R.U.R. (Rossum`s Universal Robots) : A Fantastic Melodrama

The ultimate problem in Karel Capek's extraordinary play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) is that the robots created by humanity's journeymen imitated humanity so abominably well.

Written in 1920 and first produced in 1921 RUR opened to critical worldwide acclaim. Although RUR is best remembered for introducing the word robot into the lexicon (the word was coined by Karel's brother and some time collaborator Josef Capek) it is more a somber reflection on humanity than on the emergence of robots.

The play opens on an unnamed island at some point in time after 1920 where lifelike robots are being produced by Rossum's Universal Robots. The officers of the corporation meet a young lady, Helena, who has come to the island on behalf of the League of Humanity, determined to help liberate these robots from the inhumane working conditions that confront them. The executives fill Helena in on the history of the company, particularly the father-son team of Rossums that developed the first robots. Capek makes it a point to describe the difference between the father and the son. The father was a "scientific materialist" whose desire to create an imitation of man grew out of his wish to prove that God was unnecessary. The son thought this was both silly and inefficient and sought nothing more than to produce robots capable of working non-stop.

Each of the following scenes takes place at some unspecified point in the future. The millions of robots produced take on all the industrial and agricultural work performed formerly by men and women. This leads to unintended consequences. First, the lack of necessity (the need to work) in everyday life leads to a few worker revolts. This causes various governments to arm the robots to quell the resulting riots. Further, these governments decide that all future wars will be fought by robots. As one might imagine, a well-trained robot-militia is not conducive to the future health and welfare of the human race. Second, the lack of work and the general lack of purposefulness of life render humans incapable of reproducing.

As the play nears its end, the robots have united and have set out to destroy the human race. Clearly, the robots have learned to think for themselves and as such they have taken on (or evolved into) something that more closely resembles the human race. The fact that the robots behave so abominably does not belie this similarity to their human creators. The problem the robots face is that they do not have the inherent capacity to reproduce (they have a shelf-life a bit shorter than is average for humans) and they have inadvertently destroyed those humans that know how to create more robots. They are faced with extinction just as surely as the humans they have destroyed.

As the play concludes the sole remaining human, Alquist, spots two robots whose clear affection for each other indicates that the robots are about find a means to reproduce without the assistance of the humans who gave them life. This pleases Alquist no end and as the play ends, he `anoints' the robots with his blessing. It is a poignant, jumbled mixture of the creation story (and on the sixth day) and the Song of Simeon (Let us now thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen they salvation.) The rich irony in this biblical blessing of the new, robotic Adam and Eve brings us to a place dramatically different from the elder Rossum's stated desire to create robots to disprove the existence of God. Alquist's benediction shows man at the height of his humanity and speaks directly to Alduous Huxley's dictum that "the humanity of men and women is inversely proportional to their numbers."

R.U.R. was written at a time when the world was still reeling from the horrors of the First World War, which horrors were magnified by technological advancements that made the killing industry far more efficient than it ever had been in the past. Capek's pessimism must be viewed through that prism. However, it must be noted that Capek's pessimism was not directed at technology itself. I think his concern was with the unchanging human nature of those who think they control the technology and who direct, for good or ill, its use. In some respects this harkens to the political slogan that "guns don't kill people, people kills people". In this instance and in view of the horrors Capek witnessed first hand, it does not seem inappropriate.

It should be noted that R.U.R. was written 85 years ago and the words Capek wrote were meant to be heard by an audience and not read.. As such, some of the dialogue will sound a bit stilted or dated to the reader. However this bit of apparent aging should not diminish the enjoyment to be derived from reading R.U.R. R.U.R. and Capek' other great dystopian work, War With the Newts are a must read for those interested in some of the early 20th century's most compelling fictional looks into the heart of darkness that is mankind. The introduction by Ivan Klima, a biographer of Capek is noteworthy and adds a great deal of illumination for the reader.


Historical value   February 10, 2004
A Fuller or M Severs
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

I imagine Philip K Dick had recently read this before he wrote "Do androids dream of electric sheep", because the automatons/slave workers that Capek describes are exactly what ended up in the film of Dick's Book: "Blade Runner". The replicants that Harrison Ford shoots / falls in love with are living, biologically engineered organisms, but conscious. They are manufactured for drudge work. So it is with Rossum's manufactured organisms.
Capek's book brought the work "Robot" into the English language. I understand that in Czech it means "worker" in the sense of a labourer, doing menial tasks. Compare with the Russian "Rabot". In post-communist days, the modern meaning politically affixed to the word "worker" is something Capek may or may not be getting at, but to save the reader being led astray into thinking the play is intended to have even more meanings than it does, the word "worker" in that sense is avoided and the original translation of the play into English kept the word as in Czech - and so the word "robot", meaning a manufactured slave-like device, was born. This edition sticks with that principle.
The idea of a robot being a mechanism, with electricity and motors and beeping noises was dreamed up later by other authors; Capek's robots are biological entities; they are human-shaped. The analogy to a menial underclass might be one of Capek's intended implicatons.
Keep in mind this was written long before Asimov's landmark books about what we might now call robots or androids, as anthropomorphic machines.


It's a play, it's old, but you'll love it   August 27, 2002
B Cummins
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

At only 58 pages long, it's short even for a play. Also the one i have is american, so lot's of things spelt their way, like theater on the back cover, and many more.

But this books cultural significance cannot be overestimated. How many times do we here of the word robot, well it all started here. Robots forced to do menial tasks rise up against there human overlords.

It's worthwhile noting that most people believe that the word robot means slave, which it did in Czechoslovakia a few years after this play. But in Capek's time it was actually a term used by the poor, for a task they were forced to do, (tend to the rich people's farms), so it meant to do a menial task with no reward.

This play has been overlooked for two long, bring it back into the spotlight and buy it.

the fact it's not in true english is all that denies it 5 stars, but at less than a quid who can really complain?

Ben:)