RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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'separateness' is seen in Women in Love through the author's
spokesman Birkin, there Lawrence does not overtly criticize
Birkin.
Birkin's doctrine (which Ursula criticizes so pertinently)
about 'singling into purity' or 'star polarity' almost seems like
a mask for perversity, or at least an excuse for withholding
himself from women, from involvement, even as he appears to be
"giving" himself.
Here is one of Birkin's attempt to describe
his theory to Ursula:
'There is,' he said, in a voice of pure abstraction,
'a final me Which is stark and impersonal and beyond
responsiblity. So there is a final you. And it is
there I would want to meet you — not in the
emotional, loving plane — but there beyond, where
there is no speech and no terms of agreement. There
we are two stark, unknown beings, two utterly
strange creatures, I would want to approach you, and
you m e . And there could be no obligation, because
there is no standard for action there, because no
understanding has been reaped from that plane. It is
quite inhuman — so there can be no calling to book,
in any form whatsoever — because one is outside the
pale of all that is accepted, and nothing known
applies. One can only follow the impulse, taking
that which lies m front, and responsible for nothing,
asked for nothing, giving nothing, only each taking
according to the primal desire' (pp.137-8 - My
underlining).
The underlined sentences are quite similar to what Lawrence says
about Skrebensky and Ursula.
It seems quite clear that what
Ursula and Skrebensky want is to assert him/herself over the
other.
It is as if the man were looking for an image of himself
in the woman, of his maleness.
The same is true for Ursula too.
It is almost as if they were in love with themselves.
They have
no feeling for each other.
Each one feels him/herself "according
to [their] primal desire". They are separate, single. Lawrence's
evaluation of the lovers may be an anticipation of the moon scene
in Which Ursula exerts her 'maximum' self over Skrebensky and
transforms him into his 'minimum' self, 'destroying' him
symbolically.