"R.U.R." as Humanist Manifesto

Silkscreen poster for a WPA production of
"R.U.R." from the mid-1930s

On June 27th, we had a group of seventeen discussants for "R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots," by Karel Čapek. The more you think about the layers of ideas in "R.U.R," the more the play comes into focus as a deeply philosophical reflection on the human condition.

"R.U.R. is set on an island on which has been established a factory to produce robots.  "R.U.R." became an international sensation in the 1920s. Čapek's robots, in contrast to the characteristic robots of subsequent science fiction, are not metallic machines.  Old man Rossum, the original founder of the company, had done extensive experiments on protoplasm in order to render his creations biologically human-like. What they lack are human emotions.

In Act II, the head of physiological research at the plant, Gall, reveals that he has done research to change the robots: "I transformed them into people.  I altered them. In some ways they're already superior to us. They're stronger than we are."

The robots stage a rebellion, and kill all of the humans on the island except for the chief construction officer Alquist.  They spare his life because, the robots say, he knows how to build things. As he attempts to figure out the lost formula for the robots, two robots, Primus, a male, and Helena, a female, appear on the scene.  In a ploy worthy of Solomon, Alquist states his intention to dissect Helena, and Primus asks to be sacrificed instead.  Helena in turn offers her life in exchange for his.

Alquist knows the robots have reached a new level of existence because they demonstrate the human drive to love and be loved in return. At the end of the play, Alquist says that he, the last human, may depart the earth in peace because he has beheld the Lord's "deliverance through love, and life shall not perish."