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
193 she cannot be satisfied. Birkin tries to fight her off but she is, up to now, stronger and she wins. After the wedding of Gerald's sister, Hermione's attempt to hold Birkin with her succeeds and She had a rapt, triumphant look, like the fallen angels restored, yet still subtly demoniacal, now she held Birkin by the arm. And he was expressionless, neutralised, possessed by her as if it were his fate, without question (pp.16-7). We may say that Hermione is another version of the 'dreaming woman' from The Trespasser. Both Helena and' Hermione are soulful women who want to destroy their men because of their excessive mental love. Thus, Hermione is also another 'femme fatale'. The difference is perhaps that Helena is not criticized, nor defeated as Hermione is. If one can make such a comparison, Hermione is like a vampire or a dirty shadow sticking to Birkin wherever he goes. She seems to smell his way, licking his brain like flies in a sauce of sweets. She does not have a life of her own if she is not stuck to him trying to pluck from him everything he knows: "It was a dreadful tyranny, an obsession in her, to know all he knew" (p.81). When she is not exerting her consciousness over him, she cannot be happy. However, the more she tries, the less she holds Birkin. There are two important scenes in which Lawrence ironically makes 'knowledge' punish Hermione. The interesting point is that one happens in Ursula's school. Birkin is talking with Ursula about Botany when Hermione comes in and interrupts them. Birkin is explaining to Ursula how she could make her pupils understand the male and female parts of catkins if she used crayons with different colors. in she wants to know what they are doing. When Hermione comes The three start talking till Birkin, unable to bear Hermione's thirst for
194 knowledge, breaks out with harsh comments about her. The curious thing is the irony of the fact that Birkin himself has just been very intellectual about Botany with Ursula. So it is himself, his own self-consciousness and intellectuality, that Birkin is criticizing in Hermione. He throws at her the fact that all she wants is a kind of 'commerce' of the mind in which nothing more matters but the fierce wish to cling to knowledge as if it were everything in life. He tells her that '... knowledge means everything to you. Even your animalism, you want it in your head. You don't want to be an animal, you want to observe your own animal functions, to get a mental thrill out of them... you want the lie that will match the rest of your furniture1 (p.35). The point of the discussion is the implication that the whole relation between Birkin and Hermione has involved nothing more than the sick mental abstraction of both persons. In a way it can be said that, although Birkin criticizes his lover, he is like her too. He does not want sensuality. She is a mirror of Birkin. At the same time that he blames her for her mental life, he is also admitting his own fault for permitting her to feed her thirst with his life. The difference between them lies perhaps in the idea that Hermione uses her power as a way to keep people whom she 'loves' under her wings. Birkin is conscious of this: '... your passion is a lie,' he went on violently. 'It isn't passion at all, it is your will. It's your bullying will. You want to clutch things and have them in your power. And why? Because you haven't got any real body, any dark sensual body of life. You have no sensuality. You have only your will and your conceit of consciousness, and your lust for power, to know' (ibid). Even here in this horrible view of his lover, Birkin seems to be unsure of his desire to get rid of her: "He had an impulse to kneel and plead for forgiveness" (p.36). Instead, he goes on
- 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 165 and 166: in the night they were gathering sh
- Page 167 and 168: is like a dwarf without power. exul
- 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
- Page 177 and 178: 168 time she walked in a confused h
- Page 179 and 180: 170 'separateness' is seen in Women
- Page 181 and 182: 172 destroying in people the creati
- Page 183 and 184: 174 Paul at this time, encounters t
- Page 185 and 186: 176 be a complete human being in th
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- Page 189 and 190: 180 When she leaves the school her
- Page 191 and 192: 182 dead. The only part of him whic
- Page 193 and 194: 184 Ursula first refused him cried
- Page 195 and 196: 186 the self Which has made Ursula
- Page 197 and 198: 188 compete with her. In fact Skreb
- Page 199 and 200: CHAPTER IV 1 WOMEN IN LOVE: THE PRO
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- Page 205 and 206: up to this. One of them refers to H
- Page 207 and 208: 198 because he is no 'clone', no sl
- Page 209 and 210: 200 London bohemianism which Birkin
- Page 211 and 212: 202 dominant figure in the affair.
- Page 213 and 214: 204 course startles Gerald who cann
- Page 215 and 216: 206 in the expectancy to find a 'fo
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- Page 219 and 220: 210 they never did in Thomas Crich'
- Page 221 and 222: 212 "Think!" he said to her', "you
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- Page 225 and 226: 216 see the gate shut; then Gerald
- Page 227 and 228: 218 in a fierce desire to deny the
- Page 229 and 230: 220 and for a young doctor who was
- Page 231 and 232: 222 mutual hellish recognition (p.2
- Page 233 and 234: 224 him to be. The interesting aspe
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- Page 239 and 240: everyone develops the "river of dis
- Page 241 and 242: Ursula: '... I think that a new wor
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- Page 249 and 250: 240 (p.252 - My underlining). His a
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193<br />
she cannot be satisfied.<br />
Birkin tries to fight her off but she<br />
is, up to now, stronger and she wins.<br />
After the wedding of<br />
Gerald's sister, Hermione's attempt to hold Birkin with her<br />
succeeds and<br />
She had a rapt, triumphant look, like the fallen<br />
angels restored, yet still subtly demoniacal, now<br />
she held Birkin by the arm. And he was<br />
expressionless, neutralised, possessed by her as if<br />
it were his fate, without question (pp.16-7).<br />
We may say that Hermione is another version of the 'dreaming<br />
woman' from The Trespasser. Both Helena and' Hermione are soulful<br />
women who want to destroy their men because of their excessive<br />
mental love.<br />
Thus, Hermione is also another 'femme fatale'. The<br />
difference is perhaps that Helena is not criticized, nor defeated<br />
as Hermione is.<br />
If one can make such a comparison, Hermione is like a<br />
vampire or a dirty shadow sticking to Birkin wherever he goes.<br />
She seems to smell his way, licking his brain like flies in a<br />
sauce of sweets.<br />
She does not have a life of her own if she is<br />
not stuck to him trying to pluck from him everything he knows:<br />
"It was a dreadful tyranny, an obsession in her, to know all he<br />
knew" (p.81).<br />
When she is not exerting her consciousness over<br />
him, she cannot be happy.<br />
However, the more she tries, the less<br />
she holds Birkin.<br />
There are two important scenes in which<br />
Lawrence ironically makes 'knowledge' punish Hermione.<br />
The<br />
interesting point is that one happens in Ursula's school. Birkin<br />
is talking with Ursula about Botany when Hermione comes in and<br />
interrupts them. Birkin is explaining to Ursula how she could<br />
make her pupils understand the male and female parts of catkins<br />
if she used crayons with different colors.<br />
in she wants to know what they are doing.<br />
When Hermione comes<br />
The three start<br />
talking till Birkin, unable to bear Hermione's thirst for