“Rejoice solely in being your Slave”
Cordelia writes, “I am still yours (Johannes) .Love a hundred others, I am still yours-indeed, in the hour of death, I am yours. The very language I use against you must demonstrate to you that I am yours. You have had the audacity to deceive a person in such a way that you have become everything to me, so that I would rejoice in being your slave. Yours I am, yours, yours, your curse.” Cordelia’s inclination to be her Johannes’s slave is ironic considering that slavery is characterized by punishing suppression. Manifestly, Johannes betrays her, yet she proclaims that she will be his. Cordelia’s ironic affirmation exhibits her unreserved affection for Johannes although he does not return her devotion.
“The Pains of Life”
Johannes observes, “Consequently, she does have a conception of the pains in life, of its dark side. Who would have said this of her. Yet these recollections probably belong to an earlier period; this is a horizon under which she has lived without really being aware of it. That is fine-it has saved her femininity; she is not warped.” Although Cordelia has endured the pain of being orphaned, she has risen above her pains and losses based on her engaging look. The pains are not manifest in her frame. The ironic divergence between Cordelia’s appealing femininity and her painful experiences depicts her remarkable resilience.
