An Experiment with an Air Pump

by

Shelagh Stephenson

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on An Experiment with an Air Pump makes teaching easy.

Harriet Fenwick Character Analysis

Harriet Fenwick is the daughter of Fenwick and Susannah and the twin sister of Maria. Unlike Maria, Harriet is bold and outspoken. She writes poetry and has even composed a play. However, she’s not a particularly good writer, nor has she much interest in the arts, only writing poetry and plays at her mother’s urging. Harriet wants to be a scientist, and though Fenwick occasionally praises Harriet’s ingenuity, as when she invents a hat that blows steam (to be worn as a costume for her play about progress and invention), for the most part, nobody takes her interest in science seriously. For instance, when Harriet and Maria express (perfectly reasonable) dismay when Fenwick performs a potentially deadly experiment on Maria’s pet dove, Armstrong claims that their distress is evidence that women are incapable of appreciating or conducting scientific research. Thus, Harriet, like Susannah, experiences mistreatment due to her gender. Aside from her interest in science, Harriet subverts conventional gender roles by refusing to marry—a position she makes clear when Maria accuses Harriet of being jealous that she (Maria) is engaged when Harriet is not.

Harriet Fenwick Quotes in An Experiment with an Air Pump

The An Experiment with an Air Pump quotes below are all either spoken by Harriet Fenwick or refer to Harriet Fenwick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Science and Morality  Theme Icon
).
Prologue Quotes

Susannah: Maria, show a little faith, your father would never conduct an experiment unless he was quite sure of the outcome, isn’t that so?

Fenwick: You haven’t quite grasped the subtlety of the word ‘experiment’, Susannah –

Related Characters: Joseph Fenwick (speaker), Susannah Fenwick (speaker), Harriet Fenwick, Maria Fenwick, Peter Mark Roget, Thomas Armstrong, Isobel Bridie, Ellen, Tom
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes

But does an idyll have its basis in reality?

Related Characters: Peter Mark Roget (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Harriet Fenwick, Maria Fenwick
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:

Harriet: Primarily because you’re playing a sheep. And besides, some people are not meant to say anything of consequence. As in life, so in a play. Certain rules must be obeyed. And one of them is you stick to your own lines. You can’t swap them round as it takes your fancy. Think of the chaos. Think of the audience.

Related Characters: Harriet Fenwick (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Susannah Fenwick, Maria Fenwick, Peter Mark Roget, Thomas Armstrong, Isobel Bridie
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

Maria: Papa, Edward thinks my eyes are blue, he said so in a letter, and Harriet says this is because he’s a complete fool and that she never liked him anyway, but I think, perhaps he has a tropical fever and his mind is wandering or perhaps he meant brown but wrote blue –

Related Characters: Maria Fenwick (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Harriet Fenwick, Edward, Miss Cholmondeley
Page Number: 58
Explanation and Analysis:

Harriet: The future’s ours, these chimneys belch out hope,
These furnaces forge dreams as well as wealth.
Great minds conspire to cast an Eden here
From Iron, and steam bends nature to our will –

Related Characters: Harriet Fenwick (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Susannah Fenwick, Maria Fenwick, Peter Mark Roget, Thomas Armstrong, Isobel Bridie
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
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An Experiment with an Air Pump PDF

Harriet Fenwick Quotes in An Experiment with an Air Pump

The An Experiment with an Air Pump quotes below are all either spoken by Harriet Fenwick or refer to Harriet Fenwick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Science and Morality  Theme Icon
).
Prologue Quotes

Susannah: Maria, show a little faith, your father would never conduct an experiment unless he was quite sure of the outcome, isn’t that so?

Fenwick: You haven’t quite grasped the subtlety of the word ‘experiment’, Susannah –

Related Characters: Joseph Fenwick (speaker), Susannah Fenwick (speaker), Harriet Fenwick, Maria Fenwick, Peter Mark Roget, Thomas Armstrong, Isobel Bridie, Ellen, Tom
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes

But does an idyll have its basis in reality?

Related Characters: Peter Mark Roget (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Harriet Fenwick, Maria Fenwick
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:

Harriet: Primarily because you’re playing a sheep. And besides, some people are not meant to say anything of consequence. As in life, so in a play. Certain rules must be obeyed. And one of them is you stick to your own lines. You can’t swap them round as it takes your fancy. Think of the chaos. Think of the audience.

Related Characters: Harriet Fenwick (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Susannah Fenwick, Maria Fenwick, Peter Mark Roget, Thomas Armstrong, Isobel Bridie
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

Maria: Papa, Edward thinks my eyes are blue, he said so in a letter, and Harriet says this is because he’s a complete fool and that she never liked him anyway, but I think, perhaps he has a tropical fever and his mind is wandering or perhaps he meant brown but wrote blue –

Related Characters: Maria Fenwick (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Harriet Fenwick, Edward, Miss Cholmondeley
Page Number: 58
Explanation and Analysis:

Harriet: The future’s ours, these chimneys belch out hope,
These furnaces forge dreams as well as wealth.
Great minds conspire to cast an Eden here
From Iron, and steam bends nature to our will –

Related Characters: Harriet Fenwick (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Susannah Fenwick, Maria Fenwick, Peter Mark Roget, Thomas Armstrong, Isobel Bridie
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis: