Conscience

Summary

In an audacious narrative prologue, the venerable, sightless bard John Milton is depicted in the throes of dictating his monumental 'Paradise Lost' to his diligent daughters, a scene that immediately establishes the film's profound theological and literary ambitions. This cosmic overture then plunges into the celestial drama, where Serama, the seductive consort of the rebellious Lucifer, is summarily banished from the ethereal realms by the formidable Archangel Michael. With a divine mandate, Michael dispatches the ethereal entity of Conscience into the mortal coil, tasking it with the solemn duty of judgment and punitive intervention within human souls. The main earthly saga unfolds around Ruth Somers, a dazzling yet dangerously capricious society belle, revealed as the terrestrial reincarnation of Serama. As she prepares to wed Cecil Brooke, the scion of immense wealth, her every move is shadowed by her enigmatic guardian, Dr. Norton, an unsettling embodiment of Lucifer himself. Ruth's destiny takes a dramatic turn when she is inexorably summoned before the austere Court of Conscience. Here, a spectral tribunal convenes, with the personified vices—Lust, Avarice, Hate, Revenge, and Vanity—stepping forth as chilling witnesses. Their testimonies meticulously chronicle Ruth's devastating past: a litany of heartless seductions and callous abandonments that precipitated the tragic suicide of Madge, the beloved of Ned Langley, whom Ruth had enthralled with false promises of matrimony. Further accusations detail the demise of two other rivals, victims of her destructive allure. The Court, having weighed the damning evidence, decrees her return to the earthly plane to await her ultimate sentence. The impending nuptials are catastrophically interrupted by Ned, whose desperate plea Ruth contemptuously dismisses, driving him to a desperate act of self-destruction. Abandoned by Brooke, Ruth faces the full wrath of the Court, condemned to an existence perpetually haunted by the searing torment of remembrance. In a final, transformative act, she expels Dr. Norton from her life, succumbing to a moment of profound, kneeling repentance.

Synopsis

In a prologue, blind poet John Milton dictates Paradise Lost to his daughters. Serama, the consort of Lucifer, is driven from Paradise by the Archangel Michael, who commands Conscience to enter human souls to judge and punish them. In the main story, society girl Ruth Somers, a reincarnation of Serama, prepares to marry Cecil Brooke, the wealthiest man of her set. Her guardian, Dr. Norton, an incarnation of Lucifer, constantly accompanies her. Ruth is summoned to the Court of Conscience, where the witnesses, Lust, Avarice, Hate, Revenge and Vanity, testify about Ruth's history of seducing and abandoning men. This behavior resulted in the suicide of Madge, the lover of Ned Langley, whom Ruth enthralled and promised to marry, and also the deaths of two rivals for her love. Ruth is ordered back to earth to learn her sentence. When Ned interrupts the wedding, Ruth scorns him and he shoots himself. After Brooke leaves her, the Court dooms Ruth to live with the torment of remembrance. Ruth sends Norton away, then kneels and repents.