| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: My cousin wept also.
"Oh, Justine!" said she. "Why did you rob me of my last consolation?
I relied on your innocence, and although I was then very wretched,
I was not so miserable as I am now."
"And do you also believe that I am so very, very wicked? Do you
also join with my enemies to crush me, to condemn me as a murderer?"
Her voice was suffocated with sobs.
"Rise, my poor girl," said Elizabeth; "why do you kneel, if you
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
Frankenstein |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: dealings in his way for many years; if he had no family coat, you
had as good use the escutcheons of the company, they are as
showish, and will look as magnificent as if he was descended from
the blood royal. With that I assumed a great air of authority,
and demanded who employ'd him, or how he came there? Why, I was
sent, sir, by the Company of Undertakers, says he, and they were
employed by the honest gentleman, who is executor to the good
Doctor departed; and our rascally porter, I believe, is fallen
fast asleep with the black cloth and sconces, or he had been
here, and we might have been tacking up by this time. Sir, says
I, pray be advis'd by a friend, and make the best of your speed
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: looks to be a sixteen-foot whale; two white men in the stern
sheets."
"That's the boat that drowned Whistling Jimmie!" cried the Captain;
"let's see the glass. Yes, that's Case, sure enough, and the
darkie. They've got a gallows bad reputation, but you know what a
place the beach is for talking. My belief, that Whistling Jimmie
was the worst of the trouble; and he's gone to glory, you see.
What'll you bet they ain't after gin? Lay you five to two they
take six cases."
When these two traders came aboard I was pleased with the looks of
them at once, or, rather, with the looks of both, and the speech of
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from An Unsocial Socialist by George Bernard Shaw: subject of moral force. "No one is admitted here," she said,
"without a trustworthy introduction or recommendation. A disguise
is not a satisfactory substitute for either."
"Disguises are generally assumed for the purpose of concealing
crime," he remarked sententiously.
"Precisely so," she said emphatically.
"Therefore, I bear, to say the least, a doubtful character.
Nevertheless, I have formed with some of the students here a
slight acquaintance, of which, it seems, you disapprove. You have
given me no good reason why I should discontinue that
acquaintance, and you cannot control me except by your wish--a
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