Definition
Sexual mystique is allure built on the unknowable rather than the explicit. It is the principle that desire is sustained by suggestion and ambiguity — by what is hinted at and withheld — far more than by anything fully shown or stated.
In Greene's framework, the most magnetic figures keep something in reserve. They imply a depth of feeling or experience without confirming it, leaving the observer's imagination to do the most powerful work. Mystique is therefore a discipline of restraint, not display.
Why it matters
How it works
Mystique operates on the gap between what is suggested and what is known. When a person implies more than they confirm — an unexplained reference, a held glance, a story left unfinished — the observer fills the gap with their own most appealing interpretation. Because the resulting image is partly self-authored, it is both intense and resilient. The seductive figure maintains this by rationing disclosure: revealing slowly, never completely, so the imaginative engine keeps running.