ALICE. And how about me, who have done nothing wrong, and who have had to sacrifice my career to that monster?
CURT. How about that career? Was it so very brilliant?
ALICE. [Enraged] What are you saying? Do you know who I am, what I have been?
CURT. Now, now!
ALICE. Are you beginning already?
CURT. Already?
ALICE throws her arms around CURT's neck and kisses him.
CURT takes her by the arms and bites her neck so that she screams.
ALICE. You bite me!
CURT. [Beyond himself] Yes, I want to bite your throat and suck your blood like a lynx. You have aroused the wild beast in me—that beast which I have tried for years to kill by privations and self-inflicted tortures. I came here believing myself a little better than you two, and now I am the vilest of all. Since I first saw you—in all your odious nakedness—and since my vision became warped by passion, I have known the full strength of evil. What is ugly becomes beautiful; what is good becomes ugly and mean—Come here and I'll choke you—with a kiss! [He locks her in his arms.
ALICE. [Holds up her left hand] Behold the mark of the shackles that you have broken. I was a slave, and you set me free.