| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: man, were known, and secured him the pity and interest of every one in
Gersau. Every morning the pretended dumb girl came to see him and
bring him news of her mistress.
As soon as Rodolphe could go out he went to the Bergmanns' house, to
thank Miss Fanny Lovelace and her father for the interest they had
taken in his sorrow and his illness. For the first time since he had
lodged with the Bergmanns the old Italian admitted a stranger to his
room, where Rodolphe was received with the cordiality due to his
misfortunes and to his being a Frenchman, which excluded all distrust
of him. Francesca looked so lovely by candle-light that first evening
that she shed a ray of brightness on his grieving heart. Her smiles
Albert Savarus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: girl at the inn. He handed her a chair, bade her sit down
and turned to his sample-bags again. While Elizabeth-Jane
sits waiting in great amaze at the young man's presence we
may briefly explain how he came there.
When the two new acquaintances had passed out of sight that
morning towards the Bath and Bristol road they went on
silently, except for a few commonplaces, till they had gone
down an avenue on the town walls called the Chalk Walk,
leading to an angle where the North and West escarpments
met. From this high corner of the square earthworks a vast
extent of country could be seen. A footpath ran steeply
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: character of the judge. He may be honest, but there is no check upon his
dishonesty, and his opinion can only be overruled, not by any principle of
law, but by the opinion of another judging like himself without law. In
the second place, even if he be ever so honest, his mode of deciding
questions would introduce an element of uncertainty into human life; no one
would know beforehand what would happen to him, or would seek to conform in
his conduct to any rule of law. For the compact which the law makes with
men, that they shall be protected if they observe the law in their dealings
with one another, would have to be substituted another principle of a more
general character, that they shall be protected by the law if they act
rightly in their dealings with one another. The complexity of human
Statesman |
