Page 47 - 6689
P. 47

46

              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
   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52