Francis Crick Character Analysis

WATSON. But she wasn’t [in the laboratory,] was she. She was too busy snow-shoeing and ... enjoying things like ... nature and small woodland creatures.
CRICK. I mean, didn’t she feel that something was at her back, a force greater than she was ...
WATSON. You mean us?
CRICK. No. I mean fate.
WATSON. What’s the difference?

CRICK. She’s really that bad?

WILKINS. Worse.

WATSON. The Jews really can be very ornery.

WILKINS. You’re telling me.

WATSON. Is she quite overweight?

WILKINS. Why do you ask?

CRICK. James is many things but subtle is not one of them. […] You see, he imagines that she’s overweight. The kind of woman who barrels over you with the force of a train. […]

CASPAR. (To the audience.) To Watson and Crick, the shape of something suggested the most detailed analysis of its interior workings. As though, by looking at something you could determine how it came to be ... how it gets through each day.

CRICK. And what is a race anyway? And who wins? If life is the ultimate race to the finish line, then really we don’t want to win it. Shouldn’t want to win it. Should we? […] Or maybe the race is for something else entirely. Maybe none of us really knew what we were searching for. What we wanted. Maybe success is as illusory and elusive as ... well, Rosalind was to us.

WATSON. Do tell us what our little ray of sunshine is keeping busy with these days.

CRICK. (Actually worried.) Wilkins, old boy. Are you sure you’re quite all right?

WATSON. Anything new on her docket? If you don’t mind sharing, that is.

WILKINS. I honestly couldn’t give two damns. I’m happy to tell you all I can remember.

CASPAR. Watson and Crick got hold of the paper Rosalind had written. It was confidential.

CRICK. It wasn’t confidential. Another scientist at Cambridge gave it to us. […]

WILKINS. Well it wasn’t published, that’s for sure. And it included [….] information that became critical to your work.

WATSON. I’m sure we would have gotten there sooner or later, even without it.

WILKINS. So would we have done, with the benefit of your work. You had ours but we didn’t have yours!

WATSON. There was no “we” where you were concerned. […]

GOSLING. Anyway, it doesn’t matter how they got the paper, only that they got it.

CASPAR. And that Rosalind didn’t know she should be in a hurry.

GOSLING. There’s no science that can explain it. Loneliness. […]

CASPAR. Rosalind? (She clutches her stomach.)

WATSON. It works, Francis. It works. (A very long beat.)

CRICK. It’s ...

WATSON. I can’t believe it.

CRICK. It’s life unfolding, right in front of us. (Rosalind doubles over in her chair, and gasps.)

CASPAR. Rosalind?

WILKINS. It’s the loneliest pursuit in the world. Science. Because there either are answers or there aren’t.

ROSALIND. If I’d only ...

GOSLING. Been more careful around the beam.

WATSON. Collaborated.

CRICK. Been more open, less wary. Less self-protective.

CASPAR. Or more wary, more self-protective.

WATSON. Been a better scientist.

CASPAR. Been willing to take more risks, make models, go forward without the certainty of proof.

CRICK. Been friendlier.

GOSLING. Or born at another time.

CRICK. Or born a man.

WATSON. But she wasn’t [in the laboratory,] was she. She was too busy snow-shoeing and ... enjoying things like ... nature and small woodland creatures.
CRICK. I mean, didn’t she feel that something was at her back, a force greater than she was ...
WATSON. You mean us?
CRICK. No. I mean fate.
WATSON. What’s the difference?

CRICK. She’s really that bad?

WILKINS. Worse.

WATSON. The Jews really can be very ornery.

WILKINS. You’re telling me.

WATSON. Is she quite overweight?

WILKINS. Why do you ask?

CRICK. James is many things but subtle is not one of them. […] You see, he imagines that she’s overweight. The kind of woman who barrels over you with the force of a train. […]

CASPAR. (To the audience.) To Watson and Crick, the shape of something suggested the most detailed analysis of its interior workings. As though, by looking at something you could determine how it came to be ... how it gets through each day.

CRICK. And what is a race anyway? And who wins? If life is the ultimate race to the finish line, then really we don’t want to win it. Shouldn’t want to win it. Should we? […] Or maybe the race is for something else entirely. Maybe none of us really knew what we were searching for. What we wanted. Maybe success is as illusory and elusive as ... well, Rosalind was to us.

WATSON. Do tell us what our little ray of sunshine is keeping busy with these days.

CRICK. (Actually worried.) Wilkins, old boy. Are you sure you’re quite all right?

WATSON. Anything new on her docket? If you don’t mind sharing, that is.

WILKINS. I honestly couldn’t give two damns. I’m happy to tell you all I can remember.

CASPAR. Watson and Crick got hold of the paper Rosalind had written. It was confidential.

CRICK. It wasn’t confidential. Another scientist at Cambridge gave it to us. […]

WILKINS. Well it wasn’t published, that’s for sure. And it included [….] information that became critical to your work.

WATSON. I’m sure we would have gotten there sooner or later, even without it.

WILKINS. So would we have done, with the benefit of your work. You had ours but we didn’t have yours!

WATSON. There was no “we” where you were concerned. […]

GOSLING. Anyway, it doesn’t matter how they got the paper, only that they got it.

CASPAR. And that Rosalind didn’t know she should be in a hurry.

GOSLING. There’s no science that can explain it. Loneliness. […]

CASPAR. Rosalind? (She clutches her stomach.)

WATSON. It works, Francis. It works. (A very long beat.)

CRICK. It’s ...

WATSON. I can’t believe it.

CRICK. It’s life unfolding, right in front of us. (Rosalind doubles over in her chair, and gasps.)

CASPAR. Rosalind?

WILKINS. It’s the loneliest pursuit in the world. Science. Because there either are answers or there aren’t.

ROSALIND. If I’d only ...

GOSLING. Been more careful around the beam.

WATSON. Collaborated.

CRICK. Been more open, less wary. Less self-protective.

CASPAR. Or more wary, more self-protective.

WATSON. Been a better scientist.

CASPAR. Been willing to take more risks, make models, go forward without the certainty of proof.

CRICK. Been friendlier.

GOSLING. Or born at another time.

CRICK. Or born a man.