RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

245
as a kind of symbolic handcuffs tying Ursula to Birkin and, in
a way, giving him the right to dispose of her as an owner.
Temporarily Ursula accepts the gift.
The couple seems to be in
a state of peace till Birkin tells Ursula that they cannot meet
again for some time because he is to dine with Hermione. Ursula
becomes very angry and starts arguing with him because of his
reverence for this woman and his dependence on her.
Birkin
tries but cannot excuse nor explain himself.
The apex of
Ursula's hatred occurs when she throws the truth of his deathly
preferences at Birkin:
'... Go to your spiritual brides... Your
spiritual brides can't give you what you want,
they aren't common as fleshy enough for you,
aren1t they? So you come to m e , and keep them
in the background... And I, I'm not spiritual
enough, I'm not as spiritual as that Hermione-!'
(p.298).
Ursula in her anger defines clearly the difference between
women like Hermione and women like herself.
For Birkin the
former stands for the spirit and the latter for the body.
Birkin, like Paul Morel, cannot unite soul and body.
Hermione
is the standard spirit and Ursula is the standard womb.
It is
now that Ursula vehemently rejects Birkin's perverse relation
with Hermione:
'... Do you think I don't know the foulness of
your sex life - and hers? I do. And it's that
foulness you want, you liar... You truth-lover!
You purity-monger!. . It stinks, your truth and
your purity. It stinks the offal you feed on,
you scavenger dog, you eater of corpses... You
may well say, you don't want love. Mo, you want
yourself,and dirt and death - that's what you
want. You are so perverse, so death-eating...'
(p.299).
The fact that she calls him an 'eater of corpses' implies a
relation of complete separateness, where feelings cannot enter,
only a rigid body passing no energy to the other, receiving no