R.U.R.

“Young Rossum successfully invented a worker with the smallest number of needs, but to do so, he had to simplify him.”

Domin discusses the Rossums’ robotic creations. Young Rossum, the son of the original Rossum, is interested in mass production and industry. He created his robots to fill certain roles or, in other words, to occupy a specific class, changing the power relations created by labor.

“You’d never guess she was made of a different substance than we are. She even has the characteristic soft hair of a blonde, if you please.”

Here, Domin describes his robot secretary, Sulla, to Helena, explaining that her mistaking Sulla for a human is understandable. She also mistakes humans for robots when meeting the directors, suggesting how robots and humans are alike. The inability to distinguish between the two—human and robot—is a central concern of many works of science fiction created after R.U.R.

“DOMIN: That is death, Marius. Do you fear death?

MARIUS: No.”

Domin tries to have Sulla dissected in front of Helena to prove she is a robot. Both she and Marius are unbothered by the idea of themselves or other robots dying by dissection, which sets them apart from humans. This foreshadows how Robots Helena and Primus, in sharp contrast, refuse to allow each other to be dissected at the end of Act III. They seem to be more human than the humans.

“HELENA: Oh, I thought that…if someone were to show them a bit of love— FABRY: Impossible, Miss Glory. Nothing is farther from being human than a Robot.”

Though Fabry argues against the humanity of robots, this proves to be untrue. Robot Helena is shown to be more human than some of the other humans through her capacity for love at the end of the play. Love is key to the evolution of robots, and a central theme of the play.

“You think that a soul begins with the gnashing of teeth?”

Fabry speaks about the fits that some robots have when they malfunction. The rebellious robots are initially thought to be suffering from this Robotic Palsy, as the directors call the fits. However, Radius’s defiance is his rejection of being subjugated—forced to work without pay. His defiance becomes evidence of a soul.

“If you won’t give them souls, why do you want to give them pain?”

Helena asks Gall why he would allow robots to feel pain without other emotions, like joy or love. Physical pain serves as a safety feature, to protect the robots’ bodies. Animals can also feel pain and inflict it on other animals, which is distinctly different from human systems of oppression through labor practices. Systemic oppression harms souls, rather than bodies.

“Domin, there was something good in the act of serving, something great in humility. Oh, Harry, there was some kind of virtue in work and fatigue.”

Alquist argues for a Protestant work ethic—a divine reward for the work done on earth. He believes that the pre-robotic era was a golden age, a better time than after robots were invented. The invention of robots diminish the opportunities for humans to be rewarded in the afterlife for labor.

“O Adam, Adam! no longer will you have to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow; you will return to Paradise, where you were nourished by the hand of God.”

Domin’s lines include the biblical motif that runs throughout the play. He imagines robots will enable the earth to become the Garden of Eden, where humans don’t have to engage in labor. However, at the end of the play, the earth becomes Eden for robots— Alquist refers to Robot Primus as Adam.

“People should be a bit loony, Helena. That’s the best thing about them.”

In this passage, Domin develops his ideas about the nature of humanity. He believes that people behave irrationally when not working, a positive thing. Humans are defined by their actions when not working.

“Once again, in the last week there has not been a single birth reported.”

This is a quote from a newspaper article that Helena reads. Books, newspapers, and pamphlets—physical media—are props in the play and intertextual elements in the written script. Čapek himself was a journalist for many years and includes the medium he worked in as a way of disseminating important information about the state of humanity.

“I think it’s better to lay a single brick than to draw up plans that are too great.”

Alquist prioritizes manual labor over directing grandiose projects. In other words, he finds the role of worker more appealing than the role of director. The power given to those who order workers around corrupts not only individuals, but systems.

“Why have women stopped giving birth? Because the whole world has become Domin’s Sodom!”

Here, Alquist alludes to the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, where God punishes wicked actions. Humans are no longer laboring and doing moral work, nor laboring to deliver children. The ability to procreate is lost when humans are free to engage in sin, their lives no longer organized by work schedules.

“Robots do everything. You only give orders—utter empty words.”

Radius speaks to the difference between workers and management, the proletariat (working class) and the bourgeoisie (upper class). The robot workers sustain everyone, while the upper class merely speak, rather than act. The robots respect those who use their hands rather than simply words.

“Oh, Helena, Robot Helena, your body will never bring forth life. You’ll never be a lover, never a mother.”

Gall believes that Robot Helena, who he made to be especially beautiful, will never be able to procreate. Alquist believes the opposite at the end of the play. Once Alquist witnesses the love between Robots Helena and Primus, he believes they will act as a married couple—as lovers—and she will bear children.

“Just some old papers, d-r-readfully old. Nana, should I burn them?”

Helena has a verbal tic, represented here with the two r’s and dashes in “dreadfully.” The tic appears throughout the play. She obscures what Rossum’s manuscript is to Nana while asking permission to burn it. This is another moment of intertextuality in the script. In a staged version, the manuscript would appear as a prop, emphasizing its nature as a piece of physical media.

“So you see, Helena. This means a revolution, understand? A revolution of all the Robots in the world.”

Domin explains a newspaper article to Helena as if she were an unintelligent child. He withholds information, not giving her the option to be fully informed, and then unnecessarily explains articles she has already read. This infantilizing runs throughout the play, emphasizing Domin’s desire to control her.

“Thunder, we’ll make Black Robots and Swedish Robots and Italian Robots and Chinese Robots, and then let someone try to drive the notion of brotherhood into the noggin of their organization.”

Hallemeier explores the nature of humanity. He believes that making robots more like humans—with different languages and physical features—will destroy their ability to organize internationally. He believes that brotherhood is limited to people who are similar.

“Robots of the world, you are ordered to exterminate the human race. Do not spare the men. Do not spare the women. Preserve only the factories, railroads, machines, mines, and raw materials. Destroy everything else. Then return to work. Work must not cease.”

Domin reads from a pamphlet created as part of the robot revolution organizing efforts. This pamphlet prop is another example of intertextuality and physical media. Its contents emphasize the importance of maintaining the mechanisms of industry while destroying humanity. The pamphlet commends work because humans generally refuse to take part in it; working is what separates the robots from the humans.

“Old Rossum thought only of his godless hocus-pocus and young Rossum of his billions. And that wasn’t the dream of your R.U.R. shareholders, either. They dreamed of the dividends. And on those dividends humanity will perish.”

These lines from Alquist are from an exchange with Domin. While Domin says that robots were meant to give humans more freedom, Alquist points out the motives of Rossum, his son, and the people who control the Rossum corporation. These figures who developed robots care about science and money rather than improving the quality of life for humans.

“They stopped being machines. You see, they realized their superiority and they hate us.”

Gall explains the robots’ transformation. Their rebellion is because their labor provides all of the goods and services for humans. Robots believe working makes them superior.

“Gall, just when did you actually begin this witchcraft?”

A minor motif of occult imagery appears in the play. Here, Busman characterizes Galls’s experiments to make robots more human as an occult practice. In the Prologue, Domin refers to old Rossum’s “potions” when Helena does not understand the harder scientific terms like “catalysts enzymes.” Playing God is considered an occult act.

“It was a great thing to be a human being. It was something tremendous. I’m suddenly conscious of a million sensations buzzing in me like bees in a hive. Gentlemen, it was a great thing.”

As the robots surround the factory and attack, Hallemeier reflects on the nature of being human. This passage is an example of how diction, or word choice, changes over the course of the play. Hallemeier uses simile, a literary device where something is compared to something else using “like” or “as”— “I’m suddenly conscious of a million sensations buzzing in me like bees in a hive.” The passage’s phrasing elevates it above common speech, giving it a more formal tone.

“Robots of the world! Many people have fallen. By seizing the factory we have become the masters of everything. The age of mankind is over. A new world has begun! The rule of Robots!”

Radius declares victory over humans at the end of Act II. His lines embody Hegel’s master-slave duality, with the slave having true dominion over the master.