# Cain — Back to Methuselah character guide

> Cain in Back to Methuselah by George Bernard Shaw.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Cain Adamson, Cain Adamson Charles Napoleon, Cain Undutiful, Cain Murder, Cain Rising, Cain The Voice, Cain The Devil, Cain Selfish, Cain Mother

**First appearance:** 0052-part-i-in-the-beginning

## Snapshot

Adam and Eve's warlike son, the first murderer, who strides home in tiger's head and brass greaves to sneer at his father's digging.

## Who they are

Cain kicks aside the garden hurdle and arrives armed, oiled, and bristling, a self-assertive son who knows he is unforgiven. He defends killing Abel as the logical end of Abel's own inventions—blood, fire, the altar—and despises Adam's drudgery as the coward's way. His restless violence and his refusal to accept his parents' world make him the play's first portrait of the human appetite for adventure that will not be contained by any garden.

## Relationships

### [Eve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/back_to_methuselah_se/characters/eve)

_family_

Cain is Eve's rebellious son, and their relationship is fraught with conflict over his violent nature.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/back_to_methuselah_se/characters/cain
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/back_to_methuselah_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/back_to_methuselah_se/characters