If at an earlier stage it
was the love of woman which could not find its consummation on earth, it
is now the whole of our earthly life and all our aspirations which can
only attain to their highest meaning and to final truth in a
metaphysical existence. The tragedy of metaphysical love has deepened
into the supreme tragedy of life.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] The quotations from _Faust_ are from the translation of Anna
Swanwick.
[3] The quotations from the _Divine Comedy_ are from the translation of
Henry Francis Cary.
[4] The quotations from Tasso are from the translation of Anna Swanwick.
CHAPTER III
PERVERSIONS OF METAPHYSICAL EROTICISM
_(a) The Brides of Christ_
Hitherto I have confined myself to the analysis of the emotional life of
man, but there are two other points which must be taken into account.
The first is the question of woman's attitude towards the lofty position
assigned to her by man; the second and more important one is the
question as to whether the women of that period exhibit in their
emotional life any traces of a feeling akin to the deification of their
sex? The reply to the first question is simple enough.
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