The Seducer's Diary Literary Elements

Philosophy, Memoir

19th Century Denmark altering between city and country life.

The narrator of the story is a young man named Joannes, who relates the steps he had undertaken to conquer the heart of a young girl called Cordelia. Therefore, the story is told from the first-person point of view.

The tone of the narrative is often sarcastic and yet peaceful, for the narrator is depicted as a calm and composed scheming individual. The Mood is steady and psychological.

The narrator of the story is at once the protagonist and the antagonist of the book. He is the protagonist by dint of being the central character in the story, and the one plotting most of its event; at the same time, he is the antagonist because of the outcome of his reckless acts on other people.

The major conflict in the book is Johannes’ desire to conquer Cordelia, not only in body but also in soul and mind.

The story reaches its climax when Johannes and Cordelia call off their engagement. At this point of the narrative, the reader begins to wonder whether the psychological manipulation exerted by the central character upon this young girl would lead to his desired results or fail him altogether.

The title of the work foreshadows the nature of Johannes’ interest in Cordelia. He is called a ‘seducer’ which conveys his aims and goals. His purpose, when approaching this young girl, is not to marry but to seduce her with the design of reaching his own satisfaction.

Throughout the story, Johannes underestimates the havoc he brings upon other people’ lives. He experiments with their feelings and hopes in order to satisfy a perverse psychological craving in his own nature.

“Olpheus went to Hades in search of Eurydice, his wife. She was restored to him on the condition that he would not look at her before they returned to earth. He disobeyed, and she vanished”.
This is an allusion to Greek Mythology

“The sun had lost its vigor; only a recollection of it was preserved in a soft glimmering that spread over the landscape. Nature breathed more freely. The lake was still, smooth as a mirror. The pleasant, friendly buildings of Blegdam' were reflected on the water, which further out was as dark as metal. The path and the buildings on the other side were illuminated by the faint rays of the sun. The sky was clear and open; only a single light cloud glided lazily across it, best observed when one stared fixedly at the lake, over whose smooth brow it disappeared. Not a leaf was stirring”.
This passage is loaded with figurative language and imagery to give the reader a clear reproduction of the narrator’s surroundings.

The narrator is supposedly in love with Cordelia and yet he hurts her feelings by leaving her at the end. It is a paradox to call such feelings as his love.

Johannes narrates his adventures with several girls in parallel with his advances to Cordelia. This approach at narration allows the reader to understand that in spite of his claims of love towards Cordelia, Johannes does not treat her any different from his former mistresses.

Synecdoche:
“Good heavens! If you have the courage to risk a step decisive for your whole life, should you not have the heart to go straight against the wind?”
Here the word heart does not refer to the organ alone but to convictions of the heart, and decisions based on beliefs.

Metonymy:
“but she will reach it along the easy path of the imagination and the heart.”
In this sentence, the word heart is synonymous with love.

“I am well aware that erotic love, especially as long as passion is not set in motion demands of the one who is its object that he not esthetically offend against morality.”
Erotic love is given, here, the human characteristic of having demands and conditions to make .