Marriage and Love

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Marriage and Love, by Emma Goldman This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Marriage and Love Author: Emma Goldman Release Date: March 1, 2007 [EBook #20715] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARRIAGE AND LOVE *** Produced by Tamise Totterdell, Fritz Ohrenschall and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) Marriage and Love BY EMMA GOLDMAN Price Ten Cents MOTHER EARTH PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 210 EAST 13th STREET, NEW YORK 1911 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALEXANDER BERKMAN A Unique Contribution to Socio-Psychological Literature THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY REPRESENTS THREE PHASES: I. The Revolutionary Awakening and its Toll— The Attentat II. The Allegheny Penitentiary: Fourteen Years in Purgatory III.

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Marriage and Love, by Emma GoldmanThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.netTitle: Marriage and LoveAuthor: Emma GoldmanRelease Date: March 1, 2007 [EBook #20715]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARRIAGE AND LOVE ***OPnrloidnuece dD ibsyt rTiabmuitseed TPortotoefrrdeealdli,n gF rTietazm Oahtr ehntstcph:a/l/lw wawn.dp gtdhpe.netd(oTmhaiisn bmoaotke rwiaasl pfrroodmu ctehde fGrooomg lsec aPnrniendt ipmraogjeesc to.f) publicMarriage and LoveYBEMMA GOLDMANPrice Ten CentsMOTHER EARTH PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION210 EAST 13th STREET, NEW YORK1191AUTOBIOGRAPHY

FOALEXANDER BERKMANA Unique Contribution to Socio-PsychologicalLiteratureTHE AUTOBIOGRAPHY REPRESENTS THREEPHASES:I. TAhwea kReenvionlgu taionnd aitrsy Toll—The AttentatII. TFhoeu rAtelleeng hYeenayr sP iennitentiary:PurgatoryIII. The Resurrection and AfterPrice One Dollar FiftySend Advance Subscription toMother Earth Publishing Association210 East Thirteenth StreetNew YorkTHE BOBOE KI SISS UNEEDA IRNI NTGH EC OEMAPRLLEY TSIOPNR IANNGD WILLMarriage and LoveYBEMMA GOLDMANPrice Ten CentsMOTHER EARTH PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION210 EAST 13th STREET, NEW YORK]1[

1911MARRIAGE AND LOVEThe popular notion about marriage and love is that they are synonymous, thatthey spring from the same motives, and cover the same human needs. Likemost popular notions this also rests not on actual facts, but on superstition.Marriage and love have nothing in common; they are as far apart as the poles;are, in fact, antagonistic to each other. No doubt some marriages have been theresult of love. Not, however, because love could assert itself only in marriage;much rather is it because few people can completely outgrow a convention.There are today large numbers of men and women to whom marriage is naughtbut a farce, but who submit to it for the sake of public opinion. At any rate, whileit is true that some marriages are based on love, and while it is equally true thatin some cases love continues in married life, I maintain that it does soregardless of marriage, and not because of it.On the other hand, it is utterly false that love results from marriage. On rareoccasions one does hear of a miraculous case of a married couple falling inlove after marriage, but on close examination it will be found that it is a mereadjustment to the inevitable. Certainly the growing-used to each other is faraway from the spontaneity, the intensity, and beauty of love, without which theintimacy of marriage must prove degrading to both the woman and the man.Marriage is primarily an economic arrangement, an insurance pact. It differsfrom the ordinary life insurance agreement only in that it is more binding, moreexacting. Its returns are insignificantly small compared with the investments. Intaking out an insurance policy one pays for it in dollars and cents, always atliberty to discontinue payments. If, however, woman's premium is a husband,she pays for it with her name, her privacy, her self-respect, her very life, "untildeath doth part." Moreover, the marriage insurance condemns her to life-longdependency, to parasitism, to complete uselessness, individual as well associal. Man, too, pays his toll, but as his sphere is wider, marriage does not limithim as much as woman. He feels his chains more in an economic sense.Thus Dante's motto over Inferno applies with equal force to marriage. "Ye whoenter here leave all hope behind."That marriage is a failure none but the very stupid will deny. One has but toglance over the statistics of divorce to realize how bitter a failure marriage reallyis. Nor will the stereotyped Philistine argument that the laxity of divorce lawsand the growing looseness of woman account for the fact that: first, everytwelfth marriage ends in divorce; second, that since 1870 divorces haveincreased from 28 to 73 for every hundred thousand population; third, thatadultery, since 1867, as ground for divorce, has increased 270.8 per cent.;fourth, that desertion increased 369.8 per cent.Added to these startling figures is a vast amount of material, dramatic andliterary, further elucidating this subject. Robert Herrick, in Together; Pinero, inMid-Channel; Eugene Walter, in Paid in Full, and scores of other writers arediscussing the barrenness, the monotony, the sordidness, the inadequacy ofmarriage as a factor for harmony and understanding.The thoughtful social student will not content himself with the popular]2[]3[[]4]5[

superficial excuse for this phenomenon. He will have to dig down deeper intothe very life of the sexes to know why marriage proves so disastrous.Edward Carpenter says that behind every marriage stands the life-longenvironment of the two sexes; an environment so different from each other thatman and woman must remain strangers. Separated by an insurmountable wallof superstition, custom, and habit, marriage has not the potentiality ofdeveloping knowledge of, and respect for, each other, without which everyunion is doomed to failure.Henrik Ibsen, the hater of all social shams, was probably the first to realize thisgreat truth. Nora leaves her husband, not—as the stupid critic would have it—because she is tired of her responsibilities or feels the need of woman's rights,but because she has come to know that for eight years she had lived with astranger and borne him children. Can there be anything more humiliating, moredegrading than a life-long proximity between two strangers? No need for thewoman to know anything of the man, save his income. As to the knowledge ofthe woman—what is there to know except that she has a pleasing appearance?We have not yet outgrown the theologic myth that woman has no soul, that sheis a mere appendix to man, made out of his rib just for the convenience of thegentleman who was so strong that he was afraid of his own shadow.Perchance the poor quality of the material whence woman comes isresponsible for her inferiority. At any rate, woman has no soul—what is there toknow about her? Besides, the less soul a woman has the greater her asset as awife, the more readily will she absorb herself in her husband. It is this slavishacquiescence to man's superiority that has kept the marriage institutionseemingly intact for so long a period. Now that woman is coming into her own,now that she is actually growing aware of herself as a being outside of themaster's grace, the sacred institution of marriage is gradually beingundermined, and no amount of sentimental lamentation can stay it.From infancy, almost, the average girl is told that marriage is her ultimate goal;therefore her training and education must be directed towards that end. Like themute beast fattened for slaughter, she is prepared for that. Yet, strange to say,she is allowed to know much less about her function as wife and mother thanthe ordinary artisan of his trade. It is indecent and filthy for a respectable girl toknow anything of the marital relation. Oh, for the inconsistency of respectability,that needs the marriage vow to turn something which is filthy into the purest andmost sacred arrangement that none dare question or criticize. Yet that is exactlythe attitude of the average upholder of marriage. The prospective wife andmother is kept in complete ignorance of her only asset in the competitive field—sex. Thus she enters into life-long relations with a man only to find herselfshocked, repelled, outraged beyond measure by the most natural and healthyinstinct, sex. It is safe to say that a large percentage of the unhappiness, misery,distress, and physical suffering of matrimony is due to the criminal ignorance insex matters that is being extolled as a great virtue. Nor is it at all anexaggeration when I say that more than one home has been broken upbecause of this deplorable fact.If, however, woman is free and big enough to learn the mystery of sex withoutthe sanction of State or Church, she will stand condemned as utterly unfit tobecome the wife of a "good" man, his goodness consisting of an empty brainand plenty of money. Can there be anything more outrageous than the idea thata healthy, grown woman, full of life and passion, must deny nature's demand,must subdue her most intense craving, undermine her health and break her]6[[]7

spirit, must stunt her vision, abstain from the depth and glory of sex experienceuntil a "good" man comes along to take her unto himself as a wife? That isprecisely what marriage means. How can such an arrangement end except infailure? This is one, though not the least important, factor of marriage, whichdifferentiates it from love.Ours is a practical age. The time when Romeo and Juliet risked the wrath oftheir fathers for love, when Gretchen exposed herself to the gossip of herneighbors for love, is no more. If, on rare occasions, young people allowthemselves the luxury of romance, they are taken in care by the elders, drilledand pounded until they become "sensible."The moral lesson instilled in the girl is not whether the man has aroused herlove, but rather is it, "How much?" The important and only God of practicalAmerican life: Can the man make a living? can he support a wife? That is theonly thing that justifies marriage. Gradually this saturates every thought of thegirl; her dreams are not of moonlight and kisses, of laughter and tears; shedreams of shopping tours and bargain counters. This soul poverty andsordidness are the elements inherent in the marriage institution. The State andthe Church approve of no other ideal, simply because it is the one thatnecessitates the State and Church control of men and women.Doubtless there are people who continue to consider love above dollars andcents. Particularly is this true of that class whom economic necessity has forcedto become self-supporting. The tremendous change in woman's position,wrought by that mighty factor, is indeed phenomenal when we reflect that it isbut a short time since she has entered the industrial arena. Six million womenwage workers; six million women, who have the equal right with men to beexploited, to be robbed, to go on strike; aye, to starve even. Anything more, mylord? Yes, six million wage workers in every walk of life, from the highest brainwork to the mines and railroad tracks; yes, even detectives and policemen.Surely the emancipation is complete.Yet with all that, but a very small number of the vast army of women wageworkers look upon work as a permanent issue, in the same light as does man.No matter how decrepit the latter, he has been taught to be independent, self-supporting. Oh, I know that no one is really independent in our economictreadmill; still, the poorest specimen of a man hates to be a parasite; to beknown as such, at any rate.The woman considers her position as worker transitory, to be thrown aside forthe first bidder. That is why it is infinitely harder to organize women than men."Why should I join a union? I am going to get married, to have a home." Hasshe not been taught from infancy to look upon that as her ultimate calling? Shelearns soon enough that the home, though not so large a prison as the factory,has more solid doors and bars. It has a keeper so faithful that naught canescape him. The most tragic part, however, is that the home no longer frees herfrom wage slavery; it only increases her task.According to the latest statistics submitted before a Committee "on labor andwages, and congestion of population," ten per cent. of the wage workers inNew York City alone are married, yet they must continue to work at the mostpoorly paid labor in the world. Add to this horrible aspect the drudgery ofhousework, and what remains of the protection and glory of the home? As amatter of fact, even the middle-class girl in marriage can not speak of her home,since it is the man who creates her sphere. It is not important whether thehusband is a brute or a darling. What I wish to prove is that marriageguarantees woman a home only by the grace of her husband. There she moves]8[]9[]01[

about in his home, year after year, until her aspect of life and human affairsbecomes as flat, narrow, and drab as her surroundings. Small wonder if shebecomes a nag, petty, quarrelsome, gossipy, unbearable, thus driving the manfrom the house. She could not go, if she wanted to; there is no place to go.Besides, a short period of married life, of complete surrender of all faculties,absolutely incapacitates the average woman for the outside world. Shebecomes reckless in appearance, clumsy in her movements, dependent in herdecisions, cowardly in her judgment, a weight and a bore, which most mengrow to hate and despise. Wonderfully inspiring atmosphere for the bearing oflife, is it not?But the child, how is it to be protected, if not for marriage? After all, is not thatthe most important consideration? The sham, the hypocrisy of it! Marriageprotecting the child, yet thousands of children destitute and homeless. Marriageprotecting the child, yet orphan asylums and reformatories overcrowded, theSociety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children keeping busy in rescuing thelittle victims from "loving" parents, to place them under more loving care, theGerry Society. Oh, the mockery of it!Marriage may have the power to bring the horse to water, but has it ever madehim drink? The law will place the father under arrest, and put him in convict'sclothes; but has that ever stilled the hunger of the child? If the parent has nowork, or if he hides his identity, what does marriage do then? It invokes the lawto bring the man to "justice," to put him safely behind closed doors; his labor,however, goes not to the child, but to the State. The child receives but ablighted memory of its father's stripes.As to the protection of the woman,—therein lies the curse of marriage. Not thatit really protects her, but the very idea is so revolting, such an outrage and insulton life, so degrading to human dignity, as to forever condemn this parasiticinstitution.It is like that other paternal arrangement—capitalism. It robs man of hisbirthright, stunts his growth, poisons his body, keeps him in ignorance, inpoverty, and dependence, and then institutes charities that thrive on the lastvestige of man's self-respect.The institution of marriage makes a parasite of woman, an absolute dependent.It incapacitates her for life's struggle, annihilates her social consciousness,paralyzes her imagination, and then imposes its gracious protection, which is inreality a snare, a travesty on human character.If motherhood is the highest fulfillment of woman's nature, what other protectiondoes it need, save love and freedom? Marriage but defiles, outrages, andcorrupts her fulfillment. Does it not say to woman, Only when you follow meshall you bring forth life? Does it not condemn her to the block, does it notdegrade and shame her if she refuses to buy her right to motherhood by sellingherself? Does not marriage only sanction motherhood, even though conceivedin hatred, in compulsion? Yet, if motherhood be of free choice, of love, ofecstasy, of defiant passion, does it not place a crown of thorns upon aninnocent head and carve in letters of blood the hideous epithet, Bastard? Weremarriage to contain all the virtues claimed for it, its crimes against motherhoodwould exclude it forever from the realm of love.Love, the strongest and deepest element in all life, the harbinger of hope, of joy,of ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all conventions; love, the freest, themost powerful moulder of human destiny; how can such an all-compelling force]11[]21[

be synonymous with that poor little State and Church-begotten weed,marriage?Free love? As if love is anything but free! Man has bought brains, but all themillions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but allthe power on earth has been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered wholenations, but all his armies could not conquer love. Man has chained andfettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless before love. High on athrone, with all the splendor and pomp his gold can command, man is yet poorand desolate, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poorest hovel is radiantwith warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of abeggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere. In freedomit gives itself unreservedly, abundantly, completely. All the laws on the statutes,all the courts in the universe, cannot tear it from the soil, once love has takenroot. If, however, the soil is sterile, how can marriage make it bear fruit? It is likethe last desperate struggle of fleeting life against death.Love needs no protection; it is its own protection. So long as love begets life nochild is deserted, or hungry, or famished for the want of affection. I know this tobe true. I know women who became mothers in freedom by the men they loved.Few children in wedlock enjoy the care, the protection, the devotion freemotherhood is capable of bestowing.The defenders of authority dread the advent of a free motherhood, lest it will robthem of their prey. Who would fight wars? Who would create wealth? Whowould make the policeman, the jailer, if woman were to refuse theindiscriminate breeding of children? The race, the race! shouts the king, thepresident, the capitalist, the priest. The race must be preserved, though womanbe degraded to a mere machine,—and the marriage institution is our only safetyvalve against the pernicious sex awakening of woman. But in vain these franticefforts to maintain a state of bondage. In vain, too, the edicts of the Church, themad attacks of rulers, in vain even the arm of the law. Woman no longer wantsto be a party to the production of a race of sickly, feeble, decrepit, wretchedhuman beings, who have neither the strength nor moral courage to throw off theyoke of poverty and slavery. Instead she desires fewer and better children,begotten and reared in love and through free choice; not by compulsion, asmarriage imposes. Our pseudo-moralists have yet to learn the deep sense ofresponsibility toward the child, that love in freedom has awakened in the breastof woman. Rather would she forego forever the glory of motherhood than bringforth life in an atmosphere that breathes only destruction and death. And if shedoes become a mother, it is to give to the child the deepest and best her beingcan yield. To grow with the child is her motto; she knows that in that manneralone can she help build true manhood and womanhood.Ibsen must have had a vision of a free mother, when, with a master stroke, heportrayed Mrs. Alving. She was the ideal mother because she had outgrownmarriage and all its horrors, because she had broken her chains, and set herspirit free to soar until it returned a personality, regenerated and strong. Alas, itwas too late to rescue her life's joy, her Oswald; but not too late to realize thatlove in freedom is the only condition of a beautiful life. Those who, like Mrs.Alving, have paid with blood and tears for their spiritual awakening, repudiatemarriage as an imposition, a shallow, empty mockery. They know, whether lovelast but one brief span of time or for eternity, it is the only creative, inspiring,31[]]41[

elevating basis for a new race, a new world.In our present pygmy state love is indeed a stranger to most people.Misunderstood and shunned, it rarely takes root; or if it does, it soon withersand dies. Its delicate fiber can not endure the stress and strain of the dailygrind. Its soul is too complex to adjust itself to the slimy woof of our social fabric.It weeps and moans and suffers with those who have need of it, yet lack thecapacity to rise to love's summit.Some day, some day men and women will rise, they will reach the mountainpeak, they will meet big and strong and free, ready to receive, to partake, and tobask in the golden rays of love. What fancy, what imagination, what poeticgenius can foresee even approximately the potentialities of such a force in thelife of men and women. If the world is ever to give birth to true companionshipand oneness, not marriage, but love will be the parent.THE ONLY ANARCHISTMONTHLYIN AMERICAMEOATRHTEHR¶A revolutionary literary magazine devoted toAnarchist thought in sociology, economics,education, and life.¶Articles by leading Anarchists and radicalthinkers.—International Notes giving a summary ofthe revolutionary activities in various countries.—Reviews of modern books and the drama.OTNEEN DCOELNLTASR AA CYOEPAYR]51[

EMMA GOLDMAN PublisherALEXANDER BERKMAN Editor210 EAST THIRTEENTH STREETNEW YORKBound Volumes 1906-1911, Two Dollars perVolumeMOTHER EARTH SERIESPatriotismWhat I BelievePsychology of PoliticalViolenceAnarchism: What It ReallyStands ForMarriage and LoveAnarchy Versus SocialismWhat Is Worth While?The Right to DisbelieveAnarchism and AmericanTraditionsThe Dominant IdeaAnarchism and MalthusThe Modern SchoolEmma Goldman.c5Emma Goldman.c5Emma Goldman.c01Emma Goldman.c01Emma Goldman.c01William C. Owen.c5AdelineChampney 5c.Edwin Kuh 5c.Voltairine deCleyre 5c.Voltairine deCleyre 5c.C. L. James 5c.Francisco Ferrer.c5NOW READY!Anarchism and Other EssaysEMMA GOLDMAN'S BOOKA series of essays comprising a thorough critique

of existing social institutions and conditions, andgiving a comprehensive view of the author'sopinions on matters educational, sexual, economic,political, and social.CONTENTS1. Anarchism: What It Really Stands.roF2. Minorities versus Majorities.3. The Psychology of PoliticalViolence.4. Prisons: A Social Crime andFailure.5. Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty.6. Francisco Ferrer and The ModernSchool.7. The Hypocrisy of Puritanism.8. The Traffic in Women.9. Woman Suffrage.10. The Tragedy of Woman'sEmancipation.11. Marriage and Love.12. The Modern Drama: A PowerfulDisseminator of Radical Thought.A biographic sketch of Emma Goldman'sinteresting career, with splendid portrait, is includedin the book.Orders are to be sent, with cash, toMOTHER EARTH, 210 E. 13th St., New York, N. Y.Price, $1.00. By Mail, $1.10End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Marriage and Love, by Emma Goldman*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARRIAGE AND LOVE ******** This file should be named 20715-h.htm or 20715-h.zip *****This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/1/20715/Produced by Tamise Totterdell, Fritz Ohrenschall and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net(This book was produced from scanned images of publicdomain material from the Google Print project.)Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editionswill be renamed.

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