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

repositorio.ufsc.br
from repositorio.ufsc.br More from this publisher
29.12.2013 Views

165 the 'beyond1. She is to answer Tom and Lydia's question 'Whither?' and she will continue the pilgrimage from the 'Pisgah mount' on which her mother has sat down and decided not to go a step further. Since she was a little child Ursula has revolted against her mother because of the 'storm of fecundity' in the house where she was born. Her fierce desire is to search" for some spirituality and stateliness" (p.265). In her home the father is her best companion till she revolts against him too. One can even say that Will's attachment to his daughter has some traits of sadism and a fierce need to exert his power over her. His love for her may be seen in his desire for violence against the child. Somehow her emotional life takes a dangerous turn because of her father. He teaches her to swim. However, in the method of his teaching one perceives his morbid desire to hurt her so as to provoke a strong reaction. When he gets it through the frightened eyes of the child he laughs as if pleased. His dissatisfaction leads him to try a more dangerous joke with Ursula. He jumps with her from’a bridge. Both nearly die, but the girl is not afraid of these experiences and, instead of departing from her dear wild father, she clings more to him. The third ordeal is in a swingboat in which Will sweeps through the air till Ursula gets pale and sick. People observing the scene call upon him, but he is blind with his savage pleasure. After this crazy experience Ursula separates from her father: And as the child watched him, for the first time in her life a disillusion came over her, something cold and isolating. She went over to her mother. Her soul was dead towards him. It made her sick (p.226). One may say that emotionally Will has destroyed something in Ursula or he has introduced her to the world of emotions with too

much violence. Thus, her love for her father or for any other man may have the same fierce desire for destruction, unless she finds somebody with the same strength as hers to counterbalance her power. This idea of will-to-destruction may be better explained when Ursula meets her first love Skrebensky. This scene of the swingboat may also be compared to the scene of the swing in Sons and Lovers in which Paul and Miriam play. In Paul's turn in the swing, he loses himself, enjoying to the maximum the play. Miriam, on the other hand, cannot enjoy herself because she is frightened. The scene implies a metaphor for their sexual experience which is a failure. When they become lovers, Paul, as in the swing, physically loses himself whereas Miriam cannot because she is sexually frigid. sexual life fails because it is unilateral. Hence, their In the case of Ursula, the swingboat also implies a metaphor for her sexual life in which violence and destruction are involved. Before going to the love section of Ursula's life it is important to take a look at her feelings towards religion. Religion for her, up to a certain point is shaded by her mother's scepticism and cynical views. Anna did not care for the church's teaching but it is in Ursula that Lawrence specifies what this teaching is. Ursula does not believe in the saying that "Jesus died for me, He suffered for me". In fact, she has a distaste for all kinds of teaching that force her to believe that she is a humble mortal in view of Christ's sufferings. For her he is a simple man, as human as she is. The only 'teaching' that she seems to consider is the one which says that "The Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair: and they took them wives of all which they chose" (p.276). This teaching attracts her, but soon she becomes disillusioned because she realizes by

165<br />

the 'beyond1.<br />

She is to answer Tom and Lydia's question<br />

'Whither?' and she will continue the pilgrimage from the 'Pisgah<br />

mount' on which her mother has sat down and decided not to go a<br />

step further.<br />

Since she was a little child Ursula has revolted against<br />

her mother because of the 'storm of fecundity' in the house where<br />

she was born.<br />

Her fierce desire is to search" for some<br />

spirituality and stateliness" (p.265).<br />

In her home the father<br />

is her best companion till she revolts against him too.<br />

One can<br />

even say that Will's attachment to his daughter has some traits<br />

of sadism and a fierce need to exert his power over her.<br />

His<br />

love for her may be seen in his desire for violence against the<br />

child.<br />

Somehow her emotional life takes a dangerous turn because<br />

of her father. He teaches her to swim. However, in the method<br />

of his teaching one perceives his morbid desire to hurt her so<br />

as to provoke a strong reaction.<br />

When he gets it through the<br />

frightened eyes of the child he laughs as if pleased.<br />

His<br />

dissatisfaction leads him to try a more dangerous joke with<br />

Ursula. He jumps with her from’a bridge. Both nearly die, but<br />

the girl is not afraid of these experiences and, instead of<br />

departing from her dear wild father, she clings more to him.<br />

The<br />

third ordeal is in a swingboat in which Will sweeps through the<br />

air till Ursula gets pale and sick.<br />

People observing the scene<br />

call upon him, but he is blind with his savage pleasure.<br />

After<br />

this crazy experience Ursula separates from her father:<br />

And as the child watched him, for the first time<br />

in her life a disillusion came over her, something<br />

cold and isolating. She went over to her mother.<br />

Her soul was dead towards him. It made her sick<br />

(p.226).<br />

One may say that emotionally Will has destroyed something in<br />

Ursula or he has introduced her to the world of emotions with too

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!