Proof

“My advice, if you find yourself awake late at night, is to sit down and do some mathematics.”

In the first scene, Robert, or the imaginary Robert who Catherine speaks to after his death, urges Catherine to seek mathematics as a device for soothing her mind when she cannot sleep. Over the past several years, Catherine has been working on her proof at night, but her response to this suggestion (which her living father likely made to her many times over the years) is, “Oh please.” By denying that she too finds math soothing to her unquiet mind, she is denying that she is like her father. 

“Those days are lost. You threw them away. And you’ll never know what else you threw away with them – the work you lost, the ideas you didn’t have, discoveries you never made because you were moping in your bed at four in the afternoon.” 

The Robert who Catherine imagines in the first scene chides her for wasting time. This is especially poignant given the limited time that Robert had to enjoy mental acuity and life in general. Although Catherine has, in fact, written a groundbreaking proof, she continues to feel the pressure of time that her father emphasized. 

“My father wouldn’t want anything moved and I don’t want anything to leave this house.” 

Catherine protects her father’s notebooks and home in line with Robert’s wishes, despite the fact that they are irrational. When Claire arrives, it becomes clear that the house cannot remain unchanged as a museum to