RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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not see it. He bowed in obedience. The stars
seeming to swing in token of submission (p.103).
He will not struggle against his fate.
He accepts the
impossibility of changing the course of his life if it tells
him to die. Helena is not present in his soul now. She is
outside the sphere of his mind.
When the crisis passes, Helena tries to be gentle to
Siegmund. She does not tell him why she behaved the way she did.
She only says that he is unable to understand. In her brief
explanation she mentions her guilt complex in relation to his
family, which in fact is not the real motive.
This makes him
feel guilty.
The conversation leads to his renewed feeling of
inferiority towards her.
He is weak and, therefore, she must
lead him:
'Sometimes,' she murmured, in a low, grieved
confession, 'you lose me.'
He gave a brief laugh.
'I lose you!' he repeated. 'You mean I lose my
attraction for you, or my hold over you, and then
you -?'
He did not finish. She made the same grievous
murmuring noise over him.
'It shall not be any more,' she said.
'All right,' he replied, 'since you decide it.'
'You mustn't be bitter,' she murmured.
'Four days is enough,' he said. 'In a fortnight
I should be intolerable to you. I am not masterful.'
(p.106 - My underlining).
Helena continues playing with her intermittent sense of guilt,
trying to force him to admit their fault: "'I think dear...
I have done wrong'... 'I shall send you back to Beatrice and the
babies — tomorrow — as you are now'" (p.107). Helena has got
the right to 'send' Siegmund back to his family. Even in her
guilt she maintains control over the situation.
Even if he does
not want to go, she will send him back.
During another bath in the sea, in his 'virgin bay',