The Doctor and the Devils

SYNOPSIS

ACT ONE

SCENE 1: Doctor Thomas Rock, an anatomist, arrives home and tells his wife, Elizabeth, news that his mentor has invited him to take his place in an Academy of Anatomy. Despite some misgivings, Rock embraces the possibility to continue his research.

SCENE 2: Rock outlines his philosophical approach to the study of anatomy in his first lecture to the Academy culminating with his assertion “I  believe that that end justifies any means. Let no scruples stand in the way of the progress of the medical science!”

Following his lecture, Rock’s assistant, Mr. Murray, questions the ethics of his speech. Rock is adamant in his convictions. Talk shifts to his antipathy towards a dinner celebrating the establishment of the new Academy organized by Rock’s sister, Annabella. The anatomist voices a strong preference for solitude rather than social status.

SCENE 3: Inside a tavern, two shiftless ne’er-do-wells, Fallon and Broom, lament their poverty and look jealously at the extravagance displayed by some Resurrectionists, grave robbers who sell corpses to anatomists for study. Jennie and Alice, two barmaids, deride them as being too afraid to undertake such unsavory work.

Mr. Murray enters and courts one of the barmaids. He presses Jennie to marry him, yet she demurs despite her obvious attraction to him. She enjoys her life of indulgence and doubts that her checkered past would endear her to the upper-class circles Murray inhabits. Jennie tenderly suggests he draw a picture of her to keep with him. They part feeling unfulfilled.

SCENE 4: Annabella detains her brother who is on his way to work in his study. She asks Rock to review the invitations for the celebratory dinner. Upon noticing several omissions, Rock realizes that he is being slighted by those in his social circle because he married someone from a lower class. Rock bristles angrily at the superficiality of social expectations. As Annabella exits, Elizabeth enters and tries to mollify her husband’s indignation.

SCENE 5: Back in the tavern, Fallon and Broom seal a vagrant into a coffin, angrily marking how much in debt he was. Slowly the idea dawns on them to sell the body to Dr. Rock to recoup their losses. Their sale is successful, and they are emboldened by the income. They look around to other “expendable” residents of the tavern’s inn.

SCENE 6: In a private dinner with Rock, Elizabeth, Annabella, and Murray, the brother and sister debate philosophical points, attempting futilely to draw wife and colleague into the argument. Rock insists that his uncompromising pursuit of truth justifies itself on its own terms. Annabella haughtily insists that conformity to social expectations preserves order. Reaching an impasse, Rock changes the subject to discuss travel.

SCENE 7: Fallon brings a destitute old lady back to the tavern, coaxing her with alcohol. With Broom’s assistance, he leads her off to smother her, producing yet another specimen to sell. While they do their nefarious work, Alice admonishes Jennie for treating Murray so poorly. Alice urges Jennie to settle down to a respectable life with the young doctor. Jennie, however, is too attached to her pursuit of pleasure and indulgence.

Fallon and Broom return with more income, buying rounds of drinks to celebrate. Fallon pursues Jennie determinedly, and Alice begins to fear for Jennie’s safety. Despite her pleas to wait for Murray, Jennie goes off with Fallon and Broom. After a brief interlude, Fallon re-enters, flushed. Alice asks where Jennie is, and Broom responds simply that she has “gone out.”

ACT TWO

SCENE 1: In the classroom, Murray reports to Rock that Jennie’s body has been delivered for dissection. Rock is insensitive to Murray’s anguish and callously argues that she serves a greater purpose in death than she chose in life. When Murray nearly gives away his affection for Jennie, Rock cruelly suggests Murray draw a rendering of her to memorialize her beauty, an ironic echo of their love duet.

SCENE 2: Murray seeks a private audience with Elizabeth to tell her that Rock is purchasing bodies of murder victims. Elizabeth fiercely defends her husband and implicates Murray if any guilt is given. She counsels Murray to turn a blind eye to his suspicions.

SCENE 3: Alice finds Fallon drunk and sullen in the tavern. She urges him to be ready to assist Broom in more murders. Fallon is full of recrimination, yet he resolves to maintain the course he has set for himself.

SCENE 4: Rock is composing an open letter to protest the lack of socially acceptable means to procure cadavers for study. Murray cautions Rock from calling attention to this matter given the rumors that are circulating about his means for acquiring specimens. Rock sanctimoniously asserts his innocence and moral superiority.

SCENE 5: Rock arrives at home to find Elizabeth greatly upset by the growing scandal. She asks her husband if he knew the bodies had been murdered, yet before he can answer Annabella and Murray enter with the news that Fallon and Broom have been arrested. Broom has turned king’s evidence and Fallon is sentenced to death. Rock resolutely asserts that his moral stance is beyond reproach while acknowledging that the tyranny of the masses will end his career.

SCENE 6: In a brief epilogue, Alice and Murray mourn the death of Jennie and bitterly decry Rock’s escape of a guilty verdict. For their part, Elizabeth and Annabella express similar feelings of isolation and alienation from society. Rock, alone, questions for the first time his own culpability in the murders, fearing that his life is now irrevocably linked with the crimes. He seems unable to escape the conclusion: “Oh, my God, I knew what I was doing!”

Read the full libretto here.