RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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world is a world of dust which they try to spread over their
partners so as to fix them in a status quo.
On the other hand, through Birkin and Ursula, Lawrence
presents an alternative possibility of escape from the rotten
world.
Both characters, despite their strong differences,
attempt to build a new world in which the main idea is respect
for each other's individualities.
But before the cycle of creation starts, the novel shows
the characters as involved in a dark and dirty veil of
dissolution, parasitism and destruction.
The first character
who struggles to free his own life of this veil is Rupert
Birkin, Lawrence's spokesman and inspector of Ursula's school.
His main sickness is named Hermione: he seeks (sometimes half
heartedly) to get clear of the woman who has been his lover for
some time.
From the beginning of the story we see Hermione as a
predatory animal with a powerful, hungry mind.
Birkin has been
feeding her for some time, but now he wants to get rid of her
because he is tired of what she represents.
Her world is empty
of feelings.
The only thing that this woman craves is her sick
dependence upon knowledge.
Not knowledge of the world as a
whole, but the predatory knowledge of Birkin's brains. Hermione's
appearance is that of a heavy and dark creature "full of
intellectuality, and heavy, nerve-worn with consciousness" (p.10).
Her face "seemed almost drugged, as if a strange mass of thoughts
coiled in the darkness within her, and she was never allowed to
escape" (ibid).
The only way for her to keep her blood
circulating is by clinging to Birkin who makes her feel complete,
sufficient and whole.
She must touch him, feel him, otherwise