| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: their hold upon people from the circumstance that their ethical
teaching no longer corresponded to the advanced ethical feeling
of the age. Polytheism, in short, was outgrown. It was outgrown
both intellectually and morally. People were ceasing to believe
in its doctrines, and were ceasing to respect its precepts. The
learned were taking refuge in philosophy, the ignorant in
mystical superstitions imported from Asia. The commanding ethical
motive of ancient republican times had been patriotism,--devotion
to the interests of the community. But Roman dominion had
destroyed patriotism as a guiding principle of life, and thus in
every way the minds of men were left in a sceptical, unsatisfied
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: are innocent? I am not one of your enemies, I believed you guiltless,
notwithstanding every evidence, until I heard that you had yourself
declared your guilt. That report, you say, is false; and be
assured, dear Justine, that nothing can shake my confidence in you
for a moment, but your own confession."
"I did confess, but I confessed a lie. I confessed, that I might
obtain absolution; but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart
than all my other sins. The God of heaven forgive me! Ever since
I was condemned, my confessor has besieged me; he threatened and
menaced, until I almost began to think that I was the monster that
he said I was. He threatened excommunication and hell fire in my
Frankenstein |
