| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: their blood and to revel in their groans. How they would,
each and all, abhor me and hunt me from the world did they know
my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their source in me!
My father yielded at length to my desire to avoid society and
strove by various arguments to banish my despair. Sometimes he
thought that I felt deeply the degradation of being obliged to
answer a charge of murder, and he endeavoured to prove to me the
futility of pride.
"Alas! My father," said I, "how little do you know me. Human beings,
their feelings and passions, would indeed be degraded if such a wretch
as I felt pride. Justine, poor unhappy Justine, was as innocent as I,
Frankenstein |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: weighing fifteen marks of gold, the richest in his treasure,
shall be his reward. The cup will be very fine and rich, and, to
tell the truth, the cup is to be esteemed for the workmanship
rather than for the material of which it is made. But good as
the workmanship may be, and fine though the gold, if the truth be
told, the precious stones set in the outside of the cup were of
most value. He through whose efforts the town shall be taken is
to have the cup, if he be only a foot soldier; and if the town is
taken by a knight, with the cup in his possession he shall never
seek his fortune in vain, if there is any to be found in the
world.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: Gradation from loud laughter to gentle smiling--High spirits--
The expression of love--Tender feelings--Devotion.
JOY, when intense, leads to various purposeless movements--
to dancing about, clapping the hands, stamping, &c., and to loud laughter.
Laughter seems primarily to be the expression of mere joy or happiness.
We clearly see this in children at play, who are almost incessantly laughing.
With young persons past childhood, when they are in high spirits, there is
always much meaningless laughter. The laughter of the gods is described by
Homer as "the exuberance of their celestial joy after their daily banquet."
A man smiles--and smiling, as we shall see, graduates into laughter--
at meeting an old friend in the street, as he does at any trifling pleasure,
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
