Moreover, many individuals might not traverse a certain stage, for example, the religious.
Repetition is concerned with the ethical stage.
Repetition , like Johannes Climacus , is an unorthodox philosophical work, in that it is in narrative form. Kierkegaard presents the correspondence of a young man in love, who cannot consummate the relationship in marriage because that position falls into the area of ethical duty, and would require a dedication to one person, that is, repetition. Recollection, on the other hand, is in the category of the esthetic. The young man can only cherish the beloved after he leaves her, and then only poetically. Constantius himself appears as an interlocutor there where he belittles seduction as an esthetic game.