Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw
Characters:
Hector Malone: An elderly
gentleman who has worked hard throughout his life to attain a high social
status in which he now takes pride.
Ann Whitefield: A young woman,
graceful, somewhat enigmatic. She corresponds to the character Doña Ana in the
Don Juan myth (in Act III, Shaw's stage direction refers to Doña Ana de Ulloa
as "so handsome that in the radiance into which her dull yellow halo has
suddenly lightened one might almost mistake her for Ann Whitefield").
Henry Straker: Chauffeur with a
cockney accent.
John Tanne: Also called
"Jack Tanner," a well-educated, well-spoken man who takes everything
seriously, including himself; a "political firebrand and confirmed
bachelor."[5] Allegedly the descendant of Don Juan, as well as the modern
representation of the Don Juan character (In Act III, Shaw notes Don Juan's
resemblance to Tanner: "Besides, in the brief lifting of his face, now hidden
by his hat brim, there was a curious suggestion of Tanner. A more critical,
fastidious, handsome face, paler and colder, without Tanner’s impetuous
credulity and enthusiasm, and without a touch of his modern plutocratic
vulgarity, but still a resemblance, even an identity"). The very name
"John Tanner" is obviously an anglicisation of the Spanish name
"Juan Tenorio," which is the full name of Don Juan.
Violet Robinson: Sister of
Octavius Robinson. She has been secretly married to Hector Malone, Jr.
Mrs. Whitefield: Mother of Ann,
and widow of the late Mr. Whitefield.
Susan Ramsden: The spinster
sister of Roebuck Ramsden.
Hector Malone, Jr.: An American
gentleman who is secretly married to Violet Robinson.
Octavius Robinson: An amiable young
man who is in love with Ann Whitefield. Brother to Violet Robinson. He
represents "Don Ottavio" from the Don Juan myth.
Roebuck Ramsden: An aging civil
reformer who was friend to the late Mr. Whitefield. He corresponds to the
statue in the Don Juan myth, who is in turn the representation of the spirit of
Don Gonzalo, the father of Doña Ana (in Act III, Shaw writes of The Statue,
"His voice, save for a much more distinguished intonation, is so like the
voice of Roebuck Ramsden").
Mendoza: An anarchist who
collaborates with Tanner. Mendoza is the "President of the League of the
Sierra," a self-described brigand and a Jew. He corresponds to Shaw's
conception of the Devil as he would be portrayed in the Don Juan myth (Shaw
writes of "The Devil" in Act III: "A scarlet halo begins to
glow; and into it the Devil rises, very Mephistophelean, and not at all unlike
Mendoza, though not so interesting").
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