Love? or lusting for it?

The virgin woman is widely viewed in the Victorian era as the purest of all women. Corelli suggests that it is man’s urge to gratify himself that ultimately robs women of their virginity and thus their purity. Man’s moral choices come under question in Corelli’s work. Through Satan’s dialogue Corelli supports this theory. “(Man) will even deify the loss of chastity in woman by the name of purity.” Corelli does not necessarily claim that all mankind suffers from the moral and unethical impertinance suggested above. Rather, the moral concerns relate to Victorian England. Corelli suggests that there is a common trend among men of this time period to pursue the fulfillment of their “brutal lust” rather than relgious obligation as seen in "Sorrows of Satan."