RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

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in a fierce desire to deny the female in herself who would
usually recoil in fear, and tries to frighten the cattle using
her unconscious maleness.
She also feels pleasure in the
strange dance she performs in front of the cattle.
Gudrun is as
if hypnotized by the blind wish to reduce the animals into weak
and dependent creatures.
If we consider the fact that the
animals belong to Gerald, we may say that Gudrun is also showing
off her power to the man as if to say that she is as strong as
he.
The strange dance is stopped by Gerald's coming and
shouting at the retreating cattle.
When Gudrun realizes Gerald
has interrupted her frenzy, she becomes angry with him: "'Why
have you come?1 came back Gudrun's strident cry of anger" (p.
160) . The assimilation of Gudrun between two male powers is
seen when she goes after the bulls, then returns and looks at
both Gerald and the cattle.
The cattle may represent the power
of the animal in Gerald, and he represents for Gudrun a rational
animal whom she wants to defy.
That is what she ironically
implies to him:
'You think I'm afraid of you and your cattle,
don't you?' she asked.
His eyes narrowed dangerously. There was a
faint domineering smile on his face.
'Why would I think that?' he said (p.162).
To prove her strength over the man, Gudrun slaps him in his face
to show that she is stronger than him and that she, too, can
play the domineering woman.
The slap also marks the deep thirst
for violence between Gerald and Gudrun.
In hitting Gerald in the
face, Gudrun
felt in her soul an inconquerable desire for deep
violence against him. She shut off the fear and
dismay that filled her conscious mind. She wanted
to do as she did, she was not going to be afraid
(ibid).
More implications arise from this blow: it shows that there will