Abstract
Kasmana:A play about Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke which presents "the dark side"
of Newton. Emphasis is put on his egotism (not only does he think that he is incomparably
brilliant, but he also seems to think that he is somehow divine as evidenced by his
birthdate coinciding with Christmas), and his cruelty (both to those with whom he
is intimate and to his professional "enemies").The author does a good job of presenting
without bias the difficult question of whether Newton deserves all of the credit he
receives for the invention of calculus and laying the foundations of physics. At times
during the play, one is convinced that Newton is nothing more than a jerk who took
credit for all of the good ideas of the people around him, while at other times it
seems instead that the others are just jealous of his genius and are unwilling to
admit how much more he can do than they can.In the play, Newton is presented as a
repressed homosexual. I do not know what historical evidence there is to support this
thesis one way or another, but it is presented believably. We see Isaac becoming emotionally
intimate with two young men who are mesmerized by his brilliance, but both eventually
leave him disappointed by his cruelty to them and his inability to come to grips with
who he is.
