An Experiment with an Air Pump :: Shelagh Stephenson Science Technology Essays

An Experiment with an Air Pump Is it ethical or even helpful to try to impose order on a haphazard existence? Is it right to play God, to steal the limelight from the cosmos? Man used to ponder existence, but with the increasing possibilities of science, we now ponder our power over existence. In â€Å"An Experiment with an Air Pump,† Shelagh Stephenson uses symbolism associated with Isobel as a voice of foreboding in a society â€Å"enraptured by the possibilities of science† (3). Stephenson associates Isobel with a bird, a pile of bones, and a sheep to reveal the dark side of the â€Å"light,† the scientific revolution. The play commences in 1799 when Fenwick risks the life of Harriet’s bird in order to conduct an experiment with an air pump. Later in the play, Armstrong puts a different life on the line for the â€Å"intoxication of discovery† (3). This time the life is human. From the moment Armstrong sees Isobel he wants to â€Å"examine her beautiful back in all its delicious, twisted glory† (85). His infatuation with Isobel has nothing to do with matters of the heart, but he proceeds to woo her because of his sheer lust for science. Upon learning of Armstrong’s motive, Isobel attempts to hang herself. As Isobel lies helpless on the floor, fighting for one last breath, Stephenson illustrates that Isobel’s â€Å"heels flutter almost imperceptibly† (92). Later, everyone gathers around Isobel’s dead body much like they did around the fluttering bird in the first experiment. â€Å"But this time Isobel, in her coffin, has taken the place of the bird in the air pump†(96). The fact that now a dead Isobel symbolizes the bird implies that this time the experiment has gone dreadfully wrong. The fact that the second experiment fails harbors a much more solemn consequence than if the first had failed. If the bird in the first experiment had died, tears would have been shed only until the purchase of a new bird. Not only does Armstrong sacrifice a human life in the name of science, but he symbolically diminishes all that the bird and Isobel represent. Isobel’s death implies the demise of freedom, will, and humanity. Stephenson also associates Isobel with a sheep, to represent what can be lost in a future of â€Å"industry, science, wealth, and reason† (15). Harriet writes her own play within this play in which the future is exalted as â€Å"a new Jerusalem† (15).