# Haslam — Back to Methuselah character guide

> Haslam in Back to Methuselah by George Bernard Shaw.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Haslam, The Clerical Gentleman Mr. Haslam, Haslam Beaming, Mr. Haslam Bill, Bill, poor old Bill, the Reverend Bill Haslam, Haslam Oh

**First appearance:** 0055-part-ii-the-gospel-of-the-brothers-barnabas

## Snapshot

A young clergyman with nothing clerical about him but his collar, who stumbles into the Barnabas study and finds their talk of three-hundred-year lives oddly persuasive.

## Who they are

Haslam arrives at the Barnabas house an unwelcome guest, admits he was shoved into the Church by family convenience, and cheerfully concedes that if he had nine hundred years he would chuck the whole shop. His bird that sings 'stick it or chuck it' becomes the play's wry refrain for a man who cannot take his own vocation seriously because life is too short for seriousness. He is the audience's surrogate: ordinary, good-humored, and slowly drawn into the brothers' argument that only longer life could make a real conscience possible.

## Links

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