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RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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113<br />

connotation in his mind) . In fact Siegmund, as well as Helena,<br />

is a puritan (like Paul Morel and his mother). However, this<br />

crisis is within the man.<br />

He does not share it with his partner<br />

since he talks to himself and not to her.<br />

Even consciously he<br />

is not aware of his emotional state.<br />

Helena is hardly aware of<br />

the man behind her.<br />

She is living the ecstasy of walking under<br />

the moonlight. She is not lost. There is another important<br />

comment Siegmund makes to himself which shows that from within<br />

he knows that Helena is killing him: "'I suppose,' he said to<br />

himself for the last time, 'I suppose living too intensely kills<br />

you, more or less'"(ibid).<br />

This is directed to his love affair<br />

with Helena and because of her he is dying gradually, day by day.<br />

When Siegmund comes to reality, he continues following Helena and<br />

watching the night and the moon.<br />

Helena, delighted by the idea<br />

of being lost, directs the way and continues to ignore Siegmund's<br />

presence.<br />

They are so separate that she dreams about dreaming<br />

while they walk.<br />

In this dream, she imagines<br />

herself lying asleep in her room, while her own<br />

dreams slid out down the moonbeams. She imagined<br />

Siegmund sleeping in his room, while his dreams,<br />

dark eyed, their blue eyes very dark and yearning<br />

at night-time, came wandering over the grey grass<br />

seeking her dreams (p.79).<br />

Even here the lovers do not meet.<br />

and it is his dream seeking hers.<br />

They are in different rooms<br />

Her dreams do not seek his.<br />

In their search for the way home, a religious sign appears:<br />

a chapel and Christ upon His cross. All the description seems<br />

to be reminding the couple of sacrifice.<br />

It is through<br />

Siegmund that Lawrence places the burden of a new Christ in<br />

sacrifice. The point is that Siegmund feels like a sacrifice<br />

because of Helena.<br />

But neither the author nor the character blames<br />

the woman:

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