# Martellus — Back to Methuselah character guide

> Martellus in Back to Methuselah by George Bernard Shaw.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Martellus Calling, Martellus Rising, Martellus Impossible, Martellus Rises, Martellus Enslaved, Martellus Contemplating the Figures

**First appearance:** 0061-part-v-as-far-as-thought-can-reach

## Snapshot

A sculptor of the far future who carves the new humanity's self-image, and argues with Pygmalion about what those figures ought to mean.

## Who they are

Martellus works in a world where art has outlived the passions that once drove it, shaping figures meant to represent what the long-lived have become rather than what they once desired. His exchanges with Pygmalion turn on the question of whether sculpture should flatter the new humanity or hold it to account, and he is willing to be difficult about it. He matters because he gives the play's abstract argument about evolution a workshop and a pair of hands, and because his quarrels with a fellow artist are the closest the future comes to ordinary human friction.

## Links

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