A confession of sexuality that Fidolin was not ready for....

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that sexuality is as the heart of Freud’s psychoanalysis. In the phases in Freud’s development theory, I find the “Genital Phase” the most interesting. As a review the “Genital Phase” is the second sexuality where traumas come back in your sexuality. When these traumas come back you can either work through it or end up with neuroses. This might not completely relate, but I saw Albertine’s confession to Fridolin about her infatuation with of officer from the Danish coast as a trauma for Fridolin. I feel like this raw confession of desire really caught him off guard, because this raw sexual desire was not only coming from a woman, but his wife. Albertine said:

“Were he to summon me—or so I believed—I would not have been able to resist. I believed myself capable of doing anything; I felt I had as good as resolved to relinquish you, the child, my future, yet at the same time—will you believe this?—you were more dear to me than ever.”

Again, I think the realization that his wife was so sexual and had such vivid fantasies (especially about another man) really traumatized Fidolin. I feel like his entire journey from his dead patient’s house, to the hooker’s house, to Nightengale’s Nightclub, to the costume shop, the house, and so on… This entire journey was Fridolin working through the trauma of his wife’s sultry confession.