The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: to make her his wife, and the idea that he would do so touched
her with a sort of reverential gratitude. How good of him--nay, it
would be almost as if a winged messenger had suddenly stood beside
her path and held out his hand towards her! For a long while she
had been oppressed by the indefiniteness which hung in her mind,
like a thick summer haze, over all her desire to made her life
greatly effective. What could she do, what ought she to do?--she,
hardly more than a budding woman, but yet with an active conscience
and a great mental need, not to be satisfied by a girlish instruction
comparable to the nibblings and judgments of a discursive mouse.
With some endowment of stupidity and conceit, she might have thought
Middlemarch |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: few sacrifices for her granddaughter in expectation of a suitable
marriage, has a right to advise--"
"Certainly," said Madame Marion, stupefied by this confidence, which
made the marriage of her nephew and Cecile extremely difficult.
"Even if Cecile had nothing to expect from her grandfather Grevin,"
continued Madame Beauvisage, "she would not marry without first
consulting him. If you have any proposals to make, go and see my
father."
"Very good; I will go," said Madame Marion.
Madame Beauvisage made a sign to Cecile, and together they left the
salon.
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