Is there a Russian girl who wouldn't dream of love and marriage to crown it? Brought up on fairytales she believes in love and waits for her prince to come. Sometimes, during her whole life. The Russian classics teach us that love is the most sublime of all human feelings. For example, the Russian writer Ivan Bunin contended in his works that love is the only means to attain happiness in earthly life. Love is still the major factor for a Russian woman in choosing her partner.

Any Russian woman would like to be the object of chivalrous admiration, to receive flowers and poems written especially for her. However the image of an ideal lover doesn't interfere with love for a real person, not always so positive as she would like. One can often come across such an explanation of the paradox: 'Somebody has to love him as well.' And she can forgive a lot to the person she loves: alcoholism, unfaithfulness, lies and non-chivalrous behavior.

The reason for this self-sacrifice and artificially lowered requirements can be traced back to the historical consciousness that retained the awareness of the of the submissive role of women and to the fact the number of women in the country has always been considerably larger than that of men, due to the rough reality of the Russian life (the wars and totalitarian regime). The situation hasn't changed a lot; as a line of a popular Soviet song goes: "According to the statistics there are nine boys for ten girls." Very often a Russian woman, denied the opportunity to choose, is prepared to love anybody just in order to experience the feelings and not to feel unwanted. "Love is ruthless, love you will even the toothless," as the folk wisdom tells it. Notwithstanding you shouldn't think that the Russian women are undiscriminating - they are just illogical in their love for men. One may be a tall, handsome and wealthy fellow and still fail to attract a Russian woman's attention. One may be crazy about her and still fail to arouse a response in her. However, that doesn't mean she needs a man with physical or spiritual shortcomings. The thing is that she must fall in love with You and Only You and then you may count on all-conquering forgiveness, on absolute devotion and on that she will undertake anything for your sake.

It is not clear why they contend that only the woman should have a piquancy, a spark. Russian woman is looking for a spark in a man as well: the way he adjusts his hair, his smile, the peculiarity of his speech, his absent-mindedness, his funny ways... What one considers to be his defect may turn to be the thing to fire her with admiration.

Russian woman doesn't expect to profit by her love, she is genuinely selfless, and she often sacrifices her career and her interests to those of the beloved person. Devotion determines to a great extent the behavior of a Russian woman in love. For most Russian women the words of the church wedding rite 'I vow to stay with my husband in grief and joy until death separates us', are still the matter of current significance. A case in point is the behavior the wives and fiancée of the Decembrists (the aristocrats who staged a rebellion against the tsar in 1825), who gave up their high social circles and civil rights to follow the Decembrists in exile and in penal colonies in Siberia.

A Russian woman's love is patient, she is ready to forgive many things to her beloved, but one ought not to impose on this quality, because when the camel's back is broken one will experience the power of her jealousy, resentment and even hatred, which is, as it is well-known, only a step from love.

And one more remark: it is in the mentality of every Russian woman that marriage should crown the relations with the beloved person, that is why she will subconsciously look upon herself as a wife.

Russian woman in love is characterized by all-conquering forgiveness, a bent for self-sacrifice, passion, devotion, faithfulness, disinterestedness. Therewith she has a tendency to carry her feelings almost to the point of absurdity, to idealize her man, to give her identity, to view her lover as a prospective husband. But if one treats her with contempt, she is capable of ardent hatred.