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. He speaks of woman as a jest.
Seducers are fools for making such a fuss about the pursuit.
To him, eros has overreached himself. As is often the case, Kierkegaard's style of writing is idiosyncratic. This work is not a treatise, but is written in narrative form, like the unfinished Johannes Climacus, or de Omnibus Dubitandum Est . This young man seems to be totally consumed in his desire for his beloved. Yet this love brings him into a state of melancholy.