Roget Susannah

“You’re trying with her. It’s cruel beyond belief.” Pg. Susannah: “Quite right, Isobel. They’re all quacks. A
25 quart of brandy’s what you need for pain, whatever
noxious remedy they might prescribe.”

Fenwick: “Susannah” Pg. 20

“It’s not the word itself that interests me. I just like Susannah: “You prefer servants to me Joseph.”
lists. How are we to understand the world unless we
organize it coherently?” pg. 41 Fenwick: “Don’t be ridiculous, Susannah”

Susannah: “I’m not being ridiculous. It’s patronizing to

ask the girl to fetch and carry on the one hand and join
us for elevating conversation on the other.” Pg. 73
“I even embarrass my own children. I sit in the corner
and chirrup away like a canary. Why don’t you get a
cage for me and a nice bit of cuttlefish. In fact, when
we had a canary, he paid more attention to it than to
me, he thought it intriguing and fascinating, all the
things he once felt about me—” pg. 76
Armstrong Joseph Fenwick
“What difference does it make if they’re dead? The Fenwick: “We have an enlightened view of servants in
dead are just meat.” Pg. 70 this household. We think of them as family.”

Susannah: “Of course you don’t Joseph, you like to

think that, but you don’t really.” Pg. 42
“You can dissect a stolen body with moral qualms or Susannah: “The most respected man in the region, the
with none at all and it won’t make a blind bit of most philanthropic, whose learning is universally
difference to what you discover.” Pg. 71 admired, has no time for his own wife.” Pg. 76
“keep infants away from the fireplace and women “Well that’s that. House full of madwomen. What
away from science.” Pg. 5 about a stroll gentlemen?” pg. 63
“She loves it. Every woman loves a compliment.
Especially a plain one.” Pg. 25
“I make sure she takes them off, that’s the whole
point because then I get to examine her beautiful back
in all it’s delicious twisted glory, and frankly that’s all
I’m interested in. D’you know the first time I saw it I
got an erection?” pg. 85
“Well, how was I to know? It’s not my fault, I didn’t
know she was…..” pg. 93
“Isobel? Can you hear me?” (There’s no response. He
hesitates. Then puts his hands over her nose and
mouth, presses down. Her heels flutter almost
imperceptibly. In a second it is over. He feels her pulse
again. He gets up, shakily and notices the letter lying
underneath the chair. He picks it up, unfolds it. Reads.)
pg. 92
(gazing at her fascinated) “She is exquisite. She makes
a beautiful corpse.” Pg. 95
Isobel Harriet
“My lines are ridiculous. They’re infantile. Why can’t I “Maria represents the past, and I represent the
say something of consequence?” pg. 17 future.” Pg. 15
“I’m not unused to answering questions. When I talk “Why would I want to marry Edward? I don’t want to
about myself, my face feels hot. When I talk about marry anyone!” Pg. 59
myself, I feel that I’m lying.” Pg. 53
“I only know words sir, words are what interest me.” “You made me write it, Mama. I don’t want to write
Pg. 22 plays! I don’t want to write anything! Why will you
insist that I am a poet? I am nothing of the sort—”

“I want to be a physician, like papa—” Pg. 63

Maria: “Harriet has rejected established religion.” Pg.
15
Maria Kate
“I don’t want him to die” “absolute bollocks” to Phil’s theory on spontaneous
(bursts into tears) combustion pg. 34
“I named him for my fiancé.” pg. 4
Harriet: “Maria represents an ideal” pg. 16 “You may want to terminate the pregnancy” to Phil
about defective children pg. 37
Isobel: “To my mind, if you’ll excuse me, it’s a very low “I wouldn’t kill. I wouldn’t murder. But apart from
sort of play—" that….” Pg. 88

Maria: “No one’s interested in your mind, dear—” pg.

17
“Papa, Edward thinks my eyes are blue, he said so in a “you’re hopeless, you’re a dinosaur” to Tom about his
letter, and Harriet says this is because he’s a complete world understanding pg. 89
fool and that she never liked him anyway, but I think
perhaps he has a tropical fever and his mind is
wandering or perhaps he meant brown but wrote blue
—” Pg. 58
“You’re jealous of me” pg. 59 “It’s history, and I’m hooked on the future.” pg. 89
“For the most part I sit on a hillock and wave at my
flock. According to Harriet, this suggests Pastoral
Innocence—” Pg. 16
Tom Ellen
“A, that’s ridiculous, and B it’s patronizing” in “I’m not a medical doctor, I’m a research
response to Ellen’s accusation of him being scientist.” Pg. 30
jealous of her job offer.

Phil “You’re fifteen years younger than me, and

nothing frightens you. You still want to be
God.”—to Kate pg. 35
“That’s what I hate about scientist. Closed minds.” “The fact that you’ve never had a moral qualm in
Pg. 32 your life doesn’t mean you have superior reasoning
power, it just means you have a limited
imagination.”—to Kate pg. 36
“That’s the sort of science that interests me. The “Science is supposed to be cold and considered and
tricky stuff.” Pg. 32 rational.” Pg. 87
“It’s very well documented actually” pg. 35 on “It’s sexy. It makes me fizz inside. To me it’s a form
theory of spontaneous combustion of rapture….To me, an exquisitely balanced formula
is a poem.”—to Tom pg. 87 (compare to how
Armstrong is sexually aroused and calls Isobel’s
spine a poem)
“I believe in reincarnation” pg. 67

“I’ve loved this painting since I was thirteen years old. I’ve loved it “But when I was thirteen, what held me more than anything, was the
because it has a scientist at the heart of it, a scientist where you drama at the centre of it all, the clouds scudding across a stage-set
usually find God. Here, centre stage, is not a saint or an archangel, moon, the candle-light dipping and flickering. Who would not want
but a man. Look at his face, bathed in celestial light, here is a man to be caught up in this world? Who could resist the power of light
beatified by his search for truth. As a child enraptured by the over darkness?”—pg. 4
possibilities of science, this painting set my heart racing, it made the
blood tingle in my veins: I wanted to be this scientist; I wanted to be
up there in the thick of it, all eyes drawn to me, frontiers tumbling
before my merciless deconstruction. [...] I wanted to be God.”—pg. 3
“Susannah: Maria, show a little faith, your father would never “Armstrong: With respect, I think you confuse a personal antipathy
conduct an experiment unless he was quite sure of the outcome, isn’t towards Reverend Jessop with the quality of his proposed lecture.”
that so? Pg. 9

Fenwick: You haven’t quite grasped the subtlety of the word

‘experiment’, Susannah-”

Pg. 5

“But does an idyll have its basis in reality?” “Harriet: Primarily because you’re playing a sheep. And besides,
some people are not meant to say anything of consequence. As in
life, so in a play. Certain rules must be obeyed. And one of them is
Pg. 16
you stick to your own lines. You can’t swap them round as it takes
your fancy. Think of the chaos. Think of the audience.”

Pg. 18

“Ellen: Anecdotal doesn’t count. They could be making it up. Or “Ellen: The fact that you’ve never had a moral qualm in your life
elaborating something much more explicable. doesn’t mean you have superior reasoning power, it just means you
have a limited imagination.”
Phil: Why would they want to do that?
Pg. 36
Ellen: Because people like telling stories. They like sitting around
and telling tales for which there’s no rational explanation. Like ghost
stories. And crop circles. And being a reincarnation of Marie
Antoinette. I’m not entirely sure why. You’d need to ask a
psychologist.”

Pg. 32-33

“Kate: We’ll be able to pinpoint genes for particular types of cancer, “Fenwick: By the end of the nineteenth century everyone will
for neurological disorders, for all sorts of things, some of them understand how the world works. By the end of the following
benign, some of them not, but what it really means is we’ll century, if you can imagine that far, every man or woman in the
understand the shape and complexity of a human being, we’ll be able street will understand more than we can ever dream of. Electricity,
to say this is a man, this is exactly who he is, this is his potential, the stars, the composition of the blood, complexities beyond our
these are his possible limitations. And manic depression is genetic. imagination, will be as easily understood as the alphabet. Magic and
We’ll pin it down soon. superstition won’t come into it. And it stands to reason, any citizen
with the facts at his disposal could not tolerate a monarchical system
unless he was mentally impaired or wilfully resistant to reality.”
Phil: And then what? No more Uncle Stans.”

Pg. 44
Pg. 38

“Roget: Does good science require a warm heart? “Tom: So what’s the difference? At what stage does it stop being
disturbing and start being archaeology?”
Fenwick: I like to think so, Roget. In fact I suspect pure objectivity is
an arrogant fallacy. When we conduct an experiment we bring to
bear on it all our human frailties, and all our prejudices, much as we Pg. 49
might wish it to be otherwise. I like to think that good science
requires us to utilise every aspect of ourselves in pursuit of truth.
And sometimes the heart comes into it.”

Pg. 47

“Isobel: I’m unused to answering questions. When I talk about “Harriet: The future’s ours, these chimneys belch out hope, These
myself my face feels hot. When I talk about myself I feel that I am furnaces forge dreams as well as wealth. Great minds conspire to cast
lying. an Eden here. From Iron, and steam bends nature to our will –“

Armstrong: Are you? Pg. 62

Isobel: I’m not sure. I try not to. But we all lie about ourselves.
Armstrong: Do we?

Isobel: We don’t mean to but we do.”

Pg. 53

“Kate: She probably wasn’t murdered. She was dissected. That’s “Armstrong: What difference does it make if they’re dead?
why some of her’s missing.”—pg. 69
The dead are just meat. But meat that tells a story. Every time I slice
open a body, I feel as if I’m discovering America.”—pg. 70

“Armstrong: Digging up corpses is necessary if we’re to totter out of “Susannah: I am full of feeling and passion and I am wedded to a
the Dark Ages. You can dissect a stolen body with moral qualms or dried cod.”—pg. 72
with none at all and it won’t make a blind bit of difference to what
you discover. Discovery is neutral. Ethics should be left to
philosophers and priests. I’ve never had a moral qualm in my life,
and it would be death to science if I did. That’s why I’ll be
remembered as a great physician, Roget, and you’ll be forgotten as a
man who made lists.”—pg. 71

“Armstrong: I make sure she takes them off, that’s the whole point “Tom: The heart retains information, they don’t understand how, yet,
because then I get to examine her beautiful back in all its delicious, but everything’s connected one way or another, nothing exists in
twisted glory, and frankly that’s all I’m interested in. D’you know isolation. When you feel grief, your heart hurts. When you feel love,
the first time I saw it I got an erection? it’s your heart that hurts, not your brain. You took this job because
your heart told you to.”
Roget: You find it arousing?
Pg.
Armstrong: In the same way that I find electricity exciting, or the
isolation of oxygen, or the dissection of a human heart.”

Pg. 85

“Tom: So we’re not that much different after all. Art and science are “Armstrong: Well, how was I to know? It’s not my fault, I didn’t
part of the same thing. Like waves and particles. You need both to know she was ...
define the whole.”
Roget: What?
Pg.
 Armstrong: Unstable. I didn’t know. Don’t say anything, eh?

Silence.

I mean, we don’t know for a fact that it was me who drove her to it,
do we? It could have been anything.

Roget: Of course it was you. Armstrong: Where’s the evidence?”

Pg. 93

“Fenwick: Here’s to whatever lies ahead ... here’s to uncharted

lands ... here’s to a future we dream about but cannot know ... here’s
to the new century.”

Pg. 96