RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

324
But perhaps he would be, if we did not meetperhaps
it is our half-way - in some physical belief
that is at the very middle of us, and which we
recognize in one another. Don't you think there
might be that between you and him?'
'I doubt if he'd feel it necessary, with a
woman. A woman wouldn't be important enough.'
Ramon was silent (ibid).
Ramon's silence is a clear signal of his mute agreement with the
lack of importance of a woman in this meeting in a balanced
relation with a man.
And the fact that he mentions a sort of
'physical recognition' between him and Cipriano reinforces the
idea that what Kate wants with a man who is not a 'creature of
prey' is only possible between men.
It is the bloodbrotherhood
Birkin wanted with Gerald.
Lawrence speaks through Ramon again
to say that
'... with a woman, a man always wants to let
himself go. And it is precisely with a woman
that he should never let himself go, but stick
to his innermost belief, and meet her just
there' (ibid).
To complement this idea, Lawrence, some pages earlier,
interfered in the narrative to assert the only possibility of
balance in relationships:
Men and women should know that they cannot,
absolutely, meet on earth...
When men meet at the quick of all things, they
are neither naked nor clothed; in the transfiguration
they are just complete, they are not seen in part.
The final perfect strength has also the power of
innocence (pp.277-8 - My underlining).
Kate's assertion that she wants balance is therefore
thrown away by the author in the marriage with Cipriano.
The
latter will never give and take.
He will only take from her and
she will never be allowed to ask for anything except to accept
her submission.
The strange thing is that all her efforts to
attain balance are suddenly replaced by an absurd desire to