Man And Superman

“Well, well, Octavius, it’s the common lot. We must all face it someday.” 

Ramsden is referring to death as part of the natural process in order to comfort Octavius, who is grieving over Mr. Whitefield’s death. But this aphorism, that death comes to us all, is also a basis for hedonism and the idea of living for yourself. For a man who rises above himself in the pursuit of improving mankind, he can achieve a kind of immortality, much as Jack tries to achieve by publishing his book.

“Yet even I cannot wholly conquer shame. We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of our opinions, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our naked skins.” 

Much of Jack’s philosophy centers on the idea of ridding themselves of useless social conventions and decorum. But as he describes, the shame of failing to live up to social expectation is deeply ingrained. Therefore, Jack cannot fully live up to his potential as a “Superman.”

“All you mean by that is that you think I ought to be ashamed of talking about my virtues. You don’t mean that I haven’t got them: you know perfectly well that I am as sober and honest a citizen as yourself, as truthful personally, and much more truthful politically and morally.” 

Jack asserts that although Ramsden treats him as if he is immoral, Jack actually lives by a strict moral code. He simply refuses to be modest about his virtues or to stay silent for the purpose of decorum. In fact, Ramsden has been secretly seeing many different women, which suggests that perhaps Jack is even more morally upright.