The Art of Seduction (17 page)

Similarly, the seductive traits of the Natural work best in one who is still young enough for them to
seem
natural. They are much harder for an older person to pull off. Cora Pearl did not seem so charming when she was still wearing her pink flouncy dresses in her fifties. The Duke of Buckingham, who seduced everyone in the English court in the 1620s (including the homosexual King James I himself), was wondrously childish in looks and manner; but this became obnoxious and off-putting as he grew older, and he eventually made enough enemies that he ended up being murdered. As you age, then, your natural qualities should suggest more the child's open spirit, less an innocence that will no longer convince anyone.

The

ability to delay satisfaction is

the ultimate art of seduction
—
while

waiting, the victim is held in thrall. Coquettes

are the grand masters of this game, orchestrating a

back-and-forth movement between hope and frustration.

They bait with the promise of reward
—
the hope of physical
pleasure, happiness, fame by association, power
—
all of which,
however, proves elusive; yet this only makes their targets pursue
them the more. Coquettes seem totally self-sufficient: they do

not need you, they seem to say, and their narcissism proves devil-
ishly attractive. You want to conquer them but they hold the cards.
The strategy of the Coquette is never to offer total satisfaction.
Imitate the alternating heat and coolness of the Coquette

and you will keep the seduced at your heels.

The Hot and Cold Coquette

In the autumn of 1795, Paris was caught up in a strange giddiness. The Reign of Terror that had followed the French Revolution had ended; the sound of the guillotine was gone. The city breathed a collective sigh of relief, and gave way to wild parties and endless festivals. The young Napoleon Bonaparte, twenty-six at the time, had no interest in such revelries. He had made a name for himself as a bright, audacious general who had helped quell rebellion in the provinces, but his ambition
There are indeed men who
are attached more by

was boundless and he burned with desire for new conquests. So when, in
resistance than by yielding
October of that year, the infamous thirty-three-year-old widow Josephine
and who unwittingly prefer
de Beauharnais visited his offices, he couldn't help but be confused. Jose-
a variable sky, now
splendid, now black and

phine was so exotic, and everything about her was languorous and sensual.
vexed by lightnings, to
(She capitalized on her foreignness—she came from the island of Mar-
love's unclouded blue. Let
tinique.) On the other hand she had a reputation as a loose woman, and the
us not forget that Josephine
had to deal with a

shy Napoleon believed in marriage. Even so, when Josephine invited him
conqueror and that love
to one of her weekly soirees, he found himself accepting.

resembles war. She did not

At the soiree he felt totally out of his element. All of the city's great
surrender, she let herself be
writers and wits were there, as well as the few of the nobility who had
conquered. Had she been
more tender, more

survived—Josephine herself was a vicomtesse, and had narrowly escaped
attentive, more loving,
the guillotine. The women were dazzling, some of them more beautiful
perhaps Bonaparte would
than the hostess, but all the men congregated around Josephine, drawn by
have loved her less.
her graceful presence and queenly manner. Several times she left the men —IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND, QUOTED IN
THE EMPRESS

behind and went to Napoleon's side; nothing could have flattered his inse-
JOSEPHINE: NAPOLEON'S

cure ego more than such attention.

E N C H A N T R E S S ,
PHILIP W .

He began to pay her visits. Sometimes she would ignore him, and he SERGEANT

would leave in a fit of anger. Yet the next day a passionate letter would arrive from Josephine, and he would rush to see her. Soon he was spending most of his time with her. Her occasional shows of sadness, her bouts of
Coquettes know how to
please; not how to love,

anger or of tears, only deepened his attachment. In March of 1796, Napo-
which is why men love
leon married Josephine.

them so much.

Two days after his wedding, Napoleon left to lead a campaign in northern —PIERRE MARIVAUX

Italy against the Austrians. "You are the constant object of my thoughts," he wrote to his wife from abroad. "My imagination exhausts itself in guessing what you are doing." His generals saw him distracted: he would leave meetings early, spend hours writing letters, or stare at the miniature of Josephine he wore around his neck. He had been driven to this state by the unbearable distance between them and by a slight coldness he now detected
69

70
•
The Art of Seduction

An absence, the declining
in her—she wrote infrequently, and her letters lacked passion; nor did she
of an invitation to dinner,
join him in Italy. He had to finish his war fast, so that he could return to
an unintentional,

her side. Engaging the enemy with unusual zeal, he began to make mis
unconscious harshness are
of more service than all
takes. "To live for Josephine!" he wrote to her. "I work to get near you; I
the cosmetics and fine
kill myself to reach you." His letters became more passionate and erotic; a
clothes in the world.
friend of Josephine's who saw them wrote, "The handwriting [was] almost

— M A R C E L PROUST

indecipherable, the spelling shaky, the style bizarre and confused . . . . What a position for a woman to find herself in—being the motivating force behind the triumphal march of an entire army."
There's also nightly, to the

Months went by in which Napoleon begged Josephine to come to Italy

unintiated, \ A peril
—
not

and she made endless excuses. But finally she agreed to come, and left Paris
indeed like love or

marriage, \ But not the less
for Brescia, where he was headquartered. A near encounter with the enemy
for this to he depreciated: \
along the way, however, forced her to detour to Milan. Napoleon was away
It is
—
I meant and mean
from Brescia, in battle; when he returned to find her still absent, he blamed
not to disparage \ The

show of virtue even in the
his foe General Würmser and swore revenge. For the next few months he
vitiated
— \
It adds an
seemed to pursue two targets with equal energy: Wiirmser and Josephine.
outward grace unto their
His wife was never where she was supposed to be: "I reach Milan, rush to
carriage
— \
But to
your house, having thrown aside everything in order to clasp you in my
denounce the amphibious

sort of harlot, \
C o u l e u r arms. You are not there!" Napoleon would turn angry and jealous, but de rose,
who's neither
when he finally caught up with Josephine, the slightest of her favors melted
white nor scarlet. \ Such is
his heart. He took long rides with her in a darkened carriage, while his
your cold coquette, who

can't say say "no," \And

generals fumed—meetings were missed, orders and strategies improvised.
won't say "yes," and keeps

"Never," he later wrote to her, "has a woman been in such complete mas
you on-and off-ing \ On a
tery of another's heart." And yet their time together was so short. During a
lee shore, till it begins to

blow
— \
Then sees your
campaign that lasted almost a year, Napoleon spent a mere fifteen nights
heart wreck'd with an
with his new bride.

inward scoffing. \ This

Napoleon later heard rumors that Josephine had taken a lover while he
works a world of

sentimental woe, \ And

was in Italy. His feelings toward her cooled, and he himself took an endless
sends new Werters yearly
series of mistresses. Yet Josephine was never really concerned about this
to the coffin; \ But yet is
threat to her power over her husband; a few tears, some theatrics, a little
merely innocent flirtation, \
coldness on her part, and he remained her slave. In 1804, he had her
Not quite adultery, but

adulteration.

crowned empress, and had she born him a son, she would have remained

— L O R D B Y R O N ,

empress to the end. When Napoleon lay on his deathbed, the last word he
THE COLD COQUETTE

uttered was "Josephine."

During the French Revolution, Josephine had come within minutes of los
There is a way to represent
ing her head on the guillotine. The experience left her without illusions,
one's cause and in doing so
and with two goals in mind: to live a life of pleasure, and to find the man
to treat the audience in

such a cool and
who could best supply it. She set her sights on Napoleon early on. He was
condescending manner that
young, and had a brilliant future. Beneath his calm exterior, Josephine
they are bound to notice
sensed, he was highly emotional and aggressive, but this did not intimidate
one is not doing it to please
her—it only revealed his insecurity and weakness. He would be easy to en
them. The principle should
always be not to make
slave. First, Josephine adapted to his moods, charmed him with her femi
concessions to those who
nine grace, warmed him with her looks and manner. He wanted to possess
don't have anything to give
her. And once she had aroused this desire, her power lay in postponing its
but who have everything to

gain from us. We can wait
satisfaction, withdrawing from him, frustrating him. In fact the torture of
The Coquette • 71

the chase gave Napoleon a masochistic pleasure. He yearned to subdue her
until they are begging on
independent spirit, as if she were an enemy in battle.

their knees even if it takes

a very long time.

People are inherently perverse. An easy conquest has a lower value than a difficult one; we are only really excited by what is denied us, by what we —SIGMUND FREUD, IN A LETTER

TO A PUPIL, QUOTED IN PAUL

cannot possess in full. Your greatest power in seduction is your ability to ROAZEN,
FREUD AND HIS

turn away, to make others come after you, delaying their satisfaction. Most
FOLLOWERS

people miscalculate and surrender too soon, worried that the other person will lose interest, or that giving the other what he or she wants will grant the giver a kind of power. The truth is the opposite: once you satisfy some
When her time was come,
one, you no longer have the initiative, and you open yourself to the possi-
that nymph most fair
bility that he or she will lose interest at the slightest whim. Remember:
brought forth a child with
whom one could have

vanity is critical in love. Make your targets afraid that you may be with-
fallen in love even in his
drawing, that you may not really be interested, and you arouse their innate
cradle, and she called him
insecurity, their fear that as you have gotten to know them they have be-
Narcissus. . . . Cephisus's
come less exciting to you. These insecurities are devastating. Then, once
child had reached his
sixteenth year, and could

you have made them uncertain of you and of themselves, reignite their
be counted as at once boy
hope, making them feel desired again. Hot and cold, hot and cold—such
and man. Many lads and
coquetry is perversely pleasurable, heightening interest and keeping the ini-
many girls fell in love with
him, but his soft young

tiative on your side. Never be put off by your target's anger; it is a sure sign
body housed a pride so
of enslavement.

unyielding that none of

those boys or girls dared to

touch him. One day, as he

She who would long retain her power must use her lover ill.

was driving timid deer into

— O V I D

his nets, he was seen by

that talkative nymph who

cannot stay silent when

another speaks, but yet has

The Cold Coquette

not learned to speak first

herself. Her name is Echo,

and she always answers

In 1952, the writer Truman Capote, a recent success in literary and social
back. .
. . •
So when she
circles, began to receive an almost daily barrage of fan mail from a young
saw Narcissus wandering
man named Andy Warhol. An illustrator for shoe designers, fashion maga-
through the lonely
zines, and the like, Warhol made pretty, stylized drawings, some of which
countryside, Echo fell in
love with him and followed