Those who cannot bring themselves to the task of murder, or that which makes will into action, remain impotent. Undershaft mocks his ex-wife after she expresses her disapproval of the crowd. The aristocratic Britomart does not act against those she considers wicked, but simply turns away from them, content to express her disapprobation and cast them out of her social circle. She remains subject to history instead of acting as one of its progenitors.