RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

118
Siegmund is
of his woman.
to reality.
too absorbed in self-love to perceive the danger
This separateness is what makes him dumb and deaf
Indeed, he can also be called a 'dreaming-man1 with
different but complementary qualities to the 'dreaming-woman1.
It seems, however, that the presence of'-the strange man
has aroused in Siegmund a certain fear of his future for "he
felt a sense of doom". Despite this feeling he does not want to
believe in it because "He laughed, trying to shake it off."
Hampson finally warns Siegmund to wear a hat because of the sun.
This may be ironic because later on Siegmund will be struck by
the sun getting swollen and hurt.
Hampson then disappears from
the story.
From this part on the story changes its course, that is,we
follow Siegmund's decline towards self-punishment and Helena's
subsequent guilt complex.
Just before Siegmund returns from the beach where he has
met Hampson, Helena reads a strange verse.
Its words are as
follows:
A late, harsh blackbird smote him with her wings
As through the glade, dim in the dark, she flew
And now she takes the scissors on her thumb...
Oh then, no more unto any lattice come (p.87).
The simple presence of a verse like this is a forewarning of who
will be the winner in the love affair. The victory is of the
castrating female over the weak male.
When Siegmund comes to Helena, he talks about his meeting
at the beach.
Helena tells him that the landlady has talked to
her about their coming late the previous night.
It seems to me
that the landlady has the same function as the battleships in
the bay, in the sense that both work as the repressive conscience.
Helena feels guilty because of the landlady's 'reproach'.
But