Page 34 - WTP Vol. IX #5

For most tourists Broselle is a panorama of luxury hotels and undulating palms, golden in the sun- light, an outstretched arm curved round a cobalt
blue sea. It welcomes them to indolence on seaside verandas. But for Dr. Vivian Dichter, Broselle’s great- est interest lay where there were no festivities. At the village’s fingertips was a gray stone castle with an ancient dungeon. There men had died for their faith and neither light nor luxury had a place.
Dr. Dichter had set aside a day of her summer trip to help one of her patients, a troubled professor. She was visiting Broselle to better understand the meaning
of Byron’s poem which this patient had referred to
in his analysis. The poem described a man’s effort to preserve his identity in prison. Dr. Dichter could not fully comprehend why her patient found the ending of the poem so frightening. She determined to trace the poem against its setting to try to grasp what her patient found so stultifying about the poem’s ending.
The problem of achieving and maintaining freedom concerned Vivian, both professionally and person- ally. In an age of self-interest and self-expression, it was generally thought that people took advantage of all the freedom that was available. However, Vivian observed that her patients seemingly outwardly free, were nevertheless, inwardly trapped. In their analy- sis, her patients struggled against the mental chains that held them prisoner. They were in dungeons as gloomy as those in Broselle Castle.
Dr. Dichter’s difficult job was to help people see how freedom was actually there for them when they felt it was not. Her job was to loosen the chains or, rather, to have the prisoners remove them themselves. As a psy- chiatrist, Vivian stood committed to light against dark- ness. Her mission was to encourage others to choose joy and independence, to give up their suffering.
She felt that if she could relate to the mental state of the prisoner at the end of the poem, she might be able to help not only her professor patient but all her other patients who were fighting against their chains. The terrifying end of the poem claimed that when the prisoner was finally freed, it was too late. He could not accept happiness anymore, because he had lived too long with his suffering.
Dr. Dichter arrived by private boat with a tour group. When most of the group chose to spend the day visit- ing the fashionable town, Vivian separated from them.
The young psychiatrist had befriended a family, and they chose to join her in exploring the castle. The family included Barbara, her husband Robert, and their 10-year-old son Sam.
As they approached the castle, Robert remarked how like a fortress it was, with its thick stone walls. She and the family walked over every corner of the place. They even climbed treacherous wooden ladders lead- ing to the rafters. Although clad in high heels, Bar- bara clambered undaunted up shaky steps. She was eager to see what the castle held.
The family, Vivian discovered, knew little of the sight it had come to see. If Vivian hadn’t taken the trouble to recount some of its history, the family would not have undertaken even this casual visit.
Referring to a copy of the poem she carried with her, Vivian gradually related the story of the family in
the poem, some of whose members were sent to the castle: “The father died at the stake. Of seven broth- ers, two died in battle and one in fire. The three others were imprisoned, where two died and only the eldest was finally released to freedom. They all had been imperiled because of their religious beliefs, which differed from their enemy’s.” Vivian referred to the poem’s line that said that they died “for the God their foes denied.”
Vivian told Barbara, Robert and Sam that she came from a heritage of tyranny herself. Her own parents had suffered for their religion and had with great difficulty fled from the trap of Nazi Germany. Vivian realized that the poem actually had great personal meaning for her. Robert expressed empathy, ac- knowledging that, “Still in so many countries in the world today there is terrible conflict between sects over religious differences.” His conclusion about all
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