled with a “cold egotist” (175) like Don Juan while the Statue was “taken to the icy mansions of the sky” (175). The Statue replies that he was a hypocrite in life and deserved punishment in Heaven. But the decision that the Statue wishes to share is that he has decided to leave Heaven.

Lucifer is pleased by this news and wishes that the Statue would convince Don Juan to go to Heaven in his place. When Don Juan first arrived in Hell, he seemed like he would fit in well in a life about seeking pleasure. Don Juan used to sing, but now no longer has interest. Lucifer calls him “a social failure” (177), like Mozart who had also decided to go to Heaven instead. Lucifer tries to convince him to go to Heaven too. Ana wonders why, if anyone can decide to go to Heaven, people stay in Hell. The Statue explains, “Heaven is the most angelically dull place in all creation” (178). Lucifer adds that he was not, in fact, expelled from Heaven but that he chose to leave and create Hell. Ana announces that she will go to Heaven, but Lucifer and the Statue warn her that people who don’t have the right temperament for Heaven are bored and miserable there.  

The Statue compares people in Heaven to English people who sit through classical music concerts that they don’t enjoy because they feel like they are supposed to like them. Lucifer, who identifies England as the place where he has the greatest following, adds, “An Englishman thinks he is moral only when he is uncomfortable” (180). Ana still insists that she belongs in Heaven and that her father must go with her, because “what will people say?” (181) But the Statue and Lucifer agree that the best people are actually in Hell. Even Don Juan adds that Ana should not accompany him to Heaven. Hell is a place where, unlike Earth, people can be who they want to be without the trappings of the human body.

Ana argues that if Hell is so wonderful, Heaven must be even better. The three men argue at once, stopping to apologize for speaking over each other. First, Don Juan describes Heaven as a place where “you live and work instead of playing and pretending” (183). He plans to spend all of his time contemplating. Don Juan complains that humans are such complex and sophisticated creatures who are meant to be philosophical but remain held back by their own brains and the needs of their bodies. Lucifer counters that men are destructive, killing each other and creating structures like law and religion that engender hate and violence, prioritizing money over humanity. Don Juan insists that violence is not the issue, but degradation and debasement. Man will fight for grand ideas, even if he is weak or cowardly on an individual level. Ana interjects that when men do this, they leave women to handle their responsibilities.

Don Juan tells her that to a woman, a man is only good for providing for her and his children, which Ana finds offensive and reductive. Don Juan explains that women fulfill a role in the world, and that men are building civilizations while “taking her domestic labor for granted as the foundation of it” (194), to which Ana agrees. Men are constantly building and climbing, attempting to become gods themselves. And, as Don Juan continues, life is not about creating beauty or ugliness, but about intelligence and attaining “not only self-consciousness but self-understanding” (197). And of all men, only the philosophers have ever been truly happy. On earth, Don Juan was a poet and an artist who worshipped women. But in actuality, women always wanted more from him and he would end up running away.

Ana argues that men are upset that women don’t live up to the poetic ideals they create, but that this is because those women don’t exist, and that society expects women to put up with men who are human. Don Juan agrees that she has summed up why he is no longer interested in love. Ana exclaims that by marrying and having 12 children, she did more to replenish the earth than Don Juan did as a philosopher and a womanizer. They discuss the virtues of chastity, and Don Juan insists that marriage only exists for the practical purposes of repopulation and that the moralistic virtues associated with marriage and virginity are imaginary. After marriage, neither women nor men live up to the promises they made. Don Juan claims that marriage and sex are not personal but are about social status and reproduction.

The Statue admits that he used to manage to take women to bed by promising them marriage and children, although he claims that he always believed the promises when he made them. Don Juan rebukes the Statue for having challenged him to a duel for loving Ana. Lucifer tells Don Juan that in Hell, he can have everything he wants with nothing to hold him back. But Don Juan explains that he isn’t happy unless he’s reaching for something better, trying to become more than other men. Don Juan asks if there are any attractive women or artistic people in Heaven, and when the Statue says that there aren’t, he expresses excitement to go. Lucifer warns him that the world only seems like it’s “progressing because it is always moving” (220). When you are ancient, like Lucifer, you see “that there is nothing new under the sun” (221).

Don Juan decides to go, and Lucifer tells him that if he finds Heaven unsuitable, he can always return to Hell. Lucifer tells him how to find the way. Ana tries to go with him, but Don Juan says, “I can find my own way to heaven, Ana; but I cannot find yours” (225), and disappears. After he is gone, Lucifer says, “Beware the pursuit of the Superhuman; it leads to an indiscriminate contempt for the Human” (225). Lucifer explains that the philosopher Nietzsche idealized the Superman in Hell, but Nietzsche had gotten into a fight with Richard Wagner and decided to go to Heaven. Ana asks where she can find this Superman, and Lucifer explains that he doesn’t exist yet. So Ana exclaims that she must find a father for this Superman. They all disappear as morning arrives.

Someone is shouting as Henry, Mendoza, and Jack wake up. The thieves are in an uproar as another vehicle approaches. Mendoza and Jack quietly confirm that they both dreamed and that the other was there, implying that they had the same dream. A shot suddenly rings out. The thieves explain that a car has arrived carrying three men and two women, but two armored cars full of soldiers also accompany them. The shot was only a warning, fired into the air. Jack warns that they are certainly there to apprehend Mendoza and his band of thieves. Jack agrees not to aid in their capture. Henry is reluctant, so Mendoza threatens to tell everyone why he became a thief, meaning that Henry’s sister’s name will come up in court. Henry claims that he doesn’t care.

Ann enters and runs toward Jack. Violet, Hector, and Ramsden follow, having run over the nails and gotten a flat tire. Hector explains that Ann has been investigating and tracking Jack until they located him. Octavius enters, happy to see Jack. Ramsden, Hector, and Violet see Mendoza and recognize him as a former waiter. Mendoza reveals that he saw Hector and Violet dining together, as well as Octavius with Ann and her mother, and Ramsden with “several different ladies” (232). Octavius is surprised to discover that Hector and Violet knew each other. The soldiers enter and ask Jack who these men are. Jack replies, “My escort” (234), and they stand facing each other.