RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

217
down into the living body of the horse: the
strong, indomitable thighs of the blond man
clenching the palpitating body of the mare into
pure control; a sort of soft white magnetic
domination from the loins and thighs and
calves, enclosing and encompassing the mare
heavily into unutterable, soft-blood-subordination,
terrible (p.106).
The language is full of overtones of sexual subjugation of the
pleased female by the strong domineering male; and this is the
initial tone of Gerald and Gudrun's affair.
However, Gerald is
not the only one who will dominate: both will exchange roles, as
the scenes of the bullocks and the rabbit show.
Gudrun shows her ability to play the 'male' when she and
Ursula escape from the crowd in the water party in Willey Water.
Gudrun rows the boat with the strength of a man.
Gerald asks
her if she will be safe in it and she answers him:
'Quite sure,' said Gudrun. 'I wouldn't be so
mean as to take it, if there was the slightest
doubt. But I've had a canoe at Arundel, and I
assure you I'm perfectly safe.'
So saying, having given her word like a man,
she and Ursula entered the frail craft, and
pushed gently off. The two men stood watching
them. Gudrun was paddling (p.155).
In a way one can say that here Gudrun in her paddling shows that,
as a modern woman, she does not need a man to protect her and to
row her.
She has enough strength to take care of herself and of
her sister Ursula.
When the sisters find a safe place on the shore of the lake
they bathe naked and sing and dance happily till some bullocks
belonging to Gerald appear in the scenery and frighten them.
Ursula recoils in fear but Gudrun, instead of fear, feels
attracted by the male animals because of their apparent aggression.
She demands that Ursula go on singing and with a strident self-
confidence starts behaving also like a mad animal.
She feels an
increasing temptation to be aggressive to the bullocks perhaps