RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

he is excusing himself in front of Birkin, expressing the
feeling that he cannot go far in the attraction he feels for
Birkin.
This rejection makes Birkin feel a certain contempt
for Gerald: "[He] could never fly away from himself, in real
indifferent gaiety.
He had a clog, a sort of monomania" (ibid).
At the end of the chapter there is a final meeting of the men's
eyes:
Gerald's, that were keen as a hawk's, were
suffused now with warm light and unadmitted
love, Birkin looked back as out of a darkness,
unsounded and unknown, that seemed to flow over
Gerald's brain like a fertile sleep (p.202).
The result of this second refusal is that Birkin is broken
by his anger towards people in general, and particularly towards
women.
women.
He was rejected by Gerald and now he tries to reject
This is what the third scene, in the chapter "Moony",
reflects.
After his illness Birkin lost contact with Ursula.
He has
been to France for some time.
towards the Mill to meet him.
One evening Ursula is walking
Before they meet, the moon meets
Ursula "with its white and deathly smile" (p.237).
This sudden
encounter with the moon makes Ursula suffer from being exposed
to it.
She proceeds on her way towards Birkin's home till she
notices his presence moving by the water.
She decides not to
get close to him, afraid he might repel her.
She then observes
the man by the water murmuring some disconnected words. Birkin
throws a dead flower-husk into the water and his words seem to
be directed to someone he fiercely hates.
Then he starts
throwing stones at the pond and Ursula notices the image of the
moon in the pond.
The stone thrown at it has distorted the
moon's bright image.
Again and again Birkin throws stones at the
moon trying to destroy it.
A useless task though: the moon