Ok, there were a couple of things I wanted to say regarding this passage. It was one of the most interesting I thought in the story.At her house he was always polite and formal; gentlemanly, in short. With Connie he felt the old, manly superiority; he was the knight,...strong and tender, she was the beautiful maiden with a touch of God on her brow. He kissed her, he softened and selected his speech for her, he forbore from being the greater part of himself. She was his betrothed, his wife, his queen, whom he loved to idealise, and for whom he carefully modified himself. She should rule him later on—that part of him which was hers.
But he loved her, too, with a pitying, tender love. He thought of her tears upon her pillow in the northern Rectory, and he bit his lip, held his breath under the strain of the situation.
Vaguely he knew she would bore him. And Winifred fascinated him. He and she really played with fire. In her house, he was roused and keen. But she was not, and never could be, frank. So he was not frank, even to himself. Saying nothing, betraying nothing, immediately they were together they began the same game.
First of all, the very first time I read the story, to me this seemed very Arthurian. I could not help but to have this imager of Connie as being akin to Queen Guinevere here. Particularly sense earlier she is linked to the rectory, being that Guinevere was the Christian queen.
While Winne seems to be very Morgan, the seductress, who is still connected to the pagan roots. And Coutts relationship to the two different women are very similar to Arthur's own feelings about Guinevere and Morgan. Arthur was never very passionate about his wife but because he was bewitched and seduced by Morgan, he was always filled with regret about the relations he once shared with her, as he was "tricked" into it.
Then when we were discussing the statues, and the symbolism of the pedestal, and the idea of how that relates to the way Coutts does seem to put Conni on a pedestal, this passage, particularly with the words "Queen" and "Knight" used, made me think of this story, as reminiscent as the old ideals of courtly love.
In courtly love, the woman that one would marry, was seen as if she were upon a pedestal, her beauty was worshipped, but from a distance, she was seen as pure, and innocent, and admired in much the same way a statue would be admired, and so the men would not bring themselves to disgrace the "holiness" and "chasteness" of such women, the woman that a man loved, was not the same women that a man lusted after.
The physical passions of men in the courtly love system were unleashed upon women that were viewed as already being "fallen"
And Connie and Winnie sort of represent these two different aspects of women. Though Winnie perhaps actually has not been sexually intimate before, she is an unmarried woman acting as seductress to a man who is engaged, and by Coutts she is viewed in a passionate and physical way. While his relationship with Connie is much more chaste in the way he thinks of her.
Reply With Quote
"It's so mysterious, the land of tears." 
Originally Posted by Dark Muse
When I posted over there in Chekhov tonight, I was just kidding with you and drawing the parellel to your 'Miss Emily' thread that also went off in all different directions, than you had planned. I did this because, to be honest with you, I wanted things to lighten up and get back to normal over here. I was feeling a little down, but it was nothing that would not pass. I just thought maybe, I would go read some parts of my biography and see what it said about Frieda and the children. I only want to do that for my own benefit and not to post anymore about it. In here I would just prefer to drop the subject. 
That last sentence was me just making light of the situation. I certainly did not think or even remotely sense any harmony being lost when you joined in. I thought you were a natural fit. And we are not excluding anyone at all in the entire forum. I do not consider this a clique. I would love to have even more people join the discussion. And Anti your knowledge of the short story is valuable. I would hate to see you drop out. We all have opinions. Sometimes we get testy over difrferences. But the camaraderie and friendship should go beyond the differences. If you read my latest blog entry you could see how big a difference there are between myself and certain friends I met up with over the weekend. The differences are way bigger than whether we like or approve of Frieda. And yet I'm still friends with them. So this difference over Frieda, which the majority here shares with you, is no biggie. And least it shouldn't be. Now I've been saddened. 
