Under the Microscope

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

Under the Microscope

Are We Really as Bad as We Are Painted ?

By BART SUTHERLAND

JUDGING by tlie audiences, it would " seem that most of the women in Auckland were keen to ace Clare Boothe's much-discussed play, "The Women." Many of us, probably, had individual reasons —some as students of stage technique, viewing a play with an all-woman cast; some eager to see American frocking and unusual sotr tings; some, liko the Athenians of old, merely keen "to see and hear some new thing," and to pass opinion as to whether it was as "advanced" as it was rpputed to be. * But to all of us there was the urge of common inquiry. Are these ideas of a woman about women really true? Are women as bad as they are por-

While tho women of this ago will be inclined to shy at tho words of the. in- , fntuatcd young poet who described bbeir sex as sweeter than fairies, peris, goddesses," yet like the rest of humanity, they are surely in order in asking for mere truth and justice. Writers for the De.fence Those writers who deal in full-length portraits use tho greatest of the hternry faculties, sympathy and understanding. Shakespeare could be bitter 011 occasion, but fie has portrayed some lovely and noble women. Chaucer's tribute is perhaps, the most wonderful; ho compares women in "humblcsso" and patience to Job: > There can be no man in humblesse him acquyte As women can, nor can be half as trevJe. Tho cases of those who have used wider judgment, as against the merely cynical, are too many to quote, and a special tribute should be paid to modern writers, most of whom havo long realised that "there's a reason" for most deflections from noble conduct. .Take, for instance, the matter or gossiping tongues, for which there is most certainly a reason. I am firmly convinced that women who gossip a great deal do so because they have no occupation of real and vital interest to them. In spite of our belief m our advanced ideas, there are many women denied a liberal education. I say this in spite of the fact that they may have been to expensive schools, specialising in what is known as "social" training. ]t is not every mortal who is strong enough to beat out a career for herself, if the way has not been made easy in youth. Bernard Shaw, you may remember, in the preface to "Getting Married," says that the women of a few years back were impossible —almost "femalo cads," because of an exclusively home training. There are some women not completely free of that, even now.

Don't We All—Gossip? Tlio urge to gossip—and men gossip as well as women! —is harmless enough in itself. We should recognise that it often shows a love of life, an interest in it. It is the quality in average men and women that allies them to the writer and the artist. There is also a tragic reason for much gossip. It is that many of us feel ourselves, to' be liable at any moment to problems similar to those we are probing. After seeing such a satire as "The Women," wo are inclined to say by way of defence, "Oh, but those were American society women with nothing else to do!" Yet the same charge of idle talking has been made against New Zealand women by an outside observer. Mr. Donald Cowie, in his book, "New Zealand from Within," says: "New Zealand women are dangerous . . . they are not conspicuous hy breadth of mind. . . . The main thing I have against New Zealand women is that they talk. Christchurch is Cranford all over again, and, as for the smaller towns, heaven help the stranger within their gates!" On the other hand —though I suppose it is not a convincing argument to advance—Mr. H. C. D. Somerset, in "Littledene," a much more scientific rural study of New Zealand rural life, says that neither do. the men talk about much else but other people, about hard times and the shortage of money. I do not quite agree with all this myself; I have met many interesting talkers in New Zealand,, but, perhaps, for truth's sake, I should admit to a fondness for the subjects mentioned rather than, say, surrealism.' To be serious, the women of New Zealand have a responsibility. But, whatever is the truth, 1 believe, in the brighter day that is coming all over the world, when we are more content. and have time for things that really matter, spiteful and uncharitable dealing with the affairs of others will almost dio out. So not all the satirical plays in the world will make mo lose my faith in "the women" —or the men. either.

traved in this play, in reviews of which the" fact is flaunted that there is only one sympathetic character? We" all know tho harm that may be done by gossiping tongues, but are women, taken on the whole, such hopeless and "unsporting" members of society? According to observers since time began, these players were acting most truly "in characters"—in the female character! In the Greek myths woman was said to have been born with "a spirit unabashed and a deceitful heart." "Roguish Hermes gave her the art of feigning and a coaxing tongue withal." A chorus (all-women!) of the old Greek satirist Aristophanes complains:

They say all evil proceeds from us, war, battles, and murder coen; We're a tiresome, troublesome, -quarrelsome lot, disturbers of earth and heaven. . . .

But they proceed to ask —quite reasonably,* I think —why men are so keen 011 marrying them ? The blame of "all our woe" was placed on Eve, not Adam; but, somehow, in these modern times, with education and equality of opportunity in worth while occupations, we thought we had outgrown the possibility of such charges. Lady Asquith's Shafts It is when they are made bv a woman writer that we begin to question. Surely she must know her own sex, know of what she is talking? And she is not the only woman who has said such tilings. Lady Asquith, in that famous autobiography of hers, said: "Women are often dull, sometimes dangerous, and always dishonourable." Again: "Few women have speculative minds, nor can they deliberate; they have instincts, quick apprehensions and powers of observation; but • they, are seldom imaginative, and neither their logic nor their reason are their strong points." The construction of the last part of her ladyship's sentence is rather queer, but perhaps it illustrates her point! One could • think of many other women 'who have satirised their sex. Thero was, for instance, that naughty, penetrating Jane Austen. But did she not write, too, of a certain Mr. Collins? The point to remember is that satire concentrates a very rovealing rav upon sundry failings of humanity, and to do its work it must exaggerate aj little. There is a good motive, as a rule, it must be admitted, that of education and reform. Satire may bo likened to the burning acid that is used in the making of the dfclicatc etching. Therefore, wo should judge this play with the mind open and ready for reform. But I should like nevertheless to say a few words in defence of our sex.