T H E S I S

ubbing passage of The White Peacock (pp. 33-31*) the wrestling
scene between Birkin and Gerald in the chapter “Gladiatorial’1 of
Women in Love contains a clearly sexual element, although the
passage is obscure; the men are undressed, wrestle "rapturously”,
and the narrator (Lawrence) seems to be Birkin;
“So the two men entwined and wrestled with each other, working
nearer and nearer.
04&
At length Gerald lay back inert on the carpet, his breast
rising in great slow panting, whilst Birkin kneeled over
him, almost unconscious.
• • d
He slid forward quite unconscious over Gerald, and Gerald
did not notice«
♦c©
When he realized that he had fallen prostrate upon Gerald's
body he wondered, he was surprised«.
0• f
He put out his hand to steady himself. It touched the hand
of Gerald, that was lying out on the floor. And Gerald’s
hand closed warm and sudden over Birkin*s, they remained
exhausted and breathless, the one hand clasped closely over
the other. It was Birkin whose hand, in swift response,
had closed in a strong, warm clasp over the hand of the
other.
©•O
*Is this the blutbrttderschaft you wanted?' “(WIL 30*4-308)
One would like to say that sexual gratification seems to
be out of question. There is no anal intercourse, but the reader
feels somewhat uneasy and strangely ambiguous as to the scene*s
purpose, whenever this strong element of curious homosexual feeling
is raised by Lawrence. Pritchard points out that “Birkin's
wrestling-match with Gerald is like a sexual encounter, the ob­