Books and Habits | Page 5

the devotion of
husband to wife. It means actually this,--that every man is bound by
conviction and by opinion to put all women before himself, simply
because they are women. I do not mean that any man is likely to think
of any woman as being his intellectual and physical superior; but I do
mean that he is bound to think of her as something deserving and
needing the help of every man. In time of danger the woman must be
saved first. In time of pleasure, the woman must be given the best place.
In time of hardship the woman's share of the common pain must be
taken voluntarily by the man as much as possible. This is not with any
view to recognition of the kindness shown. The man who assists a
woman in danger is not supposed to have any claim upon her for that
reason. He has done his duty only, not to her, the individual, but to
womankind at large. So we have arrived at this general fact, that the
first place in all things, except rule, is given to woman in Western
countries, and that it is given almost religiously.
Is woman a religion? Well, perhaps you will have the chance of judging
for yourselves if you go to America. There you will find men treating
women with just the same respect formerly accorded only to religious
dignitaries or to great nobles. Everywhere they are saluted and helped
to the best places; everywhere they are treated as superior beings. Now
if we find reverence, loyalty and all kinds of sacrifices devoted either to
a human being or to an image, we are inclined to think of worship. And
worship it is. If a Western man should hear me tell you this, he would
want the statement qualified, unless he happened to be a philosopher.
But I am trying to put the facts before you in the way in which you can
best understand them. Let me say, then, that the all-important thing for
the student of English literature to try to understand, is that in Western
countries woman is a cult, a religion, or if you like still plainer
language, I shall say that in Western countries woman is a god.
So much for the abstract idea of woman. Probably you will not find that
particularly strange; the idea is not altogether foreign to Eastern

thought, and there are very extensive systems of feminine pantheism in
India. Of course the Western idea is only in the romantic sense a
feminine pantheism; but the Oriental idea may serve to render it more
comprehensive. The ideas of divine Mother and divine Creator may be
studied in a thousand forms; I am now referring rather to the sentiment,
to the feeling, than to the philosophical conception.
You may ask, if the idea or sentiment of divinity attaches to woman in
the abstract, what about woman in the concrete--individual woman?
Are women individually considered as gods? Well, that depends on
how you define the word god. The following definition would cover the
ground, I think:--"Gods are beings superior to man, capable of assisting
or injuring him, and to be placated by sacrifice and prayer." Now
according to this definition, I think that the attitude of man towards
woman in Western countries might be very well characterized as a sort
of worship. In the upper classes of society, and in the middle classes
also, great reverence towards women is exacted. Men bow down before
them, make all kinds of sacrifices to please them, beg for their good
will and their assistance. It does not matter that this sacrifice is not in
the shape of incense burning or of temple offerings; nor does it matter
that the prayers are of a different kind from those pronounced in
churches. There is sacrifice and worship. And no saying is more
common, no truth better known, than that the man who hopes to
succeed in life must be able to please the women. Every young man
who goes into any kind of society knows this. It is one of the first
lessons that he has to learn. Well, am I very wrong in saying that the
attitude of men towards women in the West is much like the attitude of
men towards gods?
But you may answer at once,--How comes it, if women are thus
reverenced as you say, that men of the lower classes beat and ill-treat
their wives in those countries? I must reply, for the same reason that
Italian and Spanish sailors will beat and abuse the images of the saints
and virgins to whom they pray, when their prayer is not granted. It is
quite possible to worship an image sincerely and to seek vengeance
upon it in a moment