My Years With Proust - Day 414

   "Why, yes, here they are!" M. Verdurin exclaimed with relief on seeing the door open to admit Morel followed by M. de Charlus.  The latter, to whom dining with the Verdurins meant not so much going into society as going into a place of ill repute, as as apprehensive as a schoolboy entering a brothel for the first time and showing the utmost deference towards its mistress.  Hence the Baron's habitual desire to appear virile and cold was overshadowed (when he appeared in the open doorway) by those traditional ideas of politeness which are awakened as soon as shyness destroys an artificial post and falls back on the resources of the subconscious.  When it is a Charlus, whether he be noble or plebian, who is stirred by such a sentiment of instinctive and atavistic politeness to strangers it is always the spirit of a relative of the female sex, attendant like a goddess, or incarnate as a double, that undertakes to introduce him into a strange drawing-room and to mould his attitude until he comes face to face with his hostess.

Marcel Proust, Cities of the Plain, p. 937

We are entering into a very long section at the Verdurins, but before entering into the social interactions Proust returns to one of his favorite subjects: M. de Charlus and his sexuality.  Proust opines, "When it is a Charlus, whether he be noble or plebian, who is stirred by such a sentiment of instinctive and atavistic politeness to strangers it is always the spirit of a relative of the female sex, attendant like a goddess, or incarnate as a double, that undertakes to introduce him into a strange drawing-room and to mould his attitude until he comes face to face with his hostess."  It could be argued that, in a general sense, he is just making the point that Charlus, like arguably all of us, learned the art of politeness from our mothers or aunts or sisters, as compared to from our fathers or uncles or brothers.  However, Proust writes "When it is a Charlus," which takes us back to the general, and following hard on the heels of the Baron's desire to appear "virile and cold" - and, spoiler alert, what is to follow shortly - it's impossible to not see this as a general comment about male homosexuality and the old belief that they were influenced, or influenced too greatly, by their mother or other female relatives.