Prose Close Reading Passage Essay #1

What could have caused this sudden, destructive outburst?  More, surely, than a mere flouting of parental will.  M--- therefore tried to imagine it from their point of view.  A child goes blind, all known cures fail until, after more than a dozen years, a new physician with a novel procedure begins to make her see again.  The prognosis is optimistic, and the parents are rewarded as last for their love, wisdom, and medical courage.  But then the girl plays, and their world is turned upside down.  Before, they had been in charge of a blind virtuoso; now, sight had rendered her mediocre.  If she continued playing like that, her career would be over.  But even assuming that she rediscovered all her former skill, she would lack the originality of being blind.  She would be merely one pianist among many others.  And there would be no reason for the empress to continue her pension.  Two hundred gold ducats had made a difference to their lives, and how, without it, would they commission works from leading composers?

 M--- understood such a dilemma, but it could not be his primary concern.  He was a physician, not a musical impresario.  In any case, he was convinced that once Maria Theresia became accustomed to the sight of her hands on a keyboard, once observation ceased altering her performance, her skill would not merely return, but develop and improve.  For how could it possibly be an advantage to be blind?  Furthermore, the girl had chosen openly to defy her parents and continue the cure.  How could he disappoint her hopes?  Even if it meant distributing cudgels to his servants, he would defend her right to live under his roof.

  Yet it was not just the frenzied parents who were threatening the household.  Opinion at court and in society had turned against the physician who had walled up a young woman and now refused to return her to her parents.  That the girl herself also refused did not help M—‘s case: in the eyes of some it merely confirmed him as a magician, a betwitcher whose hypnotic powers might not cure, but could certainly enslave.  Moral fault and medical fault intertwined, giving birth to scandal.  Such a miasma of innuendo arose in the imperial city that Professor Stoerk was provoked into action.  Withdrawing his previous endorsement of M---‘s activities, he now wrote, on 2 May 177-, demanding that M--cease his “imposture” and return the girl (Barnes 181-182).