Implied Consent: Act II, Scene II

A Play on the Sanctity of Human Life, in Four Acts

This is a part of Mr. Stolyarov's play, Implied Consent. To navigate through the various parts of the play, go here.

(Enter MARK, VICTORIA, and the SERVANT, into the gathering of guests. There is now a platform on which TRENT ROBERTS stands while several REPORTERS are waiting in anticipation for him to begin to speak. ROBERTS makes a subtle hand gesture to VICTORIA, signaling for her to approach him. OSWALD is already on the platform slightly behind the lawyer. Once VICTORIA ascends, ROBERTS whispers to her and OSWALD.)

ROBERTS: I will handle this conference for you marvelously; you need not expend a moment's effort on it. Watch how I can turn this crowd in our favor, how I can reach deep into their souls and touch their true sympathies.

ROBERTS: (begins speech)

Ladies and gentlemen, you are likely all curious as to the reasons why my esteemed clients, the family, kin, and legal heirs of Quintus Grummond, have filed this suit against Mr. Grummond's own Estate. Their reasons may at first appear to us to be unusual, but we need to think about this, and try to put ourselves in their shoes.

First, it is necessary to ascertain that Quintus Grummond is indeed dead, for he cannot be said to exhibit the fundamental signs of life. Life is more than just some arrangement of molecules, or the movement of some bodily machinery, such as the heart or lungs. Life must be able to sustain itself on its own. Life requires a central organ, a brain, to coordinate its workings. Mr. Grummond, as is known universally, is presently brain dead, and thus lacks such a self-contained means of direction. Rather, he is dependent on, nay, is, a mere machine, a mere extension of the life support machine that currently pumps air into his lungs and induces the tissue of his heart to contract. These bodily functions have their source not in Mr. Grummond's own mind, but rather in an external device which is not in itself alive. If Mr. Grummond's corpse is maintained by something that is not alive, it cannot be said to be alive itself.