Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in An Experiment with an Air Pump, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Science and Morality
Human Industry and the Limitations of Knowledge
The Ideal vs. Lived Experience
Passion vs. Rationality
Summary
Analysis
The play’s cast, minus Susannah/Ellen, is arranged to recreate Joseph Wright’s painting, An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. Fenwick assumes the role of the scientist, Chiaroscuro. Four projections of the original painting are displayed above the stage. Ellen will portray Susannah in the play’s 1799 plot. But for now, she’s still dressed in modern-day clothing for her role as Ellen in the 1999 timeline. Ellen stands and examines the projections as two crew members dress her in the 18th-century clothing she will wear as Susannah. Ellen says she loves Wright’s painting because it features a scientist at its center, where one would “usually find God.” Ellen wanted to be this scientist when she grew up—“to be God.” As Ellen speaks, the dressers fit a tight corset around Ellen’s T-shirt.
In positioning the scientist Chiaroscuro at the center of the painting, Wright recasts humanity where previously God had reigned. Before the Enlightenment/Industrial Revolution, humans had to turn to God to find answers about morality and the meaning of life. But advancements in science and industry showed them that they could be authors of their own lives—that they could seek out wisdom and enlightenment on their own instead of as using God as a mediator.
Themes
Ellen describes the painting: two girls stand to one side of Chiaroscuro, terrified that he will kill their pet dove. A young scientist stands on the opposite side of Chiaroscuro, too overcome with “the intoxication of discovery” to care whether the bird lives or dies. Chiaroscuro, meanwhile, has a concerned look on his face, as though “worried about the ethics of dabbling with life and death.” But Ellen thinks the candle that illuminates the scene is most fascinating, for “[w]ho could resist the power of light over darkness?”
The scientist is performing one of Boyle’s air pump experiments. Boyle was a natural philosopher (precursor to the modern scientist) and used air pumps to test the relationship between air pressure and volume of gas. The girls are scared in this scene because the experiment involves cutting off the bird’s air supply, effectively sealing it in a vacuum—thus, the scientist is voluntarily doing something to the bird that could endanger it or bring about its death. This introduces the tension between morality and science: science can be good for humanity because it allows for discovery—“the power of light over darkness,” as Ellen describes it. But it also sometimes requires people to do ethically dubious things for sake of discovery.
Themes
The dressers finish dressing Ellen and then exit the stage. Now in character as Susannah, Ellen joins the other characters around the air pump. The year is 1799. Maria, one of the girls, asks Fenwick, her father, if the bird will die. Fenwick says they’ll have to wait and see. Harriet, Maria’s sister, protests that the bird is Maria’s pet. Armstrong, another scientist, is unbothered; he says Maria can always get another bird. Maria bursts into tears, explaining that she named the bird after her fiancé, Edward.
To clarify, the 1799 timeline’s characters are now recreating (in earnest—their characters are not acting) the Wright painting. Armstrong’s (and Fenwick’s, for that matter) indifference toward the bird’s fate reveals his stance on science and morality: he thinks that all personal morals should be set aside for the sake of scientific advancement. Meanwhile, Maria and Harriet allow more room for moral concerns, though this is perhaps more due to their (or at least Maria’s) personal attachment to the bird.
Themes
Roget, another scientist, suggests they experiment on a different bird, but Susannah, Fenwick’s wife, tells him this is unnecessary—Maria needs to grow up. Besides, she should trust that her father knows what he's doing. Fenwick retorts that it’s not really an experiment if you know the outcome before you begin. Armstrong thinks that Maria’s distress proves his point that women ought not to meddle with science. Fenwick stares at Armstrong with disgust. Then Fenwick performs the experiment, and the onlookers gasp as the bird flies out of the glass, unharmed.
Roget, too, demonstrates a more nuanced attitude toward morality and science. He’s clearly invested in the demonstration and wants Fenwick to see it through, but he acknowledges that there’s no sense in being needlessly cruel to Maria by putting her bird in danger when they can find a different bird to experiment on. Meanwhile, Armstrong purports to see Maria’s distress as objective evidence that women are ill-suited to scientific experiments, but this ignores the context of situation: Maria isn’t dismissive of science, she just cares about this bird because it's hers and she has a sentimental attachment to it. In fact, Armstrong’s stance is really just an excuse to spout sexist opinions while pretending it’s objective, inscrutable fact.
Themes
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