“He was sometimes so intellectual that I felt myself annihilated as a woman; at other times he was so wild and passionate, so desiring, that I almost trembled before him. At times I was like a stranger to him; at times he surrendered completely. Then when I threw my arms around him, everything changed, and I embraced a cloud.”
Cordelia’s account depicts the seducer’s unpredictability. As a result of the irregularity, their affairs seem like a fantasy. Cordelia is spellbound by the fantasy which the seducer embodies to the degree that she is ardently reliant on him. The seducer succeeds in intoxicating Cordelia with his intellectual seduction which enthralls her sense of eros.
“Terrible it is for her (Cordelia); more terrible it will be for him- this I can conclude from the fact that I myself can scarcely control the anxiety that grips me every time I think about the affair. I, Too, am carried along into the kingdom of mist, into that dreamland where one is frightened by one’s own shadow at every moment. Often I futilely try to tear myself away from it; I follow along like an ominous shape, like an accuser who cannot speak.”
The allegorical ‘kingdom of mist’ represents the romantic fantasies which smitten individuals mistake for reality. Worshipping the mist is blatant idolatry which would make it problematic for an individual to face the reality of the romantic affair. The fantasy cannot be transmuted into realism. Individuals who have immersed in delusions are at risk of emotional wounds since all they will yearn for is unachievable.
“And should I not be calm - I, who can regard myself as a favorite of the gods, I, whose lot was the rare good fortune of falling in love again. This is something that cannot be elicited by skill or study - it is a gift. But if I have succeeded in stirring up an erotic love again, I do want to see how long it can be sustained. I coddle this love as I never did my first. The opportunity falls to one’s lot rarely enough - therefore the point is truly to utilize it if it does come along, for it is dismaying that it is no art to seduce a girl but it is a stroke of good fortune to find one who is worth seducing. - Love is full of mysteries, and this first falling in love is also a mystery, even though a minor one.”
Johannes’ stratagem of seduction appeals to restraint and persistence. He does not jump onto a girl as soon as she expresses interest. Johannes endorses the act of investing sufficient time in seducing a girl to amplify the chances of achieving a romantic climax. Accordingly, Johannes is a cautious seducer who safeguards to exploit prospects for seduction. Furthermore, he is not restricted in terms of the number of times that he can love.
