ACT III
have”; of course it has a relation. But it really doesn’t matter what I said. What we’ve got to get at is what’s the suppressed wish in this case.
Kitty : He wished for nothing. He was fond of us; he had plenty of money. He wished for nothing.
Doctor : Ah, but he must have. Quite obviously he has forgotten his life here because he was discontented with it. What clearer proof can you need than what you were telling me before I saw him—that the reason the War Office didn’t wire to you when he was wounded was that he had forgotten to register his address? Don’t you see what that means?
Kitty : Forgetfulness. He isn’t business-like.
Doctor : One forgets only those things that one wants to forget. It’s our business to find out why he wanted to forget this life.
Frank: Are you suggesting that all this is deliberate?
Doctor (attempting patience) : Please, do you mind not interrupting. It doesn’t help, you know.
Frank (hurt) : I only wanted to understand.
Kitty : He can remember quite well when he’s hypnotised.
Doctor : Oh, hypnotism! That’s a silly trick. All it does is to release the memory of a dissociated personality which you can’t relate—not possibly in an obstinate case as this—to the waking personality. Oh, I can do it talking to
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