An Experiment with an Air Pump

by

Shelagh Stephenson

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Kate Character Analysis

Kate is a young scientist and former colleague of Ellen’s whose company is offering Ellen a job and wants to fund Ellen’s research with the Human Genome Project. Like Ellen, Kate has a passion for scientific research, and she believes that gene mapping can change the world for the better by eliminating diseases like Alzheimer’s, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Kate still regards her research with youthful idealism, though, and she doesn’t understand Ellen’s reservations about accepting a job with her company. Kate is most at odds with Tom and Phil, who both have moral qualms about gene editing and accuse Kate of having an unnuanced, idealized view of science. When Tom half-jokingly suggests that Kate would dissect her own mother for the sake of scientific progress, Kate jokes back that she probably would—so long as her mother were already dead, of course. Kate’s views align most closely with those of Armstrong: both have a youthful idealism that blinds them to the ethical issues their fields raise, and both believe that personal morals should not impede scientific research.

Kate Quotes in An Experiment with an Air Pump

The An Experiment with an Air Pump quotes below are all either spoken by Kate or refer to Kate . 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

But when I was thirteen, what held me more than anything, was the drama at the centre of it all, the clouds scudding across a stage-set moon, the candle-light dipping and flickering. Who would not want to be caught up in this world? Who could resist the power of light over darkness?

Related Characters: Ellen (speaker), Tom, Kate
Related Symbols: Light
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

Armstrong: This goes to prove the point I made earlier, sir: Keep infants away from the fireplace and women away from science.

Related Characters: Thomas Armstrong (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Maria Fenwick, Kate
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

Ellen: The fact that you’ve never had a moral qualm in your life doesn’t mean you have superior reasoning power, it just means you have a limited imagination.

Related Characters: Ellen (speaker), Thomas Armstrong, Tom, Phil, Kate
Page Number: 36
Explanation and Analysis:

Kate: We’ll be able to pinpoint genes for particular types of cancer, for neurological disorders, for all sorts of things, some of them benign, some of them not, but what it really means is we’ll understand the shape and complexity of a human being, we’ll be able to say this is a man, this is exactly who he is, this is his potential, these are his possible limitations. And manic depression is genetic. We’ll pin it down soon.

Phil: And then what? No more Uncle Stans.

Related Characters: Phil (speaker), Kate (speaker), Ellen
Page Number: 38
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes

Roget: Does good science require a warm heart?

Fenwick: I like to think so, Roget. In fact I suspect pure objectivity is an arrogant fallacy. When we conduct an experiment we bring to bear on it all our human frailties, and all our prejudices, much as we might wish it to be otherwise. I like to think that good science requires us to utilise every aspect of ourselves in pursuit of truth. And sometimes the heart comes into it.

Related Characters: Joseph Fenwick (speaker), Peter Mark Roget (speaker), Kate
Page Number: 47
Explanation and Analysis:

Tom: So what’s the difference? At what stage does it stop being disturbing and start being archaeology?

Related Characters: Tom (speaker), Isobel Bridie, Ellen, Kate
Related Symbols: Isobel’s Bones
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 2 Quotes

Kate: She probably wasn’t murdered. She was dissected. That’s why some of her’s missing.

Related Characters: Kate (speaker), Isobel Bridie, Ellen, Tom
Related Symbols: Isobel’s Bones
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:

Armstrong: What difference does it make if they’re dead? The dead are just meat. But meat that tells a story. Every time I slice open a body, I feel as if I’m discovering America.

Related Characters: Thomas Armstrong (speaker), Peter Mark Roget, Isobel Bridie, Kate
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 4 Quotes

Tom: The heart retains information, they don’t understand how, yet, but everything’s connected one way or another, nothing exists in isolation. When you feel grief, your heart hurts. When you feel love, it’s your heart that hurts, not your brain. You took this job because your heart told you to.

Related Characters: Tom (speaker), Ellen, Kate
Page Number: 2
Explanation and Analysis:
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Kate Quotes in An Experiment with an Air Pump

The An Experiment with an Air Pump quotes below are all either spoken by Kate or refer to Kate . 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

But when I was thirteen, what held me more than anything, was the drama at the centre of it all, the clouds scudding across a stage-set moon, the candle-light dipping and flickering. Who would not want to be caught up in this world? Who could resist the power of light over darkness?

Related Characters: Ellen (speaker), Tom, Kate
Related Symbols: Light
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

Armstrong: This goes to prove the point I made earlier, sir: Keep infants away from the fireplace and women away from science.

Related Characters: Thomas Armstrong (speaker), Joseph Fenwick, Maria Fenwick, Kate
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

Ellen: The fact that you’ve never had a moral qualm in your life doesn’t mean you have superior reasoning power, it just means you have a limited imagination.

Related Characters: Ellen (speaker), Thomas Armstrong, Tom, Phil, Kate
Page Number: 36
Explanation and Analysis:

Kate: We’ll be able to pinpoint genes for particular types of cancer, for neurological disorders, for all sorts of things, some of them benign, some of them not, but what it really means is we’ll understand the shape and complexity of a human being, we’ll be able to say this is a man, this is exactly who he is, this is his potential, these are his possible limitations. And manic depression is genetic. We’ll pin it down soon.

Phil: And then what? No more Uncle Stans.

Related Characters: Phil (speaker), Kate (speaker), Ellen
Page Number: 38
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes

Roget: Does good science require a warm heart?

Fenwick: I like to think so, Roget. In fact I suspect pure objectivity is an arrogant fallacy. When we conduct an experiment we bring to bear on it all our human frailties, and all our prejudices, much as we might wish it to be otherwise. I like to think that good science requires us to utilise every aspect of ourselves in pursuit of truth. And sometimes the heart comes into it.

Related Characters: Joseph Fenwick (speaker), Peter Mark Roget (speaker), Kate
Page Number: 47
Explanation and Analysis:

Tom: So what’s the difference? At what stage does it stop being disturbing and start being archaeology?

Related Characters: Tom (speaker), Isobel Bridie, Ellen, Kate
Related Symbols: Isobel’s Bones
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 2 Quotes

Kate: She probably wasn’t murdered. She was dissected. That’s why some of her’s missing.

Related Characters: Kate (speaker), Isobel Bridie, Ellen, Tom
Related Symbols: Isobel’s Bones
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:

Armstrong: What difference does it make if they’re dead? The dead are just meat. But meat that tells a story. Every time I slice open a body, I feel as if I’m discovering America.

Related Characters: Thomas Armstrong (speaker), Peter Mark Roget, Isobel Bridie, Kate
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 4 Quotes

Tom: The heart retains information, they don’t understand how, yet, but everything’s connected one way or another, nothing exists in isolation. When you feel grief, your heart hurts. When you feel love, it’s your heart that hurts, not your brain. You took this job because your heart told you to.

Related Characters: Tom (speaker), Ellen, Kate
Page Number: 2
Explanation and Analysis: