The prolific Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw first wrote Man and Superman in 1903. The play centers on Ann Whitefield, a graceful and intelligent young woman. Ann’s father has just died, leaving behind a will instructing that two men become her caretakers. The first man, Roebuck Ramsden, is an elderly civil servant. The second, Jack Turner, is a well-educated young man who espouses anarchistic ideas. Shaw modeled Turner on a legendary fictional character named Don Juan, a wealthy libertine who spends all his time seducing women. Despite Ramsden’s distrust of Turner, Ann accepts him as her caretaker and eventually convinces him to marry her. Man and Superman premiered in 1905 at London’s Royal Court Theatre, though this staging omitted the play’s experimental third act. Shaw’s original script features a kind of play within a play consisting of Don Juan himself conversing with the Devil in Hell. Not until 1915 did the complete play appear on the stage. Shaw’s title derives from Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical novel, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In this text Nietzsche uses the term “superman” (Übermensch) to refer to an ideal, superior version of humanity. This reference implies a more serious theme underlying Shaw’s comedy of manners.

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Man and Superman and Three Other Plays (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

 
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