The Interpretation of Murder

"Well, since you force me, gentlemen," said Clara, "I'll confess our secret. Women are men's inferiors. I know it is backward of me to say so, but to deny it is folly. All of mankind's riches, material and spiritual, are men's creations. Our towering cities, our science, art and music - all built, discovered, painted, and composed by you men. Women know this. We cannot help being overmastered by stronger men, and we cannot help resenting you for it. A woman's love for a man is half animal passion and half hate. The more a woman loves a man, the more she hates him. If a man is worth having, he must be a woman's superior; if he is her superior, part of her must hate him. It is only in beauty that we surpass you, and it is therefore no wonder that we worship beauty above all else. That is why a woman," she wound up, "is at her greatest peril in the presence of a beautful man."