Coquettes

(Art of Seduction — Robert Greene)

So I completed this book a few minutes back, and my thoughts were so overpowering I took to Medium as a last resort to quench the explosion of thoughts that my brain is.

So, ok, the book in gist describes 9 kinds of lovers:

The Siren, The Rake, The Ideal lover, The Dandy, The Natural, The Coquette, The Charmer, The Charismatic, and The Star

And all 100% of humans, if we read the descriptions on these are one of the above.

What I wanted to share was, acc to me, the increased number of coquettes in the world.

“The Coquette is the kind of seducer who leads a person on without offering instant gratification. Their modus operandi is to delay satisfaction alternating between unexplained warmth and coldness so that the victim stays in a state to anticipation not knowing what is coming next. They play on the human psychology knowing that anything that is easily available to humans is not necessarily valued. Hence, they create a persona of being unavailable and this generates excitement in their audience. Coquettes are somewhat narcissistic as well and have no qualms in making their victims pursue them relentlessly. They create a sense of insecurity in their targets and when they reach the brink, they pull them back with show of warmth and attention. They play with emotions swinging between love and hate.”

I’m pretty sure we’ve all come across coquettes in our lives, male/female, and it’s not their fault as much as it isn’t yours.

1. They seem totally self-sufficient, so they hold the cards.
2. They keep you in between hope and frustration.
3. They delay satisfaction, thus always having an upper hand.
4. Narcissistic.
5. They say they’re not interested, and then insinuate that they’re into you…thus making you plead to be put out of misery.

Someone has described coquettes as a fast in-swinging bouncer ball. Duck it. Lest you try to play it and loose your wickets.

-Arkaprabha Majumdar

30/03/2020