Thursday, March 6, 2008

Walter and Clarisse vs Fridolin and Albertine

I mentioned in class at one point that I felt a resemblance between Walter and Clarisse and Fridolin and Albertine. My question is: What parallels can you draw between those relationships, and where do they differ?
As for me, I can see that both relationships are complicated and certainly not perfect. Both couples seem to be drawn together by some force that is greater than themselves and greater than any love they have for each other. Walter and Clarisse have something less tangible but somehow more intense, which is the music that they share. When they play duets at the piano, it is as though they are having this wild love affair with each other and are ravenously feeding off one another's energy. Fridolin and Albertine share their young child, who represents what seems to be a representation of their initial love- a love that was curious and new and shy at one time, a love that blossomed, but has now faded and they can't seem to remember that excitement. Fridolin feels jealous when Albertine tells him of her own private sexual feelings that don't really include him, yet he is going home with a prostitute one minute and to an orgy the next. I think the main thing that these couples share is a kind of odd sexual relationship. What might Freud say about Walter and Clarisse, their energy, her revulsion for his touch and desire for his attention? About the orgy-party where guests are dancing naked except for a mask? I find Walter and Clarisse the most interesting because their relationship is so strange to me.

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