... the woman who grows up with the idea that she is simply to be an amiable animal, to be caressed and coaxed, is invariably a bitterly disappointed woman. A game of chess will cure such a conceit forever. The woman that knows the most, thinks the most, feels the most, is the most. Intellectual affection is the only lasting love. Love that has a game of chess in it can checkmate any man and solve the problem of life.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of intellectual depth in women and how true love flourishes through mutual intellectual engagement.
In this quote, Charles Dickens highlights the notion that women who are only viewed as objects for affection often face deep disappointment. He argues that true love is rooted in intellectual engagement and understanding, suggesting that a woman's strength and value are derived from her intellect and emotional depth. By presenting love in terms of a strategic game of chess, Dickens implies that intellectual connection is fundamental to a lasting relationship, transcending superficial notions of affection.
In practice
This quote can inspire a discussion in a women's empowerment seminar.
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
Nothing else wounds so deeply and irreparably. Nothing else robs us of hope so much as being unloved by one we love
Love cannot be held prisoner because it is a river and will overflow its banks.
Yet I was ready for love and joy. I wanted to let go of my pain. I wanted to pursue life instead of holding fast to fantasies of death.
It was, at last, real life, with my heart safe and condemned to die of happy love in the joyful agony of any day after my hundredth birthday.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
Send Love in Some Form to those you Believe have Wronged you, & Notice How Much Better you Feel
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