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2. Lady: You feel sure you will be able to resist the siren. I warn you, she is very
fascinating
3. Augustus: You need not fear, madam. I hope she will come and try on it (ShAug)
4. Lady: I will be silent as a grave, I swear it (ShAug).
5. I don’t ask you, sir; and I will not allow to say such things in my presence (ShAug).
6. Do you call that being great statesmen? As good as robbing me, I call it (ShAug).
***
2
B. Shaw “Man and Superman”
London: Penguin Books 1957 (ShMS)
1. Octavius: At all events I promise you I shall never shall never ask anyone else (ShMS
:45).
2. Ramsden (forcibly): now I tell you, once for all, I can’t and I won’t have Annie placed in
such a position that she must, out of regret for you, suffer the intimacy of this fellow
Tanner (ShMS :46)
3. Ramsden: When you say Ann, you mean, I presume, Miss Whitefield.
I mean our Ann, your Ann, Tavy’s Ann, and now, Heaven help me, my Ann!
Octavius (rising, very pale): What do you mean?
Tanner: Mean! (He holds up the will.) Do you know who is appointed Ann’s guardian
by this will?
Ramsden (Cooly): I believe I am. (ShMS :48)
4. Tanner: I tell you, this is the most staggering blow that has ever fallen on a man of my
age and temperament (ShMS :48)
5. Ramsden: You can refuse to accept the guardianship. I shall certainly refuse to hold it
jointly with you. (ShMS :49)
6. Tanner: That shows that he had his wits about him, doesn’t it?
Ramsden (grimly): I admit it (ShMS :50)
7. Octavius: May I make a suggestion? (ShMS :51)
8. Tanner: All you mean by that is that you think I ought to be ashamed of talking about
my virtues. You don’t mean that I haven’t got them: you know perfectly well that I am
as sober and honest a citizen as yourself, as truthful personally, and much more
truthful politically and morally.
Ramsden (touched on his most sensetive point): I deny that. I will not allow you or any
man to treat me as if I were a mere member of the British public. I detest its
prejudices; I scorn its narrowness; I demand the right to think for myself. You pose as
an advanced man. Let me tell you that I was an advanced man before you were born.
Tanner: I knew it was a long time ago.
Ramsden; I am as advanced as ever I was. I defy you to prove that I have ever hauled
down the flag. I am more advanced than ever I was. I grow more advanced every day.
Tanner: More advanced in years, Polonius.
Ramsden: Polonius! So you are Hamlet, I suppose.
Tanner: No: I am only the most impudent person you’ve ever met. … You have to fall
back on my deficiency in shame. Well, I admit it. I even congratulate myself; for if I
were ashamed of my real self, I should cut as stupid a figure as any of the rest of you.
Cultivate a little impudence, Ramsden; and you will become a remarkable man. …
You have no desire for that sort of notoriety. Bless you, I knew that answer would
2
B. Shaw “Man and Superman” London: Penguin Books 1957