Page 253 - swanns-way

no one but herself; and when we find in real life a desire for
melodramatic effect, it is generally the ‘sadic’ instinct that
is responsible for it. It is possible that, without being in the
least inclined towards ‘sadism,’ a girl might have shewn the
same outrageous cruelty as Mlle. Vinteuil in desecrating the
memory and defying the wishes of her dead father, but she
would not have given them deliberate expression in an act
so crude in its symbolism, so lacking in subtlety; the crimi-
nal element in her behaviour would have been less evident to
other people, and even to herself, since she would not have
admitted to herself that she was doing wrong. But, appear-
ances apart, in Mlle. Vinteuil’s soul, at least in the earlier
stages, the evil element was probably not unmixed. A’sadist’
of her kind is an artist in evil, which a wholly wicked per-
son could not be, for in that case the evil would not have
been external, it would have seemed quite natural to her,
and would not even have been distinguishable from herself;
and as for virtue, respect for the dead, filial obedience, since
she would never have practised the cult of these things, she
would take no impious delight in their profanation. ‘Sadists’
of Mlle. Vinteuil’s sort are creatures so purely sentimental,
so virtuous by nature, that even sensual pleasure appears to
them as something bad, a privilege reserved for the wicked.
And when they allow themselves for a moment to enjoy it
they endeavour to impersonate, to assume all the outward
appearance of wicked people, for themselves and their part-
ners in guilt, so as to gain the momentary illusion of having
escaped beyond the control of their own gentle and scru-
pulous natures into the inhuman world of pleasure. And I

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