,,the ,,morality ,,of ,,woman  ,,and    
,,other ,,essays   ,,authorized         
,,translation ,,from ,,the ,,swedish    
,,of  ,,ellen ,,key  ,,by  ,,mamah      
,,bouton ,,borthwick   ,illustration    
,,the ,,ralph ,,fletcher ,,seymour ,,co4
  ,,fine ,,arts ,,building  ,,chicago   
,,copyright1 #aiaa  ,,by  ,,the ,,ralph 
,,fletcher ,,seymour ,,co4  ,,chicago   
,,contents    ,,the ,,morality ,,of     
,,woman      page #e  ,,the ,,woman ,,of
 ,,the ,,future       #ci  ,,the        
,,conventional ,,woman        #ea       
,,the ,,morality ,,of ,,woman           
7,,translated ,,from ,,the ,,swedish7   
,the law condemns to be hung those who  
counterfeit banknotes2     a measure    
necessary for the public welfare4 ,but  
he who     counterfeits love1 that is to
 say3 he who1 for a thousand     other  
reasons but not for love1 unites himself
 to one whom     he does not love and   
creates thus a family circle unworthy   
of that name--does not he indeed commit 
a crime whose extent     and            

incalculable results in the present and 
in the future1     disseminate far more 
terrible unhappiness than the           
counterfeiting of millions of banknotes6
                                        
,c4 ,j4 ,l4 ,,almquist4  ,the simplest  
formula for the new conception of       
morality1 which is beginning to be      
opposed to moral dogma still esteemed by
 all society1 but especially by women1  
might be summed up in these words3      
,love is moral even without legal       
marriage1 but marriage is immoral       
without love4  ,the customary objection 
to this tenet is that those who propose 
it forget all other ethical duties and  
legitimate feelings in order to make the
 sex relationship the center of         
existence1 and love the sole decisive   
point of view in questions concerning   
this relationship4 ,but if we except the
 struggle for existence--which indeed   
must be called not a relationship of    
life but a condition of life--what then 
can be more central for man1 than a     

condition decreed by the laws of earthly
 life--the cause of his own origin8 ,can
 one imagine a moment which penetrates  
more deeply his whole being8  ,that many
 men live content without the happiness 
of love1 that others after they attain  
it seek a new end for their activity1   
proves nothing against the truth of the 
experience that for men in general the  
erotic relation between man and woman   
becomes the deepest life determining    
factor1 whether negatively1 because they
 are deprived of this relation or       
because they formed it unhappily2 or    
positively1 because they have found     
therein the fullness of life4  ,the     
depreciation for mankind of the         
significance of the sex relation and of 
the significance of love in the sex     
relation brings into it all the         
immorality still imposed by             
conventionalism as morality4  ,we no    
longer consider1 as in our mother's     
youth1 ignorance of the side of life    
which concerns the propagation of the   

race the essential condition of womanly 
purity4 ,but the conventional idea of   
purity still maintains that the         
untouched condition of the senses       
belongs to this conception4 ,and it     
would be right1 if the distinction were 
made between purity and chastity4       
,purity is the new-fallen snow which can
 be melted or sullied2 chastity is steel
 tempered in the fire by white heat4    
,for chastity is only developed together
 with complete love2 this not only      
excludes equally all partition among    
several but also makes a separation     
between the demands of the heart and the
 senses impossible4 ,the essence of     
chastity is1 according to ,george       
,sand's profound words3 to be able never
 to betray the soul with the senses nor 
the senses with the soul 7de ne pouvoir 
jamais tromper ni l'ame avec les sens ni
 les sens avec l'ame74 ,and as absolute 
consecration is its distinctive mark1 so
 is it also its demand4 ,this alone is  
the chastity which must characterize the

 family life and form in the future the 
basis of foundation for the happiness of
 the people4  ,literature was1          
therefore1 wholly justified when in the 
name of nature it attacked the          
hyperidealistic subtlety which raised   
the love of the heart to the highest    
rank and made that of the senses the    
lowest2 and when it desired that the    
woman should not only know what complete
 love was but that she should also when 
she loved desire that completeness4     
,because from time to time powerful     
voices were raised1 like ,george ,sand's
 or ,almquist's1 calling without        
consideration not only that marriage    
immoral which was consummated without   
mutual love but also that marriage      
immoral which was continued without     
mutual love--a purer consciousness has  
awakened in questions regarding the     
conditions of the genesis of the unborn 
race and elevated the conditions of the 
personal dignity of man and woman4 ,so  
eventually it will come to pass that no 

finely sensitive woman will become a    
mother except through mutual love2 that 
this motherhood sanctioned legally or   
not so sanctioned shall be considered   
the only true motherhood1 and every     
other motherhood untrue4 ,thus will     
mankind awaken to such a feeling of the 
,sanctity of the generation1 and to such
 an understanding of the conditions of  
the health1 strength and beauty of the  
race1 that every marriage which has its 
source in worldly or merely sensual     
motives1 or in reasons of prudence or in
 a feeling of duty shall be considered  
as ,almquist calls it3 ,a criminal      
counterfeiting of the highest values of 
life4 ,and the same criminal counterfeit
 obtains in every married life which is 
continued under the compulsion1 the     
distaste or the resignation of one of   
the two4 ,man will be penetrated with   
the consciousness that the whole ethical
 conception which now in and with       
marriage gives to a husband or a wife   
rights over the personality of the      

other1 is a crude survival of the lower 
periods of culture2 that everything     
which is exchanged between husband and  
wife in their life together1 can only be
 the free gift of love1 can never be    
demanded by one or the other as a right4
 ,man will understand that when one can 
no longer continue the life in love then
 this life must cease2 that all vows    
binding forever the life of feeling are 
a violence of one's personality1 since  
one cannot be held accountable for the  
transformation of one's feeling4 ,even  
though this new moral ideal should in   
the beginning dissolve many untrue      
marriages and thus cause much suffering1
 yet all this suffering is necessary4   
,it belongs to the attainment of the new
 erotic ethics which will uplift man and
 woman in that sphere where now the     
spirit of slavery and of obtuseness     
under a holy name degrade them2 where   
social convention sanctions prostitution
 alongside monogamy1 and vouchsafes to  
the seducer but not to the seduced1     

social esteem1 calling the unmarried    
woman ruined who in love has become a   
mother1 but the married woman           
respectable who without love gives      
children to the man who has bought her6 
,the erotic-ethical consciousness of    
mankind cannot be uplifted until the new
 idea of morality with all its          
consequences is clearly established4    
,this ideal has two types of adversary4 
,one is the adherent of the conventional
 morality2 the other the supporter of   
the transitory union to which the name  
of free love is erroneously applied4    
,those of the first type demand quite   
the same morality for the man as for the
 woman4 ,they assert that celibacy for  
either sex brings with it serious       
difficulties4 ,they maintain that the   
social feeling of duty1 not mutual love1
 must be the ground of conjugal         
fidelity4 ,they call pure love love     
untouched by all that which they call   
sensuality4  ,these same moral dogmas in
 recent years have manifested themselves

 in the effort to quench all fire1      
whiten all burning red coals1 and drape 
all nudity in literature and art4 ,the  
supporters of this dogma certainly      
understand--since1 to begin at the      
beginning they have surely glanced into 
the ,bible and ,homer--that the         
undertaking would be too vast were it to
 extend to classic literature4 ,but all 
the more ardently they have directed    
their zeal against modern literature and
 art4 ,and if they do not encounter     
energetic opposition the fig leaf will  
soon among us also attest the fall of   
taste and of the soul4  ,free love has  
also its fanatics who are guilty of     
quite as crass excess4 ,they have no    
conception of soulful and true devotion1
 which they consider an absurdity or a  
conventionality under which human nature
 cannot bow without hypocrisy4 ,for     
since experience shows that lifelong    
love is frequently an illusion1 so1 they
 say1 one must not begin by expecting   
it6 ,the so-called ,bohemians have shown

 as great monomania in their rotation   
around this one point1 the right of the 
senses1 as have the zealots of          
traditional morality in their rotation  
around their point1 the suppression of  
the senses4 ,the extreme result of both 
would be retrogression to a lower degree
 of culture2 in one case to the         
asceticism of the ,middle ,ages1 in the 
other to the promiscuity of the savage4 
,both forget the reality of life4 ,on   
the one side they ignore this reality in
 their absolute demands without         
consideration of temperament or         
circumstances2 in their assertion of the
 unqualified moral superiority of woman 
and in depreciation of the significance 
of love for the full harmony of man and 
woman4 ,on the other side they ignore   
this reality when they try to make woman
 as unrestrained morally as man has     
hitherto been2 when they forget all the 
suffering of the new generation born and
 reared in such an unrestrained         
existence2 when they learn nothing of   

the nature of woman from the many       
younger and older women who live        
solitary and yet sound and useful lives 
in the deep conviction that1 since they 
have not found the great1 mutual love1  
which decides existence1 any union with 
a man would be degrading and unhappy4   
,development has1 because of            
multifarious influences made entirety   
and continuity in love a greater life   
necessity for the woman of culture in   
general than for the man of the same    
intellectual level4 ,a man1 therefore1  
ordinarily dissolves an erotic relation 
without bitterness when he has ceased to
 love1 while a woman1 even after her    
love has ceased1 often suffers because  
the relationship has not endured a      
lifetime4  ,it is this ever increasing  
peremptory demand for erotic            
completeness of the woman of developed  
individuality of the present time1 which
 causes her always to wish to more      
fervently cherish the personality of the
 man as entirely as it is her happiness 

and her pride to be able to give her    
own4 ,it is this demand for entirety    
which1 among ,germanic peoples1 at      
least1 makes woman neither desirous nor 
psychologically fitted for the so-called
 free love4 ,this is evidently to be    
concluded from the vicissitudes of those
 who have tried it4  ,free love is      
moreover quite as senseless an          
expression as legal love4 ,because no   
external command can call love into     
being or repress it2 it is in this sense
 always free1 yet as are all feelings1  
it is bound by certain psychological    
laws4 ,if not1 then it does not deserve 
the name of love4 ,it is with love as   
with the human face3 though the         
individual varieties are infinite1 yet  
there are certain general characteristic
 features which make all these different
 faces human faces1 all these different 
feelings human love4 ,and in every time 
there is a type for both1 which is      
recognized as nobler than the others4   
,this noblest type of love has been     

portrayed by a ,danish writer1,a who    
endeavored to show that a conception of 
life founded upon evolution need not    
lead to laxity in sexual relations4 ,he 
shows how the erotic feeling1 as all    
other feelings1 has been developed from 
an incoherent1 indeterminate and        
indefinite condition to one more        
coherent1 determinate and               
differentiated1 and so from a simple    
instinct for reproduction of the species
 has been finally transformed to an     
entirely personal1 inner love4 ,the     
highest type of this love is that which 
exists between a man and a woman of the 
same moral and intellectual level2 which
 demands of necessity reciprocal love in
 order to be perfected1 and can         
therefore be contented with no other    
kind of reciprocal love than a          
corresponding erotic love4 ,this perfect
 love includes the yearning desire of   
both lovers to become entirely one      
being1 to free each other and to develop
 each other to the greatest perfection4 

,if love is perfected and consummated   
thus by the life together1 then can it  
be given to only one and only once in a 
lifetime4 ,this thought of the ,danish  
writer is expressed with the concise    
brevity of the poet1 by ,bjornson1 when 
he says of the sensation feeling oneself
 doubled in the beloved one3 ,that is   
love1 all else is not love4 ,this       
feeling which liberates1 conserves and  
deepens the personality1 which is the   
inspiration to noble deeds and works of 
genius1 is the opposite of the          
ephemeral1 merely sensual love1 which   
enslaves1 dissipates and lessens the    
personality4    ,a ,see ,viggo ,drewsen3
 ,en ,livsanskuelse grundet paa ,elskow 
7,a       ,conception of ,life ,founded 
upon ,love7 and ,forholdet mellem       
,maud og ,kvinde belyst gjennem         
,udviklingshypothesen4 7,the            
,relation between ,man and ,woman in the
 ,light of the ,hypothesis       of     
,evolution47  ,it is only the great love
 which has a higher right than all other

 feelings and which can establish its   
right in a life4  ,he who considers this
 love decisive for the morality of such 
an erotic union cannot believe that     
external ties are necessary to give     
ethical value to this union4 ,social    
considerations1 prudence and feeling for
 others can indeed in certain cases make
 the legal bond desirable4 ,but it can  
just as little give increased           
consecration to real love1 as it can    
give any consecration whatever to a     
relation in which this content is       
lacking4 ,and even if it would be too   
dogmatic to establish just the highest  
type of love as ethical norm for all    
relations between man and woman1 since  
life proves that the highest love is    
still as rare as the highest beauty1 yet
 it is on the contrary not premature to 
assert that this love1 legally          
sanctioned or not1 is moral1 and that   
where it is lacking on either side1 a   
moral ground is furnished for the       
dissolution of the relationship4 ,the   

ever clearer consciousness that love can
 dispense with marriage yet marriage    
cannot dispense with love1 is already   
partially recognized in modern society1 
by the facility of divorce4 ,and it is  
only a question of time when the law    
which gives to one person the power to  
constrain the other to remain with him  
against his will1 will be abrogated1 so 
contrary is this possibility to that    
developed conception of the freedom of  
love--which is not at all the same as   
so-called free love6  ,it is not        
historically true that it was1 as has   
been asserted1 some certain conception  
of morality1 some certain form of       
concluding or dissolving marriage which1
 in the last analysis1 has been a       
decisive factor in the progress or      
decadence of peoples4 ,among the ,jews  
as among the ,greeks1 among the ,romans 
as among our ,germanic forefathers1 at  
the most flourishing period1 there      
existed many laws and customs which were
 considered moral that the present time 

considers immoral4 ,the decisive thing  
for the sound life of these peoples was1
 that that which they considered right  
had sovereign power to bind them3 the   
faithfulness to the conception of duty  
more than the content of conception     
determines the moral soundness of a     
people4 ,society is in danger1 not when 
the ideals are raised but when they are 
lost4 ,but a very highly developed      
historical sense is necessary to see at 
the same time the connection and the    
difference between dissolution and      
reorganization4 ,moreover it is         
necessary to have the large view of the 
essentials of life which distinguishes  
the true poet1 the view which ,sophocles
 possessed when he let his ,antigone    
follow the higher law of affection and  
commit a violation of the law           
which--according to the conception of   
that time--would lead to general license
 if it remained unpunished4 ,the new    
ideal of marriage is now being formed in
 and through all the many literary and  

personal dissensions in which it        
constitutes the theme4 ,yes1 it is      
formed also in the midst of all the     
conflicts of life for which marriage    
gives so much occasion4 ,it is true     
there are now married people who        
separate because from the very beginning
 they considered fidelity impossible and
 so did not even strive for it4 ,but    
many other divorces have far more       
complex1 psychological reasons4 ,when   
two people are married young1 personal  
development takes often entirely        
opposite directions2 if they have       
married in more mature years1 then their
 individual differences1 already        
strongly marked from the beginning1 make
 the problem of common life together    
difficult of solution4 ,the strongly    
developed sensibility of the modern     
individual to disposition1 nuances1     
variations of humor1 makes a lack of    
sympathy still more unendurable2 a true 
sympathy a far greater source of joy4   
,the whole multiplicity of              

psycho-physical influences and          
impressions which the members of a      
family exercise upon one another for    
pleasure and displeasure1 sympathy and  
variance1 harmony and discord1 are now  
in all relationships1 but above all in  
marriage1 felt with greatest intensity4 
,it is in those natures most            
individually developed1 most refined1   
for whom the nuances of the married     
life1 not its simple primal colors1     
signify happiness or unhappiness4  ,to  
this general delicacy of feeling there  
is added especially the heightened      
sensibility of woman to the discord     
between that which she expected in      
marriage and that which in reality it   
offered her1 because the union often    
lacked the freedom1 the understanding   
which her sympathetic feeling now       
craves4 ,this lack of harmony is        
inevitable since the forms of marriage  
have not even approximately undergone   
the transformation which would          
correspond to the individual development

 of the two beings1 of the woman        
especially1 whom it unites4 ,but while  
all these reasons1 cursorily indicated  
here1 contribute their part in the      
increased number of divorces1 the life  
of finer feeling creates1 on the other  
hand1 an ever more intimate married     
life4 ,there are married people who have
 pledged each other at marriage full    
freedom to dissolve the union when      
either of them so wished1 and others who
 have never given legal form to their   
marriage yet realize fully and richly   
love in sorrow and in joy1 in           
sympathetic work together1 in           
reciprocal1 true devotion4 ,there have  
been1 on the other hand1 champions of   
so-called free love who were themselves 
by nature such pronounced believers in  
only one marriage that their life was   
wrecked when the one to whom they had   
bound themselves applied to their own   
case their own theories4 ,it is always  
the character which ultimately decides4 
,character can make the radical theorist

 a moral paragon and the pillar of      
society resting upon conservative ground
 a reed of passion2 it can make the     
advocate of egoism sublimely devoted and
 the apostle of ,christianity deeply    
egoistic in his love4  ,so many men1 so 
many souls2 so many souls1 so many      
destinies4 ,and to wish to apply to this
 whole1 complex1 manifold1 incalculable 
erotic life1 with its unfathomable      
depths1 an immutable ethical standard1  
when judging the relationship between   
man and woman1 and to make this standard
 decisive also for the ethical value of 
the personality in other respects--is   
quite as naive as the attempt of a child
 to draw up in his little bucket the    
wonderful depth of the vast storm-driven
 sea4  ,love1 as life1 will fortunately 
remain an eternal mystery which no      
science will be able to penetrate and   
which reason cannot rule4 ,our only hope
 for the future is that man1 endowed    
with a more delicate sense1 will listen 
to the secrets of his own life4 ,a more 

highly developed and differentiated soul
 life will give him a surer instinct or 
a keener power of analysis which will   
prevent him from confounding a passing  
sentiment of sympathy1 need of          
tenderness or satisfaction of vanity    
with a love which decides existence4    
,now1 on the contrary1 many believe that
 a wave of admiration1 of gratitude1 or 
of pity is the whole sea2 that the      
reflection of the fire of another is the
 holy fire itself6  ,no one can with    
certainty predict the final result of   
the profound revolution of the feeling  
and of the customs which is now taking  
place4 ,but one thing appears certain3  
the danger to the future of mankind can 
scarcely be that the new ideal will     
result in general license4 ,rather it   
will lead to so individual1             
differentiated and refined love that    
erotic happiness will be increasingly   
difficult to find and the idealists of  
love will more frequently prefer        
celibacy to a compromise with their     

greater demands for sympathetic love4   
,the occasional experience1 often only  
the dream of such a love1 sensible to   
the finest shades of the soul1 to the   
most delicate vibrations of the         
senses--of a love which is an all       
comprehensive tenderness1 an all        
embracing intimacy--has already raised  
the erotic demands and the erotic       
existence of thousands of men and women 
to a sphere of more infinite longing1   
more fervid chastity than that of their 
contemporaries4 ,it is this experience  
or this dream which has already begun to
 assume form in the art and literature  
of the present time4 ,it is true the    
extreme discord between the peculiar    
character of man and of woman has long  
been the favorite theme1 especially in  
modern literature4 ,but among the wild1 
discordant tones a new leitmotiv        
resounds which will swell and rise and  
fill the void with a harmony1 still but 
faintly divined4  ,one of the conditions
 that this harmony become as perfect as 

possible is that woman in life as in    
literature shall begin to be more honest
 and man more eager to listen when she  
reveals to him something of her own     
nature4 ,men have desired and justly    
that women should learn from their      
confessions in regard to the conflict   
between man and woman4 ,but woman       
because of the conventional conception  
of womanly purity has been intimidated  
from conceding to man a deep insight    
into her erotic life experiences4  ,only
 when women begin to tell the truth     
about themselves will literature        
universally illuminate the still unknown
 depths of woman's erotic temperament4  
,to the present time it has been almost 
exclusively men poets who have made     
revelations about women4 ,the nearer    
these poets have approached life1 the   
more surely have they seen the highest  
expression of the eternal feminine as   
the great women poets also saw it3 in   
erotic love and in mother love4 ,and it 
was the completeness of her consecration

 which was in their eyes a woman's      
supreme chastity4  ,it is the great     
poets who have taught and have continued
 to teach youth to revere the all       
powerful ,eros4  ,this is the only      
morality which has a future4 ,only by   
conforming to this shall we gradually   
succeed in preventing the erotic feeling
 from appearing sometimes as a brutal   
instinct or marriage from being founded 
upon a fleeting attraction4  ,an ideal  
of negative purity--even incarnated in  
the person of ,jesus--cannot inflame    
youth and therefore cannot in the long  
run protect him4 ,that alone which has  
the power not only to restrain but also 
to transform the brutal instinct is a   
conception of the existence of a higher 
feeling which belongs to the same sphere
 of life as the instinct itself4  ,to   
burn the ideal of a great love into the 
soul of youth in letters of fire--that  
is to give him a real moral strength4   
,thus there springs up in man the       
ineradicable1 invincible instinct that  

an erotic relation can exist only as the
 expression of a reciprocal all         
comprehensive love4 ,thus will youth    
learn to consider the love-marriage as  
the central life relation1 the center of
 life1 and he will be inflamed with the 
desire to develop and to conserve body  
and soul for the entrance into this most
 holy thing in nature1 wherein man and  
woman find their happiness in creating a
 new race for happiness4 ,thus will     
young men and women in increasing       
numbers understand that their own       
happiness1 as well as that of the coming
 generation will be the greater the more
 completely they can give their         
personality to love4 ,boys and girls1   
young men and maidens1 men and women by 
coeducation1 by joint labor and         
comradeship will develop in one another 
that mutual understanding which will    
remove the enmity between the sexes1 in 
which modern individualization--and the 
therewith increasing demands of the     
personality--has so far found its       

expression4  ,the usages of individual  
homes will be differentiated1 instead of
 as now maintaining the same            
conventional forms for all families4    
,after some generations so educated1    
under the influence of relationships    
thus arranged1 we shall see marriages   
such as even now not a few are seen1 in 
which not observation of a duty but     
liberty itself is the pledge that       
assures fidelity4 ,then will love be    
cherished as the most delicate1 most    
precious thing in life2 then will egoism
 and unselfishness attain a perfect     
harmony1 because the husband and wife   
find happiness only in assuring the     
happiness of the other4 ,that is the    
union which the ,norwegian poet defines 
when he calls true marriage a yearning  
quest after each other1 an energetic    
cultivation1 assertion of the           
personality1 in order to be able to give
 one's personality2 an ever increasing  
intimacy of understanding of each other2
 a union which the whole course of life 

will make more profound4  ,so prepared1 
the absolute human ideal will become    
perhaps a living reality2 not as an     
isolated man1 not as an isolated woman1 
but as a man and a woman who shall give 
to mankind a new religion--that of      
happiness4         99       99       99 
99       99  ,many indeed still doubt   
that marriage can become this highest   
form of existence in life1 in which the 
surrender of the ego and the            
self-seeking of the ego reach a perfect 
harmony4 ,it is asserted that this ideal
 condition can be attained perhaps by   
exceptional people1 but never by        
ordinary people1 and that the morality  
of the latter can be kept sound only by 
legal and social restraint4  ,my belief1
 however1 is that1 just as the ,children
 of ,israel followed the pillar of fire1
 so ordinary men follow at a distance   
exceptional men1 and in this way mankind
 as a whole advances4 ,ordinary men are 
just now determined upon certain        
conceptions which at the end of the     

previous century were not conclusive    
even for exceptional people4 ,the       
marriage of reason1 for example1 is     
already considered ignoble by many4 ,the
 authority of the parents is very seldom
 in evidence either to coerce the       
children into a marriage without love or
 to restrain them from it4 ,even the    
superficial erotic emotion of our day is
 serious in comparison with the shallow 
and frivolous or vulgar and cruel       
gallantry of the eighteenth century4 ,in
 the geological deposits of legislation 
and still more in those of literature we
 can study these risings of the levels  
of the erotic sentiments4 ,so we are    
thereby convinced that the demands and  
conflicts of the exceptional men become 
gradually those of the ordinary men     
also1 even though the ordinary men are  
always some generations behind the men  
who are stirred by new emotions1 new    
conflicts1 when the many have reached   
the problems which some decades before  
occupied only the few4  ,certainly it   

may1 under present imperfect conditions1
 often be a duty not to destroy the     
outward form of marriage for the sake of
 the children4 ,but by no means can this
 duty be preached as universally        
binding4 ,only the individual himself   
can in each separate case determine the 
dissolution best1 both for the children 
and for the married couple themselves1  
of a marriage which has fallen asunder  
within4 ,when we consider the           
development in its entirety1 the sooner 
people cease to sanction the present    
marriage the more fortunate it will be2 
for the sooner will the transformation  
be forced upon us by which marriage will
 maintain its permanence only from      
within4 ,only then will man be wholly   
able to have the experiences and to find
 the new1 delicate means by which       
fidelity can be strengthened and        
happiness assured4 ,but man will not    
seek this expedient so long as he can   
rely upon the power of legal right and  
social opinion to hold together that    

which love does not unify4  ,the ever   
increasing individualization of love    
indicates that mono-marriage will       
doubtless remain the form of erotic     
union between man and woman4 ,but this  
rule will have1 in the future1 as in the
 past1 many exceptions1 since the       
feelings can change4 ,the conflicts     
which will thus arise will bring        
suffering as a consequence1 but not the 
bitterness nor the contention which the 
property sense in marriage now so often 
occasions4 ,the deep consciousness that 
love belongs not to the sphere of duty  
but only to that of freedom will cause  
the one who has lost the love of the    
other to feel the same resignation      
before the inevitable1 as if he were    
separated from the other by death4  ,and
 in cases where the individual is not   
capable of this resignation1 then the   
law as well as custom shall make it     
impossible for the one to hold back the 
other against his will4 ,each of the    
twain shall be master of his own person 

and of his property1 of his work and of 
his mode of life2 the union shall in    
each especial case be arranged by the   
agreement of the individuals1 and the   
law shall decide only the rights and    
duties of the husband and wife in regard
 to the children4  ,when in this way it 
shall come to pass that neither the     
husband nor wife shall have in outward  
sense1 in external things1 anything to  
gain or to lose by the consummation or  
dissolution of marriage1 then only the  
erotic problem appears in all its       
seriousness4  ,many mistakes1 many      
caricatures1 many tragic failures will  
naturally be the result of freedom4     
,great waves have great combers4 ,a new 
principle cannot be put into effect     
without bringing with it new mistakes4  
,but we may1 however1 be convinced that 
the laws of life--to which belongs the  
law that suffering follows the misuse of
 freedom--will finally be able to bring 
everything within its right limits4     
,nothing indeed has occasioned more     

suffering as an indirect consequence    
than ,christianity1 and although ,jesus 
knew that1 yet he did not hesitate to   
give to mankind this new creative force 
which destroyed in order to create4 ,but
 it is above all ,his ideality which    
,his present followers lack1 the great  
ideality which dares to believe in the  
might of the spirit rather than that of 
the form4  ,it is1 therefore1 quite     
natural that these ,christians1 the     
upholders of society1 oppose the new    
ideal of morality with vain             
apprehensions4 ,they believe that a     
woman whose conscious aim is            
,self-assertion in self-surrender will  
forfeit the immediate1 fresh originality
 in this surrender4 ,they believe       
marriage must be destroyed when the     
support of its development is no longer 
bond and injunction1 but is its own     
vital force4 ,they believe morality will
 lose in the struggle if youth learns to
 consider the love between man and woman
 as the central condition of life4      

,these1 and a hundred similar           
apprehensions have all one and the same 
source4  ,this source is the ,christian 
conception of life which has displaced  
the great1 sound1 strong conviction of  
antiquity of the holiness of nature4    
,mary was the ,virgin ,mother2 ,jesus1  
celibate4 ,paul regarded marriage as the
 lesser of two evils4 ,thus man first   
learned to regard the unmarried state as
 the higher and the married as the lower
 state4 ,the result of the ,christian   
conception of life then was that the sex
 relation was regarded in and for itself
 as unholy1 human nature in and for     
itself as base and the earthly demand   
for happiness as the greatest egotism4  
,therefore the ,christian conception of 
life is now1 since it has accomplished  
its great task of culture1 the          
development of altruism--an obstacle to 
the unified conception out of which the 
happiness of mankind will finally       
develop4  ,no one who thinks or feels   
deeply dreams that this happiness can be

 easily achieved4 ,the consistent belief
 of monism in human nature can only     
gradually leaven life4 ,and until then  
suffering will be for the majority the  
first result of freedom4 ,even for the  
few1 to whom the relationships have     
already given happiness1 must this be   
incomplete in the measure in which they 
feel sympathy with all the suffering    
about them4 ,but above all is happiness 
rare because the genius for happiness is
 still so rare1 is indeed on the whole  
the rarest genius4 ,to possess it means 
to approach life with the humility of a 
beggar1 but to treat it with the proud  
generosity of a prince2 to bring to its 
totality the deep understanding of a    
great poet and to each of its moments   
the abandonment and ingenuousness of a  
child2 it means to be able to enjoy     
wholly each present1 immediate1 joy and 
yet to be able to give up the incidental
 joy for the enduring one4  ,happiness  
lies so far from man2 but he must begin 
by daring to will it4 ,it is this       

courage which ,christianity broke down  
when it directed the soul from the earth
 to eternity and gave to renunciation   
the highest place among ethical values4 
,through the ,revaluation of all        
,values1 which is now going on1         
happiness will receive this ,place4  ,he
 who contends for the deepest of all    
ideas1 ,spinosa's idea1 that ,joy is    
perfection1 contends with certainty of  
victory1 however solitary he may stand1 
however much of his heart's blood may be
 shed in the strife4  ,we live still in 
our inmost soul only by that for which  
we die4 ,and all for which we have died 
will live when the time shall come in   
which all we ourselves have suffered    
signifies nothing for us1 yet that for  
which we have suffered signifies        
everything for others4     ,,the ,,woman
 ,,of ,,the ,,future   ,there are       
phrases which charm like a song1 and one
 of these phrases is3 ,the ,woman of the
 ,future4  ,this sings for me in the    
verse of a poet and a seer1 whose name  

now shines with the radiance of the     
morning star1 although during his       
lifetime it was sullied with defamation 
as that of an atheist and destroyer of  
society--because the luminous path of   
his thoughts appeared to the prejudices 
of his contemporaries as a blinding     
flash of lightning4 ,his poet's vision  
revealed to him a new time in which     
women would be    444 frank1 beautiful  
and kind   ,as the free heaven1 which   
rains fresh light and dew   ,on the wide
 earth   ,from custom's evil taint      
exempt and pure2   ,speaking the wisdom 
once they could not think1   ,looking   
emotions once they feared to feel1      
,and changed to all which once they     
dared not be   ,yet being now1 made     
earth like heaven4  ,this beautiful     
profile of the woman of the future1     
which ,shelley has traced1 floats before
 me when ,i attempt here to draw her    
portrait in more precise outlines4      
99       99       99       99       99  
,the storm and stress period of woman   

and the new social and psychological    
formations thereby entailed must1       
indeed1 extend far into the twentieth   
century4 ,this period of conflict will  
cease only when woman within and out of 
marriage shall have received legal      
equality with man4 ,it will cease when  
such a transformation of society shall  
have come to pass that the present      
rivalry between the sexes shall be ended
 in a manner advantageous to both and   
when finally the work of earning a      
livelihood as well as care of the       
household shall have received such form 
that it will weigh less heavily than now
 upon the woman4  ,toward the end of the
 twentieth century only could the type  
of the nineteenth century woman have    
reached its culmination and a new type  
of woman begin to appear4  ,my ideal    
picture of the woman of the future1 and 
when one paints an ideal one does not   
need to limit one's imagination1 is that
 she will be a being of profound        
contrasts which have attained harmony4  

,she will appear as a great multiplicity
 and a complete unity2 a rich plenitude 
and a perfect simplicity2 a thoroughly  
educated creature of culture and an     
original spontaneous nature2 a strongly 
marked human individuality and a        
complete manifestation of most profound 
womanliness4 ,this woman will understand
 the spirit of a scientific work1 of an 
exact search after truth1 of free1      
independent thought1 of artistic        
creation4 ,she will comprehend the      
necessity of the laws of nature and of  
the progress of evolution2 she will     
possess the feeling of solidarity and   
regard for the interests of society4    
,because she will know more and think   
more clearly than the woman of the      
present1 she will be more just2 because 
she will be stronger1 she will be       
better2 because she will be wiser1 she  
will be also more gentle4 ,she will be  
able to see things in the ensemble and  
in their connection with each other2 she
 will lose thereby certain prejudices   

which are still called virtues4         
,nevertheless she will remain the one   
who forms customs4 ,but she will not    
seek her support in social convention2  
she will find it in the laws of her own 
being4 ,she will have the courage to    
think her own thoughts and to           
investigate the new thoughts of her     
time4 ,she will dare to experience and  
to acknowledge feelings which she now   
suppresses or conceals4 ,her full       
liberty of action and the complete      
development of her personality will     
render possible intrepid efforts for    
life1 an energetic striving after an    
existence which shall conform to her own
 ego4 ,and such an existence she will be
 able also to find with surer instinct  
than now4 ,she will understand how to   
work with more intensity1 to rest with  
more intensity and with more intensity  
to delight in all immediate1 simple     
sources of joy than the woman of the    
present is able to do4 ,thus in the new 
woman the feeling of life will be       

enhanced1 her experience will be more   
profound2 her soul life1 her demands for
 beauty1 her senses will be more        
developed and refined4 ,she will be more
 sensitive1 more delicately vibratory2  
she will therefore be able to be more   
profoundly happy and also to suffer more
 keenly than the woman of our time4     
,thus the woman of the twentieth century
 will give new value to the life of     
society and to art1 to science and to   
literature4 ,but her greatest cultural  
significance remains1 however1 by means 
of the enigmatic1 the instinctive1 the  
intuitive and the impulsive in her own  
being to protect mankind from the       
dangers of excessive culture4 ,in face  
of knowledge she will maintain the      
rights of the unknowable2 in face of    
logic1 feeling2 in face of reality1     
possibilities2 and in face of analysis1 
intuition4 ,woman will above all further
 the growth of the soul1 man that of the
 intelligence2 she will extend the      
sphere of intuition1 he that of reason2 

she will realize tenderness1 he justice2
 she will triumph by audacity1 he by    
courage4  ,the woman of the future will 
not only have learned much1 she will    
also have forgotten much--especially the
 feminine as well as anti-feminine      
follies of the present time4  ,with her 
whole being she will desire the         
happiness of love4 ,she will be chaste1 
not because she is cold1 but because she
 is passionate4 ,she will be reserved1  
not because she is bloodless but because
 she is full blooded4 ,she will be      
soulful and therefore she will be       
sensuous2 she will be proud and         
therefore she will be true4 ,she will   
demand a great love1 because she herself
 can give a still greater4 ,the erotic  
problem1 because of her refined         
idealism1 will be extremely complicated 
and often almost insoluble4 ,therefore  
the happiness which she will give and   
experience will be richer1 more profound
 and enduring than anything which up to 
the present time has been called        

happiness4 ,many traits which belong to 
the wife and mother of today will       
probably be lacking in the woman of the 
future4 ,she will remain always the     
beloved1 the sweetheart1 and only so    
will she become a mother4 ,she will     
devote her finest and strongest forces  
to the difficult and beautiful art of   
being at the same time the beloved and  
the mother2 her religious cult will be  
to create the supreme happiness of life4
 ,because she will know and value the   
psychical and physical conditions of    
health and beauty she will choose the   
father of her children with clearer     
vision and deeper feeling of            
responsibility than at present2 she will
 bear and rear sound and beautiful      
beings and she herself will possess     
greater attraction and longer youth than
 the woman of the present4 ,she will    
charm all her life1 because she will    
always beautify existence4 ,but she will
 please only because1 at every age1 she 
will be wholly herself2 and her         

imperishable youth1 her most perfect    
beauty1 she will reveal solely to him   
whom she loves4 ,she will know that the 
charm of the soul is the most profound2 
and out of the plenitude of her being   
she will create the eternal renewal of  
this charm1 always unexpected and in    
infinitely nuanced expressions of her   
personal grace4 ,by her mere presence   
she will remove the constraint of form  
and custom and will create varying      
expressions1 elevated by her own        
nobility1 for the family life1 the      
public life and for society4 ,she will  
probably speak less than the woman of   
the present time1 but her silence and   
her smile will be more eloquent4 ,she   
will give herself always directly and   
always with moderation1 different and   
always constant1 spontaneous and always 
exquisite4 ,her being will pour forth1  
brimming free and fresh1 like the surge 
of the mountain torrent1 but like this1 
dominated by a certain inner rhythm4    
,however far she allows herself to      

go--in ecstasy of joy1 in passion of    
tenderness1 in delirium of happiness or 
in the frenzy of grief--yet she will    
never lose herself4 ,she will be a      
multiplicity of women and yet always    
one1 whether she plays and smiles or    
suffers and smiles2 whether she beams   
with health or bleeds with mortal       
wounds2 whether she be imbued with and  
radiate repose or nervous intensity1 joy
 or tears1 sun or night1 coolness or    
ardor4  ,the woman of the future exists 
already in man's dreams of women1 and   
woman fashions herself according to the 
dreams of man4 ,the modern man's ideal  
of woman is not the masculine woman1 but
 the revelation of the eternal feminine 
developed in all directions4 ,this new  
type of woman has already gleamed forth 
here and there1 not only in our time but
 in centuries passed4 ,in the ,middle   
,ages she wrote the letters of ,heloise2
 in the ,renaissance1 ,leonardo painted 
her as ,mona ,lisa2 and in the          
eighteenth century she held the salon of

 ,mlle4 ,lespinasse4 ,in our century she
 wrote the love sonnets of ,elizabeth   
,barrett ,browning2 she appeared upon   
the stage as ,eleonora ,duse--and as in 
a precious stone her being is           
crystallized by the poet's words with   
which ,rahel's personality was          
epitomized3 calm yet emotionally        
vivid4,b    ,b ,footnote from ,french   
translation3--,the reference here is to 
,rahel de ,varnhagen4 ,the citation is  
taken from the ,hyperion       of       
,holderlin1 a ,german poet of whom      
mention is made apropos       of        
,nietzsche1 upon whom he had great      
influence4     ,,the ,,conventional     
,,woman   ,conventionality is the tacit 
agreement to set appearance before      
reality1 form before content1           
subordination before principal4 ,its    
field in certain measure is vogue       
changing according to the idea of beauty
 of each new season4 ,in deeper sense1  
however1 a part of the sphere of        
conventionality coincides always with   

that of law and custom1 and with the    
conception of the amount of self-control
 and self-sacrifice which every         
individual must impose upon himself for 
the common life with others4 ,the       
further the evolution of humanity       
advances1 the fewer are the fields to   
which the power of society over the     
thought1 belief1 mode of life and manner
 of work of the individual is           
restricted4 ,more and more prevalent    
becomes the conviction that all those   
forms of expression of the individual   
which do not interfere with the rights  
of others must be free4 ,a great part of
 the work of culture of each new        
generation has consisted and still      
consists in clearing away great masses  
of conceptions of right dried up into   
conventionalism1 dead rubbish which     
prevents the new germs from sprouting4  
,in every period strong voices are heard
 which desire freedom from the          
prevailing customs1 and right of choice 
for the individual conscience and       

temperament4 ,in this ever-continuous   
struggle it is important to distinguish 
what are really still living conceptions
 of right from factitious conceptions1  
which form only a conventional obstacle 
to a more beautiful freedom1 a deeper   
truth1 a greater originality1 a richer  
life content4  ,yet it is not only old  
conventionalism which needs to be rooted
 out4 ,in every faction1 in every social
 circle are soon formed lifeless        
collections of prejudices1 paltry       
motives1 dependent customs4 ,it is      
always the women among whom             
conventionalism reaches its acme4 ,for  
conservatism1 that deep significant     
instinct of woman1 becomes also often a 
prop of conventionality4 ,women are as  
yet seldom sufficiently developed       
personally to distinguish1 in that which
 they wish to cherish1 the appearance   
from the reality1 the form from the     
content2 or if they do distinguish1 they
 have as yet rarely the courage to      
choose the content and reality if the   

majority have declared for form and     
appearance6  ,in the literature of the  
last ten years and in part also among   
women there prevails1 however1 a strong 
opposition to conventionality4 ,this    
opposition has been directed especially 
against the archaic ideal of woman1     
according to which renunciation is still
 considered the highest attribute of    
woman2 and against the antiquated       
conception of morality which regarded   
love without marriage as immoral1 but   
any marriage1 even without love1 as     
moral4  ,the women who adopted the new  
ideal--which a ,norwegian poet          
strikingly defined as ,self-assertion in
 self-surrender4 ,affirmation of self in
 giving of self--encounter now on the   
part of the modern woman's-rights       
advocates the same kind of conventional 
objection as in the fifties and sixties 
was directed against the then new ideal 
of the earlier woman movement4  ,the    
older emancipation movement advanced    
along the first line in the effort to   

establish the right of woman as a human 
being2 that is1 to give to woman the    
same rights as to man4 ,the present     
movement purposes to assert the right of
 woman as an individuality2 the absolute
 right to believe1 to feel1 to think and
 to act in her own way1 if it does not  
interfere with the rights of others4    
,since the first end was a general one1 
the movement could in great part be made
 effective by collective work in        
attaining that end2 the exposition of   
the independence of the individuality of
 woman1 on the contrary1 must be the    
personal concern of each single         
individual4 ,this those women do not    
understand who still are working ever   
for the first end--the rights of woman  
as a human being4 ,they do not          
understand that every woman must        
receive1 not merely her universal       
rights1 as a member of the body politic1
 but also her entire individual rights  
as the possessor of a definite          
personality4 ,the right to establish an 

ego independent of1 and perhaps entirely
 at variance with1 theories and ideals  
is at heart the point of struggle       
between the one or the other individual 
woman and the women representatives of  
the earlier era of the woman question4  
,the discovery that each personality is 
a new world--which in ,shakespeare found
 its ,columbus1 a ,columbus after whom  
new mariners immediately undertook new  
conquests--this discovery of literature 
has as yet only partially penetrated the
 universal consciousness1 as a truth of 
experience4 ,but the fact that it has   
made a beginning1 that the conventional1
 inflexible conception of the nature of 
man and of the problems resulting       
therefrom is giving place to a relative 
and individual conception--this is above
 all to be ascribed to the thinkers and 
poets1 in whom the conventional has its 
deadliest foe2 the recreative poets     
whose characteristic is deep            
appreciation of all primal forces of    
existence1 of all essential elements of 

life4 ,for although conventionalism in  
the form of the echo springs up also    
around genius1 yet the creative genius  
itself is always a protest against      
conventionality in which any            
selfjustified life or art--conception   
has perished4  ,the poet who here in the
 ,north shattered with a blow the       
archaic conventional ideal of woman who 
sacrificed herself in all circumstances1
 was ,ibsen when he sent ,nora out away 
from her husband and children in order  
to fulfill the duties toward herself2   
when by means of ,ghosts he etched into 
the moral consciousness the idea that a 
woman's fidelity to her own personality 
is more significant for the welfare of  
others as well as of herself than her   
fidelity to conventional conceptions of 
morality4  ,and ,ibsen has always been  
the annunciator of the freedom under    
one's own responsibility which is the   
key to individualism4 ,long has man     
listened1 only in part has he           
understood4 ,and no consciousness is in 

this respect more hermetically sealed   
than that of certain woman's rights     
advocates6 ,that all women should have  
the same rights as men1 this is all that
 they mean in their talk about the      
freeing of the woman's personality4     
,they forget that the right to be what  
she wishes entails often for the woman1 
as for the man1 the obligation to       
suppress that which she really is by    
nature and feeling4 ,they forget that   
the personality has deeper claims than  
the right to work4 ,they overlook the   
infinite variety of shades of feeling1  
thought and character which caused the  
demand of solidarity in opinions and    
actions1 among the women active in the  
woman question1 to degenerate into      
suppression of woman's individuality4   
,certainly it is true that united action
 is still necessary in order that woman 
may obtain the rights which she still   
lacks4 ,but all compulsory mobilized    
action is here more dangerous than      
elsewhere2 because for the advance of   

the woman question in the deepest sense 
it is essential precisely that the      
different feminine individualities show 
their useful faculties as freely as     
possible in the different fields of     
activity4  ,the conventionality which is
 a menace in the woman question betrays 
itself1 not only in exaggerated demands 
for solidarity1 but also in the mode of 
treating the objections of the          
opposition4 ,it reveals itself in the   
lack of comprehension of the fact that  
the woman question1 particularly in what
 concerns the labor field1 now          
intersects on all sides the path of the 
social question4 ,it especially evinces 
itself in the inability to understand   
how the woman question1 as it advances  
in its evolution1 becomes more complex1 
and how thereby1 ever greater           
difficulties arise in taking an absolute
 position in the questions connected    
with it4  ,it is necessary that woman's 
opportunities for culture be multiplied4
 ,but do all these measures of culture  

develop also the personality8 ,have we  
not met the finest1 most original1 most 
charming natures among unlettered dames 
of seventy and eighty years1 or among   
such women as never had a systematic    
education8 ,it is right that the wages  
of women should be increased2 but will  
the labor value of women increase in    
proportion8 ,can we even desire that the
 majority of these women bent over their
 desks shall devote a live interest to  
their work1 when their sole essential   
being would first find expression only  
when bent over a cradle8 ,it is well    
also for girls of wealth to wish to have
 a vocation4 ,but is it also good if    
they1 because they can be satisfied with
 a smaller wage1 take away the work from
 poor girls and men1 often more         
competent1 who have to live entirely by 
the fruits of their work1 and must      
therefore demand larger wages8  ,so long
 as these and many other questions      
remain unanswered1 there is today quite 
as much that is conventional in         

rejoicing unreservedly over the many    
girls who become students or leave the  
home1 where they are very much needed1  
for outside work1 as there was in our   
grandmother's time in wishing to limit  
the province of woman to the kitchen1   
the nursery and the drawing room4  ,it  
is not yet known whether woman1 through 
the competition for bread1 will develop 
physiologically and psychologically to  
greater health and harmony4 ,woman is a 
new subject for research1 and only      
centuries of full freedom in choice of  
labor and in personal development can   
furnish material for well grounded      
conclusions4 ,many signs1 however1 point
 to this3--that an ineffaceable1        
deep-rooted psychological difference due
 to physical peculiarities will always  
exist between man and woman1 which      
probably will always keep her by        
preference active in the sphere of the  
family1 while he probably will remain   
active in other spheres of culture4 ,but
 with a perfect equality with man and a 

full personal development1 woman can    
have a significance for culture in its  
entirety and for the direction of       
society which we can still scarcely     
divine4  ,the conventional points of    
view1 just mentioned in considering the 
woman question1 retard the development  
of woman's individuality above all      
because they overlook the diversity of  
nature and the complexity of the        
problem4 ,the conventional conception of
 self-renunciation as the highest       
expression of womanhood is still        
continually the greatest obstacle to the
 achievement of woman's personality4 ,to
 be able to perish for a loved being    
with joy is one of the beautiful        
inalienable priviliges of woman nature4 
,but by considering this under all      
circumstances as ideal1 woman has thus  
retarded not only her own development   
but also that of man4 ,if we compare    
marriages of older generations with     
those of the younger1 the men of the    
latter show great advance in regard to  

considerate tenderness and sympathetic  
understanding toward their wives--wives 
who have on the other hand a personal   
life more complete and with other       
demands than formerly4 ,both have thus  
gained since women have begun to        
practice the self-renunciation of       
self-assertion6 ,because for every      
self-sacrificing woman nature it is     
infinitely harder to take her due than  
to sacrifice it4         99       99    
99       99       99  ,conventional     
womanhood will ever have its strongest  
support in education4  ,the             
individuality of a child is seldom      
repressed in the inconsiderate and      
brutal manner of former times4 ,but by  
attrition it is effaced4 ,in the olden  
times the children enjoyed a certain    
freedom in the nursery where the        
expression of life1 manifestation of    
joy1 pleasure and displeasure1 sympathy 
and antipathy of the growing personality
 was not continually moderated4 ,now the
 children are continually with the      

parents and these accustom them to a    
certain exacting restraint4 ,the        
children wish to be entertained2 they   
cannot play of their own initiative1 for
 they lose the desire that originates in
 the freedom of the creative phantasy4  
,neither children nor parents possess   
themselves in peace4 ,in the continual  
association the children are worn out by
 commands so varied and numerous that   
obedience cannot be maintained4 ,they do
 not1 therefore1 learn the discipline   
necessary for the development of their  
personality--to subordinate the         
unessential life expressions to the     
essential and to dominate even over     
these last--a culture of the fallow     
child ground which must begin early in  
order to become a second nature4  ,and  
this happens only when the educator     
knows clearly what he will adhere to as 
essential in the development of the     
child1 and when according to that he    
establishes his commands and            
prohibitions1 which must be few in      

number but as immutable as the laws of  
nature1 and if violated must bring upon 
the child1 not artificial punishment1   
but the inevitable results of the act   
itself4 ,so can man by fixed practice   
form the child of nature into a man of  
culture1 who out of consideration for   
himself and for others curbs his        
tendencies which are inimical to        
society1 without1 however1 suppressing  
his personality4 ,for outside the field 
of immutable laws1 children ought not to
 be constrained or coerced against their
 nature and their disposition1 against  
their healthy egoism and against their  
especial tastes4  ,now many mothers by  
their own effacement of self develop an 
unjustified egoism of the child1 but    
desire in other respects a self-control1
 a circumspection1 a moderation and     
discretion such as a whole life has not 
ordinarily been able to inculcate in the
 mother herself4 ,out of this soft clay1
 which is material for an individuality1
 parents1 servants and teachers mold a  

society being1 sometimes a social being1
 but never a human being4  ,this        
modeling is called education4 ,and a    
part of the earliest education must1 as 
,i have just shown1 truly consist in    
that of molding4 ,but after the first   
years of life the aim of education      
should be to prevent all molding and on 
the contrary to assure the freedom or   
development of the single force which1  
considered in the light of the whole1   
makes it significant for mankind that   
new generations succeed those which have
 disappeared--the force of a new        
personality4  ,every child is a new     
world1 a world into which not even the  
tenderest love can wholly penetrate4    
,however openly the clear eyes meet     
ours1 however confidingly the soft hand 
is laid in ours1 this tender being will 
perhaps one day deplore the suffering of
 his childhood1 because we treated him  
according to the assumption that        
children are replicas1 not originals2   
not new1 wonderful personalities4 ,it is

 true the child in certain measure is a 
repetition of the child nature of all   
times1 but at the same time1 and this in
 a far higher degree1 an absolutely new 
synthesis of soul qualities1 with new   
possibilities for sorrow and joy1       
strength and weakness4  ,this new being 
will1 upon his own responsibility1 at   
his own risk1 live this terrifyingly    
earnest life4 ,what creative force1 new 
inceptions1 he will be able to bring to 
it2 what elasticity he will possess     
under the blows of destiny1 what power  
to give and to receive happiness--all   
depends1 outside of nature itself1 in   
essential degree upon the educator's    
method of treating this individual child
 nature4  ,goethe long ago lamented that
 education aspired to make ,philistines 
out of personalities4 ,and this is now  
much worse since education has become   
pedagogical1 without at the same time   
becoming psychological4  ,only he who   
treats the feelings1 will and rights of 
a child with quite the same             

consideration as those of a grown       
person1 and who never allows the        
personality of a child to feel other    
limitations than those of nature itself1
 or the consideration1 based upon good  
grounds1 for the child's own welfare or 
that of others--only he possesses the   
first requisite principle of real       
education4 ,education must assuredly be 
a liberating of the personality from the
 domination of its own passions4 ,but it
 must never strive to exterminate       
passion itself1 which is the innermost  
power of the personality and which      
cannot exist without the coexisting     
danger of a corresponding fault4 ,to    
subdue the possible fault in each       
spiritual inclination by eliciting      
through love the corresponding good in  
the same inclination--this alone is     
individual education4 ,it is an         
extremely slow education1 in which      
immediate interference signifies little1
 the spiritual atmosphere of the home1  
its mode of life and its ideals signify 

on the contrary almost everything4 ,the 
educator must above all understand how  
to wait3 to reckon all effects in the   
light of the future1 not of the present4
  ,the educator believes often that he  
spares the child future suffering when  
he opposes his onesidedness1 as it is   
called4 ,he does not reflect that in the
 effort to force the child in a         
direction contrary to that in which his 
personality evinces itself1 he merely   
succeeds in diminishing his nature2 yes1
 often merely in retaining the weakness 
in the quality1 not the corresponding   
strength6  ,but ordinarily it is indeed 
no such principle1 but only the old     
thoughtlessly maintained ideal of       
self-renunciation which is decisive4 ,we
 repress the child's joy of discovery   
and check the spirit of enterprise2     
wound his extremely sensitive sense of  
beauty2 exercise force over his most    
personal possessions1 his tokens of     
tenderness2 combat his aversions and    
quench his enthusiasm4 ,amid such       

attacks upon their individual being1    
their feelings and their inclinations   
most children1 but especially girls1    
grow up4 ,it is therefore not surprising
 that when grown they seldom look back  
upon their childhood as a happy time4   
,an intense feeling of life1 a sense of 
plenitude1 entirety1 of the complete    
development of the powers of the        
potentialities--this constitutes        
happiness4 ,children have more          
possibilities of happiness than adults1 
for they can experience this feeling of 
joy of life more undividedly and        
immediately4 ,they should utilize these 
possibilities of happiness while the    
parents have partial power over their   
life4 ,soon enough must they on their   
own initiative attempt1 accomplish1     
bleed2 and herein no one of all the     
influences of education has even        
approximately the significance of this3 
that the individual be not overtrained1 
that he have still strength enough to   
live4 ,that means3 to suffer his own    

sorrow1 to enjoy his own happiness1 to  
perform his own work1 to think his own  
thoughts1 to be able to devote himself  
absolutely and entirely--the sole       
condition of being able to work1 to love
 and to die4  ,it is a deep             
psychological truth that the kingdom of 
heaven belongs to the children4 ,for no 
one attains the highest that life offers
 in any other way than by simplicity1   
unworldliness and the power of devoting 
his whole being without reserve to his  
object4 ,this is the strength of the    
child nature4 ,if a mother by education 
has preserved this holy strength and    
developed it to a conscious power1 then 
she has given to mankind not only a new 
being but a new personality4  ,but the  
education in the family1 just as in the 
school1 is tending in the opposite      
direction4 ,the destruction of the      
personality is therefore the great evil 
of the time4         99       99        
99       99       99  ,yet man is       
fortunately a vigorous organism4 ,and   

those1 whose personality has been bowed 
or repressed by education1 could raise  
themselves again and create freedom for 
their development if they were aware of 
the value of this freedom4  ,few beings 
and so likewise few women can be        
exceptional4 ,but if only a few are     
destined for a great personality1 yet   
nevertheless most can1 in spite of the  
errors of education1 develop a certain  
degree of personality1 if they are      
deeply1 earnestly concerned in it4  ,for
 everything is interrelated4 ,no one    
lives unpunished by a second hand4 ,we  
cannot advance intellectually by        
borrowing1 without becoming also morally
 less scrupulous4 ,we are today unjust  
to a book1 a picture1 a drama1 because  
we pronounce judgment upon it according 
to the words of others1 or because we do
 not dare to show the pleasure it gives 
us1 in case the critic has not granted  
us permission to be pleased1 or because 
we feign indignation we do not feel1 but
 which others require of us in the name 

of taste or morality4 ,tomorrow1 in the 
same way1 we shall be unjust or         
dishonest to man1 or to our own         
feeling--an injustice or a dishonesty   
which can have influence over the       
destiny of a whole life4  ,the sum of   
spiritual riches1 of spiritual          
utilities1 is thereby diminished if we  
do not cede to the whole what is most   
essentially ours4 ,that which is really 
our own may be great or small1 rich or  
insignificant--if we ourselves have felt
 or thought it1 it is more significant  
to others than that which we merely     
repeat1 even if our authority be the    
highest4 ,and in those cases where we   
must rely upon authorities1 we still can
 put a certain personality into our     
choice and honesty in acknowledging our 
indebtedness1 by confessing that we have
 borrowed our judgment we can put       
honesty and originality into this       
dependence4  ,it is possible for no one 
to acquire more than a limited amount of
 the results of culture1 to form an     

entirely original judgment oftener than 
in a few isolated cases4 ,but each one  
can learn to understand that it is a    
mark of culture not to pronounce        
judgment upon questions with which he is
 not conversant4 ,good taste prescribes 
that just as one refuses to wear false  
jewels if one possesses no real ones1 so
 one should refrain from pronouncing    
judgment upon persons or questions upon 
which one has not formed an opinion     
through one's own impressions4 ,when    
this honesty begins to be considered a  
mark of spiritual refinement1 then will 
the culture of woman have made quite as 
great advance as when she learned to    
read4 ,for next to the power to form    
decisions for one's self stands in      
culture value the ability to understand 
what opinions one does not possess and  
the courage to recognize one's delicacy4
  ,courage and truth--that is what women
 lack above all4 ,and these are the     
qualities which they must cultivate if  
the feminine personality is to grow4    

,this does not result because women     
devote themselves to study1 be it ever  
so thorough1 or to social tasks1 be they
 ever so responsible4 ,both further the 
development of woman's personality in   
the measure only in which her own       
investigations1 her own choice1 make her
 means of culture and her work an       
organic part of herself4 ,to develop    
woman's personality from within--that is
 the great woman question4 ,to free     
woman from conventionality--that is the 
great aim of the emancipation of woman4 
,such a conception of the woman question
 is for me the ideal conception of this 
present great movement4 ,and ideality   
does not mean to adopt as the conception
 of life that which the majority        
considers ideal4 ,ideality means to live
 for the ideal1 which has inflamed our  
consciousness and not to violate this   
consciousness by adapting it to such    
ideals as we feel with our whole soul   
are lower4  ,if it is true that the lack
 of genius is the lack of courage1 so   

then is it still more true in regard to 
the lack of personality4 ,here lies one 
of the reasons why individuality is less
 often found among women than among men4
 ,a man is more fully inflamed with his 
idea1 the object of his work2 he is more
 intense in that which he knows and     
which he wills4 ,he becomes thus        
often--just as the child--more onesided1
 almost always more egoistic1 but much  
more absolute than a woman in like      
position4 ,she is rarely1 except in     
love1 wholly penetrated by that which   
occupies her4 ,it is then easier for her
 to be considerate1 to look about       
continuously upon all sides4 ,she is    
more mobile1 more quickly sensitive1    
more manysided and more supple than man1
 and therein lies her strength4 ,but    
just as that of man1 it is bought at the
 price of corresponding weakness4 ,for  
equipoise is still so difficult in human
 nature that a good quality is often not
 the product of a multiplication1 but is
 the remainder after a subtraction4     

,the man becomes thus especially        
creative through his greater courage to 
dare1 his more intense power to will2   
the woman becomes the often anxious     
conservator4 ,she cherishes with        
fidelity1 not only the customs and      
memories of the home1 but also society's
 traditional sentiments and conceptions 
of right4 ,but this very conspicuous    
conservatism of the woman is exactly    
that which has obstructed the           
development of exceptional femininity4  
,the personal independence of man is    
hampered because he must work ordinarily
 in close association with others2      
whereby he is bound by party discipline 
and party spirit1 by considerations for 
preferment or other interests4  ,the    
personality of woman on the other hand  
is more fettered by conventional        
conceptions of morality and a           
conventional ideal of woman4 ,she will  
not distinguish the self-sacrifice which
 is of value from that which from all   
points of view is valueless4 ,she does  

not rely upon her own instinct for right
 if this instinct deviates only a hair's
 breadth from the generally accepted    
idea4 ,she pardons the one who sins     
against established conceptions of      
right1 provided only he recognizes their
 validity2 but she condemns the one who 
has acted contrary to this conception in
 sincere conviction1 because his idea of
 right differs from that of the         
majority6 ,she confounds in her judgment
 temperament and opinions1 doctrine and 
life--a confusion which is the origin of
 all spiritual tyranny1 of all social   
intolerance4 ,especially does this      
obtain in questions which concern the   
relation of the sexes4 ,every one who   
expresses an opinion at variance with   
the conventional ideal of morality has  
then incurred intrusive conclusions and 
blasting defamation of his private life4
 ,on the part of women then--if it is a 
question concerning a woman--it must all
 the more be accepted that it requires  
not only a glowing red belief but also a

 snow-white conscience to dare defy     
society in its most sensitive           
prejudices4  ,conventionality of the    
woman attains its culminating point in  
the thoughtless and conscienceless      
repetition of others' words by which    
most women lower their spiritual level1 
distort1 disfigure their character and  
eventually stultify their personality4  
,a woman who makes any pretensions to   
fineness1 evinces this among other      
things1 by avoiding all borrowed or sham
 luxury4 ,she scorns spurious effects1  
tinsel1 and disdains therefore in her   
dress and her home all artificial       
ornamentation4  ,but this same woman    
utters boldly counterfeited opinions and
 spurious judgments as her own4 ,even if
 she possesses it she dare not express a
 fresh1 original opinion1 a warm direct 
feeling4 ,and her forgeries are then    
transmitted by other plagarists from    
circle to circle4 ,thus ,public ,opinion
 is formed upon the most delicate life  
problems1 the most serious life work4   

,thus the most noble actions become     
dubious and the vilest calumnies        
positive authentic truths4 ,thus the air
 becomes congested with the grains of   
sand1 under which a man's works of honor
 are buried4  ,but a work or a renown   
which has been interred can be exhumed4 
,it is the blind re-echoers of others'  
words1 themselves1 who must at length   
disappear forever4