In the first stage that Kierkegaard dramatizes, the aesthetic stage, the individual’s life is dominated by the quest to satisfy the momentary desires that just happen to arise in the life of the individual. The texts that present this view of the aesthetic life are primarily found in Either/Or, Part I, edited by the pseudonymous Victor Eremita, or “the victorious hermit.” Kierkegaard’s construction of this editor is significant. Victor, who
