'Trilby'
By George Du Maurier,1894
The story of Trilby follows the life of Trilby O'Ferrall, an Englishwoman, daughter of a defrocked religious cleric, who works as an artists' model and washerwoman in the artistic quarter of Paris at the end of the 19th century. She befriends three British artists whose social sphere includes the largely ammoral Svengali. Svengali showed considerable musical talent but was contemptuous of other musicians. After he 'mesmerised' Trilby to remove a headache she had, one of the three artists, the Laird o' Cockpen remarked;
"... I'd sooner have any pain than have it cured in that unnatural way, and by such a man as that! He's a bad fellow, Svengali - I'm sure of it! He mesmerised you (Trilby); that's what it is - mesmerism! I've often heard of it, but never seen it done before. They get you into their power, and just make you do any blessed thing they please - lie, murder, steal - anything! and kill yourself into the bargain when they've done with you! It's just too terrible to think of!"Trilby disappeared from the scene and after the death of her young brother she sought out Svengali for help. Through 'Mesmerism' (Hypnotism) he enslaved her and taught her to sing as no other could. When Svengali died during a performance the trance was lifted and Trilby returned to the tone deaf person she naturally was. Shortly after this she died after giving one of her virtuoso performances whilst looking at a full size image of Svengali. It is interesting that so many have heard of Svengali and his reputation for using hypnosis for his selfish purposes yet have so little appreciation of the, sometimes amazing, benefits of clinical hypnotherapy. |