RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE
RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE
124 Siegmund is again hurt. Like in his first sea bath (he receives an injury), he hurts his elbow on a rock. is capable of inflicting severe wounds. The sea, like Helena, She is warm and tender in appearance — like the sand on the surface — but she is cold and harsh inside: "He could not believe that the lovely, smooth side of the rock, fair as his own side with its ripple of muscle, could have hurt him thus" (p.112). But soon he forgets the wound when he returns to his narcissistic self-admiration. This idea comes mixed with his feeling that, seen from inside, he is worthless: "'And I,' he said, lying down in the warm sand, 'I am nothing. I do not count; I am inconsiderable1... 'Well,' he said, 'if I am nothing dead I am nothing alive'" (p.113). Siegmund is already thinking about death. However, it is a long distance there, and he must pass through a strong conflict between thought and action. Helena also takes her last bath. Again she compares the sea with her lover and in the same way that she rejects the man as a lover, she rejects the sea. Her immaturity in relation to sex leads her to see it just as a box of treasure into which she will only peep now and then to discover its content. But before she achieves her goal she recoils from the danger sexuality may cause her. That is why she refuses both man and the sea: "She wandered back to her rock-pools; they were bright and docile;they did not fling her about in a game of terror" (p.114). When the lovers meet again, their mood changes. Helena is happy because of her childish explorations and Siegmund is tormented by guilt. He (as Helena did before) disguises his feelings so as not to spoil her happiness. There is an attempt to evaluate the holiday and Helena again feels that she is responsible for everything that happened to them. She claims the
125 laurels of having given Siegmund a good time. In her words is implicit the sense that she is the fatal female because she has guided him to the island; she has kept him under her control. Again her role is the one of the mother-figure, responsible for the well-being of her little child: 'I did well, didn't I, Siegmund?' she asked. Helena felt the responsibility of this holiday. She had proposed it; when he had withdrawn, she had insisted, refusing to allow him to take back his word, declaring that she should pay the cost. He permitted her at last (p.116). To Siegmund is left only the submissive answer:"'You are everything,'" which certainly avoids the problem of evaluation. She did everything. He did nothing. She is the goddess to whom he must bow and submit. His submission is asserted when she presses "his head on her bosom" soothing him and, at the same time, counselling him not to say anything anymore. Next he must consider her total competence versus his own cowardice, selfpity and nothingness: 'She is sufficient to herself — she does not want me. She has her own private way of communing with things, as is friends with them'... 'She cannot render herself to the intelligence. So she is alone a law unto herself: she only wants me to explore me, like a rock-pool, and to bathe in me. After a while, when I am gone, she will see I was not indispensable...' (pp.119-20). He finally seems to understand what Hampson told him about the soulful women. Helena, now, in his eyes, is a clear example of those who make use of men for their own sake. He seems aware of his own destruction. Only it is too late to remedy the situation. He is entirely at her mercy and cannot escape except through death. And this death progressively takes hold of his soul. The woman is responsible for his whole emotional sickness: the sense of humilliation, which he had got from her the day before, and which had fixed itself,
- Page 83 and 84: 73 more are related to his impotenc
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- Page 89 and 90: he can have pleasure. Miriam is for
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- Page 97 and 98: 87 'Let's make a sacrifice of Arabe
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- Page 103 and 104: 93 relation unbearable up to the po
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- Page 109 and 110: 99 though Siegmund wants her, she r
- Page 111 and 112: 101 an analogy for Helena. Siegmund
- Page 113 and 114: 103 any of the relationships, nor c
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- Page 117 and 118: 107 like him: She glanced up at Sie
- Page 119 and 120: 109 Siegmund, usually a bad swimmer
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- Page 123 and 124: 113 connotation in his mind) . In f
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- Page 127 and 128: 117 ... For centuries a certain typ
- Page 129 and 130: 119 she alone will not bear the gui
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- Page 133: 123 not see it. He bowed in obedien
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- Page 141 and 142: 132 to perforin the action. The nar
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- Page 147 and 148: 138 connection with the land. This
- Page 149 and 150: 140 Tom proposes marriage to Lydia:
- Page 151 and 152: 142 They looked at each other, a de
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- Page 155 and 156: and thinks of them "as if they were
- Page 157 and 158: 148 actualy loves or hates. The mix
- Page 159 and 160: 15 0 Will is an artist and his conc
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- Page 169 and 170: everything: life and death. He is c
- Page 171 and 172: take hers: but in her own way" (ibi
- Page 173 and 174: 164 family the inarticulate sorrow
- Page 175 and 176: much violence. Thus, her love for h
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124<br />
Siegmund is again hurt. Like in his first sea bath (he receives<br />
an injury), he hurts his elbow on a rock.<br />
is capable of inflicting severe wounds.<br />
The sea, like Helena,<br />
She is warm and tender<br />
in appearance — like the sand on the surface — but she is cold<br />
and harsh inside: "He could not believe that the lovely, smooth<br />
side of the rock, fair as his own side with its ripple of<br />
muscle, could have hurt him thus" (p.112). But soon he forgets<br />
the wound when he returns to his narcissistic self-admiration.<br />
This idea comes mixed with his feeling that, seen from inside,<br />
he is worthless: "'And I,' he said, lying down in the warm sand,<br />
'I am nothing. I do not count; I am inconsiderable1... 'Well,'<br />
he said, 'if I am nothing dead I am nothing alive'" (p.113).<br />
Siegmund is already thinking about death.<br />
However, it is a long<br />
distance there, and he must pass through a strong conflict<br />
between thought and action.<br />
Helena also takes her last bath.<br />
Again she compares the<br />
sea with her lover and in the same way that she rejects the man<br />
as a lover, she rejects the sea.<br />
Her immaturity in relation to<br />
sex leads her to see it just as a box of treasure into which she<br />
will only peep now and then to discover its content. But before<br />
she achieves her goal she recoils from the danger sexuality may<br />
cause her.<br />
That is why she refuses both man and the sea: "She<br />
wandered back to her rock-pools; they were bright and docile;they<br />
did not fling her about in a game of terror" (p.114).<br />
When the lovers meet again, their mood changes. Helena is<br />
happy because of her childish explorations and Siegmund is<br />
tormented by guilt.<br />
He (as Helena did before) disguises his<br />
feelings so as not to spoil her happiness.<br />
There is an attempt<br />
to evaluate the holiday and Helena again feels that she is<br />
responsible for everything that happened to them. She claims the