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RUR

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Aswany Mohan
Aswany Mohan

The document outlines several themes in the play R.U.R.: - The robots are created to be exploited but eventually learn to hate and rebel against their human creators as they are treated as insignificant slaves. - Society is divided into two classes, humans who have control and robots who are controlled, leading to conflict between the classes. - The robot creators ignore their moral responsibility in how the robots are used and exploited, seeking only profit and escape. - The relationship between two robots, Helena and Primus, who show human qualities of love, provides a glimmer of hope for a future hybrid of man and machine.

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RUR
THEMES Anger and Hatred When the robots rebel and attack, it is revealed that at Helenas suggestion, Dr. Gall has given the robots a soul and has given them the ability to appreciate their condition. But in making them more human-like, Gall has also given them the ability to hate, just as humans are capable of hating. Since the robots are treated like insignificant and expendable creations, they soon learn to hate their creators and all humans. They are without a conscience and can hate and kill at will.
Class Conflict With the creation of robots, the earth is divided into two classes: those who have control and those who are controlled. The robots form this latter class, which is designed to be exploited. The robots are little more than slaves who are expected to work until they can work no longer, a period of about twenty years. They are designed and treated as though they have no feelings, no needs, and no expectations. The robots builders envision the humans as a kind of aristocracy, superior to the robots they control. As is the case in all feudal societies, eventually the peasants or slaves revolt and murder their masters.
Duty and Responsibility As the creators of a new life form, the robot creators have a responsibility for how their creations are used, but in this case, the builders see the robots only in terms of exploitation and greed. The builders will sell their robots to whomever orders them and has the cash to pay. They ignore the moral implications of what they have done, preferring to isolate themselves on the island. When the robots rebel, rather than stop selling the robots and explore possible solutions, the manufacturers continue to sell robots. When it becomes clear that humanity is in real danger, their only thought is for their own escape
Man as Robot, Robot as Man One man, Alquist, is left by the robots because He is a robot. He works with his hands like a Robot (70). So in fact, he turns out to be the least helpful human to leave alive as he cannot reveal the secret of robot production, which the robots so desperately require. At the end of the play, it appears that robotics like humanity is destined for total death. But a glimmer of hope emerges, as two robots, one of whom is called Helena, and the other Primus, seemed to manifest human qualities in their behaviour towards one another. In brief, they are in love, which prompts Alquist to see a future of redemption for robots and humanity as a hybrid form of the two has emerged and promises a certain fertility. These two robot-humans also represent an reversal of Alquist himself, as they are the robotic becoming human (where he was described as the human who is robotic) and their duality (manifested by a need for one another) overcomes Alquists incapacitating loneliness. The future of Capeks R.U.R. is thus a return to nature where love replaces labour, and the robot as dualistic unit replaces the robot as an individual agent of labour. Hybridist of man (manifested as a dynamic) and a machine (a physical ideal) is the realization of a future.
Producing Artificial Life The production of robots is another example of perverting nature. Rather than existing as a mechanical objects (automaton) Capeks robots are biotechnological, literally objects of flesh and blood, but factory produced flesh and blood. Like Herr Virek in Mona Lisa Overdrive, this biology is vat based, a chemical process that begets a humanity which is engineered not born. Several times in the text, the humans re-iterate the fact that robots are not born, they are produced. Eventually, the production of robots is subverted to enable their liberation. Helena, who is still interested in the liberating of robots despite (or perhaps because 0f) her marriage to Domin, pressures the scientists to begin giving the robots a soul. This is where everything starts to go wrong, as the addition of a soul finally makes the robots aware of their situation, and their rights to agency not slavery.
Domin(ance) - Male Power Eventually, Helenas attempt to liberate the robots is subjugated by her semi-forced marriage to Domin, the boss of the factory. As an individual, Domin is as his name suggests, dominating. He continually lords himself above Helena, often by treating her as an object of a chivalry, who must be honoured and venerated like a piece of art unable to be involved with the actual world. He is also introduced to us at the beginning of the play as a personality who channels (and thus controls) knowledge. He alone has access to the secret manuscript of Old Russom which contains the secret of producing robots.
Helena, the Natural Human Helena, a particularly sentimental human, is the plays object of attention. Helenas humanity is manifest in her pronounced emotions is continously contrasted with the robots to emphasize the gap between what appears to be human (as the robots look like people) and what it is to be human. Helena is preoccupied with liberating the robots, but is rebuffed by their lack of receptivity. Frankly, it seems that Capek is being cynical about revolution in his characterization of Helena, as she represents a romantic revolutionary whose ideals cannot penetrate practice (embodied by the laborious existence of the robots). As a woman, Helena also operates as a sort of ideal, a feminine ideal to be exact, that works as a sort of symbol for nature (mother nature) in the text. Disgusted by which she percieves as an injustice to the natural order of things, Helena sees the robots as human rather than other. The male humans, by contrast, see the robots as commodities (the play is a pretty satirical treatment of capitalism, but not explicitly communistic in its indictment of labor for labors sake).
RUR

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RUR

  • 2. THEMES Anger and Hatred When the robots rebel and attack, it is revealed that at Helenas suggestion, Dr. Gall has given the robots a soul and has given them the ability to appreciate their condition. But in making them more human-like, Gall has also given them the ability to hate, just as humans are capable of hating. Since the robots are treated like insignificant and expendable creations, they soon learn to hate their creators and all humans. They are without a conscience and can hate and kill at will.
  • 3. Class Conflict With the creation of robots, the earth is divided into two classes: those who have control and those who are controlled. The robots form this latter class, which is designed to be exploited. The robots are little more than slaves who are expected to work until they can work no longer, a period of about twenty years. They are designed and treated as though they have no feelings, no needs, and no expectations. The robots builders envision the humans as a kind of aristocracy, superior to the robots they control. As is the case in all feudal societies, eventually the peasants or slaves revolt and murder their masters.
  • 4. Duty and Responsibility As the creators of a new life form, the robot creators have a responsibility for how their creations are used, but in this case, the builders see the robots only in terms of exploitation and greed. The builders will sell their robots to whomever orders them and has the cash to pay. They ignore the moral implications of what they have done, preferring to isolate themselves on the island. When the robots rebel, rather than stop selling the robots and explore possible solutions, the manufacturers continue to sell robots. When it becomes clear that humanity is in real danger, their only thought is for their own escape
  • 5. Man as Robot, Robot as Man One man, Alquist, is left by the robots because He is a robot. He works with his hands like a Robot (70). So in fact, he turns out to be the least helpful human to leave alive as he cannot reveal the secret of robot production, which the robots so desperately require. At the end of the play, it appears that robotics like humanity is destined for total death. But a glimmer of hope emerges, as two robots, one of whom is called Helena, and the other Primus, seemed to manifest human qualities in their behaviour towards one another. In brief, they are in love, which prompts Alquist to see a future of redemption for robots and humanity as a hybrid form of the two has emerged and promises a certain fertility. These two robot-humans also represent an reversal of Alquist himself, as they are the robotic becoming human (where he was described as the human who is robotic) and their duality (manifested by a need for one another) overcomes Alquists incapacitating loneliness. The future of Capeks R.U.R. is thus a return to nature where love replaces labour, and the robot as dualistic unit replaces the robot as an individual agent of labour. Hybridist of man (manifested as a dynamic) and a machine (a physical ideal) is the realization of a future.
  • 6. Producing Artificial Life The production of robots is another example of perverting nature. Rather than existing as a mechanical objects (automaton) Capeks robots are biotechnological, literally objects of flesh and blood, but factory produced flesh and blood. Like Herr Virek in Mona Lisa Overdrive, this biology is vat based, a chemical process that begets a humanity which is engineered not born. Several times in the text, the humans re-iterate the fact that robots are not born, they are produced. Eventually, the production of robots is subverted to enable their liberation. Helena, who is still interested in the liberating of robots despite (or perhaps because 0f) her marriage to Domin, pressures the scientists to begin giving the robots a soul. This is where everything starts to go wrong, as the addition of a soul finally makes the robots aware of their situation, and their rights to agency not slavery.
  • 7. Domin(ance) - Male Power Eventually, Helenas attempt to liberate the robots is subjugated by her semi-forced marriage to Domin, the boss of the factory. As an individual, Domin is as his name suggests, dominating. He continually lords himself above Helena, often by treating her as an object of a chivalry, who must be honoured and venerated like a piece of art unable to be involved with the actual world. He is also introduced to us at the beginning of the play as a personality who channels (and thus controls) knowledge. He alone has access to the secret manuscript of Old Russom which contains the secret of producing robots.
  • 8. Helena, the Natural Human Helena, a particularly sentimental human, is the plays object of attention. Helenas humanity is manifest in her pronounced emotions is continously contrasted with the robots to emphasize the gap between what appears to be human (as the robots look like people) and what it is to be human. Helena is preoccupied with liberating the robots, but is rebuffed by their lack of receptivity. Frankly, it seems that Capek is being cynical about revolution in his characterization of Helena, as she represents a romantic revolutionary whose ideals cannot penetrate practice (embodied by the laborious existence of the robots). As a woman, Helena also operates as a sort of ideal, a feminine ideal to be exact, that works as a sort of symbol for nature (mother nature) in the text. Disgusted by which she percieves as an injustice to the natural order of things, Helena sees the robots as human rather than other. The male humans, by contrast, see the robots as commodities (the play is a pretty satirical treatment of capitalism, but not explicitly communistic in its indictment of labor for labors sake).