As it is Lucheni who tells [Elisabeth's] story, it also offers him an opportunity to escape from the rut in which he is trapped in the world in between - to break out and free himself from the torments of monotony through Elisabeth's story. At first this works very well and he clearly enjoys it, but the closer he gets to her decline and ultimately his murder of her, he realizes that he cannot escape this circumstance. Lucheni can no longer undo it and has to kill her. He is trapped in this cycle, forced to do something he no longer wants to do, but has to face up to it. For him, she is both a curse and a blessing. He actually despises her behavior, but because his murder of her has been gnawing at him for so long, he can no longer see her as he would have done when she was alive. He gets to know her situation at the point where he begins to tell her story.
Serkan Kaya, blickpunkt musical sonderheft #2
