| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde: so, life wouldn't be worth living. . . . Well, I am bound to say that
I think you should have told her years ago.
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. When? When we were engaged? Do you think she
would have married me if she had known that the origin of my fortune
is such as it is, the basis of my career such as it is, and that I
had done a thing that I suppose most men would call shameful and
dishonourable?
LORD GORING. [Slowly.] Yes; most men would call it ugly names.
There is no doubt of that.
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. [Bitterly.] Men who every day do something of
the same kind themselves. Men who, each one of them, have worse
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: of the tetrarch.
"Is that woman one of thy slaves?" he asked.
"What matters that to thee?" was the disdainful reply.
CHAPTER III
The great banqueting-hall was filled with guests. This apartment had
three naves, like a basilica, which were separated by columns of
sandalwood, whose capitals were of sculptured bonze. On each side of
the apartment was a gallery for spectators, and a third, with a facade
of gold filigree, was at one end, opposite an immense arch at the
other.
The candelabra burning on the tables, which were spread the whole
Herodias |
