" It is doubtless the
necessity for this probationary period, as a test of masculine
qualities, which usually leads a woman to repel instinctively a
too hasty and impatient suitor, for, as Arthur Macdonald remarks,
"It seems to be instinctive in young women to reject the
impetuous lover, without the least consideration of his
character, ability, and fitness."
This essential element in courtship, this fundamental attitude of pursuer
and pursued, is clearly to be seen even in animals and savages; it is
equally pronounced in the most civilized men and women, manifesting itself
in crude and subtle ways alike. Shakespeare's Angelo, whose virtue had
always resisted the temptations of vice, discovered at last that
"modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman's lightness."
"What," asked the wise Montaigne, "is the object of that virginal shame,
that sedate coldness, that severe countenance, that pretence of not
knowing things which they understand better than we who teach them, except
to increase in us the desire to conquer and curb, to trample under our
appetite, all that ceremony and those obstacles? For there is not only
matter for pleasure, but for pride also, in ruffling and debauching that
soft sweetness and infantine modesty."[14] The masculine attitude in the
face of feminine coyness may easily pass into a kind of sadism, but is
nevertheless in its origin an innocent and instinctive impulse.
Pages:
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106