Page:Poet Lore, volume 6, 1894.djvu/140

128 strength lies in her meekness, whose power is founded upon sacrifice, who conquers through tenderness. And our instinct is in harmony with the truth of experience. Woman best fulfils herself in the closest and most absorbing relationship of individuals, marriage. But this truth needs to be balanced by another; namely, that the finer is the nature of the woman, the higher will be her ideal of marriage; the nobler her heart and intellect, the more will she rebel against marriage for its own sake.

Beatrice is a character strong rather than sweet, tending to self-development rather than self-abnegation, yet by no means incapable of love,—on the contrary, capable of a love strong in proportion to her mental strength, and deep as the measure of her self-respect. But she will yield the treasure of that love for nothing less than its equivalent; no substitute in the shape of conventional affection will content her. Now, take such a woman as this, gifted with the clearest mental sight and a keen sense of her own worth, and place her in a social atmosphere, which we all know more or less, of conventional marriages, of the desirability of getting "settled in life," of husband-hunting, and of the whole duty of woman in gratefully accepting the eligible suitor. In that atmosphere, let her meet the man she can love, her heart already traitor to the theory of woman's independence in which she has intrenched herself, and suppose too that this man is the professed scorner of her sex,—where shall she take refuge but in outscorning the scorner, her quick wit and sharp tongue being the defence Nature has provided for the weaker animal? This Beatrice does, driven by necessity, until she overdoes it; and she distinguishes Benedick by her stinging attentions,—"abuse is a measure of attraction." But self-defence, justifiable, admirable, as it may be, does often necessitate an attitude far from graceful or pleasing. Mockery and shrewd, sharp wit, verging on contempt, varying from light raillery to scathing satire, from girlish fun to dangerous abuse, are not in themselves attractive, do not harmonize well with the ideal feminine qualities,—tenderness and submission.

"Most men fail of their moral growth by the attempt to extend their own self too far, most women by attempting to contract it