RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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the past would seem to be about to repeat itself again for, at
the novel's beginning, the 'dreaming woman' meets another man
who is potentially like Helena's dead lover.
Again like dreams,
the purpose of the past is to interfere strongly in the
personality of Helena and not let her live strictly in the
sphere of reality.
The past takes up the longest part of the
novel.
The present serves just as a means to strengthen the
flashback section of the book and to prove that there is no real
present, nor real future.
Present and future will perhaps be a
repetition of the same story Helena has gone through with
Siegmund.
The heroine's personality is described in the very
beginning of the story, when Siegmund is already dead, by Cecyl
Byrne, Helena's next 'victim'.
He tells her: '"you stretch your
hand blindly to the dead; you look backwards.
No, you never
touch the thing,'" (p.11).
One may read 'dead' as 'past' or as
'dream' for they exchange places in Helena's mind.
The next
sentence reinforces this idea since when one lives'ideally' s/he
can never 'touch the thing'.
It is too far beyond any touch.
Helena can also be characterized as being the ancestress
of Mrs Morel.
The reason to claim this is that both are women
who live too much for the mind.
The difference between them is
that Helena is more unreal; she is depicted as an untouchable
goddess, beyond human grasp.
Mrs Morel, on the other hand, has
her feet on the earth; she is more touchable in her virtues and
defects.
This occurs maybe due to Lawrence's immaturity as a
writer who, in The Trespasser, was just beginning his career.
If Sons and Lovers shows a more mature narrative, it certainly
marks his improvement and growth as a writer.
Helena, a student of music, falls in love with her music