Dawson makes a remarkable effort to humanize Elisha even though Elisha will soon kill him. He sees his own son in Elisha, except that where his son enjoys a hopeful future, Elisha appears to be trapped in a hopeless situation. Elisha, meanwhile, tries to keep objectifying Dawson, but finds that with Dawson right in front of him, this is impossible. Even David ben Moshe, with whom Elisha has more in common, is just in his imagination.