Peter Lorre reads poetry. Dr. Gogol (Lorre) has purchased the wax sculpture of the actress with whom he is obsessed. He calls the sculpture "Galatea", after the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. According to myth, Pygmalion carves a woman out of ivory and falls in love with the statue. He prays to Aphrodite, who feels pity for Pygmalion and brings the statue to life. However, Dr. Gogol knows that "I am no Pygmalion". "The face of all the world is changed, I think, since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul. 'Guess now who holds thee.' 'Death,' I said. But there the silver answer rang: 'not death, but love.'" -Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "Sonnets From the Portuguese" Full Sonnet: I thought once how Theocritus had sung Of the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years, Who each one in a gracious hand appears To bear a gift for mortals, old or young; And, as I mused it in his antique tongue, I saw, in gradual vision through my tears, The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years, Those of my own life, who by turns had flung A shadow across me. Straightaway I was 'ware, So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair; And a voice said in mastery, while I strove,-- Guess now who holds thee?--Death, I said, But, there, The silver answer rang, --Not Death, but Love.
Peter Lorre reads poetry. Dr. Gogol (Lorre) has purchased the wax sculpture of the actress with who...
