| "Surrender" : Analysis of the "Surrender" Arc of ABC-TV's Port Charles
(c) Alison Armstrong |
| An analysis of the "Surrender" episodes of the show Port Charles, formerly of ABC-TV. This site will focus on the scenes featuring the vampire character Caleb Morley/Stephen Clay (portrayed by actor Michael Easton). The character of Caleb Morley/Stephen Clay and any other characters relating to Port Charles are the property of ABC and their creators. This is a fan-run site and is not an official site, nor is it affiliated in any way with ABC, Port Charles, or the actors portraying any of the Port Charles characters. No copyright infringement is intended. The writings on this site are copyrighted by the author, Alison Armstrong, and may not be reproduced without the author's express permission. |
| "Surrender" #1 (cont.) “Come here,” he says, as Elizabeth melts into his arms. “Listen to me,” he whispers, his face caressing hers. “I need you to focus. Focus just on me. Do you understand?” “Just you,” she promises, gazing into his hypnotic eyes. |
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| “I loved Olivia,” he confides. “We were supposed to be together for eternity.”
As he speaks, he envisions Livvie, his bride, standing before him. “Bound to each other through the ages. . . . Above and beyond death itself,” he had pledged. He sees her face, hovering above him, her body straddling his, the glint of the dagger as it plunges into his heart. |
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| Snappies of "Surrender" scenes taken by A. Armstrong |
| “But she betrayed me,” he continues, seeing now his hungry paramour, his addict, his fix, looking up at him. “And I’ll never let that happen again.”
“Never,” she repeats, entranced. “You are so beautiful,” he murmurs. “So beautiful and so willing. You’ll help me forget about Olivia.” “Because I love you,” she adds. “You’d make love to me right here and now if I asked, wouldn’t you?” he smiles lasciviously. He is behind her, and as she leans her head back, she lowers the straps of her dress, yielding her neck and bosom to his tantalizing kisses. “That’s my girl,” he whispers approvingly. “I’ll take such good care of you.” She sighs, her mouth parted in rapture, reminiscent of Bernini’s “St. Theresa in Ecstasy,” as she surrenders herself to her god, her lover. |
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| Caleb seems to delight in the blasphemy of seducing her in church. Surrounded by the symbols of Christian faith, he feels her “willing,” lusting body yearning to be taken. He fondles her, knowing that his alter-ego, “Father Michael,” would be watching with stern-lipped disapproval. He wants to repudiate, to tear out that self-censuring part of himself. He loathes his own self-loathing, mocks his own residual piety, but cannot completely escape it, for deep inside, he sees himself as monstrous, internalizing the Slayers’ hatred. A part of himself still sees the world in dualistic terms of black and white, good and evil. Although Caleb is aroused by the blasphemous implications of his seduction, Elizabeth surrenders herself freely, joyfully, worshipfully to the experience of ecstasy, which, like that of the mystic and the artist, erases the boundaries between body and soul, carnal and spiritual. In this moment of surrender, dualities are transcended, rendered irrelevant. |