Peter Cleave’s Growing Attachment

This flow traces Peter’s shift from observer and therapist to a man who wants to possess Stella’s future.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Attentive Observer

A Psychiatrist Watches Professional Curiosity Peter Cleave observes Stella and Edgar and monitors reports from John Archer. He believes he can understand their behavior clinically while choosing not to interrupt the developing affair. Personal Interest His descriptions of Stella are admiring and possessive in tone. Even before he recognizes his own motives, his professional attention is entangled with fascination and an assumption that he understands her better than she understands herself.

Treatment and Transference

A New Power Imbalance Becoming Her Doctor Peter takes charge of Stella’s treatment after Charlie’s death and directs her toward confronting guilt and memory. He regards her feelings for Edgar as a clinical problem to be understood and redirected. Personal Investment Peter welcomes Stella’s reliance on him and recognizes, too late, that his own attachment compromises his objectivity. His treatment becomes inseparable from his private desire for a future with her.

The Proposal

An Offer of Asylum Marriage as Security Peter proposes that Stella marry him after leaving the hospital. He imagines she will find comfort in his cultured home and that he will gain companionship and intimacy. A Misread Agreement Stella responds with humor and apparent consideration, while withholding the depth of her continuing attachment to Edgar. Peter takes her performance as a basis for hope and fails to see how much remains concealed.

Before the affair is exposed

After Stella is admitted to the hospital

Several months before Stella’s death