“The Three Musketeers” (post 2) by Alexandre Dumas: Is being self-contradictory ordinary psychology?

“He hated and adored her at the same time. He would never have thought that two such contrary feelings could live in one heart and combine to form a strange and almost diabolical love” (1, p. 362).

Comment: I’ve not yet finished this novel, and it’s possible that the author plans to make the above self-contradiction plausible in the context of subsequent revelations. But readers may differ with each other, and with the author, on whether it is normal to have self-contradictory opinions.

Search “self-contradictory” in this blog for past discussions of why being self-contradictory may be a clue that a person has multiple personality. In essence, the easiest way to be self-contradictory is to have two or more personalities that disagree with each other.

If an author is comfortable with self-contradictory characters—and multiple personality, per se, is not at issue in the story—it may reflect the author’s multiple personality trait, which makes the author think of being self-contradictory as ordinary psychology.

1. Alexandre Dumas. The Three Musketeers. Trans. Lowell Bair. New York, Bantam Classic, 1844/1984.