RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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devote special attention: the opening of the Quetzalcoatl church,
Kate's marriage to Cipriano and the bloodbrotherhood ritual
between Ramon and Cipriano.
The Quetzalcoatl religion is defined basically by the idea
that men and women shall meet in "the twilight of the Morning
Star".
In other words, the doctrine of this religion preaches
the theory of 'balance'.
However, what this religion actually
means is the formal and total submission of the female.
It also
implies a 'change of chains': people are being freed from the
authoritarism and domination of the Catholic church to be
entirely submissive to the new God. Putting it clearly: the
Quetzalcoatl religion exerts yet another form of domination over
its followers who, in their turn,are subdivided: men dominate
their women: women are worshippers of the men and they all (men
and women) are worshippers of Quetzalcoatl.
Cipriano, Ramon's
official spokesman, commands the new followers as if he were
dealing with a bunch of monkeys without will:
[Cipriano's] voice rang out clear and military:
'Hear me, people. You may enter the house of
Quetzalcoatl. Men must go to the right and left,
and remove their shoes, and stand erect. To the
new God no men shall kneel.
'Women must go down the centre, and cover
their faces. And they must sit upon the floor.
'But men must stand erect.
'Pass now those who dare1 (p.371 - My
underlining).
First of all, the above passage conveys the males' domineering
position, sandwiching the crouched passive females. Secondly, the
women's covered faces imply both their blind obedience to the
erect male and also to Quetzalcoatl whom they are not even
allowed to face.
They are inferior to the men and to the God.
The most degrading thing about the new religion is that it
does not respect the liberty of people who disagree with