Lucy, by Cecil
Posted by Constanza (once again) on February 23, 1998 at 14:51:31:
When Lucy and Cecil met in Rome, soon he detected in her a wonderful reticence. She was like a woman of Leonardo Da Vinci's, whom we love not so much for herself as for the things that she will not tell us. The things are assuredly not of this life.
So Cecil has come to love Lucy for her "shadows" and "secrets", i.e. none other than her potentiality for passion, which has been kindled in Florence and has been barely checked by Charlotte (as described by Mr. Beebe's wings/kit metaphor).
However, whenever there is a glimpse of Lucy's feelings or emotions, he is shaken and aesthetically disturbed:
There was indeed something rather incongrous in Lucy's moral outburst over Mr. Eager. It was as if one should see the Leonardo on the ceiling of the Sistine. He longed to hint to her that not here lay her vocation; that a woman's power and charm reside in mystery, not in muscular rant
So, contrary to Mr. Beebe, Cecil doesn't want Lucy's mystery to be revealed. Even though he may not realise it himself, he'd rather thatthe water-tight compartments in her life do not to break down; he is pleased to have Lucy "as is", in that netherworld of the half awakened: hinting at what she may become but never becoming.
Therefore, in choosing Cecil, Lucy 's chances of ever developing - of living as she plays - become zero.
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