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Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Theme of the Mad Scientist

ERB has the reputation of being a ratherhe might perform a deed that if duplicated on
juvenile author, good on vivid colour andEarth would have raised him to the highest
action but hopelessly lacking in the abilitypinnacle of man's esteem... He had a purely
to  portray  characters  of convincing depth.scientific mind entirely devoid of the
cloying influences of sentiment, of which he
When debating how true this is, and how far,possessed  none.
if it is true, ERB should be criticised for
it, one might do worse than consider theA change is hinted at after Ras Thavas,
theme of the mad scientist in the later Marshaving almost outlived his old body, has got
novels.his assistant to transplant his brain into a
new one, whereupon the juices of youth begin
The series set on Barsoom - Mars - runs toto affect his mind. He still remains
ten volumes. In my opinion, though all areruthless, but some confusion sets in. And
good (except the fourth), the best of them,there are further hints of his developing
apart from the second which is superb, arehumanity in Synthetic Men of Mars, near the
the last five. In other words broadlyend of which he refers to the narrator, who
speaking the quality of writing increases ashas been through great suffering and stress,
we go through the series. And it isas "my son". It is an astonishing little
interesting to note that the plots of thethrowaway hint, but no more. Burroughs does
sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth volumes allnot labour the point and it is thereby all
hang rather closely on the misdeeds of a "madthe  more  effective.
scientist" - or at any rate a scientist who
subordinates most normal human feeling to anPhor Tak in A Fighting Man of Mars is the
obsessive  scientific  ambition.most temperamentally unhinged of the trio we
are considering. The protagonist Tan Hadron
In The Master Mind of Mars the surgeon, Rasnarrates:
Thavas, performs brain-transplants upon both
willing and unwilling subjects. In AWe had not been long at Jhama before both Nur
Fighting Man of Mars the physicist, Phor Tak,An and I became convinced that Phor Tak's
builds super-weapons and, quarrelling withmind was at least slightly deranged from long
his evil patron, decides to set up on his ownbrooding over the wrongs inflicted upon him
as a world conqueror. In Swords of Mars Falby Tul Axtar; though naturally possessed of a
Sivas, creator of a programmable mechanicalkindly disposition he was obsessed by a
brain (yes, a computer expert in a 1930smaniacal desire to wreak vengeance upon the
novel), hopes to acquire wealth and power bytyrant with utter disregard of the
remote control. And in Synthetic Men of Marsconsequences  to  himself  and  to  others.
Ras Thavas is up to new tricks, though this
time - creating uncontrollable synthetic lifeHis characteristic "Heigh-oo!" cackle and his
- he realizes he has bitten off more than hesudden mood-swings, fits of rage and
can  chew.manifestations of slyness are memorably
depicted.
Reflecting upon these examples it seems to me
that there is not much point in using theLastly there is the rather nasty Fal Sivas,
word "stereotype" as a criticism. I willthe only one of the three savants who turns
admit that if they are considered separately,out to be personally cowardly, though he is
each mad scientist might be labelled as such,cool enough at first, sitting "like a great
and dismissed as such by critics who respectcat watching its prey", and fencing verbally
analysis more than story. However, whatwith the swordsman Vandor, who, unbeknownst
happens if you don't consider themto him, is the disguised Warlord of Mars,
separately; what happens if you compare them?telling him, "you may rest assured that if I
ever decide that you must die, I shall not be
Immediately, you realize that the three ofwithin reach of your sword when that sad
them are utterly different people. Burroughsevent occurs." Fal Sivas operates,
as usual achieves this effect without strain,Nazi-style, on the brains of living people in
probably without conscious effort. He is aorder  to  perfect  his  mechanical  brain.
dreamer, not an intellectual writer at all,
though he was far from stupid. His"I, too, have paid a price. It has taken
occasional scientific wafflings are theresomething out of me that can never be
merely to add colour, though by chance hereplaced. I believe, Vandor, that it has
scored a bull's eye of prediction regardingrobbed me of every human instinct. Except
programmable computers in Swords of Mars.that I am mortal, I am as much a creation of
Let  us  consider each mad scientist in turn.cold insensate formulas as that thing which
you see resting there before you. Sometimes,
Ras Thavas, the master surgeon, is the mostbecause of that, I hate it; and yet I would
impressive and the most vividly portrayed.die for it. I would see others die for it,
His  terrestrial  assistant  remarks  of him:countless others, in the future, as I have in
the past. It must live. It is the greatest
He was never intentionally cruel; he was not,achievement  of  the  human  mind."
I am sure, intentionally wicked. He was
guilty of the most diabolical cruelties andSo there you are. Three mad scientists,
the basest of crimes; yet in the next momentdefinitely not all the same.



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