And what's more, she'll force us to advise her to do it; and she'll put the blame on us if it turns out badly" (p. 52).
It is fitting that Ramsden's role in the dream is the statue. During a discussion in Act III between Don Juan, the Devil, the Statue and his daughter Ana, the Statue says of his wife, Ana's mother, "when I married Ana's mother - or, perhaps to be strictly correct, I should rather say when I at last gave in and allowed Ana's mother to marry me - I knew that I was planting thorns in my pillow, and that marriage for me...meant defeat and capture" (p. 159).
Ann enters with her mother. She is a lovely young woman, full of expression and life. She commands both attention and affection from nearly everyone she meets. Ramsden, whom she calls "Granny," thinks she is near perfection. Still, both he and Tanner appeal to her to choose one of her appointed guardians. It seems neither wants to serve out his obligation with the other. Ann sweetly insists that her father's will be followed exactly. In reality, she is acting on her own will, for she is in love with Tanner.
It is no accident that the strongest and most powerful characters in Man and Superman are women, and the weak characters are men. Ann and Violet are both independent women who know what they want and go after it. When Violet announces that she is married and pregnant, she also tells everyone that she will not name her husband, for reasons she declines to disclose. When prodded by Miss Ramsden to name her husband, she says "that is my business, Miss Ramsden, and not yours. I have my reasons for keeping my marriage a secret for the present" (p. 83). Later, during a confrontation between Hector Malone and his father over their secret marriage, she interjects...
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