My Years With Proust - Day 505

   The reader may remember that Morel had once told the Baron that his great ambition was to seduce some young girl, and this one in particular, and that to succeed in his enterprise he would promise to marry her, but, the rape accomplished, would "buzz off; but what with the declarations of love for Jupien niece which Morel had poured out to him, M. de Charlus had forgotten this confession.  What was more, Morel had quite possibly forgotten it himself.  There was perhaps a real gap between Morel's nature - as he he cynically admitted,  perhaps even artfully exaggerated it - and the moment at which it would regain control of him.  As he became better acquainted with the girl, she had appealed to him, he grew fond of her; he knew himself so little that he even perhaps imagined that he was in love with her, forever.  True, his initial desire, his criminal intention remained, but concealed beneath so many superimposed feelings that there is nothing to proved that the violinist would not have been sincere in saying that this vicious desire was not the true motive of his action.  There was, moreover, a brief period during which, without his admitting it to himself precisely, this marriage appeared to him to be necessity.  Morel was suffering at the time from violent cramp in the hand, and found himself obliged to contemplate the possibility of having to give up the violin.

Marcel Proust, The Captive, pp. 44-45

Proust continues to unravel the bizarre events around the planned wedding between Morel and Jupien's niece.  Remember, both men are former lovers of M. de Charlus, and they clearly hope to use this event as a mechanism for remaining in his orbit, if not his bed.  Proust reports, "The reader may remember that Morel had once told the Baron that his great ambition was to seduce some young girl, and this one in particular, and that to succeed in his enterprise he would promise to marry her, but, the rape accomplished, would "buzz off . . ."  He certainly didn't have to remind this reader because Morel's outrageous comment is still fresh in my mind.  Apparently now Morel has fallen in love with the young woman, and she was in love with him, so no one, other than Marcel, seems to remember the initial declaration.  Proust notes that Morel "knew himself so little that he even perhaps imagined that he was in love with her, forever."  Even this fleeting love is tainted by the fact that Morel is facing the possibility of having to give up the violin and is looking for someone to take care of him.  Once again, women are portrayed as inert objects, and we have another parallel relationship: Morel is physically incapacitated and needs to control Jupien's niece to assure her love and support just as Marcel's is emotionally incapacitated and needs to control Albertine to assure her love and support. I feel like I'm reading The Handmaid's Tale, or the GOP platform.